FAIRFAX TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE July 1, 2026
PREPARED FOR Mayor and Town Council
PREPARED BY Christine Foster, Assistant to the Town Manager/Deputy Town Clerk SUBJECT Receive report on Councilmembers’ assignments, committees, and activities in June 2026.
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 Hellman
June 1: Zoom Meeting with Sharon Smith, CA Dept of Insurance. Much information shared about trends, high #s of Fairfax residents using FAIR PLAN and carriers “returning” to Fairfax – public may access information in the 6/23 newsletter and on town of Fairfax website June 2: Station 21 renovation project weekly meeting
June 2: Weekly touchpoint with Town Manager Abrams
June 3: Fairfax regular monthly town council meeting
June 5: Met with MCCMC (Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers) bylaws update subcommittee
June 8: Fairfax municipal microgrid discussion on next steps with Staff (Brigid Wipfler, Heather Abrams, Kristin Arnold, Janet Coleson) – confirmed next steps and info needed for August council presentation June 9: Station 21 renovation project weekly meeting
June 11: Fairfax town council Closed meeting with Town Manager, Town Attorney June 12: MCCMC (Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers) Zoom discussion with Dan Schwarz, Larkspur City Manager regarding new fiscal agent services agreement June 13/14: 46th Annual Fairfax Festival
June 15: Weekly touchpoint with Town Manager Abrams
June 15: Agenda planning with Vice Mayor and Staff
June 16: Fairfax Climate Action Committee
June 18: ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) General Assembly meeting. An early preview of RHNA Cycle 7, including phases, timeline, and notable statutory changes, prior to kickoff in early 2027.
See agenda item 9 and its 3 attachements here: https://abag.ca.gov/tools-resources/digitallibrary/09a1summarysheetrhnapdf Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Cycle 7 Preview. From staff report: “Due to earlier changes in state law, the Bay Area saw a significant increase in its RHND during the last RHNA cycle, rising from 187,990 (housing unit) in Cycle 5 to 441,176 in Cycle 6. Staff anticipate that the upcoming RHND for Cycle 7 will likely be larger than the last cycle due to recent changes in state law, such as the requirement to consider the housing needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Since HCD will identify the RHND one year earlier this cycle, ABAG and subregions (if applicable) will be able to incorporate the RHND into the allocation methodology development process earlier than in past cycles
when the RHND was issued well after development of the methodology began. This will allow the methodology to be informed by the RHND earlier, allowing for a more linear process.
June 18/19: Re MCCMC prep for 6/24 meeting. Wrote 3 staff reports in support of City of Larkspur’s fiscal services agreement; MCCMC FY budget, Bylaws update. Held several meetings with MCCMC newly hired Secretary/Treasurer Christine Parini to prepare 6/24 packet.
June 20: Fairfax Hootnanny at Peri Park
June 22: Weekly touchpoint with Town Manager Abrams
June 22: Fairfax Tree Committee Meeting: Discussion about updating tree ordinance; The request to remove the bays at 46 Parks was granted by the Tree Committee with the expectation that town arborist Ray Moritz oversees the effort to remove and replace with four (native species) rhododendron occidentale. Mayor will begin engaging with the families who tragically lost their daughters to begin envision the memorial garden with Councilmember Blash and Staff.
June 25: Inquired in writing to PG&E /Mark Van Gorder about resident inquiries regarding Undergrounding.
June 28: Fairfax Volunteer event Redwood sprout pruning for Fire Resistance and Access June 29: Weekly touchpoint with Town Manager Abrams
Vice Mayor Egger
Vice-Mayor Frank Egger represents the Town on the Ross Valley Flood Zone #9 and is the Town Council's liaison to the Fairfax Open Space Committee
Fairfax Open Space Committee (FOSC): June 23, 2026.
Items discussed included an update on the Wall Property. The purchase by the San Anselmo Open Space Committee of the former Jamie Williams property, the 7-acre Sky Ranch Knoll parcel, which is in Fairfax Town Limits but adjacent to San Anselmo and the Sky Ranch Open Preserve which was purchased and deeded to Marin County Parks & Open Space. San Anselmo is using about $800,000 in donated funds for the 7-acre purchase and the Town of Fairfax is contributing $75,000 towards the purchase of the former Williams property which will be added to Sky Ranch.
The subject of the use of Rodenticides to control rats and the impact on Northern Spotted Owls, a Listed Species with a heavy presence in the Elliott Nature Preserve was discussed. The State of California has banned the use of Rodenticides in most instances. An update on Rodenticide use will be included at the July 28th FOSC meeting.
The 39-acre Elliott Nature Preserve was purchased by Fairfax in the 1973/74 fiscal and transferred to the Marin County Parks & Open Space District in 1981. Today there is heavy bicycle use and e-bikes are starting to show up on the trails. Bike use can create adverse impacts on Northern Spotted Owls during mating, nesting & fledging between February and June. Night bike riding has slowed down. Some Marin County Parks & Open Space parcels are only open from dawn to dusk.
The FOSC ran a booth at the ECO-FEST led by Michael Reeves and raised $1,760 selling hats, T-shirts & bumper strips with a NSO theme.
The purchase of the Piper Lane property adjacent to the Wall property was discussed. Rene Voss from the San Anselmo Open Space Committee advised the FOSC that there were no known landslides on the Piper Lane property recently purchased by the Piper Lane Neighborhood for public open space.
Ross Valley Flood Zone #9: The meeting will be Thursday night on June 25th, too late to make a report for the July 1st Town Council meeting. The Report will be included for the July 22nd meeting.
Councilmember Coler
1. June 1 – MCE Clean Energy Executive Committee mtg – The Committee approved: recommendation to the Board a proposed resolution accepting Congressionally Directed Spending Project from the Golden Fields Office of the U.S. Department of Energy and Proposed Agreements with Serious Controls, LLC (total projects are $1M with $500K DOE funding and $500K MCE match – three projects: Town of Tiburon Police Station/Emergency Operations Center; City of Pinole facilities - Pinole Youth Center & Pinole Swim Center Tiny Tots facility – all for battery storage systems); recommendation to the Board a proposed resolution for remote participation of the MCE Board and Finance Committee mtgs within the requirements for multijurisdictional bodies under SB 770. A discussion was held re: agenda packet management technology & approved the draft Board mtg agenda. The Interim CEO reported that Standard & Poors Global Ratings provided a credit rating for MCE of “A”; that instead of a multi-hour Procurement Workshop MCE will hold 2 separate 1-2 hour sessions for the public and the Board (one on Hedges, etc. and another on Resource Adequacy) starting at 4:30pm – 5:30+ or 6:30pm- they will be held at both the Concord and the San Rafael offices (and available virtually).
2. June 3 – Town Council mtg.
3. June 4 –Marin Wildfire (MWPA) Executive Committee meeting – mtg was canceled in May.
4. June 5 – MCCMC Legislative mtg prep with new MCCMC Secretary, MCCMC President and Vice President and CalCities Lobbyist by zoom.
5. June 9, 16, 23, 30 – Mtgs with Town Manager on various Council matters.
June 9 - attended webinar training on fiscal issues as now required by SB 827.
6. June 10 – Ross Valley Fire Board mtg – The Board adopted resolutions approving: the Publicly Available Pay Schedule for FY 26/27; the FY 26/27 Budget; authorization to request reimbursement from the CA FF Joint Apprenticeship Committee ($36k); and the Injury and Illness Prevention Program required by Cal-OSHA.
7. June 11 – Town Council Special mtg – Closed Session.
8. June 11 – Marin Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) mtg – The Commission approved the Novato Municipal Services Review (MSR) & Sphere of Influence (SOI) Study, approved the Workplan and adopted resolutions amending 2 SOIs & reaffirming 2 SOIs; received an AB 2651 report re: vacancies; adopted the final Operating FY 26/27 Budget; discussed the Marin County Fire Services Study (public comment period to 6/15/26); approved the 3rd Amendment to the Executive Officer Employment Agreement; agreed to staying in CALAFCO for this coming year (subject to changes we requested being worked on – Chair to send 2nd letter to CALAFCO re: changes and potentially paying ½ dues for 6 months only); and elected a new Chair Dennis Rodoni (County Supervisor) and Vice Chair Larry Chu (Public Member) – the terms are for 3 years only so Coler and Rodoni termed out as Chair & Vice Chair, respectively. See https://www.marinlafco.org/commission-meetings#docaccessd688e16753cffc0ca21f1f8f0dc1574e EO Jason Fried will be leaving June 30; Jeren Batchelder – Siebel, Deputy EO, will be the Acting EO. The Commission next meets in August and will discuss next steps.
9. June 13 & 14 – Fairfax Festival & Parade.
10. June 15 – Special MCE Clean Energy meeting – Closed Session – Anticipated litigation.
11. June 17 – MCE mtg with Legal Counsel and Board Chair and Vice Chair.
12. June 18 - Marin Wildfire (MWPA) Board meeting & premeeting (June 17)- The Board approved: a Fire Safe Marin agreement for FY 26/27 for $1,250,000 - following the passage of Measure C in March 2020, FSM became the primary outreach and educational partner of Marin Wildfire. FSM played a foundational role in the development of Marin Wildfire, including encouraging a comprehensive, science-based approach to public education and engagement; a Novato Fire District transfer of unused funds (total $100K) into 4 active projects; authorization for staff to submit two proposals to CAL FIRE’s Wildfire
Prevention Grant program to obtain supplemental funding of up to $1,000,000 per project for work in Coastal Marin and implementation of the EmberReady Program (for D-space for low income residents) – match TBD; adoption of a resolution amending MWPA’s conflict of interest code; authorizing the Executive Officer to delegate his existing authority to execute right of entry agreements (“ROE Agreements”) to designated Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (“Marin Wildfire”) staff; the 1st Agreement Amendment with Panorama Environmental to add a Staff Geologist Rate Category to the Approved Rate Sheet; the creation of the D-Space Alliance Squad Leader position and authorized the Executive Officer to begin recruitment of and to appoint up to 5 Squad Leader positions (Coler requested and received clarification that this would not result in additional staff – if it would have it would have further drawn down local D-Space funds which are limited in Fairfax and other smaller jurisdictions). The Board received: the FY 23/24 Audit by Badawi & Associates (clean audit); the MWPA workplan updates, Fire Safe Marin report and a presentation on the Biomass Study. Letters of interest were received for President (Coler) and Vice President (Rodoni).
13. June 18 – MCE Clean Energy Board mtg – The Board: approved a resolution accepting Congressionally Directed Spending Project from the Golden Fields Office of the U.S. Department of Energy and Proposed Agreements with Serious Controls, LLC (total projects are $1M with $500K DOE funding and $500K MCE match – three projects: Town of Tiburon Police Station/Emergency Operations Center; City of Pinole facilities - Pinole Youth Center & Pinole Swim Center Tiny Tots facility – all for battery storage systems); approved a 1st Agreement with Leading Resources, Inc. for Governance Assessment Services (total to completion is ~$100,000 and 44 months with an option to provide an Organizational Assessment after completion with a new budget and scope) – 4 Directors are leading this effort: Supervisors Allessio, Sackett and Scales-Preston and Councilmember Birdseye; approved a resolution for remote participation of the MCE Board and Finance Committee mtgs within the requirements for multijurisdictional bodies under SB 770. Also, MCE CEO Dawn Weisz’s last day with the agency was Wednesday, June 17. The Board will begin recruitment for a new CEO. Additional information about the process will be provided at a later date. Vicken Kasarjian, MCE’s Chief Operating Officer since 2018, will continue to serve as Acting CEO – he reported that there will be 2 procurement workshops on June 24 (index plus & hedges) and July 8 (resource adequacy) starting at 4:30 in both the San Rafael and Concord offices. New staff was introduced – Alcides Hernandez who is Director of Rates (has significant experience with rates at SMUD, etc.). MCE remains committed to its mission to reduce electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions while providing equitable community benefits and cost-competitive clean energy services to customers across its service area. The Board of Directors is confident in the agency’s ability to seamlessly continue operations during this transition. Regarding the Grand Jury report issued June 16, the Board is reviewing the report, its findings and recommendations, and will respond to the Marin Civil Grand Jury report within the required timeframe (additional information about the process will be provided at a later date).
14. June 22 - Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers (MCCMC) Legislative Committee (now being held at the Larkspur Library with zoom available for the public). The Committee voted to send letters re: AB 1681(Wilson) – oppose unless amended (bill would prohibit a local agency or state agency from requiring or requesting more than 2 plan check and specification reviews in connection with an application for a building permit, as part of its review, except as specified); AB 1383 (McKinnor) – Oppose (the bill rolls back specified PEPRA provisions for public safety – costs to local cities/towns/counties in the hundreds of millions; costs to the state billions). 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. Coler requested and was approved to follow all wildfire bills as they fit within land use/housing and local control.
15. June 22 - MCE Executive Committee prep mtg with Acting CEO.
16. June 24 - Marin County Council of Mayors & Councilmembers (MCCMC) monthly meeting (held at College of Marin)– Along with appointing the next President (Gabe Paulson) and Vice President (Chantel Walker) of MCCMC, the presentations will include: TAM Sea Level Rise Study and Program. Presentation provided by: Anne Richman, Transportation Authority of Marin, Executive, and Mikaela Hiatt Isono, Transportation Authority of Marin, Senior Transportation Planner; and Helping Municipalities Reach Their Climate Goals with BikeShare. Presentation provided by: Marc Azevedo - Operations Manager, Redwood Bike Share.
17. June 25 – Community Media Center of Marin (CMCM) Board mtg– mtg held after report submitted.
18. June 25 – CMCM – mtg held with Executive Director and Real Estate Attorney re: building matters.
19. June 26- Age Friendly Fairfax mtg – mtg held after report submitted.
Councilmember Blash
06/01: Giant Sequioa Farewell Ceremony. Joined Town Manager Abrams, Mayor Hellman, and community members to share memories and thoughts about the giant sequoia in Doc Edgar Park. The tree is dying and needs to be removed.
06/01: Met with Town Manager.
06/03: Town Council Meeting. Proclamation recognizing Gun Violence Awareness Day, Presentation on Ross Valley Sanitary District upcoming pipe replacement project, Marin Water presentation on Bolinas Road Pipeline Replacement Project. Adopted Fiscal Year 2026-27 Operating and Capital Improvement Budget, Approved Donation for purchase of Sky Ranch Knoll in the Bald Hill Preserve, heard resident’s petition regarding heritage banners.
06/04: Ross Valley Paramedic Authority Meeting. Heard survivor story presentation by Tom Hinton, adopted the 2026-27 Final budget. Adopted recommendation of fund balances as required by GASB 54.
Adopted resolution for 2026-08 to increase ambulance fees by 3.5% to ensure revenues are aligned with expenses.
06/09: Met with Town Manager.
06/11: Special Closed Session. Council update on lawsuits that the Town is involved in and potential pending litigation.
06/13: Fairfax Festival Parade. Participated in Town Council contingent in the parade. 06/16: Met with Town Manager.
06/23: Met with Town Manager.
06/23: Met with resident about dark sky ordinance. The Dark Sky ordinance was a council priority two or three years ago but has been de-prioritized due to other pending projects. 06/25: Transportation Authority of Marin Board Meeting. Accepted Vacancy Report. Public Hearing on the 2026-27 annual budget. Public Hearing on the Draft 2026 Measure AA Strategic Plan. Marin Transit’s Annual Presentation. Allocate FY26/27 Measure AA Funds to Marin Transit. Allocate FY26/27 Measure B Funds to Marin Transit. Marin County School Access Safety Action Plan Progress Update. 06/30: Met with Town Manager.
Councilmember Ghiringhelli
Not received in time for publication.