The Folsom City Council met on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, to consider a packed agenda. The meeting began with proclamations for the 65th annual Folsom Pro Rodeo and America the Entrepreneurial, followed by a presentation on the Black Miners Bar Juneteenth Festival. After a brief recess due to livestream technical difficulties, the council unanimously approved the consent calendar. Key new business items included an electronic reader board sign agreement, the purchase of two parcels for future affordable housing, and an energy savings design contract with Schneider Electric. The council then held a public hearing on charter amendments to be placed on the November 2026 ballot, approving three ordinances (with Councilmember Aquino dissenting on fiscal grounds). The final and most extensive item was the Toll Brothers at Alder Creek project, a 1,424-unit residential development on 447 acres in the Folsom Plan Area. After lengthy discussion over oak woodland impacts, affordable housing in-lieu fees, and infrastructure timing, the council approved the project 4-0.
Good evening, everyone. We're gonna go ahead and call to order the city council for Tuesday, June 23rd. Will you please call the roll? Okay. Council members Kazowski. Here Leary here. Aquino. Rafael. And Morbot is absent. If you'll please stand with me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge of it to the United States of America. One nation under God with liberty and justice law. And do we have any agenda updates this evening? We do. We have several agenda updates, Mr. Mayor. We have uh two additional information transmittals on agenda item number 15. We have one additional information transmittal and one revised staff report transmittal on agenda item number 17, which is the public hearing, and we also have one additional information transmittal on agenda item number 18, which is also uh public hearing. Uh these materials have been provided to the council, and they are copies on the back table for members of the public. Thank you for those updates. Uh that takes us to business from the floor. We've gotten a few blue cards already this evening. Uh, but if you would like to address the council, uh business from the floor is for unagendized items. We're happy to give you a three minutes and hear your thoughts on any item uh or any unagendized items here during business of the floor. So get those blue cards filled out and brought right over here. Uh and then after that we'll go into the agenda items and you can turn in those blue cards at any time. You don't have to wait for the item to be called. Uh we'll move on to business from the floor. Okay, we do have two requests to speak under this item. The first speaker, James Tefford, followed by Michael Harris. So, James, you could go ahead and approach the podium. Let me know when you're ready. Good evening. Uh, I'm Jim and Tetford, Folsom City resident. Uh I wanted to ahead and make a few general comments on the city uh purchasing and contracting systems that I've, you know, kind of noticed since I've been you know been watching what's been going on. Um first section I wanted to address was uh chapter 2.36040, which you know requires the uh establishment of a position known as the purchasing agency, purchasing agent, you know, and this person is supposed to serve as the principal purchasing and contracting official for the city. So you know the details of the you know, all the purchasing and contracting system requirements are outlaid in chapters 2.36 and 2.37, which is alternate delivery methods and materials, and uh, you know, the establishment of the ordinance was of course in a you know in response to the overriding city ordinance, which was section 504, and uh you know it just required that contracting by shall be by ordinance provide a for purchasing and contracting system, assuring a maximum of competition for the lowest price with the stated level quality. So that's the general goal of the system, and the purchasing agent appears to be one of those requirements of that system. Now, my question is really for you know for the city council and the city manager, who is the purchasing agent for the city? You know, is when I'm looking at the code, I'm seeing the purchasing agent is the person that assures that purchases and contracts awarded by the city meet the requirements of the municipal code, and you know that they provide consistency and transparency in the contracting methods, and that you know that all the city ordinances are met within those two sections. So, my question to the council and the city manager is why don't we have a purchase agent? And if we do, why don't I know about it? And why don't I ever see this person mentioned in the reports? I'm looking for, you know, that person being responsible for working with you know the various departments. These studies are outlined in this, you know, the city code, you know, that they're supposed to be working with the city manager, the finance director, public works director, city engineer, and other departments to make sure that all the requirements in the city code are met for contracting. And I believe it's important for transparency and consistency on awards and bids, so that we're assured that we're getting the best price, best quality for you know the services that we're contracting out for. Thank you, Jim. Okay, the next speaker will be Michael Harris under this item. Good evening, y'all. How y'all doing tonight?