City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and call to order our regular meeting of the Vallejo City Council at 7.07 p.m. And I'll ask our city clerk to call the roll, please.

Mayor Source. Present. Vice Mayor Matulik.

Present.

Council Members Bergenzer.

Present.

Gordon. Present. Matias.

Here.

Paul Maris. Present. I will note for the record, Council Member Letter 2 is currently absent.

All right. Thank you very much. That's going to bring us to item three. If everyone would please join us with stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, thank you all. We have just come out of closed session. So for item four, I'll ask our city attorney if there is a report out from closed session.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. The city council did meet this evening in closed session with regard to the following items. Item A, liability claims, Joel Catham versus the City of Vallejo, pursuant to government code section 54956.95. The council provided direction to staff with regard to that item. Item B, conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6. The agency designated representative, Stephanie Sufuentes, the human resources director. the employee organizations, the Vallejo Police Officers Association, the International Association of Firefighters, Local 1186, Confidential Administrative Managerial Professional Association, and unrepresented employees. The council provided direction to its labor negotiator, and there is no other action to report at this time. And items C. Conference with real property negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956.8. The property are the APNs as listed on the agenda. The negotiators, Gillian Hain, assistant city manager. Negotiating parties, Mark Tomko, Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District. Under negotiation price and terms of payment, the council gave direction to staff with regard to price and terms of payment. There is no other action to report at this time. And item D, conference with real property negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956.8. The property is 50 Solano. Agency negotiators Gillian Hain, assistant city manager, negotiating parties Mark Tomko, Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District under negotiations price in terms of payment. The council provided direction to its negotiators. Items E and F were not heard this evening and will be taken up at a later time.

All right, thank you. That's gonna bring us to item five, presentations and commendations. And as we enter the month of June, we have two. We'll start with item 5A, presentation of a proclamation recognizing June 2026 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Pride Month, LGBTQ Pride Month. And Council Member Bergenzer will be presenting this proclamation on behalf of the council. We have, I believe, five of our organizations represented here. If you all would please join Council Member Bergenzer at the podium for the presentation. And our participants, while they assemble, our participants this evening are the Leo Gay Network, Solano Pride Center, Solano Serenity Center, Solano AIDS Coalition, and Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive.

While we're gathering, we'll go ahead and get started. This proclamation recognizing June 2026 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Pride Month. Whereas 2026 is the 28th year of the Solano County and Vallejo LGBTQ plus community coming together to show our pride through service and support of the community in which we live through organizations such as the Vallejo Gay Network, Solano Pride Center, Solano Serenity Center, the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive, and the Solano AIDS Coalition. And whereas 60 years ago, in August 1966, a riot at the San Francisco coffee shop, Compton's Cafeteria, represented the first of many times trans and gender diverse Americans fought back against police brutality and social discrimination, Almost three years later, in June 1969, a riot at a Manhattan gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, in retaliation to a police raid, precipitated the modern fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, LGBTQ plus rights. And whereas the current federal administration has attempted to deprive trans people of their civil rights and health resources in any way possible, It has discharged trans people from the military despite decades of service and many trans and gender diverse people have fled from their state of residence to more welcoming areas such as California or transgender citizens have moved out of the United States altogether. And whereas now more than ever, it is imperative for the LGBTQ plus community to work with our allies to protect those of our community who are being targeted by those who seek to destroy not only our community, but the very fabric of our democracy. And whereas during Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Pride Month, as we wave our flags of pride high and march boldly forward in parades and demonstrations, let us celebrate how far we've come and affirm our steadfast belief in the equal dignity of all Americans. And whereas the Vallejo City Council proudly stands with the LGBTQ plus community and with all communities who struggle for basic human rights, acceptance, visibility, safety, acknowledgement, and fairness in the quest for full equality under the law. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Andrea Source, Mayor of the City of Vallejo, along with all of the City Council members, do hereby recognize June 2026 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Plus Pride Month in the City of Vallejo to remind everyone to work together to advance the principles upon which our great nation was founded and to celebrate the great diversity of our city. And it's dated May 26, 2026.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council, and fellow residents of Vallejo. I am deeply touched to stand before you today to accept the Pride Month proclamation on behalf of VGN, the Vallejo Gay Network, our vibrant LGBTQIA community, and our steadfast allies here in Vallejo. I have to say, when people talk about the gay agenda, it usually just involves brunch and good lighting, but we are honored to be on the City Council's agenda tonight. Vallejo is a city that has been defined by its long-standing extraordinary diversity, a rich tapestry of cultures, backgrounds, and lived experiences which drew me to research, relocate, and settle here permanently years ago. By issuing this proclamation, Vallejo sends a clear, resonant message that here, everyone belongs. The City Council affirms that our community is not just tolerated, but seen, valued, celebrated, and most importantly, respected as an integral part of what makes the city so deeply special. Pride is, at its heart, a celebration of joy and authentic self-expression. But we must also remember that the pride we speak of began as a protest. It is rooted in the profound courage of those who stood up against discrimination, who fought tirelessly for the simple human right to exist authentically, and to love openly. Today, we honor their legacy. While we raise the pride flag in Vallejo above our government buildings and celebrate the remarkable progress we have made together in some parts of the country, we also recognize the work that still lies ahead. In a world where many still face barriers to full equality, local leadership matters immensely. Let this proclamation serve not just as a ceremonial gesture, but as a renewed everyday commitment to fostering a Vallejo where compassion guides our community's policies. That will, in turn, create a safe space where residents who grow up here can feel protected when discovering themselves. In June, we will have our 28th annual Pride Picnic, and of course, the Vallejo Gay Network has been having monthly potlucks since 1998. Events at so many venues like the Mad Hatter events and Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum are always there for the LGBTQIA residents to enjoy. Thank you to the mayor, the city council, and the community of Vallejo for standing with us, for lifting up our voices, and for leading with inclusivity. Happy Pride.

I'm Ms. Bob. I'm the director and founder of the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive. Thank you. I didn't do anything yet. Calm down. I just wanted to say how happy and proud I am to share this month with the Filipino community. Every year we are both here together, and to me, that represents a wonderful example of where diversity and variety make this country what it is in its best of all possible times. So thank you for sharing this month with us. And next year, I'm going to challenge you all to get here a little early and talk to each other. I think it would be a wonderful step. Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is Jerry Ann Guzman. I was born and raised in Vallejo. I'm 65 years old. I grew up in a sawdust community, blossomed from what it used to be. And I can't say that right now I am more proud of this City Council and the Mayor for doing this for all of our organizations. We are part of Vallejo. I am also the president of the board for the Vallejo Naval Historical Museum, which for the first time has a transgender president. It was established in 1974. We have come a long way. And I invite all of you to come down and see the museum. Come down during our pride celebration at the museum where Ms. Bob is going to have a display starting on the 6th of June. Come see us. Come see who we are and see that what they say in Washington, D.C. is not true about us. Thank you, City Council. Thank you, Mayor Source.

It's so important for us to be together to mark these occasions. It's also the 28th anniversary of the Solano Pride Center that got started inside of a lesbian bookstore in Vacaville and now serves the whole county. with mental health services, case management, and social and support services for folks in our community and beyond. It's also important for us to recognize the 60th anniversary of the Compton Cafeteria riots. One of the persons who's on the speaker's bureau at the Louise Lawrence Trans Archive is named Susan Stryker, who's a historian that found a bit of that information and helped even create a documentary about the Compton's Cafeteria Riot, of which there is a play currently going on on Friday and Saturday evenings in San Francisco, where you can experience it as if you were inside the cafeteria eating breakfast late at night while the transgender folks working the streets came in and had their interaction with police brutality that night. It's an amazing experience. We encourage folks to experience it firsthand. One of our gender expansive circles is actually going to go see that play with each other, but it's been going for more than a year and selling out on a regular basis. So let's keep that going and let's keep the story going as well. It's important for us to also recognize that scholars are recognizing that we are in a time of trans genocide. that the actions that our federal government are taking against trans people, stripping them of passport rights, of identification, and some of the things that you heard in the proclamation around abusing folks that have served this country in many, many ways and stripping them of their recognition as public servants, having served in the military and other places. We really need to come together as a community and tell Washington that no one is illegal That ice needs to be out of all of our communities and that trans people deserve to live with dignity and respect. And we really appreciate the city council's support with this proclamation and saying just that to our country. Thank you so much.

Good evening, City Council, Mayor of Vallejo, City of Vallejo, community in general. My name is Mario Saucedo. I'm the president of the Solano-Ace Coalition for over Thank you. For over two decades, the Solano X Coalition has been providing services to the LGBTQ plus community and the community in general. I am so proud to live in a city that accepts us and also supports all of us. I want to thank you very much. On behalf of the Solano X Coalition, thank you.

Thank you all so much. Let's come down and do a photo together. All right, thank you all again for joining us. We are going to move on to our second presentation of the evening, which has been foreshadowed by our speakers. And that is 5B, presentation of a proclamation recognizing Philippine Cultural Month this June. And that will be jointly presented by Vice Mayor Metulik and Council Member Palmares. If our representatives from our Filipino community could please join them at the podium.

What do you want me to do?

I'll read and then I'll step back.

Okay, sure.

I guess we only got one page to read off.

I'm going to use that as the podium anyway. It's fine. Thank you. Heard, chef. Yeah, it's not. Stop. I didn't mean it like that. I always say heard, chef. No, I got it. You guys come on up. Closer to the podium.

Good evening, everyone. Councilmember Paul Maris and I, we are proud Councilmembers representing the Filipino community and we're proud to be reading this proclamation. Proclamation recognizing Philippine Cultural Month, June 2026. Whereas the City of Vallejo actively supports and brings together our diverse communities and generations with year-round celebrations that promote inclusivity, unity, and civic pride, and our beloved city observes the month of June as Philippine Cultural Month to honor Filipino American heritage and history, and to celebrate their vibrant culture and significant contributions to our great and grateful nation, and Whereas, in 1898, U.S. naval forces departing from Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo sailed to the Philippines and directly contributed to the United States' May 1 victory in the Spanish-American War, which preceded the Philippines Declaration of Independence 128 years ago from Spain on June 12, 1898. and whereas this year also marks the 80th anniversary of both the Filipino community of Solano County Incorporated on April 6th, 1946, and the Philippines independence from the United States on July 4th, 1946, and the Filipino community recognizes the long-standing ties between the two nations and expresses gratitude for the opportunities that have allowed Filipino immigrants to contribute to the cultural, economic, and civic life of the United States and... It's my turn.

Whereas, this year also commemorates the 40th annual celebration of the Vallejo Pisa-San Leon Festival, which draws over 10,000 visitors, and the 2026 theme, Honoring Our Culture Through Quintujan Storytelling, highlights the importance of strengthening intergenerational bonds, reconnecting with ancestral roots, fostering utility and bonding, oh sorry, fostering unity and belonging, encouraging appreciation of diverse cultures, and providing meaningful opportunities for artists, performers, and small businesses to share their work while supporting local economic vitality. And whereas, the Philippine Cultural Committee invites our entire community to participate in the various activities updated in www.baleopistasanayon.com, especially the Grand Baleo Pista Sanayon Festival at the Mare Island Coal Sheds, 850 Nimitz Avenue, on Saturday, June 6th, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Now therefore, be proclaimed that I, Andrea Source, Mayor of the City of Vallejo, and the Vallejo City Council do hereby recognize June 2026 as Philippine Cultural Month in the City of Vallejo, and we encourage our diverse community to explore Philippine culture, honor the contributions of Filipino Americans who have helped shaped our city and nation, and celebrate all people year round, regardless of race, culture, origin, religion, age, ability, gender, or orientation, as we continue advancing the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Good evening. Honorable Mayor Andrea Sors, members of the City Council, distinguished guests, community leaders, and friends. My name is Annie Frias Ramos, the President of the Filipino Community of Solano County, Inc. here in Vallejo. On behalf of the Filipino community of Solano County, it is my honor to share a few words as we celebrate an extraordinary milestone of our 80th anniversary of our organization. This year is very special and meaningful as we not only celebrate the 80th anniversary of founding of the Filipino community, but we also proudly commemorate the 40 years anniversary of our beloved Philippine Cultural Committee, which is the Vallejo, the biggest Pista Sanayon. Filipino Community of Solano County was founded 1946. at its original address, 820 Sonoma Boulevard, Vallejo, California. For eight decades, our organization has stood as a symbol of unity, culture, service, and resilience within our community. What began as a small gathering of Filipino families and pioneers has grown into a vibrant organization dedicated to preserving Filipino heritage, supporting families, promoting education, and building bridges of friendship throughout Solano County and beyond. This anniversary is not only a celebration of the past, but also a tribute to generations of leaders, volunteers, officers, and members whose dedication and sacrifice helped our organization into what is today. And here today, the young generation of our Filipino community are taking over what we have started 40 years ago, 80 years ago. Please give them a round of applause. Their commitment remind us that community is built through service. compassion, and bayanihan, the spirit of Filipino of helping one another. May this milestone inspire the future generation to continue our mission with pride, integrity, and unity. On behalf again of the Filipino community of Solano County and the Philippine Cultural Pista Sanayon, we thank you and the City of Vallejo for proclaiming the month of June as Philippine Cultural Month. Maraming salamat po and good evening and mabuhay.

Hi, good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council members, community staff as well. When I think about the milestone of 80 years ago of the nonprofit, I try to imagine what was that like when they were looking for community, fellowship, bonding, support for one another, and to be 80 years later, and to not take over but to be together in all of our efforts. I just see so much inspiration, so much appreciation, so much pride. It's really important for us and me that we all be together. And in the spirit of our theme this year for 2026, it is honoring our culture through Quintuhan. That means storytelling. So we really strive to take a theme and drive it as a way to inspire and impact change in our community. not just to come and celebrate with us and experience the culture, but what can we do through using the festival as a way to reach and preserve and teach our culture before, during, and after. And so when I see this amazing team of mentors, leaders, young folks, just college groups, high school groups, and so many of them that couldn't be here, shout out to them. I just see so much more hope for succession and the preservation of our culture. My folks are in their 80s and I can't imagine what it was like for them to leave the Philippines for opportunities here and for us to be able to carry the torch and say, can you please tell us your story? Can you tell me what it was like? My grandparents and just everybody. Nowadays, we're listening to stories on our cell phone. And we want to bring it back to active listening. We want to hear the stories that are untold, the ones we've heard 20 times. Tell me one more time. I just don't want that to ever be lost with any of the generations, especially when we have our elders with us still. And so we chose to inspire this theme to invite you to enjoy and immerse yourself in our culture, to hear the stories that brought Filipino families here, especially to Vallejo. You'll see exhibits, you'll hear the stories of how food and cultural merchandise vendors came to be. You'll hear stories of what's curated on our next generation stage with youth and young adults and how did that come to be. You'll experience a very special lineup on our main stage as well, and just so much to share. And I have to agree with you for saying we're so lucky to be in a city that allows us to celebrate. Every year, we don't take it for granted. We run every year like it's our last, and we just put our heart and soul into it. And I just want to say from our community, from our team, we really can't wait to welcome you on Saturday, June 6th to Vallejo Pista Sinayon. That's our town festival that we will be so proud to just give you a piece of our culture that you can take home with you and join us every other time we can invite you. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Why don't we come down and get a group picture. All right, we're going to give everybody just another minute to clear out, and then we'll resume with community forum. all right i think we're ready to continue so we're going to go ahead to item six which is our first community forum as most of us know this is our opportunity for members of the public to address the council on items not on this evening's agenda but in the jurisdiction of the city council and we will let's see how many uh in-person speakers we have

Madam Mayor, we do have seven signed up.

We have seven. So we're going to see if we can be expeditious and get all of our in-person speakers in. Folks online, you're welcome to raise your hand to speak in this forum, but we will most likely save our online speakers for our second community forum later in the meeting. Let's go ahead and call our in-person speakers.

So the first three speakers in this order are Lily Hurd, Jack Smith, and Rosetta Johnson.

Welcome aboard, Harry Smith. Harry Smith. My client that is here tonight is Smith. Welcome aboard, Mr. Block. I'm not feeling very well tonight, but I jumped out of the bed because I thought it was very important to get you informed of what has been going on in this city. I'm Lily Hurd, born 1934, Atlanta, Georgia. Experienced my first discrimination at the age of three, stepping on the front seat of the bus. Got beat up, et cetera. It's still going on today, sir.

Thank you, ma'am.

My time is limited. thought i would start with pat hunter who's the president of the naacp she entered into my plight some while ago by emailing your assistant gillian hayne is gillian here tonight good and she said to her on april 30th greetings I hope this email finds you well. I'm inquiring about the turnaround time for you and your staff for a return call or email. Tuesday evening, Heard called and contacted me and shared that, and I'm sharing that I would contact with you her name and phone number. Hopefully you can return her call prior to the weekend. April 30th. President Hunter, I have not gotten any messages from Mrs. Hurd. I'm happy to call her tomorrow and after my morning meetings to see her if I can assist her with anything. That is a bold case. Lie. Just following up to let you know, this is Gillian, that I talked to Mrs. Hur today. That was the first of May. I'll be working on some of her concerns with the housing department. I have not heard from her anymore. Moving on. You should know that the interim city manager, Beverly, came in, was here six weeks. I had a lot of my concerns about housing. She never called me. A lot of you guys don't know this story. She never called me. The next thing I knew, I got a letter from housing, Alicia Jones, back paying me. She caught on quickly. Quickly. Never talked to me. Let's have a meeting about this. Hey, some things you don't have to have a meeting on, Mr. Block. Moving on. Gillian told them all face slide because I always hand out, I'll give you a copy of the concerns from my tenant who will be speaking tonight. And I always give everyone a copy. All of the councilmen have a copy of everything that I said, July 17th, 2024. Andrew called me into his office and same thing. I will be looking into your concerns. I've never heard from him. Some of them are still in your desk.

All right. Thank you very much.

Next speaker is Jack Smith.

Good evening.

I just want to... And Mr. Smith, on your lower right, there's a switch. You can raise the podium up so that the mic is a bit higher for you. Right on the bottom below. Yep, down there. And yep, there it goes. Perfect. Perfect.

Good evening. My name is Jackie Smith. I'm just reiterating on what Ms. Lilly was referring to, but my biggest concern was my rent being raised doubled without any notice, and I've had her as my advocate, and I'm having trouble. Well, I guess they have it down now, but I'm not really sure of that, so that was my purpose of being here this evening. Thank you for listening.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker is Rosetta Johnson, and after Rosetta Johnson, the next speakers are Cherianne Grimm, Izzy Drumgoole, Jameela Hanif, and Kira Duffy.

Okay. All of you know about it. Thank you very much. And Cindy would be looking into it, but she has a crisis. She's not well. She's scheduled to lose her voucher the 1st of June. I understand she's to have a hearing on Thursday.

All right.

More to be revealed.

We'll make sure that we follow up. Thank you. So that was for, since it didn't get picked up on mic, the speaker was not able to continue with us, but we have the information. I'm just repeating it for the public record. I'm sorry. I'm repeating what you said for the public record. You're okay. You can sit down. Oh, okay. We're good. We have the information.

And a shout out to your executive assistant for getting involved. Otherwise, she would not have gotten a hearing. We do. So yes.

Shout out to Eric. We've got that information. Thank you.

Next speaker is Cherianne Grimm.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. Welcome City Manager Black. I'm here to call on the city council to provide transparency regarding the Shaw Law Group's review into allegations of misconduct within the city attorney's office. Last year, this council voted to hire the Shaw Law Group to examine serious allegations, including claims that records related to police shootings were destroyed and that employees who spoke up faced retaliation. At the time the public was told, the estimated timeline for review was approximately 30 days. It has now been five months and the public has received no meaningful update. The silence surrounding this matter has only increased public concern and eroded confidence in the process. When allegations involve potential destruction of public records, retaliation, and questions about accountability within city government, transparency cannot be ignored. And it cannot be optional. The community deserves to know whether the review has been completed, what findings were made, and whether the Shah group recommended a full and formal investigation. To be clear, this is not about the prejudging of anyone or assuming any wrongdoing. It is about assuring that the public can trust its institution and trust that serious allegations are treated seriously and that accountability requires transparency, especially when public confidence is at stake. During the last POAC meeting, Chief Assistant City Attorney Risner stated on the record, there is currently no investigation involving the city attorney's office. Did we miss something? If there are legal limitations on what can be released publicly, then at the minimum, the council should provide a status update explaining where the process stands, whether the review is ongoing, and when the public can expect answers. The longer this drags on without communication, the more it appears that transparency is being avoided rather than pursued. The perception damages trust in the city attorney's office and reflects poorly on city leadership. I urge the council tonight to either release the Shaw Group's findings or provide the public with a clear update and timeline as to what is going on. The community deserves openness, accountability, and follow through. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Izzy Drumgoole. I'm sorry, it's Izzy Drumgooly. Thank you for correcting me.

Thank you. Hi, good evening, community, council members, mayor. I am very happy to be here. I'm also very tired, so I'm going to be brief. But I wanted to let you all know, for those of you who don't know, My name is Izzy Drumgoolee. I'm the founder of One People Tribe. And for the last two years, we've been working to revitalize the South Vallejo Norman C. King Center. And so we have recently been awarded a grant through the state of California for installing a computer lab at the Norman C. King Center. Yeah, thank you. we're very honored to be working with the Center for urban excellence as our fiscal sponsor and also in collaboration with the city of Vallejo we were supported through this grant application process by Sydney who's been very very helpful and so I just wanted to read a brief press release for everyone the grand opening is going to be on June 5th So, One People Tribe would like to announce the grand opening for the new Arts and Tech Lab, a free community computer lab designed to expand broadband access, digital literacy, and creative technology opportunities for residents of South Vallejo and the greater Vallejo community. The grand opening celebration will take place on Friday, June 5th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6 p.m. at the South Vallejo Arts and Cultural Complex at the Norman C. King Center. It's located at 545 Magazine Street in Vallejo, California. This is for community members, families, students, seniors, artists, local leaders, and partner organizations. Everyone is invited to attend and tour the new lab and learn more about the free resources that will be available to the public. The Arts and Tech Lab will provide free computer access, high-speed fiber internet, digital literacy support, and creative technology learning opportunities. Community members will be able to build skills in areas such as computer literacy, digital marketing, product design, content creation, small business development, Canva, AI tools, and more. Regular lab hours will be Monday through Friday from 12 to 5. Funding for this project was provided in part through the broadband adoption account of the State of California Advanced Services Fund, a program administered by the California Public Utilities Commission. So I hope that you can all join us, and we're very excited about seeing what this lab does for the community in the next two years. So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Our last two speakers are Jamila Hanif and Kira Duffy.

Good evening, everyone. I haven't been to a city council meeting in a long time. Congratulations, Izzy. That's great. That's huge. We need that. One day, watch me grow. We'll have our community center also. But I'm here just to invite you all. I am working with the Ever Wonder, with Jackie, and we are organizing the field day for LaRusso. It's going to be at Setter Quest Park. It is June 12th. It starts at 4 o'clock, so this is a way where I don't have to send out emails and everything. And so those who are viewing online and those who are here, all of the Vallejo Unified School District, all of the kids will be out of school. So come if you guys can. I'm big on just community engagement. I believe it's important for people to see you guys' faces, which you guys do come out a lot. Hopefully there will be a policy passed soon where you guys can actually get paid more. for your time, really, you guys do a lot. So you guys need an increase. But please come out if you can, June 12th at Setter Quest Park between four and seven. It's gonna be a lot of fun and it's a great way for you guys to engage more with a lot of youth. That's all. All right, thank you.

Last speaker is Kira Duffy.

OK, I'm going to speak for her. Yesterday, she was hit by a car, dragged, and we went to the hospital. The hospital didn't do the necessary protocols. They didn't take care of her. But when the police got to the scene of the crime, they realized when she said her name, they said her last name, and then they said, oh, it's this bitch. So from that point on, they no longer took it serious. The case is closed as of today, and it happened yesterday. We're trying to figure out why her phone was stolen. They're not tracking down the phone, trying to see if they can, you know, identify the person or anything. They're not doing anything. We just feel like if it was somebody white, that person would be in jail. If it was her behind the wheel, they did it. We feel like we're not getting the same type of treatment that we should be getting. And also we've been having problems with Vallejo Police Department, as you can see. So that's another issue at hand. So we are just trying to come forward to get some help because we're getting treated in a way that we shouldn't be getting treated now.

I do want to speak. My name is .

I've been a resident in this county all my life.

I've been a resident in this county for the last 35 years. For the first time in my life, I've been on probation for the last four years. I've completed parole with no violations, no nothing. The day I got on parole is the day the police started harassing me, the day they started just violating every constitutional right that I own. Anything I give him my real name, and I know I'm not on probation or parole and when they come back clear They say oh you didn't even give me that you don't give me that name that name nobody come back Is that name and I give him the same exact name and then they run it and say oh, yeah Well, it's clear. She's not on probation or parole, but I've already been beaten and did all type of things They've came to my grandfather's house who owned his house at 1619 Florida Street and came onto his property and grabbed me let alone fought me like I was somebody on the street and My family didn't know what to do, so they just sat there. They searched the cars on my granddaddy's property. None of them was in my name. Nothing. Destroyed our cars. They arrest me every day. But I just don't understand how, if I did this to somebody, why did they go? How could they not look through the streetlights and anywhere else? Because if I did this, they would be in the streetlights looking through the streetlights and sending a drone to find me in the streets. I want somebody to be arrested for this. I don't want to have no sight in my eye. I can't see. None of that. My hand is broken. They wouldn't treat it. He went over to the doctor that was there. He went over what the radiologist told me. I'm asking for someone to at least help me. It was a white Tahoe Durango with black stripes in the front. with pinstripes. That's all the information I can get because nobody, police haven't came and got any videos. They haven't talked to anybody and they just gave me this police report that's already finished now.

All right. Thank you so much for sharing that. We're gonna follow up with you. We'll get your information so that we can follow up.

That's the last of our in-person speakers.

Eric, can you grab their info? Thanks. All right. Thank you to all of our speakers. We will have another community forum later in the meeting for anyone wishing to address the council online. And with that, we will go on to our consent calendar. We'll open up public comment for anyone wishing to address the council on consent items this evening. I will note for the record that I intend to pull item Q. So any members of the public wishing to speak on item eight Q will give you a chance during that item. And do we have any commenters at this time, in person or online?

None in person, Mayor. Through the Mayor, none online.

All right, are there other council members wishing to pull items from consent? Council Member Palmares.

Can I please pull item O as an Oscar?

Okay, so we're gonna pull, Q is gonna become 8.1, O is gonna be 8.2. Council Member Matias. E and R, please. E is gonna be 8.3. Oh God, I just, I was trying to take notes. And item R is going to become 8.4. And Vice Mayor.

I'm not pulling an item. I just need to note that I need to recuse myself from item K. That's next item.

Thank you very much. I will be recusing. So we have some LMDs on the agenda. So all the council members are recusing from the items that pertain to the LMDs where they live. I'll be recusing from 8J.

And I will be recusing from H, because I own real property in that district.

Yep. Council Member Warden? Yes, I'd like to pull T. OK, we're going to pull T. That is 8.5. All right.

Through the mayor, we do have a member of the public who would like to speak on consent.

Okay, to the member of the public, go ahead. If you are commenting on an item that has been pulled, we will also give you an opportunity at that time. So if you could let us know, come on in and let us know what item you want to speak on.

Anne C., please unmute yourself and state which item you want to speak on for consent. Anne C., please unmute yourself. Looks like Anne's having some audio issues again. Feel free to log out and log back in, and we'll get you when you come back.

OK. City Attorney, did you have something to add?

Just on the approval of the agenda, Madam Mayor, did you want to announce the removal of item 9A?

Yes. We'll add that to the motion. We are going to be, at the request of staff, continuing item 9B, which is the item with regard to the ADU ordinance. And it'll come back at a future date. So that'll be an amendment to the agenda.

You have that? Because I have.

All right. So seeing nothing else, or do we want to give Anne one more chance?

Ann, can you unmute yourself please? Doesn't look like Ann is unmuting herself at this time.

All right, we can try on the individual items. I'm looking for a motion for our agenda and consent calendar with all of our many changes and recusals.

Yes, Mayor. I move that we approve the consent calendar and approval of the agenda with removing item AQ, making that item 8.1. Removing item O, which is 8.2. Removing item... Where is that? Did I... Oh, there it is, E, that is gonna be item 8.3, and then item R, which will be 8.4, item T, which is 8.5, with Council Member Matias recusing himself from item 8H, Mayor Sorts recusing herself from item 8J, myself as the Vice Mayor recusing myself from item 8K, and then continuing item 9B to a future date.

All right, wonderful. We are ready to vote.

Motion carries unanimously with council member Letta Jew absent.

Just to, we had a question for clarity. We pulled E as in egg rather than P as in Peter. Who pulled that one, Council Member Matias? Did you pull E as in egg? Or P as in Peter?

E as in egg, okay, we got that right.

Nope, all good. All right, that is going to bring us to item 8.1, previously 8Q. I pulled this one, this is adopt a resolution extending the terms of all police oversight and accountability commissioners. there are a couple reasons that I pulled this the first is that despite it being on consent there's language that it's extending the terms either one or two years so if we had voted on this on consent there wouldn't have been clarity but actually my suggestion to the council is I I think this item should be postponed we have two commissioners who have been whose terms have expired one of them has resigned and the council member who appoints the other one is not here at the moment so for me it doesn't feel appropriate for us to proceed with this item at this time additionally i think we should have a broader conversation about the police oversight commission because they have had requests for training and funding that have not been yet approved by this council they've expressed some really serious concerns about harassment and the support that they need and i think we need to address that as a council uh before we go and extend anybody's uh as part of maybe a decision to extend terms And I think finally we need to have a conversation, a strategic conversation about the terms of the commissioners so that they align with the terms of the council members who are appointing them. Because if the terms are extended, blankly, blanketly across the board, that means that there'll be some of us, at least myself, who won't make an appointment during their entire tenure on council. So with that, that's my recommendation and what I'll be asking for. Council Member Bergenzer.

I agree with you, Mayor. I just wonder if it will cause quorum issues if we don't extend the terms.

If I may, Madam Mayor? No, it will not. The current commissioners pursuant to the ordinance continue to serve until their replacements are appointed.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, and as a point of clarification, reading through the staff packet, there were two notes of resignations, and I only recall seeing one letter that was sent out of a resignation. And I did speak to both individuals, and one was saying that they were reconsidering their resignation, and the other one was having, in their mind, having to resign due to medical issues. So the question is, is there a period of time that they would need to, if they need to step away from medical issues, that they're able to come back from that? So that was the question regarding the resignations from there. So once again, one was reconsidering the resignation and the other one was due to medical conditions, whether there was any verbiage of they needed to take some time off or whatever from that standpoint. Yeah, those are just clarifying questions of what the current statutes says for those instances. Is there any action moving forward?

So just confirming with the city clerk, I believe that the second individual who had the medical statement has not actually yet formally resigned. Okay. Is that correct, or he did?

Correct. I did correspond back with him asking to confirm, and I have not received confirmation.

So that resignation has not occurred as of this point. The first one has occurred. The resignation was submitted.

But with the understanding they may be reconsidering, what is the process at this point?

At this point, they would have to be reappointed for that to take place.

Council Member Matias.

I JUST HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE MAYOR. SO WHEN ARE YOU PROPOSING THAT WE HAVE THIS CONVERSATION?

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IT HAS SOME URGENCY, QUITE A BIT OF URGENCY.

Okay, because just frankly, very troubling to hear you say that there's harassment going on. It's very troubling. And so that's not something that should be put to a later date. That's something we should discuss later. immediately to the extent that that can be done in a public forum, to the extent that it can be. If it can't be, then we need to discuss in closed session as soon as possible. So I don't really know what that's about, but I'm just gonna say we need to, that needs to be put on the calendar immediately as far as I'm concerned, because that's very serious.

Yeah, we can't discuss it tonight, but it's something that I'm happy to raise, and I'm not comfortable. I think we need to have a broader conversation in open session as well about the funding and support and training in general, what the POAC needs from this council. Council Member Gordon.

I was just going to ask what my colleague just pointed out, the fact about harassment. That's very concerning, and if this is a fact, how come we were not notified prior to City attorney or city manager.

I don't have an answer for that. I don't have any information on that.

I have no information either. This is day number six, but we will follow up the previous city.

I had conversations with the previous city manager. We can follow up. Yeah. I personally don't think we should vote on it tonight because we would be voting to extend commissioners for an indefinite amount of time with the two expiring folks being a resignation and the council member who's not here. So unless I unless anyone wants to make a motion, I would say we just hold this for later.

Yeah. Through the mayor, we do have a member of the public that would like to let's go ahead and call them. Crystal Gallegos, please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Crystal, please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Going once, going twice. One more time, Crystal, can you unmute yourself, please? Okay. No unmuting.

All right. Unfortunately, all right we can yeah, let's go ahead. We'll close that item and we will be figuring out a plan for that And we will move to eight point two previously. I believe it was J. Oh Previously item oh which was adopt a resolution approving three consultant professional services agreements with Center for Urban Excellence. This is connected to the Vallejo Vision Project and I will turn it over to Council Member Palmares who pulled the item.

Good evening, Captain. Good evening, Ms. Peterson. I'm not here to bust your chops on this. I have two agendas. One is I want to let you guys be able to talk about this a little bit. I support this 100%. I've been behind this for a couple of years now and just want to make sure that this gets a little bit more limelight than it deserves. So maybe you could walk me through what's been happening behind the scenes the last month as far as preparation before this goes live.

Sure. Thank you, Council Member Palmers. Good evening, Council. Jerome Bautista, Captain of Operations for Vallejo PD. So we've actually been working with CUE, the Center for Urban Excellence, with our vision program.

And is this the slideshow that we did? This is the slideshow.

We don't want to say anything.

We just want to jump in the background.

Okay. Okay. okay thank you man sorry i've got a ton of notes here so just for everyone's uh background uh in november 2023 we were actually selected as the public safety partnership site and we currently work with our federal partners and they identified two cycles during that selection process one which was gun violence prevention and community engagement and then we for our focus returns program we looked into boston and we conducted site visits at aurora colorado with yourself as well as uh councilmember matulak in november of 2024 and um as well as the oakland pd ceasefire model uh in march of 2025 with yourselves again and um members of vallejo pd and i believe natalie went as well and so uh Throughout the months, throughout the past months, we've been presenting what we've been doing to the Public Safety Committee with regards to vision and our partnership with Center for Urban Excellence. The Q was selected as during the RFQ process as the most qualified as the most qualified organization to assist us to roll out this vision program. Throughout this process, we have looked into the candidate selection using our crime analyst as well as receiving information from Q as well. We've been meeting on a biweekly basis to discuss our strategies moving forward and also to discuss the funding for this program so that we have a strong rollout. The plan is to basically have a good foundation for our vision program, start off strong, start off small, and then as our capacity grows, so will the program. And Q is absolutely ready for that, and we are absolutely excited to roll this program out and have that partnership with them. Perfect.

And as I mentioned before, I'm fully in support of you guys, so just making sure that it is successful. Have you guys done any rehearsals in anticipation of the rollout or in preparation? for the rollout?

We plan on doing that based on your suggestion. Absolutely.

Just asking.

We definitely plan on doing that. That was a great suggestion. We want to do everything to make sure that when we do have this strong rollout that it's successful and that we are prepared and We get feedback from other organizations that are already doing this so that we are on the right track. Perfect. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Matias.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank my colleague for pulling it because I was self-monitoring how many items I was going to pull tonight, and so he did that for me because this was on my list, too. So I just have a general comment to the interim city manager on this item. If I'm not mistaken, when I reviewed this staff report, you guys identified sources of funding through 28, if I'm not mistaken. Is that accurate or am I off base?

Into 2029, there's three separate funding sources. One of them gets us into 2029.

Okay. So we have a habit here, sir, of just, you know, figuring stuff out sometimes as we go. And so knowing that this needs to be replenished in 29, it would be great if we could start doing some planning, setting aside some funds beginning now so that we're not having to figure out what we're going to get, you know, $2 million three years from now as opposed to maybe $200,000 or $300,000. So I've appreciated that the team has worked really hard over the past year to put different sources of funding together. And as we look ahead, we just appreciate your team's, you know, focus on really setting aside some dollars so that that's funded long term.

Yes, yes, Councilman. My experience with this, again, my experience is similar, is primarily with the ceasefire model in a couple of different cities. If executed properly, it can generate good results. The bottom line is, I hear you. And obviously, we thank them for at least identifying the next three years. And that will give us a cushion to figure out the post 2029 financial sustainability. Yeah.

All right, thank you very much. Do we have any members of the public wishing to comment on this item?

Through the mayor, no speakers at this time.

All right. With that, we'll look for a motion on this item.

Yes, I move we adopt a resolution approving three consultant and professional services agreements with the Center for Urban Excellence, totaling $1,806,552, one, to provide intensive case management, Two, referral hub. And three, hospital-based violence intervention project services through March 31, 2029 to further the Vallejo Vision Project and authorize the city manager to execute said agreements.

All right. And we're ready to vote.

Mission carries unanimously with council member Letta Jew absent. All right. Thank you very much.

That's going to bring us to item. That will bring us to our new item 8.3, previously 8E, accepting grant funding awarded for the community cleanup and engagement program. I will turn it over to Council Member Matias who pulled the item.

Who am I chatting with on the staff side on this item?

Hello. Through the mayor, Sydney Wilson is also online as well.

Okay, great. So my first general question to Mr. Wilson or ECM Connelly is if you can generally describe what the game plan is for this funding. Like I know what it generally does, graffiti, abatement, but what did you guys, what was the pitch in the proposal?

So Cindy Wilson, City Manager's Office. So this was a continuation of our first Clean California grant. They actually reached out to us and asked, since they were impressed by our first project. They actually reached out to us to see if we would be interested in this continuation of funding, which is really more focused on graffiti abatement.

Part of it. So what was that initial project? I just got here two days ago, so just want to get a sense of.

So through the council, I believe the initial. No, go ahead, Sydney.

THE INITIAL PROJECT WAS A CLEANUP ON GEORGIA STREET WHERE WE DID REGULAR CLEANUPS AND SOME BEAUTIFICATION WITH TRASH CANS AND SOME RECEPTICALS AND I BELIEVE SOME SEEDING AND SIGNS. WE'RE ALSO, SIR, ABOUT TO, AND WE WERE TALKING TO A COUNCILPERSON ABOUT THIS, WE'RE ALSO ABOUT TO BEAUTIFY A PARK OFF GEORGIA STREET AND WE'RE IN THE PROCESS OF DOING THAT AS SOON AS I GET APPROVAL FOR A SCOPE Okay.

And then my quick follow-up is, do you have some flexibility or do you generally have to stick within the parameters of that initial project that you pitched and executed? Do you have some leeway to maybe do different things here?

Well, as long as, yes, sir, as long as it's within the parameters of the original scope of the grant, we have flexibility. We've not signed off yet also on the final award.

Okay. The reason why I'm asking these questions is because one of the things that caught my eye in reviewing this grant agreement and this grant opportunity in particular, which I'm really grateful, Sydney, that you've been going out and chasing dollars and it'd be great to just get uh just a chart so you can you and the the rest of the team can show the city all the funding you've been uh getting uh i think that that's important for us to monitor and to also show to the public but one of the things that caught my eye was the fact that this grant was also um for workforce development And as we start to have some conversations around economic development, which we have not yet had, we're six months in, I would like for us to look at some of these grant opportunities, not necessarily just exclusively through a beautification lens or a public safety lens, but also through a workforce development lens. Like how do we give job opportunities to local folks They're able to put the city of Vallejo on their resume. They're able to learn a skill or do something that we're perhaps trying to address. They get to put that on their resume. They get to have more job opportunities. And so I don't know how much flexibility you have at this time to rethink about this in that way. But as we think about really creating jobs locally and having some broader conversations, I would like to perhaps have these sorts of grant opportunities be thought of in that way.

Go ahead, city manager.

This one? Okay, yeah. No, I think those are all great points. I would view a project like this as being like planting some seeds that can ultimately grow into something even much bigger. My experience with these types of programs is that they can really kill multiple birds with one stone. There are urban environmental opportunities associated with this. I know that some communities are using the Civilian Conservation Corps, which covers the environment while also providing employment, workforce development opportunities. So I look forward to working with staff in terms of I'm excited that this is happening because I know what the potential possibilities are over time in terms of really leveraging state as well as federal funds in terms of growing. Just to give you an example, we started out in Stockton with a $400,000 urban environmental initiative and we grew it to a $65 million program, office, a brand new office. totally grant funded, but again, long response to your question. I see it as a good opportunity. I see it as planting a seed that can really grow into something special if we take care of it properly. Thank you. That was all.

Councilmember Gordon. Councilperson Mateus, if I may.

Go ahead, Cindy.

so there actually is a workforce component um in in our grand award currently under this award we actually are going to work with solano community foundation uh to to kind of build up uh the workforce component underneath this grant we we ultimately had ambitions of trying to build some sort of a pipeline into the city but that's a super a long-term conversation and then in conclusion here I've been doing this for a while now, and I'm very aware of our bandwidth restraints. And because of that, I lean a lot on our amazing CBOs who actually have a lot of this infrastructure built in. So I just look forward to having the long-term conversation with the city manager and with council. Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Gordon. Yes, hello. Thank you so much for this work. I appreciate you, Sydney, for, as it was stated earlier, looking for whatever we can to help our city go to the next level. My question that I have for you is that I heard you just say that this is from Georgia and surrounding close location. Is this downtown Georgia or does it go all the way to the end of Georgia?

Councilperson, thank you for the question. So to my recollection, it was the entirety of Georgia Street, but we've since extended all of those funds minus the pocket park that I referenced earlier. But with the CCEP funds, ma'am, there is more flexibility there in And we're going to take all the data that we have, and of course, your recommendations into account.

Thank you so very much. I appreciate you.

All right. Any members of the public wishing to speak on this item?

None.

Through the mayor, yes, we do have one speaker who wants to speak on this item in person and one speaker online who would like to speak on this item.

Let's go ahead and call them.

Jamila Hanif, please approach the podium. And as she's approaching, the speaker that we have online is Yessica Martinez.

Hello again, Council. So I'm the founder of a nonprofit here in the city of Vallejo, Watch Me Grow, Inc. Three years ago, we launched a youth-led community cleanups. And we were all over Vallejo. We went to different areas of Vallejo cleaning up, which was helping the kids really take pride in their community. And we averaged about 80 volunteers every cleanup. check out our website, WatchMeGrowInc.com, and you will see what we were doing. So when you talk about workforce development, that's important. So even thinking about the different, is it with public works or whatever, like who does the cleanups and everything?

Yeah, little career pathways or something, working with them. But I believe it's extremely important

And I don't know if there's going to be an RFP or if organizations could become a part of this. But again, three years ago, we started in the Crest. Then we went downtown Georgia. Then we went to East Vallejo. And we collaborated with many churches as well. But it was always a huge turnout. And it was just a way to get the youth involved. So yeah, I want to learn more about this community cleanup and engagement. All right. Thank you.

All right, let's call our online speaker.

Jessica Martinez, please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my call. You guys had mentioned planting trees. And during the migration festival, there was a PhD person who spoke about planting trees and the ecological impact that it had. And I had posed the question, on the and this was connected with greening and also beautifying but the environmental impacts and and beautifying of the spaces and you know not having trash accumulate but there's an roi to these efforts based off of slowing the greenhouse impacts to our communities. And so I'm wondering if while we pursue these efforts and we have this funding, if there's any data that's also being collected to show the impacts on a long-term basis as to why we should continue to use our resources to pursue these programs, because there's going to be an additive effect at some point, not just on the workforce, but also for error and I know we do monitor our error here in Vallejo and other impacts. So I'm just wondering if this is also being considered and if other grants are also being considered with these efforts as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So with that, we are looking for a motion on this item.

Yes, Mayor, I move that we accept the grant funding awarded for the Community Cleanup and Engagement Program, CCEP, authorizing the city manager or designee to execute the restricted grant agreement and take all administrative actions necessary to implement the program in accordance with grant requirements and providing notice of intent to amend the city budget to appropriate grant funds associated with the program, step one of two.

All right, and we're ready to vote.

Motion carries unanimously with Council Member Leiterdue absent.

All right, thanks. That's going to bring us to, that will bring us to item 8.4, formally 8R, resolution approving consultant services agreement with Danny Murphy Consulting. And I'll turn it over to Council Member Matias who pulled that item.

Thank you, Mayor. All right. Okay. Chief, I have a question for you and then I have a question for city staff. My question to you is, I know there was some urgency around hiring a manager a few months ago. Maybe it was a few weeks ago, I can't remember. So where are we, what's your expectation in terms of when you're bringing that position on board and how does that onboarding sync up with maybe paring back our use of Mr. Murphy?

Thank you for the question. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council. Jason Todd, Chief of Police for Vallejo Police Department. So this, yeah, this is, I feel, a very important topic. Just to give some background to folks in the audience and at home, this was a position that we had talked about creating. So as we went into the stipulated agreement phase with the California Department of Justice, we realized that there was a need to build out our compliance team a little bit deeper. And so at the time, back in July of 2025, we sought out some services from Danny Murphy, who was a civilian deputy chief, for the city of New Orleans. He later on went over to Baltimore to run their compliance division. Now he works in Minneapolis and other cities as a consultant. So the purpose of building out a position very similar to what he's doing for us now is to have a program manager that is going to be immune from some of the issues that I'm seeing with rotation in our compliance division. We have injuries, we have retirements, we have promotions, and at some point there's transfers that happen in and out of that unit, which causes disruption to services. So this is a position that is very well established through this realm of work, as Mr. Murphy was doing that in several different capacities in different cities. So we started that discussion with former city manager Murray. We are looking to create a position that doesn't already exist in our city, so there are issues that we have to overcome with civil service, possibly labor unions involved, and then we have to create the job spec and then post the position and eventually hire for it. So as you guys remember, this was the only position you all approved at mid-year for funding. Unfortunately, it did not come back for step two. And so that has been delayed slightly. I'm being told that this is going to come back for funding for 26-27. This contract is coming a little bit before that decision for the budget. So our hope is that we can work with our HR to develop the job specs. And then once we do that, there are other internal processes that have to occur with the labor unions and civil service before we can then post the job announcement.

OK. I guess more generally to the mayor's earlier point, it would just be helpful to just have a more general conversation around reform and the spending and the plans and the hiring, all of that. I don't think this is something we can just slide into goal setting. I do feel like we need to figure out what is going on and what is gonna be the sequencing because otherwise, you know, we're just kind of taking actions in different meetings and we don't really know the full scope of where you're headed and what support you need from us. I thought that once we took that initial vote, my bad. I mean, that was already sailing through. I didn't know we had to do 17 other things. So that's all to say, yeah, we need to prioritize that.

yeah I agree and I think I spoke with the mayor just last week we meet with the ad hoc subcommittee the DOJ reform subcommittee monthly we were speaking about perhaps repurposing one of those meetings so every three meetings for example we would repurpose it for the larger discussion with you all so at least you're hearing it quarterly as well I know there's things that we can do on our side to to better inform the public. Right now, the progress is not where we'd like to see it, you know, 22%. Completion is not where we need to be. So in my opinion, there's a sense of urgency on getting this position. Danny Murphy is wonderful. We only work him 32 hours a month because he's expensive. So the hope is bringing on somebody to do his function as he slowly works with them to get that person up to speed so we can wean off using the consultant as we develop this new permanent employee. Our hope is that this employee is gonna stay for the duration of this agreement. So if this takes five years, six years, or seven years, there's gonna be stability within that program manager responsibility.

And I don't want you to think I'm putting the onus on you to have to keep us all advised of what's going on. I mean, we have several subcommittees, and I think we can just set the expectation amongst ourselves, right? One representative from the Public Safety Subcommittee reports out on what's happening in those meetings, and then one of you guys can kind of report out on what's happening on the DOJ front, and that way we're all kind of in the loop.

we can be helpful so that would just be my suggestion around that and then the last I'm gonna actually let the city the city manager get energy you want to wait until after council member Tia's comments you were you were your mic was on now it's off there you go bottom button yep okay I'll get used to it no no I think what the chief mentioned is it makes perfect sense as well as what what you've mentioned

in terms of just getting together and you all providing your oversight in terms of understanding what's going on, be it through a study session or through sort of swapping out one of the chief's periodic meetings for you all, or through a subcommittee process, I think would be very helpful to the whole situation.

Thank you. And then I just have a, I don't know if it's a question, THE MAIN REASON WHY I PULLED THIS FROM CONSENT WAS BECAUSE YOU GUYS WERE ASKING US A QUESTION AND IT WAS PUT IN CONSENT, WHICH WAS, DO YOU WANT TO USE MEASURE P, DO YOU WANT TO USE SALARY SAVINGS OR DO YOU WANT TO USE GENERAL FUND MONEY? SO I WAS LIKE, OKAY, IF WE APPROVE THIS, WHAT ARE WE REALLY SAYING? SO I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING WE HAVE TO DECIDE.

WHAT'S THE RECOMMENDATION FOR FUNDING SOURCE FOR THIS?

CHIEF, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A STEP AT IT?

THIS IS THE AGREEMENT, AMENDMENT. DO WE STILL NEED TO APPROVE THE FUNDING? OR HAVE WE ALREADY APPROVED THE FUNDING?

I CAN GIVE YOU A BACKGROUND. SO WHEN WE FIRST STARTED SERVICES WITH MR. MURPHY, THIS WAS LAST JULY, WE STARTED AT THE CITY MANAGER'S APPROVAL THRESHOLD, AND THAT WAS THROUGH THE USE OF SALARY SAVINGS. What we realized was that we needed to use him a little bit more than spreading his hours out evenly throughout the course of the year. We need to get him up to speed quick so that we could accelerate our progress. So he is current burn rate is at the 32. 32 hours per month is right around 17,600 per month. And so we started quickly exceeding the cap of the city managers. As you guys may remember, we then had to come back to raise that cap a little bit higher. after that we started using a blend of salary savings and slept funding which is a supplemental law enforcement funding which is not a consistent funding source but it was something that was available to use just to get us to the point where we could hire that new position if we didn't have our plan was if we didn't have that position but we had the funding allocated for that position we might be able to repurpose that funding temporarily until we get all those processes that I had mentioned so that way we can post the job and then eventually hire for that job so that was part of the intent the beginning of the month we went to measure P to request recommendation from that body I think they saw the urgency here but they didn't feel that measure P was the appropriate use for this salary and they did not provide a recommendation So we are here kind of giving you guys some options. Obviously, ultimately, you guys can decide on Measure P funding if that's your desire. You guys would like us to explore salary savings again, just to get us to a point where at least the fiscal year is approved, and then we might have some flexibility with re-diverting some of that funding. And I'm continuing to use my SLEF to the best of my ability. It's for multiple purposes, for frontline type of police services. So having that emergency funding, as you guys remember when we needed that emergency funding for IHEART, I was glad to have some of that money available I don't really want to tap that all out zero out if I don't have to so that would be kind of a last resort if we had to use it it is available or general fund I'm going to turn it back over to the city manager as well yeah just in my looking at it to me this would be a legitimate measure p expenditure however

because of where it sits in terms of where the position would sit, there are a lot of other options that we can use to leverage the general fund. But again, I've met with the DOJ folks last week. I understand what the department is going through. And a position like this is almost, it's without question, it's essential. It's essential for them to be successful in meeting the expectations of the agreement. It's very project management heavy, is my understanding. It's a lot of checklist stuff, you know, and somebody has to keep track of that. If Measure P can be helpful, that would be helpful. Is it essential? I'm not sure.

So this is, I know about the position. I think the position will decide on that at a future date. This is just the contract to continue to use Mr. Murphy. Okay, right. So Measure P said no, and so we either have to bypass that, like override the recommendation, USE SALARY SAVINGS OR THE GENERAL FUND. THAT'S REALLY ON THE TABLE FOR US.

AND CAN WE CLARIFY? THIS ITEM BEFORE US IS SIMPLY TO APPROVE THE CONTRACT. WOULD THE BUDGET ITEM BE COMING BACK TO US AT A LATER DATE? OR DO WE NEED TO DECIDE THE FUNDING SOURCE RIGHT NOW?

YEAH, THANKS FOR THE CORRECTION. IT SEEMS LIKE THERE WOULD BE SUFFICIENT SALARY SAVINGS AVAILABLE TO CONTINUE TO COVER THIS OR NOT.

Good evening, everyone. I'm Olga Conley, Assistant City Manager. So, while VPD does have salary savings, there's also a deficit for the current fiscal year.

Okay, so those funds have been accounted for already?

Yeah. So, yeah. So, it did go before Measure P. They opted not to recommend One of the reasons why you have binders at your station is to outline all the items that went before the Measure P Committee. You have a tracking sheet that shows what was recommended and what was not recommended. So we will be having this conversation on June 9th as part of the budget presentation. because there are certain things that we had hoped would be funded by Measure P that would relieve the general fund. But there's not a lot of leeway. I just want to make that very clear. We have a deficit for the 25-26 fiscal year, and we have one going into 26-27. So we don't really have a lot of salary savings when you're looking at a deficit.

So do you need direction from us tonight on what funding source or would that come back with the budget? That'll come back with the budget, thank you.

So it sounds like from a timing standpoint, we need to wait to have the Measure P conversations with you all as a part of the budget process. So this is- Approval of the contract.

As a part of that Measure P conversation or- This is just approval of the contract.

But is he asking for additional funding as well?

Is this the notice to amend?

The way I read it, it was asking us for direction on the funding source. That's what I thought.

We can always do an inter-fund transfer if you so choose to decide for Measure P. I think we should wait and make this a part of the overall Measure P conversation because there are so many competing elements that will be a part of that conversation. In terms of my understanding of what Yeah, we haven't even gotten to the position yet. We're just talking about the contract.

Is there a, so with respect of whether to approve the contract today, it's a not to exceed amount. Is there a risk if we wait to approve the contract in terms of not being able to pay him? So should we go ahead and approve it tonight because we need it in order to move the reform forward? and then we'll have it on the 9th. We'll figure out the funding source for 20, because this is for 26, 27. Which means we can decide on the 9th how we're going to fund it.

That is the right question. So we knew his contract was going to expire in June. And so there were a lot of budget talks before on mid-year that didn't transpire. We haven't approved the contract yet. We went to Measure P. So all of these funding questions or decisions didn't get made before today. And so his contract does expire next month. And so if it does expire without having to come back to you all, there will be a service gap.

Okay. I would be in favor of going ahead and improving it now and just so we don't, you know, cause problems later down the line. And, yeah, doing the funding source on the 9th. I'll also add two comments, which is just to state for the record that the position – I fully support this. Danny Murphy's been great, fully supported it from the start. The police – REFORM PROGRAM MANAGER POSITION HAS TAKEN UNACCEPTABLY LONG TO GET THROUGH. I'M HOPING OUR NEW INTERIM CITY MANAGER CAN HELP EXPEDITE THAT BECAUSE OUR SUBCOMMITTEE AND PD HAVE BEEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION SINCE I BELIEVE LAST JULY OR AUGUST. SO WE'VE BEEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION SINCE LAST SUMMER WHEN PD EXPRESSED TO US THAT THIS WAS URGENT. And I was actually, what Council Member Matias mentioned earlier, I was going to mention at the end of the meeting that one of the things I'm hoping to do with our new city manager is set up systems for better use of our subcommittees because our reform ad hoc subcommittee has on multiple occasions tried to get an update agendized to city council about reform and it has gone nowhere. And we also, at least for me, this is the first I've heard about Vallejo Vision, and it sounds like there have been monthly updates. So we need to, as a group, figure out how to utilize our subcommittees better and get those updates back to council. That's something the city manager and I and the vice mayor can work on from a, just from a systems and structural standpoint. But for the record, just wanted to state that the subcommittee has been, we've been trying to bring this back and we've been pushing on this position and this reform position for a while now. Go ahead. Yeah.

If I could just have one quick comment to add is part of that discussion also was to convert some of the staffing reports that the police does to the council. Maybe every other one is a police reform update so that you're getting those same updates. So you're not into the nitty gritty of what we're talking about on the committee, but you're getting the overall update of what's happening on that subcommittee.

Council Member Ortiz.

um i was just i was going to agree with you that we should move this forward but i was going to suggest it come from salary savings because really that's supposed to be a position in pd so i know i know what acm conley's saying like yeah we don't really have money but the reality is that's supposed to be a position in his department so that's where it should come from so if we need to move that forward that should be the funding source

I mean, salary savings, that's going to be code for general fund at this point. It's going to be fund balance at this point, I think. But that'll come back with budget for us to, it sounds like, for us to formally approve. I got Councilmember Gordon and then Councilmember Letijoux.

No, we just said it. Okay.

Councilmember Letijoux.

Thank you, Chief Todd. So as it relates to two things on this position, or just report out, I agree with Councilmember Bergenzer. Rather than having to set up an agenda item as it relates to report out both of these subcommittees are within your preview so i would suggest that we would figure out how what would be the cadence for you to report out on the work that's being done in the subcommittees versus trying to agendize it and the council members reporting out. Because it is to enlighten the community at large, and it should be a presentation worth having without us saying, oh, we talked about X, Y, and Z. It should be a formal presentation to the greater body. And then in addition to the funding, I'm just going to say this again. If this can't come out of your budget, then how are you going to actually propose a position? Where is that position going to be paid from? That's really the bottom line. So can we afford the position? We're paying the contract. You're paying $17,600 per month based on the work that he's doing. So if it is a position that is going to come out of your budget, It should be lodged in your budget. And yes, it's going to come from general fund because that's where your money comes from. And so we do need to think about it. Can we afford the position? Because we're paying for the contract. And the reality is Measure P does not pay for positions. It's not designed to pay for positions. So we need to think about how does this truly get funded?

I agree on both fronts. And we did talk, the mayor and I talked about having that reporting out be public. So that way, even if you guys on the other side of the council cannot attend, at least it'll be open to the public. It'll be recorded. look at it or view it at a later date to get your update and i do think that you're right if this is a necessary position that needs to be permanent then as a city we've got to sit down and think about how we pay for it reforms are very important so in my opinion this needs to be permanent until we're done with the project I don't have control over salary savings from year to year, so I don't manage that. I do think, though, it makes sense that if there is salary savings in PD and this is an urgent PD-related matter, then we should prioritize that before that salary savings goes somewhere else. I don't have a comment to where it's gone, so I can't enlighten you all on that part.

So I'm not asking you to solve it. I'm making a general statement. And I fully understand the importance of reform. So I agree 100% with you on that. And the point that I'm making, a larger point is, it is a position that is in PD. It is a position that is needed. It's a permanent position. And Measure P does not pay for positions. So as a body, we need to determine how that position is going to be funded in the regular budget. And that is not for I'm not asking you to solve it. It is just from being very matter of fact about the funding source. It's not an option for Measure P if it is a permanent position. That's not what Measure P is set up for. So we need to figure out how that position is going to be paid for. It's necessary to do the work that we need to do. and to get things moving. 22% is not viable in this work, and we need to do much more work than what we're doing so we can get done and get out of this process.

Council Member Gordon. Thank you so much, Chief Tau, for this ask. Being that I'm one of the ad hoc committee for this conversation, I... I'm just a little confused. I thought this money was already taken care of for the year. Could you explain to me a little bit why we're seeing it now?

Yes, so just a background on this position. So originally when this position came online back in July, it was salary savings was used to fund the initial $99,000. But at the current burn rate, we're going to go through close to 200, just over 200,000 for the year. So it did come back to you all to raise the cap. And I've been kind of sub... supplementing the expense using SLEF funding. So SLEF is basically supplemental law enforcement funds that we have for primarily for emergency purposes. So it's been funded up until now through a combination of salary savings and slough funding. But moving into 26-27, this is where the conversation has gone where, you know, we have to identify a more permanent salary or funding source for this salary. So that is yet to be determined.

And I did hear a question from the community. They want to know exactly what, how can this person show the community how they are helping you? I know because I sit on the AHA, but how can you report out to the community to justify this ask? That's one. And number two, is this person gonna stay on until we are able to get a director?

So the reporting out, we talked about having maybe one out of each three of our meetings just become public, so that can be that reporting platform. Or we could do something a little bit different, but I do think that's a good starting point for at least reporting out periodically on our status as well as we can touch specifically on what Mr. Murphy brings to us and how he adds value. The second piece is Once we hire somebody full time for this position, it is the intent to have that position stay active until this program is done. So if it takes five years, that's a limited term five-year position. If it takes 10 years, that person will be on for 10 years.

Thank you for that. Thank you for answering my question.

You're welcome.

All right. Before we look for a motion, do we have any public commenters on this item?

Through the chair, no speakers on this item at this time.

All right, then we're looking for a motion.

I move we adopt a resolution approving the consultant services agreement with Danny Murphy Consulting, LLC, for fiscal year 26-27 and authorize the city manager to sign the same.

All right, and we're ready to vote. We don't have to. The funding source will come back on the 9th.

I'm missing one vote.

Motion carries unanimously. All right. Thank you very much. With that, we are going to move on to our last consent item, which is 8.5, formerly 8T, a draft letter in support of the MISTI audit request of Maryland CFDs to be sent to the state controller's office. I will turn it over to Councilmember Gordon, who pulled this item.

Yes, I just want a clear understanding what this is and what's it for. And because it says on behalf of the city council, so I just want to understand what this is about. I can take this. And were we aware of it? So Eric had to- I'm pretty sure we were, but I just want to get for the media.

Eric had to head out. So when we had the Mare Island, the special meeting on April 27th, one of the directions that was given from the council and voted on by the council was to send a letter to follow up to the state controller's office to request an update on Misty's audit request. And so we voted that evening to send a letter, and I said that we would draft it out of the mayor's office and put it on the consent calendar for an upcoming meeting, and this is that letter. And everything's in the packet.

Thank you for explaining. Could you please explain to the community what MISTI means, even though I'm aware they may not be?

So MISTI is a group of residents on Mare Island. They're paying a special tax and looking to have that fund audited.

Thank you so very much. I appreciate you explaining that.

All right. Do we have any public comment on this item?

Yes. We have Sherry Ann Grimm.

I actually just came to say thank you. On behalf of Misty, We appreciate the support. Thank you, Sherry Ann.

Anyone online?

No other speakers at this time, Mayor.

All right. And with that, we're ready for a motion.

I move we consider a draft letter in support of MIS-C audit request of the Mare Island CFDs to the state controller's office and possibly take action to authorize.

Or take action, I guess, possibly.

And take action to authorize the mayor to sign the same on behalf of the city council.

All right, we're ready to vote.

Motion carries unanimously. All right, thank you all.

Council Member Letters, you do hit that up in error. OK. Yeah. All right, with that, we're gonna move to our action calendar. We only have one action item this evening and we've had a request for a short break, so why don't we take a short recess and then we will hear item 9A. Let's aim for five to 10. Five to 10 minutes. Not five minutes to 10, five to 10 minutes of the recess. We will return by 9-10. All right, let's go ahead and come back. We've got to get on with our item. As we have folks come in, I will go ahead and ask our clerk to announce item 9A.

Hold a public hearing to consider and adopt one, a resolution approving an addendum to the previously certified Fairview at Northgate project environmental impact pursuant to CEQA guidelines sections 15162 and 15164. Two, introduce an ordinance amending the Fairview at Northgate master plan to increase the number of residential dwelling units from 178 to 245 and amending the zoning map to change the zoning district for the subject property located at the corner of Admiral Callahan Lane and Turner Parkway from regional commercial and resident medium density to planned development. And three, adopt a resolution approving a vesting tenant and map amendment development review, design review, and landscape review for development of the Fairview at Northgate project.

All right. Thank you very much. So we have a public hearing this evening. So we will be first opening up our clock for anyone wishing to raise their hands online. What we'll do is I'll turn it over to our planning department for the presentation. We'll be giving the applicant about 10 to 15 minutes to present. We will ask questions from council. Then we will open the public hearing and take public comments.

after which we'll close the public hearing and then we'll have council discussion and direction so with that i will turn it over to our planning director and planning team good evening mayor and members of the council i'm Cesar Orozco planning manager for current development from the planning and development services department and this evening we bring before you the fairview at northgate amendments So the purpose of tonight's meeting is to hold a public hearing, review the project including public testimony, enact an environmental review, the overall project proposed, and introduce an ordinance. So the project site is generally surrounded by existing development, including commercial uses to the north, single family residential uses associated with the Hunter Ranch neighborhood to the east, multi-family residential uses associated with the Quail Ridge condominiums and additional single-family residential uses to the south. We have Admiral Callahan Lane and Interstate 80 freeway corridor directly to the west. And beyond I-80 to the west are commercial and multi-family residential uses associated with the Fairgrounds Drive apartments and the new Mobile City mobile home community. The Solano County Fairgrounds Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, the Dan Foley Park, and Lake Chabut are located northwest of the project site, west of Interstate 80. Interstate 80 is approximately 0.1 miles to the west, and State Route 37 is approximately 0.7 miles to the north. Each of them provide regional access, while Admiral Callahan Lane and Ascot Parkway provide local and direct access to the project site. the immediate vicinity of the project site is characterized by existing residential and commercial uses the site's general plan 2040 land use destination is regional commercial and mix of housing types So the existing conditions of the site is currently a vacant 51.3 acre site, which is currently being graded and set up for the development of the relocation of the existing Costco, as well as the commercial development. Additionally, there's also the roadway improvements to Admiral Callahan Lane that are currently taking place. So back in April 9th, 2020, the city council adopted a zoning map amendment, a plan development and a vesting tentative map for a mixed use project known as the Fairview at Northgate master plan. Here's an high overview of what that master plan is, which included the 152,138 square foot Costco with a tire center and the gasoline cells with 774 surface parking spaces. and 27,500 square feet of commercial space, including one drive-through restaurant with 188 surface parking spaces, 178 detached single-family residences. It also included protecting the wetlands between the commercial and residential component of the project, as well as widening of Admiral Callahan Lane. ADDITIONALLY, AS PART OF THE ORIGINAL APPROVAL, A ZONING MAP AMENDMENT WAS APPROVED TO AMEND THE ZONING MAP FROM PEDESTRIAN COMMERCIAL AND MEDIUM RESIDENTIAL DENSITY TO MIXED USE PLAN DEVELOPMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE FAIR VIEW AT NORTHGATE MASTER PLAN. THE ZONING WAS ACCIDENTALLY CHANGED FROM MIXED USE PLAN DEVELOPMENT TO REGIONAL COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL MEDIUM DENSITY AS PART OF THE 2021 ZONING CODE UPDATE. The development of the Fairview at Northgate master plan began under the original 2020 approval and it's considered to be vested and can be processed as originally approved regardless of the zoning designation. So the proposed project before you this evening consists of an amendment to the zoning map, amendment to the vesting tentative map, amendments to the Fairview at Northgate master plan, development review, design review, landscape review for the Fairview at Northgate master plan. the amendments to the zoning map includes the correction from changing the regional commercial and residential medium density zoning districts to plan development amendments to the vesting tentative map to subdivide the 23.19 acre parcel that was originally created into 160 parcels to accommodate the residential component of the fairview at northgate master plan Of the 168 parcels proposed, 119 will be dedicated to the deep-tent single-family residences. 42 would be dedicated to the proposed cluster-style homes, which would incorporate a condominium map for aerospace rights for each unit. Three will be for private alleys, one for a central neighborhood park, one for a linear and a bioretention basin along the western edge of the property. The amendments to the Fairview at Northgate master plan includes changes to the development standards for the residential component to increase the 178 detached single-family residences to the 245 residential units. Of the 245 residential units, 119 would be detached single-family residences, which would be a place along the west and south property lines in the southern portion of the lot. The remaining 126 residential units are cluster-style detached residences, for example, bungalows. In addition to the residential units, the proposed subdivision will include new streets, sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, private alleys, lighting, and amenities for the neighborhoods such as a neighborhood park, a linear park, a dog park, as well as a bioretention basin in ensuring that the open space wetland stays intact and undisturbed. New landscaping is also included. That includes new street trees, shrubs, ground cover, which will be installed within all the new residents' front yards. So the 119 detached single-family residences are proposed to be developed with three different floor plans dispersed throughout the subdivision, each offering three different exterior palettes, featuring a wine country, agarian architectural style. The floor plans range in sizes from 2,241 to 2,350 square feet, with an overall building height of 26 feet and 11 inches. Floor Plan 1 includes four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, with options to convert one of the bedrooms into a loft. Floor Plan 2 offers five bedrooms and four bathrooms, while Floor Plan 3 provides four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Each of the floor plans include an attached two-car garage, and additional off-street parking can be provided on the driveways. The 126 cluster-type single-family detached homes will be located in the central portions of the site. Each slot will contain three units, two detached units in the front half of the lot with direct pedestrian access to the new streets, and the third unit will be located above three two-car garages facing a private alley. Between the three buildings, a common open space will be shared by the units. The cluster style homes will be offered in three different floor plans ranging from 1,590 square feet to 1,699 with building heights between 24 feet and one inch and 27 feet and eight inches floor plan one features three bedrooms and two bathrooms while floor plan two and three each offer four bedrooms and three bathrooms floor plan ones will be located above the three two-car garages which will have direct access from the private alleys and from the common paseos To further illustrate the proposed cluster styles, in the elevations, the floor plans before you show the two units that would be located directly off of the new streets, where you would see the three two-car garages that would be directly off a private alley. Above those three two-car garages would include the third unit, which includes the three bedrooms, two bathroom unit that would be also available. So the required entitlements for the project include the CEQA determination, which is approval of an addendum to the previously certified Fairview and Northgate Environmental Impact Report pursuant to the CEQA guidelines section 15162 and 15164. A zoning map amendment to amend the zoning map to change the zoning from regional, commercial, and residential medium density to planned development. And a planned development amendment to amend the Fairview and Northgate master plan to modify development standards to accommodate the increase in residential units from 178 to 245 residential units. and a tentative map amendment to subdivide the vacant 23.19-acre parcel into the 168 total parcels, and a development review, which is a site review of the development proposal for the 245 residential units and associated infrastructure, and design review, approval of the project's site design aspects, including site design, building architecture, and finally, a landscape review, which is approval of the associated landscaping in front of the single-family residences and throughout the subdivision. To go back one slide, the project and its associated entitlements were reviewed against the applicable policies and actions of the City of Vallejo General Plan 2040, the applicable submittal requirements for tentative map, plan development, development review, design review, landscape review, and the required findings of approval specified in Title 15 subdivisions and Title 16 zoning of the Vallejo Municipal Code. In all instances, the project and its associated entitlements were found to meet the applicable policies, actions, standards, and findings. So the city retained LSA associates to prepare an addendum to the existing certified environmental impact report that was prepared for the 2020 approval for the Fairview at Northgate master plan. The environmental impact report evaluated whether the proposed changes to the zoning map and amendments to the plan development would result in any substantially more adverse significant effects or require new mitigation measures not identified in the Fairview and Northgate project environmental impact report. Given the analysis contained in the addendum, changes to the zoning map and amendments to the master plan did not cause any new or substantially more severe significant environmental effects that were previously examined in the certified EIR. It will not require any new mitigation measures that have not yet been added to the project. So each of the requested entitlement approvals have their own unique set of findings that require that staff must be able to make for each one. In this project, staff believes that the project meets all the required findings Findings to support the proposed project. As mentioned, the project forward several general plan policies by adding new housing stock on sites while reducing impacts to surrounding developments, increasing the high-level design. The project was reviewed against the standards for both Title 15 subdivisions and Title 16 zoning of the Volo Municipal Code. The project is consistent with the Subdivision Act Act, which requires maps to be consistent with the general plan and zoning standards. and the project has been reviewed for compliance with CEQA, and we have prepared an addendum to the previously certified EIR. Therefore, staff believes that the project is consistent with the findings. On May 5th, 2026, pursuant to below municipal code section 16.602, notice of the hearing was published as a one eighth advertisement display in the Times Herald and mail to all active neighborhood groups and property owners within 500 feet of the subject property. The property owners, the below city unified school district and all other local agencies expected to provide water, wastewater treatment and other essential facilities or services to the project and electronically mail to the members of the city council the Planning Commission, and the applicant, and any interested parties. Additionally, the notice for this public hearing was posted in three different locations on the project site. As of this evening, staff has not received any comments from the public regarding the proposed amendments to the Fairview at Northgate master plan. This slide here is just a reminder of previous related actions to the project, where once again back in April 9, 2020, the City Council adopted a zoning map amendment, a planned development and investing tentative map, and certified an environmental impact report for the mixed-use project known as the Fairview and Northgate Master Plan. On April 20th, 2026, the Planning Commission made a recommendation to City Council with a 5-0 vote with one absence recommending City Council to consider the addendum and consider approval of the project as well as introduction of an ordinance. So tonight, staff is asking City Council to adopt the resolution approving an addendum to the previously certified Fairview and Northgate Environmental Impact Report pursuant to the CEQA guidelines sections 15162 and 15164. Second, introduce an ordinance approving an amendment to the Fairview at Northgate Master Plan PD24-0002 to increase the number of residential dwellings from 178 to 245 units and amending the zoning map PLN25-0110 to change the zoning district for the vacant property on the southeast corner of Admiral Calhoun Lane and Turner Parkway from Regional Commercial APN0069-048 040-050 and residential medium density APN 0069-048-030 to plan development and third adopt the resolution approving an amendment to the vesting tentative map TM 24-0002 development review DVR 24-0021 design review DR 24-008 and landscape review LR 24-0015 the development of the fairview at northgate master plan and associated amendments subject to the conditions of approval and that concludes my presentation for this evening and i'm available to answer any questions

Thank you so much. So with that, we will go ahead and open up our public hearing and we will invite our applicant up to make a presentation. 10 minutes would be great. If you need 15, we will allow it. And after that, we will have some time for council members to ask any questions of staff or our applicant, and then we'll take our public comments. So whenever you are ready.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and members of the council. My name is Danny Liu with Lewis Plan Communities. I'd like to start by thanking staff for your efforts, and we appreciate it, through all the collaboration throughout the process. Tonight I'm here to present our amendment application for Fairview at Northgate, a project that our team has been working on and deeply invested in for nearly 10 years. Before I get into the project details, I want to provide some background on who we are. Lewis Group of Companies has been in business since 1955. We are family owned and operated, now in our second and third generation of leadership. Lewis Plant Communities has been building communities across California and Nevada for over 70 years. We've delivered 58,000 homes, 13,000 apartments, and more than 24 million square feet of commercial space. What I really want to highlight is our history right here in Solano County. Our first Northern California office was established in Solano County in 1972. And for the following 54 years, we've been the most active developer in Solano County. We currently have over 10 projects in planning and development in Solano County. The slide provides some context on the project history and timeline. We began the planning process with the city back in 2017, went through a full environmental review, and received project approvals in 2020. Shortly after that approval, we faced CEQA legal challenge from Safeway that delayed the project for three years before reaching a settlement in 2023. Once that was resolved, we moved forward with submitting our amendment application and updated EIR addendum in 2024, which is here before you today. In the event that our amendment is approved We plan to begin land development later this year and start home construction in 2027. It has been a long road, but we have remained committed because we believe in what this project can deliver for Vallejo. The Fairview at Northgate project addresses two critical priorities for the city. economic development, and housing. At its core, this is a mixed-use development, retail and residential, working together to create something that's greater than the sum of its parts. The anchor of the retail component is Costco, with a brand new, larger building. And here's why that matters. Costco is the single highest tax generating business in the city of Vallejo. Keeping Costco in this city is critical for Vallejo's financial stability. By bringing them to a new, modern, expanded facility, we are not just retaining that revenue, we're positioning it to grow. In addition to Costco, Wells Fargo and Raising Cane's are also coming to this project. This creates construction jobs, permanent local employment, and additional sales tax revenue for the city. We're also installing a signalized intersection at Turner Parkway that'll provide safe pedestrian access to both the new retail center and the existing Target shopping center next door, which is a direct benefit to those existing businesses and the surrounding community. I also want to acknowledge something that doesn't always come up in these presentations. This land has been vacant for a long time, and that vacancy has brought real challenges to the area, including fire and crime. And by activating the site with housing and retail, we're directly addressing that. And finally, this project helps Vallejo meet its state mandated arena housing obligations, something the city needs to accomplish, and we're here to help make that happen. When this project application was originally submitted in 2017, the housing market looked a lot different than it does today. We've studied what buyers need and what the market is asking for, so we are modernizing the project to respond to that reality. The agrarian modern farmhouse aesthetic and color palette maintain continuity with the original approvals. What we are doing is refreshing the product mix to create a more walkable, community-focused neighborhood. Our approach is centered around what we call attainability by design. Thoughtfully increasing density to give more people a realistic path to home ownership. We are focused on what planners refer to as the missing middle housing, and we're delivering that through a diversity of product types, so there's something for different kinds of households and different stages of life. Our first product type is what we call the licensed home, a traditional two-story single-family detached home ranging from 2241 square feet to 2350 square feet. These are well-sized single-family homes designed to be compatible with the neighboring Hunter Ranch community and consistent with what was previously approved. Each home includes a two-car garage plus a driveway long enough to accommodate two additional vehicles off street. I also want to highlight that two of the three floor plans includes a ground floor bedroom. This is an important feature for buyers who are thinking about aging in place or having multi-generational households, parents, in-laws, adult children living under one roof. It's a practical feature that speaks to where a lot of families are today. In addition to the licensed home, our second product type is the bungalow. This is where we're introducing something genuinely innovative to Vallejo. These are single family detached homes ranging from 1590 to 1699 square feet offered in three distinct floor plans that gives buyers real choices depending on their lifestyle and needs. All three plans are alley loaded, meaning the garages are accessed from the rear alley rather than the front of the home. Those alleys are privately owned and maintained by the HOA. What that does is keep the street facing side of the home open, clean, and pedestrian friendly. This adds, is a big contributor to the walkability of this neighborhood. Plan one is a three bedroom, two bath, single family, single level home above the garages. It offers a patio for outdoor living and is a great option for buyers looking for easy, low maintenance, single level living at an attainable price point. Plans two and three are two story, four bedroom, three bath homes. What makes these plans really livable is that the ground floor includes the main living areas plus the bedroom. That ground floor bedroom is a practical feature for guests, multi-generational households, or buyers thinking about aging in place. Both plans also have rear yards, giving residents their own private outdoor space and feels very much like a traditional single family home. While this product is new to Vallejo, It is built and proven in other California communities and has shown a strong buyer demand. We are confident that Vallejo buyers will respond the same way. Beyond the homes themselves, I want to highlight the community improvements that we are making as part of this project. We are consolidating the pocket parks into one larger, more functional neighborhood park, complete with a tot lot play area, community gathering spaces, and a great lawn. This creates space that actually serves the community and brings people together. We're also enhancing the linear park along the western edge of the development and integrating a dog park into it. which encourages active living and gives residents another reason to get out and connect with their neighbors. On the connectivity front, the signalized intersection at Turner Parkway creates a safe pedestrian access to both the new retail center and also the existing Target shopping center, which benefits the existing businesses and the community. We're also adding a meandering sidewalk and landscaping along Turner Parkway, to create a more pleasant and safe pedestrian corridor. All parks will be owned and maintained by the HOA so the city carries no ongoing maintenance burden and the public retains full access through recorded easements. This is a meaningful financial relief for the city and a major community benefit. In closing, Fairview at Northgate represents nearly 10 years of commitment to the City of Vallejo. We have navigated a lengthy entitlement process, worked through litigation, and continued refining this project because we believe in what it can deliver. This amendment makes the project better in many ways. More homes, more product diversity, more walkability, stronger community amenities, and a greater economic impact for the city. We are retaining and growing Costco's presence in Vallejo, bringing new retail jobs, building the kind of housing the market needs, and creating a neighborhood people would be proud to call home. We are proud of this project and look forward to moving it forward. Thank you for your time this evening. We're happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the presentation. So any council members that have clarifying questions for either staff or our applicant, now is the time. And then we'll open it up to public comment. I have a couple of very quick questions. My first is I'm hoping that the street names are placeholders, because we already have streets in Vallejo with those names. Can we confirm that those are placeholders?

Yes, they're placeholders. So we have an internal process where we have to work with public works and the police department to ensure that, you know, we're not repeating street names throughout the city.

Thank you, we would have had some people in Vallejo Heights with some strong feelings about that. My other curiosity, the above garage design, is that a common structure in other places? And this is more of a curiosity, does the above ground unit come in at a lower price point than the two-story units because it's attached to the garages of the other units?

Yes, it would.

So we would have a third price point then in the neighborhood, okay.

Yeah, and there, architecturally, there's design features, like they use, for example, the garage cable, they use belt instead of chain, so it's like quiet and, yeah, thicker flooring to, yeah, you won't even know that it's above garages.

Thanks, yeah. And then my last quick question is the parks are maintained by the HOA, presumably then they would be private to the residents?

It's actually, it's owned and maintained by the HOA, and it will be publicly accessible through public access easements. Well, that's great.

Okay, so the dog park and the park will be open to the public, even though the HOA will be maintaining it. All right, those are my questions. Thank you. Council Member Lettreau.

So I'm curious, are there any affordable units or housing on this development at all? And any consideration for that?

There aren't any affordable units in this project. And we recognize that affordable housing is important.

So what, this is to the city staff, what discussion did we have when we put this to, and I know this has been a long time coming, but it's still, what discussion did we have as we moved forward around affordable housing?

As you're aware, the project was previously approved, so this is an increase in units. So we definitely took that into consideration moving forward. We also have an inclusionary housing ordinance that's out for public review right now, but we don't have anything adopted to require the affordable units.

So in the process of we increased the number of units and while this project was approved, I don't know how long ago, quite a while ago, but we came back and asked for additional units and there was no discussion about, we're asking for additional units and there's no consideration for any affordability. For the community.

We've shared the concerns with the applicant, but we don't have any mechanism in place to require it at this time. Okay.

And so while it might not be a requirement, and I fully understand that, and you made a really great point that you have been doing business in our city for how many years?

Over 10, about 10 years, yes.

So for a decade, you've been building in this city. And for how many other years have you been developing, not just in this city, but in the nation?

We've been around for over 50 years.

So you've been in business for five decades and that means that we understand that in this nation we need affordable housing and there was no consideration even after asking for additional housing units that there would be any consideration for any type of affordability from an affordable housing perspective. for a community that you have done a lot of work in for the past 10 years? And I know that you're not the president, but I'm raising this publicly because this is important, that we really consider what our partnerships are. I know that we have to have projects that pencil out. I'm quite aware of that. I understand development. But yet at the same time, goodwill within a city that we've done business for 10 years to even consider it or consider what you could do.

I RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU AND TO THE COMMUNITY, AND I WILL SAY THAT OUR REDESIGN ON THIS PROJECT AND WHAT'S BEFORE YOU ALL TODAY IS THE APPROACH ON THAT WAS ATTAINABILITY BY DESIGN, SO JUST NOT NECESSARILY A SUBSIDIZED AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT, BUT WE ARE DENSIFYING, AND BY BRINGING THIS INNOVATIVE PRODUCT, THE BUNGALOW PRODUCT TO THE CITY, IT'S SOMETHING THAT THE CITY DOESN'T HAVE CURRENTLY.

SO WHAT'S THE AVERAGE COST OF THE UNIT?

Excuse me. What's the average price of the home? Well, I think the market's going to dictate that.

I know, but even though the market's dictating it, I know, like you know, when we're penciling out a project, we are projecting out potentially what that might be. So what's the average?

If they were being sold today, the bungalows would start in the 500s to 600s. And then the licensed products, which are the larger single family, traditional single family homes, would be in the 600s to 700s. And I would like to add that.

And the medium income of the city is, do you know?

I don't have that in front of me.

Okay. Okay.

BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT THE BUNGALOWS AT THE $500,000 AND $600,000 RANGE IS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN ANY OTHER NEW HOUSING PRODUCT THAT'S AVAILABLE WITHIN THE CITY OF VALLEJO AND IN A LOT OF THE NEIGHBORING CITIES AS WELL FOR NEW HOUSING STOCK.

AND HOW MANY ARE THERE FOR THE BUNGALOWS? HOW MANY UNITS?

126 of the bungalows.

Okay. Thank you. So in the future and I know you have your team behind you, so I'm looking around you. In the future, when you come to the city to build more, you all need to think about what's affordable. We need to look at what is the AMI, what is our AMI, our area medium income for this particular city. Because the reality is, if I live in San Francisco, if I live in Oakland, if I live further out, we know that we have migration coming to this city. to buy those homes. So how many people, how many individuals within this community can afford what you're building? And it's not to say that everything you build has to be at the 50% or even an 80% AMI is 120K. You know, that's a six-digit figure. But the point is, when we're looking at building, thinking about how do you help the city create an affordable housing ladder, they don't have to be at 30% AMI, which would be $30,000 a year. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for, let's talk about at least 80% AMI, your teachers and your workforce, right? And consider some of those things when you're developing as a partner to the city so that people who live in the city can actually afford to take the next step up in their goal of owning a home, so forth and on, and housing their families or themselves. I would like that consideration. So thank you.

Thank you. All right. Council Member Matias.

Thank you, Mayor. I don't even know what to say.

I'm just... And I'll just remind the council, we are in clarifying questions portion, and then we will take our public comment, and then we will have discussion.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So clarifying questions, sir. When it comes to, and I asked you these earlier today, so just want to thank you in advance for making yourself available. Having an opportunity to tour the site was very enlightening. And if you guys haven't had an opportunity, you should do so. So my first question has to do with traffic management. So you talked about a signal that's going up on Turner Parkway. I don't know what signal that is relative to the signal we have up there now, but I want to better understand that because we got a lot of speeding going on on Turner right now. And I don't know how a signal may change that. So I want to better understand what is the signal that you guys are installing? What conversations took place with Public Works? Because I am concerned about folks crossing the street, going over to the plaza, or alternatively, going into Costco because nobody's following the speed limits there. And so what are you guys doing about that? Can you briefly describe your traffic management program and where you landed with city staff around that?

Mayor Mrakas, The mayor so. Mayor Mrakas, In the original 2020 approval that original 2020 approval included the certification of the environmental impact report, so this was done back in let's say 2019 before I went before city council for certification. Part of that environmental impact report, there was mitigation measures that were implemented to the project that included the installation of this new turn signal at the entrance to the commercial component on Admiral Callahan Lane, as well as this additional signal on Turner Parkway, which if, I don't know, Mandy, we can pull up the site plan, the overall.

Is it Turner and Admiral Callahan? Yes. That would be the signal?

Okay.

But yeah, that's the one that already has a signal. It would be Turner and Foothill? Can I see that?

So on Turner Parkway, we have two new streets that will go into this new residential subdivision. I don't believe this has a laser pointer, but on the westmost entry entrance, that's where the second signalization is going to be installed in order to, once again, mitigate the increase of traffic in the area. Depending on the signalized and the The signalization that gets set up by Public Works definitely can encourage to have people slow down while they're heading, let's say, east on Turner Parkway. So this transportation assessment was all reviewed back as part of the Environmental Impact Report. When this increased in residential units, a traffic study was conducted, which was reviewed to ensure that these mitigations that were in place still can cover the increase of the residential units.

So is that on A Street where you're putting the traffic sign, or is it on C Street? I know those are placeholders.

So I figured out that this clicker has a laser, so the new light would be installed on this, say, west intersection of Turner Parkway and, let's say, C Street. So this is the location of where that signalized location would be. All right. So I'm going to go back to like the belief Danny had an image of the overall development to kind of give a better view. So currently, as we know, there's a signalized intersection at the corner of Turner and Admiral Callahan Lane. So that additional signalization will be in this intersection here. as well as off of Admiral Callahan Lane. The next one down. This one here, yeah. So this one here would be an additional signalized intersection where people that visit Costco and the remaining.

Okay, so just leave that on there. So I make a right on Admiral Callahan onto Turner. There's a light on that first entrance on Turner. I go past the light. I hit the gas. By the time I get to the other street, I could probably be going 40 miles per hour, right?

Depending on what you drive.

But yes, you can. I mean, but you know what's going on in Vallejo, right? It's called a spade a spade. So I get past that, and I'm already hitting 40. That's a problem. And I can tell you because I drive by there every single day. So that needs to be addressed. I'm not a public works professional. I know we have our director here. So that second entrance needs to be addressed. Because otherwise somebody's going to get hit. There's a lot of accidents in my district. And that needs to be addressed. That's number one. Number two, the roads. So... I just have a clarifying question when it comes to the roads. So you guys are doing the commercial now, but when it comes to Turner Parkway, what responsibility does the developer have to get that road, Turner, back to its current condition after you start the residential portion?

We'll do a pre-construction survey of the road, and then we'll reevaluate it after the construction is completed, and then we'll address the fixes that are needed, pothole fixes, and possibly dig out and, I guess, repair, or some saw cutting. Yeah, we'll compare the before and after during the construction process.

Okay. Through the Mayor, there is a recommended condition of approval from Public Works that does require the developer to do an assessment prior to the construction of the residential, kind of see what the existing level it is, as well as if it does degrade as vehicles come in, like construction vehicles go up and down Turner Parkway, there is conditions of approval that they need to adhere in order to bring it back up.

They have to. Okay. Yes. I'm having another problem on Foothill right now. And I want to make sure that doesn't happen on Turner. So I'm happy to hear that that's been accounted for. And then how much flexibility of any do you have when it comes to your dog park and your park? in general in terms of things you can or can't do today. So if I was to say I want a pickleball court or I want a multi-purpose whatever court, how much wiggle room do you have to make that happen?

I know the pickleball court is brought up during the planning commission meeting and I know you're reiterating that again and I guess we do we do have the ability to look at that I do think that based on where the dog park is if we're going to switch anything out to another type of recreational. facility or something like that. There are some concerns because of its proximity to the open space and the wetland area. But yeah, I think we can definitely look into any alternative designs as we get into our construction documents, which would be the next phase if we do have approvals.

Okay. I will come back with comments later. Thanks.

All right, that's all I'm seeing for clarifying questions, so we'll thank our applicant again for the presentation, and we'll open up for public comment. Thank you. Do we have anyone in person?

No one in person, Mayor.

All right, do we have anyone online?

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, we do have two speakers online.

All right, let's go ahead and call them.

First speaker, Crystal Gallegos, please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Great, thank you. I was having trouble earlier. Just as we're listening to this, I got sent the 2019 plan, which is markedly different, but I'll get to that later. I want to respond to what we heard tonight because not only is it insulting, it's dangerous. The developer stood here tonight and said, This project is not required to include any affordable units. Then they try to dress it up with the phrase attainability by design as if a marketing slogan can substitute the affordability we're actually asking about here. And thank you to Dr. Lettu for bringing that up. So let's just be really clear. Attainability by design, which was mentioned tonight, it's not affordable housing. It's not meeting RHNA. And I saw that in your presentation, which I need you to answer for because you mentioned it, you wrote it in the presentation. It's not stabilizing families. It's not stopping displacement. It's really just a buzzword, a buzz phrase. used to avoid responsibility, and I really resent that here. And the fact that it's coming from developers who have been in Vallejo for 10 years, a full decade, and have delivered zero affordable units, that's not innovation. It's extraction. It's a pattern. It's unacceptable, especially in a city with one of the highest preponderances of single-family homes, which we've talked about many times. so let's get back to arena because it was invoked here almost like a shield and here's actually the truth vallejo's arena performance is pitiful especially in the categories that matter most very low in low-income housing and those are numbers you all should memorize by now we're five years into an eight-year cycle and vallejo's produced almost nothing for the income levels where the need is the greatest and that failure is not abstract that's why i sound angry tonight it's not a spreadsheet problem that you can explain away or a planning issue It's displacement. We know when a city fails to produce the very low and low income housing, the results very predictable and devastating. Rent spike. Elders get pushed out like we heard today that we didn't even talk about. The elder who said their rent was doubled. Families double up or fall into homelessness. Our eviction rise. People are pushed out of our city, and we know it's not theory. We see that this is what the data is showing, and it's what we live here in our community in Vallejo. When RENA's failing as it is, our displacement, our homelessness accelerate. Our communities are unraveling. So when a developer comes here tonight and says we're not required to work, This is what we're really saying. We don't care about displacement crisis. We don't care about Valeo's legal obligations. We don't care about families being pushed out. We don't care about the elders whose rents have doubled. We don't care about arena categories that actually matter. And then to follow it up with attainability by design, that's not just tone deaf, it's insulting. We're obligated to produce very low income and low income units. It's not attainable. It's not naturally affordable by design. Actual affordable units. And every time this council approves another market rate project with no affordability, you're deepening that crisis. You're worsening that displacement. You're making it way harder for value to meet. the arena obligations, and you're making it harder for people to stay housed in the city that's been built. So let's stop pretending this is neutral. Let's stop pretending it's progress, innovation, and we deserve better than buzz phrases, attainability by design. And if we're serious about preventing it, then require real affordable units. All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. And another hand went up. And another. Going with phone number ending in 090, please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. So Paula Conley here. So there's been four new market rate housing developments being built on the east side of Vallejo. It's always market rates. And we always hear this from developers. We're not required to have affordable housing. The state requires affordable housing. Why does our city not have an affordable housing requirement in 2026? Who is responsible for implementing it and why is it not already done? Can city staff please address this? Because moving forward, this will continue to be a problem. And let's remember this. when the city wants more low income affordable, please don't think of putting it on the West side of 80 or downtown. The West side is not a containment zone for low income in Vallejo. It's not fair. It's not right. It's not legal. And that is exactly what is happening. It's a pattern. There's no excuse for us not to have affordable housing in our planning. It's not okay to say, well, you know, private developers don't have to do that.

Come on now. There's really no excuse for this.

It's just so lax and really quite shocking with a city that cares so much about people who need to be able to afford housing to say, well, we don't have it and private developers aren't required to give it to us. So we really need to do a lot better than this and we need to find out

why this is not in place already it should have been in place years ago thank you all right thank you next speaker linda daniels please unmute yourself you have the floor yes good evening um i just want to say you mentioned medium density that housing look like it's on top of one another And first of all, I should thank council member Letajue and the previous two speakers, because they took the words right out of my mouth. So when you say medium density, it looks like I can reach my hand out the window and ask my neighbor for some Grey Poupon. So is that what you call medium density? Because why did it go from 178 to 245 units? And no one has a, well, only a few of them are going to have an outside space with their dwelling. Just asking. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any other speakers?

Okay. Last speaker and see, please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Ann, I'm not hearing you.

Here we go. There we go. We got you. Thank you. So I am glad to see this project finally come to fruition. I have two One, a couple comments and concerns. One is with respect to traffic, I hope the traffic engineers have really looked at the impact along that stretch of road there because when they added the simple thing of in and out to the Safeway shopping area, it really really impacted traffic heavily. So I just, I look at that intersection and I think, oh my goodness, people are just going to have to avoid it. With respect to the price points and the density, et cetera, of this development, I think there is some legitimate concern about the lack of maybe options at lower price points. And I think the proper object for any frustration is back on the city itself because the city has been slow walking and stonewalling the development of an inclusive housing ordinance forever. I mean, they finally have something that's not even finalized. By the time things are finalized, all of our new development may have already gone to bed. I remember talking with someone from the Fairview project years ago and asking about affordable units in the project. And they told me at that time, well, quote, it doesn't pencil out. And in fact, without a city policy that sets certain targets, it will never pencil out. If the city wants to be serious about having a full range of economic housing options, the city needs to take the responsibility on that because the developer is always going to look for ways to maximize their profit and squeeze every they can out of a project. So I understand the frustration, and I guess for me, my frustration and disappointment is that it has taken the city so long to get to an inclusive housing ordinance. And oh, by the way, that ordinance will only apply to new development. It doesn't mitigate the effect of having decades of essentially housing segregation that puts these developments of single-family homes on the east side and any multi-family housing much less subsidized housing is on the west side um so anyway i you know at this point the project has long been approved and i think obviously we have to honor that but if you're looking for where responsibility lies as far as i'm concerned It's back with the city. Thank you. All right.

Thank you. Anyone else?

No other speakers at this time, Madam Mayor.

All right. Thanks to all our speakers. With that, we are going to close the public hearing, and I will open up for Max one more round of any questions or comments from council, and then we'll look for a motion. Anyone have anything to add? Council Member Palmares.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation, and thank you to the developers for coming here to present. Couple questions. So with the 119 detached single-family residences, is there room for an ADU or a junior ADU?

Through the mayor, yes. If the potential buyer does purchase a home and they want to add an ADU, a detached ADU, or convert a portion of the unit to a JDU, they would be allowed to.

Okay, great. I'll try to ride the line on this as much as possible, but there have been several comments about affordable housing. I recognize these aren't, you guys aren't an affordable housing developer as far as I know, but do you have any quick comments as far as strategies as far as INDUCING MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN OTHER PARTS OF VALLEO THAT ARE CATEGORICALLY MORE AFFLUENT.

THIS WOULD BE FOR STAFF, RIGHT?

YES, SORRY, YES.

Yeah, I will say that typically an inclusionary housing ordinance is one of the best ways to kind of get affordable units that are dispersed throughout the community. So as I mentioned earlier, we have drafted an ordinance that's out for public review and that should be coming forward for consideration soon. I also think it's probably worth sharing just some of the data that we have related to our RHNA allocation. Staff understands that affordable housing is incredibly important. However, we have an allocation in each and every category, which goes from low income to above moderate. So we need to produce units in all of the different ranges. We are like maybe not even halfway through any of them. So I just wanted to mention that for the record.

I totally recognize that. And some folks, I'm included in this, were previously living in housing that is, you know, I make a little bit more than what I should be living in or have been living in, affordable housing. Me going to a missing middle housing development, now that's open for folks who have less income, right? I get that aspect. But I guess, who do we pin the rose on as far as soliciting affordable housing developers and those developers for specific areas that are, you know, whether it's infill or it's Greenfield, but whose job is it to do that? Or is it really just laissez-faire economics and we're just waiting for whoever to snatch up that property and develop into whatever and we're just, You know, if it pencils out and it meets the zoning code requirements, then it's fair game.

you know over the last few years I think we've gotten different types of applications that have just kind of come in to us I know recently we've seen I think three different market rate single-family home type projects moving forward but prior to that I know that there were several affordable housing projects that came forward that were reviewed and approved as well so I don't know I'm sorry, I don't know whose job it would be to go out and get those. I think that's, I'm not sure how to respond to that.

Yeah, and it's fine that you don't have the answer for that. I think what I'm trying to do is identify that there's a gap, right? Just because we have rules and we have a zoning code to allow for this and we have state laws to allow for certain things, that does not necessarily mean that a certain affordable housing developer's gonna come to Vallejo and be like, oh yeah, I'd love to build on the east side of Vallejo. There has to be some more connective tissue there to make that happen. I brought up before about a housing strategy, and it's like, well, what's the difference between that and a housing element? Well, the strategy is like, what are we doing to make that happen? versus just saying like okay we have some programs we've passed some ordinances but does that actually meet the reality so i i think all of us need to really think more seriously about what are who do we pin the rose on to make this happen what are the institutions to to make this happen because if we don't do that then we're going to having the same comments over and over again like how can we do this they don't have to do anything right But I think the onus is on us to find the right folks who can make it happen. So that's all. Thanks.

Council Member Bergenzer.

Thank you. And thank you for the presentation. One thing I would like to know is project timelines. I don't think that was addressed at all in the presentation when construction for the housing will start and when you project it to be finished.

On the project timeline, yeah, if it's approved today, then we'd roll it into construction documents and like to get land development started towards the end of the year, and then housing construction started in 27.

Okay, thank you. If you could put the map back up, the map including the Costco portion. I'm just wondering if there's... a way to have more connectivity between the two. I think there's only one crosswalk in the very center of the park area with the bridge. But if you're trying to make it walkability, that's a long walk for some of those people to go all the way to the center and come all the way back to Costco and like all the way back to their, you know what I mean? Like a big horseshoe back to their home. So I'm wondering if there's opportunities for more connectivity between the housing and the commercial.

so what was originally approved back in 2020 included right into the center I think Councilmember Riggins recalled it out there it's going to be one of the requirements is to do a Bridgeway that connects the residential component to the commercial and there's a recommended condition of approval that they have to have this installed by the cell the 100th home as well there's a mindering mindering path that's a long Turner Parkway in order that would be able to connect to the additional commercial buildings to the the north side There is going to be a pedestrian ramp that kind of goes up off of Turner Parkway adjacent to the new bus pump out that Lewis Group is also going to be installing as part of the development. So although there is going to be some connectivity between the two, the residential and the commercial component. So I will defer to the Lewis Group if they would consider any additional connectivity.

I'm talking about the back end because the people that live on A and B streets, the very back end of that development, that's a very long walk for them. That's a big project.

Yeah. So there are restrictions that we're working with in that middle parcel. They are protected wetlands. And so that's why there's a very like the bridge crossing is really the pedestrian crossing is like all we could do in the narrowest part of the wetland. So there are restrictions for that development.

okay yeah okay um and then finally my last question is um have you looked at doing i know you know obviously elevators are expensive but dumbwaiters are certainly very affordable so that the units that are above the garage you talked about you know aging in place um you know is there an opportunity to have a dumbwaiter between the garage and that upper unit for you know that one unit so that people could age in place and you know have their groceries brought up or you know luggage brought down or vice versa I can tell you from personal experience that the dominators are very inexpensive. You can have a custom-made one done very cheaply.

Yeah, I think just with that cluster of product, the other two houses, I guess the ones that are in front of the bungalow, the above garage units, those do have the opportunity for the first floor living. We hadn't considered the conveyor to allow the... Yeah, groceries or other deliveries up to the second floor on that specific unit. But I do think there is opportunity on the other two units within that cluster.

I'm just asking, can you consider putting in dumbwaiters in those particular units or make that an option that the first-door homeowners could buy? Because I think it would change who would buy your property.

I actually am not sure of what that looks like, so we'd have to look into that. It's very simple.

I just installed one in my house. I can tell you it's very simple and very inexpensive, so surprisingly.

Okay. I mean, yeah, we can look at that with the architectural. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Council Member Leju.

I just want to respond to Council Member Palmares about who are we pinning the rose on and the fact that If we do remember, we did bring three affordable projects to this council. And the bottom line is, it's not impossible. The question is, do we have the staff with the capacity and the knowledge to be able to run affordable projects? That's really the real question. I'm not going to let us get out of that question. Because it's so frustrating every time a developer comes forward. and we talk about RHNA and we talk about, yes, it is a city's responsibility, but I also believe that from a developer perspective that has a long-term relationship to the developers who have come before us, it is how do you relate to the community and how do you work within the community if you really care about the community? And to Ann Carr's point that the reality is they never pencil out. It takes a lot of layering for financing of any kind of building. It's period. It's not a secret about it. And so it is a social responsibility from a developer perspective as well. And for a city, we need to get on it. and make the changes that have to be made to develop affordable housing because there is only so much land. And when you think about what has happened in history of redlining, of creating poverty within neighborhoods and so forth and on, we have a responsibility to uncouple all of those things. So yes, we can approve projects, but we as a city also have a responsibility to look at how do you have different ladders of housing so that your community can afford to live within their community. And just because you're at 120% AMI or 80% AMI, because of where we live, it creates an affordability issue. Those are six digit figures that people are making even at that level and cannot necessarily always afford to buy a 500,000, a 700, 800,000, a $1.5 million house. Within this Community, because we don't have those kinds of jobs here that create that kind of income, so we need to think about this as policymakers as staff how we staff from a a operational perspective of how we are staffing and building departments to do this kind of work. that we need to do in our city to make it a livable city for people who live here and want to live here and have a right to live here and not get pushed out. In my own community, I live in District 3. It's not a secret to any of you. When I knock on doors, I hear families, parents say, my children can't afford to live here. And I live in a district that has a high income. So that should be alarming to all of us. So that's what I want to close this with.

Council Member Matias.

So what are we doing about the second entrance to the subdivision? What's the game plan there? Because you guys both told me this was approved in 2020, it's 2026, you're coming here and asking for approval because you're increasing the housing supply in that subdivision. And so I wanna know, are you guys gonna put a second traffic sign? What are we doing? Because I don't want crashes at that intersection.

Yeah, we have our civil engineer here and I'd like to have him speak to that.

Thanks.

Good evening.

My name is Peter Bernard. I am with a company called Kier and Wright. We are the civil engineers for the developer. So the other entrance for the development will be a Wright in, Wright out only entrance. There is a median in the center of the road that will prevent full access for that driveway. So anyone utilizing that entrance will be either coming eastbound on Turner to turn right into the development or coming out of the development, turning right onto Turner. I will say that the existing speed limit on Turner Parkway is 40 miles an hour, I believe. So there would need to be a larger consideration with the city traffic department about whether or not they have the ability to adjust the speed limit for the road, which is a larger consideration of average speeds on the road and what kind of traffic volumes need to be met with the roadway.

Thank you for that. So city staff, anything you want to offer up on that? Because it's a big issue for me.

Well, he's exactly right that it is a right in and right out only so that reduces the conflicts with the opposing lane. That being said, you know, better traffic enforcement is really the only way we're going to get adherence to traffic laws. And so we can, you know, certainly look at reducing the speed limit and we'll, you know, do what we can and get it down. But there is, you know, there are traffic rules that traffic engineers have to live within. And so if it's, if that If the design speed is so high that the 85th percentile user, they're the person who kind of determines what that speed limit sign needs to say. But within that, we have some latitude.

Okay. So I just want to make sure that that is accounted for. I made the comments on the multipurpose space that I would want to see, that I would like for you guys to consider in that subdivision. And part of my rationale there is we have to make sure that these communities, these planned developments are areas where folks can not just live, but they can play and do all the things as opposed to having to hop on a car to drive to a park to be active. So I would love for you to consider that outside of the park. To the broader comments that have been made this evening, I brought all this stuff up when we were talking about Vista Cove maybe a month or two ago. We can say that this is also, we can say, you know, city staff and city staff should have training. And I agree with that to some extent, but I will also say that it is the responsibility of the city council to prioritize uh affordable housing and to make sure that they're directing staff to put those policies in place and clearly i mean this goes back 10 years uh the previous councils did not prioritize that because if they would have prioritized it we would have had those policies in place and we would have been collecting that in lieu revenue to then be able to deal with the financing piece. So I think that there needs to be shared responsibility around this issue. I don't think it needs to be exclusively falling on city staff because, you know, I guess my question to you two is, if the council in July tells you, we want you guys to prioritize development, what does that mean?

To prioritize? I think that means to help facilitate as much as we can.

And if I'm not really being specific and I'm not telling you, hey, I actually want you to prioritize affordable housing development and I'm just telling you prioritize development, what would you take it as?

All development.

development so you know I've been a resident here for some time now and I would remember past councils come up and say push through as much development as you can and that was the message over and over again to generate revenue for the city now should we have been focused on attracting businesses instead instead of just putting it on the backs of residential development probably But we didn't do that and now we have a situation where any piece of land that's left, folks are coming in and we don't have the money to help with the financing and they're just telling us you guys don't have a policy. So it's interesting because I go back to a presentation I saw maybe a year or two ago It was by the Housing Justice Coalition and they were talking about redlining and how that unfolded in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s here in Vallejo. And every single time these developments come forward, this council is reinforcing that. I mean, let's just be real. Because we don't have the money to really help support affordable housing development the housing development that is taking place is continuing to be concentrated in the eastern part of the city and there is no real large swath of land, probably outside of Mare Island, that is available for development elsewhere in the city. So we are, in effect, reinforcing things, decisions that were made in the past. That's just the reality and we have to stop sugarcoating it. So the question becomes, How do we decouple that? What are the specific actions we're gonna take? And what does shared responsibility look like, not just on city staff, but also on the city council? And how are we gonna hold developers accountable? I do agree with Council Member Latiju that to me it's not an acceptable response, and the Lewis Group was coming back for other projects, so we're gonna continue having that conversation. to say, well, you don't have a policy, so, I mean, it kind of is what it is. That's the same thing the Vista Cove developer said. If you want to have a relationship with the city of Vallejo, you have to understand its people, you have to understand the market, because otherwise, you're actively participating in displacement too. I mean, that's just a fact. You guys may be looking at it from a profit maximization standpoint, but if you're not really understanding community in that way, then there is shared responsibility that the council and the developer is participating in that is pushing people out of the city. We have to be real folks and stop playing games. So, I hope that we can have some serious conversations around this in July. One final question, which I asked you earlier today, can you come back up? One final question. So construction later this year and early in 27, air pollution, dust to residents along Foothill Drive. Tell me about how you've mitigated that with the Costco side of the project and how you intend to mitigate that with the residential subdivision because that's a concern that I have for my residents who live along that same street who has already been dealing with increased traffic because of Costco. So I want to make sure that you guys are being thoughtful when it comes to that next phase.

Yeah, there are a couple mitigation measures that are already in place. And we've addressed those. And when we put the grading permit for the Costco side of the work, there is desk control. And our contractor is required to submit a construction management plan to planning to review prior to issue into the grading permit. So yeah, we have water trucks that are following The grading equipment and then kind of just keeping it wet so there's less dust in the air. Things like idling of large grading equipment. It can't sit there for a long time if it's not being used. So when the equipment's not being used, it gets shut off and so it's not putting out emissions. Just, yeah, while it's sitting idle. And then other things that we've... Yeah, street sweeping, for example, to prevent any track out of the site. And these are all part of that construction management plan that we submit prior to getting our grading permit. And we did that with the Costco site currently. And then when we go to construct the residential side, we'll also submit a construction management plan along those lines.

Okay. And I actually, this is my final comment. I actually appreciate that you elevated some of the issues that we've actually had to deal with on that site. So I've been in office for a little over a year. There has been fires. There has been reported crime. Maybe the public doesn't know about it, but it is true. There were encampments and that became a big issue through 2025. And so I do think that It is important to activate the site for a whole host of reasons. This is not perfect. And I wish I would have been a part of some of the conversations 10 years ago, but I was not here. So I can only work with what's in front of me. And so I look forward to continuing the conversation with you guys and would love for you to take all the things that have been shared this evening into account as you move forward. And some of the other conversations, they'll be continued because you still have more stuff coming in front of us. So thank you. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Matulak.

you mayor and uh thank you danny and thank you staff for the presentation um i think my colleagues kind of spoke to a lot of the um concerns and issues with the housing so i think that's obviously a deeper dive in a conversation with us as a council and and what is our vision that we need to speak to and how we how we're going to implement that so i'm gonna i i think we've kind of discussed that ad nauseum but i'd like to kind of talk about the um economic portion of it and the commercial part of the project of it. Could you kindly confirm once again, when is the ribbon cutting for the Costco that's scheduled to happen?

They are targeting October, November of this year.

October, November of this year. And because of the visibility of where this construction and where this project is, I think people just passing on 80 and just people passing through Vallejo are going to identify this as a potential or, I don't know, I don't even want to use the word potential. It is an economic boon for the city of Vallejo. So I would like to make sure that we're on track and on schedule to beat that November timeframe on that. And if there's any delays or anything like that, I'd like to have that brought to our attention so that we can understand what the cause of the delays are, whatever that may be, to where we can hopefully mitigate that sooner rather than later type of deal. So from the, and right now along, it's a one-way street right now. And can you give us a timeframe of when that is gonna be upgraded and moved to, opened up to a two lane?

Yeah, so right now we do have the northbound lane closed and we are targeting late June paving for at least the first lift of pavement to allow us to open up at least a single northbound lane and a single southbound lane.

And when is it scheduled to be a four lane?

That'll be in October when the road's completed because we still have, there's a bottleneck at the south end where the bridge construction is ongoing. So once that's completed, we'll complete the work around it leading up to the bridge connection and then we'll be able to open up all four lanes. at that point thank you for that and for the pads for the um smaller retail places one one of those expected or scheduled to be um up and running yeah we're currently working on the site work for the northern retail portion um the pad is targeting delivery sometime in september october of this year which is the raising canes pad and then at that point they probably have about a five four or five month build out um so they're that's likely an early 27 opening for raising canes And then on the Wells Fargo building, we are building the shell, which is the exterior of the building for that. And then they'll likely take possession sometime in October, November, and then have a few months build out as well. So I think all the tenants on that northern portion is likely a early 27 opening.

Appreciate that information. And in full transparency, I was invited to take a job site walk with Danny. This happened last week, and he gave me a better understanding of some of these time frames. Could you help us understand when is Costco, their construction team, supposed to start working on their phase of the project? They're looking to start next week. okay so they're going to start that next week so so pretty so it sounds like we're moving very quickly with the rest of this project and at least from the commercial side that's going to be quick um obviously by the by the fourth quarter of this year that's going to be opened up and and providing a lot of income um sales into sales tax for the city of leo okay correct thank you for that thank you

Councilmember Gordon. Yes, hello. Can I ask if we can come back up please? Or even traffic. As you know from the very beginning I have been concerned about that particular street, especially since Safeway has closed down. the community who live in the residence of the apartments on the side of Safeway where it was located have been forced to walk on that property before in the street. And although I'm grateful that you did close down the street and put a divider there, but it was not created a safe walk place. And I have photos and I've sent to staff videos of people WHO ARE AT WAS AT RISK SO I HEAR YOU TO SAY THAT YOU'RE GOING TO FOR THE RETAIL COMPONENT ARE YOU GOING TO ADD A WALK PATH NUMBER ONE AND NUMBER TWO WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PUT THE CEMENT TO I MEAN TO PUT THE SIDEWALK DOWN BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THE BUS CAN'T GO THAT WAY THAT'S THAT'S HOW THEY WERE GETTING TO TARGET AND GETTING TO to wherever they need in that shopping center. But right now, they're forced to walk on the premises of the dirt and They can only go so far because like you said, there is some type of a wetland area between the car dealership and your property. So people are very limited. They have to walk in the street before they can get to the dirt area. What are we doing? Because I did mention that to the person who was kind enough to give me a call. I really want you to take that serious. We don't want somebody to get hurt before we take it serious. It would be still a liability on yourself if they're on your property. you know, just to get to Target.

Yeah, we are improving that condition and we are adding a sidewalk basically from connecting to the existing sidewalk that's in front of the Honda dealership all the way to the north to the connection at Turner Parkway and Admiral Callahan. And that concrete will be poured but by late June, which is when we're gonna be paving that first lift of pavement. And safety is always in the forefront of everything that we do. We wanna always pay attention to that as well.

So can I ask for right now, until you do do that, can you please create a walkway whether it's, you know, you have two cement blocks going all the way down. Can you please create a walk area while you are in the process of your construction work?

so that that is a concern that we've had is like just the the proximity to the construction zone um but yeah we can we'll work with our contractors and see what we can do and then also work with our traffic engineer with the city and just we'll look at that as a whole but yeah we we are our goal is to get our sidewalk down and get that open as soon as we can i appreciate that thank you thank you

All right. Well, thank you again. I'm going to go ahead and get a motion on this item.

Yes, Mayor, I move that we hold a public hearing to consider and one, adopt a resolution approving an addendum to the previously certified Fairview at Northgate project, environmental impact, EIR, pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15162 and impact, and 15164. to introduce an ordinance amending the Fairview at Northgate master plan PD 24-0002 to increase the number of residential dwelling units from 178 to 245 and amending the zoning map PLN 25-0110 to change the zoning district from the subject project or property located at the corner of Admiral Callahan Lane and Turner Parkway from Regional Commercial APNs 0069-048-040 and all the way to 050 and residential medium density RMD APN 0069-048-030 to plan development PD and three adopt a resolution approving a vesting tentative map amendment TM 24-0002 development review DVR 24-0021, Design Review DR 24-0008, and Landscape Review LR 24-0015 for development of the Fairview at Northgate project.

All right, and we're ready to vote.

Motion carries unanimously.

All right, thank you very much. All right, thank you all. We don't have any information items this evening, so that will move us to item 11, city manager's report. Welcome to our interim city manager, Black. Do you have anything to report this evening? And it's the bottom button, yep.

testing. Just real quick. Obviously, I just want to, to once again, you know, thank you all for the opportunity to serve as the interim city manager. It means a lot to me. This is the kind of community that I enjoy serving. I identify with it. And I look forward to working with you all and staff in terms of moving the city forward and meeting some of these challenges that are in front of us. So again, thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you very much. Item, all right. All right. Item 12, that'll bring us to our city attorney's report. Go ahead.

No report this evening.

All right, that brings us to item 13, our community forum. This is for anyone wishing to address the council on items not on our agenda this evening who did not speak at our first forum. It doesn't appear that we have anyone in person, so let's check and see if we have any speakers online.

To the mayor, yes, we do currently have two speakers online. All right, let's go ahead and call them. First speaker, phone number adding in 090. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Hello, yes. I'm really glad I'm not speaking to you at 1 in the morning tonight. So just one quick thing. Since there's so much restriction on public comment these days, It's kind of aggravating that people use it as free advertisement for things when there are serious issues going on in the city that citizens need to address. So I would like to discuss the latest in the Broadway project disaster. I sent you an email on this. I don't know if you've read it, but after years of delay and massively over budget with having to pilfer measure P funds and use opioid settlement funds in less than six months, The operator firm foundation is laying off staff and shutting down a mid creditor intervention. Even former mayor McConnell said this project is a financial catastrophe. So let's look at other unsuccessful city projects. That's the enormous land giveaway of historic New Orleans to a billionaire now backtracking on his building commitments. The staff sale of 75 acres of blue rock Springs for 400,000, which is the less, less than the cost of one house. And only after public outcry was there a new profit sharing agreement. after the developer advertised the land for $18 million just eight months later. The staff purchase of the Water Department House at the height of market in 2022, reason given to the public it was a safety measure against terrorist attack, it is still not used. The Herbert House, despite consistent and active citizen advocacy to sell the donated Victorian to a business interest with the funds to restore and make a profitable business, complement the vallejo waterfront staff has willfully ignored the desire of the community refused to create a zoning and rfp to encourage private investment staff influence council to take a lease on the farragut school we're paying for security for that it's currently empty staff changing zoning for downtown without properly holding hearings staff suggesting the possibility of a casino on north mayor island even though the city specifically eliminated the option Speaking of the casino, while residents spoke up at council meetings last year against the supportive letter to the federal government regarding Scott Valley, recently staff resubmitted the council and got their agreement to support services for the trailer casino. This has resulted in a lawsuit by the Lytton Casino, citing Vallejo illegally extended municipal services to the federal land trust outside its jurisdiction. So all of these unsatisfactory staff projects and more have a common denominator, and that is Assistant City Manager Gillian Haynes. Ms. Hayne continues to carry out unethical and ostensibly illegal projects that are against the voice wishes of the citizenry and the good of the city financially. There are some examples of the malfeasance and incompetence that require the immediate removal of Assistant City Manager Hayne, and I request that you insist on her resignation. The City of Vallejo cannot support the waste and abuse under her tenure any longer, especially when dealing with a significant deficit. There is no current need for two Assistant City Managers. Keeping staff that continues to make such costly mistakes is negligent and completely unacceptable. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

We had another hand or two go up during that portion. Next speaker, Jessica Lozano, please unmute yourself.

You have the floor.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and community members. My name, as previously stated, is Jessica Lozano, and I'm currently the Participatory Budgeting Chair. Let me first state how wonderful it is that our city has issued tonight's proclamations. These communities are important and integral to our city, so I was really happy about that. I'm here tonight to remind you all of the important and tangible impact of the Participatory Budget Steering Committee in our city. This committee has already shown what is possible when residents are given a real voice in shaping our city. Through this process, we've seen meaningful projects funded that directly serve our community, including community gardens, Meals on Wheels, the Youth Firefighter Academy, STEAM after-school programs, span-neuter services, and renovations at the Florence Douglas Senior Center. Those are just a few. And these are not abstract ideas. These are real investments that improve quality of life for seniors, families, youth, and neighborhoods across our city. Sorry, I'm tired. And PB ensures that our diverse community members continue to have a seat at the table and a direct role in identifying the needs that matter most. It builds trust, it increases transparency, and strengthens civic engagement by showing residents that their voices can lead to tangible results. And this is especially true in our youth. I'm a teacher at Jesse Bethel High School. Even if I wasn't chair, even if I wasn't part of PB, I would bring PB to my students because it's where they get to voice their opinions. They get to voice what the city needs, especially on the east side and the north side where there's a lot of residential building, but not enough places for kids to hang out and just do things. Participatory budgeting works because it keeps decision making connected to the people most impacted by those decisions. I encourage the council to continue supporting this process and preserving a space where residents can collaborate and contribute ideas and help shape the future of our city. However, it can only work with the cooperation of city staff and the city manager and support has been severely lacking the past few years. And so if there's a way to remedy that, that would be awesome. And I do welcome everyone to participate in our current idea collection phase by going to our website or meeting us in person at city events. Thank you so much for your time and your commitment to our community.

Thank you very much.

Last, oh, another hand went up. Next speaker, Melvin Cowan, please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Yes, thank you. I really appreciate tonight's conversation. Very enlightening. And so my name is Melvin Cowan. I'm a Vallejo resident and founder and principal of Enough Housing. So I want to speak tonight not only as a resident and advocate, but as an affordable housing developer. as someone deeply connected to regional and national development networks. And through organizations like Urban Planning, Urban Land Institute, the Black Developers Forum, American Planning Association, CORO, and others, I've worked to encourage planners, developers, architects, investors, and housing professionals to see the potential of Vallejo. I've brought colleagues here. Some have walked sites with me directly. I've even explored the possibility of bringing a ULI technical assistance panel process to North Vallejo to help generate actionable recommendations around housing, economic development, and community revitalization. And I also want to acknowledge that there are people within the city and broader community who have been incredibly supportive, collaborative, and committed to moving Vallejo forward. I'm thankful. That support has really mattered and I genuinely appreciate it. And at the same time, I think it's important to speak honestly about some of the challenges many developers and housing practitioners experience here. before I ever pursued development work in Vallejo. I was warned by multiple professionals not to focus here because they viewed the city as difficult to navigate from a development standpoint. I resisted that perspective because I believe deeply in Vallejo and its potential. But over time, I personally experienced delays, unclear processes, inconsistent communication, and difficulties navigating collaboration across departments that created real financial strain and uncertainty. For example, I was advised that I needed to retain an architect before meaningfully engaging with planning staff. That was not my experience in Fairfield or Oakland. For mission-driven affordable housing developers, especially those interested in deeply affordable housing development, Those early soft costs can be significant and are not always recoverable. And I know I'm not alone. I've spoken with developers, including some from Vallejo, who have chosen not to pursue projects here because of prior experiences. And so I say this not to criticize the city, but because Vallejo is at an important moment. If we truly want affordable housing, revitalization, equitable development and long term investment, then we need to continue improving how the city engages people who are trying to bring resources, partnerships and solutions to the community. Being developer friendly does not mean lowering standards or ignoring community concerns. It means creating clear pathways, consistent communication, collaborative problem solving, and a culture of professionalism and partnership because cities compete not just for funding but for trust, relationships, expertise, and long-term investment. I remain committed to Vallejo. I still believe in this community, but I also believe there is an opportunity for honest reflection and meaningful improvements that can help Vallejo become a place where responsible affordable housing and economic development efforts are welcomed and able to succeed. Thank you all.

Thank you.

Okay. Next speaker, Anne C. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

I'm back, Council Anne Carr. And welcome to the new city manager, Mr. Black. So I want to raise an issue tonight about a growing encampment of RV campers in the old CVS slash dollar store parking lot on Sonoma Boulevard. On Sunday morning, there were six derelict RVs there. On Sunday afternoon, 11. Then by the end of today, yesterday, there were 12 with a tent camp along the building and an abandoned car with a pile of trash next to it. And I raise this because the concentration of the unhoused in particularly in District 4 and then the District 4, District 5 border really has, it has so harmed the community and it has decimated business along Sonoma Boulevard. We've had so many business closures from Denny's, Raley's, Starbucks, Carl Jr., Payless Shoes, CVS, Dollar Store, The Faux Restaurant, and the flooring store. And you cannot expect business to want to locate to an area where there are high levels of shoplifting and basically lawlessness by the unhoused. So VLEO is not a public campground. And I think we need to get more serious about how we approach things. There has always been a lot of people who express compassion for the unhoused, but there's also 120,000 residents here who are housed and paying taxes, and there's a high impact on businesses and residents. I would like to see a faster response when these encampments show up. I've taken pictures of all these campers. Most of them don't even have a license plate, let alone current registration. And I would like to see the city look at what other cities in California have done, and that is to make public camping a misdemeanor. It does a couple of things. One is it provides a record of the interaction and it provides the ability to enforce consequences and maybe some leverage to encourage people that they need to move along. If they don't want to live in conventional housing, that's their prerogative, but they can't just live on the street. And I challenge the notion that leaving these encampments in place is a sign of compassion. I think it creates squalor, it encourages lawlessness, and it's bad for everybody else too. Thank you. So please take a look at that.

All right. Thank you. Any other speakers?

Thank you. Yes, we do have two more speakers. And Crystal Gallegos, please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Yes, back again. And I just want to start with what we heard earlier today. The elderly resident who spoke very briefly, that his rent has doubled. I really hope someone reaches out to him or that they connect with us here at BHJC because it's not just a side note. We're seeing that this is the increasing reality that folks are living in while our renter protections here sit in limbo. And we know that each month of delay, another family like we heard tonight has pushed closer to that edge. And I also want to respond to the caller who raised concerns about the RVs on Sonoma. Criminalizing people for being unhoused is not the answer. What she described is exactly what happens when rents skyrocket and people are displaced. People just don't end up in RVs because they want to. They end up there because they've been priced out of a city that has zero protections. So if we really want fewer encampments, we need fewer evictions. And I hope we can all agree there. We need real tenant protections. We don't need a punitive decision. We don't need punishments, right? So that really brings me why I'm here tonight. Five months ago, this very council here voted to bring the Shaw group to review serious publicly reported allegations about the city attorney's office. Allegations about how police misconduct records were handled and whether staff who raised concerns faced any retaliation. So these are the kinds of issues that require an independent review to protect both the public and the integrity of the office itself. And the proposal, the Shaw proposal, the one you approved about 30 days ago, to determine whether or not 30 days ago long time ago we're five months in and the public's heard nothing no update no findings no timelines and this silence isn't helping our community also doesn't help the city attorney's office either it leaves all of us in a holding pattern at this exact moment when our city needs clear trustworthy governance to move our tenant protections forward and rebuild this public confidence that continues to be shuttered and delayed and delayed. So I'm asking really directly and respectfully, release the Shaw Group law findings or give the public a clear update with the timeline. And of course, move our tenant protections forward without more delay because people paying the price for the inaction and secrecy are the same people every time. The connections are very clear here. Our elders that we heard from today, our working class folks we hear from all the time and communities of color who can't absorb any more harm. Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you. Final speaker, Linda Daniels, please unmute yourself. You have the floor. Linda Daniels, please unmute yourself. Oh, she dropped her hand down.

all right right well with that we'll close our second community forum and that'll bring us to item 14 request and actions for future agenda items special projects um councilmember gordon

Good evening. I am making a request. As you probably know that the past weekend, unfortunately, was the 10-year anniversary of Pearl Pinson's disappearance. I would like to ask my colleagues to help support me to direct our ICM TO HONOR A DAY TO RECOGNIZE PEARL. THEY DID DO A MEMORIAL FOR HER, BUT WE WANT TO KEEP THE STORY MOVING. I WROTE A LETTER ON THIS REQUEST TO OUR CITY CLERK AND OUR ICM SO THAT THEY CAN FORWARD IT TO YOU TO MORE IN DEPTH OF WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT. I KNOW THAT WE HAVE MADE MANY OTHER REQUESTS AROUND THIS AREA. but we want the family to know that Pearl is not forgotten and she will not ever be forgotten. The second, oh, do I have to make a wait on that one? Okay, so let me wait. So I'm asking this request.

Well, I'm going to check because I know that there's a process in place already working with the family. I don't know if we need to vote on something. Is there something specific that you're requesting that be agendized for the city council?

Maybe the CM can clarify what my ask is, because I spoke to him about it earlier. You're referring to, I believe, the naming of the bridge and also to put a memorable on the sidewalks, but I'm asking for a particular day of recognition.

Testing. It sounds like you're requesting

exploration of the possibility of establishing a commemorative day that is correct which I think is similar I yeah and I I don't know that we I think we would have to look at our policy around that and put it through the right channel but it might be

it might make more sense to follow up through the process we already have going rather than start a new one but I'll defer to the city manager on that well we're as staff we're prepared to approach this however way you would like us to approach it I mean uh we can look at it in the context of any existing City policy or process and get back to you with with with what what the options might be in the event that this body would like to do something in that regard and implications or whatever the case might be.

Should we vote on that right now? Or are we okay just bringing it back? Yeah, I think we can just come back as is.

yeah yeah yeah yeah we can just look into it and whatever we come up with we'll share with the the entire council and then based on what that is you can let us know if you would desire us to do anything else or or not uh but we just need to look into what what it would entail and it and it's uh alignment with whatever the any current policies or processes are for something like that.

THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE THAT. WE DEFINITELY WANT TO DO SOMETHING IN HONOR OF THE FAMILY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. APPRECIATE THAT. AND MY SECOND ASK THEN, MAYBE THIS IS NOT THE PLACE, BUT IF IT'S NOT, YOU CAN HELP ME. AS YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A FIRE IN DISTRICT 6, GRANT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. I WENT BY THERE YESTERDAY AND and I do feel the community emotions regarding the property and but however i'm also concerned because the property has been condemned for uh health reasons and now because of the fire the structure is um it's not safe either but people are are uh on the property and you know spreading their emotions and adding signage and whatnot but it is dangerous so I'm asking if if we could add some safety signage to that property to and tape it off so people do not continue to do so which they have been And this was brought up to me by the residents as well. It's a lot of trafficking in the community as well. Um, so maybe if you could, I know I sent this notice to you, but I want to do it properly, you know, through the, through all seven of us.

I can double check, but it's my understanding in discussions with the fire chief earlier today that they've taken steps and measures to cordon off that location from a safety perspective, but I can confirm that that in fact did take place today.

Thank you. I did speak to him earlier today, so I do appreciate that. But just so my colleagues are aware, the fire started at 1 something in the morning, and the community is emotional about it as well. So we're not sure what happened, but we did know that it had a prior health condition to it before the fire took place. And then during the fire, the fire chief shared with me that there was a lot of, you know, human waste in the property as well. So thank you. I appreciate your help in that. So I guess that's nothing for me.

Okay. Council Member Bergenzer.

I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THERE'S NOTICES UP ON TENNESSEE STREET WHERE APPARENTLY WE'RE MOVING THREE CROSSWALKS ON TENNESSEE STREET. THE STATE OF REASONING ON THE NOTICE IS BECAUSE THERE'S BEEN TOO MANY PEDESTRIAN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS. And yet we're removing the crosswalks instead of taking precautions to make sure that accidents don't happen. I mean, it seems to me it's idiotic that we would remove the crosswalks and force people to just cross willy-nilly across the street instead of having a specific crosswalks that we can monitor, put up lights or flashing lights or whatever we need to do to make that street safer. But removing the crosswalks is not the answer. So whoever made that decision, I feel like we need to talk about that first and make sure that that's something that the council wants to do. before we just remove these crosswalks. I know that Council Member Palmares did speed tables on Wilson. I did speed tables on Tuolumne Street. Your comments about making sure that traffic slows down, and yet we're just allowing the crosswalks to be removed and letting the speed just take over instead of bringing laws back. I would like that to be discussed before those crosswalks are removed permanently from Tennessee Street, if that can be.

Yes, so we'll follow up on that. I agree if that is in fact the case that does seem somewhat irrational. But we'll look into that and provide some follow-up information to the council.

Yeah, and I would like that follow-up to happen before the crosstalks are removed. If the crosstalks are removed and then it comes back with an explanation that they're already removed, that's typically what happens in the city. So I'm specifically requesting that it happens before.

We've got a few listening ears from a staff perspective in the chambers and out of the chambers, and I concur with you. We will... Follow up, look into it, get back to you all in terms of what the actual situation is all the way around.

Okay, thanks. Council Member Matias.

So I would like to motion to reconsider an item. We had a long conversation about the GBRD Public Safety Grant and I know that staff has done a lot of work from the moment we voted that item down to today. So I just wanna make sure we give them the time and space to reconsider that additional information that they've prepared, not committing to vote anyway, but I do want us to start that process so they can come back and present to us.

Okay, I don't think that the vote's needed. I think that's noted and can go on a future agenda.

No, I was told that a vote is needed. A vote is needed.

No, someone that voted in the majority can just request to bring it back. That's all that's needed.

I motion that we bring it back. I voted yes to have the $300 set aside for the safety.

It would be somebody that, this is fine. You requesting it, that's enough. I think we can just put it on an agenda.

Well, the reconsideration item is what would have to go on the agenda, yes. So you can't take the reconsideration item from it not being on the agenda. It has to actually be on the agenda. So we can bring it back on the agenda for reconsideration. And that reconsideration motion would, as you correctly stated, have to be made by someone on the prevailing side.

So we can vote on that motion right now, or we have to agendize it? It has to be agendized. So we'll agendize that as a nightmare. All right. We'll agendize that at the next meeting to then reconsider at the following meeting after that, which sounds like it's our only option.

Go ahead, city manager.

It's the bottom one. Okay, that really is unfortunate. Council Member Palmares.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to make a referral for a housing strategy. We just talked about that not that long ago. So it doesn't have to be all the bells and whistles, but, you know, at least some sort of living document where we're thinking about and having plans and strategies for how to get all the housing. That's all. Do we need to get a vote on that before we go to the next step or?

Yeah, Council Member Letajue and I are debating if we already have something similar in the pipeline.

Do we? What do we have?

It's on the tractor. it it has been requested over the period that i've been sitting on this dais did i do it and it no it has been requested the point of the matter is when will it come forward and i think that's really the question it is there okay yeah but i'm just saying it's there i just didn't know if it was there that's all okay so if i may add to that uh we're

reaffirming that this is a priority. What I mean by that is this referral list. And so we'll be going through the entire list and contemporizing it, for lack of a better description. So we'll be looking at everything and how we can get that list down to zero. BY ADDRESSING EACH OF THE ITEMS IN SOME FORM OR FASHION. YEAH.

THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER LETTER G.

So, thank you, because that's one of the requests I was going to make, is how do we have a formalized process around the tracker, go through it, and I guess it would come to goal setting or whatever the case may be. Because there are many things that have not been done that have dissed that. that we continue to circle around and we need a way to say, this is what's here, all of your requests are here, and let's begin to prioritize those requests and have a way to show what the disposition is of all those requests. So you're addressing it.

Yeah, we will start that, I mean, spelling out the best terminology, but we will start that cleanup process next week. It'll be a standing agenda item as a part of my weekly executive team meeting. And we will be going through the entire list, not going to get it all done overnight, but we will be spending time on it every week until we get it to where we believe it ought to be. If that's helpful to you. Sure.

So my other thing is that I'd like there to be consideration around how we are agendizing items. TODAY WE HAVE A TWO-STEP PROCESS THAT'S BEEN, I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG IT'S BEEN IN EXISTENCE, BUT WE NEED TO FIND A BETTER WAY AROUND AGENDIZING. SO I'M ASSUMING THAT BETWEEN THE CITY MANAGER, THE MAYOR, AND THE VICE MAYOR, THAT WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A MUCH BETTER PROCESS TO MOVE THE ORGANIZATION FORWARD. THAT'S MY SECOND THING. MY THIRD THING IS THAT I WANT TO SEE THE STREET SWEEPING PROGRAM operation our streets are not being properly swept there are no signs that they were taken down I guess during I don't know what why they were taken down and the prior city manager and I had conversation about it it's an operation issue it is not a policy issue so I would like to say to the city manager could you please look at our sweet sweeping program do whatever it takes to begin to move that program along get the signs back up have a can't run a campaign around starting in certain areas until we have gotten it up around the whole entire city where wherever we've done it in the past so that our streets get swept and cleaned BECAUSE IT'S RIDICULOUS. OUR CITY IS FILTHY, TO BE VERY HONEST. I'VE ASKED FOR THERE TO BE POWER WASH. WE HAVE A LIBRARY, AND WHILE IT DEFINITELY NEEDS TO BE REVITALIZED, REHABS, AND I KNOW THAT'S A COUNTY THING, BUT I'VE ASKED, HOW OFTEN DOES THE CARPETS GET CLEANED? in that facility how the facility is kept how we power wash around the city hall the library we have families that bring their children so forth and on so I'm asking again can that be looked into the answer is yes thank you all right Vice Mayor Matulak

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to put a request in for an update of the police department. Where are we at with the design? And especially since we're approaching the budget portion of it, I want to make sure we've got where we are funding-wise and how we're going to move this forward because it sounds like we're going to be very challenged with a lot of that and this being a very critical recruitment portion for our VPD. I want to make sure that this doesn't get installed.

We can answer those questions as a part of the budget process coming up. I mean, the answer is, you hit the nail on the head. We are already in a funding crunch. That crunch, you know, I want to be optimistic because I am optimistic, but I got to be realistic at the same time. That crunch you know we're going to go through a long range financial planning process in which we're going to grab the bull by the horns as time transpires that crunch becomes tighter uh... and so i don't know what's been budgeted for the police this project if anything at all uh... but you're talking a lot of money and i think we're gonna have to be very realistic The way that we're going to set this up for you all from a long-range financial planning standpoint is we're going to set up a whole menu of decisions, and they're mostly going to be hard decisions. Okay? So that's what's coming. With the great work of staff, proud of my getting here in terms of finance, city manager's office, putting together this balanced budget, it's not structurally balanced, but it's balanced. That buys us some time, not a lot. I've said a lot only to say that that would be a part of the budget approval conversation, and then ultimately a part of the long-range financial plan conversation.

Thank you for that clarification. Because to update you, we allocated a whole bunch more money just to get to design development drawings. So we haven't even gotten to permit drawings. We haven't gotten to construction drawings. So from that standpoint, I mean, I'm not even talking construction yet. So this is where I want to have a better understanding of We can't even get to the completion of this project.

Precisely, precisely. And so the good thing is that you haven't hit construction yet. Yes. That's the good thing. So again, there's going to be some interesting conversations. We're going to, you know, we will be engaging this whole thing with a sense of seriousness and urgency, but yet hopefulness at the same time.

VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THAT. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. WITH THAT, WE ARE GOING TO MOVE ON TO REPORT OF PRESIDING OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. I'LL SEE IF ANY COLLEAGUES HAVE REPORTS. COUNCILMEMBER GORDON.

YES. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. ONCE AGAIN, IT WAS AN HONOR TO PARTICIPATE AT THE VISIT WITH OUR CITY MANAGER. I mean, I was surprised that he was able to go in because he was being pulled left and right. People were excited to meet him, and so we're very grateful that he took the time to participate in that particular event. I had the honors to recognize the legacy of Bernard J. Tyson for the Vallejo Medical Center. Kaiser Permanente did a beautiful job. THEY NAMED A STREET AFTER HIM ON THEIR PREMISES AND THE FAMILY, I CAN TELL, WAS REALLY GRATEFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY, BUT THEY WERE EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO THE CITY OF VALLEJO, TO MY COLLEAGUES, TO THE MAYOR, because we honored them with a recognition of a declaration so they were truly grateful for that and it was well attended by not only the city of Vallejo but also the staff of Vallejo was there and I was just really emotional because I met him personally. I was treated horrible when I was through Kaiser, and I called everybody, and as everybody knows, I'm going to get to the top. And I got to the top, which was him, and he wanted to know what wasn't working, and he met with me multiple times for hours because he truly cared about everyone being treated respectfully. AND SO ANYWAYS, I ALSO HAD THE HONORS TO SIT WITH THE PB, WHICH I'M VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE CHAIR TO CALL IN. THANK YOU FOR THAT. I DO HAVE A REPORT ONLINE FOR THAT AS WELL AS SISTER CITIES. and we will be meeting with beautification next week and so trans we are moving forward to meet the needs of the community as you know the scheduling will be changing in august so if you want to be involved please they have a survey online correct right is that correct mayor that was survey online just to make sure i said that right oh it might have closed Yeah, just to clarify for you.

They're having a whole series of outreach events, though.

Thank you. So please participate. If you have any voice that you want to say regarding Soul Trans, please participate and let your voice be known. The service will be changing in August. So that is my report for right now.

Vice Mayor Matulik.

Thank you, Mayor. Going through my schedule, what I was able to do on Wednesday the 20th, once again, I want to thank Danny Liu and the Lewis Group for allowing me to do a site visit with the Costco Fairview project. On the 21st, we had our Surveillance Advisory Board meeting and had very much continue robust conversations regarding some privacy concerns with a lot of some of the electronics and stuff like that. So, and on the 20th, on Sunday, the 24th, I want to thank Council Member Matias and I, we had the honor to have a lunch with the Society of the Crown of the Divine Holy Ghost. I want to thank President Janet Vera O'Gara, Secretary Lorinda Fortuna, and Laura Dutch, my colleague that works with the Vallejo City Unified School District who's the principal at Vallejo Adult School for helping us This being our first visit during this ceremony, it's a Portuguese church where they're very prominent and they had a great ceremony celebrating or honoring Queen Elizabeth or Queen Isabel, sorry, Queen Isabel for it's a history thing that started back in the Azores from that. And then on Memorial Day, I want to thank Nestor Liga, who always sets up these, the Memorial Day ceremonies, the one at nine o'clock and 11 o'clock. Council Member Matias and Council Member Palmares and I attended the 9 a.m. session. And then at the 11 o'clock one, obviously the mayor was there and Council Member Matias, Palmares and Ledejew were also there. And so we want to thank former Vice Mayor Virgilio for being the MC of the nine o'clock session and Selena Perez, who's a veteran and the CEO of First Chance Vallejo of being the MC of the 11 o'clock session.

All right, Council Member Matias.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to add, in addition to everything that's been shared, I had the opportunity to attend an event with Supervisor Cassandra James this past Friday. The Success Center, which has done a lot of tremendous work across the Bay Area, but most exclusively in the city of San Francisco, had an event at Manny's Steakhouse where they were able to demonstrate pieces of art, one of which will sit at Manny Steakhouse, others of which they're looking to find homes across the city of Alejo. But mostly it wasn't just an event to highlight those pieces, but also to introduce their organization to the city of Alejo and the upcoming work they will be doing around workforce development, which is a key component of our economic development strategy. And so I just want to thank um miss jackson for the invitation uh miss uh sakwa for the invitation as well as supervisor james uh for partnering with me and um delivering remarks at that event friday afternoon and then um Yeah, I also got out to Hidden Brook. They had, I think it was two Saturdays ago. All these days are just blurring up. They had a huge garage sale, open house across their community. Over 80 homes participated. And they were selling all sorts of things in each of the homes. It was also a tremendous opportunity to just hear from the residents there in terms of their concerns and some of the things that they want to see move forward. And so much gratitude to the Hidden Brook community for inviting me into their homes. And I look forward to continuing the dialogue with folks up there, specifically around traffic calming, which I know I heard a year full of. SO THAT'S ALL I GOT. THANK YOU.

COUNCILMEMBER LETTIJU.

I KNOW COUNCILMEMBER BRICKENSER. WE'RE GOING TO BE DONE IN A MOMENT. SO THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. ON TOMORROW WITH VALLEJO POLICE DEPARTMENT ALONG WITH FAIRFIELD AND OUR SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS, THERE'S GOING TO BE meeting on human trafficking from 1 to 4 p.m. in our Vallejo room downstairs and so if you have time to stop by please do so but this is really a very important event and convening and it really is trying to get our DA and others on board to really have an intentional impact on human trafficking. And we're just going to really do a call to action around this work. The district attorney in Sacramento will be here And that individual is really involved in human trafficking. And you can do the work, but if your DA is not intentional and working alongside your police departments, it's really hard to get the work done. So this is going to be really important. If you have a moment or time to stop by, please do. It's 1 to 4. And there will be a panel that I'll be moderating from 2 to 3, I think, or 2.30 to 3.30 tomorrow. So thank you for your time.

All right, seeing none others, I will note to close this out that yesterday did mark 10 years since Pearl Pinson was abducted on the highway overpass over 780 at Lewis Ave. And her family held a beautiful vigil with family and friends to honor her. For those that haven't followed, the perpetrator is now deceased. and there has been no follow-up on her whereabouts or remains, and so the family is still seeking closure, and there was, you know, in addition to the tragic nature, there was also a lot of love and celebration of who she was as a person, and so I'm going to adjourn tonight's meeting at 11.26 p.m. in honor of Pearl Pinson.