Much we will adjourn the special meeting and call to order the regular meeting for Tuesday, September 9th, 2025.

With a quick please call the roll.

Yeah, Council Members Roarba, Karen Kozlowski, Leary, Rafel, and Aquino.

Here, and if you'd all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

One nation on the indivisible with every city justice.

Okay, Mr.

City Attorney, any agenda updates.

Yes, good evening, Madam Mayor.

We have a revised staff report for item 11 on that's agenda.

A copy should have been provided to you, and they are also available on the table in the back.

Thank you very much.

That takes us to business from the floor.

This is the public's opportunity to address the council on items that are not on the agenda, but please understand that state law prohibits us from deliberating or taking action on items that are not on the agenda.

If you want to speak now during business from the floor or on anything on tonight's agenda, we ask that you fill out a blue card in the back of the room.

Hand it over here to the officer, and we will call you up at the appropriate time.

So, madam clerk, do we have any requests to speak on business from the floor?

You do.

You have three requests to speak this evening under business from the floor.

Um, our first speaker is gonna be Sarah Perrin, and Sarah will be followed by Tiara Dominguez.

So Sarah, come on down.

All right, and we do give speakers three minutes each.

And when you know you're next to speak, you're you're welcome to wait on deck there.

You can come right over here to this center.

Uh microphone.

Yep, pull it up to your mouth so we can hear you there.

Perfect.

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Sarah Perrin, and I'm a Folsom resident and a member of the LGBTQ community.

On Saturday, October 11th, from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

at Lions Park, we're hosting the inaugural Folsom Family Pride event on National Coming Out Day, our city's first ever queer-affirming LGBTQ Plus Pride celebration.

It's free, family friendly, and open to everyone.

LGBTQ Plus residents, allies, and neighbors who want to celebrate inclusion and support the people who call Folsom home.

Full details and updates are at FolsomCA Pride.com.

So why does this event matter to Folsom?

First, belonging.

Folsom Family Pride is a welcoming space where LGBTQ people and families, as well as our allies, can gather safely and joyfully.

When people feel seen and supported, they participate more in civic life, volunteer more, and help build the resilient community we all want and deserve.

Second, safety and well-being.

Folsom Family Pride connects attendees to queer affirming nonprofit organizations, mental health resources, faith communities, youth programs, and local services.

For some, especially teens or people new to the region, one conversation at a resource table can make a major impact.

Third, local spirit and commerce.

Folsom Family Pride activates a city park, brings neighbors together, and invites visitors who dine in our restaurants and shop in our stores.

It showcases Folsom as a welcoming city and keeps goodwill as well as dollars close to home.

What to expect at this event?

We'll have live music, arts and crafts, food vendors, and resource booths.

We'll have trained volunteer ambassadors and coordination with partners to keep the day safe and family friendly.

The goal is simple a joyful pride-centered celebration where LGBTQ plus residents and allies feel at home.

So tonight I have two simple asks.

Number one, help amplify the event.

Please share Folsom Family Pride October 11th, Lions Park 10 to 2, Folsom CA Pride.com on City Channels where appropriate, and encourage community partners to spread the word.

Number two, join us.

We'd be honored to welcome each of you, your families, and city staff.

Come meet the local organizations serving our LGBTQ plus neighbors year-round and say hello to the volunteers, making this inaugural pride event possible.

Folsom is at its best when we show up for one another.

On October 11th, we'll do exactly that.

Celebrating LGBTQ plus community, uplifting queer-affirming resources and voices, and inviting every neighbor to be part of a welcoming Folsom.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

Thank you very much for coming out.

Okay, our next speaker is going to be Tiara Dominguez, who will then be followed by Gopinath and Ganash.

Good evening.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Tiara, and I am a mom here in Folsom of four boys, high school, middle school, and elementary school.

And this is my first city council meeting I've ever been to.

And the reason why I am here is because there was a police officer who I spoke to about a week or two ago who encouraged me to come and ask for something to be done about the close calls of e-bike and e-motorcycle accidents in our city.

In just the last few weeks, I've had um close calls in the Dollar Tree parking lot with bikes shooting right in front of me.

And I've also seen the uh some of the teens or children, not sure their ages, also uh run from police and evade police.

And um that is when I spoke to the police officer, and he encouraged me to show up, speak up, and let you know that there are a lot of parents and citizens who are concerned.

Um it's really scary driving on those streets.

I don't want to be the one to hit someone on a bike, um, but it's really scary when they're not the ones paying attention or or not following the traffic rules.

Um, so I just want to encourage um the city council that um and citizens of the city to speak up that we can work together, that there are citizens and parents who want to work on this so we can keep our students and our children safe in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I will just tell you briefly.

Um e-bikes and e-scooters was the topic of conversation with a recent what we call a two by two, two members of the school board with two members of the city council.

So this is something that is very um top of mind for the city, and we appreciate your feedback.

Thanks.

Okay, our next speaker is gonna be Gopinoth and Ganesh, who will then be followed by Richard Heiler.

Good evening.

Good evening, everyone.

So I'm Gopinath, and uh here's my friend Ganesh.

So uh we are uh residents in the south of 50 neighborhoods, and uh I'm I mean we are here to represent uh recent incidents uh in the prospector park there in the community park where our kids go play and enjoy the sport facilities, especially volleyball there.

Uh what has happened uh is that there are there are a specific set of kids that has been harassing our kids and other other parents' children uh where there was um you know use of physical uh aggression.

Um so what uh we have done is we have compiled a list of such incidents where we have specific witness and in the recent in incident that involved my my my younger son.

Uh he was uh you know uh beat up and then uh choked uh by that specific set of kids, you know, um that we believe they live in the Manjini apartments uh that um the the affordable housing community complex or something.

Uh so um I have uh you know requested uh in the group chat that is uh specific to the community that parents step forward and then share their uh observations and incidences uh involving these children.

So um we have done our part by compiling this list and then we are addressing to you folks and specifically uh the mayor Aquino.

So uh if you can please help us uh resolve this so that we are worried that this kid will grow up uh more aggressively, and then maybe he needs intervention or the set of kids, not just a single one.

So uh please do what you can.

Thank you.

I'll give you the call tomorrow.

That's in my district.

As I think you know, I'm out at Prospector Park as often as I can be, but I will make sure I'm over at the volleyball courts also.

Also, should I hand off the letter?

Do you want to one of the uh if you want to hand it to the officer, it'll get to me, and yes, we'll follow up with you tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

Okay, our next speaker is Richard Heiler.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Krista's gonna pull up some slides for you, I think.

All right, thank you.

You should be already prompted.

I'm Richard Heiler, Folsom Landscape and Lighting Advisory Committee Chair, representing the neighborhood of Los Ceros.

Tonight, I'd like to recognize five Folsom public servants for their wonderful street and sidewalk renewal in Los Ceros.

I'll begin with a quote.

The Greek general Pericles said what you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

For 30 years, our neighborhood streets and sidewalks looked deteriorated with cracks.

And after 30 years, our neighborhood streets and sidewalks look deteriorated with cracks and unevenness.

Thinking to myself and talking with others, it was often said when will they fix our roads and sidewalks?

Twenty months ago, the Los Ceros neighborhood was scheduled for street ceiling and sidewalk repair.

So I captured photos of 13 sidewalk deterioration sites and reviewed them with our senior management analyst who forwarded them to our city engineering manager.

My purpose was to make sure that these cracks and uneven sites were addressed.

And things were progressing.

Just at the start of summer of 2024 near, the project required more money and had to be rebudgeted and RFQ'd.

The project was delayed by a year.

So July of 2025, the street ceiling was underway, sections of the street were dug up, repacked, recovered.

Three of the worst sidewalk sections were jackhammered, dug down two feet, repacked, formed, and new sidewalk poured.

I was thinking they're doing a great job.

And it's finally getting done.

A few weeks later, the remaining 10 sidewalk sites were addressed.

More deteriorated sidewalk removed, ground packed, new concrete poured, and stamped sidewalk and entrances, entrances were recolored.

30 years of deterioration was transformed into beauty.

Los Cerro Streets and Sidewalks are restored.

So let me share just a couple of before and after photos.

This is immigrant court and black powder circle, the corner.

And on the right half you see how it's deteriorated with cracks and temporary repairs.

The same on the left.

And they completely removed all of that, dug down knee deep, and then you can see in the upper right how they that half is re poured, brand new, new stamping, and new color.

And the bottom right, you can see how the whole thing is finished beautifully, even updated with a braille pad, and it frames that beautiful landscaping.

127 wood smoke.

This section of sidewalk was sinking into the ground and cracked and again temporarily repaired, and it was ripped out and replaced.

This is actually three photographs that would normally be one long stretch.

This crack was about 35 feet long, and then the concrete started sinking into the ground.

And rather than do temporary repairs for year after year, they ripped it all out about 40 feet of sidewalk, almost the whole frontage of this house, and replaced it brand new.

And you can see how long that is from the size of the front barrier to the back barrier in the upper right.

And last, this is the entrance to Los Cerros from East Bidwell.

The photograph on the very left, you see the deteriorated color, and you can't tell the texture much anymore from all the road grime.

The second picture is the final product.

You can see the character of the stamping and the fresh color.

And you see how the workers had to work around the traffic going in and out of the neighborhood, and then the final product in the lower right.

It's beautiful.

You want to give a shout out to those employees real quick and then you have the names there?

I will.

Our sidewalks and streets are woven into our daily lives surrounding our homes like picture frames.

Now people jog, walk their dogs, play, drive through our beautiful neighborhood with safe surfaces.

This wonderful result was achieved by our public servants who knew how to get it done, cared about our city, and maintained focus through the process.

To recognize our public servants, I'd like to present a certificate of appreciation.

Um, could I call their names and have them come up?

Call them all real quick and then they'll come up.

Okay.

Ryan Chance, Engineering Manager, Billy Hilton, Streets Operations Supervisor.

Jameson Larson, Senior Management Analyst, Ed Reed, Senior maintenance worker, and Shane Rush, assistant civil engineer.

Thank you very much.

Beautiful job.

I prepared.

Ryan Chance.

Here you go.

All right.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Ryan, will you take the other two also and make sure those get to the right folks?

Of course.

The other folks couldn't make it, but they appreciate the family members.

Yes, yes, sir.

But gentlemen, you did beautiful work.

Our neighborhood now is restored.

Excellent, excellent.

Happy to do it.

Thank you, Richard.

Thank you for coming out when we do this.

Thank you very much.

It's always good to hear good news.

All right.

Next item, please.

That takes you to your first scheduled presentation item, which will be item number one, presentation of the spirit of Folsom Awards.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members.

I'm Christine Brainerd, Communications Director at the City of Folsom.

And tonight we recognize the award recipients of the annual Folsom Spirit of Folsom Citizen Recognition Program.

This program was adopted last year by the city council, and it was established to recognize the individuals who go above and beyond to serve the Folsom community.

In this program, each council member nominates one recipient from their district annually, resulting in five honorees.

Nominees must be Folsom residents, volunteers, students in Folsom schools or from local businesses, and go above and beyond to serve the Folsom community.

So tonight, each city council member will introduce their nominee.

And first up is Sarah Kino, Mayor Sarah Kino, who will who will introduce Beth Graybow.

Although this is only the second year of doing this, I think this is quickly becoming one of our favorite nights of the year.

As Christine said, it allows us to recognize residents who go above and beyond in serving the city.

And I know I think I speak for my colleagues when I say that we really are looking for unsung heroes, people who diligently, consistently, and quietly serve our community without seeking or expecting any sort of recognition.

And I think that perfectly describes Beth Grayville.

So Beth.

I'm going to give you this beautiful award call.

So Beth served on the board of directors of Full Fan, Friends of Lakes Folsom and Natoma from 2015 to 2017.

She also served on the board of Snowline Hospice from 2018 to 2023, including as the board president in 2022.

But the main reason I chose Beth for the Spirit of Folsom Award is because of her volunteerism at the Folsom Public Library.

As many of you know, our library is busy.

We have more visitors, more checkouts, and more program attendees than any library in Sacramento County.

And although we have a fantastic staff, we simply couldn't operate the library without volunteers like Beth.

Beth has been volunteering at the library every Wednesday since 2017.

In the words of our library director, Tom Grunizen, Beth comes in quietly for a few hours each Wednesday to help us get the library ready to open, primarily pulling the books for pickup that our residents requested the previous day.

When she has extra time, she's helped us shelve items and track down some particularly thorny missing titles.

She's lovely to work with, and the staff looks forward to seeing her each week, asking her after, asking after her when she's gone.

And believe it or not, the late great Dr.

Seuss even had something to say about Beth's work at the library.

One book, two books, red book, blue book, big book, kids' book, old book, new book.

Elizabeth Graybill doesn't stall.

Elizabeth Graybill polls them all.

Say, that's a lot of books to haul.

Yes, some are red and some are blue, some are old and some are new.

From John Steinbeck to Mother Goose, from Stephen King to Dr.

Seuss.

Beth Graybill comes in every week to pull the books that patrons seek.

Romance self-help mystery, fiction classics, history.

She polls them all, no task too tall.

The staff all say she's a doll.

Every Wednesday for eight long years, earns her our thanks and many cheers.

This year's winner from District Three is Beth Graybill from the library.

And now we'll look at Tom.

Thank you very much.

Okay, our next award recipient is Tom Handy, who was nominated by Vice Mayor Justin Rathal.

Unfortunately, I do not have a poem for you.

I was hoping you wouldn't.

But Tom, uh, I just I'm honored to present this to you.

Oh, as I started uh looking through the nominations uh for Spirit of Folsom, uh, Tom's name came up and I had uh, you know, I'd met Tom, but I started I just picked with a phone and said, you know, who's gonna know something uh about Tom?

Oh, and so I called the first person, started hearing the stories.

They said, you know, but I'm probably not the best person to talk to, so give this, give this next person a call.

Oh, you'll hear some Tom Handy stories.

And sure enough, I did.

Don't tell them all.

Oh, I won't.

I won't.

I've been sworn to secrecy.

So oh, and then uh last Friday, uh, Tom and I got together and had some breakfast with some of his friends.

So I got to hear the real Tom Handy stories then.

So I'm it's just been a pleasure uh to get to know you better.

Uh, and I thank you so much for your for your service to Folsom.

So Tom has been a staple of community service for many decades in Folsom.

I'd let you know just how many decades, but Tom did swear me to secrecy at that breakfast.

While you might recognize his name from Handy Family Park or from his mom being our first female city council member, Tom has continued his family's legacy of service to Folsom to this day.

You can often find Tom and his wife Debbie managing the snack shack at the Lemby Sports Complex, where the prophets go back into supporting youth sports.

During fireworks sales, you'll find Tom helping organize the many Folsom Athletic Association booths and running ice cold drinks to the volunteers.

Tom, with the help of his friends and his brother John are also responsible for the landscaping at the Eagles Cemetery and the chain gang.

Mowing.

Mowing.

See, see somebody's gonna volunteer for landscaping next, he knows.

Uh and also the chain gangs at our local high school football games, where he tells me he's only been knocked unconscious once on the sidelines.

Tom has built bridges for trail days, he's been active in the Folsom High School Alumni Association, and of course, he volunteers each year for our beloved community service day.

Tom served as the FAA president from 1998 to 2002, but his service to Folsom has spanned a lifetime.

I think multiple generations of Folsom's youth would agree with me that their lives have been impacted by Tom's service, and that Tom truly embodies the spirit of Folsom.

Congratulations, Tom.

I am pleased to introduce our next award winner, Kathy Cole, who was nominated by Councilmember Mike Klasowski.

Kathy.

Very welcome.

Okay.

I also lack poetry.

However, it no matter how much time Kathy has actually lived here in Folsom, this list of things that she's done is extraordinary.

She's the chair of the Folsom Historic District Commission, board member of the Folsom Historic District Association, Ambassador Volunteer Coordinator for FHEFHDA, and which organizes all the volunteers for FHDA for events, a member of the Folsom Historic Hometown Parade Committee, volunteer for Santa's Special Needs Night in Historic Folsom, a member of the Folsom Water Vision Advisory Committee.

I'll get to that one in a minute.

Community Service Day volunteer and a past board member of a local measure.

That shall go without comment.

So tonight, we're proud to I listen, I'm reading this because there's so much I can't possibly remember all of it, even though I think I have a pretty good memory.

So tonight we are proud to honor Kathy for her service to the Folsom community.

Since her appointment to the Folsom Historic District Commission in 2019, Kathy's been a true champion of historic Folsom.

She serves on the board of FHDA, as I mentioned, and takes the lead as a volunteer coordinator, organizing the team that brings to life some of our most cherished community traditions from the tree lighting and holiday lights on Sutter Street to concerts, craft fairs, and the hometown parade.

As a volunteer herself, Kathy built and leads the FHDA volunteer and ambassador program, growing it to nearly 100 members.

She personally meets with each volunteer to thoughtfully match them with roles based on their strengths and the district's needs.

She doesn't just coordinate, she also works long hours beside her team at major events, including two each year that run for more than 15 hours total to in a row.

Kathy's refused payment for her efforts, saving the FHDA thousands of dollars and countless staff hours, and she even plans the annual volunteer appreciation event with heart and care.

Kathy's commitment doesn't stop there.

She's a member of the Hometown Parade Committee, a volunteer for Santa Special Needs Night, a community service day participant, past board member of the Folsom of the Folsom History Museum board.

She also serves on the Folsom Water Vision Advisory Committee.

So she also has been part of that water vision advisory committee because Kathy had a long professional career that makes her one of the foremost experts in water legislation in the state of California.

So she has been extraordinarily helpful.

And on a personal note, that old adage about any time you need to get something done, find the busiest person that you know.

Kathy definitely is next to that, that little adage in in the uh in the dictionary.

So she's a proud resident and frequent supporter of local businesses.

Some of the owners of them are here tonight to see her get this award.

She's a doer, a problem solver, and most importantly, a joyful presence in our community.

She makes our team better, and I'm so delighted to give you this award today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Thank you very much.

I'm your way to let you talk about that.

Oh, thank you very much.

And I'll come over here.

I wasn't sure if Mike was actually going to make it tonight because he was in Europe traveling with his wife Shireen and some good friends, and unfortunately, Shereen had a little accident and is back here with a brace on her foot and in a wheelchair, but I'm so happy that you made it for tonight.

But I did prepare just in case we weren't going to be able to.

I think I'll make some more for the rest of your fans.

They don't like to hold one.

That's awesome.

Well, let's move that too.

That one's enough.

Thank you.

Have to get creative when someone that you know you want to see at an event says, Oh, I won't be there.

So anyway, I've known Mike for many, many years.

He lives down the street from me, and both of us are usually just passing each other on the way to somewhere or back from somewhere.

So we have most of our conversations with me sitting in my car on idle and him, you know, with his lawnmower on silent for the moment.

So we can it's like, no, there you go.

Um anyway, Mike has a very long history uh supporting our youth and youth sports in the city of Folsom.

And it would be surprising to me if any of you that ever had a kid playing soccer didn't know who Mike was, because A, he's tall and hard to miss, and B, he's out on the fields all of the time.

He has been a volunteer coach for Folsom Soccer Club for 22 years.

Um he actually was the head coach for the recreational level and competitive level for boys and girls from the 18 to 22 year age group, an assistant coach for other years.

Um he was part of the Folsom Soccer Club for six years.

He was manager of that for four years.

He helped with the Folsom Lake Classic Committee to run the yearly tournament, which I believe was actually golf.

No soccer, soccer tournament.

Okay.

It wasn't clear.

I had to rely on my, you know, on the notes you gave me.

So and uh he actually was out on the fields before the kids showed up and moved the goals into place and secured them in place annually on all the soccer fields.

He spent 10 years also setting up the fields by stringing up the lines to make sure that they were painted accurately for the games.

He helped the soccer coaches uh appreciation dinner uh to thank them and um secured a lot of donations for raffle prizes.

So he's kind of a do everything kind of guy.

He's uh one of the things that I think he probably had uh was the biggest challenge was mediating the parents and coaches when they had differences of opinion on the field.

Um he also helped 12 years to volunteer uh running the soccer tryouts and uh volunteered to help raise funds to support the programs with firework sales.

Um, this is a very long list.

I mean, no, I love reading it.

Uh anyway, a volunteer head coach for uh basketball for two years and um assistant coach at the youth baseball.

He was vice president.

We're getting down to his association with Mr.

Handy back here.

Um he's uh the vice president for four years of the Fulfill Athletic Association, which has done a lot and will continue to do a lot for our kids for for years and many levels.

Uh he was president for six years.

He's currently still on the board, even though his young uh daughters aren't so young anymore.

They're grown up and I think graduated from college at this point.

And he still is helping with the fundraisers.

He's helped um, he continues to help FAA by setting up a booth at the Festival of Eggs extravaganza.

And uh he's helping to interview high school seniors for FAA sponsored scholarships because the group also raises a significant amount of money and helps kids with scholarships for participating in the youth programs here and beyond.

One of his other pastimes is actually doing community service day type projects, not on community service day.

Like painting the fence around the railroad at Lyons Park.

He's started a FAA painting park signs program and Lexington Hills and Sheldon Park and Mitchell Park have been the benefits of that.

And finally, uh to top all this on.

He is a regular volunteer at Community Service Day.

And has helped with a couple of projects in our neighborhood and uh is helping uh with this year's project.

Was which is uh massive a massive project?

Yeah, so um, neighborhoods gotten a little bit behind on some of our maintenance.

Um that's a little bit of a struggle, yeah.

But Mike's always there to help, and I really appreciate that.

And uh he's a wonderful neighbor, and I see you brought a lot of the neighborhood with you.

So glad to see them in the background, yeah.

There you go.

So congratulations.

You can give that to one of your fans.

All right, last but certainly not least is Joanne Brush, who was nominated by council member Anna Roerba.

I will say she was a little mad at me when she saw her name come across, but she got over it.

Um so Joanne, I met uh several years ago.

She's a 27-year resident.

Uh, she has volunteered across many facets of community engagement in the original Castle Park build of 1996, and we'll get to more of that in a minute, in PTO, PTA, PTSA, site council, scout, and little league leadership as room parent and trip chaperone to managing fireworks to sober grad nights, both high schools, self-described as a serial volunteer.

She currently serves as a chairperson of the traffic safety committee, which is how I first met you.

Um, she is adopt a trail adoptee, and in that role, uh she is selected for this role.

President and community coordinator of the nonprofit group Folsom Kids Play for Generations, an organization that supports the City of Folsom Parks and Rec creation Department in the areas of fundraising and volunteering volunteer coordination.

She is currently engaged in the rebuild of Castle Park, and she has been a force behind moving this forward.

It's taken a few years.

Now officially, it's offline, but she is uh the reason that we had an amazing fellow farewell um send-off to the um Castle Park, and there was over five 600 people, we think there.

She coordinated all the bouncy houses, the I mean everything, the bubbles.

I mean, it was what a community and parks can do for this for everything in Folsom.

So that was an amazing event, and I can't see what else you have in store for us.

Um, this is just project one, she says.

So Parks and Rec department, hold on.

Um, and um, she's you know, she's gonna spearhead something new at every turn.

Um, as she says, we build the parks, they played.

Now we need to rehab them for the kids of all generations to come.

Parks really do matter, she says.

Um, and I just can't thank you enough, Joanne, for always always being willing to kind of have discussions about the our project Castle Park and many other things.

So you've become a friend, and I just adore you.

So thank you for your service, Anna.

Can you please grab my glasses?

Thank you.

Tonight's award winners are also going to be recognized in the city's website and newsletter and a banner in City Hall.

And that concludes tonight's presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Okay, next item, please.

Okay, your next item is item number two.

This will be a presentation of the 12th annual Folsom Community Service Day.

The winners and their supporters are welcome to stay, but if you want to leave, this is your chance.

No, you're fine.

Whatever you want to do.

Good evening, Tom.

Hey, Madam Mayor, members of council, Tom Hellman with the Parks and Recreation Department.

And uh behind me are the rest of uh some rainbow warriors of the community service day for 2025.

I've had the unique opportunity to serve as our city lead on this project and this event for the last few years, and uh it's been a cherished event and something that takes a lot of effort, a lot of planning, so we're looking forward to what's gonna happen in 11 days from now.

Um but I don't do it alone, definitely don't do it alone.

And there's a lot more people a part of the steering committee than the ones that are able to make it tonight.

Um, but without further ado, I really want to pass this off to our chair, our dance coordinator, our cheerleader, uh Ms.

Sandy Economy, who's taken the helm over the last couple years to lead us through to take you through what to expect and what to see in 11 days from now.

Well, thank you, Tom.

Good evening, council.

Thank you so much for your time.

Tonight is a volunteer uhhoo night.

I love it.

Um so I am here with some people that have been working tirelessly to help make this all happen.

11 days and counting, and yes, I was challenged, and I will do it.

I'm so excited.

So we have Sandy, come a little closer to the microphone, please, so we pick it up on the recording.

You want to figure I'm kind of loud.

I can probably hear me from over there.

But no, I will I will acquiesce.

Yes.

So I would just like to quickly take a moment to thank all of these lovely people who showed up tonight with their wonderful shirts that yes, you too will receive.

So we have Mark here that's been doing all of our um food drive coordination.

Christine, of course, all the fabulous um just notices out to everybody, trying to make sure the community knows what's happening and all of the videos which you will get to see tonight.

Very excited for that.

Angela, who has helped to bring in some new school projects, which we are so excited about, and you'll hear more about that.

Of course, Fearless Tom, he does all the everything that I can't do.

Amy, who stepped in to do all of our um volunteer um, the coordination?

Yeah, coordination, but the system.

Oh, volunteer local.

Using volunteer local, which, yeah, that's loads of fun.

Justin has helped, and that has been wonderful, and so we're very grateful for that.

Amy's assistant.

Oh, Amy's assistant.

That is true.

Yes, they're working together, but that it's it's a big job.

And then Adriana, who's going to be taking care of all our lovely balloons and making everyone feel so welcome.

And Jen, who's been doing all of our sponsorship work.

It's been wonderful.

Yay, if you guys don't have to stand here if you don't want to, but you're standing here.

Okay, all right.

So I would love to share with you, um, just a few slides.

All the wonderful people.

Yay.

So Saturday, September 20th, again, 11 days.

2,000 volunteers is our need or our request, but we still have 25% openings.

So we really encourage anyone who is considering to please come out.

There's some uh wonderful things that we will be doing.

There's a list that'll pop up in just a moment.

But it is at um eight o'clock at Lakeside Church, just in case anyone wondered.

Oh, hmm.

I think this will get you a little bit of laughter, and uh we need to make this work.

Come on, baby, go.

See, all the things I can't do, he does.

Oh.

And I tried it earlier today.

So if this does not work.

Oh, I see where it is.

Maybe you could just reenact it for us.

Oh no, that would be good.

All right, you want me to start from the beginning?

No, it's just buffering.

You'll see why I didn't pursue an acting career shortly.

But it was so fun watching.

Community service day.

Community service day.

Hey!

Hey!

Thursday twins!

Community service day!

Community service day.

I like your style.

Absolutely.

You wouldn't miss it.

2017.

2017!

Community service day!

Hey!

Where'd you get that shirt?

I don't have that one.

This was for 2025 on September 20th.

Oh yeah, you can volunteer for community service day on September 20th.

Go to the city's website to sign up.

Make a difference.

Get your 2025 shirt and be a part of Folsom's biggest day of service.

The Folsom Community Service Day.

This September 20th.

Sign up at www.folsom.ca.us community service day.

Was that worth the wait?

So much fun.

One more time.

And watching him run was just the most fun ever.

It was really far, yeah.

Not sure why it was.

Oh, it's not for me.

I got to watch.

I didn't have to actually run.

Anyway.

We do have some wonderful sponsors this year, and I would like to take a moment to um thank them personally in this time with all of you.

So our presenting sponsors are giving $15,000, and that would be Dignity Health and the City of Folsom.

Our visionary sponsors at $10,000, Lakeside Church, Folsom Times, Lenar Homes, and the Folsom Telegraph.

Our leader sponsors at $5,000, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Goodfellow Brothers, and the Rotary Club of Folsom.

Our partner sponsors at $3,000, Habitat for Humanity, Style Magazine, Kaiser Permanente, Micron, Folsom Police Foundation, American Logo Ware, Walsh, Palladio, Straight Line Roofing, Kiko Mun, UC Davis Health, Winco Foods, and Elliot Homes.

And then last but not least, our good neighbor sponsors at 1500.

The Law Offices of Sean Musgrove, American River Ace Hardware, The Choose Folsom.

Choose Folsom.

Order of the Eastern Star, Sierra Marlin's, Smud and Leatherby's Family Creamery.

So we're very grateful for all of their support.

That through cash and in kind sponsorships bring us to about $135,000.

Which is wonderful.

We're able to do quite a few projects with that money.

And it's all going towards projects.

Sampling of some of the projects that we will be doing.

As I mentioned, there are a few schools that we'll be doing some work at, and that list continues to grow, which to me is important because it helps really allow for our community to participate in things that they see every day.

They're local schools.

Then, of course, cleaning up trails.

Castle Park was already mentioned once, so we'll be volunteers will be taking a part in that in helping dismantle the park so we can prepare to build the new one.

And then all projects in between.

All sorts of wonderful things.

Neighbors helping seniors is also something that we're very happy to do and helping those seniors, they appreciate it so much.

They ask for us to do it every month, which we can't quite do yet, but maybe one day.

And I'm sure Shara hopes that doesn't grow because that's coordinating more people, but we want that people.

So either way, we are doing another amazing donation drive, and that's something that Christine is also coordinating.

It's fabulous.

So all that you see on the list, we are collecting, and it will be taken the day of at Lakeside Church.

And we are doing a Folsom community blood drive also on that same day at the Folsom Fire Station number 35.

We are still in need.

So Vitalent.org is where folks go to sign up for that.

Our food drives.

So one bag should be delivered to everyone by the end of the week.

I know I got mine, so I'm hoping you all got yours.

Oh, and here we go.

The 2025 citywide pre-drive is almost here.

Soon a bag like this will be delivered to your home.

Just fill it with non-perishable food and place it at the end of your driveway by 8 a.m.

Saturday, September 20th.

It's that simple because this isn't just a bag.

It's a bag full of hope.

Learn more at www.folsom.ca.us slash food drive.

And just a comment on the food bags.

There is a paper that is stapled onto each bag, and it lists specifically what the food or what the food bank is in need of this year.

So if folks can make sure to just look at that and clue into what is actually a need, right in this moment.

And of course, the famous picture that we will be taking again this year.

So we do have some lovely gifts for each of you.

Because of course, we are assuming that you will all be there and doing some sort of job, which we would very much love to see each of you there.

And then the other shirt, in addition to the ones we're wearing, are our volunteer shirts.

So those that receive a tie-dye shirt are ones that have stepped up to be the lead of a project.

And then volunteers that are coming out to support all the projects will be in these lovely lime green shirts.

And I think that's it.

Unless anyone has any questions.

Thanks, Tom.

No, we want to thank you all, the entire committee very much for all your work.

We know it takes many, many, many months of planning.

Almost as soon as this community service day is over, you're going to start planning for next year.

So we really appreciate it.

Thanks to all of the sponsors for their generosity, and of course, thanks to all the volunteers who are going to serve us.

So I will be out there picking up trash on White Rock Road.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

All right.

The next item, please.

Okay, your next item is scheduled presentation item number three.

This will be a presentation from Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing regarding proposed homeless partnership model.

Thank you for your patience as we got through those items.

Well, thank you.

That's a really tough act to follow.

I don't have t-shirts for you, but if I had known.

Do you have a poem?

I don't have a poem either, but um hopefully just as uh as engaging.

Um so thank you, Mayor Aquino, members of the city council.

We're really happy to be here with you today.

My name is Emily Halkin.

I am the director of Sacramento County's Department of Homeless Services and Housing, and with me today are some familiar faces to you.

Um, of course, Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez, um County Executive David Villanueva, and deputy county executive Shivan Katari.

Um, each of us is is here to um seek input and get um get get advice from you as we collaboratively work along how to envision how we deliver homeless and housing services here in the county.

And so today we're here to seek some input from you on a proposed homeless and housing partnership model as well as a timeline, should you want to participate in approval and formal approval and launching of this.

We have heard the need community wide hear from your staff and residents of your community as well as throughout the county about the need for more transparency in how we deliver homelessness and housing programs and also for more actions that really reflect the urgency of this really dire crisis here.

With the numbers of folks experiencing homelessness on the rise, and the community is looking more and more towards you as local elected officials to really lean in on this program on this issue and provide more innovative solutions.

And we do know that right now we have fragmentation within the system as decisions around homelessness and housing are made in multiple bodies, some of which are made up of elected officials like yourselves, some of which are made up by appointed folks.

And while the staff certainly work very well together on a day-to-day basis, we are all at the end of the day responding sometimes a different policy direction.

Oops, sorry.

Used to a clicker.

There you go.

So before I discuss the proposed change, I'm gonna really really quickly share a little bit about the history to understand how we got to where we are.

And central to the history of homelessness and housing is the concept of a continuum of care or a COC, which hopefully is a familiar term for you, but if not, I can certainly delve more into it.

Many folks consider the COC as our backbone of how we deliver homeless services in our community.

COCs are a function and a mandate of the federal government.

They really though were modeled after grassroots organizing within communities and really only became established as a part of our federal mandate in 1994, so just over 30 years ago, which isn't that long when you consider how we've approached social services and other parts of our community, especially with the county leading.

And while local government, especially counties have always played a role in how we deliver social services, it's only been the last 10 to 12 years that you've really seen a really concerted effort and investment by local communities to develop departments, dedicated staff to address homelessness, bringing local resources, and then of course you saw the state coming in with some significant resources starting in 2019.

And so today we have so many more resources at our hands.

We also have a much more complex issue to deal with, but we haven't really stepped back and taken a look at how we have organized ourselves around this issue, which is why we're here today.

So a little bit more about the COC because as we've been delving into this, we recognize this is a very complex uh part of our federal legislation.

So in federal statute, this is a very simplified way of trying to explain this.

There are three distinct components of what is a continuum of care or a COC.

And this is depicted on the left hand side of the slide.

First, there's what's called the COC membership, and this is intended to be a diverse representation of people and organizations working throughout a community to prevent and end homelessness.

By design, this is somewhat nebulous, and it's really more of a concept than an actual structure.

In federal statute, the COC membership, which can be as large as hundreds of people who all join together or as small as a sort of membership roster of people who have signed up for certain committees and work products.

They are though responsible for operations of the continuum of care.

But most communities, as ours does, delegate a substantial amount of that work to an appointed COC board.

So the COC board, the second sort of layer in the federal requirements, is a subset of that broader membership.

And they are typically elected or appointed to act on behalf of that broader membership and to carry out the administrative functions of a COC.

And those administrative functions include overseeing, in this case, millions of dollars of federal funds, operating our homeless management information system, which is our database, operating the coordinated access system where people in need can seek resources.

And in federal statute, there are very few requirements of how that COC board is organized locally.

The only mandate is that it is representative of organizations in your community serving folks experiencing homelessness, and that at least one of the members is a person with lived experience of homelessness.

However, neither of those requirements is further defined.

So as you can imagine, if you look at one COC throughout the nation, they all look different.

There's a vast array of how communities have organized their COC boards.

The third layer in the federal requirements is what's called the collaborative applicant.

This is the lead agency, this is sometimes called the administrative arm.

But the federal statute mandates that COCs designate that collaborative applicant to operationalize all of these activities to run the day-to-day work of the COC.

In our community, that is Sacramento Steps Forward or SSF, they are a nonprofit.

What's important is to note is that in federal statute, the only entity that can change who that administrative arm is is the COC itself.

So the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, any of the city councils alone cannot make a decision independent of the COC should they want to change that administrative arm.

And so looking at the right-hand side of the slide to compare this to how we've operationalized this here in Sacramento, is that as you can see in federal statute, these are three distinct components.

In our implementation locally, there is no distinction between COC membership and the COC board.

We have this body of 32 people who are self, you know, self-identify themselves, they're very passionate people who are committed to addressing homelessness.

They are not elected or appointed necessarily any kind of formal way by folks like yourselves who are elected in the community.

And then Sacramento Steps Forward serves as that collaborative applicant and lead agency on behalf of the COC.

So with that history and a little bit of the federal landscape, I want to shift back to what we're trying to do here locally.

But there's just as much an expectation from the community that we collectively address the unintended consequences, especially of unsheltered homelessness in the broader community.

And that aspect of the problem often is on the hand in the hands of elected officials like yourselves, and not really in the purview of a COC.

Federal and state policy is shifting in a very similar way, and it's really requiring us to connect ourselves closer to street management, the justice system, community engagement activities that are very, very localized and unique to the communities in which we live.

As we see more shifts and cuts potentially in federal funding, there's also a need for us to get more creative and be able to braid together other funding sources to continue the good work that we're doing.

And most of those funding sources, social service funding sources, live within the county as a as a deliverer of most of those services.

And so we've been doing this work for a while.

It's been elevated in recent weeks by a few public conversations.

But really, in December of 2023, there was a consultant report that the county and the COC together pulled together that gave us a few recommendations on how we might consider a new model to deliver homeless services in our community.

County staff delivered this presentation to the Board of Supervisors on August 19th.

They gave us some direction and asked us to go out and bring this to all of the cities throughout the county as well as the COC.

So today we're here to get input from you, see if you have any interest in continuing to work on this with us.

So you should have a printed copy of this in front of you because I recognize this is a lot to look at, but hopefully the printed copy might be easier to look at.

Currently, as I said, we have a COC board in our community that's consistent entirely of non-elected community members.

There are representatives from various governmental bodies.

I'm on it, a few of my colleagues from the smaller cities are on it as well, but there are no elected officials on it.

We also have a homeless policy council, which some of you may have participated in, it's kind of come and gone over the past few years, which is entirely elected officials.

And so what we are recommending here is taking those two concepts, a non-elected body that does administrative work on behalf of the COC and the almost exclusively elected policy board, which consists of elected members from throughout the county, and merge them together into what we're calling the Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board.

So I just want to really quickly run through top to bottom what each of these components in this visual is attempting to represent.

In the top and the red are the existing elected bodies, yourself and the city councils and the board of supervisors from throughout Sacramento County.

We are not recommending any changes to any of those boards and bodies.

You exist as you do today, and you retain all of your local authority over funding setting policies for the city that you oversee.

Below the red in what's transparently purple, this is intended to capture that broader COC membership that I just talked about.

This is that sort of nebulous group of folks in our community who are dedicated to helping us address homelessness, but may come and go, may change representation as leaders change.

This does align with the federal statute, and we would recommend that the COC membership be thought of separately and distinct from the COC board.

Today they're they're merged as one, but we would recommend for better alignment with the federal requirements, they be split up.

In the green, kind of to the right, but still within the purple bubble, are representatives of subcommittees.

So today in the COC, we do have subcommittees, but they're working exclusively on COC stuff.

So think things like approving the instrument for the survey during the biennial point in time count, approving the annual application to HUD for those very discrete dollars of the COC overseas.

In the new model, because the COC is broadened and merged together with homeless policy, these subcommittees would also broaden.

So they might not just touch on COC required activities, but things that are community important, important to the community.

So things like we might have a subcommittee focusing on encampment resolution or a subcommittee focusing on behavioral health overlay with homeless services, those those types of interest areas.

These subcommittees could be advisory only, they could be delegated approval authority, depending on the topic and depending on the membership.

But the subcommittees would be elevated to a level of producing real work and accountability back to the yellow box, which is the newly formed Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board.

This would be the recommended new body acting both as the COC board, but also taking on establishment of creating a strategic vision for our community, setting performance targets for programs, measuring outcomes and outputs from our collective action around homelessness.

This is also this board is a part of the COC writ large, but we are recommending that it be shrunk down.

Right now it's a 32-member body.

We think that's unwieldy, and it'd be more focused on participation by elected officials to bring that level of accountability and transparency that currently is missing from the COC.

And then below the purple, the purple COC is what we're calling the strategic leadership group that's in blue.

That's really comprised of decision makers staff within each of the participating entities.

That would be county leadership, leaderships in the cities working together to carry out the recommendation within programs that we oversee from that the homeless and housing board.

As I noted earlier, in federal statute, the COC board is only required to be representative of organizations working in our community to address homelessness and has to include at least one person experiencing homelessness.

So really there's countless ways that you could comprise that homeless and housing board acting as the COC.

How large that board is or how small it is really is up to the discretion of the community.

Our proposed Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board would be serving not just as the COC board but also have broader functions beyond what's mandated.

And we do have an we have heard an interest in elevating the voices of those who are elected, but also keeping that board smaller.

So this represents two options.

There could be countless options.

One where the entire board, the homeless and housing board, is 10 elected officials and that one member who has previous experience of homelessness.

And the 10 elected officials would be two from Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, two from the City Council of the City of Sacramento, and one from the remaining cities, getting to 10.

Option B keeps that same mix of electeds, but adds four more community seats.

These could be leaders from the health community or the justice community or education or whatever topical areas we feel are important to pull in here.

You can add as many as you want there, but then it just becomes this unwieldy exercise.

So one of the things we are looking for input from you is if either of these or something different speaks to sort of how you would want to participate in a new board like this.

The next two slides really quickly just detail some of the roles of this proposed new homeless and housing board.

We envision that it be that they be hold that they be an open public Brown Act body, that agendas, of course, are posted and minutes are regularly updated.

It would be the key body to establish that strategic plan and vision for the community around homelessness and housing, and it of course acting like the COC would also establish performance targets for that collaborative applicant currently who is SSF.

In terms of actual products that this board might oversee, would include approving and monitoring the regionally coordinated homelessness action plan, which the Board of Supervisors City Council just approved a few weeks ago, but currently the other cities don't participate very much in.

Again, setting priorities for HAP funding that comes directly to the COC, approving any new priorities should we have new funding from the federal or state government and establishing and seating those subcommittees.

So next steps, as I said, we took this to the Board of Supervisors on August 19th and got input from them.

They asked us to go out to all of the cities and seek input.

You are the first, and we're headed to the remainder of the cities starting tomorrow through the beginning of October with a goal to bring the city managers back with us to sort of talk about that input.

We've also are going to the COC board tomorrow to get their input, but the idea here is that we'll get interest from the cities about who would might want to participate and what that participation might look like, so that then staff can start forming the details behind that, what the MOU might look like, what the charter might look like, the bylaws.

With the idea we'd have formal approval back in front of the various bodies early next year, and hopefully seating that new body as soon as quarter two of next year.

With that, I will stop and see if there's questions.

I know I threw a lot at you.

Thank you very much, Emily.

Councilmember Kozlowski.

Questions or comments?

Several.

If the objective here is to more closely comply with the description of the COC board that's in federal statute, why give it another name?

Why not just the Sacramento COC board?

So I would say that the goal here is a little bit maybe a little bit different than that.

We we certainly want to comply with COC regulation, but we want to do is pull the COC into the broader policy conversations happening right now, independently here at this council at our board of supervisors.

Right now, the COC meets and and does COC things really well, but they do it independent of direction from you and the board of supervisors and your colleagues in other city councils.

So the name change sort of signifies that this is more than the COC.

This is the COC plus a strategic body to set to set vision and goals across the region.

What happens if we keep going the way that we are?

And you don't reconstitute the COC or its board.

The COC can continue functioning as it does now.

Um there's there's nothing that they're necessarily doing that is that is wrong.

However, because our local community has sort of diversified their interests, they've they're looking to a more um holistic approach.

This the functions of the COC are a pretty narrow lane, right?

So the COC doesn't have the authority, for example, to um to direct shelter operations.

They don't do shelters.

The COC doesn't have the authority to really negotiate with law enforcement on how encampment response might look like that's not their authority.

So we just sort of keep on going as we are.

I think that would be unfortunate because we've got a lot of momentum behind us.

We've all been sort of collectively working at the staff level really well.

And I think what we'd like to see is that codified with our elected officials sort of doing that same level of collaboration.

So your SHHB then would have the authority to direct shelter operations and make those kind of policy decisions broadly it would not have the ability to direct but what it would do is it have yourself or somebody from the Folsom city council sitting right alongside with our board members and and talking about these topics uh collaboratively and so it's a forum.

It's a forum um I think at some point the SHHB could choose to be more directive but right now we are not for example we are not proposing that cities and the county consolidate funding.

We are looking for this body to be a consolidation of policy direction um and uh give staff more consistent expectations whether you're operating a shelter in the city of Folsom or in the unincorporated county.

Okay.

I probably have more questions.

Okay.

Well let me let me start with I'm glad to see regional collaboration.

I am currently the member that represents Folsom on the Sacramento homeless policy policy council.

I've been elected for almost a year now and we haven't met yet.

So that's where that's where we're at so we're not collaborating uh right now so I'm glad to see that the discussions are are going on um I guess my question like I understand the the desire and the need um regionally for collaboration on homelessness uh where I start to have concerns is is when it starts to merge into housing uh and I realize obviously the two are are tied together but how far into housing do we go?

Um SACOG uh already uh does a lot of work on land use and housing um we as an independent body do a lot of work in the housing and so I guess that's really my first question is is do you foresee this uh going into you know shelters transitional housing does it go all the way up to moderate income like where does where do you foresee the board um how far does it go into the housing realm.

Yeah so let me back up a second so just because I think I wasn't necessarily clear we are not recommending that this board bypass or usurp any authorities so if the city of Folsom had a housing project or open to shelter you would direct your staff.

What this would do is sort of set shared targets and goals but to your your bigger question about how far upstream does go in housing I mean at this point I've heard pretty clearly from my board I believe is that there's no interest right now in sort of um giving up local control about land use decisions and and funding around affordable housing and so this retains that that independence what I think this would do is create that platform to maybe collaborate let's say there was a a project that one of the cities wanted to do and needed some support from the county to ensure integration of behavioral health or there was a funding source that you needed regional partnership to to compete for I think this could provide that forum for you but it wouldn't it wouldn't dictate how housing is developed or funded in any one jurisdiction those jurisdictions would retain those I do think though that it could create some shared visioning like we as a community agree that our biggest gap right now is um moderate income housing for families with children and and how can we each collaborating or or maybe we we decide um that we're seeing some some unmet needs and some existing housing programs.

How could we work together?

Is that help?

Yeah, I think that's I think that's helpful.

Um I guess I'm I'm more interested to just to express my own desires.

I would definitely be more interested in the collaboration around homelessness and transitional housing.

Uh I think, you know, as you move out to the suburbs, uh and and I would say, you know, different regions uh have different performances on this, right?

But as you move out to the suburbs, we're building a lot of housing, right?

And we're building a lot of affordable housing.

Oh, and so uh maybe the need for that is is less uh when you get out to the to the suburbs.

So I just kind of want to put that out there.

Um my next question.

So I see a bubble here on the left, which is staff.

Yeah, and I think that's that's a heck of a lot of work that's in that bubble that's there, generating an agenda for us all to discuss, uh and the staff reports that go into that.

And and I guess I don't see on this slide the collaborative agent at all.

So I'm kind of curious how the staff bubble ties in with the strategic leadership group and then the collaborative agent, which I don't even think is on this slide.

Yes, you are correct.

For space saving reasons, the the collaborative applicant is not here.

We are not recommending a change at this point in the collaborative applicant.

We would recommend that SSF stay that collaborative applicant.

That being said, what this would do is consolidate the direction to them into the Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board.

Right now they're getting direction from a COC board independent of city councils and the board of supervisors.

So if after some time the collaborative applicant wasn't performing, this board could choose to change them.

So the current model does not recommend a change in that administrative uh component.

Your comment about the gray bubble is is I've been heard that before, and it is true that is a significant amount of work.

Right now, um the COC or SSF I should say does some administrative work for the homeless policy council, and you were not the first to note that it's been sort of lackluster, and I don't think it's a a hit on them at all.

This is a real uh workload that you can't just sort of attack onto somebody else.

And so we have talked about it as well.

I we are not looking for the cities at this point to sort of put up staff.

We would need to identify is that a county responsibility, is that a COC responsibility?

Perhaps at launch, as we sort of figure out roles and responsibilities, we collectively get a consulting firm or somebody with some experience in this world to help us organize ourselves and and figure out you know who has that capacity.

Um it is just sort of sitting out there, I do want to acknowledge that.

But uh, it is not something to just tack on to somebody else's current duties.

And the strategic leadership group uh is that staff?

That is staff, and so and and I should say the strategic leadership group, um, at least as it exists between the city of Sacramento, the county of Sacramento and SSF, does currently meet, not in a really formalized, but we meet all the time with them.

But what's missing is voices from the staff of the smaller cities.

Sometimes the housing authority isn't as active as we would like.

So this would also sort of create a formalized platform for staff to more consistently work together and dabble and sort of figure out how to implement within their uh jurisdiction the direction coming out of the homeless and housing board.

So this is a place where we invite in staff from from Folsom, for example, as well as the other cities.

Thank you.

That's all my questions for now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So what is the budget that you're proposing here and who's gonna pay for that staff?

And how are you gonna collaborate with the cities that probably don't have a staff member that's specifically assigned to this particular area of expertise?

That's a great question.

We've been asked that by some of the smaller cities, and I appreciate that.

So for for cities who don't have like a like I have a whole department, correct?

And call fulsom.

Is it maybe this is not, you know, maybe the strategic leadership group is meeting twice a month with county-city SSF, and maybe we um structure our agendas so that you know every other month there's a meeting where we talk about issues for the smaller cities, and so you're not having to have the same level of staff participation unless you wanted to.

Um, but we would see you do have some staff that we work with.

I recognize they have jobs that are way bigger, right?

That you know, and I um and so we would invite them in here.

We're not asking you to bring in to add new staff necessarily, but um, and we could pace it so that it's not overwhelming.

They're not sitting in a meeting where the entire meeting is city of Sacramento items.

Gotcha, okay.

So then the budget question, what's the gray bubble?

And who's paying it?

That is to be determined.

There is no ask at this point for the cities.

Um, we have talked about it.

Um, I mean, you you volunteered, but everybody already has job responsibilities, and these can't just be added on.

So that to me infers consultants.

Probably for expensive new staff, very, very expensive.

I should say that some of this is consolidating administration.

So right now there's a COC board that has a whole administrative structure.

There's the homeless policy council that does.

There's so by pulling these together, there are administrative dollars built into both the COC funds as well as HAP funds that are administered.

I'm not saying that might be enough to fully cover this, but there are right now some administrative inefficiencies by having these big meetings of COC every month, and then having the homeless policy council, and then having each of our individual staff uh, you know, do separate little projects.

Um, so we do need to do some more digging into how much we can extract from existing administrative.

Is there a county that's structured like this already?

That's a great question.

Um, no, but I would say there's no county that looks like any other county.

So if you look at, I mean, we had this come up actually at our board of supervisors.

Um we've there's 44 COCs in California, and each of them is different to the next, um, which I think is indicative of everybody's sort of grappling with how do we do this better.

There's some that are JPAs, there's only two that are JPAs, I should say, one of which is currently in the process of not working so well.

Most um most COCs, I think it was 61% live within county infrastructure, like county government world, and the majority of the rest are within nonprofits.

Um, and then there's a variety mishmash of other ways to organize this.

Okay.

I I happen to represent us on SACOG, and um the uh the level of responsibility that has been put onto transportation agencies over time, never only goes in one direction, it just keeps being more and more and more, and the budget for that agency has gotten humongous.

Um, so I just I see this as cracking a door open and then letting a flood come in because the state legislature, once they know that there's a source for giving responsibility, it's gonna pour it on.

So, anyway, not to be negative about it, but I will see the floor, thank you.

Council Member Warbo, yeah, I had the funding question, which I think you kind of answered um to be determined.

The next one I have is um there's um nine electeds that you have represented here.

Um, and you had suggested 10 elected on on what your first one, 10 electeds and one, um I forgot what you called a person with lived experience, with lived experience.

Um, and then the next one was um 10 electeds, one lived experience, and four community members, I believe.

They're each had 10 elected, they should have 10.

I'm sorry, okay.

There's 10, but you have there's nine positions here.

So my question would be how would you um fill these positions?

Like, is it two for the county and then one on each thing?

I like Mike said, we all serve on different boards, and there's kind of weighted representation sometimes, which sometimes can get out of balance.

Um, so yeah, so the current recommendation, which is just a recommendation is two from the board of supervisors, two from the city of Sacramento, and then one from the balance of that's six and four, if every city participated.

Um, and that's how you get to the 10 electeds in the current proposal.

Um, but open to comments if if there's other ways that you might approach it, and then what we would look for is each elected body would appoint from your own ranks and whatever works for your yeah, your jurisdiction.

Um, and I appreciate my two colleagues, um, both of their questions.

I think I have some of the same concerns.

Um I'm not really sure what need this is filling, if this is capable of filling the needs that we have in Folsom and the uh surrounding smaller city or cities that are less affected, like Sacramento.

Um Grove has a shelter.

Yeah, so I mean, I understand the coordination aspect of it, but I think, like Mike, these things tend to grow.

Um I like an action group.

I like that idea.

Um, so I think I'm just kind of waiting for more details on it.

Good evening, Mayor Keno, members of the council and Brian.

My name is Rosario Rodriguez.

I you're a county supervisor and former Folsom City Council.

One of the um, one of the important aspects of this particular structure is that you now have a knowledge of what is happening in other jurisdictions.

You know, I always go back to the year of 2023 when there are many changes happening that year, and we started the year with the pick count, but by the summer we had a big increase in homelessness here in the city of Folsom.

That was a big discussion at the time when it had um adding at the time 10 police officers to handle some of this issues related to homelessness.

What we didn't know what was happening down at in Sacramento with the city of Sacramento at the time had uh um uh started their incident management team that had a major impact on what was being shuffled.

Had we known that, I think we could have had a better uh approach to how we were gonna handle the problem that was impacting Pulsum at the time.

And so I think it's really being aware and having the knowledge of what is happening throughout the entire jurisdiction that I think will give um will be a huge benefit to the city of Pulsome and will allow your hot team to really be aware of things that are happening.

Thank you.

One other thing I might add that we've heard from some of the jurisdictions, and this is a specific example is um you know the county is responsible for delivering behavioral health services countywide.

And we've heard from some of the jurisdictions that aren't the city of Sacramento that there's confusion around that or feelings like they don't know how to access it.

So this would be the body where those types of things would would come to fruition.

You'd be able to bring that and say, hey, you know, my homeless outreach navigator that that we've got up here in Folsom really isn't getting the level, you know, here's the needs they're seeing, and they may be different than then the need you're seeing in the city of Sacramento.

So how can we um balance the the services that our behavioral health system is bringing to the homeless population in Folsom to meet those specific needs?

I think there's um there's others too, like when we've launched uh weather respite, you know, typically the county does weather respite, not at the scale we need, but I've I've heard before from some of the the jurisdictions um outside the core of the city of Sacramento that those resources are needed in your community, but you don't have the capacity to stand those up and they don't feel accessible to the residents that you're seeing.

And so I think this is the forum where we could we could plan together how to be more more thoughtful and make sure that the resources that we're bringing um are meeting the needs that aren't necessarily as visible when you're outside of downtown Sacramento.

Any other questions, Councilmember Warbo?

No, okay, Councilmember Leary.

I really appreciate your efforts here, and I I really believe that we need to make some collaborative efforts as well.

You have a great breadth of issues that you're trying to address, which I think gets very complicated.

And you know, just what you mentioned in terms of not having mental health care out in this region.

There has been none out here for the 30 years that I've lived here.

Um it's all been consolidated in downtown Sacramento.

So people need those services, aren't going to find them there.

And so then you have the issue of transportation or just not addressing the problem was really what happens in the long run.

Um, and then you know, the issues of the various levels of housing needs, uh the most difficult one is clearly housing for the homeless.

And I do think I see value in this working group and coming up with and sharing solutions and maybe creating policies that are helpful, but every jurisdiction is clearly going to have a different capacity to address these various issues, and that will also depend on how great of an issue that is in that particular community.

Like, for example, you know, we've done really well in meetings some of our arena numbers, you know, for the low income, but not the the very low income.

Um, you know, that's you said it it's it's true we don't have a very good um capacity for helping people during heat crises and or you know, when the winter shelter isn't, you know, there's a gap between the winter and winter shelter is is open and when there's uh you know a very limited amount of um service to be provided to people that need to need heat respite so um i i like the idea.

I understand all the questions about funding and you know how we could participate.

I think there is value in sharing ideas and and and policies.

Um, and I hope something can move forward, uh, but it's a daunting task.

And so I admire you for trying to pull this off thank you definitely not doing it on my own but thank you very much and I just have one question would this board have the authority to direct resources and if so whose resources are we directing you mean the Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board um under the current in the under the proposed organization at initial launch the only resources they would have authority to direct are those that currently are the COCs because it is merging it would not for example take HAP funds from the county or funds in future iterations as this board begins established and and you it could make that choice um but no at initial thought the only uh funds would be COC over scene which is is is not insubstantial amount of money i it's not new money it's pretty much managing an ongoing um allotment of dollars from the federal government which does not increase typically but it it supports a lot of programs in our community okay we do have one member of the public who would like to speak to this item so if we can get to that okay um Judy Alexander come on good evening mayor vice mayor council members I have notes all over the place so I would just apologize up front for any lack of cohesion or step one leading to step two um one comment I want to start off with this is a difficult process and project those of us who have worked in the homeless community here in Folsom for a number of years it it's a trial it is uh an act of love for all of you here and online who participate the Sacramento Bee reported about a week ago that the response for the 20 homeless people at City Hall who have been told now that they cannot um make tents and spend the night at City Hall after a month worth of very intensive uh need requests and follow through and requirements six people accepted housing that they were offered fourteen did not now they had some pretty silly reasons why they did not but that is what you deal with with this problem you're dealing with people across the board who want different levels of care have different excuses it's hard so our presentation tonight from the county you can understand how difficult it is to meet all those needs.

However it's possible and I'm a proponent of not only operating with government organizations but with private organizations here in this county who do fabulous work and struggle for funding because under the COC model the HUD model it's housing first and many of the smaller charitable organizations dealing in this sphere can't do that we cannot afford to give apartments to people and have them destroy them and have to refurbish them there's different different people who really need our love and care in the homeless community not all of them can be served in the same way by everybody but currently it's very difficult and I I can't I don't know why um we give subsidies to agriculture I made a list grants to universities funding for medical research, tax advantages to developers, incentives to corporations.

I need you to wrap it up, please.

And guarantees to banks.

So I would like you to consider that a new format, a new form, new the same old, same old with different colors, may not be the answer that we need.

Could be a step in the right direction.

I don't know.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So Emily, if I could try to summarize this a little bit uh maybe for my colleagues.

I I think we all agree that regional collaboration is good.

Um I think the devil is in the details.

We have a little bit of concern about how far this strays into the into the housing realm.

I guess you know, keep us posted.

Continue to work with us and our city manager.

And we'll see where this goes.

Does that help you?

It does help me.

Thank you.

And we'll continue to work with Brian and his team as we hear input from others too.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for coming out.

We appreciate it.

All right, next item, please.

That takes you to your consent calendar.

Do we have any requests to pull any items?

Seeing I'm hearing none.

I will take a motion to uh approve the consent calendar.

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and second.

Please call the roll.

Councilmember Rohrbach, Kozlowski, Leary.

Yes.

Rafel.

Yes.

And a keynote.

Yes.

Next item, please.

All right, your first new business item this evening is resolution number 11454.

This is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with ARB Inc.

Um for the $3 million, 10100, $298 from the sewer operating fund for the construction of the basin 4 sewer phase one project and appropriation of funds.

Thank you, Krista.

You want to read the next one?

No, I'm just kidding.

Uh so Mayor Kino, members of the council, Marcus Yasutaki, Environmental and Water Resources Director.

Items nine and 10 will be all consolidated into this uh presentation for you tonight.

But uh effectively it is the award of contract and then CM and inspection services for the basin four sewer project phase one.

Basin four, it's not a physical basin in the ground, it's a geographic area within the city, which pretty much entails from city hall uh down to the corp yard that's most commonly probably referred to as the historic district.

Uh so this uh diagram here just shows the location of the sewer projects in the the line might be a little difficult to see, but in yellow, uh along Sutter Street between Scott and Coloma.

You've got Reading Street here between the Figueroa Mormon Street alley, and then up to the Mormon Natoma Street alley, and then we have the Natoma Street Persever alley from Riley over to Sibley.

That is the sewer replacement areas of the project.

We also are doing some manhole rehabilitation throughout different areas of the city.

This is along the Rowerry, Walden, and Clarksville Road area that meets ultimately at the intersection of East Bidwell.

The areas with the little green dot are the sewer manholes that will be rehabilitated.

I'll have some pictures of what some of these look like just to show you why we're doing the work we're doing uh in these locations.

Uh and then uh we do have uh a meter replacement at pump station number two.

So this is right by kind of some of the parking areas along Leedsdorf, and this is our sewer pump station number two.

So we have a meter that needs to be replaced uh in that vault there.

Uh so the scope of work is about 3,000 feet of eight-inch sewer pipe, sewer pump station number two, meter replacement, uh lining of 16 sewer manholes, uh new installation of sewer manholes where the uh sewer line will be replaced.

Obviously, any curb gutter sidewalk and pavement restoration needed in the affected and impacted areas, uh slurry seal of the streets in those areas, uh reconnection to existing sewer services.

Uh, most of those are all along the historic district in those areas.

So there's a lot of coordination with uh when we are working with those customers in their front yards or in the alleyway in their backyards, uh, there's end with any solid waste deliveries or pickups uh for those alleys, and then obviously any property restoration.

So each one is unique and each one is handled and treated uh differently.

Uh so deficiencies, we have various repairs in those areas.

So we have a mix of pipe.

Most is the vitrified clay pipe, which is kind of that orangish color, but we have ABS, PVC, and asbestos cement pipe in uh where repairs were done.

We have cracks in the pipe, we have offsets, so physically where two pipes should be uh adjoined.

There's they're they're physically uh not.

I have some pictures of that.

We have missing sewer cleanouts in some of the yards, so we don't have access.

If we have to ever go work on a sewer lateral, we typically then have to go up further in the property to try to gain access, which can become a challenge if you can't find the private sewer uh clean out.

So installing those where they need to be as part of this project.

We do have sewer laterals that cross from one property over onto another property and then out to the sewer mainline.

So we're gonna fix that.

So the sewer lateral for a property is for that property and not on someone else's property.

Uh there's several sewer connections that were found within the historic district that aren't connected and just were abandoned in place.

So uh obviously those can become challenges uh in the future or just uh an area of failure.

So we obviously are going to take care of those and remove those, and then uh improper sewer lateral connections into the sewer mainline.

So typically they abut to the to the sewer mainline.

We have some that are physically protruding into the sewer mainline, and our camera equipment can't get through to complete their inspection.

So we're gonna fix all those.

Uh just some pictures of uh what this looks like.

This looks like this is an offset here.

So you can see this should be flush with this, but because of that, we do have problems when we're running our camera equipment that it gets stuck here and can't continue down uh the main line.

Uh improper lateral connections.

You can see here, this should be all flush, but you can see this is protruding out.

So that becomes challenges when we're doing our inspections.

Uh root intrusion.

So this is what roots can look like.

And if that gets uh worse over time, that can cause uh blockages in the sewer line and ultimately, sorry, ultimately lead to sewer spills.

Uh we do have areas where there's cracks in pipes, so we obviously we don't want that to occur, and we want to take care of that as soon as we can.

And then this was a repair at some point in time, but you can see the orangish color, the you know, the clay color is the clay pipe, and then this looks like PVC pipe.

So we want to make sure that we don't have areas again where the joints aren't aligned as they should be.

Uh, and then this is the last picture I have are pictures.

These uh are pictures taken inside sewer manholes, so you can see that the interior lining that was originally installed uh with the sewer manhole, they are obviously deteriorating and eroding.

So we want to ensure that when we go back, we recoat those sewer manholes so the off-gases of the wastewater do not eat away at the concrete and ultimately lead to uh a sewer manhole failure.

Uh so with that, I'll take any questions, but effectively that is what we are doing with this project.

Any questions for Marcus?

I'll start on this side.

I just have a quick question.

Um, and that is can you use those trenchless methods in some of these lines, or is this all open work?

Uh, this is all gonna be open cut.

There are times when you can use trenchless methods.

Typically, you try to do that when you have limited sewer services because when you do that work, then you have to go and reconnect those areas where the sewer services are too a lot of these pipes are six-inch clay pipe, and our city standard is eight-inch pipe, so we uh want to upsize the pipe while we're doing the work, and then that picture that has the offset where you have the two pieces of pipe that aren't physically connected.

You can still use the trenchless technology in there, but you're not correcting the physical separation of the pipe, which can then uh still lead to the challenges of not being able to get your camera equipment and over time your cleaning equipment through those lines.

But there are uh we have used that in the past, and and we will do that in select locations where it's advantageous and it minimizes any risk of either reconnection or it there isn't a uh a physical structural problem with the pipe where you can use that.

Okay, thanks.

This district obviously has the oldest sewer pipes in town.

So I'm anticipate that it's a lot more challenging.

Yes.

Yeah, thank you.

Any questions over here?

Do you do you anticipate many um actual connections to those pipes that are need to be replaced, repaired, relocated?

Uh, a lot of them.

I I don't I don't know the number offhand, but I don't anticipate there are a lot of connections on site that we have to fix and or repair when we're making the new connection.

A lot of it's gonna be a reconnection, but in those areas where we may not have a sewer clean out, we may do the the install from where the cleanout should be down to where the new main line will be.

Gotcha.

So there's surface repairs that might be on people's front yards as a result.

Correct.

For that situation.

For this situation, yes.

And I think we're fairly lucky when we're in the alley because most of uh that back area is either grass or kind of gravel.

I was just I was uh obsessing about the one particular one that you and I talked about before, which is that Scott to Coloma chunk of Sutter Street.

And as you get really close to um Scott Street, there's some really nice paving that was part of the Sutter Street improvements, and just please take care with that part of it.

Yes, and and the one thing the one challenge we'll have in that area along Sutter Street is that used to be I think the old Lincoln Highway because we ran into it at another situation where it becomes a challenge of doing actual repairs that we need to do today.

So hopefully when we're all done, obviously when this is all fixed, we won't have to have that sewer line actually out in the middle of of Sutter Street.

Uh, is it under the sidewalk?

Well, I guess there's not really sidewalks.

It is in the I'll say it is in the width of the street.

I don't know if it's the center or the you know the maybe the eastbound or westbound lane.

I I don't know for certain.

Gotcha.

All right.

Good luck.

Thank you.

All right.

We have no requests to speak, so I'll entertain a motion to adopt resolution number one one four five four.

Be delighted to recommend approval of resolution number one one four five four.

That's that again.

We have motion and second, please call the roll.

Council members Robo, yes, Koslowski, Leary, yes, Rathel, yes, and a keynote.

Yes.

Item I'll move resolution number one one four five six.

Second.

We have motion and a second.

Please call the role.

Council Member Rorba.

Yes.

Koslowski.

Yes.

Larry.

Yes.

Rathel.

Yes.

And the keynote.

Yes.

Next item, please.

Thank you.

Next item.

Item number 11 is resolution number 11458.

This is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an MOU between the city and the Sacramento area firefighters, local 522.

Even good evening, Alison.

Evening.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the council.

Alison Garcia, your human resources director.

Alison, pull that microphone up just a little bit, please.

There we go.

Okay.

As a city attorney attorney mentioned, a revised staff report has provided been provided to city council members, and it's on the back table for members of the public.

The two items before you tonight represent months of effort, balance, collaboration, and partnership.

We successfully completed negotiations with both local 522 and local 39.

Throughout these negotiations, we had to strike a careful balance between being fiscally responsible and make sure that making sure the city stays competitive in attracting and keeping quality employees.

Now I know some may be wondering how can we do this with the financial challenges we're facing?

But the question we kept coming back to was how can we afford not to?

If we fall behind what other cities are offering, we risk losing the talent we need in order to maintain the high level of service our community relies on.

We recognize the city's financial challenges and are grateful for the council's thoughtful dialogue and support throughout this process.

Your collaborative approach helped us reach agreements that balance fiscal responsibility with our needs of employees.

Knowing the priorities guided our approach and discussion.

Here's a closer look at the process we followed to reach the agreements.

We began by reviewing current contracts and gathering input from department directors to understand operational needs.

We completed salary serving surveys using comparable agencies that are identified in each chart, uh each contract that's listed on the chart on the screen.

From there, the city's negotiations team met with each bargaining group to exchange proposals, clarify priorities, and problem solved together.

Through this process, we explored different options and ultimately reached agreements that met both the city's financial goals and the workforce's needs.

For local 522, we reached an agreement on a three-year contract that provides stability for both the city and our employees.

The agreement includes a two and a half percent cost of living adjustment each year, helping us stay competitive while remaining fiscally responsible.

We increase tuition reimbursement for qualified staff from 1500 to 2500 per fiscal year, supporting our employees who want to continue their education and professional development.

Another important change is to the paramedic incentive pay.

Paramedic incentive pay is additional compensation for employees who hold a paramedic certificate and actively use those skills on the job.

This pay has typically been offered as a flat monthly rate.

However, the new structure is based on a percentage of base rate.

This approach was key amongst the membership.

Finally, we reached agreements on several non-economic and language clarifications, which improved operations to align the contract with current operations.

For local 39, we reached an agreement also on a three-year contract, providing again stability for both the city and our employees.

The agreement includes a 3% cost of living adjustment for each year, helping us stay competitive remaining while remaining fiscally responsible.

In addition to the COLA, targeted salary adjustments were included for specific classifications where we've seen recruitment and retention challenges or where salaries have fallen below market levels.

We also made a few updates to benefits, including a prorated uniform and boot allowance and an increase to the annual leave cash out from 40 to 60 hours per fiscal year.

Finally, we reached agreements on several non-economic and language clarifications again to improve operations and align contract language with current practices.

With local 522 and local 39 wrapped up, we now turn to our attention to the next four bargaining groups whose agreements are expanding expiring at the end of the year.

By the end of this week, we'll have had initial meetings with all four of these bargaining groups and are hopeful for collaborative and productive negotiations.

With that, I recommend that the city council pass and adopt resolution 11458 authorizing the city manager to execute an MOU with local 522 and resolution 11459 authorized authorizing the city manager to execute an MOU with local 39.

Behind you.

Okay, then we need two separate motions, please.

I'll move.

Great.

Okay.

And resolution one at a time.

Oh, we have a second.

Sorry.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second, please call the roll.

Council members Roarbaugh.

Yes.

Kozlowski.

Yes.

Leary?

Yes.

Rathel.

Yes.

And Dequino?

Yes.

And I'll move resolution number one one four five nine.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Please call the roll.

Council Member Roarbob.

Yes.

Kozlowski.

Yes.

Leary.

Yes.

Rafel.

Yes.

And the Kino.

Yes.

Thank you, Allison.

Thank you.

Can I also say I appreciate those not being on the consent calendar?

I appreciate you giving the presentation tonight.

So we're it's the budget discussions are coming, so I think it's important that we did not have those on consent.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next item.

Alright, your last discussion item this evening is new business item number 13.

This is resolution number 11460, approving the formation of the fire services exploratory committee and appointing two members of the city council to serve on the committee.

Great.

Thank you, Mayor members of the council.

This item is the result of a lot of conversations as it relates to the city's budget circumstances and looking at any and all or any and all alternatives to help us either close uh improve efficiencies with the delivery of a service or to lower the cost of the delivery of that service.

And so uh in my experience, there are opportunities uh where we can collaborate uh with other jurisdictions, uh, with county partners and look for other ways to provide the service.

There's examples that uh of that uh in this area.

Uh there's example of that uh occurring across the state.

So in light of the budget presentations that we have given, knowing of the shortfalls that we have experienced.

Uh I thought it was prudent for us to at least uh explore uh a potential option or a partnership with SAC Retro Fire.

And so I had a preliminary meeting with uh uh fire chief Adam House, and we thought it would be prudent for uh this to have a discussion with the council to see if it's something that they would be interested in and forming a two by two committee uh where two members of the city council and two members of the uh SAC Metro Fire Board uh would hold meetings over the next few months in order to to gauge the interest and the uh alternatives that may be available to us.

So uh this is not uh necessarily leaning one way or another as far as uh providing um uh options uh to change the way we operate, but I think it's important that we leave no stone unturned as far as looking at what is available to us.

So various options that could be under consideration uh when we look at the options that could come out of this is one, uh we just keep things as they are.

Uh two uh we explore an administrative services contract where we um work with the SAC Metro Fire to provide um kind of the leadership um uh kind of chief responsibilities, you know, with Chief Cusano retiring.

This seems like a question that we should get answered.

Other opportunities are a full contract for service where uh the city uh enters into a contract for service where SAC Metro Fire provides all the personnel and literally provides all the service inside the city of Folsom.

And then a full merger would be uh we become part of the SAC Metro Fire District and um operate in that realm.

So this is just an exploratory effort.

Um and uh, you know, staff's recommending that the city council approve this resolution and select two members of the city council uh to serve on this board or on this committee.

Okay, thank you.

Um so let's see.

I know I have an interest in in serving on this.

Councilmember Leary has expressed an interest.

Are there others who have an interest?

Councilmember Kozlowski.

Um we can we can come to some agreement, we can put our names in a hat and draw it out.

Um so you're feeling like there's consensus to go forward with this two by two committee, first of all, and then I'm supportive of you taking one of the I I can step aside.

Okay, okay.

And I can also step aside.

Okay.

That is an excellent first question, though.

Yeah, there is a consensus in at least exploring the formula two by two and exploring.

I think it is a great first question, but I'm I'm supportive of exploring our options.

I would say, um, just from my own standpoint, uh, I appreciate the fact that we have our own fire department, and I think it it there would have to be, you know, significant cost savings uh in order to go down a road where we would not have our own fire department.

Um so I just want to put it out there.

Like that's my default is is that we have our own fire department.

Um, but I'm definitely open to exploring the options, like if there's if there's significant savings uh or there is significant operational abilities, it doesn't all have to come down to dollars, it could also come down to that committee looking at it and going, this provides better service to the residents of Folsom.

Okay, that's a good argument too, right?

So I think both of those things need to be looked at.

It's not just a cost question, it's it's also the quality of service to our residents.

So I want to add to that and then I because I think you might be in consideration of being on the board.

Um I agree with what Justin just said.

Um I think you know, in a conversation I had with our city manager a couple weeks ago or even more, I don't know.

But like the devil will be in the details on this and making sure that it's not just a slippery slope to the fourth option or the third option of full management, that we're really putting provisions in place that protect us that if the that if we do combine admin services, for example, that there's a way to go back and there's a way to go forward, or there's a way to continue to stay the same.

Um, so I think this is gonna be a very detailed thing.

Um, so whoever out of the three left that will be on that, I think that's I hear I see shaking heads too.

So um that would be my concern of making sure that we protect the city.

I have already gotten a bunch of feedback and um about one of the reasons that people love living in Folsom is we do retain all of our services, our police department, our fire department.

Um, and so that's a high priority for some, and I and I think that's important to keep in mind, and then thank you.

I I really appreciate our um city manager uh White Meyer looking into this.

Um following the meeting where we were having the discussions about whether to hire new, you know, more firefighters or round out of a station, etc.

I uh took it upon myself to do a great deal of research into what other options were available.

Um, you know, something like doing a CFD is difficult to pull off.

Um, you know, there was some somebody had tossed out the idea of uh merging with another city, and then there are um there is the option of getting a variety of services or all services with the contract with SAC Metro.

And there's clearly positives and negatives that need to be looked at.

I have a long history of working in the public uh safety um uh programs and um working with uh their personnel.

Uh we really need to look at all of the uh aspects of any alliance.

Uh there are things that um you know may be of benefit to us that aren't of benefit to SAC Metro.

Uh certainly I think the attractive part is being able to identify where we could potentially have some cost savings if we used one or two things off of the menu of options, you know, or and there may not be, and there may be costs for SAC Metro of delivering some of those things that you know we would still be responsible for.

So I like I like the idea of keeping the door open and exploring these possibilities.

Um I don't want to have the city uh you know kind of put forward a uh no uh absolutely not, or you know, take the step of uh contempt prior to investigating this, and I think it's worth the time to do that.

Um I have the time I'm not quite on as many other committees as others are here, and I have the interest and long-standing history of working, as I said earlier, uh, with public safety issues.

So I'm I'm hoping to be able to serve.

The only thing I will add to all of that, I agree largely, and we'll try and maintain a posture of no contempt here.

Um the Folsom Fire Department has existed continuously since gold rush days, and tinkering with that is a question of our identity.

Um I definitely would like us to explore things and make sure that we're making the best decisions for the safety of our community, okay, and the long-term budgetary health of our community.

So it sounds like we're all generally on that same page, and I'd be delighted if councilman Barbara there served in this capacity.

Okay, perfect.

So um then uh we don't have any requests to speak.

So we'll entertain a motion uh that would appoint um council member Leary and myself to the two by two.

I will make the motion to appoint Barbara Larry and uh Sarah Kino to the two by two, and really form two by two.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Thank you very much.

Please call the wall.

Council members roarbock, yes, Kozlowski, yes, Leary, Rathel, and Aquino.

Yes, thank you.

That takes us to city manager.

Madam Mayor, we also need a motion to approve resolution one four six zero.

Please.

Oh, sorry.

Okay, I thought we were doing that.

Okay, yes.

I'll move resolution number one one four six zero.

I'll second it.

I thought that's what we were just doing.

Yeah, well, we'll just be sure.

I'll second it.

Uh we have a motion and second, please call the rule.

Council members rarba, yes, Kozlowski.

Yes, Leary, yes, Rachel.

You know, yes, thank you.

That takes us to city manager reports.

Uh great.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh members of the council.

A few items.

The Folsom fire and police departments will host a 9-11 remembrance gathering to honor all those who lost their lives and commemorate the ultimate sacrifices made by first responders.

The gathering will begin promptly at 8 46 uh a.m.

on Thursday, September 11th at Folsom City Lions Park near the gazebo.

Also of note, uh one of Folsom's favorite playgrounds is getting ready for a well-deserved transformation.

Uh, the play structure at the kids' play park, best known as Castle Park, has reached the end of its lifespan and is now temporary closed for construction.

The park will be closed from September uh 5th to April 2026.

Stay informed on the city's website.

Want to volunteer and help rebuild the park.

Sign up by emailing rebuild the castle at gmail.com.

The city uh is also as been mentioned in a multi-stage budget review process.

Uh and uh we're looking at uh a variety of ways to reduce our costs, and we would really appreciate uh uh input from the community.

Uh some of the service or programs could be modified or reduced as part of this process.

Uh community input is essential to help the city council understand resident priorities and values.

The council will review the budget uh department proposals and potential service level adjustments at upcoming meetings.

Uh the first one will be Tuesday, September 23rd at 6 30 p.m.

And that will be followed uh with Tuesday, October 14th at 6 30 p.m.

So both of those will be held here, and uh we really appreciate the input and uh as we navigate this uh budgetary process.

But the city of Folsom is proud to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its sister-city relationship with Pieve del Grappa, Italy.

Uh, this Saturday, the Folsom Historic District Association hosts uh Chow Folsom.

Uh, an Italian-inspired farmers market runs from 8 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

with the gondolier community paddle board event on Lake Natoma from 10 to 11, and from 11 to 2.

The taste and sip takes place at the plaza and amphitheater with Italian-inspired food, drinks, and live performances.

It will also feature Vespa displays, cooking demos, cultural exhibits, and family activities.

Admission is free, and you can learn more at uh folsom.ca.us forward slash sister city.

Uh fall friends of the Folsom Library book sale is coming up.

Uh, that will be held on September 12th to 14th, featuring thousands of books and media at deeply discounted prices.

And then unfortunately, uh uh I'm reporting about the River Ridge uh way incident.

Uh last night, Folsom Police and Fire responded to a River Ridge uh Way residence where an armed barricaded subject was inside when the home caught fire.

A unified command was established, nearby residents were evacuated, and defense fire tactics protected surrounding homes.

The fire was contained to the House of Origin, but one deceased individual was later located inside.

The investigation remains ongoing.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Folsom's police and fire departments, the Sacrament uh Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, and all partner agencies for their critical support and coordination during this complex and tragic incident.

The teamwork helped protect our community and contain the situation safely.

And that concludes my report.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Kozlowski.

Just one thing.

I didn't see it on the list when we were having the community service day presentation, but the Friends of the Folsom Parkway are organizing a very large ladder fuel removal project as that will begin before community service day, beyond community service day, and then we'll continue every Thursday for the foreseeable future.

Um anybody who's interested in helping out, it's uh definitely a many hands make light work situation because that area in the Hinkle Creek Nature Preserve has not had that kind of ladder fuel removal in a long time, and it's uh an absolutely essential fire safety uh project that you can help work on yourself.

So contact me, contact uh planning commissioner Amanda Ross or the Friends of the Folsom Parkway for details.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Rathel.

I did appreciate Tiara's public comment about um e-scooters and uh Mayor Aquino said our two by two uh did discuss that.

It actually took up a majority of our two by two meeting uh recently, and I thought the discussion was very positive about um concrete steps that both we as the city and the school district could take, particularly around uh e-motorcycles and e-scooters, um, where we where we know they're not e-motorcycles not allowed on city streets and e-scooters, you have to be 16 to operate.

It's very clear-cut.

Um enforcement that we can we can do there, both on the school district side and the city side.

So I appreciate the discussion.

I'm looking forward to moving forward on that.

We know it's a community concern.

Um, it's one of my personal concerns to deal with it pretty much every day.

So definitely looking forward to to moving forward on that.

I also wanted to bring up to my colleagues um the Johnny Cash art trail pick.

Uh I I know that this is lower priority with our budget challenges uh that are going on, um, but the commentary that I've received uh in the public uh was that it didn't look like what was advertised.

Uh the advertised pick had the name of cash on it, uh, and that was kind of what I expected when it was unveiled.

Um I followed up with staff uh and they've explained to me that this did go through the arts commission, it did go through the council um to remove the name on the pick.

Um, but because of that change, I think it's hard for some people to notice that it is a guitar pick.

Uh the name of Johnny Cash is on the concrete on the bottom, which you don't see when you drive past.

Uh, and so you know, I've heard Black Heart, I've heard geolocation of Google map sign that's that's black, and what is that Google map sign that's black that's in the historic district?

So I don't like to hear those those things.

I know art is in the eye of the view holder.

I um am not an artist, I'll put it out there.

My my views on art might be um different than than yours.

So uh I definitely just want to bring it up to the council uh because of the fact that we have uh pick number two uh that's in the works, uh, and I don't think the reception to pick number one uh was so positive.

So I wanted to bring it up just as an idea.

Do we want to bring this back on the agenda or do we want to carry forward?

Um I would personally lean on the idea of bringing this back uh to discuss what our options are for pick number two.

Thank you.

I would support putting that on the agenda also.

Uh council member Leary.

Um, I would agree on bringing that back.

I was actually on the committee when I was on the arts commission, and that was not one of the popular pieces to pick, no pun intended, uh, but yes, it did have the Johnny Cash name on it.

And um I think there are potentials for uh there's potential for other options.

So perhaps just asking the artist for what his recommendation would be.

Yeah, he he had a number of other things that weren't selected.

Let's not let's not have this discussion today.

But let's go back for a few years.

We don't have to do that.

I I just thought I'd piggyback on that and support bringing it back.

Um I did just want to um ask that um we in the future have a um sometime within the next two months, probably a presentation of the council from um Tom Gurnison with the library on uh their operations, funding and usage, and I think that would be very informative.

I was able to sit and go through all that with him last week.

I'm still sort of orienting to different departments.

I know a little bit about some of them.

Uh, I know a lot of uh about others, uh, but I think it would be really helpful for the public and the uh entire council to understand you know what goes on over there.

I think we've got an impressive program going.

We've got some of the highest use in the usage in the entire county.

Um, and that brings me to wondering if we could add back an item that used to be on the agenda, which was a request for future agenda items.

You can do it right now during your council comments.

No, I understand that.

I've just tried to, you know, it would be nice if there was a tickler file for these ideas because we toss them out there, and you know, unless we keep our own lists and then keep bringing them back.

I'd like to know that they're on the list.

Okay.

And then finally, I just wanted to note that I'd been uh meeting with uh Joe Gagliardi uh uh and uh Taryn about economic development opportunities in my district.

Uh there's fair number of empty spaces, and some of them uh one at least one of them's really problematic, and there are some others that I would just like to see uh full, and uh we're connecting um because you know I have uh some acquaintances who work in brokering um new businesses coming into towns from the Sacramento region.

I know we have a regional one that you know includes Rancho Cordova, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, but I think doing further outreach uh might be helpful.

Uh so I'd like to see those spaces full full sometime soon.

Thank you.

Sounds good, thank you.

Councilmember Robo.

I support having a discussion about the pick and having a staff bring back um options and cost and all of that.

Um I also support a presentation from the library director as well.

I think when I've gone and visited him a couple times, um the most impressive thing is how well used our library is.

So back to what uh Justin talked about at the and Tiara talked about the e-bikes, e-scooters.

I learned a lot the other day in our two by two about well, and there was still some confusion on uh which bikes are um, you know, class one, class A, class B, whatever those distinguishing factors are, e-scooters.

Um, and so what I would suggest is maybe we have an agenda item on this.

That's first of all, educational to the public, um, and then second of all, what options there are, what's being done.

I know that there was some, you know, the school district is um stepping up a little bit, what's being done, and then what are possible actions, and then as we discussed at that meeting, um, maybe even discussing um adopting a new ordinance or adjusting some ordinances.

So I think that would be very relevant and educational for our public.

So I'd like to see that on the agenda this fall if possible.

Um, I think those are three good suggestions for a future agenda items.

Go ahead.

Sorry, thank you.

Um, so did Barbara did bring up this tickler file.

I know the first year I was elected.

Um, you know, one thing that I we did on a previous council that I was on is um any items that were brought up, at least uh the council would have access to at the bottom of the agenda, would be things that would have been brought up to be discussed and um kind of allows everyone to see priorities as they go forward and pick and choose.

Well, we won't pick and choose the mayor would pick and choose and the city manager, but um kind of keeps it up front and fresh, um, and also the understanding that you know everything can't get on the agenda um within you know a month, but it is a nice way to all of us can keep track of what each of us is um and doesn't have our names to it, but if she's bringing up uh or you're someone's bringing up the pick, well, then in a month or two, maybe we've heard something from a constituent and we can look down on that list and go, oh yeah, someone else brought it up at one time.

Maybe it's time to get that on the agenda.

That was very easy, and um, we don't have to think through what we asked six months ago if that's something that you're considering.

I can work with the city manager on that, yeah.

Yep.

Um I just wanted to piggyback on his comments about the um expanded farmers market this Saturday um at 11 a.m.

at the stage in Zittle Amphitheater.

We're going to be doing a video call with the mayor and other elected leaders from Pieva del Grappa, and I would love it if you all could um join us for that.

Um so I will send you a calendar invite tomorrow, and if you can make it, great.

Um, should be a fun of it.

So with that, uh it's 8 39.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.

Okay.