Call the Elkgrove City Council meeting to order at 6 p.m.

Uh, Mr.

Clerk, if you could uh read the uh replay intro, please.

Indeed, this meeting of the Elk Grove 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 versus cable systems.

The recording will also be video streamed at Metro14Live.SatCounty.gov.

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

and Monday, April 27th at 6 p.m.

on Metro Channel 14.

Once posted, the recordings of this and previous meetings can be viewed on demand at the 3W's.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.

The Elk Grove City Council welcomes, appreciates, and encourages participation in the City Council meeting.

City Council requests that you limit your presentation to three minutes per person so that all present 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 221-154, 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 one of the blue speaker cards, 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'll be moving into the roll call.

And to start off for the roll call, I will note that Councilmember Roblis is absent.

Councilmember Spees.

Present.

Councilmember Brewer.

Present.

Vice Mayor Suen.

Here.

And I will note that Mayor Singh Allen is absent.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

I know she's conducting business still back in DC.

Um Councilmember Roblis will be joining us here later this evening.

We will move into the land acknowledgement next.

I'd like to uh ask our Councilmember Brewer to uh assist me in that.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

We honor, respect, and acknowledge Elk Grove'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 endure because of the bravery, resiliency, and determination of their ancestors, tribal members, and leaders.

Thank you very much.

And now I see uh Kevin Wynne in the audience.

Would you mind leading us in the pledge, sir?

Come on up and well, you can stay there if you'd like, just speak loud.

Yeah.

Congratulations of the United States of America.

And to which one undervisible with liberty.

Thank you.

If you all please join me in a moment of silence.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion for the approval of the agenda?

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

Next session, um, Mr.

Clerk, closed session.

Under section three, our closed session, there are no closed session items on the regular agenda, which will advance us to section four, our presentations and announcements.

And that first being item 4.1, which is a proclamation recognizing May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as Capitol Regions Small Business Week.

Thank you, Councilmember Spees is going to assist me in this.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh, I'd like to uh we're going to cover the Capitol Region Small Business Week.

And if I could ask Corky Donnelly with Sheldon Feed and Supply to please come on up to the to the podium.

Thank you for being with us today.

Thank you.

Yeah, I have a proclamation to read, and then uh we can have you uh provide some comments and and afterwards, okay?

Sure.

Good.

All right.

Uh so this is in recognition of the Capitol Region Small Business Week, May 3rd through 9th, 2026.

Whereas every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing small national small business week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America's entrepreneurs and small business owners.

And whereas more than half of all Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three jobs, excuse me, two out of every three new jobs in the United States each year.

Whereas the City of Elk Grove celebrates our local small businesses and the contributions they make to our local economy and community.

And whereas the community of Elk Grove is committed to supporting and threaten strengthening our small business ecosystem through year-round programs, including resources such as the Pass, Fixed, Brew, and Startup Elk Grove programs and other initiatives designed to help entrepreneurs and small businesses owners start, grow, and thrive in Elk Grove.

And whereas the 19th, excuse me, the 2026 Capital Region Small Business Week celebration recognizes the critical contributions of America's entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Elk Grove does hereby proclaim May 3 through 9, 2026 as Capital Region Small Business Week, and encourages the residents of our community and communities across the country to support small businesses and merchants on this week long series of events and throughout the year.

So I'm this 22nd day of April 2026.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

It's an honor.

Thank you.

You want me, I don't want to take all of your time.

But thank you.

I appreciate the warning.

Good sir.

I am involved in uh well, first of all, you should know that uh Sheldon Feed and Supply has been in business for 60 something years.

Uh I personally have worked for the company for 61 years.

And I'm 75 years old.

I started when I was 15 years old.

Oh wow, I've ever done.

And it's been great.

A lot of hard work, made a good living.

But what I want to mention is I am involved in some of these programs that the City of Belt Grove has, the fixed program and past program.

And I'd like to say that the city staff has been wonderful to work with.

Great.

Our company does business all over Northern California, and we invest our capital in those cities that are easy to do business with.

And the City of Elk Grove is one of those.

So we're we're enjoying that.

And I'd like to say a special thanks to Melissa, who has the patience to put up with me when we do those programs.

Anyway, thank you very much.

It's an honor.

All right.

Well, I got to say when I when I made this, stay stay up here.

Stay don't go.

Where do you go?

Don't go.

Come back.

Don't go away yet.

We're gonna come down in a second.

We're gonna come down and take a picture of the street.

We're not done honoring you yet, sir.

I'm sorry.

I can't hear you.

Oh, yeah.

Stay right there a second.

Stay right here.

Right there.

Yeah, we'll give you.

Okay, thank you.

And so you may not hear it, but what I'm what I was gonna say is in 1976, my family moved here to Elk Grove.

And we lived out of the corner of Sheldon and Bradshaw.

And so one of the first places we went when we got goats was Sheldon Feed and Supply.

So thank you very much.

We appreciate you being part of our community.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Oh, stay there.

Stay there.

Stay stay right.

Stop.

Stay right there.

We're gonna take a picture up.

Yeah.

Hi, everybody.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Sophia Cannan, and I have had the pleasure of chairing the Capital Region Small Business Week Committee for over a decade now.

I am also the director for the Women's Business Center in Sacramento, and collaboratively with myself and a ton of other organizations.

Um we together have brought Capital Region Small Business Week during the first week of uh National Small Business Week and to celebrate entrepreneurs.

And so I just wanted to come here and to say thank you to you and to the City of Elk Grove for your support and all that you've done to make Small Business Week a success and to continue to support entrepreneurs.

So thank you very much for your support in this proclamation.

Sophia, thank you for being here and Corky as well for all your work throughout our community.

Small business, as we always say, and it's true, is the backbone of our community.

I believe you contribute to all small businesses.

They've contributed to over 40% of our gross domestic product.

So it's very impressive.

Your contribution to our economy can't be uh overstated.

So thank you for being here.

We'll come down and take a picture.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council members.

We stay still stay here.

Yes.

They come to us now.

Hi, I didn't know anywhere.

I thought it was orchestra.

How are you?

Thank you.

Excuse right in the middle.

You did.

I worked there for a short period of time.

Moving town by one, two, three.

One more time.

One, two, three.

There we go.

Thank you.

Thanks again.

Thank you very much.

Okay, next, uh, we have a proclamation uh recognizing April 2026 as Donate Life Month.

Uh, I'd like to invite Christian Morales from the Sierra Donor Services and uh our friend Chris Mateo for to come on down, please.

Hi there.

Uh good evening.

Uh I'm actually uh my name is Kelvin.

Um I'm actually filling in for Christian.

He's a little sick today, but um that's okay.

Um yeah, my name is Kelvin Cow.

I'm with the Sierra Donor Services Senior External Fairs, and uh yeah, go ahead.

Thank you for being here.

And you know, we uh Mr.

Mateo has been very involved in our community for many years, so I know all of us up here greatly appreciate the work that you've done to keep our friend here.

So we're very thankful for all that you've done for him.

And it's our honor uh again proclaiming donate life month April 2026, whereas more than a hundred thousand Americans and nineteen thousand Californians are currently on the national transplant waiting list, and roughly eighty percent are people of color.

And whereas another person is added to the waiting list every eight minutes, and on average, 17 people die every day while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

And whereas the most effective way to address this health crisis is to educate and to encourage citizens to commit to the following actions.

Register your decision to be an organ eye and tissue donor to the National Donate Life Registry, and at DonateLife California.org or at your local California DMV.

And whereas Sierra Donor Services serves at the center of a dynamic interconnected system that involves donor families, local hospitals, and transplant centers across Northern California, including the Greater Sacramento region, in the delicate and time-sensitive mission of saving lives through transplant.

And whereas in 2025, Sierra Donor Services made 422 organ don uh transplants possible, thanks to the selfless generosity of 170 Northern Californian organ donor heroes.

A total of 855 tissue donors, including musculoskeletal and heart valve donors contributed to saving and improving lives.

Sierra IBank provided 1239 corneas, restoring site to many people.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Elk Grove hereby proclaims April 2026 as National Donate Life Month in the City of Elk Grove and encourages all residents to register their decision to be an I organ and tissue donor in the National Donate Life Registry at DonateLifeCalifornia.org or at your local DMV.

Thank you very much for your service to this community.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, uh City Council members and general public.

Um a little bit about Sierra Donor Services in case you guys are wondering.

Uh we are your local nonprofit Oregon donation organization located right here in Sacramento.

Um we currently serve about five million people across Northern California, Nevada, and New Mexico.

And you guys must be wondering what exactly is a need.

So right now across the country, nearly 100,000 people are waiting for a life-saving transplant, and nearly 19% of those are right here in California.

Um City of Elcro represents really, really large footprint for us in Sacramento County.

And without your help, we wouldn't be able to get our local donor to registry to be to have an increase of about 3%, which is really, really big numbers.

Umfortunately, another person is add on to that waiting list about I would say seven to eight minutes, and every 16, every day, unfortunately, we have to go to bed knowing about 16 people, 16, 18 people die each and every single day just because an organ wasn't available.

Um my father was placed on the waiting list about 14 years ago.

He was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease and was waiting for a liver transplant.

And uh I remember going to all his doctor appointments, his visits, his ICU admissions, and it was just a very, very dark time for my family and I.

And I just don't want another family to be a victim of that experience.

So right now, what we're trying to really encourage local residents, especially with City of Grove, is to have those meaningful conversations with friends with family, with loved ones, and um consider registering as donors.

And um I like to invite uh Chris Mateo to share a little bit of uh uh uh his impactful story about donation.

So thank you.

Uh Vice Mayor C Council members, uh good to see you guys.

Um this is my I want to say my fifth year coming up here for uh donate life month.

Um five years that I probably wouldn't have had if I didn't have uh an organ donation.

Um and you know, I've known you guys longer than that, and like just I'm just so blessed that um because my cousin stepped up to to donate.

Um, you know, I can give back.

And what I hope to do is advocate more.

Uh I do see you guys every year because I want to encourage uh you all, the whole city and everybody around us to consider donating in some way because someone can use it.

Um shortly after my own uh transplant that you know it was probably a year and a half journey for me.

Shortly after that, my uh one of my best friends got in a terrible accident.

And his life saved five others, so he's no longer with us, but he lives on in five other people because of what he donated shortly after his accident.

Um he didn't hesitate after he saw my transplant to make sure that he had that little pink box checked out on his uh driver's license.

Um now those five people, you know, we hear from them all the time.

Two of them are kids, and uh to see that impact uh every day is just uh phenomenal.

And so I do encourage everybody.

Uh one thing I want to point out this year is usually who you see up here with me is somebody who used to um you know work uh in this field, but um doesn't right now, but uh her name is Kyla Aquino Irving.

She used to come up with me all the time.

She's the one that invited me to come up and speak.

Uh she's actually looking for her own kidney now.

When she was younger, when she was a teenager, she had two transplants already from her parents, and that was 20 years ago.

I don't want to date her, but yeah, about 20 years after being in high school, uh, she's looking for another one.

Uh just that's how it happens with the kidneys after 20 years.

That's uh as long as you can really expect it to go.

And now she's looking for one.

I'm hoping to advocate and and put it out there that you know uh you if you are willing to donate if and whatnot, uh, you will be saving lives of everybody that that's on this list that Calvin just shared.

Uh, but specifically for this time, I want I want to dedicate this to to Kyla and the journey that she's back on, unfortunately looking for her third kidney.

So, but thank you all for all your advocacy for pushing it out there.

Everything you all do, uh, inviting us up here uh to talk about it.

Uh, the more people that know how important this is, uh, the better we'll be.

So thank you all uh for for everything.

Thank you, Chris.

We're we're happy you're doing well, and we're we're praying for Kyla as well.

And I see that you have another guest up here.

Would you like to say something?

Hi, I'm Emily.

I'm another staff member at Sierra Donor Services, and I'm just here um to thank the city of Elk Grove for uh making April 2026 donate life month.

I'm here in my green and blue in honor of our colors.

Um and so I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we'll be down to take a picture with you guys.

Thank you for telling you, I can't see thank you for your life saving speech.

Thank you.

Thanks again.

Okay, our final proclamation is uh recognizing Arbor Day as April 24th, 2026.

And we're presenting it to Cornflower Farms.

If someone representative from Cornflower Farms, are they here?

All right, come on down, please.

And assisting me with this one is gonna be uh Councilmember Brewer.

Well, I thank you for being here today.

Um I don't know if any of you realize that last month was Califor in California.

Arbor week was observed on March 7th through March 14th.

So all the different states observe Arbor Day in their various ways and in various times during the during the spring and fall.

But National Arbor Day is celebrated this Friday.

And it serves as the day to focus on the environmental stewardship and sustainable tree planting, often highlighted by the Arbor Day Foundation with initiatives such as lighting landmarks like the Empire State Building and lighting it green.

Um like I said, most of the uh US observes Arbor Day in April.

Some states like California have different things and different variations, and as you realize, uh Suma CSD a couple of weeks ago did their national observation of California Arbor Week by doing their spring cleanup in Elk Road Park and throughout the parks throughout the city.

But today I'm glad that you are here because we are going to present you with a proclamation to recognize National Arbor Day coming this Friday, April 24th.

Whereas Arbor Day festivities have been observed for over 150 years in recognition of the importance of trees and urban forests to the livability and sustainability of American cities and communities, and whereas the city of Elk Grove is committed to optimizing the remarkable benefits to create the best urban forest for the Sacramento region.

And whereas the City of Elk Grove has adopted the urban forestry program to improve the quality of life for all residents of Elk Grove and recognizes the contributions tree canopies have to clean air, water, energy conservation, public health, habitat, and the beauty of our neighborhoods and business districts.

And whereas the City of Elk Grove has partnered with Cornflower Farms, an Elk Grove native plant nursery in business since 1981 to provide plants for numerous projects, including native planting at Franklin Channel and District 56.

And whereas Cornflower Farms has been dedicated to growing plants native to California and the Western United States for the wholesale nursery trade, landscape industry and restoration projects.

And whereas Cornflower Farms has been an industry leader for 45 years and propagates and cultivates over 500 different species, subspecies, and varieties of native plants and trees used to not only improve landscape and native open spaces in Elk Grove, but throughout the entire region.

And whereas the City of Elk Grove, in coordination with Cornflower Farms, conducted an Arbor Day tree planting today on our on April 22nd.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Elk Grove and the City Council proclaims April 24th as the City of Elk Grove's 2026 Arbor Day and encourages its citizens to plant and care for trees and their urban forests.

Signed on this day, April 22nd, 2026.

Congratulations.

And for all these benefits that people either notice or don't really notice.

A lot of things in this resolution really spring uh speak true to the significance of having a green canopy throughout the town and throughout the region, as we know Sacramento is called the City of Trees.

But when you look at the entire Sacramento region, you can't help but notice that the region is covered with trees from an aerial view, and it's done intentionally.

And so knowing that you are a strong leader in that process and have been for several decades, I want to thank you for that because you play a bigger role in sustaining the quality of life for everyone here in the Sacramento area.

Thank you for beautifying our city.

Can I make a couple comments?

Please now you have the floor.

I just want to uh make sure that law enforcement and other people in El Grove realize that we actually glean and collect acorns within the city, and at times I'll even be uh seen with five-gallon buckets going through the Elk Grove Autumn All with my car at Toyota, and they think I'm gonna pay with acorns.

But uh if you see somebody, it looks a little out of place because there aren't too many of us in the world collecting acorns in urban settings, but uh yeah, maybe uh you guys can understand better and appreciate better what we're trying to accomplish.

We're a small business like Sheldon Feed, uh, and we grow plants basically for uh plants and people.

We we work on projects to enhance the functionality of native habitats, but probably one of the uh greatest joys we've had several decades worth of work in Yosemite National Park where we've also tried to make habitat uh restore habitats, but also at places like uh Glacier Point, uh restoring the site of the old hotel.

And uh again trying to emphasize that small businesses can have a big impact.

And the plants that we grew for Glacier Point 30 years ago has uh made the enjoyment of the trip up there to see the great view.

And if you guys weren't in uh session today, you could be watching uh PBS's Nature and the opening scene of the of the of the of the show is standing amongst our plants looking out across the valley at Halfdome.

And that that view has been enjoyed by roughly speaking a million people every year for 30 years.

And that that view has been enjoyed by roughly speaking a million people every year for 30 years, and that's our return on investment.

So thank you again, and uh we look forward to working with the city in the future as well.

Likewise, thank you both.

We'll be right down.

Oh, okay.

We're gonna do this.

Oh, please.

No, no, yeah.

Please, did you let's say something, please.

Yes.

Oh, well, I guess I could.

Yeah.

I've been in the nursery business in Elkgrove.

Used to have a very booming nursery business with a lot of Japanese nurseries since 1978.

And it is nice that we can still be in a rural area that we can still farm safely and kind of nobody even knows we're there really.

But we do appreciate keeping the rural area.

Right.

We thank you for your work.

Yeah.

Okay.

I thought he was gonna do this.

I think he said just now yours.

Okay, thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you very much for your service again.

There's like three of us, we fit.

I know.

I can even zoom in.

One, two, three.

One more time.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

I I cannot grow plants at all.

All right.

Next on to no new hire introductions.

All right.

Who's up first?

Good evening.

Vice Mayor soon, council members, Jason Barrman, your city manager.

It's always a pleasure to introduce our new hires and promotions.

So we're gonna start with our police department, police chief Bobby Davis.

Vice Mayor and Council members.

I am Bobby Davis, the chief of police for the city of Elk Grove.

Um, I would like to introduce our new hires and promotions.

Uh, first up is uh Damian Rodriguez.

Come on up, all right.

Uh Damien started with our department in 2024 as a temporary records technician and was quickly hired as a full-time tech in our records division.

He is a police uh police records tech one.

All right, welcome.

Dispatcher Ashley Williams.

Okay, how are you?

Ashley was born and raised in Stockton.

She's currently working toward a criminal a degree in criminal justice through Delta College.

Prior to joining the Elkgrove Police Department, Ashley was a dispatcher for 11 years with the Stockton Police Department.

Ashley is a mom to a teenage daughter.

They have one dog and four cats.

Hey.

Welcome.

Customer service representative Trisha Machado.

Trisha was born in Carmichael and raised in Sacramento.

Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Trisha worked in human resources for the state of California for 13 years.

Trisha is married with two daughters.

They have two dogs, three cats, a tree frog, and chickens.

Welcome, Trisha.

Gabriel James, officer.

Gabe was born and raised in Sacramento.

He later moved to Elk Grove and graduated from Laguna Creek High School prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department.

Gabe spent 13 years working with the Sacramento Police Department, where he started his career as a CSO, then became a police officer and worked multiple assignments, including patrol, uh contract services and traffic, and he was a motor officer for quite some time.

Gabriel James, welcome.

Welcome.

Police records tech, Caitlin Riley.

Good.

Caitlin was born and raised in Elk Grove.

She graduated from Elk Grove High School and completed a degree in journalism through Sacramento State University.

Prior to joining EGPD, Caitlin worked with special needs adults for four years.

And she also worked out of the office of the chief for a few minutes, and then they stole her and went to records.

Welcome.

Animal care assistant Haley Braza.

Hale was raised in Elk Grove, spent time of her high school and college years in Sacramento.

She's now living back in Elk Grove.

Prior to joining Elk Grove, the Elk Grove Police Department, Haley spent 10 years working in a veterinary medicine.

Her work ranged from private practice clinics to corporate veterinary emergency rooms.

And welcome, welcome, welcome.

Welcome, Haley.

Dispatcher Cheryl Teague.

Cheryl was born in Maine and has lived all over the United States as a Navy brat prior to joining the Elkro Police Department.

Cheryl had a was a dispatcher with Stockton for 19 years.

Welcome.

Lieutenant West Beachdorf.

As a lieutenant, he currently oversees our swings and graveyard patrol.

Welcome.

Congratulations.

Sergeant Sean Vargas.

Smile.

It's okay.

Wednesday through Saturday.

And Sean, I'll just quick note Sean was one of our SROs that we continue to get requests for for people to see him or kids that want to talk to him.

I get emails and letters every day, and it speaks to your character, dude.

So congratulations.

Congratulations.

That's so important having that line into our schools.

Thank you.

It is.

Ashley was born and raised in Elk Grove.

She attended Monterey Trails High School and earned her associate of science degree in Sacramento at Sacramento City College.

Ashley continued her education and earned her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from California State University Sacramento.

She was promoted on 125 26.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, Ashley.

Is Alina here?

Well, oh, okay.

Well, I'm gonna I have two to read that aren't here, so I'm still gonna read those, and then I'll grab you up real quick.

Um animal care technician Alina Redkin promoted on two eight of twenty-six.

Alina started with the animal shelter in 2023 as an animal care assistant and quickly promoted into the role of animal care technician.

Victim witness advocate Janae Carroll promoted on 222 of 26.

Janae has been with the department since 2019.

She started uh in our records division where she worked until her promotion to a victim witness advocate.

And now the drum roll, please.

Congratulations.

Andrina was born in Milwaukee, but raised in Oklahoma.

She graduated from Langston University with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

Prior to joining EGPD, Adrina was an HR employee for the city of Elk Grove.

Uh, but we stole her, and we're very appreciative of everything.

And all of these people are here because Andrina hired them all.

That's all we have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Welcome, congratulations.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, members of the city council, Cara Reddick, Deputy City Manager.

I'm here here to introduce Grace Kaufman.

She is our new sustainability manager.

Grace is well-known sustainability leader in the Sacramento region, and she came to us from Valley Vision, where she's focused on climate adaptation, environmental justice, and reducing air pollution.

Grace will be helping the city implement its climate action goals, and she started with the city on January 5th.

So welcome, Grace.

Yeah, welcome, Jake.

I'm also going to introduce Kosarazi Razovy, who couldn't be here tonight.

So Koser is the city's chief innovation officer.

She's a seasoned facility facilitator and strategist with expertise in human-centered design and using technology for institution-wide problem solving.

She brings over 20 years of experience in organizational development and innovation.

Yeah, welcome.

Good evening, Vice Man and Council members.

Raj Passad Finance Director.

I'm here to introduce Ian Scott, our new processing manager.

Ian joins us from Yuba County.

He earned his Master of Public Administration from California State University of Stanislaus.

He lives in Lodet with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.

In spare time, he enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and um stand-up pedal voting.

Good evening, Council.

Christopher Jordan Community Development.

I'm happy to introduce Harold.

All right.

Come on up, Harold.

Harold is our newest uh homeless services navigator working alongside David.

Don't worry, he didn't go anywhere.

Um Harold here um comes to us from the gathering inn where he was one of the staff over there for the last year or so uh helping provide services to our shelter guest.

I'm helping provide them with resources.

Uh his long history of working with people struggling with substance abuse issues, so we're very happy to have him part of our team.

In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his dogs, an enormous Kane Corso, an old English bulldog, that is a lot to work with, and traveling to Washington where he used to live.

So welcome aboard, Harold.

Yeah, welcome, you know.

Hello, Council Darrell Downer, Economic Development Director.

I am uh um here to enter, well, reintroduce Sarah Rodriguez, who you all know.

Sarah has been promoted.

Um we hired Sarah in August of 2023, and I hired her to do primarily marketing and communications and quickly we loaded her up with a bunch of other stuff because she was just so good.

And on top of that, she took on all the arts and creative economy stuff.

So now her new job is um our arts, culture, and creative economy program manager, and we are super lucky to have her.

Yeah.

Congratulations, good evening, Vice Mayor, members of the city council, Jeff Werner, public works director.

Several uh new hires present to you this evening.

First up is Chad Morris.

Come on up, Chad.

All right.

Chad is a senior maintenance technician with our landscape team.

Uh he grew up in Portland, Oregon and graduated from Oregon State University.

He spent most of his working life as a golf course.

You need to give me some tips.

Uh, most recently recently in Southern California.

He enjoys cycling and golf.

He has lived in Sacramento for the past five years with his wife Trang and their doodle ginger.

All right.

Well, welcome, Chad.

Paula, Colin and Manny together.

Come on, come on up.

And there's a reason for that, and uh that's because Colin and Manny are both part of our landscape team as well.

Um but Colin is our new tree and open space coordinator, and Manny is uh maintenance technician within the landscape division, uh, primarily overseeing operations out of District 56 and landscape at District 56.

Today they were both uh joined me in the tree planting that took place uh using the Cornflower Farms plants uh out of District 56, and it was an amazing day.

It was wet, uh, but made the dirt soft and uh sticky because it's clay here in Elk Grove, as we all know.

Uh, but it was it was a great event, and I really appreciate their contributions to helping make District 56 more beautiful and helping make our environment more clean uh for everybody.

So, first up, Colin Fagan.

He is originally from Rhode Island and has his degree in biology with a focus on restoration ecology.

Colin comes to us from the Sacramento Tree Foundation, Shocker, uh, where he built relationships with our staff and uh did some amazing events prior to coming in the city.

We're uh very happy to have him here.

Uh in his spare time, Colin enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, and birding with his wife.

So welcome, Colin.

Welcome.

Manuel Mercado, uh, as I mentioned, is a uh maintenance technician with our landscape division, hired uh in early March.

He was born and raised in Sacramento and now calls Elk Grove home.

Before coming to work for the city of Elk Grove, he spent eight years running his own licensed contracting uh contracting business.

He and his wife have three kids, so his days are filled with soccer practices, dance rehearsals, and weekend games and recitals.

Welcome, man.

Welcome.

Absolutely.

Last but not least is uh Marcelo Morillo.

Uh he's a uh maintenance technician with our uh within our streets group.

Uh he was born and raised in Lodi.

He is looking forward to improving uh the local infrastructure and continuing to take care of the citizens of Elk Grove.

He enjoys spending his free time with his two children and his fiance.

That includes traveling, Formula One races, USC football games, and he's a big Star Wars fan.

All right.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Jeff.

Well, congratulations to to those of you who promoted and to those of you who joined us.

Welcome to the Elk Grove family.

We're so happy to have you.

I'm very confident you'll be happy here.

So look forward to supporting you in your careers going forward as well.

Thank you, everybody.

Mr.

Clerk, next item.

That'll take us to section five, general public comment.

All right, let's see if I have any speakers signed up here.

You should have a display of uh first up is uh James V.

McCarthy, followed by what uh you want to hear what your name on deck is uh Paula Schleichelman McCarthy afterwards.

Okay, thank you.

James McCarthy first.

Good evening, council members.

Good evening.

Uh recent actions by the consummus community services district have turned my wife and many of the other people behind me into criminals.

Um with the recent passage of ordinance 15.

Now we know that the CCSD and the City of Elk Grove are two different entities.

And um, but in during part of the discussions with CCSD trying to resolve the issues that uh the various feeders and trappers have with ordinance 15.

It was mentioned that they have been collaborating with the City of Elk Grove.

And so we are here to express our hopes and desires that the City of Elk Grove does not follow the poor example of the CCSD in passing something similar to ordinance 15 and outlawing the feeding of uh cats, feral cats in the city, um, particularly along uh any of the areas, the trails where um these feeders have placed shelters to try and help protect the food that we give to the cats so that it doesn't turn into a uh a larger mess.

Um it's just we felt that it was ill-advised.

Um we went to CCSD trying to get some guidance.

They really didn't inform us that oh, we already have guidance that we passed at the prior meeting.

Um, and and said just that they were working on this ordinance, and we were thinking, okay, well, we've got a little time.

Well, time ran out very quickly because they had already passed the ordinance.

They had adopted it.

It's uh passed our um uh ability to try and have CCSD repeal it.

But again, we don't want the city of Elk Grove to follow their poor example in passing a similar ordinance and outlaw in feeding.

Um they did not work with the various feeders to uh in the community to try and come up with some kind of a resolution that would satisfy all the parties.

It was just handed down and they've been it's it's been suspended, but they handed down these notices that they were going to uh remove any of these shelters that they found.

And these are small shelters, there many of them are hidden off the trails.

Um but one of the words that came up a lot was collaboration with the city in getting this ordinance passed.

And I would just like to remind everybody that collaborators were convicted at Nuremberg.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, Paula Schlickelman McCarthy.

I'm sorry, I'm trying, I gotta say it slow.

I feel I thought I put the phonetic, but oh, thank you, Schlickelman.

Followed by Cindy Tabor.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Hello, Vice Mayor Sewen and City Council members.

Well, here we are again about the Elk Grove community cats.

We are very discouraged and disappointed in the CCSD and and feel a little betrayed as we attended their public meeting on March 4th, voicing our concerns about the removal of one of our group's feeding stations and shelters.

After the meeting, Mr.

Dobson did not once state to us that there had already been action taken over the past few months to stop the feeders and caretakers, simply stating they were researching boundaries, yada yada yada.

Then the signs were up along the trails.

Okay, our bad.

We now need to watch always watch CCSD very closely and see what their agenda is.

All right, looking back, after many efforts and meeting discussions we have had with our mayor and city council members.

We have had an amazing TNR program at our City of Elk Grove Animal Shelter.

We thank you, and we thank all the wonderful people at the shelter that helped the animals and us with the volunteerism we do from TNRing, fostering, and caretaking of the Elk Grove community cats around Elk Grove.

I personally feed about 60 to 70 feral cats for colonies.

Thankfully, they are mostly on private business properties, except for one which was given permission to me by Steve Sims, who was the previous CCSD director several years ago, that it was okay to place my shelter and feeding stations for the cats.

I call it the Grove.

And about 10 to 15 cats visit for food and shelter daily.

The private businesses which I feed at one with about 15 cats, restaurant owner says he sees the cats on camera, catching the mice, rats.

These cats are well fed.

So they are just doing their normal cat maintenance.

Another business which used to have about 40 cats, where about only 15 cats remain.

I've been feeding there about eight years, and I will refrain from making the naming the business as there has been dumping of friendly cats and kittens in the past.

The owner of this business tells his truck drivers to leave the cats alone, watch out for them.

He doesn't want anything to happen to them since he has had no rats infesting his calves since they've been there.

They used to be at the junkyard next door, but that business banned us from feeding there.

When we explained to the manager at the trucking yard that all the cats were spayed, neutered and vaccinated, she gave us a thumbs up, the all clear to feed and shelter the kitties at their location.

I have a suggestion, and I've included a page of information to adopt an ordinance similar to the city of Marysville.

I spoke with one of their personnel personally, Joy, and they have had success with community cat feeder programs for eight years.

Why can't Elk Grove be a leader in this best practice supporting the caretakers and feeders of the Elk Grove community cats?

There have been so many other great firsts in the city of Elk Grove.

I would also like to invite any one of you to come and visit a cat colony location so you can see for yourself what is and has been working for 10 plus years.

One additional point to the verbiage regarding vermin and litter.

Cats don't smoke cigarettes.

They don't drink orange juice or drink vodka or eat Cheetos.

Thank you very much.

So I'm a little confused by those statements.

Next speaker, Cindy Tabor, followed by Jessica Brown.

Hi, my name is Cindy Tabor.

I am a retired state worker.

I'm a resident of Elk Grove.

I'm a Elk Grove Police Department Ambassador.

I also volunteer at the Elk Grove Food Bank.

Thank you.

And I am a colony feeder.

I just want to concur that every of what others have said.

I just want to be in agreement.

We are here to help the city by noticing immediately when we see a cat that's not ear-tipped, that means that they have been spayed and neutered, and we work together with our trappers, and we take care, take care, we trap them, we take them to the animal shelter here in Elk Grove, which we've had a good work in relationship with.

So I just hope that that continues.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jessica Brown, followed by Mike Kelly.

Hi.

Hi.

My name is Jessica Brown.

I'm a retired health care worker, IT for Center Health.

And we as a community of trappers and feeders in Elk Grove recognize the need for clarification and guidance in regard to the care of the TNR and CC communities.

This volunteer community is cared for on an individual basis, and personal time, money, and effort is being expended, all in the effort of providing a service to our community.

If it wasn't for this loving community, we would have colonies that are not monitored and cared for.

It has come to my attention in regard to the removal of the shelters, feeding and water stations have been occurring at other TNR hot spots as well.

All appear to be deemed under the auspices of CSD.

Well, some have been kindly returned.

We are seeking approval to return some or all of them back to the respective locations.

We recognize that the city of Elk Grove and CSD are two entirely separate governing bodies.

However, it appears they are overlapping and in conflict with the respective charters.

With that being said, we like a clear explanation on how each entity intends to work in relationship to the care of the communities.

The Elk Grove Animal Shelter has a charter that we adhere to in the care of the colonies that is called the five freedoms.

Freedom one from hunger and thirst.

Freedom two, freedom from discomfort.

Freedom three, freedom from pain, injury, and disease.

Freedom four, freedom to express normal behavior.

Freedom five, freedom to freedom from fear and distress.

In closing, we are asking that this body going forward define the rules of engagements.

Rules of engagement in respect to the shelter and the cats.

We would like to be able to put our shelters back and not have them removed.

Perhaps a permit identifying the colonies could be a solution.

I believe that as long as we understand what the rules of engagement are and we can adhere to them, and they're documented.

And they're followed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Mike Kelly, followed by Mark Graham.

Good evening.

Hello, everybody.

Excuse me.

Mr.

Chairman, members, Mike Kelly with uh Kelly Ventures.

Uh switching the topic just a little bit.

I am a huge count lever, by the way.

Yes.

Oliver and Everest.

They're at home right now, snuggling with my daughters, I'm sure.

Um so I'm uh as you some of you may know, we're um uh developers here.

We've developed a number of projects affordable housing here in the city dating back to probably 2013 with uh with Avery Gardens there next to uh next to the nugget.

I just want to stop by and just give you guys an update and let you know um the status of them, kind of what we're up to, and and um uh just you know so you know so you're current with the information that we have.

Um excuse me, so uh the market's good right now.

Um there's uh occupancy is fantastic with our projects.

Uh the Bovis Street apartments right now are at uh 99% occupancy.

Uh the gardens are quell run or at 98% occupancy, and uh Avery Gardens is also at 90 about 99% occupancy.

Um the one uh bedroom units have a three-year uh waiting list.

Uh the two beds have a one and a half year waiting list, and the three beds have a five to six year waiting list.

Um just to give you guys a sense of what the demand here is in in the city.

Um of you uh visited our most recent project, the Lila on Bruceville and and Laguna.

Um some challenges that we've had there is uh leasing, you know, just you know, from the onset, because I think we competed with uh the MOSA project, and we had a there's a lottery, and so a lot of units came online at the exact exact same time.

Um but we're now at 99% occupancy.

Uh we're about to convert.

Um the only other challenge that we've experienced there is the rent ban that we have ranges from 30 percent of the area of median income up to uh 80 percent, and 80 percent is bumping up against market rate, not just here, by the way.

I mean in in the Bay Area, like Burlingame, we can't even get 80 percent rents.

So we've had to drop those down to 70.

Um usually the studios are the most challenging, so I just want to give you guys you know, uh, you know, some insight of what's taking place there.

Uh but the good news is, and this is really why I'm here today, uh, to share with you that uh that project is not only um on time and under budget, but uh we plan to return 1.6 million dollars to you guys.

So um yeah that's good.

Yeah.

So that's that's it.

I just wanted to stop by and show the good news.

That's an accomplishment that uh we're very proud of, and um appreciate your uh your trust in us.

Yeah, thank you very much, Mr.

Kelly.

We appreciate your partnership as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next speaker is Mark Graham, and my last uh speaker is Suzanne Pesci.

Good to see you again.

Likewise, good evening, uh acting mayor and council members.

Uh my name is Mark Graham.

I live in Elk Grove.

Um back in 2018 and 2019, I met with each of you, and at the time the city was working on a new telecommunications law.

Anyway, I'm here to talk to you today.

This is the sixth time I'm asking the council in six week in a row, but the first time in person to oppose this bill that's currently pending in Congress and it's called 2289.

Um it's something like the American Broadband Deployment Act.

What's wrong with it is that this is a power grab by the telecommunications industry.

It would eliminate the power of local government to determine um permitting and placement, for example, of cell towers and cell antennas.

It's really quite draconian.

There are unfortunately a lot of members in Congress who accept large campaign contributions from the telecommunications industry.

They also spend 100 million dollars per year lobbying Congress, and that's how this kind of stuff happens.

It would uh severely limit the city's power.

The work that the city did for 20 months in 2018 and 2019, and of course, um you were here, um, Councilmember Sewen.

But it culminated in an ordinance, which it's uh ordinance uh 19-2019.

You can find it in our zoning code, and it is the city's telecommunications law.

So since then, the carriers, ATT and Verizon and T-Mobile and so on, they've been able to apply for and obtain permits to install and operate uh cell antennas on city property with limitations.

Now, all those limitations and that ordinance and that law would simply be eliminated and wiped out if this bill passes.

Um this would not require a new agenda item or a new vote by the council.

The council has previously given direction to staff, and I think it's like a long-standing city policy to oppose power grabs, whether they occur in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., and that's exactly what this is.

So the city, the the staff can act on this basic from uh previous direction and policy that was made by the city council.

Along these lines, the city did this in 2021.

The telecommunication industry had a power grab bill in the California legislature.

It was called SB 556.

Um I and my friends who were working on this issue at the time notified the city, and the city opposed that bill.

I sent that a copy of that letter to you on March 18th.

It's in should be in your email.

Similarly, in 2023, um, this was the precursor to this bill.

It was called HR 3557 in Congress.

And it was an enormous, very aggressive power grab, and the city to its credit opposed that bill.

So this is this is another one of the same.

The thing has reared its ugly head.

They do not give up.

I'm going to leave with you this uh so oppose it right to not only Senator Schiff, Senator Padilla, Congresswoman Matsui, but also the Democrat and Republican Party leaders in the House and the Senate in Washington, D.C.

And state the city's preference and oppose this bill.

I'm gonna leave and also introduce, ask them to introduce the model bill from the National Call for Safety.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chairman.

I'll leave this with the city clerk.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our final speaker is Suzanne Pesci.

Good evening, Council members.

For the record, my name is Suzanne Petci, and I'm a rural resident in Elk Grove, and I've shopped at Corky's for over 50 years, spent a lot of money there on my credit card.

I also trap and spay and neuter feral cats because people don't take care of their pets.

I feed these poor creatures and take them into my home, so I really support the last speakers.

But I am here tonight to talk to you a little bit about uh the drought resiliency task force.

I think I spoke with you a few years ago.

I was appointed as a member in 2022, and this is in implementing SB 552, drought resiliency and recovery for domestic wells and small water systems.

But I wanted to report out to you on the workings of that committee.

Um because you are the elected leaders of a very large domestic well community, and I think you play a role and a responsibility in their resiliency.

So in years one through three, it's gone by quickly.

I worked with DWR to develop a water monitoring um for domestic wells, which has become a pilot.

It's being used in several jurisdictions and subbasins in California, including one in our own South American sub-basin.

So currently, DWR, we started in the fall of 2025.

We've signed up well owners, and currently DWR is monitoring three selected wells, mine being one of them, where they come out monthly and they measure water levels.

They're also loaning out equipment to any interested community member to monitor their own water levels in their own wells.

We're hoping to expand that program, you know, through the years to involve and engage more and more of the community.

Um moving forward now in year four, we're looking at recommendations that involve um drought identification and metrics, and also roles and responsibilities.

We're going to be producing a white paper at the end of the year, which will be available to the public and to you know public agencies.

But you know, in thinking about our large rural community, I really feel that the city plays a really big role in um and protecting the resiliency, not only of the community, but of the city, you know, state, you know, citywide.

And I would really like to be able to work with city staff and city council and bringing this um program more of the getting the community more involved in the discussion of drought resiliency and recovery.

It the program will be implemented by Sacramento County, so we're working with them.

But I really feel that we need to have that conversation, that broader conversation with all of us.

I think it would, I think you can see the benefits of that.

I think that uh it would really help with the resiliency not only in the actual rural community, but it would really ensure the economic resiliency as the city moves forward and develops.

Yeah.

Thank you very much, Ms.

Peshi.

On that note, if you mind um reaching out to me, or can we get one of the staff reach out to Mr.

Pesci?

We'd we'd like to share with you what we're doing at the city level as well.

And we can have a conversation and I'd like to hear more about your work on the task force.

Absolutely.

Good.

Thank you very much.

And then before I thank you, Karen.

Uh, I wanted to go back to a couple of items that were spoken about earlier.

First of all, I want to thank the entire, I'm gonna call them the cat care community out there.

Yes.

Your tireless efforts, especially you know, from our retirees that are finding this new passion in their life.

I'm happy for you and and we we thank you.

That's it's a lot of work you're doing.

So to that end, I want to ask Jason if we can uh get with CSD and see how we can coordinate uh better coordinate what's happening out there and whether it's appropriate to bring forward a uh an ordinance or um you know along these lines, or it could be accomplished without it.

But I think give us a chance to investigate as well.

We can't take action, obviously, on anything tonight, as you all know, but I think we can look into it from a staff level.

And then, secondly, uh, if we can get our legislative team to just investigate um Mr.

Graham's um the bill that he brought up and make sure we local government is not uh harmed by by what the intent is.

Thank you.

So with that, I'll close public comment and um move to our Mr.

Clerk for the next item.

Take us to Section Six, General Administration Information.

All right.

Good evening again.

My pleasure to report on a few items.

Sorry, real quick to interrupt.

I just want to note Councilmember Roblis is here.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's see.

The city will launch its 2026 National Community Survey beginning next week.

This is a national assessment.

It's conducted every two years by the city.

We measure resident perceptions of public safety, infrastructure, overall quality of life.

We've been doing this since 2009.

The results have assisted the city and staff in setting goals and budget priorities, randomly selected.

Elk Grove households will receive invitations in the mail to participate.

All of the residents will have the opportunity to complete an online survey beginning May 8th from the city's website.

The survey period will run from April 27th to June 1st.

More information and copies of the previous survey results are on the city's webpage website.

City is launching Music on Maine series.

Latin RB and Country Sounds will fill the historic district with the launch of a new music on Main concert series on Fridays at Old Town Plaza on May 1st, 8th, and 15th, hosted by the city.

These free concerts are open to everyone and will offer opportunities to gather, dance, and experience Main Street after dark.

Each concert runs from 5 to 9 p.m.

Details on the lineup can be found on the city's website and our social media channels.

Bring your own chair, blankets for a fun evening of music under the stars.

And after a long hiatus, Elk Grove will once again experience a festival over the first weekend in May.

Organizers of the Elk Grove Western Festival and new partners will introduce Spring Palooza from May 1st through the 3rd at Elkgrove Park.

Many of the popular features of the former festival return, including the carnival, live music on Saturday.

We just received notice that the parade will not occur for lack of participation this year.

The city is a festival sponsor and supporting the event with in-kind services, a traffic advisory for road closures.

Actually, we're not going to be having that because we don't have a parade.

Admission to the festival is free.

Parking in Elk Grove Park is $10 per vehicle.

Learn more about this festival schedule at Elkgrove Springpalooza.com.

Let's see.

The city and CSD are working together with the community community to come up with possible names for four new park sites in development.

Submit your ideas by May May 8th for details about each site and to submit your suggestions online.

Use the link on the city's website and under cur under current topics or follow the links from the Consume to CSD parks and recreation Facebook page.

The Elk Grove Youth Commission will host a community food drive from May 4th through the 15th, supporting the Elk Grove Food Bank.

Donations of non-perishable food items will be accepted at the following locations.

Fighting Hunger is a year-round challenge.

We are grateful to the Youth Commission for their work to support residents in need with this project.

Elk Grove's climate is changing, and we're planning for it.

Tree removal work in the center mediums on Laguna Boulevard between Bruceville Road and Laguna Springs Drive will begin in early May.

Tree removals will take place during the day and generate center lane closures.

Motorists may experience some delays, but access will remain open during this work.

The trees will be replaced with drought tolerant climate appropriate landscaping in the summer following the completion of a nighttime paving project in the same area.

Notifications for the work is just beginning, and more information will be available online and through the social media channels as we prepare to start the work.

And finally, um, just as a uh a big event coming up, save the date.

City's inaugural mural festival, paint the grove will debut on June 1st through 6 in partnership with Talking Walls throughout the week.

Historic Main Street will be transformed as artists create large-scale murals in real time, turning the area into an outdoor gallery on June 6th.

The city will host a guided mural tour, leaving from Old Town Plaza at 9 a.m.

Local artists will also go head to head in a live art battle on June 6th from 48 p.m.

at Old Town Plaza DJ, food trucks, local artists and art organizations will be there.

A panel of judges will select a winner and the community to have the opportunity to vote for the crowd favorite.

Follow along on Instagram at Paint the Grove for updates and behind the scene content.

Information is also available on the city's website, and that concludes my report.

Happy to answer any questions the council might have.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions for Mr.

Beerman?

Look at my right, look at my left.

Seeing none.

I will say um it's great to see all the good work the youth commission continues to do out there in the community and to see our community come to life through all the the music and the art.

It's really exciting.

So thank you very much for for that report.

Um Mr.

Clerk, next item.

Take us to section seven consent calendar items.

All right, we have a consent calendar in front of us.

Um I'm gonna look to the left here.

I know Councilman Brewer has something.

So yes, so members feel indulge me.

Item 7.11.

If you can take that item up first, I must recuse myself from that based on my um conflict of interest with what with a particular company core impact.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Uh before we do that, we're gonna go ahead and open up for public comment.

And I'm gonna see if there we've got any.

Do we have any we have Miss Lynn Wheat?

Come on up.

There it is.

Thank you.

I'm here to speak on item 7.12, purchase a property.

Trust is a simple five-letter word that is hard to earn and easy to lose.

I try to be supportive of the city, but oftentimes I believe that you ask the public to trust your decision making skills.

And often those decisions don't seem to be very transparent, and in some cases, not very successful either.

By placing this land purchase on the consent item, you are essentially asking the public to trust that we need to buy that property, and it is non-controversial and not worthy of a public hearing.

By not providing details of the appraisal report, you are essentially asking the public to trust that five point one million dollars is a fair purchase price and should trust the data.

Then by saying that the property could be used for recreational and entertainment opportunities or other suitable uses, which could include industrial or commercial development.

You are essentially saying, trust us, we will find a good use for the property eventually.

Or more cynically, we don't want to show our cards to you yet.

I know the process you have chosen is legal, but sometimes earning the public trust goes beyond just following the minimum legal requirements, and then boasting of transparency in our city.

Trust in the public sector is not a static resource, it is a renewable asset that must be earned with every agenda, every vote, and every dollar spent.

Okay, that was I don't see any speakers signed up to speak, so I'm gonna close public comment and we'll go back to my colleagues for for the conversation.

We'll pull item 7.11 off the agenda.

And actually, I'd like to pull 7.1.2 just for a hearing for public hearing on that if you don't mind.

And then you want to step out of the room, Ron.

Yeah.

Okay.

So we'll take up uh item 7.1.

Sorry, I gotta add that one in there.

Um questions from the colleagues.

No?

So moved.

All right.

Second.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

Let's ask Mr.

Ask Rod to come back in here, please.

Okay, thanks.

I know I was looking at my screen too.

Yeah, I'm gonna tap a button and it says it's gonna power everything down.

So if all the lights turn off, uh don't worry, I'll turn it back on.

But just to give it a try, the old turn it off, turn it back on again, and see if we can get more good stuff.

Are we still streaming?

Right now we are currently streaming.

So and I see we have I think it's just kind of a monitor connection, but we're gonna see what happens.

So everybody hold tight.

If you're afraid of the dark, close your eyes.

It's very IT of you, sir.

While we're waiting for that, Daryl, I'm I'm gonna just ask you to come and do a presentation on 7.12, please.

We'll take open action on that.

Council members.

I think we have to wait till we do have to wait till the rest of the video comes in.

Thank you.

The sound's fine.

We're just trying to get the visuals, and it looks like we're coming back up online.

So but please proceed.

We are recording, we're everything's good.

Green lights all around.

Are the microphones on?

Yep.

Uh they are now.

They don't sound to me.

I'm not sure they are.

Uh they weren't on a second ago.

Okay.

Um, good evening, council members.

I'm Darrell Doan, your economic development director.

So um this item is um acquisition of approximately 64 acres of land.

This land is located inside the Grant Line Business Park.

Um, it is it is land that is currently in the county.

Um, but is slated for annexation into the city.

Um annexation has not been approved, and if we were to acquire the property, we would pursue annexation.

Um this is uh this is directly adjacent to a 40-acre piece that the city owns, so we definitely have a vested interest in acquiring this property.

We own a 40-acre piece that is remain that remains from the um sale of land and development of the Kubota property.

Um this is this this would be acquired from Tom Mann, and it's part of Mann Ranch, and he is a very willing seller, and we are willing purchasers.

I mean, the overall purpose of this acquisition um is to expand the city's landholding for future opportunities.

And yeah, the fact that it's adjacent to 40 acres that we already owned makes a whole lot of sense for the city to own this.

Tom offered uh the land to us.

We were able to negotiate uh very fair price that is well within um uh the range of an appraisal that we prepared.

Um what else can I tell you?

Um I wasn't prepared to make a presentation, so I'm doing my best.

I you would you like more information?

Or I mean that's the gist of it.

I'm fine, I'm gonna ask my comments.

My colleagues, are there any questions?

Thank you for the presentation and thank you for your hard work in working with Tom on this.

Yeah, you bet.

Okay, thank you.

Bringing it back to our my colleagues.

We took public comment on the the bulk of these uh items on it earlier.

Any comments for if they're not on entertainment motion.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right, and then the bulk of the items 7.1 through 7.10, and then 7.13 through 7.19.

Look for a motion on those.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, abstain.

Okay, motion carries.

Mr.

Clerk next item.

They'll take us on to section eight, our public hearings.

And the first is item 8.1, which is a public hearing to receive information from staff regarding the city of Elk Grove's vacancies and recruitment retention efforts for the period of May 2025 through March 2026 in compliance with assembly bill 2561 and government codes section 3502.

We lost our screens again.

They might just be bouncing around.

So we need this one.

There we go.

All right.

Good evening.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members.

I'm Mary Amissin.

I'm your interim human resources director.

And today I'll be presenting on the status of city vacancies and the city's recruitment and retention efforts in accordance with assembly bill number 2561.

So on September 22, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom adopted or signed assembly bill number 2561 into law, amending the Myers Milius Brown Act and enacting government code section 3502.3.

And this law basically requires the city to present specific information at a public hearing to their governing body pertaining to certain sections and items.

And these are the status of the city's vacancies, information on the city's recruitment and retention efforts.

And it also asks the agency to identify any obstacles within its policies, procedures, or recruitment activities that may create challenges in the recruitment or hiring process.

This information does have to be presented on an annual basis, and it has to be done prior to the adoption of the operating budget.

So that's why we're doing it today.

And there are also additional reporting requirements that are triggered should the vacancies within any particular bargaining unit meet or exceed that 20% threshold.

But last year, since this uh bill was adopted, or this year, we're nowhere close to that threshold, so those additional reporting requirements are not triggered.

Um the law also allows recognized employee organizations to have the right to present information concerns and recommendations at the public hearing.

Uh as you're aware, there's two bargaining units within the City of Hall Grove, Elgro Police Officer Association and Elgrove Police Managers Association, and both were informed of their request uh informed of their right to do so, and both have opted out at this time uh uh saying that there were no concerns on their end.

Um, this table in front of you kind of walks you through the vacancy rate by month by bargaining unit from the period May 2025 through March 2026.

And you'll see that the average vacancy rate for EGPOA over this time was 7%.

For Elgro Police Manager Association, it was 1%, and for all other unrepresented classifications, it was 11%.

And the overall average vacancy rate there this period was approximately 6%.

So nowhere close to that 20% threshold again.

One of the things that I do want to point out is that during fiscal year 2526, the city increased its total full-time equivalent count by approximately 3.1% from 489 to 504.

Uh now, while during this period from May 2025 through March 2026, uh HR staff hired about 69 full-time employees.

Uh we also had about 40 separations, uh, nine of which can be added to planned retirement.

So while we're actively working uh to fill the new positions uh that are approved by council, uh we're also trying to make steady progress in filling those vacancies that are created by planned or unplanned separations.

Talking about recruitment and retention efforts, um, I think as a city, we do recognize that recruitment is about identifying attracting and hiring the right individuals, and then retention is about making sure that these employees stay engaged and committed to the organization long term.

And both are critical to the success of any organization.

We recognize that, and that is why cities uh committed to a competitive compensation model.

We pay at the market 80th percentile, and in pursuance of that goal, we conduct a total compensation study every two years and adjust our salaries accordingly.

We have a very competitive benefits package, which includes CalPERS retirement, dental vision, and uh uh medical plans, uh, employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement program, um, and a robust training and development program and many more items.

And then we we've also been successful in creating a standardized and efficient skills-based recruitment process, so our specialists can handle multiple recruitments simultaneously.

Uh, we have a recruitment incentive program that we are able to deploy for hard-to-fill positions.

Uh we do extensive advertising to make sure that we're reaching a broad range of qualified candidates.

We have several employee engagement programs.

We regularly solicit feedback from our employees and uh make uh feasible improvements as we can.

And then we have an absolutely incredible employee recognition program that's spirit headed by our employee recognition committee.

Uh talking about the hiring process challenges, um, I think one of the primary recruitment challenges that always faces a lot of public and local agencies is with filling difficult to fill positions.

Uh, and those are typically licensed professional engineers and lateral police officers and dispatchers.

Uh, however, we try to address this by securing assistance from headhunter firms where we feel necessary, so we can make direct outreach to those prospective candidates.

Uh, we've utilized several innovative recruitment strategies, such as sending postcards out to folks and uh advertising and several industry specific job boards.

We've utilized the recruitment center program, which was approved by the council, I think about two years ago now.

And at times we'll restructure, we're reclassify the position to facilitate entry at a lower level so we can go our own talent.

And that actually concludes my presentation.

I'd be happy to answer any questions for the from the council.

Okay, thank you, Miriam.

Thank you.

Before we go there, I'm just want to take the opportunity to open public comment opportunity.

And do we have anybody to speak?

I'm s my screen is stuck on the last one.

Oh, that's right.

Okay, I got it.

Thank you.

Yeah, I got it.

Yeah.

All right.

Seeing that I'll close public comment opportunity and declare the public hearing closed.

Any this is uh uh receive information and and provide direction as as needed.

Any comments from my colleagues.

Good principal proof.

Just want to thank you for providing the us with this update and report, Ms.

Uzane.

This is good information when you see that the vacancies are so low.

Um it shows that people do like being here at Elk Grove Police, and that people enjoy serving the public in that respect.

And to see the vacancy rates at the at the numbers where they are.

It really speaks to the power of how we operate as as a department and how the city of Elk Grove operates.

And a lot of that leadership is very strong.

So thank you so much.

Yeah.

Any comments, my right and then?

Yeah, from earlier tonight, we met a lot of new employees.

I don't think you have any any problems recruiting.

All right, thank you very much.

I also thank you for the information.

That's very good.

Next uh next item, Mr.

Clerk.

Take this item 8.2, a public hearing to consider a resolution approving a determination of public convenience or necessity for the sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits and ABC type 21 license for the SF supermarket project located at 8539 Elk Grove Boulevard.

All right.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, members of the City Council.

Uh Joseph Dagam, an associate planner with community development.

Uh, this is the SF supermarket public convenience or necessity project.

This project consists of a determination of public convenience or necessity, also known as a PCN, that would allow for the future SF supermarket to obtain a type 21 alcohol license from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

A type 21 license would allow for the sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits for off-site consumption.

Project site is located at 8539 Elk Grove Boulevard within the Elk Grove Village Shopping Center, which is located on the northwest intersection of Oak Grove Boulevard and Emerald Vista Drive.

The assigned address is a 40,000 square foot vacant retail space that was previously occupied by by big lots.

Building permits were recently submitted to convert the space into an SF supermarket.

Before you use the floor plan that has been submitted by the SF supermarket, uh the sale of the ABC products are going to be uh limited to a small area of the store, which is on the southwestern side of the store.

Uh beer and wine will be displayed in a refrigerator, which is identified in yellow.

And then distilled spirits and additional wines will be displayed on the back counter at the manager's desk, which is uh indicated in blue.

Sales will generally be from 8 a.m.

to 9 p.m., which is the anticipated hours of operations for the uh supermarket business.

In terms of the public convenience or necessity, ABC requires an applicant to obtain a PCN when the establishment is located within a high crime area, which is a crime reporting district that has reported crimes that are 20% or greater than average number of crimes reported for other subsectors within the city, and or when the census tract is deemed overconcentrated by ABC standards.

The city is separated into 26 subsectors for crime reporting purposes.

Uh which had 295 crimes reported in the year 2025.

The 100% uh 120% of average number of crimes reported per subsector is 278.

Uh so the sub the the subsector is is what's considered in a crime crime area.

Additionally, the uh project site is located within census tract 93.08, which ABC um determines that any th any more than three licenses is considered over concentrated.

Uh currently there are five active licenses in the census tract.

Uh should the council approve this PCN, this would be uh the sixth off-sale license.

The city council determines whether the public convenience or necessity will be served by the issuance of the alcohol license for the applicant's premise based on the following factors.

Number one, the proximity and the number of other retail outlets selling alcohol.

Number two, the proximity of retail outlets to schools, playgrounds, and other facilities serving young individuals.

Um, the proximity of the retail outlet to residential neighborhoods, and then number four, whether the retail outlets provide uh a wide range of desirable goods and services, or b a unique type of goods or service.

So this map in front of you depicts the location of retail establishments and proximity to the project site.

Uh the project site is the um is the blue is the blue rectangle in toward the center of your screen.

Uh the yellow uh depicts the off-sell licenses um currently uh in proximity to the project site.

The locations in red represent uh the closest residential properties, schools, and parks to the subject property.

Um there are four gas station convenience stores within 700 feet of the project site with an off-sell license.

The closest grocery store with the off-sale license is the Walmart neighborhood market, which is approximately a quarter of a mile away to the west.

The nearest park is Baker Park, which is approximately 3,000 feet to the east.

The nearest school is Feichert Elementary School, which is approximately two uh 2400 feet to the north, and the Joseph Kerr Middle School, approximately 3,500 feet to the east.

And the nearest residential neighborhoods include the Emerald Vista Apartment Homes, which is across Emerald Vista Drive from the uh Elk Grove Village Shopping Center, and the Emerald Park single family subdivision to the north on the north side of East Stockton Boulevard.

As part of the request for the PCN, the applicant uh must explain how the license will serve the public's convenience and necessity.

The SF supermarket is anticipated to operate daily between the hours of 8 a.m.

to 9 p.m.

Alcohol sales will be limited to these business hours.

Uh SF supermarket as a business will offer typical international grocery items, fresh meat, vegetables, household items, beverages, snacks, and other items commonly expected by customers.

The proposed use of the property will allow customers to purchase essential grocery items while reducing the number of trips they might make otherwise.

Um the sale of alcohol beverages is not expected to be a large part of the store's sales, but is an expected amenity as part of a full service supermarket.

Uh the police department has determined that there is no public safety reason to oppose the finding of the PCN.

The applicant has committed to implement ongoing staff trainings related to uh age-restricted uh product sales.

Um digital surveillance will be will maintain recorded footage for at least 30 days.

The project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to State CO guidelines section 15061B3.

This is the common sense exemption for CEQA.

Uh granting this PCN will expand the products available for sale at the future grocery store, but will not bring about any physical change to the environment.

Uh with that, staff is recommending approval of the PCM this evening.

Uh this concludes my presentation.

Staff as well as the applicant are able to are here to answer any questions that the council may have.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Excellent.

All right.

At this time, I'll declare the public hearing open.

I'd like to invite the applicant up to speak if he or she or is here.

Yes.

Come on up.

Good evening.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and member uh council member and city staff.

My name is Hui Tuiu.

I'm the general manager for SAP Supermarket.

Uh the first store we open here in Sacramento is uh the year 2000 on Stockton Boulevard and City Phi street.

And since then our company been going around Northern California here and a lot of customer uh uh happy to have our store.

We are also exciting to be a pack of El Grow and this community.

So we are here to serve the community with all the things that they need and saving time and give them the best service we could.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Uh yes.

Um granting our PCN public uh necessity will have our store serving the customer more to what they need daily and keep them more choice for the shopping every day.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

Okay, now I'd like to invite the the public uh an opportunity to speak.

Is there any members of the public?

Mr.

Shu, you can step back for a little bit.

Thank you.

We can invite you back up here later on.

Any comments?

Okay.

Seeing none, I'll close public opportunities.

And as I mentioned, you are invited, but I don't you don't need to say anything.

I'll declare the public hearing closed and uh look to my council colleagues for any questions or deliberation.

If not, I'll entertain a motion.

So moved.

All right.

Second.

Motion by director.

Councilmember Breward.

Seconded by Councilmember Robles.

All of those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next item, Mr.

Clerk.

That'll move us on to item 8.3, a public hearing to consider an ordinance amending outgrowth municipal code section 8.03.010 license required fees and a resolution adopting an updated animal license fee schedule.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, Council members.

Gonna wait for my PowerPoint to load up here.

Okay.

Oh, you get the opportunity to do that.

The keyboard, just pull that out, close that one up and go from there.

Self-serve here.

I am thrilled for that opportunity.

Is it on the desktop?

Uh yes, it should be the third one over.

There you are.

Oh.

All right.

Um so again, what we're here for tonight is to consider amending the ordinance 8.03.010 and adopt an updated animal license fee schedule.

I'm gonna put that in uh presentation mode too.

Little help there, so go for it.

So a little background information.

Um license fees have not been updated since 2013.

Uh, as we know over that time, costs to administer the service have definitely risen higher.

Um currently we only offer a one-year or a three-year uh animal license.

Uh the term that people are able to get is based on how long their rabies vaccination lasts until it expires.

And then in 2025, um, our performance audit of our department uh concluded that our license prices are below average for the region and for peer agencies across the state.

So if the re recommended actions uh were adopted, we would achieve essentially four goals.

We're looking to align cost recovery for services to be more in line with regional and peer agencies across the state, but also avoiding steep increases uh in one go to residents.

We want to increase convenience and flexibility for pet owners by offering a two-year license term as well.

That would particularly help people who are first-time licensed purchasers so that they can best align the license product with the expiration date of their rabies vaccination.

And it would um prevent multiple or duplicate uh renewals before they're able to get that three-year term.

This would also support fiscal sustainability by increasing the revenue for the services provided while still not exceeding the cost to provide the service.

And finally, we would continue to promote spay and neuter and long-term compliance by maintaining a lower license fee for altered pets, just as we always have in the past, and offering a discount on three-year licenses to encourage um that long-term compliance.

A few other things to note about the updated fees.

The kind of logic around our pricing remains aligned with uh previous fee schedules like we've had in the past.

So uh a late fee is equal to our lowest cost license, which is a one-year altered pet.

Um, senior citizens who are 65 and above, uh, they get free licenses for the first two pets if they're altered.

If they're unaltered, they don't get free licenses, but we do discount them at 50% of the unaltered license price.

And then, of course, service animals remain free to license.

And then I just want to note that if these uh changes are adopted, um, amending the ordinance and the fee schedule will take effect uh July 1.

So the recommendation from staff is that we introduce uh we amend the ordinance 8.03.010 uh to include that two-year animal license period, and then just make some minor language cleanups in there.

And then two adopts a resolution um adopting the updated animal license fee schedule.

And then for everyone's reference, I just include a slide that has um what our current license fees are.

And then what the updated animal license fees would be.

So you can see very nominal, modest increases to the products.

Happy to answer any questions.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Sarah.

It's good to see you.

Thank you.

All right.

At this time, I'll declare the public hearing open.

And I don't see anybody sign up to speak.

So I'm going to close the public hearing public public comment opportunity.

Declare the public hearing closed.

And I'll bring it back to my colleagues for consideration.

I I do have a quick question.

Yeah.

So oh, you took the presentation offline.

Oh, okay.

So if I recall correctly, for residents over 65, they have first two pet free registration, right?

Okay.

Just if it's spade or neuter.

If it's bait or neuter, right?

Okay.

So question that's not part of this what we're talking about tonight, but hopefully it's a quick answer.

Is do we provide a discount for seniors over 65 to get Spay and Newter?

Yes, we do.

Okay, yes.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Entertain a motion.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

Motion and second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Abstain.

Thank you.

To be clear, the motion was for both the ordinance and the fees.

Is that correct?

So the motion may be a motion.

Yes.

Correct.

Thank you.

You must agree to the vote.

No, no.

As long as it covered the ordinance and the fee resolution.

I think that's what staff was asking for.

Am I correct, Sarah?

That is correct.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

All right, Mr.

Clerk, next item, please.

That'll take us on to item 8.4, which is actually two public hearings to consider the 60th annexation to street maintenance district number one zone three AEW and the 77th annexation to stormwater drainage fee zone two, as will be detailed by staff.

Sorry.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members.

Uh my name is Cindy Tiffany.

I am the finance and budget analyst for the finance department, and I'm here to present this evening on annexations into our special districts.

The city maintains eight special tax districts.

Annexations are into appropriate districts or are typically a part of the approval project for the process for the project.

The requirements are specific for each project and vary according to geographic location and building use.

The project I bring today is 9320 Broadshaw Road, which is our urban lot split.

The resolution of intent was adopted on February 25th 2026 or 2006.

And it will be for the street maintenance district number one, zone three.

It's the 60th 60th annexation and stormwater drainage fee zone two, which is the 77th annexation.

The assessments if passed will be levied into perpetuity for these projects.

This is a residential project located on Browse Bradshaw Road, south of Bond Road.

Once the project is completed, it will consist of two family homes.

This is my presentation.

Let me know.

Thank you.

Okay, at this time we'll declare the public hearing for SMD 3-AW Annex 60 open.

And do we have anybody sign up to speak?

I do not see anybody signed up to speak.

I will close the public comment opportunity and declare the public hearing for SMD 3-AW Annex 60 closed.

And request the clerk to provide results of the ballot tabulation.

There is no majority protest of two possible votes weighted according to the proportional financial obligation for the properties.

Two affirmative votes for return.

The ballots approved the proposed assessment and the proposed inflation adjustment limit described for the parcel identified in the ballot and a resolution determining levy assessments in the district is available for council consideration.

Okay.

My colleagues entertain a motion.

Motion A, move.

Second.

All those in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Next one.

We have a second hearing to declare the public hearing for SWDF Annex 77 open.

And I'll open the public comment opportunity.

And seeing no comments, I will close the public comment opportunity and declare the public hearing to SWDF Annex 77 closed.

Request the clerk to provide results of the ballot tabulation.

And again, there is no majority protest of two possible votes weighted according to the proportional financial obligation for each property, two affirmative votes for return.

The ballot approves the proposed assessment, the proposed inflation adjustment limit described for the parcel identified in the ballot.

A resolution determining levy assessments in the district is available for council consideration.

All right.

Again, we'll look to my colleagues for motion.

Motion B move.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, abstain.

Motion carries.

Next item.

That'll take us to section nine, our regular agenda action item starting with item 9.1, which is receive information and provide direction regarding the allocation of fiscal year 2026-27 events sponsorship grant program funds.

That's a mouthful.

Hello, hello, Vice Mayor and Council members.

I am Jody Moreno.

I am the community events program manager for the city.

I work in the public affairs office.

As one of the functions of my role, I have the privilege of overseeing the event sponsorship grant program.

So I'm here tonight to share information and share some allocation recommendations for your consideration for anyone that applied for this program.

Before I start my presentation, just a personal note.

And I think we are also lucky to be in a city with management and council that supports this kind of program.

I belong to a lot of professional event organizations.

I attend webinars, I go to conferences across the United States.

And any time the subject comes up of how do we support other events that want to be held in our city, how do we support nonprofits?

When I share the event sponsorship grant program, every other city is amazed and in awe that we have this program.

Other cities have similar programs, but they don't or aren't able to support nonprofits the way that we are.

So I think that's a testament to how we like to have a lively resident and community here in Elk Grove.

And so thank you to management and to the council.

It's just it's a phenomenal program.

So I'm going to share some information on it.

The program was started in 2012.

It is supported by the general fund.

We do have a standardized application process that promotes fairness and equitability between people who are applying for this.

There is established criteria to ensure that sponsorship funding is focused on events with citywide significance that meet the city and the council goals.

It is limited to nonprofit organizations with events held in Elk Grove City limits.

Um and programming and operations are ineligible.

They can apply for other grants that the city has.

And does it have citywide significance?

And something like that is, you know, is it a small event?

Is it a large event?

Does it raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships?

Things like all these things come into consideration when we're looking at these 59 applications.

It's a long process for us.

We sit in a room for like three hours after we've all everyone in that room has reviewed all 59 applications.

And so everyone comes to the table and we talk about it and we share the budget and what it would what it would take to do this.

So of the 59 eligible applications that we had, we are proposing 40 events be funding through the event sponsorship grant program and an additional 10 dinner fundraising events recommended for funding through the events budget that we also run that has ESG in it.

The reason that we separated the dinner fundraising events, why we know that they are very important to nonprofits.

They may not have the same impact attendance-wise, but it does on how they run their business, how they do fundraising.

So we wanted to set aside a separate budget and then look to next year to have them apply differently for that.

So they don't have to apply through ESG in case it doesn't fall under citywide significance.

We wanted people to have another avenue to apply.

So we still want to fund them all this year.

We asked them to apply through web grants.

I'm putting them in a separate budget, but we're still moving forward with supporting all of these local fundraising dinners.

I'm not gonna go through all of them.

Um, I know you have it in front of you as well, but I will say first and foremost that there were eight brand new ones this year, which is really exciting for us.

It's not we love everyone coming back and promoting their events, but we really like when we see some new things too.

So you can see here in red, I have some of the new ones notated.

The total support that you'll see on the right-hand side, and that you have on your spreadsheets as well, and that includes everything.

So that is if they had a facility, if it's just cash, if they had police services to close a road, integrated waste, things like that.

So some of the new ones you'll see is at Africa um House Community Day, which is really exciting.

We've never had anything like that here before.

Um, Al Mizba, who has been doing some community food drives locally, wants to do a bigger one at Elk Grove Park and possibly include a drive-through food thing and work a festival into that.

So that was pretty exciting.

The Angelman Strongwalk has um applied in the past, and we had not had the funding to support them, and luckily this year we're able to support them, so we're excited to see them in our lineup.

Uh, Artners is coming back with a Dia de los Muertos experience and the day of La Cancha, which they just had a few weeks ago.

We have a new um event producer for a lunar new year market fair at District 56, which they were just a renter this past year.

They applied for our program, so we're happy to recommend them for funding.

MLK celebration breakfast is coming back.

A new car show.

There's a car show that's been happening at the plaza, and they've been a renter.

Um, and I know that my boss Kristen and I had tried to get a car show at the plaza for a while, so we're happy that they have formally applied and we are recommending funding for them.

Chicks in Crisis, uh, gobble wobble.

We need everyone to get out there and walk and help support that group.

Juneteenth from Dreams Unlimited back at the plaza again.

Actually, their event's coming up this June 13th, so hopefully everyone can go to that.

As well as Festival of the Arts is this Saturday with the Elk Grove Fine Arts Center.

Uh Run for Hunger, one of the big fundraisers for the Elk Grove Food Bank.

We have the Historical Society, Running of the Elk, uh, Taste of Elk Grove.

We have a new mid-autumnum festival that application that we got at District 56.

That's looks to be a very big event, and we're excited to see that.

A new mom's resource and vendor fair, Dickens Fair, Strauss Festival, Flamenco has a concert coming up in June.

They were a new grantee last year, so we're excited to see how they do and bring some cultural concerts.

Um and then Bubble Frenzy, Timo Entertainment.

This happens at Elk Grove Park.

He does a free event, he's got bubbles, he's got food, he's got all kinds of stuff for kids out there.

And then we always have contingency because sometimes the public works contractors, um, it depends on who's working, how much the overtime is, same with PD, depends on who signs up, whether it's an officer or a sergeant.

So we always have contingency in here.

So the next steps would be um to receive direction from you guys on funding allocations, and then that would be adopted as part of the budget process.

And like I mentioned before, the 10 fundraising dinners also would be in my events budget, just not under the ESG fund line.

And that concludes my presentation.

All right, thank you very much, Miss Moreno.

Also appreciate all your work in all our city events too.

Woman behind the scenes.

Thank you.

At this time, I'll go and open up the public comment opportunity.

I see a couple speakers signed up to speak.

First comment, Shari Wilson, followed by Regina Reichenberg.

Sharp.

Good to see you.

Good to see you all.

Thank you.

And thank you for all your help, Jody.

Um with putting Juneteenth together.

Juneteenth is in Elk Grove.

Um, it's more than a celebration, it's an economic driver and a community investment.

This is our third year, and it continues to grow.

The first year I self-funded this event as a local business owner, resident stepping out to create something meaningful for our city.

Now we bring in, well, we bring in over 2,000 attendants with people traveling from all across Central Valley, Bay Area, Solano County, and also Los Angeles.

They don't just attend, they support local businesses.

Restaurants fill up, vendors profit, and dollars stay right here in El Grove.

We're doing our part to meet city and community, but the reality is this event costs a lot.

And funding is getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

Our impact grows, but also the need for investment.

So we're not asking for charity, we're asking for partnership.

Juneteenth is proven, Juneteenth is growing, and Juneteenth is good business.

So I hope you guys consider us for next year.

And Dream Girl, I mean not Dream Girls, Dreams Unlimited.

We do so much for the community.

This past Christmas, we were able to bless a local business, um, a local business with a cargo band wrapped and um ready for marketing for their business.

And we also help house um a homeless lady get into her apartment, and we bought all the furniture and all her essential things.

So Dreams Unlimited is definitely invested in this community, and I just want you guys to be invested in what we're doing and partner with us.

I appreciate you guys.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Regina Reichenberg.

Good evening.

Good evening, Council.

Uh and Jody, I also thank you for your work that you do with this.

Thank you.

Uh, my name is Regina Reichenberg.

I am with the Mariah Cares Foundation.

Um, I saw from Jody's presentation that we weren't uh given the grant this year, but that's fine.

I just wanted to bring to your attention who we are and what we do.

Uh Mariah Cares Foundation was established in honor of a young lady uh from Franklin High School, Mariah.

Her parents established it after she passed away from cancer.

She spent 18 months or so at St.

Jude and lost the battle.

But uh she told her parents that she was not finished making the world a better place and asked her parents to continue that mission.

So that's what we do.

We help families uh who are going through the horrible experience of childhood cancer.

Um we also provide scholarships for seniors going off to college, most of them from Elk Grove high schools.

And uh the final thing is uh Mariah had a love for pets, and so we uh support the Elk Grove Animal Shelter by sponsoring pet adoptions.

Um of the families that we have helped.

I'll just give you briefly.

Um we had one family who had to go to San Diego for treatment.

Um and the daughter went down to San Diego, dad stayed home with the other two kids.

We paid for the housing, the food, gas, driving back and forth.

We flew dad and the other kids down a couple of times so the family could be together on Mother's Day.

Um since they've returned, um, we were able to get them a van that they needed uh because the young girl was now in a wheelchair and with three kids, they just needed the extra space.

We were able to get them in a van.

Um we also help pay for some daycare when they have issues when the child goes into the hospital overnight type of thing.

Um we have another family of one-year-old uh going through cancer treatment right now.

They had nothing.

They were sleeping on the floor in a relative's one-bedroom apartment, the mom and the dad and their two kids.

Um, they now have their own apartment.

We have furnished that apartment.

Uh we have fixed their car for them, brakes, windshield, all sorts of things.

The the they had no clothes.

So we spent homeless about $3,000 buying clothes for the family.

Um, beds, dressers, all that sort of stuff.

Um, so these are some of the things we do to help these families because it it gets expensive.

Um we have another gal that we have been supporting who um is finishing her journey, we'll say um she has decided to stop treatment after six years.

Um we attended a function for her celebration of life, and we donated five thousand dollars to the family to help with expenses.

Another little girl needed a walker, wanted a purple walker for her neuroblastoma.

We did that.

And again, we also um 2023 we awarded five scholarships, 2024, six scholarships, and 2025, 11 scholarships, and again, mostly to Elk Grove High School seniors graduating.

And again, mostly to Elk Grove High School seniors graduating.

So that's who we are.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

If I can interject, um, you are on the fundraising dinner list and you are being supported this year.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Yay!

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We're very familiar with the organization as well and happy to support.

Um, that was our last speaker.

Uh, I'm gonna that I'm gonna close public comment opportunity and bring it back to our council for any questions or deliberation and direction.

Councilmember Brewer.

No, I want to thank Ms.

Jody Moreno for and and her team for putting together this year's list and for the early disclaimer noteing of the separate part.

Because that's essential because a lot of causes that uh that the community really cares about, and Mariah Cares is definitely one of those causes.

And to know that that is part of that separate cohort is definitely important and should be acknowledged and celebrated.

So at the time when it's appropriate, we'll definitely make should make sure that what we give that acknowledgement.

But for this year's uh awardees, new uh congratulations.

Um for the ones who have been long steady uh congratulations as well.

But at least we can definitely say for this year, spring Palooza will definitely be that money will be put to use.

It's going to happen.

Definitely happy for that.

It's it used to be, as we know, it used to be the Western Festival, but um it's under a new name, new leadership.

And this year it was definitely all hands on deck.

So congratulations for them.

Um also Dreams Unlimited can't give enough props and kudos for the work that Shari Wilson and Linda White and Sabrina are doing.

That is amazing work that they do to reach out and touch people in the community and continue to inspire and grow.

And yeah, these are just great causes.

Looking at this list up and down the the chart and seeing that the the funds that were applied for were the funds that were received.

Um, this is just great news.

Congratulations to everyone, and thank you again.

All right.

Councilmember Spees.

Yeah, just real quick.

I think so.

What I think I I think you have to have lived here for a long time to recognize the importance of community events to the community of Elk Grove.

It back in the day, long before most of us in the room um uh were here in Elk Grove.

Um experience, our entertainment was done by community events, right?

So, you know, we had you know, pancake breakfasts, and and uh we even had way back when I'm sure most people have no idea that we used to have a donkey basketball tournament on the court at Elk Grove uh high school, right?

So it was what we it was what we had.

It was community coming together.

And so I'm really glad to see that this, you know, a more formalized program helps out to continue that.

And I think that's these types of community events are the things that you know continue to make Elk Grove still feel like a small hometown for for a lot of people.

So thank you very much, Ms.

Moreno and and the rest of your team and your people.

I appreciate your help.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Councilmember Robles.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice Mayor.

Ums Moreno, I just want to say thank you for the presentation.

Uh it's it's awesome to see that we have new folks who were uh participating in our program and that we're actually ever donating to.

Um I'm happy to see El Misfa.

I know that uh Councilmember Spees had done some work prior, and then during the government shutdown, and MISP has really stepped up to serve a lot of the community.

I think every every Wednesday they're doing food distribution, and the numbers keep on going high.

And I think it's almost 235 of them not mistaken residents that they actually give food to every Wednesday.

So it's awesome to see this.

Uh it's also uh uh very awesome to see that the our girls um the artners is growing, and that is starting to be more uh more visitors are starting to go to that and kind of the creative and in arts and all that.

So pleased to see that.

Um looking forward to to attending a lot of these community events, and I think it just puts us in a unique position where we are as a city um where we can do this and give back to our communities and and invest in in a lot of our local nonprofits.

Um that is a tribute to your hard work and as well as our executive staff.

So um thank you.

Yeah, I I think uh all my community colleagues said it best, and I I agree with everything they said.

I appreciate this program because it allows or enables our residents to bring forth things that are important to them and get the community uh excited about it and introduce them, whether you know, um whether it's educating folks on on Juneteenth or bringing uh um different cultural festivals uh to light.

Uh I I think it's a great way for communities to participate in their city.

So I also uh echo the sentiments again of my colleagues uh and all the great work that was that's done by Dreams Unlimited, Mariah Cares, uh MISPA and everybody.

I wish there was more funds to go around.

I wish we could provide more because I do understand what like what Ms.

Wilson said, it's it's very expensive to do these things, and uh we provide the help that we can, and we do wish we could do more, but um we're doing we're doing what we can.

All right.

Uh with that, I think we support the direction of staff recommendation.

I didn't hear any adjustments or anything.

So I don't think it's we don't need a motion, right?

Okay.

The second time I do that.

All right, very good.

Mr.

Clerk, next item.

Take us on to item 9.2, which is receive information and consider resolution approving the blue line bus rapid transit implementation plan.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council.

I'm Kaylee Lyons, your transportation planning program manager here this evening for the Blue Line Light Rail, Bus Rapid Transit Implementation Plan.

Um, so we've been working over the last two years in a partnership between the city and Sacramento Regional Transit District or SAC RT on this planning study.

Um it's currently funded by Caltrans, and I'm joined here this evening by Kevin Schroeder from SAC RT as well as Adam Dinkberg from our consultant team at Kimleyhorn.

And this plan really is advancing um previous efforts that we've taken to bring high capacity transit into Elk Grove.

And so the the focus really here was to determine the feasibility of light rail and bus rapid transit options within our defined alignment.

The alignment has been in our general plan since 2003.

So it proposes high frequency transit coming from Casumus River College south on Bruceville Road, turning onto Bighorn Boulevard and then extending through the city to the Camera Road corridor.

And this was again confirmed in the latest update of our general plan as well.

So we've done some previous planning efforts for this, um, most notably the 2009 fixed transit alignment study really helped us identify the potential right of way needs that we um would need and and helped us set out um to begin preserving that.

And I'll say that has made the um feasibility of a project much more.

It's made it a lot easier, quite frankly, than it otherwise would be if we hadn't had that early planning effort.

And then we've also looked at a couple of other um concepts for bringing the high frequency transit into town as well.

So, as I said, we've been working on this study for the last two years, and we've done three rounds of outreach, which I'll speak to in a moment.

So, what alternatives did we evaluate?

And um what did we find?

So we started with three alternatives, um, looking at light rail, bus rapid transit, or a combination of the two.

So alternative one is light rail from consumeness river college to district 56, and then it would transition to a rapid bus for the southern part of the corridor.

Alternative two is light rail for the full alignment, and then alternative three is bus rapid transit for the full alignment.

Within these options, we looked at center running and side running options for the bus or rail vehicles, and there's nothing that precludes us from mixing and matching the options that we've evaluated within here based on um what makes sense through our evaluation.

We also added a fourth alternative, which is essentially um alternative two, the light rail focus, but for one segment of the corridor.

The rail vehicles would be sharing lanes with vehicles, and we looked at this to determine if it was a possible cost-saving measure or not.

And then alternative five is one station getting to Bighorn and Bruceville.

So we evaluated all of these alternatives on a variety of metrics.

This is sort of a visualization of um the substantial positive or negative impact of of each of these components, and I'll run through just a few of these.

So in terms of transit access, all alternatives would make transit faster with fewer stops and dedicated lanes throughout town.

Alternative two, which is the light rail for the full segment, has the greatest benefit to transit travel time.

It removes the barrier of having to transfer from bus to light rail at CRC if you're reaching other destinations within the reason within the region.

And so that really helps with travel times.

We did do some traffic analysis and we found slightly more delay, so up to about eight seconds per vehicle at some of the major intersections compared to a no-build option.

And then alternative four, that option where the light rail vehicle would share with the personal vehicle.

That had additional traffic delay.

And that's just from queuing the length of the corridor and the vehicles.

And then each alternative does include improved access for people walking and biking along the alignment.

We also took a look at land use, and so we identified some station place types and ways to support transit being successful in the future.

So we have four station area vision plans.

Those are shown here.

And so it looked at the existing land use pattern, opportunities for growth and development, and really ways that we can support transit in the future, and so helping to prepare for some of that so that it is successful.

In terms of ridership, our analysis shows that alternative two, so again, that's light rail for the full segment, is forecast to have the highest ridership.

This would increase existing blue line ridership by about 20%.

And all alternatives would reduce VMT.

And then I'll just point out that the bus rapid transit compared to light rail has significantly lower ridership.

And that's again because of the transition that you'd have to make at CRC if you're going elsewhere in the region, and some additional stops if you're on a bus versus a train.

So the travel time is longer, which decreases ridership.

In terms of capital and operating costs, that alternative two light rail option has the highest capital cost, but also the highest ridership.

And then we found that alternative four, so that mixed lane scenario has the highest operating costs.

That's because it's a little bit slower, and so it increases the cost to operate it.

And then alternative three, the bus rapid transit option, does have the lowest capital and operating costs, but it also has the lowest ridership.

So we did three rounds of outreach and engagement talking about the findings that we had through the analysis.

That included a project web page that's been up for the duration of the project, all of our plans, detailed alignments, they're all available online.

We did a couple of online surveys, community workshops, both in person and online.

And then we attended a variety of community events.

We set up booths, brought out boards to talk to folks about what we were finding and get their input.

And then we distributed the draft plan online with interactive commenting so folks can leave a comment, they can also see what others are saying and upvote or downvote that as a way to get some interactive input as well.

And then we had a stakeholder advisory committee with partners throughout the region so that they're reviewing the plan as well.

So what we found is that frequent service, safe and comfortable rides, fast reliable trips are what would encourage more transit use.

And then for the survey, um, we listed out each of the alternatives and we had the graphics available.

And 70% of the survey respondents did select a build alternative and alternative two that light rail along the corridor was the most popular.

And then the key concerns that we heard during outreach was about safety and construction impacts.

And so if a project did move forward, we would work closely with our police department, SAC RT's police department, their transit ambassadors to address any concerns and really plan with that in mind first.

And then the construction impacts, noise, things like that would be evaluated during future phases and the environmental phase.

So through the analysis and the outreach that we did, this we do have a proposed project from staff, which is to establish light rail along the corridor as our proposed project, what we would like to continue moving forward with.

And that could either be Bruce Spill and Bighorn, so just one station to start or three stations down to District 56.

This would require a mixture of funding sources.

So the Federal Transit Administration has a capital investment grant program.

It has new starts for light rails, small starts for bus rapid transit.

And what we've seen initially is that light rail is actually more competitive on their metrics because it has higher ridership and it's the extension of an existing line versus establishing a new line.

So some more evaluation would need to be done, but initially that's what we're finding.

And then there's a variety of state, regional, local funding sources as well that we could tap into potentially a future local sales tax measure.

This is something the Sacramento Transportation Authority has been looking at for some time.

So possible inclusion into something like that in the future, but nothing is set yet in terms of funding right now.

The and that's because the implementation process is complex.

So we are at the green box right here.

We're doing some corridor planning.

We would still need to go through design right of way, environmental, the federal transit administration funding process.

And so this really is a years long complex effort that we would be working towards.

The initial next steps that we're looking at is to begin some early engagement with the federal transit administration so that we can make sure what we're doing locally is setting us up to be competitive for federal funding.

We'll continue collaborating with our regional and local partners, working with SACOG, getting the project as needed into the regional transportation plan and identifying future funding, exploring those land use policies, any changes that we may need to make, and then getting to a point where we are officially adopting a preferred alternative.

So this evening, um, staff is asking council to adopt the resolution finding the plan exempt from CECWA pursuant to section 15262, and then approving the blue line bus rapid transit implementation plan, which includes all of the analysis evaluation that I mentioned here this evening.

Um and the project team and I are available for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Kaylee.

Okay, I'm gonna at this time open up the public comment opportunity.

Uh I see eight speakers signed up.

My first speaker is Lynn Wheat, followed by David Baker.

Um good evening.

Um I appreciate the outreach that was held for the um for the light rail and to talk about bus rapid transit.

I attended all those meetings.

So um I'm a little hoarder at times, and I came across an article that I'd saved from the Elk Grove Citizen in 2004 election year.

And it says growth and traffic cited a city's top issues.

And here we are in 2025, and what are we talking about?

Traffic and how to deal with it.

So I'd like to in 2026.

I'd like to say that I talked to Councilman Cooper about Light Rail.

Actually, I talked to all the city council about light rail and said that that's what we should be striving for because I could see that the city was going to keep growing, not that I necessarily wanted to grow as rapidly and out of control as it did.

And at that time, Councilman Cooper said, Well, I'll be dead before Light Rail comes to Elk Grove.

And he said I could use that.

And so I'm at a meeting uh probably a couple years ago, and I ran over and we were talking more about light rail.

And I said, light rails come into Elk Grove.

I just have such good news for you.

It's coming.

And he kind of chuckled.

And I can chuckle too, because I would love to have light rail here.

But the bottom line is it's extremely expensive.

Do I want it?

Yes, I do want it.

I wanted it 25 years ago.

What I don't want to see happen is that we keep doing studies over and over to try to fix our traffic situation here.

And I want us to be realistic.

I don't want to see the people taxed to death to try to get something that may or may not come.

I do like the idea of slowly bringing it down here.

And maybe by the time I'm 100, I'll be able to write it out to camera.

So once again, I will promote light rail.

I would not do bus rapid transit at all.

I can tell you that right now.

I want to get on and get off where I need to.

I don't want to do multiple transfers.

And who's to know how well I'll be walking?

If I have my little walker to get to where I needed to go, I don't want to have to be jumping from bus to bus to hope to get on light rail.

So we need to do this right.

And whether it takes 10, 20, 50 years long term, let's not waste a lot of money along the way.

We've been really good as a city of wasting taxpayers' money.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, David Baker, followed by Allison Hiccox.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Sewen and Council members.

Uh David Baker, longtime resident of Elk Grove, District 4.

Uh live right along this proposed route.

Uh, just here to uh express my um uh opposition to this plan.

Uh we talked we heard earlier about how beautiful uh district 56 is I think tearing out all those trees and grass area and having trains run by there all day.

Not much for the beauty and peacefulness of what we got going on now.

We have buses that run there now, nobody rides them except maybe a little bit in the morning and a little bit in the evening.

I walk my dog out there every night and I watch buses go by with nobody in them.

Commented to a driver of the bus one day, hey, you get a lot of people riding the bus, and he just kind of left.

Uh, he just rides back and forth all day with nobody on it, except a little bit in the morning, a little bit in the afternoon.

And my concern is that's we're gonna have the same thing.

Um, I think this is really uh a solution that's like searching for a problem.

We're talking about reducing congestion there.

The own plan of doing light rail that actually increases uh congestion, is what I just heard about eight seconds or something.

There's other ideas that are already in the process that would reduce a lot of the congestion on that in that corridor.

You know, opening up uh Bighorn all the way to Cray Mara would do that.

Uh adding, I know we're on plans to add another on-ramp, off ramp at uh White Lock, that would do that.

If you'd look at the street that comes down uh City Civic Center was originally supposed to go through to the Automall.

I guess somebody approved uh not doing that, but considering doing that.

Biggest problem on that area is there's only one way in.

So as soon as we could create these other ways in and out, I think uh you'd relieve some of that congestion anyway.

I think I agree with Lynn in terms of this is uh uh an extremely expensive route.

And to hear talking about raising taxes to do it for sales taxes that horror to me.

Um this is on the plan as it is today in 2025, over a billion dollars.

It's gonna cost over 16 million dollars a year to run.

I don't know how many people take the bus now, even if we get to the 4,000 number or something, that's a lot of money per ride.

And I don't think uh by the time they get around to building it in 20 whatever, uh it'll be a lot more than a billion.

So I mean, for two million dollars, they they run around uh Long Beach in electric vehicles, and they'll take you right from your house to wherever you want to go for two million dollars.

So there should, you know, I know there's seniors and other people who need to get around, but there's other options that need to be explored from my perspective.

And I know we did a lot of outreach, and I appreciate the outreach that was done, but I think the survey had about 930 people or something.

So you're talking about the people who are in favor of doing this all the way was I don't know, 300 people or something.

And people in my neighborhood have never even heard of this plan when I talked to them.

So I mean, I would appreciate a little more effort in talking to the people who live along this line about how it'll affect.

You know, there's some pictures in here of San Diego and that sort of stuff.

It's it's a completely different city, it's five times as many people.

If you've ever driven the trolley down there, it doesn't go through neighborhoods like this.

It's completely different sort of neighborhoods.

I don't think it's a good fit for our city.

I know our city's growing.

I'd love to see the donkeys come back or something, but uh I certainly don't need trains running up and down there all day that are mostly empty.

Uh and um are really gonna wreck the peacefulness of that neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Alison Hiccox, followed by Marley Duncan.

Good evening, council members.

Good evening.

Um, I'm a student at Cosumnus River College studying environmental sciences, becoming an environmental scientist, and I'm a lifelong Elk Grove resident.

Um, I'm here to express my support for the Blue Line implementation.

I think that implementing light rail in Elk Grove is a crucial step in meeting our climate action plan and sustainability goals.

As a lifelong Elk Grove resident, the thing I most dislike about our city is that it is so car-centric and public transit tends to be very limited if non-existent at all, hence why many people don't choose to take it.

Traffic is a big problem here, as was mentioned earlier.

And so I feel that light rail expansion is going to help our city become a more livable place with reduced traffic, especially as the city adds new developments and expands our population.

In a time when car ownership and gas prices are extremely expensive and gas prices tend to be very volatile.

I think that having a traffic-free and green commute is going to be a very important addition to our city.

So having again a traffic-free, carbon-free commute is going to be very helpful for a lot of people and serve a lot of residents.

And there are also a lot of elderly residents or people who can't afford to have a car who would really benefit from this plan.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alison, for coming down here.

We need to hear from your generation.

So thank you.

Marley Duncan, followed by Abigail Yonan.

Hi, I've been um an El Grove citizen for a few years, and I'm also a CRC student and I major in anthropology.

Reducing car dependency should be a priority.

Transportation by car is not a viable option for everyone.

This has always been the case, and we have always needed reliable alternatives.

Citizens who can't drive are forced to hitch rides with others, attempt to navigate the limited bus system or walk between highway crosswalks or and strip more strip mall parking lots that are either grossly congested or vastly empty.

Biking also is not the norm here because many drivers lack pedestrian awareness, and therefore many people don't feel safe to bike.

Even citizens who just don't want to drive are forced to because there is no alternative that is nearly as reliable.

This is increasingly alarming as citizens struggle to afford the rising gas prices, the local impacts of which have not yet been fully realized.

As Elk Grove develops and expands, traffic will only increase and the distances will be more difficult to traverse without a car.

Light rail and Elk Grove would allow more accessible citizen transportation as well as more autonomy for citizens citizens to explore their city.

It would also present citizens, especially younger citizens, with the opportunity to save money when they need it most.

All that is to say Elk Grove's infrastructure is hostile as it is car-centric.

I consider it the responsibility of the Elk Grove City Council to ensure that Elk Grove citizens and travelers travelers will not struggle as a result.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Abigail Union, followed by Carol Kinsner.

Kinser, excuse me.

Good evening.

Because I love the city and the amazing community.

One of the biggest issues I've noticed since moving to Elk Grove is our traffic congestion, as I'm sure many others would agree with me.

With the expansion of the light rail, we have the opportunity to help smooth traffic flow and cut down on travel time.

Not only will it help with traffic, but it'll help to make more but it'll help to make travel more accessible and affordable.

I'm a student here at CRC as well, and um I don't have a car, and I think affordable uh travel options are really important.

It's also important because we are growing like crazy.

The city is growing very fast.

And so is our student population.

Another issue that the light rail extension addresses is our increasing use of gas emissions uh as a city continuously grows.

With the light rail as an alternative form of travel, we are keeping gas emissions lower and creating cleaner air for our community.

With that being said, with that being said, extending the light rail into Elk Grove will help cut down traffic, make travel more affordable, make travel more accessible, and help create cleaner air in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, good evening all.

Happy Earth Day.

My name is Carol Kincer.

I'm a longtime resident here of Elk Grove.

Got married here, been here 36 years.

I've been waiting for Light Rail to come because I'm a big environmentalist, and I'm always so impressed when I go to other cities, Toronto, Mexico City.

I want that in Elk Grove.

In fact, I'm very disappointed we haven't gone this route.

And my husband and I are considering moving into uptown because we want to be live in a society where we don't have to get in a car every day.

So I would hope that you will all consider um supporting the blue line coming down into Elk Grove.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

For the environment.

Thank you.

Next up, Michael Andrew Barnbaum, followed by our last speaker, Nathaniel Heedley.

Good to see you, Michael.

Good to see you.

Thank you, uh, Vice Mayor Sueen and members of the Elk Grove City Council.

Uh, before I begin talking about the testimony and the item, I first want to thank Council Member Brewer for your service uh on the many transportation boards that you do serve on.

The light rail um transportation plans and priority lists are listed for the Elk Grove extension uh with a half cent transportation sales tax countywide.

I wanted to put that on the record.

Um so good evening again.

My name is Michael Barnbaum.

Um after living on campus the first two fiscal years, 1995, 96 and 9697.

Uh, I moved off campus my third year.

But the biggest decision in moving off campus was where?

Where would be safe and where would it be accessible?

So I discovered after uh moving off campus uh the Woodlake neighborhood of the city of Sacramento.

And the Wood Lake neighborhood was uh something very attractive to me, including but not limited to the fact it has three light rail stations.

The one in the middle, which serves as the old North Sacramento transit center, uh, which just recently uh got its uh platform modification done and an adjacent uh complex, the Rivo apartments at Arden Del Paso station is gonna open within the next 30 days.

Uh so what a great thing to have a transit-oriented development there.

And it was a selling point for me because it was uh where I could get to a station within five minutes walk or the transit center within a 15-minute walk.

And the light rail is frequent, runs as early during the week as four in the morning, and as late as after midnight.

Uh so it allows me with the flexibility of that to do things uh transit dependent and not needing a car in Sacramento.

Uh so I hope that the city of Elk Grove will uh adopt the um light rail implementation plan, continue to work with uh city staff and RT staff uh on next steps forward.

And uh with that, and I see it my time's almost up.

If it was me, I I would make a motion to adopt the resolution on page seven of the staff report.

Uh direct anything you want additional to city staff and RT staff, but keep your option open to explore bus rapid transit along the Elk Grove Florin, South Watt, and Watt Avenue corridor from the corporation yard to Vista Grande and Santucci Boulevard in West Roseville.

That would be a BRT corridor worth pursuing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Oh, we're good.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker, our final speaker, I should say, Nathaniel Healy.

Good evening.

My name is Nathaniel.

I am not an Elk Grove resident, but I am a frequent traveler here, and so is the rest of my family.

I would like to express my support for motion 9.2.

And in particular, I would like to highlight the transit needs of disabled people.

My mom is a person who has Parkinson's disease.

It is a degenerative neurological disease.

It's slowly taking away her ability to move and her executive function.

And recently she lost her ability to drive.

And there are more limited options for her to get around now.

And in particular, it is a problem because we can't really afford the incredibly expensive accessible vehicles such as lifted vans with wheelchair access and vehicles like those.

So public transit is a very viable option for alleviating the stress on caretakers such as myself who have to take care of their parents or people who work to take care of elderly and disabled people.

In particular, it will allow them more access to jobs.

For example, the light rail will go directly to Midtown Sacramento, where there is plentiful places to work, and it will give them ample access to funds.

So it will give disabled people and elderly more options to get around.

Thank you for listening and have a good evening.

Thank you.

Okay, that was our final speaker.

At this time, I will uh declare the public comment opportunity closed and bring it back to my colleagues for deliberation and uh direction and any comment or questions.

But before that, I would like to read a statement from our mayor who asked me to read this.

The mayor supports staff recommendation.

Light rail will provide essential transportation options for our city and residents.

Elk Grove will be better connected to Sacramento and our region.

The project will also alleviate some traffic congestion.

As SAC RT chair, I look forward to working on this project to improve transportation options for our community.

Okay, that was again that was from our mayor.

Um look back to our council colleagues, Councilman Robles.

Go ahead.

Oh, yes, of course, Casmer Brewer, yeah.

Your other representatives on RT.

Yeah, please.

I would have loved to have heard from the other panel before, and I just played cleanup.

Let me play Aaron Judge on this one first.

Okay, we're gonna go back the other direction.

He's deferring.

Um thank you for the presentation.

I think um transportation is definitely important as we continue to expand.

Um I also do believe that at least for me, I think we need to also continue to kind of see other uh modes of transportation.

Um, but I would be um happy to support staff recommendation as as we look um to this.

Um let's recognize the need.

No, traffic has been not great because we've provided what people have asked for.

People have asked for more um shopping, they've asked for more restaurants, they've asked for you know retail, all that.

And that has made um traffic more difficult.

We are undergoing other um opportunities to try to alleviate that traffic, right?

There is certainly a need to have a more efficient way to move people to Sacramento and beyond.

That absolutely needs to happen.

My challenge is that when the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything as a nail.

And when we asked for the study, we said please evaluate BRT and LRT.

And there are other options which are emerging.

There is, you know, they're in in Utah, they're beginning to work on um electric, um, for lack of a better term, planes, right?

Electric uh they're working on uh their the future is autonomous.

And when we're looking at the future, when we're looking at a 20-year horizon, I look at it and think, my gosh, we're gonna be solving tomorrow's problem with yesterday's solution.

And so for me, I I completely understand the need.

I could support it if we had evaluated more.

Um, but again, if we you know, if we ask RT, and there's absolutely no um uh concern or problem with RT, but when we say tell us about LRT or BRT, we're only looking at two of several options.

So uh with that, I won't be able to support this.

I would love to have you know some more um investigation into autonomous or um or you know, into I don't want to sound like George Jetson.

I'm sure that's what I'm gonna get, but you know, there are other cities and states that are evaluating um uh uh autonomous piloted vehicles.

Um so with that I won't be able to support.

Okay.

Um councilman brew, do you mind if I jump in here before you go?

All right, thank.

Okay, appreciate that.

Um so I had a couple questions for for staff.

Uh first of all, uh as far as the ridership that that was uh mentioned, um alternative to having the most most trips um or would would provide the the most be most effective.

It was that a was there a direction with that, or is it both ways?

Was it people coming in or going out?

Did uh did there was there a distinction?

I'd actually like to invite up um Adam Dinkberg from Kimley Horn, who did the ridership analysis for us to just give a uh moment of context to it and answer that question.

Okay, excellent.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Thanks for being here.

No problem.

Happy to be here.

So uh question regarding ridership.

Uh so that is both directions of travel, uh, and that is a future forecast of estimated activity on the light rail.

Okay.

Uh, and then also, did you uh was it dual track?

Did you investigate dual track uh out of Elk Grove?

Well, yeah, the assumption is the light rail would have two tracks, uh, one going each direction.

Uh I apologize.

I uh what I what I mean is instead of going uh when you're going heading out of Elk Grove, having to stop at CRC, or can you is there an opportunity to buy like for for commuters by bypass those stops?

Yeah, good question.

So we just really assumed extension of existing blue line, so it would have a similar service pattern to the blue line and make all the stops.

Um, you know, an express type service could be investigated, but that would the assumption thus far has not been an expression.

Okay.

Do you have any knowledge about it doing an express service?

I mean, I wouldn't expect the full study, but are you do you guys have any uh Yeah, we haven't assessed what improvements would be needed to allow for that.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Um yeah, that was my concern about that part, because I I think whatever we do, it that first segment needs to be very efficient and such that it'll it'll um it'll encourage more ridership.

If we don't get that first segment right, the rest of it uh won't matter.

Now, having said that, I uh you know, I myself am I I'm torn because I've done the commute um to earlier comments mentioned about commuters.

I've done the commute.

Doing bus rapid transit to CRC or or uh Meadow View Station will, in my opinion, will not work because being a driver myself, by the time you get to those places, the traffic disperses and there's really no reason to switch.

You just keep going or you go out, get on five or go back over to 99.

So if you're gonna do anything, I do believe light rail should be it.

But again, if I'm a community to work, I'm not looking to um wanting to stop necessarily at CRC.

I want to get to uh work as fast as I can.

So I think that's something that needs to be looked at for for that first segment.

Um and then you know, the the cost was was mentioned, and there's so I am the alternate on RT, SAC RT, um, but I am uh on the Sacrament Area Council of Governments, which works closely with RT.

So I do look at transit from a have a transit lens while sitting on that board.

And one of the things we're contending with, uh this board is administering uh SB 125 funds.

This was uh one time uh plus up from the legislature to give to allocate to trans transit agencies for operational operational costs because of COVID.

And the very dire news is all our transit systems in this region are are in trouble.

And so it's a it's a challenge because you have the current system and not just not just SAC RT, which is the biggest one, but whether it's YOLO bus or Roseville, um El Dorado, they I mean El Dorado.

Um anyway, my point is there's all the transit systems are are suffering right now.

So the current system is uh is challenged and bandages to to them.

I you know, we we don't know how that that's gonna look.

So it's a it's an issue that we're contending with.

But our city does continue to grow.

And we we maximized our use on I5.

We added one lane on I-5.

We're not going any more wider there.

And 99 certainly can't get wider.

This whole region's gonna add another 580,000 residents is anticipated to add over the next approximately 30 years, maybe less.

And to um, and I'll add in another element here where the people down in San Jose, they didn't want BART either, right?

And they didn't bring BART.

But if you commute down that 680 corridor today, you are wishing you had BART.

So to me, it's not a straightforward answer.

And and I don't know, you know, to my colleagues' comment too.

Autonomous vehicles are very close.

I don't know that the jets are here yet or even proven.

So that's not an option for us either.

I I say all this because I've been looking at this for a long time.

Many people have, and and living it, you know, as a as a commuter.

And so I we we do need something because we can't have 500 autonomous vehicles on our roads.

That's still 500 vehicles, right?

Putting people in uh, you know, moving people efficiently more efficiently is something like like transit.

So there is a need for something like this, but I do believe we have to build something that people will ride.

I mean, this is not this is not unknown, right?

We've heard this before.

It's gotta be frequent, it's gotta be safe, it's gotta be dependable.

And so how do you how do you do that?

Um in a I think in a prudent way.

And I think as I started this conversation with is you you build that first segment really well that people want to ride it.

And I I'm I'm comfortable with the aspiration about you know going farther down.

But again, I'm gonna caution us that the a fixed system, expensive fixed system is gonna take is gonna be costly, it's gonna take a long time, and it won't matter if people aren't riding it, and will be very expensive to maintain.

So we need to be we need to be careful um with that because once it's you know, again, once it's built, it's it's there.

But if you do it incrementally and you're and you're making sure you're building something as you know, gonna be uh as effective as it can, generating the best ridership, meaning you're also partnering appropriate land use with it.

That means transit-oriented corridors, that means densifying the areas around the station so you can have those greater potential riders.

All these things need to happen.

It's not a one, you know, we can't just focus on on the rail itself.

We gotta be able to focus on where are those riders coming from.

Not everybody's gonna do ride share all the way, you know, to a park and ride and ride.

We gotta make sure that there's people living around there that can uh be riders.

So it's a comprehensive strategy.

And look, I I again we we a lot of people are looking at this stuff, and it's I'm trying to impart upon everybody, it's not an easy solution.

It needs it needs to be well thought and well executed.

And so I I appreciate staff's uh recommendation.

I can I can support it, but and I don't know how we do this in a motion if if if it if colleagues support, but so I'll maybe I'll come back to it later.

But I'd like to do it in a way that clarifies um what um what we're actually supporting.

Uh not you know, in other words, a whole vision, but maybe how the execution uh of that vision is part of that as well.

So I'm gonna stop.

I know I said a lot right now, but I'm gonna stop on a yield to uh my my counsel colleague here for his thoughts too.

Councilmember Brew.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I appreciate the comments and the thoughtfulness by all three because we've all seen Elk Grove grow, but we've also seen the traffic congestion grow as well and grow exponentially, and as part of that, there's been an evolution of transit here in Elk Grove.

First City of Elk Grove in its early early stages had RT, then it moved to MV Transit, now we're back to RT.

And while we're as we've gone through this evolution, we've noticed that some things like the e-tran express bus has been effective, does work, but you have to get to the designated Kissing rides to get on those stops.

Now it's gone, it's actually gotten better because now there's designated stops for that with that the e-trans run and picks up people as they go to Sacramento for work and in the day coming home.

Some opt to take light rail and they take the stop that traverses down to Casumas River College.

There is a concerted effort for folks based on the workshops that the city of Sacramento and Sacramento Regional Transit has held, where we had a chance to listen to folks on the ground and through the surveys actually articulate what their needs were.

And the one thing that people definitely ask is that if you do our if you do light rail service, please do it right.

You don't have to do it all in one build, but you have to do it right.

It could be done in stages.

We do have the pathways and the right of ways to make it work, especially when you go south of White Lock Road, because those that right of way is very visible when you see the party's apartments and when you go by the new firehouse.

You see the widening of that pathway.

It's not just there for Flora and Fauna.

It's there because it's part of a future plan.

And that's where and seeing how that Southeast Policy Area and the Madeira Ranch neighborhoods are growing.

Um there will be people that will be riding light rail.

Not everyone will be driving.

You will have a lot of students that will be using that light rail service.

You have Fortune High School, you have Kasuma's Oaks High School, you have the kids at Elizabeth Pinkerton uh middle school.

They will be riding that rail in some way, shape, or form to their homes because not everyone lives within the two mile radius of those campuses.

Some of them live a farther out.

If light rail does come in, we have to reimagine how we're going to do transit in this city.

Because the current routes that we have, they work, they worked for the time being.

But I'd say about five years ago.

I and seeing how some of these buses are far away from the hubs of the schools, we need to do, we we have to start reimagining how we're going to do transit in the city, how they all coalesce and combine with the existing light rail systems that take place.

Because one thing is definitely true.

The light rail should have an express route that leads from Elk Grove into Sacramento.

How we do that, I don't know.

Maybe it's a maybe it's uh a stop where you bypass CRC, you bypass Meadowview, but if you do that, then you have the existing blue line, and then we're talking about inequities.

And that's a whole different level and a whole different discussion.

But it's it's part of the conversation that I think for South Sacramento is definitely overdue.

And I know Mr.

Barnbaum mentioned something very specific about having a line on the east side, whether it be bus rapid transit that can come all the way down from the stop that goes up to Folsom Boulevard.

That's something that that should be looked at as well, at least from a bus rapid transit standpoint.

Because the bus rapid transit in the Sacramento part that is planned for Stockton Boulevard is done with that very vision of what Vice Mayor Soon had mentioned, just getting people into downtown or getting people to Aggie Square as part of an overall regional approach.

The federal dollars is the real hurdle, not the state dollars, not the local dollars.

And we also have other reserves that we could use because we do have that 20% of measure E that could be used for major developments that could help in this effort.

But the federal dollars is going to be the trick.

How do we work with FTA in securing those dollars?

Because there's a current project happening in Sacramento that is work that is uh planned on the works, but it's in jeopardy because there's not consensual agreement on the route and on how it's going to really work in the big picture for Sacramento and West Sacramento.

And so I floated a question a couple of weeks ago at the SACRT meeting.

Is that is there a way for us to start working with the with FTA, the Federal Transportation Administration, to leverage two projects that are of consensual agreement in both in Sacramento and transfer that those funds if the streetcar project falls through, can it be applied for the South area?

Can it be applied for Elk Grove?

Can it be applied for Stockton Boulevard?

Stockton Boulevard for Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, Elk Grove for the Light Rail, because having that extension from the South to Casumas River College, not only is it important, but it's also important to the extent that we are doing low-income housing apartments on transit ways, which also applies for Franklin Boulevard as well.

Not Franklin Boulevard, but Bruceville Road.

So those are so those are the those are the conversations that we are all having, and we all have our different perspectives.

Clean transportation is definitely essential, especially as we move forward.

Using compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas was the first stage in that effort 15 to 18 years ago.

Now we're using electric buses to a certain extent, and that is working.

But obviously, there is how do we turn it up a notch?

How do we make sure that we are getting connected into Sacramento?

How Sacramento is being connected to Elk Grove is no different than what, yeah, people we talk a lot of bad ill stuff about how Los Angeles, how it's big and it's sprawled out.

Well, Sacramento's sprawled out too.

Los Angeles has a has a has a metro system that is starting to grow and expand in new neighborhoods.

Bay Area Rapid Transit and Washington DC Metro are probably templates of how to do it right, how to do it clean, and how to extend it into the into the towns to where at least you don't have to have it in every street or every vein, but you at least have a central location where people can ride and have access to transportation when they need it, when they don't want to drive, or when they want to just go into work, collect your thoughts, be ready for the work day.

When the work day's done, decompress, collect your thoughts, be at home and enjoy your pets, or enjoy your families, or just enjoy TV if you're just all alone.

But these are the conversations for transportation we really need to talk earnestly about because Elk Grove will continue to grow.

That's the reality of it.

We're growing south.

Um neighborhoods are being built, people will be coming in, and we are technically, or not technically, because the census says it, uh 183,000 people roughly.

Unofficially, I feel like we're over 200,000 already.

And not everyone has uh a way of getting from point A to point B.

And even though there's specialized routes and there's specialized transportation services that help fill some of that void, we do need to reimagine how we do our transportation in Elk Grove as a whole and how light rail can play a role in that.

Um it's it's it's essential.

And the folks at the workshops were very, very clear, they're very passionate.

And they're they're right because they see what we see every day, but they are actually riding on the transportation every day.

And it's something that we really need to listen to the public on.

So, with that said, I like the idea of uh supporting number two as an alternative, because that's like the more straight clean route.

Some of these options were definitely have the route in mind regardless, but they have the route in mind of where it where it's going to go.

It's gonna go down Bruce is gonna go down Bruceville Road.

You hang a left on Bighorn Boulevard, stays on Bighorn Boulevard all the way down.

And that's like that's a good start.

But and as we as we segment the tracks or build the tract in, it allows us to work with Sacramento Regional Transit, work with SACOG and figuring out how we reimagine these routes and how as an authoritative grant body that receives federal dollars, how we can divide that funds to make sure that it's going to the right agencies for the right causes, and to provide accessibility and equity for all riders.

I'm looking at Mr.

Jordan.

I think he wanted to answer some more questions.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

If I could, um, hearing all the comments on the days this evening, a couple things I wanted to point out.

Um, one, we share the concern at a staff level regarding the express service opportunity to downtown.

So there's a lot of stops that some riders could benefit from that are between here and downtown, um, K Street, O Street area.

Um, but others, many riders probably would not need to utilize those stops.

So we've talked with RT a bit about that.

There's some operational considerations there in terms of how the system functions down at the downtown core, as well as um how the individual stations between CRC and even all the way down to like 8 and 0 would function in terms of being able to support that.

Do you have places like the Broadway station where the platforms are fully encompassing around the tracks themselves?

So without getting those details, we did not specifically address that in the report at this time, but it is a consideration and something we'd want to continue conversations with RT around.

Um, fulsom extension, I think is a good example where the express service doesn't exist today, but would likely be a benefit to riders going from Folsom to downtown Sacramento.

So something to look forward to more there.

Um certainly also we would need to re envision if this were to be constructed, not only the local bus service, but the balance of the RT system in the South County area, and that's something we would look to partner with RT on in the future.

They certainly are working on their comprehensive operational analysis now, and we envision that by the time something were happening here, we could look at that again and would need to look at that again as well.

And um, I will point out that Kevin from RT is here and can certainly speak and correct anything I'm saying, but I believe I've got everything per conversation perfect.

Um, in terms of the report this evening, um, because the way the grant funding works, we do need to have an acceptance at least or um approval of the report itself.

So council options that you could consider this evening, given some of the comments you've given, you could move forward with it as packaged this evening, which includes the recommendation of that alignment, should you so choose.

There is nothing about that approval or acceptance of the report that commits the city to building anything.

It simply lays out a strategy that we continue to look at and explore options around.

So this is not by any means a final vote on the project.

We've not even completed a SQL review process for construction.

Um, alternatively, if you wanted to remove that alignment recommendation that's there, um, the selection with the phasing, we could do so.

Um pages, I believe it's uh executive page 13 of the report, and then body report page 32 could easily be removed to do so, and it would simply remove um that discussion that talks about how uh we'd be seeing light rails preferred solution and uh one station initial construction to be part of that.

That's an option you have.

Um, so it's not currently staff's recommendation.

Um, but again, given the comments, wanted to give you that option if you wanted.

Well, let me let me just clarify then.

So with the because you know, looking at the uh the resolution, it it it implies that you're adopting this as an implementation plan.

So I I wanted to make sure that you know there will inevitably be off-ramps.

I know you know staff really checks in, but I just wanted to make sure it was expressed in the uh in the resolution in such a way that that's you know, that's clear.

So Vice Mayor, maybe I can assist to build on what Mr.

Jordan is saying.

As a matter of law, this this cannot be the approval of a project tonight.

You have not conducted CECO, there's been no analyses, there's been no alternatives, there's been no mitigation measures, all the things that get packaged into a sequel analysis.

So all this does is if you approve it, approves a feasibility plan, saying this plan could work, subject to a lot of things.

It doesn't approve construction, it doesn't approve formal design, it doesn't prove any of that.

It is just the first step towards hey, here are some options that might work.

And so as packaged and as stated in the resolution, particularly the CEQA component, as a matter of law, it doesn't commit you to build anything.

It's just an indicator that this plan works, could work.

One of the suggestions that Mr.

Jordan had, the feasibility plan does go through a few alternatives and comes up with essentially proposed project.

Think of it in terms of that would be the potential proposed project that would be analyzed under a sequel analysis.

Again, subject to change, the very nature of CEQA is you implement mitigation measures and make changes to the project, you tweak here, you tweak there to try to address any environmentalist concerns.

The suggestion Mr.

Jordan had is instead of having a so-called proposed project, a potential proposed project, is to just keep it as the feasibility plan with the various options in there.

That might give you more flexibility.

Either way, this does absolutely does not bind you to uh doing anything, doesn't commit you to an action as a matter of law can't.

I I totally understand that.

But this entire document doesn't talk any.

I mean, we we just heard from the gentleman, Kimley Horn, right?

I didn't want to mess that up.

Um we didn't even analyze what what is a dual track look like.

It wasn't even studied.

We didn't we'd we didn't do anything.

And again, I'm gonna emphasize if you don't build that first segment right, if our riders would rather just stay on the bus because that bus doesn't stop at CRC and other places along the way, then you're gonna build something that nobody is gonna ride.

So how do I get this point across that we need to build something that people actually ride?

And even in early on in the study, we should have been looking at that.

I would have thought it would have come in like, well, that we could have dull tracks, but it's gonna cost more.

I mean, I this getting building it just within our city is not enough.

The whole point of it is to move people regionally.

Yeah.

So if you're getting stuck once you leave, it is not so I I don't even see anywhere on here that it's even being looked at.

So I'm not talking about CEQA.

No, I understand we're not approving a project, but even the study that we're talking about hasn't even examined that.

So I'm asking, how do I get that clear in this in this motion?

So that when we're we're gonna look at something that actually would be what people would ride.

Because it's gonna cost a lot of money to build it.

And it's gonna cost a lot of money to maintain it.

But you know, we're we're it were at least what I'm seeing is we're we're visualizing it by itself.

So that that's that's what I'm trying to understand here.

That I don't want to approve uh a vision that isn't to me, it's it's still not fully baked.

So, in a lot of ways, uh Vice Mayor, you what you're what your request is that it needs to be fully comprehensive.

It needs to look at everything on the table, that dual track being a part of it, because um we're doing a disservice for ourselves by not having it be fully comprehensive of a of how this is part of a regional approach.

Yes, yeah, it's it's got I mean, this the aspiration I get, but it's still not clear to me how if you did that, it would have you if you built out this whole thing, how how would it be written?

Because again, what I what I talked about, getting getting to the other other places because I'm not worried about getting down to District 56.

I don't think a lot of people in this city are.

What I am worried about is how do we get to Sacramento and other places?

So that's what I'm trying to articulate here.

Vice Mayor, if I could please.

So I I want to make sure I understand something because it depends upon it, it may change my vote.

And only that, as I heard from you, Mr.

Jordan, is that contractually or for the grant or for whatever this needs to be approved so it can be completed, accepted, and then the grant is is completed, right?

So this is sadly a mere formality when we say approving transit implementation plan, it's simply only approving a document, not the options, right?

Okay, so given that I can change to a yes, only because we've got to accept the document.

But I think what you're also hearing from others in a different way, is that it isn't a fully inclusive thought out plan that we would want to take and make a decision on today.

When we go to something further down the line, I would like to ensure that we include all of the options, which may BRT and LRT and regular buses could be part of the solutions, but there are other alternatives that should be looked at as well.

We are on the cusp of a revolution in transportation with AI, quantum computing, and other things.

And if we're going to if if we're saying that everything's still on the table, I want to make sure that's on the table.

Because I don't want to solve yet tomorrow's problem with yesterday's solution.

I don't want to have an old trolley when I can have a flying car.

Do you that's so that's so that makes sense?

I mean, I'm willing to go, I'm willing to go yes in order to adopt the plan so we can check the box and get and have everybody paid, right?

Um, Cat's Member Speace.

I'm not I'm gonna ask staff here, but I I don't know that does the grant have enough to do what he's talking about.

So I I think a suggestion would be um, and I'm having Keely double check the language.

I think we can actually change in the resolution from adopt to accept, which may alleviate a little bit more of the concerns I'm hearing.

Um the second thing is what I'm sensing is if you were to make a motion to accept the report, um, with or without the revision that I suggested earlier, uh, in terms of what that potential project defined is, you could direct staff that prior to any additional work being contemplated on this or a similar project, that additional analysis regarding regional connectivity and other regional implementation efforts, be they express service along the corridor or other um bus transit uh improvements that would dovetail in with this expansion should also be considered and better articulated, and that's before any final decisions of funding are committed around a project that other technologies as they evolve be further considered and analyzed.

Um I think those would all be reasonable solutions.

Yes, there are changes happening in transportation.

Things are happening very rapidly these days, and so we can certainly look at those more.

And again, this is very much a long play.

It has been many years to get to this point.

We have uh studied this a little bit in a couple different ways.

I think from um from a land planning perspective, we continue from a general plan policy to look at and require dedication of the 40-foot right-of-way south of Elkworth Boulevard for those projects.

Um, we would continue to do so because that is adopted policy.

The other piece out of the study, and we can certainly talk about this more before a project is put together, opportunities for land use improvements along the corridor to further density that may support a variety of transportation solutions, to be they be this project or some other form of technology.

And so I think we can look at how we package that up and bring back further discussion around that before advancing a project.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

And that look, we understand there's a lot of long lead time items, right?

You you have to, whether it's environmental clearance, right-of-way acquisition.

I mean, we we understand that.

And so I I would say that you know, you're as you examine your you we you're constantly checking along the way, but we don't want to stop you from doing these long lead items that have to be done.

But again, I'm gonna go back to we can't just look at the the line by itself.

We have to look at how it actually incorporates into the regional system and how we can actually move our residents around the region.

So Mr.

Vicemair, just one quick thing.

I mean and I and I don't want to draw any any analogies to any other projects, but what I think unfortunately sometimes people come away from these meetings thinking they adopted a plan.

We're gonna have LRT.

The reality is, folks, unfortunately, that if you're at CRC and and you have a transportation constraint, this isn't gonna be so this isn't gonna be a solution for you because this is 10, 20 years out, maybe.

I I don't know what that horizon looks like.

So I guess what I want to do is that that like I said, I can I can I can vote in support of it to accept the transportation plan.

I can accept that you know we will be looking for things for the future.

But what I really would hope that folks don't you know go away with is that we're getting LRT next week.

This is it's a long, long lead time, which does accommodate the opportunity for other technologies.

So I just want to clarify, I I fully want to get it, make it easier for CRC students too.

I mean, I'm just saying the dual track.

I'm just saying that I'm just saying that two years.

I mean, if you're CRC for two years, this is not going to be for you.

And I'm not suggesting we shouldn't do something.

Yeah, I'm just saying please have reasonable expect expectation.

That's it.

And and thank you for reminding me, because that is the other thing about it, right?

It it wasn't to me communicating to the to the public what we're what we're doing here.

We're not we're not doing a you know, stamping the plan.

This is what we're doing, light rail all the way down, guaranteed.

I mean, I I think you know that there's just trying to convey like things could change, whether it's technology or or whatnot.

Or and again, if ridership isn't there, we're not gonna continue to put money into it.

So those are the kinds of things I I guess I it wasn't clear in this the way the resolution was stated.

So um I'm gonna I apologize.

You you use you said it gave us a couple of different ways, but I uh uh you want to just remove the adopt or move it to uh I I think at a bare minimum it sounds like there's um consent across the dais to change in the resolution the word approving to accepting.

So we can appear I'm seeing four nods in agreement on that.

So that will be one change we'll make there.

Um I think the second piece is are you looking to similarly have the page in the executive summary and section, I forget the section number.

Well um on page 32 of the report itself also removed, or at least have the language, or would you rather at least have the modified language there around this as a possible solution pending further review?

I I'm okay with the aspiration, but again the the things I'd mentioned need to be looked at, right?

And that would be the third part of a potential motion is directing staff to continue reviewing this and consider as tech as technologies improve and change, we continue to look at those and we look at the regional uh implementation efforts.

Right, because I anticipate as you study the the alternative two could change based on what you find in the study.

So I'm I'm in that regard, I'm not I'm okay with that.

So we were not limiting to what you're studying.

That's that's how I'm viewing it.

Okay.

So I didn't hear.

Are we keeping the pages in or taking them out?

Keeping it, keeping them in.

Yeah, I know.

And so we're gonna change the word from adopt to accept.

We're gonna keep the pages in, and council is going to give some direction on some uh essentially asked staff to continue to analyze the various options.

We just expanded it really to to add in regional connectivity um for this as for ridership uh relates to ridership and advancing technologies.

I think what I'm anticipating is at an appropriate time, and I don't know what that would be.

We would come back with a supplement to this in some fashion, which could look at some additional technologies and the ridership piece you're talking about with if these other types of improvements were made elsewhere in the transit journey.

Would that what improvements would that have to potential ridership information and the other factors you've talked about today?

So I think there would be something at some point later.

I don't know what the timing of that would be, but we'll keep looking out for opportunities for that.

Understand.

Thank you.

All right.

Is that okay?

Okay.

Sounds good.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, we do need a motion.

Oh, sorry.

Oh, I'm looking for a motion.

So my motion is what Mr.

Jordan said.

We got we're gonna change how about we're gonna change adopt to accept.

Yeah, keep the pages in, no change there, and then what Mr.

Jordan said.

Yes, take your motion.

In terms in terms of solutions and technologies.

Would it be simple to say motion to accept the resolution and expand it to include uh the interregional connectedness and other technologies?

I don't know that we need that in the resolution.

But I would have caution against it just about confusing Caltrans when we're closing out the grant.

We at a staff level understand what you're looking for and we'll look at the opportunities to bring that forward.

We adopt the resolution as amended.

Accept the resolution.

Is that a motion, Councilmember Burr?

Sound like a motion.

I hadn't made the motion.

All right, all those in favor say aye.

Okay, aye.

There you go.

All right, clear as mud.

Very good.

Next time item up, we have uh council comments and reports.

Um I'll start with council member brewer.

Sacramento public library authority meets tomorrow at the uh Sacramento County Administrative Offices, 708th Street.

Uh look forward to seeing folks in attendance and participating.

All right.

And uh Councilmember uh speace.

Yes, uh let's see.

So went to uh Cap to Cap.

I didn't participate as a uh as an official.

I was there as a plus one, but I had the opportunity to meet folks from around the uh around the region.

And so that was it.

Thank you.

Councilmember Robles.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Vice Mayor also went to CaptaCap, did participate in civic amenities, talked about the great stuff that Elkrove is doing and the projects that we're uh working on in economic development as well.

Set on uh the egg uh committee, which we talked about how we were able to help out uh Terra Madre and highlight some of our local restaurants and eateries.

Yeah, excellent.

Yeah, also uh for myself SAC Metroid District Board tomorrow.

Um also attended Cap to Cap on the transportation team.

We got to chime in with Senate uh EPW committee on the transportation reauthorization bill that's coming up.

Um likely won't be till next year, however, but uh it was a really a timely uh meeting to provide input into the majority committee.

So um appreciate everybody's work and uh and back there and uh support of our staff getting us ready for uh for that trip as well.

Uh again, mayor's uh still back there.

I think she's returning later this evening.

With that, uh if there's no nothing else, I will uh join them happy to join the meeting at 9.16.

Thank you.