City Council - Regular Meeting

Here we go.

All right. 6 p.m. Welcome, everyone, to the San Rafael City Council regular meeting. Today is Tuesday, January 20th. We did not meet yesterday in observance of Martin Luther King Day. I'll request the city clerk to call the roll.

Council Member Bushey. Present. Council Member Hill.

Present.

Vice Mayor Kurtz. Present. Council Member Yedens-Gulati. Present. Mayor Kate.

Present. All five of us are here this evening. I'll invite the Chief Assistant City Attorney, Andrea Vista-Schwara, to report out on our closed session. Wait, it doesn't sound like you're on. Sorry.

This evening, the council met in closed session to discuss pending litigation as noticed on the closed session. And for reportable action, the council voted unanimously to authorize a settlement in the workers comp case at 50% permanent disability.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE, AND WELCOME, WHETHER YOU'RE IN HERE IN PERSON OR WATCHING ONLINE. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. BEFORE WE BEGIN, I WANT TO EXPRESS MY DEEP APPRECIATION FOR OUR CITY EMPLOYEES. THE WORK THEY DO, OFTEN BEHIND THE SCENES, IS WHAT KEEPS SEMRAFEL RUNNING DAY IN AND DAY OUT. AND OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS, ESPECIALLY DURING THOSE WINTER, WINTER WET DAYS THAT WE EXPERIENCED, Our teams were incredibly responsive and their professionalism and dedication do not go unnoticed. We are grateful for all that you do. So thank you. THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST COUNCIL MEETING OF 2026 AND AS WE START THE YEAR, I'VE ALREADY BEEN HEARING ABOUT THE UNCERTAINTY, CONCERN AND FEAR PEOPLE ARE HAVING ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN OUR NATION AND IN THE WORLD. I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT. NONE OF US DO THE WORK HERE LOCALLY IN A VACUUM. WHAT HAPPENS GLOBALLY AND NATIONALLY AFFECTS US LOCALLY. It affects us emotionally and it affects us personally. So while we can't control everything that happens around us, we do have a say in how we respond locally, how we show up for each other, how we strengthen connections, and how we build resilience. That's where local government, residents, and community organizations really matter. One powerful way people are stepping up is through volunteering, so I want to highlight a great new resource that helps connect volunteers with local students who are looking for mentoring and support. It's a website which is basically a clearinghouse for different opportunities with different local agencies. The website is Marin, V-T-M-I.org. So that's M-A-R-I-N, V as in Victor, T-M-I.org. If you go there, you can click around and find a volunteer opportunity that speaks to you if you are so inclined. It's a great way to support our local students. And before we move into tonight's agenda, I want to share an update about our meeting format. For the last couple of years, we've had open public time only at the end of the meeting because we have a business meeting and a business agenda to get to. Starting this year, starting now, we'll be offering 10 minutes for open public comment at the start of a meeting for a handful of speakers. I have cards and I'll start going through them in the order received for those 10 minutes. This was a thoughtful suggestion from community members, and it will create space for general comments while still respecting all those who are here to speak on a very specific agenda item. For anyone who isn't able to comment at the beginning, there will be unlimited, as always, public time at the end of the meeting. Before we get to our business meeting, we include a land acknowledgement. This statement complements the ongoing collaboration and work we do with the tribe. We thank the original caretakers of this land. San Rafael is traditionally home to the Coast Miwok people, many of whom today are tribal citizens of the Federated Indians of Great Rancheria, and we honor their continuing involvement in stewardship practices that benefit us all. Thank you for being here. I will now turn it over to the city clerk to share how public can participate in tonight's meeting.

Thank you, Mayor Kate. Tonight's meeting is being recorded and streamed live to YouTube. For members of the public wishing to provide, public comment displayed on the podium and the projector is a timer to help you stay within your two-minute time frame. You're invited, though not required, to introduce yourself and say what part of Centerfell you live in or if you're from outside of the area. Viewers may request a reasonable accommodation to provide public comments virtually. For more information about that or if you're experiencing any technical difficulties, you can email me at city.clerk at cityofcenterfell.org. Thank you.

Thank you, and as I just said, we'll have open time for public expression for the next 10 minutes, and I will call the names on the cards. So, Mr. William Rawlins, if you would like to come on down. And you're invited, but not required to say what part of San Rafael you're from. So, yeah. Wait, speak into the mic so we can hear you.

Okay. I'm from San Anselmo. Oh, okay. But the reason is I have a Chevy Colorado six-foot bed with a slide-in camper. And twice I've gotten parking tickets at the Luton's Garage, and I've walked up here and went to the parking, and they voided them both. Then I thought, well, I can't park in the garage. I'll park on the street. So I parked twice on the street. I went to the travel agency right down the road and I come out and I fed the meter. I had an hour left and there's a fix it ticket on there. And that's happened twice. And so I'm not allowed because I have a camper to park in the garage or the street. I'm a Kaiser member. So I'm always, you know, I come here. Barely often. And park on usually the street. So what do I do? That's my question. Because I get tickets every time. And then, you know.

Yeah.

So what I will do is pass your information along to the city manager. During open time for public comment, we can't engage because it's not on the agenda, but I will make sure that your information gets to city manager Lovovich.

Okay, and I showed this lady pictures of the truck and the camera just so you have an idea.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, the next person, Ms. Nancy Long.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name's Nancy Long. I've been a homeowner in Bay Point Lagoons for 28 years. My home backs directly onto Starkweather Path, and I'm here to oppose the proposed lighting due to legal conflicts, environmental risks, safety concerns, and disproportionate impacts on nearby residents. The Starkweather Path is governed by San Rafael Municipal Code, which restricts park use after dusk. Installing permanent lighting contradicts that code and implies nighttime use that has never been permitted. This is a shoreline conservation park, not a 24 hour corridor, and lighting would encourage after dark activity that creates enforcement and liability issues for the city. Lighting in this creek-adjacent wildlife supporting area also requires CEQA review. Impacts include light spill into homes, disruption to wildlife, increased nighttime activity, and added fire risk. This path has suffered from decades of deferred maintenance, uneven pavement, aging concrete, outgrown brush, and recurring fire incidents. Lighting extends hours of use without fixing those underlying safety issues and by itself does not improve safety. I've heard rationale is to allow families to walk in the evening, but this path has never been intended for nighttime use. And in my lived experience, my bedroom overlooks the path after dark activity here has not been family oriented or safe. The impacts also fall almost entirely on one neighborhood. Homes in Bay Point Lagoons are the only ones facing this path. I also want to briefly address the proposed art installation. This path is narrow, constrained with no room for gathering of art and the surrounding area already struggles with parking and access. There are far better locations nearby, such as Target or the Pickleweed Park that have space and parking. For these reasons, I respectfully ask the council to reject the lighting proposal and reconsider the location of the beautiful art installation.

Thank you for your time. Next person, Susan Levine.

Good evening.

My name is Susan Levine. I have been a resident of Bay Point Lagoons for many years and I'm here today to formally express my opposition to both the People of the Canal art project proposed by Rich Stork and the proposed lighting installations along the same stark weather path. Bay Point and Spinnaker residents were blindsided by how far along both proposals were before we became aware of them. We first learned of these projects in August 25 by chance and not through the project sponsor nor any formal neighborhood outreach. No public notices were posted along the path and our HOAs were not contacted. It is deeply troubling that our experience mirrors that of residents affected by the Marydale project. It is concerning that Mayor Kate publicly endorsed this project months ahead in a PBS video, making it difficult for residents to accept the claim that the city is merely a bystander, especially since the mayor reached out to neighborhood leaders STATING HER COMMITMENT TO TRANSPARENCY, ENGAGEMENT, AND DIRECT DIALOGUE. WHY HAS RICH BEEN GRANTED SIGNIFICANT ACCESS AND MOMENTUM WHILE THE VOICES OF MORE THAN 400 DIRECTLY IMPACTED HOMEOWNERS WERE OVERLOOKED? WE SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF RICH'S PROJECT, HOWEVER NOT THE LOCATION. We have proposed alternative locations, but to date, Rich has declined our suggestions despite widespread neighborhood opposition. Regarding the proposed lighting along the path, there is no reasonable justification for installing nighttime lighting. No crime data from the Sheriff's Department has been provided to support improving safety. Conservation organization caution against artificial lighting due to the loss of natural dark sky environments. While we understand that neither project has yet come before you for final approval, we ask respectfully and firmly that if and when they do, you reject both proposals in their current form and stand with the residents who are directly impacted by the decisions. Thank you.

Mr. Mark Fallows?

I thought it was three minutes, so I'll have to speak very quickly. Hi, good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Mark Fallows. I'm a new member, a new resident, sorry, who lives in a very close to stark weather path. And I'd like three questions about lighting proposal answered. Obviously not right at the second. I took a photo of the park entrance this morning and it says the city's own words, close sunset to sunrise. If this park is officially closed at night, why are you spending public money on lighting infrastructure for hours when no one's supposed to be there? If we're installing lighting, we're either wasting resources on a closed park or we're planning to change the hours without community review. Which is it? And if the path remains closed at night, lighting doesn't prevent crime. That makes the path more attractive to people who shouldn't be there. A simple solution would be either gating access, which is enforceable and doesn't require ongoing electricity or maintenance. Second question, the environmental question. At the end of this path, there are interpretive signs you've probably seen that the city installed to educate visitors around the ecological significance of this area. I photographed those too. And the city's own signage describes the marsh as critical habitat for rails and calls it an important part of the mosaic of aquatic habitats that support migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway. I'm going to have to jump forward. Peer-reviewed research and nature communications and scientific reports has documented that artificial lighting distorts and disorientates migratory birds and disrupts their circadian rhythms and alters predatory prey dynamics. And my third and final element, like I say, I'm jumping ahead a little bit. I'd ask you to pause this project while the city has clarified the park hours policy, completed a biological impact assessment and consulted fish and wildlife, which I believe you haven't done already. which should be mandatory. And there are other examples in California that have done that. So the city's own science quote, John Muir, fellow Scotsman, who said, when we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world. Well, let's make sure we understand what we're tugging at before we install permanent infrastructure. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And you can email those comments, too, if you didn't get to all of them.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No problem. Okay. Thanks very much.

Yep. And then the final speaker for this first part of open time for public expression, Mr. Joe Mulligan. Certainly. You might have to remind me. Okay. I'll write myself a note. Then we have Mr. Jeffrey Sanchez. Mr. Jeffrey Sanchez.

Okay. Thank you for calling me up.

My name is Jeffrey Sanchez.

I'm a resident of the Santa Venetia neighborhood, and I'm also on the board of Marin Cyclists. I've been a member of that board for over 15 years, and as you might know, this club has been around since the last 60 years. Every Wednesday for the last 10 years, our club has scheduled a route around China Camp that we call the China Camp Loop. As you can imagine, during that time, we've seen an awful lot of very unfortunate circumstances, not only with those with cyclists and cars, but cyclists, cars, and pedestrians, not to speak of the gravel trucks that barrel down the road from the quarry. In order to capture some of those, what we call now as criminal near misses, because California has a three-foot pass law for cyclists, I installed a rear-facing video camera on my bike. And unfortunately, I was able to capture several of those instances where I was criminally near missed. We also call it punishment passed. As you might imagine, it doesn't feel very good to be passed in a punishment fashion. With those videos, I took images of those videos and photographs of those into the police department. And I showed them to one of the officers. And the officers did this. Shit happens. Another officer I showed the video to, he went like this. Jeff. I ride a motorcycle. This stuff happens all the time. Come to me when you've been hit. As you can imagine, this is very distressing.

If you could finalize your comments, please.

So finally, I'd like to ask for something to be done on the traffic on North San Pedro Road, decreasing the speed, installing stop signs on the crosswalks, and finally getting the attention of distracted drivers so I'm not criminally near missed again. Thank you for your comments.

Thank you. Next up is the city manager and council member reports. I'll turn to the city manager.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and community members. I want to start with some recognition as well. We have a special presentation coming up, but I wanted to appreciate Director Mooney and his entire team, as well as the rest of the city, because it's not just the Digital Department for achieving the Bloomberg's What Works Cities designation, which there's a proclamation for in a few minutes. I wanted to spend some time talking about the AT&T 911 failure and to provide a comprehensive update about that. Sure, everybody's aware, but just for context, on January 4th, approximately 7.30 p.m., the county experienced a major telecommunications outage impacting most areas of Marin, south of Novato. The flooding occurred at AT&T's Shaver Street Central Office here in San Rafael, with approximately two feet of water in a below-grade server room. The flooding disabled critical telecommunications equipment, pumps, and alarms failed because they were on the same electrical circuit. The failure affected 51 cell sites and disrupted AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Copper Landlines, and Sonic Services. Within an hour, residents, businesses, and public safety agencies experienced widespread service degradation. By approximately 8.30 p.m., 911 call handling capability was significantly impacting Impacted prompting county emergency alerts directing residents to seek help at fire or police stations, which we saw many residents come to here in San Rafael. Telephone to 911 services began restoring about 1 a.m. on January the 5th. The outage exposed serious single points of failure in the regional telecommunications network, which is solely a private entity network. AT&T's communication and coordination during the incident were insufficient, particularly with county emergency management and our first responders. Both the city and the county view this as an unacceptable risk to public safety and we're pursuing accountability and corrective action with AT&T. The county has requested that cities and towns report the delayed emergency response or system failures caused by the outage so that we can document real world impacts when talking with AT&T. There was a follow up meeting meeting on January 12. This is spearheaded by County Executive Derek Johnson, who met with them. Let's see AT&T confirmed it does not stock this is their kind of report out from this meeting. They do not stop critical replacement cards on site, delaying full system restoration. AT&T reported immediate corrective actions including installing separate electrical circuits for pumps and alarms. Purchasing high-capacity pumps staged regionally for rapid deployment and exploring pump standardization compatible with our fire equipment. Marin County is elevating this issue to AT&T executive leadership. CPUC REGULATORS AS WELL AS THE STATE AND FEDERAL LEGISLATORS TO ENSURE MEANINGFUL ACTION. COUNTY EXECUTIVE DEREK JOHNSON WILL BE INCLUDING ME IN THESE FOLLOW-UP MEETINGS AND I WILL BE REGULARLY REPORTING BACK TO THE COUNCIL AND THE COMMUNITY ON OUR PROGRESS. THE COUNTY IS REQUIRING IN THESE MEETINGS THUS FAR WITH THEM A CLEAR TECHNICAL EXPLANATION OF THE FAILURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY, IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM MITIGATION MEASURES TO ELIMINATE SINGLE POINTS OF FAILURE. redundant routing and backup systems capable of sustaining 911 and public safety communications, improved real-time notification and coordination protocols with emergency management. Future meetings must include senior AT&T executives and network engineers with authority to commit resources and implement solutions. And following executive level discussions, the county will provide the board a comprehensive update on the corrective actions and the commitment to safeguard countywide telecommunications reliability. I'll also report those updates to the city council. We were really lucky on that evening. I want to speak to the North San Pedro pedestrian tragedy. On behalf of the city, I want to express deep condolences to the family of Lucia Jennifer Blandina Sante Vicente, who tragically passed away last Wednesday after being hit by a vehicle at the intersection of Point San Pedro Road and Summit Avenue in an unincorporated area of Marin County. I got an update from the county that they were recently awarded a contract to install a pedestrian beacon, which they're mobilizing construction very soon. I also just wanted to share that our San Rafael Police Department has been conducting increased targeted speeding enforcement across the city, including in North San Pedro, coupled with their continued focus on pedestrian and right-of-way and crosswalk enforcement. We have regular traffic motor officers out there issuing citations to motorists in particular who are not yielding to pedestrians, and we continue to get grants that support these critical sting operations. Quick update on the 350 Merredale Interim Shelter Project. Last Wednesday, we had over 50 residents attend a community meeting, wanna appreciate them, many of them are here tonight. In particular at that meeting, we've gotten a lot of support from the community members and neighbors to help support these community meetings and making them really productive and effective. I wanna appreciate Gregory Andrew, a Rafael Meadows resident who moderated questions and comments and supported the feedback with the community at the meeting. Staff presented the feedback we heard from the December meeting on the Code of Conduct and the Good Neighbor Policy, and we shared an initial conceptual site plan for the project, got a lot more great feedback. We committed to meeting on a regular basis with a group of neighborhood leaders as a next step. with more additional community meetings to come in spring and summer as we make more progress. If anyone wants to submit questions or feedback, there's a 350 Marydale project page. You can just go to the city's website and go to the search bar and there's a place, a form you can submit directly to the community services division staff. I also want to mention that there's some prescribed burns happening. An alert went out, I think today. So just a plug for make sure you're, subscribe to the Alert Marin. They'll be across Marin County from the 20th of January to the 23rd, so there may be smoke visible, and if you could please avoid calling 911 to keep those lines clear. We also have, this is I think a final call for nominations on the city's 2026 Public Service Award. This is a really special award where the city recognizes a member of the community for their contributions in making San Rafael an amazing place to live and work. The submissions are due by February the 6th, and you can also fill out a nomination form on the city's website to search for Public Service Award. There's also a call out for applications for the Smart Oversight Committee. Those are due by Tuesday, February the 3rd on the Smart website as well. A few upcoming events. On February 17th, there's a third annual Downtown Lunar New Year Hunt and Word Scramble Challenge. I didn't get to go to that one last year, so I'm looking forward to this one. We have a couple upcoming public meetings. Tomorrow evening in the council chambers is the Police Accountability and Advisory Committee, where they'll be considering the draft annual report that will come to the council following in the next few meetings. And then there's a Planning Commission meeting also scheduled for January 27th at 7 p.m. We have a couple of community events on sea level rise. The feasibility study, the final results presentation, there's two meetings same day, Monday, January 26th from 12 to 1 p.m. on Zoom, and then an identical presentation on Zoom in Spanish at 6 p.m.

Okay. Thank you, Madam City Manager. I will turn to my colleagues. I'll start with the Vice Mayor reporting out. It's December and January, so that's quite a few.

And it's actually I mean, because December was very quiet by the time we were our last council meeting went into a quiet mode. And actually, it's just starting to pick up right now, which gave me the opportunity. And I wanted to share with the community and with my colleagues. I've had a passion project for about over a year called What About Age? It's an art exhibit. that I saw in New York that is coming to Marin. And it will be opening the end of January and will be here through May. And it's really focusing on our age-friendly ecosystem across all of Marin County, meaning all the organizations working to serve our older adult community, deepening community education and awareness about ageism and calling out ageism, just like we know about sexism and racism. We're going to learn a lot about ageism and build a shared understanding about the risk around social isolation. So I hope everyone has the opportunity to come to the Civic Center to see the exhibit. And there's a lot more information on Vivillon's website about, it's called What About Age? And we have lots of different things in programming.

Thank you. Council Member Yarence Gulati.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended January 5th. The first meeting of the year was Marine Transit with Council Member Bushy. And we have a new CEO for Marine Transit. So it was the last meeting for the current or the past CEO, I should say. So that's exciting to be able to welcome. after the current CEO is retiring, actually. January 8th, I attended the Canal Promise Neighborhood Steering Committee meeting. Mayor Kate was there as well. And we have our city manager and our team member, Kerry, was there as well. And it's really nice to have that focus into the canal to make sure that everybody's going to be prospering, especially children and families. January 9th, I attended the MC Clean Energy Executive Committee, and also on January 15th, the MC Clean Energy Board Meeting. So, and that was, we have actually a new, we are going to reach out to consultants to look at the board and the structure of the organization, and also there is a new finance committee, so more to come, but it definitely has been busy. Let's see, January 14th, I attended a meeting, the canal transportation and lighting meeting. This is related to a study that happened in 2022, where we were talking to community members from the canal about safety and different transportation. So now there is going to be a new project there and that includes the Star Weather Path lighting project. So the concept has been presented and right now we are like in community outreach. So I had the pleasure to meet with Bay Point in October. I met with the Spinnaker Point in December. And now we are meeting with members of the canal. Excuse me. So nothing has been designed. We are in just community outreach right now. And that was very well attended. And it was really nice to hear from all the members of the canal on how they are currently using the Star Weather path, for instance, to go. Many of them don't have cars, so they walk to Target and they use that path. So I'm sure that there will be like a full report. We have a great presentation from our team from Public Works today. And that was in Spanish, so thank you very much for that. January 15th, we had the CCAP meeting. That's the Climate Change Action Plan Forum. It was opened by a poem by Bill Carney. And then we had an update on the Marine Biomass Project. Super interesting. Also, an update from Cool the Earth. In addition to the EV Ride and Drive Clean project, campaign that they have started. Now they are looking at electrifying buildings. So that's also really exciting coming over. Sustainable San Rafael also gave us a great presentation. And then, of course, we had our very own Corey Bitov and Kerry. They were there with an update from the city. And so reminder, city manager mentioned the sea level rise study presentation on Monday. So that's really important. We've been working on this for two years. So at noon, it's going to be via Zoom in English. And then in person, we are going to have a presentation at six o'clock in Spanish at the Marion County Wellness Center on Kerner Street. And then right after that was the MCE Clean Energy Council meeting. So, I mean, four meetings. So, yeah, it's been busy. So, thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Bushy.

COUPLE OF MEETINGS AS COUNCILMAN MENTIONED MARINE TRANSIT. MEETING WAS EARLY THIS MONTH AND AFTER WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME IN A LENGTHY RECRUITMENT PROCESS, WE UNANIMOUSLY DECIDED TO PROMOTE THE CURRENT PLANNING MANAGER, ROBERT BETTS TO THE GENERAL MANAGER POSITION. We're very excited to start a new era at Marin Transit. Last Friday, along with the mayor, I met with the San Rafael Sanitation Board. Big decision made there. We approved a draft services agreement with the Central Marin Sanitation Agency that will move our... employees from the city of San Rafael to CMSA. We made a few housekeeping changes to the agreement, but we're very optimistic that this will bring a new era to San Rafael sanitation as well. And last week, I also met with the Montecito Area Residents Association, our regularly scheduled meeting. The primary topic of that meeting was the pilot one-way project on Embarcadero Way, which we'll

be participating more in the um process for that um that pilot project thank you thank you councilmember hill thank you mayor uh it has been some time since i've had meetings until today which is the finance subcommittee meeting held earlier this morning during which we received a report from the director navazio our finance director and other staff to really look at our immediate and long-term future of fiscal sustainability. I recommend to the community to take a look. That video is now available on YouTube. You can access that through the website to understand how we're contemplating current fiscal challenges and how we're going to mitigate those as we go forward. And then also in that meeting, we looked at the Voter Approved Tax Oversight Committee Annual Report, which shows up on our agenda this evening.

And that is my report. Thank you. I'll just close out the reporting. So in December, I had the honor of speaking to the Laurel Dell second graders. They had a visit to City Hall. They were so attentive and respectful and understanding. OUR FUTURE IS IN GREAT HANDS. LYNN MURPHY ALSO CAME OVER AND SPOKE WITH THEM, AND THEN THEY HAD A TOUR OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY CENTER, SO IT WAS FANTASTIC. IN ADDITION, SMART, I HAVE SMART TOMORROW, SONOMA-MORAN AREA RAPID TRANSIT. WE DID HAVE A, IT'S A GREAT MEETING. THE GENERAL MANAGER GAVE AN UPDATE AS TO THE RIDERSHIP AND PATHWAY NUMBERS, AND I HAVE A FEW OF THEM HERE. THERE ARE MANY, MANY SLIDES. BUT FOR FISCAL YEAR 25, THE RIDERSHIP IS OVER A MILLION PEOPLE. IT'S 1,123,686 PEOPLE. IT'S A 32% INCREASE OVER FISCAL YEAR 24. THAT RIDERSHIP EQUATES TO OVER 23 MILLION PASSENGER MILES. IN ADDITION, SMART CONNECT, WHICH IS BOTH A SERVICE AT LARKSFUR, NEAR THE LARKSFUR FERRY, AS WELL AS UP BY THE AIRPORT, In Sonoma, it's had over 17,000 riders. It's 113% above fiscal year 24. That's understandable being that it was a new service just introduced in fiscal year 24. In addition, the pathway is very important to folks. There were, in fiscal year 25, over a million trips on the pathway. We have counters. SMART has counters there, so bike and pedestrian counters there. ARE RECORDED. THAT'S 39% ABOUT FISCAL YEAR 24. SO, AGAIN, SMART CONTINUES TO BE WELL USED. IN ADDITION, IT'S ALWAYS NICE TO KNOW HOW TO SMART COMPARE NATIONALLY, AND THERE WAS A SLIDE THAT OUR GENERAL MANAGER SHOWED THAT WHEN YOU LOOK AT TRANSIT AGENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES WITH UNDER 3 MILLION ANNUAL TRIPS, SO YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE SMALLER RAIL SYSTEMS, SMART IS NUMBER TWO IN THE ENTIRE NATION IN TERMS OF RIDERSHIP INCREASE. We are beaten out by the Virginia Railway Express, who had a 42% increase, but SMART was there with 36% increase. So it shows that it really is doing incredible work, even at the national level. In addition, at that meeting, we had an important decision that was approved by the board. They approved... The Jennings Crossing License Agreement that has been worked on for years and years. They started working on it before I was even on SMART, so that licensing agreement was approved. And finally, we adopted a CEQA, California Environmental Quality Act, addendum for the Healdsburg Extension Project. As always, you can always zoom into those meetings if you don't want to drive up to Rohnert Park. In January, I've had the honor of speaking at the Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute. This is a fantastic program that's available to all any residents of San Rafael and beyond. We always have folks from San Rafael, the city of San Rafael. And so I was able to speak to them about the work that we're doing here in Summerfell. I know the city manager spoke after me to them. I also was invited to speak at this Marin Civil Grand Jury. So they're getting ready to seat, they're getting ready to decide what they're going to work on as well as looking for people who might want to participate next year. So that was interesting. They had great questions. And then finally, the Transportation Authority of Marin, locally known as TAM, I'm on the Measure AA committee, and we discussed Measure AA changes both there and at the Executive Committee. That presentation will be coming here to our chambers. As part of any changes to Measure AA, it has to be presented and approved by THE MAJORITY OF BY PER CAPITA OF THE CITIES AND TOWNS IN MORAIN COUNTY. SO BY THE BOARDS, BY THE ELECTED BOARDS. SO I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT MEASURE AA AND THE VERY SHORT VERSION IS LOOKING AT THE FORMULA TO PUT ADDITIONAL DOLLARS INTO THE CROSSING GUARD CATEGORY BEING THAT THAT BOTH FROM A CONGESTION AND SAFETY STANDPOINT HAS BEEN A COMMUNITY REQUEST. SO, AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU FOR THE WORK THAT YOU'RE DOING. AS YOU SAID, IT'S JUST STARTING UP, BUT IT NEVER REALLY SEEMS TO LET UP. BEFORE WE MOVE TO THE CONSENT AGENDA, WE WELCOME ANY COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ANY OF THE CITY MANAGER OR COUNCILMEMBER REPORTS. IF YOU'D LIKE TO SPEAK, YOU'RE INVITED TO SAY YOUR NAME AND WHERE IN SEMERFEL YOU LIVE, BUT NOT REQUIRED. SO IF YOU'D LIKE TO COMMENT, NOW IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY.

Ken Dickinson, Senator Phil Meadows. I wanted to thank the City Manager's Office for hosting the January 14th community meeting at Venetia Valley School regarding the proposed 350 Merredale project. It was a productive and constructive meeting. I especially appreciated the public commitment to keeping the ad hoc neighborhood residents group connected to the project on a monthly basis. That commitment allows residents to stay informed, offer input, receive updates and maintain some level of ongoing oversight as the project moves forward. However, this is still not the formal neighborhood advisory committee that many residents requested. An idea supported by two Marin IGA independent journal editorials, a column by Dick Spotswood, numerous letters to the editor, and referenced indirectly by the mayor's recent op-ed in the Marin IGA. In that op-ed, Mayor Cate noted that San Rafael can learn from successful projects elsewhere in Marin, including Kona Madeira's Casa Buena. A key element of that project's success was a neighborhood advisory group that worked directly with town and county leadership to TO ENSURE COMMUNITY NEEDS WERE MET LATER EVOLVING INTO ONGOING SUPPORT. I BELIEVE THIS COUNCIL HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A POLICY DECISION TO FORMALIZE A SIMILAR ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR THE MURRAYDALE PROJECT. THE CITY MANAGERS OFFICE HAS ALREADY SHOWN THE VALUE OF REGULAR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT. formalizing it would strengthen trust, improve outcomes, and align this project with the best practices the city has publicly endorsed. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Anyone else like to comment on the reports? If so, please come down.

Good evening.

My name is Wayne Rayburn. I live in Soil Meadows.

I just want to be clear that I understand the city's state reasons for temporary prohibitive camping around San Rafael City Hall. The staff report identifies sanitary issues, pets, and rodents, blocked access for people with mobile disabilities, public apprehension, and increased calls for police service as conditions that makes this continued incompatible with the city's ability to operate safely and effectively. What concerns me is not the city is acting here, but the city has clearly articulated that standards for when impacts become unacceptable. But those same standards have not been built into plans effectively residential neighborhoods. In the neighborhood surrounding 350 Merredale Roads, residents raised these same categories of concerns during discussions about prohibited interim shelter, sanitary, pest, accessibility, safety, and impact on daily life. At that time, those concerns were described as manageable, but without clearly defining thresholds or enforced standards. This agenda item shows that the city already knows how to define limits. It knows when trash, pests, blocks, access, and disruptive require deceptive actions. I know how to temporarily prohibit camping requires relocation and do not without framing actions as criminalizing homeless. What we ask is simple and reasonable. that the same or similar standards apply at Centee Hall be applicable incorporated in the Marydale project plan. That includes standard, clear preference, performance standards to find thresholds for action and enforceable responses if those thresholds are exceeded. It's not about opposing the project. It's about ensuring the neighborhoods are protected by the same criteria the city uses to protect itself. Mayor Del Rez is not asking for special treatments. We're asking for equal treatment if those standards be written into the plan from the offset. Thank you.

Anyone else like to comment on the city manager or council member reports?

GOOD EVENING, MY NAME IS GREGORY ANDREA, I LIVE IN CENTERFIELD MEADOWS AND I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE MENTION OF 350 MARYDALE. THE JANUARY 14TH MEETING WAS GOOD. WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT IT IS THAT THE CITY FINALLY GAVE ADEQUATE TIME FOR PUBLIC COMMENT. IN MY VIEW, THE MAIN ISSUE THAT HAS STILL NOT BEEN RESOLVED IS WHAT IS THE CITY GOING TO DO OUTSIDE OF THE SHELTER, IN THE COMMUNITY, SO THAT THERE IS NO NEGATIVE IMPACT TO THE COMMUNITY. The city has got to be prepared to deal with the individuals who are not participants, but who come to the area because of the shelter. We heard last week about a teenage girl in San Jose who was abducted by someone in a tiny project, tiny home project. Now, certainly while that circumstances were unique, do not think that something like that would not happen here because it very well may. So the city, including the police department, needs to be fully prepared to address issues outside of the shelter site itself. I want to reiterate some comments that there can be no drugs at the site and it is appalling to me that the city is prepared to condone illegal drug use at this shelter. Drug use on this site will in all likelihood lead to drug distribution in the community and problems in the community from participants and others who come to the community because of the homeless shelter. The enforcement policy needs to be a three-strike policy, not a four-strike policy. And then I would say that there can be no excuse for not incorporating input from the community into the operations of this project. If you do not give us what we are asking for, then your words of collaboration and concern for the community will be meaningless and it will lead to a failed project. Thank you very much.

Any other comments on the reports? Okay, not seeing any. Thank you all for your comments. We'll move to the consent agenda. Are there any items, I'm looking to my left, that the council would like to hold? Not seeing any items to be held from the consent agenda. I will open public comment on the consent agenda. That's 2A through 2H. I know, Joe, you said at some point you were going to talk. I don't know if this is when you want to talk, but feel free. Okay, 100%. I just was trying to remember because you did say that.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. I WANTED TO MAKE A COMMENT ABOUT THE PROPOSED VOTER APPROVED TAX OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE BYLAWS AMENDMENT. I DID ATTEND THAT COMMITTEE MEETING AND WAS GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK ON THIS ITEM. I AM IN FAVOR OF THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SECTION 1.3.3 OF THE VOTER APPROVED TAX OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE BYLAWS. Currently, the language regarding our general fund revenues is overly broad. As it stands, oversight often stops the moment the tax is collected. But for a taxpayer, oversight only truly begins when the money is spent. The existing language allowed for a black box approach to budgeting when revenues are simply reported as general fund transfers. It becomes nearly impossible for the committee and by extension the public to see the direct line between a balance measure's promises and its actual results. Transparency isn't just about knowing how much we collect, it's about knowing if we did what we said we would do with the money. This amendment fixes that by doing three critical things. First, it mandates the tracking of spending, not just receipts. Second, it requires an itemized look at each individual measure ensuring funds aren't blended or lost in the shuffle. Third, and perhaps most importantly, Clause C ensures that if the council earmarks general tax funds for a specific project during the budget process, the committee has the explicit authority to verify that those funds actually reach that project. This prevents bait and switch budgeting and honors the intent of the voters. By adopting this language, we move from vague reporting to true accountability. We're ensuring that voter approved means voter verified. This amendment strengthens the trust between our city government and the people who fund it. Thank you.

Any other comments on the consent agenda?

GREGORY ANDREWS, AND I'M GOING TO COMMENT ON THREE OF THE CONSENT ITEMS. ITEM 2B IS THE TEMPORARY CAMPING PROHIBITION AT THE CITY HALL, AND AS YOU KNOW, LAST WEEK I SUBMITTED A WRITTEN REQUEST THAT THIS ITEM BE PULLED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR. SO I'M GOING TO RESERVE COMMENTS IN ANTICIPATION OF A DISCUSSION ON THAT ITEM LATER THIS EVENING. REGARDING ITEM 2F, THE MARYDALE ROAD CIVIC CENTER CONNECTOR PATHWAY, THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO PURSUE THIS PROJECT AND ALSO THANKS TO THE SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL TASK FORCE FOR KEEPING THIS PROJECT IN THE FOREFRONT. THIS WILL BE A GOOD AND IMPORTANT PROJECT. And item 2H on the joint quiet zone agreement seems to make sense and certainly better to have a continuous quiet zone through Marin and Sonoma County. My only question about this, if it could be addressed tonight is, my only question is, uh... that on uh... one section page one of the staff report under paragraph two of the background is a phrase that says that since the quiet zones already needed modification and just from reading the staff report it's not clear to me why it's saying that they already needed modification uh... so i'm not sure if it's to bring the northern section of nevada into the quiet zone to combine the marine segments or if there is some other modification needed. So can you please clarify why the quiet zones already needed modifications? But again, this seems like a reasonably and a good approach to take with the quiet zones. Thank you very much.

In a point of clarification, Mr. Andrews, that item was not pulled. So if you want to use the 30 seconds to speak to the first item, you can stop the clock for 2B. That was not pulled from the agenda by the council. So if we could reset the clock at 30 seconds.

It's very disappointing. doesn't really speak well to your public comment. Okay, so my issues with this is that there's gonna be 10 to 15 individuals who will somehow relocate from the closure of the camping here at the city hall. And the staff report does not address where these individuals are gonna go. It seems like the businesses and residents in the area should be informed about that. And a staff report also does mention 350 Merredale, which also makes questions about where these individuals locate. And then finally, there seems to be other reasons besides pest control that are motivating you to close these. And it makes me wonder if these individuals will be allowed back to camp back here or not. Thank you.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS ON THE CONSENT AGENDA? AND WE WILL HAVE THE CLARIFICATION ON THE SMART ITEM. YEAH. SO WHEN WE'RE DONE WITH THE PUBLIC COMMENT.

GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS MARIANNE NONNESTAD AND I WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON ITEM B ON THE CALENDAR. I'D LIKE TO ASK FOR CLARIFICATION ON AN IMPORTANT POINT IN THE STAFF REPORT BECAUSE AS WRITTEN IT IS GENUINELY UNCLEAR. THE REPORT STATES THAT THE POPULATION Camping around San Rafael City Hall has grown significantly and that this includes individuals who are new to San Rafael. It then explains that those individuals are being told they may need to relocate and that staff will prioritize outreach and referrals to available shelter and housing resources. Immediately following the discussion, the report cites the city's investment in shelter capacity and specifically references the proposed interim shelter at 350 Merredale Road as an example. In the past, the city has clearly stated that Merredale is intended to serve people experiencing homelessness in San Rafael, not as a regional intake site. However, the way this report is structured makes it reasonable to wonder whether individuals currently camping at City Hall, particularly those describing as new to San Rafael, could be referred to Merredale once it opens. I'm not suggesting that it's the city's intent. I'm saying the report does not clearly state otherwise. Given the sensitivities issue and the level of concern in surrounding neighborhoods, clarity matters. Can the city state clearly on the records whether individuals displaced from the city hall encampment, especially those who are not centerfield residents, would be eligible for placement at Marydale and how residency or eligibility would be determined? If Marydale is truly intended to serve San Rafael residents only. I would respectfully suggest that this be stated explicitly in future staff reports and incorporated clearly into the project plan so residents are not left to infer policy from ambiguous language. This is not about opposing services or relocation efforts. It's about transparency, consistency, and making sure expectations are clear for everyone involved. Thank you.

Any other comments on the consent agenda? Not seeing any, I will close it. And I see Director Miller is coming down. I think I also know the answer to the smart, but I wanted to have, it's better coming from you.

Yes. So in order to establish a quiet zone, it needs to start and end at public crossings. So that is why San Rafael and Novato have a current quiet zone together because nevado did not have a public crossing until it hit santa or fell so that's why we originally joined as one quiet zone so in order for sonoma county to extend all the way through petaluma into nevado they would have had to take over a couple of the crossings within nevado in order before they hit a public crossing which means that the marine quiet zone that we had established with nevado had to be modified to give sonoma county a few crossings and so NEVADA DIDN'T NECESSARILY WANT TO BE IN TWO SEPARATE QUIET ZONES WITH TWO SEPARATE PEOPLE ADMINISTERING. SO INSTEAD WE HAD THE IDEA OF WHY DON'T WE JUST DO ONE QUIET ZONE SO SNOMA COUNTY COULD ADMINISTER IT WITH THE FEDERAL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION AND THEN ALL OF THE AGENCIES ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN QUIET ZONES BUT THEY'RE JUST ONE REPORTING AGENCY. THEY LET US KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND THEN WE ADDRESS IT.

Thank you. And thank you for helping to make that happen. I know working with the national agency was, well, it was challenging. Okay. So I'll turn to the city manager if you want to have any comments. We did have public comment about item 2B before we vote on this item.

I'm going to pass it over to assistant city manager Stefanski.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR CAIT, MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. I WANT TO RESPOND TO MARIANNA'S QUESTION AROUND THE ELIGIBLE POPULATION FOR THE MARYDELL PROJECT. THE PROJECT WILL HAVE A CAPACITY FOR 65 INDIVIDUALS AT ANY ONE TIME. WE KNOW THAT THOSE 65 INDIVIDUALS ARE GOING TO COME FROM THE SANCTIONED CAMPING AREA AS WELL AS THE ANDERSON ROAD AND ANDERSON ENCAMPMENT. UNDER OUR AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY, WE CAN ONLY ALLOW 70 UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM. SO THAT MEANS THOSE 65 FOLKS THAT WE KNOW IN THE SANCTIONED CAMPING AREA AS WELL AS ON And then five or so folks who, for all intents and purposes, would probably be included with the folks who are out on Anderson, just knowing what the population is there today. So to answer your question, the folks who are coming into town who we've seen increase the population around City Hall will not be allowed to participate in the program, just given the parameters that we can only have today. 70 unique individuals participate in the program. We have a list of folks, so to speak, that will be eligible for the program.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. I'll bring it back to the council for.

Yes. I have a question clarifying something, but I don't want to pull the item. Do I have to pull the item? What's your question? Okay, so my question is around, you know, in the comment it was mentioned that some of the people camping here are new and they are not from our city. So I was going to ask if it could be clarified the state law around discriminating where people are coming from.

I'll turn to Assistant City Manager. Are you talking about clarifying just in the public comment or in the resolution? In the public comment. Oh, okay.

Good evening. Oh, hi. As the council knows, The city's efforts to address the various impacts from the unhoused population can be complex. And tonight's resolution is, first of all, it's a temporary resolution. The prohibition is only going through July 21st, 2026. And so the question of, you know, Whether you can prohibit somebody coming from somewhere is a more complex answer that we're not prepared to answer tonight, especially because it's a temporary prohibition.

Okay, thank you. With that, is there a motion on the consent agenda?

I MOVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR. SECOND.

MOVED AND THUMBELY SECONDED. ROLL CALL, PLEASE.

COUNCILMEMBER BUSHIE. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER HILL. AYE. VICE MAYOR KURTZ. AYE. COUNCILMEMBER YEDIN-SCALATI. AYE. MAYOR CAIT.

AYE. THAT MOTION CARRIES 5-0. THE NEXT AM IS A SPECIAL PRESENTATION. AND BEFORE WE DO THE PROCLAMATION, I DO INVITE PUBLIC COMMENT. THIS IS A PROCLAMATION IN RECOGNITION OF THE BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPY'S WHAT WORKS CITY CERTIFICATION. I WILL READ IT MOMENTARILY. And we will have a group photo. But before we get to that, if you'd like to comment on this item, now is your opportunity. Not seeing any public comment. I'm going to go ahead and read this. And sometimes I paraphrase, but I am so proud of what digital has done that you guys get every single word on this one. So this is a proclamation in recognition of Bloomberg Philanthropy's What Works Cities certification. WHEREAS A GROWING MOVEMENT OF CITY AND CITY LEADERS ARE USING DATA AND EVIDENCE TO MORE EQUITABLY DELIVER SERVICES AND SOLVE PROBLEMS, INVEST PUBLIC DOLLARS IN PROGRAMS THAT WORK, INCREASE TRANSPARENCY AND IMPROVE THE LIVES OF RESIDENTS. AND WHEREAS BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPY'S WHAT WORKS CITIES CERTIFICATION IS AN INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE LAUNCHED IN 2017 BY BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPY'S AND LED BY RESULTS FOR AMERICA. THIS HELPS CITIES ADOPT FOUNDATIONAL DATA PRACTICES, DEVELOP DATA SKILLS THROUGHOUT THE CITY STAFF, AND PUT IN PLACE CRITICAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE. AND RAS, IN 2025, DIGITAL SERVICE AND OPEN GOVERNMENT COMPLETED THE WHAT WORKS CITY CERTIFICATION ASSESSMENT TO BENCHMARK ITS DATA PRACTICES AND DEVELOP A ROADMAP FOR BUILDING THE INFRASTRUCTURE, SKILLS, AND CULTURE NEEDED TO EFFECTIVELY USE DATA AND EVIDENCE TO DELIVER BETTER OUTCOMES FOR ITS CITIZENS. AND WHEREAS, IN COMPLETING THE ASSESSMENT, THE CITY OF SERENFELD JOINED AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF CITIES GROWING THEIR DATA PRACTICES AND SHARING INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR ADOPTING AND SCALING DATA-DRIVEN APPROACHES TO PRESSING CHALLENGES IN GOVERNMENT OPTIONS. And whereas, in the past four years, the city of San Rafael has made measurable progress in its foundational data practices, including open data, performance measurement, and data-driven approaches to address critical challenges such as homelessness and mental health. And whereas, what works city certified WETWORK CITIES CERTIFICATION EVALUATES, RECOGNIZES AND CELEBRATES CITIES FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL USE OF DATA TO INFORM POLICY DECISIONS, ALLOCATE FUNDING, IMPROVE SERVICES, EVALUATE PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS AND ENGAGE THEIR RESIDENTS. AND WHEREAS WETWORK CITIES CERTIFICATION IS CONTINGENT ON CONNECTING DATA DIRECTLY TO QUALITY OF LIFE. Therefore, be it resolved that the mayor and city council, the city of San Rafael, thereby proudly announce that the city of San Rafael has met the What Works City Certification Standard of Excellence for data-driven local government and achieved 2025 What Works City's Silver Certification. Let me do a little manual pause right here. It is a lot of words. And when you go to the website of the Bloomberg Philanthropies, and I know you're going to be speaking in a moment, but there are cities that are outlined on there. We're in really, really good company. And we're also in a company of cities that are doing cutting edge in a way of every city has data, but how do you have them to drive policy? How do you have them to inform policy? And it's one of those things that's easy to talk about. In the abstract, but where the rubber hits the road, it's difficult to do. And I couldn't be more proud that you have achieved this certification. So I will turn it over to you to say a few words. So congratulations.

Thank you, Mayor, Kate, and members of the council. I'm just going to, Sean Mooney, Director of Digital Service and Open Government, I'm just going to pass it to Vedika Ahuja, who has really led the efforts, and then close this out with a really brief summary here.

Thank you, Mayor Kate and council members. And thank you for reading the proclamation that covered a lot of what I was going to say. So I'll keep it brief. You know, the digital services team has worked for many years to build the foundations of data governance, past policies, internal policies and practices to protect data privacy, security, improve data quality, inventory our city data assets so that we can rely on it for operations. And leadership has also really walked the talk using data to guide budgets, programs, council priorities, and really making it clear to staff that governing with evidence is an organizational expectation. YOU MENTIONED THE PROCLAMATION, BUT WE'VE INVESTED IN BUILDING CAPACITY ACROSS THE WORKFORCE, OFFERING DATA TRAININGS TO ALL STAFF, INTEGRATING DATA SKILLS INTO THE CITIES TOGETHER ACADEMY INNOVATION PROGRAM, LAUNCHING A PUBLIC OPEN DATA PORTAL FOR TRANSPARENCY, CREATING A PUBLIC PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD SO RESIDENTS CAN TRACK PROGRESS TOWARDS CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. AND THEN WITH THIS GROUNDWORK IN PLACE, STAFF FROM ACROSS DEPARTMENTS HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB DOING DATA-DRIVEN WORK. SO I'LL JUST CALL OUT A FEW OF THE GREAT PROJECTS THE CITY HAS DONE. THE CITY HAS COMPLETED THE COLLECTIVE PLANS AND ACTION AUDIT TO ANALYZE PAST COMMUNITY PLANS IN EAST SAN RAFAEL AND REPORT BACK OPENLY ON WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED AND WHAT CHALLENGES REMAIN. THE SUSTAINABILITY TEAM WITH THE CANAL ALLIANCE, UC BERKELEY, AND OTHER PARTNERS ARE USING DATA TO UNDERSTAND THE SEA LEVEL HAZARDS FACING OUR COMMUNITIES, PRIORITIZE ACTION, BUILD CAPACITY, AND PROVIDE STEM EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS. The Public Works Department has used LIDAR to map city assets and launch an asset management system to track city assets, prioritize repairs, and more efficiently and effectively complete work orders. And then the Police Department has conducted insightful analysis to help launch and optimize our mobile mental health crisis response team SAFE. The program has resulted in freeing up capacity for police officers, helping to achieve a 12% reduction in response times for priority one 911 calls since 2023. So I want to and also just a huge thank you to the team and to Sean Mooney, the director of digital services and open government for his leadership and guidance on our data journey. So I'll pass it to you.

Yeah, thanks. And, you know, this really shows that we're putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak. You know, we have kind of, and this group has, this council has led Data First. And I just want to just acknowledge that it's the leadership of the mayor, the council, and the city manager's office, our current city manager, Christine Lilovich, and our previous city manager, you know, who have really made this milestone happen. And it doesn't stop here. But I also need to acknowledge and give, you know, Vedica, her flowers, as well as, you know, Sherman Pang, you know, they've taken our data and insights team from when this department was established in 2019. It was a dream that we would do this type of work. And they've really led us and then alongside the citywide teams really bringing everybody along. So really excited for the work to come and continuing to build on this fantastic achievement.

Well, before we do the photo, if you could just speak to what the certification process required. I mean, you talked about the why San Rafael received it, but I want folks to realize it was a lift. I mean, there were a lot of, we had to really demonstrate, you had to demonstrate that it was deserved. So if you could just maybe just quickly speak to that so people can understand, and then we'll do the photo.

Yeah, definitely. So we had to achieve 23 data criteria to achieve this. When we first took the assessment four years ago, we had achieved one. So in the past four years, and those criteria around data governance, performance management, program evaluation, using data to create policies, programs, and be transparent about performance, yeah, and having an open data portal as well. So those are the five main categories that we really worked towards in the past four years.

And I would say just the work that we've done recently with our three-year strategic plan, I'd encourage everyone in the room or watching online to read our three-year strategic plan and the work we've done around performance metrics, really starting to align both our work planning process, our strategic planning, and our budgeting process with performance metrics really is putting us in another tier of being both transparent, but then also not making decisions on a whim, but making decisions based on data and facts.

Right, and the Bloomberg Philanthropies, What Works Cities, came and spent time in San Rafael. So this wasn't just like you submitted a bunch of things. They were here for two days, one day.

They were here for a day and a half, and they met with city staff across departments and with the mayor and city manager's office to see the data in action.

Well, congratulations. This is an incredible milestone. It's something we should all be proud of. So we are going to have a photo. City Clerk told us we need to do it.

What's your date? Right there. Here, you guys scoot back a little bit. It's up ahead of us. It'll be back.

Oh. Oh, wow.

Yeah, let's get it. A little bit closer. One, two, three.

We have a public hearing this evening. It's the Public Works Director Authority to approve public works project plans. I will turn it over to city manager or to start the item. Oh, directly. Okay. Go ahead. Welcome.

Oh, sorry. Mayor Kate. Yes. I just wanted to introduce Catherine Kasemeyer, Deputy City Attorney with the City Attorney's Office, and she would be presenting tonight.

THANK YOU. WELCOME. WAIT, MAKE SURE YOUR BUTTON IS ON GREEN.

OKAY. MY NAME IS KATHERINE CASEMIER. I AM HERE ABOUT ITEM 4A. THIS IS REGARDING THE POWER OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS AND DESIGNEES TO GIVE DISCRETIONARY APPROVAL TO PUBLIC WORKS DESIGNS, PLANS, AND SPECIFICATIONS BEFORE THEY ARE BUILT. AND I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT THERE'S A DISCREPANCY IN FORMATTING BETWEEN THE STAFF REPORT AND THE ORDINANCE, AND THE FORMATTING IN THE ORDINANCE IS CORRECT. SO THAT ITEM J SHOULD BE UNDERLINED. THAT'S WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT TONIGHT. So the point of this ordinance is to clarify that the director of public works and her designees have the discretionary authority to approve public works designs and specifications before they're built. So why would we want to do this? That's because... If there's a lawsuit that claims there's a dangerous condition on public property, then there's going to be a question about whether something called design immunity applies. That's something that's created by California state law. And there's three things that have to be established to show design immunity. It's a three-part test. You have to show all three of them. This ordinance deals with only the second item in that test. So the three items are that you have to have a feature of the design that caused the accident. You have to have the entity giving discretionary approval for the plan before it's built. That approval can happen through the council or it can happen through staff. And there has to be substantial evidence that it was a reasonable design. So this ordinance just deals with number two, which is that the entity gave discretionary approval. And all it does is clarifies that there is a authority vested in the director of public works or designees to actually give discretionary approval for plans. Now, a lot of times big plans are going to come to city council, but some smaller things like things that are a smaller dollar value would go to staff for approval or the council could delegate some of that authority to staff or there could be an emergency. Those are the times that this would come into play. And it would only come into play for people that the director of public works has delegated to in writing. Those people have to be properly qualified. They have to be properly qualified when the delegation occurs and when they actually approve the process. plan or specification. There have been other cities in the area that have adopted provisions like this, such as Santa Clara, Petaluma, and Emeryville. And based on information we've received, at least from Petaluma and Emeryville, those provisions are working as intended in that it is clear what the city has approved, what the city has not approved. So I'm ready for your questions.

Thank you so much. I'll see if there are any questions. Yes, Council Member Hill, go ahead.

Thank you so much for that report. It was on the last point that I have a follow-up question on the Emeryville and Petaluma cases. And it's really just to understand that if other communities have adopted very similar arrangements, how well it's been working. When I think about the test of what is working, it sounds like it's twofold. A, that we're able to have efficient use of staff time and decisioning, especially when there's critical moments, but also to ensure, as you were talking about the three tests, I am curious how long those have been in place. And obviously, if it were there for a decade, it would be helpful, but I'm just curious.

Right. I mean, so some of this is about how things play out over time. Petaluma has adopted it about a year ago. So they're in the process where they're clear about what's being approved, you know, in that last year, but they haven't had a decade to figure out how it ends up playing out. Emeryville, I don't know off the top of my head, but certainly- Sorry, Kathy. Oh, yes.

I am happy to answer Emeryville. So as some of you know, I was with the city of Emeryville for several years and- I started in the city of Emeryville in 2015, and they had a similar provision in their municipal code when I got there. And I appreciated having that during my time with the city of Emeryville.

Thank you for your testimony.

Thank you. Not seeing any additional questions, I will open up the public comment on this item. If you would like to comment, now is your opportunity. Not seeing any public comment, I will close the public comment. Thank you for bringing this forward, especially it sounds like they're best practices. And I would entertain a motion on this item, please. Oh, and it's, sorry, the recommended action is to introduce the ordinance. Oh, I guess someone else can read that, but that's what the motion is.

Okay, I'll make a motion. Introduce the ordinance, waive further reading, and refer to it by title only.

Second. Moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

Council Member Bushey. Aye. Council Member Hill.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Kurtz. Aye. Council Member Yedens-Gulati.

Aye.

Mayor Kate.

Aye. That motion carries 5-0. If I can have the City Clerk read the title of the ordinance, please.

An ordinance of the City of Centerfell City Council amending Centerfell Municipal Code Section 2.12.290, duties of the Supervisor of Public Works to clarify delegation of authority to the Supervisor of Public Works and designees to approve plans, specifications, and designs for public works projects.

Thank you. And thank you, Deputy City Attorney Case-Meyer. Thank you. We have another agenda item this evening, and it's the City Council Governance Agreements, Rules, and Responsibilities, and Communication Protocols. And I will start with the City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor Kate. I'm just going to say a few opening remarks and also introduce Priya Nixon, who's in the City Manager's Office as a Senior Management Analyst. She's going to be doing the staff presentation today. The document before you tonight, I just want to frame it up, is fundamentally about strengthening how we govern together. At its core, it's not a new policy document. It is a shared framework that clarifies roles, expectations, and communication practices within the city manager form of government. The overarching purpose is to create a structure and systems that support professionalism, trust, and effectiveness, structures that will outlive any one city council, mayor, or city manager. Good governance is not dependent on personalities. It depends on clear agreements, mutual respect, and consistent practices that carry forward through leadership transitions. Staff is recommending adoption because this framework strengthens accountability, reduces any ambiguity, and helps ensure that San Rafael continues to operate as a professional, well-aligned organization, regardless of changes in leadership. I'm going to turn it over to Priya for...

ALL RIGHT, GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. SO THANK YOU FOR THE INTRODUCTION, CITY MANAGER LILOVIC. FOR TONIGHT, THE STAFF RECOMMENDATION IS TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFEL'S GOVERNANCE AGREEMENT'S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS. SO I JUST WANT TO PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF AN OVERVIEW HERE. So the purpose of this document is really to provide a clear and shared framework for how the city council, the mayor, the city manager, and city staff work together under the council manager form of government. This policy document establishes a governance framework for how the council works as a high functioning team. And it supplements, but it doesn't supersede, the city charter formal legislative action of the council or other adopted ordinances and resolutions. So just a little bit more background on this. The city council held a public meeting at your annual council retreat on November 21st. 12th, and this item was brought to you for review. And this item was actually also discussed at the Council's previous retreats in 2022, 2024, and the meeting I just referenced. So this is truly an accomplishment, and it has been an ongoing iterative process and discussion. This document really strengthens governance by establishing shared governance agreements clarifying roles and responsibilities, and defining communication expectations and standards of professional conduct. And it's also a practical document. So it's practical reference to support consistency in council operations, accountability and transparency, and onboarding and orientation for future council members. So just a quick comment on where does this document live. So this government governance document will be posted on the city's website to ensure transparency and public access. The city clerk's office will maintain the formal record as the official custodian and the document will be available on the clerk's records portal which is Laserfiche. So I'm going to give a very high level overview of the five different sections you have the document in front of you. So the first one is governance and council member agreements. So the key component here is to think citywide while considering your district's interest. It covers communication with other elected officials, political advocacy, and the process for addressing emerging priorities. THE SECOND SECTION IS MAYOR, VICE MAYOR, CITY MANAGER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. AND SO THERE'S A LOT OF INFORMATION HERE. THE MAYOR ELECTED CITYWIDE, LEADS POLICY DISCUSSIONS, REPRESENTS SAN RAFAEL EXTERNALLY, GUIDES MAJOR INITIATIVES AND ENSURES THAT COUNCIL ACTIONS REFLECT THE COMMUNITY PRIORITIES. AND THE OTHER THING THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT IS THAT THIS SECTION ALSO REITERATES THE COUNCIL MANAGER FORM OF GOVERNMENT, whereby the mayor and city council members set policy directions and the city manager is responsible for implementation and oversight of all city operations. So the third section is interaction with staff and communication protocols, which basically establishes protocols for communicating with staff and the city manager, which has definitions of substantive and non-substantive communication. And then section four is coordination and communication with the public. And so that addresses procedures for constituent management and community inquiries. And then the last section is just attachments. So there's two attachments. One of them addresses the guideline for elected officials for elections. charitable solicitations or behested payments. And so I'll just briefly remind you what that is, even though you have it in front of you, but under The California Political Reform Act and Fair Political Practices Commission, when elected officials ask, request, or otherwise influence someone to make a charitable governmental or legislative donation, the donation is considered behested. And so this attachment just addresses reporting thresholds. And then attachment B is just guidelines for participation on nonprofit boards. And so serving on a nonprofit board is allowed unless it creates conflict of interest. So if the nonprofit has city funding, contracts, or decisions before the city, the council member must disclose. OF THE RELATIONSHIP AND RECUSE FROM RELATED VOTES AND AVOID ANY FINANCIAL INTERESTS UNDER STATE LAW. SO I KNOW THAT WAS A LOT OF INFORMATION, BUT AS CITY MANAGER LILOVICH HAS COMMENTED, THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING PROCESS, SO IT'S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR THE COUNCIL. AND WITH THAT, MY REPORT HAS CONCLUDED, AND I'M HERE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

THANK YOU, PRAYER, FOR GOING THROUGH THAT. ANY QUESTIONS? DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

I was wondering, and we've asked this question a lot, but what would success look like around this document? I was wondering if that could be looked at.

I'll start off, and Priya, if you have anything to add, please chime in. I think it's a really great question. I think it's difficult to... to measure success like with data in this regard, but I thought about this question a little bit. I think what it looks like in practice is a continued high functioning government teamwork where the council would naturally be reflected in our collective success and moving forward key council priorities. Success could look like increased public trust because residents experience a city that's consistent and professional and clear about how decisions are made, reduces mixed messages and better follow through. And internally, it looks like clear roles and stronger coordination between the council and the organization, which also furthers our progress together. So that's a high level. I guess the one other response I would have is there will be some transition in leadership on the city council in the next election cycle. And so part of the intent of the document is to ensure a smooth transition and to support the onboarding of a new council member. So that would be, you know, a measure of success is how smoothly does that operate in integrating a new elected officials onto the body.

Thank you. Yeah. Council member Hill.

Thank you, Mayor Cate. Thank you, Priya, for the report. As you mentioned, we have been iterating on this for quite some time, so I don't have any questions on the content. I do have a question as to where this will live and where folks should expect to access it.

That's a great question. So this document is going to be posted on the city's website. And that will be available. That's obviously available to the public. Our city clerk also maintains the full official record. And so that will be put into the record, which is available on the city's records portal.

And then I don't know if this was discussed and maybe it was, and I just need a reminder. What do we imagine might be the process to revisit or iterate on this as things go forward? Because I think I would say that as these words have been in our minds for the last several years, I think we've been honoring the spirit and the notions of this. But I'm curious if we say, if we encounter something where a conflict comes up, we want to improve something, what is our process for amendment?

Yeah, thank you for asking that question. So a couple ways I would answer that. The intent of the framework is to have like a stable governance structure. I think there needs to be revisitations. If things change, like if the things in the law change, like part of the reason we had the behested payments and the attachment is to maintain the body of the of the policy that is really likely to not change very much over time. And if there's a change in law, we would just change that attachment instead of the whole resolution. I think it's partly, it's a little bit of it depends. I think if there are new best practices or an emerging issue that really calls for a clarification or an addition of a section into this document, that would be something that I would encourage you to talk with the mayor about that and think about what's the best approach. We want the document to have some stability, but then be flexible and nimble if changes are necessary.

Thank you. THANK YOU. ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS? I JUST HAVE A CLARIFICATION. I APPRECIATE YOUR REPORT, AND I THINK WE FIRST STARTED TALKING ABOUT IT, I FIRST STARTED TALKING ABOUT IT IN 2021 WITH THE PREVIOUS CITY MANAGER. SO YOU DID MENTION SOME MEETINGS, BUT THE RETREAT, THE COUNCIL RETREATS THAT WERE HELD IN 2021 STARTED TALKING ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT BECAUSE WE WERE MOVING TO THE FULLY DISTRICT FORM OF GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS MENTIONED IN HERE THAT IT'S A DISTRICT. SO AGAIN, WHEN YOU SAY SEVERAL YEARS, YOU MENTIONED THE RECENT MEETINGS, BUT WE DID START THIS WORK WITH THE PREVIOUS CITY MANAGER. for all the reasons, because it had been an organic process and a different process and a different governance structure. So just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. I will now open up public comment on this item. If you would like to add your input or thoughts, now is your opportunity. You're welcome, but not required to say your name and what part of San Rafael that you live in.

Ken Dickinson, Sandra Fell Meadows, good evening, Mayor, Council members. I attended the November 12th retreat regarding... this government document with Greg Andrews here tonight and Amy Lykova from the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods. I have to say that the document you are considering, this one, is nowhere near ready for approval, and I would urge you to remove this item from the agenda. At the retreat, it was suggested that you may need another public meeting before the final copy. I believe Council Member Gulati mentioned that I was reviewing the video recording of that meeting the document contains numerous factual errors inconsistent and confusing formatting and punctuation awkward and unclear language and phrasing that at times is confusing it clearly still is very much a draft copy I've highlighted it up here I'd like to hand it in at the end It needs further proofreading. It needs at least another second set of eyes or a third set of eyes on it to have a public-facing document that I think as a city you could stand behind. But of greater concern is the document that we worked on in that retreat is nothing like really this one that you're presenting tonight. And there's significant revisions in here since we last met, and an important section of the original has been taken out despite assurances via email after the retreat that certain sections were not being removed. why for example was teamwork taken out under the mayor's responsibilities on page 14 in the 2025 version it's not in the 2026 version at all that doesn't seem to make sense to me so again i would urge you not to approve this document as is at this time it's such an important document so critical for the public's understanding of how our city council is supposed to work, that I think it deserves a second public meeting. I know at the end of that retreat, you wanted to avoid that happening. You worked very hard to find a way that you wouldn't have to have a second public meeting. But I believe it deserves it, really.

Thank you. And if you could share your grammar, punctuation, and formatting, that would be fantastic. Thank you. Any other comments on this item?

Good evening, Gregory Andrews, Senator Phil Meadows, and like Mr. Dickinson, I also attended the November 12th meeting in which the draft document was presented and discussed. First, I do want to acknowledge the staff's work on this. I know you've put a lot of hard work into it. So what I'm about to say, I don't mean to be critical towards you. This current draft to me is unrecognizable from the new November 12th draft. That by itself is not wrong, but there's a lot of changes that... that don't carry over from the November 12th draft. And as an example, there was a comment that I had made that you have a statement about city council members' roles and responsibility. A council member may and is expected to engage with constituents, community organizations, or the media on issues of public concern, gather input, and bring the information back for council deliberation. So that was a... RECOMMENDATION I HAD ON A STATEMENT. AND THE CLOSEST THING THAT I CAN FIND OF THAT HERE NOW SAYS COUNCIL MEMBERS' ROLES FOR COMMUNITY OUTREACH. I'M GOING TO CALL THIS A MILK TOAST STATEMENT. MAINTAIN STRONG CONNECTIONS WITH THE DISTRICT TO KEEP A PULSE ON RESIDENT CONCERNS WHILE ENGAGING WITH CITYWIDE INITIATIVES TO ENSURE ENSURE ALL VOICES CONTRIBUTE TO POLICY MAKING. SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EXPECTED TO BE ENGAGED WITH CONSTITUENTS COMMENT FROM THE NOVEMBER 12TH DRAFT I GUESS IS MY COMMENT. You know, I think words are fine, but if they're too vague, there's nothing to sink your teeth into and evaluate success. So a little bit more detail on this would be helpful. Thank you.

Any other comments on this item before we close the public comment?

Hi, good evening. Victoria DeWitt, West End Avenue, or West End Neighborhood. Yeah, I'd like to comment on some of that. You know, we had a project in our neighborhood, we still have it, second and fourth street intersection project, and none of the council, including the mayor, agreed to meet with us. And I think that should be in your policy document that you meet with the constituents and understand the issue to meet on site to see what the issue is. That should be in this document. That's my comment. Any other comments?

Okay, not seeing any. I do appreciate the grammar and punctuation and formatting. I think that any sort of motion, if we get to that point, should include that. Could I speak to that briefly?

Yes, please. I consulted with Chief Assistant City Attorney. Any grammatical typo, formatting, typos, adjustments can be made if the council wishes to adopt the document this night tonight um those could be made after the fact procedurally um if the council wishes yeah thank you um i will turn for comments i'll start with vice mayor go ahead comments

I appreciate all the work that's gone into this. I do consider it a living document. And we do need to, you know, not only just to addressing the grammatical pieces, but as things change, there may be reasons we'd want to go back and relook at that and future councils may want to look at that. It really reinforces the citywide lens, which I find very, very critical. clarifies advocacy and preserves the distinction between policy leadership and implementation. Supporting this is about strengthening our culture of respect, accountability, and effective decision-making. So I'm very happy to support this right now.

Thank you.

Council Member Irenz Gulati. Thank you, Mayor. I have a similar comment. I believe it is election year for actually two of our council members. And I think as a living document, I also agree that it would be nice to, once we have the new council members, to review the document and see what's working and if we need to make any tweaks or any adjustments. But other than that, I agree. I approve, I mean, I approve this, this argument. Thank you. Okay. I support it. Yep. Thank you. Council Member Hill.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Priya, for walking us through it. Yeah, I'm in support of the draft as written. As this is living, it will undergo appropriate modification as you go forward, but as written, I think it's appropriate. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Bushy.

I am greatly pleased that my successor will have this document to give a scope and some flavor of what this job is. It would have been super helpful to have had this 13 years ago when I was sworn into office. But I'm proud that I'm leaving the onboarding program in a better shape than when I arrived. So thank you for that help.

THANK YOU, AND I'LL JUST BUILD ON THAT. SO WHEN I JOINED THE COUNCIL IN 2013, 13 YEARS AGO, THERE WASN'T A DOCUMENT LIKE THIS, AND THERE WERE NORMS IN TERMS OF GOVERNANCE, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING ON PAPER. SO WHEN I WAS ELECTED MAYOR, RECOGNIZING THAT WE ALSO THEN WENT TO DISTRICTS, THIS IS ABOUT THIS MOMENT, BUT IT'S REALLY ABOUT THE FOLKS THAT ARE GOING TO BE IN THIS ROOM WHERE NONE OF US ARE 50, 60 YEARS FROM NOW, AND REALLY STARTING THAT INITIAL CONVERSATION. SO I'M REALLY APPRECIATIVE TO THE CURRENT CITY MANAGER, THE PREVIOUS CITY MANAGER WHO WORKED ON THIS DOCUMENT. IT'S HARD PUTTING GOVERNANCE NORMS AND WHAT, OH, THIS IS WHAT WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT. THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WE ACTUALLY NEED TO TALK ABOUT WHY DO WE DO THINGS. AND TO THE COMMENTS ABOUT IT BEING IN THE GRAY AREA, because this is a living document to have everything to the nth degree, there are things that happen all the time in this role that we cannot foresee. And if we are too wedged ourselves in a corner, we might not have the flexibility. I don't know what that example might be, but I do know that the people that serve up here and the people before us, and I know the people after us as public servants, are doing this because of our commitment to San Rafael. And this helps clarify it in terms of meeting with the community, answering emails, all that good stuff, working with each other, working with staff. This helps provide clarity around that. And we do this work because San Rafael, frankly, is the best city on this planet. not the perfect city, but the best city. And so I really believe this sets us up for that success for years and years and years. And I couldn't agree more that we'll revisit it probably after the new council member has been sat in a year to see how does this land, what does this look like. And I really hope those future council members and future mayors are appreciative that we started this. This is brand new, brand new to San Rafael. By the way, there are other cities and towns, I don't think in Marin County, but there are ones in the Bay Area that have similar documents. So once again, we are trying to manifest and put into writing something that's really important to us, which is all around the governance and relationships and teamwork and all that good stuff. So thank you so much to the city manager. This was a big lift. And I'm delighted that this is here having started on it in 2021. And so having this moment, I couldn't be more thrilled to have this before us. And I would entertain a motion. And if the person making the motion would so choose to add adding around the grammar, punctuation, and formatting piece. As per the assistant city attorney, that would be helpful.

Yeah, go ahead. I have text ready. I move that we adopt a resolution approving the San Rafael City Council's governance, agreements, roles, and responsibilities, and communication protocols, and that we authorize the city manager to make such non-substantive grammar punctuation corrections as may be needed. Second. Second.

Moved and seconded. Roll call, please.

Council Member Bushy. Aye. Council Member Hill.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Kurtz. Aye. Council Member Yadam-Skulati. Aye. Mayor Kate.

Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Before we adjourn this evening, we have open time for public expression continued. I have some cards, but don't worry if you didn't give me a card. You can still come up, but I will go ahead. If you've already spoken, you do not get a second bite of the apple. So these will be folks that haven't had a chance to speak during this open time of any item not on tonight's agenda. So Joe Mulligan, do you want to speak now? I've been having your card on top. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Kate, council members, and Joe Mulligan. I've been a resident of Glenwood for four years now. I love being a part of this city, and I really appreciate your leadership and governance. I'm the Walk Bike San Rafael team lead for Point San Pedro. Point San Pedro Road is inherently dangerous as it's presently designed. This roadway is an overbuilt high speed thoroughfare, making it dangerous for walking, biking, and driving. An over wide road encourages speeding, making it unsafe for everybody in this residential area. As of now, a person driving a car or truck can go from San Rafael High School to Peacock Gap without stopping, and people often do this at 50 miles an hour. Two elementary schools are along this route as well. In recent years, there have been deaths of people both walking and driving. Last Wednesday, Lucia Vicente, a 2025 San Rafael High School graduate, was struck and killed by a motorist while crossing Point San Pedro Road at Summit Ave. In 2015, Ora Machado, a junior at San Rafael High School, was struck and killed by a motorist when she was jogging on Point San Pedro Road. Since 2014, two motorist fatalities were there, as well as 19 reported crashes where a bicyclist or pedestrian was a victim. The city had an opportunity to make a mile of the roadway safer in 2022, but enough residents opposed it and it was rejected. After the death of Lucia Vicente last week, we must pledge as a community to prioritize the safety of all users of this road, not just prioritize the convenience of the motorists. Until we fix the road, more members of our community will die senselessly. Pedestrians walking 85 feet on a crosswalk with no refuge will continue to get killed with the current speed limits in place. Flashing lights at crosswalks are a band-aid at best. There needs to be other traffic calming measures beyond speed reductions that stop Point San Pedro Road from being a high-speed thoroughfare. If we can't agree on all of this, it's certain that the deaths will continue.

David Smith. Oh, I'm sorry, Snaith. It's a handwriting, sorry.

Hello, my name is David Snaith. I've been a teacher at Centerfold High School for the last 20 years. And both those students that Joe just said were students of mine. We lost a student 10 years ago. I thought in my mind, surely somebody's gonna do something about this road. And then last week we got another one. On a personal note, I'm really here for my students, but I walk a lot, take a walk, try to clear my head before I'm buried grading papers. And I walk along that road a lot and I walk with another teacher and often I have to step off the sidewalk and walk because there's no room. I'm a big guy, but I'm not that big of a guy. And so I literally have to step off because there's just not room for me to walk on the sidewalks there. As we're walking, me and another teacher, we kind of joke all the time. I hope we don't get killed as we try to cross the street. And it's often, that's a conversation that we actually have. I commute, I live in West Marin. I commute on Sir Francis Drake. The vast majority of Sir Francis Drake is 30 miles an hour. It's a very similar road. As I pass Archie Williams, it is a 25 mile an hour speed limit. Currently in front of Centerfold High School, it's a 35 mile an hour speed limit. Short little math lesson, distance is equal to rate times time. If your distance is short, your time will not change. It is perceived notion that you are going to save time by increasing a speed limit. There is no distance that you're going to save time. going across this. My students walk over to Montecito. The new improvements are great. We widened the sidewalk in front of San Rafael High School. We did a little blinky crosswalk. There was a nice little safety island. I came to work today that was destroyed by a car sometime this weekend. I don't know when it happened. I have pictures of it, but somebody hit that safety median. I hope none of my students were there. So anyway, I just ask that we really take time to be able to change this. I know that we can do it. At a minimum, we reduce the speed limit. I would propose that we do it to 30 miles an hour. I think that's very, very reasonable. I also think that there should be a set way in which students can get to school, pedestrian, biking and all that kind of good stuff any of my students that show up to school they have to get on the sidewalk on a bicycle and we know how unsafe that is it's also a residential neighborhood lots of neighbors that live there and their their driveways are they go onto the street so i don't know it's a residential neighborhood i don't understand why the speed limit's there so thank you thank you for your comments i have one other card and again you haven't given a card it's okay richard peterson

Okay, I don't see Mr. Peterson. So anyone else would like to speak? Yeah, come on down. You don't need to have a card. That was, wait, wait, someone's behind you first. The woman in the scarf.

Hi, I'm here about to call attention to a C-Click fix that I submitted in April of 2023. It's regarding a crosswalk at the Civic Center in North San Pedro over by the Civic Center. Pedestrians have to cross six lanes of traffic while they're given a green light for the cars to cross that same crosswalk. It's not safe. So in April or February of 24, the San Rafael traffic responded to the C-Click and said that they had done a traffic center at that intersection and what they said is a protected left turn will be added to north and southbound traffic as soon as funding is secured. Okay, so that was in February of 2024. I followed up with Public Works in person in an email, and then finding that San Rafael, the traffic people had retired. There was nobody there. I went to the San Rafael city clerk, and she connected me to April Miller. April Miller's net response to me was that a five-second delay was added to that intersection, to that light, November of 2025, and if I wanted further action, that I should submit another C-click. Five seconds doesn't get a pedestrian across six lanes of traffic. I have pictures here that I'll give you of, it can happen. Since it wasn't fixed, I don't know why I should do another C-click. All one needs to do is observe it. You don't need to have any kind of degree. You can just see what's happening there all the time. I both drive and walk that intersection. Cars approach the pedestrian. You cannot see their face. You don't know if they're gonna hit you or not, and you're trusting somebody with that vehicle. It's very, not good, not safe. People probably are, they're making a left turn. They're afraid of oncoming traffic. That freaks them out also. So please don't dismiss this because nobody's died in that crosswalk yet. If you have any doubts and there's a necessity, walk that crosswalk yourself. And my question is, is who's going to fix this? Who's going to address this? I don't know what else to do. I've asked so many times, so many ways.

Thank you.

Here's a picture.

Any other comments?

Good evening. First of all, thank you, Mayor Cohen and council members and city employees for your service to San Rafael and for making the city better and working to improve the city as much as possible. And in particular, thank you for getting this strip of land that will allow those of us in the Bay Point Lagoons and Canal area to get to Montecito Plaza in the future. My name is Susan Yada. I live in Bay Point Lagoons in the canal area, and I wanted to talk about the Starkweather Path. The art project that is proposed at this time consists of 24 placards that will be on metal stakes in the ground, two by three foot placards installed every tenth of a mile along the path. Part of the path, it's a two-mile path as proposed, and part of the path, about half a mile, has water on three sides. So there will be placards there installed and also lighting on this very kind of sensitive part of this dark weather path. That is our seawall. So the stakes are being pounded into, it's only seven feet wide, six and a half feet wide. And there is a 29 inch gravel path next to the asphalt path close to the bay. That is where the, which is the running path. That is where the stakes will go. And I assume the lighting, unless the lighting goes in the water. The thing that concerns me is, first of all, it's very narrow to begin with. So for two rows of traffic and also for the DPW trucks to get down the path to take care of, you know, to pick up the garbage.

If you could wrap up your comments.

Okay, my point is there are places to put, nobody, I don't think, objects to the placards. There are places to put the placards, but not in sensitive areas. So to put them in Pickleweed Park or at the other end and the Target area.

Thank you. Yep, thank you for your comments.

I WANT TO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SERVICE, AS ALWAYS, AND FOR STAFF SERVICE. I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE DEATH ON POINT SAN PEDRO ROAD LAST WEEK. VERY CONCERNED THAT WE HAD ANOTHER INCIDENT IN OUR CITY, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THIS COUNCIL'S PASSAGE OF OUR VISION ZERO GOAL, I THINK IT WAS LAST YEAR, YEAR BEFORE. BUT IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME I'VE BEEN UP HERE TALKING ABOUT THIS. WE'VE GOT TO PRIORITIZE MAKING OUR ROADS SAFER. WE'RE ALL PEDESTRIANS. WE ALL WALK OR GET AROUND OUTSIDE OF A MOVING VEHICLE. SO WE NEED TO START PRIORITIZING THESE THINGS. THANK YOU FOR PASSING THE RESOLUTION AS PART OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR TO MAKE SOME IMPROVEMENTS TO POINT SEMPRE. WE NEED TO DO MORE. I AM GOING ABOUT THE AMICABLE ROUTE TONIGHT INSTEAD OF BEING THE SPICY ONE, BUT I FEEL THAT WAY SOMETIMES. WE REALLY NEED TO PRIORITIZE. WE GOT TO WORK WITH THE COUNTY. IT'S OBVIOUSLY DRIVE THROUGH, THE ROAD IS THROUGH, GOES IN AND OUT OF THE COUNTY AND THE CITY. WE NEED TO WORK WITH OUR PARTNERS IN THE COUNTY. WE NEED TO PRIORITIZE THIS. REALLY. LIKE IT'S A BIG DEAL. TWO PEOPLE IN THE SAME STRETCH OF ROAD DIED IN THE PAST TEN YEARS. YOU HEARD THE STATS FROM JOE. IT'S REALLY REMARKABLE. YOU KNOW, WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL SOMEBODY DIES TO IMPROVE OUR ROAD NETWORK HERE. WE DID THAT, WE TOOK ACTION AFTER CHRIS'S DEATH LAST YEAR, WHICH SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, BUT THE CITY DID MAKE SOME MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THAT INTERSECTION IN TERRA LINDA. We have so many other priority intersections that are already part of all of our plans. We know where the biggest risks are. And if we're not doing anything about it, we need to start chipping away at it. So prioritize that. We have limited resources. We can still do a lot of easy things. And we need to prioritize making Point San Pedro Road safer. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Aaron, City Council. Once again, I appreciate your time. I'll try to keep this brief. I'm also here in regard to the recent death on Point San Pedro Road. I'm an avid bike rider. I live on Lincoln and love to ride that loop, or I used to until several years ago when I had a pretty bad bike crash on North San Pedro Road. So I have a lot of titanium in the left side of my body now, but I'm still alive and still riding, fortunately. So I just want to second that this really needs to be a higher priority and that we need to do more to continue to make San Rafael safer for walking and biking. And it's just, yeah, it's interesting to hear earlier about the other thing about being a data-driven city and that, you know, using data to have best practices, and that's great. And so thinking about that when it comes to road safety, for example, a 40-mile-per-hour impact rate. With a pedestrian, a car going 40 miles per hour results in an 80% chance of death. That just feels incompatible with a city and a residential neighborhood and multiple schools and a popular recreation route. And so that chance of fatality drops to 40% at a 30 mile per hour speed limit. And I'm thinking for the people that live all the way out at the farthest end of the road, like that's a difference of just maybe a couple of minutes for their commute time. And so, you know, what are people's lives worth? And then it's beyond just the death. I mean, we hear about those stats or we find out about them in the headlines in the newspaper, but there's also dramatic life-altering injuries. Yeah. disabilities, all these things that can come from auto crashes. So just, yeah, sorry, I'll wrap up. Just I implore that we do more to address these known issues and follow data to make our roads safer. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Good evening, Victoria DeWitt, Weston Neighborhood. I looked at comments made during open time for public expression and summarized my findings in a letter submitted to you this evening. As I said, most people comment during open time because they've not been able to resolve their issue in any other way, so come to the city council as a last resort. For example, I asked my elected representative, Eli Hill, to schedule this item for the agenda in order to notify other members of the public to share their thoughts about this subject and have a discussion among council members. However, he denied my request, so I'm here during open time for public expression to express my thoughts for two minutes where council members aren't required to respond or discuss the issue. There needs to be a way for residents to request items be placed on the agenda for discussion. In 2023, the Dominican Development Project accounted for 39 comments. during this time. 39 is a lot of comments to receive during open time, which tells me there's something missing in the communication or resolution of an issue that has to be raised 39 times during open time. I think you can think of comments received during open time as an indicator on how the city is doing with communicating with residents and should provide an opportunity to reflect on how to improve communication and problem resolution proactively before the public comes to you during open time. I think the council may want to rethink how to reach out and engage with our neighborhoods. As I said previously, no one from the council, not even the mayor agreed to meet with us about a neighborhood project. You may consider reinstating monthly meetings with the Federation, which I thought was highly effective under the previous mayor. Thank you. Any other comments this evening?

Okay, not seeing any. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone.