Alright, I want to welcome everyone to the February 10th, 2026 City Council meeting.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

To the Republic, which it stands one nation, under God and individual liberty and justice for all.

Laura, can you please take roll call?

Councilmember Eklund?

Present.

Councilmember Carpal?

Councilmember O'Connor.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs.

Present.

And Mayor Farak.

Present.

There was no closed session this evening, so we will move on to the ceremonial matters.

I'd like to invite the council up to the podium to honor some small, large, and micro business of the year, and then our Spirit of Nevada Award.

So I'd like to invite the South Nevada living, Patty Yee, up to be honored of the 2025 Micro Business of the Year.

Welcome.

Come on up.

Yeah.

So we have a very special resolution.

We absolutely am so honored to have you in Novato and honor you with this resolution.

So whereas the City of Novato is proud to have businesses who support the community by participating in local programs and events.

And whereas this Novato Chamber of Commerce has chosen to award their 2025 micro business of the year to South Nevado Living, a publication that has become a trusted platform for hyper-local marketing and storytelling, and whereas South Nevada Living makes a meaningful impact on Novado's local economy by helping businesses of all sizes connect directly with the residents they serve rather than offering transactional advertising.

South Nevada Living provides a strategic community-based marketing tool that allows businesses to build trust and foster long-term relationship within Novato.

And now, there it be resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato on behalf of the residents of Novato express its sincerest appreciation to Patty Y for her outstanding dedication and shared vision of building a strong Novato economy and congratulates South Novato Living on being selected as 2025 micro business of the year.

Congratulations.

Would you like to say a few words?

Well, thank you so much.

It's really quite an honor to receive this.

It's been a wonderful journey getting this publication launched and every month that we um land in the mailboxes, we get more and more amazing feedback of how it's bringing the community together, connecting the community, and especially in Marin, we have an amazing um uh group of residents here, they're highly educated, they're not as easy to reach online, and so they are really appreciating this um physical publication where they can actually meet their neighbors where they're living in such a great community.

So again, it's really such an honor to be here.

I absolutely love uh running this business and connecting and getting to know this community, and I look forward to doing it for many years to come.

So thank you so much.

Congratulations.

And if you can go by the Novato Crowd side, all right, and I'm excited to welcome the Moonstore Moonstone Skin Care Suzanne Nation for the 2025 Small Business of the Year.

Very excited to see her.

So the resolution, whereas the Nevado City of Chamber selects their small business of the year based on three key areas: economic contribution, community involvement and leadership, and model business practices.

And we're as Moonstone Skincare has been chosen as the 2025 Small Business of the Year.

Whereas Suzanne has been intentional about establishing Moonstone as a model workplace in Novato.

The company offers health insurance to all team members, including part-time employees, provides a living wage across all roles and investments heavily in professional development through paid product training, professional workshops, and an annual all-day retreat focused on team culture, communications, and trust.

And now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato, on behalf of the residents of Novato, express its heartfelt appreciation to Moonstone Skin Care for their generous spirit and exemplifying service to the community and congratulates them on being selected as the 2025 Small Business of the Year.

Congratulations.

Would you like to say a few words?

I would like to thank the Novato City Council for creating such a wonderful environment in which businesses like mine can thrive.

And when you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.

Congratulations.

And if you could go to the Novato Proud sign and take a picture, and then our 2025 large business of the year, Mayan Climber Tree Service.

Jason Peck, I'd like to invite you up.

Whereas the City of Novato is proud to have businesses who support the community by participating in local programs and events.

And whereas the Novato Chamber of Commerce has selected Mayan Climber Tree Service as the 2025 Large Business of the Year.

And whereas the Mayan Climb Tree, no, Climb Team, sorry, routinely volunteer and provide support at key community events as well as participating in environmental volunteer efforts with the county partners to reduce fire risk and maintain healthy open spaces with a focus on building a safer, healthier urban forest for Novato's future.

And now, therefore it be resolved, the City Council of the City Novato, on behalf of its residents of Novato, express its sincere and heartful appreciation to Mayan Climb Tree Service for their service and congratulate them on being selected as 2025 large business of the year.

Congratulations.

Would you like to say a few words?

Sure.

Thank you guys.

This is a really good opportunity, and we're really thankful for this.

Um this year's focus is going to be to hone in more on defensible space and uh making sure that everybody's safe and prepared, uh focusing on Novato and carrying out to the rest of uh Marin County.

Sonoma's adopting the same thing, so we're gonna focus over there as well this year.

I want to congratulate all these three businesses, they're essential for Novato and absolutely essential just to helping us all out, and um, excited to see the 2026 ones in a year from now.

Um, so next, I have the great pleasure to give recognition to someone for the 2025 Spirit of Novato Award, and this award I would say is one of the most special we have.

Um I think it's been around for two years, three years.

Um I want to ask Rob Sunberg to come up.

I'm sure most of you know who he is.

He MC, the best MC we have in Novato.

Um I had a blast doing the uh New Year's Eve ball with him.

Ball drop.

All right.

So let's get to this resolution, because I'm not sure you've read it yet.

Whereas in 2022, the Novato Paint the Town Red board created the Spirit of Novato Award to honor an individual whose service to the community truly reflects the heart and spirit of Novato.

Someone who gives selflessly and generously and who contributes often go unrecognized.

And whereas the 2025 award is presented to Rob Sunberg, a person who truly embodies what this community is about.

Service, connection, and joy.

Whereas Rob has been volunteering in Novato since he was a teenager, when he became the first Eagle Stout in Troop 200.

Over the years, Rob has been a member of the Rotary Club of Ignacio, a charter member of the Novato Elks, and the music director at the Presbyterian Church of Novato.

Rob has served as an MC for everything from dances at the Margaret Tobbs Senior Center, the city's birthday party, the art and wine festers, the Fourth of July parade, the holiday tree delighting, and the New Year's Eve ball drop.

And Roth has also supported countless schools fundraising efforts across Novato.

And whereas Rob represents the very best of Novato, his outgoing personality, sense of humor, dedication, and kindness are unmistakable.

Rob doesn't just participate in Novato, he connects it.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato on behalf of the residents of Novato does hereby recognize Rob Sumberg as the 2025 Spirit of Novato Honore and thank him for his volunteerism and bringing joy to the entire community.

Congratulations.

Would you like to say a few words?

Would I?

First of all, I'd like to thank the council.

I'd like to thank the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Novato Business Association, Paint the Town Red for this wonderful, wonderful honor.

I'm extremely humbled.

Back in the day, I was actually born at Novato General Hospital.

My parents were married in this very room in 1961.

I came in 62.

The math works out.

But what is the spirit of Novato?

After the award was bestowed upon me, I paint the town red.

I thought about it.

I said my mother would have loved this.

She would love this too.

But I thought, what is the spirit of Novato?

Simply put, everybody in this room has that spirit.

Everybody at Paint the Town Red has a spirit.

It's the willingness to say yes.

Nothing more.

A willingness to say yes so that people can approach you.

Will you be a sponsor?

Will you be a volunteer?

I don't say yes to everything because my wife, she's the gatekeeper.

She would say, you're not doing that.

Okay, okay.

But a willingness to say yes is rather important in Novato.

We need volunteers for the Fourth of July parade.

For the bouncy ball drop, for rock the block, for the art and wine festival, for countless things that happen, and they don't get done by one person.

So when people are asked, a willingness to say yes is good.

We know who we shouldn't ask because they're gonna say no right off the bat.

We don't bother with that.

But a willingness to say yes is all that it takes.

Thank you.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you.

And then go over there and then pick up the picture.

Now that's a way to start a meeting with four proclamations.

Fantastic.

Alright, so moving on to approval of the final agenda.

Can I have a motion and a second?

I'll move approval.

Okay.

Laura, can you call for the vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carpal?

Aye.

Councilmember O'Connor?

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs?

Aye.

And Mayor Farrak.

Aye.

Alright, that motion passes.

Now moving on to item E, reports from the city council and city manager.

Mayor, Councilmember O'Connor, you have a proposed agenda item.

I'll hand it over to you.

Oh, certainly.

Did you want to start with the reports or the agenda item?

You go first.

Okay, no problem at all.

All right, thanks.

So I'm proposing an item that would address a couple of issues that I think we're all familiar with across the town.

So over the years, a considerable amount of staff time has gone into analyzing a number of intersections, crosswalks, and other safety improvements across Novato.

This proposed item would allow for a discussion focused on the viability of a targeted approach towards addressing a number of significant safety improvements of one project in the coming budget cycle.

In order to ensure these projects can happen in the coming year, which is what I'm proposing, I would suggest limiting the discussion to previously studied projects, i.e., shovel ready projects is kind of the casual term, which are staff supported and in conjunction with feedback for complete streets and pathways oversight committee.

The advantage of this approach, I believe, is that it would allow us to have a targeted immediate approach to some of the most prominent safety concerns throughout throughout Novato.

One of the things I found is as we were working on advocating for Measure M is people have uh strong the people have road safety and pedestrian safety is front of mind for a lot of folks across the city.

And everyone's had experiences or they have very strong familiarity with areas that could be improved.

I've found the city staff have studied this, they've spent time on this.

They have had a number of projects that they would love to see to move forward, just for a variety of reasons over the years, they couldn't.

I think we're in a position to address some of that, and I think a targeted approach to having a specialized capital improvement project where we basically cherry pick that the ready-to-go projects that would make an immediate improvement to the quality of life and road and pedestrian safety and bicyclist safety throughout Nevada would be beneficial.

Um with that, I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Does any council members have questions?

Councilmember Uckler.

Uh thank you very much.

Um, I think this is a great idea.

Um, and I think it's important that we coordinate with the Safe Roths to Schools Committee, which I am on, so that we can uh make sure that there's not duplication.

Um is there a possibility that we can discuss this before it actually gets incorporated into the CIP?

Uh, because I would like to be able to know which projects we would be funding with this money, and then also I'd like to have an understanding about how much of measure M would be devoted to this and versus to other projects.

So I think it would be helpful for us to have a discussion uh possibly um April or May before the draft budget comes out so that we can provide more direction to staff.

Absolutely.

My my hope is that if when this is brought back as a as an item, it's brought back in the in the budget cycle early on.

Staff has projects that they're familiar with, I'm sure they can get our input independently, and then when they come to council, it could be a comprehensive list that's been looked at by various stakeholders.

It's a relatively short timeline, but I think a lot of these projects folks have given their opinion on in the past.

So I think everyone's ready to move quickly on it.

I'm glad to hear that because I wasn't quite sure at what point we would be receiving uh some of the proposed projects for this dedicated amount of money, and then also how much would we be setting aside for that?

And I think we need to have that overall discussion and comparison to some of the other projects that we're trying to get done as well.

So um, I guess so March or April sometime in that in that time frame.

Does that give staff enough time to come back to the council and uh provide and get some more direction?

If there's um council support for this item, yes, we can bring it back in March.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any other council questions?

Okay, um I'll open up to public comment.

Laura, do you have any cards?

I have no cards.

All right.

Um for this item.

It's not here.

Oh, sorry.

Okay, for what I want to do.

Yeah, not for the item.

This is only an item one.

Do you want to speak on this item?

Okay, perfect.

Come on up.

You have a three-minute time limit.

So we're in council members.

Can you talk into the microphone?

Sorry.

It's being recorded.

We're going to speak on the R.

The council.

I think it's a great idea to improve cycling to increase the safety around our town, as was mentioned in the comments.

There was over a thousand accidents that involve pedestrians and walkers around Novato in the past 10 years.

That's averages about a one every three days.

And it would be very important.

I like that you're prioritizing around the schools to begin with, as those tend to have a lot of high traffic areas, especially when kids are in being dropped off in the mornings and the afternoons.

I think that's very important.

And creating safer avenues for our children and for our families and for our elderly to get around instead of just relying on cars.

They can get around town walking, taking e-bikes, using all kinds of different transportations.

I've seen people in their electric chairs having to take over the road because they don't feel comfortable because of all the driveway drops.

Once again, having bikeways is another way to provide areas for people in electric chairs to get around town and to allow them to have access to better to the community better.

And Alejandro Reyes and I'm representing Safe Street Savato.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

All right, bringing it back to the council.

Do I have a motion?

I'll move approval to have a second.

Laura, can you take the vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carpal?

All right.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Aye.

Mayor Pertem Jacobs.

All right.

And Samir Farak.

Aye.

Okay, that motion passes.

Um now we'll move it down to our reports from the city manager and city council.

City Manager Cunningham.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have three items tonight.

The first is an announcement that registration starts today, started today for our spring and summer recreation programs.

So parks and recreation is ready to provide classes, swim lessons, activities for children and adults of all ages.

You can find all of the exciting events in the activity guide that is posted on our website.

And if you are interested in pursuing some of these fun activities, please look quickly because our programs fill up really, really fast.

The draft ordinance was developed as you may recall based on a series of public outreach meetings held last year in both English and Spanish, and the city council study session that was held last year as well.

So the draft ordinance is designed to expand local protections for tenants facing no fault evictions.

And the city council is going to have a public hearing on this in March on March 24th.

And the third thing is another opportunity for public input.

We're starting our annual budget process and would like the community to provide us with some feedback.

So right now we have a survey out there asking you how we can best connect with you.

The survey is available on the city's website right now and closes on Sunday, February 15th.

So please take that survey and let us know when and how you would like to connect with us on the budget so that we can form our outreach plans.

With that, that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have a question.

On your just cause ordinance, are you gonna also be distributing that to the um emails that the city has on the email distribution list?

If we don't, I really encourage you to do that.

Because there's some people that may not look at the website or know that it is being posted.

Certainly, yes.

Absolutely.

We'll take we'll we'll go ahead and do that.

Okay, great, thank you.

All right, council member O'Connor, would you like to give your update?

Oh thank you.

Um I had the opportunity to attend the State of the City event last week.

I want to thank CEO, Chamber of CEO Christina Mendez for all of her hard work in putting it on.

It was a terrific event.

And I want to congratulate uh City Manager Cunningham on an absolutely wonderful job.

It's not easy to stand there and give a presentation that length and that complex, but you did an absolutely amazing job of recapping all of the team's accomplishments over the last year.

So thank you guys for everything that you did.

And that's my report.

Thank you.

All right, Mayor Pretem.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I too attended the State of the City, which was wonderful and was a standing room only crowd, and I think everybody was very happy and very impressed.

Thank you very much.

Um, Amy, it was wonderful.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Councilmember Carkel.

Uh yes, uh, I also attended the uh State of the City address, and uh it was as uh as Mayor Pro Time Jacobs said standing room only.

Uh nice job by both the chamber of commerce and the city manager of Cunningham.

So congratulations on a job well done on that.

Um I do have a couple other reports um in terms of what I did.

Um so on um February 7th, uh I attended the uh not May Warshed Association Board of Directors meeting, um, which was actually held at the City of Sonoma Council Chambers.

However, I attended via Zoom.

Uh the meeting included a guest presentation um on Sonoma Ecology Center's upper Sonoma Creek Restoration Vision by Stephen Lee, who's a senior scientist and research program manager at the Sonoma Ecology Center.

And uh if you're interested, the agenda materials for the meeting, including the presentations are available at the NBWA website, which is nbwarshows.org.

Uh second, I also had the pleasure of being invited to and attending the 2026 celebration of Mahashivratri at the Brahma Kamari's War Spiritual Organization's uh Anubhuti Meditation Center in Belmont Keys on February 7th, and the program included uh meet meditation session, cultural activities and ceremonies and sharing experiences uh with this chair uh this charitable and spiritual community organization.

Uh and I think that's all I have.

Uh actually uh when I said I attended the NBWA Board of Directors meeting, that was uh February 6th, that was Friday, February 6th.

I think I said February 7th, but in any case, that's my report.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Eklund.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

Um, first of all, um I went to the umbouti center to also um uh recognize their uh celebration.

Um I attended and participated in the Highway 37 meeting that we had in MAPA County.

Uh we sort of switched counties each time, and this is the help uh facilitate um 37 getting widened, um which was uh a very good meeting, but it's still frustrating that it's taking so long.

Um I also uh participated uh and watched the uh it was at the state of the city speech.

And Amy, I thought you did a great job.

Really appreciate um you acknowledging a lot of the um improvements that we've made over the last year, which is great.

Um I also attended uh the grand opening of What About Age, which was held at the Margaret Todd Senior Center, and I wanted to encourage everybody to this is an exhibit, an art exhibit about age, and I really encourage everybody to take the time to go to the Marin Civic Center.

Um, it's from January 26th to May 6th, and the whole art exhibit is called What About Age?

And really it it features the young, the middle-aged and uh elders.

This was especially appropriate for me because as you most know most of you know, my mom just turned 99 on January 13th, and it's really an honor to be able to have a mother, and especially my mother, that has lived this long.

Because if you imagine in 1927, it was really a different world than it is today.

And so we're very honored to have her.

She has her mind.

She's still walking with the walker.

She's active.

She hasn't even taken naps anymore, you know.

So anyway, so that's really quite amazing.

Um I also participated in the North Bay watershed meeting, and um there were other meetings that I did attend, but there is one that I want to talk about.

Um I attended the ABAG, which is the Association of Bay Area Governments, and I am the delegate from Marine County for to that group, and I'm also on the housing committee.

And so we had our uh first meeting to talk about this next round of regional housing needs allocation, and so um, there's already um an effort in the county um which uh we're gonna be talking about at a future mayors and council members meeting, uh, but I will be talking more about this because each cycle, which is six years in length, um the state tells us what our housing numbers that we need to achieve, even though we don't build them, we have to approve them, and so as you know, the state has more and more taken away our ability to say no to housing, so that's why we're gonna be seeing, especially in at Center Fell, housing that's you know, up to 14 stories, nine stories, and Novato, it could go that high as well, because these housing developments will not come to city council because the state legislature has prohibited um that coming to this to this council.

Um so the planning commission is the um the body that would actually hear it, uh, but they've pretty much taken away any control locals have um when housing is being proposed.

So um that's just uh a heads up for everybody.

Um, but anyway, so I just wanted to um alert people that we're gonna be starting this next cycle, and um it'll start in 2031, but we are gonna be determining the housing numbers uh between 27 and 28.

Um, so it's gonna be a fast running um schedule there.

So thank you very much.

Thanks.

Um, like my colleagues, I attended the state of the city.

Um, Emi wanted to recognize you for delivering an excellent presentation and handling the QA with clarity, confidence, and a strong command of the issues our community cares about.

Also, Christina Mendez, thank you for being the MC and um sponsoring it as a chamber of commerce.

Um, I also attended the Marin County Valentine's Day Gala, a wonderful event supporting three incredible organizations, North Bay Children's Center, Step by Step, and the grandmothers of St.

Vincent.

Each of these groups plays a vital role in strengthening families, supporting early childhood education, and providing essential services to some of our most vulnerable residents.

So that concludes my update.

Uh moving on to public comment item F.

Um I have one card, you'll have a limit of uh three minutes.

I'd invite Nevado citizen, good evening.

Good evening, Council.

Let me begin by telling you that.

Can you talk into the microphone?

Sorry, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm of uh Mexican descent, I've spent my life uh advocating for and working on behalf of the public.

I've been involved in consumer protection.

So I have and possess a law enforcement background.

I broke open the largest construction fraud case in the state of California in Los Angeles County.

And I'm a former union president.

I sat on a board with over 5,500 dedicated government union employees.

I was a president of a union.

I've been a shop steward.

I've looked out for the rights of individuals.

Councilmember Jacobs, I'm disappointed that I never heard back from you.

You promised to get back to me.

You didn't.

You can glare at me all you want.

But on January the 20th, I sent an email to Councilmember Jacobs.

And so now I'm going to read this letter for the full council.

I had an incident that had occurred with the Nevada Police Department.

Given what's going on with the ice raids, it's a huge trigger for me.

Watching Mexican citizens get deported from what used to be Mexican land.

Anyway, let me just go on with the letter.

And I'll read it as I wrote it to Jacobs, but it's directed to all of you, and I'm asking for action on this.

Hi and good afternoon, Councilmember Kevin Jacobs.

I have lived in Novato since 1988, always in District 1, and have for a number of years been very concerned about troubling patterns and displays of biased behavior by members of the Novato Police Department.

It appears that the Novato Police Department's inability to retain officers and chiefs is due in part to a culture of openly disliking and brazenly exhibiting contempt towards the very citizens they are sworn to protect.

Their failure or refusal to treat members of the Novato public equally, fairly, impartially, and without negative preconceptions, is on full display, and I am wondering if the members of the council are concerned enough to step in and effect changes before the city finds itself embroiled in costly litigation and or before one of the officers wrongly uses their position and authority in such a way that ultimately causes harm to an innocent member of the community.

In other words, they decide who they like and who they dislike, regardless of the merits of the citizens' concerns, and they proudly wear that attitude, beginning with the chief and cascading down to every person within this department.

Your time's up, sir.

I'm sorry.

Could you send it to um the that can you give that to Laura or send it to the rest of the council members because they do want to hear what you have to say?

And excuse me, does it have your contact information as all as well?

Because I'd like to contact you, or you can call me too.

Uh Councilmember Eckland, um, staff is aware of the situation and is working through it, and this would be a personnel issue, not something for the council to um engage in.

Right, that we have uh a right to be able to hear the issue is certainly, yeah, that's what I want to talk about.

Certainly, absolutely as a sidebar, I looked today to see.

Well, when isn't there a citizens review committee of sorts?

And there was.

Yeah, there was, and they canceled the meeting and they're not gonna meet till late next August.

They just don't have anything scheduled.

They canceled it last week.

Thank you, sir.

That's how concerned they are.

Anyway, uh apologies.

I'm a little, I'm a little bit more upset about what happened.

Yep, and I'm very disappointed in council member Jacobs' lack of follow-through.

So, Laura, do you have any more yellow cards to speak?

I have no other yellow cards.

All right, so moving on to item G on the consent calendar.

Do I have a motion?

So moved on the consent calendar.

Oh, sorry, can you give me one second?

Okay, sorry, Mr.

Who made the motion?

Councilmember Carkle made the motion and pro tem Jacobs made the second.

Thank you.

For Councilmember, all right.

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

Aye.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs?

Alright.

And Mayor Farak.

Aye.

That passes.

All right.

So moving on to general business.

This item is to review and consider approving the first amendment to the existing agreement for operations of the Novato Historical Museum at the Scott House between the City of Novato and Novato Historical Guild, and then to adopt a resolution amending the fiscal year 2025 and 2026 capital improvement program budget to establish a new capital improvement project for the Scott House rehabilitation.

So I'd like to invite Katie Scotland up, our park rec and community service director to present the item.

Welcome, Katie.

Hello, there we go.

One moment.

All right.

Good evening, honorable mayor and council members.

I have the unique privilege of presenting to you this evening an update on the city and Novato Historical Guild's joint progress towards renovating the city-owned Scott House.

Tonight's presentation comes after thirteen and a half months of collaborative work between the guild and city teams.

I'd like to take a moment to introduce the members of both groups now.

My counterpart counterparts on the city's team include assistant city manager Bill Rose and Public Works Deputy Director Chris Benini, and members of the Historical Guild's relocation committee include the guild's president Susan Magnone, the relocation committee chair, Jean McLeamy, Treasurer John Dowden, and fundraising chair Patrick McLeamy.

So tonight we are asking the council to consider approving the first amendment in the existing agreement for operation of the Novato History Museum at the Scott House between the City of Novato and the Novato Historical Guild.

We're also asking the council to consider a resolution amending the fiscal year 2526 capital improvement program budget, which is resolution twenty twenty five-055, and establish a formal capital improvement project budget.

Excuse me, capital project for the Scott House rehabilitation project.

So as I mentioned, this item comes after 13 and a half months of collaborative work, but that is with respect to the last time we came to you.

Um in reality, this discussion began way back in April of 2023 when Councilmember Eklund brought forward a proposal to consider the agreement with Novato Historical Guild to relocate the History Museum to the Simmons House.

After receiving support for this relocation to the Simmons House, the council on May 9th, formally uh excuse me, after support for this relocation on May 9th, the guild formally withdrew this request for use of the Simmons House and instead requested use of the Scott House located at 917 Sherman.

Um it was at this meeting that council directed staff to work with the guild on a potential exclusive negotiating agreement.

The item returned to council again in July, where the city council adopted a draft ENA subject to further revisions of the insurance and indemnity provisions that were mutually agreed upon by the city and the guild approved by the city's insurance risk pool.

At the meeting of September 12th 2023, City Council directed staff to stop pursuing the ENA at that time and instead work with the guild to create and Councilmember O'Connor on a funding or other agreement to pursue the first phase of studying if the Scott House was even feasible for the relocation.

Then that brought us to October of 2023.

City Council approved a draft funding agreement that evening authorizing the guild to perform that feasibility study of the Scott House.

The funding agreement was executed in November, and the Guild commenced their investigation of the Scott House beginning in January of 2024.

Their work concluded in June of 2024, and the investigation of the site included the building code analysis, land use, and zoning assessment.

The guild has also made a thoughtful effort to maintain the historic preservation of the site and evaluated the Scott House for eligibility of a historic resource.

Conceptual drawings and outline specifications for the renovated museum were also prepared based on the museum's program and code requirements, which informed the cost estimate provided a $3.2 million renovation.

All findings of investigation were compiled into a comprehensive report and were presented to the city council at their meeting on December 3rd, 2024.

The staff also presented that evening an agreement for operation with the guild to operate the Scott House.

And at that meeting, the Guild had already raised $1 million to support this commitment to transition to the Scott House.

At this same meeting, the Guild clearly defined that they were interested in raising all funds by the end of 2025.

Council approved the agreement and the guild immediately started funding.

Excuse me, fundraising.

And with that, I'm going to pass it off to Jean McCleamy, who is going to provide you all with an update on the fundraising status of the guild.

And have control.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you, Katie.

As you said, I'm Jean McLeany, and I'm pleased to be here tonight representing the Novato Historical Guild as chair of the Museum Committee.

And first I'd like to see a show of hands of all of those that are here tonight to support the new museum.

Thank you all for being here.

Don't feel any pressure.

Anyway, so tonight, let me uh let's see.

Let's see if I can do this.

Okay.

Tonight we have a wonderful story to tell.

It's a story about a long-held dream coming true.

Ironically, 50 years ago, the Novato Historical Guild was formed at a meeting at the Scott House.

50 years ago.

The Scott House is the very building when renovated, will become the new Novato History Museum with your approval this evening.

Over 50 years ago, the city moved the postmaster's house to the current site on DeLong Avenue, as you know, right across the street.

Then the newly formed historical guild partnered with the city to operate the museum at the Postmaster's House.

The city owns the museums.

They own the Postmaster's House building and they own the Hamilton Air Museum and they own all the artifacts.

So Novato owns all that.

The guild volunteers manage the museum, they curate the artifacts, they lead tours, and do archival research upon requests.

Over the years, the guild has long dreamed of returning to the Novato Civic Center where it was founded.

To fulfill that dream, the guild knew that we had to lead that effort and raise the money as the city did not have the resources.

The city partnered with the city to evaluate the Scott House as a new history museum and funded the $40,000 investigation.

The 600-page investigation report is in your packet.

It shows in detail what's needed to restore Scott House and has a detailed cost estimate totaling 3.2 million.

After this investigation, the city and guild created a new agreement, as Katie has alluded to.

Just so you know, the names of the donors appear in the Novato Historian published quarterly by the Guild, and donors giving $5,000 or more will be permanently recognized on a donor wall in the new museum.

The Chamber of Commerce Board and the Novato Downtown Business Association also supported the project as it adds vibrancy to a long vacated building in the heart of downtown.

Besides fundraising this past year, the Guild participated in many events and had a robust social media outreach.

The Guild also created a new logo and website to raise awareness of the Guild and the Museum in our community.

Tonight, the City Council will consider approving an amendment to the agreement, enabling the partnership to complete design and construction of the new museum.

This amendment provides important details for how the funds will flow from the guild to the city for design and construction.

And what's the city's contribution to this project?

As the Scott House is a city-owned building, the city will waive the permit fees and pay their own administration fees.

Thank you very much.

Also, we are requesting that the city council allocate the BRIC fund to the project.

The BRIC program, some of you may know, was established in 2009 to coincide with the restoration of this building and the city's 50th birthday.

Since the BRIC program was established and to this day, guild volunteers have managed the sale of the bricks and installation in collaboration with the city's finance team and public works department.

The BRIC fund was used, was to be used for the enhancement of the Civic Center at the direction of the council.

We think this project is a gift to the city and our community.

Scott House will be transformed into a vibrant new history museum on the Civic Center, accessible to all.

This museum will be an open door museum, offering compelling exhibits, open more hours, hosting many activities for the community to add vibrancy to the downtown, and add a new outdoor stage on the Civic Green that will host concerts and feature outdoor exhibits.

Perhaps we will add outdoor umbrella tables for coffee and pastries, utilizing our downtown purveyors for catering needs.

We want this gift to be a great example of collaboration and partnership between the guild and the city and set a new benchmark for others to follow.

It is our gift to our community and to future generations.

Thank you.

So any questions out.

I'll take it back to Katie here.

Thank you, Jean.

So we have a few more slides I'd like to highlight for you all.

So in talking about the draft amendment, I'd like to go through a few of the updated provisions specifically around the amendment.

So the amendment does not change operationally how the guild functions in terms of overseeing the museum in partnership with the city.

And this is also true for within that agreement.

We outline how the Hamilton Field Museum also operates.

And also how the guild will continue to participate throughout the project and clearly defines that the city retains full responsibility for the project as it is a city-owned asset.

Um does replace some language from the original agreement.

In the original agreement, we outlined that there would be two joint escrow accounts in consulting with our finance team and in partnership with the guild.

We have removed the joint escrow accounts and changed that to two bank accounts with the Bank of Marin, both the city and the guild do bank with the Bank of Marin.

So, but still maintaining that there would be two specific accounts, one for the initial design costs and one for ongoing construction costs.

Another provision reestablishes that the guild is responsible for collecting all the funds pledged, and that in the event that the funds are not secured, received, or deposited for any reason, the guild remains solely responsible for obtaining alternate funds or directly funding any of the remaining balances.

Further into the presentation, but the city will not proceed with design until sufficient funds of $341,000 are needed, until the sufficient funds of $341,000 are deposited as needed to complete the design services.

And the city will not proceed with procurement of construction services until 90% of total funds are received and deposited into those project accounts.

And the guild will deposit 100% of funds for construction no later than July 1st, 2027, or the completion of construction is finalized.

The draft amendment also includes reporting requirements obligating the guild to submit quarterly written statements detailing the pledges made, any funds received over the course of that quarter, any outstanding pledges or any pledges that are no longer intended to be received.

And then we also outline that procedures for addressing any potential cost overrun.

So once we go through the bidding process for construction, the guild and the city will meet if there's any overruns or any higher bids that we didn't anticipate.

The city will still retain final decision making and authority for any scope adjustments, but both parties will come together and talk through those pieces in terms of removing pieces of the scope, and or if the guild is able to provide additional funds or do an additional fundraising measure, they have agreed to do so.

With that, I'm going to pass it off to Bill.

Thank you, Katie.

So one might ask why this project and why now.

First and foremost is the opportunity.

So the city is poised to receive receive an incredibly generous donation from a valuable civic partner.

We see this as an opportunity to enhance an already strong partnership and to something even greater.

It is an opportunity to enhance and rehabilitate a city asset that is in need of attention.

It will preserve local history through strengthening and giving a place for the history museum.

It enhances the civic center.

This is part of the civic center campus.

It is in some ways the city's front door, and this is a long-term investment.

This building will stand for quite some time.

Procedurally, staff is asking the council to amend the current 25-26 capital improvement program to include a specific project, the Scott House Rehabilitation Project.

And lastly, the council should note and has been mentioned, this is a city project.

It will be managed, it will be administered, the contract management from beginning to end will be done so by city staff, and staff will have oversight throughout the process.

So staff is recommending an allocation of just over $220,000.

This is from fund 118 for long-term maintenance.

This will be for the 26-27 capital improvement budget.

As was also noted, the city staff is recommending utilization of the BRIC fund.

That fund was established quite some time ago and it has not been utilized to date to do what its intended purpose was, which is to enhance the civic campus civic center campus.

And so staff is recommending that 91,000 be transferred for immediate use into the project.

To further outline the fiscal impact just in a more visual sense, again, staff are recommending the 222,000 dollars just over that from fund 118.

We've verified with our finance department that this fund is available and would be used again for engineering project management.

We would wrap this up into the development of the CIP budget for fiscal year 26-27.

So it would come to you as part of your budget development process that we'll be discussing this spring.

So you can see that reflected here in this table.

However, the BRIC fund transfer of just over $91,000 would be recognized in this current fiscal year.

The $250,000 you see referenced in the current fiscal year is cash on hand from the guild currently.

So that would also be cash available for the initial design costs in the current fiscal year.

Now I mentioned earlier in my presentation that we do have one slight revision that we'd like to discuss with you tonight regarding the draft amendment, and that is in section 4.1.

So in alignment with the council policy manual regarding loans, it came to staff's attention that in section 4.1 as drafted tonight in the staff report and in the uh draft amendment you have in your packet.

Um 4.1 discusses that the city shall not commence authorize or proceed with any procurement of design services unless and until no less than 60% of the funds have been deposited into the accounts for the project.

Between the guild and city staff, we have reviewed the cost for design services and believe that to begin the design phase, we will not need more than $341,000 to start now.

Um this is a very um ambitious timeline for this project.

Um, and so in order to keep moving forward, we'd like to amend Section 4.1 again, from my last slide.

Um, we do have over $341,000 if this is approved to begin design services now.

Um, and then it is also worth noting that the guild has two CDs that are currently vesting, one to mature in early April and one to mature in early July.

Um the April uh CD is at $750,000, and the CD uh vesting in July is at 1 million.

But then again, to remind you of the th the additional thresholds, staff would not be progressing with any procurement or bid process for construction until we reach 90% of total funds needed for the contract or for the construction project.

Excuse me.

So next steps, pending council's approval tonight, the guild and staff will reconvene to begin pre-construction discussions, including the development of the full scope of the project, review scheduling, review the necessary contracts to begin that pre-design and preconstruction and design procurement process of professional services and any anything necessary for pre-construction.

As I mentioned, this is a fairly aggressive and ambitious timeline, and we will require cross-departmental collaboration to succeed.

And with that, Bill and I are here to answer answer any questions as well as the guild.

Thank you so much for the great presentation.

We'll bring it back to council.

If you have questions, please let me know.

Councilmember Eglin.

Thank you very much.

Great presentation.

Really appreciate it.

Both Jean and staff did a great job.

And so I know that this will be a success as previous projects were as well.

There's two questions I have.

One, does the guild agree with the proposed amendments that staff is making?

I did speak with the guild earlier today.

The board agreed to the amendment that was presented to you this evening.

I will say that in practice, we all understood it to be that the draft of 341 would be implemented.

It was a catch of the 60% and staff's preparations for tonight's presentation that was caught.

So yes, the board will be presented again, but in conversations with the relocation chair, we believe that yes, they're prepared to accept the change.

Okay, great.

And if I could hear from the guild too, that would be appreciative.

Thank you for the question.

Yes, we agree to the change.

Our finance fundraiser and also John Dowden, our treasurer, and he agreed with the change.

Okay, great.

Okay, thank you.

Second question is if there is a conflict between staff and the guild that's not resolvable, would it come to the city council?

I think it would be dependent on what the conflict was.

Certainly, you know, if it was not if it got to a point where we felt like we weren't making any progress, that could potentially be an option.

Um we would do our best to mitigate any potential for it needing to come back, as any time it would come back to council would be a delay in the project.

So ultimately it is in our best interest, and you know, we worked staff work very closely with the guild to draft this amendment and went through all the what ifs.

So we feel really confident that we vetted a lot of those what ifs, but um, certainly if if we couldn't overcome that would be a potential.

Um, since there isn't an explanation of this in the agreement, um, my concern is that if the city doesn't bring it to the council, um, then the guild would have to if um they wanted another body to um resolve the differences of opinion.

Um, so I I guess a council member could also put, and I guess this is a question for Gary.

I guess a council member could put an item on the agenda asking that the council talk about this potential agreement.

I don't think there's going to be one, but I just want to make sure because this is a long-term agreement that we're signing.

And so I just want to make sure that there are opportunities for the guild to bring their issues to the council.

If there is an issue that staff does not agree with, and there's no way for them to put an item on the agenda unless staff agrees, but if staff doesn't agree to put it on the agenda, then I guess the other option is that a council member could put it on, pursuant to our ability to put an agenda item on.

On the first I uh agenda item on every month, yeah.

Um, certainly a council member could use that process to have this be agendized and to have a be discussion similar to the other items that was discussed earlier this evening.

I would note that the operational pieces of this agreement, which are in place once this process is completed, are mirrored off of your existing agreement with the guild, and so that was carried over, and that process has seemed to work.

I think I don't want to speak on behalf of everybody here, but I think based on my understanding in the drafting that it has worked well.

Um, and then the purpose of that very lengthy report, the 600 and some odd pages, was so that there's a roadmap for how to spend these funds and get the building up.

So I do think the parties have done a lot of legwork to get to this point, and um certainly public comment continues to be available to anyone, and council members could also agendize things if they chose to.

Okay, great, thank you.

Those are the only two questions I have.

Thank you.

Council member O'Connor.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation, thank you for all of your hard work.

It's it's been monumental what you guys have been able to accomplish.

Um I just wanted to confirm my understanding of a couple of pieces.

Uh one of the clauses that's been included in the contract is no construction will begin until 90% of total expected construction funds are on deposit with the city.

Is that correct?

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

And then I had a question for you, Amy, regarding the funding source.

Um I recall a couple of years ago we did a reserve analysis that looked at a couple of our our reserve funds, and they were underfunded at the time.

Um the long-term maintenance facilities and fund is that is that a reserve fund and is that adequately funded.

That one is not adequately funded.

I mean, it needs millions and millions and millions of dollars to catch up on all of our deferred maintenance.

Okay, so but moving it from there isn't going to create additional work because you've already analyzed it.

It's not.

Okay.

And then just as I was following the presentation, my last question.

So by by July 2026, if I'm understanding the the maturities of the various cities that you shared, there's there should be close to about two million dollars deposited with the city by then.

Is that correct?

Correct.

By July 2026, they should have about 1.9 million.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Those are all my questions.

Thank you again.

You guys have done so much.

All right.

Um, I had just one question regarding the BRIC fund, and I did uh meet with the historical guild on this, but just want to clarify that if they don't use the BRICF fund entirely and let's say um they have more money, we would get that the city would get that back, correct?

Yes, it is written that the city would retain the funds.

Perfect.

Thank you very much.

Alright, now moving on to public comment.

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

Um I'd like to invite Denith Athos up.

Welcome, Denise.

Hi, thank you very much.

Um I'm Denise Athus and current president of the Chamber of Commerce.

I'm also here with several members of our board in the audience if they could raise their hands.

Thank you for being here.

Um, the board enthusiastically endorsed this project, and we're absolutely thrilled that it's moving along so quickly.

Um, the historical guild and the McClaymes especially deserve kudos for reaching their goal in the time that they said that they would.

Um, we believe that the museum will be an amazing asset for down for Novato in general and downtown businesses, and we want to encourage the continued work to see this museum open as soon as possible.

Thanks very much.

Thank you, Susan Wernick.

Welcome.

This is past city council member night.

So I'm delighted to be here tonight to express my support for the relocation of the Novato History Museum to the Scott House and to ask the council to approve both the amendment to the agreement and to adopt the resolution to amend the 25-26 capital improvement program budget to establish a new CIP for the Scott House rehabilitation.

I am so impressed with the work that the guild has done to get to this point.

I think we all know that if we give Jean McLeamy a project, she isn't gonna stop until she gets it across the finish line.

It's my hope that the rehabilitation of the Scott House is the catalyst for moving forward with work on the Simmons House, the Hainan House, and someday the community house.

All these properties have been neglected far too long and cast a poor shadow in our downtown.

Whether the buildings are renovated or torn down and rebuilt, I hope that the council and the city make it a priority to finally move ahead with decisions regarding those properties.

That being said, I look forward to seeing the work on the Scott House move forward and to see it open as the new location of the Novato History Museum.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Susan.

All right, we'll bring it back to council.

Do I have a motion?

I'll move approval of the draft amendment number one to the agreement for the operation of the Novato History Museum.

And also would like to move the resolution amending the fiscal year 25-26 capital improvement program budget and establish a formal CIP project for the Scott House rehabilitation project.

And that's with the change, correct?

Yes, that's with the proposed changes that staff is recommending.

That's been approved by the historical guild.

And I'll second that.

Laura, can you take the vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Um should we say a few words before we vote, or should we say a few words after?

Normally it's before, but you can do it now.

Okay.

Um I didn't do any prepared comments, but I'm just gonna speak out from the heart.

Um I totally agree that this project will be a win-win for both the guild, the city council, the city staff, and also the community of Novato because we'll have a museum talking about our past and our present and hopefully the future that people can access without necessarily having to cross a four-lane roadway.

I was gonna say a former highway, but a four-lane roadway that's pretty dangerous.

So, and I also agree with the comment that if you give Jean a project, it'll get done because she was instrumental also in making sure that we had new city offices and a wonderful council chambers that uh for the years to come for us to enjoy.

So, and also with um all of the help and the support of all the guild members, the board, and all the community members who have donated to help make this project successful.

I'm really anxious to see this completed, and um we'll continue to help support the guild as time goes passing, as I have in the past.

I'll keep doing that little at a time as I can afford it.

So thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Um I don't see anyone else.

I think we're all very thankful for your hard work, and we're excited to see what uh will come.

Uh Lauren, can you take the vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye, Councilmember Carkle, Councilmember O'Connor, Mayor Pertem Jacobs, and Mayor Farak.

Aye.

Alright, that passes.

Um moving on to adjournment.

The next regular city council meeting will be held on February 24th, 2026.

Um, do you all have anyone you'd like to adjourn in memory of?

I have um one person, um, one of my good friends, her best friend passed away, Bridget O'Brien.

She's 42 years old, and she passed away on February 5th after six years battle of stage four colon cancer.

Um, she was a beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, and cousin, and a cherished friend.

So we'll um adjourn in memory of Bridget O'Brien.