OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting Summary - June 6, 2023

City Council — Tuesday, June 6, 2023
BodySanta Rosa, California
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, June 6, 2023
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:37

Good afternoon.

0:39

I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence translation of the meeting.

0:44

For those just joining the meeting, live translation in Spanish is available, and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zoom toolbar.

0:58

It looks like a globe.

1:00

Once you join the Spanish channel, we recommend you shut off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish translation.

1:07

Pablo, will you please restate this in Spanish?

1:52

And we will start with our board interview.

1:55

Adam City Clerk, will you please call roll?

1:59

Thank you, Mayor.

2:01

Councilmember Stapp.

2:03

Here Councilmember Rogers.

2:05

Yep.

2:05

Councilmember O'Krepke.

2:06

Yep.

2:07

Councilmember Fleming?

2:08

Here.

2:09

Councilmember Alvarez.

2:13

Vice Mayor McDonald?

2:15

Here.

2:16

And Mayor Rogers.

2:18

President.

2:18

At the record show, all council members are present with the exception of Councilmember Alvarez.

2:27

We're going to go ahead and invite our panelists to come down to interview at the table here.

2:34

We're gonna start off with our first um first interview.

2:38

And I'm sorry, sir.

2:39

Could you help me with the pronunciation of your name?

2:42

Is it Farabod?

2:43

What's your last name?

2:45

Asephnia.

2:47

Please come down.

2:48

Thank you.

3:27

Good.

3:27

My name is Farbo de Sefne.

3:29

I am a longtime Santa Rosa resident.

3:31

I went to school, um, high school at Montgomery, uh, Santa's a JC, and I'm currently attending uh Sonoma State University as a business uh business finance major.

3:42

And um I am a son and family member of uh emigrants and business owners here in downtown Santa Rosa.

3:49

Um Ace of Suppliances on Fourth Street.

3:51

We uh my family's been in business for many many years, probably 30 some odd years.

3:56

And uh I remember growing up uh going to the sour downtown and seeing uh old staple stores of downtown like Sawyer's News, uh the luggage store, um and um there's a few things that I learned uh from my dad and my uncle running the store, and is that um the way they helped our community to reduce uh waste and also to preserve um their their precious uh belongings by by repairing them and keeping them in their family.

4:27

So uh in that spirit I am here uh in front of you interviewing for the finance public authority position.

4:35

Thank you so much.

4:36

I'm gonna go ahead and start with council to see if they have any questions for you.

4:40

Thank you.

4:47

Yeah, absolutely.

4:48

Thank you so much for for being here and showing an interest.

4:51

Uh there's a lot of boards and commissions that the city has.

4:55

Yes.

4:55

Uh why this one for you?

4:57

Uh what was it about this position that really spoke to you?

5:01

And if not this position, ultimately, are you interested in other things and other ways to be involved?

5:06

Absolutely.

5:07

That's a great question.

5:10

Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to be a volunteer tax preparer with the United Way, uh, serving low-income families here in Sonoma County.

5:21

And um I would say um what brings me to this point is a convergence of a few things in my life.

5:27

I started my uh career earlier in uh tech and banking here at Exchange Bank uh locally.

5:34

Uh I worked there for many years, and I went on to um entrepreneurship, doing web uh web-based uh tech and entrepreneurship, and um I found my way and my love and my passion for finance, and I decided to go back to school.

5:47

And um, so I'm pursuing my degree in finance.

5:50

So uh a combination of my background and my education and the joy that uh public service brought me earlier this year.

5:56

Um, I find this position to be a perfect position for me.

5:59

And is this the absolute only position that I could do and qualify for?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Short Term Rental Regulation████████████████████████████████████36%
Public Comment██████████10%
Short Term Rentals█████████9%
Procedural████████8%
Public Engagement███████7%
Public Safety█████5%
Public Transportation████4%
Homelessness███3%
Economic Development██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting Summary - June 6, 2023

The Santa Rosa City Council held a regular meeting on June 6, 2023, starting at 3:00 PM with board interviews and reconvening at 4:00 PM for the regular session. The meeting included proclamations, staff briefings, consent items, a public hearing on short-term rentals, and other agenda items. All votes were unanimous except where noted. Councilmember Eddie Alvarez was absent for the initial interviews but joined at 4:04 PM; all seven members were present for the main session.

Proclamations and Presentations

  • Women Veterans Day - June 2, 2023: Council Member Fleming presented the proclamation to Rose Nowak (Vice President, Redwood Empire Unit 77, Military Women Across the Nation) and Kate O'Hare Palmer. Nowak noted the 75th anniversary of women in military service and the recent loss of the last WWII woman veteran in Santa Rosa.
  • Juneteenth - June 19, 2023: Council Member Alvarez presented the proclamation to Nancy Rogers (President-CEO, North Bay Black Chamber of Commerce). Rogers and Celeste Austin spoke on the history of Juneteenth and the importance of continued freedom efforts.

Staff Briefings

  • Safe Parking Program Update: Housing and Community Services staff (Kelli Kuykendall and Sasha Cohen) reported that the program, opened March 2022, has 50 spaces at 55 Stony Point Road, operated by Catholic Charities. In year one, it served 148 people; 60 participants were current; 87 exits occurred, with 20 (23%) moving to permanent housing—exceeding the countywide average of 16% for emergency shelter exits. The annual operating budget is approximately $1.3 million, funded through June 2024. Council Member Rogers asked for more data on the 67 non-housing exits; staff committed to providing it. Council Member Fleming suggested exploring adding more spaces, but staff noted capacity constraints due to parking lot needs.
  • Community Empowerment Plan Update: Lon Peterson reported on the new C-CAT cohort, the independent police auditor report presentation (June 14 to Public Safety Subcommittee, June 20 to Council, June 21 at Finley Community Center), community police experience programs, and the DEIB Spaces Mini-Grant program (up to $5,000 per applicant, total $150,000, applications due June 30).

Public Comments

  • Several commenters (Ms. Gray, Evette Minor, Duane DeWitt) spoke in support of reinstating the multicultural roots program, which was pulled.
  • During the short-term rental hearing, numerous residents spoke both in support and opposition. Supporters cited economic benefits, responsible operation, and the need for a grace period for expired permits. Opponents cited nuisance, fire risk, loss of housing, and inconsistency with residential zoning.

Consent Calendar

  • Resolution RES-2023-088: Support for Assembly Bill 436 (repealing cruising prohibitions). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-089: Acquisition of 470 Sebastopol Road for future police substation and interim library use. Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-090: Intergovernmental Agreement with County of Sonoma for mail services (up to $500,000). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-091: One-year extension with Geotab USA (increase $175,000, total $425,000). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-092: Establishing speed limits in Central Business District (20 mph on 13 segments, 25 mph on 3 segments). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-093: Second amendment to PSA with MV Transportation for ADA paratransit (increase $1,850,000, total $5,885,331). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-094: MOU with Sonoma County Junior College District for CityBus unlimited rides (through June 30, 2028, renewable to 2033). Adopted unanimously.
  • Resolution RES-2023-095: Declaring Laserfiche as a Trusted System. Adopted unanimously.
  • Ordinance ORD-2023-005: Second reading - City Manager compensation increases (5% merit, 2.5% COLA, etc.). Adopted unanimously.
  • Ordinance ORD-2023-006: Second reading - Zoning Code amendments to comply with state legislation. Adopted unanimously.
  • Ordinance ORD-2023-007: Second reading - Repealing cruising prohibition (Chapter 11-16). Pulled from consent for separate vote; adopted unanimously after public support from lowrider community members.

Discussion Items

  • Public Financing Authority Appointments: Council interviewed four applicants (Farbod Assefnia, Hugh Futrell, Peter Stanley, Don Tomasi). They voted unanimously to waive residency requirements for property owners within the EIFD, then approved a motion giving Mayor Rogers discretion to appoint Hugh Futrell or Peter Stanley to either the City or Joint position, with Don Tomasi as alternate. Public comment from Duane DeWitt opposed the waiver.
  • Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan: Staff presented the plan to achieve a fully zero-emission fleet by 2037 (fixed-route by 2035, paratransit by 2037), ahead of the 2040 state mandate. Total estimated cost is $55 million, with $22 million secured. The plan includes depot charging and battery-electric buses. Public comment from two speakers raised concerns about environmental justice and the mining of battery materials, but no opposition was formally voiced. Resolution RES-2023-096 approved unanimously.

Public Hearing: Short-Term Rentals Ordinance Amendments

  • Staff presented proposed amendments to Chapter 20-48, including technical changes, new definitions, unit-type restrictions, limits on permits per owner, outdoor burning prohibition, lighting standards, trash/recycling rules, and water conservation signage. The Planning Commission had recommended these with a 4-2 vote on April 27, 2023.
  • Public hearing opened at 8:40 PM and closed at 10:12 PM. Numerous speakers expressed both support and opposition, with many emphasizing the need for a renewal grace period and grandfathering for existing multi-permit owners.
  • Councilmember C. Rogers made a motion to introduce the ordinance with amendments: (1) a one-time 30-day grace period for expired permits, (2) permanent 30-day renewal grace period, (3) clarification on outdoor burning (allowing gas/propane but not solid fuels for non-hosted; hosted exempt), (4) transferability to family members, (5) grandfathering existing multi-permit owners, (6) affidavit for hosted rentals, (7) tiered violation penalties, (8) first violation fines for TOT/BIA/operating without permit, (9) permanent revocation after third violation, (10) keep cap on non-hosted STRs at current level with natural attrition, no new applications, and (11) renewal reminder notifications.
  • A substitute motion by Councilmember Fleming to eliminate all non-hosted rentals in residential zones failed 1-6 (only Fleming voted yes).
  • A friendly amendment from Fleming to bring a study session for a potential ballot measure on eliminating STRs in residential areas was accepted.
  • The amended motion passed 6-1 with Councilmember Fleming voting no.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved Consent Calendar items (resolutions and ordinances) with unanimous votes.
  • Adopted Resolution RES-2023-096 for the Zero Emission Bus Rollout Plan.
  • Introduced Ordinance amendments for Short-Term Rentals with specific changes, including a 30-day grace period for expired permits (one-time for current expired, permanent for future renewals), grandfathering of existing multi-permit owners, tiered penalties, and a study session for a potential ballot measure.
  • Directed staff to bring back an ordinance for a second reading on July 11, 2023, incorporating the amendments.
  • No action taken on the non-hosted STR cap (198) except that new applications will not be accepted, and the cap will decrease through natural attrition.
  • Meeting adjourned at 11:42 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence translation of the meeting. For those just joining the meeting, live translation in Spanish is available, and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zoom toolbar. It looks like a globe. Once you join the Spanish channel, we recommend you shut off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish translation. Pablo, will you please restate this in Spanish? And we will start with our board interview. Adam City Clerk, will you please call roll? Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Stapp. Here Councilmember Rogers. Yep. Councilmember O'Krepke. Yep. Councilmember Fleming? Here. Councilmember Alvarez. Vice Mayor McDonald? Here. And Mayor Rogers. President. At the record show, all council members are present with the exception of Councilmember Alvarez. We're going to go ahead and invite our panelists to come down to interview at the table here. We're gonna start off with our first um first interview. And I'm sorry, sir. Could you help me with the pronunciation of your name? Is it Farabod? What's your last name? Asephnia. Please come down. Thank you. Good. My name is Farbo de Sefne. I am a longtime Santa Rosa resident. I went to school, um, high school at Montgomery, uh, Santa's a JC, and I'm currently attending uh Sonoma State University as a business uh business finance major. And um I am a son and family member of uh emigrants and business owners here in downtown Santa Rosa. Um Ace of Suppliances on Fourth Street. We uh my family's been in business for many many years, probably 30 some odd years. And uh I remember growing up uh going to the sour downtown and seeing uh old staple stores of downtown like Sawyer's News, uh the luggage store, um and um there's a few things that I learned uh from my dad and my uncle running the store, and is that um the way they helped our community to reduce uh waste and also to preserve um their their precious uh belongings by by repairing them and keeping them in their family. So uh in that spirit I am here uh in front of you interviewing for the finance public authority position. Thank you so much. I'm gonna go ahead and start with council to see if they have any questions for you. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for for being here and showing an interest. Uh there's a lot of boards and commissions that the city has. Yes. Uh why this one for you? Uh what was it about this position that really spoke to you? And if not this position, ultimately, are you interested in other things and other ways to be involved?

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