City Council - Regular Meeting

And at this time, I would like to call to order the regular Elk Grove City Council meeting. Today is Wednesday, August the 12th, 2026. The time is 6.01 p.m. Clerk.

Thank you, Mayor. This meeting of the Elk Grove City Council is recorded with closed captioning. The recording will be cablecast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and DirecTV U-verse cable systems. The recording will also be video streamed at metro14live.saccounty.gov. Tonight's meeting replays will be on Friday, August 14th at 1 p.m. and Monday, August 17th, also at 1 p.m. and on Metro Channel 14. Once posted, the recordings of this and previous meetings can be viewed on demand at the www.lgrove.gov or youtube.com slash MetroCable14. For members of the participating audience who may have personal electronic devices, please place them on silent mode during the meeting or on mute when you are not speaking. And for any of our attendees that we have, we have folks that may be providing remote comment from our public. And just remember, if you are using a phone, it's star nine in your order to use that raise hand. But also there will be prompts for folks that are in the Zoom environment for when there's an opportunity for public comment on items on our agendas. And beyond all of that, the Elk Grove City Council welcomes, appreciates, and encourages participation in the City Council meeting. City Council requests that you limit your presentation to three minutes per person per item so that all present will have time to participate. City Council reserves the right to reasonably limit the total time for public comment on any particular notice agenda item as it may deem necessary. Pursuant to resolution number 2026-099, no individual speaker concerning public comment may address the City Council for more than three minutes per item. If you wish to address the council during the meeting, please complete a blue speaker card, which can be found at the back of the room, or use the raise hand feature if you are in our webinar environment, and provide any of the blue speaker cards to Assistant City Clerk Brenda Haggard prior to consideration of the agenda item. With that, Mayor, I will be moving into the roll call. And for the roll call, I will begin with Council Member Robles. Present. Council Member Spies. Present. Council Member Brewer. Present. Vice Mayor Suen. Here. And Mayor Sing-Allen. All in attendance.

All right, thank you. Next up is our land acknowledgement. Assisting will be our Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. We honor, respect, and acknowledge Elko's first inhabitants, the Plains Miwok, who lived as sovereign caretakers of this land and these waterways since time immemorial. We commemorate and advocate for their descendants, the Wilton Rancheria Tribe, the only federally recognized tribe in Sacramento County, who endure because of the bravery, resilience, and determination of their ancestors, tribal members, and leaders.

Thank you. Next up is our Pledge of Allegiance. I would like to invite Councilmember Robles to lead. Thank you. At this time, please join us for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. All right, next up is our approval of the agenda. May I get a motion?

So moved. Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. All right, next item, clerk.

Under section three, there are no closed session items on the regular agenda, which will advance us to section four, our presentations and announcements, and that first being item 4.1, which is the Disability Advisory Committee Annual Update.

Good evening. I'm Cameron Weinhofner Moore. Thank you for inviting me to represent your Disability Advisory Committee here tonight. Let me begin by offering a sincere thanks to all of our committee members. They serve selflessly and always provide thoughtful insight, no matter the issue. We all appreciate being appointed to the committee and recognize the privilege and responsibility that comes with that. I would also like to thank the council for its ongoing support. Anne Hennessy has been the committee's chair since last year and has served on the committee for over seven years. She is a retired Elk Grove Unified teacher. Joe Xavier is the vice chair and has served almost a year. He retired as director of the state's department of rehabilitation. I am the most recent appointment to the committee, and I run a company that develops control systems for people with mobility limitations. Ted Clark, who was the committee chair for over 10 years, remains on the committee, and Daisy Hughes, recently appointed by the governor as chief counsel at the Department of Rehabilitation, rounds out the committee. The City Council formed the Disability Advisory Committee in 2001. The Council determined that three committee members must themselves have a disability, with the remaining two members identifying closely with those with disabilities. The committee has had only 22 members in its 24 years. Throughout 2025 and 2026, the committee provided feedback and insights to staff on accessibility components of 2026 to the 2031 capital improvement plan, community development block grant and home investment partnership program, the permanent homeless shelter, the city's new access program, which assists small business owners in becoming ADA compliant, and assisted in the initial review of the development of an accessibility toolkit that is planned to be part of a potential internal inclusive community participation planning and process. The committee engaged with the Diversity and Inclusion Commission to look for ways that groups can work together. The committee awarded the 19th Annual Above and Beyond Accessibility Award to EG Speaks, an Elk Grove nonprofit whose mission is to empower and uplift students with disabilities and their families within the Elk Grove Unified School District. The committee also supported the city's social media campaign, observing October 15, 2025, as White Cane Safety Day and the council's proclamation of October 2025 as Disability Awareness Month. And most recently, we worked with the California Department of Rehabilitation Disability Access Services Division to promote a training session on universal and inclusive design to key city leadership and staff with 30 attendees. In 2026, the committee will continue to focus on review and support accessibility improvements for city projects, city policies, programs, and services, and plans to continue to engage with the Diversity and Inclusion Commission. We look forward to another productive year working with our community. Thank you.

All right. Thank you for that excellent presentation. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Looking to the right.

Just a quick comment. I appreciate the collaboration in between commissions. I think that's a great thing. And so I want to thank the commission for doing that. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Looking to the left. Yes, Council Member Brewer.

Thank you, Mayor. Cameron, thank you for the report. This is really good information and definitely shows what we can do and we're working together in collaboration to improve the quality of life for everyone here in Elk Grove. And this specific commission does that and has been doing that for a number of years. I remember sitting in on a couple of meetings in my past life and listening to some of the solutions that were being carried out. And it's very good to see because these are things that people take for granted and a lot of people just don't know about. But as you're out there educating, informing, and enlightening people, this is what goes to show what we can do when we really put our heads together. So thank you again.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Cameron, I just want to offer my own thanks for your service and the entire committee's representing our community. Thank you.

And ditto what my colleague said, thank you all for your service to improving our city, and particularly the cross collaboration with other committees and commissions is excellent work, so thank you for that. With that, we will move on to our next item.

It's item 4.2, the new hire introductions.

Good evening. Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of City Council, Jason Barrowman. Always pleased to introduce this item. We do this on a quarterly basis where we introduce our new hires as well as those receiving promotions. So we're going to go ahead and start with our Police Department. Chief Bobby Davis.

Thank you, sir. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council, and it is my pleasure. My name is Bobby Davis. I'm the Chief of Police here for the City of Elk Grove, and we're going to do our new hire introductions. Lane Burgett, Animal Services Officer, a beginning of watch on 4-20-26. Lane was born in Sacramento, raised in Elk Grove. He's a graduate from Elk Grove High, the herd, in 2024. Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Lane worked as a barista for about four years. Congratulations.

Welcome, Board Members.

Future police officer. All right. Zach. All right. Zach Wilhite. Zach's a police officer. Beginning of the watch was 5'4", 26. Zach was born in San Leandro and raised in Pleasanton. After high school, Zach spent several years in San Diego before returning to the Bay in 2017. Prior to joining Elk Grove Police Department, Zach spent eight years as a police officer with the Picksburg Police Department. Welcome, brother. Thank you. Brett Moore, animal care assistant. How are you?

Good to see you.

Brett was born and raised in the Bay Area. She attended Antioch Senior High School and graduated from UC Davis with a degree in wildlife and fishery biology. Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Brett worked in UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine for 21 years. Welcome.

Welcome.

Jody.

Miss Jody Jones. How are you?

Good. Ms. Jody Jones, Administrative Assistant 2, promoted on 5-3 of 26. Jody joined the organization in 2006. She's been a dispatcher, she's been a records tech, and most recently promoted to Administrative Assistant role for our Investigations Bureau. Congratulations. Ms. Stacey David, how are you?

I'm good, how are you? Good.

Ms. Stacey David, Animal Services Event Specialist, promoted on 5-17 of 26. Stacey was born and raised in Stockton. Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Stacey was a leasing consultant. Before that, she trained dogs with a certification through Karen Pryor Academy.

Welcome.

Hey, Ms. Obeda. Obeda Abdallah, police officer, promoted on 5-19-26. Obeda started with Elk Grove as our victim advocate and dedicated to joining the academy to become a police officer. Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Obeda worked with the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office as a victim advocate for approximately five years. And welcome. Hugo Rodriguez, police officer, promoted on 5-19-26. Hugo was born in French Camp and raised in Lockford. He graduated from California State University, Stanislaus, with a degree in business administration. Proud of joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Hugo was an insurance agent for several years.

Congratulations.

Cynthia Parker, Animal Care Tech, promoted on 5-31-26. Cynthia was born and raised in Holland, Michigan, and moved to Sacramento approximately seven years ago. She is currently completing her degree at Sacramento City. Prior to joining the Elk Grove Police Department, Cynthia worked at PetSmart for approximately three years and volunteered at various cat and dog rescues. Welcome. Welcome. Uh-oh, got me all mixed up now.

I think you're next. Oh, Kara. Oh.

I was like, wait a minute. I am. Good evening. Our finance director, Raj, is not able to be here tonight. So I'm Kara Taylor Seaman, and I'm going to introduce our newest member to the finance team. This is Anisa Ali. Anisa was born in South Stockton and spent much of her childhood on her family's 13-acre ranch in Lockford. where she developed a passion for caring and rehabilitating animals. She is currently pursuing an accounting degree. She has over 10 years of customer service experience and is excited to bring her experience to the city of Elk Grove as a customer service representative in our finance cashier's department, where she can apply her coursework knowledge and serve the community. She lives in Stockton with her husband and their dog, Coda, who is a great Pyrenees. Welcome, Anissa. We're glad you're here. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember. I'm Rosemary Rivas, the Human Resources Director, and I'm here to introduce Taylor Gallia. Taylor is our new HR specialist. She joined the city in May. Taylor supports departments with recruitments and promotional assessments. Taylor was raised in Harold. Then she left to attend college, where she earned her master's degree in business administration. Prior to joining the city of Elk Grove, Taylor worked for the city of Turlock and the city of Sacramento, overseeing a variety of human resources functions. In her spare time, Taylor enjoys working on her family farm and caring for animals. Welcome, Taylor. Thank you.

Welcome. Thank you.

Good evening. Next up is our public works department. I'm Jeff, public works director. First up is Steve Brown. He's a public works inspector, too. He comes to us from the county of Sacramento, where he spent nearly 11 years in construction management inspection. In 2017, he earned a degree in construction law. Steve has been working in construction for over 20 years. Originally from Hawaii, but relocated to Elk Grove in 2013, Steve spends his free time with his two kids and enjoys coaching high school rugby and watching sports. Welcome, Steve. Aloha. The shoe game is strong as well. Highlighting that for you. We got a couple of folks that aren't with us tonight, but I'll go ahead and introduce them nonetheless. Natalie Montoya is a maintenance technician hired for our drainage crew. Natalie is a lifelong Elk Grove resident and a proud 2018 graduate of Elk Grove High School. Natalie grew up playing softball for the Thundering Herd and was an active member of the FFA. When she isn't working, she loves exploring the outdoors, camping, fishing, going to the beach and swimming with her seven-year-old son. Natalie is thrilled to be serving her hometown and looks forward to making a positive impact in the Elk Grove community. And then we have a couple of promotions. First is Marcelo Murillo, who is a maintenance specialist with our streets crew. Marcelo comes from Caltrans, where he was an equipment operator on the bridge crew for two and a half years. He comes with traffic control, storm water management, and bridge repair experience. He spends his days off spending time with his two kids and wife. He loves Star Wars, USC Trojans, and improving the community. Finally, we have our brave soul, perhaps our most infamous employee. This is our new traffic engineer, Jose Gallardo. Jose promoted on June 14th and is going to be our engineering manager overseeing our traffic engineering division. He's been with the city of Elk Grove for five years in the traffic engineering division as our traffic management center program manager. And before that, seven years as a contract employee for the city in traffic engineering and capital improvement program. He is an alumni of CSU Chico, where he got his undergrad degree, and CSU Sacramento, where he obtained his master's in transportation. He enjoys spending time with his son and working on DIY projects around the house when he's not solving our traffic concerns. So welcome, Jose, and congratulations on your promotion.

All right, we want to congratulate all of our new hires and promotions. For those that are new to the city, welcome to what will be an amazing family for all of you. So thank you and congratulations to everyone. One more round of applause. All right, with that, I am going to move on to public comment. At this time, I will open up the public comment opportunity for in-person. We have two people signed up to speak. We will start with Lynn Wheat, followed by Alexander Bastin.

Good evening.

Take a chance before we change our minds.

Yes, I am talking about the secret plan, the plan for Old Town that began seven years ago and still has not seen the light of day. The secret plan that only investors have seen. The mayor must have seen something back in 2023. When out of the blue, she said, our historic district has the potential of being sort of the gas lamp for our region. She was referring to San Diego's gas lamp quarter and was discussing the possibility of turning historic downtown Old Town into a major regional tourism and entertainment destination. There are also reports from 2023 and 2024 describing the mayor's vision as making Old Town into something similar to San Diego's gas lamp quarter, including more restaurants, entertainment, tourism activity, I think it's time to clue the taxpayers and especially the residents of Old Town what this plan looks like. In the last few years, there have been major real estate transactions in Old Town for prices that exceed the current uses. Two weeks ago, it was said that no new nail salons and auto repair uses will be permitted. Council changed the name to Historic Main Street. Taxpayers subsidized murals painted on buildings, undergrounding the utilities. Even tonight, there was a closed session discussion about the teen center building that the city owns. I think it is fair to conclude that the city is getting all their ducks in order for investors in Old Town, but the city needs to be transparent and put this plan out in the daylight for the residents and Old Town business tenants to see. I have heard of property transfers and huge rent increases happening in Old Town, presumably for landlords to eventually drive out tenants and cash in on the secret plans. It's time to show and tell. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Alexander Bastin. Bastin.

So why are thousands of dollars of taxpayer money being used on flock cameras? I didn't feel any less safe before these cameras were implemented. Elk Grove was already a very safe and quiet place to reside. I've had no complaints there. But I feel far less safe passing these cameras on the road every day, knowing that both private companies with no accountability, as well as ICE, are creating a full profile of my every action. and will attempt to punish me if I engage in even constitutionally protected actions, such as what happened to the Prairieland Texas protesters who got illegally sentenced to 30 years in prison just for expressing their right to free speech. And I'm fearful for my female and minority friends, for whom these cameras can act as a massive vector for abuse, such as what has happened elsewhere with girlfriends or ex-partners being stalked by police officers and with black people being falsely targeted with lethal force as felony suspects due to false AI-generated data. As someone living in District 2, I'm going to be paying close attention this next election for individuals who run against these flock cameras. I hope the city strongly reconsiders their contract with Palantir.

Thank you. Next up is Randy Becker.

Some months, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council. Some months ago, I told you that I left the city of Elk Grove, but I was going to come and join all of you from time to time. on issues that not only affect me, my family, as well as residents that I have close friends for close to 50 years. So if anybody thinks that I don't have a voice, we can take it outside and have a conversation. Until the flock cameras across the nation is a serious conversation. I just came back from the south from for three months and it is important back there as it is here. But I have to believe in our police department. I have to believe those that are sworn and those that are service. Also, I have to believe in the five of you. Things that are said that could be, could happen, is like a child growing up with a boogeyman in the closet. We all know there's not a boogeyman. Could something happen? Absolutely. There's a lot of things that could happen. However, I've got to believe that in our police force and those that serve us, because they know damn well that one mistake would be catastrophic. not only to this police chief, the former police chiefs, and those in the future, if they do not have the buy-in to the community in general, they know full well that this city could end up like some other cities that have dissent between the political group, those of you that sit up at the dais, and the police department. So I have to believe that what goes on almost every week, it seems like, and I appreciate the, the post because those posts are important. Last week, the golf PD saved somebody from a kidnapping. It happens every week. So until you can show me the difference, we got cameras everywhere. Doesn't have to be PD. Doesn't have to be the city. They're everywhere. So this is the life we live in. You want to live in a safe city? We're going to have to do some things that may not be the greatest that everybody agrees on. But until you can prove me wrong, until the police department can prove us wrong, they're going to serve us the way we expect. Safety prevails. Thank you.

Thank you. I do not have any more in-person public comments.

So we do have an attendee that's in the audience, but I'm a little blind from my location, so I'm going to rely on my city team if our attendee has a raised hand feature up, and that would be a negative. So though we have an attendee, they're just viewing at this point.

Excellent. All right. Then at this time, I will go ahead and close the public comment. I will just acknowledge that... The council did receive nine written public comments, so I just want to acknowledge those as well. I'm sorry? What are we hanging on?

Is that on this item?

No, it's about the e-bike.

Okay.

Okay. All right. With that, I'm going to officially close the public comment and move on to our next item, our city manager's report.

All right, good evening again. A few items to report on this evening. First is an election update. As the sole nominees for their respective offices, the city clerk's office will proceed with the appointment of the mayor and district two council member nominees in accordance with applicable election law. These appointments may be made without conducting an election contest. The formal appointments will be considered at a special city council meeting on Thursday, August 20th at 3 p.m. Council district four seat will continue forward to the November 3rd, 26th general election. The next Barbecue and the Beat is coming up this Saturday at Durr Okamoto Park from 11 to 2. The weather should be beautiful. Please come on out. No reservations are required. Have some food. Visit with the team. Get to know our wonderful officers and those that support and serve our community. Back to school means a bike rodeo. So as students prepare for a new school year, we partnered with the Office of Traffic Safety and Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates to host a bike rodeo on Saturday, August 22nd from 9 to 11 at District 56. It's a free hands-on event. Teach students the skills to ride safely and confidently to school or around town. Registration is required. Information is available on the city's website. The city has submitted an application to the League of American Bicyclists to be considered for their bicycle-friendly community designation to gain a better understanding of local cyclist experiences in the city. An online survey has been developed, and we want to hear from residents. Visit the city's website to submit your feedback. Pitch Elk Grove is continuing for its fifth year. There will be 10 startups will make their pitch live before a panel of judges for a share of $20,000 in prize money that's being provided by various sponsors. So we're excited about this. This is on Thursday, September 3rd at District 56. It's, again, the fifth annual event. continues to highlight emerging startups and celebrate Elk Grove's unique identity. RSVP for the event is required. Seating is limited. Visit elkgrove.gov slash pitch elkgrove for more details. And finally, nominations are being accepted for the Disability Advisory Committee's 20th Annual Above and Beyond Accessibility Awards through Friday, September 4th. Help recognize a business, organization, or individual who goes above and beyond for individuals with disabilities and Elk Grove by submitting your nomination online through the city's website. And that completes my report. Happy to answer any questions that the council might have.

All right. Thank you for your report and update. Any questions from council colleagues? Seeing none, thank you. With that, I will go ahead and move on to our next item, which is our consent calendar items. At this time, I will open up public comment opportunity. My mouse is jammed. Okay, there we go. On consent, We have one in person, Allison Randall for item 7.16.

Hello, City Council. I'm here to request removal of item 7.16 from the consent calendar. I believe that this item does need public input, especially based on comments a few months ago from the police chief who said that the current armored vehicle was just getting old. And we also heard that it was very infrequently used by our police department and more frequently used by other agencies in the area. You know, Elk Grove is touted as a safe city, and with this half million dollar price tag, I'm not sure why we need an armored vehicle. So, again, it would be nice to hear more about the necessity for this expensive item. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next up is Randy Becker.

For those that may remember, the name Tara O'Sullivan, Sacramento Police Department, murdered in the line of duty in a vicious gunfire that nobody knows if she could have been saved. Her fellow officers couldn't retrieve her. Sacramento Sheriff's Department had the item that could have possibly saved her. However, it couldn't reach her. Because of the political quagmire and the bullshit that Sacramento PD has to put up with, she died. I don't want to see that happen here. We just had a concert, thousands of people. The five of you and the police department has a fiduciary duty to make sure that everyone in this city, whether they live here or they visit here, leave safely. If $500,000 isn't worth the life, then what is? Do we want a repeat? Because it will someday happen. Unfortunately, we live in that type of world. whether it's here or any other city, that you may visit. It happens. It's money well spent. It's a decision that's important for the safety not only of our officers, but the community. And the community isn't just the 178 plus thousand people that live here. I don't visit a lot of cities. because of their political beliefs and the lack of policing. That ought to tell you something. Please move forward with this item.

Thank you. Seeing no more in-person, we'll go to, oh, there's one more, okay. Can we...

And while we're waiting for that in-person speaker, I just put out there, we do have an attendee online, but they're not using the raise hand function in order to be recognized. If you do want to speak during the council meeting, we're prompting which item we're on, which is section seven, our consent calendar. And we'd ask that you use that raise hand feature so that we can know that you want to speak on an item on consent. Sorry, you can approach the speaker voting.

All right. Forgive me, I've already forgotten your name and it's not popping up here, but yes, thank you. Go ahead.

I mean, I could say for one that I know for a fact that $500,000 can be used to save a lot more than just one life through services such as healthcare definitively, rather than a might, like a might save a life in a hypothetical scenario. I don't think we should fall for the rhetoric that more militarized police is the answer to saving lives when we could invest that money into social programs here that are proven to help.

Thank you. I thought I saw another name pop. Oh, okay.

I do have someone else here.

For this item?

Not on 7.16, on 7.6.

Okay.

Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Joshua Day. I'm the representative for TDJ Professionals, Inc., which is doing business as Big O Tires. And we just want to thank you for the opportunity to serve the community, to service the vehicles, and we just want to extend our gratitude to you and ensure you that we're here to care for you and for your vehicles for the foreseeable future. Thank you.

Thank you. Is that the final card? Okay. Online, no additional raised or any raised hand?

And my team's telling me, nope, we have our attendee, but they don't have their raised hand up, so that will conclude the online comment.

Okay. Chief, did you want to address any on item 7.16 at all? I will say that this has been on the agenda. It's been publicly noticed. We've had many opportunities for feedback. And at least myself, I have not received any comments via email other than the speakers that I heard from today.

Also, if I could just real quick add, I wanted to make certain that folks understood that this has been included in our annual police report. This has been part of the budget, which was approved two months ago, month I have, two months ago?

During two meetings, we've had discussions.

Over two meetings. And even during the presentation, Mr. Berman did specifically call the item out. This has never, up until this point, been anything contentious, and I think it's quite appropriate to be on the consent calendar. If anyone wants to remove it, I can certainly support it, but I personally don't find it necessary.

Seeing none, Chief.

Madam Mayor, I'm just going to say that our Bearcat has been used 6-0-60 times in the last year and a half. So it's heavily used. And it is 10 years old. And as a result of the use that it's had over the last 10 years, and it's a regional asset, so it is used in a lot of different agencies. However, we're the primary agency. And we typically respond to the other agencies that need it using our personnel. throughout the region, so it's heavily used. It is time to be replaced, and it's going to be replaced with your approval, and our goal is to ensure that not only do we have the tool here in our city, but it's actually operable. We've had to do significant repairs. to the pretty extensive repairs every time that one goes in, and it's pretty regular now that it needs to go in just because of its age, its usage, and then just the general wear and tear. So it is heavily used. To answer the question at the dais there, it's not that it's not used, it is. And I think it's important to note that when it does not work, as in the unfortunate situation in our partner city, that is a result. I think that every single life matters. And if we're able to provide a service where we can prevent a life, whether it's a police officer or a community member, I think it's our duty. And so it is necessary for us to ask for this tool at this time in the lifespan of the last one. Thank you.

Thank you for the additional information. Any questions on consent?

Move consent. Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. All right, our next item.

We have no public hearings under Section 8. We'll advance us to Section 9, our regular agenda action items and recommendations, and that one item being Item 9.1, which is to receive a presentation and consider an ordinance repealing Elk Grove Municipal Code Sections 10-12-010 and 10-16-180 related to bicycle regulations, and adding Chapter 1071 to establish regulations governing the operation, enforcement, and administration of bicycles and personal transportation devices within the City of Elk Grove.

Hello.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of City Council. My name is Shane Glazer, and I'm a sergeant with the Elk Grove Police Department assigned to our traffic unit. Tonight, I'll be presenting a proposed ordinance addressing the operation of bicycles, electric bicycles, motorized scooters, and other personal transportation devices within the city of Elk Grove. This ordinance is needed because over the past several years, we have seen a significant change in how these devices are being used in our community.

You're good. That would make it larger.

E-bikes and electric scooters have become increasingly popular and provide a convenient and efficient form of transportation and recreation. At the same time, their increased use, higher speeds, and evolving technology have created a new safety concern for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and the individuals operating these devices. Our local data here will support over the last four years since 2023, the increase in collisions versus bicycles. This slide here is as of May 27th. I have current data as of August 9th, which for 2023, we had 37 collisions versus bicycles, and today we have, as of the 9th, we have 33. So collisions versus pedestrians have increased since 2029, and as of August 9th, we have 20 collision reports. E-bike calls for service have increased to the point now where we are at 193 calls for service as of August 9th. Just since May 27th, it's increased significantly. Scooter calls for service as of May 27th were 134. We are now at 204. So it shows the increase of the data to support why we need this ordinance. Kind of just to address... The biggest issue that we have is a lot of people confuse e-bikes and e-motorcycles in our community. E-bikes are legal. They're allowed in our roadways. E-motorcycles, they are not. E-motorcycles are exclusively for off-highway usage, such as places like Prairie City or on your own private property. They are not allowed anywhere in our community. And we'll get into definitions here shortly. So key definitions for a bicycle is that a bicycle is defined as a device which a person may ride propelled exclusively by human power through a belt, chain, or gears and having one or more wheels. Same things that we all use when we are kids. Today we have several different types of styles. So we're going to talk about personal transportation devices, as they're talked about in the ordinance, which include electric bicycles, which are bicycles equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor not exceeding 750 watts. They are classified as Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 electric bicycles. Class 1 electric bicycles are low-speed pedal-assist bicycles, only when pedaling capable of reaching a max assisted speed of 20 miles per hour. Class two electric bicycles are low speed throttle assist bicycles capable of reaching a max speed, assisted speed of 20 miles per hour. There is no requirement of age requirement and riders under 18 must wear a safety helmet with class one and class two. Class III electric bicycles are a little bit more different. They are pedal-assist bicycles capable of reaching speeds of 28 miles an hour. Riders are required to be 16 years of age or older, and helmets are required at all ages. Motorized scooters, they're two-wheeled devices with handlebars and have a floorboard that is designed to be stood up on when riding or a seat, footrest in place of the floorboard as it's powered by an electric motor. Electric motorized boards, we don't have a ton of issues in our city yet, but there are any wheeled device that has a floorboard designed to be stood upon when riding equipped with an electric propulsion system, averaging less than 1,000 watts. Those include your electric skateboards and balance boards that we'll see. All right, so the key changes in the ordinance is that it allows bicycles on sidewalks. prohibits personal transportation devices on sidewalks unless permitted by signage, prohibits electric power devices with motor above 750 watts on sidewalks, and it requires yielding to pedestrians and audible signals when passing. The ordinance will clarify that bicycles and personal transportation devices are allowed on trails, and they prohibit electric power devices with motor above 750 watts, which are electric motorcycles or off-road vehicles. confirms that 15 mile an hour speed limit on trails. The ordinance prohibits reckless riding, unauthorized racing, and trick riding on public streets and property. It also prohibits modifying devices to exceed the intended speed classification, as well provides enforcement tools and impoundment procedures for rurals. The ordinance will authorize administrative citations, escalating penalties, impoundment procedures, including notice and review process. The ordinance does not ban bicycles or personal transportation devices. It does not change the bikeway network or set impound fees. It does not replace state laws or impose liability on the city. And it does not restrict pedestrian access or change sidewalk designations. It also does not restrict the use of electric personal assisted mobility devices due to physical disabilities. Some of the benefits of the ordinance will be that it'll improve public safety, provide clarity for all roadway and trail users, as well as enhance quality of life and traffic safety initiatives. It'll aim to reduce reckless riding and other unsafe behaviors in our community, as well as allow continued enjoyment of bicycle and personal transportation devices. kind of how we're gonna implement this. Their initial focus would be through education, more education and more education on top of that. We currently have brochures that we handed out at the end of the school year last year. If this is supported, we would have to modify those brochures to bring it current and then we would go back to the schools where we can have our biggest impact with parents and the kids. Additionally, with our PO office in the city, we'll do a big social media push to get the word out and what we're trying to do, as well as go to community events with some of the bigger ones that we have with families, such as our tree lighting, as well as the giant pumpkin festivals. There's probably two of our largest events that we host, and so we would aim to have people out there that a booth set up with information that we share. We've been working with Elk Grove Unified School District with the back to school efforts and currently tomorrow, Friday, Monday and Tuesday we'll be at all the schools in our city trying to help with spreading not just the word about bicycle safety but also with people coming and going from school and safe driving habits. The Elk Grove Unified School District is in the process of possibly implementing K through eight, no personal transportation devices. That's your electric scooters, your electric bicycles, as well as the boards. So that would be a huge push for us, because that's where we really need to get the information out. Environmental analysis, the adoption of this ordinance is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act. So my recommendation, and our recommendation, is that we introduce an ordinance repealing Elk Grove Municipal Code 10.12.010, as well as Section 10.16.180, related to the bicycle regulations, and adding Chapter 10.71 to establish regulations governing the operation, enforcement, and administration of bicycles and personal transportation devices within the City of Elk Grove. Just for a closing, basically the purpose of the ordinance is not to discourage the use of e-bikes or bicycles or other personal transportation devices. These devices have become an important part of our transportation system and provide real benefits to our community. Rather, the goal is to establish clear, reasonable, and enforceable rules that allow people to continue enjoying these devices while providing additional tools to address unsafe riding behavior and reduce conflicts with pedestrians and other roadway users. I know we talked a lot about going out and doing the education. But when needed, we will still do the enforcement side if that is the priority there. We have kind of the electric motorcycles have been a big part of the push for this and we still, I don't want to say we have zero tolerance, but we have less tolerance with the motorcycles due to the speed and some of the recent collisions we've had this year with some of our students that are still in the hospital. With that, I opened up the questions.

I'm going to open up public comment, but could you go back to the slide on the enforcement, the penalties?

Yeah.

I think I...

So the enforcement on penalties is the first offense is going to be an infraction with the second being a misdemeanor.

Okay.

And then as far as fines go, the first fine is a $100 fine.

And with the second one doubling if it's within the first 12 months.

Okay. I just want to make sure I had it in my notes. Okay. Thank you.

Since you're there.

Yeah, please.

Can you just, for the purpose of, if you could back up one slide that you were just there, Matt. we were talking about the personal assistive mobility. Yes. I have seen on sidewalks where it looked more like a go-kart, a covered go-kart, as opposed to anything else. So if you could kind of define for folks just specifically what we're talking about when we're talking about those personal mobility devices relative, yeah, I mean, I've seen one, it's a wheelie, right, that has the cover on it, right? Right. Yeah, okay. If you could.

Yeah, for what we're trying to do, we don't want to restrict the use of electric personal assisted mobility devices. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. Such as wheelchairs. You're talking about the carts that you get at the grocery store. Our three-wheel carts that people use to get around. So we don't want to discourage use of that. That's allowed on sidewalks. Right. Keep them safe because they're much slower moving. All we require is that as you approach pedestrians, that you give the right-of-way to the pedestrian and give verbal warning that you're approaching pedestrians.

My purpose in bringing it up is that I've seen one that is covered, and it kind of looks like a little covered go-kart, and you don't know what's inside of it. I just want folks to know that that would be a personal assistive mobility device, particularly in that instance. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

One of our motors pulled up on her recently, and we're having a good conversation.

We're doing, yeah.

Definitely falls within that scope. Something that we would allow. Awesome. I can see why it would cause concern.

Yeah, because actually I had a few constituents reach out about their own mobility as seniors. So, thank you.

And that's probably something that we need to do is go to some of our senior communities and talk about that. Make them feel that that's okay.

Yes, definitely.

In fact, I'm glad you alluded to that because it's something that has come up not only through our emails, also being approached by folks who have certain physical limitations. So in addition to the scooters themselves and the one that I call the Geo, because the Geo lives over by my house, just trying to figure out is there any sort of way to do Any sort of reasonable accommodations? Do we have to put it something in ordinance form to help provide a clear line for those mobility devices? Because people will say, well, they're scooters too, but they are not. They are, but they're not. Correct. So there has to be some sort of way where we can.

Do you want me to jump in? Yes. Okay, so we don't actually have to put in our ordinance because the state law already defines what these are. Actually, state law classifies them as pedestrians if they are using a mobility device. And what the state law says is pedestrians include a person who is operating a self-propelled wheelchair, motorized tricycle, or motorized car. quadricycle and by reason of physical disability is otherwise unable to move about on foot. So we don't define it because it's already defined in state law. And so we will respect the state law and use that definition of what a mobility device is.

And that's helpful because some of the individuals that I know that have these types of vehicles they're riding in the bike lane. They're trying to do the right thing and ride in the bike lane. But in reality, it's slow to the point of being like a pedestrian vehicle and should be on the sidewalk in areas where a sidewalk is available. And so there has to be, so we have to make sure that we're thinking about that in these terms, because The last thing I want is to have someone get hit or to have someone on an e-motorcycle kick them over because after seeing what I've been seeing over the last five days, it's not good and this ordinance is needed.

Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and open. We have four people signed up to speak. So if there's further questions, we'll call you back. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, I will go ahead and open up public comment for in-person first, starting with David Baker, followed by Terry Burke.

Sorry, hobbling up here after a knee replacement. So thanks for the opportunity to talk. I do agree that there is definitely some egregious behaviors that you see out on the trails and on the bikeways and the road and stuff. And so I understand the need. I completely understand the need to get some clarification around some of the rules. What I'm hoping is that we don't have some sort of overcorrection. Most of what I saw from the trails commission looks like they're trying to account for a reasonable people who ride their pedal assist bikes on the trails and, you know, let people walk in front of them, tell them they're coming up, and stay under 15 miles per hour, but I just worry that some of the stuff that Councilmember Brewer's referring to, a lot of videos out there right now, are gonna mean that we have a problem with people who are actually just out for a nice ride on their bikes. I've raised my kids here. We've been riding on the trails as they continue to grow, thankfully. Maybe eventually we'll start attaching to each other. It would be wonderful. But there's always been people out there, even before e-bikes, that don't ride properly and do stuff. So I just hope it sounds like we're not leaning towards an overcorrection, and I appreciate that. But for myself, I know I often, not when it's this hot, but I often ride to work. And I use the trails, and then thankfully there's finally a protected lane on Franklin. When I hit Franklin, I have to head towards Sacramento because it used to be really scary. But if you're out riding and you're following all of these rules, to be pushed into the street is even more dangerous because people in Elk Grove, including myself, they don't drive that great and pay attention to people on bikes. I rode my road bike for many, many years in Elk Grove. and it can be really dangerous, and having roadways, bikeways, and different things used properly is a huge benefit, so I hope there's not an over-correction on this. And there was a reference in the commission, the Trails Commission, about identifying certain sidewalks that connect trails. I hope that that follows through as well. There are some wide sidewalks that do connect trails and often are the only ways to get from trail to trail, so hopefully that'll be considered as well. So thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next up, Terry Burke, followed by you, Raj Singh.

Hello.

He just got surgery. I have a week to go. There he is. Good evening. I started by emailing you, I believe, Miss Mayor. And this had to do with me doing some research after having witnessed a group of people on e-bikes as they were riding down Old Creek Drive. My wife and I live in the same house where we purchased in 1988, and we're right across from John Earhart Elementary School. I can say that this is not just an Elk Grove problem, this is a nationwide problem, and there are people throughout the country who are trying to figure out how to regulate these e-bikes. I do know that For people who are operating a device that goes over 28 miles per hour, they do need an endorsement for a driver's license, as well as all the other safety, like the helmets and so forth. I don't know whether or not that's being enforced for the e-bikes, but I do know that I've seen some go pretty darn quick. Whether or not the kids are doing tricks and all the rest, I'm mostly concerned about kids operating the vehicles on the right side of the road, staying off the sidewalks, wearing the proper safety equipment. Aside from the endorsement, I also wanted to point out the fact that we've seen a number of kids just going through stop signs, but that's not exclusive to kids on e-bikes. It's also true with kids or people in cars. The thing that I had a question about was whether or not we have such a thing as a safety program for these operators to learn the skills to ride their e-bikes safely, where they can get an endorsement to ride the bike safely and become positive community members. I want them to be able to participate well in the community, but I want to be safe when I'm walking to Starbucks. And anything that we can do to help make this a positive experience would be great. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. You brought sing followed by Randy Becker.

Good evening, madam mayor, city council members for item 9.1. I'd like to propose a bicycle and e-bike safety education day where we could teach residents which bikes are legal, where they can ride, and what safety rules they need to follow. I also believe we should reconsider restricting personal transportation devices for K-8 students when they can be used safely. And legally, instead of an outright restriction, we should focus on education, safety, and responsible riding. I'd also like for this event to recognize our Sikh community. For Sikh riders who wear the star, which means turban, we aren't, well, I don't wear one. I've had my own personal journey with Sikhi, but for people who wear a turban, they're not supposed to cover it. It's a crown to them. So there is alternatives out there where we could educate them on what they can do. This isn't about avoiding safety laws, but finding safe ways to follow them while maintaining faith. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, Randy Becker.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, this is a long time coming in this community and communities across the country. Unfortunately, humans are their worst enemies. It's simple. You guys are deciding something that started out to be a great idea and a lot of fun that some have taken it so far that let alone putting the community at risk, they're also putting themselves at risk. And we all know as young humans, we do some really dumb things. And some of us don't live long enough, and some of us do, to recount the dumb things we did. Whether you're on Nextdoor or Facebook, any community social platform, it's been out there. My two sons growing up were part of the group that went to CSD and lobbied for the bike park. They're the kids that they didn't get to use the bike park, but they were the ones that lobbied for the bike park. Now my grandson gets to use it. That's where the bikes with kids. I mean, we used to have the Honda Hills at Florence Center when Florence Center was being built. Used to call it the Honda Hills. So. It's always, bicycles always seem to be a part of our history, but these e-bikes, now that you can buy them online and can go very fast, need to be corralled. Yesterday I seen on a Facebook post that municipality, I can't remember the city, but they're They passed an ordinance or a policy or whatever to limit, I think it was the school board, not the city, where K through 8th grade can't take electric bikes on school property. It's a great idea. Great idea. Something needs to be done, and the bottom line is this is where we're at today. Not only that, we've got the community screaming, almost weekly over a bunch of kids out there taking over areas. I was back east and I seen something on a video that they got out on Highway 99. How ridiculous is that? So please pass it. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Sharon Anderson.

Hello, Mayor, City Council Members, Sharon Anderson. I'm also a member of the Trails Committee, the Vice Chair of that, and I did hear this ordinance presented to us, and one of the benefits of the ordinance, as far as a trail user myself, is if the enforcement is true and it's level, at my age, I can't afford to be hit by a heavy a bicycle going fast. I also can't afford to not, I don't have eyes in the back of my head and I tell cyclists, doesn't matter if they're motos or whatever, I let them know if they pass me without a bell or letting me know that they're there, that I startle easy and I do not want to be hit because if I startle, I'm gonna be in front of you and we're gonna get hit and I'm gonna be the one that's injured. So at my age, I can't afford that. This ordinance is a benefit for our law enforcement also for the CCSD Park Rangers because I think it can blanket. Is that true? I'm hoping it can blanket because properties are owned by different entities in our city. So I'm hoping there can be a collaboration that we can make Elk Grove a little bit safer for everybody with this ordinance. And thank you to Elk Grove PD and the other city staff for listening to the comments from the Trials Committee and also for you. I support I support the passage of this ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you. That was our final in-person public comment. Turning to you, clerk.

And we do have some participants. So we have some raised hands. And so I will be turning to our online participants. And our first speaker is going to be Katie. And Katie, on your end, what you want to be able to do is unmute. So hopefully we've got you ready to go. and we're gonna be asking you to unmute on your side in order to participate. You might have to just unmute your device. I see some audio, but I'm looking to my team for any support. I see the microphone moving on the environment. All right, Katie, I think you're on, so please proceed. Are you there?

Can you hear me?

We can. Nope, you are on my end. We can hear you live. And you may just need to mute any other devices that are around you that could be causing a little bit of interference.

Oh, there we go. Can you hear me?

Crystal clear.

Almost. We can hear you. Yes. My name is Katie James. I'm a resident of... Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

We can hear you live. Thank you. My name is Katie James. We can hear you, Katie.

Just keep talking.

It's not coherent on our end. I'm going to ask you to pause. I keep hearing, I'm Katie James, but that's it.

Speaker, if you're listening to the recording, you want to mute.

Can you hear me now without any echo?

Correct. Now, without any other devices, it's creating a feedback loop on our side. Hello?

Yes, we can hear you, Katie.

So I think the tough part is you need to mute any kind of computer that's around you, but speak into your device.

Is there another public comment? Maybe we come back to Katie.

We only have the one, but we might have somebody in the audience that just signed up.

Here? Katie, can you hear us? Okay, and she's gone.

Yeah, she might try to reconnect, but we do have, now to bounce back, I think we have another speaker in the audience who has to sign up to speak.

Yes, let's go to our next speaker, Ty Wilson.

Hello, Vice Mayor, Mayor, staff, council. I'm here to support the ordinance, but some of the things, there's a lot of things. I had a lengthy conversation with Officer Glazer today about some positive reinforcement we could do. I'm a retired fireman, work on safety committees and stuff. I really respect the work of the Trails Committee that did all that, but there are some other issues that I think could probably be addressed, and I don't want to change anything they've done. Some of the other electronic issues we have is people bugging out with earphones and airpods. So when you come up to warn somebody, you don't have the ability to do that. So part of our education component is maybe put out some things, just have one earpod or one earphone off. And I also don't agree with the class one trails that are shared use, which you could have seniors in the mobility things and whatnot. I ride every day around here at 8 to 12 miles an hour on a pedal bike. And when an e-bike passes me at 15 to 20 miles an hour, I race professional motorcycles for 30 years. It startles me, even though I'm expecting it. So I think on the shared trails, I think if they got it as class one in the description of different trails, bikeways, I think that should be 10 to 12 miles an hour. Because if you're walking or doing something at five and somebody goes by at 15, that's a 10 mile an hour difference. And you still allow for a 30 mile an hour head on. Two 15s going opposite directions means 30 mile an hour head impact. So maybe around the senior centers or the real busy trails or areas where we know we have high congestion, I would suggest a lower speed. On my safety committee at a ranch that I participated on, another safety committee, we learned the hard way and we dropped everything to 10. So just something to consider. Again, I don't want to recreate work for anybody, but the head issue, the earphones, everything else, people just check out. And it's frustrating when you're ringing your bell, you're hollering, and you still startle people. And it's just something that nobody thinks about it. So they check out, they go out for the workout, and they don't realize there's people coming behind them trying to warn them, and it just doesn't work. And I appreciate the ability to comment on this. And I do support the rowdy behavior is another thing. That's a parenting issue. You know, there needs to be enforcement at that level. But just the friendly rider stuff can be corrected with some messaging. I notice utility boxes now. Somebody put up the things about yelling out, passing on the left and stuff. That's a great program. We need more signage. Also on some of the things we talk about speed limit signs is maybe put the thing on the ground as well because signs fade or get covered with trees because we have so many trees in the city.

and uh thank you thank you very much for your time thank you sir um back online i see katie indeed so we're going to see what we can do and before we get going with katie and unmuting you is that basically you want any other devices muted except for when you're talking into the webinar and so we're going to unmute you and see how it goes so

All right, Katie, you're live.

Hold on.

Or not.

Thank you very much. Yes, can you hear me now? Yes.

yeah something is giving you feedback on your side katie you have to only be in the webinar environment can you hear me now can you hear me we can hear you but there is background noise

So I'm hearing an echo.

You need to turn off the audio of anything else.

I can't hear any audio when I'm in the... Okay, I'm going to talk with... I'm going to talk. Can you hear me now? I can't hear the audio. I have to turn it off. And I'm just going to assume that you're hearing me. I'd like to say that I support this adoption of this ordinance. And I have personally been out walking with my dogs and running. multiple times and I have actually been hit or almost hit by bicycles and by e-bikes and my dogs have been hit by e-bikes and bikes. I understand that bicyclists may ride on the sidewalks but it's dangerous enough to have the e-bikes on excuse me, the bicyclists on the sidewalks because they don't seem to understand that they have to yield to pedestrians. And that is a requirement of the ordinance. But if e-bikes continue to be allowed on the sidewalks, I feel in danger. And I absolutely support this. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Katie. Anyone else online? Excellent.

We heard everything, Katie. Thank you.

All right. Yes. At this time, I'm closing public comment. And I would like for our chief to provide some additional information.

I'm going to go and call.

Excellent.

What? No, I just wanted to note, this really came about last year when we started having some of the street takeovers, and council asked us what we could do to look into maybe making a change. At that point, Officer Brennan Herron stepped up and did a ton of research to kind of get us to where we were. Then we started working with our city partners, specifically Katie Lyons, who is our Transportation and Planning Program Manager, to kind of help us get down this path, which now included the e-bikes. We felt that it was important that we made this a little bit more broad so that we weren't coming back to you in six or seven months to address the e-bike and the problems we're having in the city. So between Brandon and Kaylee, we have, this is what we've decided to present with the hopes that we do or you will pass this. And we've already started working with the Elk Grove Unified School District. Lisa Levasseur with Sergeant Jimenez has started the last three weeks doing outreach, education, providing documents and information, kind of teasing where we were headed with this. And that is important to us because our schools, the majority of them are going to start tomorrow. So in addition to this ordinance and the things that we've done in the last three weeks, we're going to have a police officer at every single school in the city of Elk Grove tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon. We're going to provide education. We're going to provide an opportunity for people to ask us questions or talk about this. And in the evening as well. We want to make it clear that safety first for our children is extremely important to us. And this e-bike ordinance will really give us an opportunity to provide education first and enforcement second. However, if enforcement is necessary, we absolutely will use this tool to ensure that our kids make it home every day. We have seen an uptick, unfortunately, in our city. We have young people who are still in the hospital after months of having been injured. And so for us, this is one of those areas that's extremely important because we know with prevention and education, we hope that we can reduce some of those numbers. Part of this is gonna be on our parents, and we wanna make sure that they understand through education and enforcement that they're just as responsible. If we do stop some of these children, if we take the bikes and them back home, we are gonna ensure that they are aware of the responsibility that they have on top of the children riding the bikes as well. And so for us, this is kind of a holistic approach and a global approach to ensuring that we can provide a safety measure for the folks in our community. So Sergeant Shane Glazer presented tonight and did a great job. But I just wanted to put a few more things in there because I think it's important that people know that we are education first. But if enforcement is necessary, we will do that.

Thank you very much for that additional information. So I'm going to open it up here for council comments. Questions, I'll start to the left. Council Member Brewer.

Thank you, Mayor. No, I want to thank Chief for this because this is something that we've been seeing not just with, we've been seeing a lot of safety-related incidents happen throughout town over the past two years. And within the last couple of months, especially along Elk Grove floor, and I've been seeing more and more of it, And it's really doing it for the protection of the riders, but also for people who are driving, because you do have drivers who are trying to do the right thing, trying to drive slow, trying to mind traffic. But you will have an instance where someone will do a stunt, and they're purposely riding on the wrong side of the road, and they're putting the driver at risk, which is putting that rider at risk, which is a domino effect, because it's not just one rider, it's normally five or six. And the e-bicycles being differentiated from the e-motorcycles is super helpful because a lot of the incidents that we're seeing not only on social media but seeing in real life have been involved with the smaller e-motorcycles. I cannot explain that enough. The incidents that we've seen in the last 48 hours on social media, on Facebook, have involved youth on e-motorcycles, and we can't really put that genie back in the bottle, and you can't really say they are the cause of all of this. No, e-bicycles, because they're newer, they're heavier, and some are heavier than others, and some people just physically cannot hold them up, It's just trying to be able to manage them. Whether you start off at two miles an hour and go up to 15 is how you slow everything down to make it safe for yourself. And that's why it's important to wear a helmet when you're riding, have the right padding, but just doing the right thing. And in addition to what's being done for the first week of school, next Saturday will be the back to school bike rodeo And that's very helpful because General Manager Berman mentioned this earlier on, and this gives students an opportunity to learn how to ride safely and how to ride confidently on any bicycle throughout town. And this is at District 56 from nine to 11 on August 22nd. So we definitely invite everyone to come out because registration is required, but the attendance is free. It's open to the public. And so we definitely encourage you to be a part of the bike rodeo, but also to be involved and be engaged with your school officials, with Elk Grove Police Department, because we're trying to do the right thing. The bottom line is that we're trying to keep everyone alive. You wake up, you go to school, or you go to work, and the main purpose is that we wanna see you come home in the same fashion. As you walk on the trails throughout Elk Grove, the way you leave the house in one piece, we wanna see you come home in one piece. And so I'm totally supportive of this. I wanna thank you again, and I hope that we can, open up the dialogue for more increased ways of being safe as we use technology to be our friend instead of using it to be our unfortunate enemy. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Brewer, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, in our suburban community, these e-bikes are a great tool to get people out of their cars. Another mode of transportation for our kids as well. But absolutely, the numbers, I agree with my colleague, Council Member Brewer, the numbers that we've seen on these slides and what we've just seen, any reels on the social media, it's horrific when you see these young kids in these accidents. And so, I'm really glad to see this come about as well. Chief, I want to thank you and Kaylee, Public Works and Police Department for the research and effort you guys put into this, the thoughtfulness involved and try not to be too punitive, but something definitely needs to be done. And so I'm glad to this is coming for us now. Happy to support it. I just will say that. Also happy to hear about the education effort that's going to take place, but I just want to say that this could take time. So I just want everybody to set expectations. It may not be adopted. People may not learn. They miss the education. They don't abide by it. It's going to take time. So let's all have a little grace and patience, but we'll be vigilant out there to educate the community. and get everybody up to speed, and hopefully our community will be compliant because it will be for the best interest of all our kids and our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Spies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. First, Sergeant Glazer and everyone else who's put into this ordinance, I appreciate it. Thanks for being here tonight, Sergeant Glazer. So I'm going to support it, and I don't have a whole lot more to add, just a few more asks, short asks. The next time that we do some update to this, which might be far away, I do like some of the ideas that were brought up relative to training. You can do training before, you can do training after. Our goal certainly isn't to collect money on this. Our goal is to get compliance through the education. and perhaps maybe before we find them, then maybe they have to take a bicycle course from Safety USA, or maybe we have one here, or something else, right? As we look to, you know, having more safety related training. I mean, perhaps there's a quarterly we can do that would do some, you know, some training for folks beforehand. Anyway, so those two things. And certainly I would hope that along with our education and outreach that we can inject to folks, although it's typically the walkers that are, I mean, walk the American River Bike Trail is great. It's fantastic. Well, it used to be, but I won't go any further. But if you're wearing, you could be wearing earphones and the bikes will zip right past you and scare the living daylights out of you. It happens on our trails too. So part of it is on the walkers, right? They've got those in their ears. So if we could find a way to incorporate that in our outreach, because it does happen with the cyclists too. So with that, fully supportive. Thank you very much, Sergeant Glazer, Chief, PD. I appreciate it. Oh, I'm sorry, Kaylee. You're probably out there somewhere. No Kaylee today?

She's at a conference, but she's listening.

Okay. Thank you, Kaylee.

Council Member Robles.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I agree with Council Member Spies. Perhaps some education, if there is an offense, I also agree that we shouldn't be penalizing. I mean, it's a serious, it is a serious issue, especially on the trails, but I did want to go on the enforcement side because I see here is the misdemeanor would be for both adults and teenagers. And then usually it'd be five years for a teenager, right? So if he's 17 or 16 and they have one offense, would that be on the first offense a misdemeanor?

No, I don't believe so. I'd have to look at that, but I don't believe so.

I'm just trying to kind of like, you know, if it's a teenager that gets in trouble for, you know, writing and then gets cited and it gets fined, I just don't want to kind of add on to that. them having some legal troubles or because when they become an adult. Does that make sense?

It does. I think for us, we're going to have the same approach that we do with everything when it comes to that. This ordinance isn't about punishment. This ordinance is about providing an opportunity to correct behavior, and that's going to be what our goal is. I would say if the act is egregious enough, as those kids that were riding around those folks the other night and threatening them and throwing rocks in the street, they will be cited, and they're going to have to deal with the consequences with their parents. However, if it's just a contact, that is not going to result in a citation. It's going to result in an opportunity to educate, build relationships, and ensure that those folks are taken care of. But again, I think it's going to depend on the severity of the situation. But the discretion of our officers tends to lean towards compassion and care and understanding and education. That's our direction.

Perfect.

Thank you for that clarification.

I also just wanted to ask, being on the parents, the citation is going to go directly to the parents, correct?

Citation will be, well, yes, they will get their citation as well, but it'll be in the name of the children or the young people and the parents. It'll go to the parents, I should say, and it's going to depend on our contacts how many times it happens, but our goal is that the parents understand the responsibility that they have on top of the children, meaning that if it is a repeat offender, the parents could ultimately be responsible if the child goes out and, say, hits one of our patrons on the bike trail and injures them. There is a case right now in Southern California where that took place and the parents are being held responsible for a potential manslaughter charge because the child was taken home with their property, the kid went back out on another e-bike, struck an elderly person and killed them. So ultimately, right, this is an education piece for all of us. We want our parents that are in our communities to understand the importance of how e-bikes can, or these type of conveyances can injure people. So our goal clearly is to not have that happen. But in the end, if we have to hold the parents accountable, we will.

Perfect. Thank you. I just wanted a clarification on the enforcement and definitely did that. So that's all the answers or other questions I have.

Excellent. So thank you, Sergeant Glazer, Chief, the entire department. This is something that we've talked about, as you mentioned, over a year. I actually get, on a given week, maybe five residents that will reach out on this issue. So add that up over the course of a year of how many times our residents have brought this up as a serious, serious concern. not just for the operator, but also just the general public as well. So this is definitely very necessary. I do like some of the comments, just like Council Member Spitz, that we've heard of the education opportunity on how to operate these effectively. It's voluntary. It's not something that we can enforce, but I do think that if we have it available, maybe our community will step up and utilize those. I would actually like to also, on the enforcement side, for those of you that are parents, know that sometimes it takes several times to talk to your children. for changed behavior. It may not be the first time or the second time. If there's an opportunity for community service, or at that point, maybe mandatory education, and so that they can understand what happens in those more serious situations. So that's just something for exploration, if we can look at that. But this is long overdue. And it's something that our residents have been talking about for years. And so I'm pleased to see that we are being proactive in this and responding and rising up to those needs. It's not something we had to deal with, you know, a decade ago. It's new technology, and with new technology, we have to adapt. And this is the city adapting for something that's creating sometimes just a public nuisance, but also public harm. So I definitely will be supporting this as well. With that, I will look for a motion.

So moved. Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. All right. Next, council comments, reports, future agenda items. I'll start to the right. Council Member Robles. Yes. Council Member Spies. Yes.

Real quick, on Monday, we will have an ad hoc working group for Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission to determine the final budget for this year relative to cable distributions to both member agencies and to channel licensees. I'm sure it'll be a difficult discussion. We're catching a falling knife when it comes to

the um the budget or excuse me the cable revenues as everybody continues to uh cut the cable and and go to streaming so anyway um that's all i have thank you thank you vice mayor uh thank you mary um sewer district meeting was canceled today's uh sacog board meeting next week and then i just want to publicly congratulate madam mayor and councilmember brewer on their The reappointment reelections that'll take place soon, I guess.

Thank you.

Victory, yeah, unopposed. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Brewer.

I have no items to report committee-wise, but we definitely want to send our well wishes and root on the Elk Grove 10 Under Blue All-Star Team as they're playing in the Cal Ripken Baseball World Series. It's definitely a historic team that is going on this search or this quest, so we definitely want to root them on and wish them well.

Thank you. For my comments, want to recognize all of the emails and public comments that we've been receiving as it relates to the resurgence of a discussion on flock cameras. And I know that our chief and our city are working towards not only one updating the website, but also providing a response. But I also want to pause. I have seen some horrendous, disgusting, vile comments directed at our Police Department. And I want to sincerely apologize for what you all may be seeing. I know that it does not reflect the values of our city. Our city respects the work that you all do. And I've seen that those comments, almost all of them are from outside of our city limits. And it's hard to read those comments. And so I just wanna pause and thank you for the work that you all do every single day, keeping our city, our residents safe, and raising the bar when it comes to public safety and those partnerships that we see with our residents in Elk Grove. So thank you, and I believe in having public debate and conversations, but doing that respectfully. And that's how we build trust and that's how we listen to all sides. So I look forward to those conversations. But I wanted to pause right now and just thank you all for your service. Thank you.

Well said.

And with that, I will go ahead and adjourn at 735.