Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting of January 9, 2024
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Santa Rosa City Council Regular Meeting of January 9, 2024
The Santa Rosa City Council held a regular meeting on January 9, 2024, beginning with a closed session, followed by a study session on an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy, interviews for boards and commissions, and a regular session that included a consent calendar, a public hearing on fiscal year 2024-25 budget priorities, and extensive public comments on non-agenda matters, including calls for a ceasefire resolution regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict and local infrastructure concerns.
Consent Calendar
- Items Approved (6-0, Council Member Rogers absent): Second Amendment with SpeakWrite, LLC for police transcription services ($170,000); Waiver of Competitive Bid and Master Services Agreement with Flock Group Inc. for ALPR technology ($421,650); Second Amendment with Buckelew Programs for the inRESPONSE program ($3,463,563); Agreement for First Responder Advanced Life Support Services with Sonoma County Fire District ($1,500,000 annually); Professional Services Agreement with 4Leaf, Inc. for the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan ($1,000,000 plus $1,200,000 grant); Extension of Local Homeless Emergency; Acceptance of Building Forward Library Facilities Improvement Program grant ($979,942); Addendum to Roseland Area EIR for Traffic Signalization at Hearn and Burbank Avenues; Purchase of five police vehicles ($239,640); Purchase of transit camera equipment ($325,000); Fifth Amendment for security guard services ($3,282,449); Third Amendment for translation services ($130,000); Fourth Amendment for NEOGOV services ($949,068); Introduction of ordinance increasing Mayor’s salary from $2,200 to $2,220 retroactive to correct clerical error.
- Item Continued: Item 14.7 (City/County Funding Agreement for Samuel L. Jones Hall Homeless Shelter) was continued to a date uncertain.
- Discussion on 14.4: The Fire Chief and Sonoma County Fire District Chief presented the transition to a public ambulance provider (Sonoma County Fire District in partnership with Medic Ambulance), effective January 15, citing improved response times and system control. Council members thanked them and clarified insurance billing.
Public Comments & Testimony
On Integrated Pest Management (Item 4.1)
- Duane DeWitt expressed support for staff safety and suggested using goats and sheep for pest management.
On Community Empowerment Plan (Item 9.1)
- Duane DeWitt spoke on graffiti abatement by veterans and suggested leveraging veteran volunteers.
- Elizabeth Neylon spoke on being a daily protester.
On City Manager/City Attorney Reports (Item 10)
- Gregory Fearon and Thomas Ells expressed support for the settlement with KBBF, noting its importance for the community and its financial impact.
On Board Appointments (Item 12.2)
- Duane DeWitt and Thomas Ells spoke in support of the Waterways Advisory Committee incumbents and requested more decision-making power for the committee to protect creeks.
On Consent Calendar
- Erika Thibault, Sonoma County Library Director, urged approval of the library grant (Item 14.8) for HVAC and electrical upgrades.
- Duane DeWitt spoke on the South Santa Rosa Specific Plan (Item 14.5) and the traffic signal addendum (Item 14.9), emphasizing authentic community engagement and safety.
- Gregory Fearon spoke in support of the South Santa Rosa plan.
- Thomas Ells spoke on the library grant and suggested planting deciduous trees to reduce cooling loads.
- Victoria Yanez, Homeless Action!, spoke on the homeless emergency proclamation (Item 14.6) and Sam Jones Hall funding (Item 14.7), criticizing the lack of warming centers.
On Non-Agenda Matters (Item 15)
- Duane DeWitt discussed Roseland annexation history and advocated for more small parks in the area.
- Johanna James, Janet Barocco, and Eris Weaver urged the reopening of the Jennings Avenue pedestrian/bicycle rail crossing, noting a CPUC deadline of March 1, 2024, for an agreement with SMART.
- Thomas Ells proposed a “turbo roundabout” design for the Hearn Avenue connection.
- Multiple speakers (Jordan, Zoe Kessler, Victoria Yanez, Lexi Bakkar, Michael Titone, Miles Saruis-Wilburn, Dre Antoun) urged the council to adopt a ceasefire resolution regarding the Israel-Hamas war, citing humanitarian concerns and the use of local tax dollars. Speakers also raised homelessness issues and the absence of warming shelters.
On Budget Priorities Public Hearing (Item 17.1)
- Duane DeWitt: support for parks in Roseland using development impact fees.
- Eris Weaver (Sonoma County Bike Coalition): support for allocating at least 20% of transportation budget to bike/pedestrian infrastructure.
- Gregory Fearon: support for low-income housing, civic engagement, bicycle paths, and parks.
- Thea Hensel (Southeast Greenway Campaign): support for funding greenway planning and maintenance.
- Steve Rabinowitsh: support for increased funding for park maintenance.
- Jayne Rosenberg: support for parks, especially Southeast Greenway.
- Joshua Shipper and Jen Klose (Generation Housing): support for pro-housing budget, including fee waivers and AB 602 implementation, urging concurrent action before the end of Q1.
- Al Lerma (Sonoma County Hospitality Association): support for waiver of housing impact fees.
- Alexa Forrester (Bikeable Santa Rosa): support for additional staffing and budget for bicycle infrastructure, suggesting 15% of transportation fund for low-stress bike network.
- Rich Wallach (Burbank Housing): support for affordable housing funds and fee reform.
- Abby Arnold: support for workforce housing and protected bike lanes.
- Sonu Chandi (Chandi Hospitality Group): support for downtown funding, workforce housing, AB 602, fee waivers, and schools.
- Rena Wang: support for funding a Santa Rosa Teen Council youth internship program.
- Peter Rumble (Santa Rosa Metro Chamber): support for housing, downtown revitalization, economic development, childcare, and public safety.
- Angie Dillon Shore (First 5 Sonoma, Los Cien): support for fee waiver study session and early childhood development.
- Thomas Ells: support for traffic considerations on Hearn Avenue.
- Jenny Bard (Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition): support for prioritizing additional protected bike lanes.
- Joti Chandi (Chandi Hospitality): support for housing, impact fee reform, and continued funding for Wednesday Night Market.
On Non-Agenda Matters (Item 19)
- Additional speakers (Oona Risling-Sholl, Jeremy Marquardt, Gary Huntsman, Hannah Barakat, In Hui Lee, Tess Caldwell, Dallas Womack, Jacqueline Oneal Mermet, Summer Abdel Khalik, Sumaya Mughannam) urged the council to adopt a ceasefire resolution, citing humanitarian impacts and local taxpayer funding.
Discussion Items
Integrated Pest Management Policy (Study Session)
- Staff (Sean McNeil, Jen Santos, Paul Lowenthal) presented options for a city-wide IPM policy, recommending: a complete ban on neonicotinoids; minimization of all pesticide use through IPM practices; requirement of certified applicators; a ban on glyphosate in sensitive areas (playgrounds, picnic areas, public gathering spaces) with exceptions for road medians, closed ball fields, and invasive species control; and creation of a public transparency website. They noted that since 2018, the city has used no glyphosate, resulting in a 50-58% cost increase for landscape contracts and the need for an estimated 32,000 additional labor hours (15 FTEs) for mechanical weed removal. Fire Department noted a $2.1 million hazard mitigation grant for fuel reduction. Council discussed safety, costs, and environmental concerns. Council Member Rogers reminded of the public health motivations. No action was taken, but direction was given to staff to draft a policy.
Key Outcomes
- Closed Session: No reportable action on items 3.1 (litigation), 3.2 (City Attorney evaluation), and 3.3 (labor negotiations).
- Study Session: Staff directed to draft an Integrated Pest Management policy.
- Appointments: Scott Doig to Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board (Disabled Community Representative); Eric Miller to Board of Building Regulation Appeals; incumbents Art Deicke, Mark Neely, Steve Rabinowitsh, and Kevin Sea reappointed to Waterways Advisory Committee. (Vote: 6-0)
- Minutes: December 12, 2023 minutes approved as submitted.
- Consent Calendar: Items 14.1-14.6 and 14.8-14.15 approved (6-0); Item 14.7 continued.
- Budget Priorities Hearing: Opened and closed; no action taken but public input received for budget development.
- Ceasefire Requests: No action taken; multiple public comments were not agendized.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for January 30, 2024, at a time set by the Mayor.
Meeting Transcript
To commence translation of the meeting. For those of those 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 Zoom toolbar. It looks like a globe. If you are participating, pardon me, uh, please raise your hand. Oh, nope, those are my old Zoom instructions. Pardon me, what a meeting we're kicking off here. You will have three minutes and a countdown timer. We'll alert at the end of that period. Mr. DeWitt, do you wish to provide public comment? Yes, I think it's way good. I wanted to thank you all for your service, and I wanted to give you a good new year greeting. Also wanted to point out that these are going to be difficult times financially. And they've also stated that they expect to have deficits for the next four years running. So as you go forward, it's been said that perhaps you have a structural deficit also at the city. In your negotiations with the various labor groups, I would advocate that you please not give anybody more than a two percent raise. But the staff that's trying to do the best job they can for recreation and parks and for our streets, they deserve any type of raises that might be given. Then last but not least, any type of funding that you might feel is extra, please dedicate it to curb, gutters, and sidewalks in Roseland and Western Santa Rosa. We have parts of Santa Rosa that have been in the city for over 60 years without curbs, sidewalks, and gutters. So please help us all out. Everybody have a good new year. Look forward to seeing you again later in the day. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I see no one else in council chamber wishing to provide public comment. Thank you. I think this hazing ritual is over. I'm gonna turn it back over to the actual mayor. All right, the mayor, the mayor has indicated that we will recess to closed session. All right. Welcome everyone to our January ninth, twenty twenty-four Santa Rosa City Council meeting. We're going to reconvene Madam City Clerk, seeing a forum uh quorum. Can you please call the role? Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Rogers. Council Member O'Krepke. Councilmember McDonald. Here. Council Member Fleming. Councilmember Alvarez. Vice Mayor Staff. Mayor Rogers. President. Let the record show that all council members are present. We will now proceed to item four point one, our study session for the day. Madam City Manager. Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of council. Item four point one is the study session, integrated pest management policy. Good afternoon, Mayor and uh members of the council. Um, Sean McNeil, uh, and I'm uh sharing the podium with uh Jen Santos and uh Paul Lowenthal to talk with you about our integrated pest management policy uh process that we're trying to put together and looking for some feedback from you today. We'll kind of go through a number of our operations, uh, talk a little bit about uh typical integrated pest management policy, how they are used typically, uh, and then we'll end with some staff recommendations and then move on to next steps uh for the policy.
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