[4:06] Okay, good morning everyone. We are

[4:09] going to start and um we're running a

[4:13] little late due to some technical

[4:15] difficulties with the Zoom. So, I'm

[4:17] calling to order the special meeting of

[4:19] the Rosstown Council and annual budget

[4:21] workshop, Thursday, April 23rd,

[4:25] 2026.

[4:27] Has the agenda been posted? Yes, mayor.

[4:29] >> Public comment for items on the agenda.

[4:32] This is limited to three minutes per

[4:34] speaker for items on the agenda.

[4:38] Anybody public comment?

[4:41] Julie, can I ask you a question? It is

[4:44] this the only time for comment or is

[4:45] there comment, you know, before certain

[4:48] things later? I couldn't tell from the

[4:50] agenda if there would be comment, you

[4:52] know, before each item or after each

[4:53] item. Is there still comment then?

[4:57] you usually on a workshop agenda there's

[5:00] a an place for them to have public

[5:02] comment in the beginning just on all the

[5:04] items but it's really up to the mayor

[5:07] and the how you want to run your

[5:09] meeting.

[5:09] >> I think if anyone wants to make public

[5:11] comment on the items on the agenda and

[5:13] then they can leave and not endure the

[5:16] three plus hours of budget workshop they

[5:18] can feel free to do that but I think we

[5:21] should take public comment after each

[5:23] item. Okay. Um so that if there's new or

[5:26] relevant comments that people want to

[5:28] make um we can entertain that too.

[5:32] >> Um so anybody online with public comment

[5:36] on items that are on the agenda?

[5:42] » Um

[5:44] hold on excuse me just for a moment.

[5:47] question is uh

[6:04] » no raised hands may

[6:06] >> no raised hands online

[6:08] >> thank you item number four Christa

[6:10] introduction of our new town clerk

[6:12] senior management analyst

[6:14] >> yes thank you mayor and council it's my

[6:16] pleasure here to introduce the town's

[6:18] new town clerk, senior management anal

[6:20] analyst, Zack Kovac DLon.

[6:24] Uh, yes,

[6:28] Zach is Zach is a Marin County native.

[6:30] He graduated from Terara Linda High

[6:32] School and studied political science and

[6:34] economics at Sonoma State University. He

[6:37] is pursuing a master of public

[6:39] administration degree at um CSU Eastbay

[6:42] and expects to graduate next month.

[6:45] Uh, Zach brings a wealth of knowledge of

[6:47] local government and the Ross Valley in

[6:50] particular to his new position in Ross.

[6:52] He previously worked for the county of

[6:54] Sonoma, their economic development

[6:56] board. He worked for the county of Marin

[6:59] as an aid to former Marin County

[7:01] Supervisor Katie Rice. And most

[7:04] recently, he was working for the

[7:06] Workforce Alliance of the North Bay as a

[7:09] senior workforce development analyst

[7:11] covering Marin County. Um he's lived in

[7:14] Sanelma with his wife and their two

[7:16] children ages six and two for over six

[7:18] years. In addition to his busy family

[7:21] life, work and educational pursuits,

[7:24] Zach recently served on the San Sal

[7:26] planning commission from 2023 to 2025.

[7:30] Um I know you'll agree we are fortunate

[7:32] to have Jack Zach join our small team.

[7:36] He started his position just three days

[7:38] ago and he's already demonstrated how

[7:40] well he will serve the Ross community.

[7:42] Welcome, Zach.

[7:47] » Did is there anything you wanted to say?

[7:50] >> Just want to say thank you so much,

[7:52] Christa, and I am so excited to be here

[7:54] and I'm really looking forward to

[7:55] working with all of you um here on the

[7:57] council. So, thank you so much.

[8:00] >> Thank you. Welcome.

[8:02] Number five, annual budget workshop.

[8:05] Review and confirm the town's goals.

[8:08] Quack.

[8:08] >> Great. Thank you very much, uh, mayor.

[8:11] It's my pleasure to, um,

[8:14] conduct this annual budget workshop. Um,

[8:20] let's, it's good to start off reviewing

[8:22] the town goals.

[8:25] If you recall last year, the council

[8:27] added an eighth goal. And these goals

[8:30] are um in your agenda packet. They're

[8:33] also up on in the PowerPoint

[8:35] presentation, and they're conveniently

[8:37] here on the wall. Um they are not in

[8:40] priority order, and you did add the

[8:43] eighth one last year, provide effective

[8:45] and timely communication with residents.

[8:47] So, these as as I and and our staff team

[8:50] were putting together this draft budget

[8:52] before you today, we those guided our

[8:55] work and um if you'd like to take a

[8:58] moment to to discuss it, if there are

[9:01] any additions or um enhancements,

[9:04] anything you'd like to do, now's the

[9:06] time to to talk about it.

[9:11] Any enhancements or additions?

[9:14] They're perfect as they are.

[9:17] Oh, okay. Great.

[9:22] Okay. Do we need public comment on that?

[9:25] If you'd like to. Any public comment on

[9:28] the town's goals?

[9:31] Anybody online?

[9:32] >> Uh, no hands raised online.

[9:34] >> Thank you. Number six.

[9:38] Okay.

[9:39] So, thank you, mayor and council, for

[9:41] dedicating your morning to all morning

[9:44] to this um to this annual budget

[9:47] workshop. I'd like to um just

[9:49] acknowledge our senior accountant, Elena

[9:51] Kurakina. She did a great job putting

[9:53] all the numbers together and working

[9:55] with me and our um staff team on this is

[9:59] her um she's she's been here since um

[10:02] about mid June last year and this is her

[10:04] first budget process. So wanted to thank

[10:07] her for all that work and getting up to

[10:09] speed along with with everything

[10:10] including our transition of our um town

[10:13] clerk which has been a key position for

[10:15] us. So um she is here along with members

[10:18] of our management team to answer

[10:20] questions you may have and we can

[10:21] certainly um stop me um during the

[10:24] presentation and ask questions or make

[10:27] comments if if you'd like mayor if

[10:29] that's how you'd like to run it.

[10:30] >> That sounds great.

[10:31] >> Okay.

[10:34] So, I'm going to start with um um

[10:37] accomplishments

[10:39] uh from the current fiscal year. So, we

[10:41] focused on um July 1 through just now.

[10:46] Uh so, it's not even a complete fiscal

[10:48] year yet. Um these are um items that uh

[10:54] have come to the council or that are

[10:56] significant um in the departments and I

[10:59] wanted to uh just go through them

[11:00] briefly. I did make copies for you there

[11:02] in case you'd like to review at a later

[11:05] time and ask questions or hanging them

[11:07] up on your wall. But um we'll start off.

[11:10] So uh highlights and accomplishments

[11:13] from the year from our general

[11:15] government um department is uh first and

[11:19] foremost uh an accomplishment is that

[11:21] the town is financially healthy. We um

[11:24] have received a clean audit for fiscal

[11:27] year ending 25. That'll be coming to you

[11:30] at your next council meeting next week

[11:32] where we'll also have a brief

[11:33] presentation by our auditor. Um, uh,

[11:37] we've, uh, increased, the council has

[11:39] increased your savings for the civic

[11:41] center project. You've continued to pay

[11:43] down unfunded pension liability. You

[11:46] started a new investment account to

[11:48] increase earnings. Um and you we uh

[11:52] conducted a recruitment for a new

[11:55] appointed treasurer that was completed

[11:57] and I and I council appointed him I

[12:00] recall last August and he's been working

[12:02] really hard Jeffrey to get up to

[12:05] speed. Um

[12:07] uh we negotiated a new lease agreement

[12:09] with the paramedics that was multiple

[12:11] years in the making and a lot of staff

[12:13] time and certainly a lot of council time

[12:16] went into that. Uh we recruited and

[12:18] transitioned to new staff, our new

[12:20] senior accountant, our new town clerk.

[12:23] Uh we have a new police chief that's

[12:25] actually here um in the audience. He

[12:27] starts on Monday, Raul Aglar. And um he

[12:31] starts on Monday. He will be sworn in at

[12:33] the council meeting um next week on

[12:35] Wednesday and he was kind enough to come

[12:37] and and and listen in today to start

[12:40] getting up to speed. We've also spent a

[12:42] year recruiting for a building inspector

[12:45] and really happy to report that he is

[12:47] going to be starting um his job after he

[12:50] moves here from the Monterey Peninsula.

[12:52] He'll be starting on May 18th. So, we

[12:55] just got that agreement signed and um I

[12:58] know our planning and building

[13:00] department in particular is real real

[13:01] happy to have that full-time position

[13:03] back. It's been vacant for a year.

[13:09] Um al continuing in general government

[13:12] um

[13:14] we um extensive cyber security actions

[13:18] have been taken. We are continuing down

[13:19] that path. We'll be bringing back at

[13:22] your next meeting a uh renewal of our um

[13:26] uh agreement, professional services

[13:28] agreement with Marin IT. That'll be on

[13:30] your next council agenda. Uh we

[13:33] installed a new telephone system.

[13:35] uh negotiated a three-year labor

[13:37] agreement with Ross Police Officers

[13:40] Association. We also put in place two

[13:43] new uh human resources policies that is

[13:45] going to benefit employees. Uh the first

[13:47] was a catastrophic sick leave policy

[13:51] that the council um put in place last

[13:53] fall and then at your last council

[13:55] meeting a uh paid parental leave

[13:58] program. Uh we conducted uh three at

[14:01] during three council meetings the

[14:03] council took the um made the evaluation

[14:06] and took count uh action to move your

[14:08] elections formally to November on an

[14:11] ongoing basis.

[14:17] This slide has to do with the um

[14:19] implementation of the facilities master

[14:21] plan and response to the for citizens

[14:24] initiative that was filed um last

[14:27] summer. Uh these are some of the major

[14:30] accomplishments that happened um over

[14:32] the year. You did receive at your

[14:34] council meeting last week. Uh a third

[14:37] report from our um project manager. So,

[14:40] I don't have to go into all of them, but

[14:42] just wanted to point out that especially

[14:44] for um me and David Kelly and and our uh

[14:49] planning and public works directors,

[14:50] this is a a significant amount of our

[14:53] staffing resources and council time has

[14:56] been going into this um particular um um

[15:01] initiative to implement the facilities

[15:03] master plan.

[15:08] Um this slide just focus I wanted to

[15:10] focus on a theme that the council and

[15:13] the community has been uh very

[15:15] interested in in this I know since I got

[15:17] here four years ago is pedestrian and

[15:19] bicycle safety. So these are bullet

[15:21] points and their um achievement

[15:23] accomplishments made by uh our public

[15:26] works department and our police

[15:27] department to uh enhance pedestrian and

[15:30] bicycle safety. Um uh the council

[15:33] enacted ebike legislation in partnership

[15:35] with the county of Marin and the police

[15:38] department has continued education uh

[15:41] working closely with the school district

[15:43] and began enforcement of that. Um the

[15:47] public works uh department uh improved

[15:50] uh is is before the end of this fiscal

[15:52] year will have made additional

[15:55] improvements to the Shady Lane

[15:56] pedestrian pathway and installed bike

[15:58] sheross on Shady Lane. Uh the Laurel

[16:01] Grove Pathways phase 2 project was

[16:04] completed this year. Um recently

[16:07] completed was sidewalk replacement on

[16:09] Sir Francis Drake at the Bolinus bus

[16:11] stop. The police department um uh

[16:15] purchased and has deployed uh a mobile

[16:18] speed sign. You've probably seen it

[16:20] throughout town. Uh that's been very

[16:23] helpful to um educate drivers on how

[16:26] fast they're going and also provide a

[16:28] lot of statistical information to the

[16:30] police chief that he can use in further

[16:33] deploying and and trying to address this

[16:35] issue. Um and the public works

[16:37] department has been working hard on

[16:39] replacing the three pedestrian bridges

[16:41] at Natalie Coff and Green Park. Recently

[16:43] received um good good information about

[16:46] the lack of nesting owls and um

[16:51] they'll be able to be replaced um uh by

[16:54] in the summer. So that's fantastic.

[16:59] Also in the police department and these

[17:01] are highlights. It's certainly not

[17:02] everything that that happens in any of

[17:04] the departments, but just wanted to

[17:05] highlight accomplishment. They uh

[17:08] maintained a safe community. Um we've

[17:12] transitioned our police department

[17:13] leadership to our new chief. Um the

[17:17] number of speed citations has increased

[17:20] um especially on Sir Francis Drake has

[17:22] been a focused area. Uh the department

[17:25] has increased enforcement of parking and

[17:27] moving violations in the neighborhoods,

[17:29] especially those that are impacted by

[17:31] construction projects.

[17:34] There's also been an enforcement an

[17:36] emphasis on enforcement to maintain

[17:38] roadway clearance for first responder

[17:40] access and of course evacuation should

[17:43] the need arise. Uh the department has

[17:46] also increased training to move the

[17:49] department from documenting crime to

[17:51] investigating crime. And examples are um

[17:55] some recent elder abuse um cases that

[17:57] they've been investigating and also

[17:59] robbery cases. And I'm if the council

[18:02] has more questions about that, I'm sure

[18:03] Chief Pota would be happy to respond.

[18:08] Uh in the public works department, they

[18:10] completed several paving projects. Uh

[18:13] we've invested in the fleet. The council

[18:15] approved in the budget for this current

[18:17] fiscal year a new tractor which is going

[18:20] to be about $100,000. You approved it.

[18:22] the purchase of it on your last agenda.

[18:25] Um they've made progress on the

[18:27] windshift bridge replacement project

[18:30] which is many years in the making and

[18:32] probably more years to go but progress

[18:34] has been made. Uh they issued 95

[18:37] encroachment permits and 41 tree permits

[18:41] and that's just for the first nine

[18:42] months of the year. So we're a small

[18:44] town but there's quite a bit of

[18:45] activity.

[18:46] um they continue to maintain the

[18:49] operationality of dilapidated town

[18:52] facilities and so they do you know in

[18:55] order for us to keep using these

[18:56] facilities they have to put uh a lot of

[18:58] work into it. Um they've made progress

[19:01] on the Bolina storm drain phase 2

[19:04] project. Also progress on the

[19:06] undergrounding utility districts, the two uh assessment districts and our

[19:11] own utility undergrounding project here

[19:14] on the corner of Logonist and Sir

[19:16] Francis Drake.

[19:19] Um planning and building just a few

[19:21] highlights. Um housing element

[19:23] implementation was begun. Uh at your

[19:26] last council meeting, you approved the

[19:29] um multi-year fee study uh which has

[19:32] resulted in amended fee schedule. They

[19:35] um issued 232 building permits, which

[19:39] equates to $1.6 million in fees. They

[19:44] reviewed and approved 37 planning

[19:46] projects. Um, if you recall last fall,

[19:50] um, our planning director handled the,

[19:53] uh, three, every three-year, uh, the

[19:55] town needs to update its fire, uh, um,

[19:59] wooi and building codes. She handled

[20:01] that. Um, they continued to provide

[20:04] responsive services to the community

[20:06] with the building inspector vacant.

[20:08] They, so they were able to continue on

[20:10] good service. Um, I did not receive any

[20:13] complaints. Um, so that's great.

[20:16] uh they adopted an ordinance prohibiting

[20:18] tobacco cells. So that came to the

[20:20] council a handful of times and um this

[20:23] is one of those administrative things

[20:25] but it's important and it takes a lot of

[20:26] management skill is um they uh scanned

[20:32] 250

[20:33] boxes of documents scanned and then they

[20:36] were and then they were able to destroy

[20:39] those documents in accordance with our

[20:41] records retention policy. that has freed

[20:43] up space in our public works building

[20:46] and makes it easier for staff and the

[20:49] public to access information. So, that's

[20:51] one of those extra things that a lot of

[20:53] times we don't get time to do, but um

[20:55] staff really um made a point of getting

[20:58] that done and it was a $30,000

[21:00] investment. So, thank you for to the

[21:02] council for allocating funds for that.

[21:06] Uh in Ross Recreation, they onboarded

[21:08] two key rec uh programming employees.

[21:10] They continued to staff age friendly

[21:13] task force and increased um age friendly

[21:16] events and programming. They reimagined

[21:19] the town dinner. If you recall last last

[21:22] fall, it was free and it was held at

[21:24] Magic and it was wellreceived.

[21:27] Um they have an agreement with Magic to

[21:30] host classes. An example of this is the

[21:32] Happy Hive preschool afterchool program

[21:35] which has been very successful.

[21:37] um they've expanded um flexible

[21:41] afterchool options in our afterchool

[21:43] programs including gap care and uh just

[21:46] at your last meeting you had an update

[21:48] from uh Moren Borthwick our recreation

[21:51] manager about all things uh recreation

[21:53] so you saw a lot of pictures and

[21:55] received more information but offered

[21:57] over 150 programs to the Ross community.

[22:01] uh they managed the reestablishment of

[22:03] the organic farm stand on the common

[22:06] last year and at your last meeting the

[22:08] council renewed that agreement um I

[22:11] can't I think it was three or five years

[22:13] uh and they've increased engagement with

[22:15] RPOA the Ross auxiliary and the Ross

[22:18] school for um community events so a lot

[22:21] of activity going on

[22:24] um you know I've included the fire

[22:26] department because as you know the town

[22:27] pays for fire services it's it a

[22:30] function, a very important function that

[22:33] the town provides and we do that through

[22:35] an ag um as part of a joint powers um

[22:39] authority with the Ross Valley Fire

[22:40] Department. So, just a few highlights of

[22:42] what the chief, Chief Mahoney considers

[22:45] to be accomplishments is he hired a new

[22:47] wildfire preparedness coordinator. Her

[22:49] name is Nicole and um I've seen her

[22:52] she's she's handling not only education

[22:54] events for the neighbor member agencies,

[22:57] but she's also taken over management of

[23:00] their vegetation um programs. She's also

[23:03] looking into trying to do work on uh to

[23:07] rehabilitate the fire roads um that go

[23:09] between San and Selmo and Ross and

[23:11] Fairfax. So, she's taken along a a lot

[23:14] of new things. We really are excited

[23:16] about that. Um, the department hired

[23:19] three new firefighters, which is

[23:20] difficult in the Bay Area now, and

[23:24] completed a new labor agreements for all

[23:26] of their bargaining groups this past

[23:28] summer. They also staffed a new uh

[23:32] battalion chief position. They also

[23:34] managed the closure of station 18. They

[23:37] updated council on response times. I

[23:40] think that was last December.

[23:42] Um they've completed a remodel of

[23:44] station 20 in Sleepy Hollow and they've

[23:47] obtained funding through the Fairfax

[23:49] Town Council for the remodel of station

[23:52] 21 which is in Fairfax.

[23:54] Um they uh brought forward assisted with

[23:57] the new fire code adoption and they

[24:00] completed large vegetation removal

[24:02] projects in Ross including uh one at

[24:05] Natalie Coffen Green Park, one that's

[24:07] underway on upper road and they um did a

[24:10] new program by partnering with students

[24:12] at Ross School to do a broom pull event

[24:15] and our town staff. So that's that's

[24:17] neat.

[24:19] So those are the achievements for the

[24:21] year. I don't know if you had anything

[24:22] that you wanted to pause there. You have

[24:25] any questions? You wanted to

[24:28] add anything or anything?

[24:31] >> Any comments, questions?

[24:35] >> Okay, I think we can keep going.

[24:36] >> Okay.

[24:37] >> I just wanted to add one thing just to

[24:39] say I it's it's amazing to see all the

[24:42] accomplishments. I can't believe it's

[24:44] been what, nine months, not quite a full

[24:46] year.

[24:47] >> Yeah, congratulations to all the staff

[24:50] and all the work that they do. So,

[24:52] >> great. Thank you,

[24:53] >> Julie. Could I could I just add I I I

[24:57] I'm impressed. You know, sometimes

[24:59] sitting on the council, we have these

[25:01] issues that are really difficult and

[25:02] they seem to keep coming back and coming

[25:04] back because they're hard and we don't

[25:07] have ready solutions, particularly when

[25:10] these solutions, if they are there, will

[25:12] cost money. team, sometimes a lot of

[25:13] money. What we don't always appreciate

[25:16] is all the work that's going on day in

[25:19] and day out by our staff and it when you

[25:22] put it all together like this, it really

[25:24] is impressive. So, thank you very much

[25:26] to everyone on the town staff and to our

[25:29] manager.

[25:31] >> Yeah, I I agree. And it might be nice to

[25:34] have some kind of a communication to all

[25:36] the residents in the Ross review. um not

[25:39] the whole PowerPoint but just maybe the

[25:41] highlights so that the community can

[25:44] appreciate everything that's gone on

[25:46] too. I think that would be really

[25:48] helpful. Thank you to everybody.

[25:55] » Okay, thank you. Okay, so uh moving on.

[25:59] This next section has to do with the

[26:00] five-year uh financial forecast.

[26:04] Um, so this assists the town council and

[26:06] our management team in understanding the

[26:08] town's ability to fund current level of

[26:11] services in the future. So, is what

[26:13] we're doing sustainable? Is our level of

[26:15] service uh sustainable? And it it gives

[26:19] us some information about our ability to

[26:21] fund alternative programs and services

[26:23] in the short term or the long term.

[26:28] Um so this this uh exercise projects

[26:31] revenue and expenses for uh for a 5-year

[26:34] period starting in 2027 to 2031 and it's

[26:38] focused on the town's operating fund. It

[26:41] estimates revenue and expenses based on

[26:43] your current town policies and state

[26:46] statutes. It includes just a modest

[26:49] level of capital expenses continuing to

[26:52] be funded by the operating fund and it

[26:54] does include an additional $200,000 per

[26:57] year for each of the five years um for

[27:01] pension unfunded acred liability payown.

[27:04] So that is already incorporated into

[27:07] this uh financial forecast.

[27:12] Uh so the forecast indicates that um for

[27:15] revenues property taxes will continue to

[27:18] be your largest source of revenue. Um we

[27:22] receive uh projections from the county

[27:24] of Marin and also our consulting firm

[27:28] HDL and they uh so we used their

[27:31] projections which average 3 to 4% per

[27:33] year in growth.

[27:37] Uh revenue growth will be less than

[27:40] expense growth. So transfers the so the

[27:43] transfers that the council has been able

[27:45] to make to the facilities and equipment

[27:46] fund and to the capital projects fund

[27:49] are projected to decrease in order to

[27:52] balance the budget. However, you're

[27:54] still putting that $200 200,000 every

[27:57] year towards pension.

[27:59] Um

[28:01] so this this need for additional funding

[28:05] in order to address deferred capital

[28:08] needs and obsolete facilities. If at

[28:10] your last meeting we did put together

[28:12] with the help of our consultant team a

[28:15] presentation um for council about with

[28:18] that included options for raising

[28:20] additional funds for those purposes.

[28:25] So on the expenses side, our expenses

[28:28] are projected to grow approximately 3 to

[28:30] 4% per year um excluding one-time

[28:34] expenditures.

[28:35] Wages and benefits comprise 47% of total

[28:39] expenses. They are estimated to increase

[28:41] 4% per year moving forward.

[28:45] Our police and fire labor agreements um

[28:49] expire uh on June 30th, 2028. So that's

[28:52] partway through this 5-year forecast.

[28:55] Labor costs are expected to increase and

[28:58] it will affect this financial forecast.

[29:08] Um so pension costs are stabilizing with

[29:11] the enactment of the PEPA provisions um

[29:14] and the payown of our unfunded pension

[29:16] liability. However, Kalper's in

[29:19] investment gains and losses

[29:22] contribute to the unpredictability of

[29:24] future costs. So, that's affecting you

[29:26] know that this this forecast is going to

[29:27] change as we get the information from

[29:29] Kalpers every year. Um, for the current

[29:32] fiscal year 26, the town was required

[29:36] pension costs were $840,000.

[29:40] Those are expected to increase to 1.1

[29:42] million by fiscal year ending 31.

[29:46] uh the fire department JPA costs. So

[29:48] that's 30% of the town's operating costs

[29:51] go to that fire JPA. Those are budgeted

[29:54] to increase by 6% in the upcoming fiscal

[29:58] year 27. And then we expect that they

[30:01] will be increasing 4% annually in the

[30:04] future.

[30:10] So uh this is the bottom line here. this this

[30:14] graph here. So this table. So what this

[30:18] is showing us is um you know the first

[30:21] column was the actual for fiscal year

[30:23] 25. The next two is budget for the uh

[30:27] current fiscal year and what we project

[30:29] we will really be bringing in and

[30:31] spending by the end of this fiscal year.

[30:33] And then the middle column is the uh

[30:36] projected for the fiscal year ending

[30:38] 2027. So, what this is showing us is

[30:41] that the town's current level of

[30:44] services are fundable over the next 5

[30:47] years.

[30:48] And really, the the the reason we're

[30:50] able to fund our current level services

[30:53] is due to the revenue collected from the

[30:55] public safety parcel tax. That's really

[30:57] the key reason.

[31:00] >> Yes, mayor. um on on our handout, the

[31:03] memo, the staff report on page

[31:08] >> um nine iix,

[31:10] >> it looks like the same chart except for

[31:14] um two numbers are different,

[31:17] >> right? So we we've uh the one that's in

[31:20] your staff report includes the um

[31:23] includes the transfer of surplus from

[31:26] previous years. So I I agree. I

[31:29] apologize that is a little confusing.

[31:31] This one is more simplified and I'm I'd

[31:34] like to ask Elena to articulate. She's

[31:36] probably better at articulating an

[31:38] answer to this question.

[31:40] >> During prior years and use your

[31:42] microphone.

[31:48] » Okay. Thank you. So during prior years,

[31:51] the town collected uh more revenue than

[31:54] uh incurred expenses and additional two

[31:59] and a half million dollars uh available

[32:02] to transfer to capital project funds.

[32:05] And this is what you see in um staff

[32:08] report. And here we decided to simplify

[32:11] to show just uh excluding prior years um

[32:15] additional funds to show that uh year by

[32:18] year the town is uh able to um be in a

[32:23] uh this position.

[32:27] So,

[32:29] >> um,

[32:30] >> it it looks like we're really getting

[32:33] close to deficit spending, um,

[32:36] especially in what, fiscal 2029.

[32:39] >> Mhm.

[32:40] >> Um, is that concerning to people?

[32:44] >> Um, yeah, I I have a couple of points

[32:46] about that if I I can. So, it's um so

[32:49] we're projecting a very small surplus of

[32:51] $8,000 at the end of fiscal year ending

[32:54] 27 and then a small small surpluses

[32:57] through 2031.

[33:00] Um

[33:02] this fiscal year, if you notice, we are

[33:05] anticipating a um surplus of $843,000.

[33:10] And we're projecting this nice surplus

[33:12] due to an increase in revenue which was

[33:14] largely driven by the increase in

[33:16] interest that we've received and reduced

[33:19] spending um that we've spent less than

[33:22] we had budgeted because primarily

[33:24] because of an unfilled building

[33:25] inspector position in some so a

[33:28] combination of a lot of different things

[33:30] but we were able to produce this uh

[33:33] expected surplus by the end of the year.

[33:36] So, these small surpluses that you see,

[33:39] you know, it it means that you're you're

[33:42] going to be able to um fund one-time

[33:45] expenses, but you're not going to be

[33:48] able to afford new positions, ongoing

[33:51] costs um or big capital projects unless

[33:54] you um somehow receive additional

[33:57] revenue.

[34:05] So getting into the draft budget, I'll

[34:07] go through these next slides uh quickly,

[34:09] but um just uh uh the general fund has

[34:13] um

[34:14] >> I'm sorry, excuse me. Can I ask a

[34:15] question?

[34:16] >> So

[34:17] what was the actual property tax

[34:20] increase revenue for this this year?

[34:24] >> It was about um we didn't finalize it.

[34:27] We we we didn't receive yet uh the final

[34:30] uh balances because the county transfers

[34:32] money in December, in April, and the

[34:35] final balance coming in July. So, we

[34:38] don't have the final number yet, but

[34:39] it's expected to be at least 4%

[34:42] increase.

[34:43] >> How much?

[34:44] >> At least 4%.

[34:46] >> Okay. I I think it's higher. I think you

[34:48] have it somewhere.

[34:48] >> Yes. Yeah. I I

[34:50] >> the

[34:50] >> I'm trying to be conservative.

[34:52] >> No, no, no. What I'm saying is that the

[34:54] actual property tax revenue growth

[34:57] exceeds the budget. It's exceeded it

[34:59] ever since I've joined

[35:00] >> every year.

[35:02] >> And I would say that the the town often

[35:06] has a conservative like you you you're

[35:08] 3.8% as a baseline, but we actually

[35:12] exceed that almost every single year in

[35:14] property tax revenue.

[35:16] >> And the reason is people sell their

[35:17] homes and property taxes reset. So I

[35:22] hear this dire prediction of how we have

[35:24] no money, but I find that to be maybe a

[35:28] little too um wor over worrisome because

[35:32] as long as we do a good job stewarding

[35:36] the town and the property values

[35:38] increase, so will property tax revenues,

[35:41] which has been the case. And that's not

[35:43] what's forecasted in here.

[35:46] So if you look in your budget binder

[35:48] under tab

[35:50] G, that is operating fund revenue. In

[35:54] the very top line, it it mentions

[35:56] property tax. So

[36:00] the budget for the current fiscal year,

[36:03] we budgeted

[36:06] 5,650,000

[36:08] in property tax, just the basic property

[36:10] tax.

[36:12] And we estimate we will be receiving

[36:16] 5,671,000

[36:20] as our that's what we're estimating we

[36:22] will receive by the end of the year. And

[36:25] um

[36:28] we get updates from the county finance

[36:31] department throughout the year and

[36:35] we expect that that is going to we're

[36:37] going to be we're going to be right on

[36:39] with that at least that portion of it.

[36:41] So that's $21,000

[36:44] more than we budgeted. Um,

[36:48] >> but as a percentage, Christa, it's five,

[36:51] it's up 5.5%.

[36:53] >> Over 2425.

[36:56] So we're forecasting

[37:00] >> three 3.8 and the the actuals are up

[37:02] 5.5.

[37:04] >> Yeah.

[37:05] >> So significantly more growth.

[37:10] Mhm. And that's and it is difficult to

[37:12] estimate things. That's why we rely so

[37:14] much um on our partners at the Marin

[37:17] County Finance Department and on our

[37:20] consultants HDL to help back up because

[37:22] property tax is such a huge part of our

[37:25] budget. So that staff's recommendation

[37:27] is to is to align ourselves with what

[37:31] they recommend, but of course it's the

[37:33] council's budget. So if you'd like to

[37:35] make it different.

[37:36] >> Okay.

[37:37] >> And that's what our

[37:38] >> I just also would like to point out that

[37:39] the growth from 24 to 25 actual and 23

[37:42] 24 was 5.8%.

[37:45] >> Mhm.

[37:45] >> So it's 5.8% growth for that year and

[37:49] then it's 5.5% growth and we're

[37:52] forecasting 3.8.

[37:54] So again, I don't mind that we're

[37:57] conservative,

[37:58] >> but I think it's important to recognize

[38:00] that if property tax revenue grows

[38:02] faster

[38:03] >> than what you're forecasting, we're

[38:05] going to end up in surplus. And again,

[38:07] since I've been on this council, we've

[38:09] had surplus after surplus after surplus.

[38:11] Every quarter, I I bring it up in the

[38:13] actual financials,

[38:14] >> the surpluses. Mhm.

[38:16] >> So keep that in mind when you're trying

[38:19] to forecast out 5 years that we may

[38:21] actually surprise on the upside if

[38:22] property taxes continue to come in

[38:24] higher than anticipated.

[38:28] >> And and the flip side is, you know,

[38:31] there's all this uncertainty. There's

[38:33] always uncertainty with the economy,

[38:35] with global affairs, etc., etc. So Matt,

[38:41] you probably didn't own a house in 2008,

[38:43] but property tax revenue went down

[38:46] because we were having a huge financial

[38:48] crisis. So I think the best to me the

[38:51] best thing is to rely on the county.

[38:53] We're not equipped to make assumptions

[38:56] changing the percentage increase. We can

[38:58] always check in over time if those

[39:01] numbers change.

[39:02] Um, I'm comfortable with being more

[39:05] conservative because you just never know

[39:07] what's going to happen.

[39:10] And if we have more, that's great,

[39:12] right? That's that's not a bad thing.

[39:14] >> No, that's how the council has been able

[39:16] to save towards your in your capital

[39:18] projects fund is because of this

[39:22] in part because of that. Um, let's see.

[39:26] Anything else on that or

[39:28] Okay.

[39:30] Um, so we were talking about the funds.

[39:32] So the general fund consists of three

[39:35] funds. We've got operating fund,

[39:36] facilities, equipment, and our emergency

[39:38] fund. New in fiscal year 24 was the

[39:41] capital projects fund, and that's the

[39:42] town's piggy bank for its civic center

[39:45] project. And then we have these uh

[39:47] special revenue funds that can only be

[39:49] spent for specific purposes, the gas

[39:51] tax, drainage, public safety tax, etc.

[39:58] Uh this slide is just showing that

[40:01] revenues in fiscal year 27 are projected

[40:03] to grow but at a slower rate. So as

[40:06] council member Salterzer pointed out

[40:07] last year the property tax growth was

[40:09] projected at 5.4%. This year it's

[40:12] projected at 3.8%.

[40:15] We also project planning and building

[40:17] revenue conservatively based on a 5-year

[40:19] average including estimated actual for

[40:22] the current fiscal year. So this uh

[40:25] chart is showing the change um and if

[40:29] you notice we are um projecting that our

[40:32] planning revenue is going to decrease by

[40:34] 21.4%.

[40:39] Okay.

[40:43] Uh just have a few

[40:44] >> what question on that on the planning I

[40:47] we remember we changed a bunch of the

[40:49] fees this year. Is that reflective in

[40:51] here or not?

[40:53] I'm going to ask um

[40:56] Elena, we actually or Roberta to talk to

[40:59] this, but yeah.

[41:00] >> Yes, it is because uh yeah, our budget

[41:03] was built based on a new fees and we not

[41:08] quite sure how will it work right yet

[41:11] because it is going to be first and big

[41:14] change in the first year but it is

[41:16] implemented here in the budget. Yes.

[41:18] >> Okay. Thanks. Mhm.

[41:25] Okay. So, I just have a a few

[41:27] highlights. So, our revenue highlights

[41:30] 4% increase in total operating revenue

[41:32] over the previous budget. And then the

[41:35] parcel tax covers 17.3% of police and

[41:38] fire expenditures. The rate for the

[41:41] coming year for our property owners is

[41:44] uh $1,231.

[41:48] Um and of course that's subject to

[41:50] council. You'll be taking asked to take

[41:52] that action in June at your June

[41:54] meeting. Uh okay.

[41:59] So this is an an overview of

[42:01] expenditures by department. Um

[42:12] this slide shows that the town has these

[42:16] are this is a graph of total fund

[42:18] balances. So it shows that the town has

[42:20] healthy reserves. Um, in particular, I

[42:24] wanted to point out that the operating

[42:26] fund balance is uh would drop in um

[42:29] fiscal year 27 due to a budgeted $2.5

[42:32] million transfer of prior year reserves

[42:36] from the operating fund into the capital

[42:38] projects fund. So into your piggy bank

[42:40] for this project. And that would still

[42:42] leave a $3.9 million reserve which um

[42:47] satisfies that 30% reserve policy.

[42:51] Okay.

[42:53] A and why did that money build up over

[42:56] time? We we just weren't really focused

[42:58] on it or what was going on?

[43:00] >> No. Of these past few years, we have

[43:03] been transferring um funds every year.

[43:06] So, I think the current year is we've

[43:08] transfer we're budgeted to transfer a

[43:10] million dollars. Is that correct, Elena?

[43:12] We're of prior year surpluses. So yes,

[43:15] it built up over time because as council

[43:18] member Salter mentioned, we maybe we get

[43:20] property taxes that exceed our

[43:22] projections. We don't spend some money

[43:25] that we thought. We've also because

[43:26] you've been saving because you've been

[43:29] so successful in saving money in the

[43:31] capital projects fund, you're generating

[43:32] interest that you didn't get before. So

[43:36] um it's a it's a whole combination of

[43:38] things. We had several years there where

[43:40] the police department was not spending

[43:42] its full budgeted um appropriation

[43:44] because they were having difficulty

[43:46] filling their positions. So, it was it

[43:48] was a whole bunch of different things,

[43:50] but um and it's it's the council has

[43:53] been frugal. I mean, you you haven't

[43:55] you've had a lot of uh you've been

[43:58] fiscally conservative where you haven't

[43:59] been spending

[44:02] um deciding to spend money on adding

[44:04] positions and things like that. You've

[44:06] been very conservative over the years.

[44:08] And just a question on the um operating

[44:11] reserve. Is that standard a 30%

[44:14] operating reserve?

[44:15] >> It it is standard and it is I mean there

[44:19] are some cities that go lower. I mean

[44:20] there's a city in Orange County their um

[44:23] council policy is 10%. So um 30% is is

[44:29] the norm for cities especially in the

[44:32] North Bay. Um,

[44:35] yeah, but there are cities out there

[44:36] that go lower than that. But that is the

[44:38] council adopted reserve policy. That's

[44:41] part of your council adopted financial

[44:43] policies that last came to the council

[44:46] in 2021.

[44:50] » Uh, Chris, one question for you. Are we

[44:52] Is there a slide on the pension

[44:54] specifically or when I just want to see

[44:56] because I I I'll wait to ask questions

[44:58] on it if there's if you're going to

[44:59] address it.

[45:00] >> Um, actually, you know, I I moved it to

[45:01] the end. I had it last year. I was

[45:03] trying to I was trying to pull this down

[45:06] a little bit, minimize this

[45:07] presentation, but I'll be happy to put

[45:08] it back on. We can skip to that. We can

[45:10] do it now or we can do it at the end.

[45:12] >> At the end's fine. I just thought again

[45:13] I was going to Sure.

[45:14] >> Wait.

[45:15] >> Um, okay.

[45:19] So, for this chart here, it's it's

[45:22] what's the bottom line? So, the takeaway

[45:24] is that the operating fund is balanced

[45:26] and your fiscal year ending 27 uh fund

[45:29] balances are healthy. Um,

[45:33] and it also shows that you're uh it

[45:36] shows the inclusion of the $2.5 million

[45:39] transfer of prior year reserves into the

[45:41] capital projects fund. And so that's

[45:44] going to build that fund. So that ending

[45:47] fiscal year 27, your fund balance in

[45:50] that fund is expected to be $13.74

[45:53] million.

[45:55] So that's something to be proud of, I

[45:57] think.

[46:00] Okay, these next charts, I'll go through

[46:02] these quickly, but this this chart is so

[46:05] showing that, you know, of course,

[46:06] property taxes are 57% of the town's

[46:09] revenue. Then our public safety uh

[46:12] parcel tax generates um another 9% of

[46:16] our revenue.

[46:18] This next slide talks a little bit about

[46:21] expenditures. Um, wages are our largest

[46:24] expense at 31%

[46:27] and then our contract with Ross Valley

[46:29] Fire Department for fire service is the

[46:31] second largest expense at 24%.

[46:38] Um,

[46:40] this one is actually by department. So

[46:43] this shows that fire is our largest

[46:45] expenditure by department and that and

[46:47] the difference in those two is that the

[46:50] fire department budget is a little bit

[46:53] more than the contract with Ross Valley

[46:55] Fire because there are some more line

[46:57] items in that budget

[47:00] um such as

[47:05] » what are some of those items? I didn't

[47:06] quite understand why the the numbers are

[47:09] different.

[47:09] >> Yeah, sure. Um some of those items are

[47:12] um maintenance. So for example, we have

[47:13] we are required by the JPA agreement to

[47:16] um pay funding for um the upkeep of

[47:20] station um 19 in Sanmo. We also put in

[47:24] there the funding that we get from the

[47:27] Min Wildfire Prevention Authority. So we

[47:30] have revenue coming in and then we have

[47:31] revenue going out. Am I missing

[47:33] anything, Elena?

[47:35] >> No, you're right.

[47:36] >> Yeah. Um we used to have in that budget

[47:39] uh how much we spent to rent the um the

[47:43] portable for the firefighters and

[47:46] luckily we were able to get get that we no longer have that expense. So

[47:50] there's other things in that budget just

[47:52] a few things and that um Mayor Prom

[47:54] Robbins is um in your budget packet

[47:58] under

[48:02] » under tab I compar.

[48:05] >> Thank you. Yeah. Oh,

[48:07] >> thank you, Elena. Mayor Prom Robbins.

[48:10] Another uh big item is um we have

[48:14] Kalpers's uh uh unfunded liability for

[48:18] the fire department staff before when

[48:21] Ross used to have its fire department

[48:23] before we joined the Ross Valley Fire

[48:26] Department in 2012. So, prior to that,

[48:28] there was unfunded liability that we pay

[48:31] uh just our own. So that's another align

[48:34] item in that budget.

[48:36] >> Thank you.

[48:37] >> Sure.

[48:41] » So 57% of our general fund expenditures

[48:45] are um spent on fire and police services

[48:48] and and that is typical. That's a

[48:51] typical amount. 60 60% is often what you

[48:54] hear. Some places it gets it's creeping

[48:57] up closer to 70%.

[49:01] So that was my uh those were our spiffy

[49:04] charts and now I have um some from

[49:08] staff's perspective some of our our

[49:12] priorities for the coming budget year

[49:14] that are part of this budget document.

[49:18] Um absolutely we want to maintain our

[49:21] financial stability and maintain public

[49:23] safety. Another one in continues our

[49:27] second bullet is employee retention,

[49:30] employee recruitment. I've added in here

[49:32] this year is succession planning. For

[49:34] example, our public works director Rich

[49:35] Simonich is retiring in August. So

[49:38] there's a focus this year on succession

[49:41] planning, safety as always training and

[49:44] technological um investments so that we

[49:48] can work uh smarter and more

[49:49] efficiently.

[49:51] priority for this coming year continues

[49:54] to be the town facilities master plan,

[49:56] engaging an architect, planning those

[49:58] temporary relocations to do

[50:00] construction, beginning environmental

[50:02] review, working on the housing

[50:03] development. There's a whole bunch of

[50:05] things that you uh received in your uh status report at your last council

[50:11] meeting. We want to increase

[50:13] communication with residents. So, uh, a

[50:16] carryover project from last year is the

[50:19] town provided us with funding to, um,

[50:23] have to create a new website. We weren't

[50:25] able to clean to complete that project

[50:27] this year primarily due to the, uh,

[50:29] transition with new clerks, but, um, our

[50:31] new town clerk, Zach, is

[50:34] really excited about doing this next

[50:36] year. Right, Zach?

[50:38] >> Absolutely.

[50:39] >> Yeah. And we'll we'll get started on

[50:40] that because there's a lot of uh, we we

[50:42] need to get our website in into modern

[50:44] day Um, we continue to invest in

[50:47] vehicles and equipment. So, you we we we

[50:50] just got the new public works tractor.

[50:52] Um, and in the coming year, we've

[50:54] budgeted funding for a um a new but

[50:58] probably gently used uh uh car for our

[51:01] police chief and new body cams and some

[51:05] other things. We will um of course be

[51:08] continuing our cyber security

[51:10] improvements.

[51:13] We'll continue improving emergency

[51:15] preparedness and wildfire prevention.

[51:18] Continue to focus on that pedestrian

[51:20] safety. Continue to make payowns to our

[51:23] unfunded pension liability. Um our uh

[51:27] most recent valuation report for Kalpers

[51:31] shows that we have an unfunded acred

[51:33] liability of 5.7 million. That's a

[51:36] decrease of 400,000

[51:39] from the prior year.

[51:41] Um, but that fluctuates every year. So,

[51:44] um, since 2016, the town has made $3.6

[51:47] million in discretionary payments to pay

[51:50] down the pension liability.

[51:57] And this budget continues to transfer

[51:59] funds into the capital projects fund to

[52:01] build your savings account for the civic

[52:03] center project.

[52:06] So, just a few highlights for each

[52:09] department in the general government

[52:10] section. Um, we do this budget includes

[52:13] a 3% cost of living increase for all of

[52:16] our employees. Um, it includes uh 10%

[52:21] increase in health insurance costs.

[52:23] We've got uh increased investments for

[52:26] it. Um, for the third year in a row

[52:28] we've been doing this. Unfortunately,

[52:31] our liability and property insurance is

[52:33] expected to increase by 24%.

[52:37] Um, and that is typical. That's I've

[52:39] checked in with my colleagues with our

[52:41] neighboring cities, and it's not just

[52:42] us. It's happening to everybody. Um, in

[52:46] particular, as I mentioned, we have the

[52:48] website redesign. We want to continue to

[52:50] make progress on records retention and

[52:53] scanning. Uh, we need to recruit a new

[52:55] public works director. Um, and I know

[52:58] Elena has is uh put this forward is we

[53:02] need a a new financial software

[53:04] management system. So that's we have

[53:06] $52,000 in the budget to purchase and

[53:10] implement a new financial uh management

[53:12] system. We also um need to update the

[53:16] personnel rules. The last time they went

[53:18] to the council was the summer of 2021

[53:20] and we've uh we need to update those and

[53:23] um add some of the the the for example

[53:26] paid parental leave of all that needs to

[53:28] be incorporated into the personnel

[53:30] policies

[53:33] uh for the fire department budget. um uh

[53:39] the closure of the the station 18 last

[53:41] summer generated savings to the JPA and

[53:44] then they applied that to Ross' dues. Um

[53:48] the savings is expected to be over

[53:50] 300,000 in the um coming fiscal year

[53:53] with the town's share of the Ross Valley

[53:56] Fire Department budget will be reduced

[53:58] from 23.37%

[54:01] that's what we've been paying that's

[54:02] been our share to it'll be reduced down

[54:05] to 20.4%.

[54:07] Now, that is pending. That formal change

[54:10] in the JPA needs to um be approved by

[54:15] the Ros Valley Fire Department board and

[54:18] I believe it's I think it's it's going

[54:20] to have to come to this council to

[54:22] approve the JAPA, amended JPA. So,

[54:25] you'll be seeing that summer, early

[54:27] fall. That should be coming forward.

[54:30] Uh their budget, however, is not yet

[54:32] finalized.

[54:34] um we will be receiving that uh updates

[54:37] to that and they will be incorporated

[54:39] into this draft budget and you know the

[54:41] budget comes back to you for formal

[54:43] approval in at your June 11th meeting.

[54:46] So the the Ross Valley Fire Department

[54:48] budget is is we expect it to increase by

[54:51] 6.5%.

[54:52] And then uh the entire department is um

[54:57] budgeted at 3.3 million and that

[54:59] includes the and that's a 6% increase

[55:01] and that was the difference between the

[55:03] two are what I described to uh Mayor

[55:05] Prom Robbins. So, this budget does

[55:07] include $65,000 each for wildfire

[55:11] defensible space program and the

[55:13] wildfire local prevention program and

[55:16] that's funded by the wildfire prevention

[55:18] authority.

[55:21] In the police department, uh we have

[55:23] nine positions in the police department.

[55:26] If you recall, an officer position was

[55:28] added in fiscal year ending 25 for

[55:31] succession planning purposes at we we uh

[55:35] told the council we would be evaluating

[55:37] the need for that every year. Um we did

[55:41] that evaluation this year, the police

[55:43] chief and I and due to succession

[55:46] planning, we need to continue that

[55:48] through fiscal year ending 27 and we

[55:51] will evaluate it um next year with our

[55:53] new chief.

[55:55] Uh the new we have a newou with the

[55:57] police officers. It's in effect through

[55:59] June 2028.

[56:01] It uh this includes funding for uh new

[56:04] equipment and one vehicle. As I

[56:06] mentioned, I wanted to point out that

[56:08] due to some of the changes that we made

[56:10] in the new memorandum of understanding

[56:13] with the police officers association,

[56:15] one of it was to reduce the amount we

[56:18] raised their um salaries and then we

[56:20] were able to reduce the amount of

[56:23] automatic comp time that they acrewed

[56:25] each pay period. And what that's one of

[56:28] the thing that that's enabled is that

[56:30] the the chief and due to good management

[56:33] and the fact that the department is

[56:35] fully staffed and the reduction in the

[56:38] count time they've earned the overtime

[56:40] budget has been reduced by 50%. So

[56:43] that's not something you see very often

[56:45] and um just I'm I'm proud of the chief

[56:48] and the officers for for making that

[56:50] happen. Uh their focus areas are to

[56:53] continue transition of the department

[56:55] leadership. Uh increase enforcement of

[56:57] speed limits, road clearance, ebikes,

[57:01] officer retention, training officers,

[57:03] succession planning, continue those

[57:06] important safety partnerships with Ross

[57:08] School and Branson. Um and to continue

[57:11] building the crime investigation

[57:13] capacity of the department.

[57:16] >> I have a a question.

[57:18] >> Sure. So, first, where are the license

[57:21] plate readers for FY27? Is that going to

[57:23] happen?

[57:24] >> I didn't put them in the budget this

[57:25] year um because I've not been able to

[57:28] get them to to agree to our contract

[57:31] provisions. So,

[57:33] >> okay. But we we did budget for it last

[57:35] year. So,

[57:36] >> we budgeted for it last year, but that

[57:38] you know there's we have the budget

[57:39] process, but we also have to I have to

[57:42] bring things forward to the council to

[57:44] actually implement them. And that is not

[57:47] something I've I can it's not ripe to be

[57:50] brought forward.

[57:52] >> So I I would like it to be carried

[57:54] forward into because we already

[57:56] allocated the funds. So just like you

[57:58] carried forward other items that weren't

[58:00] implemented,

[58:02] >> we've appropriated the funds to do this.

[58:05] It should just be carried forward until

[58:08] you can work out the legal problems.

[58:11] And then the second question I had was

[58:13] just about the new vehicle for the

[58:15] police chief. Can you I I thought we

[58:18] bought recently a new vehicle.

[58:20] >> Um thank you for the question. We um

[58:23] we've purchased two patrol cars and last

[58:26] year we purchased a a hybrid patrol car,

[58:29] but this is for the the vehicle that the

[58:31] police chief um uses. It's part of his

[58:35] employment agreement. It's a take-home

[58:37] vehicle

[58:38] >> and um it's outfitted and it's it's

[58:40] really on its last legs. Um and it's every police chief has a take-home

[58:46] vehicle so that they can report um to a

[58:49] um an incident with all of their

[58:52] equipment in it. Um and you know, we

[58:54] have two chiefs here, so I'm sure they

[58:55] can articulate the reasons why. Um so

[58:58] we've allocated some funding. It's not

[59:00] for a new new vehicle. It's for a gently

[59:03] used vehicle, but we wanted to make sure

[59:06] that we continue to um well, we're we're

[59:09] spending a lot of money on repair of the

[59:11] current vehicle. I can't remember how

[59:13] many miles it has on it. And um I Chief

[59:16] Pa, if you're here, would you like to

[59:18] come up?

[59:31] Thank you for

[59:37] » All right, here we go. So, the blue book

[59:39] value of this, it's a a 2011

[59:42] uh vehicle. The blue book value on it is

[59:45] $1,000 to $2,000.

[59:48] The repair of it, it has a cylinder

[59:50] that's not working. The repair of it is

[59:52] about $2,400. So, it's going to need to

[59:54] be fixed. It has 137,000

[59:58] gently used miles on it.

[1:00:00] >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying. You're

[1:00:02] >> welcome. Chief Chief, could you um just

[1:00:05] expand for the council on what equipment

[1:00:08] because it's not just the purchase of

[1:00:09] the vehicle. It needs to be outfitted,

[1:00:12] >> right? So, it's an emergency vehicle. Uh

[1:00:14] it has it it's going to require lights

[1:00:16] and sirens. Um and that's because and I

[1:00:19] have responded from my home uh in the

[1:00:22] North Bay. I've had to respond here a

[1:00:24] couple times. uh emerently to get here.

[1:00:27] Um that's for a bunch of different

[1:00:29] reasons. One um uh if there's any kind

[1:00:32] of a critical incident, we've had a few

[1:00:35] of them uh over the last we actually

[1:00:37] have about one a year, 1 to two a year.

[1:00:39] So it requires and and they never of

[1:00:42] course happen during 8 to 5. They happen

[1:00:44] at 2:00 in the morning. So um so yeah,

[1:00:48] so it requires u um the lights and the

[1:00:51] sirens. You know, obviously we don't

[1:00:53] need a cage or anything like that in the

[1:00:54] car, but there is other equipment that

[1:00:56] goes in it.

[1:01:00] » Okay. Sorry.

[1:01:00] >> Yeah.

[1:01:01] >> Thank Thank you, Chief.

[1:01:02] >> You're welcome.

[1:01:03] >> Yeah.

[1:01:05] So, I I've since I've been here, I've

[1:01:08] you know, this this organization has

[1:01:11] been very frugal. Very frugal. And we

[1:01:14] need to just be making continued

[1:01:16] investments in our our vehicles.

[1:01:18] Especially cuz when we found out that by

[1:01:20] the time there hadn't been purchase of

[1:01:21] patrol vehicles in so many years and

[1:01:24] then when we went to purchase patrol

[1:01:27] vehicles, there was a big backlog. So um

[1:01:30] so this past this current fiscal year

[1:01:32] getting a new tractor for the public

[1:01:34] works um staff was really important and

[1:01:37] we'll just continue to try to you know

[1:01:40] our staff needs tools to do do their

[1:01:42] work. So thank you for your support. Um

[1:01:45] I have one item to add to uh the police

[1:01:47] department's page is um I didn't put on

[1:01:50] there is uh a focus on community

[1:01:53] engagement. You you know that the the

[1:01:55] chief has done a lot of of um coffee

[1:01:59] popups and you know coffee at at the

[1:02:02] churches and with the school parents and

[1:02:04] all kinds of stuff like that. So that

[1:02:06] continues to be um an a focus area of

[1:02:10] the police department.

[1:02:13] So in the public works department uh our

[1:02:16] building land, street and tree

[1:02:18] maintenance costs of 411,000 or 5% more

[1:02:22] than the prior budget.

[1:02:25] Uh their focus arrows um areas continue

[1:02:28] to be uh maintenance and repair of

[1:02:30] existing storm drains and repair of

[1:02:32] minor drainage trouble spots. Uh their

[1:02:36] another focus area is succession

[1:02:38] planning. Uh Rich has been training um

[1:02:40] staff on how to do encroachment permit

[1:02:43] writing, traffic control, road repair

[1:02:44] inspections, and utility pavement

[1:02:46] markings. Um continued focus on

[1:02:50] pedestrian bicycle safety. In the coming

[1:02:52] budget, we've got Allen Avenue safe

[1:02:54] pathway and road widening project, Sir

[1:02:57] Francis Drake pathway rehabilitation,

[1:03:00] Laurel Grove pathway phase three, which

[1:03:02] is canyon to make grade, and an analysis

[1:03:06] of the Bolina Sir Francis Drake

[1:03:08] intersection.

[1:03:12] Uh other focus areas for the department

[1:03:14] are job site safety training for our

[1:03:17] maintenance crew

[1:03:19] as always the windshift bridge

[1:03:20] replacement. Um completing NEPA and

[1:03:24] rideway certification in progress with

[1:03:26] final design construction completed in

[1:03:29] 2028.

[1:03:32] Identify small project opportunities

[1:03:34] signage striping restoration that

[1:03:36] improve pedestrian and traffic safety.

[1:03:39] and then continued implementation of the

[1:03:41] tree management plan to maintain our our

[1:03:44] urban um canopy urban forest.

[1:03:48] So this is again highlights they do a

[1:03:51] lot more than that um and they will be

[1:03:53] doing a lot more than that

[1:03:56] for our recreation department continued

[1:03:59] support for age friendly task force and

[1:04:01] um age friendly programming expanding

[1:04:04] programming at Basich Elementary in

[1:04:06] Kent.

[1:04:08] uh enhance our kids club. They want to

[1:04:10] improve retention of grades two through

[1:04:12] four.

[1:04:14] Beginning a three-year phased funding

[1:04:17] for tennis court electronic key system.

[1:04:19] I believe council member Salter, you

[1:04:22] might have brought this up last year.

[1:04:24] Um investigate funding and location for

[1:04:28] town council consideration of town

[1:04:30] botchi courts. So that's something

[1:04:33] they'd like to work with and of course

[1:04:34] that's something that needs to go to the

[1:04:35] council. uh continue their signature

[1:04:38] community events, Fourth of July, Turkey

[1:04:40] Trot. They want to work on a movie

[1:04:42] night, growing partnerships with RPOA

[1:04:45] and the Ross Auxiliary to reduce costs

[1:04:48] for all the organizations to still put

[1:04:50] on high-quality events. And the

[1:04:52] department wants to launch birthday

[1:04:54] party offerings. They want to boost

[1:04:55] their field rental and and engage in

[1:04:58] cross promotional marketing.

[1:05:03] Uh the planning and building budget it

[1:05:05] includes um 229,000 for housing and

[1:05:09] general plan consultants.

[1:05:12] Uh we we

[1:05:13] >> so sorry I I had a question just for the

[1:05:16] >> Sure.

[1:05:16] >> the last for recreck department. Mhm.

[1:05:19] >> This is maybe something to discuss, but

[1:05:22] um for those of us that were at live on

[1:05:23] the common last week, it was very

[1:05:25] popular, very crowded,

[1:05:27] >> and it was a great event. I think the

[1:05:29] whole community enjoyed it,

[1:05:30] >> but I I remember um there was talk of

[1:05:34] potentially the town trying to take the events over because they're so

[1:05:38] large. I don't know if that's something

[1:05:39] that the town still wants to do, but

[1:05:42] >> never never wanted to do.

[1:05:44] >> Yeah.

[1:05:45] >> Okay. Then maybe I mean I it seems like

[1:05:49] having our ability to run these events

[1:05:52] given the if they get large is something

[1:05:55] we might want to think about just

[1:05:57] because it there were a lot of people

[1:06:00] here. I was just a little concerned if

[1:06:01] something went wrong

[1:06:03] >> quite frankly and nothing did and

[1:06:05] everything was fine, but having um such

[1:06:08] a large event being done by RPOA just

[1:06:12] concerns me as um because of the

[1:06:16] potential for anything to go wrong. And

[1:06:18] so that you know if they keep growing

[1:06:21] and getting larger and neighboring towns

[1:06:23] and people come, which I'm I'm very

[1:06:24] happy about. I just want to make sure

[1:06:26] that as a town we're doing everything we

[1:06:29] can to secure and make sure it's it's a

[1:06:32] that nothing nothing goes wrong

[1:06:34] essentially.

[1:06:35] >> Can we could we talk about that when we

[1:06:37] talk about the RPOA request for funding

[1:06:39] because I I have some thoughts about

[1:06:41] that too.

[1:06:42] >> Okay.

[1:06:43] >> Absolutely.

[1:06:44] >> Great. Thank you.

[1:06:45] >> Okay. Thank you for bringing that up,

[1:06:48] Council Member Salter. Okay. So, in

[1:06:51] planning and building, um we've got

[1:06:54] funding in the budget for um housing and

[1:06:57] general plan consultants. This is to um

[1:07:00] implement our um housing element action

[1:07:03] plan, zoning amendments, um objective

[1:07:06] standards to streamline the design

[1:07:07] review process, things that we committed

[1:07:10] uh to getting done in our housing

[1:07:12] element and we need some consultant help

[1:07:15] to um assist us. Um we are budgeting for

[1:07:20] to transfer you have a special fund uh

[1:07:22] for the general fund I mean general plan

[1:07:26] um fund and so we're transferring

[1:07:28] $175,000

[1:07:30] into the departmental's operational

[1:07:32] budgets to be able to hire consultants

[1:07:35] um and that's to uh initiate the general

[1:07:38] plan update if you recall it was in the

[1:07:40] budget last year we brought forward to

[1:07:42] council you had a discussion I recall it

[1:07:44] was last August we decided to pause for

[1:07:46] a year. Now it's back in the budget into

[1:07:49] the work plan and and the staff is

[1:07:51] prepared to bring that forward. So we'll

[1:07:54] be starting up soon.

[1:07:56] Um

[1:08:00] one of the focus areas now that the

[1:08:03] multi-year fee study process has been

[1:08:05] completed, the next step is to um take a

[1:08:10] look at our development impact fees that

[1:08:12] we have. So um that needs to that needs

[1:08:16] to start this year. So there's a little

[1:08:18] bit of funding in the budget for that.

[1:08:20] Um one of the focus areas is to update

[1:08:23] the climate action plan. Um the general

[1:08:26] plan update and then further

[1:08:28] streamlining of the design review

[1:08:30] processes. So these are the focuses for

[1:08:32] the coming year and of course to um

[1:08:35] onboard our new uh building inspector 2

[1:08:39] who starts in May.

[1:08:43] So that is um

[1:08:46] the main part of my presentation. Rich

[1:08:49] Simonich um is going to go through a few

[1:08:53] slides that have to do with the capital

[1:08:55] improvement program. you did have a a a

[1:08:58] good uh discuss a robust discussion

[1:09:00] about the and a presentation a couple of

[1:09:02] your council meetings ago. Would you

[1:09:05] like me to pop forward to the just the

[1:09:07] pension discussion right now while I'm

[1:09:09] still sitting here? Is that okay? Okay.

[1:09:12] Let's see.

[1:09:19] Okay.

[1:09:21] So um ju just to remind everybody or

[1:09:25] anybody that's watching from home. So

[1:09:27] what is pension liability? Um unlike you

[1:09:30] know a typical retirement plan like a

[1:09:33] 401k the town has a defined retirement

[1:09:36] benefit plan through Kalpers and that

[1:09:38] promises lifetime payments to retirees.

[1:09:41] The cost of these future payments is

[1:09:43] calculated using actuarial assumptions

[1:09:45] such as life expectancy and rates of

[1:09:47] return. So when the actuarial assumption

[1:09:51] does not match reality, a liability can

[1:09:54] occur. Our most recent Kalpers valuation

[1:09:57] report shows an unfunded acred liability

[1:10:00] of 5.7 million for the town of Ross. We

[1:10:03] have five we have five different pension

[1:10:06] um Calpers pension plans. So um that's a

[1:10:11] decrease of 400,000 from the last report

[1:10:15] and that is due to a performance Kalpers

[1:10:19] had a a stock market performance of

[1:10:21] 11.6%

[1:10:23] which is well more than the 6.8% that

[1:10:27] CalPERS expects. So that's a good thing.

[1:10:34] Um,

[1:10:38] so how has the council addressed pension

[1:10:41] liability?

[1:10:43] Um, since 2016, the council has made 3.6

[1:10:47] million in discretionary payments.

[1:10:50] Um, in addition, um,

[1:10:54] a while before before my time, the

[1:10:56] council actually reduced the

[1:10:58] amateurization schedules to pay down the

[1:11:00] pension liability from 30 years to 20

[1:11:03] years, which resulted in higher costs in

[1:11:06] the short run, but much lower costs o

[1:11:08] overall due to significantly as less

[1:11:10] interest paid. Um also um a while back

[1:11:15] um the um the town stopped paying the

[1:11:18] police employee share of Kalpers of 7%.

[1:11:22] And as of 2018 the police officers

[1:11:24] agreed to pay uh 3% of the employer

[1:11:29] share of the nominal cost. So that's

[1:11:31] part of our labor agreement with that

[1:11:34] group. Um, I wanted to give you an

[1:11:36] example in

[1:11:38] for fiscal fiscal year 21, the the PERS

[1:11:42] valuation report of unfunded liability

[1:11:45] for the town, it dropped down to $1.7

[1:11:49] million because of um a good good

[1:11:54] performances. But then the very next

[1:11:57] year that unfunded liability tripled to

[1:12:01] 5.68 68 million because in fiscal year

[1:12:04] 22 Kalpers had a negative 6.1

[1:12:08] performance loss. So you can see I mean

[1:12:10] it just really it really fluctuates. Um

[1:12:13] each year the town has a mandatory

[1:12:14] payment towards its unfunded liability

[1:12:17] to Kalpers

[1:12:19] and we also pay a what's called a normal

[1:12:22] cost for our pension plans which is a

[1:12:26] percentage of payroll. employees also

[1:12:28] pay a percentage share of payroll

[1:12:31] towards their Kalpers's pension plans.

[1:12:34] Um,

[1:12:37] a couple of years ago, our former

[1:12:39] accountant was able to connect up with

[1:12:42] an actuary at PERS because we were

[1:12:44] trying to figure out so these optional

[1:12:47] payowns, all these things that the

[1:12:49] council has done for now for 10 years

[1:12:51] since 2016, what good is that done?

[1:12:54] because it's hard to see it when you see

[1:12:55] that going up and down every year. Um,

[1:12:59] and the actuary, so this was a couple

[1:13:01] years ago, the town's optional, and she

[1:13:03] said that the town's optional paydowns

[1:13:06] from 2016 to 2021, so 5 years, saved the

[1:13:11] town 2.3 million in interest because

[1:13:14] Kalpers charges us interest on our

[1:13:17] unfunded uh liability. And then each

[1:13:20] year since fiscal year 22, the town has

[1:13:23] continued to pay down an additional

[1:13:25] $200,000. So that's an additional

[1:13:27] million dollar. Now, um, Miss Ford tried

[1:13:31] to get the actuarial to, you know,

[1:13:33] update that figure because, you know,

[1:13:34] we're burning with curiosity and, uh,

[1:13:37] they're not doing it anymore. So, um, an

[1:13:40] option for us to cons continue and I

[1:13:42] know the finance um, your finance

[1:13:44] subcommittee of of council member Salter

[1:13:47] and Mayor McMillan last year we talked

[1:13:49] about um, I'd like to get uh, a

[1:13:52] consultant to come in and help us take a

[1:13:54] look at that, take a look at that. Is

[1:13:56] this is this the best way to just

[1:13:59] continue these steady payowns or is

[1:14:02] there anything else that we can do to

[1:14:03] address this issue? Um, so that's a

[1:14:07] focus area for the year.

[1:14:09] Um, that was all I had for the pension

[1:14:13] liability. Were you looking for

[1:14:14] something else, Council Member Salter?

[1:14:16] >> Yeah. So, one thing in the staff report

[1:14:18] is that it says the latest Kalpers

[1:14:21] valuation predicts a UI P payment

[1:14:24] increase of 15%

[1:14:26] for 2027.

[1:14:28] >> That's in this what you're talking

[1:14:29] about?

[1:14:29] >> Yeah, it's in the staff report.

[1:14:31] >> Okay, let me look.

[1:14:32] >> It's on page

[1:14:34] >> eight.

[1:14:37] And maybe we shouldn't use Roman

[1:14:39] numerals for those of us that are Latin

[1:14:41] impaired. Um,

[1:14:46] but it's so it says that the the budget

[1:14:48] is an increase of 15%. Which is which is

[1:14:51] a lot, but we know that the stock market

[1:14:54] outperformed their benchmark, but they

[1:14:57] haven't updated anything.

[1:15:06] So what I'm saying is I actually think

[1:15:08] there will be quite a bit of savings

[1:15:11] once the numbers get reabulated because

[1:15:14] the stock market has performed so well

[1:15:16] over the past two years.

[1:15:17] >> So even though 2022 was really bad,

[1:15:20] we've now seen a lot of increase. And so

[1:15:24] that liability will go down. So that $5.7 million will go down, but so

[1:15:30] will the mandatory payments even though

[1:15:32] it gets amvertised over 20 years.

[1:15:34] >> Yeah. Great.

[1:15:35] >> So anyway, I but but no, but I'm just

[1:15:37] saying it's it's a big cost to the town,

[1:15:38] right? So

[1:15:39] >> when we start talking about surpluses,

[1:15:42] like the fact that we're forecasting 15%

[1:15:45] increase to pension cost, that's a lot.

[1:15:48] >> So it's I I would love for us to take

[1:15:50] this up in the subcommittee. I love the

[1:15:52] idea of bringing in a consultant because

[1:15:54] pension is a very important topic

[1:15:57] >> for most towns and counties and we don't

[1:16:00] spend that much time on it

[1:16:01] >> which is fine because we've we're

[1:16:03] actually in really good shape in terms

[1:16:05] of our funded you know funded status but

[1:16:07] it's something we should look at every

[1:16:09] year with a professional to try to

[1:16:12] number one put a better number on the

[1:16:15] actual liability but also for the budget

[1:16:18] because if we're budgeting you know a

[1:16:20] big increase in the pension cost and

[1:16:22] then it doesn't come in. I don't want

[1:16:24] that to crowd out other expenditures

[1:16:27] that we'd like to make when it's just we you know it's it's a relic when

[1:16:31] you're doing this planning. We don't

[1:16:33] have the numbers yet from the state. So

[1:16:35] it's hard to really predict what what

[1:16:37] that cost is actually going to come out

[1:16:39] to be,

[1:16:41] >> right? So we and so we'll be getting the

[1:16:44] next valuation this July. It usually

[1:16:46] comes in in July. However, the this this

[1:16:51] paragraph that you're talking about, and

[1:16:52] I direct Elena to it, too, just to

[1:16:54] confirm,

[1:16:57] we don't it's we don't just come up with

[1:17:00] how much we pay Kalpers. They tell us,

[1:17:02] >> right?

[1:17:02] >> So, it's not optional. They give us the

[1:17:05] numbers, we put in our budget. So, we're

[1:17:07] not able to decrease. We're not able to

[1:17:11] say, "Oh, well, you're telling us we're

[1:17:12] going to have they they give us these

[1:17:14] projections. They're trying to help us

[1:17:15] do our budgeting, but we don't. So, we plug those numbers in.

[1:17:20] >> Oh, no, no, I understand that. But they

[1:17:21] don't they haven't done all their

[1:17:22] tabulations yet, right?

[1:17:24] >> No, they've they've they give us numbers

[1:17:26] for

[1:17:27] >> They do. Yeah. Uh so, every year in

[1:17:30] July, they issue uh current year actuals

[1:17:35] and uh for a next year projections and

[1:17:38] they put numbers and they put rates for

[1:17:40] next fiscal year. And for this fiscal

[1:17:43] year it happened last July. So we knew

[1:17:46] this numbers a year ahead

[1:17:48] >> and uh they issue percentage that uh uh

[1:17:53] and this is specific percentage for

[1:17:55] safety group and uh miscellaneous group

[1:17:59] and uh we have this number ahead of

[1:18:01] time.

[1:18:02] >> Yeah. So I'm saying since they've even

[1:18:04] put those numbers in we've seen record

[1:18:06] stock market. So I I maybe that the next

[1:18:09] when you get in July it's going to be

[1:18:11] quite a decrease. You see what I'm

[1:18:13] saying? So

[1:18:14] >> yeah for but they do give it to us. So this budget is like that's our

[1:18:18] number. We have to pay it or kick us

[1:18:20] out.

[1:18:20] >> I get it. I understand what you're

[1:18:22] saying. So it's like this we're always

[1:18:23] delayed by this July. We have to finish

[1:18:26] our numbers by June.

[1:18:27] >> And they issue actual report and this

[1:18:31] report is based on numbers that was two

[1:18:34] years before correct

[1:18:35] >> the actual. So they are delaying two

[1:18:38] years. This is why.

[1:18:39] >> Yes, exactly. Which is really difficult.

[1:18:42] But when we're trying to forecast out

[1:18:44] what our like that number of 5.7 might

[1:18:48] come back at 2 million or 1.2 based when

[1:18:51] they finally redo the valuation

[1:18:53] >> and the amount we we're going to have to

[1:18:55] pay will go down.

[1:18:56] >> So I know it's volatile, but we we don't

[1:18:59] spend much time on this. All I'm saying

[1:19:01] is that 2022 was a terrible year for

[1:19:04] everybody and we're all reliving it, but

[1:19:07] there's been a lot that's happened since

[1:19:08] then. So, I I think it's just something

[1:19:11] we should do in the finance committee

[1:19:12] and then come back to the full council

[1:19:14] with a report and and working with a

[1:19:15] consultant. I think it's a great idea.

[1:19:17] >> Okay.

[1:19:18] >> Yeah, I agree. I think it would be good

[1:19:19] to have a consultant come and give us a

[1:19:22] second set of eyes. Should the um you

[1:19:25] know, we've been contributing $200,000

[1:19:28] each year to you know, to pay down the

[1:19:30] liability. Should we be contributing

[1:19:32] more? I mean, we're putting a lot of our

[1:19:34] surplus into the the um the capital uh

[1:19:38] facilities project.

[1:19:39] >> Um but maybe we should be increasing

[1:19:41] what we're paying more than the $200,000

[1:19:44] each year.

[1:19:46] >> I It's something the consultant and the

[1:19:48] finance ends committee could look into,

[1:19:49] but you know, we've kept it at that

[1:19:51] level for a while. And you know, we we

[1:19:53] do have more money. I mean, we we're

[1:19:55] going to need a lot more uh than what's

[1:19:58] in the capital fund to do our building

[1:20:00] project. And maybe we could

[1:20:02] >> peel off a little bit and make our

[1:20:04] pension liability a little bit better.

[1:20:07] >> Yeah. Or we there's this pars which we

[1:20:09] can put money in and it grows. So the

[1:20:12] again having a good consultant come in

[1:20:14] and say your options are pay it down,

[1:20:17] put it in pars, increase the amount

[1:20:19] relative so we can see where the best

[1:20:22] place to save is. I I don't I mean I

[1:20:24] think it's great the town's been doing

[1:20:25] this. We've done it blindly. So I I love

[1:20:28] this idea of bringing in somebody to

[1:20:29] help us work on the pension.

[1:20:31] So I just I feel the need to kind of

[1:20:34] defend my predecessor because he he did

[1:20:36] put a lot of time he started the the

[1:20:39] pars but what happened is that the

[1:20:41] return on pars was a lot less than what

[1:20:46] we were so if we didn't pay down with

[1:20:49] pers we're paying more to interest for

[1:20:53] pers on what we don't pay down than we

[1:20:55] were getting we would get from putting

[1:20:56] the money into pars so he did that

[1:20:58] analysis but absolutely

[1:21:01] We'll update it and

[1:21:03] that's a good I will add that to my um

[1:21:06] our focus area for the coming year. I've

[1:21:08] um

[1:21:10] >> well and once we decide about the

[1:21:12] facilities, we'll have more flexibility

[1:21:16] in terms of

[1:21:17] >> money to pay down the pension liability

[1:21:20] or other.

[1:21:21] >> Yeah. I mean it's whatever you don't

[1:21:22] save means that you'll be going to your

[1:21:25] taxpayers and they'll be paying they'll

[1:21:28] be paying right. So you the town could

[1:21:30] pay more or they could pay more and

[1:21:31] that's all something for the council to

[1:21:33] evaluate and to decide.

[1:21:37] Okay. So that's what I had. Did you have

[1:21:38] any more questions council member Salter

[1:21:40] about the pension issue?

[1:21:42] >> No, just like I hopefully we can

[1:21:44] reconvene in the finance committee.

[1:21:47] >> I've got it on my list

[1:21:47] >> as like a priority this year. Yeah,

[1:21:49] that's it.

[1:21:54] » Okay. So, are we ready to um are you

[1:21:58] ready to hear from Rich?

[1:22:00] >> Can we take a recess, please?

[1:22:02] >> Take a five minute. That sounds great.

[1:22:03] >> So, Rich, you'll start at 10:30.

[1:22:05] >> Okay, great. Sounds good. Thank you.

[1:22:19] » Thank you.

[1:22:20] >> You're welcome.

[1:22:23] >> Good.

[1:22:26] the roll

[1:22:28] ready Mr. Simich.

[1:22:31] Okay, we are reconvening and we are now

[1:22:34] hearing about the CIP.

[1:22:38] >> Yes, thank you mayor and council. Uh

[1:22:40] Rich Simage, public works director and

[1:22:43] uh thanks for saving the uh most

[1:22:45] interesting and exciting part of this

[1:22:47] budget meeting for the end. Appreciate

[1:22:51] that. um CIP purpose and function. Just

[1:22:54] uh a review for yourselves and for the

[1:22:57] public who may be listening. So the CIP,

[1:22:59] it's a five-year projection identifying

[1:23:01] improvements, expenses, and revenues

[1:23:04] through fiscal year ending in 2030 for

[1:23:08] this year, five years ahead. Updates the

[1:23:11] CIP forecast as part of the annual

[1:23:13] budget process that we are currently uh

[1:23:16] going through right now and the past few

[1:23:19] months. It's a planning tool to track

[1:23:21] and forecast funding for facilities and

[1:23:24] infrastructure improvements such as

[1:23:26] roadway, pavement, and uh drainage

[1:23:29] improvements.

[1:23:30] It's a dynamic document that changes

[1:23:32] from year to year as priorities, needs,

[1:23:34] and fundings change. And um at the

[1:23:37] pleasure of the council, it can change

[1:23:41] midyear too with with uh budget

[1:23:43] adjustments as well.

[1:23:48] So the constraints that um I experience

[1:23:52] as we are uh developing the five-year

[1:23:55] CIP uh we have to take into account uh

[1:23:57] engineering staff commitments

[1:24:00] engineering staff basically being me and

[1:24:02] uh my my consultants that we hire on a

[1:24:05] project bypro basis available funding in

[1:24:09] the various funds the drainage fund gas

[1:24:11] tax fund roadway fund and uh for as far

[1:24:15] as the facilities fund fund any

[1:24:16] contributions from the from the general

[1:24:18] fund.

[1:24:20] We also consider the timing of uh other

[1:24:22] capital projects that have maybe gone on

[1:24:25] a little long been longer than we

[1:24:28] thought or uh have dragged on a little

[1:24:31] bit like the windship bridge project uh

[1:24:34] as year to year causes me uh scheduling

[1:24:37] issues on trying to figure out what what

[1:24:40] we can and can't do as well as the the

[1:24:42] larger undergrounding districts have

[1:24:44] that same sort of uh scheduling

[1:24:46] constraint on on my time.

[1:24:51] uh future public utility projects such

[1:24:53] as the undergrounding projects. Um

[1:24:57] we do rely on the timing of the grant

[1:25:00] funding call for projects for the safe

[1:25:02] roots projects um and maybe other uh

[1:25:06] local streets and roads projects. like

[1:25:09] we don't really know

[1:25:11] how and when exactly the Safe Roots the

[1:25:15] next round of Safe Roots funding uh will

[1:25:18] come or how much is going to be

[1:25:19] allocated to that. So uh when we look

[1:25:22] ahead to what we want to do with future

[1:25:25] Safe Roots projects such as maybe

[1:25:27] redoing the Sir Francis Drake pathway

[1:25:29] and and other projects like that, we

[1:25:32] don't really know. So, we're going to

[1:25:34] fit those in year to year as we figure

[1:25:36] out what the that's the sort of sort of

[1:25:38] funding opportunities um as they come

[1:25:41] about. And of course, environmental

[1:25:43] restrictions. We see what happened with

[1:25:44] the Natalie Coffin Green Park bridges.

[1:25:47] Uh things got extended during the design

[1:25:50] and planning phase into the uh spotted

[1:25:53] owl nesting season and everything had to

[1:25:55] come to a halt to uh for the the state's

[1:25:59] consultants to determine the uh

[1:26:02] environmental situation up there as far

[1:26:04] as the uh northern spotting spotted owl

[1:26:08] uh nesting season.

[1:26:11] Uh really quickly, so this is probably a

[1:26:13] familiar graph to you by now. uh we um

[1:26:17] gets adjusted uh you know over the past

[1:26:19] month but like on a weekly basis as we

[1:26:22] kind of determine especially what the uh

[1:26:24] how the capital project fund is looking

[1:26:28] um you can see that

[1:26:30] it's it's been steadily rising. Uh we

[1:26:32] got a little bit more injection of a

[1:26:34] little bit little bit more additional

[1:26:36] funding um from the uh the building

[1:26:44] um time limits of construction. A little

[1:26:47] bit more funding into there. But you can

[1:26:50] see as we and you'll see on the next

[1:26:52] slide as we track with the phased

[1:26:55] approach to the civic center project um

[1:26:58] getting the EMT station uh implemented

[1:27:01] as well as the police station

[1:27:03] implemented. Uh that that funding

[1:27:05] available funding drops off and this is

[1:27:07] based on the current I think we we just

[1:27:10] saw like a $13 million balance in the

[1:27:14] capital projects fund.

[1:27:16] Um, and then those the two lines on the

[1:27:18] bottom, the darker line at the lower end

[1:27:21] is the drainage fund. It's it's

[1:27:23] maintaining fairly steady in the million

[1:27:26] dollar range, upper million, mid million

[1:27:29] um throughout the next five years. The

[1:27:32] roadway uh fund starts dropping off a

[1:27:36] bit. I'm I'm trying to manage that with

[1:27:38] keeping our uh payment index at least as

[1:27:42] good as it is without it it uh degrading

[1:27:45] any and hopefully we can pick up a few

[1:27:47] points on that. But it by the time it

[1:27:49] gets to 2029 2030

[1:27:52] um my successor will have to watch

[1:27:56] carefully about what sort of payment

[1:27:58] programs payment projects we want to

[1:28:00] look at with respect to the roadway

[1:28:02] fund.

[1:28:07] This is a quick look at the uh forecast

[1:28:09] of the expenditures for the capital

[1:28:11] project fund um based on the phased

[1:28:16] approach at at least of spending what we

[1:28:20] currently have in our capital projects

[1:28:22] funding which uh is um forecast to

[1:28:28] accommodate the construction of the new

[1:28:29] paramedic facility and police station um

[1:28:32] and including the

[1:28:35] planning costs and design costs to get

[1:28:37] that completed by 2029.

[1:28:40] The years are kind of left off of the

[1:28:42] top, but it it um it 2030 is the last

[1:28:47] column or the second to last column and

[1:28:49] then 2029 2028 going backwards. Uh so by

[1:28:54] 2029 that's um will be fairly uh

[1:29:00] exhausted with the with the current

[1:29:02] available funding. Um that's what you

[1:29:04] see in this graph here.

[1:29:11] So look at capital projects uh currently

[1:29:13] forecast and um with this go around. Of

[1:29:17] course this is all going to be uh

[1:29:19] buttoned up by the June hearing and um

[1:29:23] so we can go over pretty quickly what we

[1:29:25] have. So current fiscal year 2026 that

[1:29:29] we're going to be finishing up here in

[1:29:31] June. We are going to get the Natalie

[1:29:32] Coffin Green Park uh PE bridges

[1:29:35] installed. Um I'm fairly confident

[1:29:39] that's going to happen uh in in May and

[1:29:42] um almost definitely before the end of

[1:29:44] the fiscal year. We have the drainage

[1:29:46] improvement project um that is we uh

[1:29:51] actually had a bid opening yesterday on

[1:29:53] that and we'll be discussing that at the

[1:29:56] next week's uh council meeting. It went

[1:29:59] well and uh we are finishing up the

[1:30:02] Bolinus drain phase three project or

[1:30:05] phase two went really well. Uh we do

[1:30:07] have the final portion of that project

[1:30:10] to um break through to the creek and put

[1:30:13] the drainage or the the outlet structure

[1:30:16] in. Um we have to wait until the summer

[1:30:19] because of certain environmental

[1:30:20] constraints on that, but that should be

[1:30:23] completed in July. We look to the end of

[1:30:26] fiscal year 2027.

[1:30:28] Uh we have the civic center project uh

[1:30:32] currently forecast and we have the civic

[1:30:35] center uh undergrounding project moving

[1:30:37] forward. Uh in continuous conversations

[1:30:41] with PG& and Harris Associates, our

[1:30:43] undergrounding consultant uh to get that

[1:30:46] moving forward

[1:30:48] or keep it moving forward. fiscal year

[1:30:50] in 2028. The civic center and Winship

[1:30:53] Bridge will be the major capital

[1:30:55] projects that um is currently forecast.

[1:30:59] And then 2029 2030 uh continuing with

[1:31:03] getting this the uh town civic center

[1:31:05] facilities uh constructed and wrapped

[1:31:08] up.

[1:31:12] And then paving projects. We have uh Sir

[1:31:16] Francis Drake coming up here in the uh

[1:31:19] just right as school gets out. We're

[1:31:23] going to be starting that one up. And

[1:31:25] that is uh the bid opening for that is

[1:31:28] actually today after this meeting. So,

[1:31:29] we'll get some bids in on that and we'll

[1:31:31] discuss that the results of that at uh

[1:31:34] next week's council meeting or it'll it

[1:31:37] may be consent items or but available

[1:31:40] for for uh discussion. The Shady Lane

[1:31:44] pedestrian pathway, we awarded that um

[1:31:47] well, we that's the next item today. um

[1:31:51] where we did get a a good set of bids on

[1:31:53] that and that'll be constructed in May

[1:31:56] and I'll be talking about that uh after

[1:31:58] this presentation. We got Morrison Road

[1:32:01] which was in uh seriously uh degraded

[1:32:04] shape. We got that paved. I think they

[1:32:06] did it in the matter of like 3 days. It

[1:32:08] went really well. Uh finally everybody

[1:32:10] up there in Morrison Roads happy that we

[1:32:12] finally showed them a little bit of uh

[1:32:14] consideration there. uh next fiscal year

[1:32:18] ending 2027.

[1:32:20] And this has changed since the last time

[1:32:21] I presented the uh the roadways to you,

[1:32:25] trying to figure out how to um best get

[1:32:28] the best bang for the buck uh to keep

[1:32:30] our pavement condition index at least

[1:32:34] maintaining a level

[1:32:37] um level status, maybe push it up a

[1:32:40] little bit. So, uh, next year we're

[1:32:42] looking at doing the cluster of roads up

[1:32:45] there off of Log Anita Hill Road, West

[1:32:47] Road, and East Road. And then, uh, we

[1:32:50] also want to move forward with, uh,

[1:32:53] getting that Allen Avenue pedestrian

[1:32:55] pathway constructed, which we do have a,

[1:32:58] um, TAM measure AA, safe pathways grant

[1:33:01] of $100,000 to do that project. into

[1:33:05] fiscal year end 2028. We move on to the

[1:33:08] Canyon Road winding way area and that'll

[1:33:12] also be combined with getting that

[1:33:14] Laurel Grove safe phase three completed.

[1:33:19] 2029 we want to look at that publicly

[1:33:23] maintained portion of Baywood Avenue and

[1:33:25] then into 2030 uh Upper Road which is um

[1:33:28] in need of some repair as well.

[1:33:33] So, a little bit of a discussion on the

[1:33:35] Ross common field rehab. This wanted to

[1:33:38] bring this up because it has the

[1:33:40] potential to be a major capital uh

[1:33:43] project and it's going to it, you know,

[1:33:45] it's going to require hiring

[1:33:46] consultants, landscape architects, uh

[1:33:49] developing uh bid documents,

[1:33:51] specifications,

[1:33:53] and uh a lot of public input.

[1:33:56] uh especially if we go with the final uh

[1:34:00] or the third choice of doing the

[1:34:02] extensive restoration of the entire

[1:34:05] field. Um and then the actual

[1:34:08] construction of the field and then the period where we want to let it

[1:34:12] restore uh could be up to between 12 and

[1:34:15] 18 months maybe maybe more maybe less.

[1:34:18] Um but I did want to bring that up. So

[1:34:22] um

[1:34:24] for discussion competition with over

[1:34:26] subscribed facilities funding of course

[1:34:28] requires prioritization

[1:34:30] between competing facilities projects of

[1:34:32] course uh our multi-use unfenced public

[1:34:36] field is unique in Ross Valley. Uh as we

[1:34:40] saw last weekend um we had just seated

[1:34:44] the field and then a thousand people got

[1:34:47] right on top of it. So, um you don't see

[1:34:50] that too often here in Ross Valley. Uh

[1:34:52] extensive restoration programs will

[1:34:55] require again uh up to 12 to 18 months

[1:34:58] closure for construction and proper

[1:34:59] establishment.

[1:35:06] » Yes.

[1:35:07] >> When you're talking about the the

[1:35:10] common, are you also including the Grove

[1:35:13] area or are you just including the the

[1:35:15] area where the kids play? It's just the

[1:35:17] playfield we're considering. I don't I

[1:35:19] don't think the Grove really needs any

[1:35:21] uh injection of capital resources unless

[1:35:24] the council

[1:35:25] >> No, I think I agree with that. I just

[1:35:27] wanted to be clear. Yep. Thank you.

[1:35:28] >> Good question.

[1:35:31] So um the options that we discussed last

[1:35:34] time uh the maintain status quo

[1:35:38] uh do a nominal improvement program

[1:35:40] increase signage and fertilization

[1:35:43] uh do an interim re rehab plan where we

[1:35:46] replace the most distressed portions of

[1:35:48] the of the field um or we do the

[1:35:51] complete replacement of turf subbase and

[1:35:54] irrigation systems um for which is

[1:35:57] estimated up to 1 million that you that

[1:36:00] includes consultant time uh bid and

[1:36:03] construction management as well as the

[1:36:05] actual uh capital costs of that. Um

[1:36:12] so that ends my presentation of the

[1:36:15] current status of the capital five-year

[1:36:17] capital improvement program and um open

[1:36:20] to any questions, comments or discussion

[1:36:22] on those items.

[1:36:24] >> Questions?

[1:36:26] So I mean I I think it would be nice to

[1:36:29] make a try to get to some determination

[1:36:32] on what to do with the field because we

[1:36:35] have all discussed it, thought about it,

[1:36:38] contemplated it and I know that um

[1:36:43] I know that we are always waiting for

[1:36:46] this what's going to happen to the civic

[1:36:49] center but as we all know other things

[1:36:51] like the roads have to be fixed like

[1:36:53] things have to happen in the town aside

[1:36:55] from that big project. So, I I like I'd

[1:36:58] like us to discuss that

[1:37:00] >> and I agree we should discuss it. I'm

[1:37:02] wondering if there's any public comment

[1:37:03] on the the field options.

[1:37:07] >> No hands are raised.

[1:37:10] >> There's one in the chamber. Yeah.

[1:37:13] >> My apologies.

[1:37:14] >> That's okay.

[1:37:17] >> Um, hi Patrick Whitney. I've been up to

[1:37:21] several meetings now to speak

[1:37:23] specifically about Rosins.

[1:37:32] um to speak specifically about the Ross

[1:37:34] Commons. Um I've mentioned the you know

[1:37:38] the 255 signatures we've gotten. I've

[1:37:40] submitted some information about

[1:37:42] Memorial Park which gives us a blueprint

[1:37:44] for all that. I understand there's a lot

[1:37:46] of things that need to happen. Um, but I

[1:37:49] would just go back to for this town,

[1:37:52] this small community,

[1:37:54] beautiful community. This is this is the

[1:37:57] place for our not only our whole

[1:37:59] community, but our kids. We have a

[1:38:02] school right there. Yes, they use it.

[1:38:04] That should be a reason that we should

[1:38:06] be considering it and doing it in my

[1:38:09] opinion.

[1:38:10] If you know RVLLL and a few other uh

[1:38:14] organizations have mentioned that they

[1:38:15] would be be partners in this, they would

[1:38:17] help with funding. I will be more than

[1:38:19] happy to raise my hand and help with

[1:38:21] some fundraising

[1:38:23] uh private fundraising with the

[1:38:24] community. Having said that, I do think

[1:38:26] that this is a responsibility of the

[1:38:28] town. We pay property taxes. It's the

[1:38:30] number one revenue generator that you

[1:38:32] said. So, I I think it's time to do it.

[1:38:35] I'm sort of at a point where I don't

[1:38:36] want us to just keep kicking this can

[1:38:38] down the road. Let's make a decision. It

[1:38:40] is where we spend all of our time and I

[1:38:42] think that there is so much more that we

[1:38:44] could be doing there. I understand

[1:38:46] there's a lot of things to balance

[1:38:47] financially and activities and and

[1:38:49] different things that need to get done,

[1:38:50] but I'm at a point where I feel like we

[1:38:53] just need to do this and the town has

[1:38:54] spoken for it. I'm here to help. I want

[1:38:56] to be a partner in this with you guys

[1:38:58] and it's a I think it's a critical piece

[1:39:00] for our community. So, thank you.

[1:39:04] >> Thank you. Anybody else in here? No.

[1:39:08] Okay. Um,

[1:39:12] what do people think about prioritizing

[1:39:15] and redoing the common?

[1:39:17] Well, I'll make some comments. I I think

[1:39:20] that it's to me it seems clear that the

[1:39:22] community is interested in um redoing

[1:39:26] the entire common. At a recent meeting,

[1:39:29] the school superintendent made it clear

[1:39:32] that uh that he wasn't going to take a

[1:39:34] position, but that he would be okay uh

[1:39:36] that the school could work around a

[1:39:38] complete renovation of the common. So, I

[1:39:40] feel that we have the school's blessing

[1:39:42] to go forward. We have the community's

[1:39:44] urging to go forward. We have money in

[1:39:47] the capital projects fund and yes, it

[1:39:50] would cost a certain amount of money,

[1:39:51] maybe up to a million dollars. um uh but

[1:39:55] our capital projects will cost so much

[1:39:58] more that we will need to get additional

[1:40:00] funding for our building project either

[1:40:02] way. So I don't think that it will be a

[1:40:05] real hit to the capital projects fund to

[1:40:07] take out money to restore the common. Um

[1:40:11] I'm not a fan of people having to donate

[1:40:14] money to make this happen. I don't I

[1:40:16] don't think I think we should decide

[1:40:18] should it be redone, yes or no, and then

[1:40:20] decide um should it come out of the

[1:40:23] town's funds or should there be

[1:40:25] donations. But the reason I'm not a fan

[1:40:27] of donations is that um everyone's

[1:40:30] already paid their taxes. We've already

[1:40:32] paid for this and you don't need to pay

[1:40:34] extra if you want your street repaved.

[1:40:36] It's part of the town's maintenance. And

[1:40:38] I think this should be part of the

[1:40:39] town's maintenance and a a measure of

[1:40:41] how of what poor shaped the field in was

[1:40:45] brought to us last year when we learned

[1:40:47] that that someone tripped on one of the

[1:40:49] holes and and broke her foot. And you

[1:40:52] know that to me that was sort of game

[1:40:54] over. We need to fix this immediately.

[1:40:56] So I think we have town support and I

[1:40:59] think we have the money. And I also

[1:41:01] think that as we move forward on

[1:41:03] building whatever we build, we're going

[1:41:05] to need more money and we will need

[1:41:07] goodwill to get yes votes for a bond

[1:41:09] measure. And I think by by moving

[1:41:11] forward on a project that I think has

[1:41:13] widespread support, we will actually

[1:41:15] have more support to for additional

[1:41:18] funds through a bond measure for our

[1:41:19] building project.

[1:41:24] » So I just would say I agree with

[1:41:27] everything that council member Robin

[1:41:29] said. Um, people have already paid their

[1:41:31] property taxes. I think that there will

[1:41:33] be a ton of fundraising that will go on

[1:41:36] just by the nature of this community

[1:41:37] that is always giving and wants to give.

[1:41:41] I know that the baseball community will pitch in and and people put little

[1:41:45] names on on things all over the place.

[1:41:48] So, I'm actually not worried about the

[1:41:50] funding. I think it will come. And the

[1:41:53] biggest reason to do this is it's

[1:41:55] necessary. And I think when I look at

[1:41:58] this issue of the civic center, the

[1:42:00] reason why the civic center needs to be

[1:42:02] redone is we never did the capital

[1:42:05] maintenance on it that it it required. I

[1:42:08] live in a very old house. It's over 100

[1:42:10] years old, but the owners of that home

[1:42:13] over the years have kept it and

[1:42:14] maintained it. There are there are

[1:42:16] things in Europe, there are buildings in

[1:42:18] Europe from the 1600s that people use as

[1:42:20] offices today. The reason they can do

[1:42:22] that is they keep the capital

[1:42:24] maintenance. And I think that we've been

[1:42:27] very frugal as a town and we just

[1:42:29] haven't done the maintenance that we

[1:42:31] should do when we sort of do band-aid

[1:42:33] fixes. And those band-aid fixes only get

[1:42:36] you so far. And those of us that use the

[1:42:38] common all the time have noticed the

[1:42:40] drainage issues and the irrigation

[1:42:42] issues. And I think that the town public

[1:42:45] works department has done the best they

[1:42:46] can. I really do. I don't think that

[1:42:48] it's been an issue that we're not. It's

[1:42:50] just time for it to be completely

[1:42:52] redone. And I think it's going to be a a

[1:42:54] trophy for this town. I want to just

[1:42:57] reiterate the point that council member

[1:42:59] Robbins brought up about we also need to

[1:43:02] sell the community on this big project

[1:43:04] we want to do here. And there's no

[1:43:06] better way to do that by saying, "Hey,

[1:43:08] look at this great new field. Look at

[1:43:09] what the town can do for you." And it's going to be contentious because

[1:43:13] it's been contentious. So I think it's a

[1:43:16] good saying, "Hey, your government's

[1:43:17] working for you. We want this town to be

[1:43:20] beautiful and we want to put in the

[1:43:22] improvements that will last another

[1:43:24] hundred years and it just it's just time

[1:43:26] to do it.

[1:43:33] » Well, I I do think it's it should be

[1:43:35] done. Um I do think it's it's um it

[1:43:40] should be a priority.

[1:43:42] When we talked about this before, my

[1:43:44] concern was I don't have a price tag on

[1:43:47] whatever the advisory committee is going

[1:43:49] to propose. I'm hoping it's something

[1:43:51] that's doable. I agree we're going to

[1:43:54] have to go to the voters to get the

[1:43:55] whole thing done. We have $13 million.

[1:43:59] That's undoubtedly not going to cover

[1:44:01] the whole thing.

[1:44:03] I do know that it's going to be a very

[1:44:05] difficult season at the general election

[1:44:08] for any kind of tax measure. I mean,

[1:44:11] we're seeing that not just locally, but

[1:44:13] nationally. There's so many things

[1:44:14] that'll be on the ballot. And u I'm a

[1:44:18] little concerned about a kind of a

[1:44:19] taxpayer revolt even in Ross. It is

[1:44:23] appealing to me that we should, you

[1:44:26] know, it would be nice to have this too

[1:44:28] to go to the voters and say we need

[1:44:29] these improvements in our town

[1:44:31] irrespective of what's happening

[1:44:33] somewhere else.

[1:44:35] On the other hand, to get that passed, I think we the less we can ask the

[1:44:40] taxpayers to do, the more likely it is

[1:44:42] it'll pass. I think people are going to

[1:44:44] feel very pressured, even people that

[1:44:46] may be comparatively well off.

[1:44:50] You know, I think we're going to have

[1:44:52] some concern about all these ballot

[1:44:54] measures.

[1:44:56] So, I'm just telling you what's going

[1:44:57] through my head. I'm not giving you a

[1:44:59] final decision. Um I'm looking forward

[1:45:02] to our hearing next week.

[1:45:04] Um, but uh let's just say I'm sort of

[1:45:07] leaning towards including something like

[1:45:09] this in in in our budget. It's a budget.

[1:45:14] We can always revise the budget. We can

[1:45:16] add to it. I am hoping we'll get some

[1:45:19] public support for this project, too. I

[1:45:22] mean, what Elizabeth said, that makes

[1:45:24] sense to me. But still, every dollar

[1:45:27] counts, I think. I mean, to me to say,

[1:45:30] well, we're going to have to go for a

[1:45:31] lot of money, so why not make it some

[1:45:33] more money? I I can't approach it quite

[1:45:35] that way. I understand the argument, but

[1:45:38] I I do think um

[1:45:41] I do think that the we can be fiscally

[1:45:44] responsible and still do something about

[1:45:48] the common. I don't think this 70 to

[1:45:50] $80,000

[1:45:52] project is going to make much

[1:45:53] difference.

[1:45:55] Uh and I think this is an important

[1:45:57] thing for the community.

[1:45:59] So, I don't think I've been specific

[1:46:01] enough, but that's that's where I'm

[1:46:03] leaning.

[1:46:06] » Um, I'm not sure about the timing of

[1:46:10] when the money would be allocated, but I do support the complete replacement.

[1:46:16] Uh, item number four on the slide. Um I do think it's appropriate to ask to to

[1:46:26] finance this with our partners, the

[1:46:28] other people who use the field. Um I

[1:46:32] think

[1:46:34] we may make the improvements, let's say

[1:46:36] this year, next year, but you're going

[1:46:39] to have to do ongoing maintenance. And I

[1:46:41] think if people have an investment and

[1:46:43] organizations have had an investment in

[1:46:45] the field, they're going to keep it up

[1:46:47] because we still have to keep it up once

[1:46:49] we do the changes. So I would really

[1:46:52] look for um financial support from some

[1:46:56] of the partners who use the field and

[1:46:58] have it not 100% on the town.

[1:47:02] So

[1:47:04] and I think that we do need to redo the

[1:47:08] whole common. Um I was at a funeral of

[1:47:12] um Roger Poor who was on the council

[1:47:16] like 40 years ago maybe. Um, and he got

[1:47:20] elected to the council because he before

[1:47:23] he ran decided that the common needed to

[1:47:26] be redone and he organized tons of

[1:47:29] volunteers and they bought turf and they

[1:47:32] removed the old turf and they rolled out

[1:47:34] the new turf and that was his campaign

[1:47:36] for getting elected to the council and I

[1:47:39] think that was the last time that the

[1:47:41] common had been redone. Um, I think the

[1:47:44] timing is tricky because we have so much

[1:47:47] ahead of us and I'm also really worried

[1:47:49] about the capacity of our staff. And so

[1:47:52] I think with built in any kind of a

[1:47:55] budget, we need to have a separate

[1:47:57] person to spearhead and handle and and

[1:48:00] manage all of this stuff. It can't be on

[1:48:03] the existing staff because I think the

[1:48:06] existing staff is already extremely

[1:48:08] tapped out. Um, I think we, you know, we

[1:48:13] should ask Ross Valley Little League and

[1:48:16] other partners um to contribute. If they

[1:48:19] contribute, that's great. It's less

[1:48:21] money that the town has to shoulder. I

[1:48:24] don't think we should have an

[1:48:25] expectation that they're going to be

[1:48:26] contributing, you know, 20% of the

[1:48:29] budget or something like that. But it

[1:48:30] should be a symbolic contribution. Um, I

[1:48:33] think it's also an opportunity to look

[1:48:35] at those back stops and do those back

[1:48:37] stops have to remain in place, you know,

[1:48:41] at 365 days a year or should they just

[1:48:44] remain during the T-ball um, season and

[1:48:49] so they can be moved and then the common

[1:48:50] can be open. Um, so I think it's timing

[1:48:55] and staff time that we need to consider.

[1:49:00] Um, and we I think when we get the

[1:49:03] proposal from this committee next week,

[1:49:07] we can have a final conversation about

[1:49:10] the common at the June 11th meeting when

[1:49:13] we are adopting the final budget. But I

[1:49:16] think there's pretty clear consensus

[1:49:18] that that a major replacement needs to

[1:49:21] be done.

[1:49:23] >> Julia, I have a question. So is it's not

[1:49:25] too late if we agreed after hearing the presentation next week if we agreed

[1:49:31] that we wanted to redo the common now

[1:49:34] it's not too late in July to add that to

[1:49:36] the budget. Is that correct?

[1:49:41] » So um

[1:49:43] no I mean the the the question is going

[1:49:46] to be where in the CIP are we going to

[1:49:49] put it? Um, so I agree. I I'm hearing

[1:49:52] consensus that council doesn't want to

[1:49:54] do the the smaller projects, wants to do

[1:49:56] the full renovation, but you don't have

[1:49:59] council consensus to put it in the the

[1:50:02] CIP now. That's not what I'm hearing

[1:50:04] from you.

[1:50:04] >> But my question is, if we had a

[1:50:06] consensus in in June, is that is that

[1:50:10] soon enough or does that mean if we get

[1:50:12] consensus in June, do we have to wait a

[1:50:14] whole year or could we put it in the

[1:50:16] budget at that June meeting? So, and so,

[1:50:20] okay, so this is what'll happen. So, we

[1:50:22] don't have consensus now, so we won't be

[1:50:24] adding it into the CIP now.

[1:50:27] Then, when we bring this forward to you,

[1:50:28] because remember, you're not meeting in

[1:50:30] May. When we bring this forward to you

[1:50:32] at your June meeting, just don't want

[1:50:33] you managing expectations here. It's not

[1:50:36] going to be in there what you see. But

[1:50:38] at that meeting, you could say you'd

[1:50:41] like to you'd like staff to um if that's

[1:50:45] the consensus of the council, you'd like

[1:50:47] staff to put it into the CIP. Remember,

[1:50:51] it's a five-year CIP. And so we would

[1:50:53] come back

[1:50:55] before Rich leaves, we would come back

[1:50:58] and have figured out where in the CIP

[1:51:02] because I'll need to work with him on

[1:51:04] the project timeline and all that kind

[1:51:06] of stuff and figure out how we would be

[1:51:10] amending the CIP.

[1:51:13] So we'd have to come back to you. But I

[1:51:14] mean the answer is yes. I mean this is a living this is a working

[1:51:18] document. So it's not it doesn't have to

[1:51:20] wait a full year if we wanted to move

[1:51:22] forward as well.

[1:51:23] >> Yeah. But remember there's a difference

[1:51:24] between if you're talking about amending

[1:51:27] the CIP and when you say waiting a year

[1:51:31] you're not you don't so the answer is

[1:51:32] no. You don't have to wait a year to

[1:51:34] amend your capital improvement program

[1:51:37] amend the document but you were going to

[1:51:40] be waiting more than a year to start the

[1:51:42] project. So I just want to make sure

[1:51:44] that we're clear on that. If we had a

[1:51:47] consensus today, would we still be

[1:51:49] waiting a year to start the project?

[1:51:51] >> Oh, absolutely.

[1:51:52] >> Okay. So, there's not a real difference

[1:51:53] between Absolutely. Okay, that's fine.

[1:51:55] And then Juliano, you mentioned about

[1:51:58] looking into the back stops. So, I don't

[1:52:01] know that it's widely known, but when we

[1:52:03] redid the field before, we made that

[1:52:05] very nice back stop by by the Ross well

[1:52:09] by Tony, what's now Tony Tudos and made

[1:52:11] it black and put benches and so that it

[1:52:14] would be there all the time and look

[1:52:16] nice. And the other one is so minimal

[1:52:19] and so, you know, kind of ugly because

[1:52:22] it was meant to be there just for the

[1:52:24] spring months of baseball and then

[1:52:27] removed and that even some discussion

[1:52:30] about receding the bases, you know, in

[1:52:32] the offseason so that it it didn't ever

[1:52:34] look like there had been a backs stop

[1:52:36] there. So, that is something to

[1:52:38] consider. How does how does the town

[1:52:41] want to use the field and would we want

[1:52:43] it to revert back to the temporary use

[1:52:46] that we thought we had agreed to? um or

[1:52:50] should it, you know, be there

[1:52:51] permanently? And you know, maybe the

[1:52:53] live on the common changes that a bit

[1:52:55] because that back stops right in the

[1:52:57] middle of where people are for live on

[1:52:59] the common. But it was something that

[1:53:01] was was agreed to many years ago and

[1:53:04] then never um that agreement never

[1:53:06] really stuck. It just that that back

[1:53:08] stop stayed there all the time. I recall

[1:53:10] there being a conversation too of

[1:53:13] shifting that little back stop to be

[1:53:15] closer to the black top playground so

[1:53:18] people were hitting out onto the

[1:53:22] little teams.

[1:53:24] >> So, these are all these are all issues

[1:53:26] the council and the community

[1:53:28] >> would be weighing in on in the the

[1:53:30] development of the project, the design

[1:53:32] of the project, etc., etc.

[1:53:34] >> Lots of opportunities.

[1:53:37] >> I think that we I'm sorry, I didn't mean

[1:53:39] to cut anyone off. I think there will be

[1:53:41] lots of other issues we'll be

[1:53:42] addressing. We've talked about signage,

[1:53:44] we've talked about dogs, all these

[1:53:46] things. That's fine. We can talk about

[1:53:49] it. I mean, I think the big big decision

[1:53:51] now and what staff is seeking guidance

[1:53:53] on is is simply do we want to put

[1:53:56] something in next year's budget? And

[1:53:58] I'm, as I said, I'm leaning in that

[1:54:00] direction.

[1:54:01] >> Yeah. Sorry. I think that personally I'm

[1:54:03] maybe I'm hearing a different

[1:54:04] conversation. I feel like it should be

[1:54:05] in the CIP and if we need to remove it,

[1:54:07] we could remove it. Everybody here seems

[1:54:09] to want to do something. So, I don't

[1:54:12] know why we wouldn't put it in the CIP

[1:54:14] and start the budget and and just

[1:54:16] knowledge that whoever's coming in to be

[1:54:19] the head of public works. We really want

[1:54:21] to get this project started. I I I

[1:54:23] honestly I think whatever happens next

[1:54:26] week is irrespective. It's very obvious

[1:54:28] that everyone's agreeing we need to do a

[1:54:30] big project. It's a matter of when. In

[1:54:32] terms of staff time, I just want to note

[1:54:34] we have David Kelly. We've hired a

[1:54:37] project manager person. If the new

[1:54:39] public works director says, "Hey, I need

[1:54:41] somebody's help to do the big field

[1:54:43] project," we would hire that person. But

[1:54:45] what the CIP in this whole budget

[1:54:47] exercise is what are what's the vision

[1:54:49] of the town? How do we want to implement

[1:54:52] that vision? And I think this needs to

[1:54:54] be in the document now. Like we want to

[1:54:56] do this because we need to set it as a

[1:54:58] priority and the timing of when it

[1:55:00] happens. You have to remember too is

[1:55:02] that this building, even if we say

[1:55:04] great, we like the new plan next week,

[1:55:07] get going. There's an entire

[1:55:08] environmental review study that has to

[1:55:10] happen. There's so much that will have

[1:55:12] to happen before this building starts

[1:55:14] actually being shovel ready that there

[1:55:17] is time in between there to potentially

[1:55:19] redo the field. So I I I I really don't

[1:55:23] think we should wait any longer. It's

[1:55:25] been discussed. Everybody seems to want

[1:55:26] to do something. Let's put it in the

[1:55:28] plan as our our vision. Let's take it

[1:55:31] out if there's a problem. But I don't

[1:55:33] know why we wouldn't put it in the CIP

[1:55:35] now.

[1:55:39] I mean that sounds reasonable. It's not a commitment. It's sort of a

[1:55:44] you know an expectation of where we will

[1:55:46] go in the future. I'm a little confused

[1:55:48] about why why what's the difference

[1:55:50] between now and June

[1:55:53] >> because I honestly I'm just going to

[1:55:54] tell you the public sees these documents

[1:55:57] >> and I think when it comes out in June

[1:55:59] like

[1:56:00] >> I was shocked when I read the staff

[1:56:02] report that this wasn't even in the CIP

[1:56:05] or in the staff report to talk about the

[1:56:07] field after we had spent all these

[1:56:09] meetings talking about it. So it's a

[1:56:12] showing to the community that the

[1:56:14] council believes this is an important

[1:56:16] project. We're putting it in the CIP. If

[1:56:19] we have honestly what would what would

[1:56:20] happen? We delay when we would do it. If

[1:56:23] let's say our priorities changed and we

[1:56:25] said we need more money for the civic

[1:56:26] center. Let's we would have this item

[1:56:29] that says Ross common rehab and instead

[1:56:32] of it being in the early years, it would

[1:56:34] come in the later years. But it's still

[1:56:36] saying we want to put this million

[1:56:38] dollars or whatever allocation to it.

[1:56:40] And I'm just going to make this clear.

[1:56:42] We have this item here, the

[1:56:44] undergrounding of the San Franc, you

[1:56:46] know, Sir Francis Drake for 2.6 million,

[1:56:49] which I've totally been opposed to, but

[1:56:51] most of that is coming in fiscal year

[1:56:54] 2728.

[1:56:55] It's $2 million then. So, this is this

[1:56:58] is a planning document. It's really

[1:57:00] where do we slot it, but we're all

[1:57:02] saying we want to do this, so it should

[1:57:04] be on there. It's just a matter of when.

[1:57:09] A benefit I guess of putting it in is

[1:57:11] that we don't have to talk about it in

[1:57:12] June.

[1:57:15] >> Unless someone wants to take it off,

[1:57:17] right?

[1:57:17] >> Yeah. Bill.

[1:57:19] >> Okay. Question. Uh so if we say yes,

[1:57:22] we'd like it in the capital the CIP.

[1:57:26] Then staff has to make a a decision as

[1:57:30] to where to put it

[1:57:33] because it's a fiveyear plan.

[1:57:36] >> So are we turfing something then? I

[1:57:38] mean, how would that work, Christa, if

[1:57:40] we said, "Yeah, we want to do it." Would

[1:57:42] staff then make a recommendation as to

[1:57:44] where to slot it in?

[1:57:45] >> Yeah, we we would come back. I mean,

[1:57:47] that's the purpose of today's

[1:57:49] >> workshop is for you to make these. You

[1:57:51] could have brought up other things, too.

[1:57:52] Um, is we would we'll come back and when

[1:57:56] we return in in at your June meeting,

[1:57:58] the CIP, the draft CIP would look

[1:58:01] different. And we'd we' I'd have to work

[1:58:03] with Rich on the timing. I mean it it

[1:58:06] absolutely would be multi-year project

[1:58:08] and so it we would have to kind of

[1:58:11] figure out how much money do we because

[1:58:13] like so another example is it's not a

[1:58:15] capital project but like the general

[1:58:17] plan update is going to be a multi-year

[1:58:19] project. So we didn't throw all the

[1:58:22] money in this year. There's a little bit

[1:58:24] of there's a certain amount of money for

[1:58:26] us to start the project this year and

[1:58:28] then we're going to have to add to it in

[1:58:30] the second year. So, um I will ask Rich

[1:58:34] to add on or

[1:58:37] you have anything to add on?

[1:58:41] >> Um yeah, we I mean we kind of have a

[1:58:45] price that we, you know, we're looking

[1:58:47] at, you know, we budget in a million

[1:58:48] dollars. Um we don't need SQA, it's

[1:58:51] existing facilities.

[1:58:53] Um but we do need to figure out the um

[1:58:58] the civic center expenditures. I mean,

[1:59:00] you saw the graph. It's it goes to zero

[1:59:02] in 2029.

[1:59:05] Are we going to pull more out of some

[1:59:06] reserve funding or something? That's the kind of stuff Kristen needs

[1:59:09] and I need to figure out is is how to

[1:59:12] fund it and where that million dollars

[1:59:14] or so is going to come from over

[1:59:16] probably a span of of two to three

[1:59:18] years. Um, luckily the the the project

[1:59:22] itself was vetted through the landscape

[1:59:24] master plan. We don't need to do that,

[1:59:26] but we do need additional input from

[1:59:29] council and definitely from public. So,

[1:59:32] yeah, it's it's a two maybe three year

[1:59:35] process, but we we need to basically

[1:59:36] figure out where the you know, what's

[1:59:38] going to pay for this, how it works out,

[1:59:41] and the next week's discussion is going

[1:59:43] to um influence the where we're going to

[1:59:46] go with that as well. It's probably a

[1:59:49] maybe a very potent uh significant

[1:59:53] level. We don't know. as well as the you

[1:59:56] mentioned the undergrounding of Sir

[1:59:57] Francis Drake. We don't know what's

[1:59:59] being proposed next week. That that may

[2:00:01] itself may require the undergrounding as

[2:00:03] well. So we need to wait I think uh in

[2:00:06] between next week and June and I will

[2:00:10] work up a plan on how to implement it

[2:00:13] over the within the current five year.

[2:00:19] So, are we just all agreeing let's put

[2:00:20] it in and you figure out when and how to

[2:00:23] fit it in at some point for to come back

[2:00:26] in the June meeting with it in this

[2:00:28] plan.

[2:00:29] >> Is there anyone who disagrees with that?

[2:00:31] >> That seems that seems reasonable.

[2:00:34] >> You guys good with that?

[2:00:35] >> Yep.

[2:00:36] >> Good with that.

[2:00:37] >> I I agree. I think u I'd like to see

[2:00:39] what it looks like. That would help. So,

[2:00:41] we'll have the benefit of whatever we

[2:00:43] learn next week and we'll have the

[2:00:45] benefit of this and

[2:00:47] as we as we know and as we hear

[2:00:50] confirmed today, we can always change it

[2:00:52] if it's not going to work. But I'd like

[2:00:54] to I'd like to start out on the planning

[2:00:56] part

[2:00:58] >> and we still may need to talk about it

[2:00:59] in June.

[2:01:02] >> Yeah. Well, sorry. One last item that

[2:01:03] you brought up, Bill, that I wanted to

[2:01:05] address is regarding the timing of when

[2:01:08] we would go to the market for a bond

[2:01:10] issuance or ask the voters. I want to be

[2:01:13] very clear. I completely agree with you.

[2:01:15] the November ballot. I've spoken with

[2:01:17] Mimi Willard. It's very problematic with

[2:01:20] lots of taxes because the town has saved

[2:01:23] so much money. We we actually don't need

[2:01:27] the money appropriated for a while

[2:01:29] because we have 13 million basically in

[2:01:32] the bank. So just so the whole council's

[2:01:35] aware, the timing of when we have to go

[2:01:37] to the voters is is not in November.

[2:01:40] It's not a requirement.

[2:01:41] >> Um so I'll make two comments about that.

[2:01:45] I don't think we can start this huge

[2:01:46] project unless we have all the funding

[2:01:49] lined up. We've saved half maybe, but we

[2:01:52] still need half more. So, I think we

[2:01:54] need to line up the funding. The other

[2:01:56] thing that I will mention is before you

[2:01:58] got on the council, Matt, we were going

[2:02:00] to do a special election to renew the

[2:02:02] public safety parcel tax. And I thought,

[2:02:05] oh, I need to go talk to Mimi Willard

[2:02:07] just to make sure she's cool with that.

[2:02:09] and she was not happy at all with us

[2:02:13] having a special election for renewing

[2:02:16] the public safety parcel tax. Cost is

[2:02:19] adamantly opposed to any special

[2:02:21] election for a tax. Adamantly opposed.

[2:02:23] So we had already approved the

[2:02:26] resolution. We had to resend the

[2:02:28] resolution and put the renewal of the

[2:02:30] parcel tax on a regular election.

[2:02:33] Otherwise, she said point blank, I'm

[2:02:36] going to write the ballot argument

[2:02:37] opposing this special election parson

[2:02:40] tax. So, I think we, you know, I think

[2:02:45] maybe they're going to oppose it. I

[2:02:47] don't know. Um, but they're definitely

[2:02:49] going to oppose it if we put it on

[2:02:51] special election.

[2:02:53] Why don't we take this up as an item in

[2:02:56] terms of obviously next week we're going

[2:02:57] to get a a new idea, but the timing of

[2:03:00] when the need I know we had that

[2:03:02] consultant come in, but when we actually

[2:03:04] would need to get a vote and whether

[2:03:07] that that could be next June, there's

[2:03:08] elections every spring, so it doesn't

[2:03:10] need to be a special election. There's

[2:03:12] regular elections all the time in the

[2:03:14] spring. So I I'm just being very clear

[2:03:16] that there we do not need the money if

[2:03:19] we have saved and it's the project will

[2:03:21] not again bu you you can talk about the

[2:03:23] amount of prep work and studies that

[2:03:26] have to be conducted before we can even

[2:03:28] put a shovel in the ground here is

[2:03:30] years. So it's we have a lot of time

[2:03:32] before we're actually spending the money

[2:03:34] to build this facility. And I actually

[2:03:36] think we're in better position once we

[2:03:38] have all the information like the

[2:03:40] studies are are are completed and it

[2:03:43] looks like we're ready for shovel ready.

[2:03:46] >> Chie, do you have any comments on

[2:03:48] whether we can go ahead with a project

[2:03:50] when we don't have all the funding lined

[2:03:52] up?

[2:03:53] So again, we're we're

[2:03:56] we need to get an architect on board

[2:03:59] because if you notice in the CIP, the

[2:04:01] draft CIP that's before you, what's

[2:04:04] different about it from last year is I

[2:04:07] took right last year, last couple years,

[2:04:09] it's just been this

[2:04:12] civic center project. I wanted to be so

[2:04:15] I took it and we broke it up. We updated

[2:04:18] all the costs. We had updated cost

[2:04:19] information. And so now the CIP has has

[2:04:23] paramedic facility, police station,

[2:04:25] they're both upwards of $4 million. And

[2:04:28] then we have one that's the um uh master

[2:04:31] plan implementation.

[2:04:34] when we have the architect on board,

[2:04:37] I'd like that person to talk about

[2:04:39] phasing our projects because we have a

[2:04:42] remember January 2029 deadline to get

[2:04:45] the paramedic facility up and running

[2:04:47] and a police station that's

[2:04:49] disintegrating. So, um,

[2:04:53] we have we so I'm I'm I hope that an

[2:04:57] architect is going to help us figure out

[2:04:58] how to do that. And then we could say,

[2:05:00] well, let's build a police station. and

[2:05:02] let's build the paramedic facility and

[2:05:04] worry about the rest of the facility

[2:05:06] later when we and so if we were to phase

[2:05:09] it then maybe we could be we wouldn't

[2:05:12] have to have it all right now but absent

[2:05:16] that

[2:05:18] why would the council

[2:05:20] you you're going to have you have to

[2:05:22] have a financing plan I mean you have to

[2:05:23] know how we're going to be able how

[2:05:25] we're going to afford this because

[2:05:27] you wouldn't you wouldn't want to commit

[2:05:29] yourself to the entire project without

[2:05:32] knowing where the money's coming from.

[2:05:34] >> So, we know where the money is coming

[2:05:35] from. We do need a bond issuance. You've

[2:05:38] been spending money. You've hired David

[2:05:39] Kelly. You've hired consultants to look

[2:05:42] at things. We've had all these plans

[2:05:43] drawn up

[2:05:45] well before we're actually putting a

[2:05:47] shovel in the ground. And we will need

[2:05:49] to do an extensive SQA and environmental

[2:05:52] impact study that's going to take over a

[2:05:55] year. So there you don't need the money

[2:05:59] in November because we it's going to be

[2:06:01] over a year. We all we're doing is

[2:06:02] hiring consultants to do an

[2:06:04] environmental study. The the the you

[2:06:07] hiring David Kelly right now. Why are we

[2:06:09] paying him? Because we're starting to to

[2:06:11] do the preliminary work for a big

[2:06:13] project. The big project isn't going to

[2:06:16] be built for over a year because we need

[2:06:18] to do the environmental study. And the

[2:06:20] Windship Bridge, which I keep bringing

[2:06:21] up, took a long time to do the

[2:06:24] environmental study. And then they found

[2:06:26] Indian remains and then they had to deal

[2:06:28] with that. So there's a lot that is

[2:06:31] between the day we actually put a shovel

[2:06:33] in the ground from today. And so what

[2:06:36] I'm telling you is you do not need to go

[2:06:37] to the voters and say we need all the

[2:06:39] money right now because we don't we don't even know what the plan

[2:06:42] is at this point. And we know it's going

[2:06:44] to be a big study before we can actually

[2:06:47] do the plan. So the fact that you want

[2:06:50] to go to the voters now seems almost

[2:06:52] like I don't know. I don't know why

[2:06:54] you're doing it. Maybe we should wait

[2:06:56] and discuss this after we get the

[2:06:58] recommendation next week when there's

[2:07:00] more concrete information. Um there's so

[2:07:05] many different moving parts to all of

[2:07:07] this. Um but I think we have guidance on

[2:07:11] the CIP and what we're going to discuss

[2:07:13] or maybe not discuss on July June 11th

[2:07:17] with the budget and um we can discuss

[2:07:21] more about timing of financing and bond

[2:07:23] stuff next week.

[2:07:26] I I agree. I mean, at least hopefully

[2:07:28] we'll have a sense of what our plan is.

[2:07:30] it the current plan? Is it something

[2:07:32] different? And then we can figure out

[2:07:34] how we implement whatever the plan is.

[2:07:38] >> Could I could I just add something?

[2:07:41] Phasing is a definite possibility.

[2:07:44] Of course, I I can't say more until I

[2:07:46] see what what the plan actually is. But

[2:07:49] before the advisory committee, when I

[2:07:51] was talking to Bob Herpst about this, I

[2:07:53] saw the potential for phasing it. But

[2:07:56] the devil's in the details here. You do

[2:07:58] need architects to help you and so

[2:08:00] forth. What we don't want to do is end

[2:08:02] up with a half completed building that's

[2:08:04] not functional at all. We've already

[2:08:06] torn it down. Everybody's in temporary

[2:08:09] facilities over in Magic's parking lot

[2:08:11] and we don't have the funds. I doubt

[2:08:13] that'll happen. But if we can phase it

[2:08:16] so that each phase is complete and

[2:08:19] functional and then we'll do the others

[2:08:21] as we can, that would work. But we need a lot more information uh to get

[2:08:27] to that point. But I hope we do get to

[2:08:29] that point because I think that's a nice

[2:08:31] alternative. And if we had that and we

[2:08:33] had a degree of confidence in it, I

[2:08:34] would I would probably favor starting on

[2:08:37] it and then we'll we'll figure out how

[2:08:39] to get the rest of the funds.

[2:08:41] >> And I'll just offer and then we can to

[2:08:44] discuss this next week. Um, it's going

[2:08:46] to be cheaper if we do everything at

[2:08:48] once, right? It's going to be less

[2:08:50] disruption. It's going to be more

[2:08:52] efficient, etc. So,

[2:08:56] um, okay. What's next, Christa?

[2:08:59] >> So, that was the that's the input about

[2:09:02] the CIP. Um,

[2:09:05] uh, and about the budget. Did you need

[2:09:07] anything else, Rich? Okay. I just wanted

[2:09:10] to summarize what I I I've heard. So,

[2:09:13] um, no changes to the town goals. Um,

[2:09:17] include, um, the mayor asked that we put

[2:09:20] together something about the

[2:09:21] achievements, uh, for the current fiscal

[2:09:24] year in the Ross review. Um, to add back

[2:09:27] in the funding for the, um, license

[2:09:30] plate readers,

[2:09:32] um, have the finance committee. We'll

[2:09:34] talk about a pens pension. And I I I

[2:09:37] have a little bit of miscellaneous money

[2:09:38] in the budget. I'll just use that for

[2:09:40] the uh per um a pension consultant. I

[2:09:43] think I I I don't think we need more

[2:09:45] money for that. Um and then regarding

[2:09:48] the common, so the council's consensus

[2:09:51] is to do the big project and we will add

[2:09:55] it into the five-year CIP. And I'm glad

[2:09:58] the council is understanding that it's

[2:10:00] going to be, you know, we'll have a new

[2:10:02] public works director hopefully coming

[2:10:04] on board in the beginning of August.

[2:10:05] It's going to it's going to take some

[2:10:07] time to get everything in place. Plus,

[2:10:09] there's a lot of other players groups

[2:10:12] and Russ recreation um depends on the

[2:10:15] field as does the school. So, there's

[2:10:17] going to be a lot of moving parts to

[2:10:18] that and we'll have to figure out how we

[2:10:20] can um staff it all. So, that's what I

[2:10:23] heard. Is there anything that I didn't I

[2:10:25] didn't get

[2:10:28] that works. Okay. Well, I thank you for

[2:10:31] all your time on that. We have a couple

[2:10:33] of more agenda items. Um, oh,

[2:10:35] specifically the uh our RPOA request.

[2:10:38] >> Yes.

[2:10:40] >> Get back to the agenda here. Number

[2:10:42] seven. Number seven.

[2:10:45] >> Okay. Um,

[2:10:51] okay. All right.

[2:10:55] Hold on just a minute.

[2:11:08] Thanks, Rich.

[2:11:11] Okay. Um, mayor and council. Um, so this

[2:11:14] agenda item is a request from the Ross

[2:11:17] Property Owners Association for um, town

[2:11:21] funding.

[2:11:22] um they've uh I think this is the third

[2:11:26] or this is the third year I think or

[2:11:28] fourth year that we've done it this way

[2:11:30] where we've asked them to come forward

[2:11:32] in your budget meeting so that the

[2:11:34] council can uh review this in in the

[2:11:37] context of your whole budget. Um and

[2:11:40] this year they have uh uh submitted a

[2:11:43] request for funding in the amount of

[2:11:45] 12,000 of $25,500.

[2:11:49] And so we're asking that you consider

[2:11:51] this request and then provide direction

[2:11:53] to me regarding the amount of funding to

[2:11:56] include in the fiscical year 27 budget.

[2:11:59] Uh the staff report contains a little

[2:12:02] bit of history and then attached to the

[2:12:04] staff report is the RPOA's uh request

[2:12:08] talks a little bit about some of their

[2:12:10] um past projects and their initiatives

[2:12:14] that they plan to do in the upcoming

[2:12:16] year. And then I could direct your

[2:12:19] attention to the table that they

[2:12:21] provided in the back. The first table is

[2:12:26] um their projects for which they're

[2:12:28] specifically requesting town um

[2:12:30] commitment to put towards and there's a column for the RPA's commitment, a

[2:12:36] column for the their the money they're

[2:12:38] requesting from the town and the total

[2:12:40] costs. And then the second one is a um a

[2:12:43] table about the other things that um our

[2:12:47] POA does and which they're not asking

[2:12:50] for council um for the town to commit

[2:12:52] funding to. And we've also added a few

[2:12:55] items that um down here that we

[2:13:00] contribute funds to in our existing

[2:13:03] budget either through um staff resources

[2:13:06] and other resources such as we staff the

[2:13:09] age friendly um the age friendly

[2:13:12] initiative and uh we also do the turkey

[2:13:15] trot and then RPOA provides some funding

[2:13:19] to the town. So it's an it's a it's a

[2:13:21] good partnership. Um, you might also

[2:13:25] want to talk about the call your

[2:13:28] attention to uh the live on the common

[2:13:30] events. RPOA is asking for funding for

[2:13:34] three live on the common events and um

[2:13:38] the total cost of the events has

[2:13:41] increased and you might want to I think

[2:13:44] Mr. Kobick is here um and he can maybe

[2:13:47] answer any questions the council might

[2:13:49] have about the the the the scale of the

[2:13:52] events that they're proposing. And I

[2:13:54] know our chief and our public works

[2:13:56] director would um like to provide um

[2:13:59] some um comments to the council about

[2:14:02] last week's event.

[2:14:03] >> Okay.

[2:14:04] >> Thank you.

[2:14:07] >> Um Jeeoff, do you want to address

[2:14:10] anything right now? No. Okay.

[2:14:16] All right. Um, one other thing I

[2:14:19] think we should think about is the town

[2:14:22] dinner. I know this isn't part of the

[2:14:25] RPOA request, but we've talked about um

[2:14:29] the town dinner and I think currently

[2:14:31] there's a whole date of September 18th.

[2:14:34] Um, and if you look at the other live on

[2:14:37] the common events, August 21st,

[2:14:39] September 11th, and October 16th, that

[2:14:42] would be four town events in a two-month

[2:14:45] time period. So,

[2:14:48] it seems like a lot. And I'm I I

[2:14:51] personally think that the Live on the

[2:14:54] Common events have been so successful

[2:14:56] and they've kind of replaced the need

[2:14:58] for a town dinner. And I I would

[2:15:01] appreciate hearing other people's

[2:15:03] thoughts on that. Um, it would probably

[2:15:05] save the town, I don't know, like

[2:15:08] $10,000,

[2:15:09] um, if we did not have another town

[2:15:12] dinner. Um, I feel like it's kind of

[2:15:15] outlived its useful life given all the

[2:15:17] other activity that our PA is doing.

[2:15:23] >> Terry, are there different people who go

[2:15:25] to the town dinner than go to Live on

[2:15:27] the Commons? Is it the same group or is

[2:15:30] it different? I' I'd like to ask our rec

[2:15:33] manager, Moren Borthwood, to respond,

[2:15:35] please.

[2:15:40] » Thank you, Christa. Um, I would say

[2:15:43] overall it's it's probably around the

[2:15:45] same people that attend. It is very

[2:15:46] different events, though. Um, the town

[2:15:48] dinner is a little bit more quaint, more

[2:15:50] true community focused, less outside

[2:15:53] marketing. Um, so I do think they are

[2:15:55] very different events. I wouldn't

[2:15:56] necessarily um group them as one. How

[2:16:01] many people go to the dinner generally?

[2:16:03] The last dinner especially, I think it

[2:16:04] was pretty successful.

[2:16:05] >> Yeah, there was around 300 uh a little

[2:16:07] over 300 people last uh last year.

[2:16:11] >> Okay.

[2:16:12] >> Yeah.

[2:16:14] >> I I'm surprised to hear that because my

[2:16:16] impression was there were more children

[2:16:18] at the live on the common events

[2:16:22] versus adults and then a reverse for the

[2:16:25] town dinner, but that's not the case.

[2:16:26] It's sort of the same cross-section. I

[2:16:29] can't speak too much to the Live on the

[2:16:31] Commons. I haven't been to too many to

[2:16:33] be honest with you. Um the last one I

[2:16:36] was at, there was quite a few children

[2:16:38] at the Live on the Common. Um and the

[2:16:40] town dinner, we definitely Yeah, we have

[2:16:41] a lot of families. I mean, it's true.

[2:16:43] Ross, so we have a lot of families. We

[2:16:45] have age friendly. It's it's

[2:16:47] intergenerational.

[2:16:49] >> So, I um I like the idea a lot, Julie. I

[2:16:52] think what we could do is for one of the

[2:16:55] live on the commons, why don't we say

[2:16:56] live on the commons and town dinner and

[2:16:58] then maybe we just piggy back on the

[2:17:01] event and add more tables, which is

[2:17:03] really all you need because the band's

[2:17:05] already there. We the town could join

[2:17:08] and just make sure we have enough food

[2:17:09] trucks, which is always great. Um, but I

[2:17:12] think we could just pair them together

[2:17:13] and just say this that maybe it's the

[2:17:15] date in September, the one that's

[2:17:17] closest to when you wanted to do town

[2:17:19] dinner, and we combine forces and make

[2:17:21] it an event and just make it real clear

[2:17:23] this is the live on the commons and town

[2:17:24] dinner together.

[2:17:26] >> I think that's a really good idea

[2:17:27] because I mean I know some people I

[2:17:30] spoke with were shocked at the idea of

[2:17:32] abandoning the time the town dinner. I

[2:17:34] was kind of surprised. I really expected

[2:17:36] people to say, "Oh yeah, nobody goes."

[2:17:38] But there are some people who go. um and

[2:17:42] adding more tables and especially where

[2:17:44] they are is kind of at the side of the field where the music is because

[2:17:50] many of the people who go to the town

[2:17:51] dinner want to talk and have a dinner

[2:17:53] and you can't do that in the middle of

[2:17:54] the field because of the music from the

[2:17:56] band. So it it might be a perfect way of

[2:17:58] having kind of the band on one side and

[2:18:00] tables where they are now but many more

[2:18:03] and um and and the tables at Love on the

[2:18:07] Comet are sort of open so anybody can

[2:18:09] sit anywhere and I think that's a nice

[2:18:11] openness for you know for any event that

[2:18:15] you don't have to come with 10 friends

[2:18:17] and sit down and own a table anybody can

[2:18:19] stop by. So I think that's a great idea.

[2:18:23] >> If I if I may that's okay. I think

[2:18:26] that's um an very interesting idea. Um

[2:18:28] and we've been meeting with RPOA and

[2:18:31] Janine Chock specifically um quite often

[2:18:33] to discuss these things. So uh we did

[2:18:36] discuss the September event and they are

[2:18:38] locked in to their band contractually.

[2:18:40] So, I think that this is something even

[2:18:42] just for this year, something we can

[2:18:43] potentially try. Um, and then maybe next

[2:18:46] year, maybe town dinner turns into a,

[2:18:48] you know, every other year or something.

[2:18:50] Um, and we can work more closely with

[2:18:53] our POA and establishing establishing

[2:18:55] that event timeline.

[2:18:58] >> Just to ask you, Marine, if we combined

[2:19:00] it and just asked for more tables, like

[2:19:03] do you think it's we could you could

[2:19:06] facilitate?

[2:19:07] >> I think that that's possible. Yeah, I

[2:19:08] think that the tables could be in the

[2:19:10] Grove um and we can make it um you know

[2:19:14] make let the ambiance feel kind of like

[2:19:15] town dinner um with the added um band.

[2:19:18] My only I guess constraint or potential

[2:19:22] issue is the noise. Yeah. Is the band.

[2:19:24] The band's much louder. You know, we try

[2:19:26] to have the um the ambiance of town

[2:19:29] dinner to be a little bit more um like

[2:19:31] jazz and you're having dinner and you

[2:19:33] can get to know thy neighbor. Um so I

[2:19:35] think we would have to just work

[2:19:35] together on that. But I think if the

[2:19:37] tables are in the grove area, it's much

[2:19:40] it's not nearly as loud in the grove

[2:19:42] area and they can be sort of spread out

[2:19:44] through the grove area. I think the

[2:19:45] noise I think noise won't be an issue

[2:19:47] for the dinner based on where the tables

[2:19:50] are placed.

[2:19:51] >> And by the way, Marine, I remember there

[2:19:53] being that funk band.

[2:19:55] So sometimes the town dinner can be a

[2:19:57] lovely entertainment as well, but I

[2:20:00] agree. We just want to make sure the

[2:20:01] band's appropriate for the the the

[2:20:04] >> the dinner. Yeah. Do we know what band

[2:20:06] they're having on September 11th?

[2:20:09] >> I do not write in front of me, but

[2:20:11] that's potentially just I can ask I can

[2:20:14] provide you all with that information.

[2:20:16] >> Well, it sounds like we have consensus

[2:20:18] to kind of combine at least for this

[2:20:20] year live on the common town dinner on

[2:20:24] September 11th

[2:20:25] >> and see how it goes and then we can

[2:20:28] always revisit for the following year.

[2:20:30] Do we need to to clear it with our our

[2:20:32] PA since they've put all the leg work

[2:20:35] into these events? Um,

[2:20:38] >> good. It's cleared. Got the thumbs up.

[2:20:41] >> And this this actually checks one of our

[2:20:42] boxes of uh cost reduction and trying to

[2:20:45] figure out um yeah, how to reduce those

[2:20:46] costs for our events.

[2:20:48] >> Yeah. I guess I'd like to spend a little

[2:20:50] bit of time talking about the event that

[2:20:52] just happened Saturday night because

[2:20:54] I've gotten I was Friday night I was not

[2:20:57] there. I was driving to a different

[2:20:59] concert in Oakland at the same time

[2:21:02] where I was seeing gridlock down Sir

[2:21:04] Francis Drake, people doing illegal

[2:21:06] U-turns, people snaking through Marin

[2:21:09] Art Garden looking for parking spots.

[2:21:12] And I did not go over to the common, but

[2:21:14] I was concerned about how many people

[2:21:17] were congregating in our town. And so I

[2:21:21] would love to hear um feedback um and

[2:21:25] make sure that this is something that we

[2:21:26] want to continue having because it

[2:21:29] seemed like the event was not just for

[2:21:31] our town. It was for a lot of mining

[2:21:34] county and I'm not sure that we should

[2:21:36] be using our town dollars. Uh I'm not

[2:21:40] sure about our POA's goals, but I am

[2:21:43] hesitant to use our town dollars to

[2:21:46] entertain all of Marin County. Uh, Chief

[2:21:49] Pa is here can make some comments about

[2:21:52] uh

[2:21:52] >> I I will just say Julie I was there and

[2:21:55] it was a very wonderful event. It was

[2:21:58] crowded but people it was Tom Petty uh a

[2:22:02] lot of I was up at the front Tom Petty

[2:22:04] cover band. The people dancing were all

[2:22:07] in their 70s and 80s. This is No, I'm

[2:22:10] just saying there was not riff raff. So

[2:22:12] it was not it I I I share your concern.

[2:22:15] I just want to say that. But when you

[2:22:17] actually were at the event, the the

[2:22:19] crowd was a lot of people and they kept

[2:22:21] saying Marin County. So I think they're

[2:22:23] the band is known in Marin County. So I

[2:22:25] hear you and I would say we from my

[2:22:27] perspective, you know, Sano does their

[2:22:30] live on the the the summer weekends and

[2:22:33] you know it's a it's a draw and Ross

[2:22:35] people go to that. So I don't

[2:22:36] necessarily say we shouldn't be doing

[2:22:38] bigger events. I just want to make sure

[2:22:39] they're safe and they're, you know, we

[2:22:41] have the right staffing and the right

[2:22:43] that people, you know, food, etc. where

[2:22:45] we're making sure that it's it's a good

[2:22:47] safe event. But there was there was no

[2:22:49] riff raff and there was no no no

[2:22:52] fighting or anything like that. I saw

[2:22:55] >> Yeah, I would too. Yeah, I was I was

[2:22:57] there too. It was so much fun. It was

[2:23:00] really great. I was not dancing up in

[2:23:02] the front. I want you to know that. Um,

[2:23:05] my only concern was uh enough security.

[2:23:08] Um, I was over at the RPOA table and uh

[2:23:14] a woman came up to us with a lost child.

[2:23:17] was about maybe three or four

[2:23:19] years old. And uh we asked if she had

[2:23:24] gone up to the the band to see if they

[2:23:27] would make an announcement and she said

[2:23:30] she had gone up to the stage and the

[2:23:32] band said, "We can't we can't we can't

[2:23:34] deal with that right now. We're in the

[2:23:35] middle of a of a set." So, uh, Marcia

[2:23:40] and I and several other people went

[2:23:42] looking for police because we figured if

[2:23:45] we had somebody in authority, they would

[2:23:46] go up to the stage and say, "We have a

[2:23:48] lost child." Um, we did find one of our

[2:23:51] local policemen, which was wonderful,

[2:23:54] and he took care of it. Um, and the

[2:23:56] child, they went up to the stage and the

[2:23:58] child found the parent. But I, it makes

[2:24:00] me worried when we have that larger

[2:24:02] group, you're going to have things like

[2:24:04] that happen. And so I would want to make

[2:24:07] sure that we had really good security. I

[2:24:10] mean I think we had it was people got

[2:24:13] along well. There was no fights. It was

[2:24:15] great. It was a lot of people. Um but I

[2:24:17] think if we do this in the future, not

[2:24:19] only and I we don't have enough staff.

[2:24:22] Uh we'd h So you'd have to actually pay

[2:24:25] for additional security. Somebody would

[2:24:27] have to pay for it. Um and also the

[2:24:30] cleanup afterwards. With a big event

[2:24:33] like that, it's more work and I don't

[2:24:36] think we can ask the town to to take

[2:24:38] care of that, especially if it involves

[2:24:40] more than just the Ross community.

[2:24:43] >> Those are my thoughts.

[2:24:44] >> Well, sort of back to Julie's point. Um

[2:24:47] well, first for the whole for this

[2:24:48] agenda item, I think we're really lucky

[2:24:50] that RPOA and the other groups in town

[2:24:54] um have been able to put on events like

[2:24:56] this because they've been hugely

[2:24:58] successful. They've really brought the

[2:24:59] community together. So, I'm totally uh

[2:25:02] supportive of of the town do, you know,

[2:25:05] contributing money, what they're asking

[2:25:07] for this year for events. But then for a

[2:25:10] specific event, I you know, I I was

[2:25:12] there also and it it was really crowded

[2:25:15] and the parking was a mess and traffic

[2:25:17] was a mess and it felt like it was a

[2:25:19] countywide event and so to me it seemed

[2:25:21] less of a of a local event where you see

[2:25:24] your friends because you could barely

[2:25:25] find your friends because there were so

[2:25:27] many people. And so I think that going

[2:25:29] forward we'd have to decide how widely

[2:25:33] should these events be advertised. If

[2:25:35] they are widely advertised and they

[2:25:37] become countywide events, then indeed we

[2:25:39] need way more help and support and

[2:25:41] security. But I'm not sure if we want

[2:25:43] that. I I kind of liked the I liked it

[2:25:45] better when it was smaller and and

[2:25:47] mostly Ross because it was it was like

[2:25:50] the Ross community and of course, you

[2:25:51] know, friends and neighbors, but but it

[2:25:53] wasn't, you know, a big draw from the

[2:25:55] whole county. So I think we will have to

[2:25:57] discuss you know how do we what do we

[2:26:00] want these events to be and how do we

[2:26:04] make that happen.

[2:26:05] >> Yeah. I think uh this was sort of a

[2:26:08] one-time aberration. What what happened

[2:26:11] was the band sent out an announcement to

[2:26:14] their mailing list which was a

[2:26:16] countywide mailing list. So you got a

[2:26:19] lot of the bands groupies coming to the deal. So, uh, going forward,

[2:26:26] we're going to contractually require the

[2:26:27] BN to not send out to their mailing

[2:26:30] lists so we can control the It was a

[2:26:35] little bit of a surprise. So, I don't

[2:26:37] think this will happen in the future. I

[2:26:39] don't think we'll have this type of

[2:26:40] crowd. That's not our intention. We'll

[2:26:42] dial it back and uh and keep it more

[2:26:46] Ross centric. Although, I did have some

[2:26:48] friends from San Selma who came over and

[2:26:50] really enjoyed it specifically. So they said it was a great event. So

[2:26:55] >> I saw a couple of postings on Next Door

[2:26:58] about it too. So maybe we should stop

[2:27:00] posting. There's enough publicity

[2:27:02] internal to Ross I think

[2:27:04] >> that we don't need to post on social

[2:27:06] media.

[2:27:07] >> Yeah,

[2:27:08] >> that's great. Thank you.

[2:27:09] >> Okay.

[2:27:16] » All right. I'm going to be the bad guy.

[2:27:19] Well, not totally the bad guy. Um I'm a

[2:27:21] drummer. I like music. Um, but I think

[2:27:24] you've reached a capacity uh limit. Uh,

[2:27:27] I think we saw it really clearly at this

[2:27:30] last event. Uh, we had huge problems

[2:27:32] with traffic. We wrote a lot of parking

[2:27:34] tickets. We had a lot of uh illegal

[2:27:38] driving going on, people trying to find

[2:27:40] parking spots. We had people from, you

[2:27:42] know, our own like restaurants and

[2:27:44] downtown stuff couldn't park. Um,

[2:27:48] a lot of folks parking in the

[2:27:49] neighborhoods and walking in. So the

[2:27:51] things that that you guys don't see and

[2:27:53] that the people that are attending the

[2:27:55] event don't see is the huge amount of

[2:27:57] planning that has to happen uh on our

[2:27:59] side to make this work. So each event

[2:28:02] that we do like this, not just um live

[2:28:05] on the common but all these events um

[2:28:07] you know gone are the days where we can

[2:28:10] just kind of wing it. So I have a

[2:28:12] contingency plan that I've put in place

[2:28:15] for all of these events. There's a

[2:28:17] document that I prepare. I send it to

[2:28:19] the fire department, our neighborhood

[2:28:20] agencies, and so that if worst case

[2:28:24] scenario A, B, or C happens, we have

[2:28:27] some heads up on that. It's very

[2:28:29] important, and I don't think we can I

[2:28:31] don't think you can get away anymore

[2:28:32] with not having these plans. Um, I've

[2:28:35] leveraged a lot of my relationships over

[2:28:37] the last 5 years to get police chiefs in

[2:28:40] this county to donate police officers to

[2:28:43] our town to uh come into town. And a lot

[2:28:46] of that is just was the cost of me

[2:28:48] buying them dinner. Um, and I I do that,

[2:28:52] but I think those days are kind of going

[2:28:53] away, especially when you have the

[2:28:56] possible

[2:28:58] um the probability of having to interact

[2:29:00] with somebody and then, you know, we all

[2:29:03] have bosses and our bosses all have

[2:29:05] lawyers and they're not super excited

[2:29:08] about um accepting liability in perhaps

[2:29:11] another town. This is not something that

[2:29:13] we could do a you know a mutual aid

[2:29:15] request on those this is a planned event

[2:29:17] not an unplanned event. So um

[2:29:21] so we've been fortunate in the sense

[2:29:23] that we've had some uh you know with the

[2:29:25] by allowing us to over staff over hire

[2:29:28] we have an extra body but I've got to

[2:29:31] move a lot of people around for this.

[2:29:34] It's not a huge amount of work, but I am

[2:29:37] taking officers off of their set

[2:29:39] schedules and their families and the

[2:29:42] things that they do on their own time.

[2:29:43] I'm having to move a lot of parts around

[2:29:45] so that we can provide adequate security

[2:29:48] for these events. Um, and these are the

[2:29:51] events that bad things do happen at um

[2:29:54] especially in small towns. So, I guess

[2:29:58] my suggestion to to you is that uh you consider that this is going to cost

[2:30:04] some money in overtime moving forward

[2:30:06] because um I don't think we're going to

[2:30:08] have the same I've noticed in the last

[2:30:11] couple of years that uh the the help I

[2:30:13] was getting for free is kind of starting

[2:30:15] to to to go away because they have their

[2:30:16] own events that they have to deal with.

[2:30:18] When you think about a San Ando event,

[2:30:20] they also have the Central Marine

[2:30:22] Police. It's three times the size of our

[2:30:24] police department, so they have more

[2:30:26] capacity. So, um, and all it takes is

[2:30:30] one little boy who goes missing and now

[2:30:33] all of your staff is working on trying

[2:30:34] to find mom and dad. Uh, so, you know,

[2:30:38] on a regular day, you have one police

[2:30:41] officer, maybe two police officers

[2:30:42] working in this town. So, um, we still

[2:30:45] need an officer to respond to those

[2:30:47] things in in our community on top of the

[2:30:50] live on the common events. But you also

[2:30:52] have Branson that has games. Sometimes

[2:30:55] you have events happening at Marin Art

[2:30:56] and Garden Center. So we don't know what

[2:30:59] we don't know. And so sometimes your

[2:31:01] community, the population jumps up

[2:31:04] almost twice the size, but we still have

[2:31:07] the staffing for the original population

[2:31:09] that we have to deal with. So those are

[2:31:12] all things I'd like you to consider. You

[2:31:13] know, when you guys are talking about

[2:31:15] these um this I'm not sure in that

[2:31:18] budget if that accounts for police

[2:31:20] overtime. No one's asked me about that,

[2:31:22] so I'm guessing it doesn't, but that's

[2:31:24] going to be a consideration for you

[2:31:26] moving forward.

[2:31:28] And I think that's my two cents, but I'm

[2:31:30] happy to for any questions you may have.

[2:31:34] >> Um, thank you, Chief. So, um, part of

[2:31:38] the u working with our our um partners

[2:31:42] is so Marin Sanitary picks up our

[2:31:45] garbage. Well, they weren't doing it for

[2:31:47] free on the initial on the first couple

[2:31:49] years I was here. and I convinced them

[2:31:52] to um do a corporate um sponsorship. We

[2:31:55] were having to pay for it there. And

[2:31:58] that's contingent upon us doing a good

[2:32:00] job of um of um you know of sorting

[2:32:05] through recyclables and they don't want

[2:32:07] to have a bunch of contamination.

[2:32:09] They've already given indicated to us

[2:32:12] that they're they're not happy with the

[2:32:14] level of our performance at that event

[2:32:16] of doing our s sorting. and they've

[2:32:19] already told me that there was so much

[2:32:21] trash and recycling, contaminated

[2:32:24] recycling that was produced last Friday

[2:32:27] that they're thinking of not doing not

[2:32:29] doing it. And so that'll be a big chunk

[2:32:32] because that's not in our budget.

[2:32:34] That'll have to be our POA is going to

[2:32:36] have to pay for it. Um we do do a and so

[2:32:40] I'm very happy to see to hear Mr. Kobick

[2:32:42] say that that's not their intention and

[2:32:44] that was just a one-time thing. But one

[2:32:46] of our uh every time that there is an

[2:32:49] event, this is the town's property, um

[2:32:52] the applicant, in this case, RPOA, has

[2:32:54] to apply for a special event permit. And

[2:32:58] in that permit, we have conditions. And

[2:33:02] so if we see, we're going to put a

[2:33:04] little more time into figuring out what

[2:33:06] kind of band is playing because if we

[2:33:09] had if it had really registered to our

[2:33:11] staff that band and what level of

[2:33:14] following it was, if you know, we would

[2:33:17] have put a condition in there requiring

[2:33:21] extra garbage cans, requiring more

[2:33:23] cleanup because they're supposed to

[2:33:24] return the Ross Common to the town in

[2:33:28] the in the level of of which they

[2:33:30] received it and that's that's not

[2:33:32] happening. Our public works staff are

[2:33:34] one person whom we don't have them on

[2:33:37] the weekend. So, they're coming in on

[2:33:39] Monday and there's still a lot of trash

[2:33:41] and they have to spend a lot of time um

[2:33:43] picking up after that. So, we also have

[2:33:47] to sign the chief and I as a

[2:33:50] representative the property owner have

[2:33:51] to sign a ABC license for this event.

[2:33:55] And I'm think the chief, he didn't

[2:33:58] mention is that in order to if if if the

[2:34:02] events are at this level, he's going to

[2:34:05] have to require in that um in that ABC

[2:34:08] license that they provide security just

[2:34:11] so that they can get an alcohol permit.

[2:34:13] Is that correct, Chief?

[2:34:14] >> Yeah. Yes. And another thing to add on

[2:34:16] um just because I didn't think about it

[2:34:18] sooner, private security is good, but

[2:34:20] private security is about 25% of your

[2:34:23] security because the minute something

[2:34:25] happens, they have to call us because

[2:34:27] we're the ones that have to we're the

[2:34:29] ones that have the authority to do

[2:34:30] things. So private security is good for

[2:34:33] finding lost people and maybe telling

[2:34:35] somebody not to park someplace, but at

[2:34:37] the end of the day, they're going to be

[2:34:38] calling us. So, um so yeah, there that's

[2:34:42] just another consideration.

[2:34:44] So, I'm hearing support from the council

[2:34:47] for um to fund RPOA's request of $25,500

[2:34:52] for the purposes listed here. Is that is

[2:34:55] that correct? Okay. And then I and it's

[2:34:59] I and since Jeff um Kobick is here and you know, RPOA is a you know, a

[2:35:05] board and a group of a lot of

[2:35:07] hardworking individuals, but I I I'm

[2:35:09] hoping that Mr. Koba can carry that the

[2:35:11] council's message back to the planners

[2:35:14] of the group about the kind of uh the

[2:35:17] level the size of the events that the

[2:35:20] because it's your property. It's not

[2:35:22] just your money here, right? It's like

[2:35:23] what do you want to authorize to happen

[2:35:25] on your property? And what I'm hearing

[2:35:27] is that you'd like to have you know kind

[2:35:30] of downscale the events. Is that is that

[2:35:33] correct?

[2:35:36] >> Yeah, that's correct for me.

[2:35:38] >> Yeah. What I would say is look, this

[2:35:40] was, like you said, an aberration. I

[2:35:42] think nobody knew this was going to be

[2:35:44] as popular as it was. All of us who

[2:35:46] showed up were surprised. So, I actually

[2:35:48] think that the town did an excellent job

[2:35:51] and they had tons of kid volunteers at

[2:35:54] the end of the night picking up trash.

[2:35:55] Like I I mean given that nobody was

[2:35:58] prepared for the amount of people that

[2:36:00] came, the fact is nobody was injured.

[2:36:02] Nothing bad happened. The trash was

[2:36:04] picked up. There were some issues, but

[2:36:06] they were relatively minor to the scale

[2:36:08] of the event. So what I'm saying is we

[2:36:12] don't know. We we don't we obviously all

[2:36:14] want a more cozier event, but I think

[2:36:17] what this opened our eyes to is the

[2:36:19] event could get bigger and we just need

[2:36:20] to be prepared for that. And I I think

[2:36:23] that RPO I mean RPOA is not trying to

[2:36:25] bring in you know Britney Spears here or

[2:36:28] whatever like Taylor Swift like it's not

[2:36:29] that's not their intention to make this

[2:36:31] huge blowout event. It just happened to

[2:36:33] happen. They will scale back the

[2:36:35] marketing and I think it will probably

[2:36:37] return to normal levels. Let's also

[2:36:38] remember the event starts at 5:00 to

[2:36:41] 8:00. Like this these times of like

[2:36:44] before we all start putting alarm bells

[2:36:45] like it's so early in the day you're not

[2:36:48] going to be able I mean people actually

[2:36:49] work. There are people that work a job

[2:36:51] that doesn't end at five. So, I'm never

[2:36:54] anticipating that it's going to probably

[2:36:55] happen to this level again, but we

[2:36:58] should be prepared. And my part and what

[2:37:00] I said earlier was I just think that the

[2:37:02] town taking a little bit more ownership

[2:37:05] of these events might be helpful because

[2:37:08] putting it all on this volunteer

[2:37:09] organization is a risk because that

[2:37:12] that's really a lot they they for them

[2:37:14] to do as volunteers and it's something

[2:37:17] that we should think about. What? These

[2:37:19] are very popular events for this town.

[2:37:21] If you if you guys said we're canceling

[2:37:23] them all, good luck to you. You're g

[2:37:25] really upset a lot of Ross residents.

[2:37:27] So, we just need to manage it better.

[2:37:29] And how do we do that better? And my

[2:37:31] view is the town should try to take more

[2:37:34] ownership because this volunteer

[2:37:36] organization, it's a lot to put on them.

[2:37:40] >> You know, I I kind of disagree, Matt.

[2:37:42] I'm not sure the town should be playing

[2:37:44] a role in this. I I mean RPA has done a

[2:37:47] wonderful job and then the town has come

[2:37:50] into support where they can. Um and it

[2:37:53] seems to me that works pretty well. I

[2:37:55] don't I don't really see the town to be

[2:37:57] in the business of putting on, you know,

[2:38:00] big events like this. I you know, we did

[2:38:03] do the Fourth of July. We used to do the

[2:38:04] town dinner. I this is a really great

[2:38:07] big event, but I I feel like RPO has

[2:38:09] done a wonderful job and I I'm not sure would the town would agree

[2:38:14] to take on more and right now as long as

[2:38:17] it's not too huge, RPO has done a great

[2:38:19] job.

[2:38:22] Yeah, I would agree with you, uh,

[2:38:23] Elizabeth. And I also I mean, I look at

[2:38:27] where our town commitment is, and it's

[2:38:30] mostly events, but it's also the the

[2:38:32] holiday decorations and lights, and I

[2:38:34] just want to say the Ross Property

[2:38:35] Owners Association does a great job. I

[2:38:38] feel really proud when I drive into town

[2:38:41] and it's lit up like a Christmas tree.

[2:38:42] It's just beautiful. Um, and I think

[2:38:44] that the work that you put into the um,

[2:38:48] events is a lot of work. And I think

[2:38:51] that the hound benefits from it. So, um,

[2:38:54] yeah,

[2:39:01] we have consensus.

[2:39:02] >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thanks very much.

[2:39:04] >> Great. Thank you, Jeff. Please tell RPOA

[2:39:08] thank you for everything that it's doing a great job.

[2:39:18] So, should we move to we need any next

[2:39:22] steps or wrap up? You've already done

[2:39:23] that.

[2:39:24] >> Um, no. We we'll just we'll bring back

[2:39:26] your um appropriations, all the the the

[2:39:29] specific things that you do at your June

[2:39:31] 11th meeting and um the packet will go

[2:39:34] out um before it like usual. So, thank

[2:39:36] you for your your work on the budget.

[2:39:39] >> Great. So, we're gonna

[2:39:40] >> just have two more agenda items.

[2:39:42] >> Number number eight, the um the award of

[2:39:47] construction contra contract for the

[2:39:49] Shady Lane safe routes to school project

[2:39:51] to Majora and Galotti in the amount of

[2:39:56] 217.

[2:40:00] » Yes, thank you, mayor and council. Um

[2:40:02] yeah, Majority and Galati like to do

[2:40:03] they they come with the 217 or whatever

[2:40:06] and then they they double it up. Anyway,

[2:40:08] so uh wanted to bring this um item to

[2:40:12] the administrative agenda, kind of give

[2:40:14] you a chance if you have any questions

[2:40:16] about the bidding process or or you know

[2:40:18] how this all comes about and give you

[2:40:20] the opportunity to talk about it. really

[2:40:22] briefly. Um we did have uh the project

[2:40:27] consists of um removing the old pathway

[2:40:31] that's uh remaining um after the first

[2:40:35] two phases that we did in the past few

[2:40:36] years between Southwood and Fernhill.

[2:40:40] We're going to redo that pathway. Um and

[2:40:43] then we're going to do a micro seal on

[2:40:46] the entire length of Shady Lane,

[2:40:48] restripe it, and then put in the the

[2:40:50] bicycle

[2:40:52] um share the lane, share the road

[2:40:55] symbols all the way um up and down the

[2:40:59] either way the the north south lanes.

[2:41:01] And uh we estimated the project to be

[2:41:04] 193,000. And the bid came in at 21727

[2:41:09] which is um it's about 12% higher than

[2:41:13] our estimate probably contributed the uh

[2:41:16] price current price of oil probably

[2:41:18] contributed to that uh additional cost

[2:41:22] um because that's a primary component of

[2:41:23] asphalt slurries.

[2:41:26] So, um we're also requesting um

[2:41:31] that uh the town manager enter into a

[2:41:35] contract majority and gelati for that

[2:41:37] bid price. We also request a $20,000 u

[2:41:41] ministerial contingency

[2:41:43] uh to be used in case of unforeseen

[2:41:45] changes should they arise.

[2:41:47] And um we do have a $100,000 measure AA

[2:41:52] safe pathways grant that we can use um

[2:41:56] on this project which is extremely

[2:41:59] helpful. You know, we've been talking

[2:42:01] about getting this project going I think

[2:42:03] for a couple years and we're finally

[2:42:04] going to get it done. Um majority and

[2:42:06] Gelotti said they're ready to go as soon

[2:42:08] as we get them a contract and we'll get

[2:42:11] this project moving ahead. So, um,

[2:42:16] staff recommends that, uh, town council

[2:42:19] award the construction contract for this

[2:42:21] Shady Lane Safe Routts to school project

[2:42:24] and authorize the town manager entered

[2:42:26] into a construction contract with major

[2:42:28] Gelat in the amount of 217,217

[2:42:32] and authorize an approximate 10%

[2:42:34] ministerial contingency of up to $20,000

[2:42:37] for potential change orders to address

[2:42:39] unforeseen conditions. And that

[2:42:41] concludes my report.

[2:42:43] >> Great. Any questions? Elizabeth,

[2:42:46] >> I have a question. The um the first

[2:42:49] phase of this redid the um the

[2:42:51] pedestrian path between um Loganas and

[2:42:55] up to I guess what around Fern around

[2:42:58] Southwood. Um, and so the there's black

[2:43:01] top there, but on both sides of the

[2:43:02] black top, there's this really ugly kind

[2:43:04] of gray, rocky, grally stuff that I

[2:43:07] thought was going to just kind of vanish

[2:43:08] into the dirt, but it's still there and

[2:43:10] it's really ugly. Is there a way to make

[2:43:12] the pathway aesthetically prettier?

[2:43:16] Well, um that is our uh pathway policy

[2:43:21] that was adopted by council um just

[2:43:24] before I got here. I think 2016 where we

[2:43:27] uh put in asphalt and then we put in the

[2:43:29] uh class 2AB kind of to keep things from

[2:43:33] unraveling under the asphalt and then

[2:43:37] the eventually the sides of the asphalt

[2:43:40] will start collapsing again. So, it's um

[2:43:45] I'm going to stick to the policy until

[2:43:47] maybe we can bring you bring back the

[2:43:49] policy and you want to take that option

[2:43:50] out or discuss it more. It's part of the

[2:43:53] currently part of the bid. Um so, it's

[2:43:55] going to go in this time. Um I like it.

[2:43:59] I I like the additional support it

[2:44:01] brings to especially when you're going

[2:44:03] along the ditch along Shady Lane. Um but

[2:44:07] uh you know we're not g I'm not going to

[2:44:10] I don't recommend changing at this time

[2:44:12] but we can certainly discuss uh the

[2:44:14] changing of our pathway um construction

[2:44:18] policy in the future.

[2:44:21] >> Okay. Thank you.

[2:44:24] >> Any other questions? Public comment.

[2:44:27] Anybody online?

[2:44:29] >> No one online.

[2:44:30] >> Okay. Um bring it back for further

[2:44:33] discussion or a motion.

[2:44:41] I guess we need to read it in full. So,

[2:44:44] we recommend I recommend that uh we

[2:44:46] award the construction contract for the

[2:44:49] Shady Lane Safe Roofs to school project

[2:44:51] and authorize the town manager to enter

[2:44:53] into construction contract with M Leora

[2:44:57] and Galotti Inc. in the amount of

[2:45:01] 217,211

[2:45:04] 217 and authorize an appropriate 10%

[2:45:08] ministerial contingency of up to $20,000

[2:45:11] for potential change orders to address

[2:45:14] unforeseen conditions.

[2:45:18] » Second.

[2:45:22] » Mayor McMillan.

[2:45:23] >> Yes.

[2:45:24] >> Mayor Prom Robbins.

[2:45:26] >> Yes.

[2:45:27] >> Council member Kercher. Yes.

[2:45:29] >> Council member Dling.

[2:45:30] >> Yes.

[2:45:30] >> Council member Salter.

[2:45:32] >> Yes.

[2:45:33] >> Thank you.

[2:45:35] >> Item number nine, town council to

[2:45:38] provide direction to the town manager on

[2:45:40] the planning of a governance workshop

[2:45:42] for the town council, town attorney, and

[2:45:44] town management staff. Christa. Great.

[2:45:47] Thank you, mayor. Um this item was um

[2:45:50] requested by council and I received uh

[2:45:55] two proposals and spoke with the

[2:45:59] consultants uh first and then they sent

[2:46:01] me their proposals. They are attached to

[2:46:04] the staff report. These two firms, um,

[2:46:07] MRG and, um, Jacob Green Associates,

[2:46:12] both do these types of, um, workshops

[2:46:15] with councils all over the state of

[2:46:17] California. Um, both of the consultant

[2:46:20] teams have worked in Marin County with

[2:46:23] Marin County cities in particular, and

[2:46:26] they they have very similar um,

[2:46:29] scopes of work. um they would meet

[2:46:32] individually with uh each council member

[2:46:35] beforehand and as they put together both

[2:46:38] of the workshops are um just half-day

[2:46:41] workshops and then they also provide um

[2:46:45] uh like a follow-up report um to to me

[2:46:50] and the council um and they would they

[2:46:53] would develop norms and um all the

[2:46:57] information is here. Um, one of them is

[2:47:00] more expensive.

[2:47:03] So, the one from

[2:47:06] MRG is um

[2:47:12] the one from Jacob Green is $18,000 plus

[2:47:16] expenses. And they do

[2:47:20] most of them, I think, live in Southern

[2:47:21] California. So, I think maybe their

[2:47:23] travel uh I'm assuming their travel

[2:47:25] expenses might be a little bit more. and

[2:47:27] MRG's proposal is 14,500 with expenses

[2:47:33] and I think most of their team lives in

[2:47:36] Northern California, but they're the

[2:47:38] exact the facilitator they would use is

[2:47:41] actually a current a former mayor and a

[2:47:44] current council member in Southern

[2:47:46] California, I think in Rondono Beach or

[2:47:47] one of those Manhattan Beach, one of

[2:47:49] those cities. So, theirs is a little bit

[2:47:52] less.

[2:47:54] That's all I have questions.

[2:47:58] » Yes.

[2:47:59] >> Um Kristen, did you were either of these

[2:48:01] used? I think you mentioned you did some

[2:48:03] sort of training like this as a town

[2:48:05] manager.

[2:48:07] >> I'm just wondering if you used them in

[2:48:08] the past or knew these.

[2:48:10] >> Um no, I've I've I know some of their

[2:48:12] consultants um and but I haven't been to

[2:48:17] one of their training. My first city

[2:48:19] manager position, it was actually the

[2:48:20] whole year was COVID, so they didn't do

[2:48:22] anything. Um but I do know that they so

[2:48:25] Jacob Green worked with the city of San

[2:48:26] Rafale. MRG has done work with other

[2:48:29] cities. In fact, one of their

[2:48:30] consultants used to work for the city of

[2:48:32] Nevada. One of their consultants used to

[2:48:34] be the city manager of um Sonoma. So um

[2:48:38] their current business manager was the

[2:48:40] former assistant city manager in Nevada.

[2:48:42] So they're very well known both these

[2:48:44] firms and they do this work and they

[2:48:46] also do other um consulting and

[2:48:49] executive coaching and strategic. A lot

[2:48:52] of them do strategic planning, strategic

[2:48:54] planning workshops. A lot of them they

[2:48:56] another side of their work is they'll

[2:48:58] facilitate um uh conversations with the

[2:49:01] council on um the the city manager and

[2:49:04] the city attorney performance

[2:49:06] evaluations. They'll sometimes uh

[2:49:08] councils want somebody to come in from

[2:49:10] the outside. So they they both have very

[2:49:12] good reput reputations.

[2:49:15] And just one other question on um the

[2:49:18] logistics of if we did this and went

[2:49:20] forward, how do you do it with the Brown

[2:49:22] Act and the public meeting? Does it have

[2:49:23] to be recorded? Like just curious how

[2:49:25] that works?

[2:49:26] >> Yeah. Yeah. You're whenever you get

[2:49:28] together, you have it this would be a a

[2:49:30] meeting that's open to the public. You

[2:49:32] know, sometimes um uh councils choose to

[2:49:36] do it um in a in a in another location

[2:49:39] that's a little bit more um but it needs

[2:49:41] to be open. So, you know, if you didn't

[2:49:43] want to do it here, you could do it. We

[2:49:45] could try to book a room over, but it

[2:49:47] doesn't have to be zoomed. It doesn't

[2:49:49] have to be televised, but it does need

[2:49:53] to be open to the public. Um, I did

[2:49:55] speak with Ben Stock about it because,

[2:49:58] you know, he he does work with several

[2:49:59] other city councils and they the cities

[2:50:02] that he works for, Benicia, Foster City,

[2:50:06] um, they've done they do this

[2:50:07] frequently. They usually always include

[2:50:10] the town attorney and that's why I I

[2:50:12] have him down um there and he says

[2:50:14] they're very worthwhile. Um this one

[2:50:18] definitely is targeted towards

[2:50:19] governance if you wanted to do and more

[2:50:22] of a half day. If you wanted to do

[2:50:24] something that was more of a full day or

[2:50:27] multi-day that would be and more

[2:50:29] strategic planning that kind of thing if

[2:50:31] you know that would be more expensive.

[2:50:34] And they would work with us on um

[2:50:37] timing. So, we'd have to pull the

[2:50:40] council, find out what your availability

[2:50:42] is. That's why it's I did put it um I

[2:50:45] did put some money in the budget for

[2:50:48] this purpose just in case you all wanted

[2:50:51] to do it. And um so then it would need

[2:50:53] to be after July 1, but I figure you all

[2:50:56] be busy um for a while anyways. It would

[2:50:59] take a little while to put it on the

[2:51:00] books.

[2:51:02] >> Okay. Any um public comment?

[2:51:05] >> Do you have a question, Elizabeth? So

[2:51:07] does Bill.

[2:51:08] >> You have a question. Go ahead, Bill.

[2:51:11] >> Uh Chris, I wonder if you have any u

[2:51:14] feedback from other managers who you

[2:51:16] interact with. Did they have their

[2:51:19] councils undergone this? Did they

[2:51:21] consider it useful or on the contrary a

[2:51:24] waste of time?

[2:51:26] >> Um everyone I've spoken to considers it

[2:51:29] to be useful. Um it's considered a best

[2:51:32] practice. So I was able to attend just

[2:51:34] half day of the the annual city managers

[2:51:36] conference this year and they actually

[2:51:38] one of I was there half a day and one of

[2:51:40] the sessions was was on this topic and

[2:51:44] um everybody thought it was a good use

[2:51:46] of time and it allows you know a lot of

[2:51:49] it is part a component of it is team

[2:51:51] building team building for the council

[2:51:54] um I mean you can decide if you want to

[2:51:55] include um you oftentimes uh management

[2:51:59] staff is included our department head

[2:52:02] team um would be con would be included

[2:52:05] usually. Um but it's a good it's a it's

[2:52:08] a good team building exercise. I I

[2:52:09] haven't heard any uh negatives about it

[2:52:13] except the money.

[2:52:15] >> Elizabeth,

[2:52:16] >> well I have some comments. Are we ready

[2:52:18] for comments?

[2:52:19] >> Let's let's any public comment on this?

[2:52:23] >> No one online.

[2:52:24] >> Okay. Now, Elizabeth, yes.

[2:52:26] >> Okay. Um

[2:52:29] I'm not really wild about these sorts of

[2:52:30] events. I I mean I've been through

[2:52:32] several in my 28 years of school board

[2:52:35] and town council and I've always felt

[2:52:38] that the problems that are there never

[2:52:40] get solved in these events which cost a

[2:52:43] lot of money and take a lot of time. But

[2:52:45] I feel like I'm probably in the minority

[2:52:47] and that the group wants to go ahead. So

[2:52:49] if that's the case, I would make a

[2:52:51] couple of suggestions. Um I think a half

[2:52:53] a day is more than enough. I think if we

[2:52:55] can't figure out what how to work

[2:52:57] together and what our issues are in a

[2:52:59] half a day, we're not going to get it in

[2:53:01] a whole day. We'll just be tired. We'll

[2:53:02] spend more money and I don't think we'll

[2:53:04] get anywhere. So, I would strongly

[2:53:05] suggest a half a day. I think um I saw

[2:53:09] that some of these companies work with

[2:53:12] town manager, lawyer, and counsel. I

[2:53:14] don't know that we need to to have Ben

[2:53:16] come for a half a day, but I think for

[2:53:18] those of us, you know, the town manager

[2:53:20] and the five of us, we work together as

[2:53:22] a group all the time. I think that would

[2:53:23] be really helpful to have that be the

[2:53:25] group that's at the um at the event at

[2:53:28] the meeting. Um and then my other my

[2:53:31] last suggestion is, you know, we're

[2:53:33] spending money. It doesn't always look

[2:53:35] good to spend money, especially when

[2:53:36] we're needing money for other projects

[2:53:38] and we're going out to the voters. Um if

[2:53:41] we do this, we're spending money for

[2:53:43] this group, which will be gone in just a

[2:53:46] matter of months. And I would suggest

[2:53:47] that we do this come December when

[2:53:49] there's a new group. And it may be very

[2:53:51] helpful to have um sort of an

[2:53:53] orientation and a working uh you know a

[2:53:57] working session together with the new

[2:53:59] group and not just the last waning days

[2:54:02] of this group. I think that looks like

[2:54:04] we're not spending our money very

[2:54:05] wisely. So those are my suggestions.

[2:54:10] » Other thoughts?

[2:54:14] >> I' I've also gone to a lot of these too

[2:54:16] through commission meetings and so forth

[2:54:18] and I find you usually get something out

[2:54:20] of it. Um, and I usually have found it

[2:54:23] beneficial. So, I think it's a good

[2:54:26] We've talked about this now for about a

[2:54:27] year doing this. So, it may be time. Uh,

[2:54:31] whether it's I mean, I suspect we could

[2:54:33] wait until December, there's a new group

[2:54:37] or a different group or the same group.

[2:54:39] Um, but we're talking about doing this

[2:54:41] within this year, this next fiscal year.

[2:54:47] Ben,

[2:54:48] >> just this is actually another question

[2:54:50] that uh occurred to me based on what

[2:54:52] Elizabeth just just mentioned. Is is is

[2:54:55] it is there a value in having Ben there?

[2:54:58] Um I mean what what would Ben add to

[2:55:00] this if he were participating because we

[2:55:03] need to pay Ben for his time?

[2:55:09] Um,

[2:55:11] yes, it would be a cost, right? You'd

[2:55:14] pay his hourly rate times how many hours

[2:55:17] you want him here. Um, but he often

[2:55:20] times will comment on, you know, because

[2:55:25] part I mean this is governance. So, it's

[2:55:27] council manager form of government,

[2:55:29] >> what's what's allowed, what's not

[2:55:31] allowed and and any local um policies.

[2:55:35] So for example, he you have your council

[2:55:38] adopted um policies already for your for

[2:55:43] governance and they can talk about that.

[2:55:45] Um they can talk about um he can talk

[2:55:47] about consequences. So you know when you

[2:55:49] you're when you're if the council has

[2:55:52] questions this group they might these

[2:55:55] consultants might be they are

[2:55:57] knowledgeable but they're not they're

[2:55:59] not attorneys.

[2:56:00] And so a lot of times councils will

[2:56:03] council members will ask legal questions

[2:56:05] and it allows you to have the answer

[2:56:08] right away instead because otherwise

[2:56:10] it's going to be me going okay. Yeah,

[2:56:11] I'll follow up on that and get back to

[2:56:12] you. So, I think that if it's if it's a

[2:56:16] half day, so if you do it if you do it

[2:56:19] 8:30 to noon or 9 to noon,

[2:56:22] yeah, you're going to pay $1,000 for

[2:56:24] him, but it's probably time well spent

[2:56:28] to get it done and know the answer to

[2:56:30] the questions. And

[2:56:33] that's my feedback there for you. I can

[2:56:36] ask him, sure, if you'd like.

[2:56:40] >> No, that's okay. I just wondered u for

[2:56:42] our purposes now. Thank you.

[2:56:44] >> I would als I I think it's a good idea.

[2:56:46] I think you know the I think the we have

[2:56:50] been through a lot of turmoil and stress

[2:56:53] and conflict and I'm hoping that you

[2:56:57] know going forward it won't be as

[2:56:59] stressful and full of conflict but I

[2:57:01] think we can always work together better

[2:57:04] and enhance our working relationship and

[2:57:06] to the extent a third party can help us

[2:57:09] do that that's great. I one of the

[2:57:11] things that I want to be sure that they

[2:57:13] do is take a careful look at our

[2:57:15] procedures manual and make sure that we

[2:57:19] have adequate remedies for when when we

[2:57:22] need them. And I'm not sure we have

[2:57:24] remedies in there at all. Um and and

[2:57:27] there may be other areas in the

[2:57:29] procedures manual that need to be

[2:57:31] revised based on their experience and

[2:57:34] Ben may have thoughts on on that as

[2:57:36] well.

[2:57:39] So, and then in terms of timing, you

[2:57:41] know, I I I don't have a preference for

[2:57:45] when we do it,

[2:57:49] but I think it should be done in the

[2:57:50] next fiscal year. I think it's really

[2:57:52] important and yeah, it's it's spending

[2:57:55] money, but we have spent so much money

[2:57:58] on other things. Um this is more of an

[2:58:01] investment in good governance and

[2:58:04] working together

[2:58:05] and you know having frankly having the

[2:58:09] council have a better look with the

[2:58:11] public which I think is something that

[2:58:13] we all want.

[2:58:17] » I have a

[2:58:18] >> Yep. So I fully support this. This is

[2:58:21] something I've asked for for a long

[2:58:22] time. I agree with the timing that maybe

[2:58:25] we should just wait till the back half

[2:58:26] of the fiscal year depending on what

[2:58:28] happens in the election. that seems

[2:58:29] prudent if people aren't running for

[2:58:32] election or who knows what's going to

[2:58:33] happen. So, I I totally support that

[2:58:35] waiting no problem because we've waited

[2:58:37] this long. But just for um posterity, I

[2:58:40] think this should be just like the

[2:58:42] orientation that we we all went to and

[2:58:44] we spent the money to go to Sacramento

[2:58:46] and Terry and I know we both got a lot

[2:58:48] out of that. This should be as you know

[2:58:51] every two years or whatever the election

[2:58:53] cycle is there's a little retreat for

[2:58:55] the council to understand how we work

[2:58:57] together because the hardest thing for

[2:58:59] me coming in was this Brown Act not

[2:59:02] being able I came from RPOA right to

[2:59:04] here and RPOA we could just talk to each

[2:59:06] other all the time and it trust me there

[2:59:08] was always like some disagreements or

[2:59:10] should we spend money on this but we

[2:59:12] could actually just like talk a lot and

[2:59:14] here we're so restricted and everyone's

[2:59:16] so the Brown Act restricts us so much

[2:59:18] that was a big change and I feel like

[2:59:21] it's very hard to smooth over things

[2:59:22] sometimes because of the Brown Act or

[2:59:25] you you're curious like one of the

[2:59:27] things I learned too like who should I

[2:59:29] talk to about this issue because I can

[2:59:30] only talk to one person and what if they

[2:59:32] disagree with me well then I've wasted

[2:59:34] my person right no but you guys know all

[2:59:37] that the three of you sort of learned

[2:59:39] these these things but we you know we

[2:59:42] had to learn as we went and I'm I'm very

[2:59:45] fortunate that I'm sure Terry is that

[2:59:47] she got closer to you Julie and I not

[2:59:49] closer to Elizabeth. You both have been

[2:59:51] on the council a long time, but it's

[2:59:53] just a big learning process. So, I feel

[2:59:55] like in coordination with the seating of

[2:59:56] a new, you know, term, there should be

[3:00:00] like, hey, go to Sacramento and then

[3:00:01] we're going to do some governance and

[3:00:03] team building among the council on rules

[3:00:05] of the road and how do we smooth out

[3:00:07] things or what's appropriate, what's

[3:00:09] not, um, how to run a better effective

[3:00:11] meeting. I mean, just things that you

[3:00:13] guys who've been on a long time know.

[3:00:16] So, I I think we should do it and and

[3:00:18] it's it's money well spent. We should

[3:00:20] have been we should have done it when we

[3:00:21] first got seated, unfortunately. So,

[3:00:23] let's give this gift to future councils.

[3:00:28] >> Okay.

[3:00:30] Do you have any comments or direction

[3:00:32] about which proposal you like best?

[3:00:39] » I would say get some recommendations. I

[3:00:41] mean, honestly,

[3:00:42] >> well, they were recommended, which is

[3:00:44] >> No, I mean, from your I mean, I I would

[3:00:45] give it to the discretion.

[3:00:47] >> Yeah.

[3:00:48] >> You mean I'll probably go I think

[3:00:49] they're both good, so I'd probably go

[3:00:51] with the cheaper one.

[3:00:53] >> Unless you all have any any direction,

[3:00:55] I'm happy to accept it.

[3:00:57] >> That sounds good.

[3:00:58] >> And I think uh next year makes more

[3:01:01] sense. Not December. If somebody's just

[3:01:03] elected, we won't even know they were

[3:01:06] elected

[3:01:07] >> necessarily in early December and then

[3:01:09] it's the holidays. give the new the new

[3:01:12] if there are new council members a

[3:01:14] chance to settle in and then in

[3:01:17] conjunction with the training and so

[3:01:19] forth that would be a good time.

[3:01:20] >> Okay.

[3:01:23] I think I think we can adjourn.

[3:01:25] >> Oh, wait. Sorry. One more item. Sorry,

[3:01:27] Julie. That I we Is this I noticed there

[3:01:30] was some discussion on email. I think we

[3:01:32] should just make sure we're all okay

[3:01:33] with the respectful dialogue

[3:01:37] on the agenda.

[3:01:38] >> It's It's on your next agenda. Oh, it

[3:01:40] is. Okay.

[3:01:41] >> So, next week you'll it's you'll have an

[3:01:43] item. Mayor Portm Robbins asked for

[3:01:45] that.

[3:01:46] >> Okay. Because it was printed on the

[3:01:47] agenda, so I I thought we were going to

[3:01:49] talk about it.

[3:01:49] >> It's been on like three or four agendas

[3:01:51] already.

[3:01:53] >> Yeah.

[3:01:54] >> But no, it'll it'll be on your um it'll

[3:01:57] it's an agenda item on your next agenda,

[3:01:59] which I need to go work on.

[3:02:01] >> Okay.

[3:02:01] >> The packet

[3:02:02] >> at 12:15. That was very efficient.

[3:02:05] >> Yeah. Thank you, council and staff.

[3:02:07] Thank you. Thank you for all the hard

[3:02:09] work on the budget and the CIP, we know

[3:02:11] this is a lot. I know Elena left, but

[3:02:14] >> it's a lot.

[3:02:14] >> I'll let her know. Thank you.

[3:02:15] >> And we know with obviously transitioning

[3:02:18] from Fort like this is a ton of work.

[3:02:20] So, thank you

[3:02:21] >> for everybody honestly. All

[3:02:22] >> and also thank you for putting this some

[3:02:24] of the CIP items ahead, you know, a

[3:02:27] month or two ahead. I think that makes

[3:02:29] this meeting much more efficient. This

[3:02:31] meeting in the past has dragged on for

[3:02:33] hours and hours into the afternoon and

[3:02:34] no one was very um effective and I

[3:02:37] thought this was very efficient today.

[3:02:41] >> Good. I'm glad. So we'll plan it

[3:02:44] similarly next year. That's good feed.

Town of Ross Budget Hearings, April 23 2026

Agenda

Transcript