City Council - Regular Meeting

Meeting of the Calamasa City Council to order, 6 PM. Thank you for being here. We'll begin with the roll call, please.

Council Member Cundiff?

Here.

Council Member Garcia?

Here.

Council Member Molina?

Council Member Molina will be out ill today, so excuse her.

Mayor Pro Tem Manley? Here. Mayor Cervantes.

Here. And for the record, we have our city manager present. We have assistant city attorney here, Reed. Thank you for being here. We have our finance director is not here. Our city clerk is present. Community development director is here. Public works maintenance superintendent, Tony, thank you for being here. City engineer Thornton here. Interim fire chief, Lindley. And our sheriff, Captain Esquivel. Thank you for being here, everybody. We have the honor of our community development director is gonna lead us in the pledge today. This time I just want to remind the public, if you'd like to make communication, you have the opportunity to do so. You can do so by filling out a public speaker slip and handing it to our city clerk here. You could speak about anything, not just items that are on the agenda, anything in the council subject matter jurisdiction. Members of the public, however, can only have up to three minutes to speak and please respect that time constraint. We do have a new capability via Zoom and technology now for those watching. They can also communicate with us and let their comments be heard and they could do so by remotely via zoom by clicking on the raised hand icon or button or by phone by pressing star nine and we will take in-person speakers first and then remote speakers so just want to let those listening know that three minutes though time limit for those in person and remotely Okay, so at this point we need to approve the agenda consent calendar and waive the full reading of ordinances. Staff, are there any changes to the agenda, modifications, anything that needs to be noted?

We do have one speaker for public comment.

Okay, we do. We do that first. All right, at this point.

So Elizabeth Avila.

Okay, Elizabeth Avila. I didn't see the slip here, so I should have asked. Sorry about that.

Okay, hi, my name is Elizabeth Avila. I'm a resident of Cala Mesa. I'm a voter, I'm a taxpayer, and a senior citizen. I am asking for directions as to who I need to talk to, who gives public access to the more parking that is adjacent to the county-owned land of the city of Cala Mesa library. I'm told that the empty lot is owned by the city and the chains that need to be, well we need access to have the public come in, especially during times like these when we're told by media of all kinds, whether it's newspaper or TV or whatnot, that cooling centers are to be for the malls, the libraries, and senior centers. But when you have a library that's already full because of activities of their own, and no parking access, it makes no sense. There's somebody who has the say-so in dropping those chains. They were done that way on the day that it was opened. It was done that way when there was emergency vehicles with Edison there. It was there on the summer youth program or food program that just took place. just recently, and they have always been there mainly for just selective things, but we have a lot of activity in the church, in the library, and we have a lot of, not only just the programs, but we also have many of the increased population that is enrolled. We're just celebrating our one year anniversary of the library, And I think that if you would check the enrollment of people who have now signed into the library, you'll find that it's a greater amount than it was when it was first built. So you're gonna find out there is a lot of lacking in parking. I'm told that the proposed parking lot is actually being talked about and it will be considered as a, what do you call it, a park. Not a parking lot, but a park. Now I don't know what kind of park you guys are proposing or who does it, but that's the problem. If it's for nice, green, lush land, well you know the homeless are gonna love that. and we don't need it in the sense to attract the homeless there at the senior, not necessarily the senior part, but as a senior part, we need it as a extra for us seniors and for everyone else that needs it. I'm just asking if you would just direct me in the right direction so that I will be able to have it open more quickly. Because when the winter comes, we also use it for our warming center. So that's kind of it.

Thank you for your comments. Very reasonable requests. Can somebody answer?

Yeah, we're aware of this. We're looking into it.

okay so they're working on it and if you wanted to call City Hall you probably speak with somebody about it well I've tried to but there was no one who's responsible for it mainly because the county owns it the city library but I'm told that no the city land the land but the city library is owned by the city and the lot Which makes no sense.

So we'd have to, there's a lot more to it than just simply dropping chains to use it for regular usage. There's gonna probably be some CEQA things that we'd have to look at, AQMD related things with dirt. When you start driving through dirt a lot, it does create up dust. So there are AQMD implications we'd have to look at as well. So there's a lot more to it than just dropping chains. So I just wanna make sure that everyone's clarified on that.

Thank you.

And again, this is not on the agenda, so we should probably refrain from assessing this further. We can bring it back later for further discussion when we get to a point where we can kind of do an analysis on that and bring it back for city council consideration.

That's right. So we can't have a further discussion about it, but let us know that we're working on it.

Well, I just wanted to make one comment. I know that they said that the land is the cities. Can't you guys, as something to think about, is it any problem to sell it back to the county so that we can get the funds from them if it's a problem?

Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Are there any other communications from the public?

Okay. Well, thank you.

At this time, then, we do need to approve our agenda, consent calendar, and waiver of the full reading of ordinances. So let me begin by asking staff if there's any changes, items that need to be pulled, or modifications.

Yes, Mayor, staff is requesting to pull item number one for further discussion. And then also item number nine, there's an attachment specified in the staff report for letter of understanding. That has been provided to each of the council members as well as to the public on the counter next to the agenda here in the chamber. and that will be made as part of the public record. So when you're approving item nine, it will include that attachment. So we're just asking that you understand that when you consider this item and also that we pull item number one.

Okay, so we're pulling one and considering nine with the attached letter. All right, council, anything you'd like to pull or any modifications? Okay, if I can get a motion.

I'll make a motion that we approve the consent calendar minus item number one, which has been pulled, and the addition of the comments that the city manager made in reference to item number nine.

Thank you for that. Can I get a second?

Second.

All right, all in favor? Aye. Aye. That is 4-0 for approval. Okay, so I'm going to hand this over to our city manager, item number one.

Yes, yes Mayor, so we have made a correction to the minutes that's been distributed to you as well and that's also available at the front. Just noting some abstentions on the consent calendar from our last meeting. So those corrected minutes are in front of you so we would, staff recommendation would be to consider the minutes with that correction.

Okay, council, you have a moment to review those or have you had an opportunity to review those and if you are okay with those, I can get a motion to approve them.

I'll make a motion to approve consent calendar item number one as amended.

I'll second that. Okay, all in favor?

Aye. All right, that's four O also for item one. Okay, so that takes us to our fire chief report, please.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, staff, and public. Paul Lindley, Interim Fire Chief, Kelly Mesa Fire. So far for this year, we've ran a total of 1,494 incidents year-to-date. That is a 3.25% increase from the previous year. Within that, for year-to-date, we've had 1,051 medical aides. We've provided 58 public assists. 37 fire responses. We provided 306 auto aid or mutual aid responses to our neighbors in Yucaipa and Riverside County, and we've received 74 responses from them in return. We have an average response time of six minutes and 55 seconds. I would like to note the work that our firefighter paramedics are doing at this time. We've had multiple full arrests that have occurred within our area and Yucaipa's area, The significant amount of Ross return of spontaneous combustion has been remarkable of them getting patients to the hospital with a heartbeat. So that is great work. We also just returned from a pre-position strike team for water tender one. And we're also potentially gonna be supporting a regional strike team with the brush patrol going up to Washington to assist with those fires. So with that, I thank the council for the time. I'm available for any questions you may have. Any questions for our chief?

No, just a comment. Just thank you and your staff, especially those medics that are putting in that great work to get those people the help that they need. So thank you. Thanks, sir. Thank you, council.

Thank you for that report. Now we have our sheriff captain's report, please.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and members of the City Council. So for the purposes of this report, we'll do June and July. That's kind of how it's broken down, so I'll start with June. The calls for service for the total calls for service for the month of June was 547. It should be noted that this is not only calls that are put into dispatch, 911 calls, but this is also self-initiated activity, deputies, if they contact somebody. it turns out that somebody may have a warrant or there's some other illicit activity such as drug activity, that includes those numbers as well. For part one crimes for the month of June, there was no homicides, no arsons, aggravated assaults, there was a total of six, burglaries, there was one, 13 larceny thefts, there was one reported sexual assault, one robbery, and two vehicle thefts for a total of 24 part one crimes. Just to talk a little bit about some of the traffic activity or some of the traffic collision activity that occurred for the month of June. We had a total of 12 traffic collisions with no injuries. We had three traffic collisions with injuries. And then there was a total of six hit and runs with no injuries for a total of 21 traffic collisions for the month of June. Just to talk about some of the, just some significant activity or activity that occurred in June. On Tuesday, June 26, excuse me, June 2nd, 2026, deputies received an alert from the flock safety camera located near Cala Mesa in Sandalwood regarding a stolen vehicle. Deputies located the unoccupied vehicle, initially didn't locate the suspect, but then later on through investigation and other investigative means, they were able to locate that suspect and actually take that person into custody and book him into jail. Just another little towards the end of the month on Tuesday, June 23rd, deputies did respond to the 400 block of Sandalwood Drive in Cala Mesa here, reference a subject brandishing a knife and attempting to assault the subject. During deputy's arrival, they actually contacted that suspect, put handcuffs on him, and he was ultimately arrested after further investigation and sent to county jail. There was some, so County Line Road and Seventh Place, there was some contacts related to some other folks with some outstanding warrants, specifically related to some of the transient population that cuts through, so there were a few arrests within that area, and those individuals were ultimately arrested and booked into county jail for their warrants.

Moving on to July.

There was a total of 554 calls for service for July. Part ones, there was no homicides, no arsons. There was one aggravated assault. There was two burglaries, 19 larceny thefts, and no sexual assaults were reported, no robberies, and there were no vehicle thefts. So a total of 22 part one crimes for July. the month of July. As far as collisions or traffic collision activity, there was a total of eight traffic collisions with no injuries. There was three with injury, traffic collisions with injury. There were no, well, no fatalities, and one hit and run with no injury, and then there was one hit and run with injury during the month of July for a total of 13 traffic collisions. Some of the notable activity that was reported or that we had in July, on July 7th, 2026, deputies responded to the area of Cherry Valley and Palmer Avenue, or Cherry Valley Boulevard, referenced a slumped over subject in his vehicle. They ended up contacting him and he was determined to be under the influence. We did have a couple of these incidents as far as DUI related incidents within the month of July. Another one on July 8th, deputies responded to the 35,000 block of Singleton Road where there was a report of a suspicious person in that area. They contacted that individual who was intoxicated. He was ultimately arrested and booked into Smith Correctional Facility. And then lastly, on Sunday, July 12th, 2026, deputies conducted some proactive patrol in the area of Cherry Valley and Robert Street in Calamesa, contacted a subject who had an outstanding warrant And the subject was ultimately placed under arrest and transported and booked in. So there was some activity. I mean, obviously, the summer months start to pick up a little bit, especially with people coming out, especially in the evening time. But with that, I would be more than happy to take any questions that you may have.

Thank you. Thank you for that very thorough report. Any questions, Captain?

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

OK, at this time, we're going to move on to our business items. Item number 10, but let me ask if there are any speaker slips or any speakers online wanting to speak on either of these items.

No speakers.

OK. All right, so at this point, we'll move to item 10, which is an appointment to our planning commission. I will quickly pass this over to Darlene, our city clerk.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. This item serves to make an appointment to the Planning Commission to fill an unexpired term left by the resignation of Planning Commissioner John Keith. Mr. Keith was appointed to the commission by Mayor Cervantes and therefore the appointment this evening will be made by Mayor Cervantes to fill this unexpired term that will end December of 2026. Mayor Cervantes wishes to fill the unexpired term and has informed staff of his intent to appoint Christine Van Heining to fill the Planning Commission vacancy. A citizen service application was submitted and included in the packet for Christine, who previously served as a member of the Planning Commission until December 2025 when her term expired. Staff is respectfully requesting that Mayor Cervantes make his appointment and that the City Council vote to ratify his appointment with the adoption of Resolution 2026-45. And I will note that the resolution that was in the packet had an incorrect date. It said December of 2028, but that is a typo and should have been written as December 2026. So that concludes my report. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for that. I want to first say a special thank you to Commissioner John Keith for his many years of service on the Planning Commission. You did a tremendous job in your time there, and we appreciate your service. Thank you so much. We are fortunate to have a replacement for Mr. Keith Seat and a very competent individual, Christine Van Heine, welcoming her back to the Planning Commission. So I was excited to hear of her interest in this commission and her willingness to serve again, because I know she could hit the ground running and just be a valuable part of the team again. And so I'm very happy to have you back. And so at this point we, do we need the recommendation first and then the oath? Okay. So I'll make a recommendation that the city council or I will, city council appoint one member to the planning commission to fill an unexpired term that the City Council ratify the appointment by a majority vote and adopt resolution number 2026-45, providing for an appointment made, and that appointment is of Mrs. Christine Van Heine. Can I get a second? Okay, all in favor? Aye. Aye, that is four O in favor. Okay, so now we've got to find this oath, and if you would please come forward and meet me at the podium. I know you gave me it, Darlene. It's here somewhere. Here we go.

If you want to say a few words.

Solemnly.

I do solemnly swear or affirm.

I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

And the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

True faith.

I will bear true faith and allegiance.

To the Constitution.

to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of California.

That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

That I will well and faithfully discharge the duties in which I'm about to enter.

Welcome back. Okay, well now we're going to move on to item, business item 11. And this is the adoption of the city strategic plan for fiscal years 2026, 2027 through 2030 and 31. And I believe our city manager will handle this.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Good evening. It is my honor and privilege to present for your consideration the City of Cala Mesa's strategic plan for the next five years. So why a strategic plan? So sometimes when people hear, you know, strategic plan, they think it's just, you know, fluff or some kind of corporate organizational gimmick. But for cities, especially the size of Cala Mesa, A well-crafted and thoughtful strategic plan is the backbone of how we plan our work. It allows us to focus our energy and resources in a way that we already know the city council supports. With limited resources, it is important that we have a blueprint to follow when crafting budgets or considering new ideas. But the most critical part is making sure that we are letting everyone, the city council, the community, know that we are following it. So this will not be the last time you'll hear about this plan. It won't just be adopted and then put on a shelf. So how did we get here? We budgeted for the strategic plan in fiscal year 25-26. We put out an RFP last August to bring in a consultant on board to help facilitate and put the plan together. And we had quite a few firms that were interested in partnering with the city. Ultimately, the city selected Jacob Green and Associates for that task, and we kicked off that project this past January. We started with a current assessment of the organization, reviewing various documents such as the budget, the general plan, and our previous strategic plan. They also conducted interviews with each council member and select community stakeholders. They conducted a survey of both our employees as well as our residents in the business community. And we'll talk more about that on the next slide. We then held a workshop with the city council and city leadership team on March 21st. Following the workshop, city staff worked closely with the JGA team to refine the objectives within each goal area and created work plans for each objective. I did receive additional feedback from council, which was incorporated into the final version of the plan, which we are presenting tonight for your approval. So the input received during that process shaped the plan that's in front of you. The input from interviews and surveys helped shape the SWOT analysis. And so the SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths, that analysis was a critical step in this process as it allows us to get a 360 degree view of where we are as an organization and taking a real look at ourselves. The strengths and weaknesses identify where we are, and opportunities and threats identify the external factors that we face when creating the plan. One way I see it is let's use our strengths to address our weaknesses, keeping in mind how opportunities and threats shape how and what we do. That basis is what shaped the conversation in the workshop. Now the workshop also allowed us an opportunity to evaluate our mission, vision, and values. The city had not looked at these aspects for quite a long time, and one of the things we discovered is that our current mission, vision, and values not only were dated and did not make sense for who we are and what we want to be today, but they were a bit vague and focused. As the council will recall, we spent a great deal of time in the workshop in making sure we got this part right. So our proposed mission statement defines what we do. The mission of the city of Cala Mesa is to provide responsive, efficient, and accountable services that ensure public safety, strengthen community trust, and to support a high quality of life for all residents. The proposed vision statement defines where we want to go. Cala Mesa aspires to grow with purpose by nurturing its small town spirit and inspiring a community where people, families, and businesses thrive together while preserving our natural beauty. Our core values are the guiding principles and fundamental beliefs that guide how the organization and its people behave, make decisions, and interact with the community. Our core values identified are quality service, integrity and transparency, and effective communication. And I think you'll find that a lot of what was identified as themes in our outreach is captured here. So all of these inputs, from our documents to the interviews, to the surveys, all the way through to the workshop, clarify these themes. And again, there are a lot of parallels to these themes and what shaped our mission, vision, and core values, but you see these themes pop up in the goals and objectives that are present in the plan. If you've been paying attention to what's actually happening in the city, these areas seem like no brainers. But again, we also have limited resources. So the plan needed to try and strike a balance, which we believe it has successfully done. So the strategic plan contains six goals, public safety, quality of life, economic development, infrastructure, community engagement, and financial and organizational stability. Within these six goal areas, a total of 28 objectives have been identified and defined. Some of those include a parks and trails master plan, which is within the quality of life goal, the development of a separate economic development strategic plan, planning for enhancements along the I-10 corridor under infrastructure, and focusing on employee retention, revenue diversification, and cyber security safeguards under the financial and organization stability goals. As I mentioned at the beginning, this plan is not meant to be looked at tonight, put on a shelf, and never thought about again. The cycle will be constant. So we start with council approval of the plan tonight. Staff develops the milestones and who will do what. We will craft our budget priorities around the strategic plan, go out and do the work, then come back here and report on progress. Within that time, sometimes things may shift. So that's where feedback will inform refinements to the plan or to the timelines, and then the process gets revisited. As the city council is well aware, we run a very lean organization, so the addition of these goals to an already compacted workflow does create some challenges. Some of the goals and objectives identified will help unlock additional resources which can then be used to accomplish other goals and objectives. Also keep in mind, some objectives do rely on the completion of previous objectives. All of these things were inputs to how this timeline came to be. Each of the 28 objectives have a detailed work plan that identify clear steps to accomplish the objective, as well as departments that are either responsible for or involved in accomplishing each of the steps. However, I do want to emphasize that your action adopting the plan is by no means locking in this schedule. It was created based on workload balances and some of those interdependencies that I mentioned. But it is a living breathing document. So this type of project can't be accomplished by one person or entity. I first want to thank Jacob Green and Associates. We required a lot of hand holding as for many of us this was the first time we've gone through this process from start to finish. So their guidance was invaluable in getting us to this point. I want to thank the city council for their buy-in to this process, their thoughtful input, and their steadfast support for staff. Cannot overemphasize the importance of a supportive council. It really does make our jobs easier, which allows us to serve the public more effectively. The city staff invested a lot of time into this process and their input is invaluable. So I want to thank all of them for their effort and support in putting this thing together. And thank them in advance for the work they're going to be putting in to make these goals and objectives into reality. And finally, as I stated earlier, our community members and stakeholders really did shape both our mission, vision, and core values, as well as the strategic plan itself. So I thank them for the time they took out of their days to invest in their community. So with that, staff recommends that the City Council adopt the City of Calamasa Strategic Plan for the fiscal years 2026-27 through 2030-31, and direct staff to use this strategic plan as a framework for organizational work planning, budget development, resource allocation, and periodic progress reporting, subject to future City Council approval for specific programs, projects, contracts, and expenditures. And that concludes my report. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for that, sir. I'm going to ask council, do you have any questions or comments for our staff, city manager?

I just want to thank everybody, as Will did. It was an involved process, and so I appreciate everyone from the community to our other commissioners and staff. So they relied on everyone's thoughtful feedback to make the process work. So I just want to thank everybody for all their time on that.

Thank you, sir. Council Member O'Connor?

I would just echo Mayor Pro Tem Manley's statements that the effort and the work that staff has put into this, along with our partners to help put this thing together, has been a long process, but a very necessary one. And I'm happy to see this finally come to fruition. So thank you, guys. Thank you, sir.

Council Member Garcia.

I want to echo what my colleagues said too. Thank you for the staff and Will as well too. We've been working on this and all the hard work that's been going at the back end as well too with the team. It's hours and hours behind it and just communicating back and forth And I'm just excited to actually see this opening the doors for our city and for our communities as well, especially including our inclusion for everybody, for our kids, for our teens and our adults and our seniors, because we should be as one as a community. So I'm really excited and happy to see that in our future goals and our planning within our faces. Thank you, guys. Thank you all so much, and thank you, team, every single individual of you guys for all the hard work that you guys input into this item. Thank you.

Very good. A lot of work went into this from a lot of different departments and a lot of people, and so thanks to everybody who had a hand in putting together this strategic plan. I think of a very big improvement to some of the statements we had before the mission statement, the vision statement, there's some clarity to that. The core values are clear and something we can be proud of as a city and work toward. And so thanks to everybody. And I look forward to some progress, some of those goals. I see if you want to make a public comment, you'll need to fill out a slip and hand it to our city clerk. It may be too late for that at this point.

You could allow public comment, and she can actually fill out the form after. Okay.

Do you want to come to the podium?

She asked if there's any questions. Well, does that include what I had just brought up about the library having the additional parking, since you are so concerned about us seniors? Yes.

So, um, I actually have been communicating with our public works, um, superintendent, and so I'm going to have him, uh, we will follow up with you on that. There's some things that him and I need to discuss in terms of what that, what that might look like and, um, what options are to put those, to bring that parking back on an, on a permanent basis. Um, or, you know, maybe as an overflow type of thing, but, um, I'm going to talk to him without, and we will be in contact with you on that.

Okay, I'm just hoping that it's expedited since the heat wave and schools are now gonna be opening up and that creates even more.

Right, and I do wanna emphasize that I don't, maybe, this is maybe a question for Darlene. I don't think that the, is the county library an official cooling center? Is it listed on the websites? I think that, I know the senior center has been, let's see. No, it's not. The library is not officially. Yes, it can serve that purpose, but for official purposes, it is not a official cooling center. So it's not a critical infrastructure facility, so it could be like subject to like a rolling blackout or something like that, for example, during a PSPS. Whereas here we do have emergency generators, and so we do have the capability to keep the power on even with a power outage, but I don't think the library, the library does not have those same capabilities.

Are you talking about an ordinance or something like that?

Well, the county would have to designate that, but that's something that's through the county of Riverside, because it's their facility. Yeah, we actually saw that, and that was actually incorrect. So sometimes they're very good, but sometimes things get missed, unfortunately. I'm sorry about that. But yeah, to the extent that it would need to be designated that, they'd probably have to do some upgrades, and the county would be responsible since it's their facility. They own it, and they operate it. So hopefully that clarifies that.

But your concerns are well taken.

Yeah, I was actually going to mention that during my city manager comments because I had been communicating with Kyle, so yeah.

Good.

And just a reminder, please fill out a speaker card for your time that you spoke just now. Thank you.

Outstanding. So now we're going to move on to our mayor and city.

Can we have an adoption for the plan?

I can make a motion. Sorry, I got thrown off by the... I can make a motion, Mayor, if you'd like. I'll make a motion to adopt staff's recommendation.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you for that, it's 4-0. Okay, Mayor and council members reporting on county and regional meetings now. So, Council Member Garcia.

I haven't attended any meetings, but we are preparing for the opening of the new school year, August. I just lost the number. August 6th, Thursday. And I'm not sure about you Kaipa, but for the Beaumont Unified School District, we're excited to have all the kids and we are gonna be having a fair as well too for a giveaway for backpacks and school supplies. So be ready, I'll be sharing that flyer with the team as well too. So we can post it up in our social media, hopefully for our parents to actually attend. So thank you guys. Thank you for that. Councilmember Cundiff.

Thank you, Mayor. Before I get into the meetings that I've attended, I would like to echo your comments earlier about Mr. Keith over there. Wonderful man. I've learned a lot when I served on planning with you, and it has been an honor serving with you. And I know you've been a dedicated... citizen to this city and to all your efforts. And so it's been a pleasure to know you and to work with you and you've just been valuable to us. So thank you so much for your time. And to Christine, I know you'll do well. I've worked with you too on planning and I know you'll fit right in and hit the ground running as Jeff said earlier, so welcome. And of course, thank you to staff for, again, all the great work. We can't reiterate that enough, the great things that they do. As far as the meetings that I've attended this last July 30, I attended with our city manager and Councilwoman Molina, the preambles to a two by two with UKIPA. and so we kind of hashed out some ideas and some things that we will be in discussion with UKIPA to try to foster better relations with both cities. Not that they're in a bad way, but just to have good communications and to work on things cohesively as we're trying to do with Beaumont. So that was a very productive meeting and so standby for additional on that. Today I did attend the WRCOG meeting at Riverside and there was a lot of great things in the slideshow that I sent to you guys already for your viewing pleasure. I say it that way because sometimes it can be kind of, hard reading at times, but there's a lot of great things that WRCOG is doing as it pertains to our region and to the county, and we welcomed Mayor Jackie Casillas as our new chairwoman, mayor of Corona, and she's a fantastic person to work with, and we look forward to great things this year. Besides the things that I had shared with you guys, they did put out this annual report, which kind of covers this last year's worth of information of things that WRCOG was involved in, which I'll be happy to leave up here for you guys to look at if you'd like. Lastly, Mayor Jessica Alexander from Temecula. has challenged our city along with every other city that serves on WRCOG to participate in the MilVet Battle of the Cities 2026 Military Care Package Challenge. And I would like to bring this with your guys' permission and give this to our city manager for him to look over this and to see how our city may participate in this. In a nutshell, what it's for is for our active duty military that is serving abroad. It's care package related, and essentially each city will be responsible for trying to procure or have other help from the community, whether it be our fire department, our sheriff's department, churches, et cetera, to kind of put these items together and we can get those to our men and women that are so bravely serving in our military. So as a veteran myself, I feel strongly that this is something we ought to do, but obviously we need a city manager to look at this and make sure that it's not gonna conflict with our city and as long as everyone doesn't have an objection to it, I would like to give that to him to look at and to go forward with. Thank you, that's all I have.

I think the mayor did not attend any regional meetings, and that will conclude my report.

Thank you, sir. So today, August 3rd, I attended RCA. I will provide a summary of that meeting, council, when it comes in. And it was short, though, and nothing really noteworthy. i wanted to say to miss avella your your concerns have been heard and noted uh something we thought about for a long time needing to get more parking over the library but um let people know that the senior center is available when it's open as a cooling center official cooling center i'm gonna go i'm gonna clarify some stuff in my report okay so yeah we'll get to that please And then once again, just want to thank our commissioner, John Keith, for his many years of service. You have done so much good for this city, and so thank you again. And then once again, welcome our incoming, returning commissioner, Christine, thank you for your willingness to serve as well. I hesitate to say this, but I wanna brag a little bit about one of our council members who was recently appointed as part of WRCOG to the accounting and finance subcommittee of WRCOG, which is a big deal for our city and for the region. And it really speaks to his abilities, his character and his influence there. And I think it's gonna do really good things for our city. And so congratulations, it's a big, big deal. And with that, concludes my report. And then, sorry, our city manager comments and report.

Thank you, thank you, Mayor. So I just did a little bit of research while we were sitting here to answer some of those questions specific to cooling centers. So the Senior Center is not officially listed. I believe at one point it was listed as a cooling center. For whatever reason, it's fallen off the list. So we may need to look into that. But I do want to point out that there's three cooling centers in Beaumont. Those are the Chatney Center, the Grange Cherry Valley Community Center, and the Women's Club Community Center. Those are all in Beaumont. And the city of Yucaipa also has three. They are the Share Community Center, the Yucaipa Branch Library, and the Yucaipa Community Center. So those are all options that are available officially through the respective county websites. And staff will work with the county to clarify whether or not the Cala Mesa Senior Center or the Norton Young Love Senior Center should also be included in that list, so.

Thank you for that.

Just wanted to give you that information.

That concludes the report?

Oh, and one more thing. I did look up Ukiahipa Kalamasa School District. They also start this Thursday. Everyone start at the same time. And that will conclude my report.

It's a month too soon, if you ask me.

Back in my day, right? It wasn't until after Labor Day, right?

Back in the day when I was young. Not a kid anymore. All right, so... With that, the city does have two closed session items. I will turn it over to our city attorney to make those announcements.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, the city attorney's office and staff recommends that the city council meet in closed session for the two items as follows. Conference with labor negotiators, Will Kolbol and Darlene Gerdes regarding negotiations with the Calamasa Professional Firefighters Association. and a conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation due to significant exposure to litigation. So with that, that's the recommendation.