All right, welcome to the Novato City Council meeting, January 27th, 2026.

Please join me in the Pledge Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag.

And to the Republic.

One nation, another individual, liberty, justice.

Laura, can you please take roll call?

Councilmember Eklund.

I am present.

Councilmember Carkle.

Present.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Present.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs is absent.

Mayor Farack.

Present.

Thank you very much.

Moving on to closed session announcements.

I'll go to City Attorney Bell.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

There's no reportable action from closed session.

Thank you very much.

This is a presentation, so I'd like to call up Carrie Walsh, Boosters President, and Park and Recreation and Community Staff Members, Alexander Camber, Perry Sue, and Carrie Proctor.

And Carrie, I believe you're going to be presenting the donation.

Yes, please.

So my name is Gary Walsh.

I am the turn of the off.

Hello, there we are.

So I'm Carrie Walsh.

I'm the president of Novato Gymnastics Boosters.

Super excited to be here tonight and to present our annual 2025 donation to the city for $25,000.

Wow.

Yeah.

Super excited to do this year after year.

It's our reinvestment into the city that has given us so much.

We are a program that you know we're so proud to represent.

We have, you know, loads of kids that go through the program from toddler through uh the time that they graduate.

Um we do multiple events every year, and we were just talking numbers.

We hosted across our meets over 1,200 attendees in one year last year.

Well, so we're super excited.

Um but mostly I want to talk just for a moment about the community.

We do this in partnership with Park and Rec and with our excellent uh coaches, and it's something that I think really makes a huge impact on our community and on our athletes, and we're just thankful to have the opportunity to have them be involved and uh to be in an environment that is so you know growth oriented and enabling for that.

Wasn't really even planning to speak, but thank you very much, Carrie.

Of course, the City of Novato works hand in hand with Novato Gymnastics boosters, especially for our large events like the Novato Classic, which is actually coming up February 6th through 8th.

Uh we have currently 550 participants planning to compete throughout the weekend.

Um that does not include spectators, of course.

Um, we're expecting a large event, including a chance to see our own Novato gymnastics team compete on Saturday.

So you're welcome to come, city council course.

Um, and if you need information, please reach out.

We'll be happy to give you more specific information.

Can you repeat those dates again, please?

Yes, February 6th through 8th.

We actually start on a Friday evening, and it'll carry through throughout the weekend.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

One last comment.

I just want to say again, this program is so unique.

I don't know if you realize from past conversations, but Novato Gymnastics program is one of the few city-sponsored programs that has a competitive gymnastics team in the country.

Right, right.

So we're not only building confidence and engagement, and you know, like it's really lifelong skills, and it we do it very uniquely, and we do it with a lot of engagement, not only from the the athletes that are so excited and passionate to be part of this, but they take that away after they graduate high school, and either they take it to them with call to college or into their careers, and it really is the basis for you know so many things that drive success.

But I love the partnership that we do with Park and Rec and with our expert coaches and the community of parents that volunteer is farm nut.