Good evening. I'm calling to order the
Town of Fairfax Town Council meeting.
Today is Wednesday, August 5th,
and um
like to call to order. And uh do you
want to do a roll call, please?
>> Yes, Mayor.
Council member Blash
>> here. Council member Garangelli
>> here.
>> Council member Kohler
>> here. Vice Mayor Ager. Mayor Helman,
>> I'm here.
And will you join me with the p for the
pledge of allegiance, please?
» To of the United States of America and
to the republic for which it stands, one
nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
» Thank you. Okay. Um, we had a closed
meeting uh that we began at 4:15 this
afternoon and there were no findings or
no report nothing to report out. Is that
correct Janet? Okay.
Um, so before we approve the agenda, I'm
thinking we want to make uh a tweak
which would be to put the presentation
celebrating
Linda Neil with a proclamation for her.
um
before
public expression before open time.
>> I'll make that motion.
>> I'll second.
>> All in favor?
>> I
>> Any nays?
>> Hearing none. Motion passes. Okay,
moving on. Uh I'll read the land
acknowledgement. The town council
acknowledges that we are located on the
unseated ancestral lands of the coast
Miwok people of present-day Marin
County. We honor with gratitude the land
itself and all of its ancestors, past,
present, and emerging.
Meeting protocol. The mayor or presiding
officer shall maintain order at all
council meetings. Council members share
responsibility for modeling respectful
professional conduct to effectively
facilitate the meeting and encourage
meaningful civic participation.
All participants, including council
members, staff, members of the public,
and remote attendees are expected to
engage respectfully. Profane language,
personal attacks, ridicule of character
or motives, and discriminatory or
harassing conduct are not permitted.
To ensure all voices can be heard,
disruptive behavior, including shouting,
repeated interruptions,
etc. is not permitted during public
comment or council deliberations.
Participants are asked to silence their
electronic devices.
The mayor or presiding officer may issue
a reminder or warning to address
disruptions. Meetings will adjourn no
later than 11 p.m. And at approximately
9:30 p.m., the council will review the
agenda to determine which remaining
items may be continued.
So with that, we shall proceed. Um,
town managers report, please.
Thank you, mayor. Um, I wanted to give
some construction updates on our
roadways.
>> A little bit louder, please. How's this?
A little better. Is this better? Okay,
thank you. Um, we currently um we are
currently approximately uh a half of the
way through the town's project on Park
Road, the storm water improvements and
paving project. Um, and that is still
scheduled to be completed by the end of
September. So, [snorts] you may have
seen that um uh construction work um
happening. The Ros Valley Sanitary
District project is wrapping up on the
pro um Park Road section and will
continue on Merwin for the next uh few
more weeks. The schedule for the
downtown section on Broadway is being
adjusted and updates will be available
as details become available. So, I'll
bring that back to a future meeting and
we also use the newsletter for updates
on that. Um and we do have uh links to
the project page on our newsletter.
Um the West Bray and Al Lima road areas
are scheduled to start in early
September and the Oak Road area will be
completed by the end of February. Um and
then uh the Marin Water uh project that
I know um everyone has been looking at
is on hold and there's currently no
estimate of when it will restart. So,
just letting you know that um once the
Ross Valley Sanitary District project is
uh back in downtown, the work uh may
require one-way traffic on Broadway near
the Bolinus intersection and possibly a
closure near Bank Street. Um with
traffic detourred through nearby
residential streets or onto Sir Francis
Drake. Uh we have informed the
contractor that if traffic congestion
compromises emergency vehicle access,
work would have to be suspended until an
acceptable alternative is implemented.
And uh one option currently under
consideration is performing the work
that portion of the work during
nighttime hours. And of course that
comes with other challenges. So um uh
being considered fire station 21's
remodel is uh underway. Firefighters are
currently living in the temporary
quarters at the community center. More
information on that later um in our
discussion tonight. Uh council met uh as
you just mentioned in close session
earlier tonight to discuss labor negoti
negotiations with SEIU. So that process
is ongoing. And then I wanted to give
you a little preview for the September
2nd council meeting. Um topics will
include a badge pinning ceremony for uh
the police department newer employees
and people who've been promoted. Uh very
proud of that. A presentation from the
Marin Emergency Services on the Marin
Emergency Operations Plan. I know that's
of interest for folks. And then uh uh
possibly a presentation on the town's
fleet electrification plan that we've
been working on. So with that,
>> you're saying all three of those will be
on the September agenda.
>> That's the plan. Of course, subject to
discussion with the mayor and vice
mayor.
>> Um, and so, uh, I'll take any questions
if you have or just move along.
» Just a question. maybe for Kristen, but
school's going to start in about a week
and a half. And I know the plan is to do
slurry on Glen Drive.
That is White Hill School. Plenty of
parents do drop off pick off pickup. Are
we planning on doing the slurry before
school starts?
I know that it was the original plan,
but I do need to follow up with S and
Selmo about the schedule of the project.
>> Yeah, I think it's going to be very
difficult. We'll get a lot of complaints
if school has already started. So, just
to the extent that you can work around
that, that'd be great.
» Were you finished, Heather?
>> I think Council Member Blash has a
question.
>> Okay, go ahead, Lisa. Okay, everyone's
asking about this. I'm sure we probably
don't know, but do we know why Marin
Water hasn't restarted?
I do. [laughter]
They're still waiting to hear back from
the rancheria, the great great as far as
where they can
um appropriately place the artifacts
um on the in the watershed. So, they're
having a lot of discussions for that.
But, um, yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> And Heather, did you mention the CA
Cascade Canyon Bridge project in your
>> No, mayor, I did not, but um that is uh
starting Marin um parks is starting that
project. uh building the bridges there
for um people to use the trails and um
we have a link on our website and in our
newsletters to their project page.
>> Great. And a lot of this information is
provided in the newsletter. So if you're
not subscribed, I highly recommend that
you do that. Um okay,
future agenda items. I have a handful. I
also have a couple of announcements, but
I will go down the line and ask if any
of my colleagues have future agenda
topics.
Go ahead.
>> I do. Yes. Thank Thank you, Mayor. Um,
you know, school's getting ready to
start here and a number of of the of the
cities and towns in Marin are lowering
speed limits by schools uh down to 15
miles an hour and I'm just wondering at
what point will we be doing that? The
state law gives us until 2031 to to to
post 15 mph speed limits in school
zones, but um uh that's a if if we don't
get it done by the
2031, the state's going to come in and
do it for us. So I'm just wondering how
do we have it on a schedule to try to
we've got
>> so every time you see this we talk about
the relationship or the relevance with
the um bicycle pedestrian advisory
commission and I thought
>> I don't know I think that project is
delayed but when is that going to be on
the agenda?
>> Yeah we have we have that scheduled to
come back to the council in October. Um,
so that's our plan. And, um, uh, Vice
Mayor Edgar, you did give us a list of
streets that you thought would be good
candidates for lowering, um, uh, speed
limits, and that did get communicated to
the bicycle pedestrian committee as
well. And, um, then the committee is
working with the, um, consultant to
prepare the final report and then that
report would come to the council. And I
did want to mention that uh Manor is
already in process of slowing their
speed limits because that's in the
county's jurisdiction and the countyy's
doing it there for the school.
So as far as as the state law dealing
with speed limits, it's in school
locations. Um Ross Valley Charter School
is is on the St. Rita's property and and
that's going to have to go to 15 miles
an hour there. We have a school crossing
also right there between the church and the library. Um, White Hill School.
Uh, it's it's the it's the middle school
and
their playing fields at Lefty Gomez
Fields. It's all school frontage
property and and and
to my knowledge that's going to have to
be posted 15 miles an hour also that
section through there. I don't know if the if the bicycle pedestrian
committee is looking at school zones and
15 mph limits, but we're going to have
to deal with it pretty soon because
school's about to start.
>> Um, that's all been included and I
forwarded them all of your street
segments and have asked that it be
included in the report so that we all
have it in front of us to to act on.
>> Okay. So I know Jeff is here too. So I
I've I've asked for you of staff like
I'm very much hoping and expecting this
to be covered in the recommendation or
the proposal that comes from BPAC.
>> Oh that that'll be in October. That'll
be almost a year and a half from when
they started.
>> But I don't know. I mean
I don't know that Steph has a lead type
to do anything sooner.
Anything else?
>> Okay. Any other future agenda topics?
>> Okay, I have a couple and then we will
proceed. So
um the first is so Mina Kim who leads
the uh Fairfax Chamber of Commerce
met with town manager Abrams and myself
and
planning director Jeff Bisoner and Chief
Rico Tabberonzo was there and I think uh
Christine Foster was there as well.
we were talking about, you know,
she's doing a lot of downtown
um events to create more vibrancy and
vitality. And there's a problem with
lead time to for small businesses or
even in our town properties to like host
an event with enough lead time. our our
processes requires like two plus months
to go through the planning commission
and it also costs $2,000 and it's really
not
uh effective or efficient or fair. Um
and so we had a meeting it's really
complex. I think all of us would love to
just have some term turnkey solution but
uh we certainly didn't come up with it
in that meeting. So I would like to
request a discussion on that. We need a
solution so that our downtown businesses
and Mina can you know develop a concept
and be able to execute on it within you
know 60 90 days.
So it seems reasonable to me. Does
anybody have any questions or is this
something that we can ask the planning
commission to focus on? I would suggest
that you um at the next planning
commission meeting have Jeff discuss it
with them first because that will also
be before our next meeting and
>> okay my concern with that is that
there's a lot they they already have a
pretty long list of things they're
trying to t tackle um that haven't come
back to council yet including like dark
sky you know all sorts of things
>> I don't hear it
>> so you want to I mean do what is the
proto I guess That's what I need to
know. Like, can it come here or does it
need to go to planning commission?
>> Um, mayor, I think we would need to um
determine all of the code sections that
would need to be changed and then um
whether those have to go through the
planning commission because they are
zoning, which I don't believe they're
mostly zoning. I would have to confer
with our attorney. Uh right, because
zoning has to go through planning before
it comes to the council. Um and uh then
we could um come back with
[clears throat] a a plan of how we would
fix those, but um it it it it will take
a little time unfortunately.
>> Okay.
>> I would be interested in starting the
process. Um, I'd just like to, you know,
if it if it makes sense to do so just
because I know they're concerned and
they want to put on a lot of events. So,
it would be interesting to get it going.
>> I Mike is having some comments that I
can't hear. So, will you turn your mic?
>> I'm sorry.
I
>> think we should be able to bring things
to the council when a council member
asks for it. I'm for that. I think
things get stuck in these committees and
takes too long to get something done.
Go ahead, mayor, if if you don't mind.
Um, so, uh,
again, I'll be corrected if I'm wrong by
the attorney, but, um, uh, the council
could make a direct referral on some
action, but we just we need to make sure
we have all of the um sections detailed
out. And then also um that zoning, if
it's a zoning issue, that really does
have to go through planning first.
Okay. All right. Um, Janet, I'm going to
get with you on what how to how how we
can streamline this.
It sounds like I mean, it sounds like it
could take a year and I'm really trying
to help Mina do a good job, which we all
want her to be able to do, right? All of
us are, I think, aligned on that. If
you're talking about code changes and
you're talking about changes to the
zoning code, it's statemandated. It's
required by law that they go through the
planning commission first and they have
a recommendation to the council. So, and things like we can't notice an item
like that for council um until after the
planning commission has taken action and
it's a 10-day notice. I mean those are
the things that are built in that that
may take time and there's nothing we can
do to shorten that legally.
>> Okay.
All right. More more to come on that
surely. Um I also wanted to um
announce to the community if you're not
already aware. Um so a lot of uh
discussion and announcements have come
out of Ross Valley Sanitation District
as well as Central Marin Sanitation
Agency. Uh recently CMSA
um voted to increase our qu our
quarterly treatment costs by 50% and
that's on top of recent findings that
for the past 12 years Ross Valley
residents have been overcharged
and so they are looking for a solution
related to being overcharged for over a
decade. Um it sounds like it's going to
mediation, but this council does not
have a liaison
um to the Ross Valley sanitation
district and I really think we need more
transparency and more engagement with
both of those agencies. Um it could on
the low end it would be a couple hundred
dollars um credit or due to a Fairfax
household. So that the the upside the or
the the top end could be thousands of
dollars because we have so much more
storm water in our area. So I would like
this council to support two things. One,
a presentation
um invite Ross Valley Sanitation
District, the general manager, Steven
Moore, to present on all of the above.
And number two, I'd like to see um a
designated person on our council to stay
connected to what's happening.
So I don't know if that's a separate
action item to support or deny a
liaison, but I personally feel it's
really important right now and it could
be a temporary thing. But I mean the way
I learned about it was,
you know, because I have relationships,
but I tend to think most of the
community is not aware.
Um, speaking first to the um, uh, idea
of having a presentation from Steve
Moore, the um, GM for Ross Valley
Sanitation District. Um, I'm happy to
reach out to him and arrange that.
>> Okay, great. Thank you. Any thoughts
about um, the liaison?
Are we okay with getting that on the
agenda for
October?
>> I would like to know more what that
looks like. It see it's not like sitting
on, you know, the TAM board or the fire
board. It's like what we would send a
sign a council member to
>> I mean I'm the leazison for the Ross
Valley School District. You stay
>> develop those relationships. You read
the packets. You know you
>> Okay. So you want to you just want to
>> accountable for what's going
>> a designated liaison for RBSD as like what we rotate every year type of
thing.
>> Yeah. But we don't have it today and
maybe it's a temporary thing and but I
think for the next six months or so we need more oversight. So I would
suggest that we put it on as a agenda
item and I'm just going to throw this
out there. Frank, don't kill me. But
given that you were on the Ross Valley
Sanitary District for a number of years,
you might be a great person for that
because you already know the system.
>> Well, can we appoint Frank right now?
>> No, we can't. But just try to put that
on the on the September agenda if
possible. Sorry. Um, everyone, I'm I am
going to move right along. Um, there was
one other thing that I had. Uh, as far
as announcements, we have bingo night on
the 14th. We have sidewalk CPR on the
15th in Bolinus Park. We have the
townwide picnic on August 30th.
And we have the ribbon cutting for Laf
floor uh this Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
So with that, I think we're ready for
open time for public.
Oh, that's right. We changed it. Linda,
this is your time. This is the good part
of the meeting. There's lots of good
parts.
Um,
so our our dear dear dear Linda Neil has
announced her retirement. And when was
your last day?
July 6th. Okay.
Well, I'm really honored to be
presenting this to you this evening,
Linda. Um,
this is a proclamation in recognition of
honoring Linda Neil for 40 years of
service.
Um
whereas Linda Neil is a principal
planner extraordinaire having devoted
more than 40 years of her career to the
people of the town of Fairfax.
And whereas Linda moved to San Rafale at
the age of two, graduated from San
Rafale High School in 1979 and from the
University of California Davis in 1983
and began her planning career with Yolo
County before being hired by the town of
Fairfax as assistant planner on July
7th, 1986.
And she never left.
And since childhood, Linda has had a
gift for making people feel welcome. As
far back as 1968, a young newcomer's
family arriving from New York with no
friends in the neighborhood found
themselves put at ease by a quick-witted
girl with a marvelous laugh, the same
warmth she would later bring to guiding
residents through what can often be a
complex, unforgiving planning process.
And whereas Linda's arrival at town hall
followed one of town manager Charles
Kate's earliest and best hiring
decisions. appointing a bright young
graduate of UC Davis to the town
planning department. And the rest, as
they say, is history.
And Linda knows more about the planning
and zoning sections of Fairfax Town Code
in her little finger than most learn
after studying it for years and
understands the town's codes,
ordinances, and history better than
anyone else. And Linda has always
brought a factual, straightforward,
non-nonsense approach and an exceptional
work ethic to her service. Often the
first to arrive, always available to the
public and tackling every task with
impeccable care.
And whereas known throughout town as
approachable and fair, Linda built
strong relationships across every
department and worked patiently
alongside residents coming before the
planning commission to help shape
projects that could win approval. And
whereas when called upon, Linda stepped
forward to serve as the town's interim
planning director director, a role she
took on bravely and performed with
distinction. And throughout her tenure,
she has been quite simply the
institutional memory of the town. Even
if a flood if a flood were to wash the
old paper records down the creek, Linda
would still remember the history of
seemingly every parcel in Fairfax and
the countless planning commission
package she prepared over the years
would stand taller than the redwoods. If
stacked, would stand taller than the
redwoods. And whereas across four
decades, Linda has been the one constant
at town hall as colleagues came and
went, working alongside eight town
administrators and managers, 11 planning
directors, eight public work directors,
and six town clerks and deputy clerks,
five building officials, five police
chiefs, and six front counter
administrative assistants. And while she
told her sorry and while she and while
some told her she was crazy to stay so
long, the truth is simply that she is a
happy person who genuinely loves the
town of Fairfax.
And whereas Linda is a consumate
professional in an institution in
Fairfax, a wonderful person with a great
sense of humor, an always ready laugh,
and a gift for the entertaining bit of
Fairfax color drawn from her decades in
town, a warm and easy manner, and a
smiling face that all who visited the
front counter came to know. And whereas
Linda lovingly cared for the town cat
root beer for years, taking him to the
vet, feeding him well, and playing with
him daily, as he lulled about on her
desk in a cushioned box by day and
hunted by night, dearly loved by all.
And whereas Linda took over the care and
feeding of the koi and the large
goldfish in the little pond in front of
town hall, tending to them faithfully
and leaving us to wonder who will care
for them next.
And whereas Linda has cherished the
small welcoming charisma of Fairfax and
its interesting residents, the fantastic
hikes to be had on a 1-hour lunch break
and crossing the creek to come back
[snorts] to sorry and crossing the creek
to come face to face with owls,
raccoons, deer, and fawns while entering
through the town hall back door along
with small kindnesses like police
dispatcher Vanessa's smile at a gift of
homegrown tomatoes and finding meaning
in public service even when the work is
exhausting and can feel thankless
because serving the public is its own
reward.
And whereas beyond town hall, Linda
treasures her family and delights in
spending time with them and is known to
enjoy Marin County Fair and its carnival
rides. And whereas Linda's commitment,
knowledge, and service have left la left
a lasting impact on our community, and
she will be dearly missed by staff, the
town council, planning commissioners,
and the many, many residents and
applicants who had the good fortune to
work with her. And whereas it is now
time for Linda to move on to her
welldeserved retirement.
Now therefore be it proclaimed that in
acknowledgment of more than 40 years of
hard work, dedication, and tremendous
service to Fairfax and the larger
community, the town council of the town
of Fairfax extends its deepest
gratitude, appreciation, and admiration
to Linda Neil. And be it further
proclaimed that the town of Fairfax is
in a far better place because Linda Neil
came to work as our planner in 1986
and that August 5th, 2026 is hereby
proclaimed Linda Neil Day in the town of
Fairfax.
We love you, Linda.
Do you want to say a few words?
We'd
love to you to say a few words. Yeah,
they have a
>> picture.
>> Yeah, I will.
» You have
>> I have to get real close. Okay. I've
never used one of these. I always have
the ones that are hooked up. So, as the
reszo said, I did start coming to
Fairfax when I was two because my
parents loved hiking in the lakes above
Fairfax. So, the first time I was in a
baby backpack at the age of two, right?
Then one of my other favorite memories
is going to the Sleeping Lady Cafe,
which was a great music v venue right um
by the car repair place. And we were so
stupid, all these high school kids. We
park at the park right by the car place.
We crack open our beers and we hear this
little tap tap tap and this hand's going
like this. And a Fairfax police officer
told us right by town hall, "Get out of
the car, ladies, and pour out your beer,
right?" And we're all we're going to be
arrested, freaking out. He says, "Lock
the door, go to the cafe, and remember,
drinking and driving is dangerous." So
that was my high school in Fairfax,
right? High school time. And then, of
course, when my dad um got to be 102, we
still were bringing him to the lakes
because he loved going there. And so
it's I've been coming to Fairfax for a
long long time. Almost my whole life.
And I'm going to miss everybody.
Thanks for having me though.
I know I know that all of us have
comments and then we'll take public
comment as well. It sounds like
Heather's
giving a little
parting gift.
>> So, our No, but don't don't drop it.
[laughter]
Um, so we started a tradition a few
years ago here in Fairfax of giving um a
handmade platter from a local artist
with um the retirees
um information on it and a um artist
rendering of the town seal. So that's
what's inside.
>> Thank you, Linda.
>> Very nice.
>> Who wants to speak first? Okay. Deep
breath, Bobs.
>> Be brief. Okay.
I just want to say one thing
before I start that Linda told me that
she ate her first taco as a little girl
at Michael Macintosh's house. So,
I remember that. Um, I just want to say,
Linda, you've been such a fountain of
knowledge and um I can't believe you're
gone. Um,
yeah. And I think Mark is still
processing it too. We all are. But I
just want to say you've been just an
amazing,
you know, encyclopedia for all of us.
Um, just going to you when we have
questions.
You seem to know everything and we love
that. and hopefully um some people
absorb that um in your last three
months. I also want to say you've been a
dear friend to me and to my wonderful
cat Michelle who misses you dearly.
Michelle take um takes care of Linda
when I'm away and um just Linda you've
just been such a wonderful employee and
40 plus years it's closer to 41 years.
So, thank you for all your contributions
to our town. We will miss you dearly.
Thank you.
» Well, I'll speak. I'll You want to go?
>> Sure.
This was a while back before I was
elected to the town council and uh when
was that? 2024. and I was at a planning
commission meeting and uh you know what
we're going to miss most about Linda not
being here is her institutional memory.
We may have to hire her back under under
contract to bring her in from time to to to go through our records and
help us out. But uh I was at a plan, you
know, it's being that she was really the
planning director. Whatever whatever you
want to call it, she was the planning
director and and had to make some really
tough decisions. Sometimes we would red
tag someone for zoning violations. So I
was in the audience. This is a few years
ago out here. And uh there's a there's
an applicant who's really upset. He got
red he was red tagged. This is up on uh
Wood Lane. And uh and and he was he had
permits to build a a lot of stuff, but
he was just going off building his own
thing that he wanted. He wasn't
following his plans. And and so he got
redtagged. So he's he's ranting and
raving here at the meeting telling about
how terrible it is dealing with Fairfax.
He said, "Yeah, between Linda Neil and
Frank Agger, it's really tough around
here." Oh my gosh. So here was Linda and Frank. We were in the same
bag. How about that, huh? Anyway, Linda,
thank you so very much. Rita is going to
miss you, too.
» I'll just say something quick. I didn't
get to work with you as much as I would
have liked to, but um I so enjoyed your
um spirit in the office and your sort of
cand do attitude. And I just remember we
were trying to tour some possible open
space acquisitions and it's like you
knew totally knew the area, you knew all
the neighbors and you were like, let's
just like crawl down that bank and into
the creek and through the water and um I
just was like, yeah, let's do it. This
is like awesome. I can't believe we have
a town employee who's just like can do
this. So anyway, you're just uh
appreciated for um you know, like people
said, both your institutional knowledge,
but I just think also you just like a
spirit of adventure. So it was really
nice.
>> Do you want No, no, you
>> Yeah. Well, Fairfax,
one of the luckiest days for Fairfax is
when Linda Neil started that job. And
I've always pictured
people who work for Fairfax are people
who also know our community really well,
like like Linda did. Not only was she
great in town hall, but she knew so many
people outside of town hall. She was
literally friends with so many people.
Um, and I think that is a quality that
um is you just can't find these days.
And I and um I think that's a you're
irreplaceable.
And um I appreciate the time that all
the times you told me I was doing
something wrong and uh but all all that
aside,
congratulations and um and it's welld
deserved and hope to see you around.
Thank you.
You're such a lovely human being and I'm
just so really appreciative of getting
to know you these past few years and
even with all of the, you know, the
craziness that the town experiences, you
just stay the course and you're very
positive and um the times that I've gone
out to you on sites have just been I
mean what you contain is is you're just
brilliant and it's the word is
absolutely you are irreplaceable. It's a
huge loss. Um but I'm also really really
happy for you and I also want to just
name the fact that you know early in my
tenure on the council
um you really to me showed a lot of
leadership that I learned from in terms
of you know when you presented something
and if I didn't necessarily vote in
alignment with your recommendation you know didn't take it personally I was
like worried that it would hurt our
relationship and it was never like that.
is very very professional and I just
really admire that about you because I
know you put in so much energy and time
and care into your your work. Um, and
I'm going to miss you dearly just
walking around. I remember the first
time I saw you walking up Manor Hill.
I'm like, are you are you like what what
are you doing? You why are you walking
up scenic? It's so hot. And you're like,
no, no, I like I like to do that. So, I
just think it's I think you're wonderful
and beautiful. And I also wanted to
thank all the people who contributed to
the proclamation, namely Mimi Newton, um
who's a big fan of yours, as I'm sure
you know. And um with that we will open
the public comment.
This is a public comment on the Linda
Neil proclamation.
So, some of this has been said already,
but Linda has spent 40 years serving
this community. 40 years,
sorry, 40 years
knowing the history and mapping of the
town. During that time, she has no doubt
walked every road, looked at every
parcel more than once. That 40 years
also includes volunteer service to the
community. When Fairfax had a vibrant
volunteer organization, she volunteered
on the First Creek Cleanup effort, and
there are pictures.
Her love of the community included
taking care of the fish out in the pond
in front of the town hall, as well as
sharing her office space with the town's
rodent control officer. I recently spoke
with an individual that had a business
in town many years ago and still
remembers the help that Linda provided
her when she opened her business. Linda
believes strongly in customer service.
So, I want to congratulate Linda on her
retirement and acknowledge all we have
lost with her retirement.
I don't have anything too helpful to
add, but
Hi, Linda. I just wanted to let you guys
know that I'm going to be Linda's
campaign manager, and now she can be on
town council.
Um, I'd like to start by saying,
Stephanie, thank you very much for the
lovely proclamation. She is certainly
worthy of all the praise that you
brought forth tonight. and I personally
really appreciate it. Obviously, I've
known Linda for a long time and I've
known her as little kids, you know,
playing with snakes and everything else.
And all I can say is we'll certainly
miss her. I hope when our town reviews
pensions and everything else, she is the
person that's worthy of the largest
pensions that we can give to our
employees. She's been here for
everybody. She's been consistent. She's
a lovely person. And even if she
retires, I'm sure she'll still be back
here to help us. So to everybody, thank
you very much for the compliment you've
given her tonight.
» Okay.
>> Well,
>> this event kind of got me
[clears throat and cough]
all poetic.
Okay. I decided I would read a limmerick
I have written for you.
In Fairfax, there toiled a planner named
Neil, processing projects with an odd
kind of zeal. She was nice with advice.
You'd go back for it twice. That was
just how good she made everyone feel.
Um, I also wrote you an ode which is a
little longer and I the town had it
framed for you. So I'm going to give you
my ode as well. And there was a ha coup
but that's far too long a time to get
into the haiku too. there. Yeah.
» So, uh I want to thank Linda. Um missing
from the proclamation are the dozens of
town council members who you've put up
with over the last 40 years. So, and uh
I for one really appreciated it both as
a member of the council and also as a
resident cuz we did a couple building
projects that you helped us with and you
know treated us fairly and worked with
us and just you know so she is really
irreplaceable because she not only knows
the codes but she helped write the codes
and implement the codes. So, you're
really irreplaceable.
And on a on a more serious note, with
the new state housing mandate,
many of the characteristics of Fairfax,
the planning and zoning characteristics
are going to be overridden and have been
overridden by the state. So, some of the
work that she's done that's helped
create Fairfax, the physical environment
in Fairfax,
you know, this may be the fork in the
road when you leave,
but uh one thing is when you walk
through town, I hope you appreciate the
look and the feel of the town as we all
should. So, thanks. Thanks again, Linda,
and I'll see you around. Thank you.
Hi, Mayor and Council. Hi, Linda. I came
down here tonight to speak in support of
the proclamation, which is obviously
going to be unanimous. And um to thank
Linda for being a great colleague,
former colleague, a great as a resident,
you've been great keeping our town where
it should be. Um Linda's a lot of fun.
We laughed a lot together. [laughter]
Many laughs. Linda's also an amazing
gardener and has a magic lemon tree.
That's Gary. [laughter]
Okay. Thank you, Gary.
Okay. Yeah, that's and that's the hard
part.
And uh anyway, I just I don't know what
you guys are going to do without Linda,
actually.
Congratulations.
It was about 25 years ago. I got myself
set up as my practice as an architect on
Blanus Road. And uh one day shortly
thereafter, I went over to the planning
department to introduce myself and I met
Linda
[snorts] and uh described what I had in
mind. And Linda looked at me and said,
"Oh, you're the person that set up an
office on the ground floor, which flies
in the face of a very obscure section of
the code,
which
and when I tried to resolve that, it
involved the variance and at that time
you couldn't get variances in downtown
Fairfax.
So we had to go through a few changes
there. But anyway, there was another
thing that very few people know about in
this town is there was a period, I don't
know if it was two or three years when
there was no planning director and Linda
was left with the task of trying to make
a call on all these various problems
that came up. And few people know that
she really relied upon
this monkey to make a lot of the
decisions
for the planning department.
And often you would have to
state your case and then she would throw
the monkey at you and the monkey would
express its feeling. Now that my got a
little old I don't know if you can hear
her but she go like this
» and hold on. So I just I would just say
no no it's
>> the key
>> yours to play
>> the other one.
>> Yes. This there two of them. She wanted to get two opinions on
everything. So, she had two monkeys, one
of her own and that one. In any event,
it all seems to worked out pretty well.
And uh I've really had quite a
meaningful relationship
uh with Linda and the town. Should be
very thankful for having all of her
efforts for so many years.
» Thank you. Next speaker.
Um, I have had the opportunity to walk
into Linda's office, both as a member of
the tree committee with questions about
plans and also as a resident with
questions about projects. And she has
always been welcoming with a big smile.
And uh, I'll never forget the wall of
folders opposite her desk. and if I
asked of something in history, she
reached out. She knew exactly which
folder to pick out. Um, I think not only
has she been through many planning
directors, but she's really trained
planning directors and she is the she is
the person at planning commission
meetings if members of the commission
are going in a direction that's not uh
according to code, the person who brings
them back and and knows the code. So, I
don't know what we're going to do
without you, but I'll certainly miss
you.
Um, Linda, there are there are some
people um that you have to say goodbye
to.
And if you don't get to say goodbye, it
just seems like the pass passage is
incomplete.
Uh, and when I found out that Linda was
last day was when it was, I was
compelled to be here because I could not
leave the the path that Linda and I have
shared in Fairfax and what Linda has
done for Fairfax without thanking her
and saying goodbye. Thank you. You're
going to be a tough act to follow. Thank
you.
» Indeed, you are loved. Linda, is there
any hands raised?
>> We have one raised hand on Zoom. Mina,
you are unmuted. You may now unmute
yourself.
>> Hi. Can you hear me?
>> Yes. Um, I also wanted to say something
and uh recognize Linda Neil on her
retirement. Listening to everyone's
stories tonight. It's clear just how
many lives she's touched over these last
40 years. Um, Linda's truly been a part
of the fabric of Fairfax for decades. 40
years of service is remarkable and with
that comes an incredible amount of
institutional knowledge that simply
can't be replaced. From the chamber's
perspective, Linda was always helpful.
She knew the town processes inside and
out. And while she was a careful steward
of the rules, she was also someone you
could call, ask questions, and count on
to help you understand how to get things
done the right way. I can't tell you how
many businesses have commended Linda on
her professionalism, consistency, and
dedication. And I know that she's had a
positive impact on anyone she's probably
come in contact with, residents,
businesses, staff, volunteers, me. Um,
on behalf of the Fairfax Chamber of
Commerce and the wider business
community, thank you, Linda, so much for
your decades of service to Fairfax. We
wish you all the best in your retirement
and hope to see you around town. Thank
you.
>> We have one more raised hand on Zoom.
Mark. Mark, you are unmuted. You may now
unmute yourself.
>> Can you hear me?
>> Yes. I just want to say it's been a
wonderful 20 years uh working with
Linda. Uh I miss her greatly and uh you
know whenever I had uh some horrible
dilemma that would come up I'd always
say hey you know what do I do? What do I
do? And one example was you know I
get items from Amazon every once in a
while. I got this Amazon box and it was
on my desk. I open it up and it's a bra
and panties
and it's to one of our co-workers, one
of our gentleman co-workers. I said,
"Linda, what do I do? What do I do? I
don't know what to do with this." And
she was calm and she said, "We'll just
tape it up, put it on their desk. When
they're not looking, we don't say
anything. They won't say anything."
Anyway, thank you so much for a
wonderful 20 years, Linda.
Oh my god.
Okay. Oh, should we take a break? Should
we take a break?
>> Yeah, we're gonna take a five minute
break so we can all give hugs and
there's cookies and celebrating. We're
going to con What time is it? It's We're
going to reconvene in five minutes, but
I think all of us want to say it
farewell. Okay.
Get your goodies and take a seat.
We're going to resume. We've got couple
of big items
and I want to be in bed by what's what's
the bet? 9:30
Okay. Well, that was really wonderful
and there's still some treats and some
coffee. Um, we are now moving on to open
time for public
expression.
And this is the time for the public to
address the council on matters not on
the agenda.
Each speaker is limited to two minutes.
The council cannot take action or
discuss items that are not on the agenda
as restricted by state law. If there are
more speakers after 30 minutes, open
time will continue at the end of the
agenda.
Okay, let's try to keep the chatter to a
minimum. And with that, first speaker.
Thank you.
>> Good evening. I'm Michael Ardo, resident
of Fairfax since birth in 1953. I'm here
tonight to announce that the last
weekend of August, the community will be
celebrating the 75th anniversary diamond
jubilee of our public high school since
1951. Sir Francis Drake, now Archie
Williams. as a proud Drake graduate when
Archie Williams was my output teacher
and track coach and a Septu teacher at
the high school since 2017. This year
I'm one of the people working diligently
to help bring our community together to
celebrate the school's milestone. The
last Friday of August will be the golf
tournament and that night school alumni
music performance will be at various
venues in the Ross and San Donimo
valleys. On Sunday afternoon, August
30th, there will be a Day on the Green
picnic on campus with music. There will
be historical displays in the student
center, speaker presentations, and
celebration cupcakes and ice cream while
supplies last. Vintage Drake pirate
athletic wear that will that we rescued
from the school's athletic fieldhouse
before demolition will be available on
campus the last weekend of the month.
The hundreds and hundreds of athletic
clothing are worth thousands upon
thousands of dollars. In lie of a small
donation for the athletic wear, people
can receive items for free by
participating later this month in the
passport puzzle program. Large green
capital letters will be in storefront or
restaurant windows in Fairfax and San
Samo
similar to the annual hunt for the
Fairfax art walk. Please look for the
green diamond emblem. The weekend will
culminate on Monday night, August 31st
with the second annual Drake Archery
Williams Athletic Hall of Fame dinner at
Deer Park Villa. Everyone can
participate the last weekend of August
by wearing the school colors of green
with white or black. As clues for the
puzzle, next Thursday, August 13th, the
new California historical landmark pot
for Drake and the Golden Hinds landing
in 1579 will be decim. This Sunday,
August 9th, is the 9th anniversary of
Archie Williams winning the Olympic gold
medal in 1936. Thank you.
>> Wonderful. Well, thank you. Next
speaker, please.
>> Yes. My my name is Steve Werman. I live
at One Meadow Way. I'm here to talk
about my concern regarding the Meadowway
Bridge utilities. Nancy and I agreed to
a temporary easement agreement back in
March. This July, your attorneys
provided us with a new revised agreement
after PG& asked for and got revisions.
We requested what PG's revisions were,
but haven't gotten a response. We added
two sentences to protect our property,
our pool area and solar panels. I don't
trust PG&E. I understand that all the
utility lines are to be placed
underground permanently. We've had
numerous meetings at the bridge with
your with representatives from the town
and utilities and that's what we've been
told. We put in solar panels in October
of 2015 to do our part for climate
change. In April 2018, PG Gen without
notice to us tried to put a 60 ft
utility pole which it would have blocked
our panels. That's picture one. And it
shows our house and it shows where where
their um pole would have been. It took a
year to get an anchor placed across
Cascade. Just because PG says something
doesn't mean it's true. In July, this
last July, PG& without again notice put
a taller utility pole on the north side
of the Meadowway Bridge. It added a
trans transformer type item. Picture two
is the old pole and the new pole. You
can see how tall it is. Picture three
shows this transformer type item. I'm
sure that down the line PG& will say
that the utility wires have to be put
back up, not underground because of this
new pole. We have advised PG&E numerous
times that it is silly and a waste of
money to put new poles up when all the
utilities are going to be going
underground. You have seen TV ads with
the woman of uh CEO of PG saying that
they want to put them underground
because it's a fire hazard and Cascade
Canyon is a fire hazard. Thank Thank
you. [music]
» Hi, I'm Nancy Wasserman. Um, I'm a
Fairfax resident who's lived on
Meadowway for 41 years and on Cascade
for seven for a total of 48 years in
Cascades. And I've never talked to the
council before. This is my first time.
Um, I would like to speak also about the
Meadowway Bridge, a little bit different
from what Steve was talking about. With
environmental studies starting in 2013
and design changes and negotiations
along the way, we still have no bridge.
I live at the edge of the bridge and
hear every car that crosses it. I have
huge concerns for my neighbors and
emergency vehicles driving over it. The
Canyon Bridge went up in a month. The
Bicycle Coalition, as you mentioned
earlier, is beginning the Elliot
Preserve bridges after one year of
planning and we still don't have a
bridge. They have fishing game and
environmental issues just as we do. PG&E
promised that with the bridge, our
utility wires would go underground
permanently. Now they are reigging and
reversing their position. We have agreed
to everything up until now. I urged the
town council to stand up for our
neighborhood welfare and fight on our
behalf for fire safety for a swifter
resolution to the bridge issues with
PG&E and get this bridge project
completed before another rainy season
passes. It is shameful that PG&E appears
to have the last word on this project
and the Fairfax City Council does not.
Thank you.
Sierra Salem, I have a slogan for
Fairfax.
Let's change Fairfax.
And perhaps we can add something to the
end of it for the better or for the
worse. I saw a line of cars stretching
from the Fairfax Community Church to St.
Rita's on Saturday morning for the food
bank.
I wonder why that's getting longer,
especially with all the affordable
housing that we're building in Marin.
Um, I talk to people and ask them,
people that have been here a long time
that live here that are locals, some
many of which grew up here, how much
they make a year working at the Good
Earth or any pretty much any business in
town or lots of other businesses.
And most of the people in the locals
that work in any local businesses make
well under $50,000 a year.
Think about that. We're building housing
pegged at $120,000 a year. We're getting
two extra stories of bonus bonus bonus
extra bonus units at $120,000 a year.
Who is that serving? It's not serving
anybody that lives here, that is here,
that's from here, that works here.
Let's change Fairfax, right? That
building is going to change Fairfax. I
don't think it's going to be for the
better.
I'm willing to chain myself to to the
equipment. I'm willing to have my car
break during rush hour on Sir Francis
Draker Center and maybe everybody else's
cars will break on center too during
rush hours. We've got a traffic problem.
We've got a water problem. We've got
lots of problems. We don't have any
solutions that were actually our
solutions. Affordable housing for
$120,000 is not a solution. It's kicking
the can down the road and making things
worse.
Um, I've got 14 seconds left. What are
we doing for the environments to make
things better? And yes, I do feel like a
hypocrite because I just went out and
bought a new refrigerator rather than
fixing one that was 22 years old. And I
wish that things were made so that we
could repair them. [music]
>> Thank you.
» Not as tall. Deborah Benson, Cascade
Drive. Um, I would like to speak to the
council about
uh
getting along. I attended last council
meeting via Zoom and some of what I saw
with council members being cut off and
then breaks and
interactions was really kind of
appalling. Um I I don't know if you guys
remember Diane Huffman, but she was a
person who was involved in in town
politics. And I remember her saying once
we get we did get three minutes to talk
and you guys sit up there and you go on
and on and on. Sometimes that's the way
to reach consensus.
Sometimes it's going to be a little bit
off topic, sometimes not. I know you you
have to stick to the agenda and what's
on the agenda, but um I would like to
see some of the spirit that we just saw
between all five of you in regards to
our our dear person who's leaving um
extend to your your everyday
interactions with each other. I'd like
to see a line of of smoothness going
between all of you instead of a line of
fractiousness. Um, it used to be a lot
friendlier here with each other and with
the council and the people and uh I'm
not up there. It's a difficult job, but
I'd like you guys to work on that. Thank
you.
» Next speaker.
>> Hi, Todd Greenberg.
You know, Fairfax used to be more about
peace, love, tie-dye,
music, art, and community.
But what many of us see
many [clears throat] members of this
council repeatedly doing is bringing
controversy to Fairfax.
Now it's about tasers,
automated license plate readers, and
approving high-rise highdensity
buildings. And now you're considering
unlimited
unspecified pesticide use later on at
this meeting.
The mayor and other members frequently
condemn public speakers for what they
say.
They rely upon stated rules of decorum,
but yet they violate those stated rules
of decorum.
It's not
equally applied.
And in fact, the law
allows criticism of town council
members. So, I suggest that you revise
your rules of decorum and until you
revise them, that you actually adhere to
the law and you quit badmouthing and
publicly insulting speakers and cutting
them off and cutting off town council
members. I suggest that you adhere to
the Brown Act and that you adhere to
what Fire Town Council's adopted as the
rules of order, namely Robert's rules of
order, which the mayor consistently
breaks.
You need to have a vote before you
adjourn a meeting abruptly. And then
when you adjourn the meeting,
you need to return the floor to the
council member who is speaking.
Please.
» I certainly think Todd read the laws
because he is correct. I am one of those
people that were cut off last time.
I think the reason I get cut off is
because our mayor does not want to hear
a difference of opinion. But what
prompted all this was when our council
member that represents different points
of view, Michael Giranelli, got abruptly
cut off, tried to interfere with his his
thinking, and then the meeting is
adjourned. That's not correct. I've seen
the same poor attitude towards Council
Member Edgar regarding hearing aids and
different things. Where is that allowed
in any group? I would also like to say
that I have found the current council to
be as divisive as I have seen in the 24
years I've been coming to this meetings.
Leisel has always been polite, has
always represented people. She may not
have the same opinion that I do, but
she's always been willing to sit down
and discuss that. I find the same of
Michael and Frank. I would encourage the
mayor to take that same behavior because
I've seen our mayor stick her tongue out
to people, flip people off, take papers
off desk and throw them on the ground
which is recorded. And I would
appreciate if maybe she reflected upon
those actions and thought of a better
way to represent her town and bring
forth a little continuity and welcome
the value of diversity of opinions to
get to a better place. Thank you.
Any other speakers in the
room? Okay, seeing none, are there any
hands raised?
>> We have two raised hands on Zoom. The
first speaker is Cindy, followed by
Jodie. Cindy, you are unmuted. You may
now unmute yourself.
>> Um, hi, good evening. Cindy Ross, um,
longtime Fairfax resident. I live on
Lansdale Avenue and a few a couple of
weeks ago or so on Next Door online, I
saw a thread about my street that um at
first I thought was kind of funny, sort
of interesting, but it's it's given me a
lot to think about and I realized that I would like to see if we could work
towards some solutions. Um, what what
came up online was that Lansdale Avenue
apparently has been designated voerf,
which I've come to learn is um I think
it means living street. Um, it's it's an
attempt to share the road. It's it's a
program that was implemented
in um Holland first and several other
cities in in Europe to try to calm down
traffic.
And the thread on Next Door was kind of
interesting because not only did people
most people not know that those signs
were there, apparently they've been
there maybe 10 years. Um but you know
there was lots of speculation. you know,
they they seemed really silly. Nobody
knew what they meant. And, you know, I I
get the concept of trying to to share
the road, but on Lansdale Avenue and
also um the other street that I live
closest to, Pastori Avenue,
um it it's it's ridiculous to to put up
a sign and think that it's going to make
a difference. We have a road that is not
wide enough for two-way traffic and
parking. Um, we have people on bicycles
and in cars that don't pay attention to
all the stop signs and other traffic
safety. Um, we have people that cut
through the Fairfax PL Oh, okay. Well,
the next speaker is Jod. Jody, you are
unmuted. You may now unmute yourself.
Okay, I don't see a Thank you. I don't
see a a clock, but I'll try to get this
in my two minutes. Good evening, mayor,
council members, staff, and fellow
community members. Jod Tims, Cascade
Drive. Just a few climate related items.
First, many thanks to those who came out
on July 24th to the Fairfax Climate
Action Committee's Climate Future Film
Festival that was held in the Women's
Club. We had about 50 folks join us to
watch 13 international documentary films
with tableabling by Resilient
Neighborhoods and the county's
sustainability staff. I think most of us
in Fairfax also recently received a
letter from the county's new climate and
sustainability department regarding the
Bay Ren Ease program for possible home
upgrades. The letter detailed what the
program covers and what it costs, a
maximum of up to $2,000. It includes
insulation, air and duct ceiling or
replacement, induction, cooking
installation, etc. I took advantage of
this program a while back and I highly
recommend it. On September 12th from 1
to 4, the Reuse Alliance and the town
will host another repair fair at the
library. So, bring your broken
appliances and gadgets to see if they
can be fixed and reused. And finally,
regarding the topic of dark skies, I
know the planning commission has been
mulling this over for some time, and
this morning I attended a Marin
Conservation League meeting and heard
about their dark sky policy. As you
likely know, light pollution destroys
critical wildlife habitat. It wastes
money and energy. It harms human health.
It can actually decrease safety and
security. And it robs us of our
beautiful night sky. So given that
writing an ordinance can take a long
time, I'd love to propose that in the
meantime, the council consider drafting
a town resolution or proclamation with
our intention to address light pollution
through responsible outdoor lighting.
Thank you for all you do. Community
members, staff, and council.
>> There are no more speakers on Zoom.
>> Okay, terrific. Thank you. You're
closing.
Can I just say a couple words quick
about Drake?
>> Uh yeah, let me just close open time for
public expression and then quickly go
ahead.
>> Okay. Um
75th uh Diamond Ju Jubilee anniversary
is quite a big deal and uh thank thanks
to Mike Ardo, our open space committee
member for coming tonight and reminding
us of that what's coming up. Um,
our daughter Lori uh graduated from
Drake in 1978. And, uh, Archie Williams
was her math teacher, so we had a
connection. And I do actually have a
little further back connection. And, um,
70 years ago, it was in 1956. I was a
senior at SI on the championship
swimming team. And we came over here and
swam Drake High School in our brand new
pool there. Um I I had I had never been
to Drake High School or seen it, but it
they had a brand new pool. Boy, that was
something. And so we got to come over
here and and swim Drake High. Anyway,
that's my connection to Drake. Thanks.
Well, one one last quick thing. Uh we
heard we heard neighbors of on
Meadowway. It's my understanding PG& is
going to underground.
>> Frank,
>> you know, people come down and they ask
us make a comment. No, but you have a
>> I'm not I'm not
>> Frank. I was going to I was going to say
something.
>> I was going to tell you the PGD is going
to underground from Cascade Drive to the
Meadowway. That's what we've been told.
>> That's all.
>> Well, that's reiterating what I think
what the Wermans were saying, but I'm I
want to appreciate I want to acknowledge
your concerns and I hope that we can
help you get the answers you're seeking.
Moving on, we are now on to the regular
agenda. Item number two, pesticide
ordinance exception request. Adopt a
resolution authorizing an an exception
to the town's pesticide ordinance for
targeted flea treatment beneath the
temporary fire station. And we have
our director of public works, Kristen
Arnold, here. Take it away.
>> Thank you.
Did you promote me?
Almost there.
Share. Oh.
says someone else is sharing.
Almost there. There we go.
Okay, [laughter]
[sighs]
good evening. I'm Kristen Arnold, public
works. I'm here to talk about an
exception to the pestanite pesticide
ordinance for the temporary fire
station. Um, specifically underneath the
building
in early July
or I'm sorry, late July. Um staff was
told about um a flea infestation in the
playground. Um we subsequently closed
the playground while we started
evaluating what our options are and what
we could do about it. Um
so our first focus was on the
playground. Um, we discovered that
animals were able to access underneath
the deck area in the playground. Um, and
so while we were excluding that area, we
found openings
into the temporary fire station, which
is currently at the community center,
which borders the playground. Um, so we
were able to block off all of those
accesses.
for the playground. We
from talking with a few different
agencies um we determined that an
agricultural steam treatment um looked
like a really good option to treat the
fleas in the playground. Um that has
been completed now and it uh does appear
that it had a significant impact. Um, so
we'll continue monitoring and raking the
sand to evaluate how the playground site
is going.
However,
this leaves fleas
um underneath the crawl space of the
temporary fire station. The crawl space
is um
like a solid perimeter concrete
foundation. So, it completely circles
the underneath of the building and that
is now blocked off from wildlife being
able to access it. Um
so we were reviewing the ordinance to go
through our options of how do we treat
underneath the building. Um
granular pesticides that are ground
applied are allowed by the ordinance.
However, they need to be watered to
activate
any um pesticide or insecticide.
And
hosing down underneath a woodframe
building is not an ideal situation. It
can create rot and mold and generally
you want to avoid it. Um, we did add
boric acid underneath the building.
However, it's not really an effective
flea treatment, especially through all
stages of a fleas's life cycle.
um and is not an effective means to
control the situation that we're in. Um
the ordinance also allows spraying 9
square feet once per year, but
underneath the building is roughly 1,900
square ft. Um and we did talk to
um Dominican University about steaming
under the building, but it was the same
situation. It adds too much water. Um,
and you may ask the question, why didn't
we, you know, just use the granular
pesticides anyways and just try to use a
little bit of water? It's also against
like federal law prohibits using a
pesticide inconsistently with its label
and granular pesticides
um are specifically
marketed for outside landscaped areas um
or like a lawn area.
Um so the last option in the ordinance
is to request council to authorize an
exception when the following three
conditions are present. Health and
safety impacts, no reasonable
alternative and adverse town impacts. Um
so the infestation can impact the fire
station staff and fleas can carry
disease. Um the ordinance compliant
measures
will not control the fleas beneath the
building.
And if fleas start finding their way
into the fire station, there is a
potential that we would need to relocate
the fire station which would increase
emergency response times.
After coming to this determination,
staff met with three different pest
control companies and has been
consulting with the county department of
agriculture to find a recommended
solution.
The recommended treatment approach is to
spray an insecticide and a growth
regulator under the temporary fire
station
to treat this infestation.
It's a type of insecticide
that um
I asked what a growth regulator is.
>> It basically breaks the life life cycle.
>> Yeah. [laughter]
I am not an expert in all of the
pesticides, but I've been doing as much
homework as I can. Um, and so both of
these products
um are labeled for use in schools and
other institutional buildings. They're
also
labeled for recreational areas,
outdoors.
They are labeled as safe to use around
animals.
Um, and they can be used inside of homes
and outside. Um, they are
California registered products, meaning
they're acceptable products to use in
California.
Um,
and the Alpine uh WSG stands for water
soluble granular. Um the alpine
insecticide is
um it has EPA granted reduce risk status
which means that
for certain
um
pest control options the EPA has found
that there's low risk to people applying
it
and occupying the treated building. Um,
it's also low risk to non-target
organisms and the environment,
but they've also determined that it
still has an effectiveness that may
reduce repeated applications
and help eliminate the issue. Um,
so we would do an initial application
and then we'd inspect within the first
week. Um, it would likely need to be
reapplied and then we would continue
inspection through there um to ensure
that the issue has been controlled.
So with that, staff recommends that the
town council authorize an exception to
chapter 8.52 of the Fairfax Town Code to
allow a licensed pest control operator
to apply and reapply as necessary a
California registered flea control
treatments beneath the temporary fire
station in accordance with all
applicable laws and product label
requirements until the infestation is
controlled. and I'm happy to answer any
questions.
» Thank you. And I just know that this
came out of left field for you and how
much time and attention it's required of
you on top of all the many many DPW
projects. So, I'm sorry and thank you.
Um any I know I have questions, but I'm
going to go down the line. Go ahead,
Council Member Blash.
>> Yeah. So, um I understand that this
would go under the building. It's an
enclosed space. Um I, you know, like
many pesticides, both of these have, I
think, acute toxicity to aquatic life
and um we're very near our creek. Um but
I think the concept is the the water is
not going under there, right? So, it's
not soaking into the uh watershed. Um
should we ever take down that building
or rebuild it? Is it does it remain? Do
you know if it this there's a life um of
that product that it eventually stops
being toxic or is it going to keep the
soil under there problematic for the
future?
» So I mean the treatments have to be
reapplied.
So that means that they can't have like
lingering long-term effects cuz if we do
it once, that doesn't mean that nothing
will ever get under the building or we
won't have other pests. Um so that it
seems like it dissipates after a certain
amount of time.
I I just have a couple clarifying
questions if that's okay. So
we've gotten the playground under
control. It's still essentially blocked
off, quarantined,
and you're checking it. You're wrecking
it regularly, and you're seeing that
it's it's working, and you might need to
do more steaming, but it's working thus
far, right?
I would say it's potentially under
control. I We saw a drastic change after
the first steaming. Um, but fleas do lay
a lot of eggs every day.
Um, so until we monitor for I would say
at least a week or two.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> This is what I'm kind of getting because
they I know they they so gross but we
have to get into it. So they they lay
eggs but they can't survive unless they
eat.
>> Correct.
>> And so we have the whole we have
everything we have it blocked off. And
so unless like some critters are
obviously can still get in there, right?
>> There are air vents to the crawl space.
Um and so generally what happens is when
a flea loses its host, so that would you
know be the raccoon living under the
building.
>> The fleas then move towards vibrations.
Um
» oh gosh, I want to say CO2. Um, and like
they move towards ventilated areas is
the gist of it.
>> Okay. But so the you've got the
playground, then you've got you've got
the deck, and then you have the
community center,
and you've you've
closed off any access to below the deck,
so nobody no critters can live or access
that anymore. And the concern is that
underneath there is and underneath the community center building is where
we have to treat, right?
>> Yes.
>> Okay. And but if they I mean by my
question is by just uh time just just by
quarantining
for a couple of weeks wouldn't would
that work just because they they don't
have they won't be able to access a
host. So generally once the host leaves
that's when the fleas really start
coming out to go search for food. So
they will
move towards out they will move out from
under the building and that is when they
are very likely to start finding the
fire personnel that are
>> okay. And there and there's no evidence
yet um like the firefighters haven't
seen any evidence yet. Is that true?
Not yet.
>> Um, [laughter]
but did you get some information today?
I I would say we need more information.
Okay.
>> Um, yeah.
>> Okay. Um, Mike, did you have a question?
>> Sure. Um,
did did we capture a raccoon and check
it for fleas? How do we know they came
from the raccoon?
I mean, we suspect um
the fire personnel living in the
building has seen multiple raccoons.
I mean, we know there's a lot of
raccoons in the area. This is not the
first time we've gotten them out of um
different buildings. Um, and
when we were
looking at some of the vents around the
building to try to make sure everything
was blocked off, there was a family of
raccoons staring at us
from right behind the building. Um,
we've also had other reports of other
people seeing raccoons in the area.
Yeah. So, I I I I sit on a nonprofit
board, Marin's Pesticide Free Zone, and
we use the Northwest Center for
Alternatives to pesticide zone, and we
use their their uh material safety data
sheets to determine whether or not the
pesticide that's being used uh would
have an adverse impact on people or
children.
Do do we know the actual name of that
pesticide that we could check the
material safety data sheet?
>> I did forget to print out the um the data sheets. I have um the like all
the label information.
>> Okay. So I
>> I can provide those. I do know the two
um
insecticides that we plan to use. That's
the Alpine WSG and then the Techco Pro.
>> Okay. I I went to the Northwest Center
for um for alternatives to pesticides
and uh they've got a whole a whole uh uh
section managing fleas without
pesticides.
Um so there there are some alternatives.
I'm I'm I'm wondering if we've really
used all tried everything else before
going to the pesticide.
>> Well, I tried everything that was
allowed by the ordinance.
Um,
and I needed help with
the infestation. So I called pest
control companies
and we went through different options
but this is what they recommend to
ensure that we eliminate the problem
efficiently and effectively
so that we don't put the fire station at
risk.
>> I have a question.
>> Go ahead, Mike. If we approve this
tonight, which I will be voting forward
to approving it, um how quick can you
get to the job? When will it start?
>> I was hoping to have an answer for that
by tonight. Um but the pest control
company um didn't get back to me today.
Um I asked if we could set up scheduling
for Thursday or Friday. Um
>> Okay.
>> But I I don't know for sure if it can
happen that yet. But quickly though.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you,
>> Council Member Kohler.
>> Yeah, I think it's more of a comment.
So, I had brought so I'm an
entomologist, have a master's degree in
entomology and formally trained in all
that. And what I brought up after I read
this was um so pesticides don't kill the
eggs. I'm not sure about steam cleaning
because that's a newer thing. It's been
several years, but I that's why I asked
that we be able to reapply because the
life cycle you don't kill the eggs and
the life cycle is usually within 10
days. So, you got to go back and
probably reapply and because you have a
growth regulator, what that means is
they can't go through the stages of
life. But so, if we can get those eggs
as they first hatch. So that's why I had
asked that we make a change to the
resolution to allow us to reapply. And
while I'm not a fan of pesticides, I
think this is really important that we
get moving on this very quickly. And you
know, we don't want to have to move
those firefighters out and we need to
take care of this very quickly as well
as continuing the monitoring of the
actual children's area. Thank you. Thank
you for all your efforts here. Let's
open public comment.
» Hi Todd Greenberg. This building that
you're concerned about is in a flood
zone. The staff report identifies a
legitimate concern protecting
firefighters and keeping the temporary
fire station operational. It also
confirms that the town has already begun
non-pesticide measures, including
wildlife exclusion, boric acid, and
steam treatment, but the public has not
received adequate notice of the plan.
Now, before you, the original staff
report describes a one-time limited
exemption. The supplemental resolution
instead authorizes the town to apply and
reapply unspecified pestifi pesticide
treatments until tonight during this
meeting until the infestation is
considered controlled. That is a
material expansion and the public still
does not know the product active
ingredient application method, number of
treatment, safety precautions,
monitoring plan, expiration date or
definition of success. I ask the council
to take three clear actions tonight.
First, continue the item to a later
meeting rather than approving open-ended
authority through a lastm minute
supplement. Second, direct staff to
continue monitoring non-pesticide
measures including wildlife exclusion,
boric acid where permitted, steam
treatment, sanitation, removal or
replacement of affected material where
necessary, and repeated flea checks in
both the crawl space and the playground.
Because flea pupy can remain protected
and emerge later, monitoring over time
is essential before declaring these
measures unsuccessful. Third, require
any future pesticide proposal to
identify the exact product and active
ingredient. Provide the label and safety
information, limit treatment to a
defined area and number of applications,
establish an expiration date, require
marine county inspection, and define
measurable criteria for when the
infestation is controlled. Only after
that plan is publicly posted with
adequate advanced notice should the
council consider a pesticide exception
at a subsequent meeting. Please protect
firefighters and the public, but also
protect meaningful public participation
and the integrity of Fairfax's pesticide
ordinance.
» Next speaker, Deborah Benson, Catscape
Drive. Um, over a week ago, I emailed
town staff suggesting we try
dietimmacous earth, which is a proven
killer of fleas. It's a it's a non-toxic
um like a clay, a pulverized clay that
you can spread both outside and inside a
thin layer and when the fleas crawl on
it, it sucks the moisture out of them.
They crack and they die. So, I'm
wondering,
>> we used it.
>> Pardon? We used it. We applied it. Yes.
Oh, thank you. Yeah, it didn't work.
>> I can't answer that question.
» Thought you said we did use it.
>> We used brick acid. Um, dietmacous earth
>> from how I've been reading the ordinance
is not allowed.
>> Oh, okay.
>> My mistake. I understood we did use it.
It's clay. It's not. It has no
insecticide in it. I I'm not
understanding why it wouldn't be
allowed. Anyway, that's my suggestion
that we try that before we use
insecticides because it's proven both
inside and outside. If it's going to be
in the playground, it should be food
grade, but if it's underneath the uh
fire station, it could be the kind you
get from the hardware store, which is
less expensive. So, I'd like to see try
that.
Actually,
I was also going to speak about
dietmacious earth. Um, not sure that it
would work and I concur with staff's u
[gasps]
understanding that it might not work in
this circumstance getting under the
building, but it might work in other
circumstances such as if the
firefighters wanted to put it around the
baseboards in the building inside the
building to just prevent an infestation.
What dietmacious earth actually is is
it's not exactly clay. It's it's
actually like the white cliffs of Dover
are made of these microorganisms,
datoms that have a silica
skeleton as it were on this very
microscopic scale. And when that's
ground up, uh that makes these very
pointy little silica pieces which
mechanically pierce the adult insects
exoskeleton. only works on the adults
and maybe the larvae but not on the eggs
certainly. Anyway, I'm not suggesting
dietimmacous earth for this application
under the under the the uh uh building
but I would suggest
that and I'm
well I thought I had this on my phone
but I don't. Um, I have actually emailed
these suggestions that two specific
places in the ordinance that you might
consider in a future agenda item
modifying to allow dietmacious earth
because I would concur it doesn't seem
to allow it right now, but I think it
should. Um it the ordinance could say
that it uh it's directed not at
mechanical the things that have a
mechanical action but no chemical
action. That's one thing that could be
put in the ordinance and then in under
exceptions a specific exception for
dietenimatious earth. So I would
recommend on a future agenda item that
you take that up. Thanks.
» Hello. I also agree and it's for the
adult period. So when they're migrating
the diet dietmatous earth actually is a
good thing. It actually from breaking up
the silica it's like little knives that
cut their legs and it'll kill them. When
in the good old days when Linda and I
were in our little babysitting group and
dragging our dogs home, we employed uh
eucalyptus berries and eucalyptus oil.
That's another natural product. But the
reason I came up to speak is not to
discourage or encourage because I hope
that everybody's looking at this. But if
you allow an exemption, I would
encourage you to go back to our
ordinance and come up with a criteria of
why this is allowed. So it's a uniform
application for everybody and we don't
need to address this each time. So if we
have a serious infestation, our
ordinance should allow other options
that we can address and move forward. So
that way this could be our
[clears throat] kind of like test site
of how to modify something. So it
doesn't just give a blanket where people
can go forward and use pest sides, but
it gives us guard rails of how when
something might be necessary to go to a
better level. Thank you.
» Good good evening, council members, uh
town staff, and community members. My
name is Jake Peterson. I'm the acting
fire chief for the Ross Valley Fire
Department and I am here representing
all the members of the fire department.
Um I understand everyone's concerns
about using pesticides. I really do. I I
am concerned about it too, but my job
here is to protect the firefighters that
are living in that temporary quarters
and make sure that they are uh safe and
healthy and don't get bitten by fleas.
So that's why I'm here um
talking to everybody and um doing my own
bit of research. I feel like at this
point the pesticide use is the best way
to go down and to use to uh make sure
that this doesn't emphasize and get even
worse and make the problem worse. And so
that's I think where we're at. Um, I
look forward to uh working
collaboratively with the town. And I
will say I've been very lucky to work
with Kristen over the last year over the
rebuilding of the the town um fire
station and also the temporary quarters
and there was a lot of issues that came
up and we work really well as a team. So
I don't expect that to change and um
continue to make sure that the fleas get
out and all the firefighters are safe
and healthy. So, um, with that,
appreciate all your time. Thank you. And
I'll be, uh, retiring December. So, um,
this is probably my one and only council
meeting that I get to speak at. So,
thank you so much, everyone.
>> Thank you. Thanks for being here.
» Any hands raised?
>> We have one raised hand on Zoom. Cindy,
you are unmuted. You may now unmute
yourself.
>> Yes. Hi, Cindy Ross again. Thank you.
Um, I just wanted to say that I'm really
opposed to making exceptions to the
pesticide ordinance. Um, I understand
that we need to keep the fire uh crew
safe, but we also need to keep everybody
safe. And I I don't have enough
information right now about um the the
pesticides that are being proposed, but
it as as Lisel said, it's my
understanding that alpine WSG is very
toxic to aquatic life. It it also can be
harmful to pollinators. Um I read
something very briefly that ironically
said something about hazards during
firefighting.
Um, as far as Tech Pro, I don't know
anything about it, but I understand it doesn't address adult fleas either. I
would like to see if there is some way
to look back into using something like
dietmacious earth. Um, or I, you know,
I'm just putting this out there. I don't
know anything about it personally, but
it's my understanding that certain cat
flee medications can be used for
raccoons.
And I'm wondering if there might be some
way to maybe feed the raccoons, you
know, medication that would not be
harmful to them, that would help break
the cycle, you know, and and would cause
less toxicity overall. Um, so anyway, I
encourage you to find non-toxic,
non-pesticide solutions. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Next speaker.
>> There are no more speakers on Zoom.
>> Okay. Closing public comment on this
item. Thank you for all who shared and
to Kristen. Um,
any other comments before we entertain
a motion?
>> I would like to make a motion. First of
all, I want to thank everyone for
sharing your thoughts. Um, and I think
in the future maybe we look at this.
>> It looks like council member Blash has a
comment.
I just wanted to revisit the um, two
things. So, we're already using boric
acid. I've always been confused about
the difference between boric acid and
dietimmacous earth, but okay. Um,
so people are suggesting I just want to
put it out there. People are suggesting
dietimmacous earth. Um, and it's not
something that's allowed in our
pesticide ordinance, but it seems like
something that could be applied under an
exemption. But what are the pros and
cons of using dietimmacous earth?
The
it will not kill the eggs. um as long as
it stays dry. My understanding is it can
have effects on them once they hatch. Um
but it's a slow process
and it doesn't help guarantee that fleas
aren't going to get inside the building.
Um
the pros is that it is
a natural substance.
Well, I don't know if natural is the
right word, but
it's not classified as a pesticide or
insecticide. Um,
but it can be very dangerous to breathe
it in. Although, weirdly, you can eat
it. So, it's a strange product. Um, but
it is known to help control fleas
over time. Um, and so my my biggest
concern with asking for the exception to
use dietimmacous earth was that we would
still be waiting
weeks and just hoping that fleas weren't
going to get into the fire station.
>> Okay, so that was one question. Um,
boric acid apparently doesn't kill the
eggs and then we'd have sort of some of
the same issue, right? like we'd be
waiting for them to hatch and then
hoping that the boric acid would kill
them after they hatch and they could
still get in the building. And um I'm
assuming that's the case, right? That's
it's about the same issue. It's just a
different I know it's a different
mechanism of killing them, but it sounds
like it has the same slow
uh
>> Yeah. And there's very um mixed
consensus on if it actually is that
effective for fleas. Um
it will like dehydrate the larvae if
they come across it or
uh they actually they may have to eat
that one and then if they come across
the dietmacious earth that's more of
like a body contact. Okay. And then
Okay. So sorry my final thing just
because I'm listening to what people are
saying and also just really curious
about some of these things. um
this is in a flood zone. I think uh Mr.
Greenberg was right. I mean it sounds
like we think and I'd love more clarity
on this um that the effects dissipate
over time, right? So the effects of it
that's why you have to keep reapplying
it. And so my just my main concern is
that there not be some instance in which
um you know and maybe it's so little it
doesn't it's not going to be that big a
deal but you know where we have some
massive flooding like in an El Nino year
and it like washes this all out from
under the building and get puts it in
the creek. Um I don't know how concerned
to be about that.
>> I think with that amount of water it
would get
very diluted. I mean we would have I
think much bigger problems going on if
>> so I'm I'm ready to make a motion. I
just want to make a comment.
[clears throat] Dietimmacous earth as
you mentioned these very small
particullet which can get into the avi
of the lungs can be very dangerous for
humans. Boric acid can be dangerous for
pets. So if you use boric acid in your
home and you have cats or dogs it can be
very dangerous for them. So these
things, even though they sound natural
to us, they're not so natural and
arsenic is natural and can kill you. So
I would make a motion to say adopt a
resolution and the supplemental
resolution authorizing an exception to
the town's pesticide ordinance for
targeted flea treatment beneath the
temporary fire station.
» Second.
We have a
>> I'd like to make a comment. I I asked a
couple questions early on. I haven't
commented yet. Um
I work with groups and we do pesticide
litigation regularly. We've gone all the
way to the California Supreme Court and
the US Supreme Court on pesticides. So
I'm really concerned about our
firefighter safety. you know, they're constantly threatened with with
toxics from the clothing they wear for for for to try to wear clothing that
won't burn on them to to the plastics
where they enter a uh you enter a fire
area and and I'm not sure they really
want to spend a night in that fire in
that temporary fire house uh that's been
sprayed with some kind of a pesticide.
I' I'd rather seek an alternative. I'd
come back next I'd come back in a couple
days for another meeting if we can find
an alternative. Thank you.
>> We have a motion from Council Member
Kohler and a second from Council Member
Garangelli, Council Member Blash.
I actually can't make up my mind. Um,
can I pass? [laughter]
I think you abstain rather.
>> All right, I'm going to abstain.
>> Council member Garangelli,
>> yes.
>> Council member Kohler,
>> yes.
>> Vice Mayor Agger,
>> no.
>> Mayor Helman,
>> yes.
>> Motion carries.
>> Well, I thought we needed a super
majority.
» Excuse me. Yes, we do. Thank you for
correcting.
>> You're welcome. Um, that's
» I wasn't sure how you vote. How How did
Council Member Blash vote?
>> She abstained. I Well, I forgot about
the super majority thing. Um, so if
somebody abstains, then is it a super
majority of those who vote or you just
need a supermajority of the whole
council?
>> I super majority will be four
affirmative votes.
>> Okay. I'm I'm just a little I I don't
I'm still a little concerned about this
issue just because the firefighters have
asked. I mean, we can Can I change my
vote? Is it over?
>> The firemen are actually asking for it.
>> Yeah, you can change your vote if we
want to go through it again. Let's just
go through a new vote.
>> Okay. There'll be a new motion.
>> So, I make the motion to adopt the
supplemental resolution authorizing an
exception to the town's pesticide
ordinance for targeted flea treatment
beneath the temporary fire station.
Second.
>> Second.
>> We have a motion from Council Member
Kohler and a second from Council Member
Garen Gelli. Council member Blash. Okay.
I'm just going to say yes because the
firefighters did ask for it. Council
member Garenelli.
>> I'm going to say yes for that same
reason.
>> Council member Kohler.
>> Yes.
>> Vice Mayor Ager.
>> No.
>> Mayor Helman.
>> Yes.
>> Motion carries.
>> Thank you.
All right, moving along to item number
three. This is a micro grid concept
discussion. We will be receiving a
presentation on the municipal micro grid
project for the town of Fairfax
facilities and provide direction to
staff. There is a staff report and a
presentation that Bridget Whipler will
be providing.
Mayor, would you mind if we take a
twominut bio break while we resolve our
technical difficulties?
>> Sure. Thank you.
Okay, let's resume.
Okay, this is something I've been
looking forward to. And
Bridget, please take it away.
>> Thank you. Um, my name is Bridget
Whitler. I'm the climate action
coordinator for the town of Fairfax.
Happy to be here and thanks for closer
to the mic.
>> Of course. Is this better? Cool.
My name is Bridget Whitler. Happy to be
here. I'll be speaking about the
conceptual municipal micro grid con
concept today and to start just the
purpose of today's presentation is to
provide information on um solar battery
and micro grid systems for Fairfax and
what that would look like as well as
receive town council direction on how to
proceed.
topics that we'll discuss today are how
Fairfax can have resilient buildings, um
what we might do to get there, as well
as current the current state of our
solar infrastructure and how state laws
change solar incentives for batteries as
well as um what conceptual micro grids
would look like and next steps.
So, a question of why would we want to
have resilient town buildings? Why are
we having this conversation? Um, so the
town has experienced many outages. Uh,
for example, between 2021 and 2024,
there were 13 outages for an average of
3 and 1/2 hours. And what that would
mean for the town would be meetings like
this canled due to those outages. uh
staff in the courtyard and without safe
working conditions,
police department EV chargers unusable
uh and other conditions related to
outages.
Benefits of resilience during those
outages as well as other extreme weather
events would be ensuring safety and
comfort for staff and residents as well
as reducing repair costs and making sure
that staff are able to work during those
outages and um providing support for the
community through resources and uh
spaces like the pavilion. Uh and and I
know that the town has done this um but
provide power during outages so people
can come and charge their phone um or
other necessities.
So how might we make our buildings more
functional uh and also reduce energy
costs while we're at it?
And just to make sure that everyone's on
the same page, uh because a lot of these
are words that might not come up in
every day is that a micro grid is one or
more solar systems. So we have solar
panels on our pavilion right now and
that would be more similar to a solar
and uh a solar and battery system. We
don't have a battery. But a one:one
system is more like solar battery. But a
micro grid system is just one or more
solar panel systems connected to
multiple buildings.
And I'll be talking about net energy
metering. And what that means is is a
contract with a utility, in this case
PG& regarding how they bill us for the
energy that we both produce and consume.
And when I say resilience, I mostly just
mean reliability um and dependability
during disruption.
So our current system, we are under net
energy metering one and we are in this
contract because we have solar panels.
They were installed in 2009. Um and when
we produce solar for our town buildings,
we also produce a little excess. And
when we aren't using all of that power,
the grid and PG& buys that power from us
at 47 around 47 cents per kilowatt
hours. Uh and so that turns into revenue
for the town that we then don't pay for
the energy. Uh so it's a great savings
and incentive tool for solar
as well as and so currently some of our
town buildings, our town hall and police
as well as our fire station have backup
generators uh which serve as a great
tool during um outages.
But
when those fail, they are very
expensive. Um and having different types
of backup is a is a form of resilience.
So, what's going to change is that come
next year, our net energy metering is
going to change to I'll I'm going to say
NEM 3 and I'll direct your focus to the
bottom left of this slide. And so our
solar panels regardless of what we end
up doing either add or adding not adding
whatever we do we will our contract will
ex our ne one contract will expire. And
what that means is that this new
contract nema 3 will reduce the profit
that we make on the energy sold back to
the grid by tfold or reducing it by
10fold. So instead of around 50 cents
per kilowatt hours we we will be making
5 cents around 5 cents per kilowatt
hours. Uh and so the energy that we are
not using will be
more or less wasted and the revenue that
we were making will be lost um under
this new contract. And so what that is
incentivizing is for us to be able to
store the energy that we make so we it
doesn't get um kind of lost back to the
grid because we're not making any
revenue from putting it back into the
grid.
This is just a summary of what I was
explaining. Under NEM1,
our excess solar is allowed to be sold
back to the grid at full retail rates.
And that's 20 years ago. This contract was made to in incentivize
solar, but now California has a lot of
solar. We are very used to it. And so
what they're trying to do is incentivize
batteries with this new um NEM3
contract. And this so this favors
battery so that you can consume the the
energy that you use.
So a potential micro grid would look
like
solar panels on roof and
less reliance on grid and generators and
more battery storage so that we are
using the energy that we make um and
being able to save money on the energy
that we would be buying um late at
night. uh that is usually at a higher
cost because energy during the daytime
is much more prolific and much um at a
lower cost.
And in this situation, because we have
solar um charged batteries, if there was
an outage, uh we would not have to rely
on our generators. We could still have
them there if needed. Um but we wouldn't
be paying um for this extra solar and we
would also have more energy during those
outages to cover a lot of the resources
that I mentioned earlier.
So, this new this potential system with
batteries and updated solar comes at a
good time because our pavilion roof
needs replacing and our pavilion roof
has these uh almost 20-year-old solar
panels. Uh and while replacing the roof,
it would be a convenient time to also
update those panels. Um because
in the span of 20 years, solar
technology has greatly uh improved and
we can produce a lot more energy on the
space of the pavilion, if not space on
whatever roof we could decide that works
well for Fairfax. Um and produces much
more energy than we are right now. And
like I said, under NEM3, we would save a
lot more money by using the the the
energy that we
uh create. And um while adding these
batteries, they could provide backup
power for our police department vehicles
and future police um or public work
vehicles at cost effective um prices.
And there are many precedents that
support no upfront town capital options
for
providers that could support us in this
project. So there are options that have
third-party providers financing projects
upfront and maintaining the
infrastructure
until we until the town owns it over
time. Um, and different models have
different timelines for how much the
town would owe or and over what amount
of time. Um, but it would relieve the
town of that upfront cost. um and help
the town have a little bit of safety for
any technical risk with technology of
either the battery
um and would yeah have some more
flexibility there
and like I said reduce utility costs
offset um payments to provider which
would mean savings over time as well as
we wouldn't have to pay for expensive of
nighttime energy because we would
produce solar powered energy during the
day.
So, a quick summary and um our town
services are affected by outages. Our
public meetings um are affected by
outages. Residents need reliable places
for shelter, energy, and resources.
Um currently we don't ha these projects
cost money and um we don't have the
current upfront finances for that. Uh
and with NE3 our energy bills will
increase um because
the drastic reduction of the revenue
that we that we make through our solar
energy uh incentivizes us to capture
that energy to be able to use that
another time. um whether that's at
nighttime or during these outages. And
we cannot access certain incentives for
batteries or updated solar um that third
party providers can access um to make it
an even more cost-effective project.
And currently infrastructure needs like
the pivilian roof, updating our
electrical panels because we are hoping
to electrify more of our fleet um as
well as old solar panels all kind of
combine for a potential holistic
solution.
And a summary a summary of town benefits
include reliable town services
operationable operational during outages
as well as potential community centers
when the grid goes down. Um like I said
no upfront potential no upfront capital
costs um when a third party provider
funds the project. Um and they can
access those tax incentives. Um
this also third party provider would
maintain until the town ownership and um
long-term utility costs would would
ultimately be lowered uh and avoiding
that nighttime power like I said. And
just to summarize, uh this timing
co uh collides with pavilion roof
replacement, avoiding another retrofit
if we choose to update our solar at a
different time. Uh as well as updating
our electric and uh fleet. And if we
were to update our solar panels, they
would be much more efficient um at
producing power. So what we need from
you today is that staff recommend uh or
that council direct staff to continue
pursuing a micro grid solution and what
that would look like is to continue
research of what these mic technologies
uh might look like specifically for
Fairfax as well as those financing
options that I mentioned um and issue an
RFP, RFQ or IFI depending on what staff
determine is the best way forward and we
would return to council with a proposal.
And so what those private partners will
do is develop technical and financial
proposals, uh present financing options
that minimize municipal financial risk
and quantify expected energy savings,
resilience benefits, and life cycle
costs. We will then present those
proposals um to you all.
And that's all I have um and obviously
here to answer any questions you have.
>> Great. Thank you, Bridget. I have some
questions and comments, but go ahead
Barbara Culler.
>> Thank you, Stephanie Helman.
Um, just thank you, Bridget. That was
really good. And thanks to folks like
Bruce who've been working on this with
you and others and Kristen. Um, just a
couple of questions on the upfront
financing. So, I understand the idea of
a third-party provider
um paying for potentially solar. Um I
don't understand a third party provider
being willing to change the roof on the
pavilion, which is quite expensive.
And I just want to ask you if that's
been discussed, but the second part is
one thing I didn't understand is how
does the payback work over time? Is it I
mean I realize a lot of this is
continuing to research and all that but
is there sort of a what you've seen of
how the payback works is do we pay on a
monthly basis a yearly basis until
eventually we pay it off. So two
questions for you. Thank you Bridget.
>> Yeah. So your first question was about
who would want to even touch the roof
and pay for that because that's
expensive. Um, and there are, and that's
what we also had questions of, um, but
there are certain, um, thirdparty
providers out there that are willing to
include,
um,
aspects of in uh, infrastructure updates
in order to apply more solar and
battery. And so their
initial interest in working with um
towns or whoever they're working with is
to update um solar and battery. And when
clients need certain other
infrastructure updates, they are willing
to help cover those costs as well. Um
not all but some 30 third party
providers.
>> Okay. And then um I have a question for
Kristen and then I'll ask you the second
question I asked which is you know with
an old building it's like one of those
things where you get into change an
electrical outlet and all of a sudden
you're redoing electricity.
Is there a fear of the same kind of
thing with the roof? Let let's say we do
get a third party provider who's willing
to pay for upfront the roof which is a
lot of money 800,000 maybe more. Um I
don't know I remember it was a lot but
anyway and then the solar but is there a
fear that once you get into the roof
you're getting into other things that
weren't anticipated? Do you see that
with the pavilion or is it simple that
once you take the roof off you just
replace the roof?
>> There's a risk that they could find more
rot than expected. Usually how you
combat that is by having I mean one
planning for a certain amount of rot and
then having contingency in the project.
>> Okay.
>> To
>> All right. In going back to my second
question for Bridget, how is how does
just the companies that you've talked
to, how does the payback work? Is it
like for 20 years? Is it like a
mortgage? How does that work?
>> Yeah. So it it can be explained
similarly to on bill financing which we
were doing for solar where we would pay
slowly over time um depending on the
model whether that's monthly or annually
but we would pay the amount that we were
saving um to pay off for the solar um
like that's a similar system as some
would do so slowly over time um and
that's how just a few years ago we are
fully owners of the solar now. Um, and
so we didn't pay for that solar upfront.
We did it slowly over time through the
savings um, or like back through to P
Gen of what we were saving. And so there
are multiple financial models. Some are
called energy as a service. Um, and so
what that would mean is that we generate
around $25,000
per year of energy. um or and that's
what we make the revenue that I was
talking about for 477 cents on the um
the kilowatt hour and
what third party providers would ask is
that what we are generating um
we would then pay a small small amount
for their like slowly over time pay
the like battery um and solar costs
through those savings. Um so instead of
them going to PG& they would go to the
third party provider um because we would
have paid PG& for our utility um bills
but [clears throat] then they then
instead go to third party. Yeah.
>> Does that make sense?
>> Yeah. I mean I think some of the details
have to be worked out but thank you for
that explanation. appreciate it.
>> Yeah,
>> great mic.
>> Oh, thank you. Um, as always, a great
presentation. So, appreciate that. Um,
I would imagine
Barbara Kohler mentioned
that the um the roof replacement, right?
But I imagine that you're replacing lots
of things, electrical to handle this
micro grid. I would just imagine
everything has to be redone in my mind.
But either way, it doesn't matter to me
right now.
>> I will be voting or recommending to
along with the I'm sure the rest of the
uh council that we keep pushing forward
and see what else we can learn.
>> Thank you.
>> I appreciate that.
>> Any other This is This is questions.
>> Question questions. Sure. Yeah. Uh I'm
trying to figure out how old that roof
is.
it Is it 17 years old? Do we know?
>> I don't have the answer to that right
now. I think we could look back into the
facility condition assessment and get
that information out.
>> We recently replaced the roof is $42,000
for a house.
Do don't we have an estimate for the for
cost to replace that roof? We we did
have a rough estimate and it's in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars and um
uh council member Kler remembered about
800,000. That's a number that I remember
as well. Um it it may be that may be a
little high um because the building is,
you know, needs a lot of work, but um
it's a significant roofing job.
Um, is this will this be a Tesla battery
program? Uh,
>> uh, it would depend on what proposals we
receive. I would I would assume that
different um different providers might
recommend different types of batteries.
So, I think that could be an option that
we receive, but there's also non-thium
and solid state batteries or lithium
batteries. So, it would really depend on
um what proposals we we receive. Yeah.
So, at what point would it be that
I'm just concerned that if we've got a
huge bill to replace that roof, I don't
know what where the funds are going to
come from. And I mean, I'm I'm
supportive of the program, but but
three months from now, I don't want to
find out we're going to put out
a half a million dollars on a new roof.
If I if I may just jump in. Um the
concept here is that we um continue
exploring this option and that um the
hope is that the cost of replacing the
roof would come under this program so
that we would not as the town have to
put a capital out immediately for that.
we would use the savings to pay off the
um the capital of the roof which is
needed in order to support new solar. In
other words,
it would be a crit if I don't really
understand the difference between an RFP
and RFQ and RFI, but I know what an RFP
is. So, in other words, that would be
the criteria that would be within the
criteria that you send out to to bid
essentially.
>> Yes. that there's no capital outlay from
the town.
>> Yes, that would be a criteria. And we
could also to um answer an another part
of your question, Vice Mayor Edgar, is
um it's potential that we could specify
a type a class of battery if we have a
preference. For example, if we are
concerned about um fire risk in a
certain like lithium ion battery as an
example,
Fairfax sold bonds on some of our
buildings to to do some refinancing. Was
the pavilion one of the buildings that
was bonds were sold on put up for
collateral.
That was for the refi of we we did some
when we refied the pension obligations,
we did use some collateral of certain
town buildings.
That's my recollection.
>> Okay. Um I'd be happy to check with our
finance that was before you about that.
I mean that is in fact the the purpose
of this discussion is really to just um
do you want us to continue
spending effort to move forward?
>> I'm concerned if if if if if we've
already bond bonded the value of the
building or are we going to be able to
take in effect take a loan to replace
the roof on that building that's that we
don't own really.
>> We can explore that. That's a good
question.
>> Yeah. I I understand.
>> Um, Bridget, I have a question. So,
because one thing I learned and I've
been digging into this quite a bit. So,
from what you presented, if we do
nothing, so NEM1's moving to NEM3, no
matter what, we're going to lose
revenue.
And so it really creates the
circumstances for doing something and
becoming more obviously resilient, but
also financially resilient, too, because
we're going to have to we we're not
going to have it. We're not going to be
making as much money. It's obviously not
a huge revenue stream, but it will be
more expensive for us if we do nothing.
Is that correct?
>> That's correct.
>> Okay.
>> Mhm.
>> Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Um
I'm just looking at my notes and then is
there in scope for this or is this
something that you're exploring as far
as EV chargers?
So like I said how the roof
infrastructure would be an incentive for
third party prov or incentivize for
third party providers to also cover the
cost of that. Um, some providers have
said that they could cover the cost of
some EV chargers as well as battery um,
and updated solar in order to help us do
that. Um,
and because we are hoping to update our
or we are hoping to electrify more
vehicles of our fleet. Um, we do need to
look at our electric capacity. Um, and
being able to plan for
all of these things at once is helpful
rather than updating our electricity
panel
>> peace meal. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Two different times. So,
>> yeah. To have a holistic plan related to
that.
>> And there's options for certain types of
batteries to be birectional. um where
electric vehicles can be charged um by
those batteries and vice versa.
>> Amazing. Okay. Sorry, Council Member
Blash.
>> It's okay. Um so I mean I seeing San and
Selma put up solar has put up solar
panels above their parking area. Um is
that a do they technically have a micro
grid or are they still in process? Yeah,
because that um and like I said, the
vocabulary can get muddled. So, they're
calling that a resilience hub. Um, and
it's it's just kind of a matter of
branding sometimes. So, that those solar
panels are directly powered to just the
town hall. So, I would define that more
as just like a solar and battery
project. Um but it's a similar concept
uh that they are adding solar and
battery that power um a town building
>> and are they using like a vendor that is
paying for the installation of those um
panels above the parking lot? the their
model they used um a company called
Gridscape and their financial um
planning I think looks a little bit
different where it was a little bit more
of an upfront cost to the town but that
was just how they wanted to um do the
project. they wanted to m they wanted to
own the infrastructure right away um as
opposed to not owning it right away but
being able to pay it off over time.
>> Okay. Because that's it's really
interesting the different ways that we
could implement and um and I guess you
if we say go ahead you'll go ahead and
research the different ways we could
implement. Um the other question I had
is about the batteries. Um you know I
know people are like some people are
really worried about different types of
batteries being flammable. you know, I
have a little concern just cuz they'd go
into into this big wood building. Um,
and it seems like Graange halls are
infamous for burning down. Anyway,
there's an area where the batteries I
think we were thought to go, which is
maybe the uh lower
right corner of the building, and I'm
just wondering, is there part of this
deal? Is there something should rebuild
the area where the batteries are stored
because um, you know, it's kind of ratty
right now? Right now we can include in
any criteria um that the location of the
batteries are in a preferable place
whatever we determine that is um
but I I don't know. Um it would I think
it would just need more research and we
could certainly put that as criteria of
whatever we end up preferring.
>> Yeah. Because it just seems like if we
have this lovely new roof and a lovely
new solar system, we want to make sure
that the batteries that they feed into
are also somewhere that's safe. Totally.
>> Yeah. Okay.
» All right. Let's move to public comment
on this.
» Um, thank you, Bridget. And uh I just
wanted to first profoundly thank staff
uh for a lot of work in investigating
this opportunity and to council for
directing that investigation to begin.
Um I just wanted to say and this might
help to address uh council member
Coler's questions that there are I see
there on the larger level as being two
reasons why this kind of opportunity is
before us at this point. First of all
our actual infrastructure here u a lot
of the work is already done. Uh,
amazingly enough, this is kind of where
this concept came from years ago was
realizing thanks to a prior council uh
deciding to install solar on the
pavilion that involve bringing
underground wiring and conduit down to
two other buildings, the fire station
and the police and town hall. So, that's
all done. and then a public works
director at that time, I believe it was
Kathy Wilkkey, uh brought conduit all
the way from the fire station through
the community center and to this
building. It comes right back there to
that corner. Uh John Tierney showed me
that uh that is an amazing piece of
infrastructure because if we thought
about bringing underground wiring
through the entire campus now with all
the redwoods, we wouldn't be talking
about this. So that's the first amazing
opportunity. The second one is that u
the future that was envisioned by Kathy
Wilkey, I believe it was, is now here.
Uh the the industry has obviously gone
through incredible
growth and changes in the last 20 years
and uh we now it now we have reached a
point at which it's a reasonable
business model for a business to answer
our request and be able to put something
like this together.
>> I'm going to let you continue because
you are technically part of the the team
working on this. It's helpful. Um, so
yeah, I think that we it's now possible
and you you know that there's solar on
many many many many California houses
roofs and a lot of that was done through
a similar business model on a smaller
scale. Sunun was one of the companies
that would put solar on your roof and it
wouldn't cost you anything but they
actually owned the array and they shared
in the savings with you. That was their
business model. One little issue with
that business model was they continue to
own the array forever. And some people
that I know are a little that turns into
a little bit of a problem that they have
this array that is on their roof that
they don't own. This would be what we
would certainly specify as a business
model in which we after we paid it off,
we would complete ownership of it. Um,
so I'll leave it at that and just uh ask
that council
uh direct staff to continue pursuing
this and and uh find vendors and bring some detail back. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Um, a few points in the last one that
Bruce just brought up is a very valid
point. Um, I also know people that when
they have sold their home, they had a
pre-existing contract and there's a lot
of debate and it costs money. So, I
think it'd be prudent for the town once
these panels go up to actually make sure
that we have a shorter buyout period
that we own them so we have the right to
change, alter go in a different
direction. Um, one, I think that micro
grids for all towns I hope are the
future because they're more efficient.
you don't lose so much heat and energy
in long uh transfer lines.
But what I would encourage at the same
time,
the employment of sulfuric acid or
lithium batteries, these are tremendous
fire hazards that we don't need. There
are many patents right now into
interstitial space of crystals such as
garnets and um what is it?
Um,
the engineering department of Maryland
back in Baltimore is run by a person
from Samurfel, California, Dr. Eric
Waxman. He currently holds patents in
the interstitial space of garnet
crystals that have a faster degregation
and a faster recharge rate. So this
might be an opportunity of partnering or
pairing that he'd like to see these type
of patents employed which are more fire
resilient. They're safer. They're
smaller and they don't generate that
same heat. So if we're going to make
this correct move to the future and look
at a micro grid, this might be an
opportunity that we don't have to spend
extra money and we can set an example.
Thank you.
>> Thank you. Next speaker.
Good evening. Thank you, Bruce. And
wonderful presentation, Bridget. Um,
you know, one of the things that I
thought about during this presentation
was
the idea of calling it a resilient hub
over in in Sanelmo. It it would be
great, of course, the way that this is
presented moving forward for Fairfax.
Uh, should it pass the infrastructure
issues that we saw at the last couple of
meetings with that building altogether.
Uh but what I thought about was you know
maybe one of the ways which Fairfax can
look at this is through uh calling it
something else like over in Sano called
resiliency hub. Maybe it's can be growth
related to the housing elements and plan
Bay Area 2050 or plan Bay Area 2070 and
maybe some research can be done with the
association of Bay Area governments to
find out if there are any of these types
of grant funding streams that could be
made available for the purposes of
growth in the town infrastructure as
much of it is uh for those very
purposes. Thank you.
Hi, Todd Greenberg. I support exploring
a municipal micro grid and I appreciate
Bridget's hard work on this and I hope
we find a way to make this happen, but
decisions need to be made based on good
information.
The staff report leaves out important
financial and liability questions
unanswered. The report says the pavilion
solar panels were installed in 2009, yet
also says the town's 20-year NEM1 period
expires next year. Those dates do not
appear to match. Before replacing or
materially modifying the system, staff
should produce P Gen permission to
operate interconnection agreement,
tariff designation, and grandfathering
expiration date. The council should know
the value of any remaining NEM1 benefits
before approving changes that could move
the town to less favorable solar billing
plan. The report mentions Fairfax is an
MCE customer but not meaningfully
evaluate MCE assistance. Council member
Barbara Kohler represents Fairfax on
MCE's board and chairs its executive
committee. I asked council member Kohler
to help Fairfax identify and secure
every available MCE grant incentive,
technical assistance program, resilience
resource, and compatible outside funding
source before the town commits to a
private financing provider. The report
also says the pavilion roof must be
replaced, but does not address the leaks
or whether the original installer, later
contractors, warranties, or insurance
may cover some of the cost before
removing the panels. A town should
preserve evidence, inspect the
penetrations and flashing, review
contracts and warranties, and determine
whether costs can be recovered. Please
require a documented NEM analysis, an
MCE funding assessment, and an
independent roof cause and liability
investigation before proceeding. Thank
you.
» Thank you. Are there any hands?
>> We have one raised hand on Zoom.
>> Okay, great.
>> Jody, you are unmuted. You may now
unmute yourself.
Uh good evening council. Um thank you
very much Bridget for an outstanding
presentation. Uh on behalf of the
Fairfax Climate Action Committee, I just
want to encourage the council to move
forward. At this point, this is a um
direction to staff to continue to
explore funding options and arrangements
for the whole micro grid/resilience
hub. It will serve both purposes. Um,
Bridget has been in constant contact
with us in the Fairfax Climate Action
Committee every single month. We all
have been thinking about this and as
Bruce has said, talking about it for
years and years and years. Um, several
of us have our own little micro grids in
our homes in terms of solar and battery
and backup and connections. So, um, I I
there's no harm in moving this forward.
It's it is a solution, one of the 10
solutions across the county for energy
efficiency. Um, and I just really
encourage you to support the further
investigation. Everything will come back
to the council with lots more discussion
and debate around financial arrangements
and products. Um, but uh, I think it's a
fabulous we're so happy to be at this
point and I really encourage you to give
direction to the staff to continue to
pursue um, these various options. Thanks
so very much.
» There are no more raised hands on Zoom.
Go ahead. Council member Kohler has
>> Yeah, I just want to say I think we
definitely need to continue to pursue
this. And just to answer Mr. Greenberg,
um I have connected Bruce Arian uh with
MCE staff. In fact, one of our uh highle
managers who does the virtual power
plant lives a couple doors down from
Bruce. So, we're already made those
connections and Bruce was my alternate
and has a lot of connections. So, I can
certainly help, but at this time, we
don't have specific grants. So, um,
thanks for your feedback and thank you
guys. I want to also thank Dan
Cardardoso who's been working very
closely and I know others on the climate
action committee, Kristen, Bridget, you
guys. Bruce has been doing this. Who?
>> No, I just said let's do it.
>> Yeah, been working too.
» Any other comments?
>> I'm ready to vote.
>> Okay. I just want to say it's been an
absolute thrill to be working on this. I
have worked hard on this as well and
that has not been mentioned by anyone.
Um,
>> thank you, Mayor H.
>> Yeah, and it's been premature until this
point to meet with MC, but I think now
after this vote, it would be a good time
to do that. Um, so I would actually like
to make the motion if I may.
>> Yeah, we need to give direction to
staff.
It just says receive a presentation.
>> Okay. Well, let's formally give No,
there's a recommendation if you remember
the last slide to give direction to
staff as far as staff will determine the
recommended approach whether it's RFI,
RFP, RFQ. Is that right? And then come
back with a proposal set.
>> Yep.
>> Does that sound right?
I'm seeing
>> I think we all are in agreement on that.
I could be wrong.
>> Okay. Is there any
» I don't think it's a vote, right? We
just
>> It's not a vote, but does anyone have
any issues with that direction?
>> No, let's do it.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Um going to find my agenda.
We are moving forward and thank you
Bridget.
>> Thank you.
>> Well done.
>> Moving forward with item number four,
consent calendar. The council can
approve all items on the consent
calendar in one action. Alternatively,
any council or staff member can remove
items for separate discussion and
voting. Public comments for consent
calendar items are taken collectively,
not item by item.
During this period, speakers may address
any item on the consent calendar with
each speaker allotted up to two minutes
and limited to one comment section.
Okay. Does anyone have any items to
pull?
>> I don't, but I just want to mention that
there's a supplement for item 4G.
>> For G. Yeah, we all got that.
>> All right. I have two.
>> Okay. You have comments or do you want
to pull items? Just
>> pull two. Just pull two. Quick. Quick.
Be quick. Identify them please.
>> Uh items um
item A, the financial statement, and
item E, the minutes. Just those two.
>> Okay. I mean, if you have comments on
the minutes, you can just send them to
Christine,
but do you really need to pull it?
>> Well, well, um I want to I wanted to put
something in the minutes that I said
that's not in the minutes. So, how how
you know what's the best way to do that?
>> Well, in the future, you could email
Christine, but um yeah, just say what
you want to add there. Add
>> it. It's it that it's only one line. Not
a big deal.
>> Say what the line is.
>> Should I tell you now? Okay. So, on the minutes, it was on the minutes
dealing uh with uh with the the cannabis
uh operation on Binus Road and and the
minutes are correct. They show the vote.
It was uh 311 on the vote to deny. Um
but there's but uh there's comments in
it for people, but my comments aren't
in. I had suggested
a a a a permit for for just for one-year
trial to see if to see if it could work.
And I I would just like to have that in
the minutes. Maybe Christine can find
the exact words. Just that that was that
was all I want to add to the minutes.
>> Okay, great. And then you want to pull
>> just to pull the yes the financial
quickly.
>> Okay. So let's pull
>> what?
>> Yeah. Let's pull item A and then let's
take a vote on um consent minus A.
» So I I think we can go to public comment
because
>> I thought we were going to vote on the
>> Well, we have to go to public comment on
the rest of the consent.
>> Oh, right, right, right, right. Sorry.
Um,
okay. We are taking public comment on
all of consent. Um, with the exception
of 4A.
» Hi, good evening. Todd Greenberg
commenting on the consent calendar this
evening.
You know, it's odd that there's so many
consistently
outnumbering consent calendar items that
limit the public's comment to seconds
per item.
It's noted time and time again that the
minutes are inaccurate
and uh incomplete.
I would ask this council to someone
there to make a motion and reconsider
and pull agenda item G which talks about
MCE and the council's response to
MCE, the civil grand jury report on MCE
and the last minute supplement that
apparently is pinned by Barbara Kohler
that talks about her involvement with uh
receiving compensation from other
entities or at least that's the way I
read it. So I want to know what the
conflicts of interest are and I want to
point this council to Sanelmo's
council rotation policy that got
developed over many meetings after a
council member was unwilling to
let go of their position. It behooves
the council to rotate positions so that
the council is stronger and other
members are more informed. There is a
lot of controversy going on at MC and I
understand that Kohler has a lot of
experience. We don't want to lose that
but I also understand that she has
motioned for ad hoc committees which are
not subject to the Brown Act and it's
quite a concern to me and others. Uh,
and she was against a finance committee,
a standing finance committee that would
be transparent. Fairfax and I, as an MCE
customer, deserve to know what's going
on there. So, I would ask that you pull
that item for further public comment.
[music]
>> So, um, Mayor Helman, I just
>> just No, I just want to stay
one raised hand on Zoom.
>> I get no compensation. The discussion in
item G was that members of PG and other
investorowned utilities get
compensation.
>> Okay. Are there any other
>> I have one raised hand on Zoom. Jody,
you are unmuted. You may now unmute
yourself.
>> Good evening, council members and mayor.
Again, I just want to thank Bridget very
much for her help and support around um
item H. Every year the climate action
committee does come up with a work plan.
uh what we intend to try to accomplish.
She helped to pull that all together.
So, what you have in item eight is a
report on what we set um out to do last
year as well as our plan for this next
year. So, I just want to encourage
council members if you have any
questions or input or or any anything
you'd like to talk with us about at the
climate action committee to please reach
out to me in terms of our report. But
thank you very much Bridget and also for
your support in working to set a new
meeting day and time for all of us so
that we can accommodate the whole
committee and work with the town's
schedule as well. So thanks very very
much for both of those.
>> Thank you.
>> There are no more speakers on Zoom.
>> Okay. Closing public comment on consent.
>> Can I move the consent calendar minus uh
letter uh 4A?
>> I'll second that.
All in favor.
>> What was that motion to?
>> Can I do an all in favor?
>> I consent.
>> Can you please know what I
>> Any nays?
>> Okay. Moving forward with
>> Moving forward with consent calendar
item A.
>> Okay, let me just just two is two two
issues. They're pretty easy. um on a
dispersement report. Uh it's it's page
two. A and um about halfway down, it's
the first American title company. It was
a paid on June 8th, 2026.
Uh we paid $75,000
and and I'm just wondering why we paid
First American Title Company $75,000.
So,
>> um if I [clears throat] may, so um the
council uh um voted to make a donation
for the Sky Ranch NLES.
Um and that is the $75,000 amount that
the council voted to make that donation
for.
>> That's the escrow company that was
holding the
>> So, that's how we made the donation. And
we paid off. We paid a
>> all of the
>> the title research.
>> Um
>> Oh, it was the escrow company that she
paid into.
>> Yes. So, um when property is purchased,
typically money goes into an escrow
account. So, we we made that deposit
into the escrow account for that
property.
>> Right. Santa bought the property. Is it
is but is it
we paid our $75,000
rather than give Santa $75,000.
We paid we paid an escrow account.
>> No, most bought the property and there
was an escrow account for the property.
Sanl did not buy the property. It was
the money went to most and it got it's getting transferred hopefully to
the county.
>> Okay. But we're paying for the for the title report.
>> No, we're not paying for the title
report. The funds for the purchase, the
entire purchase of Sky Ranch Null was in
an escrow account. So, our donation went
into that escrow account. That's where
all the funds are.
>> Oh, okay. We didn't write a check for
First American Title.
>> No, no, it's it goes they for the escrow
company.
>> I I just read what's what's in a report.
>> Okay. That's the escrow company.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> And then the other question is, you
know, I we've been tracking uh the uh
the cost for for legal and um
[clears throat]
we're we're in August now. I thought we
would have a final for May and June for
our for our legal costs, but uh public
agency law there's there's no final in
there. So what we did is we kept we kept
legal under a million dollars 974,683
but there's no charges for for May and
June for uh for for our town attorney.
When will those charges show up a as as
an expense for the year?
We paid in July
the bill for May. We have yet to receive
a bill for June. So, well, May doesn't
show up here, though. I'm looking at it
right now. Does May show up?
>> This report was issued before we got and
paid the bill.
>> This is I'm looking right. Nothing for
May. How much is May for for for
>> It was about 21,000 for May.
>> That says best of Creger, doesn't it?
>> The 21,000 is not on the report.
>> Okay. I'm looking at the report. It says
$21,954
was paid to to Best Bessa Creger.
>> Your question your question was whether
public agency had submitted a bill and
it had been paid for May and June.
>> Yeah. Yes.
>> We we did get a bill for May and have
paid it.
>> Okay.
>> How come does it show? because this
report was issued
>> last week and now we have received the
bill after this agenda item was posted
and so I know what the amount is but
this report only includes what I knew of
as of when I did the report.
>> Okay. So, so when will we get a final on
our legal cost for the for the year?
>> When we received the bill for June.
But how come it's blank under under
public agency law for May?
>> We haven't received a bill. I can't
predict what the amount is.
>> I thought you said you paid May.
>> I paid May but not June.
>> Well, you said you paid May after this
period. Correct.
>> This period
>> in July or August?
>> If I if I may. Um so um because of the
posting deadlines for a um packet,
we want reports
before the last day that we're going to
post. And so Michael prepared those
reports um and let's say they were
finalized on Wednesday last week as an
example, preferably the actually the
Wednesday before.
>> Okay. So I'm just wondering when we're
going to see the total cost. So that
>> understood. So if I if I may just get
there one one step at a time. So if
Michael um finalized this report last
week on Wednesday and we got um public
agency laws invoice on Friday
um it it is not reflected here. That's
for May. We are still expecting the
invoice for June and assuming we get
that uh before the books are completely
closed, which we do assume, then you'll
see the full amounts when all of the
books for the recently um ended fiscal
year come to you. So, it's going to show
up on a September report.
Typically, I do this report on a fiscal
year basis. So, I can continue to finish
out this report and put it in with the
attorney bills if you like.
>> Okay. Thank you.
question about since we're asking um
on non-dep departmental 715
it's 1,140,000
with some change
um
>> yeah
how much of that is related to
um attorney bills or litigation costs
on the report which is a detail report
for the income statement we show that
the litigation expense for
um June June was 37,000 and for year-to-
date was 472,000.
It's under the header litigation which
is 01715
892.
>> Okay. Well, I'm looking at all all of
715 non department
>> on the detail or on the summary
>> healthcare professional services special
>> I'm sorry. Yeah. What? I don't know.
It's hard to read. Um I can hardly see
it. Eight of 17 maybe
>> the second from the bottom.
>> It's not legend. You can't see it. It's
written too lightly.
>> The the spec from the bottom says
litigation.
>> It's um department 715 non-EP
departmental.
>> Mhm.
>> And it's covers a bunch of things.
Insurance for instance, special
services, miscellaneous,
claim settlements, litigation,
other things. are are those how many of
those items that are listed are related
to
litigation or attorney bills?
>> The one line that says litigation,
>> that's it,
>> is the amount that we pay for for
attorneys. That's bad. There can be
attorney bills that Bay Cities uses and
bills us for for claim settlements and
that sort of thing for attorneys that
are uh used by Bay Cities to uh deal
with uh settling workers comp claims and
other things. But those those are out of
our um
>> what falls under professional services.
» Professional services is uh a number of
uh categories including the the uh
general services bills that we pay to
the county for for animal services.
Um it it covers uh amount that we're
paying to the chamber of commerce. It
covers, if you look in the budget uh for
that page, it details about a dozen
different uh
line items of of uh
detail for that uh category. Thank you.
» Okay. Opening public comment.
I too am, my name is Todd Greenberg. I
too am very concerned about Fairfax's
legal costs, which have been
significantly over budget for years now.
Yet, the council and public still do not
receive complete and timely monthly
reporting. The June report shows nearly
$975,000
in attorney expenses for fiscal year
2025 2026, about $317,000
for quote general services, $470,000 for
special or litigation services, nearly
$188,000 charged to the Meadowway Bridge
project. The ledger also shows
litigation was budgeted at $100,000 but
reached approximately $473,000.
Claims and settlements added almost
$170,000. Even at year end, the attorney
schedule still contains blank months for
some firms and matters. So, the final
total may and will be higher. Why are
legal bills, acred legal costs, and
budget overruns not presented to the
council every month on a timely basis
while there is still time to control
spending? Government finance best
practices call for regular budget to
actual monitoring and prompt disclosure
of significant variances. Attorney
client privilege may justify redacting
sensitive descriptions, but it should
not prevent disclosure of aggregate
spending, vendor totals, account
charges, or budget variances. Please
require one consolidated monthly report
showing every law firm fund account and
project amounts build and acred, the
adopted budget, the variance, the
projected year-end total, and who
authorized spending beyond budget. The
public should not learn months later
that legal expenses exceeded budget by
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The
council needs this information before
costs escalate, not after the fiscal
year ends. Please
get all of the legal bills in one place
and quit hiding them in uncatategorized
and other sections. Legal belongs in
legal clearly discernable to everybody.
>> Thank you. Any other speakers? Okay.
Closing public comment on this item. Can
I have a motion, please?
>> I move uh
>> accept the financials.
>> Uh I'll second.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any naysay?
>> No.
>> Oh, we have one nay.
>> One no.
>> No. Mike said no.
>> Two.
>> Okay. Oh, I
>> I'm just We got to get a handle on this
litigation course.
>> Okay, so let's move on.
>> Okay. Um,
we are jouring in honor of John
Sergeant. And with that, good night.