Welcome to the City of Novato's City Council meeting for May 12th.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The United States of America.

Laura, can you take roll call?

Councilmember Eklund.

Present.

Councilmember Carkle.

Here.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

And Mayor Farak.

Present.

We did have a closed session.

Our attorney Gary Bell, was there anything to report?

Yes, thank you, Mayor and Council members.

The council voted 5-0 to initiate litigation.

The action, defendants, and other particulars will, once the action is commenced, be disclosed to any person upon inquiry.

That's all I've got.

Thank you very much.

Now moving on to item C, ceremonial matters.

We'll invite my colleagues to go up front.

All right, and I'm gonna let my mayor pro tem uh do the first proclamation.

Thank you.

Hello?

Public Works Director Chris Ben Gini, can you come up, please?

And staff?

Recognizing National Public Works Week, May 17th to 23rd, 2026.

Whereas the American Public Works Association marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week with a theme Rooted in Service, powered by community, which highlights the essential role public works professionals play in building and maintaining infrastructure that supports thriving communities.

And whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, emergency management, and services that are vitally important to sustainable and resilient communities and to the health, quality of life, and well-being of the people of the city of Novato.

And whereas Novato Public Works staff provide the Novato community with ongoing essential services by efficiently maintaining, repairing, and preserving the city's 460 medians, 318 miles of road, and 115 acres of parks, as well as numerous buildings and fleet vehicles.

And whereas the quality and effectiveness of projects and services, as well as their planning, design, and construction is vitally dependent upon the efforts and skills of public works officials.

And whereas the City of Nevada Public Works Department is committed to providing top quality programs, projects, and services, and is dedicated to ensuring that residents, businesses, and visitors experience a safe, healthy, and beautiful community.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Novato or City Council of the City of Novato on behalf of the residents of Novato does hereby proclaim the week May 17th to 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week in the City of Novato, and be it further resolved that the City Council recognizes the vital importance of public works staff and orphas, the Nevado Public Works Department, its heartfelt thanks and appreciation for everything they do for health, safety, and quality of life in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

It's an honor to accept this award on behalf of the entire public works team.

Uh it's often the case with public works.

The best days are the days where you don't hear us.

You don't see us, you don't hear about us, because everything's working perfectly.

So Public Works Week is an opportunity to really put the spotlight on our team and show the world, show Novato that we are so proud to serve them, so proud to serve our community and make Novato a better place.

So it's an honor to work alongside all of my peers in public works, and it's an honor to serve you, so thank you.

All right, I'm gonna invite our chief up and members of our police department.

Alright, so this is recognizing National Police Week.

Whereas in 1962, President John F.

Kennedy signed the proclamation, which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day, and the week in which that date falls National Police Week.

And where the City of Novato has declared law enforcement, officer safety and wellness a top priority.

And whereas the city, the Novato Police Department is a modern and scientific law enforcement agency, which unseasonally provides vital public service.

And now, therefore, let it be resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato, on behalf of the residents of Novato, here observed the week of May 15th to May 21st, 2026 as National Police Week.

And May 15th, as Peace Officer Memorial Day, to honor those officers through their courageous deeds, have sacrificed in performance of duty.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

And I agree.

But no, you know, and I just want to say thank you for honoring the men and women that work so hard for this city, and honestly, thank you, Novato, for being a city worse.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right, now we have one more proclamation, and um my colleague uh council member Carkle is gonna deliver this one since it's in his district.

So I'd like to invite Katie and Tiffany up for the proclamation.

All right.

Thanks very much.

So this is a proclamation recognizing National Water Safety Month, May 2026.

Um I'm probably gonna skip through this is a long proclamation, so I'm gonna skip a few varasses here.

So, but I'm gonna start with the first one, whereas May is recognized nationally as National Water Safety Month, a time for communities to celebrate the joy of swimming, promote water safety awareness, and encourage safe practices in and around water.

And whereas the city of Novato, the Greater Marin County region are home to an abundance of beaches, bays, and coastal waterways that draw residents and visitors outdoors year-round, making water safety awareness and swim education especially relevant and important for our community.

And this is where I skip.

So we're I'm gonna skip to whereas the city of Novato is proud to operate the Hamilton community pool, offering swim lessons for all ages and skill levels, including adaptive swim lessons for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, alongside recreational swim, lap swim, water exercise, junior swim instructor, and junior lifeguard camps throughout the summer session.

And whereas the city of Nevada's aquatics program is a cornerstone of community life, connecting residents of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities to the shared joy of the water and a commitment to keeping our community safe, and whereas the city of Nevada commends the dedicated lifeguards, swim instructors and aquatic staff at the Hamilton Community Pool, whose commitment, skill, and enthusiasm keep our community safe and make every visit to the pool a welcoming experience.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City Council of the City of Novato on behalf of its citizens proudly proclaims May 2026 as National Water Safety Month in the City of Navarro and encourages all residents and families to learn the water safety skills, take advantage of the city's aquatic programming at the Hammerton Community Pool opening May 23rd and celebrate the many ways water enriches life in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

On behalf of Novato Parks and Recreation, I just want to thank you for recognizing this month.

We're so excited for the swim season ahead of us.

The Hamilton Pool officially opens on May 23rd.

Nobody Parks Recreation is proud to operate this valued community asset, which not only provides opportunities for aquatics, recreation, and fitness, but also helps deliver one of the most important life-savings saving skills a person can have, which is learning to swim.

I also want to take a moment to recognize our team.

And with that, I'm gonna pass it to Tiffany.

Good evening.

I just want to encourage everyone to celebrate Water Safety Month this month by enrolling in swim lessons, reviewing safety protocols, and spreading awareness to your family and friends.

Thank you so much.

Do you have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the final agenda.

And I'll second the motion.

Laura, can you take Councilmember Eklund?

Councilmember Eklund.

Councilmember Carkel.

All right.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Mayor Pro Tem Jacobs.

All right.

And Mayor Farak.

I thought possible.

Moving on to item E reports from City Council and City Manager.

We'll start with City Manager Conanium.

No report for me tonight.

Thank you.

All right.

Councilmember Eklin.

Uh yes, this is actually quite a busy couple of weeks.

First of all, um cities and uh counties have a requirement to do a regional shoreline adaptation plan.

And so as a BCDC commissioner, I've been attending all of the webinars that we've been having, and to do that, and so there was the last one on equity that I participated in this month.

Um I also had a great um, what the city is calling pop-up event is this is where council members in each uh district um welcomes people to come and ask questions or talk or just sit and enjoy company, and um I wanted to thank city staff, um Amy Cunningham and her outstanding team for really getting the word out, and um, we didn't have a minute to even rest.

Um, it was um completely loaded with people that were coming, and I just wanted to thank all the people who came, and um, even folks that are not in my district.

Um, and I appreciated that a lot because um I'm very connected to a lot of people in this town, and you don't have to live in my district to get my help.

So you always have that.

Um, I also attended the um RAND Wildlife Wildfire Prevention Authority workshop that all of the fire prevention organizations in Marin County held at the Civic Center on on uh a week ago Saturday, and um uh so that that was an outstanding event.

And if you didn't go, I encourage you to watch the tape that is posted up on the county's website because you'll learn a lot about what is going on in the county with regards to uh fire prevention.

Um I also wanted to um ask the city manager to ask the Nevada Fire Protection District to give us a little presentation on what the city can do and the residents can do on fire prevention.

And I think that that's really important that we have here have that at the city council meeting so that we're engaged as well, because right now we have not been engaged.

So wanted to thank a Nevado Sanitary District for holding the e waste collection as well.

Um I participated in that and got rid of a couple of things that I've been having for some time.

I also attended the uh city's community workshop on the economic economic strategic plan.

That was um really informative and also brought a lot of people in and contributed their ideas.

I participated and I'm on the committee for the San Francisco Estuary Partnership Implementation Committee, and so we're talking about San Francisco Bay.

I also participated in Highway 37 meeting, and I wanted to inform the residents that um highway 37 is gonna start on the Vallejo side in 2027 next year.

Um, and so the construction is actually gonna be starting pretty soon.

I also participated in the Rin County Sea Level Rise Committee as well as uh two commission meetings of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

Last but not least, I've been also very busy with the Marin County mayors of council members and mayors, and what we're doing is we're hiring a person to uh run our organization and also to help the legislative committee uh which meets once a month that I'm also on too.

So a lot of things going on, and just really um again wanted to do a shout out to the staff for the pop-up event and the outstanding work that was done to um get the publicity and and um also participating to taking time out of your day to come uh to the district and talk to folks that came.

So thank you very much.

Councilmember Carkel.

Uh, thank you.

I don't have any comments.

Councilmember O'Connor.

And interesting, I'm gonna forego my report.

Thank you.

I'm just gonna hit a couple key points.

Uh we had the police officers award ceremony here in uh city hall on April 29th.

It was wonderfully well attended and it was very good to give uh more recognition to our police department.

I had my pop-up at trailhead on May 7th, it was very well attended, had some great conversations, and I attended the Smart Train Healdsburg Extension Project groundbreaking ceremony that had over a thousand people there.

So we're looking forward to the smart train going to Heelsburg in about two years.

And thank you, that's all.

And then I just have one quick item.

Um, I did uh attend the school fuel, which raises money for our schools and did meet the mayor and got to hand out free books to children.

So that was exciting, and I did see uh council member O'Connor there.

All right, moving on to public comment.

So this is general public comment for items that are not on the agenda or for items on the consent calendar.

There is a three-minute time limit.

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

I'm gonna call up um the people, two people so that person can get in line because there are a few.

If you do agree with a comment, do not clap, go like this, and then we can see your support.

Um, it just makes things flow um a little nicer instead of uh sound disruption.

Um so moving on to public comment, uh Tanessa Booley Merritt and then get in line, Ryan Ralston.

Tanessa, who wanted to talk about the senior fair?

It's Vanessa VAM T.

This is T Tanisa.

Okay, I'm not seeing her.

Alright, so Ryan Walston and then Bernie.

And you have three minutes.

Three minutes.

Yes, ma'am, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor.

Distinguished members of the council.

My name is Ryan Ralson, and I'm the director of operations for the nonprofit You Are the Power.

Our mission is to protect individuals, families, and other organizations from local government overreach and abuse.

Using the power of social media to tell our client stories, demand local officials treat them with respect, and ensure that permanent change happens so the government overreach and abuse cannot happen again.

And our services are always free.

And this evening I am here on behalf of the residents of Moran Valley.

You are the powers foundational ideology is the principle of human respect, which simply means coercion, theft, and violence will always reduce one's happiness, harmony, and prosperity.

And this will not change throughout one's lifestyle, nor does it matter who the primary aggressor is.

We found the Marin Valley cause, reached out, vetted the case, and accepted them as a client.

I spent the day with several residents of the NBMCC today.

We had lunch, they provided a tour of their community, and my biggest takeaway was that their sense of security and well-being has been significantly diminished by the recent actions of the mayor and the council here in the city.

All of us, every one of us, every action that we take is seeking out happiness.

Whether it's in the immediate, go into your local coffee shop to get your favorite cup of coffee, whether it's long term by completing a project at work.

The goal remains the same.

It's happiness.

And I ask you, mayor, and distinguished members of the council to temporarily remove the title from your name and truly look at the residents of the NBMCC, not as voters or constituents, but as human beings.

Human beings worthy of respect.

The same as you.

Additionally, I implore you to listen to what your fellow human beings have to say tonight.

Listen not only to form a response, but to understand what is being said.

And it's through that understanding that reconciliation can be found.

Listen to understand how your actions have harmed your fellow human beings.

People like Serena, Brad, John, Alan, Michelle, Peggy, Jill, and many more.

Lastly, in the spirit of cooperation, listen to the MVMCC residents and hear how they are willing to have open, respectful dialogue, and to resolve the situation through the perspective of the principle of human respect.

And you might find that the only thing that separates you from them is a misunderstanding.

A situation that can be resolved, not through anger or frustration or blame, but through understanding.

The time to do the right thing is now.

The time to do the right thing is always now.

Thank you again for your time.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Bernie and then Sonia Seaman.

Welcome, Bernie.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council members, and staff.

Microphone.

I'm Bernie Myers, a Navado resident, former council member and mayor, and I have no financial interest in Marin Valley.

Behind every line of policy and every financing structure you discuss are real people who built their lives around a promise.

Please hold the original vision with clarity and resolve.

Honor the seniors who took on obligations they knew might never personally benefit them.

Honor the city who in the past imagined its cities, its citizens would experience stability, dignity, and understood that Novato was there for them.

Safeguard fairness, transparency, and people who need your voice to look out for them.

This is not nostalgia.

It's continuity.

It's a reminder that city commitments made to its seniors are not technicalities.

They are moral obligations.

There's something profoundly human in the way a community can keep faith across decades that commitments made long ago still matter, and that affordability isn't a convenient political throwaway, but a way of allowing people to stay rooted in the place that has shaped them.

You are invited to be courageous, to remember to protect.

Commitments made in one generation must not be abandoned in the next.

We are not committed, I'm sorry, we are not permitted to look away.

See what is in front of you.

Remember who these seniors are, who they aspire to be, and remember who you yourselves once aspired to be.

You were the stewards of a promise made long ago.

The people who trusted this city did so because they believe Novato would remember them and their successors when it mattered.

That moment is now.

Honor the commitment that shaped over a thousand lives, protect the community that depends on you today.

Let future generations say that when the test came, you chose integrity over convenience and people over expedience.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Sonia and then Dave Kenyon, you're on deck.

Welcome.

Good evening, Council members.

I'm Sonia Seaman, Nevada resident for over 50 years, and a former deputy Novato deputy city manager for over 25 years that retired in 2000.

During my tenure, I was up for I was a first-hand witness to and participated in the city's management representative for the creation of the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club Park Acquisition process with the goal of achieving affordable housing for current and future residents.

It was a complex transaction, including numerous legal and financial mechanisms requiring close coordination among various stakeholders, the park residents, the city, and a host of professional consultants, ensuring compliance with required documentation to effectuate the purchase of the park consistent with that original goal of park affordability.

The original intent of the transaction was to establish the Novato Financing Authority, NFA as an interim administrative authority during the bond and loan period.

Once the bonds were retired, paid entirely by the residents' rents, the ownership of the park would be transferred to an appropriate nonprofit entity along with affordable housing covenants.

A critical component of the acquisition process was the requirement that at least 40% of the units or spaces would be maintained in perpetuity as affordable housing consisting consistent with the Novato housing element provisions.

Hopefully, current matters surrounding the final transaction and transfer can be resolved among the stakeholders through fact-based, thoughtful, and respectful dialogue among designated representatives of the parties, perhaps as a subcommittee or a task force format.

Who would have imagined that after several decades, Councilmember Eklund and I are now witnessing the final steps in fulfilling the city's commitment to Marin Valley, the residents for by transferring the park to nonprofit entity that will maintain affordability for them and in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Dave Kenyon and then Alan Gum.

Welcome, Dave.

Thank you.

I'm Dave Kenyon.

I'm a resident of Novato.

I lived here about high.

Better?

Yeah.

Okay, I'm Dave Kenyon.

I'm a resident of Novato.

I'm an attorney and a real estate broker, and I've lived here over 40 years.

30 years ago, I was involved in this transaction as both a real estate broker and one of many attorneys involved in the transaction.

The residents wanted to buy their park.

Mr.

Saeed was or sayed was the owner of the park.

He agreed to wait for the residents to get their situation resolved so that they could afford to buy this park.

I was involved in bond financing for the Novato Youth Center.

I was a member of the board there and a president for a while.

And because of that background, the residents hired me to get involved in this transaction.

In that role, we put together, and I can't say that I was lead person on the bonds at all.

We put together a transaction where we financed the purchase of this park using the Novato Financing Authority to issue the bonds, but the credit was all based upon the operation of the mobile home park.

The city's credit was not involved and was never at risk, and the city never owed one cent to anyone as a part of this purchase.

City didn't buy the park, the residents did.

But title was put in the name of the Novato Financing Authority and later another subentity of your city.

In that role, you were governing and helping the residents maintain their park and pay their bills.

You held it in trust for the residents.

Your staff and several members of your council promised that at the end of this transaction, the property would be transferred to a nonprofit corporation for the benefit of the senior citizen residents.

For you to consider anything else would be immoral.

I'm sorry, just not right.

This was a promise made by the city, and the reason why it wasn't in the bond documents was the bond council told us that we couldn't have that promise in there and still qualify for the tax exempt financing.

That tax exempt financing reduced the monthly mortgage cost or annual mortgage cost by approximately one third over what regular financing would have been.

But even with that one third reduction in the cost of the monthly payments for this park, there wasn't quite enough money.

Residents agreed.

Thank you, Dave.

Your three months.

We have a three-minute time limit.

I'm sorry.

You could pass it on to the right for you to consider sales somewhere.

We have a three-minute time limit, so we're just respectful of that.

It's for everyone, it's for equal.

Well, then we can set up a meeting.

I'd be glad to be okay.

And I'd be glad to be involved in that meeting.

And just as a last thought, have your council look into the possibility of having this park maintained as a low-income property, and how that might change the requirements that A-Bag is thrown at you as to the high-rise apartments that you're looking to have to build in this town.

Maybe some of that can be avoided.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alan Gum.

And then on deck, Sonica Gold.

Welcome, Alan.

Thank you.

Madam Mayor, Councilmember, staff.

You've heard from three former city council officials, including Ron Rodwood from previously.

Are there any other voices that have supported us from the from those days from the city?

Yes.

Novato Financing Authority meeting minutes, December 17th, 1999.

Quote Chair Eckland indicated that the NFA never intended to dump MBMCC.

The NFA since the beginning has been committed to helping MBMCC become a resident-owned park.

Board Member Brown stated that it was never the intent of the NFA to become permanent owner and would continue to work to see it that is MBMCC become resident-owned.

Is there any city documentation that supports this?

Yes.

City Council public hearing October 21st, 1996, and City Council Resolution 126, November 4th, 1996.

Quote, the Novato Financing Authority anticipates transferring all of its rights, title, and interest in the project after the bonds are issued to a yet to be incorporated 501c3 Corporation, at which time such corporation may be the operator of the project.

That's the city side.

What about the MBMCC side?

You just heard from Dave Kenyon, you heard from Dave Kenyon one month ago about this.

Here's a letter from Owen Haxton written two weeks ago.

Owen Haxton was our pack board president from 1996 to 1997 and involved throughout.

Quote, in 1995, Mr.

Said approached me as president of the residence committee about purchasing the park from him.

I proceeded with the concurrence of what became the Park Acquisition Committee Board, the residents of the park, and help from an attorney to seek funding to purchase the park.

The City of Nevada was approached to help us with this plan.

And this culminated in Mr.

Sade signing over the deed to the property to me.

I then promptly took it down to the city offices where I signed it over to the city as security for the financing.

The purpose was always that when the bonds loans were paid off, that the title to the park would transfer to a nonprofit for the benefit of the residents as affordable senior housing.

The statements of Mr.

Bernie Myers and Mr.

Rod Wood made last month's city council meeting regarding the purpose and intent of the city's help in financing this project are absolutely true.

It was never the residents' intent to have the city purchase the park and the residents to pay them rent.

Bernie Myers has several times suggested to you and stated that the city undertook no financial risk here.

What about reputational risk?

You folks do fabulous work, but on this matter, I would suggest that you have some work to do.

You've attracted the attention of regional and local press as well as a national advocacy group.

And I hope that you will seize the opportunity.

Thank you.

Sonica and then Silky will be on deck next.

Good evening to all the respected council members and the staff.

My name is Sonica Goel, and I'm on behalf of Anbuti Meditation and Retreat Center in Navato.

It's my sincere pleasure to warmly invite you all to join us as a special guest for our upcoming community wellness and family event on June 20th in celebration of the UN International Day of Yoga.

This event is designed to bring together families, educators, community leaders, youth, and local organizations in a spirit of unity, well-being, and joyful connection.

We have planned a vibrant and inclusive day with a variety of activities for all ages.

These include yoga and games for kids, Tai Chi sessions, face painting, virtue scope reading, storytelling, with insightful talks, participants will also enjoy live meditation and a guided nature walk, live music sing alongs, and dance performances.

In addition, we will offer homeopathic and nutrition consulting, complimentary Ariu Veda consultations, creative experiences like pot painting and planting, a soulful vegetarian lunch will also be served.

This gathering is a celebration of wellness of mind, body, and soul.

We are deeply grateful for the encouragement and support from leaders in Navarro and surrounding communities.

It would truly be an honor to have your presence with us.

Your participation as a community leader would gently enrich the event.

We look forward to welcoming you and sharing this meaningful experience.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I live in Navatu.

As you know, burning fossil fuels for transportation is the leading cause of global heating and climate disruption.

We are in a climate emergency.

The last two years were the hottest ever recorded, and rising sea surf temperatures continue to intensify extreme weather.

So Navatu City Council passed an ordinance in November 2020 to prohibiting the construction of new gas stations, recognizing their liability to the public health, the climate and environmental protection, groundwater and soil.

In September last year, you adopted Sinawatu Climate Action Plan 2030.

And both leadership and aggressive goal setting are essential to tackle the climate crisis.

Approving the Costco gas station would violate these commitments.

Operating combustion vehicles is not only increasingly costly and polluting our environment and climate, but also subject to vital vital gasoline prices tied to foreign markets, conflict and wars.

Rejecting the Costco mega gas stations align with our climate goals, prevent traffic congestion, idling, and reducing additional exposure to toxic fumes in our community, and protect the sensitive marshlands and nearby wildlife habitat.

Novato already has ample gas station options, including discount fuel nearby at Matt and Jeff's just down the road from proposed side and safeway.

We do not need new gas stations.

Approving what would be the largest gas station in Marin County sends the wrong message to business and consumer at this time when we must accelerate the phase out of fossil fuel transitions.

I urge you to do the right thing and vote no on the Costco gas station.

We owe it to the next generations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your public comment.

And now we'll be moving on to item G consent calendar.

Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Sorry, just one moment, council member.

Sorry, mayor.

Sorry to interrupt.

I would like to uh pull item number G9.

He's gonna refuse.

Okay, and as our tradition when we pull that item, it goes to the end of the agenda.

It goes to the end of the agenda.

Okay, thank you.

It's done differently.

Yeah, Mayor and Council, just a brief oral report.

For anyone who has an employment agreement with the city, the laws changed and now applies to all departments.

So we have to wait.

All right, you guys ready?

All right, were we convening?

Uh so we're on uh consent calendar.

Do I have a motion?

Yeah, I'll make a motion to it.

Oh, I apologize.

Oh, sorry.

Yeah, just one brief oral report.

So for item G7, um law changed on this.

You're used to oral reports for employment agreements.

You sometimes see these for interim uh folks who are here at the city or anything related to the city manager because there's an employment agreement.

The laws changed, so it now applies to all department heads.

So to give a brief oral report, it's exactly what's on your agenda here.

Agenda item G7 increases the chief of police salary from 20,935 to 21915 per month.

Happy to answer any questions.

Okay, and I'd like to I'd like to pull item number nine, G9.

Okay.

Oh, I'll second.

Laura.

Councilmember Eckland.

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle.

Uh uh, except that uh I will be recusing myself from item G four because uh it's uh uh related to my day job and this is a joint project.

So, Councilmember O'Connor.

Mayor Pur Tim Jacobs, and Mayor Farak.

Hi.

So that passes.

Um so now we are moving on to item I one.

So we're conducting a public hearing.

Um Jim Nigel, Chief of Police will present this item.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor.

Uh Mayor Pro Tam and members of the council, and I'm here this evening to present to you uh our annual report and um the military of military use funding acquisition and our use of force policy or use policy as required by Assembly Bill four eighty-one.

Just a very brief background.

This all started back in 2021 where California passed Assembly Bill 481.

It regulated the use of military equipment by law enforcement agencies as defined by the bill.

So the bill was very specific on certain things.

Uh this council or version of it adopted it back in 2022 and has subsequently every year up until last year.

And the requirements of the bill say that every year we have to come forward and give you an annual report of our use.

Uh we have to conduct a well publicized community meeting, which was conducted at our PARB meeting on May 7th, and then present to council to renew the ordinance.

That's what we're here to do today.

So military equipment was defined in California Assembly Bill four eighty one, and then government codes seven seventy to seven zero seven two, and it defined fifteen different categories of equipment that it defined as military equipment.

And the following, these are the of all of those, we have these categories, we do have equipment, these six categories, and you can read through those, and we'll go through each one in just a second.

But these are all the ones that we'll be reporting on today.

The first one is the electronics so it's drones and robots.

We do have both.

Both do require specialized training to use, and we'll go into their deployment later on, and that is in section one.

We do have an armored rescue vehicle that qualifies under section two, and as you see, it's a glorified delivery van that is armor plated, and it goes out on certain uh operations.

In category 10, we do have specialized firearms and ammunition, and those are for our SWAT team.

You can see them listed there, and then the different calibers that qualify, and this is under section 10.

Section 12, these are diversionary devices or commonly known as flashbangs, and uh we did upgrade this past recently to ones that are a lot safer.

They don't emit any flame anymore, like the old ones used to, and then these ones are nice because it used to be if you pulled the pin and all of a sudden didn't want to deploy them, but you were kind of stuck.

Where these ones you can actually turn them off and not have to deploy them.

So you're they're they're much safer than the ones we used in the past.

So in this, we've touched both item 10 and 14, and that's uh patrol rifles.

We issue a sig-hour patrol rifle to every vehicle, and all of our officers are trained on the using them.

And then we also issue uh it's a 40 millimeter kinetic energy projectile, and 40 millimeters sounds scary because it's huge, but really what it is is it's that yet blue tip right there is a foam tip, and really it's a long-range impact weapon.

So if we have people with knives or weapons that we don't want to get close to, this is a way to reach out and use an impact on them without getting too close.

And again, these are all require specialized training before officers can or sergeants can handle them.

And then in section 15, it's kind of the catch all anything else that could be military equipment, and so one of the things we do include, we do have night vision goggles, and these are assigned to our SWAT team, and they go through specialized training on how to use these and when, and these were purchased several years ago through a grant.

One of the other requirements is our deployments, and in 25-26, we did have eight deployments, and you can see the time and uh different reasons we were out, and these are all deployments of our special operations team or crisis response team, and the best news of all is all of these were resolved peacefully.

I would say the crown jewel of what I'm here to report today is our drone program.

Um, it has grown exponentially over the last few years, and last year we had 174 total number of flights.

Um, so we have, as you see, 15 total hours of deployment, two flights for missing persons, two for crime scene vehicle accident, uh, demonstration flights, uh interior drones we have now that can actually search a house, which which is incredibly useful for us.

Instead of sending people in, you can send a drone in.

Um, and it's all required uh all of our pilots require the 13 total hours of training flights, and um all the pilots are certified and trained in order to operate these equipment usage feedback during 2025 out of all the deployments and 2026, we did not receive any complaints related related to the use or deployment of our military equipment.

And so, with that, we asked the council to consider adopting a resolution approving the Navado Police Department's 2526 annual report and list of equipment and renewing the ordinance approving military use policy number seven ten, pursuant to California Assembly Bill 481, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Okay, Mayor Pretem Jacobs.

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

In the drones, how many drones?

First question, and second, how many pilots and are they all sworn officers?

We have, I believe it's four drones, and then we have I think six pilots, and no, they're both sworn and non-sworn.

Uh so the non-sworn, so we take them out.

The sworn obviously can take them out on patrol, and then non-sworn can respond when needed.

Okay, thank you.

All right, I have one question.

As far as like our size of our department and what we have as far as equipment, how does that rank with other jurisdictions of similar size?

I'd say we're on par with everybody else.

I mean, we definitely don't have more, but we absolutely have what we need.

Perfect.

Um, I'm gonna open it for public comment.

Laura, do you have any cards?

Alright, see none.

So ask the council for a motion.

I'll move the resolution of the city council uh approving the Nevada Police Department's 2526 military equipment use and a report and list of equipment and renewing ordinance number 1703.

I will second that.

Laura, can you take a vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle?

Aye.

Council Member O'Connor.

Mayor Pertim Jacobs, and Mayor Farrak.

Hi.

All right, that passes.

Thank you so much.

All right, so next, moving on to item I2.

We're gonna hold a public hearing to adopt another resolution.

And I'm gonna invite our public works director, Chris Anine, and Engineer Allie Ichbal.

Welcome.

Well, they're getting settled, Council.

Um, I believe that this is Ollie's first presentation in front of council.

He is a new hire, new senior engineer for us, and we are very excited to have him here.

And um are looking forward to all of the great streets work he'll be providing to the community over the next few months.

Welcome.

We're excited to have you here and excited for your presentation.

So uh just wanted to follow Amy's uh enthusiastic.

Is it not?

I'll see this.

Just wanted to follow uh city manager Cunningham's uh blessing of our latest senior engineer here.

I had the privilege of simply introducing him and saying good evening, Mayor, mayor Pro Tem, Council members.

Uh we're looking forward to talking to you tonight about our prohibition of excavation.

Thank you.

That was a warm welcome.

I feel like I should be doing more of these presentations.

Um so we have a public hearing today about uh the prohibition of excavation for the 2026 annual pavement right rehabilitation project and the Olive Avenue Widening Project.

Um the request tonight is to hold a public hearing to hear any protests to the proposed prohibition of excavation for the 2026 uh annual pavement rehabilitation project and the Olive Avenue Widening Project pursuant to chapter 15-2.54 of the Novato Municipal Code.

Um, the prohibition of excavation has a couple of additional permit requirements.

Uh namely the excavation prohibited by city council resolution for five years after the notice of completion.

Uh the city engineer can allow excavation for exceptions and emergencies.

And the last and lastly, um, an additional $500 fee would be required, and more extensive restoration would be required in that area.

Um, a little bit about our projects.

Uh the first one's uh Redwood Boulevard from Roland Redwood Boulevard from Roland Boulevard to Rush Creek Place.

Uh mainly this is gonna be a slurry field with some digouts, some mill and fill, and one of the amenities that we're adding is a class four bike path.

Uh you're probably wondering what a class four bike path is.

Well, we just did one on Hamilton Parkway, and uh one of the defining features of a class 4 bike path is that there's a physical barrier that eliminates direct interaction with vehicles.

So on Hamilton Parkway, you can see that we use reflective plastic bollards there.

The next one is the Olive Avenue Widening and Utility Undergrounding Project.

This was from Redwood Boulevard to Railroad Avenue.

So some of the defining features in this project is there'll be dedicated westbound turn lanes, one from Olive Avenue to Redwood Boulevard, one from Olive Avenue to Railroad, and then some more to the local businesses on Olive Avenue itself.

And you'll see a class one is similar to the picture that is to the right of that.

So some of the defining features of the class one is that it's separated from vehicular traffic, and that it's shared with pedestrians and bikes together.

That's a vicinity map of the Olive Avenue project.

You can see Railroad Avenue to the right, and then going west to Redwood Boulevard.

And if you look close enough, that's Shader Joe's at the top of the picture.

And then the existing conditions at the bottom.

Here's some of the schematics drawings that we've done thus far.

You can see on the, well, if you're coming from the right, the first left dedicated, the left first dedicated left turn, turns onto railroad boulevard, and then you cross the smart tracks, and then there's a few more left turn dedicated roads into the local businesses, namely Hans and a local medical supply store.

And then if you go a little bit further, there's that last one on red on Redwood Boulevard, turning left, dedicated and a right dedicated, and then just to the north of that is the Class 1 bike path, and then just to the north of that, not shown as would be Trader Joe's.

And with that, are there any questions?

Thank you.

Any questions on this item?

Alright, I'll open up for public comment.

I don't have any yellow cards.

Alright, do I have a motion?

I'll move resolution of the city council of the city of Nevada to prohibit excavation in the traveled way of the reference streets, including Redwood Boulevard, Roland, Rush Creek, Olive Avenue, Railroad.

Pursuant to chapter uh 15, section 15-2.54 of the City of Nevada Municipal Code.

Do you have a second?

I'll second it.

Whichever.

Councilmember Eklund.

Aye.

Councilmember Carkle.

Council Member O'Connor.

Hi.

Mayor Pertim Jacobs.

And Mayor Frack.

Motion passes.

Great.

First presentation.

Good job.

Good job.

Alright, so moving on to general business.

We're going to receive a presentation.

So I'd like to invite Assistant City Manager Carla Hansen and Economic Development Manager, Katie Sherping to open the item.

And then we'll also have Good City Company.

We'll help present.

And then someone will also be on Zoom.

Alright, good evening, Mayor, Council members, members of the public.

Tonight is a very exciting milestone.

As we bring forward an update on the economic development strategic plan process.

Developing a strategic plan for economic development has been on the council's priority list since 2023.

We kicked off this project in January, and since then, our staff and consultant team have been very busy with in-depth research, early stakeholder engagement with all of you, with our partners, and really initiating some broad community engagement.

What's especially inspiring about this moment is that it shows where our organization is and where our community is, that they're ready to look towards the horizon, and imagine what's possible for Novato's future.

I want to acknowledge how proud I am of our economic development team.

Katie Sherping, our economic development manager, Stacey Hogan, Addison Long, and Katie Hahn, along with our consultant team have worked tirelessly tirelessly to get this to you tonight.

I also want to express how our sincere thank you to our community.

Our residents, our businesses, our stakeholders, the Chamber of Commerce, our downtown association really showed up at workshops and events.

They participated in focus groups and interviews.

We had 800 folks complete our survey and really shared thoughtful feedback of what they would like to see in Novato.

I think that level of engagement really speaks at volumes about how much people care about this community and what they want to see as far as its future direction.

With all of those platitudes, I also want to say we have a lot of information for you tonight.

We're gonna walk through what an economic development strategy is and why it matters, our existing conditions data and Novato's economic position within the region, and some opportunities that we see emerging for the city.

We're gonna share the feedback that we received from the community and the businesses and our stakeholders, and how all of that input and how all of that data really has informed the draft vision and goals for the plan.

So this is a study session tonight, so we're really looking for your questions and your feedback, particularly on the data, the emerging priorities and goals that we have for you, and really what's most important that you would like to see in the plan as we go and draft it and bring it back to you in early fall.

So with that, I'd like to introduce our consultant group from Strategic Economics and Good City Company.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

It's great to see you all again.

We enjoyed speaking with all of you.

Let's see.

Okay.

I have a you have a deck.

Um, tonight I'm going to uh give you an introduction on what is economic development.

Uh, and then we'll go into some of the data.

If you could speak into the microphone, I'm sorry, of course.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's why I'm just micro.

Yeah, just great.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thanks, Sabina.

Okay, thank you.

Can you hear me now?

Council member.

Yes, good.

And that can more concern people that are online as well.

Of course.

Yes, thank you.

Um, so tonight, again, we want to talk a little bit about what is economic development and what an economic development strategic plan can do.

So, next next slide, please.

Great.

So, um, economic development is the process of really expanding the city's ability to generate prosperity for its businesses, its residents, and the entire community.

And a strategic plan is really a roadmap that guides a lot of the city's policies, but also the implementation decisions that get made by your terrific staff on a daily basis.

Examples of what an economic development strategic plan can do is they can frame and attract private investment.

They can focus where public investment occurs so that you can leverage that private investment.

You can support and retain your existing businesses, you bolster your local tax base, you create jobs and create quality of life, not just for your community, but for the region around you, which also prospers and thrives as a result of what Novato does.

You integrate Novato into the regional economy, and we'll come back and talk about what region we're talking about in a minute.

Um, and finally, you'll be able to communicate to the public, to the business community, to investors, that Novato is really open for business and really business friendly and supportive.

So tonight's goal is to give you an overview of our existing conditions data analysis, which includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis, so come back to that.

Talk about community engagement, which is really impressive.

I've worked on a lot of economic strategic plans, and I want to say that the kind of engagement that staff and um and that Sabina from Good City have been able to get from your community so quickly and with such great distribution is very impressive.

And also the quality of that feedback.

It's very meaningful.

So we want to confirm with you the vision and goals for the strategic plan, and finally hear from you what matters the most.

So an economic development strategic plan has a lot of strengths, but it has some limitations, right?

We're operating in a since we saw many of you in January or February, we're now operating in a global situation that's gotten even more complex, right?

And we can't control that.

We can't control what individual property owners do, we can't control what the state legislator does, we can't control an individual business.

But what we can do is really help to modernize and streamline the regulatory environment.

We can define strategic priorities so that the city can be proactive and partnering with private sector businesses and investors.

You can establish a shared and collaborative understanding of what your challenges are and how to really pivot and leverage your strengths, how to build partnerships, local economic development is really all about partnerships and relationships.

And so having a roadmap for doing that and for focusing what those activities are will be very important.

You can promote the city as a location of choice for businesses, you keep city leaders informed, right?

So there'll be performance metrics in the strategic plan, so that's a way that you will all be informed.

And then this also gives you a tool for working with regional and state partners, not just to influence policy and legislation, but also to leverage funding.

I just had a long conversation with Katie about this while we were waiting for the first item because there are some exciting opportunities out there.

And finally, we want to ensure that businesses have access to the knowledge and resources that are available to them.

So when market conditions align, and again, we need to look for alignment between what the private sector does and what the public sector does, but without a strategy and without a way of reaching out and messaging and communicating, a business can arrive here and find all kinds of friction, bureaucratic barriers, uncertainty, no clear plan, no idea, and they're like, forget it, I'm gonna go someplace else.

But if they come here and the city is able to communicate, here's how we do things here, what do you need, how can we work with you, then the business will be much more interested in committing to locating and investing in Novato.

So when we talk about economic development metrics again as a way to communicate with the council and with the community, there are really four categories here that we'll likely focus on, and some of these, like the real estate health, are things that will be informational for you.

These are not things that you can necessarily impact, but they give you a sense of the setting that you need to be proactive and working in.

You can learn about the kinds of services that you're providing, you can tell how your businesses are doing, and finally, you can continue to outreach and communication.

So the volume of all those activities, all that information helps you understand what uh what's going on.

Okay, next.

So, this is what strategic economics was, primarily responsible for the quantitative analysis of existing data sources, but we also spoke to all of you, we spoke to a lot of community members and stakeholders, and all of those meetings were incredibly helpful and informative and really helped us expand our view and understand Novato more clearly.

So what we learned is that the city has about 24,000 jobs, plus or minus today, and that the city is growing when your partner CDU San Rafael actually lost jobs over the same time period, and that the city of Novato accounted for most of the job growth in all of Marin County.

So that's important.

Household incomes are increasing, and your demographics of your community are changing.

You have some very important businesses that are located here, your economy is very diverse, but you're also growing the number of housing units you have here very rapidly, and I would say aggressively in a good way.

Employers are increasingly concerned about staying in the Bay Area because their workforce can't find a place to live.

So having new housing here and being a pro housing community turns out to be incredibly valuable.

And we learned that through the some of the interviews that we conducted, both with businesses and with uh real estate brokers who are responsible for also helping you recruit businesses here.

In terms of opportunities that we saw for the future, you do have growth in your sales tax revenues.

I know that people are really interested in having more hospitality, more hotels.

This is probably not an immediate opportunity for you.

It's gonna take a while.

You have the smallest number of hotel rooms of any of the three cities that we looked at as part of this economic region, but that doesn't mean that potential isn't there.

It probably is very much there, but it's gonna take some other activity to leverage that.

And finally, Novato has the growing uh regional industries that are really fueling uh economic growth in Marin County in the sectors that are paying high wages, so that's the life science, that's 2K, the software development, research, these kinds of things.

And where you have high wage paying jobs, these are what we often call uh basic jobs or export-related jobs or traded jobs, you talk about them in a lot of ways, those high-wage jobs benefit everybody in the community.

Um, so that's good.

So, in terms of again the housing pipeline, I just talked about this about why this is so important.

So, I uh unless you have I'm gonna skip over that.

So, we did do a detailed analysis of your real estate market conditions, uh, and the title of the slide says we saw some mixed messages.

Uh retail uh activity, you have a lot of aging shopping centers.

Some of them are doing better than others.

Uh we looked at what are what we considered to be relatively high performing shopping centers defined by how many vacancies they had, whether or not they had uh one of your top sales tax generators in them, right, and then what the business mix was.

So that's how we approach this.

Um, and so some of the centers that do have these key anchors are actually doing quite well, others are not perhaps doing as well.

The office market is interesting.

I don't think people really think of Novato as an office market, and of course, you lost your biggest office anchor with firemen's fund moving, but you still have added new office buildings in the city in the last 10 years, and I know somebody has asked a question about where theirs are located.

I can tell you if anybody's interested.

Um, but vacancies are relatively high, and some of the stock is old and also is going to need some tenant improvements.

So that's something to consider over time.

This may again not be your immediate near-term priority, but it's something to keep your eye on.

And finally, industrial and flex space is sort of the most interesting piece of this because the city has added all of the industrial space that's been built in Marin County in the last 10 years has been built here, and you do you do have specialized space that's built for science and biotech, so that's a selling point.

So we think that's a really great near-term opportunity, and these are in the conventional real estate market segments, right?

But in the industrial and flex, we got a lot of feedback that some of the zoning restrictions may be limiting, and that's something to consider.

I'm gonna quickly touch on these focus areas because successful economic development really not only focuses on industries and on investment, but also on places.

Where are we going to focus that investment?

And I think Sabina will tell you in a minute more about what the community told us about these areas.

But we are very interested, of course, in downtown.

This is this sort of the heart and soul of Novato, and it's a really very unique and distinct place.

Bellmarin Keys is also an incredible asset.

And I think in a community that has a lot of residents who may not work in the city, they may not realize what a resource this is.

But we think this is a place that's very important.

Now, the city is also a significant property owner.

You have a lot of properties in downtown that could be leveraged to catalyze development in downtown or really support the kind of downtown character and image that's also very important.

But you also own buildings at Hamilton that are also incredibly uh important, and as Sibina will tell you in a minute, arts and culture came up again and again as a really important asset that the community wants to focus on.

And I think one of your most interesting opportunities is at Hamilton with the Arts Center and then the old theaters.

So those properties are places where you can really focus.

The Redwood Boulevard Corridor has a lot of opportunity.

This is where you could put more hotels, right?

You could have more shopping, you could have more housing.

Again, we talked about Hamilton Field, but the hangars are also an incredibly important asset that's been sort of struggling, but we think that it's really a selling point.

It's a beautiful setting.

Those are very cool buildings, so that's gonna be something to really keep an eye on.

And then what do we do with these underperforming shopping centers?

We're familiar with the issues at the square, but there's some other places as well.

And NAVE Annex that I believe is a typo, so sorry about that.

It's the NAVE center.

Um, and then finally we have the three state, the smart station areas.

Uh no other city in the Marin Sonoma rail corridor has three.

Um, and this really allows people actually to move north and south through Novato.

You can go from up by the former firemen's fund to downtown or to Hamilton without ever getting in your car.

And that's an incredible opportunity.

So I'm gonna pause there.

It's a lot of information and ask if anybody has any questions, and um wrap it up.

Okay, sorry.

Okay, I'm gonna move it along.

I do have questions.

Thanks so much, Dina.

We're gonna be in the good evening, council members, um, city manager.

I'm very excited to be here.

My name is Sabina Mora.

I'm with Good City Company, and we partnered with strategic economics on your strategic economic strategic plan.

Um also Aaron Eknen is on Zoom this evening, um, you know, just to acknowledge that he is here virtually, um, and he's the owner of Good City.

Um so I'll get started talking a little bit about the strategic plan uh planning process uh so far and the community engagement and what we've heard.

So right now uh we are kind of deep into the existing conditions phase of the strategic planning process.

Um the next phase that we're kind of pivoting into over the next several months is the preparation of the draft strategic economic plan.

Um so we've been working on your existing conditions since February.

Um, and it has involved several different things, including reviewing key city documents, um, quantitative data analysis that Dina went through, and a lot of stakeholder meetings.

Um, and so the more we focus on existing conditions, the more we can really dive deep and identify unique um unique characteristics that about Novato assets, competitive advantages, unique challenges.

And so our implementation actions and the plan will be better tailored to Novato.

So we're really happy that we've gotten some really good community input through this process.

A little bit more on the community engagement process specifically.

We started in February with some interviews in small groups and individually with economic development stakeholders and leaders, community leaders.

Really, we wanted to make sure that we were grounding the data analysis in the local, you know, local context.

And so we interviewed the city council members, economic development advisory commission members, key city staff, the chamber, and the downtown Novato Business Association to start.

And we really learned a lot from those interviews.

And then followed that up with some focus groups through with some industry stakeholders, including employers, nonprofits, small businesses, and some local brokers.

And followed that with community, a community-wide outreach over the last several weeks.

We have had a community survey, community workshop, and we were at the farmers market as well last week.

I'll talk a little bit more about that.

And then we'll continue to engage with this body as you know, when you you'll have an opportunity to look at the draft plan over the summer and then for consideration by council in the fall.

So a little bit more on the community engagement piece.

As Dina mentioned, it was it's really unique to have this much engagement on an economic strategic plan, and that was really really exciting.

In our community workshop last week, we had almost 80 attendees.

We had 840 something, I think it's 843 survey responses and around 80 visitors at our at the farmers market.

City staff did an incredible job with social media engagement, 143 social media shares, 27,000 social media views for the strategic plan, and excuse me, and we've received around 1,450 written comments, whether that's an open-ended comment in the survey from our poster event here at our workshop at the farmers market and via email.

So we've had engagement through multiple channels, from city council all the way down to residents, and the economic, and we were also at the Economic Development Advisory Commission meeting last week.

We wanted to share a couple of photos from the engagement.

These are from the farmers market.

We had some activities for families at the event.

We had a presentation.

Around a team of 10 that were stationed in different areas, and we had really great conversations with a lot of community members.

So I really want to thank staff for their attending and supporting our consultant team because they, you know, they they did that it was really nice to partner with them on the event.

Wanted to share a little bit about the activity we had at the workshop.

So these are some of the posters we had.

We shared a little bit about what we learned, and then we also asked for some feedback.

And so the way these were set up is we shared what we learned about for as an example, some of the focus areas.

So we shared some strengths and challenges, and then we asked community members do you agree or do you disagree as a as the activity?

We also asked about them to think about what themes that resonate with them for Novato's future, and so we asked folks to you know vote with green dots on what most resonated with them.

And lastly, all of the posters had a section for what did we miss?

And so we got it received a lot of written comments, and we were really interested in learning if there were things that we may have missed that they could share with us.

A little bit more on the community survey.

I think we've all we're all very proud of the how many surveys we collected because we've mentioned it several times.

We're 840 or so.

I think it's 843.

Most were Novato residents, overwhelmingly were Novato residents.

About a quarter of the survey respondents worked in Novato.

And we actually got 106 business owners that responded to the survey.

So business owners that own a business in Novato.

And that's really great, and we're really excited about getting up, you know, more than a hundred businesses in Novato respond to our survey.

And then the majority of the respondents were uh lived in Novato for more than 10 years, and then there was also residents that lived here for either two to five years or six to ten years, about 30% all in all.

And so I already talked a little bit about this, but this is just a summary of what we asked during the community engagement.

This is for all of it for the survey, the workshop, and so we we asked, you know, what are what's your vision for Novato's economic future?

What are the city's strengths, challenges, and opportunities?

We asked the same question for the focus areas, and then you know, what are that some of the themes that should guide the strategic plan?

And then what we shared, we shared about what a strategic plan is, what it can do, uh, we shared some of our existing conditions findings and information about focus areas that we had heard from our research, and um and really talked up with the community about how input can shape the plan.

So putting all of this together, we really saw some patterns and some themes emerging from all of the uh analysis and the community input.

And so these are some of the themes that are definitely rising to the top on themes that are important both for the community and for the findings of the existing conditions analysis.

Um, and so you know, I really saw a lot of focus on revitalizing shopping centers, business attraction, retail, activating the downtown, looking at vacant spaces, modernizing the business climate, just to name a few.

And so we drafted visions and goals after asking community members what resonates the most with your vision for Novato's economic future.

Um, and this slide just kind of describes a summary of everything that we heard, what we what we looked at, and how all of those are inputs into a shared direction for Novato's economic future.

And so this is the draft economic vision for Novato.

On the opening sentence is on the left.

So Novato's economy will strengthen what we already love about our city, the natural beauty, high quality of life, and a welcoming community where everyone can contribute and belong.

And then we value a local economy that serves people first, where small businesses flourish and where a diverse business mix fills attractive business districts and provides a strong job market for our region.

We celebrate our arts, culture, and creative economic resources by adding vibrancy for residents shared with visitors and a growing source of economic activity that also builds community pride.

And we support our local government to create a welcoming policy and regulatory environment where businesses and entrepreneurs can create, grow, and thrive, and then as a part of this process, we drafted six goals to guide Novato's economic future.

And so the goals are activate and revitalize Novato's commercial centers and major corridors, strengthen downtown Novato as the city's economic and cultural heart, support reinvestment in Novato's key industrial areas to retain businesses and expand jobs and industries vital to the local and regional economy, position Novato as open for business, facilitate housing as economic infrastructure, and leverage Novato's natural setting, strategic location, as well as its cultural, historic, and artistic resources as economic assets.

And so we are moving now into draft plan development.

And as we pivot towards these, this next task, we wanted to share how share some example actions that can support some of those goals.

And so these aren't actions that we're recommending at this stage.

This is just to get us started thinking about the task at hand in the next few months, and how these types of actions could support some of those goals.

So as an example for the goal of position Novato as open for business, you have zoning modernization, reviewing your zoning to make sure it's flexible, it doesn't have unnecessary barriers for businesses.

Streamline permitting, publishing clear timelines, checklists, and expectations so that for at least for common permits, businesses can plan ahead and know how long it will take, and then implementing some digital tools for online permitting, licensing, and modernizing business resource portals so businesses can just easily access and track information.

And then for the goal of revitalizing Novato's commercial centers and major corridors, some potential example actions could be looking at public realm improvements on commercial corridors, where to focus on for kind of the biggest bang for your buck, and improve how to you know what to focus on for improving the physical environment, the roadway, and then also identifying and addressing barriers to development, such as potential funding barriers or other barriers helping to identify says identity.

It should be identified funding and cultivating partnerships.

And then lastly, there's a lot of different programs to consider for addressing vacant properties, and some could potentially be incentives or programs to help address vacancies, such as requiring window coverings if you're vacant for a certain amount of time, facade improvement grants, pop-up retail programs, and then just being that facilitator and connector between property owners and prospective tenants.

So these are just some things we've seen in some other cities, and as we move forward over the next few months, we'll start taking the community engagement, the priorities discussed here, the research, and coming up with a plan of actions for Novato to focus on for its economic plan.

So today, Aaron, myself, and Dina are here to answer any questions you might have about the data or the community process, and we'd also like to hear what is most important to you as we move into drafting.

And then we plan to release a draft later this summer, and then consideration by council in the fall.

And then the ongoing implementation and metrics that will be something that council will be regularly involved with, looking at where we are with the implementation and the metrics.

So thank you so much for your time, and we'll open it up to questions.

Thank you for the great presentation.

I'll open it up for questions for my colleagues.

Councilmember O'Connor.

Thank you, Mary.

Thank you everybody for the presentation.

That was terrific.

I'm really happy that we're here this evening.

It's taken a long time to get here, but you guys have done tremendous work already.

Um, kind of just jumping into it a little bit.

I'm interested in hearing your ideas around how we can make it easier to do business in Novato.

I think that's something everyone, we talked a lot about permitting when it comes to construction.

Making that easier.

I think similarly, we have a lot of opportunity to improve in that.

Can you talk a little bit about how we could make it easier to do a business in Novato?

How we can reduce barriers to entry for newer businesses, and what we could do in that field.

I know that zoning is not sexy, but it's actually incredibly important.

And I think that's a really important thing to consider, both in downtown and in uh the industrial areas, as I mentioned earlier.

So that's one.

And then there are some kinds of uh grant programs that you could do.

I know that uh it's common to want to target the grants to the property owners, but uh we're working in another city now where they're targeting certain grants to entrepreneurs for tenant improvements for buildings.

So I think that's another kind of program that we're considering.

We're still uh, you know, trying to understand how well that's worked.

But interestingly enough, that community also has older shopping centers, and most of the tenants who have received those tenant improvement grants have gone into spaces in these older shopping centers.

So I think all of those things are important.

And then finally, I think that just having good clear messaging about what the city's about, what the city's goals are, uh, how to how to navigate the city will also be really helpful.

Um, so yeah, and then also participating in all these forums and partnerships and all this kind of stuff really puts Novato as part of the of the region and of the regional mix.

And then kind of expanding on that and talking about the region.

So one of the challenges, well, so we have the businesses in Nevada, particularly food service businesses.

We hear a lot of feedback around interactions with the county and other agencies that are outside of the city.

How can we address that through this plan?

How can we make those?

Right, no, that's a great question.

So the county is uh starting its own economic development, they're calling it an economic vitality strategic plan, and they are very interested in starting to really engage with the individual cities.

So I think really staying engaged with that process, um, and really again, not just talking to staff, but also talking to your supervisors about how the county can really help facilitate that will be really important.

Also talking to your uh local legislatures, your state assembly and Senate members, because the state has a lot of resources, and so to the extent that you can figure out how to leverage those state resources, how to leverage federal resources, will also begin to tell people that you understand what the funding context is and how the city can do its part to facilitate to open doors to help navigate and to provide information.

All of those things are incredibly important, um, and that's what cities do best, and there's real value in that for the private sector.

So I think really just having uh an understanding of how all those things work together, and again, what the public sector does best uh for the private sector.

Um, and the the final thing I will say is staying in touch with your private sector.

So we know another Bay Area city that talks regularly to its largest employers, uh, and what we hear from the brokers who and developers who are active in that city is that city often has better uh market information than they do, and that's useful to the brokers and developers.

So there's a feedback loop there that's also very important.

So there are whole host of activities that the city can engage in.

Thanks.

And if you wouldn't mind going back one or two slides to where the key themes were for a moment.

I'll just add one thing on your question.

Um, for example, as an example, we just heard that um the governor's office of economic development gave a grant to the local economic, the California Economic Development Association for permit streamlining for cities.

Um it's a five million dollar grant of resources that's available to help cities with their streamlining.

Um, so that's a great opportunity to look at potential funding sources that could help with that sort of work.

Thanks.

And then just my one last question was in relation to this slide and the key themes.

I think that I think it's a great list.

I think it's a very thorough list.

The one thing that I would love to see on there as we move forward is create more jobs.

And so are we how are we tying in our ability to either attract large employers to Nevado or what's probably easier to retain and deepen relationships with the ones we already have, particularly in areas like Belmer and Keys.

Right.

You want to go back to the goals?

These are just the teams.

Yeah.

So I would say the third, the third goal here tries to capture job creation, um, business attraction, um, and then to really work with existing businesses.

Is that yeah, it is, and that will that will be focused on larger employers as well as small employment.

Absolutely, yeah.

And I think, you know, there are small employers out in Bellmarin Keys, but also your biggest employers are out there, uh, your biggest private employers, right?

Um, and the downtown has a whole different mix of businesses and industries.

So that's why they're in two separate goals uh is to really differentiate those two.

They need different things.

Yeah, agreed.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, sorry, Councilmember Eklund.

Uh yeah, thank you.

I actually have quite a few, so I might want to do some and then have somebody else.

Um let's stay on this slide, too, because I wanted to thank you first of all for acknowledging something about Novato that is uh not necessarily shared with a lot of other cities in Marin County, and that's our um uh our Hamilton Art Center.

And um uh you your emphasis here not only on historic but also cultural and artistic resources.

That art center, there's the Rinna Open Studios this last weekend and the weekend before.

I have never never seen as many people coming from Southern Marin and Novato coming to that art center.

We we couldn't even be in the hallways because there's just so many people that were there, and there's three different buildings with artists there, so and they were selling their art as well as um showing it, so um, and that really is a highlight because there's not very many other cities that have a center that just focuses on art, and that's something I think really needs to be promoted and not just lost in a goal, but really highlighted because I think that that's that's a real asset.

Um the question I have on number one when you say here commercial centers.

What do you mean by commercial centers?

Are those shopping centers as we know it?

No, they're probably primarily shopping centers, yeah.

Okay, so um that goes back to also um, you know, your slides are not numbered here, but it's um where you talk about underperforming shopping centers.

Um they don't have all of them listed, first of all.

Um I'm not sure which one the Novato Fair is, if it's this one here on Redwood Boulevard.

Um, I'm not sure about that, but um there's also where the Staples is out by on the other side of Costco.

That area, I think there's some, I think that there's some vacant property out there.

I don't know, I haven't looked, but we need to look at that to see if there's something else that we can do there because Costco and that whole shopping center is just thriving, right?

And there's no question about that.

Right.

The other shopping center that I don't think is listed here is on Entrada Drive, um, where there's it's um where we had my pop-up event, and um the restaurants that I was I was really surprised, I really not spent very much time there until that day, and so we actually had an opportunity to taste some of the restaurant food.

It's it's outstanding.

It's probably one of the best in the city.

Nice.

And um there's a dollar store there, but it doesn't get much traffic, and so my concern is that those uh restaurants that are investing in that shopping center are not getting the help by the other contributing stores there.

Um the it was pretty vacant.

Actually, and if you don't even know where it is, that concerns me too because that's another shopping center that I I don't want to see going into a um development for apartments or something like that, which could very well happen since there's an apartment complex across the street.

So I think you um when you put underperforming shopping centers, you need to make sure you have them all listed.

They're not here.

Uh-huh.

And also make sure that you identify their location because the name, most people don't know the name, but they know where it is.

Yeah, and so you might need to uh do a combination of those.

Um so I had um uh some other questions that uh oh your draft vision statement, um there's one thing that um is really very different about Novato than all the other cities in in Marin, um, is our environment, and it's the combination of our natural beauty of the hills, the ridgelines, the waters that we have, the creeks, uh the built environment and the parks and and recreation that we have, and the openness, the the bay trail along Hamilton, that that in itself brings a lot of people to um to Novato.

So, um, you know, somehow, if in the draft vision we can get environment in there, I think that that's a uh a key word, and you put natural beauty, that's great.

Um, when you say high quality life, I would suggest quality of life, a welcoming community where everyone contributes and belongs.

Um, you know, I think some of those excess words can be reduced so we can put some other keywords that I think that are really important for the vision of where we want to go because the environment is what attracts people to Devado, the hills and everything and the ridgelines, and then the built environment and the way we've been able to uh do that without um the big high rises like in Center Phil.

I mean, Center Fell, in my opinion, having been raised in Centerville, um, is gonna lose their uniqueness because they're gonna be having 14, 19 story buildings, and that's not something that people in Marin are looking forward to.

In fact, I can imagine there's gonna be a mass exodus at some point for those.

So I have a couple of other questions, but if you want to go to someone else, then I I'll have a better opportunity to get more organized.

That's perfect.

Uh Mayor for Tum Jacobs.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

It's very exciting to see this coming up.

Um I was at the tail end of the workshop the other day, it was great.

You had a very good crowd here.

Um a lot of input, which was wonderful.

Um, you mentioned earlier we have the smallest number of hotel rooms out of three other cities.

Are they Marin and Sonoma cities or?

Yeah, we we we really uh um we see Novato as really a part of an economic unit that and we understand this from talking to the brokerage community about what is the competitive, what are the competitive locations for businesses that are looking for a location in this general area, and it's typically San Rafael, Novato or Petaluma.

Okay, okay.

So we're we're including Petaluma in that analysis.

Okay, that's what I was wondering what the other Cities were.

Yeah.

Um because I know when there's a race going on at Sonoma, we're booked.

You can't go to hotel.

Of course, yeah.

Um but I want to see it for events here.

I want to see people coming here staying in hotel rooms, shopping here.

I ran into some people, one of our restaurants last year that were going to events in Sonoma, but they were staying here and they're eating at our restaurants.

They were shopping in our stores in the off hours, and they were staying here.

Um they didn't want to stay in Santa Rosa, and they didn't want to stay in Petaluma, they want to stay here, which is wonderful.

Um, the other thing is shopping centers.

And I think I mentioned this to you when we spoke about the square shopping center that I've been working on very hard.

Um it's a tough sell.

Uh when you have a property owner who doesn't actively look for people to rent.

And when people contact him, they don't reply.

And then we've also got some stores in other areas of town that are the same way.

They're old property owners.

They've well, they've owned the property for years, I shouldn't say it that way.

Um, and they just, I don't know why they don't have an interest in in renting it.

Right.

Yeah.

Are there things we can do to push them?

Well, I think uh peer pressure is one way to go, right?

And so rather than focusing on the hardest most uh uh dare I use the word recalcitrant, property owners or business owners, let's focus on the low-hanging fruit.

Let's focus on the centers, let's focus on the places that we can promote.

I mean, uh council member Eklund makes a great point about this one terrific restaurant that's in an otherwise like maybe not so great place.

So why aren't we promoting that restaurant?

Why aren't we working with that center owner?

Why aren't we thinking more creatively about that place, right?

And the square, they have a restaurant in there, right?

They, you know, um, they have a gym in there.

You know, it's sort of surprising what they do have in there.

So, do are those businesses interested in again investing?

Are they interested in getting more support from the city?

So, again, I think focusing away from the property owner himself and focusing on either other centers that could be more vibrant, and then maybe he's gonna, you know, the dime is gonna drop and he's gonna decide, huh?

Maybe I want to do something, or maybe his tenants start to try to say, Well, how can we fix up because there's like a little main street in there?

Yeah, right.

I mean, I had lunch at the Indian restaurant there.

I met somebody, I'd never been in there.

I met somebody for lunch there.

Yeah.

The food was phenomenal.

Yeah, right.

There was one or again, one other person in the restaurant, nobody else came in the whole hour I was there.

Again, to Council Person Eklund's point, this is how we're gonna promote these places, and we're gonna focus on the businesses sometimes and not the property owners.

So you guys have a lot of majority.

That's a good option, thank you.

Yeah.

Councilmember Carkle.

All right, thank you.

Um, you know, the problem with going last is all the good questions I've been asked, right?

But um I do have uh a question.

Uh, by the way, thank you for doing this.

This all sounds really good to me.

But um, I have a question, maybe it's not quite a question, maybe more of a comment on the slide which says putting it all together, the major themes from analysis and community input.

You talk about all these different uh buckets, if you will, or boxes, if you will.

Uh huh.

Yeah, that one right there.

So, when you say putting it all together, how do you see, you know, what's the big picture in terms of what's the unifying elements?

Uh, because one of my one of the things I keep hearing about, the one of one of the things that I like like to hear about is, you know, Navarro has uh very unique location.

It's kind of a strategic location from the perspective of doing so many things around the North Bay and stuff.

So, how can we bring about like a unit?

We have all these assets, we have all these natural assets, we have, you know, the you know improving infrastructure and so on and so forth.

How do we put it all together, make this like a major you know, tourist destination?

I mean, it's not that tourists don't come here, but how do we build on that and grow that?

Well, I think that there's there, they're kind of a layered answer to that.

It's a great question.

See, you didn't think you had any good questions, but of course you ask a really good one and a complicated one, right?

So what we did was we took all these themes and tried to organize them into the goals.

So, like to uh council member O'Connor's initial point about well, where do I see job creation here?

Like housing for workforce and economic vibrancy, where is that?

Well, that's in goal number three, right?

So we tried to do a crosswalk between these six themes, or nine, I have to do the math.

Nine themes and the goals.

Uh, and then as you see, we are working on the kinds of actions, and this is why hearing the questions and the points you're making and sort of having this conversation with you allows us to think about well, what are the actions that we can put into the plant?

So, what can your um staff then do to try to promote um what you know to try to make change here, right?

And it's there are a lot of there are a lot of things.

Uh it's gonna be a long list.

Um, but the list is gonna respond again to these themes and priorities, to the goals that people have, to the vision statement, and then to the assets and places that you have, because these all have to tie to physical places.

This is not a spreadsheet exercise.

This is about building from the ground up.

Um, so and even just talking to you on, like, oh, we could put together a restaurant guide.

Why don't we put together, you know, like it's stuff like that that also promotes the city, communicates that the city's open for business and helps support these businesses that might not show up on the um, you know, hundred best sales tax generators, but are actually really vital to the community and help differentiate why people would come to Novato, why would they stay in a hotel?

What would they do after going to the art center to buy art?

I love that.

Um, whatever, right?

So those all those actions will be, and that's why Sabina showed you the two sample goals.

Maybe we can go to that slide.

Um, so these goal goals, and then these are ideas that were kind of kicking around, but this is just to give you a sense of how this all comes together.

I'll say, I'll just add a little something about implementation as well.

Um, so once you have a plan in place, um, yes, on one hand, the more in depth the research, the more community input, the more stakeholder engagement, the more likely that plan is to be implemented and more effective, to have more people contribute to that plan.

Um, but once you have a plan in place, um, the it comes, it will have an implementation kind of framework.

Um, and then there's a lot of work, obviously, that goes into prioritizing both staff time and resources on what you what you can implement and over what period of time.

And so that's a lot of work that will start after that you have a plan in place that is really important to actually make progress on all of these things.

All right, thank you.

I think that the I just want to say one more thing on top of Sabina's really great points is that the difference one of the key differences between an economic development strategic plan and like a general plan or even a specific plan is this is a proactive work plan.

This is staff's kind of work plan going forward.

Whereas uh these uh plans, like a specific plan or a general plan set a vision.

Um, they lay out a framework, they set a regulatory environment, and then they're there for the development community, the private sector to take advantage of.

This is for staff to really dig in and get the work done.

I have a couple questions.

Um I think the most important thing for me is this plan to be easily executed and we're moving the needle in the right direction.

I think that that's really important.

Um, we're investing, I think, a lot in this, and it is a priority for me as well as I think my colleagues as well.

Um, was there anything that surprised you from that initial like data gathering stage that you kind of were like, wow, that's unique.

Well, what surprised me was like the size and a scope of the city's economy, right?

And the fact that you are growing when other places in the North Bay are not, right?

So that really surprised me.

I was uh super interested in those historic buildings and like wow, those are super cool.

What can we do with those, right?

Um, your downtown was also really great.

So I don't know those are I some of them are things that surprise me, and some of them were things that just I could see as a uh a real distinguishing features of Novado.

So I mean, we all know driving up and down 101 what a beautiful place this is, but um to really spend time here.

Yeah, I don't know.

I'll just share one thing on the community engagement.

Um, you know, just the amount of uh families and young people and artists that came and introduced themselves and just described a lot of excitement around, you know, living here, community pride, um, that was really fantastic to see, and really not something you see that you know everywhere.

So that was great.

And then one of the I guess components of this is gonna be budget, staff capacity, um, having resources, defining grants and stuff like that.

How does that work in the plan?

Um, so the plan will identify um kind of for each action uh potential partners, potential funding sources.

We'll look at that as a part of our scope, and we'll identify some potential initial time frames.

Um, and so we'll start doing a little a look of uh you know start to help out with prioritization within the planning process itself.

Um so that will be kind of the first the first step.

Um but the you know the the discussions on implementation of the plan will also you know likely happen on an annual basis as you do your your budgeting process here, and you look at your priorities, um, and and I and we know there's a lot of competing priorities as well and and limited resources.

So those discussions will happen kind of on an ongoing basis uh through your through your um discussions on budget and also staff time and resources.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Eklund, you have some more questions.

Thank you.

Um and uh just to let you know, most people know that I'm a um uh I I was I worked for the federal government for 43 years, seven months and eleven days of my life, and so um I really believe in different levels of government and what they offer.

So I happened to look up a little bit about the um economic um uh development administration and some of the things that they were doing.

And uh there's some questions that raised in my mind when I uh was reading the staff report that wasn't in here, and things like um uh have we done a SWOT analysis in terms of what are the strengths and weaknesses and the areas for improvement opportunities within this organization and within the city of Novato.

I don't think I've seen any aspect of that, maybe that's a little bit later down the road for this plan.

I don't know.

So are we going to be doing an assess a SWOT analysis so we can address what our strengths and our weaknesses are uh based on an analysis?

Um that's my first question, and second is that they really also emphasize retention and growth of the larger employers and the small businesses, but that entails having somebody reaching out to them from the city, which we used to do.

Um, but I guess we we should have been more on top of it so that we would have had probably a better um understanding of you know fire firefund firemen's fund exit, which really significantly impacted our employment base and the people who work there because they know how longer had a job.

So um, so are we going to be doing some sort of review there about um how how do we keep in touch with them throughout to encourage those employers, whether large, medium, or small, whatever, to continue to grow and what you know, what could we do to help?

Um and then there were other things, you know, like just having uh a measurable action plan, something that which I'm sure you gotta be doing.

Um just some of those questions, and then when I I continue to come back to this goal setting thing one through six, there's just a lot of re uh some suggested verbal changes or changes to it.

Do you want us to submit those to you afterwards?

Um, or do you want us to go um through some of it now?

No, I think it would be super helpful if you could just write them your your wordsmithing and hand it to Carla and to uh Katie.

So I'd be glad to do that.

And yeah, I I don't know if you have any answers to the questions I asked.

So let me speak to the SWOT analysis.

Oh, okay.

So the existing conditions document when you get it will have like what are the what are the strengths?

What are the challenges and what are the opportunities?

We didn't have a threats.

Um and the reason is because we think that a challenge and a threat are pretty much the same thing, right?

And some of the kinds of I would say more global threats like the departure firemen's fund are not things you could have done anything about.

So you do have businesses here, and we've already started talking about this.

So yes, we will be addressing strengths, weaknesses and opportunities or challenges.

So it's not going to look like a matrix with us, you know, SWAT, but they're in there, right?

So I think it's important for the city to maybe do some advanced work with some of those major employers.

Right, you know, to so that we just don't let it just happen.

Right.

Yeah, no, I think that's fair, and you know, maybe there was a place they could have gone here.

I don't know.

You know, again, that's the the horse is out of the barn, but you do have businesses here that you you could be focused on.

Right.

Right.

We will um we will be looking at um visitation programs, you know, engagement programs for business retention.

That will definitely be something we'll be looking at.

Um, and economic development, um, at least for the public sectors, a lot a lot of it is about relationships and engagement.

Um, so that that'll definitely be a a whole category of of programs that we'll be looking at what is the best use um or what we would recommend is the best best way to do that.

We did that when you're when I was mayor, we we did outreach to all the the businesses and we sat down.

What what can we do to help you to achieve more?

So it it really made a difference.

Yeah.

And and this and city staff does already do that as well, um, too, but we might, you know, make some recommendations for some improvements or you know, other ways to go about it as well.

Sometimes just having the mayor there makes a difference, or a council member.

Just it make just makes a difference.

All right, so that concludes council questions.

I'm gonna take a uh five six minute break here for recess, and then we'll come back for public comments.

We're gonna do it for just taking a break.

Oh, okay.

Do you guys want to come back?

All right, welcome back.

Thanks for the good.

Great.

Uh, gonna start an open public comment up.

You have three minutes.

And if you'd like to speak, you can fill out a yellow card.

Um, first I'd like to invite Denise Athens up.

Welcome.

Hi there.

Um, as president of the Chamber of Commerce, I stand before before you on behalf of the board to express our excitement and gratitude regarding the recent information gathering process and the incredible response that was received.

To have over 800 respondents share their insights and opinions is a truly remarkable achievement that underscores the community's commitment to the economic development strategic plan.

We recognize the diligent efforts of city staff in reaching out many times on multiple platforms, ensuring that every voice could be heard.

Your reminders were vital in galvanizing participation, and we appreciate the community's engagement and the important dialogue.

The chamber was happy to collaborate and sent out many requests of people and businesses to respond, and we're thrilled with the response.

The staff report was well written and has provided us with a comprehensive overview overview, detailing not only the opportunities for future economic growth, but also the challenges that we face.

It clearly outlines the priorities the city should focus on in the next one to three years.

We believe it's crucial that we approach those items thoughtfully, prioritizing actions to ensure meaningful impact without taking on too much at once.

The Chamber of Commerce is eager to continue our partnership with the city, and we're committed to supporting any initiatives you need to advance a strategic plan.

As we look ahead, we hope the council will give direction to staff to proceed full steam ahead.

Together we can build a thriving economy that benefits all our residents.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Susan Wernett.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Um good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Um, as you all know, I spent several years, six and a half years on the planning commission, five years on the council, and I was honored to be appointed by you to serve now on the Economic Development Advisory Commission.

Um it's incredible to be at this point.

Um, for I've lived in town now for 44 years, seeing the um how Grant Avenue was all updated many years ago.

That was of course when we had redevelopment.

And I've also been someone who's worked downtown on two both ends of town.

So I am so thrilled that we're at this point.

I think what I just would kind of like to offer tonight is that first of all, I'm just been very impressed with with the consultants that were hired, the depth and breadth of the work that they've done thus far and what they're planning on doing forward.

Um it's uh I guess my thoughts tonight are let's let's create a plan that's reasonable and that's going to actually um achieve the objectives that we want.

Let's not overthink everything, let's get it done.

Again, I think I've been at this so long that I'm getting really impatient.

I see the vision, I see what we can do all over town, and it's so wonderful now, even just this evening to see the young families and the children out front.

That means people are moving here.

And I met somebody the other day, they've moved from San Francisco.

So Novato is a destination, but the only thing that we've been stuck with, in my personal opinion, is that Novato has not really defined what it wants to be when it grows up, and now is the time to do that.

What are we?

What is our vision?

What is our our identity?

Let's get that created, let's get that gelled, and then we move forward.

And I think um the possibilities are endless.

It just takes that can do attitude, and let's just do it.

And as we know, sometimes things happen and we have a we get a glitch.

Fine.

Work around it.

Keep moving forward.

But I think this is, I'm so excited.

I am so excited that we're doing this now.

Um, and I'm just looking forward to um what's coming next.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh Stephanie Kohler.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Good to see you, Mayor and Council members.

As the executive director of the Downtown Business Association, obviously, I want to thank them for their attention to downtown and the focus on downtown.

I think everything in the plan to me really reflects the communications that we've had with them and with our members and with you all over the years.

The one thing that I did hear them say, and I just wanted to sort of reflect on a little bit, is I would love to see as we go through these action items.

I think that right now the plan is to Susan's point, not just have a plan, but actually have actionable items that can move the needle to your point.

And I want to see our communications team really communicate what's happening as we go, because that's how you really build community attention.

Clearly, they're interested in it.

So, how do we keep them interested in the process and engaged in the process?

So call it marketing, call it communications, call it whatever it is that you want to call it.

But I would just want to make sure that those are in our action items as well.

And thank you so much, and we're excited to work with everybody.

Thank you.

Alright, and my close public comment.

Any other questions or comments from council?

All right.

Yeah, I have one more comment.

Um, in our previous presentation by city staff, we talked about the uh work that's going to be done on Olive Avenue and on Redwood, and that's going to make a dramatic difference, I think, for the businesses in those areas to have beautiful street, redwood to drive up.

And you know, we've got a great little center there where uh Trader Joe's is, and you exit on Redwood, it's it's nice.

But now we're gonna be exit on exiting on Olive very soon to a nice new street with bicycle paths and everything.

So I think that'll make a drastic difference, also.

Thank you.

All right, so thank you very much for the presentation, and now we're gonna move on to our capital budget and operating budgets.

I'd like to invite Amy Cuttingham, who's already here in our finance director, Carla and principal management now and all this, thank you, Jennifer.

Well, who will present?

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I'll just go ahead and get started with while they are getting settled.

Um, we're excited to present the latest budget information to you tonight.

As you know, preparing the annual budget is an iterative process evolving involving multiple stakeholders, including community commissions, committees, and boards, staff, and of course, you, the city council.

This year's budget development process is similar to that of the past six years with several check-ins with all stakeholders, including you, so that we're able to present you with a fully considered budget package for adoption in June.

We continue to anticipate our second balanced budget in two years, thanks to Measure M.

However, the greater economic outlook isn't as sunny as we had expected.

Current economic conditions, which you won't be surprised to hear, particularly rising inflationary costs and flat sales tax projections have been impactful to this year's budget and our longer term goals.

As you've acknowledged many times, the city's prior financial struggles created a large backlog of deferred maintenance and infrastructure needs and other projects that we uh desperately need to address.

So, with emerging economic pressures, reducing our previously projected revenues, we won't be able to make as much progress on deferred maintenance as we would have liked, but we will continue to make impactful progress.

And the good news is that you've made sound investments to stabilize the city's reserves and put money away to address anticipated one-time projects and issues.

While some of the revenue and expense projections are still being updated, we now do have a good sense of the big picture numbers and what we can afford next year.

And while we will be able to maintain current service levels, including public safety, continued progress on parks improvements, tackle more street repairs, including the next long-awaited phase of Novato Boulevard improvements, and continue work on internal processes that improve efficiencies and enhance customer service.

We're lucky to be where we are.

There are some critical needs like the SAFE team and facilities needs study that we're recommending one-time money for so that we can get those things done.

And of course, you just talked about your economic development strategic plan and your council strategic plan.

Both of those are currently in process, so there may be some additional priority items that need funding this next fiscal year that won't be discussed here tonight.

So for me to conclude and get you to the meat of the presentation.

We're almost there in getting to the bottom line for the proposed budget, and your input and direction tonight will help shape the budget for presentation at the June 9th budget hearing.

And at this point, I will turn it over to Carla and Jen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amy.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Tonight we're presenting the proposed fiscal year 26-27 operating budget and providing an update on the draft fiscal year 26-27 capital improvement program.

This year's presentation focuses on maintaining core services while addressing rising costs and investing in our infrastructure.

Brief agenda here.

We'll walk through the fiscal year 26-27 operating budget, including status development, and the bottom line result.

We'll review Measure M and then we'll go over updates to the capital improvement program.

As Amy said, this is an iterative, an iterative process.

The budget document is a draft document.

Numbers are being refined, and as um Amy mentioned, there are some items that are not yet included, like council's strategic plan since that hasn't been fully developed yet.

Or while there is a set aside for the economic strategic plan implementation, council may decide that you want to put more money towards that, and so we'll have to refine the budget.

And there were two items on tonight's consent agenda that aren't in this budget, but will need to be folded into the budget.

This budget protects the essential services, our community values most, and those priorities come directly from residents through surveys, the community budget workshop, and citywide conversations at pop-ups and other events.

Novado residents emphasize the importance of public safety, street and park maintenance, and recreation services.

This is a balanced $62.5 million budget, and the FY2627 budget is built to maintain these core community priorities.

Measure M continues to deliver exactly what the community intended to when it was approved by the voters with the $10 million in projected revenue this year, Measure M directly stabilizes the general fund, offsets the systemic deficit that we've had when Measure M was voter approved, and supports community prioritized investments, helping the city maintain reliable services despite economic pressures.

Rising costs require thoughtful community-focused financial stewardship.

Residents told us they expect stable, dependable services even as economic conditions soften.

With inflation, utility increases, higher benefits cost, and rising CalPers obligations, the fiscal year 26-27 budget uses resources strategically to preserve the service levels the community relies on.

Our infrastructure investments focus on the projects residents consistently identify as the most important to daily quality of life.

ADA accessibility and facility upgrades, areas frequently raised in community feedback as essential to safe, accessible, and well-maintained neighborhoods.

And with that, Jen is gonna walk us through the budget development process.

Thank you, Carla.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members.

Beginning with the overall picture for fiscal year 27, this table shows a balanced budget for fiscal year 27 thanks to the support of Measure M supporting core services.

Beginning with the first line in revenue, the $54.2 million in revenue represents revenues generated before any Measure M transfer in.

The $8.2 million transfer in represents the proposed Measure M allocation to support core operations.

And then moving down to the expense column, the $62.2 million shows operating expenses before any proposed enhancement enhanced services from Measure M.

And then the line below that for 0.2 million or 200,000 shows the proposed enhanced services for fiscal year 27 into the general fund.

Next, we'll review key budget assumptions related to revenues and expenditures, followed by a full Measure M proposal and line items for all of the allocations proposed for next year.

So here are the most current revenue projections for proposed for fiscal year 27.

Beginning with property tax, property tax is projected to increase by 2.55%.

Hotel tax is projected to increase by 6%, and finally, business license tax is projected to increase by 1%.

And the next slide illustrates how these assumptions translate into the city's overall revenue outlook for fiscal year 27.

So this slide represents revenue projections for fiscal year 27.

The year-over-year budget comparison represents a $2.4 million increase from the prior year or 4% or a 4% increase.

What is notable in this slide is that the city's largest source of revenue, taxes, shown on the first line at $42.08 million for fiscal year 27, has a year-over-year projected growth of just under 2%.

So if you were to back out the operating transfers into the general fund, just to look at the projected revenue collected directly from the general fund, the year over year growth would be just under 800,000.

Now let's take a look at some of the assumptions that were factored into the expense side of the equation.

So this is an overview of expense highlights that are incorporated into the budget currently.

So beginning with a safe program, specialized assistance for everyone, that is included into the budget for fiscal year 27 and is about 462,000.

Next, we have a full facility study at 200,000.

Our increase in utilities comes out to about an increase of $94,000 overall.

Risk management is set to increase at approximately 4% for all of the different categories.

With a prepayment savings of $223,000.

And last on the slide, staff analyzed areas that made sense to do multi-year contracts, particularly in IT.

So what that would do is save approximately $26,000 for this fiscal year and lock in those rates moving forward for five years.

And the next slide will show a full picture of how these assumptions translated into the expense outlook for fiscal year 27.

This expense slide shows a year-over-year comparison of expense with an increase in expense of nearly $2.4 million for fiscal year 27.

As a service-driven organization, the largest expenses in the operating budget is salaries and benefits, which has a 6.1% overall projected increase for fiscal year 27.

This change is inclusive of the UAL increase, unfunded accrued liability expense, a 3.5% cost of living adjustment for employees, and benefit increases of about 8%.

And then the line below that for professional services has a notable decrease of 7.4%, as staffing levels have stabilized, the reliance on outside consultants has decreased.

This is also true for the other expenses category on the slide, which is primarily made up of professional services.

Finance has worked to make sure that coding is consistent within our financials.

So that is just a result of that cleanup.

Now let's take a look at the overall Measure M proposal for fiscal year 27.

Currently, Measure M is projected to come out to come in at approximately 10 million dollars.

That this proposal is made up of 8.03 million to support operating ongoing costs, followed by $100,000 for a set aside for that economic development strategic plan implementation.

And next down the list is $370,000 towards our pension reserve to mitigate financial liabilities.

Then we have $150,000 towards a new financial system.

Split evenly.

So that is the breakdown of the proposed measure M allocation for fiscal year 27.

Now let's review the personnel allocation on the next slide.

The adopted budget for fiscal year 26 totaled 205 FTEs.

For fiscal year 27, it has a proposed FTE allocation or full-time equivalent employee allocation of 202.5 FTEs, which is a reduction of 2.5.

The change represents a decrease for a grant-funded homeless homeless outreach coordinator, a senior engineer, and the loss of a half-time code enforcement officer.

The senior engineer was intended to support succession planning, followed by a retirement, and then the code enforcement officer was lost due to um it.

Sorry, loss for words.

So the halftime code enforcement officer was lost to enhance other positions.

So now let's take a look at the budget assumptions for personnel that are incorporated into the budget.

Incorporated into the budget is a 3.5% cost of living adjustment.

Our part-time seasonal staff are consistent with current members.

We have an 8% overall increase for employee health, dental, and visit benefits.

Our unfunded accrued liability is set to increase at 11.1%, and we also have a savings of 223,000 incorporated into the budget.

And then last in personnel expense, we have a vacancy assumption of 3%.

Now let's move on to the next slide, which is an overview of our emergency reserve fund.

This slide is a forecast of the emergency reserve.

The beginning balance in the emergency reserve of 18.65 million, takes into account the intentional approach to fund the reserve above policy in recognition that unanticipated one-time expenditures would arise during the fiscal year.

This projection includes the proposed one-time costs that were presented in April, totaling $845,000.

And then in addition, the projection includes approximately $289,000 in anticipated interest earnings and a transfer of $148,000 to the self-insurance reserve.

After taking into account all of this activity, the forecast would project the emergency reserve to be $17.95 million or 30 percent of expense.

And now I'll hand over the presentation to Carla to finish.

Now we'll move into the capital improvement program.

Of course, Chris Benini, our public works director, is available to answer specific questions when we go to questions.

The capital improvement program reflects deliverable projects focused on infrastructure, maintenance, and community uh priorities.

The fiscal year 26-27 CIP program totals 21 and a half million in strategic investments.

Key projects include Novato Boulevard, Olive Avenue, the annual pavement rehabilitation, facility system upgrades, and ADA enhancements.

One project has been added since the April 28th study session.

And that is the development impact fee study, and that is on the capital improvement plan because it is funded by development impact fees.

The program focuses on delivering projects aligned with council direction and available funding.

And in the staff's view and the Finance Advisory Commission's view, we want to continue to highlight the need for future fiscal sustainability work.

The proposed budget maintains consistent service levels across the community despite increased cost, core services, including public safety, parks, and street maintenance, as well as recreation remain stable in large part thanks to the voter-approved measure M.

Infrastructure investments continue to support streets, facilities, and public spaces.

The CIP prioritizes street rehabilitation, pedestrian and corridor improvements, and facility upgrades aligned with council direction and funding capacity.

Council direction and community input will shape the final adopted budget.

Feedback from tonight's workshop combined with previous outreach will inform the update presented on June 9th at the budget hearing, and then of course final adoption on June 23rd.

The key takeaway here is that the fiscal year 26-27 budget is balanced because of Measure M, but the city must continue focusing on long-term fiscal sustainability while maintaining stable service levels and investing in essential infrastructure.

And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Mayor, for questions.

Thank you, Carla and Jennifer.

Great presentation.

Do my colleagues have questions?

Councilmember Eklin?

Me first.

Okay.

Um I have a lot of questions, and so we probably have to do the same thing again.

Um so I guess my first question is on measure M.

So, we earn do we earn 10 10 10 million dollars a year?

Is that yes?

It's projected to come in at a total of 10 million for this upcoming fiscal year.

Okay, so then what we're taking out of measure M is still being put into Measure M, correct?

I'm sorry, what we're taking out of Measure M, what so um so we collect 10 million every year?

Well, it goes up um incrementally this year uh in fiscal year 25-26.

We had about 9.9 sales taxes pretty flat, so um it's projected to be 10 million for fiscal year 26-27, and that 10 million is being fully allocated to uh the items that were on the right chart.

But past 2627, is it projected for us to get 10 million each year?

It it is a modest increase, it will be slightly above 10 million in 27 28.

And we are um refining our five-year forecast now.

So help me understand where is the 8 million going within the operating budget.

And if you can't tell me, I would prefer I would actually like to get a chart somehow of which departments the measure M money is going.

So I have an understanding about where the delta is compared to not having Measure M with Measure M.

So if you can understand that.

Sure.

I don't have a chart right now that breaks down the 8 million.

However, that is made up of an approximate 3.9 to 4 million dollar systemic deficit that Novato had when Measure M was passed.

And then the remainder uh it was about 1.2 in enhanced staffing um resources.

We added back um staff so that we could um bring service levels up to the um appropriate um service level, and then uh the remainder of the uh funding is being used for um personnel increases based on labor negotiations uh in 2526 that um is probably about 2.6 million in total or a little bit more than that.

What was that again?

6.2.6 million.

2.6 is the increase is the increase in total for fiscal year 2526 and 2627, right?

So that's the six, seven doesn't really add up to eight point o three, but and in that 8.03, it's for ongoing costs of I know that, but I I wanted a breakout.

So yeah, so included in those ongoing costs.

Um I believe Mary O'Connor at the time uh approved the 100,000 for the tenant improvement grant.

So that's also included in this for what?

The tenant improvement grant program.

Oh, the tenant improvement, okay.

And how much is that?

100,000.

Okay.

Council member Eklund, if you wanted to see a chart, you could go back to the presentation um in April.

Um we showed it there.

Yeah.

The April 14th um staff report and presentation has the full breakdown and has the chart in it on uh slide 23 on the presentation.

You can see the measure M allocation.

Can you send that out again, please?

Sure.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um the reason I'm asking is because it doesn't give us a lot of flexibility of the other two million left out of the eight.

So it's it's sort of so like the in enhanced services, um, if those were positions that were filled that were vacant, I I think that at some point we need to look at those positions to see if at least I would like to have this council look at the positions at some point over this next year to see if we really need them where they are.

Um, anyway, I can bring that back at some point.

Um, other question I had was um uh on slide I think 15 it says one project was added and under what's new since April 28th.

What which project was added?

It's a development impact fee study.

Oh okay.

That's just down below.

So that's the project that was added.

That's correct.

Okay, so it's not two bullets, it's really just one bullet then.

Okay, gotcha.

Um, also um, I had raised, and I didn't see this in here, any money associated with the Hamilton Museum to fix the um the entrance uh so that it's not a hazard anymore for visitors or people that uh volunteer there.

And I didn't see it in the Capital Improvement project.

So we talked about that at the last meeting, and council um had asked us to include it in a prior meeting, council had asked us to include it in the facilities study, and at the last meeting that remained council's direction.

So it would be included in the facility needs study that's um proposed up here as part of the capital program.

Or sorry, it's an operating program.

When is that facility study going to be coming to the council?

Well, we would have to initiate it, so I would say probably um around December, December-January time frame.

And it's a high priority need, so we're gonna move it quick.

So help me understand what the facility study is.

What's the purpose of that?

It's to identify all of our outstanding facility needs, all of our deferred maintenance uh projects that have come about and to help us prioritize everything.

I can um send you a link also to the staff report where council talked about that project if you'd like us to do that.

Um, so um number one it's a danger the way it is now, it is roped off, but um I think it needs to be really accelerated, and I'm very disappointed that they're um that we're not uh doing something soon.

Um, so I'm gonna be continuing to push that um because all we need is a fall, and the city is liable, because it's obvious that it needs to be fixed, and the city's known about it for a year, and um so and it's embarrassing when people come, and I just tell them well, the city doesn't maintain their buildings.

Um it's it's a fact.

Um, anyway.

Um, the other thing that I wanted to bring and add and see if we had some money that we could do this is that we used to televise all the boards and commissions, and we don't do that anymore.

And I think that uh we're not informing the public about what the planning commission is doing, they're not able to participate.

Especially those who can't drive, are not being engaged in it, and so I'm sorry, Councilmember Eckland to interrupt.

Um, for the planning commission, those those meetings are on Zoom and are televised.

But we don't have the other boards and commissions.

That's that's correct, but the planning commission is right, but um, but we need all of the commissions because that's that's what entices people to be engaged in city government, and that was the one thing that was different with Novato than all other cities, and that helps the esprit de core, it helps the um uh how Novato is as a community because the community is being engaged at all levels of government.

So, can we get an estimate by the next meeting of what it would cost for us to televise the um other boards and commissions?

And I know we've reduced quite a bit of them.

Um I we uh the council has spoken about this previously.

I don't know if our city clerk remembers the numbers from a couple of years ago, or at least ballpark numbers, so that we can get some initial feedback from council on this.

Sure.

I will for a point of clarification.

Prior to COVID, the city has always televised our city council in our planning commission meetings during COVID.

As the council's aware, we all went to Zoom, however, um just because of the pandemic, um, and then when the pandemic ended, we went back to our normal procedures of televising um planning commission and Zoom.

So while they were on Zoom, I'm um city council and planning commission.

So while the other ones were on Zoom, we never did televise them or broadcast them in any way other than the Zoom meetings.

So when we brought this item forward to council previously, so we do have a contract with CMCM that we have an operator in our EV room right now.

Um that contract for City Council and Planning Commission costs approximately $35,000 a year to broadcast our meetings.

I think the estimate at the time when we discussed this previously was an additional $30,000-ish to televise the rest, so about $66,000 altogether.

Okay.

So that would uh televise like the economic commission and some of the others that that we have, correct?

I mean that's the pleasure of the council.

So certain certain um commissions meet in this room, certain commissions meet in city administrative offices.

So there would be no ability to, I guess.

I mean, if that's up to the council, we could discuss the logistics at a leader time if the full council, if that's something the council wants to pursue.

Okay, so I would like to have some discussion about that at some point.

Okay.

Can we go to other council members for questions?

Uh sure.

I have a bunch more.

Okay, council member O'Connor.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Um I just wanted to clarify.

So measure M was to maintain services like street repairs, 911 emergency response, crime prevention, small business support, parks, wildfire prevention, and storm drain repairs.

That $8 million transfer we touched on a little while earlier, that's that transfer into fund those services, correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

And then the only other question I had was if if I was following correctly, the additional UAL prepayment is included in the salaries and benefits expenses.

Is that right?

Yes, that's correct.

I would just suggest if possible, maybe separating that out as a separate line item because it gives the appearance of salaries and benefits increasing quite a bit more than they actually are when that prepayment is kind of a separate item.

Just from transparency perspective, I think that would be helpful.

Yes, we can separate that.

Thanks.

No other questions.

All right, council member Carkle.

Yes, I actually I have a follow-up on the UAL as well.

Um, so the UAL increased about 11 uh percent uh, but we had a savings of 223,000.

That's from the pre from probably a prepayment um on the annual basis, is that correct?

Yes, we're planning on prepaying it rather than paying in monthly instalments.

And is that what uh how many of your uh amortization is that?

Is that a 20-year amortized or do you know?

It's it's for so the UAL changes in an annual basis.

So the payment of the 600,000 is just for the current year.

And so the savings of 223,000 would be for the current year, it's all in one year.

Is that answer your question?

Oh no, I was just wondering, Calpers has different amortizations.

They they provide five, 10, 15, and 20 year amortizations.

I was just curious if we were paying it off in a 20 year or something.

So this is this is just we get um invoiced annually as a catch up, like all agencies do.

So this is outside of those other amortization schedules.

This is the annual invoice that we receive, and they give us the opportunity to prepay it so that we can get some savings and and save some of the interest that would accrue on it otherwise.

But um, to your point, we do have an item um where we are reviewing our CalPERS obligations and looking at ways that we can either um invest in our pension trust some more so that we can reduce our liability and or make some prepayments um directly to PERS on some of those different light items in there because I think you you know the the structure of what those reports look like.

So you can go and pick a particular line item with CalPERS that will get you, you know, the best bang for your buck.

So that's that's on our agenda for the future to take a look at.

Okay, great.

So I think you just confirmed what my second question was gonna be that there is a section one fifteen trust there.

Yeah, okay.

Great.

And then the other question I had was on the emergency reserve forecast, and uh the projected balance at the end of uh fiscal year 2627 is roughly about 30 percent of expenses.

Is that just by happenstance or that's just what it came out to be, or is that set by policy somewhere?

Is there a policy that uh because I'm assuming that's used basically for to cover a portion of expenses going along, right?

Yes, so that it's uh the policy is set for 15 percent.

So it's uh 30 percent intentionally we funded it because we knew that there were gonna be some um unexpected one time cost that would arise in the budget.

Oh, okay, great.

Thank you.

There's also no unassigned fund balance in the general fund, so at the end of each year from an audit um perspective, all of the unassigned sweeps over to the um emergency reserve.

That's also part of the policy.

Okay, and then one last question on risk management.

There's a four percent increase.

Uh that's uh four percent increase across all of the uh across all of the coverages.

Um how is that comparatively?

Is that is that a pretty good I mean four percent in this time?

Is it a pretty reasonable?

Pretty good.

Pretty good, yeah.

They were coming in double digits, so okay, thank you.

All right, council member Eklund.

Okay, great, thank you.

Um, on some of the um uh items in the capital improvement project, it didn't look like they were updated, and I just wanted to just confirm.

Um municipal buildings it says deferred maintenance.

Um, it doesn't show it just says approved in prior years, but it doesn't show whether any money was used or not.

Um need to uh include all city owned buildings and open space.

I so I so I don't know, is that these just have not been updated?

Um I could go through the pages that I printed out that I was concerned about.

All of the project forms have been updated, they typically show the uh projected um balance at the end of the year and the budgets that were approved in um prior years, and then if there's any um new budget uh that is going to that is recommended for approval.

So I don't know which one page you're looking at.

I think page 65, and it doesn't have a uh number, just says municipal buildings deferred maintenance, and it doesn't have any protected balance um uh for 2026, it just has approved in prior years.

So I have I'll double check that one.

I I looked at all of them, but um, you know, as I as I mentioned, this is still in draft.

I don't believe that there's any new fiscal year 26-27 um funding for this particular um project, and um there is no projected balance, but if a project is not actually closed, it was still end up with a project sheet.

So, see that this gets to my basic philosophical difference here is that when you buy a house, you know that you're gonna have to do some maintenance every year, and then you also know that you're gonna have a water heater that you're gonna have to replace every 15 or 20 years or um same with the dishwasher.

You you sort of have an understanding of what needs to be replaced over time.

We don't I don't see that we have something like that for each of the buildings that we own.

I agree.

That's the purpose of the facility study uh is to actually update our um understanding of our deferred maintenance from the last time it was done, which was pre-pandemic in 2013.

And that is great, and I'm hoping that CIP in the future will have a page for each of those facilities.

Is that the intent?

Because I likely not.

We the study would include that that information, and as certain things come forward, we would create pages that way.

Okay, so I I I really think it's important for us to have a page devoted to each of the buildings so that we can understand when there was work done on a particular building and when, and so that we have a better understanding and for the public to understand it too, because the way this one is on page 65, municipal billings deferred maintenance, it's it's sort of like okay.

Well, it really doesn't say much, it just talks about the 2013 Novato facilities condition assessment.

Um, but it it doesn't go uh beyond that at all.

And I got this from our draft budget that I printed out, so that um bigger category to me is too big.

And if and I'm gonna really um look forward to seeing it so that we have an understanding what do the individual buildings require in terms of long-term maintenance, but also for um year-to-year maintenance as well.

Um I I don't know if we have maintenance that's dedicated for the Hammerton Museum every year.

Is there that's a building that's open to the public?

So do we have money set aside to maintain this building?

Yes, we do.

So how much is it for the Hamilton Museum for this fiscal year that we're in?

I know where that project page is.

We can go back in there and look and let you know.

I don't want to spend a lot of time going and searching for the page with everybody here, but we'll send that out to you.

Okay, there that'd be great.

Um the Hamilton Arts Center deferred maintenance, um, it says approved in prior years and the projected balance, but it doesn't really show how those $300,000 of funds basically used in the past, and it doesn't show anything for 26-27, but I'm assuming that the projected balance is $682,000.

Is that correct?

Yeah, the projected balance is $682,000.

Uh again, the project pages are are mostly to show the budget and the projected balance and updated um for the work and um this building along with all the Hamilton Museum and the other buildings will all be incorporated into the facilities um study.

So the 300,000 that has been spent has been spent over the last several years as this is a carryover project, and it's largely been on reactive um maintenance, not um necessarily proactive maintenance.

Right, and that that again um is a concern, and I'm glad that we're gonna be addressing it with this facilities uh study.

Um, street light wooden street like polls.

It um uh I don't know, maybe it's more effective for me to go through this with our public works director.

I don't know, but I'd be glad to question you can meet with them or send question.

I I would be glad to meet with the public works director for us to go through some of this um rather than doing all of it at the council meeting, but um there is a couple of other issues I want to raise to the entire council, so I'm looking forward to us going through these pages and uh having some more discussion about our facilities.

Um do we own eight main gate out of Hamilton?

Do we own that?

Do we own the gate as we enter into Hamilton?

Do we own Maygate?

I I believe we do, but that's a question.

The main gate structure, yes.

I don't know.

We'd have to look into that, okay.

It's either us or the Hamilton CFD, right?

Okay, so uh again that's another one of those facilities that needs to be in that facilities um study because that gate is gonna need to have some repairs and maintenance done as well.

I can ask the public works director to take a look at that.

It's not a facility, so it wouldn't be in the facility needs study, but it would certainly be a structure and qualify as a different kind of capital project if indeed it did need some uh repairs or improvements to it.

Right, and my philosophy is really that I I have been on this council long enough to be tired of the fact that we're not we haven't been able to get ahead of this, and that's the magic of measure M is that we're finally able to start to do some of those things.

Well, I'll believe it when I see it.

Okay, um, but um so it it's sort of like we need a plan that has or a budget, has all the facilities, and then what is it that we need to do to keep them in good condition uh rather than waiting until um it falls apart and then we have to close the facility until we get it fixed and rebought uh repositioned.

So um that's sort of what I'm hoping that we could achieve with Measure M over time, a plan that so we can keep buildings open and fully functional and proud to say that is a city building.

One of the other questions I had is um goats for open space.

We own a lot of open space and we can't necessarily maintain all of the open space and so some uh homeowners associations are using goats to maintain the city's property but not all associations can afford it so have we looked at the use of goats to maintain the open space especially for those pieces of open space that abut the homes to at least um you know like a thousand feet or whatever the the feat is that we have to maintain our property from there's property out in Hamilton Point Marin I mean there's property all over the city of Novato open space that has not been maintained but does cause a fire threat to the homes and the last thing I really would like to see as well as I'm sure the other council members is that we get sued for failure to maintain our open space and be a good neighbor and um take care of that property between that zone that you're supposed to do it.

So isn't that something that the Marin Wildlife Authority is supposed to be managing based on um those other assessments that are assessed throughout Marin County.

Well that's a good question that we need to ask the fire district and so that's something that I think that this council that's why I'm suggesting that we get a briefing on it because this is city owned property it's not property that's maintained by the fire district but I think that that is a good source of potential funding but nevertheless we need to have a plan of how we are going to do that if in fact we're going to be talking to the fire district about that.

Can we um since you're gonna meet with the public works director you want me to talk about that as well yeah I think adding that to the list and then just let's finish those budget conversations like if you have any more budget.

Well those are there's all budgets because I think we need to maintain our open space at least the property that's adjacent to homes because we are um especially especially vulnerable I believe especially more and more people are getting um more attuned to who owns the land and like I've been approached several times by saying well the city owns that property you guys need to do something about it and I said well I'll talk to the city manager but yeah so maybe you need like an overall strategy of those managing those open spaces.

Exactly do you have anything else as far as like budget wise do you want to bring it up yeah I do and I'll go over the ones with the public works director and also the city manager on the other questions I have okay perfect.

All right I'm gonna open it if I can get a meeting with her yeah I'm gonna open it for public comment and I don't have any so I'm gonna close public comment and gonna move on to item G9.

So council member uklin you pulled this and this consider adopting resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an amendment to the ENA.

Yes um I I pulled this item because uh there I had some concerns um about the fact that the city council has never really discussed um the revised proposal that was submitted by um Mr.

Hoptu.

Is that how you pronounce his last name?

I'm not sure.

Henry Henry, yeah.

Um so um I went back and I actually re-watched the meeting, um, where Henry actually changed his proposal uh for the two houses over here on Sherman.

And um, and so the city council never voted on that.

We heard a presentation, but um I certainly think it's important for us to have a discussion um uh about those um uh those houses and whether or not um he he stated that um uh those two houses um he felt uh especially after the uh Sherman House was um damaged by the tree, that um it's not savable.

Um and so um I I'm concerned that um we don't have this and I would like to have it agendized for us to talk about it prior to the end of this one year extension um because it gives him another year, but um we haven't even had a discussion since um the he originally um got into an agreement with us in 2023, um, but then in June of 2025, he um after the the tree hit uh the Sherman house, he said that he he believes now it needs both houses need to be leveled, and so um I know we're we're gonna be doing a uh study uh but I'm not sure if it's really gonna be an objective one or if it's gonna be well I believe we did talk about this before um in closed session, and this was um voted on.

Right, but the problem is is that closed session is not open to the public, and so we heard the presentation in I believe it was in June.

Um, Councilmember Connor, do you have yeah, I was just gonna echo your comments.

We did a comprehensive conversation about this before our last meeting closed session, and the the document that's on our agenda for approval this evening is the direction that council provided at that meeting.

So I'm confused by the comment that you're saying we haven't had any conversation when we definitely did, and it was only two weeks ago.

No, I'm saying that we've never we have not had a discussion in public about um his revised project.

The last presentation he made, we didn't really discuss it because it was new.

Granted, we did talk about it in closed session.

We're not supposed to disclose what we discussed in closed session, other than um we discussed his project because it was agendized that way, but um what I'm saying is that we need to bring this to the public so that the public has an understanding of what the latest proposal is and get our reaction to it.

Um at some point over this year, I'm just asking that we bring this before the council to have a discussion.

That's all I'm asking.

Yeah, I hear you, but I I respectfully disagree.

With this is consistent with our closed session process when we're in negotiations uh around property.

We've already had a conversation on this.

Some of already voted on this.

No, we haven't we haven't voted on the change.

Tell me what it's absolutely 100% voted in closed session.

Oh, in closed session, but we never voted in in person.

We were in person, we were all there.

In public.

Right, but it's a closed session meeting, that's the way it works.

So well, prior to the closed session.

I think I understand very well.

No, I don't think you do.

No.

All right, I'm gonna open it for public comment.

I think we heard both sides, um, and I'm not having any cards, so I'm gonna close public comment.

Um do have a motion to approve this.

I'll make a motion to approve G9.

Do I have a second?

I will second it.

Alright, Laura, can you take a vote?

Councilmember Eklund?

No.

Councilmember Carpal, oh yeah, Councilmember O'Connor.

Aye.

Mayor Pertam Jacobs.

All right.

And Mayor Farrell.

Hi, all right.

Alright, that passes.

Um now moving on to adjournment.

Uh the next regular city council meeting will be held on June 9th, 2027.

Does the council have anyone for whom they'd like to adjourn the meeting in memory of?