Folsom City Council Special and Regular Meeting – November 9, 2021
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Folsom City Council Special and Regular Meeting – November 9, 2021
The Folsom City Council held a special meeting at 5:00 PM for closed session, followed by a regular meeting at 6:30 PM on November 9, 2021. The regular meeting included a proclamation, a financial update, adoption of the consent calendar, and several new business items. Key decisions included the appointment of a utility commissioner, introduction of three ordinances, and continuation of a fiber network agreement to a future meeting.
Consent Calendar
- Items 3–11: Approved unanimously (5-0) with the exception of Item 8, which was pulled for comment. Item 8 (Resolution No. 10743 – Leak Detection Survey) was approved separately after Councilmember Howell provided context about pipe diameters and the need for leak detection reporting. The consent calendar included resolutions for a permitting system, roof replacement, truck purchases, waterfall rehabilitation, interchange project, leak detection, grant for electric refuse trucks, sewer design, and pickup truck purchases.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Baskar Vempati (President, Indian Association of Sacramento) expressed gratitude for the city’s safety and for allowing Diwali firecracker celebrations. He announced a $7,500 donation to Folsom Hope and highlighted the association’s community contributions, including food drives and support for first responders. A cultural performance followed.
Scheduled Presentations
- Proclamation of Veterans and Military Families Month: Mayor Kozlowski proclaimed November 2021 as Veterans and Military Families Month. Suzanne Winters (American Legion Auxiliary) and Tish Lovosini (Commander, American Legion Post 632) accepted the proclamation, emphasizing the importance of supporting veterans and military families. Folsom’s Veterans Hall hosts nine organizations.
- City Manager’s Financial Update (Q1 FY2021-22): CFO Stacey Tamani reported that unaudited FY2021 revenues were $94.5 million and expenditures $89.8 million, resulting in a $5.7 million fund balance addition. Unassigned fund balance rose to $19.7 million (21.9% of expenditures). Sales tax has fully recovered to FY2018-19 levels, with projected growth of 3.5% annually. However, FY2022 expenditures are projected to exceed budget by $4.3 million, largely due to police and fire overtime ($3 million) and operations/maintenance ($1.1 million). The risk management internal service fund reserves dropped from $9 million to $4.5 million (23% of annual expenditures). Councilmember Howell expressed concern about long-term revenue trends and suggested exploring a sales tax measure; staff will bring a discussion item on December 14, 2021.
Discussion Items
- Appointment of At-Large Utility Commissioner: The council received two applications (George Condon and Mark Menz). By ballot, Mark Menz was appointed with 3 votes (Councilmembers Chalamcherla, Rodriguez, Howell) to 1 vote (Mayor Kozlowski for Condon). Mayor Kozlowski noted the importance of the commission.
- Community Facilities District No. 23 (Folsom Ranch) – Amendment of Improvement Area 3 and Creation of Improvement Area 7: CFO Stacey Tamani presented three resolutions to amend boundaries and establish a new improvement area. IA3 will contain 919 active adult single-family homes with special taxes through 2079-80; IA7 will have 211 traditional market-rate homes with taxes through 2079. The council adopted all three resolutions unanimously (5-0). A public hearing and election of property owners will be scheduled for December 14, 2021.
- Fiber Networks Installation Agreement with SiFi Networks (Item 14): Scott Bradshaw (SiFi Networks) presented a proposal for a privately funded, open-access fiber optic network covering the entire city, with 10 Gbps symmetrical service, no taxpayer cost, and municipal smart city benefits. Statistics: only 10% of homes and 19% of businesses in Folsom have fiber. Councilmember Aquino requested a continuance to allow more due diligence, including contacting cities under construction. Mayor Kozlowski substituted a motion to table the item to the December 14, 2021 meeting, which passed unanimously (5-0).
- Ordinance 1318 – Parking Penalty Increase in Historic District: Public Works Director Mark Rackovan proposed increasing fines from $25 to $75 within the historic district to support parking management strategies. The first reading was approved unanimously (5-0).
- Ordinance 1319 – Responsible Parties for Municipal Services: Revenue Services Supervisor Elizabeth Hannah recommended amending the code to bill property owners directly for water, sewer, and solid waste, with an 18-month transition. The first reading was approved unanimously (5-0).
- Ordinance 1320 – Waste and Recycling Collection Ordinance: General Services Manager Marie McKeith outlined changes to comply with SB 1383, including mandatory participation, edible food recovery, and enforcement. The first reading was approved unanimously (5-0).
Key Outcomes
- Appointment: Mark Menz appointed to the Utility Commission (3-1 vote).
- Resolutions for CFD 23: Three resolutions (10747, 10748, 10749) adopted unanimously, setting the stage for a December 14 public hearing and election.
- Fiber Agreement: Continued to December 14, 2021, for further research.
- Ordinance First Readings: All three ordinances (1318, 1319, 1320) passed unanimously and will return for second reading.
- City Manager Reports: Staff reported progress on PG&E tree removal issues (no oaks to be removed without dual marking; PG&E to present at December 14 meeting), solid waste rate public hearing on December 14, and district elections mapping due January 3, 2022.
- Council Comments: Councilmembers highlighted upcoming events (Veterans Day Parade, Folsom Women’s Conference, Winefest), urged safety in rain, and noted concerns about the state’s proposed assembly district boundaries. Vice Mayor Aquino announced she will volunteer at Back Bistro to help with staffing shortages.
Meeting Transcript
All right, thank you for your patience. Um, we are actually going to return to closed session at the conclusion of this meeting, so we're not going to do any report out from the closed session right now. We have a bunch of topics that deserve a little bit more conversation, so we're going to continue that after this meeting, and then we'll report out after we conclude those discussions. So I am going to call to order the regular meeting of the Folsom City Council for November 9th, 2021. Will the clerk please call the roll? Council members Aquino. Here, Challench. Here Powell, Rodriguez, here, and Kozlowski. Here, and if everybody will please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. The United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands. One nation. Indivisible with liberty and justice crawl. All right. Do we have any agenda updates? You have one agenda update this evening, Mr. Mayor. Item number 14 has additional information provided by staff. This has been given to the city council members and is available to the public at the table in the back of the room. All right, fantastic. Okay, so we'll do business from from the floor first. That is an opportunity for anybody that's here in the audience or on the phone to comment on items that are not on the agenda. And I believe we have a couple of speaker cards turned in already. So we're gonna call those. And if anybody else would like to comment, please fill out a blue speaker card and bring it up. So your first speaker this evening is Bashkar Vampati. Come on up. Respected city mayor, council members, Folsom City Management and staff. My name is Baskar Vempati, the president of Indian Association of Sacramento. I want to thank the Folsom City Council and the staff management for working hard to make the city safest and best city to live in. We are in uh Indian a lot of Indians, Hindu Indians are celebrating Diwali over the globe. I want to thank Folsom City to allow the Indian community to do firecrackers during the Diwali time. Diwali is the festival of lights. It symbolizes a victory of good over evil, sharp intellect over the spiritual darkness, and knowledge over the ignorance. We all come together, celebrate, and also help the needy during this time. Regarding the uh we have over 60,000 Indians in the greater Sacramento, and it's no wonder 15,000 cities live in Folsom because it's uh safest. Indian Association is an umbrella organization of 15 plus regional organizations, and we all bring the diverse Indian culture to single platform to showcase it to Indian local community as well as the future generations of Indians. It's an IAS not only cultural organization, it's a non-profit organization. We have every year we select local charity and Indian charity, and we supported over 30 plus charities with uh 200 200,000 contribution. This year I'm very glad to let you know that we selected Folsom Hope, our local charity, and we are going to donate 7,500 on November 11th. To thank everyone, the Folsom City. We distributed gift baskets to Folsom police station, all the five fire stations uh earlier this week. And IAS also do a lot of initiatives, including women empowerment, mental wellness seminar, and youth development, and also participate in MLK Walk Veterans Day Parade. We also, whenever there are challenges, like fires, floods, uh the COVID Indian Association always come forward and help the community. We have a 15 plus organizations, our partnering organization, Hindus Vahim Seybook is raising like a lot of food items during the Diwali time, and we donated to all the local food banks and uh needy shelters. We raised over 300 3,000 pounds in a greater settlement area last year and the 300,000 pounds over the United States. We are going to perform showcase our cultural performance after my speech. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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