City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, everybody. Thank you for showing up for the 11th uh city council meeting. I'm going to call the meeting to order at uh 6:00 p.m. And please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. All right. Roll call. Mike, let all the council members are present. And do we have any conflict of interest declarations? Anyone? None. None. I see none. All right. Any uh any changes or deletions to the agenda? No changes, mayor.

Okay. All right. Let's move into public comments. B1. Ver uh verbal comments. Any person wishing to speak on an item not listed on the agenda may do so at this time. Pursuant to the Brown Act, the city council is not allowed to consider issues or take action on any item not listed on the agenda. Three minutes are allotted to each speaker. I'm going to dare and try the podium again. The last time I did this, it did not go well, but I've got my window. Um, okay. So, my name is Jennifer Sullivan and I'm a resident of Cloverdale. I can't tell you how many times, despite my optimism, I've heard from people that Esmeralda is a done deal. They say the ink is dry, honey. But this isn't how it's supposed to to happen, I say to myself. But then, based on what I've seen and discovered these last few months, these words ring heavy. I learned how the Esmeralda approval process is being pushed through on such an aggressive timeline for development of its size, impact, and the demand that it'll put on Cloverdale's most valuable re resource, water. Allowing Esmeralda to be approved by addendum is a violation of squa. And I'm not a lawyer. I'm I'm very humble, so I'm always down to learn. But the translation from what I understand is that Esmeralda doesn't have to spend the money or take the time necessary to do its own environmental impact report. Instead, they get to use an EIR from 2009. And guess what? With the addendum, they don't have to hear from the public. A new EIR requires a 45day public comment period. And every

question has to be answered with not with a but not with an addendum. So I' I've marked just some of the things that like okay an addendum is used for minor technical revisions that do not trigger new significant impacts. Esmeralda isn't a minor technical revision. It's a major development. When do we use a supple a subsequent EIR? When there's significant changes substantial changes are proposed to the project that require major revisions to the previous EIR. Esmeralda will have to revise traffic impacts, water supply, the the LUC and the deed restrictions were not done when the previous ER was done. There's a lot of stuff there. So, there's significant changes, changed circumstances, numerous uh new residential and commercial developments like the Rener gas station. I don't know if I spelled that correctly, but Vintage Wines, uh the AI road, uh Bumgner, and Alexander Valley Health. new information um has been so significant new information that arises that was not known or could not have been known when the previous ER was certified. The decommissioning of uh Potter Valley project, they couldn't have known that. And the smart corridor planning to come through here, they couldn't have known that either. And that the threshold if new significant or more severe environmental impacts will occur which they will as Moralda's environmental impact will be more severe because of its size density and its population increase and all of the above that I've already mentioned. All of this criteria is met and then some. A subsequent EIR is the way to go. I'm asking the city to do the right thing and please require Esmeralda to do their own EIR and please add this to a future agenda to be discussed between the people in the city. Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Any other public comment? Hello, I'm Dana Star. Could you repeat your name again? I didn't catch it. Dana Star.

Okay. So, I've been making some observations uh on recent meetings, both city council and the planning commission, and I'm having a lot of concern regarding the big picture. who's keeping a hold of all the things that have been going on, possibly going on and will be carrying over into the future when there are changes in the people that sit up here. So for and I do thank you all for your time and effort that you do put into sitting up here. My concern is how does that carry forward? So, I've listened to some of the past meetings and heard concerns from others going, uh, you know, how come I didn't know about this coming in or there's going to be three or four of you possibly leaving at the end of the year and there are a lot of things going on that carry over and how what's the plan? what is the uh organization of how you transfer stuff that's incomplete or possibly carrying forward going forward when new people come in um both for you all and the planning commission. So, I guess what I'm asking for is a future agenda item um before there's a turnover that states how you plan to support each other and those coming in uh for going forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Rob Klowski, resident of Cloverdale. And uh first of all, I actually like to thank the city for uh cleaning up that abandoned car wash lot on uh South Cloverdale Boulevard. So that's uh great progress to see those cranes there tearing it down. Um however, unlike uh Esmeralda, as the young lady spoke before, uh Smart is not an aggress on a aggressive timeline. Uh the letter that I saw signed by Brian, I assume all the city council had read it uh on March 5th of this year that was sent to the state and federal politicians in support of SMART is puzzling to me. Um and a few other uh residents that talked to me. To date, there has been no benefit resulting from the city of Cloverdale support of a train system that may never even reach here. Uh residents of Cloverdale continue to pay for a sales tax that does not deliver a train to our doorstep. Now, you're asking for an increase in federal taxes in the form of a $1.8 million fund to prepare for a train arriving Cloverdale. Um, and that train hasn't even made it to Hillsburg yet. How are we, as you state in the letter, Brian, preparing for the train to make its arrival into Cloverdale? And that's a quote. Didn't we already build a station there? Um, and when is this train expected to arrive? Not one person from the city council on the or or the smart board has been able to answer this basic question and I've asked a number of times just

uh but city council has not shied away from the misleading of the public with respect to invoking the transit oriented development to justify building even more multif family housing near transit stations that is not even walkable pedestrian oriented or multi-use. The Alexander Valley Apartment Development on AI violates the city's very own resolution 17-2022. The city now argues that its latest support of smart will enable rail freight activity too without identifying what freight services are being offered. The city suggests that its climate goals will also be met. What are these? Surely a non-electric train that uses diesel fuel can't meet such goals. taking great pains to ignore this fact was documented in a recent press democratic article stating quote the smart path is for California leaders to accelerate electric cars, buses and trucks h but apparently not for electrifying a smart train system. Lacking to date is the identification of the coverage percentage of residents in and around Cloverdale, especially if there is only one station stop planned. These concerns, many which have been raised in the past, should have been addressed before a letter of support for SMART was released, especially one demanding higher taxation and more subsidies put on Cloverdale residents. Thank you. Hey, and Rob, real quick on that. Um, just to give you a heads up, that was on the agenda under legis legislative reports, letters, and support opposition. So, next time in if you have that letter to read, please and we'll call you up for Jay and you can discuss it then. Thank you.

Okay. And I apologize, Mr. Kazowski, for the interruption. Where we at? All right. Any more public comments?

Hi, my name's Annabel Burke and I live here in Cloverdale. Um, I wanted to talk about water a little bit. Um, the Colorado River Compact, um, the LA Times on yesterday actually said that it was in dire straits. There's very little snowfall on the mountains this year and that they have come to the seven states have come to no resolution at all. And the date that they the government might decide for everybody is October 1st. That's sort of tentative. And the other thing is that I I saw that um the environmental groups of in Northern California and the tribes are suing the federal government for wanting to take the federally run aqueduct in California. They want to take it all the way down to LA. So that would be the removal of from the central valley uh between 20 and 30% of the water. And so um that was also yesterday that they decide to have a lawsuit against them. So I'm quite concerned that um the project of Esmeralda is um it was really huge. Um, I don't know how many apartment buildings and houses you've built in this time that I've been here. U, but seems like a lot. And I don't know how much water they use compared to how much water you have. And since we're not at the the the where the water starts, um, we kind of have to be really careful because everyone's just going to take what they need and then pass on the rest if there's anything left over. and we really don't know what's going to happen with the dam and decommissioning of

that. So, um, and also I felt like there was absolutely really terrible the way that we didn't get any time to comment on Ezra Moralda when it was there in the town hall meeting. It was they got so much time and we got so little time and it's really an important and it's will I believe will impact Cloverdale completely. Um, I can remember when I I was I'm 75 and when I was a child, we used to come through here because my parents, my grandparents lived in Fort Bragg and I loved it. I can remember there was a store, I forget the name of it, Goodman's or something. They had a big Coca-Cola bin out in front that was filled with ice and and soft drinks. And it was so wonderful to throw my arm down in there as a child and pull out one of those sodas. And it was one of the neatest memories I have of this place. And um the other one was that there was a a up the road from here there was a big water trough and above the water trough was a place that it was a pipe and we always stopped there cuz we had dogs and stuff and we were getting car sick so we stopped there and it was shady and we could get a drink out of that water pipe. And I actually know the person in this family I have to stop. um know the person next door is the family that owned the store and I met the man on Vista View that used to own the property and he pointed it out where the water trough used to be. So that's kind of cool. So anyway, I'm really worried that we don't get to say so in this whole thing and it will really people love the quiet here and it will absolutely transform this place so that to be unlivable as far as I'm concerned not that just one place but it opens it up. Thank you. Any other public comment?

Katya. Um, so I was gung-ho when I came to the meeting today to start the meeting off and set the tone, but then I was beat out by my peers. And um, I think it it was for a reason, honestly. Um, I'm grateful that it looks like hopefully now, well, not hopefully, but it looks like now I might be the last one to comment. Um, so I kind of want to reiterate what was said, right? There's obviously a lot of concerns. There's a lot of unknowns and sitting in those chairs, I hope we're keeping up with what's going on in the world and all of the uncertainties and the feelings that not only us, but a lot of like everybody is h having because of everything that's going on in the world, right? So, I kind of want to encourage you to take a step back. And first of all, personally, I'm going to do it right now. I'm going to take a step back. I'm grateful that I got to grow up in this awesome little small town. I'm grateful that it's a small town because I think that actually gives us a lot of power to set us set ourselves aside and prepare ourselves for the uncertainties that are to come. You guys are the ones sitting on that chair. So, I just can't stress that enough. Yeah. To So I actually I'm I kind of want to There's a lot that I want to reiterate, but to go off of what Mr. Kazloski Closki

said. Um I'm sorry, but that train station is older than I am. It hasn't seen a train. I think if my memor is correct at some point it was like rejudged. It still hasn't seen a train. Cloverdale has paid enough to say the least for that station and it still hasn't seen a train and we're still contributing to it and now you're asking to contribute even more to plan for a potential extension of a different station when that station still hasn't seen a train. Puzzling. Puzzling. Now the tone I wanted to set was part sorry it's going to take a little bit longer than 20 seconds but I wanted to uh start the meeting by reading you the mission deliver exceptional public services while preserving Cloverdale's character natural beauty including water and inclusive small town spirit

to be a healthy let me interrupt you real quick diverse and family centered We need to wrap it up. That honors its heritage while embracing sustainable growth and opportunity, excellence, equity, efficiency, integrity, innovation, transparency, sustainability. We act with integrity, communicate openly, seek creative solutions, support a a thriving community, use resources responsibly, work towards equality, and strive for equality and professionalism in all we do.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Okay, we'll close public comment. We have written comments. Uh they are part of the record. If people would like to see them, they're in the agenda. Um student liaison report.

Hi, I am Bisa Cardinz. Um for the Cloverdale High School uh combining last week and this week we have had four FFA field trips, one child development field trip, one AVID field trip, and one senior field trip. Seven scholarship opportunities are available for seniors to apply for. The WACAC Sonoma County College Fair is taking place today from 6 to 8 at Pioneer High School in Santa Rosa. And yearbooks are available for sale for $70. Baseball has two away games, one today and the other is on Friday. Softball had one away game on Tuesday and one one home game this Friday. And tennis has one away g had one away game on Tuesday and will have one home game this Friday. Um track and field will be gone Saturday for a track meet for the Jefferson Jefferson just had read across America um which is where their librarian has local community members sign up to go and read two classes. The official kickoff of their PTA readathon fundraiser was last week. Um, Monday, March 16th, and Tuesday, March 17th, TK and first grade will have leprechaun trap fairs. Wednesday, March 18th, the family literacy night event will take place from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. And for Washington Middle School, um, their progress report grades are in Aries for parents to view. The eighth graders will be going to Angel Island on March 16th and the fifth graders will be going to the water plant treatment on March 19th.

Awesome. Thank you very much. Any comments from council? None. Okay. Thank you. All right. Let's move into proclamation. First one is American Red Cross Month. That wasn't your first one. Isn't Oh, it isn't. Oh, I'm sorry. Pardon me. I skipped down to one. First one, we're going to do National Surveyors Week. D item D1,

a proclamation of the city council of the city of Cloverdale declaring March 15 to 21, 2026 National Surveyors Week in Cloverdale. Whereas surveying has been an an essential element in the development of the human environment since the beginning of recorded history and it is a requirement in the planning and execution of nearly every form of construction with its most familiar modern uses in the fields of transport, building and construction communications mapping and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership. And whereas in order to accomplish their objectives, surveyors use elements of engineering, physics, mathematics, astronomy, law, history. And whereas since the colonial days of the United States, surveyors have been leaders in the community, statesmen, influential citizens, and shapers of of cultural standards. Former notable surveyors include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, and Henry David Thuro among many others. And whereas many services are now provided through the use of sophisticated surveying equipment and techniques including satellite remote sensing devices and automated positioning, measuring, recording, and plotting equipment. And whereas in Cloverdale, the work of professional land surveyors supports reasonable planning, land stewardship, and community development, helping ensure that growth, infrastructure improvements, and preservation of Cloverdale's rural and natural character are carried out with accuracy and care. And whereas the establishment of the week of March 15 to 21st, 2026 as the National Surveyors Week is a fitting tribute to all surveyors. Now therefore

be it um proclaimed that March 15 to 21st, 2026 is designated as National Surveyors Week in the city of Cloverdale and residents are encouraged to recognize and appreciate the work of professional land surveyors and their contributions to our community dated March 11, 2026. So ordered by the mayor, Brian Wheeler. Do we have a recipient? Okay. Bruce Johnson, professional. There we go. Bruce, would you mind getting a picture with the council? Not as long as you don't mind getting a picture with me. Hey, no problem.

Thank you very much, mayor, council members for this recognition on behalf of the Sonoma County chapter of the California Land Surveyors Association. We do appreciate it. And it is notable that the first three names mentioned as former known surveyors are also pres former presidents of the United States. And on Mount Rushmore, we like to joke that there's three surveyors and some other guy. So, thank you very much. Awesome.

I come up Thank you very much, Bruce. My father was a civil engineer. He did all kinds of Yeah. Back in the day when civil engineers could survey,

right? I'll do an hour. Okay, thank you. All righty. All righty. Now we will roll into that second one which is for the Red Cross. All right. A proclamation of the city council of the city of Cloverdale declaring March 2026 American Red Cross Month. Whereas the people of Cloverdale exemplify a strong humanitarian spirit coming together in times of crisis to support one another as demonstrated by the dedicated volunteers, donors, and supporters of the American Red Cross. Whereas since its founding by Clara Barton at 145 years ago, the American Red Cross has remained committed to preventing and alleviating human suffering, a mission carried forward by volunteers in Cloverdale and across the nation who provide disaster relief, blood donations, military support, life-saving training, and international aid. And whereas volunteers serving with the Northern California coastal region of the American Red Cross provide vital assistance during emergencies by delivering shelter, food, and comfort after disasters, supporting a safe and life-saving blood supply for patients facing facing serious medical conditions, assisting military members, veterans, and their families with global support, and empowering individuals with

life-saving skills such as first aid and CPR. Whereas these acts of compassion and service bring relief, comfort, and hope when help cannot wait, reflecting the enduring strength of communities like Cloverdale and the shared commitment to care for one another. Whereas the city of Cloverdale recognizes the extraordinary dedication of Red Cross volunteers, blood donors, and supporters whose humanitarian efforts ensure that no one faces an emergency alone. And now therefore, be it proclaimed that March 2026 is designated as Red Cross Month in the city of Cloverdale and all residents are encouraged to recognize and support the humanitarian mission of the American Red Cross and the individuals in our community who make that mission possible. Dated March 11th, 2026. So ordered Brian Wheeler, the mayor.

Awesome. Thank you. two of us today. Hey, could you turn the mic on real quick? Just hit the button and so it turns green there. Thank you, sir.

There we go. All right. So, the second person was supposed to show up, but unfortunately, she said, "My chickens have gotten out and I need to go do that first." So, I said, "I don't mind. I'm from Santa Rosa. I'll come on up." Um, so Red Cross, as you know, has been around forever. Um, I've been doing Red Cross for about three or four years. Um, what I do is it's called DAT, which is disaster action team. When somebody has a fire or natural disaster, Red Cross shows up and helps pick them back up and say, "Look, somebody's here to help." And to see those faces is what really, really makes it for me. Um, and to help out. When they think all is lost, Red Cross shows up and says, "We're going to help you. Don't worry." And that may be in the form of money. It may be in the form of um different ways to help out, you know, to get you more things to get, you know, get back on your feet. Um, I also do what's called SAF, which is services to the armed forces. Um, I was never in the military, but what we do in that is, uh, Red Cross can get you in touch with, say your son, uh, ships off or grandma passes away and well, they're out of, you know, they're out of the war or out at military. So, Red Cross can step in and say, we can get you a letter to that. We are on every single base except in Russia. So, we have ways to get notices to people. Um, we can ask, hey, can they come home to for grandma's funeral or someone's funeral? Now, it comes down to the military if they decide no, we can't let them go or maybe we could, but they have ways to get back to us. Um, we also have um we support our our veterans, which I have a few pamphlets, which I'll pass. Um, help out our veterans or anybody in the military. If they're trying to get through the bureaucracy or either need help, they can call Red Cross and Red Cross will show up and say, "What can we do to help?" If you need to get to a doctor's appointment, we'll get you to that doctor's appointment. Um I also do, we also do um uh sound the alarm, which what we'll do, excuse me, we will come in and pretty much put smoke alarms at no charge um and get people a plan um for in case of in case of a fire um and

what to do. So there are a ton more things. We do CPR courses. Um we do also blood drives. Uh the way we make our money to help people is donations and blood drives and CPR classes. Um we don't keep barely any of that. I think we only have one person who actually is getting paid in our Red Cross and that's our lead. Everybody else is all volunteer. Um and that's the way we love it. So that's pretty much about it for Red Cross. There's a ton more you can go on our website and see more about us, what we do, and what we can do to help. Cool. Thank you very much. Any questions from the or comments from the council? Thank you, Steve, for accepting the uh proclamation today and just want to thank all the uh volunteers at Red Cross. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Anything you good? That it I have one question for you. Um sir, I know I know we've done this for about 3 years and and gladly give out the proclamation. My question is um is there any at any point in the future that the Red Cross for your blood drives may be expanding their Yeah. What happened is we are on the outskirts of the blood drive bus, right? Um and so we are trying to work and get more down here is just taking time. Um and getting the higher up to say yes because we have one blood company here already

and so getting Red Cross to come out here more is what we are working on right now. They're in Marin. Um cuz we team up we teamed up with Marin and uh us um and so we are slowly getting bigger. They're combining a lot of things together but we will eventually get blood drives down here. It just is going to take some time. Thank you very much. And also thank you uh for I have uh family that works at the Veterans Administration and I know that you guys do a lot of work with them. So glad to have my mentor. Matter of fact, she actually goes out and tries to reunite families that have been lost in a war. Outstanding. And helps out that way and it works wonderful. It's so nice to see that. I'll be down at the Sono Air Show this week um later on this year um helping out.

Perfect. Would you like to get a picture with council? All right. Sure. And she also has a packet of what we give to our members when they when they lose the house or when they have a disaster. She had to open. Thank you so much for helping us. Got it. One, two, three.

All right. Thank you so much. All right. You take care. Have a good day. Have a good week. Thank you. Have a good week. Take care. Still at the same time. Thank you. Good luck. All right, that's right. Back on top. Ready to move into item D3. Citizen Cloverdale Citizen Recoation Program.

Mayor, the citizen recogn Recognition Program. This month was my turn to choose a citizen. This is a program that we started to recognize people that aren't always in the spotlight but mean something to Cloverdale and we don't want to um take advantage of the services they've offered or things that they've done for our community and we want to keep them in Memorial Forever. Um I chose since we just uh had an amazing cold case solved for Sarah Anne Gear who was a teenager who was murdered in our town in the 80s. Um, I had chose her for my recipient. However, the family asked if I could hold off and do this after the sentencing of the convicted murderer. So, I am asking the council if we can table this item until after sentencing, which I think is early May at this point. And if it doesn't get delayed, we we can do it after that. Is that okay with the council?

Good. Thank you. I'll let the family know. I appreciate it. Okay. E item E or item D3 citizen recognition will be tabled until uh further notice. All right. Item E E1 ebike survey results presentation from Chief Parker.

I need questions. Mayor, council women, council women and men, uh, city manager, clerk, just so you know, the clerk did do the survey. I'm required to tell you that. Um, so I I put together a little a quick slide on uh ebikes and e- scooters. Um, I'll kind of go through it with you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. slide. So, we did a the survey back in end of last year sometime. I asked uh u uh Mike to to put out a survey. Um cuz we were uh our SKEA group, the the police chief's association, we kind of kicking around ideas on we've all been having issues with ebikes. Um and uh with enforcement uh the other jurisdictions are having a lot lot more problems than we are but um it's it's really a widespread issue. Uh so what what is an ebike? Uh it's a battery operated uh with electric motors um that provides assistance when you when you pedal. Uh some of them are assisted, some of them are not. Um there are several different classification of ebikes depending upon the capabilities. Um if they don't meet the classification of the ebike then they're are motorized bicycle and our a license is required. Next slide. And so you'll you'll kind of figure out that the state does some weird things.

Um so one of the things is to ride a scooter an e e scooter you have to have a driver's license or a learner's permit. uh to ride an ebike. You do not. Um the the picture on the right, I don't know if that shows you on the right where it looks like a little motorcycle. Those are prevalent in our in our neighborhood and in Cloverdale. We've addressed a lot of those. I'll kind of get into that in a little bit. Uh but those are illegal to ride on the roadway. You cannot drive those on the roadway. Um so and here are the different classifications of the ebike. Uh so class one, two and three, you notice uh so class one um is doesn't have a throttle. Class two has a throttle uh and pedal assist. Class 3 just has pedal pedal assist. The maximum speed limit for class one and two is 20 mph and 28 mph for class 3. There's no minimum age for class one or two and there's a minimum age requirement uh for 16 and class 3. Um for helmets um anyone under 18 for class one and two are required to hel wear a helmet. Class 3 all ages have to wear a helmet. Um uh on sidewalks we do not allow uh bikes on sidewalks in the downtown corridor um or in any of the parks or open spaces. uh they are allowed on the on the street and bike paths. So, ebike incidents in Cloverdale. Um what kind of sparked the the uh the surveys? We I I always get a lot of people complaining about the recklessness of the juveniles basically riding ebikes and e- scooters, the speed at which they drive, the carelessness of which they um traverse the neighborhood.

Um, and all of them, almost all of them involving juveniles. Um, kids riding both scooters and ebikes to school. Uh, I we kind of addressed that issue. Um, I have some other ideas on how to deal with that. Um, uh, we did a uh traffic operation um at the Windsor or I'm sorry, at Washington School where we put an officer on each side of um the roadway. When the kids came out, officer stopped them and handled that, called parents, had the parents come out and deal with them and explain them the law of the uh their kid is not allowed to. There's no one there that has a driver's license. So the e scooters cannot be driven. Um ebikes can, but obviously you have to be a certain age if they're a class 3. So next day, no ebikes or e- scooters were on the on the premise. So, um, and so to to reiterate that, you know, we have an SRO coming in May. Um, I'm looking at him to do, uh, some safety classes on that um, with the kids in the in the at Washington particularly collisions. Um, we've had in the past, I went back a year and a half that we can find. Um, we've had uh four ebike collisions and uh two escooter collisions. Um, and I'm sure there's more than that that aren't reported. Um uh we had one today where group of kids riding scooters and ebikes uh called us and blamed us and blamed a driver passing by say that he hit the kid on the ebike. Well, it turns out he didn't hit the kid on the ebike, he actually hit a curb. So there's false reporting and then their parents deal with that and we give them the your kids

not supposed to be riding certain ebikes or scooters. Uh and so education was the key there. Uh over the same time period, we stopped 37 ebikes and e- scooters for various violations and um also uh we tackle those issues with the vehicle code. Um the vehicle code is kind of, you know, the catchall with these uh bikes. Once they hit the roadway, they're considered a vehicle. Um, and then we can get them for stop sign violation, speed, uh, driving the wrong way, fade at a signal, and there's all kinds of different things that we can deal with, um, when a bike hits the roadway. Um, so, uh, what we did to educate the public, uh, so we've done officer trainings and briefings on it. Um, we've put out, uh, social media posts. We've put out, um, uh, literature in the connect, in the newspaper. Um, I vis visited the school and talked to the entire Washington school at once, uh, about scooters and safety. Um, and then obviously we did direct enforcement, education, uh, safety when we do that. And there's there's there simply some parents that just don't they don't they don't care. Um, and so there's a way to address that, too. Um so the recent legislation AB875 allows for the empowerment of the ebike or e scooter uh under certain certain certain conditions. Um um the the mandate for helmets. Um one of the key is their parental liability. So 273A is child endangerment. If a kid is riding the wrong class of ebike and gets in an accident, he doesn't have a hel helmet on, well, we can then go after the parent for child endangerment for allowing that kid to ride that ebike and

get in the get involved in that accident, which is huge. Um, in July this year, July 1st, all the new ebikes will have to be permanently labeled class one, class 2, class 3 when they're sold, which I mean, you can't tell what it what class it is just by looking at it. there's no no way you could tell u just by looking at it. That's why the vehicle code for us is is key and for other jurisdictions as well. Um I think Windsor had something like 150 some odd collisions involving ebikes and scooters just to kind of give you a comparison when I talked to their chief police chief out there. Uh so the survey I just pulled out some questions that were answered in the survey that were I thought were notable. There's there's more questions that were asked. Um, and this one, uh, this one, what classification ebike do you use? Most of most people don't know. They just don't know what what kind of what class it is. Um, this one, should uh should we adopt the local ordinance uh to regulate ebikes user uh using the framework of AB875? Most of them said yes. Do you believe the age limit should apply to certain classes of ebikes in California? They said yes. Um, if you support age limits, what was the what was the minimum age for riders? And they said 16 years old. Um, the next highest was 14. What concerns do you have about ebikes and the use in Cloverdale uh speeds and unsafe unsafe driving? And then riders following the rules of the road. Uh so ongoing commitment we continue to collaborate with partnering agencies in the community uh i.e. the school um and ongoing um evaluations of resources

and ordinances u effectiveness uh again the vehicle code is is our bread and butter there. Um we do focus on education um we have confiscated bikes and cited kids. um for riding them. Uh I I personally saw one guy riding a uh one of the illegal escooters. Pulled up next to him, told him to get off the bike and take it home. Next day I'm at football practice coach and here he comes. So I sent one of my guys after him and uh they cighted him. Um so uh that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Uh we do know it's it's a it's a huge issue. We my guys are I preach to them every day. You know, if you see the ebikes, I just went to the the back to Washington school. U I saw one e scooter and a few uh like two I'm sorry, one ebike. Um and that didn't have a battery on it. They were pedaling. Um, so I know Windsor school district banned all um e- scooters and ebikes from from being on their property. Um, I do recommend that the the school does follow suit. Um, you know, I think I will curtail a lot and that's why I did the enforcement on Washington. Um, because, you know, if I if there's a problem, I'm not going to deal. I'm going to go out and deal with it if no one else wants to deal with it. Uh, so question, sir.

Any anybody in the public have comment on this real quick before bring it to council? I'm curious if there's been no fire activity. What? Who due to like the batteries here? Here. No, I don't I'm not aware of any fires as as you reiterate her question for the record. We need it on

Oh, she asked if there was any fires related to the batteries on the ebikes or e scooters. I'm not aware of those. I know there was an issue with the um I don't know what you call them, the the things you stand on with the batteries being plugged in all the time. Um I know there was an issue with those, but I'm not aware of any with the ebike scooters. None here anyway. Okay. Any comments from council? Thanks, Chief. Oh, we have one on their hand. I'm sorry. Katie is too fast. We need you to come to the I'll bring it

if you if you'd like to make a public comment. We need you to do it for the record on the um what is the purpose? Uh why can't they ride them to school? What's wrong with them? So, an e- scooter is illegal for kids that attend Washington. They don't have a driver's license or a a permit. There's no way they can get one. So, that's that's what Godamn. Okay. Sneak up on him. He like

Yeah. um more of a suggestion, I guess, maybe extending the information to also high schoolers. On my way over here, there was a softball game going and there was a whole gang of the illegal I think I saw one of the motorcycle looking ones and then definitely a few of the scooter ones on the grass behind the Washington just outside of that like the outfield right

I know exactly who you're talking about. Yeah, I know. I And I know their parents, too. And I if I catch a hold of them, um Okay, no more public comment. Any more? Okay, bring it to council. Council member Mark. Yes. Thank you, Chief Parker. Uh appreciate all the education and awareness that you're spreading around the ebikes. uh certainly think that this is something that with the technology of throttlebased bikes that uh you're going to see more of this.

Um I think it's going to spread because of the low impact regarding noise. Uh you know the low impact to the immediate environment um because you know you're not spilling oil anywhere. Certainly there's uh wider environmental um issues with the batteries. um thinking about uh any coordination through the county or partner agencies on a model ordinance that maybe can make things easier for people to abide by. So um it's not always different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Yeah. So we're kind of we're talking about that now with our uh police chief's association. Um the there was a pilot program I think in Marin that had um where they uh were referring PE kids or people that were cited or whatever they they could go to a class and then when they come back from the class they get their ebike back with uh when they completed it. There there's no one that does that now. There are they do it now online with CHP and u um uh the school what is it called um safe school. So you could take a course online now for CHP and safe school and they'll give you a certificate.

So I love that idea with education as far as kind of a warning. Um, you know, this is, uh, some of these issues kind of have sparked, uh, the ideas of having, uh, skate parks in the past because it was like maybe people are damaging the curbs down at the plaza. Uh, kind of the current issue here is now ebikes. So maybe as a city we can kind of think about u creation of a park space that would be um a place where where where youth can go ride these bikes safely and and in in an environment that's not maybe around a lot of cars. Yeah. So something for the council and all of us to consider.

Good good idea. We can bring that up for future agenda items. I kind of agree with you that um riding ebikes to school is just kind of not really important. I mean, you can ride a regular bike to school if you need to ride a bike. Yeah, most kids are doing that now. We've seen them. So, I Yeah, it's the uh the cart before the horse. So, when you

you know, and and ignorance of the law, right? So, it's tough to go to a 10year-old to a 15year-old kid and tell him you're breaking the law when he's just going to school, right? So, unfortunately, it looks like, like I say, the cart before the horse, you have all this technology packed into a scooter and now you're telling the kid you can't ride it. So, I don't know if there's is there any legislation pushed uh I don't know if if I heard it correctly that there may or may not be some kind of uh learner's permit or or some kind of certificate that the uh student and or teenager or young adult can take and verify that he's taken a course and he's doing it safely.

They're looking at that now on the state level and put some leg legislation through. I don't know if it's requiring a driver's license to ride an ebike or to go out and get a specific Well, I would imagine it would be it would be age appropriate learning based on uh you know to and from there's restrictions even with a learner's permit, right? So, there could be restrictions with the e e scooter for the for the student or the young adult to go to and from school and that's it basically, right? As long as he's he's got his certificate. So, I would like to see something like that come down the line. Yeah. I I I want to they should keep it consistent. If it's you needed a license for a ski scooter, get an e license for an ebike

and even makes it easy for the officers and enforcement and Yeah. Like so even if if we have to do some kind of a local ordinance to get ahead of it, right? And just just so that everybody is, you know, can acquies on what's going to happen because, you know, you're not everywhere all the time and kids are going to be like, "Mom, dad's not home. I'm taking my scooter out." All right. So, Chief, thank you. Michael, thank you for getting this done. Um, I'm just going to say education is key. Yeah, it's it this doesn't have to be punitive until it has to be.

So, I appreciate with the different classes and and people not understanding, educating the kids, educating the parents after that, and then getting punitive after they've disregarded you time. So, there's there's at least one parent that is I could probably I Yes, I I probably could name them, but uh thank you for all you're doing. I appreciate it. Thanks, Chief. Um my question is is for

for the people watching, for the public, too. What's our recourse? Like I know I go to I'm down at the parks quite a bit and and like Katia had mentioned, there's there's a gang of these kids that come down uh and I know they're not supposed to be on the parks. So, what's my recourse to grab them when I have five of them? And I'm telling you, some of these things are hopped up. They're doing way past 28 miles. Oh, yeah. You can buy kits online to soup them up. Oh, yeah. Cuz I guess my concern with the parks is I've seen and had a couple people complain that they've almost been hit.

And so, I said, "Hey, call the call the PD is what I'm saying." Um, but you know, that doesn't solve the pro the immediate problem of them staying there for another hour or two sometimes. And also is is they're starting to bring them out onto the uh they're on the grass. And I know at Ferber specifically, there's a lot of trails when it's wet down there. And I mean, every kid's going to do it. It's fun to get out in the mud and those things and spin a Brody. Well, you know, I'm glad Hector's not there because there's sections of the park that they can destroy pretty rapidly. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, I guess the recourse is just to call the PD.

Yeah. Call the PD. We'll come out there and deal with them. And then the other one it's coming up too and it has nothing to do with the ebikes but I see it's a vehicle code and I just want clarification on the operating offhighway vehicles. Are those the golf carts we're starting to see? Uh and the reason I'm asking I've seen young kids and yeah they can reach the pedals if it's on this but they're cruising around in in dad's golf cart. Oh yeah it's super nice but they're nice. Yeah they're not allowed and they we I know those people too. Yeah. there's not one stop sign being stopped at or something's going to happen, you know. So, yeah, I would recommend people have tried to drop my name. They've got the riot act for me. Awesome.

Uh, and I still officers you cite them regardless, you know. So, um, yeah, we're we're aware of those folks and we've talked to a number of people that with the golf carts, you can't be on the roadway, they can get cited, yada yada. Yeah. Well, thank you, Chief. And I think once again, like everybody said, and you know this is education is key on these, you know that and and tell them as much as you can. And if not, then hey parents, we're coming for you. So yeah, you're going to take a day off work and take your kid to court, pay a fine. Cool. Thank you, Chief. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Let me get back on here. All right, let's move into item F, consent calendar. Does anybody Is there anybody from the public want to pull anything off the consent calendar? Seeing none on council, anybody want to remove anything from seeing none, I'll move to approve items F1 through F6. Do I have a second? Second. All right, take a vote. All in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. Motion passes 5-0. All right, we'll move into new business H1.

Kevin, did you Susie's going to handle this? Okay. Thank you, Susie. Um,

so we're here tonight to consider a request from Eric's performance transmission auto transmission and auto. I think I think that's um to adjust his water and sewer bill. Um in January, at the beginning of January, he came back after the new year and saw that his water was streaming across his driveway and going into the creek. He turned off the water, fixed it, um but it had been going for four or five days like that, and his um invoice ended up being $1,800. Normally I would come to you and say, "Can we write off the difference between his sewer? It didn't go according to the picture and um and his testimony that it didn't go into the sewer. It went into the river. So can we write that off?" However, he does um point out some extenses that we had been out working on the meter. um at a part that didn't affect his line a couple weeks before and he's wondering if maybe that is what caused the crack that caused the leak from the water in the first place. And so I'm today we're asking for you to consider either going back and giving him credit back to what his normal um usage is for both water and sewer or giving him the credit for the sewer back to his average or deny the entire thing and he can do a payment plan. but he is here with us tonight and um I'm sure you'll have questions. Well, I'm not sure. I'm assuming that you'll have questions and he's here to answer any questions that you might have.

Okay. Okay, council. I can wait till after the um

sorry, Eric Liddell. Yeah, Eric Liddell. Eric You have any questions? No. Um, I was wondering if you were going to make a statement.

Yeah. So, um, the water bill went from like $54 to $1,800 and, uh, I got to work on Monday morning, the 6th of January, and there was water running across the driveway into the creek. So, I shut the water off. Um, saw where the leak was coming from about 2 ft down, about 2 ft from the meter. I fixed it. And, uh, at that point in time, I didn't know how long it had been leaking because it had been raining for like 4 days straight prior to that. So, then I got the bill and that's why I started this whole process. Um, and like Susan said, I'm not saying it was anybody's fault or anything. The pipe that broke was on my side obviously, but uh prior to this, which they water department probably has the record of this, um I'd gone out to check the mail and there was water um coming up out of the box. So, I called it in. They came out and said that the it was either the meter or the fitting that the meter goes to had broken. And so, they said it wouldn't affect my bill. And it didn't because that was prior to that. Um, but then where the brake was on my side was only a couple feet from the box. And I'm not saying that they caused it to break, but that pipe on my side might have been already, you know, old and just wiggling it might have caused that, you know, to fracture all the way. Um, I have the broken pipe there, schedule 80 pipe that was broken. So, um, I went ahead and fixed it. Um, that's where I'm at now. None of that water went into the sewer. It went uh right next to the sidewalk across my driveway into the creek that's right behind the shop. So, none of it was into the sewer. Um and I'd asked Susan when I got here. Um I was wondering, you know, with the automatic meters and all that and that amount of usage, is there like an alert system that would say, "Hey,

his water's gone up, you know, 100 times what it was average normally." And I guess the person that reads it was on vacation for um New Year's. So they didn't when they got back I'd already fixed the water. So the water had been running for I don't know four or five days. I don't even know how long before I addressed it. So I guess that's what I'm here for is to try to see if I can get the bill down the best that I can. So that's what I'm asking. Okay. Um thank you for that information. I certainly think there's two instances that do bring some attention and one is the work that was done

on the meter. Um I can't say one way or another if that caused it, but I certainly think that could have been a factor. Um, also uh with our detection system, this is an investment that went into our system to have this early detection and that was to benefit um our users to make sure that people don't incur a bill like this and uh you know if somebody is on vacation then that system's not working for for our users. So um I certainly think those are two factors to absolutely consider. Uh I certainly think um adjusting the bill to remove the sewer charges is I would completely green light that. Um the other two factors um I would may I would throw out to maybe table those charges until um we can investigate that if there's investigation that can be done.

No, that's awesome. I think you were very conscientious and you fixed it as soon as you knew there was the leak and it really wasn't your fault that the person was on vacation. So, um I'm kind of leaning towards you um just paying your normal bill because you took care of the leak as soon as you knew about it and it's not your fault that nobody alerted you. So, that's what I'm thinking.

Well, thank you, Council Member Laskkey. Yeah, I appreciate your due diligence there. We've had other uh residents come forth uh in writing only to uh get an adjustment and we weren't able to hear their side of the story with complete disclosure. So, I appreciate you coming forward today and I appreciate you, you know, hands-on obviously getting in there and and fixing the problem. So, uh, uh, I would recommend, uh, full adjustment to the historical average would be my my take. Thank you.

Yeah, I'm going to reiterate what Council Member Laskkey just said. Um, this is the way it should be done and we appreciate what you're doing and and I think that the city needs to do their job as well on this that accidents happen. You handled it as soon as possible. don't need to put blame on anybody, but I know that we have had issues with the installation of a lot of meters in our town. We have a lot of old infrastructure. Things happen and uh that schedule 80 pipe doesn't break easy, especially the way that you're showing it. So, that could have been a lot of different factors. Um I would recommend the historic average on this one as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much for uh and like you said, I mean, I can I can sit up here and and parrot what these guys are saying, but Eric, thank you very much. I mean, when somebody sees something, they get in there and fix it. Due diligence, that's exactly how it should be done. And also, uh, like Council Member Laskkey said, come up, actually stand here in front of us and give us give us the play by place. We know exactly what went on. I really appreciate that. Appreciate that. So, uh, I'm also in agreeance of of back to the uh, historical average right there. Well, thank you. So, I think that's how we had to go. Yeah. Yep. Can we have a motion? Yep. Do we have a motion to

Can I make a just a last minute comment? Um I do think those two factors are absolutely um something that would affect a decision like this. Um one of the conversations we had during the last time an adjustment came to council was setting a president and um the concern about that is um if there were I would be happy to make an adjustment if these things were a little investigation was done. So, um that's the comment that I would want to make. I do support uh the adjustment for the sewer charge. Um so, I think because my thought is to table it. Um if we're taking a vote today, um I would just abstain from this vote. I'd like to make a motion to adjust the water bill for Eric's performance to meet the average water cost under the historic average water and sewer total uh of $141.70.

I second that motion. Okay. Now, his historical average right here is $80.35 for water, 6135 for sewer for a total of 14170. Correct. The overage is the 1205. Bring to a vote. All in favor say I. I. All oppose say nay. Anybody want to abstain? Abstain. Motion passes 401 abstension.

Eric, thank you all right for being here and being so conscientious. All right. Thank you very much.

All right, let's move into H2. Consider downtown entertainment zone concept.

Thanks, Mayor Council. Um, I'll do just a little intro and then Mike's been working really hard on this, so he's put together a PowerPoint. So, uh, we'll turn it over to him. But SB969 enacted this year, January 1st, allowed cities to create what they're calling entertainment zones. And, um, I think it started in San Francisco, and now it's statewide. Uh just really briefly, what this does is it allows a city to define a geographic area somewhere in the town where you can have open containers under many different circumstances. There's plenty of opportunities to put rules in place, which Mike will go through. That's the that's the, you know, the high level of it. Uh that would means people can walk out of a restaurant or a bar um with a drink. And Mike will get into a lot more detail, so I don't want to like repeat what he's saying. just some of the benefits is um could be increased revenue for local businesses, you know, create a downtown a stronger downtown economy, could encourage tourism. Um and uh well, we're just here to ask you how you feel about this. We have a couple next steps if you support it. If you don't, that's obviously fine, too. But uh we're just going to be asking for the next step would be to meet with the business community and see how they feel about it. So, Mike,

thank you, Kevin. So, I'm gonna you're going to see me going through two computers, so bear with me. Um, so basically, I'm going to go through this as briefly as possible, but an entertainment zone is a designated area where adults can legally consume alcoholic beverages outdoors within a defined boundary. Entertainment zones, as uh city manager Thompson stated, can improve downtown vitality by encouraging foot traffic, expanding nightlife and cultural activity, creating safe and managed areas for outdoor alcohol consumption, and serves an economic development supporting factor supporting local businesses, and activating public spaces during peak hours and community events. As you know, Sonoma County is famous for its local craft beer and wine production. However, the beer and wine community are struggling economically, and due to a decline in sales and consumption industrywide, this zone is the city's potential attempt to help support the downtown businesses and recapture some of those lost sales revenues and encourage tourism downtown. Next slide, Mike. So, the vision and the goal, the intent of the entertainment zone is not to create a party in the streets. Um, some people have, you know, brought it up like a Vegas or something like that. And that's that's not the intention here. It's to provide a relaxed community oriented downtown environment. Cloverdale is typically quiet in the evenings and in the afternoons. And the concept is intended to introduce safe vitality, vibrancy, and tourism to the area. As I said, the zone would allow patrons to finish a beverage outside, enjoy the park plaza area, walk between businesses, shop, and spend time downtown. Participation by businesses would be voluntary and regular act and regular activations would not introduce additional noise such as amplified sound or additional entertainment programming. The initiative aligns with city economic goals of creating and sustaining a vibrant livable environment for clover aliens while bolstering commercial activity and retail and businesses.

So, a little background. Um, so what makes this allowable? As Kevin stated in California, Senate Bill 969 passed a few years ago, but it's effective January 1st, 2025 authorizes cities to establish entertainment zones that allow adults to consume alcoholic beverages on public streets, sidewalks, plazas, or public rideways within a defined boundary during approved times in compliance with ABC laws and city regulations. Um, I want to be very clear in this that entertainment zones are not citywide. They are specifically defined and mapped areas that is managed and monitored to ensure public safety and regulatory compliance. Some of those key requirements that SB969 requires and the city must adopt a local ordinance to establish the zones. The city must consult with law enforcement on zone boundaries, operating days and hours, and public safety considerations. The city must conduct a bianial review of the zones operations and impacts. Eligible participants include on-sale licenses, wine growers, and beer manufacturers located within the zone. Participating businesses must provide annual notification to ABC. And the following information um must be defined by the council and the city. Methods to readily identify patrons who are 21 or older. Clear identification of the entertainment zone boundaries. Approved days and hours. Types of alcohol beverage permitted. and approved non-glass and non-metal containers for alcohol consumptions. Um there are a few examples of cities. This is just a few quite um quite a few cities have already enacted this. I brought these ones to our attention primarily because they're different sizes, but they're also doing it differently. They're it's kind of just explained to the council that you have a lot of um weight on how you want to set this up basically. So you can see here like San Francisco for example, they only activate it during entertainment zone events. Sacramento does similar. Santa Monica does Friday through Sunday 11 to 10:00 p.m. Reading does it daily

10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Suen City activated during approved special events 12 to 11. And Santa Rosa or the most local one I could find is in the process of implementing a similar pilot program right now more similar to the Santa Monica Friday through Sunday. There's it's a two-pronged approach. Um imple implementation um first being an ordinance like as I said permitting entertainment zones to be established in town setting the days, hours and boundaries and the second part being a management plan. The plan is more comprehensive. It can be more restrictive on the days, hours, boundaries, etc. It details the regulations and it can be admin administratively by the city manager or department director. So, that brings us to the fun part of this. With all that said, here's our proposed zone with the activation times. As you can see, the boundary generally follows the downtown zoning district where the bars, breweries, tasting rooms are concentrated while avoiding exclusion of potential participating businesses. Um, basically, it's hard for me. I can't see that map from here, but from about Citrus Fair Drive to include the railroad station all the way down um is that East Third down there? Yeah,

I can't see the map from my angle. um captures the park and it goes down First Street to basically be where you know Wolf House, the be different um those types of establishments are in the downtown corridor instead of um we'll get into it later, but um what we suggesting right now, staff is suggesting is similar to the other jurisdictions of the Friday through Sunday, maybe 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Again, all of this is up to council's discretion, but that's our current just general proposal um to semi stay in line with what other communities are doing, municipalities are are introducing in Sonoma County. Um so there's two zone types that we could um look at. Primarily standard activation, which like I said is Friday through Sunday, 12 to 10 within defined downtown entertainment zone. Um, major community events could remain separate from standard activation, and we'll talk about that in a second. Um, or there's a possibility, and this is something many cities look at, our signature event activations, activations, excuse me. The zone may be expanded during a major community event like a parade, the car show that don't align just with this zone. You could have it a little longer or a little different based on the footprint or boundary of that event. And that would be a signature event activation. Um those are just suggestions or ideas that you can uh at your disposal. Management and operation um concepts basically speaking of that plan their aspects um cups ID verification and signage that all aligns with the bill. Um so this is something that would also be at council's discretion. How do we want to indicate this is the boundary physically? Do we want signs? Do we want to paint it on the ground? Do you want to have I know we have the translation in the way, but some folks have put um different little indicators that are, you know, stuck to the ground or stuck to an area. There's a bracelet idea, excuse me. And

plastic cups is primarily the recyclable plastic cups allowed. As I said, metal and um reusable are not or sorry, reusable plastic cups are allowed. Moving to the next slide. Um while staff um primarily me hasn't done a comprehensive outreach to date, we haven't done any surveys. We haven't reached out to the entire business and community because we wanted to see what council wanted first. We didn't want a lot of buy in if it's not something the council's interested in. Kind of a cart before the horse. But what we did do, we met with represent representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the Cloverdale Arts Alliance, uh Wolf House Brewery, several downtown patrons, and um we have a few a public comment is attached to this item received from a local business owner. Based on my conversations with those folks, um, some business owners indicated that increased foot traffic could create additional opportunities for small businesses, noting the potential to strengthen the local economy while enhancing the welcoming, walkable atmosphere of downtown. Some suggested the zone could create opportunities for more creative or exper experiential downtown destinations. Some establishments expressed significant interest in participating, noting the ability for patrons to enjoy their products in the plaza and downtown, such as picnicking, activating spaces that are otherwise quiet outside of our scheduled events. Some event organizers have expressed concerns that uh allowing outside alcohol during events could affect their vendor sales and event revenue, things like Friday Night Live or events put on by the chamber where they rely on their bar. So that's uh something that we want council to consider. Um as I said, some event organizers rely on alcohol sales to support their events to address their concern. One option would be to simply not activate the zone during certain events. So for example, if the arts alliance feels that it may, you know, negatively impact their event, then we could in the management plan say that okay, it's Friday through Sunday unless there's Friday night live or maybe it's only

Saturday and Sunday, so it won't affect Friday Night Live. There's so many different patterns and methodologies that we can go through. Um the goal of this is to enhance economic development, not hurt any of our current programs or um other participants. So ultimately, again, this something council may want to consider when providing direction. Next, I'm going to go to the safety and enforcement section, which is um obviously paramount. As required by the bill, staff met with the police department, namely Chief Parker, to discuss the concept to which the department indicated support. the zone activations wouldn't would trigger no change to current practices in that no additional staffing is available and regular downtown patrol coverage would continue and that event coverage would not change. It is also worth noting the police station's proximity to the zone provides increased response capabilities. Um is there anything you'd like to add chief? I would uh you know so what I do obviously I'm uh cautious about open containers in public uh but I'm always willing to try it and to see if it works. I think we have to be smart about it if we're doing it. Uh obviously we need a lot do a lot more work with it especially to get buy in from the stakeholders. Um um you know so uh I think the timing uh for me is uh we don't affect the the special events like Friday Night Live and hurt their their um bottom line uh Winterfest and the other events that we have going on. Um and I think it needs the the message with their the community. They need to understand okay today is a entertainment district day. it can't fluctuate because we do it on one day, we don't do it on another day. You know, people get confused. Unfortunately, becomes confusing. Um, so but we just need to be consistent and cautious how we move forward. But I'm always willing to try new things. If it

doesn't work out, we can always, you know, get rid of it. So,

thank you, Chief. Um, next, I did put in an FAQ. These were some questions that we assumed council and the public have had. I know there's there was a post on the community page um in Cloverdale and these were um this hopefully addresses some of them. I'm going to go through them very quick um but they are available online and on your iPads. Why is the city proposing this? It like I said is to support downtown vitality and tourism and encourage foot traffic. Is the city encouraging more drinking? Um alcohol consumption already occurs within licensed establishments downtown. The entertainment zone simply allows patrons to carry those beverages outdoors within controlled and regulated area. Um, who is allowed to sell alcohol is a big one. Only businesses that already hold qualifying alcohol licenses within the zone. On sale lences, wine growers, beer manufacturers. This isn't a go into the liquor store, get a bottle, go to the plaza, drink it. That's not how this entertainment zone works. You h It's a brewery. It's a restaurant. Things like that. Um, why only Friday through Sunday? Those hours are just an initial proposal intended to activate downtown during the most common visitation periods, but council can definitely adjust the days and hours and if the concept moves forward however they see fit. Um, how do you prevent underage drinking? ID is checked at the point of sale. Would the zone allow beer, wine, and spirits that cities decide which types of alcoholic beverages are allowed within when they adopt the ordinance? Um, the next slide here is continued. How do we stop people from leaving the zone with drinks? The zone will be clearly marked with signage or entry at entry and exit points. Um, containers are identifiable and enforcement would be similar to how open container laws are enforced today. Can people bring alcohol from home or the liquor or grocery store? No. How is the zone enforced? Regular police patrol coverage would continue. What if businesses do not want to participate? And again, participation is completely voluntary. What happens if it causes problems? The program can be adjusted through the

management plan and the ordinance requires a bannual review. Also, we can always just do a pilot program for a certain amount of time where it sunsets and we have to bring it back for council review. Um, and again, council always can create another ordinance if they want to. Can someone enter a shop while carrying a drink from the entertainment zone? Um, SP969 governs where alcohol may be carried in public spaces. It also does not prohibit a city from allowing businesses to opt in if they want to permit that. Council could allow businesses to opt in and permit beverages inside their establishment, but they would be that would be a local policy choice and would need to be defined in the ordinance or management plan. And not to put you on the spot, Alex, but if there's anything from a legal review perspective that you think that the council should be aware of from an FAQ, feel free to chime in. If not, we can move on. Perfect. So for council's consideration today, we're really looking for providing feedback on the concept itself. And then if you are interested in establishing an entertainment zone, we'd want you to provide staff direction to either a which is our staff recommendation, host an outreach session with eligible downtown businesses to address concerns, engage interest. If for example only one business is interested, there's not really a point in doing it. But if you know nine out of the 10 are, maybe there is um and we'd gauge that interest to bring that back to you and or you can just direct staff to pursue preparation of a draft ordinance and the management plan now and we can uh put that on a future agenda. So with that, see if there's anything else on here. N just our contact for myself and Kevin for members of the public and council. If you have any questions or comments, this is your opportunity to give us some direction.

Thank you. Um, personally I really like the idea. Uh, really I lean into simplicity. Certainly think outreach is a great idea uh with the business community downtown. I would also recommend checking with the businesses on the south side of town as um they would be affected by non-participation. Uh I think the chamber arts alliance and also citrus fair would be uh definitely uh good to include. Uh looking at the map, I would consider um adding to it to include uh Main Street between First and Broad Street. Just, you know, have uh Broad Street go to the kind of wrapping around to Wolf House to the plaza. And then also I would uh consider um commercial and First Street uh coming out of Citrus Fair. um just that one block of Commercial between the Citrus Fair and First Street and then just First Street between Commercial and um going adding that to the boulevard and also the intersection at Citrus Fair could be added uh because if Citrus Fair did participate uh those those exits would include those streets. Um, one comment I want to make, um, the when we created the map the way we did was partially thinking also where residential zones are that we didn't necessarily want to include those. Um, but potentially you could select designate one side of the street for what you were speaking of with Main Street. And we also didn't want to include the parking lot in front of the police station just for obvious reasons. But if we, you know, designate the sidewalks, that could be a potential zone. We just wanted to keep it away from residential housing. And

I guess that question comes into mind uh during other events that have happened in town that you do see people walking on these streets and so it's going to kind of be a natural flow. Um so it's like we can include it or not include it and then that becomes kind of you know could turn to a messy situation for not including it. Um

yeah, we definitely wanted to not we wanted to be as inclusive as possible with the potential establishments that can participate. Um, one of the reasons I didn't initially connect Citrus Fair drive was primarily I don't know the licensing that the fair has because of SB969 is very specific about who can um provide the alcohol. Um, but if that's something I don't I'd have to again reach out with them as part of that engagement and if they're a willing and able participant I would definitely think we should consider that section. It also would align with you know the fair route and parade route and all that kind of stuff. Absolutely. I just want to

Yeah, I'm I'm in support. I think uh simplifying it uh you know as far as st you know standard activation um you know if we can simplify it less signage less other things that might change over time. Yeah, what I got mortgage

I noticed a lot of people on Facebook are not happy about this at all and think it's a bad idea. So, I think somehow we have to really engage the public even if it's another survey because we're representing the public. So, if we all decide we want it and the public doesn't want it, we're really not listening to people. Um, I think if we do do it, beer and wine would be enough. Um, hard alcohol to me isn't necessary. And I actually would want to shorten it. I don't think we need to include the citrus fair. I think we could go all to First Street and not go beyond. And that way the police department would have an easier time. They could just walk around and you know police the situation rather than have to get in a car to go near Citrus Fair all the way to the other end to Third Street. Um I also think we should definitely um talk to the chamber and the arts alliance and make sure that we're not doing anything to step on their toes because it's important that they are able to make the money from their normal wine and beer sales.

Yeah, we definitely want to collaborate with them. Like we said, we we met with them initially. They gave us some of their concerns and we want to be able to address those in a collaborative way just to ensure that it's we don't want to affect them. We need to get the public on board because No, I agree. I looked at a lot of those posts too and um I think the assumptions of some of this zone were just unfortunately inaccurate or what they thought the zone was what we were recommending. Um, so I think some of that outreach, some of that education would definitely help as well as under once that understanding is there if it's something that's of interest from the public. So I'm definitely getting for any of that. Thank you, Council Member Blask.

So yeah, it looks like the uh the map kind of already co coincides with the winewalk, coincides with Friday Night Live. Uh going back to like Chief's investment in this, you know, you have the public walking around with open containers within the zone and people are pretty respectful of that I imagine. Chief, what what's our call volume on a Friday Night Live? Do do you have any It's nothing nothing related to that.

So that so and then on Winewalk, what's the call volume for people walking? There's zero. So, I I would think this pretty much aligns with the vision that we already have in uh in place. So, I I definitely be a supporter, but we would definitely need to educate the public on the uh the boundaries in the zone. And I heard I think I heard you say something about if there's special events like the parades expanding the zone.

That's just Yeah, it's a possibility if it's something council's interested in. Like, for example, um when Santa Rosa presented this to their council, they were separating it. They have their um normal activations on a regular schedule and then they have their signature events. Their city is a little larger than ours, so they're activating the zones in different areas of the city. Um and their parade routes don't even go down the downtown corridor. So they broke it up a little differently than where this um in a streamlined attempt was to capture the businesses that are eligible with our parade routes and those and the activities we already have. This has all the inklings of the looks like to be the Cloverdale crawl. You can get Santaon going on and whatnot. So,

and like I said, we are looking for tourism and Yeah. No, I Yeah, I mean, it's a great idea. It just like you say, just needs to be uh tuned in and dialed in and we would bring a comprehensive, like I said, management plan. So, the ordinance would be a little bit more bare bone, but the the plan would be very in-depth to capture every aspect of this that we can. and we would um lean heavily on Alex's uh writing skills for those both of those.

So, I'm still not sold. Um I don't think it's a bad idea, but it's it's a it's a big step in a different direction that I thought I'd be doing on a council. Um allowing um an entertainment zone for alcohol at certain times makes me a little bit nervous. um we're already understaffed with our police departments and it just draws that little bit more of attention to us, but that's also a good thing for tourism. So, um it's it's a very fine line that we have to walk. For me to be on board, I would have to have your outreach showing that all our businesses are on board because they're going to have a lot of liability in this. They're going to have a lot of people that are going to say, "Well, they didn't give me a wristband." They're going to be responsible for putting wristbands on people before they leave. So, are they now going to have to hire somebody at their door to make sure that they're leaving with the correct glass, the correct uh alcohol type in that glass, and that they are properly tagged. It's something that you're going to be adding to their features. So, it has to be worth it to them to uh put forth the extra workers. Um, I have other concerns, but I'll wait on those because I think we're kind of cart before the horse on a lot of this, and I'd like to hear what they have to say. Uh when it does come to the the mapping, I'll just give you a quick I think you've done a good job. I would actually take it down just a little bit. On Third Street where the boulevard meets on the west side, there's two homes. I don't think that we should include the homes in an entertainment zone because if we did, they could possibly do different things that would allow them to just throw big parties and be part of that with the alcohol under this. Um, I would worry about that at least m finding a loophole in in the argument for the uh ordinance. Also, same with Railroad Avenue where it reaches. Um, I don't know if I would be having it go over to the Citrus Fair and across the boulevard. That makes me a little bit nervous because what if there's a big party going on at the Citrus Fair? They could come out that that side gate and

everyone could just go right onto the boulevard with their cocktails. somehow they'll find a way to have the wristband have something to make it happen or or be complaining because they want to have that. If we just eliminate it at the beginning and it focuses on just our local businesses, it makes it easier so they're purchasing the alcohol. If if we don't do it that way, then we need to find a way for somebody like Bali Liquors to be able to give their patrons a plastic cup and a and a wristband before they leave the the liquor store because you're not including the same type of things and it could be looked at as discriminating. So, I'm still not on board 100%, but I would love to hear what the businesses have to say because they're the ones truly affected and they're the one and and the police department and between the two of them, if they came to me and said yes, I would get on board, but until I hear that, I'm not ready.

Perfect.

Mike, thanks for putting all this together. I'm uh I don't know. I'm I'm thinking about this and and I would like to see, you know, if we move forward this one is some outreach and definitely get on like I think the council is we've got to make sure our businesses are on board with this that that is the way it could work right there, you know, and so a little more outreach. Also, I'd like to bring in the we've got that uh economic um committee through the chamber. I think you got a lot of good folks on there and I think it'd be nice if not only just the chamber but involve those guys go. They have a lot of experience in this kind of stuff and some good backgrounds and I think if you ask them and get them involved in it, they could not only help with outreach, but I think they they are going to have some great ideas. As far as as far as the boundaries here, um my big concern is just keeping it away from residential. You know, I did a little research on this and looked it up and some of the big complaints, whether it be San Francisco, Reading, all these other places, that was one of the big complaints is it started to reach out into residential and the the zone ended at midnight and at 3:00 in the morning, they're still partying. So, I want to make sure that definitely doesn't happen. But, I want to encompass all our businesses if we decide to move forward. But, I'd be 100% on board with it. Like you said, to get a little more outreach, find out exactly downtown if this can happen. Cloverdale's noted right now, like I've said before, I've talked to a lot of folks in Windsor and they like to come up to Cloverdale for Friday Night Live. Um, they said Cloverdale is a fun place to be. I want to I want to capitalize on that. And if we get all these people involved, our businesses on board, I think we can make it work. I also think it'd be great once we get all that down is maybe try a pilot program and that will that will pacify the people that have the negative comments on there and actually see how it can work. maybe come to a sunset on that and then just bring it back to council. If it's working, then it's an easy vote from there. But I think we we do need to to maybe do a pilot program, see what

works. And uh I think I would be 100% on board with that until but until then I'd like to see a couple things happen, you know, the outreach and things like that. I'd also like to see like a year pilot program and that way we can check with our police department and say, "Hey, how's it going? Is this, you know, too rowdy? Is it too much trouble?" and we could check with our businesses and see and and the citizens and see how everybody feels about it.

So when we do the outreach um to the community and to the establishments that voluntarily may participate um if council can also discuss the timing like we just put Friday through Sunday 12 to 10 relatively arbitrarily copying some other cities could be in line with them but I want to more or less be pitching what council is looking to potentially approve. So, is the are these the dates and times that you're interested in for a pilot or is it would you prefer just Saturday and Sunday or like reading every day? I mean, there's so many options. So, I'm just I want to be able to make sure that I'm explaining to those folks what the city and council are looking at.

Overall, I like what's proposed. I think uh the outreach to the business community and uh definitely including the businesses that aren't participating and checking to see how they're affected as well. I think Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would be good for a start and we can always adjust maybe.

I think it should start later. I think Friday through Sunday is fine, but I think it should start at a later uh PM time. Uh the reason being is that's a it's a big amount of time and special events can ask for an extension through this. So that like if we're having the wine walk and it starts at noon, they can ask for that extension. But I think this shouldn't start until like a 3 p.m. type of thing because we don't want if people are going to be drinking in the middle of town, we don't want them drinking all day in the middle of town, unfortunately.

May um so I if uh a couple slides ago and and to be honest, this is not at the top of my radar. Uh I have a lot of things going on that that that are at the top of my radar right now. Um and and Mike can correct me. This is for on sale premise licenses only. Correct. Correct. Okay. Yeah, I just saw that in your your slide. And what what that means is they it's like a restaurant. They sell a beer. You can consume it right there on the premise. Ballies cannot participate in this type because they're an offsale ly.

So, um the footprint should reflect that um you know for those people that that can participate um in the program. So, uh, as it progresses, I will get more involved in it, but I to honest I haven't gotten that involved. Um, I just have a lot of things going on. So, um, but I I am from I went spent 15 years in Kat, the crawl, the crawl.

Uh, it's not what it today is not what it used to be. Uh, I was in the the height of that and dealt with many many issues with lenses. They the lences In the beginning, they hated me because I was the ABC enforcer guy and it got them to where they needed to be and then they loved me because they understood that we're protecting their business uh ultimately. So, um there's a lot of fake IDs and stuff going around. Um so, you know, like I said, getting the stakeholders together. Mike's doing a great job with that. He's already started with um Arts Alliance and the chamber. Um and getting people on board and communication is the key. The one point I want to make that we like I said pitch earlier, we're not really trying to sell it on them. It's just we want to give an opportunity that the city wants to contribute in in a way that we can. And if they're interested, great. If they're not, that's okay, too. Um, are there any other revisions to this as far as um timing? One thing I I will note, the 10 p.m. time, we did that more to align with some of the evening events, but also as any of you know, if you go downtown on a around 9:00, everything starts closing. So, it gives people an opportunity to a last call basically in the in the zone and then um not have people going back and forth across the entire zone until 2 a.m. It's not it's not designed to be a bar crawl. It is designed more to enhance the businesses and or you know, foot traffic downtown. Um, most the stores are closed by then. That was the reasoning behind the

I have one other thing. I'd like to know what the student leaison thinks about this. How do you think this was would work? Be honest. Um, I think it's a great idea. There are some things that definitely should be changed like the timing obviously cuz you don't want people drinking and being drunk when students are like walking home from school cuz I mean students could aggravate them too. like it's not just the people who are drunk, but students who could be disrespectful or whatever, but just for their safety. Um, but yeah, I I think it's a great idea. Thank you.

I have a question for the council. Uh, what what do people think about just making it beer and wine because I don't think people really need to be getting slushed on harder alcohol, but through the mayor, I think that would be hard for them to regulate. Unfortunately, I I I'm sure they would try, but as people are in and out of bars, in and out of these restaurants, it might be hard to regulate that, and it just creates one more uh issue for the police department to have to deal with. So, unfortunately, I I mean, whether I agree or not, I think that it would be a difficult thing to regulate.

Yeah. And I I mean, you know, then you would start be, you know, if you have some of the restaurants down there, you know, uh, La Tequila or whatever, and they're serving margaritas, then you take that out of the So, you kind of take them out of the loop on that. But, it would be tough to say beer and wine. But, um, I think if if we do move forward with this and and get all of our outreach that comes back and we can get some solid data on this thing, um, I think it's a I think it's a great uh great thing for downtown Clover. Like I said, I'm not 100% just yet, but I think there's a way to get there. Um, and there's a lot of folks not even in Cloverdale, different towns, like you said, love to come up to Cloverdale. This would enhance exactly what you're talking about, foot traffic, people walking down enjoying town. So, yeah, let's get that outreach done. Also, on the times, I'm kind of in the same student leaison brought up exactly what I was thinking about. I think uh noon might be a little early. Friday Night Live, I think they start at 400 pm down there. Is it four or five? Is it five? And I know people are down there about that time, so it works well. I think if we put a three or four on there and moved it to 10, that would be my suggestion is to bump it down from noon so we don't have a bunch of day drinkers down there all

in the in the outreach. Um, I can also put a time like what the business want or what the establishments want. Um, because we don't want to, like I said, we want to be as inclusive and collaborative as possible. We don't want to exclude anyone. um or if you know a business close it closes at 4 there or whatever but we'll uh so as far as the direction provided just so I'm clear on it we're we'll host the outreach um do outreach session potentially do some surveys with the community some education whatnot um to address any concerns would you want me to us staff coming back with that results prior to drafting an ordinance and management plan or would you want to see that as a comprehensive because I guess it's more of a we're getting gauging the interest from the community and and

prior it's a lot of work obviously to draft an ordinance in the management plan but we wouldn't be able to give you much information past that other than the community buying and then we could set a comment on that. I would my comment to that would be if you have a lot of support, you're showing full support and you have full buyin from all of your um involved eligible parties and and businesses that you would draft the ordinance to match what they're bringing. That way you're bringing what the community wants and then we can decide how we handle it from there. But that I would do it working with your mayor. But that's that would be my suggestion. Mayor,

that's Any other comments on this? Anyone down there? It's kind of what I'm thinking too is once we have the buy in on this and and and just get it rolling from there. But buyin is key. I mean, and and support from everybody. I know we've had some some negative stuff online. That's fine. And there's always going to be, but I mean, once we get that outreach done, I think, and they explain, they see exactly what's happening. I think you're going to get that buy it and then just roll with the bring it bring it back to us and let's manage it from there. Definitely. And I understand their their concerns. I just want to make sure that they're cool. So from do you want to have a a motion or is it more of a I had a run. Okay. Is there any public comment on this

prequel plier? What? You're a prolier. It's awesome.

You're going to get to know me. Gotia, of course. Um I really like this idea. Um, I worked in downtown Hiltsburg, uh, in tasting rooms. And the thing where I'm kind of like, e, doesn't quite fit is working in downtown tasting rooms, I would have people, and not even downtown tasting rooms, just working in the wine industry in general. um people would kind of have downtime and so they'd H Heelsburg downtown Heelsburg if I believe they still do it you're allowed to have um open containers just on the plaza and so I would have people buy a bottle and then they'd like picnic on the plaza so there was a specific area that was designated just to the plaza um kind of very closed if you will the fact that the police station is right next to the plaza makes it kind of um it would be great if like I could see it like okay yeah encourage people to go to the plaza and have a picnic and what have you. I've actually worked the Cloverdale Winewalk. I see it kind of becoming a little bit of a slippery slope. Um because working in the wine industry, like I was very like, "Okay, you're taking this. Don't open it till you get to the plaza only on the plaza. Get rid of it." Like cuz now you're putting the business. It's my responsibility, right? I'm the one who sold it. I'm the one who's pouring for them. It's my responsibility. So now like I'm in charge. Um, I could see it becoming a slippery slope with the Cloverdale Winewalk of having people go, "Oh, I'm moving on to the next spot. Can I get some for the road?"

No. And so having that not having this is like that hard stop of no, you can't get some for the road cuz you were just here. I'm the one I'm the one responsible until you get to the next location, right? I like the idea, but I don't know. It's just I like the idea of having it designated to more of a closed area where families gather, come together, have a picnic. Yeah. Beer, wine, your little cocktail. Cool. This not so sure. I'm also not so sure like the need for it. Like if you're going to one restaurant, we only have one bar, two bar. Like the whole point in college, the whole point of a bar crawl was to go I was never really one of those, but um is to go from one bar to the next. Like and I just I just feel like it might just put more work on the police officers to have to take care of this. Like I just I don't know. But I like the idea. Thank you. Danish star. I think the idea is very interesting. Um maybe too expanded on multiple ways as have been expressed. the uh volume of space and the volume of hours. Um I'm a residential person very close to that third street intersection. I personally avoid driving when I want to go to say a live event out of town through that downtown area already um because of the number of people that

crosswalk and adding people who are drinking and crossing anywhere in that whole zone makes me as a driver even more concerned. Um, so containing the space and the time I think would help uh mitigate my personal concerns as far as driving safely goes. Thank you.

I'm sorry. I'm seeing no other public comments. We'll close public comment. bring it back for final at the council. You got direction, Mike, on this? Um, I think in the spirit of ensuring we have consensus, if the council can or if you'd like to just provide one singular direction,

what we were going to do is we're going to go and get buyin for the uh do the outreach that we spoke about, the council brought up. Uh get buyin from all of our businesses down there, see what they are. Uh, I think we talked about bringing it down from noon for a safety thing down to um 3 pm 3 pm to 10 p.m. and then also if you get buying and all that then actually draft the ordinance, bring the ordinance back after that. Good. Was there consensus on the time for three? Because I would be open to leaving it open as the businesses would request. Okay.

At least for now. Let's uh maybe leave that up to the businesses. Fine. Yeah, that can be one of the like I mentioned one of the questions that we put on there and something we talk about with them just to get a general idea. Let's do that. What time is school out? Just out of curiosity. Um who don't have an open period? So freshman Oh, for freshman and sophomores, um they get out at 3:15. Mhm. And I mean, sorry, just depending on like where they're going, if they're walking home, I mean, probably like 3:30 just like to let them pass by. Okay. Yeah, there's a lot of work going into it for the outreach right there.

It might be a little early to make this call, but certainly on Friday having a different hours uh a later start than uh you know, if that was maybe 5:00 or something on Friday. And if I can maybe I'll just get con try to get some consensus from the businesses to be able to report something back because we like we said we do echoing what the chief said we've said we want it to be as consistent as possible so that the enforcement is easy and that folks understand exactly like it's not this day at 2 this day at 4 next tomorrow not that day oh there's an event we want it to be very easy as much as possible.

Thank you. Um, I think it would be great if we could just end it at First Street, not go all the way to the Citrus Fair. If people are at Citrus Fair drinking, they could stay there. There's no reason why they have to walk all the way down. I can I mean, I can also discuss the the zone itself if we'd like, you know, all part of the outreach right there and find out what the Yeah. Okay. Um, then I won't put it at I won't suggest a date to return because the outreach might take a little while. Um, and there's no rush on this. Thank you, Mike. Any other comments? Okay. Let's move on to council member reports. We have council member reports. Council member Marquez.

Yep. Uh Wednesday, March 4th, we had a meeting with uh 211 uh with the city manager and police chief. Uh I want to thank Jennifer Somia, Lisa, and Paco for uh coming to Cloverdale and giving us some information. Um 211 Sonoma County. It's a program of United Way of the Wine Country uh which is the comprehensive information and referral service for Sonoma County. They connect callers, website users, and textters each year with information about health and human services available to them. Uh really think it's a a great way for folks to get connected with the services that they need. um if you know we have limited resources here in Soma. So if folks aren't getting exactly what they need, uh 211 is a great service that really is already in place already and they've served hundreds and hundreds of contacts and made many many referral services over the years. Um so they might be coming to do a presentation to uh the council at some point. Um, Thursday, March 5th, I attended the Sonoma County Economic Development Perspective. Uh, the discussions highlighted the role of immigrant communities that they play creation in small businesses and bolstering the workforce. Uh, Thursday, March 5th, uh, took a tour of the Spreckles Performing Arts Theater in Roner Park. Uh, thank you to Marcela Pedra, who is the Roner Park city manager. Uh the artistic director Sherry Lee Miller uh conducted the tour with the CPAC team uh board president Lenor Mesler and vice president Chris Johnston along with the artistic director for CPAC uh Robert Zelinka. So that was inspirational to go and see how they're uh doing things successfully.

Uh Saturday, March 7th, I attended the Steel Head Festival um up at Lake Soma. There was many booths providing education around the wershed as a whole. Uh later that day, Saturday, March 7th, uh attended the repair fair. This was at our library and that was very successful. Um reports on that listed that over 30 items were repaired uh from the community and I think about 278 pounds of waste were kept out of the landfill. Uh Wednesday, March 11th, earlier today uh I met with the ECO group. That's the equity community organization uh facilitated by the healthcare foundation sponsored by SCAN Foundation. Um this is a group of mostly mono um monolinguist monolingual seniors. um and they have uh translation services available that they're really um getting their community needs discussed and meeting and going to do some outreach to uh uh the city eventually and uh it's a great way to get folks that uh many of these folks have been living in this community for 20 years and so u it's really good to see folks organizing and getting active. Uh, Wednesday, March 11th. Also earlier today, um, I attended the Russian River Property Owners Association as a member of the public. Um, they will still on schedule to have their laugh meeting on April 1st at 2:00. Uh, one of the items that was discussed today is the possible um, creation many, many years in the future of a uh, regional groundwater management agency. So, we don't have that in our region right now, but it's something that could come down the pipeline that definitely we should all be aware of and um that could be something that might uh unify all the water users in our our region.

But, uh good thing to be aware of.

Thanks. I attended a Russian River Watershed Association meeting and um they were talking about permits and how permits for uh private roads might be changing um to make it so that um people dump less well the roads dump less sediment into our creeks and rivers and that would be something in the future that's Yes, it's good to be back off the couch and uh back back at it. I don't know if uh most of the public or the council doesn't know, uh back in February, I uh had a minor quote unquote minor surgery and uh didn't go so well. Uh contacted 911 and uh that whole scenario we're going to have and I met with Eric Poland of the Cloverdale Health Care District. He is the uh the guy that runs that over there, Eric. Full of nice guy, a lot of information. I spoke with the chief about uh my incidents and we're going to have a uh public meeting, Kevin, in and April. Uh Eric's going to come out,

correct? Uh for a presentation on how ambulance service works. I was a little uh naive to how the uh service works, but if you never call 911 and you don't need the service, you would not know uh what's coming to your door. So, we'll get a little bit more information from Eric in April. So, I encourage the uh public to attend. I also attended my Sonoma uh clean power board of directors meeting and if uh everything going on in the world raise prices of everything are raising. If you uh I would encourage you to look uh into Sonoma Clean Power to find ways to reduce your energy bill. Thank you.

All right. Uh, first thing I want to talk about, uh, March 4th was Jay Robinson's birthday. He turned 60. He is our wastewater, uh, manager, and I wanted to make sure that I put that on record that it was his 60th birthday on March 4th, and I called and told him happy birthday. Love, Jane. Uh, I also had a meeting with our supervisor, James Gore, uh, regarding prog projects going on in Cloverdale currently and around the Cloverdale area and also some uh, grants and funding that we have coming through for those. I met with a a family that has a large uh, uh, property outside of town that we want to include into our open space. We've been working with them for about six years now, and we're gaining some ground. So, I'm excited to keep moving this forward and hopefully gaining uh more open space for our parks. I also attended the Steel Head Festival. Um, we had an airport land use commission meeting this past week and in the meeting the only topic was the Esmeralda and basically anything that touches an airport or their landing zones or their takeoff zones. all they have to uh come and get permission from the county airport land use commission and all they have to do is prove that they are meeting their their needs or their um their policies and they prove that they their design and plan meets those needs and so it was moved forward to the next step which is bringing it to the city on the airport land use portion. uh through the city, we held a meeting uh to design and implement our EOCC and EOP, our emergency operations center and our emergency operations plan. Is something I discussed at our last meeting that we've been working really hard on since I was at uh the school board. So, we're going on almost eight years now that we've been uh building

this plan. And what's nice is we're putting names and people into positions in case we have an emergency and when the emergency happens, we know who is responsible for each thing. uh we have a calendar and timeline for uh planning to make all this stuff happen and we are getting really close to being able implement everything and as of right now we could if a major event happened right now I know that we could kick off our EOC and do very well with it. Um we are also working on our regulations regarding the EOP because they're outdated. I believe the date was from the 80s, late '8s since it was uh looked at. And so we're changing a few of the things you would see in there because we don't have floppy discs anymore. We don't have uh phones that you plug into the wall. Uh most of us don't anyways and things along those lines for your emergencies. And so we're looking at ways, but we have to update it. Um, we I attended the SCTCA meeting this week at the Sonoma County Transit Climate Authority. And one of the things that was brought up is the one Bay Area grant. It's a a grant program that they they put out to all of the cities in our area. And we can apply for grants for money depending on the size of your your city. Uh but it all is um centered around your transit oriented uh zones. And what it will do is uh within a quarter mile of of these like say the smart hub or something along those lines, we would have to change our zoning to match their needs if we wanted their money to do so. So it's something that I I'm going to bring the information back to the city. I'm a little hesitant on the information that I was given because it doesn't match Cloverdale's needs and uh would would cause a lot of uh growth here and so I'm very hesitant but I will pass on the information as needed so that we can

discuss it. Um last thing uh yesterday I took um some federal and private people on a tour through the Potter Valley and the Potter Valley projects. Uh we went with different people that were involved in everything going on and we toured the dams, the powerhouses, things along those lines uh to get a better idea and understanding of how the system works, where the uh faults are and the the possible damage or any issues and moving forward on ways to um negotiate with P Gen for a better option than what's going on uh considering the matrix of water diversion that's that's been given And that's all I have to report.

Thank you.

All right. Uh attended the uh Northern County Air District uh board. Uh took over as vice chair this year with uh Supervisor Gore as the chair. Um also attended the EOC meeting. Um and have full confidence in thank I'd like to thank the Housies for coming in and coordinating all this and having continued meetings. Uh full confidence if something was to happen, we could fire up an EOC. People know where they're going. their positions. Uh is there some will there be some learning to it? There always isn't a disaster, but they're definitely honing it in. So, I feel confident uh in Cloverdale's um ability to do that. Um also just countless uh hours this last couple weeks of meetings with uh folks at the senior center um and and around town. So, that's what uh been spending most of my time on. So, thank you. All right. Um, legislative reports, letters of support. See, we have four. Um,

just want to know for the record that when Mr. Kaslowski spoke for public comment earlier, we did put that public comment under this section. So, it is part of the record. City Manager, city attorney reports.

Uh, just real quick, just to remind everyone, the community garden survey is in full swing right now. We've gotten almost 200 respondents, so that's good. We're going to keep it open till Sunday. I think Mike wants to close it up on Sunday. We'll be reporting back on that. Um, I did get word from the 101 North owner. It's the gas station next to uh Papa's Pizza. They have resubmitted their plan, so I feel encouraged that there is actual progress happening. I send them an email every so often, so hopefully that is close. and uh it was just encouraging that they had done that. Uh in terms of Council Member Rasky, we're going to have the ambulance presentation on April 8th and our next meeting is March 25th.

Thank you. Need council direction on future agenda. Uh got a suggestion. Um, I would like to uh suggest that we have a presentation uh on the process and decisions uh regarding Esmeralda by the city manager and city attorney. I'm I clarify understand can you clarify a little bit? So, I'm requesting that we have a presentation on the city's process and decisions regarding Esmeralda. And you want the city manager and attorney by the city manager and city attorney. I I guess I'm a little confused about decisions. The city hasn't made any decisions. Those decisions will come to the city council.

So, these are up. Just are you asking for us to lay out what is coming down the line? That's that's correct. I think we have a a gap right now until uh the time when those decisions are made. So, it'd be good to have the council and the community clear on what decisions are coming down the pipeline that we're making. Um I certainly would hate to see there just things come at the last minute and everyone really not know what's going on. So, I think that would give folks an opportunity to chime in and also understand the process. in a clear fashion. Certainly up to the council council on this. Well, I have a question for Alex. Yeah.

Um, if we do do this, um, could part of it be and I don't know if this is legal or not. That's why I'm asking um to ask if it's possible to get a current environmental report rather than relying on old.

So, um, I'll just say there will be an update. there is environmental document in process. It when it is finished, it will be made public prior to any decision not not merely you know 72 hours ahead of time. So if the council wants this type of presentation if that's the will of the council we can explain some of that. We also could um you know put just put information on the website too. I I think there may be some of this addressed in FAQs. We could maybe try to make it clearer on the website that the project page um for the website as well. So I'll defer to whatever the council's directions.

So So just to be clear um so you're saying that there is work being done on a new environmental report. There is work being done on environment on an addendum to EIR. um for this project. Yes. Okay. Thanks. It is an addendum to a previous document, but there's multiple new studies that support what that document is achieving or attempting to achieve.

Just, you know, then that makes it sound short like the document plus the technical studies are hundreds of pages long. So, it's not like a three-page document or anything like that. Um, so just to provide that that context for the I uh to Council Member Marquez's point, I I thought Esmeralda already had a timeline of of things that were coming up that the that is public information right now. So, that that that information is out there. I think they presented that at the last two town halls if not the last one the previous one and it showed uh their steps towards uh all their approval processes. So I think that's already uh

and this would be public information that this would be a dive into that. I think that was a smaller part of a bigger presentation um that uh folks didn't really get an opportunity to ask any questions from our city manager or city attorney at the town hall. So I don't I don't think there was any questions that were answered at the town hall uh by our city. So uh questions but they they were given a timeline of of what was happening in their project. So this this would be a delve a dive a deeper dive into that.

So we we wouldn't be able to discuss the substance of the project until it comes as a public hearing item and we could just say these are the items that are you know the various approvals they need. I I do think that's addressed in the presentation, but if that's the direction of the council, that could be or we could just put that as a a more email it and put it as a clearer item on the

I think because of the huge enormous decision that this is, you know, potentially adding 15% population to our city, um having the process be clear to folks who just aren't on the internet, uh but to the public, uh would would be uh prudent. I think it would be a good idea to give give uh that information out so people understand uh that process very clearly uh as early on as we can. Did you have any comments?

I I don't agree that we need to do that. It's public information. It's on our website for every development that we do. It's the same process that is followed. They've laid out the timeline multiple times as well as the city. And if we do this gets into the right to build if we're not careful. So I'm not I'm not for that. Yeah, I'm kind of the same way as as we went and and numerous conversations with with uh Devon herself and I was happy with I think people were really surprised at the town hall that we did have on the numerous permits and and timelines that these guys have to hit. It was very well explained by Michael Yarnney. Uh it was also there was plenty of time for public comment up there. We let people go as long as they wanted. I had a total of like 14 public comments up there and let them go. Thank you. But um so my my suggestion is it is it's public information. We can't in my opinion we can't just we can't babysit this project so much when the public information is out there. People need to be able to look at that, see what's going on and meet the actual timelines that they have laid out as Moralda Project has laid out before it comes up to the final hearings which people understood and I asked this question a lot at the town hall. There is more public hearings. This may be the last town hall that there's public hearings and you can ask whatever you want to ask. There is going to be more information out there for when they're when they're here doing their public hearings. So, I don't think we need to have a I mean, I understand what you're saying. I agree with you. PE information needs to be out there for everybody, but I mean, we've gone two and a half, three years of information on this. We're getting to the point where I think it's it's just too much. So, and

Mr. Mayor, I think we've heard, sorry, I don't want us to get too much into discussion about the future agenda. So, if perhaps council members who want it, thumbs up and council members who don't, thumbs down and we can see if there's I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not with it. No. Okay. There you go. All right. Any other future agenda items? Seeing none. All right. Let's move into M at 8:09 of the meeting. Thank you.