City Council - Regular Meeting

to our March 30th city council meeting. I am so glad you folks are here, especially for the city council, because I can't think of anything else going on tonight that would have drawn you here otherwise. So I'm I'm I'm touched. So thank you. So we are starting this meeting late at 6:02. And at this point I would love for you to join us in the saying of the pledge of allegiance. If you can stand together, I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, with that behind us, we'll move on to roll call, please. Council member Farriez present. Vice Mayor Low. Council member Ding present. Council member Gurnie here. Mayor Wender here. Thank you. And um there was no closed session, so there is nothing to report. And at this point, I'd like to ask my fellow members if they will uh would approve the agenda as written or if they would like to make some suggestions of changes. I move approval of the agenda. I'll second it. Great. And we're going to keep this short tonight. So, all those in favor say I.

I. Passed unanimously.

So, with that, now we're at the point where we are able to engage the public with an opportunity to speak to us on items that are not appearing on the agenda this evening. And in so doing, uh, please come to the, uh, podium. You will have two minutes and uh unfortunately we will not be able to respond and or take any action on any items that are not on the agenda and uh we normally take uh up to 10 for the first goound and and if there is more than 10 then there'll be an opportunity for speakers 11 uh etc to at the tail end of our council meeting this evening. So, if you want to queue up and come to the podium, identify yourself. It's all yours. Oh my goodness.

Hello, my name is Rod Mary and I am the president of Music in Place. And I think uh the reason a lot of folks are here today, aside from wanting to see the inner workings of the city of Soma, is to honor a good friend of ours and a good friend of our community, Tommy Thompson, who is hiding in the back. And uh can I interrupt you just one minute? Because we actually have formalized this on the agenda. Yes. There is going to be an excellent opportunity for you to come back. Can I come back? You can come back and I will not deduct these seconds from your two minutes. I appreciate that. No problem.

I'll be back. Good.

So then, is there anybody that wishes to speak on items not on the agenda? Well, seeing none, this is probably the first in quite a few sessions and no one's come forward. So, uh, we'll move on. Back at the dis. Do we have any meeting dedications this evening? We're seeing none. So, we're going to move on. And at this point, we uh are given an opportunity to share with you any uh meetings and or commissions that we participated in since our last meeting. So, at this point, I'd love to have uh my fellow members uh report. And please Yes, thank you. Um, so on March 24th, uh, I attended a special finance committee meeting. There's nothing to report out, but we'll hear more about that later. Uh, on March 28th, this last Saturday, I attended the No Kings March, which was one of over 3,000 events across the country. Uh, it was organized by Wake Up Snowma, Snowma Valley Democrats, and the indivisible Sonoma County. speakers included supervisors, many other speakers, but the two, but also Snowoma High uh school GSA member Melinda Edwards. So, you had the full range of students and politicians and it was it I think it did achieve the goal which was a festive peaceful demonstration around community connection. So, that was great to be there. Um was very festive. I also um attended on March 30th, I guess that's today, uh North Bay Watershed Association introductory meeting with uh their ED Andy Rogers. I'm just uh beginning to be on this committee, I've attended two meetings, but this was the first introductory meeting. And just for those people that are not aware of what North Bay Watershed Association does is

they basically facilitate partnerships across the political boundaries to promote stewardship of watershed resource and and they work with uh Napa, Marin, Solano Cap, portions of Solano Cap County and Sonoma County and wanted to let everybody know that their annual u conference is April 9th. Tickets are still available to go. They are the name of it is meeting this moment in a climate of change. Um and that will be from 9 to 4 on April 9th at the College of Marin Jonas Center which is in I think of it as Ignosio. Some people call it neato but still Ignosio to me. Um and this is their 25th anniversary. And as I said you can go to uh nbwatershed.orgvent2026 if you want to get tickets to attend it. It's going to be a very interesting day. Many presentations about our our watershed and you know all things water in the North Bay, how it works and how that wonderful water serves us. And then um I also want to just do a quick celebration of the limit line. As a walker in the city, uh I just would like to celebrate the limit line. Everybody knows what the limit line is. It's that line you're supposed to stop at when you come to an intersection where there is a stop sign. And what it does is it allows for walkers like myself to safely cross. And I think it's just good for everybody to realize that there is the crosswalk and then there's the limit line, which is the limit line is where you stop. In the middle of the crosswalk is generally not the best place to stop because you want to be able to look for walkers. Anyways, you want to do that. And then last but not least, today was and um not to get this all started early, but my last weekly meeting with city manager David Huan before he goes on to run our

county. Just wanted to thank you. It's been learned so much from you. It's been was a great meeting as usual. Many great conversations happened and have happened in those Monday meetings. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh this time I have the four meetings I going to the reports. First one is the March 19 that is the the second day last city concerning meeting. Uh I was attending zero waste Sonoma. We uh this organization used to be Sonoma County waste management agency. Right now they change the name zero no waste to Sonoma. uh we discussed about and the fee will be increased for those organic disposal fees increase just only the by less than 1% and several cents but we already in the reliance is increase so we were very carefully review it for sure know any arrows if it is not necessary and also we approved They early in the prepared 2026 2027's final budget and according to our board members suggestion they increased reserve the fund little bit to the meet those kind of emergency use and to avoid any and uh unexpected meeting for all members border members will come from the and the county you gather together. It's not a wise decision. So we got a unanimous approved for the budget and also we approved credit agreement using our count's fund because and zero waste sonoma are preparing a big project for those uh the

hazard hazardous waste in the treatment facilities. And we roughly need $16 million. Most of the fund we have been uh allocated but just in case. So that we approved line of the credit for this 16 and a million. This is the first meeting. The second meeting is Sonoma County Mayors and City Council and Association legislative committee. Basically during the visit meeting we review current and state legislated 12 different bills. Uh we get an updated for each bill. What is current status? What is C's position? What is what are they in the for the local legislative and the state senator and also assembly. So then finally we choose seven of different bills and choose support. We vote unanimously. Uh this bills I would like to share with everyone. SB 922 vehicle local agency charges. AB 1708 homeless housing assistance and prevention program SB 1866 the California Disaster Assignment and Act Assistant Act. Uh this one was and proposed by uh Chris Rogers. AB 1761 that is electricity calculations methods updated disclosure. AB 1699

good file act prescribing the fire liability pilot to the program. Next one is the SB299 that is California Environment Quality Act AB 2517 the fire safety fire hazards and the severity in the zones that is the total seven bills we want you to support any comments and inputs and you can direct the contact our association and we will get an opportunity for you to get your and thinking and your thoughts for sure and your voice could be heard during this legislation process. This is second meeting. The third meeting is uh last Thursday I went to the Orange County for the Cal City policy committee that is a revenue and the taxation we discussed initiative 25006 and the because basically this is and the bill just want to protect uh the proposition 13. We have a lot of the discussion. We have lot of the and the controversy issues. We share a lot of the ideas each other and also we discuss about the state tax working groups the report and also we got the updated for the legislative budget. I think I would like to stop here too many although that I

didn't report and the province city council meeting and also and this afternoon I was attending groundwater sustainability agency the meeting and we proved preliminary preliminary and budget and the big difference is last year we have 2.7 revenue and income but this year we just only have a quarter million and the grants because the grants and it's on uncertainty. So that is very in the pity. So we just balanced on the service provider and our revenue on the revenue and the last thing is uh contain the groundwater uh agencies just publish it ground the water and the well use the manual. It was happened first time during the last 20 years. Uh this afternoon we look at we really like it and also we can find the soft copy on the website and also I already ask the container staff bring some hard copy to the uh the city hall. Thank you so much mayor.

Thank you on this side. Very good. Well, uh I'll wrap up real quick. On the 21st, uh there was another community gathering at our historic cemetery for raking leaves, pulling weeds, and uh it was an opportunity to really uh again be reminded how special our cemetery is. And as I understand it from our new parks director, we will be uh aggressively soliciting friends of the cemetery in the notsodistant future where you two will have a more prominent role in how to save or I shouldn't say save, how to improve our incredible uh resource. On the uh 23rd, I was uh had the opportunity to attend a roundt that was focused on affordable housing and was hosted by Mike Thompson, attended by Rebecca Hermesio as well as a number of of um um players that are involved including Burbank Housing and uh it was something that the discussion basically was there are changes in the win and then how can we go forward and best uh again accomp accomplish the creation of some affordable housing in our valley. Um, so it again it was uh I won't say discouraging, but it just means that we're going to have to be creative going forward. The um the last item uh I have attended on again is the homeless coalition board. Uh the focus continues to be with the anticipation of cut back in funds. How can we continue to keep the programs we've worked hard to establish? how can we keep them going? So, uh, with that, I'll wrap that up at our end and we will

now turn to our city manager's last update. Mr. Giwan,

thank you so much, Mayor. Um, I have a list of items here I'd like to just update you on. Uh, first, I want to thank the public works crews for completing seven now, I believe, uh, ADA ramps around town. Uh the most three the three most recent were over on Third Street West and that's in preparation for the Go Sonoma CIP project which will um established a bike boulevard down um West Third. So thank you to the crews for getting those done. Um as also as you came in this this afternoon and saw the construction over at on the Field of Dreams here. A lot of work is being done by city staff and the fiddle dreams team to u fix some ADA improvement do some ADA improvements, storm water um improvements and some grading improvements to help with the transition of transcendence moving over to this new location um and to um enhance the fiddle dreams area for future use for other uses as well. So that that project's about 50% complete and will be done on time for opening night. Um tomorrow uh local fest 2026 is happening at the vintage house from 5:30 to 7:30. is hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and it's an interactive showcase highlighting Sonoma Valley's newest businesses and nonprofit organizations. It's free. You can drop in and check that out. Our discretionary funding applications, which is where we provide uh grants to local nonprofits that provide community benefit activities throughout the year. Um those are currently open. Um those applications are due this Friday. So, please, if you're a nonprofit or you want to host a community event, and there's information on the website, please check that out and get your applications in by this Friday, April 3rd. Also, on April 3rd is a deadline to enter the 6th annual Earth Day, the power of water photo contest. So, you remember last year was there were the trees, so this year is all about water. Um, those will be displayed here in the council chambers. Um, after that, uh, is over. Uh, the Easter Bunny is going to be visiting the plaza this Saturday from at on April 4th. The annual children's Easter egg hunt is happening. Starts at 10 a.m. sharp. So, I think you need to get there early

because I've seen pictures of the chaos that rains when they left the the ropes down. Um, treasure artist reception honoring Ada Leone is Thursday, April 16th, and that's going to be in the plaza at the amphitheater. So, that'll be a great event. Everyone is welcome to attend that. Uh, you can get information on our website about that as well. And then as you mentioned uh mayor about affordable housing the ultimone affordable housing wait list um is opens on April 1st. So that is the ultimate drone in Sonoma will open April 1st and remain open through April 15th. It it's a 48 unit apartment comp located on 1269 Broadway has 1, two, and threebedroom units and it's managed by our satellite affordable housing association. So uh please check that out. We have information on our website. There's two ways to apply for those affordable housing units online or in paper. Um you can go to the website to get information about how to apply for either of those. But again, April 1 it opens and it closes through on April 15th. And um as mayor, as you mentioned, this is my last meeting with you all and I do want to thank you um for your leadership as a council, your professionalism and constantly demonstrating how working together we actually get a lot done in this community. So thank you for that. Um it's been noticed I know by me by staff and the community. Um it's been a wonderful opportunity to work for you and be with you and thank you to my cohort, my city manager here and the staff behind me. Um just thank you so much. Thank you. Now we'll segue over to our attorney in if he has nothing we'll move on.

Nothing. Nothing this evening. Thanks. Very good. Thank you. So I believe we are now turning to the event that most of you are here for and that is for a presentation and a celebration uh and honor for Tommy Thompson. And I think that the way I'd like to conduct it this evening is instead of me reading the certificate of recognition first and given the number of people here I think we will um recognize maybe embarrass Mr. Thompson, but have you come to the podium and share comments about our uh music, our very uh talented musician and we'll go from there.

All right. How's everybody? What a wonderful achievement. I'll tell you how humble. You know, it is uh because of another fellow in this room right now that uh that I started out um musically and he was the guy who paid for my original piano lessons. He's 101 years old. He'll be 102 on uh July 10th. And he was born here in 1924. And I was born here in 1945. 48. Want you to say hi to Mr. Fred Thompson back there.

He does. They ask me uh when we go to breakfast, what's your brother want to eat? You know, so uh and I have to thank my mom because my mom is really my musical influence. A lot of you don't know this, but my mom was a boogie woogie piano player.

And she played house parties, you know, Ralph Hoes and uh different Mr. Bill, you know, the hairdresser. and they'd have these wonderful parties and she'd go play Little Stride and Little Boogie. And I started taking lessons around seven years old and by the time I was 12, I could do her boogie woogie. And I discovered it's a great way to get girls to sit next to you on the bench. Let me tell you, did a lot of birthday parties in those days. And that sort of kicked me off. You know, I was my dad's little bartender. You know, I said, "Get him a beer. get him a high ball, get him a martini, not too much for a moose, and then get on that piano and play some boogie. And uh so, um I'm just uh was very surprised that uh and thank you to uh Karen and Bill for everything you've done for us. We have a little club that we bought eight years ago in Texas called uh the Church of Western Swing. and the church of could you stand and show your t-shirts ladies both of you that's our and cow cows it's a great acronym church of western swing right there and it's the last weekend of April every year it's been on for 56 years now and uh the town is actually around 300 people and it goes to to between three and 5,000 to celebrate western swing and bomb wheels in particular. And I think that our church uh we bought it eight years ago and we did the remodel on it. My partner Freya Horn uh and I did uh I couldn't have done this without her. I'll tell you that. And uh this is our

eighth year going down the motor home. And so uh uh we restored the living area to the church. We kind of left the church as it was and cleaned that up a little bit, but we still need uh you know u construction stuff done to the church to get it back to where it originally was. And so we have benefits every year. We'll be having one in July, July 18th at Sebastian Theater. And so we hope you all keep an eye out for that and come down. and the queen of boogie woogie, Miss Wendy Dwit, who I gave her very first piano lesson to when she was about 8 years old and uh at Rita Booth's house, Glenn Ellen, right across from the rustic in. This is a little bit of history, ladies and gentlemen. Some of you might not. The rustic in where Jack London used to drink, you know, that was uh where I played piano there. I'd show up at 5 and leave at 2:00 a.m., you know, and uh I was the the piano guy with a, you know, long neck on each end and then the shots of Jack Daniels all the way down. And

thank God now I have I'm proud to say 38 years of sobriety, which uh I'm one of the lucky ones, you know. I'm one of the lucky ones and I've had wonderful sponsors. It's a great program and uh I encourage anybody who you know wants to wants to stop drinking and I'm understand Squire that they're having a lot of non-alcoholic wines coming out. Gen X start Gen X stop drink stop drinking a whole generation. Anyway, thank you so much ladies and gentlemen. Do you have any questions?

Excuse me. That's my job. I didn't think so. And we're having an afterparty at Murphy's and they've been snugging back and I've got a couple of mics back there. Dave Aguilar is going to come down. Dennis Cordellis, Jeff Falconer, John Williams is going to come and play. I've known John since he's been eight years old. You know, this is a wonderful place to grow up. And I was in the merchant marine for about 37 years and traveled all over the world. And uh my father put me in there so he could get rid of me, you know. So uh I had a legitimate job and I took my guitar with me everywhere I went. And uh you know started busking like Ramblin Jack Elliot. And I talked to Jack the other day. He's 92 now. And uh we have he loves ships like I love ships, you know, going to sea. My grandfather was a sailor from Denmark. And uh he showed up here in 1906 and was in the earthquake and he came up here and he had the beer distributorship. So when I was in high school, we had bottle cake and can we could deliver my cousin Larry and I would deliver down at Steiners while they're watching the ball game, you know. So anyway, I I'll love Yeah. Don't forget Wednesday we're having April 1st um we're having a celebration annual celebration for KSVY to which I have a program swinging out west Fridays 2 to three and I play a lot of my buddies that play western swing and uh uh how many people know actually what western swing is? All right, a few. look up Bob Wells and the Texas Playboys because he was a a musical icon that invented a style of

music and uh that music was aimed mostly at poor people and he really uh focused on giving them some happiness and some joy uh just for a little while out of the misery of their lives. And I talked to people back in Oklahoma who, you know, walked a couple of miles barefoot with their good shoes in their hand just so they their shoes wouldn't be all muddy and screwed up by the time they're dancing to Bob, you know, and the band stand would be lined with babies. They they you know, because families were welcome and uh then the couples would be dancing and their kids right there on the band stand. And it was uh quite a you know quite a quite a history from Bob Wills and I fell in love with him really early in the 70s and uh pursued I'm in three Western swing halls of fame and I won the uh Academy of Western Artist Will Rogers award down in 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. And uh thank you. And to be a to be a Texan, you know, when Frey and I got to church, I thought, "Oh boy, here we go." You know, we already got two strikes against us. You know, Democrats from California. Boy, we're screwed, man. But you know, they love Freya and they love me because if you're dedicated to Western Swing to the degree that we are, everything else disappears. There's no political talk at all. And the group of musicians who show up are some of the original, you know, they're they're the second wave of the original players. And it's it's it's a historical thing. It's four days of uh it's there's a certain spirituality to that music, you know,

and where it brings uh thousands and thousands of people together, you know, and uh so anyway, thank you once again for my lifetime achievement award. I've been the musical accompaniment to my entire life. Not quite. I I want an opportunity for a few a few from the public to speak and compliment you. So, you can take your compliments maybe back into this seat, but then you'll be coming back to get your award.

Okay. Super. Um, and then I just need clarity. I'm still relatively young at the mayor. Was I supposed to give him two minutes? Good luck.

And I'm confused. I thought we were giving the award and bet he turned his back on us. I'm not sure. Can we rescend that? Is that possible? So with that in mind, uh please step forward and let's uh let's be gracious uh both with statements and time. Uh good evening. Uh my name is Steve Paige and I have the privilege of being the board president for K's for uh for KSPY media u where by the way you could be watching this meeting on channel 27 or you could flip up to channel 28 and be watching the Lady Dragons across the street playing softball. So commercial over. Um, we are obviously KSVY 91.3 FM radio. We have 65 volunteer hosts that provide the content and there is nobody that we are prouder to have on the air than Tommy Thompson swinging out west every Friday 2 to three. Don't miss it. Thanks. Congratulations to Tommy. uh Karen Collins. And this is um this is with an apology to poetry lovers everywhere. There was a young boy named Tommy. He got music lessons from his mommy and he could play just about everything, but his music of choice was western swing. So with his keyboard and his guitar, he did Rome, but he always called Sonoma home. He played his music far and wide, and it became a source of local pride. He made for himself quite a name and has inducted into several halls of fame.

He's brought our me our he's brought our valley so much joy. So, thank you for honoring the hometown boy.

Hello again. I'm still Rod Mary Moore and I'm still president of Music and Place, I think. I hope so. Um anyway, I just wanted to acknowledge um you all and everyone on staff here for taking the time and recognizing how important music and the arts are to our culture. I think it's a really big deal for a city to step up and to be very public about it and to acknowledge our our treasures like Tommy and Ada Leone and the people that we really make a point to to bring them out and step up and do it. I also want to acknowledge the city's support for the live music that is presented in the summers uh that many many people come to. I think a lot of folks here have have been coming to these concerts and we all know that that and Tommy represents this maybe maybe as much or more than anyone and that is is that that music and the arts bring us together in a way that nothing else does. It's a great equalizer and all the different parts and components of our community join together to have a good time and have a positive experience. So, thank you city and staff for taking the time for this acknowledgement for uh Tommy Thompson who certainly deserves it in a very big way. Much appreciation. These is those are some hard acts to follow. I'm Janice King. I'm the president of the Sonoma Valley Jazz Society and I want to thank you for recognizing Tommy as a musician. Um, as Rod said, but I also want to thank Tommy for bringing Western

Swing to Soma and also um his kindness, his joy, and he's fun to be with, and he's a great show. So, um, we've been really blessed here in Soma. Thank you, Tommy. Good evening. Uh my name is Ronnie Joe Grooms. I'm the program director at KSBY Sonoma. So I have the great privilege of uh there's kind of a revolving door of amazing human beings who come through uh every week uh who have great histories but of uh as Steve said uh like legends like Tommy Thompson who wander in and play music for us for an hour every week. and I get the story and the culture and the history both local and the whole scene. Uh it's an amazing and quite an honor for me uh to be a part of KSPY and Tommy makes me feel that way each week. Uh and I just wanted to point out, yes, we turned 22 years old on April 1st. It is community radio day in Soma. Tommy Thompson set starts at 6:00 p. p.m. So, put an alarm on your phone uh for that. Uh it's open house all day. Everyone's invited to come on down, but the real party's on the radio. Just keep it locked. 913 FM. Thank you.

Hello, my name's uh Val Harrisy and um I just wanted to share my trip to Turkey, Texas. The first bit of counsel I got from Tommy was shut up about Jesus, guns, and Trump. Don't say a word about it. And um I figured by the time I got there, I and came into town, it was pretty clear that was spot-on good advice. My friend and I, Scott, flew into Amarillo. He said, "I want to get the best cowboy hat money can buy." We went to Caenders. The hat guy came out in with a box. It was probably worth $500. Opened it up, put on white gloves, handed to my friend Scott. And um Scott went to put on. He said, "No, no, don't touch it." Anyway, it was a Stson Tayamo. It was $5,500. So, he bought a straw hat or a palm hat. We drove down to Turkey and um you know they got two kinds of dirt down in Turkey. They got uh ground dirt, that's dirt on the ground, and they got blow dirt. And that's the dirt that blows on you. Uh Tommy uh had a a very good friend down there. His name was Gary Beaver, I think.

Gary Beaver. He was a What kind of Indian was he?

Cherokee. He's a Cherokee. And I don't know if I got it right, but I think he had just recently got out of the big house down there. And uh Tommy says, "Uh, Gary and Bubbles have invited us down for breakfast this morning." And I said, "Well, Tommy, we just had breakfast." He says, "We're going to have another breakfast because you don't say no to to uh to Gary Beaver." So, we went down there. We had another uh had another breakfast and uh Gary Beaver says, "You guys want to go up on the roof?" We said, "Well, why would we want to go up on the roof, Gary?" And he looked at me and he said, "To look around." So, we went outside and he went into his garage and he brought out this ladder that was absolutely falling apart. It was duct taped together. It was a mess. And I looked at Gary and I said, "Gary, where did you get this ladder?" And he looked at me and he said, "At the dump. This is Turkey, Texas. I'm going to tell you, Tommy told me, Val, if you come, you'll never forget it." And I'm telling you, that's the truth. And I would I I would encourage anybody if you want to, you know, if people talk about lifestyle, but if you really want to understand lifestyle, you got to see it, touch it, smell it, feel it, and um go to Turkey, Texas. Go to the uh Church of Western Swing. You'll never forget it. Thank you. Thank you.

I think we'll we'll offer up one more opportunity to pass compliments on and then I believe that with the celebration at I believe it was Murphy's that the flow of compliments will continue, but we also have some business to take care of up here. So, please, this will be short and sweet. Uh my name's Dave Aguilar and I've known Tommy for many, many moons. And uh I'm just so glad that his talent and his uh skill level is being appreciated and recognized. And uh Tom and I, we've been on a couple of road trips together. And some of those stories aren't really for public consumption, but I just want to say just uh he's a dear friend and I'm so glad for him and and I cherish his friendship. All right, Tommy.

Now, before uh Mr. Mr. Thompson, if you do want to come forward before I read this uh certificate of recognition, and I hope I don't regret this. Um there's we're struggling today with trying to figure out what's true and what's not. And we know that there is a lot of hyperbole expressed across across the country, including Washington DC. So although I am not a skeptic of what I've just heard about your talent, I think you need to share one song in front of all of us. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tommy Thompson. I'll be your entertainment tonight.

One song. How about a hand for the mayor?

All right. And I don't know if I mentioned him before, but uh there was a guy in this valley, a musician that there'll never be another musician like him. And uh he would never cease to amaze me by the uh the things that he could do on stage. and and he was uh mindblowingly talented and he was really uh the salt of when he found Soma he just wanted to be here. I mean he was and I'm speaking about the one and only Norton Buffalo.

Oh yeah.

And uh his son Eli is here tonight and surely nice to see him. Should we bother tuning? I've had good luck and bad luck and no luck is true. But I always get lucky with you. I've been turned down and turned around when the bars are closed at two, but I always get lucky with you. I've had two strikes against me most all of the time. And when it's down to just a phone call, well, I'm minus a dime. I've had good days and bad days, but when the day is through, I always get lucky with you. I've searched all my life for that pot of gold at the rainbow's end. I found you again. Cuz I always get lucky with you. You know I do, baby. Thank you.

So that exhibit I am very pleased as part of the city of Soma to give you the certificate of recognition declaring March 30th, 2026, mayor of the city of Soma. March 30th, 2026 as Tommy Thompson. Your many contributions to our community are recognized. Thank you. That's showbiz, folks. See you at Murphy's. Entertainment.

Just for the record, It was always like We still have some members of the audience left.

Yes. Okay. Soon as they we will come back. We're back. We're back. So, at this point, we're going to move on to the consent calendar. These are items that are considered routine and will be acted on in one single motion, unless anybody up here would like to pull one of the items 71 through 78. So, anyone wish to pull anything? I see no positive heads saying yes. So with that, may I have a motion?

I move approval of the consent calendar. I Oh, Bob. Go ahead and second it. Then we'll go forward. I'll second.

Okay. At this point, we're going to have to try to correct my mistake. Uh we'd like to give the public an opportunity to come forward and speak on u the consent calendar motion or whatever. But this one I've heard of getting the hook, but I've never seen the falling chair. But anyway, so nobody coming from the public. So we've had a uh a motion and a second. And at this point, may we have roll call, please? Council member Fer Rivas,

yes. Vice Mayor Lowe, yes. Council member Ding, yes. Council member Gernney, yes. Mayor Weller, yes. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Now, moving on to our regular calendar for the city council of this evening. We are going to start with 9.1 which is to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a three-year contract to amend with flock safety for automated license plate reader. And I do believe our speaker has approached the podium. And so at this point we will give you the time.

Mayor, council, staff, uh city manager, I'm proud to present this in your last meeting and sorry this is your last meeting. It's been a great time. uh and community and everybody else staff that's here. Um I am talking to you about the uh ALPR technology, our flock contract, and I'm going to do this a little differently and I presented this uh in 2023 uh to council. I actually had a public meeting. Um I believe uh council member Gurnie was the only uh community member that that actually showed up at that uh just to sort of learn about it. Outside of that, we didn't have any uh community uh concerns of the system because it was still relatively new in the eyes of the public. Today, it's a different story. There's a lot of stuff going on nationally that's caused um angst with public databases and reasonably so. And so I would like to start out by addressing the the um elephant in the room, the issue of privacy and and how we protect the data that we are currently collecting um as we have been since uh approximately August or October of 2023 when our first camera uh was applied um which is with flock. So, the first thing I want to talk about is SP34, uh, which is how it's commonly referred to, but in reality, uh, it was codified into this California Civil Code, uh, 1798.90.52. And specific to that section, it talks about how we retain data uh, and what we have to provide if, uh, somebody wants to know what we're doing. This is a a very protected form of data that is well regulated by the state by the uh by our policies and

by flock itself in the security that we have in this collection of data. The other section is 1798.90.53. This is a little bit more specific into who has access to our data and how we how we manage that access through our internal system that we that we log into and we uh do all of our uh law enforcement services through it. Another section is California Government Code 7284.8. Um this is what became of SB54 which is immigration related and this essentially says that anything that we collect in here can't be shared with the federal government for any or any government for uh immigration purposes. And then our policy 430. So Sonoma County Sheriff's Office policy. And I don't need to remind you guys, but as a contract city within the sheriff's office, our city law enforcement policies are county sheriff's office policies as well. The county policy 430 is our automated lights automated license plate recognition policy. And flock is not directly named in that because it's not uh the company it's the it's the system that is that has the policy and our policy in this 430.4 is about releasing of ALPR data and the fact that we cannot it is a violation of of government code as I just showed you and of civil code and as well policy and the policy expands and it says out of state and federal. So, this is a slide that I actually presented back in 2023, and I've just made some amendments to it because I I kind of want to highlight the fact that back in 23 when I first presented this,

they there were some claims made by Flock uh and I made the same uh presentation to you uh that Flock could do certain things for us and it has done those things and that's what I want to talk about. So, it it directly assess law enforcement. I refer to license plate readers as the greatest technological advancement for law enforcement since the cell phone. And if you don't know, your cell phone is utilized in every criminal investigation that we do when you're involved in some way. The next best thing that we have had is this flock technology or license plate reading technology, which didn't start in 23 when we began this. It actually began many years before. I believe around 2007 is when California agencies started using versions of it. 2010 is when I personally started becoming very interested in it based on some crimes I was investigating. But coming to fruition into the current technology we have with Flock obviously in in Soma in 2023. How it works is that each camera and I'll show you images of those cameras in a moment. you've maybe seen them around town. Creates a digital thumbrint of the vehicle. It is not a person. It is factually just the vehicle itself. Uh the database can then be searched by us and law enforcement and allow it allows us the opportunity to solve cases when some piece of vehicle information is known but not all. uh the the concerns that we get we received in the early days of this and we still have our policy uh be our sheriff's office policy 430 which I brought up u does address those those security issues and safety concerns of data access but as well the only people that have access to our system are those

that have California department of justice klets access which is a law enforcement telecommunication system that we have to be vetted through. We we are tested every two every year, excuse me, on that system and we have to have authorization to have access to that. We hold the same standard on our automated license plate reader system. There's no personal information attributed to any of the civilian flock database, the ALPR database. uh it is specific to the vehicle and we don't allow any outofstate sharing of this information and no sharing with the federal government. We have been performing audits on our system since the very first camera was installed and those audits are done on an internal basis and as well we've been receiving public record requests on our data since the inception of our cameras and we have been providing that for about a year and a half to watchdog agencies across the state um including uh several universities. The data of every single search on our database has been released publicly to these these organizations and they have scrutinized our data for some time. We have not had any violations of any kind with our data. So the current reality is we we can't be everywhere every all the time. Law enforcement can't. There's only two two deputies assigned to the police department on any given shift. for them to be expected to be all around the city of Soma, I it's an impossibility. So allowing us this tool to capture what I call 2020 vision and perfect recall, memory recall, and to provide that back to us after the fact is an incredible tool.

The when I when I first began here in in 22 23, we had a lot of unsolved cases. We had about 200 unsolved cases a year. Uh what I can tell you is that today every CA criminal case that has come up where a vehicle is involved and there's some piece of information about that vehicle, we are at a 100% solution on those cases. That is an incredible opportunity, which is why I keep referring to the ALPR as the greatest thing since cell phones because cell phones used to give us some of that. uh technology multiplies our force. Um and then the the big concern of the cameras being visible and I'm going to show you a picture of them. You've probably seen them. I don't release publicly our mapping of where they are. U I believe everybody on council probably has seen them and has an idea of where they are, but because it's a law enforcement database, I'm not required to release that piece of it publicly. But they are visible. I don't believe that they've caused any issues in our tourism. In fact, I think uh we have solved some cases that some tourists in our area have been victim of based on those cameras and and they are well aware of that as we oftentimes will explain how we solve cases. Here's one of our cameras. This is what it looks like. This isn't one of our cameras by the way. I didn't take off a poll for this, but and that license plate's not even a California plate. But just to give you an example of what it does is it takes a motion image as a vehicle travels past the camera that everything that's captured in there is utilizes the um a the um artificial intelligence of the system which is designed by flock in this case and we are able to search it for a lot of different parts. So, type of car being manufacturer of car, sedan, truck, whatever. Uh, the specifics we have of that vehicle, partial plates. So, if someone says, I I saw a vehicle

and the last plate was one, two, three, I can bring up all the one, two, three plates that passed by within a certain time frame and I can identify suspects from that. Uh, this evidence is um it doesn't discriminate. Uh, there is no bias to it. It is specific to vehicle only. um there's no there's no people that are captured from it, even if it's a head-on camera towards a vehicle as the vehicle is approaching the the image. And you can see sort of in this image on the screen here, how you can't really make out any passengers inside of the vehicle. Uh the only time and the caveat is the only time you'll see a person associated with the vehicle is if they're hanging out of the window. they're driving by with with their body outside of that window because the technology does not uh blur that out. Uh but color everything else uh as well we can search the database for when that particular vehicle has passed certain cameras through our network and we'll talk more about that. U it's license plate recognition. It gathers evidence. Um, and this evidence when we receive it, it's not treated as probable cause or um, a factual piece of information. It's it's reasonable suspicion at best. Um, if at the really the at the root of it, we treat it as a as a as a tip almost. So, uh, for example, if we were to receive a stolen car hit of a vehicle that had passed one of our license plate readers, we first confirmed that the plate was read correctly by the camera. Then we have to go and confirm that that plate is in fact the same one attached to the same vehicle that was stolen. All of that's done by radio through our patrol cars before we've even made contact with the vehicle itself. Then once we've confirmed all that, just like if I pulled in behind a stolen car driving down the street, then we can do conduct our process of a traffic stop. But we don't make any we don't have any

law enforcement action based solely upon a flock or a license plate reader connection. Uh what it isn't it's not facial recognition. I already said there's no personal information attached to these hits, meaning that it doesn't connect to uh the Department of Motor Vehicles database uh much like our our Klutz computers do in our car. So I can run your plate. These do not connect to that in any way. Uh it's not used for traffic enforcement. We don't have speed cameras on there. I know sometimes that's unfortunate and we don't have stop sign. Thank you for the limit line throw out there earlier. Um it it does not capture that data and we cannot use it um in traffic enforcement. Uh the data is not stored beyond 30 days. So on the 31st day it's automatically deleted. And on this it says automatically deletes every 30 days. It's actually automatically deletes on the 31st day. Um and it's only accessible by those that we've given access to. And that's the big piece that's in the media right now that's that's been all over the place is that Flock has some somehow granted access to out of state or federal agencies and I'll talk a little bit about it here in a minute but uh the only way you can have access to our database and I've been using this since the beginning and I stood before you and I talked about the privacy of the database and how people can be granted and I stand by that today that if someone has access to the Sonoma camera database. It's because I personally gave it to them. The Flock system is very clear in the designations of how they allow the corporate side of their company to interact with our database. And our database is our database. You if you read through the contract, which I believe you have a copy of, it was signed back in 23. The language hasn't changed in that. The data is still our data. for flock to have access to it. We have to grant them

access on a limited as needed basis is not an automatic process that they can get into it and therefore they cannot provide access to anybody outside of our authorization for them. It's a proactive real time alerts that we get. So on on law enforcement cell phones, we get notifications when a crime vehicle has entered or pass one of our cameras. Um, it also is very helpful for us when we have an in progress crime. We can immediately add that vehicle into our alert and we can be notified when that vehicle passes our cameras so that we know if we're still looking for a suspect within the city or externally outside. It's also, as I already said, our clearance rates are are very s we're very successful on them. I don't have a number of how many unsolved we have today. uh that that data is a little more difficult to mine through. But what I will say is and I and I stand by it. We are a 100% solution when there is a vehicle involved in crime in the city and we're able to have some piece of information about it. I'm not saying everybody gets prosecuted, but the solution is we understand who the suspect vehicle is in those cases. Uh and we do believe that the cameras act is a good deterrent. There are a lot of databases that are online. If you do a um a Google search for flock or or ALPR cameras around California, you'll find maps where people have added them. I I don't think that these are law-abiding people that are looking for where the cameras are. I'm not traveling into a city concerned about necessarily where I'm seen. I understand there are a lot of law-abiding people that concern about the the big brother aspect of this, but most of the people that would be looking for a map like that are looking for ways to commit crime without being detected. So, I do believe our cameras are a fantastic deterrent as they are on the outskirts of the city.

Uh privacy, I already explained our footage is owned by us, by you, the city. It's a 30-day retention. Uh we don't go beyond the 30 days. law allows us to go up to 90. Uh there are several bills and I talked initially about the uh AB3 or SB34 and uh 54 and how those are affecting how we do stuff. There have been several other bills that have recently made it up through the legislature. uh they haven't passed yet, but I've read the language in all of them and I can say we're well under and we're well within the constraints that those uh assembly or or senate bills from the California House will um put on us and we're still well within all of those standards. Uh it takes the human bias out of this. So if uh there's concern of of race or uh bias from law enforcement, this is a vehicle database. It is not a person database. uh and it's as as reported back in uh two 2023 all data is secured on a Amazon AWS cloud. I'm I'm not a tech guy but I I know AWS cloud is an Amazon server and the AES 256 encryption is how the data goes from the point of request to the point of receipt in our database so that it is a secured transmission so that that couldn't possibly be intercepted and used. uh we all always require a lawful reason to conduct a search and that is all captured within our audit process which I'll talk about in a minute. There's no facial recognition. There's no predictive policing. There's no PI and II. We talk about that a lot because that is a very important point for the community. It's not used for traffic enforcement. Uh and it's not connected to any outside databases. What? So, I brought this slide up the last time and I had some outof area uh representations of cases. Uh there are

this is sort of the types of cases that we've been solving in Soma with this. We do have a running log of cases and I'd be happy to sit down and go through that with you. Uh but the types of cases that are honestly the most often utilized for it hit and run accidents. Uh we don't have any unsolved hit and run cases in Soma unless your car was hit at night when it was parked out front and nobody saw it and there's no cameras, no neighbor cameras to capture a vehicle, but even those we've quite often been able to solve them depending on where they occurred on the vehicles that are traveling at that time. Uh but most of these hit-and- run cases also don't end up in criminal prosecution. A lot of times when we are able to identify a suspect in a hit and run, especially in Soma during the day, a lot of these are accidental. Sometimes they're sometimes they're kids and they're scared. A lot of times they're they're elderly people who are involved in these and didn't notice they were in an accident. So, we're able to civily solve these so that we're not creating criminal uh prosecution on people when both parties are in agreement on it. Elder abuse and elder uh fraud cases, we've had a lot of those and we actually have quite a few of them in this community on a monthly basis. When people show up at a at a person's home and they are asking for a cash payment to solve some situation that they're in, we still have a lot of people that fall for these scams. They almost always can remember the type of vehicle or they have an image of it. And we're able to link that to our ALPR data based on the time that they came into town or left town. And we're able to do a lineup, so to speak, with that vehicle in front of them and solve that case. Most of these are coming out of these uh organized theft cases out of the Bay Area. And so our ALPR data is assisting other localities ALPR data as well for these types of cases. Vandalism, domestic violence restraining orders. We get a lot of those and it's always a he

said, she said, or whatever the circumstances are. And with this data, we're able to say a lot of times a person did in fact enter the city of Soma where that protected person is after they've already made a statement, I haven't been near Sonoma. So, believe it or not, that's actually a really great tool for those types of cases. Uh, nighttime breakin and burglaries, everybody has uh Ring cameras or the different types of doorbell ring cameras and those capture images of vehicles. It's a it's sort of a footprint of a plate and then we can use that data and compare it to LPR data and we're able to solve a lot of those car burglaries and and little things taken from porches and whatnot uh through our database. Retail theft, organized retail theft is a very large issue in the Bay Area. Uh there were laws passed last year or two years ago, excuse me, that were able to aggregate retail theft. So that if you went into Safeway in Soma and only stole a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff, but you had done that over seven or eight different municipalities and had that aggregate total went over the the threshold for a felony. This is where our re our ALPR technology is fantastic because we can connect all the communities together. the DAS can can negotiate which agency is going to or locality is going to prosecute those cases. And a lot of it is done through the ALPR technology. And then violent crimes. And I I I don't I can't talk a lot about this one because it's still in the prosecution phase, but I do want to kind of bring up that in September of of last year, we did have a very um significant home invasion uh very violent attack on a on a older couple uh living up on Wood Valley Road off Louisville Valley. And while that's not in the city limits, uh the suspects stole the the victim's vehicle and traveled back into the city, through the

city, and then into neighboring Santa Rosa. It was our ALPR technology that was able to locate the stolen vehicle that was taken in the in the crime as a whole, track it all the way into Santa Rosa and utilize our tracking facility, our tracking option of the technology to identify the car that was directly behind it as it passed every camera, thus giving us the suspect. We then use ALPR technology to track that suspect up into a Lake County casino where they were subsequently arrested later that very same evening. So, a lot of solution on that one case. And like I said, that is still going through the court. So, I'm not going to get into all the details, but that's the overview of that one. And then, uh, two years ago, actually, three years a two years ago now, uh, we had a gentleman that was, uh, wreaking havoc around the downtown, stealing tables. Um, he stole equipment from Little League uh, the Dutch Brothers tables on Broadway uh, right out of the ground and they were actually bolted down. Um, and that one he made the mistake that he actually used had to use his vehicle to get those tables home and he passed our uh one of our cameras on Broadway. And when he did so, uh, we were able to, uh, identify the license plate and find out that he was actually a person living within the city. And we put 10 separate, uh, significant theft cases on them. We opened up two different storage facilities and found multiple other victims of other crimes that we didn't even know had existed because they hadn't been reported. That was a very significant case uh for this city and for ALPR. Um and then uh just crimes oh crimes that occur in other jurisdictions. So we often get alerts that are based on uh Santa Rosa had a homicide. That suspect drove right through the city of Soma and was apprehended on the other side. Uh based on the ALPR and the and the rapidness of which they were able to put that license plate into the system. we were given the notice and it was it was conducted uh

within a few hours of the actual occurrence of the crime. So, how many law enforcement agencies have been given the ability to search our data? Um, and again, it's only retained for 30 days. So, they can only search that 30 days worth of data. Um, big point, federal law enforcement agencies, none. They never have been given access. Out of state agencies, none. They have not been given access at all. And California law enforcement agencies, there are currently 313 agencies that have the ability to search our database. And those 313 agencies, I have personally given each of them the approval based on their instate law enforcement status and what is retained. So I talked about a minute ago the audit and I mentioned that I've done some PAS for about the last year and a half and I've given data back to every single search. So the only data that's retained beyond the 30 days is that. So you can look and ask me for every single agency that's had a query, the date of their query, their user ID, what agency they are, uh the number of networks they search for at that time, the specific time frame, the date and time, the reason being meaning the crime, what what crime had been committed that forced them to access that data. And that's for outside agencies. I can also do the same thing for all of our deputies and and those who have law enforcement access from the Sonoma side of the house. Quite honestly, that's that's the the presentation. And I know uh this is a topic that has made national attention, definitely statewide attention. And one thing I didn't include in my presentation is about three weeks ago, uh, I went through and spent some time

with the sheriff and the chief of Windsor and we discussed, uh, some historical data on what agencies are being investigated or have been admonished for their sharing of data or inappropriate use of their own database. And while we have not had anybody breach our database for unlawful purposes that we've identified, um, we still went through and we actually removed, and I'm not going to name the agencies, but we did remove nine agencies from access to our database based on the circumstances that they were going through, not because they accessed ours in an unlawful way, but just out of a full transparency. We are monitoring these situations as they arise and as they are found to be credible or uh worth noting and paying attention to as an agency. We are and we are uh limiting those access points for those people if they've been found at fault.

Very good. Thank you for that presentation. And now bring back to the dice. Does anyone here have any questions for the presenter? Please. Yeah, thank you very much for that presentation. Uh I just have I actually asked you this question earlier. So, it's it's kind of the same question is um I really appreciate all the information you were able to give me when we met is if there were to be an instance where we felt as if there was some way either the data was being hacked or federal agencies were able to get, you know, were, you know, someone else was controlling the data besides you and and there was another an agency that we that was not legally able to have the data that got the data. that uh you know that what our ability is to be able to uh disconnect and so you answered me but I was just going to ask you to answer that too.

So uh there's two there's two aspects to it. There's a fiscal aspect to it and then or a financial aspect and then an access aspect. Uh the as the aspect of access is instantaneous. I can go in and turn off whomever or all. Um it is a click of a button. Uh there is the data is the backend the administrative side of this database is um it's a very simple database to use which is why I say if I if someone's had access it's because I've given it to them um and we can turn that off at any point. Thank you.

Yes please. My question is simple. Can you explain in detail precisely for that is automatically and deleted after 30 days. So it's it's a part of their programming and we've tested it a lot. We actually test it quite a bit and we have found that at the 24th hour on the 30th day it is no longerable. it is no longer queryable and it has disappeared from the database and their programming they have is that it will delete it from the server at that 24th hour on the 30th day.

Thank you. And by law it is allowed in 90 days. So you choose the 30 days based on what your preference.

Yes. So, um, when we when we first started this program, it was actually at a year. Uh, the data could have been stored for a year. Uh, what's acceptable and and what the law allows aren't often married that way. We looked a lot at the data and from a law enforcement tool, I looked at it as in in our community, we have this is a a significant vacation community. So, there's a lot of people that live here that travel. There's a lot of people that travel here as second homes and whatnot. So understanding that less than 30 days might not be reasonable in that somebody may not discover a crime has occurred to their their car, their home or whatever for that time and or there's there is always the stigma of reporting to police crimes and being a victim. A lot of people don't want to be victims and so they hold off on reporting until it's it's the point they they need to. So, we allowed 30 days because we think that's a reasonable time for everybody to realize or report that they've been a victim of a crime. 90 days uh may be on the far end of what I would call reasonable for somebody to make that report. And say you reported it on the 28th day and I have enough information that I can identify the vehicle. What we do is we take that data which is stored in in on the server. We conduct a download through the server and we we create it as a evidence item for a case. And so it goes it gets booked into our sheriff's office evidence room the same as every other piece of evidence does. And it's offline. It is no longer a piece of flock data. It is now criminal evidence in a case. So the way we see it, 30 days is the perfect time. One of the recent bills, and I may be wrong, I think it's SB240, uh, that did not pass. I believe it was vetoed by the governor recently. That

bill was trying to limit the time from 90 days to 60 days. So, when I said we're well within the regulation of a lot of proposed bills, we are at 30. And I I stand strong that 30 days is an appropriate time. Thank you so much. Any questions on this side? Thank Thank you, mayor. Uh, I have a couple questions. Um, since this controversy or alleged controversy has come up, are there um any cities, jurisdictions that have actually canled the contracts?

So, I I don't know the answer to your question and and wholeheartedly heartedly. Um I know that there are agencies I believe Mountain View being one that had suspended their contract. I do not know the outcome of that yet. Um we don't share data with them at this time. So I don't know if their databases

that was the only one that I was able to find. So as Thank you. Um I know that um um many councils have debated it but you know they they haven't necessarily stopped it. Um can you let us know if there are any other alternatives to um this particular company that would be available? Should we not do this one?

Yes, there are. Um so this is a sole source um company for us for the type of technology being the the the way the camera senses the vehicle and what it what it reads. So there are other companies that are infrared based. Uh the one of the older companies that's been around for a significant amount of time, Vigilant, uh was back, uh created back, I think around 2007. It was one of the original law enforcement cameras. And that particular technology is what most of the bridges use where it's a infrared meaning it needs and it requires the reflective material of the license plate to send to read and and receive that image of the license plate. It is limited to just the outskirts of the license plate generally. Although the technology has gotten a little better and it does capture a little bit more of the vehicle. I don't know about their AI technology and querying types of vehicles through that database without license plates, but the what you see as a result of the bridges and the tolls going off this ALPR technology where it's using the infrared the you'll see it all the time when you drive down the street. Somebody has powers sprayed off or pressure washed off the reflective material on their license plate. Yes, it is not lawful to do that. But what it oftentimes does is it makes that ALPR camera disregard that plate because it can't it can't read it

and so it doesn't align. So that technology is what I would refer to as outdated for what the city of Sonoma uses and what we need here. There are other um upand cominging companies that are using similar technologies to flock. Uh but I would say that with our technology in place and our camera locations as we have them, there isn't anything that would replicate what we're doing right now with the technology, the AI technology on the back end uh that we can utilize in the search query. I can't say the same will be the case in three years down the road. Um, I'm sure there's going to be competitors and privacy is going to be the claim of of any new company starting up today because that's the the concern of of reasonable concern of most of the community members.

Right. And then and my final question is and I don't know if you can answer this but you know obviously there's been a very public uh alleged kidnapping of a um TV personality's mother um in a situation like that um how would this technology um be useful or not? So I I'm not a part of that investigation. Um but I certainly the first thing I looked at was to see if they had flock cameras and they don't. So that would have been an instantaneous solution to that problem if theirs was designed like ours. If somebody went missing from within the city of Sonoma externally, uh we have a a database of vehicles that have left the city and we can utilize that database uh for criminal investigations, which that one specifically is. We did have a recent concern of a what came out as a child kidnapping and it was not um and almost immediately upon arrival our our deputies found the person and it was not as reported but when it first came out we had two supervisors that were sitting at a computer just waiting to start searching license plates. So that will be if something that that bad happens here uh that will be the technology that we will go to first um even beyond the human eye of of recognition of a plate.

Thank you. Okay, seeing no more questions, I will then bring it to the public and then open open it up for public comment uh at this time. So our sparse public come forward if you wish seeing no movement I'll bring it back to the dis for possible discussion and or motion

please. So I'd just like to make a comment because I do believe that the safety factor of utilizing this technology outweighs whatever risks there are and in my discussions and my limited understanding. I do have some of technology. I used to have to research companies to make sure that their the data of our clients was safe. So I have some understanding of how that works and what people need to do to make sure that you're auditing on a regular basis and you're testing and it's you know the the risk that there could be of someone accessing this data without illegally um I think is is very very small. Everything comes with some risk. So yeah, there is some minimal minimal risk there, but the safety, you know, factor that we have a population that is elderly and elderly populations are targeted uh for criminal acts that we have a population of tourists. Uh and I think of many of our young u bachelorette parties that come to our community that they're often vulnerable because I know they bump into me walking down the street. So clearly they're not seeing well who knows what else is happening. But um and then of course second homes people you know that there's a significant number of second homes so that individuals know you know that there's house homes here that there's there's people that aren't here and even if they have some kind of security system you know there's often people that are going to either know their way around around that or you know disregard that. So I just think just I think it's important for us to make as that as a council to talk about this you know you know what that there are concerns we under the understand the concerns but our safety concerns clearly

override whatever very minimal risk there is u and that the fact that if something were to happen we can immediately disengage from flock so and it is and I think I always like to reemphasize It's flock is just the system. It is not, you know, the the perpetrator of a criminal act. It would be someone else using the system to try to do, you know, try to illegally use it. And it's really the system of u who manages it here. And the guidelines that the sheriff departments has were very thorough. So I felt like, you know, I feel like the safety factor is very very high and this is a beneficial software for us to be using. Thank you.

Well, I think that was well said, especially about the bachelorette parties. I hadn't heard that one before, but we do uh you know, they do bring in a great economy, so we we like them. We like them. We love them. Um so, I I think your comments, all of your comments were well taken. I mean, it's a scary time for for all of us that um are very concerned about vulnerable populations within our county, within our city, and all over um this country that that we are afraid of somehow uh segment of our community being adversely affected by something that is there to ostensibly protect all of us. And that is it's it's a it breaks my heart that um we're in that situation that um everything that we have to design to protect lawful citizens, lawful residents, visitors to um our country should be designed to protect everybody. and and it's um the questions that came up are justified because we've seen um examples where things have have gone haywire, you know. So, um so it does give us pause to and I think it was very thoughtfully presented tonight um to show us all of all of this information. Um, I think taking away this tool from a community that has shown to have had great benefit would be a mistake. Um but I also concur with my colleague um um Miss Farah Rivas that you know should anything happen that compromises this in any way I will be actively pushing whatever button it is to get this thing out of here because we can't

have that. It has to be something that protects all of us not some of us. All of us. So, I will be voting to support this. Um I I think that the example um of the the tragedy that happened in Arizona, it could happen anywhere. Um if something like that ever happened here and we had taken away a tool to be able to find the perpetrator or perpetrators of such a thing, then shame on us. Um the number one thing I've said this many times from this das is that our number one thing is to protect the safety of the people who live here and people who visit here and this is this is a piece of safety and we have to do it so but that we were we will be mindful of abuses and I think that's that's fair. Thank you. I don't know what I could add to this conversation other than uh from a costbenefit uh perspective. Um it's more effective perhaps than hiring additional police officers and much more affordable. So, you know, I think it's a excellent technology. I wish it was around years ago when I was doing law enforcement and u and I agree that if it should be abused um I I would expect that we'll be made aware of that and um and we'll take appropriate action. So thank you

and thank you again. I really appreciate that you and are doing research study and try to 100% compliant with the state laws and also a local ordinance that's very important. Uh in my idea I think uh if we adopt any new tools equipment before the policy we were and the risk losing our public and trust. However, this time is renew. We already you know this new technology. So during the past couple of years uh I didn't heard a lot of the extremely and concerns. So that means um our local residents can accept and also we are very open-minded in this town you know very well educated. They know technology is going forwards and we should adapt it. So being on the city council know what we can do you know we study more and build up and good and the policy who can use how to manage it and these kind of the uh details I think we can improve it little by little when we are using this. I totally agree and and Patricia saying if we find anything wrong and we just stop you know we and find another alternative one. I so much appreciate our support to this project. Thank you. My brief comment before I solicit a motion is that I appreciate the transparency that has not only been expressed this evening, but has been has

been taking place without our knowledge in terms of testing, verifying, kabitzing, whatever you want to call it. But but making sure that the um the promises that this system claims you're still feeling comfortable with. So I I move forward with great confidence and should there be a a a concern that happens we'll bring it back to the DAS for construction and for discussion and take uh action if need be. So with that I would like to ask for a motion. I move approval. Do we have a second? I second.

Further discussion? None. Roll call, please. I mean, yeah. Council member Ferrarias, yes. Vice Mayor Low, I. Council member Ding, I. Council member Gurnie, yes. Mayor Wender, yes. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. Very good. Thank you again. Are we good for we getting restless? Are we okay?

Okay. Okay. We'll sit tight. So, with that, we're going to then move right into 9.2, which is to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a contract that will provide facility security upgrades and then also authorizing a budget amendment uh of about 75,000. um additional expenditures from the long-term building maintenance fund. And with that, I will turn it over to our public works director, please. Thank you, Mayor Wanderer. Good evening, council. Tonight, I'm bringing you a camera security item number two. So, bear with me. Uh, this project is city facility security upgrades project CAPB BFF11. And tonight I'm going to be talking to you about these four subjects. First start off with a little project history and formation of the project. Then go into scope of work, procurement methods, and the funding. A little project history and the formation of the project. Um the project was created with FY226 budget. The FY2526 budget and this project CAPB BFF11 addresses the uh security concerns that we are um tasked trying to fix which are our facilities currently have no cameras and traditional lock and key. Safety security concerns were reported in the last year regarding entry into and out of facilities during hours of operation with limited measures in existing facilities. And there were a couple of items that happened in this

chamber that we're trying to address with security upgrades. City staff initiated a project with Verata after we looked into several different um options and had discussions with our Sonoma Valley Unified School District that has a Vcata security camera system and the city of Sonoma Police Department that works with the school district to monitor activity at the school district that comes up on the camera. And we didn't just stop there. We also community development and public works worked together on the formulation of this contract. Jennifer and myself. We also worked with parks and recck director, the finance director, the city attorney, the chief building official, the city manager, our electrical on call engineers who have a low voltage communication specialist on staff and he advised us on a few very uh key and specific low voltage specifications to incorporate in the contract. And then also KOH, our IT provider. I forgot to pass that slide. I apologize for that. Um, scope of work on this project. The sites that are covered are Carnegie Library where parks and wreck and finance are currently housed, city hall, this building, council chambers/the police department, and the public works corporation yard. The technology we're proposing are verata cameras to be installed along with key card readers and updated door hardware for access control. We won't be doing door hardware for this facility, but all the other three facilities have door hardware and access control, which will be basically key card uh controlled

and very easy for us to turn off a key card. You can't lose your key card and somebody else finds it and uses it. We can turn it off as soon as it gets lost and provide a new key card to the uh person that lost it or it got damaged. um a couple slides that I have to just show the coverages that we're going to be doing and the um items we're going to be installing at the Carnegie Library site one. We have three cameras we're installing and one access control in the back door at the park level, not the one at the top of the stairs. So, we'll have a camera at the front door, a camera at the back door, and a camera on the interior. At site two, city hall, we've got four cameras. Two exterior that are mounted in the eaves, low visibility. They can barely be seen, but they are up there and they can be seen. They are not on a drop down rod just to try to protect the aesthetics and um historical nature of the of the facility. You've got um two cameras in the eaves on opposite sides of the building that are basically getting you a 360 degree view of everything that's happening around city hall. And then also two cameras inside, one towards the front door and one towards the back door that are catching people going into and out of the facility. I take that. Yeah. Two cameras inside and then one access control door at the back of city hall that employees will use. The next location is this building which there will be a camera outside above that door that'll catch the entire parking lot. And then also one camera in

that corner right there that'll basically be looking out onto the entire um room. And then a third camera on the other side of that wall that's going to be able to capture all the people that are in the um exterior portion there. The last location is location four, which is the courtyard. We've got two cameras located on the shop at opposite corners. One on another corner of the shop which is going to capture people that would go into or out of the back door of the office and then one camera on the office in the front. There's key card access at the front door of the office right off of 8th Street and then also key card access into the shop. And so what we're going to do is we're going to eliminate all lock and key mechanisms to get into the shop. The doors will still open, but the one door will be the door that employees go in and out of, and the other doors will be able to open from the inside only. So they can be unlocked from the inside easily, but not key locked from the outside. I just want to take the next slide and go over the procurement method that we followed for this contract. um forata the camera maker and key card maker they have a contract through CAMASS the California multiple award schedule which is the department of general services with the state of California's co-op and our procurement policy encourages us to purchase through pre-approved co-ops uh verata portola pricing these prices have been assessed to be fair, reasonable, and competitive. And we are

getting a knockdown from the industry going price by purchasing through SEMASS. We're getting a deduction. The city's purchasing policy, like I previously said, it allows for coop cooperative purchasing and actually encourages it as a means to save money on doing RFPs. Verkata SEMASS agreement lists Portola systems are installer as an eligible installer. Suppliers and installers that are part of this program must agree to the state's terms before contract can be issued. On the next slide, regarding budget, the funding, the current project budget is 150,000. This was authorized like we like I said earlier as part of the 2526 approved budget. The estimated project cost is coming in at $224,000. That includes the 194 for the VCA contract, Vicata Portola 8750, which is a um time and materials component for our electrical engineer who will be doing some inspections and a little bit of oversight during the construction and has given us a lot of advice on moving the project forward. Uh, we paid $2,000 to have Vicata come crawl through all of our nooks and crannies at city hall and Carnegie. They looked at this building, which was a lot easier, and then went out to the courtyard also, and came up with a comprehensive list of RFI questions that they turned into us. We turned it back to them, and they answered all of those questions prior to putting together a scope and and cost for the project. And then uh we threw a contingency in there too. So just in case there were a little bit over I don't have to come back. Now um additional funding for the project in

addition to the 150,000 is the 74,250 32 cents out of the LTBM that we're asking for the uh budget item switch tonight. And I would be remiss if I didn't just talk a little bit about the um privacy aspects of the fact that we're putting cameras in and we're taking video of people. Um public works has worked with and had correspondence with the city attorney, the chief of police, the city manager's office, community development director and verata on this item. and we take this very seriously. We're going to develop a policy. We've already started that speaking with the city manager's office today and we're going to be bringing that to this council for approval prior to turning the system on. So, this is in the works and it's something that we're thinking about. With that, I'm going to go ahead and um just introduce a couple other people that are here tonight. We have Ryan Miller in the audience from Pollola Systems here to answer any questions. And then also on Zoom, we have Adam Jensen and Sienna Steinback from Vicata. And then of course we've got Ashley Carter, the admin and project manager with public works to help me out if there's any hard questions. So with that, I'll turn it up. I'll turn it back.

Okay. Thank you very much. So with that, uh, do we have some questions up here at the DAS, please, John? All right. Well, thank you for answering my first question, which was policy. Um, so that's under underway, but who's going to actually manage the system and be responsible? That's under discussion. I have my um my thoughts about who should do it and it'll be one of one of the people either in public works or community development. And I have to talk to Jennifer about that and kind of vet. We have a person who's been designated as someone who's in charge of communications, IT, things like that. And so I'm thinking that would probably be the right person, but she's not my department and I'm going to have to have that conversation with Jennifer as we move this forward.

Okay. Um, where will the data be the recorded data be stored in the cloud? I'm in the cloud. In the cloud. Yeah. And like the system that Chief talked about earlier, um we'll have access to that. We've we've actually gone through uh working with the attorney, we came up with quite a few questions along those lines that are going to be addressed and um looked into as we craft this policy for use

and data storage, who get who gets access to the data, how we access the data, how how flexible it is for us to um set the terms of the duration the data is kept and all the indications from Verata. uh is are that they're very flexible. We're probably going to, you know, we we've already taken a look at Sonoma County Sheriff's policy, albeit that's for a completely different entity and a completely different set of circumstances, but we're going to use policies like that in order to craft our policy, go with a 30-day retention period and things like that.

Okay. Now, with the system that you're proposing, um what kind of growth potential do you have with it? adding cameras that came up early on and I feel that that's pretty uh pretty flexible to add cameras. Yeah. And I want to I want to also touch base too that this is a 10-year all-inclusive contract that we're signing up for. There are no additional costs ongoing maintenance.

Those will be addressed under the terms and conditions of each warranty. And there's probably five or six different um classifications of materials that can be warrantied. And what we're doing um currently working on is assembling all those warranties into a spreadsheet to just make sure that we understand the terms and conditions of each one. I got a feeling that after the first year, there's going to be potential labor costs associated if a camera breaks and a tech has to come out and put a new camera up. That's pretty standard for this type of item. All right. for for the corporation yard, if I understand how that's organized, there's a gate that you have to enter.

Yeah. And did you consider doing a card reader on that gate?

Yes, we did. And that's part of a separate project, one that council's been briefed on. That's the Sonoma County Transit joint project that we're working on for the electric bus. That gate is going to get put in and that's going to have uh card reader slash um vehicle identification and little um there's three or four different options that we have to get people in the front of the gate. And the new gate is on track to probably get built in the next six months. We're just going through a second iteration of our application with PG&E. As soon as that gets done, we can get into some serious um license agreements with Sonoma County Transit. Soon as that gets done, we're going to authorize the um construction for the gate project to start and that's going to get paid 5050 between us and Sonoma County Transit.

Yeah. Thank you. Yep.

Yeah. Um thank you um Council Member Granny. Those were a lot of my questions, but one I did have is one of the things I always think about when I walk into city hall and go upstairs to meet with city manager is I almost always but not always check in with folks that are downstairs just to let them know that that door opening that they heard was me going up there and not just someone else. But I don't know if anybody else But I know but there's not going to be there's not people will still be able to walk in the front of city hall and walk upstairs and and without potentially being noticed who's coming in or out. But is that where there would be a camera there?

That's correct. But there's no you're not going to have a a a door. There's no door door there. No card reader. The doors will be opened just like they are 8 to5 typically now the one door. Yeah. But then the camera will be able to capture people in the entryway going into city hall.

Yeah. I just wonder if there's any thought to how you actually have some other process for, you know, the people that where it says only authorized people, that there's some way to protect that there's only authorized people going up there because, you know, as we're doing all of this, it's unfortunate that we have to live in a paranoid world. But unfortunately, that's where we are today. But you know that's the concern is that someone could an authorized person who is disgruntled with what was going what has been going on in the city could go up there go upstairs and you know maybe not do anything but disturb people in their work or whatever. So I'm just just that's that's one of my other concerns. I know it may not be addressed here, but just

well and this is a good point and we have had conversations about this and I I would consider this the first step and one of the one of the reasons we went with this system was because the chief promoted this as a very um userfriendly interactive system that he could gain access to cameras at Sonoma Valley Unified School District very easily and just get make work happen. And so that was a really good report. We want to, you know, get him involved in this. We've been talking to him about that and we're looking really forward to being able to, you know, have the right people being able to access this data quickly if they want to need to.

Yeah.

So, I'll just jump in. Um, we intend to keep the sign still downstairs to have people still check in at the front counter. Um, the we had a trial camera for quite a while that was set up downstairs and so every time we hear we we installed the door bell ourselves, too. Um, so every time we would hear that, we had a we have a camera uh a video set up on an iPad and so we can everybody can just look or on their screen and they can see who walked in. And so if somebody walked in and they just went straight upstairs, we could see who they were. And so then we know, all right, friendly face, known entity versus an unknown. Unknown, we can immediately call upstairs, um, text Brandon, etc. We can do all those things. So that's the still the intent is to to do the author, you know, please come talk to us before you go upstairs, have the sign still there, but people still ignore the signs and go upstairs. So this way we we know and we have that comfort level since, as you all know, at the front counter, we can't see the front door. And so that was the idea by putting it at that front door.

Thank you for that. Any comments? Where is that in the company located in Sonoma in Santa Rosa, right? Do they have the office or technical person? Forata is located in the Bay Area and the nearest office for Portola is Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa. Yeah. And I've heard really good reports about Verata's response to um issues with the cameras and so I hear that their customer service is really good and um I would think that Portolas is just as good because they're coming in highly recommended.

Great. Thank you. I I was going to put this in my comments, but I I think it is kind of a flaw in the system that um people at the front desk can't see who's going upstairs. I appreciate the um the camera being there, but I'm wondering if there's just some way that either a mirror, you know, or somehow would somehow could go to the front desk or there could be some sort of uh reorganization. And I mean, I know it would take a lot, but I I I just think of every business I've ever worked at or for, and there's always some some sort of, you know, someone behind a desk somewhere that that greets you if for no other reason to make sure you're at the right place. Um, so, uh, you know, so that's more of a comment which I was going to make later, but I think that there is still some work to do on that. Thank you.

These are great comments and like I said, this is stage one. We're going to work on this and make things better from here. Okay, couple quick questions. Will this replace that obnoxious buzzer at the front door? Will you add this to phase two and see what we can do about not having an obnoxious buzzer like Freriedman's purchase, please? It was a Freriedman's purchase. I know that. But I do believe shop local, but this is a case where you did do well. So,

um, it is the way in only way in which we knew somebody was walking in the front door. So if we can figure out another way means by which uh staff can be notified then we can look into that. Great. Um this is project related. Um your gut feeling on expending the 10% contingency high low you did a lot of homework uh as far as uh research and crawling up in the attic. So what's your comfort level? I feel real comfortable we're going to be well below that. And basically it's because we did that initial interaction with Vicata or with Bullola and just we went through all the nooks and crannies. Yeah.

Great. Great. So yeah, I'm confident I can beat that. And then would you be just reiterate please? You've intermittent as far as the coordination and the value between the police department, the fact they have it going on with the school and that the there's just this kind of unifying communication which I think will all benefit the whole town.

Totally agree. And that's what got us pointed in this direction in the first place because and I mean the original meetings that we had, Brandon was at all of them and basically this is a a lot of people coming together to put this item in front of you tonight and it's been vetted. We've been thorough. We've uh gone down a couple of different avenues and we're we're pretty comfortable with where we landed.

Thank you. So, if we have nothing up more up here, then I'd like to turn and uh open it up to just a quick comment. Um, in previous conversations we've had um as recently as today in terms of the funding, I just want to clarify, I was mistaken. The funds for this, the additional 74,000 are coming out of the long-term building maintenance fund as presented tonight is not going to dip into the reserves at this point. So, just so you know that what's happening now is drawing down the long-term building maintenance. If we need to come back and adjust reserves, that will happen during the budget process for addressing that fund. Great clarification. No, thank you. Thank you.

So, with that, I'd like to then open it up to the public if they'd like the one public person like to come forward and speak if they can. If not, we'll bring them back here for further discussion. Yes, please.

Um, just just a couple comments on this. this is very extremely well needed. Um, and I don't know if it's enough or you know, as I said my earlier comment about having some sort of reception area or something like that. Um, just I I've spent a lot of time, as most of you know, working with people that are either elected or in some sort of office or agency or some and and have been um witnessed to and have read just the the most amazing amount of vitriol and and so forth and and frightening people. Um, one of my previous in employment places was uh subject to a bomb scare. Um it's I think um people don't realize that you know when you become an elected person even on the city council and you know and everybody loves us and we're wonderful of course but um there are people out there that are very they basically dehumanize people who are in these positions and they feel that they have complete agency to say some of the most horrendous things and and even threaten um so forth. So our staff, I'm deeply concerned. They are on the first line. When um I received a a threatening letter and you know, Chief Cutting was kind enough to come to my house. I never had cameras. I do now. Um, you know, I I made a call to Congressman Thompson and I just said, you know, what do you think about all this and listen to this horrible thing that someone just wrote to me, etc., etc. Well, he then proceeded to tell me about a half an hour of some of the most hairraing, horrible stories I've ever heard, people parked outside his house,

you know, this his staff being threatened and so forth. And and I share this because I I really want the community to know that our staff is so important to me because we are nothing without them. And everything that we can do to make sure they're okay and safe, I am for that because I have seen what's on the other side of people's aggression over the years. And I don't want anybody to be facing that. And that's why I think this may be a good first step, but let's make sure that everybody that works for us, because when they're yelling at them, they're just really mad at us really. And so they're taking it and I don't want that to happen. So, thank you for doing this first step. But anybody who walks in that door should be seen, should be figured out. Are you in the right place? If not, you know, help maybe they're looking for the library. I don't know. Help them out. And make sure we know who who in the hell they are before they walk up those stairs or talk to any of our staff. So, um I think we're, you know, good first step. Let's keep going. Our staff is very important. They are us for the public. Thank you.

I wanted this discussion. Yes.

Absolutely. Um, in addition to my law enforcement background, I was in private industry, uh, doing security things. And seems to me if your intention is to put a card reader to get in the city hall after hours, um, that it would be very easy to add an additional card reader with a security gate preventing people from going upstairs unless they have a card to access. And then they they make really nice protective barriers um that you could install um for the people downstairs as a first point of contact um that are not um necessarily un beautiful. So anyhow, um but you know, the technology is there and and I don't even think uh it would be terribly expensive for for those two kinds of items. Um of course that would mean you'd have to give us access cards. You may not want to do that, but I'm just saying. All right. No, I just agree with all of the comments that were made so far, you know, and really emphasizing, you know, that's great work on what has been done so far and the research and all of that, but you know, I I it it's a narrow passageway. I mean, there's just things about that that bring concern for people going someone going upstairs, which once they're upstairs, you're kind of in a contained area where, you know, you just feel like that that that, you know, the safety of the people at upstairs, you just worry about it a bit more. So, thank you. I I let's follow up on uh Council Member Gurnie's suggestions or you know maybe there's a new robot that could just greet everybody at the door and say welcome to Sonoma City Hall you know could be

no robots could be Valleo a veto robots uh I'm okay yeah I agree

super um I I agree with what has been shared about the importance of protecting staff. I argue though that we are something without them something, aren't we? But anyway, that that's for another discussion. Um I I too is that we need to recognize that even with all this, there are still evil out there. There's ill will out there and it could come I don't care how many cameras we have. So, I just like the fact that this system apparently is going to allow a quicker response or quicker action or or what have you. So, I think that's very very uh valid. And as most know, I am not a techie, but it seems like the simplicity of having some sort of monitor in the front room that is got a camera that's constantly showing this of everybody that's coming in would be a fairly simple thing to provide that if whether uh Jade is there or uh whoever that if there is a con up high and uh aesthetically positioned that uh that might be a possibility. But again, I think uh good first step. Uh thank you for the clarity on where the money's coming from. I had some concerns and that now has disappeared. And so with that, I'd like to ask if there's a motion, please. I move to adopt a resolution of the city of the Sonoma Council authorizing the city manager to execute a contract with the Potoola for 17 94,9120 cents for facility security updates CIP BFF-11 authorizing 17,400

19,4912 10% in contingency and authorizing the budget amendment for 74,250.32 in additional expenditure from the long-term building maintenance fund. Is there a second? I'll second that. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Ferrar Rivas, yes. Vice Mayor Low. I. Council member Gurnie. Yes. Council member Ding. I. Mayor One. Yes. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously.

Very good. Now we're turning to our last scheduled item and that is uh 9.3. Adopt a resolution approving an employment agreement appointing Christine.

Hello. I thought change. Oh, excuse me. Um, well, I'm going to modify it. appointing Christine uh as interim city manager effective April 6, 2026 and authorizing the mayor to sign the agreement uh when blessed by David Guuan. So, uh with that, uh I would love to have some comment from our city manager.

Great. Thank you, mayor. Um I'm happy to uh give a little background on this item. Uh this the city council has ident decided to bring on an interim city manager to uh bridge the gap essentially between my departure and identifying a permanent city manager for the city of Sonoma. Um in order to do that uh I received direction from the city council to identify potential candidates for you to review. Uh I did reach out to ICMA and other resources around to identify any interested parties. Uh that list uh was whittleled down to those that had the time fit the schedule that we had. Uh I brought forward to you candidates for your review. Um those candidates were whittleled down again and you interviewed a couple of those candidates. Um out of that process, you did select uh Christina Leovich uh as the interimm city manager for the city of Soma. um that uh the contract before you uh is an employment contract similar to what um the contract I have with you as a city. Um it includes salary, includes um the medical benefits um but is a very bare bones version of that agreement due to its interim nature. Uh the contract is at will. So the council um can in the contract at any time, but the intention of that contract is to have her provide you city manager services through um hiring of a new permanent city manager. Um Christine uh comes to you from San Rafale who number of years in San Rafll um as and uh most recently as a city manager there. um dealing with a lot of complex issues as that you'll that uh we deal with here. Um she also has worked at this uh county of Marin and the county of Sonoma. Uh she does have a finance background which is a really good skill to have right now as we are in right in the middle of budget season and bringing you forward a

budget uh to to approve in June. So the timeline of her term here will involve bringing you that budget the 20 the next year fiscal budget. Um we um I am she's very well respected by her peers um in the industry. I know many of you have heard from some of some of her peers um in in the industry. Um I have talked to many of them. Um they are very excited to have her in this role and excited that the council has selected her in this role. Uh and uh I am very confident that she can serve you and support staff um through this interim period. And I'm excited uh to introduce Christina Levich who is here as well tonight. if you have any questions for her or if she wants to introduce herself, if you'd like to um request that, mayor, um you can I'll turn that to you. Um but with that said, I'm um at this gonna turn it over to you if you have any questions for me on the process or how that worked. I'm happy to go into that further or you can ask Christine any questions you have.

Do we have any questions for our city manager? And with that, we'd like to welcome our new interim, our anticipated new interim to the podium, please. Thank you, mayor. Yes, we actually have music in that crowd at the beginning of every meeting.

Well, I'm really excited about that. I really love live music, so I'm looking forward to that. Um, good evening, mayor, council members, staff, community. Um, I'm really honored to be here tonight and for the opportunity to serve your amazing city. Um, it's a spe really special place. As you know, I lived in Sonoma County for many years in the valley here. And, um, so I feel really, um, I feel really honored and excited. I'm ready to go. David's been amazing. I want to thank him for getting me up to speed and welcoming me, um, helping me kind of, you know, so I can hit the ground running. Um, and, uh, you know, I just want to assure you that you've got a lot of things in motion. We're going to keep things moving and keep, you know, a steady, uh, leadership through this. uh transition time and um yeah that's it. I just wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity and really looking forward to working with all of you and all the great staff and I wish David well um at the county as well.

Excellent. Uh any before she leaves the podium any thoughts? I have just one. The vote would be totally predicated on no 17story buildings in our town. Yes, sir. So, and at this point, we're going to open it up back to the one individual still considered public. And I see no movement. And oh, good.

Robert Demler, First Street West, Sonoma. I set a personal record last council meeting by not speaking and I was going to go for five meetings but u madame council member for Rivas triggered my mind tonight to speak. I learned a new concept limit line but I would also like to introduce another new concept of visual line. Sometimes they don't match. I'm not sure how many in the city are like that, but if you will go east on Maple Street from First Street West to Broadway, you have to go out past this the pedestrian lane into the traffic lane to be able to see. So, I would suggest that our outgoing city manager or our incoming interim city manager allow Mike Burgerer as head of public works to buy some more red paint for the curb so we can see. And by the way, as I totally agree with the uh entry into city hall, and I would also suggest that you hire some of the retirees in town to be like Walmart greeters to stand at the front door and say, "Welcome to City Hall. May I help you?"

Would you be willing to be the first one? I would be at a pro bono, of course. and I won't wear a costume in order to not get in trouble because this is technically not the second opportunity for public comment. Would you say something positive about our anticipated city? That was pretty weak. I want money a little bit more specific about the uh our new interim city manager. That was what was on the agenda. Oh, well, I'm very impressed that she would marry a Bosnian because I lived in Bosnia for four years. So, anybody that would do that and put up with a Bosnian can put up with this crowd.

Thank you and welcome. Thank you. Okay, now we're going to bring it back. Uh, we again are looking No, I I wanted him to get back on track, so sorry. He was anyway so um with that uh we've got we've received our public comments and uh we don't need staff to respond but we need discussion up here. So any more thoughts and if not then I'm soliciting again a motion. Oh, I would be very happy to move to uh have an agreement signed between our city manager and our new interim Christine Alilovich.

There we go. And I would be proud to second that. Thank you. Further discussion. Roll call. Council member Ferivas. Very excitedly. Yes. Vice Mayor Low. I. Council member D. I, Council Member Gurnie. Yes. Mayor Wanderer. Uh, yes. Thank you. And the motion carries unanimously. Welcome aboard. So, I do believe I'm going to skip 10 because that doesn't have any merit. So, we're going straight on to 11 unless there's objection. I adjourn this meeting. Great to meet you. I didn't