Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - November 28, 2023
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Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting - November 28, 2023
The Santa Rosa City Council held a regular meeting on November 28, 2023, convening first in closed session at 3:00 PM and reconvening in open session at 4:00 PM. The council took significant actions including opting out of PFAS class action settlements, accepting a Cannabis Equity Assessment (while declining to immediately move forward with a full equity program), approving over $2.3 million in HOME-ARP homelessness prevention grants, and electing a new Vice Mayor.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution RES-2023-189: Adoption of the City’s Salary Plan and Schedule.
- Resolution RES-2023-190: Second Amendment to Professional Services Agreement with Green Valley Consulting Engineers for Fire Damaged Roadway Landscaping (total contract amount not to exceed $1,031,932).
- Ordinance ORD-2023-015: Extension of the Resilient City Development Measures and -RC Combining District zoning code to December 31, 2024. All three items were approved unanimously (7-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Thomas Ells spoke during the closed session announcement, urging the council to pursue the PFAS litigation seriously. He provided comments on the Capital Projects Overview, criticizing the historical isolation of Southwest Santa Rosa due to limited highway crossings and showing maps. During the Cannabis Equity discussion, he questioned whether cannabis was the right industry for an equity program and suggested real estate training instead. He also commented on the HOME-ARP item, noting the administrative burden of the 5% administrative caps on nonprofits. During non-agenda public comment, he elaborated on the cost and design of the proposed Hearn Avenue overcrossing.
- Peter Allen (President, Wild Oak Homeowners Association) spoke in support of the CIP briefing and transparency efforts. He asked for clarification on how to submit service requests (the My Santa Rosa app). During non-agenda public comment, he raised a concern about a Notice of Violation at 805 White Oak Drive, stating the city paused enforcement on an easement dispute despite recognizing the easement was private property.
- Moses Flickenger spoke in support of establishing the cannabis equity program, urging the council to expedite the process for operators and people of color who have been waiting.
- Jennielynn Holmes (CEO, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa) expressed full support for the HOME-ARP funding award, detailing the need for financial assistance, food distributions, and mental health services, noting 200 people were on a waiting list for financial assistance to stay housed.
- Sanford Robinson (Director of Grants, COTS) expressed gratitude to the city for the opportunity to partner on providing homelessness prevention services.
Staff Briefing: Transportation and Public Works Capital Projects Overview (Item 7.1)
- Deputy Director James Jensen, Supervising Engineer Greg Mariscal, and Supervising Engineer Lisa Welsh presented a statistical overview. The city has 99 active capital projects (48 non-utility/TPW, 51 water/utility). The total contract value for TPW projects is over $38 million (largest: Fulton Road at $15.5M), and for water projects is over $106 million (largest: disinfection project at $68M).
- Specific projects highlighted included the Hopper Avenue project ($4.9M est., design-build, construction expected Fall 2025–Spring 2026), the Hearn and Burbank traffic signal ($600k), and the Highway 101 bike and pedestrian overcrossing ($29–31M est., 95% design, construction expected Fall 2024–Fall 2026).
- Council members requested improved public transparency, such as interactive maps, district-level project breakdowns, and a color-coded status system (red/yellow/green). Vice Mayor MacDonald questioned how landscaping maintenance costs are budgeted for after CIP project completion.
Cannabis Equity Assessment (Item 14.1)
- The council received a detailed presentation on the Cannabis Equity Assessment, funded by a $75,000 Type 1 GO-Biz grant. The assessment analyzed 4,781 cannabis-related arrests from 2004–2023, finding that Black/African American individuals constitute 2% of the population but accounted for 9.4% of arrests (nearly 5x higher). Key recommendations included financial assistance (loans/grants), technical assistance, expungement programs, and workforce development for disproportionately impacted communities.
- Debate: Council Member Chris Rogers, Council Member Fleming, and Mayor Rogers supported moving forward with the program, framing it as a historic promise to address injustices. Council Members Stapp, Okrepkie, and Vice Mayor MacDonald expressed concerns about single-industry focus, staff capacity, budget impacts (10% admin cap, 1:1 match for grants over $500k), and the lack of equity programs for other industries.
- Vote 1: On the motion to accept the assessment and direct staff to prepare a full equity program, the vote was 3-3-1, FAILING (Yes: N. Rogers, Fleming, C. Rogers; No: MacDonald, Okrepkie, Stapp; Abstain: Alvarez).
- Vote 2 (Revised): To satisfy Type 1 grant requirements, the City Attorney proposed an amended resolution to accept the Cannabis Equity Assessment only. This motion passed 6-0-1 (Yes: All except Alvarez who abstained). Staff will not prepare a full program at this time but the assessment is officially accepted, making the city eligible to later apply for Type 2 funding.
HOME-ARP Funding Awards (Item 14.2)
- The council approved the allocation of $2,326,819 in HOME-ARP funds for an eighteen-month period (January 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025).
- Awards were made to Committee on the Shelterless (COTS) for $711,375 and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa (CCDSR) for $1,615,444.
- The funds will target homelessness prevention, providing financial assistance, food, housing counseling, case management, and mental health services.
- The motion passed unanimously (7-0).
Election of Vice Mayor (Item 10.2)
- The council elected Council Member Mark Stapp as Vice Mayor for a one-year term. He was nominated by Council Member Chris Rogers and seconded by Council Member Okrepkie. Outgoing Vice Mayor Dianna MacDonald was thanked for her service.
Key Outcomes
- Litigation Strategy: Council opted out of the DuPont and 3M class action settlements related to PFAS to preserve the city’s right to pursue independent claims.
- Cannabis Equity: The report/assessment was formally accepted (6-0-1), but the council did not direct staff to create a full equity program at this time.
- Homelessness Prevention: Over $2.3 million in HOME-ARP grants awarded to COTS and Catholic Charities.
- Vice Mayor: Mark Stapp elected to the position.
- The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 PM in honor of former Planning Commissioner Frances Diaz.
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 glow. 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? Hello and welcome everyone to our November twenty-sixth, twenty twenty-three Santa Rosa City Council meeting. It is now three o'clock, and we will begin our meeting. Seeing a quorum, Madam City Clerk, can you please call the roll. Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Stapp. Here. Councilmember Rogers. Here. Councilmember O'Krepki? Here. Councilmember Fleming. Here. Councilmember Alvarez. Vice Mayor McDonald? Here. Mayor Rogers. President. Let the record show that all council members are present with the exception of Councilmember Alvarez. We will now proceed to item two point one, our closed sessions of the day, two point one and two point two, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, and conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. Thank you. We are now taking public comment on item two, closed sessions. If you'd like to provide a comment, please make your way to the podium. Speaker, go ahead at the podium. Mr. Ells, are you gonna provide public comment on item two? Yes, uh, do forgive me. Um these PFAS uh the DuPont products just as bad or worse than glyphosate and and uh they are various substitutions for refrigerants and things that really didn't work. They're there used to be a law that said you had to give studies of the chemicals that you were introducing, and those were reversed. So uh back at the time when the Toxic Substance Control Act and so on, when these were were implemented in the eighties, in the late 70s and the eighties, was it was required for them to do studies to say that those chemicals were not hazardous or more hazardous than the ones they were replacing. And those laws were reversed through Congress and EPA, or sometimes they were just uh presidential um uh orders. So this is actually very important, and I appreciate the councils looking into that and continuing with that. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I see no one else in the room wishing to provide public comment on closed session items. Thank you. We will now recess into closed session. Is it a is it is it? Welcome everyone to our November twenty-sixth Santa Rosa City Council meeting. It is now four oh one, and we will be starting our meeting, seeing a quorum. Madam City Clerk, can you please call the roll? Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Stepp, your Council Member Rogers. Councilmember O'Krepke. Here.
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