UKIAH, CA., 11/7/26 — Palace Hotel owner Tom Carter was asked to come to the Ukiah City Council Wednesday, Nov. 4 with a letter from Ruff & Associates, an architecture firm led by Richard Ruff. That letter was supposed to state that the Palace Hotel was not dangerous to the public or in danger of collapsing. When Carter appeared at the meeting with a letter in hand, city staff and council members said the letter wasn’t what they asked for.Â
Carter didn’t bring enough copies, so he read it out loud.
“I apologize for not getting the letter sooner and not having enough copies for everybody,” Carter began.
The letter did indeed come from Ruff & Associates. It describes Ruff as a licensed architect and contractor. It said the firm “provided safety measures to protect the public around the outside of the building and some shoring details to support the existing floor, wall, roof, and framing.” Shoring is temporary bracing that holds up a weak structure.
“At this stage, the structure can be entered by consultants, contractors, investors, and workers,” the letter said, so they can carry on with “exploration, testing, shoring, structural, and preliminary design inside the Palace Hotel.”
The council didn’t vote. Carter said he would meet with Ruff on Friday, Nov. 6, and come back in two weeks if he had a new letter.
Read the Oct. 31 preview of the meeting and the Oct. 9 story on the council’s decision to ask for a letter from an expert.
What the city wants
Carter took over the company that owns the Palace on Oct. 15, 2024. That month, an engineering firm he hired, ZFA, reported that “the structure is dangerous as it exists.” ZFA’s review covered only what it could see. It didn’t include an analysis of how much load the building can carry.
Chief Building Official Matt Keizer said the city needs a licensed professional to answer that report. “Our main concern is protecting the people that are in the city limits that are walking on that sidewalk that they don’t get, you know, they don’t get hit by a brick or that the thing doesn’t fall down,” he said.
“In the ZFA report, it says the structure is dangerous as it exists,” Keizer said. “We just need that dealt with and refuted back by the proper professionals so that we can say it’s no longer dangerous as it exists. It doesn’t need to be safe.”
Keizer credited Carter’s work. Carter built a support tower where the main roof had collapsed, Keizer said, and put up a shoring wall on one side of the building.
But Keizer said the letter doesn’t settle the question. He said he had asked Ruff a few weeks earlier whether the building is safe, barring a large event. The answer decides whether the city can close its open case over the building’s code violations.
“That’s what we need to know as a city so that we can release our code enforcement case off of it,” Keizer said. “I don’t think that the letter that was presented this evening is exactly what we’re looking for as a city.”
The city’s November 2023 notice of violation gave the owner 30 days to apply for permits to stabilize or demolish the building. As another option, the owner could submit a study from a California-licensed structural engineer offering an alternative to demolition.
City Manager Sage Sangiacomo asked Carter to talk with his engineers and architects and bring the city “a timeline of those engagements.”
‘No professional in their right mind’
Council member Doug Crane said the city has never defined what it means for the building to be stable.
“What is the definition of safety?” Crane asked. “So, I think we’re missing what is the standard for stabilization.”
He said a letter calling the building safe isn’t coming. “No professional in their right mind is going to declare that it is safe,” Crane said. “Especially after these public meetings.”
Mayor Susan Sher said the letter fell short. “We thought what we were going to get from you this week was a report that demonstrated the building was safe,” she said. “What we got, in my mind, fell short of that.”
Sher also told Carter, “I know I was a little harsh with you last time.” At the Oct. 7 meeting, she had said, “I’ve just come to the point where I’ve given up, and I don’t really see any realistic possibility.”
Council member Mari Rodin said she wants the hotel saved. “I want it to be restored and turned into the jewel of our town,” she said. “We just need some documentation that it has resulted in a building that is stable for the time being as you continue to work.”
‘Keep the goalposts in the same place’
Carter said the letter is what he was asked for. “What I’ve been asked for is what I’ve provided,” he said.
He said he has also talked to ZFA as a backup, but its engineer can’t come for a couple of weeks, and the work could take a month or six weeks. “So, you’re telling me I’ve got to come back in two weeks for something that might take me two months, it’s ridiculous,” Carter said.
By the end, he agreed to try again with Ruff. “If I have it in two weeks, I’ll come back in person,” he said. “If I don’t, I’ll let Matt know, and he can let you know.”
Several people who spoke during public comment urged the city to work with Carter. Others were skeptical. Nathan Miller, who said he works on the project, told the council, “Every single day that we’re in there, that I’ve worked for Tom’s crew, the palace gets safer.”
Jim Werner, who lives on North Oak Street, said the only structural change he had heard about was scaffolding, “and I think that’s quite inadequate.”
“Keep the goalposts in the same place, and I’ll make a field goal,” Carter told the council near the end of the discussion.