Let's do the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the fly of the United States.

I don't know.

Laura, can you please call the role?

Councilmember Eklund.

Present.

Councilmember Carkle.

Here.

Councilmember O'Connor is absent.

Mayor Proton Jacobs.

Sure.

And Mayor Farak.

Present.

Alright.

And there was no closed session item this evening.

Moving on to item C: ceremonial matters.

I'm happy that we have a presentation from the Youth Advocacy Committee, Tobacco Use Prevention.

So I'd like to invite Fraven Twilling and members of the Youth Advocacy Committee to give their presentation.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Happy to have you guys.

Nicotine Free Marin policy solutions for protecting our youth.

I'm Say Gucci, I go to Terra Linda, and I'm a junior.

I'm Danny and I'm a senior at Novato High School.

I'm Isaac and I'm a freshman at San Marin.

The youth advocacy is made up of high schoolers from Marin County who are committed to addressing our youth nicotine epidemic.

Our goal is to engage with local organizations organizations, policymakers, and citizens to raise awareness for youth nicotine use and solutions to protect community health.

Our slogan is not about us without us, and our belief is that our voices matter when it comes to addressing the very situations that we the youth face.

One of the most prominent issues that young people face today is nicotine addiction.

To better understand nicotine use in Marin, we will now look at the most recent county level data on teen nicotine consumption.

The data we are showing today comes from California Healthy Kids Survey.

As you can see, the rates for youth lifetime tobacco use are greatly on the rise.

What may be more alarming or surprising is the large jump between the Novato average and the California average.

As you can see on the graph, Novato is uh the red and California and blue.

These rates for tobacco vaping among juniors in Novato versus California, as the graph demonstrates, while California's average is at a standstill, Novato experienced a major increase.

Here California is the red in Novato's blue.

So why do these numbers matter?

Nicotine, regardless of how it's consumed, is toxic and has damaging effects on human health.

Nicotine use impacts brain circuits that control learning, attention, memory, mood, and reward systems.

The damage is even more pronounced in younger brains, where these brain circuits are still developing.

It also causes damage to the lungs and cardiovascular system.

So what?

Even more, the health and financial burdens of smoking are huge.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death.

In California, it results in 40,000 deaths a year.

Smoking costs California 18 billion dollars per year.

However, for every dollar spent on tobacco control in California, healthcare costs fall by 231 dollars.

The tobacco industry also targets specific communities such as the LGBTQ community, the people of color, and the low-income communities who have doubled exposure to second-hand smoke.

Teen nicotine addiction is a serious issue in Marin.

One way we can combat nicotine addiction is decreasing the availability of addictive tobacco products in Marin.

This can be achieved through updating our logo tobacco retail licenses.

A tobacco retail license is a local license required for businesses that sell tobacco or nicotine products.

TRLs regulate and monitor tobacco cells and also provide a way for local jurisdictions to enact stronger protections against the tobacco industry.

At this point in time, every jurisdiction in Marin County has a tobacco retail license in place.

The current resale license included following rules.

One, Novato, like other cities in Marin, ended the sale of flavored nicotine and tobacco products.

State of California later passed a statewide law to end the sale of flavored nicotine products as well.

Second, pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens cannot sell tobacco products except for FDA-approved quit support products like nicotine gum or nicotine patches.

Adding to that tobacco and nicotine products must also be stored behind the counter, and the Marin County Sheriff's Department is responsible for the tobacco retail license enforcement.

Our point is the Novato City Council can do more to protect these youth in our community.

The current TRL in Novato can be improved to protect Jews and other vulnerable populations from the tobacco industry.

Today we will discuss some of the TRL amendments that were recently passed in other jurisdictions in Marin.

Establish minimum price.

The Marin County Board of Supervisors and the City of Fairfax have adopted new minimum price policies that set minimum sale prices for tobacco products, below which price the products may not be sold.

In doing so, minimum prices make tobacco products less affordable and reduce the incentive to purchase them.

A study by the campaigner for tobacco free kits shows that for every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes, adult smoking rates decrease by 4%, and Jewish smoking rates drop by around 7%.

Increased minimum pack size.

The Marin County Board of Supervisors and the City of Fairfax have also established minimum pack sizes, which requires tobacco products to be sold in packs rather than sold individually.

For example, cigarettes in the US must be sold in packs of 20 rather than sold individually.

Evidence shows that smaller packs, sometimes referred to as KITPACs, increase access for teens by offering a more affordable entry point into tobacco use.

Increasing the pack size of tobacco products discourages juice initiation by making them less affordable and accessible.

Every year the tobacco industry spends over five billion dollars on price discounts for their products.

If you've ever seen signs like this outside of a gas station or corner store, these are promotions provided by the industry for their own products.

These are not discounts provided by retailers.

Price discounts reduce the cost of tobacco products, making them more accessible and appealing, especially to populations like youth.

Vapes are the most commonly used tobacco product among youth.

The tobacco industry specifically targets young people with cheap, colorful, and potent vapes.

That's why the County of Marin and Fairfax ended the sale of e-cigarettes and all heated tobacco products.

These policies will make it more difficult for youth to get their hands on these addictive products.

Nicotine pouches are often shown on TikTok or Instagram as easy, fun to use, and harmless.

But in reality, it is a nicotine product that young people are using more frequently.

The City of Fairfax recognizes oral nicotine pouches as are growing in popularity among teens and young adults, and in turn chose to end the sale of oral nicotine pouches.

In summary, Novato can take action to address nicotine addiction by updating existing tobacco retail licenses to one, increase the minimum price for cheap tobacco products, two, establish a minimum pack size for small packed products.

Three, end the sale of discounts and coupons, four, end the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes, five, and the sale of nicotine pouches.

A model ordinance is available on our website.

Hi everyone, I'm Anita Renzetti.

I work with the HHS Health and Human Services with the County.

Marin County Health and Human Services works with the Sheriff's Office to make sure that tobacco retailers follow local laws, especially those that protect youth access.

The county, the youth from accessing tobacco.

The county also focuses on educating retailers so that they understand the rules and can stay in compliance.

Second, cessation resources.

Our prevention web page connects residents who want to quit tobacco with cessation programs, counseling, and all kinds of other support.

Third, prevention education.

Our team conducts outreach to youth families and priority populations to raise awareness and support healthy choices.

Together, these efforts help enforce the law, support quitting and prevent tobacco use before it starts.

And now back to Saya from the Youth Advocacy Committee.

While updating tobacco retail licenses is an important step to preventing youth tobacco use, we also recognize that as long as commercial tobacco products are being sold in California, nicotine addiction will still persist as a public health issue.

Our ultimate vision is that Marin will join the growing movement to end the sale of commercial tobacco and entirely become 100% free tobacco community.

Across the Marin, there was a growing movement to phase out the sale of tobacco.

To get around retail licensing laws, tobacco companies continue to innovate products and market them to kids.

Eliminating the sale of tobacco and commercial commercial tobacco puts an end to this deadly game.

Locally, Ross and Tiburon have ended the sale of commercial tobacco.

They follow in the footsteps of Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, who forged the path to becoming 100% tobacco free communities.

Many other communities across the state and country are considering similar policies.

It is essential that Navato leaders take action to end the teen nicotine epidemic.

You can do this by strengthening your existing TRL and or considering a full end to the sale of commercial nicotine in Novato.

Thank you so much for your time, and we can answer any questions you might have.

Thank you so much for the amazing presentation.

I'm gonna see if any of my council members have questions.

Yes.

Councilmember Eklin.

Thank you very much.

So I'm curious.

Um the process for the city to um, I believe to prohibit the sale of tobacco and tobacco products, is for us to pass a resolution and do a lot of outreach.

So would your group um help us if we decided that we were going to do that?

Um, because it's gonna take a lot of outreach to all the residents in the city and also the the youth as well.

So you'd have to organize the youth to help us get the support.

That's something that you guys are willing to do.

We have a con let's see, we have a huge team of people.

It's the county Health and Human Services Prevention Program, and then we work with the Bay Area Community Resources who provides the coaching, like Raven, for example, for the youth.

Uh-huh.

And also we have many other groups that work with us, like the Smoke Free Marin Coalition.

So one way or another, you know, the educational piece of it, um, particularly with the retailers, right?

It has been under this team and would continue to be under this team.

We do a lot of extensive outreach to them.

We've also done a ton of cessation education and advertising over the last six months.

It's a huge investment.

So in every single news outlet that we have that's substantial here in Marin.

So, you know, we can help get the word out.

Um, we can help make the the communications targeted to young people as well as families as well as people that have an interest in this topic.

Um, but the direction would would need to come because of the funding would come from the county.

Okay, great.

If you could send me an email with your contact information, absolutely.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

And then I had a question.

So to me, it's pretty shocking that Novato is a lot higher than you know the rest of California.

Are like why do you think that is?

And then also, do you have any statistics based on other jurisdictions in Marin?

Um I think that like a lot of it is because these products are so accessible.

Um, in the first place, like many teens get them from older people as like they can't access um tobacco products without like a fake ID.

In some cases, many youth do have fake IDs as well.

Um, but mostly it's from older people, so like, especially if like this policy gets accepted, like already the people who are giving access to youth would be you know lowered.

Um, so that's one way to that you know the youth is getting so much access to tobacco products these days.

Also, I think it mainly affects Novato because we have more retail stores than some other counties that have already passed these um policies.

They found it easier to manage, and us we have Jews who have more access to these many other locations available in Novato.

And then in terms of data, the data that um Isaac shared, that's from the California Healthy Kids survey, which is self-reported data from students in Marin.

We know that cigarette smoking is actually increasing across Marin for young people, um, which reverses a almost 14-year decline in cigarette use.

Um the current statistic in Moraine is that between 2022 and 2023, 11th graders in Marin, uh excuse me, 12th graders in Marin, where um only six percent of 12th graders reported current cigarette use, and between 2023 and 2024, 17% of 11th graders in Marin report current cigarette use.

Um so cigarette use is um on the incline and nicotine pouches, which I believe Isaac also talked about, um, are increasing, and maybe we don't have a lot of data on that, but you could talk about what you see.

Yeah, um I especially see like nicotine pouches like all over school and like classes and stuff.

Um my friends have tried to quit with nicotine pouches, but then they just get addicted to them, so it's really not an effective way to quit.

Um, and I just mostly see it everywhere.

It's become so much more accessible, and like especially now it's being sold in like gas stations and like mostly everywhere I see them.

So yeah, it's like become so much more popular.

And then I had another question.

With some of the jurisdictions that are implementing, you know, these proactive policies to potentially reduce usage.

Um, are you tracking like the percentages and decreases and stuff like that?

I don't know why I sat down.

Um for the Board of Supervisors and for Fairfax, those are the two committees that have already adopted these policies.

They don't go into effect until September 1st, 2026.

Um, but we do intend to monitor compliance and um you know uh youth nicotine consumption following the implementation or yeah, the implementation of those policies.

I can say that in Beverly Hills there's preliminary data that shows um a 50% decrease in adult smoking rates.

Um just as a reminder, Beverly Hills had about 29 tobacco retailers, and they adopted a policy to end the sale entirely.

Um so over the period or over the course of one year, they phased out the entire sale of all commercial tobacco and nicotine products to anyone of any age.

And what they found was a 50% decline in adult smoking prevalence, which is huge.

Um Mayor Petam Jacobs.

Thank you.

Um in regards to raising the minimum.

What is you you're talking about $12 a pack?

Uh what is the minimum now?

Or what is the current price of those products now?

I'm just wondering.

I understand the whole reason behind it, but are we putting more money into the um retailers and into the the product, the people who make the products?

Yeah, that's a great question.

We did um different waves of store surveys to see what the prices were at these different stores and actually what they sold, for example.

We're now in a third wave of that, so we'll have updated information.

But most recently last year, the average was about $10.

And we had some products.

I went to a 7-LINE, for example, that had generic cigarettes for $8.14.

So $12 is quite a bit of difference between that, but it's not a huge difference between say $10 or $11 and 12.

Looking to the future as well, there um in the ordinance that some of the other jurisdictions have adopted, the $12 would then have an automatic price increase every two years by another dollar so that it would remain relevant because everything else the price goes up.

So it just makes sense that that would also go up.

And we do um not think of that profit in a sense that's that's given to the retailer since none of us is allowed to tax, we're not allowed to keep that differential between say if it was ten dollars and twelve, right?

So that two dollars can not only help make the retailer whole because they'll be selling considered considerably less of the product, but also we work with them in work groups to transition away from selling unhealthy products like cigarettes and pouches and vapes to more healthy things.

We have meetings on this and business plans, and they can use this money to invest in trying other things, like produce, selling produce, selling, having a dog washing station, you know, so many other possibilities that are family friendly.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kerkle.

Yeah, I had I guess I had a question related to the sale of tobacco and nicotine pouches, and it's actually more of a clarification maybe than a question.

Um when you talk about earning the sale of nicotine pouches, and I guess it happened in Fairfax.

Uh, was that part of the of Fairfax's uh local DRL amendment, or was that a standalone uh kind of rule?

Yeah, they what they passed on February 4th was actually um uh one thing that included everything in the Board of Supervisors um ordinance, which was things like minimum price, minimum pack size, you know, the automatic price increase, the no ads, no discounts allowed, and then they added in with uh council member Barbara Kohler had heard a lot about how the youth were now getting addicted to nicotine pouches and using them, hiding them in their mouths really easily, like during classes and using other products at the same time.

So she was fired up to say we need to also include nicotine pouches.

These are an evolving thing, a way to addict the younger generation.

And they were able to add it in as just one of the items, one of the elements, and pass it all at one point.

So okay, maybe I'll follow up to that.

And what are you saying in terms of not just the um the DRLs and DRL amendments?

What are you saying in terms of nicotine pouches?

What's uh as the are there more jurisdictions taking that up?

Um you know the ones that have adopted DRLs are they taking up um nicotine pouches as a maybe as a standalone amendment.

Yeah, it's definitely being um addressed, and and people are interested in it.

You're one of the leaders at this point.

So so far it's just been Tipron and Ross who have ended the sale of all tobacco and nicotine products permanently, and they did not currently have any of those stores in their jurisdictions.

So then it was the Board of Supervisors that passed the minimum floor pricing.

I'm calling it for short, this one that the youth were telling you about tonight, and also then Fairfax with the addition.

We'll call it a minimum price plus because it had the addition of the nicotine pouches.

So you can do whatever you want to do, and it is um it would all be education would be part of this package and enforcement by the Health and Human Services collaboration with the sheriff's team.

So all of that would happen naturally, no matter what you decide to do in any direction, they're prepared to um help to educate and enforce.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

And I just have one last question.

Um, in the county of Marin and then Fairfax, was this controversial when they were passing this?

Do you mean the MF like minimum?

People coming and stuff like that against it?

Yeah, there were um there's actually not a lot of opposition.

There were a couple of lobbying organizations, the California Convenience and Fuel Group, and then um this other one always comes out of the woodwork.

They're known as NATO National Association of Tobacco Outlets, but they didn't really put in the work.

They didn't really go to the retailers, they made up some different names for local retailers that no one on the councils had heard of, and then they had a lot of really unusual arguments about things that didn't connect.

So, in comparison to the concerns from pediatricians and the you know, the people that work in the field, dentists, um, all of the youth that had spoken, it didn't seem to be that controversial.

And in fact, 55 other jurisdictions have already passed similar um minimum price ordinances across California alone.

So that was part of it.

And about 25 have passed the vaping sales bans.

The one thing that was new with them actually was the nicotine pouches, and that did also pass so had a lot of support.

I was just gonna add that we also know, based on like national and state level data that over 60% of current smokers want to quit.

And that's a uh notion I hear from a lot of young people.

Like I don't think people are thrilled to be addicted to nicotine.

People aren't excited to be spending money on vapes or nicotine pouches or cigarettes.

Most people want to quit.

Um, and oftentimes the availability of these products, like the corner store being right next to your house or receiving you know, ads and promotions on TikTok every day are big factors in why people continue to use.

Um, thank you so much.

I really appreciate the presentation.

Personally, this is something that's important to me as a mother with young children, and I appreciate what you guys are doing for future kids.

So thank you so so much for the great presentation.

So thank you so so much for the great presentation, and yeah, this is great work.

So thanks.

All right, so moving on to item C2 presentation from Director of County Library Services, upcoming short and long-term facility improvements at the Novato Boulevard and C Street South Nevada Library.

So I'd like to call up Lena LeWan, director of the County Library Services to give us this presentation.

Welcome.

So excited to have you here.

Thank you.

Great to be here.

I am Lana Ed Lowen, Director of County Library Services for the Marin County Free Library, and good evening to all of you, Mayor Farrakh and Council members.

I am joined by our assistant director of support services, Dr.

Juliet Schiller and Aaron Riley, our Capital Planning and CEO Project Manager for the Department of Public Works.

Here we are.

Supervisor Lucan expresses his regrets that he could not attend tonight due to other another conflict and appreciates your support and partnership in library services.

I also want to introduce some additional library staff who are here with us in the room tonight.

We have Amad Merza, our library services manager for public services, Natalie McCall, our manager for our South Novato Library, and Janet Durgee, manager of our Nevada Library.

We're also joined by three of our library commissioners for Navado, Commissioner Crystal Lewis, Glenda Christian, and Kathleen Cage in support of many of these projects.

We are so excited to join you to share some of our short and long-term facility approvements for both county libraries in Navado.

With improvements supported by voter approved Measure B, the library's parcel tax approved in November 2022 by 76.59%.

We thank Nevada voters for their support so they can see their tax dollars at work.

And we invite all the council to visit any of our libraries if you haven't done that yet, especially District 1 and District 5.

Both the South Nobato C Street and Nevada Boulevard library locations will be refreshed by summer 2026, resulting in short-term library closures as improvements are made.

We will also share timeline on additional long-term capital improvements with estimated timelines.

This is a quick snapshot of some of our impact.

So, you know, impact by the numbers in terms of visitors to the branches, available materials, connection for the digital divide, which is real and present in Marin County.

And of course, year-round programming, we provide for all ages.

We appreciate our very strong partnership in Nevado's Parks and Rects of Parks and Rec department on coordinating efforts and ensuring our shared community are aware and informed of incredible engagement activities available from both of our organizations.

From a comment card submitted at the Novato Branch, I just want to share what one of our library patrons said.

The programs you offer kids, teenagers, and families are plentiful.

You have so many options.

I feel very grateful for the Novato Library.

You have such a great community.

So let's jump into what is currently happening and planned for the future for both locations.

I mentioned at the top of this presentation that improvements are due to voter-approved measure B.

And this shares more information on the tax measure and support.

Dr.

Juliet Schiller will now talk about our 10 branch refresh project and communications to our community.

Good evening.

I'm here to discuss engagement and the communication with communities at each of our branch locations.

The big picture of the 10 branch refresh is to update each branch with furniture, fixtures, paint, carpet, and space planning to expand and improve our service for the community.

Throughout the project, it was important to us that we brought community members along from the early design to the closure and reopening celebrations.

We included staff who helped choose design elements and gave expertise about how their spaces are used by patrons.

We've created a landing page on our website that provides real-time updates on closures, photos of the work as it occurs, and design plans.

On this slide, you'll see estimated closure dates for each branch.

If there are any changes to the closure, we update these dates quickly.

When we close a branch, we ensure a nearby branch and the bookmobile are available so that we communicate how to pick up holds or obtain services.

I'll go deeper into the outreach that we conducted throughout the refreshes.

The refresh campaign reached patrons with a pathway to capture feedback through all communication channels, including counting social media.

We provided physical and online comment cards in Spanish and English at every branch.

We also gave key talking points for staff.

So if any patrons were fluent in a language other than Spanish, it was another way to reach people who go into the libraries.

More than 100 comments were sent for review.

These comments and suggestions were brought to the design team for dialogue and potential adjustments.

We positioned the 10 branch refresh posters in high foot traffic areas at locations throughout our service areas.

Everything was provided in English and Spanish.

We do have staff members who speak other languages as well.

Moran County supervisors shared the information in their newsletters, reaching those who aren't regular library users.

And finally, MCFL staff screened next door for any potential comments or questions that arose from community members.

I'm gonna pass it along.

So you'll see here the South Nevada branch, which is currently closed and scheduled to open later in April.

And what is included here as mentioned is new carpet paint and furniture.

There is a little more furniture that is not shown on this slide that was added later, so all the lounge seating will also be replaced.

And the painting here includes accent colors to differentiate the children, teen, and adult areas.

The total budget for this branch is $320,000.

This is the Nevada Boulevard branch, and as you can see, a lot of furniture is being replaced here.

This branch is scheduled for closure and work in from mid-June through mid-August.

We'll have all the carpet will be replaced.

There'll be a little touch-up paint and then all of this furniture.

Another great feature of this branch is in the lower right is the community room, and that will get a copper loop system under the carpet, which aids in assisted listening devices for people attending events at the library.

The budget for this one is $525,000.

So I just want to bring up that you can see that we're the MCFL is spending almost a million dollars on these two branches this year.

So beyond the immediate improvements summer 2026, they'll be done.

We want to talk about the long-term future planning.

This is referencing articles in the Marin Independent Journal about what's happening with Nevada Unified School District and their planning for future educator workforce housing.

The South Nevada Library is located on Novato Unified School District property.

We established an MOU with them in 2015 to provide library services on that campus, serving residents in that region as well as course school populations from Nevado Charter, Hamilton, and the North Bay Children's Center.

Navada Unified School District is still moving through their process and no plans are finalized as of yet.

For our future planning, last year the library led a visioning exercise with an architect team to hear what was needed from key community stakeholders in a community library, as well as what might be viable on the property in partnership with Nevada Unified School District.

So at this point, the district and the library are poised to continue the conversations and planning and hopefully realizing a permanent South Nevado Library home in the future.

Now you're seeing some conceptual plans from the major capital improvements at the Nevado Boulevard branch.

And in this major capital improvement, the MCFL is striking the balance between making major building improvements at this 1970s library while also improving the space and services for the community.

So in terms of building improvements, things like a new roof, ADA path improvements, and new heating ventilation and cooling for this building, which will be less evident to patrons, but here you can see a conceptual design of a new entryway and a new lobby.

And what's really special about this new lobby, which is the lower photo on the right, is that there's currently a huge mechanical chase, a wall essentially, a little room in the middle of this lobby, which is being removed.

And now the circulation desk has been brought forward to greet patrons and just create a much more welcome and inviting environment.

Again, this is in the conceptual phase, so it may change a little from from here.

And then on the left, you'll see new um restrooms, which are a great improvement on the old ones.

Not shown here is a new office area for staff, which will be much more efficient, which is sort of below the reception desk.

And then in addition to all these great improvements that you can see, we're still designing improvements to the outside spaces.

So off the community room will be a patio, the atrium will be improved to activate that area and engage patrons there, and then the fabulous back lawn, the meadow that is used for programming every day will be improved and made even better.

Um other improvements include I already mentioned the ADA.

Um, EV chargers.

We'll have EV chargers in the parking lot.

So this is in the conceptual design phase.

Design will continue through next year, and construction will start.

So this will continue through 2028.

And the budget for this project is nine and a half million.

And then this this is a separate project which is to refurbish the path, the creekside path.

Um this needs regrading and repaving.

Um grading for ADA accessibility and paving for obvious reasons.

The bridge is also in disrepair.

Um, so that that will be part of a future project, hopefully done at the same time as this other one.

And um MCFL and the county really hope to partner with the city of Nevado on this.

Um and the current rough order of magnitude budget for this project is somewhere between 500,000 and a million dollars.

That's the end of our presentation, both short and long-term improvements for both of our libraries as well as sharing our stories of impact.

So we're happy to take any questions, and we're like, thank you for your time and allowing us to share these with you and also the wider community.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

This is extremely exciting.

Uh, Mayor Sam Jacobs, do you have questions?

Yeah, thank you.

Um, just a side note, I used to take my son to the library once a week when he was in school when he was much younger.

Um, and it's wonderful place.

And I never worried about paying a fine there.

So excellent.

Um never a good time to close the library, but you're planning on our Novato library being closed basically during summer.

And the bookmobile, will it be there on the property daily or three days a week, or what's the plan?

We're still working that through, you know, we we have a 10-branch refresh, and so working through you know the closure of the other branches.

Um, is as Dr.

Schiller said, like we will have the bookmobile there.

We've been talking with Parks and Erect Department about using other spaces to provide programming.

We have the lawn, so we're definitely, we know summer is you know the busiest time for the community and want to be able to provide those activities.

So still in discussion, but looking for partners in the city too to help host programs program at other spaces.

Um the South Nevada Library that's going to be open so that the two libraries are not closed at the same time.

Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Uckland.

Uh first of all, I want to thank you for a great presentation.

Um, and I um my mom and dad bought um a house in Terralinda in 1961.

And at that time, I used the Center Fowl Library quite a bit.

Um, but then when the Civic Center library was constructed.

Well, the Civic Center was constructed with the library.

And um then I used that one.

In Novato, I um always use the Nevada Library until you open up the South Nevada one.

I just want to thank you very much for doing that because you're able to access a lot of um folks that can't necessarily get up to the Novato Library because they don't have transportation.

Um, and the bus system doesn't necessarily provide a convenient way for people to go up there.

Um so I use the South Novato Library, and I'm just really excited to see the improvements that you're gonna be making.

And it's gonna really make a big difference very much so.

Look forward to seeing that.

So again, thank you for everything that you do to help folks access that library.

It's especially the people that the young kids that live in Hamilton.

And then also I live in Point Moran area, and there's a lot of kids there too.

But that's over the overpass, so they have to have their parents drive them.

Which they do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kirkle.

Yes, hi, thank you.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

And I had a shirt too that when my daughter was younger, we spent many a happy hour at many of his libraries.

So thank you for that.

And then also I did have a question actually.

When you talked about the future planning phase with the Novato Library, and maybe you said this, but could you give us a uh again, maybe a sense of the timeline along which you anticipate this project happening?

Sure.

It's under it's in design right now, and um, it's a it's extensive design, so we do believe it's gonna continue into the new into 2027, probably early spring.

Uh then we have to go to bid, which takes a really long time because the public bidding process takes a long time.

So that will probably occur spring and summer, and then we anticipate construction starting probably fall of 2027 and going into uh spring of 2028.

So it's quite a long timeline.

Um, and we're obviously trying to minimize the closure of the library, um, but there are different ways of looking at it, like push-through or um we've also discussed phasing, so we're still figuring that out, but we do think it will go um into early 2028.

Okay, so it'll be fair to say that maybe by summer of 2028, we might have a upgraded or newer labor.

Beautiful, fabulous in the library that's also um so and that project would include the work on the bridge and the path as well.

Is that all?

The nine and a half million is funded by Measure B, the the library funds.

Um, and I work for um DPW for the county, um, and that would be that we're looking at that as a separate DPW project.

It's not part of it, but we are trying to do them concurrently so that everything will be fresh and shiny and new and ADA accessible for the opening.

Right, thank you.

I just want to provide clarity on one additional point on that question.

So um in our slide, we said we were looking for partnership from City of Novato too.

We are you know we share property lines on that property, so we are always willing to be a good partner.

Um, but further discussions on especially the bridge with you know, we have it's got hundreds of children that that go to Creekside, get a great snack, go to the library, it's quite an experience.

Um, so again, we're looking for um partnership on that as well.

Well, thank you.

And there's actually gonna be a kid-friendly restaurant in that shopping center, which is catering to kids, so something to look forward to the future.

Um, thank you for coming, the excellent presentation, and like my colleagues, we're very excited this is happening, and thanks for all your hard work on this.

All right, so moving on to item C3, proclamation developmental disabilities awareness months.

I'd like to invite the council up to join me at the front, and then also Lauren Long, age and disability-friendly Novato Chair, and Colleen Arnold, CEO of Marin Aging and Disability Institute and Age and Disability Friendly Novato Steering Committee to meet me up front as well to get the award.

Because you're getting the reward.

Well, thank you so much for all the work you two do.

Um, so we're excited to recognize you all.

Um, whereas developmental disability awareness month is observed each month to promote understanding, acceptance, and inclusion of individuals with developmental disabilities in all aspects of community life.

And whereas the city of Novato is proud to be an agent and disability-friendly community, committed to fostering an inclusive city where residents of all ages and abilities can live, participate, and thrive, and whereas initiatives such as age and disability-friendly Novato, inclusion, recreation programs, and community events, and partnership with local organization reflect the city's ongoing commitment to accessibility, equity, and belonging for residents of all abilities.

And whereas initiatives such as age and disability-friendly Novato, inclusion, recreation programs, and community events, and partnership with local organization reflect the city's ongoing commitment to accessibility, equity, and belonging for residents of all abilities.

And now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato on behalf of the residents of Novato does hereby proclaim March 2026 as developmental disability awareness month in the city of Novato and encourages all residents support inclusive practices and celebrate many contributions of individuals with developmental disabilities in our community.

Congratulations.

Would you guys like to say a few words?

I just want to say what great timing we're so grateful for the city's commitment.

We just got to participate in our magic show where our Novato City and Recreation Department was open to us, including a sensory-friendly area, and we had children in our community with developmental disabilities who were able to fully access a community experience because of the city's openness to inclusion, and we're just we couldn't do it without that partnership.

So thank you all so much.

All right, moving on to item D, approval of the final agenda.

Um I would like to pull item number G4 from the consent calendar.

Okay, do we have a second?

Second.

Well, you don't, yeah, we'll all approve we don't need it, we don't need to do that.

Well, we have to approve it and then take it.

Well, I'm I'm just removing G4.

G4, yeah.

Right.

But we're approving it.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Laura, can you take roles call?

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

Aye.

Councilmember Connor is absent.

Mayor Pur Tim Jacobs.

Aye.

And Mayor Frack.

Aye.

Okay, that passes, and then item G four will be addressed at the end.

Um so moving on to item E, reports from City Council and City Manager.

We'll start with our city manager.

Good evening, thank you, Mayor.

I have three items to um share tonight.

Yesterday we launched our annual community budget priority survey for fiscal year 26-27.

Uh, the survey will help guide us in setting priorities for the upcoming budget cycle by taking the annual survey.

You can provide your input on what you think is most important for the city to be focusing on over the next year in terms of budget priorities.

The survey is available online right now through Monday, March 23rd.

The second item is Novato Parks and Recreation invites you to invites our community to join us next Saturday, March 21st from 9 to 2 for our annual very popular spring trash to treasure slea market.

Um, the indoor market is held rain or shine and is completely free to attend.

So come join us in the hunt for unique secondhand treasures at Margaret Todd Senior Center.

And third is an exciting opportunity to participate in city government and provide uh input and ideas to the city council.

The commission committee and board recruitment is now open through March 30th at 5 p.m.

So you can find information on all the different opportunities and openings, and you can apply online by taking a look at our website.

And that's that's it.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Upglen.

Uh yes.

Um, first of all, I wanted to say that um uh I uh Saturday I participated in the team up to clean up, and I have to say that um we did Redwood Boulevard um South, uh, which we found a mattress in the wetlands, which we were able to pull out, as well as tons of other garbage that um, and there's about probably 10 of us that were working that day, which is just really incredible.

Um I also uh participated in the uh North Bay watershed meeting.

Um I also um participated in the Bay Conservation Development Commission, which I serve as a commissioner, and so we had a commission meeting where we took action on several permits, and um then I also participated in the uh sea level rise working group, where we're actually coming up with some um good guidance for local governments of both cities and and counties.

Um I also um uh participated in a uh presentation by the city in the uh for the Novato Tenant Protections of Proven U.

And I wanted to give a shout out.

Uh, Claire did a fantastic job, and um it's a very it is a very controversial uh program, uh, but she was able to answer a lot of the questions, and uh that was very helpful.

Um I also had a tour of uh a cannabis uh farm, I guess that's what you call it, um, up in Katati in anticipation of um uh the uh item coming before the council.

Um also too, I uh attended the employee recognition um city hall, and it was really uh incredible.

Um, you know, there's so many employees that have really done um outstanding jobs and just really am proud.

And I also volunteered as I do every fourth Saturday at the Hamilton Museum, and I would encourage folks that haven't uh been there, come and uh take a take a look at it.

It's incredible what the Nevado Historical Guild has been able to do.

Um also two, I participated in the Bay Area uh financial and housing um advisory committee, and we discussed um AB 1487.

Um I also last uh participated in the um Bay Wave and Ren Sea Level Rise uh committee and mayors and uh Marin County Mayors and Council members meeting which uh was really fun because we all um get together um and have opportunity to share ideas.

So those are just a few of the things that I was able to do.

Thank you.

Good job with that mattress.

Yeah, no, that mattress was good.

That's good.

I mean, uh if you drove down Redwood Boulevard and you saw that, just go, oh my goodness.

Um I also well I also um was able to I I the what I did that day is I cleaned up a homeless encampment, which um was really hidden.

Um so I I found some contact information that I'm gonna be following up on.

So thank you.

Councilmember Carkell.

Um I was uh last week I was able to attend uh the uh Not Bay Water Shared uh Association meeting as well.

Uh it was not uh held online.

Uh it was basically a discussion of their proposed budget.

Uh also they appointed a vice chair uh for the organization, and then they also uh had an update of their uh work plan.

And in addition to that, I also attended uh the back part, the later part of the uh the annual uh staff appreciation uh day and uh got to meet some of the longer dinnered uh staff here, and and it was great.

It was wonderful to see so many uh the staff members here and uh hopefully all had a good time.

Thank you.

Fantastic.

Mayor Proton.

Thank you.

Um yes, on February 25th, I attended the uh MCCMC, which is Burn County Council members and mayors.

Um Damon Conley was a speaker from the State Assembly and Omar Carrera from the California or Canal Alliance was the other speaker.

It was very good.

On 26th, I attended the TAM board meeting.

On March 3rd, I attended the employee recognition event with uh Councilmember Eklund, and we honored 11 employees for their service to the city with our longest one being 30 years.

Uh March 5th, I attended the Novato Chamber Noontime Networking event, and they had over 50 attendees, which was their largest they've had at an event like that.

So that was quite good.

Thank you.

Thanks.

All right, and I attended like my colleagues, the MCMC, um, also attended the Pleasant Valley Fundraiser.

Um I attended the opening day for the Navado Girls Softball, which was really inspiring.

Um I had the opportunity to read to third graders, and they had a lot of questions about what a mayor does and if I've been to the White House and all these fun things.

So that that was that made my week last week.

Um, and then I also uh took the Pleasant Valley kindergarten nurse to San Marin where they did STEM activities.

So that was a lot of fun and uh a little bit chaotic.

So a lot of time spending with the with the kids uh these few few couple weeks.

So thank you.

That's my report.

Um, we're gonna move on to item F, public comment.

Um, so this is general public comment for items that are not on the agenda or for items that are listed on the consent calendar, and there is a three-minute time limit.

Um, if you'd like to speak, you can fill out a card and then hand it to our city clerk.

So I have two cards.

I'm gonna invite Joe Fairens to come out first.

Hi, good evening.

Um, thank you for letting me speak again.

Um I did just want to provide an update for real quick to give a brief overview.

Um I'm Joe Farns.

I'm with the small business administration, disaster recovery and resilience, and we're here because Moran County was added to the disaster declaration CA2141, and um, with that declaration, Moran County was added because of the um early January, the early January King um title floodings and floodings that caused a lot of damage to the community.

Um homeowners, renters, business owners, and small nonprofits are eligible to apply for low-interest disaster loans and need um for the low interest disaster loans for homeowners and renters.

The interest rate is as low as 2.875 for um businesses as low as 4%, and for um small nonprofits as low as 3.625.

Um, that is with 12 months no um interest and no interest accrued and um 12 months with no payments due from the first check disbursement.

Um, I am here again this evening just to um inform the community that we have had for the past four weeks a mobile disaster loan outreach centers set up throughout the um the county of Lorraine County, and this week there's a disaster loan outreach center with customer service representatives who are able to assist with um applications or answer questions or to um assist with any difficulties the community may be having with um applying for the loan online um but that that disaster loan outreach center will be closing this Friday the 13th at um at the close of business, which is um 7 p.m.

at the Court of Madeira Town Hall is where they're located, and even though they are closing this Friday, and it's the last week that a disaster loan outreach center will be in the area.

However, applications are still um being are um applications can still be submitted online at lending.sba.gov, and the application deadline to apply is April 6th, and the application deadline for economic injury disaster loans for businesses is November 3rd.

And um and pretty much that's it.

That's all I have to um inform the community.

If there's any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you, Joe.

Thank you.

All right, the next card I have is a concerned citizen for general comment.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Last time I was here, the city manager uh didn't want to hear what I had to say.

So I'm gonna continue with what I was reading, and I'm going to be back again and again.

I'm demanding accountability from the Nevada Police Department and Kevin.

I know what you did.

You went and blew the whistle and wanted to sound the red alert.

Tell them that there's troubles, troubles are brewing.

So let me continue.

The Novato police departments.

Failure or refusal to treat members of the Novato public equally, fairly, impartially, and without negative preconceptions is fully on 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 they decide who they dislike, regardless of the merits of the citizens' concerns.

And they probably wear that attitude, beginning with the chief and cascading down to every person within this department.

I have reached a tipping point by the way this letter was written to you, Mr.

Jacobs.

And it is now clear, and perhaps.

And it is now clear and that perhaps my concerns will be best handled by members of the council.

This is a community-wide concern.

Any efforts to convey my concerns to the attention of anybody within the leadership of Novato's police department are fruitless and useless because they immediately devolve into their staff seeking to make themselves blameless and faultless by casting aspersions on me for even daring to try to meet with them in person to listen to my concerns and discuss what transpired with their officer.

In their eyes, they cannot do wrong.

I left you a voicemail, Mr.

Jacobs, a while ago.

Now it's been over a month and a half ago concerning this incident that occurred with the Novato Police Department late last Thursday, and I'm referring to January the 15th.

When an officer became angry, threatening retaliation and verbally abusive after I refused to allow him to violate my civil rights.

Subsequently, I later called the police station and spoke with Ashley Albertson, Novato police chief Nagel's personal assistant, who made an appointment for a personal meeting with him to discuss my concerns.

This afternoon, Chief Chief Noggle telephoned me with a super negative cavalier attitude.

I cannot recall.

Thank you, sir.

I'm sorry.

Everyone gets three minutes.

I'm sorry, what?

Everyone gets three minutes.

I've got two minutes and 41 seconds on my stopwatch here.

Start it early, Laura.

Okay.

Keep going with your 20 seconds.

Unless we're just following this.

This is unbelievable.

I've got the stopwatch.

Okay, perfect.

Look at it.

Then I'm gonna give you, I'll give you an additional 40 20 seconds.

Or whatever it was.

How much time do you want me to have?

Everybody gets three minutes.

Right.

And you stopped me before three minutes.

I was just looking at the the top.

She's gonna correct it.

Right, and I've got a stopwatch right here.

I'm glad you have one.

Because you're not interested in what I have to say, are you?

No, I'm listening.

I was just following the stop the clock.

What were you doing?

Just we have a clock up here, so I just look like a clock?

Yeah.

Okay.

All right, continue with your 20 seconds.

I'm gonna come back.

Please do.

But I am going to ask City Manager Amy Cunningham, do you have a personnel matter investigation concerning my concern?

Yes or no.

Yes.

Did you open this investigation?

Yes or no.

Sir, this isn't the format in order to ask these types of questions.

Yeah.

You'd like to shime in here afterwards.

This is public comment for the council.

That's where it should be directed.

This is not a time to interrogate staff.

Okay.

Thank you.

If you'd like to make an appointment to speak with me, I'd be happy to do that with you after the meeting.

I do have uh I have hearing damage, and I don't understand what you just said.

Something about meeting with you.

If you would like to make an appointment to have a meeting with me, you are certainly welcome to do that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be back.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Um, next is Jeremiah Mock.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Wow, that was interesting.

Um I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this evening.

Uh I am a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

I've spent my entire 30-year career working on tobacco control and prevention.

Um I'm here to tell you today that the time has come to end the sale of all tobacco and nicotine products in Novato, in Marin County, in California, and in the rest of the country.

I was born in 1964, since or 63, and starting in 1964 was the first Surgeon General's report on the harms of tobacco.

Since then, there have been 33 additional reports.

We don't need any more evidence, and we don't need to wait any longer.

California Department of Public Health has established a goal to end the sale of all tobacco and nicotine products and end the epidemic entirely.

That's actually state policy.

So what you're considering doing builds into that policy and continues the momentum that was started in Tibron and Ross.

Tobacco is the most single most deadly and dangerous consumer product that's still allowed on the market, and it shouldn't be.

And nicotine is a cardiovascular toxin.

The tobacco industry will tell you that their new products are less harmful.

There's no evidence to support that.

We should be concerned about youth, but we also should be concerned about young adults.

And of course, we should be very concerned about concurrent tobacco smokers and chewers of tobacco.

I just want to tell you that youth prevalence has been rising in Marin County, contrary to the trend in California between 2001 and 2024.

Marin County is going entirely in the wrong direction.

And if you add up the number of youth who are smoking now, plus the my projections of who will continue to take up smoking in the future based on the current trends.

We're talking about roughly a thousand to eighteen hundred current youth smokers that are aged 15 to 18, and in the next five years, we could add an additional 900 to 1,800, raising the total to 1,800 to 2800 new youth smokers in Marin County.

There's no reason to allow these products to continue to be on the market.

They cause massive amounts of pollution in our environment, and the cigarettes in particular are one of the top 10 risk factors for wildfire causes of wildfire ignition, and we all have great concern about that.

I'd be happy to come and uh and spend a little more time with you if you'd like to have me come back and give you a presentation that gives you the picture of what the tobacco industry is doing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And then next, Pam Kramer.

Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council members.

The first time I spent time here in Novato, I think that uh uh that Pat was mayor.

We worked on smoke-free multi-unit housing when Nevada was second in the nation.

Uh so you've got uh some good bones here.

So uh Pam Granger, I'm the chair of Smoke Free Marin.

This community coalition has been in place for 35 years.

We've got the usual do gooders, the public health people, the um doctors, the parents, the uh Office of Education, and our goal has been entirely to work to end the influence of the tobacco industry and the harms that they cause to our community.

So when you ask uh uh some good questions today about where it seems that we should be going, I'm sort of going to echo Dr.

Mock.

When I was young, there was only cigar cigarettes and two.

And in that time, which has been a little bit, uh, the industry has continued to develop new products.

So you would think after 35 years, smoke-free marin would be pretty good at uh getting rid of the issue.

So we're not because they're better.

Uh what we recommend is that uh um uh the because they keep on going, we want to make them stop, quite honestly, and the best way to do that would be to end the sales entirely.

The kids asked um uh you asked the kids about uh what they're seeing at their schools, and it's just so fascinating and discouraging.

My grandchildren are probably the age of uh uh of mayor's children.

Um, but I have a real concern about that.

So we uh we have model ordinances.

There was a question about uh would there be any uh assistance?

I can't believe that the first people that uh um that the county didn't think of was their own tobacco coalition.

We uh we have the uh uh the model ornages, we've got the people on the ground.

We will help you raise uh um uh support for a total ban, of course, would be the uh the the best.

The county policy that was decided on three years ago is now a little bit old.

I know they just just passed it, um, but we have to keep ahead.

So do we don't want to stay back?

So we don't want to stay back, uh, but we're uh ready, available, and interested in supporting you in supporting the health of the community.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And thank you, everyone, for their public comment.

Um now we'll be moving on to the consent calendar.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem, will you make a motion to approve the consent calendar with move moving item G4 to the end of the meeting?

Yeah, I so move.

Excuse me.

Yes, I still move.

A second motion.

Perfect.

Laura, can you take roll call?

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle.

Aye.

Councilmember O'Connor is absent.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

Aye.

And Mayor Farack.

Hi.

All right.

Now moving item J, General Business.

So we have item J1.

This is consider adopting a resolution approving lease writer and other necessary documents amending the current ground lease between Howard Homeward Bound of Marin and the City of Novato for the hub parcel in Hamilton.

And I'm going to invite Bill Rose, the assistant city manager, to open the item.

Thank you, Mayor.

I actually am in the co-pilot seat tonight.

I have the great pleasure of introducing to you Katie Hahn.

She's one of the newest additions to our team.

She's a principal management analyst.

Katie has a long career in emergency management.

She's hit the trifecta of public service.

She's worked at the international, federal, and local level.

She's worked with USAID, FEMA, and the City of Berkeley.

Uh, at the City of Berkeley, she actually led the city's COVID-19 response, among many other things.

She's been here just about two months, but it feels like she's been here a long time and she's made a great impact.

So with that, Katie, take it away.

Welcome, Katie.

All right.

Thank you so much, everybody, and thank you, Bill, for that introduction.

Um, so I am here tonight to discuss the homeward bound lease writer, which would amend the 2020 ground lease between homeward bound and the city of Novato.

Before we dive into tonight's presentation, I do want to take a very quick moment to introduce Paul Fordham, the CEO of Homeward Bound.

Paul, thank you so much for taking your time out of your week to be here with us this evening.

We really appreciate it.

And then also before we get started, I want to take just a very brief moment to define exactly what it is we're talking about tonight.

So this lease writer essentially is an amendment to the terms of the original ground lease from 2020.

And this lease writer allows us to discuss and have a much more focused conversation about a part of the lease rather than rewriting the entire ground lease itself.

So just a little bit of framing before we get into our run of show for this evening.

So really our goal tonight is to talk about this partnership that the city of Novato has long held with homeward bound, looking back at our past, looking at our present and the wonderful programs that they continue to have within our community and also for all of Marin County, and then also having a lens toward the future.

And that's where we'll spend some time talking a little bit about that lease writer.

And then, of course, we'll finish with our anticipated next steps and any questions that the council may have.

So let's go back in time a little bit.

This slide represents a very brief, very high-level summary of the history of the partnership between homeward bound and the city of Novato, specifically at Hamilton Field.

Providing service services at Hamilton Field has been in process for over 30 years.

In 1995, the City of Novato and the Marin Continuum of Housing and Services entered into a homeless facilities agreement through which the parties agreed that a homeless service center would be constructed at the Hamilton Army Airfield as part of the reuse process and the transfer of the airfield property from the Department of the Navy to the City of Novato.

This agreement also specifically stated that a homeless service center property would be leased to an entity which would construct and operate the service center.

And in 1999, we got that entity with homeward bound.

So homeward bound signed a sublease with the City of Novato to start construction on the new beginning center, which was the first of three parcels as a part of this project.

That center continues to provide shelter services to this day.

In 2005, Homeward Bound signed another ground lease for the second parcel, which would then become the next key employment and training center.

This partnership was again expanded in 2020 when Homeward Bound and the City of Novato signed a ground lease for the third parcel to build additional supportive housing for veterans, adults, families, and other community members experiencing homelessness.

And while I recognize that we're here tonight to talk about that specific lease writer for that specific ground lease, we also really want to take some time to recognize both the breadth and the depth of the work of our partner homeward bound and what they do not only for community members within the city of Novato, but also all of Marin County.

And that's really what brings this site to life.

So this is just a handful of some of the programs that Homeward Bound does at their campus here in Novato.

These programs, of course, include the New Beginning Center, which provides 80 shelter beds to unhoused community members.

There are also multiple housing options at Puett Place and Sweeney Place to support veterans, families, and adults transitioning out of homelessness.

And of course, the next key center, which provides additional housing opportunities, including medical respite support, as well as important community programs such as the culinary program, Wagster Dog Treats, and a variety of events hosted at the key room.

And again, as I mentioned before, this is really just a snapshot of what happens in Novato, but Homeward Bound also provides additional services to all of Marin County, such as valuable mental health services, providing a continuum of care by linking community members with healthcare options.

And we really want to make sure to also highlight some of the numbers and some of the stats behind the successes of these programs.

So looking back at the most recent fiscal year, and huge thanks to Paul and his team, Corey for this data.

During FY24 to FY25, Homeward Bound provided homeless services to 992 individuals.

Approximately one third of these people were in families, and two-thirds were single adults.

Homeward Bound provided services to over 50 veterans and participants in the culinary program served over 16,000 meals per month.

Additionally, Homeward Bound's housing programs were successful last year, with 89% of participants leaving the family program for a housing opportunity, and 63% of participants leaving the adult program for a housing opportunity as well.

And again, these are just a couple of highlights to really show the incredible work Homeward Bound does at their campus in Hamilton and how that serves not only our community but all of Marin County as well.

And so with all of this information about all of the valuable work that Homeward Bound has done, let's transition to talking about the lease writer.

So this lease writer is specifically for what we've referred to in Novato as the HUD parcel, or APN 157-9707.

To make that a little bit simpler, we have a nice picture of it up here on the screen.

This particular parcel is what is colored in that you can see on the slide.

And even more specifically, we're really talking about construction financing for that building that is all the way on the right on the screen.

This lease writer will enable Homeward Bound to obtain a loan of $3 million for construction financing from the Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, which is at the state level.

It is very important to underscore that this loan is coming from the state of California, not the City of Novato.

This lease writer provides a positive impact because it shows the city's continued partnership to support Homeward Bound's enhancements of their facilities and programs for veterans, families, and other homeless populations.

The construction of these buildings was completed in 2024, and programs here are actually ongoing to support residents in this supportive housing.

And this lease writer really supports the construction financing of that work.

The exact terms of this lease writer are still being negotiated between the City of Novato and the state, but the City of Novato is eager to support Homeward Bound with expediting this approval.

Said approval, of course, also being subject to the approval of the city manager and the city attorney.

So that was a lot of information very quickly.

We have two big key takeaways, and then of course our next steps for the city council this evening.

So as mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, our goal was really to highlight the community services that Homeward Bound has provided to Novato over the course of multiple decades.

This lease writer enhances these services by supporting the construction financing of 50 housing units that were completed in 2024.

This brings in state dollars from the housing or from the Department of Housing and Community Development to complete construction financing of affordable housing for our community members, which of course includes veterans, families, and people who fulfill essential jobs in our community.

Additionally, by completing financing of these 50 housing units with state funding, Homeward Bound avoids the high cost of traditional financing and can therefore continue expanding affordable housing opportunities in Marin for people who need it the most.

As we've highlighted throughout this presentation, Homeward Bound is an established partner with a track record of successful operations and programming to support homeless community members, again, both here in our city of Novato and also Marin County at large.

In terms of next steps, we've highlighted staff's recommendation here on the slide, which is for the city council to adopt a resolution to approve the lease writer, which amends the 2020 ground lease and enables Homeward Bound to obtain a $3 million loan from the state for construction financing for supportive housing for veterans, adults, families, and others experiencing homelessness.

And again, this approval being subject to the approval of the city manager and the city attorney.

So this concludes my presentation for this evening, and I will be happy to answer any of your questions.

However, before I do that, I did want to pass the mic over to Paul from Homeward Bound to just say a few words.

So thank you again for your time and Paul, take it away.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

Thank you for that thorough presentation.

And thank you all for the ongoing support as was highlighted.

This has been a long relationship with the city.

I know Councilmember Eklund was there and cut the ribbon of the new beginning center, and that opened in 2000.

And the city council has continued to be in support over a number of years.

I just want to clarify just a couple of things.

One, the numbers are accurate and well presented, but not everybody who was served in those numbers was served in the Navado campus.

Homeward Bound has a number of other shelters and supportive housing across the county.

Although Nevada is obviously where our admin offices are, and it's been a with the with the land of the HUD parcel has been a great opportunity for us to provide maybe 50% of our services in Nevada.

But I wanted to clarify not all of those people were served.

It wasn't 900 people a year on that campus, it was less, a lot less.

Why are we discussing this now when the building was already completed in 2024?

Well, it goes back to getting a state grant uh which we received in 2019 pre-COVID.

Um it was uh a grant specific to help with building permanent supportive housing.

Uh and the way the state awards the grant, and actually the city helped us get that grant.

We visited Sacramento, went to the state offices at the time it was Mayor Athus and the city manager at the time.

We went together along with Senator McGuire to try and secure these funds for Marin.

So we awarded the three million dollar grant, but the way they structure it is that you have to take traditional financing during the construction period, and then once construction is finished, the grant that they've awarded, or the loan that they've awarded you, they finally close and fund.

So we are in the last phase of that.

And literally a closing funding, and that's because the city owns the land and the homework bound leases that land from you.

That's why this has come up at this time when we're closing financing.

I will say this is not unusual.

Um the city of Oakland recently closed a similar grant uh with with the same state agency that we're working with, and it was the same deal.

The city of Oakland had the lands and the nonprofit that developed the housing.

But that's I think that's what I have now just to say, other than thank you for entertaining this.

And it is really important to Homework Bound to close this quickly because we're paying about $18,000 a month in interest, um, and which we fundraise initially as part of the development, but that is there's not much left in the pot.

Sooner we close that, that's money that can be used towards operations.

Um so there is a slight urgency to this.

Um, but happy to take other questions uh as they may arise if direct to me or staff, but if there are things staff doesn't know the answer to, I'm happy to pop up an answer.

Thank you very much.

Katie, excellent first presentation.

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

I have no questions.

All right, so we have no questions.

So moving on to public comment.

If you have uh you'd like to speak, fill out a yellow card.

Laura, do you have anything?

No.

All right.

Do I have a motion as presented?

Yes, I would like to move the resolution of the city council of the city of Nevada, approving a lease writer and other necessary documents amending the current ground lease between Homeward Bound and uh the City of Novato for the HUD parcel.

I'll second that.

Take vocal.

And before we call the vote, I would like to make some comments.

Um, Paul.

Um actually uh I first got involved with Homework Bound when we had the white tent on that parcel.

And um I remember uh helping to serve uh Christmas dinner for the homeless, and that's when I looked up and I saw um somebody that I had graduated from high school with, and that started my venture in helping those that were homeless.

And um, I am just very honored to have been able to be a very big supporter of homeward bound uh from the very beginning of time.

And it's just amazing seeing that campus from transitioning from a white tent, huge white tent, all the way to the multiple buildings and the training and everything else that you've been able to put together over these years.

You and Bob Pewitt, as well as the other staff.

So I just want to compliment you very much and thanks for helping me with this last homeless person that I was trying to help.

So just really thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

Councilmember Kle.

Yes, uh, I supported the resolution as well, but I just wanted to uh make sure that uh there's a clarification, uh at least in my mind.

I want to make sure that the resolution uh is adopted also as uh subject to final approval uh from the city manager and the city attorney.

Uh I just want to make sure that clarification was endorted in there as well.

That's that's part of the resolution.

Okay.

All right, Laura, now can you take it?

I was just trying to clarify that.

Councilmember Eklund.

Right there.

Councilmember Eckland.

Aye.

Councilmember Cargle.

Aye.

Councilmember O'Connor is absent.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

Aye.

And Mayor Farak.

Aye.

All right, that passes.

Um, so now moving on to item G2.

Um, we're receiving a presentation from age and disability friendly Novato, who we just gave uh a resolution to.

So I'd like to invite Katie Gottlin up with park and recreation and community service director to open the item.

Welcome, Katie.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Tonight I'm pleased to introduce members of the Age and Disability Friendly Novato Steering Committee who are here this evening to share an update on the committee's work to advance a more inclusive and accessible community for the residents of Novato.

As you know, Novato's been engaged in this effort for several years, and last year the ADFN Steering Committee, in partnership with city staff and community partners, completed the Age and Disability Friendly Novato Action Plan for 2025-2028, which is a three-year roadmap designed to help make Novato a more livable, inclusive, and community and connected community, not only for our older adults, but for people with disabilities of all ages, their caregivers, and residents across all generations.

The plan was developed through a community-driven process that included surveys, focus groups, storytelling sessions, and workshops with residents, ensuring that the strategies reflected lived experiences and real community needs.

The work aligns with the broader community and local planning efforts and focuses on strengthening community connections, improving access to resources, and advancing accessibility and inclusion across the World Health Organization's eight domains of livability.

These domains include outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, community support and health.

The ADFN committee has made great strides over the course of the last year, and it's been a true collaborative effort.

Staff are incredibly grateful for this committee of committed volunteers who have uh continued to move this work forward.

This evening I'm going to pass the mic off to Lauren Vreelin Long, who is the chair of the Age and Disability Friendly Novato Steering Committee, and Colleen Arnold, who is also a part of the steering committee and CEO of the Marin Age and Disability Institute.

Both of them will provide an update on the group's achievements this past year, as well as a glimpse into what's to come from this group.

Before I hand it off to them, I'd like to also recognize two additional steering committee members, Lisa Swanson and Tanisa Villomano, as well as city staff, including community services manager Drew Ben Dixon and recreation supervisor Teresa Edishami.

All of these members have played a critical role in supporting the success of the last year.

And I'll pass it off to Colleen and Lauren.

Thank you.

Welcome again.

Thank you.

And thank you so much, Katie Gauntlet and Amy Cunningham, and we are very grateful to be here as well to give this little update.

Dr.

Colleen Arnold will really give the presentation, but I will just introduce ourselves again.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Thank you for this opportunity to share an update on the work of Age and Disability Friendly Novato.

Our effort is grounded in a simple idea that Novato should be a community where people of all ages and abilities can live safely, participate fully, and feel that they belong.

Over the past year, we've continued to move from vision to action.

One area of focus has been community preparedness in partnership with the Margaret Todd Senior Center and the Office of Emergency Management.

We hosted emergency preparedness trainings designed specifically for older adults and people with disabilities, helping residents understand evacuation planning, communication strategies, and how to prepare before a crisis occurs.

We've also been working with community events to make them more inclusive at the city's annual magic show.

We introduced Novato's first sensory station, a quiet supportive space for children and adults who may experience sensory overload.

It was a small addition to it with a big message that everyone should be able to enjoy our community's celebrations.

We are excited about our growing partnership with Novato Parks and Recreation as we work together toward a shared goal of inclusive Novato Fund.

This collaboration is helping ensure that recreation programs, events, and spaces are welcoming and accessible to residents of every age and ability.

These efforts reflect the broader mission of age and disability friendly Novato.

Building a community where inclusion is not an afterthought, but a guiding principle.

Tonight we're pleased to share a few of the steps we've taken and the progress we're making towards that goal.

And with that, I'll introduce Dr.

Colleen Arnold.

Thank you so much.

And I'm just going to carry around our beautiful report.

That we stood here June 10th, 2025 and presented to most of you.

Councilmember Kirkle, I have a copy for you to take home.

Some great nightly reading.

Next slide, please.

So we are we spent a lot of time and dedication on this assessment process and a huge partnership with the city on making sure that the voices of the Novato community were heard, including a beautiful partnership with Homeward Bound Marin, ensuring that our unhoused community was also accessed during this time.

As you know, this process can be daunting, and we had great funding from the California Department of Aging to get this to happen.

Unfortunately, the funding doesn't include the actual implementation of the plan.

So we are so proud and lucky to have such great city partnerships as well as a volunteer base to get this momentum moving.

So moving forward, assessment to action.

We know what we need in the city of Novado.

None of the results in this report were shocking to any of us.

And so we're just really excited to make these small impacts in the past nine months.

As was mentioned, we have a great collaborator.

We have some intergenerational experiences.

My little seven-year-old who was here in front of the city council a few months ago accepting the proclamation related to the All-Summer Association and Caregivers Month.

So we appreciate all of the recognition we've had thus far.

So our action plan is very detail-oriented with a lot of goals.

And I really want to highlight on the specific goals that we've met since the last time we were in front of you all.

One of our main goals was really combating the exclusion and isolation of our community.

We have such a beautiful collaboration with the Margaret Todd Senior Center.

This pickleball for all event, which our now mayor attended with her, her children, and we were lucky to have Mark Milberg's ongoing support as well.

We were able to bring together multi-generations to have fun and play pickleball.

We had adapted options.

We had students with disabilities.

We had local Novato residents who typically perhaps can't access some of our sports.

And we had just a blast, a pickle eating competition as well, which is 10 out of 10.

So just really proud to continue this movement of involving intergenerational experiences that are valuable to all people who attend.

I want to point out Trish in our audience, who's also on our steering committee, who keeps us committed to health, which we love, specifically Bone Health.

And just getting our name out there, getting our disability community, our older adults community to engage with us to get our, you know, to promote these related events.

We're so lucky in Novato to already have such important events like Spectrum Safety that are already a part of our community on an annual basis.

We also had our second annual representation in the Fourth of July parade.

We blasted RESP E CT, I think for two hours straight.

It was stuck in everyone's head.

But it was a really important way for a marginalized community to celebrate out in the streets.

Our 4th of July parade is so robust.

We have so many, so much great participant from our community.

And you can see some of our local children with more complex disabilities and needs were also able to participate.

So we look forward to building on that in the years to come.

This is Lauren's first experience with the fire extinguisher.

The emergency preparedness training was super important.

This was something that really came out of our study.

Our especially our older adults, we are not prepared for emergencies.

And to be honest, I didn't have a go back, and I wrote this report.

So all of us learned from this experience.

It was such a great partnership with the county of Marin.

Ready, Marin provided this free of charge.

It's a county service.

And we have now hosted two of these trainings, both were full.

So we are talking with, you know, how can we get bigger space and get this out to more adults?

We all made sure we're signed up for alerts.

We did it in the moment.

I was signed up for the wrong alert system.

As we know, things change all the time.

So it was just really important to make sure we're on the same page.

We all know we're registered, and I think the go bags were a really big draw to get people in the room.

If you haven't heard about the What About Age initiative, it's pretty fantastic.

It's been a kind of brainchild of council member Rachel Kurtz in Santa Rafael.

She's really putting a lot of energy into bringing the what about age and just further discussions around discrimination for older adults.

We were able last minute to get the support of Margaret Todd and our Nevado Parks and Recs and City to host Stacey Gendrin to do a speech.

You can see the room was full.

We actually had, I want to say from age six months to 80 year olds old in the space, fighting ageism from the very beginning, which is so critical.

And just making sure that Novato is tapped in, tapped into what's happening across the county.

There is a beautiful art exhibit.

If you haven't seen it at the Marin County Civic Center, it's really fantastic.

And you can see in this photograph on the right, there was intergenerational experiences creating the art with older adults and some of the youth in our community.

Again, real meaningful intergenerational experiences that really exhibit what we're trying to do here at ADFM.

And just another example of this beautiful exhibit again.

If you haven't seen it, it's still up at the at the Civic Center.

Yeah.

This is my proud baby.

I think I we may have had a little bit of a moment at the magic show when we had a couple of families.

I mean, I help babies calm down from, you know, it's loud.

Um, but there were clearly children with disabilities and their parents who visited this table.

And a dad in particular who looked at me with tears in his eyes and was like, this is amazing.

Thank you so much.

As his daughter said, I wear these noise canceling headphones at school.

Um ADFN was able to donate the funds to purchase noise canceling headphones of high quality that we can then our goal really is to create a volunteer base where we can offer this at every city event, and we're really working with Novato Parks and Rec to see what that could feasibly look like when we have such various engaging events throughout the city.

So we're to next in our huge laundry list of goals.

Um we have a few really exciting things coming up.

One that I forgot to put on here, but we'll speak to.

First of all, if you are not aware, next slide, please.

Um, we are hosting a Nevada, a Novato Senior Health and Resource Fair.

The feedback that we got in our assessment plan was people love the fair that's hosted by Marin County, um, but it can be too much for some of our local residents.

It's huge, it's big.

We really wanted a more localized version.

So we'd love to see you all at the Margaret Todd on Wednesday, May 20th.

We already have some fantastic committed booths of not only service providers, but we're going to be providing some basic health and wellness checks, blood pressure, vision, strength tests.

So it will really be not just tables with pamphlets for service providers, but also people can walk away with a real sense of next steps related to their health.

And we also have a platinum sponsor, Oakmont, which will be providing free meals.

So super draw for our community.

We're bringing Marin County Parks in this year.

They'll be bringing their terrain hopper, which is another piece of equipment that helps people with mobility impairments access the trails, specifically Roy's Redwoods, which is our first fully inclusive hike out in West Marin.

We also are planning to bring inclusive Santa to the city of Nevada.

So stay tuned for more on that.

Katie and I will be dreaming that up in summer of this year.

And finally, one of the big action items that we felt really strongly about is helping our summer camps to be more inclusive.

We have such a robust amount of programs that are available to our local children.

My son frequents the sports camps, my daughter did gymnastics camp for years.

And what we heard is we want our kids with disabilities to be successful at these camps.

And what we heard from our staff was we want more support to help make these kids more successful successful at our camps.

So we're collaborating to do training to support the not only the staff but the CITs that will be working directly with students, and we'll be piloting that this summer 2026.

And just so many people to thank.

We've had the whole Novato Fund team honestly has been so accepting of our ideas.

Obviously, Katie and Drew are our powerhouse partners.

The council, our steering committee, ready of Marin, Supervisor Lucan has really had our back and helped commit this report to the city and the state.

So just feeling super grateful, and we're happy to answer any questions you may have.

And if you have priorities on this list, we'll be really focusing with our steering committee on where we go next for the coming year.

Thanks so much for your time.

Yeah, thank you so much for the great uh presentation, as well as just the great partnership.

Um this is really special for our entire community.

Um do I have questions?

All right, Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

Thank you.

Um do you guys have an interest in moving forward looking at uh community housing for your population?

Housing is definitely what one of our priorities in this list.

And one of the things that Lauren and I have been speaking out, because housing is not my expertise, is how we collaborate with the Marin Organizing Committee and other groups that are already really actively seeking housing, as well as how we support the housing initiatives of the City of Navado, whether it be to come speak at you know when items are on the agenda.

So absolutely that's a piece that's really critical to us.

I think we're trying to find how we make our way in that space.

Sure, there's a couple different groups I know of, so catch me later.

Fantastic.

We love that.

Councilmember Uckland.

Yeah, um, a great program.

Um I'm a big supporter of uh senior programs and Margaret Todd and everything that people are doing.

Um I have 99-year-old mom that I'm helping to live and to die.

And um one of the things that I've learned through this process is that there are other seniors too that struggle with um just getting outside and enjoying the the fresh air and stuff like that.

And so how can we reach more of the seniors that have more challenges and trying to get to some of these events?

Um have as the committee or group had any thought about what we can do to try to reach out to those that are not as agile.

That's such a great question.

And I think you know, during our assessment period, that was really important to us because we knew that the people that are coming to Margaret Todd every day, right?

They're they're not having these isolation issues.

They're really involved in their community.

Some of our partnerships, like with Novato Villages, is so important.

I think that transportation can be a barrier as well.

So there are times when we're looking how can we host or how can we collaborate with paratransit to provide transportation because I think that can be a big barrier.

But tapping into our local libraries as well.

So I think building those partnerships are so important because to your point, we want to build the draw of who can access these programs.

So I appreciate that comment.

Yeah, I just um you know, people that um are not able to live and die at home, but are in facilities, for an example, they have activities, but sometimes they get old.

And so um uh just allowing them to be able to attend and participate in some of these.

I know it's a challenge, but um anyway, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know because I feel real strongly that we we need to figure something out for them.

Fantastic.

I love the idea of bringing the programs to, right?

That's we really need to meet people where they are.

Yeah, too great.

Thank you.

Thank you for that thought.

All right, and I have no other questions.

So moving on to public comment.

If you'd like to speak, please fill out a yellow card.

Do we have any yellow cards?

No, all right.

Well, thank you so much.

Um I know one of the passionate areas for me are seniors and emergencies.

So um, and I know we've talked about it, but thank you so much.

Your progress is amazing and excited to see what happens.

Um moving on to the next item on the agenda, G4.

Um, so this is uh receive and file the 2025 annual progress report.

And um, Councilmember Uklin, you had a question regarding this?

Yeah, actually, I had submitted four questions, and I'm sorry, Steve that I wasn't able to get them to you earlier.

Um, but first of all, um why so uh we don't have a local tenant preference policy.

So um as I uh I don't think we have one, do we no, and I don't I don't think you can have a local tenant uh preference.

Uh what I've heard from our affordable housing partners is that they often do target marketing to attract local tenants, but otherwise they can't set any uh particular preference for who they rent or lease to why can't we establish one?

Uh I believe it it's based in fair housing law, and I see uh City Attorney Bell may have a perspective on that.

Yeah, so there's uh the federal Fair Housing Act, and then we have the Fair Employment and Housing Act here in California, which goes a little bit further than the federal counterpart.

Generally, it prohibits discrimination on things like source of income and age and race and other prohibited classifications.

And that can include things like local preferences, but some jurisdictions do have local preference policies, they're usually weighted and there's a lottery.

So it doesn't guarantee that it goes to a particular person, but it can um give a um a weighted preference in a lottery system for that.

Um and so those types of uh preference policies it doesn't guarantee it necessarily have been blessed by the courts as long as you have a study to support it and you go through the process.

So does anybody in Marin have uh such a policy or Sonoma?

Um I don't know that for sure, but certainly agencies in and around this area do.

I do know that.

Okay, great.

And do you happen to have copies of such a policy?

I do.

I can share that.

If you could send it to the council, I'd really appreciate it.

And obviously staff.

Um the other question I had is that since the beginning of this RENA cycle, um we uh were able to permit um for 141 housing units.

Um and what is the projection for the remaining years in this cycle?

Um we we haven't necessarily created a projection that goes year over year of what we'd expect.

What we instead looked at is what's in our pipeline.

Uh so what projects have been entitled and which projects are uh pending in terms of applications and what we found here is we have a little over 2,000 units between those two classifications.

So I want to say we're roughly in the 800 to 900 range for entitled, and then we have another um thousand eleven hundred or so that could potentially come through uh with applications.

So that would round out uh the projection going forward from our perspective, we have enough projects entitled and in the pipeline that we would meet the total number of housing units assigned to us in RENA.

Um I would note that we only get RENA credit when building permits are issued.

So what we're seeing right now is a lag between what's entitled and what's actually going to construction.

So hopefully once we finish out some of our entitlements and some of those projects that are entitled get their building permits will start to show more numbers being credited towards RENA.

So we only get credit if we issue a building permit.

And you said that well, all housing has to have a building permit at some point, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

And so what you're thinking is that we may not make the the arena, the regional housing needs allocation, because I think we will.

You think we will.

And I think what we're hearing right now is interest rates have suppressed um construction and also uh materials costs.

So I think interest rates are improving.

We're seeing some signs that people want to move forward projects.

Um I'll say this.

Uh we have a subdivision map application now for the fireman's fund site, uh, which is a very good sign.

So I think we will ultimately make uh our number, and it just takes time and the right economic circumstances to support that.

Wow, that's great.

Um we were lucky to get a loan number this last time in comparison to others.

So thank you.

On page four of the staff report, um, it states that the city's entitled um three SB9 urban lot splits.

Could you help remind me what um SB9 is?

Yes, so that's a state statute that allows a single family uh zone parcel to be uh developed with up to four homes.

Okay.

Uh and that can take the form of uh four homes on an individual parcel, or uh property owner could do what's called an urban lot split, which divides the property in two, and then two homes can go on each of those uh parcels.

Okay, great.

Um, and so you said we had three SB9 urban lot splits, so that means that there were three of them throughout the city, but the lot splits could be two or four or whatever.

Yes, so you had three parcels split into two, so six total lots of those uh six or of those three parcels, they all had an existing single family home on them.

So in total numbers, you could see an additional nine units come out of those uh subdivisions.

Okay, great.

And um so and then the last question is staff considering holding a public workshop on the proposed ordinance on the tenant protections before the council meeting on the 24th.

Yes, I believe uh Director Hartman is hosting several or has hosted several, and I believe there's a few to go uh regarding the tenant protection uh ordinance.

So I haven't seen all of them listed on the on the city's web page.

Um I have attended um two of them uh uh at least so far.

Um the meetings have been posted on the website and have been promoted on social media and all of our different channels that we use to promote to the community.

Great, and then can you make sure that the council is also informed uh with the with an email?

Okay, great.

That would be helpful.

Um that was it.

I just wanted to compliment you on an outstanding report.

And um love the and I I went back and looked at several of others uh in previous years, and um just really appreciate all of your effort, uh Steve, and um really taking this seriously and doing a good report for the city of Nevada.

I appreciate that.

All right, I have no other questions.

Um if you'd like to fill out a card to speak, please do.

I have one card, Lucy Hollingsworth.

And you have three minutes.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, good evening, council members.

I just wanted to tonight lift up uh the commitment to affirm I will never get this right, affirmatively furthering fair housing.

Um so far the City of Novato and this council has followed through with most of their commitments.

You've uh heard the route and marin report, drafted an ordinance, done a lot of outreach last year, and continued continuing to do the outreach.

And now we have a draft ordinance.

But I just want to remind this council that in our housing element it does commit to maintaining or expanding the number of units that are protected.

And I know that is going to be a controversial issue protecting uh renters and single family homes, for example.

However, I know that there is a lot of creative other options that will continue to help Nevada's rental landscape grow.

Um and I look forward to having those open constructive conversations with you all with landlords, with tenants, starting on March 24th.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Um do I have a motion as presented for item G4.

I'll move it.

All right.

I'll second it.

Laura, can you take a vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkel?

All right.

Councilmember O'Connor is absent.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

All right.

And Mayor Farak.

Hi.

All right, that passes.

Um moving on to adjournment.

Uh the next regular city council meeting will be held on March 24th, 2026.

Um, does the council have anyone whom they like to adjourn in memory of?

Absolutely.

All right.

Um I'd like to adjourn this meeting in memory of uh Nancy Marsh Sangster D.

Hahn.

Um she was um 93 years old when she died, passed away on January 27th after a battle with um dementia.

And um Nancy was actually born in Kansas and uh married her husband Dick Sankster.

They had four children, and um they actually moved to Terralinda, which uh I didn't know until I went to her memorial, and um they moved there in '62, and that was a year after my mom and dad bought the house.

And um then they moved to Novato in 1976, and uh I think they're followed me from Carolinda to Novato.

Um anyway, so Nancy was a volunteer.

Um she worked uh she served on the Novato Community Hospital.

Um she uh was on the board uh for the Novato Parks and Recreation Commission.

She was on the Marin Commission County uh Commission on Aging, and she was very involved with the Margaret Todd Senior Center.

And um she also was the Grand Marshal in the Novato Parade in 2006.

Nancy also was the only person I know that she married after Dick died.

Um she found or Bob, Bob found Nancy and Nancy found Bob and Bob at uh at the age of 76, they married.

And um so uh Nancy was a great friend.

She lived in Pacheco for a long time.

She was very involved with the city, and she's gonna be very poorly missed.

And um so I'd like to close in memory of Nancy Sangster.

Thank you, Councilmember Eklund.

We will close in memory of Nancy.

And this is her pit her picture when.