City Council - Regular Meeting

I would like to call to order the February 25th, 2026 meeting of the Camrio City Council, the Sanitary District, the library board, and the successor agency to order. Would you conduct a roll call, Madame Clerk? Yes. Council member Santangelo here. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo, here. Council member Kildy here. Council member Trembley and Mayor Tennyson here. My watch is talking to me. Um will the city attorney read our close session items?

Uh yes, mayor and council. We have two matters on close session. The first one is existing litigation pursuant to government code section 549 56.9D1. It's the OPV Coalition versus Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency. The second matter is anticipated litigation pursuant to Government Code section 549569.9D. And there's one matter. And if there's any reportable action, I'll make that report. We will now recess to close session and reconvene at 5:00 pm.

We [clears throat] will reconvene the February 25th, 2026 Camrio City Council Sanitary District Library Board and Successor Agency meeting. Let the record reflect that all council members are present. And I'm gonna ask Council Member Trimbley if he would please lead us in the pledge. Would you please join me in the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge algiance 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. [clears throat] Are there any changes to the agenda? Seeing none, we will move on to our first presentation. And I'm going to read this from the chair here. Tonight we are honored to recognize and thank Kevin Jorgensborg for more than 19 years of dedicated service to the city of Camaro. Kevin began his career in June 2006 just before the completion of the Camrio public library and quickly became instrumental in shaping and maintaining the facilities and fleet that serve our community every day. He oversaw significant projects including the Camrio Ranch barn retrofit, renovations at city hall, the corporation yard, the council chambers, and the fleet garage, and the installation of the police department generator. He led space planning efforts across departments and modernized facilities to meet the city's evolving needs. When challenges arose, Kevin consistently rose to the occasion, responding to late night security calls, leading the city hall fire recovery in 2023, and coordinating emergency repairs with professionalism and steady resolve. Kevin strengthened the organization through long-term planning, helping develop the city's ADA and facility reserve studies, and initiating a

preventative maintenance program that elevated standards citywide. Under his leadership, the facilities division grew in staffing and expertise, guided by a culture of trust, accountability, and teamwork. In fleet services, Kevin ensured regulatory compliance, supported the transition to zero emission vehicles, and maintained careful oversight of his budgets. Though based at the corpyard, Kevin remained visible and accessible throughout the organization, supporting departments and community events alike, and above all demonstrating a deep commitment to this city and its people. On behalf of the city council, city staff, and the entire Camaro community, we extend our sincere appreciation for Kevin's exemplary service and dedicated leadership and offer our very best wishes for a well-earned retirement. And now, Kevin, I'm going to invite you up in front of the city seal. Are you happy, Kevin?

I'm very happy. Are you Are you going to miss us at all? Yes, of course. All right.

Well, congratulations on a well-earned and well-deserved retirement. Obviously, the city thinks very highly of you, and I'm sure you think very highly of the city. We appreciate all of your efforts. We appreciate your hard work. We appreciate the team that you assembled to keep our buildings open and operating, our vehicles open and operating. And with that, I thank you. And before I give you this, I'm going to ask any of the council members if they have comments. Who'd like to go first? Mr. K D. Um, I always liked you, Kevin, because of your first name. That was excellent. Um, you you know, there was a a song that kind of starts off [snorts] you you picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille. And uh I'm going to uh say that to you because I don't know where I'm going to get my information about Notre Dame football. Now, you were the walking encyclopedia for my knowledge about uh Notre Dame. Um all kidding aside, Kevin, you did a a great job. You were a delight to work with. uh you're knowledgeable and uh hardworking and you made my life as a council member easier because of of you and many of your colleagues that are here with you tonight. I think it speaks volumes about and I've been through a few of these when somebody retires how many of their colleagues are here to kind of support them and there's a there's a whole bunch that's really neat about Cam Rio. and we get a retiree. A lot of times a lot of the colleagues are here as well. So, uh, wish you nothing but the best in retirement. Hope hope you're not going to be a stranger. I want to thank your family and your significant others for sharing Kevin

with us all these uh years. I know it was a tough job. It's not not an 8 toive job in any stretch of the imagination here, but it never went unnoticed. uh we were always thankful for uh the job that you did and I think if you look at our facilities in Camrio, they're pretty darn good and a lot of the credit goes to you and and your efforts. So, uh good luck in your retirement. I wish you nothing but success and uh um you know, give me a text or something. Let me know how the Golden Domers are doing. Okay. All right. Thank you,

Mr. Trembley. I'm going to be uncharacteristically succinct. Uh when we agree with what our fellow council members have said, we just typically say ditto. And I will say ditto. I will add though that Kevin, I think your level of effort day in and day out has just been exemplary. And I agree when you see this many city staff who are here to wish you the best in retirement, that just speaks volumes. So thank you. Vice Mayor.

Uh well, I think between the number of Kevins and the number of Davids in in the city, we're in a competition here, but uh Kevin, there were three words that were utilized to describe you. It was building trust, accountability, and hard work. And I agree with every one of those words. In addition, I will add happy because although I've only been here for about uh three years going on my fourth uh every time that I encounter you, you always seem so happy and grateful to be here and we are extremely happy and grateful that you served the city in this capacity and you really left a mark to into who Camrio is and we will be forever grateful for that. So, thank you so much for all of your work and uh invite us to the retirement party. I always I always offer that. Thank you,

Council Member Santangelo. Thank you, Mayor. Um Kevin, um you know, as an elected, when I'm out in the community, I often get thanked for how well-run this city is, and I usually say, "It's really not me. It's it's people like you who who put their their heart into the job and make this city what it can be. Um, and you have literally left your mark on this city because of the infrastructure projects and how much you've done to help build this city to what it is today. So, thank you so much and good luck to what you have in your future.

Testing. Now, Kevin, you get something that is very, very rare. There's only like eight or nine people in the well, maybe a few more in the history of the city that get the city tile. So, Kevin, on behalf of the city, we want to present you with this city tile that has your dates of service on it. And I know Michelle You're welcome. Thank you. Now Kevin, it's your turn. [applause]

Thank you Dave, city council members, staff. Um, yeah, it was an honor to work here. Um, I felt that I had fortunately I had the budget to do what I wanted to do and and I was given um I was given freedom to do what I wanted to do without anybody looking over my head. So that really mean it was very important to me to have that trust, you know, in order to do my job. And to my fellow or almost my fellow staff members out there, I really appreciate you guys. It wasn't for you, I wouldn't uh have a job since people have facilities need people without people in that facility. So um I really appreciate it. So thank you. [applause] Madame clerk, are we doing the public comments on non-aggendaized items before the presentations?

Yes, it's a time to do general public comment and I do have two people signed up for that. Um the rules are you'll be called up and you're given three minutes and you'll have you'll see your timer with your up on the corner in the TV screen and then when we're move on to next person the microphone will be muted. So the first person is Spencer Richie. Would you come on up?

Welcome Spencer. Hi

[snorts]

Okay. Hello, my name is Spencer Richie. Um, I have a few concerns. one is the eternal one that you as your as a city council are not doing anywhere near like you're pretty much doing nothing in your power to to put your foot down against ICE and what they're doing and yeah um so that'll be on hopefully that'll sit on all your conscious until you do actually do something. Um and then the second concern I had is [snorts] so all the agenda item public comments are just being pushed to the end of the agenda items now. Okay. Um and then three there is no like I I am so frustrated. So, I work at the senior center one day a week and my shift ends at 4:45, which you'll notice is before the end of the regular workday. My I work Thursday afternoons. I c however I cannot take a route bus that will take me home to within walking distance of my house in Mission Oaks because the last bus that goes from the senior center to Mission Oaks it stops there at 4 which I understand is when the senior center closes however that's a whole hour before the rest before you know the rest of the community center closes and at the same time the city has not yet beefed up its D either it's, you know, it's bus routes or it's um dollar

ride paratransit services. So, for the past, you know, it is very common for me now to have to beg a ride home off my co-workers because, you know, I can't get a doll ride home. Obviously, I can't take the root bus home. And and I do not think that as an adult who is clearly able to work in the community on my own, I should have to have to my I should have to make my family come and pick me up. And I shouldn't have to be spending, you know, half my like, you know, like half my hour, like what I make on ride shares either. like this is and the city doesn't offer, you know, official car pools or rides for anything for those who can't drive. So again, that is a huge failure on the city's part that, you know, I as a public employee cannot often cannot take the bus and because there's no bus service. Thank you. Have a nice day.

Thank you, Spencer. Okay. And our second person is Claudia. [snorts] Welcome. Hello. Hi.

Okay. Um, I haven't been here for the beginning of the year, but that's because I started a new employment. Uh, I'm now officially staffed with 805 undocky fund, which I am here to share our minimum numbers of kidnappings in the central coast, Ventura County, and Camaro. Um, these numbers are again minimum because they're only numbers that we know of. There are probably more out there that we are not aware of. For the Ventura County area, we have 850 minimum kidnappings. For Camaro specifically, we have 452. 335 of those are from Glass House because even though the city doesn't say that unincorporated is Camaro, it's still uh Camaro. And um the remainder of those numbers 117 a majority are from 321 Cortez where the ICE facility is located here in town. For the tri county um San Lucabispo Santa Barbara and Ventura County we have a minimum of 1,647. Those are families that have been separated, breadwinners that have been taken. So we're just here to remind you that that's consistently going. Thank you.

Thank you very much. That's all I have. Thank you. We will move on to item We will move on to item D. We're going to have a state of the region report from the Ventura County Civic Alliance. And I'd like to invite David Marin up.

Thank you, Mayor Tennyson, members of the council, staff, Commander Tennyson, and the audience. I'm David Marin with Ventura County Civic Alliance. Every two years we publish this report and we are able to go around and share this with the general community because of the generosity of our sponsors. Several large ones, Ventura County Community Foundation, the community colleges of Ventura County, California Resources, County of Ventura, Calstate Channel Islands, Lee Monera, the Port of Wanimi, and also the office of education. So thanks to their generosity, we can really share this around the county. Some highlights about the state of the region, the civic alliance. As I said, it's published every two years. We do list all of our sources in the back. If anyone wants to dig deeper, page 113. For members of the audience or anyone watching at home, you can read this or download it online at civicalliance.org. And the Civic Alliance is a neutral, unbiased 501c3 nonprofit. So, some highlights. This is not in the report. We could not include population stats because of the government shutdown when we were publishing the report but Camaro your population over the last few years slightly higher. Um you can see several cities have all declined including Oxnard there. Uh this is a little bit more detailed. So the county of Ventura the green bars are the total population for that community the county in this case and the blue is just the number 0 to 17 are young people. So you can see that from 2017 to 2024, we lost 10,000 total residents in the county of Ventura. However, we lost 20,000 young people. So that means our 16 and 17 year olds aged out of that chart and we're not replenishing it with enough young people. I'm going to come back to that point over the rest of the p uh conversation, but you can see the average age in Ventura County continues to get older. Here's what it looks like

for the city of Camrio. So on the good news is city of Camrio is pretty much held even on the under 18s 14500 to 14,540. Um the adults did go up a little bit. You're doing much better than other counties. And you can see that the median age actually came down a bit before going back up, but 41.2 is much higher than the county average of 39.6. We're just an older community. Some highlights from the report. Agriculture. Strawberries continue to be our top crop, $700 million. Agriculture is about two billion dollar industry. And one thing to keep in mind, it's 3.3% of our economy in this chart. But over the years, it was much higher, 5%. So our economy has grown, but a has stayed flat at about 2 billion. And we all know it's very difficult. Water, labor, pest, the different things that make it so difficult to grow here in Ventura County. community engagement, your elected officials. So, I'd like to share the stats about registration. Blue is Democrats, red are Republicans, green is the no party preference. So, over the last 23 years, the Democratic registration went up slightly, but the Republicans took a large hit across the time frame. Most of those that they lost went to no party preference and by city. So Cam Rio is actually the closest as far as between Republicans and Democrats. There's only about a 3% differential between Dems and Republicans. Dems are the plurality in in Camrio. Semi Valley is the only city in the county that has a plurality of Republicans and Oxnard and Ohigh have actually a majority Democrat. Of course, that's registration and not voter turnout. So, we have a lot of data in the reports, some new numbers if you're familiar with our older reports about

nonprofits. We rank them as far as top assets, top revenue. But this chart I'd like to show because up here you can see that there's about 11,000 employees who work in the nonprofit sector in Ventura County. So I think we tend to take that for granted how many people are making up that safety net for us in the economy section. Uh just this is a difficult chart. There's several pages of this for goods producing service providing and government. The takeaway and you've heard me those of you who've been here two years ago. We are seeing high-paying jobs sorry seeing highpaying jobs in areas like financial activities 112,000 IT 100,000 but those are the industries where we're losing workers. We're gaining workers in areas like leisure and hospitality but that pays a lot less. So certainly we need to recruit higherp paying jobs. We need to retain those companies that are here now that are providing those high-paying jobs. This is a overall growth in or our economy sort of similar to the national gross domestic product. If you're familiar with this from other reports or you go back and look, you'll see completely different numbers. And that's because every time we produce this report, we restate everything in inflationadjusted dollars. So you can see that back in 2007 we peaked at about a 72 billion economy. We sank after the great recession. We sort of plateaued there. Uh we came back a little bit. Then we had the pandemic that dropped us back down but we still have been right around the 65 million 62 million while many other regions of the state and the country have seen significant growth. So, Ventura County just hasn't been able

to get a burst of growth and that could portend problems if we have a another recession because we just don't have enough of those kind of uh industries that we want. Taxable sales, Camaro continues to do very well. Of course, the outlet malls, there was a little bit of a drop there. Um, auto sales certainly helps Ventura, Thousand Oaks, and Oxnard. Oxnard obviously as city manager and others would say it's the Amazon effect as far as how much sales tax they're collecting through that city and tourism. So Camrio isn't quite as uh much tourism as places like Ventura and certainly Ohigh, but it's been stable. So that's positive. The Ohigh numbers are off the charts there. And that is the Ohigh Valley in effect. Mhm.

You know, when you can charge that much per night, you're really bringing in money.

I would say to Camrio's benefit though, it's great that we don't rely on a single source like Ohigh does. Education. I talked about the decline in the young people. This chart shows you the projections for enrollment. So the green is the K the higher grades 9 through 12. Blue is K through eight. And you can see that we are just projected to decline. And just for a little information up here, 1973, 50 years ago, we had 419,000 residents. We've doubled that in the last 50 years. Now, we're starting to go down, but just keep in mind, we doubled in 50 years, but if you look at the number of students, 50 years ago, we were around 107,000. Today, we're around 122,000. We barely added 15,000 even though we doubled the size of our county. So this is just uh obviously serious issues for most of our counties. Here's how it looks in the different school districts. Oxnard Union High School, the top line there is 202122 and the blue line on the bottom is 2024. So Oxnard High School District dropped from 18,000 to 7 16,900. Now, when you first look at Pleasant Valley Elementary, it actually looks pretty positive, like there's been some growth, and that's great. But Pleasant Valley Elementary or Pleasant Valley School District has more of these virtual charters than any other school district. So, they have a lot of students who really do not attend school. It's just they are the governing board for certain uh virtualmies. So when you take out those charter students uh their enrollment also has declined from about 5700 actually I should say increased slightly to 5800. Now I'm often asked when I show this chart well isn't that because all of the parents are taking their kids out of public schools putting them in private schools

are deciding to homeschool them. And so although it's not in your reports I put in this chart showing that even the private schools have seen a decline over the years. So, it's not homeschooling, it's not private schools, it's a lack of babies. That's why our schools are seeing these kind of challenges. Uh there's a lot of data in here showing every school district in the county and every school as far as measuring how many of the students either met or exceeded the state standard for English in this example. And there's also math in there. So you can see that when you give all these students the scores and they're averaged and well they're adjusted across all of the boundaries for every school site and every um class level. We have a range of accomplished schools and schools that are doing a little less. Pleasant Valley uh actually is doing fairly good. I mean, none of the schools get anywhere near 90%, but even across the county, none of our schools are really getting anywhere near 100% students meet or exceed the standards. So, a lot of data there for you to look into. Land use and housing. So, housing starts are up a little bit. Uh, we had the highest total since 2017. Home ownership in Camrio continues to be a nice almost 2/3. So very positive for stable neighborhoods. The median housing price did go up to 1.1 million in June. It's always important to know which month uh we do the comparisons, which was a hefty increase from 925,000, although it seems like numbers are starting to flatten out. Apartment rents very expensive across the county. Camo's no different. I'm going to try to hustle through the last of these slides. Interestingly, Camaro has the second highest water use per capita in the county. Uh, for whatever reason that is.

I mean, it's usually the warmer uh wealthier areas with the larger lots like Westlake and Thousand Oaks. Uh, Port Wayne and Oxnard very low because they're sort of near the coast. So, interesting data. This is the statistic that reinforces my points about the declining enrollment, the lack of children. Back in 1990, we had 19 births per thousand residents. Here we are in 2023, almost half, 10.2. So, and I say it to every council, every group I speak to. I mean, there must be policies we can look at to make um child care more affordable. It's $15,000 for a toddler. Um can we have easier regulations so families can create child care centers in their homes? Can we and EDC and First Five are all trying to work in these areas. Can employers like yourselves and others offer more familyfriendly services um flexible hours for young families? But we really have to find a way to have a a recruitment campaign to tell young people that Camriel Fort Wayne Oxar these are the places to come to raise your family. And I think that's going to be a ongoing challenge until we do something about it. We included cancer rates. Interestingly, Ventura County is a little higher on these cancer rates when you look through it. And if you look at the other large counties, you'll see that some of them are coastal. I don't know if that has any correlation or if that's just co any causation or if it's just correlation. Um, some people might argue we have higher rates because we have better detection. We have better doctors. That's one I can't answer. Is it better doctors finding the various cancers or we just have a much higher incidence? Ventur County continues to be the safest large county in the uh of in the state. Very good news. Camaro continues to be very good on the crime. Commander Tennyson, all of the team that are

working in that area doing a great job. We did have an increase in violent crime. Um property crimes did decrease a little bit. In your reports, you'll see that juvenile crime has actually crept up across the county. Uh, surprisingly, male and female juvenile crime is up. And wrapping up here, food shares doing a lot of work in Camaro, 946,000 pounds. Homelessness is steady. Domestic violence a little higher than some of the other cities. It was the highest in four years. and transportation. Um, we continue to see people working at home even though the pandemic is over. So, we're still seeing and this just shows us how we sit compared to all the other counties. And with that, uh, thank you for your indulgement. A little extra. Sorry about that.

Thank you, David. Any questions for Mr. Marin? Council member Santangelo. I didn't have any questions. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. Appreciate I look forward to getting this every two years. So, thank you, Mr. Kild.

Yeah, David, thanks um for being here. I always look forward to you sharing um this data and you you've done this a while, David. Is there anything that you can come up with that we can do to try to work on I don't want to say improving our numbers, but maybe some things that we can do here. Um, as we all know, you kind of round up the usual suspects. You know, we all know it's an expensive place to live. We all know that child care is very expensive. But one of the things that I think a lot of folks have tried to do is bring higher paying jobs here to try to mitigate some of these issues. Is there anything that you can come up maybe that we ought to be doing that we're not or something you know the next time when you come here that um we've really tried to double down on this and the numbers have shown that at least there's been an effort in that.

So a couple of quick thoughts. So, um, each of the cities, most of them at least, have economic development managers who are working to recruit those jobs. I'm not sure how we have a strategy across the county. I mean, have we decided or should we decide that maybe Sei Valley gets the finance companies and Camaro sort of focuses on the pharmaceutical related industries, Oxnard works on manufacturing. So, it's not just Camaro advocating for themselves and other cities, but could there be more of a collective effort? And I think the county sort of thinks about doing that. Um I do think it'd be great if the city managers when they have their meeting could maybe tackle something like child care. Could all of the cities get together and figure out can we improve things in those areas because some cities some counties are obviously doing much better. The other area that I think we could do an even better job on, it's not just recruiting those large well-paying jobs, but doing something to retain, to recognize, to acknowledge the companies that we have here. Could Misner have a award given to them or or other things that would actually mean something to some of these companies, but we're it's great that Meisner is here in Ventura County. Are we doing everything we can to get rid of any sand in the gears so that they can continue to grow and excel? And what about all the other large companies, Flynn Road and otherwise? So, yes, it's great to be going out to LA County and other places to try and get companies, but let's not lose anybody we have. Thousand Oaks very blessed to be able to have Amgen grow and add a $600 million facility. Uh, but Camryo is just as great a place to live and work as Thousand Oaks. there are other companies that maybe we could get them to invest more here uh for other reasons. So I would say trying to figure out a comprehensive strategy working with EDC first five on child care. How can we lower cost, improve regulations, make it faster for these a lot of times it's just you know a mother who's decided to

do it but overwhelmed with all the regulations. So I'd say some kind of team to help them get that through and another idea is more of the centers. So a child care center on Flynn Road. It would still charge people, but we have people in Camrio who get up in the morning, drive their kids to Thousand Oaks to a child care center, and then drive back here or maybe to Oxnard for their jobs. So, if we could have child care centers closer to where all the jobs are, that also might be an inducement that makes it a healthy way to attract companies to come here because we are focused on their young people and their families. So, those are some ideas off the top of my head.

Thank you. I always look forward to reading this. I appreciate you and and your team's effort. If you could pass that along, I appreciate it. Even though my first name's not Kevin, please don't. Even though Okay, you're allowed, David. Thank you, David. [laughter] I know, Vice Mayor. I said there was a competition between the Davids. Um David, thank you so much. I did have a question regarding the cancer rates. I know that's a new addition to uh the information that you're providing. um how did you uh gather that information?

So the data comes I believe from the California State Public Health Department. They produce these um data on a variety of statistics and it's in the sources. Um and then what we did though because there's so many counties we just tried to look at the top 20 or 19 whatever number it is and see where Ventura County ranked. Now, there are many cancers listed on their website, and it's not too hard, if I recall, to understand their website. You can put in and say, "Well, do it just by males, just by females." We did that. Females for breast, males for the prostate. Um, but there's a lot of cancers that Ventura County wasn't so high up on. So, we just decided to go with the top three, breast cancer, prostate, and leukemia. And then overall all cancers. One other quick point, the report is listing incidents, which is different than prevalence. So if a 100 people moved from LA today and had leukemia, that would not change our stats because they already have it. Incidence is the number of people within a given period of time that come down with the cancer. Prevalence is just how many people overall have that cancer.

Okay. Yeah, that was my f following question in terms of um the when the data is collected that number is based on where the person resides correct not where not the city where they're diagnosed necessarily. Correct. You would have a huge number in places like Isuza where city of hope is if it was that way. So no it is based on residents. Okay. And does the data show at all if there are certain populations uh is is that what you mean as far as ethnicities or or Yeah. or even like workforce like I'm thinking like I work with a farm working community and we get get quite a bit of children and farmworker parents diagnosed with cancer.

Some of the data I recall is broken out by ethnicity but not occupation. Got it. So, and um vice mayor, if you want to look at that stat or you have questions about it, you know how to reach me. I'd be happy to help answer any further questions if that's something you want to dive into. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. You're welcome. My pleasure,

Mr. Trembley. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. David, thanks as always. This is a a a really wellreceived and deep dive into the data. Uh we use it all the time. It actually precipitates all kinds of conversations at meals and elsewhere, you know, when I can say well go to page X and the state of the region report will be here. I so I really want to thank you and I also wanted to acknowledge it's on page five uh both your executive committee and the advisory support and then the the writing by Tony Basadi at Ventura County Star. He's been doing this now for goodness since uh I think it's his sixth one. Sixth one. So, it it's it's extremely well done and and I know Colleen Kasein is doing is doing the editing. So,

yeah, it's great to have an editor. They do they do they do a great job in addition to Mustang Marketing. So, all of the folks together, it's it's a whole team that does this. So, thank you again. It's really I will share the council's remarks with the board. Well received. Thank you, David. Thank you. And I just want to say the kickoff event um six weeks ago now early November. Oh, was it that long ago? Time flies when you're having fun. But it was very informative. It was a little bit longer than your presentation tonight, but I'd urge the council in two years if you have an opportunity to attend that event and get a lot more information. Plus, the panel discussion that you always have is useful. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you, David. Okay, we will go to item E. And I guess we're going to have our assistant library director, Lisa Given, give us the presentation this evening. Welcome.

Hello. Good evening, Mayor David Tennyson and library trustees. I'm Lisa Given, assistant library director for Camaro Public Library. Black History Month is observed for the month of February and recognizes the various contributions, talent, and influence of black educators, leaders, and artists. To kick things off, Russell Fischer, business services coordinator, Megan Proffetta, reached out to the founder and director of Project 50 to curate a special selection of 10 books, plus a bonus read by Project 50 founder and director Dexter Nunnery. These books are located upstairs on the second floor and inspire all readers, regardless of their background, to explore, reflect, and be inspired by the stories of resilience and triumph that the authors have to offer. Since it debuted this month, we've had 128 views of the reading list. The library invited AA Buckner Barnett, known as the Sunshine Storyteller, to lead a music and movement activity for children that promoted the African and black American storytelling traditions. 26 people attended. For teens, licensed cosmetologist Chenné Ralph shared the rich history and cultural significance of braiding and locks. Afterwards, 11 people were able to receive hands-on braiding instruction. For adults, we welcomed Ventura County Research Library Dossent and researcher Andy Lulham, who presented stories of African-American voices from Ventura County. Later this week, California State University Channel Islands English professor Raquel Baker will lead a discussion on black speculative fiction. These activities play a role in supporting the city of Camaro's strategic plan by providing opportunities to foster an inclusive and accessible environment for all. That concludes my presentation and I'm happy to address any questions. Thank you.

Anybody have any questions for uh Lisa? Comment? No questions. Just a comment. I mean, thank you for all the programming and thank you for highlighting uh Black History Month this month. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now, we will move on to council comments. I'm going to ask council member Trembley to kick this off if he's ready. Sure.

Sure. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. uh for meetings attended since February 11, uh February [snorts] 12, uh with Metroink, their customer appreciation day in Semi Valley. On February 17, the Fox Canyon GMA fiscal committee. On February 18, I had a board meeting for for CASSA, California Association of Sanitation Agencies. February 19th with Metroink on its strategic business plan. uh on February 23 24 until late yesterday afternoon and I just returned today uh from CASSA's uh policy forum in Washington DC. Um, I personally had uh three separate meetings with EPA staff uh primarily regarding state revolving fund and federal wifia u loan programs looking ahead to our uh wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation or new plant uh in in a few years. At the policy forum, uh the presentations included topics on uh both congressional priorities as well as stakeholder priorities. And [snorts] that ran the gamut from PIFA and what to do relative to PIFA liability uh federal financing of of uh water projects, wastewater treatment projects, uh cyber security, which is a real concern for everybody at this point. And then also uh CASSA's priorities including extending the length of uh NPDS permits, national pollution discharge elimination system permits from 5 years to 10 years. And we're hoping that that gains some traction in Congress. We believe it is. So that's uh it for me.

Thank you, Council Member Santangelo. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I'll be quick. On February 19th, I attended the CPA executive committee. February 25th, um today was the investment and finance committee. And then after that, I had the CPA finance committee. It's finance day today. And that's all I've got. Thank Thank you, Council Member Kell D.

Yes. Um, February 19th, I attended a BRSD uh board meeting uh February 25th. Today, I attended the investment and finance committee meeting with Miss Santangelo. And I just want to end again. I want to thank Kevin Jorgus board for his 19 years of service to the city. And I can remember when Kevin was hired and he did a yman's job and he was delightful to work with. So, um, that's all I'm going to say tonight. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo.

Thank you, Mayor. February 19th, I attended the economic development collaborative meeting. And then also along with my colleagues, February 21st to the 24th, I also traveled to Washington DC along with Mayor Tennyson, council member Trembley and city staff to attend the CASA conference, which is the California Association of Sanitation Agencies. And we were also able to participate in multiple uh legislative meetings with Senator Schiff's office with uh Senator Alex Badya and also Congresswoman Julia Brownley. Um and so we saw congressional support for our wastewater treatment plant uh plant which is going to be the most expensive capital improvement project in our city's history. Um, so definitely need that continued support, uh, support for the deteriorating Las Postas bridge, which in the past, uh, Congresswoman, uh, Brownley has been very supportive. Um, and also our force main resiliency project, uh, pump stations, water wells, and the modernization of our emergency radio network. And in addition, as Congresswoman Julia Brownley is retiring from Congress, we also took the opportunity to thank her for her tremendous support uh to the city of Camrio over the years um as well for her accessibility, for always being there and for her strong presence throughout her entire term. Uh the city of Camrio is extremely grateful um for her commitment to prioritizing our community and securing funding uh and support for infrastructure projects. Additionally, I also thanked the congresswoman for her steadfast advocacy on behalf of our veterans and our farm workers and everyday families throughout

Ventura County. She continues to work hard and intends to see that the city's requests um are met throughout the or she'll work hard to get those met through the end of this congress. Um she also indicated that you know she has a strong working relationship which we see and we have seen throughout the years um here with the city and she has appreciated over the years um so much of that. So I am just very very grateful for all of her work and that that's all that I have. Thank you.

Thank you. On February 14th, I was invited to represent the city at the Ventura County Chinese American so Association's New Year's Celebration, the year of the horse. And a lot of times when we go to these events, we're there for half an hour, 45 minutes, make a presentation, and walk out. Uh the entertainment was so thrilling, and it was a fantastic atmosphere. It was about a 3 and 1/2 hour 3 hour and 45 minute. We have a very vibrant Chinese community in Ventura County and in Camrio. Um the Chinese culture and the production of our Chinese Americans here is uh something worthy of celebrating and if you get a chance look next year. It's uh quite a show and a lot of fun. February 19th, I attended a conference, a half-day conference at Cal Lutheran University titled California's Housing Crisis: Roots of the Problem and What Lies Ahead. Very informative conference. Um, and I gave staff copies of the 158 page report, and I'm sure they will share it with the rest of the council. On February 19th, I attended the Ventura Council of Government's Admin Committee meeting. That evening, I attended an RDP event to bid farewell to our 25-year executive director for the regional defense partnership. And then again with uh Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo and Council Member Trembley, I was in Washington DC. But I will point out that Council Member Trembley was there wearing his hat as the president of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies and did not participate in any of the briefings or meetings that Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo and I had. So there was no Brown Act problem. He did his thing.

We did ours. Um, we were wellreceived at the legislative offices and hopefully we will get some of the requests honored that we made of our three federal legislators. And that is it. Any changes to the consent calendar? Seeing none, madame clerk, do we have any public comments on consent calendar? Yes, I do have um one person that signed up under consent calendar, Spencer Richie, but I don't see Spencer.

Okay, we will move on. Any questions from council? I'll move the approval of consent. Trembly second. We have a motion and a second. I'm going to take a roll call vote. Council member Santangelo, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo, yes. Council member Kildy, yes. Council member Trembley, yes. And Mayor Tennyson, yes. And that passes unanimously.

Thank you. With that, we'll move on to item L, amending the home occupancy permit fees. And I believe we're going to have George Winkler, our economic and business development manager. Good evening, mayor and council members. Um, tonight staff recommends adoption of a resolution amending home occupation permit fees to better match the actual cost of service and reduce barriers for homebased businesses. So, under the um California Constitution, regulatory and user fees may not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of the service. Um so staff conducted an early targeted review um even as we're preparing a broader user fee study because homebased businesses are an important entry point for local entrepreneurship. Um what we found was the actual administrative effort to process home occupation permits is lower um than initially projected when prior fees were adopted. [clears throat] So what changed operationally? Um, open gov permitting has significantly reduced administrative tasks and streamlined intake, review, routing, communication, and record retention, creating measurable operational efficiencies. Um, the proposed fees reflect those efficiencies and the current level of effort. So, the community development fee changes addressed in this resolution include the cottagebased um or the homebased cottage food permit currently at $420 um which is removed in this update and it will be processed as a regular home occupation with inspection. So, two fees um for that regular home occupation with inspection. One is for single family residents that's reduced from $270 to $110. Um and then those in the apartment multif family units that's reduced from $150 to $90. Um we introduced a new administrative only no inspection required category. Um that's $25 which reflects home offices with low impact

permits that can be approved administratively without field verification in any housing type. [clears throat] So for context um that's just the community development fee portion. Um, the current all-in cost for an initial approval of a very small homebased business includes our technology search charge fee at 11.34%. A general plan maintenance search charge fee of 17.89% plus uh the $25 minimum business tax and a $4 California access specialist fee. Um, so under the prior single family homebased office base fee of $270, the total was about $378 allin. Um, under the new standard, a single family fee of $110, that's about $171 all-in. Um, and for cases that qualify for that $25 no inspection um, pathway, that's about $61 all-in. So, that's about an 83% decrease for those homebased offices with no inspection. Um, we also reviewed nearby jurisdictions and our current all-in cost was significantly higher. Um but this update moves Camaro into the lower end of the bracket which is very competitive um for small startups. The fiscal impact of the recommended resolution reduces projected general fund revenue associated with these permits but revised fees better match the actual cost. Um for context staff process processes an average of 135 homebased business applications per year. So the fiscal impact is expected to be around $19,000 per year. Um, while the barrier to reduction is meaningful to those new homebased businesses that come into city hall, um, it's worth noting that prior fees were lawfully adopted and the resolution states that refunds or no refunds are warranted. If adopted, the revised fee will be effective tomorrow, February 26. Um, in closing, staff recommends council adopt

the resolution amending home occupation permanent fees as presented. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Any questions from council? Mr. Kild. Yeah. Uh, George, did we do a little bit of a comparison with other cities when we collected the data or was it just based on what our cost of providing a service typically runs?

Yeah. When we um calculated the cost um as proposed, we actually time staff um for each step of the process. So, it's the actual cost of the service. And then um we reviewed the other agencies just to double check and we came in um at the low end of that. So um I believe just for comparison Oxnard for a single family homebased business is about $266. More parks $248, Thousand Oaks is 153. Um Ventura was 61 and now we will also be at 61 um for that no inspection fee. Thank you.

No other questions. Are there any public comments? No, I don't see any council discussion. I'll move the approval. I can second. Mr. Kildy has a comment. Just a comment. Um if I may. Yes, you may.

Um part of what we try to do here is to try to get compliance. Um, I've always kind of thought of fees as not only try to um gather the cost of our participation in it with our people hours here, but also I've kind of looked at as as an opportunity for people to do it I don't want to say the right way, but let's just say do it away. And when the fees get up to a certain level, the compliance gets a little more challenging. So I I think it's really great that the staff and the council are continuously looking into this through efficiencies and whatnot that we could do and I think it kind of bears some fruit um of this and uh you don't see it happen too much. So when it does, hooray, right? So, those are my comments.

Anybody else? We have a motion in a second. Madame Clerk. Yes. Council member Santangelo. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo. Yes. Council member Kildy. Yes. Council member Trembley. Yes. And Mayor Tennyson. Yes. And that passes unanimously. Thank you. We will move on to item M, a proposed zoning ordinance amendment to certain sections of title 19. And I believe we have Megan that's going to make the presentation.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Tennyson and council members. Staff are very excited about this proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify zoning requirements, streamline the development review process, provide consistency across zoning districts, reorganize land uses to be more userfriendly, and create more flexibility in the application of development standards. These changes are intended to make the development review process more efficient and businessfriendly. And we also want to provide staff with additional tools to administer the code. Currently, permitted uses for the seven commercial and three industrial zones are listed separately within each zoning chapter. This requires users to flip back and forth between multiple chapters to compare the requirements for each use in each zone. We wanted to create a more user-friendly format. So, we are proposing to replace the use lists in each chapter with a land use matrix. This allows easy comparison of the uses and requirements across all commercial and industrial zones. We are also recommending a few use related changes. We are proposing to regulate ancillary uses by the amount of square footage that they occupy rather than by percentage of sales because percentage of sales is very difficult to verify and enforce. We are also proposing to allow laundry and dry cleaning facilities in the village commercial mixeduse zone where they are currently not permitted to encourage mixeduse developments and localize this service type use. And we are proposing to allow restaurants by right within the professional office and the light and um limited manufacturing zones. Restaurants are currently a permitted use in the LM and M1 zones and not a permitted use in the PO zone. These changes are intended

to streamline the permitting process for new restaurants and provide consistency I'm excuse me convenient dining options for employees working in these areas. We are also proposing to allow museums as a permitted use in the M1 zone uh where they are currently not permitted to encourage adaptive reuse of vacant industrial buildings. The next category of changes that we are recommending are intended to improve current review processes. Right now, plan development permit and appeals process requirements are strewn across all of the zoning chapters. And we have created new standalone PDP and appeals chapters to improve consistency. We have also created a new permit application withdrawal process for CUPs and PDPs at the discretion of the director if an applicant does not complete their application 180 days after we notify them that their application is incomplete. This is intended to motivate applicants to move applications forward and make our records clearer regarding active projects. We are also proposing to increase uh permit terms for CUPs and PDPs from 12 to 24 months and allow the director to grant time extensions and elevate time extension requests to the planning commission for their approval. This avoids the need for applicants to reapply for permits if the project has not changed. Currently, the code requires similar use determinations to be made by the planning commission. We are proposing to modify this to allow these determinations to be made by the director and appeal to the planning commission. It would also allow the director to refer them to the planning commission and appeal the planning commission's decision to the city council. This change allows straightforward use determinations to be handled quickly at the staff level and but keeps the discretionary process for more complex requests.

We are also proposing to remove the um director level CUP process. It only applies to alcohol beverage manufacturing facilities and short-term daycare nurseries with more than six children. We are proposing to allow alcohol beverage manufacturing facilities with ACUP and nurseries by right. The DCUP process has not been used often and we have found that it does not offer a benefit to applicants. The procedural and noticing requirements make the DCUP process take the same amount of time as the regular CUP process. and staff have found that alcohol beverage manufacturing facilities um have the potential to create adverse impacts without the enforcibility of conditions of approval and short-term daycare nurseries are regulated by the state and will remain subject to the provisions of the zoning code. We are proposing to streamline the process for concurrent permit applications. So this would be something like a commercial development permit and an associated amendment to a specific plan. and it would allow staff to bring these to the planning commission and the city council at the same time. With this amendment effort, we also wanted to make development standards more flexible to support economic development. We are proposing to remove the requirement for drive-throughs to provide separate window areas for payment and pickup and the limitation on only one drive-thru lane to allow more modern techniques to manage lines. We are also proposing to make some changes to off- streetet parking and loading requirements. We would like to remove the distance requirement for off- streetet parking to be located so many feet from the use that it serves. Instead, we are proposing to allow the director to determine if parking can be provided in a safe and convenient manner. We also want to change the loading space requirements so that the director can grant relief from the requirements if larger loading spaces are not needed by the operations of the

business. In addition, we are proposing to allow reductions in the number of off- streetet parking spaces or other applicable parking requirements as appropriate um when a parking study demonstrates that the requirement exceeds the anticipated parking demand for a new development. We also want to allow flexibility for lot size and setback requirements that apply to commercial zones as appropriate through the permit process. This will give smaller lots in commercial zones more development options. So all of this flexibility is intended to ensure that requirements align with the needs of each development. Um this can encourage more efficient land use, reduce development costs, support economic activity, improve design, accommodate changing freight needs, and encourage adaptive reuse and infill development. staff have brought this item forward to support economic development goals, but we also will be completing a broader, more comprehensive review of the zoning code for consistency with the general plan update as part of the update effort. The economic development and land use committee reviewed the proposed zoning ordinance amendment during its regular meeting on August 28th, 2025 and expressed their support for the proposed amendment and suggested no changes. The planning commission reviewed the proposed amendment on December 2nd, 2025 and recommended approval to the city council with a few minor changes for clarity. The recommendations for this item are listed on the slide before you. This concludes my presentation on the proposed zoning ordinance amendment and I am happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Are there any questions for Megan? Kevin? Yeah, Megan. um are some of these um projected changes um is that state law driven or is that just more efficiencies of what we're trying to do here?

Um I would say both actually. It's a great question. So, uh the majority are kind of efficiency related changes. um the change to um the DCUP process to allow the uh short-term daycare nurseries for um for more than six children um by right is is a change that is is in alignment with state law. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions for Megan? Well, this is a public hearing. We'll open it up. Are there any public comments? We do have one public comment that was submitted by Spencer Richie.

Welcome again, Spencer.

Hello. Um, all right. Um, again, I'm Spencer Richie and yeah, I do generally really like the suggestions that wereo like proposed for like the zoning. In general, I do agree that the zoning needs to be a lot more flexible than it currently is in order to, you know, make better use of what facilities we have. And then another another thing I wanted to to to bring up um is that I actually don't know if it's the city or the county that would like you know in the hypothetical scenario that ICE wanted to to purchase land or you know like warehouses to turn into a facility. for them. Um, again, I don't know if that would be the city or county jurisdiction and if that would depend on where it was, but um, just putting in my two cents. Um, we should not let ICE like buy any more stuff beyond what they already have in the county because no, like we know the conditions that, you know, ISIS is is treating people in like even in our own county, especially at, you know, 321 Cortez circle. Apparently, when Julia Browning recently took a tour of their of 321 Quartz Circle or um she did comment on how quote unquote eerily quiet or you know eerily silent I don't know it was and then apparently like the morning of

somebody detained at 321 Cortez circle had been taken to the hospital because I don't know what the people are doing to those detained at 321 Cortez that you know so many ambulances and stuff have to be called to take detainees over to to medical care. But yeah, I'd rather not have more of that in my town or, you know, in our county in general, especially since word is coming out that at Dilly and other ICE facilities where um minors are [snorts] being detained, there are something called blue butterfly zones that are entirely teenage girls in these units and no one who does not work for ICE is allowed to see or communicate with them. So, you know, especially in light of the Epstein trafficking that we're finding more and more about, you can put two and two together about what that means, especially since the DOJ is is, you know, censoring Trump's involvement with Epstein and stuff. So, let's not have that.

Thank you, Spencer. Council discussion. I'll start it up. Go ahead.

Yeah. I um [snorts] um when I was first elected, uh one of the issues in uh the city was off-site parking street and it's still an issue today. Um but I appreciate um the uh attempt, you know, to be more flexible in what we're trying to do. Again, trying to get compliance on this. And when we look at these things, uh, we look at it from a kind of a broad perspective here. And I appreciate staff looking at this and any efficiencies that we can do to try to make more compliance within the realm of what the state too is, uh, well, for lack of a better term, demanding uh us to do. Um, you know, a lot of folks uh in the city have worked really hard to make Cambrio a unique place, and I appreciate staff and the council looking at that and doing what we can do to try to keep that um that um kind of um modus operande kind of in in in the future here. So, um I think this uh efficiencies are are a good thing. Um hopefully it will will help us streamline this and make the folks that uh use these services make them more user friendly and I think that's a good thing. So those are my comments.

Thank you. Any other discussions? We'll entertain a motion. I can mo go ahead. I can move staff's recommendations one and two. Second. We have a motion in a second. Madame clerk, roll call, please. Council member Santangelo. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez Bravo. Yes. Council member Kildy, yes. Council member Trembley, yes. And Mayor Tennyson, yes. And that passes unanimously. Thank you. And madame clerk, I'm going to assume since we only had two speakers during non-aggenda items, everybody had their opportunity. Will the city attorney please provide the close session report?

Thank you, mayor and council. We did go into close session earlier today on two items that were listed on the agenda, and there was no reportable action taken in close session. Thank you very much. This meeting is adjourned. Council was very quiet tonight.