City Council - Regular Meeting

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. I'm gonna go with you first. Okay. Oh, she's just stepped away. So, gotcha. Okay.

City Attorney Neb and um Council Member Bendzer, could you please um read out the report from close session? I'm going to start with item F and G for Council Member Bendzer to please read that out.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. The council did meet in close session in regarding uh conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D2 cases council gave direction and there's no further action at this time and item G conference with legal counsel threat of litigation significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D2 one case mayor's demand and for defense council indemnification litigation hold the council did uh give direction and there's no further action at this time.

Thank you. Um with regard to item A, conference with legal council existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D1. Um the case name Taki DBA cigarette city uh versus the city of Valleo. The sec item B uh pursuant to the same code section Hamayat Hakei DBA cigarettes for less uh and check cashing versus the city of Alleo case number as indicated on the agenda. And item C, conference with legal council existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9D1, the case of Kimberly Madkins versus the city of Valleo case number as listed on the agenda. Uh the council did not get to those items and took no action and heard no reports on those items and they will will be brought forward uh again at the next city council meeting. Uh with regard to item D, conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6 uh the agency de designated representatives um being uh Stephanie Sephuentis the human resources director um Mr. Murray was not present. Um, the employee organizations, the Valo Police Officers Association, the International Association of Firefighters Local 1186, Confidential Administrative Managerial Professional Association employees and unrepresented employees. The council gave direction to its legal labor negotiators. There's no other action to report at this time. with regard to public employee um employment. Um pursuant to government code section 549.7B, the city council uh did um accept the uh

resignation of the city manager um and um did uh approve uh his uh separation and resignation agreement. Um, and that is the end of the item. Sorry.

Thank you, city Attorney Neb, and thank you, Council Member Bendzer, for those uh close session updates. Um, go moving on to item f um agenda item five. I'm going to go ahead and call up Nick Burton. And uh city clerk, could you read item 5A, please? I can go ahead and read that if you want, Don.

Update city council on the diverging diamond interchange project at State Route 37, Fairgrounds Drive. inform how to use the DDI and the project benefits presented by the Solano Transportation Authority.

Good evening. Uh Nick Burton with Solano Transportation Authority. I'm joined with Bart. He's office chief uh district 4 CALR for public affairs as well as Carl Gibson. He is Raise your hand. Thank you, sir. He's uh project manager for the design team. So, I have them here to uh answer questions at the end if there are any. Next slide. Uh I wanted to show this video. Um it kind of demonstrates what the project is in a in a pretty um complete manner. And so we worked uh CALR took the lead on this and developed this and I think it would be very uh helpful and informational. The interchange at Fairgrounds Drive and State Route 37 is at the center of a thriving community in the city of Vallejo that includes the Solano County Fairgrounds, commercial activities, the Six Flags Amusement Park, the Country Club Crest neighborhood, and the neighborhood of North Vallejo. Over the years, the city has grown and along with it, so has traffic. Bottlenecks are occurring with increased frequency. During the morning peak hour commute, over,00 cars travel south through this interchange with half continuing down Fairgrounds Drive and the other half heading east on 37. In the afternoon, this massive flow is reversed. Adding to this, future demand is projected to increase by 25% over the next 20 years. The solution, a new diverging diamond interchange, also known as a DDI, that will decrease weight times at this interchange by 94% for the busiest commutes. These have been constructed throughout the United States and are proving to be an easy to use solution for the problems we're experiencing at Fairgrounds Drive and Highway 37. The first US DDI was constructed in Missouri in 2009. Since then, over 150

have been constructed throughout the United States, including the first DDI in California, built on Highway 120 at Union Road in the city of Mantika in 2020. What does the DDI experience feel like? Let's take a look at some different ways that we'll move through this new interchange. Here, we're headed south on Fairgrounds Drive during the morning commute. We'll be going under Highway 37 and continue down Fairgrounds Drive. Driving through the DDI is very simple. The carefully designed approach angle of the interchange along with clearly laid out stripings and signage will safely guide motorists through the DDI. Large lane arrows provide direction and the barriers will help minimize distractions. Transitioning back to the right side of the road as we approach Six Flags is like driving through any other interchange but with less weight times. Now let's try taking the on-ramp to 37 headed east towards 80 during the morning commute. We're back at the stoplight. Continuing through the signal, we get ourselves into the left lane if we're not already there. And it's easy because the traffic coming off of 37 is stopped with a signal. No awkward merging to get yourself to the on-ramp. Existing sidewalks were moved to the center of the DDI to make room for the new configuration. This free left turn lane to 80 means we only need to go through one signal now, not two. Finally, let's try the busy westbound exit off of Highway 37 and head north on Fairgrounds Drive. We have two lanes dedicated to moving us off the highway going north on Fairgrounds Drive. The clearly visible signals keep us safely separated from traffic coming up Fairgrounds Drive. Wondering how to bike it? Let's take a look at how we would navigate the DDI on the busiest routes, but this time taking our bike instead of driving. We'll start again at Fairgrounds Drive heading south. We know

from our traffic studies that our mixing zone here, the green dashed area, is crossed by only about 10% of the traffic moving south on Fairgrounds Drive. Approaching the stoplight, it's clear to see that we'll continue straight across the interchange with the flow of traffic. The organized movement of vehicles traveling at 25 mph through the DDI makes the cyclists traveling around an average of 12 mph more comfortable and encouraged to use their bicycles for commuting. Cyclists also have a low stress alternative of using the center walkway for the less adventurous. Now, let's head north on Fairgrounds Drive, starting south of Sage Street with our mixing zone taking place well ahead of the DDI. Up ahead to the right, you'll see that the on-ramp bus stop has been relocated next to the commercial area, creating safer access for pedestrians and conveniently located close to Six Flags. Skipping ahead to the interchange, we can see we'll experience the same comfortable transition moving through the DDI. how to walk it. Walking through the DDI will be safe and organized, just like the cycling experience. Here we see the sidewalk options that we can use to get through the DDI. Let's try one. Starting at the north side of Fairgrounds Drive, we see the clearly delineated path guiding us through the DDI. Signals tell us when to safely move through the space. The organized movement of traffic is evident and provides a comfortable environment to move through. The unique thing about a DDI is that you'll move through the middle of it. The center walkway is protected by concrete barriers and a railing that create a safe environment for pedestrians and careful cyclists moving through the interchange. Once finished, the new fairgrounds drive diverging diamond interchange will improve safety, enhance mobility, and support economic growth in the city of Vallejo. With efficient lane

configuration and better bicycle and pedestrian access, this new DDI is ready to meet the community's needs for generations to come. For further project information, please see the web links in the video description. So that visualization uh pretty uh pretty complete in terms of u providing an explanation of how you move through it, what it's going to look like. Um and so we we're happy to take questions, but I wanted to kind of go scope, schedule, cost here real quick, give you guys an overview and um an update on Oh, there we go. why we're here too specifically. Uh so we started March of 2025 on the project and uh about a $25 million um uh construction contract. Uh we are planning for substantial completion June 2026 and are on track for that. Um in about a month miday um there's different stages of construction and uh we're going to hit stage five. And so you saw that alignment uh when cars go to the left side of the road that happens during stage 5 construction. And so we're we're doing a significant amount of outreach. Um this is a part of that and kind of really kicks off a significant amount of outreach that we are doing to the community to make sure that they understand what this project brings and how to navigate through it. Make sure that uh we ease any uncertainty about it. This is the variety of ways which we've kind of reached out. you see uh SDA and CALR done some traffic advisories as well as uh Facebook live um live uh videos with mayor uh gone out through Valoa weekly magazine and and there's just been a variety of ways but we've also um heard that reaching out to community groups is critical and vital and so we've got uh about six or seven community groups um

that we're reaching out to. We're going to pass them flyers uh here. We just recently had these printed. They are available. Um they really help people understand. They they point them to the video. They help people understand what's coming. Um and what we've heard is, you know, getting information out through these trusted sources is important. Uh here's just a few examples of of some of the posts and things that uh that have gone um the digital ads and and information that we've uh produced. And uh the team that we've done it with, we haven't done it in a vacuum. And I think that's what's been important and one of the successes is uh you see CALR here tonight. I've got a consultant team as well, but the city of Valo um they their PIO, your PIO, I should say, has been very active and helpful. Um and uh we've also outreached through uh Soulrans, you see, and the county fair as well. And Solano County has also been uh involved. And so uh really making sure that we touch all the different aspects of the community um has been uh has been important. and working with these agencies and groups has been uh vital. Here's a kind of a team just to thank you and and really just kind of want to take your questions and and um field anything that you guys may have concerns uh about the project. But uh we are eager uh this next month from now until about miday when we go to stage 5 will be a heavy push and you'll we'll be using uh a lot of these um digital and and physical uh methods to reach out to the community. Just wanting you guys to know that that work is going on and uh if you hear anything you can always contact me um and get a get a direct direct answer to a question. So uh but we additionally have a hotline which is also on this flyer and so somebody from the public can call uh and get um somebody directly connected to the project resident engineer. Um it's been a very helpful useful tool and so uh

we're also putting that out to the community. So with that happy to take any questions. Thank you Nick for the presentation. Um council member Gordon.

Hello and thank you and welcome. Um we appreciate this presentation. Uh I don't uh I do have just a follow-up question. I asked way back when you met at the town hall meeting you had in North Valo uh when you presented this beautiful um layout which I'm excited to see. But one of the questions I had was um the concern of bicyclers might be at risk and I had suggested well actually was suggested there might be putting a bumper so that um between traffic and the bicyclers because that can be very challenging. Um, so I just thought about that as well and I would like to have seen our group picture cuz that was a good collaboration of partnership on that day. So I hope not only that because it was diverse. It was what I mean by diverse I mean uh we have board of supervisors, we had council members, we have partnership. So it would be nice to see that in your presentations uh moving forward. But thank you.

Thank you. Any other question? Oh, sorry. Just in full response there, we did um reach out to the uh Carl about the uh limit line, the limit line in approaching each intersection and uh working on putting that in and we did that um about almost a year ago when we received that comment from you. So, thank you.

Any other questions or comments? Um I I would like to commend you and your team. I know when we went through this started this back at the town hall um and and specifically with the um uh with the digital version over there with the with the point of view of all the other um aspects and components of this and it's been a far cry improvement from when it initially started out to where it is right now. So I want to commend you and your team for for listen to the input and and the feedback that you received and this is a great presentation. I could think it speaks for itself. At least the video does. And so this should help a lot of our community members to understand uh the great project that that's going to be coming out in a few more months. So thank you. If there's no other Thank you so much, Nick, and and your team, Barton. And so thank you for that. So moving on to agenda item number six. I will now ask Manny to start the two-minute clock for anyone wishing to address the council on items not on the meeting agenda both in person and virtually. At the conclusion of the two minutes, anyone wishing to address the council uh must have either signed into the electronic speakers kiosk located in the back of the council chambers or raise their hand virtually. Anyone signing up into the kiosk to speak or raising their hand after the two minutes is up will be um recognized at the last uh community uh forum towards the end of the meeting. The community forum is an opportunity for interested um members of the public to address the council on items not on the meeting agenda. any interested members of the p public desiring to communicate with the city council as part of the um first community forum um maximum of 15 minutes um with each speaker limited to 3 minutes pursuant to Valo Municipal Code section 2.20. Members of the um of the public who addressed the council as part of the first community forum will not be allowed to address the council again

during the last community forum held prior to the adjournment of the meeting. Um do we have any speakers at this time uh signed up?

Yes. Uh Vice Mayor, we have three speakers total signed up. The first is Tanya Bonrike. All right. Good evening, council members and community members. We are were invited here this evening by Councilwoman Gordon to speak about our organization. We represent VAS victims empowerment support team a domestic violence service provider here in Vallejo supporting survivors and their children. My name is Tanya Brownrig, executive director and founder and this is our amazing team. Would you like to introduce yourselves?

My name is Edna White. I'm the crisis line manager for Vest. My name is Jennifer Lopez and I'm an advocate with VEST. My name is Tamara Stened and I'm a DV advocate for VEST. My name is Chanel Davis and I'm a Solano student intern at best.

We are here tonight to raise awareness and to share that help is available here in Vallejo. Domestic violence in Vallejo is increasing and this is not just a private issue. It is a public and community issue. No one agency can fix this alone. It requires coordinated communitywide response. If we do not work together, it will continue to grow. At best, we meet survivors where they are in the process. We understand that living in ab leaving an abusive situation is complex and even if someone stays, they can still receive free services. Domestic violence doesn't just impact individuals. It impacts entire families and communities. Children in these homes often face long-term mental health challenges and academic struggles. While many survivors and their children are living with undiagnosed trauma and PTSD, right now VEZ has confidential advocates available Monday through Friday, providing free safety plan, restraining order assistance, emergency hotel shelter for for those actively fleeing danger along with free therapy support groups and education workshops. We conduct danger assessments so survivors can understand their risk factors associated with homicide. In addition to providing services, we are intentional about investing in this community. We are creating opportunities here in Valleo. Two of our staff members live in Vallejo as well as our intern. But here's the reality. There is only one domestic violence agency in Solano County that provides a 24-hour crisis response to domestic violence. We cannot expect one organization to carry this weight of this growing crisis. That is

not realistic and it is not sustainable for the city. With partnerships and support, Vest can help fill these gaps. Best was founded to build capacity not duplicate across the system of care so survivors are never left without options or access to support. We are not here just to raise awareness. We are also here as part of the solution. And that solution must also include prevention. We need to bring healthy relationship education into our middle and high schools so we can normalize that safe, respectful relationships look like for the youth. We must think beyond support and response and begin building a survivor centered strategy that prevents domestic violence before it starts. I'll leave you with this. Fear is what keeps victims trapped, but our response is what sets them free. We must be ready to show up as a community every time. Thank you for your time and commitment to the safety of Vallejo.

Thank you so much.

Our next speaker is Jason Gray. Good evening. Thanks for the time. There is a bike a a Valo community bike rodeo at Dam Mini this Sunday. I hope you can come and bring your kids. It's an event sponsored by the national organization safe routes to school. It's being held at DAM mini um but it's for everybody in Valo. It's a kid first event with the goal of promoting pedestrian bicycle safety, which we do through a bunch of fun biking games and activities. It's from 10 to 2 this Sunday, and we'll have bicycle giveaways, helmet giveaways, games, food for purchase, and a fun, inviting atmosphere. Bring your kids and your bikes. If your bike needs work, we'll fix it. If you don't have a helmet, we'll give we'll lend you or give you one. If you don't have a bike, I have bikes at Dan Mini. I will lend you a bike. Um, oh, and we have uh we have three that we're giving away. So, if you don't have a bike, you might walk away with one. Um, as a local parent and educator, my personal goal is to get kids comfortable and safe outside of just being in cars, prepared for and welcoming of a future with more alternative transportation options. Shout out to Council Member Gordon for your insightful and trenching comments trying to protect us bikers. I've been biking in I've been bike commuting in Valo for a decade. Um, and I haven't been hit. It's safer than you might think, but I really appreciate the more protection the better. I want more of us out there. Let me just skip to the end. Okay. Um, we've been running a bicycle program at Dan Mini, which is why I have the bike safe routes to school bought them for us. I've been doing it for a couple of years. I'll be there at the bike rodeo. So, if you bring your kids, I can guarantee they'll be safe. They'll

have a great time. They'll learn a little bit. Um, hardly any kids bike to school. I think Mr. Matulic can attest that bike rack is empty every single day. Let's change that one fun and safe experience at a time. I brought the uh the flyer to advertise it and I think Mr. Matulik has it for the um for the council members as well. I hope to see you there. Bring your kids Saturday 10 to 2 at Dan Mini Elementary. See you there. Thank you. and people in the audience as well, please come see us. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. And our final speaker is Robert White.

Good evening, council members and uh community. My name is Robert White and I have a cons concern for my community. Uh, I've seen a patrol car go through the community one time a year. Uh, things that are taking place are gunshots. Bullets could land anywhere. Uh, a child from uh has been killed in the commu in my community. A young man has been shot dead in my community. So these two are my concern. Also, speeding cars are are just terrorizing the um community. No one's coming out. So those are my concerns. Thank Thank you.

Mr. White, could you please share the area that you're um concerned about with our um College Hills? I'm sorry. College Hills. College Hills. Thank you,

Mandy. Do we have any um online speakers through the vice mayor? We do not have any members signed up at this time.

Thank you for that. So, moving on to the next agenda item. Um public comment regarding the consent calendar item. So, um, if there are any speakers wishing to, um, pull an item or remove an item from consent calendar from, um, virtually, please state what that specifically is. So, I will ask Manny to, uh, please start the two-minute clock. Are there any, um, members of the general public wishing to address the council on items on the consent calendar? Comments must be restricted to items on the consent calendar only. Please either sign up to speak using the electronic kiosk in the back of the uh council chamber or raise your hand if you are participating virtually. I will allow two minutes uh for in-person speakers to sign up in the kiosk or anyone participating virtually to raise their hand. Do we have any in-person speakers for consent?

Yes, Vice Mayor, we do have one speaker, Leslie Janick. Good evening, Vice Mayor and council members. I'm here this evening with a request to postpone item 9B on your action calendar before approving the agenda in consent. As you know, the proposed memorandum memorandum of understanding with the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians is unfolding alongside an active federal review by the Department of Interior as well as ongoing legal challenges involving multiple tribal nations. My understanding is there is an upcoming deadline of May 1st in that review. Given that context, I respectfully ask the council to consider amending tonight's agenda to move item 9B to a future meeting after additional clarity is provided at the federal level. This is not a position on the project itself, but rather a request for thoughtful timing. Decisions made locally at this stage may be interpreted beyond their immediate intent, particularly in a process that is still under federal review and carries deep cultural and intertribal significance. Allowing more time would ensure that any action taken by the city is informed, inclusive, and durable as possible. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you for that. Um any um members of the council uh needing wanting to pull anything from the consent? Um I do need to disclose that I will need to recuse myself from item 8G

and from a specificity standpoint is be due to the conflict of interest that I have due to um owning property in the um LMD. Any other council me council member um let you

um so first of all I'd like to pull item D and then secondly as it relates to item F I need to recuse myself as I own property in Glen Cove. Any other council members um wishing to pull an item on the consent? Because right now we have item 8 D which will be 8.1. Any others? Seeing none. Oh, council member Matias.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh so I guess this question is to the city clerk. Do we have more of these? Are you aware of more of these assessment items coming up on the agenda on future agendas? Yes. This is just the first step of the LMDS. I don't know if our public works director is here.

Ah, my friend. I just want to get a better sense of the um schedule cuz I know you guys usually do two batches of these. So, do we have another batch of assessment items coming up on an upcoming agenda? Yes. Okay. Next next meeting. At the next meeting.

And then, city clerk, you'll be reaching out to us on conflicts on Okay, that's it. Off the hook. Seeing no other comments or questions, um is there a motion on the table? Yes. I move that we approve the consent and uh calendar and moving consent item D to 8.1 and recusing council member Letu from 8F and recusing the vice mayor Mulik from 8G. Please vote. Did you vote? I'm missing one vote.

You still vote for There we go. You just recuse from one item. And the motion I can see it on my screen. I It's not displaying. The motion carries unanimously with the mayor absent.

Thank you for that. Um, can we um ask uh city clerk to please read item 8.1? Adopt a resolution one accepting a $499,9992 OBVC fiscal year 25 services for victims of crime grant. Two, authorizing the city attorney to review, negotiate, and approve a standard grant agreement relating their two. Three, authorizing the city manager's execution of all documents relating to said grant agreement subject to city attorney approval. And four, noticing intent to amend the fund 149 fiscal year 2526 budget in the amount of $499,992. This is step one of two.

Thank you for that. Uh turning it over to council member Leig who pulled the item. Hi. Um, so I'd like to know actually a little more about this grant and who manages this grant in which department. Okay. Thank you for stepping up.

Sorry, could you repeat your question? Certainly. I'd like to have more information about the grant and how it's administered. Yeah, this is a Department of Justice grant um that was found for by our um our uh um our federal partners um

capital advocacy partners, our our lobbying firm. This is for in part to u fund our Valo vision um which is our hospital-based violence intervention program that we've been working on and talking about for quite some time. And so we were able to find this money. We obviously it's uh it's a we applied for it. Um it's being sourced to an organization called the center for urban excellence um which is doing um some other things in con in conjunction with um violence intervention in our city. Um so they only had 40% funding for this type of work. Um it is something that they've been working on for a number a number of years and uh we were able to partner with them in order to carry out their their full mission. So with this grant they will have 100% funding.

So is anyone here from Q to talk about how this grant is administered? What is the purpose of the grant? How community can actually um receive those funds unless you can give further information. Yeah, I can I can give you a um an overview of how the grant is administered.

Thank you. And that is in in instances of gun violence because that's this is what really we're aiming at. Um the work the um the case workers from Q would respond to an incident of in hospitals. Um they are have partnered with Sutter Solano um and Kaiser Hospital to respond to these locations in the instance of um a victim being taken to the hospital whether it's on the um on the shooter side or the or the victim's side. And the goal is to intervene in ter in terms of mitigating any further retaliation. And what's what's being done is to um not only mitigation but to provide case management, resource referral and a way to um lower the temperature of of these incidents. Um now their their footprint is rather small. um there's a case manager, there's administrative manager and so there are they are starting very small here um in this vision. However, um there is room for expansion of course um but they want to start very small, very local and um the one of the case managers used to work for Advanced Peace. Um it's something somebody that we know very very well um and that we've gotten to know over the last uh couple years. Mhm.

Um so this is kind of an overview of what is to occur. So, do we by any chance do you know what the stats are around gun violence, gun victim, um victims that incur gunshot wounds, individuals that we have encountered at the hospital, so forth and so I in terms of how the police department responds or

No, I'm not asking how we respond. I'm asking you for data. And so I'm saying on a yearly basis as we're as we're talking about this funding, as we're talking about this work, on a yearly basis, what's our case load around um victims of violence? And I'm looking for those numbers.

Yeah, I don't have those numbers offhand. Okay. Um but obviously it has, as we all know, it has been um a problem. Um although our gun violence numbers have dropped from from last year to this year and continues to do so. Um you know our our homicides have dropped. We're at we're at two this year which is fantastic. Um this is more for the hospital to reach out to these organizations and and have the police department be apart from it and not be PD involved. Right. We're trying to get a community-based response to intervene and provide assistance to victims of gun violence and however that looks

right. And I'm I'm very clear on the fact that it is not for the police department intervention that it is a community-based intervention. And the reason I'm asking for the data is how that data gets connected to those dollars, how that data gets connected to those services in addition to how that information really is put out in community as well. Right? Because it's twofold. It's the shooter and it is the individual who has received that wound. Right. Right.

So that's why I'm asking. And so it would be really great as we continue to roll out vision. We've had a lot of discussion around vision at the safety committee. the very questions that I'm talking about today. We can explore those questions further in um our safety committee and even invite Q back to talk about more in depth around these grant grant dollars and what are the expected impacts that we are projecting and hoping for and then also how are we going to work with others in the community because the reality is that one nonprofit organization can't serve the entire community. There are a lot of reasons for that, right? And so to maximize this resource in our community, we need to ensure while yes, we're working with different non we're working with one particular nonprofit organization, who are other nonprofit organizations in this world that we need to be working with because relationships matter and there are certain communities everyone cannot attend to. That's a known fact. So, how do we maximize this work? And it would be great to have that dialogue in our safety committee and then be able to bring it back. Thank you very much for your work. I appreciate it.

Yeah, that's certainly that certainly would be the uh the forum for uh in the weeds discussion. Yes. Thank you, Council Member Gordon. Hello. Thank you so much. I appreciate this um opportunity. I do have a clarifying question. So this particular um grant is is it focused for uh gang related issues or could it be also for domestic um because you said shooter and victim? So could it be for uh for any type of domestic concerns as well if there's gun violence involved?

It certainly could be. Now the the accused mission is to work with the hospitals and so a hospital would be making the referral um essentially. Now it would be up to you know the victims of these crimes to um want to want to receive services, want to receive the referrals. Um and certainly, you know, I I don't know that Q can serve all the, you know, all the victims that come into these um come into the hospital setting, but um this is certainly a a um we're putting a microscope on this problem and we're trying we're starting out small and I think that was the the mission of when we started talking about this. Um the success of this will obviously lead to greater things and working out in the community clearly there are many shutors and victims who do not want to cooperate who fear retaliation and so we really need to you know I think Q's mission is to tread lightly but offer a robust um service comprehensive with the case management and try to but yes to your answer your question long and short of it Yes, I victims of domestic violence would certainly be in the realm of um being offered these services.

So would may I ask a question? Could particularly with Quest work with other agencies as my colleague pointed out or would you all consider maybe doing an RFP for future grants? Um, so like for example, we heard from vest tonight some so that uh no one loses an opportunity to get service if they choose to receive it cuz like you said um Quest Can only could do so much. So we want to partner with everyone. Is that something that you can consider?

Certainly something we consider. Sounds like a fantastic organization. Um unfortunately the first time we've I've heard of it. Uh, but it's definitely something that we should explore and and try to work with more organizations within the community that do this kind of work because it is needed. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Certainly. Um, are there any in-person speakers or virtual speakers on this item? Nope. Oh, Council Mariju,

just for the record, I want to state that vest does work with VP VPD and they do have a relationship with them. Um, the organization that just stood up. So, um, Council Member Councilwoman Gordon just mentioned them again. So, they do have a relationship. They attend our safety meetings. They're doing a lot of they're part of the domestic violence cohort group that we work with with your organization and with the safety committee. Oh, fantastic. So, thank you for that. I I did I I was unaware. Thank you. That's okay. I just want to say that for on put it on public record. They do have a relationship with VPD.

So, if there are no other questions or comments, um the chair is open for a motion. Yes. I move that we adopt a resolution one accepting a 499,992 OVC fiscal year 2025 PIS services for victims of crime grant two authorizing the city attorney to review negotiate and approve a standard grant agreement relating there too and three authorizing the city manager's execution of all documents related to said grant agreement subject to the city attorney approval and four noticing intent to amend the fund 149 fiscal year 2025 2026 budget in the amount of $499,992. Step one of two. Please vote.

Motion carries unanimously with Mayor Source absent.

Thank you for that. Um, moving on to our um, uh, agenda item number nine, the action calendar. Uh, city clerk Abramson, could you please announce item 9A? adopt a resolution making appointments to various city boards and commissions. You will be making appointments to AHLC, Code Enforcement, Housing and Community Development Commission, and PB. Thank you for that. And uh Mandy, please start the two-minute clock. Anyone wishing to address the council on this item, both in person or virtually, must either sign up using the electronic kiosk located in the back of the council chambers or raise their hand virtually by the end of the two-minute clock. Anyone signing up to this to uh speak or raising their hand virtually after the end of the two minutes clock will not be recognized. Uh, city clerk Abrahamson, please lead us through the appointment process. So, um, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of council, council conducted, the two member interview teams conducted interviews the week of March 23rd. And before you this evening, you have appointments to make. My recommendation to the council, if you all agree, would be by acclamation make appointment make the appointment for the one applicant to the architectural heritage and landmarks commission and the two appointments member appointments to to the participatory budgeting steering committee. And then you'll go need to go through the nomination process for code enforcement appeals board and the housing community development commission because you only have one vacancy and you have more applicants.

Thank you for that clarification. So if um there's no um comments or questions from the st or from council, we'll go ahead and move with that recommendation um to those um unanimous appointments. And I had received a request that we do the the ones that do need a vote that we start with I believe it was housing. So if if if um my fellow council members I have no opposition to that. Um oh I received a request that if we could start with the housing one uh appoint someone for housing. Is that okay? So, um, city clerk, if you want to, um, go through the list for the housing.

Okay. Or any are there any questions or comments at this point from anyone? Are there any public speakers on the item? None. Anyone virtually many? None. Seeing none. Okay. Opening the floor to um I guess city clerk Abrahamson to kind of go through that list. Okay. So, you have uh four applicants before you that participated in the interviews with council members Leedu and Paul Maris. I don't know if they want to uh say anything before I call by last name. So you can provide the name of your nominee. I we haven't discussed it but I nominate Ebony Smith. You nominate who?

Ebony Smith. Ebony Smith. Okay. I will go with council member Leedu. into the microphone. Briana Rogers. Okay. Briana Rogers. Yes. Uh, Council Member Beganzer. Ebony Smith. Council member Gordon. Ebony Smith. Council member Matias. Uh, Rogers. Hey. And Vice Mayor Matulic.

Um, Brianna Rogers. Well, we have a tie. Three and three. You need four for a quorum to uh move the nominee forward for appointment. So, city attorney Nab, do you recommend we try and go through it again or do we wait until the mayor returns? Um that question is really up to the council in terms of it can wait, it can carry over to the next meeting and an appointment can be made at that time or if any of you are uh in favor of revoting this then we can revote it this evening.

So I'll open it up to my fellow council members. Is is there anyone that's willing to change their vote? And if not, it sounds like we'll just have to wait till the next council meeting to move this item forward. Do the chair. Yes. This was a very hard interview cuz both of them were extremely um professional, had a heart for it and it was very difficult. I think we should just carry over to the mayor.

Okay. And I I think our vote um confirms that. So, let's go ahead. As Lexi, we're going to go ahead and table this item or this um commission appointment till the next meeting. Um moving on to the next um code enforcement appeals board. Yes. So you have one vacancy and you had three applicants that council members Matias and the vice mayor interviewed. I don't know if either one of you want to make comment.

Um just quick comments. I'm the uh council leazison to the code enforcement appeals board. Uh I'm going to um repeat something our vice mayor often repeats which is that uh we encourage all the other applicants uh to continue to apply to the openings we have across our commissions. We have vacancies at this time uh and I would encourage uh the other folks who were part of that process to reapply who are exceptional as well. My nomination uh will go to Miss Simpson uh for appointment to that commission. I will turn to the vice mayor next. Um Yeshica Simpson. Uh council member Gordon.

The same. I'm sorry you said whom? The same. Same. Okay. Council member Letu. Miss Simpson. Council member Paul Maris. Miss Simpson. And council member. Uh Miss Simpson. So, Miss Simpson received um all six of your nominations. So, she would be the one you would be appointing. So, now it is appropriate for you to adopt the resolution making those appointments. So, is there a motion to um for that resolution? Yes. I move that we adopt a resolution making appointments to various uh city boards and commissions. Do we need to run through each of the names or do you have them?

I have them here. Okay. So in the order that we voted and then the the two bodies by acclamation. Yes. The two bodies by affirmation and one vote will take place when the mayor returns. Okay. On the screen. Okay. Please vote. Motion carries unanimously with Mayor Source absent. Thank you for that. Uh, city clerk Abraham M, could you please announce item 9B?

Adopt a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Valleo and Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians for temporary city services for temporary tribal development and encroachment permit. authorizing city manager to execute same and finding such actions exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. So tonight's agenda are the following. We're going to review the site location and some of the project background. We'll be discussing the proposed temporary development project details. We will talk about the impacts, analysis, and mitigations recommended, the terms within theou benefits and risks of this memorandum of understanding. We'll discuss some public input and comments. We'll give you a litigation update, talk about ne next steps in the process. We will talk about the environmental um review and some a few updated red lines um that we have to theou itself and then the staff recommendation. So this is the proposed uh project site off of Columbus Parkway and Highway 80. As you can see, it consists of four parcels outlined here in red. So, a little bit of the project background for those who are just tuning in for the first time. Um, in 2016, the tribe submitted a request to the Department of the Interior to um submit land into trust here in the city limits of Vallejo. Um July 8th, 2024, after eight years of litigation, the BIA posted an environmental assessment, which is an environmental review for the proposed larger casino project to analyze the potential environmental um impacts of that proposed tribal housing casino and office project. That was the first that the city heard of the project um when the EA was posted by the Department of the Interior. In August of 2024, about a month later, the tribe did reach out to

city staff. um they wanted to begin discussions and in late August a council gave staff the direction to send a comment letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior to outline the potential city impacts and concerns that the city had with the project and the development project itself. Um November 19th uh 2024 after discussions back and forth between uh city staff and the tribe, the council did enter into a cooperative agreement agreeing to further analyze potential impacts uh the project may have on the city. Those uh impact areas include water infrastructure easements uh and capacity supply, sewer, water and storm, vehicle and emergency access, transportation infrastructure and capacity, public safety services, social impacts, um and anything else that the city was concerned with at the time. January 10th, 2025, the Department of the Interior approved the feed of trust application and put the land into trust for benefit of the Scots Valley tribe and approved that gaming eligibility. Then March 24th uh 2025 and April 10th, there were several lawsuits filed from other tribes um and they were challenging the Department of the Interior's gaming eligibility determination approval. March 27th, um the Department of Interior issued a temporary recision of gaming eligibility and sent the city a request for comments. On April 1st, 2025, the Scots Valley Tribe filed a complaint and injunction seeking to reinstate their gaming eligibility. May 29th, 2025, the city city sent a letter to the Department of the Interior regarding the temporary recision. And in September 19th, 2025, the tribe began site work on its trust land in Vallejo to establish some temporary office facilities. September 30th, consistent with the

cooperative agreement, um staff brought forward um the opportunity to negotiate with the tribe for temporary city services for their temporary tribal offices. Staff reviewed the draftou ahead of that public meeting to ensure it was a proposal we could support moving forward. um because the cooperative agreement gave staff that authorization at that time. But in an abundance of caution, staff brought this opportunity to council because there were new council members here on the council. We wanted to make sure that we got the authorization to move forward and continue engaging in term of negotiations. Um that was September 30th that council did approve that u moving forward to negotiate for temporary services. On December 9th, 2025, the city hired uh AP Triton. They assessed the public safety impacts for police and fire and potential mitigations for this temporary proposed use um for this negotiation of theou west yos and the city water department also analyzed water capacity uh before moving forward forou consideration. This is the website where the environmental assessment can be found that was um conducted and adopted by the department of the interior for the environmental review of the larger casino project. Um, let's see. Uh, again, September 19th, it began some site work to establish some temporary offices in two modular units. And on November 19th, the tribe notified the city of a recent litigation update, uh, reinstating their gaming eligibility. And then they had a desire to change from just the tribal offices to also include some small-cale gaming activity and modular units um, on the site. So, the city was not aware of these changes until we got the letter November 19th after which staff promptly notified council by email and one-on-one check-ins. Um, contractor change order was dated December 3rd. So, this all

happened after the notification to the city. Um, and it changed from just the offices to include um the class 2 gaming and offices in three different modular units. The tribe updated their project description and presented that to staff on January 18th, 2026. And um as we will talk later in this presentation, the current proposal is the parking lot driveway improvements, two modular build, two small modular buildings for gaming, one for tribal offices with 247 site security. So this is a rough site plan just showing the area of the subject property. to the right outlined in red is the larger tribal property and then it shows a zoom into that gravel access road parking area and um temporary modular units. Um uh the report from AP Triton addressing impacts on the of the project, the temporary project is dated January 26. And at that time, um AP Triton did assume a full 247 operation of those two temporary gaming modular units. And they recommended mitigations of approximately 700,000 in year 1 and 500,000 approximately each year thereafter. Um, subsequently after this report came out January 26, the tribe themselves hired Klaus Robinson, a separate set of consultants to analyze impacts to public safety, police, and fire. And they did a similar report um, dated February 2nd, 2026. And their recommendation for impacts of this temporary use and development were mitigations of $80,000. So, as we got these two reports and continued on with negotiations, the terms of this memorandum of understanding were formed. Um, and these

are the basic terms that I'm going to outline. Um, I have a lot more detail on the slide. I'm going to review them briefly, but this is for information of the public and those that um go online and print out these PowerPoints so they can have all the information. So basically the encroachment permit decision we would like to get direction from city council. Normally this is a staff level decision but given the sensitivity of the project and the um necessity for the community input we wanted to wait for that. So the plans have been submitted and they have been on hold um pending this uh evening's meeting. Um that encroachment permit would allow for uh gravel compaction and paving of driveway connection to electricity and the the Vallejo VIP fiber network and water services for these temporary developments. Um uh the police mitigations include the tribe maintaining 247 security on tribal property. The tribe is uh willing to pay for one fully loaded police officer including salary and benefits for the term of theou which is a total of three years maximum. The tribe would also receive no level of service beyond what the community currently experiences from the police department. Um and then staff will be watching and monitoring in 90-day increments to see if we need to increase staffing. Um again that will that assessment will be funded by the administration uh mitigation um in the payments that will come be coming on uh slides to come. Um in any extraordinary event where other agencies and jurisdictions are called in the tribe would pay for the actual costs of all of those augmented services. The fire mitigation term in the memorandum of understanding um purports that the city permit process would apply. They would apply for it. They would pay fees for compliance. All of our departments would review those plans to ensure that we have that

capacity. And again, the tribe would get no additional service from fire beyond what the current community experiences. And in any extraordinary event when we had to call a 2, three, four, etc. alarm fire, the tribe would then pay actual costs of the entirety of that extraordinary event. As far as uh water services are um concerned, the city permit process and fees again for compliance review would apply. They would comply with all city, state, and federal water regulations and pay for their water usage monthly um at the normal commercial rate that any other commercial project pays in the city of Vallejo. they will need to record a new easement giving the city and maintaining our full access to our infrastructure that's on the site already. Um and then we will discuss in a further slide about moving um some city gates and just creating more security and fencing to ensure that our tank system and our water infrastructure is protected. And then the water department also analyzed independently the capacity for the temporary project and stated they have capacity to we the city has capacity to serve the project. As far as traffic u mitigations are concerned um there was a traffic study done with the original environmental assessment for the larger bigger project um which had some mitigations but um this smaller project we have agreement from the tribe to fund a larger traffic study impact um because the city doesn't the city staff doesn't feel and experts don't feel that we have adequate traffic mitigations for when the larger casino um may be built. So we did hire a west yoast and they did a peer review and they gave us recommendations on what areas should be studied for traffic. So we do have a commitment from the tribe to further study that. We also have commitment from the tribe for an activation and mobilization fee for year one which is $100,000 which could cover the fire and police training and other staffing costs during this

first year of temporary service provision. and they're um agreeable to paying all the property taxes as if they were required to. Um a trib's trust land in federal trust is not required to pay any property taxes. So they've agreed to continue to pay the property taxes um that were required prior for 200 Columbus Parkway 12,698 a year. And then I stated before we added a few additional terms and red lines. Um those red lines are on the dis. They're in the back of the room. They're online in the packet as well. And these additional terms are the four as follows and are redlined redlinined in theou and that attachment on your dis. We clarified because we had had discussions about any of the improvements within the city's easement. We clarified that the tribe will be paying for all of those. the compacted gravel or paving, any of the driveway improvements, the two gates, the fencing, everything that happens within that city easement area will be fully funded by the tribe. The city will have full access, unobstructed access, and the tribe will be paying for all those improvements and will have city approval. The tribe, again, we talked about them paying commercial water rates and theou talked about paying regular water rates, but we clarified in the red line. um in exhibit B that the city will be applying its existing commercial water rate just like the rest of commercial development in the city pays. Um the third red line is relating to security in section 2.1.1C and the tribe has agreed to install a flock system with the automatic license plate reader and cameras and pay for that and fund it as well as security c tower cameras and then provide all of that data to the city of Allejo police department. So that was another um term

that we added and finalized today. And then finally, the tribe um in exhibit D, community benefits contribution, has agreed to provide um $100,000 to nonprofits within the city of Vallejo each year. And in addition, in the community benefit section, they will now also be funding pothole repair on Columbus pro parkway along the frontage of the tribal property to the intersection at Ascot Way. So along that area, um more than likely the city will do those pothole improvements, but the tribe will fund those improvements for those repairs. So again, this is just an outline of the u mitigations and the funding categories in theou. The equivalent of one fully loaded police officer salary at 362,000 per year, a portion of admin support, which will be police and fire at 273 per year. their inl property taxes of 12,698 per year. The nonprofit donations to city of Vallejo nonprofits within the city limits at $100,000 per year. And um by the way, those donations will be made in cooperation with input from the city council um for an annual total of 502,000 per year. And the first year total including the $100,000 activation fee is a total of 602 in year 1. And then years 2 and three would be 502. So again um these are the rough numbers. The cost of the pothole repair and flock system would be in addition to these numbers. Um these above mitigations would be paid upon execution of theou. And again the city has the option to cancel thisou at any time for any reason and at which point thisou is terminated

the services cease and the city can can do that uh termination for any reason. In addition, if costs um as we're regulating and monitoring every 90 days, if they come out higher than what um is outlined here in the per year costs, uh we are able to renegotiate theou or completely terminate and pull all services at the city's sole discretion. So there are many benefits and risks of entering into this memorandum of understanding with the tribe. Um, obviously the tribe, the land is in trust in federal trust for their benefit and they can move forward with developing it how they so choose without the city's services. They could bring in a water tank. They could contract with another city for police or fire service. They could have their own security private service. There are many ways that they can develop their project in their land. But working together um there is a benefit in that the municipal services are there. they're on the site. We're providing them and ensuring that the health and safety at the temporary offices and the gaming facility are meeting the city standards. Thisou does require that. Um if they were to develop on their own, none of those requirements would be met. Um it also ensures full cost recovery to the city and avoids these unfunded impacts. if we didn't work together with them but there was still a large fire say on the hill. It's not that the city wouldn't go to put out the fire, it's that we may not be reimbured for that cost of providing any service on the trust land. Um again it's working together strengthening uh the intergovernmental relations. It establishes clear roles and protocols for public safety and water services um in implementing the coop cooperative agreement approved in November 2024 and sets the foundation for future um agreements and cooperation as tribal development progresses. If the larger

casino moves forward and is built, we have that opportunity to continue to work together. Um and again, the community benefits it's offering for this city. um and the longer term city infrastructure needs have the opportunity to be addressed at this time. There are some risks. Um obviously a demand on police and fire is already high in the city of Vallejo. Um cost recovery is helpful. Um it helps the tribe receive uh the tribe receiving the same services as the rest of the city doesn't put them ahead in line. Um the priority system will be the same. Um but that is a risk. That's why we um have discussed the 90-day reviews and the opportunity to terminate theou at any time for any reason at sole discretion of the city. Um the enforcements of terms even with a limited waiver of sovereignty and imu immunity may be a little more complex than working with non-tribal entities. So that is a there is risk there. Um again there is always confusion with the longerterm project and these short-term projects. So to be very clear, thisou is only a temporary service provision. It's for a maximum of 3 years. It's not for the larger casino development which is still in design and um impact analysis um process right now. This is only a temporary memorandum for three temporary services, police, fire, and water. So, um, approving theou sometimes is confusing because the larger public may think that it's approving the larger casino and it's it's not at this time. Um, again, the city doesn't hold any approval authority over this uh federally designated trust land, the gaming compact process, which runs through the governor's office, or any development activities that happened at the site. This is just an opportunity for us to work with the tribe to ensure that the city's impacts are mitigated

adequately. And again, the tribe is not bound to work with the city. Um, there are some risks of not moving forward. Um, the BIA analysis and mitigation and the environmental assessment that was already approved for the larger casino project. Um, it stands and the BIA repi relied on that assessment with those very limited mitigations that the city felt weren't really adequately addressing some of the impacts. So if we do not continue to work together and we do not move forward with this or any other um negotiation opportunities, there is a risk that the impacts will be larger than the city um and the city may not get any sort of cost recovery or mitigation whatsoever. So that is a risk. The city has a water transmission line on the property and a water tank uh very nearby. It's a hillside. Um and so some of the larger concerns that need further analysis when a bigger potential project happens on the hillside that the city feels we need to look at. Um partnering now um allows us that opportunity to look at impacts and mitigations for that future larger project when it moves up the hillside there. Um and again um it's best to prepare for the most impactful outcome and protect the city interest by working together rather than risk impacts without mitigations. So there have been some overall project concerns we've heard and I'll review kind of our community input on the coming slides, but it's fairly common that casinos are a big concerned communities. Obviously, these areas of impact we discussed are concerns and so the cooperative agreement gave us a path to independently as a city look at which areas we are concerned with outside of the federal governmental approval process and allow us to try and help to ensure to reduce some of those those

impacts. Um thisou for the temporary development of the modular gaming and offices ensures we get reimbursed. Um and these are concerns um that we've heard that the the public safety services are already impacted in the city and how are we going to afford to you know take one more project within and so this provides us that opportunity to fund some of those impacts and then again I just want to reiterate the city is uh collaborates um with all tribes with jurisdiction in the city of Allejo based on the Native American Heritage Commission lists of all tribes that have ancestral territory within our city limits. We work with them on um the public development projects that come through the planning department, city CIP projects and and any projects really that come across um our desk. So staff has received many comments. Now this PowerPoint was updated around 4 p.m. And since then, you will probably see in your email that several have come in between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m. as well. We got we have received multiple not in support of the project, multiple in support. Um specifically the Yadhi tribe submitted a petition against theou with 562 concerned citizens, 252 of which were Vallejo residents that was emailed to you electronically. It was uploaded online to the website into the electronic packet materials and supplemental materials and it is in the back of the room in a hard copy. Um, and then, um, the Scots Valley, um, submitted, um, some supporters, uh, emails, and I believe you've all gotten those emails, and of those, 272 of those are Vallejo residents supporting the project. Um, we have a packed house tonight, so I'm sure you hear some input from the rest of the community, which is great to to have them here and participating in

the process. Um, in addition, the tribe started a website to spread more information about the project, the timing, the tribe, the history, and take input from the community. And it is you found at www.standwithscotsval.com. So, as I mentioned before, the environmental assessment through the Department of the Interior was already adopted and approved with the larger trust application that was approved. Um this is a smaller scale project within that environmental assessment um uh realm. Um but the city entered into a cooperative agreement to study to further study some of those impacts so that we could understand from the city's perspective um not just the approved environmental assessment NEPA document perspective. So these are the areas um this is the status of those larger um impact assessments. Um the water impacts capacity and infrastructure near-term impacts were analyzed by West Yos. Um and long-term analysis was just completed on April 2nd and the reports show that city has capacity um with some uh mitigations. So that report uh has been sent to council traffic and transportation. As I stated earlier, there was an initial peer review conducted by fair and peers and it recommends further traffic study for a larger casino development and a scope for that additional analysis has been obtained for economic and social impacts on economics and housing. Um, Advantage Partners Consulting did an analysis. Um, staff feels that there's additional analysis needed to clarify specific mitigations. So we have procured two additional scopes for economic and social impacts and housing. Um and then public safety the long-term impact analysis is also um happening uh right now through AP Triton. They did

the temporary analysis which the which was part of the staff report and they're working on the longer term analysis is it's expected to be completed in the next 6 to9 months. Um the AP Triton representatives are also on the zoom if there are any specific questions about the temporary um report and analysis. And um the sewer and wastewater Vallejo flood and waste district has also contracted independently uh with the tribe to complete analysis on uh sewer and storm water impacts at the site as well and that's expected to be completed later this year. This is a very detailed slide outlining the pending litigation status. So again, I talked earlier about the January tw 10th um decision of the Department of the Interior accepting the 160 acres into trust for benefit of the tribe um deeming it eligible for gaming. March 27th, then came the DOI letter temporarily uh rescending the gaming eligibility and reopening the issue for reconsideration. Then in October 30th, the US District Court held that the decision violated the trib's uh due process rights and the court vacated the decision but allowed the DOI discretion to continue reconsideration if it chose to do so. Meanwhile, while all this is going on, there are the three separate lawsuits I identified earlier about the trust acquisition and the gaming eligibility. Um, and those are currently stayed while the department conducts its reconsideration uh proceedings. And if these cases proceed in ordinary course, um once the stay is lifted, litigation process, including court proceedings and potential appeals, could easily extend upwards of 3 years before final resolution on that larger casino project. Again, this temporary um is not related to the larger project.

It's related to two temporary trailers with um class 2 gaming facilities and one temporary office trailer which is allowed currently under um the trust application that um has been approved for benefit of Scots Valley um gaming compact and gaming ordinance. It's part of the process for the larger casino. So, um again, the gaming compact negotiation started um um back in, uh March and the tribe then put them on hold while this court um opinions were issued. And um following the October 2025 court decision though restoring the trib's gaming eligibility, the compact negotiations resumed with the state and we will be keeping a close eye on those um listening and um getting updates from the state. Although the city is not involved in that process, we will be watching. And um so once the compact is negotiated, if it moves forward, then it would be ratified with by the California State Legislature and approved by the Secretary of the Interior before it takes effect. And during that time, then the city would then be looking to negotiate the larger intergovernmental agreement for those larger mitigations and impacts um for that project. and then the tribe will uh move forward. They adopted a gaming ordinance in 1996. Um and then they amended it in January 2025 and uh March 25th, 2025, the National Indian Gaming Commission approved that amended tribal gaming ordinance. So, next steps, if the council um decides to approve theou, staff will

continue analysis of impacts of the larger uh casino housing and office development proposal to ensure that we um make sure that the city of Leo is reimbured and mitigated for any potential impacts of a larger project. staff then will return to council for consideration of those proposed mitigations and negotiation on the larger casino development uh intergovernmental agreement. Um again, the impact analysis is fully funded by the tribe and continues concurrently with the litigation that is ongoing. We would bring back the draft intergovernmental agreement for city council consideration and public input. Um while that uh before that happens though, the encroachment permit would move forward with the development and department review and approval of that permit and each of those other requirements for um police, fire and water permits would also ensue and the temporary construction would need to be finalized in the coming months. installing all the infrastructure for the temporary project in the coming months. And then again, the intergovernmental agreement process, I just want to point out, it provides multiple opportunities for public input during this uh consideration. But the short and the small of it is it won't be opening tomorrow. It will be still several months um if this is approved tonight um in the process for the permitting and the construction. So although I explained that the larger casino project was um reviewed for environment environmental impacts through the NEPA process um for the larger casino project this action of approving aou at the city level for just services needed to be um reviewed in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act the SQA guidelines and this um approval qualifies for section 15303 and 15304

squa exemptions. So theou and consenting to the approval of the encroachment permit is exempt um in these two sections provided that the provision of water and other utility extensions and street improvements of reasonable length that can serve this construction of small structures less than 10,000 square ft in floor area which these are and where all necessary public services are available which they are. In a circumstance where construction of the structure is not subject to SQA, the city has no power to approve or disapprove the structures. They can be there with or without our input. We don't have that regula regulatory authority. Um, in addition, theou just merely provides the services to the site of the temporary use of land having negligible or no permanent effects on the environment where it involves no environmentally sensitive area or removal of trees, no slope greater than 10% construct constructed on and where the project is a smaller temporary use of the federal trust property for which the larger casino development project was reviewed pursuant to NEPA and for which that environmental assessment was previously adopted by the secretary. area of the interior. Just want to reiterate the city's role is limited to a responsible agency status relating to environmental impact assessment in the feed trust process and we need to ensure our city easements and infrastructure on the site are protected. Um there is no fiscal impact expected with these uh mitigations that are currently proposed in the memorandum of understanding. Um, with that, uh, staff is recommending the council adopt, uh, a resolution approving aou between the city of Vallejo and Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians for the temporary city services for temporary tribal development and encroachment permit authorizing the city manager to execute same and finding such actions exempt from SQA pursuant to SQA

guidelines sections 15303 and 15304. And with that, staff's presentation is concluded. Th Thank you for that presentation. Um, thank you. So, with that uh being said, typically we go to the questions of the council, but I've received a request uh to start out with public comment. And so, just a quick question. How many uh public speakers do we have signed up right now? We currently have 25 speakers. And how many virtual speakers do we have?

Five. So, so with that being said, doing the quick math, that would be over three hours worth of comment for a three minute time frame. So, the chair is open to having a twominut comment for each uh speaker at this point. So, with that being said, um can you please announce the first few speakers?

Sure. Germaine Germaine uh Daodell Good evening, Vice Mayor and council members. My name is Germaine Daell. I'm a journeyman carpenter and field rep for local 180 which covers Solano County. Also, my family has lived in Valo for over 30 years. I'm here in support of theou between the Scotts Valley tribe and the city of Valo. I also have more than 50 of my brothers and sisters from the North Coast states carpenters union behind me. We are all in support of theou we are discussing today. This agreement helps ensure Valleo will see meaningful benefits from the tribes preview preview casino including support for city services ongoing coordination. Also, it is a positive common sense step towards making sure this project contributes to our community in a responsible beneficial way. I urge you, please vote yes on thisou. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Shawn Davis, followed by Jesse Gonzalez. Hello, honorable council, uh, family, friends, brothers and sisters. Um, my name is Sean Davis. I represent the chairman. I'm the chairman of the Scots Valley Band of

Pomo and his tribal council. Today is a very exciting day for my tribe and hopefully Valleo to consider aou short-termou moving forward. We feel that Valleo is just not a project site. It's our homeland. So this is my home. Now, we're developing the land with a preview casino to help build stability and opportunity for our families and to provide benefits to the city and Valleo community. We're committed to being responsible stewards of this land and good neighbors. That's why we support thisou. We want to make sure that the city isn't bearing cost and that the public sees immediate benefit. This is a small start compared to our permanent casino, but it's still an incredible step that means so much. Our vision is long-term to be part of Balo's future, not just his past. That's just some little talking points I had to do. But from heart to heart, from me to you, we're very sincere. We're a very humble tribe. We finally have a homeland. We want to make this work with the city of Valo, education, infrastructure. from what I hear in the first part of the meeting, crime, um, taking care of our elders and having hope for our kids to have education moving forward regardless of what city they live in. And so that means a lot to us. That's what family values is our number. That's

when you're rich. It's when you got family behind you and making sure that your family is safe in the community that they live in. This is our community. Now, we are going to do the best we can for the city of Valo and the surrounding communities to do what's right for the people of my community, Valo. Thank you very much. And thank you.

I will pass it to Patrick Murder. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jesse Gonzalez, followed by Galvin Rubin. Hello, city council members and the community. My name is Jesse Gonzalez. I'm the vice chair for the Scots Valley Band of Pulma Indians. It's been a long road for us to get here. Our people have faced centuries of mistreatment, especially by early settlers here in California. Our ancestors were forced from our lands over and over again. Our ancestors, our ancestors worked with the ranch ranches here in Valo and the surrounding areas for many years and were were forced to seize the land of Valo by a treaty in 1851. This venture has been interesting and an opportunity to educate the federal government and our surrounding communities of our history with who we are and where we come from. before there were line lines in the sand. Last year, our homeland was finally restored here in Vallejo. There is a real opportunity to build better lives. We are grateful for how many in the community have been supporting us in our goals to create local jobs. We want to work with the city and the community as we develop our land. That's what theou will do. We look forward to a long partnership. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Galvin Rubin, followed by Kayla Gomez. Good evening, M vice mayor, council members. My name is Ruben Galvan. I'm a field representative of the North Coast State's Carpenters Union Local 180 here in Vayjo. I am in strong support of theou between the Scots Valley tribe and the city of Vayjo. Thisou represents a step forward for a community. It will create good paying jobs and real opportunities to support working families, gain skills, and keep our local economy moving. I also see this as a positive example of cooperation between the city and the tribe, working together in a way that helps ensure development happens responsibly. I respectfully ask you to support thisou and move it forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Kayla Gomez followed by Eric Thompson.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the council and good evening to the fellow residents and the public. My name is Kayla. I'm a field representative for the North North Coast State's Carpenters Union. I'm a carpenter and I'm a resident of Valo and I have been for the past few decades. This is my home and it always will be. Two words come to mind when I think of this project. Change and trust. Not many people enjoy change, but is necessary to grow and trust is just as daunting. I'm standing before you this evening to ask for a yes vote on the Scots Scots Valley and Valoou Partnership agreement. This project will help generate new jobs and visitors to Valo that will benefit the community and local businesses. This agreement brings coordinated and set and coordination and sets the tone for future agreements that build long-term community benefits. I urge you to trust Scots Valley and vote yes on thisou. This is a change that will bring numerous benefits to Valo and its community. I thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Our next speaker is Eric Thompson, followed by Bill Dodd. Hello, council. My name is Eric Thompson. I'm a member of the uh UBC, proud union member of Local 180. Uh I'm in support of theou between the city and the tribe. It basically comes down to job opportunities. Um the cost of living is going up every year. So the city needs as much employment opportunity as we can get. Um the second biggest thing is this job is going to provide livable wages and benefits. You know that's something that's very important to me being a father. You know no parent should be uh worried about you know if their child is going to have benefits or not. So I'm in support of

thisou. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Bill Dodd, followed by Chairman Andy uh Mayha.

Uh good evening uh esteemed Valleo City Council members. My name is Bill Dodd representing Scots Valley. After representing Valleo for eight years in the California State Senate, I know how amazing this community really is. and how much economic opportunity from the tribe could really mean. This is important because I can't think of a better way to continue supporting this community than building bridges and cooperation between the tribes and the city. The tribe presents a chance to uplift the entire Valleo community while helping to address historic wrongs perpetrated against the Scots Valley tribe. I've represented Roner Park and Brooks and I've seen firsthand the immense benefit tribal enterprises have on their communities. Scots Valley has already shown that they are committed members and boosters of this community. The fear of change is not a reason to bury one's head in the sand. Nearly 300 Valleo residents have written in or agreed to list their name and support. And a survey of local residents conducted over the last week found that 52% of the residents support compared to 12% opposed. Theou doesn't decide if a project moves forward and doesn't make any commitments for the permanent project. It outlines the relationship between the city and the tribe for this temporary facility. It ensures the city and community see a positive impact rather than taxpayer costs which is default which is the default without this agreement and it provides the tribe with fair access to city utilities. In closing, I urge your approval and I really really thank you all for your time and attention and consideration. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Our next speaker is chairman uh Andy uh Miha Mahia. I apologize. Followed by David Proud.

Good evening to the city council and the citizens of Vallejo. My name is Annie Mahia and I serve as the chairperson for Lit Rantry of California. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Linton Rancher is a band of Pomo Indians based in the town of Windsor in Sonoma County. The Linton Ranchery was terminated in 1961 and in order to regain our federal recognition in 1991, we had a court stipulation that prohibited us from gaming in Sonoma County. Because of this, we were forced to seek lands outside of our ancestral territories on which to game and pursue economic development. I say this to contrast our situation with Scots Valley Band, another group of poem Indians who despite having no prohibition on gaming on their homelands, have sought for decades to reservation shop and build the largest casino in the most populated location possible. They have also done this despite facing significant opposition from tribes from indigenous to Vallejo and elected officials fearful of the harmful president this project will set. As you all are aware, the approval of this project has been challenged in court on the grounds that it was illegally approved without consultation with local tribes, insufficient economic review, and non-existent ties from Scots Valley to the project site. A similar project site in Soma County for the Koi Nation has already been struck down as illegal and land that was taken into trustful corey was recently taken out of trust by the Department of Interior. I say to I say this to encourage the city council not to make any agreements with Scott Valley Scots Valley which are based on likely illegal project that we intend to litigate fully over the coming years and which may be reversed anyways in the coming months. To do so will simply waste the time and resources of the city when a few months of patience would go a long way. I say that if the city of Allejo moves

forward with the decision with Scots Valley, Linton Rancheria will litigate. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Our next Sorry, our I will ask for respect for all speakers. So, please um they were they were quiet for your turn. So, please be quiet for their term. Our next speaker, sorry, you turned me off. And our next speaker is David Proud, followed by Phil Reich.

Good evening, city council and to all members. My name is David Proud. I'm a born and raised Valleon. Valo's been given an opportunity to elevate itself with the induction introduction of this casino being brought to Valo. Yes, it's starting as a set of trailers, but it could blossom into hotel, casino, convention center that will bring further business in the way of various restaurants, bars, businesses that sell various goods, spa, swimming pool, a convention center, concerts that could be held, drawing people to enjoy the main shows and possibly enjoy even dinners in bars. And that would be both within the casino and local. Now, we've heard a lot of people say, "Oh, we've got too many homeless come in, too many prostitutes. We've already got them." So, that's a myth. Now, I feel the casino would be a very big help to the Valo tax base and it would be positive for Valo in many other ways. Please consider this when you make your decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Phil Reich, followed by Christa Ray.

Uh good evening. Phil Re, partner at the Mayor Brown Law Firm, outside council to Linton Rancheria. As you heard, Linton has serious concerns about the proposedou. Um, these concerns, including uh the legal flaws uh that we see in theou are discussed in detail in two letters that the tribe has now uh sent to the council. I would say these concerns are not unique to Litton. There are various other tribes in the region who equally oppose uh theou and it is true the department of interior initially green lit this project. However, as you've heard, the department has decided to reconsider based on evidence that it says draws into question Scots Valley's ties to this area, and the department has indicated it will uh issue its decision within the next 3 months, a final decision on the gaming eligibility of this land. In the meantime, both the department and a federal judge have advised, if not warned Scots Valley not to go forward with the casino project pending this reconsideration. In light of that and the timing of all this, we suggest uh it best not to go for with anou that has many many legal flaws. Let me just quickly run through them. Uh the city has not yet provided a public uh comment opportunity nor consulted with tribes. Neither of the categorical exemptions were mentioned earlier apply to the kind ofou services at issue here. There is virtually no analysis uh whatsoever, let alone a robust analysis indicating that the impact of the services would be negligible. The city cannot rely on the federal NEPA review because as indicated, it didn't even consider uh this kind of temporary situation. Uh the SQL analysis also violates the anti-segmentation rules. And finally, under the LAFCO law, because the city would be providing services outside its jurisdiction, it cannot go forward uh unless LAFCO approves and that has not

yet occurred. For all these reasons, we would encourage you to hold back, course correct, fix the legal problems, wait for the Department of Interior to make its final decision here. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Christa Ray, followed by uh Joseette Lacy. Good evening, city council. My name is Christa Ray. I am the tribal council secretary for the Scots Valley Ban of Pomo Indians. I would like to thank the city council, both past and present, for your support, including the cooperative agreement and the negotiating the UU. While the initialou may be for a small temporary casino and tribal office, it represents so much more for our members and community, it represents many generations of spirit and struggle for our people, for the many hardships that we have overcome. Theou also represents a long sought economic engine for the tri our tribe. Scots Valley has worked diligently on negotiating theou in good faith. Not only does this serve our membership, but creates a partnership for the future of the city of and comm community of Vallejo. Scots Valley has begun supporting and participating with our neighbors for community causes. These community events are engagements the tribe has been waiting to do for many years. We also understand what it's like to do without. Living paycheck to paycheck, worrying about when the ends don't meet to fill those gaps. We want to work with the local community and city programs to help where we can, where we we just can't wait to expand to more activities and community outreach in the future. These are very, very important to us. Thank you for your time, consideration, and voting to

support the Scotts Valley Band of Po Indians Tribe. Thank you. Thank you. Our next Our next speaker is Joseette Lacy, followed by Leland Kinter.

Good evening, Vice Mayor Matulac and City Council. Um, as we've heard here, um, it is my understanding that this project has been subject to ongoing legal proceedings and federal review, including shifting decisions at the federal level that are still being reconsidered. Additionally, there are active concerns and legal challenges raised by tribal groups regarding historical land and connection and cultural impacts in the Valo area. Given these unresolved issues, it seems that the matter is still evolving. As a Valo resident that has lived and worked here my entire life, I have seen firsthand the positive impact of strong collabor collaborative partnerships, particularly the philanthropic leadership demonstrated by regional tribal partners such as Yosha Dehiwinton Nation, whose long-standing investment in Solano County and Valleo has made meaningful differences in wellness, education, youth development, cultural preservation, economic opportunity and nonprofit capacity building making a meaningful and lasting difference in our community. I too want to speak from my heart. Yosha Dehiwinton Nation has been part of Solano County and particularly Valleo for a very long time through many partnerships. They brought the food pharmacy to Solano County. Um, giving prescriptions to families to to learn to to eat better. When you see that that truck driving through Valleo and through Solano County, that came from their partnership. This was a long time ago. There were healthy store makeovers that they attended to bring healthier healthier uh food and beverage items

into stores here in the city of Valo. They gave opportunities for atrisisk youth, transportation for seniors, and scholarships for education, just to name a few. It takes time to build trustworthy relationships. Bridges cannot be built overnight. With that in mind, I respectfully ask that the city council consider postponing approval of thisou until the outstanding legal, cultural, and regulatory matters are fully resolved. Thank you for your time and consideration of this important matter. I appreciate your leadership and continued commitment to our community. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Leland Kinter followed by Gabe Ray

City Council. Hello. My name is Leland Kinter. I am a treasure of Yoshihiw Nation. On behalf of our tribal council, I'm here to set the record straight of the of the hurtful and deceitful things that have been said about our tribe, our history, and our Putwin people. Members of the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians have stood before you and lied, attempting to erase our identity as Pland people, all for their for their own purposes. To be told that we don't know our history and that we misrepresent our people is truly shameful. For generations, our Pwin people have endured efforts to diminish our identity and erase our connection to this land. But especially difficult to hear these claims repeated when it comes from another tribe. Our Pwin ancestors lived in villages across a territory that includes the very land we are standing on now. And our culture and our land and our people are one. That is why false claims to our homeland like those of Scots Valley are so painful. And it is also why we work so hard to protect our ancestral territory. For generations, Yosha Kitz Deihi and our Pwin people have done the monitoring work in this county. Our grandparents, aunts and uncles did this work long ago. They go to the site of new developments and excavation to try to protect any cultural resources found. The current that work continues today. We have a dedicated team that monitors development projects and projects of cultural resources across Solano County. Since 2012 alone, our team has undertaken cultural monitoring of more than 1,800 construction sites in Solano County alone. And this is not new work for us. This is who we are. I want to quote something from your own meeting. Uh we submitted uh comments uh for your packet on March 2nd. Uh I don't believe that you guys received them. received by the uh city uh your office uh on the 4th,

but I don't I don't think you guys have seen this and I would hope that you guys would take a look at our letters that we submitted for the public record today that were not submitted. Thank you. Thank you very much. Our next speaker is Gabe Ray followed by Patricia Franklin. Good evening, council members. My name is Gabriel Ray, Scott Valley. Um, I just want to say that Vallejo is our home. Um, please do not let competitors distract you by misrepresenting our history to protect their profits. Anybody that spoke on behalf of these other tribes are just protecting their profits. The facts are our land is in trust and we have the legal right to develop that land. We aren't here to just build. We are here to partner. Thisou is a commitment to help support the community we will be living in. We have waited generations for the opportunity to build a better future and we are ready to do it now. I urge the council to look past the outside noise and support this partnership for beautiful Vallejo. And uh I just want to say that, you know, the contributions are are fine by everybody and if everybody really truly cares about this community, they'll keep coming in regardless of what your vote is. So I app we appreciate your vote. Thank you. Our next speaker is Patricia Franklin followed by Matt Adams.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members. My family and I are Scots Valley tribal members and we respectfully ask for your support in approving this memorandum of understanding. For many years, our tribe has been without a permanent land base or place to call home. After a long and difficult journey, we now have the home where we can establish and rebuild our community, continue to revitalize our culture, and begin healing for future generations. Approving this agreement is a critical step in making our future possible. Access to ba basic utilities will allow us to responsibly develop our land, support our community, and move forward in a good way. This is our home. This is our community. We appreciate your consideration, and we respectfully ask for your approval this evening. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Matt Adams, followed by Anthony Roberts.

Good evening, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of the council, Matt Adams, Yadhi. Um, one quick clarification, one comment, one question clarification. Um, lots of back and forth tonight about public opinion and where it stands. We did see about a thousand pages of emails supporting Scots Valley added to the supplemental packet. We would just suggest taking a slightly closer look. They're all duplicates of a form email. Of the thousand or so pages, you got like 930 duplicates, 137 uniques. Of those, 90 from Vallejo, bunch from Clear Lake. This isn't a popularity contest. It's not a race for likes. You got to do what's right. You got to follow the law. We just don't want there to be an impression that there's some sort of organic ground swell of support for the trailer casino as of now. Quick comment. Um, thisou was originally proposed to be for tribal offices, not for a casino. The idea was even if Scots Valley is not gaming out there, the city of Vallejo doesn't want to be paying for fire and police. Um, so I was struck by section 2.2b, 2B, which says if the land isn't eligible for gaming after all, Scots Valley doesn't have to pay for policing and fire. Seems like sort of the opposite of the premise of theou and we would suggest taking another look at that. Lastly, a question. Um, the agenda packet has a number of documents referencing the encroachment permit. Um,ouou says any excavation or encroachment permit previously applied for or issued by the city to Scots Valley shall be deemed to satisfy the permit requirements of thisou. Um, also says the city's already reviewed an encroachment permit for SQA compliance. And then the proposed resolution says the city council is

approving the encroachment permit attached as exhibit A. Um, we didn't see any kind of encroachment permit or any encroachment permit application in that large packet. So, I guess the question is just has Scots Valley applied for an encroachment permit? Is there an application that has been overlooked or is the idea that you're being asked to approve an encroachment permit that may be proposed in the future? And I think a little bit of clarity on that point would go a long way um for the folks here tonight, too. So, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. I know Chairman Roberts is next.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Anthony Roberts, followed by Mia Durham.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor, City Council, and members of the Vleill community. Uh my name is Anthony Roberts. I'm the chairman for the OTD Winchu Nation. I'm here today alongside my fellow council members to express our serious concerns with this process and to correct the record on the misinformation that has been shared in this very room. First, in September, Scots Valley presented this project to the council and to the public as a tribal office. This council approved staff engaging with Scots Valley on that tribal office. Only after public inquiry did it become clear that this proposal was for a temporary gaming operation and that Scots Valley had that planned all along. Of course, we've come to expect this from certain parties. What's more disappointing for us though is that city city staff has chosen yet again to move this project forward in a manner that ensures no meaningful opportunity for interested parties to weigh in. This item was added to your agenda without notice. Two parties that the city knows have an interest in this project. Luckily, we found out the agenda was posted late last week and so we were able to be here today. We cut our council meeting short to be here. In addition, a significant volume of documents was released with only a couple of days for review as as Matt Adams mentioned. And for whatever reason, the letter we recently wrote to you on this very topic was omitted from the agenda package today as treasure Ker uh mentioned earlier. So the question that we have today is why move forward in this way? Why not allow for proper discussion, analysis, and public input?

I have a feeling I know why though. Because Scots Valley is trying to rush this project through before the f federal government can complete its review of whether this land is even eligible for gaming. A review that's happening because the federal government itself has admitted that its original decision may have been a legal error. Time.

So again, why rush this? Why not as a government respect the work currently be done by another sovereign to re review this project and wait based on the representation made by the Department of the Interior to the courts in Washington DC it won't be much longer. So moving forward we ask you and we want to put it out there that

only gives the Department of Interior. Sorry, you're sir, I apologize. Your time is up, but thank you so much. Our next speaker is Mia Dirham. Good evening, council. My name is Mia Durham and I am secretary for Yosha Dehi Win Nation. I am here to correct to correct some statements that was made about my tribe. First and foremost, through our community fund, as many of you guys have seen at multiple events, we support Valleo on many, many different organizations from the mobile food pharmacy that you heard about, Valo First 5 to Healthy Valo to even a scholarship to support our youth. We do this without praise. We don't want praise. We want change in our community. But instead, those comments get twisted. There have been many efforts to distract from these facts and the connections to Valo and Solano County and to mischaracterize our intention. Scots Valley has resorted to name calling calling us greedy. But I ask you council, what is greedier than grabbing another tribe's ancestral lands, mischaracterizing it, appropriate misappropriation, demeaning their culture, all for capital gain. So, in closing, as uncomfortable as it may be to stand here talking about how great and amazing we are,

it is the city of Valleo that needs to make a decision now. And do and we hope that you will delay the decision. Delay the decision so that way the federal process can happen according the way it needs to happen. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Miguel Gonzalez, followed by Leot Mitsenheimer.

Thank you, city council. I'm a proud member of Scots Valley Band of Pom Indians. Honored to be here today. So, all Scots Valley wants to do is take care of my family as well as the city of Valo. all these men here, ladies, the community. Um, nobody said nothing about the other tribes. Nothing bad. I know there's some stuff going on, but it's nothing I said or my family said. If you guys want to continue helping out, continue helping out. If you want to really care about the city of Valo, nobody's stopping nobody. Um, so we're just here in a good way. Can we pause the time? If you're having a conversation in PL in the back, please take it outside.

Yeah. Thank you. I So, uh, we're just here, my tribe's here in a good way. We want to help out the families, the kids, the VAS program. We also, Scott Valley owns a we have a rehab center in Sonoma County, 25 beds for Native Americans and non-natives to get their life back on track. Like I said, there's alcohol and addiction here in this community and everywhere all around California, the whole United States. So, we're here to help out, not hurt this city. We're here to help. that needs a lot of help. And I'm here to help as well. A lot of people here look like they got her back. Like you said, it's not a voting contest, but people are here. These men are here. They have to work in the morning, but they're here showing up cuz this is their livelihood for their families. Everybody's here for somebody. I'm here for me and my kids, and everybody's here. And I come here and I'm not mad at nobody. I don't hold any automat animosity towards these other tribes as well. But I know they had to cancel their meeting to come here. So uh thank you guys all council for being here being us heard and uh like you said this is our land and we are here to stay with or without a casino Scots Valley is here in Valo. This is our home and we're here to stay. Oh

thank you. I see Leot already on her way down is our next speaker and then Michael uh Pimentelli.

Good evening, Leat Menheimer. Um, I'm here in behalf of the NAACP chapter 1081. And as many of you might know that we've been meeting with the city manager for over a year and in that those conversations, we've brought up the community benefit issue and never got an answer because we would wanted to know who makes that decision about this community benefit and why is the community not part of that conversation? who is making decisions about what's best for our community because the community benefits should be helping us instead of just and dropping, you know, um a few dollars here and not doing anything to really improve our community. When we opened a dispensary here, we agreed to ask the dispensary to pay $500,000 a year. But yet, we have an industry that's going to be extor taking out money from this community in the millions of dollars and then they offer us $100,000 a year. There are other benefits that other issues that are concerned in our community, especially when it comes to is there going to be alcohol served? Is it going to be served 24/7? How is that going to impact our community? Because those people when they leave that casino, they're going to be driving through our neighborhoods. So, as saying that we only have one police officer that's going to be added, is that going to be enough to carry? And those answers are not in in your um packet. So, we don't know how that's going to impact our community. It's nice to have construction jobs, but from what I'm reading, they're adding 3,000 jobs for this casino. How many of those are going to come to Valo residents? Because we're the ones being impacted. We're the ones that have to deal with the fallout. We're the ones that need the jobs here. We need the community

benefits. We need a better community benefit. We need more community voice at the table for these decisions. Thank you. Our next speaker is Michael Pimentelli. Then Chris uh Villainanu, sorry, Villain Nauvu, sorry, Villain Noea.

Good evening, city council. I'm Michael Pimentelli. Uh, I'm not part of any tribe. Uh, funny enough, I'm actually a plumber. A plumber full of a a room full of carpenters. Um, and I'm all for Yeah, I'm all for making jobs. Uh, especially jobs where money is earned. Uh at this time I would like to uh say a few points especially about the alcohol after 2 am uh that was not really talked about uh with the uh except for the previous person that spoke. I also wanted to talk about the letters that I I was observing in the back room. A lot of the letters uh the submissions in favor of the casinos uh are most if not all boilerplate uh compared to the comments that are opposed to the casino. You can see those personalized uh comments from the residents of Valo. Um I was looking at the let me uh I forgot the form. I didn't take a picture of that of the title of the form, but uh on page 14, I'll get into that in just a second. Uh I was interested in finding out what the hours of operations were, whether it was going to be 24 hours a day or from 10 to 6. Uh but I did want to talk about page 14 and the unusual occurrence. It is unusual because it will most likely be uh at the top line it talked about an active shooter. It's unusual because in a situation like that it will most likely be two or more. In a situation like that against one armed officer, uh will there will that officer be prepared to control the situation against criminals that most likely have guns with extended magazines? uh if they have been uh why have they

not been asking the community since 2016 uh since they started the progress thank you thank you our next speaker is is Chris I don't want to mispronounce your name again so I apologize um followed by Leslie Janick

vice mayor and uh council member of the city of Valo. I am Chris Villanoveva, a former vice mayor and council member for the city of Valleo in the '90s. And it was in the year 1995 that I have heard of this development. That was how long it has been discussed. It is not wrong for Valo residents and citizens to go to San Pablo Casino to Cash Creek to Thunder Valley to Red Hawk to Had Rock. It's not wrong because we are helping their communities their cities and their county to increase their sales tax to increase their property taxes and to increase their total revenues and their tourism dollar. So it should not be wrong to have Ballejo residents and citizens to go to their own Ballejo casino to help Ballejo increase our sales tax, our uh dollar in tourism because casino will be a big help, a big thing for tourism business here in our region and also it can increase the property value of our county and our income will be increased and with the increased revenue we can hire more police and probably improve the safety and the crime rate in the city of Valo. I believe that this is a positive action that we should take advantage of because probably the passing of MOU is a small step but it's going to be a giant lift for Vallejo's economy. It will be a good dollar

earning which will have a good economic multiplier for the city of Vallejo and we will be a strong regional economic uh city again. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Leslie Janick, followed by Dominic Arnold. Hello, Vice Mayor Matulik, Council Members. Lesie Yannik, resident of Vallejo for 26 years. I want to begin by acknowledging that the city is being asked to consider a narrowly defined memorandum of understanding for temporary services. I also recognize the importance of supporting orderly process and planning. At the same time, I would respectfully offer that this action does not exist in isolation. It sits within an active and evolving federal review process with an imminent upcoming deadline as well as ongoing legal challenges among tribal nations with deeply rooted cultural and ancestral connections to this land. Because of that, even procedural steps may carry broader meaning to be interpreted as signaling alignment at a time when key determinations have not yet been finalized. My intent is to ask you to pause and to encourage continued caution, clarity, and awareness of the broader context in which this decision is being made. Vallejo has an opportunity to model thoughtful leadership in a complex and sensitive situation, one that honors process, respects tribal sovereignty, and allows space for resolution at the federal level. Proceeding at this stage may unintentionally introduce local actions into federal evidentiary landscape.

Thank you for time and consideration. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dominic Arnold, followed by Greg Lee.

Thank you, council. Appreciate your time. U trying to keep it brief. My name is Dominic Arnold. I'm great grandson of uh Chief Augustine and I'm a longtime resident here in Lao. um so much long that my mom actually worked at Rod Hickory Pit and I used to go over to Budsburgers on Springs Road and I used to live at Quail Ridge over there and I remember when the Carissa Hillside was not a cool place to be. Okay, I just got off work. I work two jobs. I'm with you guys. I'm not not a carpenter build fences, but I'm I'm right there with you guys.

If you could speak into the microphone, please would help us. But I'm I'm just I'm just saying it's like I've grew up here my whole life. This is where my people is. I mean grand my grandmother uh my grandmother, my aunties, everybody's told me this is where our people's from. And when growing up, we never had any fights with any other tribes. In fact, we supported all of our tribes. So I don't understand why they're coming up against us. Fact of the matter is is that we're in a process. Our lands and trust over here. We're just trying to pay our own way. That's all we want to do. And I know they keep saying to hold off or, you know, hold off for 3 months. Hold off for 3 months. Well, guess what? I'm from the ghetto and sometimes the lights was off and the cable's off and the water don't run. We ain't got 3 months. This money is right here right now. And we're offering to pay our way. And Council Member Mate, I wrote you and I told you straight up, this is where we're from and we want to help y'all because helping you guys helps us and helps community. Thank you. Thank you. Our last two speakers are Greg Lee, followed by Patrick Burg Bergen. Uh, good evening, Vice Mayor, uh, members of the city council. My name is Gregory Lee. I'm the chairman of the company that owns the Eureka Casino Resort in Mosquite, Nevada, and the Brook Casino in uh, in New Hampshire. two uh successful regional casinos that are making a difference in their communities. Now, I'm also part of a family that has been in Vallejo for over 70 years. I remember coming uh up 80 when there was nothing. There was no Six Flags. There were no uh um auto dealerships. you know, we were part of that old guard who built the Columbus Parkway um Admiral Callahan interchange. We graded all that property and I

remember I remember building those things with my father and I remember building bringing Home Depot, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, um Comfort in all of those, you know, uh companies here. And I believe that they've all made a difference. We've we've appreciated them. But one of the things is, you know, my dad left the last 30 acres hoping that there'd be something better. We had a chance for Walmarts. We had a chance for Lowe's. And he really believed there could be something that could be the heart and soul of Vallejo. And in that time, this is it. We are so thankful and proud to be able to work with the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians to do something for Vallejo to do something for their people that can be transformative. I've spent 30 years of my entire career building hotel casinos that try to make a difference, that really make more for their communities. And that's what this will be. I know it in my heart and soul and I hope that you will take this step to make this happen for our community. Thank you.

Thank you. And our last our last speaker is Patrick Bergen.

Good evening. I'm Patrick Bergen. I'm the trib's attorney. Um I'll be here to answer any questions that you might have after the public comment se uh session. The one thing that I I want to stress is this is that it is true that the government is deciding whether to reconsider its January 10th, 2025 decision. And it is true that they've said they hope to have a decision by July 31st. That does not mean it's true that it's going to be a negative decision. I'd like to let you know as someone who's been intimately involved with all aspects of this project, the tribes compiled a very persuasive response that we think is going to carry the day with the Department of the Interior. That said, even if there is a negative decision, the tribe bears the risk. It's the tribe's going to pay the amount of money it's promised the moment theou is effective. So if a month later there's a negative decision and they can't conduct gaming on the land, we've already upheld our end of the bargain. So we're taking the risk. You're we're sharing in the potential success that can come from this facility and we're going to uphold our end of good faith negotiations that we've had with the city for the for this entire like half year. The assistant manager pointed out that that that your consultant said this would be a $700,000 mitigation expense. Our consultant said $80,000. So the tribe split the difference. They came up with $600,000. That's a sign of our good faith here that we're not here to just take. We're here to give. We're here to cooperate. We're here to participate. You know, it's important to understand what happened to Scots Valley. Their members were scattered to the entire East Bay during what's called the termination era. Vallejo is centrally located among all of its members. That's why it's becoming their homeland. This is why they're going to build homes on this land. This is why they're going to build

a headquarters on this land. It's to bring everyone home together. Thank you. So, with no more in-person speakers um from the five on um online speakers, uh let's power through these next 10 minutes through the vice mayor. It's actually seven now. Uh but we'll start with the first three speakers. Rebecca Trumper, followed by Virginia Ward, followed by an C. Rebecca Trumper, please unmute yourself. You have the floor. And to and to be clear, we are closing the public comment um sessions. There are there are no more speakers. Go ahead, Rebecca.

Thank you. Um, I'm a 25-y year District 5 resident. Um, I'm concerned whenever I see the city caught back on its heels trying to respond to negotiating partners. In this case, um, what I see is that the casino operators have set the framing for thisou and the city is left responding to their framework and isn't negotiating with its full leverage. I encouraged the city council to reset the framing. The number one, the court advised that Scots Valley would be ill advised to place undue reliance on the current gaming and land decisions. While those are still under review, the city is equally ill advised to move forward prematurely. Second, the city has already signaled its willingness to negotiate in good faith with the tribe with the 2024 cooperating agreement. The council has not collectively directed staff to negotiate anou for gaming. That was a switcheroo by Scots Valley. Third, to me, this issue is about integrity of process. The Scots Valley people are aiming to become a part of our community, and that starts with a transparent community process. Valleo has not given its communities a full opportunity to voice their own concerns about their health, safety, and welfare in this matter. Please slow down and do this right. Our negotiating partner should want to give us the time as a community to do so. Further, given how much is at stake in their ongoing federal process, uh Valleo actually has a lot of leverage. For example, the casino operators need Valo to signal its approval for the project in order to win the gaming approval. This isn't only about a home for Scots Valley people, but about a lot of money. And given that, we could and should be asking for much more financially, especially since we aren't pursuing SQA fully and the community impacts will spill over beyond water, sewer, traffic, emergencies, and

police. Is preventing one addiction or traffic person really only worth $100,000 in community benefits? Please be more strategic, use our leverage, and do better for the for Valo in these negotiations. Thank you. Uh, next speaker, Virginia Ward. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Yes. Hello. My name is Virginia Ward and I'm a resident of Vallejo and I would like to register my opposition to this memorandum of understanding. I I realize that it is not a vote on the full casino and I'm not part of any tribe whatsoever. I support Indian tribes, but I do not support casinos. Studies show that casinos often lead to higher crime rates uh following their opening within 5 to 7 miles. Uh my husband and I live within about 2 miles of the proposed site and many of our neighbors are worried about the increased theft. Um incidents to do with alcohol that will ensue. Uh gambling addictions often drive desperate acts such as theft. Our police force has already stretched very thin. It is already understaffed. We do not need more crime here in Vallejo. We do need more business here in Vallejo. I fully support more businesses and I fully support the tribes uh doing anything besides casinos to earn money. But casinos drive addictions which we do not need. I'm also worried about traffic impacts. The proposed site is near a junction of two major highways, Highway I80 and 37. The traffic will almost certainly get worse. And I realize that today is not voting on the full casino, but a temporary site, but I realize this is a wedge to a likely larger facility, which I think is not going to support Vallejo. This is a sovereign tribe facility, which will not support the tax base of Vallejo. they will not pay property tax and this will not benefit the city. I'm very concerned about crime and I'm urging uh you council members to please vote no. Please think of the

residents who are already worried about crime and vote no. Thank you very much.

Next speaker and C followed by Kirk Smith and Carol Heap and C please unmute yourself. you have the floor. Uh, and I think you're having audio issues again. If you want to go ahead and try to log out and log back in, we'll check in with you here shortly. Uh, let's move on to Kirk. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Uh, thank you uh, so much. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council. My name is Kirk Smith. I'm the president CEO of Visit Balo, a nonprofit 501c6 organization serving as the city's official convention and visitors bureau and destination marketing organization. I'm here tonight virtually to express our strong support for the proposed memorandum of understanding with the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians. Truly and particularly from a tourism and marketing perspective, this represents powerful opportunity for our community. As highlighted in the presentation um from our assistant city manager, this project carries significant long-term potential, including the ability to generate substantial visitation to Valo over time. And it all starts with the preview center. This is a catalyst to transform visitation into hotel night stays, spending, and real revenue for our community. These initial phases introduce new visitors to Valo. It builds awareness of Valleo and creates economic activity that we can capture and certainly grow. More visitors means more overnight stays. More overnight stays means increased transit occupancy tax revenue that will be reinvested into our general fund for our city to support public safety and infrastructure. This is a a critical point and uh visit Valo plays a critical role. We take opportunities like this and amplify it position Valo as a stay play and explore destination and converting visitation into measurable economic impact. I can share that the Scott Valley uh representation presented uh to our hotel property owners and operators and they're more than enthusiastic about this opportunity for future visitation to come to Valleo. not only for visi

visitors to the casino but for work crews which help drive consistent midweek demand. Theou before you tonight is a smart practical step and ensures coordination and collaboration. This is about this is more about this project. It's about maximi maximizing economic return for the city of Valo. We respectfully encourage you support the MAOU this naming. Thank you for your time. and see is your mic fixed? I don't know. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Perfect. Go ahead. You have the floor. Ann, take care.

Thank you so much. Okay, it's Ann Carr. Um, so since our time is so cretailed tonight, I I want to say first and foremost, uh, the only sensible thing to do right now given the deadlines coming up and decisions being made at the federal level, um, would be to postpone enacting thisou. It doesn't mean you need to turn it down, but I think you need to delay a decision on that, awaiting further information from the federal level. Um, and I really question the timing of putting this before you right now given that these other decisions apparently are imminent. So that's number one. Um, number two, I question the true spirit of cooperation on the part of the Scots Valley tribe with respect to Valo. Um, you can see some of the distinction when they took a look at the impacts on Valo. they came up with 80,000 versus the Lao consultant said 700,000. Um it honestly it feels the whole exercise with them has felt more like a hostile takeover than an actual uh cooperation. And I have to say I'm pleased that the Yoshi tribe has shown up to represent themselves because they have been present in fileo and they have developed goodwill here. they have been doing things for the community and um it was a particular loss for Valleo that they decided not to move forward on their waterfront project. Um I have two things I want to bring forward that are particularly concerning to me. One is regarding the staff report where they made mention of 3600 jobs. I believe that number came from the tribe and we need to know which are temporary jobs and which are permanent

jobs. And then with respect to the survey that Bill Dodd re represent or mentioned that was a push marketing survey that was not an actual survey that was a marketing exercise. I received a call about that. Thank you. Next speaker Carol Heap. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Uh good evening all. Um let me just start by saying that I am against the u moving forward with theou at this time. Um the presentation uh was hard to follow because it's a lot of complicated information. would take me days if not weeks to research that document and that as a particularly interested community member I feel slighted by the opportunity to review it and I believe that leads me to my second point that we need to put the brakes on this. Um many people have spoke about the uh upcoming imminent decisions on uh by the federal government that's will impact whether that this project can even move forward. Um so I think and um the lack of community outreach um it it is contemptuous. It just shows bad faith. Uh the community, this is a huge project. This could change the whole face and definition of our community of the city of Vallejo and to not reach out to the community to let them know what's going on. I heard some real people are going people have bad information about how this is going to affect us financially as a municipality and that

needs to be made clear. So um so much more to say but let me just say please put the brakes on this for the next couple months. Thank you. Next speaker, Roel Azdo. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Hi, my name is Rosemaria Flores and I'm the mother of Roel and Desire Zevito, proud tribal members. I respectfully ask for your support in approving theou in partnership with the tribe. This project is an urgent and meaningful investment in the future of tribal youth and the broader community. It will create important employment opportunities and support long-term economic stability for generations to come. As a mother, this is deeply personal to me. My family has experienced tragedies connected to historical impacts of displacement, isolation onto reservations, realities that many tribal families continue to live with today. These hardships have contributed to lasting gaps in support and opportunity for our youth. Vallejo is our home and our young people should not have to wait any longer for the resources and the future that they deserve. The Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians has waited generations for this opportunity. Carrying the reality of being a landless tribe for far too long, Vallejo is our home now and that reality must be recognized with action and opportunity, not continued delay. I respectfully urge for your support of thisou and the important investment in our people and our children's future. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Final online speaker, iPhone 17 Pro Max. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Hi, good evening. My name is Jackie Van Hus and I'm here to express my strong support for the city of Vallejo's agreement with the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians regarding the services for their temporary casino facility. This partnership is a win on multiple fronts. It brings meaningful economic activity and revenue to Vallejo, the city that has worked very hard to rebuild and grow. It create it does create local jobs and it honors the Scots Valley Band's federally recognized sovereignty and their long long long journey towards reestablishing a land base for their people. The tribe has been very responsible partners throughout this whole process. Providing city services, public safety, utilities, infrastructure, the whole ball of wax in exchange for fair compensation is exactly the kind of pragmatic, mutually beneficial arrangement that makes for good governance. That's what good governance looks like. A good, transparent partnership. I urge your council to vote in favor of this agreement and to continue building a strong lasting relationship with the Scots Valley Band of Pomo Indians. This is good for Vallejo. It's good for the tribe and it's the right thing to do. be like Madera County that worked with the North Fork Rancheria for over 25 years when Ya Dehi along with other tribes opposed North Fork's casino project which will be opening in September after 25 years of opposition by Yoadhi and other tribes. So, I strongly urge you to

support Scots Valley and thisou and I'm in strong support. Thank you. Thank you for that. And and we especially want to thank we especially want to thank all the speakers for respecting the two-minute time limit. And uh we were very efficient and effective with that. So, at this point, it's been um asked that we take a a break. So, I will go ahead and recess, put us in recess for the next 10 minutes.

Just want to give everybody a two-minute warning. We're going to come, we're going to um reconvene in 2 minutes.

call us back to order, please. If everybody can please um get back to your seats so we can continue calling the rest of my council members back to the DAS, please. Okay. Okay. Okay,

calling us back to order at 10:17. Um,

if we could please gather uh uh get to your seats, please, so we can continue. If we could please settle back to our seats please, so we can continue. So now the floor is o the chair is open to the council for any questions or comments um to staff. Any questions or comments for staff at this moment? Vice Mayor, would you like me to read the uh information the mayor has asked to be read on her behalf in her absence?

Yes, please. If you could read that into the record. So, mayor source has asked that the record be publicly clarified and corrected with respect to the following. One, precisely when the city staff learned that the tribe intended to construct modular offices. Two, when theou negotiations began, and three, when city staff first learned the tribe intended to install gaming machines instead of tribal offices. Thank you for that, City Clerk Abrahamson. Okay. Through the vice mayor, I can respond to that. Um, so it's in the staff report and let me just pull that up. So, when the tribe in intended to construct uh modular offices, when theou negotiations negotiations began, and when staff learned the tribe intended to do gaming. So, I can respond to the latter two first. Um, I searched my email records and October 23rd of 2025, I have an email from the trib's attorney asking if we were on track for the November 4th, 2025 council meeting for theou for the offic's trailer. Um, we did not get notified from the tribe until November 19th. They sent a letter. That letter was forwarded um from Narcissusa, the executive assistant to the entirety of the council from the tribe notifying that they had a change of project due to the new judicial

opinion. Um and that was around November 11th and the letter the judicial opinion was November 11th and the letter from the tribe was November 19th. Um, and then as far as when we learned about the modular offices, I got to pull back out theou um documentation here, but we had um approval from council through the cooperative agreement to continue negotiating with the tribe doing the impact studies and um let's See, just get this exact date here for you. Um, the tribe first proposed a first draft of anou for office trailers on August 4th, 2025. Um, staff reviewed that, considered it, and brought it back to city council September 30th for a decision to move forward with negotiation or not. So, those are the dates that I have in my email records. Any other further questions or comments? Um, Council Member Matias. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, going to make sure we uh get out to 2:00 a.m. today. It's a joke, folks. Um, we don't need that. We don't need that. So, um I think the uh the attorney for the Scots Valley tribe uh said that he would make himself available to answer questions. And so, the first question I have is really to follow up on what the

mayor raised regarding the um the the shift or uh cuz I made a comment about it the last time this item was brought up. Uh, I found it um incredibly um outstanding uh that and and superb that you guys were able to stand up that property in as fast a time as you did. Um, and I made some very extensive comments around that. So, I just want to get you on the record to really explain kind of what went on here. Was this really in relation to the shift in the opinion or uh did you guys were you guys already considering using that for gaming facilities as you were building out that temporary structure?

Thank you for the question. So, the tribe met with the police chief and the fire chief in June to talk about what it would look like if the tribe wanted to pursue office buildings at those modular buildings on on the property. And we had kind of a handdrawn sketch of what that would look like, you know, um just to talk it through with them to make sure that it was something that wouldn't be problematic for either fire or police. We were not able to conduct gaming on the land because of the March 27th recision, but the tribe does want to use the land. It's in trust for their benefit. And the tribe decided that it would be useful to create an office space that could host meetings with public leaders and with other tribes and with its own citizens and you know just to be more present in w with a permanent address in the city of Ballejo that people could come to. So that was the plan. Now was it always a possibility that the tribe could do gaming? Sure. But we didn't know what was going to happen with the court case. And the email that the assistant city manager referenced, that's from me and I'm asking if we're going to go forward on November 4th with theou for the office buildings. And then just a few days later, we get the court decision on October 30th saying that that the court had found that what it the department had done was unconstitutional, that it violated the trib's due process rights, and it overturned that decision to to resend the gaming eligibility. From that, the tribe got together, they thought about what to do. They talked with their development team. Would it be possible to change the plans? I will tell you at that point in the construction of those modular buildings,

it was already framed out for offices. So there was a change order that had to be made and that didn't happen until December, weeks after the city council was already notified that the tribe was changing its plans from our construction crew to retrofit this to be suitable for a very small casino operation. Okay. And then um there were some uh points raised uh I believe by the council for the Yoshihi tribe around the encroachment permits. Uh I'm not sure if you're the appropriate person, but to the extent that you can comment, I would like the assistant city manager and yourself to comment on some of those points that were raised.

Sure. I definitely can explain that. Um so the encroachment permit was applied for plans were submitted and the normal process would be the city would process those through the encroachment permit process staff myself the city manager at the time decided that we wanted to take the issue to city council to get your direction before we move forward on any approval of those. So they have been submitted and not approved at this point until we get um the outcome and the direction from tonight's meeting. Okay. So, we've collected fees on those permits. I'm sorry. Can you We've collected fees on those Yes, we have. permits. Yes.

So, when you guys are saying when the staff presentation says that we're going to collect fees, I mean, it's already happened. So, we're not really collect Are there additional Mhm. Sorry, I'm that I'm getting into the weeds, but I'm getting to a point here. So, can you just comment on that? Yes, there are additional fees to be collected. an encroachment permit has been submitted and fees collected for that. But we still have the water permitting process and the fire permitting process that have to be submitted plan sets that are reviewed um by staff and those fees will be collected at those times as well.

Okay. Um and then the other um question I have is um community engagement. So, one of the things I've been talking about for the better part of a year is anytime we have a a big project and Blue Rock Springs is an example of that, uh, I've encouraged developers or interested stakeholders to, you know, engage in community development. And so, can either of you really speak to what community engagement has been done specifically in district one? I will let Pat side of the project

jump in. I think um in the staff report I outlined some of the nonprofit participation in events and funding over the year the last year in 2025. So those were outlined in the staff report. Um uh for example, there was um donations made to the Broadway village project. Um some of the um events throughout the city of Allejo. I've got them listed here. Hold on one second. um the winged migration festival, the waterfront weekend, the Broadway housing um project, the bikes for kids event, the pista dean, the junth celebration, all those um and then as stated in the presentation, they um created a website so that public could go in and kind of learn the history of how we got to where we are today and then also give their input and then Patrick, I'll let you kind of jump in on more specifics um from there.

Thank you. So in in addition to those events, the tribe has conducted numerous meetings with various groups in the city. These would include the realtors in the city, the hotel owners in the city and other groups like that. The one thing that I think is important to remember is that the tribe came to the city in 2015 and met with Mayor Osby Davis and city manager Keane to say that we were looking at this land and this was our development plan was to do housing, a headquarters, a casino at that time, also a hotel. And then we came back and we met with Mayor um Samian, Bob San

and his and and other city council members at the time. And we've the tribe has been keeping your predecessors up to date over the last 10 years. And so we've had that long of period of engagement. Now there were gaps because we were in litigation um for a few years. there wasn't much to update on but the tribe has you know attempted to be here to be in Vallejo even during those periods when there was uncertainty and now that we have more certainty I mean you're seeing them all around town on a regular basis

and I think in addition one thing to add as we're moving forward with the intergovernmental agreement and I spoke um in the presentation about additional opportunities for community engagement I think one of the speakers had a really great idea about coordinating ating with community on community benefits like not just listing out in this current temporary there is $100,000 set aside where the tribe will coordinate with council on where that money is spent each year. We could do that in a public meeting. We could do that in smaller outreach meetings. We can incorporate that input on to where those monies are spent in the interim temporary project. But then I also love that idea for the longer term project as well. Okay. Um,

those are all the questions I have for now. I'll have comments later. Yes, I have comments later. Thank you for that. Um, Council Member Paul Maris. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh, a few questions. So is there a pending economic analysis of how much we stand to gain either directly or indirectly in terms of uh city re revenue

for the larger project? Yes, there is um there's one that was conducted by APC, but they weren't really clear on the mitigations and so we got scopes from two other um economic uh analysis uh consultants that we use on some of our larger projects we've used on Mar Island and on Blue Rock and some others. So, we're going to get additional analysis for the larger project. Yes. When will we receive that analysis? Um, the scopes that I have range between three and six months timelines. Looking forward to that. Mhm.

Um, and I guess you already covered the intergovernmental agreement. So, just be clear that we are going to do the community engagement and there will be an opportunity to do that community benefits agreement. Okay. Um and talking about permanent local hiring requirement uh that will be part of that convers at least for me that will be my part of my conversation uh further down the road. Now on the staff report there is a local hiring requirement requirement. Uh it says 15% of 30 employees which is 4 and a half employees. Is that correct? So, yes, I'm going to let um the tribe address that, but that's the current construction staffing right now. Higher percentage.

So, as the employees increase, uh will that 15% apply to that increase? It's not written into theou currently, but um we could request that of the tribe.

I would love for that to happen. Yes. Uh, I know we're going to have a conversation later about the $100,000 for the nonprofits, but I'm just saying out loud that I would love for that to be primarily focused on economic development or nonprofits that can help promote economic development uh down the future. So, do we need to make a commitment now as far as whether that's going to come back as a city council meeting or h how do we decide when that happens or how that happens? I'm happy to take that direction from you this evening and we can incorporate it into the resolution.

Okay. I would personally recommend we that comes before us as a city council meeting to discuss what's that going to what's going to happen with those $100,000. Um and I have a request and this is a district 4 thing but affects our entire city. Uh the situation at White Slooh has been hurting our residents and especially our businesses um for quite some time. Can the tribe consider possibly giving one-time money for a debrie debris cleanup and homeless navigation uh at the White Slooh?

Uh yes. Are you talking about during this temporary or in the longer term negotiations for the intergovernmental agreement for this temporary? For this temporary, um I'm not sure. We would have to talk to them about that. Okay. If anyone would like to respond to that at this moment, I don't know um through the vice mayor Nolingo if we have any or Veronica if we have any estimates on what White Slooh cleanup would look like at this point so that the tribe can respond to participating in that potentially. I don't know if it's

No. So, our general estimates for the White Slooh cleanup is between $500 and $650,000.

Council member, I just um conferred with the tribal chairman and you know, our view is we don't have any information on this really, but we're happy to to review it and we're also happy to cooperate with the city. We don't think it requires anou to get the tribes trib's cooperation. So we will work in good faith with the city on that. Absolutely. No, I totally appreciate that and and really like I personally want to partner uh with the tribe and this is just really talk about helping our city and a lot of the other businesses and residents. Uh so we just want to we just want to make this work. So thank you. Thank you. Council member led as you.

Thank you. I want to start out by saying this first. So, we all know about California Forever and how California Forever came in to the community and they're having to build trust with the community. And there was a key statement made. your attorney answered it about what was the initial request of the city when you put those temporary buildings up there and those were to be office buildings and the way that unfolded was in a very I'm going to be very frank a very distrustful way and so when we talk about partnership partnership requires clarity and it requires discipline. And I want to say that I acknowledge and I respect the sovereignty of the tribe and the right to pursue economic development and I support city engaging in partnership with organizations that seek to operate within our community. What concerns me about thisou is not whether we should engage but whether we are doing so in a way that fully protects Valleo and our residents. Our consultants make clear that the current analysis is preliminary and based on limited data with key impacts unresolved including traffic infrastructure and broader system effects. We also know the federal gaming determination, we need to acknowledge it, you've all acknowledged it, so I'm going to acknowledge it, is under reconsideration, meaning the framework is not yet settled.

This agreement is limited to approximately five to $600,000 annually in cost recovery without escalations tied to increased activity expansion or revenue participation. And I understand thisou is intended to address specific temporary city services. I am very clear about that. Even so, temporary agreements carry real impacts and set real expectations. So, they must be structured with the same level of accountability and protection. So if we say we're truly in partnership and we want to make sure this is mutually beneficial, then how do we ensure that we have the same level of accountability and protection in this temporary agreement? There is also a structural gap. While there is a limited provision tied to cost overruns, there is no clear mechanism to renegotiate terms if operations expand or impacts grow. We simply just say we can terminate this at any time. I am a public servant of many many years and have no negotiated many contracts and it's not that easy. So staff has indicated this is a foundation for future agreements that makes it critical that this agreement establishes a strong baseline. So my concern is this. We are being asked to act without the full picture and without safeguards if conditions change. This is not just about whether we move forward. It's about whether we do so with the level of protection and

responsibility our residents expect from us. If we move forward, it must be from a position of strength, ensuring clear financial protections, accountability, and a structure that reflects impact and value. You know, and there was the comment that, and I'll acknowledge this, that the tribe has come in, you have given to different nonprofit organizations. I've been at one of the Christmas events. I thank you for all of those things. But I will say to you and to staff that is not community engagement. That is not community engagement. And I respect the fact that since 2015 you have worked with this government. That is a decade and communities change over a decade and we have to acknowledge that. We have to be authentic in this work. We must be authentic. Partnership is authentic. It is based in trust. It is based in truth. And that is what I look for when I enter into partnership. And again, I'm not questioning the sovereignty of the tribe. And what I would say when we think about this is does theou include any guaranteed minimum payment escalation tied to increased operations or revenue participation? And if not, how is the city protected if impacts exceed estimate estimates? Because the reality is as a policy maker, the citizens come back to this body. They're not going to come back to the Pomo Indians. They're

not going to come back to our our city staff. They are going to come back to this policy making body. I am responsible to the citizens to district 3, but ultimately to the entire city of Valo. And if you want me to engage in anouou, then there has to be honesty in the process. And again, this is not about your sovereignty. I acknowledge that. This is not about what the federal government's going to do because I cannot control that. And is it true that as Miss Hayne has said, you can move on without us because you are a sovereign nation. You could. That's the risk that we take. But the greater risk that we take is if we don't ensure that thisou from day one protects this city and its residents.

It doesn't matter at all. The 3600 jobs that you speak to, I will tell you, you are a sovereign nation. And when we lay the groundwork for all these numbers that you are bringing forward to us, where is that groundwork laid in thisou that will take us if the federal government says you can go forward? That will be the the conditions, the landing for us to move forward. Yes, I agree that we need economic development in this city. I agree that we need partnership to do all those things. I'm not blind to that. I'm not lost on all of these things that have been said in this room. But the bottom line is I am a policy maker sitting in this role. I am someone who has a fiscal background, a very strong fiscal background and I ran on accountability. I ran on transparency and I will not agree to something that does not show or resemble those things. So how do we go back to the drawing board and really look at what is a solid foundation? Again, I know this is limited, but this is the beginning steps of a relationship that you are asking me as a policy maker to enter in with you, chairman,

and you would want me to be authentic, trustworthy, and to work handinand with you. How are you working with me as a policy maker? I'm not speaking for everybody else on this council. I am speaking for me because I must be accountable for my decision, for my vote. And this contract, thisou that you're asking for me, from me to give you a yes on does not give me the depth that I believe needs to exist as a landing pad to move forward from a future perspective. And you can all say as you said Miss Haynes the risk and it seems sometimes like a threat that there a sovereign nation can move without us. It is true. I acknowledge it. But I will tell you there's no benefit moving without us. The benefit is how are we going to truly be in relationship and how do we do things right? We have not done community engagement. Our community deserves real community engagement.

That's right.

That's not when you give the $100,000 when someone on this dis if it passes and says yes, but before that that is part of our responsibility is community engagement to do things with community not to community. And I will leave it at that. Thank you. Any other questions my for my fellow council members? I've got a couple of quick um follow-up questions here. So, the way I'm hearing um the presentation and from all the materials we've already received up to date. I consider this as more of a we're in the middle of a process. Has the process been perfect? No. But so this is where I think this council is speaking to or wanting to speak to is how can we better improve the process as it is right now. And so when it comes to the trust factor here, I think the question goes back to um uh the tribe here is what is what is the willingness of of moving this forward because I think there is a strong economic um opportunity here and I think we're I think from this council there's there's the question of how much or how much from a benefit standpoint and and we use the term community benefit um here and I think there's there's still more on the bone here that that is available that is that there is an opportunity and I think if this council hears that there's something there that's an opportunity. So this is this is where I think we're opening up the question is to the to to the tribe is what is the what are the further opportunities there that may we that may not have been discussed at this point because once again I I look at this as a process and I I think we're still in that whether this is the proper term the negotiation stage I think

there's still um conversation and discussions that can that can be mutually beneficial here um but I don't think we've had that full conversation yet and I think that's still open to where we can um help identify what that may be. So, I I think it's kind of an open-ended question right now at this point. And are there are there potentially things that we have not addressed at this point? I think um Council Member Paul Maris brought up the the question of of a certain area that obviously has no um bearing or or has nothing here um something specific to this area. But I think this is where we as a overall council and the cities is looking at the city um the overall city as as h how is this gonna how can this potentially benefit um the overall city and this is just the once again the open open-ended question to where if we if if the tribe has opportunity um answers for that I think this is that this would be the opportunity to to help us understand the uh I guess the um lack of information or or more information that should be available there. So, um, any other questions or comments from fellow council members? Uh, council member Matias.

Thank you. Um, Vice Mayor, so uh, now I I'll make some brief comments. Um, ever since this process started and we've, uh, this new council has been seated, we've raised repeated concerns about, um, not just the process itself, but most importantly for me, uh, the community engagement aspect of it. Uh, you know, we're in 2026. This is not the year 2000 or the year 1980. Um, authenticity, trust building, um, and leading with honesty is what wins the day. Uh, and that's just the reality of the times we're living in. And what I mean by that is you're not building relationships with community. You guys can move forward with the project. I'm going to get a million emails and all those residents in my district are going to tell you how they really feel. And I don't really feel throughout this process that that has been done genuinely. What it has instead felt like is um just something that just doesn't work nowadays. We have a decision to make. Let's call up all the politicians, make sure we get support, and once we got the politicians, let's roll. And um that no longer works, folks. It doesn't work. straight up. You can try it. You can keep trying it here in Valo, but if 2024 told you anything, uh, and what 2026 will tell you is that those days are gone in this community. Um, they're gone. So, you can you guys can run the script and um it's not going to be a successful endeavor. Now, having said that, there's two other

points I want to make. one to community uh and one uh to um the tribes in the room. So, I'm going to start with community real quick and then I'm hoping we can get to a vote. Um I'm going to read off I'm going to read off a few projects. This is for community um who's listening because it's really hard to get attention with social media and all the things. Uh but over the past 20 to 25 years um we've had Callalahan, we've had Faraday, we've had the Triad Development, we've had Orsome, we've had Walmart, we have California Forever now. And so the question uh that I have for community is um what are we ultimately going to say yes to and how are we going to weigh the pros and cons of what we're saying yes to. Uh if we want economic development, we have to say yes to something. Um and uh you guys have to decide and we have to decide especially over the next couple years what are we going to say yes to because otherwise we're running into a situation where you're saying why is this retailer not here? Why can't we keep cops? Why can't we create jobs and keep keep people locally? if you don't set the foundation and you say yes to something, um we're not going to be able to make that progress and realize um you know, the this city's destiny. And so I go I went back in time for all the folks you know um in the house who who have lived here for 50 60 70 80 years and even the new folks who are joining us because uh I just did some just cursory research and uh there's been a lot of projects that whether it's been a combination of

mismanagement like a follow- through on the part of the development or like community activism we've said no to. And so, uh, I want to I'm just putting that question out there because I think each and every one of you has to really think about, um, what are we going to say yes to? So, that's one. Um, two, when it comes to, uh, the the tribes themselves, um, we have issues to solve for in our community. public safety, economic development, job creation, our school system. So, I appreciate all of the philanthropic work that you guys are doing in community, but at the end of the day, what we re really need is systemic investment in all of those areas so we can stop the violence. We can keep families together and have our city prosper and thrive. And so, I'm going to be as straight up as I can possibly be. While I appreciate the philanthropic work, what I really need from all the tribes in our community is to really make sizable investments. So, um I appreciate the checks, but I want the big checks and I want them to be sustained over time, not, you know, in April and then the following year when something pops up. We need real multi-million dollar investment in our community to move our community forward. And that's for everybody in the room. So, I'm going to be holding you guys accountable to that. Um, now, um, job creation. Happy that the unions are here, um, and they're elevating the real need to create jobs. And so, um, on the merits, I can't vote for this agreement tonight. And part of that I

part of that is because I don't think that the agreement in its current form is um substantially bringing to the city of Aleo the benefits that it could bring even though it's a temporary agreement. And I am being very honest and just sharing what my perspective on that is because I want to be responsive to everyone who's in the room who has very real concerns about their groceries, gas prices, job creation. There's a lot of anxiety out in the community right now. And so it would be derelict for this council to not even consider thisou in this current form when you got so many challenges in community and um people are living paycheck to check paycheck which some folks alluded to. So um I would like for you guys to hash this out some more really take into account what you heard from community today and bring it back for consideration. And that also includes community engagement in my district. You guys are telling me, you know, I kept the mayor and the council member and you know, I sent them a note and I called them right before we had to make the decision. That's not community engagement. I talk to my constituents every day. Every day, people text me and call me and tell me what's going on in the district. So, um, go back to the drawing board on this. happy to entertain it in another 30 days. Uh but it has to include engagement with my district because that's where the project sits. District one. You guys can do everything you want around the city and that's peachy, but you got to do community engagement in district one. I've been saying it for over a year. I don't know. Maybe it's cuz I'm young. No one wants

to listen. Um anyho, that's all I got. Thank you. Council member Gordon,

thank you so much uh for this opportunity. I just want to say to both set of families that chose to meet with me, I'm referring to the tribes cuz you're family at the end of the day. And um you answered all my questions. You were patient with me. you met me more than once. Um, and I appreciate that. And I will also like to say to both Seth of the family that um, I said it before and I'll say it again, you know, we want everybody to have an opportunity and this is not about the handouts. You know, in my opinion, it's not for me. Even though I definitely am sitting here because of needs, of course, but it's because we want you to understand that I I've I've did my homework. You see this? I did my homework and I agree with my colleague. I was one of the ones that said no to Orsome because it was going to hurt my family. their front their front door was my back door. So, of course, I'm going to say no. But again, I I did my homework and it's a hard place to be here when you get to know the families and you kind of want to be that peace person. But it's not about that. In some cases, I too am here sitting as elected official. that represents all of Vallejo. And I have seen where we have said no to

places that are now collecting money from our own people. Let me let me tell you who. Walmart. We're the number one feeders. And but my biggest concern, as I said to both families, is your safety. If you are on this property by choice or however that looks, whomever decides what, and something happens, I feel like we are we are obligated to make sure you're safe as a city of Vallejo. And I don't know about you, but you wouldn't let you wouldn't watch somebody get hurt when you have an opportunity to help them. And I do understand both chairmans from day one. I felt both of you to watch you. I feel like I I I please bear with me. I know I'm emotional sometimes, but I've been when family has been fueling and I've been wanting to bring the peace, but I can't. So, it's not about Valleo cuz we This is not us. This is between you two. You said that to me personally. Both of you did. And you both said that you would not want either one of you to be hurt and if somebody was able to help them. You both said that to me. And so I just ask you to put yourself in our place and I want to thank you for everything you have done both of you. But most importantly, I want to thank you for being authentic. And I want to thank everybody in the room for speaking

from your heart and speaking from a place that that has been challenging. So, at first I wasn't going to say anything, but I had prayed and I just wanted to say to you that just know that however we vote, know that it's from a place to thinking of of both you and also the city of Valo. Thank you so much for this,

Council Member Briger. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, I I agree with with my colleague, um, Council Member Gordon. Um, you know, I have met with the tribes. I personally, um, and I, you know, I welcome both of you, all of you, into our community. Any any event that you want to do, anything that you want to aspire to do, I'm always supportive. I was supportive of the waterfront project. I'm a supportive of of this project. Um, I apparently, unlike my colleagues, do not see this as a money grab. I don't think that this is something where we need to be gouging the tribe to try to get what we want out of this. Um, they're not here to save our city. They're here to be partners with us and and build us up as well as building themselves up. So, I although, you know, there there's lots of of, you know, economics to be made through our other processes through, you know, using hotels, using restaurants, dropping kids off at Six Flags while the the parents go to a show or maybe go to the casino. And there's lots of other ways to drive development besides just sitting here with our hands out waiting for the tribe to pay us. So I I I'm just I'm appalled that we are sitting here having this discussion asking demanding for more money and have this come back when we have more money in our pockets. And I think that's inappropriate. So I'm going to leave it at that. But um I I do fully support this project. Um and I'm I'm kind of disappointed in the comments that I've heard tonight. Thanks. So, so I started my question se um session of an open-ended question of is there more out there? And like I pointed out, this is to me this is still a process and this is a stepping stone. And remember, this is just a a smaller portion of a bigger potential project here. And the last I checked, we're in a $29 million deficit

moving forward. And so from an economic standpoint and to to to council member Matias, what are we going to say yes to? Last I checked, we don't have very many projects that are in the pipeline right now to say yes to at this point. And so with that being said, from the information provided and seeing the collaboration up to this point, once again, I think in it can be better and improved to a certain extent, but in my mind, we have to start somewhere. We have to we have to say yes to to something. And this is and and to to the point that they don't need to come to us. They don't need our approval for anything.

They don't need anything from us, but they're willing to collaborate and speak to us and and see what they can help support with. I think there's I think that's still an open dialogue that we can still have to move this forward. But once again, if we're if we're if we're looking for the short term, this is the this is not the end all beall answer to everything. This is once again in my mind a stepping stone to bigger and better things. But until we take this leap of faith of something that is the opportunity there, I I don't see what else we have down the pipeline that's going to get us somewhere moving forward. I mean, if we talk about we need these services, we need these resources and supports, number one, we need funding and money to do that. Yes.

And we need an opportunity. We need an economic development um opportunity that's going to start something. This may start something into a bigger project. Once again, I'm looking I'm I'm looking forward to the bigger and better thing. Obviously, that has to that that is going to play itself out through the courts and through this whole process. That's way down the line still. But if we're lot talking about an immediate fix right now, this is something I see that this is something that's going to help right now.

So, so in my mind, we need to we need to move forward with this and and I'm in full support of this project. Um, with the opportunity out there and and once again, I I turn it to the tribe to say, where else can we improve this process? Where can we help support this more? And you see the concerns up here. So, it's this is this is more than than and and to council member Bendzers, I don't want this to be a money grab. It shouldn't be a money grab. This is a collaborative um opportunity here and they've shown their willingness to collaborate on something like this. I think we just need to have more robust conversations and identify where do we as a city truly need the help and support at and if they're willing to speak and talk to us about it, at least that's a dialogue we can have. So once again, I am in full support of this and I hope my fellow council members are

any other questions? If not, the chair is open for a motion. Um, I move that we adopt a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city of Valleo and the Scots Valley Band of Promo Indians uh for the temporary city services. Sorry, I'm read for the temporary city services for a temporary tribal development and encroachment permit which uh must include community engagement in each step of the way authorizing the city manager to execute the same and finding such actions exempt from the California Environment Equality Act SQA pursuant to SQA guidelines section 5 I'm sorry 15303 and section 15304 council member um Paul Maris

like to make a alternative uh motion. So yes, plus community engagement. Um that 15% to follow the local hiring as the hiring increases. Um, this is really the direction, but discussion of the $100,000 for nonprofits that comes back before city council and a contribution for the white sloo cleanup. Just a point of clarification on that last um item. Are you setting a dollar figure for that contribution or leaving that to some future negotiation? Just for a point of clarity.

Miss Hayne, what is your professional opinion on this? I mean, I don't like negotiating from the dis very well, but um I would I would like it to be more open-ended if possible. I think adding the community engagement, I've heard, is very important. The 15% local high hire is great to add. I think the 100,000 to include engagement and come back to council for those decisions is great. and the contribution to White Slooh. I would have to have more discussions with the tribe to see where they're comfortable unless they have an amount in their mind this evening. Yeah, they can't make it on the spot. So, I think it would have to be open-ended.

Okay. I'm okay with open-ended, but there's some faith in this, right? So, Okay. Okay. Vice Mayor, um, how many alternate motions can we have? office or city attorney. Sorry. I think that one was actually more of an amendment because it was tagging itself on to the main motion rather than an alternative. So, are you asking for an alternative motion or Okay. Um, you certainly can propose an alternative motion at this point in time if that's what you wish to do. That would come first. The vote on that would come first and then the main motion sounds

as amended. Um so I would offer an alternative motion to have uh city staff re-engage the Scots Valley um uh tribe to uh work on some of the concerns that were raised during this meeting and return the temporary back to us for consideration within 30 days. The alternate would be the first. Correct. So, so with that being on the table right now, we need to vote on that um alternative motion at this point. Please vote to the chair. Clarification. Yes, we're voting on

on his alternate motion. who who's his on um council member Matias's of delaying it of them coming back to us in 30 days um with some alternative solutions. Don, can you please erase mine because I had already voted cuz it's this was when it was before all the requests. So it's cleared it's clear.

So please vote on the alternative motion at this point. Oh, okay. I think everybody voted. So, the motion fails with council members Letu and Matias in support. So, it sounds like what's in order is the um amended um council member Paul Maris's amended motion with the specificity of the 15% and what's next? Correct. And so are we leaving it as an open-ended are we able to leave it as an open-ended number or an amount

through the vice chair? You can just say with a contribution to the white saloo cleanup. Okay. So, so, so we can be clear. Can we restate what we're supposed to be voting on now? Is it I can do that. Oh, through the vice mayor. I have the um amended motion was to include community engagement, a 15% local hire, the $100,000 community benefit to have community engagement and come back to city council for that decision-making process, and number four for the tribe um to give a contribution towards the right white slooh cleanup. Four items. Point of clarification.

Yes. Is the maker of the main motion accepting the amendment or are we voting on an alternate with the amendment? Are you accepting the Oh, yeah. I accept his amendment. Then you're voting on the main motion with those amendments. Yes. Are we Are we all clear on that? Okay. So, um, as soon as Don puts it up on the screen, please vote. Please vote.

King carries with council me. want to thank everyone and thank everyone's for uh public participation for this. City clerk Abrahamson, could you please announce item I'll give the I'll give the the gallery a few minutes to to leave. No, we're not recessing. We're just letting the the the crowd exit. Um, so we're

Yeah, she's she's just stepped away. We're waiting for our city clerk to get back. Come back. Well, could um council member, could you please read item 9 C? Yes. Item C is discussion regarding council team building and goal setting and selection of dates.

Manny, please start the two-minute clock. Anyone wishing to address the council on the item both in person or virtually must either sign up using the electronic kiosk located in the back of the council. Sorry. Chair, can you please move out of the the council chambers, please? Your voices carry a lot down here and it's hard to hear. Yes, please. So, please move your discussion out into the hallway. Thank you.

Thank you. Continuing on with the disclaimer, um, please sign up at the chambers or raise your hand virtually. Uh, by the end of the two-minute clock, anyone signing up to the speak or raising their hand virtually after the end of the two-minute clock will not be recognized. Um, assistant city manager Nolingo, uh, do we have a presentation? Oh, I guess um, sorry. We do, Vice Mayor. We have a presentation this evening. Um, Narcissa Wilson will actually be presenting this item.

Thank you for that. If just want to give it a a minute or so while we Okay. If we can get those uh doors closed, please continue the meeting. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council. I'm here tonight on behalf of uh city manager Murray who's absent. Tonight I'm here before you as we are seeking consensus on dates to hold our annual goal setting and team building sessions. In January we came before council and you all approve Jacob Green and Associates to be our facilitators. Jacob Green and Associates's interview council and the executive team and has also developed a community survey um outreach survey that you all have reviewed. We've conducted multiple polls for availability for a two-day session with this council and we have not been able to find a or gather a consensus. At this point, we're bringing it forth to council to avoid additional delays and um hope that you all can select a date for goal setting tonight. There are dates presented in the staff report which are Sunday May 31st, Monday June 1st, Tuesday, June 2nd, and Wednesday June 3rd. If we are able to um gather one of those dates, we will have our full facilitation team which will be two of the facilitators. If we need to look out further in June, it is highly possible that we will only have one facilitator um for this uh session. And I'm asking for you all to have a discussion and provide dates of availability. Council member McGendzer,

just for clarity, are you're looking for just it's a one-day session or is it two days? And do the two days is it two days? Two days. And do the two days have to be back to back or can we have them separated? I I know it's obviously easier for the consultants if it's back to back, but um they do not have to be backtoback close together. Um they are coming from Southern California. So, if we could have a day in between, um, that would be best or back to back. Thank you, Council Member Gordon.

Thank you so very much. I appreciate this. And, um, thank you for making sure that we incorporate um, team building um because I feel like we can't do goal building if we haven't built up the team. So, um, I appreciate that. Can I ask them if do these dates coincide with our um leazison positions that we represent? I believe uh two of those Wednesdays is sometimes alternate day with um my PB and then also or the beautifification. I just want to make sure as long as they don't go against that, I'm I'm good with both dates that you suggested. I'm not sure um of your individual uh assignments. However, the time would be around 9 to 4, I think was originally presented. So, it would still be business hours.

Sorry, I didn't hear because of the uh the crowd in the back, but thank you for clarifying that.

Council member Leu. So my understanding in talking with the individual from Green and I forget the name of the company, I apologize, Jacob Green, that it can be a week apart, it can be two weeks apart and they have my understanding they offered that. So I don't see it could be 5 days later. They're okay with that because they understand that people are busy. So, and I May 31st. Is that a holiday weekend? It's No, but it's a Sunday. The holiday is the 25th. The 25th. Okay.

To your point, um, Council Member Valerie, we can I mean, it would not be ideal and I don't think that we budgeted to have them come to Valo, go back and then come back. Not to say that we can't, but just within our current budget, it would be ideal for them to be close together.

I I apologize. I was just going to ask that same question about the financed. So either way it goes, if it's not back to back and it's still st, you know, let's just be really practical because if it's if it's not backto back, you're still going to spend the money. Either they're going to be in a hotel for the next couple days or they're going to go home if it's not backtoback. So I just want to say that upfront. If we're talking about budget to be frank, correct? Because you're giving the 31st, June 1st, 2nd, 3rd, correct? Did I miss a date?

No, those are the ones that we've presented in one of the three polls that we've had. They did provide later dates into June, which I haven't given you, but if those are options that you guys want to explore, it would just uh be one facilitator. So, we would lose a facilitator um for those sessions unless we do the 31st through June 3rd. Correct. Correct. Then you would have the two facilitators. Correct. Okay. Council member Bedzer,

I mean, I I'm not in favor of the 31st only because it's a Sunday and I don't think anybody should have to work on Sunday, but I would make myself available the first, second, or third um to accommodate the schedule. Can I ask what the other dates are? June 9th through 12th. June Yes. And the 9th is a council day. So that would be one. Um and then June 16th through the 19th.

And confirm what those times would be for those um two alternative weeks. The time will be the same. We're still business out. Is that what you're asking? Yes. Yes. 9 to 4. 9 to 4. Thank you. Um I can't do the uh 16th to 19th date. So I would be uh I would be open to doing those earlier dates. I can't I'm not available the week of the 9th or the 16th. That's fine. I'm not available during the week.

My commitments have recently changed. I just have to be very frank and I'm not stopping you all to do goal setting to do what you need to do but my commitments have changed. I have accepted a new position um as the CEO for Marin Housing Authority just recently um as of today and I am not going to I cannot walk in and take you know with all due respect to the process and to my new team I just cannot walk in the door and say I'm going to take off two full days. So, I just have to be, you know, be very frank about it. And it's not that I'm being difficult. So, I can do the 31st and I know it's a Sunday. It's not my preference, but you know, I just cannot make that change right now.

So, but I don't I'm not stopping you all from doing team building. And I would say in the same token, I think it's more valuable that you're there because you're more longterm. I'm a short-termer. So if I can't be there, I can't be there, but you need to be there. So

So I'm not I I don't want to stop I don't want to stop the the train because the reality is this has been far too long and ridicul. It's just has been ridiculous. And I just have to say it and I'm not I this has been utterly ridiculous that we have been trying to do this. I do not want to stop my colleagues, this council from moving forward. Um with all due respect, I want you guys to continue. But I've made a commitment and I'm not I can't start my new job saying I'm going to be gone for two days for team building and um goal setting at this point, you know. So I apologize for that, but I want you all to continue the process. It's important. I will watch the tape if it's taped and catch up. I will give my input of what I'm hoping for. um whatever I can do to help facilitate bringing my voice into the room.

Do we do a slumber party overnight? Do the chair is this council open to a one-day session? No, I'm not. Yes, you guys are. Okay. Can I Can I say something real quick? That's done. So, like I finding two dates is going to be a nightmare. At least we can find one. If we can't get it done, then we can Oh, I'm sorry. I I I agree. I mean, I think it's going to take longer than a day, but I think we can hit the bulk of it in a day, get it scheduled, and if we need to have a second day followup down the road, that's one thing. But like, at least we can get the key issues over with on a one day cuz it's impossible to find two days. Council member Gordon,

thank you so much. I I do understand what you're saying. So, um, that means we would do the team building first. Okay. And so the only reason I would I would have loved to do Sunday to work with my colleague, but unfortunately I have a commitment. And then if we do later in June, remember we have a lot of graduations, I have two uh uh January uh June 9th. So just keeping that in mind for my colleagues, but I think the earlier June would be better. So if you're doing it June 1 2 3, you're doing it during the week. I want to make this clarification. You all can set the date in any framework that you need to. If it's not on a weekend at this moment in time, I will not be attending. I will do whatever I can to lend my voice, but I will not be able to participate at this point in the week like that. So, you can do two full days if you're doing it during the early um week of June. I'm not going to stop you from doing what you need to do. I just will not be participating. And I think that's one of the challenges we're running into is I think the majority of this council does have work during the weekdays in 9 to4. So, um, is maybe the better question is, are there any potential alternative ones that are outside of a 9 to4

or like a an evening? Mhm. I would have to ask the consultant, but if they're here, I I don't see why they wouldn't. But I don't know. I mean, these are public meetings. I don't know how long you all would want to go. It wouldn't be, you know, 5 hours. I don't know how productive that will be. Could we do June 6th, which is a Saturday? I mean, yeah, June I mean a Saturday and a Sunday for that's what the consultants we could try to do a weekend. Council member Paul Maris.

Yeah, I could entertain a Saturday. I could also entertain uh an evening, you know, provided it's like maybe we could start a little bit earlier. right? Five or something like that. But I mean I I could I could take a whole day off. I just don't like it. It just I mean it really hurts me. It hurts everyone else I bet. So I mean I'll make the sacrifice but if we're asking about like how we could help each other out. I mean like yeah Saturday works a little bit better for me to be honest with you. Is everybody available on the 6th of June? And I'm sorry I don't know if the consultant is available on the 6th but yeah. Those weren't the dates given, but we can ask. Okay. Yeah.

So, so what I'm hearing, it sounds like at least one weekend day and potentially if if we have to do a second over what I would consider an overflow day, that potentially could be an evening one on a on a weekday. So, I mean, if if it sounds like we need to we need to get verification from the consultant first of their availability. And I I would ask them to look at the weekends whether it's a Saturday or Sunday with a potential overflow weekday in the evening if that's an opportunity. Is I'm available. Sorry. Oh, go ahead, Council Member Gordon.

Thank you. So, let me just be clear. When you did that survey with us, were these are the day? Did you say you did this earlier um survey from us? Uh through the city clerk um we did a poll for the dates. Yes. Okay. And so these are the dates that they settled with out of all that survey that you did with us. These are the dates that are left from all of the dates we've given. Okay.

So, cuz I I I just want to make sure our colleagues remember that cuz I did recall that I did have two obligations on those those earlier days that were provided, but I rescheduled those. So, cuz I thought that's what my team needed from when we did that that that poll. Mhm. So I was compromising cuz I I think

my only concern is if we do it later, will we be really 100% into it? Um like in a night time cuz like look, you know, right now how we are feeling. Um I do think that we should consider a Saturday. Um because that way our all of our team can be here and then maybe um if they are willing to come back we could do another Saturday if my colleagues agree. Do you think that would be appropriate? So that way we really give 100% into the especially because we're paying quite a bit of dollars. So we want to get our money's worth as well. So will my colleagues consider that?

Council member Matias. Um, I I'm only available for goal setting on the stakes. I'm not participating in the team building. I can only do one day. I'm just I'm just being straight up. So, maybe we're going back to the consultant to find out what weekend days um are they may be available. And um it sounds like if there is a second day, we that's something that we as a Are we is is June 6th uh I mean a is straw poll right now is is anybody from the council is so I see one June one two three

yes June 6 but that first one should be gold second that's what I that was my first request so it sounds like council member Paul and council member Leu are checking their calendars right now for June 6th June 6th that's Saturday if once again this is the premise of if the c if the consultant is is willing and available then too. Okay. So that's and and once again we don't have the mayor here to speak for for her either. So that's five out of seven so far. Um are you available June 6th? I'll just say tenatively yes. Um we have a baby on the way. So congratulations.

You know is this we've waited so long to do this. I'm sorry. Yeah, this is life. But I I just want my I want my colleagues to understand I I am not interested in holding up the process any longer. I apologize that this is just what my life is right now. But I am more than happy for you to continue and where I can lend my voice, I will do that. So I this is important, but I just cannot navigate some of the things that are going on right now. So, so is there is there is there through the vice mayor? We do have a member of the public that would like to speak on that. Oh, go ahead.

Leah Menheimer, please approach the podium. We haven't called for yet. I said we haven't called for speaking yet. Along with council, the community's been waiting for goal setting as well. We waited last year and didn't get it. That's right.

We're waiting this year to get it. We have a lot to say to you. We would like and part of that goal setting is that you commu that you commit to the fact that when we have big issues coming to the city that you are addressing community engagement long before it hits the agenda so that the community has something to say because the most important thing I think that people need to remember is that we pay for this building to exist but we don't get asked. Decisions are made for us not by us. So we need that as part of your goal setting to talk about how do you have community engagement. You direct staff to make sure that they understand that and that we do this long before this thing comes to agenda so that we can start talking about how the community wants this city to move forward. Not what developers want, not what other workers want to do, but what the community wants for this. So please come up with a date. come up with and whatever date that is, I will make arrangements to be there because I still have a lot to say. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Um, Council Mortal Legend, did you your light is still on? Did you have

Oh, I So, um, so are we wait are we waiting for the consultant to confirm the June 6th date? Uh, and are we are we asking for a potential alternative or an overflow day or a second day? And I I think one of the alternative options was was a second Saturday. So is if the it sounds like if the consultant can offer several weekend days, it sounds like those are the best op or um the most appropriate opportunities for for this council at least to potentially attend um in full force. So we we look forward to that. So it sounds like um so so it sounds like there needs to be a formal um motion on this.

I move that we hold the goal setting session on June 6th pending approval from the consultant with an alternative Saturday as an alter alternative date set by the consultant. So, as soon as Don gets that up, u please vote. What? Council member Gordon. I would like to make a friendly request that the goals, the team building this first because that's what I put on the agenda in the beginning before we talked about goal setting.

Right. Right. I put that on on the when I first had uh started serving that we talk about team building first and then goal setting. Oh, I thought you said I thought you said goal setting. I'm just want to clarify. Thank you. So comment.

Go ahead council member. So I think what we need to agree upon and understand and is if we only have one day we can do both of them and rely on the consultant to figure out how to break up the day right and then it will achieve everything that has been requested because I just want to make sure we're clear on that that we c if we only have one day we can't spend one full day on goal setting because we have to have the community involved in this process. So we need to rely on all the data that has been gathered by the consultant to determine how to best structure the day that includes both of those topics. Would we do we agree on that? So however the consultant does that, we're leaving them free. they've talked to all of us and they will know how to formulate this and we should be able to respect whatever it is that they come up with. Are we able to do that? Because I think that that's really important that we're clear on what we're going to do in one day.

I I think that's I think that's I think that's a viable ask. I speaking from experience in the past that's been a challenge to accomplish of a of a one-day team uh team building and goal setting. So just throwing it out there. We can ask that of the consultant and see what they come up with and see seeing if that's an opportunity that we can have through the chair. I think that's a good idea because then if they feel that that we would need more time then we could do that alternate Saturday. I think it's a great idea. Thank you. Councilwoman June

question through the chair. Sorry. If you all are if if we are able to come up with the June date, are you all open to extending from 9 to 4 to maybe 9 to 5, 9 to 6? Okay.

Yeah. It I think it sounds like from an efficiency standpoint, if we can cut it down to one day, I think that's that's going to be our best bet at this point with a long So, did we have a So, we have a formal motion on there. Um, but it was uh for two days with with an with a alternate date if we needed for June 6th. Okay. Okay.

Please vote. Motion carries unanimously with mayor absent. Thank you for that. Um, where are we at? Oh,

sure. So, moving on to agenda item number 10, information calendar. Seeing none, moving on to um uh agenda item number 11, city manager report. Nothing to report. Thank you for that. Um item number 12, city attorney's report. Same answer, nothing to report.

Thank you for that. Moving on to item 13, community forum. I will now ask Manny to start the two-minute clock for anyone wishing to address the council on items not on this meeting agenda both in person and virtually. At this at the conclusion of the two minutes, anyone wishing to address the council must have either signed into the electronic kiosk in the back of the council chambers or raise their hand virtually. Anyone signing up or raising their hand after the two minutes is uh is up will not be recognized. The last community forum is an opportunity for interested uh members of the public to address the council on items not on the meeting agenda. Any interested members of the public desiring to communicate with the city council as part of the last community forum who have not already uh spoken. Are there any speakers um already signed up?

Not at this time. Thank you. So we'll give it another minute and 10 seconds mayor. In the meantime, uh currently do not have any members of the public signed up online either. Thank you for that. So, let's wait till the clock uh dies down. And while we're waiting for that, um I guess we can um go on to item number 14, request and actions for future agenda items or special projects, opening it up to the to the um council. Seeing none, um moving on to where are we at? 43 seconds. Um moving on to item 15. We start the report of presiding officers or members of the city council. Council member Gordon.

Yes. I would like to say um thank you to MIT for inviting me and u my colleague um Councilman uh J.R. Matulik to be part of their um mock council meeting. Um it was very rewarding. Um the feedback they were very engaging. Uh so thank you to uh staff for that participation which was Victoria B uh Grace Barkstdale. I also like to thank Apostle Summers for recognizing myself and my colleague Dr. Leju um for the uh award that they presented us for uh the women's uh history international women's history month. So um they invited multiple of us and it was really a wonderful honor. Also too I got a chance to participate in three meet and greet. Um they talked about concerns that they have with within the district 6 and the largest concern is um the unhoused population when it seems to be a sweep. It seems that they're coming in into district six. And so, um, they're also concerned about, uh, not a lot of, uh, safety on Sonoma Boulevard. They do see that we do have wheelchair cuts being put into it, and I thank Cal Trans for that in the city of Valo, but one of the biggest concerns that they have is that it's still not addressing safety lights um, for our young kids to cross the street to go to Grace Patterson and the community center. So that was their comments. But however, they do appreciate um the work is being done. It just seemed to be going kind of slow and that's

their words that they shared. But they were grateful that the city is Valo is moving forward. And so that is my report. Thank you, Council Member Brigenzer. Yeah, I just want to take a quick minute to um uh address the the issue that uh Nunis Cafe burned on over this past weekend. And I might give my condolences for the family uh that suffered that loss. And I understand they'll be closed for quite some time while they rebuild.

Thank you for that. Just want to quickly report um on March 22nd um or I'm sorry, March 26th um there was the our um uh for League of Cities there was the transportation uh uh communications public works policy committee down in Santa Ana. Had the opportunity and and the honor to to represent the city to as part of that. And on uh Monday, April 6th, I want to thank the sheriff's department and our Valo Police Department along with um our mayor for holding a town hall meeting. Um I see um Supervisor uh James' staff that were um that were also present um uh during that. So that was a great opportunity to hear the latest and greatest of the um uh of the updates of once the sheriff has um started back in January. And um once again, uh similar to Council Member Gordon, I want to thank um Jessica Morrison from MIT, the teacher that set up the uh MIT Mach um council member meeting uh that was held here yesterday. So, thank you to all of that community engagement. And once again, another shout out uh to my Dan Mini family for hold that we'll be holding the um bike rodeo coming up this Saturday. Look forward to as many people and the community coming out to join us for that. So, thank you. Um the

chair, just in case you did not um participate in the meet and greet with the sheriff and the police, we are also having a meeting on the 30th, correct? here at the fail for uh file room on the 30th of this month. Just want to clarify that. And that is going to be for the reform. Correct. Does anybody know that? City manager. Yeah. Yeah. Just want to make sure because uh people were kind of upset because they didn't think they got enough notice for that particular event that we had in district 6. So I just want to see just to clarify

I believe everything would be on the city website uh if there is a scheduled meeting. So um the community can can go to the city website to verify that. Okay. If there's no through the vice mayor we did have one last minute sign up for community forum. Okay. Go ahead. Uh Tony Stewart please approach the podium.

Good evening. I appreciate you mentioning my employer, but I am here on behalf of myself at this moment and given the hour, I'll be real brief. Um, as a constituent, I would really appreciate and I want to appreciate um, Council Member Matias specifically for doing this pretty often. Council member Leu, you as well. Um, I would appreciate if you guys gave your council reports. They would be reports about what's actually happening on the other boards and commissions that you sit on. There's a lot of things happening that the community has no idea is happening. There are bus routes changing. Um there's a lot of homeless strategy work being done at the county level. Um there is a whole host of issues that are happening regionally that the community needs to know about but they don't hear that from their liaison from the council and I think that's pretty important. On the other hand, there's also work being done at the commission level that I think you all as leaison should be sharing here as well. So that there's a cross-pollination of information um here, but also for the community. A lot of community don't doesn't come to commission meetings, but a lot of community watches this meeting and yeah, the room's empty, but I can tell you online there's probably 20 people watching right now. Um not to mention VCAT. So um just think about that. Again, I appreciate you sharing that to your commission. I appreciate you sharing what's happening here. Um I think that informs the commission to do their work much more much better. Um and I would just appreciate if the rest of you could do that. I think it's again that's really important work. Um and that would create more cohesion amongst uh the council and the commission level. Um and I think the commissions would appreciate it being a commissioner myself. So thank you.

Thank you for sharing that. Um seeing no other questions or comments. Uh moving on to um adjournment. Thank you.