City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello and welcome to the Brawley City Council and its successor agency to the Brawley Community Redevelopment Agency regular meeting agenda September 1, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. City Council Chambers, 383 Main Street, Brawley, California. Madam Clerk, may I have a roll call?

Council Member Rebilar. Council Member Monita. Here.

Here.

Council Member Grass.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Kelly.

Here.

And Mayor Galvan.

Present. Okay, at this time, before I make a motion to approve the agendas presented, we need to make a correction on the public hearing. Number four, the resolution number is going to be 2026-44. Correct? Yes. Okay, so if I can have a motion with that correction on the agenda as presented. So moved. Do we have a second? I'll second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Okay, motion carries. At this time, we'll be going into closed session and returning at approximately 6 p.m. Thank you. Thank you. We are back from closed session. City Attorney, is there anything to report out? No, there was no action taken, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Okay. If we can stand for the invocation by Council Member Grass and the pledge by City Clerk Ana Gutierrez.

Please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the opportunity to be here before you to be about your business and the business of the city and the residents. And Lord God, we just pray for wisdom and guidance for the decisions that we are faced with. We just thank you for the time that we had during the summer to rest and be prepared for this coming year. Lord God, we ask a blessing on the city staff and the first responders that you always watch over them. and their families, and just bless them in all of their efforts and dedication to the city. We thank you for the citizens of Brawley and their love for this city, and we just pray, God, that we would honor them through our decisions. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

If everybody can face the flag, put your hand upon your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Okay, moving on to number three, public appearances. This is a time for the public to address the city council on any item not appearing on the agenda. that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council. The Mayor will recognize you, and when you come to the microphone, please state your name. and address for the record. Speakers are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful and orderly manner. Disruptive behavior and profanity are not permitted. You are not allowed to make personal attacks on individuals or make comments which are slanderous or which may invade individuals' personal privacy. Please direct your questions and comments to the City Council. Is there anyone who would like to come up and speak on any matter?

Come on up. Right over here.

Good afternoon. My name is Julian Escalera, 4516 Brandt Road, Brawley. I'VE GOT A COUPLE COMMENTS, AND I JUST WANTED TO BRING IT UP AND MENTION IT AND SEE WHAT CAN EITHER BE PUT ON THE AGENDA LATER OR LET US KNOW WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING ON DOING. THE FIRST ONE, AND I'VE ALREADY BEEN TO THE COUNTY WITH IT, AND I UNDERSTAND YOU SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY THERE, WHICH IS BEST ROAD. THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN HIGHWAY 78 AND THE BYPASS. THAT IS IN TERRIBLE SHAPE. I USE A DITCH BANK, THE DIRT DITCH BANK, TO TRAVEL FROM A ROAD, WHICH I HAVE MY EQUIPMENT ON, TO THE BYPASS TURN AROUND THERE BY THE BEEF PLANT IN ORDER TO GO OUT TO THE COUNTRY.

THAT ROAD IS JUST HORRIBLE.

AND YOU CAN TRAVEL 15 MILES AN HOUR, BUT MOST OF THE TIME WE'RE IN A HURRY. So whatever you can do, team up with Imperial County. And when that's going to happen, I hope it'll be soon. I was told last year that it was going to be this year. We're already in September, and I haven't seen nothing done. So take that for what it's worth and see what we can do. Another question is, I went to a meeting either at the beginning of this year or maybe last year about the old water plant. Nothing's been done there either. Nothing. Not even none of the metal's been removed. The asphalt's still there, the cement. I heard there was this big plan of making part residential and part commercial. That was a good idea. I was in favor of that, but I haven't seen anything. Also, I don't know what it is of either the permitting process IN THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT AS THEY GO THROUGH PERMITS TO PUT IN, FOR ONE, THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION, WHERE THE OLD RIDE AID USED TO BE. THERE'S ONE TREE ON THE WEST SIDE OF THAT WHICH EVERYBODY USES BECAUSE THERE'S NO SHADE. 110, 120-DEGREE WEATHER, BRIGHT SUN, HIGH UV, AND NO SHADE. The same thing with the 7-Eleven. They changed the pumps, but they took the shade off. Didn't put anything back. And, of course, B of A was one of the first ones that that happened to. You know, the ATM there. I mean, we're talking people in line 10 deep in the middle of the sun in the afternoon, especially on Fridays when they want to get their check in. That something's got to be done there. Or I don't know what it is. I know it's certain property, the owners. There's got to be some kind of, I don't know, code enforcement, I would think. And the last thing is the patchwork and brawling with the roads. You know, there's quite a few holes. And that's the same thing that I addressed to the Imperial County. So I think we're all in the same boat. We're just trying to avoid the holes.

The thing is that we don't know how deep they are.

You can run over some, but if you don't, you might ruin a tire, ruin a suspension, and in avoiding the holds, you're going to cause an accident. I've been on the opposite lane just trying to get away from the holds out here. And like I say, I've addressed this with the county, so you guys aren't the only ones. But it must be money or something. Or maybe we're paying too much for the workers. The wage has gone so high that we can't afford to get the things done. I don't know. I have no idea. But anyway, thanks for hearing me out. You guys have a rest of a good afternoon.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scalera. Do you want to update on this?

Yeah. Today we received the tentative schedule. We have been. The notice of proceed was issued August the 3rd. In that process, there are submittals that need to be, you know, submitted, approved. So the actual work they have been doing, they're going to start lifting, you know, some of the manhole covers or whatnot. But the actual... Beef of the work is going to be done probably mid-September. So it's not that it's this September. And that's on where? On Best Road. Oh, great.

From Maine to Jones. It's still this year. And that's from Maine to Jones. Congratulations.

And just let me explain. Main to Jones, because we've got the funding for that. There's a water and sewer line that's going to be installed from Jones to Ganado. So that one's going to come at a later time. And I know that that's the worst part of it. But we need to do the installation of those lines first before we do a full reconstruction from Jones to Ganado.

That's good to hear. I'm glad I came. Thank you much.

Also, if I can also...

And actually, we do have a press release coming out this week to announce that information as well and share it publicly.

Correct. I was going to skip it on the water treatment area, but Mr. Escalera left.

Oh, sorry about that. Didn't mean to.

No, it's not your fault. But I guess context, following up on that, because I think I was the only one on this council, even administration-wise. I think the city attorney was here. At one point, we did seriously consider looking at developing the old water treatment plant. We even had outreach meetings with members of the community. And they spoke really loudly against what some of the ideas were. And I think that kind of squashed. But previous council did seriously look into how we can develop that area and bring in development. But residents in the surrounding community spoke against what we were proposing in regards to economic development and housing. So the council can also always revisit that, but residents in that area spoke loud and clear on what they expected or what they were hoping it to be or not to be.

As I attended that event and GAFCON at the time was offering to do the proposal for and the development of that property and and even had opportunities to develop funding for that property. The residents didn't like that particular plan, but GAFCON was completely open to changing and shifting based on residents' input. So they weren't locked into that particular plan. But for some reason, the whole effort kind of slowed down and stopped. So we're definitely interested, I think, in developing that. But that's what was happening back in those days.

Alrighty, any other person come on it?

Yes. 6.

Hello, my name is Rene Pinado. Good afternoon, honorable council members, mayor and city manager. Again, my name is Rene Pinado, property owner here in Brawley. I'm here to ask you as council members for your help with an issue we have not been able to resolve with the city of Brawley. My family is constructing two rental properties. I live in 98. Sorry.

Excuse me, Renee. Yes, sir. Could you speak into the microphone? I'm having trouble hearing you.

Is that better?

Better. Thank you.

Okay. I am here to ask the council members for your help with an issue we have not been able to resolve with the city of Brawley. My family is constructing two rental properties at 1198 G Street. We are converting a vacant dirt lot into rental homes for families. We are requesting that the city honor the existing sewer and water utilities on the property. I brought copies for you today of the communication we have had with city staff and pictures of the property. For the past 11 months, the requirements and explanations provided to the construction company have changed. This has negatively affected the completion of the project, well as cost. It seems like public works and fire department staff are not on the same page. The inconsistency and information received from city staff, the lack of transparency, of timely follow-up to our questions has taken a toll on our family. We deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as we resolve this issue. It is very sad to have to say that the city of Brawley is not friendly to individual building projects. I am respectfully requesting a meeting with the city manager in the next 10 days to have our concerns addressed and receive responses to our questions. Our family has deep roots here in the community, and we are proud of what we have been able to create over the years. The level of disrespect we have experienced through the process is extremely disappointing. It almost feels personal. I look forward to meeting with Ms. Terrazas in the near future so we can move forward and allow tenants in their homes. I am available to any questions, any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. Sorry about that. I was just nervous. It's okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Could you state your name, please, for the record?

Good evening, mayor, members, and city council. My name is Maria Garcia. I'm with R. Garcia Construction. I'm here regarding the project at 1198 G Street. I'm coming before you tonight because after almost a year of trying to resolve these issues through the different city departments, I honestly do not know where else to turn. I'm asking for your help. We have never asked the city to waive a legitimate safety requirement or allow us to violate A, building or fire code we have repeatedly asked one simple question what exactly is required and what code requires it in October 2025 city inspector Luciano Garcia went to the property and confirmed the existing water and sewer lines we also provided photographs and other documentation We were then told that the existing one-inch water line was sufficient. In January, the hydrogen test came back in approximately 1,630 gallons per minute. And fire stated in writing that a one-inch line was the city standard for residential fire sprinklers with a minimum of 1,500 gallons per minute. Then the requirement changed. We were told one and a half inch, then one and three-fourths inch. was discussed and then we were told we needed a two inch line and would have to remove the one inch line. We kept asking the specific code that required these changes. On April 20, we finally had a meeting. Our understanding when we left that meeting was that the water connection size was governed by state code and that we would install another one inch water line for the second unit. At that point, the only issue we believe remained unresolved was the sewer charge because there was only one sewer connection being used for both units. But the issues continued. What is especially difficult for us is that the city's later fire response again states that a one-inch line is required at a minimum under NFPA 13D. Council members, that is why I'm here. We cannot keep building in one direction only to be given a different requirement after we have relied on what we were previously told. Every change causes money, causes delays, and puts the project further behind. I am respectfully asking you to please help us get all the departments together and give us one final written determination. What water connections are required? What sewer fees are actually required? What specific codes support those requirements? And what exactly we need to do to finish this project? I am not here to fight with the city. I'm here asking for fairness, consistency, and help getting this project completed. We want to continue investing and building in Brawley. Please help us resolve this. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any other public comment?

Arne Eaton, 260 West A Street. I'VE KNOWN THE PINANO FAMILY FOR YEARS. THEY'RE HARD WORKING. I MET THEM WHEN THEY BUILT THEIR LITTLE STORE WITH THEIR COMAINA MARKET. THEY'RE TRYING TO INVEST IN BRAWLEY. THEY HAVE AN EMPTY LOT. I'VE NEVER SEEN AS MUCH... I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO USE PROPANETY. I'M TRYING TO THINK OF A DIFFERENT WORD. It's been bro Garcia is one of the best contractors around in Imperial Valley, not just in Brawley. I've dealt with him for 40 years. It's not like some guy just come got his license. When I was a building inspector, he was a pleasure to work with. I never had to worry about nothing. Wasn't going to be any arguments. He was going to do it right. There was something different. He complied. He's willing to comply with anything the city wants. The city just can't make up its mind what they want to comply with. Are they wanting to put in separate sewer lines now for each? What's that all about? I'm really familiar with the plumbing code. There's no requirement that they have to have a separate sewer line for each little house. If the city has a reason for two separate sewer taps, tell us what it is. But I've never heard of that. I've tried to help Renee and his family mentor this. I've been their mentor. It's just ridiculous. I've had some other projects myself. Rather than the city helping people along, it's like they're out to put up roadblocks. The whole thing everybody's trying to do in here is make a little bit of money. If you drive up the construction cost so it surpasses the mortgage... you can't collect enough rent, then why build an umbrella? That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Any other public comment? She's a little faster than you are.

Good afternoon, honorable counsel and mayor, city manager, city attorney, city clerk. It's an honor to be here tonight to address all of you with regard to this issue. Mr. Kelly, I look to you, and what's the one thing that developers want? They want certainty. Correct. They want certainty. They want to know what they can build, where they can build, and how to get it done. We all recognize that infill development is probably the most complex development to do. It's easy to take a bare piece of ground and go ahead and develop something there, whether it's residential or commercial. Infill development is complex. But the city of Brawley has one of the most talented collections of staff you could ever want. But what you need to do is figure out how to get your developer to yes on a very complex issue, right? Because you have issues of, was there a building there before? What kind of connection do you need? What are the new requirements? The problem is, this has been piecemealed along to the Panatos as they're trying to get this project done. And so when you look at the timeline, you're going to say, holy smokes, that's not getting us to yes, right? I think as government agencies, we have a tendency to be risk adverse. It's a lot easier to say no than it is to maybe be a little less risk adverse and get the customer to yes. And that was always my goal, I think, when I sat where you sit, a few miles to the south. Get the customer to yes. So whatever that takes, whether you have a point person for infill development, I think the frustrating thing that I've seen outside looking in is the number of times that the Panatos and Ms. Garcia have requested information and it's coming at them piecemeal as opposed to one consolidated approach where all of the information is provided in a timely manner. COGNITIVE MANNER THAT THEY CAN SAY, OH, OKAY, THAT MAKES SENSE. THAT'S HOW WE KNOW TO GET TO YES. SO I'M JUST ASKING YOU ON BEHALF OF NOT ONLY THESE DEVELOPERS BUT ALSO ALL OF THOSE THAT ARE WAITING IN THE WINGS TO DO BEAUTIFUL THINGS IN YOUR CITY, FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET THEM TO YES.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

My name is Jim Limbaugh. I have the pleasure of serving as the interim superintendent president of Imperial Valley College. And I wanted to give you an update on the presidential search. I know how important the college is to the county. We have many students from Brawley, many employees from Brawley. In fact, I have with me a Brawley native, Cecilia Alvarez, who is a graduate of Brawley High. And she's now our executive director of communications. Did I say that right? OK. As you know, or you may not have known, Dr. Johnson left at the end of June for another institution. So my job as the interim is to make sure that the college is stable, that we continue to move the college ahead in achieving its mission. So to let you all know, a national search is going to be mounted probably next month. The national search will probably take three months. Then there will be on-campus interviews, interviews with the board, that type of thing. It is projected that the new president will be in place February the 1st. That's sort of a give and take. So I've asked... I have been asked to be flexible depending on their availability. But I wanted you all to be aware that the college is in good shape. You have great people working there, completely focused on students. And to brag for just a minute, our enrollment is up 10%. We opened up a brand new auto tech building. The regional training center is well under construction. And a lot of great things are happening at Imperial Valley, so I invite any of you, if you want to stop by and see what's going on, get a tour of the new auto tech building, which is way cool, and also see how the new regional training center is going, be great. But again, it's my privilege to lead the institution for the next several months, and please know that I understand how important the college is, how important it's been for the last 60 plus years. And my job is to make sure that it continues on an upward trajectory. So thank you for the time. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the Imperial Valley. Pardon me? I said thank you and welcome to the Imperial Valley. Well, thank you very much. Nice to meet you.

I don't know my accent. May I tell you I'm not from around here?

But, you know, thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments?

I do want to go back real quick to direction for admin regarding the G Street property. They've laid it out. Thank you for the comprehensive. Usually, you know, we get a verbal concern, and we're having to figure out exactly. You've laid it out. So timeline, it seems like. kind of emails going everywhere, self-admin can get together with the departments outlined in here, formulate what you see, and then provide the concerned individuals plan in place to address it, you know, what we can and what we can't, but I think you've laid out, done a lot of the groundwork, so I appreciate it. Fortunately, it got to this point, but you've laid out a lot of stuff that our administration will work with, so if we can direct administration to address this within, well, a meeting within 10 days with

I was just going to ask if we can just get his information so we can... Okay. So we'll make sure to reach out to you guys.

Just a comment that I wanted to make as well, that this is not just an isolated project. problem, this particular problem highlights something systemic within our system because it's not a complaint that I've just heard here. I've heard it from other sources as well. I'm recommending that we work into our system regular planning meetings with developers so that everybody gets on the same page and we're not working cross purposes. and sending mixed messages. So those kind of meetings are valuable so that everybody can understand the rules of the game and the deadlines and the expenses and the costs. But if we have multiple departments saying different things, working against each other, that's not helpful. So I don't know if in our system it seems easy enough that we could accommodate regular developer planning meetings that so that we could come back periodically throughout a project, get a status, what's going on, what's happening, what needs to be done, what are the problems, and then start again. And I just think that that in our system is easy. It doesn't cost anything. But communication is golden, especially in these kind of projects. We can bypass lots of mistakes, miscommunications, if there's proper communication. So I'm recommending that somehow we work that into our system.

Thank you. Okay. Any other comments? Public comments? Okay. Seeing none, we're going to move on to B, Proclamation Declaring September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. And we have a proclamation that's going to be read by former Deputy Director and current Councilmember John Grass.

We have representatives from Behavioral Health. Come forward, please. Right over here. So Ms. Jimenez, Maria Reese, and I'm not familiar with?

I'm Dr. Alvarado.

Hi. Good to meet you. Could you guys just share with the general public a little bit about National Suicide Prevention Awareness?

Yes, so September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we are very appreciative of the fact that you are bringing this awareness to your community here in Brawley. It's important for us as the Behavioral Health Department to see how the community is taking part of this effort. suicide can happen to anyone. Anyone can be at risk of suicide. It doesn't matter what is, you know, it doesn't discriminate on age, on socioeconomic status, on education. We can all at some point face difficulties in our life that can lead to placing us in an emotional or mental health state that can place us us personally or a loved one at risk. But what is important for us as the Behavioral Health Department is really bringing the awareness and educating the community on the importance of really being mindful of how we... describe and how we talk about individuals who are facing mental health difficulties. Because you never know who may be facing a mental health issue or depression or anxiety that may place them at risk for harming themselves. It could be a child, it could be a youth, an adult or older adult. It can happen to anyone. And I'm sure that all of us here today either have experienced a difficult situation or know of someone that has experienced a difficult situation in their life that have caused a mental health condition. And it's. The theme of this year's Suicide Prevention Awareness Month is changing the narrative on suicide. And what that means is really talking about suicide and mental health with compassion, with understanding, really changing the narrative and the stigma that's associated with people who live with a mental health condition. The words that we use, the expressions that we have when people when we make reference to mental health, and really understanding that this is a condition that is treatable, that it's a medical issue where there is help, there is treatment, there's recovery, and that we see it as that, and that we are careful about not discriminating or not showing compassion to those that may be having difficulties. Dr. Brabada, who is our clinical psychologist at our behavioral health triage and forensics unit, is here also to say some words and present some information that we find to be very valuable for the community.

Hi, everyone. Thank you again for this opportunity. share just a story or two on what we observe every day. Because it highlights something, an underutilization happening in our community. Now, we see it in our triage center, we see children as young as eight years old. And you might be wondering, why would a child as old as just eight years will have a suicidal feeling? And sometimes we see clients as old as 89, 90 years old. Just to look at this eight-year-old I could still imagine or hear the parents saying, like, what's wrong with this child? We've been providing good food. She has friends, cousins, everything. Why is this kid having suicidal thoughts? What's wrong? Many times people in our community do not know that suicide is one of the symptoms. Just like you have fever and headache, which could be a symptom for some physical health problem, same way suicide can be a symptom for an underlying mental health problem. So if you don't address the problem, the symptom doesn't go away. And as Gabby just mentioned, it can happen to anyone anytime. And in this case of an eight-year-old, that was the situation. She is suffering from a clinical mental health problem. Now, parents often say, oh, it takes a long time to get appointments with doctors, and we have to wait weeks and months. What people do not know is that we have a center called Casa Serena as part of our behavioral health. There's literally no reason, no appointment, nothing required. You can just walk in. It is open from morning 8 a.m. to night 10 p.m. Anybody can walk in. You can see me. You can see other doctors, other psychiatrists, other professionals, and you can get immediate help. So it's not an imaginary future. Its service is already there. Now, yet another time, some other client told me, oh, I really have these suicidal feelings and thoughts, unbearable thoughts, and they always happen in the middle of the night at 2 a.m. I don't feel comfortable in telling my stepdad or my mom to give me a ride. and I suffer and I cry and I just stay by myself, I don't know what else to do. What people in our community do not know is that we have a behavioral health hotline that is available 24 by seven. You don't need to go anywhere, they come to you. So all in this case the child has to do is simply call the number and no matter where you are in the community, support will reach out to you immediately within one hour. So this help is available. This infrastructure is available. For us to change the narrative on suicide, it's very important to utilize what we already invested in. A lot of these capabilities exist. And again, I take this opportunity to remind everyone to make use of it. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Maria.

Thank you. More than anything, I wanted to thank you for inviting us tonight. And like everyone has been mentioned, suicide prevention begins with awareness. And just recognizing this moment of suicide prevention awareness is a step for us to educate our community. And more than anything, we as a community, we do have the responsibility to continue bringing awareness about suicide prevention. to create a safe environment for those individuals that are most needed and where they can go and talk about their mental health condition. So more than anything, I wanted to thank you and I want to encourage all the communities to continue working in this effort and knowing what are the signs and the symptoms of mental health and asking those questions. Don't be afraid to ask the questions and refer those individuals to the services that we already have in place. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. It is my honor to be able to present a proclamation to the staff of Behavioral Health. Being a former staff person from Behavioral Health for about 20 years and My last assignment was at the Casa Serena, where I did intake assessments as a clinician. And one of the things I want to emphasize to the citizens of Brawley, that can you imagine somebody who's contemplating suicide, the mental suffering that a person experiences as they're contemplating taking their own life? It's just not a passive, one and done kind of thing. there's tremendous suffering involved. And so that's something that we as citizens can identify and be a part of, to point it out, be aware, to listen, and to catch it before it gets to that point. And I know as an assist intervention trainer, I understand the dynamics of that decision, and I know that behavioral health has training programs available to train and educate the community about recognizing the signs and symptoms so that when you hear it, you can recognize it and take appropriate action. So with that, I would like to read the proclamation and present that to you. Recognized in September 2026 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, whereas every life has immeasurable value and every person deserves to know they are not alone and that they are heard and that help and hope are available. Whereas suicide is a serious public health concern that affects individuals, families, friends, coworkers, communities, leaving a lasting impact on countless lives. And whereas National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month provides an opportunity to raise awareness, encourage open and compassionate conversations about mental health and suicide, and remind our community that seeking help is a sign of strength. And whereas suicide prevention begins with connection, compassion, and a willingness to reach out, a conversation, a listening ear, or simply asking someone how they're doing can make a meaningful difference and may save a life. And whereas we remember and honor those lives who have been lost to suicide, stand with the survivors of suicide loss and extend our compassion and support to families, friends, and communities who continue to carry their loss, And whereas the City of Brawley recognizes the importance of fostering a community where individuals feel valued, supported, and comfortable seeking help without fear of judgment or stigma. And whereas the City encourages residents to learn of the warning signs of suicide, check in with those around them, have courageous conversations about mental health, and connect individuals in need with available resources, including 988-SUICIDE and Crisis Lifeline, which provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And whereas through education, awareness, and compassion and connection, we can work together to reduce stigma and strengthen our community, promote hope, and assure that those who may be struggling know that they are not alone. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the City Council of the City of Brawley hereby recognizes September 2026 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the City of Brawley.

Thank you.

I also wanted to add, September is also National Recovery Month, where we also bring awareness to the importance of recovery for individuals who are living with a mental health condition or substance use disorder. And one of the things that we do every year is celebrate the strength and the courage that it takes people who are in their recovery journey who have experienced treatment and have recovered that are either thinking also of seeking help and are contemplating their own recovery and also the families that have experienced a loved one who's either lived with a mental health disorder or substance use disorder And we have an annual recovery walk that we will have. I will leave some invitations for you guys if you want to participate. It's this Thursday. You get to hear some of the lived experiences of those people that have... you know, walk through this journey or that are currently living, you know, the journey of recovery. And it's also an opportunity to bring awareness to that, to the importance of reducing the stigma that's associated with seeking help. And again, you know, the words that we say, things that we do, our behavior around those that have a mental health disorder or substance use disorder really is a significant and very important component at supporting those that need the help and helping them feel that seeking help is a normal and natural thing that we should do when we're living with a condition that's affecting us the way that mental health and substance use disorders affect our lives. So we encourage the community to participate and go and hear some of our clients that have been going through treatment and also see all of the resources that are available in Imperial County because we will have several agencies and participants providing information on the services that they provide and how they link back to recovery and mental health support. Thank you. We'll leave that. And we'll also leave some of our little ribbons so that if you wear it and somebody asks, like, what is that for, that you can work, be part of bringing that awareness. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We can put a magnet, I guess, over there.

Okay, moving on to the public hearing. Public hearing and potential action to adopt Resolution 2026-44, Abandoning and Evacuating an Alley on the Eastern Boundary of the Fiesta Valle Subdivision, presented by Christian Brajas, Development Service Director.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, and members of the public. Christian Barajas, Development Services Director here. Tonight, we would like to take the opportunity to discuss a request that city staff received earlier this year to vacate Fiesta Valle Alley. And hopefully, hear a few statements from the applicants and from the public. We'll suggest to open the public hearing portion and proceed with any action you'd like to take on this item. So again, what it is in question tonight is considering the request to abandon and vacate a public right of way. That can be a street, an alley, an easement, meaning that it will be removed from public ownership and, depending on the location and development circumstances, may be reverted back to private ownership. The more typical reasons to vacate a right-of-way include but are not limited to maybe its function. It's no longer useful. It has become a barrier to new development, or it has become a maintenance issue or nuisance for the city. And abandoning it will not pose a serious risk or hazard to the community. The alley we will be discussing is the Fiesta Valle subdivision half alley, which was primarily a single family subdivision when it was established over 40 years ago. Again, this is just a 10 foot half width alley. meaning it was not intended to be completed at 20 feet when the subdivision was created, with the hope that the developer who would have acquired the properties next door would have constructed the other half. More specifically, the alley is on the east side, or at the back of the homes, along South 18th Street, and it connects to Malin Street with the finished portion of East K Street. There are 12 homes along 18th Street, and there is a proposed apartment development in that empty parcel you see here. And we'll get to that in a second. You can see here that there is already transition between the more established single family subdivisions to the west and the adjacent multifamily and mobile home park uses to the north and east. So that will be one of the first factors for consideration by removing an alley here. We're not creating a block of single family housing that is distinct from the other single family homes that were developed. So it wouldn't set a precedent. Now, there are a series of steps that staff must follow to process these types of requests, which involve a pre-consultation, the receipt of the application, staff assessment, development review committee recommendations. Again, that is fire, public works, engineering, planning, sometimes code enforcement. Then moves to the planning commission, notices are sent. They provide a recommendation and then the city issues a resolution manifesting the intent to vacate. And then again, public notices are issued along with newspapers postings. which takes us to today, which is the actual vote on the resolution to vacate and is a mandatory public hearing per the State of California Streets and Highways Code. If approved, the resolution is adopted and documents are recorded. In a second, I'll pass it on to Adrian to describe some of the existing conditions. But first, just wanted to bring up some points for consideration. When staff decides whether to recommend for or against the vacation of a right-of-way, some of our examples for guiding questions may include Does this alley continue to serve a current purpose? Do residents use it? Will it be used by future development? Does the city or other agencies currently provide services through this right of way? Is it a functional emergency access? Did the city or private developers recently conduct any improvements here? Is it consistent with the general plan or city policies? For example, does the city prefer alleys or are we actively trying to reduce the number of alleys created in new development? Sometimes in more impacted right-of-ways, the question is, will environmental remediation responsibilities shift to private residents if abandoned? What will happen to the infrastructure in the alley and who will assume the demolition costs? That can sometimes include... not just the asphalt, but also abandoned utilities, grading, et cetera. So questions like that help guide our recommendation as staff.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and the members of the council and also members of the public. So the criteria that the development review committee used to determine whether this alley was fulfilling a current or future public use was to ask the questions, is this alley being used? What services pass through here? During the initial public hearing notice period for the planning commission meeting, we discussed with IID whether there were any uses in this alley. It was mentioned that there are two utility poles at the bottom towards the south side. But other than that, there's no active waste collection going on. There's no underground power lines. There's no underground gas. And the city hasn't been working on any maintenance. The alley is in... a relatively poor condition due to the overgrowth of weeds and the lack of exposed pavement. As far as we look back, we haven't found any evidence of any recent public investments. The IED utility poles are all located next to the house at 1603 Malin. One of them is in the public right-of-way, I believe. for Malin Street and the other one will be, the one to the north will be removed when the developer develops 1603 Malin Street. Again, these are the two power poles from Google Street View. In addition to the comments we received from IID, SoCalGas also told us that there's no utilities there, but anyone who's going to be working in the alleyway, whether it's the property owners on 18th Street or this new department developer, will have to contact 811 before digging. the SoCal gas and IID comments were also factored into the conditions of approval for this project. Overall, this alley is, again, in poor condition. It's overgrown with shrubs, trees, weeds. The asphalt at the... One of the... people who contacted the planning office during the first public hearing period around May mentioned that there is likely asphalt buried underneath the dirt. Additionally, City trucks don't really use this alley to access anything and garbage has not been collected in alleys for possibly a couple decades now. Finally, this alley also just doesn't serve a purpose for conventional pedestrian and bike access. So there's no sewer lines underground? No sewer lines. Or water? No water as well. Due to the developer of the adjacent lot providing a replacement access road that is wider than this existing alley, the planning division doesn't foresee any issues with preserving safety, and this will... The vacation of this alley may also help reduce a potential source of nuisances due to overgrowth, the illegal dumping of trash, and other activities that may occur in the alley. Additionally, the property owners will receive this additional 10-foot piece of land in their backyards, which may increase their property values. And in addition to this, the city will not have to dedicate funds to maintaining this alley.

We'll go into public comment right now.

Can you repeat what was the last thing you said? A portion of the city funds won't have to be dedicated to maintaining the alley. In addition to this, I should comment that the California Streets and Highways Code states that an alley may be vacated if city funds have not been used on it within the past five years, I believe. The property developer at 1603 Mainland Street will be constructing a 30 foot wide access road that satisfies fire and planning requirements for access to multifamily complexes. Because of the project phasing that is proposed by the developer, the area from his portion of the alley, which is not dedicated to the city, is necessary for allowing the project phasing to happen. Normally when the city, normally if this developer was going to be developing this, a 10-foot sliver of his land would have to be dedicated to complete the full width of the alley to 20 feet. But the developer has made it clear that he would rather just petition for the vacation of this alley since redundant circulation will be supplemented by the 30-foot wide road. The zone change for this parcel occurred back in 2020 with the passage of Ordinance 2020-01 on July 21st, 2020, which changed the zone from single-family to multi-family, and a site plan was also included with that. Additionally, the Planning Division ministerially approved Site Plan 25-04, first on January 8th, 2026, and with revisions on May 7th, 2026, following review by the Fire, Public Works, Building, and Planning Divisions. There was also a tentative track map application in process for the project phasing. These are the exhibits that will be recorded if the resolution is adopted. The applicant will be responsible for all fees associated with recording these documents at the Imperial County Recorder's Office, but he will not be assuming ownership of this 10-foot alley. The vacated portion will move back to the property owners along 18th Street, so they will receive that additional land and will be permitted to extend their fences accordingly. The developer of 1603 Mayln will may initiate the demolition and regrade of the alley to remove anything that is buried and to make it at grade with the rear yards of the property owners. But the developer also doesn't expect this to occur for another six to 10 months. The city will not be conducting demolition work tied to this. Property values will go up due to the added land. And this project is CEQA exempt under class five minor land use limitations, which basically just describes a property line shift. And finally, as part of the project approval, the applicant will be subject to the conditions of approval that were included in the agenda.

Just to finalize here, the action item today may result in the adoption of the resolution that vacates the alley. Council's action tonight does not constitute any approval of the development of any project or any building permits, nor does it determine ownership negotiations between private property owners. After hearing, having had that discussion, Planning Commission staff recommends Staff recommendations consist of initiating the public hearing and conducting a vote on the resolution. This recommendation was approved by Planning Commission on a 5-0 motion, I believe. At this point, I would like to invite the applicant to provide any remarks, if that is okay.

Let me just open it up for public hearing so we can make it official. So I will now open it up for public hearing. Thank you very much. So if there's anyone who would like to come up and speak on the alley at the 600 block of South 18th Street, you may come up now and speak.

Good evening. My name is Lupe Navarro. I live at 671 South 18th Street in Brawley. I am one of the original, along with my friends that are here, original owners of that home complex we've been there almost 30 years if not more we have no issues whatsoever whether the alleys are paved or not because they've been like that paved since day one and we see no complaints about it I don't know what they want or why they want it but we don't want nothing and nobody to touch our alleys why is this happening I don't know But to me, I like to be left alone.

Well, yeah, I know.

It's not my property, but it's my house. It's my backyard.

So can I just explain the legality? When a subdivision is built, the subdividers dedicate right of way to cities for streets and alleys. A right-of-way is merely an easement. So your property line goes all the way to the middle line of that alley. It's only a half alley. So you already own that alley, but the city has an easement on it. Vacating the easement means the city will no longer use it, and you're free to fence that portion off and use it yourself if you wish.

Sir, I've been there almost 30, 40 years. I've never had to do anything with my alley, with my neighbors. We all get along. As it is right now, when they made that neighborhood back then, they left electricity or utility poles in the alley. You can't get a truck through there.

Mm-hmm.

Right. So if the city vacates the alley, it doesn't obligate you to do anything.

I didn't say I'm going to do anything.

Right.

I've been living there for almost over 40 years.

So you can do whatever you want. I don't. But it's that piece of ground, if you choose to.

If I choose to.

If you choose to. Yeah. Or if you sell your house to someone who chooses to.

I'm going to die in that house.

Okay. Well, somebody will get it then.

If somebody will get it, I'll be underground.

But if you choose to, you could... I will not choose to ever leave that.

My grandkids, my kids and my grandkids will probably live there.

And like I said, you're not obligated to do anything but that. You're not obligated to do anything. All I'm saying is if your neighbor wants to make his backyard a little bit bigger, they can.

They won't. Let me just clarify really quickly. So you live on the west side of the street. This is only the east side of the street. Right. That's all. Your alley will be fine. Nobody's going to touch your alley. It's the east side of 18th Street. Oh. Yeah, he lives on the west side. You live on the west side? Yeah, he's 671. So your alley's fine. Nobody will touch it. So, yeah, it's just across the street. On your side.

It's just on your side. Yeah. He's on the west. Yeah. Problem solved. But my alley won't be touched. No, it's not touched. It won't be touched at all.

It won't be touched. It won't be impacted.

So why don't you tell me to come up here? All right. Thank you. Thank you.

That's all right. At least now you know, right?

You're on the other side. Yeah. Well, he's the one that's. Yeah. He's the one that. Right. Oh. You come up here. I'm just kidding. I'm good.

YEAH, YOU'RE GOOD, LUKE. OKAY, GOOD. BUT THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

OKAY, IS THERE ANY OTHER PERSON WHO WANTS TO SPEAK ON THIS MATTER?

ANY CONCERNS FROM? YOU HAVE A CONCERN, SIR, AS A RESIDENT? BOTH OF YOU.

DO YOU HAVE A? OKAY. ANYBODY? YOU WANT TO SAY A FEW WORDS?

COME ON UP.

Indian Council, in the application, in the process we did to vacate the alley there, the majority concern was basically safety. If the development was going to go through, it was basically safety through that side of the project, since now you'll have pretty much two access ways. The access road that we're proposing from Mainland to K Street, and then you'll also have this other alleyway there. Nighttime traffic and things like that, that was basically the main proposal. At least the planning commission meeting, we've worked out the majority of the details to how the – or we have really worked out some of the small details, obviously, with the contingency on the boat and things like that, how this whole process would take. But from our perspective, it was just mostly the safety as a reason for the application and the kind of unique placement and – not fully developed alleyway there. Again, there's no utilities. There's no, except for the two poles there, the one that's going to get removed is supplying the current house that's there that's proposed to be demoed through the, if the project goes through. So any other questions, I can try and answer them. Joshua Paddock. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, any more comments? Okay, seeing none, this PORTION OF THE PUBLIC HEARING IS NOW CLOSED. IS THERE ANY COMMENTS FROM COUNCIL?

CORRECT. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DEVELOPMENT. THAT'S WHAT DEPARTMENT COMPLEX, CORRECT? AND SO THIS CONTINGENT, I'M ASSUMING THIS VACATION, THAT DEVELOPMENT IS CONTINGENT ON THIS VACATION? Yes. Okay. I thought that was a concern of 48 apartments being built behind your house. I thought that was. But there's no concerns from the residents on that. And we've addressed it through the alley then.

Yeah. As Bill shared, basically the residents in the homes that do have the alley in the back and their backyards will basically have the ability to extend their yard if desired. It is not mandatory for them to do so or not.

Any other comments from council?

Yeah, just, I mean, from a law enforcement perspective, you know, because the way it's set up, it's a good spot for transients to kind of set up camp. And you don't want that to happen. At least I wouldn't remind anybody. I mean, we used to say, you know, it's like after 1 o'clock, nothing good happens. Nothing ever good happens in an alley. So, yeah, I prefer eliminating that alley.

What's the width of those parcels, 40 feet or 50? Can you repeat that question, please? Yeah. What's the width of those parcels? 50 feet?

Well, they changed. The residentials are a little bit narrower, I think.

Yeah, but the parcel. So this one is a little bit narrower over here. And this one was, we saw the plan. I think we have the exhibit. So that one shows about 30, it's about,

100 feet, your parcel, with your parcel?

Okay, and then... And for this one...

This one seems to be about... I want to say 80 or 90 feet. Look at this one.

Well, the point I want to make is that the landowners will be inheriting that additional property.

Additional 10 feet, yes.

So if it's 10 feet by 40 feet, that's 400 feet. They also were notified that the property could be reassessed, and their property value will go up. When it is reassessed, the only portion that will be reassessed is that portion in which they're gaining for free. Most likely, it's probably going to be $100 very, very minimal amount effect. But they are gaining something. And I think what was mentioned earlier is that they could do whatever they want with that property. They could add a fence line all the way to the adjacent property, or they could just leave it the way it is. But also, the developer is going to take care of all the demolition work, including removing the asphalt that's underneath. Is that correct? So that's going to be an improvement. At this point, I think that it's a real liability for the city. And so it releases that liability. And the landowners adjacent to that or in that area are going to benefit. And it's going to help this development move forward.

Will there be any surveys done on each home to see exactly where their property lines are? Does anybody have a fence up now that's all the way to the back?

No, not all the way to the back.

Just to the alley. So eventually, I'm sure most of you guys will extend out, right? I think. We can go this way like that.

I don't want somebody stealing somebody else's land. The new development will install, I think it's a CMU wall, is that it? It's a CMU wall that will be bordering that edge of the development. So that will become the new, I guess, the depth of the extended lots.

And the question that the mayor brought up is that that area will be surveyed. And that will be recorded? Yes. And the deed will be in the name of the landowners that are adjacent to each one of those parcels? Correct.

It will be recorded all at once, so individual homeowners don't have to go through that process.

So I just want to warn everybody that lives there, because I just finished a trial about this very issue in City of Imperial, Abandoned in an Alley. And what the tax assessor does is he assigns a new APN for that little 10-foot strip. And people got very, very confused. And we ended up a big lawsuit because they thought that divided and that was a separate lot. It's not. It's just a different tax number. So it's still one legal parcel. It's still one legal lot. Parcels are for taxes. Lots are for building. So it's one lot. And it'll probably have a separate Parcel number so be looking for that and if you don't get it you got to go talk to mr. Menville make sure you get it Come up can you come up to the to the mic please I'm sorry We need to state your name for the record My name is Martha teniente.

I'm the owner of 686 South 18th Street You know how they were mentioning about the fence and all that will we be notified when we can extend the fence and like when it's been recorded or whatever, and then we can actually do our process and make some events.

You should get some notice in the mail, I believe, correct? Yes.

So Christian can address that, but yes, there will be a notification process.

So the development, it's still underway. It still has not received final approvals. Again, the thing that was approved already for the development was the rezone. So it's already a multifamily parcel. the site plan, which is like the general idea of what the development in the apartment will look like. And now we're going to be working on the tentative map. And at that point, there's going to be another discretionary process to approve the tentative map through Planning Commission. So residents will be kept on the loop of the process. But then at the time that is approved, there still needs to be the recordation of that final map, which is, again, another action that has to be done by city council. So then we can move into the building permits. So we're talking about, I believe it was six to nine months or something. probably 10 months, but then during that period, there will be notices that go out to residents about the stages of the development, and then, I mean, if people want to extend their fence temporarily at this point, I mean, that's something that we cannot really just stop people from doing it, since they will be owning that at the time of recordation. But then, yes, I think that at the time that fence goes in, that will be built in accordance to the survey.

Okay, so when the developer puts his fence in, But prior to that, there's going to be grading done, demolition done, and there's going to be grading. And so I think the question was, at what point can they start improving their fences?

Yeah.

I mean, that will be ideal. So there's not a scenario where someone builds a fence, but it wasn't at the right location, and then the wall comes up, and then now they have to move it. But again, that could happen at any stage if this is approved. But ideally, it will be at the time that new development demolishes the alley, regrades, and extends the fence.

To make it real clear to the residents, the developer's going to put up a wall right at the property line. So there's no mistake that you accidentally go over or under If you extend the fence now, they won't be able to clean.

If you extend your fence now, the developer won't be able to clean and regrade and demolish the Allison.

Yeah, like I said, I don't know the bounds.

It's obviously your property now, and when you can and can't do it, it's obviously up to you. But it would make things a heck of a lot easier if we did the whole thing at once, cleaned everything out, put the six-foot block wall up, and then extend back to it. I think that's the best process to do it. THAT WAS MY RECOMMENDATION IN THE COMMENTS TO THE CITY. BUT AS FAR AS HOW THAT GETS IMPLEMENTED, I GUESS THAT'S MAYBE UP TO YOU GUYS.

I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION. SO ONCE ALL THE CLEANUP IS DONE, IT WILL BE BACKFILLED WITH DIRT, CORRECT? I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD WANT BASIN IN THEIR BACKYARD.

Well, I was just thinking dirt.

I mean, base is hard to grow grass. So I just want to make it clear. Yeah, back up to level. So dirt will go back in those. Okay. Yes, sir.

So I think the recommendation is just to protect investments on both sides for the property owners, individual property owners and the developer. Wait until the grading and the cleaning is done and that they put up their wall and then you may want to invest on extending your side fences. Okay.

One last comment that came up. I offered to the city to close off that with a temporary fence, the alleyway. In the meantime, I don't know if the residents want that or the 18th Street want that or what the city's direction is on that. We can just get a temporary fence and lock it up there so there's no traffic in there anymore since it's now going to be private property without the city on it. But whatever direction you guys recommend on that, whatever. And they can have access to it if they need to get into it at any point.

Well, they should. Just because we have new neighbors and they're cleaning up, because a guy that lived in that home, he's been going through the alley and loading up his truck.

Yeah, yeah, we can give you that.

So he needs time, I guess. I don't know when they will fence it, but not right now.

Well, I don't know how that works. He'll be crossing over everybody's property to get to it now.

I don't know how we're going to go with that, but whatever it is.

Oh, you may want to tell him to clean up fast.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. Any other comments from council? Okay. So do I have a motion to accept the... Resolution 202643, abandoning and vacating the alley on the eastern boundary of Fiesta Valle subdivision. I'll make a motion to accept that. I'm sorry. 202644. I'll make a motion to accept that. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. In opposition? Motion carries. Thank you, guys. Enjoy your 10 more feet. Okay, moving on the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent as stated? I'll make a motion to approve. Do we have a motion? Do I have a second? I'll second. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. And the opposition? Motion carries. Okay, moving on to number six, regular business. Potential action to approve temporary road closure to facilitate the community procession scheduled for November 7, 2026. Approve waiver fees associated with the event presented by April Hodgkins Parks, Recreation Manager.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. The item before you is a request for a temporary road closure and waiver of applicable city fees for a religious procession taking place on November 7th. So this procession will be beginning about 1.15 p.m. and it's expected to be about an hour long. It's the same religious procession that they typically do around this time. However, if you guys refer to your maps, the route is changing. So rather than them starting at Sacred Heart and making their way down to, what is that? St. Margaret. St. Margaret, they're going to come back to Sacred Heart. So it significantly reduces the amount of temporary closures we need. So it reduces it by like half and it reduces their time. So for this, it is, again, one hour, and it is during working hours. And we are expected to have about three public works personnel, three parks and recreation personnel, and four Brawley Safety employees, a.k.a. PD. So I was expecting somebody here from the diocese, but I don't see them. So I can answer any other questions you guys may have, but it is recommended that council approves a temporary closure and requested fee waiver.

Any comments from council?

Well, the only comment I have is that we supported this last year, and it's probably going to cost less money this year. Is that correct?

Yes. So it is going to cost us in total for basically just staff because we're not putting any like concrete barricades. So we're not charging for that or anything. So it will be a total of $1,036 and that's all just staff. Okay. Any other comments?

we have a motion to have a second a second all those in favor say aye aye in the opposition motion carries do you have one aye opposition okay so we have one opposition just to make it clear thank you john um okay moving on to um c B, I'm sorry, potential action to approve a waiver of fees requested by Christ Community Church to facilitate their annual fall festival at Hinojosa Park scheduled for October 29, 2026, presented by April Hodgkins.

Good evening again. So before you guys, we have a request for the Christ Community Church Fall Festival. So this is a fee waiver request. This event is set to take place October 29th, and they are expecting about 1,000 participants, which it is, I believe, open to the community. The fees would total to about $931. In that, we have $792 for three event officers from PD for a total of three hours. We have $64 for two Parks and Recreation employees for one hour of cleanup. We also have a flat rate of $50 for tables and chairs and $25 for the use of the Ramada shelter. Again, this is an annual event that they do. So staff is recommending that council does consider waiving these fees. And we actually do have a member from Christ community here. If you guys have any event related questions.

Sure. Come on up if you want to give us a little bit about your event.

Hey there. Thank you so much. Sean Aviso serves as the pastor of Christ Community Church in Brawley. And so one of our staff members, Gabe Garcia, associate pastor, is leading up the event. And every year we put on a fall festival, serve as an alternative for the community every year. It gets just bigger and better. We love this city. We love serving the residents. We love families being able to come enjoy a safe, fun event. And so we've typically got lots of different booth games, vendors, local vendors from the community come out as well. We'll have... know sporting stuff and giveaways and there's usually about a thousand to fifteen hundred who will come out we partner with police as well to provide safety and so yeah thank you again for the consideration and it's a free event right and we actually give a lot of stuff away so thank you any comments any questions i'm sorry did you ask how many people you expected last year Last year was about 1,500. Wow. Yeah.

I think you were there. Yeah.

I took a picture.

That's a lot of people. That's right. It's a lot of fun. Yeah.

It's a lot of work, but we do it with great joy. You'll have more room now. There's no tower there. You know, we put lights on there, and it made it look really cool, but that's okay. It's going to be a great thing. We're using the field to the east as well to do some more sporting events for kids as well.

Okay. Any other comment from council? If not, can I have a motion to accept?

I have a motion to approve.

I'll second. We have a motion, a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Aye. Aye. Okay. Thank you so much.

Motion carries. Thank you. We look forward to serving.

Thank you. Okay, C, adopt resolution number 2026-43, adopting the patron code of conduct of the Brawley Public Library, presented by Petra Ortega, library manager.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members. The resolution before you tonight seeks to formally adopt a patron code of conduct for the Brawley Public Library. The purpose of this patron code of conduct is to establish clear, reasonable expectations for behavior within the library and to provide both patrons and staff with a consistent understanding of expected behavior while using the library. Currently, library staff addresses disruptive or inappropriate behavior when necessary, but we do not have a formal policy that clearly outlines these expectations. Adopting this policy will strengthen the library's ability to maintain orderly operations, support staff in managing problematic situations, and ensure equitable access to library services. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions by council?

Sure. I see the reason for having a code of conduct. However, when you institute it, I mean, I'm assuming initially you're going to have your staff go out and explain to someone, hey, what you're doing isn't acceptable. You need to leave. And then if that doesn't work, you'll probably be contacting the police. Is there like a set time limit that if somebody comes in and is doing something and say, hey, you can't come back for the week, you can't come back for the month? I never want to see your face again.

So currently the standard we set is typically about 30 days when we set a ban on a problematic patron. We don't encounter a lot of pushback when we do issue a ban. It is a very rare occurrence. So the behavior has to be outlandish to have us actually set one.

Any other comments? Okay. Can I have a motion to adopt resolution 2026-43? I'll make a motion to adopt. We have a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. We have a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposition? Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, city manager's report.

Great. Thank you so much. Mayor, members of the council, public, actually, we were beat to the punch earlier. We were asked about Best Avenue. That was one of the announcements we were going to make. During our city manager's report. But yes, we have completed most of the procurement process. We intend to start much of the actual construction work that is required middle of this month. We will be issuing a press release and social media outreach in order to inform the public of those potential impacts because there are going to be either partial road closures or full road closures certain days of the week while they're fulfilling certain work. So we will make sure to inform the public of that, and we want to do it in well advance. That's why we want to share that information. this week. We're excited about this. As you can see, it's much anticipated. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. So we just wanted to share that information, that that information will also be shared with the public through those forms of communication later this week. So I just want to share that. In addition to that, I think you have a flyer in front of you. Senior Center will be hosting the Senior Grandparents Day this month on September 18th from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Brawley Lions Center. I want to invite you, want to invite others of the community to attend. It is a free event for all that seniors that are 55 years or older. But I do want to share that space is limited in the location that we're having it. It's usually about 200 people. in terms of capacity. So we have to be mindful of that. So just want to share that. But we do encourage all those that can come to please join us. It was a very fun event last year. And I think they're looking forward to it again this year. So we're excited to have that coming to us. Looking ahead, the city's pumpkin patch will be held again this year as well. That will be on October 23rd. We are changing the location a little bit. Instead of in front of the Lions Center, we're moving to Magnolia Street, so to the north of the Lions Center and the Teen Center. So we'll be closing that street. We intend to have vendors, free pumpkins, and other fun activities for the kids, a family-friendly event for the community. And then also just want to highlight the continued use of the Lions Center pool. In addition to beyond the summer, we have received several inquiries for year-round use from different organizations that we're currently in communication with. In addition to that, Brawley Elementary School District will be utilizing it for some of their programming as well. and education curriculum courses as well. So we're excited about that and just wanted to share that with you and the members of the public on the continued usage of the pool past summer. So I I think that's about it. And finally, cattle call is approaching, as we all know, this time of year. So just want to share that park staff will soon begin those preparations. In addition to that, I know public works staff does a lot as well to begin for those preparations and festivities. So for park staff, we will be hiring temporary staff to help support the increased demands during cattle call week. So those temporary positions should be opening up shortly for any of those that are interested We encourage them to visit our website and apply if interested. That's all I have for today.

Thank you. All right, moving on to City Council reports. Council Member Rebler.

I apologize. I'm the one who told Mr. Escalera that Best Roads is going to get started this year. I think I told him at the beginning of the year it's going to get started, and every time I've seen him since then, he's reminded me. Thank you. Thank you for that. I know I said a lot of stuff is planned and takes time, and sometimes just letting the public know of what we have in place. But I think another thing is... I know we waived some fees today, and I know, Mr. Grass, you were dissenting. I respect that. Being fiscally concerned means being fiscally concerned. Every dollar counts, and I completely respect that. Similarly, Mr. Hamby was here, and on the alcohol, you know, every – no, and I – I REALLY DO RESPECT THAT AND THAT PRINCIPLED APPROACH. AT THE SAME TIME, THOUGH, I WILL SAY I THINK THESE EVENTS, I KNOW WHEN WE WAIVE THE FEES, THERE IS A COST, BUT I ALSO SEE THEM AS AN INVESTMENT, TOO, IN ALLOWING PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER, ALLOWING OUR RESIDENTS. WE KNOW AS BUSINESSES DO CLOSE OR THERE'S LESS RECREATIONAL, We need things to bring, people need things to do, and we need to sometimes help give them a reason to come out. And I think even some of these, like the procession to Christ communities, fall fiesta, fall event, They're coming together for not just party, but I think for faith. And they're here. They're people from old to young. I know Mr. Juanita has been on the procession, and I know many of you have gone to the event. Essentially, it's not bringing community together. It's also bringing them, in regards to these two events, closer to God. And I think more of that's needed today. than ever. And so although we are taking a fiscal impact to waiving these fees for events like this, what we get back only can be measured. But when you bring together people for something far greater than them to get closer to something they might not even be aware of or not even knowing how close they're getting, IS AN INVESTMENT. AND SO WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SEE IT IN OUR BUDGET OR LINE ITEM, BUT IN THOSE CASES, TO SUPPORT THEM, BUT I ALSO UNDERSTAND THE FISCAL REALITIES OF MAINTAINING A BUDGET. That's just part of disagreeing here on this council. Sometimes we agree and disagree, but we respect each other and understand, and I think one thing this council has been good at is making it very clear, and I know Councilman Grass from the very beginning has maintained the... Maintaining a healthy budget and being fiscally sound and so that's a principled approach that I do respect that I need more of for myself but yeah, I think brawley like I said, we're trying to just bring people together and Make our community strong make our community strong above all so that concludes my report and thank you Thank You councilmember Monita. I have nothing to report councilmember grass

Thank you, Councilmember Gill. I just appreciate that affirmation and that some of the decisions that I make are really for the best interest of Raleigh and very concerned not only about our current fiscal situation, but some of the upcoming things coming out of Sacramento are going to impact us in a greater way. And so I'm just thinking that whenever we live in a budget-negative kind of situation, the City of Brawley should really institute several measures of austerity. to hunker down and ride out the wave. So that's kind of my position. Not that I'm down on any kind of event that nonprofits want to put on. I'm certainly for that, support that, encourage that. But I do think that even the nonprofits are going to have a responsibility to pay attention to what's going on around them, read the room, that physical realities are real, and that we have to balance those things against the other interests that we're faced with. And just to also reemphasize the issue with the developers, Pinaros, Garcia. I've been hearing this frustration from developers ever since our church gateway, Church of Brawley, built a family life center back in the 80s. We ran into the same kind of issues with the city planning department and permits and inspections, the rules kept changing, and it was just extremely frustrating to finish that project. And so it's frustrating to hear that that reality continues today. And I do believe there are solutions to that, to work around that, but yet still maintain our obligation to fulfill the law and the codes, but at the same time facilitate successful building projects. So I'm really hoping that we as a city can come together and figure out a system that facilitates these things and builds communication so that we can get these projects to completion. Outside of that, I was gone for the last three weeks traveling in the northern United States. On Sunday, it was South Dakota. So we have a huge country that we live in, beautiful country, and it was a privilege to be able to travel at some, and glad to be home. So thank you. That's it.

Thank you. Mayor Porter, Tim Kelly.

I'll try to be brief. I think a lot of you know that I travel quite often. One of the things, every place that I go, I bring back tidbits of information. And I find myself taking pictures of a lot of streetlights lately. As you know, we're working on a streetlight project that I'd like to bring to fruition, and just a lot of good ideas out there from very antique-looking things to modern. And so it's something that we hope would help to beautify Brawley. And you can tell by the conversation that we're having here is that everybody's here for the same purpose, is to make this community better. Just a quick announcement. We've completed the roof of the Brawley Theater and are going to start on the stage and the bathrooms probably in the next week. And so that's moving forward very quick. I want to thank the Brawley staff who's been very cooperative on this process, especially Oscar and the fire department making sure we're in compliance. You were just in North Dakota. I just was in Amsterdam yesterday. A couple of things. First of all, I experienced some mental health issues over there, not with me. But I went to the Van Gogh Museum. And Vincent Van Gogh, I studied him a lot. And probably one of his most famous paintings is a self-portrait. What I didn't know, there's probably about 100 self-portraits because he used a self-portrait to look at images of his eyes and face to change it to improve upon it. But he actually self-checked himself into a minstrel institution, which he actually painted one painting every day while he was there. And the only time he felt that he was sane was when he was painting. So he painted a lot. And of course, he actually committed suicide. In addition to that, on the way home when I was flying, I watched a show about the Counting Crows. And the lead singer, Adam, I can't remember his last name, is very interesting. And he talked a lot about his music and that the only time he felt sane was when he was singing. And it's a very good show. But his entire life, he's had problems with mental illness. And it wasn't until he was diagnosed correctly in his adult life that he actually kind of came to getting the medication right and everything else. Of course, he's had a very, very successful life. But when I go to places like that, I look at what people are doing and what places are like, and I say, how can we bring this home? So one of the things that was brought up tonight was the old waterworks facility. And by the way, in about 1998 to 2005, there was actually a committee that worked on that. made recommendations. I met on a regular basis. Gordon Youngward was on that committee. I went to several of the meetings, and here we are today still sitting with a vacant area. But the size of that is about the size of downtown Winters, which I just finished, Winters, California, which is a population of 8,389 people. And their downtown was so vibrant. It was amazing. And people are moving there like crazy because of that small town atmosphere. They built a beautiful, it's about a three to four story hotel, which I know one of the plans was to build a boutique hotel at the waterworks. But that whole area is about the size of that old water plant. And one of the best restaurants in all the United States is actually in that town. And the guy that developed that actually started a culinary school. And all throughout the southwest United States, he's trained people to open up restaurants. And I can't remember the name of it. I'll let you know so the next time you're there, you can stop by. And it's off the beaten path. Before I was in Amsterdam, I was in Killarney. And I just couldn't believe the nightlife there. And it was just crazy. We finished playing golf. We went back to our hotel, changed, went out. And I sat there with my friends and I said, how big do you think the city is? And they said, 150,000, 90,000 people. I go, try again. 14,000 people. It was crazy. And 30 years ago, it was just a small little village. And today, it's a small little town. But they've got dozens and dozens of restaurants, hotels, everything. And it just kind of shows you what a community can do when they come together. But the other thing I wanted to bring up is that we are working to improve the city. We have limited budgets. disturbed about the Pinmeata family, what they've gone through. And I know there's two sides to the story, but this has been something. And one of the things that's occurred here in the city is we've had change of leadership and we've had change of staff. And so people are reading through documents that are saying, this isn't right. This wasn't done correctly. And so they're adapting to it. And at the same time, there's developers that are going through this process that takes many years. And so what we hear is that we've been working on this for years, but they don't realize it's been a lot of staff. So I'm very confident in the staff today. I actually had a conversation with Ray Robin, who is in a very, very good mood today. And he's been working on a project for a very long time. And he thinks that he's come to a resolution, at least at this phase. And he wanted to point out Alan Chan for calling him and saying, I think we have a an answer for you. And so they're moving forward. But that development they've already sold, I think it was 28 homes. And so they're moving forward very quickly. And so at the pace they're going, they're going to be able to develop the rest of it probably quicker if they can continue on. So I know that we've got some challenges, but we're working on them. And I think the staff needs to really say what the challenges are, bring it to us, and see if we can address it and find out how we can improve that process, because as Ms. Cheryl Walker mentioned is developers want certainty. And the quicker that these properties are developed, the quicker we start generating taxes on them. Because what we're looking at today is vacant lots generate nothing. And so the sooner we do that, the better. And I think that we have the staff in place right now. And I really want to thank Ray for asking me to point out that the staff has been working on this. And he has been challenging, but he thinks we're at a point where we're moving forward. And so staff, keep it up. But please do bring us some of the issues so we can address those and see how we can provide you the resources that you need. I know that we have some new programs we're just putting in place. We're going to make things better. And I did mention there's a couple of new programs which we can look at ordinances and best practices from other communities will come in for free of charge and help us with those. So we want to improve and make things better. Thank you.

Thank you. I have nothing to report, so we'll move on to the city attorney report.

Dove season is a big deal in Brawley if you can judge by how many guys in camouflage are in brownies. Your mom and dad were hustling. Anyway, that's all I've got.

Okay. Well, thank you. Anything else to report? Okay. With that said, this meeting is now adjourned.