City Council - Regular Meeting

I don't want to touch you. We can begin.

Okay, perfect. We're going to call to order the Reno City Council meeting today, August 12th at 10 a.m. We'll get started with the Pledge of Allegiance. If I can ask Mr. Salcido if you could lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance today. Thank you, sir. With that, we'll move on to a roll call, Madam Clerk.

We are calling roll for the Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Reno City Council meeting. Councilmember Taylor? Here. Councilmember Dewar? Here. Vice Mayor Martinez? Here. Councilmember Ebert? Here. Councilmember Reese?

Here.

Councilmember Anderson? Here. Mayor Schieve is absent at this time. You do have a quorum.

Okay, great. Thank you. With that, we'll move on with our first section of public comments. If you can lead us there, please.

Yes. Mr. Vice Mayor, our first item today is public comment. It should be noted for those in attendance that comments are to be addressed to the mayor and council as a whole. Comments heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the council's agenda. Council may not take action upon any matter not agendized on today's agenda. When you are called on for public comment, please state your name for the record and begin speaking. The timer will begin when you say your name, and you will be afforded three minutes. For those participating in chambers, in accordance with Council Rules 6.3.11, while in this room, please be respectful. the meeting. Disruptive behavior from audience members like clapping, yelling, whistling, et cetera which impede the meeting may result in a warning issued by the presiding officer. If the behavior continues you may be removed from chambers. If you are an attendee in the zoom meeting and would like to make public comment please raise your hand at this time.

Good morning, it's me Terry Brooks again. And today I'd like to share with you my thoughts on scams and what seniors go through. Seniors have learned to deal with people when they've been face to face. They knew a scammer when they saw one, but today that's not the case. Now scammers mostly do their scamming online. If something seems too good to be true, that's probably a warning sign. Scammers usually target the elderly who are more isolated, so elderly people are at more risks to wind up devastated. People who regularly have a lot of social interaction are more likely to be warned about scamming information. And if people share with friends all that information, they wind up with more information by friendly intervention. When people know a lot about scams before they are targeted, they're less likely to fall for scams if or when they were targeted. When you might be facing a scam and having a little suspicion, you might consider reporting it to help on an investigation. Scammers like to post their scams with what looks like official details and target their victims by sending them emails. And if you purchase something, be careful as to what way you purchase it and how you are manipulated to pay. Seniors seem to be more susceptible when it comes to modern technology, especially when it comes to scams used by modern criminology. And when seniors are victims of scams because they didn't know what to do, then when they realize that they were just scammed, they still might not know what to do. I don't use much modern technology. I do things face-to-face. So if someone wants to try to scam me, just let me pick the place. I would like to thank you all for listening to me today, and I look forward to coming back if I don't get scammed that day. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, how are you all doing? And George champion is my name 3, 0, 1, gentry way unit 3, 0, 2. Basically, I'm here to tell you that I didn't disappear. Okay. And I do have a lawsuit going with against cars as actually I'm suing Julianne Apollo way personally. All right. Cars as is representing her. And my first attempt at a lawsuit was this. Okay, and basically, you know, this was what Legal Aid said, oh, that'll work, and it said what I said. I mean, this is what I said, okay, but they ripped it apart and said, bullshit, okay, excuse the word, but our president uses it all the time. So I had to find help Mr. Reeves was a civil lawyer, but he's no help. Mr. Martinez tried to help me. But our district attorney, they don't help people like us. We have laws on the books, but they don't do anything about them. So I did find a tool that helped me produce a claim, a lawsuit. And basically, right here is what does it all, says it all, this cause of action. All right. Plaintiff re-alleges incorporates the preceding paragraphs as thoroughly set forth herein. Under NRS 118A-502, a tenant may obtain injunctive relief and recover actual damages if a landlord makes an unlawful entry in an unreasonable manner or makes a repeated demand for entry that unreasonably harassed the tenant. Plaintiff alleges that defendant conduct, including repeated demands for access, attempted entry, bypass key after written objection, and inserted emergencies without adequate justification, constitutes unlawful entry, entry in an unreasonable manner, or repeated demands, for entry that unreasonably harassed plaintiffs within a meaning of NRS 118A. That is what I needed to have, okay, with this too, my little thing that I had. I didn't have a cause, all right, but I do now. I have a complete, and also I have all the exhibits that... go along with what I've put in here, all right? So I have a complete lawsuit now. Now I'm waiting for Judge Hardy to say something. He has not said anything on my case, has not done anything since I filed, all right? And there has not been too much. But what I also want to state before I go here, and I really want to show you this, is we're having, Mr. Martinez, a problem with cars parking on the sidewalk. This here is Pisano's, all right? This was done, this was just a few minutes ago, but this started with these cars here, and if you talk to Jennifer Alvarez, she started, okay, a ticket for me that shows a sewage truck parked on the sidewalk. on the sidewalk, all right? Thank you. We then, I know I'm going too far, but I got to finish this, all right? They went out and they put an orange sticker on it, which I have on the 18th of June, all right? They actually put a sticker on it. Your time's up, sir.

I'm giving you 30 seconds over your time. What's that? I've given you 30 seconds over your time. I'm going to have to cut you off.

All right. Okay. We can talk after. Thank you. All right. Whatever. You know, Sean, you better get Paisano to get his truck off the street. All right? Thank you, sir. Because I got all the other trucks off the street.

Can we move on to the next item or the speaker, Madam Clerk?

Sir, your backpack. It's your ward. You better take care of it.

With that, we do not have anyone else registered to speak. We did receive seven comments which were general in nature or not directly associated with an agenda item prior to 4 p.m. yesterday, August 11th. These comments were written correspondence received via our reno.gov online public comment form or by email to our office. Copies of these comments have been distributed to the Reno City Council and are available to the public on the reno.gov meeting portal. I think we have a proclamation.

Thank you. Yeah, I was going to move into the proclamation. I think Council Member Reese is going to

Apologies, we just got someone on Zoom, if we could take that really quick.

Oh, okay, yeah. Yes. Chelsea Gee. Well, Council Member makes his way who will do that.

Perfect, Chelsea Gee via Zoom.

Howdy, good morning. For the record, my name is Chelsea Guerin, and I want to speak to item B4, or 14 rather, on the agenda with the electrolyte packets. from a couple different corporations for Reno police staff. Is this also being offered to Reno city ambassadors who are out and about picking up trash, doing what else that they do because I see them walking around downtown Reno quite frequently and I don't know how well hydrated they are. Erica Kaurudar, A how about our firefighters are they also receiving these free electrolyte packets from this corporation. Erica Kaurudar, Or is this only for Reno police this not okay that's. It needs to be for everybody who's a city staff member or. A department associated with the city who are outside that all get this not just for. The police department. I have another comment that is related to comments by a sitting council member. Who sits on the northern Nevada public health. Board. On July 23rd, in a meeting about the REMSA amendment agreement to the franchise agreement already in effect, Devin Reese used the words, and I quote, you've used the words clear, transparent, reactive, lack of information. Those words don't mean a whole lot to me. Those are buzzwords that are speaking to something which I'm not sure what it is. I take issue with Debra and Reese saying that because he is also on the city council where y'all have been asked, demanded, requested to come up with regulations for the city with regard to data centers, to be more clear, to be more transparent. So what is he saying, that he actually doesn't believe in being clear, transparent, and providing information to residents who are asking for more. For an attorney, that's really a backhanded comment to another board member on that Northern Nevada Board of Health. Y'all, I'm exhausted with this bullshit, thank you.

and there's no one else registered.

Okay, thank you. With that, we'll move on to the public proclamation. Council Member Reese.

Mr. Vice Mayor, thank you so much and good morning to you and to each of my colleagues. I know Madam Mayor is on her way and is dealing with some of the regional issues this morning, so it's my privilege to be here today to read a proclamation, but I think we have some special guests here today, and so I wanted to invite them up. Juliana Glock, where are you? Hi.

Hi.

Come on up here with me. It looks like you've got some friends who came with you.

I do. Why are they all here? I have no idea.

Were you making a presentation to us this morning? I think so. Well, come sit up here with me for a minute. Why don't we bring up some of your friends and family, too, because I'd like them to be with you on this occasion.

All right, friends and family.

Come on. Friends and family, come up. I know we've got some people recording, and they want to stay where they're seated. That's okay. Okay. But all the friends and family, come on down. Because today is a very important day. I don't think Juliana knew what we were doing. But I'm going to read some things that the mayor asked me to share with you. And your friends and family are coming forward to spend this time with you. And then we're going to turn the mic over to you.

Okay.

So this says, whereas Julianna Glock has demonstrated exceptional dedication, professionalism, and perseverance through countless hours of diligent work on the Highway 40 housing project, and whereas Julianna Glock, through her tireless efforts, exceptional attention to detail, and unwavering commitment in navigating the many challenges of the Highway 40 housing project, made significant contributions to the successful completion and lasting positive impact of the project, thereby enhancing the quality of life and strengthening the community of Reno, and whereas Ms. Glock has consistently exemplified teamwork innovation, and an exceptional commitment to excellence, inspiring colleagues and strengthening the organization as a whole. Now, therefore, I, Devin Reese, on behalf of Hillary Sheevey, Mayor of the City of Reno, Nevada, do hereby proudly declare August 12, 2026 as Juliana Glock Day in and for the City of Reno, as we proudly recognize and commend Juliana for her outstanding service, extraordinary dedication, and knowledge and invaluable contributions to the success of Highway 40. Thank you so much.

I'm like going to cry. This is such an honor. I'm kind of in shock right now. So I want to thank all the people who recommended me for this proclamation and those who approved it. Thank you so much. This is... So humbling because honestly, I've worked for Volunteers of America for 20 years and Highway 40 has been my favorite project, the most rewarding, and probably the project that I'm most proud of in my whole career with Volunteers of America. I certainly didn't do it by myself. This is an example of... true community collaboration, starting with the city of Reno and your commitment to develop affordable housing in our community, and the state of Nevada for their commitment to develop permanent supportive housing. Jackie, you and Christy, this was, and Judge Lew, this was like your idea that got this started, so thank you so much. You know, JD Kleppenstein with the Reno Housing Authority, he was there in the beginning and helped me, you know, learn all about the CMAR process. This was so new to me. And, you know, I had a whole team helping me our VOA's Board of Directors for their belief in this project and ensuring that we create healthy communities for all. And I think last but not least, Travis. Travis Sandifer, without his leader and guidance, I definitely could not have done this. I honestly think he should be up here accepting this with me. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is such an honor. Thank you so, so much.

Well, we're inspired by you. Thank you so much. This is for you, and we're going to take some pictures up here, if you don't mind.

Oh, I don't mind. Wow. And I should thank my family for being here. Thank you.

I'm like, wow.

I'm on a front stack.

Yeah, I'll take a photo of her, buddy.

One, two, and three. One, two, three.

thank you.

thank you.

thank you. thank you.

thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you.

thank you. thank you. thank you.

All right. Juliana, I don't know if you are still in the room. Are you there?

She's here.

Okay. I am so sorry I couldn't be there this morning, but I will tell you this. I met with so many people that said what a hero you are, how dedicated you are to the city. And I think we have a lot of people working in the background that we never get to recognize. Your leadership is absolutely outstanding. And you stood up there and thanked others. And I just want you to know how impressive you are and how many people love you. They all came to me and said, this woman absolutely deserves recognition. We couldn't be more proud of you and the hard work that you put in. But clearly, you are a leader by thanking others. And I just want you to know there's a lot of people out there that love you, girl. And I just think your family, your friends, your colleagues should all be so very proud. But we wanted to surprise you. We kind of like to catch you a little off guard. But just know this is very well-deserved.

Thank you so, so much. Honestly, it almost made me cry. This is such an honor. Like I said, I'm so humbled by this. I don't even feel like I deserve this because I do it because I love it. But thank you so, so much. Thank you.

You are so welcome, and you are so, so deserving. So please reach out. Love to take you to lunch and celebrate with you. You're an amazing woman. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Congratulations again. I think we have one more public commenter?

Yes, James Matthews.

Okay.

So yes, this goes out to the city manager. So, okay, all the times that I've been coming up here complaining about the harassment and all the stuff that I was experiencing over here, You guys knew about it the whole time. You guys knew about the employee that works here. It's an inclusion with everybody in my building that stalks and harasses and tortures me. You guys knew this stuff the whole time and allowing them. I want all the black people to know that racism is still really here. They are playing dirty and they do dirty things and they... They are trying to get me evicted out of my apartment right now. Like, they wrecked my car. They did a home invasion. They physically set me up and had me physically attacked. And every time I came up here and addressed it, everybody's sitting up there talking, oh, no, we're so sorry. We can help you. And then those people over there, they come over there and act like they're going to help you. And then they... disappears, nothing ever happens. They act like they're going to do something in your face right here, and then two, three days later, boom, nothing gone. And everything is still the same, and the same employees that are here still doing retaliation, I got to deal with. So we need to deal with this right now. What is the problem? Can't talk?

Sir, it's not an iterative process. This is your opportunity to talk to us. We don't have to correspond with you.

Okay, so I'm James Matthews. Everybody knows who I am here. The problems is with the employee here that works here, it's in collusion with these neighbors in my building. They start, they hack my phone. They call everybody that I talk to. They set up all kinds, they do, man, this is abuse of power. And the security manager, Chris, he knows. They know over there. A couple of the people, they know what's going on, man. Leave me alone, man, please. What is it that you want from me?

Thank you. Thank you.

There's no one else signed in.

Thank you so much. With that look, we will move on to an approval of the agenda. Are there any updates, Madam?

No, there is not. Thank you. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. With that, we'll look for an approval of the minutes. You're good. We caught it. Thank you. Okay.

Madam, or Mr. Vice Mayor, move to approve item A51, the Reno City Council special minutes from July 16, 2026, as written.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Aye.

With that, we will look for any consent item pools. We'll start with Council Member Anderson.

Nothing today, thank you.

Council Member Taylor.

Mr. Vice Mayor, I need to pool item B8.

Council member Reese? Nothing, Mr. Vice Mayor.

Council member Dewar?

Nothing today, thanks.

Council member Ebert?

I was also going to pull the eight. That's the only item for me.

Okay. Madam Mayor, do you have any items?

No, thank you.

Move to approve all remaining items.

Second.

Perfect.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. With that, we will move on to item B8. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor, Madam Mayor, fellow city council members, and Madam Clerk, I am disclosing that HDR Engineering is a current client of my consulting firm, TaylorMade Solutions. Items B8 involve the approval of a consulting agreement in the amount of a little over $2.8 million. Because I have a substantial and continuing basis relationship with HDR, I have been advised that I have a commitment in a private capacity to the interests of HDR. and that the independence of judgment of a reasonable person in my situation would be materially affected by my current contracts with HDR, I will not be participating or voting on this item today. Madam Clerk, please accept this disclosure and lodge it on the record for this meeting pertaining to these agenda items. Thank you.

Councilmember Ebert, I think you had a question. We'll just wait until Councilmember Taylor steps off of the dais. If you want to jump in there with your questions or comments, Councilmember Ebert.

Yeah, if I can use a high-level overview and just go over the cost. I know that this is a large-scale project. There's a lot of questions from constituents in my ward regarding this, so if we could just get some information on Um, on on the council meeting on the record, just to inform people that maybe have not read the staff reports, or we're not interested in reading the staff reports. Just a real high level review of what the 2. Plus 1M dollars will be paying for.

Sorry, the nick of time. Good morning, Mayor, Council, Nick Brothers, Senior Civil Engineer with Utility Services. A quick overview of this item. B8 is professional service agreement with HDR Engineering to support the construction of APWF. They're providing staff augmentation to the city. This project's really dynamic and very involved. We need 100% on the ground staff throughout the 36 month construction period. So that's what they'll be doing. This item was budgeted as a part of the $266 million that was presented in May 20th and was budgeted for the construction total. So that's what the item will be for and what they'll be doing. Any questions?

Yes. Will this be a prevailing wage project?

Yes, the project is prevailing wage, which will apply to all those positions where that applies.

Okay, and this is just for the construction. This is not long-term employment. This is just to get through the process of building the facilities. Correct. Okay, and it's not for management of the project. It's for the actual people constructing it, correct? Correct.

No, so HDR is providing professional engineering services to support construction management. We have a number of professional roles involved with managing the construction, and this particular role is owner representation, which will mean that they're there, they're being our eyes and ears on the job the whole time, keeping us apprised of any issues in this construction that would impact delivery of the project or potentially budget, schedule, technical issues that arise that need to be resolved, they would escalate those to other city staff in our department.

Okay. Thank you very much for this information. And it's not chlorine storage, it's not chemical storage, it's not the purchase of chemicals, correct?

Nope, just the professional services agreement.

Thank you. Thanks for just helping me get that out there onto YouTube. I appreciate you. I'll make a motion to approve unless there's any other questions.

Second. We got a motion and a second for item B-8. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. With that, we'll move on to our C items. I believe we have President and CEO of United Way, Mr. Blake Payne, here with us to give us a guest presentation. Yeah, if you'd like to join us up here. Staff will pull up your presentation. Welcome.

Well, thank you so much. Vice Mayor Martinez and our wonderful members of the City Council and Mayor Schieve online. My name is Blake Pang. My name is Blake Pang. I'm the President and CEO of United Way of Northern Nevada. I'm proud to be here today to give you a rundown on some of our programming that is likely germane to the work that you're doing as our representatives out here and across the great city of Reno. So with that, do I have, oh, there we go. So with that, just a quick overview of United Way. Our mission, as it has been for over 80 years, is to unite communities to improve people's lives. Our work is really as a community problem solver to find opportunities across our communities that, or to find issues that no one organization can solve by itself. We bring people, organizations, families, individuals together to create innovative solutions to solve some of these deeper problems. With that, some of our greatest values are our ability to look at things collectively, to bring those organizations together and kind of walk everybody down the same road towards solving some big issues. We have passion. We want to make sure that the work that we do is sustainable. We always have a growth mindset. We're always trying to grow the movement across our communities. and of course that transparency and accountability that we've always been famous for throughout our 80 year organizational history. Really when we're talking about being a community problem solver, it really, brings us down to the notion that United Way listens to our entire community. We bring people together either in community conversations or we sit down with them. We go out to communities that are most underserved and ask them, what are the things that are challenging you most? What are the things that are stopping you from being able to live the life that you want to live? And from there, we understand the actions that we need to provide. One reminder is that we are a completely local organization. United Way, as a network and as a movement, is the world's oldest and largest charity. But every United Way is owned by its community. So I, as president and CEO, only report to a local board of directors. And thank you to the vice mayor for being one of them. We are an organization that is driven by its mission that you've heard earlier. We kind of look at ourselves as a community activator, knowing that we can't do everything, we can't be everything to everybody like we had in the past. Our work now is to figure out what are those big problems and how can we bring the right players along to solve those issues. And finally, we are an advocate. We try to tell the story across our communities As you've seen most recently, we've been doing a lot of posts about how to support our neighbors during these fires. I know all of you here have been doing the same. It's my pleasure to announce that a bunch of the philanthropic organizations across our community are getting together Actually, they're doing it right now. They're having a conversation on standing up the disaster fund for this year's fires. If you remember, during the Davis fires, United Way stood it up, and this year it's going to be Community Foundation of Northern Nevada with our friends from the Catholic Charities and Red Cross kind of acting as the big consultants for that. So you'll likely see some information about that sometime this afternoon. So going into what does United Way do? What are some of the special things that we do? Originally, you asked me to come here and talk about our SAVE program. So that stands for the Special Assistance Fund for Emergencies, of which I'll talk about a little bit more in detail later. But kind of the big hitters is that last year we were able to provide $340,000 of service. So that means that with this specific fund, it's actually a utility assistance fund. It was originally created by our friends from NV Energy Foundation about a handful of years ago. and last year they asked United Way to take it on as the administrator for it. The NV Energy Foundation continues to be the leader, the lead fundraiser and the lead sponsor for the program, and we thank them so much. And they also help us to open up doors with other utilities so that when we have one of our partners Working with a client family or household who needs a utility assistance because you know They're getting they're getting bills and they're starting to get shot off notices those partner agencies can not just help them with their NV Energy bills, they can help them with, in essence, all of the various utility bills here in Washoe County. So we also thank all of the other utility providers in the area for being on board with that. But it really has been NV Energy kind of leading the way and powering us through this thing. Like I said earlier, last year we, in essence, paid for about $340,000 worth of overdue bills, helping folks who were in dire straits over this last year, especially with how, as we all know, things have gone over the last year for a lot of our most needy families. This equated to roughly about 900 families who received this assistance. What we are trying to do is grow it even further. So we have coverage across our entire 13 county region. We do this through partner agencies who do the case management with these households. The Washoe County Family Resource Center is the partner here in Washoe County. In addition, we wanted to talk to you about some of our other programs. We have a new innovation called United Journeys. Some of you may have heard about our program called United Readers. So United Readers is a K-3 literacy intervention. It is an award-winning and likely the highest success rate literacy intervention across the entire nation. In the prior school year, we had 900 children who went all the way through the program, and we had a 96% success rate measuring their literacy scores from the start of the year all the way to the end. So that's pretty impressive. On top of that, 86% of the children had at least a full level of improvement measured. So some pretty significant numbers. We're pretty proud of it. And that's where we started. Today, I'm proud to announce that United Way is launching a full-blown effort called United Journeys, which is really now transitioning what we learned with the very young children and taking that knowledge across the entire education spectrum, but primarily creating it or changing it into a workforce development program. So we are partnering with our friends at Dieter and Nevada works to create a couple of new projects the first one being What is called United pathways and this is a program that is going to help us to Support youth mental health, which we've all been talking about for the last few years as well we have a opportunity to train up to 25 AmeriCorps mentors in youth mental health and also to get them all certified as community health workers. Most of them will get certification CHW1, but some of them will actually get up to level 2, and we're doing that with our friends at Sahai Sierra AHEC. These mentors will then be assigned to various high schools across the region where they will in essence case study or case manage our disconnected youth, so roughly the age 16 to 21 who are kind of falling through the cracks and figuring out what kind of youth mental health services they require and getting them to those services. By the time that they have completed their school year with us, they'll have a whole year of employment and training under their belts, and we expect to be able to announce in a few months that they will all, in essence, be placed at various organizations across our communities as community health workers, or at least using those CHW certifications. It's a pretty impressive workforce development opportunity, but also we get to help these children who are most in need. The next program is called United Learners. And it is our move into adult basic education and high school equivalency. And we're also training many of our mentors who had been working with those very, very young children. So we're taking them and we're actually creating opportunities for them to not just do that for a one-year or two-year or three-year timeframe, but actually to make that literacy intervention, the interventionist opportunity, a career for them, so that for them to get placed at the various school districts and schools that they're helping us out with. So pretty exciting times. You're going to see United Way also announce some other big moves. United Way is actually moving over to the Renotown Mall at the end of the month into a larger space where we're actually going to be able to provide meeting space for a lot of our friends too. So a lot of big things happening for United Way. We want to thank all of you. And I think that's my time. So any questions?

Yeah, we'll bring it to the body. See if anybody has any comments or questions. Council Member Ebert, do you have anything?

No, thanks for checking.

Yeah, of course.

I just have one.

Yeah, Council Member Ames.

Hi, Blake. Hi.

I just met you last week.

Nice to see you again. I'm very interested in this workforce development program. How are you... Who are you bringing in to execute the education? How is that being managed? I'm really fascinated by the groups that are coming in and helping us develop that workforce there.

Yeah, so it's kind of a mixture. So we have a team in place that most of them come from that world, so they're kind of moving into some of those roles. They had originally been working with us on the original United Readers program, but many of them came from more of the high school and adult education world, so they're moving right in.

Okay, and are the people that you're training, are they students? Yeah. And then you're training them to, oh, that's amazing.

So the ones that are getting trained are going to be mostly young adults, but it's a little bit of a mixture of young adults. Every now and then we're lucky enough to get some people who may even be educators who are kind of at the end of their careers and they... They want to do something like this for us too. But most of the ones that are going into the workforce development side of it, where they're getting trained in a career, they're in the younger adult category or some who have left other careers.

So 16 to 21 and then retraining.

Yeah.

Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation.

It's a little bit interesting because it's a dual, two groups of people who are getting services.

Great.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah, just a quick comment. I just want to thank you for your services and those of your entire organization in previous capacities and other places. I've been actively engaged in United Way, not here currently, but I've become aware of the great work that they do. Every organization Staffing, volunteer levels up and down, awareness of their mission and so on. But all that said, I just appreciate what you do locally. I appreciate your involvement in the fires in the past, in the future, and the current. And thanks for being here today. Thank you so much.

Yeah, Council Member Eber, I see your hand raised.

Yeah. Council member Anderson's questions kind of. Maybe wonder a few more things is this just specifically like job training or is it any kind of other educational programs? I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just not fully understanding.

Yeah, yeah. So I alluded a little bit to it. Two groups of our population get serviced, right? On one side is the people who are getting the job training, but on the other side, it's the actual clients that they're going to be seeing. So for our original United Readers, it was very young children from K through three. But for both of these next, specifically for the Pathways Youth Mental Health Program, it's... It's disconnected youth, which is the jargon for 16 to 29 that are not necessarily moving through the education system the way that they, we would like them to.

Okay, so they're getting job training, but not like working towards a college diploma or something like that?

Some of them we will be. It'll be kind of based on their needs. So some of them it'll be strictly youth mental health because they're pretty highly effective and they haven't been getting the services that they need. But for some of them it will be going a step further to helping them to get their high school equivalency, their GEDs. and possibly take them from perhaps being one of the youth that we're helping and then maybe the next year or two moving them into one of these mentor positions so that we can get them trained in the skill that they can then go out into the world with.

Okay, so are they like completing classwork and turning it in? Are they being graded in on classwork if that's the situation? I'm just kind of trying to understand like are they Technically students, is it a hybrid? I'm not really understanding that part.

For the disconnected youth, they are still students in the various school districts. So we will be stationed at various high schools that accept us in. And then the counselors and administration will identify the students that need the supports.

Okay, so this is like out of high school supplementing what they're already doing, not in place of.

Right, right, yeah.

Okay, thank you. I was having a hard time with that. I appreciate you guiding me through that. Thank you.

And to be clear, you know, with everything with United Way, it's never to take the place of what others are doing. It's to enhance and lift up what everybody is doing.

Thank you.

Thanks. Yeah, from my part, I'll just thank you for being here and being willing to share some of this information. I know the SAFE program in particular was being talked a lot about when we were talking about utility fees and franchise fees. So I appreciate your willingness to come on, but definitely exploring from what you've done with students that are K through three all the way up and building out the program out, I think. it'll help you meet the needs of different constituency groups and people in our community so just really appreciative of you being willing to hear and you leading the organization and proud to be supportive where I can so thank you looking forward to the new space once you get over there and seeing how many people you can convene because I've been at some of those meetings and There's lots of folks who you're able to coalesce around certain topics and make sure there's a robust discussion. So I appreciate you. Thank you.

It would be nice not to cram everybody into a very tiny space.

Yes. Great. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Thank you, everyone. Yeah.

Vice for Martinez, I do have another question.

Yeah, Councilman Reaver.

Yeah, so sorry. How do you identify school locations that you're going to locate at? And is there a way to request a consideration for a particular high school that you think might need some additional support?

Yes, so it's a little bit of us seeking out the schools, but a lot of times it's the school districts that tell us where to go. So we work closely with the school districts to identify which schools It's interesting because it's mostly been the bubble schools at this point because those are the ones that have less resources, even though they have identified needs. So many of the school districts have us go there, but some of the school districts ask us, just go to every school we got. And the only thing that stops us at this point is money.

Okay, okay. I do need additional resources in my work for so many things, but In particular, our North Valley's high school is really like bursting at the seams. And we just don't have a lot of activities or programs for our youth out here. So if it's something I can request to just get looked at, the North Valley's high school would be great if we could do some training for our kids to get into high school. to better job placement or have different programs to get into. You know, if that's something we could discuss offline or something, I'd really love to see if that's something that can happen for the kids in North Valley's high.

Yeah, we would love to as well. We've identified that whole area as one of our hotbeds of activity. And in the past, those schools have been one of the major or some of the highest concentration of our services. So I would offer that if you'd like, we can sit down with the superintendent and kind of have that conversation.

That would be fantastic.

And we could use the help, too, if you wanted to come.

No, I would love it because North Valley High is technically in the county, not in the city of Reno, but that's the only high school we have in the area. So all my high school kids in the ward go there. But then all the schools in the ward as well, they're all one and two star schools. So we need a lot of support in that area. So, yeah, I would definitely love to set up a meeting with you. So I'll have staff reach out for sure.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thanks, everyone. Yeah. With that, we'll close the item C1 and move on to item C2. I believe Manager Bradley and Director Wilsey are coming to give us a presentation.

Good morning. My binder just keeps filling with all of my stuff to help us get this planned. Ready for adoption today. All right. Well, I'm Krissa Bradley with the Office of Policy and Strategy here for the record. Today's item is the final step in adopting your FY27 through 29 strategic plan. We have had multiple kind of opportunities to discuss this plan over the past few months. So I'm excited that today really is that final piece before we move forward with implementation. As a reminder, this strategic plan aligns with all seven of your strategic priorities. It is the mechanism in which we deliver your vision and mission of this city and the organization. Our planning process started back in March of 2025 when council had initiated me and our team to update the strategic plan and make sure that it was really representative of council's vision and the realities of which we were operating with. here at the City of Reno. Since then, we've done lots of different work together to make this plan a reality, including the October 2025 Council Workshop that we held here in Chambers, where Council did approve the new priorities. So you might have seen over the past few presentations that staff has been starting to utilize those icons and the new priorities within their staff reports. Over the winter of 2025 going into this year of 2026 is when we actually drafted the sections of the plan and prepared them to bring them to this body for review and confirmation that we were on the right track. Between March and June, we had three separate items where council was able to discuss the proposed goals within each of those priority areas. And then this past summer in June, the drafted plan was sent out to the community for that final round of public feedback. As of the June 10th meeting, so that was the last time I was in front of this body, there were seven priorities. You'll see here on the screen, they're all represented on that triangle. The direction that was given initially was that priorities one through five would be those areas of focus, the places where we would have more specific goals or projects identified to progress over the next three fiscal years. So that left us with those 13 major opportunity areas. I'll go through the next few slides a little quickly just because we have had the chance to talk through them. But the first is under fiscal stewardship. Council has identified there's three goals associated with that. Under legal obligations, we have three goals here. Under safe community, there are three specific goals. Under well-maintained city infrastructure, we have two. And under access to natural spaces, there are two. Now. There's been some places where we've received some common feedback over this planning process, whether it be from council, staff, community members, and there's places where maybe some common areas that we get a little confusion, or what does this word mean, or why are we using that terminology? And so we took that feedback, and in this final draft of the plan, we hope that we've kind of... made some things more clear. The first was around the areas of focus. There was common questions about, well, why are we adding that yellow trapezoid shape? Why don't we have goals or specific projects within quality of life or in the government effectiveness section? Why not those? And we took that feedback and I'll show in the next couple slides of what we've done with it. The next piece of feedback we've received is where is sustainability? Sustainability is very important to the city of Reno. We have worked to progress that over the past few years. Seems like it was something that was missing from the plan. The third was around housing. Again, something that this body has made clear as a priority, but seemed to be missing potentially in your strategic plan. The fourth place where there was some pretty common feedback was around the term major opportunity area. What does that mean? Can we just use the term goal? All four of these places where we heard that feedback, I think, yes, let's make those changes and let's look at it today. So based off of that, here's what we are proposing as the final version of your strategic plan. which would be to remove that areas of focus boundary line. So remove the yellow trapezoid and just go straight to all areas have, all of the priorities have a goal within it. Change from the term major opportunity area just straight to goal. We're all familiar with goals. It's a lot more common terminology and again, adding those three in there. So that brings us to a total of seven strategic priorities with 16 specific goals to progress over the next three fiscal years. You'll see on the top there that we are recommending two in the quality of life bucket and one in government effectiveness, which I'll go over in the next two slides. In quality of life, as I mentioned previously, there was a lot of feedback around where is sustainability and where is housing. We felt that those two areas fit nicely within the quality of life arena or priority. Specifically in the sustainability realm that heat mitigation has been noted as one of the areas that is more causing more risk to our community than other places. And so this body has already adopted heat mitigation strategies into the master plan. But now we want to take more of a focus on what does that look like out in the community? Are we increasing shade in our parks? What does that look like? Really looking at our capital projects and community programs. The second is around housing. So of course this body has taken many policies and programs in the realm of housing, both in affordable, attainable, the whole spectrum of housing, the missing middle. So this goal would focus on looking at all of the things that we've already currently done and doing an evaluation of what's working. Are we making sure that those things are having a meaningful impact in the community? In addition to this, there are potential new funding opportunities that we want to confirm that we have not missed any stones that could be unturned. Priority seven, so government effectiveness. Taking us back to when I did interviews with each council member, there was a strong wish or common theme, I would say, around where are the use of measures in the city of Reno? Can we utilize data more effectively? Can we understand the trends using numbers more regularly in the city? And so this goal is actually that in form here. That would be around service delivery. So strengthening the use of measurement and data across the organization to help better identify those trends and improve service delivery to the community. As you'll remember, on the pyramid, government effectiveness does go on the left-hand side. And so what you'll see within this goal is that we'll be looking at use of measurement for all of those priorities. So how do we understand around safe community? How do we understand from a well-maintained city infrastructure etc. And so this goal is really complementary to all of the other ones. So assuming that today goes well, we would be proposing next steps as quarterly updates on each one of these priorities and goals starting in 2027 to have an item coming to council. Just a quick status update of where are we at on these goals, where are we at on progressing your priorities as a body and making sure that that consistent feedback loop and framework is being pursued. And with that, the recommended motion is on the screen. And I want to thank you all for your work on this. It's been really, really fun.

Thank you. Yeah, Council Member Doerr.

Yeah, thank you. I want to put a special thanks to both you and Callie for your work on this. This strategic planning stuff's hard. Many people think it's very loosey-goosey and what does it really mean and kind of want to dismiss it. And on the other hand, some people want to take it to the bank. Unless these words are on this page, we're not doing them at the City of Reno. So I think there's two extremes when it comes to – at least two – when it comes to strategic planning. I also want to compliment you on hearing what the council said at the last meeting and also what the public said. And to that end, I have one question and one recommendation. So on the item... that deals with... One thing I would recommend is that you guys number your pages when you do your staff reports. That would be helpful. But there's an issue on infrastructure, well-maintained infrastructure. And I know I talked to you both about this term, life cycle costs, and looking at... And then I was assured, oh, yes, the city looks at life cycle costs, but it hasn't been apparent to me that they have. And what that means is not just looking at the first cost to do something, but the cost to maintain something over its life. And I think that that just as a practice or a uniform principle would help in infrastructure. So if you're going to build something, you need to be able to maintain it and you need to anticipate that cost so that it's not an undue burden on the city and that we plan for it. Okay, so I don't see the word life cycle, but I know that you guys told me, well, it's sort of in there, but I don't really, here it is. I did find it. Thank you. I did finally find it. It's in the first one, Life Cycle Analysis of All City-Owned Assets. Point taken thank you for acknowledging it. Okay. The last one is under quality of life This is the first time we're seeing this and these details and I want to compliment you for hearing us on housing and on sustainability I would like to recommend one very small change and that is the words on the page say implement heat mitigation strategies by expanding shade and I would say through trees and structures and the reason I would say that is a couple fold. First of all, it's in the legislation that directing us to do these things that specifically calls out the use of trees. Secondly, it's threaded throughout our entire master plan that was done in 2017. Trees, trees, trees are in there and I think we'd miss an opportunity to continue highlighting their importance and number three we're about to undertake I believe at least a crack at the tree ordinance and I think it's important for everyone that we deal with to know how important both trees and shade are Shade structures whether that's at the school district Okay, shade structures at the playground or trees whether that's in the use of materials in the playgrounds that kind of thing So I'd recommend again if we adopt this to just make this small change Implement heat mitigation strategies by expanding shade through the use of trees and structures Okay, thank you

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I wanted to focus on the slide that has the pyramid and then the areas of focus. Yes, that's just perfect. I suppose I want to have a specific conversation about the access to natural spaces, parenthetical, and then the goals related to the Parks District. And so help me understand more as a paradigm how we use the strategic plan to drive the outcomes we seek in a policy way. Because what I have observed is that this process has been incredibly complete by your team. It has been well done, well researched. And now you're going to have it go to us and we have to do something with it. And so I wanted to give you the opportunity to just sort of walk us through on one specific thing. And here I've picked this question about parks districts. I see Mr. Uliot is also here. And I may have to ask him a teased out question, too, if he wants to come up. Tell me how we might apply it in practical language.

Absolutely. Carissa Bradley for the record. So the parks district is a great example of places in this plan where this body is going to have policy direction and leadership leadership. to execute right the parks district is a good example that it may take a legislative change which this body would grant us the kind of authority to go do and pursue down at the legislative session so this particular goal was written to be the parks district is the goal but we don't know exactly if it's going to be a boundary just around this or around that but it would this new framework allows for directors like director ouliat to come up and give regular presentations about the status of this goal, and there will be places for council to weigh in on should we pursue this option or this option, and those will be coming regularly. It's not a, I can't say on what date or what specific, but that's an example of there will be opportunity for council to make those directions, and that's how

So let me just see if I can summarize what you said and just confirm for me what I'm hearing. So this is the guidebook, the roadmap for how we get to the policy choices we'll make. Meaning I take the binder, I say where does it align in our You've called them now priorities and goals and this is the focus so that we're not doing other stuff, right? Okay, I think that's an excellent choice. Mr. Williot, can you just tell me with regard to the parks districts? So now you're a director out there running a very large portion of our city and you now have this as the backbone from which to operate. How does that direct your activities?

Yeah, so for me specifically, and setting priorities means that we might have to say no to other things in the meantime, right? So for me, I know this is my marching orders from council to say, above all else, this is a priority because this is what sets us up for the future, right? And so I know I need to dedicate a significant portion of our resources, especially from a strategic perspective, to get these things done and to keep this moving.

Okay, and Mr. Vice Mayor, if I could just tease out one more part of that while we have Mr. Leigh. So what happens when two things are in seeming like there's some tension between them? For example, you and I had this great meeting last week about the river and some of the whitewater features and some ongoing maintenance needs. So while we have a priority focus on the priority as the access to natural spaces, the goals can be flexible and you work within them?

Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, it's part of the objectives. And it's one of the things we talked about with the whitewater folks is that it's not about taking another piece of the pie necessarily. It's about creating a bigger pie. And so the park district allows us to do that. Right. And so bringing that back in is there's an objective within the creation of the park district, which is to improve all of our outdoor spaces and accesses to them, which is the overarching goal. But a part of those objectives is our whitewater and our river space.

And in fairness to Mr. Vice Mayor, I wanted to use this as an illustrative point, but more I was trying to surreptitiously get you to come to the mic because it is your birthday today. So happy birthday to you. And so I've illustrated my point and also been able to embarrass you a little bit. Happy birthday.

Thank you. There we go. Two for one. Council Member Taylor.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I think I'm piggybacking on what my colleague said. So I look at the first priority as financial, fiscal responsibility, and fiscal stewardship. So that's the foundation. If we don't have that, we're not going to be able to do anything above that. Second thing is we're going to follow the rules. We're going to make sure that we have the money, that we're following the rules. And then the second thing, which I think is on slide seven, is priority three, which is a safe community, which is my From where I'm sitting, my number one priority in the city of Reno. And to me, if we do not have a safe and clean community, we cannot do anything else. The one thing I don't, I see coordinated fire services, nuisance crimes, and coordinating dispatch services. Where do, like, boots on the ground in downtown and cleaning up, downtown Reno come into this? Like I need 30 more cops in downtown Reno. Is that where this would be part of that safe community?

Uh, Chris Bradley for the record. So under nuisance crimes, there's a little bit around, um, data and the use understanding kind of where the resources lie across the city. So that would be a place where Chief Solferino and his team would be able to come share some of the information with the body around the number of officers potentially and kind of the strategy we're taking to deploy.

So I've been kind of saying for this for the last four years, what a safe, you know, people say, what's a safe and clean community look like? What do you mean? What does that goal mean look like? What does that goal look like to you? And I think I've expressed to City Manager Bryant, I have a very specific idea of what that looks like in our parks, in our downtown, and in our surrounding communities. And if we're looking at priorities, this is after we have the foundations of money and we're following the law, this is really the number one priority of action from what this council has said. So when do we start implementing it? I sort of, Councilman Reese was talking about that. When do we start hitting this? Is it during the budget cycle?

Yes, Carissa Bradley for the record. So many of these goals are already in progress, which is great. We wanted to account for things that have already been prioritized or discussed at this body. This plan is intended to be a living document that gets reviewed and evaluated each year annually, especially when it comes to the budgeting process. So Vicki and her team, when they come to present where we're at status-wise and what we want to prioritize, it'll all link back to these priorities and these goals as the first place where we would look at.

Okay. So when we're, again, when we're adopting this, we all have things that we are very passionate about, parks and sustainability, which are very important. But I think As a council, we're saying a safe community is our number one priority once we have the foundation. Perfect. Thank you. Great work.

Last mirror for me. Thank you, Ms. Bradley. Would it be appropriate to put the word reduce in front of nuisance crimes, given all of your feedback? Is that a shift that you could make to tell the story a little bit better about what we're going to be talking about in the nuisance crimes category? Does that work for you?

Chris Bradley for the record. That works for me. The goal language of that one has to improve our approach. I don't see why we couldn't. Well, it has also the word reduce incidents year over year towards the end of it. So we do capture that kind of essence.

Okay.

Unless we wanted to also add it to the header.

What about the word address? Or address. Address. Eliminate. Well, I want to give you a couple of statistics because we've been working on pulling some data. Last year, 127 individuals were declared in the Reno Municipal Court. So these are misdemeanors, nuisance crimes. They were declared incompetent. That's one year, I think it's 127, that those individuals could not tell right from wrong, and they could not defend themselves. And in the state of Nevada and here in Washoe County, when an individual is declared incompetent and they're charged as a misdemeanor, they are released immediately. We don't have a restoration of competency program like you do for felony crime. So it's kind of a gap that we're looking at. The other thing, and just to give you context, is 52% of all cases at Reno Muni Court were nuisance cases in 2025. So it is an issue, and that's why we want to talk about it, because there are individuals who aren't getting the help that they need, and certainly it's not contributing to a clean and safe environment when individuals are released and then recommitting the same offenses. addressed is fine. I just am thinking as I'm hearing you talk through it is that there needs to probably be an action item, an action word in front of nuisance crimes.

Mr. Vice Mayor, if I just may, I think that it's up to the council to assign those priorities and resources. It's not, when I was at the Hahn briefing with Chief Sulferino and looking at, I would say, sort of the depleted services and resources over the years, It's something that's got to be the number one priority if we're ever going to get here, which means some other things we're not going to be able to do. So thank you.

Thank you. Thanks. Council Member Anderson.

Yes, thank you. Councilmember Taylor covered my detail on the nuisance crimes area, so I will just use this little moment to say that it's been a real privilege to be a part of this process. I think the second meeting that I had with Callie and the first with you, I think I said to you, oh, I get to give you feedback on this? It's a real privilege to work with your team and you take our comments and our feedback and our ideas and our energy very seriously. And being able to see how it forms on a page and it forms on priorities for our city. This colorful graphic that we were looking at that Mr. Reese had you pull up, this is all opportunity for us. These are really, really incredible opportunities for us to make a real difference. in our community moving forward and they will be measurable. So thank you for allowing me to be a part of this process and for the work that you've done here.

Thank you. Council Member Ebert.

Yeah, there's a couple things I want to just kind of touch on. One of them is regarding trees. There's a project, an RTC project on Military Road where RTC and Khalil worked with probably with Nathan as well to replant some trees that were probably gonna just be torn out as a part of the widening of the road there, but because they were small, they were only a couple years old, we were able to transplant the trees to Um, other Reno parks where there was irrigation for them. We also have an upcoming. Um, whitening on where they're going to attempt to do the same thing. I don't know if this is a place to try and work on having that just kind of be. Something that we do, like, if there's trees that are able to be transplanted and they're going to be destroyed as part of a road. Project that if the city of Reno kind of adopts them and find some homes, I don't know if that's something really free now can get involved with. Maybe they can help pay for irrigation to these trees as well. But I just wanted to call that out in case this is. a place to kind of incorporate that um so i don't know what your thoughts are on that or if this is just not not part of the goals but that's something that's important to me especially considering our tree canopy in reno and i i just want to save the trees we have and increase uh beyond the numbers we currently have. And there was some larger trees that were too big to move, so they were replaced at three to one, which I think is fantastic. I think we should kind of just have that as a policy, perhaps. But in addition to that, I think the parks district sounds great in theory, but we have other examples of regionalization that's not working out quite so great for my ward. Like, I... Know that there would be more funding available for the region, but the list of projects also gets longer and I know that my board only has 4 parks out of the cities. 83, but I don't think that. A parks district. Would focus all of its energy, bringing word for up to just be at the same level as the other words. And I just want to be clear. I'm not looking for word for to have special treatment or have more parks in any reward, but we are looking to be kind of. Treated equally with regard to resources. So I'm just a little bit apprehensive about that. I'm not exactly sure what the process would be to identify areas that need help with parks or creating new parks. But I'm just a little bit worried that it's, it might not be as helpful to my community as we would like to see. much like RTC, you know, we're sharing resources with the region, so everybody has to kind of wait their turn. So even if we're bringing in funds from all the development happening in my ward or all the commuters buying gas, those funds are not necessarily going to be earmarked for road improvements that are needed in my ward. So I just want to kind of express my concern there. I don't know if there's a way we can kind of put guardrails on to make sure that distribution of resources is equitable and what we would define as equitable, but just wanted to express my concerns on that type of regionalization, just kind of call that out. So maybe my fellow council members, if they haven't considered that, might think about that a little bit as well, that their word also will be on a longer list for resources. But I did also want to ask, does this change anything in our master plan?

Councilmember Nathan Olliot, Parks and Recreation Director for the record. I just wanted to briefly talk about the park district and maybe use it as an example for the overall strategic plan. Right now what's happening is the parks district service plan, which is a required part of the state legislature for us to create a park district. That's been a proposed solution for 17 years and has just never been prioritized. So we're trying to find out now if that's the right answer. Ultimately at the end of this, the answer could be no, that's not right for Reno. It's not right for the region. But we had to strategically explore that. And to do that, we had to take those steps. So there are still decision points to be made in those spaces. But as council provided direction through our master plan, the Parks, Rec and Open Space Master Plan, this was one of the first objectives to accomplish. So I think it's a good example of We have to strategically prioritize what these proposed answers are. Otherwise, we'll never know. And it can be no at the end of the day, but we had to try to find out. And so that's what we're doing right now. There'll be a lot of information to come on the Park District, and we're right in the middle of that process.

Yeah, and that's understood. I'm just calling out that in this process, if this is what we end up doing, I hope that those are things that are considered and that there are, like you said, guardrails built into the process for that so that there's not inequities between different communities. So not that I'm directly opposed or anything like that, but just while it's being created, that's the time to make considerations or how areas are identified and prioritized.

Thank you, Council Member Ebert. Madam Mayor, do you have any comments or questions? She's still on. Okay.

Yes, we can hear you. Yes. This is a question for the city manager. I think that, by the way, I'm impressed with everyone's comments. I think they're really thoughtful. I would ask our city manager, and it might be really hard to understand You know, I think that resources are really important in every ward. And, you know, different wards work differently, right? Depending on population density, there's a lot that goes into each ward. But to understand a little bit more to make sure that, you know, there is that equity, to Megan's point, to make sure, I would have to understand a little bit better about um you know how you sort of decipher that um and just making sure that every ward gets what they really need i think that that is important but i also want to be very i guess thoughtful if you know if there are things that we aren't doing that we could do when it comes to you know maybe this board maybe a little bit more strategically um seeing the gaps in each ward and i don't know if there's some way to truly measure that and those gaps might be different in in different capacities you heard councilwoman taylor bring up her concerns very very valid SORT OF SAME THING THERE, WHERE MAYBE WE'RE MISSING SOME STRATEGIC WAYS OF IDENTIFYING WHAT THOSE ACTUALLY ARE IN THIS PLAN. I'M NOT QUITE SURE HOW TO DO THAT, BUT I JUST THINK TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT OVERLOOKING DIFFERENT BOARDS BASED ON SOME OF THE INEQUITIES. SO I DON'T KNOW IF THAT MAKES SENSE. Sort of where we can identify as we are lacking and where we have strength and I want to. To say, thank you so much to Kelly and her team. Doing this work, I think you guys have done a phenomenal job. Not to mention, I'm very, very glad about the sustainability aspect of it. I actually think that moving forward for the future of Reno. That probably should be a very large focus and separate document for community action plans. With Reno being the fastest warming city, I think this is going to become something that is absolutely necessary. And so I just want to put it on the radar because I think more and more we're seeing challenges in the environment and just bringing in the community on that level and understanding the city, really understanding that it has to be a priority because I don't think it's going to get easier. I think it's gonna get a little bit more challenging. So, and then, you know, Councilwoman Taylor brought up some of her issues And manager Bryant, I'm glad that you brought that up. I think there needs to be a conversation with the county when it comes to the mental health resources. And listen, I'm not throwing shade at all. It's a system that was designed this way. But remember, that financial aspect of mental health is on the county side. So I think working with them collaboratively could be beneficial. But it is very hard to get resources whenever that funding does come from the county and not on the city side. And that's always kind of been challenging. It's actually very challenging in most cities. That's how it typically works, that structure of funding and resources when it comes to mental health initiatives. So I just think that that has to be a lot of coordination. But I think everyone has amazing Feedback and I think you guys are doing incredible Kelly and. And friends, you guys, I really appreciate you listening and being so thoughtful. I think it's very, very helpful, helpful. And I think there's a lot to be proud of moving forward. Okay.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, Council Member Dewer.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank Council Member Ebert for identifying more specifically, I didn't get into the roads piece, but I do want to say that we are looking closely at roads when it comes to trees and planning some discussions with RTC on how they can better address the issues as they build our streets. You know, they often talk about complete streets, but actually if you look in the terminology And the lingo and planning complete streets do include trees, not just bike lanes and not just bus lanes for more ease of transportation because they're intimately tied to walking. And it's very difficult for people to walk in hot spaces. And I also wanted to mention that she mentioned, I think, Military Road. And my understanding is that many trees were lost in military, at least 37. and that I'm not sure all of those were replaced. And so the reason it's important to discuss it here is that I heard through the grapevine, don't know that this is substantiated, so take it for what it's worth, but I heard that the city wasn't supportive of planting more trees there either because of the costs, you know, cost of irrigation, cost of putting in the irrigation, cost of watering trees while they're being established, those kind of issues. And I think if we're to get really serious about the heat issue, which many are terming an existential threat, meaning It's that important. It's killing more people than a lot of diseases that we know of. It's often considered a silent killer. And so we really, we do need to take it serious. And then one final, I guess, statistic. We've heard we're the fastest warming city and there's, this goes back to 1970. Apparently on Earth Day 1970 is the day they began measuring going forward. And while we're the fastest warming at eight degrees, the rest of the country's on average of three degrees. of heat increase. Our summer nights have increased per all the data. They have almost 18 degrees. So it's not eight in the summer nights. And that's such a big change from here. Anyone who's lived here for a while knows that like in the 70s, When I moved here, evenings would be 45 degrees. They're now about 65 degrees. It's almost experiences like a 20-degree increase. And so I'm really pleased to see this issue being addressed both by the legislature and by our city council and our strategic plan. And I hope that we... When we're looking at costs, including lifecycle costs that I mentioned earlier, that we understand that the cost of trees, while there's an upfront cost that RTC pays for and then they hand over the infrastructure to us, just like we widen, we put in a policy to widen sidewalks so you can walk better from four feet to five feet. That meant RTC had to build five foot sidewalks, increasing the cost. When we've changed the amount of asphalt that had to go on a road, it increased the cost. And requiring RTC to build our roads that we have to own and maintain to a certain standard that includes trees, then I think we have to own it and do it. You know, it's just what's going to be required. So I appreciate the opportunity to comment further. Thank you.

Council Member Reese.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I wanted to just... sort of understand some of the comments that have been made. First of all, I think the strategic plan is a living, breathing document. It is not intended to be used as a sword or a shield, but I think it ultimately is used that way in some practice, much like our master plan. But what I will also say is, and I recall this from the conversation when we were doing redistricting in 2023, the ward boundaries change over time, right? If we really look at the number of parks, and you talk about parks that are city-owned and parks that are county-owned, there are lots of parks in what is now called Ward 4, right? Ward 5 is a historically older part of town. It has, I think, fewer parks, but it happens to have a historical pool in it, right, in Northwest Pool. And so the process... It would be interesting, and if you look on our City of Reno website at some of the mapping data that's used to make these things, it would be interesting to look at what the ward boundaries were in 1970 and where they were. Well, parts of this community were not built then, and parts of them were more county, some were unincorporated as we annex, so the idea that somehow parks no boundaries and some area of the city is underserved I think is not historically accurate, nor does it bear itself out in a way that is meaningful to the use of a master plan or a strategic plan. And so for my part, certainly in my time here, which is now going on eight years, We have made some very strategic investments in parts of this community, in part because they are under-resourced, in part because they have developed differently over time than other parts of Reno. Of course, the historic core, let's call it what used to be called Old Ward 1, had different community resources than say Ward six which did not exist and so I don't think that we're going to bootstrap some conversation about equity into a plan like this I think we all believe in the principle that our entire community is one community and and we work in the service of that community the best we can. And so again, I think the presentational materials certainly identify priorities. When those priorities are used and weaponized in order to secure some greater benefit or to believe that one's ward is some draconian hellscape when it's not, I think it misunderstands the importance of the plan from a strategic planning purposes standpoint. I think, too, Ms. Dewar made a good point about roadways. It will be interesting to do an analysis of where we are investing in roads. Sometimes certain parts of the community are receiving more structural improvements than others. because they have larger growth patterns. Ward 5 is largely built out at this point. It doesn't expand its boundaries, and so it's not like receiving a whole bunch of RTC funds, right? But other areas where there is tremendous growth and there's impact on those communities are receiving literally billions of dollars in roadway funds in the historic, you know, let's just say last eight years and in the future five-year period. So I want to make sure that we're focusing on the real issues and not creating issues where none exist.

Let me just double check before I... Make a motion if you want. I'm just going to check online. Madam Mayor, do you have anything? If not, we'll jump over to Councilmember Evert. Yeah, Council Member Evert?

Yeah. I just can't say that I'm surprised but continually disappointed by the representation of my ward and calling something a draconian hellscape because of a desire to have equity across the wards really says more about that person than my representation of the ward. I'd also like to point out that The 70s were 50 years ago. We're not building for the 70s. If that were the case, we wouldn't need to worry about the 11,000 people that live in Cold Springs that only have one access point in and out of the valley or the basin. We're building and taking care of the community as it exists today. So it's meaningless to compare it to what it was in the seventies. It's 2026 that's so ridiculous to even call out. Like. I don't even understand what the basis for that comment was other than to just try and. minimize the issues that we have in my ward. And some of them I'll explain and I'll talk slow so Council Member Reece can understand. I have had people that want to make donations of trees, but because I only have four parks, I'm not able to accept them because I don't have enough park space or irrigation systems to plant them. So having enough parks matters. We only have a few locations. We're not able to have food truck events in the city of Reno Park because our parks aren't big enough. It matters. Having equity matters. Being dismissive of that is frankly appalling from somebody that used to be the at-large council member. who's proclaimed to care about everyone in the city of Reno. It's incredibly tone deaf and really disappointing and totally emblematic about every vote you've made regarding Ward 4. So thank you very much for showing your true colors once again.

Mr. Vice Mayor. To be clear, Mr. Vice Mayor, and since Ms. Ebert wanted to refer to me personally, I am not the person who has referred to this as a draconian hellscape. The Ward 4 member currently calls it that with some frequency. At the end of the day, I've made a historical argument. It is not your turn to speak, Ms. Ebert.

Ms. Ebert. Thank you.

We're going to call recess. Thank you.

My name is Parr Tolles and I am the CEO and founder of Tolles Development. I grew up in the Bay Area in Middle Park and I moved to Reno in 1994. Met a pretty girl and chased her down and got married and decided to put down roots here and it ended up being a really vibrant place for us to do business with our family and it's been a wonderful decision. but always had the desire to start my own business. And in 2016, started Tolles Development Company with the goal to focus on all product types of real estate, but with extra effort downtown. We bought a portfolio of office buildings with the goal to redevelop those buildings and really try to push downtown Reno into its next level. We also did that with Midtown. We bought a portfolio of retail buildings, turned that into what is now a very vibrant area. People always ask me if Reno is the next Portland, is the next Austin. My response has always been, we're Reno. We have this really interesting quilt. I love the fact we're not trying to turn it into somewhere else, but that we're allowing it to evolve in its own really unique way. Private investment in downtowns, it's hard, but it's also incredibly rewarding. Downtown Reno's really got a nice platform for additional mixed-use development. We have a good foundation of retail, good foundation of office, good residential arts and culture. We have a river that runs through it. It's important for us to move where the market is telling us to go, but also to be more than just financially worthy. I think it's important to take a longer-term view when you're redeveloping and trying to obviously not only making returns for your investors, but also making more social returns for the community itself. I think we have a collaborative culture here. We're part of the fabric of this community. These businesses are our friends now. We don't have big commutes. People want to be together. We'll never be greeted. This office portfolio and the Midtown portfolio provided right before COVID. I've seen the vibrancy of downtown. It hasn't been hot as bad as it could. And now we're prepared to continue to move it forward with good development. It's easy to stay in suburbia, but it's certainly not as fun. If you haven't come to downtown Reno yet, please come visit us. I promise you, you will make it your Friday night date night. It is one of the most vibrant, special cities on the West. I can't wait for you to experience it if you haven't done it yet.

Hi, I'm Monica Kirch. I am the Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Reno. The Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program is a program that the City of Reno started in coordination with Volunteers of America and the Reno Housing Authority.

Programs like the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program are important to Volunteers of America because it gives us an opportunity to catch individuals who are otherwise potentially falling between the cracks as far as services go.

The Reno Housing Authority assists nearly 15,000 Washoe County residents through its traditional housing programs, yet we know there are many more who need assistance. The Reno Housing Authority supports the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program in two ways. The first way is through a financial contribution to support half the salary. of the service coordinator who works directly with clients at Village on Sage. The second way that we support the program is by ensuring that clients are on one of RHA's wait lists prior to being housed at Village on Sage.

The program is new and we just started housing people within about the last month. We have several folks now staying at the Village on Sage working with a service coordinator.

Partnerships like this give RHA the opportunity to assist more families outside of our traditional programs. And it's these innovative partnerships that create a stepping stone from temporary housing into long-term permanent housing.

So specifically this program works with individuals who are on a fixed or low income who can't afford conventional rents. and they're eligible for a housing voucher, but they still have to take the time to wait for that voucher. So it allows us to support them in that intermediary timeframe so they can stay housed and have access to services. I know specifically with this program, a lot of our folks are coming directly from the street and haven't had a rental in a very long time. Specifically, Mikey, hadn't paid rent in over a decade. And so it was really exciting for him to come to the office with his money and just celebrate that new experience that he got to have.

Hi, I'm Mike, and welcome to Village on the Sage. Come on, let's go look around. Yeah, oh, hello, welcome. This is what we get. I got a brand new television. It's an Element. This is one of the finer, finer televisions. You're welcome to bring your transportation inside with you. Nobody cares, as long as you keep it neat and tidy. What can I tell you? Doors open, the train's right there, you know. So if you like trains, excellent.

And this is where all the magic happens.

This is where the happiness, you know, where we come to ground out. This is just where, you know, we can be ourselves. I know it's...

.

One of the reasons why I joined RCI was just out of curiosity to know more about what the city of Reno does for everyone who lives here. It was a very genuine interaction with all of the people that we were able to meet throughout this process. That experience was incredible.

I'm a small business owner, and so I definitely felt disconnected. Not in a bad way, but in the way where I'm like, oh, if I have an issue, who do I call? This seemed like a great opportunity to get a lot of information in a relatively short period.

You might touch the street department, or you might touch the police department, the fire department, for whatever reason, just being a regular citizen. But you wouldn't learn about almost all aspects of city government and how it operates.

I have never seen a city that has been so people-oriented. I mean, it really seems like they care, and I love that about Reno. I love it.

This is definitely eye-opening, informative. It's a way to just learn how the city runs and to meet incredible people. Street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, getting people connected and running them through some kind of education and connection, I think, is incredibly valuable.

You'll have an incredible time. You won't regret it.

It's a benefit all the way around, I think.

Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Reno Public Safety Dispatch to discuss calling 911. Erin, what tips do you have for the community?

Well definitely it's a life-threatening emergency. You need to call 911. Things for immediate police, fire, medical response. Make sure you know your location to give the call taker and only use text to 911 if you can't make a voice call.

This is good information to know and what should the residents also know about dispatch?

We do have a non-emergency number for all the rest of the calls that aren't emergencies, 334 COPS. Those are things for like parking problems or graffiti. It's also important to know that our call takers take over a half a million calls a year. So we get pretty busy, but we're always looking for more dispatchers. If you're interested, go to reno.gov slash dispatch for a job description.

Outstanding information. Thank you, Erin. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here today to discuss community court. Judge Hazlett-Stevens, what exactly can you tell us about community court?

Thanks, Chris. We hold community court each Wednesday here at the downtown Reno library. It is an innovative approach to the justice system that offers services rather than jail time for our participants, many of whom are homeless. Services needed include those for substance use disorders, mental illness, chronic homelessness, and chronic unemployment.

This is all good to know, but how does this differ from traditional incarceration?

Community courts reduce crime, increase services to victims, reduce unnecessary use of jail, and save money by collaborating with service providers using a problem-solving approach instead of jail. We also recently implemented a treatment readiness program on-site.

This is all great to know. Thank you so much, Judge. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with the Reno Police Department to discuss the dangers of distracted driving. Officer Reza, what advice do you have on this topic?

Thanks, Chris. Distracted driving claimed over 3,000 lives in 2020. Here locally at the Reno Police Department, we would like to remind everybody that it is illegal to use any electronic handheld device while driving. Texting has become increasingly dangerous.

Outstanding. And what other tips do you have for the community?

If you do need to make a text or make a phone call, simply pull over on the side of the road where it's safe to do so. Once you've pulled over, it is now safe to make that text message or make that phone call. You can even put your cell phone in the back seat, in the trunk, or even in the glove box until you reach your final destination.

Thank you, Officer Reza. And dig this. For more information, go to renopd.com. Also, don't forget to follow the City of Reno and RPD on your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we're going to discuss making a fire escape plan. Joining us is Chief Mandel from Reno Fire Department.

Thanks, Chris. A fire escape plan is essential because it lets everyone in your household know exactly what to do in case of a fire. Seconds matter in the event of a fire, and an escape plan can make a world of difference. Start by drawing a floor plan of your home and marking all possible exits from each room. Then designate a meeting point outside a safe distance from the home. Practice your escape plan regularly with everyone in your household, especially children. It's important to make sure that everybody knows how to operate windows and doors. It's also important to teach household members to stay low to the ground in smoke and to fuel doors for heat before opening them. Thank you, Chief Mandel.

To create your own fire escape plan, scan the QR code on the screen or visit Reno.gov slash fire. So now you know with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. From lap swimming and drop-in sports to fitness equipment, the city of Reno offers many opportunities to get active and have fun. You may even be able to access these offerings at no cost. Kayla, what should residents know about insurance reimbursement?

Thanks, Chris. Our Parks and Recreation Department recently expanded their offerings with insurance companies, offering members of the team at no cost.

I'm going to send it to you to make a motion.

Okay, perfect. Madam Mayor, I had requested to make the motion. Is that okay? Yes. Okay.

The meeting doesn't appear to have started. Are you making a motion?

Yeah, we're calling the meeting back to order.

Okay. Okay. Just letting you know, it wasn't showing the meeting yet. Thank you.

Thanks for the heads up.

Okay.

All right, I would make a motion to adopt the FY27-29 City of Reno Strategic Plan with the addition of the words through trees and structures in the shade section.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Good job. Congratulations.

Yay!

Madam Mayor, would you like to take over? Would you like me to continue moving along?

Go ahead and lead us into the next item.

Okay, great. So we'll move on to our D items. We're going to start with D1, which is presentation, discussion on potential direction for our bill draft request for the 84th session of the Nevada legislature. Director, we'll see.

We do need to open the public hearing.

Okay.

And then it was properly noticed and there was no correspondence received.

Thank you so much.

All right, Madam Clerk, just for the record. Thank you.

Mayor, members of council, Callie Wilsey for the record, your Director of Policy and Strategy. Today, this item is in front of you for discussion and selection of your bill draft requests. This is one of our first steps in preparing the body's actual policy agenda for the upcoming legislative session. This item today aligns with government effectiveness. However, depending on the direction that council chooses today and what BDRs they may go with, those BDRs may support other priorities that you have just adopted in your last item, such as well-maintained city or access to natural spaces, kind of depending on where we land. There's a whole host of ways that your strategic plan could be supported. We're less than 200 days away from the start of session. It kicks off February 1st for the 120-day race to the end of the biennial legislative session here in Nevada. But what's in front of you today is our decision for bill draft requests. The City of Reno gets up to two BDRs under state law, and those are due by September 1st. So we're here to discuss that in a public hearing, seek your direction on what you would like to submit, and staff will submit those by September 1st to meet that deadline. The first option that we have discussed was really brought forward to you by the Reno City Charter Committee. The Charter Committee completed their month-long review process earlier this year and recommended six amendments to the Reno City Charter. This was presented to this body in July by your advisory board. The detailed report of each of their amendments is attached. But in summary, there were six of them, outlining changes to residency requirements for the city manager, how the joint meeting would go between the committee and this body, revisions to gender neutral language, terms for legislatively appointed charter committee members, allowing for an assistant fire chief position as an appointed position, and the timing of the vice mayor position. If the body were to choose a charter bill option today, you could include all of these, a portion of these, you could amend these, or add to them as well. Another option that has been brought forward is to seek authority to extend redevelopment area two by 15 years. This expires currently in 2035. The recession significantly impacted property tax, stalling the collection of increment. And as we look at these areas, many of the same issues that we experienced when we set up the RDA still exist today because of that lack of funding and those issues that we weren't able to collect those increment because of the Great Recession. The fiscal analysis was presented to the RDA board in July, looking at that 15-year extension, and it was also supported by the RAB in June. A third option that we have discussed is staff has been collaborating with regional partners, as we talked about in the last item, and the community to study the feasibility of establishing a parks district. And as we've been going through that process, we've identified an important issue that will likely need some attention in state law. The way NRS 318A is written now doesn't allow funding from assessments, which is a key funding component in the law, to be used for operations and maintenance of our parks. And as we work with the community through this feasibility study, they've shown a strong preference for maintaining existing parks before expansion. Without a change in state law, utilization and future consideration of establishing a parks district may be hampered. So you could seek a BDR that would allow parks districts assessments to pay for maintenance in this space. So when you make the decision about whether to form a parks district, you would have additional flexibility in that space and that tool in your toolbox. As mentioned, Council may select up to two BDRs today. You could select one of these that we've discussed. You could amend them. You could direct staff to submit, you could amend them or you could direct staff to submit any other ideas that you bring forward today. Council may direct staff to submit others. You are also not required to submit any BDRs as well. You are just capped at two. In front of you is the recommended motion. It does build in flexibility today so you can identify what those topics are that you would like to move forward with. So council will need to identify their two topics, assuming you want two BDRs. Any specific deals you may want included if that differs from what was presented today. With that, I'm available for questions.

Thank you. I'll go to Council Member Taylor.

I'm sorry, Vice Chair. I didn't have any questions. I was looking at the Parks District and RDA for our... I thought we talked about this at a prior meeting to move forward with those.

Okay. Council Member Reese. Yeah, that was sort of my recollection to Ms. Taylor's right. For my part, a couple of things. One is I do think that you've... maybe truncated or specifically identified a shorter date. I think the RDA extension should be as long as we think it is necessary. I mean, we lost 20 years due to recession, some fits and starts, so I don't know why if we lost 20 years, we wouldn't just look to mirror the 20 years. And maybe that's just a question that I don't know enough about the appetite of the legislature. And if you're just being cautious, what is the thinking there about the length of the extension? It would seem to me that rather than keep doing this all the time, that we would be asking for a 20-year extension.

Sure. So, Callie Wilsey, for the record, I might ask Ms. Turney to come up and talk about the specific years. From our perspective, we think the strongest position that we're in today aligns with the fiscal analysis that was completed. So, we have the 15-year analysis. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't amend our own bill going into session as we look at those things. So, that's why it's recommended from my perspective. But that 15 years was also built in to the reason why it was a 15 years. The analysis that's been done. was to cover that. So Ms. Turney, can you help me with that portion?

No, I think that answers the question, but maybe it... No, Ms. Turney, don't run off. Maybe it also answers a question that we had in an earlier conversation about the other redevelopment agency. I think I'm happy moving forward with the analysis, but I'm just suggesting that maybe the analysis should be done right now on not just 15, but a 20-year extension so that we're ready to go and people aren't asking, you know, why are we changing mid-course? I know that we have to submit something pretty... Soon and so it may be that we have to do that analysis of behind the scenes so we know what it is They maybe the experts would say it needs to be a 30-year extension. I don't know. I'm just saying that we lost 20 years I'm trying to make up for that 20-year period for my part in terms of what bills are my priorities It is the parks district formation as miss Taylor suggested and also the extension of the redevelopment agency Those are the two most important and aligned with the strategic priorities. We just passed.

I

Thank you.

We will take that note. Ashley turning assistant city manager for the record, and we can work on identifying additional analysis during this time. So we recommend submitting as a 15. We'll do the analysis based off of those points and previous ones that were brought forward. And then if we feel the need to amend, we'll let this body know.

Well, Ms. Turney, I suppose when we have sent some of the current TIF applications that are coming in, they're using the terminal date of the redevelopment agency as their thing, which is why the runway for many of the projects has not made it. I would like to make sure that we have the largest runway so that the most projects can make it in. And then is it Hundon who's still performing some of the analysis?

They're one of our three projects.

Consultants that we've contracted because I do think that I've seen one of their reports that mentioned If that thing were extended which means they are capable of running the analysis out from 15 to 20 years pretty easily So I just don't want to hamstring us by the the lack of thought about why we're doing it Which was the shortened and truncated life of the redevelopment agency caused by the recession Understood.

We'll work on the numbers. Thank you

Yeah, on the BDR, now we aren't recommending for RDA1, and I heard something similar, like we haven't done the analysis, but could we put the extension of both in one bill? Okay, and so if we're going to work on RDA2 and look at the 20 years, could we be looking at RDA1 for some period of time, and I'm not predisposing the time?

Callie Wilson, for the record, we would recommend the same thing. So we could certainly move forward with the BDR for 15 years under RDA2 with the caveats that we would look at later. potentially longer for RDA 2 also looking at what RDA 1 extension could be and what that value would be and then we could have a discussion about that and what an amendment could look like.

I'd love to see that because RDA 1 covers like the majority of downtown and you know it seems to have been our priority for a long time and so it seems like do we need to go to the legislature again with another bill wait two more years? I'm not sure so or I would recommend not. like we, unless it's strategic, like you think we could get one done but not two.

So I won't speak too highly of the strategy component, but I do think that there is some merit to your point councilmember Dewar What we would recommend is start with to allow us to do the analysis and then we can bring that back to this body for conversation in the future RDA one has 18 years left and we've not seen anything not pencil yet We've not had projects that have come in for that So we would like I thought we had all these projects on the list like 30 projects and and Those are City of Reno capital investments.

Oh, you mean individual projects? That's correct. Okay, I understand.

Developer-based TIF projects.

Okay.

So we would, again, recommend that we go do that analysis, and then if we see that need, then we'll look at the amendments later on. I do think it puts you in a stronger position going in with just RDA 2.

All right, okay. Well, then that's fine. And if we have 18 years, well, that's great.

Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Ebert.

Yeah, sorry about that. I had a question about, like, what kind of changes can we make beyond the expiration date? Because I know we need to make a fire station downtown. Like, that's way overdue. Is there a way where we could... Make adjustments to allow for. The RDA budget to be used to completely build a fire station, because it's my understanding that there's some limitations. Now, we can't completely fund the. Building up a fire station with dollars is that is that something that we could potentially address in the to say, you know, public works kind of projects for the city of Reno could be fully funded for. You know, with funds.

Council member, this is Callie Wilsey for the record. I would say we could look to see what language would be available that could help solve that problem. I don't know standing here in front of you today to be able to make that recommendation as part of the BDR, but we could certainly continue that research. And similar to these other topics related to redevelopment, continue that conversation for potential amendments down the road.

Okay, because we're in a great spot where we're going to be having revenue come in and, you know, we need a fire station within the RDA area. I think it could potentially be a great tool to build a fire station without having to find funds in our general fund to pay for it. So it'd be really great if we could figure out a way To change it, you know, to say, well, you know, if it's a. Public building, or for the public's benefit, like. 1st responders that we could use those funds. It's my understanding we could do, like, some of the infrastructure. Now, potentially, but we couldn't build the whole structure with funds and I feel like that should be something. That maybe we could add, unless there's a specific rule or law that just can't be changed on that. But I'd be very interested in trying to explore that as. As a additional funding mechanism for for things that the city of Reno need. And that aren't, you know. Entertainment related or. Parks and rec related, like, I can understand a lot of the guidelines in place for other facilities, but I think if it's like a police substation or. A fire department building that that should be an allowed use. So those are my comments on that. And then also. I do want to make sure that we strengthen language that says that once. Somebody has a deal, like, that they can't change it. I don't know how stringent it is now. I know that people can come back and ask and it would. Another boat, but I'm not looking to change. Have somebody try and renegotiate their contract, you know, after the fact or. those types of things. So just really want to make sure that we're not creating any loopholes in the process of extending the expiration date.

Thank you, Council Member Ebert. We'll go to Council Member Anderson.

Yes, thank you. I'll make it quick. I support the extension on RDA with 15 years as a minimum. I think that's going to be a great investment in some of the additional projects that we can build in that area. And I am support still of the parks plan. Thanks.

Yeah, thank you. Council Member Taylor.

Mr. Vice Mayor, if you're ready, I'll recommend a motion to direct staff to submit the following two bill draft requests with the information provided for additional research on the RDA 2 extension and on a parks district.

Second. Great. Do we have a motion and a second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you.

Close that item and move on to item D2 and let the record reflect that the council is opening the public hearing on item D2. Madam Clerk, was proper notice given and any correspondence received?

Proper notice was given and we did receive one letter of opposition.

Do any of the council members need to make any disclosures? Okay, now we'll send it over to Mr. Shipman and Mr. Hall.

Thank you. Ordinance introduction, bill number 7340, case number LDC 26-00082, one microplaced zoning map amendment, ordinance to amend title 18, chapter 18.02 of the Reno Municipal Code entitled zoning, rezoning a plus or minus 14.92 acre site comprised of two parcels from general commercial GC to multifamily residential, 21 units per acre, MF21. Site is located in the north side of Moraine Way, 160 feet west of North Virginia Street, and has a master plan designation of suburban mixed use. One.

Thank you. I believe we have a staff presentation. Mr. Foster.

Mr. Vice Mayor, I do not need a presentation. This went to the NAB and the Planning Commission, and I don't know if we have any public comment. Do any other council members need a presentation?

It doesn't look like it. There's no public comment. And there's no public comment. So we'll send it back to you, Council Member Taylor.

Okay. If you could just move to the motion, that would be fantastic.

Yeah, there's a motion on the last slide.

In the matter of the case LDC 26-00082, I move to uphold the recommendation of the Planning Commissioner for the bill for a second reading and adoption.

Second. Second, and I can make all findings required of the general review criteria. First, that it's consistent with the Reno Master Plan. Second, it complies with Title 18. Also, that it mitigates traffic impacts. The change from general commercial to MF21 triggers less intense development and less potential traffic. And that it requires it obviously has both a safe environment component and a rational phasing plan What? With regard to the is this the zoning map as well madam or miss Taylor I can make the findings also with the zoning map amendment criteria Primarily that they master plan suburban mix use is intended for a mix of commercial and residential uses MF 21 zoning allows for the mix of residential use of the conforms to the master plan land use I

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes unanimously.

Opposed, aye, sorry.

Thank you so much for clarifying.

Thank you.

Yeah. Then we'll move on to our Ordinance Adoption Items, Item F1. Do we have any public comment on this item, Madam Clerk?

There is none.

Are there any questions, discussion?

I just had a question. This is for F1, right?

Yes, F1.

Yeah, I just want to make sure. So F1 is just the ordinance for annexation, and F2 is the actual zoning decision, correct? Yes.

Good morning. Councilwoman Dorff, for the record, Mike Raley, Planning Manager with Development Services. That is correct.

Yeah, we had a question about this come up at our briefing.

Correct.

And it looks like you've made it more clear on these agenda items. Okay. So if we could take them separately, that would be helpful.

And I believe, Mr. Hall, you have to read something for the record.

Yep, ordinance adoption, ordinance number 6745, case number ANX26-00002, Ladera annexation, ordinance annexing two and making part of the city of Reno certain specifically described territory of one 116.43 acre parcel of property generally located east of its interstate 580 and west of South Virginia Street, approximately 450 feet northwest of its intersection with Rhodes Road. Upon annexation, the subject site will have a zoning designation of unincorporated transition, 40-acre minimum lot size, UT40, together with matters which pertain to or are necessarily connected therewith, Ward 6.

Thank you. Council Member Anderson.

I move to adopt Ordinance Number 7337. Second.

Motion a second all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Yeah, just for clarification. It's Ordinance number six seven four five.

Oh, sorry six seven four five.

Yeah, I got you councilmember Ebert. Go ahead. I

Yeah, I heard a discussion. I know that this is an annexation and a zone change. Can we just explain real quick why we're doing this? Why we felt it necessary to annex this property and change the zone?

I don't know if Ms. Picotti or Ms. Whaley would like to address that.

Good morning, afternoon, members of the council, Madam Mayor. For the record, my name's Leah Picotti. So this application for the Ladera annexation accompanied the zone change and the master plan amendment. You guys saw this three weeks ago on the meeting on the July 22nd. We talked fairly extensively about that, about those different parcels and what was being changed. And this annexation was accompanying the zoning map amendment for that 80 acres of parks, greenways, and open space and that small area of neighborhood commercial.

Okay, so was the zone change a requirement or annexation a requirement to change the zone?

That is correct, yes.

Okay, so we just wanted to get that on the record, why we have this process, and I'm sorry it wasn't quicker to say anything before the motion was in place, but just wanted a brief explanation about that process on the YouTube video where a lot of people watch. So thank you very much.

Not a problem. Thank you.

Thank you, and I think we went through the process and voted, but just making sure we're clear on that. Madam Clerk?

I have a motion and a second, but not the vote.

Okay, so we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. With that, we'll go to item F2, another ordinance adoption. I'll send it over to you.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Ordinance adoption, ordinance number 6746, case number LDC26-00039, Ladera Properties Master Plan Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment. Ordinance to amend Title 18, Chapter 1802 of the Reno... Municipal code entitled zoning rezoning a plus or minus 161.2 acre site generally located on the west side of South Virginia Street west of its intersection with Town Drive and northwest of its intersection with Rhodes Road from plus or minus 116.4 acres of unincorporated transition 40 acre minimum lot size UT 40 and plus or minus 44.8 acres of industrial to 39.3 acres of neighborhood commercial plus or minus 87.2 acres of parks greenways and open space and 32.4 acres to remain industrial together with matters which pertain to or are necessarily connected there with Ward 6.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, are there any public commenters? There is none. I have a question. Okay, yeah. Council Member Doerr.

Yeah, sorry. Leah, could you just identify for us again what can go in neighborhood commercial? The type of uses.

Yes, so neighborhood, Leah Picotti for the record, neighborhood commercial uses could include things like offices, general personal services such as salons or things like that. It could also be a restaurant or a restaurant with alcohol service. Things that it wouldn't allow would be like a bar or any kind of industrial uses, any kind of heavy manufacturing, anything like that would not be allowed.

Okay. So, or even light manufacturing?

Light manufacturing would likely not be allowed unless it was some sort of like custom craft to like somebody, you know, making something with their hands.

Okay. But what it doesn't allow, it's going from industrial, right, to neighborhood commercial.

Correct.

And I think, didn't you also tell us though that neighborhood commercial can include residential?

Neighborhood commercial can include residential, but it cannot include single family detached. Correct.

Single-family detached is townhomes or is?

Detached is separated. Oh, single-family detached? Yeah, but it could include attached. So townhomes are okay? Townhomes would be okay.

Apartments okay?

Apartments would be okay.

Okay, just not your standalone home?

Correct.

Okay. Okay, and they could change this later too. I appreciate how much they've put into parks, greenways, and open space, identifying these are not appropriate for building on. So I do appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you. Do any other members have any questions or comments? Now I'll send it over to Council Member Anderson.

Okay. I move to adopt Ordinance Number 6746.

Motion second all those in favor say hi. Hi any opposed motion passes unanimously Wait with that we'll move on to item f3 another earnest adoption.

I'll send it over to mr. Hall just for clarification f2 ordinance number was six seven four seven and f3 is six seven four eight so Ordinance Adoption, Ordinance Number 6748, an ordinance amending Reno Municipal Code Title 12, Public Works and Utilities, Chapter 12.16, Sewer Service, Article 2, Section 12.16.290, Title Sewer Connection Fee Dwelling Unit or Residential Unit to add an extra specific connection fee rate for Rivermount together with other matters properly relating thereto, Sewer Fund, Ward 2.

I just want to clarify for the record, I thought that it was 6745 for F1, 6746 for F2, and 6747 for F3. So this is 6747. The last one was 6747. Thank you.

So let's just be clear, because in my book it says different numbers, and then they were changed again. Now we're maybe changing them again. So this particular one is 6748. This one should be 6747. I mean, yes, okay f3 should be six seven four seven Gotcha, all right Yeah, I would make a motion to I don't we've already gone over this so to adopt Is it gonna be bill number six seven four seven ordinance number six ordinance number six seven four seven to amend Reno title Reno municipal code title 12 and That's it. Second. Great. Motion and second.

Wait, I'm a little confused. Can you say what this ordinance is again? I got a little messed up with the number changes.

So this is to implement the program where they're going from septic tanks to sewer.

Oh, that's right. Okay. Okay. Got it. Thank you.

And it adopted a different rate, a connection fee rate. Okay.

Thanks. Yeah, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Madam Mayor, are we taking a break at this time?

I think we're going to move forward.

I do want to get to the redevelopment agency so that we can... Madam Mayor and Mr. Vice Mayor, can we do item H3 and then go into redevelopment agency? Yes.

Is that okay, Madam Mayor? Yes. Yeah, H3. So we'll move on to item...

Please not. I'm almost in the building. I'd like to be in there if you can give me five minutes.

Yeah, I think H3 or... We'll wait for you.

Okay, thank you. Okay. Yeah, we can... We'll move to RDA then. Okay? Okay. All right.

I don't know if Ms. Ebert wanted to wait for all of them or was she?

No, we're going to just move forward because she'll be here in a second. Okay. We're going to start actually with the redevelopment agency and we're going to send it back to Madam Clerk for item A2 roll call.

Yes, we are calling roll for the Wednesday, August 12th redevelopment agency board meeting. Member Taylor? Here. Member Dewar? Here. Member Martinez?

Here.

Member Ebert? Here. Member Reese?

Here.

Member Anderson? Here. And Mayor Schiede? Here. You do have a quorum.

Okay, thank you. Do you have item A3, any public comments?

We do.

Okay.

Carlos Reyna?

All right.

Carlos, come on up.

Hi, my name is Carlos Reyna, and I'm here to bring up... I had three things. And the reason I am here, because I have talked to them more than once, RTC. During construction, you know, Virginia Street, you know, they should be stopping whatever bus stop is available, because, you know, the stop for Virginia Line stops for one. And it seems like the drivers, they do their own course. They don't follow the protocol. They just say, I'm not stopping there. They do their own course, because that's not my stop, and they should stop, you know, because it's very inconvenient. You know, you have to watch where from the next stop or where I'm back. And my next one is about Moana Pool. They do maintenance during business hours, and it's very inconvenient. You go there to use the pool, and all the pools are closed for maintenance. And, you know, they do a water pressure around the edges of a pool, you know, all that messy, you know, stardust inside the water pool, you know. And they should let them maintain this pool during after business hours, you know. Like I said, it's very inconvenient for us, you know, we're paying the full price membership for using all the pools are closed. They open, you know, certain time. And my next one is about the The real store, the store on 2424 Alley, they don't take pennies. And that's the manager, you know, they came out with. Because the register, it still calculates the pennies, you know. But, you know, they just say it has to be rounded because we don't take pennies. And pennies, officially, they haven't been discontinued. It's going to take, I don't know, a long, long, long, they just talk on the news, you know. They talk about discontinuing pennies, and that's going to be a long, long, long, long time, you know, before they officially, you know, be discontinued. But they don't take pennies. I don't know why. They just manage this idea. They don't call, you know, they don't take the pennies. But that register still calculates the pennies.

That was my last thing, and thank you for coming on so quick.

All right, thank you so much, Carlos.

There's no one else signed in.

Okay, thank you so much. All right, I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay. And then I believe we're, do you have any changes I should ask?

I would recommend that you take off item B1 or you go ahead and just skip it given that I don't see the chair here.

Yes, okay. So typically we have been putting an update from the board on the agenda. I don't think that Wednesdays work for Mr. Klein. So I don't think that they work for Mr. Klein. So I'm going to... work with him to try to figure out so that the body can get some of their feedback so that it's helpful to hear sort of their discussions and directions. But I would also say I want to thank Ms. Turney because she is working on at the request of some of them and also some council members of a redevelopment summit. So we are all in the room coming up with priorities and what we want to accomplish together, and I think it'll be really beneficial, so.

Maybe today we can just skip the item. Madam Mayor? Yes.

Under this item, though, since Mr. Klein isn't here, when you do talk to him, perhaps another member of their board that maybe can make Wednesday's work could come and update us on what's going on, if that's possible. I don't know what their bylaws call for, if this is even in the bylaw.

And I did ask them to identify someone else. Oh. And I don't think Wednesdays are good for them either. They're all really busy, have big jobs, and so I will see if they can put in a third, and we'll go from there. Because it would be really helpful to just hear them firsthand and not, I guess, assume or just think.

Okay.

Yeah, but I do think it's going to be really helpful to do a redevelopment summit with them, kind of like a strategic plan to hear what their priorities, they can hear your priorities, and then they can implement and we can all implement together.

Okay. Madam Mayor, I have a quick question. Yeah, go ahead. Was it, I can't remember if there's scheduled to come every council meeting or one council? Okay. Thank you.

I would like every council meeting because I think they're discussing some pretty big projects and redevelopment is going to be a big one. So I just think that... It's good to hear from them first. Absolutely. Yeah. So I just need to find what's the best way for their schedules to align with Wednesdays. Wednesdays is a little tricky. Okay. All right. Madam Clerk.

Item C for chair member comments. Okay. Any comments?

Seeing that there are none. Any public comment? There is none. Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. I have a motion to adjourn. I have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay. All right, now we're going to go back to... Hold on one second. We could actually do item H3 if council members have any comments. I have one. Any comments or announcements, please.

I have one. I believe it is starting tomorrow. I put some of my council funds towards a new initiative, which is to help our community have bear and other animal resistant trash cans. In our city, we only have about 200 of these kind of trash cans in play. There is a slight increase of cost between a regular trash can and a bear or other animal resistant trash can, which is about $6. And yet many people don't know that they are available or want to pay a slight increase fee. So what happened was Endow reached out to me in Nevada Department of Wildlife. And they informed me that we have about 800 bears in all of Nevada. and almost all of them are located here in the Mount Rose Wilderness. And they are coming down into the city of Reno, particularly in Ward 2. So the areas most affected by bears are Lake Ridge, Collin Ranch, area is basically west of I-80, excuse me, south of I-80 and west of 395. And it includes a couple wards, but in order to make this as broad as possible, I've worked with Endow and with our sustainability manager to make these trash cans available to anybody who's had a problem with animals and who would like to get it, and I would pay through my money for a year of the can. At that time, they would either have to decide it was worth it and pay the extra six bucks or not. There would also be a public education program associated with this. I have sent our staff a copy of Where the Bears Exist, where the bear sightings have occurred. They're mostly along the Last Chance Lake and Steamboat Ditches and in Collin Ranch, and that's where most of them are. And so, as part of this as well, Suzanne Grumman, our sustainability manager, has committed to meet with waste management and look at not having a disparity in cost of these trash cans. Maybe lowering the cost of these cans, maybe increasing the cost of the other cans a dollar, making them all the same. There's so few of these, and there shouldn't be a disincentive. So this program is coming at the request of NDOW. And at the point that they contacted me, I did have some funds available at that time. So I'm putting them to that. So I wanted everyone to know that it's going to launch. Especially on next door, I've seen a lot of reports of bear sightings in people's yards or on streets. So it's very timely. This is the time they're thinking about storing up food. and going into hibernation. And because of this challenge with the warming of our climate, fewer bears are actually going into hibernation and they're staying active all winter long because they can get food out of trash cans and stuff. So that's what it's all about. I didn't want people to be surprised. I wanted you all to know about it and encourage your residents if appropriate. to apply.

Okay. Thanks. Good work. Yeah. So is it a, uh, like annual fee people pay to have these?

They pay a monthly fee of about $6 more for their trash can.

Okay. So it's on their waste management bill or that's incredible.

Yeah.

And what happens if they're like, um, I haven't had a bear in a year. You just say, come and get your box or what?

No, because it's good for also other animals like raccoons, coyotes, et cetera, but it's really the bears that are the biggest. And so anybody, like let's say you move. You're not paying for waste management. New person moves in, they're given an option of getting a bigger can, smaller can, more animal-resistant can.

Yeah, because I'm curious if it'll start changing behaviors of animals out there if they're like, we can't get anything, so move on.

We're hoping they don't come down because what they do is they become problem bearers, and then they could end up having to be relocated or even euthanized.

Yeah, we don't want that.

And most people do not support that.

Yeah. Okay. Any other comments? Okay, I did want to recognize because it's been a very, very stressful last four or five days, as everyone knows. And the city of Reno is assisting Washoe County in the catastrophic bug fire now merged with the stallion fire. um i want to say thank you to all of you you guys have been working hard and providing resources and i want everyone to remember that the city of reno does provide evacuation facilities and services and that's really important and also if you want to share any information it's the i think one of the best sources is emergencywashoe.com And one of the things that we are seeing is that people are so incredibly generous and wonderful that they tend to just drop off things at fire stations. And we want to make sure that those resources are going to the best possible use. So on emergencywasho.com, they have places where they would ask that you donate specifically. But I'm really grateful that all of you have had time. such, you know, you guys have all jumped in and are, you know, helping where you possibly can. This is obviously a very fluid situation and we're just, you know, wanting to send so much support to our first responders, our firefighters, our dispatchers, everyone on scene, our volunteers. We even have people there from Clark County, I believe, Las Vegas. I mean, everyone, we have a national federal team that's now in service and it's just been amazing that you know the work that everyone is doing together we I just I just can't even imagine how hard it is Brandi would know how difficult it is for everyone on the ground and how you know stressful and but they're doing amazing and I just want them to know that the city of Reno has you know so much gratitude and because they have such a tough job. I can't even imagine. And then also, so many of you that have reached out to say, how can I help? I would just stress that you want to, if you're going to donate money, particularly just maybe the Red Cross, very reputable sources, because we do see people in times like this, unfortunately, We see phone calls where people will say, I'm with so-and-so and please donate money. So be very, very careful that you know that it's a reputable source because we have seen some of our seniors taken advantage of so i could just stress that ask people to donate to reputable sources again emergencywashoe.com and again the city of reno is helping assist but it is washoe county's jurisdiction right now and so we're just doing whatever we can to support so i just want to thank all of you guys because all of you have been calling and saying what more can we do and you've shown up at evacuation sites and And Jackie and JW have just been really on top of everything along with the county. And we were just there, Lombardo had a press conference. And the sheriff, just everyone is jumping in and doing absolutely what they can. But our hearts also go out to those that have to evacuate. That is so stressful, so stressful. And their animals come into play, their children come into play. And then, as you know, some schools have had to cancel. So it's a lot for people going through that. So just remember that it's such a stressful time. The other thing I was really impressed by, I want you guys to know this, is that because it's something that you guys supported, and now I can't think of it off the top of my head, but you guys supported and funded it. And that's the team that came here to provide mental health services to first responders. And they were out there on scene providing mental health for them. And I thought that that was... was really amazing. And so you guys should be proud. That's because of the funding, and he told me that. That's because of the funding you guys as a council supported and were so generous with. So good work. But we're watching closely and we're just asking for the weather to cooperate and just keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers. It's always stressful this time of year because it's so hot too, so... So I just want to say thank you to all of you guys. You guys have all been very, very supportive. So thank you. Thank you. That's about it.

I think we have... Am I right?

Go ahead. Oh, yeah. I just want to say, you know, as a representative closest to the fire, my kid's school is still closed, and we did evacuate for a night, and we're very fortunate that the fire's moving more east, but we're really just kind of at the mercy of the weather. If it starts blowing south again, we're likely to have to evacuate again. So it's just incredible how quickly things can change with the wind and how fast fire can move. And it was a really stressful time, not just for me personally, with my family, but I received just an incredible amount of calls from people that were in the evacuation areas it didn't know what to do people that were in cold springs that said both both directions of the 395 were closed and they did not know how to leave i think that something that i've talked about that's not comparing it to a hellscape but i think that we are going to have a major tragedy there if there's not additional access roads put in there so just speaking that out again, that we need to have additional roads for people to get in and out. And I know that city of Reno requires multiple access points for fire departments to get in to different types of development. And I think that it's fair to say that the residents out there deserve the same type of infrastructure to leave so Not all of them are city of Reno residents. It's kind of a patchwork out there But I think we all care about the community and I know Hillary you've shared that when it's a fire everybody just works together It doesn't matter your political party if your friends are not you you help your neighbor. So just want to make sure that we keep this in mind and that this kind of thing can happen pretty much any time, especially with our drier climate and hotter summers. Just want to, again, keep that top of mind that there's a real necessity for additional infrastructure in that community. Yeah.

And I know it's been stressful for you because we spoke, so... Yeah. Yeah. I do want to mention a couple of things because... You know, I tend to get the same questions over and over again, and one of them is for our elderly who need oxygen, and I want everyone to be very aware that your area could possibly be experiencing power outages. If that should happen, NV Energy has a program that's called the Green Cross, and if you are on... you know oxygen or things that require power to please sign up there they have a program for that and so I would just stress that enough especially many of you because you work in a lot of elder care services that everyone people to sign up for that I think that that's really important I want to say thank you to the Reno Police Department they are doing a lot and assisting road management and it's been it can get very stressful because you know everyone's trying to leave at the same time and so the Reno Police Department I just want to say thank you to them and I did sign an emergency declaration for them yesterday because we are putting more resources there, and I want to say thank you to the city manager for doing that. That really is helpful. I know that I just had a lot of feedback on how grateful people are to have that. assistance and then I do want to recognize Clara Andriola she is the chair as you guys know of the Washoe County Commission and she calls me several times a day so there's a lot of communication there and you know we're leaving I think the experts especially you know we have the fire chiefs all there there's a lot of people there and so we're doing everything we can to not be in the way, but get them what they need. But I want to recognize her and I appreciate her. And I think she was going to reach out to you.

She did call, but it was during council. I also wanted to say what a great job all the firefighters did. I had people calling me after they were out of danger. in the Cold Springs area and describe how the firefighters diverted the fire from homes. And they were just incredibly impressed. Like really, truly, they were like, they did such a great job. You know, how they like... set a boundary and it was nighttime so they couldn't see exactly how they were doing it but you know the fire went from like coming at their homes to going around them so they did a phenomenal job and i could not imagine being out in that heat with like 50 pounds of gear on and very difficult walking in a fire essentially so just my hat goes off to them they're they're absolutely incredible so yeah Very, very difficult. Okay.

Madam Mayor, also I want to acknowledge it sounds like there's actually an in-person meeting. We discussed it yesterday, but in-person meeting today, I think. Do you know about that, Manager Bryant? Yes, it's today at 6 o'clock.

It's O'Brien Elementary, if I have that right.

I think that's fantastic because I know when we had the Davis Creek fire that so many people appreciated an opportunity to come together, see others that were interested or affected. I agree.

I think it's in the update I sent this morning, if you'll double check.

Yeah. Okay.

Do you know what time?

6 p.m. 6.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. At this time, we are going to go into recess into attorney-client, and then we will come back and finish our agenda. I don't know. I would say 30 minutes. Yeah. 130? Actually, it's probably going to be 45 minutes. 130? Yeah. Yeah. So let's do, what time is it? 1230?

It's a quarter. It's almost quarter. So are you saying 130? Uh-huh. 130. Okay.

All right. We will be back.

Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. From lap swimming and drop-in sports to fitness equipment, the City of Reno offers many opportunities to get active and have fun. You may even be able to access these offerings at no cost. Kayla, what should residents know about insurance reimbursement?

Thanks, Chris. Our Parks and Recreation Department recently expanded their offerings with insurance companies, offering memberships to them at no cost.

Well, this is exciting. How does it work and who qualifies?

Yeah, the program offers memberships through their individual insurance company. The insurance company then reimburses the City of Reno for each visit that they come and use our facilities. The expansion of this program is especially beneficial to our seniors. However, it qualifies anyone 18 or older. You just need to contact your insurance company.

Thank you, Kayla. And don't forget to contact your insurance company to learn more. Visit Reno.gov slash Parks and Rec for more information. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Maintenance and Operations to discuss leaves. Tim, with fall being here, what advice do you have about leaf removal?

Thanks Chris. This is typically the time of year we start to see the leaves drop and it's pretty simple. Property owners are responsible for the removal of leaves on their property and we ask them to do this in a timely manner to help from flooding or clogging drains during a rainstorm. This is good to know. What other advice do you have for the viewers? So it is unlawful for homeowners or property owners to rake or blow leaves out into the street. So we ask them to please place them in their garbage cans or in a bag with the excess waste sticker for garbage pickup on their days. And if they could help out our street sweepers by trimming their trees and removing parked cars and garbage cans would be very helpful.

Outstanding information. Thank you, Tim. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with the Reno Minutes. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we're excited to spotlight the city's new Rolling Recreation Center, a mobile recreation center designed to bring fun and activities to communities across the city. Here's Kayla Snow to tell us more.

Thanks, Chris. Our Rolling Recreation Center is all about making accessible recreation for everyone in our community. Our mobile recreation center travels to various parks following the schedule of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Kids Cafe summer meals program. This means that not only do kids get free recreational activities, but also a free meal. Our program offers a wide range of activities for people of all ages, including sports, games, arts and crafts, and so much more.

The Rolling Recreation Center is free and open to the public.

We welcome everyone of all ages to come out, have fun, and enjoy our city parks.

Thank you, Kayla. Visit Reno.gov forward slash Parks and Rec to find out when the Rolling Recreation trailer rolls through a park near you. So now you know with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello and welcome to the Reno Minutes. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with the Reno Police Department to discuss the SAVE volunteer program. Evan, what is SAVE?

Thanks, Chris. SAVE is an acronym that stands for Senior Auxiliary Volunteer Effort. It's a wonderful organization that comprises of seniors and they help the police department with additional resources. and through their patrols, they help with crime prevention and observations. Outstanding. Also, if someone wants to volunteer, how do they get involved? Basically, anyone in SAVE is 50 years of age or older. We ask that they volunteer 16 hours a month, and they can, if you're interested, either call, email, or visit the website for Reno PD.

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Evan. And don't forget to follow RPD and the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. Hello, and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Public Works to discuss street rehabilitation and maintenance.

Jonathan, what can you tell us about this program? Thanks, Chris. Our Public Works departments were working really hard to improve our neighborhood streets in our community. For instance, we're just finishing up a rehab project in Midtown where we included the replacement of our roadways, streets, sewer, and even had alleyway improvements. This is good to know, but how are these neighborhoods chosen? Sure Chris, good question. The City inspects all our local roadways and calculates a pavement condition index, or a PCI score. The streets with the lowest PCI scores are grouped and ranked based on factors such as utility placement or proximity to essential services. If you'd like more information, please visit our website at reno.gov forward slash capital projects.

Thanks so much Jonathan, and don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute.

Do you know how to survive a fire in your home? I'm John, this is Katie at the Reno Fire Department, and today we want to share some important information with you.

To survive, you need to know the basics of fire behavior. A fire needs three things to exist. Fuel, heat, and oxygen.

The best way to do this is to keep the fuel side of the triangle away from the heat side. The easiest way to survive a fire is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Today we'll show you some ways to prevent fires from happening, and if they do start, how to evacuate safely.

Cooking is the main cause of home fires and fire injuries, and you can prevent them. Here's how. First, stand by your pan. If you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off. Then, watch what you are cooking. Fires start when the heat is too high. If you see any smoke or the grease start to boil, turn the burner off. Another thing to keep in mind is to turn pot handles toward the back of the stove. Then no one can bump them or pull them. Finally, keep combustibles away from the burners. Believe it or not, dogs have turned on burners accidentally while trying to get food stored on top of ranges.

In our modern world, lithium ion batteries are everywhere. These types of batteries can be dangerous. So here's some things to keep in mind. Stop using them if you notice an odor, a change in color, too much heat, change in shape, leaking, or odd noises. Charge and store spare lithium ion batteries away from anything that can burn. Don't put lithium ion batteries in direct sunlight or keep them in hot cars. This is a fire risk.

Here are some other things around the house to remember. Keep anything that can burn at least three feet from the furnace, oil burner, wood stoves, water heaters, and other heat generating equipment. When it comes to cooking appliances, space heaters, washers and dryers, they should be plugged directly into all outlets. Clean lint filters every time you use the dryer and never leave a burning candle alone.

Looking at the triangle again, the third component is oxygen. Fire needs oxygen to survive. Percussion of fire can be slowed by compartmentalizing your home. The easiest way to do this is to keep room doors and windows closed. The garage typically houses many potential ignition sources and heavy fuel loads, so make sure the man door between the garage and living space is a solid core door with a fire rating of no less than 20 minutes. Any alterations to this door, including pet door installs, will allow a fire that starts in the garage to quickly progress into the living space. Many home fires can start outside and spread into your home, so don't store garbage or combustibles under windows or next to doors. Remove vegetation that is against your exterior walls, especially if it is dead and dying. Juniper brush may look green on the outside, but under the green hides dead needles that can easily ignite.

Even with our best intentions, accidents can occur. Always be prepared to escape. On average, you only have about two minutes to escape a fire once a smoke alarm sounds. Working smoke alarms are critical. Install and maintain them in every sleeping room and every floor. Test the battery monthly and replace it if over 10 years old. Know two ways out of every room and make a meeting space. If you have children in the house, take time to draw a plan and explain it to them in a way that makes sense to them. The biggest takeaway is to make a plan and practice it.

One common mistake we see after fires is that residents will open doors and windows, thinking this will let the heat and smoke out of the house. Remember, fire seeks oxygen. Adding air to fire only makes it bigger and spread to those openings. When exiting, close the doors and windows behind you.

For more information on fire survival, please visit our website at Reno.gov slash fire. Thank you. Be safe. Hi boys and girls, my name is John, Fire Marshal for the City of Reno. Did you know a fire occurs in a house every 65 seconds in our country? That's like, every minute. Sadly, this also means many people get hurt. Your ability to get out of your home during the fire depends on early warning from fire and knowing how to escape if a fire happens. Fires can happen anywhere. The question is, are you prepared? Our Xtreme Team is going to help you make a home escape plan. When you are done with that home escape plan, teach it to your family and other members in your household so they can escape fire as well. If you do that, you can be part of the Reno Fire Department Xtreme Team. This is Boston, our fire dog. He's going to introduce you to our fire extreme team.

Thanks, John. Meet the extreme team. Together, we're making a fire escape plan. This is Sean. He takes care of me every day, and he'll talk about fire alarms. Shelly's here, too. Shelly will teach us how to get out and stay out. This is Katie. She'll talk about finding a safe meeting place. And finally, Talena is really excited to talk about why we need to practice our plan.

The first part of a home escape plan is a working smoke alarm. Fire produces smoke. Smoke and hot gases move upward towards the ceiling. As a fire gets bigger, the smoke and hot gases move downward towards the floor and superheat the room until everything in the room catches fire. That's why smoke alarms are so important. They detect fire and warn you before the fire gets too big and you can't escape. Because smoke goes up, smoke alarms should be installed on the ceiling or high point of the wall. They should be in every sleeping room, hallway outside the sleeping room, and every floor. Smoke alarms should be tested every month to make sure they work. Have your parents or older brother and sister help you with this as you may need a ladder. To test the smoke alarm, push and hold the test button for three seconds. It should make a loud beeping noise. If it does not make a loud beeping noise, then have your mom or dad replace the battery or install a new alarm. Thanks, Sean.

Smoke alarms can be loud and scary, especially if it goes off when you're sleeping and dreaming of chasing rabbits. If I hear an alarm, I will wake up immediately and run outside. But I have four legs and I'm low to the ground. You are human, so you need to be more careful when getting outside. Right, Shelly?

That's right, Boston. Remember, fire produces heat and smoke that travels up. Have you ever tried to breathe in smoke? Smoke can hurt your lungs, especially if it's superheated. If you smell or see smoke, you want to stay under the smoke. If you are in bed, when the smoke alarm activates, don't stand up. Roll out of bed onto your hands and knees. Stay low and go. Always know two ways out of any room. For most people, the first way out is the door they came into the room. That should be your first way out. Remember to stay low. crawl to the door and feel the door for heat before opening it. The best way to do this is to feel the doorknob and face of the door with the backside of your hand. If it is cool, then open the door slightly and look for smoke. If you do not see smoke, go outside to your safe meeting place. If you do see smoke, close the door and go to your second way out. Usually, the second way out is the window. Don't break the window. Broken glass can cut you. Practice opening the window in your room when you get home. If you have a screen, practice popping out the screen with your parents. It's usually pretty easy. If you live on an upper floor, talk to your mom or dad about getting a fire escape ladder and learn how to use it.

Thanks, Shelly. So if you hear an alarm, don't hide. Get outside. If there is smoke, stay low and go. But once you're outside, where do you go?

That is a great question, Boston. Everyone in your household needs to know where to go. So when firefighters arrive, they know who is safe and who needs to be rescued. A meeting place should be a safe distance from the building. A tree, mailbox, or even a neighbor's house is a good safe meeting place because they don't move. A PAR, garbage can, or traffic cone is not because they may not be there when the fire actually happens. Once you're out, call 911 if you have a phone. Now let's go back inside and answer some questions.

Thanks, Katie. My first question is, should a person go back inside a burning house to rescue somebody else?

Once you are out, stay out. Never go back in for anyone or anything. Once firefighters arrive, they are trained and have the tools to rescue anyone still in the building.

What if I live on the third floor and I cannot get out?

That is a great question. If you're stuck in your room and cannot get out, make sure your room door is closed. Hang a towel or sheet outside your window. This acts as a signal to the firefighters outside that someone is still in the building. We will come get you. When firefighters enter the home, they will be dressed in turnouts and be wearing a mask, helmet, and a tank. This can make them look very scary. The mask they will wear will make a noise like Darth Vader. Remember, they are here to rescue you. Fire can make a lot of noise, so you need to say loud words over the noise to help firefighters find you. Help is always a good choice.

Now that's a lot of good information, but now what?

Well, Boston, now we draw and practice our plan. Pretend you are a superhero flying over your house. From this view, draw a map of your home. Include the rooms and all windows and doors. Now identify which rooms are used for sleeping and draw a green arrow showing your first way out and a red arrow showing your second way out. Draw your safe meeting place and circle it with both colors. Now the important part, practice. Sit down with all the family in your household. Identify where all the smoke alarms are and test them. Practice rolling out of bed and crawling to the door and then the window. Practice escaping from your door and out your window and meeting at your safe meeting place.

That's great. So to make a great escape plan, start with a working smoke alarm, have at least two ways out of every room, and meet at your safe meeting place.

That's right, Boston. Now you have the knowledge to join our team. Let's get to work.

Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. It's back to school time and we're here with Officer Johnson from the Reno Police Department to discuss some great reminders on how to keep our students safe.

Hey, thanks, Chris. Here at the Reno Police Department, we want to ensure a safe school year for every child in our community, and so we have some important tips and reminders for drivers. Slow down in school zones. Always adhere to posted speed limits. Stop for school buses. It's illegal to pass a school bus that is stopped to unload or load children. Yield to pedestrians, especially in school zones and residential areas. Avoid distractions, such as using your phone while driving. The Reno Police Department will be increasing enforcement in and around schools this summer and fall to help keep all of our students and pedestrians safe.

Thank you, Officer Johnson. And don't forget to follow City of Reno and RPD on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, we're with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we're excited to spotlight the city's new Rolling Recreation Center, a mobile recreation center designed to bring fun and activities to communities across the city. Here's Kayla Snow to tell us more.

Thanks, Chris. Our Rolling Recreation Center is all about making accessible recreation for everyone in our community. Our mobile recreation center travels to various parks following the schedule of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Kids Cafe Summer Meals Program. This means that not only do kids get free recreational activities, but also a free meal.

our program offers a wide range of activities for people of all ages including sports games arts and crafts and so much more the rolling recreation center is free and open to the public we welcome everyone of all ages to come out have fun and enjoy our city parks thank you kayla visit reno.gov forward slash parks and rec to find out when the rolling recreation trailer rolls through a park near you so now you know with reno thank you for watching the reno minute hello i'm chris payne and it's time for the reno minute If you're looking for a career in a fast-paced environment, perhaps becoming a Reno police officer could be for you. Let's go inside and speak with Officer Hunter Mercurio and find out more.

Thanks, Chris. The Reno Police Department is on a continuous hiring basis. If you're interested in finding a career in law enforcement and finding a job with purpose, come join us today. Also, being a Reno police officer in Reno makes my city not just livable, but lovable. Every day looks completely different, and you're normally going to somebody's worst day, but you get to be that opportunity to make a change in their life and hopefully better their day. If you're interested in becoming a police officer, go to the City of Reno jobs page and apply for the police officer recruit position. If you have any questions about becoming a police officer or want to come do a ride along with us, you can reach me at recruiter at reno.gov or you can reach me at my phone number 775-437-0043. Thanks.

Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we turn our attention to motorcycle safety, a crucial topic for our roads. Joining us is Officer Chris Johnson from the Reno Police Department.

Thanks, Chris. One concerning trend that we're observing is an increase in speed-related incidents involving motorcycles. Another issue we're facing is lane splitting, which is illegal in Nevada, but unfortunately still occurs frequently. Speeding reduces the rider's ability to react to unexpected situations. increasing the likelihood of accidents and the severity of injuries. Lane splitting, besides being against the law here, is dangerous because it puts motorcyclists in a close proximity to other vehicles, increasing the risk of a collision. We also urge vehicle drivers to be aware of their surroundings, including motorcycles. Check your mirrors and blind spots often, especially before changing lanes or making turns. And remember, always give motorcyclists plenty of space on the road.

Thank you, Officer Johnson, for sharing these important insights. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. We're here today with Reno Fire Inspector Talena Skye to discuss Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, and how you can protect your home from wildfires.

Thanks, Chris. The Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, is the area where urban development meets wildland.

These areas are at increased risk of wildfires.

The City of Reno has implemented several initiatives to help residents mitigate wildfire risks, such as creating a community wildfire protection plan, which outlines strategies for reducing wildfire hazards, fuel mitigation projects, such as GOATS and Rosewood Canyon, and residents can also participate in our dumpster program, where they can dispose of green waste to enhance their defensible space. Residents should keep their home in the first five feet, non-combustible, and ember resistant.

Thank you, Talena. For more information from the Reno Fire Department, visit reno.gov slash fire. And follow RFD on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute.

I'm Jamie Peek with the City of Reno. I'm a housing and neighborhood development and I'm a housing coordinator. And I met Michael with the clean and safe team. They were really instrumental in getting Michael into kind of like in contact with us. But we've helped him with some rental and deposit assistance and some private funding for a motel stay while we're trying to figure out his next moves.

My name is Michael Dean St. Clair. I'm a Reno resident here in Reno, Nevada. I'm sharing my story about how outreach helped me and my family out over the last year. My wife passed away about a month ago, so it's hard. This is my wife and my three kids, Michael, Tish, and Reba. My kids, they're my life. And I guess it was them that kind of made me realize that I needed to get out of this one situation about living in the RV and getting a place of our own. Well, we were staying with some friends. And then the landlord found out that we were staying there. Got my RV out of storage. We, me and my family, we stayed in it for about three years, I believe. Three, maybe four. And living in the RV, it was rough. You know, five people in a small area. And then my RV broke down. They put a sticker on it for it to be towed. And one morning I woke up and the tow truck was there and said that we had, they're gonna tow my vehicle. They wanted to give me a chance to move it. They notified These people from the state, they helped me get into, put me and my family in a motel until they found this apartment. It's good to have family and friends and people like Outreach to help out. I'm glad there's people like them out there to help. Just don't give up.

there's people out there that can help and if they offer to help take the help rise well especially the outreach is mostly compiled of lived experience outreach specialists like myself i was in a tent three years ago so we understand what it's like to have that desperation and we just try to meet people where they're at

I just got tired of living the way we were living. I mean, we only had my wife's check and my daughter's check and we're trying to find a place, but you know, it's hard trying to find a place when everybody kind of looks down on you, you know. I appreciate the outreaches, you know, and my goal is to just stay here, provide for my I made a promise to my wife that I'd make sure the kids always had a roof over their heads, so that's my goal.

Well, Outreach would like to do anything we could to assist you in doing so.

Yes, and like I said, I appreciate all your guys' help. It's all good, brother. Yeah.

I'm glad we could help.

And I appreciate it.

Oh, yeah.

I used to come for the staycation. I used to come here and enjoy the hotels and go down to the river. And I was familiar with the Automobile Museum, but I never in a million years thought I'd be working here. My name is Philip McDougall. I'm the president of the National Automobile Museum. The history of the National Automobile Museum goes way, way back. So most people know the name Harrah from the casinos, but they don't know the story behind it. Mr. Harrah, he had a collection of 1,400 of the most unbelievable cars. And when he passed, he didn't have a will. The community got together and they said, you can't sell all these things. This is part of our community. It's part of our identity. We need to keep them here. They raised money to build the museum. The city said, we're going to contribute the land if you get the money to build it. And then the Holiday Inn, who purchased all the assets of Mr. Harris' collection, said if you do all that, then we're going to throw in 175 cars of the total collection of 1,400. So all those things came together because the community thought it was important. And in 1989, the museum was opened up. We want to be a community partner and we are great. We have events, we have older cars, newer cars, Elvis's car, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future. We have a brand new children's educational activity center, 3,000 square feet of technology for those kids and adults to get hands-on experience on how cars work, how next generation of technology was created. We wanted to be different. We wanted to embrace the community, be a community partner. We did a complete renovation, and then we went out with an active campaign, not in that car mode, not museum mode, but outdoor concerts, speaker series, parties, birthdays, and a whole new selection of cars. I think the biggest change is that we have a new exhibit every 60 days. It really is fun to watch how a family can come in and they'll just go in five different directions because we have something for every generation. It's not just the building, it's not just the cars that are in there, it's the people, it's the livelihoods of everybody that's around this town that keeps us going. The downtown partnership has been a lifesaver for us. Just helping us overall in the day-to-day challenges we have, like any business downtown. We can't make it without the security issues addressed, without the communication addressed, and it's all one big team down here. So the restaurants help us, the businesses help us, everyone here, we all kind of depend on each other, and that's what we're trying to bring to the equation is another partner who can help us all be a little bit stronger and a bigger community partner. I see a greater emphasis from the Downtown Partnership, from the elected officials, than the community leaders to get together and say, we really want to succeed, we have to succeed as a group. No silos. The restaurants, the businesses, the gas stations, everybody that's here has to get a common bond, otherwise we're not going to succeed. It's a storytelling, it's a camaraderie, and we had that not only with us in the museum, but all the local businesses downtown here. We have the same common bond and passion. Downtown Reno is the place to be. It's a family place, it has something for everybody. Come to the museum, go to a local restaurant, you're gonna feel safe, you're gonna have fun, and you're gonna be 15 minutes away from wherever you live.

My name is Robert Downs. I'm a field specialist with RISE and this experience with Bonnie Pace and the Pathway Pilot has been awesome and tremendous and I'll never forget it.

I don't know what you're saying.

This is the name of the story, the story of you.

Thank you.

What home means Nevada to me is just that. It's always a place that I find comfort and solace. We travel a lot, we camp a lot, and I just love coming home. Home means Nevada for so many reasons. My name is Scott Dunseith, and I'm the owner of the Home Means Nevada Company, which was formerly Reno Envy. I grew up in the Bay Area and I went to school at UNR. And my thought was that I would spend two years in Reno and then I would go back home. But after the two years, I just fell in love with the place. I love the people, the community. It's just been awesome. I was talking to a friend, I was giving him my address, and so I told him Scott Dunstheath, da-da-da-da, Reno Envy, 89523. And he's like, Reno Envy? I'm like, Reno Envy? So it was kind of at that moment, that was our aha moment, where I realized that the state abbreviation for Nevada, Envy, sounded like the word envy. So that's where it all started from. What's great about the downtown Reno community is that, you know, People believe in Reno. You know, we have something here. People really love this community as much as I do. And people really resonated with the idea of having like a local brand. Downtown Reno honestly has been a challenge, but we're a small business and we've been down here since 2008. And honestly, if we can do it, you know, there's a lot of opportunity out there. And we kind of wanted to prove to people that retail works. In 2012, rebranded ourselves and we went from Reno Envy and renamed our brand the Home Meets Nevada Company. kind of trying to support the local artists in the community by bringing their products in and selling them on their behalf. We have all sorts of great stuff. We have coffee from Glory Cloud. We have local honey. It's important for us to collaborate too with local celebrities. Krista Palmer is an Olympic athlete and we have the opportunity to partner with her and create her own authentic Krista Palmer Battle Born t-shirt.

My name is Krista Palmer, Nevada's Olympic diver. This is a really special company to me because my roots are in Nevada. I grew up down in Carson City. I truly feel this connection between Home Means Nevada and my story. This has been a really cool partnership that I've been able to develop over the years with Scott. The projection of Reno downtown, I really see it opening up more doors for people to continue to get outside, continue to take their dogs for a walk and enjoy the Reno River walk, to be able to have space to enjoy those lovely afternoons. I think that's where I kind of see the progression of Reno going and for more people to enjoy what Reno is. It's truly a treasure here.

People believe in Reno and we believe in Reno. There's so much opportunity and so many different types of people in downtown Reno. And the city of Reno has been great with this partnership with the Visitor Center, the RSCVA has been great. The collaborations that we do with the community, with the university, with Krista Palmer, Olympic athlete, it really is about a community that kind of binds us together. If we didn't have that support, we wouldn't be able to survive in downtown Reno. I have always felt like Reno's been kind of our little secret, and we love to share that secret.

We love to see Reno grow and prosper.

Great for shopping for friends. Great for gift giving. Come on down. Visit us. Check it out. It's been a while.

Come visit downtown Reno and see what you're missing.

Do you want to make a difference in your neighborhood? The City of Reno's six Neighborhood Advisory Boards are your chance to shape the future of your community. From parks and public safety to development projects, your voice matters. Joining a NAB is easy, and it's a great way to connect with neighbors and city leaders while making Reno an even better place to live. Applications are open now. Visit Reno.gov forward slash NAB to learn more and apply. Get involved and help make Reno not just livable, but lovable.

Hi, I'm Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran. It's an honor to connect with you as we look back on 2024. A year of innovation, strong work, and unwavering dedication to protecting our communities. The Reno Fire Department reached incredible milestones, overcame challenges, and made a real impact on the biggest little city. Let's look back at 2024 and the achievements and highlights of the Reno Fire Department.

2024's wildland season tested our region with incidents like the Gold Ranch Davis and Callahan fires, straining resources from across the West. Although these fires happened just outside Reno City limits, our firefighters stepped up to assist while ensuring our Reno community remained well protected. In 2024, RFD deployed 264 resources to more than 100 wildland fires, contributing over 65,000 hours of work. These efforts brought nearly $2 million in reimbursements back to the department. Right here at home, we responded to 51,737 calls for service. an increase of over 2,000 from the previous year. Our commitment to service continues to grow along with our community.

The Safety and Training Division saw impressive growth in 2024, paving the way for a stronger, more skilled team. We proudly promoted 11 captains and eight operators, hired 25 new firefighters, and welcomed five single-role EMS personnel. This year, we ran two three-week fire equipment operator engine academies, one two-week fire equipment operator truck academy, and a two-week acting captain's academy. These intensive programs help sharpen our skills and prepare our teams for any situation. We also expanded our monthly company-level training sessions, introducing specialized active shooter training and wide area search exercises. And through partnerships with surrounding fire departments, we enhanced our response capabilities for wildland fires and hazmat operations. Additionally, we upgraded the training facilities at Station 11 with new technology to improve the delivery of our programs, ensuring our team is always ready to meet the demands of our city.

The Reno Fire Prevention Bureau experienced significant strides this year in 2024, starting with the appointment of a new fire marshal, three fire captains, and three new fire inspectors. Our team saw great success in our arson investigations, achieving an impressive 80% conviction rate and completed over 6,000 building inspections to help keep Reno safe. For the fourth consecutive year, we hosted our dumpster program thanks to a grant from State Farm. This program helps neighborhoods in the wildland urban interface clear dry vegetation and debris, creating defensible space. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped reduce wildfire risk in our community. In 2024, We are also thrilled to receive nearly $245,000 from FEMA's Fire Prevention and Safety Grant to develop a community wildfire protection plan. This comprehensive framework will prioritize wildfire mitigation efforts, improve emergency preparedness, and ensure long-term safety for Reno's residents and infrastructure. Keep an eye out in the coming months for ways to get involved. We're excited to collaborate with you.

In 2024, we work closely with our community partners to update the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan assesses the potential impact of all prioritized hazards to the region and provides mitigation strategies and actions to reduce such risk. The update ensures the plan remains effective in addressing the evolving needs of our community. We also prioritized firefighter health with initiatives like our fourth annual cancer screenings and the introduction of the coronary calcium scan. These proactive prevention programs are vital in detecting early markers of heart disease and cancer, critical steps for firefighters facing heightened risks associated with their profession. Additionally, We launched a groundbreaking pilot program with the Epic Brain Center, exploring enhanced mind-body performance treatments. This innovative approach supports firefighters dealing with PTSD and other mental health challenges, while empowering them with improved executive function to perform at their best.

2024 was a landmark year for the Reno Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Division with 30,649 calls for service. Collaboration played a key role in 2024 as we joined forces with regional partners to strengthen our unified response to medical emergencies.

We were excited to welcome our new EMS management assistant and expand our specialized training for our single-role program. Ensuring our EMS team is always prepared to meet our community's high demand for advanced emergency medical services. We conducted division-level training on new medical equipment, including cutting-edge video laryngoscope blades that are vital in life-saving situations and new medications that can be used to treat various patient presentations by our mid and advanced level providers. We also implemented a new medical charting platform, further enhancing patient care.

Reno Fire Department's Support Services Division achieved significant milestones in 2024. enhanced vehicle maintenance and repair, increased apparatus safety, and equipment modernization. Through our apparatus replacement program, we added two new brush trucks designed for firefighting and rugged terrain, and a state-of-the-art ambulance, ensuring our fleet meets the diverse needs of our community. We also enhanced operations by refining the use of fleet cameras throughout our vehicles. These systems capture critical moments during incidents, training, and daily operations, providing insights that improve safety and support crew education. Our logistics team continues to push innovation forward, adopting advanced battery-powered tools on our fire engines and ladder trucks. and improve personal protective equipment. These enhancements extend equipment lifespan, improve functionality, and prioritize firefighter safety. Looking ahead, we're excited to introduce a new heavy rescue apparatus in 2025, the first of its kind for our department since 1986. As an all-risk fire department supporting many different types of incidents, this addition ensures our crews are ready to respond to any emergency, no matter the challenge.

As we reflect on 2024, the Reno Fire Department has much to celebrate. from our interlocal agreement with the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority, enabling us to assume firefighting services across all airport properties, and our partnership with Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, which now provides automatic aid to ensure the closest resource responds to emergencies, no matter the jurisdiction. We're building the foundation for continued growth and excellence. I'm pleased to share that we also received the keys to 455 East Saga Street, our future central fire station. We're excited to begin serving you from this state of the art facility in 2027. At RFD, we believe that being part of the community is just as important as responding to emergencies. Whether it's hosting fire safety programs, participating in local events, or building relationships with residents, we strive to be more than the first responders. We're your neighbors, partners, and advocates for a safer region. None of our work would be possible without the dedication of our team and wavering support of our Reno City Council, state and federal representatives. Their commitment ensures RFD is always ready to serve and protect our community. On behalf of the Reno Fire Department, thank you for your trust and support. Together we accomplished so much in 2024 and we look forward to an even brighter and safer year ahead. Thank you for standing with us.

Hello and welcome to On the Agenda, a semi-monthly podcast by the City of Reno that quickly updates you on actions taken at the most recent council meeting and checks in with various departments to keep you up to date with happenings at City Hall. I'm AJ from the City of Reno's Communications Department alongside Reno City Manager Jackie Bryants. Hello, Reno City Manager Jackie Bryants.

Hello, AJ. I can't believe it's been two weeks since we were last together.

Two weeks already. It was a long night, but...

Grab a slice, hitch a ride, get a rush, and roll the dice. Step into a world where Nevada's northern lights shine bright. And last calls are rare in a city that never sleeps, where the spirit of the Wild West lives on through daring rapids, and rocking out goes beyond the crowds. Founded on the rebels of resilience, we aren't what you expected. We're what's coming. We don't just embrace downtown, we embrace you. fuse it with life. We are a convergence of adventure, art, and taste. It's not just our city, it's our identity. The mighty Truckee, our lifeline, and the Nevada sky as our backdrop, downtown Reno is a tribute to our roots and a leap into the future. Discover 110 blocks of stories of residents, entrepreneurs, creators, and masters of their craft coming together in the spirit of discovery and progress. In a city that never ceases to reinvent itself, we are the unexpected. Been a while? Downtown Reno invites you to rise with us again. What's your story?

Grab a slice, hitch a ride, get a rush, and roll the dice. Step into a world where Nevada's northern lights shine bright, and last calls are rare in the city that never sleeps. Where the spirit of the Wild West lives on through daring rapids, and rocking out goes beyond the crowds. We're the unexpected in a city that never ceases to reinvent itself. Been a while? Downtown Reno invites you to rise with us again. What's your...

You know how speeders got categories? Categories? Different types, different cars. Wannabe race car drivers with zero talent and all the insurance claims. Go on. Yeah, so you got the, I didn't realize I was going 95 type. Like the car magically went 45 over just on its own.

Oh. officer i thought i was going 45. nobody you thought about going 45. well then you got the uh i'm late for work guys like going 25 over is going to make up for the 30 minutes they spent laying in bed watching tick tocks ain't nothing like risking a reckless driving charge to get to a job that you already hate we can't forget the i was just keeping up with traffic folks Oh, if everybody jumped off the bridge defense.

Just because everybody else is breaking the law doesn't mean that you get a free pass.

Nah, but it does mean we all get to sit on the side of the road together while we trade life stories and I write this ticket at lightning speed. There's one.

Yeah, we got a black Volkswagen headed your way, guys. Got him. In all seriousness, Reno, we need to slow down when driving on our roads. Speed and impairment are the two biggest factors in fatality crashes. That is why the Reno Police Department will be conducting proactive speeding enforcement on McCarran and around the city. Slow down, Reno.

Nevada? I'm not from Nevada, and I'm pretty sure the speed limit signs all look the same everywhere.