City Council

Agenda Item Number 1 City Council City Manager Mayor Una Glass Larry McLaughlin Vice Mayor Sarah Glade Gurney lmclaughlin@cityofsebastopol.org Diana Gardner Rich Assistant City Manager/City Clerk, MMC Neysa Hinton Mary Gourley Patrick Slayter mgourley@cityofsebastopol.org CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA October 27, 2021 6:30 pm The City Council special and regular meeting will be held via teleconference pursuant to AB 361. Topic: Special City Council Meeting Time: Oct 27, 2021 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81638023242?pwd=eTdoMkZyb2d1dnNveTZOOTlvQWFUZz09 Meeting ID: 816 3802 3242 Passcode: 590647 One tap mobile +16699006833,,81638023242#,,,,*590647# US (San Jose) +12532158782,,81638023242#,,,,*590647# US (Tacoma) Dial by your location +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) Meeting ID: 816 3802 3242 Passcode: 590647 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcauq7HCnZ CALL TO ORDER: Vice Mayor Gurney called the regular meeting to order at 6:30 pm. ROLL CALL: Present: Mayor Una Glass – By video teleconference Vice Mayor Sarah Gurney – By video teleconference Councilmember Neysa Hinton – By video teleconference Councilmember Diana Gardner Rich - By video teleconference Councilmember Patrick Slayter -By video teleconference Absent: None Staff: City Manager/City Attorney Larry McLaughlin Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Mary Gourley SALUTE TO THE FLAG: Mayor Glass led the salute to the flag. Mayor Glass read the protocols for the meeting. STATEMENTS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST STATEMENTS OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Conflicts of interest may arise in situations where a public official deliberating towards a decision, has an actual or potential financial interest in the matter before the Council. In accordance with state law, an actual conflict of interest is one that would be to the private financial benefit of a public official, a relative or a business with which Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 1 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 the Councilmember is associated. A potential conflict of interest is one that could be to the private financial benefit of a Councilmember, a relative or a business with which the Councilmember is associated. A Councilmember must publicly announce potential and actual conflicts of interest, and, in the case of actual conflict of interest, must refrain from participating in debate on the issue or from voting on the issue and must remove themselves from the dais. There was no Statements of Conflict of Interest stated. Per the Brown Act, “Special meetings” are meetings called by the presiding officer or majority of the legislative body to discuss only discrete items on the agenda under the Brown Act’s notice requirements for special meetings. California Government Code section 54956 A special meeting may be called at any time by the presiding officer of the legislative body of a local agency, or by a majority of the members of the legislative body, by delivering written notice to each member of the legislative body and to each local newspaper of general circulation and radio or television station requesting notice in writing and posting a notice on the local agency’s Internet Web site, if the local agency has one. The notice shall be delivered personally or by any other means and shall be received at least 24 hours before the time of the meeting as specified in the notice. The call and notice shall specify the time and place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted or discussed. No other business shall be considered at these meetings by the legislative body. The written notice may be dispensed with as to any member who at or prior to the time the meeting convenes files with the clerk or secretary of the legislative body a written waiver of notice. The waiver may be given by telegram. The written notice may also be dispensed with as to any member who is actually present at the meeting at the time it convenes. REGULAR CALENDAR AGENDA ITEMS (DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION): 1. Discussion and Consideration of Approval of Pilot Program and Letter of Intent with Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS) to Operate a Temporary RV Village on City Owned Property (Requestor: Committee for Unhoused) The Committee for the Unhoused provided the agenda item recommending the City Council discuss and consider approval of a pilot program and Letter of Intent with Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS) to Operate a Temporary RV Village on City Owned Property. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • This agenda item was requested by the Committee for the Unhoused and that committee is myself, the Mayor, and Councilmember Rich. • I'm going to give a little background about this first. This has happened very quickly. • I know a lot of people were taken by surprise on this and I will explain why it has been so speedy. • First I want to say homelessness is an increasing and broad problem throughout the State of California. • It actually seems to be getting worse. • The problem that we have here in Sebastopol may seem significant to us but actually it is not as significant as it is in many other locations such as San Francisco and Berkeley. • The causes of homelessness are in my opinion the result of 50 years of bad public policy and now we are all reaping the unintended consequences of these bad policies and we are now as a local City confronted with trying to resolve problems that have its origins in actually National, State, and Countywide policy. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 2 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • The approach has been to keep moving people that are experiencing homelessness from one place to another. • Regionally what has been going on is that when people are homeless if they're in their RV or camping or sleeping rough, regionally we have seen other cities having sweeps and moving people on. Moving people on. Then moving people on again. • This is just kicking the can down the road and it is not actually addressing the underlying issues. It is not solving problems. • I, Councilmember Rich and everybody on our Council have been participating in regional work to try and determine regional solutions to this problem. • We cannot solve this - just our City alone. • We will be continuing to work on looking to those regional solutions as we move forward over the next year or two. • We are a very small City with very limited funding. Our entire general fund budget is between $10 and $11 million. That is a very small amount of money to run a City. • But despite our small size and our lack of resources as a City we have been very proactive in working to solve and mitigate homeless problems. • One of the things that happened in this past is that the Sebastopol Inn got converted into something called Elderberry Commons, which is a Project Home Key funded project, State funding that helped that happen, and it was the County that actually executed that program. • As a result of that 31 homeless people who were COVID vulnerable have some place to stay. • There have been concerns on the part of the public that as we took the Sebastopol Inn out of its status as a hotel that the City had less income from the bed tax that we used to get from that hotel. • However, we did negotiate with the County and the County provided us $385,000 to mitigate the loss of funds and we have invested in a contract with West County Community Services to do outreach to unhoused people in our community to work on further addressing issues of homelessness and West County Community Services is now after about two months is working to outreach to homeless people in our town to try and get people who are experiencing homelessness hooked up with services and help so that they can get their lives back on track. • That contract has just started and so we are working to address the issues of the unhoused amongst our population by having a full-time social worker whose job it is to do community outreach to work on resolving these issues. • Additionally, the City has invested in Park Village, which is a former trailer park that has been around for many, many years, and many of the traditional residents are still living there, but in partnership with West County Community Services we have also worked with them to find housing for primarily unhoused families and they have trailers there. • They have a social worker. They have a manager to help families get their lives back on track and that program has been quite successful and at least I think eight families or more have gone from living in Park Village into permanent housing, managed to get jobs, and moved forward with their lives. • We are continuing to operate that facility also. • As everyone knows there has been a lot of controversy about the RVs that are parked on our public streets. • The Committee for the Unhoused which is Councilmember Rich and I, have been exploring ways that we could address this problem. • There has been a lot of controversy and complaints from various people in the public and from the business community about people that are parked in RVs on Morris Street. • Councilmember Rich and I have been investigating, a: a funding sources and, b: alternative locations for those vehicles to be parked. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 3 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • In the course of that we have met with an organization called SAVS which had funding to create such a parking area and program if we could find a site. • Councilmember Rich and I have been looking around going to various sites and trying to find a place that would be suitable, and this in a small town like this with a City that has very little real estate under ownership has been a tough row to hoe. • We have been looking for sites and there is a proposed site that we have investigated and that is part of what we're talking about tonight. • There are not very many viable locations to put a place for RVs to park. • It is really evident to me that one of the things we need in this County is actually a lot of small RV parks throughout the County where people can park their RVs safely, legally, and with the kind of services they need to operate conscientiously and be part of a community and part of our community. • Unfortunately, most of the Federal Funding goes to houses, apartments, and all of those things are very, very expensive. • We cannot solve this housing crisis by spending $400,000 and more per apartment unit with how many people are unhoused at this point. • We are looking for low cost solutions where we can actually address taking care of people in a way that also works for our community. • Councilmember Rich and I met with them and found out from them that they have funding from the Continuum of Care, COC, which is a division of the County's CDC, which is the Community Development Commission. • It is the part of a public agency run by the County. • They had allocated some funding to SAVS for a parking project, RV parking type project and a small, managed village somewhere in Sonoma County. • SAVS has been looking for a place to locate this and they're coming to our City with funding. • Councilmember Rich and I felt this was certainly something worth exploring particularly because it's not every day we trip over $350,000 to try and solve a problem. • This is not a permanent solution but this would be solving a problem that we are having right now. • Tonight we will be discussing a letter of intent to explore the idea of engaging with SAVS to create this village. • Why are we doing this so darned fast? • I'm sure the public feels like they are in a wind tunnel with how fast the whole thing has happened and the reason for this is that SAVS funding, they've been looking for a location for a year and had not found a location yet. • Then Councilmember Rich and I met with them. • They are eager to find a location for this project they want to do, and they had to have a commitment from either a private location or municipality or some kind of jurisdiction supposedly by November first. • They are pretty close to being out of time and that is why we were doing this so we could put together a letter of intent that would give the City the time to vet this idea. • This gives us time to look at is this a viable idea and get public input on this idea and to talk about the details with the staff who have pretty well thought out plans. • That is what we're doing tonight. • We are not making a decision about doing this but tonight we are getting a presentation by SAVS so the City Council can explore whether we want to explore this idea further and give us the timing so that we can really do a good job looking at the details and determine if this is a good fit for all of us. • That is what we're doing tonight. • The COC just had a board meeting that finished at 5:00 this evening. They did extend that deadline so the deadline has been extended to December 8th so that gives the City until December 8th to explore this Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 4 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 idea, to work out details, and to talk with our friends at SAVS and determine whether this is a good fit for all of us and to determine if we want to move forward with this project. • The organization as I said now is coming to us with over $350,000 in potential funding to fund a project like this and pretty much the only way this becomes viable is if we do it on City owned property. • There is not enough money to do this project on private property. • That is what we have before us this evening. • With that I want to thank the people at SAVS because they have worked very quickly and very rapidly on this. • I want to thank Councilmember Rich for the tremendous amount of work she has put into this. • I want to thank the people at CoC that gave us an extension, the deadline for this funding so that the City can fully explore this possibility and determine if this is the direction we need to go. • The other thing I should say is this an emergency meeting and one of my colleagues can only be here for an hour. • I am hoping we can do this meeting as quickly as possible knowing there will be plenty of opportunity over the next month for more vetting and public input. • This is not the final decision this evening. • This is about the City saying we want to move forward with vetting this idea and determining if this is the right fit for us. • With that I'll ask Councilmember Rich to make her comments about this and then we'll get a presentation from SAVS who will present their initial ideas with the Council and public knowing there are still plenty of details that we mead to talk about and more people we need to talk with out in the public with concerns about this project or who are greatly in support of this project. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • First we all know the situation on Morris Street presents health and safety hazards for both the individuals in the lived in vehicles there and also the rest of the community. • We've received concerns very specific from businesses on Morris Street, Barlow, other members of the community, walkers, bicyclists. • This is a situation escalating in terms of its health and safety risks and potential nuisance, public nuisance issues. • It is not healthy for any of us here in town. • The City Council as we all know on October 5th directed this ad hoc committee to prioritize finding an alternate location for the RVs on Morris Street. That was the priority given to us. • I have to point out it's been one week since this idea was presented to us. • This is to get approval for a letter of intent, that approval would be requested tonight and through the Continuum of Care and Mayor Glass's efforts and SAVS' efforts we have until early December to get a contract signed. • It is important to note this is in fact the beginning of a process but we need to determine whether we are committed to taking this step with a funded opportunity with an entity that is respected, reputable, and will make this a very effective, safe, humane, much more manageable environment for these individuals and by extension for the rest of us here in this community. • I implore all of you to listen seriously, to understand that you have concerns, to know we will list those concerns and be addressing them and that we need to be a team, a village to get this done. • I will be listening with open ears to all comments made tonight, all suggestions, all concerns. Adrienne Lauby and Patrick O’Loughin, SAVS, made a presentation. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 5 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 Mayor Glass opened for questions of Committee/staff/presenter. Councilmember Hinton commented as follows: • I have a ton of questions but I'll start with two. • One is we just looked at a budget which I'm just going to call it column A. • Then we have column B which is more money. • Is column B what the organization is recommending if the City were to put money in or are we going for two types of grants to try to get column B funded? SAVS commented as follows: • We wanted to give you an example of what we thought would be a really good village. • We realized this was going to be pared down if we use the money we have. • We'll try to raise some money. We'd love if you kick some money in. • We just wanted you to be able to see it like here is a good village. • Here is a pared down village and the one we'll have unless we can raise some money. Councilmember Rich commented in terms of our proposal just to be clear our proposal tonight is that the City Council support the minimum budget and SAVS has assured us they can run an excellent operation with that minimum budget to the extent we're later able to supplement it that's great but our understanding is that the money SAVS has will cover the expenses outlined in that report. Councilmember Hinton commented as follows: • I want to state that I have a lot more questions but I understand tonight is not the night for the detailed questions • I’m just going to ask my other really big question which is I feel Sebastopol has really done a lot for homeless. • We converted our hotel. We have Park Village we invested in for five years. • Now we're looking at another village and the last time when the County came in we thought and we asked for local preference. • Tonight I heard a lot about Morris Street which is great but when I go swimming at Ives Pool there is an RV right there. • There are RVs throughout our community not just Morris Street. • What is important to me about this project is it needs, must have local preference for our RVs not just on Morris Street but throughout our community. • I don't want another pop up where we are taking our unfair share burden from the County from these other cities which has been pointed out in some of the letters we received tonight from constituents. • That is a really important, key element, and I want to make sure that we're doing outreach not just to Morris Street. • I did see in the proposal tow or park. Because that is such a sensitive area. It is a concern we'd put RVs in there that would be towed. They couldn't drive. • I'd like that addressed as well. SAVS commented as follows: • A lot of the RVs are trailers so they definitely have to be towed on to the site. They can't move ever on their own. • I am not surprised to hear you want a local preference. We're open to that. • We would like to see what other people think about it. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 6 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • Right now, if we look at just the people that are on Morris Street and just the size of that lot, that is about it. • Maybe some of those people won't want to move and there will be some attrition where people go somewhere else or leave at some point. • But right now we are not anticipating being able to take care of all the RVs in the City. It is just not big enough. Councilmember Rich commented the other question I think presented by Councilmember Hinton was the fact that those RVs would have to be towed and my understanding is that SAVS is prepared to do that, correct? SAVS stated that is correct. Vice Mayor Gurney commented as follows: • Thank you to our Committee for the Unhoused and to SAVS for this presentation and thank you to everybody willing to do this on a short timeline. • I'm grateful we'll have future opportunity to talk about the details. • One detail I think in the public's mind to ask what will this do to the parking available on Morris Street? • Is it the concept then that street campers on Morris Street and potentially throughout our community as Councilmember Hinton has suggested for local outreach be in this new place so street will then become three-hour? • It is a question for our Committee for the Unhoused because you can see the public concern if the street campers go into this RV park then the street will just fill up again and other places in the community will fill up. • It has been a parallel idea running all along if we can help the people who are street campers on Morris Street we can help our businesses by making the three-hour parking particularly if we help our environmentalists, pedestrians, cyclists by freeing up the sidewalk for safe passage and relocating the bike lane to the West side and eliminating you can see along with this consideration for beyond tonight's inquiry there is a bigger concept of how do we manage the real estate on Morris Street? • I am also concerned about parking as it relates to the Community Center because this area is City owned property and we have a big Community Center there that draws a lot of people when it is fully functioning as we will soon see. • What about their parking and also what about security for their clientele, constituency, and participants? Mayr Glass commented I'm not sure we can legally do a quid pro quo on parking versus non-parking and I would have to direct that issue to our City Manager/Attorney before we make any statements about that. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • In terms of those three questions parking at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center if you look at the plan the proposal here is to claim a current Public Works spot that isn't being used for parking plus a relatively small section of the dirt by the round-about area behind the Community Center. • Our hope would be and the plan would be to claim that area because we needed a half-acre to claim a very small portion of that lot. • Our expectation in terms of Community Center parking is that there would not be a substantial impact on Community Center parking. • With the question about the sense of security people might feel parking in that back lot when there is an RV village there, it is our expectation and goal that by providing this managed RV village locked at 9:00 P.M. and with resident management on site that in fact that is going to create a substantial, more secure, Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 7 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 safe environment both on Morris Street and in that back lot in the neighborhood in general and our hope is that it would actually relieve some of the discomfort and the parking pressure that would happen to the community center. • Discussed the question regarding clearing of Morris Street. • My proposal would be that we commit as a City Council to clearing Morris Street in order to get this project done. • The reason I propose that and put that out up front and center is because this City Council very clearly tasked the ad hoc committee with finding an alternate location for the RVs on Morris Street. • This topic has been discussed with the advocates. It's a concern in our community. • We have a health and safety issue that is bubbling up on Morris Street that is bad for both the lived in vehicles, those people there, and for our community members. • I would propose that the City Council look at making that commitment tonight and of course to the extent our City Attorney cautions us otherwise we got to listen. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • I would like to say my opinion is that we can't do a quid pro quo. • The other thing is if we are making commitments about limiting parking, we need to look at that situation about how it is going to impact our City, Citywide. • We can't just look at are we going to do one thing in one place. How are we managing this issue Citywide. • I don't think we should be just doing something that solves a problem in one place but doesn't solve problems somewhere else. • I think we need to take a big picture look at this rather than just a singular picture. City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows: • I am a little confused what answer or what question I am supposed to be answering because I understood the question to be whether it is legal and possible to clear Morris Street in the sense of the question asked by Vice Mayor Gurney, which was basically as I read it, whether or not it is possible, to better the situation in the lives of these people through this proposal this evening and at the same time deal with the issues on Morris Street which were enumerated by Councilmember Rich. • The question asked by the Mayor is a bit different and questions whether that is in actuality the plan. • All I can say is after reviewing the matter, it is legal and possible to completely clear Morris Street in connection with implementing the SAVS proposal. • I hope that addresses the question that I thought I was hearing earlier, which was related to Morris Street. • It is possible to clear Morris Street and replace the present unlimited parking with restricted parking in terms of time and/or no overnight camping restriction. • It is possible to do that - the length of Morris Street on the east side if the SAVS proposal goes forward. Councilmember Slayter commented by the City potentially providing a safe parking location, under the umbrella of the Boise decision, how does that change the City's ability to regulate parking across the City? City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows: • The factors I reviewed with outside counsel this morning on that matter were to the health and safety concerns on Morris Street enumerated by Councilmember Rich as well as by the merchants and the Barlow, correspondents, photographs, etcetera, it is related to the other opportunities that are presently implemented or studied for implementation specifically the safe parking opportunities. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 8 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • It is related to other locations in the City that are unrestricted presently. • The bottom line since I was asked by the committee to review this, they asked me to review what were our options with respect to Morris Street? • Considering all of the factors as they exist today, October 27th, and focusing on Morris Street, my advice is that it is possible and legal to clear Morris Street completely in connection with implementing the SAVS proposal. • Again, that is based on the present situation as it exists right now and the other opportunities, and the court case analysis by our outside counsel. Councilmember Slayter commented as follows: • So is my understanding of the Boise decision that if a municipality provides safe parking in some number, that is not calculatable mathematically but appropriate might be the term people might lean on, that changes the ability of that municipality to regulate parking everywhere. • If you are not providing a location then you can't regulate it anywhere. City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows: • I should mention here that in reviewing this with outside counsel there is a whole slate of various legal decisions not just the Boise decision but several of which make it clear that decisions regarding restrictions on overnight camping are not intended to inhibit the City's ability to deal with other issues that have arisen. • So it is a balancing act. Some of the cases studied by counsel involve a City in Oregon. A case outside jurisdiction of California, a federal case. • There is a long list of cases revealed with outside counsel that deal with this subject and part of it is based on the current situation on Morris Street for which we have received reports on this from citizens and businesses that this constitutes essentially a public nuisance, that there are health and safety violations, that there are concerns raised by the public in terms of being able to use a public asset, and it is again based as well on an analysis of other opportunities within the City some of which are currently implemented, some of which are proposed to be implemented, the understanding that as of now in this location under the current slate of cases related to the Boise decision that it is legal to clear Morris Street in connection with the implementation of this proposal. • That is all I'm advising. I am not advising what could happen next March or what was the case last July but what is the situation right now with respect to this one location that is to say Morris Street. Councilmember Slayter commented as follows: • Thank you for that explanation and I was over simplifying what is clearly a very complex legal situation. • I have many, many questions about implementation and I have some that are much more mechanical in nature. • I suppose for now the other question that I think is really right at the very top for me, this is one year. • What happens in year two, year three, year five, year ten? • I understand at this point if the answer is, we hope, we wish, wing and a prayer. • But if that is the case we need to be open with our community. SAVS commented as follows: • We plan to raise money going to our community and we have some people who said once you get a piece of property and something going I'll donate. • But it is not enough for another year. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 9 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • We are also watching the state and Federal Funding streams and they're still there and a lot depend on the next elections. • All I can say is I feel pretty hopeful that we can continue it. • That is one reason we want to do it as cheap as possible because we want it to continue. • Of course ideally everyone would find a place to live and we could close it down. • There is also that possibility. • Or we could bring in some of the other people in the other areas of Sebastopol. Councilmember Slayter commented are you anticipating that there will be a maximum length of stay that will be allowed? SAVS commented as follows: • We are not. We think it has to be very individual and our experience in looking around and talking to other agencies that do have that is they end up kicking out people who have nowhere to go and it doesn't really serve anybody. • We see that the state and the federal government are right now putting the majority of funding into funding the new actual places to live. • But they are all recognizing once that big first expensive hurl gets over then comes the ongoing services • We can't promise it but everyone is talking about that, the COC is talking about that. • The other thing is once you have a village up and running and operating well it is much more likely to get refunded than it is to start from scratch so by having it open you get a better spot in line. Councilmember Hinton commented as follows: • When you're talking about length of stay I do assume and again we would I guess get into this at a later meeting but there must be rules and those people would be I assume kicked out. • Living in tight quarters like that, and with the house manager on site, I understand people might not have a place to go but if they are not following the rules I assume there would be some teeth in that • This is directed at the City Manager. You talked about health and safety as the reason we could change Morris Street and move RVs off but my understanding of the Boise decision or when we talked about this in previous Council meetings you had to have a safe place to park those RVs and once you did then you could in your jurisdiction, within your jurisdiction and based on that you could change rules within the City for this type of thing. • I didn't remember it was completely tied to health and safety, which leads me to believe that if we could change possibly things on Morris Street but could also offer this to other people in other parts of the City. • Is that wrong? City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows: • Just to clarify, it is not completely tied to anything, the analysis that involves a number of court cases, findings within those court cases that relate to other problems that cities have that go beyond the overnight camping problem but relate to it, the discussion in those court cases that City's hand are not completely tied when they are trying to deal with important health and safety issues as well as affecting the rights of campers. • It is a bunch of court decisions in which you analyze a whole lot of different factors which are fact specific to a given area and a given situation. • The area that I'm referring to is Morris Street and the situation is what exists on Morris Street right now. • The court cases are those that have been decided previous to now and looking at them as a group of court decisions. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 10 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • It is obvious, extremely complicated, I did have the opportunity, however, of reviewing this despite the short time period I was able to review this with outside counsel this morning. • It is a bunch of factors is what I'm trying to say, not solely related to any one thing. Councilmember Hinton commented as follows: • Does staff know how many with this project inside City limits how many beds or RV positions when you add up West County Community Services and Park Village and now this project will be in Sebastopol? • Do we have a number? City staff stated no but City staff would get that information. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • First of all, I'd like to go back to the preference for Sebastopol unhoused. • The implication in all of our discussions and proposal would be that, yes. • In fact, this RV village be dedicated to providing a safe, humane environment for those who are already within Sebastopol City limits and need a place to be. • I wanted to get out there. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • I think that is certainly the intention. • However, I do think people come and go, so being able to say that is kind of setting a parameter • If we have somebody that has been on Jewell Avenue, for example, how do we know how long they've been there? • I don't think it is a hard and fast thing that you can do. • I don't think we want to be homeless hotel for the entire County of Sonoma. • We're not interested in that. • I think that saying it is really black and white is just more complicated than that. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • Which bring me to one of the strengths of this proposal we have kind of alluded to which is we are working with an organization that already through SAVS and also their relationship and coordination with other organizations supporting the unhoused I would bet we can trust them to know which people are here now and which could be prioritized. • That is one of the reassuring pieces. • The other questions were will the rules be enforced? • I understand from the proposal that, yes, the rules will be enforced. • We want to emphasize part of the plan Mayor Glass and I have been working on does include safe parking, and we had a focused discussion about that that the City Council will hear more about that that would be part of the overall extension of services in order to meet the needs of the unhoused, vehicular unhoused we have in town and then to add a piece that hasn't been mentioned which is that there is an effort to coordinate and a commitment from West County Community Services to continue to serve the needs of these unhoused who have been on Morris Street and now would be in this RV village. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • I'd just like to clarify my position • I have stated at times in the past that I don't want this to be moving down the pathway to everybody in the City of Sebastopol has to have a permit to park on their own street. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 11 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • I am not okay with that. I have never agreed with that. • From my perspective I will not be boxed into saying that is where we're going to go in order to solve our RV problem in this town. • I think that is not a good idea. • I don't think my neighbors would be very happy with that. • However, I think this is a very viable idea to deal with what has become a very controversial and problematic encampment that is on Morris Street that is unhealthy for the people living there and unhappy for the rest of the community. • I think this is a solution. • I do think we need to think about how we're going to deal with the issues in the neighborhood so that we are not just solving this problem in one place and moving it somewhere else. • That is the most important thing that we need to do. • But what we do need to do right now I think is say, yes. • This is an interesting idea. • This is a significant amount of funding for resolving what has become really a problematic situation on Morris Street. • We can debate and discuss how we'll deal with the details on this particular project and how we'll deal with these other details that have to do with our entire City as a whole. • I think what we're looking at right now is the idea that we are able to move forward with examining how we can resolve this problem that we've been having by vetting this proposal that would bring a significant amount of money to our City for a managed solution to the problem that we are currently having on Morris Street. Mayor Glass opened for public comment. The City has received public comment which was forwarded to the City Council and posted to the City web site. Timothy Dimick commented as follows: • I've been not a lifelong but very long time Sebastopol citizen. • I have served our school and the school board for over ten years and coached youth sports. • I have been the director for Green Acre home which abuts this project for the past 28 years. • We serve youth that have experienced a lot of trauma and I am especially in favor of helping anyone who has been traumatized. • A couple of the issues that I have is that we talk about serving people in Sebastopol and I'm just wondering if we have become a magnet for homeless people and how many of our homeless people are actually Sebastopol citizens. • I'm guessing that number is very low. • If we offer more services without having a three-hour limit or without preventing parking, it would just be back filled with other people from out of town or from out of the County. • Additionally, I just want to point out this group abuts a home for youth, a teen center, and a Community Center that serves young children. • I understand the need for parking areas, for it to be industrial or City parking, and I'm just wondering if there isn't a better position for this • It is also right next to the high school, a place that is going to affect youth probably more than anywhere else unless you put it on an elementary school parking lot. • I have a lot of other points but I'll stop. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 12 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 Linda Collins commented as follows: • I just wanted to take a brief moment and say that, you know, we have been talking about our unsheltered for many, many months, years, I believe that we have an opportunity here to make a change. • Is it the best change? Maybe not. • Is it the best site? Probably not. • However, we have an opportunity to change the dynamics of Morris Street and our unsheltered and I think that Councilmember Rich and Mayor Glass have spent numerous hours putting this together, talking with SAVS, and I think we owe it to our citizens and businesses on Morris Street and Sebastopol to take a strong look and see if we can move forward whether it is temporary or not. Chris Anderegg commented as follows: • President of the board of the Cultural Center and our Youth Annex • We want to participate in it and see what we can input but also it is very disheartening it has gotten this far without us being asked about it. • In the staff report and in comments earlier the implication was that neighbors have been involved. • It is not the case. That is disheartening and we want to be included. • We've still been having outdoor class for children and had the experience of a psychotic person walking through a class of small children screaming at them and getting a very poor response from the police. • Police response has not been discussed. • That needs to be part of it. • Also lately our building is getting vandalized regularly by people trying to get either power or water. • In fact, yesterday the water to the main building was cut off by someone trying to get water. • These are all things and we need a bigger discussion on security because there's also people who regularly end up camping behind the building and I'm not sure this will or won't attract more people but all of these issues have to be addressed and we want to be at the table to discuss them with everybody else and also we have a concert coming up that already sold 300 tickets. • We have 400 people showing up for a concert. • The whole issue of them interacting with this parking, all these things. • Next year tribal fest is coming again. A week of people, many of them parking in the street. • There's huge issues and we really want to be included and we're willing to contribute but we really feel these things have to been solved. Arthur George commented as follows: • Chair of West County Homeless Advocates. • For several years now we have been addressing the City Council for safe parking, sanitation, housing the three issues we feel we could address and two other issues that underlie homelessness, drugs and mental illness we felt we could not address. • This proposal is a wrap-around service addressing all of that, not creating a shanty town but a fenced, regulated program with outreach and services. • It uses existing RVs as shelter avoiding the cost of tiny homes which could run between $6,000 and $13,000 each as we see in other areas. • The question that's been raised is Sebastopol taking its unfair share? I would say no. • Sebastopol is doing its share to an extent other cities simply shrug and do nothing. • Santa Rosa for example debates the need for toilets and dumpsters and wonders why blight and waste accumulate. • Sebastopol takes care of business and manages what it has here. • I'd like to speak on behalf of SAVS which over the summer has been here on site. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 13 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • They are from Sonoma but have been here in Sebastopol repairing vehicles, getting vehicles registered, towed, doing outreach and helping people here. • I support this program. Barbara Renzullo commented as follows: • I am a long time Sebastopol resident just a little out of City limits in the County area. • I am just wanting to say how much in favor I am of this program going forward and grateful to the City for moving and showing, yeah, showing they can go forward as Arthur was referring to how dragging slowly other parts of the County are getting parking places and other services for the homeless. • I am glad to hear that there is going to be as time goes on the residents will be included in decision making and the care of where they're living. • I am grateful for the time I've had to meet residents on Morris Street and hope this goes forward for them to have a better place. Mark DeSaulnier commented as follows: • I am the Executive Director for the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center. • I just want to reiterate and affirm what Chris shared as well. • I think what I'm hearing is a lot of aspirational steps that want to be taken. • I'd be very excited to hear from SAVS from their previous experiences how they handle situations when rules are broken for instance how is a removal plan handled for instance because we are one of the neighbors and how can be We be part of the conversations at the table, key stake holders in the area in the day in and day out as Chris stated even vandalism in the last 24 hours of course there can be very bright sides to this and we see that and we want to creatively be part of solutions for our community absolutely. • We need to know these are being thought through and the plans are put together and are ready to be enforced. • When it comes down to it including security as Chris stated because we'll have 500 plus in December and concerts on the campus. • How do we handle that in these shared locations of people coming together? • Thank you for all that you're doing on this. Courtney Klein commented as follows: • I am representing myself and also a public librarian and so that means that I, many people who are unsheltered visit our library. • I support the SAVS project proposal 100%. • It is intelligent, realistic, frugal, and human centered approach to mitigating chronic homelessness compounded by trauma and isolation. • I understand the urgency for decision making because the unfortunate nature of social services today is calloused bureaucracy coupled with time sensitive funding. • I am excited about the SAVS project outline because it is accessible and we can influence neighboring cities such as Santa Rosa to pick up their end of the slack and replicate. • The perspective, we shouldn't have to shoulder this burden in Sebastopol, is not helpful because it derails problem solving and grass pleases for unrealistic perfection. • Homelessness is a complex issue and if we ignore it we avoid our problems. • I prefer to confront my problems. • I want these vulnerable individuals who have a shorter lifespan due to homelessness mind you to have a humane safety net. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 14 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • I want to stop setting our social workers who do this work full-time up for failure. • I want to live in a community that is safer because when we crack down on abject poverty we crack down on crime. • I used to work for becoming independent which supports adults with developmental disabilities to lead dignified independent lives. • Wrap-around services for these folks are not perfect but in comparison to the meager services for adults experiencing homelessness it is shocking. Barbara Lee commented as follows: • First of all, Courtney thank you. You make me smile and give me hope in the upcoming youth in this country. Thank you so much for your comment. • In my experience marginalized and traumatized people need community support to reintegrate themselves and feel that they are included in this culture. • Today I met a 69-year-old woman on Morris Street who is living in her car. She has been for quite a while. • I didn't have a whole lot of information to give her but I completely support SAVS in providing the needed wrap-around services that would be provided with this, with the services and volunteers will also be there attempting to build and help the community reintegrate into society and that is the goal. • I applaud the City Council for looking into this very viable solution and I support the proposal wholeheartedly. Kathy Oetinger commented as follows: • I am currently on the City's Planning Commission but tonight I am wearing a hat as President of the Redwood Rainbow Square dance club a nonprofit that manages and maintains the building and property owned by the City. • We have some of the same concerns that the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center has but in particular this proposal is right over our back fence and our parking area. • One issue is second hand smoke from trailers that may be near our fence line. • Right now we're dancing with our doors and windows open because of COVID. • Some of the useful space in our club is the back yard garden, which is a memorial garden, very quiet, special place for our members. • Second-hand smoke would not be appropriate. • The other issue is security. • Right now there is an opening in the small split-rail fence between the two sites and we feel full security fence should be all along the side, the north side of the parking lot area. • People shouldn't be allowed to walk through the parking lot. • We rent the hall and depend on that income and if people are coming to look at the hall and it doesn't look appropriate for their event then both we and the City will lose out. Keith Herman commented as follows: • I might be putting myself out there but I live in the bright yellow house next to the hall. • One of the only homes on lower Morris Street please so I feel like this issue is directly impactful to my life and has been for the five years I lived here. • What I see in this meeting and hear from people is a very split mindset between, I understand everybody wants to help but it seems the people that are removed from the situation, people in the County, people in other parts of Sebastopol are not realizing the effects this community as we say has a hat on Morris Street and I think that needs to be discussed and I think if this community was on perhaps Florence Avenue this would be a very different conversation happening right now. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 15 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • I think to avoid those tougher talks is avoiding the situation in general. • Everything Sebastopol has done help this community is great and is a positive step in the future. • But I think that we need to look at some of the tougher questions about restrictions on not only security but drug testing and rehabilitation and how long is the community going to last? • How long is this community going to be in this parking lot for? Oliver Marks commented as follows: • This has become an annual Halloween horror story every year. • Last year we had the Sebastopol Inn being rushed through because the money came from the state. • Now this year we have this tremendously rushed thing because there is $300,000 available to create a village in inverted commerce. • I echo what the last speaker said who actually lives on Morris Street. • This is completely unrealistic. • I strongly oppose it. I did put in a public comment in writing so I'll stop there. Jill commented as follows: • I want to express my support for Keith's comment. • I think it is important that we help the folks who are down on their luck but at the same time I don't hear a lot of discussion about the citizens of Sebastopol who live here, work hard to own these homes that are extremely expensive, and do what they can to contribute to the community and those of us who are doing this deserve to have a peaceful existence where we don't have to worry about a camper rolling up in front of our house and parking and the police telling us there is nothing they can do. • It is not acceptable. • I have the unique experience of being exposed to this unhoused foundation having been on the board for the Community Center for five years and also owning a business right next to the Inn. • One thing I keep hearing people talk about, it is going to be fenced. • That is happening at the Sebastopol Inn and they have a lot of security but it has not stopped the people who live there from loitering all over the place. • Just three weeks ago someone who lives in the Inn actually took their pants down in front of a number of us and defecated right in front of us. • They are living in the inn. I understand places will be fenced in. • People can roam where they will. It is a free country. • This is not going to solve everything. • I think it is a ridiculous idea to put it right next to the Youth Annex or Community Center Suzanne Lande commented as follows: • First of all, I am one of the volunteers • I am a SAVS volunteer who is very often on Morris Street. • I definitely support this. • I do think we have to reach out to merchants in the Community Center, residents, we have to be talking to people. • Anyone who sees me there, you see my name, you can grab me. • I'll talk to you, do what I can, step in. • I very much appreciate first of all what Chris and Mark and others said. • That is important. • Please do talk to me. I am only a volunteer but I help a lot. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 16 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • I strongly support having this and all of the volunteers you've seen before we're still going to be volunteering. • I appreciate what Arthur said and what Courtney said among many others. Lucy Whitworth commented as follows: • I am on the board of Redwood Rainbows and have been involved at Wischemann Hall since 2008. • I agree with the people from the Community Cultural Center and our neighbor • I want to know how are we going to be included in these discussions going forward because we are the people most impacted and we're going to have people, you know, all of a sudden seeing oh, what a nice back yard. • There is a picnic table and other places to sit. • We've already had people on our back porch of our Wischemann Hall so I would really like to know how we can be included in the discussions going forward. Cynthia commented as follows: • I am also a SAVS volunteer, and I fully understand and sympathize with the concerns of the square dance club, Community Center, and nearby resident and I want to just point out that I believe some of the experiences that you have had will go away with the salve parking site. • What we've learned is that people come and do criminal things to the campers and so because of the setup now, it attracts some of the things that it is very hard for the police to separate but it will be clear that the people who are in a safe place that is locked at night that are being helped as being part of their own community, that if these criminal activities continue it will not be from the residents of this village. Debra commented as follows: • I am a Morris Street business owner as well. • I've been there over 19 years and we have had the unhoused defecate on our property, steal from us. • There's been theft, we've seen machetes come out, people having sex, we have seen it all and yet I completely support this project • I think if you don't, if you are not living on Morris Street daily and you don't understand the impact this is having and the atrocity of how these people are living, is really hard to grasp the whole situation • So while I understand the concerns of it being by a teen center and everything else we have to really look at the reality. • It is already there. They're not moving. • It is not like we are bringing in a community that isn't already there. This community is there. • I've gotten to know a lot of them over the years and interacted with them and there are various forms of people • I would like to say thank you so much for the work you've done on this. • I am completely impressed and really happy to see a solution is being put forth because it has been a very unfortunate situation for many years and is growing. • Lastly, I will just say one of my main concerns also is that if we move them down the street I don't want Morris Street to fill up again. Nancy Moorehead commented as follows: • You have one more person on the board of Rainbows and helps manage Wischemann Hall. • I've been doing that since 2008. • Two things I didn't hear and I was concerned about. • For us we have a limited parking lot. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 17 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • Yes, it looks empty sometimes but it is filled up at other times and how is that going to be handled? • The other thing that because I'm a retired ground manager from Santa Rosa college what is going to happen to the Sebastopol corporate yard? • I didn't hear anything about where that is going to be relocated. Response to Public Comments: Mayor Glass responded as follows: • There has been some discussion with City staff about where the corporate yard is going to be relocated. • We are not neglecting that. • We are talking to Public Works and this is one of the details we are working on. • Some of the other questions had to do with Wischemann Hall fence and clearly we'd be working on making sure the fencing is secure and well thought out and complete without a bunch of holes in it, etcetera. • I'm going to now turn this over to the SAVS people. SAVS responded as follows: • I think this is for Keith Herman and the Youth Annex and Community Center • We are modeling our outreach based on what they did with St. Vincent DePaul and that was meetings that were I believe started as much as weekly and have turned into monthly meetings where both residents and management meet with all the interested parties and get down to the nitty gritty and the response time is 24 hours. • If you have an issue it is going to be resolved in 24 hours. • We don't want it hanging over us. WE want the issue resolved. • It was a super successful program and the complaint or concerns were enormous and now they are very, very little. • We promise to involve you guys and have an ongoing group talking about the problems and having SAVS be responsible for solving them. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • I am getting the idea of a possibility of a community advisory committee and that that committee could be some of those folks that are, have been speaking this evening particularly as stake holders who are close by which it would include the neighbors, neighbor businesses, Wischemann Hall, the community center, and so on. • I think that SAVS is willing to and is happy to engage with the neighbors to make sure that this is a successful project. SAVS responded as follows: • We always intended to have a community advisory board and Mark, Timothy, Chris, Keith, Kathy, Lucy, Nancy, Debra, Jill, I invite you to be our opening members. • We would meet with you as soon as next week when you are ready. • I look forward to it. You obviously would bring a Lot to the project and a lot of experience and skills. • So we are grateful to have you involved. • We encourage people to read our proposal. My e-mail is on there. • I am happy to talk to anyone or just e-mail me with your concerns and I'll try to delve down into all the details and everything with it with anyone who is interested. Mayor Glass commented as follows: Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 18 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • Just to summarize I think I'd like to frame this a little bit. • Yes, we have a bad situation on Morris Street. • The aim is to alleviate the situation by having a managed situation instead after situation that is pretty random. Mr. Anderegg commented who is going to organize, be in charge of organizing the meeting of the stakeholders? Councilmember Rich commented I think we'll take that on as the ad hoc committee in order to make those connections. City Council Discussion and/or Deliberations: Vice Mayor Gurney commented as follows: • I appreciate the additional informing about outreach to the neighbors because we've heard a number of comments this coming kind of upon the public in the area rather suddenly. • There is another question asked that I haven't heard any information on. • I wonder if perhaps the ad hoc committee or the two of you could address what other sites if any did you consider in town? Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • When we were presented with this proposal it was clear we'd have to look at City owned property in order to do anything before November 1. • Our limitations were pretty substantial. • We needed this location to be close to services, bus, groceries, that sort of thing. • We needed a half-acre – that was clear from our initial discussions. • We prefer to have services available. • This site offers water and we can extend electrical easily. • It needed to be fence-able. • It was important in discussions with everyone that it not be immediately adjacent to private homes. • That was an issue. • It needed to be accessible for RVs in and out. • It needed to have very limited site work if any in other words flat. • It needed to be able to accommodate 20 to 22 RVs plus supplemental building. • That limited what we were able to do and that is how we came down to this particular site. • I will say if there is another City site someone else could come up with that would meet those parameters, that would be fabulous. • The other piece, it needed to be a site that wasn't currently actively used for other purposes was our initial goal. • We had not been thinking about the public works yard but that is one thing it offers • It is not used actively by the community and we have a public works superintendent who is willing to figure out alternate locations for all the stuff that is there. • The encroachment on the already used public space was fairly minimal. • That was really the analysis. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • I would just like to add to what Councilmember Rich said was we did actually look at private property and we had a nice list of potential parcels we have been looking at. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 19 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • However, a: very expensive and, b: definitely couldn't get it done in time to avail ourselves of the potential funding. • Then we are looking at a year or two out at an absolute minimum to solving this problem. Councilmember Slayter commented given the extension from the COC that Mr. Schwartz has apparently facilitated and I thank him for that in absentia does that change what the Council needs to do this evening in any substantive way or is it extra breathing room at the other end of this? Mayor Glass commented as follows: • It is really the extra breathing room. • SAVS has options for other sites. • They have talked to other municipalities, other locations. • Without some kind of commitment, we are leaving ourselves open taking their project and money elsewhere. • This is why there continues to be a need for a letter of intent which is what we are considering this evening. Councilmember Slayter commented as follows: • So the letter of intent is a nonbinding situation that allows the community and stakeholders to come together and I will add that the West County High School and I'm not sure if it is the school board, somebody in authority, in regard to that facility desperately needs to be on the stake holders' list and have a personal reach out to them. • They are not as close as our community member in the yellow house but just about as close. • That is a significant outreach that needs to be made looking at page three. • Homelessness is a problem only getting worse not diminishing and like the Mayor noted at the front end of the meeting all one needs to do is go to San Francisco or Berkeley or Sacramento has a desperate, desperate situation with almost every single overpass, freeway, overpass is shelter. • The conditions are abysmal. It is no way for a human being to live. • So the situation in our little City is proportionate. • My feeling is that there is no ideal location. • I did on short notice looking at other projects, the Finley tent village or whatever the official name was and the neighborhood resistance to that project at the start • I think we can meet that situation in Sebastopol. • I'll be in favor of going forward with the agreement as recommended by the staff report with the caveat that that stakeholder group needs to meet yesterday. • I think everybody understands that. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • There were a number of specific questions raised by various members of the public here. • I just want to recognize that with the weekly meetings that have been proposed by SAVS my opinion is that that is an excellent venue within which these concerns might be addressed with the neighbors. • I'd also like to reassure the public that I made long lists of the concerns and they will make it on to our list to address between now and when an agreement to be signed by City Council comes back to be considered. • Your comments and questions and concerns to the extent they weren't directly answered here, they will be addressed during this period of time between now and when an agreement might be signed. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 20 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • Other than that I am incredibly appreciative of the public and the public's willingness to share concerns to be up front, direct, compassionate, but be realistic. • That is the situation we're in where we need to do all of those things. • So thank you for everyone for sharing your opinions in writing and tonight. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • Thanked Councilmember Slayter for his voice of support and I also would like to say I concur. • There aren't perfect solutions to this. • Sometimes in public office you get frustrated with not being able to vote for perfect solutions because there aren't perfect solutions to be had. • There are better solutions. • There is a better solution than having the chaos and the problems we have going on now. • What we can do is improve on the situation for both the people that are currently living on Morris Street but also improve on the situation for the merchants in the area and improve on the situation for the community in general improve on the situation in terms of the environment and its impact on the environment. • So all of those things represent an improvement on a situation that is being offered by a funded source that can create an improved but not perfect situation. • We have to take it one step at a time. • That is what we have been doing as a City taking this one step at a time. • The only other solution, the solution that sometimes is in the minds of the public is we just need to make it go away. • There is the entire compassion piece but the other part is the legal piece. • How we deal with this situation needs to have both of those things in mind. • We need to have the compassion piece and we also need to operate within the law and how it is appropriate to deal the problem that we're seeing on Morris Street. • This proposal by SAVS offers what would appear at this point to be a funded solution that is an improvement on where we are now. • Hopefully as the years go by, we will have better and better solutions and hopefully in another few years we will start to see more housing, more trailer parks for people that want to live in their RV. • We'll see funding for all of these things. We'll see better wages, better jobs, better mental health, and we'll see a solution to these problems. • But it is one step at a time and this, at this point this is looking like a reasonable step that we need to vet as a City Council. Keith commented as follows: • I am not in full opposition to this proposal and I would look forward to helping move this forward. • More of a specific question about properties. • You had mentioned private property and I was wondering about the concrete plant because what I have heard from local developers is that undevelopable due to flood plain standards. • Obviously that space is larger than the space behind the Community Center. • I know that is a very specific question. • I guess I was wondering about the specific area in general had that been considered. Vice Mayor Gurney commented as follows: • I recommended the City buy that property for a long, long time. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 21 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • However, it has been purchased by the owner of the Barlow so it is private property which means we get into that same difficulty of working in a short time frame with a private owner. • So I am sorry that is just the situation Keith. Councilmember Hinton commented as follows: • I was reading the letter of intent that the Mayor would sign I really would like to include the local preference element. • We discussed this regarding Sebastopol Inn and I don't know if it was ever really focused on or implemented by the County. • I don't want to make that mistake this time. • If we're going to move forward, I think that we need to have a chance to do outreach and fill that lot with our people currently in our City before we take others from the outside. • I really think that needs to be emphasized. • That is certainly my intent. • I want to put it in writing and not just have it discussed which is what we did the last time. Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • From my perspective the letter of intent is not the place to put that expectation. • I think that goes into the contract. • I understand there is a legal question pending for our City attorney. • But there are conditions we are going to expect SAVS to step up to meet and this City Council can in this meeting direct that any agreement with SAVS will in fact include that provision so my suggestion, count suggestion to Councilmember Hinton's comment is that we now tonight require that any agreement with SAVS include that condition but that it doesn't need to go into the letter of intent. Mayor Glass commented as follows: • My question would just be so Councilmember Hinton can feel confident in voting for this is there any problem going forward with that local preference issue? • I would ask that of our City Attorney. City Manager/Attorney McLaughlin commented as follows: • For clarification the local preferences are legal so that is not the issue. • I was questioning what was meant by local preference if it is the occupants who could move into this site presently are located within the City of Sebastopol then that would include everyone on Morris Street as I talked about that earlier. • If it means somebody needs to have been an official previous resident of the City or something like that then there could be issues with that. • I assume it means what I said before it is legal and you can put it into the final agreement would be the place for that. Councilmember Rich commented in the final sentence of the draft letter of intent, which begins with the proposal is intended, the sentence would instead read the proposal is intended to use City owned property to serve the need of Sebastopol unhoused. The Council discussed the correct address and description and requested the letter include the parcel map with the highlighted parcel or portion of the parcel since that is a significantly more legal description of the property. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 22 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 Councilmember Rich commented as follows: • I think we need to ask the SAVS representatives who provided us with the template whether it is going to be problematic. • Quick question if we could to the SAVS representatives. • The modifications that we've discussed regarding the letter of intent, the way it is being proposed now do you feel that will meet the needs in terms of what you need to submit to the continuum of care? SAVS commented as follows: • Yes. It is fine. • Been following very closely and believe we are in good shape. • Site control and permit ability are the two key things. MOTION: Vice Mayor Gurney moved and Councilmember Hinton seconded the motion to approve Pilot Program and Letter of Intent with Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS) to Operate a Temporary RV Village on City Owned Property Mayor Glass called for a roll call vote. • Convent stakeholder group as stated by SAVS and Councilmember Slayter • Agreement include condition of local preference • Use of APN and description area • Attach location map • Attach Parcel Map/Legal Description of property • The proposal is intended to use City owned property located at 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA to serve the needs of Sebastopol’s unhoused. City staff conducted a roll call vote. VOTE: Ayes: Councilmembers Hinton, Rich, Slayter, Vice Mayor Gurney and Mayor Glass Noes: None Absent: None Abstain: None City Council Action: Approved Pilot Program and Letter of Intent with Sonoma Applied Village Services (SAVS) to Operate a Temporary RV Village on City Owned Property Mayor Glass called for a roll call vote. • Convent stakeholder group as stated by SAVS and Councilmember Slayter • Agreement include condition of local preference • Use of APN and description area • Attach location map • Attach Parcel Map/Legal Description of property • The proposal is intended to use City owned property located at 425 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA to serve the needs of Sebastopol’s unhoused. Minute Order Number: 2021-272 PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA Mayor Glass opened for public comment for items not on the agenda: Kathy Oetinger commented as follows: Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 23 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 • I just want to make a quick shout out to the Public Works Department for the great improvements they've made in Ives Park. • I've been on a subcommittee working on low hanging fruit and they picked all that fruit. • It is wonderful. • I just love going in there particularly seeing the redwood border around the children's play area instead of the white PVC pipe. • The park is looking great and I look forward to the sculpture garden some of which you just approved last week. • Thank you, Public Works Department. Courtney Klein commented as follows: • I work at the library but I am speaking on behalf of myself as a private citizen. • I would love to alleviate the experiences that Morris Street neighbors have experienced with the parking by our unsheltered neighbors. • I would love to one day in the future see safe parking at night be available to five people at the parking lot between the library and the senior center. • I think that would alleviate some of the stress on Morris Street and I think it would allow us to have just these like small pockets where we're serving vulnerable people so that it's subtle. • It's not a huge disturbance, on people living in the area and businesses. • If it is scattered and small, I feel like we'll all appreciate that better. • The neighbors, property owners, business owners, people who work here and also the vulnerable population we are talking about. • That would also entail a wrap-around service. • So sanitation systems and portable restroom and waste receptacles, safety and security checks. • I know it is asking a lot but I just wanted to put that out there. Councilmember Slayter commented as follows: • To piggyback on Kathy's comment about Ives I have noticed the significant improvement in the appearance at the South high street lot. • The new landscaping looks fantastic. • Big, big thank you to Superintendent Del Prete and his crew who have been down there working on that. • It looks fantastic. I am so appreciative of that. • I walked through that several times a week on my way, my trip to the post office to check my box and it just looks so much better. • So thank you, thank you, and thank you again for that. ADJOURNMENT OF CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING October 27, 2021 City Council Special Meeting will be adjourned to the City Council Regular City Council Meeting to be held Tuesday November 2nd 2021 at 5:00 pm by Zoom Virtual Meeting Format. Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 24 of 25  Agenda Item Number 1 Mayor Glass adjourned the regular City Council Meeting at 11:45 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Mary Gourley Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Agenda Item Number 1 City Council Meeting Packet of November 16, 2021 Page 25 of 25