City Council Update 5.17.22_mixdown.mp3

City Council Update 5.17.22_mixdown.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

City Council Update 5.17.22_mixdown.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Steve:
Welcome to a Redding City Council update for full details on each of the items covered or to watch meeting online. Visit the City of Redding org or find the links in the episode. Show notes for any questions, suggestions or comments. Please Email podcast at City of Redding dot org.

Katie:
Welcome to the City Council Recap for May 17th, 2022. If you want the full details of each one of these items, be sure to watch the video linked in the show notes. To start off, there was a great presentation by Police Chief Bill Schuler. He presented the 2021 Citizens Awards to Michael Knowles and Keith Devine. Both of these individuals were highlighted for their selfless actions in our community. These were just everyday citizens who helped out in extraordinary circumstances, and they were highlighted for their bravery and their willingness to act. Way to go.

Steve:
Next up for the consent agenda again, which are items that are considered routine and require no further discussion. We wanted to highlight just a few of them. The council approved a grant submission to the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Water Reclamation, Water Smart Drought Response Program for funding to install an additional groundwater well in Redding. The city has been saving for this project for some time. So if awarded the $3.6 million grant, it would be a huge step in building groundwater. Well. Number 24.

Katie:
Consent agenda item 49a was called out specifically by the council. This one approved and authorized an agreement to extend red light traffic enforcement at selected intersections in an effort to reduce the number of traffic collisions around town. The Council focused on the dramatic reduction in traffic collisions at two of the most dangerous intersections in the city of Redding. And this was largely due to the presence of these red light cameras. So they were happy to see this one go through.

Steve:
Also of note was consent item 411 A, which was a bid award for the only Creek Bridge project that was awarded to the second lowest bidder. This is unusual because usually the lowest bidder is the one who gets the award. This was interesting because they did reject the low bid from Stewart Engineering due to the lack of due diligence as part of the bid review process. There were some pushback by Stewart Engineering based on the clarity of the bid instructions, but ultimately the Council did support staff's recommendation to award it to the second lowest bidder, based on an explanation of the ranking process and bid review process by Public Works Director Chuck Oakland.

Katie:
Good news and item 411 RD. The City of Redding was successful in securing a grant to build the Boulder Creek Flood Protection and Natural Treatment Project. This would divert stormwater from Boulder Creek in the winter months to a holding facility until it can be released back into the stormwater system. So this is going to help prevent flooding and allow some of that stormwater to be treated before it heads back to the Sacramento River.

Steve:
Moving on to the regular agenda, Steve Bade, Deputy City Manager, presented the Goodwater Crossing Emergency Housing Site for council approval. The Goodwater crossing is a short-term temporary emergency housing site that will be located at 2500 Shasta View Drive. There was a lively discussion from the community both for and against the emergency housing site, but eventually, the council approved 3 to 1 for the site to move forward. We will be bringing Steve on at the end of this recap to discuss this item in more detail and to ask follow-up questions. So stay tuned for that.

Katie:
Next, the council approved an agreement to provide additional gap financing loans for Lowden Lane senior apartments financed by- Get ready for it- The Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Multifamily Housing Program Funds. So this will be a 61-unit senior housing facility to be constructed this summer off East Cypress behind the U-Haul facility. It's an undeveloped area and it's going to be a great facility once it's completed in June 2024 with beautiful landscaping that will benefit the surrounding neighborhood.

Steve:
There are also a couple of routine quarterly financial reports, one by the Redding Electric Utility and one from the city finance department on the health of the general fund. There was good news on both those items, notably that the general fund has seen savings in expenditures and was over projections in revenue. It shows our economy is doing better than anticipated and that is great news.

Katie:
Item 9.10 B was an interesting one presented by Allyn Clark, the City Treasurer. The council approved staff to look into moving the positions of city treasurer and city clerk from elected positions to appointed positions. This would take a ballot measure to be placed on the November ballot, so ultimately voters would decide. The reasoning behind this stems from the fact that these positions, which have not been reviewed since sometime in the 1940s, have become increasingly specialized. Many cities have been moving these to appointed positions to ensure qualified professionals are performing these vital city functions. So city staff will develop the ballot measure and it will come back before the Council for full approval before it ultimately lands on the November ballot.

Steve:
Lastly, public works solid waste utility brought before the council changes that needed to be made to city ordinances so that the city can move forward with Senate Bill 1383 or SB 1383 for short. If you listened to our last podcast with Paul Clemens all about SB 1383, you'll have a leg up on this one. Sb 1383 mandates the reuse and recycling of organic material in order to divert methane gas from landfills. To do this solid waste is rolling out changes to the way local residents and businesses handle food scraps and organic materials. These can no longer be thrown out but must be composted.

Katie:
Changing this ordinance is one of the first steps in the process and allows the city to comply with the element of SB 1383 that requires cities to have rules in place to manage compliance. In other words, the city can fine you if you don't comply. Now, we aren't quite there yet, and there are many details and logistics of the program that are still being worked out. But it's important that once the program is in place, the city can prove to the state that it has the capability to enforce SB 1383. Council approved the ordinance change unanimously and the revised ordinance will come back before the Council for a full approval and a public reading.

Steve:
And that's it. Now, stick around as we talk with Steve Bade all about emergency housing.

Steve Bade:
I am Steve Bade. I'm the deputy city manager with the City of Redding. And I'd like to just provide a recap of the good water crossing emergency housing site. And we've been working with Goodwater crossing since December of 2021 to have their site approved.

Katie:
There was some very lively discussion around the emergency housing shelter sites, and so we were hoping we could dive into that piece a little bit more and ask some dedicated questions on how those emergency housing sites work, what they're about, and what's the city's involvement in those.

Steve Bade:
This is the city's first emergency housing site to go before city council for approval. And I think it's important to highlight that the city back in June of 2021, Council adopted a couple of resolutions and administrative guidelines that really guide the process for an outside entity to put an application to operate an emergency housing site utilizing emergency sleep cabins that have been approved for our local area. And so this is a big step because we've been waiting since June to get our first application in. They anticipate the approval last night was really to approve the site, which is at 2500 Shasta Drive. They were asking to host four of these emergency shelter facilities on that property, which is really at the west corner of their of the church facility. And they would be offering services, their services that are in line with the tenants that would be occupying the facility. And so that facility would be managed with either onsite or on-call staff members to make sure that it is well operated. The tenants have responsibilities, they have rights, but they also have to participate in getting from an unsheltered housing situation into a permanent housing situation. So the request or recommendation by staff was approved by city council and so now staff will move forward. We still have an operations plan and a site plan that we're working through our building, planning, fire police department and those review processes. And they're they will be presented to the city manager probably within the next two weeks. Once that process is complete, we will go back to city council, have those finalized and CEQA an accompanying CEQA determination back to city council on June 7th for final consideration. We hope that the emergency housing site would begin construction following that meeting and then they would have operations probably begin in late summer. So that was a big step for city council and a good, lively discussion with great representation by the community and the church and service provider. So it was it was a great balance in that discussion and that decision making process.

Steve:
So, Steve, there seems to be some confusion over the emergency housing shelter program. As Katie mentioned, some community members are under the impression the city will be managing the emergency housing that's placed throughout the community. Can you explain a little bit about how the program itself works?

Steve Bade:
Yeah. The first step for a community to even have an emergency housing site is that you have to declare that you have a shelter crisis. And a shelter crisis really is that we do not have enough housing units or beds sufficient for the number of individuals that may be without proper shelter. And that's really what a shelter crisis is. So once you have you've declared your community as a shelter crisis, then you're able to adopt appropriate ordinances that will guide how you're going to address that issue in your community. And one of those ways to do so is to allow emergency housing sites to contain emergency sleeping cabins, which are sleeping quarters that are smaller than your normal housing facility. It's because it's you're addressing it through an emergency. You're wanting to quickly house people with no barriers for the city of redding. We're able to provide a one-person unit at 64 Square. That's eight by eight. Or you can have a dual occupancy unit at 100 square feet, which is ten by ten. Do these facilities have a sink and a kitchen? No. These are a sleeping facility to keep the person safe. They can lock up their personal items, their shelter. They have climate control. It gives them a space to stay and not worry about somebody attacking them at night or somebody stealing all their stuff so they can actually spend their energy looking for ways to address those issues that have placed them as a homeless person.

Steve Bade:
And so with that, they get in these facilities, they will get housing, case management, personal management, personal hygiene. The tools they need to transition from - this is an emergency shelter site. So you're going from this type of facility into a transitional. You're not just going from here right into permanent housing and you're on your way back to life. It is a bit of a process, but this gets somebody off the streets and then the caseworkers are going to place them into transitional, which is another step for them to get back into the main fold of society and try and get into permanent housing. That's our that's our goal at these facilities. And I think there's confusion because some people say this is just not an adequate housing facility. This is not a housing unit. Well, it's this is a different type of housing unit. This is emergency shelter. It's all part of the rapid rehousing model that is supported by the federal and state government to get people off the streets and out of those unauthorized, unsheltered locations and get their life back in order.

Steve:
And Steve, you mentioned that step one of that process was the city declaring a shelter crisis. Given the housing shortage in California as a whole, how how prevalent is that cities have been declaring these shelter crises, I guess, throughout the state? Do you have any idea on numbers and that how unique is it that residents declared that as opposed to the rest of the state?

Steve Bade:
Well, I think I don't know the exact numbers, but I know that most communities in our size are stepping forward and doing this because it's a way for them to address the unsheltered population and improving your community. There's a huge community benefit for this. The more opportunities we can to provide that hand up is better. And these are really no barrier shelters. So because when you have a no-barrier shelter, you're able to place anybody that is unsheltered in that facility. A lot of facilities that are available in our community have rules and so there are barriers. So they can't get in there and they can't address their issues. So this is a way where you have a community partnership and a provider providing the right services to those in need, because a lot of them just need someone to give them guidance and help and they just can't get it done because they're just trying to survive. It's just a good step and I'm glad that the city of redding proclaimed this because it gives us a lot of tools that to help our community out.

Katie:
Some of the confusion that I am feeling from the community is that because this item went before city council, that it's a city-owned and managed program. And so we're hearing questions like, why isn't this on city property and why isn't the city assigning case managers? And what I'm understanding is the city is allowing these emergency shelters to take place, but the city is not managing them. And maybe you can talk through that nuance a little bit.

Steve Bade:
Well, it's part I mean, it's part of the approval process. In order for somebody to operate a facility within the city of writing, there's parameters whether you're you're going to build a single family residence or a commercial residence or an industrial building that the city sets the guidelines for those types of developments. So this is very similar. We have a special case where we have set the parameters for an emergency housing site and emergency sleeping cabins. So we are here to govern the process, make sure that those that would like to provide this type of housing abide by the rules that have been set forth by the city council and the state regulations that accompany that. We need it to be a partnership because the city, we don't provide services that are necessary for the individuals that will be staying in these units. So by making the partnership, we're able to partner with the right entities that can address the social needs that these individuals may have. And this seems to be a model that's utilized in up and down the West Coast that has done well. And so we pretty much just replicated what other communities have done and their successes and have created our own style. And this is the first one. So we're hopeful that we're going to be successful in this endeavor. We believe we have the structure and the partner with us to succeed with this good water crossing site. So we're we're excited about it, but you have to have the structure and that's where the city comes in. You have to give that regulatory body structure in this process.

Steve:
Steve, you mentioned neighboring properties. I guess I'm interested to hear how much does community feedback affect the decision to move forward with these emergency shelter sites? We heard we heard during the council meeting some community members, obviously both in support and against this project speak and some of those who were against were saying they live adjacent to this property and their property value is going to take a hit as a result of this property itself being developed. I guess I'm just curious, how much does that community feedback come into play?

Steve Bade:
It weighs on all of our minds, honestly, because we're all community members, we're all property owners, and we care about where we live, what we live near, I think Council member Mezzano said it best, you have to have faith in this partnership that's come forward and there is a risk factor in there. We as a city and Goodwater crossing as a service-providing organization, we both want to succeed. So we are going to make sure that there's good, clear communication and that the site is managed well. And from the city's perspective, we're going to monitor it. We have monitors from fire, police, from our housing division that are going to be actively involved with this site because we all want it to succeed. We do not we're not interested in creating a failure. And I think a lot of the, you know, we listen to the community feedback. And I think that when the Goodwater crossing representatives, Katie Swartz was up on the podium. She said it well, because she mentioned that the individuals that will be brought in are really vetted through a process. And it's all connected to our continuum of care.

Steve Bade:
And our continuum of care has a coordinated entry system. From that, they provide referrals. And when we get a referral that is going to fit Goodwater Crossing, they'll send it over to the group. And they will they will match it to the type of case management that is going to be offered to that facility. So it's a very multi-layered community partnership and all those that are involved want it to succeed. And we're all going to do every effort to make that happen and it doesn't work out. Then there are regulatory requirements within our guidelines that say that they have to return the property back to its original state. So we have leverage and the reason we support it is because we have a willing partner that has a good structure and operations plan and site plan, and we think that they will succeed. Why don't we do this on city property? Well, we are looking at city properties that are in good locations, and we will probably bring some of those forward in June and July to try and help facilitate more of these types of facilities within our community.

Katie:
Is this going to cost the city taxpayers any money? Is the city have any money invested in this - in these projects?

Steve Bade:
The city doesn't have any funding in the Goodwater crossing project and and they're out looking for donations. Grants, grants at the federal and state level are community tax dollars. But if you don't go for those grants, then you're not going to pull those into your community. So we always use grant funds. We don't use general funds to support these types of activities. Now, if we go to help facilitate a city property, it is possible that we may use federal or state funds to provide capital funds to create that space. And or we may partner with the service provider to bring in grant dollars to help out with the service cost. But we will not use general fund dollars towards one of these activities because there are just too many federal-state grants available for us to help to address these needs.

Steve:
And Steve, if an organization wants to find out more information about being a site host or potentially developing some of these shelters, or for that matter, if a community member wants more information or to reach out to someone, what's the best way for them to do that?

Steve Bade:
Right now, I think the best is to go to our city website and look at our emergency housing shelter web link. And you can find our administrative guidelines and you can look at the ordinances that gives you parameters for both. And that way you'll get a good base of what is required of an entity if they'd like to have that opportunity to apply. We have an email on that same web link that could send an email to us, or they could contact our office at 5302254060, and we'd be happy to answer your questions.

Katie:
Thanks, Steve. We'll also include the link to that emergency housing site in the show notes so people can easily click and find it. And it sounds like this is really just the beginning. So we'll have to have you back on for an update here soon.

Steve Bade:
Yeah, that would be great. I'd be more than happy to do that.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you'd love including collaboration tools, advanced search, share transcripts, secure transcription and file storage, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.