City Council - Regular Meeting

Meeting to order. Ask the clerk. Ladder sound. If you go ahead and do roll call, please.

Council member Little.

Here.

Council member Sander is absent at this time, but we do expect him. Council member Polipotti? Here. Vice mayor Budge? Here. Mayor Gatewood? Here. And for the record, council member Sander has just arrived.

Here. Nailed it. Stacy, you wanna read the Brown Act for mister Little?

Sure. Before we proceed, I'd like to call on council member Little to please state for the record his just cause basis for remote participation this evening. And if there are individuals who are 18 years of age or older present in the room at his remote location. If so, council member Little, if you could please state the general nature of the membership and relationship to you.

Yeah. Well, it's just being a cat. I'm sick as a dog. That's all.

Dang. He is dying. I'm So Alright. We're good. So he has

potentially contagious. So

he does have a potentially contagious something that we do not want. So we are grateful for council member Little's decision to, be remote today.

Got you.

Because, this council member is participating remotely for Just Cause, this evening under the Brown Act, this meeting will be conducted with teleconference access, and members of the public may observe the meeting and provide public comment remotely. The Zoom link and telephone number are posted on the council meeting agenda, which is also available on the city's website.

Alright. Can you go ahead and read the meeting and playback schedule, please?

Yes. The meeting of the Rancho Cordova City Council is recorded with closed captioning. The recording will be cable cast on Metro Cable Channel fourteen, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and DIRECTV U verse cable systems. The recording will also be video streamed at metro14live.sackcounty.gov. Today's meeting will replay on Friday, January 23 at 6PM and Sunday, January 25 at 9AM on metro cable channel fourteen. Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at youtube.com/metrocable14 and on the city's website. Thank you.

Alright. So we're gonna do the pledge allegiance, and I'm going to nail these names to come up. Are the kids here? Oh, there we are. Vidashe?

Vedanshi and Veba.

I was I was had the second one nailed. Come on up, guys. Go ahead and go to the podium. Okay.

K. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Stay there. Siri, did you want to present them with their They already got these?

Alright. First up. Thanks,

guys. Sorry.

I just

moving. Take a picture with you. We'll take a picture with you. Come on. Come back up here. Where's Maria? Where's my Maria?

Actually, all the kids come up here.

Oh, kids, come on up. Oh, so much smartness. What is this for?

They'll talk about it.

Oh, okay. I have no idea what's happening right now.

We're doing

we're doing it live. Come

on, kids. Come on up. Come on up here.

Is

it the winter clothes, please?

Yeah.

Alright. Who is running the winter clothes collections initiative for us? Think I one of the parent you guys wanna come up, tell us

a little

bit about what you did? Yep. I think that's amazing.

Don't forget the invitation. I won't forget it. Go

ahead.

This isn't on the agenda.

You can start.

Good evening, city council. My name is Prunil Raichura.

And I'm Arjun Dili Bala.

And today, I wanna talk about an experience that showed us the real impact of giving back to our community from our participation in a mass clothes drive. For the past two years, we've organized and taken part in a warm clothes drive focused on helping students in need. This project was important to us because we didn't just ask others to donate. It's we started by donating clothes ourselves, and by doing that, we showed that service begins with responsibility and care for the community around us. In addition to our contributions, we worked to gather clothing from willing people in the community.

We reached out, explained our purpose, recruited team members, and we carried it out within a span of about a couple weeks. And through this process, we saw how generous people can be when they understand how their impact can affect the community they're living in.

After collecting the clothing, we went to Kinney High School to give the clothes directly to students. Being able to deliver the donations in person made the experience much more meaningful. It allowed us to see the impact of our efforts and understand how something as simple as clothing can help students feel more confident and supported. By the end of the drive, we had collected over 200 articles of clothing. That number represents teamwork, dedication, and the generosity of everyone involved.

What makes us even more special is that we have done this for two years in a row, showing our commitment to making service a lasting effort, not just a one time project. Overall, this clothes drive ties the importance of community, empathy, and taking action to others. It's an experience we are proud of and hope to continue in the future. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks, guys. That's fabulous. And and seeing young adults like that always brings a smile to our heart. And the quarter zip is on fire. Just wanna point that out. Where do you guys go to high school? Granite Bay High School. Granite Bay School.

High Alright.

Well, thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Great public comment. Alright. Going Alright. On, let's go ahead and get our invocation. May I please see Elizabeth Brick from the United Methodist Church of Rancho Cordova?

Thank you, mayor, and members of the council. It is good to be with you and to pray with you. Please join me in prayer, everyone. As we gather here today in the wake of Martin Luther King Junior's birthday, we reflect on his steadfast commitment to justice, equality, and love. We ask for your guidance as we strive to carry out that vision in this community.

Help us to lead with compassion and wisdom, to listen to the voices of our citizens, and to foster a spirit of unity in this diverse community. May we draw strength from doctor King's dream and work diligently to dismantle barriers that divide us. Grant us courage to address the challenges we face, to advocate for the marginalized, and to create opportunities that uplift every person. Give us strength and courage and wisdom as we go and do, and listen carefully to each other as we go and do these things. We ask it all in your loving name. Amen.

Amen. Alright. Okay. Moving on. Let me have my favorite school district up here come up and impress us with the adult education program. Blow me away, ladies.

Oh, setting me up for success. Thank you, mayor Gatewood. My name is Suzanne Borth, and I am the relatively new principal of Folsom Cordova Adult School.

Oh, congratulations.

Today, I'd like to share, a little bit about where we've been, where we are, and where we'd like to go. Serving Rancho Cordova. So Folsom Cordova adult school has served Rancho for a number of years. Does anyone know how long? Anyone?

Anyone And then

guesses?

At least going back to the seventies.

Okay. Click. Seventy five years. Seventy five years that has been part of this community. Sorry.

And, last year alone, we served 1,400 students. How many of you have never heard of it before? We have a, problem getting the word out. So thank you for letting me come here to tell you about the amazing things we offer. Historically, and in most people's minds still, adult education is, you know, fun classes.

We go through our flyers from the 1970s and it's macrame and how to discipline your child. We don't do that stuff anymore. What we really focus on now is English, high school completion, and most importantly for this discussion, career and tech education. Here's a picture of the things that have happened so far this school year. Just to give you a little overview, we work very closely with FCCP and offer a job fair twice a year with hundreds and hundreds of attendees.

We have a rotary cord that helps with community events to get our English learners more confident and more connected to our city. We offer training, the only training for the paraeducators in our school district. And you'll see there a bunch of people who got their certificates and mock interviews that our awesome district employees do with the students every year to make sure that they are ready to work. And we still do that English language development. We do refugee service for some of our newest immigrants and offer six levels of English language development, mornings, evenings, and online.

And this year, we've, expanded to offer it at the literacy level at our local elementary schools. So parents are learning with with their kids. In the top left corner though, that's what we're gonna talk about here. We do the pre apprenticeship for SMUD at our site. In fact, we have lots of short term career readiness programs.

We have a sweet spot between k 12 and junior college where we can do shorter term stuff through partners that get people directly into work, like all of our allied health and our clerical and paraeducator and the pre apprenticeship I spoke of before. And now for the first time in several years, offering welding again. We just finished our Ocean 10 and Math for the Trades program. And you'll note some of our common partners at the bottom there. So what's next?

Why do I want you to know about what we are doing? Go ahead. We need to expand. We have very recently moved from the Department of Ed to the Department of Labor at the federal government, and we see that that is a manifestation of what we knew was coming. We need to be the conduit between our citizens and our business.

Figure out how we get them from here to here and stay here in town because they got work that's meaningful. So, with the help of Shannon Spears, our CTE coordinator in k 12 at FCUSD, we have compiled some outlooks offered by North Far North Center for Excellence, a labor market research firm. And this is what both us and the K-twelve program are looking to as we expand. The industrial arts are very important in addition to construction and electrical and HVAC and welding. There's a lot of manufacturing.

And there's a lot of people that we need to support all those new positions. Industrial maintenance, you know, technically skilled people who can keep all this stuff up and running as we grow all these manufacturing firms in our little town. There's also a giant demand for more allied health. We offer some, but we're hoping to work with Los Rios to offer more. They're thinking 200 jobs annually with the growth of the clinics on the Folsom Rancho border.

And finally, we're growing in AI and computer science. So much, right? Mister Gatewood, mister Little, we know you guys need new good workers. 1,100 new computing jobs by 2025, AI, data science, computer science. There are courses at the k twelve, but those people can't come straight to work, and my students can.

So we are working closely with Folsom Lake from the literacy level to let's get all your amazing work that you did in Eastern Europe or Asia clarified so we can get you into a job here. So we are already in discussion with the Rancho Cordovillium Manufacturing TPM that I'm sure you've all been apprised of to do a pre apprenticeship for manufacturing. We just applied for a giant grant to do computer literacy courses in neighborhoods all over Rancho Cordova, fingers crossed, and to, grow our construction basics so that it's pre apprenticeship to ready to go for our all this construction we're having in our backyard. And we want to partner more with Rancho Cordova businesses. Our mission, as we put it on the website, says if you are an adult seeking self improvement for a better job citizenship or another goal important to you, come visit us at FCAS.

We are here for you. If you are a community business looking to partner with a reputable school for career training and connect with hardworking potential employees, please reach out. We are always eager to support training that meets real business needs and to match our students with their dream careers. 1,400 people a year. So I just wanted to explain how we work and let you know that we're a unique opportunity for a partner as you're working with job development and businesses.

We have candidates waiting for work. We're nimble. We can pivot quickly. We can offer short term work. We can braid funds between our public grants and private partnerships to really focus on what our new businesses need in entry level talent.

We have certified talented and experienced teachers in a really good facility to teach in. And those students are willing and available to work tomorrow. In conclusion, we follow the path that FCUSD has set for us. We want access, a continuum of learning, readiness for careers, and a personal sense of achievement. Thank you.

Hey. Real quick. Stop. Come back.

Of course.

So, Eric, are they engaged in our AI ecosphere and what we're getting ready to put there? Oh, you guys are gonna be so excited. Are you, but you're looking for a new spot too, or you have We a have a new home.

We have the same home we've always had over on Gadsden.

Until I grow you guys, and then you're not gonna have enough room with it.

It's

true. Well, our partners over there are moving to the new spot, and so we can expand.

Just just take the building next to it. Get both once we figure out that little Caltrans issue. Yeah. Yeah. Micah, cut him a check.

Yeah. Any questions?

No. Thank you, guys.

Thank you so much.

Oh, good question.

Hey, Linda. Thank you.

I do. So yeah. So you're in that little building over by Walnutwood.

Yes. We actually we use all of that campus. One building is Walnutwood, and one building is the job center. And the entire rest of the campus are our classrooms.

Oh, okay. So, how are you collaborating with some of the other organizations around here that do that teach some of

the skills you're talking about, like construction skills? Well, we work within CCT, which is, which is down south south end of town. That's a construction development. They offer stuff on our class on our campus. We're partners with Los Rios.

We have, we fill the gap that's before them. We do basic education where the remedial work in junior college has been removed, we can fill in those gaps so people are ready to go. And we the programs we offer in Allied Health are shorter term. And then say, our English language development students, when they finish us, they go to Los Rios. So we have a lot of partnerships with them.

So you have partnerships with Los Rios. But what about some of these things like San Joaquin Valley College that also does health education or the nursing schools around here?

Well, we work with Cal Regional to do our five programs on campus. I'm open to anything. We just want to make it affordable and have the results be results oriented like we are.

Sure. And I know there's a construction training organization at Mather.

Yeah. That's in CCT. Okay.

So in terms of finding jobs for people, you know, we always told the welding kids coming out of Kennedy I'm sorry, at Kinney, that you could just walk into Siemens and get a job. And so how are you creating those connections so that kids can go out and do that, or adults can go out and do that?

Well, coming here, seeing you on Fridays at Chamber of Commerce luncheons, working with the TPM groups, with the city manager's office, and pounding the pavement right now. But if you have ideas, I am open to hear them.

Sounds great.

Thank you so much.

Alright. Awesome. Great job, guys. Alright. Alright. Now we have new employees. Do we have the new employee songs ready?

Okay. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a

Oh, good. This is gonna be great.

We also have an after school gin AI program update.

That's what the other that's a public comment update.

That's a public comment. He's gonna say it in public comment. Okay. Don't worry. We're gonna get you. Give me one more second.

Thank you.

Get on up here, new employees. Are you a falsetto, a soprano, or an alto? Bye, guys.

Thank you. We'll see you.

Hit it.

Fortunately, I'm just the opening act, so I don't have to sing at all.

Exactly. You're already hired.

But mayor mayor Gatewood and city council, it is my honor to be here to introduce, a new member of our team in the transportation group in the public works department. My name is Drew Hart in the Public Works Department, and I will, introduce, Phil Bonea, who joined our team about six weeks ago as an associate transportation planner.

Oh, thank you, Jer. I am not a singer at all, so, please don't ask me. I did not get that talent. My mom can sing. I cannot. But I just wanted to say that I'm looking forward to serving the residents here in Rancho Cordova and advancing projects with the public works department. So thank you.

Excellent. Welcome aboard.

Welcome.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor,

and council members. Brenda Roach from the human resources department. So tonight, I have

the honor of introducing Sarah Salamanian. Sarah joined us in December 2025, and she is an HR analyst too. Sarah comes to the city with over ten years of experience working in both city and county human resources departments.

She has great experience in employee relations, training and development, and benefits.

And we are very excited to have Sarah join our team. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Sarah. Thank you, Brenda.

Good evening. As Brenda mentioned, I'm Sarah Salmanian. I'm really excited to have joined the city of Rancho Cordova. As Brenda mentioned, I come from a city and a previous county and a previous city experience, specifically in compliance, labor, and benefits. I also have a master's in human resources management. So I'm looking forward to bringing, you know, all my skills and experiences here to the city in support of organizational excellence. On a personal note, my husband and I are in the process of buying a house here in the city.

Nice.

So yay. Looking forward to joining the community.

Hey. That's very exciting. You can stay.

So all those evil things you learned at the county, we just leave those outside Yep. The No need to repeat any of that nonsense in

here. Yes.

Now my favorite thing I'm going to take advantage of the moment that we used to when we hired people was we showed everybody an org chart. You know, like, here's the org chart, and here you are on the org chart. And do you know historically what happened next? Anybody?

Mm-mm.

Micah knows. They take the org chart over to a shredder and go shred that thing and say, you will never see that again because this is nothing but trouble. We want you to be the best employee you can be, not a box on the org chart, And we're not gonna limit you by the org chart. So that's the kind of attitude I hope we're maintaining in HR and in city administration. I know we talk about it as a council.

But worry.

Just wanna welcome you

nailed to it.

What I think is an unusual team. So thank you and welcome.

Thank you so much. Alright. Alright. Thank you. Alright. It's gonna be fast. Public comment. Members of the public wishing to address the council for any matter not on the agenda may do so at the time of completing or and by submitting a a speaker card to the city clerk. Items on the agenda speakers will be called forward by the mayor at that point of the agenda. When the item is heard, speakers are encouraged to keep their comments to three minutes or less and state the name and community of residence.

If you're participating by Zoom and you want to make a public comment, please use the hand raise feature available on the screen. If you're participating by phone and you want to make public comment, please use star nine to raise your hand. Hilarious. After doing so, please wait to be called upon by city clerk under the provision of California government code and the city council. It's prohibited from discussing and taking immediate action on any item on the agenda unless it is demonstrated to be of emergency nature and needs to take immediate action arose after the posting of the agenda. Now, Stacy, do we have any wonderful public comment?

Yes. We'll start with the speakers in the room. Larry Ladd, you'll be first. Following Larry, we'll have Chris, Flat. Third, we will have Baskar. And fourth, Helen Weiland Bashaw.

Alright. Let's do it. Alright. The topic is fire and insecticide and perchlorate in Southern Alabama. That's what I'll be lobbying about as they discuss the national perchlorate drinking water limit. And the reason it impacts you guys is you have a really low limit at four from the Superfund, six from the state, without a lot of scientific deliberation. The federal numbers are offered. They'll let people know at 20, but 24 year 80. And those are political numbers. Those aren't toxicological numbers.

So down the road, the community at large is gonna have to decide, how much perchlorate they want in their drinking water in all likelihood. And so that's something to be on your radar. I when I registered, I registered as representing Joe Little because his district is the one that has both PFOAs and perchlorate at the full range. North of Cordova Villa, it was 80 parts per billion, and then it went away. So, California American just turned off the well, it's in limbo.

Whereas, they have, the PFOAs. And my understanding, they were the first water purveyor in the country to sue the air force about that. And as far as I know, that's still not resolved. So it's not just abstract. But I've always felt like a problem was in Southern Alabama. And I've got the citation here to zero in. And we'll keep learning stuff. I talk to all kinds of people in Alabama, personal injury attorneys, professors, public health nurses. And so we'll follow what's going on there. But in the long run, the community at large is gonna decide how much perchlorate they want in their drinking water. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. One other thing. Conrad Mayer came by and

said, what are you doing in

that hat? You're not a Lancer. And so as part of, my duties in Kiwanis, I've been assigned to be part of the chain gang at Cordova football games. At football games. I'm sorry?

You're on the you're at the field on

On the chain. The guy with the the ten year well, okay. Until you until your AI people come up with the laser thing

I need you to do is I need you you know, every once in while, we're on the five. Maybe we were on the six.

No. No. No. No. No. That's the whole reason we're asking you to do it. That's the biggest problem we have.

Come on, Rancho. No.

No. No. And like I said, I mean, I I don't watch much football, but I understand the pros now have electronic precision stuff.

Yeah. And Rancho has Larry. Yeah.

Not for long because you computer wizards will come up with the same thing the pros have soon enough.

If you're gonna be on the chain gang, don't you think you need to know something about football?

Oh, now.

He's big on football fan. Look.

He's huge. I'm not gonna retaliate

on that.

I'm not gonna retaliate. Yeah. You

get your

jollies. Alright.

But, as always, I will anybody wants to know what's going on, they can go on Facebook. I will keep you guys posted on the national process. Excellent. And the the citation is on the card if you're having the you wanna hear it, David?

The citation you got for wearing the wrong hat?

No. No. The fire ends.

Yeah. Yeah.

Hit it. Say the citation.

Okay. The citation is, where are we at here? Madrigalatol 2024. PubMed ID 37902275. Prediagnostic serum concentrations of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances and risk of papillary thyroid cancer in the Finnish maternity cohort. Basically, findings are they only find a relationship between the two old ones, PFOA and PFOS, and the ingredient in the insecticide that breaks down to that when you consume it. So there's this whole forest of PFOAs, but it they narrowed it down in the finished dataset to the old ones. And it's only in women 40 and girls, which is exactly the problem that started this in Rancho Cordova.

What's the what's the journal?

I don't keep track of that.

It's somewhat important.

No. Can you email can you email it

to us?

You do is type in the 3790227.

Alright. Alright. You gave me that on it. Okay.

We're good. Yeah.

Yeah. So, anyway, it's there if you wanna look at it. And the the contaminant is e t f o s a a, which is an ingredient of sulfur fluoride amid. Sulfuramide. We'll be back later on.

Thank

you. No. It's it. It's not a chemical name. It's a commercial

name, sir.

So Later.

Next. Stacy. Chris Flat. Welcome, Chris.

Good evening. Thank you for taking the time to see me. Of course. My name is Chris Flat, and I live across the Zinfandel in a house for the last twenty three years.

Awesome.

So I've I've always loved this, city. I think in August I'm here to talk about street sweeping. I think in October and November, the street sweeper that hit my neighborhood was leaking oil. And it leaked oil along its entire route throughout my neighborhood, and it left a trail of oil. And I'll show you some pictures, if I may.

Could you repeat when this was?

I'm sorry? When what when was this? I think it occurred it either occurred in October or November. Okay. And it's the first week of the month is when they do my area. And it leaked oil across

That is a lot of oil. I'm sorry? That is a lot of oil.

A lot of oil, and it goes it goes throughout the neighborhood.

Jeez. Okay. What has that much oil?

I I don't know what has that much oil, but you can clearly see that it came from the street sweeper because it goes around the cars

Mhmm. And then

it goes through an intersection of turns. So I started to call Atlas Disposal, which I understand is is the agency who's responsible for the street street sweeping. And I'm here because I feel I'm getting lip service from them. K. They see that I'm calling in. They see their records of me calling. I'm saying, how are you going to correct this? Because every time it rains, that oil is leaching down the storm drain and going where the storm water is supposed to go. So every agency has a SWIP plan in place, and I think everybody knows what a SWIP plan is

Mhmm.

Storm water prevention. So they need to mitigate this this oil spill, and I don't see anybody doing anything with it. And I feel it's just gonna get swept under the rug. Natalya or whoever's responsible for the actual street sweeping is not gonna address it. And it's been it's been at least two months, if not three.

Alright.

Yeah.

So here's what we're gonna do. Albert, can you get ahold of him right now? Go talk Albert, raise your hand. Go talk to Albert. And then would you mind shooting me an email so I can stay on top of it? Alright. Just ggatewood@cityranchocordova.org. Okay. Let's get this taken care of because they can get out there.

I do wonder, just like technical basis, if it is mitigatable at this point. You know, soaking in I don't know if these are old pictures or recent pictures.

These are recent pictures.

Recent? Yes. So there is still some oil on the surface then.

Yeah. They can wash

the staff. That one photo may not look like it had sort of soaked in. And at that point, I don't know how you you'd have to use, like, detergents or something to extract it. You might do more environmental damage than good trying to clean it up. You know what I mean?

I agree with that. But Yeah. It to just let it sit there and not do anything, I don't I

don't see that as well. Some chemicals that will break down the oil, so at least you can go into the water stream without. You just gotta go scrub it in, and you put it on the backside of the machine, and then it digs into the dirt, and it scrubs the

You have to

I forgot what it's called, but it's something

that suds this and vacuum it up, which Right.

Well, I mean, that's their job.

But do we Atlas actually hire the street sweeper, or do we?

No, it's through the Atlas contract. But I'm sure our crack engineering team can figure out ways to talk to Albert Nebbe and find

ways actually solve stay on top of it. We'll it. Get it done for you.

Thank you for

And we do thank you for coming. Part of this Thank is Atlas is one of our contractors and vendors. So come talk to us anytime about if these things happen, and you'll have a contact moving forward.

Okay.

I appreciate your time.

We got you taken care of.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

All

right. Next, let's hear about amazing AI in Rancho Cordova and how we took number one.

Good evening, city council, city staff, and community. My name is Bhaskar Vampati. I want to sincerely thank city council and the city in supporting us in organizing several STEM programs, including speech, debate, robotics, AI boot camps, and now after school AI program. The program is going greater than Kodava High School. Initially, had some challenges in enrollment because the students have like a several conflicting academic and after school activities, but we were able to find 32 students and it's going great.

Students develop two real world applications focusing on Ranchi Kodava. One is customer service, and second one is energy efficiency. So students demo their applications on January 9. Council member Pulipadi was attended over Zoom whereas, like, mister Little council member Little attended in person. Rita, Laura, and several Randy Kaye and several city staff attended as well as the smart leadership, the school principal and the community and some parents.

They provided the feedback, and now the students are enhancing their applications and are ready to present them on January, the final showcasing event at the Kodoba High School. I want to request you to join and see the students' progress firsthand and appreciate them. I want to thank once again for your continued support to make the these STEM programs and investing in their education. I hope build your level best and to make the program successful and the city proud. Thank you once again.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions? No. You've been great. Siri, go ahead.

No. I I think I would like I said, I was at that demo, and it was a definite win win situation because they were actually building models that we could use on a city website. And also, the students were learning. So this is one of those tools that was really useful from an AI perspective, from a student education perspective, and also to get these tools faster onto the city website. So thank you.

Thank you once again. Thank you, Guy. It's great.

And we did this at what school sites?

What schools did you do it at?

Cordova High School.

Cordova High School. Very cool. Thank you. That's very good. We're getting nerdier by the minute. Greetings. Alright, friend. Go ahead, Hart.

On my own. I live over in the

Terre Grande. Tiffany

area. Yes. I live near yeah. Yeah. Terre Grande. Several issues. High class auto. You're not moving fast enough to clean up the crap. James Garcia has been here several times complaining about the fact that they are violating all the reasons why you allowed them to move in. They turned it into a dive, and it hurts the image of the city. Another area near and dear to my heart. Right, Micah? It's called the horse ordinance. You put up the sign. You didn't.

Cyrus did. To keep the horse out off of that 16 foot wide pedestrian easement, yet it has no teeth to it. My concerns is, if we depending on what happens with the Trumark slash Cassis project, people might try trailing horses in and ride along that easement, which is actually part of the levy for David's community, the East Tiffany, 17 luxury homes that were established in 1973. I would like the sign to have the teeth. Even though you think it's not important, I think it's in poor judgment on the city to appease a resident, giving them a sign, and then having the owner of that horse physically try to assault me with her freaking horse.

You did finally get rid of it after I said, if I get injured by the horse, I would sue the city and every other person that I came in contact with with all my emails and text messaging and phone logs dealing with the horse. So I think the city needs to stand behind. When you put a sign up, you need to have the ordinance behind it. I still have the sign. I want the ordinance that governs the fact that when there's a problem, we can call, and the law enforcement or code enforcement can come out and and correct the issue.

It's poor practice. Another issue, street sweeping, fine example. From July to, I think it's mid November. It's fishing season right along in front of my house, the fishermen park. I have no problem with it because they've been there since the '60s.

They go down that public easement, And the problem that we have is they can be there, like, one or two hours before sunrise and sunset. Street sweepers come in. If it wasn't for me and another neighbor cleaning up that portion of Tierra Grande Circle, we would never have the leaves removed, and we would never have the place swept. Because when the street sweeper comes in under normal hours, it's already cluttered with cars from the fishermen because they have the right to that easement because it's been established, it's on the records with the, county as a, fisherman's easement. It's also on, Sterling Park Drive.

It's the same issue that they've they've got. So I would like something to be done with the street sweeping. Maybe change the time, do it at night or something because there are a lot of leaves, a lot of stuff gets accumulated there, and, you know, I've been taking care of that area since 1983. So, you know, there are my issues. Thank you.

Alright. So let's go on to council reports. I am going to Joe, do you wanna do, or you just wanna give a thumbs up?

Yeah. I think it'll be very difficult. I had a few things to say, but I'm not gonna say them.

Alright. Thank you, Joe. He's dying. Please stay there, and don't go outside.

David. I'll love to see the next meeting. Don't worry.

Yes. Mister mayor, thank you. Just give a brief report. We are here for a new year 2026. Whoo. All of our organizations and commissions that we serve upon are having sort of their organizational meetings. So SACOG met last week. I'm gonna send you some of the work to be done by SACOG in the next couple years. There's a little flyer that you might find instructional or or interesting. At SACOG, I am not a committee chair because I'm a past chair of the overall organization, but I am the most senior member of SACOG.

It's hard to believe because it's a very junior crowd there, and so I'm on a, like, a leadership steering committee, basically, which is past chairs and current committee chairs, and even that is a small is a small group. Shore District met last week. We have some interesting kind of district specific concerns that could have financial impact outside of the area where they're occurring. I'll give you an update there if that is a problem. It has to do with the recycled water that the plant is now producing and the costs and difficulties of distributing that, particularly in a high rain year, such as we find ourselves with no drought in sight and fewer buyers for the water that we have recycled and hope to sell.

So it's an interesting market dynamic is is having there. Attended the MLK lunch in Rancho Cordova last Friday, which was a wonderful event. And Garrett, you did a great job as speaker for that lunch. I'm so glad they hosted it right here in Rancho Cordova, and you represented us very well. So nice job on that. It was an honor to be there, and several of my colleagues, I guess, the four of us were there. And finally, I got my best assignment. I got to welcome the AmeriCorps volunteers to to Rancho Cordova. They were at Rebuilding Together and getting their orientation. They landed about a week ago, and they're gonna be working largely in Rancho Cordova for the next eight to ten weeks.

That's great.

So it's a very interesting group of young adults. They're all, I think, over 21. Some of them are as old as 26 maybe, and they're doing this to develop their skills, but also to volunteer and give back. So they're gonna be tackling about a dozen homes, I think, in Rancho Cordova doing serious projects. I asked them if they were certified and what sort of things they knew. And the one thing that everybody in the group knew that you will never guess is they were all chainsaw certified. They've been through a chainsaw course. Now we don't have that much chainsaw work. Yeah. They do.

Right next to the side.

At night. But I did I did think it was interesting. The other more interesting part of it was not only are they here during the day to sort of work as they get paid a minimal amount, and they all live together at Beale, not at Beale, McClellan. But they look for on the weekends when they're not assigned to another rebuilding test, they look for other volunteer opportunities. So if you're engaged in organizations here that could use some weekend volunteer labor, particularly if it involves chainsaws too. They're all ready. That's my report.

Excellent. Siri.

Thank you. So as, council member mentioned, I did attend the MLK Junior Legacy Award luncheon. It was well attended, well organized, and a wonderful keynote speech. So it was great to be there. Myself and the mayor attended the opening for sort Sodo and Co in the Anatolia area.

It's wonderful to see more places that we can go eat. I attended the Telugu Association Sankaranthi Festival, which is a harvest festival. I mean, it it was an all day event from, like, 10:00 to 08:00 in the evening, and it was it was packed with kids performing. And, you know, the the amount of time that they spent for practicing all of those, dances was wonderful. I attended along with there were other electeds there, from SMUD Board and from Folsom Cordova as well.

And then I also attended the Calcities meeting. This is a Sac Valley's division meeting. The city manager is, and in the city manager update, Ryan provided an update that the city manager's group is looking for a vice president. And apparently, that position recently became vacant if somebody's interested as a city manager. And then we also talked about a upcoming tour that we're gonna do in Chico that was is probably the The States, and they mentioned prob possibly the nation's largest homeless shelter, Genesis Palette Shelter in Chico It's coming up in March that we could go tour, as part of the Cal Cities.

And last but not least, I just, was here earlier today to hand out certificates to the young kids that volunteered for, giving out the jackets for McKinney High School. And that is my update.

Awesome. Linda.

Okay. So I only have two. I would like to, congratulate our finance department for receiving the Government Finance Officer Association's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the city's biannual budget beginning July 2025. I know our finance department has won awards in the past, and this is just continuing a wonderful tradition in that regard. And then, yes, I would also congratulate not just David and Siri for the awards that they got at the MLK luncheon on Friday, but also, as you said, congratulate Garrett for the wonderful speech that he made.

I was sitting with his mom, and she's beaming.

It's awesome.

So we want everybody to attend the Rancho Cordova luncheon on Friday, where Garrett is speaking again, 11:30 here at City Hall at the American River

Room. I think he's singing too.

And dancing. And dancing. Yeah.

There's singing. Dancing. Oh, I forgot about that part. Yeah.

You could say there's something afoot.

There's definitely something afoot.

All

right. That's crazy. Thank you, Linda. So patent Martin Luther King's birthday, one day removed. And what a great man. I thought I'd just read this little tidbit that was put in my speech. Today is about legacy, but legacy isn't something that lives, that only lives in history books or black and white photos. Legacy is some is living, and it's active, and it's happening right now. It shows up in how we treat one another. It shows up on how we lead, and it shows up whether you choose the comfortable or what actually moves forward.

Doctor King once said, life is most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? And so I find that that day as I become mayor and as I sit on council, I think it becomes more and more what can we do to help out our citizens and leave a good legacy for our kids and our children as, as I kinda sit in this position. And, of course, what an amazing man and how he fought for everyone's rights. And it was taking too soon from us, so we didn't get to see what the man he could have become. Alright.

As mayor, I'm already late for six to seven things. It doesn't matter where I am at any one day, but I it's the weirdest thing to have a calendar full and then so full that if anything changes, you are bumping and making everybody set. So I went to Sourdough Co. It's open in Rancho Cordova over on the in the Anatolia side. It is delicious, and it's interesting because it's we have such an eclectic grouping of African Americans, Indians, Asians that are running all sorts of stores throughout our community.

And so this is an Indian family that owns the sourdough co and an Indian family that owns the pan bagel. And I learned all about how you boil bagels, which I think is disgusting, but I didn't it's still delicious. So I have to I didn't realize they boiled the bread and then let it and then you've kinda hit it with a toaster to make it delicious, but I didn't. Went to the Rotary Club of Rancho Go sixty 5th with Linda. They are amazing individuals, and it's funny because they have more history there than I think I have in my entire family, and they all happen to be there.

And Linda points at all of them and says, do you remember when? They're like, Linda, we don't have to talk about that right now. She's like, you know you did that that one time. It's great. And, they're just nice people that I think it's one of those things that makes us special. We have the Moose Lodge. We have the Rotary Club. We have, we have all these different eclectic groupings of people that do stuff themselves, and we just come alongside to help them when we can and make stuff better. I think that's what makes us special. I did a a movie with George talking about how Bill George talking about how amazing our city is. I love that. I had a Elks Lodge meeting. Yes. It keeps going. An Elks Lodge meeting where I did another speech, and I talked to them.

They grilled the snot out of me and wanna know when they're moving into their new building. I said, I can't wait to help you find a spot, because I think the Elksandr needs to get up and move closer to our community and out of the wrecking yards. So love them. We're gonna find them a new home. I got on the criminal justice cabinet waiting for my police chief to jump on, and they threw him under the bus. You know what I'm talking about. They're like, he's late again. I'm like, again? He's like, I'm driving. But it was interesting because you sit there, and they've never they they don't have other politicians or mayors jump on it.

But it's they they're coming up with policies that basically affect our entire community and how the police engage to are they doing more psychological coming at the doors and and kind of all the stuff? Like, numbers are down in our community of Rancho Grosvenor, which is amazing. And I'm gonna chalk it up to such a great police force. We don't have a single murder in Rancho Cordova. So, I mean, you're talking double digit numbers down in the community that used to be an issue.

And now we're we don't even know what we don't even have a single murder. I mean, we have almost a 100,000 people, and not a single one got angry enough to shoot another one. So I'm impressed. And lastly, I had, I'm doing stuff like I'm doing I'm putting back coffee with the mayor, and that's where I'll go have coffee in a location. I'd love for you guys to show up and talk to me about it. Tell me your problems, your dreams, what's going on. If you have questions, I'll tell you what's going on at the city. Brass tacks. And so I had my first coffee, had a bunch of citizens show up. Interesting.

They're mostly which is weird, but they're mostly concerned about having a hospital in Rancho Cordova, which I you know, that's on our wish bucket list very highly. And we're talking to people about it. And we would love to produce that. And I think as on my way out the door, it's funny because that's one of the two things Dan Skoglund wanted, was still a place to have to have a suit, and the second one was a place to have a baby. And so I just think our city's grown big enough and strong enough and powerful enough that we can a hospital will be lucky to have my citizens.

And we are the perfect one because no one's put a hospital in the middle. They've gone on the outskirts, and so we're we're a 100,000 plus citizens ready to go into a hospital. And that was everything I've done in the last fifteen minutes, so I will hold off on the other ones and go over to Mike and ask how we're looking.

Thank thank you, mayor. Today's date, just a quick update on TruMark. Today's date was discussed as part of our our past TruMark discussions, and we're gonna provide an update. And this really kinda works as that update today. At this time, we're still having conversations with the applicant and the community about the proposed development.

And the city remains committed to providing timely notice to the public about any future city council means on this topic, but we don't have an announced kinda future topic date at this time. And we've had very proactive conversations with both the applicant and the community along the way, probably why you don't see a lot of those folks here today so they're aware of this announcement. The city has received a letter from Chumark last week providing additional time and possible other options to consider as part of the conversation. And so those letters, we've also received from the community members as well and some of the community representatives. Those will be added to the website that we keep for this project, the SB three thirty TrueMark project, tomorrow.

So in full transparency, trying to continue to share the conversations that are appropriate with the community. So more to come, and we will definitely provide some more opportunities for update and and information to the community when we're gonna talk about this again. But for now, this provides that update. Thank you.

Excellent. Alright. Consent calendar items consist of matters deemed routine and noncontroversial by staff unless a member of council wishes to pull individual item. Consider all items to be approved in one motion. Council, is there anything that wish to pull from the consent calendar? Do we have any public comment?

We do not have any public comment for the consent calendar.

Alright.

Then I will move approval of items 9.1 through 9.3.

Second.

Roll call, please.

Council member Sander? Aye. Council member Polipotti? Yes. Council member Little?

Yeah.

Vice mayor Budge? Yes. Mayor Gatewood?

Yes. Can Joe just raise his hand with a thumbs up? Because I feel terrible every time he talks. Like, you're literally killing him.

At a teleconference meeting, all, votes need to be a roll call vote.

So we'll need his In person, not in phones.

We'll need his verbal Okay.

Vote. You're gonna be sad if you kill

him. Alright.

There is no consent calendar hearing items. There is no public hearing items. We have one calendar one regular calendar item. Stacy, would you go ahead and read the subject?

So for the 12.1 regular calendar item, a resolution authorizing the issuance of special tax bonds for and on behalf of the city of Rancho Cordova Preserve, community facilities district number twenty twenty five dash one, approving and directing the execution of a fiscal agent agreement, approving the form of preliminary official statement approving sale of such bonds and approving other related documents and actions.

Excellent. Michelle.

Good evening, mayor, council. Michelle Mengay, finance manager, city of Rancho Cordova. The item before you this evening is a resolution authorizing the issuance of special tax bonds. The CFD was formed in 2025 for the purpose of funding infrastructure and the payment of infrastructure related impact fees. Approval of the resolution does authorize the sale of bonds in an amount not to exceed $13,500,000.

It's important to note that the special tax bonds are issued by the community facilities district and are an obligation of the special taxes levied within that district and not, the generals the city's general fund. And with that, I will open it up for any questions that the council may have.

Let's go on to public comment. Do we have any public comment?

We do not have any public comment for this item.

Alright. May I ask council, is there any questions for you guys? Seeing none, can I ask for a motion?

Yes. I I, I did I did read through sort of read through all 19 pages. And so I I understand your point about infrastructure as opposed to a variety of other things. So I will move approval of item 12.1.

Second.

K. Can I get a roll call, please?

Council member Little. Oh, man.

Yes.

Thank you.

Hear all that.

Yay. Dang.

That's a whole breath. Wind.

Jesus. Council member Sander? Aye. Council member Polipati? Yes. Vice mayor Budge? Yes. Mayor Gatewood?

Could someone get him some soup? Yes.

The motion passes. Thank you.

Alright. Guys got any featured items you wanna talk about? Alright. No. Let's go ahead. I'm gonna adjourn the meeting, to closed session.

Recording progress. Oh,

is there any public comment on sixteen point one to sixteen point two?

There is no public comment for closed session items.

Alright. I'm a go ahead and adjourn the meeting.

To closed session.

It's good. But that was a soft

Recording stopped.