Davis City Council Meeting - September 17, 2024
Davis City Council Meeting - September 17, 2024
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.
Ceremonial Presentations
- Proclamation recognizing September as Suicide Prevention Month, accepted by Lynn Pratt of Suicide Prevention Yolo County.
- Proclamation recognizing Diane Summers for her 38 years of leadership in suicide prevention.
- Proclamation recognizing September 15–October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month, accepted by students from Davis Senior High's Latinos Unidos Club.
- Proclamation recognizing October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and honoring Thriving Pink, accepted by Executive Director Leslie Hunter and survivor Steve Winberg.
- Proclamation recognizing October as National Bullying Prevention Month, accepted by Kay Williams and Anush Georgian of the Davis Phoenix Coalition.
- Proclamation thanking Dos Coyotes and the Davis Live Music Collective for their sponsorship of the 4th of July celebration, accepted by Bobby Coyote and Kyle.
Consent Calendar
- Approved 5-0 (Mayor Chapman abstained on Item 4E) the consent calendar consisting of: FTA Program of Projects and subrecipient agreement with UC Davis for Unitrans; PTASP annual certification for Unitrans and Davis Community Transit; GIS Enterprise License Agreement renewal with ESRI; Microsoft Enterprise License Agreement renewal; Resolution closing G Street Reactivation Area to vehicular traffic; MOU to donate a surplus fire engine to the City of Woodland; Ordinance amending water rate administrative process and updates to lifeline assistance; Second reading of ordinance amending PD #5-95 (Cowell/Lillard/Valdora); Appointment of Mercedes Ibanez as Poet Laureate (September 2024–September 2027); City Manager purchasing summary; and commission minutes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ezra Beaman expressed concerns about safety downtown and in his neighborhood, citing intimidating individuals, loitering, and incidents near his home, and urged the council to address these issues.
- Alan Miller criticized the respite center, stating it has failed, and called for its relocation to wealthier areas of Davis, arguing for social justice.
- Beth Bourne complained about harassment and intimidation from other meeting attendees, criticized the city's camera policy for not showing speaker faces, and alleged discrimination, including against hearing-impaired individuals.
- Alan Hirsch urged the council to require a quid pro quo from developers like the Oakshade Mall landlord, suggested adding cafes to address loneliness, and warned of national political attacks on small towns, encouraging community members to engage in voter registration.
- Mark Housing discussed bike safety, noting that putting responsibility on children is insufficient, and called for enforcement of traffic rules and long-term changes to reduce car dependency.
- Pre-recorded speaker Dylan Horton (Police Accountability Commission chair, speaking as individual) advocated for banning facial recognition technology by Davis police, citing data on inaccuracy for people of color, women, and gender non-conforming individuals.
- Pre-recorded speaker supported the G Street reactivation project and water subsidies for low-income households, including renters.
Discussion Items
Valley Clean Energy Efforts and Programs (Item 5)
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:
- Contracted for nearly 400 MW of renewable capacity, with 70-80% of load under long-term contracts.
- Customers saved over $3.5 million collectively, with low-income CARE/FERA customers receiving a 4.5% discount on generation charges.
- VCE brought in about $10 million in grants and concessions.
- Portfolio exceeds state renewable minimums by 30%, with a target of 100% renewable by 2030, including 25% local storage.
- Programs include EV rebates (39 awarded, over 20% to low-income), AgFit (dynamic pricing for agricultural customers, now being expanded by CPUC), Ohm Connect (smart thermostat incentives), and a microgrid project in Esparto.
- VCE is debt-free, has clean audits, and maintains a 2% lower rate than PG&E.
- Councilmembers expressed strong support, noting VCE is one of the city's most impressive accomplishments. Questions were asked about microgrid funding opportunities, CPUC regulation, opt-out trends (highest in rural areas, lower in residential), and efforts to educate customers about billing.
Public Hearing: TEFRA – University Retirement Community at Davis (Item 6)
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.
Public Hearing: CAPER for Program Year 2023 (Item 7)
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.
City Council Long-Range Calendar (Item 8)
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.
Key Outcomes
- Approved consent calendar (5-0, mayor abstained on 4E).
- Received and discussed Valley Clean Energy presentation; no formal action.
- Approved resolution for TEFRA bond issuance (5-0).
- Approved resolution to submit CAPER to HUD (5-0).
- Agreed to place down payment assistance on a future agenda.
Meeting Transcript
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.
openpublica.com