Santa Rosa City Council Special Meeting — April 10, 2026

This was a brief special meeting called exclusively to conduct City Manager candidate interviews in closed session. The session ran from 8:00 a.m. to approximately 4:17 p.m., with the vast majority of that time spent behind closed doors. Three councilmembers — Alvarez, Fleming, and Rogers — were absent at the start of the meeting; McDonald and Alvarez were absent when the Council reconvened in open session.

Closed Session: City Manager Candidate Interviews

The Council met in closed session under the public employment exception to conduct interviews for the City Manager position. No other business was conducted. When the Council returned to open session just after 4:00 p.m., City Clerk confirmed attendance and the Mayor reported that no reportable actions were taken during closed session — meaning no hire was formally announced or voted upon at this meeting.

Public Comment

Two members of the public spoke before the Council recessed into closed session.

Dwayne Do of Roseland urged the Council to ensure any new City Manager is familiar with the recommendations of the Open Government Task Force, a set of transparency-focused proposals from over a decade ago. He also raised several fiscal concerns: he asked that any employment agreement include a meaningful minimum term of service (suggesting at least ten years) to provide leadership continuity after what he described as a period of turnover and instability. He warned against structuring compensation in ways that allow a late-career employee to spike their pension and quickly retire, and cautioned against large upfront pay packages, suggesting a starting salary around $250,000 and no lavish severance arrangements.

Janice (last name unclear from transcript) spoke in support of a candidate she referred to as "Lori," whom she described as a tested leader with strong presence and good judgment. She expressed confidence in Lori's character and ability to handle difficult decisions, while also urging the Council to maintain a close, collaborative relationship with the new manager and to stay mindful of Santa Rosa's current challenges, including maintaining basic city services. She closed with the word *gravitas* — which she defined as seriousness, dignity, and weight of manner — as a quality she believes the candidate embodies.

The Mayor did not confirm or comment on the identity of any candidate.

Vote on closed session report: No action taken; no vote required.

Key Takeaways

The Council spent most of the day (approximately 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) interviewing City Manager candidates in closed session.

No formal hiring decision was announced — the closed session report stated no reportable actions were taken, so any appointment will come at a future public meeting.

Public commenters urged the Council to prioritize leadership continuity, transparency, and fiscal restraint in any employment agreement.

One speaker publicly endorsed a candidate named "Lori" for the position, though the Council made no on-record response.

Three of seven councilmembers were absent for part or all of the meeting, which may be worth monitoring as a final decision approaches.

AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.

What happened at this meeting

PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (Government Code Section 54957)

The Council held a closed session to discuss public employment matters related to City Manager interviews. Two members of the public provided comments: Dwayne from Roseland emphasized the importance of familiarizing candidates with the Open Government Task Force recommendations from over a decade ago, and stressed the need for employment agreements specifying length of service (recommending at least 10 years) to ensure continuity and prevent pension spiking. He cautioned against offering inflated starting salaries to new administrators. Janice Carmen spoke in support of a candidate named Lori, describing her as tested and capable of making difficult decisions, while also endorsing Dwayne's concerns about fiscal responsibility and maintaining basic city services during Santa Rosa's current challenging circumstances.

Agenda items (5)

Procedural (4)

1ProceduralHTTPS://SANTA-ROSA.LEGISTAR.COM/CALENDAR. CLICK ON THE "IN PROGRESS" LINK TO VIEW;

Information on how to view the meeting agenda online through the city's Legistar calendar system by clicking the "In Progress" link.

2ProceduralVIA ZOOM WEBINAR BY VISITING

Instructions for residents to participate in the meeting remotely via Zoom webinar.

3ProceduralCOMCAST CHANNEL 28, AT&T U-VERSE CHANNEL 99; AND

Instructions for watching the meeting on local cable television on Comcast Channel 28 or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.

4ProceduralVIA YOUTUBE AT HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/CITYOFSANTAROSA Public Comment may be made live during the meeting In-Person from Council Chamber or submitted in advance via email at cc-comment@srcity.org by 12:00 p.m. noon the Thursday before the City Council Meeting. IN THE EVENT A COUNCIL MEMBER PARTICIPATES REMOTELY BASED ON JUST CAUSE UNDER THE BROWN ACT, THE CITY WILL ALLOW FOR PUBLIC COMMENT THROUGH THE ZOOM LINK OR DIAL-IN

Residents can watch the meeting on YouTube and submit public comments in person at the Council Chamber or by emailing cc-comment@srcity.org by noon on Thursday before the meeting; if council members join remotely, people can also comment through Zoom.

Closed Session

3.1Closed SessionPUBLIC EMPLOYMENT (Government Code Section 54957)

The city council will hold a closed session to discuss personnel matters related to government employment, as allowed under state law.

What happened

Verbatim transcript available

5 transcript segments indexed

Nope, not today. >> All right. Good morning, everyone. And the time is precisely 8 o'clock. And we'll call this special meeting order. MADAM City clerk, if you would, you please call the roll. >> Thank you, Mayor Councilmember Rogers. Councilmember MacDonald Councilmember Fleming. Councilmember Ben well lows here, Bres. Vice Mayor Okrepkie Pier. Let the record show that all councilmembers are present with the exception of count. Some members, Alvarez, Fleming and Rogers. >> Thank you very much. All right. This brings us to our main show for the well, the entire are closed session item item, 3.1 pertaining to public employment and specific. City manager interviews. I see that we have 2 members of the public who 2 veteran members of the public here today. Duane, would you like to start now >> Yes, thank you. My name is Dwayne. Do from Roseland. I wanted to make sure that as you go through your deliberations, you let the interviewees know that one of the most important things here in our town is the Open government task force recommendations from over a decade ago. They should familiarize themselves with all of those recommendations before their chosen to be an employee of Santa Rosa. The assistant city attorney, Ashley Crocker. There knows what I'm speaking about. She attended those meetings back in the day. And we know that those recommendations, we're

all meant to be helpful to our city and our taxpayers. I would also like to mention a couple of things that are important to taxpayers. One is you should make some sort of agreement were the length of service that this new employee is going to give to the city as specified before they can get a pension. One would hope they'd have to be here at least 10 years. Sometimes you guys might make it But we need to have some continuity, some employees that stay here with us in this position of leadership for the long haul. We've already been through too much turmoil and they need to know the 4 extra seasons in California drought Earthquake, Fire flood. We'll all be dealing with that. Perhaps sons near future last but not least as you look at these workers. I would hope that a city employee that's currently here. It's someone who's much younger and he's not high up on the pension list already in the past, we've had employees that got different positions. And then that was basically a way to spike their pay rate. And then they retired out not long after with a much better pension and said goodbye, Some left all the way to the bank. I could give you the specific names so that we don't him punching anybody's integrity here in public. And we should talk about that. Youve got some employees here that have been here a while. Maybe it's time to give them the good golden parachute. Let them leave with a nice package. And then somebody who's only been here, maybe 10, 15 years can

be here for another 10, 15 years to help our city have some balanced ability and the continuity within the staff. So I'll leave you with this one last thing. Please do not give them a fat pay package right at the beginning. The taxpayers are getting a bit tired of making millionaires out of administrators and bureaucrats who only stick around for a few years. You look in the paper and you see somebody leaves and they get a pay package of $33350,000 at the start. And then leave out and also get some sort of a goodbye kiss. We don't need any of that. We need you to say, hey, folks, a quarter of a million to start higher. Thank you for your time. I'll stay for any other comments. >> Thank you to Wayne, Janice. You have some thoughts for us this morning. Good morning. Aaron Carmen and I just wanted to speak on Lorries behalf. And I think that she's not only up for the job. I think she's a very good candidate for the John, but I also believe what Dwayne is had to say is very important. And having been at the finance meeting last night, we are interested revenue. You know, we need someone who can negotiate with you and is the yourselves who represent the people. Did you represent us as getting the best that you can for the money that you have to pay We have to pay. I I think that Lori is a tested person. I think that she has real presence and she's up for making the big decisions when

they come to her. But I also am hoping that there's a Coke relationship between the people yourselves you being our communique caters between the people and Lori that you embrace her and that you support her towards the decisions, but also that you cannot just for any moment, forget the state of Santa Rosa that we're in right now. And the things that are at stake. And that we need to maintain you know, the basic services as well. And I'd like say that I think she has character and I think she's up for the big questions. And I think a lot of Lori and I'm glad that she found us and we found her. And I think that leadership is something you are called for. A called too. And she's been called to our city. And I think we're fortunate and I want to leave you with illegal descriptive word. It's called grab a Thomas and I learned this word from a New York Supreme Court Judge Syria. It's grab a gra the it a s and I want look it up just to be sure mic, any errors, seriousness or solemnity demeanor or treatment. Seriousness, impairing our manner and dignity, substance and weight. And I think Lori has grabbed it. Thank you. Thank you, Janice. Indeed, should be on the on the sacred

Seal of Santa Rosa. And I like that idea. >> Seeing no other members of the public here. We will close public comment and we will recess in a closed session. All right. Welcome back, everyone to time is 4.17, and we will reconvene in open session. MADAM City please call the roll. >> Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Rogers, PRESIDENT Councilmember MacDonald. Councilmember Fleming. Councilmember Ben Willows here, Councilmember Alvarez. Councilmember, Okay, or vice Cookie here. Mayor step there. Let the record show that all councilmembers are present with the exception of Councilmembers. Alvarez. I mean, and MacDonald. >> Thank you very much. Will run item 5. Our report on closed session out. There were no reportable actions taken during closed session. And with that, we are adjourned.