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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Sand City Council Meeting - November 4, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, November 4, 2026

BodySand City, California

SessionCity Council

DateWednesday, November 4, 2026

StatusNEW · FILED

Video Record

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Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:20

Hey, welcome everyone.

0:21

I'd like to welcome everyone to the October 3rd 2026 council meeting.

0:30

The time is by 30.

0:32

And these meetings are conducted in person at SIP here in the city council chambers, and they're also observed remotely through Zoom.

0:43

There's also a calling option if anyone wishes to.

0:51

So with that, I'd like to say happy election day.

0:56

And it's been coming for a while, and so I wanted to give everyone a uh early congratulations on whoever the citizens choose.

1:08

So with that, uh I would like to uh go ahead and uh I would like to go ahead and ask that everybody first I to the city council uh if we could use our microphones.

1:22

Uh they they are on and you can turn them off when you're not speaking, but please turn them on when you speak.

1:29

Uh last month or the last meeting of the public had a hard time hearing us.

1:35

So uh so we looked into that and uh they were tested today, and so let's uh do that.

1:43

Also uh I'd like to ask the public to keep in mind that San City is committed to civility and is mindful of its responsibility to protect the work environment to assure civility in public meetings.

1:58

The public is encouraged to engage in a respectful dialogue that supports freedom of speech and values diversity of opinion.

2:07

Uh failure to engage in respectful black book dialogue.

2:12

Um may uh or in a uh during the meeting may forfeit the speaker's right to participate during public comment.

2:23

Uh with that, uh Carrie, uh if you may call roll call, please.

Speaker 2

2:28

Council member Adams present.

2:30

Councilmember Studder here.

2:32

Vice Mayor

Speaker 1

2:32

Diaz?

2:33

Here.

2:34

Mayor Carlone.

2:35

Here, thank

Unassigned speaker

2:36

you.

Speaker 1

2:37

And with that, I'll ask uh look to the vice mayor to see if ask if he would do us the honors to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

2:45

Yeah,

Speaker 3

2:46

thank you.

Speaker 1

2:48

Ready?

2:49

Begin.

Speaker 3

2:50

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

Speaker 1

3:05

Thank you.

3:09

Okay, so we'll go ahead and move on to item three.

3:13

This is announcements by the mayor, city attorney, and city manager.

3:18

And um, I do have my mayor's report over there on the table.

3:23

Um along with some other paperwork, I'll talk about that.

3:27

Uh but I did want to uh say that last week um we met over at Shoreline Church for Jerry or past Vice Mayor Jerry Blackwelder celebration of life.

3:42

And uh I wanted to thank all those who attended the service.

3:46

It was a beautiful service, and he is truly missed.

3:50

I think of them every day.

3:52

Um so just wanted to say thank you to all those who who attended.

3:58

Also, um I'm gonna just uh touch slightly on a couple of the meetings I attend.

4:04

Uh region, uh so the dumb or dumb or waste haulers out there.

4:10

Uh they sell they're celebrating their 75th anniversary.

4:15

And uh at the meeting this month, they also honored uh Vice Mayor Jerry Blackwelder during uh the meeting and uh uh close the meeting in a moment of silence.

4:27

Um tomorrow uh I'll be attending a uh conference over in Monterey Women in Water Energy Conference.

4:36

I'll be uh speaking at the conference tomorrow and attending a tour of the Monterey Warmwater on Friday as a director.

4:45

Um also there's a uh NLC, so like the uh California um uh California Lake Conference.

4:54

There's a national legal conference.

Unassigned speaker

4:56

I'll be attending uh that their meeting.

Speaker 1

5:01

I did receive an appointment there

Unassigned speaker

5:05

Speaker 1

5:05

to a leadership circle.

5:07

So um uh that's a really big honor.

Speaker 4

5:11

And

Speaker 1

5:11

um, so the city will shine as I and they're attending and telling them about what we're doing in our city here at a national level.

5:23

Um also um November 17th, 2026.

5:28

Uh we have a uh uh MADD campaign, and this is a methods against direct uh direct drivers.

5:37

The city will be lighting up the city hall on Tuesday, November 17th, and that will go the uh go through January 1st of 2027.

5:48

Uh this is a community event uh uh and it's uh recognition for the community to come together to honor those lost uh to impair driving uh to support survivors and to shine the light on making safe choices and that there is being held uh kind of during the holidays, so that's kind of um you know um uh just to bring to light uh you know, not driving impaired.

6:21

Uh also on November 11th, uh at the 11 o'clock at the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery, they will be recognizing Veterans Day.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Emergency Management███████████████████████████27%

Procedural███████████████15%

Active Transportation██████████████14%

Water And Wastewater Management█████████████13%

Public Engagement████████8%

Parks and Recreation███████7%

Engineering And Infrastructure███████7%

Community Engagement███3%

Affordable Housing██2%

Summary of Proceedings

Sand City Council Meeting - November 4, 2026

The Sand City Council convened on November 4, 2026, at 5:30 PM to discuss several key initiatives. The meeting began with the Mayor honoring former Vice Mayor Jerry Blackwelder. City Manager Vivek reported that the California Transportation Commission staff had recommended a grant application fully funding the city's bike trail construction (the Gateway for Monterey Bay project), and that the city had advanced to the federal list for Opportunity Zone 2.0 designation. The agenda also included approvals for a trail use agreement, a stormwater maintenance contract, a city council code of conduct, and a proactive local emergency declaration for the anticipated El Niño season.

Consent Calendar

The Council unanimously approved the consent calendar, which included:

A resolution recognizing November 15–21, 2026, as Restorative Justice Week.
Approval of the 2027 City Council meeting and event calendar.
A second amendment to the professional services agreement with Woodson Engineers for the Sand City Coastal Trail 30% schematic design. During public comment, a resident expressed support for the Coastal Trail item after clarifying its scope.

Public Comments & Testimony

Pete (Sand City Resident): Defended city staff from prior criticism regarding low survey response rates for the General Plan, arguing the community bore responsibility for participation. He also voiced urgent concerns about the severity of the upcoming El Niño season, citing high winds, a 10-degree ocean temperature anomaly, and the risk of compounding king tides and earthquakes. He requested the city expand its emergency preparedness planning.
Luke Kilpatrick (Sand City Resident): Expressed general support for the proposed Code of Conduct but suggested an amendment allowing any two council members to jointly place an item on the agenda. He also highlighted the immediate dangers of the El Niño (king tides, storms) and urged the city to improve public communication of its emergency plans.
Justin Rums (Sand City Resident): Echoed El Niño concerns and specifically requested the city clearly communicate its Emergency Operations Plan, including evacuation routes and shelter locations, to the public.

Discussion Items

9A: TAMC Multi-Use Trail Use Agreement: City Manager Vivek presented a landmark agreement with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) providing the city 30 years of site control for the missing link in the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail. The agreement requires the city to pay $10,186 per month in rent for 101 parking spaces built on TAMC right-of-way. The city retains the right to terminate with 60 days' notice prior to issuing a construction notice. Councilmembers expressed strong enthusiasm, noting the project had been a lengthy priority. The agreement was approved unanimously.
9B: Stormwater Control Maintenance Agreement (Green Line): City Engineer Leon Gomez presented a three-year contract (with two one-year options) with Don Chapman Company (DBA Green Line) for the biannual inspection and maintenance of the city's stormwater control measures. The contract value was amended down from $492,500 to $447,500. Fortuna will reimburse the city $180,153 for systems serving the Sand Dollar Center, resulting in a net city expenditure of approximately $267,346. The item was approved unanimously.
9C: Code of Conduct for City Council and City Committees: The City Manager and City Attorney presented a new Code of Conduct, requested by the Mayor, establishing norms for interactions among council members, staff, the public, and other agencies. The Council unanimously adopted the resolution.
9D: Proclamation of Local Emergency due to El Niño: City Manager Vivek presented a resolution to proactively declare a threatened local emergency due to the developing 2026–2027 El Niño event. The declaration allows the city to coordinate resources, request mutual aid, and pursue funding. It will be reviewed every 60 days for continuance. Following public input urging enhanced communication of emergency resources, the resolution was adopted unanimously.

Councilmember Reports

Councilmember Studder: Announced that four new residents had completed CERT training, bringing the city's total trained capacity to seven or eight. The next CERT training session is scheduled for May 2027. He also emphasized the dangers of downed power lines in standing water and urged caution during storm events.
Councilmember Adams: Reported attending an educational think tank meeting co-sponsored by the NAACP, the Monterey County Office of Education, and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. The next meeting is scheduled for December 17.

Key Outcomes

Votes: All action items (Consent Calendar, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D) were approved unanimously. Specific motions noted for 9A (Motion by Vice Mayor Diaz, Second by Councilmember Studder), 9B (Motion by Councilmember Adams, Second by Vice Mayor Diaz), and 9D (Motion by Vice Mayor Diaz, Second by Councilmember Adams).
Directives & Next Steps:
- The City Manager will finalize a sister-agreement with the City of Seaside for the trail and pursue the California Transportation Commission’s ATP construction grant.
- The City Manager and Police Chief will intensify public outreach for Alert Monterey County and the city’s Emergency Operations Plan. The El Niño local emergency proclamation will return for council review within 60 days.
- The Mayor announced the holiday tree lighting will be held on December 4, 2026, and will coordinate the annual toy drive for local families.

Meeting Transcript

Hey, welcome everyone. I'd like to welcome everyone to the October 3rd 2026 council meeting. The time is by 30. And these meetings are conducted in person at SIP here in the city council chambers, and they're also observed remotely through Zoom. There's also a calling option if anyone wishes to. So with that, I'd like to say happy election day. And it's been coming for a while, and so I wanted to give everyone a uh early congratulations on whoever the citizens choose. So with that, uh I would like to uh go ahead and uh I would like to go ahead and ask that everybody first I to the city council uh if we could use our microphones. Uh they they are on and you can turn them off when you're not speaking, but please turn them on when you speak. Uh last month or the last meeting of the public had a hard time hearing us. So uh so we looked into that and uh they were tested today, and so let's uh do that. Also uh I'd like to ask the public to keep in mind that San City is committed to civility and is mindful of its responsibility to protect the work environment to assure civility in public meetings. The public is encouraged to engage in a respectful dialogue that supports freedom of speech and values diversity of opinion. Uh failure to engage in respectful black book dialogue. Um may uh or in a uh during the meeting may forfeit the speaker's right to participate during public comment. Uh with that, uh Carrie, uh if you may call roll call, please. Council member Adams present. Councilmember Studder here. Vice Mayor Diaz? Here. Mayor Carlone. Here, thank you. And with that, I'll ask uh look to the vice mayor to see if ask if he would do us the honors to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Yeah, thank you. Ready? Begin. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you. Okay, so we'll go ahead and move on to item three. This is announcements by the mayor, city attorney, and city manager. And um, I do have my mayor's report over there on the table. Um along with some other paperwork, I'll talk about that. Uh but I did want to uh say that last week um we met over at Shoreline Church for Jerry or past Vice Mayor Jerry Blackwelder celebration of life. And uh I wanted to thank all those who attended the service. It was a beautiful service, and he is truly missed. I think of them every day. Um so just wanted to say thank you to all those who who attended. Also, um I'm gonna just uh touch slightly on a couple of the meetings I attend. Uh region, uh so the dumb or dumb or waste haulers out there. Uh they sell they're celebrating their 75th anniversary. And uh at the meeting this month, they also honored uh Vice Mayor Jerry Blackwelder during uh the meeting and uh uh close the meeting in a moment of silence. Um tomorrow uh I'll be attending a uh conference over in Monterey Women in Water Energy Conference. I'll be uh speaking at the conference tomorrow and attending a tour of the Monterey Warmwater on Friday as a director. Um also there's a uh NLC, so like the uh California um uh California Lake Conference. There's a national legal conference. I'll be attending uh that their meeting. I did receive an appointment there

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
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Sand City Council Meeting - November 4, 2026

Consent Calendar

The Council unanimously approved the consent calendar, which included:

A resolution recognizing November 15–21, 2026, as Restorative Justice Week.

Approval of the 2027 City Council meeting and event calendar.

A second amendment to the professional services agreement with Woodson Engineers for the Sand City Coastal Trail 30% schematic design. During public comment, a resident expressed support for the Coastal Trail item after clarifying its scope.

Public Comments & Testimony

Pete (Sand City Resident): Defended city staff from prior criticism regarding low survey response rates for the General Plan, arguing the community bore responsibility for participation. He also voiced urgent concerns about the severity of the upcoming El Niño season, citing high winds, a 10-degree ocean temperature anomaly, and the risk of compounding king tides and earthquakes. He requested the city expand its emergency preparedness planning.

Luke Kilpatrick (Sand City Resident): Expressed general support for the proposed Code of Conduct but suggested an amendment allowing any two council members to jointly place an item on the agenda. He also highlighted the immediate dangers of the El Niño (king tides, storms) and urged the city to improve public communication of its emergency plans.

Justin Rums (Sand City Resident): Echoed El Niño concerns and specifically requested the city clearly communicate its Emergency Operations Plan, including evacuation routes and shelter locations, to the public.

Discussion Items

9A: TAMC Multi-Use Trail Use Agreement: City Manager Vivek presented a landmark agreement with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) providing the city 30 years of site control for the missing link in the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail. The agreement requires the city to pay $10,186 per month in rent for 101 parking spaces built on TAMC right-of-way. The city retains the right to terminate with 60 days' notice prior to issuing a construction notice. Councilmembers expressed strong enthusiasm, noting the project had been a lengthy priority. The agreement was approved unanimously.

9B: Stormwater Control Maintenance Agreement (Green Line): City Engineer Leon Gomez presented a three-year contract (with two one-year options) with Don Chapman Company (DBA Green Line) for the biannual inspection and maintenance of the city's stormwater control measures. The contract value was amended down from $492,500 to $447,500. Fortuna will reimburse the city $180,153 for systems serving the Sand Dollar Center, resulting in a net city expenditure of approximately $267,346. The item was approved unanimously.

9C: Code of Conduct for City Council and City Committees: The City Manager and City Attorney presented a new Code of Conduct, requested by the Mayor, establishing norms for interactions among council members, staff, the public, and other agencies. The Council unanimously adopted the resolution.

9D: Proclamation of Local Emergency due to El Niño: City Manager Vivek presented a resolution to proactively declare a threatened local emergency due to the developing 2026–2027 El Niño event. The declaration allows the city to coordinate resources, request mutual aid, and pursue funding. It will be reviewed every 60 days for continuance. Following public input urging enhanced communication of emergency resources, the resolution was adopted unanimously.

Councilmember Reports

Councilmember Studder: Announced that four new residents had completed CERT training, bringing the city's total trained capacity to seven or eight. The next CERT training session is scheduled for May 2027. He also emphasized the dangers of downed power lines in standing water and urged caution during storm events.

Councilmember Adams: Reported attending an educational think tank meeting co-sponsored by the NAACP, the Monterey County Office of Education, and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. The next meeting is scheduled for December 17.

Key Outcomes

Votes: All action items (Consent Calendar, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D) were approved unanimously. Specific motions noted for 9A (Motion by Vice Mayor Diaz, Second by Councilmember Studder), 9B (Motion by Councilmember Adams, Second by Vice Mayor Diaz), and 9D (Motion by Vice Mayor Diaz, Second by Councilmember Adams).

Directives & Next Steps:

The City Manager will finalize a sister-agreement with the City of Seaside for the trail and pursue the California Transportation Commission’s ATP construction grant.
The City Manager and Police Chief will intensify public outreach for Alert Monterey County and the city’s Emergency Operations Plan. The El Niño local emergency proclamation will return for council review within 60 days.
The Mayor announced the holiday tree lighting will be held on December 4, 2026, and will coordinate the annual toy drive for local families.

Meeting Transcript