NOVATO CITY COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
901 SHERMAN AVENUE
NOVATO, CA 94945
July 23, 2024 – 6:00 PM
A. CONVENE, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, AND ROLL CALL
The City Council meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Milberg leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Mark Milberg, Mayor Pro Tempore Tim O’Connor Councilmember Pat Eklund, Councilmember Rachel Farac, and Councilmember Susan Wernick
STAFF PRESENT: City Manager Amy Cunningham, Chief Information Officer Shamin Miller, City Attorney Gary Bell and City Clerk Laura McDowall B. CLOSED SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT
The City Council met in closed session prior to the open session; there was nothing to report out.
C. CEREMONIAL MATTERS/PRESENTATIONS
C.1 4th of July Parade Winner Trophy Presentation
Members from Love 2 Dance accepted the trophy.
C.2. Proclamation - Novato Tree Team
Tree Team members Jeanne and Patrick MacLeamy, Gloria Dunn-Violin, Rick Hanley and Larry Paulger accepted the proclamation.
D. APPROVAL OF THE FINAL AGENDA
Mayor Pro Tem O’Connor suggested that the City Council and City Manager reports be moved to the end of the agenda, to which the Council agreed.
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion by Councilmember Farac and seconded by Councilmember Eklund, the City Council voted 5-0 via roll call to approve the Final Agenda, with reports moved to the end.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried.
E. REPORTS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL & CITY MANAGER
Reports from the City Council and City Manager were moved to the end of the agenda.
F. PUBLIC COMMENT
1. Phyllis Whitten
G. CONSENT CALENDAR
Councilmember Eklund requested that item G.6 be pulled from the Consent Calendar and placed at the end of General Business.
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion by Mayor Pro Tem O’Connor and seconded by Councilmember Farac, the City Council voted 5-0 via roll call to approve the Consent Calendar, with item G.6 moved to the end of General Business.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried.
G.1. Waive reading and authorize introductions and/or adoption of ordinances by title only this was a standard procedural action so that the City Council did not have to read ordinances aloud in their entirety
G.2. Adopt a resolution calling and giving notice of by-district elections for City Councilmember Districts 1, 3 and 5 in the General Municipal Election to be held on November 5, 2024, requesting the Marin County Board of Supervisors to consolidate the election with any other election and requesting election services by the Marin County Elections Department The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-065.
G.3. Adopt a resolution appointing Finance Director Carla Carvalho-Degraff as City Treasurer
The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-066.
G.4. Adopt a resolution approving the positions and identifying the persons who serve as trustees for the City of Novato deferred compensation plans American Funds and American Century
The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-067.
G.5. Adopt a resolution to authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an amendment to maintenance agreement No. 5423 with New Image Landscape Company for landscape maintenance of the Hillside and Wildwood Glen Landscape Assessment Districts to increase the contract amount by $50,735 and for a total not-to-exceed amount of $74,655 for the period between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2026
The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-068.
G.6. Adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager or their designee to execute a technology agreement with 101Voice for 60-months of Enterprise Cloud Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service, including implementation, new phone hardware, and remote site optimization in the amount of $197,380 using funds in the existing IT operating budget This item was pulled off the Consent Calendar and placed under General Business.
G.7. Adopt a resolution approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute the City of Novato’s response to the May 17, 2024, Marin County Civil Grand Jury report titled, “Cyber Preparedness: Are We There Yet?” and submit response to Marin County Grand Jury
The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-070.
H. UNFINISHED AND OTHER BUSINESS
There were no items listed for this section.
I. PUBLIC HEARINGS
There were no items for this section
J. GENERAL BUSINESS
J.1. Receive a progress report on the City Council adopted Strategic Plan covering the period of April 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024 City Manager Amy Cunningham gave the presentation.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None.
J.2. Consider adopting a resolution approving an ordinance and calling for, giving notice of, and establishing the policies and procedures for an election on a proposed ballot measure to establish a three-quarter of one percent (0.75%) transactions and use (sales) tax for general government use; and requesting that the County of Marin consolidate such an election with the established election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, and directing the County of Marin to conduct the election on the City’s behalf, placing a transaction and use (sales) tax measure on the November 5, 2024 General Municipal Election ballot
City Manager Cunningham presented the item and responded to Council questions.
At 7:43 p.m., the City Council took a brief recess and returned at 7:51 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
1. Jennifer Goldfinger
2. Dale Klein
3. Kevin Jacobs
4. David King
5. Arthur Ruda
6. Steven Rosenfeld
7. Roberta Rigney
8. Josh Wax
9. Christina Mendes
10. Paul Shaw
11. Liz Greiner
12. Larisa Thomas
13. Bill Davis
14. Steve Plocher
15. Janine Bradley
16. Susan Harper
17. Susan Meyer
18. Charlotte Weiser
19. Janet Willett
20. Ursula Pedersen
21. Mary Currie
22. Paula Capocchi
23. Alan Gump
24. Serena Fisher
25. John Hansen
26. Jay Shelfer
27. Zachary Griggy
28. Bernie Meyers
29. Tina McMillan
30. Susan Stompe
31. George Cohen
32. Seth Shorett
33. Mary Stompe
34. Katie Sherping
35. Mimi Willard
36. Erin Lacey
37. David Gabriel
38. Sean Casey
39. Suzanne Crow
40. Pam Drew
41. Michael Hutchinson
42. Jerry Peters
43. Ryan Williams
The City Council took a recess between 9:13 p.m. and 9:22 p.m.
COUNCIL ACTION: A motion was made by Councilmember O’Connor and seconded by Councilmember Wernick to adopt the resolution approving an ordinance and calling for, giving notice of, and establishing the policies and procedures for an election on a proposed ballot measure to establish a three-quarter of one percent (0.75%) transactions and use (sales) tax for general government use; and requesting that the County of Marin consolidate such an election with the established election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, and directing the County of Marin to conduct the election on the City’s behalf, placing a transaction and use (sales) tax measure on the November 5, 2024 General Municipal Election ballot.
Council discussion ensued regarding the provisions of the proposed ballot measure. It was suggested that a sunset provision be added to the measure, however it was generally felt that the measure should be put to the voters without a sunset provision included. Rather than a sunset provision, there was unanimous support to amend the resolution to add that the City Council intends to review and analyze the sales tax 10 years after the operative date, and every 5 years thereafter to consider its continued need.
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion by Councilmember Eklund and seconded by Councilmember Farac, the City Council voted 5-0 via roll call to amend the resolution on the first page, the last recital currently begins with ‘Whereas, the election is a regularly scheduled statewide election’ but add a semicolon to the end of that and ‘and’ at the end, and add a new recital after that to read “Whereas, if the voters approve the ordinance, the City Council intends to review and analyze the transactions and use sales tax proposed by this resolution 10 years after the operative date thereof, and every 5 years thereafter, to consider its continued need.”
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried.
It was then suggested that language be added to require that any future loans made by the City to a nonprofit or outside organization require a 4/5 vote of the Council, but a majority of the Council felt that this should be a policy decision which should be brought back at a future meeting.
COUNCIL ACTION: Motion by Councilmember Eklund to put in that future loans made by the City of Novato to any nonprofit or outside organizations would require a 4/5th vote of the City Council.
Motion failed for lack of a second.
Discussion continued, and the City Council felt that the entire resolution should be placed into the Voter Information Guide, and that the ballot measure language should be updated from:
“Shall the measure continuing locally controlled funding, that the State cannot take away, and maintaining City of Novato’s services, such as:
fixing potholes/ streets; maintaining 9-1-1 emergency response, crime/ gang prevention; attracting/ retaining small businesses; maintaining parks/ recreation facilities; enhancing wildfire prevention; and repair aging storm drains; by establishing a 3/4c sales tax in the City of Novato, until ended by voters, for general government use, providing an additional $10,300,000 annually, with independent citizens’ oversight, annual audits be adopted?” to:
“Shall the measure continuing locally controlled funding, that the State cannot take away, and maintaining City of Novato’s services, such as:
fixing potholes/ streets; maintaining 9-1-1 emergency response, crime/ gang prevention; attracting/ retaining small businesses; maintaining parks/ recreation facilities; enhancing wildfire prevention; and repair aging storm drains; by establishing a 3/4c sales tax in the City of Novato, until ended by voters, for general government use, providing an additional $10,300,000 annually, with citizens’ oversight, independent annual audits be adopted?” COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion by Councilmember Eklund and seconded by Mayor Pro Tem O’Connor, the City Council voted 5-0 via roll call to have the resolution printed along with the ordinance in the Voter Information Guide.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried.
COUNCIL ACTION: Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem O’Connor and seconded by Councilmember Eklund to change the ballot language slightly so that specific sentence that currently reads “with independent citizen’s oversight, annual audits” would be changed to “with citizen’s oversight, independent annual audits.”
City Attorney Gary Bell clarified that the ordinance itself uses the term independent oversight in 16-7.14 and it also uses the phrase independent oversight committee. He recommended that if the intent was to change the language of the ballot measure, then the ordinance should be updated as well so that it would be consistent throughout.
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon amended motion made by Mayor Pro Tem O’Connor and seconded by Councilmember Eklund, the City Council voted 5-0 to change the ballot language slightly so that the specific sentence that currently reads “with independent citizen’s oversight, annual audits” would be changed to “with citizen’s oversight, independent annual audits,” along with the edits to the ordinance.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried.
The City Council then took action on the main motion.
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion made by Councilmember O’Connor and seconded by Councilmember Wernick, the City Council voted 5-0 to adopt the resolution approving an ordinance and calling for, giving notice of, and establishing the policies and procedures for an election on a proposed ballot measure to establish a three-quarter of one percent (0.75%) transactions and use (sales) tax for general government use; and requesting that the County of Marin consolidate such an election with the established election to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, and directing the County of Marin to conduct the election on the City’s behalf, placing a transaction and use (sales) tax measure on the November 5, 2024 General Municipal Election ballot.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried. The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-071.
ITEMS PULLED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR
G.6. Adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager or their designee to execute a technology agreement with 101Voice for 60-months of Enterprise Cloud Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service, including implementation, new phone hardware, and remote site optimization in the amount of $197,380 using funds in the existing IT operating budget
Councilmember Eklund explained that she pulled this item from the Consent Calendar because she wanted clarification on what the item was and how it would improve City services. Chief Information Officer Shamin Miller explained the benefits of the new system and responded to Council questions
PUBLIC COMMENT:
1. Phyllis Whiten
COUNCIL ACTION: Upon motion by Councilmember Eklund and seconded by Councilmember Farac, the City Council voted 5-0 via roll call to adopt the resolution authorizing the City Manager or their designee to execute a technology agreement with 101Voice for 60-months of Enterprise Cloud Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone service, including implementation, new phone hardware, and remote site optimization in the amount of $197,380 using funds in the existing IT operating budget.
AYES: EKLUND, FARAC, WERNICK, O’CONNOR, MILBERG
NOES: NONE
Motion carried. The City Council adopted Resolution No. 2024-069.
K. COMMISSIONS, COMMITTEES AND BOARDS (CCB’S) APPOINTMENTS There were no items for this section.
L. WORK STUDY SESSION
There were no items for this section
E. REPORTS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL & CITY MANAGER
Due to the lateness of the hour, there were no reports given.
M. ADJOURNMENT
At 10:45pm, the City Council adjourned the meeting in memory of Paul Scheller.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing minutes were duly and adopted at the Novato City Council regular meeting of September 24, 2024.
/Laura McDowall/
___________________
Laura McDowall, City Clerk