Folsom City Council Regular Meeting

>> we are reconvening a special meeting for the folsom city council meeting. Does the city attorney have anything to report? >> no. >> in this case we will adjourn the special meeting and reconvene the regular meeting for tuesday, January 22, 2018. Call the roll, please? >> vice mayor sarah aquino, council member mike kozlowski, council member ernie sheldon, council member roger gaylord, and mayor kerri howell? >> here. >> if you will join me in the pledge of allegiance? >>I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> and, we have a revised -- some additional information from ida mae? Do we have any other updates for the agenda? Thank you, we move to business from the floor, that is the time when we allow the public to speak on matters not on the agenda. You have 3 minutes to do so. >> we have two speakers this evening, the first is Joanne followed by todd pfeffer. >> I am joann rauch, I am here representing mary robertson because she can no longer represent herself. You see, she was struck and killed while crossing the street as she did many mornings on her way to work, it was January 10, 2019, she was at the intersection of big valley, at the top, she was 27 years old. Her mother, marjorie winter, is here with me this evening. We are both folsom residents, before I state my intended reason for being here, I would like to thank the first responders and the folsom police responders for their professionalism. They have been gracious with the family at this time. Tragedy has a way of sharpening our vision, of clearing our complacency. In the days since the terrible morning, I have spent time, observing traffic at that specific intersection. People drive too fast. I believe the posted speed limit approaching the intersection is too high for the intersection. People push the yellow light to the point of it turning red, well before vehicles can clear the intersection. Many locals stated the same two observations to me, during observations we have had while standing out there. Specifically, they indicated that when making a left turn from big valley onto blue reviewed, it is wise to count to 10 before starting a turn, to allow for those light runners to clear the intersection. I even observed a cd vehicle driving recklessly through this area. It was traveling towards me on a side street. It veered right onto big valley without stopping at the stop sign, and then an immediate left turn onto blue ravine, pushing the yellow, and i watched, as the light turned red before his trailer clear the intersection. I immediately called the city manager's office, to complain. They put the appropriate department head in touch with me. Traveling southwest on blue ravine, you proceed through the intersection, and you ascend the hill as you approach big valley. You can only see the very top of the signal light as you crest the hill, this is well before you proceed to the point where you can actually see the crosswalk. Traveling northeast, you complete a sweeping left curve, that obscures the big valley signal until you're nearly upon it. On mary's behalf, I am now on a quest, I am on a mission, if you will. To make our streets safer, reduce speed, increase enforcement, and proof -- improve signal technology, at all of the intersections that require the upgrade, and to specifically enhance sign, flashing warning signals as drivers approach the intersection. The top of valley as blue ravine road. Matta mayor, I would like you to take these flowers home, I would like them to remind you of mary, yellow was her favorite color, rose was her favorite flower. I would like you to call me, or have the appropriate staff member to call me, to outline the following: to whom do I speak, what meetings do I need to attend, how do I achieve my stated objective, I put my contact information on the comment card. Thank you. >> I will have that on the traffic engineer and city manager's office hitting back to you. Thank you for the flowers, we will absolutely take a look at the intersection, and please take the flowers home. We are very, very sorry, I think I speak on behalf of the entire city. Thank you for being here, both of you. >> the next speaker is todd pfeffer. >> I sent a letter to the five of you, for which the city attorney responded denying my request, therefore I would like to read my letter, to have it part of public record. My letter was dated January 11, 2019, and sent to each of you that same day. I quote "the members of the city council, I am writing to request a public apology at the next regular meeting for the manner in which I was treated at the December 11 council meeting. I was interrupted while speaking during business from the floor, implying that I was violating established rules of decorum. Then, I was accused of attacking council member aquino. Council member sheldon was silenced and was told I would rather you not get into a debate with todd pfeffer, suggesting I wanted to get into a combative exchange. this seemed as if the mayor was unilaterally and arbitrarily suppressing my speech because she did not approve of what I was saying. I was embarrassed and humiliated when I turned from the podium and made my way to the exit. After I left the building, council member sheldon said during comment, it is a personal vendetta. I know the reason for that, mayor howell followed with I also know that being a personal vendetta. I have never discussed with either of them how I know council member aquino, nor the nature of our relationship. They obviously want the public to believe that my perception about council member aquino's actions, are baseless and stem from a grudge. Since nobody knew I would be attending the December 11 meeting, nor that I intended to speak, personal and private information about my past employment with the school district must have been shared with council member sheldon and mayor howell during the meeting. Clearly this is a breach of confidentiality, intended to portray me as a disgruntled former employee with a score to settle. The public is repeatedly informed that it is illegal for the council to give commentary, and by law, the council is not allowed to comment in response to statements made during business from the for it. For council member sheldon and mayor howell to disparage me in public, and me unable to defend myself, having no firsthand knowledge of my dealings with council member aquino, violates the pledge to treat the community with dignity and respect. I am not an elected representative the community, I should not be subjected to the public criticism from those who seek office. Since the webcast is uploaded to the internet and available for the world to view, I feel an apology is in order. Please let me know if you will honor my request. My wife and I plan to call folsom home for many years to come, I wish to maintain a positive and harmonious relationship with the city, sincerely yours, todd pfeffer ." a courtesy copy was provided to the city manager and city attorney. >> thank you. No other business from the for? >> no further requests to speak under the business of the four. >> for the next items, those other scheduled presentations. I'm going to ask the audience in general, would you prefer to hear an abbreviated state of the city address, first, or would you prefer to recognize the fulsome bulldogs? And you can go home, and you do not -- of course you can choose to watch it from the city's website if you want, and I believe a copy of the original presentation that was made at a chamber of commerce function is available should you want to watch the whole thing. Just show of hands, wants to see the bulldogs go first? i think we are all in agreement. If the council will join me down -- >> if I can ask members of the fulsome bulldogs football team to come up as well as the coaches, and line up here in front of the podium, that would be terrific. >> come on down. >> we are going to break this into a five-part deal, council member sheldon, who spent most of -- all of their lives on the parks commission, is going to start. >> this is nice to do this today, in this building. Because these guys owe me a lot because I've been watching them play for 30 years. They made a mistake because they let me go first, now I get to say what I want to say. This time that I am wearing was given to me by an ex-folsom high school graduate. I enjoy being out there, jack baker, all of those guys, some of those guys, walk up in the stadium stairs, but anyway, -- I was at home yelling at the tv because, that is okay. So, I have the first part of this. So, it is a resolution combination honoring the folsom high school for football team for their 2018 california interscholastic federationstate division I-aa football championship. Whereas the football team, once again, -- >> I am number 2. Congratulations, by the way. They steadily rolled through sierra football, it was -- it was pretty hard. san joaquin section, to ultimately emerge victorious with ranking number 7 in the nation, and number 4 in the state. Where is the championship team was led by the outstanding head coach chris richardson. >> whereas -- tyler harden was named as the defensive player of the year, and whereas 19 players were named to the all metro team, while 21 players were named to the sierra players all league team, and whereas coach richardson and players were successfully supported by a tale of assistant coaches that included sam cole, doug cosby, bobby -- , chris perry, paul doherty, ty wilson, jim noble, tim candles, justin peterson, and j reddick. >> whereas the players parents should be praised and thanked for their support, including countless hours spent cheering from the bleachers during all kinds of weather. Whereas a special thank you is extended to the principal, the school's students and countless fans, in folsom and beyond for the outstanding unwavering support of the team. >> therefore, I mayor howell, on behalf of the folsom city council and the citizens of the community, do hereby congratulate the folsom high school football's varsity team, on their state division 1- aa win, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors. We extend best wishes to coach richardson as he moves into his well-earned role at sacramento state. You guys were amazing this year, I am so proud each and every one of you. [Applause] So, the entire city is proud of you, and unfortunately I am not going to be able to go to the triple, but I am going to cross my fingers that the weather is good, and the full town comes out to applaud you guys, and you deserve every round of applause that they give you. Congratulations again. [Applause] >> on behalf of chris richardson, as the players here at folsom high school, on behalf of of the district -- , I would like to thank everybody, for this. It is an honor, it is quite a feat for this team, so we are very proud to represent folsom, we thank you very much for this. [Applause] >> congratulations. >> congratulations. >> the next item, it is going to be a significantly abbreviated state of the city. So, for the year 2018, this is one of my favorite things of the year, we get to talk about the great things that we did last year, and the good things that are coming up this year. So, last year we were named the 12th best city for finding a job in california. The 15th safest city in california, the seventh lowest uninsured rate in the nation, best place to raise a family in california, we were named one of the top 25 most livable small cities in the country, top 4% of cities with best money management skills, number 15 most livable small city in the united states, top 3% of cities with the lowest credit card debt, I do not know who puts that data together, but, we are also given a cool award by the greater sacramento economic council for paving the way, that was for basically being out in the forefront as far as economic development goes, and bringing good stuff to the city and the region. With regards to the economy, home sale prices are up nearly 10% over last year, the average home in -- the average sales point is $532,000, which was 9% over the same time last year. Employment in the city of folsom is now over 36,000 jobs for the first time, unemployment is 2.6%, which is the lowest in the region. The assessed value of all properties in folsom is $14,400,000,000, which is up from last year. Economic development and tourism, 2018 was a big year for infrastructure investment, and resources to support the economic development effort. In 2019, we are going to add more focus on increasing commercial office space, to meet the needs of businesses in the region, that is largely because our office vacancy rate has fallen below 6%, that is about the point we start to consider allowing the development and encouraging development of new office space. Folsom is leading the way, actually, in construction of multifamily housing units. There are nearly 1000 permits in place, and ongoing construction for apartments and rentals in folsom, that is important for increasing the availability of housing projects for those people that live and ideally work here. The city of folsom and the folsom economic corporation collaborated on a number of presentations to engage prospective employers, with folsom branding itself as the emerging tech hub for the region. Tech corpse actively working to develop multiple options for entrepreneurial space in folsom, and is slated for opening in 2019. Our tourism continues to thrive through me -- three main channels. We have a fair amount of this channels we have, more than 25 large arts and cultural events, we participate in regional tourism for those who want to come in and go skiing, or go on a wine country tour, there are some good deals that folsom hotels have for doing that. The tourism bureau expanded in their identification of significant gaps in the existing space for midsize events and conferences. So, there are options that are currently being evaluated, so we can have meeting space in town. But, the result of the visit folsom effort, over the last fiscal year, generated about $84 million. And that equates to 190,000 room nights, with people who visit, spend their money, and go home. It is perfect. This year the city of folsom will introduce electronic permitting and processing of the engineering building and code enforcement services. That system is known as track it. It will be up and running, we believe this summer. That is based on our existing gis information base. Planning for the future, last summer, we adopted the general plan, which moves us into the planning stage through the year 2035, that was a big deal because the last time that general plan had been updated was in 1988. We have had 130 homes sold in folsom ranch, south of the freeway. The first resident moved in on November 15. The current population of folsom ranch is -- does anybody know? 30 people. However, almost half of those are residents that are staying within the city of folsom. The majority of the buyers are from the sacramento region, so, for those of you who know, I am a geeky engineer, when people were talking about the fact that 11,000 houses were going to get built overnight, and all of a sudden folsom is going to double inside, based on my preliminary calculation, that means our population is going by leaps and bounds of about 10 people a month. At that rate, we will ultimately achieve the 25,000 people that we expect to live in the folsom ranch area in 208.3 years. I suspect that the number will probably increase over the course of the next year. So, there is a lot of infrastructure that is been put in place, I encourage you to take a ride out there, I have not been out there in a while myself, I was heading out going towards jackson, and I was like wow I'm a one night I went out there and there were lights out there. If you have not been out there, go out and take a look. The school district is going to start breaking ground for the first elementary school down there this year, with that school opening in 2020. We have completed the annexation of new property on the south side of white rock road, that someday will house the -- yard that is moving from its current location. Folsom police department, crimes statistics, for those of you who keep saying that crime is getting rampant, actually it is not. Homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft, and larson, which are part one crimes, those are down 8% from last year. Part two crimes, which is drugs, fraud, shaft -- shoplifting, they are down. We have a new system where instead of calling 911, you can text 911. That came out in October. I text as much as the next person, I am still trying to figure out why you would text to 911. I'm not sure -- would say just call them. If you want to text them you can. That will go directly to folsom, as opposed to going somewhere else. The caps program, which is citizens assisting public safety, are also riding bicycles along the trail, they are equipped with maps, water, and first aid kits. If you're out using the trails and you see the caps volunteers, please say hello. The police department also recently restored a 1950 ford sedan, which I saw parked at the police department today, I am guessing that was going to be used in the parade for the football team tonight. I assume that is why it is out there. Police department staffing, we have a new police chief, as many of you know, he was promoted to the chief, and two others. We have acquired 5 recruit officers that will begin their training program in February of this year. If you are interested in additional volunteer activities in the city of folsom, you can volunteer -- excuse me, with the community emergency response team, I know we just started a new class for citizens assisting public safety, which is the caps program, I believe it is 12 weeks of training, we do it once a year. If anybody is interested in that, -- and they provide some great services, if you go out of town, they will pick up your mail, they will check on your house, even, as I understand it, occasionally water your plants. So, it is another service that people May or May not be aware of, it is a great one and we are proud that the city offers that. the other thing that they are big assistance in is national night out. Does anybody have a watch group in your neighborhood? If you do not, you should think about forming one. That happens on the first tuesday in August, it is a great opportunity to meet your neighbors, there are probably about 12 or 15 groups that get together every year, they will have lemonade or milkshakes, or a barbecue or whatever. And the people from police, fire, animal control, will go from neighborhood to neighborhood and meet the neighborhood. It is a great way to meet your neighborhood and get to know the people that work in public safety. Homelessness has had an impact on everyone here, the city is working with our partners here in the city, predominately with some of the nonprofits, and the faith-based groups, to find ways to help those people that are not willing to take help from the services that are available. I just want to mourned -- remind everybody, it is not illegal to be homeless, but it does prohibit us from removing people from public property. Keep that in mind when you're out there, and there is somebody perhaps sleeping on the sidewalk or somewhere where you feel they should not be. There's not a lot we can do about that right now. We are working with the people that are trying to find help for those people, and we are working also with the county to get whatever services they have out to the people that are in this area. So, there are a lot of people working on it, the city of folsom, sacramento county, the faith-based community, sacramento self help housing, and the self-help resources. Fire department, we opened station 39 in empire ranch. Providing faster response times in the city. It is a brand-new, gorgeous fire station, at richie and empire ranch road. Last year we started renovations of several fire stations, and the next one up on that list is station 38, which is at the corner of oak avenue. That is the one that looks like a house. It is going to get upgraded this year. Fire department has also been working on emergency preparedness, particularly with respect to the wildfires. Last year we had 58 vegetation fires that occurred within city limits, our firefighters were quick to put those out. Will be updating the city emergency operations plan community wildfire protection plan, and the fire department service delivery plan during 2019. We are urging people that live in folsom to find out through important medications and safety, residents are encouraged to register with the rivers 911, you can do that at sacramento-alert.Org. With regard to transportation and infrastructure, as we know, and as we have heard of him -- a few minutes ago, traffic improvements are ongoing, including an upgrade of the signals along east bidwell street between highway 50 and oak avenue parkway. Improve efficiency and reduce delays. We will be -- I do not see the traffic engineer here -- we will be eliminating the u-turn, if you come out and you want to get back towards the freeway you're not going to be able to do that anymore. You're going to have to go left when you come out of in and out, or right out of starbucks, go under the freeway, and get back on the freeway by going around, south of the freeway. That will make it easier for people on iron point to turn right on the freeway. It takes four lanes of traffic, and four more to get on the freeway. You will have to think about eating your hamburger inside instead of in the car. There will also be changes made to -- road, if you are coming, that would be east on parksville road, right now there is only one left turn, one right training, and two lanes they go straight. I do not think I have seen anybody go straight across the street, adding a second left turn lane, so that is the predominant traffic movement, so that should help us quite a bit, I think that is happening very soon, we are waiting for it to stop raining for them to restrict the roadway. And, we have opened a new traffic management -- at city hall. If you see any of those cop shows on tv, we have one of those rooms now that has all of the campus. At the moment, they are monitoring 10 interchanges, we are going to get that up to 90, that makes it easier for us to change signal timing, or adapt to whatever May be happening based on information that we have seen in the traffic cameras. We are also putting additional intelligence transportation features along the main roads, including folsom boulevard, empire ranch, and iron point. We are working with rt, in the short term, prior to them installing sightings which will effectively work as double traffic so they can increase the frequency of the light operations. All of the signals along folsom boulevard, are going to be removed and replaced by rt so they will work together with the rail crossing guards, so that you will not be sitting there wondering why I cannot go straight when the train is there. That is going be fixed by rt replacing the signals, hopefully within the next 18 months. We have constructed some changes to the traffic at east bidwell and corona outside the middle school, if you are now headed, say, from the freeway towards them, if you want to turn left, you need to be in one of the two left turn lanes because if you are in the right lane you are going straight into the school, or you are going to turn right. If you turn left you are either going to get into an accident or get a ticket. Please pay attention, the biggest problem has been people who have lived here for a while, people used to be turn left from the right lane, and they cannot do that anymore. It is been done to increase safety for the kids, pedestrian kids at the middle school. We have secured an additional $15 million in funding for the completion of the folsom portion of the southeast connector road, the widening of white rock in folsom that will go all the way to the el dorado county line. We expect that will probably be under construction, it could be as the soon -- as soon as the end of this year. We are working on retrofitting the lights with L.E.D. Lights. We have 50% complete, we expect to have 75 complete. We have also installed gauges throughout the city to monitor storms during the rainfall, so we know what the levels are, and predict flooding events. Related to emergency response. We have recently become part of regional transit, that annexation took place at the end of December, that means that rt has taken over the bus system in folsom, and they will continue to operate the light rail system. All of the services will remain as they were, there May be some new optimization, but all of those employees that used to work for the city of folsom now work for rt, everybody is happy, we think that is going to be a really good thing for the city in the long run. As you probably know, we have extended the operating hours for light rail, so that now it operates until 11 pm. Within the next two years we expect that those will be at 15 minute headways instead of the current 30 minutes. Much of that will be paid for by an $85 million grant that rt received from the state. Environmental issues, we have made improvement to the water treatment processes, increasing the liability of the system, we are in the process of making inter-ties with neighboring water agencies to ensure that we have access to the water supplies that are not coming out of folsom lake. We have spent $5.3 million in water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, treated 18,000 -- water last year, our total water supply is 34,000 acre-feet. That means during 2018 we used 53% of our water supply -- water rights. That is a little bit more than half of the water that we are entitled to. We did chemical testing on 1400 water quality samples, cleanly inspected sewer pipe, responded to 7000 water conservation calls, and completed over 200 repairs on water and sewer piping. For those of you who do not know, if you need help with determining whether or not you have a water leak, where the leak might be, or if you have issues with water conservation, if you call the utilities department, we have people that can come out and take a look at things that help you with those. So, please utilize that service. With regard to parks and trails and parts of the program, we recently completed the renovations of the aquatics center, by replastering the inside of the pool, and prepared the deck. Swimmers are back in the pool. The most recently configured park, that was opened -- later last year, the recreation -- tennis courts, and open play turf area, half-mile remitter walking past, two play areas, picnic areas, and provides access to the trail system. The park was named to honor george and nick. Renovations were completed at the park for restarting the baseball field and improving the picnic areas. We added pickle ball courts to the park by renovating the tennis court, and this coming year construction is expected in 2020. That park will include the first cricket field. We have completed the barnyard experience at the zoo, and that included -- I just too muddy from elliott holmes walk and -- that included the barn that was at empire ranch that we thought many years ago was going to get rebuilt. It did not get rebuilt, continue to deteriorate, so what was left of the barn actually went into construction of the barnyard experience at the zoo. It is a 3400 square foot hands- on learning center, and provide a safe forever home for rescued farm animals. If you have not been out there to see the barn, it is very cool. I encourage you to see that. We have over 55 miles of trails, the most recent one is the johnny cash trail, we continue to move forward with raising money for the art experience, and the arts association is accepting contributions in order to complete the park and art installation. We completed the first class -- for the city, we took the trail gap closure project, the only thing left is a little bit more -- , we are waiting for the pavement to dry. Oak parkway trail, everybody drove down -- to get here, right? When is that going to be done? >> very, very soon. >> again, once again, it was stage six, it took place on the newly completed johnny cash trail, that is a significant thing for the city, because it provides international exposure to the city, because that event was broadcast all of the world. And, -- loves coming back, they love folsom. Holiday lights, an event where the nonprofit in folsom transform the zoo sanctuary into a winter wonderland, with thousands of colored lights, and champion scenery and decorations. That event was redesigned this year, attendance was up significantly. If you have never been to the zoo between christmas and new year's, I strongly encourage you to do that, it is supercool, the animals behave completely differently, for some reason, they are much friendlier at night. The library that is the busiest in the region in terms of circulation is the city of folsom library. Folsom loves to read, more than 708,000 check out of physical items from the library, just this year. We have access to 21,000 e-books and audiobooks that were checked out, in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. It has evolved into a gathering place for the community. We have virtual reality and augmented reality now available, and one expo. We have a new program where we provide my first library card to every kindergartner in the city of folsom. Those are personally delivered by the librarians to each one of the kindergarten classes. And, this will be happening next month. Library patrons can submit a request for a library, and you can choose to either pay for the book and keep it yourself, or you can donate it back to the library or give it to the friends of the library to sell. That is a cool program. Schools, this is where the city takes credit for stuff that is really not ours, it is the school district, but we do partner together with them frequently. Folsom schools are consistently one of the highest achieving in the region, and regularly ranked very high, both in the state and in the nation. you saw the presentation, and know how awesome our folsom high football team is, high school girls cross country won cal league championship, February 2 folsom high will host the annual sacramento county academic decathlon, last year folsom high came in first in the county. School bond construction, we have poured millions of dollars into upgraded schools and facilities. The district recently celebrated the monetization of -- school, -- modernization of -- school. -- college continues to prosper, serving more than 8750 college student at the main campus, degrees have skyrocketed, as have hundreds of transfers to four year universities from folsom college. The harris center, or as I will forever college -- call it, three stages, they helped 358 events over the 2017, 2018 season, with a total of it attendance of 146,000 that is a big impact on hotels and restaurants and businesses in the community. I understand during the month of December they sold their one millionth ticket. City staff, the city has always worked very hard to provide programs and amenities that are the reason why we all continue to live here. We have a high standard of excellence, the bar is set very high for every service that we provide, and we also have elaine anderson at the helm, advancing our business success. Volunteerism, that is one of the things that makes folsom such a great place to live, we have so many volunteers and so many people that are willing to volunteer. We are grateful for those who do that, they donate their time to the century, the library, the trails system, the parks, creeks and streams, the caps program, the business and neighborhood watch programs, and many, many others. And then, the big community service day of the year, last year, in September we had 3300 volunteers completed more than 70 service projects throughout the city. For the fifth annual time we have done this. More than 47,000 meals were collected, which is enough to provide food for food banks for 6 months. We will be doing it again this year on saturday, September 21, if you check the city's website, you need to sign up for that ahead of time. And, the last thing that I have on this, -- and we can show that video? Do you have it? >> we were not planning to show the video tonight. >> the last thing I have tonight, this year is the 100th year anniversary of the rainbow bridge. We have the birthday party on February 10, we have 100 days of events in the district, the 100th day will take place on May 4, the city will close rainbow bridge that day to make a daylong community celebration of the bridge. If you want more information on that, you can learn more at folsomrainbowbridge.Com. There are special bicentennial pins, you can contact me or the city manager and we will see if we can get you one. We have a new video that is on the city's website that was put together entirely by our public information person and her staff, it is a really cool video, and you can get to it by going to the city's website. >> or any official media platforms. >> okay. The only other thing that I said is that at the beginning of my comments to the chamber, there is no int. This year, the team is to for the city council, letter e for the employees, all of the employees for the city of folsom, all of you in the room, and the m stands for the mayor, the luckiest person in the room. I thank you all for your attention, and hope that was abbreviated enough for you all. If you have any other questions, you can contact me, email the city manager, and thank you for your attention. [Applause] >> speaking of rainbow bridge -- >> our next item is item legal counsel, the rainbow bridge centennial celebration. >> good evening mayor and council numbers, I am communications manager for the city of folsom. I am joined by judy, the manager of the historic association, and marianne with the greater folsom partnership. We need to present plans for the 100th anniversary of the iconic rainbow bridge. The rainbow bridge officially opened on February 10, 1919, it was built to address the growing needs for automobile transportation across the american river. Since then, the bridge is now known as -- for its unique arches, it's surrounding natural beauty, and it is one of the unique signature landmarks here in folsom. It can be seen all throughout town, on the city logo, on fine art, and selfies. Keychains and t-shirts, all around town you always see the rainbow bridge. So, the folsom community is coming together to celebrate the bridge, the celebration begins in February, and kicks off a variety of special promotion events and activities. Throughout May. A daylong event is planned on the bridge, and throughout the historic district on saturday, May 4. A number of events will be held during this timeframe, the gallery at 48 and -- will have a photography display, the folsom public library will have a number of speakers presenting about the history of ridges in the sacramento region, including the rainbow bridge. The folsom history museum will have a rainbow bridge display and commemorative items available for purchase. Four folsom schools are going to be partnering with local engineering firms, they are going to be having a bridge design contest. Students will build model structures, and the engineers will test the load capacity of those bridges to determine that. That will take place during the saturday, May 4 event, this is being led by the greater folsom partnership. There is also for -- going to be walking tours, and other events will be taking place. We are promoting this centennial in a number ways, we have a new website that will debut soon, that is folsomrainbowbridge.Com. There are commemorative pins, stickers, and also decals that will be placed in the windows of merchants, in the historic district. If anybody is interested tonight, there are pins and stickers in the back of the room where the agendas are placed. We have developed commemorative posters, which will be available during the promotion. A number of businesses are going to be helping promote the celebration. For example, dorothy is has ornaments available in the store, local bakeries and the candy shop will provide special treats, red bus is going to be serving up a commemorative 100th anniversary brew, in the store. You will start saying -- there are going to be banners installed in the historic district starting next week with the commemorative centennial design. And, city vehicles will have the rainbow bridge magnets. So, this is a partnership of the greater folsom partnership, and the historic district. I'm going to turn it over to judy and marianne to say a few words. >> this is a wonderful opportunity for our organizations to collaborate, and use our creativity and resources and network to really make this a true citywide celebration. Particularly, with the outreach to the business community, I think it would be safe to say by any standard the rainbow bridge is the most iconic landmark that is attached to folsom. And for many people, when they travel away, and they see the rainbow bridge on the way in, that signifies coming home. So, there is a huge heart string hold attached, as well as incredible history. We are excited to employ a variety of programs, whether that is outreach through restaurant and specials that they are going to contemplate, retailers, christine already mentioned the ornaments, the stickers that will be on the windows that will let consumers know that there is something happening in that business, that is reminding them about the anniversary. We're looking to create a very enthusiastic and far-reaching campaign, that will really make this a year to remember for folsom. So, looking forward to being a part of it. Thank you. >> I was in trader joe's on saturday afternoon, and the woman in front of me at the cash register said to the cashier oh my goodness, how do I get into this rainbow bridge? How do I get to the rainbow bridge? I said, can I help you? She said how do I get to the rainbow bridge? I said, do you want to drive across the? She said no I must see it. I tried to give her directions from trader joe's, they said there is a little parking lot if you drive across it, you can really see it. I do not know where she was from. But, she was so excited about going to see the rainbow bridge. >> well, if this promotion goes as planned, there will be a lot more of those people asking to check it out. We are looking forward to that. Thank you. >> good evening, one of the things that the historic district plans to bring to this event is a tasting, featuring all of the businesses, restaurants, in historic folsom, this will be a ticketed event that goes on May 4 from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. And, we will have appetizers, station drinks within the bridge, and we will have strolling music, and characters all featured from the businesses in the district. So, we are really excited about this event, this is just one piece of it, we are just very thrilled to be here to talk to you about it tonight. >> community members are encouraged to learn about the different programs and activities planned, on the new website, folsomrainbowbridge.Com. Save the date, saturday, May 4 for a day full of activities and when posting to social media, community members are encouraged to use #folsomrainbowbridge100. That concludes our presentation, thank you. >> we look forward to updates as you get closer to that date. With that I think we are coming up on the consent calendar. Do we have anybody that would like to pull anything? Do we have a motion? >> motion. >> second. >> we have a motion and a second, call the role plays. >> vice mayor sarah aquino, council member mike kozlowski, council member ernie sheldon, council member roger gaylord, and mayor kerri howell. >> yes. >> with that we moved to new victim -- business. >> this is a proposal for a disc golf course in the community park. >> thank you. >> good evening. Mayor howell and members of the council, and the parks and rec director. Tonight I wanted to take a minute to give you a little background on the item that you will be deciding on this evening. It is in regards to the nisenan community park. We are asking you tonight for direction from the council on whether or not to recede -- proceed on the evaluations on putting a disc golf course on the property. >> just a little background, one of the reasons that we can proceed with -- or were interested in proceeding with this is because of the fairly successful -- actually-highly successful disc golf course we currently have, it is considered a 9 hole disc golf course, it was set up initially as a demonstration or executive type course, if you think about regular golfing, you have the executive 9 hole and the 18 hole. This has been a hugely collaborative effort by local residents that formed as the folsom disc golf club. And, we have invested numerous hours and time and energy to create -- to bring most of the amenities to the course, I will be going into a little more detail in a second. But, I wanted to provide a little timeline as to where we have been, and why we are here now, today. In the end of 2015, nearly 2016, interest groups came to the city parks and rec department, spoke with the staff, with the director at the time, expressing interest in wanting to have a disc golf course here in folsom. So, with that, the staff introduced the concept to the parks and rec commission in February, and explained that there is quite a bit of traction and interest and enthusiasm to do something of this sort in folsom. There was a -- I guess, an acknowledgment, that probably one of the best areas to locate a course would be nisenan community park, given the amount of area that still remains in that park, however there is an acknowledgment that it would certainly require additional evaluation, environmental work, and also an update to the master plan. On the heels of that, there was appetite to continue with the traction and enthusiasm that they had, and collins seems like a good fit in terms of its minimal environmental impact, it is pretty much plug and play ready to actually put a golf course on that site. So, after that, February meeting, the parks and rec commission did recommend to consider the bt collins cars -- course. In June 2016, parks and rec commission provided additional direction to staff to proceed with the bt collins, there have been additional discussions on what would need to be done to actually have that disc golf course come to fruition. They actually received -- staff received approval from the commission to actually start the installation of the bt collins course, and with various conditions, and some of those conditions were monitoring the play out there, getting some records about frequency of play, any type of impact to residents, any sort of erosion, or impacts to the terrain, that is things that staff would regularly monitor and report back, they did that in April and also in November. April was actually still the installation process, that disc golf course has been really hands-on, they were a big -- purchased basket, they did construction, and so it was collaborative, but heavily run by then. And then in 2018, -- so, it was very successful, and staff made a couple of presentations to the parks and rec commission. In 2018, the disc club reached -- actually received an outstanding community service accommodation from the parks and rec commission. In 2018 they approached the staff, ready to further pick up where they had left off in terms of that allocation of funds for nisenan community park, and wanted to see what would be the next step to do. And, they were given direction to at least start looking at nisenan community park in terms of the -- what is the likelihood of -- getting out there. That had not even been done yet. They were put out there to start that process. In 2000 -- on the December 4 parks and rec commission meeting, we had residents appear there and also supporters, but it was not an agenda item, basically business from the floor. So, what we have learned about bt collins is it is a growing sport, it is growing in popularity, there were -- the items that we were asked to monitor, calls for service, out to the park, and there had not been. There were two complaints, one for parking that there was, we think a karate clinic going on, or perhaps a disc golf course person, but there has been paved parking put in at the end of the creek, and another complaint was about some -- yard, and that box has been realigned. The sport does create opportunities for clinics, and tournaments. That was another element that the commission asked our staff to monitor. There has been new lessons at the sports complex, and various expos there. And, the tournament down at willow hill. Site conditions have been maintained regularly by the disc golf group, trash has been picked up, they supplement abatement, so it has been a fairly successful collaboration there. We have been looking at the terrain and the conditions out there, there has been some compaction, the boxes are now more formalized at the top, there certainly has been some compaction there. There has been an evaluation by the staff, that indicated at least one hole, hole number 3 at the site, that the disc May have been hitting a tree. There has been a recommendation to actually correct the location of that box. A little bit about the cost and profits, just to give you a little perspective, the bt collins site, there was very minimal staffing devoted to that, we knew that going in because of the type of sport it is. And the fact that we were given quite a bit of encouragement from the disc golf club that we would provide hardware and the city provided some parking and a port-a-potty, which has actually been beneficial to all park users. As I said, we have always done weed abatement out there. Again, the allocation of $30,000 in the city budget, in the year 2016, 2017, and rolled over to 2017, 2018, and 2019. That same $30,000 has been there. Where we are at now is if this proposal was considered to move forward, there would be an enormous public outreach and communities for sure. We had not even started at that point, yet, the red flags were the very first step in the process, with the chief, that was even a conceivable site. Public outreach would still need to happen, certainly an environmental evaluation would need to be completed, and the master plan we need to be updated. So, with that, that is where we are at. We are looking for a recommendation from the city council, whether or not to proceed with including the disc golf course at nisenan community park. >> just for confirmation, is that a photograph of the area? >> this picture right here? Yes. >> thank you. Any questions? >> I have a couple, if I could? So, the $30,000 is for the eir -- >> the $30,000 was a dollar amount, $20,000 was set aside to probably be the environmental evaluation, which at this point we would not have known exactly what type of document because we were at the early stages. It could be mitigated, which was done for the original master plan. Or, it could, you know, after you do your initial review, out pops all of the impact, and whether or not the impact are mitigated bull, or even if you want to put it in the locker, it is designed, but we are not sure if we would have even spent that. >> the other two I have, are whether or not, -- I have played three times at bt collins, the weeds were high, I do not know what maintenance looks like out there, can it be expanded? Can that part be expanded utilizing those cones, or some of those options? Have you looked at that? >> can the bt collins site be expanded? >> yes, instead of nisenan community park? >> I think terrain wise, the 9 hole's are pretty well mapped out on the open space. I think that they wanted -- I went out there too, they do have a practice box near the first hole. That would probably be the only area, and they could put in another practice box. I would have to defer to them, if the disc golf people are here. >> okay. >> I have a question. In the report, and on the graph, you talked about a meeting with the residents? Can you tell me who was there, and what was the result? >> it was not a meeting with -- this February. are you looking on this, here? That was for the bt collins process, with the meetings. I have had a meeting, recently, with a local resident that is adjacent to nisenan community park, we just met on the street, and met a few residents there. >> I thought there was something recent, that surprised me. With the outcome that I saw from the people. >> there is definitely really intense meeting processes, for the bt collins process. In the staff report, it shows, you know, comment cards, people showed up for this process, we have not gotten into the public outreach process, yet. >> she did just reach out to the residents of lakeview oaks, this December about this possible project. >> I was in bt collins when it was the park, I guess for many years we have been trying to find something to use bt collins for. That is a big hill, that is about it. We tried to get a basketball court up there, unsuccessfully. Maybe this is it. Bt collins, maybe this is what we need to concentrate on. I have a bunch of questions, or comments, to say about bt collins. I mean, not bt collins, nisenan community park. I know exactly how that came about. And I have a lot of comments to make on that, so I will wait. >> so, at nisenan community park, disc golf was not in the original master plan for the park, correct? >> correct. >> when these people bought the lot, and looked at the master plan, they would not have any indication. I did go back and watch the 2016 parks and rex meetings. We have currently developed about 8 acres of nisenan community park. And, the commissioner in 2016, who was still my commissioner on a commission now, when bt collins was proposed for a demonstration course in 2016, June 2016, he asked why would we not do a demonstration court at nisenan community park. The answer was because that area is more culturally and environmentally sensitive and I assume that has not gone away. So, is there some concern that the area is more, you know, sensitive and -- it is my understanding that, you know, full yardage 18-hole golf course is like 25 acres? >> to answer that, we really had not gotten into the environmental side, just how much more sensitive, but we had read the mitigated effect for the nisenan community park. It does mention cultural resources, which in nature is not publicly disclosed, just for the safety of that. There is a 2.3 acre area on nisenan community park right now that is set aside as -- it says, a protected area. It has not been where the disc golf course is. It up at the other side of the park. >> just a reminder the disc golf course does not exist. proposed disc golf course. >> is 25 acres an accurate estimate for the area needed for the 18-hole course? >> I do not know that off the top. >> okay. Again, I realize part of this is what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Some of us May not have been discussing this, I do wonder about, you know, let's just assume if that acreage is correct, are we going to have additional bathrooms out there, trash cans, you know, what are you going to do when somebody, you know, is far, far away from the developed portion of the park, now. I do also have some questions about the process, again, this May be a chicken versus egg thing. But, I am not sure if we missed a step, or maybe things kind of went in a different order than normal because of the concern from the residents when I watched the February 2016 meeting, there were definite concerns from some commissioners, Mr. Romero who is here tonight, has some concerns, as I do, about parking. So, what I understood, and based on the motion that was made, was that it was a tentative approval for that $30,000 with the understanding that it would go back to the parks and rec commission for more discussion and information. I am a little bit concerned that we skipped a step here because I do not want to, you know, do a runaround of the commission. have we gone out of order just because -- >> I do not know that for sure. I do know that it was approved by the city council, put in the budget, for 2016, 2017, 2017, 22, 2018, 2019. It has been in there for 3 years. It has been queued up to go to this stage. And then we had it there in December, although business from the floor, so probably getting direction from the commission at this point probably was not appropriate, but I think staff was of the belief that it was queued up for this step as opposed to going back to the parks and recreation. I do not know what extra value, insight there is an extra value from commissioners, so that could set another tone, now we have new residents that have concerns. That certainly is valid. But, I did not get any inkling that we were on the wrong track. At this point. >> okay, one last question. I did go and walk the course, I have never played but I have walked bt collins today. It did seem like, you know, it was a wide-open fairway, not many obstacles in terms of trees and stuff. You did mention having to relocate a basket because of it hitting a tree. But, isn't the space at nisenan community park full of obstacles? >> there are more trees, I do not know the density or quantity, but I know that there are corridors that are more free, then just complete, dense trees. I am not sure what the disc golf people look for in terms of, you know, either clearance or challenge, but I am pretty sure they would not put a box to a basket with 10 different trees in the middle. But, I do not know. To answer your question, it probably is -- it has a lot more trees there. >> the only comment I am going to make about the $30,000 in the budget is having sat on the council and reviewing those budgets, I would say at best, that $30,000 was well hidden. And, never clearly explained that it was for a proposal, or the purpose of the disc golf course. There were a lot of people that did not want to see any activities in the park. It was never explained that it was going to be in a part of the park that had been designated as open space, it was never intended to be built on in the first place. [Applause] There are a lot of people requesting to speak. >> May I ask a question? They can make. The city manager and city attorney, what is the proper process for actually revisiting a park master plan? If it was a subdivision or something like that, it is probably something that has a pretty long life before you can entertain modifications. What is the expectation of neighbors who do the research, what should their expectations be with regard to the master plans? >> thank you, if I May answer that really quick, so, city staff, the policy -- what you would like to achieve and accomplish. It is entirely up to the council to revisit all or a portion of any master plan. We would be happy to do that through the proper evaluation and presentation, and final presentation through the council. If that is what you decide. Having said that, it is entirely worth seeing the council's role to provide policy to actually establish -- without having to go through the commission, necessarily. For example, you can share -- to which direction you want to see this go. You do not necessarily need to okay the commission, you can also, that is an option, you can do that if you think that would help for the review, respond, maybe the proposal a little better before it can be presented to the council. But is it entirely up to you. If you do not want any item to go forward, you can just say so. Follow-up, what has been our history of revisiting the master plan for a park? Once it has been established. >> it has happened occasionally, I remember if somebody wanted to change more often than not, it was this -- stop if I am wrong if somebody would let -- rather do something else with the property. I am randomly picking thoughts, that is why it is not intended to be, although that is a good example. yes? >> I think I'm going to retract , I'm going to give you some history. To answer your question, a master plan is just to that. A plan is a plan. As time goes on, it can be, you know, revised. Because, in the sports world. Things come and go. And, interest in the community will come and go, and modify a plan. So, it can be done. The risk we have, always, since my first commission, park commission in 1986, was to be sure that the developers of the homes were -- with the park commission. It is not uncommon to be sold something that is not going to happen, or will never happen. A lot of times people will tell you, oh yes, there is a park there, do not worry about it. It will never get done, the city has no money. That might have been prior to 1986, but it was not after that. Because you need development to give us impact fees so we could build a park, and it was going to be big. Okay? So, a plan is a plan. But, you do not make a plan change without the proper coordination. You talk to them before you make it change. That is why asked the question about the 2016, I guess, I thought it was a new one. We do not do things like that. Okay? And, communities that surround a park, they are high-priced community areas. You have to pay a premium for a certain lot that you want. It is very important that you ask the right question, the plan could change. >> the only thing I'm going to adjust on that statement is it does not matter how much you paid for your house, if you bought a house, or you rent an apartment, there is a plan for the adjacent park area, it does not matter whether it was a super expensive or cheap house. The expectation is the same. The plan is the plan, and we're not going to go in and change the plan overnight. So that you move into a neighborhood thinking this is going to happen and something else happens. >> yes, my point, when I was in the commission 20 years, we always would try to be friendly to the neighbors, before we did something. I know for fact that the developers have in the past, I am not knocking them, it is the way business works, they do not tell you everything. Either you are not going to build it or he would be billed. That is why you put the signs up about undeveloped lots that are going to be parks. They tell you what is in this, when you come to buy a house, and I walked on the site that people live in before we even got working on it. But, let me go back a little bit, and give you, first of all, how do we get that park up? First of all, it was developed in the east area, it was going to be two golf courses. The public one which we have now, and a private one, that was the area of nisenan community park. The city was -- my understanding, and it is hard to remember everything, believe it or not -- >> we are going back to 1994. Do we need to go back that far? >> because -- my mind -- it was 55 acres that we were given. By the developer. Because they did not want the private park. I guess to rain, something, something about having a private golf course. Is not that far away. They give us that to the city, they did not ask for any credit. There were -- that was a gift. No question about. When we start to think about developing that location, there i