City - Regular Meeting

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Do you want that? Yep. You're not Well, thank you for joining us this evening. Before we start our meeting, I'd like to invite Pastor Young from our father's house to come forward for invocation. Please stand. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, creator of heaven and earth, we gather here today as a community seeking your guidance and wisdom, your strength and your help to serve the people of Los Banos. We ask for open hearts and clear

minds as we begin this new year to listen with respect to speak with civility, to act with integrity. Grant our city leaders discernment to make decisions that reflect justice and compassion and the common good. May they seek the welfare of all residents, neighbors, and families, and those who are in most need. Help us work together with patience, humility, and a spirit of cooperation, setting aside all that divides us for the benefit of our community. We give thanks for the volunteers, for the first responders, the educators, every person who contributes to the vitality and the safety of our city. May we honor their efforts with prudent policy, thoughtful planning, and accountable governance. Bless our city staff as they carry out the work of the municipal service. Help them perform with dedication, professionalism, and care for the public trust. We ask for peace in times of disagreement, courage to pu pursue solutions that protect the vulnerable and uphold dignity for all. May our decisions reflect hope, fairness, and the recognition of our shared humanity in this new year. Lord, guide us to foster a community where families thrive, businesses prosper, and neighbors support one another. May we be instruments of goodwill, acting with transparency and empathy and service. We ask all this in your most holy name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to call this meeting to order for January 21st, 2026. And chief, if we have the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

If we could have a roll call, please. Lucy here. Here. I am here. The item four, consideration of approval of the agenda. Is there any items the council would like to discuss or approve the agenda as submitted? Uh, yes, Mayor. I'd like to pull item seven. Let me look at the other one. Item 8F for discussion. And with that, I'll approve the agenda. F 8F as in Frank. Okay. Is it changed?

No, this is just the agenda. Oh, just the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. The mayor had asked if anyone want to pull anything for discussion. So, we're just approving the agenda. Yes. Yes. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda.

We have a second. Okay. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose. eyes have it. We'll go on to presentations. Aaron, come on down. So, uh, Aaron is a detective for the police department. He is our employee of the month for December 2025. We're always after the fact when we give these. You're the best of the best for uh December of last year and we know you'll continue this service and we want to recognize your outstanding performance and dedicated service to the city of Lasanis and for being named employee of the month for December 25. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work. Thanks, SIR. NOW, if I could have the pastors come forward.

Yeah, we have you got me stuck with me.

Yeah, that's that's a good So, uh, Monday of course was Martin Luther King. We celebrated it in our city. There was a march. Uh, Pastor Steven Hammond puts the whole thing together. We march to his church, does an excellent job for a city, including his volunt his how he volunteers to the police department. And there's so much. And so I'd like to read this proclamation that I read on Monday. A proclamation recognizing Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Whereas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929 and was made lasting impression as a key leader in the American civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. Whereas during the speeches and rallies in our nation's capital and throughout America, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. promoted his dream of a nation where everyone is treated as equal and is judged not by their color of their skin but by the content of their character and whereas people throughout the world continue to look to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an example, as a model of human relations. And his efforts in the daily struggles for civil human rights have continued since his assassination in 1968 and will continue until his dream of absolute freedom, equality, and justice for all is finally realized. Whereas the city of Lasanis is proud to honor and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and the city council members of the city of Lasis do hereby recognize Monday, January 19th, 2026 as Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the city of Lasis and encourage all citizens to celebrate and remember the many accomplishments

that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King showed our nation. So, thank you so much. We appreciate everything you do for for our community. Okay. So, uh, I know we're going to do it again. Lucy. So, Lucy, let's see. 31 years with the city and was so important part of our city. All the years she she started worked her whole way up. I'm going to read a proclamation real soon who shows all the different things you did for the city, all the different departments and everything you worked. We really can't appreciate her enough. um she was a steady hand in turmoil and she was her accomplishments when everything was going great helped the city move forward and that's that's really what it is. It's when you find an employee that cares, there's not too much more you need to say. So Sarah wanted me to read this. Sarah is her assistant and she's at a conference. So, as you know, I am away at a LCW conference for continuing education, which you always told her she had to do. Something you were always big on and support of. I am saddened I couldn't be there this evening to applaud you and thank you one last time for your personal and professional mentorship and the many years of service you have provided to our community. and I always carry a piece of you with me as you have molded me into the professional I am today and I will never forget that and I'll always be grateful. So that's from Sarah.

I think you've had like three or four meetings now, right? You have the record. New record. So this is a rec this is a proclamation recognizing the retirement. Now, Lucy retiring as HR director, but she's still an elected city clerk till November. And I know you're probably going to run for re-election, right? So, a little pressure there. So, uh, proclamation recognizing the retirement of the city of Los Bennett's human resources director, Lucy Melanie. Whereas Lucy Melanie joined the city of Lasis as city typist 1 on August 16th, 1994. And whereas Lucy Melanie served as deputy city clerk beginning in November 1994 and was later appointed to city clerk in August 2002, a position she continues to hold. Lucy Melanie was promoted to clerk typus 2 in February 1996 and subsequently to a accounting lead clerk in July 1997 and then staff accountant in August 2000. You were really busy. She became human resource director in September 2002 and served as administrative services director from December 2011 to October 2013. overseeing both the human resources and the finance department. And Lucy has contributed tremendously throughout her career to the community of Lasanis and her knowledge and commitment to her job. Lucy retired from the city of Los Banis as human resource director on December 31st, 2025 with over 31 years of service to the city employee. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and the city council members of the city of Lasanis do commend Lucy Melanie on her

dedication and loyalty to the city of Lasanis and congratulate her on her welldeserved retirement. SO,

HEY, before you sit down, we wanted to make sure you were going to be honored specially. So, we added a little something. And after after 30 years, you can put this on and show this to your husband every day. Just point it to him and see what I accomplished. So, congratulations. It's a beautiful little plaque.

Yeah. With our logo on it. Congratulations. Thank you very much. All that. Yeah. WORTH IT. OKAY. THE NEXT PRESENTATION was to commend Evan Sanders, our our council member that unfortunately had to abruptly leave because of a job change. He actually moved on the east side of our country. Uh Evan was an excellent council member. Uh he brought a different perspective than I've seen on all the years I was mayor. I've been mayor here in Las Banis. And it's because of his background. since he was a background was in IT. Um he looked at things a little bit differently and it was it was good. It was a good mix of collaboration with the rest of the council and so we're going to do uh and of course he can't be here cuz he already started his job. It's the way it worked is he was offered a couple of jobs and he finally took one. They said, "Okay, you got to start right away." So he had to unfortunately leave and not even be here for his last meeting. he when he the last time he was here, he did not even know he was getting that job. That's how fast it went. So, we're going to have a resolution and uh like we do to all outgoing council members and then uh we will have to send it to him. But I want to personally thank Evan for the excellent job he did since being appointed last year. and uh I'm sad to

see him and his family leave town, but hopefully he'll retire one day and move back because he's a great part of our community. So before you have resolution number 7037 commending Evan Sanders and let's see you Lucy, you want to read that? Read the resolution please. a resolution of commendation to Evan Sanders. Whereas Evan Sanders was of appointed as council member for district 2 of Laspanis on January 8th, 2025. And whereas Evan Sanders has faithfully served the city of Laspanis and its city council for one year as council member for district 2. And whereas by his devotion to his duties, Evan Sanders has greatly contributed to the governmental process of the city of Laspanis. And now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Laspanis that it hereby expresses its sincere gratitude and appreciation to Evan Sanders for his service to the city of Laspanis and his capacity of council member for district 2. Be it further resolved that an embossed copy of this resolution be presented to Evan Sanders as an expression of the city's appreciation. The foregoing resolution was adopted at a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Laspanis held on the 21st day of January 2026 by the council members present.

Great. Thank you very much. So with that, if we could have that motion, please. Yes, mayor. I'd like to make a motion to accept the resolution as read and submitted. Second. Okay, we have resolution 7037. Um a motion and a second. Uh is there any comments by any council members? Not hearing any. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Eyes have it. Okay. So we'll ship that off. Okay. So now uh our next item is new employee introductions and we'll go to our city manager Neuron Than.

Good evening mayor and council. Um I want to take an opportunity today um to kind of introduce our employee. It's been quite some time since we get an opportunity to introduce those that's been hired or promoted within the organizations. Tonight is a big one for us. That's over 23 new employees that was hired since Weber. That's a close to uh um to uh 20% of our workforce um that we have on hand and that is to restore a lot of the vacance position as well as on some of those position that you were given um allocations or budget on um to expand some of our service. Um we'll go by department by department. Um, so we'll first start with the police department. So if I may have Chief Raina,

good evening, uh, Mr. Mayor and Council. Uh, it is my pleasure this evening to introduce you to Officer Zack Zuspen. Uh, Officer Zuspen started with us on December 16th, right? Uh, as you know, um, I mentioned before, Officer Zuspen comes to us, um, with a few years of experience working, uh, for the Fresno Police Department, and so he did a lot of really good things over there. Uh, the problem was that he lives in Los Banos and his family is here, and so he just couldn't stay away. U, we had a lot of meetings before, uh, to make sure that, um, he understood our, uh, our goals, um, how we police in Losanos. um he has got a lot of really great training and he is going to do a really good job for us. So once again I would like to introduce you to Officer Zack Zuspin. Thank you.

Fire department fire chief. Hi. Good evening Mayor, council, staff and public. Uh we do have two new employees that started with us uh with this last uh last month. Uh Greg Avery, who's our newest battalion chief uh with us, comes with uh over 40 plus years of experience from Los Angeles Fire. So uh he's actually working right now and uh he's tied up on quick detail. So otherwise he'd be here. And then uh Josh Od Doll is one of our newest firefighters that we just hired within this last month also who comes to us from North Central Fire out of Fresno. So, we were able to uh capture some good lateral candidates. So, it's been great.

Unfortunately, our public work director, William Vai, is uh unable to attend tonight. Um so, in his place, we have our city engineer, James Kart. So, please for public work. Thank you. Evening council. Uh can I have all the public works employees that are in attendance uh take a step up to the podium, please? Yeah, probably have to go to the Oh, okay.

Seems like I was just doing this, but Okay, you were. All right. Yeah, exactly. Okay, just maybe give a little wave when I say your name. So, Christopher Bzone. Yes, sir. Chris has joined the uh is the utilities maintenance worker one in the public works department. He's assigned to the water division. He brings over 10 years of experience in the union as a welder fabricator providing valuable technical skills that directly support water system maintenance. His welding expertise is a strong asset to the city and it's a benefit to have these capabilities in house. Thanks, Chris. Okay, next up we got uh Martin DeFranco. Hello.

Hey, Martin. Uh he's been promoted to utilities maintenance worker one after previously serving as a custodian in the facilities division. He's well regarded by his co-workers and brings valuable institutional knowledge and familiarity with staff across multiple departments. His existing relationships and understanding of city operations will support a smooth transition into his new role. Next up, we got Mr. Juan Lopez. anyone. He began his career with the city as a part-time mechanic in the fleet division. Then he transitioned over uh to a full-time environmental control specialist traininee in 2023. He since obtained his grade 1 wastewater treatment by operator certification and has been promoted to environmental control specialist 1. His progression reflects strong technical ability, commitment to professional development, and continued growth within the organization. Next, we have Gabriel Cervantes. Hey, Gabriel. Hello. He began his career with the city in the utilities division as a part-time maintenance worker, and he later advanced to full-time uh utilities maintenance worker one. Uh he since transitioned to a new role as environmental control specialist traininee at the wastewater treatment plant and successfully passed his waste uh his water distribution grade 2 and water treatment grade 1 certifications. his continued professional development re reflects a strong commitment to supporting the city's water and wastewater operations. Then we have uh Fernando Perez. He began his time with the city as a part-time uh maintenance employee in the fleet division and now has uh joined the facilities division as a maintenance worker one. His fresh ideas and commitment to the city are helping to shape the newest division in public works. All right. And Mr. Carlos Pñena. He's a part-time uh maintenance employee in the fleet division who previously worked for the city in uh 2017.

His previous experience has helped strengthen the fleet division in assisting with the repair maintenance of essential city vehicles and equipment. And not here tonight with us, uh we have Rome Seoen. He's a part-time maintenance worker. And then we have uh Ruben Sedano and Ameiliano Barios who are starting as utility maintenance workers. So uh thank you all and welcome. Thank you.

May I have park and recreations employee please? Hi my name is Joe Han. Sorry, I'm not as tall. So, on behalf of Director Heim tonight, I'd like to introduce you to our new parks and recreation department employee. So, please, as I call your name, please raise your hand. Um, and we'll kind of go through that. Um, I apologize for that.

Joe wouldn't forget that.

Um, Jesse Spangler. Okay. Jesse is a new maiden workers in the recreation divisions and a recent graduate of California State University Bakerfield. Jesse is also a substitute teacher for Los Bandis Unified School District and enjoys being able to mentor and teach students of all ages. Jesse is enjoying his new role as a main worker and strive to expand his knowledge within the department and learn new skills. Hey, Brian Durham. Uh Brian's no Brian tonight. Okay. Uh Margarita Ortiz. Okay. Margarita. Margarita is a new recreation assistant in the parks and recreation department and has been a part of Los Angeles community since 2018. Margarita enjoys being part of a team which focuses on providing recreation activities for both children and adults and is excited to assist with upcoming community events. Margarita appreciates the opportunity to be able to contribute to both the department and the city of Laspanis. Okay. Michael Conensza. Okay. Michael is a new recreation assistance in the park and recreation department and is currently attending Merced College and is studying financial accounting. Michael was also a volunteer high school football coach and enjoys working with the youth in our community. He's enjoys being a part of a team and is looking forward to assist with upcoming events and the youth sports program that the recreation division has to offer. Okay. Uh Karina Salvatir. Okay. Karina is also a recreation assistance and is currently attending Merced College to obtain an associate degree in business administrations. Karina is a recent graduate of Los Bangas High School and is enthusiastic about contributing creatively to the department and being able to support staff. Karina is eager to learn all things park and recreation and continue to grow as an employee with the city of Laspanis. Okay. Last but not least, Danella Danella Gilford. Okay. Uh Danella began her career with the park and recreation department as a recck assistant and was recently promoted to a

recreation's coordinator. One, Danella has a true passion for connecting with people and creating friendly and welcoming environments for residents of all ages. She is excited for her new role and to be part of a team that helps a community thrive through exceptional recreational experience. Thank you and welcome. Welcome. Thank you. So, I'll pass that on to our community economic development director, Suzelle.

All right. I have one new employee for the community and economic development department. Her name is Maris Soul Romero. She's our new homeless outreach coordinator. She joins our housing division within our department. She brings many years of experience in social work and community service, including supporting farm workers, housing grants, and helping residents access important resources. Previously, she was commuting to the Bay Area and we are so grateful she is now able to work in the community that she lives in. We are honored to have her kindness and her strong communication skills on our team. and she's bilingual and helps us out tremendously in the encampment. Thank you. Thank you.

Finance Department Director Moreno Good evening. Um, here we have Monica Hegy joining the finance department in November as our newest accounting clerk. She brings a wonderful connection to our organization, having worked for the city nearly 30 years ago, and we're especially proud to note that her husband was recently recognized as the employee of the year. We're delighted to welcome Monica back to her part of being a part of the finance department finance team. And to my right, we have Martha Brazil, who has served for the city 23 years in finance and public works, has also returned to the department as an accountant, too. Her deep institutional knowledge and long-standing commitment to the organization make her an invaluable addition to our team. With these two talented employees on board, the finance department is now fully staffed and well positioned to continued success. And just for the record, we were limited to two sentences per employee. I kept it within those TWO finance is always very accurate downs to the last instructions and periods at the end of the sentence, too. So, thank you, Mimi. Um, and of course, our city attorney, um,

So, this is particularly exciting for me um in that we are growing the new in-house legal department and Alex Torres has joined as my new legal assistant. And I'll read probably three cents as many. Alex Doris has experience in both the private and public sectors, having worked in various areas of the law. She earned her bachelor's degree in legal studies from Humphrey's University in 2021 and previously served with the Merced County Human Services Agency as the secretary for the housing and support services branch. Alex brings a strong background in administrative support, confidentiality, and public service and looks forward to serving the city of Losanos. And I can tell you she has already been an invaluable member of our team. So thank you and WELCOME

MAYOR. That's include our in employee introduction for tonight. But I be remiss without saying that even though after 31 years building this organizations um our former human resource director Lucy Malan continued to leave her legacy and all 23 employee because she did help process all of them in the last two or three months. and this wouldn't have not happened without her. Um, and I want to also thank you to the family who show up for the employee tonight. Um, that that we are not able to do the work we do every day without your support. So, with that, mayor, I would like to request we go into a quick recess to allow the family the opportunity to take some photos and of course for any council members and and whatnot for just a couple minutes.

Okay, we'll take a five minute recess and welcome aboard everyone. We really appreciate you being in place.

Okay, we'll we'll start up our meeting back. Thank you for allowing us to take that fivem minute recess. Now we'll move on to our public forum. Members of the public may address the city council members on any item of public interest that's within the jurisdiction of our city and the city council includes agenda and non-aggenda items. No action could be taken on non-aggenda items. Speakers have five minutes for their presentation and please come forward and introduce yourself at the at the podium there. Anyone that like to speak?

Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and city council members and also to the city staff. My name is Larry Buyers, and as you may recall, I'm a I was a proud member of the Los Banos Tree Commission. Uh, one of the subjects I want to talk about tonight is, uh, I'm up for renewal for a commissioner and I'm hoping that, uh, the city council will, uh, reinstate me for two more years on the tree commission of Laspanos. So, that is the first the first subject. Um, all my subject tonight begin with the letters T and R. So, the first began with TR was trees. Uh, the second is trauma. And I want to talk about uh I've talked about this before. Uh Southern Health is uh going to be building a new hospital here in our city. Uh they cannot uh upgrade the hospital because it won't meet earthquake standards. So I spoke before in this from this podium regarding the fact that I would like to see a trauma center being built in the new hospital whenever it is built. And um I really uh uh am concerned about that because our current hospital is not equipped with a trauma center. Uh what that means to the city of Laspanos is if we have a trauma center in in our hospital, we are equipped to handle u many emergencies, particularly those that would occur on the highways and byways like 152 and on u um Interstate 5. there's a major traffic accident. Right now, we read that the accident victims uh were taken to uh a Modesto area hospital. They were flown there because we haven't got a trauma center in our hospital currently. So, like to see if we could change that. Hope the city council is behind me getting that trauma center built when the new hospital is built. Um third subject is

traffic. Once again, the subjects are all TR uh type subjects. So, traffic uh the complete streets project, I've spoken about that. That's regarding Pioneer Road. Uh right now, Pioneer Road is a two-lane thoroughare. Uh we are planning to within 20 years build it out to uh four lanes. My request is that we consider planning for six lanes as opposed to four lanes because by the time we build out the Pioneer Road uh for four lanes in 20 years, uh we will need to build out for for uh for six lanes. So, may as well plan for that event. Now, um my real reason for talking tonight is uh I'm going to be talking trash. And I'm not really speaking in terms of talking trash, but I'm talking about trash. Uh, Mid Valley Disposal is doing a wonderful job for us uh in uh in collecting our trash and recyclables and so forth. Um, I was able to convince my wife to finally get rid of our uh old tube TVs, uh, three VCRs, and a 50-year-old Radio Shack stereo. Uh, I spoke to someone at Mid Valley Disposal and they uh very graciously uh came out and picked up uh the discards. I had the two tube TVs, the three VCRs and the Radio Shack stereo that was 50 years old, didn't work anymore, and they came out and picked them up. Uh, that was great. Uh, now I've convinced my wife that I need to uh clean out the crawl space above the our our uh our our twocar garage, and that's going to require hauling trash away. And as you can see, I use this to walk. I looked at the attic stairs uh over the Christmas

holiday when was on when I was on vacation and I decided I can't get up to the attic anymore. So, uh, we need to figure out a way to get what's up there down here and then maybe, uh, uh, to the, uh, events that we have. And we have the events twice a year at Laspano Spring Fairgrounds where, uh, we can take our trash there and, uh, it's it's okay for those who have a pickup truck. I don't have one. So, what I would like to see if we could consider doing is doing what many communities that I drive through in the Bay Area have done is they have a trash collection day where you take your trash to the curb. That is trash that cannot be hauled away necessarily in the in the uh in the bins. And uh right now um uh I have so much trash or potential trash in my crawl space. I'd like to be able to get rid of it. And it would be so much easier to take it to the curb on a potential trash collection day if we could uh arrange for that. Now, I realize the first time that we do that, uh we'll have there'll be an untold amount of trash to pick up at the curb. It's going to cost a lot of money, take a lot of trucks to haul it away. Second time, third time, fourth time, maybe not that much. I would like to be an advocate for uh curbside junk pickup one day per year. I realize we need to set parameters expectations.

Mr. Buyers, I need to interrupt. Your aotted time is up now and upon my recommendation, council needs to move on. Thank you. Thank you, Larry. So I I I'm a little too lenient on my time and so I've been told by legal and we have to keep everything straight that from now on we have to limit to five minutes. So So uh I'll I'll play the game. I'll I'll play by the rules, I should say. Carlos Lores, District 1. Welcome, Carlos.

Welcome. Hello. Uh I didn't see you guys during the holidays spending time with the family, but I'm back now. Um what I wanted to kind of speak about is um there is an issue with politics inside Los Bios right in the sense that I feel like the community in a sense feels like they're disconnected like the city council is not connected to them and the and they're not connected to the city council right and so the thing is is that in every district every people in those districts vote for the people that they think that they're going to do the best for their possible districts right and advocate for and get things done, right? And I thought I know things take a long time, right? But in in my mind, I'm always curious and asking questions, right? And so I go, well, how long does things take to get done in Los Banos? Like if things come in public meetings, we're here. We're bringing things up like sir over here, you know, try he came up with some great ideas, right? When do those come into fruition, right? Obviously, we not going to vote on it and get the things done. You guys are the ones that have to vote on it, right? because there's seven members here, right? So, I did a little research and people here that organized love to network, right? And so, they sent me some emails between them and the mayor, right? Just to get a gist of how it works, right? And the one that I see and it was about the homeless situation, right? And I read them going back and forth because they wanted to see they wanted me to see both dialogues to see how this works, right? And so I I read them and from what I got from it is the city council likes to drag his feet, right? A lot of times when I come here, I only hear a couple people speak, right? And the thing is though is as a community those buyers is going to keep on growing because from what I understand the biggest developer here is

going to make a lot more houses and I hope stores and everything else comes with that right but at the same time just like he said on Pioneer when are you guys going to plan ahead for the city growing right if it pass 100,000 the thing is is that when I read those emails I seen even when the people were asking for public records they didn't actually receive the public records that they were asking for, right? And this was about the homeless encampment about the homeless monies that were coming into Los Banos, right? And so I just want to put that out there that we are organizing just to let you know, not only that, I was out there at the homeless encampment the other day, right? Cuz I do work social services and so my job is always to ask questions, especially when you see a third world country right next to the police station, right? And then you wonder that little piece of black top with that fence, whatever it is, right? Why isn't there anything covering it? Like, why isn't there anything helping them out? So, when I go over there, I see a bunch of pallets under their tents. And I go, "What's up with the pallets?" Right? Oh, they're like, "Oh, they didn't never gave us anything to put on the bottom for the moisture that comes down." So, everybody's getting wet when they're sleeping at night, right? Where's the where's the humanity in that? Right? And I go, "When did they give you guys the tarps to put on top?" "Oh, they only gave those a couple of days ago." I go, "Winter's almost over, dude. You guys barely got tarps right now." So, the thing that I'm saying is, when are we going to start seeing things into fruition, right? When are we going to see grounds being broken? When are we going to start seeing things in general? Because the city keeps on growing. And with with growth, we demand. We want, right? And since we're the ones paying taxes on our houses, right, and we wish there was more stores so we could keep taxes here to bring in more revenue into those miles so we could do more stuff because I remember at the park from what

I heard everything that we spoke about, we had money for everything, right? There was no that we don't have no money for nothing. But anyways, I just want to bring that up. Um, I'm back. I'll see you guys in two weeks. Um, I'm going to keep on doing my research and um, keep on pushing forward for the community. Okay. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anyone else? Please come forward. Good evening, council, mayor, staff. Um, I wanted to um speak to you just a little bit for some information. Um, you know that I work very heavily with a feral cat population and um and have a lot of resources for uh rescues to get them there and other sources. And um but I wanted to let you know that over the holidays I ended up for Christmas getting a new uh dog trap. and and there is such a thing as a dog traps and they're a little larger and um I was um able to break it in over the holidays and these are not it's not I'm not stepping on anybody's toes um during the weekday or when uh the county or the city has um a a good hold of what's going on. But when a dog gets lost, it has just a few hours before it becomes in a survivor mode. And it's essential before they become a pack to go ahead and uh trap them and

get them to rescues. Um what I'm asking uh today is um that well I'm asking several things but I just wanted to let you know that over the holidays the shelter all the rescues everybody were we're full. Um and the population is helping with with some of that. Um, but with the with everything being so full, um, there's some new laws that are going to be helping us. And I'm hope I'm I'm not going to interpret laws for everybody, but I am asking the mayor and the council with legal to look at these new California laws that will assist us um with more knowledge with um individuals that breed u for profit that use puppy mills um outside of our state that use individuals that um that are gobetweens and individuals that don't mind posting and pushing because what ends up happening is with all of that and with rehoming and um with individuals not doing their homework about breed or their life changes drastically. What ends up happening is that it's harder for the rescues and it's harder for our shelter because those dogs don't go out because the influx. So, there has been some laws passed and if we could get some assistance and some knowledge of interpretation

and um of these new laws and how we can work together for them. Um, so thank goodness for another legal employee. Um, the second thing I wanted to mention since we have a new finance employee is that if possibly in the future we have lots of people that want to donate uh to the shelter for their good works. But if we could have something where people can go ahead and donate um of of their own accord, of course. no pushing for donations, but if they could click, I'm positive that they'll be happy to go ahead and do so if we give them that resource and we help our shelter out and those especially the animals. So once again, thank you. Happy New Year and uh let's go and and continue. Thank you for helping the animals. Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else, please come forward. You're welcome to speak. Welcome. Thank you, uh, Mr. Mayor and council members. Uh, I wasn't going to speak this evening, but there was something that that was weighing on me personally. Um, it's regards to condominiums in Laspanos, condos, town homes, things of that nature. Uh, and the reason why I bring this up, my mom now is at an age where she retired last in ' 65. She retired 65 and she's now at the age where she needs to downsize. and we were looking around at what's available in Los Thanos. Um, and there wasn't a lot. I mean, there was a senior community. I spoke to her about that and she was like, I want to be around families and the community. I don't want to be in a senior center. Just wasn't for her. And there was no uh condos on the market. And I do know uh there's been some conversations. I've heard presentations from our planning department that condos are coming. Um but there needs to be a greater effort I believe to focus and incorporating condos, town homes, things of that nature into our development. Uh my mom ultimately had to make a decision. Do I stay in Losano, stay in my home that's costly to maintain, landscaping, roofing, all maintenance out outsourced and she came to the conclusion that she had to leave. She she moved to Los She's moving to Modesto to a condo that has all the amenities that will meet meet her needs. Uh, I know the hospital was talked about earlier today um in public comment and that was the other factor that we considered. My mom's now at the age where I'm worried about should something happen, it's a cardio issue, any health issue, do we have the facilities, the treatment centers here uh to provide the needed services, um, transportation, food, entertainment, things of those nature. Uh, and I I don't feel that we do. and she and I sat down. It was a hard conversation. My dad passed away uh during co and so it was me and my mom

talking about how are we going to figure this out? Um and it it was a hard decision for me to say, "Mom, you got to move on because we just don't have the amenities for someone your age here." Um and it may work for some. Uh, but I'm sure there are many seniors now entering that phase of life phase of life where they're weighing what options are there. Um, and so I just want to implore this council to please think about increasing condos, studios, looking at different developments and how we can increase those numbers because it's not growing at the rate that our housing is growing. There needs to be some proportion, some percentage incorporated into our development. Maybe that is there. I I don't know. Um, but it'd be nice to have a presentation at some point and how we're meeting our senior needs because Lost Balance does have a an aging population. Uh, and some folks are very fortunate to be able to have the resources to stay in their home. Uh, others do not and they're looking to downsize. And when you look to downsize, there's not too many options outside of going and there's not even two-bedroom homes available in Los Mos cuz the market doesn't call for that. So, I just wanted to share my experience and with the hopes that this council uh will look into the future and how we could increase the numbers of those types of housing needs. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else please come forward? Okay, I do not see or hear anyone coming forward, so I'll go ahead and close the public forum. And there were um very good points brought up in public forum. Uh we are aware of the housing needs. Um and we're far from what this city deserves and its citizens deserve, I should say. Uh but we're looking at the whole thing and we're looking at that. We're looking at smaller homes. I've talked about

two-bedroom homes u instead of three and five and sixbedroom homes, which to me is crazy. But anyway, uh we're talking all that, but unfortunately all that stuff takes time to get through the process. So anyway, we will move on now, but I appreciate everybody that spoke at the public forum. You're always welcome to speak at our public forum. And now we'll move on to the con consideration of our approval of the consent agenda. And Lucy, if you could read off the consent agenda, please. Mr. Mayor, did council member Lewis want to remove an item for discussion or Oh, okay. Okay.

Items on the consent agenda are as follow. We're numbers 255329 through 255789 in the amount of 3,62,235.72. City council meeting minutes for December 17th, 2025. City Council resolution number 7038, delegate substitution for the 2026 Merced County Association of Government's One Voice Program. City Council resolution number 7039 accepting the Transportation Development Act funds financial statement for the years ended June 20th, 2020, 2022, and 2021. City Council resolution number 7040 authorizing the release of unclaimed checks pursuant to California Government Code section 500055 to the city of Los Banis. City Council resolution number 7041 rejecting the bids for the construction of well number 16, test well number two, consideration of approval of the Las Successor Agency minutes for January 15, 2025 and the items are to be approved as submitted.

Okay. So there was a request by my mayor prom to remove item 8F and I also want to remove item C and so um I'll go ahead and talk about item C right now before we have a motion. Um so at the last MCAG meeting uh which this is the delegate. So MCAG has a one voice program where city uh all the cities, the six cities in the county and the county and MCAG go up to Washington and and they talk with the senators and and the Congress and try and their staff and try to develop a relationship so we can get more funding federally from from the government. And it's been uh it's been going on for about 20 years and it's been very successful. They've got money. They've got money for airports, roads, uh police has gotten money. Uh public safety's got money, but it's a little bit different in the federal government right now. And and if you're from California, there's not a lot of willingness to give California any money right now. So, um, we talked about it at because at the MCAG meeting, it was like, are we going forward or what's the case? And I I came up and said, I I just don't think it's time to spend the money unless we're we know we can make good progress because last year really, they went and there really wasn't very good. you you you get to meet the people and that's good and you get to especially their staff because they get to know you and then when you come up the next year they know who you are and and a lot of these government things you have to meet people three times and on the third time they finally release some money to you it's it's sort of like how they play the game and it's that same way at the state

too but anyway so you do build a relationships and there is money but right now I just don't think it's it's right to go spend the monies cuz it costs each city to send the representatives. It costs MCAG and it costs the county. And the county also has they do a federal one through their federal uh lobbyists and they do that in September. September October se they do that that time and so and they've been pretty successful with that too. I don't know if they're going to do that this year but anyway. So, long story short, we decided to pause the one voice uh for this year and then retool it a little bit uh and see if we can do it next year. And I think that's the right decision. So at that time, so at this time I want to go ahead and remove that because there's not going to be a delegate and uh we're all really busy and if we can get success then it's worth going but to spend the money and the week five days of Washington DC it's not the right thing to do. So that's with item 8 C and then Mayor Prom for item 8F.

Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Uh yes. Uh mine would be for uh clarification um and for public notice. Uh we had a bid out for uh public works for uh wells number 16, well number 16. And um there was a protest by one of the uh contractors and um my question would be uh when we send out our bids um do we specify exactly the qualifications that are needed uh for a contractor to submit a a bid to the city of Los. So, I just wanted to to bring that out and make sure that we understood and that the public understood that, you know, this would be the case for the city. Uh, mayor promp mayor um if I may. So, yes, uh typically when we um put a bid or release the bid out for um for bid um we do specify one of the required document is their qualification to do a similar project and in this case would be the depth of the drilling. Um, unfortunately for this bid package, we have a discrepancy to where a front page of the bid was required a 350 ft depth and then the back was at a thousand. So there is a bit of a conflict. Unfortunately, some of the bidder that was bidding um for this project don't have the,000 ft requirements. Um although it's worth noting that the test wall itself will be at 350 and not a,000 ft. So it's in the best interest of all bidder that we revise that bid document and push it back out so that everyone that has a qualify experience at 350 ft would be able to rebid that fairly.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, mayor. Okay. Thank you. So, uh there's anything else on that? So, first we could have a motion to remove item 8 C from the consent agenda. Yes, Mayor. I'd like to make a motion to remove item 8 C from uh the consent agenda and to approve the rest of the uh consent agenda as submitted. Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second as stated. Any further questions or comments? All in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Next item is appointment, excuse me, is uh appointment of members to the following commissions. And uh so last week we did a lot of work. We the way uh the council council has set this up is that we have zoom meetings with with all the uh applicants for the different commissions and uh we had a really good turnout. Uh one of the for parks and recck we had eight people eight qualified very good people that wanted to be on the parks and recck commission. We had two openings and you know we we sit up here and we say you know you got to be part of the city you got to be part of the city you got to join the commissions join the committees and all this stuff and then we get it and we only have two openings it's oh my gosh it's it was just tough decision so anyway um uh but we went forward and um the first one's airport commission uh there's two two-year terms and actually the airport commission only had Dennis Reed applying for it and Dennis knows what he's doing. So, uh, my recommendation in to make the motion to approve Dennis Reed as the airport commission. If I could have a second, please.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to appoint Dennis Reed to Airport Advisory Commission. His term would be expiring December 31st, 2027. All in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Eyes have it. Now we turn to the parks and recreation commission and with this I we worked on this with mayor prom lewis. So you want to say anything here prom? Well, we had some excellent applicants for parks and wreck and um but we had two outstanding uh candidates. Um uh one a gentleman that u has some really good qualifications that are that will help us in regards to our advertisement and moving forward. So, um I appreciate every applicant that put in in their application to be on park and wreck, but um it was a tough decision to narrow it down to two. And I just, you know, as the mayor said, I want to encourage people to still move forward, put in their applications when we have an opening. It's really it was really um very good to see that many people who want to participate in the operation of our community. So, it was it was great.

Great. Thank you. So, we have two two applications, two uh two openings. They're two-year terms expiring December 31st, 2027. And I'd like to make a motion to approve Wes Wise and Jerry Belvin to those two positions. I'll second that motion.

Yeah, we have a motion and second as stated. Any further questions or comments? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Congratulations to those two. The last one is the tree commissioned. We had three two-year terms and again uh excellent candidates. It's really in inspiring and motivating for us up here that people want to get involved. I that's what it's all about. We we have the title here, but it's really all of our city and everybody's everybody's opinion is just as important as someone with a title up here really. So, with the tree commission, I think I'm going to make one person a little happy, but uh we've decided for the three positions, Janette Guzman Lopez, Javier RmIrez, Delegado, and Lawrence Buyers. So, we came through to you with you, Larry. See? So, that's my motion to to uh to appoint those three people to the tree commission for two-year term ending on December 31st, 2027. I'll second the motion.

Okay, we have motion and second. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Eyes have it. So again, thank you for everybody that applied. We really appreciate it. Please can if you weren't selected, please apply again. That's all I can say. We just uh we need your input and I'm sorry we just can't put everybody on these on these posts and these commissions and these committees. Item 10, consideration of adoption of the city resolution number 7042, accepting the 2024 2025 fiscal year audit reports consisting of the annual compens comprehensive financial report and the government auditing standards report. And with this, we'll go to our finance director, Minnie Moreno.

Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the city council, staff, and members of the public. The annual comprehensive financial report, better known as ACFur, provides a complete picture of the city's financial condition for fiscal year 2425. It includes required financial statement analysis, a historical data that demonstrates the city's financial or fiscal health, long-term stability, and compliance with accounting standards. I'm going to be giving you a lot of numbers, but then I will summarize it with four sentences. So, um, bear with me. Uh, our overall financial position for the city, our net position is 351 million. It's an increase from the prior year of 28 million. In our government activities, it's an increase of 16.1 million. In our business type activities, um, which are water, sewer, and and garbage, um, is 11.9. Our unrestricted net position is 54 million. Our assets have increased by 46 million. This is driven by equipment purchases and infrastructure improvements. Our liabilities have increased by 15 million largely due to a state grant that we had to record as as liability. Deferred out outflows decreased by 4.2 and deferred inflows decreased by 1.5 primarily due to our pension and our oped activity. Combined ending fund balance for the general the government funds is 106 million an increase of 3.4 million. We have unassign unassigned fund balance of 27 million which I'll break down for you um in preparation of our next fiscal year's budget. Um the 44 million of that is 8 million of measure H um assigned funds. 8 million that you've committed to the development services center. 6.2

million that you have assigned to streets, homeless, parks, economic development and Kalpers. 88 million in fiscal stability which is our 30% stability um reserve and then 13 million in uh unassigned uh monies. Um of this 13 million uh we had anticipated in the prior budget cycle that we'd be at 11.7. So we are about 1.2 2575 um over what that estimate estimate was. Um so overall our unassigned balance um which includes the fiscal stability and the unassigned is 83% of our annual budget. So we're doing really good. Uh yearover-year we had 546,000 um increase uh to property tax growth uh development activities and investment earnings. Uh budget revenues exceeded budget by 683,000. Expenditures were 6.2 million under the intended amended budget which were making sure that we're working with our departments to make sure that they spend the monies that and and provide the projects that they said they're going to be providing. We've been working really hard this year to um get that across to all of our departments. The net capital position for the city is 198 million in land, building, infrastructure, equipment and construction. Restricted net position 98 million and then again the unrestricted is 54 million. Cash and investments we have 209 million invested in compliance with the government California government code. We have 187 million um in capital assets reflecting 26 million increase from the infrastructure and equipment investments. We have long-term obligations

um which we have the I bank financing lease of 13 million compensated ab absences decrease 3.4 4 million due to an accounting change. IT subscriptions liability increased 965 million with the new system licenses. Our net pension liability is 31.98 million with our plan approximately 79% funded which is a really good number too. What does all of this mean? The city remains in a strong financial financial position with positive growth in both government and enterprise operations. Reserves remain healthy and the general fund continues to exceed minimum policy thresholds. Capital investments is accelerating especially in public safety facilities and infrastructure. The city continues to benefit from the property tax growth, development activities and strong investment earnings. So with this, it is my privilege to introduce our independent auditors who have comp completed a comprehensive review of the city's financial statements, internal controls, and compliance with the application application regulations. This work plays a v vital role in supporting integrity, transparency, and accountability in our financial operations. Following their thorough assessments, the auditors auditors have issued an unmodified or clean opinion of the city's financial statements, confirming that they fairly present the city's financial position in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. This outcome reflects our continued commitment to strong fiscal stewardship and adherence to professional standards. At this time, I'd like to turn the presentation over to Clifton Larson Allen LLP. Mr. Joseph Judson, CPA, will provide an overview of the audit process, including the responsibilities of management and the

auditors, the results of the fiscal year 202425 audit, and key points from the required communication. Please join me in welcoming CPA Joseph Judson as he begins this presentation. Thank you, Minnie. Good to see you. Hi.

Uh good evening, members of the council, Mr. Mayor, and uh staff of the city as well. Um, could I have the next slide, please? Oh, thank you very much. Oh, forward. There we go. Okay, we can skip that one. Um, okay. Uh, so I am here tonight, Nice, handsome guy up there. Um, I'm here tonight to present uh our audit results for the city's annual comprehensive financial report for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Um, so this is our first year with the city auditing the financial statements. Um, and along with that, first year audits can be a little difficult. You know, I'm sure Minnie can attest and her staff as well that we've bugged them with a million different questions just to making sure that we understand the city's controls and processes. And it definitely is a collaborative effort. So, I do want to take a second here to thank uh Director Marino and her staff uh for all their help in um you know completing this audit in a timely manner. Um, just to give you a little background on our firm, uh, we are a national firm, CLA LLP, uh, with nearly 9,000 people and uh, 30 plus locations across the country. Um, and a big part of the firm is our state and local government. Um, you know, I work entirely on state and local government clients. Uh, you know, with 60 years plus in business for the firm, 600 plus professional, over 4,200, um, entities. So we have a vast experience you know with cities and counties and local municipalities. So uh for this I will go over you know as as director Marino mentioned the some responsibilities of the parties involved in the audit. I'll give you a quick um overview of our audit approach. Uh we'll talk through our audit results um as well as a couple of uh key areas from our to communicate to governance and um upcoming gazsby pronouncements. So in an audit we have three parties generally involved. Uh we have

governance you know responsible for the organiz organizational oversight strategic direction all that good things. Um management who is making the day-to-day decisions and uh you know the most important you know point here is you know management's responsible for the fair presentation the financial statements. You know these are management's numbers. We are coming in we're auditing giving our opinion on them. Um but you know management is you know responsible for the amounts that are in the act. Um as the independent auditors we are issuing an opinion on the fair presentation of the financial statements. Uh we also issue a separate report uh on the audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as well as government auditing standards. Uh that's sometimes referred to as the yellowbook letter. Um but that is our opinion on the internal controls of the city. Um you know along with that uh we give reasonable but not absolute assurance uh that the financial statements are free from material misstatement. Um you know again you're weighing kind of cost and benefit of digging into every transaction. So we use materiality to um make give our opinion. Uh we also um you know complete understanding of internal controls for significant accounts and the financial statements. So kind of walk through processes and controls and things like that. So our audit approach is generally four phases. Um you know we have our planning when we are you know kind of getting to know the city uh understanding processes um interviewing you know members of departments um you know compiling a giant list of requests that the finance department was responsible for giving to us which we really appreciated. um you know that kind of blends into our systems evaluation where we are reviewing the city's you know financial policies and procedures and kind of how things end up in the financial statements. From there we are testing transactions uh we call that our fieldwork uh phase of the audit. So that's when we're reviewing invoices things like that and then finally reporting uh which involves you know compiling our auditors reports

and you know presenting them to you here tonight. Uh so our results have been spoiled a little bit but as uh the finance director mentioned it we issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements that is the highest opinion we can give. Um it's also referred to as a clean opinion. So in our opinion uh the financial statements are free from material misstatement and error. Along with that we did not have any audit findings to report. Um so another good sign there audit. Uh as far as a single audit, the city didn't meet the threshold uh to require a single audit for this year. Um so there's no single audit report and you know as a result no findings there. Uh these next two slides are blank which is very good. No findings. Uh there also no findings in the prior year for us to report on as well. Uh so I'll run through a few things here that we are required to communicate. Um you know firstly as far as accounting policies you can find those described uh uh in note one to the acter uh this year um you know as mentioned earlier there was a new gazsby standard regarding compensated absences uh which is also disclosed in the financial statements. Um, as far as significant accounting estimates, uh, you know, the three we kind of circled on here are net pension liability, net oped liability, which both come from actuaries, and the landfill for the, uh, sorry, liability for the landfill closure and postclosure, uh, which is based based on engineering estimates. Um, then more good things here. Uh, no corrected or uncorrected material misstatements to report. Um, there were no disagreements with management. uh and to our knowledge there were no consultations with other accountants. Uh we did not identify any fraud or illegal acts during the course of our audit procedures. Uh we did not have any significant difficulties encountered during the audit. Uh there are a few areas of the ACT for where we perform

limited procedures in accordance with governing auditing standards. Uh that would be supple the supplementary information. the other supplementary information which is composed of the introductory and statistical sections uh as well as the required supplementary information. Uh and lastly, management has provided us with uh a letter with a few repres representations for the audits about the you know the integrity of the data provided to us. Okay. Lastly here, um, you know, as far as new Gazsby standards coming out, uh, we do have GASBY statement number 103, which will be implemented for the year ended June 30th, 2026. Uh, and with that, there's some changes to the MDNA and the reporting on unusual or infrequent items, as well as as a few changes to the presentation for proprietary funds, uh, you know, which is like your water and sewer funds, uh, as well as a few changes to the way the budgetary comparison information is presented. Uh with that some legal jargon for the lawyers and that is all I have. Uh with that I'll open up for any questions or regarding the audit.

I think you explained it really well. Any questions from the council?

So I do want to take the time to thank our auditors for doing a really thorough job of of reviewing our financial statements. Um staff does recommend that recommend to adopt the resolution accepting the 2024-25 annual comprehensive financial report and the governing auditing standards report prepared by our auditors. Um so but I also want to thank my staff that's here and the staff that's not here. Uh it was a collaborative effort um to get this done um and to do it in a timely manner. We're very timely in this year. Um, making sure that we keep on that momentum and now that we're fully staffed, I think we're we're in really good and good hands right now to to keep that momentum going.

Excellent. Um, out of all your comments when you're when you were describing everything, 30% reserve that is very important for this city and I'm really proud of that. Proud of you and your staff what you're doing for this city. We thank you very much. It's really it's re reassuring for us and the city and the city residents. So with that, I'll take a motion for uh item 10. Yes, mayor. I'd like to make a motion to adopt city council resolution number 7042 as read by title. I'll second.

Okay. We have a motion for resolution 7042 as stated. for our fiscal year audit report. Any further questions or comments? Not hearing any. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. And with that, we'll move to item 11, consideration of approval of the Los Successor Agency resolution number 2026-1, approving a recognized obligation, payment schedule, ROPs, and administrative budget for fiscal year 2026 and 2027. We go back to Finance Director Moreno.

Good evening, chair and members of the successor agency, staff, and members of the public. The successor agency is required to submit an annual recognized obligation payment schedule, better known as ROPS, identifying enforceable obligations and the funding needs to be met for these obligations. Our Rob's 2026 27 covers the period from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 and requires oversight board approval prior to the submission to the countywide oversight board of the county of Merced and then submission to the California Department of Finance. The roses for 2026 27 are is requesting 1.948 million. Um and the funding for that is for the enforceable obligations of 1.8 million administrative cost of 50,000. So no bond proceeds, reserve balances or other funds are being requested. Our enforceable obligations um are four it's the administrative costs of 50,000 the tax allocation refunding bonds debt service which is uh principal and interest of 1.8 8 million uh trustee fees of 4,000 and then contract uh obligations of LNL district reimbursements of 15,000. All obligations are ongoing and consistent with the Rob sub uh submissions. Our cash balance included 46,000 in bond proceeds and 10,980 in reserve balances that are held with the department of finance. Our revenues um for period 20 these are sorry these are for 2324 um were 1.9 million expenditures 1.9 million uh our ending uh RT rptf balance is 21,745 a prior period adjustment of 221,520

which will offset future distributions um was calculated um staff recommends that the oversight board adopt resolution 2006- 2026-1 approve approving a recognized obligation payment schedules and administrative budget for fiscal year 2026 and 27 and authorize authorize a submission to the countywide oversight board of the county of Merrced and then submission to the California Department of Finance. With that, I open it to any questions. This pretty routine.

Yeah. So just to explain to the public uh a lot of numbers there. Uh so around I think it was 2012 uh the state decided to close all the redevelopment agencies and so all the agencies all the cities that had redevelopment agencies had outstanding balances that and uh and loans they had to pay on. So when that was so I became the chair of that agency which was the designated land authority. It was a two to three year gig and it lasted 12 years. So that's government. So anyway, so um I've been the chair of this since the beginning and basically the state gives us the money to pay our obligations. Basically that's we so we have to do the rocks and tell the state what we need and they they agree with us. That's what all this is about. and we're allowed to pay off our bonds and everything that the redevelopment agency took on during it started in 95 I think 1995 till it ended in 2012. So that's what this is is pretty much a counting thing that we have to do once a year and that's the story. So I'll entertain a motion for resolution 2026-1. Yes, mayor. I'll I'll make the motion. But before uh before I make the motion, um I understand that uh well, when the deal the um uh redevelopment agency was dissolved, what was that? 2012,

I think it was right around there. And uh this bond obligation goes up to 2044, is it? That's about 32 years. um will we be around the the state will still be paying off this obligation. So, but I'm I'm glad that they're they're paying it off and not requiring uh the local municipality to to do this. So, with that being said, I'd like to um make a approval of the Losanos uh successor agency resolution number 2026-1 as read by title.

No, second. Okay, we have a motion, a second as stated for resolution 2026-1. Any further comments or questions? All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you, director. Now, we'll go to our city department's reports and uh we'll start with community economic director Stacy Souza Elms. Stacy,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just a few items. Uh, first I uh want to let the council and the public know that tomorrow starting at 6:00 a.m. will be the point in time count um which is required by HUD um for our unhoused uh community. It's a census of the unhoused within the community. Um HED requires this to be done every other year. Um, but the Mercured City and County Continuum of Care, COC, uh, they require it every year. Um, and so nationwide it's done on the same day at the same time. um which starts at 6:00 a.m. Um Las Vegas's count will start at 6:00 a.m. Um so you'll see folks um um in the encampment or in the um outskirt areas of where we have um unhoused folks and that's what we're doing um following HUD's requirements. The next is announcement of our public hearing notices. Uh we have one public hearing for Overland Trail. It's a vesting tenative tract map for 50 units off of Wilma Avenue. Um and uh Council Member Lewis may remember originally this was called Mission Village South Phase 5B. Um so it's um been renamed, rebranded. Um, but it's back before us for consideration and it'll be presented to the planning commission next Wednesday, uh, the 28th at 6 p.m. Is it the 28th? Yes, it is. Um, and then last item is a grand opening for Wonderland Kids Indoor Playground. They just received their business license today. We're really excited to announce uh that that grand opening will be January 27th. The community is invited to attend as well

as the council. It'll be at 12:00 p.m. They are going to be located at 265 Mercy Springs Road, Sweet C. Uh that is where um Premier Cinema is located, the movie theater in that plaza. And that concludes my report. Thank you very much. Any questions for Stacy? Okay, we'll move on to finance. Director Moreno, I've been talking a lot today. Yes.

Okay. So, um, an update on the PBID. Uh, we finally got a management letter, uh, signed, uh, by the PBID, uh, or by the, um, downtown association and, uh, the professional services agreement to our auditor. So, we, uh, are ready to get started on that audit. So, we I just wanted to give you an update on that. Um, our specialized audit is also, um, coming to a conclusion. Um, we've provided them all the documentation. We're hoping to have that to you uh by the 18th of February 18th meeting. Um so we're hopeful we can get that to you with the the results of that specialized audit. Um a reminder to our um our citizens that we are going to be starting shut offs of water service that there's a lot of options under SB998 that they need to contact us if they're having any hardship or if there's any medical reason or if there's anything that um that we could do to assist in making sure they don't get shut off. Um there is no um calls going out. Um, we're going to do calls uh at the 10day mark and then we're also going to do at the 48 hour mark. Um, so um, if they do have any any questions or anything, just call our finance team. They're ready to help them with any necessary paperwork, any necessary help with with doing that. We're also coordinating that with our public works department, making sure everybody in the city knows what what is going on. Um, this has been quite a few years that this has not happened. So, um, we we are here to help, um, our community and make sure that, you know, that we that we provide as much assistance as we can. Um, with that, I do want to thank my staff for everything that they do. Um, and especially with our audit and and having that come back

clean, that was that's pretty amazing.

Okay. So, I just want to make a comment before you turn off any water. Uh you said calls. So is there any kind of hanger going on the door or anything like that? Cuz that's what that's what really needs to be done. You know, a little you have 48 hours to call us or tell us something or I I when I was mayor the first time I we changed to that, but I know things have changed since I was gone. But, uh, that will really help if we could manually have public works hang something that they have 48 hours or something like that for water turn off call. I'd like to see something like that happen. I know it's probably not in the resolutions and all that stuff, but we can be a little easier. I think

we have the good faith effort as part of the policy. So, come to the podium. Yeah, she should talk. And I and I just want to remind everybody this isn't an agenda item, so there shouldn't be a lengthy discussion about this. Okay. Okay. We'll take take my comments. We will bring it back on the on the fourth if if you need it to come back. Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Next is fire chief duala.

Good evening again. Uh just one little update in regards to our uh emergency medical services. uh uh that was that are now being provided by American Medical Response or AMR. Uh we've seen an improvement with AMR. They are still um I monitor the radio every day to listen to their channel to see how they're doing countywide and they're still able to respond to our calls in a in a timely manner. There are some times where they have an influx of a lot of calls or they've had to take patients out of the area, but they've been able to respond appropriately. So pretty uh happy with the services they've been providing so far and they've been communicating with us uh quite well.

Great. Thanks chief uh with human resources. Any that's that's you. Yeah, mayor. I'll provide that report at my at the city manager report instead. Perfect. Likewise for park and recreation as well.

Okay. Police chief Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Once again, will not be as long as the finance director. Uh quick note, um we have uh we have seven police officer trainees that are currently in the Fresno Police Academy. Uh half of them will graduate in about March, the other half about the end of June, beginning of July. And once um once they all graduate, I'll have them here. Uh one of uh one of them is a new employee uh of our newer group. And so he was not here tonight because he's at the police academy. So when they graduate, I'll bring them here. Um that brings us to two officer vacancies, one dispatcher vacancy, four csos, and one maintenance employee. So we're operating at about 91% of our allotted employees, which is pretty good for an agency our size. Um, a quick reminder to the public, we are almost out of the fog, but just a reminder to turn on those headlights. We still see cars driving around with no headlights in the fog. And, uh, congratulations once again to Detective Aaron Goins for being December employee of the month. He does a fantastic job in the unit and for the department and for the city of Laspano. So, thank you.

Thanks, Chief, very much. Okay. For public works, city engineer, Dean. Yeah, just one quick item. Uh so the city's communicated with Mark Thomas that we intend to move forward with our uh standard specifications update which was originally signed in 2023 something like that. Um they have tentatively agreed to that. However they said that we need to agree to their escalation rates which has been you know 3 years so a small increase as well as a clarification of the scope. So we'll likely be coming back on March 4th I believe with an addendum. Okay great. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll go to our city attorney.

Thank you, mayor. Um, currently I am preparing a legislative update for presentation to council at an upcoming meeting. There are a lot of new laws for 2026 and I will be doing a Brown Act training for the planning commission next Wednesday on the 28th during their regularly scheduled meeting and we'll conduct a similar training for council at an upcoming meeting. Great. Thank you very much, Mary. and our city manager's report.

Thank you, mayor. Um I'll fill in for a couple. Unfortunately, our park and recreations director, Joe, is unable is not able to make it tonight. Um there is quite a lot of events um coming up for our park and recreations. One is our community blood drive. That would be Tuesday, February 4th. Um from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the community center. Um and also I want to just let our resident know on uh a couple save the date. Um, one is coming up here in March and that is a uh Arbor Day. Um, that's Friday, March 6. Um, it's going to be from 4 to 6:00 p.m. at Cit Citrus 2 Basin Park, uh, located at 3:15 North Second Street. Um, there will be tree planting, craft, and fun game. Um, and of course, our annual Los Bound Egg Hunt, that's also save the date on March 28, 2026. Uh, it's going to be from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Um, all of these events are are posted on our monthly newsletter. uh is posted on Facebooks as well as available at the community center as well. Um for human resources um we are working the um jobs posting for our human resource director has been out for quite some time. Um we are preparing to conduct our first interview up um in about a week um for that positions. In the meantimes um we are working on backfilling that positions with an interims um human resource director. She will be starting with us here next week on Monday, January 26th. Um, I'll make a formal introduction to council at the next council meeting. Um, for my reports, um, Mayor Prom and I, um, last week attended the Westside Measure V working group, um, which look at the next two-year programming period for measure B, which is from fiscal year 2829 to fiscal year 2930. If you recall, measure V is a self-help um tax measures that goes toward our transportation infrastructures, things like pavings, roads. A portions of that is allocated to formula base which we do get um to the city automatically based on our populations. The other portions are

allocated as a regional funding and that regional funding has to then be applied and be accepted and approved through the MCG governing board. Uh I am proud to say that um amongst all the staff as well as mayor protime assistants we are able to bring some funding to los binos for this time around. It is not yet approved but is going to um the measure v uh governing board in February. That is for an additional $1.5 million toward our city projects. So total um if approved in this February meeting um those bers will be slate to receive close to um $12 million worth of measure v that is $8.6 $6 million for the Pioneer Road widening project and $3.4 million for the Highway 165 and the Vineyards uh roundabout project. Um the Highway 152 and I Street intersection which is a co- project with Calran pavement project that is slate to receive $200,000. Um and the preliminary study of the Highway 165 and Script Drive intersections for $50,000.

Okay. Great. Um that's include my report. Great. Thank you very much. We'll turn to the city council members report and we'll start with Mayor Prom Deborah Lewis. Mayor,

thank you, Mayor. Um, so I'm going to go back a little bit uh uh to uh December 25, our Valley Air Board meeting. Uh the one thing that stood out and and of course this money may all be gone by now, there was uh $2 million allocated to the air district for zero emission landscape equipment. uh as of that meeting and as of that meeting uh $1.4 million uh uh in applications were already on board uh for eligibility to disperse money leaving roughly about $600,000. So um if there's anyone out there that wants to update their landscape equipment, especially those that are in the profession, uh here's an opportunity for you to go from uh gas to zero emission landscape equipment. Um at the January 15th meeting um we had a 12 uh um uh 12,500 uh,000 aotment from CARB the uh California air uh resource uh board for zero emission vehicles uh in partnership uh to dis uh distribute that money through valley can uh and this is to replace any combustion vehicle with either electric or a hybrid vehicle. And you can go to uh valleyair.com uh and look at the website uh and put in an application and those monies go very quickly. Uh but it doesn't mean that you can't put an application in uh because they will put you in line for the next a lotment that may come forward. Um, I I want to congratulate uh Evan Sanders for the time that he spent with us to help move our city forward with the projects that we had and I wish him

the best in his uh new endeavors for his employment and um uh we miss him. We had a very good service for uh Reverend Do Dr. Martin Luther King this past Monday. Uh especially the remaining service at um at uh uh the church. So um I I would like to invite next year uh people to come out and and uh participate uh to hear about uh the accomplishments that he had. uh the very idea that he was a man of peace and his demonstrations were peaceful despite all the things that were uh foisted on them uh to uh bring forth the the discrimination that was happening at that time. But I um I want to thank everyone who came and participated and the proclamation that our mayor gave was a wonderful proclamation. And congratulations again to Lucy uh on her retirement and it's good to see you here tonight as our city clerk. Uh and also um it it was very enlightening and very you know very pleasing to see all the new employees that we had tonight that were um recently hired uh to serve our community. Um it and thank you uh to our city manager for having them come because that's something uh that I I guess I'll say at the airport when we hire new people we have them come and meet the public and meet the directors and every month we for the people who have um years of service we honor them. So I I really appreciate you doing this and displaying our new employees here at our city council meeting.

I also attended the um December 10th uh MCAG meeting for uh the mayor. Um I think the thing that would have been most important to our community is measure V and our director has given that report. Uh, congratulations again to Director Morales and her staff. Um, it's it's always heartwarming to get a a report such as the one we had tonight where we didn't have any errors in our accounting services. And you know, just want to thank you again for the wonderful job that you're doing, the leadership you're giving to our staff and what you're bringing to our city and to help us as council members understand uh things that um may be a bit difficult for us in the finance world. So, thank you again for the job well done. the um in regards to our trash collection and you know maybe our uh I don't know if our public works engineer knows this or maybe Neuron if you do. I remember talking to one of my neighbors uh because they had a lot of trash out on the curbside. Uh so I do believe that our um our services do uh our trash collection services do offer that to our community. If you call and make an appointment, there are certain days I think within the month uh that you can set out curbside uh collection and it's at no cost to the resident.

I think it's once a year once each resident gets Yeah, I'm not sure. I just Oh, it's okay, Larry. Four times a year.

Okay. um the January 24th Kidland grand opening. Uh Stacy and I I usually like to attend those those events. Uh but uh our um city manager and I will be away on that particular day uh to gather as much information as we can for the uh grant that we received to upgrade our chamber. So uh please give them my congratulations on that particular day. And I'm happy to see that our both our audits are moving forward. Um I I know that I I hear from people in the community that continue to ask about that. So, thank you for that report uh for the public to to let them know that we're moving forward with both those audits. And um I think that's that's my report for tonight, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Good report. Mity Perez, District 1. You have a report. Mity.

Um, well, this being our first meeting of 2026, I just want to wish everyone a happy new year. We do have an exciting year ahead of us. Um, first I'd like to welcome the new city engineer, James Kad, as well as, um, all the new hires. Um, I know we've been in desperate need of a city engineer, so it's great to have you. Um, and again, congrats to Lucy on her retirement. Um, I also just want to share two goals I have for this year. Um, one of them is working closely with the school district and assisting them in hopefully building more schools for the kids in our community. Um, even though it's their responsibility to get these, uh, schools built, I think we can work closely with them to make it happen. Um, it'd be great to put a meeting together with the school district, um, the appropriate representatives from the city, um, as well as have land owners and the developers present so we can all work together and make this happen. Um, another one of my goals is to get some soccer fields. Um, that's one of the main things I heard during my campaign was a lot of residents love soccer. They want their kids to be more involved and I used to play years ago and it's a great healthy way to stay active and um, it teaches teamwork and leadership. So, I think it'd be great if we can make that happen as well. Um, and again, I'm really honored to represent District 1 and not only my district, but the whole city as, you know, as a whole. Um, so I'd like to invite people to reach out to me with any questions or concerns as well. I'm always happy to listen and, you know, if I don't know something, I will definitely ask. Um, but you know, my email is mitzy.presspanos.org and you could always reach me too with a phone call or text at 4243499313. Thank you.

Great. And also part of that soccer field is light. I heard that a lot. Yes. Lighted soccer fields. If I may circle back, I have an apology. I kept calling our financial director Morales and it's Marino. Forgive me.

Okay, that's noted. And now we'll go on. that district 2 is vacant. Unfortunately, district three Marcus Chavez is gone for this evening. He'll be back next meeting and the next one is my report. So, at MCAG, uh we which was last Thursday on the 15th, um I think yeah, that that was last Thursday. Yeah. Um, one of the things we focused on is the bus. So, a lot of the buses that you see around town, the whole county and all the different cities, um, they have some really old software in there, and if there's anything that takes place in the bus, if it's an accident or just something that happens, the many of the buses, they have to actually go to the bus, download the video because all the buses have audio and video in them, and then take that off site and bring it to the administration. So, now we're updating all that. It'll all be in the cloud so administration can actually just go to that bus and update it from their offices and not actually go out to the field. So that's a good thing. We also did a me memorandum of understanding with CALR tied to the federal and state transportation planning and we amended that that amendment basically and it was for electrification infrastructure for the bus system. So, we're trying to uh some of the buses are a lot of them are electric. Some are diesel. The ones that go up to Yeuseite are are can't be electric cuz they can't go up and come down because of the rising of the of the mountains and everything. It takes too much power, but we're trying to get more money for all that. Um, also, we already talked about the one voice uh program and how that was put on pause.

Um, I'm really encouraged that Amtrak has started a a pickup and drop off back into Los Banis. Uh, around 20 years ago, 25 years ago, there was a bus system called Serendipity. I don't know if you remember that. Anybody remembers that? And they were doing the same thing, leaving Lasis, going over to the Bay Area with buses for commuters, trying to get people off Highway 52 and I5. And now that has started up with Amtrak is doing it now. And it's going to be like from Lasanis to Gilroy, Lasanis to San Jose. The bus keeps going. Uh, Lasanis to Gilroy $7. Las is 11:75 and there's two drop offs and two pickups. So, it leaves Los Bannis at 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. and then comes back um at 5 almost 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. So, and also that you'll be able to go to Merrced on that bus, catch the train. So, anyway, there's more things opening up and that's that's a good thing. Uh hopefully people that commute can sort of figure this out and uh hopefully it it helps them off helps them out for their commuting. Um again, um district 2 now is open again. The council has to decide what we're going to do. We can appoint the that district is goes for election in November of this year. So there's a lot of things we have to figure out. We'll be bringing it to the council in public and making decisions how we're going to handle all that. Uh let's see. And the last thing, you know, comments at the public forum, uh you know, like like Mitsy says, we want to we want to build more soccer fields and we want to light soccer fields.

doesn't want to do all this stuff. But government is designed to move slow and it's very frustrating for the residents and it's frustrating for us up here. But it is a good design. The reason for that is so we don't do things too fast before the residents can know about it. That's why we have transparency and public forums and we do all that. So when we talk about like we want to light a soccer field, we have to wait for the next budget, program it into the budget, make sure everybody knows what it's going to cost, get pricing put into the budget. The council has to decide they want to do it along with staff and everything like that. And so those are all great ideas, but it takes time to move things forward. And so if you're on the outside looking in, uh, sometimes it looks like, well, we're not doing anything. But no, those things are being programmed, being looked at, and that's how we we move things forward. Uh, with the with the housing and everything like that, we have talked about that. And with the homeless, we have already Carlos must have missed some meetings because we are looking at the pellet homes and and things like that. So we are moving forward on all those things. Uh, let's see. So, again, I want to wish Evan the best in his new job and his new location in his life and thank staff for all their hard work. We got a new year ahead of us and there's even going to be more work this coming year. So, we want to keep this move this city moving forward and uh, Director Moreno has done a great job coming in. Are we doing better than Patterson? Your last job. Yes. Okay. I got a yes. That's all it takes. So, money is very important and we have to be healthy and we are healthy. So, with that, we'll be going

into close session. Yeah. Okay. Sure. Go ahead.

I'm sorry, mayor, for this. Um, my phone went off and I I didn't see the message. I had it up, but it it shut down. Uh what I wanted to let uh the public know is that the air district um uh has a firework po uh pilot incentive program again this year. It's the third one we're doing and um this incentive program is to uh do um laser shows instead of fireworks. Uh I I think this encouragement is is um something that perhaps our legislators might be looking at down the line. Uh but nonetheless um the applications uh that they sent out an email they designated funding per county uh this year rather than just leaving it open. So Merced County has a total allocation of $23,840. So, you know, if our police department or uh parks and wreck, any department out there wants to put on a laser show, um you know, let us know so we can get that application in. Um the what it doesn't state what the grant amount would be on the email, but certainly I know that it probably would cover at least 50% of of the cost.

Is this just is this for the 4th of July or this is for It could be Let me pull it back up again here. I'm sorry.

So, it could be for um it could be for Fourth of July. It can be for any special event that you have in your city. So, it's not just designated for the 4th of July. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. because you do see the writing on the wall that they're going to be requiring those types of shows instead of fireworks in the future

in California. So with that, we'll be moving into close session conference with legal council anticipated litigation significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph 2 or three of the subdivision D of section 54956.9 of the government code. We'll be going into close session now and if any decision is made, we'll be coming out here and taking a public vote and letting the public know. So again, thank everybody that was has spoke in the public forum. We appreciate you being here and we're going to close session. Thank you. Okay, thank you for staying with us. Under close session, there is nothing to report. So, we'll adjourn this meeting at 8:24. Thank you.