Call to order the Elkrove City Council regular meeting Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 at 6 p.m.

Clerk.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

This meeting of the Elgrove City Council is recorded with closed captioning.

The recording will be cable cast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and Direct TV U versus Cable Systems.

The recording will also be video streamed at Metro14Live.

Tonight's meeting replays will be on Friday, October 24th at 1 p.m.

and Wednesday, October 29th at 9 a.m.

on Metro Channel 14.

Once posted, the recordings of this and previous meetings can be viewed on demand at 3Ws.elkgrove.gov or YouTube.com slash Metro Cable 14.

For members of the participating audience who may have personal electronic devices, please place them on silent mode during the meeting or on mute when you are not speaking.

So it all president will have time to participate.

City Council reserves the right to reasonably limit the total time for public comment on any particular notice agenda item as it may deem necessary.

Pursuant to resolution number 2010-24.

No individual speaker concerning public comment may address the city council for more than three minutes.

If you wish to address the council during the meeting, please complete a blue speaker card, which can be found at the back of the chamber and provide it to assistant city clerk Brenda Haggard prior to consideration of the agenda item.

With that, Vice Mayor, I will be moving to the call to order.

And starting with the roll call, I will start with Councilmember Spees.

Present Councilmember Brewer.

Present.

Councilmember Sewen.

Here.

Vice Mayor Robles.

Present.

And I will note that Mayor Singh Allen is absent.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

And performing our land acknowledgments gonna be Councilmember Sewan.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

We honor and respect and acknowledge the Elkgrove's first inhabitants, the Plains Miwok, who lived as sovereign caretakers of this land and these waterways since time immemorial.

We commemorate and advocate for their descendants, the Wilton Rancheria tribe, the only federally recognized tribe in Sacramento County, who endured because of the bravery, resiliency, and determination of their ancestors, tribal members, and leaders.

And we also be performing the Pledge of Allegiance.

And we're armed.

And we're allowed to understand.

This leads us to our moment in silence.

And if you would please join me.

Thank you.

And we will be going, Mr.

Clerk, do we go to the approval of the agenda?

Approval of the agenda, indeed.

Perfect.

Can I get a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Mr.

Clerk.

And all those in favor?

Aye.

And we have a unanimous 4-0.

We can move on.

That'll take us on to section three, our closed session.

There are no closed session items on the regular agenda, which will take us to section four of presentations and announcements.

And that first item being item 4.1, which is a proclamation recognizing October 2025 as Hindu Heritage Month.

Okay.

So it looks like I have that proclamation.

And I'd like to ask that Kira Karan Kilkarney join us on the on the left in front.

So I want to thank you for being here tonight and happy to valley.

Happy to Ali to have you in.

One of the highlights during this period, obviously, as we're trying to have a festive and root out bring out light over out of darkness, but also to bring joy to where there's pain.

And the peace festival that took place a couple of weeks ago.

Um was very was very fun, very inspirational, and definitely uh definitely glad that the city of Elkgrove played a part in that.

You know, I thank you for putting it on through your foundation.

Thank you for supporting the event.

Thank you.

Um, we have a proclamation here for Hindu Heritage Month 2025.

And I'll read off some of the warehouses for you, and then I'll leave I'll bring it back to you to give a few words before we come down and take a picture.

And so, for this proclamation uh honoring Hindu Heritage Month 2025, whereas Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world world with more than one billion followers worldwide, including several million in the United States, and whereas the city of Elk Grove is home to a vibrant Hindu community who have made and are making remarkable contributions to our economy, in addition to the Hindu heritage, culture, traditions, and values, have enriched our diverse city.

And whereas Hindu Americans have made significant contributions all across all fields, including science, education, medicine, law, politics, business, culture, sports, and more, and whereas Hindu Heritage Month provides an opportunity to highlight Hindu culture and its diverse spiritual traditions rooted in India, which are practiced in many parts of the world.

And whereas Hira Koran Kilkarni, an accomplished educator and musician with an extensive academic credentials from both India and the United States, including degrees in education, social work, and classical music of India, dedicated 20 years to teaching and serving students at the Elk Grove Unified School District, and whereas Hira has consistently promoted communal harmony and cultural understanding as a cultural ambassador since 1990 by organizing numerous events and offering free education programs such as tutoring and yoga classes to enrich the community with the music and culture of India.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Elk Grove recognizes and honors Hira Koran Kulkarni for her outstanding contributions to the community and extends greetings and best wishes to her and all individuals observing Hindu Heritage Month during the month of October 2025, signed on this day, October 22nd, 2025.

Congratulations, and the floor is yours.

Thank you so much for this honor.

You have you want to uh share more words or I would like to say a few things.

Yes, please.

Honorable mayor Singh Allen, respected city council members and fellow residents of Elk Grove, Namaste and good evening.

I am deeply honored and humbled to stand before you tonight to accept this proclamation for Hindu Heritage Month on behalf of our vibrant and dedicated Hindu community.

For the past 35 years, Elkrove has been my home, a place where I raised my family, served as an educator in the Elkrove Unified School District, and witnessed our city grow into one of the high-spirited communities in California.

Over the years, through my work in our nonprofit organization, I have seen the incredible power of community where people come together to help, to heal, and to celebrate one another.

I have had the privilege to give back where we award laptop scholarships through our nonprofit to homeless high school seniors from the El Grove Unified who are stepping into college.

Our organization also strives to bring the world together through the International Peace Festival, as mentioned by Mr.

Brewer, an event we proudly host each year on the day of nonviolence, which happens to be October 2nd.

Tonight's proclamation holds profound meaning.

It acknowledges a heritage that stretches back thousands of years, one that teaches peace through nonviolence, harmony through understanding, and joy through service.

The timeless message of Vasudheva Kutumbakam, which is a Sanskrit uh phrase, meaning the whole world is my family.

It is just not a philosophy, it is a way of life.

It reminds us that our duty is to care, to give, and to uplift one another.

Hindu Americans across Elk Grove contribute each day to the city's success as teachers, business owners, professionals, volunteers, and public servants.

Together, we share our traditions through festivals like Diwali, Holi, and Navaratri, not only as cultural celebrations, but as bridges of friendship and unity that connect all of us.

I'm sincerely grateful to the city of El Grove, to the mayor, the council, and the people for recognizing the Hindu Heritage Month.

Your acknowledgement reaffirmed the city's commitment to celebrating cultural diversity and honoring the faiths and traditions that make El Grove truly special.

May this proclamation stand as a reminder that our shared strength lies in compassion, cooperation, and community spirit.

Let us continue to build a city where every heritage is respected, every voice is valued, and every heart feels at home.

Thank you for this great honor, and may peace and light guide us all.

This shloka represents a core teaching of compassion and selflessness, emphasizing that individual happiness is connected to the happiness of all.

Thank you.

Please stick around, we'd like to take a picture with you.

Come on back.

Yeah, because we have to give your proclamation.

Nice to meet you at the end.

And here's your proclamation.

One more.

Thank you.

One more.

Did your husband want to join?

Do you want to?

I got it.

Yeah, would you like to be in there?

No, don't thank you.

He's very shy.

I think he was thinking so.

No, he's never.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for that, Councilmember Brewer.

Uh, next item is 4.2 proclamation recognizing uh October 2025 as Filipino American History Month, and that's going to be Councilmember Shuan.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Can I have uh Miss Joyce and Mario Vitog?

Did I say that right?

Okay, thank you so much.

Um, we just we just honored uh several thousand-year-old tradition, and now uh the Filipino community has been here for over several hundred years.

Uh it's my honor to uh uh honor the Philippino American History Month for this month of October.

It's a time to reflect on the richness of Filipino and Filipino American history and culture, and to provide all Americans with the opportunity to learn, honor, and appreciate Filipino American identity and their historic and social contributions to the fabric of the United States of America.

And the earliest documented evidence of Filipinos in the continental United States occurred on October 18th, 1587, where Mariners under Spanish command referred to as Lazones Indios, landed in Morro Bay, California.

And whereas today the Filipino American community is the second largest Asian American group in California, and the 15,000 plus strong Filipino community plays a vital role in the city of Elkrove's rich history.

Known for her meticulous coordination and creative designs and actively serves her community through organizations like the Philippine Day National Day Association, fostering connections with heart and purpose.

And Mario Vitog Jr., known as DJ Mario V, has been bringing people together through music and service for over four decades, volunteering his talent and sound to countless cultural and civic events.

And whereas Joyce and Mario Vitog continue to uplift the Elk Grove community, embodying the spirit of service by consistently creating meaningful events that foster joy, connection, and a strong sense of belonging.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of El Grove hereby affirms and proclaims October twenty twenty-five as Filipino American History Month in the City of El Grove.

Learn, honor, and appreciate Filipino American identity and the historic and social contributions they made to the fabric of our community.

Congratulations and mobu hi.

Would you like to say a few words?

Yes.

Um this is gonna come from the heart.

Well, thank you, Councilmember.

Kevin Speace, Council, uh Councilmember Rod Brewer.

Um Vice Mayor, Sergio Robles, and Councilmember and friend Darren Swing.

Um it is truly an honor to be up here in front of you, and uh to receive this.

Uh it just brings light to everything that Joyce and I have really worked for, um, being part of our community, uh, and being an example to our kids who, you know, we want to follow in our footsteps.

Um I wanna thank our family, our two daughters, Julian and Jada, um, our parents, of course, and all our family and friends.

Um again, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and my wife, Joyce.

Thank you.

We'd like to come down to the picture with you.

Congratulations, JJ Mario.

Congratulations, thank you so much.

Congratulations, congratulations.

I'll let you get a whole time.

Well, you guys get in here.

Come on, daughters.

It's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We gotta get everybody in here.

Come on, come on.

My parents are here.

Let's bring them all.

Let's bring them all.

Those were my examples.

Yeah.

Mateo.

Here we go.

Ready?

Yes, really.

If you didn't bring what you have on your shirt though, uh, man, the big guy needs Lumber.

Wait, wait, wait.

Sorry, can I just get one more person?

My brother.

Oh, Danny, yes.

Who else is hiding it on this?

We are the second largest population.

Yeah, yeah.

You try to pretend you're not.

All right.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, you're welcome.

Yeah, congratulations.

Mr.

Clerk.

That'll take us on to item 4.3, the new hire introductions.

Good evening.

Mr.

Vice Mayor, members of the city council, Jason Berman, your city manager.

Always a great opportunity to come and present to you our new employees as well as those are receiving promotions.

So we're going to start with our police department chief Bobby Davis.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council.

I am Bobby Davis, the Elk Grove Chief of Police, and I'm going to introduce our third quarter.

Dispatcher Ray Williams.

Ray was born and raised in Galveston, Texas, prior to joining the Elk Road Police Department.

Ray worked as a dispatcher in the Bay Area for five years.

Most recently, she was a police dispatcher and trainer for the San Mateo County Public Safety.

Rachel was raised in Tracy prior to joining the Elk Row Police Department.

She was dispatcher for Turlock PD, who we've taken quite a few from.

While away from work, Rachel enjoys reading, hiking, and swimming.

Hey, what's going on?

How are you?

Officer Marco Gonzalez.

Marco was born and raised in Sacramento.

He completed his bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Cal State, Sacramento.

Prior to joining EGPD, Marco worked for Stockton PD for seven years.

It's another trend.

Yeah.

Tyler Horton.

Tyler was born and raised in Modesto, part of joining the Elk Grove Police Department.

He worked for Modesto PD for four years.

Away from work, Tyler enjoys cooking, barbecuing, and playing golf.

All right.

He spent four years in the United States Marine Corps and graduated from Arizona State with a business degree prior to joining EGPD.

Go ahead, Carrie.

You can say it.

Prior to joining Elkgrow Police Department, Kyle worked for Stockton PD for approximately seven years.

Now we're doing the good stuff, huh?

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Captain Dan Templeton.

Dan promoted on July 13th.

Dan joined Elkro Police Department November 7th, 2010.

Prior to his promotion, he was served he served as our lieutenant for our employee resources and wellness unit.

Congratulations, Lieutenant Aaron Montgomery.

Hey.

Aaron joined the Elk Grove Police Department on February 6, 2006.

Prior to her promotion, she served as the internal affairs sergeant in our professional standards bureau.

And a side note about Aaron, she's been on probation ever since 2006.

Ashley Powell.

Ashley was promoted on August uh 24th as well.

But um Ashley, in the last couple of years, has not only stepped up as a leader within our um dispatch center, we had to talk her into trying to promote, and she finally chose to do it.

But she's been dispatcher of the year.

She has been a leader inside the dispatch center, and as everybody knows, it has grown so much in the last couple of years.

Her leadership has really got us to where we are with the management team, and she has really stepped up.

And so I want to say thank you for that and for sticking with us.

Thank you, Ashley.

That's all we have.

All right.

Welcome, congratulations, everybody.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, members of the city council, Kara Redig, Deputy City Manager.

I'm here with Femi Omoteshu, who you all know.

She recently advanced from a management analyst one to a management analyst two.

This is a well-deserved advancement for Femi.

She mostly works on special projects in the city manager's office.

She is really the heartbeat of our diversity equity and inclusion program, and she oversees the youth commission.

So thank you, Femi, for all you do.

Congratulations.

Good evening, City Council.

Welcome, Mayor.

I'm very happy to recognize Angie Mahill.

She has advanced from human resources analyst one to analyst two.

Angie has more than seven years of public sector XR experience, including work with the City of Zeterlock and six years here with Elk Grove.

And she is currently responsible for managing complex lead programs and workers' compensation.

She provides guidance and care to our employees and their families when they need it the most.

This advancement is a well-deserved recognition of her professionalism, dedication, and the positive impact she continues to make on our agency.

I'm also very excited to recognize Katherine Winkler, who has advanced from HR analyst one to analyst two.

Catherine brings near fit nearly 15 years of comprehensive HR experience across state and local government, including the cities of Sacramento and Elk Grove.

Over the past two and a half years with our city, she's been a key part of our HR team, managing payroll and benefits with exceptional accuracy, supporting our employees with care and ensuring compliance across all of our programs.

Catherine's depth of knowledge, reliability, and commitment to excellence service, make this advancement very well deserved.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

I am stepping in for our CIO, Nicole Guttridge, who is at a conference this week.

So I'm going to be introducing two new IT staff.

So first we have Joan Medina.

He is an IT technician.

And Joan has worked in IT support for the past 15 years.

Over time, he's developed a strong passion for solving technical problems and helping others, and he values every treating every customer and colleague with respect, believing that professionalism begins with how we treat one another.

Outside of work, Joan enjoys spending quality time with his wife and daughter, and together they love going on park picnics and taking short road trips whenever they get the chance.

Welcome.

Thanks for your help today.

I'd also like to introduce Timothy Tyrone, IT analyst with over 15 years of experience in IT.

Tim has worked across K-12 and higher education, supported clinical and non-clinical systems at two hospitals.

And at a disaster recovery services data center, including server management.

And most recently, he served at NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Oahu.

He's a retired US Army Signals Intelligence Analyst, and completed 24 years of service before retiring in 2009.

He and his wife Dawn are celebrating their 39th wedding anniversary this year.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

And they have one son, Andrew, who's age 25.

And Tim's hobbies include spending time outdoors and digital nature photography.

Welcome, Timothy.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Jeff Werner, your public works director.

The rest are mine, and I'm pleased to present to you first, Destiny Bustos.

She's a new hire in our operations and maintenance team.

She's a customer service representative.

She joined our team recently and is uh graduated from Sacramento State, where she earned a degree in political science.

And she has been a resident of Elk Grove for a few years and enjoys spending her free time with loved ones.

Next is Mac McLean.

Mac joins us from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

He has several years of engineering and project management experience in land development and has his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Ottawa.

Mac's interest outside of work include the outdoors, fitness and all sports, and I forgot to mention he's an associate engineer in our CIP group.

Awesome.

Welcome.

I'm sorry.

Next up is Trevor Pettigrew, a new hire and uh traffic signal technician one uh in our street light and traffic single group.

Trevor joined the city of Elk Grove in August as a uh traffic signal technician.

He brings extensive experience in traffic signal systems, electrical construction, and public infrastructure.

Trevor is dedicated to ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable signal operations throughout the city.

And outside of work, Trevor enjoys climbing, running, and spending time with his two kids, and we recently engulfed together, so I think he's getting into that, and he's pretty good.

Welcome.

Next, we have Raymond Kong.

Uh Raymond is a senior civil engineer in our drainage engineering group.

Uh, he has over 15 years of engineering experience and comes to us from the city of Sacramento recently, where he spent seven years working on asset management, planning, design, and construction of drainage infrastructure.

Uh timely for tonight's presentation on flood protection.

He is an alumni of UC Berkeley and is a resident of Elk Grove, and he enjoys woodworking and playing with his two sons.

Happy to have you.

Yay.

All right, next we have our advancements.

So first up is Jorge Lopez Tabatis.

Uh, he's advancing from maintenance technician one to maintenance technician two.

He uh works in our drainage uh team, uh operating and maintaining our drainage uh systems.

His current responsibilities include conducting uh closed circuit television inspections of our storm drain system, operating the VAT contract to clean storm drain pipes, and performing minor repairs on catch basins.

We're happy to see Jorge's progress and are encouraged by his willingness to improve and advance within the drainage maintenance section.

Congrats, man.

Next is Freddie Sanchez.

Uh he's also advancing to maintenance tech two in our drainage group.

Uh he uh has many years of experience in the private sector doing pipeline inspection and utility markings, have proven beneficial in his current role maintaining Elkrove storm drain systems.

We are encouraged by his desire to improve procedures and his eagerness to advance within the drainage maintenance section.

Congrats.

Next, we have Samir Amin.

Uh, he's also advancing.

Uh, this he's an engineering technician, so he's going from one to a two.

He works on our capital maintenance team.

Uh, he's out there helping uh preserve our pavements and our award-winning payment management program.

Uh he is uh working on all aspects of our pavement program from development and scoping of our projects to uh inspection and construction management.

Uh he's done a great job, and we look forward to his continued progress.

Congrats.

Next, we have Misha Perry, and uh this one's near and dear to my heart.

Congratulations, Misha.

Uh she's promoting out from my team up to our CIP team as a uh management analyst.

Uh she started working for the city in 2011, uh beginning as a consultant and in 2014 became a city employee.

Uh, she's had a variety of roles across many departments throughout the city.

She lives in Elk Grove with her family and she remains committed to serving the community, and I'm looking forward to what she's going to bring to our capital improvement program.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

And next, a very familiar face uh for everyone as well, Vanessa McGill.

Uh she's promoting uh to management analyst too.

She's coming from our district 56 uh program and coming over to public works, and we're very happy to have her.

She's uh been uh with the city for the past 10 years.

Work or I'm sorry, 16 years uh in in the city manager's office for the past 10.

Uh she brings with her a wealth of city knowledge and experience and is eager to continue learning in her new role, supporting operations, particularly with our landscaping facilities and open spaces team.

Congratulations.

Yay, welcome and congratulations, everyone.

All right.

What a great group of uh new hires and promotions.

Congratulations to everyone once again.

Let's give them all another round of applause.

All right, that takes us now to public comment.

I will go ahead and open up the public comment opportunity.

There are several people signed up to speak.

And just as a reminder, I see a lot of new names that we cannot take action on any public comment.

So this is informational only.

And you have three minutes to speak.

We will start with Skylar Case Beer, followed by Lynn Tebow.

Very nervous.

Sorry about this.

Recently, a business that's bordering my residents has changed their business plan.

And in doing so, they've become very disruptive to my way of life.

There's certain sounds in Out Grove that are historic and you know resonate with me.

The sounds of the train in Old Elk Grove and the PA system of the football games in Elkrove High School.

But now all I hear every night is the loud drone of a sound system, because an event center opened up in my backyard.

And it's become a very big nuisance and has changed the entire existence of Old Elk Grove.

And I spoke with Public Works or not Public Works, I'm sorry.

You guys were great.

Thank you for fixing the street where PGE messed it up.

Um I wish they could do better.

I um I spoke with planning and it seemed that they don't have a conditional use permit.

Um I have a case open with uh code enforcement so that I can hopefully get it straightened out.

Um I hope that this this business has to go through some of the same scrutiny that other businesses in Old Grove have gone through.

Um I had gotten a letter in the mail that a tattoo shop wanted to go into into Old Elk Grove, and I know that a lot of businesses don't succeed there, and I hope that all businesses do, but not this one because of the disruption that's causing.

With this conditional use permit, I've heard that there is um times of service and stuff like that that would be limitations that they would have to follow.

Um I hope that that makes things better if they are able to follow those.

But I would like to see that um other people could maybe speak and have this an agenda point at some point if it uh if they go through the proper channels to get things um above board.

But um right now they're operating what it seems um from the general information that they could disclose when I reported it to them, that they are not operating with permission correctly.

Um, and so I just hope that all businesses in Old El Grove can follow the rules and regulations that you guys set.

Um, I know we're America, the land of the free, and we should be able to do everything we want, but I don't think that a business should change the way, you know, especially our historic district is.

Um, and I would love to see more successful businesses go in there that are maybe more everyday businesses rather than um, you know salons.

Uh I'm glad the tattoo shop I think did get approved.

Um, and thank you for listening.

Thank you, sir.

Um feel free to follow up with me if you need additional information, but I think you're on the right track with code enforcement.

So thank you.

Next up is Lynn Tebow, followed by Nancy Miller.

Oh my goodness, I'm really nervous about this.

I have never been to a city council meeting, and it's nice to be here.

Um, Darren is my representative for my district.

Um, I grew up here, actually.

I'm 81.

I went to Elk Grove High School, graduated in 1962.

It's always been a really lovely community.

I went away for a number of years, have always been very politically active.

I was part of the protest on Sunday, and I could not have been prouder of this community and the people that lived here.

Um the reason I want to speak is to talk about uh the influx of ice coming into communities, and my great great concern about the city of Elk Grove and how we are going to handle ice coming into our community.

Um, I think obviously we have to follow the laws.

Uh but I've always felt such pride about our diversity, and I really want to see all of us, if ICE comes in here, to be out there in support of all of our immigrants and the people, many of who've been living here for years and years, and are our neighbors.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Lynn.

Thank you.

There, if you go to our website, um, can one of our staff members direct Lynn to the website that has information?

But there's some good information there for you.

Next up is Nancy Millard, followed by Ellen Morales.

Good evening, and thank you for listening to the community and being open to what we have to share.

Um, I've been a member of the Elk Grove community for many years, and I just want to say I want myself and my neighbors and my community to feel safe and respected, no matter what their background, no matter what their status.

I have seen people dragged away before, and it's upsetting, not just to them, but to the whole community and everybody around them and the children in schools.

And so I feel like this has been a healthy, responsive community, and I love to hear that you know the respect for the Filipino community and the Asian community, and this is what I love to see: the peace, the diversity, the sharing, the respect for one another, and I hope that this council and everybody in the community can work to help us all and the whole community, no matter what their culture, their status, their background, to feel not only safe, but respected here.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, ma'am.

Next up is Eileen Morales, followed by John Paulskamp.

Hi there, my name is Ellen.

I live in District One, and I'm here to follow up on the public safety concerns that I raised at the September 10th council meeting.

And I wanted to thank you, Mayor, for providing the link to the city statement from February that highlights the values of diversity and compassion and adherence to state laws.

While the statement makes clear that Elkgrove PD will follow the law and not collaborate with ICE.

It doesn't specify how Elkrove PD will respond when ICE or people impersonating ICE break the law in our community, as we have seen them do repeatedly around the country.

For example, since the last time I spoke to the council, the following incidents have been documented around the country.

A minister was shot in the head with pepper balls while peacefully protesting and praying.

A military-style raid of an apartment complex, including helicopters, ransacking of homes, and zip tieing of children took place.

A woman was violently pulled from her car and arrested while picking up her children from school.

Just today we learned that federal agents violently dragged, picked up, and then dropped a blind man on his head, who was peacefully sitting outside of an ICE detention center.

We know that ICE is detaining pregnant women, breaking a Biden-era policy that says no pregnant nursing or postpartum person should be held in detention.

Additionally, ProPublica has been tracking the number of US citizens detained by ICE.

Now it's more than 170 cases.

Among them were nearly 20 children.

There are also documented cases of people impersonating ICE officers for the purpose of rape and assault.

A man impersonating an ICE agent forced a 51-year-old Latino woman in Brooklyn into a stairwell where he punched her, attempted to rape her, and then robbed her.

In South Carolina, a man was charged with kidnapping and impersonating an ICE agent after detaining a group of Latino men.

If someone is trying to arrest me, but won't provide a badge, an ID, won't show their face, uh, will not provide a judicial warrant, and is just wearing an ice vest that he could have purchased off Amazon.

How am I supposed to know the difference between a criminal who is attempting to human traffic or rape me and a legitimate law enforcement officer?

These examples demonstrate to me that ICE continues to escalate its violent and often illegal tactics, and that no community member is safe.

And today we learned, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, that at least 100 ICE and CBP agents will be arriving in the Bay Area starting tomorrow.

And raids are expected for the foreseeable future in cities within 40 miles out from the bay.

I urge the city and its sworn police officers to protect the people in our city at all costs.

And I implore you to take proactive, transparent, and immediate actions to more clearly define and make known to residents how you expect our city police officers to handle ICE and border patrol agents who are acting with excessive force and outside of the law.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Alan.

Next up is John Paulskamp, followed by Shelly Miller.

If we can keep the applause, please.

So thank you.

I'm fine, I can stay.

Good evening.

My name is John Polskamp.

I'm a relatively new uh resident of Vilk Grove.

I moved here from Los Angeles where my family had lived since uh just after the civil war.

And I'm really like the city.

It's a beautiful place.

And uh one of the things I especially enjoy is the ethnic and racial makeup of the city.

It's great to have that.

But what the last two speakers were talking about is what I want to talk about.

We talk about public safety, where we need to count on our law enforcement people to sit to support us and protect us.

And when I was 20 years old, I was arrested for um, it turned out they wouldn't tell me what it was initially.

It turned out to be a murder.

And I was locked in a cell for three days most of the time, other than the first hour, I was in there by myself where I couldn't see any other prisoners.

And at the time I was in the process of becoming a policeman.

And in those days it was policeman and police woman, not police officer.

Of course, I changed my mind later, but it left an indelible mark on my spirit to this very day.

I suffer fear and um tension just to see a policeman anywhere around me.

I'll be 83 in less than two weeks, and that was when I was 20.

Can you imagine what it's like for a 10 or 12 or 15-year-old kid to watch his parents get locked up and maybe never seen again, or for himself, he or she themselves to get locked up for two or three days, two or three weeks, two or three months.

Who knows?

That is going to create a public safety issue in the future, because there's a big difference between fear and respect, and it's hard if you're afraid of law enforcement to always respect them, and that's going to come back to bite us.

Anyway, I want to.

Anyway, thank you for your time, and that's a major concern of mine.

Thank you, John.

Can we have order in the chambers, please?

Thank you.

Next up is Shelley Miller, followed by Zell Lee.

Good evening.

This is my first time here.

My name is Shelley Miller, a 52-year resident of Elk Grove, a local mother, grandmother, and teacher.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak.

We are at a pivotal moment in our community's history, a time when the choices we make will echo far beyond this room.

I'm here to urge the Elk Grove Police Department to take a stand against assisting ICE.

ICE's presence in our community creates fear, and this fear does not only affect immigrants.

Local police officers are not immigration agents.

They are community officers, here to protect all citizens and residents.

If local law enforcement assists ICE, they turn away from their role as protectors and become enforcers of a system that often ignores due process and the rule of law.

During World War II, the Japanese-American community was forcibly removed from their homes and sent to internment camps simply because of their ethnicity.

They were treated as enemies, their lives torn apart by government actions based on fear and prejudice.

The parallels are undeniable.

This kind of treatment has no place in Elk Grove.

Our city is safer when law enforcement focuses on real threats to public safety.

I ask Elk Grove Police Department to protect all of us, to not break up families nor create fear.

I urge you to stand with families who deserve to feel safe in and out of their homes.

Let ours be a compassionate community where people live with dignity and peace.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Zal Lee, followed by Clara Patterson.

Hello, everyone.

Hi.

I've been here before, and I am a proud citizen of Elk Grove since 2002.

My parents were born and raised in California, as well as myself.

I'm even a proud member of the Elk Grove Corps 101.

My complaint concern is the I'm looking for the right word.

I've done that.

That's been over a month.

And now I'm noticing that there's a bus stop with glass scattered on the sidewalk on Ruthville and Franklin.

And I'm also happy to know that we have new police officers coming in to join our beautiful staff that's here already, because with this new apartment building coming up, we're gonna need that.

I don't want us to be so blindsided to not recognize that things will be changing, and they're not gonna be for the good, because it's already happening where I live at.

Oh, I've called, I've gone on.

Uh city slick, I've left emails.

Oh, I'm just wondering how much longer will this graffiti and glass be not addressed.

Oh, I don't know whether I get comment or response, or who else should I contact to follow up?

I'll talk to you to staff, ma'am.

After the comments, but we can't engage here.

Okay.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you.

Can we get one staff member to follow up?

Thank you.

Christopher Jordan will meet you.

Next up is Clara Patterson, followed by Mark White as our final speaker.

First time.

Good evening.

Uh Ms.

Mayor, Madam Mayor, Mr.

Vice Mayor, Roblis, and good evening, my fellow citizens.

My name is Clara Cervantes Patterson, and I'm here to exercise my um First Amendment and speak about uh the upcoming um ice that's gonna be coming in our town.

I am not I fell asleep at the wheel.

I'm retired, I should know better.

I don't know if it was approved already that they're gonna be in Elk Grove, but I am totally against them being in our town.

I think the Elk Grove P Elk Grove PD is doing a great job in our little comfy town, and um I am uh proud daughter of immigrants, and um I feel safe in Elk Grove, it's a lovely little town.

I love the trails, the parks, everything in it, and um I you know this is just we all know what's going on, and um I disagree uh with what's happening in our country right now, and I don't want to see any of that violence in this town, it's too much.

It's too much.

I think Elk Grove PD is doing a good job, the sheriffs.

I am sorry to see the situation of things right now.

So I'm making short and sweet.

I hope you all vote against it.

I hope Elk Grove PD, like the previous speaker said, does not engage and um keeps doing what their professionals at, and um, good luck, Elk Grove.

Thank you all, especially Elk Grove PD, doing a good job.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Clara.

Next up, and our final speaker is Mark White.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

So I'm just 25 years ago, we moved here to the rural area of Elk Grove.

Um, and we love it out there.

And at that time the general plan came up, and they were the maintenance of the preservation of the rural area was was important, and it still has been since that time.

Now we're finding that there's a proposal for a special planning area out there uh to cut out carb out a little area, the rural area, and turn it into a high density housing.

I know you can't do anything tonight, but all I'm asking you guys is to um honor the commitment of the past councils to the residents in the rural area.

It's a unique part of the city that I think needs to be maintained because you can go into any city and just see houses everywhere.

That's you know that's not what it's all about.

So I'm just asking you as that proposal comes up, take a good look.

But um, because it's their right to do that.

They own the property, but just like you to um maintain the honor the commitment of the past councils.

That's it.

A great evening.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

I will go ahead and close public comment.

That was our final speaker.

And because we did have a number of new speakers, um, please visit the Elk Grove City website, it will address many of your questions and comments this evening.

It's very thorough, it's very robust.

And otherwise, uh, feel free to contact any one of us.

My cell phone is also listed.

Happy to have a conversation, but because there was a number of folks uh speaking on a similar subject.

Please visit the website and get the information that you need, and you'll be happy to know that Elk Grove is a beautifully diverse city.

A city welcome to all.

Thank you.

With that, we will move on to our next um item, which is item number six, our city manager's report.

All right, happy to report on several items this evening.

Um, first of all, happy to report that all lanes of Franklin Boulevard between Oakro Boulevard and Laguna Boulevard have reopened.

Work on the harvest water project is finally clearing in that area.

There will be some intermittent lane closures with flaggers in place.

Should continue into November with person median restoration, road resurfacing, and striping.

Uh work also continues south of Elk Grove with major pipeline construction expected to be complete by early 26th.

Um, more information is on the sack harvestwater.org website.

Uh we challenge residents to capture the people, places, and moments that make Elk Grove special.

Now it's time to choose the favorites.

Uh, public voting is now open at Elkgrove.gov slash photo contest through Sunday, October 26th.

Choose your favorite among the finalists in three categories.

Youth, professional, and amateur finalist work will be on display at the Elk Grove Fine Arts Center during a celebratory reception on November 8th.

The police department and explore Elk Grove will host the very popular Jalapalooza and Trunker Treat, which is a family-friendly Halloween celebration at District 56 this Friday, October 24th from 5 to 8 p.m.

Activities will include trunk retreating, DJ dance party, costume contest, and more.

Jalapalooza is free.

It's an event for the whole family.

Please visit Explore Elk Grove website for more details.

City and the Wilton Rancheria.

We'll celebrate Native American Heritage Month with historic first this year.

The city and tribal leaders will host a public flag raising ceremony in front of City Hall on Monday, November 3rd at 10 a.m.

City Council, as you recall, and then to the flag policy earlier this year to include the tribal flag as a way of honoring the tribe's sovereignty, deep connection, and ongoing contributions to the Elk Grove community.

Once installed, the tribal flag will permanently accompany the flags of the United States, state of California, and the city of Elk Grove, and it's one of the only ones across the country doing doing something similar.

City facilities are drop box locations for the 2025 statewide special election.

Voters can drop off completed ballots at City Hall or at the Center District 56 through election day on Tuesday, November 4th, for a full listing of Sack County vote centers and ballot drop box locations.

Visit elections.

And finally, in accordance with the city holiday schedule, City Hall will be closed on Tuesday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day.

And that concludes my report.

Happy to answer any questions the council might have.

All right.

Thank you for your report.

Any questions or comments?

Seeing none, thank you.

We will move on to our next item, which is our consent calendar items.

Move consent.

Second.

Let me open the hold on, let me open it up.

Okay.

No public comments.

I overopened it.

I'm now closing it.

We have nobody signed up.

Now I will take your motion.

Okay.

Thank you.

Now I'll move.

And I'll second that.

Thank you.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Okay, thank you.

Next up is item 8.1.

And item 8.1 is a public hearing to consider the reissuance of bonds by the California municipal finance authority in support of the Poppy Grove 1, 2 and 3 projects.

Good evening.

Uh Mayor St.

Allen, members of the city council.

Tonight's item is a public hearing required under the tax equity and fiscal responsibility act or TEFRA.

TEFRA requires a public hearing be held by the elected governing body of where a project is located when taxes and bonds are being proposed, and that the elected governing body must approve the proposed financing.

The project under consideration is the Poppy Grove affordable housing development, also known as the most apartments, which was completed in 2025 earlier this year.

The development structured has three distinct phases, each individually owned and operated as standalone projects.

Project one contains 147 units located at 10129 Bruceville Road, owned and operated by Poppy Grove 1 LP.

Project 2 contains 82 units located at 10139 Bruceville Road, owned and operated by Poppy Grove 2LP, and Project 3 contains 157 units located at 10149 Bruceville Road, owned and operated by Poppy Grove 3LP.

Together, these projects provide 384 affordable units serving households earning 30 to 80% of the area median income.

The projects are jointly managed, and tenants have shared access to all residential amenities.

In 2022, council held TEFRA hearings approving the original bond issuance that led to the construction of all three phases.

But at this time, the project's sponsor seeks to make modifications to the original bond terms, specifically to delay the date in which the bonds convert from construction financing to permanent financing.

Because this technicality occurred outside of the initial three-year period.

A new TEFRA hearing and council approvals are required.

So just to be clear, there is no new debt to be incurred as part of this reissuance, and there are no other changes to the project or the ownership entities respectively.

Accordingly, the owners have asked that the California Municipal Finance Authority or CMFA serve as the conduit issuer of the bonds.

CMFA will reissue the following amounts.

Bonds in a principal amount not to exceed 60 million originally issued to finance project one.

Bonds in a principal amount not to exceed 40 million originally issued to finance project two, and bonds in a principal amount not to exceed 70 million, originally issued to finance project three.

The total principal amount of bonds to be reissued will not exceed 170 million.

The debt to be reissued will be the responsibility of the owners paid from revenues pledged by the projects.

The city will bear no liability or responsibility to repay the bond indebtedness.

Bond offering documents will have clear disclaimers noting that this is not an obligation of the city.

And finally, the affordability restrictions will continue to remain in effect, restricting 100% of the units as affordable, with the exception of three manager units.

Accordingly, staff's recommendations that the city council adopt the resolution approving the reissuance of bonds by CEMFA for the benefit of the projects.

This concludes my presentation.

Staff is available to answer any questions, and we also have a representative from CMFA to answer any questions on behalf of the project sponsor.

All right, thank you.

At this time, I will declare that the public hearing is now open and open up the public comment opportunity.

I do not have anyone sign up to speak.

I'll close public comment and declare the public hearing is now closed.

Um any questions or comments?

If not, I will look for a motion.

Mayor, question, couple questions.

Thank you.

Uh I was wondering why the delay and that's forcing this this uh re-hearing.

Uh CFA has informed staff that the project did not meet the initial conversion date likely due to construction delays, which is not necessarily uncommon among larger affordable housing projects.

This delay essentially pushed out the schedule.

And then uh so what happens if this isn't approved.

Correct.

I'm gonna pass it to Sarah.

So it does create some pretty serious implications for the project.

Um, what would happen is that the project would lose its tax exempt status, which would likely lead to the investor um, you know, backing out of the project.

Um the project could end up going through foreclosure.

Um currently, the project is mostly leased.

Um, and so if there are if there were a foreclosure, we risk the project converting to a market rate project, which would displace many of the current tenants.

Okay, thank you very much for that clarification.

Uh, this is obviously a project that uh I it it was frustrating get when when this originally came forward and and the amount of changes that happened, knowing that our staff had to help with performance and uh things that are clearly the responsibility of of the uh of the owner, the business owner, and then to have the the designs changed on us uh at the last minute to take away balconies and patios, and so those are the to see this again to come back and have to ask for um free request for this is uh again it's also frustrating, but um I wanted to hear, I wanted the public to hear the explanation.

So I'll be supporting this item tonight, but you know it it is uh it my um my frustration over the the ownership entities and what I feel is is just uh um lack of concern for the communities that they are doing business in.

Um I can't understate that.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Suan for raising some valid questions and concerns.

Um any other questions, comments, looking to the right, looking to the left.

All right, um, seeing none.

I will look for a motion.

So moved.

Can I get a second?

Second, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

That was unanimous.

Okay, thank you.

We will go ahead and move to our next item.

Item 8.2 is a public hearing to consider ordinance adopted by reference the 2025 California Building Standards Code with local amendments and amending various sections of the Title 16 to buildings and construction under the Grove Municipal Code, and also amending chapter 17.04 relating to the California Fire Code.

Good evening, madam mayor and members of the council, Brian Franer, City of Outgrove building official.

Thank you for the opportunity to present the ordinance for adoption of the 2025 California codes.

California has completed the triannual review and approved the new edition of the California Building Standards Codes to go into effect January 1st, 2026.

The building codes consist of 10 parts from the Title 24 California Code Regulations, and uh what you see here are um the municipal code sections that we are proposing to modify to reference the new codes to be enforced.

This slide represents the timeline for the code adoption process that includes the building standards commission, first and second reading, and effective code date.

Adopting these codes helps protect life and property, supports innovation and design, and aids our building staff in applying consistent update standards.

It also gives our local economy certainty.

So architects, engineers, and contractors know the rules they must follow.

There are some new code items that are worth noting.

The first item is electric vehicle charging.

The codes continue to expand the mandatory requirements for EV charging infrastructure and new residential construction, including multifamily dwellings and hotels.

The second item is electric ready buildings, and to promote the shift away from fossil fuels.

The code encourages electric ready buildings, and this means new construction must have the necessary electrical capacity to accommodate current and future installations of electrical appliances for heating, cooking, as well as water heating.

And last is bicycle parking for non-residential construction.

This is an increase from the short-term bike parking percentage based on 20% of visitors and long long-lasting or sorry, long-term bike parking increase to 10%.

Additionally, there are a couple new fire code items that have been identified.

The fire code will allow for partially sprinklered buildings for energy storage as well as distilled spirits and wine facilities.

There's also a new chapter that has been added to the fire code for temporary cooking and heating, as well as regulations for rooftop storage and hazardous material.

Finally, I want to emphasize that the adoption of this code is forward-looking.

While we commit to align with the 2025 codes, this action does not preclude us from future adjustments, refinements, or more targeted amendments as new technologies and industry practices evolve.

I respectfully recommend that the council approve the ordinance adopting the 2025 California building standards codes with the proposed local amendments, assuring that our community continues to build safely and resiliently into the future.

This concludes my presentation.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

All right, thank you.

At this time I will declare the public hearing is now open and open up public comment opportunity.

I do not see anyone sign up to speak.

I'll close public comment and declare the public hearing is now closed.

Before I turn it over to colleagues, I um for you, Brian.

Um I did meet with a stakeholder group, and there's a number of questions that I just want to enter it into the record, and then if you can address them, and then I'll open it up to my colleagues here.

Um so that is five questions.

When California neighboring jurisdictions are all willing to move to a temporary or permanent water supply, why would we be the only jurisdiction to still require permanent?

That's question one.

Um, question two, why do other districts and the state feel comfortable with temporary water supplies?

Number three, in circumstances where structures under construction caught fire and were not saved while a temporary water source was on site.

Do we know the water supply was the issue, or were there other factors that played a role in the inability to save the structure?

I know there's a lot going on.

I'm just and I'll repeat any of them if you want.

Uh fourth question is it likely that builders would be resistant to ensuring that an adequate temporary water supply is present in order to save the structure they have dedicated time and resources to constructing.

And final question under the exemption language, how is that administered and how can builders trust there will be consistency and equitable use of exemptions?

Under what circumstances would an exemption not be granted?

And I can repeat any of them.

I know there was a lot, but there yeah, similar themes.

So, in an effort to assist with that, we've invited Chief Ray to assist with the questions regarding water supply.

Welcome, sir.

Thank you.

I may need your assistance on the uh repeating a couple of those.

Okay, happy to um you want to go one by one, or how would you like to answer?

Okay, yeah, sure.

If you're gonna be answering all of those, I will go with question one.

When California and neighboring jurisdictions are all willing to move to a temporary or permanent water supply, why would we be the only jurisdiction to still require permanent?

The only jurisdiction I'm aware of in this county that is moving to that is um Sacramento Metropolitan.

The other three fire agencies continue to have the standards put in place in this community in 1992.

So we have maintained this since 1992, and we plan to in the future if adopted tonight.

Okay, so this would be stronger than the state code.

It is, yes, it is it is stronger than the state code and has been for many years.

Okay.

Why do other districts and the state feel comfortable with temporary water supplies?

I wouldn't know how to answer that one.

Okay, fair enough.

Um, in circumstances where structures under construction caught fire and were not saved while a temporary water source was on site.

Do we know the water supply was the issue, or were there other factors that played a role in the inability to save the structure?

There are always other factors.

Uh, we don't know in this area because all four of the major fire agencies have had the same requirement since at least 2004, so uh at least 20 years.

And so I wouldn't be able to speak to the theoretical of why, but I can tell you we have had the same issues.

We have had um construction sites burn in this county and in nearby.

Uh, the major every single one of them has had a permanent water supply available or some sort of alternative means and methods established that allowed the builder to move forward without that permanent water supply in place yet.

So I apologize for not being able to answer that one.

Okay, that's okay.

Um, let's see.

Is it likely that builders would be resistant to ensuring that an adequate temporary water supply is present in order to save the structure?

They have dedicated time and resources to constructing.

I think it's fair to say that no, they would likely be very receptive to a temporary water supply to save their investment.

It is very costly.

I have had experience in construction fires.

It takes many months for them to demolish, including the foundation based on the heat and rebuild their projects.

It can cost them tens of thousands of dollars, and we certainly don't want that.

So yes, I think they would be open to that.

Okay, and my uh let's see here.

Under the exemption language, how is that administered?

And how can builders trust that there will be consistency and equitable use of the exemptions?

And then under what circumstances would an exemption not be granted?

Um so the exemption that is currently in place now requires the permanent water supply.

Um there are a couple of exceptions for rural communities.

Uh in this code cycle, we are adding implicitly model home complexes to give the ability for model home complexes to build.

Um how it can be ensured that it would be uh used equitably, I think is that is the question, is that is our practice here.

Uh the building official and his division and CJ and community development, we do this often.

So the area, for example, that is south of fire station 77, so Kyler Kylie, um, that developed with temporary water supply as a uh established plan that was approved by the fire department, not by right per code, but approved by the fire department and the building code or the building department, and we created a um phased approach, and we do this often.

So it's something that we deal with all the time.

And then could you repeat the last portion of the question?

I apologize.

Uh, yeah, it was a two-part question.

So the last part was under what circumstances would an exemption not be granted?

Yeah, so it'd be almost implicitly when there's an exposure where we feel that the uh construction of a large building.

If you were to look at say the project you just talked about, um, a four-story apartment complex built near a property line, we would not want that to happen because of the exposures it could have for our neighbors.

So that project in particular also had an exemption where they were able to build at the north end of the property because there were no exposures, but as you move to the south on that part of the property, you do get near neighborhoods.

So we phase it.

So we have routinely and consistently looked for solutions in this community and the entire district, and we would continue to do that.

Thank you.

I'll go to my left here.

Questions, comments?

Um, Councilmember Suean?

Uh, so thank you for for being here.

So I was curious when you when you talk about model homes, and I'm talking about single-family residential that is you know separate construction, right?

Not attached.

Uh, oftentimes those are built, you know, away from everything.

Uh in those instances, why would you not um that why would that not qualify for for an exemption?

Uh that will.

So we have uh we have done in that in the past using um the language is a rural community in this code adoption cycle, we implicitly called out model home complexes to make sure that there was no confusion.

So we do that often, and we will continue to do that in the future.

Okay, and then are you familiar with um a uh a different policy that's going through the region?

You mentioned only one secro.

Yeah, but do you my understanding is that maybe percolating through throughout the region?

Is that uh very possible.

Um we you the city of Elk Grove is at the front end of the code adoption, the uh other fire agencies are going to be behind us slightly.

So this may be going on in other fire agencies as well.

Um as of right now, the only one I'm aware of that has agreed to do that is SAC Metro.

Um I did speak to the fire marshals uh of Folsom and uh the city of Sacramento here in the last 24 hours, and they had not heard of it, so it's still relatively new.

Okay, and is there uh is there some a deadline or driving force that this needs to be a sense of urgency that this needs to be adopted today?

I'd be happy to answer that or I'm gonna address that a little bit.

So the as the council may know, the state codes go into effect every three years.

So the deadline, if nothing happens, is they would go in effect the first of the year, January 1st, 2026.

And so that's why we go through this exercise every three years and uh make local exceptions based on certain findings, topography, that sort of thing.

Tonight would be the last night to do the first read of the ordinance.

A second read would be November 12th, and then the ordinances typically effective 30 days later, so it's a little bit before January 1st.

We've made the ordinance effective January 1st.

So my recommendation to the council, even if you have some concerns, I understand that the CSD board is gonna uh take a look at this as well.

Tell me if I'm wrong, Chief.

But uh go ahead and do your first read tonight.

Um if there is a desire by the council later, uh, we should be able to amend the code.

I need to firm up that research, but I'm fairly confident that we could do that later.

But if you don't take action tonight, you'll miss the window to adopt the code for the January 1st, 2026 deadline.

Okay, so yeah, and I was trying to go the other way is if if things could change, would we want to adopt tonight only to change it, you know, later on.

But it sounds like you we will still we can change at the second reading if we need to.

Well, you can't well, you can't quite change it at second reading.

Is the count council knows this would be the first read tonight, and you can't make changes between first and second reading.

If you decided to make changes at second read, that effectively becomes your first reading, right?

And then the code goes into effect 30 days after the second reading, thinking kind of forward, our next meeting after the 12th would be first meeting in December, whatever date that is, and then you'd miss a 30-day window.

So you're gonna have a period of time where the state codes, the default state codes went into effect.

So again, my recommendation would be go ahead and do the first read tonight.

If you decide later to make a change, we should be able to do that.

You don't really want to have a gap in between the first of the year and the um effective date of your new code.

You want to kind of close that up.

And this is one issue of many uh in the in the state codes.

Uniform codes are very comprehensive as the council knows.

And so you're gonna want to uh get your local amendments adopted sooner rather than later.

If this is the only issue, the fire suppression issue and the water supply issue, we should be able to tweak that later if that's a desire of the council and and the CSD board may have an opinion on it as well.

Well, would it what it may I'm sorry, go ahead.

I just wanted to clarify that I work for the CSD obviously, and we had our first reading, and then this issue was identified.

So we have moved to pass the first reading, our second reading is scheduled for I believe the 5th of November.

We try to overlap them because it's uh compressed schedule.

So I'm not certain the direction that my board would choose to go if they choose to make changes at all.

So county member soon, just as sort of an overarching concern in the council, and you have heard this from before, it it's it's not great practice to try to revise the codes on the flight at the council meeting here.

If there are some considerations the council wants staff to take and look at some potential changes, my recommendation is again go ahead and do your first read tonight.

The ordinance wouldn't be effective anyways.

You could always change it later if you wanted to.

And if you want to direct staff and ask the CSD staff to look at these as well with the city staff, we could do that.

And then we could give you some further information coming back at the next meeting.

But again, my recommendation, which is the same as staffs, is go do the first read tonight.

There's really no downside to doing that.

Um, and there's a downside to not doing it.

Yeah, and and then to clarify, I mean, I I had no no concerns over the rest of the whole item.

It's just would it make sense to do the first read and continue the the temporary water issue, or can you do not you don't even want to parcel it out that way?

I wouldn't do it that way.

Just go ahead and do the first read.

If the direction of the council is that staff in coordination with CSD fire, go back and take a look at the uh water supply, water suppression issue.

Go ahead and give us that direction.

Okay.

Keep in mind that the downside to that is you may have a situation where your local codes don't go into effect the first of the year, and at least with the fire suppression issue, and you may have a situation where the um where there's a gap.

So even if you knew you're gonna make this change later, my recommendation would be do the first reads tonight, second read of the next meeting, and then direct staff to bring back another local ordinance amendment a little later.

But there's gonna be a a period where the fire suppression ordinance with the water supply issue is going to be in effect.

And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing that's ultimately a policy decision for the council though yeah okay all right that makes sense yep makes sense appreciate thank you great questions uh council or vice mayor for this thank you madam mayor um thank you for bringing up uh a lot of those concerns uh I did have just one quick question is if the permanent water supply is not being available is yeah does that delay the project it can yeah by how many just depending on when the water is available or is it so talking weeks months or just um so water in uh our county is uh typically administered through a variety of agencies and so yes it absolutely can okay um is one of the things that um that's why we often work with our developers on uh temporary solutions to get them where they need to go phase development okay um but yeah it's fair to say that and then um thank you uh John for bringing up what what you mentioned I'm comfortable with trying to do something where we can amend it later on um to solve that fix as well so council member brewer so I no I definitely thank the council for their consideration and some of the points that they've raised and questions um because as we because that as you're as you're trying to develop a new regulation and new policy in place um you want to make sure you're doing it with all parties involved and everybody providing the input that's necessary to give you um something that will work and so looking at looking at the consideration for the first reading and the second reading my question is is there uh is there a drawback to applying or using uh the state fire code language is the uh and what and what are the what are the drawbacks to that there are um I haven't had an opportunity to explain this to my board of directors this is my opinion is the fire marshal uh and so uh state fire code language gives um exceptions to reduce the amount of water supply required based on its proximity to the uh property line um and so there's a variety of ways that that's done and then um water supply is calculated based on construction type height mass all of those things so you have a very large building again the reference to the four story um apartment complex that's built out of wood it could be very close to the property line where a uh community and this is my opinion uh that does in fill development this is the state code is the minimum in the state of California our amendments have been put in place based on our um the challenges we face in this community and that's one of them we build larger buildings adjacent to existing residential hence the reason that um when these conversations so I I should back up to give the council a little bit there was a conversation uh between some resident representatives and myself prior to this it wasn't clear they wanted to go to the state code I thought it was a model home complex issue hence the change we made and then this came up so we've been working with them on it it just wasn't clarified um and so we thought we had addressed the issues we I as the fire marshal uh recommend that we do not do this for multifamily specifically that is my concern uh is as councilman soon indicated uh single family homes I think there's some some room to work there but reversion to the state code would give it for all projects buildings like Koboda buildings like large hotels and council if I could jump in for a minute we've certainly are seeing more single family product with in denser neighborhoods where those separations get smaller certainly um I've been involved with projects that have had uh fire issues happen during their construction, we have minimal if no setbacks.

And in those cases, when you don't have the on-site water, it does create a challenge for the fire department in order to deal with those.

As the chief mentioned, there are alternative means and methods that they can go through and propose alternatives.

I can speak to chief and his team's ability to work with both the city and with applicants to resolve those on a case-by-case basis to try to achieve the schedules.

So having a blanket that refers back to the state code um exclusively without the ability to look at those local contexts and to raise the standard back up, is going to I think be a problem for us as a community overall.

And instead saying, look, our standard is here, but we're willing to consider exceptions or deviations based upon the immediate context or maybe your construction methodology or other factors, the language is still there in what we're proposing and what we've historically done to come down from what is the base standard, but we always have that to fall back on, let's make sure you have that water availability in order to fight this issue, should it arise.

So I think it's the way the code's been presented and um the way we've had it for the last several decades to the chief's point has been in the best interest of the community and something staff's recommending we continue for now.

We can continue to explore this and more both with CSD staff and with uh the BIA and um and their others, uh, other folks that are interested across the development community, and if there's likelihood of need to bring something back, we can do that at a later date to John's point.

Mr.

Jordan, um, because um, and I definitely appreciate everything that you and your team to does at CSD Fire Chief Ray.

Uh, believe me.

Um one thing I was looking at in this whole in this whole dynamic, because we see that the southeast policy area is still growing, and the new homes that are coming in, we the density of the infill.

We see some that are normal size single-family homes, then you see some that are a little closer.

Um, and that's where, in terms of projects, making sure the projects read the right meet the right timelines, but also meet the right specifications, and that's where we're looking at the whole aspect of the water supply, whether it be temporary or permanent.

That's where I was trying to figure out what the what the what the pros and cons are on that to help gain better understanding of having a policy that can that can be effective for this window, um and as we go through the process through the second reading and the third reading after tonight, is um where can we find common ground from all those stakeholders to help craft something that will benefit Elk Grove but also be something that is going to meet the standard, so to speak.

Yeah, to to be fair to our friends in the development industry, like the state code does have provisions, so like if you're a certain distance from the property line, you're required to do full fire flow.

So you actually wouldn't get an exception.

It's um again to the uh city attorney's point.

We don't want to craft policy on the fly, a policy about temporary water supply, uh, would be where I will be recommending to uh the board that I work for, yeah.

So that's and we coordinate on policy between the district and the development uh CJ's group often.

So that's the desire.

But again, we are in a very I have not had this happen.

This is my uh fifth code adoption or sixth, only got three more left.

So I haven't had this happen in between the first and second reading, so I apologize for not having a little bit more uh knowledge.

It just doesn't happen very often.

No, that's that's perfectly understandable, Chief.

I mean uh something uh something of this nature.

Normally in the past, these were like slam ducks, and they were pretty pretty simple teamwork across the board.

Everybody's participating.

Um, it's unique, but as we look at, well, Mr.

CSD, but but looking at but looking at the upcoming um landscape for the CEPA and a livable uh employment area.

We're seeing homes that are being built and they're being built in a lot of different shapes and a lot of different um neighborhoods being come to get coming together pretty uniquely as well.

And that's where maybe in this case, maybe we want to keep the consistency, or we look at something that can allow us to fulfill the water needs for now, and as things become more stayed, we can pretty much figure out how to move forward from there and whether we want to go back to those higher standards or stay the stay the course based on what we've what we learned from this but um but yeah those are the things that that I that I was asking definitely appreciate the work that the you and Mr.

Fringer and Mr.

Jordan and Mr.

Hobbes have put together over the last few weeks because this is not an easy process just in the past we're used to seeing because a lot of projects have not were not in play.

Now we have projects that are in play and we have future projects coming up so and that's where a lot of things have to be put in full weight in consideration.

But thank you again really appreciate you.

Thank you council member spees thank you madam mayor so uh so first chief you know I I think a lot of folks we can why are we even arguing about this type of thing right um but I think we also need to put in a in a bigger context right there were there have been instant instances in the past where cities and counties have overlooked what they felt was important or have not uh lived up to what the public expected in terms of professionalism.

I think most of us can remember the ghost ship which was absolutely horrible many people died and more recently we can remember a spardo where unfortunately many other people died simply because the problem was pushed under the rug and so I want to thank you very much for first having I I strongly respect you as as a fire marshal as a as a fire professional and understanding things and so it's difficult for me to sit here and question right um so but also I you know for for saying look I I think this is the standard that it needs to be and and and holding your position I strongly appreciate that um I I do um think that we need to think about this one a little bit more like to kind of push back a little bit at and say is there a way that we can we can do this um just out of curiosity it's it's probably a little bit of a lever level lower than that I should probably ask nobody everybody wants to know how the sausage is made but nobody wants to see you know how was it everybody wants to know how the sausage is made until they see it happen right but um can you tell me about um is there's uh a formula of how many gallons of water one needs for per uh square foot of combustible materials is it that simple or no uh it would be nice if it was that simple right it would in and to be honest that on the spot because I've applied the same standard here that the permanent water supply needs I there may be a that I'm not aware of sure uh I don't believe there is it's based on minimum gallons per water for a single family home typically is going to be but uh around 1500 to three thousand gallons per minute okay um the water supply in this community is fantastic so our permanent water supply meets and exceeds that by uh significant measure um and so we are um always looking at will it overwhelm our services that's the evaluation we make when we make these temporary water um uh alternative means and methods requests that is the way we do business now based on the individual situation because we have to evaluate what's around uh is it a single family home is it a row of them is it 10 of them um is it an apartment complex is it a large warehouse it it varies dramatically so it's something that I'm not necessarily uh can't give you a direct answer right um if this council the CSD board other elected officials choose to go that way it's certainly something I'll work to develop okay um but I don't believe we have something that I could just turn over to you today okay yeah all right mayor so I have a I have a follow up go ahead yeah well I do have with your file I would comment when you're done.

Okay.

Um has the county taken a position?

Not formally.

Um I know that it's historically how this was worked is the four fire agencies would get together and develop an ordinance.

Um that ordinance would be led by SAC Metro through the Sacramento uh county board of Supervisors.

Uh they're the same ordinance in almost all our specs, and so um they would move forward with the change at SAC Metro, it's uncertain about uh the county as a whole.

So I don't believe anybody is any board has taken a formal position.

I do believe you're the first elected body to hear the issue.

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

So I yeah, just to follow up with Council Member Speace's comment.

We are not trying to decide or public safety.

That's clearly Chief Ray in your your purview.

We we don't we do not envy that that responsibility, and yeah, we're not looking to do that at all.

Uh it is a little it it's it's a it's somewhat simpler, but also more complex when you apply it, meaning that state code today just says hey, either temporary or permanent, and that's all it says, and uh and I think our code or your code talks about uh permanent, but there's exceptions, and so this is this is the the distinction here, all we're talking about, and it's something that I I would following uh um Mr.

Hobbs' advice be happy to move the item, but they're asking staff to take a look at this and work with CSD and and CSD fire on uh on language appropriate language that would be um more appropriate for our community going forward.

All right, and so if I can continue.

I did have more questions.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay, yeah.

It's no big deal.

We're good, we're collaborative.

So that kind of what uh councilman Suen had had brought up is kind of where I'm going with it.

Is that there's you have the state law, and then you have what what we have um as amended.

Um it's it's kind of close actually, and that's kind of to me what's a bit disconcerting.

I think it can be cleaned up in to.

I think it can be cleaned up to the way that the the California has it.

Um, but again, I I'm not I'm not an expert in it.

I I would just like to go back, re-look at it, have another conversation, um, and uh that's that's where I am with it.

So I'm happy to move along with the second.

Um, but um we I think we gotta iron this one out a little bit.

And but again, thank you very much.

I have I am not in any way trying to shape or form trying to second guess your opinion, your professionalism.

Um, and uh and I want to thank you again for on many things, not just on this issue, but on many things standing up for what you believe is right relative to public safety.

It's not always easy to sell somebody they can't have their party at a particular location when it's been done for years, and I think that stands to the testament to your professionalism.

So I make a lot of new friends every day.

Well, it's they told me if uh if you enter public service and you want a friend by a dog, so that's whatever.

I hope you have good dogs, my friend.

Well, we appreciate your service along the same lines uh from councilmember speees.

Um, thank you again for your service to our community and keeping people safe.

I know that that is your first and foremost priority.

So thank you for all that you do.

Um with that, I will.

Did I hear you you made a motion and we do have a second?

Uh, all right, we have a motion and a second.

So all those in favor please say aye.

Aye, thank you.

All right, moving on to our next item 9.1 and item 9.1 is receive a presentation regarding flood preparedness in the city of El Grove.

Hey, good to see you.

Good to see you as well.

All right, should we get started?

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Okay, I wasn't sure.

Uh good evening, uh, Madam Mayor and members of the city council.

My name is Andrea Cortez, and I'm your real-time information center manager and your emergency preparedness coordinator.

And I'm Shabarati, you're engineering services manager in the public worst supportment.

And we're excited to bring you this presentation this evening.

It's actually uh California Department of Water Resources recognizes this week as flood preparedness week.

So this presentation is timely.

And just briefly, we're gonna highlight the purpose of this presentation.

It's to provide a high-level overview of flood risk and mitigation efforts, uh review roles and responsibilities of the emergency management coordinator and the public works department in a flood event, outline the city's plans, plans to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a flood event, and provide resources to stay connected and informed.

For the roles and responsibilities, I know that many of you are probably familiar with this, but just as a quick review, for the emergency management coordinator side of things, a common thread theme you will hear throughout this presentation and is on many slides is communication and coordination.

And that's that is something that is uh pivotal in when dealing with emergency disasters, including a flood event.

Uh so we would activate and coordinate citywide and regional flood response plans, we would activate our incident command system, we would manage evacuation efforts, resource coordination, and coordinate recovery and repopulation efforts.

For the public works department, we provide insight for local flood projections, our operations and maintenance division team, they monitor storm events, they activate the standback locations, and we also inspect and maintain our infrastructure for drainage and the drainage system that we have, clearing debris, dredging channels and creeks.

Also, we have six pump stations throughout the city that are OM team.

They inspect, test, and maintain on a monthly and quality basis.

For flood preparedness, a big component of that is public outreach.

So throughout the year, as we have our regional safety days, preparedness is part of those conversations, not just specific to flood preparedness, but just disaster preparedness, having a go bag, registering your phone number with stack alert to ensure that you're receiving emergency updates, and specifically including your address so you can receive alerts specific to your area.

We need to test those alert and warning notification systems.

Sacramento County just recently went through this exercise last week when they did the great California shakeout, and that was a testing exercise.

We need to understand our local risk, flood history, and associated response plans, and we need to exercise those response plans to identify any gaps or updates needed.

And we also have 688 storm pipe outfalls that are inspected and cleaned every year.

We have 64 miles of roadside ditches, two and a half million linear feet of storm pipes, 8,000 manholes, 14,000 inlets that are all on a 10-year cycle, and every year we inspect and maintain 10% of those.

So within 10 years, everything is inspected and cleaned.

Additionally, we have creeks and channels that are dredged on as needed basis on our animal program.

So what is flooding?

This may seem like a silly question.

However, there are different types of flooding events, and it's just important to reference this whenever we consider uh flooding that takes place across the nation in different circumstances that we see from across the nation, and how that may not be the same story here in El Grove based on our topography.

So it's worth highlighting.

Sacramento, the most common types of flooding in the Sacramento area are the river flooding, localized flooding, and flash flooding.

And just for an educational piece, the types of alert and warning, advisory, which is be aware, it means a hazard of hazardous weather event is occurring, imminent or likely, and these are uh through the National Weather Service.

Watch, be prepared.

Uh, it means a hazardous weathered event has increased or significantly has significantly increased, but the occurrence is still uncertain, and then warning, you should take action.

Um, the conditions pose a threat to life and property, and those in the path of the storm should take immediate action.

And then here's just a fun visual.

Um, this is National Weather Services graphic, but it really highlights the importance or the difference between watch and warning.

Um, and so it's a great graphic.

Essentially, if when you have a watch, you have the ingredients necessary for a significant weather event.

However, whenever those ingredients come together, now you're in a full-blown warning and you need to take action.

Flood notifications, these are just highlighted as potential notification sources.

We mainly receive our notifications and advisory warnings through the National Weather Service.

You can receive notifications from California Office of Emergency Services for a very large scale event, and then Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services and City Bell Grove are the ones that would issue for our local area.

I want to quickly highlight our existing drainage system and the 13 different watersheds we have within our city boundaries and planning areas.

Basically, the storms, the waters, the storm waters in Out Grove, they drain from east to west and eventually end up in the Delta region.

Laguna Creek watershed is our biggest watershed and it expands all the way to the city of Francia Cordova limits and it includes portions of the unincorporated areas of the county.

This watershed also includes our rural area, which you have roadside ditches and private ditches within parcels in people basically in backyards and side yards that eventually make their way into the Laguna Creek and out.

But the rest of the city, it has a design storm system where with curb gutter inlets, storm drain pipes, and manholes.

Basically, the Elgorf Creek watershed is in central El Grove area, goes from approximately Grant Line and also it drains into Laguna Creek.

Strawberry Creek watershed, this is on the north side of town.

We have a small pump station for one basin that drains into the strawberry creek, but mostly just a partial area of the city drains into the Strawberry Creek.

Laguna West Channel, it has basically flows into the beach lake, and it's gravity flow.

The next three watersheds, Laguna Westlakes, Lakeside, Laguna Stone Lake, they all depend on a pump station system.

They each have their own independent pump stations, and they're protected by a hundred year levee on the west side.

And the basically, whenever there's storm waters, they get drained via pumps into the Stone Lake area.

Sheds A, Airhart Channel, Shed B, the Franklin Creek, as well as Shed C.

There are also gravity flow, they go into the stone lakes as well.

We have Shed D, which is in our study area right now.

We're studying this in as part of our storm drain master plan update project that's ongoing right now.

This also drains into the stone lake.

We have a small watershed on the south side on south of the town, Grant Line Channel.

It's actually drained via pump station next to the golf course, and it goes into Deer Creek.

And finally, we have the Deer Creek watershed.

This one basically everything south and or east of Grand Line Road that goes into Deer Creek.

With that, I'd like to talk about some of the flood risks that we have here in City of Fall Grove.

First, the 100-year floodplain map.

So a hundred year flood is a flood event that has a 1% chance of exceedance in any given year.

It's not a flood that occurs once every hundred years.

So I just want to make sure we all understand that definition of the terminology.

So a hundred-year flood is a flood event that has a 1% chance of exceedance in any given year.

Not a flood event that happens once every 100 years.

And so this map is managed by FEMA.

The flood emergency is the blanked out on FEMA, which is the federal emergency management agency.

Thank you there.

Basically, parcels in the blue are required to have flood insurance through the national flood insurance program.

Mostly within our city, we don't have a lot of parcels.

We have less than thousand actual insurance holders in the city.

And the blue you see are mostly outside of the city boundaries.

Next is the 200 year floodplain map.

This is a floodplain map that actually we're in the process of updating this map.

Something we required by SB5 that was passed for the urban level of flood protection.

This map considers levee failures along the Sacramento River East Levee, as well as the Casumnus River on the south side.

So as part of this TMP, we're updating this map.

We're using 2D modeling and updated topography to have a more accurate and detailed map.

Also, I want to, you know, uh talk about the 200 year 200 year flood is actually a flood event that has a half a percent chance of happening every year.

So on this map, it looks a little bit scary on the west side of town.

We have those three um watersheds that are shown to be inundated by floodwaters.

I want to highlight some regional projects that are happening in our region to help alleviate or reduce this risk.

First, we have the Sacramento Wear Widening Project that US Army Corps of Engineers are working on.

Their goal is to reduce Sacramento River water surface elevations by a foot for a 200-year event.

And this is expected to be completed in 2027.

We have the Folsom Dam auxiliary spellway that was completed in 2017, and that was to achieve a 200-year level of protection.

We also have the Folsom Dam Race Project that's happening right now, and the goal is to raise the dam dikes by three and a half feet and expect to be completed in 2028.

And also, I want to highlight that Folsom Dam is operating under the FIRO, which is a forecast informed reservoir of operations.

The goal is to look at the forecast for atmospheric rivers and storm events and release water ahead of time to create capacity for floodwaters.

We have two dams in our region that could impact City of Elk Grove.

First is the Sly Park Dam from Jenkinson Lake on the east side of town.

Any dam inundation will be a catastrophe.

And this one, for luckily for El Grove, is all going to be contained within the 100-year floodplain.

On the northwest side of town, we have the Folsom Dam and the Folsom Reservoir.

If God forbid something happens to the Folsom Dam, it's going to be a regional catastrophe, and that will be impacting us as well.

But like I said, there are lots of projects in place and things that are happening that will that are really reducing this risk, and this is very unlikely to happen.

So, but it's it's a risk, but it's very unlikely to happen.

Now that we've reviewed the risk, part of preparedness is then making having analysis about those risks.

And an analysis was done, a disaster analysis was done in 2023, and that's the graphic you're seeing there, based on the 200-year floodplain map, and it highlights evacuation routes for contra flow lane recommendations.

This is used as a tool that we would use Contraflow as essentially a last case resort.

We would have the thing with flooding is that you typically have time.

So you have time for messaging, you have time for evacuation, but it starts those conversations, and this is why exercising is so important.

We can get all stakeholders to the table, we can have the discussions of what would be needed, we can get to as much pre-planning as we can, whether that looks like signal timing, having those plans programmed and in place and ready to go with maybe some minor adjustments.

We also need to be aware of our resources and the locations with throughout the region.

We have the flood flight catches that are just south of the city, and we also have our flood operations decision support system through Sacramento County.

So it allows us to know how many resources are available in real time.

Flood monitoring.

So in the event that we know that a weather event is coming, an atmospheric river, we will collaborate with city experts, such as public works and other regional county partners, our fire partners, to determine a current status.

We will review forecasted levels and we are will identify thresholds, planning the entire time once those thresholds are met.

We also have six creek monitoring stations within the city of L Grove that we oversee.

So LGROV.1rain.com is the website where residents can go in and actually in real time monitor rain amount of rain that's coming in accumulating, as well as the water service levels in Laguna Creek, L Grove Creek, Airhart Channel, Franklin Creek, and Shed Sea.

The county has multiple monitoring stations throughout the county and region.

Additionally, we look at the National Weather Service, the NOAA, the National Oceanic and the Smurfic Atmospheric Administration, as well as the California Nevada River Forecasting Center to see what the water level is going to be.

They look at the amount of water that's going to be, the drains that are going to be coming, the storm is going to come in, and then look at where that water is going to be, which rivers are going to be impacted, and what the uh river water surface elevation is going to be at what stage in a given uh 24-hour period or something like that in the future.

So we use that information, we communicate that to our emergency operations center.

And then we will identify local areas of risk and vulnerability.

So what the weather events gonna bring specifically to our city and then what it brings to the region.

Um we will identify vulnerabilities and specific weather, um specific needs related to the weather.

Um, if we need to act at activate sandbag locations, what resources we can stage in advance of the event.

Um, those types of conversations will happen throughout the weather event.

And our operations maintenance team that will activate the storm patrol and feed monitoring of all over levees, creeks, and channels uh will also shut down construction, all the inspectors will also assist and turn and basically turn into the storm patrol personnel.

It will be kind of all hands on deck and additional resources through contractors will be brought in as well as needed.

And so when we get into the actual flood response, um again, yeah, we'll activate the uh public works hotline, which is 916 687 3005.

It will be a 24-hour hotline and uh we will be responding to service requests as they come in.

Um, and uh most of the service calls that we typically get during these storm events are related to wind with down tree limbs and things like that.

Uh and our operations maintenance team, uh, they do a great job uh of actually making sure everything's clear ahead of time, ready for the storm, as well as if we need to have additional contractors on uh added to our crew, then that can be done as well.

And if appropriate, we would activate the emergency operations center if it's gonna be a long-standing event or something that we feel can't be handled through uh some coordination calls.

Uh that would be a step we would take, and we would receive uh situational update reports.

We would continue to monitor and ensure that we have a successful deployment of resources.

Flood recovery.

So once we are through the weather event, uh essentially the recovery though starts right when the weather event starts.

We will start preparing for the documentation needed that will um that will be needed for potential reimbursement.

Uh, as evacuation orders are lifted, we will continue continuously provide communication through that emergency uh alert system through Stack Alert, and it's very important that people register for that because that's gonna be the accurate place to find information.

It's not recommended to find it through social media channels unless it's a verified uh social media platform.

So that's that's very important for the SAC alert.

Uh continuing messaging on the recovery resources, any wraparound services we can provide as we repopulate an area, uh, and then we will deactivate the EOC or DOC when appropriate.

Uh but flood recovery will likely continue long after deactivation.

And then these are the resources that we were mentioned throughout.

Uh, we are actively building out the City Belt Grove Emergency Preparedness website, so please stay tuned for more links there.

Some um mapping that will show floodplains resources available, um, and and we look forward to that.

We have sandbag locations, and then we are going to link to the Sacramento Ready website and just make it a little bit more easy to navigate because that Sacramento website's very comprehensive, and so it can be sometimes a little bit challenging to navigate, so we will make those links quickly accessible for them.

And that concludes our presentation.

We are available for questions.

All right, thank you for that excellent, excellent presentation.

At this time, I will go ahead and open public comment opportunity.

I do not have anyone sign up to speak.

I will close public comment, open it up to questions.

I'll start to the right this time.

Sounds good, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, so I think well, not only is this just a good time because of where it is in the calendar, but I think uh there was an ask, you know, a couple of months back.

Uh after the Texas flood, right?

Um, there were a few residents that were concerned about it.

So thanks for thanks for providing this uh presentation, and I hope that those residents are are watching and see and understand, and I you know the Texas floods were um in those instances um uh what'd you call it not expect completely unexpected, right?

And so, you know, folks said, Well, hey man, hang on.

Can this happen here, right?

And so, well, you know, yeah, I mean, there's always five percent, right?

That can happen, the 200-year floodplain and everything.

And so I I I want to thank you very much for for alleviating that um uh a couple of things.

So, first, though, uh, so thank you, Miss Cortez.

I really appreciate it.

I I really enjoy hearing about how things are you know to take place to to be managed in the event of an incident.

Um, and so Mr.

Arrari, I want to say first, every time I talk to you about this topic or about water or about drainage, your excitement and your professionalism just shines right through, man.

I can feel it.

It's like you like you just love this topic and you love to talk about it.

And so I I really appreciate that exuberance because I know that you're you're you're paying attention, you're in it, right?

Um, so I do have a question.

It's a bit of a backup from this.

It was it was a question that came in on a green sheet, I think.

Um, and but I'll I'll instead of reading the green sheet, I'll just ask.

Uh, it's more towards the public work side.

Um as or maybe even community services development.

Um, when we're planning for uh homes, and I'll just say um non-permeable surfaces, driveways, asphalt, whatever.

How do we or how do we plan for um that impact, as well as how do we um plan for the impact of folks who extend their driveways out unpermitted, right?

How do we plan for that?

And I mean, is does that have some appreciable impact on our on the calculations in terms of our flooding in the streets?

Um, so if you could help me out with that one.

I can respond or all right, take it.

So um as new development is being planned, we go through various rounds of uh drainage study review and planning.

Um there are certain calculations that do go into that, which the engineers in the room can talk about ad nauseum as you note with great excitement.

But it's okay.

We love it because they're excited.

They are excited.

Yeah, so there are to the point though, there are assumptions on the level of pervious and impervious surface that occurs with that development.

This includes roads, this includes the building house structure itself, um, driveways and other sort of accessory improvements that would occur, be it everything from a shed or a place structure to anything else.

Based upon those calculations, is how then the infrastructure within the subdivision or within the neighborhood is sized.

We then reflect those assumptions or the underpinnings of those assumptions in our development regulations where we limit the amount of impervious surface that's allowed to occur across the front of the home, across the back of the home or the totality of the lot, and then the total uh buildable area that occurs.

And there's a number of different metrics that we use in the zoning code in order to do this.

Um, so folks are supposed to align to those provisions as best as we can.

Um, a lot of the work though that goes into that is concrete with patios and other things, which don't require in and of themselves a building permit.

And so it ends up becoming a code enforcement issue based upon neighbors calling in and complaining about other neighbors.

We typically have this where someone will pave their entire front yard and now start parking across the entire width of the lot.

Well, you've now increased your driveway area, you've got access coming in from public right-of-way that shouldn't be there, and so those become code cases and between the code enforcement team in partnership with public works, who would then go through them and do those enforcements and ask people to remove the excess concrete.

Um, would also do an inspection to see if there's something else going on with the lot, typically in the backyard, or maybe you've done something.

Um, we do also try to review in cases where those building permits do come in, like with say a pool and people are putting in a large deck area around it, making sure that those calculations are right.

And so our planning team does those reviews when those building permits do happen to make sure we're meeting those standards.

Okay, and so there are instances where we have chosen to deny applications based upon the percentage.

Absolutely.

There are many cases where we deny those projects where building excuse me, where a building permit is required, and there are a multitude of cases where code enforcement case has been opened and someone has been required under our standards to remove the excess pavement or excess improved surface area in order to return it to the appropriate condition.

Okay, thank you very much.

And again, thank you very much to the both of you and and I hope that those who wanted to have the update are are listening.

We'll ask, I'll I'll definitely let them know to to uh watch the uh the recorded.

So thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Brewer, any questions?

Thank you, madam Mayor.

So when we do have uh an incident that takes place, when we set up our incident command uh team, is it concentrated just locally within the city of Elk Grove and with fire initially, or it doesn't involve the county in some way, shape, or form based on where the actual flooding or threat of flood is taking place?

Because when we get the when we read the forecasts of an atmospheric river coming our way to this region, we always want to make sure we're well prepared, but as we saw in 2022, 2023, um, it was that river that atmospheric river took up a large swath of territory, not only in El Grove but in Wilton as well.

And so as we set up a team, um, do we set do we set it up with just us, the city of El Grove in mind, or do we expand the net and make it more county or regional?

Uh, that way we're making sure that we're we're making sure that every corner is being addressed, or when something happens, we're we have the people in the room ready to address the situation, regardless of say county, federal, state, even like say SMUD being in the room for the elect for the electricity, because as we saw, a lot of transmission lines were were affected and to a large extent, obviously PGE based on their transmission lines and their gas lines.

So any event that would take any weather event that would take place in Elkro, we are always connected with the county.

They're aware of what we're doing.

We're leaning on if it's after hours, they have a 24-7 duty officer line, and so we will always be connected with them because uh to your point we are not isolated or operating in a vacuum here, so we need to be aware of what what other um risks may be, what other uh what other partners are doing.

We may need to cue up some resources potentially, let them know exactly what we're dealing with, what our field units are saying, and relay all of that.

So there's never an instance uh related to emergency management or a weather event that where we would just solely be a small um just local teams responding.

We will always be connected with the county.

And this only this only occurs in the event of a major system coming through, not something where we're where there's four where there's rain on the forecast, like for example, this weekend.

Um we're not planning for anything of that smaller size.

We're only looking at based on what the forecast is looking.

We're getting a large current coming through, and it and it looks to be a large atmospheric river that is going to cover at least not just California, but also Oregon and Nevada and stuff like that.

Right.

For localized events, uh or smaller events where we just expect localized flooding, we will put out um some information on our social media pages as far as like be prepared for um you know the potential local the potential of localized flooding, we will offer sandbag locations and then uh us and the real time center we're very closely connected with public works, we're having coordination calls, and so for smaller events that's typically how we triage that.

Um for anything where the National Weather Service is forecasting a significant event, that's when we typically start uh talking with the county, and sometimes that looks upwards of seven days in advance.

We're starting those conversations, we're trying to see if we need to allocate some staffing um just on standby in the event that this the forecast shifts or to be up to date with what the current models are saying.

And for the public awareness, do we have some sort of like um opt-in system that people from the public can sign up on either on the city website or something that where they can immediately type in their address or cell phone information so they can receive the alerts as they come?

So through Stack Alert, through when they register their address, they should we'll receive emergency messaging, and sometimes that is just the advisories.

Um they we have links to the National Weather Service so you can type in your zip code and see if you're under um a watch advisory warning, um, and then for anything significant, we are going to push that through all of our social media channels in addition to um any mass alerting that needs to happen.

Good deal.

No, I really enjoyed this report.

Um it definitely shows that we're that we're on top of things and making sure that the public is aware as much as humanly possible.

And so I'm hopeful, hopeful that people will go back and see this and use what information that is being offered on here, and that the resources that are on the screen right now is something that people can actually apply to help them be better prepared.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll keep my comments very brief, but just thank you, super informative, understand contingencies, and definitely feel safe that you guys are leading this.

I think all of all groups should feel safe.

You guys have thoroughly planned all of this out, and this is what's needed.

We're in great hands because you guys plan this.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sewen.

Thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, definitely proud of what we have here.

It was uh it's fantastic to see uh that how organized and every um we are, and I hope the residents at home can feel safe to knowing this.

Just a couple questions in regards to the EOC.

Is it still city hall?

Is that is that if you were to activate?

Yes, that is still the main identified location, assuming that it wasn't compromised for some reason.

Uh we could in theory do a virtual EOC if we still had connectivity, um, but it's it's best to have folks in the room if if we can.

Yeah, absolutely agree.

Yep, thank you.

And then for you, Shoab, um, for the west side, so that is in the two-injured floodplain.

If I recall, we did we looked at it a few years back.

No, no threat of under seepage or through seepage, but overtopping, right?

So that levy system.

If you could pull back up that slide again, that um, yeah, uh go forward, go forward one more.

Oh sorry, one more.

This one.

No, one more.

Sorry, it showed the levees on.

This is go forward.

No, there's one that showed the yellow on the disaster.

Yeah, there you go.

Right there.

Yep.

So we need to raise that a few feet, right?

Uh, yes, it's um I understand that right now the levees are there's no issues structurally with the levees itself.

Um, the only concern for a 200 year certification is that they're not high enough for a way of action.

Um, the levees need to be raised by three and a half feet.

Um, we did apply for a grant um through FEMA.

Unfortunately, we didn't get the grant, mostly the you know, on a FEMA federal government side, the focus is more on a hundred-year level of protection and not so much for a 200-year.

Yes, so that's what we already know.

Yeah, and and so then are are we maybe it's to do Mr.

Warner, is this in our CIP, uh, to do this work because I I would like to see our the rest of our community having 200 year level of protection.

Yeah, we don't have a specific project in the CIP right now, most largely could because it's unfunded.

Uh there's a city council priority project, it remains on that list, and we remain diligent in looking for opportunities to fund such a project.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, definitely need to keep looking for the money there.

All right, thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Great questions and comments from my colleagues.

I really appreciate the coordination with Arctic and our public works.

I think that's phenomenal and keeping our community safe.

Um, to the extent that I'm fairly certain there's you know, we're not there's not a ton of people watching this right now.

Sad to say, but it's reality.

How do we get this information to our community?

Can we include a link, some sort of synopsis of today's meeting, and then go to the website with the link for more information.

I do think it's very important, and I would love to get this in the hands of many residents.

So I'll leave it to the experts to figure out how to do that.

Thank you, Kristen.

All right, all right, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, why are we clapping?

Don't make me do this.

No cheers and jeers.

All right, next item, 9.2.

9.2 is to receive a presentation and provide direction on shelter sighting criteria for the permanent homeless shelter.

Good evening, mayor and council members.

I'm Sarah Vontrager, your housing and public services manager.

Back again to talk to you about the shelter project.

We are moving very quickly with this project.

Um you all may remember, but in case we have folks watching, I'll do a little refresher.

Our shelter lease expires in September of 2028.

So we started planning for our permanent shelter in July, um, working with NJA architecture.

We wrapped up phase one, the content conceptual planning, and are now on to phase two, our sighting criteria.

So the shelter that we're planning is a low barrier shelter that's pet and partner friendly.

Currently, the conceptual plan has 20 beds, regular beds for folks, and five emergency beds for adults, along with four family units that can be combined to serve larger families.

We have a commercial kitchen in it and looking at office space for case management, trauma informed design, really a next level shelter.

We have gotten to the point where we now need to start thinking about sites and where this shelter goes.

And so we started at the staff level with about 130 sites, narrowed that to about 20 sites, and now are at the point where we are down to 10 sites that we are doing feasibility analysis on and test fits to see how a shelter would fit on those sites.

Our goal is to release four sites in January for public comment.

So we started our community engagement with phase two with an online survey on site criteria and priorities.

We need this information so that we can decide which of the sites that we want to advance.

So the survey was available for about three weeks, September 29th to October 17th, and that was the first of our phase two engagement.

The rest of it will follow likely in January when we actually release the four sites.

So our community survey gave us some really great feedback.

We had 655 people take the survey, which is really quite good for a survey.

Most of the respondents were Elk Grove residents.

We had pretty relatively equal representation from our three zip codes, and not a lot of people from other zip codes, which would indicate they're probably not Elk Grove residents taking the survey.

So we surveyed people on five categories.

They had a total of 10 points that they could allocate to these five categories in terms of their importance.

So someone could have said, I want all 10 points to go towards this one factor and no points to go to any of the other factors, or they could have distributed them equally or anywhere in between.

So overall, 46% of people said that they wanted the shelter low, or 46% of the points were allocated to sensitive uses, meaning that people wanted the shelter located in appropriate distance from homes, schools, daycares, and other sensitive uses.

Aside from that factor, we saw the other factors fall more or less close together.

Cost and feasibility, proximity to services, safety and security, transportation, all received between 10% and 18% of the points.

We also gave folks an opportunity in the survey to provide comments, free forum comments.

And so when we looked at how we would categorize those comments, we had a lot of folks mentioning safety and security considerations.

Interestingly, though, safety and security did not get a huge percentage of the points.

We had a lot of people expressing location preferences.

Mainly that was either don't build the shelter at all or don't locate it near homes.

A lot of folks commented on program design and rules.

We had really strong support for a pet-friendly shelter.

A lot of folks wanted to make sure that we were going to allow pets.

A lot of requests for vetting of guests, and emphasis on mental health and addiction treatment.

So these are just a couple examples of positive and negative feedback that were that were representative of what we received.

First one supporting building a permanent homeless shelter and providing additional resources.

The second one, common, you know, rather not have a homeless shelter in the city.

You know, the concern that building a shelter would invite more folks experiencing homelessness from other jurisdictions into our community was really common in the comments and indicates that we have a lot of education still to do to help folks understand the way that our shelter operates and the population that it serves, which is people who are already here in our community who have lived here before, who became homeless in our community.

We got a lot of questions.

Again, this speaks to still there's some education to do.

We have most of these questions answered on our frequently asked questions.

So I would encourage you know folks who want to know more about the shelter to visit that frequently asked questions page.

But we will be using this to guide some of our future social media efforts to make sure that we really do get the word out there as well as possible about the answers to some of these questions.

So what we are proposing and want to get council feedback on tonight is how you all feel about the allocation of points or percentage weight in these scoring criteria.

So I will show you a graphic at the end that that indicates how we plan to score the sites or evaluate the sites.

Sensitive uses, obviously, the goal there is to avoid conflict with those sensitive uses.

Cost and feasibility, we plan to look at the affordability to purchase the site, to build the shelter, to maintain it on that site over time.

The way that the site can be laid out and the timeline to construct that.

Proximity to services is really looking at how close the site is to jobs.

We are finding that many of the folks in our current shelter want to work.

And so having jobs that they can get nearby the shelter may be helpful in getting them income to get rehoused.

Also, proximity to services, health care, supportive services, mental health, are really important at getting our folks on the pathway to stable housing.

And then we have most of our folks receive at least CalFresh, the food benefit, and so have some funds to spend at retail stores, pharmacies, etc.

Safety and security.

On this measure, we want to look at how we would keep the shelter safe.

So looking at whether we could get a site layout that enhances the visibility for our partners like police and fire, and also their ability to reach the site quickly in the event of an emergency.

And then transportation was the factor folks ranked the lowest by a little bit.

That factor will look at access to public transit, how easy it is for folks to walk from the shelter to other locations, and how easy it would be for them to bike.

And so this graphic, we are still working on this.

This is a bit of a preliminary draft, but what we're hoping to do with this information is rank each of the factors you see on the right here, on sort of a red-yellow green.

Green would be it, you know, for sensitive uses, green would be the site is further from homes, schools, daycares, parks, etc.

Yellow would be it's it's kind of somewhere in the middle when we're looking at the sites, and red would be it's really in close proximity to those uses.

So using that classification, we would rank all of these factors and then kind of summarize it into an overall score for that factor.

So sensitive uses would get a score, cost and feasibility would get a score, and then sort of use that to evaluate the site.

What you see here on the left is the relative importance of those factors.

So you can see sensitive uses is a larger circle, larger text that is that represents the 46% of points allocation.

And you know, on the other end, transportation is much smaller, representing that the folks who took the survey felt that was less of a priority.

So want to get some council feedback on this strategy if you feel like those uh those percentage allocations are correct, or roughly roughly in the right range, and then what we will do with that information is we will continue working with NJA on the test fits for the site and evaluating each site on those metrics, and then uh use that to winnow the sites down to four sites that we release to the public, and we do plan to share the um the information on each of the sites and the scoring or the evaluation factors with the public to help them see how the sites compare.

That's what I've got.

I'm happy to answer questions.

All right, excellent presentation.

I will go ahead and open up public comment.

I do not have anyone sign up.

I'll close public comment.

Questions, comments, I'll start to the left this time.

Council member Sewen.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Sarah, for this uh presentation.

Um I think our community got it right.

I think the, I feel similarly on as far as these um categories that you have laid out.

So you're emphasizing as you as you listed here.

Is there a certain percentage that weighted percentage that you have aside?

Or is that how are you?

I see it's bigger in the you know, areas, but so we you know, we are we are not assigning a numerical score to sites, but we're kind of comparing the sites to one another relative to each other.

So a site that's further from homes or residential or other sensitive uses would um would get a green, one that's right abutting it would get a red, um, and then kind of kind of looking at it on that um that that basis rather than a strict like assigning a score, which can lead to, you know, it leads to some challenges in that you know, one site might be you know a thousand square feet or a thousand feet from residential, another one might be 975.

You know, those are about the same, right?

We want to make sure that we're we're not um creating a scoring system that's too restrictive.

I see.

And then in terms of cost, is how do you evaluate that when you don't have you know a design, a concept for each site's unique, right?

So you won't have that information.

Yeah, so we have been really fortunate.

Um JA, our partner does have a civil engineering firm on board as well.

They have some experience estimating costs through other shelters that they have designed, um, and the civil engineering firm that they're working with, partnered with has some experience estimating costs associated with the um the sites themselves and the cost it would cost to bring utilities onto the site, that sort of thing.

And so we do expect to get a rough cost estimate for each of each of the 10 sites that we are having them look at more closely.

Okay.

So you will be doing sort of a conceptual design on each one.

Yes, yes.

So, what what we hope to release um in January for each site is the score, the evaluation metric with the red, yellow, green, and kind of the overall summation there, as well as a conceptual design and how it would fit on the site, so that folks could see you know how how close it would be to the street, perhaps.

Um, not a firm design, right?

That obviously takes more time and more money, but at least a concept that would let folks see how that would fit on the site and integrate with the surrounding area.

Okay, and then finally for the intake, are you gonna go through when are you gonna go through that criteria and uh just for when people who are coming into the shelter?

Yes.

So we anticipate for this shelter using essentially the same process that we use right now, which is vetting by our navigation team.

So everyone who goes into the shelter right now into a regular bed, um, meets with one of our homeless navigators who verifies their connection to Elk Grove, and um we also of course run the check to make sure that they are not a sex offender or have other disqualifying factors.

Got it.

Good reminders.

All right, thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, madam Mayor.

Um for your response from the community, Sarah, has there been a lot of people just super engaged in this process?

We have um we have had some folks that have been really engaged throughout this process.

Um we've had a lot of positive feedback about the conceptual plan.

In particular.

Um, a lot of folks really liked the uh renderings that the architect shared with you the last time we were here.

Folks feel like the shelter's going to be welcoming and different than what their image of a shelter was coming in to the meetings.

Throughout this process, has it been more educational?

I think yes.

I think that one of the things we hope to do between now and January is continue that education with a series of videos and some social media content aimed at really getting folks ready to see this.

But we know that there are there are also folks who will not hear about this until they get you know a postcard in the mail about the meetings and the sites.

And so we're we're prepared um to do education at all points of the process.

We've learned a lot from the community engagement that we did around the enhanced winter sanctuary and then around the year the year-round shelter that we have right now.

And so we're going to be building off of that to design our community meetings and also the content leading up to.

Perfect.

And then just as the architectural structure, it's within that you're gonna be focusing on healing, wellness, and recovery, correct?

Yes, a very trauma-informed design that will allow folks to have a little bit more privacy than our current shelter is set up to allow.

Perfect.

Okay, that's enough questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Brewer.

Um as a as a carryover of Vice Mayor Robles' um questions, will the dimensions of the uh of the based on the our architectural drawings as you're sharing with the public.

What are the the takeaways that the public are take are responding to positively from based on the renderings?

Is it the light?

Is it the the positioning of the facility or is it the separation of rooms where families have their own space compared to individuals?

What are some of the takeaways that people are resonating with?

Two big takeaways the separate family spaces and the family the inclusion of family spaces at all.

Folks are really glad about that.

As you know, our current shelter does not accommodate families, and so that will be something something new.

A couple other things folks really like is um the way that that we plan to incorporate pets and space for pets into the individual um bedding areas.

Currently, at our shelter, folks um can leave their pet in a crate in their area.

We like to incorporate that more permanently into the design so that pets can stay near their owners like they do in our current shelter, as opposed to some shelters where there's an outdoor area or kennel where you have to leave your pet.

Um the other thing our community seems really excited about is the commercial kitchen.

One of the things that uh we've had when we had a nonprofit Elkgrove Heart managing an overnight shelter was the ability for organizations to cook food and then share that food with the guests.

And in our current shelter, we don't have cooking facilities, and so a lot of folks are really excited about having a commercial kitchen where they and their community group or faith-based group can come in and actually prepare a meal and possibly incorporate the guests in that process.

That's good to hear.

That's that's really good to hear as we're as we're as we're putting together a concept.

I mean, it's it's it's definitely important that the public feels that it's something that they can be engaged with, but also show that it's positive.

It's it's it's based on healing and getting back on track, um, but it's it and it shows that in every in every angle, every wall that is that that is that is on the facility because I think some people have a visual that it's going to be walls, limited windows, cold.

We want it to be as warm and inviting as possible, just to give the uh the individual and the families that are going to be there, give g just really inspiring and bring a sense of hope.

So thank you.

Councilmember Spees.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, so I think the only tweak that I see on it is that as we're could you go back to the stoplight chart the please?

So the the challenge or the question something I'd like to suggest I suppose is one small tweak and that's relative to okay so as a function of moving things away from sensitive uses moves the location likely to less dense locations right?

That's the that's the the likelihood.

I guess my so my concern and I um is safety and security and should that come up one more level that's all I'm thinking about um relative to it because again if if it is not in a dense area which is that's fine um I I'm concerned about accessibility and proximity to um to uh safety services be it fire or be it or or police I just I want to be sure somebody can get uh somebody can get assistance there um in a in a quick time right so that's kind of where I think so you're suggesting on the sample criteria taking the safety and security and moving it up to are you replacing I would say put it on equal equal footing with cost feasibility and uh proximity to services I just I put it on an equal footing because I mean hey safety and security it's a concern should be that's all I'm saying just put it on equal footing.

Um I mean I could I could support that I think it's consistent with some of the community feedback already I'm surprised transportation was so low.

I was surprised by it um and I think it's because the lens if you're an unhoused you want access to transportation and services so actually then that triggers the question did we get any of our residents at the shelter participate?

You know it was an anonymous survey so I can't say for sure whether we did or not.

Yeah I mean just having I would think having access to services would be higher but I I can't imagine any location that doesn't address really all of these needs anyways.

I imagine you're looking at this with a holistic lens and looking to address some of these components I would think so.

Yes I think all of the locations you know we are looking at the design with an eye to the visibility aspect we will certainly um so we did we asked questions but there are certain elements that will be universal across any location one is you know we'll be working with our police department to make sure that the uh site design incorporates the crime prevention through environmental design or septe principles and we'll be working obviously with our fire department representatives to make sure that they have the emergency vehicle access that they need on the site.

So there is definitely a threshold standard that would apply to all sites.

Okay and I think you know where the residents when it comes to safety and security and the sensitive uses I I can't help but wonder if there are sort of you know we have them as separate categories but I really also think from a lot of the residents that I've heard from I'm afraid of having shelters near my house for safety and security reasons.

So there it's like a big long sentence so I really do think that this the sensitive uses probably does address a lot of the safety and security issue because it's usually part of one sentence that I've heard at least from from for my perspective, and I think yours too.

Um that's fine.

I think I mean I'm just saying, like I feel like they're one in you know, sure.

I mean, they were saying we want sensitive uses.

Yeah.

And you don't you don't want them near the schools and daycares because you're worried about safety and security.

It's usually part of the same sentence that I've come across.

Yeah, and I I go there with it.

My I where I yeah, the only reason that I push to it is relative mostly to accessibility in the event that something happens, right?

So I'm okay with it.

I just wanted to bring it up if that's if nobody wants to move it.

I'm I'm good with that.

Um yeah, I think I'm good for now.

Um, and then as we look at this the sites, I think we can go through this exercise one more time, because that's really where a lot of this is gonna come up is the site selection, and then we can do the deeper dive.

So I'm happy with what you've presented and the need is there, and I'm really proud of the work that we're doing.

There was another great success story shared by the gathering in of a couple that has now moved into employment and permanent housing.

So they are doing great work, and it just reinforces that the need is there, and we are seeing some successes coming out of there.

So uh wishing all of them the best of luck.

So thank you for your presentation.

We will move on to our next item.

That's item 9.3, which is receive a presentation except for filing the Elk Grove Tourism Marketing District Annual Report for fiscal year 2024-25.

All righty.

Good evening, council, um, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members.

I'm Sarah Rodriguez, your economic development analyst here at the City of Elk Grove, and also your proud secretary of the Explore Elk Grove Board of Directors.

So, as a reminder, back in 2015, the City Council took a forward thinking step by forming the Elk Grove Tourism Marketing District and nonprofit owner association visit Elk Grove that does business under the name Explore Elk Grove.

The mission behind this collaboration continues to align perfectly with the council's vision of fostering a thriving local economy by creating events and experiences that enhance the quality of life for both our visitors and our residents.

And since its inception, Explorer Grove has provided an annual update to the council, highlighting the key projects and progress that they've done throughout the years.

So I'm here to continue that tradition.

Thank you all for your continued support of Explore Elk Grove on behalf of the board.

And I want to introduce the executive director, Aaron Val, and um director of marketing and events, Casey Capri.

Thank you, Sarah, and good evening, Madam Mayor and Council and City staff.

Uh each year Explore Out Grove has a privilege of sharing in storytelling, celebrating the people in this community places and experiences that make our city truly exceptional.

I'm Aaron Val, the executive director um of our team at I Explore Oak Grove, and it's a pleasure to serve this community.

Um our mission is simple yet powerful to elevate Elk Grove's identity, drive economic impact, and enhance quality of life by connecting residents and visitors to all that our community has to offer.

Over the past year, our team has strengthened partnerships, expanded our marketing reach, and amplified Elk Grove's presence regionally, statewide, and nationally, together with all of you, city staff, our hotels, local businesses, restaurants, coffee shops, wineries, breweries, local producers, and community partners.

We positioned Elk Grove as a place where creativity, culture, and connection thrive.

I'm gonna click through here and dive into a couple of items that we wanted to share and showcase.

Um lodging and performance this year um was pretty strong overall.

We had a 278.8% hotel occupancy throughout the community, a hundred and forty-two dollar average daily rate, a hundred and twelve dollar revenue per occupied room, and twenty-seven million um in guest room revenue, which um calculates to over three million dollars in transient occupancy tax that comes back to the general fund for the community.

Um there's a little bit of a new report that uh tourism Economics um produces um for the destinations that subscribe to their data, which we are one of 200.

Um, it identifies and showcases how Elk Grove and the Sacramento region with air travel labor, some of our efforts through organic website sessions and direct sales efforts brings us all up and how compares us to other communities and other destination marketing organizations like ourselves.

So this is something new we wanted to share and showcase.

Tourism continues to be a vital driver for Elk Grove in our economy, contributing over a hundred million dollars in annual spend, um, supporting thousands of jobs annually as well.

Um you might wonder like who's coming to Elk Grove, how long are they staying?

So here's some of the information about that.

Um average, visitors are staying 2.8 days.

Um, 81% of them are staying over the night, the rest of them are driving in for the day.

Uh 64% are repeat visitors.

Um average, they're spending about 9 million dollars, and again, annually about 100 million.

Um the demographics, the household income is around 86,000.

Um, and then you can see the spread of age group and race.

Um our sales team does a lot of proactive efforts as far as uncovering new events for the community, um, whether they're regional, statewide, or even national.

And then also supporting events that are within the community.

So of the 23 events that we uncovered and or supported, we had 46,000 um estimated attendees and visitors from those 23 events, 21,000 hotel room nights, 12.2 million direct business sales estimated, 699,000 local tax generation, and about 5,000 jobs supported.

Um, some really key results that continue to grow year over year.

Um I have a little bit of a video that I want to show with you that the team put together.

A lot of this goes to the marketing and content development team that put everything together to kind of do a whole role for a roll-up for the year.

Expect six over six hundred swimmers out at the Elk Grove Aquatic Center.

And this is all for the Bill Rose Classic Championship now.

Elk Grove has to offer, you know, and we want to be a big part of that, you know.

Yeah, and and with the city growing the way it has, the options have obviously increased definitely.

In the past, we've had those explore Elk Grove e-certificates turn into students who have become students for long term.

Instagram ads, we're you know, sending emails, we're promoting and marketing uh like crazy.

But that little extra push from another entity like Explorer Grove, it's awesome.

It really you really do feel support.

That's a wrap on the video.

Hope you enjoyed that.

It's available on our YouTube as well.

But what you've seen is the power of partnership and purpose and action.

Every campaign, every event, and every collaboration truly contributes to the larger vision.

Um, one where Elk Grove isn't just a place to live and work, but a place to visit, a place to experience and to connect and to return to.

So now I'm going to turn it over to Casey Favory, who's our director of marketing events, who will share highlights from the past year showcasing how we continue to turn strategy into impact partnerships into opportunities and stories into inspiration.

Casey.

Thank you, Erin, and good evening, Madam Mayor and Council members.

This past year has been one of growth, collaboration, and momentum.

Our marketing, public relations, and strategic events continue to elevate Elk Grove's visibility and strengthen our community's tourism ecosystem.

Our website saw a 34% increase in new users and also drove 19,000 referrals to partner websites supporting local businesses directly.

Social media continues to be a powerful engagement tool, and our email newsletter also grows steadily each year, now reaching more than 15,000 subscribers.

Beyond our own channels, strategic public relations efforts have helped position Elk Grove as a destination of choice.

Proactive media pitching led to 48 earned stories, including features in Visit California, KCRA, and the Sacramento Bee.

As you saw in the video, the impact of Earned Media has been felt across the entire community.

These stories represented 32 different partners and extended Elk Grove's reach, putting the city and its local businesses on the map.

Building on this visibility, Explorer Grove continued driving excitement through signature events and community collaborations.

Highlights included the SAC Brew Bike VIP experience on Main Street, Diversity Dining Week with 42 participating restaurants, and new quirks and Caps events like the Hall of Wine Trail.

Together, these events created memorable experiences and supported local businesses.

Explore Old Grove continues to lead the support local e-Gift Card program, working alongside the City of Elk Grove and Chamber of Commerce.

Over the past year, the program has driven more than $19,000 in spending at local businesses with over 111 locations currently participating in the program.

Beyond generating local spending through the e-Gift Card program, Explore Alt Grove spotlighted participating businesses on social media.

Nina, our content marketing manager, personally visited 41 businesses and created social media reels that share local stories and ensure our content is authentic and engaging.

Finally, our partnership with Elk Grove High School's TDA Academy and the Civic Summer Internship Program gave students valuable hands-on marketing experience while nurturing pride for their hometown.

Now all of these achievements that we've shared this evening have set the stage for an exciting year ahead.

July kicked off with our annual tourism brunch and two major sporting events.

AJGA's first ever Elk Grove Junior Championship, and we also welcomed back Western Zones.

September was filled with traditions and new experiences.

Explore Oak Grove energized our culinary scene with Diversity Dining Week and showcased our vibrant breweries and wineries with events like the Sangria Showdown and Uncorked and Uncapped.

To wrap up the month, Elk Grove was front and center at Visit Sacramento and Slow Food International's first ever Terra Madre Americas.

Local chefs, coffee makers, and producers shared their products with over 165,000 attendees from across the globe.

Looking ahead, we're excited for Hall of Palooza this Friday and the second annual Hollow Wine Trail next weekend.

Signature events and annual programs will return like restaurant week, Uncorked and Uncapped, and the AJGA Junior Championship in 2026.

We remain focused on expanding Elk Grove's reach as an experience-driven family-friendly destination.

Through strong partnerships and compelling storytelling, we'll continue to attract visitors, inspire repeat travel, and deliver value to residents and businesses alike.

Thank you.

Thank you, Casey.

As we look ahead, Explore Oak Grove remains committed to advancing our shared goals, driving economic growth, supporting local business vitality, and celebrating the people and stories that define our community.

Elk Grove story continues to unfold, and together we're writing the next great chapter.

Thank you.

Any questions?

All right.

Well, thank you.

Excellent presentation.

I will open up public comment just in case nobody signed up to speak.

I'll close it.

Any questions, comments?

Looking to the right.

Any questions or comments?

Sure.

I'll start out real quick.

I really appreciate the presentation.

Very good information.

One thing I want to thank you very much for is your support of local service clubs, local uh chaired, not charities, but um nonprofits, um, the assistance that you're doing with the Strauss Festival to you know help elevate a fantastic uh longtime community um performance is great.

Um, things with Taste of Elk Grove and other things.

I really appreciate the that you've had the opportunity to help them elevate the game.

So thank you.

Thank you.

It's our pleasure.

Councilman River, any questions?

No, I just want to thank you for the report and just keep up the good work on providing that presence and being out there in the community and and just showing what Elk Grove is made of to the outside world.

It's definitely attracting and giving eyes to it.

Uh, saw this really interesting stat that you may be happy to hear about.

So I saw it last night on the news where Elk Grove and Roseville were considered as two of the most safest places for Halloween.

And so that trunk of Palooza that's coming up is like perfect for that because now you can get a fresh new batch of kids from the region that are participating, and that just adds on to the work that Explore Elk Grove is showing and improving every day.

So thank you so much.

Vice Mayor, questions, comments.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um Aaron, I just want to say thank you for leading the forefront of this, especially making our city known and pop out even in the region.

Um, I think recently you also did a join a joint to join with uh Visit Sacramento and and been visit Rancho, correct?

On sports.

Yeah, we are um creating a coalition with Visit Sacramento, Visit Rancho Cordova, and hopefully Yellow County Placer County Tourism as well as some of the other regional destination working organizations to attract larger sporting events that aren't just solely gonna affect one community but multiple communities.

We had the opportunity to go to Teams conference in Ohio last week where we had our first um 40 appointments with sports events rights holders, and ones that we were really targeting to get in the community that's going to have events in Sacramento Rancho and Elk Grove, for example, like the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics, which will need about 30 poles within a 40-mile radius, pools like our aquatic center, and then also some senior games and some other opportunities.

So it's nice to be having a much larger regional approach in the sports tourism market.

And do you see that's gonna be a big revenue uh generator, correct?

Yeah, yes, all those events would have multi-million dollars in economic impact for each of our communities.

And we saw that there was an up from 78%, correct?

Last year, um, has it increased that percentage that we talked about?

I think it was for um number of uh people sleeping in hotels.

The occupancy numbers are continuing to grow this year.

Last year they were a little bit um steady from the prior year, um, but we are continuing to see the average daily roommate grow every other day, and also the revenue per occupied room.

Um, so as we continue to um fill those need dates, especially November through February, and identify events that will help fill some of those voids, we'll continue to generate um gas dreaming revenue and transient occupancy dollars for the community.

And then for that's so that's TOT, correct?

Yes.

Um, have we, and maybe this is for discussion for longer time.

Is has there been any certain percentage, or have we not increased it or even kind of revisited the TOT numbers?

Uh TOT tax for the city that the city collects is 12%.

And then um Explore Out Grove, which manages the tourism marketing district for the city of Elk Grove.

We collect 4%, which was recently increased last July.

Um, and so that 4% is through uh the tourism marketing district.

And you're doing a lot with that 4%, correct?

We are.

We it's actually given us a huge boost in the activity that we can do to promote the community.

Oh well, thank you very much.

And I know that uh Tierra Madre just happened and everyone saw the Elk Grove booth.

That was the first thing you saw.

Um there was lines out the door, literally for that one.

Um people were getting a taste of Elk Grove, experiencing the coffee, and it was amazing to see that uh everyone from Sacramento was like you guys are doing it different in Elk Grove.

Um so it was awesome to see that.

Thank you for what you're doing.

Thank you for visiting the 41 restaurants that we have in Elk Grove, making sure that folks are aware uh that we do have the best sushi, the best thackles, uh, the best coffee shops that are hidden.

So um you're really elevating a lot of our our local businesses, and we are super appreciative of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Merson.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I couldn't agree more with Vice Mayor said uh congratulations, Aaron, Casey, and your entire team on these new stats.

Um that I heard about the terra major, I wasn't able to go, but I heard that you pitched it to our city, and Daryl did a great job in making sure advocating that that we get behind you and so glad we did.

Uh on that note.

I also want to give Daryl a shout out for bringing you on board many, many years ago.

It's it's been great.

Every year you're elevating things, you do better and better.

Uh and so we are really excited for what you've done so far and look forward to what you're doing, gonna do in the future.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Loved all the comments.

Um, my my two cents on this.

You, you know, you do tremendous work elevating our city, travel, tourism, destination marketing.

These are all things that lift up our local economy and bring bring new visitors here.

So great job.

Continue, you know, do exceling at what you're doing.

Big fan, big supporter, obviously, as someone who's been in the hospitality industry for over a decade.

I understand and really appreciate the work that you do.

Um, it does not go unnoticed, and the Tier Madre, you just knocked it out of the park.

Thank you.

And thank you for the investment with Daryl and invest Elkrovens there.

Because we couldn't have done it without that.

And we look forward to 2027.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

Have a good evening.

All right.

All right.

So we uh okay.

Welcome.

Generally speaking, we don't do any applause, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Appreciate that over rock skinning through.

Well, there is that.

I don't know.

My four is receive information on recommendations for enhancing city youth programs and engagement.

Congratulations, Femi.

On your promotion, yeah.

Okay.

Good evening, mayor, council members.

My name is Femi Omotesh or Management Analyst in the City Manager's Office.

This um staff report is for council to receive information on recommendations for enhancing city youth programs and engagement and provide direction as desired.

Just to provide a little background at their retreat in February this year, council directed staff to explore opportunities to enhance youth programs and engagements.

Staff worked with the youth commissioners to gather preliminary insights and ideas.

This presentation is an initial framework for discussion and direction.

Staff will continue to develop these concepts with the commissioners.

Currently, the city is already actively engaged, engaging youth through several established programs.

For example, the youth commission advises the city council.

Civic Summer Internship provides hands on experience in governance, and the police department has several programs that engage youth, such as the Explorer Program, the Youth Service Officers, and other community collaborative efforts.

Also, the work force development partners with EGUSD on college and career connections to shape curriculum and link students with business leaders.

Is one of the ways youth are engage in civic projects.

So the initial uh recommendations we are making are in um two parts.

Firstly, we are focusing on uh demystifying government and engagement.

We are proposing developing a video series to explain local government roles and participation pathways.

Also promoting opportunity to earn community service hours through city-sponsored events and civic participation.

The last part for this um one is organizing regular youth council forum or youth and council forum or uh mayoral council attendance at youth commission meetings for direct communication.

Of course, we are going to uh be take cognizance of the Brown Act while planning such interactions so that we don't um do anything wrong.

Also, explore formal in-class local government, career presentation with schools.

And then the second part of the initiative is focused on enhancing the current initiatives that we have right now.

We are proposing launching a targeted campaign, such as maybe school presentations, social media testimonials to raise the awareness about the commission, what it does, and how to apply.

The uh empower the commission to expand its social media presence with support from public cafe staff to create engaging peer toasting content.

We are also proposing the uh exploring um offering a financial scholarship, possibly 500 per intern for up to 50 interns yearly for the civic summer internship to broaden appeal and professionalize the experience.

Yeah, no immediate physical uh impacts with accepting this report.

The internship financial scholarship is the only financially significant item proposed, and of course, general staff time required for all initiatives.

Staff recommends that council receive this information from staff on initial recommendation for enhancing city youth.

Program and engagement.

Uh council received uh provides direction as desired for staff to continue developing this and additional initiatives.

That's the conclusion of my presentation.

Um, for questions.

Thank you, Dr.

Femi.

Um, at this time I'll open up public comment.

I do not have anyone sign up or close public comment.

Anyone on her questions on the left or comments?

Oh, just thank you for me for the information.

I think investing in our youth, this is another great way.

I like the idea of the financial scholarship uh consideration.

So appreciate.

Vice Mayor?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I am in agreement with Council Merson.

Anyone on the right?

Questions, comments?

Yeah, go for it.

Okay.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, real quick, thank you, Dr.

Femi.

I appreciate the presentation as always.

Um, I think this is an item that came out of you know our last retreat when we all, you know, uh had reflected and said, you know, there's there's more that we can do um to help out our youth.

And and and again, I know I'm I'm speaking to the choir, everybody knows this here because we talked about it before, but it bears repeating that there are cities uh not just close to us but across the United States that are wishing that they could do something more for their youth, but are trying to balance the budget to pay uh for employees, right?

So I just want to say um that you know, with measure E, I thank you very much to the residents.

It provides us an opportunity to invest in our youth.

I want to thank staff very much for coming up with creative ways to get to do that.

Um, I hope that we can you know keep our minds open to things in the future.

I would definitely support all of those and what I would suggest relative to the uh scholarships.

There are um participants in this is what is it the summer program?

That's the name of the summer program.

Civic summer.

Civic summer.

Okay.

There are participants there are corporate participants in the civic summer that we would probably need to reach out to and ask them if they would be willing to support that $500.

So I guess we just ask them first and then see what we can do.

Um, I would hate to lose opportunity.

Um, I would hate to lose companies that are part of the program for that, but I'm sure there's something that one some way we can come up to to solve that, right?

Um, but great stuff.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Dr.

Femi, and thanks to the to the rest of staff that have been working on this.

Councilor Roberts, any questions, comments?

No, I I really like the the presentation and especially the recommendations to help uh help enhance promotion of the youth commission and the and the community service hour incentives for civic participation.

I really like those because that can help engage more more youth, especially from the middle school and the high school levels, because as we've seen with our current uh team to the youth commission, we actually have like youth in middle school levels participating, and that's awesome because um it really gets the juices flowing for involvement for community involvement, and and looking for ways to help bring a new set of eyes and and bring in new bodies to the youth commission is always welcome, especially when we have um a lot of juniors and seniors that apply, but every now and then you get that seventh grader or that eighth grader, that ninth grader that participates, and that really is good for the process and it's good for our community.

Uh so I really like a lot of these efforts.

The scholarship uh again, this is a really good, this is a really good endeavor for us to to walk down, especially in getting um teens involved, whether they're in civic summer or the youth commission or or another uh youth organization that is affiliated with EGUSD, and it's really good.

It's all good in getting in getting the youth involved and getting them hands-on training, building skills and and developing self-esteem.

So I love all of that.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Dr.

Femi, um, for all the great work that you're doing.

An investment in our youth is an investment in our future.

So thank you, appreciate all the work.

It was uh, you know, they our students brought up mental health being a big concern.

So I'd love to see what what unfolds over the next year as as we tackle on a big issue that's impacting our youth, and it's something that they are interested in proactively.

So looking forward to continued success coming from our commission and all the great work that's happening.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, um, next item 9.5.

Let's consider appointment of one voting member to the historic preservation committee and possible appointment of an alternate member.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council members.

I'm Jason Lindgren, your city clerk.

We open this recruitment for a vacancy that occurred at the beginning of September.

The Historic Preservation Committee has a unique construction in that we have five members but two alternate members, and our alternates um always have that opportunity to step into a voting seat if they are so appointed.

If that does happen, we do have a new applicant that would have the possibility to also be appointed, whether voting member or alternate, but I'll let uh any of the applicants that are here in attendance tonight speak to their on their behalf and take it from there.

Alright, thank you.

I'll go ahead and open up public comment opportunity.

We have one speaker, John Frazier.

We're almost home, almost there.

Um, yeah, we're we're we're there.

Uh mayor, vice mayor, council members.

It's it's great to see you.

My name is John Frazier, and I'm an applicant for the vacancy on the historic preservation committee.

Um, it's been my great pleasure to serve on the committee since July of last year, and I'm now the senior alternate.

It is a remarkable group of people, and I would be honored to continue to serve with them as a voting member.

I have worked in preservation my entire career, first as a historian with California State Parks, working across the state to preserve its diverse and rich cultural heritage since 2019.

I've been the district superintendent of the California State Parks Capital District, which includes old Sacramento State Historic Park, Sutter's Fort, the California State Railroad Museum, the California State Capital Museum, the California State Indian Museum, and the Leland Stanford Mansion.

I am excited about the prospect of informing the continued preservation and activation of historic oak grove and believe strongly historic districts are best cared for when they're part of vibrant commercially viable spaces.

Thank you for the time to speak this evening.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

And that is our final speaker.

So I will close public comment.

And I would like to nominate John Frazier to fill the vacancy.

Uh comes highly recommended from your colleagues.

So that is my nomination.

Absolutely.

We're good.

All right.

Congratulations.

Thank you for continuing to serve.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

All right.

Next item is our council comments.

Before we go too far, Mayor, uh, what you would have as an option is that with Mr.

Frazier stepping up from being an alternate, we do have now a vacancy.

Oh, that's right for an alternate position.

Um, one of your alternates is already an alternate, and we just have one other application.

Alright, well, then let's appoint uh Rachel, Lee Perez as an alternate.

And there we are.

Thank you.

There we are.

All right, excellent.

Thank you.

Uh, we'll start to the right.

Any comments, reports, future agenda items?

Uh, library um library board tomorrow.

That's about it.

Thank you.

Same, Rod.

Same as Councilmember Speace.

Vice Mayor, anything?

And I sure are meeting today, Madam Mayor.

And then also was appointed on the League of Cities Executive Board for the Latino Caucus.

So I'll be representing El Grove there.

Good job.

Awesome.

Similarly, I appointed to the board of API caucus, at League of Cities.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So at the League of Cities, it was a great pleasure to serve on a panel with our city manager, showcasing good governance in our state.

And we are really seen as a model city.

So that just obviously makes me really proud of the great work that's uh taking place here.

So I just got to showcase all the great work that's happening.

So thank you to our city staff for making our job easy.

Great work on the panel, Mayor and City Manager Jason Beerman.

You guys represent that.

I will say I cannot underscore the comments that came from many colleagues from statewide about dysfunctional city councils.

And I got to just really boast about how fabulous we all work together.

We respect each other, most importantly, we listen to each other.

We may not always agree, but we all have each other's back, but most importantly, we have our cities back and our residents.

So I just thank you all for all that you do for our city.

Um STA and SAC RT subcommittee.

And then next week, actually, uh the first kickoff is the county city collaboration on homelessness, services, and behavioral health.

I will be one of I'll be the one representing the city.

It's uh it's a county and all of our cities participating in this effort.

So more to report on that at the next meeting.

Uh with that, um, if my mom is watching, happy birthday.

I'm on my way home.

Happy birthday.

And uh thank you.

We will adjourn the meeting at 9-11.