Staff, please put 30 seconds on the clock and six of the members now.

Okay.

All right, I'd like to call this meeting to order at 2 24 p.m.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kaplan.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Councilmember Plucky Baum should be here momentarily.

Councilmember Maple will join us momentarily.

Mayor Pro Temgata.

Here.

Councilmember Jennings.

Councilmember Vang.

Mayor McCarty will be absent today.

And Vicemor Talamantes.

You have a quorum.

Wonderful.

Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

Will you please lead us in the land acknowledgement and pledge of allegiance?

Please rise for the opening acknowledgement in honor of Sacramento's Indigenous People and Tribal Lands.

To the people of this land, the Nissanon people, the Southern Maidu Valley and Plains Meawok, and the Putwin and Winton people, the people of the Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento's only a federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the Native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather together today in the act of practice of ignorance of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's Indigenous People's History, contributions, and lives.

Join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, uh salute pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

All right, city attorney, do we have any reports out from closed session?

No, nothing to report out.

Thank you so much.

And we do not have any special presentation, so we will move on to the consent calendar.

Are there any items that council members like to comment on or pull?

Councilmember Maple.

Yes, item three, just a comment, please.

Three.

Uh Councilmember Kaplan.

Item comments on 13.

All right, saying that.

All right, so uh Councilman Maple, an item.

Actually, you know what?

We'll uh take Councilmember Kaplan first.

Go ahead.

I will let's see.

On item seven, which is our oh sorry, did we have any public comments?

I missed that.

We can do it afterwards.

Okay.

Um on a consent item seven, which is the Sacramento Transportation Infrastructure Adaptation Plan.

Um, I think it's great.

You know, the city of Sacramento always does a phenomenal job on our plans, and the plans sit on the shelf, and it's always how can we find ways to fund them.

But I can tell you for District One, we have two bus lines, and getting uh transportation infrastructure in place is is really important if we want to make Natomas and Robla the walkable city as well as addressing you know traffic infrastructure but climate infrastructure.

And I know staff are seeking funds to implement the Street for People plan and this plan.

Um but it's really about how do we bring infrastructure enhancements and investments, which isn't always a um a you know hot topic of conversation, but it affects everybody's lives that I think we need to call out and take the time to slow down and and address, you know, especially people don't realize with North Natomas and and Robla and some of our lower income areas, we are heat islands because we do not have enough trees and getting infrastructure in place that also addresses making it easier that we can uh reduce the urban heat island effect.

I think is really important, as well as working with our our developers to understand how important it is that we work in partnership, that it isn't just let's pave a lot of things.

How do we how do we integrate new housing infrastructure, community commercial development while at the same time uh addressing the need for for climate change?

I I appreciate SACRT and others working to try and make it easier, but I think when we look at our transportation infrastructure, there we have a long ways to go, especially for areas that that don't have the infrastructure.

When you're in North Natomas and it takes you 45 minutes using public transit to get downtown, nobody's going to use public transit, and I think we have to do more to address that.

And I know this plan is just one way uh to get there, so thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

Councilmember Maple.

All right, thank you.

Uh just a quick comment on our confirmation of board and commission appointees.

I wanted to, after this vote, of course, once this council approves the consent calendar, um, congratulate our uh new commissioners in district five.

We have Ulysses Viegas Jr.

is going to be appointed to the commiss uh the police review commission.

Really excited to have his leadership uh there, as well as Owen Nakica and the youth commission.

We're super excited, currently a student of West Campus in District 6, but a resident of district five and really looking forward to their leadership.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

Uh, great, thank you very much.

On item number eight.

I just wanted to uh take this time to thank uh our city staff and all our our members of the council who all pitched in.

Uh this is obviously just a procedural aspect of us uh coordinating um to uh to get what will be one of the most significant infrastructure projects to activate our waterfront, engage the the uh the the uh the rail yards projects and the activity there, but more importantly, uh create a true pedestrian and uh bicycle and mobility multimodal connection between West Sacramento and the City of Sacramento.

Uh and that in itself is I think is going to have a huge impact on our uh our both of the successes of our city.

Um, and I wanted to just also thank the uh the ability to think uh quickly on how um how we can when we pull together our different uh our different elected officials from all the region, not just the city of Sacramento, uh, but from all the region, we all benefit from that.

Uh, our entire region benefits from uh making sure that we rise together.

I also want to do a little special shout out to Councilmember Maple for uh you know taking an opportunity to be very quick witted when she saw a lot of the state officials in one room and took advantage of making sure that they can act quickly to save this project as well.

So and uh with that, I'll move the consent calendar.

Wonderful.

Uh councilmark Kaplan.

Thank you.

The last one, I just want to say that you know, on item 13.

Um, you know, I I our most successful unhoused program is our motel shelter program, and uh I appreciate all that staff has done with the audit and finding ways that we can find efficiencies and and get those uh get more individuals into services and into our motel shelter system.

I'm a bit concerned that how we're changing it might result in less people getting services instead of expanding one of our most cost effectives because there are concerns, and I know the updated pit count is coming out, and while it was celebrated that the pit count was down in 24, many people doubted it while it said it was at approximately 6600.

You know, if you looked at Sacramento Steps Forward, loaves and fishes, they put it closer to 9,000.

So it will be interesting what our 2026 PIT account is, and if it goes up, I think we as a council uh really need to pause and assess what's working and not in light of our budget deficit, uh, and knowing that many cities like Oakland is shuttering their microcommunities and RV camping sites because they've gotten less money from the state.

We know that the city of Sacramento is getting less money from the state, and this is gonna affect and you look at SHRA with the potentially voucher issues of more families getting less supports and more ending up on the streets.

I think we need a holistic view of with limited funding, what are we doing?

And is this a time to expand uh services when we know one of the most successful is our motel shelter program?

So I just want to put that out there that it's something I think we need to think about.

Thank you.

And second, okay, and we have five five members of the public signed up to speak for public comment.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I have five speakers.

The first is Lambert speaking on items two, five, fifteen, and seventeen.

Following Lambert is Denise Morgan on item seven, Josh B on 18, Sarah Muster on 18, and Haley Arrata on 18.

Uh, first of all, I I can get to all four of these.

Well, first of all, I wanted to send a shout out to Minty Cuppy because this is a well-organized consent calendar.

I didn't know about it until family and the millennials asked me to come, so I didn't want to let them down.

They're doing such a great job on what they do.

Uh, two, it says conflict of interest.

This should be to strengthen what you have down here because you've had a lot of conflict of interest in City Hall.

Also, number five says measure you.

Measure you when I went to all of the meetings I went to when uh Mayor Steinberg was talking about measure you.

Measure U is not like it was presented.

It's also been combined with the general fund.

That to me uh could lead to corruption.

15 rejecting all bids.

I've never heard of that.

Why would anybody reject all bids unless there's a bid rigging, bid peddling agenda?

I'm in business.

I've never seen rejecting all bids on anything I've ever bid on.

That should be investigated.

In 17, it says suspend competitive bidding.

When you suspend competitive bidding, the people who make the decisions can give it to their families.

They could give it to their friends.

All you have to do is look across at the state building of what's going on with the former person with uh Governor Newsom.

Also, CAP Radio has an example of when you suspend competitive bidding.

A guy got caught helping his family.

The mayor of Oakland was kicked out because of suspended competitive bidding.

That's a very slippery slope because whoever makes the decision to give the contract, they may have a conflict of interest.

Next speaker's Denise Morgan on item 7.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Denise Morgan.

I'm third district, PTA president, and that encompasses Sacramento County and seven surrounding counties.

But I'm also here today as a PTA member of CK McClachey, PTSA.

I'm speaking in support of this resolution, but I also hope to draw all of your attention to the fact that the ride-free RT program is in jeopardy.

Serious consideration should be made by all of you to find ways to support this program, which is set to expire in June if funding is not found.

This resolution correctly addresses the necessity for client climate adaptation strategies, and it gives intentional consideration to reduce dependence on private automobiles.

The background highlights that SAC RT is the largest transit provider in our region, providing transportation to 14,600 passengers per day on light rail and 21,000 passengers per day by bus.

How many of these are students who use the ride-free RT program to get to school, to get to work, to travel with classmates for field trips, or are enrolled in dual enrollment programs and use it to get to our local higher education institutions.

Please make the ride-free RT program a priority and don't let it end.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Council members and charter officers.

My name is Josh Bartholomew.

I am an SCXCA board member and have been a City of Sacramento employee for seven years this May.

I take tremendous pride in the work my colleagues and I do, and we understand the public service is about far more than an hourly wage.

Many of us choose this work because it allows us to serve our community while providing reliable health insurance for our families at a cost that's aligned with our earnings.

Since our MOU expired last September, the first months of 2026 have been especially challenging.

Our members have faced higher than health care premiums with no adjustment to the city's contribution, and it was an increase many employees were unprepared to absorb.

With that in mind, we want to sincerely thank you for your role in presenting an MOU that provides much needed wage increases and addresses the immediate health insurance premium issue.

This is going to bring real relief to our members and their families.

Thank you for that.

However, based on what we've experienced so far this year, many of our members are very concerned about premium inflation in the out years of this agreement.

Using benchmark trends, a hypothetical 10% year-over-year increase could nearly double premiums within 20 months for employees with families.

From $558 to 1,043 per month.

While actual increases may vary, the scenario illustrates the very real financial risk our members must prepare for, particularly those with dependents.

Although the ratification vote shows our appreciation for the immediate relief this MOU provides, we respectfully ask that following today's council adoption, the city actively engage with us to address long-term premium stability and affordability.

We hope we can get you guys to commit to collaboratively exploring every available option to control costs and protect employees and the organization from unsustainable increases year over year.

Many of us love our jobs and the people we work with every day.

Please join us in pursuing a long-term sustainable solution that supports the well-being of our workforce and the city as a whole.

I'm speaking today, not just as staff, but as someone who cares deeply about the work that we do in the community we serve.

I want to be honest about the impact of the proposed health insurance changes.

Right now, a family with two or more dependents pays roughly $550 a month for coverage.

In 20 months, that could rise to over $1,000 a month.

That's not just an increase.

That's a life-changing one.

Like many dedicated staff, I'm already at the top of my salary step in my position.

We rely on cost living adjustments just to try and keep up.

But those increases are not keeping pace with inflation and the real cost of living.

The reality is my take-home pay is already less than it was last year.

While everything else costs more.

Gas is higher, groceries are higher, housing, utilities, everything is more expensive.

Everything.

And when this plan moves forward, that gap will only continue to grow over the next three years with no clear ceiling and no guarantees.

We don't know how much it will cost us, but we're being asked to carry that burden anyway.

I don't know how we're supposed to, how we're supposed to plan for that.

How am I supposed to afford it?

At some point, this stops being about stops being about tightening my budget and becomes about whether or not I can afford to continue working here at all.

That's a difficult thing to say out loud because I believe in the work that I do and that we do.

And I really love my job, and I love working with all of you and everyone else behind me.

But decisions like this make it hard for employees like me to do that.

We talk about retaining experienced and committed staff, and this is exactly the kind of issue that pushes people away.

Not because they want to leave, but because they feel they have no choice.

I'm asking to consider the real human impact of this decision and what it means for the people who show up every day and serve the city.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you explore more negotiation paths.

Hello.

My name is Haley Arrata.

I live in District 4.

I'm a city employee and an active dues paying member of SKA.

I did send an email to Councilmember Plucky Baum and City Manager Smith about this a few weeks ago, but I wanted to follow up with others today.

I do want to first thank you for the role you played in authorizing a tentative agreement.

It will provide wage increases and it does address immediate health insurance premiums that we've had to absorb in the first months of 2026, and I'm very grateful for that relief.

However, I'm really concerned about premium inflation in the later years of the agreement.

As both Josh and Sarah noted, many health care cost projections show a 10% increase in medical insurance premiums in 2027 and 28.

Assuming that dental and vision stay the same for an employee with family, a family of two more dependents, the premium payment would increase to 770 dollars in 2027 and a thousand per month in 2028.

I'd like to reiterate it would be over a thousand dollars per month.

The city's maximum contribution increase of a maximum of $50 a month will not offset these costs.

Um these costs are frankly too high.

Um, honestly, I want to highlight the connection between diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to affordable health care.

It's very clear that you all in the city care about fostering a diverse workplace.

Just this morning, you ran raised the transgender pride flag outside of City Hall.

Later today, you will be recognizing autism awareness month, and we can now put our pronouns in sexual orientation in ECAPs.

I appreciate these efforts, and I'm very proud to be a part of this workforce.

But honestly, my wife and I would like to have children.

And I'm very worried that my co-workers and I won't have access to gender affirming care or ability affirming care with the costs of these increase.

So I respectfully ask that next year you come back to the negotiation table with us.

We can work together.

Vicemar, I have no more speakers.

Thank you so much.

And we have a motion and a second.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No's abstentions, seeing none.

Uh, moving along to public hearings, calling a special election to make certain changes to improvement area district three.

Deeming it necessary to incur debt for improvement area number four and calling a special election to levy a special tax and incur debt for improvement area four for Delta Shores.

And I will open the public hearing.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor Talamantes and Council members.

Eric Frederick with the finance department.

Uh, the item before you is a public hearing related to change proceedings in the uh Delta Shores Community Facilities District number 2019-01.

Uh the CFD was established with three separate improvement areas and owners of land and an improvement area number three have petitioned the city to create a new improvement area number four within that existing area.

To accomplish this, the rate and method of apportionment or RMA for improvement area number three must be amended.

And a new RMA must be established for the new improvement area number four.

In addition, the boundaries of the CFD appropriations limits and authorized bonded indebtedness amounts must also be amended to account for these changes.

Staff's recommendation is to open the public hearing and upon conclusion adopt the included resolutions that will call for special elections to be held on these proposed changes within the affected areas of the CFD.

Thank you.

And staff is available for any questions.

Okay, Clerk, is there any public comment on this item?

I have no speakers on this item.

Okay, Councilmember Bain.

I like to open and close and move this item.

I'll say it.

Okay.

It's been moved and seconded.

All right.

Any questions for my colleagues?

Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote for this one.

Uh councilmember Kaplan.

Aye.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Councilmember Pleckybaum.

Councilmember Maple.

Aye.

Mayor Pro Tem Gata.

Hi.

Councilmember Jennings.

Yes.

Councilmember Vang.

Yes.

And Vicemor Telemontes.

Yes.

Motion passes with Mayor McCarthy absent.

Okay.

And now council comments, ideas, questions, AB1, 234 reports.

I have a huge announcement.

It's Councilmember Mai Vang's birthday.

Happy birthday.

And Rick's Friday.

Councilmember Jennings on Friday.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Sounds good.

All right.

So first up, we have Councilmember Maple.

Thank you, Chair.

Well, I want to give an uh AV 1234 report.

Myself along with representatives from the mayor's office, the Office of Economic Development, and the Office of Arts and Culture, all descended upon San Francisco on March 27th, a beautiful sunny day.

And we were there to meet with uh Mayor Laurie's office as staff regarding their uh vacant to vibrant program.

So what that is, it's is it's a public-private partnership that takes vacant storefronts and turns them into short-term pop-ups for small businesses, artists, and entrepreneurs, uh, with the goal of transitioning many of them into long-term leases.

And so they suffered from what frankly we do here as well during the pandemic, which is in their downtown area.

They have many vacant storefronts and other spaces, and they have been trying to brainstorm on what they can do to fill them.

So this was the idea that was born out of that in 2021, now on its third year.

Um, what stood out most to me was that this is very intentional.

Um, they didn't just fill one empty storefront, they were very uh specific to talk about clustering them together.

Uh for example, if you put in one small business and one uh storefront and it's empty all around them, they're probably going to fail.

But if you put in, if you have five empty storefronts and you fill all five of them in a small area, you've now created a space where people want to come from all over the city to patron their businesses, and they're a lot more likely to be successful.

And it's also a key to revitalizing entire corridors.

Um they're also not relying solely on city funding, which uh made me happy because we don't have a lot of that to give.

And I was wondering how are you guys able to do this program?

Well, it turns out that they're not actually um offering any city funds for the leases, which is something that I had originally thought.

Um what they have done, what they did do is uh have some initial amount that the city put in for administration of the program, and then they also leverage a nonprofit partner that's able to uh receive uh private sector donations.

Um that private sector money is then used for things like tenant improvements and other things, and what the city brings to the table is uh a master lease agreement, which makes it easy for them to get folks in and out, all on the same thing.

Same with insurance, and then they have most importantly um undertaken what we are doing here with uh council member plucky bombs and the mayor's um leadership, which is streamlining their permitting process, making it easier to get through the the building um and design process and more most importantly, they're engaging fire inspection early on, and that allows them to be able to do this.

Um and so you might wonder how are they able to get tenants in these spaces?

Well, guess what?

They are actually um asking the the landlords, the property owners to give three to six months of rent for free.

And when I first heard that, I thought there's no way.

And they said, actually, yes, we've we've been very successful at this because uh it's actually very beneficial to the property owners to not have vacant buildings.

They understand that if they have an activated space, they're way more likely to lease it.

And it also creates a matchmaking opportunity between the small businesses and the property owners.

They can figure out if they like one another, if they enjoy the space, if it works for them, and what they have found is a very high success rate of those short-term leases turning into long-term ones of five years or more.

And so many of the spaces that they have temporarily activated are now permanently uh taken with everything from coffee shops to vintage clothing stores to um artist pop-ups to you know, you name it.

Um it's been it was really cool.

So we had the opportunity to go and take a look at all those businesses.

We got to meet the business owners.

We talked at the city leadership there.

Um, and we also saw that there's a huge demand.

So in the first cohort, they were able to place nine small businesses.

They had over 800 applicants.

So the demand is there, and they found that there's just a disconnect between these small businesses who want physical space and the owners that own the space, and that is where the city steps in with their nonprofit partner and helps create that matchmaking service.

It's been very successful.

And so I let's see if there's anything that I miss here, Shama permitted.

And so I just I bring this to you one as a report, just so you know what we're doing.

Um but I also think that this is something that could work really well in Sacramento.

And so is my hope to uh meet with Councilmember Flucky Baum because I don't think there's anywhere else this would work the best than in downtown Sacramento to see if there's a way that we could bring something here to Sacramento.

Thank you.

That's an amazing report and sounds really exciting, innovative.

Uh Councilmember Capan.

I too have an AB 123 report on March 27th.

I went down to Costa Mesa because I'm on the Cal Cities Board of Directors for Housing Community and Economic Development, which we we discussed about plans and what other cities are doing for housing affordability, supply production, land use authority, and state mandates, many oftentimes.

Uh what you hear when a bunch of city council members get together is how the state tries to tell us to do things and how you really can't get that done in local government.

Um innovative tools for economic development and financing tools.

It is always good for me to attend these meetings because I get to hear what other cities are doing in innovation ways for housing production, arena goals, economic development, what's working, what's not working, and that we in the city of Sacramento are not alone in all of the issues that that we are facing.

Sometimes there's just tweaks that can be done for us to look at things differently.

Um so that was great too.

And then I too want to make a special comment because uh as a mom, it um my daughter is turning 13 today, and uh while she is a teenager, I still get hugs every morning, and knowing that I am not going to be there tonight for her birthday, is you know, the conflict in a mom's heart of the job that you do and a child who might be a teenager who still very much wants her mom there to celebrate uh her.

So uh Viva, happy birthday, happy 13th.

Uh, I am so proud to be your mom, and you are an amazing young lady and becoming a young woman, and I'm so proud of everything you are accomplishing on your own in school.

Um, I just ask you maybe make it a goal to be kinder to your sister, which I think is every every mom's wish for for their children who have uh siblings, but um I I wouldn't do her a service if I couldn't replay that I want to wish her a happy 13th birthday, and I'm so proud of who she is.

So, with that being said, uh we have public comment.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Three speakers.

Julia Curry Lambert, then LR Roberts, Julia Esteemed Greetings.

I am Julia Curry.

I am a resident of Midtown.

I'm a local realtor.

I am the mother of a McClatchy junior in the HISP program, and I'm also the treasurer of the CKM PTSA executive board.

When we chose the city to live in for my son's teenage years, we looked intentionally for a place that had public transportation that would serve as a good function for our family.

Part of that is because if there was not good public transportation in the very large city that my husband and I met in, my son would probably not exist.

So that was important to us.

Um it has served our family to use light rail and the bus system through junior high and now for high school for him, and I have the privilege of working on the PTSA with a group of students that serve and elevate the S in students every day.

We want to gratefully acknowledge the fact that there are lots of city, county, and other district monies that pour into the the free ride system that makes that go, but we also stand in a place where we are fearful of what our own district is going to be able to afford this year in the budget.

So we just respectfully come forward.

I'm probably the tip of the iceberg because these kids are organized, they are not going anywhere, they want to be successful.

These kids use this program to get to and from school.

These are COVID era kids that don't need any more things to stand in their way to elevate, complete, and promote their education and their incredible lives.

So I look forward to them being able to do what I am doing today, and thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Following Lambert is L.R.

Roberts.

I said, How do we do it?

They said UCLA is coming, all these different schools.

And so what they did is they reached out to the coaches of these teams.

All of them are women.

And so they got them to buy cheesecakes for the teams.

And UCLA won the whole thing.

So why am I talking about that?

Because they've already reached back to our family.

I'm talking about UCLA.

Last night, UCLA had six women get drafted into the probes.

That's never been heard of.

Six.

So Mr.

Digison and all the other people on the Rostrum who have supported us, you should be contacting us because these young women that just went into the pros last night.

But shout out to UCLA because UCLA won the championship and they were here when they had to get to Arizona.

LR Roberts is our final speaker this afternoon.

So LR Roberts, I live in District 5.

And my husband went to McClachey and graduated from there and didn't have a car.

We didn't have a car until we were in our 20s.

So yeah, buses are important.

And they are uh asking that we disinvest in uh fossil fuels.

And one thing in particular we should disinvest with this in is Chevron.

So not only is it tied to the war going on between Israel and its surrounding um countries, but Chevron is vastly overpriced.

So I just bought gas at Costco, five dollars and nineteen cents.

So that's one thing.

The next thing is uh I want us to copy San Francisco, where they have banned ice from public places.

They passed the ordinance in February of 2026.

So any public building parking lot vehicles, um, ice is banned.

You know that they shot somebody recently and then lied and said the person had a uh criminal record.

Uh similar ordinance exists in Santa Clara, Alameda, and Oakland.

And then the last thing is police allocation, which we've been talking about.

So I see way too many sweeps daily here of homeless people, but that shooting that happened where the four-year-old got shot within a block of my house.

And then before that, the the gun fire uh during a robbery at Oak Park Market.

Then there was a shooting, what was it, three or four years ago, where four teenagers were shot.

Um, when we called them when we first bought the house, there was a gun thrown on our roof on the roof of our garage, and the cops were not interested in it.

So our um priorities are hassling homeless people and not making neighborhoods safe.

Thank you for your comments.

Vice Mayor, we have no more business to come before the council.

Okay, this meeting is adjourned at 258.