Welcome to our weekly digest of public meetings and agenda items worth your attention for this coming week. This guide is part of our mission to provide everyday Riversiders like you with the information to speak up on the issues you care about.
City Council
City Council will meet in closed and open sessions on Tuesday, June 16, in afternoon sessions at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and an evening session at 6:15 p.m. (agenda).
The agenda was revised Friday afternoon, with additions that touch all three of the city's charter officers, the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk, the positions the City Council appoints directly.
In closed session, the Council will weigh possible discipline of City Manager Mike Futrell and consider its response to a claim his wife, Susan Freeman, filed against the city two days before the agenda was revised. Freeman's claim alleges defamation and First Amendment retaliation, the latest turn in a dispute between her and the city that dates to December.
The Council will also waive the Sunshine Ordinance, which requires that items be posted for public review before a vote, to appoint James Johnson as City Attorney at an annual salary of $372,624 before its June 23 meeting. Johnson, currently general counsel for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, fills a post that interim attorneys have held for roughly a year and a half, since the previous City Attorney was placed on leave in October 2024. He starts July 17.
The last of the three positions added to the agenda is City Clerk, listed for a closed-session "public employee performance evaluation." Donesia Gause has held the post since 2021.
The rest of the agenda includes:
- Considering extending the existing ban on new or expanded wooden pallet storage yards by approximately 10 months to allow time for permanent zoning rules to be developed (item 8).
- Considering authorizing a state grant application seeking $8.4 million to fund homeless encampment resolution efforts along the Magnolia Corridor (item 20).
- Considering authorizing a state grant application for approximately $56,300 to fund a summer youth meal program at City libraries (item 22).
- Considering approving a $272,000 contract for a water cost and rate design study that could inform future changes to water rates (item 28).
- Considering allocating $3 million to install public electric vehicle chargers at City facilities as part of the Electrify Riverside program (item 29).
- Considering approving a $1.96 million purchase of 45 electric vehicle chargers through a waived competitive bidding process, to be reimbursed through utility program funds (item 32).
Commission on Aging
The Commission on Aging meets on Monday, June 15, at 4 p.m. (agenda) to receive Brown Act training (item 2), review annual updates to the commission's Code of Ethics and Conduct (item 5), and receive updates from its ad hoc committees on Senior Health, Environment, Housing, Events and Mobility (item 6).
Park and Recreation Commission
The Park and Recreation Commission meets on Monday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m. (agenda) to review annual Brown Act training (item 2) and the City's Code of Ethics and Conduct (item 7).
Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee
The Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee (Councilmembers Perry, Conder, and Mill) meets on Wednesday, June 17, at 1 p.m. (agenda). A scheduled update on the Fire Department's Master Plan for expansion was removed from the agenda this week, leaving the committee to take up a police tow fee of $70 charged to contracted tow companies.
Cultural Heritage Board
The Cultural Heritage Board meets on Wednesday, June 17, at 3:30 p.m. (agenda) to consider recommending City Landmark historic designation for three Riverside residences — Lionhead on Rumsey Drive, the Havens Residence on Archdale Street, and Edie on Edith Avenue — at the request of the properties' owners (items 5, 6, 7), and discussing a potential ordinance that would prohibit chain link fencing on City-designated historic properties before any formal rule is drafted (item 8).
Economic Development Committee
The Economic Development Committee (Councilmembers Robillard, Cervantes, and Hemenway) meets on Thursday, June 18, at 3 p.m. (agenda) to consider a workforce training partnership with two technology-focused organizations (item 2), discussing retail implementation of the City's Cannabis Grant Program (item 3), and approving a partnership to launch a revolving loan fund for green technology businesses (item 4).
