The Santa Rosa City Council met on August 20, 2024, in a regular meeting that began with a closed session at 2:00 PM, followed by a study session at 3:30 PM, and the regular session at 4:00 PM. The meeting included discussions on capital improvement prioritization, a new bikeshare pilot program, a homelessness prevention pilot, and a formal opposition to Sonoma County Measure J. Council members present: Mayor Natalie Rogers, Vice Mayor Mark Stapp, Council Members Eddie Alvarez, Victoria Fleming, Jeff Okrepkie, and Chris Rogers. Council Member Dianna MacDonald was absent. Action was taken to excuse absences for both Vice Mayor Stapp and Council Member MacDonald.
I'd like to ask the interpreter currently on the Spanish channel to commence interpretation of the meeting. For those just joining the meeting, live interpretation 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. I will like to announce that item 13.8 is being continued to the September 24, 2024 regular council meeting, and I will be announcing that throughout the meeting. Moving on to item three, announcement of our close session. We have 3.1 with conference with legal council about existing litigation and 3.2 conference with labor negotiators. Madam Deputy City Clerk, can you please facilitate public comment on this item? We are now taking public comment on closed session items 3.1 and 3.2. If you are in the council chamber and would like to comment, please make your way to the podium. You'll have three minutes and a countdown down timer will alert at the end. As you approach the podium, please state your name for the record if you choose to do so. Let's start um here. Please go ahead. Thank you. Uh good afternoon, Mayor Council. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak. Stephen Del Porto, Director of Santa Rosa Firefighters. Um I'll keep it short and sweet today. Um we have what I would consider a very fair uh contract offer on the table right now. It falls closely in line with the other units that have already signed. Um, plus it also meets some of the specific needs our firefighters have right now. Um the only ask I have of the council today is is is please ask for the entire proposal. Um when this all goes whichever direction, it falls on the council, right? You're the elected leaders, you're the ones that the citizens are expecting to make these decisions. So please ask for the entire proposal. Uh don't let staff it was a concern of ours that staff's not wanting to show the entire proposal. We're teetering on impasse, and that brings arbitration with it. That's gonna fall on the council. That's that's not gonna fall on staff. That that issue is gonna come back to you guys. So that's all I'm asking is is take a good hard look at it and the entire in its entirety. Uh our recruitment problem is still alive and strong. We had 30 people apply for the 10 minimum spots we have open right now, and it's already whittled down to the low teen. So we're maybe at 13, and that's going to uh chiefs interview, so we could maybe expect to get six. So the recruitment thing that we keep pushing is true. It's a real thing. We're supposed to hire another 35 over the next few years, even more than that with retirements. We're not going to be able to do that without a fair wage. So I I can only urge this so much. Please take a look at it. If there's any questions, you all have my number. Please call any time with anything, and I'm happy to answer it. And I really look forward and hope to see uh a resolution of this this week. I know we all want it to be done with. It's not enjoyable for anybody to be in these positions, um, but it's my job, it's Ken's job to look out the best we can for our members. So I I look forward to that phone call, and I hope to hear something this week. Thank you. Please go ahead when you're ready. Good afternoon, council. My name's Ken Martin.