Folsom City Council Regular Meeting – September 10, 2024
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Folsom City Council Regular Meeting – September 10, 2024
The Folsom City Council met on September 10, 2024, at 6:30 PM in City Hall. The meeting included presentations on the Spirit of Folsom Awards, the 11th Annual Community Service Day, an economic development action plan from Kosmont Companies, and an update on the city's water vision. The council also approved the consent calendar (with one item pulled for discussion) and received council member requests.
Consent Calendar
- Items 5–10 and 12 (meeting minutes, appointments, budgets, grant funds, and a lease agreement) were approved unanimously without discussion.
- Item 11 (Resolution 11257 – consultant services agreement with Dewberry, Inc. for Phase 2 Water Improvements) was pulled for discussion. Councilmember Chalamcherla praised the competitive bidding process and staff's negotiation that saved $310,000. The motion to approve item 11 passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- One public comment was made under the economic development presentation. Jim Harvell referenced the American River Parkway economic needs assessment as a resource to quantify the economic impact of trails, answering a council member's question.
Discussion Items
- Spirit of Folsom Awards (Presentation): Council members introduced five recipients: Jeff Ferrero Pro (nominated by Mayor Kozlowski), Brian Smith (by Vice Mayor Aquino), Jeff Moore (by Councilmember Rohrbough, presented by Chalamcherla), Sandy Zabucos (by Chalamcherla), and Steve Hurd (by Councilmember Rodriguez). A sixth nominee, Dianne Wren, was unable to attend. Recipients were recognized for community service, volunteerism, and civic contributions.
- 11th Annual Folsom Community Service Day (Presentation): Staff reported that the event will take place on September 21, 2024, with over 2,000 volunteers registered, 38 projects planned, and a citywide food drive. Sponsors included Dignity Health, Lakeside Church, and others. The council received the presentation without action.
- Final Report from Kosmont Companies (Presentation): Consultant Ken Hira presented an economic development action plan covering retail, office, industrial markets, workforce, and potential strategies. Key recommendations included considering an in-house economic development staff member, business incentive programs, and value capture tools. Council members discussed comparisons with neighboring cities, the impact of a new Costco in El Dorado County, and the need to prioritize resources. City staff will return with further analysis on specific strategies.
- Update on City's Water Vision (Presentation): Marcus Yasu Taki updated the council on the Water Vision process, including stakeholder engagement, a community survey (228 responses), and planning objectives (high quality, affordable, reliable, resilient supply). The next stakeholder meeting is October 15, 2024, with a final report expected in 2025. Council members noted the importance of public education on water supply reliability.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar (Items 5–12): Approved unanimously. Item 11 was approved separately after discussion.
- Council Request: Councilmember Rodriguez requested a report from the HOT (Homeless Outreach Team) after three months of operation, including data and a plan of action. The city manager confirmed monthly reports have been provided internally and will arrange a formal presentation.
- Other: The council acknowledged the city manager's search process (hiring Bob Murray & Associates) and noted upcoming events: 9/11 remembrance, fire station dedication, and town hall meetings on financial outlook.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, we are going to call to order the regular city council meeting for September 10th, 2024. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councilmember Chalem Cherla. Here. Rodriguez. Here, Aquino. Here. Kozlovski. Also here. And Councilmember Varba is absent and will not be participating this evening via teleconference. Okay. Or Pledge of Allegiance. I've said that before. Oh. I pledge allegiance. My nation are indivisible with the answer. It's all those NFL games I watched. Yeah. This weekend. All right. Do we have any requests to speak on business from the floor? No, you don't have any requests to speak this evening under this item. Okay, last call. This is the part of the meeting where you can address the council on anything that's not already on the agenda. Okay, hearing none, we will move forward to our scheduled presentations. Okay, the first item tonight under scheduled presentations is a presentation of Spirit of Folsom Awards. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. I'm Christine Brainerd, Communications Director with the City of Folsom, and I'm really excited to present to you tonight the award recipients of the first annual Spirit of Folsom Awards. This year, the Folsom City Council established the Spirit of Folsom Award program to recognize community members who have gone above and beyond to uh contribute in and serve their community. So in this new program, each city council member recognizes one community member annually, and those nominees could be residents, volunteers, employees from a fulsom business, or students in a fulsome school. So tonight, each city council member will introduce their nominees. So first up, we have Jeff Ferrero Pro, nominated by Mayor Mike Klesowski. Would you like to join us at the podium? And Jeff, come on down. Okay, so I have this for you. Wow. That's very nice. Thank you. Now it's on, right? Um, so uh I was dreading making a selection of just one person to give an award to. And then as I stood there uh with Christine putting a deadline on me, I realized that I had the right person all along in my head. It was it was Jeff Ferrero Pro. Um, Jeff and I uh met, I want to say it was probably 2010-ish, um, when I um had uh my first run for city council. I was like a like a dope standing out in the middle of Sutter Street trying to convince people that I'd make a good city council person. And Jeff walked by and start and started a conversation and helped me understand a lot about Folsom, and over the years has continued to be a good sounding board for um things in the historic district and just uh things regarding um Folsom's history. He's been extremely involved in in bringing uh bringing forward and getting out off the off the ground, the Chinese History Museum, um, and is just all around a great guy and a good role model for everybody around here. So congratulations and thank you. All right, very good. Thank you. All right.
openpublica.com