City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, Vacaville. It's Tuesday, 04/28/2026 at 6PM. May I have a roll call?

Council Agency Authority Member Stockton?

Here.

Chatman? Here. Freemail? Here. Wiley? Here. Vice Mayor Vice Chair Silva?

Here.

Mayor Chair Carley?

Here. If you are able, please rise for a moment of silence followed by the pledge. Council member Richie Wood, please lead us in the pledge.

Yes. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance

to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We did not have closed session this evening, so I'm looking to see if there's any changes to tonight's agenda. There

are no changes.

Alright. So we'll move on to report to the city council. Your line was on. It's Well, it was. I don't know if you accidentally turned it.

Well, I'll go ahead and report off. Okay. Thank you, Mayor Carley. Just would like to share that last week was a League of Cities Summit in Sacramento. Also a member of Walling, Mike, and myself, we took the train, captain to Corrigan to attend the summit.

One thing, some of the topics or a couple of topics, one was on water. And here recently with AI, I understand that it requires a lot of water. That was the first time I heard of that. And since the state and our region were looking into our water usage and the regional and everything, that may be something that we want to further investigate. The homeless is always a topic that is reviewed.

Any time we are out and about, most of the time there is a conversation, dialogue, or presentation presentation on the homeless situation, not only here locally, but the state. And then with the federal cuts, the shortage of funds, state on every level, we're going to see some major changes come about on how we address our unsheltered homeless. Another conversation or presentation that was held was we had our neighboring community, Sassoon, the mayor, Alma Hernandez, they gave a presentation on

Rumor has it. Yes,

on what's happening with

Hallamer DeGryll.

There she is, California Forever. She was very thorough. She was giving a historical perspective and the relationship that has developed city and California forever. So I just want to share that we received a direct report from the mayor of Sicilian on that. I would like to share next week or the first week in May yes, that is next week the Citizens Advisory Committee.

We usually meet the first Wednesday of the month, but we'll be meeting on the first Tuesday this month, during the month of May. So I just wanted to highlight that. And they will be having an art show on the the date has been changed again.

The twelfth.

It's been changed twice. So it will take place on the twelfth. If there is anyone interested in attending, please welcome the community to come out and show support. I believe we, I'm not sure if I've already reported out on the display that the museum here in Vacaville had of art that was created, drawn, and shared. And it's on display, I believe, from the entire month April. So if you have time on your hands, you can go by and see some lovely artwork that was done by some of our incarcerated residents. That's all I have.

VICE Vice

MAYOR Mayor Silva.

Thank you.

WOOD: Good evening. So first off, just the last time I wasn't able to attend, got held up at my regular job. And I just want to report back on the Cal City's Environmental Quality Committee. So each region of the League of California Cities has these different regions that represent those local municipalities on influencing different policies that are coming up. So there's over 1,800 policies that are submitted by our legislatures in California that everybody has to sift through.

So most of most of the most of those items that were brought to that particular committee that I'm on were focused on hazardous waste remediation, holding insurance companies accountable, and a lot of good discussions around that. Most of the time, most of those votes is really when to watch the legislation. So as more comes up throughout the season, we'll find out you know, as as things change, we'll find out more about that. So leaving Cana Bay because there's there was a lot of details that were discussed throughout that day. The League of California Cities meeting that we went to last week was really inspired by the new grants and economic development presentation that they had there.

So it was just I know our city manager was in attendance and they're just really focused on how there are different state grants and other private grants that are available that focus on helping enhance different public spaces that maybe need a little extra love or can really enhance those particular areas that also lead to economic prosperity. So I'm really glad that there's a lot of efforts looking at how we invest into public spaces that that translate into economic prosperity for those given communities, and that overall helps the our overall community health and wellness. So really looking forward to seeing what shapes out of that and maybe there's opportunities for different public private partnerships to support there. The other thing I wanted to mention, two more things. So in my other job, I love exposing folks, my students out to different opportunities.

I want to shout out our water and wastewater treatment, particularly our Easterly wastewater treatment facility. So if you guys smell a little something, it is probably me. But it was a really great tour. I have a little over 30 students out there today and tomorrow, so I really want to extend my gratitude to the staff to walk them through the whole process. It's really an interesting process, and it's something that a lot of us take for granted on how we make sure that our community and our environment is safe from wastewater.

Just want to extend the gratitude out there. And the last item is really centered on a comment that came down from our public regarding when we had our meeting regarding a strategic plan. So on there, there was a promotion or some type of indication to talk about how we could connect our strategic plan to agro something to do with our agriculture community. So I was thinking about that, had some follow-up conversations regarding that. And I think some of us were, you know, reached out to about a concept of agrihoods.

And then, but just in general, agritourism. So what I just for transparency for the council, what I was talking to our city manager earlier about is seeing if there's some type of way to work under our economic development strategic plan item that we as we move forward with whatever that may look like, of how that involves our relationship with our surrounding community to where there's that mutual benefit to where we all support one another. Just putting it out there to see how that shapes up.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. To add anything to our strategic plan like that, would you need it now or would you need it as you're developing the draft plan?

The council is okay with it, we can add it because right now we're only exploring how would we engage with the agro community so that could be a line item and the final plan would be adopted in June we will include it in there.

I'd support that. Does the rest of the council know? Yes. All right. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Council Member Freeman?

Yes. Plus this plan won't be very popular, but I just wanted to bring up the fact that that we are struggling as a city right now, and we are we are struggling. We are deficit spending. We are asking 2.5% cuts from last year from all of our departments, and now we're asking for another 2.5%, and we're still we're still on the red. So, I just think that it'd be fiscally responsible perhaps.

And I just wanted to ask if there is an appetite from the council to perhaps agendize conversation about De Colores Park right now because it's a big price tag that we're getting ready to spend money on in the coming years. And so I would just like to know if there's an appetite to agendize and have another conversation about it with all of our struggles that we're having financially as a city right now.

Is there support for so you're asking for re agendizing or to agendize a discussion?

Yes, I wasn't here when this passed and not that I would have probably would have voted for it at the time when we had money, but now that things are different. So that's what I'm asking, yes.

Motion? Well, it's an ask, it would be in the form of a, we would need a majority vote of the council to agendize anything, so that would be, you're asking for a motion then?

Yes. I'll second the motion for the conversation, just a conversation.

Conversation, okay. And let me check the lights here. I got a lot of lights on. I don't know whose light was on for this council comments or on this,

so. I

think I'm just gonna go with what's in order and if you weren't commenting on that in this past, Councilmember Wiley?

I was making my regular comments.

Okay, so I can come back to you. Councilmember Chapman?

A question. On the funds for the park, there's a sign Let

me give you the funds.

There you go. Grant GRANT funding, correct?

GILLER: Yes, part of that project is funded by grants.

And by chance, would we know the percentage of the funding?

So what I want to do is be careful. This would be to bring the discussion back, not to get into details. Those would be fair questions if the majority of the council wants to. But I don't want to what we're not going to do is talk about the agenda motion really or the ask of the council is to agendize a discussion. That would be the proper place to have discussion on anything, any questions about it.

That may influence which way I go. Okay, well, think the only thing we can do is we can't get into details For those who were part of it, it's been a while and there were details on various fundings. I don't want us to go down the path of trying to understand what those are unfortunately, unless to our city attorney that that would Is there a limited amount of space to have a conversation? I don't want us to get into it for the Brown Act.

I think it would be appropriate to have a very high level summary of how the funding is broken down for purposes of council making a decision on whether or not the circumstances have changed sufficiently to have it brought back for further discussion and reconsideration.

Okay, so we wouldn't take

So if you wanna answer, is there someone with the city to our city manager?

You

answer that? Yes, absolutely. Our Housing and Community Services Director, Tamara Colden, can help answer those questions.

Great. Thank you.

There is approximately $6,700,000 in Measure M funds allocated towards the project. There's $6,700,000 in state parks grant funding allocated towards the project. We currently have an application for $2,600,000 in Section 108 funding. There is also approximately about $800,000 and some remaining downtown bond funding allocated towards the project, and then an additional approximately, maybe another $800,000 in annual CDBG funding, an upcoming funding that is allocated towards the project per the application and budget that was submitted during the application and consolidated planning process, plus another about $400,000 that has already been spent towards the project in CDBG funding.

Thank you.

Did that

help? Oh yes. Okay.

I believe council member Ritchie have a question. You have a question? Yes, have a question. Why don't you go ahead? What's your question?

Thank you. If we hold off on that, the funding, the bonds, the grants that we have in place, will we lose that money if it's not used within a certain amount of time?

So I'm going to turn this over to our city manager.

Yes, we would lose the funding. Right now we have already spent about I believe 1,400,000 from the funding that's available. We have 90% of the design completed for the project. The reason it's on hold is because we're waiting on one state funding to be approved, not state, sorry, federal funding to be approved which is on hold with the department right now. Thank you.

I believe Greg, Councilmember Richie, you were next.

Yeah. It was not on that, it was just in general, but I guess I can talk to that in second. It was more just Cal City's

So hold on. So if we're talking about this, we're still on this issue because I have a motion and a second, but I was trying to see if there was any questions on this before I asked for

Oh, I'm good at math. I have no questions. Have comments, but so we can talk about it.

Well, motion is to

agendize I'm aware. Yeah. We can

Is it a vote? Yes, we need a vote. Oh, yeah. Or at least a

I have questions related to this.

Okay, question. Go ahead.

What I was gonna suggest is, you know, I think that there is potentially additional projects. It's not just this project that we should look at as a council to see whether or not we can unencumbered money so that we have what's needed to make sure that, you know, we don't lose our crew or other other city services. You know, I recognize that this is one that has a substantial amount of money. I know we've talked about phasing it in the past, but I don't want it to just be a conversation that is specific to one project. I think it needs to be looking across the board at projects with money allocated to them that can be unencumbered so that we can make a decision, give the public an opportunity to weigh in on whether or not they want us to prioritize some of these projects that we've put money in while we're deficit spending.

You know, it doesn't make sense to to put money necessarily into a park if we don't have the staffing necessary to, you know, to mow to mow the grass and some of these different things, not just one project. But so I just wanted to clarify. I I second this because I think it's a it's a more comprehensive discussion than just being about one project. I recognize it's a significant impact to go backwards on a project with this much money being put up by the state, but I also recognize that, you know, we have to be responsible with the money that we have to try to take care of the services that I think the community expects from us. I would like to broaden it, like a friendly amendment to broaden So this

what gonna what ask is we, I don't wanna start going down pathway because this isn't an item just to bring back a discussion. And so out of that discussion, it could probably be broadened into further discussion. Will say, we have an agenda item tonight that focuses on a five year CIP plan, which will project current or upcoming projects and that might be a good time to even be able to see what's in front of us for those projects. So with that, Vice President Silva, did you have a question?

Yeah, two questions. Sure. Question number one, Councilmember Primeau, have you had any discussions with staff regarding the necessary the funding that you're seeking to possibly pull back?

No. Okay.

And then to staff, is there any urgency in accessing any of these funds with our budget, whether that's city manager or finance director?

Can you please repeat the question?

Is there any urgent need to access funds? Is there any urgent need to access funds, whether it be from this project or any other project?

Well, that is the council direction we would need to weigh in on if after the discussion council guides us to or provides us the direction to pull the funding but at this time the project is committed, we're waiting from the federal government to hear back, the design has been completed so we're just following what was approved in the past and if there's a motion that's approved tonight then we'll pivot and we'll go into a new direction.

So am I to understand that there hasn't been staff would have suggested, Hey, here's an option of where we can secure funds in order to help address these different cost needs due to deficit spending or cutbacks? So he has not presented this particular project or any other project that is being suggested to explore, is that correct?

No, we did not propose it because the council voted yes to move forward with this project. So if council wants to pull direction, yes, then we'll bring back the options.

But is that staff's recommendation?

We don't know at this time depending on the direction.

Has it been the

recommendation of staff in the past?

We're not gonna go there.

I want a clear answer to my question, I'm not getting it.

You are getting it. What it is is that staff has been given direction and that was what was asked. And so staff has proposed and has moved forward on the direction.

The staff, council is also getting direction to support crew. Okay.

Thank you. If the motion passes, that will be the point of discussion. It's a discussion only. I have not heard a motion of any change because it would have to come before a regularly scheduled meeting. That's the only thing that could be brought back at this time in that discussion and it couldn't be quickly because we need time. So, there's a motion and a second. This is going to take a roll call. I'm not going to

Council Member Stockton?

-Yes.

-

Council Member Ritchie?

-Yeah.

-

Council Member Chapman?

No. I want to make sure I understand what we're voting.

Just to bring it back for discussion.

To bring it back for discussion, no. Council Member Freedom?

Yes.

Council Member Whiteley? No. Vice Mayor Silva?

No, thank you.

Mayor Carley?

Yes, we can bring it back for discussion. Councilmember Freeman, did you have any other comments?

No, other than that, I just want to have a discussion.

Okay. And I believe next, and then we're going to have to relight the board here in a minute, I do believe Councilmember Wiley, you are next.

Thank you. So we'll move back to a positive note here. We cut our funding last year for the district dollars but I had money left over from last year so we had a very successful spruce up day two weeks ago with 40 volunteers, some old have volunteered for every one of the five and some for the first time that had just moved to Vacaville like a year ago so it was really nice and some from the city council and staff. So it was a wonderful group of people and we had over 400 drops. When we started in 2022 we had 200 so we've doubled the impact that we have and everyone was very happy to be able to drop off their unwanted items.

And I think we had about 16 bins that went to the landscape of the landfill through ecology. They also had to go back to Davis Street to get another pallet for our e waste because we had a very successful e waste again. So it was a very successful program for the fifth year and going forward I'm not sure where it will be because right now we don't have district dollars to spend in our district. So I'm telling people that that was maybe the last one. Also that way we had beautiful weather because that was two weeks ago.

This weekend the weather was different for the air show. It was cold and windy but it was a wonderful time at the air show. They were able to do all the flights and the displays, I guess the acts that they were going to do. So the people that were there really enjoyed it and so it was great except for the drive to get there took a long time. And then in the afternoon on Saturday or in the morning there was a youth summit that our youth roundtable put together and it was people, all the young people, and the theme was break the cycle so it was all positive messages.

And so I went out there Saturday morning and there were a lot of youth there participating. And the other great thing about that was the youth had planned it and they had also presented the workshops. So when they were talking about think positive, do this, I mean it was the youth talking to the youth to talk about how to break the cycle. Several people have already mentioned the Cal cities. The part that I will say is we did there was a contingent of people from this council as well as neighboring cities, American Canyon and Dix there were several other cities involved.

Benicia besides us went and met with Senator Cabaldon and we also met with Assembly Member Lori Wilson. And one of the message was our council is concerned with loss of local control and we want to be able to make decisions for Vacaville when we can and we also talked about the mandates without funding, how that was an issue and I specifically brought up the Chrome how that decision is really impacting our city and how much it's costing us to address that. So we had a one on one not one on one, but one on one with the Assembly Member and the Senator this past week for that reason. So those were basically the things that I had wanted to share that I'd done. I do have also an interest that I would like to see if the council has an appetite for and that is I brought it up with the strategic planning and I brought it up before.

I just think it would be nice for Vacaville to have a poet laureate. I don't think there would be a cost associated with it. Just this past weekend in the newspaper there was a whole section on poetry and it talked about the poet laureate from Venetia, from Fairfield, from Vallejo, and Vallejo had a poet laureate quite a few years ago and I have heard her read her poems and speak and it really moves you to hear her. She now lives in Vacaville so I had talked to her about could she be a support for us and so I would like to see if the council is interested in just having that explored, what would be entailed with Vacaville having a poet laureate. I just searched cities with poet laureates and a whole bunch of them have it, so that's my ask.

It's a positive, I'm supportive of that. I think even with our arts advisory and with Parks and Rec, we could easily explore that somehow because it does bring, I think there's a lot of things we've seen recently that that could be a benefit for Vacaville.

And in the park, we just put like a it's not a gondola, what's it called? Anyway, so there is a little stage down in Magnolia Park and that would be a perfect thing to do and kids would I I think we could get young Gazebo. People Gazebo, that's it. I knew it was a G. All right. So besides the mayor, is there other interest in having a poet laureate?

I'd support.

How about any support here?

Yes.

Okay.

I

think so. Think that you've got the majority of the council to do that.

Yeah, so we'll do some research on how other cities have implemented the program and bring back the program details for us to then get the direction to implement it. Thank you.

So you have time to write poems before we

meet you.

Councilmember Ritchie.

Okay. All right. I'll go back to council comments real quickly. So Cal Cities, I was able to have the opportunity to join an inaugural committee. Was about Cal Cities. The committee was for armed services and serving armed services, and I was very proud to be in the part that. So I get a chance to do a quick little presentation on Skills Bridge. And it was very enlightening because a lot of other people had no idea what Skills Bridge was besides who actually served. There's many amazing people in the room that serve now at Cal Cities. That's what we can do.

And I express how everyone in the city of Agrivale, every single business, big or small, they don't know what Cal Cities is, shame for them. But SkillsBridge is so important. Every single company in this city should be a member of SkillsBridge and understand it's a pathway and a pipeline for everyone who serves our country. When they start to retire, SkillsBridge gives them six months of paid education, paid training to transition from the military to any line of work. So I've been a Skillsbridge member for, I think, five years.

I've had the great opportunity to have a loadmaster and three other people come through my company and get trained by the government to do the job. Every business in our city should be a Skills Ready member. All these people are retiring. They should have a pathway right into our city to work in government, work in private industry, but to serve and just give them opportunity. The next thing we touched on was family support. One of the main things they need is family support, so I explained to other cities what we can do as a city to help support the bases in all the cities around the bases, like childcare was the main thing. So I highlighted Skills Bridge and how childcare and supporting the families is really important.

That's it. Yeah, thank you. I don't see any other lights. I'll just conclude with for those of you who came out, I know some other members of the council did, there has been a significant amount of artwork that's come to our city and we were blessed. If you've seen it before you leave tonight, you'll go out and you'll see Pilar who's on display right outside of our city council.

And the artist, Angela Arteratano, I believe that's how you say it, she's an artist here in Vacaville, Venezuelan by descent, wonderful person, and she is the creator of this art piece. But it's part of the project that, and this was sponsored by On Stage Vacaville, but it's the Cow on Parade project that started. And a lot of times people think, Well, what's Vacaville? Well, the cow portion of this is just kind of a play on words because Vaca is actually the historical family that was part of our history here, not necessarily because there's cows on the hills. And we were recently featured in the New York Times as a wonderful place to live and that was an example in my world to see people come out and see what we have to offer in Vacaville and to honor a local artist and the arts.

And so Pilar is on display and that was a wonderful event that we had here at City Hall to further the arts. With that, I'm going to move on to reports of the City Manager, but I want to ask a question. I asked if there was any changes to the approval, but I don't know that we voted on it. See, that's what I thought. I had a little note here, so all right, I caught myself. So there were no changes to the rest of this agenda tonight, especially the matters of importance. So do I have a motion?

Motion to approve. Second.

We have a motion to second. All in favor? Aye. Okay, now we will move on to reports of the city manager.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and Council Members. I do have three updates today. So the first one is a fun one. We had a bring your kid to work day event and before I go into details I want to thank Angelina, Tracy, Valencia Reyes, Erin Bernstein and rest of the COV life committee. The event would not have been possible without them So on April 23 the city of Vacaville hosted the bring your kid to work day welcoming more than 80 children from across all city departments and divisions throughout the day participants had the opportunity to observe their parents and grandparents in their roles gaining a firsthand look at the important work that keeps our community going.

The event concluded with interactive hands on exercises and activities where children engaged with the staff from all over all the departments across the organization, learning about the wide range of services that the city provides from public safety and infrastructure to recreation and community services. The event not only highlighted the essential work of the local government but also inspired the next generation by showing that a career in public service can be both meaningful and fun. So thank you to the team for that. I also want to move on to say thanks to Rika and our utilities team when we went for city leaders summit and they created these one pagers for our legislative advocacy for Chrome six, our NBR plant expansion, as well as broadband and other cities loved our one pagers so much that they took samples from Rica so they can replicate it, so we're really proud of that. I'm also part of the Governance Transparency and Labor Relations Committee and so as part of that I work with the League of California Cities on various initiatives, transparency efforts, PRA efforts, cybersecurity stuff so it was really enlightening to learn all about that there.

And last but not the least, I would like to announce I have voluntarily declined to take a raise this year as well as my COLA and I want to in a shared commitment say thanks to my senior leadership team, our city attorney and our assistant city manager. They have all chosen to forgo their COLA for 2026. This collective action reflects a strong sense of accountability and our commitment to lead by example. Through this decision, the leadership is reinforcing its focus on protecting the essential services and maintaining the city's financial health during this challenging budget cycle. So I wanna say thanks again to my leadership team for joining me in this effort and that's my update for today.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

These are tough times and I appreciate everyone stepping up. With that, we do have a presentation tonight. I believe it is Building Safety Month so there is a proclamation. I see Erin Morris coming forward. Wherever you'd like to start.

Thank you. I'm filling in for our Chief Building Official, Alletti Stun.

Okay. Why don't you go ahead, since you have a presentation, I'll let you start.

Thank you, Mayor Carley, Vice Mayor Silva, members of counsel. I will be brief this evening. We're here to celebrate Building Safety Month. As many of you know, every May the International Code Council hosts this month as an opportunity to raise awareness about building safety and the importance of building safety in our community. This year's theme is Built to Last.

It takes a whole team of people to help facilitate safe buildings in Vacaville and we really enjoy this opportunity to highlight how important our building division is in keeping our community safe. Even though their work is actually hopefully unnoticed to a great degree, they do play a key role in building safety. Building departments around the country make sure that all types of construction follow a wide range of state laws. These laws, known as codes are designed to keep the community and emergency responders safe during emergencies. And we also work very closely with the fires code enforcement division and fire prevention division in cases of code enforcement actions.

We're often doing joint inspections looking at whether a building is safe to live in and assisting in resolving life safety issues. This is my favorite slide of the deck which is a twenty twenty five Building Division in Review. Last calendar year the building division issued 3,942 building permits, completed fourteen sixty five plan reviews, were on time or early on plan reviews 88% of the time and collected total fees of $25,000,000 These are diff fees and fees for services. With a team of three building inspectors, we completed 16,643 building inspections, which is an average of thirteen eighty seven a month. It was a very strong year and I can say as the director I'm extremely proud of the building division's performance last year.

Just a few other accomplishments. This was the year that we onboarded our new land management system and now have digital submittals and online plan review services. We have a new easier way for customers to call for inspections and we recently launched a permit fee estimator tool that allows our customers to calculate fee estimates for standard types of projects that people embark on here. This year in '25 the building division also launched PlanCheck Express which is a much improved version of the old program called TI Tuesday. I do have some numbers on PlanCheck Express that I want to share if I can find them because they were really good.

So far we've had 103 PlanCheck Express appointments, 38 for the non residential side and 75 for the residential side and our chief building official really wants to acknowledge this would not be possible without our partners, which are planning, fire, utilities, and public works. This is everybody with their shoulders at the same wheel getting these projects through in a very efficient manner. The other thing of note is that in house plan review has been tremendous this last calendar year. Having a full time plan check engineer and a full time plans examiner means we're no longer outsourcing pretty much any of our plan reviews and that's keeping revenues in house, it's also providing much better service to our customers. Our building safety professionals are known as the silent defenders of public safety and another thing to keep in mind, my department, especially as a newly combined department, we really recognize that permit activity and building activity is all part of the city's economic development.

These functions just go hand in hand. So in conclusion, there's four themes for Building Safe Home, Strong Communities, Voices of the Built Environment, Prepare to Protect, and communities without limits, and our department will be celebrating all of those in the month of May. And thank you very much for letting me present this this time.

Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. The fact that it's all in house again, those numbers are impressive and that's really important, especially in these times of people want to know that the services is that we're accessible and there's assurances too that we can actually deliver it. What I'd like to do is just read this proclamation. Whereas the City of Vacaville is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depend on the safety and essential role of our homes, buildings and infrastructure play, both in everyday life and when disasters strike. And our confidence in the resilience of these buildings that make up our community is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians, building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, design professionals, laborers, plumbers, and others in the construction industry.

There's a lot. Each who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings, and whereas these guardians are dedicated to members of the International Code Council, a nonprofit that brings together local, state, territorial, tribal, and federal officials who are experts in the built environment to create and implement the highest quality codes and standards to protect us in the buildings where we live, learn, work, and play. And whereas these modern building codes and standards include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as wildland fires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, snowstorms, not so much here, but up in the mountains, and tornadoes. Whereas Building Safety Month is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our communities, largely unknown protectors of public safety, our code officials, who assure us of safe, sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our prosperity. Whereas Built to Last, the theme for Building Safety Month twenty twenty six, encourages us all to get involved and raise awareness about building safety on a personal, local and global scale.

And whereas each year in observance of Building Safety Month, people all over the world are asked to consider their commitment to improve building safety. This is a long one. Resilience and economic investment at home and in the community. And to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us and federal building safety and fire prevention departments in protecting lives and property. Now therefore be it resolved that I, John Carley, Mayor of the City Of Vacaville and on behalf of the Vacaville City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026 National Building Safety Month.

So congratulations. Alright, we're gonna go ahead and move on to item nine, consent calendar. Is there any item on consent that the public or the council wishes to pull for a discussion? Yes. Which item? 9E and 9F. 9E and 9F? Yes. Okay. Anyone else? Yes.

The meeting is there, counsel, vice mayor, staff as well as general public. If you don't mind, and I know it's probably gonna be a busy night for you and I don't wanna keep you from going home, you know. If there's a way to pull that C resolution, I'm not sure what Which that one

are you talking about?

The one with resolution approving the final map for Lagoon Valley. And by the way, I'm Roberto Valdez. I've been here thirty plus years.

Yes. I'll pull it for a quick for discussion. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, sir. And I just want clarification.

That's fine.

Thank you.

But I do have my position. Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. So other than that, we have items A through H. Can I have a motion to approve the items A through H minus C, E, and F?

Motion to approve. Second.

We have a motion and Vice or Councilmember Chapman seconds. All in favor? Aye. So, we'll start with, council member Freeman. Item e, did you have a comment?

Yes, I did. Actually, let's see here. So it's actually a question. So it talks about California government code authorizes public agencies, including the city of Vacaville energy service contracts proposed by energy services vendor when the anticipated cost of alternative energy will be less than the anticipated cost of that energy. And that would have expanded if the project were not constructed.

The question that I have is during the project budgeting process, it says no city funds were expended for the construction of this project. Funding is provided by a twenty year tax exempt lease purchase financing loan and the electrical utility savings generated from this energy conservation project is expected to pay for this loan. The reason that I'm asking that is because in recent council meetings, it's been said that we spent money on millions of dollars putting this system in, which basically we took advantage of a energy group that provided us with a roadmap to get solar onto our buildings and basically pay for itself. So I just wanted to ask the question, is that truly what happened or did $17,000,000 come out of our budget?

So I'm not sure, but that's the question. Okay. To our city attorney, Baldwin.

Mayor, I think that council member Primeau is referring to item 9D.

Oh, did I?

Which was already approved on consent.

I don't

Yeah, it's already approved.

My

apologies. Okay. Well, it's been approved but it's a question that we can probably get answered later unless there's a short

I question think it's appropriate to have a short general statement about that item since

Well, yeah. If Director Oxley could give us a short answer for that. Simple mistake, I get it.

The answer to your question is there was no public funds that went towards us. You are correct that the improvements were included in the loan. And they will be spread out over the cost of that loan. And those savings will offset those costs.

Okay. Thank you, Brian. I just thought it was important for the public to hear it.

Yes. No. You're correct.

Okay.

So Mayor, the council's still going to need to take an action on 9E?

That's right. That's right. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, that's fine. So D, that's done. That's closed even though that was already approved. We got an answer for that. So now what we have to actually do is have the discussion on 9E. Were you intending to pull that one?

No.

Well, we're gonna have to then we're gonna have to actually take as an action item. Are there any questions from the council on this item?

Yeah, if it's pulled, I have a question.

Okay, so go ahead with your question.

For some reason my bookmark thing isn't coming up but within the slurry seal item, it also talked about putting in the school signs, is that correct? It was in the same because I had a question about that, if that was the same one.

So the nice thing is, as Council Member Fremont pulled it, you get question. Your

Because I think it said we paid him to do the slur seal and to do the signs

Correct, for yeah, direct second question. You're correct.

Okay, so the two questions I had was, have we noticed any difference and that's kind of maybe the police department with the school signs being at fifteen versus 25 was the first question. The second one, was there any way to be able to go around that because the junior high on Nuttree and Cambridge couldn't have the 15 because it's four lane so I thought they was looking into could they change that to 15, was there any deal with that? And then my third part of that was, you know, there's a school sign on Alamo by that business building where the Dutch store is going in because Kairos used to be there, but I called Kairos today to say, do you still have a site there? And they said, no. So I'm not sure that we need the school sign there on Alamo.

So those are my three things about that school sign stuff.

Okay.

The sign I'll have to find out because I'm not aware of that sign. But I will research that and get back to you all.

And I talked to this person that's Kairos who said, oh, I'm new. So that might not be the correct information but that's what she gave me. And I looked on their website and I didn't see that as a location. But it's a pretty big sign on Alamo saying school sign, you know, stop.

Okay. Yeah, I'll look into that and On get back to the first question, I don't know specific data as far as how that is I can tell you in my neighborhood that is working well with those, the flashing beacon up and down that Rentham all the time. And I do know that that is working in my neighborhood.

So they have a flashing beacon there? Because ours at Cambridge and Foxborough is just 15.

Doctor. Okay.

I see.

Doctor. Yeah. So I have seen, at least in my neighborhood, that that works. I would have to find out and maybe we do talk to our police chief to see if that's working in other neighborhoods. I'm not sure.

So I guess that the law says you can't have it 15 if it's four lanes. And that's why they couldn't put the 15 sign at Cambridge. So I just didn't know if there's anything oh, and the junior high. So if there was anything else that was being done there or not.

Let me look into that. I'm not aware of that council member, but I'll look into that and get back with you. Okay, thanks.

Hold on, Brian.

Hold on a second. So, more. Councilmember Wiley, were you finished?

That was it. Thank you.

Councilmember Freeman?

Yeah, sorry. You know what, I'd written down 9E because I had a question but it was a really picky panning question, so I thought I'd ask you on the side instead of burning up city council. But since you're here in front of Vacaville High School, there's confusing signs. I don't know if you're going eastbound into the high school zone. It says 15 miles an hour is a sign that flashes. But when you're coming westbound right in front of the high school, there's still a 25 mile an hour sign there. I was gonna ask if the construction guys were responsible for getting that sign because it's right across the street, so it's not correct.

Yeah, let me look at that.

All right, sorry. I was going to ask you on the side, sorry.

Yeah, no problem. I'll look into that and get back.

My excuse for my mistake, so.

Okay.

But the slurry seal's great.

Thank you.

Do you have a question?

I wanted to ask about that. Transportation.

So you might as well stay here.

Okay. That's okay.

That's okay.

The Sollama Transportation Authority, do they have an when we are looking to put in signs and change the speed limit, I think I recall reading something that was on their agenda at one time. Do you know what influence or what has to be done, taken to them when we're making changes like that?

I'm not aware of any outreach to STA regarding our speed limits within our, within the city. I'm not aware of anything. But I can check on that, but I'm not aware of anything.

Thank you.

All right.

So I'm going open up to the thank you. I'm going open up to the public for any comment on this item, which is item E. Trying to keep it straight here. Seeing none, I'm gonna go ahead and look for a motion.

Motion approved. So moved.

Motion and a second. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, now we're going to discuss item F. Councilmember Caprivo?

Yes. I have a question for, I guess, Justin. And that is drawing 607. It's on page two forty five. It's talking about laterals being the homeowner's responsibility.

So in the past, and I believe that up until last week, the city was responsible for anything going past the sidewalk and into the street. Under the new proposal or that just passed or just came into effect, now it's the homeowner's responsibility to pay for that hookup all the way out, even if it's in the middle of the street to the main?

Yeah, that's correct. Councilmember Framile. With the new Munico update, we went with kind of the industry standard, kind of the best practices, where the lateral from the home to the main is the responsibility of the homeowner. Not so much for the cost of actually repairing the main or replacing it, but there is a huge liability issue associated with the city working on private property. That's one of the biggest constraints or biggest concerns that we have with that. That and it's really just an industry standard that when you are paying your utility bill, you pay for the system that serves the collective whole rather than a single point, which is the lateral that goes to the home, which just serves that customer.

I guess my concern is, in the past, the city has taken care of that. And now, to go out into the middle of the street with a street closure and the sign guys, and I actually had to do this for a customer in Dixon. To get out in the middle of 113 was like $20,000 added to something so simple. So I'm just concerned that, you know, this is gonna be a big expense for some people that may not be able to afford it. So maybe, can you elaborate if there's a program in place that can help people?

So we do not have a program in place currently within the city of Vacaville. If we did have a program, it would have to be non rate revenues that would basically contribute to something like this. Most, I should say most, if not all of our non rate revenues go to our low income program. We are exploring some options about an insurance program that is used within the county. Several of the cities use it. It's an optional program that residents can opt into and they pay a monthly fee. More to come on that. I actually have a meeting scheduled here very next week with the gentleman to go over that. That was kind of the next step is to get the muni code approved. The standards which we're looking at tonight doesn't necessarily rule deal with the the rule setting of it, just how you are supposed to construct it.

And then to bring that potentially back to council if it's if they're so desired.

Okay. Thank you. That's all I have.

Yeah. Thank you. Council Member Stockton?

Yes. I just wanted to thank you and your team. We had a pretty good, robust email conversation about this issue, so thank you for getting back to me. I just wanna confirm that there are still no active, I guess, work orders with the city to fix any of the any of these laterals?

There are, and we own those.

Okay. But only ours? Yeah. Okay. So none

Not of ours, but within the city, anything that was outstanding as of that date, we will take care of that.

So anything that is not functioning correctly is getting taken care of before this ordinance is taken care of. I just want to make sure that hadn't changed because we know we talked about that. And just to reiterate, or just to ask again, I guess, this is in line with best standards across the country when it comes to, what the city is responsible for and not responsible for.

Correct. I mean, if you look industry wide, SAC Sewer does it, San Jose does it, East Bay Mudd does it, San Francisco, LA, Ocean Counties, San Diego, Fresno, Bakersfield. And it's all this is the industry trend. This is something that we're doing some cleanup language with when we did the Muni Code. It wasn't clear in our Muni Code whether we were responsible for it or not. At some point it became a practice. We just wanted to codify that and clarify that it is the homeowner's responsibility going forward in the new Muni Code update. And not all know, can be expensive and not all repairs or sewer problems require a dig and replace. You can line them a lot, which is a lot cheaper. And it does vary.

Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I'm going to open it up to public for any comment on this item. Alright, seeing none, I'll bring it back to the council. Is there a motion?

A motion to approve. Second.

We have

a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Alright, so if I see this, we don't have any public hearings but what we are going to do before that is we're going to go

to We the need to go back to 9C.

9C, what do we do on C?

From the public?

Oh, that's right. Alright, so let's go ahead and let's bring this forward. So item C. Sir, if you if you could come forward and you can share your your concerns or your position.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Carley and staff and general public for letting me speak on this item. I just want clarification what is going on there. You know, and I don't say this to you. Well, you know my position on Lagoon Valley.

It's nothing new. I've been doing it for thirty years plus maybe forty, fifty, sixty, I don't know, as long as I'm here, I guess. But I don't say that lightly to you. I don't know if you know but at Pena Adobe, which I know very well, many years, at least thirty five plus years, they have 10 unknown individuals buried behind that those buildings. It's a sacred site to the Native American people, the Malacca people, the Patwan, and the Winton people.

Anyway, I don't know those people and that's the story. Nobody knows who they were or what. But I do know at least 10 people that I worked for when we were dealing with the Lower Lagoon Valley project. And you know what the Friends of Lagoon Valley did. We were opposed to it.

We took you to the Supreme to the Superior Court. We took you to the appellate court and we were gonna take you to the State Supreme and maybe even the National Supreme Court. But anyway, and we went through three different surveys, all legitimately done, everybody was voiced. And there was also a fourth one a referendum because we were opposed to it. And I don't say that lightly again because I was one of the people who started that.

There was another lady of respect for privacy and it went on. With Nicholson Dines, we took you to court because we didn't agree with what you're doing to a historical place. I still don't agree but I just want clarification of what's going on there. And you know, to make the short story long, as you know, I want to register that I'm opposed to this. I'm still opposed to that. I think you desecrated our historical place, you know. And I respect you and I respect your the decision and all that. We went through it. So I think the public should know what's going on. Thank you.

MR. Thank you. With that, I'm going to if there's staff that can speak at least to the elements of this agenda item since it's already been made public. To our Director Oxley, tonight is your night.

I apologize, mayor. I wasn't sure what the there

was Don't know that there was a It was more of a of a position. I know that there was comments about burial sites. However, if you can just give a high level also what this final map really is and if there was any comment that you could make.

So legally, we're not supposed to discuss whereabouts of remains. And so I'll just leave it at that. And I will I'll say that the city has been active and aware of what's going on out there for with cultural remains and has ensured that the developer is is taking care of things legally. So I I guess I can say that. As far as the final map, the final map Subdivision Map Act states that once a developer has their tentative map and they follow all the conditions of approval, there's not much the city can do once they follow and meet the requirements of the Subdivision Map Act and the tentative map and the conditions of approval that we would the city would refrain from approving their final map.

And I can state that the developer has met those conditions of approval Thank for their final

you. Thank you. All right. With that, I am going to open this up the public for any comment. Seeing yes, please come forward.

Alright, I just want answer a clarifying question. You said that the developers handling the remains legally. Are they handling

So actually just direct you anyway.

So Are the remains being handled legally, which is one thing, but ethically with considering the Native American tribe and all that stuff? I guess that would be my question.

Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that. Appreciate it.

Yes, the local tribe has been involved in all steps of the project. And any cultural means, the tribe has been contacted and their needs are being met.

Okay. Thank you. Alright, I'll go ahead and close public comment on this item. I don't see any lights. Do I have a motion?

Motion to approve.

We have a motion to approve. Second? Second. All right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Yeah, thank you. I appreciate the questions and I appreciate the position. I always respect that. So thank you. Alright, we're gonna go ahead and move on to business from the floor. Feels like we've already had it but we haven't, so. If anyone has any items you wish to address the council on tonight that's not on the agenda, but it's within our jurisdiction, please come forward.

Well, before I forget, to the, city manager and the other executives that are foregoing their, cost of living increases, thank you. Because, you know, it seems like a small thing, but if you project that percentage out over years, it makes it a you know, there's a difference. And as a taxpayer, I appreciate that. Last last, council meeting, one of the council members made a comment to me about I must be hating on him over the difference of opinion over the proposed sales tax. Well, I don't hate anybody, but all I was trying to do was point out that a sales tax hurts the people who are already on the margins.

And sales rep, you know, the tax revenue should be going up anyway a little bit because prices are going up. So if your revenue from the to from from the taxes isn't keeping up with your spending, then going and raising taxes on people who are already on marginal incomes in the face of raising prices, not good. That's all I'm saying. It doesn't hurt me. This is a philosophical argument.

The discussions that you ladies and gentlemen had about going and looking at possible upcoming expenses and things like, you know, looking at how much it's going to cost to maintain improved parts or whatever in ongoing years. Yeah. You know, you ladies and gentlemen, spent your own money to, run for this office. So you can be, you know, make all these damned if you do and damned if you don't choices. And it's I know it's easy to always say yes to improvements, but a lot of times we have to look at that maybe we can't afford this.

I noticed that, congressman Garamendi made a couple of mentions this week about the SHIP's Act, and I noted that the, none of it in there said anything about California forever. And I just wanted to bring that up because California forever is always on my mind. I realized that, hey, taxpayers are gonna be on the hook for that. It's like, former state senator Bill Dodd said, it's nothing but a sleazy real estate swindle.

Good evening. Doctor.

Good evening. I don't think I have to reintroduce myself. You know me. And I'll be coming as I see fit. Let me just say that I admire that guy. I love that. If you had seen him speak at Sussex City Council, he's a wise man as far as and I hope you think seriously what he's saying to you. I agree with him. I want to second what he said about the sales guy. And not only do I want to say second to what he said about California forever, but I think you should know, that issue needs to go on the ballot by that city council because it's gonna affect you and everybody in this county.

And if we don't do that, we're not a democracy. We're on an oligarchy or what do you want to what they're trying to do in Washington, turn us into an autocracy. That's not going to help us constitutional wise. Who knows what's going to happen? But I want to say that I admire him, really do.

And I encourage him to keep coming to you and saying like it is. And what else can I tell you? You know, while I'm here to talk to you Do I have one minute or two minutes? I'm here not to talk to you about that necessarily but also I'm here to remind you that in 1941, around this time of the year, April 29 to May 3, there were 1,000 Japanese American citizens who were loyal to our country, who were, you know, by the act of, the president, forced into, trace they were expropriated of all the property. They were law abiding citizens.

And we, you know, we let it happen. There were a lot of, people in Vacaville who spoke in favor of not doing that to the government. But the government, those people got caught in, war hysteria. And let's hope we don't go there again. You know, I'm hearing echoes of that. You should be concerned about that. And say what you say as an American citizen, with your constitution right. Not for any tyrant or whatever or even president, but for what you believe our country should be, a better country. So I would like to suggest to you that if you have the time that you seriously consider and I've done research. I can tell you.

I studied I had an expert genealogist take a look at somebody that's a family that's buried in our cemetery. And I've also done went to the Heritage Council and read a book written by a citizen who experienced a terrible pain that that war did to them. And they were law abiding citizens. So I'm asking you to go in your hearts, if you have any moral sense, to put a plaque out there, remind educate the public here that wasn't born like myself there and tell them what really happened and that there were good people there and you threw them all out. And you let the government do that.

Let's hope we don't get to that level. Thank you.

Seeing no one else, I'm gonna go ahead and close business from the floor and we'll move on. We have no public hearings tonight so we'll move on to item 12A.

Yes, Mayor. Item 12A is consideration and selection of a Parks and Recreation Commissioner and as you recall at your March 24 meeting you made appointments to fill the expiring terms of commissioners and after those appointments were made we were contacted by one of the appointees to the Parks and Rec Commission that they felt that the time commitment was more than they were expecting. Therefore we have an opening on the Parks and Rec Commission for a one year term and I will let you take it from there.

Yeah, thank you. I appreciate this and I actually respect the person who was very honored to be selected. However, they realized in their world it was just a commitment that they realized it was more than they thought. Lots of good candidates. The council has seen the list as we move to this point and appreciate the process we've gone through.

And following that process, I reviewed the list again and in that particular moment I contacted Heather Krause who's here tonight and in our discussion I believe that she would serve very well on the Parks and Rec Commission and I am intending to nominate her for appointment for the one year subject to the council ratification but I'd like Heather to come forward just introduce herself. Since we've had a conversation I

wasn't expecting to talk. I hope everyone's having a wonderful evening. It's a pleasure to be here. Just to introduce myself, my name is Heather Krausz. I moved to Vacaville in 2020, the week that the fire happened. So it was an exciting week. I moved here with my son from Sacramento and am proud to call Vacaville home. I absolutely love it here. I'm raising a blended family. I have had two sons now graduate from Vacca High.

One was soccer captain, is now playing collegiate soccer up in Oregon and we also have a sophomore there who is an avid basketball player. I work as a senior client services specialist for a major property management company and I love the town. I love everything about Vacaville and I have been eager to jump in to provide any assistance I can in becoming a part of the community. So I'm just excited to be here. I apologize I didn't have anything prepared.

Doctor. Sometimes that's the best part. It's for the council. We followed a good process and appreciate you taking the time to engage. I think that that's something the entire council wants. I will ask if there's any member of the council that wants to either have a question or any comment that now would be the time.

Vice President? Welcome. So why Parks and Rec?

You know what, I joke that I'm a forever soccer mom. I have always been involved in everything that has to do with outdoors, whether it was myself growing up, again, having children. I believe that there I know that Vacaville does a fantastic job, already with the parks and recreation, but I think that, especially in the past few years, there has been an abundance of I think we need to get the kids outside. I think we need to get people off of computers. We need to get them engaged.

I think it doesn't even have anything to do specifically with the children. I think it's the entire community. I am a people person. I love engaging with the community and I would like to be able to share the excitement that I have with the rest of Vacaville.

Thank you. Councillor Wiley?

I will also say welcome. Thank you. And I will say that the Parks and Rec Department is very versatile and it meets the needs of a lot of people besides just sports. And this past weekend I went to the bridal fair just because the parks and rec was putting it on and I wanted to see and there was so much enthusiasm and so we have senior programs

and

we have preschools so you're welcome to the Parks and Rec Commission.

You. That's one of the things too. Working in property management, I have done so many outreach with communities with working just with all sorts of people and getting people engaged, getting people excited about where they live, whether again, you know, point of reference definitely is a lot of times athletics because that has been kind of my wheelhouse but I am open. I saw the ad for the bridal fair and I looked at my husband and I said, oh my gosh, he's like, we're already married. And I said, you know, I just I love being a part of that and I love engaging with people and getting people about sight, excited about where they live.

Well, what they said to me was renew your vows because I said, oh, I'm not saying anything.

We got married. I don't want to overshare. We did a COVID wedding and so it was very small. So yes, I will probably be at the next bridal fair. Right.

Councilmember Chapman.

Doctor. Yes. Well, nice meeting you in Nice meeting Yes. Doctor. So I don't see any more lights on, so I would be honored to make

I'll let you

make make motion.

Bottom line is that's what's gonna take us a motion. But before I do that, I'm not asking you to leave yet because you deserve being a part of this process. But I'm gonna actually open up to public comment first. I can follow the rules and then I'll come back. That's okay. So you don't have to move yet.

Don't leave, okay.

Any member of the public wishing to comment on this item? Seeing none. Now, if you'd like to make a motion.

I would be honored to make the motion to move that we approve the recommendation of the mayor to bring on board Mrs. She's married Krause. Yes, yes. And I'll second. To our Parks and Rec Commission.

Great, we have a motion and council member three mile seconds. All in favor? Aye.

Thank you.

So I appreciate your willingness to serve. And it's the creativity that I believe based on our conversation and your passion is gonna be good for our city. So thank you very much.

And I wanna thank everyone for your vote of confidence. I am really thrilled to jump in and contribute in any way that I'm able to do so. So thank you very much.

Am I?

Yes. We were gonna turn around and take a picture. Sounds like someone's,

let's

see, look at that, you're smart. All right, why don't you come up here?

You wanna come up here? Okay.

We can just stand right here. Anybody else who wants to get

a picture?

Cool.

Is very unexpected.

You didn't know you were going speak.

I did not. You

did know I was taking your picture though.

Yes.

Alright, thank you. You. Congratulations.

Thank you

so much. Absolutely. Thank you. Sorry about that. No, that's okay. That's fine.

I didn't think I

had two jacks. Right, well that's great. I appreciate that and I'll just No, that's okay.

I'm done.

Now you're done.

I will just, my final comment on this is I do believe that we have a good process and I appreciate those who have been part of this and even having this will be a one year because of the cycle that it's on. But I want to say thank you to the committee that's doing this.

Okay, we'll go ahead and

move on to item 12B.

Item 12B is a presentation on the City of Vacaville's capital improvement program that's understanding the essential city program and we have Public Works Director Brian Oxley and CIP Engineering Manager Dan Sutton to give the presentation.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and council members. Glad to be here with you tonight. We have been asked to share the purpose and elements of the capital improvement program with you. The capital improvement program is a multi year plan for implementing CIP projects. The program is an ongoing planning process that includes key elements such as determining infrastructure and facility needs of the community and prioritizing those needs which are evaluated annually.

Creating and tracking capital projects, identifying appropriate funding sources, and creating a schedule for project implementation. The capital improvement budget differs from the program in that it represents funding for specific projects. The budget is based on funding requests submitted by sponsoring departments. Based on these requests various funding sources are identified and evaluated to support the proposed project. Council then reviews and approves funding for these individual projects.

And the CIP budget reflects those approved appropriations and is adopted annually. Periodically during the year, the CIP budget is requested to be amended to establish new projects determined to be a priority or provide projects with additional funding needed to complete the project or to increase the scope of the project to meet city needs. These CIP budget amendments are brought before council for review and approval. The CIP budget represents the appropriations by funding source which have been approved by city council and is a formal authorization for funding of the capital improvement projects. Now I'd like to provide an overview of the actual project.

A capital improvement project is a major investment that creates, improves, replaces, or extends the life of a long term asset. These projects usually take the form of large scale physical improvements such as building, streets, parks, utilities, storm drainage facilities, safety improvements, and other types of infrastructure that benefit the community. In addition to physical construction projects, other expenditures may also qualify as capital projects. These can include the purchase of major equipment such as police and fire vehicles, as well as investments in technology, including computer and related systems. Planning studies that directly support the development of a capital project, such as traffic, utilities, drainage and lighting studies, may also be classified as a capital improvement project.

City departments generally serve as the project sponsors initiating supporting projects based on operational needs and priorities. Project management responsibilities vary depending on the type of the CIP project, such as infrastructure improvements, equipment purchases, and planning studies. Public works engineering services typically manages infrastructure improvements unless the project is relatively small. Public Works Maintenance manages smaller construction projects along with purchasing a fleet and other equipment. For department specific purchases, the department will typically manage that CIP project.

And finally, planning studies are managed by the department that is sponsoring that study. This approach helps ensure that each project is managed by the team suited best to its scope and complexity. Projects typically originate from a combination of long term planning efforts, operational needs, and community input. Key sources include the city's general plan and strategic plan, which outline overall projects and long term goals, specific plans that focus on particular areas such as downtown and neighbourhood level development, master plans and technical studies covering areas like parks, traffic, utilities, drainage, and lighting, and regional transportation plans, including those developed by the Solano Transportation Authority. And other sources of input on capital projects include ongoing maintenance and infrastructure needs.

Public input gathered through community engagement, infrastructure driven by residential and commercial development, and together these inputs help ensure align with both strategic objectives and evolving needs of the community. Projects are typically financed through a combination of these primary funding sources, so shown here. General fund and Measure M funding supports a wide range of municipal services and priorities. Development impact fees are collected to offset the cost of growth impacts to the city created by private development. Utility funds specifically for sewer and water system, rehabilitation and replacement.

Grants from federal and state agencies fund a variety of projects from roadway, parks, transportation, safety improvements, and emergency services. Gas tax revenues are generally allocated toward roadway and transportation related improvements. Using a mix of funding sources allows the city to strategically plan for and deliver the capital projects. Here's an overview of how the capital improvement projects are categorized within the city's annual CIP budget. As I mentioned just a moment ago, the capital project can either be a physical infrastructure, purchase of equipment, or master plans and studies.

And those projects fit into these different project categories. This structure allows staff across all departments to track, prioritize, and develop a wide range of infrastructure and service related improvements. Currently, the city has two fourteen active projects in various phases of the project life cycle, including planning, design, implementation, construction and close out. And these projects have an estimated value exceeding $476,000,000 Here's an outline of the typical phases and timelines involved in delivering capital improvement projects that are related to infrastructure and that are managed by Public Works Engineering Services. Project complexity and duration can vary significantly depending on the type of project.

For example, a major over crossing or sewer lift station will require much more time and coordination than a smaller sidewalk gap closure project. Federal funding for a project can be very helpful and is needed for design and construction of projects. However, that funding comes with significant requirements and processes that greatly impact the schedule of a project. For a federally funded project, we can expect that the schedule for right of way and environmental phases of the project will likely double. Most projects follow a structured process that includes the following phases: Planning, which defines project scope, identifies funding sources and programs, the project within the capital improvement program.

This phase may also include pursuing grant funding, which can involve additional federal and state requirements. Preliminary engineering includes conceptual design, refinement of the project scope, and development of an engineer's cost estimate. Coordination with private development projects occur during this stage. Environmental clearance and permitting ensures compliance and environmental regulations and secures necessary permits. Right of way involves land acquisition and securing easements if necessary.

Design, bid and award finalizes project design, solicits bids and awards a construction contract. Construction management and inspection oversees construction activities to ensure the project is delivered according to plans, specifications and city standards. Upon completion of construction, the project is brought before city council for acceptance of public improvements. If council accepts the improvements, the project is then closed out and remaining funds for the project are returned to the funding source. Increasing regulatory requirements continue to extend project timelines.

These regulations, while essential for ensuring environmental protection, public safety and compliance, add additional steps to the planning, permitting and approval process. As a result, projects often require more time to move from initial concept through construction and completion. Here is a list of CIP projects that are currently in design and are managed by the Public Works Engineering Services. The projects have been listed by project category and the anticipated year of advertisement. I'd like to point out that staff has already advertised five projects this year.

I also would like to point out that even though we're only showing eight projects in the advertisement for 2027 and 2028, we have many more projects in the pipeline that will be added to the project list and will begin design when funding becomes available. Here's a list of CIP projects currently construction along with their anticipated completion date. Just to note, we're only showing eight projects but our inspection construction group also manages all the encroachment permits, utility permits and private development projects. Would like to point out that we have 15 CIP projects that have been completed since January 2025. And in closing, I would like to share that Public Works recently received an award from the American Public Works Association for the Gepson Parkway Phase two project.

Just want to point out how proud I am of our staff for their work during the design and construction of that project.

And

this concludes our presentation and we're happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you for the presentation. I think it's important that we see a master list on that. And I will say that if there's one thing that I know as part of STA is Vacaville is discussed regularly because the key is to be shovel ready when there's grant fundings that come in. And so I don't know if you can quickly speak to, we know it is leisure town, but Jepson Parkway just in its phasing, what phases left and what can people expect with this?

I'll go ahead and start and Dan, feel free to jump in. We have received some funding already for the next phase which would be phase three. We do not have enough grant funding that will go from the completion of phase two right now all the way up to Orange Drive. So the plan is to take it into two more phases. I believe that the next phase is gonna go right across the creek?

Yeah, the next phase will go across the New Lattice Creek and we're pushing to get to Sequoia Drive. Just one additional item there is we're looking to design the whole project right now so that if funding does become available, we can go. So full design that can phase it. Yeah, for the third phase. Sometimes there's a lot of questions over the years, when is this gonna get done? I like our position compared to other projects that I've seen and it continuously gets brought up at SDA.

And we do expect that we will have that design done by the end of the year and our hope is that we'll be able to start phase three next year. Right.

And in this, realize the staff report is not lengthy, but this is really kind of like I receive the information. One of the things I think is important for the public and us as the council is, many of these projects are driven by processes that are well established. It's not necessarily discretionary, especially when we're talking about roadways, whether it's a slurry seal project or it's a roadway completion or an overpass widening or the such. Is there a place where the public can go and actually see the details of this online?

So we are currently getting close to finalizing our five year CIP. This is new for the City Of Vacaville. We currently have not had a five year CIP, but we're close to having that completed. And so I would expect in the next couple of months that we will have it completed and up on our website for the public.

Great. That's what I was trying to make sure the public heard. Thank you very much. Councilmember Freeman?

Thank you for the report. Was just curious out of that $476,000,000 does that include projects like some of these extensions that we're talking about for like Midway Road or excuse me, Vaca Valley?

So those projects, Midway, Vaca Valley Extension, those are funded by development impact fee, which are traffic impact fee. At this time, I don't believe we have any funding supporting those. We have put the traffic impact fee funds that we have available into our Vaca Valley 505 and Browns Valley and some JEPS in Phase III. So those were the three that we have been pushing for. And so that's where the majority of the TIF that we have collected and that we have in our account is going towards.

Okay, great. Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much.

Anyone from the public wishing to comment on this item?

ROSE: Counsel,

staff, and public. And it's particularly the people who are overseas. I support this. I think the more money you bring funds to generate more grants to make our city better, go for it and push your staff harder. I know they're busy.

Push them hard. Okay? But the one thing I will ask you and I particularly I wasn't planning on commenting on it but when I saw the list of projects that are already going, some of the times, some coming, I saw the thing about the what was it, the roads. As you know me, I've probably driven you crazy talking about Leisure Town Road, Vanden and it goes all into the Jepsen Perry stuff and you name it, the road and all that, you know. And I I I don't think I I I think I've seen this city grow from a little town, cow town to a bigger city and let's hope it gets better and but I am concerned about where you're putting the money when it comes to work.

And I know about STA and all that other stuff that the bike lanes and all that. We need more of that, okay? Get people off the cars and get healthy and whatever. But what I am what I will ask you is special request. And again, I want to promise to Michael Silva.

Sorry, had to catch my breath. He's done a wonderful job bringing the issue of improving Markham neighborhood. And you know Markham is one of those little neighborhoods that started in Vacaville. It's got a lot of low income people And I see some improvements coming from the county, from the city, but we need more. You need to put more need to make that a city make part of the city, not make it a separate city, okay?

And so, you know, I encourage you to do of utmost. I know it's not an easy decision, an easy process for your staff either and it takes a lot of time and planning, but include those people. Don't forget the public input and listen to them, okay? And I told this to the City Council of I'm going to change a little bit focus to the Sun Council. If you don't listen to the people, I'm sorry to say, but you deserve to be sued. Taken to court. That's the bottom line. And I think you're open to that, to improving the city. I think you all share that for economic whatever reasons, you know. And we all need to be part of this cohesion.

Otherwise, we're, you know, who knows where we're going. We don't need to fragment the whole city and, you know, make our city, as you said, Mayor, you're proud that our city was focused, highlighted. Well, let's keep it up. Don't stop. Do your part. Thank you.

STEVE CLOSING public comment on this item. We'll bring it back to the counsel for any final thoughts or a motion. That's no motion to strike for any final thoughts. Councilmember Wyler.

We've talked a lot about CIP projects and the vast, you know, how they work. So it was good to have it all kind of together and to know that this is just a part of it. And then, so you're saying that we will be looking at a five year plan and being approving that in the near future, is that correct?

Yes, we'll be bringing that with the department budget. I believe it's the first council meeting in June. We'll be bringing that draft five year CIP along with our department budgets.

Okay. Thank you for putting this together.

Vice Mayor Silva.

Just want to comment. Appreciate the comment from the public. Nothing's ever done alone. There's been a tremendous amount of people that had open hearts, open minds, not just to use certain neighborhoods for their own personal benefit or whatever it might be, their own appearance, but there's been a lot of good people behind trying to really invest in and make the changes they try to seek. So I appreciate the comment to me, really the compliments go to all those who are really committed towards making lasting change. Thank you.

Would anyone on the council I see no more comments. So this was information only. This will come back to the council in June. Thank you very much. I appreciate all the hard work of your staff in trying to get this five year CIP plan up and to the council. We'll move on to item C.

Item 12C is a resolution establishing the city's general liability self insured retention level for program year twenty twenty six-twenty seven and legal services manager Rachel Carranza is here to give the presentation.

Evening. I'm Rachel Carranza. I am the legal services manager in the city attorney's office. And I am gonna be using the screen. Okay.

So for ten the purpose of tonight's item is we're asking counsel to set the city's self insured retention level for the upcoming program year, fiscal year twenty seven, with the California Joint Powers Risk Management Authority, also known as CJPRMA. This is a decision that balances the city's risk exposure against premium savings. There is no single right answer and it is a council decision. We will present claims history and the cost comparison at each SIR level, And CJ Para May has requested our selection by May 1, so action tonight is time sensitive. If no action is taken, the current 750,000 SIR remains effect by default.

Okay, so what is CJPRMA? CJPRMA was established in 1986 and Vacaville was a founding member and has been continuously affiliated for forty years. In the early 1970s and through the 1980s, commercial liability insurance became increasingly unavailable or unaffordable for California cities and counties. Premiums skyrocketed, coverage was restricted, and many municipalities found themselves effectively uninsured. The insurance crisis of the mid nineteen eighties was the turning point.

Commercial carriers either exited the public entity market or demanded premiums that most local governments could not absorb within their budgets. So the California legislative responded by strengthening the legal framework for joint powers authorities under government code section nine nine zero point eight, enabling cities to pool their self insurance and share risk collectively without relying on commercial carriers. And what is self insured retention? Self insured retention is the dollar amount of each liability claim the city pays before CJ Para May coverage applies. The functions are like a deductible but the city is fully responsible for managing claims within the SIR.

It covers all defense costs, investigation costs, and settlements, and judgments up to the threshold. And the core trade off is the higher the SIR, the lower the annual CJPRMA contributions, which is the premium savings. Higher SIR, greater direct financial exposure per occurrence, the city must weigh its capacity to absorb higher per occurrence losses against potential multi year savings. So there are a few options right now. The SIR options that are available to the city for the fiscal year 'twenty seven, option one is we maintain the current $750,000 SIR limit and the estimated annual

is approximately $3,200,000

Option two, we raise the SIR to limit $1,000,000 The annual contribution would be approximately 3,025,000 and the annual savings for that is approximately $208,000 Option three, we raise it from $7.50 again to 1.25 and the estimated annual contribution would be 2.8 with an annual savings of $361,000 Option four is to raise it to 1,500,000 with an estimated annual contribution of 2.7 with an annual savings of about $499,000 So for the ten year claims history from 2015 to 2025, there were a total of 26 claims over eleven years and the SIR, again, the self insured retention exceeded in three of eleven years, so in 2017, 2019, and right now currently in 2025. So from 1986 to 2000, the SIR of $1,000,000 there was major losses in 1991 and 1997. In 2001 to 2019 with the SIR of $500,000 Major losses were in 2,005, 2013, 2017, and 2019. 2020 to the present, the SIR of 750,000 there is currently an open SIR threshold with a pending resolution. So key patterns.

The SIR exceeded in three of the eleven years since 2015 with approximately 27% frequency. Since the SIR increased to $750,000 in 2020, no new losses have exceeded the retention through 2024. Seven occurrences have met or exceeded $750,000 in total incurred costs since founding membership. Recent three year trend, 2022 to 2024, shows very low activity. However, in 2025, open claim is a reminder that large losses can emerge suddenly.

So the estimated twenty six-twenty seven CJPRMA contributions by SIR level, dollars 750,000, the annual, again, contribution is $3,200,000 and that's just a base line. The $1,000,000 SIR, if we raised it, the annual contribution would be $3,025,000 with a savings of $208,000 and we would break even over 1.2 with an increase of 1,250,000 SIR. With the savings of $3.61, we would break even at one point four years. If we increased it even more, the annual savings would be $499,000 with a break even year of one point five years. What does break even mean?

If the SIRs exceed it once at the higher level, how many years of savings does it take to cover that additional exposure? So depending on whether counsel wants to increase it either to $1,000,000 1.25, or 1.5, it would take, depending on those, either 1.2, 1.4, or one point five years of savings to offset one additional loss. So those depend, again, just on raising the SIR. So again, for option one, if we maintain the current SIR at $750,000 the advantages of that is the lowest per occurrence exposure. Citi's maximum out of pocket per claim is $750,000 No loss in $750,000 to $1,000,000 range has occurred since SIR was raised to $750,000 from $500,000 in 2020, consistent with established budget practices and existing reserve levels.

The disadvantages is the highest annual contribution cost among the four options. So the lower the SIR, the higher the cost. So program years 2022, 'twenty three, and 'twenty four had negligible losses and the city paid for the full $750,000 retention in the years with virtually no claims activity. Option two, increase the SIR to $1,000,000 the savings of $208,000 per year. The savings recovered only in years the city already exceeded the SIR in 2017, 2019, and 2025 with only $250,000 more exposure.

Two large claims in one year as in 2017 could produce $2,000,000 in SAR funded costs. Requires confirmation that reserves can accommodate the increased retention, and option three with the increase to $1,200,000 which would save $361,000 increases the maximum per occurrence exposure by $500,000 over current levels. In 2017, the city had a single $1,750,000 loss. A 1,250,000 SIR would have been fully exceeded. Jumping multiple SIR levels may mismatch the city's current risk appetite without confirmed budget tolerance.

Option four, increase the SIR to 1,500,000, would save the city approximately $499,000 maximum savings but the highest per occurrence exposure, and the city would pay up to 1,500,000 per claim, largest single year jump without confirmed budget capacity for an extra $750,000 in a bad year. So the fiscal impact. Retaining the 750,000 SIR, no changes to the current contribution budget or reserve funding. Increasing the SIR reduces annual CJPR May contribution but requires the city to fund higher per occurrence exposure from the general fund or a dedicated self insured reserve. We are recommending establishing a dedicated self insurance reserve fund if the SIR is increased and staffing is seeking city council direction in regarding adjustments to the reserve fund.

Funding source would be the risk management general fund per existing budget allocations and our recommendation by simple motion is to adopt the resolution setting the city's SIR level for the program year twenty six-twenty seven. The city has been managing its liability risk thoughtfully for forty years through CJPR make CJPR make. Tonight's decision is part of that long tradition of sound risk management. Whatever SIR council selects, the commitment is the same. Ensure the city has the financial capacity to back that decision, review it annually, and adjust as conditions change.

And so we're asking by simple motion to adopt a resolution setting the city's SIR level for program year 2627 and direct staff regarding any adjustments to the existing self insurance reserve balance to ensure adequate funding for the increased retain layer.

Thank you very much for the presentation. I think you already said it but this is something that can come to the council annually. Is it something that will come to the council annually?

Yes, mayor. Especially if the council makes a decision to adjust our SIR level up, this is something that our risk pool allows us to determine on an annual basis. So moving forward, it is our plan to bring this to council on an annual basis to set the self insured So retention

each year, if there's a change in premium, we'll know and if there's a recommendation from staff based upon this, and so this is something moving forward for a good process.

Yes, and it also allows the council to kind of do an ongoing assessment of our claims experience so that if we do make changes to the self insured retention and we're finding that our risk experience isn't matching those adjustments, that allows the council to take that information in and make the policy adjustments as needed.

Okay, great. Thank you. Any questions before I open it up to the public? Councilmember Wiley.

I wasn't going to have a question. Really was just going to make a statement. If you want questions.

That's fine. Yeah, you go ahead.

Well, I'm glad we're looking at this because we haven't before and the deal with insurance is you just never know so you need to be protected. So it is good to see the past years but it was really kind of interesting because like one year we had four and sometimes we had three and the last three years have been good but because the last three years have been good we can't count on that going forward unless there's something that we can point to that says here's what we're doing to do that. The other thing is legal costs and everything else is going up so much. So basically I'm feeling like we can probably up it a little bit. So I would my opinion would be make it higher than the $7.50 but don't go all the way to the max, so choose one of the middle levels.

But I really think it's important to set that other reserve fund if we do it that way.

Councilmember Freeman.

Thank you for the presentation. I really looked hard at this and read back and forth through it. So I just for clarity, if we raise the SAR to, let's just say, option three, and that would be $361,000 in savings if we don't have a claim and exceed, right? But if we did have a claim and then exceeded, would that then come out of the general fund or that is the fund that you're talking about establishing, a reserve fund, but that would still come out of the general fund?

Okay, so the question I think is if we exceeded the SIR limit of 1.25. Yes. So that's when our excess carrier would come in and we would have discussions with them on the type of claim it is and they would make a decision. The board would make the decision.

Yeah. I'm just asking this because I know right now we're safe, you know, and your recommendation and the city's recommendation means everything, especially in our current fiscal status. But sometimes when I'm looking at stuff like this, just put my own thoughts and my own experiences. On this one, I'm pretending like I'm sitting at the blackjack table. I mean, that's kind of what this is kind of like a little bit.

It's like, do you want to double down? So, and I'm looking at number three and I'm thinking $361,000 Gosh, that would fund something like crew, you know? You know, and I'm thinking, know, so I'm trying to think, okay, so we can gamble with this and maybe put some money towards crew. I know we can't, that's, but these are the things that are going through my head. But I'm just thinking desperate times sometimes demand drastic actions.

And so I keep looking at option three even though I'm probably going to go with the recommendation. But I just wanted to put it out there that this could save us potentially. If we went option four, it's a half $1,000,000 that could go into our coffers if we don't have an accident. If we don't and then I look at the numbers going back on eleven years, I believe it was. And out of those, it was about every three point six six years that we have a claim that exceeds.

So if we just had one in 2025, the table say hit. So I'm just trying to figure this thing out, what's really best for our city right now under our extreme financial situation. So I'm not looking for really an answer. I am just babbling up here a little bit to hear myself talk, I guess. But these are the things that I think about when I'm looking at this and I'm just really trying to figure out what's best for our city.

Understood.

And to our city attorney, I think some clarification on how the program would work because if we're changing our insurance rate, then what we're really doing is that we're accepting a risk tolerance because if we hit exceeds, then we're hitting something that would come from the general fund. So this program would be designed so that that fund can build a balance that is more of a legal reserve than what we would consider a typical financial, call it, general fund reserve. Can you explain that?

So I think staff's recommend I don't think. I know. My recommendation, the recommendation from the risk management staff in the city and our finance director is that if we raise the self insured retention level, any savings that we have from our contributions to the risk pool should be specifically reserved and allocated and a separate division that is set aside so that if we do have the claims experience where we are going in between that seven fifty and the 1.5 that we have some funds already allocated to cover the city's interest and that would be if we had one claim. Now if we just hypothetically if we had two claims that went between the $7.50 and the 1.5 level, the city's on the hook for $1,500,000 that we don't have reserved for those claims. Now it's blackjack plus I would say because the nature of claims over time changed.

The cost drivers are different. Claims that we were seeing between 2015 and 2020 are not the same claims that we're seeing between 2021 and 2026. The basis upon which claims are being made against the city are quite different. Right now, we are almost in a less I think the claims that we experienced in the earlier part of this ten year history related to practices by city employees, we've done a lot of mitigation, a lot has changed and we are no longer seeing that same kind of claims exposure. Now we have seen an increase in claims related to dangerous conditions which are the state of sidewalks, trees, those kinds of things that we do a very good job to try to maintain and mitigate risk but some of those are also subject those conditions are impacted by weather, drought, changes to the climate and those kinds of things, floods and those kinds of things we do have exposure on and we're not necessarily in control of acts of God and if there's some condition in place that we have contributed to that dangerous condition, then the city has liability.

So there's a lot to consider. What I would caution and I would seek counsel's direction and request that you would direct staff that any savings that we would receive from a higher SIR, if that's the direction council goes, that we definitely put that towards a self insured layer that we are protecting ourselves as much possible. I think the policy consideration that the council has to be thinking about is that overall cost savings that we could see on our contributions would be something that is five plus years down the road. We'd have to build up enough in our own self insured layer to feel comfortable that we could have two or even three claims that exceeded that level in one year and that we had enough of a cushion, then you could take the savings from the premiums and start applying it to other needs of the city. So that's just trying to contextualize the policy decision for the council and Rachel also has a lot of knowledge about our claims history and what's going on right now, if you guys want to ask more specific questions about the types of claims we're seeing right now.

I appreciate the feedback because essentially it's just creating our own local level risk pool to ourselves. Councilmember Chairman.

Thank you.

Thank you for breaking it down. My thoughts prior to what you just shared was looking at the chart, the ten year claims history, we exceeded, say, from 2015 to 2019. And then that is also the time we increase the SR limit to seven fifty. And then you look here, we've been below a minimum. Even though there is something pending now, but looking at what we have accomplished, I'm seeing that the city is focusing more on the type of claims we've had.

No, I'm seeing and thinking that the city has looked at the type of claims we've had in the past and what was needed, where could we make a change, there is something that contributed to the decline going below. And with the deficits that we're looking at right now, I'm leaning toward staying at the $7.50 only because we don't have the money, the funds, to increase it in seeking out a savings that, like you said, will accumulate over time. And only because of where we are with deficit spending or our deficit. I'm comfortable staying at the seven fifty this year.

Thank you. Council Member Stockton.

Yes, thank you for the presentation and for being able to have the conversation. I guess my question is if if we are to change this and we're going to create some sort of risk risk pool or self insured piggy bank, what what can be done by the council to make sure that the money put in this risk pool fund can't be unencumbered and spent on something else? Is there a way that the council could lock it in to where it would require like a unanimous vote? Or

is

it just gonna be something that four people can vote to reallocate to another project if they choose?

That might be a legal question. I'm gonna go to our city attorney.

I'm not really I guess you could establish a reserve fund policy that required like a super majority vote to spend those funds otherwise. I think by providing staff direction on an annual basis, which you'll have the opportunity to do moving forward, you'll kind of be restating the policy direction on that Under those conditions, like if tonight if you directed staff to set a reserve with whatever savings we achieve from our contributions to the risk pool, staff would not reallocate those funds without bringing it to the council. Again, that would be subject to a majority vote. If we wanted it to be more than a simple majority, we would have to establish policy for that fund, which can be done.

Okay. And if we required a super majority to be able to access these funds, would just a normal majority vote be able to change that policy? Yes.

Speaker Okay. Thank you.

Oh, and I'll also just say that I'm for

keeping it the way that

it is then until we until we have more money.

Councilmember Wiley?

I just have a question about like the one this year is still pending. So are there ever times that a case was settled but then they came back several years later and said, Oh, well these were the other things that happened because of that and maybe you hadn't reached the 7 50 but then you went over it? Or when it's settled, it's settled and no one could reopen it, is that correct?

So yeah, when we settle the cases we of do all our calculations, we look at what the city spent. Anytime we're getting close to that self insured retention level, we contact the risk pool. They need to become involved in some of the settlement decisions. And then after the claim is paid or settlement is paid, depending on how we work that out. Either we get a refund from the risk pool or they end up paying it and we pay them our whatever remaining portion we have left in the self insured retention.

And then I know it is a council decision and we have four options but is there a recommendation that the legal team is wanting us to consider?

-Our recommendation is that the council come to a conclusion in terms of policy direction with respect to the appetite for risk. There is risk in raising the self insured retention level. My recommendation and all of our risk management staff recommendation is that if we do have an appetite to take on a bit more risk for the premium savings that we could achieve, that we be prudent with those savings and we put that into a reserve fund so that if we do have a loss that exceeds the retention that we have some cushion there, it may not cover the whole thing. But, you know, there's lots of times that your settlement is between $7.50 and $1,500 and not at $1,500 so maybe the $360,000 or $499,000 that you have definitely covers the gap but that primarily it's kind of what the council's appetite for risk is right now and our main recommendation is that if we do increase the level that we put that savings from the contributions into a reserve to protect us if we do have a loss. The other thing that the council should probably keep in mind is that we can do this for one year if there was an appetite to kind of see what savings could be achieved and then if we have a loss and we decide that we don't want to take on that extra risk that you could move it back down to $7.50 next year.

Our risk pool right now allows us to make that adjustment on an annual basis. We can go up multiple layers, we can go up one layer, so we do have a lot of flexibility there on an annual basis to make adjustments.

So I don't recall. I think was there a list somewhere in there about the other cities in the risk pool? Are there not too many at the seven fifty level or are most of them higher or is that

I think most of the agencies are probably below the 1.5. The agencies that have gone up to that high retention level are ones that the risk pool has kind of increased their premium contributions because of their claims experience. Fortunately, Vacaville has never been in that position. We have a really good claims history and experience with the risk pool. So we kind of have all doors that are open to us right now with them but I would say the majority of the agencies in our pool are below the 1.5 and they're probably somewhere I think there's a couple that are retained in a million because of the size of organization that provides them a lot of savings.

There are some at one point two five and one point five but not the majority.

Okay, thanks. So then basically maybe we decide is it seven fifty or is it a million?

Right, right, that's fine. Manager, do you have a comment

on this?

Yeah, have a comment on the policy question that councilmember Stockton asked. So for example if we were to go with 1,250,000 and the savings and the premium are $360,000 so some cities do have policies where they would say put the reserve funds in the amount of two times of your SIR limit. So 360,000 in four years approximately will be at 1.25. So then for eight years we keep setting aside that $3.60 into a legal reserve fund and then that way after eight year mark that's when that fund or savings would start becoming available to other things like council member Fremont mentioned for crew or other things but that's a policy decision. Many cities do it as part of their general fund reserve policy but there is a carve out for the legal reserve and council determines put aside a money equal to one year worth of SIR or two years.

And just to follow-up on that question, would that be something that would be directed tonight or would that be something directed as part another action item in the future?

Well we have the legal reserve set aside so that can be directed tonight.

Okay, great. I'm gonna go ahead and open it up to the public for any comment. Seeing none, I'll bring it back. My final comments I will say are we've gone between risk levels. I've spoken, I've been around CJRPMA and it's a risk pool and it's layered.

And so I too agree, I appreciate staff's ability to mitigate risk over the years. Anyone who's been on staff, those annual meetings to understand how to reduce risk, think are well intentioned and they do matter, but the risk level does change. I see this as an opportunity myself to create that which doesn't, it can smoothen out the impact year over year if that fund was available. From a risk level right now, I believe that, I mean, I'm willing and believe that, like we've done in the past, to have a million dollar threshold as an SAR is reasonable. At least for me, it starts the process of building what we would call our own local reserve for that.

And I know I've heard some other numbers near that and around, so I'll go ahead and start a motion and we'll see where it goes. But to create an SIR of $1,000,000 for this next year's contract with our risk pool and also to then ensure that those funds move forward into an account that is set aside for addressing the risk to the tune of at least four years of what that annual amount would be.

I second.

So we have a motion and a second. Is that motion clear enough? And even though with that motion it comes back every year, we know that.

Yes, and I think we can make adjustments to the reserve policy and bring that to council for approval too.

Okay. So we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Aye.

Okay. And with that, thank you very much and at least if there's any future information to help us understand how that folds into an annual report from our general fund reserve so that it gets understood at that time. Thank you. Before we close tonight, I know that it says adjournment next, but we missed an opportunity to actually showcase the event of bringing your kids to work. So I'd like to allow that to occur before we close.

Yeah, Corey, can you please play the video?

It

is bring your kids to work day, and my mom brought me here so I could see all the fun activities that they do. We had like this morning thing where people did icebreakers and then we handed out like these little badges. We went and we looked at the police like area. Learning what Vacaville does. I'm here just to have fun and like go learn about my mom's work.

I

went like into work utilities or I saw the lab.

I'm visiting live on John and Dorana. Watched other things. I loved how there was lots of stations and there were lots of cool stuff and I could meet people. The bubbles. I did bubbles over there and over there there was like a firefighter run through and stuff, obstacle course and I did that. One of the activities what I like to do here is the fingerprint one. I like the fingerprint here. Okay, the robot? It was cool because you had to drive this robot into a tunnel. I use the controller.

There's like a camera. You got to move the robot and then want to protect them. I personally love this day because I get to spend the whole day with my mother. I'm proud of my mom. I'm proud of my dad.

I'm proud of mom a lot.

I love bring your kids to work day.

That

looked like a lot of fun. All right, we're gonna go ahead and adjourn this meeting. It's 08:14. Good night, back at all.