City Council - Regular Meeting

is 6:30 and this city council meeting is now in order. Before we get started, I would ask that uh Council Member Jeremy Smith lead us in the invocation.

Well, everyone please rise and join me in prayer real quick. Gently Father, thank you so much for uh once again an amazing day in Canyon Lake. Lord, most of us in this room were impacted by a serious event that occurred a couple weeks, Lord. And it is incredible to see this country come together the way it has, Lord. And we all will agree in this room that there's no place for political violence. And I just want to say thank you, Lord, to see the amazing effort of this country coming together. And I just been touched by it, Lord. And it is so important that we come together as community members and we keep that top of mind. And in your name, amen.

Amen. Please remain standing. Um I'm hoping that engineer paramedic Ryan Moore could come up front and lead us in the pledge of allegiance. We'd be honored. Right hands over your heart. Ready to begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Madame clerk, could you conduct a roll call? Potm Castillo here. Council member Smith here. Council member Steber

here. Council member Wely here. Mayor Terry here. Mayor you have a quorum. City attorney, uh, could you please report out of closed session? Thank you, mayor. There's no reportable action out of tonight's close session.

All right. It's a very important evening for all of those who um are up here on this dis also for our residents. And uh tonight we have the opportunity to honor Jim Rails. Let's give him a round of applause. First of all, we are here today to celebrate Captain Jim Rails as he wraps up his incredible 30 years with the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. He started back in 1996, fresh out of Cal Baptist University. And over the years, he's done just about everything from corrections and patrol to special enforcement, lake patrol, and investigations. Along the way, he worked some of the toughest cases, launched the first gang unit, and helped bring citywide camera systems online in multiple cities. He led teams in Marino Valley, Tmacula, Lake Elsenor, and right here in Canyon Lake. For more than 13 years, this station has been his home base. And for five and a half of those years, he's been our chief law enforcement officer and a incredible community partner. Beyond the badge, I always want to call him captain. You're just you're just James Rails tonight. Um he has been married for 34 years, raised three daughters, and now is enjoying life with three grandchildren. Captain Reels, we thank you for your leadership, your partnership, your friendship, and we are grateful for everything that you have done for our community and we wish you nothing but the best in retirement.

From a personal perspective, I would like to thank you for the service that you have provided the citizens of Canyon Lake. First and foremost, you were never afraid to engage with our council. More importantly, you were never afraid to engage with our community, even when you probably didn't want to be sitting up here talking about golf carts. But you you answered every single question. And so my relationship with God, they say you should have a relationship, not just show up. You should have a relationship. I think in Canyon Lake, you never showed up. And you offered a relationship with our residents and I will forever be thankful. Thank you. [Applause] I now would like to open this up to other council members who would if you have a comment or

not so much a comment, just a story because I think you nailed it for all of us, Mr. Mayor, and how we feel about Captain Rails. Um, you you noted at it, Mr. Mayor, when this guy was willing to talk about golf carts. Yep.

And I'll never forget because our city manager is like, "Well, we need to make sure the captain's there." I was like, "Are you sure we want to invite him to this thing? There's going to be over a couple hundred people." and they're all mad and they're all angry and he's going to be in a uniform and that's when the city manager is like well he's got a gun so he should be okay and sure enough and sure enough captain's like I got this we got this and and I got to admit I mean if anyone was there at that town hall meeting that Councilwoman Castillo mayor Patim Castillo and I put on about golf carts the captain did a great job he answered the questions exactly was willing to take it front on and you know there's no games with you it's always just this is what it is this is what I'm dealing with and you know that honesty integrity makes it so easy for us to come to you with hard questions. Um, I just appreciate your experience, man. And it's it's incredible to hear that your wife has put up with this the entire career. I mean, 34 that bypass, you know, 30 years in, 34 marriage. So, congratulations to you and this next chapter in life, my friend, is going to be probably the best of it. Um, and you deserve it. So, thank you for your service. Appreciate you.

Council member Welty.

Yeah. I would just like to thank you for I we do the uh the city roundt uh discussions and and you're generally there and it's you always feel like when I'm talking to you or I'm talking to you outside of the the council meetings I always feel like I'm being heard. I always feel like you're listening to my issues. I also feel like you're honestly responding. A lot of times that response is uh I don't think you're going to get what you want. Uh but maybe we can get you something. Uh so you're always supportive of of what we could do for the community as long as it was within reason and within the law. So uh that ability to talk uh one-on-one and and feel heard and feel like you were you were listening and responding. Wonderful. That's a great trait and probably is the best thing I like about you. So thank you.

My turn. Mayor Pro 10.

Thank you. I think we all have stories about you that are are good stories. One of my favorite stories is when you came to the first Blue Ribbon Breakfast for the Blue Bells. And I remember um you being so excited and saying that it was a great event. And the reason why you thought it was a great event was because it was recognizing your people. And everyone I talked to about you um echoes the fact and the sentiment that you care about your troops. You care about the people who work for you, sworn or nonsworn, and you you embody what it's what it means to be like a community member. So, I know Wilder was lucky to have you and I know Lake Elsenor was lucky to have you, but Kenyon Lake was absolutely lucky to have you. So, thank you so much. Council member Steber,

Captain Rails, I I we knew each other when you were your lieutenant and uh as Mayor Prom Castillo said, you know, we all have great stories about you and I think you and I still should have won that cornhole tournament. Yep. Yep. Uh uh but no, um you you definitely have have been here for the community. the community has known who you are and uh appreciate everything for these last years you have provided the community and your team and support and just really want to thank you and uh hopefully get to see you around. [Applause]

Anyone from staff? If I can turn the mic on. Uh I don't have any comments. Uh uh I mean I'm very thankful for as I've told it it it's fun to say Jim. Um I called him a while back. I said, "Hey, just Jim." Um I I've told him repeatedly uh how I felt and how important that relationship has been between us and the information was always ever coming. So that there would be times, oh, I'm wondering what's going on. and I get a text or I get something and then I get the call or the text from him before I even get the chance. Hey, just let you know this is what's going on. Um, you know, utter perfection as a leader, utter perfection as a law enforcement officer uh and uh exemplary in in everything you did. And uh I'm very thankful for the year and a half that I've been here that you made that part easy for me. So, thank you very much. I would now like to invite council to come up front. Jim, we'd like you to come up front. On behalf of the city of Canyon Lake, thank you for your service and may you have just a blessed retirement. [Applause] How

about the family? We want the family up here. [Applause] Lucky to have him, right? Okay. Next item. City manager has additional comments.

I've got some uh comments, mayor, and and a bit of an announcement that I think everybody will be very excited about. Um, I'm typically not one to use a script as I look at Maddie. Uh, she laughs. Um, but this one is important enough that uh I I really want to stick to the script. Um, before I do that, I I don't know if council would mind uh maybe putting their uniforms on. Oh, yeah.

No, I got a bigger head than that. smaller head. I have a low.

So, we we've talked about the process before. Uh when I saw that city council wanted to move forward with the police department, I knew that as a city manager, I had numerous challenges before me. The drive for local control and the clear and present need for that local control dictated the timeline. Many people asked, "Why is it so quick?" That that's your answer. But the decisions could not be rushed. To be specific, the choice of police chief will probably be one of the most important decisions of my career. This isn't a retiring police chief. You deal with that in in cities where you're deciding whether it's going to be the inside person or is there an outside person and you're talking to associations or unions. This is the first police chief for the the city of Canyon Lake. A chief who not only build a police department, but also build a legacy. I have very specific fundamentals and philos philosophies that I expect in every department head I hire. I knew I could not waver on any of those requirements if this was going to be successful. I sought the advice of numerous people that I trusted and thought about naming. Uh the vast majority of them gave me insightful advice like I'm sure you'll do fine or eh you'll make the right decision. Uh and and admittedly I was looking for help with the heavy lifting. I really wanted someone to tell me exactly what to do. And for my hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy fans, I was looking for the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. And all I got was 42. But with their age, maturity, and wisdom, they knew it was my decision to make. I love this city and what it's done for me personally and professionally. I wasn't about to fumble the ball with the end zone in sight. Some may know I'm a football coach, so that's always going to be in. For the city of Canyon Lake, I wanted a chief that people wanted to follow. A person that everyone in the city can point to and say with pride, that is my chief. I was very fortunate because we had a

local demonstration of the kind of leader in our sheriff's captain, Jim Rails. I have such respect for Jim and who he is as a person, a leader, and a law enforcement officer. I started my reconnaissance mission and had a conversation with Jim to discuss his timeline and what his retirement plans might be. and I found that his intentions were loosely aligned with our timeline. So, I had some adjustments to make. He would be available for this position, but there were still numerous challenges. We had several discussions over the next few months, but make no mistake, I had already decided that Canyon Lake had its chief. So I joke that I knew before Jim Rails knew because there was no doubt in my mind he was the right chief for this city. I just needed to get him on board with that. So that's what the next process was. Um throughout the process I I took calls, coffee meetings, lunches, and dinners with numerous respected professionals who wanted to be our chief. Most had taken the time to fully comprehend what we have here and had even reached out to other chiefs I had worked with in the past to get a feel for who I am as a person and a leader. All the while, I was singularly focused on Captain Jim Rails becoming our chief. One day in our discussion, uh before anybody thinks I'm getting emotional, I just had jalapenos on my tacos. So, um man, that's burning. Uh all right, I'm wiping that. That's probably a mistake, but we'll we'll deal with it. Um, one day in our discussion, he said he was too young to retire and was thinking about a distant sheriff's department that would require a long commute. But, uh, they had a different retirement system. I pounced on that opportunity and said, "That seems pretty silly when you could just be our chief here and not

have to worry about the commute at all." Oh, man. The hot sauce was hot. I hope

he kind of laughed and said something along the lines of, "Yeah, wouldn't that be a thing?" And I made sure he knew I was serious. I wanted him to be our chief and there could be no more of a home run for this city. I wanted him to think about it and I was not starting any kind of recruitment process until he told me he was not interested. After a couple of meetings, we're on the same page and he agreed to become our chief after his upcoming retirement from a very successful career with Riverside Sheriff's Office. And with that, it it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you James Rails, chief of police for your city of Candy. [Applause] So, this is going to go

Oh, look at that. door downstairs, but you get to hold it for a while. Um, this is great. It's working. Yes. Um, it's an honor to be called your first police chief. Um, honestly, when when we first talked about it, I'm like, "Hey, this, you know, I've already got 30 years in PERS. There's no way I could do that." And then that's when Aaron told me, "Hey, it's just a different retirement system." And I said, "Oh, shoot." And then I had got the balls rolling roll blown in maybe thinking about it. So um I have spent the last five and a half years here as your chief law enforcement officer. I've watched you go through this process for quite some time. This isn't just happened overnight. Um um most of you were here during that time and I I spent time trying to find okay how can I how can I make them happy? what can I do to give them more resources and more community services and that type of thing? Started to do what I could and did what I could, but I knew exactly what you were looking for. Um, you wanted that local control and not just control over your chief. That's not what it was about. You want you want a department with your officers out there in the community. You want a robust volunteer program, um, a reserve program, and I, and you want your officers out there in the community, um, talking to all your constituents, working with the kids, um, developing relationships with them. I know exactly what you're looking for. Um, that's why I think this, this is actually perfect because I don't have to come in here and learn. Um, I I know what you're looking for. I know what I know what Canyon Lakers are looking for. And I know there's some concerns out there about is this going to be a professional police department? And um yes, with a different retirement system, I will be able to pull in some very professional officers and investigators, detectives, um sergeants um very easily, I would think. So, yes, it will be.

How you doing,

He's still got a few years left. Right. But no, it's it's an honor for me to come in and and and and be able to do and make what you're looking for come to fruition. Um I I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be exciting. I already have great working relationship with all of you uh with a fire chief. Jeff and I are good friends. Um Aaron, your city manager, we're good friends. I worked with uh Steven Graham for several years also. And I know a lot of the a lot of the people in the community, a lot of your leaders, too. We're great with the POA. So, I think there there's not going to be a learning curve. I can just come in and jump in and uh start making this happen. So, I'm looking forward to it. And I I really appreciate it. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Oh, we got we can take one more picture. [Applause] I'll make it. Good looking hats. Any comments? Yeah. Yeah. Want me to go first? Um, Chief, I'm super excited to get to say that this is just such a no-brainer. The transition I just know is going to be flawless. And all the things that you just spoke about, knowing what the community wants and already having those relationships, this is going to be great. I'm super excited and I'm very grateful that you said yes.

Thank you. You know, it's been it's been quite the journey and I got to say um I appreciate your patience with me because I have definitely been on you with so many questions and it's been what 3 years, Mr. Mayor, that we've been talking about this, implementing, meeting with other departments. Um I got to hand it to you now, Chief, because your professionalism working for the sheriff's department while giving us information that we need to make calculated decisions while still representing your department. Amazing. Absolutely astonishing. And you know, obviously it leaked out a couple weeks ago because my phone's been ringing. And the number one conversation that I've had with other colleagues on other councils was, well, duh, that makes sense. No wonder you guys are starting your own police department. You got one of the best guys the department could ever have. And I say that for my friends in Lake Senor and Wdemar and Paris. The reputation that you have in Southwest Riverside County is absolutely incredible. And I know that your heart is in it. Um and and what's difficult for some of our residents to understand is a lot of our deputies, they see a lot of bad things in different areas when they come here. This is kind of the vacation station. But you never ever treated it differently. You treated our crimes, our issues, our concerns as number one priorities. You did not uh minimize them because it was kids in golf carts or as we all know kids in ebikes. Um and I just want to say I'm excited, my friend. I think this is going to be a great journey for you and um there's no one else that I think would be more perfect for this. So kudos to our city manager on pulling off a good recruitment. Here he is trying to recruit others too in the middle of the meeting. So appreciate you.

And it's not a short thing. He's got me signing a 5-year contract. So yeah, that's right. That's that's good. I'm glad you said that. That's really important.

The the last thing I want to say and then I'll shut up. Um, when we started our fire department, we we made the decision to go that direction and a lot of it was, as you know, because of our chief and it's clear as day. I think this community has embraced his leadership. Um, has embraced his, you know, gift that he has to just take care of this community and I see a lot of that in you and I think the two of you are going to be absolutely dynamite together 100%. I know this community is going to embrace you guys. You both have this sense of just love and compassionate about you and that's rare, I think, to find in public safety. So, I'm just excited about what the two of you are going to do for Canyon Lake to continue to make it go in the right direction.

Thank you, Mr. City. Mr. uh Chief, I uh I knew I'd see you in 15 minutes. So, uh no, I'm I'm excited. And uh even these last few months, I've had a lot of people ask me, "Who who is it? Who is it?" And I've done really good job keeping my mouth shut and uh in some instance steering in a wrong direction just to see. But uh my my phone is going off crazy. So I know uh they're they're very supportive. But this community uh even myself been very supportive of you since day one and uh looking forward to you. Keep keep moving us forward, keep being transparent and and keeping this uh uh new police station alive. So thank you. I want to say that I have the utmost of respect for Chief Latendras. He is not only an outstanding fire chief and if you see him in meetings there I there is no way I will ever be as prepared as Chief Latendras. The other thing that I admire about Chief Latendras is his heart and his engagement. And that is why our residents love our fire department.

They know their names and our firefighters know their names. And I think engagement um presence um our residents deserve that. And 3 years ago when I sat with this young man and we were discussing starting our own police department, Chief, you were the reason that I felt we could go forward with that. I would like to thank you for your service. To Council Member Smith's point, you two are going to be perfect for each other and I look forward to working with you. More importantly, I look forward to the experience that our residents are going to have in a Canyon Lake Fire Department and a Canyon Lake Police Department. Welcome, Chief.

Thank you. [Applause] You mind if we get one more picture? No, no problem. Like it chief. There you go. [Laughter] That's a cover.

All right. Perfect. Except that you had it on video and I didn't get any photos.

I don't know which hand it is. I want to find out. Are you still crying?

Very cool. What a night. All right. Now for our presentations. I would like to call up Director Darcy Burke on behalf of Elsenor Valley Municipal Water District. Another superstar.

Thank you. Mayor, council, residents, friends, guests. Can we talk about the agenda? I always go after like the most exciting part of the meeting and I'm kind of feel like Debbie Downer. So, if it's not alum treatment or golden algae or cemetery, there's there's really like not a lot to talk about. Um, I wanted to thank you all for your support at our 75th anniversary. Uh, we got to celebrate that the other night and I just am very grateful for the city's support and your attendance. It meant a lot to us and um so thank you. Thank you for your time. Um, today I actually attended virtually a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California meeting and I only bring it up because one of the projects that they're considering will raise our wholesale rates six times. So instead of $1,700, you're looking at $6,800 an acre foot. That's without any of the extra fees or energy charges, which makes water truly unaffordable for most of our service area. And we are really going to have to figure out different ways to structure paying for water. And as you grow and you want to do great things, I want to be able to make sure we can help support that. Because if you've ever tried to live a day with just maybe your plumbing's turned off for whatever reason, it's not very comfortable. And as far as the chief goes, I have a list of projects for you starting with the dam and the north ski area. But apart from that, um,

it's okay. That's that's not my issue. That's that's your issue. Get the paperwork done before

Thanks, director. Appreciate you. I also want to thank uh Councilman Smith for your work on Lesa. I know jumping into something that's very technical with all the acronyms is not easy and I know you're getting a lot of flack for things you have absolutely no control over. I want to reassure our residents that Elsenor Valley is not resting on the laurels of what Leoa or other consultants are doing. We have hired our own consultants. One of the top lologists or algae experts in the world. She is with Hazen and Sawyer. She's out of Denver and she is looking over everything and I feel very comfortable in whatever she decides. I'm told her red pen has been very busy. So hopefully we'll have some comments back on managing the reservoir as a whole moving forward. Um and I think I'm going to leave it at that because you have a a lot going on. Oh, one last thing. If you have any commercial property in Elsenor Valley service area right now and have any turf you'd like to remove, it's $7 a square foot. So if you actually had an acre of turf you wanted to take out, that's over $34,000 an acre. So now's the time and I'll take any questions.

Darcy, would you mind giving us an update on this cemetery stuff that we got going on? Sure.

Can you let us know what's going on? So um Councilman Smith and I went to see Supervisor um Medina and basically the process is continuing. So our understanding is the environmental study they did had deficiencies at least from the Elsenora Valley's perspective as well as some other experts that we had weigh in including a water e expert from UCLA um basically who put in his statement that there is no known mitigation for what they are proposing. So they are going back to the drawing board. They have to redo their environmental and then they'll bring it forward. At that point, it'll go to the county planning commission. I'm sure it will go and then the supervisors for consideration. The grassroots effort that residents both in Canyon Lake, Metobrook, and Good Hope have done needs to continue. And um I did share today a one-page overview or fact sheet that also includes the contamination elements of body decomposition that would potentially go into the lake and what those contaminants actually cause. So this is an ongoing conversation. I know there's been a lot of conversation, well it's a done deal. People got paid off. That's not this process. The individual that did the study for the county is a traffic engineer, not a water quality engineer. I also am aware that the regional quality control board has not weighed in on this and they will. I'm also informed that region 9 environmental protection agency has not weighed in on this and I have asked them to do such. So there are many layers that still have to go forward. Um it's not over,

right? It's just kind of started because now we're aware of it. And I know some people are getting um despondent like, "Oh, it's it's a done deal." It's not a done deal. I will say that the other side has also started a petition. I think we're over 3,400 and they have I think six or eight. Correct.

So that's how many they have in support and we have over 3,400 in opposition. And your voice does matter in this in this instance. is actually part of the safe drinking water act that says communities can absolutely oppose projects that contaminate drinking water sources. So, it's right in statute of what we're doing right now. So, I would encourage people if they have questions, please reach out. And I and I did fail to mention that the mayor and I are hosting coffee again on October 1st at the country club at 7:30 and also next month, October 22nd in the evening conversation at the country club at 7:30. We have an invited recently elected assemblywoman Natasha Johnson. I'm not I can't confirm she's going to attend it. She is invited, but we will be hosting that anyway. So, if you have questions on either the new police force, the new chief, water, cemetery, uh even the lake management plan, um we'll be happy to answer those.

And I I just want to say thank you, Darcy, for helping me with all these acronyms on water. I appreciate it. I'm sick of using Wikipedia, and you've been that Wikipedia for me. Um, also, you know, we, you and I have done the best we can to answer everything that we get tagged on on social media. Um, we try to respond to the questions, especially when people say that, you know, when we had our town hall meeting on the cemetery, there was comments made that nothing was discussed or nothing was answered. I thought we did a really good job describing exactly how the process was going to take place. And it's been clear now that this is probably going to go into mid next year um, when this thing goes to planning commission. And so for the residents who've pinged me on this topic and Darcy, um I think we having confidence that this thing's got to go a long ways before it's going to be seen at the planning commission. So I just wanted to say thank you for your help and your support as we uh go on this endeavor together and see if we can kill it.

I'm I'm glad I have you as a partner. So thank you very much. Absolutely. I know you were tasked at our last coffee at the country club to put together some information kind of outlining all the issues. You sent that to me today. Is this for public consumption? It is absolutely and how how do they get a copy of this? I'm actually going to post it on my Burke for Water website. So, yeah, it talks about the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments. It also talks about title 22 protecting our drinking water, why this matters, and then related impacts on our drinking water. And I want to thank you for putting this together. It's very thorough. It definitely could start the conversation. So, thank you.

You're welcome. The front page is in in everyday language. The back page is much more technical. So, it does talk about contaminants in parts uh per billion or million. And it it does so to tie it into the maximum contaminant levels. So, if you have questions about the back, which is technical, please let me know. And your phone number is on it. It is. People can actually call you and I'll answer the phone. Yes, you will. Thank you very much, Director B. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. On behalf of the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association Board Treasurer Jeff Bill, [Applause] I see you still haven't raised this to a normal height. So, um, once again, I just want to thank Darcy again for all that work, especially with the cemetery. um she's gone above and beyond in helping with that. And that leads me into one of the questions we've received repeatedly at the POA is when are we going to restock the lake? Restocking the lake is going to involve a lot more than just throwing a bunch of fish out there. So, we are going to take a wait and see attitude. We're looking to the EVMWD. They do have the experts. We have some consultants, but we are leaning on the EVMWD and our lake advisory committee regarding restocking the lake. So, we don't see that happening in the near future. Having said that, I have had some people out there fishing that have texted me and said, "Hey, we caught a fish." Or, "Hey, we saw a fish." So, it's like good, you know, it's good news to hear. Um, on the uh legal update side, the POA staff and legal team have updated the fine schedule to ensure compliance with AB130. The fines related to safety and security remain separate from the standard fines in accordance with those new regulations. The uh rest of this is all fun stuff. The lodge is open on Mondays from 3:00 to 9:00 for Monday Night Football. We invite you all to come out watch don't get drunk and stupid. Just have a good time watching the game. Um this weekend is the community garage sale. The Canyon Lake Car Club is putting on their car show October 4th. I expect Jeremy will have all like 17 of his cars there.

My wife's listening to this meeting stop. There's cars she doesn't know about.

That wouldn't surprise me. So, um, we also have Rocktoberfest coming up October 11th. That's 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Holiday Harbor Park. And I also wanted to touch on a few things. Um, we have a can a camera program here in Canyon Lake that we use. Um, I'd like to remind people it's still in operation. If there's something that happens and you're a registered was participant in our camera program, we would just come and and knock on your door, ask if it's okay. And when I say we, I'm talking about the new chief. You know, we have chief and other chief now. So, I get confused. So, we had this camera program that we've been working on with RSO, but now we're hoping in the next year to be with Canyon Lake and hopefully be more successful. And then the biggest thing that I really need to get across to everybody is we are finishing up the secure motorcycle parking lot. We have done all the electrical. We're running cameras. We're running lights. We're putting fencing up. But on September 29th, all the motorcycles need to be out of there so that we can resurface the parking lot and put the fences up. So for any more information on that, go to clpoa.com. Those that have motorcycles over there, they need to go to that website. There's a plan to move their motorcycles. They need to be aware of what's going on. We're not going to move their motorcycles, but if they are there after the 29th, the tow company will. So just want to let you know on that. So, it's personally I'm very happy that we're finally getting that security that secure motorcycle parking in place. And then I just want to say congratulations to the new chief. It's uh we're happy to have you or happy to keep you, I should say. So, are there any other questions, comments, insults, bad jokes?

Bad jokes. Uh just want to say thank you. I know that Bill Medvet is here as well. You guys have a very difficult job on the POA. Not just because there's three bills and everyone gets you all confused with different names, but but the stuff that you guys have to deal with day in and day out. Um, I just want to say thank you and continue to do the hard work that you're doing because I know it's not not easy. So, oh, and I do not to correct you, Mr. Mayor, but Bill Medvet is the treasurer. I'm not They didn't trust me with the checkbook anymore. You're vice president. Yeah, but don't tell anyone. It's a secret. All right, I'll talk. My bad. Good job.

Thanks, guys. [Applause] Sorry, Bill. Sorry, Jeff. Sorry, Canyon Lake PA. Now for the Channon Canyon Lake Chamber of Commerce President Johnny Panetta. Johnny,

let's welcome in. It's been a happy night. All right. Um, good evening, Mayor Terry, Mayor Pro, uh, Mayor Mayor Prom, sorry. Uh, city council members, city staff. Um, update on the Kenyon Lake Chamber Battle of the Businesses this Saturday at Sierra Park from 10 to 2. Um, so while everybody's out garage selling, please stop by. Uh, we have 10 uh, scheduled businesses. is I think we might have even 12 coming with a couple late uh arrivals. Uh so we're excited about that. I want to thank the sponsors, Nahara Law Group, Pepe Station number two pizza and Hills Donuts for all they're doing to make it a successful event. October 2nd, uh our business roundt in the Magnolia room at 7:15. uh to keep the theme of Halloween. Uh the theme is how to turn fear of networking into results hosted by networking master Dennis Gonzalez. I've been to several of his events and he literally is a master at networking. So for those small businesses, businesses within Canyon Lake and residents that want to get out and network, this is going to be a great event to learn from somebody who does it very, very well. Um, October 14th at 5:30, Taco Tuesday Halloween Mixer at the Country Club. Um, hosted by the Kenyon Lake Chamber, Real Loans, uh, Lake Alenor Chamber, and the Meny Chamber. Uh, we will have Halloween themed bingo, trivia, raffles, costume contests, and a live um, action clue murder mystery game. Um, so it's going to be a lot of fun. I hope I'm not the killer or anything like that. Uh, Parade of Frights, October

25th. There will be updates on the Kenya Lake Chamber. Um, I'm hoping in a couple weeks that, uh, we will have the new website up. Uh, so look at the Kenyon Lake Chamber of Commerce website, uh, Instagram, and the Kenyon Lake Facebook page. I open it up to any questions. What kind of events, what kind of challenges do you have for Saturday? What will we be seeing competing wise? Um, we will have kayaking, tugof-war, uh, and let's see, there's about three. Bouncy balls. Yeah, I got to make sure those are blown up. Um,

limbo. So, this is going to be the challenge is make sure everybody's safe and doesn't get hurt. That's going to be the challenge. We They will Yeah, it's they will be signing some waiver uh claimer. So, just make sure everybody's safe. Um, we're looking, you know, last year I think we had six teams. This year we're going to have 10, maybe even 12. So, we're excited about that. So, um, my main focus is just growing the businesses, helping out the best I can. I've been a business owner since age seven, so I'm I'm eager to help, uh, out the city, and I love the the city of Kenyon Lake, so looking forward to it.

I would also encourage all of our businesses in the town center. The parade of frights is a huge marketing opportunity. Um I was uh sitting in the barber shop uh last year and there must have been a couple hundred families just in a very short period of time and I encourage our business owners in the town center to give some thought and market it. It's a great opportunity to meet our community and not only our community but um residents from our neighboring communities as well. It's a great event.

I would agree. We uh myself and the director uh events director we uh did some walking and talking over the last week and met some of the businesses kind of tucked in the corners and stuff and very excited. Everybody's very excited to even know that we existed and that the fact that we went out and visited them. So I'm I'm encouraged by the You put Candy out front, they'll find you. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. All right. Thank you. [Applause] Canyon Lake Fire Department Chief Latendrris.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, City Council, City Staff. Jeff Latendras, your fire chief. And first and foremost, I too would like to welcome and congratulate our new police chief. Uh we look forward to working with you. We are honored to have you. We already have a great partnership and I only see that moving forward as we serve the community, protect the community, and engage with the community. So, I look forward to your partnership. give our monthly report for the month of August. And as you'll see, the month of August was our busiest month thus far. We had 117 emergency responses. Of those 117 responses, three were fires, 83 medical aids, one hazardous condition, 13 service calls, nine good intent, eight false alarms for the total of 117 responses for the month of August. Our response times, our average, which is 50% of the time, this is what we're meeting and proves slightly. Our turnout time, the time from the we receive the call till we go in route was 44 seconds. Our travel time or the time from going in route to arriving on scene was 5 minutes and 20 seconds for an overall total response time of 5 minutes and 41 seconds. We like to grade ourselves a little higher though. What are we doing 90% of the time? And so 90% of the time our turnaround time was 1 minute I'm sorry 1 minute 16 seconds. Our travel time was 7 minutes and 9 seconds for a total response time of 8 minutes and 21 seconds. During the month of August, we went outside the city into the area surrounding us nine times. Eight of those were in the zip code area of Lake

Elsenor. One was in the zip code area for Meny. So, so far this year, we've gone out of the city a total of 73 times. 63 in Lake Elsenor, nine in Meny, and of course, we were part of that response into Los Angeles in January for the firestorms. Where were those calls at? Well, as you can see from the map, and I that's why I try to clarify, they have a Lake Elsenor address, but they're not typically in Lake Elsenor property and proper. Uh, about four or five of those were really in the Meadow Brook uninccorporated area. uh three were in Lake Elsenor proper and then one was in the city of Meny. Conversely, during the month of August, Riverside County Calire responded seven times to assist us in on our emergency responses. So far this year, they've come in 45 for 45 different incidents. Um here's a picture of us training with Riverside County Fire. So, I think that's an important component that we don't always mention. It's not that that they're just going on calls into our city. They're going on calls with us and we are training with them so that when we go on calls together, we are working cohes cohesively as a team. So I think that's important to point out. Also for Darcy, we are drafting there. So we're taking water out of the lake and putting it back into the lake. It is not potable water that we're putting into the lake. So just want to make sure everybody that that that's clear. And that uh concludes my uh presentation for the month of August. And I'm available for any questions should you have any.

Any questions? Thank you, Chief. [Applause]

All right. As we've been doing all year, I'm hoping that we continue this into next year. I think it is very important not only for our community, but I think it's also very important to the uh nonprofits that we recognize. And um tonight, it is an honor to recognize our nonprofit spotlight of the month, the Oak Grove Center. Founded in 1989, Oak Grove serves more than 800 at risk and special needs youth each year through residential care, education, treatment, and enrichment programs. Without any further ado, we are pleased to welcome Misty Carrian this evening to share more about Oak's vital work. Please join me in welcoming her. Thank you. members. Mr. Mayor are see I'm excited to be here tonight. Congratulations to the new chief. That's very exciting. I live right in next door in Mini. So excited to see another great police force over here. Um I'm from Oak Grove. I've been at Oak Grove 25 years. Um I get to work under um if you've ever been in any of our events or different places, Mrs. Tammy Wilson. Um phenomenal leader and she sends regards and sorry she can't be here today. I get to though. Um I just want to give a little bit about Oakrove because a lot of people know that we have a residential where 76 kids live on grounds and we have another about a hundred that come in for school. So we are a day program where if they're not so successful in their school, they get to come to ours. And three of the things that really stood out to me tonight, uh Mr. Mayor, was your your difference between just showing up and then having that relationship. And I think that's what separates Oak Grove Center from a lot of other centers or a lot of other people that work with the the youth is that we build that family relationship with them

and their families. Um, a couple programs that we hardly ever get to talk about that people might know that affect the community is that we have a a program called wraparound where we get to come into the homes and work with the family in their homes in their living room and the the youth doesn't have to leave home for any of the services. they could stay in their schools. We work with the siblings. We work with the parents. And um we are expanding into adoptions. Um a lot of people that adopt don't know that even if you adopt at birth, if you um they reach teenage years and maybe they you need some support, there's funding for you. So we're really excited to get to expand into there. Another service is that we are Riverside County's foster youth program for independent living skills. So we contract through them, but Oak Center is responsible for foster youth 16 through 21 and their independent living skills. And so if you uh know anyone or you have anyone fostering, they only have to be in the foster system one day to qualify. One day before the age of 16 to qualify and then they get to join us in our workshops and we're about 40 out of the 52 weeks a year we meet once a week with them and um those are my programs. And one of the most important thing to me was to build into um where they get to earn stuff because if you've ever worked with atrisisk youth or foster youth, one of the things is sometimes they're a little entitled. And one of the things that we really want to work with them on is decreasing that entitleness and increasing that connection back to community and working with they get to earn everything where nothing is given to them. So um I brought some flyers um if there is a tour of us. And the other thing I do want to mention is we're expanding services into our intensive care. So what happens sometimes if kids get 5150 which is when they um they're hurting themselves or others and they have to be hospitalized. It's a lot for the family. So what we have at Oakrove is instead of staying at the hospital they come to Oakrove all day. They have

therapy. They meet other kids. They have groups. We even have them education so they don't fall behind when they get back to school. but then they get to go home and they get to stay home at night. So, it's an intensive program. There's a couple in the area like in Lomol Lindon and Riverside and then us now at Oak Grove. So, there's a lot on our website that talks about our events and our fundraisers. But, I think if you have a um a youth and you're just wondering, do they qualify? I want to tell you we go as young as four and as old as 21. And so, we have all these services in between. And as mental health does grow, we grow with it. And uh uh one more thing I do want to highlight from Oakrove is we have intensive autism programs. So Tammy learned one day um from a family that had to drive to San Diego. And if you've met Tammy, you know that she's very determined to serve any family in the community and she was not having that. So within one year, what we did is we brought in an intensive autism program. So there's no communication verbally. It's usually physical. So, there is a risk to it, but we're highly trained and the kids don't have to leave the area. They come to Oakrove. In fact, a lot of times we we have the vans that come pick them up. Um, and some of our programs because parents, it's hard for them to take off work, especially during summer, is that we'll do fundraising so that the youth doesn't have to miss school because if you know anyone on the spectrum, sometimes if they have gaps, they'll slide backwards in communication or or where the level that they've reached. So we have staff that'll come in and work with them all summer. It helps the parents so they don't have to take this extra vacation times because they're not in school. So if there is a need, we definitely want to um extend our services and help with it.

Incredible. Let's give it up. Thanks from council. I saw briefly tick through, but can you show the slide again of all the locations? And for those that don't know where Oak Grove is, uh where's your near I knew you had multiple locations.

Oh, yeah. Thank you so much for that. Tammy would kill me if I didn't talk about that. Um Marietta is our our home campus. So, a lot of our residential treatment is located in Marietta and then our school and then uh in Paris we just have a school and so we have one autism program there and then another about 40 kids come in um into our school ages 4 to about 21. And then we have a it's called a therapeutic program for foster youth who age out at 18. They still have a lot of um in the state of California, they have a lot of things they could still lean into to help them with independence cuz a lot of 18-year-olds are not ready at 18, especially foster youth. So, it's a house. Um, and I always tease that it's it's a sixbedroom with a pool and it's way nicer than when I was in college. Um but they get to live there as long as they have a job or they are going to school. They live in our house with um other youth 18 to 21 and we work with them on bank accounts and job skills. And in that community we help them with going to college or at least sometimes just even getting their high school diploma. And then we have um if you're ever in Oldtown Tmacula, there is a amazing bakery down there, our Oak Grove Center bakery. And so we built that because of job skills. Um we learned that in the industry of coffee, that's a pretty good industry. Um if anyone been to a Starbucks or any local coffee shop. So what we do is we're able to train our kids to be baristas. So they learn baking skills, they learn barista skills. And so what we're hoping is when they age out or when they leave our services, they're already jobqualified and ahead of other kids because they already know um there's our our Oakrove culinary. And then we have contests with the kids where they actually get to design the recipes and then we have that go out into different restaurants. So some of the local restaurants will take that as a dessert and then serve their cookies. And there's nothing more

incredible than going with a kid who gets to order something that was an idea that now is a dessert in a restaurant. And so one of the things that does also separate us is our arts. Um we bring in programs with professional dancers. We have actors and actresses come in. We do painting. If it's a passion, we um do fundraising for it because we found the secret. Don't tell anyone. We'll keep it in this room. We found the secret to atrisisk youth is cultivating their passions, cultivating the things that are make them happy. And sometimes that just is something as simple as giving them the space to be able to not only get mental health and therapy, but to stand on stage and sing or to go into the community and just get to um meet individuals and feel like um that they have this family of support and love. And one of the greatest things I've ever seen and it's sometimes some of the saddest is a lot of kids that transition through Oakrove call and want to come back. And so for me being there 25 years, I was some of the the milestones for me as we get some of those first phone calls and one of my my foster you said, "Can I come home?" And it one it broke my heart because you know we're residential treatment center, but in the other thing it it showed me that milestone in my life that man we are making a difference every day.

You are making a huge difference in in our community. And what I see here is you're just filling all these gaps. All these programs that stop here, start here, but don't do this, don't do that. Um I've had the opportunity to,

you know, and I I first of all want to thank Director Burke for um making me very familiar with your organization. The work that you do is incredible. It's hard work, but you do it with love and passion. And um on on behalf of our council, on behalf of the city at Canyon Lake, we're extremely appreciative of that. There are there's a lot of ways you could give directly, correct? Yes. But you also have some pretty cool events. You have a golf tournament that uh uh correct? Yes. In October, we have a golf tournament. Um and we have a the Mara rod run. Um the proceeds come to Oak Grove. And then we also have We got some of those guys.

Yeah. We Oh, and they come and they they do a show just for the kids. So the kids get to walk around and see the cars and um and we get to they get to go down to on that Saturday. We get to work it. It's so fun. Chef open.

We just had the chef open. We'd like to invite you out if you have not been yet. It is the most um yummiest day ever because we have at least 14 to 15 local chefs and they're competing and so we get to um walk around and just have the food and then we have a people's choice award and then a chef choice award and then we have our rock the oaks. So if you have any young singers in your family or singers in your family look out in June because we're usually at um the Wilson Winery and they they come perform but a lot of kids have started there. that's how they heard of Oak Grove was that they came and they sang for the public. And then we have a um evening under the oaks that is one of our major fundraisers where we get to dress up and then um at all of our events the one thing you'll see is the kids will be there. They'll be either dancing or they'll be speaking or they're just a part of it. Whereas sometimes I think when I when I see some of the nonprofits I'm like, "Oh, who do you serve?" And they're like, "Oh, we serve this." I'm like, "Well, where are they?" like is there any way to to connect with that stakeholder which in our heads is the kids and the family?

All of the um organizations that we've highlighted this year are just tremendous. But I love you for the work that you do. Thank you very much and uh keep it up. Well, thank you. We appreciate being here. May I leave these over this table over here? It's just a flyer and if you hand them out. I'm just kidding. You can you can set them down. Yes. Thank you very much. I love them. City clerk, do we have any public comments on the consent calendar or non-aggenda items? Mayor, we do not. Mayor, we do. We do. Donna Richie,

I want to thank the council for um spotlighting the nonprofit organizations because as residents, we get to learn about some of these. That sounds like an amazing organization. Um, I also wanted to thank Chief Rails. Um, congratulations on your retirement, which was what, two weeks. Um, I don't know if people know, but I was able to get out information about crime and accidents and things happening not only in Canyon Lake, but Lake Elsenor. um because he trusted me with his personal cell phone number. Um which they just don't go around giving out their personal cell phone numbers, especially to press. Um I tried my hardest not to abuse that past 8:00 p.m.

How did that work out? Um it worked out fine. He he didn't block me yet. So, I'm I I'm hoping that we can continue that relationship so that I'm able to get out u news quickly to the residents. So, I just wanted to congratulate you on your retirement, on your new position, and thank you for all you've done. Thank you, Donna. I take it there are no other public comments. Mayor, there are not. In regards to the consent calendar, would any council member like a consent calendar item pulled?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to pull number six for discussion. Number six, second reading and adoption of ordinance number 258, an ordinance of the city council of the city of Canyon Lake, California to repeal and replace title 3, revenue and finance, chapter 3.08, purchases of the Canyon Lake Municipal Code. I will make a motion that we adopt the remaining balance of the uh consent calendar um leaving out item number six for discussion. I'll second the motion.

Madame clerk, can we get a roll call vert a roll call vote on the remaining consent items? Mayor Potim Castillo I. Council member Smith. Because there's no public comments on these items, I will vote in favor. I council member Sieber I. Council member Wely I. Mayor Terry I. Passes 5-0. Cool. Item six.

Item number six. Second reading and adoption of the ordinance number 258, an ordinance of the city council of the city of Canyon Lake, California, to repeal and replace title 3, revenue and finance, chapter 3.08, purchases of the Canyon Lake Municipal Codes. I take it we have no public comments, Mayor. We do not. Would anyone like to um discuss item number six?

Yeah, and I'll be brief. Uh first colleagues appreciate uh pulling the remaining items. Wanted it to just be standalone. Again uh from the first reading just still on the same and has nothing to do with city manager. It's really anywhere in the future of city of Cany Lake with any of our city managers or any staff with the authorization authority. Uh I still feel comfortable maintaining it at the 50,000 threshold. So that was the reason for the poll and still kind of standing by that. But everything else finding streamlined process uh uh to getting projects done and procurement I I am still for. Okay. Any other discussion?

Mr. City Manager, before I make a motion on this item, do you have any comments? Uh no, I do not council member. Cool. I'll make the motion that we approve item number six. That's going to be ordinance number 258. Mr. Mayor, I'll second. Madame Clerk, can we get a roll call vote? Mayor Potim Castillo, hi. Council member Smith, I. Council member Sber, no. Council member Wely, I. Mayor Terry, I. Motion passes.

Public hearings. There are no public hearings this evening. Onto our business items. Business item number 11, designating designation of a voting delegate in alternates for the League of California Cities 2025 annual conference and expo annual business meeting. And we get a presentation by our city clerk, Cheryl Garcia. Honorable mayor, members of the city council, the item before you tonight is the designation of a voting delegate and up to two alternates for the league's annual conference and business meeting that's taking place on October 8th through 10th. The city's delegate is eligible to vote on matters pertaining to Cal City's policy. And at this time, it would be appropriate to entertain a motion for a delegate and up to two alternates. I nominate if you'll be willing to both Steber and of course Dale. You've always done well. So if that's okay with the two of these gentlemen, I would nominate that uh we have them represent us at the Cal's objections.

I have a second. I like that. Don't even let them speak. Straight roll call vote. Please get a roll call. A delegate. Yeah. So and then an ultimate. Okay. So the delegate is council member Welty. The alternate is Steverber. You said two alternates though. We ain't going that far. Yeah. Up to two. Okay. And you just want to make sure that that person is available Friday morning. Are you available Friday morning? If you're not, I know that Steve is cuz I called him before I did this to him. Yes. Okay. Okay. Good. Madam clerk, roll call vote. Mayor Prom Castillo. Hi. Council member Smith. Hi. Council member Sieber. Hi. Council member Wely. Hi. Mayor Kerry. I motion passes.

Business item number 12, introduction of the first reading of ordinance number 263, an ordinance of the city council, city of Canyon Lake, California, repealing sections 3.26.09, water users tax and 3.26 100 sewer users tax of the Canyon Lake Municipal Code. And we have a presentation by city attorney Steven Graham.

Yeah, I'll I'll keep this one brief. uh the city uh the residents of the city of Canyon Lake twice approved the utility user tax uh on various utility services uh throughout the city of Canyon Lake. Um about 2 years back, uh the water utility users tax and the sewer utility user tax were challenged um by uh an individual uh claiming that uh they were unconstitutional under Proposition 218 because they needed to be special taxes, not general taxes.

Uh the difference between a general tax and a special tax, there's two primary differences. A special tax is designated for a specific purpose whereas a general tax can be spent for any purpose. Uh a general tax uh must be approved by at least 2/3 of the voters whereas a general tax can be approved by a simple majority 50% plus one. Um the utility user tax in this case met the second criteria. It was approved by well over twothirds

yeah of the residents of the city of Canyon Lake. because it was available for any public purpose and not limited in the purposes for which it could be used. Uh the court of the trial court in this county of Riverside and then the appellet court out of San Diego uh ruled that uh it did not comply with Prop 218. Uh city council could have appealed that to the California Supreme Court. Uh I you know I'm not a judge nor am I a just to the appellet court. I think they missed this one but uh nevertheless I'm not the judge. I'm just the attorney. Uh and so uh we need to comply with the court's order and we need to repeal those two sections of our municipal code. So this is introduction and first reading. Uh if this passes tonight, we will make a report uh to the superior court for the county riverside indicating that we are in the process of repealing those two sections. Happy to answer any questions the council may have.

Any questions for uh staff? Are there any public car uh comment cards on this item? Mayor, there are not. Need a motion and a second to wave the full reading and introduce by title. Ordinance 263 sections 3.26090 water users tax 3.26.100 sewer users tax of the Canyon Lake Municipal Code. Mr. City Attorney, entertain me, please. If this item fails tonight, what's next? I'd have some explaining to do to a superior court judge. I figure you would. uh why the city is not in compliance with a court order. I will begrudgingly make a motion. Just just wanted that.

I can note that on our Just wanted that for the record. So I will more than happy second. Uh Mayor Pro Tim grudgingly second. I'll do it too. Madame clerk, roll call vote. Mayor Prom Castile. Comment. Hi. Council don't Oh, did you have a comment? Oh yeah, a comment that Yeah.

Yeah. My comment is that we always think the city budgets, they get the stream of money and it's guaranteed for the life of the city, which is basically forever. And and the bottom line is it's just not true. Our income streams are being assaulted every year by by uh different parts of the the government, different parts of the citizenry, and it just makes us somewhat hard to uh make the sub the city predict its future finances. And it also sometimes makes it hard to uh meet the needs of the community or the the requests of the community. And one of the reasons we brought our fire services more or less in house and developed our own fire state our fire service is is that reason that we have some ability to have some control of our costs and that also is why we were motivated to bring the police force basically in in house and develop our own police department. So um it's just a difficult world for us and uh I don't you know we run a very tight ship now. We have developed reserves over many years for a safety net. But some expenses, some income is just out of our control and we just have to do our best to make sure that we push back on the the income losses and we are creatively looking forward to the ways to get our dollars to stretch farther and uh it's not the easiest thing to do sometime.

Well said. We have a motion. Correct. We do. Motion by Mayor Prom Castillion and a second by Council Member Smith. We have a roll call vote. Mayor Prom I. Council member Smith I. Council member Sieber I. Council member Welty I. Mayor Terry I. Motion passes. All right. Committee and council reports or comments. Uh is it okay if I begin with you?

Yeah. You want me to take it off? I'll be quick. Um, just a couple things. Doing things over at RTA ridership is up 2%. Which is great. People are using transportation, investing into EV charging stations. The bigger news though is RCTC. Um, for those of you that rely on your sticker that allows you to use the carpull lane, bye-bye. That's gone. the state, well, the feds actually are are eliminating that program, which means um all your EV emission stickers will be uh basically avoid January 1. So, that's no longer going to be incentive for our Teslas owners or electric cars. So, that's that's gone.

The sticker or the entire the entire program. So, sorry.

It is. Yeah, that one's that one's out. Um, one of the bigger things that we looked at was the master agreement and operation agreement with um, the toll roads, the 91 express lane and the 241. So, that project was approved and it's going to be um, expanding the lane. So, our toll roads going into Orange County will be impacted by that. We've partnered with um uh Orange County Transportation Agency, OCTA. Um and that's going to be a huge project that I think is going to impact our um our folks commuting in and out of Orange County. So, I'm excited that uh that project is is underway. It's been talked about for nearly eight years now. So, it's a big move in the right direction.

Would would this also include extending that car uh the uh fasttrack lane? Correct. Further south down the 15. Yep. And we're we're we're working with the city of Corona on that, too, because that'll spill into different, you know, areas that people will be bleeding off into their city. So, it's going to be it's going to be a change for the region, which is good for the issues that we're dealing with. Any idea when they anticipate that starting? Um, I believe it's slated to start next year. So, yeah, it's going to be good. Very expensive. Thank you, Council.

Um, I think, uh, besides, you know, we had a great September 11th event. Um, Council Member Ste did a phenomenal job, my friend, and so did our mayor. You guys both did a great job, and kudos to our uh, fire department for once again doing an incredible ceremony, chief. Absolutely amazing as always. You bring the passion and just the rawness of the that day. And I think it's 25 years next year. That's the big one. Wow. I can't believe it's 25 years. So, anyways, phenomenal job to you gentlemen um, at uh, at what you did at that event. I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Council Member Wely. Uh we last month we hosted the T now meeting in Canyon Lake and it was an opportunity for our general our city manager to go ahead and do a presentation for our local other local cities about our our project of railroad canyon project our our highway safety program project and it was it was taken in well it was very exciting. So, uh, it's nice to be part of a group of the communities that share how all the roads in our area are going to connect and how they're going to be funded and how they're going to be working. So, that was a a good event for us to sponsor. Um, probably the longer term event I attended this month was RCA, which is Riverside Conservation Authority. The Riverside Conservation Authority plan was basically put into place about 25 years ago. If everyone remembers the Steven rat Stevenson rat pro problem is basically came down if they found this type of rat on your property you couldn't develop the property. So the the the skill the the people of Riverside County got together and they developed a plan where they would set aside acreage across Riverside County to accommodate the Stevens rat for for our natural habitat. Not only did they accommodate the Stevenson rat, they also accommodated about 25 other threatened and endangered species. So that developed RCA as much as the the developers work together with this. So

the developers didn't fight it because they didn't want 99% of the land in Riverside County blocked from development. They were happy if if they could develop on 3/4 of the usable land. So it was an agreement that came into play. Well, cracks are starting to develop after the 25-year plan, and we're starting to see some problems with it. So, we're looking at how can we maybe modify part of the plan to make it more effective in today's world. So, that's the discussion. We're moving ahead with that plan. The other problem that recently has arisen is we have another another uh habitat problem with a species called the crotch bumblebee. So if today you find a crotch bumblebee on your crotch. Yeah, I did.

Okay. Just you're doing a Jordanian crowns. I like it.

Didn't make up the name. Didn't didn't do the name. But that being said, if if now if they find that bumblebee on your land, that could make it very difficult for you to develop and that everyone would have to go in and develop their own plan for the bumblebee to be preserved. And so RCA is taking on the bumblebee so that now that the bumblebee can fit into the overall plan. So not every own homeowner has to go in and address the bee on their own. They can work with the RCA which will walk them through the process to make their land developed and usable for the for the homeowners. So it's an arduous process. It's kind of like going to the dentist. Uh you know, you all hate to go, but you all hate the consequences if you don't go. So, uh, but RCA is is very practical trying to be very helpful to the people in land owners of of Riverside to help get their projects through. They're also very aggressive in getting land protected that will protect our environment. That was part of the big meeting. Thank you.

Great job, Councilman Wely. I appreciate your patch passion on a regional basis. I I've I've said that to you before. There could be things that I entirely disagree with, but I love the fact that you are bringing that information to our community and and thank you for doing that and you do so eloquently. Thank you, Coun uh Mayor Prom Castillo. Thank you.

I don't have too much to add. I just want to say I'm super excited because in October we have Pumpkin Bash coming. So, put that on your calendar. October 23rd. And also, I just want to say again, I'm just very grateful to live in Canyon Lake and to be part of this historic. I mean, we have two municipal public safety departments now. Phenomenal. I'm very grateful. That's it. Councilman Steber,

uh, I'll be brief as well. Um, again, very honored to be standing next to you, mayor and chief in the 9/11 event. And, uh, really one of my first kind of formal speakings. Uh, I do go to different meetings and, uh, and committees that, uh, I speak at, I still tongue twist every time at the, uh, Lake Unified School District student of the month. Uh, great. It It is hard to stand up there and hear almost 5.0 no GPA and I get the one to give them the award. But uh that also kicked back up uh school being back in session. So we just did our first round of the LA USD student of the month. So that was great. And I've asked city manager to join me uh on next month's uh here in October. Um all of us besides mayor pro town, we got to uh be a part of the 75th anniversary milestone for Lakeston Unified School District. Uh, and I look forward to also seeing our other water district being a part of their 75th milestone that's coming up. Um, last two, uh, uh, well, yeah, I'll start with the guild, uh, Harbor Fest, another another great successful event. Um, you know, we were all worried about Fourth of July, but even seeing Labor Day in our community, um, it's back. Uh, people were active. Harbor Fest, 30, 40 boats probably out there. I drove by a few times in different directions, but uh no, it's great to see that. Um and really besides stealing uh your thunder of our pumpkin bash, uh mayor,

yeah, uh last uh mayor, I think we're probably you and I are going to be the future champions of the battle of the cities, but I look forward to partnering with you next week to hold that title. It had nothing to do with us, but I I I I think we have a shot. I I didn't name our partner, so I stuck with us. But uh that concludes my message. Thank you.

You know, something that has really been blossoming um here in Cany Lakes, you just left uh Director Burke uh for quite some time, all the way back to uh when you were mayor. Correct. Um has had coffee at the country club. It begins at 7:30 a.m. I thought it appropriate uh being that um we just announced our chief uh that Councilman Smith, he will be attending and I thank him for that. And you get an opportunity to come out and speak to Director Darcy Burke and myself. And there's usually uh a couple um POA directors that are there as well. So I invite our residents to come out and and remain informed. Um, October 2nd in the Holiday Bay Room at 5:00 p.m. we will be having our state of the city. So, if you haven't bought a ticket yet, are we sold out yet?

Yep. So, there's probably like two tickets left. So, you may want to be the first one to get on the phone. Um, and and this year it is late night in Paradise. It's Canyon Lake. We like to have a good time. and we like to have a little bit of fun. If you go to um State of the Cities, kind of a season, right? Begins in September, goes all the way through October. Um I'm going to refrain from saying anything else, but we try to when you come to Canyon Lake, we try to make you laugh. We try to inform you about how we're a much better city than you are. And um and uh and at the same time um have a good fun. And we're having a burger bar.

Okay. Yeah, I've I've never had a burger bar. Yeah, say no more. Sign me up. Okay. Um, Battle of the Cities Golf Tournament, October 3rd. It begins at 7:30 a.m. at the worldrenowned Canyon Lake Country Club. Last year, Worldown. It's worldrenown, and people from all over the world golf there. Therefore, that is a truthful statement. Um, but last year we had four teams. We ended up with six because uh because we got you we were able to come up with two teams really quick over that night.

Right. Right. And um Pat Kimell actually spoke to both of us and thought it was really and and I went the year prior. Less teams. Uh they have a really good um um uh stroke play that goes on Saturday and Sunday. lot of great golfers and and this year they just added youth. So, junior golfers now will be teeing off at 9:00 am both Saturday and Sunday and they have to walk. Nice.

Yeah. You can't use a uh a golf cart. But getting back to the city manager who when you tell him we only had 10 turkeys last year, we end up getting well over 200 turkeys. And when I made mention that we only had six teams last year, what did you say? I guarantee 18. How many do we have? I believe we're at 19. Nice. Oops. Um, do we have a trophy?

We do have a trophy. It's awesome. Maddie made the trophy. Actually, there's a video of her cleaning the trophy and getting it ready for the tournament. So, at the worldrenown Canyon Lake Country Club. Um, I already talked. Okay. Had a opportunity to go to a ribbon cutting. Wild Blush Luxury Suites. They had the ribbon cutting last week. Um, this is kind of an upcoming thing uh where they'll take a a space and make separate little individual suites. Um, you can get your nails done, get your hair done, get your toes done. Uh they even have a a face massage where the the water goes over your face. Council member Wely and I had uh the pleasure of going and I encourage our residents to check it out and um I also want to uh give a shout out to Amy and Gus. Um everything they do is here in Canyon Lake. Everything they do is for Canyon Lake. Uh they used to have a storefront called Sugar Dolls. um and made the decision to open this up. I think it does bring more people on a year round basis to the town center. Um and um very appreciative of their faith in us. Um, last Sunday, um, very good friend of mine, Jerry Hefron. If you ever go to the Canyon Lake Country Club, worldrenowned country club, um, we call him Bubba. And, uh, I've known Bubba for 25 years. He used to work in our pro shop. Um, he now works, um, you know, does a wide variety of tasks at the country club. uh he recently learned that he has colon cancer. So, it was an honor to attend uh the

Sun, it was called the Sunday Funday Golf Tournament. And um Richie just gets on the phone. He lets you know that we need to be there. We had over 100 golfers, over 25 volunteers, and we were able to raise a significant amount of money for Jerry and his family. And all of that took place in about two weeks period of time. So way to go Canyon Lake. Um last Sunday, probably one of the biggest honors is being a city council person for the city of Canyon Lake. Um at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday. This event began at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. I was invited to speak at the Charlie Kirk Vigil at Holiday Harbor. And we um I I wrote a speech. I kind of had in my head there might be 30 to 50 people who showed up and uh Canyon Lakers do what they do. Over 500 people attended. Um and what I was really taken back with were the amount of families, mothers, fathers, and bringing their children. It it it it was beautiful. Um it was fitting and I want to thank uh Natisa and all the volunteers. Uh, it was a beautiful tribute and I was never more proud to be a Canyon Laker. With that, city manager updates.

Worldrenowned, worldrenowned city manager at Canyon Lake, Aaron Brown.

Uh, mayor and council. Uh, as you know, I am now one of the directors on the merchants association. We held a a recent meeting. uh just had some regular business items, but also talked about what we can do as a whole to make the town center better. uh looking at everything from uh uh maintenance on the uh uh vegetation to the veterans park and getting some volunteers to clean up that area as well as looking at some traffic flow issues with some of the new tenants and and how we can just make things better and keep it going. I I just really want to thank the uh fellow merchants association directors. Uh one of the things that motivated me to try to get on that board was the vision that city council had of trying to make the town center a better place for uh those that uh work here and those that shop here. And uh I'm just very thankful that uh each one of those individual directors are taking that serious and uh we're we're doing what we can to move it along. We're even talking about kind of strategic goals of what we could do with the Veterans Park uh in the future and how the city could uh try to come alongside the Merchants Association to to do those things. So very happy to report progress on on that. Uh as uh the mayor prom said, we've got the the Canyon Lake pumpkin bash coming up. Uh last year we put that on for the very first time and I I'd like to say it was a pretty big hit.

Uh it was

it was a great time. This year there's going to be a lot of different measures that are put in place that we didn't have last year. We're going to have uh a shuttle from I believe it's parking at Eastport and at the church. Uh so uh parking will be in both locations and then shuttled over. Uh we're going to have individuals trying to uh help traffic along uh get individuals over to those locations where we can and uh keep everybody both uh safe and moving along as quick as possible uh to be able to get into the attractions. We have even more attractions than we had in the prior year. Um, I don't know if Maddie if there's anything that I'm missing that you want to add to the amazingness that has been created for the pumpkin bash.

The worldrenowned pumpkin bash. Yeah. So, like you said, we have more um attractions this year. We have two live bands along with Krog. um the same amount of food v vendors but even more of our local businesses participating. So um I'm really excited for it. It's it'll be a lot of fun.

Awesome. Then we on the staff side are all ready for the state of the city. Uh if anyone sees someone running around pulling their hair out, screaming, yelling, maybe crying, that's Maddie. Pay no attention. uh uh we're we're there to help uh alongside her as well. And then very excited about the um Cole Huber team for the uh golf tournament that will consist of our city attorney, uh your your city manager, your police chief, and your fire chief. We have zero chance of winning anything, but uh we're going to have a lot of fun. Totally safe.

We're going to have a lot of fun out there. But uh what I think I think it's fair to say that I have set a goal that we don't come in last. So, we really only have to beat one team to meet that goal. And that's it for me. Mayor,

it's been a historic night. It's been an honor to be a part of it. I would like to also commend Council Member Smith, Mayor Proim Castillo. This is a passion project. This is something that you both have believed in with all of your heart since I came on council. So, that leads me to believe you were discussing this even prior to that. You have done a tremendous job along with our city manager. And um thank you very much. It's it's it's it's historic. He didn't even alienate Captain Rail as many as we had for staff and numbers. He doesn't dislike us. He's sticking around.

He's still like he's back for more. He took the job. He's freaking awesome. All right. Our next meeting will be on November 12th, 2025. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.