Santa Rosa City Council Meeting: Police Audit, Brand Book, & Asset Naming Policy Discussion - July 22, 2025
Santa Rosa City Council Meeting Summary - July 22, 2025
This meeting of the Santa Rosa City Council included a detailed annual audit report from the Independent Police Auditor (OIR Group), the adoption of a new brand book, and a robust public discussion on a draft policy for naming and renaming city assets. The council also handled routine consent items, received updates on city operations, and heard from the public on a variety of local issues.
Consent Calendar
The council unanimously approved all five consent items, which included routine contract awards and funding agreements.
- 13.1: Contract award for Roseland Pavement Maintenance 2025.
- 13.2: Resolution approving the Go Sonoma Cooperative Funding Agreement.
- 13.3: Resolution approving the Santa Rosa City Bus Public Transit Agency Safety Plan 2025 update.
- 13.4: Resolution approving the purchase of new duty handguns, optics, and accessories for the police department, with a trade-in of current inventory. Council discussion focused on training, disposal of old firearms, and maintenance costs.
- 13.5: Resolution extending the proclamation of a local homeless emergency.
Public Comments & Testimony
On Agenda Items:
- Tom Robertson, a developer, expressed support for the city staff and council, providing a positive update on the 425 Humble Apartments project, stating it is fully funded and expects to break ground soon.
- Members of the public spoke during the police audit item, with Adina Flores sharing a personal, positive interaction with police leadership, Janice Carmen expressing caution due to past traumatic experiences with police, and Gregory Frison (Homeless Action) congratulating the city on the positive audit report while noting separate concerns with the California Highway Patrol.
- During the public hearing on weed abatement, Janice Carmen expressed support for the city's recent enforcement efforts, while Michael Hilbert raised concerns about potential over-enforcement and lack of photographic evidence for violations.
- During the public hearing on fire permit fee increases, Michael Hilbert argued the fees were excessive and cited a business closure linked to high costs, and Adina Flores inquired if the increases were budgeted.
- During discussion of the asset naming policy, multiple speakers expressed positions. Jeremy De La Torre advocated for renaming Oak Lake Park to honor a civilian hero, arguing the proposed cost burden on applicants would make his effort impossible. Joe Salinas advocated strongly for recognizing Indigenous history, suggesting park renamings (e.g., Flat Rock to Beta Kamtara Park) and statues, and expressed opposition to the requirement for applicants to pay renaming costs and gather signatures from adjacent residents. Mary Ann Michaels supported renaming Flat Rock Park to Beta Kamtara Park to correct historical erasure. Guido Boccaleoni (Board of Community Services) advocated for renaming a park to "Pomo Park."
Non-Agenda Matters: Speakers addressed diverse topics including a land acknowledgement and park renaming (Mary Ann Michaels), U.S. foreign policy (Elizabeth), noise and nuisance complaints against a local food park (Clifton Wilcox), a request for the city to avoid contractors working with ICE (Catherine Bertolini Dowdle), support for community collaboration on park renaming (Adina Flores), and a report on a racially motivated assault and perceived inadequate police follow-up (Ty and Anya, with support from Carolyn and Tyler).
Discussion Items
- Independent Police Auditor Annual Report: Representatives from the OIR Group presented their third annual report, highlighting a decrease in recommendations as the department addresses systemic issues. They praised the "real-time monitoring" audit model, the department's responsiveness, and improvements in internal review processes (e.g., a new Major Incident Review Board and Training Cadre). The report noted 62 cases opened in 2024, with no sustained allegations of biased policing.
- City Brand Book: The Assistant City Manager and a communications specialist presented a new, comprehensive brand book to standardize the city's visual identity across all communications. The council introduced an ordinance to amend the city code and adopted a resolution to formally approve the 2025 Brand Book.
- City Asset Naming and Renaming Policy: The Assistant City Manager presented a detailed draft policy to establish criteria and a standardized process for naming or renaming city assets like parks, facilities, and streets. The proposal included criteria (e.g., location, significant individuals/events, major donations), an application and petition process, review by relevant boards, and a mechanism for ceremonial street naming. Council members raised significant concerns about aspects of the draft, including the financial burden on applicants, the criteria for naming after donors ("the haves and have-nots"), and the requirement that honored individuals be deceased for five years. Due to these concerns, the council decided to continue the item for further offline discussion and refinement.
Key Outcomes
- Votes: All consent items (13.1-13.5) passed with 6-0 votes (Councilmember Fleming absent).
- The ordinance to amend the city code related to the city seal and logo was introduced unanimously.
- The resolution to adopt the 2025 City Brand Book was adopted unanimously.
- Directives & Next Steps:
- The council received and filed the Independent Police Auditor's annual report.
- The council directed staff to continue working on the City Asset Naming and Renaming Policy based on feedback received and to bring a revised draft back for future consideration after further council discussion.
- The public hearing for the Fire Department's Weed Abatement Program report was closed, and the confirming resolution was adopted.
- The public hearing for Fire Permit and CUPA fee increases was closed, and the approving resolution was adopted.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. 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. If you're on your cell phone or tablet, locate the three dots, tap them lightly and put a check mark on your preferred language. Qualquer member del public o del personal que desee escuchar in espanhol, se puede unir al canal in espanhol a click in el icono del globo terrachio que verán ustedes in la parte de abajo de su pantalla de Zoom. So they seen in un teléfono celular or in una tableta. In mudo para escuchar solamente la interpretación in Espanyol. Muchas gracias. Back to you. Welcome everyone. The time is 2 31 and we'll call this meeting order. Madam City Clerk. Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Rogers. President. Councilmember OK. Here. Councilmember McDonald. Here. Councilmember Fleming is absent. Councilmember Ben Willows here. Vice Mayor Alvarez. Mayor Stopp. Here. Let the record reflect all council members are present with the exception of Councilmember Fleming and Vice Mayor Alvarez. Thank you very much. We'll move ahead to our closed session items. Items 3.2 and 3.3 both were conferences with legal counsel on existing litigation, have both been continued to the August 5th, 2025 regular meeting. We will proceed with item 3.1, which is our a conference with legal counsel on anticipated litigation, and item 3.4, our conference with real property negotiators. Are there any public are there any members of the public who wish to comment on either of these items? Seeing seeing none, did you wish to We have Tom? Oh Tom, my apologies, Tom. Good afternoon, uh members of council, uh, Mr. Mayor. Uh I'm Tom Robertson. I've been involved in Santa Rosa and in particular downtown for a long time, really going back to 1990. Uh our company has had a commitment here. Uh we did the restoration of the old uh Rosenberg Department Store building and uh brought Barnes and Noble to downtown a long time ago. It seems like a lifetime. In any case, uh, we're now joining with uh Rob Robinson, my partner, to build uh 425 Humble Apartments project, which is the 299 market rate uh mid-rise mixed use apartment building with a commercial space. Uh we're doing very, very well. Uh we have the funding lined up. We're waiting for the approval of the bank loan, which we've been told by both the banks representatives and the equity sponsor who's arranging it, that it is a very easy loan to approve. We expect that any day now, really, and our hope is that we'll be able to break ground uh either late this month or early next month. In any event, uh I really can't talk about this project without complimenting the staff from top to bottom in the city. It's really been a fantastic experience. We began eight months ago with nothing. Uh the project was approved from a design review standpoint in 90 days, which I don't know the city record, but it's way up there in terms of any approvals for a project of this size in California. Uh we of course are working in the downtown uh where you have your new stationary stationary uh upgrade plan.
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