City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening, everyone. And welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council of Calistoga. We also want to welcome those who are joining us online. The date is August 25. And it is one minute after 6pm. City Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Council Member Eisenberg.

Present.

Council Member Cooper.

Present.

Council Member Lopez Ortega. Present. The Vice Mayor Gift is absent. And Mayor Williams.

Present. You're invited to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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.

Let's see, there was a closed session. The city council met in a closed session on August 13th. The subject of that closed session meeting was the property at 1435 North Oak, that is the fairgrounds. And the topic was anticipated litigation. And there's no reportable action after that closed session. oral communication on consent items or non-agenda items. At this time, the council welcomes comments from the public regarding matters on the consent calendar or of municipal concern not on the agenda. Speaking time allowed is three minutes. Please note the city clerk's time clock. According to the Brown Act, the council is not permitted to discuss issues or answer questions at this time. In other words, the public may speak, but the council cannot respond. However, council members are free to discuss issues with the public apart from the council meetings. City Clerk, are there any speaker cards tonight for public comment?

Yes, the first one is Charlotte Williams.

Already? Great. And welcome, Charlotte.

Thank you. Charlotte Williams, 59 View Road. I just wanted to comment that there was a small volunteer project on the fairgrounds painting or repainting the Calistoga Speedway sign on the inside wall of the track. And just through social media, there were 18 people who showed up that early morning at 6.30 a.m. to paint the sign. And there were so many people who showed up, we had it done in less than an hour. It was a really very nice experience. And so I want to remind the council and all sorts of other volunteer organizations, sometimes you just put a little message out there on social media, for volunteers and they show up. And then also regarding the fairgrounds, I went to the fundraising dinner put on by the Native Sons and the Calistoga Fairgrounds Foundation and that was a really nice evening. For a first time event, it was pretty well attended. uh... seemed like people are having a pretty good time and despite there being two other either fundraising or larger social events that evening there were plenty of people there so that was great and then thirdly i'd like to say uh... i'd just want to give some appreciation and hope that everybody else here can do that for the people who volunteer on the various city committees. Like they are volunteers. They're not getting paid anything and yet they are in the public eye and sometimes they get kind of beat up by the public. So I'd just like to hand those volunteers some appreciation. Thank you.

Thank you. Other speaker cards.

Mr. Larry Vukovic.

Mr. Vukovic, welcome. You're welcome to come to the microphone.

Testing clear good evening everybody. I don't have anything written down and I'll try to do my best to remember I'm originally from Kotor Montenegro former, Yugoslavia My father and his three brothers had a great olive oil factory toothpaste COSMETICS AND THEY WON LITTLE TOWN TWO GRAND PRIX AWARDS IN PARIS AND LONDON AND I HAVE PAPERWORK AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE COMMUNISTS CAME, MY FATHER WAS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. HE'S A WORLD WAR HERO. HE HID AN AMERICAN FLYER IN OUR BIG HOME IN THE ATTIC WHILE THE GERMANS SLEPT DOWNSTAIRS. So you can imagine what would have happened. And I've learned a lot of things from him. When the communists came, they have the same concept as the mafia. Why work? Well, take it from somebody else. So they took everything. and hopefully we'll get something back. So I came, I studied music there in San Francisco. I came in 51, and I've been fortunate. My life has been like a movie. I played with so many greats. One of them that was a big, important, Connection was, you heard of Charlie Brown Christmas, Vince Guaraldi Peanuts, he was my teacher. And then later he invited me to play in a group with him. So I played with so many greats, without naming too many names, one of them is Tony Bennett, Cab Calloway, great black singer, band leader. I played all over Europe, Canada, US, Monterey Festival, San Francisco and what I'm suggesting that Calistoga gets a jazz festival. What would that mean? Three days hotels full, restaurants full. I understand it was done before but they overcharged. I talked to Shelly at the Fairgrounds. She said, great idea. You need a producer. I found one of the best 35 years of experience. He worked with Bruce Labadee, San Jose, five, 10,000 people. So I have the top producer. And the main idea would be how would Calistoga accept this idea? And the producer would know how to get it off the ground. But you can imagine it could involve... And by time up?

Your time is up. Oh, okay. But thank you for coming to the meeting, and you may want to continue communication with the fairgrounds director, and she can help and communicate with the producer and yourself, and hopefully that can happen.

If it's done right, this would be really good for the city. Thank you.

Thank you for your public comment. Are there other speaker cards, city clerk?

No more speaker cards.

Okay. And is there anybody online who would like to comment? Not yet. Would anybody else here in the community center like to offer public comment? Yes.

Thank you. Carrie Abril, 1720 Renard Lane. Good evening, Mayor Williams and council members. I'm sure when you made the decision to run for public office, it was with the thought you were doing it for what's best for everybody in Calistoga, perhaps without a bias, to support endeavors that could benefit the citizens and tourists alike. I hear so many people stand up since the purchase of the fairgrounds, some not realizing the caveat of the sale, was to restore its historical uses, otherwise the county can come back after the 13.5 million that they knocked off the selling price and gave it to us for 2.2. And in all this squawking that's been going on is we need a master plan over and over and over. Everyone even made the mention of the past master plan with the past CEO at the fairgrounds. They say, well, even they had a master plan. Well, newsflash, even with master plans example, Bald Mountain Industries and the Four Seasons Project, and Calistoga Hills. They have had master plans. One of them took 12 years, and the other's taken over 16 for fruition. Developers say in five years, we'll put all kinds of money, a million dollars a year, into the city coffers. Liars. The city owns the property. The council, the fair advisory, the planning department, and everyone who works and lives here should be invested in that property. We now own it. We had a fundraiser two weeks ago to help it get to a point where more money can be made. And it was obvious how many people were absent that were not supporting us from the city, from employees to department heads and above mentioned. I want to thank especially Mayor Williams, Councilman Eisenberg, the advisory committee, Hal Taylor and Bill Squire, Shelly Wright and Annie and Charlie for their support. Shame on the rest who think they know best. If you haven't been in Calistoga more than 15 years, you've missed on what a great community gathering place the fairgrounds has always been. That's my first thing. The second one, I would like to add that $6,400 was added to the Chamber of Commerce's budget last meeting, that 40% of their budget's payroll, who's paying who, when isn't it enough that that $6,400, you took 20,000 away from kids in this town who are our future, but you should have given $6,400 to the food bank, just like you took the 20 grand away from the teen center. Shame.

Thank you Thank You miss a brew Is there any other public comment Yes, sir Dan heard in Calistoga I got two topics the first one was is the special meeting that was held last week on the 19th regarding city elections was this meeting open to the public and If it was, why was there no public notice on this? No emails, no texts, no notifications at all. I understand the city wants to save money, but the public has the right to have their voice be heard, especially when their right to vote will be taken away from them. Why was this meeting at the fairgrounds? Why wasn't it here at City Hall? I know you can't answer that question now, but maybe at the end of this meeting, you can ask why this wasn't open to the public. If it was, there was no notification. The second item, flock cameras, my favorite topic. Why does the city staff, city still continue with its contract with flock safety? Another fiscal year, another year with flock and its cameras, and another year without no input from its citizens. Why does the city continue to violate the citizens' Fourth Amendment rights through mass surveillance and unwarranted searches? You took an oath to defend the Constitution. Even in the mission statement for the Calistoga PD, it states one of the missions to defend the Constitution rights of all people. Not a lot of defending of the Constitution going on. The police department maintains it is transparent. Nothing on the city's website about policies, procedures, training, or record keeping is available. Again, I have resubmitted for these records. Per the California Civil Code Part Four, Division Three, police departments have to establish policies and procedures to govern its use of automated license plate cameras and to make them available to the public. Okay, so far, they haven't done that. The city or the police department hasn't done that. The city's contract with Flock is paid with our taxes. We, the citizens, have a moral and legal right to see this information. We haven't seen it yet. In the month of August alone, 37 contracts with Flock Safety have been canceled throughout the United States, including the city of Los Angeles. What do they know that this council does not know? I'd like to know that. I encourage all members on the council and members in the public to do their due diligence on researching and voicing their concern about these intrusive cameras.

Thank you. Thank you. Public comment is still open for topics which are on the consent calendar or of municipal concern not on the agenda. Yes, Ms. Young.

Thank you, Mayor Williams and council. This is kind of just a question on our public transportation, our little van that's sitting out by the museum when I came in. Where does it drive to and who does it carry? On social media, there was a person requesting a ride for her husband who is recently in a wheelchair, so she can't get him in their vehicle. And I checked, and they live about two and a half miles outside the city limits and yet i see that same van go out to bennett lane which is 2.7 miles out and she was denied a ride apparently so i'd like to know where that van goes who it services and why do i see so many elderly sitting in front of cal mart in whatever weather we're having waiting for that van to come pick them up. There have been numerous phone calls to have a rider picked up and so does it service visitors or is it exclusive to local residents and what is their, where do they encompass? And I just want more information on that van and what it does maybe Our T-Bid money or our TOT money should be spent on building one for the tourists alone. Get them a nice limousine so they can have a little route and take those guys with a higher price instead of our little dollar or $2 for our seniors. And that came out about a long time ago. That band started a long time ago, I think in the 70s. So I'd like some answers on that if anybody wants to let me know. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Yand. Is there any other member of the public who would like to address the council at public comment time? And we'll check one more time online?

No, I'm online.

Nobody else online? Okay. In that case, let's close public comment, and we'll proceed to the next item, which is the report from our city manager, Shalaya.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I have just a few items to bring to your attention. First, I'd like to start with events. And so for the weekend of September 5th and 6th, the Calistoga Speedway is going to be hosting the Louis Vermeule Classic Sprint Car Races. It's a two-day sprint car race held on the historic half-mile dirt track of the Calistoga Fairgrounds. It's known for high-speed competition, a long-standing racing tradition. The event features both winged and non-winged sprint car series competing throughout the weekend. So for those of you that are interested in it, come on down to the Speedway the weekend of September 5th and 6th. I want to give a public works update. As you can tell, there's some work going on on Lincoln Avenue between Foothill, or actually between Cedar and Washington. That water main replacement project is progressing on schedule. It is anticipated that it'll complete completed by the end of September and then following that Caltrans will be doing a little bit of a repair project my three minutes is up already okay well I guess I guess that's that's one way to curtail my activities city clerk thank you we're getting back on topic so Caltrans is gonna be doing some repaving repairs at the intersection of Washington and Lincoln Avenue, so that'll be right after the Lincoln Avenue project, so we might have a little bit of vehicle disturbance, but it's not gonna last that long. It's just the intersection. And then I wanted to share some good news. The Upper Valley Disposal Grant Awards came out, and the city was awarded approximately $104,000 in grant funding. It was for the purchase of a new public works equipment and fairgrounds equipment that include an electric mulching mower, tri-can waste receptacles, and a sidewalk sweeper. So we're looking forward to getting those pieces of equipment and are thankful for the award from the Upper Valley Disposal Grants. And then lastly, this is from our fire department. One of our engines, Engine 319, was deployed with a foreperson to a fire in Humboldt County. They were there for 10 days. While there they performed critical fire line construction and fire suppression tasks. They have since returned both safely and Did an outstanding job while away assisting our colleagues in Humboldt County and that's all I have for my report Thank you.

Thank you council members questions of our city manager Can you elaborate just a little bit on that grant award that's $104,000 and that goes to, it was for equipment, was that right?

Yeah, so it's a grant program. It's actually coming to conclusion. It was brought to our attention by Councilmember Cooper. and so the public works and the fairgrounds director got together and submitted some proposals, which was the street sweeper, because we do plan on taking over and getting the sidewalks at the end of this year, and some trashcan receptacles as well as an electric mulching piece of equipment, so trying to be sustainable.

Great. Thanks, Councilman Cooper, for bringing that to our attention, and thanks to the staff members for submitting that grant. Let's go then to proclamations and presentations. And we have a presentation by our Recreation Department. And here's our Recreation Manager, Ms. Erin Stroud. Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor Williams and council members. I am Erin Stroud, the Recreation Manager here at the City of Calistoga. And I'm excited to share with you the recap of the 2026 Fourth of July Parade and Laser Light Show. So as you all know, this was the city of Calistoga's first year producing these two events, and going into it, I knew we weren't just taking on another special event. We were taking on a longstanding Calistoga tradition that means a lot to this community. I knew it was gonna be a lot of work, but having spent five years overseeing the city of Sausalito's 4th of July parade, I also knew it was something that our department could handle. What I didn't have necessarily was the history of this particular event, and that's where I was incredibly fortunate to have the following people help me out, and I just wanted to take some time to recognize them, starting first with Karen Schlegel, who was incredibly helpful gathering every Celebrate Napa Valley binder that she could find. Kelly Barrett-Cordaire, Brenda Wild, and Jen Frital also spent more than an hour with me of their own time answering all of my questions and sharing their experiences and offering support. And I also wanted to recognize the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce. They connected me with sound guys, security, barricade providers, all the ones they use for lighted tractor parade. All of those contractors were incredibly amazing to work with and I'm very grateful that we have that partnership with the chamber. So this year, we had 50 entries in the parade, and they really did just keep trickling in all the way up to the very end. In fact, entry number 50 came in the day before the parade, and I had to say yes, because it got us to 50. We had floats and cars and horses, we had a semi-truck, we had non-profits, we had businesses, and I really wasn't sure what to expect as I had heard participation had been going down, but I was very excited to see the level of entries that we had. And I just also wanted to share one of my favorite memories of the entire day really happened right before the parade started. I was riding downtown early in the morning on an electric scooter to check in with the barricade company, and I saw all the chairs lined up along Lincoln and Fair, and I just honestly got overcome with the emotion of just, like... For weeks, I've been thinking contracts and entries and vendors and staffing, and then seeing all those chairs, the moment really hit me that, yes, this parade means a lot to Calistoga. Look at all these people who are out here ready for this parade to happen, and it really just started the day off with a bang. So... Let's just share some photos. They speak louder than words. I want to start also by thanking the Calistoga Fire Department and Chief McCaffrey for leading the parade. Here are just a few of the entries from this year's parade. And I think it's great to acknowledge just how much volunteer time and effort goes into all of these entries. They don't just come together that morning. They have spent hours planning, building, decorating, organizing, getting everything ready. And we're really grateful to have so many people and community members be a part of our parade. So what you don't see in those pictures is everything that happens behind the scenes. We had over 40 people helping with intersections and parade lineup areas that morning. When you look at this map, it helps give you a better sense of just how extensive that operation really is. I want to thank our Public Works Department for all of their help with barricades and street closures, the Calistoga Police Department for helping us manage the parade route, traffic, public safety. It really was a citywide effort, and the parade simply could not have happened with all of them. Now let's recognize our parade judges. This is not an easy job. It's really hot, and the competition is tough. And this year, we had Eric Reichart with the Chamber of Commerce. We had. Eric Reithart with Calistoga Chamber of Commerce. We had Mitch Celaya, our city manager. We had Indira Lopez-Jones with Up Valley Family Center. And we had Audra Pittman with the superintendent of the Calistoga School District. And then we also have to thank our amazing announcers, Keegan and Norma. We were able to offer the announcing in English and in Spanish this year. They did an amazing job. And all of these are volunteers. And so now let's move on to our winners. So Best of Show was won by Concerned Citizens. Here is a picture of their amazing float. That paper eagle on the back of the truck was really incredible to see up close. Some of the other highlighted winners were the Seroptimus for Most Patriotic and the Calistoga Fairgrounds Foundation for the Best Use of Theme. And we wanted to give our parade winners an opportunity to be recognized later on, so we actually announced, we tallied up all of the winners in between the two shows and announced them that night at the Laser Light Show. So let's transition to the Laser Light Show. So the recreation coordinators had about a four-hour break before we started setting up then in the park for the laser show. It was our first year, as you know, so we tried to keep things pretty simple. We had a couple food trucks there on Spring Street. The recreation department had a small game booth. We had advertised that the event was going to start at 7 and the light show start at 9. And at 7.55, this is what the park looked looked like and at this point I was getting a little nervous knowing that the laser show started at 9. There were people there, they were enjoying themselves, they had their chairs and their blankets but there was a lot of open space and I was really starting to wonder whether maybe the laser show didn't have the audience that it once had. I did really enjoy seeing all of the people that did come early, though. They brought their food. They brought chairs. They brought blankets, their kids, their dogs. You know, they weren't just waiting for the show. It seemed like they were making a whole evening out of it, which was really great to see. But then as we got closer to showtime, everybody showed up. The Pioneer Park ended up being packed. The difference between what you saw at 7.55 and what it looked like at 9 was incredibly different. And I was very happy that I was wrong. I think it showed that there still is an audience for this event and that this is another 4th of July tradition that people want to be a part of. And the only other thing I wanted to say, something that really impressed me this night, is with this many people packed in Pioneer Park, I thought we had a lot of work ahead of us for cleanup. We had put out a large number of trash and recycling cans through the park, and I would like to make a good shout out to Upper Valley Disposal Services. They were wonderful to work with. They brought all of our cans on time. They took them away after the event, and after we were done, I assembled the recreation crew to walk around and pick up trash, and the park was practically clean. The amount of extra trash pickup that we had to do, and I was really impressed and very grateful for how respectful Calistoga residents are to their parks, and I just wanted to make note of that. So overall, it was a really successful day. So now let's just quickly talk about what it cost to produce. So this was the original budget that we developed going into the event. We had estimated 36,000 for the parade and roughly 22,000 for the laser light show. So it was gonna be a combined of about $60,000. So because these events had a long history of support from TID, we presented our proposed budget to the board and the city demonstrated their commitment to the event by taking on 25% of this budget. And we were asking for TID funding to support the other 75%. And they approved that entire amount. And so this shows what actually the event costs. So we came in around 52,000, which was about 7,000 below our original estimate. And some of those noticeable variances were that the marketing was lower because of the Calistoga Tribune ceasing publication. Part-time staff ended up being higher because we were hoping for CERT volunteers, but it's hard for them to get volunteers on a holiday like the 4th of July. We ended up not needing public works in the evening. The Recreation Department was able to handle the light show operations. There was a Napa County vendor permit expense that we weren't expecting, and we actually saved on decorations at the light show because we just recycled the ones from earlier in the day. So overall, we came in about 12% less than what we had originally estimated.

We had a little bit of revenue.

There was revenue from parade entry signups. We had one sponsor, the Calistoga Spa and Hot Springs. We sold some t-shirts and of course the marketing support that we received from the Chamber of Commerce. And lastly, looking ahead at 2027, the overall event budget is gonna remain essentially unchanged, but the way the costs are being divided between the city and TID is what's changing. So as part of the budget that we all approved on July 1, 15,000 for staff and about 9,000 for materials will be the city's investment. And so that brings our investment into the event up to 40% and TID would be covering the 60%. I mean, we still have to go and ask to be supported, but that's the plan for 2027. So it'll basically remain similar, but the city is gonna just be taking on more of that cost. And that is the end of my presentation, and I'm excited for comments or questions.

Thank you. Thank you very much for that presentation. I appreciate you going, referring to the past, the historical aspects, and then, of course, to the present and looking forward to the future so you cover the entire spectrum. forward and backwards. Comments, questions from council members?

I just want to say congratulations for pulling that off. That was a Herculean effort, and it sounds like you put way more time and attention into it than we knew, and it went out incredibly successful, so great job.

Thank you, and thank you for being in the parade.

Yeah, I want to second that. First of all, to recognize all the volunteers, Ms. Williams, mentioned before, you know, the volunteers in this community, they're a great force, you know, in the community, so I want to recognize them and also you for your leadership. Everything went very well and I was proud to see how many people enjoyed themselves. Thank you. The celebrations, thank you.

I apologize for being out of town. Yes. I will forever regret it. Yes. It looked like it was absolutely wonderful. I appreciate you showing me everything that I missed. And I'm not surprised that people showed up right before the laser light show started. But looking forward to next year, there is no way I will miss it.

Very good.

Thank you for that presentation. Yeah, do we want to have, Marsha, we can't, do you want to have a public comment? Yeah, let's open public comment. Okay, Marsha, do you have a question? Yeah, manager?

TID stands for? Tourist.

Tourist Improvement. Tourist Improvement District. District, yes.

IT IS THE TAXES THAT ARE ADDED WHEN PEOPLE STAY IN OUR HOTELS AND OUR RESORTS AND IT GOES INTO THIS BEAUTIFUL FUND AND THEN THEY, THE BOARD CAN DIVVY OUT THE FUND WHEN ORGANIZATIONS WANT TO OFFER EVENTS IN TOWN.

THANK YOU AGAIN.

OKAY. ARE THERE GOING TO BE PUBLIC COMMENTS?

LET'S GO TO NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA. a proclamation that we are invited to recognize and announce. We're invited to make a proclamation which will recognize 2026 National Suicide Prevention Month. Council members, are we okay with making this proclamation? In that case, Councilman Cooper, would you read the second paragraph and Councilman Eisenberg the third and the fourth? And I will start this one off. So this is a proclamation of the City of Calistoga in honor of Suicide Prevention Month. Whereas September is recognized as Suicide Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness, encourage open conversations about mental health, and confront the stigma and barriers that can prevent people from seeking help, and

Whereas, suicide remains a serious public health concern in the United States. In 2024, an estimated 14.3 million adults seriously considered suicide, 4.6 million made a plan, and 2.2 million attempted suicide, while 48,824 lives were lost. And...

Whereas, Napa County experienced an average suicide death rate of approximately 11 per 100,000 residents from 2016 to 2024, slightly higher than California's rate of 10.8, underscoring the importance of continued local prevention, education, and support, and

Whereas suicide prevention begins long before a crisis through education, early intervention, connection, compassion, and policies that make it safer to speak openly about mental health and life challenges. End.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the City Council of the City of Calistoga hereby recognizes September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Month and urges all residents to help end stigma, support one another, encourage help seeking, and build community where everyone feels seen, valued, connected, and never alone. on this day of August 25th, 2026. And I believe we have a representative from MENTUS, which is Annapolis Center for Mental Health. We have a representative here, sure. And it's, I understand, Jessica Zepeda. If you'd like to come forward, I'll present this to you. Jessica, here we go. If you'd like to say a few words about your work, you're welcome to do that.

Okay, thank you so much. I'm Jessica Zepeda, the Prevention and Early Intervention Senior Manager at MENTUS, and on behalf of MENTUS, we graciously accept this proclamation, and I'm happy to share that just earlier this month, our team of prevention's school year, so they are trained, and we will continue to train educators, students, caregivers, and community members alike as long as we can. Thank you.

Thank you for your work, and thank you for coming up, Valley, for this.

Yeah, thank you.

And tonight we have a second proclamation, which will recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month and will anticipate the raising of the Mexican flag. And let's take the same reading here. We have five whereases, and we will make this proclamation here. The city of Calistoga is making this proclamation in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Whereas in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson established Hispanic Heritage Week, which was expanded to a month-long observance in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan, and is now celebrated nationally from September 15th through October 15th, and

Whereas, the city of Calistoga is proud to be home to a vibrant and diverse Latino community, with residents whose roots span Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and beyond. And...

Whereas Hispanic and Latino residents make lasting contributions to Calistoga's economic, cultural, civic, and social life, enriching our community through their traditions, families, hard work, talents, and service, and

Whereas Calistoga Strange is rooted in its diversity and we remain committed to building a welcoming and inclusive community where every resident is valued, respected, and able to try.

Now therefore be it resolved that the Calistoga City Council hereby proclaims September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in the City of Calistoga and encourages all residents to celebrate the rich history, culture, achievements, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans in our community and throughout our nation. Signed and sealed this 25th day of August 2025. And I believe we have a representative here from, let's see, the Human Development Department. Is someone here? Is that Heather Henry?

Very good.

Ms. Henry, I have this presentation. So, and your name, sir?

Santino Garcia.

Mr. Garcia, welcome. Hi, nice to meet you. Very good. I'm pleased to present this proclamation from the city of Calistoga to you.

All right, thank you.

I'd like to say a few words about what's involved there and welcome everybody to Calistoga.

Thank you so much, Mayor Williams and city council members. I would like to first, well, I'm Santino Garcia, Chief Operating Officer for California Human Development. We are a non-profit agency that assists farm workers in improving their lives, primarily through workforce development services, housing, and we do community services also like immigration. I would like to take a moment to introduce some staff. Heather Henry, our illustrious CEO. And then Alfonso actually works in Napa, but he services Calistoga in the NFJP program, for those that don't know, National Farmworker Jobs Program, which is funded through the Department of Labor. And then these three beautiful human beings right here actually work at the Calistoga Farm Labor Center, for those that might be familiar with it, going towards Napa. It's right across the street from the Castile Winery. Yeah, that's Farm Labor Center. We have unaccompanied workers that live there. We serve about 150 throughout the year. It's open 11 months out of the year. They are provided three meals a day, and this is for 11 months out of the year, and also lodging. So, without further ado, this is the, yeah, custodian, I'd like to say a different title, but she basically takes care of everything, keeping it clean. When you drive by, it's spotless, and this is one of the reasons why Maria Leticia Munoz, Agustin, Lopez is the cook and cooks all of the delicious food for the lodgers that stay there. And Erwin Montoya is the manager. So he's the one who manages, oversees the site, collection of rents, makes sure it's clean, and the gentlemen that live there are behaving and taking care of the premises. So thank you for the invite. Really appreciate the proclamation and appreciate the partnership with the city of Calistoga.

Thank you for coming up. And Council Member Iris Lopez Ortega would like to offer a few words en espanol.

Yes, I just want to say thank you for being here. And I want to express my gratitude and recognition to the farm workers. They sustain the Napa Valley thanks to all their hard work. The valley wine production is recognized worldwide. And I just want to say thank you and recognize their efforts. Gracias por estar aqui. Me gusta reconocer el trabajo. Thank you. And thank you all for coming up, and thank you for that assistance, council member.

Let us go to the consent calendar now, the next item on our agenda. And there are a number of items there. I have none that I wish to pull. Council members, are we okay with these, or does anybody want to pull any of these?

I would like to pull 6.3.

6.3? Mm-hm. Okay, and I will entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar with the exception of 6.3.

Move to approve the consent calendar with the named exception.

Second. Thank you. A motion by Councilmember Eisenberg and a second by Councilmember Cooper. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? It passes. And let us go to item 6.3. Yes, Councilmember Lopez Ortega, this is the This is the one that relates to the sale of State Water Project carryover water.

Yes. I'm not okay with that, but I just want to have an open clarification for the members of the community to better understand why is the purpose behind this sale and transfer. since we have so many questions from the community about, you know, the price and the cost of the water. So I just want to clarify so they can better understand what is about this.

Thank you. A good question. And we have Public Works member, Mr. Fradlizio. Welcome.

Thank you Thank You council member Ortega for the question so the purpose here the state water project is who we partner with for our water sale we work with the Napa flood district as well with several other Napa County agencies the Napa County City of Napa American Canyon And together, we looked at the carryover that we had as a group and determined that there was an option to sell some water. So selling water is kind of like moving buckets of money without moving any water. It's complicated. But we have all these different buckets of water, different allocations. There's, you know, Table A. And then the carryover, we accumulate year after year. if there are certain percentages of storage within the region's reservoirs. And so we have been building up a carryover and occasionally we choose to, or we encourage and city council approves the sale of some of that water. Right now we have a lot of carryover. We have more than we are predicting to need for multiple years, even in a very conservative situation we believe we have more than two years of water of carryover that we're not going to be selling but this carryover that we are recommending to sell would give the water enterprise a one-time addition of funding of about a hundred and seventy thousand dollars which would benefit everybody who's involved in the water enterprise and There's a potential that the water could be lost, not actually lost, but the calculation gets reset if the San Luis Reservoir spills, which we think there's a very high likelihood that that could happen this year with the Super El Nino coming. And so in that case, the state water project's rules would reduce all of our carryover, and we would get nothing for that at the time. So we've recommended selling a portion of the carryover that we do have at this point to at least accumulate some of that benefit to the enterprise at this time.

Thank you.

I mean, I'm all in favor of doing this. It seems like it's absolutely sensible. But why is the spill of the San Luis Reservoir the indicator that we would then potentially lose this water allocation?

Yes, very good question. I'll just refer back to the state water project is very complicated. It's very old. Some might argue antiquated, maybe. I don't know. But that is one of the rules of the agreement that we have, that we operate. So we're a subcontractor underneath the Napa County Flood District and Water Supply. So they are the contractor that has the actual agreement with the state water project. And we're a very small part of that. agreement so we work with them to negotiate and adjust the rules of the state water project but altogether our entire county is kind of a small player in the whole scheme okay all righty other questions from the council open public comment on this yes charlotte

So this is directed to Mr. Fratellizio. So is the water measured and metered? And if so, what is the actual physical location of that metering and monitoring?

OK, thank you.

Yes, absolutely. So the city's water from the state water project is actually metered. So we are a subcontractor from the Napa County Flood District. Our meter is basically at the intersection that you would turn to go to Lake Hennessey. Our meter is on the Silverado Trail, and that's where Napa measures how much water we send to the city of Calistoga. On this water cell, The city of Napa is kind of, you know, it's like moving slots of money in an Excel sheet. It doesn't actually move anywhere. It's just that our allocation on a agreement basis would be reduced in this water sale and it would show up on somebody else's balance sheet without any water actually moving.

Okay, thank you. Other public comment? Yes.

Yeah, just one is just one. Do we is the city of Calistoga on the sale of this actually would get a check in cash? Okay, so where's that money going to go to? We'll be able to go back into our ratepayers pockets discount or water for a month or something like that? Or where would that money?

Okay, thank you for the question.

Yes, so we will actually receive a check. The whole group, the contractor, will receive up to the 5,000 acre foot of money. Our portion of that is the 450 acre feet, equating to almost $170,000, which will be directly put to the Water Enterprise Fund, which has very specific rules about what that money can be used for. At this time it would it would fill in the fund and help us address some of the capital improvement projects that we have As well as the staff and maintenance that go into running the enterprise. It's great.

Thank you Any other public comment? And we'll check online Thank you for checking public comment is still open Okay, let's close public comment. Thank you, Mr. Fradalizio, for your help on that one. Councilmembers, any other comments before we bring this to a vote? Okay. Councilmember Lopez Ortega, would you like to make a motion here?

Yeah, I entertain a motion to approve as presented.

Thank you, and I will second that. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? It passes. Thank you, staff, for bringing this to our attention, and let's go on to... General Government and item 8.1. And the subject here is an allocation of community support funding. And we have Deputy City Manager here, Rachel Stepp. And Rachel Stepp, could you help us understand about this funding?

Yes, of course. Good evening, mayor and council members. During the city council's fiscal year 2627 budget discussions, there was discussion around allocating $20,000 to various community groups. And at that time, staff felt like they had clear direction to allocate 10,000 to the food bank. However, with the remaining 10,000, there was discussion around allocating it to community enrichment grants. However, the direction was not firm. So staff is bringing this back for council direction on where the council wishes to see that 10,000 allocated to for this upcoming fiscal year.

Thank you. Council members, I will start this one off because I'm thinking of something a little bit different. I'm thinking of spending some dollars on public art. It's not something that we've done a lot of, and there are a lot of reasons that public art make sense for a community, and I'm prepared to elaborate on that a little bit. But before I go on on that, I want to ask Councilmembers, others have ideas and then we can discuss what other ideas you might have as well on this allocation of funding.

With all the respect, I disagree with that. I support the art center in Kalistova. I support everything that it has to do with art. But I think the right thing to do right now is allocate those $20,000. We agreed to allocate $10,000 for the food bank. And then we were thinking to allocate the other $10,000 for the community enrichment grant. We only have four applications at the moment for these grants. And I don't know if the other nonprofits organizations that they did not submit an application, they did not receive the notice or they don't want to apply. But I think the right way to do it is to go through the, application that has been happening in the past. They are centered, you know, all the other nonprofits in the community, they have been submitting their applications. I agreed to put those $10,000 for this particular program, but all the nonprofits, they had to apply. And maybe, you know, they still have time. I don't know if the application time is closed but maybe we can open it and go through the process.

And City Clerk, I think the application period for the community enrichment grants is still open? It's closed. It's closed. So there just were four applicants?

Yeah, we only have four applicants. And I don't see an application here for regulars, you know, like the food bank and many others that they are not here.

And I think there's a restriction on who can apply. I think applicants.

Yeah, they have to be certain criteria. They have to be Let me tell you. They had to be a non-profit. They had to provide services to the elderly community, to the youth. They had to enhance the appearance of the community. In other words, they had to provide services for them.

And I think that their applications must be on every other year. I think consecutive years they can't apply. Is that a restriction?

No, the only restriction is that they can't be receiving funds from the city for the same purpose within that year.

Okay. Yes, Councilman Eisenberg.

I have a third point of view, just to keep staff guessing. I am a great supporter of public art, and I really would like to see more public art. But there's something about the nature of this $10,000 and where it came from that I think we should be very careful. This was money that in the past had gone to Boys and Girls Club. And I remember that budget meeting, and the discussion was we are dealing with an acute food emergency in our community. And that was a justification for reallocating this money. And I think to be true to that, the money should go to the food bank. ALL OF IT OR TO SUPPORT OTHER FOOD, IF THERE ARE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT CAN ADDRESS THE CRITICAL FOOD EMERGENCY. ANOTHER POSSIBILITY WHICH WOULD HAVE A SIMILAR EFFECT IF WE ADDED THE $10,000 TO OUR FUND FOR WATER SUBSIDIES THAT THE UP VALLEY FAMILY CENTER HAS BEEN INVESTING. but to the neediest people in our community who are experiencing the worst. On the subject of public art, though, I'd like to return. I think it would be great IF WE COULD HELP, WHETHER IT'S THROUGH THE ART CENTER AND COMPLETING THE CERAMIC PROJECT OR OTHER PUBLIC ART, BUT WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT MONEY COME FROM IS WHEN WE GET TO OUR MID-YEAR BUDGET ADJUSTMENT. Right now, I'm optimistic. I mean, we never really know until we get to mid-year. But I would be right up there if we did have the money available to allocate some of that money to public art, to perhaps the completion of the ceramic project. But I think this particular pot of money has to go to our most needy and endangered population.

So you're thinking that you'd like it to go to the food bank?

And you mentioned also the water relief fund. The water relief fund, the food bank, to be true to our justification for taking that $20,000 and reallocating it.

Okay, and you're thinking of adding it to the community enrichment fund?

Well, since the applications for this period are closed already, I will agree with Mr. Eisenberg to allocate it to the food bank.

To the food bank, okay. And Councilman Cooper, we haven't forgotten about you over here.

Yes, I also agree wholeheartedly with Councilperson Eisenberg. I think... We have a need, a very strong need for the food banks. I would consider, there's a second food bank, I believe it's run through Clinical Aid or the Family Center.

The Adventist Health, the hospital, they bring food to the community twice or once a month. It depends on the season. And they are supported by the family centers through volunteers. They don't put money. They just use the volunteers. Also clinical aid. and that's the same thing. They provide the food. They use the volunteers from the family center and also for the service clubs like Rotary, Soroptimist and stuff.

Okay, yeah. SUGGEST THAT WE CONTINUE WITH SUPPORTING THE FOOD BANK WITH THAT EXTRA $10,000.

SO THE MONEY IS GOING TO BE WELL SPENT FOR SURE. LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE RESEARCH THAT I FOUND WHICH WAS NOT HARD TO FIND ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF PUBLIC ART. EVEN IF IT DOESN'T HAPPEN THIS TIME, I THINK IT'S WORTH CONSIDERING. AND I'LL BE READING THIS. STUDIES SHOW THAT PUBLIC ART can combat feelings of anxiety and social isolation, especially when locals participate in creating public art. Public art also provides economic benefits, including new jobs and increased tourism. Murals in particular are great for artistic placemaking and city marketing. And what I am thinking about NEXT TIME WE'RE AT CITY HALL AND WE LOOK ACROSS THE STREET AT THE POLICE STATION, WE'LL SEE A FLAT UNADORNED WALL THAT SAYS, I WANT ART. I WANT SOMETHING THERE THAT SPEAKS OF CALISOGA IN A SPECIAL WAY. AND SO THAT'S, YOU KNOW, IT CAN GO ANYWHERE, BUT THAT IN PARTICULAR IS A BUILDING THAT COULD BE EASILY ENHANCED. and would benefit by that. What public art does is give people, when they participate in it, a sense of ownership and belonging to the town. I'll read just a little bit more. Exposure to art has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, offering moments of calm and contemplation in our otherwise hectic lives. A vibrant mural on a previously blank wall can lift our spirits and inspire a sense of wonder. Public art is also democratic. That is, it's accessible to everybody regardless of background or socioeconomic status. The emotional uplift is a key component of a thriving community as individuals who feel good are more likely to engage with their surroundings and with each other. Public art can also challenge our perceptions and spark important conversations addressing social and political issues and encourage us to critically think about the world we live in and our role. In other words, the benefits, to summarize, are what we can say are soft benefits. They're not concrete, immediate, in our hands. others are, but the effect gradually, imperceptibly maybe, is for a sense of well-being spread throughout the community. And I totally understand the sense of wanting to contribute directly to the needs of people, and there's no question that those needs are real, so I certainly respect that. without reservation. I also think that those needs will always be there and that if we don't at some point carve out a place and a time for public art, it just won't happen because there always will be some pressing immediate need. And I'll just finish this in a moment, but the discussion talks about how the benefits are indirect, perhaps, but real and maybe ultimately even greater than direct benefits. A deep connection to the art fosters a sense of pride and stewardship, encouraging people to take care of their surroundings and invest in the well-being of their community. So my last remarks, it's a testament to the power of creativity to transform our environment and connect us one to the other in meaningful ways. So I can see and I respect the council's direction towards the food bank. I have no opposition to that. However, I would like the council to keep in mind how potentially important the attention to public art could be, even if it doesn't happen tonight going down the road. And there always will be some pressing need in some other worthy place, and that's true. And so we just have to make a decision at some point if we want to achieve these benefits. So that's a lot of talking from the mayor here for a second, but let's go to public comment. I just had a comment first.

Maybe we can explore the idea of a community art enrichment grant, a small one, at a discussion at some point and bring that up so it's directed specifically to art in the city.

And it's not a denial of the importance of public art. As I said, I would certainly be looking at mid-year budget adjustments to pay for public art, but I think we have to pay attention to the nature of this particular pot of money, and that's why I don't think it's appropriate.

Let's see, is there any public comment on this? Yes, you're welcome to come up, Marcia.

Hello. Marsha Beecham, 1405 Lake Street, also a board member of Calistoga Art Center. Thank you. I can tell you all read my emails to you supporting public art. So thank you, Mayor Williams. I will just shorten my support of public art by saying it's important because it transforms ordinary spaces into meaningful places. That's really important. That resonates with residents and visitors alike. An update for the people in the audience and listening on Calistoga Art Center's COVID-19 Commemorative Tile Project. Over the last four years, Calistoga Art Center facilitated the creation of 260 fire tiles painted by community members manifesting their experiences during COVID. We've received delivery of the granite totems to house these tiles last November and are close to completing the permitting process with the city. We just need to install them at the city designated space on the east end of Pioneer Bridge next to Farmer's Market. I'm not gonna go up against the food bank for this 10 grand, but mid-year adjustments, budget adjustments, please keep us in mind. And I love this idea about grants for public art. So keep us in mind for that, and I appreciate your time and you being here. Thank you.

Thank you. Public comment is still open. Yes, Charlotte.

Since, as usual, there's a fairly sparse amount of the public here. I'd just like to say, you know what? I bet if the city council designated a place for a mural and made it very clear exactly which wall, I bet if that was put out, of course, through the city website, but also through social media, and called a meeting and said basically everybody who has an opinion about what art should be on this wall show up at this meeting and let those folks sort it out for themselves, really. I don't know that the city has to direct it greatly. The city council I'm sure would have to do a final approval but I bet there are a lot of people with ideas who could sketch something up And if the space were estimated, you know, like how many gallons of paint it would take, that could be put out in social media too and say, hey, you know, chip in for half a gallon of paint or a quart or whatever you can afford. My guess is that there would be a bunch of people willing to just lay, you know, hand over 20 bucks or 50 bucks for a gallon or whatever it is. And maybe there are paint dealers around who would give us a break for that.

Great. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Herndon.

Yes, Dan Herndon. Just real quick, the four applicants, is that public notice? Can you tell us who those four folks were? I don't know if it's public or not. As a father of artists, I'm all for anything art-related, painting, murals, sculptures, or whatever in the town. I think you're right. It just adds a little bit to the character of the town wherever it's at. But I just was curious who those other people that have applied.

It will be public at some point, yeah.

Yeah.

Other public comment? Sorry, just get one shot here. Yeah. But thank you for your comments. Anybody else? And we'll check online. Not online. Okay, nobody else online. And no other public comment. Yes, Ms. Yant.

Excuse me. I have something in my mouth. I hear a lot about a lot of different groups in this town that are in need of a grant of some sort, but what about our senior citizens? Where are we putting them? There used to be luncheons here for them once a week, Wednesday luncheon here in the community center, but you don't hear much about it. There's many in the mobile home parks that are complaining and wanting our golf course back, a golf course for them to exercise on, but we're ARE WE SPENDING MONEY TO HELP THE SENIORS IN TOWN? THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. PUBLIC COMMENT STILL OPEN? OKAY. YEAH. DONNA, DO YOU WANT TO MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT?

Donna Higgins, 4th Street. I'm a little confused. Are you tonight going to make a decision how to spend the extra money? Yes.

Yes.

Why can't we hear what the other four that have applied? Why aren't they in your wheelhouse of decision making? So what is your question please question is the money that you have left over? Could it go to the people that applied that iris referred to?

Okay, so that's your question. Okay. All right. Thank any other questions No, could it go to that?

There's a question.

Okay, we will deal with that then could it go? Yeah, we can do what we want with it. Yeah So so far the any other public comment, I OKAY. AND LET'S CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT, BRING IT BACK TO US. FURTHER COMMENTS, COUNCILMEMBERS, COUNCILMAN EISBERG?

JUST A POINT OF INFORMATION. THE COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT GRANTS THAT THOSE FOUR GROUP PEOPLE OR ENTITIES ARE COMPETING FOR, THERE IS ALREADY AN ALLOCATION. for to grant those community enrichment grants. Just to make sure everybody understands that.

I was going to ask him, what is that allocation? Was it $30,000?

Udiana, do you have that information? 30,000.

30,000. Thank you. And this is probably pretty irrelevant. But while you are all enjoying the 4th of July, I was in this little town called Vilchofen on the Danube. And it's a town about the size of Calistoga. And they had about 15 different examples of public art sculptures throughout the town, just walking down their main street. And it's really quite nice, and it gave an identity to the town, and it was great for a tourist. And I'm certain the people there enjoyed it. So I am an advocate of public art, just not right now.

So let's see, public comment is closed. I'm going to take the lead, Marcia, there, and you don't want to go against Food Bank, and we don't want to do that either. So thank you for helping me there a little bit. And of course, we are supportive of Food Bank as well. SO I'M NOT GOING TO OPPOSE. IT SOUNDS LIKE WE WANT TO GO COUNCIL TO SEND THIS TO THE FOOD BANK, IS THAT RIGHT? IS THAT WHAT WE'RE THINKING? OKAY. AND WE'LL TAKE A VOTE IN A SECOND. AND I'LL BE SUPPORTIVE OF THAT, TOO. COUNCILMEMBERS, I'M GOING TO BE SUPPORTIVE, BUT I'M GOING TO ASK YOU TO LOOK AT THE POLICE STATION AND OTHER SITES, TOO, BUT THE POLICE STATION SCREAMS AT ME AND CONSIDER How we might enhance it with public art I was thinking of in terms of a mural and a contest perhaps like we haven't had on the bike bike rack there and see who might be interested in doing a mural and submitting Proposals and then seeing which one made sense for the council, but That's not our topic right now the topic is to allocate the $10,000 so Who would like to make a motion on that?

I'll move to allocate the remaining $10,000 to the food bank.

I second.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second. And I'll just take a roll call on that, please.

Council Member Eisenberg.

Aye.

Council Member Cooper. Aye. Council Member Lopez Ortega. Aye. The Vice Mayor Gift is absent. And Mayor Williams.

Aye. Thank you, Council Members, for this discussion. Thank you, Deputy Staff, for your help in this. And thank you, members of the public, for your contributions helping us bring this along. Let's go to item 8.2. The topic here is a property tax revenue transfer for structural fire protection services. And Deputy City Manager Stepp, would you like to introduce this to us?

Yes, thank you. So this item is basically a resolution that would allow for property taxes that are collected within the city of Calistoga's tax rate area that are then allocated to the county to be actually allocated to the city of Calistoga. So a little bit of background. Beginning in around the 70s and 80s, a portion of property taxes within the city of Calistoga's tax rate area was historically allocated to the county to provide structural fire protection. But since that time, the city of Calistoga has established and maintained a fully staffed and functional fire department that is able to provide that structural fire protection as a city. And both the county and the city have agreed that this property tax revenue should be allocated to the city for this fire protection. And in order to do this, both agencies need to pass a resolution to then Initiate this transfer. So the county took this to the Board of Supervisors and they adopted a resolution on July 28th and this would make the transfer of the taxes that I referred to beginning September 1st 2026 if the city adopts a similar resolution So the recommended action tonight is to move forward and adopt the resolution so that the city can accept that transfer and this equates to about five hundred thousand dollars a year

Thank you. Council members, any clarifying questions? Am I hearing that right, that voting yes on this means that we'll get $500,000 that we would not otherwise have gotten?

Correct, yes.

And to confirm, it's going straight to the fire department, you specifically?

I'm going to pass that question to chief, or sorry, city manager Salaya.

So the... primary fire protection tax is, it's designated for fire protection services so it would support the existing budget that the fire department has. In fact, if anything, it'll free up general funds because that money would have been used to complete their budget.

Okay, let's take public comment on this. Would anybody like to comment? And anybody online will check? Not online. Thank you for checking there. Let's close public comment then. Council members, I'm not having a hard time on this one at all. This one seems like a slam dunk.

Just would say, this is great work on part of our staff. TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN BECAUSE I KNOW IT PROBABLY TOOK A LOT OF EFFORTS TO GET THIS PROPERTY TAX MONEY TRANSFERRED FROM THE COUNTY TO THE CITY, AND I COMPLIMENT YOU ALL. YES. YES.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL.

I THINK THERE'S A LONG STORY THERE, BUT LET'S JUST LEAVE IT AT THIS HAPPY, RELATIVELY HAPPY ENDING. Let's see, let's take a, is there a motion to accept this?

I will make a motion that we adopt the resolution.

Thank you. There's a motion by Councilman Cooper. I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? It passes. Thank you, staff, for bringing this to us. And that also brings us near the end of the meeting to council reports. Councilman Cooper, do you like to report on anything tonight?

Oh, yes. I just wanted to reiterate what our city manager said about the grant for the city of Calistoga. It was passed unanimously by the board of the by the age of the water board. And incidentally, Aaron, the city council representative from St. Helena was frustrated because St. Helena never put together a grant request. And so it's great news, great work by our Public Works Director, $104,000, and I can't wait to see what a sidewalk sweeper looks like. I'm sure Public Works will be lining up on who gets to drive it as well.

Well, thanks for your heads up on that one.

Yes.

Councilman Eisenberg?

Yes. I did attend two of our local committees, Calistoga ATAC, Active Transportation, and the green committee. And one thing I'd just like to say about both of them, they were both had their work plans in front of them, the work plans that were approved by the city council and were doing their best to try to implement them. ATAC was looking at the, TRAFFIC CALMING, BICYCLE-PEDESTRIAN CONNECTIVITY, THE GRAND STREET MULTI-USE PATH, AND ALSO MAKING SURE THAT THE COUNTY ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN MET OUR NEEDS. THE GREEN COMMITTEE WAS LOOKING AT THE UPDATES ON ITEMS THAT THEY PRESENTED AT THE LAST MEETING TO OUR CITY COUNCIL, AND RESEARCH UPDATE ON INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT, BUT IT'S REALLY NICE TO SEE OUR COMMITTEES WORKING ON THEIR WORK PLANS. HAPPENED TO BE AT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING FOR OTHER THINGS I WILL LET THE MAYOR TALK ABOUT. BUT YOU KNOW EVERY MEETING THEY HAVE A PET OF THE WEEK AND A PET COMES, SOMEONE FROM THE SHELTER COMES IN AND BRINGS A DOG FOR ADOPTION. IT WAS CUTE. DOESN'T FIT HERE.

THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ ORTEGA.

Yes, I did not attend any meetings, but I had some requests for the council city manager um we received a letter for from brian maloney regarding the way they feel rental to uh to use lobby field for their practice and soccer practice and games so um you know it's good to have the kids in the community because and to have this group to start the games here in town because most of the time the families they take the kids to Santa Rosa or Napa to play soccer and so I will ask if you can see what we can do about it to weigh the rental fees. Also, we have been receiving letters from Mark Skinner regarding federal funding requests, and it's all over in social media, which I don't think is the right, you know, line to put this, but today I saw a letter from him, so I wonder if you can submit a letter answering all his questions. Also, we received a letter about the entire project from the Art Center, and that already responded here. One more important thing is about the floor cameras. We have been receiving a lot of comments. in the council meetings, and also there is a lot of comments nationwide. So I think it will be good to have a presentation for our community to better understand how we're using those cameras here in town and take a decision about the future of that. So that's it.

Okay. Thank you. As far as the last one, it seems like a future agenda item.

Yes.

Yeah, I would like to concur that we should have another presentation by Chief McCaffrey on the flock cameras that takes into account the recent publicity surrounding them.

Understood.

Okay, thank you. As Council Member Eisenberg mentioned, he and I attended a Board of Supervisors meeting this morning and we addressed the board regarding the agreement that our city has with the county and that agreement entails a limitation on leases which we may want to offer to operators or managers or developers on the fairgrounds. And it may be advantageous to the city to be able to offer leases that are longer than 25 years. And so we requested that the supervisors modify the agreement to extend the lease limit to 50 instead of 25 years. AND SO WE BOTH MADE PUBLIC COMMENT AT THAT TIME THIS MORNING. PRIOR TO THAT, I COMMUNICATED DIRECTLY WITH FOUR OF THE FIVE. I MET WITH THREE OF THE FIVE. SO WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AND COUNCILMAN EISENBERG I BELIEVE DID AS WELL. DISCUSS THIS TOPIC WITH A NUMBER OF SUPERVISORS AND SO IT WAS A FULL WEEK LAST WEEK JUST WORKING ON THIS TOPIC ACTUALLY A LOT OF TIME AND WE DO NOT KNOW THE OUTCOME. THE BOARD WENT INTO CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS OUR REQUEST AND I HAVE NOT YET HEARD THE OUTCOME. HOWEVER, WE MADE AS GOOD A CASE AS WE COULD. And we feel that the board was sympathetic, very sympathetic to what we were talking about. However, we still don't have any official word. So that's the meeting that I attended, and Councilman Eisenberg joined me as well. And with that, I would like to thank you all for staying with us for the meeting. Thank you to those online.