City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Are we ready to begin?

Yep.

Wonderful. We have a quorum. Welcome to the June 23rd Regular City Council Meeting. Can we get a roll call, please?

Council Member Maloney? Present. Council Member Mendoza? Here. Vice Mayor Pearson? Present. Council Member Orlemans? Here. Mayor Meyer?

Here, and I am participating remotely from the teleconference location identified on the agenda. The agenda is posted at this location and the location is accessible to the public. And please join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands 1 nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Moving into public comments, the public comment time for tonight's items will be 3 minutes each to ensure that all speakers feel welcome to share their views. Members of the audience are kindly requested to refrain from applauding or speaking to the council from the audience without being called upon 1st. in addition in order to maintain decorum and ensure that no 1 site is obstructed. Public commenters are reminded to not approach the dais.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on items that are not on the agenda, items that are listed under informational reports or on the consent calendar, requests for future agenda items, new requests, comments for this meeting, detailed agenda items or business items should be made when those items are called. Please limit your remarks to three minutes. The microphone will be muted when the timer expires. We did receive two written public comments in advance of tonight's meeting, which is summarized on the screen. First speaker I have tonight is Myra.

good evening major and city council members my name is mayra cortez and i'm here tonight on behalf of my families regarding the denial of a request for out of agency service that was discussed at the june 9 meeting we understand our request was denied because of property outside this outside the city limits we do not pay city of Brentwood, Texas. We respect that, but we hope you will consider the hardship our family has been facing for the past 10 months. Even though we live outside the city boundaries, Brentwood is our community. Our children go to school here, we work here, we shop here, we eat at local restaurants and support local business. This is the community we love and where we spend our daily lives. Our septic system fell about 10 months ago. And since then, we have been relying on a temporary holding tank that has been pumped every two weeks. We do everything we can to conserve the water so it doesn't fill up very quick. But this is not a practical long-term solution. The cost of pumping the tank every two weeks has become a significant financial burden to our family, and after 10 months, it continues to take a toll on us. More important, we are concerned about protecting our property, our environment, and our family's health. We rely on a private well for drinking water, cooking, and everyday use. We want to make sure we don't face future problems that could affect our soil or contaminate the groundwater our family depends on every day. We're not asking for a special treatment. We're simply asking if there is a way to work together and find a safe long-term solution. We respectfully ask you to consider our request and help us find a path forward. We love Brentwood and want to continue being a positive part of this community. We appreciate your time, your service, and your consideration. Thank you.

The next speaker is Rudy.

My name's Rudy Ramirez. My wife died in police custody September 26th for a broken coffee cup. Some of you probably have not heard about this, but it's affected my family very deeply. And it's been an insult to us that the officer who was involved, officers who were involved in the death of my wife continue to be working. They say that we were told that they're allowed to keep working because it's an ongoing investigation, yet they had determined already that she had died of natural causes. The video didn't show that. 72 years old. I'm sure some of you have elderly relatives and my wife had never ever been in trouble with the police. This was her first and only encounter with police and she ended up dying. They cracked the base of her skull. It took her about 40 minutes to die. Well, she went into a coma, but she pretty much was gone at that time. What would have been fair is if this acting police chief would have taken the police officers off of duty until this was terminated. and to see if they were responsible or not, rather than to keep letting them work. Something happened to Officer Peachman that caused him to snap, to lose control, to end up handcuffing my wife, pushing her around over a broken coffee cup, They said she tried to flee. She's been in Brentwood all her life, 72 years. Where was she going to run to? You could have given her a 45-minute head start and caught her at the end of the street. You had several officers there sitting in their cars. There was no danger to anybody there. Yet they roughed up my wife. She ended up filling her skull with blood and pretty much that was it. She went into a coma. She died a week later. She's always been a good woman. She always donated blood. On her license, she was designated as an organ donor. She was good. She shouldn't have died over a broken coffee cup.

The next speaker is Paul.

My name is Paul Ramirez. I'm Rudy's brother.

I'd like to start by giving my honor to all of the veterans who are here tonight. Makes me feel very, very proud to see you. My dad was a World War II combat veteran, decorated. He fought in the Burma-China campaigns, Special Forces back then, the Mars Task Force. So thank you for your service and sacrifice. On May 18th, I think you had your State of the Union or State of your City of how proud you guys are of everything you're doing. One of your City Council members reported on the police. I want to start by saying that if you don't know what the California Brady List is, if there's any media here, please look that up. My understanding is that currently there are three Brentwood police officers that are on the California Brady list. California Brady list is that you did something wrong. Two of those officers are Aaron Peachman, who was found after the second autopsy that the cause of death was homicide. The second officer on that is Danielle, who was also with Aaron Peachman that day. But also the Brentwood Police Department is also on the Brady list. You know why? Because you're out of compliance. You have two police officers on the city council. I'm kind of wondering, is that why no action was taken that you cover for each other? And because you have done nothing to help our family seek justice. We did it on our own. The DA is right now currently, there's a criminal investigation impeachment from the DA's office. There's a coronary inquest that's gonna take July, that's gonna happen on July 15th. We had no help from you, not one individual, not one. Not one. So you got two officers that are on the California Brady list. You have the police department that's on the Brady list. And the last person, the last officer I didn't mention that's on the California Brady list is your interim chief of police. And I don't think you guys know that. That's how your head is so deep in the sand. And that's why the mess is happening with the city of Brentwood. But we will continue to fight for justice, not only for Yolanda at our meetings, but for anybody else who has to encounter the Redwood Police Department.

The next speaker is Ali.

Hi, I was meant to speak for a specific item. I apologize. Yes.

Next speaker is Danny.

And if you want to be a part of this business community, then you need to conform to the standards of this business community. we're not going to just welcome you in because we don't have enough businesses. We've got people waiting to come in. So, you know, thank you, but we're fine.

I'm sure you all know who that is. And maybe you know what it's about, and that is the Emporium. Now, his comment under the rules of decorum were violated. He was speaking to the audience. He wasn't speaking to the applicant because I was right there. I watched the applicant. I watched him sit down. I came up and gave my open comments. Others did too. So during that point, it's discussion amongst the five of them. He chose to speak to either an audience member or the audience at large. That is a violation of decorum. Or please, Thomas, tell me if I'm wrong. I went to an RBL concert last year. Now, for those of you who may not know that group, they are a hardcore hip hop band out of San Francisco. They have songs like, don't give me no bad bammer. The reason I bring this up is that they played at the Emporium. There were two families with kids no older than 10 that were there in attendance. Why? Because they have, they, the Emporium, have A restaurant that because it serves food and just beer and wine kids can go they cannot be turned away. So i'm still trying to figure out which part of family friendly that falls under now, maybe some of you don't care. Maybe it's, you know, the parents. And I'll say, I agree. They saved on babysitter money that night. This is why I am doing everything I can to get Vinny to appeal so that you guys will have to explain why we've already set a precedent with a tattoo parlor. So changing downtown zoning does not seem to be an issue with you guys. SO I'M GOING TO BEG HIM TO APPEAL SO THAT YOU GUYS CAN EXPLAIN WHY IT IS IT'S OKAY FOR A 10-YEAR-OLD TO GO TO AN RBL POSSE CONCERT.

THE LAST SPEAKER I HAVE IS PASTOR GEORGE.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the city council and city staff. My name is Pastor George Wardlaw III, Senior Pastor of Four Faiths City Church here in Brentwood. First, thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm here to invite the city of Brentwood to participate and support our second annual community health fair taking place on Saturday, September the 19th. 2026 at 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Brentwood Community Center. Our goal is simple, to connect residents with resources that support their physical, mental, and financial well-being. and we'll be bringing together health care providers, community organizations, nonprofits, local businesses to serve families throughout our city. We believe organizations, businesses, faith communities, and city leaders work together, we can create a stronger and healthier Brentwood for everyone. So this is not an event about promoting a church. It's about serving our community. We believe that if we have the honor to serve the community and represent the community through this type of participation and attendance, it will help spread awareness through the community. So on behalf of Fort Faith City Church and our community partners, I would like to personally invite each and every last one of you to join us on September the 19th. Thank you for your time and thank you for your service to our city. And thank you for considering being a part of this important event to us. God bless you and have a wonderful evening. I have flyers. If you want one, just let me know. Thank you.

If you could please hand them to the city clerk. Thank you.

I have no additional speaker cards.

Amanda, do we need to take online speakers, too, since I'm remote?

Since we're following the traditional Brown Act rules, we would not take public comments on Zoom. However, I don't believe I have any hands raised. We do have one. It would be at your discretion.

I know that I misunderstood. I thought that was something we had to do every time somebody was remote. But since we have someone raising their hand, I think we should go ahead and allow that for public comments.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Senziana, go ahead.

Hi, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I have three quick items. I would like, I really wanted to be in person in the chambers. So unfortunately I'm back home just three minutes ago. I got home after two hour commute on BART. So I appreciate the opportunity to speak for public comment. for general public comment i want to know um the status on lone oak road report as far as um traffic calming measures implementation uh we were promised by uh Mirha Vlahovljak- of whomever feels the seat for city manager that sometime in February or that in 90 days oh i'm sorry and about four bypass nisha Pearson our district representative that in 90 days from that meeting date. Now we're counting 124 days that we will get a report what's going to happen to our street in respect to that traffic calming measures implementation report. and we're still waiting, okay? It's 120 something days plus, we're still waiting. But we're seeing a lot of money being spent on some stupid signs around the lower speed limit around the city. lots of money tax money being spent for nothing nobody's gonna observe those traffic signs look at the online comments people will not do that because we don't have the fifth bit implemented and staffed There's no enforcement for that, yet there's even more traffic on our street now that the kids are on their summer break and want to ride their bikes on Lone Oak Road and they're going to be run over by even more cars going and even higher speeds on Lone Oak Road. So thank you so much for your attention to this matter, because we're like, I'm at the end of my patience. And by the way, there's a two year old who just moved next door to me. So I don't know what's going to happen to them if they run out in the street. Thank you so much.

I have no additional hands raised in zoom.

Thank you, Amanda Terrence. Can you please have staff follow up with Indiana? Yes, we're moving into. I'm sorry, but yes, yes. Thank you. I appreciate that moving into presentations. D1 youth commissioner urine review. I would like to welcome Stacey Dempsey, recreation supervisor and members of the youth commission to present the youth commission year in review.

Good evening, Mayor Meyer, members of the Brentwood City Council, and city staff, fellow commissioners, and also members of the public. My name is Karina Helby, and I am joined this evening by my fellow youth commissioners, Ara Ranjan and Sahil Narula. On behalf of the Brentwood Youth Commission, thank you for the opportunity to present our year in review for September 2025 through June 2026. Over the past year, the Youth Commission has worked to strengthen youth involvement in our community Support important city traditions recognize businesses that positively serve young people and organize programs that bring together students families and Community organizations. This evening we're going to highlight the events in which we participated, the initiatives we helped lead the residents, we reached and the broader impact of the commission's work. Our year can be first summarized through several key figures. The Brentwood Youth Commission participated in eight major public events. Three were commission-led events, meaning commissioners had a central role in their planning, organization, or operation. We also participated in five broader city and community events where commissioners volunteered, supported event operations, and represented Brentwood's youth. In addition, we recognized nine local businesses through the Youth-Friendly Business Program across nine separate months. Our first major event of the year was the Liberty High School Home and Common Parade on September 19th, 2025. The parade gave the Youth Commission an opportunity to represent Brentwood's young people alongside local schools, student organizations, families, and also community groups. With an estimated audience of approximately 300 to 800 spectators, The parade provided considerable public visibility for the Commission, it allowed us to introduce the Commission and its work to residents who may not have previously been familiar with our with our role within the city. And our participation also demonstrated that young people are not just simply attending Community events but they're also actively contributing to civic life and also representing the perspectives of their peers within local government. On October 25 2025 the youth Commission participated in hometown Halloween one of the one of Brentwood largest family oriented Community events Commissioners designed and operated a Mickey mouse clubhouse themed booth this required coordinating the theme decorations costumes giveaways setup interaction with residents and also clean up. With approximately 500 to 1,200 people attending the overall event, Hometown Halloween was one of our largest opportunities for direct engagement with the Brentwood families. Throughout the event, commissioners welcomed residents, interacted with children, distributed giveaways, and also helped create a really engaging and family friendly atmosphere. And the experience strengthened our skills in teamwork, public communication, organization, and adaptability.

Alright, thank you. My name is Ara Rungin and on November 29th, 2025, commissioners supported Brentwood's annual holiday tree lighting. Our primary responsibility was preparing and serving hot cocoa and cookies to the residents attending the event. This involved more than simply distributing refreshments as we assisted with preparations, coordinated the service area, communicated with residents, and helped maintain an orderly process, as well as completing cleanup afterwards. This was an important Brentwood tradition and our participation allowed us to directly contribute to the experience of the attendees. This event also reinforced an important lesson in civic service. Leadership is not most limited to the visible positions. It also includes the practical responsibilities behind the scenes and allows a major community to operate successfully. Through our work at the Holiday Tree Lighting, commissioners helped create a welcoming and positive environment in Brentwood for residents and families. During the 2025 holiday season, the Youth Commission also participated in Deck the Parks. Commissioners worked together to decorate a Commission holiday tree, which remained on public display for several weeks. Unlike a single-day event, the Deck the Parks provided continuous public visibility throughout the holiday season. Residents visited the park and were able to see the Youth Commission tree, as well as our QR codes for donations. along with other local organizations, businesses, and community groups. This project allowed us to contribute creatively and also gather funds for our scholarships. On December 13, 2025, the Youth Commission hosted the Craft Night Before Christmas at the Brentwood Senior Activity Center. This was a two-year family event that included holiday crafts, cookie decorations, activities for children and their families. Unlike events that were hosted by the city in which the Youth Commission supported, the Youth Commission directly planned this event and were not simply just volunteers. We both planned and operated this event. We helped prepare the facility, organize the craft materials, decorate the space, welcome families, assist the children with their activities, serve refreshments, and complete cleanup. We estimate that about 100 to 200 residents attended. This event demonstrated the Commission's ability to manage a program from preparation to execution. We had to divide our responsibilities, communicate effectively, respond to challenges, and participate in a community activity which had a positive experience. Also, on April 25, 2026, the Brentwood Youth Commission directly planned and hosted the Multicultural Fair. This event brought together cultural booths, performances, vendors, food trucks, community organizations, and residents from a wide range of backgrounds. We helped coordinate participants, organize logistics, prepare the event space, and manage event day operations. The Multicultural Fair created an opportunity to celebrate the diversity that Brentwood has while promoting cultural understanding, inclusion, and community connection. We had multiple activities there such as a map where residents would pin where their hometowns were so we could get a feel for the diversity in our town. It also demonstrated the commission's ability to transform an idea into a successful public event through collaboration with the city staff and community partners. And now I turn over to Sahil.

Thank you for that. One of the commission's most significant accomplishments this year was directly planning and hosting Brentwood's first annual STEM day, which occurred on May 9th, 2026. This event brought together 11 participating groups representing a wide variety of fields from robotics, coding, science, technology, engineering, and other fields such as 3D printing and more. Approximately 200 participants attended and engaged in hands-on activities and demonstrated. Commissioners coordinated outreach, participating organizations, logistics, setup, event operations, and cleanup. The purpose of the STEM day was to make STEM subjects more accessible and engaging for Brentwood's youth while allowing local students and businesses to expand their platform and organization. Overall, our initial debut of this event was a massive success, pumping new life into the commission and generating a significant amount of money. The youth commission also supported Brentwood students through two scholarship initiatives. As you can see here, the youth commission scholarship, two local applicants were each awarded $1,000 based on the excellency of their applications. The civic essay competition, we awarded one local student a $250 visa gift card for their exceptional essay. These awards allowed the commission to recognize students for their accomplishments, community involvement, future goals, and engagement with civic issues. The Brentwood Youth Commission Scholarship represents a direct investment in Brentwood's youth and their future educational pursuit. The Civic Essay Competition also encouraged students to think critically about their community and communicate their involvement in civic participation, whether it be being student body president, a member of it, or just volunteering or being a Boy Scout. All of that comes in mind. Together, these initiatives demonstrate that the Commission's work includes both broad community programming and direct support for individual students. Throughout the year, the commission continued the tradition of our youth-friendly business program. This program recognized many local businesses that provide welcoming environments, products, services, recreational opportunities, employment, or other forms of support for Brentwood's youth. Nine businesses were recognized over the course of nine months. Pocahontas was recognized in October. Sky Zone was in November. Created by you, an art studio local to Brentwood was in December. Dutch Bros in January. VR Nextron in February. Toilet Jure in March, Getty's Music in April, Barnes & Noble's in May, and Handel's in June. These businesses represent a broad range of youth interests, including food, recreation, creativity, music, technology, education, and just general social spaces. The program strengthens the relationship between young residents and Brentwood's local business community. It also gives young people a voice in recognizing businesses where they feel welcome, respected, and supported. At the same time, the program encourages other businesses to consider how they can better serve and engage Brentwood's younger residents. We thank all nine businesses, which I'll once again reiterate, Pocahontas, Sky Zone, Created by You, Dutch Bros, VR Next Trend, Thule Drew, Getty's Music, Barnes and Nobles, and Handles for their commitment to supporting the youth of Brentwood. As we reflect upon this year, we are proud not only of the number of programs and events we completed, but also the growth they caused us to have. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the support of our Brentwood City Council, city staff, our advisors, participating businesses, community organizations, volunteers, and just generally the people of Brentwood who's gratefully given us their time and support. We are especially grateful to Ms. Dempsey and Ms. Amy Sloan, who guided commissioners through the ups and downs of this program and just served as a general helping hand. We also thank the organizations and businesses, again, that partnered with us, attended our event, provided activities, and supported opportunities for Brentwood's young people. And now I will turn the presentation back again to my fellow commissioners.

We look forward to building upon this year's progress, strengthening our community partnerships, and continuing to develop programs that reflect the interests and needs of our Brentwood youth.

Mayor Meyer and members of the City Council, thank you for your continued investment in youth leadership and for providing young people with a meaningful opportunity to participate in local government. We appreciate your time, your support, and your commitment to Brentwood's young people. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, youth commissioners. Any comments from council members?

I'd just like to thank all the youth commissioners, even the ones that can't be here. It has been a pleasure to watch our seniors grow and go through this process and our newer commissioners come on. But thank you for all the things. I like that we were able to see the number of residents that were served by all of your hard work. So thank you. I just wanted to say thank you all.

If there are no other comments, I'd like to say, I appreciate seeing the businesses that you are recognized for being especially supportive of youth in Brentwood. I thought that was a nice touch. I hadn't realized you were doing that. Okay, moving into item D two. I would like to welcome Mike barrier information systems manager to present the city facility system upgrade presentation.

good evening honorable mayor and council members the item i'm bringing to you tonight is a brief presentation on the completion of the city facility audio visual system upgrade cip project i think i got that right that was a long title um which was funded by the information systems replacement fund the presentation includes a video highlighting the features and improvements that were made to the audio visual experience in our public facing facilities. However, I'd like to start with a quick summary of the key dates and events that led up to this. Most of the city audio visual infrastructure dates back to the opening of City Hall back in 2010, 2012. And while there were some repairs and improvements made during that time, the core elements of the audio visual system were somewhere between eight and 15 years old by that time and had pretty much reached the end of their useful life. The CIP project began in August of 2024 with an audio visual design phase and continued with the award of a construction contract in May of 2025. Work on the community center, senior center and police department emergency operations center and training room began in fall of 2025 and was largely completed by early September 2026. In addition to refreshing the audio and video components, the project included additional enhancements, including the addition of zoom meeting capabilities in each of these rooms. To locate the following video highlights some of the key elements and improvements resulting from this project.

Part of the CIP project approved by the City Council, the Information Systems team completed the City Facility Audiovisual System Upgrade Project, modernizing the audiovisual capabilities in key public spaces. Many of the existing audiovisual systems in these city facilities had been in service for more than a decade, and much of the equipment Behind the scenes, the project modernized the city AV infrastructure with new routing hardware, updated cabling, refreshed audio equipment, and user-friendly touchscreen controls. These improvements make the rooms easier to operate and support modern uses. The Brentwood Community Center and Brentwood Senior Activity Center are two of the city's most heavily used public facilities. Together they were used by the community for more than 17,000 hours in 2025. In both facilities, aging projectors and display systems were replaced with high-definition LED video walls. These bright modular displays provide clear, consistent visibility from every angle, even with significant natural light. In the senior activity center, the audio system was also redesigned with new speakers and sound dampening panels, providing clearer, more consistent sound for programs, presentations, and events. These locations have also been upgraded with Zoom Room capabilities and iPad-mounted touch screens, allowing for easier presentation sharing and making the rooms easier to manage. In addition, video cameras were added to each of these locations, and the meeting rooms at the Community Center and the Police Department Emergency Operations Center were upgraded with ceiling-mounted microphones in order to better support both in-person and virtual participation. At the Police Department, the Emergency Operations Center was also upgraded with a comprehensive multi-screen environment. This flexible setup supports real-time map tracking during emergencies and also serves as a modern training space for officers and the community academy. Together, these upgrades help ensure Brentwood City facilities remain high quality, accessible, and reliable places for residents and staff to gather, connect, and learn. Thank you to the City Council for supporting this project and for investing in the spaces that our community use every day.

So I want to say thank you again to Council for your support with this project and for your time this evening, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

I just want to say thank you. Any comments or questions from Council? Sorry, Mayor, I just totally stepped over you.

I just want to say thank you. We've gotten so many compliments on those screens. And having been in there now, it's a world of difference in being able to view something. So thank you for all of that.

I echo that sentiment. And also the new screens, it's more for people who have visual issues. It's so much easier and clearer to see. So thank you for all of your time and dedication to just improving, constantly improving our product. I know as soon as we put some technology in, there's already some new technology ready to go up. So it's already outdated. So thank you for staying on track of that.

I really appreciate all the hard work from your guys' department. So thank you so much.

You guys did a phenomenal job. I actually got to go into the EOC the other day. It looks great. Biggest for me, obviously, is hearing the sound in both the EOC and at the community center are amazing. So thank you. Thanks for everything you guys do. Our pleasure, for sure.

Thank you, Mike, and I appreciate the... The overview to the video is really helpful to understand exactly what was improved. And of course, the screens are obvious. Having more zoom accessibility is really obvious, but having it all put together like, that is really helpful, I think, for the general public as well. So thank you for that.

Thank you.

Okay. I would like to move item E, our informational reports to the just before consideration of future agenda items. And we will move on to item F, the consent calendar. Proclamations for items F2 and F3 will be presented by the Vice Mayor after the vote. Do we have anything else pulled or a motion on the consent calendar?

I make a motion to approve items on the consent calendar. I second.

And do we need a roll call vote, Amanda?

Yes, we will, please.

We got a roll call.

Councilmember Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Orliman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes, thank you. And Vice Mayor Pearson, thank you very much for presenting these proclamations. The first one is to Parks and Recreation staff. Item F2 for Parks and Recreation Month. And then the next one as you are moving forward, I'm going to say the VFW commanders accepting on behalf of National Korean War veterans who are unable to attend tonight, and Bill Putman will be there to receive as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Members of the Parks and Rec staff down here? Thanks. This proclamation is being presented to the Parks and Rec staff here. We have Stacy Dempsey here. Give her a round of applause because she does an awesome job. And we have Director Harif Alim. Give him a round of applause as well. So it's my pleasure to present the following. Whereas park trails, open spaces and recreation programs enhance the quality of life in Brentwood by providing opportunities for healthy living, outdoor enjoyment, learning and community connection and whereas Brentwood's parks and recreational amenities offers welcoming places where residents of all ages can gather, stay active, build friendships and create lasting memories. And whereas access to quality parks and recreational opportunities contributes to the physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals and help foster a vibrant and resilient community. And whereas the dedicated efforts of parks and recreation professionals, volunteers, and community partners help ensure that Brentwoods Park remains safe, accessible, and enjoyable for current and future generations. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the City Council of the City of Brentwood does hereby recognize July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month. And I'm gonna give this to you, but before you all leave, look at that, Tony, I'm gonna give it to you. I personally want to say after an amazing Juneteenth that I am so grateful for you all. I have received so much positive feedback for various levels of how great you all do, but you incorporate everything. And one thing that really brought me to tears was I had a mother member who said for the first time, and I have photos that she asked me to share with you all, her daughter was able to come to a concert in the park at juneteenth because we had a space for adaptive recreation and her daughter she sent me pictures of her daughter with headphones on in that space and that just as a mother to a special needs child that brought me to tears she showed me the before picture of her daughter crawling underneath something um because of the sound and she showed me the after picture of her daughter in that space and so i just want to say thank you for just really paying attention to what the residents really need and making our parks and recreational experiences amazing inclusive and really fun for everybody to come out and play in the city of Brentwood so thank you I just didn't want to read something to you I want to tell you how impactful you all are on our community so thank you give them a round of applause again please

I think you all know how much I love parks. So I know that we sometimes push you to the limits, but I want to tell you that our residents really appreciate it. And even cities surrounding are always like, you guys have so many parks and they look so great. And they really do create a sense of community and they give a space for families that might not have money to do other things. So I appreciate you very much. You and everyone at Parks and Rec for all you do. Thank you.

I just wanted to say your department is so dynamic, and everything that you guys do here has been amazing, whether it's concerts in the park, the different events, the parks themselves, everything, the Senior Center. You're super inclusive of everybody in the community, and all of you are super amazing, so I just wanted to say thank you.

So Jovita made a comment that we push you to your limits. I think we push you well beyond your limits all the time. And you guys continue to stand up and step up and take care of everything that needs to be done. Doesn't go unnoticed from council, doesn't go unnoticed from staff, but most of all and most importantly, it does not go unnoticed from our community. So thank you both, you're amazing.

And if you can hear me, I'd just like to- Madam Mayor, would you like to add something as well?

I would. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Can you hear me okay?

Yes.

Thank you. I'm sorry I'm not there in person to recognize you and the rest of your team, because you absolutely do step up in every way. And the Youth Commission is another example of the things that you do to lift up our community, to provide inclusionary activities, to make everyone feel safe and like they can access what they need to access. The Vice Mayor was right. Our adaptive programming has really become, it's something that really people are looking forward to. and take advantage of because it means something to feel like you belong in your own community. So you all do a very good job of making sure that people have that feeling and we thank you very much for that. Thank you so much.

Can we get a photo?

Thank you. It's an honor to receive the proclamation. Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, council members. We really appreciate the feedback and recognition. As you know, echoing your sentiments, I think the Parks and Recreation Department is an epitome of public servants dedicated to the community, working hard every day. I think just highly motivated through service. And so I'm honored to be a part of this department. and the various activities and things that we do on behalf of the community. As you know, we're well within our summer season. Staff are working hard with adaptive programs, summer camp, aquatic sports, leagues, special events, senior activities, many playgrounds and beautiful parks that we're maintaining, just essential to community gathering spaces. We strive to serve everyone, so that's our calling. And so this past Friday, as the Vice Mayor mentioned, we had an exciting Juneteenth event, community partners, great entertainment, a lot of engagement, really good feedback and experiences. And I'm going to let Stacey share with you all, we're really excited to take that energy rolling into July 4th. We have a great event planned for the community in celebration of America 250. Thank you.

Absolutely, thank you. And we have a lot of the veterans here today, so we're really appreciative for them of their partnership on America 250. We're gonna start the day with our normal parade. That'll be at 9.30 a.m. with the Children's Parade, followed by our regular parade, and then we're going to meet in City Park at 11.30. There's a lot going on there. We'll have some of the streets closed downtown. We have a free concert in the park happening. The band goes on at 12. The band this year is gonna be the Ragdolls, who played a couple years ago when we did Carnegie. They are an all-female Aerosmith tribute, and they are awesome. Down at the Veterans Hall, they're gonna be doing a car show, and I believe they're still taking registrations for cars, correct? Okay, perfect. The Downtown Brentwood Coalition is gonna be hosting a downtown business decorating contest. So if you have a business downtown, make sure to get those decorations out. We'll have community groups that are sort of, we really wanted to focus on Brentwood's contribution to the United States. how we got to where we are, how we serve the public, how we serve the country, how we grow the food that feeds the country. So we'll have a ton of activities and things based in agriculture, based in public service, community service, military service. So we just really invite everybody to come down. It's free. All the activities are free. We have a petting zoo and a train ride and all of our crafts and activities. So we invite everybody to come down. That part in the park will be from 1130 to three.

And Allie. Now Susannah.

Next we have our proclamation recognizing July 27th, 2026 as National Korean War Veterans' Armistice Day. And we wanna invite all of our VFW commanders in the audience to present to Bill Plutman. Yeah, I agree. Mr. Putman, it's an honor and privilege to present this to you today. Thank you so much for the opportunity. And to everyone here, thank you so much for your service. Bill Putman, Korean War veteran of the United States Navy, served in the submarine service both during and after the Korean War. This is presented to you today. Whereas National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day commemorates the signing of the armistice agreement on July 27, 1953, marking the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War and honoring the courage, sacrifice, and service of those who answered the call to defend freedom. And whereas nearly two million Americans served during the Korean War and their dedication helped preserve liberty, strengthen democratic ideas and forge a lasting alliance between the united states and the republic of korea that continues to promote peace and prosperity today and whereas this day provides an opportunity for communities to remember the valor of korean war veterans like yourself bill who including those who never returned home, while ensuring that the legacy of the often called forgotten war remains an enduring part of our nation's story. And whereas the city of Brentwood proudly joins communities across the nation in recognizing Korean War veterans and embracing the spirit of remembrance, gratitude, friendship, and the hope for a more peaceful future for generations to come, Now therefore be it proclaimed that the City Council of the City of Brentwood does hereby recognize the 27th day of July 2026 National Korean War Veterans Armistead Day. Thank you so much. Would anyone like to speak? Bill?

I wish to thank the city of Brentwood for the many years I've lived here since the 90s. It's been a great city to be in. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill, for being able to come out this evening. As you might tell, he is a spring chicken among a roost of those who are no longer with us. If you have a calendar and you wanna math it out, the Korean War ended over 70 years ago. That means your standard enlistee, or actually draftee at the time, was 18 years old. Math that up, our youngest Korean War veterans right now range around 88 years of age. 20 plus years ago, we from time to time would take a moment and think about the greatest generation, all those in World War II who fought and served in lands far and gave sacrifice not just of themselves but their families and our country and its time and its blood and its treasure. When we were called to Korea, this was supposed to be a limited engagement. A small assist to a tiny country who had had an overwhelming force breach its northern boundaries. And very early in that conflict, it was obvious to everybody that this was a lost cause. But from the Marines of Chosin Reservoir, the fight began and pushed them north. And the North Koreans, backed by the Chinese, were pushed far enough north to establish what is roughly known now as the DMZ. Today, we celebrate the armistice and what has otherwise been a lasting, mostly peaceful engagement with the northern Korean portion of that peninsula. However, we are also in this year moving to celebrate 250 years of America. Korea, the South Korea as it exists now, is literally, look at any map at the night, a shining beacon on the face of this earth as to what the freedom of our forward deployed military can do to salvage a nearly insurmountable situation on behalf of people who we don't know. Men like Bill, women like Kim, quite honestly, the children of that generation, went to a place and gave of themselves without being asked, what do I get of this? To deliver a country back to a stable state, which is now an icon in technology. Anybody here drive a Kia? Hyundai, any number of other television components that you watch every night, these are all things that come from what our shining light, what our beacon of freedom projects on the world as a military, as a country, and as a people who are backing all of that enterprise. So from the veterans of foreign wars and those who can't be with us here tonight, I thank you, the City of Brentwood, Mayor and Council, for taking a moment to honor the veterans of the Korean conflict, as well as, in particular, our friend Bill. So thank you very much.

from what they were all prepared for.

Vice mayor, I would, I would like to apologize specifically to Mr. Putnam for not being there in person. I especially appreciate that. He was able to come down in person to receive this proclamation and. I believe it's a gentleman that I met, I can't tell him on my small screen, but I believe that as a gentleman, I met a while ago to present something else on his behalf and. it's wonderful that he was able to come in person and I appreciate everyone for supporting the effort to have him come and obviously for their service. Thank you. And now we are looking for a motion to Approve remaining remaining items on the consent calendar.

We approve the consent calendar as a whole. So we are good.

Very much and moving into public hearings. I can G1 Christine Andrews assistant director of finance and information systems will present the next item regarding the 202627 through 202728 operating budget.

Good evening, honorable mayor and city council. Tonight's action is the final adoption of the 2026-27 and 2027-28 operating budget. Approval of recommended amendments to the 25-26 budget, approval of the 26-27 salary schedule, and approval of an agreement with the county for self-service Sunday library services at no cost to the city. Since the operating budget workshop on May 26, staff has incorporated council direction and several budget refinements into the operating budget. This evening, I will briefly summarize those changes, review the overall budget outlook, and present the budget for final adoption. The budget has completed a full review process, including departmental review, meetings with the budget ad hoc committee, the CIP workshop and adoption, and the operating budget workshop held on May 26. The budget before you tonight incorporates council direction throughout that process and is presented for final adoption. Rather than reviewing the entire budget document this evening, I want to highlight several key themes. Overall, the budget largely maintains current service levels except for enhanced solid waste services and the opening of the Sand Creek Sports Complex. This budget continues the city's focus on long-term financial stability and conservative budgeting practices. The city continues to maintain its 30% reserve and a structurally balanced general fund, even as revenue growth slows and operational costs continue to rise. Most new expenditures in the budget are modest and tied to infrastructure, operational needs, regulatory requirements, or previously identified council priorities. While long-term financial pressures remain, the city is in a stable position and continues to plan conservatively for the future. Next step is the two-year general fund projection. After applying conservative assumptions and anticipated savings, staff projects a two year surplus of approximately $35,000. This is essentially a break even result and reflects the city's continued commitment to maintaining a structurally balanced budget while preserving the 30% reserve requirement. This projected result is unchanged from the operating budget workshop. Although additional costs were incorporated into the general fund budget following the workshop, these costs were offset through expense reallocations and other budget refinements detailed in the staff report. The changes incorporated into the budget will be summarized next. The updates incorporated since the workshop do not result in changes to the budget's overall direction. Most are refinements based on council actions, updated cost information, or final budget estimates. Key updates include enhanced solid waste collection service staffing and operating costs, the city attorney's employment agreement, the second street parking lot lease agreement, an additional $10,000 annual contribution to Meals on Wheels for the senior nutrition program, and council direction for the establishment of a $500,000 reserve in the general fund for a future restroom at Heron Park. ADDITIONAL CHANGES SINCE THE WORKSHOP INCLUDE UPDATED WATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATING BUDGETS BASED ON INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM CONTRACASTA WATER DISTRICT PLACEHOLDER ANNUAL FUNDING OF TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN THE AGRICULTURAL LAND FUND FOR U-PICK MAPS AND AN UPDATE TO THE COST OF ADDITIONAL HOURS AT THE LIBRARY TO MATCH THE AMOUNTS PROVIDED BY THE COUNTY THAT WERE INCLUDED IN THE WORKSHOP MEMO NOW I WILL TURN TO THE ADJUSTMENTS BEING PROPOSED FOR THE CURRENT YEAR'S BUDGET As detailed in the staff report, staff is recommending several amendments to the current 2526 budget, including repayment of a historical Interfund loan using proceeds from the Harvest Park property sale and several relatively minor adjustments to align the budget with actual activity. Next, we will discuss topics that staff are monitoring that may have an impact on the city's future finances. LOOKING BEYOND THE TWO-YEAR BUDGET PERIOD, STAFF CONTINUES TO MONITOR SEVERAL FACTORS THAT COULD AFFECT FUTURE FINANCIAL FORECASTS. AS DISCUSSED AT THE OPERATING BUDGET WORKSHOP, THE CITY FACES ONGOING ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY AND SLOWING REVENUE GROWTH. UPCOMING LABOR NEGOTIATIONS AS BARGAINING UNIT AGREEMENTS EXPIRE IN JUNE OF 2027. CalPERS investment return volatility, although this year looks positive with the final CalPERS performance for the year coming out later this summer. And potential retirement benefit impacts associated with Assembly Bill 1383. While these items do not affect the recommended budget before you tonight, they could materially impact the future city costs and will be incorporated into future financial updates and fiscal model revisions as warranted. Finally, let's go over the next steps in the budget process. The next review of the city's fiscal condition and budget will be in about six months at the mid-year review in January of 2027. Then the mid-term operating budget review will be presented in June of 2027. I would like to say a big thank you to the many city staff who participated and contributed to developing this budget before you tonight. And staff recommends adoption of the resolutions as presented and are available to answer any questions.

Thank you, Christine. Does anyone on council have questions for Christine?

I don't have questions, but as always, thank you so much. And thank you for spending extra time on the budget subcommittee. I know that adds workload. So I appreciate you all very much.

No questions, but thank you.

Thank you again.

And we can continue discussion after public comments as well. We are going to now open the public hearing for this item and move into comments.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I do not have any. I have one public comment in person. Danny, go ahead.

Yeah, thank you for the report. On the update portion, where is the money that we're going to pay this guy to do the job he was hired to do? I didn't see that in there. I saw the parks. I saw, you know, all the other things. Oh, and... your lawyer, Madam Mayor, saw that out. But, you know, where is the money to pay this guy to do the job he's already doing and why he was hired to be in his role? Yeah, I'd just like to know because I have no idea what you guys negotiated or But it would be nice to find out. Oh, and I'm not being snarky. I am dead serious. I would like to know where that money is going to come from to pay that man to do the job that he was hired to do.

I have no additional speakers in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. Since there are no other speakers, I will now take a motion to close the public hearing.

I make a motion to close the public hearing.

Second.

Amanda?

Roll call vote. Apologies. Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you. Any discussion on this item?

I just want to thank all of you for your priorities in the packet. It's nice to see that the public can see what you all are working on. I'm so excited that the fifth beat I think is your second item on there. So thank you for having that in there. And again, just appreciate all the hard work.

I can make a motion if nobody else has come.

um as detailed in the staff report i moved to adopt a city council resolution amending the 2025. being as detailed as it is um that it's a transparent process that the public can learn from and understand so i appreciate that very much councilmember maloney did you have comments too i'm sorry i spoke over you because i did not hear you i apologize um i was just making a motion okay um we are going to have two motions on this item if you're ready to start over again

Yes, ma'am. As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a City Council resolution amending the 2025-2026 operating budget, adopting the 2025-2026 operating budget, approving the 2026-27 pay schedule, and approving an agreement with Contra Costa County for self-service Sunday library hours. I second that motion.

Council Member Maloney?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orlemans? Yes. Mayor Meyer?

Yes.

Motion to as detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a successor agency resolution adopting the 2026 2027 to 2027 2028 operating budget for the former Brentwood redevelopment agency funds.

Second.

Council Member Maloney?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson?

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you very much and great work everyone. Moving into item G2, Jennifer Hagen, Principal Planner will introduce the next item regarding the adoption of objective design standards for residential and mixed use development.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight, in collaboration with JZMK partners, we're here to present text amendments to the Brent Moody Missile Code related to the adoption of objective design standards for residential and mixed-use development. Drafting the residential design standards has been a long and thoughtful process, starting by taking the initial 2006 residential design guidelines and carrying over applicable guidelines to be transferred into the new standards. With the help of JZMK and recommendations by the Planning Commission, staff believes that we have come up with a comprehensive document that will continue to reflect the values and character of the community in a meaningful and thoughtful way. Tonight's presentation will be given by Drew Watkins of JZMK, who is joining us via Zoom tonight. He will go through his presentation and summary of the document, and at the conclusion will be available for questions and to go through any chapters or areas that Council would like to discuss further. And with that, I'd like to hand it over to Drew, who can share his screen.

Thanks, Jennifer. It's a pleasure to be before you, Honorable Council.

I'm going to share my screen here.

Okay, great. Okay, thank you. So, 1st, I just wanted to introduce myself a little bit. Who are we partners? I'm partner and president at partners. My name is Andrew Watkins. I'm an architect and urban designer. We've been working on objective design standards for communities across California, and we're always excited to learn about each community and what makes them special. And our goal is always to really instill into these documents that the goals that each city has. and the unique characteristics that make each place special. We've gotten many of these ODS documents through adoption already, and we bring with us a deep understanding of urban design architecture and zoning implementation. We also have developed a real experience crafting standards that are clear, objective and usable by both staff, the community and developers. And kind of as I was alluding to earlier, we really believe in a collaborative approach with cities to align these documents with your vision and goals. So, why are we here tonight? The goal is at this point to get any feedback and adopt these objective design standards. We're going to be going through the purpose and goals of the ODS, which just is short for objective design standards. We'll review some of the revisions that we made through our presentations and feedback from planning commission. And we'll also talk about next steps. Um, so why are these objective design standards coming about, uh, you know, cities across California are working on these, uh, and it's really responding to the passage of several, uh, state bills that require, uh, ministerial approval based upon objective design standards. And so it's really to bolster, um, you know, often what you had in place before was, uh. design guidelines, which are suggestions, and you had your zoning code, which is your must-dos, and objective design shares kind of fill in the gap. They strengthen your guidelines and bring them into code. This does help streamline housing development and the review process per state mandates. And we're always looking to protect and articulate the city's vision for how they see residential development occurring in their city. We are hoping that this does increase efficient delivery of new residential units that are needed by many communities. So as part of this, we're always looking at what's objective versus subjective, right? So objective design standards are rules that can be applied and verified without personal interpretation. For example, they have, you know, specific numbers, height limits, setbacks, or material requirements. Subjective standards are, you know, relative. They rely on personal judgment, aesthetic preference. They might use kind of vague terms, visual pleasing, in harmony with the neighborhood, which can vary between, you know, who's reviewing it. So you know what's important here is that California law, as I said, with the passage of the state bills is often requiring objective design standards for certain projects and so adopting these objectives answers protects the city. With those increased objective standards. So what are some of the goals that we set out in Brentwood? We're looking to create a clear set of citywide regulations that's understandable by the public, the city and the development community. We're looking to preserve the character of Brentwood. So we worked both with city staff, our own kind of review and Analysis of the city, as well as working with the planning commission to really understand what is the character Brentwood both existing and what your vision is for the future. We're looking to create standards that result in billions will be appropriate to their context and environment. We're always looking to encourage human scale buildings. We want to promote high quality site and building design, high quality materials. And we also want to emphasize a pedestrian oriented environment where buildings in the public realm are cohesive. So how do we get to this point? This project started way back in May 2023. We've gone through a bunch of public engagement. We've worked with you before in a study session back in December 2023. We also spent some time with a public review draft. We worked through the draft. We shared that via social media and the website. We presented to the Land Use Development Committee and then the Planning Commission as well. So based upon kind of the feedback, especially in these last sessions with the Planning Commission, we made several changes to the document to kind of really right size it, right fit it to the character and vision for the city. We did remove the contemporary architecture style throughout. We had that kind of in one area of the city and that has been removed entirely. We've increased a bit of objectivity on the architectural styles. We've kind of refined how we talk about roof materials and roof types. We've removed all synthetic composite roof materials. We've also looked at adding in some of the purpose section from your existing residential guidelines that was important to keep and preserve. We've clarified some of our terminology and references to some of the state bills. We've added some terminology. We've kind of refined our objectivity even more. We're removing some of the such as comments throughout the document. We've also clarified some noise attenuation standards and then made some revisions to our landscape section related to non-plant material ember-resistant zones, which is, of course, important in fire-prone areas, and also modified some of our terminology in the landscape section, changing what we typically call landscape furniture zone to buffer zone. So what's in the ODS? The ODS contains six chapters. It has an introduction, and then it kind of goes from large scale to small scale, starting with site planning, working down to site design, the building design itself, the styles that the buildings might take on, and then the landscape, finally. So I'm going to walk through each chapter briefly. The introduction includes a purpose. It talks about how the document's organized. It reviews how it's applicable, provides a user guide, and talks about kind of the relationship to other code documents. Site planning really looks at how you organize the site itself, where the buildings are maybe positioned on the site, talks about edge conditions, open space, and how the site is subdivided. Site design talks more specifically about components of the site, not only where the building is located, but also parking areas, bicycle circulation, pedestrian access, and site lighting. Building design then talks about the building itself, the massing, building orientation, articulation, facade design, window alignment, entry typologies, and such. And then architectural style gets into kind of what most people kind of think of an architecture talks about kind of what it looks and feels like. And so we have several different styles that we analyze throughout the downtown. This is kind of our survey of styles within downtown and broader Brentwood. And then we worked with these styles to kind of position them throughout the city. And so what you're seeing here on the right is a map of your city. Downtown is there in green. PA1 is in blue. And we've associated a variety of styles with each of these different areas. And there are some styles like Spanish that are in all the different areas. So these are the allowed styles in each area. And then we go and define each of those. There's seven different styles, Spanish, Mediterranean, ranch, craftsman, Queen Anne, Italian, and colonial. And each of them has a section, would you say? Outlined on the right, and I'm going to walk through Spanish with you, but it talks about the architectural features. It talks about roofs, walls and windows, materials and colors, decorative accents and details for each style. So an example of that is Spanish. uh and uh and it gives kind of a description of that style it shows you know generally uh what a good example might look like it talks about some of the key features that are found in that style and then gives a an example of those styles at various kind of size buildings everything from you know single family home uh to an apartment building It then goes by different kind of elements, starting with roofs. And you'll see in some of these, there are both required elements and optional elements. And those differ a little bit per style, depending upon what things are maybe very essential to a style and which things are maybe more flexible and can be chosen. We always want to kind of provide a bit of flexibility and encourage a certain level of detail within each style. So roofs, walls and windows, materials and colors. Decorative accents here is kind of a menu. So we're saying, you know, choose six of these many different options within your architectural expression. And then finally, the last chapter is landscape. Here we go over materials and vegetation, irrigation standards, section related to fire hazard, hardscaping, walls and fencing, landscape lighting and site furnishing. And so that's the document. I think you've been provided with it in full and I'm happy to answer any questions and go into any details that you might want further information on.

Thank you for the presentation. Do we have any questions? I have questions, but should we leave them for discussion or should we do them as questions? I'm not sure, because they could lead to a discussion. We could probably wait till the discussion.

um but if i could also please note um as part of this also in the staff report staff did have one additional recommended amendment as part of this that did not make it into the draft that was attached to the staff report and that was related to the electric transformers and so at the end of the night if the city council does wish to move forward staff does recommend that you also move forward with some additional language that is outlined in the agenda report before you tonight to include a new section 2.6.4 for electronic electric transformers for single-family residents okay now i have a question about that so i had a question listed and i missed this in the staff report my question is are we going to require them to underground them now i can speak to that yes the request as detail in the staff report is that

We clarify that. Yes, since the end of last year is when we had that expiration for the head mounted. Since then, the goal is to, and just to make it clear, especially for the electric company, that the requirement is subsurface. So some clarification on that terminology. But yes, the short answer is yes. In front of homes, particularly in residential developments, they are going to be required as proposed by staff to be underground or subsurface.

I love that. Thank you.

Can I follow up on that one as well? My continuation of that question would be to ask where we are with supplies and costs, because I know that was in part why there was a temporary ability to above ground them.

Yes, Mayor. With regards to supplies and costs, I can't speak to the cost, but I do know that the supplies for subsurface transformers have returned.

Great.

Thank you very much. Any other questions before we open the public hearing? Okay. We will now open the public hearing and call on speakers. Thank you very much.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand to speak. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have no public comments except one. Go ahead, Mr. Dorman.

Hello Hello, no, thank you for the underground transformer out of everything that one is close to my heart, so thank you for that.

I have no other speakers.

Thank you amanda can I have a motion to close the public hearing, please make a motion to close the public hearing also.

Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes, thank you, Amanda. Moving into discussion, who would like to go?

So can I just, when we were talking about the subsurface or underground generation, we were talking about that the boxes couldn't be made, not the actual facility, and that's why they had to be moved, correct?

Correct. There was, I want to say, shortly after COVID, there was a downturn in the supply or the people, the manufacturers that made the underground transformers. There was notices from the electric company about that shortage, but that has since been resolved. I think some companies have picked up the manufacturing of that.

Okay, but it wasn't the transformers, it was the vaults that they sit in, and I'm just making sure we got those.

Correct, yeah, specifically for pad-mounted or surface versus subsurface.

Okay, thanks.

Jennifer, yeah, I have a couple questions. Do you think we can bring up the ODS and... And sorry, I have the old agenda where I have my stuff highlighted, so I'm gonna be going back and forth to a new agenda. So on the new agenda, again, back to parks, because they're close to my heart, Haris. On page 366, we talk about the requirements of parks. And it's page 46 of their ODS and 366 of the agenda. Sorry about that.

Thank you.

uh where we talk about the requirements yeah i think it's probably a little earlier in here section 3.1 and then so i think it's in here Yeah, go down a little bit. It's, it's the grid that shows the minimum items required, you know, maximum and all that good stuff.

Yeah, is that for the amenities?

Yes. So page 46 of your document?

Yeah, right there.

Okay. So we have been getting a lot of feedback on shade. Is there any way to add a requirement for shade on here?

Um, yeah.

Okay. And I don't know how, and I guess we could talk about the council. How do you guys feel about that? If we add a requirement for shade, how you not and at what, um, at what the 10 to 49, 50 to 79, eight, you know, I don't know how you guys feel about that. Do you care? Okay.

I mean, as far as the shade goes for the playgrounds and the structures, I think if we require them to put it in now, we won't be dealing with it later on. And the answer always is we'll plant trees, but it's going to take us 25 years to get a tree large enough to give us shade. So I think adding the requirement of shade structures over the top of the playgrounds would be an amazing idea.

Yeah, so I guess that would be playground equipment with multiple play equipment and do we add required shade or something? I'm not sure how you would say it.

Yeah, one potential option could be is we could just put anything that references playgrounds, so the playground with multiple equipment or multiple playgrounds with play equipment. We could have an asterisk somewhere below that says anywhere there is a playground shall include a minimum... We would have to probably determine, you know, appropriate size shade structure. But anywhere there is a playground, it shall include a shade structure. We could definitely do that to include that into the actual definition of what a playground is.

Awesome. Thank you. Okay. The next one is on page 61 of the document. So let me get down there. I'm always scared when I see that word encourage, So the intent encourage the use of multiple modulations, architectural. Do we need that word of encourage? Because we've run into some, or does it not matter?

So in the intent section of each of the codes, these are more explaining our purpose. So while it is appropriate in the intent section to encourage modulation, once you go down to the actual sections that talk about the articulation, that's when the objectivity comes into play.

so the word here encourage isn't going to negate anything else not in the intent section no okay next one is page 62 um and i just want to when we had bridal gate always seems to come up bridal gate came up we said we didn't want three stories in in certain areas so we have three single family here up to three stories, but we didn't, we said we didn't in single family neighborhoods, we were not looking for three stories, unless it's changed.

No, so while the majority of our single family zones require or allow up to two stories, I think here, what we are looking at is to protect ourselves in cases and what we're seeing happen more in other cities is people are using waivers and concessions to go to extend their height and so even though our code does not allow higher than two stories for a single family home a developer can come in and request a concession or a waiver to go up to three stories in which we in some cases potentially would have to allow it. What this does is in those cases provides us standards on how we would regulate those and how we would look at those designs. It doesn't mean that we have to allow it. The underlying zoning is the governing body. But if through state legislation, if they were to use a process or procedure, concession or waiver to allow it, this

gives us a little bit of protection in which we still then could provide standards to that design if we were forced to allow it okay and then that just made me think do we still have the standard of x amount x percent of homes have to be one stories yes okay so that's still okay correct thank you and sorry i have so many questions let me see i think i'm almost done uh Okay, so, and I'm sorry, I don't understand some of these drawings on here, but you know how like sometimes you have a house with the front yard and then you have the sidewalk and then you have the green strip. And I'm seeing that green strip removed a lot, which I don't prefer because it creates heat when you don't have that green strip in the trees. Do we allow that now with a sidewalk with no green strip?

we added in that they follow the city standard specification with the landscaping the sidewalk and then the front yard okay so they always have to have it yes as part of this that is one of our objective standards And I think we have the diagram that shows the street section right there.

Yeah. And we're even requiring if, for whatever reason, some older lots might not provide enough room between the curb and the lot line, we are requiring that room to be provided so that green strip can be put in.

Okay, and the last one, and I can't find where I had it. Flat roofs, do we allow flat roofs? Because it has that in here, but I thought we always wanted a pitch.

So we made modifications. I believe we still have it as a roofing type because I think the goal is to potentially allow it as an accent, patio covers or a shed like that. And then also to allow it in higher density forms. but potentially once you get to three and and four stories um a lot of times they're designed in a way that have flat roofs with parapets um to hide some of the rooftop mechanical equipment so i believe we do allow it for multi-family um it's not allowed for single family um except for being like an accent piece okay i think i think that was um

And just landscaping were included the trees. I highlighted that. Um, so thank you. I mean, I would add more trees if I could, but I don't think I can do that. And that was it. Those are all my questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

Other questions or comments. Now, I'm prepared to make a motion, madam mayor.

I do have a, um, a couple, uh, comments and questions myself, but just to be clear, there's no one else that wants to say anything. Right. Okay. I will just move into it. This is kind of a minor thing, and it was based on the first time this came to the agenda. So my pages are off. I'm not going to go with the pages, but there's a section 17.820 design insight development review. Um. And there's a phrase that says under that and also under architectural review authority that it is also the purpose of the planning commission or community development director or designee to preserve and enhance the beauty and environmental amenities of the city. And I was curious why it says planning commission or community development director instead of and because sometimes, you know, a project will come to both.

Yeah. So in this case, what we are referring to is Again, it comes down to some of the state laws that reduce the city's discretion for holding public hearings. And so there may in the future be cases in which a project, if they check all of the boxes, would need to be approved administratively. And in those cases, it would be approved by the community development director and not the planning commission or the city council.

Thank you for clarifying another clarification for the public. I was hoping you could kind of give a little bit of overview about. How making these standards official impacts our ability to make decisions about future housing housing developments. There's been a lot of time spent on this staff. And planning commission and city council, and I wanted, I want the public to understand why we spend so much time on something like this and how it. potentially protects us moving forward as we, um, as new residential developments come in.

Yes. Thank you. Good evening mayor and council. Um, yeah, so the council's invested a significant amount of money and staff time in developing, um, what are very detailed guidelines, um, because the state of many state legislation in the past, um, five, six years has, um, emphasized streamlined housing approvals, ministerial approvals, which take a lot of discretion away from the Planning Commission and or Council when they're reviewing residential projects. And so by having guidelines that are objective and very specific and detailed, it protects the Council in the event that there is a project that doesn't come before the Planning Commission, doesn't come before the Council, There are standards that the council has adopted in place that those projects have to comply with, even if they're not going through a public hearing process. There are projects that will have to comply with this and will go through a public hearing process. But this is really protecting the city in the event of those ministerial and streamlined projects that don't necessarily come before the council. We still have some confidence that they will be built and look like the rest of the projects in Brentwood based on these standards. Now, Jennifer touched on density bonus projects and waivers and concessions. That still is a factor under state law where people can request to waive some of these standards if they're providing certain percentage of units as affordable and get a density bonus. nevertheless, they still will have to comply with the rest of the standards when they're moving those projects forward. So did that answer your question? Mayor is really a protection for some of these emphasis on taking away the discretion from the decision makers.

Thank you that 100% answered my question. It was kind of a clarification for the sake of the public and I appreciate that. And the explanation was very clear. Thank you. And I wanted to mention 1 more thing. I was in Sacramento over the weekend and frankly was appalled about some of their. Design standards or lack there of some of the apartment complexes I was seeing that on the outer walls had absolutely no elevation or design whatsoever. The color palettes that didn't match the styles that didn't line up or aligned with each other. I should say it was. um and forgive me anyone watching who's from sacramento or around the sun city council or staff there but it really is it was an example to me about why this these efforts were worth it the extra time and effort um because we really do want to have that much level of control over what what comes into our city and how those designs line up with each other and fit the design standards so um thank you to all of staff for all of your hard work on this

and um vice mayor if you're ready for that motion i'm ready now one quick question before that okay let's say we we have a development we're like oh my god we totally missed xyz can we come back and amend the ods okay perfect and then again i want to reiterate jennifer i know you've worked hell off on this and alexa so thank you so much for all the time invested i know that we again just i say we push you guys to the limits but i think it makes brentwood a better place to live and i really appreciate you thank you

Yeah, before I make a motion, I know we said we didn't have anything else. I was gonna add that, thank you for the exclamation. Can never say that word. No matter how much schooling you get, certain words just don't work. But I wanna thank you for that because we were, I know, I was super anxious and you all did it with limitless, like you looked like it was a walk in the park while we was trying to get our housing element certified. You did this simultaneously with getting the housing element certified. And so just thank you so much. As a member of Ludd, I know Jovita and I are really happy that you all were able to do this. And thank you for adding that extra layer of protection for the city. So I appreciate you as well.

Is it okay with the mayor? Is it okay if I make a comment real quick? I just wanted to note that Jennifer was recently promoted from senior planner to principal planner. It's the first time. The city has had a principal planner in about 10 years because of her excellent work on all the things you just mentioned the housing element, all the zoning code updates she's been working on the objective design standards. She's been working tirelessly on all these projects for three or four years now. And they all have been done, in my opinion, to excellent standards. And I just wanted to congratulate her and make a note of that, that we appreciate her.

Thank you, Alexis. Congratulations, Jennifer.

As detailed in the staff report, I move to introduce and waive the first reading of an ordinance approving text amendments to the Brentman Municipal Code related to the adoption of objective design standards for residential and mixed-use development.

And I'll second that.

And I'll read it quickly.

Sorry, can we please also, if you would like to include amendments to add section 2.64 regarding the electric transformers as well as make additions to chapter 3.1 to added shape structures to playgrounds.

Yes, thank you. I wrote that down and didn't say it, so I amend my motion to add the amendment to Section 2.64 and 3.1 to add the shade structures. Thank you. And I still second.

I'll read an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Brentwood approving a text amendment, RZ25.001, to amend the Brentwood Municipal Code relating to objective design standards for residential and mixed-use development to comply with state law and implement the city's housing elements.

And a roll call vote.

Council Member Maloney.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson. Yes. Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Council Member Orleman.

Yes.

Mayor Meyer.

Yes. This feels like it's been a very long time coming. And again, so much effort went into it. Thank you to everyone involved. Okay. Moving into item G3. Stacey Dempsey, Recreation Supervisor, will present the next item regarding Parks and Recreation Cost Allocation Plan and Schedule of City Fees.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. The item before you tonight is to consider adopting a resolution amending the City of Brentwood cost allocation plan and schedule of city fees relating to the timing of the Consumer Price Index adjustments and revisions to parks and recreation fees. Currently on July 1st of every year, most city fees are adjusted by an amount equal to the percentage of the CPI increase or decrease for that year. Because many of our recreation programs and facilities operate seasonally, we recommend staff bring these fee updates separately. So CPI adjustments do not occur in the middle of the season. We recommend those percentage increases instead take effect on November 1st for each year. For this fiscal year, the CPI increase is 1.39%. Facility rental fees also include the third year of a council approved five year phase in of deferred COVID era CPI adjustments for facility rentals. During the pandemic, those facility rental fees did not receive a CPI increase for three years, resulting in a cumulative deferred increase of 11.37%. This would be the third annual catch-up of 2.274% being applied this year, resulting in a total facility rental increase of 3.664%. Staff recommends maintaining current recreation program fees. Program fees are reviewed throughout the year and adjusted as necessary to meet council adopted cost recovery policies and remain competitive in the market. Staff also recommends continuing council's existing direction from 2022 for lifeguard certification and recertification courses. Those courses recover only direct certification costs and materials for the class with staffing and facility costs absorbed within our operating budget to support lifeguard recruitment efforts. We also recommend in continuing the council approved subsidy for the oldies but goodies program by maintaining a participant fee of $5. That's a program that provides socialization and arts and crafts opportunities for seniors in the area at a really, really reasonable rate. New for this year, we do have a recommendation of a new daily rental fee for the Second Street event lot to support special event uses and help offset operational and administrative costs. Additionally, we did identify that for the Brentwood Family Aquatic Complex, our refundable damage deposit was inadvertently increased by CPI last year. And so that fee should have stayed at $750 as we continue to keep our refundable damage deposits at a fixed rate. So we do recommend reducing that fee from $761 back down to $750. Finally, we recommend continuing to exempt the bingo permit fee from an annual CPI increase as state law prohibits charging over $50 for that particular fee. So our recommendation is to adopt a resolution amending the city of Brentwood 2025-2026 cost allocation plan and schedule of city fees related to the timing of the consumer price index adjustments, revisions to the parks and recreation fees, and finding that the proposed amendments do not constitute a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act. That concludes my presentation and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you Stacey any questions for staff one question on the parking lot, and I think there's been some talk about this when we do the commercial we're having a lot of people come in and. They don't have like a seller's fee a seller's license or thing like that are we checking to make sure that they have a seller's fee and then. do they have to have a Brentwood business license since they're doing business in Brentwood? They do.

So we typically, the event organizers are required to provide all of that information. So it's listed in their conditions of approval that they're required to have all of those things. They can apply for an umbrella license. If I think it's under four hours, they don't necessarily are required to pay as much if the event is longer, but they are required during that rental process and their conditions of approval. to provide all of, you know, to ensure that they have all of those seller's permits and business licenses.

How do we manage the sales tax? Do we get any sales tax when they're selling goods?

I'm not sure. I feel like that's a Carrie question. I'm able to briefly speak to that because we learned that from Damien when he was here. As to the sales tax, we don't monitor that. Sales tax is monitored by the French Franchise Tax Board. However, it's going to be based on what they report in their sales. So we are just operating under a, we hope that businesses actually report adequate sales that they receive. And then that gets transformed like any other sales tax that happens.

So I guess my understanding is there are ways that we can do it. We just don't do it as a city. This is speaking to Harold. There are ways to do it. So maybe that's something we can start exploring just to ensure we're not losing on those sales tax dollars if it's possible.

Absolutely. Right now, we don't require any sort of report out for sales for special event permits, but it's definitely something we can look into. OK, thank you. No questions.

I have a couple that are also related to the parking lot. That lot used to be used to expand free parking during events. Has that been considered if it's not being used otherwise?

Mayor, currently that lot is not being considered for overflow parking or free parking.

Okay, and then just to clarification, if you could explain how the rate for the daily rental was determined.

Sure, the base rate for that was the commercial rate, which was mirrored off of the daily rental rate for City Park, and then a quarter of the cost of the lease for that lot. So assuming that we have four Saturdays that might be rented out, so it was $675, which would be that commercial rate for City Park, and then $750, which is the quarter rate for the lease of the lot.

Madam Mayor, I do have one question to piggyback onto the question you just asked. Who will be enforcing the adequate parking for that lot over there? Will it be our police department, or are we going to go with the independent contractor for the enforcement of the parking in that lot?

So if I understand your your question can. I think it'll at this at this time the enforcement of that parking for special events. Is what you're asking about. So. I don't know if I have an immediate answer to that or if that's been contemplated by the park staff. So we may have to get back to you on that. I don't want to misspeak and say that our police department will do that or that we have a contractor that's going to be included. So I need to check on that.

I guess my question is, how did we handle it? I mean, we've always leased out that lot, subleased it, and we just had it open. There was no one that managed it. It was just an open parking lot that we subleased. And then if we needed it, like we used it for Oktoberfest and I can't, we just shut it down, right? I think that's what we did.

Yeah, so I think that that is the history and I recognize that. Again, I'm not sure if we've contemplated specifically around enforcement for that lot. I think we will need to kind of report back on that and have some additional conversations whether or not that will be included in our lease agreements and that they'll be required to provide security services, who will police a lot, or if we would, you know, obviously if there are any disturbances, our own police force would certainly be capable of helping with enforcement.

Thank you. I have a question in regards to that. Do we currently require private security to be hired by the actual event holder if it's more than a certain amount of people, or do we not?

Yeah. So depending on the number of people, depending on if they have alcohol, those things are all included in their conditions of approval. So they might require an agreement with private security or with PD or a solid waste agreement. It just depends on the kind of event that they're having. And those are all included in the special event process that goes to the special event review team. This fee here specifically is for the rental of the lot for special events to try and move those um to try and alleviate the use of city park for those for-profit events so that means there are certain vendors that would have to actually get a cup to use that if they have all those different so if they're renting it through us for that special event then they'll go through the special event process through our department um and depending on the use they may be required to have security they may be required to have you know a certain amount of trash it just depends on if they're serving food if they're serving alcohol got it thank you

There are no other questions for staff. We can open up the public hearing for this item.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have no requests in the council chamber for public comment, and I have no hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. I will now take a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. I'll second.

Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson?

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you. Any discussion items at this point or a motion?

Are you guys, do you want to discuss anything or? I'm ready to move on to a motion. I can make a motion. It's okay. She can go ahead. Oh, sorry. It's fine.

As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a resolution amending the City of Brentwood cost allocation plan and schedule of city fees. And I'll second.

Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orlemans?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you. The item is forward. Moving into business items, Charissa Fairbanks, Human Resources Director, will present the next item regarding the compensation for Terrence Davis during his service as Acting City Manager.

All right, thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. The item before you tonight is a resolution establishing temporary compensation for Terrence Davis during his service as Acting City Manager and formally documenting the Council's prior appointment of him to this role. This action ensures the city continues to have an active city manager, recognizes the additional responsibilities Mr. Davis has taken on, and provides clear public documentation of the council's decision. The salary for the acting city manager will be discussed and set by the council as part of this agenda item. Staff is available to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Teresa. Any questions for Teresa? Okay, moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. Danny.

Let's start with your lawyer, Madam Mayor. because he's playing to an audience of one and that one being you and our city is being placed at risk.

So this item is on compensation of the acting city manager, not the city attorney.

Oh, I know. Oh yeah. No, please stop my time because I am very clear about that. Why are we going to pay a man? more to do the job he was hired to do. He is the current city manager, and if I'm not mistaken, one of his responsibilities is to fill in for the city manager if and when the city manager is not available. The only exception is the termination of an employee in which the assistant becomes interim. As far as I know, there's no interim pay bump. If that were the case, are you paying our interim police chief additional money? To be chief. If anything, our chief is more deserving of a temporary pay raise. He's waiting for you to make a decision on who will be our chief for almost a year. This man is only filling the chair until the actual city manager returns. Or if you decide to fire the guy, then he would be interim. What is your lawyer telling you, Madam Mayor? If it were me and I was placed on administrative leave and see what the council is doing, I would be licking my chops. After all, we've had another person sitting in the city manager's chair who also had a harassment charge levied. This man was allowed to work during his investigation. Out of respect for the victim, I will not disclose.

Madam Mayor, these comments are not about compensation.

They go right to the point, Madam Mayor.

I'll allow it for a few more seconds. If it does not go to compensation, we'll have to move on.

Okay, fair enough. As I said, out of respect for the victim, I will not disclose the outcome, but you know what I'm talking about, and now you know I know. I digress. Help me understand this unprecedented item. You're giving this man more money to do the job he's being paid to do. Here's a hypothetical. What if he turns down the money? What do you do? anyone i hope you discuss that i don't know how your lawyer madam mayor got you to sign off on this i really don't this is when i say unprecedented i mean unprecedented what's the use of having an assistant anybody If they're going to, one of their responsibilities is to fill in temporarily, not get extra money for it. God in heaven, I'd love to have that job because I fill city manager, I mean, manager roles. I'm sure the vice mayor would love money acting mayor.

I have no additional cards in person, I do have one hand raised in zoom since Jana go ahead.

Good evening again um I know that. We're having all these discussions that are on topic, off topic. What it's very clear to me is that we're wasting money and we're wasting time on things that are not relevant and are not serving our community. What we need to do in this city is to keep our community safe. and serve our residents whomever is in what seat it doesn't really matter and it doesn't concern any resident if you ask anybody in this uh on uh downtown on our streets who's the city manager today they won't even know If you ask anybody in downtown or in the street today, the name of our city manager, they won't even be able to tell you. What they know is that our streets are not safe. Our streets have potholes. People are speeding. We don't have the fifth bit. And we need economic development and we need jobs in our city. So let's focus on what's important and not spend city council's time on things that don't matter. so let's get back to basics and do what's beneficial for our residents that's all i'm asking and low knock road like i said it's still in a limbo so we need answers and i really appreciate your time and attention to or it's beneficial for our city and for its residents. Thank you so much.

I have no additional hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda city attorney Smith or interim director of human resources. Teresa Fairbanks and either of you offer any clarification for. Why appointing an acting city manager. Is important to the running to the operations of the city.

Yes. Yes, Mayor. So I'll step in first and Teresa can feel free to elaborate under Chapter 2.36, Section 0.60 entitled Temporary Manager. It states that in the case of the absence or disability of the city manager or his or her failure to appoint a manager pro tempore, the city council will designate any qualified person to perform the duties of the city manager. And so the process is outlined in the municipal code and it is as straightforward as that. Thank you.

I don't have anything else to add to that. It is in the muni code.

And Ms. Fairbanks, are you now acting or interim? I do get those mixed up and could you please explain the difference between the two?

Correct, so my official right now, I'm the interim, and interim typically means when the position is vacant, you have a person acting in that, or you have the person provisionally interim in the role. Sometimes those terms tend to get used interchangeably, so it can be confusing. Sometimes the term acting can be used if a position is let's say filled. So like in Terrence Davis's case, the position of city manager is technically filled. So then the term acting city manager is used.

Thank you. Um, if we are now moving into, um, the council discussion, I do have a recommendation. I'm happy to make that now, unless there's other discussion happening.

I just have a through the mayor. I'm so sorry. Can I ask for a motion to close the vote?

I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion to close the public hearing. And I'll second that. This wasn't a public hearing.

You're right. I'm just really trying to butt into the conversation. I appreciate the motion and I withdraw it. Thank you.

Thank you, Amanda.

It's unnecessary. It's a business item, not a public hearing.

Okay.

Um, I just want my discussion is Terrence. I want to thank you for stepping up when we need you to. I appreciate you doing that, Thomas. Thank you for bringing all of your knowledge and helping us through this situation as well. I appreciate you both very much. Thank you.

Other discussion items and I'm going to make a recommendation. Anyone can turn it into a motion if they would like.

I would like to mention, Terrence hit the ground running. The minute he got here, both feet on the ground, yes, as the assistant city manager, going to meetings, going up to the John Marsh House, getting both feet in, stepping in at every one of my meetings with Harold when it was okay, trying to learn, trying to get that education. I appreciate you stepping into that role, and it makes this decision just that much easier. Thank you.

The other comments or discussion points. Yeah, no, thank you. And again, a reminder to anyone listening that these approvals do happen through a majority vote. Not 1 single person can ever make any policy on their own. I would like to recommend that City Council approve a temporary 8% increase above Terrence's assistant city manager salary as of June 16th, 2026. When he started taking on these duties, this increase would be.

You are mute Madam Mayor.

She's frozen. 3% salary increase effective July 1st, 2026.

Madam Mayor, can you repeat that again? Can you start over? You froze for quite a significant amount of time after the 8%.

After this, the second, okay, so this proposed 8% increase, that part?

Yes.

Thank you. This proposed 8% increase reflects both the increased responsibilities Terrence has assumed as acting city manager and the fact that if Terrence had remained in his assistant city manager position, he would have been eligible for a 3% salary increase effective July 1, 2026. This recommendation does not include a cost of living adjustment and remains subject to confirmation by Human Resources and Finance regarding payroll, salary schedule, and CalPERS reporting requirements. Madam mayor, I would also like to add sorry, I would also like to add my appreciation for Terrence because he has done a very good job at stepping in and making sure that the city operates smoothly and the needs of staff and council and residents are being met. So, Terrence, you've done a wonderful job. We do appreciate you. And this could be turned into a motion if if that would make it easier for everyone.

I'm prepared to make a motion, Madam Mayor. Before I make that motion, may I have permission? I just want to add one little thing that I've already told Terrence, but I'd like to publicly say I thank him for his time and his service to the city of Brentwood. He's been extremely professional. I've had the opportunity to watch him serve in his roles over public works and over the Parks and Rec Department. And I appreciate your service. I appreciate your level of professionalism. And I appreciate you creating a space where all of us council members feel included and part of the process we should. And I'm sure the public will get to know you a lot more. I also want to say that I appreciate our residents who have shown up to talk more about concerns for our finances. I don't want to make you all feel bad about talking about it because I appreciate you talking about your concerns for our finances. It's very typical that when someone steps into an acting or interim role that they do get a percentage of a pay rate because they're moving into a little bit more responsibility. And so on that basis, I'm prepared to make a motion. I move to adopt a resolution approving A temporary compensation for Terrence Davis during his service. Oh, I must say this. Mr. Davis and I have the same last name, but we are not related. So I'm not making money moves for Mr. Davis while I'm up here. All right. I'll rewind back. I move to adopt a resolution approving the temporary compensation for Terrence Davis during his service as acting city manager and memorializing the city council's appointment of an 8% increase above his current pay subject to confirmation by the Human Resources and Finance Department. And I'll second that. Second that.

But does it need to be temporary increase?

That's what the staff says, the temporary compensation.

Right. I know it's just the motion didn't use the word temporary, so I wasn't sure if it needed to be added.

It did. I said temporary compensation. Yeah, I read it said temporary compensation. Madam Mayor.

Second part. All right. Then I will second that. And can we get a roll call vote, please?

Council Member Maloney.

Thank you, Terrence. And yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson.

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Council Member Orleman.

Yes.

Mayor Meyer.

Yes. Thank you very much, Terrence. And thank you, Teresa, for putting this together. And we are going to take a short break. I will say five minutes. If that is sufficient. Is that sufficient, Council? There was a request for this. They're giving thumbs up. Thank you. Is everyone ready to go? Let's go. Okay. Item H two. Aaron London park maintenance manager will present the next item regarding a notice of completion for Heron park playground replacement.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. This item is the Heron Park Playground Replacement, CIP 35252455, and the notice of completion for the project. A LITTLE OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT. THE HERON PARK WAS BUILT IN 2006. SO IT'S OBVIOUSLY AT THAT 20-YEAR MARK. THE ORIGINAL THEME WAS A KIND OF A SHIP PLAY STRUCTURE, AN OLDER MODEL. AND IT SHOWED LOTS OF SIGNS OF WEAR AND TEAR. SO IT WAS DEFINITELY IN NEED OF REPLACEMENT. THE ANNUAL Playground replacement list and formation of an ad hoc were approved by the Park and Rec Commission at the April 24th Park and Rec Commission meeting in 2025. The two ad hoc committee members included Commissioner Sandy Myers and our past Vice Chair Michelle Gallardo. The ad hoc committee, along with city staff and the selected vendor, which ended up being Specific Play Equipment Company, collaborated during the months of July and August of 2025 to finalize the conceptual park design. Once approved with the committee, it was taken to the Park and Recreation Commission as a full body on August 28th, 2025, which it was approved unanimously. City Council then approved the contract award to the Yoso Group Incorporated, which is a specific play equipment company, at the October 28th, 2025 City Council meeting. The project was completed in accordance with the approved spec plans and specifications in late May. scope of work included as i had mentioned it originally was built in 06 and included a small boat theme that was a design for younger kids and at the 20-year mark obviously showing signs of wear and tear so the commission uh through the ad hoc uh designed a new uh heron as a as in bird heron uh nature slash uh slash nature themed playground um which included two open side slides and various musical and sensory play amenities the this new structure also included two separate play features one for five to twelve and one for two to five year olds. The existing swings at the park, we were able to keep those in place. They just were repainted and refurbished. And actually we're able to add an ADA swing to the bucket swing bay. That item is on order. And as soon as it's in, it will be installed. The schedule and budget, obviously I had mentioned the award of the contract went to Specific Play Equipment Company on October 25th, 2025, at which time the demolition of the play structure began on December 30th, 2025. Once again, Park staff did that demo, saving the project quite a bit of money. And then we had a completion date, as I mentioned, in late May of 2026. Final cost for the project was just a little over $403,000, which was quite a bit under the original budget of, approved budget, I should say, of 442, excuse me, 444,000, including the contingency. This project was funded by the Parks and LLAD Replacement Fund. Before and after slides, obviously the somewhat ship themed was very minimal and only a two story. If that it's more like a one and a half story with two worn out slides and the slides show they do the worn out port in place the rubberized surfacing shows a lot of wear and tear and it had just kind of an old climbing feature on it. the new structure which is quite a bit more massive and includes the two structures like i had mentioned is a three-story and has two very large uh circular slides going down as you can see the the name heron park was incorporated into the design as well as pictures of herons and other nature elements as you see in the middle the slide Swings were refurbished, so there's the two original belt swings. When I say refurbished, they all receive new chains, new belts, and paint. You can't see the ADA swing because one, it's not in the picture, and two, it's not in yet. But you can see where that little bucket swing is. The ADA swing will be right next to that one. that other picture is the two to five the smaller structure which has a couple of small slides on it but then the inclusive sensory items which are musically musical elements for the sensory staff is recommending that the work performed by spec be accepted and that the notice of completion be filed with the county recorder I'm here for any questions.

Thank you, Aaron. Any questions for staff? Okay, if not, actually, I have a quick question, Aaron. If the ADA swing is not yet in place, but we approve the completion, is there any impact of that?

No, not at all. It's on order and it's, again, as soon as it comes in, it'll be installed.

Great. Thank you for clarifying. Any other questions for Aaron? Okay, moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have one speaker in person, Oksana.

Just wanted to come up and say a huge thank you again. Want to represent all the families with young children have four little ones. I absolutely love that park for the big old loop. So we go there often and just want to say a really huge thank you to staff in the city for investing into our parks. Thank you.

We have no additional speakers in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. Moving into Council discussion and closing public comments.

I just wanna say thank you to staff for all your hard work on this. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, I also wanna reiterate, thank you so much. I think our parks are fantastic and you came in under budget, which is always great. And so the public knows that money goes back into the park fund for that LLAD, correct?

Yes, it goes back into the playground replacement fund.

So that does not go back into the general fund. So it's not like it's extra. It's just people know how the finances of that work.

Correct.

Yeah. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And I'm prepared to make a motion if Madam Mayor would like me to.

Sure. Also, in addition to thanking staff, because it looks wonderful and everyone's obviously enjoying it, I also wanted to thank the Parks and Rec Commissioners for their specific attention on this project. And it is beautiful. They did a great job, too. And please move forward, Vice Mayor.

As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt the resolution accepting the work performed by Specific Play Equipment Company for Heron Park Playground Replacement, CIP project number 352-52455. I'll second.

Councilmember Maloney?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Orliman? Yes. Mayor Meyer?

Yes, thank you.

Motion passes.

Moving into item H3, Anju Pillai, Engineering Manager, will present the next item regarding a professional services agreement, the architectural pre-design services for the vineyards at Marsh Creek Event Center slash amphitheater.

Good evening, honorable mayor, council members. I'm Anju Pillay, engineering manager. I'm here to present before you item H3 related to the contract award for the pre-design services for the vignettes at Marsh Creek's theater slash event center slash amphitheater phase one project. As you know, this is a project site which is located west of Vignettes Parkway between Rousseau Place and Miwok Avenue. Going into the project timeline, the project was first evaluated as part of the Vignettes at Marsh Creek development back in 2004. And over the years, CIP was created and feasibility studies were completed for both an event center and amphitheater. City awarded the contract to DLR group to do the architectural design services in 2021 and rainy planning and management was awarded the environmental study contract. The project was envisaged in three different phases, which included an event lawn and amphitheater and even center along with the parking lot. In 2025, DLR Group developed 30% design plans for a reduced capacity amphitheater, promenade, and parking lot, and the estimated cost exceeded the available budget. in the same meeting in august 12 2025 city council directed staff to spend time and resources for gathering information for the creation design development and construction of a 10 000 square foot or similar sized multi-use theater and or event center including the use of funds and costs associated with the possibility of moving the theater and or event center forward in the parking lot increasing the number of parking spaces and adding a food truck area. The report shall also include information about partnership and or management of the theater event center by a third party. With that direction, now the current phases of the project includes the phase one, which will be a parking lot and a multi-use theater slash event center. And phase two will be an up to 750 seat amphitheater with an expanded parking lot. So in order to start the current phase one on March 19, 2026, the city issued a request for qualifications from qualified consultants for architectural pre-design services for the project to engage qualified design consultant to gather the information for the creation, design, development of phase one event center. The city received three proposals and determined that WMP architects was the most qualified to do the work based on experience, project understanding, proposed approach and demonstrated ability to successfully deliver similar projects. The scope of work includes primarily the following items listed, which is to perform the market analysis for the facility program development, develop cost estimates, conceptual planning and design, financial and operation feasibility, research on potential public-private partnerships. Staff also negotiated with WMB to provide a midpoint check-in with Council after the market analysis and facility program development and prior to the development of the conceptual plans. This will give Council an opportunity to understand the facility that is being recommended and provide feedback. So with that, staff is recommending that the City Council approve the professional service agreement with WMB Architects for the architectural pre-design services in the amount of $258,775 plus a 10% contingency of $25,878 for a total funding authorization not to exceed amount of $284,653 for the Vignettes at Marsh Creek Event Center slash Amphitheater project. cip number 337-37231 and authorizing the city manager to designate to execute the agreement in a form approved by the city attorney with that um we are happy to answer any questions thank you anju any questions

No, I have one question. One, thank you so much, Angie. It's always a privilege to see you. Pleasure to see you. But I did not see, I'm wondering, where is it that you all didn't put in 2023, the 2024, the vice mayor used early AI to develop designs for you? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, I was talking about the lovely design that I gave you all that we should utilize. We could save some money here.

It was awesome.

So anyway, messing with you. Thank you for that. That was a great report. I'm excited by this one.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Any, any questions? Okay, moving into public comment, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have no public comment cards in person and I have no hands raised in Zoom.

Okay. Through the mail, there is a hand.

Yes, one raised as soon as I declared. If you don't mind, Mayor, we can allow the public comment to speak.

Yes, the hand was raised while the yeah, while that was happening. Thank you.

Since you want to go ahead.

Hi, good evening again. I am excited to see this moving forward. I hope we're not going to give in to all the naysayers for this amphitheater. We know there have been a lot of opposition to um this project hopefully uh we're just gonna push it through and uh yeah Please no chat GPT plans. We want real brains to go into planning it and have a real design. And let's go Brentwood. I'm only saying this because it seems to go... to and really work for revitalization of San Francisco. So let's try to adopt this slogan for Brentwood as well. So let's go Brentwood and let's get this amphitheater and materialize it for our city. I'm really looking forward to see this coming to fruition this project. That's only been, I don't know, almost 30 years. So. Looking forward to to see it coming through. Thank you.

I have no additional hands raised.

Thank you, Amanda. Any council discussion on this item?

I just have some quick comments. I know that. We had the design from the vice mayor. Just a couple of topics, because we had talked about this needs to be able to pay for itself, and it's not always going to be used as a theater that will be in the evenings. So I'd like to be able to capitalize on daytime for conferences and things like that. We had talked about adding a kitchen will probably increase the value for rental. So if we could put on the list the options of adding a kitchen or not, and what is the maximum size we can do? We know that the chamber had to leave Brentwood because there wasn't a venue big enough to hold an event for them. So if we can maximize the size and then maximize the revenue possibilities by adding a kitchen, I think that if we could, those are kind of my wish list. If not, then I get it. But those are the two things that I just thought of. Yeah.

Yes, thank you. Council member Mendoza just to we'll make note of that moving forward as well as there will be opportunities with the architect. They would that actually architectural team will be running stakeholder meetings that will really help us to give the public and city council as well. A chance to provide some kind of. exactly what you said. We're really looking forward to that opportunity to help determine what this multi-use building and event center would look like.

Just because I'd like for it to be able to, I know we've worked the fields about them paying for themselves and I just like for this to be able to pay for itself just in order to be financially healthy. So that's it.

Thank you. And Alan, can you clarify if we have an estimate about how long the turnaround will be on this design coming back?

I'll check with Anju to see if we have a tentative schedule.

Yes, they do. They did provide a schedule. So at the moment, the complete analysis would be with the final presentation is anticipated after eight months. But in the meantime, there will be Midpoint check in with council to see what the market analysis and feasibility studies have shown in regards to what what events can happen in that event center. So, if the council does not have any feedback, or if there is additional feedback during the midpoint check in the conceptual designs, and everything should be done by the end of 8 months.

Thank you any other discussion or emotion.

I can make the motion if we're ready. As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a resolution approving a professional service agreement with WMB Architects for the architectural pre-design services in the amount of $258,775 plus 10% contingency of $25,878 for a total funding authorization not to exceed amount of $284,653 for the Vineyards at Marsh Creek Event Center Amphitheater Project. I'll second.

Council Member Maloney?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orliman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes, thank you. I'm excited about that item moving forward. We are going to be moving H4, pushing that out to a date uncertain is I believe the request. Amanda or Terrance, can you clarify if there was a date for this?

madam mayor that is not correct we because this is an aggregate item uh the request today is for one of the contracts that are listed here uh specifically uh the contract for michelle lassie consulting in the amount of uh seven uh 79 996 that that contract be pushed into a date uncertain we will bring that back staff needs to do some additional analysis on that that contract is for our better in Brentwood but the rest of the entirety of the items uh can move forward tonight

Okay, thank you. Terrence then moving into item age for Christine Andrews, assistant director of finance and information systems will present the next item regarding agreements for ongoing and or recurring purchases with specific vendors for fiscal year. 202627.

Good evening again, honorable mayor and members of the city council. Tonight, staff is presenting the fiscal year 2627 requests for council authorization of agreements, amendments, purchase orders, and change orders anticipated to exceed $50,000 for goods and services within the city manager's authority, as well as legal and personnel investigative services exceeding $75,000 within the city attorney's authority. These requests are for routine and reoccurring purchases and services necessary to support the city's day-to-day operations and service delivery throughout fiscal year 26-27. The city's purchasing policy requires city council approval for purchases of goods and services exceeding $50,000 and legal services exceeding 75,000. Prior to the start of each fiscal year, the policy requires city council approval of regular and recurring purchases and services that are expected to exceed these thresholds. to promote transparency and oversight any new service, new category of goods or vehicle purchases exceeding these thresholds must be presented to the city council through a separate staff report for review and approval. This annual consolidated report streamlines the approval process by reducing the number of individual staff reports that would otherwise be brought before the city council throughout the year. Exhibit A provides a detailed list of vendors that provide ongoing and recurring goods and services along with the estimated not to exceed amounts requested for fiscal year 26-27. When applicable, bid tabulations documenting solicited quotations have also been included. approval of this resolution does not guarantee expenditure of the authorized amounts, rather it establishes maximum spending authority for budgeted purchases and services should operational needs require their use. All purchases remain subject to the available appropriations, applicable purchasing requirements and the limitations established by the purchasing policy, signature authority policy and exhibit A. This item does not increase the operating budget or authorized spending beyond the amounts already approved within the adopted operating and capital improvement program budgets. Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the regular and recurring purchases and services with the vendors and in the amounts detailed in Exhibit A. Each department remains responsible for ensuring purchases are necessary, budgeted, and compliant with all applicable purchasing requirements and city policies. Representatives from all departments are available this evening to answer any questions the Council may have regarding their respective requests. Thank you, and that concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Christine. Any questions for staff? No questions mayor. Okay, moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. We received one written public comment in advance of tonight's meeting, which is summarized on the screen. I do have one request to speak in person. Allie.

Good evening. Oh, sorry. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Allie Rolfes. I'm an account manager with Verda Marketing, and I'm also a proud Brentwood native. I grew up here. I'm a Heritage High School graduate. My dad's also been the principal at Brentwood Elementary for several years. And while I currently live in San Jose, I frequently return here to Brentwood to visit my family. and i'm strongly and closely connected to the community i just wanted to come here tonight to introduce myself and share that connection that i have with brentwood ahead of the council's future consideration of the better and brentwood contract the marketing contract this city and the process matter deeply to me and i appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening thank you for your time and your service to brentwood

I have no additional cards in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. Moving into council discussion.

I have one question. I noticed this comes up every year, I think. And I do believe at one point, Sakari was working on giving us some feedback because of it. And I know we can't discuss it at this meeting, but maybe we can bring it back. Are we actualizing the expenditure of 1.3 on animal services through a contract with Contra Costa County Animal, whatever it is, services they utilize?

Yeah, so that's the amount that's provided by the county to pay for that service.

I knew that she was looking into something. So first, I mean, maybe it needs to be a future agenda item request, but I know that there was something about us doing our own thing and I know Sakaria looked into it and didn't know what the cost associated with that would, but it'd be nice to know that because I remember it came up every year when we did this and that amount seems to keep getting larger. So I'd like to find out more information about that.

Yes, and we'll look back to, I think Sakari did report back on that. My sense was that running our own shelter would be quite a bit more expensive, but I would want to go back and see what the research was on that.

Thank you so much. I will say that I believe Antioch is reviewing that tonight because they have it in-house, and it's so expensive that even though it's expensive to do it through the county, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's still cheaper to do county versus in-house.

Yeah, Carrie's nodding. I just don't remember what the report out was, and so it'd be nice to get an update on that. Thank you.

Any other discussion on this item or a motion?

I can make a motion. As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a resolution authorizing the execution of certain agreements and other necessary documents for ongoing and or recurring purchases with specified vendors for fiscal year 26-27, the amounts exceeding $50,000, and authorizing the execution of certain legal services and personnel investigative service agreements and related documents in the amounts of exceeding $75,000, with the exception of the agreement with Michelle Lasso Consulting, which shall be brought back at a date uncertain for council consideration. I second that.

Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you. Moving into item H5. Amanda face city clerk will present the next item regarding amendments to the city council meeting rules and procedures and implementation of Senate bill 707 requirements.

good evening mayor and council tonight i am bringing forward the sb 707 i know it's been discussed among council just in general across the state 707 was signed into law in october of 2025 and it's been implemented in two separate phases the first phase took place on january 1 2026 and the second phase is coming up this july 2026. The purpose is to modernize and clarify provisions of the Brown Act. It expands public access and participant requirements. It establishes procedures for addressing technology disruptions during meetings and it consolidates and clarifies remote participation provisions for elected officials. Oh, I skipped right past that one. So phase one, January the first of the year, because so much of what was adopted, the city was already enacting. So it didn't, there wasn't much obvious change to you. A copy of the Brown Act was provided to the city council and to all city commissioners. There was an update regarding verbal reports on executive and department head compensation. That's a matter that HR does address during these council meetings when they have those items come before council. There was a sunset that was removed on social media rules. Previous legislation stating that legislative members may use social media to, I skipped right past it, I'M NOT USED TO CONTROLLING MY OWN SCREEN. I APOLOGIZE. SO THE SUNSET REMOVED THE SOCIAL MEDIA RULES THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY STATED THAT LEGISLATIVE MEMBERS MAY USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO SHARE OR GATHER INFORMATION SO LONG AS THEY DO NOT DISCUSS AGENCY BUSINESS WITH EACH OTHER OR RESPOND TO EACH OTHER'S POSTS ABOUT THESE MATTERS. THIS WAS SUBJECT TO EXPIRE IN JUNE, BUT 707 REMOVES THAT SUNSET AND MAKES IT A PERMANENT PROVISION. Additionally, there are updated and expanded remote participation rules related to Just Cause and disability accommodations. We've been abiding by these updated regulations, including that all members of our Brown Act-governed bodies remain within those allowable uses of the Just Cause provisions. Finally, on this slide, authority regarding disruptive meeting behavior has been extended to remote participants. we've limited the need for this provision by limiting public comment to agendized items however sb 707 will require that we allow remote participation throughout the entire part of the meeting this includes the general public comment so this uh this ability to address disruptive behavior to our remote participants the same way we would for our public participants is a huge It's a huge aid for providing, sorry, I lost my place again, I apologize. It allows the meeting to continue as needed. So now we're in phase two, July 1st, 2026, and this is imposed on eligible legislative bodies. The city of Brentwood has a population of more than 30,000, so it designates us as a legislative or an eligible legislative body held to these standards of phase two under 707. This requires that mandatory remote public meeting participation. So many agencies, this has been the biggest challenge for bringing in 707, but fortunately Brentwood's update to our council chamber in 2022 was built around the concept of hybrid meeting participation. So we have been prepared for this since our return to the council chamber in 2022. The legislation for this was actually written with a sunset of January 1, 2030, but it is unlikely that that will not be readdressed and revoked in future provisions. So we anticipate that fully remote and hybrid meetings will continue to be the set standard. Additionally, we are required to adopt a policy on addressing disruption of telephonic or internet service. With the requirement of remote meeting participation, 707 requires that agencies adopt a policy establishing a procedure addressing disruption of the telephonic or internet service. If a disruption occurs with the Zoom connection, the mayor or city clerk will announce there is a disruption. The meeting will recess while staff attempts to restore service. SB 707 requires that staff makes a reasonable and in good faith effort toward troubleshooting which may involve restarting equipment or backup systems or even attempting to utilize an alternate platform. The meeting will remain in recess for at least one hour or until the service is restored. If the service is restored, the meeting can continue. If after one hour the service is not restored, the council may either choose to adjourn to a future date or to continue the meeting in person. The next requirement under 707 is that public meetings have their own web page on city's websites. The city of Brentwood has had an established web page for our meetings, agendas, and we also have the required homepage link, which is accessible on our website's homepage. The public interpretation assistance with regard to public comment, the city currently complies with these provisions as well by allowing additional time for an interpretation to occur during public comments. We allow double the speaker timer if an individual requires translation services during their public comment. The last piece here is agenda translation. Agenda translation is not required within Brentwood because the thresholds have not been met to require that. And those thresholds are based on the most recent US Census Bureau reports. In addition to the SB 707 requirements that we've gone through, we did make additional changes to the meeting rules and procedure policy, one being the order of business. I know Mayor Meyer has been consistently requesting that we move the informational reports. Even prior to her term, informational reports had been requested to be moved towards the end of the agenda. So we are making that change with this update. The other change is public comment speaker time. SB 707 expands remote access and public participation requirements. We anticipate this will increase the volume of public comment, both in person and through the remote participation platforms. To maintain the efficiency and to ensure that all speakers have an opportunity to be heard, staff recommends that the City Council consider reducing the speaker time limit from five minutes to three minutes. With that, staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution amending the City Council meeting rules and procedure policy to establish procedures for responding to technical disruptions affecting public access during public meetings and to accept additional and administrative amendments to reflect current practices and procedures. Any questions?

Thank you, Amanda. What questions do we have? When it comes to that says the link on the homepage, is that a link for the meeting or is that a link to agendas?

That's a link. It's actually, it could be both, but the requirement is to the web page. So it would be to the meetings information page, which on our website, we actually have a link to both that you're referencing. We have a link that goes to the meeting home or meeting and agenda homepage. And then below that, the events has a link. Those events have a link to our, those direct agendas as well.

Okay. Thank you. And I have one question. The public interpretation assistance, is it required of us as a city to have an interpreter or interpretation services or is the public member bring their own interpreter with them?

The city isn't required, if we're not provided advance notice that the interpretation service is requested, we're not required to have them immediately available, but we are required to accommodate if they do have and if there's someone in the audience or that they brought with them that can translate, even if they're not a professional translator, we're required to accommodate them to use those services that are available.

Thank you.

I wanted to just have you clarify if you don't mind what, if any controls council has, or you have, if we end up with a zoom bomb situation again.

Yes, and that is covered under our authority regarding the disruptive behavior. You would have to give the public, the speaker a warning stating that they're in violation of our standards or their language is inappropriate. We would provide you with specific language for that type of situation, but you would have to provide them a warning and let them know that if this behavior continues, you will be removed from the meeting.

Okay, thank you. And this is not necessarily based on someone who is, for example, swearing. It's more like threatening behavior or inappropriate discriminatory behavior. Is that correct?

Correct. We do get cornered a little bit with freedom of speech, so it would have to be something further out that is more of a threatening manner.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions for Amanda? I have a question about that. So when we're in the chambers, the mayor can stop the person. Will the mayor have a mute button or can they stop the person or do they have to rely on you?

Yeah, I can. I'm happy to work with the mayor so that she has access to mute when we are in Zoom as panel. Well, I can create a co-host situation if that's something that the mayor wishes to have direct control over. Happy to to work that into our meeting procedures, if that's what you'd like, or if we have a standard. code of some kind or an acknowledgement that is requesting that I mute because I do understand we should mute and pause the timer so that the mayor can have the opportunity to address the disruption.

Yeah, I think it's just something that maybe you too, because I see you all looking at each other sometimes.

So in the council chamber, the mayor does have access to mute the podium.

Okay. Thank you.

You'll have to show me how to do that. I don't even I didn't even know I had that. Any other questions before we move to public comments? Okay, moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have one comment in person, Oksana.

Thank you so much. So yeah, just to clarify like disruptive behavior, I think I've spoken about like bullying language and attitudes and things like that, like versus passionate debate conversation. I know there's a lot of language and policies that are going thrown out like hate speech or anti-hate and things like that. And is there gonna be like a broader definition of what that looks like from public comment versus like free speech, you know, which we're addressing and, Is there going to be like more clarity around what that looks like and if it's going to be defined? I guess that would be my only question. And then the other thing is when we do zoom in, we have an option to put in our name and email address. Is there an option to put like we are a Brentwood resident? Because it seems like anybody from anywhere could call in and it would be nice to kind of see if these are Brentwood residents or people outside of Brentwood and wanting to have opinions about what's going on in our town. So I think this would be some important information to navigate with public comments and the World Wide Web. Thank you so much.

I have no additional speakers in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. I will say, I think on a fairly regular basis, there are people that make comments on a wide variety of items and may say that they are Brentwood residents and may not be. I think it's, I'm not sure if that would actually help us to establish where someone was from. But Amanda, do you have any responses that would clarify any other questions that we've heard?

Sure, as far as, oh, go ahead.

I was going to say in terms of, you know, the question about whether we could have people state their residence, they're not required to state their residence or even their name when they make a public comment. So that's not a requirement that we could insert in the policy.

That's exactly what I was going to say. Thank you for exactly what I was going to say for that piece. And then we do have a definition of disruption or trying to find it in IN THE POLICY ITSELF. THERE IS A DEFINITION FOR DISRUPTION AND IT MEANS ANY INTERRUPTION, OUTAGE, THIS ONE IS SORRY THAT WAS disruption for technology, but we do have a portion for decorum that the members of the public would, it's included in the agenda and on the speaker cards as well. As far as specific language, again, freedom of speech limits us from addressing anything specific to hate speech or things of that nature. So we wouldn't, we can't define hate speech.

Thank you, Amanda.

Any council discussion on this item?

I just want to say I think it's so interesting that a couple of years ago, Tony and I both asked to move the informational reports to the end of the agenda and we were demonized and yelled at and talked disparaged. So I just want to bring that up that people love it now. But when we brought it up, it was like we brought the worst thing ever. The other thing I want to bring up is I want to personally thank our city clerk. and all of the administrative staff who really helped me through. I was a victim of ableism. And I want to bring light to this because I feel like, yes, when you step in this light as an elected official, you expect that some people, you know, they say half of the people like you, half will hate you. And and I'm OK with that. You don't have to like me. But to demonize someone or to treat them horrible because they live with a disability is ridiculous. I live with an invisible disability every single day. had major surgery without going into medical details that disallowed me from being in chambers. But because I was committed to the job, I still made sure that I showed up on the council meetings on Zoom and a coward in our city consistently waste airtime on social media to make lousy videos that nobody really cares about, but maybe one or two people to bully and attack someone for their disability is rather disgusting to me. In a city where we say it really means a lot to us to be inclusive with the mayor creating the Age and Disability Friendly Committee that I've been so proud to serve on, I am just beyond myself that we have people who still attack me. I'm sure the mayor won't be attacked for being wherever she is for whatever reason, which is her business. But when I was medically disabled and not able to sit physically here, I even heard people say, well, they have a handicapped wheelchair ramp. So she needs to get her ASS in there immediately. And that was really disgusting. Amanda, Sid, all of you guys, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for making sure we were consistent with SB 707, making sure that I followed the rules and regulations about how I report it. I cannot say to you that during one of the toughest times after surgery, you guys made sure, and I even have to give it up to Katie, who also from her city attorney role made sure that I was following all the rules, that I was making sure I left space for me to be able to get here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I will keep saying that forever. Thank you so much.

you guys for other comments i'm just glad we can do general public comment on i wanted that forever and i couldn't get the vote so now the state says we got to do it so i'm happy about it so for people who say you got to be in chambers no you don't we have working moms we have people that can't drive at night we have all of these different type of people that have reasons why they can't come in and um we want to hear all of their voices when we're voting. So I'm excited about this. Thank you for all of your work. I know it's been some work to put it all together. And thank you to our IT team who does everything for us to be able to do this. So thank you.

Can I break in and ask, did I freeze?

No, Jovita did on screen, but you didn't. I still saw your lip moving. You're fine.

Okay, thank you. Other comments from Council on this item? I have some to make as well.

No, none from me. Council Member Orlemans?

No.

Thank you. I will say that this is definitely something that Brentwood has done well from the beginning and that's one of the things I was fighting for as well. when we came back from COVID and most cities at that point decided that you did have to be in person. But we were very, very specific to say that now we wanted to accommodate people that, again, if they have a disability, if they're not able to drive at night, if they have low visibility at night, if they have young children at home, if they're commuting a long way, Um, any 1 of these reasons and more, but if you can't make it into the chambers, but you still want to take part in your city government, you should be able to do so. And so. I'm proud of us for for staying with that and and when we've had push back on those things for sticking to our guns on it. So, I think that's a really good thing. I would also like to say to that. I think. 1 of the hard things about being in service in this way is that people are. they're reacting in large part to what they're seeing without knowing any kind of backstory, any additional information. And so I do think what the Vice Mayor is talking about regarding her disability, her invisible disability, is it is a challenge. It should be something that if you have a disability and there is an allowance for that, there should not be any kind of hate directed at that activity if it's allowable, and it is. So I think what's hard too is I think people are making assumptions based on what they're seeing and maybe don't know the whole entire story. But the hard thing is we are not always required to share an entire story of what's going on in our lives if we're not able to make it in. My reason for being out today was a very clear You're allowed to take a remote meeting here and there. It didn't have anything other than other than to do with my day job. But I think it is important to note that there are times when people are making assumptions because they don't have all the facts. So. I appreciate this item. I appreciate staff working hard and Amanda and getting this all lined up for us. I know that. Brett was in an easier place right now than some of our other cities. I want to say to, um, I was talking to a mayor of another study recently was telling me that. They allow, and they're not the only ones, um, 20 minutes of public comment in the beginning of the meeting. And if it, if it goes beyond that, anybody else has to wait to the end of the meeting to make public comments. So, um, I feel like we have done a good job at being accessible in that way. And I think you've made some good decisions when it comes to that. With that, if there are no other comments and someone wants to make a motion, that would be fine too.

As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt the resolution amending city council meeting rules and procedures policy number 110-1 to implement Senate Bill 707 requirements, establish procedures for responding to disruptions of telephonic or internet-based public access during city council meetings, and incorporate other administrative amendments to reflect current practices and procedures. I'll second that.

Council member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson?

Yes.

Council member Mendoza? Yes. Council member Orleman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes, thank you. That item moves. And now item H6, Terrence Davis, Acting City Manager, will present the next item regarding a City Council communication policy.

Mayor Meyer, can we circle back just briefly to item H1 to have Theresa Fairbank, Human Resources Director, report out the total amount of compensation that she's calculated that our acting city manager would earn as a part of that report?

Yes, absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you.

all right thank you um what i show calculated with his current salary with the approved eight percent he would be at this is monthly it would be twenty three thousand six hundred and ninety three dollars and forty one cents thank you teresa thomas do we need to amend the motion on that or vote again based on the the total amount now being

That is the amount that you approved. And so the motion stands at 8%, but in terms of the report out for the total compensation that wasn't reported along with the 8%. So the 8% increase that you approved is that amount and just wanted to make sure it was reported out.

Okay. Thank you for that. Thanks for keeping us compliant. Okay. Moving back into item H6. Taryn, I'm gonna repeat it just so we're starting fresh. Taryn Stavis, acting city manager, will present the next item regarding a city council communication policy.

Thank you madam mayor council community so there is just an oral presentation for this item it's a policy that the council has discussed so I'll provide an overview and then certainly if there's any questions specifically on the policy. Amanda can help me pull it up here but of course it's included in your packet so. On November 12th, 2025, the council expressed an interest in having a policy around communications. And the conversation and the direction via motion was to memorialize and standardize the way that communications happened around meetings that were either modified or canceled, but then also for any incidents. So this policy represents that direction from the council and memorializes that and then also defines some specific requirements in terms of how and when those communications would occur. I would like to say Council presented us a very detailed outline at the meeting to capture what the objective was. And so this policy just really kind of builds that out and fits it into the city's existing format. So some of the highlights I would say particularly go back to what the council's direction were in terms of the time requirements, 24 hours. The policy also denotes how communications will occur. And then also for critical incidents, it also denotes that there's a one hour if there is some type of natural disaster or other incident. And there are some specific definitions in the policy. The accountability for this implementation and inherent is rest with the city manager's office. And that was done very specifically so that we can ensure that this policy can be streamlined in terms of its implementation and that the communications would be limited from the city manager's office or their designee. And we know in some cases you and when there's critical incidents, you may get if there's a incident commander, if it's a large scale event or if it's just other events that you need to be made aware of, staff have, I think, already developed that process. And so we will conduct an annual review of this policy to just make sure that it's meeting the needs of the council and that if we need to make any revisions or tweaks and if there are any kind of recommendations as we go through this process and determine that there's any hiccups, we will do that on an annual basis and then of course bring that back. The last point I want to say overall about this policy is that it is representative of, you know, we're operating within a variety of frameworks. So obviously for scheduled meetings, for this body, We are operating within the Brown Act, which has some restrictions and requirements around serial meetings and some other things. And then as we look at emergency events, we're operating in a variety of frameworks that include state and federal systems that have, as I indicated, incident command, and they have some protocols around the PI, the public information process. And so we've tried our best to make sure that we're respectful of those other processes while meeting the desire and the direction of the council. And so with that, I'll pause and answer any questions.

Thank you, Terrence. Do we have questions for Terrence?

I have a question about all notices are one way administrative communication from staff to council members instructed to avoid serial meetings. So if we hypothetically get a text, there's an accident on this road. Is it okay to say thank you? Is it okay? Like if we're all on it, is it because is it okay to do a thumbs up or should we just stay silent? And if we have a comment, send that individually. Like what is the best protocol?

I would say the second answer that you had is the individual, if you have an individual, if you have a response that you want to make to a message, it's best to make that response an individual rather than a group message. Okay. When you respond, yeah, let me leave it at that. Yes.

OK, because I was a little confused about because I've been told one thing, but sometimes I see other things.

So one way communications are permitted under the Brown Act. And so you can get a one way communication of information in that. And in response to that, silence is not a problem. That's that's compliant. when you respond in a group situation, then you're opening the door to what could become a conversation following that, right? Or an expression of information to the group as a whole that exceeds that one way communication standard.

Is a thumbs up communication.

Yes, a thumbs up can be communication, yes, because it signals where you stand in terms of a position on something.

Okay.

Everything's taken in a case-by-case basis, but that can communicate information.

Okay. And it's a perceived, right? It's not saying you stand on one thing. You could be them. I mean, like, I'm being, right. So we're just, it's basically. It's contextual.

Yes.

Yes.

And if it's just we want to confirm receipt, like received thank you, is that also not advisable?

Oh, confirmation of receipt is not conveying any information that would affect standing, right? So I mean, that's just, no, I mean, that's not a problem.

So we can still, like, if we received a message, we can still write, receive thank you, and then just leave it at that.

Yes, you could. And once again, as we start, we could go endlessly into individual examples of things, but I'm happy to also answer those questions as they come up. Yeah.

I do want to just clarify as a practice that staff typically, if it's an email communication, try to use the BCC or the blind copy function. And so that eliminates this reply to all that could potentially be perceived as an issue. And so that is the standard. So when those communications come to you, if you reply, it is a individual response back to the sender.

Thank you. I have a couple of questions as well. I'm a little confused about the relationship between communications during emergencies or national disasters and notification when a council member is unable to attend a meeting or meeting doesn't happen based on a lack of quorum. I feel those two things are very specific and yet also very different. And so I'm wondering if there is A more general overview of communications that ties them together. Um, you were, you know, you talked a little bit about emails. Should that also be included. In this communication policy, for example.

Certainly mayor, so I think what staff we intended to do was based on the instructions that we received from the council in November and there was specific instruction to include emergencies and while I THINK THEY ARE SLIGHTLY DISPARATE ISSUES AND WILL HAVE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TIMELINES AND IN SOME CASES COMMUNICATION METHODS. WHAT WE DID IS OUR BEST AND IT'S A FAIRLY LENGTHY POLICY, WHAT WE DID IS OUR BEST TO TRY TO MERGE THOSE TWO TOGETHER TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS WERE LISTED. If so inclined, certainly if this is council's direction, we can take another stab at this and bring this back as two separate policies.

I don't think it was that. I was kind of just clarifying if the policy already existed and basically the changes were clarifying those two different parts of it. Is that what I'm hearing?

No, no. So I think that there was an absence of a policy for either. I think there was a practice for both. I think there was some inconsistencies is what I've gathered. And so we wanted to standardize and make sure we memorialize what the timeframes would be and then also what the means and methods of communication would be in either situation. When I referred to the email prior about the BCC, that's just kind of our practice. And so I think we have some practices that occur now. They're fairly consistent, but what I've gathered is that they've been slightly inconsistent in the past and we wanted to capture those and memorialize it to make it standard.

Thank you for that.

That helps.

Just, Mayor, if I may, one thing. Yes. I was going to say, if council arrives at a place where you feel like there are particular details or edits that you'd like to make to the policy, of course, we can make edits and then bring you back a policy. It's your policy, right? And so if that's where you find yourself, that could be done too.

Okay. Thank you. I do have another question regarding communications during an emergency. And I think this would be, um, regardless of who's in the mayor position, this has nothing to do with me specifically, but. The, um, the council, of course, should retain policy and governance roles and not be involved in field operations. But I do feel if there is a statement that needs to come from the city or city council that the mayor should be brought in to facilitate that public statement being made. And it doesn't say that in there, but considering it is communications and it's representative of potentially city council, I felt like maybe that should be in there.

Certainly, Mayor, I understand what you're saying. And again, we're trying to capture a multitude of incidents and disasters and in larger scale incidents, as you know, we would often have a whole kind of apparatus set up around public information. and the mayor and the council would be receiving briefings. So if the council is so inclined, we can certainly add a sentence to capture what you just said in terms of ensuring that the mayor has an opportunity to make a statement on behalf of the city in these kind of incidents.

I mean, I certainly hope that we don't have an incident that would require that. But I think that, again, it has nothing to do with me. It's the role itself, but the mayor and then, of course, the vice mayor of the mayor is unavailable and, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

Don't we already have some policy that says that the mayor is the chief person? So I don't, I mean, it would just be redundant, but I think. We do. I don't have an objection.

this this policy here didn't say anything and specifically because it's communications i thought it would be important to note that in a very short simple way so i see in here it says council members retain their policy and governance role and shall not direct field operations or interfere with the incident command structure so that means mayor you would retain your role right it redirects it back to the policy that's already in place if you wanted to spell it out larger it can but

Yeah, I still I still would like to see something there again, even if it's very brief, just because this is specific to communications. But I would like to now move into public comments because we have not done that yet.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I don't believe I have any speaker cards in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. Moving into comments for a motion.

I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE ASKED FOR. IT JUST SO HAPPENED THAT THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CANCELLATION OF MEETINGS HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF POSSIBLY GETTING A PIO. EVEN BEFORE THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED, WE SAW A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CHANGES IN HOW COMMUNICATION WAS HAPPENING. Thank you to all of staff, especially to our interim chief police. I feel like we are now really knowing a lot more about what's going on in our city in real time. And I thank you for just even everything that you've done and thank you all for implementing this policy. And I know it is very, you know, two totally different topics in one, but I think it's just, they're running over and together because it was what was happening. Communication is the main focus. So and I have no objections to the mayor's request. I mean, it is redundant because it says it in here. But if you want to point back to what that specific policy is, but it does say that you basically retain your your current status. But we can add that if that's is that an easy fix that we need to bring that back again? Or is that something that can just be added?

We can take that direction and implement it within the policy. You would just need to add that to the motion.

Okay. And I just wanted to say thank you very much on bringing this back to us. It obviously was very much needed. We've all experienced some sort of communication hiccup in one way or the other. And I think it's really important for the public to have trust in what we do here as city council and city staff and with our communication. amongst one another and we've had situations or incidents where we were not notified of certain incidents whether it's meetings or critical incidents that had happened and we'd find out about it on the news and that's something that we need to really make sure that it doesn't happen so we're all on the same page so i really appreciate this coming forward and thank you to the vice mayor for seconding me on this

Just because I'd like to add my appreciation to the, especially the emergency, if you will communications that are coming. From the interim chief to let us know, because again, it is not. It's not comfortable to see something on social media or get a call from a reporter. About an incident you need nothing about so I definitely appreciate that as well.

I'm ready to make a motion if I think council member was going to say something. Yeah. Okay. Okay. As detailed in the staff report, I move to adopt a resolution approving council administrative policy number 00-12 meeting changes and emergency communications with the addition of the mayor's role with disseminating information during emergencies.

We have a second.

Any questions? I'll second.

Council Member Maloney? Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Orliman?

Yes.

Mayor Meyer?

Yes. Thank you very much, Terrence, and everyone else involved with this. Item H7, Alan Bacalar, Director of Engineering, will present the next item regarding a request for emergency out-of-agency wastewater service. Wait a minute. This is the item doesn't line up. Sorry about that. I'm reading what the mayor's statement is here and it doesn't line up with the agenda item, which is overview of engineering standards related to street design, traffic control devices and traffic calming. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. This presentation will provide an overview of engineering standards that govern street design, traffic control devices, and traffic calming measures within the City of Brentwood. Originating from a future agenda item request, the purpose of this presentation is to explain where engineering standards come from, how they are established, the role of the city engineer, and how requests for stop signs, traffic signals, speed humps, and other traffic calming measures are evaluated. Understanding this framework helps clarify how engineering decisions are made and how policy decisions adopted by the city council are translated into road infrastructure within our community. Engineering standards are the technical requirements used to design, construct, and maintain public infrastructure in Brentwood. They create a consistent framework that ensures roads, sidewalks, drainage systems, and traffic control devices and other public improvements are safe, durable, accessible, and legally compliant. Rather than being a single document, engineering standards are a layered system of federal laws, state regulations, professional engineering requirements, and local standards. Together these requirements guide the review and approval of public and private projects throughout the city. A useful way to understand engineering standards is to think of them as a hierarchy. At the federal level, Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act establish broad requirements to ensure equal access for all users. At the state level, California adds additional requirements through statutes, standards, and technical specifications. At the local level, the city develops standards that addresses local preferences and operating conditions while remaining consistent with federal and state requirements. The curb ramp example shown here demonstrates how a single piece of infrastructure can be influenced by all three levels of regulation. federal law establishes accessibility requirements state state standards provide detailed design criteria in the city as local construction and material requirements. The city's authority to establish engineering standards originates within the Brentwood Municipal Code. The municipal code authorizes the city to regulate improvements within the public right-of-way and provides the legal basis for adopting and enforcing engineering standards. The city's primary technical documents are the standard plans and specification, specifications and the engineering procedures manual. Together, these documents establish how infrastructure is designed, reviewed, and constructed within Brentwood. The city standard plan specifications provide detailed construction and design requirements for public improvements. In 1997, the city council authorized the city engineer to review and update these standards as necessary. This delegation recognizes that engineering standards must evolve over time to reflect changes in laws, technologies, construction practices, and industry standards without requiring city council action for every technical revision. Similar to the standard plans and specifications, the engineering procedures manual provides guidance on engineering processes, procedures, and technical requirements. In 2002, the city council authorized the city engineer to maintain and update the manual as needed. This ensures the city's procedures remain concurrent and aligned with the changes in regulations and professional practices within while supporting efficient project review and delivery. The engineering procedures manual and standard specifications for City of Brentwood are located on our, can be accessed on our website. So here's the engineering website and there you see me. So user click on reference information to the left there, which will take you to this page. And we currently have them under development because a lot of it is, you know, for developers and anyone looking to build and design improvements in the city typically fall under development. And on this page, you can see highlighted here is where our standard plans and specifications are with the various sections within that document and also the engineering procedures manual. And here's the cover sheets for those. The municipal code assigns authority over traffic control devices to the city engineer. This authority includes evaluating and approving the installation of traffic signs, signals, pavement markings, and other traffic control devices. these decisions must be made in accordance with applicable laws engineering standards and professional engineering judgment the city engineer's role is not to make policy but to implement adopted policies while ensuring compliance with legal and technical requirements Now comes the question what is a city engineer the city engineer position requires extensive education experience and professional qualifications. In Brentwood the position requires a combination of engineering expertise management experience and registration as a professional civil engineer in the state of California. The city engineer serves as both a technical leader and a responsible professional overseeing engineering decisions affecting public infrastructure. The city engineer must be a licensed professional engineer by the state of California and is legally responsible for the engineering work they approve. Obtaining licensure requirements requires former education, qualifying experience, and successful completion of multiple state examinations and federal examinations. This licensing process exists to protect public health, safety, and welfare by ensuring engineering decisions are made by qualified professionals. The city council plays a critical role in shaping the community through policy. Through the general plans, specific plans, and municipal code and objective design standards, which was approved earlier this evening, the council establishes a vision, the vision, for the city and policy direction for Brentwood. The city engineer in turn then implements those policies through project design, development review, and construction. While while ensuring compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and engineering requirements. This relationship creates a balance between Community priorities established by elected officials and technical requirements established through engineering standards. Looking towards the panel planning documents as an example of how planning documents influence street design the general plan provides the long range vision that guides future transportation investments. and infrastructure improvements in particular the circulation element identifies the desired roadway network and a plan identifies goals and actions that guide the city engineer as a city grows. This slide further illustrates how planning efforts influence future infrastructure decisions through specific plans. While engineering standards determine how facilities are designed, planning documents help determine what facilities should be constructed and where investments should be prioritized. Similar to the general plan, specific plans include a vision not only for roadway layouts and sections, but also area specific pedestrian and bicycle circulation, transit opportunities, parking and other transportation related goals and policies. When the city receives requests for stop signs, traffic signals, speed humps, or other traffic measures, a structured evaluation process is followed. This process begins with intake and preliminary review, followed by data collection and engineering analysis. After the analysis is completed, staff provides a response based on the findings and applicable standards. This process ensures decisions are objective, consistent citywide, and based on measurable conditions rather than anecdotal observations alone. Engineering analyses evaluate multiple factors including safety, traffic volumes, vehicle speeds, delay, operational efficiency, and the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. The purpose of these studies is to ensure traffic control decisions are consistent, equitable, and legally defensible and supported by data. engineering standards exists to provide a uniform approach across the Community Community so that similar conditions are treated similarly and equally citywide this consistency provide safety because roadways users develop expectations regarding how and when traffic control devices are applied. Traffic control and calming measures vary significantly in cost and complexity. Some devices such as stop signs are relatively inexpensive, while others such as traffic signals require substantial investment in design, construction, maintenance, and ongoing operations. Understanding these costs helps provide context when when evaluating potential solutions and prioritizing transportation improvements. It is also important to note that engineering studies are generally required before many of these devices can be installed to ensure they are appropriate for the location. In conclusion, engineering standards and professional oversight protect public safety and city's interests. The city engineer is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Professional Engineers Act, approving engineering documents, overseeing infrastructure projects, and providing technical recommendations to the city council. Application of engineering by a licensed professional engineer reduces the risk of infrastructure failures, supports legally defensible decisions, and ensures public improvements are designed and constructed to acceptable standards. Ultimately, the goal is to deliver safe, reliable, and sustainable infrastructure for the community. With that, I conclude my presentation and I'm happy to take any questions you have.

Thank you, Alan. Any questions? I have none. Okay. Moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the City Council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have no speaker cards in person. And I have one hand raised. One hand raised in Zoom. Cinziana, go ahead.

Hi, good evening again. I'm wondering if based on all that was presented, if Alan could answer all the traffic calming measures and all the low speed signs that were installed throughout the city lately. And all the comments that we have all seen on social media. Because it's been a big thing, as we all know.

That's all I have. Thank you.

I have no additional speakers.

Thank you, Amanda. Alan, can you. I think we're talking about the reduced speeds. Approvals that happened recently, and the signs that that are now throughout the city to announce those. Can you talk a little about that process? Please.

Yes, Mayor, I can. So earlier this year, city staff conducted speed surveys on certain street segments that were sort of expired. So by state law, we were required to perform speed surveys after a set amount of time. We were hitting that on some of the, actually all of those streets that were discussed in that staff report that was done earlier this year. So the result of that, the findings basically is data driven. We had hired a consultant to provide, to collect all the data, meaning they would lay out the traffic counters out there as well as measure speeds. And using that data would feed into the analysis that goes into speed. Basically, you might have heard of the 85th percentile or what the majority of the drivers are driving at comfortably. And what was interesting is when we did that survey, we found that a lot of the drivers were driving at a lower rate than what was posted. So that's resulting in the recommendations from staff and approved by city council to reduce the speed limits as currently indicated on some of those streets. So that was previously approved, and we are moving forward in the next month or so, probably sooner than that, with implementing those speed changes. As far as, that's kind of the driving force, is we look at which streets are up for exploration. So similarly, later this year, we'll be doing another round of speed surveys likely to address other streets. There was a question about traffic calming. So that is an ongoing request that we get from the community. So as I mentioned in our staff report, when they do come in, we take that into account. We coordinate with police and public works and Parks and Rec sometimes to make sure and evaluate these locations as they come in. So there's a full process that goes through. I am happy to report one of our recent speed hump analyses did come out positive or in favor for speed humps on McLaren. So those changes would be implemented with our annual pavement management program, which is currently underway. So in the next couple months, we hope to have some speed humps installed in McLaren. And we have similar requests about weekly, I would say, with various locations that we evaluate.

Thank you, Alan. Any other questions for Alan or staff discussion at this point?

Yes, please. So I think the signs are beautiful. I don't think they're ugly signs because they meet state law and they're regulated by law as to what the sign has to look like. And you can't change that. So, Regardless of whether they like the look of the sign, the law requires it to look a certain way. Presentation was amazing, sir. It sat on the agenda for probably four weeks. So you've probably read it three or 400 times, but you did a phenomenal job. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your detailed report.

Yeah, we're in discussion now, right? I can't even remember where we are. I'm so tired. I guess what I missed is where does council come into play? Because my example is always going to be Vineyard Parkway. I think it was only two days worth of traffic studies. And I know you say you're data driven, but I guess What is our role? So we saw that and we were not happy with that. And we overrode what you said. And we actually installed the stop signs. And now people are ecstatic. They feel safe where they didn't before. I tell you, when I go up to Trilogy, it's the number one thing everyone is saying to me about the stop sign. So what is our role versus your role? And I know that getting questioned is hard, I'm sure that is, but that's our job is to listen to our residents and question when something doesn't feel right. And in that case, it didn't feel right. So how do we step in where it's not offensive to you, but we also want the resident to be heard? Because I feel like we don't have a proper path for that. And I think it causes, honestly, I think it causes some friction that I think we can remove if we know where it's your discretion or it's the law that you're following. Because I feel like sometimes we don't know exactly.

Thank you. I would say my role as a city engineer is to provide technical guidance, right? So I am, for my license requirements, I have to follow engineering practice, and that is very data driven. It does take into account experiences by the users, which that was the main driving force there. With Vineyards Parkway, you know, The data that was collected did not quite get there for the stops full always stop warrant. Granted, you know, it was done, I think that study was done maybe twice, but both times, and we were about to do another time, expecting to hopefully see a change there. But, you know, city council stepped in ultimately and made their, you know, provided their direction. I may have to defer to Thomas on this, but, you know, that's, That's totally, you know, as a city council, I would believe that you guys have the authority to do that, whether it's recommended. I won't say if it's recommended or not. All I can do from my seat is to make recommendations based on studies and what, you know, through my practice. But, you know, again, city council gave me that authority.

I guess going forward, if there's any... And I guess that's just the example I have. If you give us data, can you reference what law or what policy? Is it a guidance? Is it a strict law so that we know what we're looking at? Because I try to figure out where does it say two days worth of data is enough? I couldn't find it anywhere. So if you had that somewhere, I think that would have helped, but I didn't see it anywhere in that case. But I think what we wanna do up here is, keep our residents happy, right? They tell us this all the time, we pay for your pay. And they do, they pay the taxes that we get up here, except for pay. And that we all make. So whenever I can, I try to err on the side of the resident because this is their city. So I just, I hope that we can find, you know, when people are asking, so the lone tree like when she's asking if we can come back with the policies, why it didn't meet the threshold or it did meet the threshold, because I don't know where we're at with that. And then McLaren is coming. Maybe that's a good case study of what studies did you do and why did it look good? Because it's funny because someone said to me, they're really scared of that street because they say drunk drivers take that street after they leave downtown because they don't want to take busy streets. So I'm glad that McLaren is getting one. But like what data did you use? Because even for our conversations with residents, it would be helpful.

Understood. And we'll make it a point, I have to agree that, you know, the vineyards data, there was some a lot more confusion, it wasn't presented as well as it should have been. But Duly noted, we'll make sure that as we move forward, especially when when I do report back on Lone Oak and the council's direction to look at improvements there, we'll have additional information as needed.

Yeah. And I think from Thomas, maybe from legal, sometimes we want to do things that they're saying, well, we shouldn't do it. Maybe understanding a risk analysis. If we do do something that they're saying, don't do it. What is the risk to us? Is it really like nominal and, you know, it's not really that big of a deal or is it like a big deal? I think that would be important to understand also. And I know Terrence, you have your light on when residents are coming to us and asking for things.

uh thank you councilmember uh so i i was just gonna really add a little bit of additional kind of color to the conversation because i think um we understand that there's often this desire for a particular you know traffic calming or some other improvement and so um IN EVERY INSTANCE WHEN YOU ASK YOUR ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT TO ASSESS THE SITUATION, THEY'RE GOING TO DETERMINE IF IT MEETS A PARTICULAR ENGINEERING STANDARD. AND THEY'RE GOING TO COLLECT DATA TO SUPPORT THAT. AND IF THE RESULT IS NO, THE DATA DOES NOT SUPPORT THAT, AND EVEN THOUGH THE ANECDOTE OF THE COMMUNITY MEMBER MAY SEEM TO THINK, YOU KNOW, THEN IT'S A NO BUT. we can maybe do something else. So I think that that's where the council has an effective role. Typically, when we talk about these types of improvements, there's a toolkit of things that we can do. So it may not be an always stop, but perhaps it could be some other improvements. maybe it's removing some uh undergrowth and increasing visibility so on and so forth so that's where i think the conversation can be uh a no it doesn't meet warrants but and so i just think we have to make sure that we um really defer to the data and to the engineering standards and then yes the council can do whatever it wants But in order to avoid any kind of liability issues, there's often other things that we can do to make improvements. And I think that that's where the council could be really, really effective in helping guide those conversations.

So, I don't know if anybody else is planning on speaking. I'd like to jump in at this point too. I think. Part of the vineyards discussion was what we did actually did try some mitigations initially to see if we could make a difference with that. We shortened the landscaping and added the. The more dramatic striping with the, we just did a lot. We extended the length of time for crossing the street for the flashing lights with a lot of different things that it wasn't quite enough. And I think it's what Alan just said made it sound like there was another study that was going to be done. I don't remember if that was communicated to us at the time or not, but I appreciate that there's back and forth and there's an understanding that sometimes we do need to push on a discussion to get more information that we need. I will also say, I know Terrence that we had a question earlier about the report that was going to be given to the residents of the Lone Oak area. And I know that you're going to be following up on that, but. Alan or Terrence, if either or both of you could answer the question about what other studies, what other data is missing for that report for that area that's going to help with figuring out how to mitigate the issues there.

thank you mary yes um i believe earlier this year we did do a study of alone oak and at that time it did not meet the speed hump analysis and that was the um the traffic calming measure we were we were evaluating at that point a big part of that uh just to kind of um as a bit of background and recollection. The biggest drawback is we don't have standard curb and gutter. The street is not a city standard street on Lone Oak. So from a safety perspective, it's the right thing to do is to build everything out correctly before adding speed humps. Without them, if you were to add a speed hump with a street with no curb and gutter or curbs particularly, vehicles may decide to try to swerve and avoid the hump and they'll end up in the dirt in the ditch somewhere. So that's even more dangerous. So current direction is to come back with some ideas with including improving Lone Oak to a current city standard street engineering staff has been working on it. We are putting together what that would look like conceptually, including closing Lone Oak at, I think it was Grand Street. So closing that street off completely to address concerns about cut-through traffic as well. So these concepts and proposals are being put together and will be brought to council as soon as we can. It's just taking a little bit longer. It's a pretty extensive work.

Thank you, Alan. Can I ask that if it, I understand there's not at this point a specific date that it'll come back, but can you share with the residents there when you have any kind of an update about, if you do, when to expect this report coming back?

I sure can. Yes. If I were to put something out there today, I would say by the end of the summer.

Okay. Thank you for that. And thank you for the report as well. If there is no other discussion, do we have a motion on this item?

I don't think we have any direction. So do we need to make a motion?

What about adding all the different standards on staff reports? Or is that just taken? I mean, we don't need to do it if we don't. We could just accept it. Yeah.

Yeah, you can accept the report.

Okay.

Yeah, we're just accepting there's no motion needed, I believe, right? Yep. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. We're going to circle back to item E, which is informational reports. We've skipped a couple of weeks on this one. So we're going to start with, I'll start with Councilmember Mendoza.

Have we not done this since, did we not do it on the 12th? I don't even remember. The 26th? Okay. I think we skipped the last two, to be honest. Yeah, I think it was the last two.

We're all going to have a significant list so we can kind of tone it down and keep it short. That would be great.

Okay. So, meeting with the Rainbow Coalition, graduations, Independence, La Paloma, Heritage, and Liberty. A meeting with the Streets of Brentwood on what's coming up there. A Winter Market Subcommittee meeting. We had a special meeting, and I think that's the highlights. Thanks.

Vice Mayor?

Yes, I attended some graduations, the African American Baccalaureate graduation, as well as Independence. I also want to spend the majority of my time to thank our amazing Parks and Rec staff for a dynamic, dynamic Juneteenth. I get emotional every time towards the end. I want to thank the DBC for putting their time, effort, and money into getting the Freedom Walk established. It was a time for unity. I saw so many people, no matter of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, out in City Park enjoying all of the talent. Thank you to Krita. Thank you to Monique, our poet. Thank you to Virtuous Voices. We had jazz in the park. That was beautiful. The kids from Heritage High played jazz. Thank you to Kim Burrell. Thank you to all of the artists, Steven Green and the Lifeline. And a lot of our community partners that we see at so many events did an amazing job. Like we had Steps Dance Fitness dancing. We had, what is it, Response? I forget their full name, but they did an amazing, it was just awesome. And it was the first time I think we had So much diversity of food, a great kids zone and our vendors were full to capacity and people seem so happy. So I am so grateful for all the people that showed up and came out and showed out. It was an amazing event. And thank you so much. And thank you to staff. i could not this was a dream that i had and you guys have brought it to fruition for three years and i'm just as going into writing off into sunset as just a resident i'm looking forward to just sitting on my launch here and enjoying what you guys continue to do so thank you everybody thank you thank you to our sponsors too council member or lemons

Cut this kind of short. I did attend the Juneteenth event, amazing event downtown. It was packed. We had a great time, awesome music, great food, and a lot of people were enjoying themselves. Tri-Delts Transit agenda review. I went to the graduations, Independent High School, La Paloma and Heritage. and the PAL board meeting along with the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy board meeting here yesterday afternoon. I don't know, and I did that from an acronym.

Council Member Maloney. I have attended a couple of ribbon cuttings with the Chamber. I also attended the State of the City with everyone at the Delta Theater. I attended a Howe Dinner. I also, the Mayor and I, presented a 20-year certificate of appreciation to Salon Vitor for being here for 20 years. Congratulations to Kim and Trina. I visited a few farms, Five Star Cherries, G&S Farms, Farmer's Daughters, Sweet Lou's. i also visited pandora the streets of brentwood and met with their manager i checked in with some of the businesses at streets of brentwood and shops at the sand creek um i love pandora that's why the vice mayor said that I checked in with residents from Valley Green and Minnesota area as well as the Highland and Alder Creek neighborhoods. I also visited Union Cemetery to honor the fallen. I attended the Liberty Union High School District African-American Baccalaureate at Heritage High School. I attended Liberty High and Independence High graduation, I'm sorry, not Liberty High, Heritage High and Independence High graduations. I met with the president of the Brentwood Muslim Community Center. I also I met with the owner of the Grove project. I also attended, I'm sorry, I didn't attend Dependence High School. I attended La Paloma High School graduation. I visited the community center right before the ribbon cutting for the Pata project. I also met with Robert Bell, our equity analyst. We had a winter market ad hoc committee and also assisted residents at Valley Green, off of Valley Green the nuisances they're experiencing. And I also had a telephone meeting with the municipal pooling authority and business. I also met with business owners from streets of Brownwood and shops at Sand Creek. And this is over the last three, four weeks and also a neighborhood meeting over the youth center in my neighborhood.

Thank you. And it has been a while since I'm going to cut a few things out to I had the annual meeting with the auditors to review the city's finances and consideration of fraud risk. State of the cities was mentioned, the Salon Batour was mentioned, had a 100th birthday celebration at Merrill Gardens. The vice mayor and I have a new process for recognizing people when they turn 100. I spoke at the Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony at Union Cemetery, attended the career fair in partnership with Contra Costa County Workforce Development Board, uh the liberty and high school district african-american baccalaureate um gave a tour of two of city hall to third graders from brentwood elementary um attended a pride event hosted by rainbow community center and gave a proclamation for pride month um graduations independence la paloma heritage liberty um had an interview with the youth writer from the brentwood press um ecrafest state route four and transplant meetings um i had a meeting with tyler wilson who was the Deputy Regional Director of Northern California for U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, and really interesting conversation. A lot of focus on agriculture, housing, small businesses. I would say those are the main focus areas that we discussed. And then finally, a few months ago, a Brentwood resident by the name of Daphne Muse passed away, and we had planned to honor her for Women's History Month. But unfortunately, she passed away right before that. And so I was asked to present that proclamation costumously at the mills college with a lot of other people speaking. It was beautiful event and I appreciate her family for inviting me to be a part of that. And with that, I would like to hand it over to Terrence 1st, if he has any updates and then following that Thomas.

Thank you, Mayor. Speed round. A team of the executives went to the Glideways facilities last week out in Richmond. So that was really good to see that technology. We didn't get to get on the people mover, the cars, but we did start some conversations again about the future of that potential project in the region. And I went to Juneteenth and I have a great video of the chief dancing.

Quickly for me, I did go to Juneteenth with my family and my kids and we could hardly get them out of there. They love the play structure. I could not get them out of that. They made friends there, they were playing. And I didn't realize that that's where we'd be watching the conference from because I had to keep my eyes on them the whole time. But it was it was great seeing everybody there. It was amazing to see the turnout. I was I guess that's the biggest event that I've seen in Brentwood. And I was just in kind of awe of how many people were there. And that's it for me.

Thank you. At this point, we are looking for any new agenda requests.

I have one. Okay. I would like to bring a joint item request from myself and Council Member Mendoza to look into an ordinance prohibiting the establishment, construction, expansion or operation of any new data center facilities within our city limits.

Okay. Any questions from staff on that? Okay, so then moving into item J, 1, a request from council member or lemons regarding potential locations and cost estimates for sharps and battery disposal services.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on this. Sharps containers or disposing of sharps items being hypodermic needles or lancets or any of those things within the city, they don't exist. Or if they do, they're very sparse and they're spread out all over the city for the ones that are there. Having been in law enforcement for as long as I was, I've been stuck with two different needles from suspects I was talking to or dealing with and had to go through that protocol of making sure I don't get sick, make sure I don't bring that stuff back to my wife. If we give them the opportunity to have a place to throw it away and get rid of it, If one extra person does it, it's far worth it than any of our solid waste people that are finding them in the garbage cans, any of our police officers that are finding them on the streets, any of our parks and rec people that are finding them in the parks. Give these people the opportunity to get rid of them The second part to that was the same thing with batteries. We have no place to leave or very few places we can dump off batteries and get rid of them. Six, eight months ago, we had a garbage truck catch on fire from a lithium battery. that's only a million dollar fire truck. We throw some boxes out there where we can collect it and figure out how to get rid of it, it may save us a little bit of money along the way. So I would like to spend some staff time and resources to look into maybe locations and some of the suggestions I might have, senior center, some of the summer sets, the cardboard waste collection area, And any other ones, here City Hall, absolutely. And that goes for both of them, side by side. They can't be accessible to the public. They have to be kind of that mailbox style. We don't want some kids sticking their hand in there. So we're gonna have to find a way to secure them. And then how do we get rid of it once we've collected it? That's it.

Thank you, Council Member. Any questions for Council Member Orlimans? from staff or council. Okay, moving into public comments, please.

At this time, the public is permitted to address the city council on this agenda item. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. If you're in person, please file a speaker card. Your microphone will be muted if you speak on items that do not pertain to this agenda item or after the timer has expired. I have no requests in person or hands raised in Zoom.

Thank you, Amanda. Any further discussion or emotion?

I do, Madam Mayor, I am so grateful to you, Council Member, or lemons for this one. Again, as you talked about it from the perspective of people who actually use intravenous drugs, like drug abuse, but I'm also looking at it from a medical perspective. For people who are diabetic, have infertility treatments, cancer, chemotherapy, the list goes on and on weight loss. The list can go on on a number of needles that people use in our city, not just for the use of you know abuse of drugs but use of drugs for care for someone who at some point needed to use them it is not a legal drugs but legal medication there was only one place in Brentwood and it was a pharmacy down off of Balfour and it's gone now it has now been changed into something else you have to pay to get your own red sharps container and then ship it yourself Or I think you have some people who may be just tossing in the garbage can, which is not the appropriate thing to do. So thank you so much for bringing this back, bringing this to us. I think it's something for our age-friendly disabilities community. I think it's something we should be thinking about. Our residents should not have to buy their own. It's $27 for a little, I mean, not even like a six by maybe four little container. It's so tiny. So thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing this in. And I wholeheartedly support it. And support any motions you make.

I have a question slash comment council or lemons too. I think. What the vice mayor is saying is, is making me think of medication disposal. Because we know it's not, it's not, they're not supposed to be flushed down the toilet or thrown in the garbage for a seepage into groundwater, for example. And I don't know if I mean, I know that. I think it's once a year, maybe I'm wrong and maybe the chief can clarify that the police station. Has a drop off for medications, but I also know I did it 1 time. And there was a community member who recognized me and said, oh, the time is vice mayor vice mayor is bringing in medications. That is not anonymous and it feels like it should be in the bag. I was handing over. Suddenly was a little bit more personal to me, so I, I don't know if that's something that. Could be considered as well, or if that should be separate. Or again, if the chief can clarify any direction around that.

Yes, Mary, thank you. And good evening council. So we do have a nationwide. drug take-back event in April and October of every year that's sponsored by the DEA, Drug Enforcement Agency. But we staff the event. In addition to that, within the last year and a half, Contra Costa County, I believe it's the crime lab, now has a receptacle that is available to residents in the police department lobby during business hours. So that's year-round, but during business hours where they can dispose of items.

Can you say at the police station you said that was there in the lobby?

Yes, there's a receptacle located in the lobby. We did put out a social media post when we partnered with the county so I can follow up with my staff to send out a reminder to residents.

Thank you, Chief. With that, please disregard my comments, Council Member Orlemans.

Yeah, I just agree that they would have to be staffed. So having them at the PD makes perfect sense in the lobby. So unless anybody else has anything, I'd like to make a motion. I move that staff spend time and resources to investigate the best locations materials and costs for sharps container disposal as well as battery disposal at some of the locations which I discussed earlier, and I'm completely open to any other suggestions you guys may have as far as locations go.

I'll second.

Council Member Maloney?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Pearson? Yep. Council Member Mendoza? Yep. Council Member Orliman? Yes. Mayor Meyer? Yep, definitely.

Thank you, Council Member Orlemans. And that item moves forward. And the last thing is a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. I'll second.

Council Member Maloney. Yes. Vice Mayor Pearson.

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Council Member Orleman. Yes. Mayor Meyer.

Yes. And thank you to staff for your flexibility with my remote location. I appreciate that. Good night, everyone. We are adjourned.