Sorry.

Okay, everybody.

Good evening.

Sorry for the delay.

Welcome to the Tuesday, October 21st, 2025 session of the Half Moon Bay City Council.

We will begin with a roll call vote.

Councilmember Johnson.

Here.

Councilmember Nagengast.

Here.

Councilmember Penrose.

Here.

Vice Mayor Ruddock?

Here.

Mayor Brownstone.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ask you all to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

Thank you, everybody.

Like I move that we approve the agenda.

Second.

All those in favor say aye.

All those against.

Motion approved.

Thank you.

We're going to begin with proclamations and presentations.

And we're going to start with a presentation from the Midcoast Community Council update.

Thank you, Scott, for being here this evening.

Thank you.

I would also like to say congratulations for the community for all of them.

How's it now?

Cool.

All right.

I just want to say congratulations to the community for an awesome pumpkin festival.

My family always looks forward to it, and it was great.

Um I'd like to start off with a few things from El Granada.

Um previously the plans for SIP, the Cypress Point Low Income Housing Project were put on hold by the fire department.

That was probably due to access issues for fire engines over there in El Granada.

Um those plans are now moving forward.

The second point I want to make in El Granada is coincidentally there are plans to have no parking on Carlos Street.

Now this is going to be quite a convenience and inconvenience for the people on Carlo Street.

And I just say, hmm, do both of those happening at the same time.

At the Granada Community Service District, which is at 504, uh 504 Avenue Alhambra on the third floor.

That's kind of a shameless plug for my next meeting.

Um we're going to be discussing the plans to rezone multiple parcels in some areas of the county to allow high-density multifamily development.

Um this is due to the housing element that San Mateo County is responsible for to the state.

A small portion of El Granada is going to be affected by this attempt to rezone.

So at our next meeting, we're going to be discussing that.

Another item on our agenda for our next meeting is going to be an update from the San Mateo County Planning and Building Committee on the current standing of the county lighting standards.

And that's all I have.

Do you have any questions for me?

Any questions from Council?

No, no questions.

Thanks so much.

Right on, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thanks for coming.

That's always a change I respond.

Next up, we have a library annual report.

And a proclamation.

We'll start with the annual report.

Good evening, Mayor Brownstone, City Council members and city staff.

I am Annie Malley, and I'm the outgoing library manager, and I am so happy to introduce you to Julie Smith, our incoming library manager.

Thank you.

Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

I'm pleased to share the library's annual report for the fiscal year 2024 2025.

Waiting for the slides to come up.

Is that right?

Yes.

I figured.

Okay.

First established as a county-free library in 1912.

The Library Joint Powers Authority was formed in 1999.

Our service area is 351 square miles made up of our 11 member cities and the unincorporated areas of the county.

Each of our 13 libraries is part of a larger system, offering countless opportunities for connection and exploration.

We curate our offerings to meet the needs and interests of our community to help them thrive.

This year we rolled out our new five-year strategic plan.

Our new plan grounds us in our shared goals to listen, connect, discover, and engage.

As we put our new vision, mission, and goals into action, we know our continued success depends on the insights, contributions, and voices of the communities we serve.

As part of our strategic plan, we introduced a new vision and mission to guide our work.

Our updated mission.

Together, we build meaningful connections and inspire lifelong curiosity.

Now I'd like to share how that's coming to life at our libraries.

The programs and collections at San Mateo County Libraries are well used.

This year we saw 1.7 million library visitors, 2.4 million items circulated, and over 11,600 programs and events.

Beyond numbers, each data point represents the connections, learning, and growth that happens across our community.

We strive to deliver services and offer opportunities where our diverse communities feel seen, heard, and valued.

Each of our staff brings unique backgrounds and experiences to the library.

This diversity strengthens how we serve through responsive programs, meaningful outreach, and culturally rich collections.

Our culture of discovery and exploration is reflected in our 249,967 active cardholders.

We saw 2.8 million website visits, 41,984 laptop checkouts, 4 million in-library Wi-Fi sessions, and a huge increase here, 23,343 hotspot checkouts, thanks to additional hotspots added to our collection.

And we were proud to welcome 14,274 new cardholders this year.

At the local level, at all.

Very local.

192,617 people visited the library.

217,522 items were circulated.

70 volunteers contributed over 2400 hours supporting our community.

Also at the local level, we saw almost 80,000 digital downloads this past year.

Our program attendance at our 1,167 programs reached over 22,282 people.

We create moments for every stage and phase of life to foster growth and curiosity.

I'm excited to share some of our greatest accomplishments from last year.

Our 55 plus programs continue to grow, connecting older adults with opportunities to stay active, learn new skills, and build friendships.

We create welcoming spaces and provide meaningful experiences where we help older adults find connection, routine, and a sense of belonging.

Here's a short video highlighting five plus fields.

We're helping families spark a love of reading from day one.

Through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, children ages zero to five receive free books in the mail each month.

Since launch, thousands of San Mateo County kids have enrolled in this program.

We're thankful to our partners at the Dollywood Foundation, the Foundation for San Mateo County Libraries, and our friend groups who make these offerings possible.

Together with our partners, we bring the library into the community in fun and unexpected ways.

At library night with the San Francisco Giants, thousands of fans explored our maker mobile, browsed e-books, and took home baseball themed books.

At the San Mateo County Fair, we created a vibrant reading garden where visitors of all ages enjoyed books and activities.

Wherever we go, we remind people the library is within reach.

Our staff are at the heart of everything we do.

This year, our library champions leaned into growth and new ideas, turning creativity into even better services for our communities.

We celebrate our team from longtime staff members who know our communities deeply to new team members who bring fresh perspectives.

And we're thankful for the support of volunteers and friend groups who continuously help us reach even more people across the county.

Our libraries are, of course, community destinations.

We provide welcoming spaces to gather, learn, and connect.

Through continued upgrades and new spaces, we're always working to make them more comfortable, innovative, and inspiring for everyone in collaboration with you.

Our Half Moon Bay Library celebrated its own wins and progress this year.

We would like to highlight our outreach to the community.

We love our beautiful library and our service area is 240 square miles.

So it is important for us to go out in the community and meet our residents where they are.

During the year, we made over 300 visits out in the community and connected with over 10,000 residents.

We celebrated community events like the Summers End Music Festival, Pescadero Art and Fun Festival, Half Moon Bay Pride, Make It Main Street, and National Night Out.

We visited local food distributions and community meal sites every month.

We visited many local school events like Art and Science Day and Bike Road Deals, and we provided story times at local preschools.

I'd like to highlight our after school meals program.

Through the generosity of the friends of the Half Moon Bay Library, we distributed 9,784 meals to the community.

Our work around ensuring that our residents have what they need to thrive continues to be a priority.

Thank you to City staff and the council for your collaboration with us and for championing the library.

In particular, Councilmember Deborah Penrose and City Manager Matthew Chittester for your work on the Library JPA Governing Board and Operations Committee.

Thank you to friends of the Half Moon Bay Library for their ongoing support, advocacy, and celebration of library offerings.

And to the library staff for their committed and passionate work.

We're happy to answer questions.

Thank you so much.

And I know we probably have a few comments from our council members.

I want to personally thank I think Annie, you were part of that at one time.

My daughter's disabled, and we have a networking of disabled kids, but we don't know them all, and they funneled into an art project.

Annie, you could probably elaborate a little bit more on that one.

And I was invited, and my wife told me you should come, so I went.

And they went last weekend, if I'm not mistaken, I heard you're retiring, and I'm sad to hear it, but I'm also happy for you.

Um it's a beautiful environment because you're doing art pieces, there's a lot of kids from the big wave that are there, and their networking going on.

So my wife met uh Lisa, I think you met her too, and her daughter was deaf, and and she can communicate.

I guess I didn't hear all the things, but she goes to Skyline College.

She does, you know, she's active.

And so now my wife's got this new friend, who's over for pumpkin festival.

My daughter's got a new friend.

So this networking that's happening here at the library is just awesome, and I just want to say thank you because it really has changed our lives.

So thank you.

That's the All Abilities Club.

Um, it's the second Friday of the month.

We've been doing it, I think, for almost 10 years now.

It took a little bit of hiatus during the pandemic.

The friends of the library pay for a meal, so it's an opportunity for people of all abilities to come together and enjoy a meal with your craft.

We love having Ella come to the event.

Thank you for the presentation.

It's great to see the numbers, even though I saw them in reverse.

I can just see them.

There's some great numbers on who's connected to a library.

Who uses the library?

I know my son used it all through uh his school when he was here in Half Moon Bay.

And I know it wasn't easy to get this library in its current location, its current state, but as I can see, a library is much more than a library.

And it's not just the books, it's all you that make it work.

We've acknowledged staff and you know council members that are part of this too.

But you know, I thank you, and I I want to thank your continued work to keep you know keep us reminding us we're more than just books over there.

Yeah, um I'd like to talk a little bit about how much fun it's been to be on the board of the library.

It's an 8 15 in the morning on a Monday morning meeting, and I actually look forward to it.

It's my favorite meeting.

I'm thinking back about I don't know whether it's two or three years ago when we had a budget um overage, we had some extra money, and we were talking among ourselves and with the staff about what do you do with this extra money?

Where where do you think it ought to go?

Where should we put it?

And I made the suggestion that we increase the number of hotspots and laptops that are available for rental by um our citizens, and lo and behold, the very next year we had I don't know whether we doubled it, but we got it many, many more hot spots and laptops.

And I guess my only question right now is: are we using all the hot spots and laptops that we currently have available?

And if so, let's get some more.

So they are a very hot ticket item at the library, and as soon as they come in, they get refreshed and they they go out automatically.

So and I believe in the budget there are plans for four, so um, great.

Yeah, they are an amazing gift to the community.

That's great, it's a wonderful thing.

And I and I love the um after school food program that you you have, and I think you know, you really are the community.

You are where people go to be communal, and when we have um bad things that happen, um tsunami warnings, that kind of thing, the the mass shooting.

People run to the library when the internet is out, people go to the library.

You are a central hub in our community, and I am very grateful that you're there.

And Annie, you have made it all just a very, very special, special place for all of us.

Thank you.

I just want to say congratulations on your retirement.

Um we'll miss you very much.

You've done wonderful things for our community and welcome to our new manager.

I hope all goes well for you, and uh you have an auspicious beginning.

And I just want to say thank you for all you do at the library and for our community.

You're really now you know a beacon of freedom in this country, our libraries.

Very important, increasingly important, and we need to help you and protect what you do, and um stand by you.

And our community I know will do that because it's such an asset.

So just thanks for all you do and keep on keeping on.

Thanks to both of you, and I can say with great confidence that the library is probably the most beloved institution in Half Moon Bay.

Everybody loves the library and the resources that it provides, and visitors come in and love the library, so um, it's really great in terms of um, it's a beautiful building, beautiful resources, really wonderful services.

So thanks to you both.

And in honor of you entering a new phase of your life, Annie.

We have a proclamation here for you.

And I would love to read this proclamation.

Whereas Annie Malley, Half Moon Bay Library Manager, is retiring after 20 years of service with San Mateo County Libraries.

And whereas Annie started her career with San Mateo County Libraries in 2005 as the assistant branch manager at the San Carlos and Brisbane Libraries before promoting to library manager of Half Moon Bay in 2007.

And whereas, once Annie settled in Half Moon Bay, her passion for community engagement, outreach, and partnerships flurried.

From collaborating with parents and school leaders to public strong, to building strong relationships with local businesses, nonprofits, civic leaders, and elected officials.

Annie has a remarkable talent for bringing people together and is deeply valued by the community.

Her genuine commitment to inclusion and understanding of the coasts diverse communities has earned her deep respect and admiration.

And whereas a true highlight of Annie's tenure was her work in building community support for a new Half Moon Bay Library.

Her dedication to informing and engaging the community was an important part of the project's success.

Her contributions were invaluable to the project team and helped ensure the library opened its doors in 2018 as a meaningful reflection of the community's dreams and needs.

And whereas Annie and her team have been a steadfast presence in the community, her responsive partnership-driven approach has built a remarkable level of trust and service beyond the library walls.

It's rare to find a nonprofit or community organization along the coast that hasn't partnered with Annie or been inspired by her collaborative spirit.

Under her leadership, the Half Moon Bay Library has become a vibrant hub of innovation, volunteerism, and community connection.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Mayor Robert Brownstone, along with my fellow council members of the city of Half Moon Bay, do hereby honor and recognize Annie Malley for her 18 years of committed service to the coastside and share our gratitude, great appreciation, and best wishes on her well-deserved retirement as she embarks on the next stage of her life.

Congratulations.

Appears that Zoom is also having some technical difficulties.

So we'll be back with you as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience.

Okay.

Thanks for your patience, everyone.

We're going to resume.

Um we are still um my understanding is everybody who is watching from home can see us.

But unfortunately our Zoom is not working in terms of participants who are remote this evening to be able to participate.

So unfortunately, when we have public forum and public comments on agendized items today, we will only be able to hear from folks who are here in person.

So apologies.

And then as we get closer in November, plenty of events as we get closer to the holidays.

So it's that time of year, everybody.

Okay.

City manager updates to council.

Just a few, I think.

We think over report outs from the session.

But there is nothing to report out this evening.

And there's no report outs.

Thank you.

Okay.

We'll have our city manager's update to council.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Just one short uh update, just uh a follow-up to uh pumpkin festival.

Uh we had Pumpkin Festival this past weekend, it it went very, very well.

Uh congratulations to the community to the nonprofits who uh I hope have raised a lot of funds to run their programs this year, and to the beautification committee who puts this on and does such a great job.

Um, you know, the weather was uh there wasn't a cloud in the sky on Saturday.

It was unbelievable.

Um beautiful weather.

Sunday was a little cooler, a little cloudier in the morning, and then it burned off, and it was another nice day.

Uh we'll actually have data on what the crowds were like, probably within the next week or two, and um the anecdotal feedback from everybody was a really successful weekend, no major incidents, no major challenges, and uh I think the coordination that goes on between the city, the beautification committee, the fire district, the sheriff's office, and others is just really really honed in, and that leads to, you know, there was traffic, but it was manageable.

Um, and uh I think it was just a really really positive weekend.

So thanks to the beautification committee for the work that they do to bring that to the commit community.

Thanks to the county for working with them on a couple of different areas to make sure it's financially sustainable.

And uh thanks for the community for for you know dealing with what is uh kind of an inconvenient weekend, but is is really important for uh the economy here and for our nonprofits.

So thank you.

Agreed, thanks all thanks all around to everybody.

Um thanks for the great public safety support from the Sheriff's Department, and always a special shout out to Cameron Palmer, who um has to pull quite a few things together uh to make the pumpkin festival happen each year, and uh, and um he's a great master of ceremonies at the way-in as well.

So um, thanks everybody.

We are on to public forum, and as I mentioned, we will just be focusing on some folks here uh in the room.

So I think you all know the rules here for public forum.

Everybody has three minutes.

You'll get a tone at the end of two and a half minutes, meaning you have 30 seconds left.

I'll remind you at that point, and then you'll have a second tone, which means your three minutes are up.

We're going to start with uh Deborah Councilmember Deborah Penrose.

Good evening.

I'm speaking tonight as a citizen of Half Moon Bay.

I'm speaking out as an elected official and as an angry and frightened human being.

Donald Trump, left unchecked, is destroying everything that we hold dear in these United States.

He has already shown unequivocally that he has no respect for the rule of law, that he is willing to jail the folks that you vote into office, that he will never allow a question to be asked from a public official that may have the potential to put to question his agenda.

And what will the consequences of your disobedience be?

He will federalize the National Guard, usurping the power of your elected governor.

He will call in the armed forces.

He is saying, be quiet, shut up, or if you defy me, I will come after you, hunt you down, and make you pay.

I know that my tone of voice and some of the words that I'm using tonight may seem extreme, but we do not have the luxury of mincing our words and pussy footing around.

This is no longer a contest between Democrats and Republicans.

It is not a struggle between progressives and conservatives.

What we have now is a battle between what is lawful and what is criminal, between what is sane and what is crazy, between what is good and what is evil.

When democracy dies, be careful which side you are on.

If it's the wrong side, you and your children and your parents and your neighbors will lose your power, lose your right to choose, lose your right to speak out, and be in dire peril of losing your freedom and your life.

If you are an elected official, speak up now.

It's the time to protest.

It's critical that every elected official who swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and of California show that they are willing to defend them.

If you live in the United States of America, please speak up.

All of our voices need to be heard.

Please protest against what you feel is wrong or dangerous.

Do not allow evil to triumph because you were afraid to speak.

Thank you, Deborah.

Our next speaker to be is Joaquin Jimenez, and he'll.

Oops, there go the beeps.

We're gonna start again.

We'll start with Joaquin Jimenez, and he'll be followed by Kristin Gete.

Good evening.

Uh honorable mayor, council members, uh city staff, members of the public.

Uh my name is Joaquin Jimenez, and I want to share with you my experience on the pumpkin festival.

I think it's uh one for the books.

Uh the fact that you know, I saw, you know, Saturday I was there both days, Saturday and Sunday, had a great time, you know, on Saturday.

Uh Sunday as well.

Uh, a few things.

Uh during the uh promotional video.

You know, they show they showed us, you know, riding our horses in the during the parade during the punking festival parade.

While I was watching the parade, I heard many comments from the people, you know, where are the horses?

We don't see the horses, they usually have music, you know, where are the horses?

Uh unfortunately we cannot bring horses into the parade.

Uh I know a lot of people were expecting to see the horses.

Uh they always say big show.

Uh so expect to see horses, 4th of July parade, uh, vaquero days, uh, some other time.

Uh another comment is, you know, I had a I got a call uh from one of the the vendors, you know, uh one of the small vendors, you know, in Harvon Bay, he sells uh fresh fruit, you know, out of his cart.

Uh his car was taken away.

Uh, and he got sighted two hundred dollars.

There is a person that has a day job and uh was trying to make some extra money, you know, selling fruit and uh during the pumpkin festival, and uh his car was taken and he had to pay two hundred dollars.

I know there was uh a restaurant bay, uh I kept a mouth shot by what he was doing.

He was going around, you know, pointing out to the shares where we had uh small vendors, you know, people are trying to know how to make extra money so they can pay the bills.

You know, I saw that very disturbing.

You know, maybe we can uh inform the vendors, you know, for the future punking festival about how they can get a permit, you know, to be able to make extra money.

The life uh living half on Bay is not cheap at all.

You know, and uh the fact that these person has to pay $200 to the city of Half Home Bay, you know, for selling fruit.

I don't think he made that much money, you know, selling fruit, but he used to have to he still have to pay for that.

Um I also had the opportunity to speak with a lot of the vendors, you know, during the pumpkin festival.

I mentioned to them about the festival, the event that we do uh in August, you know, vaquero days.

Thirty seconds.

I uh I mentioned to them that we have an you know an event that is happening, you know, already uh happened two years in a row.

I got that information uh to invite them to come over to Afghan Bay, you know, in August uh for vaquero days.

Many of them were very excited, you know, somewhere in the from the area, somewhere local.

Uh some from the East Bay, and uh one of the ones from LA said, We'll come over.

We love horses.

You know, so they are looking forward to being here for vaqueto days.

But on top of that, you know, uh pumpkin festival, one for the books.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joaquin.

Next speaker is Chris Lynn Geats, uh followed by Julisa Acosta.

Thank you so much, Crystal and Kosai Chamber.

Two items.

The first item I would also like to send out a big thank you to Pumpkin Festival and to Cameron, and for us in particular, we also want to thank Joe Cochett and Half Moon Bay Winery.

Thank you to their huge generous donation.

We were able to sell five hundred and five bottles of red wine and two hundred and thirty-six bottles.

Oh, sorry, that's backwards.

It was a hot day.

Five hundred and five bottles of white wine and two hundred and thirty-six bottles of red wine.

So that is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the chamber.

So we thank them very much and the city for allowing the festival to take place and a beautification for making it happen.

Thank you, everybody.

I would also like to just let everybody know that nights of lights will be happening because for us, the second that pumpkin fest is over, we gotta think Christmas.

So we will have the annual city tree lighting on the day after Thanksgiving, November 28th, followed by the next Friday will be the big parade and block party and all the fun stuff, followed by the ugly sweater party where we are gonna start down the road trying to beat the world record, which is only a little over 2500 ugly sweaters.

And lastly, followed up by the community showing of elf and spaghetti feed.

So please join us on the four Fridays, starting with the city's tree lighting on November 28th.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kristen.

Our next speaker is Julisa Acosta and followed by Nancy Fontana.

Good evening, mayor uh Julisa Costa speaking as a member of the public today, not as a city staff.

Um, joined here by my colleague Lessandra Goddard.

Uh we're both uh belong to the Commission and the Status of Women for San Mateo County and would like to make uh an invitation to the to the council, city staff and community.

We're hosting a listen and learn session for District Three here at the library next Tuesday, October 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Uh anybody's welcome.

Um the focus of our work over the last couple years has been access to child care and financial education and health, and we're hoping to spread the work of the work we're spread the work on the work we're doing and also hear what other challenges the community is facing.

Thank you.

Thank you both.

Thank you, Julie.

Our final speaker is Nancy Fontana.

Hello, thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Um I wasn't gonna speak during this public forum, but Mr.

Menezes' comments, I just wanted to provide some information.

I have a feeling the council knows the horses are really a nice thing to witness, and it's very enjoyable for the public, but there are problems related to insurance and liability for the city, and I believe that's a big reason that horses are that that they're being excluded from the parades.

Um there was an incident a number of years ago in the Midwest where I think it was uh Clydesdales, which are usually considered kind of calm horses.

Uh uh something caused them to run loose through the crowd.

And with the crowds at the pumpkin festival, there would be no place for anybody to go.

So I don't know if the city has through their insurance where they can facilitate special events coverage.

And if people want to form a group of horse people and apply for that insurance so that they take on that liability then maybe horses could be allowed.

That's that's all I wanted to suggest thank you.

Thank you.

That ends our public forum public forum is now closed.

We move on to our consent calendar.

We're gonna take this one a little slow because some people have to abstain because they can't vote on things that they weren't party to.

So we're gonna just go through a little bit slow.

So the first item 8A wave reading of resolutions and ordinances that one's okay so move that we waive readings of resolutions and ordinances all those in favor say aye.

Aye aye.

All those against okay that one's approved we now have two items 8B and 8 C.

Council member Negengast will abstain.

And myself too sorry.

I was not there either and um Vice Mayor Reddock will also abstain.

So that just leaves a forum of three of us.

I move that we accept 8 B 8 C and did you say 8 D.

No just uh 8B and 8 C.

Yeah just to get through this and we'll hit the other two.

Okay.

Second the motion.

Okay all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those against motion passed.

Consent items 8 D and 8E.

By the way these are all approving minutes from uh council sessions which um folks weren't a part of so 8 D and 8E both Patrick and Paul are abstaining.

Okay so I move that we approve the minutes from 8 C and 8 D.

Actually it's 8 D and 8 E.

I'm sorry 8 D and 8End.

I'll second all those in favor aye.

All those against motion approved our final two motions um is anyone wanting to pull in I want to pull a D F great okay why don't we um do 8G first and we'll go come back.

Um I move that we adopt item A G adopting a resolution consenting to the dissolution of the San Mateo County Cities Insurance Group joint powers authority.

Second all those in favor all those against motion approved item 8 F, must staff report thank you that's the warrants again and I have just two that I want to ask about um on the there's a ARG conservation services they're talking about the main street bridge facade inspection ropes access survey project coordination is it well is that an inspection report for for the main street bridge do you know what exactly?

And then when's this pride then tie it in?

Is that mean this project is coming forward real soon.

Yes.

Um I believe this is our um our uh historical consultant um because of the status of the bridge um as as the council remembers, we approved this almost a year ago um or maybe eight or nine months ago to move forward with the project to replace all the planks uh on the decking for people to walk across the main street bridge and then repair some of the handrails and some of that and then restock on repaint the bridge so it kind of brings it back to life.

And unfortunately, as we started moving through the process of actually acquiring the materials and and moving forward with the project, it was determined that it really needed an evaluation by a historic architect.

That's what this person was.

They've gone through the process, we're good to go.

Um we are doing a CDP exemption before we move forward with the project just to make sure we've covered all of our bases and um I is Todd still here.

Do we have a sense of when we'll start that work?

Good evening, Council Mayor.

Uh Todd Seeley, public work superintendent in terms public works director.

If everything goes as planned, hopefully we can start construction as early as February.

That's the tentative plan that we have right now.

Um, the wood has already been acquired and it's just sitting in our corporation yard, so that we'd like to get to it sooner rather than later.

Um we were actually discussing today about the path forward is one vendor versus two doing the two distinct pieces of the work, the woodwork and the steco work, but we do have a plan moving forward and we're hopeful that we can get construction going as early as February.

Thank you.

Yes, it's the first reinforced concrete bridge in San Mateo County.

Correct.

Yes.

And then uh the other item is right, the one right below it, Bear Driscoll, Abrams community planning.

About uh there's an item on tonight's agenda with that same uh firm.

Is this tied to or is this something different?

I'm gonna ask Leslie, um, are you familiar with this?

There's uh Bear Driscoll Abrams community planning.

Um we paid them last month a fee.

Is this I don't believe it's related to the item tonight?

I think this is separate consultant work.

Right.

Are you familiar with this one?

Yeah, the item tonight's 10c, the uh the multi-jurisdictional inclusionary housing study.

That's another separate item.

I didn't know if this was same thing or something different.

That's is this on?

It's on, okay.

Yeah, that's for the um sequel analysis for the housing element.

So for the last month we've been circulating that.

Um when we finally reached a point where we agreed with HCD on some housing element stuff when I went back to look at the CEQA document, it was then out of date.

So we had to update it and then circulate it.

So that's half moon bay's housing element.

Yes, it is.

Yeah, yep, thank you.

Separate from the item later tonight, which just happens to be the same consultant.

Oh, um, yes, that is correct.

Sorry.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

I don't have any further questions.

Thank you, Paul.

Um I move that we accept the warrants, the warrants list for the month of September 2025.

Item 8 of.

Second.

All those in favor.

Aye.

All those against motion passed.

Great, thank you, everybody.

Uh, we'll now move on to resolution no ordinances and public hearings this evening.

We'll move on to resolutions and staff reports.

And our first item is item 10A.

We will have a brief presentation on the fiscal year 2024 annual report on law enforcement services and activities.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Ms.

Vice and Council members.

Sorry, okay, that's better.

That's apologies.

Thank you.

So thank you for making time to hear the report.

Appreciate it.

So the first thing is I'll adjust the elephant in the room.

Obviously, the office of sheriff is now vacant.

Uh I want to assure you that there is a continuity of operations.

As of now, the under-sheriff is discharging the duties of the sheriff.

And if anything should happen, so you know there is a plan after him, it goes to the assistant sheriff, then on to the ranking captain, and so on and so forth.

There's not a break in leadership.

And while there may be some administrative slowdowns simply because of the exact the absence of the executive level, that the service to the citizens on a daily basis will not be affected.

The sheriff's office is composed of three divisions corrections, patrol, and services.

The city of Happen Bay falls under patrol.

Now in this, I include the entire coast side.

So the sheriff's office assigns two deputies for the unincorporated area north of the city, two south of the city, and two in the city, and they share a supervisor.

I included them because there's so much interaction.

While the city only pays for two deputies, the fact of the matter is everybody comes through here just because Half Moon Bay is central and it is a bit of a hub.

Our four teams, and you may have noticed, my apologies.

The two night teams also have an additional unit that's assigned to Skyline.

It's usually the canine officer, and he actually works he or she from noon to midnight, which allows them to offer more services where the dog is useful.

And as you can see, uh it's it's a diverse team.

My apologies.

So we always have that access.

Okay, and one of the things I noted before, and I'll mention again very quickly, is in fiscal year 21-22.

We made the conversion from the UCR to NIBER's reporting.

So fiscal year 2223 was the first year that we had a complete data under NIVERS.

Unfortunately, that was also affected by COVID.

So as we go through the numbers, you will see they may look a little odd, especially because some of the things that we saw under COVID are a little counterintuitive.

We saw less domestic violence cases reported, not what anybody expected.

We saw more collisions, more severe collisions.

Uh again, not what anybody expected.

A rise in property crimes, which was expected.

Uh, and I believe crimes against persons actually went up a little bit, but we'll get to that as we go into it.

I did want to mention that.

Okay, uh, our response times actually went down a touch from three minutes and 50 seconds to 346 if I remember correctly.

One of the things that we found in this one, we are still working on it, is cleaning the data.

We found that a lot of calls were actually incorrectly coded.

For instance, uh one of the ones I found had a man smoking in the park was coded as an emergency call, which it's not.

Uh there was one where it was somebody by the Oak Street Bridge, not an emergency call.

So those we're still in the process of going through correcting that the number of reports uh went down very slightly.

Uh a thousand and nineteen from last fiscal year to one thousand in this fiscal year.

Not a huge difference.

Violent crime reported.

One of the things on this, and I'll address it if you haven't seen it already, is there was a huge dip in aggravated assaults.

Aggravated assaults are defined as assaults that result in great bodily injury or involve the use of a weapon.

I referred this to our crime analysts.

They dove into it, they called their friends, they don't see any rhyme or reason why that dip is there.

So we'll just have to monitor that and see if it's a trend or something we need to be more careful of going forward.

In terms of violent crime arrests, those were also up 11%, excuse me, those were up 11%.

But you'll notice again, it pretty much follows the same trend lines as the crimes themselves.

Property crime, uh reported property crime, down just a little bit, uh, down to 89.

Excuse me.

Yeah.

Up 90 from 89.

My mistake.

So again, very minor amount, very steady.

The arrests.

Now, this is something that is a again, something you'll see in a lot of these is a small sample size, a little bit of uh statistical instability.

Uh so property crimes arrests were actually up 35%, which sounds like a lot until you dig into it and find it's only a difference of actually about five arrests.

So small sample size, small differences make big.

Some of the investigations that were of note in last fiscal year was there was a case in August of 24 of a 16-year-old who was basically groomed online, began to exchange explicit images.

The man on the other end became more demanding.

It was eventually referred to ICAC, the internet crimes against children, and they located the suspect in Escondido, and they took over the investigation.

March of 25, there was a series of felony vandalisms at the Johnson House.

Excuse me, at the Johnson House, Wavecrest and Pescadero vandalized with blue graffiti, displayed gang signs and symbols.

Sorry, the primary suspect was identified as a probationer and was followed up by the detectives and is currently being prosecuted by the district attorney's office.

And in September and October of last fiscal or fiscal year, series of auto-burglaries occurred at Cowell Beach Ranch parking lot.

And again, this is a common theme that we're seeing, especially with the advent of the LPRs, that were able to solve a lot of the vehicle burglaries and tie them together.

Which leads me uh into equipment and a little bit out of order.

I'll come back to the LPRs in a second, but we'll start with some of the equipment that we currently have and we're working on.

So right now, we have gone to the Axon Body 4 cameras and fleet three cameras.

These have some expanded capabilities that we're already using, such as GPS positioning and transcription services for the videos.

We're also piloting some of the other services that they offer, which include live feeds that we have actually used once to great effect in a cold case uh murder out of San Carlos.

Um the body cams, one of the things that we're getting ready to try is evidently they have a live translation via the body cam that can be accessed.

So that could be a huge bonus instead of having to wait for somebody to translate, you can actually pull up a real translator who can see through the camera, see what's going on, and translate for you.

We've gotten the Star Chase.

So what the Star Chase system is, is it's a way that we can avoid pursuits and safely apprehend people later.

Effectively, what happens is if there is a pursuit that you see in the left-hand photograph, that's what the launcher looks like at the front of the car.

It launches the tracker, which you see in the right-hand photograph, which basically has a glob of glue that sticks to the back of the car.

They can then track it remotely, which hopefully the person once he realizes that the law enforcement is no longer behind them, they slow down, and we simply vector into where they stop.

So that one, we have the equipment set up.

We are just waiting on the final policy approval before we can start using it.

And is this may sound a little silly to say iPhones, because I'm guessing statistically, about 50% of this room has one.

But one of the things that we are piloting and other agencies have gone to with great success is actually using as a law enforcement tool, both so that we can access the call that we're on, which includes information, whether it be who's calling us, contact numbers, suspect descriptions, but also being able to access our local records and state records.

So for instance, we could contact somebody that gives us a fake name, we can go through local records, pull up their real name, pull up the photo, or access DMV records and pull up a driver's license photo, compare it to see if that is or isn't the correct person.

And speaking of somebody who's had a couple two people that I've dealt with who had had a warrant issued out against them because somebody used their name, that's huge.

So that's another big thing that we're looking at.

But one of the things, like I said, that makes this so unusual is it has to meet state uh security requirements to make sure that the data doesn't get leaked, to keep it private, as is appropriate.

So some of the ALPR success stories for this year are in November of 24.

There was a residence burglary in which numerous excuse me.

Numerous items, including a tractor were stolen.

The owner of the residence had recently passed away.

Property was vacant at the time.

Patrol got on scene, used LPR on the coast, and located the suspect.

September of 24, LPR cameras alerted deputies to a possible stolen vehicle.

Once they confirmed it was still outstanding with standard practice, they stopped the vehicle, contacted three occupants who were found to be in possession of a BB gun that had been modified to look like a firearm, methamphetamine, financial instruments, as well as heroin and associated paraphernalia.

Three subjects were booked, arrested, and booked in a jail.

In May of 25, ALPR cameras alerted deputies to a vehicle that had been involved in a burglary at the Caltrans Yard.

The vehicle is located, the driver's identified.

Luckily, the driver was identified because it was a really bizarre case.

They ended up IDing him.

They worked with CHP.

It turned out in the end, there wasn't anything taken, but it was important to notice that they caught the person and they identified the problem and identified them for any possible future threats.

Okay, moving on to traffic and traffic safety.

These are showing the last three years of collision data for downtown locations from left to right.

It's excuse me, wrong slide.

This is the overlay, which actually shows once you see it mapped out, you can see where the collisions are.

There are a good deal on downtown on Main Street, which is to be expected.

More so Kelly at one and Maiden 92, which I don't think anybody's exactly shocked by.

This is something we do in community events.

Our school resource officers work with young drivers, casual contacts, town halls.

If anybody ever wants to talk about traffic safety, having been about 10 years on the motor and being a certified reconstructionist, I am more than happy to have an at-length discussion.

One of the things that the sheriff enactor you may remember is young driver training.

That's a program that's still going.

We have had the two classes at 30 teens in the two meetings.

The nice thing about that is they get the real contact with our instructors, they get feedback, and they get training on how to avoid collisions and good safe driving.

In terms of engineering, this is largely data collected through collision reports, which is a great tool.

I won't go into it because obviously this is not the forum, but the changes that have been made in our roadways thanks to collision reports is staggering.

Again, I'm more than happy to talk about that at length at another time.

Citations, those are actually tracked and identified problem areas, and officer observations.

It's not uncommon for officers to see something, call it in and refer it to engineering to be repaired.

Also, here are some of the collisions we talk about engineering that we've been tracking.

Now, with this, you'll see uh traffic collisions have gone down, but again, it's not a huge amount, and it's not what I would really, I wouldn't get overly happy about it.

I mean, it's a good thing, we're heading the right direction, but it's not a huge number.

Uh, it's and in fact, the fiscal year 22-23 actually gives it a little more emphasis than I think is appropriate.

So I'm just pointing that out.

One of the things that it's important to point out, too, is that not all cities in Half Moon Bay are city roadways.

Highway 1 and 92 are the purview of Caltrans.

We have no control over those in the sense of repairs engineering and such.

So I wanted to just briefly mention to the public, and this will be included uh later, is that for anything having to do with highway one, highway 92, which includes the traffic signals they're on, best to reach directly out to Caltrans.

If we get calls, obviously we will address it, we will check on it.

Um, but in terms of starting an actual service request, they can reach out to Caltrans uh at their phone number, 916-286-444.

Option six, option two.

And citations are also up.

Now, one of the things I will point out in this when you look at the citations, you'll see that overall citations are up.

But if you look a little more carefully, you'll see that parking citations are up and moving citations are slightly down.

Now, with this one, again, this is a trend we're gonna have to watch.

One of the things that may have affected this is the influx of new deputies.

We do have three FTOs, field training officers that train new deputies here on the coast.

Um, traffic is one of those things that it does take some time, it takes some getting used to.

So, whereas an experienced deputy, um, I can tell you on the motor, I would write probably about an average of 20 tickets a shift.

Um average deputy, a couple tickets a shift, depending.

Um, but when you're in training, you might get one, you might get none because your focus on the process, you're still learning.

One of the things that has gone up, and this is actually something that's probably what it looks like, is our DUI arrests have gone up.

This is more due to we actually have on night shift here on the coast, assigned to Half Moon Bay.

Um, he's won, he's actually got the most DUI arrests in the county for like three years.

He's received the MAT Award for I think 13 years now.

And he's a supervisor and he's training his team to look for drunk drivers.

I don't think it's an indication of a greater problem.

I think it's an indication of more proactive policing, making the road safer.

Moving on to some of the other community events, uh, there's a list.

We work with the Sheriff's Activity League, the community engagement unit in a number of ways.

Including some of the bigger ones are uh the giants, which I'm sure everybody here has been to the games, it's awesome, a lot of fun.

Uh they've done the backpack handouts, just a number of things that they use to engage with the community.

Which kind of leads me into, as you're well aware, that the the CARES team is now defunct.

So the county has gone with a uh a new team called the mobile crisis response team.

It's actually a program with telehealth.

So it is 24-7 coverage, however, they're not based on the coast.

The upside, again, there's a number of balancing things, some good, some bad.

Uh the bad, they're not on the coast.

The bad, they only have last time I spoke to them, one car.

The bad, they're still getting up getting up to speed, it's still a new program.

The good is uh they think they had one of the teams still, they're still working on filling the spot, but they have at least one Spanish speaker on each team.

The good is it's Medi-Cal compliant.

So if somebody can't pay, then the bill just goes to the state as part of Medi-Cal.

The good is that they're licensed and qualified counselors.

So we're still seeing this how it's gonna play out.

We're still evaluating.

Like I said, it's a new program.

And uh if anybody does need to reach out to them, either for themselves or for others, the number up on the screen, 650 579 0350.

And this doesn't have to be just for anybody who's listening that may be going through things.

This doesn't have to be I'm standing on a cliff, I've made some decision.

Stop it before then.

If you feel that you need help, this is what this team is there for.

Give a call.

In fact, they said if I remember correctly, over 60% were non-critical, helping people before it got to the point of possibly seriously bad things happening.

And I apologize for that.

I should have forwarded the slide before I gave the phone number.

As you may remember, we also have the psychiatric emergency response team with the sheriff's office where we pair up a clinician with a deputy.

They go out to a number of services.

They do outreach, both for people that are referred to them, for the unhoused, they help with some of the counting things.

One of the things that I did think was interesting, and I'm not sure how this is going to play out in years to come, but it is something that's definitely on the radar, is the number of calls from Hafoom Bay is down.

For the suicidal person, last year was 25, or say the year before was 25.

Last this year, this reporting period was 13.

It's a huge drop.

And the family referrals went from four to one.

Now I don't know if this is a case of people are in a better position.

Now they're coming out of COVID, they're making the you know they're making more contacts, being more social, feeling more connected to their community.

Or if it's an outlier, we'll just have to monitor and wait and see, unfortunately.

And before I wrap it up, I did want to mention SMC Alert, it has had some problems.

We're constantly working, constantly improving it.

There is a barcode, or excuse me, QR code that will you help you access, sign up for it.

It's still the best way to get emergency information.

With the possible exception of Genesis.

If you haven't used this, I highly recommend taking a quick look.

It actually allows you to look into Office of Emergency Services data in your region.

You can actually map it out and see if there's anything near you.

And finally, transparency portal.

There is a QR code up there.

I'll tell you right now that not to be overly frank.

When I went to the transparency portal, I was disappointed.

So that's still in the works.

As of right now, if you go to the transparency portal, you can see some statistics.

We are working on making it, like I said, more robust, so you can get more in-depth information that's meaningful for you.

And with that, uh there any questions I can answer while I'm here.

Thank you, Chief.

Um, yeah, we'll have some questions from staff.

There's no public comments, so we'll just have some questions if there are any comments.

Yeah.

Um, electric bikes.

Yes.

Um, I don't know how much you've seen personally of what's going on, but in downtown Halfoom Bay, it's become pretty scary.

I saw a young fellow with a child in a backpack go through two stop signs at what must have been at least 25 miles an hour without even turning his head to see what was happening on the I don't know what we need to do about it, and I don't know how much the sheriff can do, but I do think that it is becoming an issue.

Um and it's getting it's getting worse, and it's gonna get worse.

It's not gonna get better because more and more people are buying electric bikes, young kids using them, young families.

So I don't know if you have anything to say about that.

Oh, yes, I agree.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's not becoming a problem, it is a problem.

And Hapoom Bay, unfortunately, is not alone.

So one of the things is we have reached out to our officers internally.

Uh we've expressed them, we've gone over training, we've gone over the applicable sections.

One of the things that makes it, sorry, one of the things that makes it difficult is how mobile they are, number one, and number two, the fact that exactly like you said, it's they don't seem to really recognize anything going on around them.

One of the things I think is very possibly fruitful is that we've partnered with the schools.

We are going to be doing a uh e-bike rodeo.

So and the idea without I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but the the plan that we're working on is to make it multifaceted to talk to the parents that these are not the e-bikes that are like little electric mopeds when we were kids.

Um, these have a lot, they go a lot faster, they're a lot more dangerous.

Uh reaching out to the children, uh both educating them as to their responsibilities as a rider and doing skills so that not only do they recognize their responsibilities to keep them and the people around them safe, but also, you know, give them the skills they need to avoid a collision.

You know, I I can tell you I don't know if anybody here has taken the motorcycle safety foundation class, but that's a huge, huge factor, and it's saved my life a number of times over the years.

Learning how to effectively break, how to stop, how to keep a high visual horizon and see those hazards.

So and I'm sorry, I don't mean to draw it on.

So I'm a little excited about it.

Um, but this is what we're doing about the e-bikes.

And like I said, if people have ideas, I am more than more than open to them.

I just quickly on the e-bike.

I think our cities and I know the county B pack by so pedestrian advisory committees are also very interested in how to bring uh information to the parents to the children, whether it's through schools, you're exactly right.

It's it's a problem everywhere.

My sense is the it's gonna be a problem until they're licensed.

Once they're licensed, then that they have to go through training to get a license.

I would agree.

I I mean honestly, I think that training is a good thing.

Like I said, if I had a nickel for every time, either both uh car driving a car and driving a motorcycle, that training is saved my life.

I I'd be buying a nice big house.

So I I grew up with uh motorcycles in the beginning and trucky and and I know the safety of it because I almost crashed a few times and end up going road to dirt.

Uh and then now I'm into e-biking, and e-biking is very similar to motorcycle riding.

And so I think if we had some kind of training for kids almost like motorcycle riding, but you're e-bike riding, because everything comes up faster on you, and you have to look to the left and make sure and look to the right, and you have to visually look in ahead of you, is that person gonna come out in front of you?

Because that you can get hit real quick, but also obeyed by all the rules, the stop signs are there, the you know, hit a bell that you're gonna pass somebody, because that's the other thing.

I think Ruddick has brought that forward that bringing that, you know, on the coastal trail.

We have we need to have etiquette, and the other thing is we need to have uh there's signs now, which I've got to say by the bridge it says uh slow, there is a blind curve.

So things like that, because the bikes are moving fast now, and you you don't know who's gonna be around that corner.

So we should have training somewhat, and I think we have the kids are doing that for our or that we have adopted now for training or park and wrecks and stuff like that.

But I think that's something that we should incorporate and maybe even have the sheriffs incorporate.

Um the other thing I want to bring up too is this proactive uh policing.

Um for the because the driving under the influence was up twenty five percent, but you made that comment proactive policing.

I think during the holidays now, because Kristen's bringing that forward, we have four weeks coming up.

I think we should be proactive on policing on utilizing our signs.

Uh drinking and driving is not allowed or whatever, you know, because we have those two signs.

Um the other thing as I wanted to see is with the solar panels coming in for the sheriff substation.

Are you gonna be able to keep your compound secured with the gates and parking and flow of this the substation now that's going to be taking place what in a couple weeks?

That work that work starts this week.

Um we're working with the office to ensure they have what they need during that project.

Okay.

And then we have the fireworks that continue on.

That have been uh it's three e-bikes and one motorized bike.

They all look like motor, they look like a little Honda 50s, if you would.

Uh, we have it on video.

I think he shared it with you.

Uh, if there's any follow-up on that, if we could try to, you know, get more on that situation.

Because that just happened again this last weekend, and people are getting pretty upset about it.

And I know we talked privately about it, but I think the general public needs to know that we are doing something and trying to address that.

Oh, yes.

Uh, that particular case, I'd prefer not to discuss individual cases, especially because the last thing we want to do is see somebody targeted.

But uh that case is being investigated.

I have spoken with the detectives about it.

Uh unfortunately they were pulled away on another matter, but it is being currently investigated.

Uh we are looking at ways to try and address this.

Like I've said before.

The problem with putting a deputy on overtime, as you can see in the video, they're out of the frame and down the block before the first thing sparks.

So it's very difficult.

Um, one of the suggestions was to try using drones.

Of course, especially given the heightened concerns right now, um, I'm not gonna do anything like that before everybody is comfortable with it as much as we can be because it doesn't matter what it's being used for, it matters how it affects people.

So that is something that we're working on.

Uh also in another half moon bay moment after the last meeting, a gentleman, a citizen approached me.

It turns out that he's an engineer, and whereas the shot spotter may be prohibitive both in terms of time and expense.

He was saying, he goes, I may be able to whip up something just as a retirement hobby thing to help you track these down that would have much less if any expense and be able to communicate us, communicate to us more quickly, so we can try and do something about it.

So, and I'm be uh I'll be meeting with him next week to further discuss that.

He visit by chance.

I can either confirm or deny.

No, it's not.

That's really interesting.

So the other thing I want to bring up was the uh, because we hear this all the time on Main Street, you know, nobody's writing tickets and main street.

There's there's always violation or the there nobody's riding tickets, but here there's proof that there is a lot of parking tickets being written.

So I'm seeing that.

I just want to point that out because I'm hearing that a lot.

Uh, and then you brought up the fact that the moving violations are down, um, but there again, what was the reasoning on that?

Just for new officers in training, and in was that the reason?

Uh I'm saying I suspect, I don't know.

Uh, unfortunately, two points is not a trend, but I can tell you that over the last year or so we have had we now have I believe three field training officers, and we've basically our program is full.

Uh, as you well know, we have been hiring like Madden.

We have, I mean, I won't don't like to go into numbers and open forms, but we have a lot of people going through the program and waiting on training.

So those field training officers usually have a trainee with them, and I have to imagine that affects the numbers.

We talked also, so I think it's good for everybody kind of know, is like if I got subpoenaed for something I witnessed a year and a half ago, and they came to the house at eleven o'clock on a Friday night, and I called you about it and called Matthew about it.

But but we came up with a conclusion that anything after, like I said, quiet times at 10, and I liked your response that it was common sense, but that was something that you guys had not trained on.

So that was something if you want to elaborate on that.

I thought it was a good it was a good meeting that we had, and it was something that here I am being a good citizen, and um being I felt like I was a criminal at 11 o'clock at night.

Yeah, it that was actually a very interesting conversation because um I looked it up, I found out who the deputy was, and he was just off training.

And actually, his field training officer was there, and he's like, Oh, yeah, he just came off of training, and I explained the situation.

And he said, No, he goes, We don't generally serve.

And so, you know, arrest warrants can be served till ten o'clock, uh, unless they're endorsed for night service.

There's no such rule on subpoenas.

But we had a but basically we had a quick conversation.

I explained, like, well, you can see how this would affect people step up, they do the right thing, or something bad has happened to them.

Either way, we should treat them with respect.

And what basically what he expressed was, he goes, Yeah, we don't normally serve subpoenas after eight o'clock.

He goes, Yeah, even nine o'clock is too late.

He goes, We generally don't serve after eight.

Well, did you actually train him on that?

He goes, I actually never came up with him.

So he brought it up at one of the training officers' meetings, and I spoke to the sergeant, and they're gonna include it in the training I want.

So that while it's not it's one of those things where it's it's not a legal requirement, but it's a human requirement.

Thank you and for listening and Matthew for listening, and that we came up with a conclusion.

I think it's good for their community.

It happened to me, and I just I thought, well, if it's gonna happen to me, it might happen to somebody else.

And I want to say the report's really well done, and I I like the executive summary.

Is that you can read everything and then you can get the summary right here?

And then I snapshot this because if people ask questions, and I can look at my photos and I can find that in my file.

And you've done a great job tonight on this presentation.

Oh, and I I apologize.

I have to apologize for that because that was actually the the uh report that was published was actually a draft.

The we'll be publishing the final report, uh, I'm guessing probably in the morning.

So my apologies.

So the I wouldn't rely on the data in the report that was published earlier.

Okay, um, thanks again, Chief.

And um by the way, I just want to observe, I really like that one observation you meant that DUI um DUI stops have increased, but you mentioned that doesn't necessarily mean there's more people driving drunk.

Frankly, on Friday and Saturday nights in Half Moon Bay.

There's a fair number of places where people coming out with a few to drink.

But the fact that a number of officers were being trained to actually spot more carefully uh possible drunk drivers.

That was a great, you know.

And you have statistics.

Could mean a number of things.

So uh thank you for pointing that out.

And I think that's it.

So thank you very much.

I'm gonna no more questions.

I'm gonna make um, I'm gonna make a quick motion.

I move that we accept the FY202425 and your report on law enforcement services and activities.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

All those against.

Motion passed.

Thank you.

And we're gonna take a uh break, five minute break till nine o'clock.

I think we're gonna have a brief staff report.

Yeah, sorry.

I can keep it fairly brief, assuming that council's already reviewed the staff report.

Um, just by way of background, uh Seahorse Ranch is located on Highway One, just south of the Frenchman's Creek subdivision.

And for many many years, they've offered beyond their on site services, they've offered commercial horseback rides that move uh down the coastal trail.

There's a horse trail that runs parallel to the bike and pedestrian trail, and then um they access Poplar Beach to do beach rides, and it's actually one of only a few remaining commercial beach rides in the state of California, and uh it's a pretty big draw for the community.

Uh in 2020, we wrapped up what was a kind of a long period of discussion about the future of those rides and our permit with them.

There were concerns that were expressed by the community.

There's a lot of work that happened here with the council and with the community, and ultimately we were able to land on an extension of their agreement that included some additional requirements for them, and that agreement expires at the end of this calendar year.

And uh tonight, we just wanted to have a brief conversation about the future of the agreement and what we've learned over the last six years, and some requests uh as we've met with um Willa Chapman who's here tonight from Seahorse Ranch.

Um what I can say is many of the complaints that we received as staff prior to renewing this agreement in 2020, and for a few months, following that as we're implementing some of the new requirements, and of course, we went into COVID and a lot of things changed.

Um, we just don't get those complaints anymore.

Um, I think that uh we we drafted an effective agreement, and I think we've developed a solid relationship with Ms.

Chapman, and uh when issues arise we're able to work them out pretty quickly, and I think we've had a really effective working relationship, which has resolved a lot of those issues.

Um, so in the staff report, uh we have a list of just the requested changes.

We've also attached a copy of the current agreement which expires at the end of this year, and a draft agreement that um following our discussion tonight, we would bring back pending any revisions that you'd identify for a future approval, and uh the goal uh from Seahorse Ranch and the staff recommendation would be to extend this agreement for another five years.

Um, so just very quickly a couple of the the major changes that have been requested.

Um, where the horses access Poplar Beach, we call it the slot, and it's basically due west of Correa Street.

If you if if Correa Street comes to an end, the railroad ride of way and you cross the open space there, that's where the horse trail ends, and then there's uh it's one of the lower places that the bluff exists, and so you have a much shorter distance down to the beach from there, and um it's it's kind of a transition from dirt to sand, and it's used by the horses.

It's also and not just Seahorse Ranch, but private horse riders as well, and um pedestrians use it as well, and um it's it's a popular place to access if you're not coming from Poplar Street or the Poplar Street parking.

As part of our previous agreement, um there was concerns about erosion and the future state of that access point, and we were looking at doing work to improve the other vertical access point, and because this is a major user, we had agreed to an 80-30 or 80-20 split where any work we decided to do and move forward on improving that access, Seahorse Ranch would actually pay 80% of that cost.

Um, it turns out that after we made the improvements to the other vertical access, and as we've observed it over the last six years, we've not had to make any improvements to that access point.

Uh it's held up really, really well.

It hasn't eroded further, and it continues to be a very popular place for people to access.

We've also observed that there's since the pandemic, there's an increased number of private riders bringing their horses to the beach.

We see that in the parking lot at Poplar Beach.

Uh, we see that uh through new events like Vaquero Days, which we heard about tonight and we know is becoming very popular, and in discussion with um Seahorse Ranch, have proposed reducing that to a 50-50 split to recognize the additional use by other parties than Seahorse Ranch of that access point.

At this point, we don't anticipate any future maintenance or major capital repairs there.

But we do think it's important that if that were to happen, that there would be some shared responsibility here as well.

The other I would say major change in this proposal is a reduction in the cost.

The fees for the previous extension were based on 5% of their gross revenues.

For 10 years, I negotiated concession agreements on behalf of the county of San Mateo, both at their parks and at their airports, and 5% of gross revenues is a very typical concession fee.

And rather than having to go through the complex calculations of receiving their receipts and auditing them every single month, we looked at their books, came up with an average cost and based their fee on a five 5% of gross receipts.

And that's netted us on average about $15,000 of revenue per year from Seahorse Ranch.

There's been a couple of things that have changed over the last six years.

One is they've actually had to modify the number of rides that they offer.

One of the downsides that we've observed since the pandemic is people like to bring their dogs to the beach.

People don't like to have their dogs be on leashes at the beach.

And of course, we have lots of signage and we have park rules that say you cannot have your dogs off leash at the beach.

That has been really, really challenging to enforce.

The sheriff's office has tried a few things.

They have the Polaris vehicle that allows them to make trips down to the beach, because the walk down and back takes a, you know, you saw the numbers of how many deputies we have on staff each day.

And to send deputies down to walk on the beach, can take them out of commission for an hour plus at a time because of the distance it is to get to and from the vehicle.

So the Polaris is really the most uh practical way to do those patrols.

Unfortunately, the Polaris has been a very unreliable vehicle and uh has spent more time in the shop and needing repairs than on the beach, and that has been extremely frustrating for Seahorse Ranch, who actually had a couple of really serious incidents between off-leash dogs and horses, and so being focused on safety for the riders and for their horses, they have proactively reduced the number of beach rides so that they're not out in the afternoons where they've observed more of that activity.

Um I think it has reduced some of those bad interactions, but it's also limited their ability to gain revenue from this from this business, and so between that and of course the whole world has changed as far as insurance and costs to operate, um, they've requested a reduction to about three percent of gross revenues, which would result in about a twenty-two hundred dollar decrease in initial revenue for us in the first year and then over as it increases over the next several years, it'd be about that.

Um, you've seen the staff report.

Um, I'm happy to go over any other requested changes, and we have Ms.

Chapman here to answer any questions you might have.

Our goal tonight would be to get some feedback from you about some of these proposed changes and the consensus about whether we be bringing back an agreement for um review and approval at a future meeting.

So with that, I'll take any questions.

Yeah, uh, just and before we start questions, just to piggyback on what you said.

Um I just really want to um compliment Willie Chapman for really running a very professional and well-run business.

I remember six years ago there was some issues we talked about it, and um, as Matthew said, they were really all well resolved, and um it's just a great attraction to have on the coast, and uh I'm glad you're still here running that business for us.

So thank you.

Really appreciate that.

Okay.

Um questions from yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thank you.

So um first question.

Um you said to reduce from 5% to 3%.

Then is it a an increase in escalator every year or there's a three percent on top of that increase each year, but it's three percent of that fee amount.

So basically the way we do it is uh we we look at the books over, I think we looked at a four or five year period, including some of the income they had pre-pandemic.

We determined okay, here's where they're averaging right now in annual gross revenues, what is three percent of that?

That's the base year fee, and then that goes up three percent per year.

Um as like a cost of living increase.

And then um, so I what you call the slot there at the end of Korea says how I access the beach too because it is the easiest spot.

And and traditionally I the path, the horses go down the popular beach itself, go down there and then come up the slot.

I don't think horses rarely, if any, I ever see go down.

Maybe they do that.

Are you saying they go down the main vertical access at the end of Poplar?

Yeah, Papa.

No, no, horses don't use that anymore.

Okay, I think they used to, but not that.

So they're usually using everything up and down there at this.

Yeah, perfect.

Because I was wondering what improvements would you do at this slot?

I just couldn't imagine what would happen there.

Because it's just it is what it is.

I think we've visualized that if we started to get severe erosion there, uh we'd have to do some things to protect the the sides of the bluff there from collapsing in on it, and then maybe some stabilization like we've done at the vertical access with some almost like tiered stairs.

But it's just really held up really well, and it sounds like you use it and you've seen that.

Yeah, no, it works it works well.

No, thank you.

Yeah, we're clarifying questions.

Okay, okay, yep.

We do have some uh public comments.

By the way, for people just joining, unfortunately, uh we don't have Zoom access this evening for those who are attending remotely, so we won't be able to take your public comments.

Um but we'll start with comments here.

Um I think it's appropriate we start with Willa Chapman.

And she will be followed by Joaquin Jimenez, assuming no technical difficulties.

I'm gonna get through this quickly.

Greetings, Mr.

Mayor, Council, and staff.

I'm sorry, can you actually talk right into the mic so we can hear you?

No.

All right.

I don't know how to respond to that.

Okay.

Um thank you very much.

I'm glad to be back.

And thank you for your kind words.

I brought with me, in case you are interested, some additional information which shows the range of customers that we see annually.

I I have copies for you.

We we have a huge Silicon Valley presence that comes to see us.

Many of them are doing off-site events, they're staying at the Ritz, they're coming to the ranch or going golfing.

But we also have a uh ever increasing number of international corporations that come to Northern California, see the writs, see the riding, as a really unique experience for them.

So I thought it would be of interest to take a look at at the information.

We do uh huge number of youth groups, scouts.

Um Alameda County has sent its center program, its recreation program, kids to us every year.

We have Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H groups, all kinds of inner city nonprofit groups, tremendous number of young people who never literally had s had stood next to the horse until they came to Seahorse Ranch.

Um and it's a lovely thing to see uh children who are frightened of these large animals and come back with huge smiles on their face feeling very empowered that they were able to do something with an animal that frightened them before they got started.

It's a it's a very um encouraging experience for many people.

And on the Braggadocio side, I have another bit of information.

Um, we were designated in the top ten percent internationally of um people in this industry.

Uh so worldwide we're ten percent, the top ten percent, which is a big feather in our cap I'm very pleased with.

The challenge for us is that the overhead costs have become astronomical.

It's not just that we've had to reduce the number of rides for safety's sake, and I have to tell you I I did that without hesitation.

It's not worth the danger, but the cost of everything, grains, alfalfa, we we do buy locally, um our oat hay is grown on local half moon bay fields, but even with that the cost has almost doubled since the pandemic, um, as has our liability insurance, our workers' comp insurance, uh I know I'm preaching to the choir, we all have to go and pay our bills and we know how expensive things have become.

So we asked for the reduction simply to acknowledge the challenges of our staying in business and and uh providing the service to the community.

So if anyone has a question, I'd be glad to answer.

Thanks.

Thanks for appreciated.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Seahorse ranch.

It's uh it's I've been part of the program, Seahorse Ranch since I was in high school.

Uh not only me, no, several other students when I was in high school, we worked at Seahorse Ranch.

We were Wranglers.

Um later on uh when I worked for the probation department in Samateo County, juvenile probation, I had a program.

You know, I remember uh coming to Willa and asking her about having uh or you know or youth, you know, uh come to Seahorse Ranch and learn about horses.

And we did every Saturday.

We'll bring our group of five no five uh young men to clean uh feed the horses, brush the horses, saddle the horses, and by noon they had the opportunity to ride a horse.

Many of them, most of them, you know, it was their first time, you know, to be on a horse or to be that close to a horse.

You made a big impact.

You know, every kid at juvenile hall, the juvenile camp was looking forward to being part of this program.

And that's what seahorse is.

As you know, half on bay or heritage of the coast.

We are an equestrian community.

The equestrian uh community brings millions of dollars, you know, you know, to the community.

Um, the other day, actually on Saturday, you know, during the Punker Festival, while I walked in to the uh small town suites, and there's a photograph of a young lady on a horse, and that says, you know, don't forget that this is a horse town, you know, and Seahorse Ranch brings a lot of revenue to the city.

Check the numbers, you know, numbers don't lie.

No, you can see, you know, that our community needs business like no seahorse ranch during the vaquero days.

Many people were asking, we're gonna ride a horse.

You came to the right place.

Go to Seahorse Ranch.

You can ride a horse at the beach, cross a creek.

I believe uh council member uh Johnson, you had the opportunity to uh to ride a horse.

You know, how was that?

Pretty fun, right?

We do that all the time.

And now, you know, with Seahorse Ranch, you know, we have a lot of people.

You heard from uh from Willa, you know, who comes to our community to ride horses at the beach.

If you see, if you check, you know, on social media, Half Home Bay has now become one of the destinations to visit.

We have a beautiful community.

The attraction of the horses has grown.

Yes.

Recently, I was at the uh Grand National Rodeo at the Cow Palace.

Well, we saw, I know I saw hundreds of people, you know, there at the rodeo.

Uh anywhere you go, you know, the Central Valley, you see the horse industry.

Everybody who's wearing boots and hats.

Go to any business here in Hafon Bay.

A lot of your young generation, they're wearing boots and hats.

No, they want to be near horses.

You know, Seahorse Ranch, it's uh it's a landmark in California.

Not only in the coast, not only the Bay Area, but actually in California.

So I'm uh I hope all of you get a chance to visit uh Seahorse Ranch and uh ride a horse, you know, or pet a horse or brush a horse, maybe feed it.

I don't know, give it a try.

You might like it.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

Next speaker.

That's Nancy Fontana.

And she'll be followed by um Ellen Shireman.

Hi, thank you, Council and members of the public.

And I first, before I start, I want to make clarify something to the Seahorse Ranch people, that what I'm about to bring up is not a criticism of your operation at all.

I know your business is a new under new management and and that sort of thing.

Just so you know, it's not I'm not trying to criticize the current um business.

Um this is a really tough one for me.

Thirty-three years ago, horses escaped, seahorse ranch.

Seven of them were loose on the highway one.

And if the council members were related to this, there was a fatal accident.

The police report stated that they expected both people in the in the front of the car, the passenger and the driver to be killed.

I guess you could consider my family lucky that only my mother was killed.

My nephew survived.

And the I hate bringing this up because I think the business provides a really good recreational and educational opportunity for people and obviously economic help to the city.

Um it was found to be the police blamed rotting fence posts, and there was a criminal case, it was a big deal.

Um I'm hoping, I don't know if the I don't know if a license agreement is the appropriate place for a clause, but I'm hoping the council will consider a clause that um guarantees that the fencing at Seahorse Ranch is inspected on a somewhat regular basis.

I don't know what would be considered regular.

And that Seahorse Ranch would actively inform their staff to check on things and inform the management if there are any problems.

Because Highway One is still there, and there's still a lot of cars traveling down Highway One.

And what was tragic about my mother's accident is that the horses had been out several times prior to this incident, and nothing was done.

Guarantee that the fences are checked regularly.

I think your insurance company would appreciate it.

If you have a clause like that, that shows that you're in addressing a potential problem.

It might it might help you with your insurance too.

And I I'm sorry I know I'm taking longer.

I just want to read one thing because this is I thank you for letting me take more time.

The tragedy of the loss of Viola Schuch, I'm sure her family, friends, and community cannot be fully expressed.

Viola led a full and meaningful life.

She served her community for 15 years on the Granada Sanitary District Board, and at least seven years on the sewer authority mid-coast line, and never have never having missed a meeting until the night of her death.

So she my nephew was driving her to her meeting.

And then there was the whole column in the review.

So she was an activist and she was very involved in the community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nancy.

Our next speaker is Ellen Shireman.

To be followed by Chris Lynn Geet.

My name is Ellen Shireman.

I'm the president of the Coast Side Horse Council.

And I appreciate being able to speak tonight to the council and the mayor and staff.

I'm speaking in support of Seahorse Ranch, where I'm a private boarder and have my horse there.

And the relationship between the uh private horse concession that goes down to the beach is very important also to us boarders.

Both halves of the business complement each other and support each other.

And as private borders, we are very in favor of the trail riding part of the business.

As the president of the horse council, I am in my purpose is to support and be a champion for horse sports on the coastside.

Private boarding, the coastal rides, and the ability of the public to be able to take part in these sports in a meaningful way.

Being able to involve children on rides, leading to lessons, leading to perhaps leasing a horse or being able to have a horse in your life is quite an amazing thing.

I started riding when I was quite old.

I was I was nine, and uh it was in San Rafael, so I wasn't one of those kids that was in the saddle when I was four.

Oh, it took me a little bit longer to learn how.

But I'm 68 now and I'm still riding.

So this is a lifelong sport.

It's a it's a love affair with horses, and I'm very grateful to Willow for running Seahorse Ranch and making this available to so many people.

It's been a joy seeing all the tourists come through.

And I also want to say that as a border.

We have a large economic impact.

Owning a horse is a lot like owning a boat.

Uh you're gonna spend somewhere between eight and twenty thousand dollars a year on your horse, and that money flows directly into this community.

And since I live in San Francisco, but do all my grocery shopping down here, I'm dropping a lot more money too.

Because I love this town and I want to see horses stay.

So thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Ellen.

And our last speaker is uh Crystal Geet.

Thank you, Crystalin, CEO of the Coast Chamber and Manager of Visit Half Moon Bay.

And I am here to speak on behalf of the contract with Seahorse Ranch, as they provide such an economic benefit to our area and are a vital partner as a part of Visit Half Moon Bay.

When we get media and influencers who would like to come to our area and do activities that are out of the norm and they can't do them in most places, Willa is the one that we go to because not a lot of places in California do allow horses on their beaches, so it is so unique that it catches fire online in the best possible way and brings us a lot of press that we would not get otherwise.

Not to mention the beautiful programs that they help provide in allowing children and people who have never come to the beach or ridden horses before, and they do make accommodations for them, which is a really beautiful thing.

So we do hope that you will approve their contract, and we thank you for working with them so wonderfully, city staff.

They are vital to the visit half moon bay brand.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kristen.

That includes public comment.

Public comments now closed.

And open.

Sorry, open for council discussion.

Uh we've received a report and uh received um uh from Matthew some of the suggested changes on the existing contract, which would be for another five years, right?

Okay, so discussion.

Yeah, Willa, thank you for your presentation.

Um in reading through the changes that you have suggested that we make to your contract.

I have no problem with a five-year contract.

I think you've done an incredibly good job these last five years in keeping your part of the bargain.

Um I have a friend who boards with you, and she talks about how wonderful not just you are, but all of the people that work for you are, and what a wonderful place it is, and how warm and and accepting and she's getting older and it's more difficult for her now to ride, but she always feels supported there, it's really great.

Um, so I I in my heart feel I don't ride horses, but I feel I feel a lot of empathy with you.

My one problem with the um suggested changes is that because there have been uh fewer complaints about horse manure, that you would like to change the schedule up so that it it's it's more it works better with your workers to and the and the horse riders to do it at certain times.

I have no issue with the change, but I do have an issue with that change if it lasted for five years, and my reason is if it doesn't work, if there is more more, are there more issues with manure on the trails and on the on the beach, then I don't want to have to wait five years to have the problem solved.

So I would like to have in the contract something about a check in one year's time to see how that particular change has worked.

That's all.

That's my only thought.

I have no problem with that at all.

We we don't want complaints, we don't want minority.

No, I'm sure you don't.

So that's fine.

Thanks.

Any other um here?

Nancy and Willa, I'm gonna address both of you.

Um it's all positive on, you know, most of it here.

And Nancy, I want to say thank you for bringing that forward tonight.

I didn't know about this.

I think I remember it from back in the day.

Um, and uh I'm I I'm sorry, I'm very sorry.

I would like to make sure that and Willie, I would like to see if you were willing to just make sure that like we have a building inspector or somebody that can actually just look at the fences and look at them, make sure that once a year that they all are adequate as best they can so we don't have an accident like this, so uh mitigated measure to ensure that we don't have an accident of this type.

And I know it's been seven years or so, it's when it happened, or or thirty-three years ago.

Or thirty-three years ago, I'm sorry.

Um, but just to make sure that it's fine, and if you say it's been addressed, then I would be okay with it.

Uh if it's been that long.

Um I experienced when I went there, because I grew up riding horses, as I told you down.

We went the whole family would go down the Santa Clara area and we'd h we ride horses, went down Grand Canyon on horses.

We did all kinds of stuff like this when I was a kid.

So when I experienced going, Matthew said that this was coming up.

So he wanted me to reach out to you, and we did I did.

I reached out to you, and I decided to not just go to your facility and and talk to you.

I decided why don't I rent a horse and you set me up with this big horse that was one of your workers' horses, but what was the name of that horse?

It was it was like a galaxy, that's right.

It was like a star in China and it's photos and everything.

It was like this beautiful horse.

And the training that you got there was excellent.

The gentleman who owned the horse and his son came out, and uh I g uh became familiar with the horse right away, and the training that I saw that you were doing with the people that obviously haven't ridden horses was exceptional.

The gated area and going with the fencing, because my mind's wandering a little bit.

I remember walking in and you weren't allowed to go in the gate.

It says don't open this gate.

So I remember going off to the side.

So I remember I had this feeling of like you're trying to compound it for security, and I get it now with all the things that's going on.

Um the experience that I got, especially with that, you know, going through underneath the bridge there, and you called it the Amazon experience is exactly what I felt it was.

It was this really cool experience, almost like what we're seeing on the screens.

You guys don't see it, but it was greenery, there was water, the slot going down to the beach, the photographer up on the top with the with the radios radioing down to say that there was dogs on the beach to to make sure that they put the dogs on leash.

There was constant communication.

Uh, there was a gentleman in the back who was picking up the manure that was being dropped off and our whole tr thing that the line was tight, it was safe.

Um it was a pleasant experience, and then afterwards coming back, um, looping in, then the photography part of it, and you're getting to know people and you're meeting the people that are going to ride, and you're meeting the people that you rode with, and they're getting their their pictures.

I decided to ask questions.

Um, you know, where are you from and what part?

A lot of people from the valleys, a lot of people, everybody that you were listing here, you know, they were all about and they they were coming here just to ride the horses, which Crystal and I had a discussion about, to make sure that we put this in our, you know, to try to draw people to this town for because of that reason.

So I think this is a positive thing as long as we do it safe.

And Nancy, that's why I'm bringing that up.

I want to make sure that you know we are safe, and if everybody feels it's safe.

What I experienced was a wonderful experience.

Uh the I mean, the cost, you know, I paid market rate for it.

It was it was worth every penny.

I saw the our s our town, our bluff tops in a different way that nobody could ever, you know.

If you don't know it, if you rode your bike on it, yeah.

I remember back in the day I used to do it, but riding the horse, it was a pleasant experience.

It really was.

And I saw the organization.

I did have phone calls from people not after the ride, but just people not knowing that I wrote, um, pointing out that there was horse manure on the bridge off popular, the one on the very left side, which you guys don't even ride.

Um, that was something that somebody complained about that they kept seeing, but that goes to the fact what what Keen was saying, there's other people coming to the coast.

So I don't want your facility and your business to be blamed for that, but we have to have to figure out a way to make sure that if people are riding outside of where a seahorse is riding, they're not getting blamed for it, but we have to kind of try to manage that because the people don't like manure, and that's what she said.

Where can I go?

You're going on this bridge, you gotta go to the left to the right.

There's a big plop right there.

So we have to try to maintain that.

So I don't know.

There's answers to that.

Um I'm in favor of this.

I thought it's gonna be great for the community, and it's it has been for years.

Um, it was a if I experience a wonderful experience, I'd be so happy that other people from out of town are gonna come here to experience that because that's what's that's what Halfham Bay is about.

It's unique and it's a very cool experience.

I would like to um respond to first of all, Nancy.

Um I first came to Halfman Bay and to Seahorse Ranch, this happened, and it was mortifying.

So my heart goes out to you.

I understand and I appreciate that, and my sympathies to you.

Um, much has changed in those 33 years.

Uh we check our fence lines big time.

Uh they're checked regularly, not just by us, but we have general liability insurance and property insurance, and those inspections happen annually, they will not re-up our insurance without us having the requisite safety in our fencing and and other things.

So that's part of running a good business, and we do that.

Uh the camaraderie that happens that you spoke about when you ride is something that um you can only experience when you take a horse out, and you the whales are running now, and being on horseback on the bluff, watching the whales and the dolphin, is unlike anything.

I mean, it's just special, and then a trip through the rainforest, all of that is quite wonderful, and thank you for your kind words.

I just can't emphasize enough that my main focus is safety.

It's safety for my horses, it's safety for the community.

I am well aware of how close highway one is.

So we check regularly.

Okay.

Anything else I can answer?

Sure, I think it's um I feel comfortable that um what's being proposed is sufficient uh to support what I think is a great local business.

And I really appreciate the steps you've taken the last few years to address uh previous concerns.

It seems like it's a well-run operation, and I feel confident that what you're saying and what you're committing to is absolutely right on.

So thank you for that.

Great.

Um I agree with everything that's been said, and uh do you need any more direction?

No, this is great.

Um, I think we'll we'll meet again and finalize some of this language based on the feedback we've gotten tonight and bring that back probably on November 4th for you to.

Can we address the checking on the manure situation on an annual basis somehow?

And it I know you'll do it, but I'd like to have it in the agreement somehow.

Yeah, yeah, we'll incorporate some language there in the agreement.

That's good, great.

Good.

Okay, I think we're done then.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh coming here tonight.

Um we'll move on to our last item of the evening, item 10 C, regarding the memorandum of understanding to participate in the multi-jurisdictional inclusionary housing study.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Um if you are comfortable with the materials that you've read, I'm happy to skip the presentation and just read the staff recommendation and take any questions you have.

Okay.

Staff recommends that you adopt a resolution to one.

Oh, a resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute a memorandum of understanding and any documents required in a form approved by the city attorney for a multi-jurisdictional grand nexus and feasibility study.

And two appropriating an amount not to exceed $59,314 from the Affordable Housing Fund to fund the project.

I think it looks like a good idea.

I'm happy to support it.

I'm happy to make a motion in support of it.

Any clarifying questions or comments from the rest of the council?

Okay, make a motion.

Move per staff.

Second.

We'll take a roll call since we're spending money.

Council Member Johnson.

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Councilmember Penrose?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Ruddick?

Yes.

Mayor Brownstone.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry, moving on to commission committee updates.

Um I just we have a recreation commission meeting tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

at the library, and it'll also be available on Zoom as long as Zoom is functioning.

And we'll be mostly talking about Carter Park and the events we've had, and um kind of looking forward with the commission.

So if people are interested in that, hopefully they can tune in or come and participate.

Great.

Thanks for the announcement on that.

Any future discussion items?

I'd like to bring up something if I could.

Yeah, go ahead.

So before I was thinking about running or right during I was running, uh I had a meeting with Ray Muir, and he was just trying to get a sense of what I was all about and asking me a bunch of personal questions and trying to figure out who I was.

And um, one of the things I asked him was uh is there medical coverage being a council member, or you know, in that could because I my future is changing, and I was looking at you know, you know, I don't know where I'm gonna be doing for work or for my medical for me or my family.

And he actually said something.

He just said, Well, some of the some of the councils actually do that, some of the cities actually provide medical.

Um, and then what happened was I was at my elk's club and I was I ran into a building inspector who works for San Francisco, and he we were kind of shooting the shit about my solar panels and all this stuff, and then I asked him, uh, is there medical coverage up in San Francisco?

And he said, Yeah, the even the commissioners get medical coverage and stuff like this.

So then I reached out to Jim Reims, who works up there also, and then he sends me back this email.

I guess it was an AI thing.

But I was wondering if that's something I'm not asking the city, and I'm doing this for future council members and myself, I'm thinking, but I don't I don't want to sound like it's just me because I have medical coverage, but down the road I may not.

Uh and I'm also saying this in a way that I'm not saying I want more, I'm saying I'd want less, like I would give up my stipend for the medical coverage or something proactive.

So what I got from Jim was something that was kind of interesting because he pretty much AI'd it and says, under California government code 3651 6D general loss, cities may provide health and welfare benefits to city council members if those benefits are also available to city employees.

These benefits are not subject to the salary cap imposed in 3651 6A.

So there's a lot of cities that actually provide it.

Uh there's a lot of details in here.

I sent it to Matthew, uh Oceanside, Richmond, Roseville, Santa Anna, Ventura.

Um they're not all around local here, but I was wondering if that's something we can maybe think about at some point.

And if you guys say no, and uh we're not interested, but I'm not asking, and I'm not pursuing something to gain more or drain the city from any assets.

I'm just asking for is that a possibility?

I would second putting it on an agenda, future agenda for discussion.

Okay, that's it.

And let's see, any city council reports?

None.

Great.

Thanks, everybody.

This meeting is adjourned.

Good evening.