City Council - Regular Meeting

Lincoln's regular meeting of the city council. Tonight's meeting will be televised and available on cable channel 18, YouTube and Zoom. Very much. Uh, call the role, please. Thank you. Council member Andrea. I am present. Mayor Pro Tim Ecklund. Mayor Pearl here. Council member Rei absson and council member Brown here.

Okay, good. And with case set, we will uh we have to call for public comment first on this. Okay. Uh do we have anyone in the audience rhetorical question? Uh all right. Online Zoom. There are no participants through Zoom. All right. Very good. In that case, Miss White, we can adjourn then to the close session. Is that correct?

Yeah. So for for close session, we have two items. First item is conference with labor negotiators um uh for employee organization classified and local 39 employee group. Second item is conference with legal council anticipated litigation two cases. Right. Anything else? So, we're journ

Good evening and welcome to the city of Lincoln's regular meeting of the city council. Tonight's meeting will be televised and available on cable channel 18, YouTube, and Zoom. Those wishing to address city council on either a non-aggenda or agenda item will be called upon at the appropriate time. Those who submitted a speaker card will be called first, followed by those in the audience. And finally, those attending through Zoom. For those participating through Zoom that wish to provide public comment, please use the raise your hand feature or press star9 if you are calling in. Once public comment is open, please wait to be unmuted by the city clerk. Once unmuted, your name will be called and you may proceed in making your public comment. This evening's invocation will be given by Pastor Mark Shepard from Grace Life Church. Once the invocation has concluded, Mayor Pearl will call the meeting to order. and concerning the business matters at hand. Lord, may you give them guidance and wisdom as they move forward to continue to build and strengthen and look out for the best interests of the city of Lincoln and all the local citizens that they represent. We ask for your grace and your favor upon their decision making. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. Okay,

thank you. We'll go ahead and do roll call. Council member Andrea, present. Council member Rei, present. Council member Brown, here. Mayor Pro Tim Ecklund, here. Mayor Pearl, here. Um, Mr. Rocher, would you lead us in the pledge? Pledge allegiance.

Mr. Mr. Mayor, just a reminder, can we go to report from close session?

Well, let's see, Christie, you're going to be giving the report from close session. And just for uh some of the people in the audience might know, we do have new council here to today where we bring their contract forward as part of the agenda later today. Our former city attorney, Christine Molikoff, has has resigned. Uh she was with us for eight years. did very good service friend to many of us but sometimes life moves on and so we're very pleased to have the count the council that we have today so thank you very much and Christie

by a vote of five to zero votes city council tonight authorized a settlement with Hartford Insurance Company for the amount of $40,000 which was related to the former landfill site and all other close session matters direction was given to staff We're good. Okay. Agenda modifications have any of our staff?

Yes, mayor. One modification on uh item 12 I which is the um memorandum of understanding with the frames of the Lincoln Public Library. we had a a clerical error and um theou was not attached to your uh printed and posted packet. So, we've created a bunch of copies here for anybody to review. You each have one at the dis. It's actually normally we'd pull the item and push it to another meeting, but it's actually a very brief and simple document. It's only a page. So, um if we could have you consider that u separate of the the total decision just so that if there's any questions on it, we can answer them. You want to pull it?

Yeah. Okay. Just to be considered uh individually and then Mr. Mayor, I do have one more modification.

It's really light. Thanks. Um in regards to item 12E, I'd like to read the modified agenda title post publication. The new title will read, "Adopt a resolution approving Liberty at Lincoln Village 1 improvement plans. Liberty at Lincoln Village 1A and 1B final maps. Authorizing the execution of the subdivision improvement agreements for Liberty at Lincoln Village 1A and 1B. And authorizing the recording of final map and the subdivision improvement agreements for village 1A and 1Bs. I go up to the podium for this one.

Thank you, Mr. Racker.

Good evening, uh, Mr. Mayor and council members. So, this evening, we are ready to present the city's, uh, 2425, uh, comprehensive annual financial report, also known, I'm sorry, Yeah, I said it right. As the APER uh and uh providing that presentation virtually is uh the managing partner of Mun LLPCPA, uh Justin. And Justin, I believe you're online. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. And if you want to go ahead and share your screen and begin your presentation,

we'll do. Thank you. can see your presentation now.

Does need to mention um here to present the audit results for the last fiscal year ended uh June 30th, 2025. Uh, one thing I like to remind members of management as well as council members is that management is responsible uh, for the financial statement presentation and then it's our job as the auditor to come in and form an independent opinion on those financials to let the users know whether or not they're fairly stated. So, that's the the goal um or objective of a financial statement audit is to form an opinion on the on the numbers of the financials themselves. So, a little bit about our audit process. Uh, we began uh the audit back in June. Um, this is our interim fieldwork. We break up our fieldwork into two different phases. Uh, the interim field work we usually do um May, June, July. Um, and a lot of what we're doing here is we're starting to plan for the audit. Uh, we look at uh council minutes since, uh, the prior year audit. uh talk to members of management, do a different inquiry to see uh major things that have been going on in the city. And then another big part of this is looking at the uh the city's internal controls. And so we I listed out the the major areas that we're looking at here. We're looking at cash receipts or revenue that comes into the city. Uh dispersements and expenses um that flow out uh the payroll HR functions. And as we're going through each of these different areas, really what we're looking for in terms of your internal controls are things like uh segregation of duties. You don't want one uh person having too much control over a particular financial process. Um so we want to make sure those are segregated as possible. We're also uh looking for things like approval of transactions, uh management approval of different transactions as well. So as we go through these different areas in terms of your controls, that's really what we're looking for. So it's really

to make sure that you have appropriate internal controls in place and then we can perform uh testing over those controls as well. Uh once the the books are closed uh a lot of financial schedules and reconciliations are completed and prepared and provided to us we come out uh to do the year-end uh portion um of our fieldwork. And so this occurred in January. So even though the team was out there in January, we request a lot of this information upfront. um allows us to do additional planning so we can get ready for that year-end fieldwork. We provide um samp our sample selections of areas we're going to look at uh Tita um and Alex and their team to make sure that they're prepared for us with all the supporting documents that we're going to look at while we're physically out um at the city's offices. I put a listing of the different types of tests that we do. We do confirmation of balances. Uh that's where we send uh thirdparty confirmations directly to financial institutions to confirm um that uh the balances balances that are being reported by the city are in agreement uh with their records. We do a lot on cutoff testing and that's receivables payables and then how those relate to the revenues um and expenses. And the reason we concentrate a lot of our testing on that, what what that means is we're looking at uh transactions that occur right around your year-end date, June 30th. Um, often times agencies are good at doing day-to-day transactions throughout the year. Um, you get to a year end or a cutoff period, there's a lot of different types of entries that have to be made to make sure that things are being recorded in the proper period. So, it's just considered to be higher risk. So we look at a lot of transactions right around that June 30th and several months leading up to that and then several months into the current 26 um fiscal year as well. We perform detailed test of transactions as well and that's where we're selecting transactions

directly from uh the city's accounting uh system and then requesting backup and supporting documentation for that. also do analytical review procedures where we're looking at these are more highle tests where we're looking at varying um balances in different accounts over several years to see if there's any unusual fluctuations that we weren't expecting. We also do things like ratio analysis um in different areas such as average uh payroll per FTE um and just things like that to get comfortable um with a large amount of data at a higher level. And if anything looks unusual and then we dig into that a little bit further. Also perform your single audit which I'll talk about in a second which is the federal audit. And then we put together the financial statements and footnotes to make sure that they're all prepared in accordance with uh Gazsby uh the governmental accounting standards board. So in order to report the results um of our audit um there are five different reports or letters that we issue. our independent auditors report which is the main one that goes in front of the um the act for uh the then we issue a separate government audit standards report and and uniform guidance report which is the federal report those go as one document and then two separate letters a management letter and audit conclusion letter so I'll talk about each of these reports the first one the independent auditor's report is part of your act document um there are other things that are included in there um the middle part there the financial section. That's the only part that's actually required um by Gazsby is your basic financials, independent auditors report, and then MDNA. Um the additional information the city elects um voluntarily to prepare this information um as part of the act for the annual confidential financial report. that adds the introductory section as well as the statistical section in the back provides the users with a lot of additional information

about the city, a lot of demographic information, longerterm financial information. So, it's definitely more beneficial um that your finance department elects to perform uh the additional procedures required to put all those additional reports together. So, it's a pretty long pretty long report overall. I think it's about 170 pages. And as I mentioned the independent auditors report that goes in the front of the act for this is the main our main report. It's our audit opinion on your financials. U we have an unmodified or clean opinion which is definitely good news. Uh next report we issue is uh the government audit standards report. The main thing about this particular report um for the government audit standards is that well for starters the majority of the government audit standards fall on us as your auditor. We have to have certain training um in government um areas for all of our staff that work on governmental audits. Um there's different things that we have to have in our own internal quality control process to make sure that we're uh performing governmental audits properly. Uh the way that these affect you though is if we have any um findings that we consider to be material weakness or a significant deficiency, they get reported in this particular report. Um each of these um the material weakness one, this has been a repeat, which I'm sure you're all aware of. This has to do with the special assessment debt proceeds that go all the way back to 1999. I think um this will go away next year. This has been all um finance has spent a lot of time over the last several years reconciling all this and then getting these uh proceeds back into the appropriate areas. That should be uh go away next year. So definitely good news there. We had a reported this one last year because there was still um an adjustment to prior year numbers related to this. And then um a partial uh repeat as a significant efficiency just with

the financial close. uh there were some delays um in getting that information to us which caused a little bit of a delay in the audit and some additional um adjustments that we had to do uh to the books but I would imagine that would that one would go away uh next year as well. We did have the one finding uh last year related to grants and that was implemented uh during the current year. So definitely some improvement overall um related to those. Uh, next report we issue is our federal single audits uniform guidance report. Any agency in the US that receives or expends more than $750,000 in federal funds in a given year has to get this additional audit. It's more uh compliance-based audit. We're making sure that the grant funds that are received from the federal government are being spent in accordance with the grant requirements. Good news here, we have an unmodified or clean opinion on those federal funds, which means that there are no compliance exceptions or no issues with the internal controls uh related to the federal funds. So again, good news there. Uh next separate letter we issue is the management letter. I mentioned when we're looking at your internal controls, um if we have any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, those get reported in that government audit standards schedule findings. If we have things that don't rise to that level, we report them here. We're almost always going to have a couple of these in terms of recommendations on how to improve things or if we have some minor adjustments that we had to do. Um, not that they're not important, but they definitely don't rise to the level of a significant deficiency or material weakness. Um, so these had to do with appropriate uh classification of accounts receivable. Um, also related to the computer loan accounts receivable. uh we had to make an adjustment to um inventory and then uh for acred benefits there were um a couple accounts that had to be corrected by us. Again, nothing too major. Um these should be able to be rectified pretty easily um by finance

next year. Um two of the prior year recommendations that we had those were implemented. So that's that's something that that's good news here. I mean, from a council member perspective, you'll see that, you know, the findings um that as long as they're getting implemented, the recommendations are being implemented yeartoear. Um that indicates that um the finance department is concerned about making sure that things are being um appropriately reconciled and corrected. Uh final letter we issues our audit conclusion letter. In addition to our audit opinion and those other reports, there's certain things we're required uh to communicate directly to you and this letter accomplishes that. if there were any new accounting policies implemented during the year. Um, which Gazsby seems to have statements that come out almost every year that affect your financials and require additional work for finance. Uh, this year was a fairly big one. Gazby 101 affected how compensated absences, particularly sick leave is it gets reported for governments. So, that had to be implemented this year. No major changes in disclosures to your footnotes. Uh if you have any uh accounting estimates included in your financials, we're required to let you know what those are. Nothing unusual here. All financials are going to have some sort of estimate. We're just required to to list those out. If any difficulties in performing the audit, we would let you know that. And there were none. A little bit of a delays, but nothing um too major. It's still just March where we're presenting the final reports here. And the the um uh results were also presented uh to the uh finance and investment uh committee last month too. No disagreements with management on any accounting issues or anything. Um and then we we did relate that material weakness again to that uh special assessment debt finding which again that should go away. U we had four adjustments. Um that's us we're almost always going to have a couple of audit adjustments

each year to clean things up. This is a drastic improvement to five, six years ago or so um where we had a lot of adjustments to get the books in order. So things have definitely um been looking pretty good in terms of the number of audit adjustments were um required to make to make sure your um accounting records are are correct. So overall continued improvement um in the in the financial results. Uh main thing here we have an unmodified or clean opinion on the financials. Good news there. Um again the material weakness and significant deficiency that we reported that were repeats again should go away next year. Clean opinion on the the fin uh the federal funding uh the four recommendations for improvement on that management letter and then uh just the four audit adjustments. My name's not Erica. That's my partner who she'd use this presentation for the finance committee. Thank you, Clint.

Thanks, Justin. Yeah, I just, you know, I want to reiterate that this was the first year that we were in Tyler Technologies for the entire fiscal year and changing over to a new financial system is a huge undertaking. And while the finance part is done, in fact, we just went live with utility billing in January as many of you know. And so uh next year 2027 uh we're looking to go live with the payroll and HR and then finance will be done with Tyler implementations. Uh but you know switching over to a new financial system it requires that you change pretty much everything that you're doing. The way that you process every single thing has to be re-evaluated reconsidered and reformed. And as a result of that significant lift and also the fact that the accounting department was downstaffed 50% for about half the year, you know, we saw some of those the second significant deficiency. Uh but we were able to uh bring on and have join us an amazing accounting manager uh who is also a CPA and previously an auditor. So he speaks auditor, he also speaks regular people too. uh and he is uh came in and feet jumped in feet first and was able to uh get the books uh along with the rest of the accounting team and the entire entire finance department ready and to the auditors. And so we are very confident that next year that the audit will look even better than this year. And that's our goal is just to attempt for that continuous improvement, you know, as we're dealing with the changes of the world and the systems. And so this is merely a receive and file. The council does not need to take any additional action, but if you have any questions regarding the audit report, we are happy to answer them.

One question, actually a couple questions. Number one, did FIAK have any issues with it? Any questions?

No, FIAK did not uh there we presented to them just a small correction from what Justice said. We actually presented to them earlier this month uh in just a slightly draft form. We hadn't completed all those statistical sections at that time, but really wanted to get their input on the general financial statements before we brought them to council. Uh so that was their only question is like when do we get the fund numbers? So I'll be sending that out to them so that they can see the the stats as well. just as an observation because I've been coming to city council since 20ou 2010 and I remember the bad old days when it I think the list of of uh exceptions and dings were two pages. I mean it was just it was just amazing. So to have these relatively few relatively minor uh adjustments that have to be made, things are being cleaned up. It's a testament to to the work that you and your staff have done, Nita, without a doubt.

And we're very very happy that the significant or material weakness related to the bonds is now completely finished and never be spoken of again. Right.

Yeah. Mayor, I was going to say the same thing that um since my time being involved, even before I was actually elected, coming to council meetings, listening to the audit reports, this right here, I know it's annoying because we want it just we want it off and it and it will be next year, but I I'll just echo what the mayor just said that from the days of like 20 findings or whatever, and it was continuing year after year, it was never fixed. This to me is is it it's almost as if it's perfectly clean, right? night and day from where we were at and um very grateful for you and your staff for for their work for continuing to just grind at it um and get it done and also just you know the the teamwork between councils and staff just to get us to where we are. So um I'm very happy with it too and and I know that I I know you and Sean both because we've talked about this separately that the the little one that's here still but now the bond one's done. It's it's annoying because like we know we're there, right? We know that it's done. It's taken care of, but it still has to show up this time. But I just want you to know that we're so grateful and that this is light years from where we used to be maybe 8 10 years ago and it's it's really awesome to sit here and and to see this. So, thank you.

Any other comments for my colleagues? I will add the compliments on to my staff. Thank you, Nita. Okay, Mr. Mr. Mayor, just a reminder to open public comment. I do have someone on Zoom.

Hey, Cella Greenhouse, you have been unmuted. Please provide your public comments. Hi, staff. Uh, and mayor and the city council. I, um, just wanted to echo your comments more so too in regards to this presentation that was given. um you know the implemented items and the normal doing as business and still coming out with um less findings, much less findings and um the report from the the auditors. I just wanted to tell our staff through our mayor that this is a great report and I just appreciate um the effort that's been put over this last that year of 2025 fiscal year. So thank you.

Thank you Cella for the kind words. Anyone else on Zoom? Oops. Let's try that again. I see no other hands raised on Zoom. Any other comments from the anyone in the audience today? Mr. Chapman.

And let me say, Mr. Chapman, it's nice to see you here.

It's nice to be seen, mayor. Um, appreciate that. Uh, a couple of things. First of all, I think I have to go back and take my driver's test for my wheelchair there. Uh yeah, it's probably time. Uh also just a a question of knowing how are the auditors uh selected for any city, our city in this particular case, who who determines what that or who that auditor and or firm are. Uh secondly, uh I have to totally agree uh living through many of the prior days as to where we are for those that were here. Um it it it's it we're light years from where we were and and that's a great place to be. Uh, and last, most importantly, if if staff could have simply put on the packet that the uh, presentation's only going to take five or six minutes. U,, I spent three days on that 642 pages. So, next time if we could get a heads up, it'd probably save me some time. So, thank you.

Thank you, Anita. He had a question. Would you like to respond to that? Yeah, sure. In fact, uh the uh staff brought forward a request to city council to move forward with an RFP uh our current contract was up with our existing auditors uh MUNCPA and so we are in the process of uh finalizing that RFP process and we hope to bring forward a request to award the selected uh respondent and uh award a contract next next meeting maybe hopefully.

Good. And just as a comment, uh it's very routine for all jurisdictions to switch auditors out after a couple of years. It's just best practices. We're I think the staff and the city councils have been very pleased with the work that Mun has done. Uh but it's just time to go out and this is a good time to do it. But it's also like not an actual requirement that you switch other firms, sir.

Best practices. All right. Anyone else in the audience like to comment on this uh item? Okay. Very good. We'll move forward on that. Public comment non-aggenda items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council. All speakers time will be limited to three minutes unless extended by the mayor. All comments or questions should be addressed to the mayor. And in most cases, the city council is prohibited from discussing or taking action on any item not appearing uh on the posted agenda, but may engage in a brief discussion, provide direction to city staff, or schedule items for future meetings. Do we have any comments?

Do I have received three public comment cards? First, speaker Stan Nater, followed by Linda D. Roshi and finally Eric Johnson.

Mr. Mayor, council, my name is Stan Nater. I live in 12 Bridges area. When I was last speaking to you regarding the water master plan update, I was sharing with you the challenges to relying on increasing the city's water supply by drilling more groundwater wells. I am aware the city is discuss in discussions with PCWA regarding the river AR river arc pro project which would treat water from the Sacramento River and convey that treated water to areas in Sac in Sacramento and Plaster counties. The mind-numbing cost of this project could reach $500 million. It makes the $300 million cost for the NID water treatment facility on Raccoon Creek look like a bargain, which the city passed on years ago. The important thing to be aware of is that NIDA's water right entitlements are superior to those of PCWA. The River Ark project is currently under environmental review and PCDA PCWA must be able to move their entitlements from the American River to the Sacramento River to be able to participate in the River Ark project. These efforts can take a great deal of time. The first phase of the river arc project is projected to be completed by 2030. Given that a major fish screen must be installed in the Sacramento River, a raw water pipeline must be built to transport the water to the treatment

plant built located uh near Highway 7099. From there, the water would have to travel through PCWA's pipeline infrastructure to reach the city of Lincoln. This is a lot to accomplish in four years. I know the offer treatment plant is another potential source of water for the for the city. One of the challenges is not the volume of water that comes from this project, but the infrastructure necessary to deliver the water to the city. A second pipeline will need need to be built by and a and reviewing the the update. It is unclear who will be responsible to construct the pipeline. With 98% of the cost of the implementation of the facets of the of the to be born by new development, I question whether it can be sustained by them. The first five years of the update of the project costs $100 million. That is a lot of money in anybody's book.

Stan, can you summarize please? Y obviously there is much to be accomplished and and all the pieces will need to fall together for with without anything getting in the way. Thank you. Thank you, Stan. Next is Linda.

Good evening, city council and mayor. Uh my name is Linda D. Roa. I live in Lincoln for the past 20 years. I was fortunate enough to be hired by the staff for the 2007 opening of the 12 Bridges Library and um after 10 years I retired and now I'm a volunteer. reason for the blue shirt. Uh the friends of the Lincoln Library are here to I'm here to represent them to point out to you an article that was in uh the Lincoln News Messenger last Friday um with the um below the fold uh online reading program starts for Western Plaster Unified School District students. Um this is a fabulous program that our great staff and our library director um Katherryn Hunt have created to um encourage uh students to continue to read by allowing them to do it online to register the number of minutes and hours that they've read to win prizes for their elementary school. Uh so far almost all the schools are participating and they are competing rapidly because the first prize for the school that reads the most is $1,000. The second prize is 750 and third is $500 for them to spend on more reading materials and books for their school. So they can also uh win individual prizes uh which would of course be more books. Um so the friends of the Lincoln Library of course celebrating their 40th anniversary this year 1986. We were formed as a 501c3. We are um a public charity that continues to raise funds to promote programs like this and we work in partnership with the fine staff at the Lincoln Public Library and Western Plaster Unified School District. And this is a pilot program that our staff came up with and we are very proud uh to fulfill our mission which is to promote and support the Lincoln Public Library. I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can if you have any. You all have library cards, right? They're still free. Yes, they're still

free. And you can um also read and win prizes yourself. More books. Thank you. Thank you. Holly, did you have a comment? I I didn't have a question. I was just going to thank Linda for all her work and her years of dedication to our library. Absolutely. The friends do great work. Yes. And we're very grateful.

Okay, we're good. We have one more comment, I believe, in in here. There we go. Green green light. Um, good evening, Mr. Mayor and uh, council members. My name is Eric Johnson. I've been a resident in 12 Bridges area since 2010. And I just want to share a few comments um, first of gratitude um, for all of you, for all the fine work you're doing uh, for the city um, and all the staff. Um it's it's great um to be a part of the city um and what you know the direction it's heading. So appreciate all of that work. And second wanted to give a quick update on the fitness court. Um and also appreciate you know your support uh with that project you know as I pursued it along with some others. Um so just wanted to briefly uh go over a utilization report that they've um provided. Uh so it launched officially on July 8th um last year. So it's been about six or seven months. Um you got that. Okay. Good. Sorry. Sorry. I'm a sorry I have a we have a teenage son on the house. So that's Yeah, I had I had to get that in there. Yes. Yes. Although now he's going to be embarrassed. Um so since there's been you know that amount of time of uh data uh you know Doug and I with the also works he's the director of recreation here at the city. We've been on quarterly update meetings with uh the fitness court um leaison. And so um you know we've been able to see people utilizing people utilizing it here but they also have their way of tracking utilization through their app and whatnot. So so what they did and I'll

I'll email um the report to all the council members and staff so you can have this as well but what they do is they go through and uh they they have different tiers for based on cities population and population density. We fall in tier B which is their category fall in. And so what they do is they uh have a national average for other cities in tier B with the usage data and health impacts. So the national average uh for the amount of time since we've launched is an estimated 3,360 total workouts uh since you know one is open. So that's the national average and Lincoln they calculated we're at 5,866 which is significantly higher than the national average. Uh and it's about 75% higher 2500 more. So I just wanted to highlight that that our community is definitely using it. It's very much appreciated and wellreceived. Um, and there's, you know, a lot of groups out there using it. And one one group in particular has been trying to get me out there, but they meet at like 5 in the morning and that's a little too early for me. So maybe one of these days if they're listening, I'll I'll make it out there with them. But it's been fantastic to see the community using it. So just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you very much. I It's right over by my house. I drive by it every day and people are always using it. And literally, I'm not just saying this, Eric, every time I drive by that, I'm just I just love this court. It's so great. I know. I'll get out there one day, but not at five. But anyway, I I'm still very thrilled and thank you again for all that. But thanks for the update. That's awesome. Yeah. Anyone else? Okay. Anyone else in the audience who would like to make a public comment? All right. We move to Zoom. Okay. Thank you. We do have one hand raised. I will unmute Fran Nevice. Fran, please provide your public comment.

Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Oh, good. I just wanted to say that um at the women's club meeting today we had 51 members president present and three of the uh firemen came and taught us the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attacks and choking and signs to look for and they brought some dummies and showed us some CPR moves and we were just really appreciated and since I was going to uh be on here tonight I just thought I'd mention that to you. So, we were really happy to have the three of them come to the women's club. And then down on Oak Tree Lane, they are working. They're widening uh the north side, putting in the merge lanes, and I imagine when they get that done, then they'll maybe move 193 over a little bit so they can work on the south side. And I finally realized why you don't want us using the right hand turn lane onto 193. And it's because there's no merge lane there. And that's the difference. Not that you can't see who's coming on the left, but we really don't have a merge lane. So anyway, um, thanks for all you do and proud to be a member of this community and I'm proud to know all of you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Fran. Uh, Sean, do we have any any updates on the 193 Oak Tree or VIN? is you're you're up.

Um well, Mr. Tony Frasier is in the room, but we have an approved traffic control plan. We're just waiting on the contractor to procure all the materials and equipment to get it in place ASAP. So, developers on board. Uh we definitely want to have it in place before, you know, Easter holiday coming up. Um I think it's just getting all the materials. Um it's going to, you know, we think it's going to function a lot better with with an all-way stop. Of course, um you know, for some of the commuters, they may not like that, you know, they're going to have to come to a stop as you enter into the city a couple of times a day. Uh but I truly believe it will be a lot safer, especially for, you know, for the churchgoers at St. Joseph's. um with all the construction activity along this corridor and and with the Stardust starting starting as well. Um you know, I think it's it's going to be a lot safer just from Ferrari Ranch all all the way to Sierra College Boulevard. Um you know, hopefully, you know, traffic would work a lot better and people are no longer, you know, going 80 miles an hour out there.

Thank you, Ben. Hope do we have anyone else? I do not see anyone else on Zoom. Okay, that case will close public comment on the consent. Help help me out a little bit. We we pulled number 12 12 I 12 I 12 I

separately. Okay. Okay. Good. Yes. Right. So, we're not worrying about that. Okay. Anyone else want to pull anything off the uh Okay. All right. Any questions from the from the council on on any of them? Okay. No good on that. Mayor, just a reminder, whoever makes that motion if the motion can be made referencing the modification stated earlier for consent calendar, please. So, I move we approve the Hold

on. We have We have We have to do Zoom first. Anyone in the audience? and then zoom. Okay. Anyone in the audience to make a comment on the uh consent column? Okay. No one. Anyone in on Zoom? I do have a hand raised. All right. Oh, I thought we did that already. Sorry. I'll go ahead and unmute Zella Greenhouse. Zella, please provide your public comment. Hi, uh Mr. Mayor. Just happy to see Liberty Lincoln on the consent and I know that's gone through the planning commission. Um, a lot of work's been done on that. So, just excited to uh see the groundbreaking and moving forward in that community.

Is that a second comment? No, I guess not. Probably not. Okay. Uh, no. Very good. Okay. Very good. No, the comments from over here now. All right. So, I move that we approve the consent agenda with the um corrections made on 12E and minus 12 I because we're going to do that separately. Okay. Motion and second. All in favor say I. I.

I. Any nays? And any abstensions. Okay. Very good. Sounds like we're we're good on that. U discussing now for 12 I. Miss Hunt. Good evening, mayor, council members. Katherine Hunt, your director of library services. Uh the item before you is an exciting one. As part of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Carnegie Corporation of New York did award funds to every active library system that had at one point a Carnegie library, regardless of whether that Carnegie still provided library services. Lincoln Public Library did receive that. And so the item that is before you is anou to allow the friends of the Lincoln Public Library, as you heard earlier, have been our partners in providing um helping support and promote library services for 40 years to manage those funds with restrictions that they are to promote um or to those funds are to support library services and operations as identified by city staff. This is in line with other agreements that we have with the friends of the Lincoln Library, especially with funds like these that were not solicited. This was not a grant. we do not have a project identified in the current city budget. Um, thisou allows us to be a little bit more nimble in meeting the community's needs when and how we identify those. Um, so if you have any questions, I am happy to answer those.

Are there questions for my colleagues? No. Okay. Absolutely. Good money without it without uh Okay. Um, any comments from the audience on on this item? Okay, going once, twice, three times. Anyone on Zoom? Mr. Mayor, I do not see anyone on Zoom that wishes to provide public comment. Okay, very good. Thank you. Okay, let's take a motion on on item number 12. I moved. Okay, second.

Moved and second or any comments? No discussion. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Oppose. Nay. No nazs. Abstensions. Okay. Ask. Thank you. Thank you very much. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Okay. Item 13A. Adopt a resolution approving the tentative map parcel map with project specific typical conditions of approval for the proposed lavel uh level north project. Nita, you going to do an introduction? Uh, I am. But before I do that even, uh, we're actually going to ask that we push this to after general business. We're, uh, printing some attachments for the item at the moment.

Okay. General business then. 14A train discussion. Sure.

Sure. Thank you, mayor. Good evening, council. Um, so just real quick, uh, this is, you know, I'd say in my career, 1% of the agenda items I get to present are actually what I would call sort of fun. Um, and this is that 1%. Um, and I mean objectively fun, not like fun to someone like me. Um, so, uh, we were contacted by the Union Pacific in March, uh, early March actually, um, letting us know that Lincoln had been chosen as a stop on the Coast to Coast Tour, which was, which is, um, celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Um the train tour is being led by the legend legendary big boy number 4014 locomotive um which is the world's largest operative steam uh locomotive along with several historical passenger cars that they're going to be towing in fleet. Um, and um, in case you're just sort of interested on a little bit of the history real quickly, um, there were 25 of these engines uh, commissioned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The first of which was delivered in 1941. There um, these massive locomotives were built to haul heavy equipment in support of the war effort, normally operating in Utah and Wyoming. Um, they're 133 feet long and weigh about 1.2 million pounds. And due to their great length, the frames of uh the big boy are hinged or articulated to allow them to negotiate uh curves. A little different than how how engines are are built and operate today. Um I won't go into all the other technical driving details of it, but it's all included in your report and also a link if you're really a train enthusiast and you want to know about it. Um, suffice to say, this is essentially one of the most famous trains in America and one of the most famous trains that actually still is active in in some use, at least in ceremonial ways. Um, and in speaking with the UP, um, if you don't know much

about train culture, um, there is a whole subculture, as there is many things, of people that are fanatics over this. And so they're basically starting this tour um, in Wyoming and they're going to end in Roseville. And Lincoln was chosen as a stop uh partially because the Union Pacific has decided that they would like to honor Lincoln as a designated as a train town, which is a designation that they've created for a couple dozen communities in a few different states that have a historical connection to the railroad that dates back well over 100 years in our case. um which is a very nice honor because um if you know anything about Lincoln's history, you know, some cities are are cited and developed because they're on a coastline or they're they're near a port or they're near a large body of fresh water um and a variety of other strategic reasons. Lincoln um was partially because we were adjacent to a railroad and so commerce started to build around the railroad and um for um probably close to 65 years longer than that probably uh the railroad was the key economic driver. It's it's one of the reasons that Glatty McBine ended up here and a number of other of our industry because they needed access to to the rail system. So it's a huge part of our history and we think it's very appropriate. They're actually going to present the city council with a sign that we can h hang here in city hall and just sort of celebrate our history. Uh the more cool component about it is on April 9th at 4:30 for exactly 15 minutes um they're going to stop at the intersection of 7th and uh almost Lincoln Boulevard right next to the police station. And they're going to pull the locomotive up and stop there. And they're going to do a quick presentation to the city council. there will be opportunity for community members to get pictures. Uh, no, you cannot get on the train. Um, and no, you cannot even touch the train. Um, but, uh, I would say to those citizens that

are interested in taking your kids out to check it out. Um, I've seen similar things. And if you haven't seen a real steam engine fire up and move, it's pretty cool. It's like the movies. Uh, and but I would also say that make sure you get there early and find some street parking probably on the western side uh of um Seventh Street moving more towards the high school uh because we expect lots of folks that are not necessarily residents to be following this train. Some people follow it from Wyoming and literally stop with it every like you know you're following the Grateful Dead or something. Um so it's pretty cool and it's a um you know great honor to have it stop here, especially since uh you know they're passing through dozens and dozens of communities along the way. And um there's no request for direction or for a specific direction, although if you'd like to provide additional, you certainly can. No fiscal impact to this. We've coordinated some street closures with the UP. And um fun fact, the UP actually has their own sworn police department, which uh the chief has been working uh with so we make sure that this is safe for everyone. And it's a very quick event, so make sure you get there early and then they'll be out of there in 15 minutes. They're very um schedule oriented.

Yeah, I can't we can't stress enough the fact to get there early uh because they will only be here for 15 minutes without without a doubt. They will depart right on time and it's there are people from I was talking to their uh public affairs people. Apparently there are folks coming from Europe just for this event. Yep. Right. So, it's a it's a big deal. It's it's a big deal. And I don't think it's steam. It's it's actually diesel at this point. It was it was

coal. I guess it was coal at one coal at one point. Uh but now it now it's diesel. But uh yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I think we're all looking forward to it. But for everyone in in who I have an interest in it, please get there early. Parking is going to be difficult. Uh our police chief and and the fire and the fire department, everyone will be out there making sure that everyone everyone is safe. We're also coordinating with the with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce to have some fun stuff going on at the same time. So, um, of course, it departs at 4:45 and hopefully people will come and will stay and and enjoy themselves with with Lincoln wine and food and beverages. So, that'll be fun. It'll be great. I was going to say all those people from Europe can come spend money in Lincoln.

That's right. Yep. Good. Any other questions or comments on this is going to be cool. Yes. Yeah. Right. Sean. Very, very good. Okay. Uh, item 14B, adopt a resolution approving the successor memorandum of understanding between the International Association of Firefighters, Local 522, Lincoln Professional Firefighters Association, and the City of Lincoln and related SC salary schedules. Um, Veronica, you are.

Um, good evening, council members. Um the item before you um as the mayor said is a request for approval of the successor memorandum of understanding orou um between the city and our firefighters. They are represented by the international association of firefighters which is local 522. This bargaining unit includes 27 employees consisting of fire captains, engineers, and firefighters. The group's current agreement is set to expire on March 31st after five years. Um the proposed successor agreement is for a 15-month term running from April 1 through June 30th, 2027. So over the fast the past five months, the city and the association met and conferred in good faith. Um a tentative agreement was reached on February 16th and has since been ratified by both parties. The key provisions of this agreement agreement include um a 3% wage increase effective following council adoption and a 2% increase effective January 2027. Uh there's also an increase to bilingual pay for those certified from $75 to 100 per month. And also there's a um elimination of a 2.5% premium that the firefighters were receiving after so many hours of outofclass pay. Um and it this will help address long-term cost exposure for the city. The total estimated fiscal impact of the agreement is approximately 190,000 over the 15-month term. um for this fiscal year it's $32,000 which can be absorbed within the fire department's uh budget. And I do want to note that um based on the review of the current market, these classifications are currently between 8

and 25% below market. So this is a small step, you know, to remedy that gap, but um right now it's probably the the the best approach um to remain fiscally responsible when um making these increases. So overall, this agreement reflects council's direction during negotiations, makes in incremental progress towards the market alignment, um and also maintaining, like I said, fiscal responsibility. And so we recommend that you approve the successor and adopt the associated salary schedules. I'm h happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Veronica. Questions for my colleagues?

I've got no Do we have any comments? Any cards? Anyone on Zoom? I do not see any public comments through Zoom. and also checking in the audience. All good. Nope. All right. Very good. Uh do I have motion on this? I'll move to adopt resolution. Thank you. Second. Second over there. Discussion. Okay. Uh all in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Say and any abstensions. See, I'm I'm getting good. I'm getting good, Doug. Okay. Very good. In that case, we approved. Thank you very Thank you very much.

Thanks for all your work on that. Yeah, very good. Yeah, that's been a long time in coming and I think it's I think it's it's it's a good agreement. Okay. Item 14 C, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into a legal services agreement with White Brener. Uh Mr. Scully.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, uh, Doug White and Nubia Golstein have stepped out of the room for your consideration of this item just to ensure that there's, uh, no appearance of conflict. Um, so, uh, I'll go through this relatively quickly and we can get into more detail if you'd like. Um, the city of, uh, city of Lincoln city attorney's office has recently undergone a staffing change as you mentioned at the beginning of this meeting. While the city council determines the best uh path forward for uh permanent legal services, interim city attorney services can be provided by an outside law firm. Uh staff have identified White Brener LLP as a law firm that can provide those services and have provided an interim agreement for services which is attached to your agenda. Uh, as it I mentioned, the agreement is interim in nature with a defined start date of March 24th and an undefined ending date to ensure flexibility depending on how council in the future may decide to dictate long-term direction for legal services to the organization. Um, White Brener has a long history of municipal legal representation in incorporated jurisdictions across the state of California and not just incorporated jurisdictions, also special districts, counties, etc. Um, their firm has a number of subject matter experts in many key areas that we commonly have needs for here at the city of Lincoln such as public safety, water, sewer, um, refuge, utilities, brown act compliance, litigation, land use, etc. Um, essentially almost everything that you would need um to have uh, legal assistance, they have someone or a group of them that work on this kind of thing for a variety of jurisdictions. Um the agreement appoints uh the firm as interim aim of city attorney to provide legal uh services as requested by the city including working with and supervising our deputy city attorney who is sitting behind me. Uh under the

agreement uh Doug White and Nubia Goldstein would serve as interim city attorney and um interim assistant city attorney respectfully and would be the primary contacts uh for legal services for the city uh moving forward. Um they can tell you more about themselves at some point if you'd like or you can just Google them. Um Doug and Nubia both have been city attorneys for a long time for a number of different jurisdictions. Uh and both I believe are um local um McJorge School of Law grants. Uh although that that is some time ago now. Um, real quickly just in terms of services, um, this is obviously providing legal advice and consultation as requested by myself and city staff, attendance at city council meetings, coordination of and management of any outside council that we may need. Um, they will be reviewing any documents, contracts, agreements, memorandum, etc. that that uh is um heard by city council or just circulated u at a staff level. Um they consult on the sale and purchase of uh private property. Um guidance related to the Brown Act, Political Reform Act, public records act, Proposition 218, and other legal requirements. And they'll represent the city in any legal or regulatory actions if needed. Uh the rates for the city attorney uh are charged at a blended rate for all attorneys, including partners, councils, and associates. um depending on the nature of their work, uh their rate is for general legal services. So that would be for example this meeting um when they're advising on matters with the city council that are general in nature, that rate is $250 an hour. Special council legal services would be um things that are much more specific in nature. So land use, litigation, water, things that are

complex and require subject matter expertise is built at $350 an hour. And then reimburseable legal services, which is when um a deposit is paid and some third party is paying for our legal expenses, uh for example, in certain um insurance related lawsuits, development, etc., those um billings are at $475 an hour. We find that these are generally standard is depending on where you look. There's a number of municipal law firms that provide this sort of work. It is within the range of what we typically see. Um there the rates are adjusted January 1st of each year and according to CPI increases for the preceding period and a 2 and a half% technology fee is assessed also standard. Um approval of the agreement is estimated to have a neutral effect on the current bianium city budget. The city attorney's department has budgeted funds and staff will work to ensure that funds spent on those services stay within the approved amount. With that said, as we know, legal the legal world is unpredictable and what um you may think you have it all budgeted appropriately one year and then a lawsuit comes up you were not expecting or some other complex matter. And so if that occurs and we need to make budget amendments, we'll make those appropriately. Our intent is to have no net difference to what was already budgeted for legal services in our current budget. Um, and that sort of wraps up the details of of the agreement. I'd be happy to answer any questions or or talk more broadly about it if you'd like.

Just as just an observation that they will be here uh on site. Uh but the other thing that we chatted talked about was that uh while they are here if they are not working on specific because they're on an hourly basis if they're not working on a city of Lincoln project then we're not being we're not charged. It's because they're here.

That's correct. There's no um hang out around the water cooler charging. Um it is when they are working as an attorney we are charged and um uh otherwise otherwise we aren't. So, um, we're actually pretty used to that at a staff level, um, even with in-house, um, city attorneys because sometimes we had to use external counsel for variety of things. And so, we we're aware about how to be careful about making sure that we're asking for the help when we need it and not on everything we may need.

Any other questions for my colleagues or comment? Okay, no question. comment is that um I'm been very impressed with the work so far. Um and I'm I'm happy with what they're doing and so I'm I'm supportive. Any questions? Make a comment. I don't have any questions either, but I I've been very impressed with the level of service and um work that they've been doing since they've been here. Um it's it's it's really impressive. So, I'm very comfortable with um keeping them I'm grateful that the that in this transition that it's been very pleasant.

John, okay. Yeah, I think that they've certainly demonstrated that they jumped in. Uh they're they're answering all our questions. Uh they certainly they they seem to know what they're they're doing. Uh which is which is very good. Uh I what I like especially is the the range of services that they have within their own firm. It's very difficult for one individual or two individuals to to have uh you know to be an expert in all areas. If you don't have that expertise, you have to go out and buy that expertise. They have it within their firm. I think there are 25 members of their firm I think alto together. Uh they are sac their headquarters is in Sacramento, downtown Sacramento. And I think Doug lives in in Roseville. So, it's uh this is this is very good. Okay. Very good. Uh public comments over here. Anyone in the audience Chapman? Be careful when you're driving up, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members, city staff has those here. U appreciate them coming out. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe uh the the last hiring of the uh city attorney was the first time that the city had actually had a an an they were a city employee rather than what we're talking about now, a firm. Um, so a couple of comments. One, do we have enough data over that eight years in order to determine um the big sales pitch? I remember when we were here going through this um and I I know of another town that went through this as well and the comment was absolutely uh you get somebody inhouse and they're the employee uh we're going

to say gods of money. Uh I don't know whether that is or not true. Uh but it would be very helpful to find out if that is or isn't because I would hope that that we haven't just closed the door and and going back to what we have as opposed to if what I'm hearing correctly is it is much better and I've seen this throughout the years where you have an individual that is assigned to us and then they have the caveat of information. So, uh, I would hope that we're looking at that as a possibility because and then bottom line is simply checking the the dots and say, did we spend too much or were we over what we should have been and should we go back to where we were? I I would hope that we're looking at that from a real ex real exhibit of trying to stretch those firms as as much as possible. I think it's real important. So, Uh it's important to me to find out what we've spent in those eight years on legal and keeping in mind that not every attorney has everything because there's just so many avenues in which to go. Uh but it would be helpful to find out for sure is that the way to go or is uh do we go back to way the traditional way and handle it from there. Thank you.

Thank you Byron. Um, yeah. So, I mean, I think Byron kind of drilled down to like something that the council is going to have to evaluate in the next handful of months. Um, because the answer to your question is I don't know. Um, if I could if we could take a sampling of what it what legal services cost prior to an in-house council being brought in and then compare it against, we could give you a generalized idea, but I don't think it would be apples to apples, right? Some of it depends on what's happening legally at that time. Um, how big were we at that time? How much development is going on? So the um uh pressure on a legal department increases as the demand for their services increases, the community increases. Um but with that said, it's certainly something that I think the city council is going to have to um evaluate. One other just little important component um is um the city attorney does not work for me. Um they are direct report to the city council and that includes the firm. Uh, and so, um, really at the end of the day, it'll be a city council decision about the best way to provide the service moving forward in the most cost-effective way. And we'll give you all the information. I'm sure you'll talk about it publicly and you'll come to whatever decision you do. As long as we have some great people doing it, then I think we'll all be happy, which is we can never be in a place where we don't have one at all. We'll just put it that way.

Right. Right. Okay, very good. Anyone else in the audience would like to make a comment? All right, anyone on Zoom? Yes, I do have one participant, Cella Greenhouse. You have been unmuted. Please provide your public comment.

Mr. Mayor, uh just one thing in regards to Mr. Chapman's um comment about um kind of a comparison. And I understand the the city manager's concerns of variables, but I think that looking at those numbers are um not necessarily an apples to apples, but capturing those and understanding those are are important in the analysis of going forward after these few first few months. Um but one of the things I want to ask is Mr. Mayor, is in regards to the hiring of the deputy city attorney and how the um contract with this will affect the position that we created and hired and if we've assessed that if they're going to be working for this uh White Burner LLC or if they're going to be working in conjunction or if that can be uh spoken about

John.

Sure. Um the deputy city attorney position is a budgeted and will continue to be a budgeted position. um the as it relates to um uh how the her position is supervised. That gets kind of a little into the weeds, but what I will say is that um uh Christy McKenna will is being supervised by um the city that well would be under this arrangement be supervised. And the benefit, and it might be kind of an interesting model that we're play testing a little bit, is um you know, you have outside counsel and then you also have someone inhouse that's an employee that can handle more of the day-to-day work. And so we're working on how that looks um sort of in real time. And so we'll have to have the city attorneys report back to you on how it's looking mov. I'm really a very poor supervisor when it comes to attorneys because I'm not one. So

actually, I think Uh the city attorney Christie actually reports to you. Is that correct? Uh technically. Yeah. So so in the personnel rules, the only employee of this organization if they're in-house that I do not have some authority over is the city attorney. Everyone else, even if they're a deputy attorney, technically reports to me, but in this case, makes more sense to have her report report to actual people with a law degree that can review her work. Sure. Perfect. Very good. Anyone else on Zoom? I see no other hands raised. Thank you very much. Any concluding comments on this?

Well, I I I was just going to say I I appreciate Mr. Chapman's question. Um, we do have a lot to investigate and decide in the next few months. Um, and there's there's some thoughts on this because before the city hired Christine, the contract attorney that we had, in my opinion, wasn't doing a very good job. It it was it was I I remember thinking like, "Oh my gosh, what what is happening here?" And then when Christine came on uh and you had an in-house attorney, there was so many benefits to it. Um and my thought has been that's the way to go. But then, you know, since she's left and now we have um White Brener um and and the good work they're doing, I think it depends on yes, we need to look at how much we spent before, what it's costing us now. Are we saving money or not? but also it's the caliber of the attorneys that you have that are contracted that needs to be taken into consideration too. There's I think there's benefits to both and so we do have a lot to look at but like I said I my original thought before was like no I don't want to do contract because they're horrible right but these guys are not horrible they're awesome and so and really loved Christine she did great work so there's benefits to both but we we've got some work to do to figure out what we want to do moving forward but for right now I'm I'm really happy

and there's no reason to rush for judgment no we we're not in a rush attorney at all just move forward y any other I agree that Um, it really does come down to the the firm or the person that's providing the the services. It really can't calculate it when it comes to the uh how much you're spending because there's no way to know when you're going to need those services. Um, just whether you're getting the services you need. And we're such a different city now than we were, you know, 10, 12, 15 years ago without a doubt. Apples, apples, and tangerines at that point. John, anything?

Okay. Okay, good. If in that case, we're ready to take a a vote on to adopt a 14C, adopt a resolution authorizing the city of Manchester enter into a legal services agreement with White Brener. Do I have someone making a motion? Yeah, I move approval. Oh, sorry, John can have it. I'll second. Okay, very good. He's been very quiet tonight. We'll let him have this one. So unusual. I know, but it's not The meeting is not over, so it's okay. Wow. Okay. Okay. All in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Any abstensions. Okay. Good. Done. Now we're back. Nita. Now we're back to you on uh uh on public hearing 13A.

Okay. Sorry for the little mixup on the agenda. And if the city manager hand this out for me. So we just uh have some additional attachments that uh belong with the resolution. They actually are included in the agenda packet already. they're just included in the resolution uh that was adopted by the planning commission and so we just need to provide them as the attachments to the resolution as well. But just briefly and without stealing uh the thunder just wanted to take a moment to introduce Thomas Kershank. Uh he is one of our new associate planners with the city. He's been with us for a number of months, came from out of state and he jumped in with both feet and now he is presenting this item which is the tenative mat for this uh parcel. And I don't want to go into the details because again I promise not to steal his thunder. So with that I'm going to hand it off to Tom

and we're cutting your mic off.

All right. Good evening mayor and miss and uh city councilors. I'm Thomas Krookshank, associate planner with the community development department. Project before you tonight is the level north tenative parcel map. Uh this presentation is a summary of the project. More detailed project information is included in the staff report. As of this meeting, we have not received any public comments. Tonight, I will discuss the following items. the requested entitlement, the project site, planning commission recommendations, staff findings and environmental determination, and staff recommendations. The applicant, Beer Homes Holdings, is requesting that the city council adopt a resolution approving a tenative parcel map splitting existing 103.2 acre parcel into four separate parcels. An approved tenative parcel map would allow a portion of land to be divided, created, and sold for potential future development. On December 17th, 2025, the planning commission held a public hearing for the level north tenative parcel map project. After discussion with staff and the applicant, the commission voted seven and zero to adopt a resolution recommending city council approve the tenative north parcel map. Here's a aerial photo showing location of the property. It is located south of McQueen Park Drive in east of downtown Lincoln. This area highlighted in blue. This is a closeup of the existing property. It is vacant and used for cattle. The current assessor's parcel map shows the subject properties. Um, number 36

and 65 are one legal parcel with two assessor parcel numbers. This is the proposed tenative parcel map for the level north property. The map will take one existing legal parcel, create four separate parcels. This map satisfies the city's minimum parcel sizes and proposes no development at this time. Staff have analyzed the proposed entitlement request and concluded that it is consistent and complies with the subdivision map act, the goals, policies, and intent of the city's general plan, the adopted village one specific plan, general development plan, and Lincoln municipal code title 17 subdivision ordinance. The project proposes no development and complies with the existing environmental impact report. It also qualifies for exemptions section 15315 class 15 minor land division and section 15183 projects consistent with a general plan, community plan or zoning under the California Environmental Quality Act or SQA. City staff has prepared draft conditions of approval for the tenative parcel map standard and project specific conditions have been applied. All conditions will be subject to verifi verification of compliance with city compartment with city departments. The applicant has reviewed and agreed to the conditions of approval. Staff recommends the city council conduct a public hearing. Consider the recommendation of the planning commission, the information contained in the staff report, the testimony of the public, and then take the following actions. One, determine the project exempt from squa review under sections 15315 and 15183. And to adopt a resolution to approve level north tenative parcel map subject to conditions of approval.

This concludes my presentation and member of the applicant team and city staff are here to answer any questions you guys may have. Thank you very much, Tom. Appreciate that. Okay, questions for my colleagues. Okay. Very good. Um, anyone in the audience? Do we have any cards? No speaker cards. I do have one hand raised through Zoom. Before that, I see Tony. Did you want to make a comment?

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. on behalf uh the family Tom and his daughter Tessa we're here in Bezer to thank you for working with us on this uh parcel map it's as uh Tom mentioned which did a good job explaining everything I don't have to go in detail it's just the parcel split and bees are really buying parcels three for only about less than 20 acres to move forward but in order to do that they had to do the entire parcel map so we can move forward to the next step so we'll be next uh in front of you again on small lot map. But now we appreciate all the work that went into this, especially Ethan and Sean and all the staff to get us here. Thank you and I'm glad to answer any question you may have.

Thank you, Tony. Anyone else in the audience? Okay, very good. Um, anyone on Zoom? Yes, we do. Cella Greenhouse, you have been public hearing.

Hi. Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor. Again, uh, Cella Greenhouse in Lincoln and downtown Lincoln is where I live. Um, I was just, uh, commenting specifically. I I was there when the, uh, Leville North project division was presented to the the U. Planning Commission. My comment then was I think that's wonderful to allow this family to divide and make more money in the long term by having uh these divisions of these uh of these parcels. Um, one of the things that I continue to see and I don't know if the planning department can speak about that, but there's a consistent exempt from SQA, exempt from SQA and these different sections that are there and I don't know um I think I in the last year I did see a presentation from our consultant from SQA that was presenting I think to the planning commission or some other department but I don't know um that where how that exemption gets defined and just ensuring that uh We do our diligence as a city to ensure that um that that squa analysis I remember being at one planning commission that someone spoke about some animals and I know that the city manager spoke about um obviously development does hurt habitations. Um I think SE that's part of one part of SQA but want to ensure that as we continue to do lots of development in our in our city that um our thorough analysis of SQA is taken care of and that our liability going forward is is uh is covered. So I will take care of mom duties now. Thank you.

Mommy, what is this? Thank you Sean.

Yeah, super quick answer. Um so the uh there really quickly there are there are two primary types of SQL analyses. One of them is programmatic. One of them is project specific. Every single one of our villages that is annexed into city limits has a programmatic EIR meaning it overlays the entirety of the projects and and uh allows for development broadly within the confines of what's proposed. That's what council typically approves. Sometimes a project will deviate slightly or significantly from that and then we require either an additional analysis, meaning another environmental document, or there are layers and levels below that. Sometimes it's simply just Mel and Nita will look and say, "Hey, we just need an additional study to make sure that this is lining up with the previous environmental work that's been done." Village one really isn't that old as far as projects go. And so the secret document is is relatively recent and is still useful in this case. And there's mitigation measures um that are attached to every project when it moves further into the development uh phase to address um what people in the um environmental world called the bugs and bunnies uh you know uh species and habitat as well as traffic noise etc etc. So lots and lots of work has gone into environmental in this. Thank you. You're pleased to know that Mill was nodding his head behind you.

Okay, very good. Anyone else uh anyone else on Zoom? I do not see any other hands raised. Okay. In that case, we'll bring it back to the council to adopt a resolution approving the tenative partial map uh project specific and typical conditions approval for the proposed level north project for motion. I'll move approval. Okay. Okay. No more discussion. See? Okay. All in favor say I.

I oppose. Nay. Any abstensions? Oh, okay. Done with that one. All right. Very good. City manager reports. Um, I'm going to just this once and only this once give Doug a few minutes of my time um to uh share something before we move into my report.

We won't make it a habit. Um well, first of all, I just want to quickly say thank you both on behalf of myself, Nubia, and the entire um White Briner uh team. It's a great honor to have, you know, to be able to serve the city of of of Lincoln. Um, you know, we're really looking forward to it and we're working, we've been able to work with Christy and we're really looking to forward to being able to continue to do that. Um, in addition to making sure that we keep up to our reputation and make sure everybody feels good about their motions and and their votes at least on the interim basis. Um, you know, we hope to be a part of the community and be out and to see everybody and and and always know that if you do see a bald guy out there um in a suit, then then feel free to come up and and and say hi and we can talk and it's off the clock. So anyway, um just but most of it just wanted to express, you know, both thanks and gratitude to all of you for the trust that you've given our team and we going to live up to um to the our promise of delivering excellent legal services for you.

Thank you, Doug. looking forward to working with you.

Um I actually have um only two things to report. Um uh well three things. The first is that um we are still seeking a date and as soon as we have it, I promise I'll push it out to the community as well. We're looking to do the council strategic planning session sometime in mid to late April. Um depending on a bunch of scheduling needs. Um this time one of the things we've discussed aside from simply getting through a lot of the strategic initiatives that have now been completed and can move off the list and be repopulated with new things. Um there seems to be an interest at least amongst a few of the council to to also spend some time defining vision um in a way that um can guide us moving forward. So not necessarily only discussing outcomes and projects that we want to see but what kind of organization do we want to be? How do you want that reflected in your staff and the work that we do? And and um the city has done this, you know, on and off periodically for a long time. And the last number of strategic planning sessions were really more project focused because we just had so much we wanted to get to. But as the mayor was mentioning to me earlier, you know, without some sort of guiding statement about who we are and what we want to be, sometimes you can lose your way a little bit um if if you're not careful. So we'll and that's a council decision but certainly a community discussion and we'd like to have people present for that. Um second issue is just a quick um staffing announcement uh change. Um so I um have um ordered a reorganization of the finance and community development departments. So, um, when we had a vacancy in the community development department for director, uh, about 8 months ago, um, one of the fun little tasks of being an assistant city manager is you're assigned to do whatever I need you to do. Um, and Sonita graciously went and has been, uh, managing uh, that department with the senior staff there for the last eight months and has done a fabulous job. Um, not simply my

perspective, this is what I've heard from elected officials, planning commissioners, and our development community. Um, so as we were when I it's one of those things when when you have this luxury of having somebody that you could plug in that way. Um, it can tend to make me a little bit lazy in terms of wanting to fix the solution. What's the solution long term? Because if it's not broke, then don't try to fix it, right? Um so after thinking about a little bit more and thinking about council's sort of direction as it relates to succession planning um I decided that the best path would be Nita has shared that she's enjoying her experience um leading that team and um so what we're going to do moving forward is we will be um relieving Nidita of her day-to-day finance director duties. we will recruit a professional to take her place. Um, and she will spend more majority of her time running the community development department um for the foreseeable future. Um, uh, she will retain oversight of finance, so it stays in her portfolio of responsibility, but the day-to-day work, um, will be handled by that new person. The other thing that um I' I'm going to work on and we're going to propose to council as a consideration is we think we'd like to create a deputy director of a development um uh position in community development, which would allow some of our senior staff there opportunities to promote and train to become the long-term community development director. I tend to not think that Nita Nita's title will remain in that place for for a very very long time. The idea is to get somebody else prepared and ready to take over because we found in general that that department's so unique to itself. The type of business that we do is so much more um fast-paced than virtually any

other community of similar size that you can find. It's very difficult to find somebody that can manage that on a day-to-day basis unless they've lived in it. And so the council's direction to me not all that long ago was we got to create a very deep bench and that's part of what we're trying to accomplish here. Um so congratulations I sort I guess Denita and um uh I know everybody has been really pleased with her over the years of sort of the cleanup and finance and so I don't think you have to worry that that's going to um it's going to regress in any way. Um she still will have oversight but we'll go find some professional or or promote some professional to to take over that role. Um, and uh, and then the third thing, because I'm getting questions about this, and I can't go into detail, but um, every so often a community member will ask me, hey, what's going on with the county property tax renegotiations? And the answer to that question is that our proposal and all of the associated data, which took us a long time to compile and and um, make easily reviewable, uh, has been sent to the county and is now in their court. So, um, we I do I don't have a timeline of when we'll hear of a response, but I expect that in the near term we will receive either a counter or we'll receive some sort of feedback on our proposal and hopefully it will get to a place that's very positive for both parties and we will be speaking about that detail and what it means to Lincoln in the long term because you'll have to approve whatever is is tenatively agreed to at a staff level and that's what I got. Thank you.

Any Holly? Uh, are we on information now? Okay. I I thought Okay. No. Oh, no, no, no questions. I was just waiting for the next thing. Okay, good. There's council initiated business. Okay. Uh, so two questions. Um, do we have an update on the entertainment zone thing that I've asked about?

Yeah. So, um, we actually have done a little bit of research about um the uh entertainment zone and then more specifically what I think the chamber slash rotary were trying to accomplish with the entertainment zone. So the short term is working with the chamber on getting um allowances through alcohol and beverage control to allow a different kind of permitting and approval for that use. So that um the idea for everybody that doesn't know is that um the way wine uh winefest used to work is you go to a business, you enjoy a little glass of wine, you go to another business, on and on. And um some have mentioned, hey, it would be nice just even if it's for that day to be able to just take your little plastic wine cup and walk down Lincoln Boulevard to the next business and not have to, you know, drink your Chardonnay and go drink another Chartrene. Um right. And it's it's a pretty common thing you see in a lot of communities. the the detail of it is going to have to be worked out with the police department just making sure that we're requiring appropriate kinds of security if we're going to allow people to walk around with open containers essentially. Um but ABC does approve these kinds of things for special events. It's not that difficult. So I've talked to Tori about that. Um um I have a little experience. We're going to help them get that sorted out. Long-term, the bigger policy question for the city is set these entertainment zones. What we've learned from a couple other jurisdictions we called was look, it's a lot of work and you really got to know why you're doing it and and and what the parameters are. So, I think we're going to come back to you with some detail about if you want to set one up very long term, what does it really mean? Is it only related to drinking? Does it also have to do with music and noise? You know, the idea is you create this area that everybody kind of agrees, hey, this is going to be a more impacted area of your community because it's open to, you know, a little more liveless and fun during certain periods of time. So,

we're trying to drill that down a little bit, get it back to council so that you can say, "Yes, that looks good to us, and then it sort of can be cemented in place long term if that's what you want." and and there will be I'll be honest with you there will be some um arguments many arguments for and there will be some arguments against that case devil is definitely going to be in the details. Yep. But short term what they're trying to accomplish we can help accomplish. Great. Thanks. And then my other question is do we have a date for the skate park groundbreaking? I don't have a date but it will be in the next week and a half. So I we'll get it out to everybody. We're just trying to tee up contractors etc.

Not trying to be a pain. We have the date for it or we're going to have the Yes, that Yeah, I'd like to I don't think they're realistically going to be doing work in the first two weeks in April, but we we want to make sure that you're out there on the day when all the heavy equipment is out there for picture to make sure that you're in town. Yeah. Yeah. You need make Well, not we will not schedule when you're not here. I promise. Thank you. We're good. Um question.

Yeah, I was wondering if we had any changes or update because I have received a couple different emails from residents regarding the traffic light on uh Sierra College and 12 bridges. Is that still rolling and good to go from our end? And

yeah, so latest was I got a request last um Thursday uh from the county CEO asking me to just reverify that we are in for our cost share for the um you know the southern leg of the improvement. Roughly half of the project is covered by um Plaster County Transportation Agency. It was a pre-programmed project. The other half was not. Matt and I have quibbled over whether or not we think that's reasonable, but it is what it is. So, the county and city are working on splitting the cost. Um, our share is a little less than half of that. Um, so we've committed that we do have funds available for that. It's a high priority for for the city of Lincoln. We push this project. Um, and what I haven't committed because I can't is that they haven't bid this out yet. So, I don't actually know the number. I have an idea of what it may be. Um, but I've said, look, unless it comes back in some sort of absurd kind of bid that we simply can't afford, we of course are going to contribute our portion because it's important improvement. So, my understanding is they're nearing a place where they're getting close to preliminary design being completed. They're moving into environmental and then the next step will be bid and I don't have a date when they think they're going to go to bid.

Okay. Great. All right. So, we're we're good on our end. Um, and then I know that we were talking a couple different times, but it's hasn't been a top priority. Understanding we've other things going on that we needed to address first, but we've kind of all discussed casually about the disaster preparedness training, and I didn't know if there was anything moving along with that.

Yes. Um the so the council I think this happened during this current council council um allocated some additional dollars out of our federal relief fund um to put towards our emergency operations center um which um most of that money has been spent when it is fully complete. One of the ideas that the two chiefs have had is um we think that it's best for you to participate in a tabletop exercise that is something real or could be real versus as a guy that has sat through many many EOC trainings over the years in my you know no offense to those who are really into it. It's not the most exciting thing in the world unless you're actually talking about an event and you can kind of think through how would we deal with this issue and so um that project is nearly complete and chief when we were um chatting with Mia about it were we thinking maybe in the next couple month or two we could hold essentially we'd hold a special city council meeting and we run through exercises um is that am I missing anything

once once the EOC is fully built it just has some final touches to do at the PD and then once that's up and run it'll ready to develop it and put it on. So hopefully in the next few months is the goal.

And that's something also that the community since it's a special council meeting that the community can attend to if they'd like if they're interested in knowing how does this all work. Um we'll probably you know we'll have to talk to the chief about what they think but you know a flood is usually a common one or some significant event or u you know our tanker fire that we had years ago is always a really good one. Um, so you know, it's running through the scenario of, okay, when that happens and you get that phone call, where do we go? How do we do it? If you all have to get together and vote to allocate funds to deal with some disaster, how does that work? Who's talking to the media? On and on and on. So, um, those are actually quite fun and, um, we'll make sure we get that noticed out for everyone as well.

Do we have a maybe like even an outdated plan? I I'm assuming that we we have a protocol already in place so that if that happened between now and in two months, we're not all just like

We do we have an emergency operations plan. There's also one that collaborates with a more countywide one because many times you're bringing in resources from all kinds of other places. Um but part of the tabletop exercise is the assignment of duties. So even the city council will have to be assigned certain duties because in the in an emergency, you know, we are not going to have the opportunity to sit and debate and have a bunch of public comment about whether or not we should go, you know, fix a levy that broke, right? Um it's more action based. And so literally there are steps upon steps upon steps about who is the PIO. If that PIO can't do that work and get the information out to the community, who's the the backup? What's the mayor's role? what's if it's in certain council members district what's their role on and on and on so it's all very detailed and in fact I think there is do you know if our EOP is on our website

I think it is yeah yeah I'm not sure that's a Mia question I believe it is if it is I'll send it around to everybody and if it's not we'll get it up there but it uh yes we have a current one awesome okay and last question because I get it a lot when is the is there any update on when the papis development is going to break ground and the gym is going in I don't have an update. I I will work on getting you an answer before the next council meeting. Our uh Daniellea from economic development is at the shopping center convention um right now. Oh, I forgot about that. With Faras from our economic development committee is also attended and um she is there with uh Papis. So I'm sure they're having that discussion right now.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you. All right. I'm good. Great. John. Okay, Ben. Yeah, um I've been getting a lot of um citizens that have been asking a lot about the flight patterns and you and I kind of discussed a little bit about what's entailed. Can you give me a little bit better layout as to what the approval process is? I mean, what are we facing and and why? Both not just for me, but for the public to kind of

Good. I'll I'll make a couple of comments and I'll turn it over to Sean. Uh this is brought up at the last airport committee meeting last last week. It was a very robust discussion. Uh we did have a I presented a white paper of the pros and cons. Uh it first first blush it's relatively easy. We'll just switch it. Not a problem. There's a lot to go over especially when it comes to uh safety from from the pilots and the community. There's a lot of ground work that has to be done uh with the FAA to make sure that they're they're the sign off body on it. We can't just make it happen. So, uh we did have people from the community there. Um I think they came away impressed with the work that we're doing at this point. Certainly, they would like faster action on it, but it's one of these things as I said, it seems that it's an easy thing to do from uh if you just look at it, but but there's a lot of groundwork behind it. But we have also with some information from our consulting engineer on it. So I understand that uh we definitely are working our way through all the A B C D and and and E. So you know we understand it and we're also looking not just for decisions for today but longer term because that whole area is going to be continually developed on the east side but also on the west side. So you don't want to make a decision today and three years later switch it around. So Sean

Yeah. So, um, uh, the airport committee meeting was actually really interesting because we had some folks from, um, the Foskit deal hollow kind of area that were there that, um, were are greatly motivated to see the flight pattern change. And then you had, uh, pilots um, and other airport stakeholders that, um, I think I would say are curious about it, but not necessarily committed either. Um and so the white paper that actually um the mayor mostly wrote up uh it is pretty comprehensive in terms of steps. We you know this requires FAA consultation um a lot of you know kind of outreach to make sure it makes sense. And then the other component that that we talked about during the meeting is that when you change something that may affect another area you have a duty to try to speak with those people that it would affect in that new area. Right? So it's not such that you change the flight pattern so it's going over less homes so who cares those less homes for the folks that you know would be on the west side you know deserve to have notification and have their voice heard about it too. Um, and uh, so I think the idea after the meeting was to do a little bit of that outreach and also have give everybody the opportunity to kind of digest some of the detail that's in the white paper and then come back and have a a more specific discussion. Eventually, it's going to make it to city council and you'll have to make a decision about whether you think it makes sense. Um but as the mayor's mentioned a bunch of times um it's not really just a discussion about um noise impacts. It's also that this airport is growing finally and um there's going to be increased demand and there's going to increased development in and around the airport and so what makes sense long term in type in terms of flight pattern um safety. So, um, yeah, it it's, uh, we're, um, way further along with it

than I thought we would have been at this point. And then the only other one was, um, the Oak Tree Lane, and we've covered that earlier, so that's all I got. Okay. Very good. Committee reports. We'll start with start with Ben. Sure. I have PCTPA tomorrow morning. Um, and they're there other stuff was didn't have anything significant and then also flood control is coming up. Okay, very good. John, you covered for me on Pioneer.

Yep. Um not not a whole lot of stuff there. Um EDC uh is going through a strategic plan update. So later we're going to have a consultant helping us go through that, interview the committee stakeholders, um narrow down our list of targets to something that's manageable for the next few years. So that'll probably come to us in a couple of months, early summer, I think. Um also talked a little bit about the permit assistance program that Daniellea and Aaron have been um doing uh in the community, which is really exciting to help folks navigate the city when they need uh help doing the variety of things you need the city to help you do. um uh attended Western Plaster Waste Management Authority. Um we had an initial review of our uh budget and right now it's slated to have a zero tipping fee for next year fiscal year. Um and then also attended Lisa where we reviewed a potential uh the expansion of the and retrofit and upgrade of the site.

Okay. We've already talked a little bit about the airport committee with the with the pattern change. We also talked about what's going on with the uh with the hangar bill which is coming along very very well. Uh we talked about a number of options that are out there. We we did uh have a uh zoom conference with professional airport management that is uh going to be out there. Uh we're we're finalizing a contract. Very excited about it because we one thing that this this is a growing airport. It's complex and having professional management out there to provide the guidance as we move forward is going to be very very important. Whitney,

you you both covered all of my committees that I was in the room with you, but I was going to say I'll I'll add on my two cents. Uh I'm I'm interested to get more information from the airport management firm that we're consulting with right now and exploring because um they are really knowledgeable and I think it's really great that you found them and um it sounds very I'm optimistic about what they can bring to our airport as we grow and and it becomes you know what we what we hope. Yeah. Okay. One I'm gonna do one thing on Pioneer, which I I should have mentioned is um this happened at the meeting you attended, but they reaffirmed that there'll be a rate cut at Pioneer for their portion. There's a whole complicated thing going on there about explain this to to rate payers who uh use Pioneer, but it should represent a 10% discount to PG& generation rates,

but there's still other complications on top of that. So it's very complicated. It always is very comp

on a onetime shot. Most most likely. Okay. Information items. Holly, we'll start with you. I asked my question. Okay. Okay. Me too. Okay. That's good. Anything else for the good of the order? Okay. Thank you. Hey, we're out.

Okay.