Davis City Council Meeting Summary - February 18, 2025
Davis City Council Meeting Summary - February 18, 2025
The Davis City Council met on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, starting at 6:30 PM. The meeting included consent calendar approvals, public comments on antisemitism and other topics, presentations from Yolo County Housing and the Parks and Community Services Department, and discussions on future agenda items. Councilmember Deos was absent, resulting in 4-0 votes on all actions.
Consent Calendar
- Items A-H were approved unanimously (4-0). Key items included: a task order for the Elevated Tank Replacement Project; a contingency increase for the F Street Parking Structure Elevator Modernization; an agreement with PG&E for electric vehicle fleet electrification; acquisition of the "Tablet Command" incident management system for fire dispatch; purchase of a stationary ventilation training prop; acquisition of a self-contained breathing apparatus fill station; on-call transportation planning and engineering services agreements with five firms; and a second reading of an ordinance designating a new stop intersection.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Dr. Sarah Marsh Crowder (Bike City Theatre Company) expressed thanks for city arts support, noting the company’s reliance on city grants and collaboration with the Arts Department.
- Amir Cole (HRC member) criticized a fellow HRC member for promoting a book by Ahed Tamimi, citing a 2023 post in which Tamimi made violent antisemitic statements. Cole argued that promoting such a person should disqualify someone from serving on the Human Relations Commission.
- Dan Ovadi (resident) reported an ongoing antisemitic booth at the Davis Farmers Market, displaying swastikas, blood libel, and conspiracy theories. He noted a new HRC subcommittee on hate but said improvement is lacking.
- Daphne Ramiel (Jewish community member) expressed heartbreak over the return of the Bibas family hostages in body bags and described feeling targeted and dehumanized by groups and individuals, including those on the HRC. She called for recognition of antisemitism without requiring proof.
- Ellen Miller (Davis Corral singer) spoke about the Davis Corral and Youth Choir, then addressed public comments on antisemitism, arguing that the farmers market booth is a clownish free speech exercise and that shutting down such speech is dangerous, citing Germany. She also requested that elevator modernization include a urinal (time expired).
- Unnamed speaker (public comment) cited a 2017 sermon at the Islamic Center of Davis by Imam Amar Shahin that contained violent antisemitic statements and noted the Imam's tribute to Yahya Sinwar and support for the UC Davis encampment. The speaker urged the council to be aware of this.
- Voicemail from Connor Woman (comment on item 4) supported the Yolo County Housing strategic plan but advocated for directly publicly funded and democratically controlled social housing, while also supporting voucher programs as a complement.
- Voicemail from General Roman (comment on item 3C) supported electrification of the city fleet but expressed concern about PG&E dominance and rate increases. He also announced a UC worker strike on February 26-27.
Discussion Items
- Item 4: Yolo County Housing Draft 5-Year Strategic Plan – Executive Director Ian Evans presented an overview of Yolo County Housing programs (seasonal migrant centers, public housing, housing choice vouchers, etc.) and the three pillars of the draft plan: People, Housing, Administration. Goals include increasing homeownership opportunities by 50% by 2029 and increasing affordable housing units by 15% over five years. Council members asked about partnerships, funding challenges (federal tax credit market, Prop One timing), and the need for workforce housing. Council expressed interest in collaboration, particularly on down payment assistance and community navigators.
- Item 5: Community Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan (Parks & Community Services) – Director Deanne Machado presented findings from an extensive community engagement campaign (843 survey responses). Key findings: residents prioritize maintenance of existing parks over new construction; top facility needs are shade structures, lighting, and restrooms; there is strong demand for teen, senior, and working family programs. A detailed park inventory identified $14.7 million in repair and replacement needs over 10 years (including $3-4 million for aquatics). The strategic plan outlines five goals: enhancing accessibility and engagement, sustainable funding, sustainability/climate resiliency, technology/innovation, and workforce development. Council praised the data-driven approach and expressed support for an inclusive playground at Playfields Park. Councilmember Partida raised concerns about going cashless and excluding those without technology. Councilmember Vaitla noted the unmet capital need is $7.2 million after accounting for existing funds.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar approved 4-0.
- Item 4: Council received the presentation and provided feedback. No formal vote was required; council members expressed interest in future collaboration.
- Item 5: Council approved a motion (4-0) to adopt the 2024 Community Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan, authorize the City Manager to proceed with design and grant applications for an inclusive playground at Playfields Park, and direct staff to use the plan to prioritize budget actions, capital projects, and programming.
- Item 6A: AB 1234 reporting acknowledged.
- Item 6B: Council placed several items on the long-range calendar: a special city-county-university meeting on February 25; a CAP update on March 4 (with request to coordinate with general plan circulation element); a homelessness strategic plan follow-up on March 18; an update on extremely low-income housing survey (requested by Councilmember Partida); and a feasibility study on municipal utility and Greenfield ordinance, tentatively set for April 1 (requested by Mayor Vaitla).
Meeting Transcript
All my colleagues except Councilmember Deos is here. Any motions to approve the agenda? Second. Okay, we have first and a second. Any comments? All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Nay. Abstain. We have an agenda four to zero. City manager brief announcements. All right. Thank you very much. Uh Mayor, City Council. A couple of announcements for you tonight. The first is that uh we're doing our uh next round of quarterly downtown pressure washing. Uh actually uh today and tomorrow. Uh so that's taking place. Uh sidewalks focuses on sidewalks downtown. It happens uh late in the evening, so it's least disruptive to the community uh 11 p.m. Uh and the locations in this round are D D to G in second to third. So we sort of have different focus areas as we do these rounds of pressure washing and as we get the program more dialed in with our contractor. Um we're gonna continue to evolve evolve this program of what areas are getting washed and with what frequency and again this is uh uh there's a key element to this uh process with health and safety in mind uh in keeping uh keeping the downtown healthy uh and so forth. Of course, it has a the uh side benefit of cleanliness uh and uh visual appeal that comes with it. Uh and of course, along those lines we also uh follow suit with making sure that we're following all the appropriate regulatory requirements uh for uh pressure washing in our storm drainage system. So uh we have that going on and just uh uh appreciation to our public works utilities and operations team for uh their work in getting that contract going. Uh County Road 105. There is a temporary closure that we wanted to announce with this road. Um the um county road between roads 28H and 32A will be temporarily closed this week that started today through uh the 22nd uh to repair some emergency uh sewer line work uh with a breach that occurred over uh the over the weekend. Uh detour is in place to take pole line and county road 102 as an alternative route. Uh so we're urging people to use caution in that area. There are detour signs and such out there. Uh access to properties and businesses along the closed section will be provided uh with the crews. Uh and uh there's a map online as well. Uh we've coordinated this with Yellow County, of course, in terms of uh road closures and the posting on their web page uh so that folks can be aware. Uh the uh reason for the closure uh is that there is a uh emergency uh sewer line uh work that's being done uh due to a um uh uh a failure of a section of of the pipe near a uh service uh manhole uh along the line. And I just want to give a huge shout out to our uh wastewater crews for their responsiveness to that over the weekend to uh contain that leak to get a temporary fix in place, which they were able to reroute the line around the problem spot and get it uh patched back in to keep the system operational. So no one in Davis felt the impacts or or uh saw the impacts of of this breach due to the hard work and uh responsive and timeliness of our crews to get out there on the weekend on a holiday weekend, no less. Uh so the the re permanent repair will be uh completed in the next couple of days with some support from a contractor. So I just wanted to give a little more ration reasoning as to why that was happening. Uh the win awards are open uh right now for nominations through March 17th uh at the end of business at 5 p.m. Um the um win awards um were established in 1986 and recognizes local individuals or organizations promoting civil rights, civic engagement, or positive human relations, and are helping improve the quality of life for Davis residents and visitors. The awards are in memory of Davis High School student Tong Hai Huen, who is uh tragically stabbed to death on May 4th, 1983, and helps raise awareness for social justice and inclusion. The awards are presented each year in the following three categories. So there's um ages under 18, ages 18 and over, and community organizations. Community organizations can consist of members of any age. And award nomination forms and guidelines are available online on the city website, cityofdavis.org, and there's a something right there on our homepage with a link to the process. So that's my announcements for tonight. Thank you.
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