FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
1 AGENDA ITEM 4.c
MEETING DATE February 5, 2025
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Christine Foster, Deputy Town Clerk
SUBJECT Receive report on Councilmembers’ assignments, committees, and activities in January 2025.
RECOMMENDATION
Receive Councilmember activities report.
DISCUSSION
Every month, each Councilmember provides a list of the meetings they attended in the preceding month on behalf of the Town, for inclusion in this report. Under the agenda section entitled “Council Reports and Comments” Councilmembers may choose to highlight one of those meetings.
Mayor Blash
• Miscellaneous meetings with the town attorney and/or town manager on emergent issues. • Various informal conversations with residents about issues of concern. 01/03: Met with neighborhood residents about their concerns re: MAMM relocation and other issues impacting the neighborhood.
01/08: Fairfax Chamber of Commerce Mixer. Attended. Chatted with local business owners about doing business in Fairfax.
01/09: Regular Town Council Meeting. Discussion of potential tot lot, Council assignments, and retirement and replacement for elected town clerk and treasurer positions. 01/10: Met with representatives from Homeward Bound, Town Manager, Council Member Coler about shelter and homeless services.
01/14: Swearing-In Ceremony for Brian Colbert, new Marin County Supervisor. 01/17: Ross Valley Safe Routes to School Taskforce Meeting. Discussed mapping project exploring transportation conditions around schools; discussed potential project to create an accessible crosswalk and path across Center near Fairfax Lumber up to the crosswalk on SFD near M&G. 01/21: Chamber of Commerce/ Town Meeting: Met with Town Manager and Chamber of Commerce representatives. Update on Winter Market, Economic Vitality efforts, and some discussion on delivery truck issues, merchant towing and trespass concerns, and potential future events. 01/23: Transportation Authority of Marin Board Meeting: discussed State Legislative Agenda for 2025 (approved) and received presentation from TAM staff and County of Marin staff regarding youth e-bike safety initiatives provided through the recently formed Special Committee on Youth E-bike Safety. In particular, there will be an RFP for a consultant to conduct and education and outreach initiative in Spring 2025. They also recommend that all Marin jurisdictions pass a model ordinance based on Assemblymember Connolly’s Assembly Bill 1778, approved in 2024, which enables Marin County jurisdictions to pilot restricting class 2 e-bikes to riders aged 16 and older. 01/22-24: League of California Cities New Mayors and Council Members Academy: Attended with Town Manager Abrams and council members and mayors from across Northern California. Mandated AB 1234 Ethics Training, AB 1661 anti-harassment training, and sessions on working successfully with Town Staff, 2 using social media, land use and planning, fiscal responsibility, etc. Informal networking with staff and electeds from Marin County cities and towns and other jurisdictions. 01/29: Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers (MCCMC) meeting. Presentation from Steven Torrence – Director of Emergency Management for Marin County; Jason Weber – Marin County Fire Chief, and Mark Brown – Executive Officer, Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. Updates from their respective areas of oversight as they pertain to countywide emergency preparedness and ongoing wildfire adaptation efforts.
Vice Mayor Hellman
Not received in time for publication.
Councilmember Coler
1. January 2 – Met with Fairfax resident on Housing Element questions.
2. January 7, 21, 28 – Met with Town Manager on various Council matters.
3. January 8 – Ross Valley Fire Board meeting – the Board: approved Senior Fire Inspector/Fire Inspector Job Description & Purchasing Policy; voted Steve Burdo President (San Anselmo) & Elizabeth Robbins Vice President (Ross); did not approve delay of closure of Station 18 for one year requested by Ross (required unanimous vote of all Board members – delay would cost members significant funding).
4. January 9 – Town Council meeting.
5. January 10 – Zoom meeting with Paul Fordham of Homeward Bound, Mayor Blash & TM Heather Abrams.
6. January 13 – Marin Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) – Met with Marin LAFCo Executive Officer and Julie McMillan of Ross Council on Town of Ross questions re: LAFCo annexations & January 22 – Met with EO and Vice Mayor Hellman on LAFCo matters.
7. January 16 – Marin Wildfire (MWPA) Board meeting – The Board received the FY 23/24 Annual Report – highlights: Residential programs: 32,582 homes were inspected for hazards that contribute to fire risk; $1,608,933 in Measure C grant funds were awarded to help mitigate those risks (~$800,000) – also Novato Fire & San Rafael allocated addt’l $$ for grants – they receive significant CORE and Local funds (so total for all is about $1.6M); 14,253 cubic yards of vegetation (4,454 pickup truck loads) were removed through Marin Wildfire’s free residential chipper program. For every dollar awarded by the resident grant program, Marin residents spent an additional $7 in preparing their homes for wildfire, representing a huge return on investment for the grant program. MWPA has also been actively pursuing outside grants at the state level - we’ve been awarded $6M in grant funding to date, significantly adding to the dollars being spent on wildfire prevention in Marin County.
Wildfire detection, alerts, and evacuations: Marin Wildfire is investing in cutting-edge technology inc. artificial intelligence to model traffic patterns and the completion of an Evacuation/Ingress/Egress Risk Assessment tool to enhance evacuation preparation. Several Shaded Fuel Breaks are underway in most of the MWPA regions (research has shown that these fuel treatments reduce fire severity by an average of 60%, and reduce flame lengths by 2 feet, among other key benefits) – the Greater Ross Valley SFB will be 38 miles, about ½ is completed (using the riskiest scenario (weather, wind, etc.), the GRVSFB is projected to reduce the average flame length of wildfires occurring within the project footprint by 75% and slow the rate of fire progression by 56%. Additionally, 613 more acres will be directly accessible to firefighters). Fire Safe Marin is MWPA’s education & outreach arm – they have many accomplishments which get the word out about wildfire prep etc. The Board approved the RFP release for the Community Wildfire Prevention Plan (CWPP, expected to receive grant funding to cover costs) & received the Fire Safe Marin Dec 2024 report (of interest – there are 76 Firewise sites in Marin with over 50,000 residents – more than anywhere in the State, Ember Stomp had ~5,000 attendees – Ember Stomp 2025 is September 6 (see Fire Safe Marin website for more information https://firesafemarin.org/).
8. January 16 – MCE Clean Energy Board – no meeting held in January – February meeting will be inperson at the Concord office. 3 9. January 23 – Community Media Center of Marin (CMCM) Board meeting – The Board approved moving forward to hire a property management firm (the Building Committee will continue on to work on this) – CMCM will own the property as of February 4, 2025. Coler has been part of a subcommittee of the Board working on due diligence and other matters related to the purchase. The Board approved member annual fees being raised – will be $35 for seniors and $50 for others (fees have not been raised since the Center started ~16 years ago).
10. January 24– Age Friendly Fairfax meeting – Most of the meeting was re: the February 28 (6-8pm) showing of the film “Do I need this?” – Karen Arnold and Jackie Engstrom are leading this effort for Age Friendly (cost is $10 at the door, cash or check) – to be held at the Women’s Club.
11. January 27– Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers (MCCMC) Legislative Committee – The Committee took a strong support position on AB 1 (Connolly) which requires that the Department of Insurance consider updating its regulations every 5 years to include home hardening building measures for wildfire risks (and consult with other agencies to update home hardening materials/approaches). Other: February 21 is the bill introduction deadline; Assemblymember Connolly is now Chair of the Assembly Environmental Safety & Toxics Committee, Proposition 4 (drinking H2O, wildfire prevention, climate risks protection) grant funding will be available soon. MCCMC LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE SCOPE OF ADVOCACY: Fiscal Protection:
protect city revenues from state Local Control: support legislation that enhances local control of resources to provide services while supporting regional co-operation. Oppose unfunded mandates and preemption of local authority and control of land use. Transportation Investment: promote stable transportation finance structure for state and local government. Multimodal, enhancing livable communities Housing/Land use: protect local government land use authority. Oppose punitive housing legislation, and legislation that restricts or reduces local discretion on land use decisions. Other legislation can be recommended to MCCMC at a regular meeting.
12. January 29 – Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers (MCCMC) monthly meeting – By Zoom - Presenters: Steven Torrence - Director for Emergency Management for Marin County; Jason Weber - Marin County Fire Chief; Mark Brown - Executive Officer, Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority.
Councilmember Egger
Councilmember Frank Egger: Attended the Fairfax Open Space Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 28, 2025.
The Open Space Committee discussed the Wall property and a future naming process that could include a program at the Fairfax Festival. The FOSC asked that they be included in the planning and implementation of a Management Plan to determine ultimate uses, trails, Fire Safe Marin involvement, brush clearing and public access.
An ad hoc committee of three, Mike Ardito, John Reed and Frank Egger will visit the 3 sites for which Fairfax has Redwood signage all made, Gloria Duncan Creekside Preserve on Olema Road, Jolly Hill Open Space to the right of the entrance of the Bennett House and the Frank Egger Redwood Preserve between Meadow Way and Canyon Road to determine a safe and visible location to erect the signage and report back to the FOSC at their next meeting, Feb 25th. The FOSC will set dates for public dedication of the three properties.
The FOSC discussed, under Non-Agenda Items, the issue of nighttime bike riding through the Elliott Nature Preserve and its adverse impacts on the Northern Spotted Owls' mating/nesting/hatching/fledging season that runs from February through June. This subject will be discussed at the February meeting.
Councilmember Ghiringhelli
• Met With Town Manager
• Attended Town Council Meeting
• Refined and Co-authored Compassion City proposal to solve homelessness in marin with citizen Sean Fitzgerald
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• Conference Call Presentation with
• Jared Huffman about Compassion City
4 • Sent out presentation Compassion City to Board of Supervisors, Mayors, and Council Members • Sent out presentation of Compassion City to Press and Met with Press Members to promote our proposal
• Met with various members of the community expressing their concerns of safety and more, about • tall, massive buildings out of character and scale to our small town. • Met with various members of the community concerned about fire safety, fire preparedness, and fire evacuation routes that are already backed up for 4 miles to 101. • Met with various members of our business community concerned about the business climate in Fairfax and how it's related to the town.
• Met with various members of the community concerned about the implementation of our no camping laws and the recent increased homeless activity being aided by apparent homeless advocates - ie people who encourage mentally ill people to stay living outdoors. • Attended Zoom meeting with Mayors and Council Members. Heard a presentation from Marin Fire Safe.
• I suggest meeting in person like we did pre- shutdowns. • Had an open drop by forum in the downtown. I encourage all citizens to drop by when I'm downtown.
• Text me at 415-302-0318
• Met with individuals concerning working together to help get the unhoused mentally ill and unhoused indoors compassionately and with support services in a campus city like setting • I will have an Open Forum next week in front of Marios Cafe - drop by to chat about Fairfax.