City Council - Regular Meeting

managers here. We can begin. Good evening everyone. Hope everyone is well. Before we begin the meeting, can I ask everyone who's in attendance to please rise as we start off with a prayer? Thank you. Dear heavenly father, thank you for once again an incredible evening in Canyon Lake. Lord, we are so blessed to be here. Lord, please be with everyone, our first responders, Lord, and all that they do. Um, be with our entire team today and let us enjoy this process, Lord. And in your name, amen. Amen. Please remain standing. We are going to do call to order and then we're going to do the flag salute. So, madame clerk, can we do a call to order real quick? Mayor Pro Tim Castillo here. Council member Steber here. Council member Terry here. Council member Welty here. Mayor Smith.

Perfect. Mr. Terry, would you please lead us in the pledge? Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance 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. I didn't announce the time, but it was 5:32. Madam clerk, thank you. All right, close session report.

Hi, thank you, mayor. Before reporting out of close session, I just wanted to make a clarification for the record. Um, the descriptions of of items one and two inadvertently contain some minor clerical errors. The agenda was already sufficient, but I just wanted to identify those so we can have a clear and accurate record. So item one which reads uh conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation should read initiation of litigation and item two which reads anticipated litigation initiation of litigation should actually read um sufficient exposure to litigation. And with that I'm going to give the close session report out. So as to item one council gave direction by consensus. Item two direction was also given by consensus. And item three there is no report of action. Thank you. do these.

Thank you. I got it. Um, all right. Moving on. City Council comments, reports. I think we're going to have Dale, you're going to kick us off, right? Yeah. Uh, do we have this up on the screen or is this on paper? We have it up on the screen.

Okay, everyone. This is uh I attended a SAG Southern California Association of Governments meeting and in it they came out and discussed some economic projections that have changed significantly. Uh and this is to a fair degree for the rest of my council uh staff but I think even for California Association of Governments basically pays economists to come out and make these reports. So the first slide we're going to look at is population projections. And originally in 2020, they had projected that in 200 50 we'd be having about 22 million people in the Southern California regions. It's kind of from Ventura south. So they anticipated uh almost 23 million people and and that's quite a increase. Okay. In 2024, they changed that projection and they we're back to the prior slide. They change the projection to 20 million. So, it's a lesser increase. The most recent projections are bas we we we projections are as good as they are today. I'm just telling you it could change next week, could change next month. But in my our mind, in my mind, I was never thinking we couldn't grow out of a problem in this region. We could always add more people, more houses, and the it was always going to be growth that really was the inspiration for Southern California as it has been probably for the last hundred years. But it may be that that day may be coming to an end. In five years, we may bring this slide back up and see if this is real or not. Uh but uh I just want to make the council and the members of the community aware what the projections are and that the world may be changing. So we can go to the next slide. Now the next one is household projections. So in other words, how many

people make households? In today's world, we're probably talking about three people in a household. You got mom, dad, uh retired with no kids, and you got mom, dad with two kids. So there's kind of a balance right here of how many households. So as you can see that over time, the projection for how many households were going to come to California also reduced. But also if you remember the last chart where the population was flat, well how are we getting more households if the population is going to be flat? Well, the answer is the size of the households reducing. We have more retired people. People are having less children which is really we'll talk about at the end which is the crux of the real driver here. So understanding there'll still need to be houses but the number of people in those households will be greatly re significantly reduced from what we have today. That's the projection. Again let's talk in five years to see how accurate it is. Uh but even in Canyon Lake as we look around we and my my children are having less children than my grandparents for sure. Uh less children than me for sure. So um this is the trend we're going uh next slide. Employment projection as you can see there the early anticipated projections were that we were going to keep increasing our employment numbers and the latest projection which is the purple is that the employment numbers are not going to rise significantly. Again, the idea we cannot grow out of our current situation seems to be part of the projection. So, there's a couple of trends that are happening. One, the immigration. We no longer have the large amount of immigration to Southern California we had years past. That's one of the ideas. Uh, and the other one is more people are going to retire and AI is going to make a change in the workforce. There's an idea I like Elon

Musk and you know in Elon Elon Musk's world Aaron could run two cities by himself in 20 years. It'll just you'll come to a meeting it'll be Aaron and no one else but I don't think that's realistic but we are going to see some efficiencies built in and we're going to see some shifts in and workforce. So um it's just going to be a different world. So that's employment projections. So where's our health where's our growth going to be in employment? healthcare and social assistment by far the largest. That's uh just to help our elderly people and our people to stay healthy and social. So that's we're not producing any widgets with that. We're basically just sustaining our population which isn't the best news. I'm going to go down to the bottom which is manufacturing and that's where we're going to lose most of the jobs. So uh again the world's changing. Uh just want everybody to have a picture of that. Okay, next slide. Median age. Again, we're talking early projections of where the medium age was going to be in 2050 would be 40 years old. We'd be a bunch of 40 year olds on average. The new projection takes us to 46 year old. So, our population is aging, which means more retired people, more medical care, therefore the health care industries are going to grow. Um, you know, yeah, it is GDP and it is jobs, but it's not like they're not wealth generating jobs. Staying alive is a big thing, don't get me wrong.

Are you telling me at 46 I get to retire? No, at 56 you're halfway retired. You're going to only have to work till you're 92. Got it. Got it. Thank you. So So let's go on to the next one, which is uh household size.

As you can see with the projections and where we're at, uh in 2020, we were somewhere around three people per household. The projection is in 2050 it'll be two and a half people per household. So again, uh I remember having kids. We had three kids. We they all had a we had a couple foreign exchange students and a friend living with us. So we had a we were stuffing at the at the rims. And now I got one kid in college. Everybody else has moved out. So we have a house that can handle seven people and we have two of us there. So what you may see is that the builders may look to building smaller units. uh maybe the big houses will turn into ADUs. There is some movement to build houses with ADUs built in them to help house the the children or the elderly. And uh you're probably going to see that trend economically continue. So the next one which is more close to home, we'll go to the next slide. Uh, as you can see, this graphs the different counties as you go across. And if you look, the only ones that are really anticipated to grow in population is Imperial County, who has very few people. So, it doesn't make that many take that many people for their population to increase. And the other one is us in Riverside. So, we're projected to grow. So, uh, we will have a larger population. and we will probably build out some of those vacant lands out here, but probably not in the madness we've seen over the last 70 years. So, um that and and the reduction in the household size means we're going to need more housing. Uh one of my struggles to the council here is that if I'm going to talk about transportation, if all the regions but us are going to go down in population, a lot of the more of these people are going to be retired and not have to commute to work would be the idea. then it would seem like Orange County and the metropolitan areas in up towards the

ocean would probably the freeways they have which are not great pro maybe become adequate for for the population that's going to be on the road. So that's that's a possibility that's something for our transportation to people to be aware of. We however are going to grow. How many people have been on the 15 going south or the 215 going south or the 15 or going north, right? I mean, it's bad and we're getting more people most likely. And so, um, my advocate, if I was to be an advocate, which I am, I would say, let's let's get our roads up to par. The inland regions are the the coastal regions, I've been there. They have some traffic, but it's not like we do. The 91, the 15, the 215 always kind of a nightmare. And we at RCTC, we got to bring this forward and and advocate to get these roads fixed because we the other thing about the 15 to 215, it isn't the Riverside people driving on the 21515. We've got trucks coming from different parts of the country going to San Diego. We got commuters coming down from San Bernardino. Uh we just have a lot of people from outside our area using our freeways. So, this is our argument to the Sacramento people that we we need some help on our our roadways and we'll go to the last slide and that this is uh traffic impact. We talked about this and birth rate decline. Uh this was not on the slides they gave us. This was brought up in the conversations of the meeting. Uh I made the notes right there so they're probably accurate. So the replacement rate rate for for a population is 2.1. So every woman has 2.1 kids because some women don't have kids and some kids die or pass away. So you're looking at 2.1. That's a that's a constant level. Early projection was 1.43. All right. So we were going to decline uh in the number of births we were going

to have and the recent projection is two 1.27. So we're probably going to have a decline of appro approximately 40% per generation. Um so again significant potential for change coming our way and we have two problems. Uh if if we our population goes down we think and how great that is. We'll have more space. But really remember we're in comp competition on a global level. If China, if if the other countries like Russia, they have all these people and they have a population that has an industrial base and they can out industrial compete us, it's not a good thing. Um there is there is I'm not going to say what the right balance of how many people we have in the United States, but I don't believe in any sense 40% decline per generation is anywhere near where we want to be. So we uh I I have a daughter that's now paying child care. Well, won't go into that, but we're watching the kid right now because she's going to work, but child care is coming down the road. That being said, the cost of child care and the motivation for her to go to work are not strong. So, um, as a nation, we may need to look at somehow helping those people that want to go to work, be our industrial base, produce for us, and help them out so we don't have this decline in population. The other choice is immigration. And the United States for most of us, we don't like rampant uncontrolled immigration. That's not on anybody's list that I know of. That being said, controlled immigration, bringing in the people that help us become a greater nature nation. That's something that, to be honest, is going to have to be looked at because we can't afford the population decline without doing that. I mean, what a great country we have where you you hold the flag out and you say, "Hey, you're we want you to apply to come live here. We're going to get PhDs. We're going to get doctors. We're going to get engineers. We're going to get our

choice of the universe to come live here." And uh what we don't want is the people that don't have any level of success in their own country. Just a comment. So, that was kind of my my presentation on that side. I just wanted everybody to be aware. Um one more presentation. And I got my kindness hat which I have to give to from me. No, I want to do that. You can have it. Okay. Uh I'll be kind. You can have it.

So this is basically the RTA kind of uh marketing uh story uh that when you go on the buses, when you go in the bus stops, please be kind to the the strangers and be kind to the bus riders. Uh and that brings us to the next kindness, but we can talk about safety. So basically when you're on a bus there's cameras everywhere. So you cannot get away with shooting somebody or stabbing somebody or or being a nuisance. Thank god

without it being on cameras. So that's great. You know sometimes you think well that's kind of after the fact. And of course the the major trans transportation centers they have cameras. So we you have cameras that should make you feel safe. What they've added which I thought was the coolest thing. And what they said was each seats there's a RF there's a code uh not RFID we uh UPC code or what do we call now the QR code

QR code there we are so you have a QR code so let's say you're in the back of the bus and somebody's harassing somebody three seats in front of you you take your phone you hit the QR code opens up a website you can type in to um to the transit authorities and you can say there this person's being incredibly misbehaving so the level of safety because now instead of the camera eye which was which was reviewed the next day, right, to find out there's a problem. It's pretty instantaneous and it's pretty hidden because you can just pick your phone up and kind of tap away. The transportation systems are modernizing and they're probably pro providing some great benefits. Sorry, I see Chris out there. Just Chris is the data king for WCOG. So, uh maybe he could add something, but uh anyway, that's that's my comments for today and that should do it. Thank you, Council Member Wily. And I want to thank Council Member Marty for giving Dale all that time because he's not going to speak. So, Council Member Steer, you're up.

Can we Can we recognize Chris Gray? Of course. Chris Gray from WRCOG. Thank you for attending our council meeting, my friend. Appreciate you being here. Executive director, correct? Interim executive director. Does a lot of great work for our region. Thank you, Chris. Council member Stever.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. Um few of the comments and reports I'd like to go over. Uh back in March, uh Mayor Prom and I had our LUSD articulation meeting. A few things that came out of there was great that I'd like to highlight. Uh on April 24th at Lakeside High School, LUSD will have be hosting their LUSD games. It's their special Olympics and I'm honored to be able to be a part of the ceremonial matters and uh looking forward to that. Also, the student of the year dinner is coming up on April 28th. Uh it's an amazing time. I attend the student of the month from August or September through April and uh now out of 27,000 kids through the school district, only one gets honored that night. So, looking forward to that. The school district did advise me to uh let all the parents know state and local assessments will be happening starting at the end of April uh flowing into the middle of May. Um got to attend the soft opening of Jenny Sugar Shack uh with Council Member Terry. Uh Pistachio was my favorite. I don't know about yours, but

Peanut butter peanut butter cookie.

So if you if you haven't attended there yet, uh please stop by. It's great. Um, tomorrow, uh, Council Member Wely and I were invited to get a tour from Southern California Edison's Wdemar facility. So, looking forward, um, attending that. And also one of our uh most superior DAs out there, Mike Hester, wanted me to advise that starting next week is National Crime Victim's Right Week rights week. Um which on uh April 23rd at 700 p.m. uh they are hosting a memorial at the Riverside Historic Courthouse. Uh I'm not going to steal too much of the thunder cuz I know the nonprofit is here, but also this Thursday at uh Holiday Harbor is Hope Lights the Nights uh by Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center. And same I believe uh Chief Latendrris will be speaking on about the fire station open house on May 2nd. Uh the last couple items I want to bring up is also the same day as the open house, the Canyon Lake Yacht Club will be having their opening day and blessing of the boats. And again, that's May 2nd. And then Council Member Wely and I will be attending Skaggs General Assembly May 7th and 8th. So looking forward to that. Um, also on behalf of mayor and I, I want to thank staff for a great review of the budget last week and appreciate the time and uh um answers we received for some of our questions. And lastly, prior to our next council meeting, I would like to wish all the mothers a happy early mother's day. That concludes my message. Mayor,

thank you. Mayor Bertim, I just want to say hi. Thank you everyone for coming. This is an important meeting. Sorry, this is an important meeting and I know that the schedule it was different. So to those of you who made it out on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday, thank you so much. Um, like council member Steber mentioned, we did have a really productive meeting, I thought, with LUSD and we have some good things on the horizon. Um, and I'm just excited to be here. I think we're doing important work and I'm grateful for all my colleagues.

Absolutely. Great update. Um, two plugs for me. Uh, we had a big turnout from Canyon Lakers at the county building a few weeks back to talk about the cemetery. So, um, Jeff Bill's here. Um, we actually had quite a few people. Uh, council member Terry was there, Mr. Rouely was there, former council member Jennifer Dayne was there. Um, we had so many different people from the community and, um, it was a big turnout. close to 180 people attended and there was over 60 comments and I would say that um close to half of those were Canyon Lakers. So, it's a pretty incredible thing to see um the Canyon Lake movement coming all the way down to the you know county building which is an hour away on 9:00 a.m. on a Wednesday. So, it was pretty pretty cool to be at that building with uh with with our people. It was awesome. So, I just want to say thank you. Um the good news is is that staff made the recommendation to the planning commission to continue the item um because the applicant is going to now be required um to do an environmental study, which is big. That's exactly what we wanted to do. And that's a huge shout out um to our city attorney because of uh the work that was done leading up to that meeting. So it was a big win for for our community. So and then I also want to plug um council member uh Steber mentioned May 7th is uh SCAG, but it's also National Day of Prayer. And as always, uh, here in Canyon Lake, uh, this will be the 12th year, 13th year for National Day of Prayer, and it's going to be happening like it did last year at the lodge. Um, very exciting. So, looking forward to that. And, uh, stand by for more information for that. Other than that, do you want to say anything? Are you good given your time?

I'm good. Okay. All right. We're going to move on. We're moving on to ceremonial matters. You're up, my friend. Okay. So, probably the reason I gave up my time is I'm just going to try to get through this. Love it.

Why do I always get this? Um, when I was a kid, I had a nextdoor neighbor named Dorothy Wiggins. And Dorothy had Down syndrome. and but she was always just my neighbor and I grew up playing with her as a young kid. Um, unfortunately Dorothy passed I think on her 14th. She was 14. But I'm so thankful for that relationship that I had with her because as time went on and as you get older and you become more exposed to things on this planet, that was one thing that I always had a very very big heart for. When I heard about Kylie and Alana, it is incredible what these two young people out of their own heart have made the decision to do. And I'm going to read this so I don't screw it up. But they are two outstanding students from the greatest high school on the planet, Tomesco Canyon High School. Kylie Wilcox and Alana Thomas. Are you here? Can you please come forward?

Hello. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having us. Hey, Sam. I'm going to embarrass you.

Kylie took the initiative to create something truly special, a cheer team for special education students. She built the program from the ground up, organizing the team, creating routines that fit individual abilities. What started as an idea has already grown into a team of 12 athletes, performing at special education sporting events with even more opportunities ahead. Alana, co- captain of the varsity cheer team, is equally dedicated to making a difference as an ambassador for the health and she is an ambassador for the health academy and a member of the unified leadership. She works to promote inclusion and connection across the campus. Together, Kylie and Alana have created more than just a team. They have created a space where students feel welcome, included, empowered so that they can thrive. Congratulations.

What gave you the idea to do this? What was that? Do you do you remember that one moment where you just said, "This is something I want to do." I've done since I was

and multiple students have tried out for a cheer school and high school and they were not able to. So I wanted to make a space where they could enjoy. Wow. So a little bit of compassion over what you experienced decided you to move forward with this. Yes. That is awesome. How about you? When I heard that we were going to start a cheer team, I was really excited to bring this together because I know how much I love cheer and I wanted to bring the experience to the whole class and everyone who wanted to participate and it just made me feel really happy to be able to bring together a team. Heck yeah. So, you're both already on cheer, correct? Yes. So, where do you find the time to to do this?

We take time. You sound like Mayor Proin Castile. We take time during our fourth period class which is unified leadership which is a class with half special needs students and half gen ed and we take time during that class to learn and then we also use lunch and Titan time as well. Wow. What's your favorite part of it? I just love seeing the girls be excited to perform the cheers for the school at pep rallies at games and just seeing the smiles on their face really warms my heart. Love it. Give it up. This is for you, Kylie. This is for you. I cannot tell you

how this entire council is so very proud of the example for our youth that you're demonstrating here today. You know, we uh we often think, oh, the world is doomed. Um not as long as we have outstanding people like you. Thank you so much for creating that space. Okay, can we take a picture? Mind of course.

Congratulations. Good job, Mark. That was a good one. Tearjerker. Literally,

they're all good ones. literally tearjerker. All right, we're moving on now to presentations. I don't believe Darcy Burke is joining us, right? Um, we do have Vice President Jeff Bill from the PA. Sorry, uh, Jeff, we have not extended the microphone. It is still very short for you. Yeah, sorry, my friend.

There it's really been a slow month over the PA this past month. We haven't passed a lot of rules. We haven't made a lot of changes, but we do have a lot of events coming up. So, I'm going to bore you with our schedule. Um, May 23rd, Fiesta Day will be a nice day of parades. It's the 250th anniversary of our country. Um, just for those of you that didn't know that. So, we'll be doing a few extra things that you'll get to see if you show up. That's going to be on Saturday the 23rd. But on Sunday the 24th is our Canyon Lake Country Fest. And if you didn't make it last year, you should really go this year. Um, this year we're going to have Brian White, Dena Carter, David Cook, and Colin Ray. Yes, I had to read the names. I don't listen to country music. Um, they will be there. These are top performers. Um, you'll recognize the songs if you look them up. So, coming up on April 26 is a community garage sale. if you need to get rid of a bunch of stuff and it's um great place to be where you don't have to have a permit like you do the rest of the year. Um important stuff coming up. April 25th is our ebike education and safety fair. The announcements are going out tonight at this event. We're going to learn about etiquette, best practices, getting out in traffic and trying not to get hit. Um trying to obey the rules. Um, there's going to be obstacle courses, prizes, giveaways, and hopefully, I know we're working on it, but I don't know if there's going to be a Canyon Lake police car available, but I know we've been talking to you guys, so hopefully we'll have one by then. I know it's cutting it close, so hopefully we'll have that there. Um, the yacht club was already mentioned, opening day, Blessing of the Boats, Saturday, May 2nd. Hope Lights the Night is coming up really soon. I know Josh mentioned that, but I wanted to give that a special shout out because that's really a nice event. Um, to anybody who's lost a a loved one to cancer, it's really just a nice place to

be. And that's this Thursday from 400 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. And of course, we already mentioned the National Day of Prayer, uh, May 7th. Looking forward to that, and I'm hoping to see all of you there. So, the next thing is to touch on what you had mentioned, mayor, the um the April 1st meeting at Riverside County. I know a lot of people attended, but a lot of people weren't able to attend. We've been receiving emails and calls from those that couldn't make it. So, on Thursday, April 23rd at the senior center from 6:00 to 7:30, we're going to have a meeting. This is not a POA meeting. This is the Save Our Lakes group. going to have a meeting just forformational updates, any Q&A for anybody who wants to come in there. And yes, we did push the issue with the IR and hopefully that takes us where we want to be. But this fight is not over. So don't uh don't forget about this. This might take a year or two, 3 years. It's not over. So we just uh come on to our meeting April 23rd, 6:00 to 7:30 at the senior center and we'll give you the updates. And also this weekend I hope to have the link to the meeting video posted on the Save Our Lakes website. So if anyone wants to see it for themselves. So that's about all I got unless you have any questions.

Good job. Any questions for the PI? We good? All right. Hey Jeff, appreciate you. Thank you for being here. Thanks for letting me. Of course. Johnny, you're up. Chamber of Commerce. You guys have been busy. You let him get away with that. Yeah. Come on, press. All right. Uh, Mayor Smith, Mayor Pro Tim Castillo, city uh council members, city staff, and all the beautiful commerce out there. Um, I I have three items. First, um, I attended the student of the month uh this past week. Um, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Steber, for giving me that opportunity. On the way home, my wife asked how that went. I said I met some great people, cried, met some great students, cried, made some great connections, cried, cried, cried, cried. It is amazing. Exactly. It It was absolutely amazing. I am honored and privileged to be able to attend those. I just don't know if my heart can handle it. U but I I look forward to it. It was an incredible experience. So, I want to thank you for that. Um, second, we updated our after hours mixer name to uh Kenyon Lake uh connect. I think it was a little bit more fitting of a title and name uh for after hours mixer. And then lastly, tomorrow we will be launching our Kenyon Lake uh chamber advantage. It is a member-to-member uh experience for members to pass on uh discounts uh referrals. It's a little bit different than most. One of the unique aspects of that is the ability for the member themselves to go on and create their own referral or uh discount. So they have the opportunity to do that. They don't have to wait for us to approve it. We will monitor it. But it's really nice experience to give the opportunity uh for people in Canyon Lake and members that if they're searching for, you know, somebody to do something for them or some jobs that they search the Canyon Lake Chamber advantage before going outside the city. Um I I think it's important. So, we're looking forward to launching that. That'll be tomorrow. I'll be posting that and then I'll leave it up to uh Rick to let you know what events we're having.

All right. Well, thank you. Hi, good evening. Um, I'm Rick Tobin, the vice president, director of events. Uh, first off, I'd like to publicly thank Aaron Ryder at Pepes. We had a speed networking event there last night with the Meny Chamber and Lake Chamber, and they do such a fantastic job there. So, we love hosting events at Pepes. So, thank you to Aaron and her staff. Um, also like to announce the business of the month, PNC Bank, right here. Uh, Gina Sprat, you know, I walk around the center handing out flyers and I I've met everyone several times. Gina is my favorite person. She's so enthusiastic and we just asked her to be an ambassador for the chamber. So, we're honored now to have Gina Sprat being an ambassador for the chamber. So, uh, PNC is the business of the month. And I want to talk about some upcoming events, specifically one week from tonight, the Taco Tuesday golf mixer at the golf club. We did it once before kind of in a testr run format. We figured out what works, what doesn't, and now we've enhanced it. We're going to have Pat Kimble, the head pro. So, first off, we're going to have all 15 tea boxes. Pat Kimble, the head pro, and I think Theo, his main assistant, going to be out there giving free lessons. The putting green right adjacent, they put out shrubs and sand traps. We have putting contests. We'll have a lot of sponsor booths there. We're going to have our own private bar set up for the first time. They're going to bring out all the tacos and other food out. We're gonna have music playing and it's free. We like to host a lot of events that are free for our members and for people in the community. Um, you know, thanks to the sponsors. So, that's next Tuesday 5 to 7:00. And then later in the month at the golf club on the patio, PNC Bank again is doing a presentation. They're going to serve appetizers. Gina Sprat's going to do the presentation. That'll be 5:30 to 7 outdoor patio on April 30th. And then Secret Mile this year falls on Taco Tuesday. So appropriately, we're

doing Taco Tuesday again at the Golf Club. And then lastly, we're finalizing the land cruise we're doing. We're going to have one or two buses leave from here going to Shoreline Yach Club. We're doing it with Canyon Lake Yach Club. We're finalizing the prices. We're trying to make it as affordable as possible, but we think it may be as low as $50. And that'll be a roundtrip ticket, a gourmet food, and a lot of mimosas and coffee and iced tea. So look for that link coming up. So but thank you for your time and have a good evening. Great Johnny, we appreciate you guys so much. Seriously, all that you do. It's so fun doing these ribbon cutings with you guys. You guys got it down pat. So appreciate you guys so much. Keep it up. Thank you for your help. Any questions for them before they take off everyone? Good.

Thanks guys. Appreciate you. All right, moving on. We got the nonprofit spotlight. Council member Sber, this one is yours, my friend. Take it away. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. love to indu in introduce my good friend Amber Berky who is now the CEO of Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center. Congratulations. I have a whole speech but I'm not going to steal your thunder. So really at the end of the day love for you to talk about your endeavors, how you support our community and how our community can support you. Great. Take it away.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh thank you mayor, council members and city staff for the opportunity to be with you this evening. It is an honor. Uh you're the first city I have spoken to in my new role as CEO. So, thank you very much for the gracious work. We're the first ones. And you got the whole title thing right and everything. I mean, you're a pro. You've been watching videos. I know. Even even acknowledge staff. Good job.

Thank you. Um Kim Gish, our executive director, did retire after 23 years. Uh she's still with us for a few more weeks during the transition. She will be with us at Hope Lights tonight on Thursday. So, I hope that you can join us and um just say thank you for her many years of service to the valley and bringing cancer care resources here. Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center is the only cancer resource center that serves our local area. We provide service to just about 6,000 individual clients each year. And um I'll I'll get into how we do that and who we serve, but our vision is that no one should face cancer alone. And that includes family members, caregivers, children. We do do serve men, women, and children. Expanded to all cancers in 2018 after um serving for just breast cancer for the first 18 years of our existence. Um our mission is to empower individuals and families through education and support services. And I'll go through how we do that as well. Go to the next slide. Just sharing some of the demographics. These do match national trends that we see as well because we started serving breast cancer only. Um breast cancer is still the number one cancer that we see walk through our doors. Uh it is um also again following trends that uh one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. So my first call to action for everyone in this room is to be your best advocate. and if you feel that something is not right with your health that you speak up um and find a doctor who will listen and continue to listen and help you. Um we hear countless times a day from our clients that they knew something was wrong and they were dismissed not just

once but multiple times until they uh were properly diagnosed. So be your best advocate. Uh you'll notice the client ages. Um, we are still seeing most of our clients in that 60 to 69 year old age range, but we are noticing an increase in the 30 and 40 year old age range as well. Um, we've seen uh specifically colon cancer increase in those age ranges. um could all speculate onto the reasons why, but um again, make sure that you are getting your preventive screenings done and stay on top of your your healthcare. Next slide, please. Our programs and services are all offered at no cost to all of our clients always. Um and that will never change. Our programs and services um include all of the the things that are listed there. I do want to just make a couple of notes. There is a difference between our behavioral health program and our peer-led support groups. We do offer both. We have um six postgraduate interns who provide our behavioral health services again at no cost. We added this about three years ago because our clients were telling us that um behavioral health therapists were so impacted. the wait lists were long and when they find themselves newly diagnosed and in crisis mode, they cannot wait for care. So, we brought those services inhouse and are now providing them. That program continues to grow year-over-year. We also have revamped our educational seminars that are open to the public. Uh we have anything from cancer one-on-one 101 through uh pain and neuropathy. anything that we can provide that will help uh educate not only our clients but the community at large on what living with cancer being diagnosed is actually like

um and our patient navigation um which is is displayed on this slide is our largest program. We have three navigators. Two are bilingual. They speak English and Spanish. And um our navigators are really like case management. So when a client comes to us, um you know, of course we we take all of their information, their medical information, but we go beyond the medical because we know that um their ability to be well goes beyond just their medical care and includes all of these things, housing, food, transportation, um access to care, insurance coverage. So our navigators spend time with the clients understanding their their needs as a whole person including their medical needs. They also take them through a self-sufficiency matrix. So they are screened when they first come in not only for these needs but how they are feeling emotionally, mentally and then they connect them to resources internally. If we are not able to offer something within our four walls, we have many community partners that we can um do a warm handoff with to provide some of these resources as well. Uh we also have access to partners who provide direct funding to the families if they need um rental assistance or uh a mortgage paid or something like that. We have those resources as well. I always get this question, how are we funded? We are funded in three primary buckets. You'll see up there. Our fundraising events, um, of which Hope Lights the Night is one. Um, our grant funding, which is local and regional as well as foundational, and then our general donations, which are straight donations from both individuals and corporations, but not tied to a fundraising sponsorship. Um we this year

our budget our operating budget is scheduled um for $1.6 million. It's our largest to date in the history of the organization um because we see the need continuing to grow significantly in this region. Uh our valley does not have comprehensive cancer care resources. Um Kim has fought the fight for 23 years to continue to bring oncology here to the valley, but we find that most of our clients continue to travel to LA, Orange County, or San Diego for care at the major cancer centers. So um we are always advocating with our um elected officials, with our hospitals to bring additional resources here to the valley and we'll continue doing that. Next slide. We have um at our last count about 160 volunteers. So we have so many of our clients who when they are finished with treatment or feeling well enough sign up to volunteer to give back to the community. Um this is anything from serving at our front desk, answering phone calls, following up with clients on their paperwork or needs to outreach events. We attended over 71 community outreach events last year. Um that's street fairs, chamber events, mixers. Um we host some of our own not only to spread awareness but um really to connect with people even if it's one person at a at an event to um to connect them to our resources. Next slide. And then these are our um fundraising events for this year. I love how well known Hope Lights the Night is. Thank you everybody. We look forward to being with you on Thursday evening. Um this will be our third year here in Canyon Lake and um this event really is to

honor, celebrate, and remember our loved ones who have been impacted by cancer. Um I encourage you to come out. It's a free community event. We will have live music and food trucks and you can bring your own picnic if you would like. Um, but I would be shocked if there was anyone in this room who does not know someone who has been impacted by cancer. So, we're um we're just a community that comes together to uh support each other and um to be out here in Canyon Lake. We're actually drawing a lot of new folks from northern cities as well, Corona and farther um who are coming to this event. So, as far as support goes, um you saw how we were funded. So, we are always looking for donations and sponsors from um our community members and from our businesses who are looking to align with cancer care resources. We are always in need of volunteers. I would say especially um up here in Canyon Lake, in Corona, in Moreno Valley, we have a lot of clients that come from this area. And so we are looking to reach farther and farther beyond TmAcula where we are headquartered. Um and then just sharing you never know when you will meet someone who needs our resources. So please connect them with us. You can reach me. Josh knows how to reach me. Council member Steers knows how to reach me. Um and we would love to assist where we can. Thank you.

Awesome. Way to go. You guys do a lot. And and to think you're now taking over the largest budget you all ever had just right in time. Did you do that on purpose? Was she just like, "Here you go." Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Council member Sber, thank you for bringing that spotlight forward. That one's incredible. Oh, no. Thank you. And uh looking forward to joining them on Thursday. Absolutely. Okay. Uh moving on to some business public comments. Madam Clerk, we have two public comments tonight. Renee Griffith. Good evening, Renee. The floor is yours.

All right. Thank you. Good evening, city council. I'm here to highlight the workload and pay dispar disparities disparities, sorry, between paramedic, firefighters, police officers, and code enforcement. I've brought this up before, so I've revised some numbers. Uh, city council has set hourly wages for code enforcement at $37.37 an hour. This is for step C police uh which is safety $37.15 and firefighters only $25.25 an hour and that includes FSLA um which is for the overtime. The explanation that I've received has been to keep annual pay roughly the same and on paper that looks good but similar pay comes out very different in cost. Firefighters have to work 2,880 hours. Police 1,872. Code enforcement 280. Firefighters are working hundreds of hours more just to keep up with the others. The gap equals police officers officers working a thousand hours less per year than firefighters. Code enforcement working 800 hours less per year than firefighters. to make the workload equal. And to put it a different way, police would need to work seven extra shifts every single month for free. Code enforcement would need to work six extra shifts every month for free. That's a trade-off for similar pay. Looking at the budget for 2024 25 actual and then the proposed budget that you'll be working on, there's surplus in the hundreds of thousands. When we just look at fire tax revenue and EMS subscription fee re f revenue, I'm not including the UUT even though that's primarily for safety, but hundreds of thousands of

surplus and that's before. Okay, so sorry I had a slideshow but I couldn't do that. Um, so in reality there is enough money. Firefighters are not underpaid because the city can't afford it. They're underpaid because they are being treated as a cost to control, not a priority. In April's monthly newsletter that came out today, city manager emphasized that there was an analysis that showed Canyon Lakes's fire model as highly coste effective, especially compared to neighboring cities. Calling Canyon Lakes's model cost effective is accurate, but it's only cost-effective because if firefighters are doing more work for less pay, that's not efficiency. That's exploitation. So with that, my question just for you guys to consider as you're going over all the budgets and again I didn't include the UUT which in 2024 was 1.3 million in change and is expected to be about 950 this year. Um I'm curious how does the council justify the continued gap between workload and compensation? And I'll leave it at that.

Thank you very Thank you for your comments. Donna Richie.

Good evening, council and city staff. I just want to take a minute to remind the community that Canyon Lakes's 13th annual National Day of Prayer will be held on Thursday, May 7th at the lodge patio. The event begins with complimentary refreshments at 9:30 a.m. followed by the program from 10 to 11:15 a.m. This event includes musical performances and guest speakers including leaders from the city, the POA, even a Will Demar Council member and members of the Canyon Lake Fire Department, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, local churches, organizations, and residents. National Day of Prayer is a patriotic event that brings together the community for a morning of gratitude and unity, encouraging residents to pause, reflect, and focus on positive intentions like peace, safety, and support for others. Mayor Smith, who co-chares the event, will be out of town this year and is unable to MC the event as he does every year, but I want to thank Council Member Mark Terry for stepping up to serve in his place. In case anybody forgets the dates and times, it'll all be listed on the Canyon Lake Insider Facebook and the Canyon Lake Insider website.

Thank you, Mayor. No additional speakers. All right. Thank you for that update. Moving right along to our consent calendar. Would anyone like to pull any items? Mayor, I'd like to pull item number one for conversation. Claims and demands. Yes, sir. All righty. Any other items by my colleagues? Going once, going twice. Seeing none. I need a motion on the remaining balance which and four. A motion. Second. We got a motion from council member Terry and a second from Mayor Prom. Madam Cler, can I get a roll call on this? Mayor Prom Castillo. I. Council member Stber. I. Council member Terry I. Council member Welty. I. Motion passes.

Council member Steber claims and demands.

Thank you, sir. um want to talk about an one of the line items on page 10. I was kind of a little mind boggled on it and had a concern that you know we're paying almost 13 of the total scholarship costs. uh you know, we're on a tight budget and if if we had that money to pay for advertisement, I would have loved to seen the $450 be added to the um essay contests to be able to go to successful students that want to continue their education. I've seen since being on this council, staff has done a great job building their platform, the city's platform up, and they did a great job promoting the essay contest on the website. I've even noticed that others have shared from the city's page. Uh even our own lovely supervisor Karen Spiegel. I noticed she promoted our essay contest on her county website. So, I'm kind of confused. Why are we paying for advertisement when we have really internal resources and help within the city and region who want to promote our city without being compensated?

Thank you, Council Member Stever. Mr. Brown, do you want to address? If the council wanted to give direction not to advertise and um we we could certainly do that. This is what we've done in the past. Uh there's been no reason to think that we would discontinue that process. uh specifically if the council could provide direction on if they want us to specifically want us to not advertise with Donna Richie, I would appreciate that direction.

Uh my my suggestion would be love to still see advertise but with zero compensation. I think we have a lot of uh individuals, groups, even city leaders within our community that would be more than happy and honored to promote our city's endeavors and events without being compensated. Please, Madame Mayor Bert.

Well, I understand what you're saying, Council Member Se. think those people do I mean I know that I'm sharing that on um the different pages but I'm also sharing the articles that are written by the insider about our scholarships and you know sometimes I don't think our I mean it's seniors it's high school seniors that were advertising this to um And you know, they may not be looking at the Canyon Lake City website, but their parents may read the insider and then say, "Hey, daughter or son, why don't you apply for this?" Um, I don't want anyone to not have the opportunity because they missed my Instagram post or the city's Instagram post. Um, so I feel like as much publicity and we're doing good things here, I don't know why we wouldn't want to get that word out. I don't have an issue with I think $450 for something important that is meaningful for a high school senior. I don't care who we're paying it to. I think we should pay it. Madame Mayor, no disrespect, but would you have rather seen almost $2,000 in scholarships going to a couple seniors than onethird of it going to advertisement?

Well, but here's the thing. Those students all apply by virtue of writing essays. So, the individual who gets the scholarship gets it because of their essay. So, I think that if we miss out on a really good essay because we didn't get the word out, I feel like that kind of defeats the purpose. Then, do we have any stats or report on actually the clicks we're getting from that specific advertisement by the website owner? We do not, but we've not requested them. Um, again, that is something with

what other options do we have for advertisement? I mean the press enterprise is is not happening. So I know everything's now digital. I know that you know local jurisdictions and we've had this conversation before. Um social media has taken over most of our advertisement needs and just like they do in Miny with uh Miny 24/7. They also advertise certain notices and things that are happening. So my question is what other options do we have for for advertisement here in Canyon Lake? because I know we're limited. In terms of comparison, there there aren't other You're not putting a time on yourself, Mr. City Manager. That that's my reminder to leave work.

Um uh

there are not other options uh in comparison. So when you're dealing with social media, you're dealing with reach and impressions. And uh if you compare any of the the surrounding areas to what you get from Canyon Lake or Canyon Lake Insider, it it's tremendously impressive the amount of uh reach and impressions that the Canyon Lake Insider gets. So there isn't um and that's been a question that's been asked to me several times. uh there is not a comparable item that we could go to where we could say here here's um company A and I've been referred by by the council member to another place that it it was apples to to oranges. So we've always advertised because that is where that presence is and the idea is you're going to advertise where the people are so that you can bring what you're trying to get to them. You don't fixate your social media to try to get to where they are because they're not coming to you because you don't offer the same attraction, if you will. So, there is not a comparison. And that's why I said I I really need direction because this has been repeated several times that do we do we not want if the council gives direction not want advertisement at all or specifically this advertisement because that's what it seems to be.

I think even council member Se will agree that there's there's not very many options. My my question if we're looking at you know the insider as a partner or not have they been a partner? I know that when you deal with in the old days with other whether it's digital, press enterprise, the sun, you know, they've always given discounts or they've done free promos um for municipalities for public entities. Are we getting that same type of benefit working with that group or not? Or are we paying full vote? Do you know how that works? We do and and Maddie can speak on that a little more, but there's often times where we would pay for a certain amount of time and the Canyon Lake Insider would say, "I'll give you this amount additional because you're the city." Um, that's happened on numerous occasions. I don't know if you've got specifics, Maddie, but I know that happens frequently,

council member. Well, Maddie, go ahead. Um, I would like to note just any time working with Donna, she does uh give us those chances to extend our advertisement at no charge and often runs and charging us. Like right now, she has the community cleanup which we have not paid. Oh, that's that that's my favorite event. Maybe that's why you said it. Um, Council Member Terry, how many applicants did we have this year? Uh, we had five applicants. Wow. Five applicants.

Okay. I mean, maybe maybe Council Member Sieber is bringing a good point in regards to we unfortunately should probably get away with the entire program then if we're not getting the applicants that that we need to make the program worthwhile. I mean, I don't know about you all, but I think our essay writing program is pretty phenomenal that we're getting people engaged and involved in a community with AI and ChatGBT and so many other tools out there. In my opinion, it's difficult to get people to conduct themselves in this type of essay program. So, I'm excited that we at least have some. I know in years past before we did any advertisement at all and and Mayor Pro Tim, you remember this because we would get this update. We be like, "Oh, no. We don't have any applicants and it's due in two weeks." So, we would extend it again and we would extend it again. And finally, now that we started doing some advertisement, it's exciting to see that we're getting some student engagement. And I think my colleagues would agree um that this is how this works, right? The more people you can get involved, the more advertisement you can do, the more word of mouth, then there's an opportunity for parents to be like, "Hey, we're going to apply next year. Your neighbor got it. We're we're going to apply this year because you have a gift, you have a talent, whatever that might be." And I think, you know, if we're not we in order to double down, if you must, to make this successful because it already is compared to years past. Um I think a lot of that has to do with outreach. I think that a lot has to do with the work that you're doing. And Maddie, we appreciate the social media component that you've added to the city. Think we're we're we're doing all the right things here. And um from the numbers that has been brought up by council member Steber, I'm actually, you know, kind of surprised that it's as cheap as it is to do the advertisement. That's just my opinion. But we don't really have an option is what I'm hearing tonight.

Uh I I do believe we have an option. And as you said, and I think we all agree, Maddie has done a terrific job getting our city platforms up. And I've I've heard a word used multiple times now through this, and so I might be a little misunderstood. I thought we were paying advertising strictly just for the website for all to go, but you've both used the word social media tonight, which we are now stating that we're going to use taxpayer dollars that we have known that are censored on those social media pages. So, I'm kind of a little confused if we're focused on just the advertising on the website. I agree. And I think that our city has the same advertisement just like our county supervisor also has our same flyers and promotes it for free on us. If we're doing it just strictly for social media, then why aren't we leveraging our city platform across all the pages that have also four, five, 6, 7 plus thousand on each page who are also probably following other pages as well.

I think you're confused, Josh, because the community, the city of Ky Lake shares on the uncensored page. It individually shares on the super official and the other official and the quasi official and all those other Thank you, Maddie, for following all of those pages. It's shared, but it's also shared on the insider and I think that's what we're talking about when we're saying social media. We're using I see it on the on the other pages for free. I share it on mine. Mark Terry's our influencer. He shares everything every day. I mean, so and that's to get five.

And that's to get five. And those five are always so impressive that it's very hard to even choose one of those people to give the award to. I I would equally argue I I would argue that for the $450, we probably wouldn't get five. I it's just my opinion. I say we test it. Well, we can discuss that next year. But I would argue that the reach the the fact that we're not just reaching that is dirt cheap

for the audience that we're reaching. And I think that uh maybe in a future meeting we actually dig deep into these numbers because I think they're a little bit more impressive than we think. in regards to the reach, the fact that whether you like the insider or not, it's where you're going to get your information. At the end of the day, that's that's where you're going to get information on what's going on in our community. And that is extremely specific and and and I don't think we get five.

No, I would agree with that. I mean I mean if we're really going to talk about the item I don't think it's you know it's it's worth doing the entire program. I mean I think it is because I can sit here as one of the few who've been here and seen this program where we had zero applicants. No, we're always going to do this program. I think it's great. But we've also given that information at our articulation meeting. We send it to all of the schools that service Canyon Lake seniors. Um, you know, we had that conversation at the meeting about how, you know, when Lake Elsenor has specific things to Lake Elsenor,

they broadcast that in Peach Jar, they do the same thing with Canyon Lake specific because you have to be a Canyon Lake senior to even enter our um thing. So the the school district is putting it out and we're still at, you know, a low number. So all of us are sharing, the city is sharing, the school districts are sharing. I I just don't see like $450. When my kids are seniors, I would like to know if there's an opportunity to get money for them for books or whatever. I agree.

Yeah. And again to reiterate, my concern was one-third of it going to advertisement when I would have loved to seen 2,000 of it going strictly to scholarship. We have discretionary funds to do that, don't we? You do indeed. Well, can I allot mine to advertising? Absolutely. It uh would be for advertising specifically for the essay contest. So that would make it part of the essay contest.

I would actually, if I'm going to do that, I'll do it for advertising for city events throughout the year because we'll want it for pumpkin bash. We'll want it for the community cleanup. We'll want it for elections or whatever else. I don't I don't want council member Siver to have concerns that we're we're taking from something. I would rather just alleviate that for you. Then would you be open to other owners of their pages and websites be compensated as well if they are advertising? I I don't know of another page that actually has paid advertising. Do you?

That's my point. Everyone does it kindly out of their heart to want to promote our city. So why are we having to pay one individual to promote our city? Who I don't think anyone else is promoting our city. I think the city shares in those pages. I don't see anyone else other than maybe Mark and myself sharing those events in the groups

and and then there's other community members that are resharing our city post as well and it just keeps flowing and flowing. But I would be interested if uh which I don't know and you know you might be able to dig into it a little more on you know out of our five applicants were they clicks from that specific website or how how did they learn and maybe maybe we interview those five uh how did they learn and know about the uh essay uh contest sir

council I'm I'm concerned just in general and I want to make that council member Steber and I have had numerous conversations about this where he flat out told me he does not want to advertise with Donna Richie. And we're now doing something where we're looking at additional staff time to be able to support a single council member's desire to not advertise not not just advertise in general, but not advertise specifically with Donna Richie and the Canyon Lake Insider. And I feel like we're getting into a spot where um I I'm not comfortable being. So, um I I would I I think if this is something that uh the council member would want to to agendaize and at a later meeting agenda uh the council deciding not to advertise specifically with this one vendor, whether it's for the the censorship or the reasons you have. I would feel much more comfortable doing that and how allowing the city attorney uh um and not have the assistant city attorney sit in on that. uh allow him to navigate that properly because this entire conversation right now is making me nervous.

And city manager, I I never stated I wouldn't want any advertisement. It was compensated advertisement and I truly do appreciate that that website is advertising for free our cleanup day. So I would love to see more of that through people in our community that want to advertise our city events without having to be compensated. I appreciate that. should have said. You said no paid advertisement. Correct.

Thank you. Thank you for the recommendation. Um, Mr. city manager. I don't believe that uh that I could be wrong, so correct me if I'm wrong, colleagues, but I don't think there'll be a second on that idea to move forward with that unless I'm completely out of line here. But I think this council um for the majority is is very now educated um to find out that our advertising budget is as low as it is for what we're getting in my opinion. At least that's what I'm hearing from my colleagues. Um, I don't have any desire uh to bring this item back um for a special conversation at all. I mean, Mayor Pro Tim just made a great suggestion utilizing her resources. So, I think that squashes, you know, some of the concerns that Council Member Stever had. Um, but

if it would be possible, I I think it may be a good idea just to take a quick recess to close session because there are some things I would like to be able to to say specific to this item that may help us get past that with the uh attorney present. Sure. Is that is that need a consensus from the council? Are we okay with that? I'm good. Good. Okay, cool. We're going to recess into close session. The time, madam clerk, is 6:42.

in here.

Cheryl, we need like hot tea. Oh, sorry. I just feel like it's It's quiet. Do we need a motion? No. Give me a second. I got to start this meeting.

All right, Madam Clerk. I'm going to We're going to reconvene at 7:02. We're going to continue um nothing to report out so I'm assuming I don't want to step on Thank you. Um with that we're going to continue on with we have one agenda item um on the consent calendar that was pulled which was claims and demands um I need someone to move the item. A motion. I'll second. I have a motion from council member Terry and a second from council member Welty. Madam clerk, can I please get a roll call vote from you? Prom Castillo. I, Council Member Siver. Uh, per the city attorney's advice, I'm going to abstain from this vote. Council member Terry, hi. Council member Welter. Hi, Mayor Smith. I

Motion passes. Thank you. All right. I'm going to mix it up a little bit. Madam clerk, don't be mad at me. We are going to go ahead and take item Let's do item eight. We're going to put it up top. Does that work? We have any uh public comments on this item. Mayor, we do not. All right, Mr. City Manager, take this one away.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Potm, and City Council. This item is to amend our signed ordinance. Uh, as it stands right now, each uh individual business is uh entitled to what would be a monument sign and a building sign. Uh what was not considered was in the event that you could not do a monument sign, this provides an alternative. If you could not provide a monument sign, you can do two signs on your business. And those are the changes included. I'd be happy to take any questions you may have. Pretty simple.

Just a basic question. We are authorizing this move, but that doesn't ne necessarily excuse them from having to go say to the merchants association or the HOA for any approvals they may require. uh not just that but uh it still requires same city permits and that whole process. This because it is our uh portion of our signed ordinance this prevented it from even even happening at all. This would allow it to go through its normal processes. Perfect. Any other questions from my colleagues? Madam clerk said there's no public comments. I do need a motion. Moved. I'll second the item. Madam clerk, can I get a roll call vote, please? Mayor Pro Tim Castillo. Hi. Council member Steber. Hi. Council member Terry. Hi. Council member Welty.

I pass. I'm going to rem I'm going to resume back to public hearing number five. Madam clerk, thank you for uh allowing me to bounce around the agenda. I appreciate it. All right. I'm going to This is the introduction and first reading of ordinance number 274, an ordinance of the city council, city of Canyon Lake, repeating ordinance number 252, adding chapter 3.48, transportation uniform mitigation fee program. I'm going to announce the time. The public hearing is now open at 7:05. Uh this one's going to be presented by our city manager.

Thank you again, Mayor Mayor Prom, and and city council. Uh this is uh a bit of a housekeeping item for the TU ordinance for Western Riverside Council of Governments. This item is adopted by uh each city that is a member of WRCOG. Uh the uh process has gone through a recommendation from the technical um advisory committee which is uh predominantly city managers and then it goes to the executive committee which is elected officials from all over. This is a recommendation from both uh uh uh portions both um uh committees and uh has been adopted by other cities already. So, uh, a staff recommendation is that we would adopt this, uh, as recommended by WRCOG and we would have a second reading, uh, next meeting and then it would go into place in June. And to be, I believe it begins for WRCOG July 1st. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, are there any questions to staff? You mean to tell me he drove all the way out here to hang out with us and we're not going to ask him a single question? Thank you for wearing red. I tried. I tried. I'm sorry. Hey, thank you for being with us tonight. Seriously, we appreciate it. Um any uh any is there any public testimonies, Madam Clerk? All right.

No rebuttals. All right. We're going to announce the time and we're going to close the hearing at 7:06. All right. If there's no additional discussion, um I need a motion and a second on this one. Motion. I'll second. Perfect. Can I get a roll call vote, please? Mayor Potim Castillo. Hi. Council member Stever, hi. Council member Terry. Hi. Council member Welty. Hi. Mayor Smith. Hi. Motion passes.

I love two-minute public hearings. Those are always the best ones. All right, moving right along. The big one, business item number six. This is the presentation discussion of the DRA fiscal year 2026 2027 budget. Thank you for being here tonight. This is going to be presented by our city manager. Did you bring the popcorn? This will not be a short one. No, I know. That's why we started early.

Thank you again, Mayor Mayor Potam and council. Um, as you know, this is uh uh I I started two years ago in April, so this actually is uh uh the third budget I've been able to have a part in. Um, this is very exciting times for a city manager to try to figure out how to put, as they say, the metaphorical 20 lb of sand into a 10 lb bag. Uh, efficient. Um, it really is because we have a tremendous staff that is, uh, knowledgeable and determined to find a way in each scenario. Uh so I I I would be remiss if I didn't start out by saying this budget that we'll be presenting really is because of those individuals that that often times are doing uh as an individual what many cities have very large teams doing. So I'm very appreciative of them and of the resources that council uh allocates to be able to have them. Uh the next thing I want to go into the I don't know how to say it better than what a big deal it is that this budget is going to be proposed as a balanced budget because it is a difficult thing to do with the limited revenue sources that we have. And this council uh decided in 21 uh to move forward with a fire department in 22 and then decided last year to move forward with a police department in 26. And so if you go to the next slide, we'll start with with the police department

is uh municipal and and kind of where it all comes in. Uh, and I I want to say this every time. This is not something where we are saying we've now got a better police department than we have the sheriff. The sheriff's amazing. You've heard me repeatedly say it's the Ferrari. It's the the top of the line. We're very fortunate to have the Riverside Sheriff's Office. Um, but we are a special circumstance in the city that we are. Uh, unicorn is the best word that I I I can uh use repeatedly for this because

we we think so highly of them. We hired one of their quarterbacks to be our chief that 100%. Um, and and uh it's everything that we hoped it would be. So,

what I wanted to really hit on is is because we're a different city uh that doesn't that almost doesn't match up with many of the other cities we try to compare ourselves to. That's really why many of these things were possible. Uh what you have here is kind of a whole rundown of the 25 26 what the sheriff's contract is. Uh when people ask you know are you eliminating code enforcement? It's not an elimination of code enforcement. It is moving the code enforcement duties on to csos who are going to also do other duties. and it takes us from right now a a four to five day code enforcement to a 7-day code enforcement. That's a big deal for us. Uh it also gives us the ability for those csos to almost always be out in the field. I say almost always because they're going to be doing transports and some other things, but they'll be out in the field. They'll be able to put their eyes on things. they'll be able to see and become familiar with things that that aren't part of the code enforcement process. They're doing the other duties. So, uh it it it's also going to change drastically change our response times. One of the things that we've we've struggled with is anytime we have a shift change, remember as uh a sheriff deputy, your home base, if you will, is in Lake Elsenor. And uh I believe I've got I've got the captain and the former captain now our chief. It's uh twice a day is shift change to 12 hours or Okay. So you you've got that shift change which um I always kind of paint the picture of if my shift starts at 7, I'm going to come in kind of maybe go to briefing, spend a little time at the water cooler, check in with, you know, whoever was there about whatever the other item is. It's not like shift

change happens on that dot and then you're going to head your way out here. So, there's some drastic changes that happen just by naturally having our own police department. In addition to those drastic changes, we're also going to have what is going to be an approximately uh $400 and some thousand change. I I I think that's a a big deal because when we look at a budget that has been balanced at at times by $50,000 or uh where where we started out uh Terry, I believe we started out with this budget almost $600,000 in the red as we started plugging away at what we needed to do. This budget we're presenting to you does not come balanced without a significant savings that you see here from the police department. And then um you can skip to the the service breakdown the next next slide. The the uh one deputy on now again there numerous deputies available. This is not to say that only one deputy could respond, but one deputy at a time that's here versus you're you're going to have uh a chief, a captain, detective, records clerk in the city mon through Friday. You're going to have a sergeant on at all times that's here in our city. The the shift change struggle is going to go away. But the the best part of all of this is we still have access to the sheriff. We still have uh uh mutual aid. We still have our cops. We we can go down that line. This is in no way a a breakup. It is really where the fundamental pay is going to come. And because of that, we'll be able to have that significant savings. If you go to

the next slide for the fire department cost benefit, um we're looking at just the 2425 because that was the model when we did that analysis with another city. Uh that's how we came to that breakdown. Uh as we were discussing uh numerous aspects of fire with that city. It was okay. What is the total quote you get? They were turning up a new engine. What is the quote you're getting? What is the amount you're getting from CalFire? You're a contract city just like us for that comparable engine. And that engine represents uh nine individuals. There it is. the um nine staff and that's where we saw that the the big number difference and so if you look at the our current year is is projected at 2.6 but that 2425 2.2 2 million um operating cost. I also want to comment on that that the operating cost that you see when you look at a budget is just the specific operating cost of that department. It does not include the administration for that because that that's irrelevant as to whether we had uh we have the sheriff right now and we have uh moving forward next year we have can uh Canyon Lake Police Department. there's still administrative costs that are there whether it is a a contract agency or it is a local agency and I'll just use uh me as an example the city manager the way you look at the salary of how your city manager is divided up is you take any one of those agencies and let's say uh fire is about 2.6 6 million and you got a total $10 million budget, that would put it at 26%. You would allocate 26% of your city manager's uh fully burdened amount towards that department. So again, that's going to exist uh whether you have a contract

agency or you have a local agency. So I just want to comment on that to kind of uh give some clarity on that. Uh next slide, please. We've talked about the increased presence, uh, the improved responsiveness, and again, the improved responsiveness is just about where we're at that the sheriff absolutely could provide additional deputies in the event something happens, or uh, the city could pay for multiple deputies instead of having one. But those numbers were astronomical because there's a process to which you go through. And Canyon Lake doesn't fit into the model because the model is not built for our city and it's not built for a uh we called it a low crime discount. It's built static across all cities and and how it would work. So I wanted to make sure that was covered as well. The next slide, this is why I I I hit on this before uh Terry goes into the items for the budget. you could be seeing as much as $1.797 million difference if Canyon Lake did not elect to have a city or municipal fire and a municipal police department. So I I I it's very important to make sure that it is well known that this budget that we're are proposing to you 100% is because of that decision. Had we not been in that scenario and this is the amount of money we'd be paying, there aren't enough events to cover $1.7 million there, it it would be services. We would be cutting drastically cutting services to a point where uh it would affect things like building and safety. Um, and the reason it's called building and safety is because it it does relate to life safety. There would be shortcuts we would have to take. we'd be contracting services out that would not

have the level of ownership that they have. So, this is a a very this is a very big deal that we're able to have those level of services. And I I really wanted to again to start the budget with that to make sure that it it hit home as to how we could even get here. Uh with that, if I may, mayor, I'd like to turn it over to Terry Sheay unless there are any questions for me before he begins the Terry. Wait for Jeremy to get back.

You didn't say to wait.

I promise not to make council member Terry cry on this one. So, I may cry. I cried when we first did it as Aaron said. Yeah. So, um, your honorable mayor prom Council, um, glad to be here and, um, glad the city manager went through those first few slides. Very relevant. So, this right one. All right. So the proposed general fund revenues are 9,22730,000 $730 which is $419,000 over the previous fiscal year amount of 8,763. Proposed general fund expenditures are 9,313 which is an increase of 688,73 over the previous fiscal year. Um the proposed budget reflects general fund expenditures over revenues of 110,000 but included in that is uh 130,000 to outfit the new fire truck which we're going to take possession this next year. Right.

2027

27. And that money couple years ago council amended the fund balance policy and we started putting money away in a restricted reserve for fire equipment. So, we're using that money out of out of the reserve. And that's a good use of reserves where we save money, put it aside for one-time expenditures. And so, once we take that 138,000 out, that leaves us with a surplus of just under $20,000. Any questions? All right. So, the general fund revenues, these are our major revenues. So, property taxes, we're proposing 1,ion362, fire structure taxes, which also comes on your property tax bill of 1,650. The VLF swap goes back to when the state of California was in trouble and they kind of shifted revenues around. Um, that is also considered a property tax. And then we have sales tax, uh, utility users tax, franchise fees. Um, we got our Edison franchise fee today, so that was great. and it was more than we budgeted. So, that's even better. Um, and then other taxes, what's in that other taxes is is um our part property transfer tax. So, when you sell a house, we get a fee from the county. And then the um uh the transit auction tax from the motel. Then other revenues are a variety like interest income, miscellaneous income, insurance reimbursement, stuff like that. Any questions on any of these revenues? So, property taxes is our largest increase by about 105,000. Um, sus values are going up. We did hire a a consulting firm that just specializes in uh property tax all year long and they kind of helped us with our projections. So, it's based on their projections plus what we've got that property transfer

tax. Um, when houses sell, a portion comes back to us. That's 18,000. fire structure fees which are also based on assessed value are going to be higher. Um the BLF swap is also going to be up and then we're anticipating an additional 178,000 in fees um based on the change in CPI or our current fees and then some new fees we're going to add this year. Any questions on the increases? We've been averaging about 6% a year growth in property tax year over year for the last five years. So this is kind of like our our pie here. So our fire structure fee, property taxes, VLF and EMS, those are our largest plus utility users. You can kind of see it's, you know, it's 90% of our revenues. So and then this is all the funds. And so the special revenue funds, gas tax is a required fund and we get when you go to the pump and you pay your your um price now, which is a little higher. I used to fill up a month ago for $40. Now I got like a half a tank. So $40. So that money is strictly um regular gas tax plus the SB1. And that money can only be used for streets and roads. Same thing with measure A. Um that money is a a I think it's a half cent sales tax or a quarter cent sales tax and we get that money from Riverside County Transportation Commission and that has to be used for um streets and roads as well. And then the AQMD trust that money comes from AQMD when you register your car we get a portion of that and that money is fairly restricted and the city usually uh assembles that money for four or five years and that's how we bought a lot of our vehicles in the past. Uh then the law enforcement grant that's

called CAL cops and we're guaranteed a 100,000 every year um plus inflation and over the last nine years at 100,000 is projected to be 210,000 but the minimum we'd ever get is 100,000. The miscellaneous grants that was where we had the ARPA money but there's no ARPA money left. We spent it all kind of sitting in it. Um, then the rental fund, that's the two buildings that we own plus the rental sign. Any questions on how the other funds work? And then here's our general fund expenditures um by category. So we have personnel and this is just the general government which includes city council, city attorney, city manager, community development, city clerk, finance. We have a new division this year uh HR which was previously in finance. We broke it out and then the building and facilities maintenance. Um lot of on& and M here 1 million8. We have some small capital items and then debt service. And here's our developmental services which is planning, building, public works admines. And then you can see no numbers this year for code enforcement. And then public safety. So if you look at our public safety, you know, the police department 2.1 and the fire department 2.6. Um just a little under um five million. And so that's where we're at. Any questions on these? So you can see our largest expenditure is public safety which is 99% of cities in California. That's ours is fairly low compared to some. So because we have uh no huge PERS debt,

which is one of the smartest things the city ever did. So, yeah, you said um said something interesting that I I want to, you know, bring up again that correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. City Manager, but I believe when you look at the general funds for most municipalities, we're approaching% 58% for most for public safety. What's him? It's pretty substantial, isn't it? uh it is often 75% for uh public safety

because I know that HIMT they just passed that sales tax measure I think it was a cycle ago because they were in the 80s they were up to 82 and so they were bleeding you know for cost so I mean that's what's so unique about the ability that we have when it comes to public safety is our Kalpers's liability isn't there when you look at those numbers especially when you look at other cities like him for instance um it's staggering it's absolutely staggering so it's cool to see us in 50s on it. That right? Some of their calipers rates are at 45% propos. Wow. Ours is classic. And we're all we're all Pepperra. There's no classics. So, yeah.

So, that's a good point, Jeremy. Yeah. Sorry. So, I'll go through No, you're not.

Each department not a lot of change in city council. We did eliminate um $11,000. Of that 11,7500 was for community benefits fund. And so overall decrease in city council budget by just under 2,000. And then city manager department increase of 38,000 or 30 37,581 increase in salaries and benefits and then an increase in professional specialized services for the lobbyists for 12,000. Um most staff that are nonsworn um we have like a 3% cap for uh per inflation. So most for this preliminary budget because we use March to March and March to March CPI wasn't available. So everybody's budget's at 3% but whatever inflation comes in at March that'll be the rate that we actually use. Community Development, which was a new department last year, wellrun by Maddie and Ruby. Now, expenditures increased by 63,000. Um 16,000. We created a new position, kind of a hybrid position, and it's in this department. It's going to be partially funded by the rental funds because they'll work on maintenance in that. Um and then a restructuring of the salaries that were from the prior year. And so, it's just a $16,000 increase. Um, and then our IT people, we have a new agreement for IT software and support went up 38,000.

Can you uh describe why that hybrid position so important to us?

Absolutely, Mayor. Thank you. Uh, the hybrid position will do two things, and I've tried to find somebody else doing this, and I've not been able to find it. So, again, I go back to the unicorn analogy. Uh, we need two things. We need somebody to perform just day-to-day maintenance on many of our items. I use the example of you, you know, paying prevailing wage to to paint or do drywall. And um uh we need somebody that's able to respond quickly to both uh our rental locations, but also to city hall issues and somebody that is knowledgeable and frankly somebody that's not our building official because a building official has many other things to do despite the fact that he is a former contractor and quite knowledgeable in those items. Uh, additionally, we we need somebody that can back up our building official and perform some of the uh the building inspections. And uh so what what we're doing is creating a position that does both

nice that does both building inspections and also building and facility maintenance. Uh we're small enough that we don't have enough uh work on either side for a full-time individual, but we have absolutely enough for a full-time individual that does both. Let the unicorn search begin. That that is correct. Okay. It will be a search. It's not

It will be a search. It'll be u something that we will have to cast pretty wide, but uh I've talked to numerous uh general contractors who have have reached that point where um they would be more than happy to do building inspections and uh the lighter maintenance because we'll still have contractors. This is not somebody that's going to do all of our plumbing, do all of our electrician works. They're going to have that, but they're going to be the knowledgeable person dealing with those more advanced items. and uh to provide city benefits and and all of that is is attractive. So, um we would require them to meet all of our requirements for the building inspection and get the proper certifications and all that. Uh so, we we may be looking for a bit of a diamond in the rough, but just as I've talked to people about it, there's been a lot of interest. So, I'm I'm quite confident we'll be able to get the right person.

Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, as the city manager pointed out earlier, we have very small divisions and departments, so one person's doing multiple. So to be able to have a backup for the building is very important. So nice. Any questions on community development? City clerk, uh, expenditures increased by 81,615. Uh, 45,000 is for the election coming up, and that's an estimate we kind of get from the county. Um, we probably won't see that bill till June of 27. So, they're very slow at billing. And then an increase just under 30,000 in salaries and benefits for a proposed change in staff level.

And if I could jump in here, mayor, one of the things that we're proposing in this budget and requesting from council is uh I felt like Cheryl Garcia did not have enough duties. So I wanted to add another title and that is assistant city manager uh on top of the duties that she has and that's really about succession planning and a clear uh uh line within the organization of of how things flow. Um it it is very clear that uh she acts in that number two spot and I wanted to fairly compensate her for that and also to be able to bring her in on some of the things that she's kind of excluded from right now because she's not at that position.

Did she accept? Uh I did not give her that option. Yeah. Understood. Well, I know. No, she absolutely accepted. I know that she uh she you definitely had her, you know, take the helm when you were gone on your vacation and you know we want her now and not you. So you did it to yourself. Done. Yeah. Well, there was there was no issues. No, there is no greater compliment and she you know texts back, calls, she, you know, emails properly and it was wonderful. I was on vacation. It didn't didn't call anybody. Didn't It was It was great. She did a wonderful job. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Madam clerk, I'm sorry.

I I've worked with a lot of city clerks over the years. She is good. So, some don't even get their minutes out for a year, year and a half and our true. So, that is true. All right. Any questions on city clerks? So,

all right. So, finance, which I always say it's the best department, but this year I won't. So, we decreased by $81,000. A lot of that is because we moved Kayla to her own division. And so, but we'll take credit for the decrease. So, um like I said, staff got a 3% cola and a 5% merit increase. So, we did that at the beginning of the year, but their actual merit increase won't come till their um anniversary date with a good review. So there's a little built-in savings in the budget with with that. Um and I said we moved the human resources division out and we took basically Kayla and there was several um HR related expenditures also went over to HR and then that decrease in professional specialized services which is our firm and that's coming out of um what I usually charge. So I lowered mine. Erin wouldn't let me leave the room unless I

it was negotiated. Yes. But that's Wendy still here helping out the day today and helping train and so she's a big help and she lives fairly close to city hall and spends what every Wednesday here. Yeah. So she was former finance director for city of Meny for years. So she's very knowledgeable. We won't hold that against her. And then we have HR, which is the new division. We're very lucky to have Kayla. Yes. Years ago, Kayla used to work for me when she first started her career. And then she got smart. Yeah. I used to drag her down to rolling hills, four hours in a car with me. It was not pleasant for Kayla. So, but she liked it because then she could carpool.

Okay. Yeah, that's right. Might have a lot better. So,

that's a big deal here. So th this position with the additions of the police and fire is getting more and more complicated and we need somebody dedicated to that. Um we also increased the city attorney's budget for one of their people to help. So and we decreased our outside consultant and up the city attorney's budget. Any questions on this planning expenditures decrease by just under 28,000 um 30,000 decrease in general plan service. I mean eventually we're going to have to to do that. Um but we get a little bit reserves built up and then we have a new proposed formula. I'm not sure how far along that is for contract planning. So we decrease that by about $2,200. because Jim retired, right?

Yeah. Building and safety. Um we lowered each one of the We have two things. We have um our BCA code services. We budgeted quite a bit last year and we're nowhere near that. So, we kind of figured we'd have about a $10,000 savings. And then same thing, staff got a 3% goal and a 5% merit increase. Some of our our staff are at the top step, so all they'll get is is the cola. So, law enforcement, I guess the law enforcement decrease was way bigger than ours. So, on this one, so, but this is um we budgeted just one month of crossover service for the month of July and that was with the help of the new police chief. So

nice. And then the Kenya Lake Police Department salaries and benefits of 1,757. These were the positions and the uh and the schedule approved by city council back in was it May, Cheryl, or back in November whenever that was approved the positions or when was that? But it was approved by city council for those positions. Um and then operation maintenance cost of 636,000. February we approved the positions. Yeah. So the these are those positions that came to you. Perfect. And then operation and maintenance cost which includes pretty much everything of running the department. Um Captain RS did a good job putting that together. You know, a lot of guys

Chief RS Chief RS sorry I demoted you. Sorry. We made a chief out of him. That's cuz he he likes the the Dodgers and I just can't handle that. So winning Well, a couple years ago when the Cardinals played the Dodger in that one game playoff, I wasn't watching my phone because I wanted to see it and he told me the score before the game was over. I'm like, nice enemy for life. One nothing was 10. Yeah, that's good. And I bought tickets for eight people to go to that game and I had five items on the agenda tonight. So all the tickets I bought, they were all there and I was ignoring their phone and ignoring the game and then he let me know. So

Wow. Yeah. And then when we talked about that Cal Cops and the other fund, we've always used it to offset the sheriff's. So this year we'll use it to offset the our own police department. Can lake fire department increased by 334,000 133,000 in increase in salary benefits. Now there's so certain percentage. I don't remember exactly what it's top of my head. So they got that plus a step increase. Um increase in dispatch services of 28,000. And then we also have 166,000 in fire and life safety equipment of which the 130,000 is from the restricted reserve. So if you took out that 130, you know, they're up about 200.

Chiefs, what was did we get an increase last year on dispatch? Yes, we did. Last year is actually substantially larger than this year. This year it was about 6% I believe. Last year it was a double digit increase. Okay. Should I turn this one off when he speaks? So that makes it echo.

Any questions on the fire department? Guys are too easy. Emergency services decreased by 36,000. Uh we got rid of the um for county rear side EM services and the cert training. Um and then public works admin. We decreased each one of these by uh 10,000. Um part of our new hybrid position will be doing some of these duties. So that's why we decreased some of these. So any questions? Public works admin. Nope.

NPDES uh pretty close to last year. our TMDL agreement permit and permits went up about $5,200. And then code enforcement, we eliminated that division, but like the city manager said, those duties will be taken up with the police department. Building and facilities expenditures increased by 342,000. 318,000 is increase in insurance cost. Um it's hard to get coverage here in California. We had about a $120,000 increase last year and then this year, you know, an additional 317,000 increase. Um part of it then we also have increased uh projections for maintenance for janitorial and electrical and utilities because now the basement was never nobody was ever down there. So we have more activity, more electricity, more everything. And so that those went up as well. So and then getting too old to see this one. Um this just compares all the the the 2425 actual with the 25 26 budget and then the proposed budget. And so we're down a little, but the big thing is the construction. So the capital projects down there on the bottom. we had the two big projects and that's why those are are so much higher. So I think we're all done with big projects now for a while. And then fund balance summary. So I figure we'll start the year 7,300,000 in the general fund. We'll end up with 7,189,000. That difference is basically uh the amount we're using from the restricted reserve for the fire truck. um gas tax

measure A, those usually build up and then we usually will use those in multiple sources. Like when we redid Rural Canyon Road a few years ago, we use that money plus the TU money and then years ago, we used that money plus uh we issued debt, but that's been a while. Um, like I said, the QMD trust fund, we're at about the place where probably we'll come mid year with some suggestions on how to spend that money. Uh, law enforcement grants, that's at Cal COPS of 210,000. And then the rental fund is, I think, all the buildings, but two offices are all leased out now. And so, we should see an increase. Plus, all of them have long-term rents with inflation in them. So, those will be good. And then the capital project funds. Uh we don't have anything budgeted this year in that fund. Questions. I want to thank the whole staff for helping and when we first presented it. Erin was very calm and everybody took the task and um and they all did a great job getting me their information. and Cheryl made sure it was all on time and very detailed and so I really appreciate all their help. So then Brianna has the tough task of putting it together so we win the award again. So

that's right

and they changed the criteria this year so perfect. So we're prepared. If I can jump on with that as well. Uh mentioned this to the staff at the staff meeting this morning but I really want to compliment uh each department having gone through this many times in my career. A lot of times you get uh individuals that say, "Yeah, we need to cut, you do it." And there wasn't a single department that didn't go back, sharpen their pencil, and come back with savings. Uh it says a lot again about um the individuals that work for this city and their willingness and determination to get here. Uh what we're looking for from this budget. Uh and I I I forgot to go through the process. So, uh, the way this works, we have gone through everything in the budget based on what what we believe to be the direction we've gotten from council. We formulate this budget, bring it for this first showing, if you will. We met with each uh, council member in a uh, usually it's a 2x two by one where you're making sure there's no violation of the Brown Act. you're meeting with individual council members or with a group of council members just displaying what is there on the budget so they have an intimate knowledge of it. Uh obviously they have access once the agenda is posted and it's seen that way. But uh it's you meet with council to be able to have all of the department heads in the room to answer any questions. That's what gets us to this budget. We present it for council. We're looking for any direction from council to make any modifications or changes you may see fit or you may say this is where we wanted it. We want to see it come back as our proposed budget for the May meeting in the event that council uh likes it as it is. We would bring it back as it is. If you make recommendations, we will make those changes with an expected adoption of the

budget in uh May. So for the next council meeting and now we'd be happy to take any questions that council may have before we take questions from the council. Madame clerk any public comments? We have one public speaker tonight. Yes, please. Rene Griffith.

Hello again. Um I understand this is just preliminary. So and I appreciate all the presentations. It makes it very easy. Uh so this is what I wanted to state. Okay. This is with budget overrun and transparency. So, does the city plan um does the city plan on providing a breakdown of the city events in fiscal year 2024 given that the approved budget was 79,500 and the actual was 151,939? Uh specifically, what drove a spending increase of nearly 90% over budget? And were the overages clearly reported and explained to the public? Um so hopefully that'll be addressed somewhere in conversation. Um and then the other thing is just to consider um I was looking at the proposed budget the city events is increasing to 161,300 up from back in 2019 2020 actuals $15,795. How does the council justify expanding discretionary event spending particularly on events like state of the city, pumpkin bash, and the golf tournament, which is currently budgeted to total $136,600 while simultaneous simultaneously singling signaling that residents may need to pay more in taxes for public safety because that's been mentioned multiple times. The city should demonstrate fiscal restraint by cutting non-essential expenses versus throwing parties with taxpayer dollars. And from one of my research, I just want you guys to know that it didn't go unnoticed. And I found it interesting that after the EMS subscription fees were adopted and directed into the general fund, the city's event budget didn't just grow, it exploded. It was four-fold the following year. And now we're at 10 times the original

um or what it was prior to the EMS subscription fees being approved. And I just wonder if this could be part of the city council's unwillingness to pay the firefighters the same hourly rate as the police officers. Thank you. Thank you. My colleagues, any questions for staff? Can you those questions? I cannot directly address those questions, but I can answer any questions that you would provide. Can you please describe to me how it works when it comes to budgeting for events and the process looks the way it does and educate us on that?

Uh, one of the the things that I changed when I came in in terms of the reporting of the events was looking at the entire expenditure. So, the way it was budgeted before was he I'm just going to use round numbers cuz that way ma math is easy for me. Uh, say the event costs $100,000, but you would have maybe $40,000 in sponsorships. What the city would budget was $60,000. That is not a true picture of what is spent.

So, what we're doing is budgeting the entire spend. So, now we would budget $100,000. And then in our revenues, we would have a revenue of $40,000 for sponsorships. Instead of using the number of what our total impact to the general fund is, we're using what the total cost is. Um that's not really uh changed as much as um just changing how we report that. Any questions? Thank you for that clarification.

Absolutely. I know that was explained to us, but I think it's important that we we mention it, you know, publicly. And um it's it's a I think it's a good way to balance it. And you know, we've seen over the years, especially when it comes to the state of the city, you know, I think those dollars have gone up and down depending on the economy and the different sponsorships that we get and the different activities that we're working on. And so it's uh it's nice, you know, I'm glad you explained it um that way so folks can understand. So, all right folks, any other questions for my colleagues? Yes, Council.

Mr. Mayor, I have a question and a comment. Uh, city manager, what's our current credit rating? Do you know our credit rating, Terry? Right. We we can certainly get that for you. Um, pretty good. Yes, I know that because we're setting in an excellent amount of money that that has been offered to us on purchases has been pretty substantial. And when I talk to, you know, other entities, I mean, we're small and but it's pretty incredible the type of credit that we've been able to get and through um our relationships with the bank and stuff. So, it's got to be pretty darn good. Yeah, we we can get that for you. Appreciate it.

Uh and my comment is um I did my 2 by two with mayor and again appreciate yours and staff's time. Everyone did a credible job and kind of went through it smoothly. One thing that stood out that mayor and I discussed was a reserve policy. I did question him regarding what's our current status on one. You know, understand our minimums and maximums and I guess there's not one in place at this time. We we do have a reserve policy. We have uh I'll let Terry speak on it. There there's uh a couple of aspects to that from capital funds to uh the uh restricted reserves. Um

yeah, the council adopted a reserve policy like 3 four years ago. Um we were almost to 90% funded, but then we did some projects. So we did this room and then downstairs and those were a council specific decision to use those reserves. So, but we do have a reserve policy and the city clerk could email you one or give it to you, too. So, appreciate that. Thank you.

Yeah. And and and I'm glad the council member Steerber brought it up because one of the the ideas that he had was, you know, maybe in our our goal setting or when we're projecting the upcoming year to kind of look at what a goal would be for reserves in regards to, you know, adding more or not, if we can, if we're taking from um I know that we we got up to 90%, it was pretty cool. we were so close to 100 and then we did stuff to try to save more money. Um, but I think it's a it's it's good to be top of mind to to go after it again, especially when we, you know, we've made some pretty good investments um that are really going to pay off. I hope and I pray. Um, but I think it's a good, you know, idea that you brought up just to kind of keep it top of mind and we have that as part of the budget presentation, too. um maybe for next year like hey this is where we're at with you know the potential of investments and what we could be doing just like a snapshot like you did this because it this made it so easy to go through each one.

Absolutely. Yeah. Any other questions? I'm good. Thank you. Any other questions from my colleagues? Everyone good? This is receive and file correct?

Uh we're looking for direction on any changes that you would want to see to this. Uh the the most drastic of the changes uh would be the uh community benefits. Uh you went from the 1,500 individually to zero. Um just based on the amount that was spent and uh so we'll make sure that council was aligned with that um aligned with the other changes. Make sure that the uh the position that we discussed uh that council is uh willing to move forward with that. We haven't done the job description because we wanted to make sure council was good with this. Uh we'll have the job description on the next meeting in the event that council would like to give direction to me as the city manager to bring the budget as seen with some grammatical corrections and things we can do with less blurry eyes. Uh but that would be the direction we'd be looking for. If there's not any objection, I'll take uh I guess a recommendation motion that we move forward with what's presented and get ready for the real thing. Anyone up for that? I'll make the motion.

I'll second it. Okay, I need a roll call vote. Potent Castillo. I. Council member Stber. I. Council member Terry I. Council member Welty. I. Mayor Smith. I passes. Perfect. We'll bring it back and provide an expedited presentation at the next meeting so that uh you do not have to sit through this entire presentation once more. Yeah, I want to you know to be honest with you I I actually appreciated my time with council member Steber and you know it the call was weird cuz the screen didn't work so I'm blaming you guys on that. That's fine. Josh and I were looking at each other like what what's going on here. I can hear you.

I can hear you too. But I just I just want to appreciate that. um cuz I know that this was happening with the rest of our colleagues and I felt that you answered my questions. I know that you were able to either do homework or answer Josh's Council Member Stever's questions, too. So, I just want to say thank you for taking the time uh to do that with each of us. Um and so for the general public, why we're not up here just going nuts cuz we literally spent about a couple hours each. I think our call was almost two hours on the on the budget. So, I just want to say thank you for that. I think that was a good way to do it. All right, moving on. We are on a business item seven. This is the first reading of ordinance number 275. Oo, this one's yours, Mr. City Manager. This is a fun one.

Yes. Uh our our city attorney is not here today, so he tagged me in on a couple of these that uh he he is more the expert on. But uh I know the mayor likes when I tell this story of where this came from.

Yeah. Uh, and uh, what I didn't tell uh, uh, Council Member Wely was this. This was Baby Bloom. This was uh, uh, an individual, you know, Wells's daughter, and they were having a birthday party, and the question I asked, they live in the gates. I said, "Oh, absolutely. We want to come. Do you have a permit?" And, uh, said, "No, I don't have a permit for a birthday party." I said, "Then I I cannot come to the the city manager of the city. I'm not going to be at an event that doesn't have a permit. And he looked at me like I was crazy because he needed a permit for his one-year-old daughter's birthday party. And so I brought this.

And then you and your wife high five cuz you got out of having to go to a birthday. I mean, we still got the gift there, right? So that's uh that's the important part. A trick that we need to try in other

It is. We will loan you this if you need it. Uh so I I came back and and talked to individual council members getting an understanding of where they were and um so we're making the res the recommendation that we modify this to get out of the residential portion. So residential meaning if this goes on in the normal course of a resident's uh life, you would not need a permit. This is a birthday party. This is a a a small church group. is uh uh anything along that line. However, if you're doing something out of the course where you are maybe you're selling your house out or renting your house out for an event, absolutely you would need to do that and continue on. Any of the other locations that you would hold an event at, those permits stay the same. This is really if you at your residence are holding a a party of some kind. Uh we we don't need to know about that and we certainly don't need uh to go through the process. So that's the change that we're we're looking to make.

Very easy. And and to be correct that also includes holidays as well because I've had quite a few people in my front yard for Halloween and protecting myself in the past. But I think when I read the staff report, holidays were included.

Absolutely. So that would be say you're you're hosting a charity or something like that on on a holiday. No. But if it is uh and I've heard of uh your wonderful setup on Halloween and you've got people coming just through a again a normal course of that's where you live, that's your home and you invest the time and the money into decorating your yard and people want to come and see it. That's not part of that's it's not our business as as I would say. So absolutely it's a if it's a normal course in your residence, no permit would be needed. Any other questions? Do we have any public comments on this, Madam Clerk? We do not. I need a motion on this item to move it. I'll motion.

I'll second. All right. Uh roll call vote, please. Tim Castillo. Hi. Council member Seager. Hi. Council member Terry. Hi. Council member Wely, I may. Motion passes. City manager, you probably have no comments, right? Not a one. You're burnt out. All right, we're moving on. Announcements. Next regular council meeting will be held on May 13th. Lucky 13th. And what do we Oh, of course. Um announcement that we have is our open house. I'll let you do it. No, I'll let the chief do it. Chief, you you bring up the open house, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Prom, city council, city staff, Jeff Tennis, fire chief, and we just want to formally and cordially invite you to our 4th annual open house at the fire station. It'll be held May 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We're going to have uh obviously the clams there doing their traditional uh cooking of the BRZ. We'll have the fire department. Hopefully by then the police chief will have his new police cars there on display. We'll have our zoo team. We're going to have a face painter. We're going to have a balloon artist. We're going to have Sparky the fire dog. AMR will be out there. There'll be some live demonstrations by our firefighters. Um if you've been there before, it's a great event and we hope we get to see you there.

Love it. Excited. Thank you so much. With that, we're going to um close out the meeting at 8:00 exactly, Madam Clerk. Thank you, everyone.