The Davis City Council met on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 6:35 PM. The meeting included ceremonial proclamations, a presentation from Valley Clean Energy, public hearings on TEFRA and the CAPER report, and approval of the consent calendar. Key actions included approval of resolutions related to transit, software licenses, street closure, water rates, and the poet laureate nomination, as well as approval of bond issuance for URCAD and submission of the CAPER report to HUD.
Mitch Sears, Executive Officer of Valley Clean Energy (VCE), presented an update. VCE is a community choice aggregation program serving Yolo County (except West Sacramento) since 2018. Highlights included:
Iris Grace, Affordable Housing Manager, explained that the city is acting as a conduit for a required IRS hearing. The California Municipal Finance Authority (CMFA) seeks to issue revenue and refunding bonds up to $102 million for URCAD. The city has no financial liability; CMFA will share 25% of its fees with the city. Councilmember Arnold asked about the subordination agreement, and staff clarified it relates to pre-existing city covenants on the property. The council approved resolutions 5-0.
Dana Bailey, Social Services and Housing Director, presented the draft CAPER for the period July 2023–June 2024. The report covers use of CDBG and HOME funds. Notable outcomes: Davis Community Meals and Housing sheltered 15 individuals and made 813 outreach referrals; Meals on Wheels served 28,230 meals; Yolo Crisis Nursery served 169 children (ages 0–5). The Social Services Commission provided feedback at their previous meeting, requesting more detail on the homeless strategic plan and provider feedback. The council approved resolution authorizing submission to HUD, 5-0.
No AB 1234 reports. Vice Mayor Vaitla requested adding down payment assistance to the long-range calendar for an initial ordinance discussion. The council agreed. City Manager noted next meetings: October 1 and October 15, 2024.
Good evening, everyone. Uh welcome to the Tuesday, September 17th meeting of the Davis City Council. Uh I will call the meeting to order and let the record reflect it at 6 35 p.m. Uh to my right and my left. Uh all of my colleagues are here, so we have a quorum here to conduct this this evening's uh meeting. With that, I will turn to a colleague for uh and a motion for the approval of the agenda. Second by the we have a motion by Councilmember Arnold, the second by Vice Mayor Vitla. Any further questions, comments on the agenda. All right, seeing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed, abstain. Motion carries 5-0. We have an agenda. All right, this evening uh to start off. We have a number of ceremonial presentations here. Uh we have some folks here uh in the audience to receive some proclamations. Uh the way we normally do this is that uh council member will read off um the proclamation for whoever uh it is for. We will then invite the person up, a representative of that group up uh to the lectern, say a few words, uh move to the next proclamation. When we're done with the proclamations, we'll take a short break, uh, and then we will invite whoever received proclamations to come up and have a photo with uh the city council in front of the lectern there. We'll go in order of um the proclamations as they're read here this evening. Like I said, we have a number of them, uh five of them in total uh this evening. So we'll work our way through that and then um take a break and do a quick uh round of photos, and then we'll conduct the rest of the meeting. Um so with that agenda item uh 1A under uh ceremonial ceremonial presentation uh is a proclamation recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month. Um we have uh Diane Summers who was here this evening, who's executive director of Suicide Prevention YOLO County. Suicide Prevention Month is a time to raise awareness, discuss this urgently important crisis, and to spread hope and information to people affected by suicide and suicidal ideation. Locally, suicide prevention of Yolo County began in 1990 uh 1966 as a grassroots organization with a small group of citizens recognizing a need for a crisis response service and later incorporated as a nonprofit in 1980. Prior to transitioning to the National Suicide and Crisis Line 988 in 2023, suicide prevention YOLO County responded to over 6,800 calls per year. Suicide Prevention Yolo County partners with Sutter Davis Hospital to provide follow-up contact for patients after they are discharged from hospital or emergency departments, as well as partners with school districts in Yolo County to share the SOS Science of Suicide School Program. The presentation to the secondary schools in YOLO County reaches over 2,000 middle and high school students each year. Suicide Prevention Yolo County has made significant impacts in the lives of thousands of residents of Davis and of Yolo County. Now, therefore, we the Davis City Council, on behalf of the citizens of Davis do hereby recognize September as Suicide Prevention Month and honor the work of Suicide Prevention YOLO County for their life-saving services. Thank you. Welcome. So my name is Lynn Pratt, and I sit on the board of suicide prevention. And um, I just want to say how proud I am of our organization through um Diane's been able to do so much over the years, um, in the past almost 40 years. Um during, you know, we've had the pandemic, and she's been able to keep the the lights on and the crisis line moving, and then the transition to 988, the much needed, you know, schools program, and of course um our continued relationship with Sutter Health as part of their mental health program. Um and all of that would not be possible without her dedication and leadership um with the organization and the support of the community and our community leaders. And I know that Josh has had a longstanding, excuse me, Josh Chapman. Mayor Chapman has had a longstanding relationship uh with suicide prevention, which um we're also very proud of. And so I just want to say thank you to um the mayor and the city for this recognition and um your continued support. And the only thing I will add again is that thank you very much for recognizing you know this um critical service that we've been able to continue to provide. And I would like to also thank Josh for his continual support and help with our school program, you know, a few years back. So it's really been a worthwhile uh knowing you and having you be a part of our you know support as well. Thank you to all the members. Thank you. All right, so uh the next proclamation, uh Proclamation 1B is actually uh one that came forward uh in conversation around our last proclamation. Um and this one is actually specific to recognizing Diane Summers uh for her work in advocate advocacy and suicide prevention awareness. Uh executive director of suicide prevention in Yolo County, Diane Summers has spent the last 38 years leading, advocating and bringing awareness to suicide prevention, moving her way into the executive director position in 1986 during a great time of need in uh for the agency. Through community outreach, local partnerships, and many other uh presentations and trainings, suicide prevention Yolo County under Diane's leadership has made significant impacts in the lives of thousands of Davis and Yolo County residents.