Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - June 20, 2023
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - June 20, 2023
The Santa Rosa City Council met in regular session on June 20, 2023, starting with a closed session at 1:00 PM and reconvening in open session at 4:21 PM. The meeting covered consent items, the Independent Police Auditor's annual report, a public hearing on mobilehome rent control, and adoption of the FY 2023-24 budget. Several key decisions were made, including the introduction of a mobilehome rent cap ordinance and approval of a budget that added two police officers and two field evidence technicians.
Consent Calendar
- 12.1 Approved a professional services agreement with LWP Claims Solutions, Inc. for workers' compensation claims administration for up to three years with four one-year extensions, not to exceed $3,448,108.
- 12.2 Approved a Fourth Amendment with Legal Aid of Sonoma County, increasing compensation by $111,000 (total $488,000) and extending performance through June 30, 2024.
- 12.3 Approved a Third Amendment with Bureau Veritas North America, Inc. for fire code plan review services, increasing compensation by $275,000 (total $570,000).
- 12.4 Adopted the Article XIIIB appropriation limit for FY 2023-24 at $319,856,000.
- 12.5 Approved a Fourth Amendment with Woolpert, Inc. for Cityworks software licenses and services, increasing compensation by $367,200 (total $2,323,467) and extending through June 2026.
- 12.6 Extended the local homeless emergency proclamation (Resolution No. 28839).
- 12.7 Adopted an ordinance providing a 30-day grace period to renew expired short-term rental permits issued during the first year of the ordinance (second reading).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Consent Calendar (12.2, 12.6, 12.7): Duane De Witt (Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group) and Ronit Rubinoff (Legal Aid Sonoma County) spoke in support of items 12.2 and 12.6; Allen Thomas spoke in support of 12.7, expressing concerns about the renewal process but appreciating the grace period.
- Non-Agenda Matters (Item 13): Duane De Witt invited the community to a car show and advocated for an Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District in Roseland. Terry Sanders commended the City Manager and announced gospel choir workshops.
- Independent Police Auditor Annual Report (14.1): Multiple speakers provided suggestions on police oversight. Barbara Gresseschi, Carl Tannenbaum (CLEAN), Eric Fraser, and Jim Duffy commented on transparency, complaint processes, and code enforcement.
- Mobilehome Rent Control (15.1): Over 15 residents and advocates spoke, with many supporting the rent increase cap but opposing the 10% in-place transfer fee. Tom La Penna (Santa Rosa Manufactured Homeowners Association) requested overlay zoning for senior parks. Legal Aid of Sonoma County supported the amendment but urged further action.
- Budget Adoption (15.2): Over a dozen speakers, including downtown business owners and property managers, strongly urged adding two Downtown Enforcement Team (DET) officers. Speakers highlighted safety concerns, employee fears, and economic impacts. No speakers opposed the DET addition.
Discussion Items
- 14.1 Independent Police Auditor Annual Report: OIR Group (Michael Gennaco, Brian Corr, Stephen Connolly) presented findings from their first year of oversight. They reviewed 67 internal investigations (53 citizen complaints, 14 internally generated), noted trends in officer communication, and issued eight recommendations including expanding formal interviews and improving use-of-force review. Council members commended the department's transparency and discussed real-time reporting and community engagement. The report was received and filed.
- 15.1 Mobilehome Rent Control Amendment: Staff proposed limiting cumulative rent increases for 2023-2024 to the lesser of 8% total (4% for 2023 plus 2024's allowed increase) or the actual CPI-based amounts. Parks that had already applied a 5.7% increase in 2023 would have their 2024 increase capped so the two-year total does not exceed 8%. Council member Chris Rogers expressed frustration that some park owners had taken advantage of the timing gap. Public comment raised concerns about the 10% in-place transfer fee and lack of a mobilehome commission. Council introduced the ordinance unanimously (7-0).
- 15.2 FY 2023-24 Budget Adoption: Staff presented a $461.3 million operations and maintenance budget and $74.9 million capital improvement budget, with a general fund deficit of $2.5 million offset by fiscal stability funds. Council discussed adding two police officers ($460,000) and two field evidence technicians ($160,000) to the Downtown Enforcement Team, costing an estimated $850,000 total. Council member Fleming proposed $375,000 for a playgrounds pilot program as an upstream investment, but that substitute motion failed (3-3-1, with Vice Mayor MacDonald abstaining). The budget was adopted with amendments including: elimination of 1.0 vacant assistant city attorney; addition of 1.0 employee relations manager; downgrade of 1.0 community engagement coordinator to admin secretary; addition of 2.0 police officers and 2.0 field evidence technicians; and oversight requirements on labor negotiation spending (report quarterly). A separate Measure O implementation plan was also approved.
Key Outcomes
- Mobilehome Rent Control: Introduced an ordinance (unanimous) to cap cumulative rent increases for 2023/2024. Final adoption anticipated at a future meeting.
- FY 2023-24 Budget: Adopted (7-0) after amendments including the addition of 2.0 FTE Downtown Enforcement Team officers and 2.0 FTE field evidence technicians, with corresponding adjustments to maintain Measure O baseline compliance for violence prevention programs. Also approved: staffing changes (elimination of 1.0 vacant assistant city attorney, addition of 1.0 employee relations manager, downgrade of 1.0 community engagement coordinator to admin secretary), and a requirement that the city manager report quarterly on labor negotiation costs.
- Parks and Recreation Budget: Approved (6-0-1, Vice Mayor MacDonald abstaining). A substitute motion to add $375,000 for a playgrounds pilot program failed (3-3-1).
- Independent Police Auditor Report: Received and filed; council directed that implementation of recommendations be discussed at the Public Safety Subcommittee.
- Settlements Reported: City Attorney reported two settlements: $612,500 for STG Unocal Place vs. City (property damage) and $250,000 for Peleyo vs. Utility Partners of America and City (prevailing wage claim).
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. If you are participating in Zoom, please raise your hand or dial star nine. We partnered with Rogo Projects on our response to this the city's notice of availability. I'm sorry, I'm just now realizing my um my uh video is not on. Um anyway, I'm not gonna waste time trying to figure out how to get my video on. Um but anyway, again, we were partnered with Rogue Projects on the response to the city's notice of availability. Freebird is an affordable housing developer. Um currently partnering with the city and the housing authority on South Park Commons, which is the redevelopment of the former Bennett Valley Senior Center. We partnered with Rogel on this response because while affordable housing remains the critical need across California and in Santa Rosa, we believe it should be balanced with mixed income and market rate development to create a more vibrant, equitable downtown, increase the tax base and spur additional investment. As such, Freebird, the affordable housing developer, is taking the lead on the lot 11 and affordable housing development on the White House site, and Rogel in our proposal has taken the lead on barrage five and the mixed income development on the White House site. Um again, just going back to our partnership with the City and Housing Authority. Free bird broke ground on South Park Commons in April with great support from the South Park neighborhood. Uh we were successful in securing over 23 million dollars in funding from the state for that project. We applied for three different um gap funding sources, one uh our tax credit application, and then taxes and bonds, and we were successful um in securing each source on the first application cycle that we applied for, which is kind of unprecedented in these um competitive times. By securing 23 million dollars in state funding for that project, we were able to um reduce the amount of funding that we needed from the City and Housing Authority to make the project work. Again, we broke ground on that project um in April, and it is as you will drive by under construction and going well right now. Um we are hoping to continue um our great partnership with the city um by working uh together on the downtown site. So I just wanted um to speak today um to say you know we're we're hopeful that we will be selected for one, two, or all of the sites, and that's it. Thank you, Robin. Keith, you're up next. Once you unmute, um please go ahead. Very good. Thank you. I uh want to just express how enthusiastic we are about the potential to collaborate with Robin on these sites. We have a shared vision, I believe, about about downtown, about the kind of dynamic mixed uh varied income, varied kind of resident community that it can be, how dynamic it can be. And I know the council has been working very hard to bring that to pass. Um we feel confident about the ability to realize that these sites are actionable in a way that some others in the downtown have been less so in the current inflationary environment. Um the site on garage, I mean on uh the uh White House site as is known. We've teamed with a partner called the Groupie, G R U P E Company. Um may know that the Sonoma Developmental Center is certainly one of the major development opportunities in the Bay Area to arise in the last decade or so. That site has been awarded by the state uh to a partnership which is uh led by my company along with the groupie companies. We have a close relationship, and that's a huge investment coming into the community. Uh we would work together on this uh site and the particular product type, a five-story uh infill site is something that Groupies completed regularly. There are several they've opened in Sacramento not long ago where the economics uh have a similar relationship to those here. So again, this is a very actual site of the garage five is more complicated and complicated. Those who know me well know that that's kind of my specialty, my fascination. Um, I think it's extraordinarily important to bring dynamism to that area, and we think we've got a mixed use program we believe in. And again, it's a scale of project that can be uh can be achieved. Just by way of backdrop, I should note that our work in Napa, the build out of the Napa Pipe site will be more than a thousand housing units, three-quarters of a billion dollars. The Sonoma Valley site will be not less than 600 units. Um again, at least a half a billion dollar kind of project over time. So we're comfortable raising money. We've had success with it. Um, but most of all, I have a passion for the potential great design to bring energy, life, and beauty to a downtown core. And the most beautiful part is when it really serves a wide range of residents of all ages and income. So that's why we're so enthusiastic about this potential partnership.
openpublica.com