Good evening.

Good evening and welcome to the City of Nevada.

Hi, we're gonna get started now.

Thank you.

Welcome to the City of Novato Council meeting for Tuesday, October 28th, 2025.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

Under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Laura, if you please call roll.

Councilmember Eklund.

Councilmember Jacobs.

Present.

Mayor Pro Tempara, present.

And Mayor O'Connor.

Present.

Thank you.

I want to open this evening's meeting just to take a moment to acknowledge the loss of one of our colleagues, Mark Milberg, earlier this month.

This has been an extremely challenging and emotional time for council staff and our community.

We held a memorial event for Mark on Friday, and it really was a wonderful way for everyone to celebrate his life and contribution to Novato.

I want to thank everyone that attended and to the team here at the city that helped to organize it and make it so special.

Now in Mark's memory, we're going to take a moment of silence.

Thank you all.

And there was no closed session before this evening's meeting.

So we'll move on to approval of the final agenda.

I'll make the motion.

I'll second the motion to approve the agenda as presented.

Thank you.

And Laura, if you please call the vote.

Councilmember Eklunds.

Aye.

Councilmember Jacobs.

Aye.

Mayor Pertem Farak.

Aye.

And Mayor O'Connor.

I pass this for zero.

Thank you.

Uh moving on to council reports.

We'll sound start with Councilmember Jacobs.

Thank you.

I'll be quick because I've got a number of things on here.

I went to the Spirit of Marin Business Awards in September.

Attended that.

I attended Coffee with the Cop in Ignacio in October.

Attended the Marin Sonoma Narrows ribbon cutting.

I attended the chamber fun run, which was wonderful.

And then the Novato Fire District Pancake Breakfast.

I attended the Cal Cities Conference and in Long Beach and got some great information.

I attended the DNBA Nostalgia Days Cruise on Friday night and the show on Saturday, and that was a wonderful event.

I attended the Novato Small Business Networking event right here in the council chambers, and that was a great event put on by the city, the DNBA, SBDC, and the and that was it.

And the chamber, excuse me.

I attended the uh trick-or-treat downtown Novado and gave out candy.

Uh was very well attended.

And the San Marin Halloween parade, the fire district was there and the PD was there, and that went off without a hitch, and the weather was wonderful.

And I attended and was a judge at the pumpkin carving contest right here outside the council chambers for the employees.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'll be brief as well since we are covering about a month of stuff.

But the Highway 101 Neuros opening, I attended that, and that was a big milestone for Novato and all the regional mobility and safety for our community.

Had a few meetings for LAFCOs on Navarro's MSRs.

And then one of uh the events I really want to highlight is I attended uh Pleasant Valley's kindergarten visit, and I had the joy of presenting to all the kindergartens at Pleasant Valley Elementary about what I do as a city council member, and they even had an election with stuffed animals as candidates.

So it was fun and an educational experience for everyone.

And then I also volunteered at the Pleasant Valley Fall Festival and attended that as long as another pleasant valley event where um students got to uh see Spanish books and kind of honor that.

And that's it.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Eklund.

Thank you very much.

Um I participated in the Marin County Mayors and Council members meetings.

We meet typically um monthly, except for the summer.

Um I participated in those meetings in September and October, and this is where all elected officials at the local level meet together along with the county reps.

Also, the Marin County Mayors and Council members, we have a legislative committee, which I serve on.

And so we've had a couple of meetings, making some recommendations to our fellow cities in the county on which pieces of legislation we need to support to help cities do their job.

And I, you know, I've lived in Novato for a you know 30, 40, 50 years, I don't remember how long.

And I never knew that there was that huge garden out there.

And so it's incredible.

It's on Indian Valley Road.

And if people are interested in seeing it, because they have all native plants for sale, and they also have them all planted throughout the uh the garden, it's incredible, just absolutely incredible what they have there.

Um I also participated in a meeting with the county and other elected officials about the federal funding cuts that are happening and the impacts that we're going to be actually feeling here in Marin County, not only at the city level but at the county level.

And I I need to make a comment on this, it's going to be huge.

We're really going to be getting a lot of cuts that are going to be helping that are going to be hurting a lot of people.

And the city, we're going to have to make some hard decisions about what we're going to backfill and what we're not going to be able to backfill backfill.

I also had the honor of participating with the historical guild on Family History Day, and it was really neat because there's a lot of people that live in Novato that their their lineage of their own family goes back several generations, and it's really fun to be able to see that and to participate in that.

Since I worked for the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency for as long as I did.

And as I've been reporting on this because sea level rise is definitely already occurring in some areas in Novato.

And so it's it's really important that we prepare for it, and there's going to be a lot of homes and businesses that are going to be affected.

I serve on the ABAG, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and we had a legislative committee meeting and a housing committee meeting as well as administrative committee meeting, all talking about regionally how are we going to be able to achieve the housing numbers that are required by the state, which is not going to be easy for us.

Last but not least, and I wanted to spend a little bit of time on this.

I participated in nostalgia days as several of the other council members have too.

The difference is that this year I brought my 98-year-old mom.

And she was a kick in the pants, I have to tell you, she's really smart.

And she was there from like 10:30 to 5, and we actually had dinner downtown that night.

And for somebody that's 98, it just shows how strong she is.

But she went down looking at all the old cards, and she goes, Oh, I remember that one.

Imagine she was born in 1927.

And so it was really fun to be able to see it through her eyes for as long as I have her.

And um, and I just want to thank the Downtown Business Association and all the people who brought their cars and really took the time to talk to my mom.

Um, it really put a real warm piece in my heart, and it just shows you that Novato does care.

Novato does care about every person here.

So those are the things that I participated in, and uh thank you very much for the opportunity to share it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have some overlap of my colleagues too.

I did want to uh thank the Chamber of Commerce for their youth leadership Novato class that I was able to attend.

Um we have the adult leadership nevato class with us today, I believe.

Um it was it was it's the first year they've done the program, and I think it's it's gonna be a great success.

Um I also had the opportunity to attend the Novato History Day on the Green, which was well put together.

So I want to thank everybody that was involved with that, and then um shadowing cabin at the small business event and the downtown trick or treat.

So thank you to the DNBA and the chamber and all the groups involved with organizing um the small business event and the downtown trick or treat.

Um so with that we'll move on to public comment.

So this is public comment for items that are not on the agenda.

If you'd like to speak, please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city clerk.

Laura on my left.

We have a few requests to speak this evening.

Um, first up, Ms.

Christina Niles.

Welcome, Christina.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members and staff.

Pleasure to see all of you tonight.

Um, my name is Christina Mendes.

I'm CEO of the Nevado Chamber.

Um, last month, the uh last month, the Novato Chamber kicked off our 35th year of the Leadership Novato program, which is an incredible milestone for the program that has shaped so many of our community leaders.

Leadership Novato is proudly run by us at the Novato Chamber in partnership with Novato Fire Protection District, the Novato Unified School District, Novato Sanitari District, um, North Marin Water District, and of course, all of you at the City of Novato.

The goal of Leadership Novato is simple but powerful to prepare individuals to lead, to connect uh leaders with one another, and to make a difference right here in the Novato community.

Um, as many of you know, our Leadership Novato graduates go on to serve as engaged citizens, give back through volunteerism, civic involvement, and public service.

Many go to serve on boards, commissions, and even elected office.

We're incredibly proud to have several of our council members as leadership Novato alumni, um, Councilmember Eklund, Class of 97, Councilmember Jackson Jacobs of 2001, Mayor Pro Tem Farak of 2019, and then um Councilmember Milberg was class of 2021.

That legacy of leadership is exactly what the leadership program is all about October 15th, we held our annual government day, which uh where participants heard presentations from um city manager Amy Cunningham, who did fabulous, and leaders from finance, public works, parks and recreation, and the Novato Police Department.

They wrapped up the day with one of our favorite activities, which is a mock city council meeting.

You guys can get some great ideas there, I promise.

Um, expertly facilitated by city clerk Laura McDowell, who did a phenomenal job guiding our group through the process.

A very special thank you goes out to Greg Canfield, who prepared um who partnered with us to coordinate the day.

Greg is an absolute pleasure for our staff to work with, incredibly detail-oriented, thoughtful, and one of our favorite collaborators.

Beyond the classroom, our community service projects continue to make a visible um positive impact throughout Novato.

Last year, the Leadership Novato class completed three amazing projects.

They refreshed the Babe Ruth, the Babe Silva baseball fields for Little League North.

Um, they showcase artwork for Alchemy in 25 local businesses and transformed seven utility boxes downtown into Colorful Public Works of Art.

This year, our class has already begun three exciting new projects, which we can't wait to share with you this time next year.

So, on behalf of the Novato Chamber, I want to extend our sincerest gratitude to the city of Novato for your continued partnership and support of our leadership program.

And finally, a heartfelt thank you to Councilmember Milberg for his outstanding contributions.

Mark served on our leadership advisory, our leadership nevato advisory committee, meeting monthly with our project teams to offer feedback, encouragement, and advice.

His insights and positive energy made a tremendous difference, helping every team and every project succeed.

Thank you for your time, your support, and continued champion leadership of the Novato Chamber leadership program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christina.

Our next speaker is Kim Staley.

Welcome, Kim.

My whole group up here.

If you guys want to stand on this side and this side, um, hello, Mayor O'Connor, Mayor Pro Tem Frock, Council Member Auckland, Councilmember Jacobs, and City Manager Cunningham.

I'm Kim Staley.

I'm the director of people and programs for the City of Novato.

I mean, for the Novato Chamber of Commerce, and I run the Leadership Novato program.

And it's my pleasure today to introduce to you some of the members of our class of 2026.

So I'll start over here.

We've got Kai Lancaster.

She is the Business Manager for Classic Pipes Plumbing.

Then we have Daniel Mikola, who is the CTE coordinator for the Novato Unified School District.

And you know your own.

Stephanie Simmons, who is the special events coordinator for the City of Novato, and Kristen Rolovich, who is the accounting manager for the United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay.

And then we have Patty Shimay Campbell, who is a financial fitness coach with FinFit Life, and then Stephen Schaefer, who is uh co-founder of CHIP, which is a processing uh payment payment processing uh company, and then we also have Christopher Boothie, who is the Senior Director of Economic Justice for the Community Action Marin.

And then finally, we have Colleen Arnold, who is the CEO of Marin Aging and Disability Institute.

And I've worked with Leadership Nevado.

This is my seventh class, and the class of 2026 uh is fantastic.

So we can't wait to tell you about our service projects next year.

Um, our class is made up of 23 people that work or live in Novato.

We have eight men, 15 women, 10 Novato residents, seven business owners, and each of our five partners have sent a representative.

So we wanted to say thank you for sending Stephanie from Parks and Recreation.

And then lastly, um, I wanted to share that in our very last leadership Novato session.

I always ask the class who is interested in running for public office.

And I remember it just like yesterday that Mark Milberg raised his hand, and then five and a half months later, he was here at City Council.

And um, Mark has made such a positive impact in Novato.

Sorry, um, and like so many others, Mark just made me feel so special that he was just in my corner and anything was possible.

Um, so I'm grateful because Leadership Novato has brought so many great things into my life, and Mark Milberg, hands down, is one of the best things.

And so I'm grateful that I got to know and work with him and just his contributions to Leadership Novado were significant, and we just are so grateful and thankful for him.

So thank you very much for your support of the Leadership Novato community and for the Novato Chamber, and really thank you for your service to Novato.

Thank you very much, Kim, and congratulations to everybody.

Our next speaker is Larissa Thomas.

And Tina McMillan.

Hello.

Hello.

So I'm Larissa Thomas.

I'm the current chair of the Finance Advisory Commission, and Tina is joining me tonight as the vice chair of the Finance Advisory Commission.

And uh to the council members here tonight.

The Finance Advisory Commission finds it timely to recognize and thank uh Amy Cunningham and Carla Carvalho de Graff and the entire finance staff for their focus, determination, and professionalism in completing the backlog of annual comprehensive financial reports as stated in the city's strategic plan.

We want to bring attention to the finance staff who under Amy and Carla's leadership have updated and filed with statewide, have updated and filed five years of annual audits in less than three years.

This was accomplished by while balancing an ongoing fiscal responsibilities and prioritizing daily operational demands.

This finance team, under its current leadership, has accomplished a Herculean task in bringing the city's financial records current, implementing internal controls, and instituting new policies and procedures to ensure ongoing accurate and timely reporting.

It is clear the staff is dedicated to correcting the fiscal problems that began under previous leadership.

The commission is grateful for the dedication and perseverance of this outstanding finance team.

Thank you both.

And then our final speaker is Sylvia Barry.

Welcome, Sylvia.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayo Kerner, and uh council members.

Um I'm Sylvia Berry with Sedmarine Improvement Association, and uh I'm here really talking about our neighborhood, which I think is really important because neighborhood is Novato's backbone.

And uh I just want to say that um I am here to give a quick shout out to the Sunmarine neighbors for very successful volunteer run Halloween parade this past Sunday.

Sand Marine Neighborhood Halloween Parade is a long Sunmarine tradition put on by the Sun Marine Improvement Association for the past 40 plus years.

And I'm really happy to say that now we have a new group of parents and neighbors stepping up the last couple years to organize and lead the parade.

Excitement spread to the neighborhood along the route.

I'm happy to say that at the uh Sunday parade we have over 200 neighbors come up coming with their kids, and although we have found kids and parents to grandparents.

Uh they take part in the parade.

We have volunteers who prepare, organize, and lead a parade, they judge the costumes, they present the ribbons, they sell the pizza to race funds for some marine safe grad nine, they organize neighborhood jackal contests at the beginning of route, and they decorate their fine yard just for the parade.

And they have people sitting on the sidewalk cheering along for the parade participant, and they hand out candies.

So uh everybody has a wonderful time.

You know, sometimes they take pictures.

That was one of the most chaotic time I have to chase the kids to take the pictures.

They are very happy.

I want to thank Samarine Neighbors, Rich Din, Queen Sig Ding, Scarlet Aikida, Nancy Chen Renzing, Amali Elvis, Katie, Doherty, Charlie Ding, and Kayla Mazina for organizing the parade.

Kelly Susie and St.

Carlos Way neighbors for Jackal London contacts and chilling alone the route and to all uh All Sense Church for enthusiastically supporting Sed Marine High Students, Sun Marine Neighbors, and Sunmarine Improvement Association through the years.

We also want to thank Novato Police and the Novato Fire for leading the parade and let the kids go on their fire engine to explore and to Novato Public Work Corporate Yard for the barricades.

Most of all, I want to thank the Amazon Heroes, the volunteers ran the event for more than the past uh for more than 40 years in the past to keep up uh to keep our many traditions going.

We are encouraged by the enthusiastic of this new group of parents and neighbors, and we look forward to a lot more engagement moving forward.

So thank you so much.

And thank you for coming, Councilmember Jack.

Thank you very much, Sylvia.

That concludes public comments.

We'll move on to the case.

Excuse me, um, did Jim Jim Gilday submit a card?

No, I have no other cards.

Jim, did you want to speak in public comment time?

I'm just sure if the order of it's reporter.

You have to come up to the microphone.

He had indicated that he wanted to speak on a consent item and he may not have realized that he had a submitted card.

Welcome, Jim.

Mayor, Council members.

All right.

My reaction when you asked, do you really want to speak was probably not, but um I I do want to encourage uh say encouraging comments about what I believe is item C 15 on the consent calendar, which is uh something that's already been passed by the commission.

Uh the effort we are making, uh, which is being led by Rotary to uh erect uh kind of a memorial or a presentation on the um what was the Hamilton Refugee Transit Center 40 some years ago, and that's up for vote tonight.

Uh I believe that rotary has done much of the preparation, is probably uh in a position to try to take the next step.

So I just hope that you'll uh vote in favor of it and we can see where we go from there.

Thank you.

Great.

And Jim, I just wanted to thank you very much for your incredible service during that time and really appreciate everything that you've done, especially being a Nevada resident and caring so much for the people that were brought over.

So I just want to thank you again for your service.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jim.

Okay, and that concludes public comments.

We'll move on to the consent calendar.

Do we have a motion to appear?

I'll move the consent calendar.

I'll second.

Thank you.

And Laura, if you please call the vote.

Council Member Eklund, aye.

Councilmember Jacobs.

I mayor Pertem Farak.

Hi, and Mayor O'Connor.

I pass this 4-0.

Thank you.

Uh next item of business is a public hearing regarding the Stone Tree Golf Club driving range to consider adopting a resolution making findings and adopting a California Environmental Quality Act initial study and mitigated negative declaration and mitigation monitoring and reporting program.

Two, adopting a resolution approving a general planned land use map, amendment changing the land use designation of a 10-acre porker, sorry, portion of APN 157 16018 from open space to conservation.

Three, introducing an ordinance amending the Nevada zoning map to change the zoning of a 10 acre portion of the APN 157-16018 from open space to conservation, and finally adopting a resolution approving a use permit allowing operation of a golf driving range on a 10 acre portion of this lot.

And I want to open the public hearing and call on Caitlin Zatelli, senior planner to open the item.

Welcome, Caitlin.

All right, thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Caitlin Zatelli.

I'm here with the Novato Planning Division.

And this item is entitlements for the Stone Tree Golf Driving Range, which includes CEQA environmental review, a general plan land use map amendment, zoning map amendment, and a use permit.

So the golf driving range currently exists and it operates under a temporary use permit.

And the location of the driving range is just south of the Stone Tree Golf Club.

So Stone Tree Golf Club is located off Highway 37.

It's operated by Bay Club, who is the project applicant.

And the driving range is located on a separate parcel to the south that is owned by Marin County flood control district.

You can see the driving range down here in the red square.

And the parcel is over 400 acres in area.

And here is a site plan of the driving range as it exists today.

And the driving range was established in 2017 through a temporary use permit process and a temporary use permit and subsequent time extension were approved by the planning commission, allowing the operation through June 12, 2020.

During this time, Bay Club sought to allow operation of the driving range long term, which prompted the need for the entitlements which are under review tonight.

The applicant submitted the required applications in April 2019, and planning began processing the entitlements, and the application went to the planning commission for review and recommendation in June 2020.

However, due to challenges of the COVID pandemic, a city council hearing for the project was delayed until tonight.

However, during this time, staff did update the CEQA environmental document, which I'll talk a little bit about later in this presentation.

The operational characteristics of the driving range, this is just a summary.

It is open seven days a week, and ride-on mowers are used to cut the grass.

The main difference between the existing and the proposed is the golf balls.

So the golf balls are currently collected by hand.

The applicant has requested to use an electric ball picker cart through their use permit application to collect the golf balls.

And as stated before, the requested entitlements include a general plan land use map amendment to change a 10-acre portion of the parcel from open space to conservation.

Similarly, a zoning map amendment has been requested to change the zoning designation of the site from open space to conservation.

And with that zoning designation, a minimum lot size suffix is required by the municipal code.

So the request is to change the zoning designation to conservation, minimum lot size 10 acres, or CON-10.

For the zoning designation, the summary of uses up on the slide is just a summary for both the open space and the conservation.

It's not comprehensive.

One of the main differences between open space and conservation is that residential uses are permitted in conservation as well as some service uses.

And there are also two overlays applied to this site.

So the Baylands overlay and the flood hazard 2 overlay.

All the uses that are permitted in the underlying zoning district for both these overlays are also permitted in the overlay.

Balin's overlay does require any use to get a use permit.

However, for this project, they were already getting a use permit for the driving range.

And then a brief overview of the CEQA process.

So an initial study mitigated negative declaration or an ISM and D was prepared and circulated for the 20-day public review period in 2020.

Mitigation measures included in the document are related to future development of the site.

So should the site be developed in the future, these mitigation measures would be required to be implemented by the project applicant.

These include pre-construction nesting bird surveys as well as ceasing construction should any cultural resources be inadvertently encountered during grading activities of a future project at the site.

The ISMD was then updated in 2025 to reference the city's 2035 general plan.

And new biological and cultural resources studies were also performed to investigate if changes had occurred at the site between 2020 and 2025.

No new impacts were identified, and no additional mitigation measures were required.

Recirculation of the CEQA document for additional public review after the 2025 update was not required in compliance with CEQA guidelines as the updates did not meet the guidelines definition of a substantial revision, meaning that no new significant impacts were identified and no new mitigation measures were required through that update.

So tonight, staff is recommending approval of the requested entitlements for the driving range, again, including the environmental review, general plan, land use map amendment, zoning map amendment, and the use permit.

Staff, we are here to answer any questions, and we also have the applicant's team Bay Club.

They have a brief presentation and then virtually via Zoom.

We have representatives from DUDEC, who's the company that prepared the environmental document.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that.

Thank you very much, Caitlin.

So we'll bring it back to council for any questions.

I just have a comment.

Please.

I just wanted to thank staff for putting in here that there won't be any chemical chemicals added to the driving range or um or pesticides.

Um that's what we had put on the original uh golf course, and I'm really appreciate you applying that also to this area.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Not seeing any further questions, we go to public comment.

If you'd like to make a comment on this item, please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city clerk.

Any request to speak on this item, Laura?

Okay.

Bring it back to council for a motion.

I'll move approval.

Second.

Thank you.

And then just as a clarification, so we're approving one, two, and four, and three.

We're just introducing an ordinance.

Is that correct, Laura?

Okay, thank you.

And then Laura, if you just call the vote, please.

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye.

Councilmember Jacobs.

All right.

Council Member or Mayor Pratim Farak.

Aye.

And Mayor O'Connor.

Hi.

Passes 4-0.

Thank you.

Okay.

Our next item of business is to hold a public hearing and consider introducing an ordinance repeating section 4-1 of chapter 4 of the Novato Municipal Code in its entirety and reenacting a new section 4-1 to adopt by reference parts 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the 2025 California Building Standards Code as amended, adopting by reference the 2024 International Property Maintenance Code, adopting by reference the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code as the construction and abatement codes of the City of Novato, making findings of fact based on local conditions and supporting of the amendments, and adding a new section 4.5 on gate safe.

Sorry, gate safety.

So we'll open the public hearing and uh welcome Claire Hartman, community development director at Telton the Adam.

Welcome, Claire.

Great, thank you very much.

So in other words, uh this item is the three year uh update for our state billing code.

So that's what we're introducing tonight, introducing it by ordinance.

Um our interim chief building official who's been with us for two and a half years, has been working hard on this item.

He's joining us remotely.

He's going to be giving the presentation.

Um, and so we'll get to that in just a sec.

I'd like to have the opportunity to introduce our new chief building official, um, Bob Curry.

Uh Bob has uh served for many years uh in the building um sector, he worked for the city of San Rafael for many years.

Um, prior to that, uh many years in the um contracting business, um, and then more recently with the city of Roanut Park, which just a couple weeks ago, he was presenting their three year um update to the state building code.

So welcome Bob to the city of Novato.

Thank you.

Um it's a pleasure to be here.

It's a pleasure to be here with you guys.

Um, I moved up here in 19 uh.

Can you speak into the microphone?

It's hard to hear.

I moved here in 87, and what I liked about this town is uh after moving in here, the welcome wagon came and delivered a bag full of things that I would need to uh as a new resident, and that family feeling uh and the working here, raising my children and having um uh running my contracting business from here.

It just feels really nice to come back here and be part of the team on the building staff here, and I'm just really happy to be here with all of you and working for the city.

All right, great.

Well, we'll get started with this item, and I think Mark has joined us.

Well, thank you very much, Claire, for that introduction.

And I want to thank you, Mayor O'Connor, Mayor Pro Tem Perrick, and Councilperson Jackland and Jacobs for entertaining this subject here tonight.

As many of you know, the building and safety codes in the state of California are renewed every three years, as Claire mentioned.

If you could move to the next slide, please.

And so this is part of the three-year cycle.

So on July 1st of this year, the California Building Standards Commission published the new 2025 edition of the California Building Code, often referred to as Title 24.

There's multiple parts to Title 24, which Mayor O'Connor listed as he read us into this.

So local jurisdictions are allowed to further amend the California Building Standards Code for a local amendment, and they have until January 1st of 2026 to adopt those amendments.

There's a limitation on the adoption of these local amendments, and they must be based on specific findings that reflect unique conditions, climatic, geological, and topographical.

Once these codes have been adopted, they will go into effect on January 1, 2026.

Now, if we choose not to adopt amendments or don't formally adopt this code, by default in state law, the unamended 2025 building standards code, Title 24, will automatically go into effect on the 1st of January.

Novato has traditionally added numerous amendments to the building code, and we are here tonight to introduce some of these amendments.

Next slide, please.

So building division staff, in coordination with other local building departments and our own fire district, have reviewed and proposed many amendments for this new code cycle.

Most of these amendments are already in place.

There are amendments that were placed onto the 2022 building standards code that is in effect in the City of Novato now.

The amendments that we're proposing to these codes address numerous things, including wind speed, seismic activity, construction in the flood zone, and the biggest set of amendments of all have to do with wildland urban interface, often referred to as the Wooey codes.

We all know that there's been a plethora of wildfires, both here in Northern California and more recently in Southern California, and the state fire marshal as well as the governor's office and the local fire protection officers have been pretty aggressive in addressing this issue and requiring what is now referred to as home hardening effects on new and in some cases existing residential structure commercial and residential structures within the city in areas located in the uh SRA and LRA, otherwise known as uh high fire hazard zones.

We've also continued the practice of providing substantial administrative provisions within our own code, removing them from the building codes themselves and actually placing them directly in the municipal code.

Next slide, please.

As I mentioned, the most notable change is the administrative provisions.

And the reason that we do this is that the rules and guidelines that govern the application of permits, the review of applications and inspections of projects, which are normally contained in the body of the building code itself, requires that any applicant that wants to access this either purchase the building codes or find them online, which the three versions are very difficult to navigate.

So during the last code cycle, it was determined by staff that we would create our own set of administrative provisions to provide better transparency to our constituents.

Now they can get access to all of the administrative requirements associated with building permit activity directly in our municipal code.

We also, consistent with the study group that city council had during the last permit, I mean code cycle update.

We have made some minor changes to things we call the life of a permit.

We've extended the application deadline, we've extended the life of the permit, and we've made it much easier to get extensions on building permit applications and building permits.

One of the things that we've also slightly modified, but was in the code before, and this has to do with home hardening, is there is now a blanket requirement for all roofs in the city of Novato to be Class A fire rated.

In the past, most of them were, but there were a couple of exceptions for some commercial roofs.

Now we're making that change to, and they again, this is consistent with most of the other jurisdictions in Marin, in that all roof coverings are now required to be Class A.

Next slide, please.

Probably the most significant change in the Building Standards Commission codes in this cycle is the creation of a brand new code called the Wildland Urban Interface Code, which most of us in the business refer to as the WUI code.

Previously, the WUI requirements were scattered amongst various codes, the fire code, the residential code, the building code, and in some cases, state state uh codes themselves.

And so, due to the um elevated importance of home hardening, this cycle, the state decided to create to to collect all of these requirements from all these various codes and place them in a single code now that will govern all facets of the wildland urban interface in our high fire hazard zones.

And you can see on the slide associated here that there's a significant um amount of area in the city of Novato that falls under these higher elevated uh uh um hazard zones.

These new WUI requirements apply to all residential and non-residential buildings located in what we call the SRA, which is the state responsibility area, and the local responsibility area, which is within the city limits.

So there was quite an effort to review this code by the local uh fire protection officers, including our own Nevado Fire District, and um various building departments within Marin County.

And I can say that there was a very uh um coordinated effort, and most of the amendments that we or all of the amendments plus some that that we are proposing for the wildland urban interface are pretty much consistently going to be adopted throughout all of the jurisdictions in Marin County and most of them in Sonoma County also.

Next slide, please.

Once again, um Novato in our concern for sustainable practices within our city.

We are continuing the um adoption of Cal Green Tier 1 elevated energy efficiency and sustainability standards.

This includes higher standards for things such as light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, insulation, landscaping, water use, waste reuse, and recycling requirements.

And the tier one standards actually for uh waste reuse and recycling are increased from even the minimum standards that our waste owned initial waste management ordinance that was passed a number of years ago.

Lastly, we are adding a new section in chapter four in the housing and building section to establish gate safety standards.

As I outlined in the staff report, um there's a tragic event in that happened at San Rafael in 2019.

A local, a local young boy, seven years old, was uh fatally injured when a large sliding gate um broke away from its supports and fell on him, and unfortunately he did not survive the accident.

And so um this young boy's father has made it his mission in life to um promote gate safety gate safety standards initially in Marin, California, and now he was a he's working on the national stage.

He is actually in attendance at the next code cycle uh preliminary hearings in Cincinnati, Ohio, uh to push his gate safety standards.

So these gate safety standards that we're proposing have already been adopted by most of the other Marin County jurisdictions, and they have two kind of main components to it.

The main component number one is that there be a secondary means of emergency support to gates, so that if the main hinge or the main support mechanism, the gate does break, then there is a secondary cable or um fall prevention post in place to prevent gates from falling over more than 45 degrees.

The other requirement in this gate safety ordinance is that all gates that meet the minimum requirements, which are uh a four-foot wide or seven foot tall.

Any gate in excess of four foot wide or seven foot tall will require a safety inspection every five years.

So we are uh joining our fellow Marin County cities, including the county of Marin, in adopting these gate safety standards.

Next slide, please.

So I'm here tonight to request that you introduce an ordinance repealing section 4-1 of chapter 4 of the Novato Municipal Code in its entirety, and reenacting a new section 4-1 to adopt by reference parts two, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the 2025 California Building Standards Code, and the 2024 International Property Maintenance Code, the 2024 swimming pool and spa codes as amended as the construction and abatement codes of the city of Novato, and adding a section 4.5 gate safety standards, and making findings of fact based on local conditions in support of these amendments.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Uh, we'll bring it back to council for any questions.

Okay.

And we'll go to public comment.

If you have any public comment on this item, please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city clerk.

No comments.

Um, so I'll bring it back for a motion.

I'll make a motion we approve the update to the code as presented.

Second.

Thank you, Laura.

If you please call the vote.

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye, Councilmember Jacobs.

Aye, Mayor Pur Temperature.

Aye.

And Mayor O'Connor.

Hi, motion passes for four-zero.

Thank you very much for all of your work on this.

I do want to give you a shout-out.

I appreciate the work done to simplify and streamline.

Uh, permitting in particular where possible.

So thank you for all of your time and effort on that.

And then through the gate, too.

I think that's important.

All right.

All right, moving on to general business.

Our next item is to begin the annual assessment process for the downtown Novato Business Improvement District in partnership with the downtown Novato Business Association by receiving a presentation by the DMBA uh bid advisory board of its 2025 GAB annual report and 2026 proposed budget and reviewing, including making any changes if desired and approving the 2025 GMB annual report and 2026 proposed budget and adopting a resolution declaring the intention to levy an annual assessment within the downtown Novato Business Improvement District for calendar year 2026 and set a public hearing for November 18th, 2025.

And with that, I'll hand over to Katie Skirping, our economic development manager to open the item.

Welcome, Katie.

Excuse me, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Uh the item before you this evening kicks off the annual assessment process for the downtown Novato Business Improvement District.

Tonight you will be receiving a presentation from Stephanie Kalar, the DNBA Executive Director regarding the DNBA's annual report and 2026 proposed budget.

Uh the recommended actions are receiving the presentation, uh review and make changes if desired to the annual report and budget, and finally adopt a resolution declaring the intention to levy an annual assessment within the downtown Novato Business Improvement District for calendar year 2026 and set a public hearing for November 18th, 2025.

For a little background and context, the bid was formed in 1999, and the city council contracts with the Downtown Novato Business Association, a nonprofit that administers the bid funds paid by over 400 businesses within the district to enhance downtown Novato with advertising, marketing improvements, and promotions.

Since 2017, the city has matched contributions made by businesses to help strengthen the bid's ability to deliver programs and services.

The city retains oversight authority to review and approve the DNBA's annual report and budget.

Staff would like to bring to your attention a few ways that this year's proposed budget is a little different than that of previous years.

This year's proposed budget shows a negative balance, which can partially be attributed to the cost of the downtown white lights, while also related to several years of using reserves to cover expenses greater than revenue.

While we are recommending that tonight you approve the annual report and proposed budget, this does come with the caveat that the white lights expense is currently unfunded and could change after soliciting additional bids or additional city support if desired.

Additionally, because of increased capacity in the city manager's office staffing, we would like to assure council that we look forward to additional engagement and partnering more actively with the DNBA in the coming year to ensure long-term sustainability of the district.

So with that, at this time, I'd love to call up Stephanie Killer, the DNBA executive director for your presentation.

Welcome, Stephanie.

Hi, welcome everybody.

Thank you, Councilmembers, Mayor, and uh Mayor Pro Tem.

I'm gonna do my best to not cry through this whole thing.

And thank you guys for the work that you guys put into the thing so far.

So 2025 annual report.

Do I have the clicker?

I do.

I wanted to take just a moment to honor Mark as well.

He was a fierce advocate of downtown and a great supporter.

And I've sat in this position nine times.

And in all the times that he was on the diocese, he would always be the first one to say, What can we do for you?

How can we support you?

And while all of you do that in your own ways, he was just very there's something a warmth about it.

And that gentleman was at every single event.

And he was not at the events to just wave and pretend like he was there and chalk it up and head home.

He was substantively at these events.

So he will be deeply missed by all of us in downtown and me specifically.

But I really wanted to take a moment to honor that.

Who we are?

The DNB, I this was covered a little bit in Katie's notes, but the DNBA is really two separate entities that are the same humans wearing two hats.

The DNBA is the Downtown Novato Business Association that is volunteer-based, nonprofit, and it's really made up of business owners or representatives for one of the businesses.

The business improvement district is the, I always call it the policy arm, if you will.

That section is subject to Brown Act and so forth.

We keep those meetings separate for that reason.

So we have quarterly bid meetings and then monthly downtown Novato Business Association meetings with membership.

Currently, we have a board of seven.

This past year, Jeannie Jarnot of Beauty Heroes had been taking on a fair amount in her own work, and so she stepped down from the board to take care of some of the things that are going on in her business, some growth.

And so we have Barbara Slack, who is the president, and Rob Sunberg, who is our vice president, Shannon Gallejos, Chief Gibbs is our secretary, John Chrisman, Michael Atkinson, and Maureen Gallagher.

I think we have one of the best boards we've had.

They all step up in so many different ways.

They are a lot of thoughtful conversations.

So I'm really pleased.

It's a small board, but it's a mighty board.

I really appreciate it.

So this was definitely a year of challenges and accomplishments.

Kind of like every year.

I think that's there's no year that we escape.

So first, I am entering my ninth year in this position, and I am super grateful to the business owners who actually do give life to this whole downtown.

It has been a demanding year for lots of different reasons.

The white lights and some of the projects that have just been heavier projects.

But looking ahead, we are excited about the developments that are happening on Sherman Avenue as well as some of the other projects throughout the other businesses throughout all of downtown.

We're currently at about 420 businesses, and we're looking forward to seeing some of those other spaces fill out in this coming year.

Just to sort of touch, I we have a long annual report, so I'm trying to not keep this, you know, here till midnight.

The main things that we really wanted to touch base is we really do want to welcome staff.

Um Katie and Carla have been great from the moment that they came on board.

It was definitely a challenge over the years with shifting roles and a lot of responsibilities that city staff had, and I feel like the restructure that is given us these two is really beneficial to us and greatly appreciated.

Um the downtown kiosks is something we're looking forward to as well.

Historically, that is something that I inherited.

There's three sides to them.

There are six of them throughout downtown.

As you know, wayfinding has changed drastically, and so we're looking into some more digital ways to actually conduct the wayfinding.

And now those kiosks have we've entered into a partnership with the city and the chamber and the DNBA.

We will each take a side, and each side will represent what's going on in our world, and and uh so we each will be responsible.

I'm looking forward to that.

I think we're just waiting for the Plexy to get cleaned up.

So that should you should be able to start watching um for event calendars.

Um we are excited that next week the property improvement grant is coming back around.

That is a product of Measure M.

So thank you so much for that.

Um that allows businesses to make improvements to their building, things that will stay to stay at the building.

It's they're like infrastructure things in their building.

And then we've done a lot more this year with networking and resources in partnership with, as I think several of you mentioned, the uh the small business development center in the chamber, and they have been so successful that we will continue to work with those.

Our concrete planters uh continue to look beautiful.

Um our original designs are still flowing, and I we've have Les Jardinaires been taking care of them.

There are 52 of them.

So I'm pleased, and I think they continue to look great.

The white lights, the challenges, I won't go too deep into the white lights.

The history of the white lights is that it was a leadership nevado, uh yeah, leadership nevato project that was about 15 or 18 years ago, and after they were put up by the class, the city took over the maintenance.

The maintenance became well, as the original set of lights, which were from Target, not industrial or commercial grade, really saw the end of their life, and that's when we stepped in, and at the time Chris Blunk was the head of Public Works, and we partnered with Public Works and gave 25,000 to restring them using commercial grade lights.

Um, Public Works was responsible for that, that stringing, and due to several circumstances that didn't last very long just because the the stringing was not done the way it needed to be done.

So then we we were um told that the and this was actually in the fall, right before holiday time, we were told that they were coming down because they were too there.

They take a fair amount to maintain, and it was hard on public works, both cost and at the time there was uh you know staffing shortages, it was all kinds of things going on.

I think, in public works at the time.

So that's when the DNBA stepped in.

We did have reserves that we were proud to have.

We always tried to, you know, not keep too many reserves because our job is to spend it, but we invested 101,000 to get these done properly, and really create a system so we now know what's involved.

Prior to the tariffs hitting, we actually did buy every single strand of lights that was in the United States so that we could avoid that additional cost down the road.

So we do have some backlog of actual materials.

And yes, if you look at our budget, this is the whole.

There's no question, and I'm sure we'll talk about that later.

In addition, these are some really fun things.

These are community partnerships that are really critical to I think any town.

We had the electrical boxes this year.

I absolutely love them.

That was a Leadership Novato project that they came and worked with us.

Gretchen Schubeck from the city and I have been talking about these for six years.

So I'm happy to see those come to fruition and appreciate the chamber's role in that.

We are continuing to work with the Marin School of the Arts at the holiday time.

You will see them caroling up and down downtown again and performing at the tree lighting.

Again, the community farmers market, it's outside.

And then we always like to give a little shout out to the police department who are always and they're part of the process of putting on events, and they're just seamless and helpful and always work just a great partner to work with.

We have kept tabs, there's not a lot of movement on this right now, but we have been keeping tags on the high density housing development, so as they continue to move forward or not, we are definitely keeping up and um keeping track of this the status and and lobbying on our behalf on the business's behalf as much as possible, related to parking spaces and the height of the building.

We are still continuing to do marketing efforts.

Um we do marketing campaigns, we've done some in print.

We are we just refreshed the the one at the top is the smart train platforms.

We have them in San Rafael and Petaluma.

We just refreshed that artwork, and I think it looks great.

I love it.

So if you're seeing those on the the uh the smart train, and then we also added a QR code so that they can access our website.

Um we are excited.

I had hoped to launch it today, so I could say we hey, look at your phones, we have a new website.

It's gonna be next week, but uh we are launching a really comprehensive change in the website.

It's much more forward-facing so that there's more information for both the residents as well as uh resources for the businesses.

So that's been a long time coming, and we're really pleased that that'll be happening.

Currently, we have 420 businesses, we have about 6,877 followers on our social media platforms, which we keep active, and we have about 20,500 visitors who attend our five signature events each year.

Um we continue to try to really press the destination downtown.

We work closely with Visit Novato and the shop local initiatives.

We sit on the tourism committee.

I'm a non-voting member, and we have Barbara on there who is a voting member on the tourism committee.

So we actually have sort of even worked together on a lot of the marketing things.

Um is still about getting heads in beds and is very focused on hotels, which we now have one in downtown.

Um the pictures at the bottom are uh the travel channel came and did a beautiful piece on downtown Navado, and it is actually being run now on CNBC.

There's gonna be two more runnings.

Uh in this, so it's run twice on the travel channel, and now we'll be on CNBC twice in November.

So it's a lot of coverage, and I think the piece turned out great.

Uh signature events.

Uh we have two rock the blocks, we have uh safe trick-or-treat, we have bouncy ball new year, we have the car show, and we have uh the tree lighting.

So we are excited to have all of those.

The the car show is the largest we had ever had.

Uh we literally had no more room for cars.

We would have had to go into the peony parking lot at that point.

And then the actual attendance, and I was happy I got to see your mom and talk with you and your mom.

That was really special, and um, glad she enjoyed it.

Um, but fleet week had sort of been a quieter endeavor because the government shut down, and I think that that benefited us.

I think a lot of people came out.

So I was pleased.

Um community events.

These are things that are not necessarily they're adjacent to us, they're not necessarily our signature events.

Um I think First Fridays on Grant were great this year.

The Green Fireplace Solutions stepped up and really led the charge and worked with the businesses to make that happen, and I think they did an incredibly good job.

Um Farmers Markets still off-running, uh, still get my pot pies every year, and Tour de Novato was great, and then obviously the Art and Wine Festival is a big function in our downtown.

So we love to take part in those as much as possible and support the efforts.

When we get into budget, um I'll do a quick run through.

Um, generally speaking, we get in the range of 70 to 75,000 from bid fees.

That's the fees that come through the business licenses for each of the buildings, uh businesses.

There's a sliding scale based on how many employees you have and so forth.

Then the city, thank you, matches that dollar for dollar.

So for every um dollar the businesses put in, the the city invests a dollar as well.

Um we do have a fairly good solid income from our events.

This year was a little tougher.

We had a harder time getting some sponsorship, I think for many, many different reasons, but we we came out ahead.

Um this year we made um 25,000 from nostalgia days, 12, we're anticipating about 12,000 for the tree lighting, um, about 3,500 for bouncy ball new year, and these are also before expenses come out.

These are gross.

Um 75,000.

Rock the block still is a big event for us.

Uh, we have associate memberships, which are our adjacent businesses who uh like to that can they have the opportunity to come in and serve.

They basically pay dues and they are non-voting members but can participate in our events and uh benefit from some of our social media support.

Uh we did do a uh white light community donation drive.

Um we this last year we I think it was 11,000 we got last year, and this year we only were able to get $500.

Um then we added a line item, the tourism committee funds for the white lights.

They have committed, assuming we can get all of the pieces together to make up the white lights, they've committed $10,000 for the next three years.

That is contingent on the white lights getting solved.

So that sort of remains to be seen.

And then we get $3,500 from the tourism committee for our to promote our events.

On the expense side, um we have it's member outreach.

That's all of the things we do from newsletters to um, and that actually includes my salary as well.

One of the things that happened when they hired me is there was a lot of things that were outsourced prior to me, and I do most of those in-house, so I do all the marketing and so forth.

So they they hired me that fit the needs of what the program needed, actually.

Um the capital projects are really our only two capital projects are the planters, which we have a maintenance schedule and plan that's pretty on track, and then the white lights we have off and running, and now we just have to figure out how to sustain those over time.

Um, so our total event expenses are um about eighty-nine thousand dollars.

So total expenses what we're estimating we were budgeted at two eighty-five, eight twenty, and we're really just about three thousand short, if you will.

Although at the end of the day, I suspect we probably won't be.

I think there's a few places we can make up that 3,000.

And then for the proposed budget for next year, um the glaring issue is the $38,992 deficit.

It is very hard for me to submit an unbalanced budget.

All of you know me and have known me for 10 years, and one of the things Pat, you actually said to me from the dias several times is that we are accountable and responsible, and I take pride in that.

So this is a really tough one for me.

And I think what I'm standing here for you is to say how can we fix it?

I had some conversations with staff about the question of is it a sustainable model?

And the answer is absolutely.

We are completely sustainable.

It's just that this, I call it sort of some bowling balls that are sitting on top of us, and I think all of us together can figure out a way to make it work.

I think that's about the end.

Oh, so then I'm gonna shift to the bid advisory board report.

Um we are not proposing any changes this year.

The one thing we are going to consider and we've discussed is adding the CPI increase for every year.

We've never done that before.

It is in our bylaws that we're allowed to, we just haven't.

So that there's a process that has to happen, and I think we're gonna start that this year.

It would be a small increase, but it lead it would help close some of these gaps that we're seeing that prices go up just like everywhere, and it would help close some of that gap.

So that's a conversation that we will be definitely having in 2026.

I think that's the end.

So again, thank you so much for everything everybody does.

I know every person in front of me does a tremendous amount to support our efforts.

Thank you very much, Stephanie.

Uh we'll bring it back to council for any questions.

Councilmember Jacobs.

Pardon me.

I suspect some might be for you, but you can sit down and come back up if you like.

So I've got one something I want to bring up, and I'd like to ask uh City Manager Cunningham if this is a possibility that public works could actually take over the tree light the lights on the trees and possibly the planters.

Because public works does take care of the electricity to them and the watering to the planters, and that would alleviate a lot of financial stress to the DNBA.

Yeah, I would say um thank you to Measure M.

We were able to hire back some public works staff and supplement um public works services to the city.

So I do believe that we would have the resources to support that now, yes.

That may be a good possibility.

Thank you.

Councilmember Eklund?

Uh yes.

Um, I would actually be very supportive of um having uh the city take over that because I think that would help when number one, your your deficit.

Um, and then allow you to incorporate maybe even CPI this year as well as part of the budget.

Um I recognize that you know prices never stay the same.

And especially with the tariffs, you know, I uh it's all over the board in terms of what's happening um nationwide, but um so I would be very supportive of that.

So would we need to make the changes to the budget tonight, or would we approve this and then um have staff come back with a um modified budget with the Downtown Business Association to reflect that the public works will be taken over for those two items?

Yeah, I'm gonna look to um economic development staff.

I believe that we need more lead time in order to increase those bid bid fees secondarily.

Um sounds like it's something that you're comfortable with putting forward.

If we do increase that, then the city's dollar-for-dollar match would also go up, right?

So that's just something to additionally keep in mind.

Right.

So then we we don't need necessarily to adjust this budget.

We wouldn't be able to do that this year, that's correct.

Okay, so but we would be taking over the responsibility though this year.

We would take over it, it sounds like you're um you're supporting the city uh reassuming responsibility for the planters and the lights.

Right.

Yes, we could do that um in terms of changing the bid fees that the businesses pay.

Um I don't know what the lead time is, but we do need to work with the businesses and with DMBA.

Okay, you just speak into the microphone.

You need to speak into the microphone so we can often clarify and respond.

Yeah, the city manager's correct.

We do need to, there's a process that we need to follow.

Tonight's process is levying the bid fees, which are set in the materials that were sent to businesses earlier this month.

So if we were going to raise bid fees, um not only does the DNBA and the bid advisory board need to do their process and approve them, but the we also need to notify the businesses that they are increasing, which we have not, so we wouldn't be able to raise them this year, it would need to be next year.

So then the so we are gonna be increasing that, um, but the money then that difference would probably make the budget balance out so to some degree.

If the council approved taking over the the maintenance of the white lights and the planners, um the bids, the DNBA's budget would then balance because we would be taking those expensive out of their budget.

Right, okay.

So then the announcement of the the fees then would be the same.

Yes, okay, good.

That's great.

Um so the other thing I just wanted to say is to Stephanie, you've done a fantastic job.

Um I you have brought the Downtown Business Association several steps up.

You're a professional organization, um, and you've done a yeoman's job of trying to bring all the businesses together.

I'm just really impressed with the work that you have done.

And I wanted to personally thank you very much.

Downtown means a lot to all of us.

And um and you've helped everyone and making the downtown really successful.

So you and your team keep going.

You're doing a great job.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much for your presentation.

Um, I think we can all see how hard you work as well as um the impact you make on Novato.

Um, just uh for the website, I'm really excited.

But I do you have any like KPIs that you have-like a number of like traffic you want to get your first month, or like anything like that, or it's just a new look, a new feel, this is who we are.

Um I don't have those numbers, but right now I'm just trying to get through.

But yes, I can hear them.

Sorry if you don't mind using the microphone, so our viewers at home can hear you too.

So I used to be a cheerleader, I was so loud, everybody always knew.

Um, no, I I don't have the those set up right now, but I I mean I can start working on them.

Yeah, I'm just curious, um, you know, just the goals because I'm excited about the website.

In all honesty, our website is so bad that it's nowhere to go but up.

So we're gonna look great.

And then I just did want to comment.

I'm really happy to see you keeping a pulse on the housing and that sort of stuff, and um the council approved a construction management plan, and I think having your input um once I get settled in down the road would be really valuable too because you all will be impacted a lot.

Absolutely, thank you for that.

Thanks, and Councilmember Jacobs did an additional question.

Yeah, I just have an additional item.

If you took that out of the budget, would you have to increase fees?

Something you could look at, because I mean it's hard economic times for people, things you know, sales are down, it'd be almost a bonus to the merchants to not have an increase in their funds.

And the answer is very well, maybe not.

Um these are all conversations I have to have with the board, of course, which um and those are can be term determined.

But it's uh it's just something I throw out there to look at.

And you know I've always been a cheerleader for downtown.

Oh, absolutely.

You know, um, every time we go somewhere we talk about our downtown, it's beautiful.

So thank you.

So excuse me though, but if if they're not gonna increase the fees, then should we um not make the decision tonight?

Um or will we have to bring this item back to make the correction?

The the impact on our budget if you take the um planters out and the tr tree white white lights on my 2026 budget is 93,000.

So I can do a lot with that.

I can do a lot with that.

Um, you know, it it it will that's more in 2026, 2025 is still we're kind of scratching through.

Um we still have about 9,007 outstanding that we are working on with the trees and the it's basically what we have committed to through the end of the year for maintenance and so forth.

Um, so to your to your point, Councilmember Eckland, I think that staff would want to work with the DNBA on what their budget would look like without those expenses.

It sounds like very clearly there would not be a need to increase the bid fees for the business uh community, which would also mean that the dollar for dollar match from the city doesn't go up.

Um, but I think we would definitely want to look at that because with uh 90 plus thousand dollar um shift shift uh in additional revenue, um I think we would want to explore what those monies would be used for, or if it wouldn't make sense for the um for the business community to not pay as much as they're currently paying, or you know, just I think we would need to explore those different areas.

So then what do we do tonight then?

Should we just go ahead and approve the increase?

Um with the understanding that that it might not happen and then would have to come back.

I I I so there wouldn't be any.

I didn't know what the process is gonna be.

So there wouldn't be an increase tonight.

So I think that staff would recommend that you approve what's before you at this point, okay.

And then if the increase doesn't happen, then it'll come back to the council.

We wouldn't be able to do an increase this year.

If there was an increase, we would be looking at the following year next next October or November having that conversation, okay.

Thanks.

I I guess I'll I'm still unclear where that leaves us.

So in relation to the budget, so what I'm hearing you say is you're recommending that we accept the the proposed budget this evening, right?

Are you saying you would move forward with the bid assessment as presented, or you'd be doing a different bid assessment?

We would move forward with the bid assessment as presented for this year and then work with the DMBA.

This would give them the opportunity to rebuild their reserves a little bit.

Okay, and have uh give us the opportunity to talk to them about you know um levels of service and um what else they would be doing with the with the additional revenue that would be sitting in their budget.

Okay, yeah, and I just want to add part of this is the timing and process for your normal annual CPI assessment, which is what's before you this evening.

So this is already baked into a study that you have and supports this, and so it's a truncated notice that you do every year that appears on your agenda, and that gives them the funding for next year.

If you want to go above that, there needs to be a process where they go through a board hearing and a vote.

There has to be a new study to support it that assesses it to all the businesses appropriately.

That takes time, and that's why it wouldn't come back until next year.

Okay.

And then if the DMB decided that they were overfunded throughout the year and they didn't need this additional revenue, they'd have the opportunity in the next budget cycle to reduce the assessment.

Is that correct?

Yes.

They can propose any change to the assessment next year.

Okay, and not to put you on the spot, but does that work for the DMVA or do you need to consult?

It does.

I will the one thing I will say is that not it wasn't we had reserves, but we well overspent the reserves.

So I'll tell you the whole is advertising promotion.

Um that's where we had to steal money from.

And already our holiday promotion budget is considerably smaller than it should be.

And so what this would allow us to do is get back into the place where we're doing what I think is our core work.

And so I I think it looks like yay, we have ninety-three thousand dollars, but that's really kind of evening it back out to where we where we were.

Okay, thank you.

And then the next question, it's actually for council because I just heard it phrased two different ways.

So this is really just a clarifying question.

I wanted to confirm that our intent is to reassume responsibility on a permanent basis for the planters and the tree lights.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's gonna be part of the motion.

Is that why what they're doing for the planners?

I actually thank you for giving me an opportunity.

Um the one thing I have to say would have to say is the the reason this came to us, and I support the sit city taking it back over, but I'm gonna they're also like my children now, and um so they were a disaster, and the lights were a disaster under the previous city taking care of it.

I think there's a hundred reasons why.

So I would just ask that there would be conversations with Les Jardinaires and I have spent I can't even countless hours figuring out the systems.

We have a great system in place, so I know Frank would be or I would be willing to sit down with and say, here's what we've learned works, here's what doesn't work, because I don't want them to feel like they have to start from scratch.

We have so much institutional knowledge on how these things work, and and how to make the plants what the people want, and there's a whole series, and I'm happy to share that with the city.

That's why um that's important to work together so that they continue to look beautiful because the thing that would be heartbreaking is if we got here and then they just crashed and burned again.

Thanks.

Um I do want to, the right the events you host, they're a highlight to our community.

So thank you very much for everything you guys do.

You and your board, you've done a lot of work, particularly over the last 24 months.

Thank you.

Um, I the I do want to acknowledge that like the the economic climate is challenging.

So to see your budget looking distressed at the moment, I don't think that's unusual.

And I know it's not pleasant to present a budget that reflects but it reflects the reality of life in the business community right now.

Um, and then in honor of Mark, I do want to ask how can we help you?

Wait a minute and cry, Tim.

I totally do.

Um I mean, honestly, this alleviates so much pressure on us financially and otherwise, there's so many things that I've just not been able to do because of time, physical time, and um so I would say just keep them really beautiful for Mark, please.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll go to public comment.

If you'd like if you have any public comment on this item, please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city clerk.

Laura, no, so we'll bring it back to council.

Um, so would someone like to make a motion with regards to I suppose we'll start with the lights and the planters first?

I would like to uh move approval with the addition that the um city of Nevada take back the maintenance of the tree lights as well as the um the pots on Grant Avenue.

Um, I think we have I can't hear the question is when would this be effective?

When would this change be effective?

And I think this is probably direction to staff too to come back because there's gonna be some budget and other things that need to accompany this.

So I think just the direction for now because of what the agenda item is this evening, and then staff can return with whatever is needed to implement that with an effective day two is requested.

Right, but we had to put it in the motion so that staff has that direction, agreed.

Thank you.

So, if a motion do we have a second?

Second, and can I make a comment?

No, since it's a comment.

Sure.

Um, I would like to understand what they're doing for the plants as well as like the cost, because it looks like what it's $23,000, and just make sure.

So we're paying about $11,000 on it.

So just look at kind of that cost analysis for the plants.

I think it makes sense for us to take over the lights, but just I will just thought math would be helpful to understand.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Sure.

And Laura, if you please call the vote.

Councilmember Jacobs.

Aye.

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye, Mayor Pratim Farak.

Aye.

And Mayor O'Connor.

Aye.

Motion passes four zero.

Thank you again for everything that you do, guys.

Okay.

Our final item of business this evening is to consider and provide direction to staff regarding filling the vacant city council seat in District 5, which includes Hamilton and parts of Southern Nevada by either one directing staff to begin the process for council to appoint an interim city council member to fill the seat until the November 3rd, 2026, statewide general election, or two directing staff to begin the process to call for a special election to be held on April 14th.

Turn it over to Laura McDowell or city clerk to present the item.

Thank you, Mayor O'Connor.

So this is an item that I wish I did not have to present to you tonight.

And I apologize for having to bring it so soon.

Unfortunately, the government code is quite strict on how we fill a vacancy on the city council.

So tonight we'll be asking council for direction on how to move forward with the vacancy in District 5.

So some brief brief background.

District 5 encompasses the Hamilton and Southern parts of Novato.

It became vacant on October 13th.

And per the government code, the city council has 60 days from the date of the vacancy to address how to fill it.

The options before the council are to either appoint an interim city council member.

The interim would serve until the general election of November 3rd, 2026, and the seat would then be determined by the voters in District 5.

The other option would be to call for a special election.

The special election would be held on April 14th, and the seat would remain vacant until that time until the election results were certified.

Generally, that would happen a month or so after the election results or the real the election is ended.

So if the council were to choose an appointment, so obviously the 60 days we are, I think believe 15 days in.

So we have 45 days.

We also are taking into consideration that the holidays are coming, and with the council only has two council meetings between now and December 11th when the vacancy has to be addressed.

So ultimately, um the process for appointment is the pleasure of the council.

A suggestion from staff would be to open the application period tomorrow and have it be open until November 12th.

We would publish a notice of intent to fill the vacancy.

We would advertise using the city social media, we could perhaps do a mail or a newsletter, all of the things that we always do to notify the public.

We would then publish the packet on November 13th.

We could potentially hold the interviews at the public meeting of November 18th and then make the appointment that night, and the new council member would start on December 9th.

Again, just a reminder the seat does need to be filled or the special election called by December 11th.

Um this timeline is just taking in consideration that there is only one, there's the November 18th meeting and then the December 9th meeting regularly scheduled.

The council does have the ability to call special meetings if you like, but we were just trying to work within the schedule that has already been established.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

We're bringing it back to council.

Uh, mayor for Tem Farak.

Thanks.

Just one quick question for the application for appointment.

Have we ever put on like conflict of interest or like potential conflict of interest just to know ahead of time?

Um, well, any council member or council candidate does have to fill out their form 700.

So are you saying you want me to?

Like if I I don't know, I live in a certain area and we know we're gonna do a big park project or something, it would just be nice that we're like, okay, we'll probably have four on this issue or just that s kind of stuff.

Yeah, I mean that could be a consideration for the council when you get the applications if you're looking at the particular addresses of the candidates at this point.

We don't know who would apply or if anybody would apply at this point.

So, but yeah, I mean, I think that would be a consideration council.

I can defer to the city attorney if he has any input on that as well.

It could be something that you're asking the application process, yes.

That's so I'd be favoring that.

Any other questions?

Yes, I have one.

Please.

Um, is the county gonna be doing um is there another election in April?

No, so we would be the only at this point.

We are the only ones who will potentially be calling an election in April, to my knowledge right now.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Question?

Yes, one quick question.

If we went to the application process and no one applied for it, what would happen?

We would then I'll defer to the attorney on this one.

I believe we will then have to go to a special election.

You'd have to ask for more applications or call an election.

And Gary, that would have to be done before December 11th.

Is that correct?

Okay.

Yep.

Yeah, the 60 days won't change, so you'll have to do one or the other by then.

So if you were to open this up for a period of time to applications, didn't select someone on the initial round or didn't get any applications on the initial round, you could continue with that process.

Um there isn't a prescribed process as outlined in the staff report for what you actually have to follow.

So you could continue to solicit and think about folks to appoint right up until that December 11th date, and then call an election if that didn't happen.

Thanks.

Uh Councilmember Eckland, did you have another question?

No, I don't, but I wanted to start off the conversation.

Okay.

Um on the city council, we've been um uh we've had to do this a couple of times.

And um and I've given this a lot of thought and um I I really that the one thing that this one is so different is because there is three years left on this term.

That's very different than what we've had in this.

But only serve until November 3rd, actually.

So we'd only be pointing someone until November 3rd.

No, no, no, no.

I said if no, no, no, that this position is three years left.

So if um if we decided to appoint, it's only a one year.

But what I'm saying is that there's three years left on this term, and um that if we appoint, I believe that that gives that person a leg up, and I've never been supportive of that, and I will not support appointing because of that.

Um I really believe that um we should put this to an election because we're gonna have to do it anyway.

Um and sure, it might cost a little bit more money, but there is three years left on this term, and um uh and I think that we don't know whether there's anybody with if there's anybody else that is interested, and if nobody applies, then we're gonna have to do it anyway.

I think we do it from the very beginning.

Um I haven't had anybody call me up and say I'm interested.

Um, that's very different than obviously what we've had in the past.

Um so um I I really would suggest that we call for a special election, hold it in April 14th, 2026.

There has to be somebody that is willing to serve and um and and to run.

Um, but again, if we appoint that that person only gets a leg up on the election a year later, and uh I don't think that that's fair at all.

Thank you.

Um, forak.

Yeah, how much does an election cost?

Well, usually in a November election, the cost is spread out um through all the jurisdictions that are participating in the election.

So for a November election, it can be down to like a dollar per registered voter.

At this point, the county is just estimating, and I it was in the staff report, usually it's between six to ten dollars for a special election because we are the only ones participating in that election, so we pay one hundred percent of the costs.

However, if there is the potential, if the council does want to go to a special election, then we can bring forward items to discuss all mail in person, those types of things.

It's about there's ways to reach out.

Yeah, so sixty thousand dollars.

Yeah, I mean, I I think in this circumstance, there's a year left.

I think an appointment makes sense.

Um council member Eklund, you say nobody's interested, but if nobody's interested and we do an election, I didn't say that there was nobody interested.

You said nobody.

I said nobody has.

I'm just saying, I'm just saying, but then maybe someone no one will come to the election and we um spend all that time.

So I'd be in favor of uh one year appointment, and we'll have three council members running next year.

Thank you.

Um I'm also in favor of an appointment.

I I understand what you're saying, but I think it benefits council to have five people.

Um I also think given the new district set up, having one district unrepresented for a prolonged period of time probably isn't ideal.

Um, those are just kind of my comments.

So no other comments.

So at this point we'll go to public comment.

If there's anyone looking wishing to speak, please fill out a yellow card and hand it to the city clerk, or do you have any requests to speak?

I have no cards.

Okay.

I'll bring it back to council for a motion, a second, and additional discussion.

I'll make a motion to do the appointment as presented.

Um, but I would like to add on just the application, just a conflict of interest.

If they have anything, I think that's just helpful instead of us having to ask it when they're at doing their interviews.

Okay, I will second that.

And then before we move on, just for additional conversation, in terms of scheduling the interview, I personally would be in favor of the first week of December.

We've only a couple of meetings left between now and the end of the year, and those are quite compacted because of some changes we had to do.

So I would be in favor of it the first week of December having a special meeting, and then that way that could just be our one item.

Okay, so have a special meeting in early December, the first week of December for interviews for the and then the other thing I was going I'd like to clarify is just that the process around gathering questions from council.

I think last time you did two questions per council members, that right?

Yeah, would that process work for everybody again?

Yes, okay.

So two questions from each council member, then as well, please.

And then I think Laura, you vetted them just to make sure they weren't just so that's a people kits, yeah.

Oh, we do have a public comment or if the if you want to open that.

Sure.

Okay, please.

Um, sorry, it's Curtis Akins.

Curtis Akins, thanks for allowing me to speak.

I um liked your comment.

Um, Councilman Ekman, and um I want to add something to that.

If possible, I know I understand what you said about the person getting a leg up, so maybe we could have a person that fills this position not part of that district.

I don't know if that's a liable or not, but that's just legal.

Just a thought.

Okay, but I agree that they could give a leg up.

Yeah, thanks for the suggestion.

Okay, and did anyone other have any other comments they wanted to make in relation to the process or questions?

Okay, and Laura, if you please call the vote.

All right, council member Eklund?

No.

Councilmember Jacobs, Mayor Pertem Farat.

I hands Mayor O'Connor.

I motion passes three-one.

Thank you.

Can I just make sure that we have clear direction?

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, on the application, add a question for potential conflicts of interest.

Look to schedule interviews the first week of December, so we will work with you to all of you to identify date when everybody's available along with this city attorney, and then each council member will submit two questions to the city clerk.

Yes, and when would you like the questions by?

Yeah.

Well, we won't need them until the meeting, that first week of December meeting, but with the holidays and everything, I would like them as soon as possible so I can put everything together.

So if could we say by the end of this week?

If possible, does that work for you guys?

At the end of this week?

By the end of this week, if that's not possible, the end of next week is fine as well.

Let's do end of next week, I think is reasonable.

Does that work for everybody?

Yeah.

Okay.

What was you?

What did you say?

End of next week.

Next week.

So not this week, the following week.

And I will follow up with you if I don't receive them.

So thank you for the clarification.

And so how are we going to get the word out?

I'll work closely with the city's communications team.

We've already touched base, so we'll have the general channels.

So a mailer to every house, every voting member of that district.

That'd be good.

Okay.

Moving on to adjournment, our next regular council meeting will be held on November eighteenth.

And does council have anyone they'd like to close a memory of?

In that case, I'm on the journal meeting in memory of Mark Melford.

Thank you, everybody.