OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Special City Council Meeting: 2026 State of the City Address - March 31, 2026

OtherTuesday, March 31, 2026
BodyElkgrove, California
SessionOther
DateTuesday, March 31, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:11:41

Transcript — Verbatim
0:08

Good morning attendees.

0:10

That would be an appropriate time to find your seats for the twenty twenty-six State of the City Address.

0:27

And officially here at ten fifteen AM, I would like to call to order the special middle meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, March thirty first, twenty twenty six to hear the twenty twenty-six State of the City Add.

0:39

The Elgriff City Council welcomes, appreciates, and encourages participation in the city council meeting, and the city council requests that you limit any presentations to three minutes per person so that all president will have time to participate.

1:07

But it helps us just to catalog and get everybody uh set up and lined up in the speaking order.

1:12

With that, I would like to call uh the roll call for the meeting, and I will be doing a visual roll call, but these fine glasses aren't doing quite as well as they will, so I'm going to be looking for a couple of my members of the city council.

1:25

And I would like to call out, and if you are present to raise your hand for Councilmember Robles.

1:31

Ah, excellent, and thank you.

1:32

The audio helps as well.

1:34

Councilmember Spees.

1:36

I believe Councilmember Spees is absent.

1:39

And actually, these eyes do work uh rather well.

1:43

I know that Councilmember Brewer, I did see him attending in the audience.

1:46

Thank you, Councilmember Brewer, and we have Vice Mayor Darren Sewin also attending in the audience, and of course, our keynote speaker, Mayor Bobby Singh Allen.

1:55

So with that, we have a quorum and we will proceed.

1:58

We would like to move towards our land acknowledgement.

2:00

And at this time, I'd like to call forward Mariah Alari to read the land acknowledgement.

2:20

Good morning, everyone.

2:21

Thank you for being here and joining us today.

2:23

My name is Mariah Aleri.

2:25

I am an enrolled member of the Ion Band of Mi Walk Indians, first year at the University of California, Davis, and currently working at the Sacramento District Attorney's Office as an intern.

2:34

And I will be opening up with the land acknowledgement today.

5:02

At the twilight's whose broad stripes and bright stars through the or the pots we watched was so gallant le streaming and the bombs bursting in gave proof through night that our flag was still there does that way or the land of the free and the home of the breed.

7:14

And please, everyone, be seated.

7:16

Thank you for also standing at the such a uh attentive group.

7:20

I appreciate that.

7:21

I would like to uh just extend my thanks to the Elk Grove Police Department honor guard, but also for that performance of the national anthem by Gabrielle Lang.

7:30

So thank you for that.

7:31

That was beautiful.

7:38

Which takes us on to section two, our presentation, the State of the City Address, and it is my honor this morning to welcome up our city manager, Jason Beerman for some opening remarks.

7:57

Morning, everybody.

7:59

It's great to be with you.

8:01

Thanks for joining us.

8:02

Wanna be half of the entire city of Elk Road, I want to welcome you coming to the city's um great opportunity to hear from our mayor in the state of our wonderful city.

8:13

Um so thank you for for not only being here but being engaged in our community for doing all the things that you do.

8:19

We couldn't be the city that we are without an engaged um business community, residential community, nonprofits, friends, family that are all here supporting each other and supporting the good work that we do, and I'm blessed to be able to be able to work with a wonderful mayor and city council and great staff who care about this this wonderful community and work really hard to make sure it is the best place that it can possibly be.

8:46

So it's now my honor and privilege to be able to say a few words of introduction about our honorable mayor, Bobby Singh Allen before we invite her up to the stage.

9:14

Mayor Sing Allen has brought her strong leadership skills and professional background to help lead the city of Elkrove.

9:20

Sing Allen is a champion for good governance, which includes transparency, accountability, fiscal responsibility, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement.

9:41

A wife, mother, two children.

9:43

She has lived in Elk Row for over 30 years.

9:46

Her civic and community engagements have earned several awards and recognition.

9:52

She was selected as Woman of the Year for Assembly District Nine by former assembly member and current Sheriff Jim Cooper and recognized for her many achievements in front of the California legislature.

10:01

She was named AAPI Changemaker by the Sacramento B.

10:05

Sing Island was also recognized in the Power 100 by the Sacramento Business Journal.

10:09

She is the nation's first directly elected Sikh woman mayor.

10:14

As I said, it's my let's let's give her a I've been in local government for 27, 28 years now, and I've never worked for a mayor and a city council as committed and dedicated and as willing to put the interests of our community first in all of the decisions that they make.

10:41

And so I am blessed to be able to work as the Elk Grove City Manager and to work with such dedicated public servants and to work with a staff that also delivers just amazing services and has the best interest of our community and heart.

10:56

It really is a great place, and all these things need to come together with our community in order for us to be successful.

11:02

So it's my honor to welcome up our Honorable Mayor Bobby Singh Allen.

11:36

First year I'm going to be needing glasses for this.

11:39

Who said getting old is easy?

11:41

It kind of sucks.

11:45

All right.

11:45

Well, good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us.

11:49

Whether you are here in person or listening online, I thank you for taking the time to receive an update on the state of our city.

12:00

I stand before you giving my sixth state of the city address as your mayor.

12:09

Thank you.

12:12

I am grateful for the trust you have placed in me and for the opportunity to serve a community that continues to inspire hope, pride, and possibility.

12:24

Local government works best when residents don't just live in a city, but actively help to build it.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural██████████████████████████████████34%
Community Engagement█████████████████████████25%
Economic Development██████████████14%
Homelessness██████6%
Public Safety█████5%
Engineering And Infrastructure█████5%
Miscellaneous████4%
Transportation Safety███3%
Affordable Housing██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Special City Council Meeting: 2026 State of the City Address - March 31, 2026

This was a special meeting of the Elk Grove City Council on March 31, 2026, to hear the annual State of the City Address delivered by Mayor Bobby Singh Allen. The meeting included a land acknowledgement, opening remarks by City Manager Jason Beerman, the mayor's address, and public comments.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Beth Bourne spoke against the city's recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility, criticizing books in middle schools that she claimed mislead children about biological reality and puberty blockers. She expressed opposition to transgender identity and called for protecting children and women.
  • Tristan Bazzini, a licensed clinical psychologist and member of the city's Diversity and Inclusion Commission, thanked the city for recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility and affirmed support for transgender residents. He stated that transgender people are part of the community and deserve dignity, respect, and safety.
  • Casey Mantilla, a transgender woman, shared personal experiences and called for understanding and connection. She emphasized that transgender people are ordinary community members and urged genuine dialogue and acceptance.
  • Delia Ballwin expressed pride in Elk Grove as a welcoming city and praised the mayor and city council for their leadership on diversity and inclusion. She noted that the Elk Grove Unified School District has also passed a similar resolution.

Mayor's Address - Key Announcements

  • Theme: "Progress with Purpose" – Elk Grove is moving forward with intention, impact, and a clear vision for the future.
  • Financial Stability: Elk Grove remains financially stable without structural deficits, unlike many surrounding cities, allowing for investments in public safety, infrastructure, and services.
  • Public Safety: In 2025, officers responded to nearly 100,000 calls for service, reducing overall crime by 2%. Added a commercial enforcement officer and a parking enforcement officer who addressed over 2,800 abandoned vehicles and parking complaints. License plate readers generated alerts on 274 vehicles of interest, with nearly 30% resulting in arrests. Drones cleared 14% of calls without a patrol vehicle and reduced response times by 75%.
  • Homelessness: The temporary year-round shelter at Cavalry Christian Center served over 100 adults, with 18 moving to permanent housing. A new permanent shelter on Survey Road is planned, with final design later in 2026 and a goal of opening in fall 2028. Homeless encampments citywide reduced by 65% over the past year.
  • Affordable Housing: In 2025, the city opened 770 new affordable housing units, the most in Elk Grove history. Additional units are planned for 2026, including Phase 2 of the Parties project (139 units) and construction of Coral Blossom Permanent Supportive Housing.
  • Infrastructure: Over $10 million invested in pavement maintenance, 125 ADA ramps upgraded, and flashing stop signs installed at 21 crosswalks near schools or parks. Construction of the Laguna Creek Trail pedestrian overcrossing at Highway 99 to begin summer 2026. The White Lock Interchange project will be fast-tracked without federal funds.
  • Transportation: A new seniors ride free pilot program launched with SACRT, the first in the region, allowing Elk Grove seniors (age 62+) to ride bus routes within the city and commuter routes to Sacramento fare-free.
  • Economic Development: New businesses including Whole Foods, Yard House, Barnes & Noble, and Cattlemen's are coming to Elk Grove. Apple submitted nearly $3 million in facility upgrades at its Laguna Boulevard campus. The Pitch Elk Grove competition awarded $20,000 to local startups.
  • Community Recognition: On Transgender Day of Visibility, the mayor recognized Dr. Tristan Bazzini and affirmed support for transgender residents. The Wilton Rancheria tribal flag was raised at City Hall in November 2025. Twelve keys to the city were presented to centenarians. Over 2,006 trees were planted, including a silver anniversary grove. A new food distribution partnership with local food banks serves refugee and immigrant populations.
  • Future Plans: New library on Main Street, improvements to historic district streets, and updates to the city's Climate Action Plan.

Key Outcomes

  • The mayor's address set forth the city's priorities and accomplishments for the past year and outlined upcoming projects. No formal votes were taken during this special meeting. The meeting concluded with public comments.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning attendees. That would be an appropriate time to find your seats for the twenty twenty-six State of the City Address. And officially here at ten fifteen AM, I would like to call to order the special middle meeting of the City Council on Tuesday, March thirty first, twenty twenty six to hear the twenty twenty-six State of the City Add. The Elgriff City Council welcomes, appreciates, and encourages participation in the city council meeting, and the city council requests that you limit any presentations to three minutes per person so that all president will have time to participate. But it helps us just to catalog and get everybody uh set up and lined up in the speaking order. With that, I would like to call uh the roll call for the meeting, and I will be doing a visual roll call, but these fine glasses aren't doing quite as well as they will, so I'm going to be looking for a couple of my members of the city council. And I would like to call out, and if you are present to raise your hand for Councilmember Robles. Ah, excellent, and thank you. The audio helps as well. Councilmember Spees. I believe Councilmember Spees is absent. And actually, these eyes do work uh rather well. I know that Councilmember Brewer, I did see him attending in the audience. Thank you, Councilmember Brewer, and we have Vice Mayor Darren Sewin also attending in the audience, and of course, our keynote speaker, Mayor Bobby Singh Allen. So with that, we have a quorum and we will proceed. We would like to move towards our land acknowledgement. And at this time, I'd like to call forward Mariah Alari to read the land acknowledgement. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here and joining us today. My name is Mariah Aleri. I am an enrolled member of the Ion Band of Mi Walk Indians, first year at the University of California, Davis, and currently working at the Sacramento District Attorney's Office as an intern. And I will be opening up with the land acknowledgement today. At the twilight's whose broad stripes and bright stars through the or the pots we watched was so gallant le streaming and the bombs bursting in gave proof through night that our flag was still there does that way or the land of the free and the home of the breed. And please, everyone, be seated. Thank you for also standing at the such a uh attentive group. I appreciate that. I would like to uh just extend my thanks to the Elk Grove Police Department honor guard, but also for that performance of the national anthem by Gabrielle Lang. So thank you for that. That was beautiful. Which takes us on to section two, our presentation, the State of the City Address, and it is my honor this morning to welcome up our city manager, Jason Beerman for some opening remarks. Morning, everybody. It's great to be with you. Thanks for joining us. Wanna be half of the entire city of Elk Road, I want to welcome you coming to the city's um great opportunity to hear from our mayor in the state of our wonderful city. Um so thank you for for not only being here but being engaged in our community for doing all the things that you do. We couldn't be the city that we are without an engaged um business community, residential community, nonprofits, friends, family that are all here supporting each other and supporting the good work that we do, and I'm blessed to be able to be able to work with a wonderful mayor and city council and great staff who care about this this wonderful community and work really hard to make sure it is the best place that it can possibly be. So it's now my honor and privilege to be able to say a few words of introduction about our honorable mayor, Bobby Singh Allen before we invite her up to the stage. Mayor Sing Allen has brought her strong leadership skills and professional background to help lead the city of Elkrove. Sing Allen is a champion for good governance, which includes transparency, accountability, fiscal responsibility, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. A wife, mother, two children. She has lived in Elk Row for over 30 years. Her civic and community engagements have earned several awards and recognition. She was selected as Woman of the Year for Assembly District Nine by former assembly member and current Sheriff Jim Cooper and recognized for her many achievements in front of the California legislature. She was named AAPI Changemaker by the Sacramento B. Sing Island was also recognized in the Power 100 by the Sacramento Business Journal. She is the nation's first directly elected Sikh woman mayor. As I said, it's my let's let's give her a I've been in local government for 27, 28 years now, and I've never worked for a mayor and a city council as committed and dedicated and as willing to put the interests of our community first in all of the decisions that they make. And so I am blessed to be able to work as the Elk Grove City Manager and to work with such dedicated public servants and to work with a staff that also delivers just amazing services and has the best interest of our community and heart. It really is a great place, and all these things need to come together with our community in order for us to be successful. So it's my honor to welcome up our Honorable Mayor Bobby Singh Allen.

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