RIO DELL CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 3, 2024 Mayor Garnes called the regular meeting of the Rio Dell City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Mayor Garnes, Mayor Pro Tem Carter, Councilmembers Orr, Wilson, and Woodall Others Present: City Manager Knopp, Interim Police Chief Landry, Wastewater Superintendent Kelly, Water/Roadways Superintendent Jensen, Senior Fiscal Assistant Maciel, Senior Fiscal Assistant Townsend, and City Clerk Dunham Absent: Finance Director Sanborn and Community Development Director Caldwell (excused) ANNOUNCEMENT OF ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED IN CLOSED SESSION Public Employment: Title: Chief of Police = Gov't Code $54957 PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING CLOSED SESSION There were no members of the public present to comment. RECESS INTO CLOSED SESSION discuss the above-listed matter. The Council recessed into a closed session with City Manager Knopp at 5:00 p.m. to RECONVENE INTO OPEN SESSIONIORAL ANNOUNCEMENT there was nothing to report out of the closed session. The Council reconvened into open session at 6:00 p.m. Mayor Garnes announced that PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS Mayor Garnes invited public comment on non-agenda matters. No public comment was received. CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Garnes asked if any councimember, staff, or member of the public would like to remove any item from the consent calendar for a separate discussion. No items were AI motion was made by Carter/Woodall to approve the consent calendar, including the removed. following items: DECEMBER 3, 2024 MINUTES Page 2 1) Minutes of the November 15, 2024 Closed Session; 2) Minutes of the November 19, 2024, Regular meeting; 3) Minutes of the November 25, 2024, Closed Session; 4) Approval of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)/State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Program Funds Allocation; and 5) Authorizing the City Manager to Draft and Execute an Extension for a 1-Year Extension of the on-call City Engineering Agreement with GHD. Motion carried 5-0. REPORTSISTAFF COMMUNICATIONS City Manager/Staff Update City Manager Knopp provided highlights of the staff update and said that staff was looking at the Redwood Region RISE Catalyst Pre-Development Funds Request for Proposal (RFP) for potential projects for Northwestern Avenue. In initial discussions with staff, potential opportunities were to approach the economic development funding for a food aggregate and processing center. The City had a prior study done in 2014 or 2015 and identified the Cal Fire site or Northwestern Avenue as potential locations for a food collaborative. The idea would be to have a processing facility that could process fruits, vegetables as well as meats. Int taking a preliminary look at the program, the plan fits the criteria and would benefit the community. Staff will bring a proposal back to the Council at the first meeting in January for City Manager Knopp said that overall, the City weathered the recent storm system well, despite the sanitary sewer overflows and the power outage, noting that the City has a lot of He said that staff will be paying close attention to the CalFire Fire Hazards Severity mapping process. Rio Dell is in a transition zone between coastal and inland and the City doesn't want the fire risk to be over-categorized because of the potential for homeowners' insurance Mayor Pro Tem Carter said she thought an agricultural facility at Northwestern Ave. was Councilmembers extended special thanks to Public Works and other City staff for their efforts the Council's review and approval. new information and intelligence on the wastewater collection system. issues. As such, staff will be monitoring that situation very closely. promising and looked forward to discussing the idea at the next meeting. ink keeping things going through the recent storm event. SPECIAL CALL TEMS/COMMUNITY AFFAIRS/PUBLIC HEARINGS Review of Parks Master Plan Community Survey Mayor Pro Tem Carter provided a review of the recent Parks Master Plan Community Survey. DECEMBER 3, 2024 MINUTES Page 3 She said that an AdHoc Committee was formed consisting of herself, Councimember Woodall, Fire Commissioners Mickey Barsanti and Joe Timmerman, Rio Dell School Board President Val Barrote, and 7th grade students Reed Harrington and Austin Haberstock. The committee got together and came up with a survey to solicit community input for a Parks She said that they received approximately 300 responses to the survey with 50.5% of the responses coming from kids between the ages of 5-17. Fireman's Park was named the favorite park in Rio Dell with Davis St. Park receiving 57.6% as the park they would like to see enhanced. Neighborhood Parks were the top choice regarding the type of park and Regarding near-term park amenities, 56.3% of the respondents wanted to see a BMX/pump track, followed by 52% wanting to see outdoor courts (basketball). Long-term amenities also Mayor Pro Tem Carter pointed out that it was a statistically valid survey with the majority of Master Plan. 33.8% of the respondents thought that river access was important. favored a BMX/pump track. the respondents being kids. She said that she would be attending the Rio Dell School Board meeting on December 12th when the board will appoint two (2) board members to an AdHoc committee to look at the potential development and sale of the Davis Street Park to the City. Mayor Garnes said that she was glad to see the project on the horizon. Mayor Pro Tem Carter noted that she has also been attending meetings of the Humboldt Skate Collective and they have done work here before and have done fundraising for this Councilmember Woodall asked how long the process would take to finalize the purchase of Mayor Pro Tem Carter said realistically, it could take four (4) years as declaring school property surplus is a complex and lengthy process. She agreed to keep the Council updated purpose and are ready and willing to help with the project. the school property should they agree to move forward. on the progress. COUNCIL REPORISICOMMUNICATIONS Mayor Pro Tem Carter reported on upcoming meetings and events and said that the next Chamber of Commerce meeting would be held on Friday at noon in Scotia, the Annual Tree Lighting would be held on December 7th at 5:00 p.m. at the Community Resource Center, and on December 21st, the Chamber of Commerce would be hosting the 60th Anniversary of the 1964 flood at the Scotia Lodge from 1-4 p.m. noting that it is free to attend and will be catered. DECEMBER 3, 2024 MINUTES Page 4 She also reported that the first pet vaccine clinic by Critters Without Litters was held on Councimember Orr announced that the next HCAOG meeting scheduled for December 19th Councimember Wilson announced that the next Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) Councimember Woodall reported that she attended two (2) AdHoc committee meetings for the Chief of Police recruitment and announced that there would be a Traffic Committee Mayor Garnes announced that she had a Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) meeting She thanked the public members for attending the meeting and wished everyone a Happy November 25th and was a success, serving approximately 30 animals. would include a closed session on recruiting a new Executive Director. meeting was rescheduled for December 17th. meeting tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow and a Great Redwood Trails meeting on Thursday. Holiday. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Carter/Woodall to adjourn the meeting at 6:24 p.m. to the January 7,2 2025, regular meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Debra Garnes, Mayor Attest: Karen Dunham, City Clerk