City Council - Regular Meeting

doesn't Okay, good evening everybody. We're ready to begin this regularly scheduled session of the Itascadero City Council. We will begin this evening as usual with the Pledge of Allegiance led this evening by Council Member Funk.

Please rise and join me in pledging to our flag. Liberty and Okay, thank you. We will proceed to roll call, please. Council member Funk here. Council member Nuome here. Council member Peak here. Mayor Barau here. And council member Derez is currently absent. Okay. And we will make note of his arrival time if he comes. So thank you. There he is right there. Arrival time 601

and present. We will proceed to the consent calendar. All items on the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial by city staff and will be acted upon in a single motion unless a member of the council wishes to pull pull the item for separate consideration. and we will allow public comment on consent items prior to action. Um, does any member of the council ask a question or would like to pull an item? I have a brief question on item number two. Question. Go ahead and ask the question.

Okay. So, uh, first staff, the, uh, the sales the annual report we're going to send out to people on on the D20 funding and and how that's being used, uh, features what we're doing in our police department. and it features the public safety facilities and our the new aquatics program. Could you just give us a a general idea of the relative magnitude of those investments out of D20? So I'm what I'm looking for is how has our police personnel budget changed since uh 2020 when we because now that we have this money and what is at least the debt service what's the payment going to be on the uh public safety facilities and then what was the investment that we made roughly in the aquatics program.

Great question. Thank you so much. Um I am very pleased to announce that we did um we were very successful in all three of those areas in being able to put measure D20 to work for the community as we had um promised to do. So the debt service on the public safety facilities project is about 1.9 million a year. So just shy of of $2 million for that piece. Um, and we did allocate about 41,000 for the aquatics pro program last summer. So, that was a terrific hit. Uh, a lot of people really enjoyed that and the kids um as well. And then um as far as the police department budget, so since probably fiscal 2020 through um fast forward to fiscal 2026, the police department payroll increased um budget-wise almost $3.8 million in that time frame. So that's about a 60% increase in that for um putting more officers on the street and all that. So, um, we we've been very successful with the D20 money and we thank the community again for that investment.

Absolutely. And thank you that that tells folks we are honoring the commitments we made to uh focus on public safety even as we improve infrastructure and improve our quality of life.

Thank you. Any other questions from council members? Okay, seeing none, I will take it out to the public to see if there's any uh public comment on these consent items. I know everybody wants to get out of here early. Jeff Osland, being Susan started it, I'm going to make a comment. Let's remember that D20 has stabilized our funding in our city. We don't have the turnover we used to have with our employees, especially in police and fire. We have great response time. our officers on our fire um staff as well is not stressed out because they have to cover extra shifts. There's overtime. At one point when I own Veno Vice Security, we were doing a lot of the um shifts for events that the police department could not carry because they were so short-handed. So D20 has made all the difference for this city and put us in the middle of the pack again for payroll and everything else. So the benefit of course is we have stabilized our turnover from our city. That was at the last uh city council meeting. I believe we only had two openings left. Um so we don't have the turnover. We're no longer a training ground. So, let's remember we are fiscally responsible at all ends of our city and I'm sure we'll keep it that way. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no one else approach, I'll bring it back 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 Mayor Proanderas. Roll call, please. Council member Funk. Yes. Council member Nome, yes. Council member Peak, yes. Mayor Promarez, yes. Mayor Bravo, yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We will move on to the next item, which is updates from the city manager, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. The uh couple things. Coffee with a planner. We're doing this again. These are just uh amazing, huge uh hugely popular. So, at Amsterdam Coffee on April 16th from 9 to 10, we will have your favorite planners there uh to talk about future uh zoning, the general plan, the zoning code, and future uses in different zoning districts. So, 9 to 10, April 16th. Uh upcoming events, we have several. We have the 2026 Party for the Planet. This is the 15th annual Party for the Planet. Uh this is from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the zoo. It's a fun day for children of all ages with interactive adventures, hands-on activities, exhibits, and educational demonstrations. So, Party for the Planet at the zoo, April 18th from 10 to 1. The citywide yard sales coming up. This is our 8th annual. This will be April 18th and 19th from 10 to 3. So, you want to register so we can advertise your location uh as a participant in the yard sale and you can treasure hunt your way through the city all weekend long. Our next slide, this is a really popular uh program for people. This is the waste drop off shredding and compost giveaway. So this is next week. Cleanup starts April 18 to 25. It's a free waste drop off paper shred and one free yard of compost. So this is at 3360 L Cruise Way off of Ramada Drive near Tin City. You are required to bring your picture ID and a copy of your waste management bill. So this is next week. Great opportunity to get rid of some things and shred some paper. Next, we have our 8th annual Cider Festival, the Central Coast Cider Festival in the Sunken Gardens. This is Saturday the 25th. So, this is just over a week away. Uh, cider tasting, live music, and more great food, merchants, and local breweries. So, this is always a good time. This is one of our highlight festivals of the year. So, don't miss the cider festival, April 25th. As far as uh some recreation and uh cool dates, we want you to save. Youth volleyball registration is now open. Space is limited. This is a

popular program. youth volleyball and it closes June 1st. So, we do need volunteer coaches and sponsors. If you're interested, uh, please reach out to us. I'm really thrilled to say the Monarch and Pollinator Native Habitat. Uh, we have our ribbon cutting schedule. This is just a tremendous opportunity for the zoo to showcase its conservation efforts and for us to contribute to the monarch butterfly population and to demonstrate how you too can have a butterfly friendly garden and a native garden in your home. So, we're really pleased with this. The plants are settling in. This is located at the 101 freeway offramp and highway 41 next to the Chevron station. This will be April 28th before the council meeting from 4 to 5. So, we look forward to seeing everybody out there as we celebrate a great reuse of this parcel and a real welcome entry to our city. Also, on May 15th, we'll be having a grand opening of our new lemur habitat. And I see a red lemur that's very happy. We have a couple new red tail lemurs, and he's smiling in that picture for you. Uh, and then the Central Co Zoo is really thrilled about it. So, our new lemur habitat inspired by the biodiversity of Madagascar. So, doors open at 10 on May 15th. We want you to support our APD blood drive. I signed up today. I hope many of you can. We want to show that we are the most generous community when it comes to donating blood through the Battle of the Badges blood drive. This is April 30th from 11 till 4:30 uh at the Colony Park Community Center. So, uh, this is a great opportunity to see who can get the most blood donated through the department, and I hope it's us. So, please do sign up on April 30th, 11 to 4:30. The Tamalei Festival is out there. It's coming at us. 10th annual countdown is on less than a month away. This is May 1st, Friday night at 5:00 p.m. with Fiesta Friday uh, downtown. The main event takes place Saturday, May 2nd from 11 until 7. And we'll have over 100 vendors on display. Lots of food, beverages, contests, and more. I appreciate you council members for judging the tamales and the dog dress dog costume contest. So I really

appreciate that. And then uh for any event information or city sponsored events and things to do, go to visitasadero.com. And for all other city related business, go to ataskadderero.org. And I do just want to comment on the agenda this evening. It is very light. We've had some very heavy agendas. We're going to be pacing out the general plan items to the second meeting of each month. So you'll have a a good discussion, a detailed discussion on uses and the zoning code at the end of this month. Next month we'll have a discussion, the draft EIR will be circulating. So we'll be going through the EIR with you and talking about that. The first meeting in June, we'll bring the fiscal analysis to you. So before you adopt the general plan, you can understand the fiscal impact of that. And then we'll have the EIR a consideration at the end of June and then uh some other work in the summer. So we're on track to have the general plan and zoning code all buttoned up by September we're working on. And so that's why tonight's a little light, but we will have normal business the first meeting of the month through May and June and focus on the general plan on the second meeting. So, thank you members of council.

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Does any member of the council have any questions of the city manager? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to the next item on the agenda, which is community forum. Community forum is reserved for persons wanting to address the city council on any matter not on the agenda, but over which the council has purview. The Brown Act prohibits the council from going into a discussion of items not on the agenda. Therefore, we will we will not be able to address in detail any things brought up by members of the public. However, we may be able to ask staff to answer a quick question or ask staff to get together with a speaker. So, each speaker has three minutes and we ask you to state your name for the record. First speaker, please.

Jeff Osland. I'm speaking on behalf of my wife Kate Oslin that organizes the citywide garage sale. Um the maps will be out um probably tomorrow and the maps come out for um Atasero News. They're published in the paper. I believe you can get them online from the Atascadero News as well so you can map out your hunting. And a good word to waste management and Jessica cuz she's the one that aligned to get rid of your stuff after the citywide garage sale instead of before. So now we're hoping that what you don't sell maybe you can donate and then after that what's left over you can take um and get rid of. So that's uh years in the works to get that organized and we're thrilled that it's on the same page. Now, on another note, um there are um petitions circulating around um for folks to sign, especially residents and registered voters in this county. Um the folks that are doing it are paid petition people. That's okay. They get paid per signature. But I want you to be aware of one of the ones that um if you don't know what you're doing, you may sign incorrectly. And that happens to be the halfsent sales tax for slowcog. Uh I just want to make it aware that what they're trying to do is get it on the ballot as well that it's a 50% plus one instead of three um force. and you need to know what you're doing cuz uh I'm sorry I'm not voting for a 30 $30 million uh pathway from Home Depot to Templeton and two bridges. It's not going to happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Osen. And and please pass along our thanks to Kate Osland for organizing the citywide garage sale. It's a great event and it is good thing that they're coordinated with the uh uh you know with the waste management uh uh drop off uh this time of year. That is a good thing. So um okay. All right. See no one else approach for community forum. We're going to close community forum and come back to council and we have no other items this evening. We're going to proceed to council announcements and committee reports. And I would actually like to start off with an announcement. And I'm sure some of you are already aware of this, but in the perhaps not in the community at large that's listening this evening that Mr. Lon Allen passed away over the weekend. And Lon Allen was um for people in around here who are in their 70s, he was a high school teacher, but for most the rest of us, he spent many many years as the editor of the Tascadero News and so was um critical to that community institution. And then uh he's known perhaps most for being our community historian and Lon wrote several books about the history of the Tascadero and assisted others with writing other books about the history of Atascadero. So uh it's a loss to our community for Lon to have passed away. And people may have seen Lon driving around in his gray restored Navy Jeep because Lon in his younger days had been a naval officer and he would give people tours in that uh you know open air uh jeep. So um anyway wanted to pass that particular piece of information along for those who weren't aware. Uh I don't have much to report. Uh integrated waste management authority is not meeting did not meet in April. Uh although I am participating in a strategic planning session for that. Um and uh 3CE's uh community central coast community energy is having a meeting special meeting regarding the residential battery rebate program because it's overs subscribed.

So um any case that's all I have. I'll start on my left with council member Peak.

There have been no committees on my end since our last meeting. Thank you. Uh before I make my announcements, I just want to piggyback on what the mayor said about Lon Allen. He's also a longtime Kanian and I would like to say among the many things that he's been involved with in our community, he was instrumental in coordinating the effort to have the um our band stand or music in the park uh rebuilt. So he we our Kuanas Club had to raise funds for three years and thanks to his efforts to bring back our wine makers dinner, that's how we were able to do that. That's basically what's kicked off the um the momentum that we have now with that annual event. So he was yeah he was big into that and he was he's going to be sorely missed in our club and throughout the community. So uh thanks for bringing that up mayor. Um as far as I go um Capso is meeting this Thursday and after that I I think I'm APCD's meeting May 20th. So that's a bit off. So but that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you council member Funk. Uh since the last time we met uh the Atascadero Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency um it has uh met and approved the annual water report. Uh we are going to be meeting a little bit more regularly. That's been a pretty quiet committee. Um but um we'll be meeting more regularly through the the current year because we have a uh an every five year reporting cycle to the state that is coming up and so we need to be looking at analysis and things. Um it's all still uh very routine. The basin is in good shape u and continues to be in good shape. So, um, we'll just have to do the paperwork. Um, and then the, um, next week, uh, Council Member or Mayor Pertas and I will be in Sacramento Reving the city at the League of California Cities, uh, city leaders summit, uh, to opportunity to talk with our legislators, legislators, and advocate on behalf of the city.

Thank you. Uh, Council Member Nome, I have nothing to report. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Well, folks, I don't know if this is a record, but uh it's 6:17 and we're ready to adjourn the meeting. So, very good.