City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I'd like to ask Grisel currently on the Spanish channel to commence interpretation of the meeting. For those just joining the meeting, live interpretation in Spanish is available and members of the public or staff wishing to listen in Spanish can join the Spanish channel by clicking on the interpretation icon in the Zoom toolbar. It looks like a globe. If you are on your cell phone or tablet, locate the three dots, tap them lightly, and put a check mark on your preferred language. Click done to activate and begin the interpretation. Once you join the Spanish channel, we recommend you shut off the main audio so you only hear the Spanish interpretation. Claudia, will you please restate this in Spanish? Yes.

Buenas tardes a todas las personas que se acaban de unir a esta junta. Interpretación en vivo y en español se encuentra disponible para los miembros de público o el personal que desee escuchar en español y unirse al canal de español. Pueden hacer un clic Thank you very much. Back to you.

Welcome everyone, the time is four o'clock and we'll call this meeting to order. Madam City Clerk.

Council Member Rogers. Present. Council Member McDonald. Here. Council Member Fleming. Here. Council Member Banuelos. Here. Council Member Alvarez.

Present.

Vice Mayor Okrepke is absent this evening. Mayor Stopp.

Here.

Let the record show that all council members are present with the exception of Council Member, or Vice Mayor Okrepke.

Thank you very much. And I believe we have one of our members, Ms. McDonald, participating remotely. Do we need to make any kind of announcement pertaining to that?

No, Mayor, she is participating under traditional teleconferencing rules under the Brown Act.

Wonderful. Welcome remotely, Ms. McDonald. Glad to have you here. We will move on then. We have a very succinct agenda this evening. We'll go right to the fun part here, our proclamations. We have two of them this evening. Proclamation 7.1 pertaining to National Transit Month. And I will hand it over to Ms. Fleming.

Thank you. Whereas public transportation plays a vital role in connecting communities, supporting economic vitality, and enhancing quality of life, and whereas Santa Rosa City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit provide safe, reliable, and accessible climate-friendly transportation that which connects residents to essential destinations, including employment, education, healthcare, and recreation, whereas Santa Rosa City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit provide essential transportation services, supporting mobility throughout the community, including 1.5 million passenger trips annually and more than 780,000 service miles with an average of 2,100 weekday student trips, helping students get to and from school whereas paratransit promotes independence and mobility for individuals with disabilities, advancing equity and inclusion in our community, whereas the dedicated operators, mechanics, supervisors, and staff of Santa Rosa City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit provide critical public service with professionalism and care, and whereas public transit reduces traffic congestion, improves air quality, supports city's climate goals, and whereas the City of Santa Rosa is committed to transitioning to a zero-emission transit fleet, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and advancing a more sustainable future, and whereas National Transit Month provides an opportunity to recognize the importance of transit and encourage residents to utilize these services, Now, therefore, be it resolved that Mayor Mark Stapp and the City of Santa Rosa hereby proclaim September of 2026 is National Transit Month in the City of Santa Rosa and encourages residents to recognize and support city bus and paratransit.

And it's great. We have so many members of our transit team out tonight. And you've got a number of dedicated bus riders up here on the dais, including, I believe, Ms. Banuelos. Did the bus not get you here this evening?

It was wonderful and very efficient. And I really appreciate the work that you all do. I had to take the bus. I can't drive right now. So you're there when people need you and also for everyone else that needs you on a daily basis. So thank you.

Thank you, indeed. All right, we're gonna do a photo eventually, but is it, but Jamie Smetis or Rachel Eade, which of you, Rachel, are you gonna accept the proclamation? By all means, say a few words.

Yeah, I'd like to say a few words and I have someone else I'd like to accept the proclamation. So good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm Rachel Lee, Deputy Director of Transit. On behalf of the staff of Santa Rosa City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit, I'd like to thank the Council for this proclamation for National Transit Month and for recognizing public transit as an essential component of the infrastructure of mobility and equity in Santa Rosa and beyond. A few years ago, one of our longtime bus operators coined a motto for city bus, moving lives forward. It's on the buttons that I think you all have in front of you right now. It's a deceptively simple motto that reflects the deep impact access to public transit has on individuals and communities. Public transit is for everyone and whether it's providing access to education, employment, healthcare, shopping, recreation, or any other opportunity, our transit and paratransit services make it possible for all of us to move our lives forward. This is a mission the dedicated staff of Santa Rosa City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit take to heart and deliver on seven days a week. In the field every day delivering service to the public, our bus and paratransit operators, customer service staff, and field supervisors who are supported by our fleet maintenance teams and the bus service workers who fuel and clean our buses overnight. In the office, we have staff providing technology support, planning and scheduling services, managing our finances, and providing the administrative support required to keep everything moving smoothly. We have several representatives of the City Bus and Santa Rosa Paratransit teams here today, and Luis Rivera, a longtime City Bus operator and chief steward of SEIU Unit 8, will accept this proclamation on behalf of our team. Thank you again for your support and recognition of National Transit Month. During Transit Month, we encourage everyone to come out and take a ride on City Bus or one of our partner transit agencies to discover where public transit can take you. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Director Eade. And Luis, did you want to say a few words? out tonight all right let's go to public comment first and then we'll do it then we'll do a photo are there any members of the public that would like to celebrate our public transit in Santa Rosa oh please sir the floor is yours can you hear me we can we can hear you speak close to the mic the mic doesn't pick things up very well

all right mayor council members and city staff my name is peter edwards i'm the regional vice president for mb transportation so on behalf of mb transportation i want to thank you for the trust and partnership over the past 20 years we've been honored to serve this community with safe and reliable transportation. And this local team that we have here today, that's the foundation of that service. With all of them being part of the team between 12 and 20 years, they've been a big part of the journey that we've had with the city. And I'm really proud of that. So thank you for the proclamation.

Thank you so much. Are there any other members of the public who'd like to say a few words? Mr. Alvarez.

You know, I just asked for the floor, but yet I don't know where to start. It's amazing to me the amount of level, or actually the level of service that is provided to the community, even in a downed economy. I represent District 1, and to my knowledge, it's the most heaviest use of the ridership, and it also has the most amount of buses traveling up and down Sebastopol Road, whether it's 2 or 2B. And so it's to be a great thing that is happening, right? And for those of you who've never ridden the bus before, the amount of technology that's been implemented into the system is jaw dropping. From the 41411 that you can put into your text and the bus number to receive a very, very accurate time of when that bus is gonna be traveling through your bus station to the apps on your phone, which really helps you travel throughout, it really map your route throughout the city of Santa Rosa. It's exceptional the level of service and Council Member Rogers, one of our first things that we did when we were elected back in 2020 was show up early in the dawn morning and get a taste of what it takes to keep these buses clean, washing them out in the morning so that every day, the level of cleanliness and just really the level of respect that our system asks for our community, it's inspiring. So thank you on behalf of my community who rides the bus more than any other district in Santa Rosa. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Alvarez. And I should have asked earlier, do we have anyone online making public comment? I'll ask our Madam Zoom host whether anybody online is either clicking star nine or raising their hand.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I'm not seeing anyone. Oh, hold on. We do have someone. We have Stephen wishing to speak. Stephen, I'm going to go ahead and allow your permissions. You'll have two minutes and a timer will alert at the end of that time. You've been asked to unmute.

Okay. Yeah, I just want to say thanks for the Sonoma Marin Rapid Transit train. It's really providing wonderful service on the bike trail. is really good i'd like to see that expanded in the future that would be wonderful but for right now it's just a big thumbs up for sonoma marine rapid transit and the um connectivity um with the bus system um there's maybe some room for improvements in some of the um corridors. For example, Rohnert Park, it drops you off near the city hall in Rohnert Park, but it's sort of difficult to access some of the connection points with the county buses. But really, it's really a going in the right direction and the public transit is definitely appreciated um if you don't have public transit and you know you have to walk there it's uh it takes a lot longer and um it also adds to the safety of the community uh good transportation system so thanks a lot doing a really good job for right now that's all i've got thanks thank you stephen yeah no problem

And I am seeing no other callers wishing to speak on this item.

Thank you very much. And thank you, Stephen, for those kind comments, as well as highlighting that Santa Rosa is ahead of Rohnert Park in terms of our connections. With that, we're going to close public comment and we'll ask anybody who's affiliated with the transit teams to come down front. Let's do it. Let's do a photo. Thank you again to everyone who's making public transit work in Santa Rosa. Thank you for coming out today. We'll move on to our second proclamation, item 7.2, our proclamation for Creek Week 2026. All right, another big one. And let's see, we're going to Miss Rogers, of course.

Thank you, Mayor. Whereas throughout much of California, cities, counties, and stewardship organizations recognize Creek Week as an annual celebration of our creeks, watersheds, and the ocean, and whereas the 238 creeks and approximately 360,000 residents of the Russian River watershed are connected and mutually support each other, making the Russian River and its tributaries important resources to the people of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, And whereas pollution in the form of trash and debris, chemicals, nutrients, and sediment degrade the quality of life and the quality of resources within the Russian River watershed. And whereas the city of Santa Rosa strives to protect our lands and waterways through ongoing pollution prevention outreach to raise awareness of the harmful effects of pollutants on our natural systems. Now, therefore, may it be resolved that our Mayor, Mark Stapp, on behalf of the entire City Council, recognizes September 19th through September 25th, 2026, as Creek Week in the City of Santa Rosa, and asks all members of our community to protect our watershed health by participating in Creek Week activities, taking steps to reduce pollution, and caring for our environment throughout the year.

All right, we can't celebrate our water team often enough. So thank you for coming out tonight. And Michael, are you gonna be accepting the proclamation? Please say a few words.

Well, thank you Council Member Rogers and good afternoon Mayor Strapp and Council Members. A lot closer. A lot closer. So my name is Michael Santorini. I'm an environmental specialist for the Water Department Stormwater and Creek section. I'm excited to be here today to talk with you all about another fun week of activities that we have planned for Creek Week this year. To kick Creek Week off and celebrate California's Coastal Cleanup Day, we will be hosting a Creek to Coast cleanup along the Prince Memorial Greenway on Saturday, September 19th. This year is particularly special as the commission is celebrating 50 years of the California Coastal Act, which was adopted in 1976. Please come volunteer to help make the Prince Memorial Greenway a clean and welcoming space for all. On Sunday, September 20th, our staff will lead a guided nature walk along Santa Rosa Creek. And on Monday, September 21st, volunteers are invited to join Milkweed Monday at the Lower Colgan Creek Restoration Project, where we'll be weeding invasive plants and scattering milkweed and other wildflower seeds across the recently restored creek landscape. Our most popular downtown underground tours will take place on Tuesday, September 22nd and Thursday, September 24th. Registered participants are welcome to attend this event and explore the culverts beneath City Hall anytime between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. And then finally, Creek Week will conclude on Friday, September 25th with a bilingual birding event off Willowside Road led by the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation. We ask anyone interested in attending one of these events to please visit our Creek Week website for additional details and registration links. And thank you for your time, and we hope to see you at one of our great Creek Week events.

Michael, thank you for all that news, all those great events. We'll open it up to the public. Are there any members of the public that would like to make a comment on this item? Seeing none, we'll close public comment. Oh, and we won't yet, because we have to go online. Madam online Zoom host, is there anybody online wishing to make public comment?

If you're wishing to make a comment, please raise your hand, or if you are on the phone, please dial star nine. And Mayor, I'm seeing no one wishing to comment.

Thank you very much. All right, we'll close public comment, and we'll ask anybody who's here from the Santa Rosa Water Team to come on up. Let's take a photo. Thanks again to our Santa Rosa Water Team. We'll move on to item 8.1, our Community Empowerment Plan update. When Ana Huerta isn't being called upon for her photographer skills, she's also running our community engagement for the City of Santa Rosa. Ana, thank you for all that you do. Tell us what's new with community engagement.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. I'm Ana Horta, Community Engagement Manager with the Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Office, and I will be presenting the Community Empowerment Plan update covering September and part of October. On September 19th, the Santa Rosa Fire Department will host Firefighter Story Hour at the Rincon Valley Regional Library from 10.30 to 11.30 in the morning. The department has also hosted successful story hours for the Roseland and the Northwest Library branches. The City of Santa Rosa will host two community information meetings about the 2026 municipal election. The first presentation is in collaboration with the NWACP Sonoma County branch, which will be held on September 28th from 5.30 to 6.30 p.m. at 1401 4th Street. The second presentation will be in collaboration with Lausanne, will be held on October 9th from 10.30 to noon at the Filney Community Center, 2060 West College Avenue, Person Senior Wing, Room 5. Community members will hear information about Measure L, the City Council election, and how to ensure their votes are counted. On October 1st, the City of Santa Rosa will host the final district-based community meeting of the series. Join Council Members Jeff Okrepke and Caroline Banuelos and Community Advisory Board Member Jude Frates for the District 5th and 6th Community Meeting at Filney Community Center, 2060 West College Avenue, Person Senior Wing, Room 5, from 6.30 to 8 p.m. Community members are invited to share ideas, ask questions, and learn about projects shaping their neighborhoods. For more information, visit srcity.org slash district meeting or email communityengagement at srcity.org. On October 3rd, the Santa Rosa Police Department will host a community gun buyback event at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, 1352 Maple Avenue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will provide residents with a safe, anonymous, and convenient way to surrender unwanted firearms. Participants may exchange qualifying firearms for cash with funding provided entirely by the Santa Rosa Police Foundation at no cost to the City. The event supports the Department's broader efforts to reduce gun violence by removing unwanted and unsecured firearms from the community, helping prevent accidental shootings and firearms thefts. Building on the success of the department's 2022 Buy Back event, which collected 438 firearms, the program offered residents a responsible disposal option while exchanging overall community safety. For more information, visit src.org slash gunbuyback. On October 6, the City of Santa Rosa will be hosting boards, commissions, and committees recruitment workshop here at the City Hall Council Chamber, 100 Santa Rosa Avenue from 5 to 6.30 p.m. The City of Santa Rosa offers a variety of opportunities for community members to participate in local government through our volunteer positions and various boards, commissions, and committees. This role supports city council and city departments, and appointments are made by individual council members or the full city council. For questions and additional details, please contact the city clerk's office, phone number 707-543-3015, or via email at cityclerk at srcity.org. Pumpkins in the parks are back. The Santa Rosa Scavenger Hunt will be hosted from October 1st through October 30th. Visit a participating city park and search for an eight-inch laminated pumpkin cutout. Find out... Find one and win a prize. Instructions for claiming the prize are in the back of the printout. For a list of participating parks and complete details, visit srcity.org slash calendar or call 707-543-3737. Finally, on October 11, the Santa Rosa Police Department is planning another Faith and Blue event at the Promise Center 1211 North Dutton Avenue from 4.30 to 6.30 p.m. This event is designed to connect police officers with our local faith-based organizations and build stronger connections. Everyone is welcome to attend. And that concludes today's Community Empowerment Plan update. Thank you.

An impressive lineup as always. Anna, have we done Pumpkins in the Park annually? Or are we building up the Leprechaun and Pot of Gold team?

It's been done annually.

All right. It slipped my attention in past years. That's exciting. All right. Questions from council? No questions from council. Any questions from members of the public? Any public comment in chambers? Seeing none, we'll go online. Is anyone online wishing to make public comment on this item?

Seeing no one raise their hand, Mayor.

All right, thank you very much. We'll close public comment and I'll just say thank you. That's a lot of work on behalf of the city. All right, we'll move on to item nine, our city manager and city attorney's reports. City Manager Nutt, any items to report this evening?

Yes, Mayor, thank you very much. I have a couple items to report on. First and foremost, this Thursday, September the 17th, the Santa Rosa Police Department is hosting a community meeting to provide information and gather public feedback regarding the use of FLOC automated license plate reading This meeting will educate attendees on how technology supports investigations into serious crimes, including homicides, kidnappings, robberies, and organized theft, retail theft, while also highlighting the department's privacy protections and oversight measures. Community members will have the opportunity to ask questions directly to Chief John Cregan and department staff learn about data retention and auditing practices, and share feedback on policies, transparency, accountability, and community trust. Translation services will be available in Spanish along with accommodations for additional language and accessibility needs. I wanted to make sure that we're highlighting that. I know that that's been very well published, but wanted to continue to provide additional feedback for today. On a different note, I'd like to share some exciting news. The City of Santa Rosa was recently honored with the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition's 2026 Bike Infrastructure Project of the Year Award for the Highway 101 Kern Avenue bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing. In presenting the award, the coalition noted that even a highway overcrossing can be a, quote, complete street project, benefiting residents walking, biking, using transit, and driving. The project has improved connectivity, safety, and east-west access across Highway 101, while expanding transportation options for the community. The achievement reflects the collaboration of city staff, Caltrans, the Sonoma County Transportation and Climate Authorities, and our community and highlights what can be accomplished through strong regional partnership and really it's a fantastic project, really thrilled with the work that Transportation and Public Works did to complete that. On Monday, September 21st at 5.30 p.m. at the Findlay Community Center, we would like to invite the community to attend City of Santa Rosa's 44th Annual Merit Awards Ceremony. This special event celebrates the volunteers who make Santa Rosa a stronger, more connected community through their service, leadership, and dedication to others. We hope you'll join us and recognize the remarkable people who help make our city such a wonderful place to live, work, and play. uh and finally i want to express congratulations to the benefit golf course on being named the best golf course in sonoma county in the press democrats 2026 readers choice awards the recognition reflects an outstanding experience provided at the golf course through a partnership with touchstone golf which is now kemper sports which operates the course on the city's behalf We thank the golfers, visitors, staff, and everyone in our community who voted, and we hope you'll take the opportunity to discover why Bennett Valley Golf Course continues to be a favorite destination for players throughout Sonoma County and Northern California.

Thank you, City Manager Nutt. City Attorney Crocker?

Thank you, I do not have any reports this afternoon.

All right, thank you both. We'll go to public comment. Would any members of the public in council chambers wish to comment on either of those reports? If you wish to comment on either report, make your way to the podium. We'll take your comments there. And if there are others who wish to comment, if you could begin making your way to the podium now just to be efficient. All right, the floor is yours.

My name is Cynthia Frias and I just have a question about the flock cameras. When they come in, will they be prepared with having visual imagery, for example, a point of view from an operator's perspective so we can see what they're looking at?

So Cynthia, we can't get into a back and forth in a public comment session, but at Thursday's meeting, we're gonna have lots of information about how the system works and be ready to answer any questions there.

Will there be visual representation of the explanation on how the system works?

So I will defer to our city manager if he wants to address that.

Thank you.

Thank you for the feedback and the information. We will be providing images that demonstrate how the City of Santa Rosa Police Department utilizes that technology for the benefit of the work that they do. So yes, there will be images included.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right, at the other podium, please go ahead.

Hi, my name is Jenny Gilpin. I'm a resident of District 2. I'm here with the North Bay Organizing Project. You guys probably saw us out front. We've been out door knocking and talking to our neighbors about the dangers of the flock cameras in our communities. Considering that over 200 cities, even just this afternoon, Boston has canceled their flock contract, Florida, Texas, I wanted a lot of people across the country, I've been sharing their comments and their outrage. And these particular comments were out of Minnesota from a man named Dan Hartman. As most of us, I came here to build a life, a future with my family. It's caused me to think a lot about the future, about the world we will be building for our children. I want that world to be one where we trust one another, a world where newcomers to the community are greeted with open arms and kindness. Flock is not that. Where we could spend our money, uniting our community and building it into something for everyone to trust in, we instead send it to unproven tech oligarchs to invade and spy on our communities. That spying is not without consequence. When the federal invaders arrived to terrorize Minnesota in the name of scams, lawlessness, and racism, that very network was used to trap and kidnap our neighbors. As we know, our children will look back on this moment with revulsion. nauseated by the cowardice that led us to turn our guns inward, nauseated by the squandering of our national resources to build the data centers and surveillance infrastructure, a monument to fear, voyeurism, and delusion. We must not forget this is much bigger than a few cameras spying creepily on civilians. The surveillance state cannot exist without data centers. Every second that these cameras, and we have plenty of them here in Santa Rosa, are running is another second spent sucking the life out of our planet. You keep this up and we're staring down more of a future than without privacy. We're staring down the destruction of our future entirely.

Thank you for coming out tonight. And again, on the 17th, on Thursday, we're going to have a lot of our city staff and much more information presented. So thank you for making comment tonight. Do any other members of the public wish to speak who are in council chambers? Seeing none, I'll go to our Zoom host. Is there anybody online who has raised their hands or dialed star nine?

Thank you, Mayor. I'm not seeing anyone raise their hand on Zoom.

Thank you. All right, we'll close public comment on this item, and we'll go on to item 10, our statements of abstention or recusal by council members. Do we have any statements of abstention or recusal this evening? Seeing none, we will go on to, let's see, our approval of minutes. We have two sets of minutes. Item 12.1, our August 18th, 2026 special meeting minutes, and then items 12.2, our August 18th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Are there any amendments to the minutes or edits? Seeing none, we'll go to public comment. Do any members of the public in council chambers wish to make comment on the minutes? That is a rare one for folks to make comment on, but we've seen it happen once. Seeing none, we'll go online. Madam Zoom host.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. No one's raising their hand on Zoom.

No one's raising their hand. Wonderful. We'll close public comment, and we can adopt the minutes as submitted. Which brings us to, oh, whoops, I skipped over one. We have to do our mayor and council member reports. Oh, sorry, did you have a comment? Oh yes, no, as I just mentioned, I skipped over our mayor and council members' reports. I went right to the approval of minutes. Let's go back to item 11, my apologies. And again, we've got 25 minutes, folks. This is our time to shine. So Ms. Rogers, why don't you kick us off and just take as long as you'd like.

I would love to, Mayor. So I have a few things to report. One, SCTCA met yesterday awarding a number of funding cycle two grant awards to a city road bicycle pedestrian and transit projects totaling $25 million. These include five projects that council had approved for staff submittal last year, including improvements to Stony Point Road, the Joe Redota Trail, Cleveland Avenue, a shared use path on Farmer's Lane Extension right of way, and further study for improvements on Petaluma Hill Road and Santa Rosa Avenue. So we are very happy about that. And yesterday I had the opportunity to go on a ride along with our parks landscape crew. I know you guys are wondering, so what exactly do they do? Well, they help to make our city look beautiful. And it's dangerous work, let me tell you. So we had to block off the road in the middle of the median We have to do that ahead of time because we had to notify all the drivers and the public that it was going to be blocked off. So we had to do that. And then we had to go do something else, which involved a lot of limb pulling and wood chippering that they would not allow me to do because I was not approved to do so. So I had to pick up trash and We did a lot, Mayor. I'll just say we did a lot. And I did not go to the gym yesterday morning, but when I got home, I was tired. So I know that they do a lot. So I want to give a shout out to Moses and Ramon and Craig and thank them very much for allowing me to tag along and see what they do. And I also want to tell all the drivers out there that when you see our workers that are doing that, that are trying to beautify the city, I am asking you, please slow down, help to keep them safe, because they are trying to keep the city beautiful. So please do that for them, for their families, and also for us. And while I was able to sit down with them for a little bit, I learned some incredible news that I would like to share. So I'm so happy that we have time for me to share. Are we ready, Mayor? On April 26, 2026, Parks Maintenance employee Jared Gardner was off duty and enjoying fishing at a place to play park. Have you ever fished there, Mayor? Me either, but maybe we need to go with Jarrett to do that. So Mr. Garner witnessed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed, striking multiple parked cars before leaving the roadway and entering a nearby pond. Recognizing the immediate danger to human life, Mr. Garner, acted without hesitation, leaving his personal belongings behind. He ran toward the scene, entered the water as the vehicle began to submerge. He swam to the vehicle, located the driver, assisted her to safety, and brought her back to shore. That was one. I was like, oh, our staff were amazing. One incident, right? But they're amazing. That's amazing. He saved a life. No, that's not it. I will continue. On August 19th, 2026, Mr. Gardner, the same person, was cleaning the decorative fountain at Comstock Mall when he heard a loud commotion nearby. Looking toward the disturbance, he saw two men attacking another man who was lying on the ground. One of the assailants was repeatedly stabbing the guy that was lying on the ground. Mr. Gardner courageously ran towards the scene and attempted to distract the attackers in an effort to protect The victim. The assailant, armed with a knife, charged at Mr. Gardner before turning back and stabbing the victim again. Both assailants then fled the area. Mr. Gardner immediately called 911 and provided responding officers with detailed information about the attack. And I think that the police were able to find the people that attacked the gentleman that was on the ground. So I was like, wow, that's amazing. Here they go again. They're doing so much. Mayor. You gave me 20 minutes and I'm not done. So I'm happy we have this time. On August 21st, 2026, Parks Maintenance employee Edward Wondray and Moses Jacinto Ramirez, I know I just butchered some names, were returning to the maintenance shed at a place to play when they heard calls for help coming from a nearby pond. They immediately responded and found an adult woman struggling to remain above water while holding a three-year-old child's head above the water line. These are the stories that we do not talk about and this is really scary because this could have been in the Press Democrat but had a totally different outcome if it weren't for our staff. Mr. Wandre positioned himself along the pond's embankment and lifted the child to safety. Mr. Jacinto Ramirez immediately took care of the child while Mr. Wandre assisted the woman out of the water. Because of their coordinated and immediate response, Both the woman and child were safely rescued and able to leave the area without further assistance. These are the stories that we don't tell where our staff go above and beyond. Not only do they provide a beautiful place for us to live and a place for us to recreate, but when they see something wrong, they do something right. So Mr. Gardner and Mr. Wandre and Mr. Jacinto Ramirez demonstrated extraordinary courage, sound judgment, and genuine concern for the lives of our community members. Through their swift, decisive action and willingness to intervene, they prevented what could have resulted in a tragic loss of several lives. Their actions exemplify the highest standards of public service and reflect great credit upon themselves. I would like to thank those staff, but I would also like to thank all the staff that we have that go above and beyond, that constantly do what they need to do to keep our public safe. And Mayor, I did not use my whole 20 minutes, but thank you so much for allowing me to share that and thank the staff, truly thank the staff because this could have had a different outcome. Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks for signing a spotlight on our staff. I hope that there are a number of unexpected twists and turns in that story. We hope everyone's okay. So thank you for presenting that. Let's go to Mr. Alvarez. Can you speak for longer than that?

I'm almost done. Now, I want to report that I visited RUP High School in District 1, and the purpose was really for me to find out how the integration of the RUP and the RCP students is going. Not too long ago, RCP was closed. Their campus is located in Larkspur, near Cardinal Newman. And the reality is that the children of RUP have been ever so welcoming. to the students of rcp and this coming from rcp students there's been no type of physical altercations of any type. And in fact, when I was visiting the classrooms and I asked them to raise their hands, whether they were RUP or RCP, the classrooms were very well integrated. So it's great to see the Roseland spirit is strong amongst the children of Roseland and definitely the welcoming spirit just as strong. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I'm gonna look to our online colleague, Ms. McDonald. Did you wish to make a report this evening? It's hard to see when you have your hand raised. All right, Ms. McDonald, join the fun.

Hi, thank you. And I appreciate the opportunity. I just wanted to thank my representative on the Parks and Recreation Board, Keating Vogel, for coming to the Park Month event with me, not this month, but the month before. And her eagerness to share with me that the pickleball courts she had heard were opening in Howard Park. And so I recently drove by there and saw that in fact, everyone was playing on the pickleball courts in Howard Park and just thank the staff and our contractor for getting those open earlier than anticipated. I know this has been a long time coming uh over in district three to have those courts finally finished and and that folks are able to um play on them but i just wanted to thank keating for her service and um for attending that and keeping me informed on what's happening in our parks i really appreciate it that's it thank you miss mcdonald's i will turn next to miss benuelos

Thank you, Mayor. I just had a really quick announcement. Just thought I should announce it. Tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, the Violence Prevention Policy Team is going to be meeting over at Steel Lane Community Center, and that's for our community partners, but also for the public. We don't normally meet there. We normally meet over at Findlay, but we're having a joint meeting with the Operation Team, so it's going to go a little longer than usual. But I just wanted to let the public know, because we don't get much public involvement or feedback, and I would love to see you all come out if you're interested in violence prevention, particularly with youth.

So, thank you. Thank you for that. And Ms. Fleming, did you have anything? Nothing from Ms. Fleming? All right, I can use up a little bit of time. So in no particular order here, I wanted to celebrate the fact that the City of Santa Rosa was helpful statewide in getting a correction to a law that affected how goat herders were paid. Many of you have noticed that we have goat herds and sheep herds in the city that do vegetation management in our parks and their open spaces. There was a loophole in the state law that was threatening the viability of that. Some of the wage issues with respect to goat herding were going to be negatively compromised and was going to become financially infeasible to do animal vegetation management, which would have It's been sad for all of us here in the city. But I wanna say thank you to Chris Rogers, Assemblymember Chris Rogers, former Mayor Chris Rogers, and Senator Chris Cabaldon. They were two of our state colleagues, North Bay colleagues who jumped in and made a fix. So rest assured we will have goats and sheep in our park in the years to come. I WANT TO THANK EVERYBODY ON THE CITY TEAM WHO MADE THE SANTA ROSA MARATHON POSSIBLE ON AUGUST 24TH. WE HAD I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE DOWNTOWN. IT'S A PACKED EVENT. AND AGAIN, CITY STAFF AND ESPECIALLY THE SRPD WORKED VERY CLOSELY WITH THE MARATHON TEAM. AND I'M ALSO PLEASED TO SAY THAT BOTH CHIEF KREGAN AND I BROKE TWO HOURS AND A HALF MARATHON. SO IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL DAY. We brought back all of the former mayors who were free a few weeks ago to do a former mayor's luncheon. And that was delightful to see mayors who go back as far as from the mid 70s to come together and talk about city policy and talk about their experiences. Thank you again to our community engagement team, to Anna Horta and others for arranging a district two and three town hall. Ms. McDonald and I spoke together to a number of our residents here in the city about all the issues that you'd expect. our roads public safety flock cameras pick your issue it was a it was a robust hour and a half long discussion thanks to all those from the community who came out as well as to the city team who organized that uh our our city manager city manager nutt forgot one big award from his from his list So in addition to the city of Santa Rosa being better than Rohnert Park in terms of our public transit and public transit connections, we were also for the second straight year named the most business friendly city in Sonoma County, a title that had traditionally been held by Rohnert Park, but is no longer. multiple years in a row that Santa Rosa has owned that award and that will continue. Thank you so much to North Bay Biz for making that possible. On the 10th, we had the Russian River Watershed Association meeting. The big news out of that meeting was that, thanks to the Board of Supervisors, we're looking to consolidate efforts regarding how we manage the Russian River Watershed. Right now, it's a collection of government entities and nonprofits. It's all well-intentioned, but not as tightly coordinated or as efficient as it might be. And there's now an intent and funds available to perhaps create a new organization, probably a JPA of some kind, to better manage the watershed, to better allocate resources. And so we had an initial discussion at the Russian River Watershed Association board meeting about that, and that's gonna continue and be interesting in the months to come. And then that evening, there was a meeting of the mayors and council members association board meeting, where we had a presentation on SMART and SCTCA, where Council Member Fleming, her praises were sung quite a bit by James Cameron. He went into great detail about all the work that Ms. Fleming has done to bring funds and direction into public transit in our area. Thank you very much, Council Member Fleming. And then just on a more general note, the last couple of weeks have seen a number of really great ribbon cuttings or openings here in the county, just in no particular order. We had a groundbreaking at the Children's Museum. We had a ribbon cutting at Roseland Elementary School that both Ms. Banuelos and I attended. We had a tour of Catholic Charities' new youth shelter, which is gonna be providing, I think it's eight plus beds, desperately needed in our community for youth that don't have a place to go. And then we had the opening for the Gallagher Company's Sparrow Sober Living Center on Doyle Drive, which is gonna provide just under 40 beds for men, including men who are responsible for children, to have a safe place to stay as they continue their recovery. So it continues a larger trend in our community of building and of economic development and of providing new resources for our residents. It's been a great few weeks. And then in conclusion, I'm tempted to make this into a full filibuster seeing as I only have 10 minutes to go. Are you gonna add more at the end? Okay, good. Ms. Rogers can fill in for me. But I did want to call out that there was a prayer vigil for Nepal about a week or so ago where we had a number of local elected officials attend, and we must have had 100, 150 people out there who were speaking to our Nepalese community and sympathizing with them, given what's going on in Nepal right now. It was a lovely event, and I'm glad the Press Department had covered it. And then finally, at least for my part, This past Saturday, we had the latest iteration of the Vince Harper Day in Martin Luther King Park. Thank you so much to the South Park Coalition, to all the organizers of that event. There were more booths and vendors than I remember from past years. It was quite full. Again, the city of Santa Rosa was there in force, both our SRPD, the fire department, our city staff. So it was a beautiful day in Martin Luther King Park. And thanks again to the South Park Coalition and to all the organizers for making that happen again this year. All right, that's as close as I can get to a filibuster. Ms. Rogers, I'll turn it back to you.

I don't have 10 minutes though. I guess I can talk.

Give us what you got.

Okay. So I did forget to say that on the second, District 1 and District 7 had our community meeting. It was very well organized. I do wanna thank Ana Horta for her time and commitment to make sure that we have these community meetings and also thank all the staff that were present because you could have been home um eating dinner or doing something fabulous but you were not you were there with us eating popcorn nuts and having water so thank you so much for for your time for your commitment to to santa rosa and i wish you the best for the one that you guys have um coming up which is yours Yes, so if you were not able to get to any that we have had this far, it does not matter what district you live in, please, please go. That's how we know what we're supposed to be doing up here, what you feel and how we can advocate for you. Thank you. Mayor, that was like one minute.

We'll take all we can get. Thank you, Ms. Rogers. Anything from any of the rest of my colleagues? All right, let's throw it open to public comment. Mr. Hilber, are you wishing to make comment on this item? Yes, briefly, yes. Please, don't be brief, Mr. Hilber. Take your full two minutes.

Okay. You go around and visit places and report on it, so I will suggest you for future reporting. One or more of you go visit the area around about the Sam Jones Shelter, and preferably in the early evening, maybe from five before dark. Look around the area, make note of the vagrancy and the trash, and especially like the camping in the ditch. And also the arson activity. There have been several fires set in the area around there. So tour that area and give us a report on that. And think about what to do about it. Because one of my friends had her car set on fire. It's on Finley. The car was parked in a driveway. and she said it was done by one of the guys who's who camps in the ditch around there and it's not the first fire he started but anyway her car was parked there right there in the driveway in the road and it's burned and it's covered with a tarp but you could still see it there it's it's in plain sight so anyway i'll remind you that when sam jones was opened we were promised um there would be no spillover into the neighborhood that operating the shelter there would not adversely impact the surrounding neighborhoods. So I think you ought to make an in-person visit to that and think about what's going on over there because there's quite a bit of camping in the ditch.

Thank you, Mr. Hilber. And what I will say is the city is well aware of that particular area, and it's been a topic of much discussion over the last few months. So thank you for highlighting it. Are there any other members of the public in council chambers who wish to make comment? Seeing none, we'll go online. Madam Zoom host, has anyone pressed star nine or raised their hand?

I am seeing no one wishing to speak on this item, Mayor.

Thank you very much. All right, we'll close public comment on that item. And we will very slowly go to item 13, having done the minutes out of order. We will go through consent. Madam City Clerk, do we want to go old school and read all the titles for items 13.1 through 13.10? Is that something that we have an interest in?

No, Mayor, respectfully.

Then I will simply note that we have items 13.1 through 13.10. Does anybody wanna ask any questions about any of these items, looking at my colleagues? Now would be the time to do it. Okay, well then let's go to public comment. Mr. Hilber, back to you.

Yeah, 13.8, appointment of director to the groundwater agency. I will object, you commoners have no business having a director. on a board that decides how much well tax people will pay. We're getting stuck with something like $30 a year, and it's just a rip off, it's just an excuse to create a pot of money and waste it. You don't legitimately represent well users because many of them are outside the city limits, yet you're happy to vote to impose a fee on them. And I see the money given to the, you got some hippie type con artists with some nonprofit and they taking money and they want to get paid to spread wood chips and nonsense like that. And they got some phony tank over in a park and they're getting paid to do nonsense with our money. And I really resent it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hilber. Are there any other members of the public in Council Chambers who wish to comment? Seeing none, we will go online then. Madam Zoom host, anybody online? Has anybody raised their hand or pressed star nine?

Thank you, Mayor. I am seeing no one wishing to comment on this item.

All right. Well, seeing that it is four minutes before five o'clock, what we're gonna do is we're gonna recess for exactly four minutes and start again on the dotted five. Thank you, everyone.

Respectfully, Mayor, would you care to put a motion on the floor to adopt the consent calendar?

Oh, I was already jumping ahead. Yes, I forgot the most important part. Yes, I would like a motion. Mr. Alvarez, is there a motion?

Indeed there is, Mayor, and I will see if I can take four minutes to present this motion. Please, please. No, no. I'd like to make a motion to adopt the 13.1 through 13.10 and wait for the reading of the text.

All right, we have a motion, and we have a second by Ms. Rogers. I guess we can go ahead and call the vote.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Rogers? Aye. I don't think I can burn through three minutes, Mayor, I'm just gonna get to it. Council Member McDonald?

Aye.

Council Member Fleming? Aye. Council Member Banuelos? Yes. Council Member Alvarez?

Aye.

Vice Mayor Okrepke is absent. Mayor Stapp?

Yes.

Let the record show, all council member, or this passes unanimously, or pardon me, with five affirmative votes. Six affirmative votes.

Thank you very much. All right, I guess we are gonna recess for two minutes and come back in two minutes. Thank you for your patience, everyone. All right, welcome back, everyone. The time is now precisely five o'clock, so we'll get ourselves going. Thanks to everyone for their patience. Madam City Clerk, let's reconvene. Would you please call the roll?

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Rogers. Council Member MacDonald. Here. Council Member Fleming. Here. Council Member Banuelos. Here. Council Member Alvarez.

Present.

Vice Mayor Krupke is absent. Mayor stop. Here. Let the record show all council members are present with the exception of Vice Mayor Krupke.

All right, thank you very much. And again, we couldn't start our public comment on non-agenda matters before five o'clock. That's why we had that short break. But now here we are. We are having one public comment on non-agenda matters tonight because we have nothing else on the agenda. So this is the public's only chance to comment this evening. If you wish to make public comment on any item not listed on the agenda, please make your way to the podium. And if you could be waiting, use both podiums and be waiting as the speaker in front of you concludes. Let's keep this efficient as we go back and forth. So again, if we have any members of the public who wish to speak, please make your way to one podium or the other. Oh, actually, I've got a list here. Let's go and order the names that I see. Michael, Mr. Hilber, we'll go Michael Hilber, and then Matthew, and then Jenny. So Michael, Matthew, and Jenny.

Okay, I'm speaking on Michael Hilbert, Santa Rosa, the apartment building called The Cannery. which is your flagship 100% affordable housing apartment building in Railroad Square. I have an article here from the Bay City News. June 9th, 2026 is a big narcotics bust at that facility. Quite a bit of cocaine and substantial amount of cash at that place. And... So apparently there were, that suggests that you got drug dealers there living in Section 8 apartments. That's appalling, absolutely appalling. They qualify as low income because the cash they make from dealing drugs is non-reportable. It's just ridiculous. And I've got some online comments from somebody who lives there. These are current comments. And the person is a female and she says women living there are feeling unsafe and they feel especially concerned about the maintenance guy makes them feel unsafe. And she goes on to say that despite that drug act, drug arrests there, you know, it continues to be a drug den. I mean, it's just horrendous. You know, somebody should be taking it seriously and looking into it, because it really makes you look bad. And I just noticed on the Santa Rosa police made a pressure release just now, they arrested a bunch of Mexican drug dealers just today. Half a pound of methamphetamine, Senor Ruiz Martinez. It's never ending.

All right, we're gonna go Matthew, Jenny, and then Cynthia. Matthew, Jenny, and Cynthia. Is Matthew here? Jenny? Cynthia? Cynthia, you have the floor, thank you.

Cynthia Berti-Frias. I am a Coast Miwok and Pomo student. I'm a Coast Miwok and Pomo descent. I'm also a student at Santa Rosa Junior College. I'm also a local resident and a community advocate. Today I'm here representing Safe Cannabis 707. I'm standing before you tonight on our ancestral lands to address a critical housing equity gap in our city, one that directly impacts local renters, medical patients, and working families. While commercial cannabis is legal in Santa Rosa, our current local ordinances, including chapter 920, smoking regulations, leave renters and medical patients with virtually no safe, legal, or dignified place to use their medicine. Homeowners are granted the private right to consume while renters face eviction or fines for doing the exact same thing. True community safety and equity mean ensuring that every resident, regardless of whether they own or rent their home, has access to safe, legal, and protected spaces. Beyond closing this equity gap, this moment presents a creative revenue generating opportunity designed to satisfy both private rights and public concerns. By modernizing our local policies and sensible regulations, our city can generate vital local tax revenue and fees to help remedy Santa Rosa's current fiscal deficit. while simultaneously providing immediate funding and relief for our fire and emergency safety services. We cannot have safe cannabis without fire and safety services. Bridging this equity gap protects tenants, housing security, ensures medical access, and addresses neighborhood and family concerns through structure, honesty, and respect. In closing, real solutions require bold leadership and true collaboration. The challenges facing Santa Rosa from fiscal constraints and fire safety needs to housing, I'm sorry, from fiscal constraints and fire safety needs to housing equity for renters and medical patients cannot be solved in isolation. I stand before you ready to work. I invite the mayor, vice mayor, council members, and city staff to sit down with me and our community advocates to collaborate on what this policy transformation could look like for Santa Rosa. I welcome opportunity to meet with you within the next two weeks. I left my contact information.

Cynthia, thank you very much. Jenny, Dana, and Ronnie. Is Jenny here? Dana? Ronnie? There we go, and if you have put your card in and wish to speak, if you could be waiting by the podium. All right, welcome, the floor is yours.

Hello, my name is Ronnie. I'm here, Santa Rosa resident, sharing my concerns regarding the flock technology utilized by our local police department. There's a lot of misconception being shared, and I've been doing a lot of canvassing in various districts in Santa Rosa, and a lot of consensus that I've gotten from folks is that they were not aware of these flock cameras being installed and they also do not consent to unwarranted and long searches of the implementation of AI within these cameras. So I'm really looking forward to the conversation that we'll be having on Thursday with the police department to get better transparency and understanding of why we have this technology in our community and what does it really mean to keep our community safe while also protecting our fourth constitutional right. But yeah, thank you.

Ronnie, thank you very much. Jason, June, and Bruce. Is it Jason? Yep. Perfect. Jason, you're up. Thanks for coming out tonight.

All right, oops. So what I'm gonna do here, my name is Jason, or The Young Ye, I'm a rapper in this area, so I'm gonna do a little rap for y'all. So, hope you enjoy it. De-flock the country, take the cameras down. We don't need a database tracking every town. Every plate logged, every movement getting mapped. Freedom ain't freedom when the people get tracked. Deflop the country, let the people breathe. I don't need the government watching me when I leave. Privacy's a right, better take that shit back. We don't need a nation built to follow every track. They put an eye on a pole, then an eye on the block. Build a digital file with every tick of the clock. Where you went, where you left, what route you took. Whole life getting logged like a page in a book. They say if you ain't guilty, what you worried about? That's the oldest little trick when surveillance rolls out, because rights ain't a privilege for the perfect and clean. They're a wall between the people and a powerful machine. No warrant in my pocket, no judge in the ride, still a permanent witness for every time that I drive. And a tool built today for a reasonable cause can be handed down tomorrow for unreasonable laws. Deflock the country, take the cameras down. We don't need a database tracking every town. Every plate logged, every movement getting mapped. Freedom ain't freedom when the people get tracked. Deflock the country, let the people breathe. I don't need the government watching me when I leave. Privacy's a right, better take that shit back. We don't need a nation built to follow every track. First is public safety, then the mission expands. More data gets collected, more power changes hands. local cops corporations whoever gets the key that's a dangerous equation for a population that's free i don't care left right power needs restraint civil liberties disappear underneath the fresh paint you can promise good intentions you can swear it's all secure till you're under arrest with no evidence to procure so pull the network back make them justify the search don't turn every neighborhood into a surveillance perch put the burden on the state keep the rights in the crowd if privacy means freedom then i'm saying it loud no permanent i

no permanent file no tracking everybody every road and every mile no trust us when the infrastructure is built because rights don't require proof that you ain't got the guilt the young yay coming out if we if we gave out awards for public comment that would have to be in the running very very very memorable all right thank you thank you for coming out tonight thank you for that we're gonna move on to june bruce and stephanie do we have june here june you're up thank you for coming out is this went on okay If you can lean closer to the mic, it doesn't pick up very well.

So hi, I'm June Burchers, good afternoon, and I'm here because I was just, as one of the community members out at the informational session that happened out front starting at three today that North Bay Organizing Project ran, and it was really informative. I would encourage everybody here to look at some of the information North Bay Organizing Project has put together. They've got ongoing research, new information every day is coming out. And what struck me was all the concerns of the community members who were here this afternoon and how they're feeling impacted by the presence of all these cameras. So I would encourage you to also meet with MBOP to hear what they've been hearing from the community, because a lot of people could not stay, a lot of people left. But it really alarmed me how it was impacting people What also was alarming was the information of the discrepancy between what's been put out in public by the SR, I mean the Santa Rosa Police Department, and then what's actually been being obtained from Public Record Act requests. And so there's not enough time to go through it all, but there's a lot of disturbing information there about those differences. And even the inconsistencies between how the public record acts requests are being responded to or similar requests for information are being similar timeframe, the timeframes are very different and who's getting access to information. There's just a number of factual evidentiary harming bits of information there that causes great concern. I mean, it all does point to, we really do need to cancel the FLOC contract and not renew in January. And we really do need an ordinance, a surveillance ordinance in place with strong protections before we do any contracting with any more. surveillance companies. So I just encourage you to take a deeper look at some of the strong evidence and information that's coming out to help inform your decision making going forward.

June, thank you very much. All right, we got, and if we could, let's hold our applause till the end. You can do jazz fingers. We wanna keep the noise under control here. All right, so we got Bruce and Stephanie. Is it Bruce?

Yes.

Bruce, you have the floor.

Yes, my name is Bruce DeBanion. I am speaking out against, in opposition to Santa Rosa, continuing its flock contract. We have to be very cautious about granting the government surveillance powers because governments are made up of people and people are flawed and corruptible. History shows us that with power comes abuse of power, always. It's too enticing. The instances of misuse, mistake and error by the AI monitored flock cameras are well documented. Our public spaces are already saturated with cameras recording our daily activities, and law enforcement can obtain location data from cell phones, so any additional monitoring is intrusive and unnecessary. Why on earth should the taxpayer foot the bill to implement a surveillance system that violates our Fourth Amendment right to a reasonable expectation of privacy, even while in public? The great Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The flock surveillance system is not in accordance with the values and ideals of America as envisioned by our founding fathers. Our constitutional rights are unassailable and non-negotiable. Secure the blessings of liberty, it says in the Constitution. In other words, guard and value your freedom. Let's deflock Santa Rosa and join the 153 other communities across the country that have said no to automated license plate readers.

Thank you, Bruce. Stephanie.

Hi, my name is Stephanie, and I have a series of questions that I wish that the City Council would be posing to SRPD in regards to FLOC, and I'm just gonna ask some questions that I really wish we would all be asking. Having looked at audit logs, which I have been struggling to obtain since May, and having looked through them, I would like to know if SRPD's retention policy is 30 days, why do I see municipalities accessing our cameras as far back as 2024 or querying the database as far back as 2020? Why do I see municipalities searching our cameras for the year 2036? Is that like a typo? And if there are typos, why aren't they being caught? Why do I see reasons such as identification, illegal parker, locale, officer safety, patrol, test, sales, as reasons that these audit logs were accessed? Why do I at times see no reason listed whatsoever when we've been reassured that that is not SRPD policy and the policy is being followed? Why is it that when I look at the portal, I can see that as of today, there are supposedly 774 searches, and yet 500, or excuse me, over 5,000 a month on average, that doesn't seem right to me. Why do I see NICRC? That's a good question. Why do I see so many different agencies accessing our camera when the portal has been updated to say that we're only sharing within Sonoma County? Why have I been able to find all of these discrepancies within like five minutes of viewing the logs and SRPD has not notified us of any of these? Thank you.

Thank you, Stephanie. I'll ask again, are Jenny or Dana here? Is anyone else in, or does anyone else in Council Chambers wish to make public comment? Seeing none, we'll go online. Madam Zoom host, do we have anybody online who has raised their hands or dialed star nine?

We do not, Mayor.

All right. Sir, are you looking to make, are you wishing to make public comment? All right. All right. Make your way to a podium.

Good evening. So my name is Kenji. I have a family here that works downtown. I have a business and, you know, right now we're going through hard times. I think everybody here is, everybody knows like the price of like goods, gas, everything's going up. So one thing that I'm here for is to ask, you know, make parking free here in Santa Rosa. A lot of towns in our county, you know, have the same thing. I mean, it's one of the things that, one of the reasons that business here are not thriving like they should, as opposed to Hillsburg or Petaluma. I've talked to many business owners, restaurants especially, but they're very low margins and very low attendance because of the fear of the economic times that we're going through right now. It's just something that I think will help putting more money in the pockets of Santa Rosa and businesses and have downtown thrive again how it used to be. so among other things that i think we can fix but this is one thing that i feel that um will help everybody businesses and the uh the city alike citizens too thank you thanks for coming out are there any other or is there anybody else in council chambers that wishes to speak

Seeing none, we'll close public comment. And that was our only public comment on agenda items this evening. We'll note that item 17, under item 17, we have two different items. We have a couple of legislative updates and then a notice of a final map for Meadowwood Ranch. And beyond that, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone.