City Council - Regular Meeting

council which to this evening is also a session of our theascador public finance authority. So we will begin with our pledge allegiance which we led this evening by council member Funk. Please rise and join me as you are able to to pledge allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance of the United States and to the republic one nation with liberty and thank you and we will proceed with roll call. Uh council and board member Funk here. Council board member Nuome

here. Council board member Peak here. Mayor Prom, Vice Chair Daryus here, and Mayor and Chair Borbo here. All present. All right. Thank you. So, well, if you are here in person, we have several people here this evening or if you're listening uh on through one of the many avenues, you can watch watch or listen to the city council meeting. Uh welcome. We welcome you and are glad you are here. We are going to begin this evening with presentations in the form of employee recognitions and this will be done by our city manager, Mr. Jim Lewis.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. It's always a privilege to honor the tenure of our employees. As you know, this is a choice place to work and people enjoy it here and they see that and they stay here, which is great. And so, we have kind of a hall of fame of three employees tonight. You're going to know all these employees and they're doing amazing things. I'm looking forward to recognizing three. I'm going to start with Matt Pigeon. Matt, come on up here. This guy's a rockar. Matt Pigeon worked in the private sector for years, but he had clarity and came to be with us, and we are so glad he did. He is the deputy public works director over maintenance. He's our workhorse. I better get on the script, but I could talk about Matt all night by myself. Uh he's the deputy director for maintenance, overseeing streets, parks, building maintenance, divisions of public works. He began with us in December of 2020 as public works operations manager and promoted to his current role in July 2022. Prior to city employment, he was the paving superintendent for Souza construction where he oversaw construction of F-14 projects, San Lucia road reconstruction between Ardia and Port Portola. Matt's knowledge, skills, and experience in the construction industry are invaluable to supervising and managing maintenance operations and the 13 employees he oversees. These divisions are the bread and butter of public works and associated with the general public sees in action every day. Matt is highly motivated to ensure city facilities are in good working order, clean and safe for the public. Matt is reliable, quick thinking, and has a strong work work ethic that makes him highly respected by his peers and co-workers. He lives in Atascadero with his wife Britney and their two sons, Sam, who is in sixth grade, and Ben, who's in fourth grade. Are they here today? You guys wave to the city council. Yeah, that's awesome. All right. Outside of work, uh he's very busy coaching baseball, basketball, fishing, boating, and more fishing. When he sees me on the sideline, he reminds me of good sportsmanship. And uh I gotta tell you, man, you are the pride you have in this city, in our facilities, and I'm going off script. Your your loyalty and

commitment to calls any time of night. You inspire your troops, and this place looks like it does because of you. I know you're not one to take all the honor, but you are we are so privileged to have you work for us. So, happy five years. Five years.

Okay, here comes another uh celebrity here on the staff. Brian Hayes, the deputy public works director, engineering. This is 10 years. Look at Look at You look good. He's still doing good. All right. All that. You have no stress, man. You're running all our projects. Ryan Hayes is the deputy public works director and engineering utilities manager overseeing engineering and wastewater divisions of public works. Wastewater. Um, and he began his employment with the city of in October of 2015 as deputy public works director and appointed engineering and utilities manager in November 2023. And we're so glad he decided to be with us. Prior to city employment, Ryan spent 10 years as a project engineer and designer at Rick Engineering and Canon Associates, working on a variety of public works and private development projects, including the downtown streetscape project. Ryan was the construction manager on that. He was out there every day and that project finished on time and on budget as a result of his leadership and tenacity. He is just a terrific project engineer. Over the past 10 years, he made his mark on a task with impressive contributions to pavement management, storm water management, traffic engineering, development review, inspections, rightway management, and capital projects. He's currently still the project manager for the downtown commun project phase two. That includes our arches, tunnels, and the the finishings. And he's the project manager for our public safety projects. So for our new fire station and our updated police station and he's also in charge of the wastewater treatment plant modernization project. So I don't know how he does it but he does uh with a smile. Um and he has the largest capital project undertaken in the city, the wastewater project. We keep getting these bigger projects every every time which is really exciting for him and for us. Ryan's tenacious, has an incredibly strong work ethic. He's a creative problem solver and that lends to his success and accomplishments. Ryan has a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Kalpali where he

completed competed in cross country and track and field. He's always zooming around on his bicycle or you go like hundreds of miles, don't you? He uh lives in Templeton with his uh with his wife Camille and their three children, Josiah who's in ninth grade, Kyla who's in eighth grade, and Donovan who is in the fifth grade. Are they here? Some of them.

Hi guys. Good to see you. I see you on Sundays sometimes, so it's good to see you today. That's outstanding. Outside of work, Ryan is an avid road bicyclist, so please don't hurt him. We need him. He's very important. And he's busy coaching soccer, building shelters for Kylo's horse, and working on uh their house and property. Ryan is just one of those can do spirits. Um he is a great team member. He always figures out a way to solve a problem. when um 100p proof, as uh council member Funk would say, the 100 proof city manager is starting to show up. Ryan is really good at laying it all out, setting reality, setting a good course to which I'm very grateful and I can't imagine uh the staff without him and the success of our projects without him. So, congratulations on 10 years. Thank you.

Okay, let's see. 25 years ago was right after the new millennium. Like we like Bel Biv DVU and like you know what, Salt and Peppa. What were we listening to? All kinds of stuff. And that is when Captain Tom Burkenfeld came to work for us. Come on up here, man. Look at that guy. Wait. 25 years. You get a speech. You get a speech. So just you might want to be ready. Tonight we honor fire captain Tom Burkinfeld for 25 years of service to the city of Atascadero and over 30 years in the fire service. That is remarkable. Wow. The fire service is Tom's second career. After college, he joined the Navy and was trained as a physical therapist. Following the completion of his service to his country, he began a career as a physical therapist in Oakland. His passion for public service led him to complete a fire academy and work shifts as a reserve firefighter with the Oakland Fire Department. Wisely deciding that Oakland might not be the best place to live and raise a future family. Very smart. Tom moved in to a physical therapist office in St. Louis Abyspo and settled here in Atascadero. He was hired by the city as a reserve firefighter in 1996 and as a full-time firefighter in 2000, promoted to fire engineer in 2002 and then to fire captain in 2017. Now, this is an impressive list of things. Listen to this. Tom is a founding member of the North County Urban Search and Rescue Team and recognized as an expert in all things related to technical rescue, swiftwater, confined space, trench building collapse, helicopter operations. I may have been in a swiftwater situation when I was assistant city manager with him and I'm grateful for his training. Uh Tom also oversees all vehicle maintenance. He organizes the ongoing maintenance and service of the fire engines and has led uh to the vehicle committee to design inspect our new engines which you'll see tonight including the new wildland engine and a soon to be delivered structure engine. The department appreciates Tom's attention to detail

and organization and keeping our apparatus safe response ready. Tom lives in a task and is married to Christine who's a school teacher and pastor Robels. They have two sons Brett and Kyle who have both followed in their dad's footsteps. Isn't that an honor for you? That's pretty neat. Brett works for the US Forest Service in Northern California and Kyle recently began his career as a firefighter with the Pasarals Fire Department where Tom proudly pinned his badge. Outside of work, Tom enjoys mountain biking, skiing, hiking with his dog, and traveling in his motor home. Tom has recently announced that he plans to retire later this year. So, we won't get 30 years in this city with Tom, but for 25, we're grateful. We congratulate Tom on 25 years of full-time service to our community, over 30 years in the fire service, and he has been an extraordinary example to so many young firefighters and engineers as they they've worked their way up in leadership. So, um Tom is definitely one of our finest. We'll miss him when he retires, but for now, we honor you for 25 years. Thank you. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank all of the council members and city staff for this award. It means a lot uh to be here for 25 years. Um but I really couldn't have done it without my lovely family, my wife, and my two boys. Um they've supported me all these years. Uh as a firefighter, your schedule is very um it's a varied schedule, right? So, I've missed a lot of birthdays, missed a lot of Christmases. Um, and they've understood that. Um, and they've always supported me. Uh, so I want to really thank them for that. Um, a lot of nice things were said. Thank you. Um, a lot of activities that I do, but I couldn't do any of these activities, uh, with the people that are standing in the back, my fellow firefighters. Um, you know, it's not just a oneperson show. uh there's a lot of people behind those doors that do many things and uh they've helped me to

do all of these things that I've achieved over the past 25 years. So, got to thank them as well. And um again, thank you. Appreciate it.

Okay. Thank you to everybody. It's always a great pleasure to see our employees honored, our long-erving employees, and thanks to all the other employees coming out to see your uh co-workers be recognized. Um, we are going to move on to the consent calendar. The consent calendar consists of items that are considered routine, non-controversial by city staff and will be acted upon by a single motion unless a council member wishes to pull an item. So with that, I'm first going to ask if any council member would like to pull an item for separate consideration or would any council member have a question? Okay, question. Go ahead, council member Fun there. Okay. Sorry, it took several tries. on item uh item six uh in our uh the uh temporary fire station uh uh contract award. Um the table in our packet showed uh six and a half million in soft costs, but I just wanted to clarify that what we're voting on tonight is only the 292,373 contract for the pad that's going to u give our fire stations a home while fire station one is being constructed.

Yes, you are correct. Thank you for that clarification. And the 6.5 was kind of just to give you an overview of all of those kind of non-bonded costs. Okay, great. So those those are th that six and a half million are costs that aren't part aren't being paid for by the bonds that we issued, but are other things that we've saved for and allowed for in budget to uh make sure that our community can be safe. That's absolutely correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Now, I'd like to see if any member of the public would like to make a comment on any of the consent item consent uh calendar items.

Good evening, council. Quick comment on the financial where we pay the bills. Um it's a positive one, but just want to remind everybody we do a really good job in this city and $246,000 approximately monthly. So, it's about $4 million a year in employee benefits for Anthem Blue Cross. It's pretty phenomenal. We treat our city very well and our employees very well. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for the comments. Okay. With that, seeing no one else approach, I'm going to return it to council for a motion. Move approval of the consent calendar. I'll second.

Okay. We have a motion by council member Funk, a second by Council Member Nsome. Roll call, please. Council member Funk. Yes. Council member Nome. Yes. Council member Peak. Yes. Mayor Promander. Yes. Mayor Robo. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you. With that, we will proceed to updates from the city manager, Mr. Lewis.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of council. I do have several events to fill you in on. First is the Mother Son Sweetheart Dance. The second annual is this weekend, January 30th and 31st, at the Pavilion on the Lake. There are 15 tickets left for Friday's dance. So, uh, please do get those if you're interested. They can only be purchased at the Colony Park Community Center located on Traffic Way from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are not available at the door and they're $38 for our residents themed how sweet it is to be loved by you. Uh, don't miss this. 15 tickets left. The fatheraughter sweetheart dance is our 21st annual and it is February 6th and 7th and it is sold out. So, um, sorry if you weren't able to get a ticket. I we've been encouraging people uh but it will be a wonderful wonderful event and uh sold out so hopefully our I know our daughters and fathers will have a great time. We have a sweetheart stroll for uh all folks February 13th from 5:30 to 8. This is the sweetheart stroll. This one's always very uh popular and and really really fun. So this is February 13th. Wine, beer, coffee, and other treats from 15 plus businesses downtown uh for pre Valentine's Day. So, grab your sweetheart, your besties, or anyone else to enjoy uh our beautiful downtown with a glass of wine as you stroll around. Tickets are available until noon on Friday for $35. So, a limited number of tickets will be available at the event, but you always want to try and get it before the event. So, the sweetheart stroll and sip and shop. We have a new event at the zoo uh because we love our zoo and love our uh animals. And so this is a new and wildly fun Valentine celebration on Valentine's Day from 10:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. This is Woo at the Zoo. So we'll have keeper talk specifically about how animals choose their mates and uh how Valentine's works in the animal kingdom. So uh that will be an interesting conversation. There will be Valentine themed activities including enrichment for the animals. So we love them and we will make sure that

they feel loved. And all this is free for members and included in general admission. So, woo at the zoo on Valentine's Day from 10 to 1. Uh, we have our 9th annual Earth Shine. So, this is a great way to serve on Valentine's Day. If you love a tasket and you love the environment, there's no better place to be then at the creek uh from 10:00 a.m. until noon on Valentine's Day for Earth Shine. And you'll get free pizza. Uh, always our pizza is sponsored by Mayor Borau. So, that's very nice. Uh, and you get to have pizza with the mayor if you come help from 10 to noon on Saturday, February 14th. We'll supply everything. The Earthshine Group is really good at that with gloves and grabbers and bags and safety vests. So, we will see you then. Okay. Next, we have uh coffee with a cop. Now, I think the real question is, is coffee with a cop going to be as popular as coffee with a planner was? Coffee with a planner had 50 people at it. So, chief, we'll see. Uh, we'll we'll see. Coffee with the cop. Thursday, February 19th from 8 am to 10 am at Malibu Brew. Uh, and that's a nice relaxed environment. This is really important, especially today. I would love for the community to meet our police officers and see how well trained they are, see the heart they have for this community and the the compassion they demonstrate as they do their work keeping our community safe and more so um the relationships they have with people in the community. So, I really encourage people and I think it'd be um a really good way for people to feel good about law enforcement in this community on February 19th from 8 to 10. Please, please connect with our police department and I think it's a very healthy thing to do. So, coffee with the cop. Uh next, we have recreation registration. So, we have a couple uh things coming up. Te-ball registration's open. It ends February 27th. We do need volunteer coaches and sponsors. So, if you are interested, please do connect with us so we can have more teams. If we don't have coaches, it's hard to have teams. This is for boys and girls four and a half to six years old. And a coaches meeting is scheduled for

Thursday, March 19th at Paloma Creek Park. We'll have more information out there soon about that. Adult basketball registration ends March 2nd and adult social kickball ends March 23rd. Then there's so many things going on. We Wow, that's a slide. That is why director Banish has that funny smile on her face all the time. Look at all of those events that she and her department are responsible for. Wow, Terry, that's impressive. Um, so that is the event calendar. It is in our rec. It came out. Uh, you can get a hard copy of it. It's great to have next to your family calendar. Uh, but you can also go to visitattascro.comvents and it's really just a great thing to go through and put those on your family calendar, but it's out there. And then we have on the governance side of things our annual strategic planning session. So the city council will be meeting this Friday, the 30th from 6:00 to 9:00 in this room and on Saturday the 1st from 9:00 to 1. And these are more relaxed sessions where the staff will uh brief the council on all the major projects under their strategic direction. And uh there's some great updates on the safety facility, the zoo, capital projects, uh how we're doing business with our asset management and finance systems, uh downtown development. A lot of great topics for you. We're looking forward to giving you an opportunity to really kind of slow down and dig into these topics and give staff direction as needed. Hopefully, we're going the way you'd like us to, but if we need some correction, uh that's always this is a great time for it. So, it's an interesting session, strategic planning this Friday, 6:00 to 9 and 9 to1 on Saturday. And that's it. Uh for all event questions, you can go to visit taskadero.com and other city business atascadero.org. Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Uh, and Terry, you you're look like the odd person out tonight. [laughter] Um, all the [clears throat] other employees are over here. Um, does any member of the council have any questions for Mr. Lewis? Uh, go ahead.

A quick question on the sweetheart stroll event. Are those tickets available from the city or from the Chamber of Commerce? Chamber of Commerce office. Thank you for that. Thank you.

Any other any other questions for Mr. City Manager? All right. Thank you. At that with that, we're going to move on to community forum. Community forum is reserved for persons wishing to address the city council on a matter on any matter not on the agenda, but over which the council has jurisdiction. The Brown Act prohibits the council from discussing items not on the agenda. So, council cannot enter into a discussion. we may be able to ask staff a qu question or ref refer staff to get together with the member of the public. So with that, you have three minutes to speak and we ask you to state your name for the record. We'll have the first speaker approach, please. Jeff Oslin. Um Terry, I have to always look at your calendar and uh it's a great thing, but it's also a negative thing for me because we're trying to bring back the K9 fundraiser and finding a spot's really difficult. So, you know, take a break for a weekend so we can find one. That would be great. Um, but we're looking at maybe pushing one in April. We'll see if we can pull it off. Uh on another note, now that downtown's pretty much done, I have a request and it's request of uh our city manager, police chief, council, which uh I think it's time that we put a police officer at East Mall for a little bit to educate the kids along with the school district that the walk sign means walk and when it doesn't, they should not be walking across the street. and jaywalking is still a crime if it's unsafe to walk and they're really messing traffic up and then you have accidents like we had a week or two ago. Um I'm just saying I think it's time I observed it again today where the kids just walk across and mess up the flow of traffic there. We put a stoplight in which is a great thing to prevent injuries but I think it's time to maybe do a little

enforcement down there and uh say hey enough's enough. you guys need to obey this and allow both pedestrian and traffic flow to work. Um I will give a positive out to public works. They've been scrambling to work on that light as well because there was some vandalism to it. Um they're very attentive and I appreciate Matt um for working hard at it and Nick working hard at it to get the crosswalks actually to uh turn back so you can actually drive through there. That would be fantastic. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for your comments and I'm sure the police chief will take that under consideration. Um, okay. Next speaker, please.

Good evening, mayor, council members, and [snorts] looks like city employees. My name is Jill Sterns. I'm superintendent president of Qua College and I'm here this evening to express my deep appreciation for our partnership with Atascadero High School and to celebrate the achievement of our dualenrolled students. I provided manager Lewis with some copies um that highlight last year's success. We served last year 500 Atascadero High School students who were enrolled in 65 class sections in which students had the opportunity to earn both high school credit and college credit. Many of those students took more than one class in that modality. And over the last four years, we've served 1389 students and their success has been phenomenal. Of those students, 352 became transferp prepared, which means they went into university as a junior, and 275 completed a degree with Qua College. What the national data tells us is that dualenrolled high school students attend college at a 80% rate. and students who don't engage in dual enrollment opportunities only attend at about a 50% rate. It is making a difference not only in the attendance rates of students at college and university but in their success. Those students enter very wellprepared and do exceptionally well. Our dual enrollment program is not just about students being able to take a class, but it's about them being able to complete a program that aligns with local workforce opportunities. And so again, I just want

to express my appreciation for our partnership with Atasadero High School. Qua College has been recognized in the state of California as the community college serving the highest percentage of local high school students. and that would not be possible without our great relationships and the work that occurs at the high school. So, um I hope when you see someone from Atascadero High, you will give them a shout out. Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Sterns. Any other speakers wishing to speak in community forum? Okay, seeing none, we will close community forum and we will bring it back to council for our next item, which is H1, a management report on structure fire engine replacement. This will be presented by Fire Chief Bryson.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Tonight, we have a request to purchase a replacement type one fire engine. See if I can get our slide up here. Okay. So, a replacement for a structured fire engine. I just want to thank the the council for considering this tonight. We do have two 2005 engines. One was ordered in 2023 and will be delivered this spring. So, this is the second of our two 2005s. It has been a little bit of a a big pull over the last few years keeping these um ready to go, response ready. It's been all hands on deck. keep keeping them up uh with full maintenance. So, replacing this second 20-year-old engine is a big deal for us. So, we appreciate you considering this. Tonight, I'm going to show you just a couple pictures. This will be real brief. Uh this is a Pierce Ultimate configuration on an Enforcer chassis. Has a 2,000galon per minute pump, 500 gallons of water, 25 gallons of foam. And these are our first out daily driving fire engines. They carry all of our medical gear, rescue gear, uh, fire, every everything that we do on a daily basis, this engine carries. So, this is just an example. That's what it will look like. That's not ours, but I do have a picture of the one that will be delivered this spring. So, and believe it or not, this picture was taken last week, and this engine is scheduled to be done in March. So we wait uh two and a half three years in line for them to build an engine in a handful of months. So uh this one we will be inspecting in March in Appleton, Wisconsin and uh delivered uh by the end

hopefully end of March, 1 of April. So I I am proud to show you this color scheme that actually is not just primer that is gray on the cab. And we are going to a gray cab. It's going to be a little bit different look, but we're uh proud to show off our allegiance to our greyhounds with a gray cab. So, this is the one again being delivered uh in March. And this one that we're authorizing tonight or asking for consideration is the identical engine. So, we'll see the same thing. Here's just a picture of the body. Obviously, those aren't uh put together yet, and it's amazing to think that that will be done here in just uh two months. Recommendation tonight from staff is for council to authorize the city manager to execute a contract with South Coast Fire Equipment for one, 2277,000 to purchase a Pierce type 1 fire engine. With that, I'll hand it over for any questions.

Um, yeah, actually I had a couple questions. I mean, it we hear about two even three year lead time on these and yet it can go from that to assembled in couple of months. It's pretty amazing timing. Yes, there is that much of a demand, that much of an order that the lead time was that high. It was a supply issues for a while. I'm not sure that's still the case, but um we've been seeing pictures now. The the pictures that I just showed were from week six. So, it went from a heap of metal six weeks ago to that in week six and then completion in March. Pretty amazing. Yeah, that is interesting. So, I mean, so the lead time is essentially you're just waiting for them to start working on your vehicle. Correct.

Once they start working on your vehicle, it moves pretty quickly then. Okay. Council questions. Mayor Pertas, I don't want to throw you a curveball or anything, but I this is something I'm curious about. When I compare cars from 2005 to now, there's a lot of features on cars. You know, navigation system, your phone connection, all you know, it's a lot more high-tech. what what things are going to be much more high-tech in this than is in a 20-year-old fire engine. I'm just curious of how far, you know, what's different? What's new about it? I mean, I don't mean what's new. I mean, well, what's going to be better? What's going to what's going to make you happier?

That's a fantastic question. I wish I had Captain Burkenfeld back here to help me answer that. He's the lead of our our build team. the the big piece I think um that's new has to do with the pump and the chassis, the technology in the um the electrical work. That's it's called a Pierce ultimate configuration and they they build they they market as they build the engine around the pump and they make it much more uh user friendly. It's it's easier to um to work with. it's kind of lower to the ground. Um, so there's that. There are new safety considerations with uh monitors to make sure everybody has their seat belt on, backup cameras. So, some of that new technology is just wasn't seen in the 2005 engines.

Very cool. Thank you. Let me back up. Can you back up to the picture of the prototype or, you know, of what this will look like built? Speaking of that, um, keep going there. That one. This looks kind of substantially different to me in the sense that on our existing trucks, it seems like, you know, there's a big silver panel on the side with a whole bunch of equipment to operate the pump and and attach hoses and then there's a kind of a hose bay there to pull hoses directly off and that's and you don't kind of see that on here. uh is there a substantial difference in the act in the kind of physical layout of the engine or are we just not seeing that here?

No, you're that's absolutely correct, Mayor. So, what I was trying to describe was the the difference in the pump panel and that is you can see the small silver uh right behind that back door. So, the pump panel is smaller and is uh in some cases closed up by compartments. So, those compartments do go all the way around. It keeps things protected. The pump they they market it as being lower to the ground. So it it does look significantly different. That cab looks a little bit different. It's got where shorter at the front and extends up a little bit taller in the back. So these will look uh a little bit different. They do not make the Pierce Arrow XT which we currently run. So, we had to move to a new model and uh that's this is the one that we felt best fit our needs without being able to get that that same older model.

Got it. So, along the lines of following up on Mayor Pandereas's question, you know, if you bought a newer car, yeah, it's got backup cameras, it's got this and that, and you feel like and then you hear stories about how essentially you're driving a computer, you know, and of course the thing can die for no reason. Then there's, you know, it's not a mechanical problem. it's suddenly an automation problem. What kind of a warranty do these vehicles come with in the sense of you know them taking care of everything for a year or two or something like that? What kind of

There is a warranty. I don't have the exact number on it right in front of me. I could uh definitely look it look it up and get back to you. We do have a service center here in Paso. Um new uh fleet renewal in uh in Paso handles all our warranty work. So, we still have our type 3 under warranty. So, if things go wrong, we can run it up to Paso and they'll take care of it um outside of our normal mechanic that handles our equipment. So, I'll have to get back to you on the exact number of years. Uh thank you. Uh any questions over here, Council Member Funk?

Yeah, I was I want to thank you for bringing this forward and and ask first of all, how long were we expecting the uh engine that this replaces? How long are we expecting it to last?

We have a replacement schedule of 20 years. Jerry's looking at me if she wants to add in, but um 20 years and then however long it takes to get this new one in. So, it's going to be 20 23 plus. Yeah, I was just going to add I I think over time, you know, when we first bought the engines, I think we expected it them to have a certain life and we've kind of uh changed that as we went over time. Um, but I think what we're finding is that this 20 year time frame is, you know, probably about the as long as we can extend that. So, we are ex considering that it's at the end of its lifespan.

Yeah. So this the l the engine that this is replacing is living on borrowed time already basically. Yeah. So correct. And what's the money is coming out of the vehicle replacement fund. What's the status of that fund right now? Um there are funds and we will um address an item in in a a couple of um minutes here at this meeting to kind of connect some of the dots on some of the funding. Um there is about 9 million in cash in that fund currently that is for the current and future purchases of different various fleet vehicles and some equipment in the city.

Okay. So that reflects the budgeting that we've done of funds that taxpayers invested in for us to be able to do these major upgrades to our equipment that keeps the community safe. Right. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Okay, seeing no other questions, we'll see if any member of the public would like to comment on this item.

Good evening, council. Once again, Jeff Fos and um Chief Ry have a crazy question. What happens if you have a fire engine out of service? Do you hang on to an old one just in case one's down for a week or two under warranty or not under warranty? I'm just curious how we continue to operate. Do we get rid of our old uh fire trucks right away or do we try and keep one just in case uh for a while? Thanks. Any other member of the public wishing to speak? Okay, seeing none, I'll bring it back to council, but I think that's probably a question that many members of the public might have. So, Chief, could you answer that?

Absolutely. Great question. We actually have three type one fire engines in our fleet. So, we have a reserve right now. So, we rotate through. When one goes down for service, we can put the next one up first out. Uh, so we don't plan on keeping the old ones. We'll we'll get rid of we will keep the one the third one that we have was purchased in 13 I believe 14. So that will be become our reserve engine. We'll always have that one until that one's due to replacement. But these two will be our first out and then we have our backup. Okay. Looks like Mayor Promander has a follow-up.

Well, I see you just sparked something. So, we're going to get rid of this one. I actually didn't consider we would be keeping it. Good question, though. Um, how much we're going to sell it. And what what can you sell a used firet truck 20 some years old?

We will sell it. There are fire trader type sites, auction sites or um buying sites for fire used fire equipment. I'm hesitant to give you a number on c uh what it would bring in. I think we were looking at our used type three that was about 20 years old and anywhere between 75 and 100,000. It' probably be more than a type three a wildland engine just because it's a bigger bigger engine, but we'll we'll definitely be doing our research and putting that up for sale. All right, great. Thank you.

I assume any sales price. So, you know, somebody want to see the maintenance records to see what kind of a history the vehicle had. I mean, so if it's been problematic, it's going to decrease its value. If it's in good shape and just old, it would probably have a higher value. I would agree with that. I you know I think um a fire department somewhere that's looking for a 20-year fire engine, they probably know that they're going to be putting some work into it, but I I think there's going to be some interest in it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. With that, I'm looking for a motion. Motion that we authorize city manager to execute contract with South Coast Fire Equipment. Second. Okay, we have a motion by Council Member Peak, a second by Council Member Funk. Roll call, please.

Council member Peak. Yes. Council member Funk. Yes. Council member Newsome. Yes. Mayor Pro Timas. Yes. Mayor Robo. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. And with that, we will move on to item H2, a management report uh discussing the fiscal year 2024 2022 audit. And we'll turn this over to our administrative services director, Jerry Rangal.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and members of council. We are very pleased tonight to bring you the um financial statements audited for the fiscal year 2425. The independent audit firm of Moss Levy and Hartzheime was hired to perform our work. Mr. Travis Hull, a partner with the firm, is available tonight in the uh audience and he can address any questions you may have for uh Moss Leavian hard time. The audit was conducted in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States and standards applicable to the financial audits contained in government auditing auditing standards. The auditors issued what we call a clean opinion, meaning that the auditors agreed that the financial statements were presented fairly and in compliance with accounting principles. Tonight's focus will be on the general fund. The city overall had a very successful year in 2425. Most general fund revenues exhibited favorable variances. Employee services and operational costs came in under budget and funds were used effectively to make great progress on our priority goals and projects. The top revenue sources for 2425 came from property tax, sales tax, transient occupancy tax, and permits and development revenue. Property tax revenue at 36% of general fund revenue is the largest of the city's revenue sources and tends to be the most stable in times of economic ups and downs. Property tax revenue was 4.6% 6% greater than the prior year and totaled about 13.4 million for the fiscal year. The city's sales tax revenue is made up

of different industry groups that react differently to changes in the economy. The fuel and service station industry group, which makes up about 18% of the city's sales tax revenue, was down a little this year, reflecting statewide trends toward reduced consumption and lower prices at the pump. The building and construction industry group was also down slightly, about 2%. There was a modest amount of growth in the state and county pools. Overall, the city's base 1% Bradley Burn sales tax revenue came in at about 4.9 million and the measure D20 revenues were about 6.6 million. Because measure D20 is an add-on transaction tax, it does capture some extra sales in some of the industry groups, including general consumer goods, autos and transportation, business and industry and building and construction that our Bradley Burns tax doesn't capture. D20, on the other hand, it does not capture any sales and um from the the state and county pools. Transient occupancy tax or TOT has been trending up generally over the last decade due to the council's emphasis on economic development and the efforts from the Atascadero Tourism Business Improvement District. While these positive overall trends are expected to continue, fiscal year 2425 TOT revenue of about 1.99 million were slightly less than the prior year. and the budgeted amount. Permits and development activity was strong again this year and only slightly down from the prior year. Permits and development revenue came in at just over 1.8 million.

Overall, the total general fund revenues excluding measure F14 were 37.6 million for the fiscal year. The largest portion of general fund expenditures is dedicated to employee services to attract and retain the best highly qualified staff. About 66% of general fund expenditures went toward employee services. Staffing costs for 2425 were higher than the prior year as expected, but came in under budget. One of the goals of measure D20 was to fund critical public safety positions and competitive salaries across all city departments. So, thank you again to our community for supporting measure D20 and we see it that it's being used as intended. Operating supplies and services came in higher than the prior year but were lower than we budgeted. Sales tax measure D20 is also providing additional operating resources to allow for more adequate funding for necessary operating supplies and services to the public with a focus on council's priorities. The city was successful at moving many big projects forward during the fiscal year, many of which will also continue into the current year. Some of these include contributions for the public safety facilities project, the general plan update, building maintenance fund reserves, and the zoo accreditation projects. The remaining amount of about 4.6 million was budgeted but not spent for projects for 2425 and will be rolled over to be used in the current year 2526. Those funds are reflected in the 2425

general fund reserves at the end of the year. We've been focusing on the general fund excluding measure F14 and we reviewed measure F14 um the annual report at the last council meeting. So I will only touch on this briefly. Measure F14 revenue was about 3.4 4 million with expenditures coming in at about 5.5 as we were able to use some of the measure F-14 reserves to fund uh projects that needed to be done with those funds for road improvements in accordance with the budget and the five-year capital improvement plan. Uh we ensure that we maximize the use of those funds while not outspending our revenues in the long term. Excluding measure F-14, the general fund revenues or reserves were just under 20 million or 55% of general fund expenditures for the year and as previously discussed include about 4.6 million in capital project funds that weren't spent in 2425 but that will be used in the current year. The city is the member of the Kalpers uh California Public Employment Retirement System, Kalpers, and offers retirement benefits to its employees. The city's Kalpers retirement plans are grouped with similar agencies into what they call pools. The city's net pension liability is affected not only by the city specific factors, but also the activity of those pools. At the end of the year, the city's net pension liability was about 36.8 million. The net pension liability has decreased roughly 934,000 from last year. The calculation is to determine that net

pension liability are based on a prior year. So for fiscal year um the fiscal year 2024 numbers were used to calculate this. During the 2324 year, Kalpers had a 9.5% return on investments, exceeding their discount rate of 6.9%. Partially offsetting that gain were non-investment losses, which Kalpers has attributed to inflationary impacts like colas and salary increases. The aggregate impact resulted in a decrease in the city's proportionate share of the net pension liability. There were no changes in assumptions or methods made by Kalpers. The Kalpers investment return for 2425 was 11.6. The city paid about 3.2 million in the uh unfunded acred liability UAL for the year. The city has a dedicated solid financial plan and is prepared for s fiscal sustain sustainability. With the help of measure D20 and some other resources, we've been able to better focus on council's priorities. That concludes staff report and I'm happy to answer any questions along with uh Mr. Travis Wool from the auditor's office.

Okay. Thank you, Miss Regel. I'm going to start on my right with Council Member Nuome and see if we have any council questions. None at this time. Thank you. It's a nice report. Uh Council Member Funk.

I want to first thank uh staff for uh answering my uh so many of my questions in advance. Um a couple of things. Um, I note that there was a a a significant difference in the uh a much with a lot higher revenue from D20, which is a 1% sales tax than from the Bradley Burns, as it's called, the the city's basic cut of the sales tax that otherwise goes to the state and other entities, the base sales tax. Um, and I understand for on am I correct in understanding that for online sales the that base 1% that you refer to as Bradley Burns goes to essentially wherever the Amazon warehouse is um that city but that we get the D20 here. Is that correct for the off for online sales?

Well, online is a little tricky and it dep depends on a lot of factors. It's a pretty complex um law. Um but some of the other items that are more easily identified would be um a purchase of a new vehicle that you purchased in San Losispo St. Lobispo would get the base sales tax on that, but city of Atascadero would get the measure D measure F14 tax on that piece because it's based on where you live, where you're you're registered with the DMV. So things like that, general consumer goods with might be your refrigerator, your washer and dryer or you know business items if a business is buying from other places. So um it not all purchases online some of those purchases online will end up in the state and county pools which city of Atasadero gets a percentage of that total pool amount um as a alloc it's allocated out based on our total percentage of the the county's pie.

Okay. Thank you. So the safe thing is buy local and that way the tax sales tax does come here to our city for both the base amount and the exit, right? Yes, please.

Okay. Um and then looking [clears throat] at the general fund reserves, if you put that back up, I see that we're that we have you know a significant increase in in the last few years in our general fund reserve. Am I, you know, earlier tonight we talked about that table, you know, on the fire engine um item of, you know, $6.5 million um that we that in soft costs. Does this, you know, are things like that, you know, we're stashing away money for that u to be able to pay for those? Uh and is that what we're seeing here in this increase um in in uh funding for general reserve those that that as an example of the kind of reserving that we're doing?

Um as an example, yes. So much of that 6.5 we talked about has already been moved out of the general fund into the project fund specifically for that project. Um, we did have quite a number of capital and special projects that we weren't able to spend in fiscal year 2425. That came to a total of about 4.6 million, which would include things like the million dollars for the zoo um capital projects for um for those items, uh the restaurant loan program, um um trying to think of the other items that were on there. So there's quite a number of things that totaled up to that 4 million. So that is included in that general reserve number that 19 million that you see there. But we will be spending that 4.6 in the current year or you know the majority of it general plan um the zoning updates the broadband those types of things should come through on this year. So that is about um 4.6 six million of those items. We also do have a little bit of money in the reserve that we got um in previous years for things like the money that was freed up through the the ARPA funding through the COVID piece. We do have a little bit of that set aside for um things like economic development and things like that and a little bit of like PG money that we got from the closure of Diablo. we have some of those funds. So those are all built in that are have been collected and waiting to be spent. So while you see it going up a little bit, we do have plans for much of that funding. Okay. So what this tells me then, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that we're

identifying needs and saving up the money for it for those needs rather than putting them on the credit card. That's absolutely right. Thank you. Okay. Any questions on this side of the very encouraging. Thank you.

All right. Yes. Thank you and thank you for the import and thank you for spending time with me this afternoon answering some of my questions so everybody else doesn't have to listen to them here. I did want to just point something out and say thank you to the city attorney for coming in considerably under budget. Greatly appreciated. Not a lot of cities can say that this year, I think. And uh so we appreciate the responsible um billing and you working with the city manager and staff to uh keep legal costs down. Greatly appreciate that and reinforces a belief that we made a good decision in selecting you as our city attorney. So thank you for that. Um I do have a question since you came all the way here and sat through our meeting. I do have a question for the auditor. Um, in your in your letter, you know, you state that uh um um essentially an unqualified opinion that the the statements the financial statements fairly represent our financial position and all of that sort of thing. So that's great. You say there that the uh you obtain an understanding of internal controls relevant to the audit uh to design audit procedures that are appropriate but not for purposes of an expressing an opinion on the effectiveness uh of our internal controls. If you saw any any what you felt with inadequacy or issue I assume you would point that out either I mean to staff or to us.

Yes absolutely. Um so one of the things we do with the audit before we dive into all the you know millions of dollars we have to look at the internal control structure of the city um one just to look at the design and then to look at the implementation after that. Um I'm surprised Jerry didn't mention it but uh we look through everything. We pulled uh transaction samples of everything. We can't look through everything obviously. Uh but we did not find any inadequacies or errors in the internal controls that we did look at this year. So it was a clean audit from that perspective as well. Um and then yeah if anything popped up um that's usually why I met with you earlier this year. here. I mean, with the city manager, so if I had any concerns, that would be shared with you. Got it. And so, speaking of that, uh, does that mean there are actually no correcting entries made as a result of the audit? Because usually there's always something. It just needs to be adjusted or something. Were there no correcting entries? We we did not have any this year. Okay.

That is absolutely outstanding. Great job. Great job. That's impressive, Jerry. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Well, with that, um, I I picked up a few more questions, but you don't need to hear them. I'll ask the relevant staff. Um, let's see if we have any member of the public wishing to comment on this item. We do.

You do, Jeff Hawson. Just two uh comments. The first one's on toot tax. Although it had a little slide last year, next year you should see even if uh we have less occupancy um in a tasket, we should see more toot tax because we did raise the tax for that fiscal year in front of us, I believe. Secondly, uh for online orders, a friend of ours bought our daughter a present for her birthday that lives in Massachusetts. And it comes down like this. California state tax, California, California county tax, St. Los aispo California city tax a tascadero California special tax San los abyispo Colorado local sales tax cuz I guess she ordered it online it was shipped from Colorado to us so I don't know the percentages she had blocked that out but she called me up and said what the heck are all these taxes thank you for that comment I don't know what the ones that says St. most bispo is but the the county one is refers it goes into the county pool which it frankly it shouldn't but those are the rules um and obviously the one piece comes directly to us so thank you for sharing that because that's an interesting thing and it is I got to say it can be very confusing so okay we'll seeing no one else approach we'll bring it back to council and see is this a uh just a receive and file

mayor may I real quick just I just want to recognize we have Don and Cindy and Jerry and finance team I mean I know you know they work hard, but these results are extraordinary and come at weekends of work, time away from family, massive commitment. They always are there for the rest of the staff serving us with a smile. So, on behalf of the staff, I want to thank all of you for the tremendous work you do. It is not taken for granted and it is all noticed and I want to thank you in front of the city council. Your team is tremendous. So, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis, for those comments. We greatly appreciate you mentioning Nick. We sometimes just think it's easy and it just happens and it doesn't. [laughter] Well, we sometimes we just think it happens automatically and it it takes a hell of a lot of work and competency I might add. So, okay. So, we were are we've reviewed and we are accepting that the financial audit. So, thank you and thank you to the auditor. We don't need a motion. Correct. Uh clerk. Okay. So with that we will move on to the next item which is related but is um a is are the are some budget adjustments uh for the current fiscal year 2526.

Thank you again uh Mr. Mayor and members of council. Um yes now we will present to you uh 2526 budget adjustments for consideration. So, Tascader adopted its current two-year budget in June of last year. As the budget was being developed, it was a time of uncertainty in economic conditions, potential impacts of tariffs, and other external factors. For this reason, the council and the staff applied a conservative strategy toward the budget to maintain essential services while safeguarding against potential fiscal unknowns. There were a number of priority expenditures that were not included in this more conservative budget. However, now that we've just seen our last item, the fiscal year 2425, and know that the general fund performed well, now there is capacity to address some of those one-time items. This is a strategic opportunity for us. We now have the ability to reinvest some of these savings and revenues from fiscal year 2425 into those one-time projects and critical needs that will strengthen city infrastructure, enhance public safety, and improve community amenities. The the proposed items came out of lengthy discussions with the city's executive team to identify those highest priority items for funding without compromising long-term financial stability. Those items that we would like to propose for consideration are $564,000 for a type 1 engine that we um discuss discussed earlier tonight. 135,000 for additional um items for the downtown

infrastructure enhancement project. 87,000 for employee separation costs due to natural um retirements and things like that. 100,000 to repair the the sewer line at the lake park, 30,000 to make some improvements to the ranger house, 26,000 for a drone program that the police department will operate, 30,000 in zoo rebranding costs, and 60,000 to enhance our contingency. Our city's strategic two-year budget cycle and seven-year planning horizon allow us to be the best stewards of the community's resources to fund current needs and maintain fiscal sustainability. The health of the general fund performance from last fiscal year increased the general fund reserves. As we discussed earlier, this provided an opportunity to strategically invest this 1.28 28 million in general funds in high priority one-time items that support council's priorities. The general fund reserves after including this 1.28 million in the projects listed here would remain above the levels estimated in the 2527 adopted budgets 7-year projection. And that concludes my report and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Thank you. Um we'll start on my left with council member Peak. Any questions? Yeah, I um I'm reading here on the drone program. I just want to be clear that we this this is covering soft costs uh education equipment and there will be policy forthcoming that we will be involved in. Um and I just really want to highlight the final sentence of this paragraph. Never for routine patrol or generalized surveillance.

Yes, council member. And that's actually One of our major concerns is that people understand exactly that. Um, drones are going to be uh utilized and and typically are utilized for specific purposes. Uh, we just passed the uh the fireworks ordinance. Uh, so we're going to be using it very much in in accordance with that. Um, we do not um want to violate anybody's zone of privacy. This goes back all the way to 1964 decision from the Supreme Court in a Connecticut versus Griswald decision. So uh we very much pay attention to those things and want respect people's privacy. I think there was a first part of the question that I missed. Yeah, just that policy would be forthcoming before anything would hap before they even go in the air.

No, absolutely. And so that's something that um we're lucky enough to have uh some individuals within our police department that have a lot of uh experience uh both professionally and personally with drones. Uh so uh we're looking forward to having them uh partake in that as well. Okay, reporter Timas.

Thank you. Uh on the contingency increase, could you give examples of what the contingency funds have been used for in the past and what is the what's the total amount of the contingency funds on is it increased by 60 or is it or is it increased to 60? I'm a little I know Jim and I talked about this, but I still was a little confused. So if you could just explain just kind of clarify this for me and anybody else that might be watching.

Yes, thank you. That's a great question. So in prior um prior to the most current budget, the 2527 um the city manager's office had a contingency of a h 100,000 and then a few of the other departments had a few,000 here and there um in case of things that came up. Um my department for example had $5,000. So, if the county um auditor controllers office that collects and charges us for the collection of property tax came in higher, I would have a resource to be able to pay that. I can't not pay that bill. We need to collect our sales or property tax. So, things like that that come up. So, for the 2527 budget cycle, city manager Lewis um graciously offered to divide up that $100,000 contingency and spread it across many of the departments. So, um each department got a little more uh contingency and some didn't have any before and they had some. So they were able to do a little bit more which reduced significantly um the city manager's contingency. So things that we have used it for um for the current year for example we had um the garden garden garden garden lights and cities garden lights and winter nights. There we go. Um and so we were short a little bit of the funding that was needed for that. So the contingency came in. So, it's just for things that we are doing in the regular course of business or if an opportunity comes up and the council wants to move forward on something, we have that opportunity to do that.

Great. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. I'm going to jump in on that. Um I I to me our staff has very much earned our trust with uh these contingency funds um through good management that is evidenced and you know just talking about the very point that we're able to cough up money to you know go ahead and purchase firet truck because we budget conservatively and our staff most importantly executes conservatively and so I have you know great confidence and actually think it's a very good management move to ensure that each department does have some degree of contingency. Um I would like to you know periodically know what the you know what contingency money is spent on in particular that contingency money in some organizations people would rush to spend their contingency money at the end of the year you know and uh I know Jerry wouldn't allow that to happen but uh [laughter] that's a thing but I think it's from my perspective having observed this organization for many years now our staff does an outstanding job it it's why we are ending up the year positive in terms of, you know, revenue higher than budgeted and expenses lower than budgeted. And that I feel very comfortable with with the city manager putting some of those contingencies out to the departments and then us restoring the contingency amounts to the uh to the city manager. Um, I did have a question on the drone program for the chief. Um, I saw this because I've asked about drones multiple times. It's something I see in other communities. I feel like we were a little bit behind the power curve on on the use implementation of drones. I think council member Peak raises an excellent question which of course we want to see the policy before we actually implement them. But I've been very much for this waiting for this and again very happy that you know we we have the budget savings to do this. I saw the amount $26,000 and I'm thinking it's actually small. And I don't mean relative to drones, but there are other what I consider false force multipliers

for the police department, whether they be drones, cameras, um um potentially a license plate reader, something like things like that. We'd have to discuss the policy behind those, but that technology because these things are now are not cutting edge new technologies. These have been around and tried and tested in a lot of jurisdictions. And so I'm wondering um if we might also down the road be looking at you to come forward with some additional requests for some other technology enhancements that would enable your folks to be more efficient in you know identifying crime, solving crime, preventing crime.

Thanks for that question mayor. Um you know we always want to scale uh the the rate or the the speed at which we enter into new technologies. Um, I think that, you know, as we get into the drone program, um, I think that's a a good start and then we can start looking at some of the other technologies that will enhance our ability to do investigations. Um, you know, there there are always going to be something out there that we'll see as the the newest greatest thing that we would like to be able to get involved with. I like to try to, you know, step back a little bit and watch how other agencies, uh, you know, utilize those technologies so that we know that if we do make a, uh, an investment in those that we're going to get a return on that investment. Um, so, uh, we are very, very closely watching some of the things that you mentioned, especially cameras and license plate readers because of the rate of success that agencies have in um, in, you know, catching perpetrators when that type of technology is used. So to answer your question, yes, we we watch those things very very closely. We do want to get into that uh when the time is appropriate. We just want to scale that uh the uh the entry into those things.

Okay. Thank you. Because people who know me know I'm pretty much of a lite in my personal life that I you know very very um I say I'm I'm 64, but my technology age is 84. Um so I'm not one to rush out and want to you know buy the latest gadget that you see, but I think some of these have been around long enough that they've been proven. They're not the kind of thing you go out and buy and it's going to be obsolete in a year because they're starting to settle down into um you know things that have been experienced. So yeah, I'd like I for one would like you just kind of look into those things as force multipliers. Okay. Council member F there. But my wife my [clears throat] microphone needs a lot of reminders. So, uh first of all, um on the uh what's called employee separation costs, um am I right in understanding this that essentially this is the what we're looking at is the price of of of building a culture where we are able to retain employees for a long time. when we just recognized a fire captain for 25 years of service and we have you long-term employees like that and when we do uh we have limits on how much vacation they can acrewue right but you know they're all they also have like sick leave and other things so if they stay healthy um then you know we over over time um there's some acrruel for that am I am I right in understanding Yes, you are right. And we are very fortunate here at the city to have a staff with a quite a large number of um a lot of years in in experience. So it is a terrific um thing to have and we

are sorry when people retire but um this would go toward that end of of paying out some of those um costs for them.

Right. So, it's a uh small price of success in uh being able to to retain our long-term employees and their effectiveness. Uh I have a question with regarding to the zoo rebranding and I'm wondering if staff could tell us more about exactly how that funding is intended to be used um and how this relates to uh the work we've already approved. Thank you, council and council member Funk. Um, so with the zoo rebranding, we have our marketing that we're out there part of our marketing budget already in marketing the zoo. The zoo rebranding is all the signage that we've had to go in and replace um, in the zoo. Um, we're going to be wrapping the zoo's minivan that's used out there with the different um, uh, organizations traveling across the county and beyond the county um, for ambassador programs and things like that when we go to different schools and organizations. We also will be updating the dialrive van that's out there that says um, needs to be updated with the website. Um, we have our entrance archway sign. We also have our zoo building signs that we're updating. So, all of this is inclusive of that 30,000 and we have different billboards that we're updating as well with the branding. Um, we have an opportunity in the back of the pavilion parking lot that has that big wall that could be an opportunity for signage there as well. Um, and we [clears throat] also have our um let's see here uh the tent for our ambassador events. We did a pop-up uh tent that has all the branding on it. Um we have the Paddock

Plaza and doing a Paddock plaque in that area that we're working on. And then just a variety of event banners. We use event banners, I'd say about five years in a row and they're very like, you know, second Saturday in February is going to be Woo at the Zoo. It's that kind of thing. So we're updating all those banners. So that's all inclusive of all of those costs together. What I want to be very clear about with director Banish is in light of dialogue in the community, we want to make sure all of our branding is the Central Coast Zoo Atascadero. Yes.

And so that Tascadero is included in everything. Uh we heard you and so we're making sure we're going through everything. So it's branded Central Coast Zoo Atascadero. And so that is why I think this is an important item that I authorized to be before you is because I think it's very important in light of conversations we've had to to honor the city's name. I also want to make sure that we're doing right by Charles Paddock and making sure his name is very prominent in the Charles Paddock Plaza and that you see that right as you walk up to the zoo. So I think um that was why I wanted to make sure this was in front of you and I want to be very clear on the record about Atascadero being part of the uh name and honoring Mr. Paddock

and could you talk a little bit more about on that on the Charles Paddock Plaza how that recognition will be and and what we're doing to be able to I mean right now if you want to see Charles I mean you see the the statue but if you want to you know find out the name or more you have to look all the way up to that archway signage and people miss that. So, is there something that's going to be more um at eye level or or engaging where children might see it and spark those conversations that help people tell the story about how this community was built?

Absolutely. So, you're right, sense of place is the entrance. So, we won't where you have to look up and see, you know, Charles Paddock up there. It won't be. It'll be down by the statue itself. And we're working on different ways to add signage in that area because we have the bronze plaque. We have the bronze um story that tells about Charles Paddock there and that that's the location that we're looking at putting the Paddock Plaza plaque in that area so everybody can enjoy and see that it's Paddock Plaza. So, we're getting some pricing also for kind of like there is a circle in the middle of the plaza having a bronze stamp that says Paddock Plaza in that location as well. So, we're getting some pricing with different things. Because it's bronze, it takes quite a bit of time, four to six weeks from when we give it to um the contractor to make that sign, but it will be very nicely done and very representative of Charles Baddock.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Um and then on the uh drone program, um I like my colleagues, I want to make sure that we have the policies related to the drone program come back for this council so that everybody can be comfortable in how it's going to be used in this community um in the hands of our professional law enforcement, which is very different than some of what we're seeing um elsewhere. Um [clears throat] and when you when that does come back to this council and those policies um come forward um will that also include a clear discussion of any use of AI that might be involved and um of how the data will will or will not be shared with um other agencies. Um there's a lot of anxiety about um how uh data resources have been tapped um legitimately or not to um fuel efforts to identify um persons who might appear to be in the country illegally. And I want to make sure that we understand how that data is being used to keep this community safe and not as a big brother.

Yes, Council Member Funko. When it comes to drones, the the drones the the level of drones that we're going to be looking at don't necessarily have any type of AI capability. Really, the the level of technology we're going to have is going to be video and recording. So, uh there's going to be in the policy is going to point us elsewhere in our policy that deals with our um uh footage um retention schedules and and how we go about doing that. we're going to mirror uh like the body warn camera uh language and things of that nature. So, it will be encompassed in that policy. Okay. The

I think I'm sorry I didn't answer the question in regards to uh data sharing. Uh because it's uh recordings of video uh we we also have policy that's already in place when it comes to um what we do with that. And typically it's evidentary and we hold that uh unless there's a public records request that would authorize the release of it or mandate the release of it uh or if it's going to be released to uh a court for evidentiary purposes.

Okay. Thank you for for AI. I was just noting that my little security camera, which is nothing terribly fancy, you know, now has a little feature telling me a light possum is trotting across your patio. you know those kinds of interpretive things. Um and but for law enforcement um it's there is peril in our trusting technology to tell us what is going on rather than our trained professional law enforcement.

Yes. And then um there are new technologies that are coming out that can can do exactly what you're saying can notify can basically be the first alert uh to notify a human and a human will do the verification process. So there's still going to be uh humans involved in that. Now, granted, we're not looking at those things right now, but the technologies that I am seeing that are starting to find their ways in into like a real-time crime center, uh the AI can be utilized in order to again notify a human that there's something to be looking at, which therefore takes away the the the need to have somebody sitting in front of a TV screen for 24 hours a day. So it allows the uh the AI to do the heavy lifting on that and again notify a human to verify that there is a need to maybe send an officer to check something.

Okay, great. Thank you very much for keeping us updated on that. Thank you. And Mr. Mayor, could I just add one minor thing on that? Um the legislaturator is aware of the use of AI in law enforcement. Um SB524 was passed during the last legislative session that sets some guidelines on how law enforcement can use AI. Um, so that is something that, uh, Sacramento is aware of and I suspect that to the extent that AI is going to be used in any future law enforcement contexts, um, there are discussions being had in Sacramento at this point. Thank you, Council Member Nome. Any questions?

Thank you. I was just going to speak to the drones and the record retention. I just spent um Friday in Sacramento at one of the public safety meetings and they had talked in great detail about the record retention usage of data and as our attorney spoke there is legislation out there of um how quickly the data is destroyed. There's conversation about a 60-day purge of data. Um so it's nice to know that we're in line with it. We're understanding the the risks and the limitations that we have for both using and being respectful of um confidentiality as well as using it for other crimes. Um and also sharing data amongst jurisdictions of fire, any of that sort of stuff, you guys will be able to um use that. Um let me sorry, my screen closed and I had my other notes up. I'll come back after public comment.

Okay, great. Let's go out then uh see if there's any public comment on this item.

Jeff Osland, city resident. Uh I want to thank the city manager and council for adding a task the name of the zoo. I think that's uh great. Uh, only concern I would have on that, not trying to push it, is that it's not an address. It's actually somewhat prominent. That Central Coast Zoo at Tascadero should be the name. I appreciate that. Um, as far as the rebranding goes, maybe a suggestion on the Charles Paddock. Is there a way that we can do a bronze QR code on Charles Paddock? Because it seems like technology is going that direction. and then that's safe for the long term. Um and then the other question I have in the funding the last 2 3 4 years at strategic planning there has been discussion about adding more funding to you sports. So in this uh area here I don't see any additional funding. I know that was put in that if there was extra funds we would do that. So, just asking if there's any way to add additional funds for our youth in our community. Um, so he seems to be in need. And then lastly, on my nice little notes, I have a question. when different departments come up and borrow money outside of their budget, you know, to fix something here and there and they're taking out of the reserves. Is this the funding that goes back in to replace those borrowed funds? Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Any other public comment? Okay, we'll bring it back to council for any follow-up question and discussion and and a motion. Couple more questions. Um, downtown infrastructure enhancement project. That wraps up that whole project this fiscal year. Correct.

I'll do it. Um, well, maybe not quite this fiscal year. We could uh I've been talking with Mr. Hayes. So, this is this covers urns on the bridge, uh, benches, bike racks, the, uh, decorative pole caps that we did not have in the original specifications. We could move forward with that, but Mr. Hayes is thinking it'd be more strategic and we' get better pricing if we did that on the same contract as the arch project in the fall when we actually start construction then. So, we'll be going to bid on the arch um, this spring, by May, June, uh, and then including that project. So, he's looking at that right now. if there isn't a significant efficiency or savings, then we might just go forward with it. But he tends to believe there will be, so it could be in the fall.

Okay, good to know. It's always nice to save a few dollars. Thanks. Okay, thank you. Um and um in terms of the the process, if you will. I mean, uh part of these things are available because we had, you know, good management, sound management, and having uh lower expenses and higher revenue than originally budgeted. Um but you know it isn't an open door for you know departments to just come in and ask for more money. Correct in answer to the question. Yes that is correct. Yeah. Um so okay um in council member F discussion or

yeah um on the uh zoo rep branding um I'd encourage as we're working on the things with regard to Paddock Plaza um I would encourage staff to reach out to the folks who may have been involved in developing and donating the uh statue and other com you know those commemorative um things of Charles Paddock. so that we get something that is um is is comfortable um in in for folks and give the opportunity for input on how that recognition is formatted. Um so just the dialogue would be be helpful and worth a little extra time to do that. Um, I'd also, you know, the the idea of a bronze QR code is novel and interesting, but I think it might outlast the QR code technology. So maybe not. Uh but uh you know how however we do that, the opportunity to for people to have a quick easy way to learn more about the story, the history of our community, the contributions of leaders like Charles Patty would be very uh helpful and allow us to focus on the best elements of all those legacies.

I'm ready for I think I'm ready for a motion. I'll move approval. I'll second. Okay. We have a motion by Council Member Funk, a second by Council Member Nuome. Roll call, please. Council member Funk, yes. Council member Nuome, yes. Council member Peak, yes. Mayor Pro Tendere, yes. Mayor Boau, yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, with that, we will move on to item H4, update on council goals and the 2025 to 27 work plan. And this looks like this is going to be presented by our city clerk and assistant city manager, Laura Christensen. Um, thank you, council. Um, I don't really have much to say because I think we've talked about it all already, but um, we'll dive in a little bit. Um, so we are doing a check-in on our, um, work plan that we adopted well that the council adopted um, back during the budget process. So, back in J in June. And this is just sort of a check-in where we're at leading into this weekend's uh strategic planning where a lot of the items that are listed, a lot of these actions that are listed in here will be reviewed in depth. So I will skip over a lot of those. They are all in the staff report. So I'll skip over them and I'll kind of highlight some of the ones that we aren't going to talk about um over the weekend just so that we can highlight those a little bit. Uh just for a quick background for those who may be watching and don't know the council every two years holds a large-scale goal setting workshop where they come up with where you all come up with strategic planning statements and strategic priorities. The executive team then takes those statement and priorities and turns them into a work plan which then guides the budget. Um this work plan that was adopted by council um had 47 action items. What I'd like to point out is those 47 action items are above and beyond the day-to-day operations. And these 47 action items and the success we've had on them. As you can see, there's only two things of the 47 action items that have not yet are not yet in progress, ongoing or

completed. So 20 items are currently in progress. 18 of them are ongoing items that will continue until the priorities or goals of the council changed and change and seven of those action items have been completed since July 1, which is huge and I just that really reflects the exceptional work, the collaboration and the diligence of city staff across the entire organization because this this work plan touches all departments. The progress staff has made is also a reflection of the city council's clear direction in these goals and in those key priorities um of the city uh their your commitment to the city's long-term success and also the your willingness really to invest the resources that city staff needs to turn those goals into actual results. And so I just want to actually take a second to thank the city council really for as uh Mayor Robo said earlier the trust that you have in this team in the A team and in your dedication for serving our community. Because of that we are able to make the level of progress that we've made. Um just as a kind of reminder I won't go over them but these are your strategic priorities and your key focus areas. These have uh carried over the last um several budget cycles and so staff continues to build on those action items, continue to build on these goals. Just uh quickly just to talk about a couple of things under economic and community vibrancy. There were 16 action items there. One of those action items is still planned. That will move forward once the general plan um update is adopted. We have eight items in progress, two ongoing and five complete. That's huge. Of um some of those things, a big focus of our economic development manager has been on this attraction.

That also ties into that general plan update. And that's really looking at um ways to bring in those high-paying jobs, those in demand retail businesses, everything that enhances the shopping here in the city and then helps to boost um our revenue. So, our economic development manager has developed a direct marketing campaign and then our community development team is working on new zoning regulations that will be part of the general plan update that facilitate these [clears throat] cool new ways to get these businesses here. So, the rollup door spaces, the large innovation and flex spaces. So, all of that that helps bring in that light industrial land use. We also have facilitated ongoing major development projects. That's huge. Del Rio Marketplace, Del Rio Ranch, Dove Creek, Barrel Creek, all of those the city has, city staff has done what they can do to move those forward and they are now really dependent on um the continued action by those development teams. And so it's really cool to see that all of these are approved and they are waiting construction or like with um Del Rail Marketplace that there's only a few that construction is moving on. They're getting filled up. And so that is ways that we're seeing the city really develop and move forward. We implemented the summer aquatics program which was hearing the community needs and moving that forward. That also goes to our partnerships with our community. That was a huge success. We had 120 um individuals take swim lessons. We had 100 people take advantage of free swim and lap swim. And then that also allowed us to hire a part-time aquatics coordinator. And then during the season, eight temporary lifeguards. So that also was able to bring some employment into

our um students here in the city. And then um just one more thing to highlight here, we facilitated the Centennial Plaza, that sale and development. So that sale is done. It's now moving forward through the process to be developed to get construction plans drafted up and submitted. It also spurred on what the hopes were, what council really hoped to see, which was non-conforming land uses around the sunken gardens start to come in and talk about how those non-conforming now become conforming commercial retail uses. And so again, our planning department, our economic development manager is having those conversations with these uh commercial developers and with these land owners on ways to turn the sunken gardens into what this council has envisioned under our fiscal and infrastructure efficiency and sustainability. Again, 17 action items there. Only one remains planned. We have nine in progress, six ongoing, and one complete. A big part of this has been um software implementation um for operational efficiencies. So we've been looking at um like our asset management software that has three phases. The first one goes live in May which is huge. This is going to allow the consolidation of all of the city's asset data into one software program where then we're able to track, manage, and then um utilize that program to be out doing the work we need to do and then follow up on that. So that's really huge for our public works department. It's huge for finance and then it's also huge for police and fire. It also our new software, our new accounting software goes live in July on the finance side. So that's big. That's been um several years in the making. And so

they've been learning the new software. They've been tracking that. They've been getting ready to get all of the information uploaded to go live. And then that that allows us to then transition to the HR module for that to go live in January of 2027. So that's uh in progress. Um this also has allowed both um finance and HR to really look at workflows and identify the opportunities for streamlining and modernization. So that's been a big um you know that moving forward that technology we've talked about. Um part of also this technology and moving forward is um comprehensive review of the city's energy usage. We've been talking about that all of our facilities, all of the way that they get energy, use energy, all of our um maintenance, it's all handled differently and we need a way to consolidate that. We need a way to manage that outside of just that asset software. And so a draft RFP has been put together really to comprehensively understand our energy efficiency here at the city and then what that looks like moving forward. What we can put in place when we have compressors go out in a building like this or when we need to update air conditioning units at the Ranger House or at the pavilion. And so this will allow us to look at really doing that analysis of these facilities and um really determine long-term maintenance and replacement. And so that draft RFP is anticipated to go um to be sent out in early spring. And then um promoting transparency, accountability, and accessibility of city services. This is not just making sure information is available, but that also um we are ADA compliant. There's new laws coming down for accessing digital information. So, that's currently under review. It's

making sure that our streets and sidewalks are um meet ADA requirements. It's making sure that all of our information is readily accessible, that our records are stored in such a way that makes it easy for not only staff to access them, but to make them public. So, that is an ongoing process. And part of that and what council talked about the last several years is how we make that more readily accessible and that's moving to more digital. And then that makes it easier for all of us to manage as well as to get it out to the public faster. So, we're we're continuing through that. And then I think a big one here, and we talked about it as part of, you know, having a 25-y year uh fire captain is ongoing investment in employee culture and that we continue with that. We've held our third annual all-in. We launched um cookies and kudos and since the launch of that, we've recognized um employees 253 times. There's been 253 kudos given out to employees for work that they do here at city hall, work that they do in the community because they've gotten degrees or certifications. It is a big um tiein for not just to our mission statement but to the the idea of teamwork, collaboration, service to the community. And then um [sighs] yeah, what else do I want? And then I think on that we also talked about hiring for heart and I think that that's been a big one too which has gone to um our retention is that we really do look at the people who we are hiring and do they fit in with our culture? Do they embody that without even knowing what our mission statement is? Is in the things when they are when we're seeing their resumes, when we're having conversations with them, when we are

doing an interview, do they embody what that mission statement is? And then hiring those individuals because we know not only will they fit into that culture here at the city, but that they will continue to push that out into the community. And so that has been really successful, I think, across all departments in hiring. And then moving on to sorry I did that really fast to ensuring public safety and providing exceptional city services. I think sort of all of that all the other two we were talking about really ties into this one. Again 14 action items three in progress. So every action item here has been touched and is currently on ongo. So in progress ongoing and complete. We've um updated and are implementing new emergency plans and our building and fire codes. Our fire department, our police department have been very, very busy on getting all of those plans updated. They have brought you already, the fire hazard severity zones, those have already been received by council. The standards of cover have been updated. Those will be going before you this weekend at strategic planning. the emergency operations plan. A draft of that will be going to council at strategic planning and then coming back after um hearing from you. That'll come back in spring for approval. The local hazard hazard mitigation plan is updated. That's ready to come to council in spring. And then the building and fire codes are updated and those are going to come to council next month. So our departments have been very busy in getting all of these things updated and ready to um move forward for adoption. We um embracing and utilizing new technology. We spent a lot of time just talking about the drone program which is on there which I wanted to highlight because that is one that is under development. Um we also have u a feasibility analysis that uh was mentioned for new surveillance cameras.

We've had a third dispatch station put together that's active that allows for training. It allows for um necessary space during emergencies when we have um another dispatcher in that we have a place for them to work from. We have the 911 recorder installed which makes it easier for us to share and analyze the recordings that come in. We have a GIS analyst who is constantly putting together maps for fire for planning for all of our departments which helps with tracking and analysis and then just all types of new and emerging technologies as um Chief Settles mentioned you know they are constantly being looked at reviewed and assessed a AI technology all of those and how that fits into the operations we're doing and if Those are things that in the future we want to bring in. So that's constantly under review. We have um an essentialism task force. We've we talked about a lot, but they continue to make progress in um their meetings. We have a centralized vehicle um maintenance. That's all under one contract now. So all departments know where to go, when to go, how to get their uh vehicles maintained. We are constantly look at ways for departments to streamline to consolidate operations, processes, services. And then we'll be h holding an essentialism day where departments can actually um look at the focus on those important projects but those that aren't urgent and give them a chance to declutter to uh clean up records to clean up processes just to really focus on those types of day-to-day operations that sort of get pushed to the side because we are working on some of these bigger things. And then um just the supporting and training of professional development of

staff. We talked a little bit about um the contingency. And one of the things that um city manager Lewis did with his contingency was move some of that into citywide training to make sure that staff has access to training. So, cyber security training, records training, um, uh, ethics training, all types of training that goes to day-to-day operations that go to special projects. So, we have put more of an investment there. departments are putting more of an investment in looking for ways to get their employees trained utilizing our the California the CJPIA utilizing trainings that come through them that assist us in risk management in making our departments and our staff better. The police departments come up with the training matrix to be um able to follow training for staff and make sure that that staff is getting the training. fire has a matrix that they follow. So just implementing that and then making that commitment to our staff too that you don't just come here and fall in in a pit of doing your day-to-day that we are growing you both technically and even in soft skills making sure that you continue to grow professionally and then with that really I'm happy to take um any questions and then a lot of the um well all the exact teams here too as well if there's any part of that you want to dig into or anything else that was in the staff report that you'd like more information on. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. I'll start on my right with council member news.

Did anybody give Seth the book and essentialism and have him read it? We only tease because that was one of our strategic planning um priorities is we got to read the book to understand how we could focus. It's years ago, but I was just teasing. Can I say something? If it's anything having to do with the title, I think I'm pretty much already living that. It just doesn't it right doesn't like my [clears throat] mic doesn't like me tonight. Um, first of all, it's an incredibly productive staff. And what that means when you're working together and productive is that I know our community gets well served and that staff is able to do longer term projects that take time. We try our best as a council to give consistent direction to staff so that it we're not lurching from one thing to another, but building the city over time so that I mean a lot of this stuff can be frankly boring, but it's what makes it work really well. So I want to thank you for that. Um, a couple of questions. Um I was just noting am I correct in noting that for the economic and community vibrancy you mentioned that there was one thing that's planned but it is not been executed that and that is a master plan in for the public parks open spaces and trails.

Yes. And that is once the general plan has been uh adopted that then those master plans will start to be revised based on the new general plan. So, uh, that is sort of planned right now awaiting that adoption and then that work will move forward. Okay. So, as we're looking at for how can the city support youth recreation with the spaces to allow kids to be kids and and to do things and and all of us to be physically active that this is that that's where we'll have that opportunity to really understand that systematic investment. Yes, that's where more of that will come up. Yes.

Okay. And another hearing, hence we haven't uh heard from uh Director Dunmore all evening. Um people always love to complain about um planning processes and that what permitting processes and what it takes to get a new thing forward. And many times I find that they're complaining about I had this terrible experience with the planning commission and it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago. And so so I see that we have a a whole process that we've streamlined the plan check review and um and done things to make the development process easier so when people want to get stuff done on their properties it's faster and quicker. Could you just tell us a little bit more about that? What's been done and what's coming?

If I tell you too much, it will spoil what was going to bring you at strategic planning this Friday night. But I'll give you just a little little hint. Um, we're constantly making improvements to the belt and review process. But one of the bigger ones is really just making sure that when a project gets stuck in the development review process that we immediately meet with everybody to say what's going on so we can reduce additional plan checks. So, that's just one example of several things I'll be chatting about at strategic planning, but yeah, we'll have more. Okay, great. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Uh, Mayor Pro Tender, any questions? Uh, council member Peak. Okay, let's open us up to the public for any comment. Okay, seeing no one approach, we'll bring it back to council. And this is a receive and file item, so there's no motion required. So unless any member of council wishes to further discuss, we will consider the matter done. Okay. Okay. With that, we will move on to our in um committee reports from council members. I'll start this time on my left with council member Peak. No committee reports this meeting.

Members caps met last Thursday, but I did not make that meeting. Uh, tomorrow APCD meets uh at 9:00. So, I'll have that one and that's all I got.

Okay. Thank you. Um, let's see. Actually, all four of mine something to say. Uh, the city selection committee made up of the mayors who when there is a need for a city representative to be um that's not directly from one individual city, but it needs to be placed on a body, uh, the city selection committee meets. And I mentioned at the end of the last meeting that there is an opening on LAFCO um due to the uh end of Mr. Gregory's term council member from Pasa Robels and uh so I want to encourage my colleagues to consider applying for that vacancy. It is kind of sort of a north county vacancy and it sort of rotates generally speaking between Paso and Tascadero. And given um I think city manager might have a comment about why it might be a good idea or important for us to at least consider having uh one of our own apply for that position on on LAFCO.

We're engaging with Eagle Ranch again and I think that would be really helpful to have someone on LAFCO as we guide through with them. And I would comment LFCco is not a does not meet all all that regularly because it meets as needed based upon LAFCO related actions. So it's not uh as a committee as committees go it's not a monthly uh type of meeting if anybody's concerned about that in terms of the time commitment. So I would encourage you to look at you know uh look at that uh Jim I think I sent you the email uh Mr. on, you know, referencing the position, but if not, I'll look back and forward that so that you can or or I can send it to all the council members. Okay. Um, county mayors met last week. Um, had a good meeting as usual in Mororrow Bay and, um, learned about the Mororrow Bay bird festival. And I understand they they go all over the county and even outside the county with different tour guide tours and I think they come to a task atadero lake and see the bald eagles and that sort of thing. So it's interesting there's different events in different cities that we sometimes don't know about but that um you know end up participating in our our community. Um integrated waste management authority we met last Wednesday. We completed the sale of the old IWMA property which right across from St. Louis Bispo City Hall, meaning I'm now going to have to find a new place to park when I go down, you know, go to meetings down there. Um, so anyway, that sale was completed. The item had previously bought new offices and has been using them for several months now over on Choro Street. So, but uh and so that money goes will go back into the general fund for the IWMA. sold for about $850,000. Um, and then, uh, speaking of going to meetings, tomorrow morning I have a

meeting with C 3CE, Central Coast Community Energy Board. And, um, that's going to be important because the 3CE board is going to be asked to approve a significant rate reduction in the generation rates uh, for 3CE. and 3CE uh you know uh there's a generation charge on your bill for the energy that 3CE generates. The rest of the bill is PG is from P Gen for the transmission and distribution of that power. But the California Public Utilities Commission has recently uh significantly raised what's called the power charge indifference adjustment um which had to do with trying to help cover uh investor owned utilities like PGE their their cost from old power purchase agreements they entered into before they lost some of these customers. And it's the most significant adjustment they made in it. And unfortunately for Tascadero they've they've significantly increased that thing the PUC has. So even though 3CE will be able to lower the generation rates our customers may see an increase uh because of the the action of the PUC but the reduction by 3CE is is around 20 to 25% in the generation rates in the rates charge for the electricity they generate. So, we'll see how that goes tomorrow um at that meeting, but it's it's significant significant action. So, um and I think that's it for committee. Well, actually, I'm I rejected. So, let me go down to Council Member Funk. I know she had an early morning this morning.

Yes. If I seem a little blurry eyed, uh um that we the uh every two years there is the point in time count of unsheltered homeless people um and where teams go out in the community. So, if you notice folks in orange vests poking around neighborhoods and unusual places early this morning, uh that's what was happening. And I was one of the many volunteers um uh involved in that process. We had five or six teams um looking for unhoused persons in various parts of Tascadero. So, I [clears throat] think we had very thorough coverage and great u huge appreciation to everyone who volunteered. um to our uh PD who work behind the scenes to help us be um help the volunteers be u briefed on uh where to look for folks uh that they might encounter. Uh to make sure that we get a decent count so that we understand sort of the acid test for how efforts to address homelessness um are working uh in the community. um [clears throat] and uh whether for people who engage in services and people who do not. So that and that's also at the same time they do a count of everybody who's of all the folks in sheltered homelessness um on the same night. So that reporting will be coming up in coming months after uh the uh county consolidates all of the things, make sure that we're not double counting and all of those kinds of of concerns. Uh reports it in a format for HUD and then prepares it in a report that's a little bit more informative uh for our community. We for instance care a lot about what's the number in a tascadero and um HUD only cares about what's happening in the county that federal department of housing and urban development. So we will have that more

detailed number uh coming up but it'll take a few months to get all that uh finished out.

Council member Nome.

Thank you. Um I was at League of California C's uh public safety committee conference um that I alluded to was great discussion with other um colleagues throughout the state. Some of the topics that we kind of hit on um obviously was technology was one of those. Um but then we also talked about the budget shortfall and the league's message to the state is no more unfunded mandates. um to put the money where it counts at the local level and it's the cities and that trust in government. Um a few points that kind of stood out is is that there are numerous cities that are faced with mental health issues um and the health and wellness of their officers. Um, one city spoke about um, colleague committing suicide and wanting to implement a mental health and wellness um, policy in their city. And so I reached out to her and let her know that we'd be happy to share with our resources that we implemented years ago. Um, and feel that we can be just as successful in their jurisdiction as it has been for us. Um, there's concern amongst youth access to the class 2 ebikes. seem to be getting on them without helmets and protections. Um, something that would be key under Prop 4 was possible funding for dis uh defensible space for zone zero. Um, they talked about water supply, wild fire severity maps, and wildfire uh fire liabilities. And then our committee did discuss Prop 36 uh language that had previously been discussed back in 2024 despite the current uh nothing in the current budget. Um but efforts to try to

reduce the retail theft and shoplifting. So it was very informative. So appreciate the opportunity to serve. And then I have a slow cog meeting next week that's full of even more reading.

All right. Thank you. Uh, next is individual action and determinations. And I'm going to start I I could have mentioned this under committee reports, but this weekend on Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity and pleasure of uh, as of showing uh, Congressman Jimmy Petta around and um, started here at city hall and and walked by some things happening on West Mall, but then walked down. Congressman Petta was instrumental in getting our city a million dollars. is going to help us do that. Phase two of the downtown enhancement project, specifically the arches that will go uh down around uh Huckleberry's and up by the police station. Also some funding for the pedestrian tunnel and so walked him through there, showed him the echo, what Echo is doing in terms of the expansion. So I had a great we were limited in time so got to the police station didn't have time to go in because he also there was a bill passed by the house anyway last week that included some additional funding that would help go towards our dispatch center expansion. Um and so you know we talked about his role and and what he's done and showed him where some of that money would go. And so it was a nice but very quick um quick visit with Congressman Panetta. And then I would like to note, I forgot to mention this last time because it's already been about three weeks, but uh Maggie Rice Vandergon passed away. And Maggie, many of you know, has basically widely credited with starting Colony Days. Um and uh she also was uh the uh head of the Chamber of Commerce, the the what we would now call the the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. Many years ago when it was when I first moved to town when it was in the little building uh where our plaza is now uh next [clears throat] between Marv's gas station and and Don Q's there was a very small building there that contained the chamber of commerce and that's where she was. So, uh, she was a a force in our community

for many years. She was into her 90s. So, um, she was very active, remained very active in colony days for our colony, yeah, the colony days committee for many, many years. So, um, and you know, her only fault was she was from Pastor Robel. She was she was a Bearcat. So, but she loved Tascadero and she made uh, um, you know, she helped helped define the city. So, we will miss her. Any other comments from council? Okay, with that we are adjourned. Thank you. And don't forget everybody, we do have strategic planning on Friday night and Saturday morning and public is very welcome there in the chambers.