The 2019 Roseville State of the City Address was given by Mayor John B. Allard II and City Manager Dominick Casey on October 4, 2019 at the headquarters of Adventist Health in Roseville.

The prepared text of the address is below. It varies slightly from the presentation given.


Mayor Allard: Good morning and welcome to Roseville’s 2019 State of the City. I’m your mayor, John Allard.

To my fellow elected officials, thank you for your commitment to our city and region. The way we continue to come together on issues that are critical to us as a community and a region provides a strong springboard to our collective success.

Welcome to our Roseville residents, many of whom serve on our city boards and commissions, and neighborhood associations. And welcome also to our leaders from local government, business, education, and our community’s non-profits.

I want to especially thank Adventist Health for hosting us in your new headquarters. It’s a privilege to get a look inside this beautiful building. It’s a testament to your mission, the way the building and campus are designed as a hub for innovation, learning, connection, inspiration and collaboration. Adventist Health has had its corporate headquarters in Roseville for many years. I want to thank you for continuing to invest in our community. Your presence is an integral part of our healthy city.

Lisa, and I moved to Roseville in 1987. We were looking for a place to raise our family, where it felt like a community. We could not have made a better decision than to settle in Roseville. No matter where I go, I hear two common themes stated in a variety of ways: That it’s the high quality of life in Roseville and the strong sense of community that attracts businesses and residents to call our city home.

I’d like to start by sharing with you the ways in which Roseville continues to shine on a national stage:

  • We’re ranked in the top 100 cities in the country for safety this year.
  • Roseville ranked in the top 30 healthiest places to live in America this spring.
  • Roseville ranks in the top 25 best cities to retire in America.
  • We were named an Age Friendly City by the World Health Organization.
  • We’re consistently ranked in the top 10 cities in California to raise a family.
  • The county we live in, Placer County, was named one of the top 50 healthiest counties in the United States this year.

And I’m happy to announce today that we just earned another recognition.

Two days ago, we learned that we are the only California region named to a list of 10 best places nationally for millennial mothers to call home.

Some of the factors that earned us this distinction include access to career growth, healthcare, childcare, earning potential, and relative affordability.

In years past, we’ve been named:

  • one of the top 35 places to live in America,
  • one of the top 50 cities for female entrepreneurs to launch a business,
  • among the top three cities for millennial homebuyers, and
  • one of the 50 cities with the best public schools in America.

We’ve also earned recognition as one of the most playful cities, with the most playgrounds per capita in California. And, we’ve been recognized as one of the most digital friendly cities and one of the most engaged communities for interacting with city government. That engagement shows up in so many ways.

We see it with our volunteers.

  • We have 82 residents serving on our city boards and commissions.
  • We have 400 active volunteers helping our departments provide services in our city.
  • They volunteer in more than 15 programs, contributing over 28,000 hours this past year.
  • These volunteers have a deep love for our community, giving their own time to serve our neighborhoods and our neighbors. We see strong engagement with our non-profits.
  • We are fortunate to have so many dedicated non-profit organizations serving a variety of needs in our community, our country and our world.
  • The City strengthens the efforts of non-profits by offering a competitive grant process each year. Grants are primarily funded by the Citizens’ Benefit Fund, established as a trust in 1993 with the proceeds from the sale of the city-owned Roseville Hospital to Sutter Health. A portion of the interest earned each year by the trust is made available for grants with the purpose of improving the quality of life for the citizens of Roseville.
  • This year, based on recommendations from our Grants Advisory Commission, the City Council awarded over $350,000 to 15 non-profit organizations that are addressing a wide span of social needs including disability awareness, hunger, homelessness, and veterans’ needs. We saw strong engagement through our Engage Roseville community-outreach effort.

 We heard from thousands of people

  • in person at community meetings,
  • online through polls and surveys,
  • and at Council coffees, by email and by phone.
  • Residents provided thousands of data points about community priorities and service levels that informed our budget process.

We also heard that after 10 years of cutting expenses and reducing service levels, residents wanted to maintain service levels and see additional funding in priority areas.

Our City Council gave the community the option to raise new revenue through a half-cent sales tax that voters approved by a healthy margin last November.

It was the first time in Roseville’s 110-year history that a sales-tax measure was placed on the ballot.

And this summer we began receiving the initial revenue generated by the new sales tax, which went into effect in April.

It’s allowed us to restore some services, maintain others, and add funding in priority areas.

  • We’ve hired additional police officers,
  • Kept fire trucks in service,
  • Started final construction on Harry Crabb and Central city-wide parks now that we have funds for maintenance,
  • Restored and added library hours,
  • Brought back 4th of July fireworks and goat grazing to control thatch in our open-space areas, and
  • Maintained funding for code enforcement, recreation programs, and street maintenance.
  • We’ve also paid down retirement benefits and built an economic stabilization fund that will help us maintain service levels during an economic downturn.

One of the interesting outcomes of Engage Roseville was to learn that residents’ approval of city government increased during this process. It demonstrated to us that the more context and awareness we can provide to our community about the issues we are facing, the more involvement and support we see for the course of action that results.

On a regional level, partnerships help us thrive in many areas.

Our City has greater success when we act in our collective best interests rather than going it alone.

Economic development is one example. Companies we attract to the region will locate in one area, and hire people who live, shop, and play throughout the region.

That is why Roseville supports the regional economic-development research and work of three heavy-hitters in the Capitol Region: Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Valley Vision, and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

We participate in forums, programs, and initiatives, including hosting site selectors from around the country this past year. This group helps businesses make decisions about the best places for their companies to establish or expand operations. They were particularly impressed with our quality of life, business environment, and city-owned utilities.

Roseville continues to share best practices with business leaders and policy makers throughout the region on affordable housing, redevelopment, transportation, economic development, and the challenges we face. Our partnerships with business, educational and non-profit groups are also integral to Roseville’s success as a community.

We work closely with the Roseville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Invest Health, our school districts, and the Roseville Coalition of Neighborhood Associations.

Through our Invest Health partnership, we are working on ways to improve our core neighborhoods, including safety, lighting, and parks.

We are celebrating two sesquicentenials this year…our own Roseville City School District began in 1869 with 44 students and has grown to over 11,000 students.

And Union Pacific Railroad is marking the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, a development that spurred Roseville’s formation as a significant hub of transportation and commerce.

Collaboration has become a central theme to our future progress. We make it a point to meet quarterly with our neighboring cities to coordinate on issues such as economic development, transportation, water reliability, affordable housing and homeless issues.

These are also some of the issues on the table in our monthly meetings with Placer County --- to ensure that new development planned by the County on our city borders will be mitigated.

This is because growth in unincorporated Placer County has the potential to impact our city services, including police, fire, roadways, parks, and libraries.

Our goal is to ensure that the impacts of unincorporated development on Roseville’s services will be thoroughly addressed.

This goal is consistent with our philosophy that development must pay its own way.


As we look at the business climate in Roseville, we see indications of very strong demand. Space is at a premium across all sectors of Roseville’s commercial property.

Office space is at 91 percent occupancy.

Industrial space is 98 percent filled and remains a premium in the city.

Retail space shows a strong 96 percent occupancy, confirming Roseville as the region’s retail powerhouse.

There are plenty of reasons for this. Among them is that we have a well-educated and well-trained workforce, which attracts employers. 95 percent of our adult residents have a high school diploma or higher and 39 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Our Roseville Joint Union High School District, along with Sierra College and William Jessup University develop innovative programs to link students with employers to learn about a variety of careers, from healthcare to information technology to the construction trades.

With that, Roseville’s job growth remains strong, with an unemployment rate at 3.5 percent and a projected workforce growth rate of nearly 13% over the next 5 years.

Along with education, the ecosystem that creates a healthy business environment involves the public and private sectors.

The City of Roseville is committed to creating a city where businesses prosper. With greater access to capital, entrepreneurs and small businesses can pursue more opportunities.

That’s why our City Council approved an important tool this year to promote economic growth and job creation.

  • In partnership with regionally headquartered banks, the City of Roseville is investing $10 million for small business development.
  • The Roseville Advantage Financing Program puts dollars back into the local economy, delivering additional resources to Roseville businesses to expand and hire more employees.
  • Over the course of three years, small businesses can apply for loans through American River Bank, First Northern Bank, Five Star Bank, and River City Bank.
  • You’ll probably also be interested to know that the program puts no tax dollars at risk. Money invested comes from the City’s short-term investment funds. City funds will be fully insured and returned to the City upon completion of the program.

It’s a win-win for the city and our businesses. And to that end, it’s been another strong year for our economy in Roseville.

People want to live here and businesses want to locate and expand here.

Roseville remains one of the most desirable cities in the region to live. For 2020, single-family home permits are projected to increase 13 percent over the historical average of 900 per year, as new subdivisions in the Sierra Vista and Creekview specific plans and Fiddyment Ranch areas come online.

The City conservatively estimates roughly $100 million in total commercial construction and tenant improvements for this fiscal year, as we continue to see strong investment in Roseville’s commercial sector.

This past year, work was completed on many new, large, long-term commercial projects. These include:

  • the five-story corporate headquarters for Adventist Health that we’re gathered in today,
  • new medical office buildings and a new parking garage for Kaiser Permanente’s Riverside campus that had its grand opening last Friday,
  • a medical-supply distribution facility for McKesson’s new Roseville location,
  • the opening earlier this year of the first phase of new apartments in Campus Oaks,
  • two new hotels that opened this summer next to Top Golf, and
  • the new Villa Sport athletic club facility that opened this summer.

And there’s a lot more in the works…

  • We’re seeing a significant expansion at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, with its acute-care unit and emergency-medicine department.
  • Grading has started at the Sierra Vista and Creekview specific plan sites.
  • UC Davis’ medical offices in Roseville are providing clinical and outpatient care.
  • The home furnishings and décor store, Living Spaces, will open near Top Golf, along with Out of Bounds Brewery and its outdoor social area.
  • A new events center and sports facility at the Placer County Fairgrounds – now called @thegrounds -- will help fill our hotels, shops and restaurants. It’s the result of a partnership between Placer Valley Tourism, the City of Roseville, and Placer County

And we’re happy to welcome new businesses to our community:

  • Penumbra chose Roseville to manufacture its medical devices that help stroke patients. They brought 250 jobs and will be adding more in future years to their site on the former Hewlett Packard campus.
  • Restaurant Depot chose Roseville to open its distribution center. It provides restaurants throughout the region with supplies they need, and Roseville receives a portion of the sales tax it generates.
  • Anixter opened its new offices in August, growing our tech sector with 150 new employees, focusing on network security, electronics and utility solutions.
  • At the Westfield Galleria at Roseville, we’re looking forward to the redevelopment of the Sears site. The first floor will have entertainment from a company called Round 1 with bowling, darts, pool and an arcade. The second floor will have a 14-screen theater and space for a restaurant tenant.

Our faith-based community is expanding as well.

  • Last month, St. Anna’s Greek Orthodox Church broke ground for its new shrine to accommodate a growing congregation.
  • In May, the Sikh Temple of Roseville celebrated its 10th anniversary with a groundbreaking for its expansion. On a daily basis the temple provides free meals to anyone in the community, and it has welcomed people from nearby communities displaced by wildland fires and the threat of floods.
  • This year, the Roseville Seventh Day Adventist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary. It started with seven people who met in a home on Clinton Avenue in 1919 before building its first church in 1930. It served as a catalyst for other churches and charitable initiatives in the region.
  • Bayside Church has expanded its campuses and services in Roseville, and continues to make a difference in our community with its annual Service Day projects.
  • Rhema Christian Center celebrated its 15th anniversary in Roseville and its focus on community service, including providing clothing and food, and
  • Maranatha Volunteers International, which is headquartered in Roseville celebrated its 50th anniversary last month. This faith-based organization has relied on more than 80,000 people to build homes, schools, churches and water wells in 88 countries throughout the world.

Turning to our downtown area…the improvements downtown continue to be nothing short of remarkable.

I’ve been involved with this process for the better part of the past two decades, and I’m proud of how we’ve been able to achieve the vision we developed in collaboration with our community. The level of transformation that has occurred takes years to fund and to implement. And we’re not done.

Last year in our downtown, the City opened a new parking garage and a new fire station. Progress continued this year in so many ways. Last month, we celebrated the opening of three new bridges across Dry Creek to connect Vernon Street Town Square and our downtown with the beauty of Royer Park. We also opened a new segment of the trail that links Roseville to the region with alternative transportation pathways on bike and by foot. And this was all done without using General Fund dollars.

We enjoyed an artistic revival in our downtown as artists produced seven murals with the support of Blue Line Arts and the City. It was a draw for people to watch the murals being produced and the results have added new color, new life and a stronger sense of place to our Downtown.

We’ve had more services and facilities come to our downtown this year as well. On Tuesday, we opened our new Passport Service Center by the Post Office on Vernon Street. Demand for passports has been high and our City Clerk staff receives rave reviews on the customer service and easy-to-navigate process it provides. That’s what led us to expand this important service to our community.

Wednesday night, our City Council approved the purchase and sale agreement for 320 Vernon Street, for future development of a mixed-use project with 72 hotel rooms, 20 condominiums and a roof-top restaurant right across from the Vernon Street Town Square.

In January we celebrated the opening of Lohse Apartments on Vernon Street. It’s a 58-unit, mixed-use project by Mercy Housing that is vital to providing affordable housing options to all members of our community like seniors, persons with disabilities, and entry-level and service-sector workers.

Meta Housing is bringing new construction of 65 affordable units to our Historic Old Town area with 3,000 square feet of commercial space as well.

The City is partnering with St. Anton in the 80-unit Junction Station project in Historic Old Town. This workforce housing site at Pacific, Church, and Washington will offer studio and 1-bedroom units to young professionals and small households working in our local businesses.

Since 1989, Roseville’s affordable housing policies have produced nearly 3,000 affordable housing units. We have additional projects with affordable housing units underway in our downtown and at Campus Oaks on the former Hewlett Packard site.

This is quite a feat at a time when affordable housing is a critical issue in our state. It’s difficult to build due to the necessary subsidies, partnerships, and need for many funding sources. But it’s critical to the health of the community and to help prevent homelessness. Our City Council is grateful to have strong partners in the development community and committed city staff who make this happen for our residents.

As you can see, the state of our city is strong today. But we’re well aware that we can’t rest on our laurels.

With the tremendous growth that’s occurred over the last 20 years, we have thousands of new residents who don’t remember when the roads and highways seemed oversized since they were built for development that was just getting started.

Anyone who’s driven the congested I-80/Hwy 65 interchange in the past couple years has wondered when things will improve. We have a ray of hope now with the completion of much-needed improvements on northbound Hwy 65. Drivers got some relief a few weeks ago when this first phase opened—but only for northbound traffic.

The project was completed on time and on budget, with expert management from the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency. It’s an important step, but still only a drop in the bucket.

The problem remains that there’s no viable funding source to fix the $400 million worth of upgrades still needed to bring transportation infrastructure up to date in South Placer.

We’re working intensely on legislation to help us fund this, and a few weeks ago, Assembly Bill 1413 was passed by both houses of the Legislature and is now awaiting the governor’s signature.

So, stay tuned. We’re at a critical juncture in our region’s development. What we decide to do as a community about transportation will set a course for prosperity or frustration for decades to come.

Even if additional funding is approved by voters in 2020, it will still take several years to see the projects come online. That is why our window of opportunity is now.

It’s another example of how we work together as a region to address issues that affect all of us.


A key leader in the way we work together as a region is our city manager, Dominick Casey. He’s been on the job for over a year and has a pivotal role in our future.

I served on the City Council that hired Dom, and I can tell you that he impressed the Council with his leadership, vision, energy, and commitment to our community for the long term.

Dom moved to Roseville in 2011 to be our parks, recreation and libraries director—after 10 years in various management positions with the City of Henderson, Nevada.

Four years ago, he became assistant city manager—overseeing police, fire, public works, parks, recreation and libraries, and central services. Dom lives in Roseville with his wife and four children. We’re pleased to have Dom running the day-to-day operations of our city. And I’d like to invite him to podium now.


City Manager Dominick Casey: Thank you, John. It’s been a pleasure serving this city where my wife and I are raising our family. We truly love Roseville.

When you come to Roseville, it doesn’t take long to realize that it’s a special place. Roseville was founded on a vision—with a spirit of self-determination and the desire for local control to ensure a high quality of life.

As the mayor described, the city and community have worked hard over the last several decades to implement the vision we enjoy as a reality today.

Fall is when we kick off the budget-planning process for the next fiscal year. We start by projecting our revenues from sales and property taxes, then work on matching our expenses so we live within our means.

This year we’re starting from a better position than in the recent past, with the additional revenue provided by Measure B that Mayor Allard talked about.

With Measure B in place, projections call for an additional $16 to $19 million dollars in sales tax revenue annually.

This addresses our budget problems for the next five years or so, protecting essential services, stabilizing our General Fund, and allowing for growth in high-priority areas identified by our community.

I want to thank this community for the value it places on city services. We are encouraged by the support you provide to us each and every day.

Public service is a calling and a passion. Our city staff is committed to providing outstanding quality of life, because we live here, too.

As our workforce turns over and our population continues to grow, we face challenges and opportunities. It will require more time, training and development for new employees, but it provides us a unique opportunity to ensure the size of the organization meets community needs. We are working hard to ensure the City of Roseville remains an employer of choice in throughout the state for the wide range of highly specialized skills it takes to maintain the quality of life this community expects and appreciates.

While the funds from Measure B are being applied in the ways Mayor Allard has outlined, by itself, it’s not sufficient by itself to maintain long-term fiscal stability. In the next several years we will continue to see cost increases from federal and state mandates, the cost of supplies and materials, pensions and labor.

With that, we must continue to look for ways to identify operational efficiencies, reduce expenses including pension costs, increase revenue and reduce the size of our organization in non-growth areas.

This is the feedback we received from our community through EngageRoseville and what you expect us to do.

I strongly believe that our job in local government is to build the most capacity to do the greatest good for the longest time we can for our entire community.

This approach to growth has brought many amenities to our community and made Roseville a community of choice in Northern California.

Every day we are asked to consider different approaches, scenarios, and agreements.

In evaluating these, we have to be committed to open and frank discussions. We have to weigh short-term gains with the unintended long-term consequences of actions we take today.

There’s a balance. It takes collaboration and engagement. We have to make sure that what’s best for the city and community is part of every decision we make. We all should rise together on the same high tide.

I have been out in this community in hundreds of meetings. I hear over and over how proud people are of the decision to move here or to start their business here. They are fiercely protective of the things that drew them here. They don’t want to see the community erode.

It’s not only a financial investment people make in Roseville. It goes way beyond that.

It’s an investment in living in a community where we feel safe. Where we know that when we call our police or fire departments, someone will come, and come quickly to help.

It’s an investment in a community where our kids can receive a top-notch public education. An education that prepares them to succeed in a changing workforce and society.

It’s an investment in retirement. And being a place where we can remain active and connected with so many recreational amenities and volunteer opportunities.

It’s an investment in a community where we can find jobs and where we can grow a business.

It’s an investment in a community where people have access to the same quality of civic and educational resources regardless of where they live.


Those are some of the big-picture challenges in front of us.

Now I’d like to share updates from some of our departments.

Roseville is the only full-service city in the Capital region. This means the City itself provides the full range of municipal services…electricity, water, parks, libraries, public works, police, and fire.

In other cities, many of these services are provided through a maze of entities such as private-sector companies, special districts or contracts. But here, we’re singing from the same sheet of music.

It’s an advantage we have in managing a General Fund budget of $140 million dollars and a citywide budget of nearly half a billion dollars.

Public safety remains a top priority of the Council. This is reflected in this year’s budget, which allocated 62 percent of our sales and property tax revenue directly to police, fire, and medical services, including the addition of six officers and keeping all of our engine companies in operation. One of those additional police is a motorcycle officer. We’ve been getting a lot of complaints about traffic and speeding throughout the City, especially on the west side of town, so this will improve safety on our roads.

With an eye on efficiency and effectiveness, our goal is to maximize value to the community.

One example is our police department’s social services unit. It has been successful in connecting those needing services with government and non-profit organizations that provide them. 

It’s a prevention-focused approach that’s ultimately less expensive than enforcement.

The increase in homelessness has become a bigger and more visible issue in Roseville. This is due to recent court decisions at the federal and state levels.

Impacts from a growing homeless population have increased our calls for service to our dispatch center and have increased our cleanup costs.

The development of our Police Department’s social services unit is helping to address causes of problems—and not just the symptoms. But more is needed.

We coordinate with local non-profits to address the issue, we’ve partnered with health care providers, and we engage in regional discussions with the County as we continue to address this issue.

On the prevention side, our Housing Authority makes the most of funds we receive from the federal government.

The Housing Authority provides safe and clean housing for 624 families comprising 1,053 people through rental assistance from the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

It’s the City’s single strongest tool to prevent homelessness in our city. The program brings nearly $5 million dollars a year to the Roseville economy.


Our fire department is continuing to examine trends to ensure we’re meeting changing needs in our community.

Our Fire Department has experienced a significant growth in calls for medical service. At the same time, the calls for fires have remained flat. We’re fortunate to have that trend in our community. A lot of it can be attributed to newer construction, building codes and infrastructure in our city.

We’re asking outside experts to help us analyze the data, identify trends and optimize our response models. · As we continue to align expenses with revenue, we must ensure limited resources are put to their highest and best use.

A new fire station is planned for the West side of Roseville and we’re looking at ways we can staff it without adding significant costs.

We’ll also look at opportunities to work with our neighboring jurisdictions to meet community needs more broadly on local and regional levels.


When we talk about quality of life, the conversation usually turns to our robust and well maintained park system.

For over 30 years, Roseville has been known statewide for the quality and size of our park system. It remains a source of great pride, which is why our ability to maintain our parks and facilities is so important.

We’re excited that the development of two regional parks can continue now that we have funds to maintain the new development from Measure B. We’re also able to both restore and expand library hours, a need we heard from our community.


We continue to face funding challenges for infrastructure, particularly roadways.

Providing an effective transportation network, both regionally and locally, is not only a quality-of-life issue, it’s also an economic development driver.

From repairing cracks to resurfacing, we’re underfunding our roadway maintenance by $5 million dollars a year.

And we’re contending with funding formulas from the state and federal government that put the burden on local cities to provide a greater percentage of funding for roadway expansion than ever before. Mayor Allard spoke about that and the importance of a coordinated regional approach to raise revenues to fund it.

Infrastructure is also more than parks and roads. It includes Information Technology—for public safety needs, cybersecurity, and our entire financial system. We’ve invested in these critical areas, fully aware that these costs continue to grow and will put additional pressures on the general fund.



Switching gears to our utilities. I’m pleased to report to you that Roseville’s utilities are recognized nationally and statewide for leadership in policy, new technologies, and innovation.

Despite a healthy rainy season this past year, the issue of water-supply reliability remains front and center.

New development plays an important role in our water strategy, by helping to fund infrastructure that allows us to obtain, share, and store water.

Our City Council took a significant step two years ago with its support of the Sites Reservoir to be developed near Chico. This will further diversify our water portfolio by expanding storage opportunities in wet years.

Changes in the energy industry continue to evolve quickly. Roseville Electric Utility is offering new opportunities and solutions to customers. And we’re remaining vigilant in a changing legislative and regulatory environment.

We’re weighing how new laws regarding renewable energy will affect our customers and the utility in general.

Roseville has one of the highest solar densities in the nation. This year, we opened a Community Solar Project allowing more solar access to residents who are interested in going green.

And we continue to innovate. This helps our customers conserve, be efficient, and have access to new energy technologies.

We’ve only scratched the surface, but as you can tell, there’s a lot happening in our city.

I’ll turn it back over to Mayor Allard now to fill you in a few of the higher visibility items we’re working on.


Mayor Allard: The issue that is dominating our City Council meetings throughout the fall is district-based elections.

In August the Council started discussing a possible move to district-based elections from the at-large system we’ve always had.

The decision to consider a “district-based” election format isn’t due to a philosophical change by the City Council. Rather it’s a strategic, proactive move to potentially save the city millions of dollars in legal fees.

The change is motivated by recent lawsuits against other California cities related to the California Voter Rights Act. To date, no public agency that has fought to remain in an “at-large” voting system has won a legal challenge, costing millions in legal fees.

We’re considering this now, before we get a demand letter, for several reasons:

  • The path forward for 2020 city council elections will be settled sooner rather than later, minimizing chaos that might otherwise result from receiving a letter further into the election cycle. This gives potential candidates more time to prepare and understand the new format.
  • Roseville would determine the district boundaries instead of having them imposed by a court.
  • Roseville is in the midst of a once-a-decade charter review process, part of which determines our governance structure. This change aligns well with the timing of that effort.
  • Roseville will avoid a one-time payment of about $30,000 to one of the law firms that are sending these demand letters and will avoid the costs of litigation.

This month and next, we’re asking for public input on how the districts should be drawn. There’s a lot of information as well as a tool on our website to draw maps and provide input, or you can send your ideas to the City Clerk’s office.

We also have information posted about our once-a-decade charter review process that is underway now. It deserves some more explanation.

How we govern ourselves is at the heart of our democracy. For the City of Roseville, the document that governs how we conduct business is our charter. Every 10 years, the Charter Review Commission determines whether amendments should be recommended to the City Council as time, perspectives, and circumstances evolve and change. Once City Council decides which amendments to place on the ballot, the voters make the final decision.

The charter describes term limits, how the mayor is selected, how council vacancies are filled, the spending authority of the city manager, and how the City enacts, amends, and repeals ordinances. It also covers the budget, council rules, bond sales, contract bids, municipal elections, and utility franchises.

The Charter is our City’s constitution. It’s important that our residents make their voices heard on these key policy areas. We want to hear from our community.

The commission meets 5:30-7:30 p.m. every third Monday through April 2020 in Council Chambers at 311 Vernon St. The meetings are broadcast and archived on the City’s website and on our government-access channel as well.

And finally, I wanted to let you know about our Council Strategic Planning Workshop that we’re conducting next week.

We’re spending two days next Wednesday and Thursday to set the long-term vision for our city and establish our top priorities for the next several years.

We’ll be reviewing our city’s mission, vision and values, key accomplishments, important issues we face, best practices for the strategic-planning process, and the capacity and timelines to tackle these priorities. I hope you can join us.


Roseville is an innovative and growing city and it’s an exciting time to be here. In the 15 years I’ve served on commissions and on the City Council, I’ve seen our vision for this city become a reality over and over in so many ways. It’s an honor to serve as your mayor and I want to thank the City Council, our City staff, and our community for your strong support for the quality of life we enjoy in Roseville.

This is a great community, I am proud to serve it, and together we’ll continue to make Roseville the community of choice in the Capitol region.

I’d like to express a final thank you to our sponsors and to Adventist Health for hosting the State of the City address.

Thank you so much for joining us today!