City Council - Regular Meeting

Excuse me, is Juliana Glock here by chance? Okay, what about? Nope, that's it. Bike month, anyone here for bike month? No, okay, thank you. So just to confirm, Juliana Glock not here? All right, thank you.

All right, everyone, good morning. We are going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Before we do that, I want to introduce, this is Lauren Shervin. She is our mayor for the day. And she goes to Sage Ridge. She's a senior at Sage Ridge. And tell us a little bit about, obviously being a senior, what is next for college. Give us an idea. yeah so i'm going to be starting out at the university of sydney in the fall and then in the spring i'm actually going to go to tulane university in new orleans that sounds terrible how fun yeah and we're excited she is very passionate about international relations and government so hopefully we won't scare her away today so uh with that i would love for you to lead us in the pledge sounds good

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, Madam Clerk, roll call. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Calling roll for Wednesday, May 20th, Reno City Council, Councilmember Taylor. absent this time. Council member door here. Martinez here. Ebert.

I believe she's online.

Council Member Ebert? Here. Can you hear me? We can, thank you. Here. Okay, thanks. Reese?

Here.

Anderson? Here. Sheavey? Here. Mayor for the day, Shervin? Here. All right, you do have the quorum of the Reno City Council.

All right, thank you so much. We're going to head into public comment, but before we do that, we have a special proclamation for Bike Month. So who is here to kick off Bike Month? Suzanne. All right. I don't have it. You would need that. Here you go.

All right, so for the record, Suzanne Gronemann, Environmental Services Manager. May is bike month, so I'm gonna go ahead and read a proclamation. I am gonna, before I say that, I'm gonna start that last weekend we had a bike safety expo on the plaza, and we were asked if we can do that many more times. Everybody that attended was very appreciative. We gave out helmets. It was a well-attended event, and the community really loved it. Some of our bike advocates, unfortunately, couldn't be here today, but... All right. So, our Bike Month Proclamation. goes as follows. Whereas the month of May is recognized nationally as Bike Month, an opportunity to celebrate bicycling as a healthy, sustainable, and accessible form of transportation and recreation for residents and visitors of all ages and abilities, supporting access to schools, parks, businesses, employment centers, and community destinations, And whereas bicycling promotes public health and wellness by encouraging physical activity, improving mental well-being and fostering stronger connections within the community. And whereas increased bicycle use can help reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and support the city's broader goals related to community resilience, sustainability and quality of life. and whereas reno values partnerships with regional agencies community organizations advocacy groups and residents to support safe and connected bicycle infrastructure while striving to improve safety and accessibility for people who bike walk and use other forms of active transportation and whereas the city of reno recognizes the important role bicycling plays in creating a vibrant healthy and connected community for current and future generations Now therefore, I, Suzanne Gronemann, on behalf of Hillary L. Schieve, Mayor of the City of Reno, Nevada, do hereby declare May 2026 as Bike Month.

Congratulations. And one note that I would like everyone to know, if you need a free bike helmet, we do have them at the city of Reno. So let's get them distributed and make sure the public knows that we have those available. Really, really important. Everyone should be wearing their helmets.

We had a lot of, we learned a lesson. We need to order more kid sizes. We definitely had a lot of kids. And almost every parent and child that walked up said, oh my God, these are free. And we said, yes, they're free. We don't have to pay for them? No, you don't have to pay for them. So that was definitely well-received.

Okay, that's great. So just so everyone knows, we have free bike helmets here at the City of Reno.

Are you a biker? You are? A little bit. Okay. Well, if you want a helmet, let me know.

Yes, we'll get you a helmet.

Thank you. Madam Mayor, Madam Mayor, Ms. Gronemann, sorry, I just wanted to point this out. I don't know if you've seen these infographics that our comms team made in... in partnership with Ms. Gronemann, but they are amazing. They go over what is legal, what isn't legal, what's considered a moped, what's considered an e-bike, a standard bike, or an electric motorcycle, so they're really easily shareable tools that we can get out into the community about what's legal, what isn't legal, and then also an entire infographic about... safety issues what what is legal what isn't legal by unit and what um protective gear you should be wearing so these were really really helpful and businesses in my in my ward have been pinning them up and handing them out and using them as tools to welcome people on these different mobility mic bikers but also helping share the rules and asking them to have manners so it's a really really helpful tool to start conversations so thank you for that

That's been a big initiative of yours. Good job.

Electric doesn't necessarily mean legal. That's exactly right.

Can you say that again?

Electric doesn't necessarily mean it's legal. There are parents, actually that came from me after a visit to my son's school. He's in middle school. A kid was right by me on one of the electric motorcycles. I said to the other parent, I said, gosh, that's so unfortunate. He's not supposed to be on that. He said, why? It's electric. I said, it goes 60 miles an hour, and he's not licensed, registered, or insured, and he's 13. He goes, I didn't know they weren't legal. I thought because it was electric, it was legal.

That's exactly right. They can be extremely, extremely dangerous. We're seeing more and more of them, and especially as summer gets here. It's something that everyone needs to watch out for.

If anybody else would like those infographics, I'm happy to send it out. That's great.

Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Okay, Madam Clerk, I'm going to send it back to you for public comment.

What about National Public Works?

Madam Mayor, I believe we have another proclamation. Oh, we do?

Oh. I don't have it here. Is this it?

Is that National Public Works? No.

No, maybe they have it. Oh, Travis. There we go. Travis, you've got it. You're way ahead of us. I love it. Okay, Travis, take it away.

We've got a whole bunch of people who are going to come up and read this to me. Okay, I love it.

These are actually the heroes behind the scenes.

They absolutely are.

We're super excited to be able to recognize the work these public works professionals do on a daily basis. So I'm going to turn this over to Cameron, or pardon me, Jordan.

Hello.

Hi. Hi.

Whereas public works professionals dedicate themselves to building, maintaining, and strengthening the infrastructure, facilities, and essential services that keep Reno vibrant, resilient, and moving forward, protecting public health, enhancing quality of life, and shaping a community where people can thrive and...

Whereas these vital services would not be possible without the passion and commitment of public works professionals, including the dedicated teams within the City of Reno's public works, utility services, maintenance and operations, and regional infrastructure departments, alongside engineers, managers, equipment operators, planners, tradespeople, and countless others across all levels of government and the public sector and the private sector, whose expertise ensures the safety, reliability, and continuous improvement of our transportation networks, water and wastewater systems, public buildings, and other critical community assets, and...

Whereas the people of Reno benefit every day from the often unseen work of these dedicated individuals, and it is in the public interest for citizens, civic leaders, and our youth to understand, appreciate, and celebrate the indispensable role Public Works plays in shaping our shared future and

Whereas, 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week, honoring a tradition of service deeply rooted in community and driven by innovation, collaboration, and pride. Now, therefore, I, Kayla Garcia, on behalf of Hilary L. Schiebe, Mayor of the City of Reno, do hereby proclaim May 17th through 23rd, 2026, as National Public Works Week.

Oh, congratulations. But they really are. You don't get to see them. Yeah, if you guys want a picture, that's fine. Yeah, come on up. You guys do some really cool work. You save animals. You save kids. I mean, you have some very interesting stories, Travis. So you're kind of also in the public safety realm. Wow, look at all of you.

This is so cool. Good morning.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming. Yeah, so they like make everything happen behind the scenes. Everything. Cutting trees and just like... They do a lot of work. You know, that might be a cool thing for you to do, is go to some of the directions.

Yeah, she's not here. All right, Madam Mayor, we're gonna go ahead and open public comment.

Okay.

It should be noted for those in attendance that comments are to be addressed to the mayor and council as a whole. Comments heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the council's agenda. Council may not take action upon any matter not agendized on today's agenda. When you're called on for public comment, please state your name for the record and begin speaking. The timer will begin when you've stated your name and you will be afforded three minutes. For those participating in chambers, in accordance with council rules 6.3.11, while in this room, please be respectful. Disruptive behavior from audience members, like clapping, yelling, whistling, et cetera, which impede the meeting, may result in a warning issued by the presiding officer. If this behavior continues, you may be removed from chambers. If you're an attendee in the Zoom meeting and would like to make public comment, please raise your hand at this time. Our first public commenter today is Brian Christensen, followed by Terry Brooks, followed by Sean Sullivan.

All right. Nice to see you this morning.

Absolutely. I'm happy to be here and it's for a very good cause and a momentous occasion at the Reno Police Department. Like I said, my name is Brian Christianson. Good morning, Madam Mayor, esteemed council members and manager Brian, of course. My name is Officer Brian Christensen. I am the Reno Police Protective Association president and I represent the 275 members serving the city of Reno as police officers today. I'm here today to speak in support of the confirmation of Chief Solferino. Chief Solferino has demonstrated all the traits of a great leader from day one. He came in during a time of crisis and his first act was to listen. He asked questions. He learned about us before and learned about us before making any decisions. Chief Solferino also recognizes when he is not the expert in the room and he seeks knowledge from others. But he is also a master of his craft. He has extensive knowledge and education on policing as well as the firsthand experience to back it up. When it's time to make a decision, he is decisive, he is fair, and he is firm. He does not make decisions in earnest and is thoughtful of all stakeholders affected, both citizens and officers. Chief Solferino has also shown his priority is the safety of this community. One of his first acts was to bolster the number of officers on patrol. Not only did this boost morale in the department, but it has also had a positive effect on our community. Many of the citizens I contact daily have noticed there is more of us out there and they have expressed gratitude for our presence and quick response. Having had the pleasure of serving with some of the most elite leaders in the military, I rank Chief Solferino among them as a great leader and am honored to serve this fine city with him. In closing, I would like to first thank City Manager Bryant. She stepped up as a leader in her decision to select Cory Silferino. She too recognized the fleeting opportunity in front of us to have Cory be our next Chief. I know thanks to her decision, the Reno Police Department will not only succeed but excel in helping make the City of Reno a great place to live and visit. So I ask you all to help us by supporting Manager Bryant's appointment, as well as giving her the tools to continue to appoint more great leaders for our department. Through your continued support, I know all of us at the City of Reno will be able to come together as a team and propel this great city into a bright future. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you for your service.

Terry Brooks followed by Sean Sullivan followed by Craig Hoffman.

Good morning, it's me Terry Brooks again. And today I'd like to share with you my thoughts of having meals with others and what seniors go through. A lot of seniors wind up eating meals at home while they are alone. But many seniors get the chance to eat with other seniors that they've known. There are several organizations that supply food to seniors either at special locations in town or sometimes at the homes of seniors. Some of these provide food at certain days of the week and some of them provide food five or six days of the week. There are those who provide food stamps to people such as the SNAP program that provides them to people. Warshaw County Senior Services has food distribution programs. The Food Bank and Catholic Charities also have such programs. A lot of seniors are regularly served at some of the senior centers where seniors gather together and are familiar with those centers. There they have long tables surrounded by a lot of chairs. And all seniors are welcome in and they seem like big food fairs. There the seniors come together just like birds of a feather, and an inside gathering such as that is especially good in bad weather. Not only do so many seniors get to eat together, but when their mouths aren't full of food, they get to share stories together. So when they're eating together, it looks like a birthday party, and everyone seems so happy like it's their own birthday party. Gathering with other people is always fun to do. And when you add food to the menu, it's even more fun to do. Not only is it fun to be with people eating food, but looking forward to doing so can put you in a jolly good mood. I would like to thank you all for listening to me today. And when I talk about eating food, it makes me hungry, by the way.

Great job, Terry. I love that. Love it.

Sean Sullivan, followed by Craig Hoffman, followed by Edgar Sierra.

Good morning, Council, Mayor Schiebe, and the room. Nice to be here in front of you all. I have a lot of thoughts today and I'm going to try and cram them all in. I'm making a general comment as well as commenting on item C1 regarding Mr. Solferino's appointment. I want to start by thanking Trump for enabling me to come up here and professionally do a little name calling because that is now normal and I have some names for you all. it's getting kind of ridiculous i also want to recognize that some of the council are seeming to listen to us it's election season and we'd like to trust you and we will be watching so we will find out what i hope i hope we can all have a serious discussion about flock going forward however i'll get to why we're a little concerned about that or at least i am going forward my name is sean sullivan for the record um I was just back there working on these notes. I don't think I'm going to make it through this, but I'm going to try. I am also going to have to leave early. I have a school event over with my kid. So yeah, hope to expand a little bit on my comment here. I've been thinking about it all week. I didn't sleep much last night, been waking up early. That's how flock makes us all feel. Especially when you project this out 20 to 40 years when the kids aren't gonna be able to fart without the government asking them if they need some pill brulee. Government budgets are shrinking in general, even if only by inflation. While other departments have fleet maintenance and legally required salaries, their budgets are static. Why have we lost school programs, grown class sizes, and police are not even on the table for belt tightening, a little belt tightening? Our salaries have been flat since the 80s and we have been making cuts. Why not the police, us, the people? What are the police doing with our money? Pencil whipping critical training, sending seven officers to shoot one black guy and themselves in the process? Thank Trump for, oh, I already thank Trump for calling nicknames. I have one for the Reno Police Department, Homeless Harassment Department. Just let the homeless people sleep in a few locations, put up a sign that says we will not accept any liability, whatever, put a dumpster out there and stop moving back and forth between Sparks and Reno and spending our money on a perpetual problem that will never be solved by police. I have seen many comments where previously people got up here and got very vulnerable, hinting at past stalking, hinting at past arrests. And I'll just go out and say, I've seen Park Boulevard from the inside. When I was there in a cell block of about 100 people, there were about two white guys. And if that doesn't show you there's a problem with racism in our police force, I don't know what does. And nothing you can say will change that because I've seen that with my own eyes. You all can probably pull up the statistics, but I can't. I've seen it though. So with flock, are we guilty until proven innocent? Oh man, I'm almost out of time. Mr. Full Force Solferino, that's scary. We haven't seen the full force yet. What is that, 10 cops to kill two black guys and shoot four of themselves in the process? What does that look like? More flock? What does that look like? It's scary. My kids, I'm terrified for my kids when I hear Mr. Full Force Solferino come up here and say we need more money to bring the full force on the streets of Reno. And I implore you to ask the questions to his good old boys that he brought back, as well as also what he wants to do with all the rape kits.

All right, thank you. Craig Hoffman, followed by Edgar Sierra, followed by Caitlin Dugan.

Thank you Mayor Sheehy and City Council for allowing me to speak. My name is Craig Hoffman. I'm a college student and independent disability rights advocate and civil rights advocate. First, I'm happy to see that something was done about the previous chief. I'm a little disappointed that there hasn't been as much transparency as what has occurred. But hopefully that will come once the investigation is complete. My biggest concern is the disability rights of people who the previous gentleman was mentioning. There have been many shootings of people in Reno, people who were disabled and could have used help rather than the police coming in and being aggressive. So I'm hoping that the city, as they move forward with replacing the chief and improving the police department and the interactions with the public that more time is spent not only focusing on the public's mental health, but also the mental health of police officers. Police officers are not currently allowed to get help for their mental health and keep their job. That's something that should change. If they were to get their own mental health, they would be able to better empathize with the people they are working with and the shootings that we have would become less frequent, hopefully. So I don't know anything about this Orofino gentleman. I hope he does a better job than the previous lady. But I just wanted to say my thoughts and make sure that everyone's aware that this is not just a public safety issue, that it is a mental health issue. So thank you again for listening. That's all I have today.

Edgar Sierra, followed by Caitlin Dugan, followed by Stephen White.

Mayor Seavey, Councilman, my name is Edgar Sierra. I'm the manager of cybersecurity over at the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority. I'm just here to introduce myself as part of our civic project for the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce. That's all I have for public comment today, so.

Oh, cool. It's so nice to meet you.

Thank you.

How's it going over there?

Great. Right. And thanks for your support and everything that we do over there. Actually, we really appreciate that.

Well, I really appreciate you guys. You do a phenomenal job. So thank you. I hope you're enjoying leadership.

Yeah. Thank you.

Awesome. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. All right. Take care.

Caitlin Dugan, followed by Stephen White, followed by Alexis Marin.

Hi, good morning Mayor Schieve and Council Members. My name is Caitlin Dugan. I am the Senior Buyer for the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority and I am here as part of the 2026 Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program to introduce myself and say hello and thank you for all that you do.

Caitlin, that's so cool. Tell us what does that mean? You're a senior buyer. Oh, my job. Yeah, tell us a little bit about what a senior buyer is.

Yes, I work in the contracts and procurement department, so I'm responsible for issuing bids for construction projects as well as RFPs for services for the airport authority.

Wow. That's a big job. And you guys are doing a lot of big work right now. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how you're sleeping, but it's so great to meet you.

Thank you. Yes. Nice to meet you as well.

You have a good colleague over here.

Yes. Thank you.

Stephen White, followed by Alexis Marin, followed by Josh Theriot.

Good morning. Good morning, Junior Mayor.

Good morning.

This fire I handed out to her high school, by the way.

Oh, did you?

Absolutely. I went to every high school in the entire area handing out this fire and inviting all of our young artists to come down and participate in the Art in the Park program. But I'm here to sadly report that the way this thing has turned out, I can't really support. I want to tell you why I came here. You know, I donated. I built this mushroom this way. And donated to the city to be a permanent, you know, give you an example of a permanent fixture that you could put in the parks. that would promote community participation in the arts, and the arts have a secure place to be able to display and sell their artwork. And meeting your specifications, it has to be built in a certain way, industrial standards, able to put up in the park and left all summer. This was never meant to be put up and taken down every day. This was meant to be put up in the parks for the entire summer as a pilot program to see if this was feasible. And if it was, and it can be changed, it can be adapted. I installed bolts in the bottom of it so it could be bolted right to the ground. It's also, I put tabs on it so it could be spiked to the ground on a semi-temporary basis. Park and Rec have decided that they don't even wanna really put it up. They've decided that they'd have to put it up and take it down all the time. Well, that's never been my idea, and I'm sure it's never been yours or Naomi's idea. I thought we were gonna produce these things, at least five of them, and place them in the parks throughout the summer so that we could have a pilot program to see if this was feasible. But somewhere along the line, and I just found this out last Friday, by the way, It turned into this thing where they're going to put up and take down displays on the weekends. I don't promote the city putting up and taking down displays on the weekend. That's a dumb idea. You haven't got the labor force to be doing that. But because they painted themselves into that corner, now it's only going to happen on Saturday, not in different parks around the city. And the park they've chosen this to happen in is Bicentennial Park. Well, excuse me, but Bicentennial Park, there are no restrooms anywhere near that park. And it's all parking meters along the parking. So artists are going to have to pay to be there. But then they put it in a location in the park where seniors are going to have to traverse over a flower bed that's about four feet high with a little stone walkway that goes over it in order to take their artwork out of their cars and move it back and forth. And I've got to tell you, I mean, I love Nathan. I appreciate Nathan very much. Working with me to write up the rules and the protocol and all this but what they're doing. I'm sorry It's a dumb idea and I can't support it. I can't I wouldn't do it myself I wouldn't shut up in that park. I can't you know physically I cannot do that and other seniors can't either and So it's really limited access to it all the artists in the community.

All right. Thank you so much I will reach out to you and we will

Please, let's talk about this. I need to explain to you everything about this.

Thank you so much for letting me know. We'll figure out a good solution.

I'm sorry.

It's okay. I'm glad you brought it to our attention.

I had to come and tell you because I can't encourage other artists to do something I wouldn't do myself. It makes me very sad. It really does. God bless you all and thank you for supporting the Northern Park. I hope your little mushroom is bringing you both luck.

Thank you so much.

Good on you, folks.

Alexis Marin, followed by Josh Teriot, followed by Tony Martinez.

Hi, how are you guys? Good, how are you? Good, good, good. My name's Alexis Marin. I'm with the Children's Advocacy Alliance. I'm their newest health policy manager, so I get to create health policy for children across the state. So I live in Southern Nevada, but I'm up in Northern Nevada this week to really understand what the Northern Nevada needs are. I was able to go up to the new Community Health Alliance location up on Neal. The president and CEO, Oscar, was so phenomenal. He informed me that this is his sixth location. And I just want to bring to your guys' attention that 50% of his clients are on Medicaid, and Medicaid is going to be having massive federal cuts. So I just want to be cautious and inform you guys that the Community Health Alliance is doing really great work. And if you guys could support in any way or capacity, please do and have conversations with Oscar. And yeah, I lead the Children's Mental Health Action Coalition. So we have people from all over the state a part of it trying to create solutions for children's mental health. And I know that the Washoe commissioners had their strategic planning yesterday. And one of their big focuses is mental health. Just want to bring that to your guys' attention. And yeah, I look forward to having conversations with you all.

And we're glad that you are here because it's really important work. And that whole side of the mental health, that new addition is from ARPA. And it was about $5 million that the city put in to launch that program. So we're excited to be part of the mental health initiative over at CHA. So thank you for supporting.

Absolutely. And if the Children's Advocacy Alliance can be a resource in any way, do let us know. We do have tons of capacity to make sure that we're also bringing in Northern Voice. So it's great to be here and look forward to the agenda today. Thanks so much.

Josh Theriot, followed by Tony Martinez, followed by Dora Martinez via Zoom.

Good morning, City Council members, Madam Mayor, City Manager Bryant, RDA team, and RPD. My name is Josh Terriott, and I'm a 4th Street and Brewery District investor and enthusiast, as well as the president of the Brewery District Coalition. I'm here, ironically, to support item C-1 on both agendas today. and I think they coincide quite nicely. I've been active in the 4th Street Corridor for about 15 years, long before it was known as the Brewery District, and I've had the opportunity to speak with many business operators in the district, as well as businesses who have interest in being in the district and operating in the district, as well as residents who enjoy visiting the district. I've heard many opinions of the area, both positive and negative. A reoccurring theme is the perception of safety in the area. I think item C1 on both agendas will greatly enhance that perception. The city has been very supportive, the business owners have been supportive, and we've all been working together for quite some time now. with items C1 being supported, the RDA budget, and the confirmation of Chief Solferino, that will further advance our progress down there. In particular, the RDA programs have been instrumental in our collective efforts to restore and revitalize East 4th Street corridor, the East Forestry Corridor and the Brewery District. As more businesses move to the area, more residents and tourists visit the area, and as the university continues to expand into the area, additional investment and improvements will be exponential value to all supporters as well as the city as the area improves. Providing a brighter, safer, and more welcoming atmosphere to friendly and supportive visitors will have a positive impact on tax revenue, crime, and the overall experience of visiting the biggest little city in the world. So thank you very much. I appreciate the support. Have a nice day. Thank you so much.

Tony Martinez, followed by Dora Martinez via Zoom, followed by Fleur Dawes via Zoom.

All right, Tony.

Good morning, Mayor, Council. My name is Tony Martinez and I'm with Nevada for Vets. This is my lovely wife, Diane. Ten years ago we started Nevada for Vets because we saw there was a need for certain items that weren't on the agenda. without the organization, so we started Nevada for Vets. This is our 10th anniversary. We're holding a golf tournament at Red Hawk this year. And what we do, once we raise the funds that we have made for that particular year, we figured, okay, our cost was X. We put 5% on for the next year. And what we do is 95% of all of our funds goes out to the veterans. so as you can see there's quite a few veteran programs that we find that aren't really supported by other organizations an example our last year we picked up a new program for the cadets the honor flight cadets we brought in four cadets high reed high school cadets to escort the honor flights on the flight to washington dc and that was one of the uh Excuse me, the last things we did and then some of the Korean vets obviously haven't been noticed in the last few years and we do invite them to our Purple Heart dinner. Our Purple Heart dinner consists of, if there's any Purple Heart veterans in our area, we invite them to our dinner at the Atlantis at no charge to them. Should they come outside our area, we also put them at the night, we ask them if they would stay for the night and we also pay for that so they have a free evening. They have dinner and a place to sleep that night. They get up the next morning, they go home fresh and are willing to drive. We have some people coming in from Winnemucca, Portola, and one of the dangers that we see is if they come from Virginia City or Lake Tahoe or Portola, the two-lane road, it scares us to death. So we say spend the night, and it's no cost to them. We make sure that they're aware of it. When they do come to dinner, we have quite a few We go through the weeds to find out from some of the vets. Some of the vets have caretakers with them. We'd like to put them in the front row, but because of their caretakers, we explained to them that we put them in the back row because it's closest to the restroom and that makes it easier for them. They're really more relaxed. Last year we had an individual say they didn't want anybody behind him, so we walked behind him. So we made sure that never happened. So all of the vets that we do bring in, we make sure that they're accommodated and we give them a special seat at the dinner. We put a purple cover on the chair so people can recognize who they are and what they've done. Again, I'm the Vietnam vet myself, Bronze Star Purple Heart recipient, and my Excuse me for not taking my hat off.

Time's up.

Time's up, okay.

First of all, thank you so much for your service.

Thank you so much and we were just hoping that you might be able to help us our future growth. Thank you. Please have a good day.

Tony, just a couple of questions. How long have you been doing this?

I'm sorry?

How long have you been doing this?

Ten years.

Ten years. Ten years. Are you in Reno?

We do it all around. We'll just say it's Reno. For example, we do 25% of the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery. We supply 25% of the wreaths there. We supply some wreaths for Long Mountain Cemetery in Carson City. We do the one, Sparks Marina wreaths, and we do the Sierra Meadows Cemetery out of Lemon Valley. And then the rest of it, are these smaller programs, but, you know, Community for Vets, we buy them lunch. Thank you. We have the woodchucks, which they go to the VA and they say, anybody want to learn woodworking skills? They say yes. They take them back to the woodshop. They do one-on-one. And we do not necessarily give them money, but we buy all the material for them. So it's a gift to them so they can really have a good time. And the scooter program that we have, For example, somebody would give it to us. We get it redone. We take it and have new batteries, new chargers. We give it to another individual. That individual, we say, can we take a picture of you? If they say yes, then we take a picture of you. We come back to our office. We fill it out. And because we're a 501 , We say, okay, we had it appraised and it's worth $7,000. So we send it back to the donator and say, you can write this up on your taxes. So we are just a conduit. We do not charge for anything. We're, like I say, a 501c3. We have all our volunteers and We're all volunteers and no money comes into our pockets.

Thank you so much. I want to connect with you, so make sure that you give Madam Clerk your contact information.

Yes, ma'am, I can do that. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for your service.

Council, thank you. Please have a good day.

Okay, we won't mention Sparks. No, we like Ed too. Okay. Just kidding. All right. Dora.

Dora Martinez via Zoom followed by Fleur Dawes via Zoom followed by Kevin Williams via Zoom.

Good morning, Madam Mayor. It's so good to hear your voice and members of the council meeting. This is Dora Martinez. Madam Mayor, I just want everyone to know who are listening that we should be very proud of our Washoe County. They are doing the ADA curbside accessible voting unit. And we are the first one to practice that in the state. And hopefully, Clark will follow. So please, everyone, primaries happening Saturday. Go register to vote or go exercise your civic duty. Madam Mayor, I want to thank you. This is like my third meeting this morning and I can't see beautiful things that nature has given, but hearing your voice being so inclusive and positive is my self-care. You always seem positive and you always engage with everyone. I want to thank you. I know it's not easy every day and when you see the negative, B. S. It's just but you, you are resilient you and know me door are 1 of my favorites that I look forward to hearing you guys voice. So, I just want to thank you all and and hope that you all have a great meeting this morning. Oh, 1 more thing matter mayor before I go. I was at the last recess park escape the skateboard part. I want to think people who takes care of that part. And public works, Khalil Wilson. He's awesome. He took care of the, the audible pedestrian signal and that's in the same date I reported in. So we were safe to cross. But that part is awesome at a mayor and I just hope that people take advantage of our backyards. Thank you. Take care.

well thank you so much i am an eternal optimist it's just how how i am but i want to say thank you for all the work that you do many of you may not know this but dora is very very busy she serves on our access advisory board and she has absolutely changed the way that we view disabilities and implement policy here at the city of reno she's a change maker i i'm so grateful for you dora because the work is so necessary but You are making it happen for others. So just know we're so grateful. You're doing a tremendous job. I hope you're loving all these committees that you're on. You're a very busy woman. So thank you so much.

Floor Dawes via Zoom, followed by Kevin Williams via Zoom, followed by Cheyenne Sautter.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Fleur Dawes and I'm speaking today on behalf of In Defense of Animals. We are an animal protection organization based in San Francisco Bay Area, representing over a quarter million supporters worldwide, including more than 1000 engaged residents in Reno. Today you'll be considering agenda item C4. It regards fencing and I am speaking to you today to strongly urge a yes vote. Many people don't realise that as part of your recent fencing and infrastructure projects, the City of Reno achieved something truly remarkable. You successfully established an essential wildlife preserve centered around a vital year-round creek. This preserve has been incredibly effective. You have proved that it is possible to ensure public safety on our roads whilst protecting your unique wildlife. It is a model of smart city planning. Unfortunately, a newly proposed state fencing project has overlooked this preserve and threatens to block off this crucial lifeline for wild animals. While we completely support the goal of keeping residents and animals safe from traffic, this specific new fence segment appears to be an oversight that would unintentionally undo the city's hard work and cut off the very habitat that you have secured. Item C4 is designed to protect the wildlife preserve you created. And by voting yes and authorizing this appeal, you are simply preserving the city's rights and giving your staff the necessary time to work amicably with the state to fix this design flaw. We would love to see you take whatever action is possible to protect your wildlife, preserve, and keep it open for use by all wildlife. Thank you for your proactive, compassionate work in protecting Reno's animals and our community. Please vote yes on item C4. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you so much.

Kevin Williams via Zoom, followed by Cheyenne Sautter, followed by Tara Tran via Zoom.

Hi, so this is Tanya Tavkar and I'm taking the place of Kevin right now because he's helping me with the Zoom. So anyways, this is Tanya Tavkar and I'm a wild horse advocate. First of all, I'm here to most definitely support the appeal to protect the Wildlife Preserve Project. I would like to start out by saying a big thank you to Naomi Dewar for making this wildlife preserve for the horses. And would also like to say a huge thank you to In Defense of Animals that has come on board to help us support the horses and the wildlife preserve project. We need to keep the preserve. The horses will have no water without it. Blocking this water source is highest level of animal cruelty. There is no good reason to take this life-sustaining preserve away from the horses. They're not in any way of development in that area. Please support the appeal to protect the Wildlife Preserve Project. As a constituent of Nevada, I will not vote for anybody anymore that does not start standing up for our horses. And I have a very huge number of friends and people I know that will also hold their vote from anyone that is not standing with the horses. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you.

Cheyenne Sautter, followed by Tara Tran via Zoom, followed by Maya Johnson via Zoom.

All right. Good morning, Cheyenne. I'm excited that you're here and you get to tell everyone about all the cool things you're doing in the community. So this is brand new and I don't think I've seen a model like this. So welcome.

Thank you. Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm Cheyenne Sautter. Hi, Jackie. I run AHA Projects. Sorry, I wrote something, so I'm just going to read it. Go ahead. I'm Cheyenne Sautter with AHA Projects. We're a nonprofit organization, and we're excited to announce a new coworking space exclusively for nonprofit organizations. We're located at 199 East Moana Lane, and it's the old AAA building, if anyone remembers that. Everyone remembers. Yep. So AHA Connects will be the home base for our nonprofits. Over the past two years, my team and I have done a full needs assessment of our nonprofits and what's needed most. And what we saw here is similar everywhere, right? The government does so much to fill the gap to help people support themselves. And then industry and companies come in and they only do so much based on the rate of return of investment that they can get. And so nonprofits sit in that middle area It's how we show up for our community and articulates that care that we all love. And so we think that the nonprofit industry needs that strength and needs to be elevated in importance and in funding and in all of the things. So we were able to bring this building online with the help of a beautiful, beautiful donor. I'm going to put a map of the building up. So this is our space. We have six office spaces here. We have ideation spaces, co-working spaces here and here, and this is a 90-person conference space that can be divided between the two. We have a classic boardroom and then a 300-person flex event space. We also are developing a slew of programming and educational resources and coaching. So we are going to be able to be the back office for a lot of nonprofits. Nonprofits are started by passionate people and then quickly, quickly they realize, oh no, I'm actually running a full business. So we do fiscal sponsorship where we're able to kind of take on that bookkeeping component and take on the administrative, manage the compliance, the state filing, the end of year tax return, kind of the whole full scope so that they could be out in the community providing the services and providing and fundraising and raising awareness. So this space is gonna be really a home base for our nonprofits because we think nonprofits deserve nice things. Yeah, I love that. It's a really beautiful building. So we're doing a preview opening on the 1st of June in the morning at 8 AM. And then on the 4th of June, we're gonna be open to the public. Nonprofits are welcome to celebrate from 3 to 6 PM that evening. And I have a flyer that I'll leave behind for you guys. And we've also emailed them out, but we'll make sure. It's on your radar.

This is so needed because a lot of nonprofits are so small that they just don't have the budgets to find spaces or obviously get services that they need, especially bookkeeping and all those things that you say you realize all of a sudden now you have a business. And you have reporting requirements. And there's so much to do. Anyone that runs a nonprofit knows how challenging it is. So really, you will be the backbone for them and sort of champion them and all the good work they're doing in the community. It's so needed. And get them out there.

Because I was an ED 10 years ago of a very small organization. And at 2 in the morning, I'm doing QuickBooks. when I should be developing my donor list and how I'm going to put this gala together. You know, and so it takes that kind of quick administrative stuff off their plate.

I love it. Cheyenne, how can people get in touch with you like online?

Yeah, so AHA Connects is ahaconnects.org. or it's ahaprojects, A-H-A dash projects dot org. Our website is fully functional and it talks about all the services that we're creating and it's constantly evolving because we say we're like water, we try things and then once the water amasses, that's where we focus. So we didn't know we were going to be doing coaching. But when Black Wall Street organization called and said, we don't get we need help building that capacity, we said, OK, we're going to have biweekly phone calls to talk about what it means to pay yourselves. How do we get you there so that you can get a salary instead of just piecemeal throughout the year? So that coaching is really where the water was going. And so that website is always going to be evolving to respond to how we're responding. well thank you so much we look forward to seeing all these non-profits grow because of your work thank you thank you so much and i know you guys can't make it june 1st so let's schedule a walk through with all you love it cool thanks tara tran via zoom followed by maya johnson via zoom

Hi, City Council. This is Tara. I just wanted to speak once again to the budget and the policing that you have consistently prioritized over all other services. On May 1st, over almost 200 people came out to the streets and shut down the streets. in opposition to the allocation of $9 million more to RPD. And on the following city council meeting a couple weeks ago, dozens of people spoke out against the FLOC contracts and this misuse of funds. And instead of speaking to it in any meaningful way, you asked Mr. Solferino, hey, do we actually need that $9 million? And he said, yes, and he said, well, that's good enough for me. Four and a half million dollars for an entirely new entire new fleet of cars, four and a half million dollars for contract negotiations. I'd love if you could speak a little bit to that contract negotiations, because we've already discussed the absurd amount of overtime that RPD is clocking the amount of money that these these officers are getting paid. That is completely disproportionate to the benefit that they offer to our community. And so it just sounds like you didn't really give us an answer about why things like the were purposefully left to ride so that it could be removed. Other services contracts with rise outreach services, shelters, housing programs have been cut in in. favor of increasing this police budget. In addition to all the concerns about the flock cameras, you once again just asked Mr. Soferino, hey, are those good? And he said, yeah, they make us more efficient. Well, what does efficiency mean if you are only ever increasing the police budget? If flock cameras actually made their police force more efficient, maybe that means that you could have less police officers. But that doesn't seem to be a discussion even worth having to you guys. I think that the concerns that your community have are very real. People are dying because of it. Somebody mentioned the absurd amount of proportion of people that are being arrested by your police force that are black and brown community members. Mr. Solferino was against AB 236 that requires trainings. for racial profiling and de-escalation, trainings that your last officer obviously did not do, trainings that may have prevented the death of Michael Johnson Jr. And so I think that if anybody is going to be in the police force, I would like them to show that there is some concern for the community's concerns, right? That there's concerns for reducing these incidents. And I'm not seeing that. And I don't think your community is either. So before you approve this budget, can you at least give us a little bit more than lip service and asking the people who are asking for money if they really want the money? Because that's a little insulting given the myriad of reasons that have been presented. Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Maya Johnson via Zoom, followed by Brynhilda Dore, followed by Audrey Bicola.

Good morning, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Hi, this is Maya Johnson for the record. I just wanted to reiterate some comments that I submitted in writing yesterday for the benefit of anyone, including the audience, who may not have had a chance to review the full contents of the document packet for IDENT D5, the live entertainment pilot program. uh i encourage city council to approve this ordinance i think it's a step in the right direction i think in general including this we should move away from uh including a political decision in the approval process for private activity like opening a business or building a structure i hope that we will adopt clear and consistent standards uh so that everybody knows what's required and there's no uncertainty in the process they can just meet the requirements and they know that they can do that we don't have to have people coming here and having to make a case for themselves and argue with nearby residents just set the standards let's do it i know that some people have expressed concerns that we don't have the capacity to enforce uh public order around late night entertainment. But I do understand that we have budget issues. I do understand that we have staffing issues. But I think it's a dangerous mindset to say, well, we can't do that because we don't have the staff. We don't have the budget. We can't do it. That creates a downward spiral where we're basically just saying no to everything because we don't think we can do it. And then we just don't really have a city. because we're too afraid to do anything so um i was really happy to see this draft ordinance uh i really hope that it passes and that the city will do everything possible to uh to make it a success thank you thank you so much brin hilda dore followed by audrey bicola followed by chelsea g via zoom

Hi, City of Reno. My name is Brynhilda Doré. Sorry. Well, I personally am just a... Citizen of the city, a gorgeous, radically pro-transgender female here to say not only what I've already said, but what's to be stated next. I am demanding a balanced budget. I, as a constituent of the Society of Nevada, disagree with a $9 million increase to RPD. Instead, I insist we reallocate the police budget better to support any or all of these ideas. It's a list. childcare services, veteran services, housing assistance and resources relevant to housing assistance, unarmed mental health response, public healthcare assistance, public health in general, community spaces, parks and recreational spaces, people with disabilities we should be really trying to invest in. systems for them, people experiencing homelessness, environmental stewardship, arts and cultures, maybe fund systems to assist people with a name change, personally me, fund systems of care, fund systems that end oppression because if you think slavery died in 1900 whatever the F, you are mistaken because we have documented evidence that the United States prison system was only ever created to convince the masses that they're at risk of possible threats Blank, blank, blank, whatever that threat may be, okay? Well, many wouldn't be in danger or in harm's way, especially if we as a nation had a more democratic and less fascist regime running our systems of government. So with all of this being said, I pray you all have the days that you can while being complicit. So enjoy the days you deserve. Peace and love, kittens. Peace and love. I guess I have a little more time. So I said you're complicit because following suit instead of being proactive yourself in regards to how you as a city council are responsible for the livelihoods of this city and then some, as well as how you know how you as a city council and its members can take initiative in regards of how the well-being of all those said livelihoods, you can impact and you control the outcome of that impact. Thank you for your time. Please develop some proper empathetic moral values. Bye.

All right, thank you.

Yeah.

Audrey Bukola, followed by Chelsea G via Zoom.

Hello. Hi, my name is Audrey Buchola. I spoke the last few meetings, so you might recognize me. I'm a resident of Ward 2. I'm here out of my concern as a Christian for human life and dignity. In line with this, I urge you not to vote through the proposed increase to the RPD budget. They have proven themselves corrupt, they are mired in scandals, and they have faked the trainings that their budget is supposed to buy. More money is not going to fix that. I urge you to invest especially in nonviolent responses to mental health emergencies. When someone is in crisis, a group of armed cops circling around them and shouting commands is of course only going to cause them distress. And when those officers fake their less than lethal weapon training, As they did, they end up just murdering that suffering person when they break under the pressure and fear that those cops apply. This is what happened months ago to Michael J. Johnson Jr. He did not have to die. He was murdered by the particular cops who shot him in the street, but he was also murdered by the city's priorities and by this council's priorities. You all say you want to prioritize public safety. Public safety is a huge talking point in this election, and I care about it personally. I want our city to be safe. But corrupt killer cops do not make our city more safe. They make it more dangerous for the most vulnerable of our neighbors and friends. The idea that safety can be gained by simply giving RPD more money is completely misguided and dangerous. You cannot just keep throwing bullets at things and hoping it will fix something. Put that $9 million into nonviolent mental health response. Put it into community development. Put it into parks. Put it into building a new shelter. Many cities have brought down their crime rates just by keeping libraries open longer because people have a place to be. All of those things are proven to actually prevent crime and make cities safer. All more cops do is make the more vulnerable among us less safe. If you approve that RPD budget increase, you will be paying to kill more of our black and brown siblings. You will be paying to kill more of our homeless neighbors. You will be paying to kill more of our friends suffering from mental health crises. Put that money somewhere else. Thank you.

Chelsea G via Zoom.

How do y'all can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. I just want to say, thank you. I appreciate all the work that y'all do as city council members. It's gotta be hard. I have a comment about the budget and the drama. Surrounding the recent firings still learning stuff. I'm confused on why those individuals were fired. I am not able to find a report. News or city related to why that occurred. Looking at the proposed budget, I see nearly 9Million dollar proposed increase to an already 122Million. Dollar allocation to I like reading white papers. It's my cup of tea and I can find several white papers studies. on how education directly impacts and lowers crime rates. It's just weird to me that we're not seeing the value of education and after school activities to essentially keep teens, kids off the road, off the streets rather, whatever, to reduce crime as well as other methods to support people who don't have support otherwise outside of education. Coming from Austin, Texas, we had pretty dang bad gun violence over there and APD, Austin Police Department, a lot of the times would use non-lethal rounds, but they were aiming at heads and faces, causing major damage to folks at protests. And I would love to think that the city values is residents and it's education and science that if we can invest in to education, after school programs, community college programs for those who've aged out of K through 12, Um, would you have a good thing for the community and summer programs as well to keep kids busy? I would have loved something like that as a kid instead of. Not that's all I got for you today again. I appreciate what you all do. It's a hard job. I see it. Thank you.

All right. Thanks so much.

All right, Madam Mayor. With that, we have no additional live public comment. We did receive four comments which were general in nature or not directly associated with an agenda item prior to 4 p.m. yesterday, Tuesday, May 19th. These comments were written correspondence received via our reno.gov online public comment form or by email to our office. Copies of these have been distributed to the Reno City Council and are available to the public on reno.gov forward slash meetings.

Okay, thank you so much. I'm going to hand it over to City Manager Jackie Bryan. Do you have any updates on the agenda before we give it an approval?

I do, I have a lot, so are you ready?

Okay, all right, everyone.

After approval of the agenda and approval of the minutes, we will move into Charlie 1, C1, ratification of Chief Solferino. At which point we will have a quick recess for swearing in, assuming that ratification is approved. Then followed by item D1, Delta 1, the DRP annual assessment, followed by D7. Then we will do City of Reno budget adoption, APWF, C3, C4, and then the remaining items will be in order. There will be an attorney client meeting at lunch. One thing, let's do consent poll and polled consent items. We'll do consent poll right away and then do polled consent items at the end of the agenda, if that works for everybody.

Okay, so where do you want consent?

We can do it immediately after approving the admittance.

Okay, so before C1, we'll do approval of consent. Thank you. That would be good to get those waiting on their way.

Thank you very much.

Madam Mayor, I'll move to approve the agenda as identified and give you the floating opportunity to move items out of order.

Okay, thank you so much. I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

All right. Madam Mayor, on item A5, A5-1, I'll move to approve the regular council meeting minutes from April 22nd, 2026. All right.

Thank you so much. I have a motion. I have a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. All right. Good job. Okay. Heading into consent agenda items, I'm going to ask council if there are any items they would like to pull. I'm going to start with you, Councilwoman Dewar. Go ahead. None. Thanks. Nothing, Madam Mayor.

Councilman Reese.

Councilman Taylor.

None. Vice Mayor Anderson?

No. Councilwoman Ebert?

None, thank you. Okay, thank you.

To approve the consent item as posted.

Thank you so much. I have a motion to approve. I have a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay, we're going to head into item C1. And I do see some people in the house that I'd like to recognize. The Honorable, he rolls his eyes. Judge Scott Freeman, who I've known for many, many years, way before my life in politics. Nice to see you. And then I also see Sheriff Darren Balaam. I call him my wedding crasher. We actually have been known to crash a few weddings. We walk in, they're like, who are you? But thanks so much for everything, and it's nice to see you today. We also have some very special guests. We have Cory Silferino's wife in the house, and she is also one of our very best. Thank you for being here. And this is your beautiful daughter. Am I right? All right. Nice to see you. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Okay. Who do I hand it over to?

Do we have HR in the house?

We will Monica's standing up.

There we go. All right, come on up Monica Okay today we're just here to go ahead and ratify the appointment decision for Cory sulferino and if we could have a chief sulferino come up, please I Guess I don't need HR

No, this is your item, so we'll send it to you.

It is mine, so it is my pleasure to put before you for ratification Mr. Corey Solferino as our next chief of police. He has done a tremendous job over the last nine weeks thank you for taking over in a very difficult time. I want to thank the sheriff again for his support and for all of washoe county because I realize that was a loss. Acting chief solferino, thank you for the time and commitment that you have made to this community. I expect that we will continue to work together to improve community policing, to improve public safety, to and take care of the individuals who work for the Reno Police Department, and I am honored to present him for this council's ratification.

Okay. Is there anything that you would like to say to put on the record?

I would. Mayor, if you may, Corey Solferino for the record. Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Schieve, thank you. Council members, City Manager Bryant, all of our distinguished guests, Judge Freeman, Chief Crawforth, Sheriff Balaam, and all the other law enforcement and professionals in the room, thank you. Most importantly, the City of Reno and the men and women of the Reno Police Department, thank you. Truly humbled today. Today's not about me. Today's about our community. Today's about the men and women of the Reno Police Department who have continued to answer the call every single day. Over the last 11 weeks, I've had the privilege to work alongside an incredible group of professionals. I've watched officers, dispatchers, professional staff, supervisors, and command staff continue to serve this city with courage, professionalism, resilience during a very difficult time. They have solved crimes, they have protected our neighborhoods, they have comforted our victims, and they placed themselves in harm's way for the betterment of our community. Their commitment has not wavered, and I want to ensure that that is recognized. That despite some of the unsettling things that have happened and have occurred in our community, their commitment has not wavered. They continue to answer that call. As your chief of police, my commitment is simple. We will not spend our time looking backward. We will focus on moving forward together as a community. We will continue to rebuild that trust. We will strengthen our legitimacy. And we will ensure that this department remains accountable, transparent, and connected to the community we've served. I've had the opportunity over the last 11 weeks to attend and sit in several council meetings. I read social media. I read the paper. I'm not ignorant to what's being talked about in the universe. And I have heard their calls and we will work to be better. We will work collaboratively with our mayor, our city council leadership, community partners, and our residents to ensure our officers and professional staff have the training, equipment, and resources they need to thrive in today's environment while continuing to provide exceptional service. I also ask that our community to rally behind the Reno Police Department like they would their hometown team. These are your officers, your dispatchers, your professional staff. They are homegrown public servants who care deeply about this city and about the people that live and visit here. Over the coming weeks, months, and hopefully years, I'll work tirelessly to ensure that this department is one the community can trust, support, and be proud of. I thank you for this opportunity, for your trust in me, for my mentors and leaders within law enforcement, Sheriff Balaam, Chief Crawforth, all the men and women that wear the badge, my family, for your faith in me. I feel the weight of the world, and I will not let you down. Thank you.

Well, it is my honor. I would like to make a motion.

Madam Mayor, we do have public comment on this before you do that. I'm so sorry. We have Zach Young and Mark Pritchard. Zach?

All right, Zach. Come on up.

Good morning, Mayor, Manager Bryan, Council Members. My name is Zach Young. I'm the Washoe County Assistant District Attorney. I supervise our criminal division. On behalf of Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks and our entire office, I want to offer our support for the ratification and approval of Corey Solferino as the next Chief of the Reno Police Department. Chief Solferino has a distinguished law enforcement career spanning decades of service to our region, to our community, touching a broad range of assignments and responsibilities. That breadth of knowledge, that breadth of experience is critical to effective leadership in a police agency. Chief Solferino has always prioritized public safety, justice, and truth. On a more personal level, I have known and worked with Corey since 2007 when I came from the Carson City DA's office. over to Washoe, first as deputies at our respective offices as we investigated and prosecuted crimes, and then as we both promoted through the ranks more policy, office direction, broad brushstroke general principles. We have spoken on the phone countless times. We have sat on working groups countless times. We have been in meetings more than I would even like to count. In his short time as the chief these last several weeks, we have continued to talk, we have continued to work together, and it's always with the goal and asking ourselves what is the best thing for the community. What I have particularly, and this is important to me, what I have particularly appreciated with Corey, about Corey, is his eagerness to communicate. He has called me to ask questions, to give me a heads up, to talk through issues. I've never had an instance where I've done the same to him and he has not picked up the phone. That includes daytime, that includes middle of the night, that includes weekends and holidays. He is always present, he is always dedicated, he is always thoughtful, and he is always serving. Through his willingness to communicate and collaborate, we've seen very positive, very tangible developments with respect to law and order here in Washoe County. His commitment to justice and the well-being of our community is impressive, and in my humble opinion, it is very obvious as well. He takes ideas and puts them to action. He gets things done. Corey will be a great chief. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for his family. And I'm excited for what he brings to the Reno Police Department. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much. It's so nice to meet you. I know your amazing wife.

She knows you as well. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you so much. Mark Pritchard.

Madam Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council, my name's Mark Pritchard for the record. I'm a resident of Ward 6 in Reno. I have three concerns I'd like to address with respect to the choice of Acting Chief Corey Solferino as Permanent Chief of the RPD. First, the process whereby the number two officer in the Sheriff's Department became Acting Chief and now the Permanent Chief has lacked transparency. I'm not speaking of the subject of the investigation of the former chief and her lieutenants. I understand why it was confidential, and everyone now knows anyway because it was reported by independent media, and thank God for independent journalists like Mrs. Reno and others. I'm speaking of the process by which Officer Solferino was chosen, first as the acting chief and now the permanent chief. There was no search, no chance for the public to give input, and as far as we the public know, no criteria by which the gentleman was evaluated. Was he compared with any other candidates, or were unknown factors the primary reason for this choice? We don't know. Officer Solferino is being thrust into the role of permanent chief as a fait accompli. The citizens of Reno need transparency in this process and every other choice the council makes. This opaque process by which a powerful figure in the sheriff's department suddenly becomes RPD chief suggests another concern. Clearly, with officers from both departments currently responding to problems in the city, the line between RPD and the Sheriff's Department seems to have broken down. And my question is whether this is by design. Is the ultimate goal a single metro police department like they have in Las Vegas? Will the citizens of Reno have a choice in that matter? Will there ever be transparency? Finally, I have concerns about another dividing line, the line between local law enforcement and federal agencies. Given his close personal relationship with the chief of the Reno ICE office, will the mayor and the council set limits on direct contacts between RPD and ICE, especially with respect to the immigration status of people who have been arrested, investigated, or accused of crimes? Those are my concerns. Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

All right, Madam Mayor. In addition to that, we did receive four comments associated with this item. They were four letters of opposition. Those have been distributed to the Reno City Council and are a part of the record.

Okay, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Before I make any motion, I would like to send it back to the body if there are any comments that you would like to put on the record. Councilman Reese, you're the first up with your light on.

Go ahead. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. Certainly an important day. A couple of things before I get started. My comments. First, I want to thank Acting Chief Solferino for bringing Sean Garlock and Wayne Garborough back to us in the last several weeks. Having known both of those gentlemen, it's been a very smooth transition, and I don't think that would have happened without the both of you. So thank you for that. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today as you likely know I spent a lot of time around police officers and their families over the years but I wanted to say 10 weeks ago we really needed someone to step up here at the city of Reno we found ourselves in sort of an unprecedented space and that space really required someone of action to step into a difficult time, and not after a national search, not after months of interviews or a committee, which we might normally have gone through, and I have been through that process several times. But we needed someone now, and we needed someone steady, someone experienced, and someone who already understood Northern Nevada in a way that most people will never understand. And I think we found that person in Corey. I am someone who is sort of a trust but verify person. I have had the privilege of knowing Corey for more than 20 years along with his wife and seeing them in somewhat different and difficult circumstances at the time as well. But Corey came to us, of course, from the Washoe County Sheriff's Department, where he served most recently as the undersheriff, second in command to Darren Balaam, who also is a great leader and tremendous person. Thank you for being here, Sheriff Balaam. He's also a proud graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. Go Wolf Pack. and a man who spent his entire career in this valley serving the people of this region. When we asked him to step into this job and when Madam Manager really was trying to figure this out, I think, It was a challenging point, and certainly he could have said no, but he didn't. And I don't think it was on his bingo card. I don't think it was on any of our bingos card. But during the last 10 weeks, I think they've told us a lot more about the decision that Madam Manager made. I've had the opportunity to speak to a number of folks. I appreciated the Washoe County District Attorney's Office for being here today. That was very gracious and kind. But I will tell you, I also had a conversation with Evelyn Grosnick, who is our public defender. And let me tell you, she's a huge fan. And the truth is, is when you have people on both sides of the criminal justice system who can both say this is your person, that's a pretty impressive thing. And certainly it carries a lot of weight with me. There was a quote that I found when I was thinking about what I wanted to say today, but it says, the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, and the last is to say thank you. And I think from day one, Chief Solferino, you have done that. You have gone to the folks in the department. You heard the president of the RPPA come in here earlier and say that it was a pretty incredible thing that you came and asked for their opinion. And Madam Mayor, if I may just finish my comments. And I think that... That judgment that you had to exercise on day one and the judgment to go out to our law enforcement community and really ask for them to trust you in this difficult time, I think took a lot of judgment on your part and courage. I think, too, you're hearing and obviously you've said you see what is written and you do what we should, none of us do, which is spend our time on Facebook and Nextdoor and Reddit. But that's how people communicate today. And I think what I hope you'll hear from community members is while there is a great deal of trust in the safety of this community, there is some trust that has to be rebuilt. And that will be, of course, incumbent upon you and your leadership to reach out and across different kinds of barriers and political spectrums. because I think everybody does want the same thing, which is a safe community. Some people disagree about how to get there. And so for my part, I think that you also know that I've spoken to other folks who maybe would have a reason not to be real supportive of you, and you have some friends among those people as well, because it's an interesting thing to be in elected office when people want to talk to you about all measure of things. I think you're the right person for the job. I'm excited for the opportunity to work with you. We absolutely have work to do in the area of community-based policing, mental health response to crises, our surveillance technologies that are becoming challenging and something we've already all talked about. But I do feel like you're an excellent decision by the manager. And so I'm grateful to have her here today and to watch this unfold. We'll see how it goes with my colleagues.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak. I want to first thank you, Councilmember Reese, because I could not have said it better. You obviously prepared and thought about your remarks. Mine are more from the heart and in the moment. I had an opportunity to meet acting chief Corey Solferino at a coffee shop and to chat about where we've been as a city and where we wanted to go and the challenges that we've faced and how we've overcome some of them and how so many remain generally in the entire area of policing and building relationships with our community. And I was so impressed at that first meeting. I think it was probably planned for 30 minutes and I think it went over well over an hour and a half. When I get going, I have a lot to say. But in this particular case, he was so open and responsive to hearing what I had to say that it made me want to say more and even go back to my ... I've been here 12 years, go back to the very beginning of my tenure here, all the way up to today, or when I met him, and I just have to say I was so impressed. I am so grateful, speaking about thanks, I'm so grateful that you agreed to come over in this acting role and that even more so that you have agreed to step up and take this position. There is so much riding on this particular position. The entire community looks to this as a reflection of the city council, of the city as a whole. It is something that what you do reflects on all of us. I am very confident that you are going to show up well for us, that you are going to represent us well, and that you have already inspired the command team that you have selected. I know in particular, Mr. Garlock and I couldn't be more impressed by the people that you're surrounding yourself with, which in my mind is a great mark of a leader is to pick people that also see the vision that can communicate well and that you can entrust to carry out your vision and really importantly, our vision for how police should operate. I think that throughout the day we've heard comments about the police and the relationship, and I think every one of those has to be taken seriously. If people feel that way, then those issues need to be addressed, whether it's flock cameras, ice or whatever the issue is, we have to listen responsibly and respond responsibly and try to earn their trust. I thank you for your attention to detail and your willingness to step up and represent us. Thank you so much and I'm fully supportive of this appointment. Thank you.

All right, Councilman Anderson, go ahead.

Yes, thank you. Thank you for being here, and thank you for bringing your beautiful family. The first thing I want to say is just really to acknowledge Manager Bryant and everything that you have led us through. Really, you have made a lot of very important, difficult decisions on our behalf, and it's all been in service of Improving trust re-earning trust and leading us through these changes and I just want to acknowledge that it has not been easy Leading people through change humans don't like change the smallest and the biggest changes and for a scenario that we found ourselves in the city of Reno with such a tricky and important issue it's our law enforcement our peace officers the people that we trust to keep us safe. The people that we trust to feel better when they arrive you made this decision to protect the city at large and I'm so grateful for you. I was born and raised here, it's not hard to look at there's probably 40 people in this audience that I could have called and asked about your reputation, Mister sold for Reno and I did. I called people here, I called people out of town, and I just want you to know that, I'm just gonna summarize what most people said. They mostly said that if you find yourself in a place that you are going to have to hire a new chief of police, I will judge you if you let Mr. Solferino walk out of your department. So thank you for that leadership. It is very difficult to take a moving, serious, body of humans that are interacting with our community in the worst moments of their lives and earn their trust on day one, and you did. That comes from people that are within the department and also people that are from your old department. Thank you for allowing us to pull him over here. I'm very excited about your commitment to communication and leadership, and I know you're going to make us proud. All right.

Councilwoman Ebert.

Yes, thank you.

I just wanted to say I know this has not been an ideal process for anyone. None of us wanted to be in this position. there's just a lot of ways where things could have been different and something i've learned in my short time on council is that even if you do everything right things can still go wrong and we did go through the recruitment process and the full interview process um for the appointment of chief nance and we've now gone a different direction and we've had the um opportunity to have you know a two months at least kind of trial interview process. So I think we're really lucky in that regard to be able to have that with somebody before offering them the opportunity to come on to Team Reno. I think that's really a great thing to have that we don't always get an opportunity to do. And I know that there are definitely areas where we need to improve and we need to work with different advocacy groups and different stakeholders and work on just different improvements. But for my community, the people that I represent, they've been loud and clear with me that they need additional traffic enforcement. We have a lot of speeding. We have a lot of accidents, car accidents that become fatalities because of speeding. And I know that Chief Sulferino, One of the first things he did after we had our phone call was set up a traffic enforcement. operation and and there was 77 tickets written in two hours and and that shows one that it we desperately need enforcement in my area and two a willingness to really jump into the job and and be responsive to the needs of the ward so based on my experience i'm really hopeful that that same attitude will apply to the um unique Um, areas of support that all the words need. So I'm just grateful again to have that response to the needs of my personal community that I represent. And I'm hopeful that the people that are rightfully upset with things that have happened in the past will be willing to have constructive conversations. To help us collectively be better, but I also want to stress and I know I've said this at every given opportunity. I don't believe that our PD should be the catch all for all problems. I think that we do need to have mental health people that respond to certain types of calls. I do think we need to. You know, not not use our PD as a catch all. I don't think that that's fair to anyone. So I do want to see more collaboration with the people that are bound by interest to actually take on those responsibilities so that we don't have unfortunate outcomes. Like, we did with the shooting. So those are my comments.

sorry if i've gone over but thank you very much for allowing me to speak all right thank you so much all right councilman reese thank you so much madam mayor i just have one brief additional comment and that is i wanted to speak more directly to the men and women of the reno police department and chief solferino you said in your uh opening remarks that it was about uh looking forward right and certainly uh you had uh mr christiansen here today and and sounds like great support there rpsae i think as well has indicated support The truth is, is these men and women are, of course, the backbone of what you do. What I've learned from both you and Sheriff Balaam is that it can sometimes be very lonely as a police chief or the sheriff, and a lot of heavy weight falls on your shoulders. Please understand that the men and women want for your success. Of course, today, there's often this honeymoon period that goes on, but those are the folks who have answered the call. As you well know, and certainly I'm not telling you something you don't know, but I want them to understand I'm grateful for them. The last 10 weeks could not have been harder on them. They're still, I think, hurting. There are a lot of outside factors that are weighing heavily on the law enforcement community. And so I want them to understand that we also are here to support them. And certainly our decision today and our decision about the ratification of your appointment is about them, right? It is less about you than it is about them. Yes, we expect you to be the leader that we know and believe you will be, but also we want to make sure that they come home safely, their families each day. that our community feels safe, cared for, and comforted. And I think that you have the unique position to make that choice about leadership. And again, it is about looking forward, and I'm grateful to it. I'll also say I kind of think you look better in blues than greens, but I don't want to get in trouble with my friends over there on the back wall. But it's certainly nice to see you in that uniform, a different one than I'd seen you in the past. So congratulations. Kudos to you. I'm excited for our vote.

It's funny that you said that because I said to Mr. Solferino, I said, well, you could always wear blue and green on the bottom. Can you imagine? He said, no, no, no. But I do want to address Mr. Solferino, look around this room and see your brothers and sisters here supporting you. And so much of that is based on your integrity and your willingness to listen. That was the first thing. I was in a grocery store and I didn't know this young woman and she came up to me and she just said, I want you to know, I was so touched that he listened to me, he talked to me, looked me in the eyes, and it just, it made me feel like they were seen. And they, that's exactly what should be the standard, is that they should be seen. And I really wanna thank Sheriff Balaam. Thank you so much. This has gotta be a tough one. This has gotta be a tough one to lose. But I want to say your leadership was tremendous. It was an incredibly difficult time. It's a situation that you never, ever want to find yourself in. And it does erode the trust of the community. And I want to say thank you for bringing back the integrity. your authenticity that I think is so remarkable, especially in a space that's very, very hard, especially on the challenges that you face every single day as a department. And you said to me, Hillary, we are not going to arrest our way out of the most difficult situations. It's going to be bringing in more services and helping people and truly putting the community first. That is the first time that I've ever heard that from a police chief. And so I just wanna say thank you so much. On behalf of the Reno City Council, I would be honored to ratify the appointment for Mr. Corey Silferino to be your next Reno police chief. Second. I have a motion, I have a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Congratulations. Yes, okay. We need to take a quick 15-minute recess for swearing in. Madam Clerk is going to do the honors. We have your beautiful family over here. And also, I hope your parents are incredibly proud. Hi, your mom? Hi, mom. Nice to meet you. And this is dad. Look how dapper dad looks and mom looks over here. Why don't you come up? Please, we'd love to see you up here with your son.

Whatever you guys wanna do. All right.

Hi, I'm Monica Kirch. I am the Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Reno. The Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program is a program that the City of Reno started in coordination with Volunteers of America and the Reno Housing Authority.

Programs like the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program are important to Volunteers of America because it gives us an opportunity to catch individuals who are otherwise potentially falling between the cracks as far as services go.

The Reno Housing Authority assists nearly 15,000 Washoe County residents through its traditional housing programs, yet we know there are many more who need assistance. The Reno Housing Authority supports the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program in two ways. The first way is through a financial contribution to support half the salary. of the service coordinator who works directly with clients at Village on Sage. The second way that we support the program is by ensuring that clients are on one of RHA's wait lists prior to being housed at Village on Sage.

The program is new and we just started housing people within about the last month. We have several folks now staying at the Village on Sage working with a service coordinator.

Partnerships like this give RHA the opportunity to assist more families outside of our traditional programs. And it's these innovative partnerships that create a stepping stone from temporary housing into long-term permanent housing.

So specifically, this program works with individuals who are on a fixed or low income who can't afford... And they're eligible for a housing voucher, but they still have to take the time to wait for that voucher. So it allows us to support them in that intermediary timeframe so they can stay housed and have access to services. I know specifically with this program, a lot of our folks are coming directly from the street and haven't had a rental in a very long time. Specifically, Mikey, hadn't paid rent in over a decade. And so it was really exciting for him to come to the office with his money and just celebrate that new experience that he got to have.

Hi, I'm Mike and welcome to Village on the Sage. Come on, let's go look around. Yeah. Oh, hello. Welcome. This is what we get. I got a brand new television. It's an Element. This is one of the finer, finer televisions. You're welcome to bring your transportation inside with you. Nobody cares as long as you keep it neat and tidy. What can I tell you? Doors open, the train's right there, you know. So if you like trains, excellent.

And this is where all the magic happens.

This is where the happiness, you know, where we come to ground out. This is just where, you know, we can be ourselves. I know it's cold out there. It's cold and you don't want to be homeless. Guys, if you don't have a room, You want to get a room? Think about Village on Sage. I know it doesn't look like all that from the entranceway, but you'd never judge a book by its cover, right?

The Village on Sage Street is ideal for the Rapid Rehousing Program because we're in a transitional setting by means that they're month-to-month units, so they have their own space where they can find and build their comfort and also build community while having access to a multitude of supportive services.

The Program Service Coordinator ensures that clients receive the assistance they need as they transition out of homelessness. and into Village on Sage, and then ultimately we'll help them navigate through RHA's admissions process. The program also helps clients prepare for permanent housing and the adjustments that they're experiencing as they move out of homelessness and eventually into permanent housing.

My hope for the future of this program is that we get folks housed and off the street and they're into safe, permanent housing that they can afford in the long run.

RHA hopes that clients assisted through the program can find respite from living on the streets and ultimately find long-term, safe, permanent, affordable housing.

On top of just having a unit here at the Village on Sage Street of their own, they also have access to community resources. Those resources include a community fitness room, a conference room, community lounge, a mail room, computer room, onsite laundry, and onsite vending.

unit here at the village they're 555 so in this instance that somebody is a can afford 300 the program would fill in the 255 monthly and then that would keep them housed until their permanent unit came open that would be subsidized to the amount of money that they make

RHA is always looking for opportunities to fill gaps in the affordable housing landscape and it's a partnership like this where three community agencies came together to do just that.

Volunteers of America is grateful to have the opportunity to partner with the City of Reno and Reno Housing Authority to run this pilot program and provide additional housing for folks who are on a fixed income and otherwise waiting for their permanent housing.

The community can support this program through donating to Volunteers of America or making donations to the city of Reno, we have had a donation from some of our local housing champions of $20,000 that is gonna help extend it a little bit also. So those are the two ways that folks can get involved and make donations to keep this program going.

Hello and welcome to On the Agenda, a semi-monthly podcast by the City of Reno that quickly updates you on actions taken at the recent council meeting and checks in with various departments to keep you up to date with happenings within the City Hall. I'm AJ from the City of Reno's communications team and with me as always is Reno City Manager, Jackie Bryants. Hello, Reno City Manager, Jackie Bryants.

Good morning, AJ.

We are on the eighth episode now. Are you feeling good about this? Are you feeling like we have an award-winning podcast?

Well, I don't know about that, but we have a podcast.

We have what one council member described as great background noise.

We do have great background noise. Something to do on your ride to work.

Exactly, yeah. So before we get into today's topic with our guests, we are going to look at a few action items that were taken at the June 11th council meeting, which is the last one now for, I believe, a month because they're going to be on a break for a few weeks, correct?

Very precious four weeks.

So what were some things that happened at council?

Um, two things I want to highlight. One is that council approved some sponsorship funds to help a variety of different special events get going for one, the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30th and two for next fiscal year, which begins on July 1st. A couple of them that I'd like to point out are the leprechaun race. a boneyard blast the rock reno half marathon and the reno ecstatic dance there are over 35 that were supported through room tax funds an amount not to exceed 299 000 The other thing that council did is they heard a presentation from Lance Ferrata, our business licensing director, and we talked about whether nonprofit organizations should register with the city of Reno. Currently, there's no registration requirements at all. If you're a nonprofit, and sometimes that presents challenges, particularly around land use approvals where we don't know that there's a nonprofit next door to a perhaps a dispensary that has submitted an application and you know maybe it's a child care daycare or something like that and we need to really know where these nonprofits are what they're doing and then we also provide a lot of services to nonprofits and sometimes nonprofits don't pay a property tax or other taxes that pay for services such as police and fire So that conversation kicked off. It will be another six to nine months before anything comes back to council on it.

So if you are part of a nonprofit, you definitely want to pay attention to that. If you want to read more highlights, you can always do so on our website at Reno.gov forward slash news. During this week's meeting, Council also heard a presentation on the conclusion, sine die, as they say, of the 83rd session of the Nevada Legislature. So joining us today is Government Affairs Manager Nick Ciccone to provide us a quick overview of the presentation. Hello, Nick. Welcome to On the Agenda. Hi, AJ and Jackie. Thank you for having me on the show. Is that what it is? Sinidae? Nope. Sinidae.

Sinidae.

Listen. Wow, I just messed this all up.

You know what? We're Instagram friends. I should have known this. Really, I should have. I'm so sorry, Nick. So since I've messed up your name and I'm just ruining this whole introduction for you, Nick, why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do for the city and what your title is?

Sure thing. So I'm the government affairs manager for the city of Reno. I've been working for the city for about four years now. But as our government affairs manager, I'm the main advocate or lobbyist down in Carson City. Uh, when we're looking at what kind of legislation is happening down there, what kind of legislation we proposed, uh, we have a council, we have council direction. We've got the strategic plan and we've got our city council adopted legislative platform. So that directs kind of what I do. And I also, I'd say a large part of my job is educational in nature. Many of the things that the legislature tackles impact cities, and not every single legislator has previously worked at a city or represented a city, so a lot of it is teaching them the ins and outs of working in a city and how that might impact arena residents' lives.

So you definitely like you have to get into all the bills. You have to know how they affect us in all kinds of ways, not just like, oh, here's the cool law that we're doing. Like, how will it affect fiscal challenges and whatnot?

Yeah, I'd say with my job, I have to be a jack of all trades, which also means I'm a master of none. Thankfully, we've got a great team of bill reviewers that let me know how it'll impact, let's say, public works if there was some kind of change for bailing wage monitoring.

That makes sense. So let's get into this. So why does the city devote time and staff to monitoring legislative sessions? Like, how does it support our priorities of public safety and housing?

So this session, there was 1,200 bills. We tracked about 500 as having some kind of impact to the city of Reno. Those can range from, like I said, changing how a department files paperwork with the state to allowing or authorizing cities to have more control or discretion at the local level to have those kind of conversations.

Bosma part, I think.

I know. I know. I was like, who's Britton Bosma? I know. Congratulations.

Good morning. I got lucky. Everybody left.

Congratulations. Thank you.

By the way, Britton just recently was married. I just got married. And that makes my heart so happy.

Me too, me too. Yeah, so good morning, everyone. Good morning, Madam Mayor, Junior Mayor, City Council, and staff. Yeah, I got lucky, the room cleared out. But yes, and for the record, my name is Britton Bosma. Today, I'm here to represent, I'm a small business owner within the Business Improvement District. I am the president of the Riverwalk District, also within the boundaries of the Business Improvement District. And I'm an owner of a condo in the Arlington Towers, also within the boundary of the BID District. So I am here today in favor of item D1, which is the Downtown Reno Business Improvement District, also known as the Business Improvement District, aka the DRP. We've done a lot in the last couple of years, so we have morphed and changed. I just wanted to start off with some actual facts because unfortunately there were some things that went out to us owners as the Arlington Towers that were not factual and so it got kind of away from us as owners and tenants. So we did get information that was incorrect and I think it's a lot of the letters of the 25 folks that wrote in. So I wanted to get some stats on the record that were correct. um the assessment rate for the drp has not been increased at all this year in fact it was lowered by the board two years ago and it remains at that lowered rate the washoe county total assessed value increase for the arlington towers parcel translates to an average about 3.8% for an assessment increase through the county. So the average annual assessment fee for Arlington Tower condos is $242 or $20 a month. Premium sidewalk frontage for the parcel is divided equally among all the units and equals $14. So I just wanted to get that in case because I got things and it was a little miscalculated and scared me. And so I went and reached out and got the items back. So allowing the Downtown Reno Partnership to continue and grow allows them to continue long-term solutions and best practices that will help all of downtown, including our districts, our businesses, and above all, all of our citizens. We have had an astronomical increase of our unhoused populations, and we have to have a service. We just talked about it with RPD. We have to have another service that's helping these individuals. The DRP was created for safety, period, number one, clean and maintenance. And that's what we're doing. That's what they continue to do. And with this increased homeless population and unhoused groups of people, that's who has to interface with them. Otherwise, we are arresting ourselves out of a problem that does not get fixed that way. So with that, I just wanted to remind people that they're helping all folks have the downtown. And if you're a tourist, if you're a citizen, if you're a resident, you come here and that is a heart of any city. And so we want to put forward not just a marketing thing or branding, but we really are safe and clean and we keep the core of the city. something that we should all be proud of and that we all feel safe walking through at night. So I am in favor. I have been in favor and I will continue to be in favor of this incredible organization that fights for our city. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much.

There's no one else registered. Oh, and thank you to RDA, who's on the agenda today for the banners with the Riverwalk District. They seem small, but they take a lot of work, you guys. I want to say thank you to Rachel and to Brian for the banners.

It's so funny. They go up, they look beautiful, and people have no idea how much work those take. No clue. They just look beautiful, and you think it's so simple. It takes a lot of work. Okay, Madam Clerk, any?

No one else registered.

Okay, then I'm going to put a disclosure on the record. Fellow City Council members and Madam Clerk, this item involves Josh Hicks, an attorney for McDonnell Carano. In my private life, I've retained Adam Hosmer-Henner, a partner at McDonnell Carano, to represent me on a civil matter unrelated to this item. that is pertaining to a GPS tracker found on my car. I have sought guidance from the city attorney's office. As a client of McDonnell Carano, I've been advised that I may have a commitment in a private capacity to the interests of McDonnell Carano pursuant to NRS 281A.065. For the record, any action that I may take on this item would not be reasonably affected by my client relationship with McDonnell Carano. McDonnell Carano is a very large law firm. This item has nothing to do with my civil case. Madam Clerk, please accept this disclosure and put it on the record for this meeting pertaining to this agenda item. And then I'm going to send it over to Councilman Taylor.

Thank you. Madam Mayor, fellow city council members, Madam Clerk, I serve on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Reno Business Improvement District. Item D2 involves the DRP's annual assessments and public hearing for objections. City Council appointed me to serve on the DRP Board of Directors, so I have a per se commitment in a private capacity to the interests of the DRP pursuant to NRS 281A.0656. In addition, I am a bid rate payer and I have a pecuniary interest in the assessment that DRP provides clean and safe services that would otherwise fall to the city to provide because the DRP's interest goals and operations closely align with the city's interest goals and operations. My commitment in a private capacity to the interests of the DRP would not clearly and materially affect independence of judgment of a reasonable person in my position to warrant abstention under nrs 281 a.4203 while i have a pecuniary interest in the assessment the resulting benefit or detriment accruing to me will not be greater than that occurring to any other member of the bid or similar rate tier the fact that i am a rate payer will not impact my ability to impartially review and render a decision upon these agenda items. Madam Clerk, please accept this disclosure and lodge it on the record for this meeting. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much. Any other disclosures? No? Okay. Moving right along. Mr. McArdle, the floor is yours.

Good morning, Mayor, Council Members, Brian McArdle, Revitalization Manager. The item before you is fairly standard on how the bid assessment is completed every year. This is the third step in the process before it gets sent to the recorder. This is an opportunity to hear complaints, grant hardships, and approve the assessment that gets sent to the recorder. I do have a presentation prepared, but I would ask if you would like to see a presentation on this item.

Mr. Ricardo, I don't require one, but I'll ask my colleagues. Madam Mayor, I move to adopt the resolution and grant hardships to those presented.

All right. I have a motion. Second. I have a second. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed?

Motion carried. Actually, Madam Mayor, where's the clerk? Sorry, let me go back, I apologize. The motion is three parts, excuse me. It is to dispense of the objections and complaints, grant the hardships, and allow the assessment role to be sent over to the account recorder as a resolution. So I believe we need, if a motion could be for that.

Okay, thank you so much.

Mayor, my motion was substantially similar, but I'll read this into the record. For the record's sake, I move to approve the resolution of the Reno City Council dispensing with certain complaints, protests, and objections made at the public meeting on the assessment rule for the City of Reno, Nevada Neighborhood Improvement Project, otherwise known as the Downtown Reno Business Improvement District, ratifying the cost of the project and confirming said assessment rule and assessments therein, including the three hardship exemptions to authorize the recordation of properties to be assessed in the office of the county recorder together with other matters properly relating thereto.

Second. I have a motion.

I have a second. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed?

Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Thank you. Anything else? No. No? Okay. Thank you so much. All right, everyone. D7. We are heading into D7. By the way, I want to congratulate Kristen over here. She just received the award for Women of Achievement. So we're very excited for her. Look at how red she's getting. I love it. She is. She's getting so red. But she is also the proud mama of Peanut. And Peanut is a little internet sensation. And she does a lot of work for our homeless animals throughout our city. And I want to just say thank you so much for loving these animals and doing the work that you do. Well, I'm just grateful for you. And congratulations on such an honor. It's awesome. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, you girls. Thanks. Take care. Okay. We are heading into item D7. Madam Clerk, do you have any public comment on this item?

Madam Mayor, we do not have any public comment registered. We did receive one comment associated with this item as neutral or concerned, and that has been distributed to the Reno City Council.

Okay, thank you so much. Hi, Angela.

Good afternoon. For the record, Angela Foose, Assistant Director with Development Services. This is a bit of a unique one because the city is involved as the applicant. The Redwood Place abandonment was part of the Mill Street widening. If you've been on Mill Street within the last year, you are very well aware of what's happening. We're widening sidewalks, we're putting in a new intersection, lots of things. As part of that design, Redwood Place, that area in yellow, is going away. So the land that was once a road is no longer going to be a road. It will be split and go half to each side of the property. With that... A new alignment, and it will be signalized, will be taking place. So this will better align with everything happening at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, excuse me, off of Golden Lane, and better align with the activity of trucks coming in and out, trying to get from Mill Street to Market Street. So Redwood Place is no longer needed. This is just a simple step in the process that's already taken place from a construction perspective. Timing-wise, again, for the last couple of months, we've done all the underground utilities, all the paving, the widening of the sidewalks. In June, so in a couple of weeks, the project will be done. This is a formal abandonment because it is a city right-of-way. So we do have to go through the formal abandonment process. And the recommendation is before you.

Great, thank you so much. I was explaining to our future mayor right here what all this means. She said, tell me exactly what happened on the last item. And so I was trying to explain to her about assessments and things like that. But anyway, okay, Councilman Taylor.

In my private life, I work on this project. It is not going to impact my vote.

Okay, all right. Councilman Dewar, you have your light on? I apologize. No, Councilman Ebert, your hand's up. No? Okay.

It was up from a while ago. I'll take it down.

Okay, thanks. Okay. Mr. Martinez.

Thank you so much, ma'am. Go ahead. Thank you. I'd like to thank our planning development staff along with RTC with all the work that they've done to work with our partners and the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony to make sure that we have a better, safer conditions for pedestrians in this area and improving traffic fluidity or the way that it moves flowing over there. So I We would be happy to make a motion to approve the proposed abandonment subject to the conditions listed in the staff report.

Second. So I have a motion, I have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Can I just say I love this dress? It is pretty woman and I'm loving it.

That's the look I was going for. I love it.

Prostitute.

Oh, my God.

Well, Angela, it's awesome. It's beautiful. I love it. Okay. Here we go.

Mayor, can I make a recommendation? I don't think we're quite ready for lunch yet. Can we move on to item D2, City of Reno budget adoption?

Yes, let's do it.

Ms. Van Buren is on her way down. Okay. And so she'll be here in about one minute.

Madam Manager, may I, just for the good of the order... Do we require staff presentation on the budget today?

I don't believe we do, but I want to make sure that she's here in case there's anyone that needs questions. We've talked about the budget ad nauseum at this point. We have a balanced budget. I've said that a gazillion times. I'm going to keep saying it.

All right. Do any council members have any questions? I do not require an additional presentation. Pardon? I'd like a presentation, please. Okay. Hold on. She's coming down, so give us a minute. Okay. What else is there?

I'll go ahead and tee up C3 Keystone disposition will be next. We're going to hold C2 to not before 2 p.m. So if the staff for Keystone C3 will come on down, that'd be great.

All right. Mr. Mercado, long time no see. With that being said, Madam Clerk, do we have any public comment?

I thought we were waiting for Ms. Van Buren.

Madam Manager, do you want to do C3?

I'm good with doing C3 right now, if you'd like to, since you're ready and we're waiting on Ms. Van Buren.

All right, let's go. All right, any public comment on item C3, Madam Clerk?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. We did not receive any public comment on item C3. We do not have any registered.

Okay, sounds good. Take it away, Brian.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council Members. Brian McArdle, Revitalization Manager. The item before you is to proceed with the property disposition and setting the fair market value for 264 Keystone. This is a piece of property identified in the property plan adopted for this fiscal year. Part of the process of disposing a parcel is setting the fair market value. And the question before this body is, would you like it to see this property go out for public auction or for RFP? And so again, I do have a presentation prepared if you would like to see it. Yep. So how this aligns with the strategic plan is fiscal accountability. The city would receive the property sale funds into the general fund of this site, as well as the potential to have this site contribute to some sort of economic benefit for the downtown area. The site is located off of Keystone, just north of Second Street. It is connected right next to the retrack train trench. It is APN 011-350-30. This was identified in the 2025 property plan to be sold. It was recommended that the property go out for RFP in that adopted plan. The way the city's process works is we must go and get two appraisals to establish a fair market value. So we received one appraisal that was about $2.4 million. The second appraisal was $3 million. We take the average of the two. That sets a fair market value of $2.67 million for this site. The site is currently vacant, but it was formerly used as RPD's evidence and forensics location and storage. I think at one point when I was in high school, it was this inside skate park, if anyone remembers that. But it is vacant. It does need some repairs and maintenance. I believe a new roof is required to put on this building. In the 2025 city conditions report, if you were to go through and bring this up to current conditions, create office space with flooring and walls and HVAC, It would require about $8.8 million in improvements to bring this building up, but right now it is currently vacant and it does need some improvements if it were to stay in the city's property plan. That's the wrong map. So there's two ways the city can sell property. One is through public auction. If the public auction route goes, the bids have to start at the highest appraisal. So that would be the bids have to start at about $3 million. Those bids are sealed and they're opened at the council meeting. And then anyone in the audience can give an oral bid at the time when it's presented, but it must be 5% more than the highest bid offered. That's the public auction route. The second route would be to sell this through potentially an RFP under an economic development or redevelopment purpose. Under that scenario, the council may decide to sell this property for less than fair market value as long as it's being used for some economic development purpose that is allowed. But before doing that, it must accept the fair market value, that is the item before you today, and adopt a resolution that it is in the public's best interest to sell this property as a economic development benefit and for potentially less than fair market value. And so the option before you today is to accept the fair market value and decide whether the right path forward is through public auction or RFP.

Thank you, Brian. Good information. All right. Any questions? I see Kathleen Taylor.

Oh, I was ready to make a motion. Wait, there's no questions.

Just one question for you. So you said that you start the bidding at about $3 million?

If you go the public auction route, I believe NRS dictates, this isn't city policy, it's NRS, that the public auction bids have to start at the highest appraised value. So if someone offers less than $3 million, that bid wouldn't be accepted.

Valid, okay. So they would have to start at $3 million?

Correct.

And even if it's just one person? Okay, got it.

Per NRS, that's...

Got it. Okay.

How I interpreted it.

And then you're going to go out for RFP?

That is the decision before this body today.

Okay. I have a question.

Madam Mayor.

Yes, go ahead.

Thank you so much. Mr. Ricardo, I suppose because we've had questions before about whether we should go out to auction or whether we do an RFP, I haven't heard a staff recommendation either way, but I am concerned on two fronts. One is if we go out for an auction rather than the RFP, the risk is that we don't get to control what ultimately comes to be built there. And so I need to know what the zoning is in part because we have the Keystone Data Center, which is near-ish this, and it is a jarring sight to see based on the zoning that is appropriate there. I wouldn't want someone to think that this was an opportune time to slip in and grab this parcel for the $3 million at an auction, and then they stand up a data center. Really, I'm just using that as the example, not that that's what would be built there, but what is the zoning?

Yep. Thank you for the question. So the zoning is, I believe it's mixed use downtown northwest quadrant. As far as I know, it does not allow data centers. So the zoning line goes right through Keystone. So the data center across the street was in a totally different zoning district. This one being on the east side of Keystone is in the downtown zoning area.

That's what makes people so frustrated because they're not seeing the maps that we look at from a planning perspective. They're just seeing a neighborhood and they're seeing a lack of integrated thoughtfulness about what's there. It's sometimes hard because we say, well, that's zoning. Then they're like, well, we don't know what zoning is. It's part of the process of our educating the public about it. I suppose for my part, I haven't yet heard what staff's recommendation is, but I am interested to know if you have a recommendation or if it's just a let's let the council see what they want to do.

To answer your first question, if you do go the public auction route, you cannot decide what you would like on that property. Going the RFP route, you can be a bit determinative on what you would like to see and what price you would like to get for it, but public auction, you accept the...

I understand. I guess, is this area an appropriate area for, say, someone to come in and bulldoze the current existing building, which needs a considerable amount of repairs, and then put up affordable housing for seniors? Is that a possibility?

It is a possibility. I would say, if staff had any recommendation, during the property plan, it was recommended that we sell a few parcels, but this one specifically go out to RFP because the opportunity is so broad that it might be worth it to see what people's proposals are, whether it's a warehouse, housing, affordable housing.

Your office would be the one who prepares the RFP process, meaning you would identify who it's getting sent out into the universe to and post it in the legal places? Yes. Okay. I suppose for my colleague's benefit, I lean on that side of these two choices because i just think it allows us to control the ultimate outcome and it may be that someone comes forward with affordable housing which we desperately need again i'm not strongly suggesting that the other option is not a good one just simply that it seems like we might be able to control what's there if we go the other route

Okay. Councilman Dewar, go ahead. Thank you. What I was wondering about, and I don't know if I thought you were doing, would you call it an RFI, like a request for information? Is it actually you're asking people if they'd be interested in what they'd be interested in doing?

This would be straight to RFP. There wouldn't be an RFI or an RFQ. This would be straight to RFP, similar to how we've done RFPs on other parcels, specifically for development.

Are you asking for our desires as to ultimate outcome here? Are we just saying anything goes and we'll see what the proposal is? You said this is something you can control, and yet I'm not sure I'm seeing the control a moment.

Most of the RFPs we've done, in the RFP it says any idea for this property will be entertained as long as it applies by the zoning and it is financially feasible. So any specific use, if they can show that they have a good use of the site and that they can show that they have the ability to actually build that, it would be eligible. And then the RFPs we brought before this body to decide. Can I interject, please?

Mr. McArdle, isn't it possible to take council's feedback at some point and put that information into the RFP, kind of like a two-step process? Should they wish to do an RFP, you could say, thank you. I'm going to come back with some ideas. You can tell me whether you like them, you don't like them. You can incorporate that into the subsequent RFP. That might then get to the heart of the matter.

I don't know. I don't want to delay things, but I was curious because you made an argument that going with the public auction process didn't give us any control. But on the other hand, you're implying we have some control, but on the other hand, you're saying they're just going to submit on whatever they want to do. In other RFPs, I recall We've given some guidance like we'd like to see affordable housing or we'd like to see retail or we'd like to see a daycare. Whatever it is, when are we supposed to say those things?

We'll certainly take your direction now, whether you want to be prescriptive on what you would like to see at that site.

I'm just going to be clear. I don't have strong feelings about what I would like to see, but I wasn't really understanding your distinction between these two processes and if and when there's something coming back. Would we just say we like it or we don't like it? What if two or three come back and they're within a close proximity of money, like one's 2.6 and one's 2.8 and one's 2.2 and they all have different ideas? Is it assumed that we're going to take the highest proposal or can we say, well, this one's lower, but it would provide a community benefit?

My apologies. If you choose the public auction route, they don't have to disclose what they would like to do with the property. Essentially, you are selling it, and whoever the highest bidder is, you sell it to, and you cannot dictate what that site would be. I see. Under the RFP route, if we got three proposals or ten proposals, assuming there are some threshold of eligibility, we would bring all of them back before this body, and you get to decide which you like at whatever price you decide.

I see.

Okay. Thank you. Okay, I see a green light on it over there. Go ahead, Councilwoman.

Yes, I just wanted to share with my colleagues here that I support the RFP portion of this process because it's in the downtown envelope, and that's all I have on this.

Okay. Just one question. I assume because that building is, when was it built? It's old.

Oh, you know, I have that answer, 1967. Okay.

Do you think that's a teardown?

I heard a yes from the audience. I heard someone over here.

Yes, I think it was Kerry Koski, yes.

Yeah. With that being said. It is possible. This building, it's been Frankensteined over the years. It's part office. It's been sort of three warehouses sort of built into one. Probably a hard adaptive reuse.

Okay. What would be, maybe you know this, Kerry. What would be like the square footage if someone were to do a new build?

Well, the land is 52,000 square feet. The building on site now is 26,000 square feet.

Okay. Wow, it's pretty large. Okay. Large.

It's one story, so it has, we'd say, a low floor-to-area ratio. Yeah. If you want dense, that would be adding floors above.

You could do housing.

Okay. All right. Thanks so much. I'm going to hand it over to Councilman Taylor.

Thank you. Um, if my, if my teammates colleagues don't have any strong feelings, I would like to see it go out to RFP and see what comes in just because the site is probably pretty difficult. It's right next to railroad tracks. Fun fact, it was actually my office when I did the retract project. many moons ago. So that would be my motion. I move to accept the appraisals establishing the fair market value of the property at $2.67 million and to dispose of the real property at 264 Keystone Avenue, APN 011-35030 through an exception to public auction and direct staff to commence with issuing an RFP to solicit proposals.

Okay, thank you. I have a motion. Second. I have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay. We're going to jump right back now to item D2. City of Reno budget. Vicki Van Vuren. Hello. Okay. Okay. All right, give us a brief presentation and we will move along.

Thank you. Thanks so much. Madam Clerk, can you open the public hearing?

Madam Mayor, can you open the public hearing?

I sure will. Madam Clerk, we will now open the public hearing. Was proper notice given? Any correspondence received?

Madam Mayor, proper notice was given. No correspondence was received, but we do have one public commenter online.

Okay, great.

tara tran and c macomb hi um i just want to speak a little bit more to this budget obviously it's very important to me and many members of my community i would really like to uh to hear you guys give serious discussion to not increasing uh not giving a full nine million dollars more to rpd um i hear that they need four and a half million dollars for all new cars however to my understanding um almost two million dollars was paid and just paid administrative leave in the last year so i have a feeling that they could maybe find somewhere to scrounge up that money and and as our city council having seen that police should not be the catch-all for all of these situations that we cannot arrest our way out of homelessness out of You know, any of these issues, I really, really implore you guys, if you want to restore trust in your community to allocate some amount of that money towards alternative evidence based solutions to housing to mental health to homelessness. I mean, really, I'd like it to go anywhere, but I'm just going to propose you take. two million of that of that money and and open up a request for unarmed outreach services right and and see where who comes up and where you can allocate that money i know that you guys rejected the building lasting outcomes of community care and unarmed Mental health response pilot program run by community health workers. That was that was proposed for half a 1M dollars re, look at that. If you can give 4 and a half 1M dollars for new cars. Maybe, and everything that you're not doing that you're doing right now is not working. My proposition is that you actually give real effort into exploring alternatives that are backed by evidence. Look at the data, right? Like giving people housing, connecting people to low barrier services, keep people off the streets permanently, shuffling them back and forth, kicking them off one street and then another so that their caseworkers cannot find them, cannot actually help them. It doesn't help. And you know that and we know that. Uh, your community has been very loud and clear about this distrust that we have. And I know that you hear that and if you want to build that trust, you have an opportunity to show that you are listening. I know you're not going to be this demand of not increasing the police budget 9Million dollars, but please give us something more than lip service. Thank you.

See McComb via zoom.

Hey, y'all. Can you hear me?

We can.

Okay. Hi, how's it going? My name is C. McCombs. I've been at the City Council a lot recently talking to y'all about the reallocation of the police budget. And I just want to remind you about, you know, like addressing the needs of your constituency. We've come out, you know, in like large numbers nearly every week. and totaling about hundreds of hundreds of people now not only organizing outside of city hall but coming inside and engaging with you about reallocating some money from the police budget in order to put it into you know like community first responder programs and other things public parks uh anything else that you know has evidence uh based solutions uh and has tons of data to support it's working um and uh I want to just remind y'all about how you can kind of hold the police accountable for the massive amounts of even corruption that exists within city government today. I mean, I don't need to tell y'all that people are rightfully upset. They were left in the dark about what was going on with the police for months and months. And amidst all the corruption, And amidst them not doing the training that, again, you guys promised that they would do. These were the terms of the contract. We said we need the police to stop killing black people. And you said, OK, we're going to mandate that they go through trainings in order to learn how to not kill black people. And guess what? They weren't doing the trainings. So what are you all going to do to hold them accountable? I think this is, you know, like right now you're letting them kind of run a buckshot over the entire city. I don't know if you know this, but Reno, Nevada kills black people at a rate six times higher than it kills white people. That's double the national average. You guys need to rein them in. It's your responsibility to do that. And one way you can do that is by cutting their budget and putting it into community-first programs. Thank you so much for your time. I really, really want you guys to think about this. Give it some thought. We witnessed the kind of discussion you had with the acting. I think he's now the actual chief of police. uh but you know like we you know and i saw you not you know asking him if he needed the money he said yeah and then going okay sounds good you know like it's like you guys have to hold the police accountable you know in some way and a way to do that is to reallocate the bonus that you're going to give them all right thank you thank you is there any more public comment thank you mr vice mayor we do not have any additional public comment at this time thank you director van buren

Thank you. Vicky Van Buren, Director of Finance for the Record. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council Members and Madam Mayor. I'm sure she's listening in the back. Before you today is the budget hearing for the fiscal year 26-27 budget. We call this the fiscal year 27 budget, but this is kind of the formal name there. I'll be going over the changes between the tentative budget that was presented to you on May 6th and the final version before you today. And I just have a few slides. I have 10 slides in total, so bear with me a little bit. It's going to be very brief. The strategic plan and the budget are directly connected because the budget provides the financial resources needed to implement the strategic plan. The budget identifies what you want to accomplish and the strategic plan identifies what you want to accomplish and the budget determines how those objectives will be funded and carried out. The tentative budget was filed with the Department of Taxation on April 15th and presented to council on May 6th. The total city-wide budget proposed for fiscal year 27, including expenditures, transfers out, and fund cash balances is $925,000. $89 million. The general fund total expenditures and transfers are $335 million with a budgeted ending fund balance of $48.6 million and that equates to 15% or approximately two months of operating expenses. Special revenue funds shown here include the street fund, the enterprise funds have the building fund and the sewer fund, and then the internal service funds, just as a reminder, are risk, workers comp, medical, and fleet funds. No change to this slide, just a review that there are two new proposed positions for fiscal year 27 in the information technology department, a network analyst paid for by the street fund and a systems analyst for the sewer fund. These two positions will support cyber security and critical infrastructure needs in street and sewer operations. This slide shows the difference between the tentative budget that was presented on May 6th and the final budget as presented to you today. The final budget reflects updates received after the April 15 filing, which included final allocations for some grants, the community development block grants, some cost sharing information for Tom Wharf, and then the SRF, the state revolving fund bond that we just closed on April 15th, or April 23rd, excuse me, the bond interest for that. So that's information we received after the tentative budget was filed. We also had a couple corrections that were made in the street fund and then the sewer fund for items that were discussed at the budget workshop on March 4th but they were omitted from the tentative document and should have been on there. So on here you'll see across on special revenue funds those are the changes that I mentioned for the CDBG final allocation and the street fund correction and then enterprise fund that's the sewer fund those corrections and then also the final allocations that we've received there. The fiscal year 27 general fund budget has been balanced by a combination of reducing expenses, increasing revenues, and using one-time savings from fiscal year 26. Total revenues for fiscal year 27 are projected at $331 million, and fund balance is being used to cover the remaining $4 million gap to balance the budget. General fund expenditures are budgeted at $335 million. Expenditure reductions were achieved utilizing zero-based budgeting, vacancy savings, 35 frozen unfunded positions, and use of one-time funding for capital, and foregoing additional contributions to long-term liabilities. Capital improvement projects are proposed at $142 million. The majority are sewer and street infrastructure programs, as shown here. And again, this is the same information that was presented on May 6th. Council gave direction at the May 6th meeting to make two changes to the fee schedule, reduce the land use appeals fee to $250, and removing the consumer price index increase, the CPI, on the sanitation franchise fee. These changes have been incorporated into the final version before you today. And with that, that concludes my presentation, and I'm glad to answer questions.

I'm prepared to make a motion if you're ready to entertain one.

Yeah, are there any other questions from the body? Council Member Ebert, do you have a question?

Yeah, I do have a lot of public comment regarding what's happening with Reno Police Department and the budget. Can you just go over a little more specifically what? Those funds are for with regard to the vehicles and the other items of the budgets for in that in that category, please.

Councilmember Ebert, I just want to make sure that you're asking about the additional $9 million towards the RPD budget for FY27. Is that correct? Yes. Approximately 50% of that is required due to the CBAs for increases to staff and not the number of staff, but to the COLA adjustments.

And then there was a contract negotiation.

Correct. Correct. Yes. So that's required. And then Vicki, can you remind me what was the amount that we allocated for fleet to repair cars that we didn't have last year, but we've added it back in this year?

The other portion there was for the fleet fund, and so we did not fund any replacement vehicles last year. In the current year, actually, the current year we're talking about, that was one of the items that was removed in order to balance the budget. For fiscal year 27, we are funding fleet replacement, and so that is a big portion of that increase. So it's between the collective bargaining agreements, which we are required to do, and then the fleet replacement program.

Okay, so the fleet replacement program, just for people that, you know, maybe weren't aware that was something that we deferred for last fiscal year because we. Just make it work on our budget. So now we're kind of playing catch up. Brecks with different maintenance and maybe replacements with that.

Yes, that is correct. Is that accurate? Yes.

Okay. Okay. Is there any. What we would consider like new types of expenses being paid with that budget.

I'm Vicki Van Bure for the record. I'm not aware of anything new. I think Christina has an answer.

There might be a one or 2% increase related to something. Christina, what was that amount?

In our budget, Christina Rodriguez, for the record, Reno Police Department Administrative Services Manager, nothing in our budget is new. There are some things in our budget that previously grants had paid for when we were piloting them that we really appreciated what those equipment or software had to do for our department, and so we then put it into our budget. Those are new things, but they are not new programs, and there is nothing brand new in our budget.

Okay, so there were some comments earlier about cameras. Can you explain if that ties into this new budget cost for RPD?

I'm not. Council Maria was the question that someone indicated that the $9 million increase from FY 26 to 27 included an increase in cameras. I believe. Is that your question?

Yes.

And then Miss Rodriguez, do you have an answer to that?

I would actually ask fleet to come up because I believe there would be cameras built in to the replacement vehicles. So but not flock, I think is what they were getting at.

Correct, correct. Thank you.

OK, so I thank you for those clarifications. I just really am. Looking to have transparency for the benefit of of everyone, really, especially the community. There's a lot of.

Just kind of mistrust honestly happening. So I want to make sure that everybody knows exactly what's going on. And I think this is, this is why it's so important to have presentations and have discussion at council. I know there's been so many public commenters discussing things with Reno. There are PD and. I know we've had at least 1 town hall in my ward, and I think we need to be as responsive to these public commenters as we have been to people making comments about data centers. So I really would like us to as a council to agendize. the discussion of rpd and how we are going to do things differently how we are going to ensure that mandatory trainings are going to be completed how we're we're actually fulfilling those promises to the community because i know none of us intended for things not to be done correctly but we need to earn back some of that trust and i think we're in a good position now to do that but we have to have that transparency to build that back up

Councilmember Ebert, it looks like you're about a minute and a half over. I'm going to check with the body.

Oh, sorry about that. Thank you.

No worries. I'll go back to you if you have any other comments, but I just want to double check with the rest of the members to see if there are comments. Councilmember Reese.

Thank you so much, and I don't know if, Ms. Rodriguez, you want to come back forward. Look, this conversation about our budget in isolation is a curious one to me, and it is... perhaps unusual that the ward four member is as interested in this particular topic. For my part, what I want to say is that I think it's, quite frankly, it's bad governance that we don't have more police officers, right? We are doing more with less today. So the idea that we're scrambling to explain why we're spending what we're spending, which is the required costs of increase for collective bargaining agreements, and equipment that we want our folks to have. But the real question is, why aren't we hiring more police officers? And the truth is, those of us on the dais here today in the room know the reason why that is true. It's because of where our budget is and the growth and all the things we've talked about for months and months and months. But rather than have those conversations, we're talking about somehow isolating in a vacuum this budget when we should be saying, how do we hire more police officers? Our community has fewer police officers today than it had in the early 1990s. So this question about why we are doing it, again, I think is a lot of performative theater. And ultimately, what I want the folks to know is that we are going to ensure the safety of this community and we do that each year. I think in almost every budget, and Madam Mayor, you can correct me if I'm wrong, we have attempted to add more police officers and more firefighters, right? Public safety is the core responsibility of this body. And so the idea that somehow we've, you know, we're, you know, beholden to a very small idea is not one that I think I would countenance. And so maybe that could be the question about where we are. How do we ensure that we have academies that are going to be run, that when people are retiring and doing that, that we're going to have enough police officers to answer the call? Or is that a chief so far in a question? Maybe it's not a good question for today. I'm not sure what the question is because the question was, this budget does not have an increase in sworn officers.

Correct. But we have been very fortunate with the city manager and Vicki to be able to fill our academies. And city management has worked very hard with us to ensure attrition spots. So if we know if somebody has put their notice in, we're able to fill that role going into the Academy so that we don't immediately have a decline in our workforce. So I guess that's why I wasn't sure of the question, because we've been able to, over the last many academies, fill them.

Well, and we had our PPA president, Bryan Christensen, in our chambers today, and he said that the numbers were 275. Look, that number is too low for a community this size. So it is incumbent upon all of us on this body to figure out a path forward. and we'll do that with the assistance of our chief. I also want to say, Mr. Martinez, if you'll indulge me for one second, the technology question is an important one, and we've asked Manager Bryant to come back to us with a policy on the technology issues. A lot of technology sort of gets out ahead of you because it's new, and then we develop policies. We've asked for those policies. We want to be balancing the liberty interest that people have with the privacy concerns that they've raised, the constitutional protections, but also we we have an obligation to keep our community safe and so i just want to make sure that i have it clearly articulated my concerns on this specific issue and i think i've done that you all go to council member anderson then council member dewer and back to you council member ebert thank you i just i want the the public that has come before us multiple times to share their concerns here to know that they're being heard

And I think that the change that we made in police leadership today was the first step in the policies and procedures and the way in which the Reno Police Department works within our community. And so I know it's easy when you look at You know, they say in your personal checkbook, you can look at your checkbook, where your dollars are going, and it shows you where your moral priorities, your budget priorities. Do you care more about the car you drive than the house that you, you know, lay your family to sleep in? your groceries, whatnot. It's the same thing with the city budget. But what I want to say to the very important people in our community that continue to hold us accountable is it's not the number on the budget sheet, it's the way that budget is utilized in the community. And that is a pure reflection of your leadership, Mr. Solferino, and the priorities of this council. And so it is being used as a wedge issue at this stage because it's silly season and we're having an election. But it doesn't change the fact that we're asking you to be accountable with the budget that you've received to enact the policies, whether they're the ones that we were already working within or new policies that you have heard the community. You're finding ways within the team that you have, the team that we can invest in now, and we intend to give you more resources when we have them. but we need to see the policy changes that you suggest and that your team is willing to lead us through in this community. And that is where the changes are made. It's not in the number on the budget necessarily. It's in how you use those funds. So I just wanted to say that on the record here that it's not the two thing. It's not an apples to apples, um, discussion. It's really about your ability to lead. Okay. Thanks.

Thank you. Council Member Dewar.

Thank you. I was going to speak much to the same issues that Council Member Anderson just did. That is that it was my understanding to Manager Bryant that when we had this discussion last, and we had a pretty thorough discussion, that we were going to, before we invested any more in surveillance technology, we were going to very quickly have a broad meeting on use of the technology, the policy surrounding the technology, and assure both our public and our officers that we understand how the technology is to be deployed. That's why I'm comfortable. I don't see it in a big edition of cameras and surveillance. We raised the issue, and you've made a commitment to us, Manager Bryan. I just wondered when you were thinking that might come back to us.

It'll be after the break, for sure. We've had two additional meetings scheduled regarding data centers, and we've got the last meeting scheduled for June 10th, so it'll be sometimes after the break. I do want to just acknowledge, yes, we have an obligation to repair the trust in the community, and we are actively going to work on that. And Chief Solferino knows that. I know that. It is important to us. It's important to this body. So we've made the commitment and we're going to do it. It never happens as quickly as I would like. Everybody knows that I'm impatient and that's just the way I roll. But we're going to come back and we're going to have some hard conversations and we're going to work really hard to improve the relationship between RPD and the community.

That's what I think is important, is the commitment to those meetings and the outcomes of the meetings. I'm comfortable with the budget as it stands. I know that we deferred the fleet. I know that we've deferred other things. I'm not sure about what new programs we piloted and are now going to add as standalones. I don't have clarity on that, but I'm not that concerned about that. I just wanted to say, carry on. I have reached a level of comfort and that's why I had made a motion to adopt the budget, but thank you.

Ma'am, if I may. Yeah. Cory Solferino for the record, Mayor through you to Councilmember Dewar. Obviously, we're looking across the board. And I understand our website is not up to par. I understand that our policies are not forward-facing as they would like to be. So as we start evaluating all of our policies, not just technology and built-in audits and retention schedules and everything else, is one of the things that I did really well when I was down at the state legislature working with bipartisan legislation is hearing all of the stakeholders. And that's what I've done over the last 11 weeks. I've heard all of the stakeholders. So I want to take all of that information I want to make sure that our policy manual is public facing, forward facing, not just with respect to technology, but with respect to all of the policies of the Reno Police Department. So when the public does have questions, rather than having to do a FOIA, they have it literally at the click of a button under frequently asked questions. So that is my commitment to this body and to this community that we will continue to do in the mountain of things that we have before us. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you. Council Member Ebert.

Thank you. I just want to clarify some of my comments because apparently they're confusing some people. I view our position as public servants. When people show up in mass to give public comment or even just a few on any given council meeting, it's our duty to be responsive to the public. This is not directed at you whatsoever. This is just my view of elected officials. we are beholden to the community and what they want to know. When I ask questions about a budget, a specific portion in regards to what's been questioned during today's public comment, that's why it's not any kind of political theater any more than pretending you don't know why I'm asking. It's political theater. I thank the staff for addressing my questions about what these budget items were for. It was in direct response to comments we had today. And I think you would have to be burying your head in the sand to know that people didn't want answers to those questions specifically. We need to be transparent with the citizens of Reno. So just to be clear on that to my more senior council member colleagues that we are beholden to the public. We owe a duty to be transparent and we owe a duty to answer their questions. They are our bosses. Okay, so to be accused of theater for being responsive is offensive to me. And again, I'll state that we need to be as responsive to that as we are to concerns about data centers or anything else in the community. Maybe I'm a little more sensitive at this time because I went to a town hall that was attended by many, many people that expressed these same concerns and frustrations at that time. I did not see any other council members there, so maybe they didn't experience what I did, but we have a real problem. We need to rebuild trust and it has nothing to do with you. You're stepping in to take those first steps towards that, but we can't act like we don't have shattered trust and we can't act like we don't owe the community transparency on everything that we do. There are reasons for the budget increase. We're not lying. We're not being secretive. We're not using this money to spy on people. There's deferred maintenance. The public deserves to know what we're doing with essentially their tax dollars. Thank you for standing up there while I say these things. Again, none of this was directed at you and I appreciate your service and your willingness to step into this position. Again, thank you for what you've done currently already in my community and your collaboration with NHP and Washoe County sheriffs to get more services to my community. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments from the body? Now we'll look for a motion.

Yeah. So I was making a motion to approve the resolution, which would adopt the fiscal year 2026, 2027 final budget and fee schedule for the city of Reno, Nevada. And when I get a second, I'm going to add a parenthetical. I just want to go on record as thanking my colleagues because we did have a really pretty robust discussion. We didn't agree on everything, but we found compromise. I want to particularly call out you, Councilmember Anderson, for helping us with the fee schedule on the appeals and saying, what about this? For myself and the others saying, yes, that works. That I think is a model of how we get there on so many issues, but there were other compromises as well. I mean, I too wasn't as comfortable about the surveillance equipment, and that's why we ended up with a policy discussion, policy creation, then policy discussion, and all of that is just very good. I mean, that's good government in my opinion, so thank you.

Any further discussion? If not, we have a motion by Council Member Dewar and a second by Council Member Reese. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you so much.

We do need to go into an attorney client, just so everyone knows. So city manager Bryant, what do you recommend?

I think we should come back at 2 o'clock. We have a 2 o'clock time certain for APWF guaranteed maximum price. So we will start with item Charlie 2 when we return.

Do you think we could do 145?

Could we do, we could come back at 1.45, but we can't hear C2 until 2 o'clock.

Oh, okay, so then that makes sense. Right. Okay, then we'll just do 2 o'clock. It'll make it easier.

Yes, thank you.

One of the reasons why I joined RCI was just out of curiosity to know more about what the city of Reno does for everyone who lives here. It was a very genuine interaction with all of the people that we were able to meet throughout this process. That experience was incredible.

I'm a small business owner, and so I definitely felt disconnected. Not in a bad way, but in the way where I'm like, oh, if I have an issue, who do I call? This seemed like a great opportunity to get a lot of information in a relatively short period. you might touch the street department or you might touch the police department the fire department for whatever reason just being a regular citizen but you wouldn't learn about almost all aspects of city government and how it operates i have never seen a city that has been so people oriented i mean it really seems like they care and i love that about reno i love it This is definitely eye-opening, informative. It's a way to just learn how the city runs and to meet incredible people. Street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, getting people connected, and running them through some kind of education and connection, I think, is incredibly valuable.

You'll have an incredible time. You won't regret it.

It's a benefit all the way around, I think.

Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Reno Public Safety Dispatch to discuss calling 911. Erin, what tips do you have for the community?

Well, definitely it's a life-threatening emergency. You need to call 911. Things for immediate police, fire, medical response. Make sure you know your location to give the call taker and only use text to 911 if you can't make a voice call.

This is good information to know. And what should the residents also know about dispatch?

We do have a non-emergency number for all the rest of the calls that aren't emergencies, 334 COPS. Those are things for like parking problems or graffiti. It's also important to know that our call takers take over a half a million calls a year. So we get pretty busy, but we're always looking for more dispatchers. If you're interested, go to reno.gov slash dispatch for a job description.

Outstanding information. Thank you, Erin. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here today to discuss community court. Judge Hazlett-Stevens, what exactly can you tell us about community court?

Thanks, Chris. We hold community court each Wednesday here at the downtown Reno library. It is an innovative approach to the justice system that offers services rather than jail time for our participants, many of whom are homeless. Services needed include those for substance use disorders, mental illness, chronic homelessness, and chronic unemployment.

This is all good to know, but how does this differ from traditional incarceration?

Community courts reduce crime, increase services to victims, reduce unnecessary use of jail, and save money by collaborating with service providers using a problem-solving approach instead of jail. We also recently implemented a treatment readiness program on-site.

This is all great to know. Thank you so much, Judge. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with the Reno Police Department to discuss the dangers of distracted driving. Officer Reza, what advice do you have on this topic?

Thanks, Chris. Distracted driving claimed over 3,000 lives in 2020. Here locally at the Reno Police Department, we would like to remind everybody that it is illegal to use any electronic handheld device while driving. Texting has become increasingly dangerous.

Outstanding. And what other tips do you have for the community?

If you do need to make a text or make a phone call, simply pull over on the side of the road where it's safe to do so. Once you've pulled over, it is now safe to make that text message or make that phone call. You can even put your cell phone in the back seat, in the trunk, or even in the glove box until you reach your final destination.

Thank you, Officer Reza. And dig this. For more information, go to renopd.com. Also, don't forget to follow the City of Reno and RPD on your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we're going to discuss making a fire escape plan. Joining us is Chief Mandel from Reno Fire Department.

Thanks, Chris. A fire escape plan is essential because it lets everyone in your household know exactly what to do in case of a fire. Seconds matter in the event of a fire, and an escape plan can make a world of difference. Start by drawing a floor plan of your home and marking all possible exits from each room. Then designate a meeting point outside a safe distance from the home. Practice your escape plan regularly with everyone in your household, especially children. It's important to make sure that everybody knows how to operate windows and doors. It's also important to teach household members to stay low to the ground in smoke and to fuel doors for heat before opening them. Thank you, Chief Mandel.

To create your own fire escape plan, scan the QR code on the screen or visit Reno.gov slash fire. So now you know with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. From lap swimming and drop-in sports to fitness equipment, the City of Reno offers many opportunities to get active and have fun. You may even be able to access these offerings at no cost. Kayla, what should residents know about insurance reimbursement?

Thanks, Chris. Our Parks and Recreation Department recently expanded their offerings with insurance companies, offering memberships to them at no cost.

Well, this is exciting. How does it work and who qualifies?

Yeah, the program offers memberships through their individual insurance company. The insurance company then reimbursed the City of Reno for each visit that they come and use our facilities. The expansion of this program is especially beneficial to our seniors. However, it qualifies anyone 18 or older. You just need to contact your insurance company.

Thank you, Kayla. And don't forget to contact your insurance company to learn more. Visit Reno.gov slash Parks and Rec for more information. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Maintenance and Operations to discuss leaves. Tim, with fall being here, what advice do you have about leaf removal?

Thanks Chris. This is typically the time of year we start to see the leaves drop and it's pretty simple. Property owners are responsible for the removal of leaves on their property and we ask them to do this in a timely manner to help from flooding or clogging drains during a rainstorm. This is good to know. What other advice do you have for the viewers? So it is unlawful for homeowners or property owners to rake or blow leaves out into the street. So we ask them to please place them in their garbage cans or in a bag with the excess waste sticker for garbage pickup on their days. And if they could help out our street troopers by trimming their trees and removing parked cars in garbage cans would be very helpful.

Outstanding information. Thank you, Tim. And don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we're excited to spotlight the city's new Rowling Recreation Center, a mobile recreation center designed to bring fun and activities to communities across the city. Here's Kayla Snow to tell us more.

Thanks, Chris. Our Rowling Recreation Center is all about making accessible recreation for everyone in our community. Our mobile recreation center travels to various parks following the schedule of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Kids Cafe summer meals program. This means that not only do kids get free recreational activities, but also a free meal. our program offers a wide range of activities for people of all ages including sports games arts and crafts and so much more the rolling recreation center is free and open to the public we welcome everyone of all ages to come out have fun and enjoy our city parks thank you kayla visit reno.gov forward slash parks and rec to find out when the rolling recreation trailer rolls through a park near you so now you know with reno thank you for watching the reno minute

Hello and welcome to the Reno Minutes. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with the Reno Police Department to discuss the SAVE volunteer program.

Evan, what is SAVE? Thanks Chris. SAVE is an acronym that stands for Senior Auxiliary Volunteer Effort. It's a wonderful organization that comprises of seniors and they help the police department with additional resources and through their patrols they help with crime prevention and observations. Outstanding. Also, if someone wants to volunteer, how do they get involved? Basically, anyone in SAVE is 50 years of age or older. We ask that they volunteer 16 hours a month, and they can, if you're interested, either call, email, or visit the website for Reno PD.

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Evan. And don't forget to follow RPD and the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. Hello, and welcome to the Reno Minute. I'm Chris Payne. We're here this week with Public Works to discuss street rehabilitation and maintenance.

Jonathan, what can you tell us about this program? Thanks, Chris. Our Public Works departments were working really hard to improve our neighborhood streets in our community. For instance, we're just finishing up a rehab project in Midtown where we included the replacement of our roadways, streets, sewer, and even had alleyway improvements. This is good to know, but how are these neighborhoods chosen? Sure, Chris, good question. The city inspects all our local roadways and calculates a pavement condition index, or a PCI score. The streets with the lowest PCI scores are grouped and ranked based on factors such as utility placement or proximity to essential services. If you'd like more information, please visit our website at reno.gov forward slash capital projects.

Thanks so much, Jonathan, and don't forget to follow the City of Reno on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know, with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute.

Do you know how to survive a fire in your home? I'm John, this is Katie with the Reno Fire Department, and today we want to share some important information with you.

To survive, you need to know the basics of fire behavior. A fire needs three things to exist. Fuel, heat, and oxygen.

The best way to do this is to keep the fuel side of the triangle away from the heat side. The easiest way to survive a fire is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Today we'll show you some ways to prevent fires from happening, and if they do start, how to evacuate safely.

Cooking is the main cause of home fires and fire injuries, and you can prevent them. Here's how. First, stand by your pan. If you leave the kitchen, turn the burner off. Then, watch what you are cooking. Fires start when the heat is too high. If you see any smoke or the grease start to boil, turn the burner off. Another thing to keep in mind is to turn pot handles toward the back of the stove. Then no one can bump them or pull them. Finally, keep combustibles away from the burners. Believe it or not, dogs have turned on burners accidentally while trying to get food stored on top of ranges.

In our modern world, lithium ion batteries are everywhere. These types of batteries can be dangerous. So here's some things to keep in mind. Stop using them if you notice an odor, a change in color, too much heat, change in shape, leaking, or odd noises. Charge and store spare lithium ion batteries away from anything that can burn. Don't put lithium ion batteries in direct sunlight or keep them in hot cars. This is a fire risk.

Here are some other things around the house to remember. Keep anything that can burn at least three feet from the furnace, oil burner, wood stoves, water heaters, and other heat generating equipment. When it comes to cooking appliances, space heaters, washers and dryers, they should be plugged directly into all outlets. Clean lint filters every time you use the dryer and never leave a burning candle alone.

Looking at the triangle again, the third component is oxygen. Fire needs oxygen to survive. Percussion of fire can be slowed by compartmentalizing your home. The easiest way to do this is to keep room doors and windows closed. The garage typically houses many potential ignition sources and heavy fuel loads, so make sure the manned door between the garage and living space is a solid core door with a fire rating of no less than 20 minutes. Any alterations to this door, including pet door installs, will allow a fire that starts in the garage to quickly progress into the living space. Many home fires can start outside and spread into your home, so don't store garbage or combustibles under windows or next to doors. Remove vegetation that is against your exterior walls, especially if it is dead and dying. Juniper brush may look green on the outside, but under the green hides dead needles that can easily ignite.

Even with our best intentions, accidents can occur. Always be prepared to escape. On average, you only have about two minutes to escape a fire once a smoke alarm sounds. Working smoke alarms are critical. Install and maintain them in every sleeping room and every floor. Test the battery monthly and replace it if over 10 years old. Know two ways out of every room and make a meeting space. If you have children in the house, take time to draw a plan and explain it to them in a way that makes sense to them. The biggest takeaway is to make a plan and practice it.

One common mistake we see after fires is that residents will open doors and windows, thinking this will let the heat and smoke out of the house. Remember, fire seeks oxygen. Adding air to fire only makes it bigger and spread to those openings. When exiting, close the doors and windows behind you.

For more information on fire survival, please visit our website at Reno.gov slash fire. Thank you. Be safe. Hi boys and girls, my name is John, Fire Marshal for the City of Reno. Did you know a fire occurs in a house every 65 seconds in our country? That's like, every minute. Sadly, this also means many people get hurt. Your ability to get out of your home during the fire depends on early warning from fire and knowing how to escape if a fire happens. Fires can happen anywhere. The question is, are you prepared? Our Xtreme team is going to help you make a home escape plan. When you are done with that home escape plan, teach it to your family and other members in your household so they can escape fire as well. If you do that, you can be part of the Reno Fire Department Extreme Team. This is Boston, our fire dog. He's going to introduce you to our fire extreme team. Thanks, John.

Meet the extreme team. Together, we're making a fire escape plan. This is Sean. He takes care of me every day, and he'll talk about fire alarms. Shelly's here too. Shelly will teach us how to get out and stay out. This is Katie. She'll talk about finding a safe meeting place. And finally, Talena is really excited to talk about why we need to practice our plan.

The first part of a home escape plan is a working smoke alarm. Fire produces smoke. Smoke and hot gases move upward towards the ceiling. As a fire gets bigger, the smoke and hot gases move downward towards the floor and superheat the room until everything in the room catches fire. That's why smoke alarms are so important. They detect fire and warn you before the fire gets too big and you can't escape. Because smoke goes up, smoke alarms should be installed on the ceiling or high point of the wall. They should be in every sleeping room, hallway outside the sleeping room, and every floor. Smoke alarms should be tested every month to make sure they work. Have your parents or older brother and sister help you with this, as you may need a ladder. To test a smoke alarm, push and hold the test button for three seconds. It should make a loud beeping noise. If it does not make a loud beeping noise, then have your mom or dad replace the battery or install a new alarm. Thanks, Sean.

Smoke alarms can be loud and scary, especially if it goes off when you're sleeping and dreaming of chasing rabbits. If I hear an alarm, I will wake up immediately and run outside. But I have four legs and I'm low to the ground. You are human, so you need to be more careful when getting outside. Right, Shelly?

That's right, Boston. Remember, fire produces heat and smoke that travels up. Have you ever tried to breathe in smoke? Smoke can hurt your lungs, especially if it's superheated. If you smell or see smoke, you want to stay under the smoke. If you are in bed, when the smoke alarm activates, don't stand up. Roll out of bed onto your hands and knees. Stay low and go. Always know two ways out of any room. For most people, the first way out is the door they came into the room. That should be your first way out. Remember to stay low. Crawl to the door and feel the door for heat before opening it. The best way to do this is to feel the doorknob and face of the door with the backside of your hand. If it is cool, then open the door slightly and look for smoke. If you do not see smoke, go outside to your safe meeting place. If you do see smoke, close the door and go to your second way out. Usually the second way out is the window. Don't break the window. Broken glass can cut you. Practice opening the window in your room when you get home. If you have a screen, practice popping out the screen with your parents. It's usually pretty easy. If you live on an upper floor, talk to your mom or dad about getting a fire escape ladder and learn how to use it.

Thanks, Shelly. So if you hear an alarm, don't hide. Get outside. If there is smoke, stay low and go. But once you're outside, where do you go?

That is a great question, Boston. Everyone in your household needs to know where to go. So when firefighters arrive, they know who is safe and who needs to be rescued. A meeting place should be a safe distance from the building. A tree, mailbox, or even a neighbor's house is a good safe meeting place because they don't move. A car, garbage can, or traffic cone is not because they may not be there when the fire actually happens. Once you're out, call 911 if you have a phone. Now let's go back inside and answer some questions.

Thanks, Katie. My first question is, should a person go back inside a burning house to rescue somebody else?

Once you're out stay out never go back in for anyone or anything once firefighters arrived, they are trained and have the tools to rescue anyone still in the building, what if I live on the third floor and I cannot get out. That is a great question if you're stuck in your room and cannot get out make sure your room doors closed hang a towel or sheet outside your window. This acts as a signal to the firefighters outside that someone is still in the building, we will come get you. When firefighters enter the home, they will be dressed in turnouts and be wearing a mask, helmet, and a tank. This can make them look very scary. The mask they will wear will make a noise like Darth Vader. Remember, they are here to rescue you. Fire can make a lot of noise, so you need to say loud words over the noise to help firefighters find you. Help is always a good choice.

Now that's a lot of good information. But now what?

Well, Boston, now we draw and practice our plan. Pretend you are a superhero flying over your house. From this view, draw a map of your home. Include the rooms and all windows and doors. Now identify which rooms are used for sleeping and draw a green arrow showing your first way out and a red arrow showing your second way out. Draw your safe meeting place and circle it with both colors. Now the important part. Practice. Sit down with all the family in your household. Identify where all the smoke alarms are and test them. Practice rolling out of bed and crawling to the door and then the window. Practice escaping from your door and out your window and meeting at your safe meeting place.

That's great. So to make a great escape plan, start with a working smoke alarm, have at least two ways out of every room, and meet at your safe meeting place.

That's right, Boston. Now you have the knowledge to join our team. Let's get to work.

Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. It's back to school time and we're here with Officer Johnson from the Reno Police Department to discuss some great reminders on how to keep our students safe.

Hey, thanks, Chris. Here at the Reno Police Department, we want to ensure a safe school year for every child in our community, and so we have some important tips and reminders for drivers. Slow down in school zones. Always adhere to posted speed limits. Stop for school buses. It's illegal to pass a school bus that is stopped to unload or load children. Yield to pedestrians, especially in school zones and residential areas. Avoid distractions, such as using your phone while driving. The Reno Police Department will be increasing enforcement in and around schools this summer and fall to help keep all of our students and pedestrians safe.

Thank you, Officer Johnson. And don't forget to follow City of Reno and RPD on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today, we're excited to spotlight the city's new Rolling Recreation Center, a mobile recreation center designed to bring fun and activities to communities across the city. Here's Kayla Snow to tell us more.

Thanks, Chris. Our Rolling Recreation Center is all about making accessible recreation for everyone in our community. Our mobile recreation center travels to various parks following the schedule of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada Kids Cafe Summer Meals Program. This means that not only do kids get free recreational activities, but also a free meal. Our program offers a wide range of activities for people of all ages, including sports, games, arts and crafts, and so much more. The Rolling Recreation Center is free and open to the public. We welcome everyone of all ages to come out, have fun, and enjoy our city parks.

Thank you, Kayla. Visit Reno.gov forward slash Parks and Rec to find out when the Rolling Recreation trailer rolls through a park near you. So now you know with Reno. Thank you for watching the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. If you're looking for a career in a fast-paced environment, perhaps becoming a Reno police officer could be for you. Let's go inside and speak with Officer Hunter Mercurio and find out more.

Thanks, Chris. The Reno Police Department is on a continuous hiring basis. If you're interested in finding a career in law enforcement and finding a job with purpose, come join us today. Also, being a Reno police officer in Reno makes my city not just livable, but lovable. Every day looks completely different and you're normally going to somebody's worst day, but you get to be that opportunity to make a change in their life and hopefully better their day. If you're interested in becoming a police officer, go to the City of Reno jobs page and apply for the police officer recruit position. If you have any questions about becoming a police officer or want to come do a ride along with us, you can reach me at Recruiter at Reno.gov or you can reach me at my phone number 775-437-0043. Thanks.

Hello, I'm Chris Payne and it's time for the Reno Minute. Today we turn our attention to motorcycle safety, a crucial topic for our roads. Joining us is Officer Chris Johnson from the Reno Police Department.

Thanks, Chris. One concerning trend that we're observing is an increase in speed-related incidents involving motorcycles. Another issue we're facing is lane splitting, which is illegal in Nevada, but unfortunately still occurs frequently. Speeding reduces the rider's ability to react to unexpected situations. increasing the likelihood of accidents and the severity of injuries. Lane splitting, besides being against the law here, is dangerous because it puts motorcyclists in a close proximity to other vehicles, increasing the risk of a collision. We also urge vehicle drivers to be aware of their surroundings, including motorcycles. Check your mirrors and blind spots often, especially before changing lanes or making turns. And remember, always give motorcyclists plenty of space on the road. Thank you, Officer Johnson, for sharing these important insights.

So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute. Hello, I'm Chris Payne, and it's time for the Reno Minute. We're here today with Reno Fire Inspector Talena Skye to discuss Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, and how you can protect your home from wildfires.

Thanks, Chris. The Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, is the area where urban development meets wildland.

These areas are at increased risk of wildfires.

The City of Reno has implemented several initiatives to help residents mitigate wildfire risks, such as creating a community wildfire protection plan which outlines strategies for reducing wildfire hazards, fuel mitigation projects such as GOATS and Rosewood Canyon, and residents can also participate in our dumpster program where they can dispose of green waste to enhance their defensible space. Residents should keep their home in the first five feet, non-combustible and ember resistant.

Thank you, Talena. For more information from the Reno Fire Department, visit Reno.gov slash fire and follow RFD on all of your favorite social media platforms. So now you know with Reno. I'm Chris Payne for the Reno Minute.

I'm Jamie Peek with the City of Reno. I'm a housing and neighborhood development and I'm a housing coordinator. And I met Michael with the clean and safe team. They were really instrumental in getting Michael into kind of like in contact with us. But we've helped him with some rental and deposit assistance and some private funding for a motel stay while we're trying to figure out his next moves.

My name is Michael Jean St. Clair. I'm a Reno resident here in Reno, Nevada. I'm sharing my story about how outreach helped me and my family out over the last year. My wife passed away about a month ago, so it's hard. This is my wife and my three kids, Michael, Tish, and Reba. My kids, they're my life. And I guess it was them that kind of made me realize that I needed to get out of this one situation about living in the RV and getting a place of our own. Well, we were staying with some friends. The landlord found out they were staying there, so I got my RV out of storage. Me and my family, we stayed in it for about three years, I believe. Three, maybe four. And living in the RV, it was rough. You know, five people in a small area. And then my RV broke down. They put a sticker on it for it to be towed. And one morning I woke up and the tow truck was there. said that they're going to tow my vehicle. They wanted to give me a chance to move it. They notified these people from the state. They helped me get into it. Put me and my family in a motel until they found this apartment. It's good to have family and friends and people like Outreach to help out. I'm glad there's people like them out there to help. Just don't give up. You know, there's people out there that can help and if they offer to help, take the help.

RISE, well especially the outreach, is mostly compiled of lived experience outreach specialists like myself. I was in a tent three years ago. So we understand what it's like to have that desperation and we just try to meet people where they're at.

I just got tired of living the way we were living. I mean, we only had my wife's check and my daughter's check, and we're trying to find a place. But, you know, it's hard trying to find a place when everybody kind of looks down on you, you know. I appreciate the outreaches, you know, and my goal is to just stay here, provide for my I made a promise to my wife that I'd make sure the kids always had a roof over their heads. So that's my goal.

Well, Outreach would like to do anything we could to assist you in doing so.

Yes. And like I said, I appreciate all your guys' help. It's all good, brother.

Yeah. I'm glad we could help.

And I appreciate it.

Oh, yeah.

I used to come for the staycation. I used to come here and enjoy the hotels and go down to the river. And I was familiar with the Automobile Museum, but I never in a million years thought I'd be working here. My name is Philip McDougall. I'm the president of the National Automobile Museum. The history of the National Automobile Museum goes way, way back. So most people know the name Harrah from the casinos, but they don't know the story behind it. Mr. Harrah, he had a collection of 1,400 of the most unbelievable cars. And when he passed, he didn't have a will. The community got together and they said, you can't sell all these things. This is part of our community. It's part of our identity. We need to keep them here. They raised money to build the museum. The city said, we're going to contribute the land if you get the money to build it. And then the Holiday Inn, who purchased all the assets of Mr. Harris' collection, said if you do all that, then we're going to throw in 175 cars of the total collection of 1,400. So all those things came together because the community thought it was important. And in 1989, the museum was opened up. We want to be a community partner and we are great. We have events, we have older cars, newer cars, Elvis's car, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future. We have a brand new children's educational activity center, 3,000 square feet of technology for those kids and adults to get hands-on experience on how cars work, how next generation of technology was created. We wanted to be different. We wanted to embrace the community, be a community partner. We did a complete renovation, and then we went out with an active campaign. Not in that car mode, not museum mode, but outdoor concerts, speaker series, parties, birthdays, and a whole new selection of cars. I think the biggest change is that we have a new exhibit every 60 days. It really is fun to watch how a family can come in and they'll just go in five different directions because we have something for every generation. It's not just the building, it's not just the cars that are in here, it's the people, it's the livelihoods of everybody that's around this town that keeps us going. The downtown partnership has been a lifesaver for us. Just helping us overall in the day-to-day challenges we have, like any business downtown. We can't make it without the security issues addressed, without the communication addressed, and it's all one big team down here. So the restaurants help us, the businesses help us, everyone here, we all kind of depend on each other. And that's what we're trying to bring to the equation is another partner who can help us all be a little bit stronger and a bigger community partner. I see a greater emphasis from the Downtown Partnership, from the elected officials, than the community leaders to get together and say, we really want to succeed, we have to succeed as a group. No silos. The restaurants, the businesses, the gas stations, everybody that's here has to get a common bond otherwise we're not going to succeed. It's a storytelling, it's a camaraderie, and we had that not only with us in the museum, but all the local businesses downtown here. We have the same common bond and passion. Downtown Reno is the place to be. It's a family place, it has something for everybody. Come to the museum, go to a local restaurant, you're going to feel safe, you're going to have fun, and you're going to be 15 minutes away from wherever you live.

My name is Robert Downs. I'm a field specialist with RISE and this experience with Bonnie Pace and the Pathway Pilot has been awesome and tremendous and I'll never forget it.

I don't know. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you.

What home means Nevada to me is just that. It's always a place that I find comfort and solace. We travel a lot, we camp a lot, and I just love coming home. Home means Nevada for so many reasons. My name is Scott Dunseith, and I'm the owner of the Home Means Nevada Company, which was formerly Reno Envy. I grew up in the Bay Area and I went to school at UNR. And my thought was that I would spend two years in Reno and then I would go back home. But after the two years, I just fell in love with the place. I love the people, the community. It's just been awesome. was talking to a friend i was giving him my address and so i told him scott dunstead reno envy 89523 and he's like reno envy i'm like reno envy so it was kind of at that moment that was our aha moment where i realized that the state abbreviation for nevada envy sounded like the word envy so that's where it all started from what's great about the downtown reno community is that you know People believe in Reno. You know, we have something here. People really love this community as much as I do. And people really resonated with the idea of having like a local brand. Downtown Reno honestly has been a challenge, but we're a small business and we've been down here since 2008. And honestly, if we can do it, you know, there's a lot of opportunity out there. And we kind of wanted to prove to people that retail works. In 2012, rebranded ourselves and we went from Reno Envy and renamed our brand the Home Meets Nevada Company. kind of trying to support the local artists in the community by bringing their products in and selling them on their behalf. We have all sorts of great stuff. We have coffee from Glory Cloud. We have local honey. It's important for us to collaborate, too, with local celebrities. Krista Palmer is an Olympic athlete, and we had the opportunity to partner with her and create her own authentic Krista Palmer Battle Born T-shirt.

My name is Krista Palmer, Nevada's Olympic diver. This is a really special company to me because my roots are in Nevada. I grew up down in Carson City. I truly feel this connection between Home Means Nevada and my story. This has been a really cool partnership that I've been able to develop over the years with Scott. Projection of Reno downtown, I really see it opening up more doors for people to continue to get outside, continue to take their dogs for a walk and enjoy the Reno River walk, to be able to have space to enjoy those lovely afternoons. I think that's where I kind of see the progression of Reno going and for more people to enjoy what Reno is. It's truly a treasure here.

People believe in Reno and we believe in Reno. There's so much opportunity and so many different types of people in downtown Reno. And the city of Reno has been great with this partnership with the Visitor Center, the RSCVA has been great. The collaborations that we do with the community, with the university, with Krista Palmer, Olympic athlete, it really is about a community that kind of binds us together. If we didn't have that support, we wouldn't be able to survive in downtown Reno. I've always felt like Reno's been kind of our little secret, and we love to share that secret. We love to see Reno grow and prosper. Great for shopping for friends, great for gift giving. So come on down, visit us, check it out. It's been a while.

Come visit downtown Reno and see what you're missing.

Do you want to make a difference in your neighborhood? The City of Reno's six Neighborhood Advisory Boards are your chance to shape the future of your community. From parks and public safety to development projects, your voice matters. Joining a NAB is easy, and it's a great way to connect with neighbors and city leaders while making Reno an even better place to live. Applications are open now. Visit reno.gov forward slash nab to learn more and apply. Get involved and help make Reno not just livable, but lovable.

Hi, I'm Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran. It's an honor to connect with you as we look back on 2024. A year of innovation, strong work, and unwavering dedication to protecting our community. The Reno Fire Department reached incredible milestones, overcame challenges, and made a real impact on the biggest little city. Let's look back at 2024 and the achievements and highlights of the Reno Fire Department.

2024's wildland season tested our region with incidents like the Gold Ranch Davis and Callahan fires straining resources from across the west. Although these fires happened just outside Reno City limits, our firefighters stepped up to assist while ensuring our Reno community remained well protected. In 2024, RFD deployed 264 resources to more than 100 wildland fires, contributing over 65,000 hours of work. These efforts brought nearly $2 million in reimbursements back to the department. Right here at home, we responded to 51,737 calls for service. an increase of over 2,000 from the previous year. Our commitment to service continues to grow along with our community.

The Safety and Training Division saw impressive growth in 2024, paving the way for a stronger, more skilled team. We proudly promoted 11 captains and eight operators, hired 25 new firefighters, and welcomed five single-role EMS personnel. This year, we ran two three-week fire equipment operator engine academies, one two-week fire equipment operator truck academy, and a two-week acting captain's academy. These intensive programs help sharpen our skills and prepare our teams for any situation. We also expanded our monthly company-level training sessions, introducing specialized active shooter training and wide area search exercises. And through partnerships with surrounding fire departments, we enhanced our response capabilities for wildland fires and hazmat operations. Additionally, we upgraded the training facilities at Station 11 with new technology to improve the delivery of our programs, ensuring our team is always ready to meet the demands of our city.

The Reno Fire Prevention Bureau experienced significant strides this year in 2024, starting with the appointment of a new fire marshal, three fire captains, and three new fire inspectors. Our team saw great success in our arson investigations, achieving an impressive 80% conviction rate and completed over 6,000 building inspections to help keep Reno safe. For the fourth consecutive year, we hosted our dumpster program thanks to a grant from State Farm. This program helps neighborhoods in the wildland urban interface clear dry vegetation and debris, creating defensible space. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped reduce wildfire risk in our community. In 2024, we were also thrilled to receive nearly 245,000 from FEMA's Fire Prevention and Safety Grant to develop a community wildfire protection plan. This comprehensive framework will prioritize wildfire mitigation efforts, improve emergency preparedness, and ensure long-term safety for Reno's residents and infrastructure. Keep an eye out in the coming months for ways to get involved. We're excited to collaborate with you.

In 2024, we work closely with our community partners to update the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan assesses the potential impact of all prioritized hazards to the region and provides mitigation strategies and actions to reduce such risks. The update ensures the plan remains effective in addressing the evolving needs of our community. We also prioritized firefighter health with initiatives like our fourth annual cancer screenings and the introduction of the coronary calcium scan. These proactive prevention programs are vital in detecting early markers of heart disease and cancer, critical steps for firefighters facing heightened risks associated with their profession. Additionally, we launched a groundbreaking pilot program with the Epic Brain Center. exploring enhanced mind-body performance treatments. This innovative approach supports firefighters dealing with PTSD and other mental health challenges, while empowering them with improved executive function to perform at their best.

2024 was a landmark year for the Reno Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Division with 30,649 calls for service. Collaboration played a key role in 2024 as we joined forces with regional partners to strengthen our unified response to medical emergencies.

We were excited to welcome our new EMS management assistant and expand our specialized training for our single role program. Ensuring our EMS team is always prepared to meet our community's high demand for advanced emergency medical services. We conducted division level training on new medical equipment, including cutting edge video laryngoscope blades that are vital in life saving situations and new medications that can be used to treat various patient presentations by our mid and advanced level providers. We also implemented a new medical charting platform, further enhancing patient care.

Reno Fire Department's Support Services Division achieved significant milestones in 2024. Enhanced vehicle maintenance and repair, increased apparatus safety, and equipment modernization. Through our apparatus replacement program, we added two new brush trucks designed for firefighting and rugged terrain, and a state-of-the-art ambulance, ensuring our fleet meets the diverse needs of our community. We also enhanced operations by refining the use of fleet cameras throughout our vehicles. These systems capture critical moments during incidents, training, and daily operations, providing insights that improve safety and support crew education. Our logistics team continues to push innovation forward, adopting advanced battery-powered tools on our fire engines and ladder trucks. and improve personal protective equipment. These enhancements extend equipment lifespan, improve functionality, and prioritize firefighter safety. Looking ahead, we're excited to introduce a new heavy rescue apparatus in 2025, the first of its kind for our department since 1986. As an all-risk fire department supporting many different types of incidents, this addition ensures our crews are ready to respond to any emergency, no matter the challenge.

As we reflect on 2024, the Reno Fire Department has much to sell. from our interlocal agreement with the Reno Tahoe Airport Authority, enabling us to assume firefighting services across all airport properties, and our partnership with Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, which now provides automatic aid to ensure the closest resource responds to emergencies, no matter the jurisdiction. We're building the foundation for continued growth and excellence. I'm pleased to share that we also received the keys to 455 East 2nd Street, our future central fire station. We're excited to begin serving you from this state-of-the-art facility in 2027. At RFD, we believe that being part of the community is just as important as responding to emergencies. Whether it's hosting fire safety programs, participating in local events, or building relationships with residents, we strive to be more than the first responders. We're your neighbors, partners, and advocates for a safer region. None of our work would be possible without the dedication of our team and wavering support of our Reno City Council, state and federal representatives. Their commitment ensures RFD is always ready to serve and protect our community. On behalf of the Reno Fire Department, thank you for your trust and support. Together we accomplished so much in 2024 and we look forward to an even brighter and safer year ahead. Thank you for standing with us.

Hello and welcome to On the Agenda, a semi-monthly podcast by the City of Reno that quickly updates you on actions taken at the most recent council meeting and checks in with various departments to keep you up to date with happenings at City Hall. I'm AJ from the City of Reno's Communications Department alongside Reno City Manager Jackie Bryants. Hello, Reno City Manager Jackie Bryants. hello aj i can't believe it's been two weeks since we were last together two weeks already uh it was a um a long night but we're here now and everyone made it and i have a lot to go through so before we get into our main topic parks funding let's recap just a couple actions that were taken at yesterday's city council meeting um and talk about how our agenda order has changed so how has the agenda changed

okay so the first thing is that we've changed the agenda a little bit we're testing out a new approach where we have removed the department labels because this restricted us from moving things around in a way without confusing everyone as to the order of the items so now department items have been moved up earlier in the meeting

Grab a slice, hitch a ride, get a rush, and roll the dice. Step into a world where Nevada's northern lights shine bright. And last calls are rare in a city that never sleeps, where the spirit of the Wild West lives on through daring rapids, and rocking out goes beyond the crowds. Founded on the rebels of resilience, we aren't what you expected. We're what's coming. We don't just embrace downtown. fuse it with life we are a convergence of adventure art and taste it's not just our city it's our identity the mighty truck yard lifeline and the nevada sky as our backdrop downtown reno is a tribute to our roots and a leap into the future discover 110 blocks of stories of residents entrepreneurs creators and masters of their craft coming together in the spirit of discovery and progress in a city that never ceases to reinvent itself we are the unexpected downtown Reno invites you to rise with us again. What's your story?

Grab a slice, hitch a ride, get a rush, and roll the dice. Step into a world where Nevada's northern lights shine bright, and last calls are rare in the city that never sleeps. Where the spirit of the Wild West lives on through daring rapids, and rocking out goes beyond the crowds. We're the unexpected in a city that never ceases to reinvent itself. Been a while? Downtown Reno invites you to rise with us again. What's your...

You know how speeders got categories? Categories? Different types, different cars. Wannabe race car drivers with zero talent and all the insurance claims. Go on. Yeah, so you got the, I didn't realize I was going 95 type. Like the car magically went 45 over just on its own.

Oh. Officer, I thought I was going 45. No, buddy. You thought about going 45.

Well, then you got the I'm late for work guys. Like going 25 over is going to make up for the 30 minutes they spent laying in bed watching TikToks.

Ain't nothing like risking a reckless driving charge to get to a job that you already hate.

We can't forget the I was just keeping up with traffic folks.

Oh, the if everybody jumped off the bridge defense.

Just because everybody else is breaking the law doesn't mean that you get a free pass.

Nah, but it does mean we all get to sit on the side of the road together while we trade life stories and I write this ticket at lightning speed.

There's one. Yeah, we got a black Volkswagen headed your way, guys. Got him. In all seriousness, Reno, we need to slow down when driving on our roads. Speed and impairment are the two biggest factors in fatality crashes. That is why the Reno Police Department will be conducting proactive speeding enforcement on McCarran and around the city. Slow down, Reno. Nevada?

I'm not from Nevada, and I'm pretty sure the speed limit signs all look the same everywhere.

We're the unexpected in a city that never ceases to reinvent itself. It's been a while? Downtown Reno invites you to rise with us again. What's your story?

I'm Corey, I'm a housing manager with the City of Reno and we are here at our second Love Your Block project, Pop-Up Nursery for Yori Avenue residents. We had residents of this neighborhood apply and we've got about 75 plants and trees here to give out to the neighbors to beautify the neighborhood, get a little more green here. One day of planting and a lifetime of shade and beautiful greenery in the neighborhood.

The Yori Pop-Up Nursery is a project that my neighbor and I kind of came up with. People get to beautify their yards. Sometimes landscaping is intimidating due to the cost. This initiative, this project helps kind of eliminate that obstacle for a lot of people. And so it'll be nice to see more plants in more people's yards and just make more of a beautiful neighborhood. Secondarily, I'm a huge fan of pollinators and native plants. And so getting more of those in the ground is just going to help the environment overall.

It's super exciting. I love this project. I started the Be Friendly campaign, which was created to help people talk to their neighbors. So a lot of times when you start a pollinator garden in your front yard, it doesn't look like a traditional yard. So I created these signs to kind of help with communication. It's a great neighborhood gathering, and I'm super proud to be a part of it.

We're just so excited to be here in partnership with Reno Food Systems, Bee Friendly Nevada and the Nevada Division of Forestry, alongside all these neighbors to get in the neighborhood and get planting.

The Pioneer Center is a nonprofit performing arts center located in the heart of downtown Reno. We are in an absolutely gorgeous, one-of-a-kind historic building right on the banks of the Truckee River. Our building was constructed in the 1960s, so we have been open and operating as a nonprofit performing arts center for over 56 years now. I'm Denise Sewell. I'm the CEO of the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. One of the amazing things about being a community performing arts center is our historic stage is the very first performance opportunity for so many young children in the area. Aspiring young musicians and dancers will perform their first recitals here on our stage. There is an incredible magic when all of those children come into this professional theater for the first time. The feedback we get from those children and from their parents is that it's literally life changing. for them to have those first experiences on our stage. And we know that many of those people choose to stay in this community and build their lives here in Reno as they grow. And they remember those first experiences and what it meant to them. We are quite literally in the bedrock of downtown Reno and we're not going anywhere. And we really have seen and felt a tremendous improvement since the business district has created the Downtown Reno Partnership. The work of the ambassadors to provide casual folks on the street with directions, with assistance, they are the friendliest, most helpful people out in the community. The name is well earned, Downtown Reno Partnership. We really do feel that they are partners in helping to make downtown the place that we all see in our hearts, that we really know it is. They've just been an incredible asset to downtown and we've been really grateful to work with them.

My name is Adam Cates, and I am the Director of Community Engagement for the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. The Pioneer Center is the hub of the performing arts in our region, right here in downtown Reno. We are the home to some incredible organizations, from the world-class Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, to Art Town, who brings in incredible performances from across the world, and AVA Ballet Theater, who present the annual Nutcracker, a tradition for so many families in Northern Nevada. The Pioneer Center is the place to come for the best of world-class performances. One thing that I love is the way that the bar and restaurant scene has just exploded over the past decade or so. And many of those incredible restaurants and bars and establishments are right here in downtown Reno. They're right across the street. They're right down the block from us. And it's been really wonderful to have a central gathering place like the Pioneer Center that is also able to engage with many of the restaurants and bars in our region.

As the footprint of the city continues to push outward and more incredible folks learn about and want to be part of and want to live here, the heart of Reno remains right here along the river in the core of downtown. This is that unique identity of the city and arts and culture have that unbelievable ability to weave into the fabric of the identity of a city. It's through bringing so many different folks together for so many different kinds of experiences, all authentic, all genuine, all designed to bring you together and uplift each other and to explore what it means to be human together through the arts. There is no limit to what that can do to change people's lives and to enrich a city well into the future. So whatever the future has in store for Reno, arts and culture are a critical part of our identity. They always have been and they always will be. We at the Pioneer Center, together with all of our friends throughout the arts and culture community here, we will continue to evolve and adapt and explore new ways of making connections. And all of that will continue to happen right here in the heart of downtown, along with the other amazing organizations that make up this area with us.

Downtown Reno is where the best of the performing arts live.

Downtown Reno is alive with arts, culture, and entertainment.

My name is Parr Tolles and I am the CEO and founder of Tolles Development. I grew up in the Bay Area in Middle Park and I moved to Reno in 1994. Met a pretty girl and chased her down and got married and decided to put down roots here and it ended up being a really vibrant place for us to do business with our family and it's been a wonderful decision. but always had the desire to start my own business. And in 2016 started Tolles Development Company with the goal to focus on all product types of real estate, but with extra effort downtown. We bought a portfolio of office buildings with the goal to redevelop those buildings and really try to push downtown Reno into its next level. We also did that with Midtown. We bought a portfolio of retail buildings, turned that into what is now a very vibrant area. People always ask me if Reno is the next Portland, is it the next Austin? My response has always been, we're Reno. We have this really interesting quilt. I love the fact we're not trying to turn it into somewhere else, but that we're allowing it to evolve in its own really unique way. Private investment in downtowns, it's hard, but it's also incredibly rewarding. Downtown Reno's really got a nice platform for additional mixed use development. We have a good foundation of retail, good foundation of office, good residential arts and culture. We have a river that runs through it. It's important for us to move where the market is telling us to go, but also to be more than just financially worthy. I think it's important to take a longer term view when you're redeveloping and trying to obviously not only making returns for your investors, but also making more social returns for the community itself. I think we have a collaborative culture here. We're part of the fabric of this community. These businesses are our friends now. We don't have big commutes. People want to be together. We'll never leave Rita. This office portfolio and the Midtown portfolio, I did right before COVID. I've seen the vibrancy of downtown. It hasn't been hot as bad as it could. And now we're prepared to continue to move it forward with good development. It's easy to stay in suburbia, but certainly not as fun. If you haven't come to downtown Reno yet, please come visit us. I promise you, you will make it your Friday night date night. It is one of the most vibrant, special cities on the West. I can't wait for you to experience it if you haven't done it yet.

Hi, I'm Monica Kirch. I am the Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for the City of Reno. The Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program is a program that the City of Reno started in coordination with Volunteers of America and the Reno Housing Authority.

Programs like the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program are important to Volunteers of America because it gives us an opportunity to catch individuals who are otherwise potentially falling between the cracks as far as services go.

The Reno Housing Authority assists nearly 15,000 Washoe County residents through its traditional housing programs, yet we know there are many more who need assistance. The Reno Housing Authority supports the Rapid Rehousing Pilot Program in two ways. The first way is through a financial contribution to support half the salary. of the service coordinator who works directly with clients at Village on Sage. The second way that we support the program is by ensuring that clients are on one of RHA's wait lists prior to being housed at Village on Sage.

The program is new and we just started housing people within about the last month. We have several folks now staying at the Village on Sage working with a service coordinator.

Partnerships like this give RHA the opportunity to assist more families outside of our traditional programs. And it's these innovative partnerships that create a stepping stone from temporary housing into long-term permanent housing.

So specifically, this program works with individuals who are on a fixed or low income who can't afford conventional rents. and they're eligible for a housing voucher, but they still have to take the time to wait for that voucher. So it allows us to support them in that intermediary timeframe so they can stay housed and have access to services. I know specifically with this program, a lot of our folks are coming directly from the street and haven't had a rental in a very long time. Specifically, Mikey, hadn't paid rent in over a decade. And so it was really exciting for him to come to the office with his money and just celebrate that new experience that he got to have.

Hi, I'm Mike, and welcome to Village on the Sage. Come on, let's go look around. Yeah. Oh, hello. Welcome. And this is what we get. I got a brand new television. It's an Element. This is one of the finer, finer televisions. You're welcome to bring your transportation inside with you. Nobody cares as long as you meet and talk. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

I think we're gonna reconvene.

Okay, so we're reconvening at 2-0-1. And at this time, we have Councilmember Ebert absent and Mayor Schieve absent.

Great.

We're opening item C-2, Charlie 2.

C-2. Director Magood.

Hello. Good afternoon, Mr. Vice Mayor and City Council, Trina McGuigan, Director of Utility Services, for the record. We're excited to present item C2 today for the One Water Nevada Advanced Purified Water Facility at American Flat. The facility's guaranteed maximum price and other construction costs, the operating agreement, and land transfers to begin construction of the project. This item is for discussion and possible approval, and I wanted to note that all of the contracts will be administered by Tumwa and not the City of Reno. And speaking of Tumwa, I wanted to introduce some of our team that we have here today who have spent countless hours of their life over the last number of years bringing this project to this phase. We've got Danny Rotter here. BJ Syndrome has been on the project for many years, and Joe Kudry, he's retired, but he came back to help us out. Dustin, obviously, and Nick here on our team, Angel O'Craw, David Deagle, and then we have John Enloe and John Flansburg, who have been working on this type of technology for over 20 years.

Did John Enloe come in all the way from Montana for this? I believe he did.

Really?

He got the thumbs up, yes.

Okay.

Okay, so our agenda today, we're gonna talk about some definitions first, because there are a lot of acronyms associated with this project. We're gonna talk about the who, what, when, where, why, how, then the costs, what if we do nothing, and then our final decision. So this project aligns with the city's strategic plan for infrastructure, climate change, and environmental sustainability. And this one truly is all three of those. So on to our definitions. APWF, what is the project? It's an advanced purified water facility. BAC is biological activated carbon. BOR is the Bureau of Reclamation. Category A is the drinking water quality standard by the state. CMAR is the construction manager at risk project delivery method. DPR is direct potable reuse. EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency. IPR is indirect potable reuse. Mgd is million gallons per day and just to note one mgd is about approximately 6,000 single-family residences and deps the Nevada division of environmental protection ro reverse osmosis RSC I is our CMR contractor record steel and construction Inc Riz wharf is the Reno stead water reclamation facility located in the north valleys and SRF is our state revolving loan fund, and Tumwa is our Truckee Meadows water authority. So next, what is APWF? This is a two MGD advanced water purification facility that takes highly treated effluent and purifies it to drinking water quality standards. using a 12-step treatment process, including ozone and biological activated carbon, among others. Many advanced purification systems near oceans use reverse osmosis, or RO, that results in a brine stream. Think of salts with chemicals and things in it that is disposed of in the ocean. Since we do not have the luxury of an ocean nearby, This technology uses biological activated carbon and other filtration and disinfection methodologies to reduce or remove pathogens, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals of emerging concern, thinking of PFAS in this case. IPR is indirect potable reuse, as I just mentioned, which means that we treat the water and inject it into the ground to mix with the aquifer as an additional environmental buffer prior to extraction. It is also the effluent management solution for the 4MGD expansion at Pris Wharf, completed in 2022. It reduces effluent flows from flood-prone Swan Lake, and it provides Tumwa with a drought-resilient water supply. Once the water is purified, it is pumped to an aquifer for storage and recovery and what we're calling indirect potable reuse. The facility will include an education center and collaboration space for continuing education on this technology, and to test new technologies. We'll work with UNR, their students will come up and have a space to work on new technologies. The APWF will also serve as a full scale demonstration or the full scale prove up for future DPR, direct potable reuse regulations and applications. Direct potable reuse or DPR is like IPR but without the aquifer buffer. So who is or has been involved in APWF? This is a joint project between Tumwa and Reno anchored by a design and partnership with academic, regulatory, engineering, and construction expertise. We've worked extensively throughout the design process with our regulator, NDEP. We've engaged with One Water Nevada and UNR's Nevada Water Innovation Institute and with an expert panel through the National Water Research Institute who reviewed our technology and processes. AECOM was our primary design firm, along with support from Dowell and ESA. The construction team includes the CMAR Construction Manager at Risk contractor, RSCI, supported by Ames Construction, local sub-consultants CME and Nelson Electric, along with construction period services by Carollo and Dowell. So when did APWF start? Way back in about 2007-2008. The first pilot project began in 2008 to prove the process could work and provide the data needed to work with the state to create A-plus category regulations. Finding a suitable aquifer to inject into was an early challenge, but we were ultimately successful with the American Flat site. In 2020, we completed the advanced purified water demonstration study located in trailers at the Reno Stead Water Reclamation Facility, and this resulted in the first Nevada IPR indirect potable reuse permit to inject purified water into the aquifer. Design of the project began in 2021 with completion in January of this year. And along the way, we've received $39 million in grants, secured low interest SRF loans, and just two weeks ago, NDEP issued the first full scale category A plus permit for the project. Today, we're here discussing the construction operating agreement and land transfers to get this project going. So when will APWF be finished? Construction is anticipated to take 30 months, followed by a six-month testing and monitoring phase, followed then by a little over a year of aquifer recharge with further monitoring and well testing prior to extraction of the water from the aquifer and into Tumwa's water system.

So where is APWF?

The main APWF facility is across the street from the Reno Stead Water Reclamation Facility. There'll be a seven mile pipeline from the treatment facility to the American Flat Farm site, where the aquifer is located with the injection and extraction wells. Rizwarf is the largest wastewater facility in the North Valley. It's currently permitted to treat and discharge up to two MGD of highly treated Category A reuse water to Swan Lake in the wintertime. and to our reuse purple pipe system irrigation system in the summertime. This system allows much of the effluent in the irrigation season to be delivered to parks and golf courses such as the North Valley's Sports Complex, Mayor's Park, Silver Sage Golf Course, O'Brien Middle School, instead of sending it all to Swan Lake. Swan Lake is the natural receiving water body in the area and is water of the state. It is located in and maintained by the county. It is also a closed basin sink with an active flood history. So reducing reuse to the lake is a benefit of this project. So why do we need APWF? We're currently out of capacity at the Reno Steadwater Reclamation Facility. estimate future growth in the north valleys we looked at a number of growth scenarios along with a look backward at the historical growth over the last five years so on this graph you can see from 2020 to 2025 we grew at approximately 380 homes per year the gray line from 2025 to 2055 shows the truckee meadows regional planning agencies growth estimate from their regional plan at about 200 homes per year if we use the historical growth of 380 homes per year i'm sorry that's coming up black not blue it was blue on mine the black line is that historical 380 homes a year extended out to 20 55 20 55 And then we looked at an aggressive growth pattern on the yellow line at 500 homes per year. Previous master planning studies in the North valleys indicated build out of the area could need between seven to nine MGD. However, this will depend on the type of development that occurs and ultimately it could be less than that. So given, uh, that reservoir of currently treats nearly two MGD or approximately 12,000 equivalent residential units, and we are out of capacity, the next two MGD would last until between 2044 on the aggressive timeline and 2053 on sort of the historical timeline that we're looking at. And that equals about 20 to 25 years for this next two MGD. Wastewater capacity needs beyond that will be evaluated as we approach the need to expand again. As I mentioned, Res Wharf is currently at the 2MGD capacity, and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection, or NDEP, requires that all wastewater treatment facilities evaluate expansion needs once they reach 85% of capacity. We did this in 2022 and completed the RISWRF expansion from two to four MGD project. However, the expansion cannot be used until the effluent management solution is in place because we're not permitted to and cannot send any more water to Swan Lake other than what is currently permitted by NDEP. Again, NDEP requires we meet the sewer treatment capacity to meet the needs of the community, and we cannot continue to build without sewer treatment. a sewage capacity must exist before development is approved. Additionally, this project provides a drought-proof water supply because it continues to get hotter in our region and our snow line is rising, which reduces our annual snowpack. So how does APWF work? Beginning at the Reno Stead Water Reclamation Facility, you can see the yellow box around that one, we have upstream tertiary treatment additions at that facility, including CFDAF, which is coagulation, flocculation, dissolved air flotation, that's a mouthful, and UV disinfection. The Category A reuse water is then pumped across the street. to the advanced purified water facility at Lear Blvd, which is the main advanced water purification facility. The category A plus water leaving the APWF site is then pumped north approximately 7 miles to the American Flat site north of the airport. And after a few polishing steps, the water is injected into the aquifer for later recovery and reuse. So down to the costs. The construction manager at risk guaranteed maximum price with contingencies is about $225 million. Other construction-related costs for this project, including project management, permits, testing, startup, is another $41 million for a construction subtotal of $266 million. We also have some land and easement acquisitions at $590,000. And just wanted to note that we've previously incurred approximately $23.2 million in design-related costs for a total project cost of approximately $90 million. So what if we do nothing? Since we've exceeded our capacity at RISWRF, we are currently using an interim flow shave, which is not recommended for long-term use due to impacts to Tumworth. Our flow shave allocation is nearly exhausted and without APWF, development in the North Valleys could be constrained. We would have $83.2 million in sunk costs, including the Riz Wharf expansion itself at $55 million, plus we would be required to pay back a $55 million EDA grant received for that expansion, and we've spent, again, nearly $23.2 million on design and permitting for the project. Lost revenue opportunities include approximately $227.7 million from water rights sales, to Reno of 50.4 million, grants of 27.3 million, and a loss of capacity at Tunmorph totaling approximately 150 million that represents 2MGD. Lost interagency contribution and confidence, we would lose Tumwa's cost share of $83.3 million, potentially lose future opportunities for low-interest SRF loans and for other wastewater projects. Additional future implications could include we really need implementation of this project for successful implementation of DPR, future DPR at the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility. We're currently in regionalization, and that could affect our coordination with that. And interim, again, as I mentioned, flow, shape, operational, and capacity issues at RISWRF. So we have three motions here for, three recommended motions for this project. I am told that we can approve all as staff recommends, but before that, I am here and available for questions.

Thank you, Director McEwen. We'll look to the body, see if there are any questions or comments or disclosures. Yeah, Councilmember Taylor.

Madam Mayor and City Clerk, I just saw that logo of CME on the screen. I, in my private capacity, I work with CME, but my role is not the same. I don't work on this project, so I'm just disclosing that information.