Yeah, I'm happy to.

I know Megan did it here.

Yeah, I absolutely have to left too if anybody wants to talk about it.

No, but I can do it.

Yeah.

Okay.

She finally said, are you gonna do it or not?

Oh yeah, we can definitely figure it out.

I am in support of I just that you're reading.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

Yeah, did you put your name?

Yeah.

I'd like to do it.

And I'm just like I don't want to look.

I don't know something.

No.

And I have a job.

At the end of the day, my job isn't to necessarily get in dark with people this thing.

It's like girl right now.

I'm like, I like that.

All right.

All right.

Now that all the council members are present, I call the October 15th meeting of the City of West Sacramento City Council, West Sacramento Redevelopment Agency, and Finance Authority.

We will begin with the land acknowledgement.

We would like to acknowledge that the land on which we live, work learning commune is the original homelands of the indigenous people who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.

We acknowledge and we thank the original inhabitants who have occupied, maintained, and secured this place, and who still exist on this land.

We respect and celebrate the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we kept yeah, they're council did not meet in closed session this evening.

And we would like to invite our guests to join council and staff in the pledge, which will be led by Mr.

Greg Garcia.

If you can stand up from your place and uh lead us in the pledge from your um where you're sitting the United States of America.

One nation are uh individual justice.

Thank you, Mr.

Garcia.

As is noted on our agenda, City Council is prohibited by state law from discussing or taking any action and items that are brought up under item one for public comment, but it provides an opportunity, an important opportunity for a public forum.

The public is given an opportunity at this time to address city council and issues not listed on the agenda.

We do ask that anyone wishing to address the council on this or any other item this evening to please fill out a request to speak card and turn it in to the clerk.

We accept the request to speak cards up to the conclusion of the reading of the staff report on any particular agenda item.

And once the staff report has been read and we open up the item for public comment, the clerk will announce your name for you to walk to the podium to speak.

Now in front of the clerk, there is a timer to ensure that everyone has a chance to be heard, and we ask that all comments be limited to the specified number of minutes.

Also in front of the clerk is an analog flip chart, which indicates which agenda item the council is currently considering.

So we request that there be no applause or booze, cat calls or other demonstrations.

Furthermore, so that we may maintain a civil discourse here in the chamber.

We ask that those in attendance and those who address the city council abide by the code of conduct, post it and not speak in loud threatening offensive, abusive, or other disrespectful language that disrupts disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting.

Now this brings us to item one presentations by the public on matters not on the agenda within the jurisdiction of the council, and each person has three minutes to speak.

Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak under public comments?

Yes, ma'am.

Ron Anderson.

Mr.

Anderson, nice to see you.

Uh, Madam Mayor, members of the council.

I am Ron Anderson.

I'm apparently according to according to the records, still a member of the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission, well, let me give you a little background.

I I served for eight years on a city council a million years ago in Palo Alto.

I've served on uh school board for uh in Medford, Oregon, and a lot of other little commissions.

But I have never been seen anything quite so disappointing as what I've seen come from this community through this council.

And that is when a commission concludes, there should be a new council selected, or it's a new planning commission selected.

You came on with a minority.

Now that was something you would settle in the next 24 hours.

One person gets together with another person with a staff member and they talk it over and they come to a conclusion and they compromise.

It's been what, nine months now since you have come to a minority decision, and volunteers who stepped aside step forward to be on the commission and other commission, I don't know about the others, but planning commission have been sitting waiting.

Now that's ridiculous.

I would highly recommend that you work to the this week to settle this.

Get together, give off, give up some of your high horse on them that the mayor had, and give us some of the others and work it out.

I'm sorry, I'm getting a little excited here.

Anyway, my point simply needs to be.

No, ten months since we should have been relieved.

We're still on the count uh commission.

I I resigned.

I I'm I'm too old to do this anymore.

But there's other people who should.

And they need the position, they need the opportunity.

And you can do it.

So I step aside and hopefully you'll take care of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Anderson.

Matt Weaver.

Good evening, Council, Mayor, everybody.

Congratulations.

Our city government is open.

More than we can say for the federal government.

Pretty cool.

Good job, everybody.

Um, and we're not making new districts in our city.

That's pretty cool too.

So the outside world's chaos, and sometimes your little piece is home, West Sacramento, right?

I think that's what most people here want, right?

Is their little piece of uh peace.

And uh one thing that I've come to really admire about the city is I I know that they listen.

But one thing I can see see that's really clear is things take too long.

Things are too complicated, things are too confusing, and there's a lot of hand-wringing, bottleneck, and just being okay with going slow.

Now, I've come to talk about maps in the past, and I'll bring up maps again tonight, because that's one of these things about how do you navigate doing business with the city who puts out rule on top of rule on top of rule that contradicts rule on top of rule on top of rule.

Even all you really smart people, accomplished people, educated people, doctors, uh people who've who've achieved great things.

You have to look left and right and ask five people for help on how to navigate your city as a leader.

So imagine you know, being one of the people who doesn't have all those people to help them navigate, and you roll out a program and you throw in a map, and it's inconsistent with what you listen to and what you learned, and where do you go?

Right.

And I've talked about the retail cannabis maps, which was just complete contradiction to direction this council uh set forward.

I talked about maps for measure and the business accelerator and how those are different than the other maps for the retail cannabis.

And tonight there's a new map with this like tourism district.

I don't quite understand it, but I'm I'm here to be educated and learn.

Um but there's no one helping the average Joe or Jane navigate their way through the city, whether it's a small business owner or someone trying to do a carport.

And I've got some ideas, but we have to see a council and a city staff that wants to move ideas through the process on a reasonable timeline.

Not just entertain, not just wait for appeals, not just to wait for conflict resolution, but lead.

Responsible leadership is inclusive.

It's listening to different voices, and then it's taking action.

And I just encourage the city to take a refreshed approach and make us an example of what it would be like to have a great city to do business with.

We're not that example today.

A city of our size doesn't need to stumble as frequently as we do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Weaver.

We have no additional requests to speak on this item.

Um thank you, Madame Clerk.

Now we'll begin under item two with presentation of the proclamation recognizing Filipino History Month.

And we have Councilmember Guarina Orozco, who would be doing the honors of that presentation.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

In our beautiful short meeting this evening, I am thrilled to have a highlight of uh a proclamation that we as a city council get to honor each year now.

Uh Filipino American History Month is uh the month of October, and each October we honor the heritage and contributions of Filipino Americans, marking the first documented leading in Morrow Bay in 1587 and the founding of the Filipino American National Historical Society in 1982, which was later recognized by Congress in 2009.

But my grandfather, Quirino, uh Vienueva came from the Philippines back in the early to uh 1900s in order to work the sugar cane in Hawaii.

And he came to Sacramento, met my grandmother, and the rest is history.

But what I learned from my heritage is there's so many of us that are overlooked, right?

We we we uh our our our history and culture is not celebrated.

There are many that aren't getting celebrated in our city council.

So I am very, very proud to be able to honor the uh the folks that came before us and the folks that will come after us to represent uh the history and culture of the Filipino American community.

Tonight I wanted to of uh ask uh Greg Garcia, Tolino Garcia, as well as Noah Shin and Nikki uh Stewart to come up to the podium, please.

Now, uh in a moment, uh, as they're making their way up, I wanted to say that some of these members, uh specifically Nikki and Noah Shin and Nikki Stewart are part of our Philippine Law Student Association at UC Davis, also uh known as the King Hall Filipino Lawyers Association.

Yay, a group of uh phenomenal young leaders who are leading the charge uh to work in our justice system to make an impact.

And I had an opportunity to speak uh before the group several months ago and got a chance to meet some of these young impressive leaders and seeing what they can do and what they will do.

And I really got to say thank you so much for being here.

There'll be an opportunity to speak uh in just a moment.

But I really hope that you get familiar with this dais because in a moment you are gonna be asked to step forward and and lead in your own municipalities in some way, shape, or form, whether that be being a city attorney or uh taking this you know a leadership position.

But thank you for being here.

I also wanted to honor uh my friend and brother Greg Garcia, who is a proud second generation Filipino American who has dedicated much of his life to uplifting the Filipino community in West Sacramento and beyond.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Vallejo, Greg moved to Sacramento after attending UC Davis Goagis, where he began mentoring Filipino youth as part of the very first Filipino American Youth Leadership Conference in 1996, hosted by the Filipino, Philippine National Day Association Association.

We call it PNDA.

Over the years, he has helped build and lead organizations that nurture young Filipino leaders, artists, and change makers, including his current role as board president of the Philippine National Day Association.

It all comes full circle.

Greg's passion for empowering youth through culture, art, and community has been a through through line in his work as a nonprofit leader, educator, and now as a part of the city of Sacramento's community engagement team.

And he's looking at me crazy because he didn't expect me to say any of that.

He was like, Do I gotta say anything?

Anyway, I I I hear hold this proclamation in a moment.

We'll get a chance to stand and take a photo.

And I just want to finish with the end.

And just now here I'll finish with now in 2025, the theme Filipino American History Month from quotas to communities, Filipino American migration and movement highlights the milestones in Filipino migration history and provides opportunity for all West Sacramento residents to celebrate the contributions and cultural legacy of Filipino Americans.

So now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the City Council of West Sacramento does hereby proclaim October 2025 as Filipino American History Month in the city of West Sacramento and encourages our community to join in the celebration of Filipino heritage, traditions, and accomplishments.

Proclaim this 15th day of October 2025.

Thank you.

And Madam Mayor, I'll turn it to you if you'd like to ask if anybody would have thank you.

Council member, would anybody like to um share any additional thoughts?

Filipino History Month.

Yes.

Council member, please share your thoughts.

Um thank you guys for being here.

Uh I am also a proud Aggie, and so I I love seeing my my fellow Aggies here representing our entire community and representing your community as well.

Um these proclamations I feel are always really important because it ensures that our community knows our entire community that they are seen, that they are welcomed, and that we are all in this together.

And so thank you so much for being here.

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you.

Well, I'm really proud that the city of West Sacramento does this every year.

And it's so important to recognize the contributions and the accomplishments, you know, of your community.

So I want to thank you for being here to receive this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's on, it's on.

It's wonderful to see you all here tonight, and just you know, to echo my colleagues' statements.

Um, it's wonderful to have representation.

And you know, it we say it a lot.

If you can see it, you can see it.

And to step into these roles and mentor um others from your community is so powerful.

Um, you know, as you have a proud Filipina on our council to be able to see these people in positions of power, I think is so powerful, especially for young women.

So thank you for the work you do, and also go at us.

Well, I also want to echo my colleagues' um support for your representation here in City Council and receiving the proclamation, because we are very honored to have your presence and grateful for your contributions for our community, you know, to our community, elevating not only the older um adult Filipino community, which is passing on the traditions and the history, but to our young youth who are you know continuing to develop many um competing demands for their attention, and it's proclamations like this that kind of bring bring it back together and what you've accomplished in between the sandwich generation, um knowing that you have you have both sides to continue to bridge um you know the gaps and making sure that you preserve your culture, your heritage, and grateful for my council member here who is continuing to champion the Filipino Americans in our community.

So thank you, Councilmember, and thank you for your presence.

Council member sending it back to you.

Thank you, thank you.

Um would anybody like to make any remarks, if we've been brief.

Please, Garcia.

Thank you.

Um, on behalf of the Filipino community uh in West Sac and and the region, uh thank you for this honor.

Um it's great to have, like you said, um, representation and acknowledgement that Filipino American history is American history.

And as a proud West Sac uh resident myself, it's it's good to um do things in my own city for a change and working for the city of Sac all day long.

How about King Hall?

Anyone Noah?

How does we group it?

My name's Noah.

I am part of Phil SA, the Philippine ex law student association at King Hall, second-year law student, and I just want to say I'm so honored to be able to appear here on behalf of Phil SA in light of this proclamation.

And I just want to quickly um because the board really wanted to come, the they just had prior obligations.

I think they have evening class as well as a or advocacy competition training.

So they could not be here tonight.

I just wanted to say their names very quickly.

Our two co-chairs, Nate Singh and uh Angelina Obadoza, um our treasurer and our secretary, uh Isabella Hopkins and Megamad, our internal communications chair, Grace Lapuz, and our social media chair, Mika Dow, and of course uh I'm the external communications chair.

My name is Noah Shin.

Again, just want to thank you all.

Um this is really really a cool thing.

Fantastic.

Please come on up in front of the podium.

We'll grab a photo.

Whoops.

Oh, you're up next.

Perfect.

It is wonderful.

Agenda item three, which is consideration of the proclamation recognizing October 18th to October 25th as California Flood Preparedness Week.

And you have a team here.

Great.

Thank you.

Great to have the team come up.

And uh so what I'll do is I'll read the proclamation and then ask my colleagues to share a few words about how important this is.

Um and then uh we'll ask you to share a few thoughts as well.

October 18th due to the 25th, 2025 is California Flood Preparedness Week, whereas the city of West Sacramento is protected by 50 miles of levy, and city leaders recognize the significant public safety threat that flooding poses to its residents assets and economy of the city.

And whereas the city of West Sacramento and the West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency consider flood protection a top priority and have worked diligently to improve the levy system that protects the city.

And whereas the West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency complete completed design of the YOLO bypass East Levy South and North Projects in 2021 in advance of federal funding.

And whereas the City of West Sacramento Project received new start designation in 2022, and the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers received federal appropriations of 25.54 million in 2022, 72.3 million in 2023, and 52.8 million in 2024 to design and construct further levy improvements.

And whereas the Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract and completed construction of the YOLA bypassed East Levy South in 2023.

Whereas the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract and completed the construction of the YOLA bypass East Levy North Project in 2024.

Whereas the Army Corps of Engineers is presently in design for portions of the Sacramento River North Levy, Stone Lock, and Yola Bypass East Levy South projects.

And whereas without substantial improvements in West Sacramento levees, area properties could suffer billions of dollars in structural and land damage if the city were to experience a large-scale flooding event.

And whereas during the California flood preparedness week, local, state, and federal agencies across the state work together to inform the public about the dangers of flooding, how to prepare their homes and families for a flood and plan for recovery.

Now therefore be a proclaimed that the City Council of the City of West Sacramento declares October 18th to 25, 2025 in California flood protection flood preparedness week and resolve to support increased public awareness about the threat of flooding and encourage all residents to take action to be prepared, proclaim this 15th day of October 2025.

So I'd like to um ask my colleagues if they'd like to share a few words who would like to begin.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Paul, again, thank you for being here tonight.

Um it's interesting.

So as a member of the WSAF board, we meet monthly and we have regular conversations about what the cities to protect our city from floods.

And so why we have this week, flood preparedness week.

I feel like we're flood preparedness annually because it's been a number one priority of the city for the last 20 years.

Um I had somebody reach out to me recently and ask uh kind of what our flood program was.

And I was very proud to share the work that we're doing and the billions of dollars which has been invested.

And I also mentioned our full-time staff that work on this, and we would not be where we're at today without your work.

And I know we're working to add people to the team as well.

So thank you for holding down the fort.

Thank you for everything you do to protect our community.

Um, and it's just it's a pleasure to serve um on the safety board and work both with so thank you.

Go ahead.

I also serve on the West Sacramento Area Flood Uh Control Board, and I am very uh happy to say that before I got on the board, I had no idea how much work was done by so many people to keep us safe here in Sacramento.

So thank you.

Thank you for also advocating all the time, Paul, when we go to Washington and bringing so much knowledge.

Jen, thank you also.

Uh you give us a lot of information on what our budgets are like.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll just be brief.

Thank you so much.

Paul, it's wonderful to see you always um representing uh flood for our city.

Um I gotta say that you're one of the hardest working.

You and Greg over the years together have been two of the hardest working people when it comes to flood control.

And I know that year after year we get these uh um our priorities.

I don't know if people know our that we as council members get together in February for a few days to talk about what our city's priorities are.

And while we would love to immentize and provide everybody with everything they would desire, the first and foremost public safety is our job.

That's our job.

And that public safety isn't often representative of what people think to be is flood control.

They think of police and fire, but equally as important, you know, flooding remains one of the most costly and common natural disasters that can impact um a community.

And it just goes beyond damaged property.

We we live in a bowl surrounded by levies, and the importance of maintaining those levies and ensuring that they're secure is basically our entire world, unless and thank you for dedicating your life to it.

Uh side note, I don't know if Paul anybody knows this, but Paul does um extended plank clanking um for exercise.

I caught him in the gym one time and I said, How many minutes have you done so far?

And he's like, three.

And I'm like, okay, all right, you got this.

And so I mean, I'm I'm gonna challenge you.

Um I'm up to a lot, and it's all you and I.

But it's a representation of how we're building um these bridges and making sure that we are strong so that we can ensure that no one in our family is disrupted.

It has absolutely bridges has enough to do with it, okay.

My my planking, but um strong bridges, strong bodies.

You know, I'm working on it, but it didn't come out the way I had hoped.

It's I can come up with magic, just not tonight.

Um, but you know, the safety and stability of our neighborhoods is everything.

And thank you for protecting our families and for making that appreciate you both.

I can do like a 30-second plank.

So I'm super impressed.

I'm working on it though.

Um I what I appreciate about us doing these proclamations to my colleagues on point every month, every day, you all are working tirelessly uh to ensure that our city remains safe, um, that we to um council member um arrozco's point, we live in a bowl and that our levies remain strong.

Um, however, what I I love about these opportunities is for our residents who oftentimes may not realize that you are working every day and that we are maintaining these levies and we are continuing to ensure that they um that they are able to protect us, that they are able to to spotlight and see you all, the work that you do um and the work as a community uh that we are doing uh with you.

And so that's why I appreciate these proclamations.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work um and for keeping us safe.

And give me a year, uh, because I'm I'm on a wellness journey right now, and I'll be right there with you.

Well, I don't know if you've ever seen Paul dance, but I have ranking and dancing, what?

He can cut the rug.

That's right.

Um just want to say thank you very much.

I am so proud of what we've accomplished um, you know, in in preparation for you know, um, a flood.

So the flood protection program that um I I wanted to make sure when I went to Japan at the United Nations um university there was to speak about our flood protection plan.

It is, you know, an engineered, you know, process that was um utilizing our local resources and building back a habitat for the water life.

And we all did a tour of that with the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers and in Congressman Doors Mitsui.

We got a chance to see kind of like the end product.

And I would encourage everybody to continue to see when as you know, we have the winter here and the waters are rising to see you know the water coming in and the fish having their place to be able to come in and our city protected because it's it's like a double levy.

And in between all of that is that preserved, you know, fish life, that preserved life that you know, we just made sure that we did everything we can now, given that it's a setback of 3.88 miles a setback.

Um there were some consequences among those on the road who lived along the road.

Um and and I remember um council member Bill Christoff, you know, took took the lead on working, you know, with those homeowners so that we can have a safer city.

Um hurricane could when Hurricane Katrina hit and about 1,300 people died, um, and seeing the impact of Hurricane Katrina just all throughout the city and the flood.

That could happen here in West Sacramento.

We could be 20 feet deep in water quickly, and all of our um our emergency evacuation routes, you know, are gonna be um difficult to navigate our way through with water coming in quickly.

So appreciate all of this.

I encourage everybody to continue to do tours of you know what's going on with these updated levees, because it's been a while since I've done it, and I'm and I'm looking forward to that opportunity, Paul.

Um, thank you for all your hard work and and picking up the mantle as uh you know we transitioned um so that you can continue um making sure that we continue making um these 55 miles as we are surrounded with water.

And um and our continued growth in the city.

We started off at about 22,000 when we became a city, and now we're at 55,000 and continuing to grow.

It's it's people cannot believe that that many people are now, you know, here in West Sacramento.

Um, and that's that's that relationship and also reclamation district 900, which we're all a member of.

Um, I remember them working out very hard when we had one of those um downpours and the city got flooded, and they were out there making sure the pumps were draining the water out from the city streets and has nothing to do with things not operating or broken, it's just how heavy of a downpour our city can experience.

And also, you know, seeing um the Sacramento Yacht Club when their docks there got um uh destroyed and being able to, you know, have a ribbon cutting uh after the reconstruction.

So making sure that what they learned from that experience is that they renewed their insurance policy and right before that um event happened.

So I think everybody needs to really assess your insurance policies.

I know the rates are increasing.

Um flood insurance is a is an opportunity for us.

Encourage everybody to maintain flood insurance as a separate policy.

Um I always get the reminders every year and renew every year.

It's not always impounded in your um insurance policy that you get when you pay your mortgage.

It's a separate policy you have to pay.

So encourage everybody to do that and you know, happy to work with you to push out any announcements on flood protection week and being prepared, you know, in vape in case of an unevent.

Winter is upon us, and we all need to be prepared.

Paul Jenny, if you can share your thoughts.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Um Jen has prepared some statements for in response to proclamation.

Thank you, Paul.

Thank you, Mary and Council.

My name is Jenguen, and I'm an admin analyst with the city's flood protection division and also a staff member of the West Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, which I've had a pleasure of working with Verna and Norma or Councilmember Flesia Hole and Councilmember Athala.

Um flood protection has been and continues to be one of the city's top strategic priorities for the past um 20 years.

And we are here tonight to recognize flood preparedness week, which is next week from October 18th through 25th.

Last year, our region experienced above average rainfall, including a record-breaking atmospheric river, and looking ahead for our CAS do protect that we're transitioning to La Niña year, which uh means we could have unpredictable extreme weather, such as uh long dry periods and intense atmospheric river events.

And so this is a good reminder of why flight preparedness is so important.

Together with our partners, the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Water Resources, we are working toward achieving 200 year level flood protection for our community.

And right now we are in design for three of our projects the yellow bypass east levy project, the Sacramento River North Levy and Stone Lock.

And construction for the Yellow Bypass East Levy Project is anticipated to complete next year in 2026.

On behalf of flood protection division, I want to thank the council for recognizing flight preparedness week and for your continued support and leadership.

Well done.

Thank you.

Ready for a photo now?

All right, here you go.

Okay.

We have our consent agenda items four through seven.

Are there any requests to remove an item for questions or presentation?

Nope.

Great.

We'll um ask for public comment.

Madam Clerk, can you request to speak?

We have no request to speak on the items on the consent agenda.

All right, thank you.

Um, all except a motion.

Second.

All right, Councilmember Ocala moved and Councilmember Odosco seconded.

Madame Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Ocala.

Aye.

Councilmember Early.

I Councilmember Roscoe.

Hi.

Mayor Pro Temsel Pizzi Oh.

Hi.

Mayor Guerrero.

Aye.

All right, thank you.

This is now approved.

Next is our economic development and housing department, which is consideration of oh, sorry, agenda item eight under our regular agenda.

We have um no public hearing agenda items at this time.

So our economic development and housing department, which is consideration of adoption of resolution 25-107, declaring the city of West Sacramento's intention to establish the West Sacramento Tourism Marketing District and related actions.

And I believe Miss Megan Styles is going to be presenting.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

I'm just they're going to pull up my presentation, then I'll begin.

So good evening, Mayor and Council.

Tonight for item number eight, or Megan Styles Economic Development Manager.

Um, we are asking for consideration of adoption of resolution 25-107, declaring the City of West Sacramento's intention to establish the West Sacramento Tourism Marketing District and related actions.

Staff respectfully recommends that the council adopt resolution 25-107, which declares the city's intention to establish the West Sacramento Tourism Marking District, also known as WSTMD, sets the time in place for a public meeting to hear testimony on establishing the WSTMD and levying assessments, uh which would be held on November 5th at 7 p.m.

And also sets the time in place for a public hearing to establish the WSTMD and the levy of assessments on certain lodging businesses for December 3rd, 2025.

So I do have a short presentation prepared.

That was the last time that I came, so I'll just do a brief overview and then uh we can move on to the action item.

Um so for today's agenda, um, I'm going to do a little bit of a district overview.

So just kind of what the purpose is, how we got to where we are, the financial impact, uh, so revenue generation and uh kind of what the benefits and intention are behind this, the formation process, and then what our next steps are.

So how we got here, the tourism improvement district is something that has been on the strategic plan since 2023.

So in 2023, it was on the policy we did exploration.

We developed an RFP to work with a consultant, which we ultimately awarded to Civitas in March of 2024.

And then in again, like I mentioned, at the end of 2024, I came with a feasibility study stating that there was an appetite from the hotels to move forward with formation.

And it moved to the management plan in 2024 to kind of pursue that formation and implementation.

And we did work with lodging owners over the last really the last year, representing over 50% of the total assess assessments to be to be had and submitted favorable petitions, and that's kind of how we came to this point in the process.

So what is a tourism marketing district?

And just to kind of make a note, when I originally came to the council, this was the West Sacramento TID, which is a tourism improvement district.

The hotelliers made the decision in their management district plan that they wanted to refer to it as a tourism marketing district.

It is the same thing, it's just a difference of words.

So I am referring to the same thing that I came to council with last year.

So a tourism marketing district really allows for private sector efficiency.

So a specific market-based promotion in this instance, it's entertainment and hotels.

And it's governed by those who pay the assessment.

So it's governed by the hoteliers that pass along that assessment.

It's dedicated funding.

So it is a specific pot of money that is used for promotion and marketing of entertainment and overnight stays within the city.

For us, the boundary is the entire city, and I'll go into a little bit more detail of that in some later slides.

But it is a protective revenue stream.

It cannot be used for anything else other than what is written into the management district plan that is then governed by the hoteliers.

So it's not a decision that the city can come in and divert funds at any point in time.

It is specifically for that use.

It allows for the hotels to do customized marketing specifically for West Sacramento.

And really find a way to find a unique voice for our entertainment industry that we have now and in the future.

And it is a model that has been used all over California outside of California.

And regionally, I do have a list of some other jurisdictions adjacent to us that have tourism marketing districts, and they've proven to be very successful.

So for us, our district scope, we are looking at an annual revenue.

That revenue is based on the most recent reported TOT taxes, and then using a 2% model on that is about 400 plus, that's conservative, but 400 plus thousand dollars annual revenue for promotion efforts.

That is based on a 2% initial assessment rate.

So in the management district plan, which is uh the plan that the hotels have come to agreement that they agree with the every the model that's in there, um, they can flex up to 4% with a vote by uh by the board.

They cannot go below 2%.

Um it's 2% at minimum.

Um, this assessment is for hotels that have 50 or more rooms and for stays that are less than 30 consecutive days.

And the initial term of a tourism marketing district is five years, at which point we would come back to the council for a renewal.

That renewal can I believe be up to 10 years, but the initial is five years.

So for the proposed assessed hotels in the TMD, they include uh seven hotels, um Hampton Inn and Suites, Spring Hill Suites by Marriott, home to suites by Hilton, Holiday Inexpress, Extended Stay America, Motel 6, and Granada Inn.

Granada Inn has more than 50 rooms.

They, however, do not report or pay TOT taxes, so they are a non-voting member.

Um, and I would be remiss not to mention um Hampton and uh Springhill Suites who have really led the charge on this.

Um I know that Gagon and Amric Singh are they have a whole family trip in Cabo, so they're not here, but I know there's representatives from the hotel, so thank you for being here.

Um they've been a great supporter from the beginning, even at the beginning of the feasibility study, and they've helped me in facilitating conversations with other hotels and really helped to show like what the benefit is of this.

They have experience in other jurisdictions, so they've been a really great partner.

Um, so for the proposed budget, um, this is uh just kind of a rough breakdown of what the hotel ears have agreed that this would their budget could go toward.

So they have a contingency at 5%.

Administration is set at 10%.

Part of that 10% is also up to a 2% assessment that the city will collect to help cover the costs of actually collecting the assessment through our TOT, our tax consultant, and then also for the staff staff time used.

So to facilitate that, and then any auditing that's done.

And then 85% of it will be towards sales marketing and destination development.

This is a list of some of the other jurisdictions adjacent to us that have tourism marketing districts or similar.

When we were looking at the percentage that we were proposing to the hotels to impose, we wanted to keep the total guest charge in mind so that we were not going over that and making ourselves less competitive as having just more taxing overall for the overnight stays.

So we've stayed within that.

This is a chance to really expand on that and give the actual hotels and entertainment industry a true voice.

Revenue growth, we're hoping that increased overnight stays then drives additional TOT taxes, which hopefully those folks are then spending their tax dollars here eating at our restaurants, et cetera.

Business collaboration.

So a chance for the hotel owners to get together and have discussions like this has proven to already be, you know, something that is a benefit to them.

And I'm hoping that the managers and folks, not even just at the ownership level, have an opportunity to work together to kind of promote as a united voice.

And then as also, as I mentioned, stable funding, so predictable funding that can be used year over year for sustained tourism promotion activities.

And why now?

So two to three years of the athletics being here, that was not a driving force behind why we started the feasibility for this.

It is an added bonus, of course.

We do have new hotel development.

I can think of three off the top of my head that are hopefully coming online in the next five to eight years.

Those any new hotels that come online within the first five year period would automatically be grandfathered in.

And then of course, at the point in which we were to renew the district, we would then survey the new additional hotels.

But there is just there's a potential for growth here.

And it's really a good opportunity for us to maximize marketing leverage during when we're getting a lot of when we're getting a lot of exposure.

And so it's a good opportunity to take advantage of that.

So the governance and operations.

So the city, uh, like I mentioned, will be collecting the quarterly assessment as part of our tax consultant that collects the TOT taxes.

Um we would recommend that we create an owner's association, which is a nonprofit corporation that manages that budget, the priorities, the programs, and initiatives.

Um, there are other jurisdictions that have quasi governmental agencies, a visit, fill in the blank.

Those are nonprofits as well.

So there does need to be some sort of an entity that is outside of us to kind of keep things clean.

And a nonprofit is generally the best practice for that.

And then tourism promotions, so strategic marketing, sales generation, destination development, safety and security are just a few things that the hotel ears have outlined in their management district plan.

I already mentioned the assessment flexibility and then annual accountability.

So the nonprofit will have reporting requirements to the city council.

Um so they would have reporting to both the economic development and housing commission and the city council on an annual basis that they can estimate the cost for the improvements and activities, report on what's been done, and then also report and estimate any carryover or deficit from the previous year.

So the formation timeline, um, I'm here today to with the resolution of intention.

Um, we will be doing an official noticing uh most likely tomorrow to all of the hotels that will be our proposed to be assessed, noticing that we are pursuing formation.

Uh, November 5th, we would hold a public meeting for testimony and formation and assessments.

There will not be a council action during that public meeting.

Um, then uh on December 3rd, we will have a final public hearing where there will be an opportunity for testimony and then there'll be a council action to adopt a resolution to actually form the district.

I have in here October through December for nonprofit uh corporation formation.

So the city is looking into options to actually form the nonprofit, and that takes a couple of months' time to do that.

And then uh it's proposed that January 1st, the district would launch and assessments would begin with the first actual remittance of those assessments um and the after the end of the first quarter in April.

Um so the recommended action is to adopt resolution 25 uh-107, which declares the intention uh for the tourism marketing district.

We would schedule the November 5th public meeting and then set the December 3rd public hearing.

Um, and just as a closing, uh this initiative uh positions West Sacramento to capitalize on unprecedented tourism opportunities while generating sustainable economic benefits for our community.

So um I'm happy to take any questions.

We do have our um consultant Civitas, I point the wrong way from Civitas here.

If there's any really in the weeds questions that I'm not able to answer.

Um and also a big thank you to them.

They've been with us for a year and a half from feasibility all the way through now, and they've been a great partner and a great resource for us.

So thank you.

Thank you, Megan.

Great presentation.

Um very helpful.

And um I'd like to open it up now for my colleagues, and then we also will have public comment, I gather.

Um, Madame Clerk, are there any requests to speak under public comment?

Just want to see how many.

We have no requests to speak on this item.

Oh, okay.

Um Councilmember Alcala, I just have two questions.

Uh, you mentioned the two percent being passed on.

Um if you have an occupancy at a hotel, and um the rate is what, 9.25 now in the city.

Is that to mean another two percent for you?

Correct.

So the rate for TOT, which is the line item that you see on your bill is actually 12%.

Um, and that is something that's set by the city or county.

I don't know at which point it was set for our city and county, but every city and county sets their own TOT.

Um, and that would be an additional item, um, an additional line item noted for West Sacramento Tourism Marketing District, it would be a two percent.

And then you said there were seven hotels, but there were 50% that you hold.

So it by law um it is required that at least 50% of the so each um base, so the total T OT taxes that are collected, the percentage that each hotel remits is what their weighting uh their voting weight is.

So at least 50% of the assessed hotels um based on value of TOT needed to submit petitions, a yes petition.

So I have yes petitions from um Spring Hill Suites, Hampton Inn, home to suites.

I had a verbal confirmation from um Holiday An Express, but I would not get their petition in time for tonight's meeting.

Um, and that was uh 66% with the three hotels, and then if I had received the one that I had a verbal from, that would be 77%.

One more question.

Yeah.

Um the owner's association.

What would that be comprised of?

You said it's a nonprofit.

Could you give me an example of how we're gonna do that?

I mean, so the um there's a couple of ways that um I imagine that might be does the city have a voice on that as well.

Um so the owner's association is kind of just the um the term for the nonprofit association, whatever that name might be.

It would be comprised of the hotel owners.

Um, and then the board of the nonprofit is comprised of the hotel owners.

If there are other individuals in the entertainment field that that board you know feels um in their bylaws they would like to include, they can include that in there.

We will ensure that um the city per those bylaws has a seat on the board, as well as the agreement that the city will have with that nonprofit will also state that the city will always have a seat on that board.

Just one more question.

So who would make who would make the decision on what nonprofit is it?

The city that's gonna be doing that, or is it the city does have an option right now?

There is no there is no nonprofit.

Um the city does have an option to work with a consultant, which we're exploring right now to actually create that nonprofit and set it up so that it's ready for the owner's association to make those types of decisions, and we would write the bylaws for that, which would note who would be included in the board.

Okay, yeah.

Any other questions?

No question.

Everybody's been asking.

Um I do have a question on the amount that um is anticipated to be the generated revenue on the on the um tax itself, the TOT.

What year was that taken?

Uh the the the oh the projections, it was based on the most recent reported order.

What what date is that?

Twenty the was the last 24, yeah.

2024.

Oh, okay, 24-25.

Yeah.

generated revenue um on on the on the um tax itself the to t what year was that taken i the the the oh the projections it was based on the most recent reported order what what date is that tw the it was the last 24 yeah 2024 oh okay 24 25 yeah is there um i'm curious to know since the a's arrived um has there been and i've been asking this question with the city manager for uh over a month now i haven't received a response so I'll ask it I can give you response the numbers aren't complete yet and that's why we haven't uh been able to compile the full uh data but I can tell you just looking at quarter over quarter um at least at first glance there hasn't been a a remarkable increase in TOT um based on you know quarter this year versus quarter last year um we won't have the full um last quarter of the baseball season until the end of this month okay but it's based on when the the TOT reports are due um so that's why you haven't received it yet so we will provide that information to the council once we have the full information but I can tell you just looking at the quarters uh at least the first quarter of the baseball season versus last year it wasn't a remarkable it wasn't no I'm that that's been um I I know we have somebody from you know representing the hospital industry and I'm and I'm curious to know if anybody has any expertise in this area if based on the arrival of the A's we were hoping to see um a tick uptick on but has there been any based on experience even if even if we don't have the numbers it's okay you can come up to the mic um as far as the revenue compared to last year it's not a whole lot um it is really sometimes based on who's playing or if they're a popular one right yeah but I'm getting we're getting a lot of uh reservations and mostly even on the weekdays which is great for us um and I think uh talking about the SDMD this basically will help us to enhance uh our marketing out there because when you say River cat they always say Sacramento it's never say West Sacramento right so that's been a challenge and so as a uh a general manager I we end up paying a lot of marketing for example like Spedia to just give us the campaign uh to to promote just to promote the West Sacramento side of it and if you look at the um the uh the impression on the expedia we put on the first page we put that we are only three miles away from Rivercat and that gives us a lot of that the boost you know for overnight accommodation so and I think this STMD will help us a lot um because not only that uh it will boost one hotel it will be representing the a lot of hotels in West Sacramento so your sense is people don't know your presence and your proximity correct that's interesting so your um so the utilization of the funding is it going to be through like the expedia or is it going to be different?

That's different yeah it is just well she can explain better on that side but I've I've also worked outside West Sacramento I've been part of the SDMT Sacramento and we some of the funds can be used for example the aftershock that's uh it's a citywide sale in Sacramento everywhere all the way to Vallejo um in the past when they were here the first year they were here we utilized or we used funding from SDMD to uh to rent um a bus to go through all the hotels and that helped us a lot okay and I because I used to work in McClellan Park again there's no name in there but there's a hotel there.

I see but it's kind of help us SDMD help us you know to to kind of like oh okay there is a hotel in there okay so let's go there so there's sort of several several ways of um well they can put the funds okay that's interesting so it's just beyond marketing um uh utilizing resources to bring people to their destination correct like you mentioned the bus yes um that's great to hear I'm glad to hear that um and and happy to work more with you on what the city can do um aside from this itself uh to be able to market your business because I I feel like the A's came upon us really quick our focus was getting the field ready to go I think our next um prep is going to be to do more of I know we got the play the West Sack way we launched we threw that out the door so fast but uh but I think we're all um re reevaluating the success and and um you know our progress and and I'm going to you know bring together a bunch of chambers and I'd like for you to be a part of that so that you know we can partner with you as this is rolling forward um so that the chambers can be supportive of your effort now that you have this financing you have more leverage right so that and that's how you see it and how do you see yourself working with the chambers?

Um I think this is the second time I'm here too.

Um I I want to give you an example too that uh you do know that we do have a uh the visit visitors bureau.

Yes, uh convention visitors bureau.

They most of the time to go out Sacramento to promote Sacramento.

Um again, it's very it's not specific to us towards West Sacramento.

We can be part of that trade show wherever they go.

Oh, that's great.

San Diego, they go to San Diego, they go to Las Vegas, and we can use the funds to market, you know, to show West Sacramento, where are we?

Right, right.

We're not far from there.

And as a matter of fact, every time we have a guests, we always say, or a phone call.

We're not far from downtown Sacramento.

You don't even have to hit the freeway to go to downtown Sacramento.

You know, so it is a great um it's a good opportunity for us, most especially in marketing.

That's that's good to hear.

You know, when I get off the airport, I see little brochures of all the cities except West Sacramento.

Exactly.

And I I didn't even know West Sacramento until I got this job.

Yeah, you know, the landmark is always IKEA, right?

It's by IKEA.

Okay.

So, you know, not a lot of people know us yet.

Yeah.

But there's a lot of hotels coming up.

I mean, as you know, Mr.

Amric is um opening another residence in or another hotel.

So it's gonna be 300 rooms right there in that corner.

Yes.

So that's great.

I'm glad to hear that Emric is great too.

I'm grateful for his presence.

Um so thank you.

That is and love to sit down and chat with you more in planning for the future as well as our colleagues here.

And if it helps, I can present to you the the president of the other STMD to Sacramento.

He's a great friend of mine.

Yeah.

And he can explain to you, you know, how it is and what they're doing that we can probably adopt to make it successful.

Okay.

Sounds great.

Thank you so much.

Um, I appreciate your clarification of all of this.

Um, and just to expand very briefly on that.

So just like any nonprofit, um, there would be uh some sort of a strategic planning of retreat where they would plan out exactly how those marketing dollars are going to be used and and her voice and any voice where her experience from the hotels would would drive that.

So marketing doesn't necessarily mean you know, just pamphlets or other or advertising.

They can do whatever they want.

Um and so that's kind of the the beauty of this is they can get together and really set that that program of work um for the year.

Yeah, we have like um wine club crawl or you know, we can do things that our businesses, other businesses, you know, so if they're you know staying at your hotel, we got all these other ideas on what you could do out here in in West Sacramento.

Yeah, that would be great.

Um thank you.

So no um questions, just all comments.

Um I am over the moon that we are here tonight.

Um when I brought this forward to strategic planning after I was newly elected.

Um there were a handful of questions during strategic planning, but council agreed that this is something that we should move forward, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work that staff has done to get us here.

And thank you to the hotels who've signed up for this as a former consultant who formed these districts and worked for Visit Sacramento.

I have firsthand seen the power of tourism improvement districts in economic development and building community.

We have an incredible opportunity to brand West Sacramento and showcase the work that we do here outside of our community to put more heads and beds and having an owner's association with stable funding and having the owners and the general managers sit on the board, the experts in their industry directing how the money is spent is going to pay dividends to our community.

And you know, I think play the West Way was a great start as an economic development strategy, but now we have an opportunity to brand our community and whether it's a meet West Sacramento or a visit West Sacramento or it becomes something totally different.

Um this is the district that gets to do this.

You know, one of the things I know that people love in different communities.

I just got back from Boston and they've got a very large um destination marketing organization.

Um BOS is their new brand, and it's on hats, it's on shirts.

And I know West Sacramento loves wrapping West Sacramento when people go visit places they love buying swag.

Nobody thinks of that type of stuff when it comes to destination marketing, but making people um when they bring outside money in and then the locals embracing the brand completely changes the face of a city.

And so um you brought up Aftershock.

I think it's one of the great examples of when tourism destination marketing organizations think outside of the box.

Um that was partnerships between the destination marketing organization and the county to bring uh first of all, it started as a one-day rock music festival.

Now it's a four-day rock music festival that's the biggest on the West Coast.

And in 2024, 22 million in spending came to the region because of Aftershock.

And we saw that in West Sacramento, not just in the restaurants at our hotels.

And so we have the opportunity to partner with organizations like this at Sacramento.

And then you mentioned fam tours and going to different or different events to bring conferences and meetings to our hotels.

There's just so much that can be done.

Specialized marketing campaigns on different holidays.

And there's experts in destination marketing that will just blow your mind of the things that they can come of.

Like having the A's in town is such a tiny piece of the puzzle of what this DMO is going to do.

And I'm just excited to sit down with the newly formed board and just challenge them to think outside of the box and push really hard for what this organization can do.

I'm just, I'm just beyond excited.

I'm very proud.

Councilmember Wodosco.

I I just wanted to say thank you to my colleague, Councilmember Speezo Hall for bringing this to our city.

I would have never thought of anything like this before.

And I can feel your excitement.

And I think we are just so fortunate to have that level of knowledge that we are able then to bring.

And thank you to the staff who took the idea and ran with it and were able to work boots on the ground to make this happen.

Thank you as well.

I will also wear a full jumpsuit.

So thank you so much.

Full jumpsuit.

A track suit.

Those things are in, friend.

Only if it's rippleway pants.

Why is she planks?

Right?

Okay.

So thank you for the presentation, Megan.

It's been a minute since I've seen you come up and actually do a full-fledged.

I and well done.

Um, you know, all of the the we've been this is a long time coming, and I appreciate that you actually brought up the strategic plan because I had it in my purse right then, and it does have a reflection of this um this goal for us.

And I do want to echo uh my colleagues when I say, yes, Councilmember Sophie Hall, before she joined this council, was already talking about PBIDs and tourist marketing district, but uh tourist improvement district is what we called it back then.

Um it's great to see that we're actually making movements on this and bringing it to life and and and feeding the the spirit of that effort.

Uh it's also cool to hear that there are folks that are really behind it, want to see the potential in investment like this.

Uh I like where we fit along the continuum of the different uh contributions in the region.

Um, and I agree.

I mean, there's there's there is so much more we can do.

Uh there, you know, I had been thinking about initially, this is outside of tourism improvement, but it kind of could be complementary about doing a uh a marketing video about West Sacramento, talking about the beautiful neighborhoods in this community.

We have uh anywhere from the north side, this historic Brighton Broderick that has the legacy of West Sacramento and where we started and all the richness of the homeowners there and the folks that love their community so greatly.

You have some of the newest areas in the development where you could showcase the you know the bridge district and um all of the the investments, whether that be Birdies or Drake, the barn or Frank Hutt and local businesses in the area like Treehouse and Midway and others that I'm not mentioning, but then let's just say there's there's so many cool things happening in West Sacramento that I don't think people even know about.

So they come in, they squat at a game, and then they leave because they go to what they know.

It's the very first time people are coming to the city, unless somebody you know has a big arrow dancing around on a corner, how are they gonna know where to find these things?

And so I think the sky's the limit with that.

Um neighborhood video for me was just attracting residents, but at the same time, if you grew to love the city and saw it through the eyes of the people who lived here who were customer testimonials of, you know, this is why I love and stay here.

That's why people would want to love and stay here.

I don't know that we did, and again, I'm gonna focus a little bit on the A's, even though it isn't about the A's.

Okay, I'm just gonna say it and get it out.

But um, you know, the I think a lot of folks, I have to acknowledge this, thought that this was going to bring a lot more activity.

Okay.

And so to just acknowledge the you know, elephant in the room.

I mean, it doesn't appear that it did, at least anecdotally, you know, at this juncture.

Um, but what have we done to welcome the Bay Area fans, many of whom were disgruntled about being here in the first place, like to the extent that we could have said, hey man, get you come over here and enjoy.

We just want you here.

And and one of the ideas would be, you know, hey, uh come for the A's, stay for the A's, and they could stay in our in our hotels and and enjoy a night, you know.

Uh um show your ticket and get you know 10% off.

I don't know, I'm making stuff up on the diet, so don't listen to me completely.

But just all of the ideas that as we were trying to plan on the fly to get them here and to welcome and to be ready, you know, these are these are ideas that we can now brainstorm as we move forward together.

Um but with that, I just I'm excited about the potential of new energy coming from this district uh for the people who run these businesses to have their own say and agency over what it is that's being marketed out there.

West Sacramento has grown so tremendously and change in complexion in the last 30 years since we you know, plus 30 years.

Um from one where when I first moved here, someone said, watch out for the gangs, and I thought we're gang.

I mean, like it from that to this new burgeoning community that's on the cusp of innovation.

I want to see more of that.

I think this is moving in that direction.

All right, Megan, back to you.

I sorry, let me um catch up here to the team, Megan.

Applaud, you know, your your hard work.

Council member, uh Mayor Potem Sopezia Hull for your leadership and bringing this to council.

When I first heard about it, didn't have any background on it.

Heard a lot about the visit, Sacramento YOLO, you know, those organizations, but that was gonna take money and and uh we weren't in a position to contribute.

But this idea does bring together their own revenue source.

My only concern was the commitment.

Is there commitment?

And it and it appears there is.

Uh I I would say that um the the you know hotel industry um the hospitality industry realizes that they are losing money if they don't find take advantage of an opportunity based on their experience.

And we know we tried really hard.

I'm not gonna take away all the hard work.

You tried really hard.

Um starting off, everybody was new in the team, and we didn't anticipate the A's arrival here.

Um, you know, and and we had a lot of moving pieces, and you tried really hard to you know hit the ground running on getting us, you know, with the West Sack way publicized.

I I'm not gonna do a quarterbacking and say, hey, we we didn't succeed.

I think we did.

I think we did.

I see successes, I feel it.

Um the momentum is still there, and and it doesn't happen overnight.

I don't think that you know the the this tourism uh marketing is gonna happen overnight either.

It's gonna be a year of growth, as you all know.

You're not gonna see something, even though you're getting your annual report, you're not gonna see something that says, hey, look at all all these um heads are in beds now.

We we it's gonna take some time.

And and that's why I would like to bring in as many partners into West Sacramento.

I love our West Act Chamber, um, but they are, you know, as we have been in as a growing city, very limited in staff.

And I don't want to, you know, put put it on anybody in any one entity shoulders.

I think we need more um, you know, resources, and I think there's interest um to be able to help help West Sacramento build um as we continue to grow and and we want um to bring in a new team.

I'm not gonna say I'm gonna say it right here.

We we do want to bring in after the A's, um, you know, transfer out, you know, um, as they have been planning on to bring in a new team.

So that's that's why we have to hit the ground running.

You know, I know um the mayor of Potem is gonna be vigilantly watching over the success um as that is her experience in visit Sacramento, which I'm I applaud her for that effort, um, and and in doing so, you know, working together harmoniously as a council um to move this um great success forward.

And um thank you for the staff for all your dedication and your time and um bringing this to us today for a vote.

Um we're really grateful for this.

Thank you.

And I believe um we'll open it up for public comment, which there is none, Madame Clerk.

All right.

We have no remote to speak on this item.

All right, closing public comment um and bringing it back to council for early moves.

A second.

Okay, Madam Clerk, Councilmember Early Move, Mayor Potem Sophie's Yo Saganet, please call the roll.

Councilmember Calla.

Hi.

Councilmember Early.

I council member Roscoe.

Hi.

Mayor Pro Tempse Psio.

Very enthusiastic.

I'm Mayor Guerrero.

I.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So excited.

Thank you.

All right.

Next is our general administration, function part two.

Do we have any council assignment reports?

Yes.

Councilmember early.

Okay.

It has been a busy week.

Um I had YOLO TV this past Monday in which we discussed that we will need to have a new contract with a uh new um transportation uh organization.

Right now we have a contract with Transdev.

That's who helps to run all of our YOLO buses throughout West Sac and throughout the county.

Uh we are racing to get a RFP out so that we can solicit proposals for potentially um a new transportation um organization that would help us.

It also could be Transdev if they so chose.

Um what was highlighted on Monday is that the contract that we are working from is from 2018.

So it is extremely outdated, and also the costs that were fixed in that contract are expected to go up significantly.

What that means is the short-range transit plan that we are going to be presented by YTD in November will be really important because the likelihood of us being able to maintain the same service levels will be challenging because as we know, transportation organizations and districts across the country, across California, are staring at fiscal cliffs.

Um and so if we know that the organization that is going to be running our buses is now the contract going to go up significantly.

Um that likely means that we will need to think about how all of our um services, not only here in West Sacramento, but across the county, uh, how we will be able to either maintain them or likely um how they will uh have to be cut in some way.

Um and so the short range transit plan that you all that we will be presented um in November by YTD is going to be uh important uh because there are three buckets that you will see in that uh short range transit plan.

You will see um if we maintain the same status.

Um you'll also see if we were to grow, which again, the likelihood seems slim to none uh because there are not more dollars coming in uh to our YOLO transportation district, or if we were actually to reduce services.

Um I know councilmember Alcala has uh met with me uh with YTD because what was um being proposed initially was to cut the services out of Brighton Broderick, um, which again would be a challenge because then the only uh public transportation that they would have would be via uh this gets back to the conversations we've had around the sustainability of via and if for whatever reason um costs would become prohibitive, what that would mean for public transportation across our city, particularly in um Brighton Broadwick, uh again, because we know that there um are a lot of families that are dealing with poverty there, right?

And rely on public transportation.

And so what I would ask is you make sure you pay attention um November, uh, because that short range transit plan is going to be very important as the potential blueprint for what um services could be in service reduction uh in West Sacramento.

And so that's one thing I would flag for us.

Um today I had the Capital Area Regional Tolling Authority as well, Carta, um, as hopefully all of you know, YOLO 80 project, um tolling lanes will uh be coming to uh YOLO County.

Um I think in 2028, I think is what we're aiming for it to be online.

Uh we are once again racing very fast on that one as well.

We are holding ourselves to very tight timelines.

And today we were talking about um the what we call waterfall of revenue, our revenue waterfall, and how those dollars could be um allocated um from um the revenue that will come from tolls.

This was an interesting conversation because uh we we it was I would say um very uh very exciting conversation is the word I will use.

Uh anytime you start talking about revenue uh across districts and across uh jurisdictions, um it can um again get very exciting.

Um one of the things that was I think top of mind for folks was uh VMT mitigation and what that would look like and whether that should come before um setting aside uh maintenance um dollars to maintain in 10 and 20 years our um our tolling system because we will be responsible for that by we I mean CARTA um and I think we had uh a very good discussion around the fact that VMT mitigation, my stance um and some of our fellow YOLO County folks's stance was VMT mitigation is very important, um, and we should make sure that we have dollars set aside for that, just as we do in maintaining the um maintaining our tolling system.

And I think we had a very good discussion around the fact that VMT mitigation, my stance and some of our fellow YOLO County folks' stance was VMT mitigation is very important.

And we should make sure that we have dollars set aside for that, just as we do in maintaining the maintaining our tolling system.

That was what was promised when we originally came forward with uh potentially adding a tolling lane to uh both the causeway from Davis through West Sacramento.

Um, and right now the conversation is will we have enough money to do something along those lines?

Um but again, the whole the whole push for this was that we would have VMT mitigation.

Without that, what you then have is the potential for um increased um cars on the road without really having um increased public transportation to go with that and give people options to get out of their cars, uh, which is really important as we again are facing a climate crisis.

Um so again, a very exciting week.

Um, and please pay attention on November.

Councilmember, had they provided an update on um the A's utilization of YOLO bus.

No, um, I can definitely ask about that in our executive report.

I I I will ask.

I'll I'll leave it there.

Oh, great.

And also um I I um believe that um YOLO the YOLO bus does have data that might be useful for um, you know, our our transportation folks um to compare it with via just to be able to.

Interesting you should say that.

Um so we also had a conversation um about our new system that we put in.

We meeting YTD, I'm wearing that hat, um, and to our buses uh last year.

Unfortunately, the system that was put in to collect data has been challenged in coming online.

Uh so I definitely think there is data.

I will say that when you look at the short range transit plan, that much of the data that is in there is actually via data.

Um, and so we can definitely ask.

I have asked, I will continue to ask.

And I and I believe via is um is is a partner in data sharing.

It the the it is not reciprocated.

I we continue to ask um uh for data uh about services in uh West Sacramento.

So when we think about preserving YOLA bus services, data is essential in order for us to make some key financial decisions in the future.

You are talking to a data scientist.

I concur.

59% of VA users in West Sacramento come from Brighton Broderick.

And most of them, you know, are people that have just one car or a female or the elderly.

And I just want to highlight that we do have the data from VA We do who um continue to share with us um, you know, this important element.

I think being able to um work in partnership, you know, with um with an with an entity that is um, you know, I think just if there's any way to find a way that they can provide some resources and tools for data gathering.

Yeah, I'm I don't know if they're communicating.

It doesn't seem like so I by they are you saying via to YTD?

Yes, we I'm hearing about the new data platform, but I don't know if they're like, is it gonna be a way to share data or is it just gonna be another system that is clogging the system and we don't know what's going on?

Yeah, so so a couple things.

Um I think in regards to the data that is shared from VI to YTD, that's actually shared from us, our staff.

Um, I know our staff uh do work um with uh YTD and also across jurisdictions.

There is a group of transportation staff that meet regularly to discuss transportation issues, including data.

And so that's how I know our our staff has asked for YOLO bus data.

I've been in meetings with uh our city manager as well as our assistant city manager also asking for data.

So that is something that we definitely do request.

Um I think there is data that exists to the level that VI is able to provide.

I I don't necessarily know that one if that data exists on the YTD side.

Um I think the conversation that we had when we talked about via passes and the fact that via passes are actually um uh cheaper than passes for YOLO bus.

Again, to your point, if you are um living in a situation where your income is precarious, right?

You are going to go with the cheaper option.

And so I also think right now there is a world in which the via services that we are providing, which are again significantly cheaper than the YOLO bus makes it challenging, right?

When you're having to pick which one you're going to do, of course, you're going to pick the cheaper, more convenient location to co-location option versus the bus, which is a conversation again, we we had when we talked about our passes and whether to lower the cost or not.

And so I think there's a world in which we are going to need to think seriously, and this is what I advocated for when we talked about this before about what transportation as a whole looks like and how do we ensure that rather than via potentially undercutting um YOLO bus and transportation, right?

That they're actually working together so that we can again be strategic about these resources because at the end of the day, dollars that are going to YTD are West SAC dollars that should be used in West SAC.

And so how can we be more intentional about what that looks like?

So VIA is the beholder of the data our city um is not airs leaning in.

Uh yeah, I just but we heard there is going to be a presentation coming up.

I don't know if it'll be the November 5th or 19th meeting uh from YTD on the short range transit plan.

I would I would encourage um lots of these questions to be asked of them, especially about data that YT uh either is or isn't collecting.

When is the presentation?

We haven't scheduled it exactly yet, but it's gonna be one of the meetings in November.

So I just want to make sure we're on track here.

These are council reports, and we're kind of getting a little uh off base here a little bit.

So thanks.

Okay.

Sounds good.

And um, yes, I do agree that there is a report, and then when via comes up, that is off topic as well.

Um so once via came up from my colleague, I brought I brought it up as well.

I will say nothing else without a mayor.

Yeah, it's I I just want to make sure we're we're taken to the council reports uh for tonight.

And we do have an item coming up in November where we can cover a lot of the stuff that was just talked about.

So thanks.

Okay, sounds good.

Um any other reports?

Yeah.

I have a report.

So uh I had the pleasure of serving as the honorary chair of the Metro Chamber steady mission to Boston last week.

And uh it's funny as we're just talking about public transportation.

Um, and Boston has an incredible underground light rail system.

And with the Charlie card, you can pretty much get wherever you want to go in the city.

Um and it just reinforces the importance of public transportation and how we need to invest in the infrastructure to get people around in these large modes of transportation that aren't cars, because I will tell you the thing you did not want to do is get in a car in Boston.

Um it was walking or light rail.

That was the way to get around.

Um, you know, a full week of programming, um, you know, compliments to the Metro Chamber for all the work they do to get us there.

Um, you know, capital cities, both a lot of history, but at the end, um, the group uh sits and reflects on kind of what they've learned from the last week.

And one of the biggest things that we took um home, and this is you know, 80 folks um from the capital region, was the alignment between many of the jurisdictions on shared goals and um the commitment for everyone to focus on one goal uh to move the region forward.

And so we're talking regionally about what that could look like.

Um and there was also a lot of leadership from elected officials as well.

And so um it was a great opportunity to learn about a city.

I've brought, you know, every time I'm sitting in those sessions, I'm always sparked with ideas of things that you know I want to do and conversations I want to have.

Um and so I appreciate the opportunity to go.

Um and I look forward to continue conversations, likely facilitated by the Metro Chamber to lead region wide initiatives with all of the um communities and orgs lined up uh together, moving in the same direction.

Thank you.

Mayor put them.

All right.

Um today the YOLO um animal JPA met and uh and briefly and um discussed what the future of um of the potential you know operations could look like.

We have um a request for information out.

So uh so far only two takers.

They're hoping um by the end of October that if um there are not more than two, they'll continue to maybe keep that open as a potential operation um for the future or if not, you know, the county may continue um to assume the operations.

There was um a lot of feedback from the public um about the process, and uh, you know, it's gonna continue to move forward and evolve.

It's um just a process that is not fixed, it is a real flexible process.

On top of that, there is a going to be a new snippet program that's going to get started and hopefully be mobile from city to city, which will allow for cats.

People, you know, I learned a lot about cats today, how many litters they can have in one year.

A female can have up to 40 kittens in a year.

And so, you know, it's the snippet is to um you know prevent that from happening.

So we can help socialize these programs.

This is a grant that that the uh YOLA County Um Animal Services will receive, and we want to get as many cats into the program.

Um so as my colleague Mayor Protem shared her trip to Boston.

I was out in uh Japan in the Japanese United States um Sister City Association, um, which include a trip to Osaka.

And um we received a presentation um from representatives um both the governor and the um mayors that were present.

Uh we also had a tour of a hydrogen plant.

It is a very unique uh plant that is um creating a very um non it's a non-flammable type of um uh hydrogen, and uh they are able to um transport it in in trucks, and so they're very interested about our hydrogen train.

And I know they're gonna be going up and down the state um meeting with the representatives from California that were present.

Um so there's that, and then we also um uh presented um there and at the UN United States um university, where UC Davis is a key um partner with the Japan-United States leadership.

Um UC Davis has been working in collaboration um as far as university um development, and uh the prefector um Shil Shiliza Marwala, rector of the United Nations University, has um also participated in drafting a forward on the role of universities in advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

And UC Davis is a co-chair of the 17 sustainable development goals that have been organized.

And so I'd like to continue to see the development of that partnership with UC Davis here in West Sacramento, and um a partnership with Japan as we move forward with the United Nations University.

So we'll continue that um relationship as we move forward.

Um they were also very um interested.

The governor of Tokyo uh in her presentation talked about the um evolution of spaces that did not have parks and outdoor recreational areas.

So the presentation that I provided about our flood um protection and our levy system was intriguing to everybody there.

Thank you, um Doug and Paul for helping me in preparing that presentation.

Um it was a great presentation, and everybody was um fascinated by the work that has been done with our flood protection.

The other presentation was VIA, and um there is a lot of interest and research being done on our on-demand ride share program, uh, allowing people to go from door to door and also having the AI technology to be able to track where the demand is in the city and redirect resources to where the demand is.

And um there's uh research being done not only by Harvard University but by um Columbia University University students, funded by the foundation that contributed to the trip that um that I and many other colleagues from the United States uh California took.

So there'll continue to be um research being gathered in collaboration with West Sacramento via and um these organizations that are tracking what our accomplishments have been since we have been um you know we established via.

And yes, the rate is low for VIA that was intentional to get people to get onto VIA and yes to revisit.

I know that VIA has been working collaboratively because it is not only a challenge as they described here, but in other jurisdictions where they need to be able to keep it sustainable, so they're well aware of that concern.

So with that, um I I think it was very interesting to also meet with architect Paul Tangay and uh also learn a little bit more about um you know what he's done to help shape Tokyo.

Not only did Paul Tange contribute to that, but his father helped you know create the way the architecture work in in Tokyo, just uh just going way back.

And um, so I invited Paul to come out and take a look at what's happening in West Sacramento to see what what they can accomplish out here in um future development.

And uh they're all very interested in seeing what what they can do in working together in partnership with um with West Sacramento and other jurisdictions.

So when they come, would love to have you all present in meeting with them because that's how everybody rolls out there.

Um just to uh share the number of business cards that we exchange.

It's a lot of people that we meet, a lot of people that are present um and we meet, and um humbling um and and an audit and an honor to be able to be present there.

So with that, um we'll move on to part two council calendar.

Knock the glass.

Good evening.

Um just one item of note this Saturday is the uh fire open house at station 45.

And that's it.

Okay, and um this Saturday I invite you all to participate um in one of our grantees from the Bloomberg Um Youth Climate Action Fund in uh the uh city um uh center, the community center from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

We're going to have um our first youth climate action summit, and it's driven by our youth.

I'm really excited about that.

And so um it's from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

And I believe about 50 youth have already registered to participate.

Are there any other activities that council members?

Alcala, do you know of any uh before the at the other loss?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Um I believe it's going.

Let me check the calendar here.

It's going to be celebrated, I believe, on the first over in over at the BFW on Rivers.

Is that it?

On the first at the VFW?

I'm sorry.

Isn't it gonna be on the riverfront?

No, no, no.

They weren't able to do that.

Oh my understanding it's gonna be over on Dreaver.

They're gonna close the street.

Oh, okay.

And they're gonna have a car show and you know different nonprofits gonna be there.

Oh, that's good.

A lot of freebies for everyone.

It'd be really nice.

Okay.

And um, I believe we're having a veterans day parade.

So um if you would like to participate, um Brian Speaker is um helping to gather any interest and participation, and also would love to have our veterans from our city also participate in the parade um if they'd like to get a vehicle.

We can share that information among all the veterans in all the departments.

We can extend that invitation to them.

Um council calendar and other things that are happening in the city.

City manager report.

Uh no report just to embarrass her.

Um today, Amanda is celebrating her 10-year uh anniversary working for the city.

10 years, wow.

All right, hang in there, Amanda.

City attorney report.

Nothing to report.

Staff direction from city council members.

We have anything.

All right.

Future agenda item request by council?

Nope.

And we will adjourn.