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Council approves interim fairgrounds licenses, authorizes BrightView landscape contract
Summary
Council approved interim license agreements extending existing fairgrounds occupancy and unanimously authorized a BrightView landscape maintenance contract to complete urgent tree removal and irrigation repairs; staff will revisit lease terms and fairgrounds use within a year.
The Calistoga City Council on Oct. 1 approved interim license agreements for several fairgrounds tenants and unanimously authorized a landscape maintenance services agreement with BrightView to address immediate maintenance, tree work and irrigation repairs.
Cynthia Battenberg (via Zoom) told the council four license agreements had expired and that the interim licenses will run up to nine months with three one-month extensions to allow the new fairgrounds revitalization director, Shelley Wright, time to renegotiate terms and conduct fair market studies. "The plan is to bring these leases back to you or license agreements back to you, within a year with renegotiated terms," Battenberg said.
Susan Shaw, president of the Calistoga Cares Food Bank, told the council the group's contract did not explicitly list an auxiliary room the food bank uses. Council and staff confirmed the interim licenses will preserve existing terms and that the food bank may continue to use the room while the city revisits lease language.
Shelley Wright and staff presented the BrightView maintenance proposal, noting up to 24 trees are scheduled for removal due to safety risk and a significant portion of the work covers irrigation repairs at the former golf course spray fields. Derek Raynor, public works director, said the former golf course has been a major recycled-water customer and that restoring irrigation capacity is critical to wastewater disposal; he estimated the golf course historically absorbed roughly 20% of wastewater under prior agreements.
Councilmembers expressed support for using local volunteers and for revisiting whether the city should hire in-house staff for ongoing maintenance. Staff said the BrightView contract can be terminated with notice and that the consultant is expected to complete heavy lifting (trees and irrigation) within the first year.
The council voted to approve the interim license agreements (item 5.4) and later unanimously adopted the BrightView services agreement (motion by Councilmember Eisenberg, second by Vice Mayor Lopez Ortega). The council asked staff to provide additional BrightView startup milestones (30/60/90/180 days) in an updated staff report.
