The Folsom City Council convened on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, for a regular meeting that addressed community recognition, infrastructure projects, public safety concerns, and ongoing partnerships.
The meeting began with roll call, confirming the attendance of all council members (Roaba, Aquino, Kozlowski, Leary, and Rathel), followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. An agenda update was announced, adding an information transmittal for agenda item number six. No business from the floor was presented.
2025 Holiday Lights Contest Winners
The city recognized winners of the annual Folsom Holiday Lights Contest, which saw record participation with 62+ entries across five categories. Winners received commemorative lawn signs and prizes provided through a partnership with the Folsom Times. Categories included:
Folsom Bike Park Revitalization
Folsom Auburn Trail Riders Action Coalition (FATRAC) presented an update on the public-private partnership to rebuild the Folsom Bike Park at Cummings Family Park. The park has been partially closed for over four years due to deterioration. Key highlights:
The partnership includes an MOU signed in November 2025, with FATRAC handling maintenance, volunteer coordination, and fundraising while the city provides staff support and co-sponsors events.
Folsom Tourism Business Improvement District Assessment (Item 6)
Choose Folsom requested postponement of the public hearing on modifying the Folsom Tourism Business Improvement District assessment rate. The council voted 3-2 to continue the item to the second meeting in February (February 24). Council Members Aquino and Leary opposed the continuance, expressing concerns about undermining the election process and transparency.
Historic District Commission Appointment (Item 7)
John Lane was unanimously appointed to the Historic District Commission to fill the historic preservation at-large seat. The council expressed appreciation for both applicants and encouraged the second candidate, Lisa, to remain engaged with city opportunities.
East Bidwell Pedestrian Overcrossing Project (Item 8)
The council unanimously approved a design and engineering consultant agreement with Wood Rogers for $1,652,000 (total project budget $1,852,000 including staff time). Key details:
The council emphasized the importance of architectural aesthetics, viewing this as a gateway statement piece for Folsom. Additional design hours were negotiated specifically for structure aesthetics with multiple options to be presented during public outreach.
East Bidwell Street Operational Improvements (Item 9)
The council unanimously approved a design and engineering consultant agreement with Wood Rogers for $1.12 million ($986,000 from developer obligation, $134,533 from local gas tax for pavement rehabilitation). Project components:
Construction anticipated: June 2027
Police Chief provided comprehensive update on e-bike regulations and safety:
E-Bike Classifications:
Important Requirements:
Collision Data:
Enforcement Approach:
The Chief emphasized partnering with schools to distribute educational flyers to parents and working with California Police Chiefs Association on legislative fixes for point-of-purchase education.
The meeting emphasized community engagement, public safety through education, significant infrastructure investments, and balancing development with quality of life considerations.
Good evening everyone we're going to go ahead and call to order the city council for Tuesday January 27th We please call the roll Councilmembers Roaba here a Kino here Kozlowski here Larry here and Rachel here And if you'll all please stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance All right, and do we have any agenda updates this evening? Good evening, Mayor. Yes, we have an additional information transmittal on agenda item number six. The information has been previously provided to the council, and there are copies on the back table for the public. Thank you so much. This takes us to business from the floor. At this time anybody is willing is able to address the council for up to three minutes on unagendized items So if you're here to address the council, we go ahead and fill out one of those blue cards and bring it up front Do we have anyone? That's speaking from business from the floor this evening. You have no request to speak under business from the floor Going once going twice All right. That brings us to our scheduled presentations Okay, your first item this evening is item number one. This is recognition of the 2025 Folsom holiday lights contest winners. Good evening. Tonight we will recognize the winners of the annual Folsom holiday lights contest, which we held in December. This year we saw a record turnout with more than 62 entries and five different categories. Each category was judged by a Folsom City Council member. The promotion allowed the community to tour the merriest and brightest homes and businesses in Folsom, as all participants were listed on the city's website. The five winners received a commemorative lawn sign and also very important bragging rights from the city of Folsom. We teamed up again with the Folsom Times to publicize the contest, and the Times went above and beyond to provide prizes to the award winners. Bill Sullivan is joining us tonight to say a few words about our partnership. I'll turn it over to you, Bill. Okay, thank you. I'm not used to standing on this side of things. But just before we get to this, a big thank you to the city of Folsom for partnering with us on this. I mean, it's a great partnership, and I think this was the third year we did it, and it seemed to be a growing thing. And I know all of you are out there judging it in the cold air, and there's more and more every year. So it's just a great, fun community thing. So I know that people are here today and eager, and so we're pleased to present the awards each winter. and we do ask anybody that's here to collect their word if they can hang out up here so they can get a group photo of all of them together when they start. So the first winner was the Holly Jolly Residence which went to, it's the best overall residence and it went to Haley Steiner and family 488 Rockport Circle if they're here tonight.