City Council - Regular Meeting

minutes. Yep. I'm sorry.

Good evening. Just the attorney, can you report out for us, please? I'd be happy to, Mayor. We had two items on our close session agenda this evening. One was a council or a conference with legal counsel on an anticipated item of litigation. Uh you received a briefing from the city attorney's office. There was no reportable action on that item. The second item was a conference legal counsel with regard to one item of existing litigation and you also had a briefing from the city attorney's office. Uh we had a discussion but there was no other reportable action on that item. Thank you.

Thank you so much and good evening. I'm calling to order the November 12th, 2025 regular city council meeting to order. Council member Gutierrez, will you lead us in the pledge and then will everybody remain standing for Mayor Prom to give the invocation?

Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. 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 and liberty and justice for all. As we gather here today, let us acknowledge the spirit of cooperation that unites us. And as we approach the Thanksgiving season, let us be thankful for each person here who unselfishly give us a portion of their limited time and energy to work for the greater good. May our time together be productive and may our united efforts bring about the best positive results. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam City Clerk. May we have a roll call, please? Council member Carnivali here. Council member Lamb here. Council member Gutierrez here. Mayor Prom Gregory here. Mayor Ross, I'm here. Madam City Manager, are there any changes to the agenda? No, ma'am.

Thank you so much. So, at this time, we have public comment. City M city clerk, will you please read the statement of participation? Public comment is the opportunity for members of the public to comment on items that are within the city council's jurisdiction but not on the agenda. Because of restrictions contained in California law, the city council may not discuss or act on any item that is not on the agenda, but may briefly respond to statements made or ask a question for clarification. The mayor may also request a brief response from staff to questions raised during public comment or request that a matter be agendaized for a future meeting. Public comments will be limited to 3 minutes. If you're a member of the public and you wish to address the city council, please complete a request to speak form available at the entrance and submit it to the city clerk. You will be called upon at the appropriate time. If you have materials to distribute to the city council, please do not approach them. The city clerk will distribute all materials. We do have a few people that would like to speak this evening. Uh the first speaker is Janet Ree.

Good afternoon, Miss Ree. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm back. I have listened to the meetings during the summer and and I've I've watched with admiration for the people who work at C4 and understand that they would like to keep their jobs, have good jobs, wouldn't it's what we all hope and wish for. My problem is is this comes back to even though we do not spend the vast majority of us do not spend 12 months a year in Cathedral City doesn't make us any less important during any time that we are here and that it should not and couldn't shouldn't definitely not be our problem the city's problem but C4's into assure these people stay employed by fulfilling their requirements in order to keep their business open. And I hope to that they can do that. We're not opposed to them having the jobs. We just do not like to have to have the repercussions of the smell. Has it got somewhat better? At times since I've been here, when I arrived, the day I arrived, it was a constant all day situation. I tried and tried to find the number. I called city hall, got no response. Called again the next day, gotten no response. Finally, I got a hold of Mr. Talon. He did give me the he did send me the website. I'm very disappointed in that website now because it gives doesn't gives you it does it says the time that it that you're reporting it. It doesn't give you an opportunity to say whether or not it's 5 minutes, 5 hours or what

it is. So if if that that could be modified, that would be fantastic. We still have an issue. We still have a problem. And I'm hoping beyond all hope that the city will not authorize C4 to even build the second building until such time as this has been taken care of. And I hope the city will will work with us as we've tried to work with the city and even with Sefort. Another issue came up the other day. They decided to trim their trees that that are on their side of of the wall, which is fine. They didn't notify any of us and any of us that lived along that wall end up with the trimmings in our property. I called immediately and asked if we could make some type of arrangements to have them clean it up or what do we need to do to work together. That was Tuesday. I've yet to receive a response and I've called three times and left messages all three times. So, we're trying, but it's very trying at times. And thank you very much.

Thank you for your time. The next speaker is David Sanchez.

Good evening, Mr. Sanchez.

Good evening. Well, I'm here to pull your ears again, so sorry. But as you can see, nobody's here. You guys don't invite anybody here. I have spoke with you guys plenty of times about Valdes and Bisto. I don't live on that neither of those of those streets. But there's the payments coming up. It's been over 5 months. You haven't fixed it. I fell there. I scraped my knees. Nothing. You guys haven't done absolutely nothing. I went to code enforcement. They didn't do I came to you guys. You haven't done about it. I'm pissed. I'm sorry. Um, public works contacted me. They said they were going to do something about it in about a month or so. They haven't done nothing about it. When are you guys going to do something about it? You guys collect taxes. I mean, you guys raise our taxes. What is it for? Uh, road improvement or was it for you guys' pockets? Come on, guys. I mean, I can go talk to people and I can get done more than you guys can. And I'm sorry I'm pissed off, but it it is the truth. What I'm speaking here is the truth. You guys know that. Okay? And if you guys want to talk to me about it, that's what we're here for. You guys want to invite people here. I'm I'm happy those ladies came in and talked about something. The other day I was over there on Ramon by um Day Pal, the marijuana place. It's just dunk all the way to um this side a little bit of this side of Day. You guys don't do nothing about it. All you guys want guys want money in your pockets for the city and you guys don't do nothing about it. Invite people to come in, please. I mean, you guys don't do nothing. I mean I mean I have a bunch of stuff I can talk to but you know what that's besides the point Ernesto

you know you guys you always told me that you guys you were going to do something about this you never done anything I'm sorry buddy but you know what you need to get these people behind you they don't support you man they don't follow you they don't stay help your way you know the neighborhood we live in that's probably the worst these other gentlemen here and these other people probably even gated the community say, "Oh, they don't care." But you know what I'm talking about. I mean, I talked to a couple people and they were able to fix their yards. I went and knock on their door and they were able to fix their yards. Why? Cuz you guys won't do nothing about it. Do something. I challenge you. I mean, when are you guys going to fix that street? I don't even live on that street, but you know what? I fell there cuz I walk every day. I'm diabetic and I had to walk. Sometimes they even sand in the sidewalks. I mean, you can slip and fall. You guys don't do nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What do you guys have to say for yourselves? Huh? You raised our taxes supposedly for improvements and everything. Nothing. Nothing.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time. Yeah, please do something about it. Thank you, Mayor. I don't have any other request to speak forms for this item, but if you're a member of the public and you wish to provide public comment, please raise your hand. I see no hands raised. Thank you very much. Our next item will be public comments. Oh, I'm sorry, not public comments, council reports. And I will start down here.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh it was kind of a fun week. uh started off with a lot of fun with the kid spooktacular and then uh went to the grand uh opening of Dutch Brothers uh on Day Palm in Planet of Food for Less and I got to tell you what a beautiful store. Uh met the owners, young entrepreneurs. Uh they got a wonderful staff in there. I was really impressed with the uh organization and they have a line wrapped around the store continuously. It's amazing. and I drive up down there a couple dozen times a day and they're doing very well. I'm glad to see that. Uh CB Link, we all joined CB Link at the access point, Cathedral City. That was really, really exciting. Uh the mayor did an excellent job uh MCing that and uh leading that off and uh we're really proud to get that uh completed. And then I went to the 18th year fields of valor ceremony. Thank you, Chief Crumb and uh for your support and the police department on the motors and the uh officers that showed up and the firemen showed up with the fire trucks and everything. And Ryan, thank you for putting out there uh all the the uh uh information and and thanks council for the donations that you gracefully gave the Rotary Club. Uh we just have one little problem and Ryan put it out today's book that it's evident it's going to rain tomorrow. We got to get those 3,000 flags down. Ryan put out there about 30 people he's got volunteers going to be there at 7:00 in the morning to provide lunch will provide lunch for them as soon as the flags go down. There's a gimmick to that. But we need as much help. And if the fire department uh could uh have any help there or the police department uh could help any people out there, we'd really appreciate any volunteers that we can get out there. And uh I Sunday I went out there to hang out and there was a lot of

actions out there and I met a guy and he was actually from Outdoor Resort. His name is Chuck Caswell and he had this hot rod. It's a 1924 Phantom pickup truck with a ZZ5 Chevy small blade block 400 uh horsepower. And what this club does, Iron Man Club, they get these parts donated every year and they donate all they put it up for auction and uh they sell this vehicle in auction and they get three $400,000. And this year, this uh this vehicle here that's called Dress Blue is going down to the Jay Leno auction and they're hoping to get uh about a million dollars for if possible. But all that money goes to the fallen soldiers families. It's all donated out. It's a it's a really really good event and it was on display out there and I got to tell you it was it was beautiful. And uh let's see. We participated last night the the event at the fall fall taste and sounds of the applicator Nick some hot dogs out there. And then next week we going to attend the pops at the algo cal. And the last thing I got mayor uh I mentioned this to an a few months ago and Brian followed through it. Cathedral city has now a a flag. You want to help me with this? You got to see this thing. I mean, we don't know where we're going to put it, but that's up to you. Ryan, can you get a shot of this?

Is that the right size? If the right size is huge. Yeah. Is that totally cool? Mayor, why don't you get up under council? Come on up here. Get a little picture here. Yeah. Thank you, Ann, for following through with this. Tighter. Can you get salt in there? Absolutely. Tight a little tighter. Put it in front of your face.

Got it. Okay. So, uh, we got a couple of these. We'll be putting them up there. I'll take this off. I'm not going to fold and get the back of the bag. later.

Okay, I'll do that. And I believe in actually the old restaurant that Ernesto Gutierrez used to own, Tortillas, changed the name to Guadal Laar. I went there for breakfast this morning and it's a new owner in there. Second owner after Councilman Gutierrez sold it and they had good food, good breakfast. It was really delicious, good service, cleaned, they remodeled inside and he's going to need a little bit of help. He's been shut down for a couple of months. So, if you want to get some tacos and burritos, it's really a nice f It's a familyowned business. I met his son. He's a cook there as well. So, Madame Mayor, thank you very much, Council Member.

Thank you so much. Um, I I we participated in in the same events, but I wanted a shout out to Miss Py um for her participation in the She was in the car. She was um recognized in the desert sun. It was a picture they took. Um just absolutely fantastic. So it was wonderful. Um I did attend um the boys and girls club had a Eric Besserel was there and I think uh John was there and many of us attended it. Um but they had the uh basically the dedication and grand opening of their garden center. Um and it was just a um to see it before and it was just this dirt lot backyard and to see it transformed um with the help of donations and lots of volunteers um and the gentleman who's a master gardener who's taking the students through all these classes in gardening and um focus on the environment and healthy eating. and it was just a wonderful asset to that Boys and Girls Club. The team at the Boys and Girls Club does a phenomenal job um in outreach to our community and I can't say that enough. It's wonderful. Um uh and I wanted to uh it was already mentioned about the fields of valor um but Justin Gardner was one of the speakers and he did such a fantastic job. You are a wonderful speaker. Um, every year I'm so moved by the whole process and the whole processional coming in. Um, and this year was just as special. It was really wonderful. Thank you so much. Um, and Brad Hammer um was able to participate and I wanted to give a shout out to him. He's my neighbor. Um, but he he was a Cathedral City fire um uh member fireman and he has the vintage fire truck and he

was able to participate this year. Um, and so he was out there in full force and he just loved it. And it was the first time he spent a lengthy time. He and his wife have a commitment for that fire truck, usually on the same weekend. So this was the first time in a while that he's been out there. But thank you and to Joanne Kennan who um along with the evening rotary has really made this happen for our community. Um I did attend the um Amvets uh me uh veterans memorial um event at Desert Memorial Park. Um, and it's put on by Tom Swan Hernandez, uh, who's president of Amvets. And, um, it was beautifully attended. And this year they included, um, an essay contest and it was elementary students from Sunny Sands Elementary School and four were recognized. And, um, they wrote these wonderful letters about what veterans mean to our world and our and the United States. And um one little one wrote, "Keep up the good work, guys." So I I thought that was just terrific. Um and Senator uh Rosalesi AchoBaboa was there and she was able to um help present some of the awards. So it was really a fun fun and beautiful poignant uh celebration of community. And I was asked to be a speaker. Um and I ended with um the pride that we have in Cathedral City that we are um a international city of peace. Um and that they the as part of their peace initiative they have three focus areas and one is inner peace, peace in our community for our residents and tourists and visitors and global world peace. So,

um, Bob McKnney and Kieran Riley and Sue Townsley made that initiative happen and the two of them were here earlier and I'm sorry I neglected to make my remarks, Ben, so they could hear it because because of them we have that. And if you haven't seen the fabulous billboard going south on date palm from Highway 10, it says choose peace and that's part of the Cathedral City Peace Initiative. Um, Uh I mayor Ross and um Mayor Prom, we attended the League of California Cities division meeting and it was held this week at the Thompson Hotel in Palm Springs and um that's a wonderful organization and the president uh is voted in and out um yearly and Jackie Casillas um was our president last year and Colleen Wallace who represents the city of Banning is going to be it for the next year. Um, and the Cathedral City Auto Center, I had the opportunity of attending their monthly marketing meeting. Um, and Eric Besserel was our wonderful economics director was um, able to present the final analysis and summation of the SWAT analysis. And SWAT is um, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Um, and it really is is an opportunity us for us to focus our attention on this wonderful resource that we have in our community and how we work can work together to to elevate um the our focus on them um and their collaboration with the city. Those are my remarks.

Thank you so much.

Everyone's been so busy in the three weeks since we met before. So many of these have been mentioned, but I'll go down through the list. So on October 25th, we did have the Howl Aeen dog costume contest that was held in Panoram Park, dog park. Antonio Bashue, of course, is the driving force behind that. And it was quite well attended. Again, thanks to our sponsor, Grocery Outlet, um that provided snacks and some and some funding prizes and the other businesses that also participated. The next So that was a costume for the dogs. The next day, of course, was Spooktacular downtown. A lot of city staff and public safety um council and other staff participated in many ways. Many community members. There were a lot of booths. I think 70,000 Ryan. 70,000 pieces of candy all gone.

70,000

70. I thought there were going to be 60 this year, but you but you upped it to 70 in hopes that there'd be at least one left, but no, there was not even one left. So, all right. But a great event, enjoyed by all. And then on that next Monday, I did uh represent the city of the Riverside County Transportation Commission's budget implementation committee. A number of items that were later approved at a meeting earlier today. Um one of them that there was some discussion I participated in had to do um the the commission in Riverside County, we don't have call boxes anymore. Anybody remember what call boxes were? you know, out and you would break down and you would walk some distance unless you happen to break down right in front of one and you could call in a com call call box. One time there were thousands in Riverside County and it got down to a few hundred in very remote remote areas, but they've come to the point where the technology keeps changing and they can't find a vendor that look can keep them going and besides they get very very few calls because people have these things called cell phones in their in their pockets. Uh, so they did all go, but it was there was some consternation when that happened and I was one of the ones that was raising some concerns because I think that makes some assumptions that you have a phone that works, that you're in an area that there's coverage because there are still gaps, especially if you have certain carriers. Um, so the commission committed to um doing a study to see if there was what technology there was um um or other freeway patrols or these types of things that could help address those areas or even and and even identify which areas that coverage are an issue. So they took the first step um on getting that study initiated um and we adjusted it a little bit in in the committee and it and it was adopted today. So they were talking about all kinds of things like using ways or other

communications that people have in their cars now. A lot of them have a button that you can push that to call for help. Those types of things. So so uh that should be an interesting study. It take about a year to come back. And apparently we're the first although many counties are getting rid of those call boxes for the same issues. We're the first county that said we should really do something though to look into it, not just take them out. So um I'm glad that we're a leader there. Uh then the next uh oh then uh Halloween I I did Halloween at home and I live in the Panorama Park area and I had some help again Antonio helped so much. That is a quite a busy area. Hundreds of kids. It did seem like it might have been a little down at least at my house this year although I'm told it was very busy at the parks. But u glad to live in a neighborhood like that where there's so many families and people feel safe to come and and do trick-or-treating. On uh Monday, November 3rd, I attended the CEAG Transportation Commission or committee meeting and representing the city. We did have of interest. We did have a presentation from Calrans talking about the work that they're the plans that they have for I 10 because you may you may have noticed if you go towards Arizona they built a truck lane climbing up um and done other work farther on and then down towards uh Kabazon Whitewire to Cabazon. They did some repaving down there but they haven't done a whole lot here in the valley. they realize the pavement is quite bad. Um the good news is that the the portion from Indian to Monterey is going to be resurfaced soon according to Calatran standards soon starting in July of 2028 supposed to be done by 2030. So that portion again from Indian to Monteray and they mentioned through Cathedral City. It sounds like a long ways off, but wait, cuz then the part from Highway 111, which they already

fixed up to to go to Indian, that's going to start in 2032 and end in 2034, if they get the funding because they're not sure on they're using SB1 funding for this. So, those numbers haven't quite um added up for that portion yet. So, they're hoping to get that part done. So these are major projects of course um that CALR is doing and we continue to advocate for that here in the Coachella Valley. So um and and well out technically throughout Riverside County because we all drive the roadways. So there is work coming but uh just like happens in the city when you talk about certain segments sometimes we're talking out in five and 10 year windows out in the future so is Calrans but it is on the radar. And then um later that day on on that Monday, I did attend the senior center gala glimpse. The gala is coming up in the spring for the senior center and they did have a um a little gathering there to talk about that to try to drum up sponsorships. Uh the city interim city manager Anne Ambrose was also there in attendance and they um I can't remember the name of it. They announced the their headliner is going to be it's a it's a boy band. um um group that uh does all of the songs of the old boy bands. So uh so that should be fun. You can look forward to that in the spring. And then on November 4th, I was able to attend the first taste and sounds of this little mini version, the pride edition. And it was very very well attended. I was really surprised. There must have been at least 250 or 300

350 people there. Um, excellent show and uh um so again we love our we love the taste and sounds series. Then on November 6th uh I was joined by uh the council. I don't think the mayor was able to make it for the Dutch Brothers grand opening. I was there a week or two ago.

All right. Well, she she checked it out. So the Dutch Brothers is now open on date palm. In fact, they had been open for probably a week or 10 days before the opening and uh was a great uh great grand opening and it's a great addition to our city. They're doing gang buster business of taxable sales. So Kevin, the money's coming. All right. And then on that Friday, as already mentioned, was our uh CV link um here in Cathedral City, the grand opening. They they did grand uh grand opening ribbon cutings in all of the six cities. I think they're done now that have CV link at this time. Uh so that was very nice. It was kind of hot, but the the mayor did a nice job with her introductions and her speeches. And uh uh we saw the representative from CALR and our congressman was there and of course Tom Kirk um Cheryl Benoy representing John Benoy um you know who's passed but was a a major force behind it. So it was a nice event and then after that came Pride weekend actually started that Friday went through Sunday I I uh um am on the board of Safe Schools Desert Cities who puts on the safe or the uh the uh school zone there. episodes. Um they um um was was quite busy. Went to a couple of human right campaigns events and at one of the events, the main event on Saturday as I'm walking out there's a gentleman from human rights campaign and he's handing cards and he says to me, "Make sure you save the date to come to Cathedral City's LGBT days." and he hands me this card and I look at this card and it's got pictures from there and has all of the information and this of course this event was attended by people from primary from well from all over but primarily from Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego County, Orange County, a lot of local people in Palm Springs. And so I thought that was brilliant that that was being advertised and something actually in their hand

that they could add it to their calendar or they could use the QR code. So thank you. I think this was Michael and Ernie from our promoters and their team that arranged to have this done, but this is the great kind of thinking that uh even though it's months out that they they got these people that can can hopefully a number of them will add it to our their calendar. So, and then a number of well, let's see, mayor and council member Lamb and I and a bunch of staff and volunteers were out in the blazing sun for the pride parade on um Sunday, November 9th. Um, very nicely done, very well attended pride. So, I was love hearing say, "Welcome your neighbors. Come to Cathedral City right in the middle of Palm Springs." So, that was very nice. And then, as has already been mentioned, several of us attended the Cal City's uh reception on uh this Monday at the Thompson Hotel. And then earlier today, I was out at the Riverside County Transportation Commission in Riverside. And I of note there actually WRCOG which is western Riverside County's version of SEAG um they had they did a presentation apparently they had done at some of the cities there and it focused on their cities but it was very interesting because they've done some studies with data that they purchased from some of the same types of firms that we purchased for economic development that study trends and patterns and they did some studies there about um um where people live, where people do they go to work in their cities, do they go to work in the county, the county people that work there? When people make trips, where they're going and are they going within their city? And some of the conclusions were really interesting because, you know, we're told we need to build more housing. And so they've done

they did some reviews and they they find out that often in cities that um people that live there more than 50% go somewhere else to work. So then the answer seems to be well build more businesses you know more jobs and you know jobs in your city and they found out well when you do that more than 50% of the people that work in those jobs come from somewhere else. So, you know, the state has has uh I think everyone is aware has made it very difficult to expand freeways and in particular they don't want to build capacity. They worry about vehicle miles traveled and they tell cities that you need to do these things. You need to build more housing or get and have get more good jobs in your city. and and uh it was interesting in the sense that that doesn't really work because you end up just clogging the streets that you already have more. Not saying we don't need more housing, not saying we don't need more jobs, but it's it's not going to work to to um um solve transportation problems like some assume. They say, "Well, if you have jobs, then the people in your city will be able to take those jobs and then they won't have to drive." But the reality is people have choices and and the the facts don't show that that works. So that's really good. Some things that they mentioned that this the their studies show um are really helpful are is something called signal synchronization which they don't have in western Riverside County but as we are we already know that we have some synchronized roadways now through the CV sync program and have a number more. It was already mentioned earlier in our study session and uh um so then they talked about how that worked. The other thing that they say that the studies show always works is microtransit and I know Sunline they mentioned that um the

Riverside um transportation uh or the bus line there has some microtransit but I know Sunline has microtransit too. So it seemed like some of the things that they know work are already moved moved ahead here in the Coachella Valley. So, we need to keep up those efforts. And they really said, "You need to do everything because you still need to build housing and you still need to have jobs, but you also need to build capacity on roadways and try these other things." So, so I thought it was very interesting. All right. And then I just want to note that our next meeting, we will be off over the Thanksgiving holiday. So, our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 10th, which will be the end of the term for our current mater. So, but we'll wait and embarrass her at that meeting. So, thank you very much, Mayor.

Thank you so much, Council Member Gutierrez.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. Since we last met, we started observing daylight savings time. Uh, as you can see, many of you are falling asleep and so am I. I'm still getting used to it. And, uh, yesterday we celebrated Veterans Day. And just remember that freedom does not come free. many people actually pay the ultimate price for our freedom. So just remember that and uh congratulate a veteran or those who are serving in the military. I'm not going to go over all the uh events that I attended. Most of them have even been mentioned uh will mention the ones that have not been talked about. I did attend one which our mayor was there a little bit later after I arrived. It was the leaving the living uh healthy expo. It took place at an amphitheater. Never attended the event. And when I showed up, the first thing that uh gravitated me towards it was a lady was on stage talking about health and also uh exercise. And it she was so energetic and so interesting that I just stood there for about 20 minutes throughout her entire presentation. And she was just great. She talked about the connection between working out and actually living healthy. And it wasn't about looking great. It was about actually working out, feeling great, and preventing falls. And also how much it helps you mentally when you work out, how much stress it release, it relieves, and all these other things. This lady was incredible. And um a lot of people were just walking by and they just stopped and listened to her entire speech. It was it was absolutely phenomenal. And um after the um uh her her speech, I um I started walking around and saw that there was so many

vendors there from dog groomers to people that helped uh seniors with so many uh ill illnesses and uh they provided there was all sorts of doctors and offices that provided services to many people. There was probably about 70 between 70 to 80 vendors there. It was it was a great event, well attended. When I went in, it was probably early in the morning and people just kept on coming in and I ran into quite a few people that I knew that were actually vendors and they just bragged about what a great event it was. And later on in the week, I attended also the first and the kickoff of our taste and sounds of Cathedral City. minutes after I was there, I realized that I had another event at the same time, exactly the same time. So, I just rushed out of there. The other event was more important. It was the steering committee for the development zoning update and that I attended that and that was a great meeting. Uh it was a Zoom meeting, but it lasted a little over two hours, which went by so fast because there's so much information that we're talking about, so much great information that we're talking about. And our next meeting is going to be sometime in December. And I can't wait about all the great things that we're we're that we're talking about. We'll be talking about businesses in relation to parking and many other things. So, I'll keep you updated as to what um we talk about. And um tomorrow I'll be attending the uh Coachella Valley Association of Government Conservation Committee meeting. And as uh remember coming up uh it will be the uh hot air balloon festival starting November 21st to the 23rd. Don't forget. And as it was mentioned, Thanksgiving, one of my favorite days. Uh, I'm not

going to see you, so I'll wish you happy Thanksgiving now. And that concludes my report, mayor. Thank you. Thank you so very much.

Good evening. I'll try to keep this short. I guess you guess the cat's out of the bag. It's my last night. I'm looking forward to to having just a few more minutes at the before he is sworn in to just tell you all a goodbye. Not exactly goodbye, but you know, a step down goodbye. But as I join you here tonight and I'm wrapping up this year as your mayor, my heart is full of gratitude. Serving this community has been one of the greatest honors of my life. From the very first day, I've been inspired by the spirit of cooperation, compassion, and determination that defines our city. To our residents, thank you. Our trust, your engagement, and your ideas have guided every decision we've made. Whether it was through community meetings, local events, or a simple conversation on our streets, you reminded me daily why this work matters. To my fellow city council members, I could not have asked for a more dedicated team. Your commitment to listening, leading, and finding common ground has made our city stronger. We don't always agree, but together we face challenges. We celebrate achievements and we lay the groundwork for a brighter future for all of our residents. And now as we look ahead, I have every confidence that our progress will continue under the leadership of Raymond. Raymond brings a steady hand, a clear vision, a deep love for this community. I know that just as you have supported me, you will stand with him as he leads us into our next chapter. So, just once again, thank you for your partnership, your encouragement, and your belief in what we can accomplish together. It is truly been an honor to serve as your mayor, and here's to our city. I applaud you. Thank you all. All right, back to

business. We have I know we have um clerk, can you read the consent agenda items, please? Yes. Item number 3A is to wave full reading of ordinances on agenda. Item number 3B is to receive and file the commissioner committee member attendance record. Item number 3 C is to approve the October 22nd, 2025 study session and regular council meeting minutes. Item number 3D is to receive and file the check demand for October of 2025. Item number 3E is to approve an amendment to the professional services agreement with SCS engineers for cannabis odor control support and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement with SCS engineers. Item number three F is to approve an ordinance of the city council of the city of Cathedral City establishing a pilot program for food truck vendor permits on private property known as the food truck pilot program. And item number 3G is to approve an ordinance of the city council of the city of Cathedral City repealing chapters 8.02, 8.04, 8.08, 8.10, 8.12, 8.14, 8.18, and 8.20 of Title 8 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code. And adopting new chapters 8.02, 8.04, 8 12, 8.14, 8.18, and 8.20. Thereby adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code and certain specified dependencies thereof, including local amendments and finding the ordinance exempt from SQUA. Um, item I think that concludes the consent agenda.

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. That concludes the consent agenda. Thank you so much. Are there any members of the public who wish to comment on any items that were on the consent agenda, please?

So, I don't have any request to speak forms. So, but I do have some written comments that we will provide for the record per our policy. Um, item number 3D, um, Sunshine Herrera expressed her concern with the transparency of city spending on the check demand. Um item number 3E, Peter Bernard dropped off written comments um opposing further food truck regulations. And it looks like that's all I have for the consent. Um if you're a member of the public and you wish to provide any comments on any of the consent agenda items, now would be the time. And I don't see any hands raised. Mayor.

So, Mayor, for the record, I can I just point out that after the original packet was published, there were some clarifications made to item 3C, the meeting minutes, and to item 3G, um, regarding the California building code, specifically some language dealing with walls and roofing materials. So, my understanding is what we'll be voting on will be the the corrected minutes and the corrected item. Correct. That is correct, Mayor Pro. Thank you. Well, with that being said, do we have a motion to approve? That I will move approval. I'll second for a bit. All right. Then may we have a vote. Sorry, I was a little slow.

No. Well, that's just kind of hard. Jeez. Okay. It says waiting. Hold on just a moment. Bear with me. Not growing. patiently. I'm having a little Let me just do a roll call vote for this one. So, we have a excuse me, a motion by Mayor Prom Gregory and a second by was it council member Lamb? Yes. And we'll do a roll call vote. Council member Carnival, I. Council member Lamb, yes. Council member Gutierrez, yes. Mayor Prom Gregory, yes. Mayor Ross, yes. The motion carries. All eyes.

Thank you very much. And number four are public hearings. We start with the legislative action. Let's see where we are here. It's to award a construction contract to Onyx Paving. Good evening. It's been a month of Sundays. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm well, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. And good evening, honorable mayor, Mayor Prom, city council members. Tonight I'll be presenting the award of contracts for a cycle 11D pedestrian crossing upgrades project. Starting off with background in 2022 the city submitted four projects for the highway safety improvement program cycle 11 were selected for funding with through CALR. project a subscript was a 9010 uh grant meaning 90% would be funded through the grant and 10% would be provided as a match. The break breakdown is provided on the slide. In 2024, Calrans authorized the city to move with the preliminary engineering phase of the project and city council awarded an a professional service agreement to SEC traffic PE phase. In 2025, PE was completed and CALR authorized the city to move forward to the construction phase of the project. Project description is this project will at the intersection of 30th Avenue and San LJ Avenue right next to James Workman Middle School. And the scope of the project includes curb bulboutouts, ADA curb ramps, flashing stop signs, a flashing beacon, and LED safety lighting.

Andrew, could you pause for a second? And I think Tracy's going to bring you a different mic to try. Sorry. I'm sure getting some feedback on that one. We apologize for the inconvenience tonight. The the council chambers knows that it's going to be gutted soon to be fixed. So, it all of the microphones decided to die right beforehand. So, we're That's right. We'll show you having to have a little bit of an interim solution until we start next month. And it will all be done by December 10. All done. No.

I'm going to just give you mine. I can share with the chief.

Andrew, is it you? Are you breaking them?

Okay. All right. So once again, the project uh will be right next to James Workman Middle School and the scope includes curb ballouts, curb ramps, flashing stop signs, school zone, flashing beacon, and LED safety lighting. The proposed improvements are shown on these next two slides. So you can see the curve ballouts outlined in red on the image on the left and the flashing stop signs shown on the right. and then as well as the LED safety lighting and the school zone flashing beacons. So the invitation to bid was advertised in the desert sun on August 17th and August 25th and the invitation to bid was also advertised on in the Cathedral City website from August 17th to September 9th. And on September 9th, the bid opening was held at city hall. The city received three bids with Onyx Paving Company from Yor Belinda having the having the lowest responsive and responsible bid because came in granted um amount. City staff consulted with Calr and Calrans informed city staff that under current HSIP program guidelines the project is not eligible for additional grant funds. So to go over the fiscal impact, the program CIP budget included the ASIP grant balance as well as the traffic traffic traffic safety fund to provide the local match in the amount of $260,5015. And the construction budget includes the lowest bid amount and a proposed 10% contingency bringing the total construction budget to $336,600. And additional local funding will be necessary to move forward with the project.

So the amount that is being requested is $76,485 which is the difference between the construction budget and the program CIP budget. And these the traffic safety funds are being that were programmed to be the local match for all of the eight cycle 11 projects are being proposed to be used as as uh fun. So, the total traffic safety funds required will be in the amount of $129,510 as you can see here. And as shown in your staff report, here's the fiscal impact shown on the table. And this agenda item aligns with goal B of our 5-year strategic plan, community investments. request the city council to award a construction contract to Onyx Paving Company in the amount of $36,000. Approve a 10% contingency in the amount of $30,600. Authorize the city manager to execute execute both contracts and authorize the city engineer to request bonds and insuranceances and issue the notice to proceed for the project. And with that, I'll hand it back to you, Mayor.

Thank you very much. But you better stay put. Council member Carnival. Thank you. I just have one. You know, I constantly see this 10% contingency $30,000 for unforeseen unforeseeable construction costs. How often is that used? Almost every time we because we never get a report back, hey, we had to spend more until it's already done. I would say it's pretty often that we go that we use the attention use the contingency. uh the whole amount I haven't uh gotten to that level yet, but we I have used contingency in my projects.

But they go out there, they research the project, they measure everything, they see everything there. What could be unforeseeable? I mean it it I'll defer to Oh yeah, thank you.

Hello again. No, it's a it's a normal standard practice paper and engineers. Uh not everything's perfect. So there are a few anomalies out there especially when you do paving work or building with constru uh like concrete bulbouts and everything. A lot of it's based on the amount of material being poured out there and everything. So, uh especially with uh paving and uh things like that, it's based on time, whatever's calculated, but they know what it's they know what they need. They know how much uh how much flour they got to put in a cake, you know? I mean, so

they know just about how much flour they need to put a cake. So it it we we've actually been doing pretty good on the fact that contingencies been saved on projects, but when we get down to it, be something that wasn't figured out and the contractor needed adjustments. Would that be the contractor's responsibility to figure that out? I mean uh

uh the way the public uh contracts are, you know, you go line item by line item. You unless it's an allincclusive contract, which is something that like a design build, uh that's a different story. And we actually don't do a lot of those because there's a lot of risk involved in that. Yeah. So you're aware if they say, "Hey, I need another 15,000." You're aware uh or someone is aware of what's going to happen if they don't just surprise you. at the end of the day, right? So, you go out and you would research the the up. Sometimes we get a surprise on something that's missed by the engineers that put together the plan. Okay.

Uh sometimes not. I will say that when we do our contingencies, it's based on the type of project and the risk factors in there. So there's a lot of time that Armando or I will see a project and I'll say you better increase the the contingency by 5%. Usually it goes to 20%, we don't go much higher and as low as it goes that I typically let staff is 10%. You need at least a 10% just for the amount. So there's a little skill set in there and looking at the risk factor on the project.

Okay, just one last question on the contingency. So, if they go over 30,600, you have to come back to council and or would you just Excuse me. Or would you just go ahead and approve it if it was uh 40,600? Uh, typically we would if it's going to be a bust that large. So, um, if it's a small amount, a couple thousand dollar, probably not. Okay. But when it gets to a bigger range, we've got we got a big change that no one saw and we need to report that.

And council member, the other reason that we put in the contingency too is so that there is that budget authority ahead. So if there is something unforeseen that staff have the ability to address it without having to come back to council to revise the budget for it because that sometimes can really hold up a project depending on when the next council meeting is and they might need to um get something fixed at that time. Makes sense. Okay. Thanks for the explanation. And that contingency doesn't go away, mind you. It just is unspent and it'll be utilized in another project. Okay. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Thank you very much.

Thank you mayor. Thank you. I just have one question regarding funding. Why is this project not eligible for funding under the program guidelines?

So with every uh call for project site that CALR does for ASIP every two years they they select certain categories of projects that are called set aside projects. they have a lower funding uh you can't is your total uh budget for there is uh less one for this cycle cycle 11 and this project it was um the pedestrian cross Great.

Mayor No, I don't I don't really have anything. I mean, it's always a little bit when you know it comes in at over engineer estimate. Um but uh this is certainly an important project intersection that is used quite a lot and and since the school is right there in particular. So, uh, I know you did the best you could to get the to get the engineer estimate and it is what it is and I think the project needs to move forward. Thank you very much. And do we have at this point I just we don't do we don't have anybody in the audience. We don't have anybody in from the public in the audience except Mr. Beu. Do you have any questions?

Great. All right. Then do we have a motion to approve? Move to approve. I second. Thank you. So, we have a motion by um Council Member Gutieres and a second by Council Member Lamb. Please vote.

Council member Gutierrez, do you have a screen to vote? For some reason, I don't see it. I think it's behind your square there. No, it should be part of that. Is it missing? It appears. No, it's missing. Is your uh vote? Yes, sir. Yes. Okay, I'll fill it in for you. Close it. Thank you so much. And and I'll move on while you're doing that. So, the motion carries all eyes. And that is our second legislative action is a 202526 budget rollover and budget adjustments. Good evening, Mr. Beersack.

Good evening, Mayor and

Testing. Did you hear that? Yeah, it's barely. Okay. How's that? Better.

Thank you, mayor. Mayor Peram, city council. Last but not least, the proposed budget adjustments for this current fiscal year, FY2526. As usual, any questions, please ask as we go along or save until the end. So the background with the close out of the city's fiscal year, meaning the year that we're just closing out 2425, there were certain activities that specific general fund and equivalent obligations were not incurred or expensed. Separately, there's a newly identified commitments that have since been identified after you all approved the budget during that process in the April May time frame for our new bienial budget. So this evening's discussion, we're going to focus on both the general fund and measure W. Within the general fund, we'll talk about those budget carry forwards. We will also um tie back to the newly identified adjustments, the second bullet on the previous slide. And then on we also have identified through the council items of July, August and September those four council meetings there are things that you all approved and those are the first quarter budget adjustments. So we've incorporated a slide of what those items are. Then at the end we'll talk a little bit about measure W and some items that did not get incurred or expensed in the previous fiscal year that we're requesting authority to add to this year's budget. this new year budget. So, let's talk about first off the general fund carry forwards. On this first slide, you can see with respect to district improvements for the five of you, um the amounts that were remaining at the end of fiscal year 2425, June 30th, that totals almost $200,000.

So, the first proposed adjustment here is to roll that forward and carry that forward. did not interchangeably use the term roll over or carried forward. Second item, Espironza Park in the end with respect to life in the universe punchless items and then that recur the retention payment that when we pay the prime vendor and do a holdback of 5% that totals almost $650,000. So we're looking for that authority um for Esparonza Park and finishing that up. And then with respect to various general fund carry forward items, financial audits, some of which are cannabis audits. And then we also had intended to start a program on hotel audits. So we that those items were not included in this budget at for this amount. So we're requesting that that move forward.

They were in the previous budget, but we didn't spend all the money. Right. Okay. Yes, sir. Got it. You said they weren't anticipating in the budget. I We had a smaller amount in this new budget, but then this is a rollover, right? So, it was not spent last year. All of this stuff was correct last year.

Everything that you on these first three slides, this subject matter is what did not get incurred or expensed last year. um the ERP PACE trainings. Um we have additional out there that's still a holdover from dating back to when we first started the effort on Tyler Energ that we started back with a vendor then moved over to Tyler. We still have outstanding funds there. So we're requesting that that move forward and that will help us with additional PACE trainings um through on the ERP. The zoning code update, if you remember, that's a 21-month project and that came to you all. And so the first six months were in last fiscal year, but with the element that's general fund funded, there's 15 remaining months. So we'll need 12. So we'll roll that forward this year and then ironically next year we'll come forward with the final three months for the next fiscal year. And then in the U public works department within the engineering division there's eight existing projects with remaining professional services these are not unencumbered but these are encumbered these are task projects that the monies are still out there to be done keep in mind with respect to when we talk about public works and engineering this does go towards oure when we talk about general fund it's not just the construction piece we also get credit for professional services aspects as well. So these are encumbered but did not get spent.

So let me ask a question. Yes sir. Um so some of these items might have been you intended to spend them last year but they didn't get spended but so you need to roll them forward because there's still things you need to do or buy. Some of these things like the zoning code update for example, if you knew the contract was of a certain length, wouldn't you budget normally budget those months that were in one fiscal year in that fiscal year and then you would budget the remaining months in the other fiscal year?

When it's a general fund commitment, sir, we have to budget it in the year that it's approved. But then if it happens, that's when we come back and we roll it forward. Although only reason I asked that is last meeting, you know, we had the this was our balance and we we finished, you know, so much lower in the expenditures. Great news, great news. But part of it was at the time you knew we had obligations. And I mean, you're going over them now, but it would be more transparent to either do these two presentations together or you know, you know what I'm saying? Because it makes it look like we did great, which you did in many areas. I'm not trying to minimize that or the city did and not spending all of their budget authority, but at the time some of the areas a million and a half dollars worth, we knew that these were going to these looked like savings, but they're going to come back next meeting and get added back on.

So, in in in the past, there's been the concept of doing the preliminary financial results by the second meeting in October. We're still calling this information when we're doing our rollover. So, we don't have the specifics in time in order to be able to meet that deadline for what would be the deadline for the second meeting. I've got you. But some of these are contracts that had a monthly or like you're saying there were multiple parts to it. You knew about those. And some of those we do, some of them we don't. I mean, we could couple it together and do it and then potentially postpone the preliminary financial results till the

No, no, they already take long enough. So, I'm not not saying we want to do that. I'm just asking because you know and I'm not accusing anybody anything. It's just the way this process works. It looks like on one meeting it looks like oh we did good. We had authority to spend this much money but we didn't spend I don't remember what the number was $5 million worth of it or something like that. Then you come the next meeting and say well actually we had these contracts that were approved last year. We knew we're going to have to pay them this year. So now we got to add that one. We can work on trying it. It does happen every year. we can see if there's measures we can implement to try to mitigate yes or minimize it because it seems like a a kind of a lot in total you know and so it doesn't it just what I'm saying it kind of clouds that other picture

because now we got to come and they're already things that are in progress so of course we're you know going to prove them but it it just means we didn't get a super clear picture last time understood

all right So those were the the three components of that which did not get incurred or expensed. So let's talk budget increases that of items that were identified call it midappril forward that weren't able to be included in the budget um with respect to items that um were then identified and that's part two of this presentation. The city manager recruitment. The city manager recruitment we had budgeted 20,000 and that was approved for not to exceed 40,000. So that's what this extra 20,000 is. The balloon festival for third party labor and different types of activities legal etc whatever is an item that was not included in the budget and that's um estimated at a not to exceed of 175.

All right. So, can we get I see you started to stand up. So, could we get more This is where the balloon festival is a little sensitive. Not Not that we don't love it, but there have been a number of expenditures on that. So, if we just at least clarify a little bit. I would probably want Eric's guidance on what I'm allowed to really talk about related to the work here, but it is a third party contract consultant related to the um litigation um for uh the protection of the balloon festival for

solely litigation or is it also mixed with maybe work on our current balloon festival? It is I would say at this point it's 90% legal 10% uh with a little bit of logistics and things on the handover um from doing a festival the same way 10 years bringing on that um you know and having a smaller so it was some type of expert assistance that was needed. Correct. Yeah. And I I I'd consider especially the legal aspect of it and you know I I think the the contributions were invaluable to the overall case. Um so um that aspect of it. I also would consider it mostly unanticipated just related to the needs but and sometimes litigation fees are paid by the attorney and then build back through us but this was not one. This is one that the city paid for directly.

Correct. But I the finance director can weigh in a little bit more. I I don't anticipate we're going to get anywhere near that 175 number nor nor are we close now. This isn't up to this isn't a bill that's correct not to exceed. Yeah.

All right. That's that helps. Thanks so much. And for the first three months, we're at about half of that. And so that was through September. So we just received an October bill. We might have a November bill, but I would be shocked that we would get to the 175, but that's what the contract is for. Newly identified or so those were one-time types of things. This is newly identified recurring type items that would be applicable to this fiscal year. We would also based on your concurrence. These would be elements that we would include in year two of the budget because they would be recurring. And then when we do the next bianual budget thereafter, these items would be included there would be included on our tips list that we have. So for the new things that we know we need to incorporate next time, the LGBTQ plus Desert Business Association membership and the annual event, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, if you remember, that was a $75,000 bogey. And with the contract that came forth after the budget was approved, the film festival folks asked that that be increased to $90,000.

All right. Should we take these one by one or do you want questions at the end? Oh, no. Sure. Okay. So, the first two are not the same. Um, they're different. So, the first one is Desert Business Association membership, which isn't new. We've been a member with them for a number of years. So, is there some reason why that wasn't included in the budget? We haven't been a member um I think for a bit of time with that organization. They've been wanting us to be a member, but um they

Well, I used to go to their meetings all the time and we were a member at that time, so I don't know where it dropped off. So my my my understanding is of course during this budget process there was a lot of talk about chambers of commerces and a reassignment of funding that used to go to the um Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce to other other um needs that were identified by our economic development manager that would better suit the city. And I don't think that this came up for discussion. So perhaps if there was a lapse that might have been why I wasn't aware of an elapse. I know we used to be. So but there was probably a pool of money in the department maybe not big enough that was for other types of memberships. Um so why is this not coming out of that pool of funds?

When I think when staff had built the budget uh coming into this year, this was not a budgeted expense. um for membership into this particular chamber. Um and it was part of I think that evaluation of chamber memberships this year and what value that was bringing to the city and so it wasn't um directly budgeted in the uh budget prepared uh for council adoption.

Okay. So if if this has been an issue with it somehow being funded out of a pool and then some years it didn't get paid, some years it did and some of us that would go to those events just didn't know and they did. They were gracious enough not to say then uh it's probably best that this get included in the annual budget because many businesses in Cathedral City participate in this group and many even of the nonprofits do. Um, and I know I typically try to attend the events that are in Cathedral City. So, if you learn of any, let me know because I don't always I'm not the named person on there. It used to be Stone James. So, um, so I think that should be on it. Now, let's go to the second one. So, the second one is a buying a table at a fundraiser. And I know the city manager has a pool of money that they buy tables out of. We don't usually get we bought a table now we need to have a budget adjustment it's it's to be purchased out of that pool.

So if I can give a caveat with respect to this year in using Tyler Unice with using the central budget entry module which we were very happy to be able to do to provide that kind of detail. Um this is something that I'm sure you know whole master scheme of things we would survive without that budget adjustment tied to this item. to share with you with this year forward. We actually are tying back to people are tying back to what all their pieces are and under sponsorships there was an estimated amount for that pool that you referred to and initially for that pool of what that estimated amount was this wasn't included.

Can we also buy a table last year? How did we do that and it not be included in the like I do not that's where we coordinate and work with the departments on what they think that they may be having on a go forward basis.

Kevin if I can clarify I think um this item uh we're just what we're going to do is just absorb it into the budget that we have. And uh one of the things that I've been working with finance on and with communications is just kind of getting a clearer picture of what our sponsorships are. you know, what is in that budget? Um, and evaluating, um, you know, what are the things that we can and can't support based on I mean, there's an abundance of requests for sponsorship for events. Certainly, the city can't sponsor everything, but what my recommendation is is just to take this off the list and that we will absorb it in the existing budget that we have. So that's that does make sense because I'm sure what you probably most budget items you look at what you spent last year and you might even articulate where you spent it and then you're going to come up with the pool but you don't items like this that are these buying tables at events, sponsorships, those types of things. The city management makes a decision and says yes this one, no this one. And at the end when they run out of money, they run out of money for these tables or money gets moved from somewhere else or you can come to council. But it just seems weird to me that

this this would come up in the first budget like we got to make a special budget amendment just for this one when there have been other events and there will be. I mean the I mentioned the senior center is going to have a gala the you know the boys and girls club are going to have some. We're not going to get a budget amendment after the fact for each of those. No, it like I said, it was an error on my part uh having this one go forward and we will just adopt we will include this in the budget um in the our budget expenditures and with all of the other considered events. This is one that we've already participated in and so the expense has already been made and we will um I guess I just

it would make more sense if you got to the third quarter which I hope you don't because it's part of the management's job to manage these funds but if you got to that third quarter and say hey I've got some more that we usually participate in council do you want to increase my budget or not it just seems funny to increase it up front for one yeah like I said this was an error on my part to let that So when we do make a motion to approve it it will be understanding that it's removing this $3500 and the other numbers will be adjusted somewhere down the road. Just one just one caveat for transparency. We did not purchase a table last year. We did a four-seater option which was a couple hundred and I I was able to absorb that in my communications and marketing budget. So,

which is usually which is usually what happens. It it either gets absorbed somewhere or we say no, we we're not we don't have the funding to do it. So, thank you. I'm glad you clarified. Yeah, I didn't go I didn't go last year, so I didn't know, but I was told that we participated last year. All right. Thank you. Um the film festival I don't I don't remember. I do remember that there was an increase and I thought some of that was paid for in kind with the family day. Is that true? There's also in kind but so it's this it's how much was budgeted did you say for the

75,000 was budgeted previously? It was 50,000 and during the last two-year budget cycle it increased from 50 to 75. After this budget was approved, they came back to the city with requesting and did we want to go to the $90,000 level to assume our same level? So, is it really 90,000 or we're technically at a higher level, but they gave us credit for inind it's 90,000 in cash and then there's additional inind. All right. Because I do remember that discussion. I just don't remember what the what the numbers were. So,

all right. Thank you. website monthly maintenance with respect to taking and contracting out our website monthly maintenance. Um the what was included in this in the budget was $5,000 a month or $60,000 and what we are with Montage the vendor we're looking at $6,000 a month or $72,000 and so that is the difference of the $12,000 for that. And I'll add on to that just one quick thing, Kevin. Um, so part of this is going to be we with the new website that's going to be unveiled, there's a lot of um additional opportunities for more dynamic information to be on the website, too. So, it's an opportunity for them to keep the content more current, having more uh dynamic, whether it's programs or a capital project we want to highlight or just special events that are coming up. uh that uh they'll be able to help us maintain currency in our our website so that it's not just kind of a lot of the stale information that's on there right now.

So this is this isn't it's not 12 that's how I read it. It's not 12,000 a month. It's went from 5,000 a month to 6,000 a month which is the delta is a $12,000 increase for the year. Okay. 1,000 a month $12,000. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome. The next item, um, in our most recent budget that you all approved in May, um, in the police department, we have one FTE of part-time dispatchers to cover that ability to absorb and mitigate extra overtime type activities. That is a concept that had not been included yet with the fire department. And then earlier this year after the start of the fiscal year but right I'd say the end of July it was approved for the fire department to be able to hire part-time ambulance operators to do the same type of pro what we do across the hall with the po with respect to the police department. So what this is, this would be the equivalent of one FTE, call it four part- timerrs, five part- timerrs. We treat across the hall as five part- timerrs on average about 20% per. So that this would incorporate the same concept so that we would have a means of helping the fire department mitigate their overtime by having part-time ambulance operators. I think the fire chief did speak to us about this. So, but it's just not it's showing up here instead of the instead of your list of pre-approved because at the time that he discussed it with us, there was no budget adjustment technically asked for.

This was not included when in the in the budget. So, that FTE count of 231 I believe that was in the budget. This would increase to be 232. And of course, any offsetting revenue from fees collected or Oh, if it happened to be in the measure W crew or something, that would be collected on the revenue side. That is on the revenue side, not as an offset. All right. Thank you.

And then with respect to library security cameras, it came in with a $4,000 a year expense for that. That was not included in their original budget. So, I think the takeaway is with respect to this slide, the one item that we would look at eliminating or deleting is the second item, the $3,500. And now Kevin for the city website maintenance we used to have a designated employee that used to take care of all that. Correct. So we are saving tons of money instead of having a full-time employee doing this. We just hired a company to do the same. And

exactly. And so what happened that that's where that was taken into consideration with the budget because that activity transpired the end of April early May. But it was in that process of trying to negotiate what the money amount was. So yes, we saved in this new budget, we saved, call it $150,000 on average for that type of an FTE for that type of a person, but that offsetting cost in outsourcing outsourcing is 72,000. So when you look at it that way, council member, we're saving $80,000. Great savings. Thank you.

Certainly. So moving on with respect to first quarter budget adjustments and you'll see in the next slide that we this is incorporated into where we are but for the first four meetings as I mentioned July August and the two meetings in September these are the items that impacted the general fund. So in dollar sort order for tropical storm Hillary there's an FHWA match and that came in at $167,000 for the design with respect to that and what was approved for the balloon festival for the sound skills amendment the $80,000 um that was in that's item number two cannabis odor control there was a staff report that you all approved that came in for those odor control services at 595 by if you remember there was a in the building department there was a new truck not a replacement truck. So whenever we have something new that gets added into the equipment replacement we have to fund it initially to get it there and so that was the cost for that new truck and that was brought to you um for your approval. the art in California grant. There's a that's that 89 $98,000 grant and then there's $170,000 of a match of which 90% is forecasted to come out of the impact fee fund for art and public places. But in that council report that you approved approximately 10% or less and that's what the 17,230 is would be from the general fund for the Sarah Street um approval. The match on that is 15,000. There was a fire EMPG grant match of 8,000 and for the software for the festival of arts

that was $5,000. Kevin, I think just in looking at that, um I think the the $5,000 for the Festival of Arts, this is the public arts commission one. Yes. That's their whole that's their general fund but their existing general fund budget. Okay. We can reverse that. But the way the staff report was, we did that as but we can take that out if you'd like. Yeah, I apologize that one. Imous the um the council approved $5,000 of their existing uh current general fund budget uh for the um event. Okay. So that is a new budget. So we can remove that as well. Yeah. So we have 3500 and 5,000

to to remove. So then when you look at the three categories and you see what that totals up to the carry forwards the 1.5 almost 1.5 million the one time of 375 minus the 3500 now that would be 34,000 and on the recurring the 1579 that would be 1529. So that would be the adjustment there. So basically we would take off $8,500 from this amount. So then look at the projection and this ties back to last council meeting the update of that and that is if you remember correctly we're still in this a similar ballpark with respect to it we were in a couple percent higher in the 40s um with respect to the the original budget was 44 and now we're at 41% based on these budget adjustments if with this revenue that is the same amount of revenue but with these budget adjustments ments that would potentially we'd be looking at a $7.8 million deficit. This goes back to will we have a $7.8 million deficit? Probably not just based on some of the things that we budget higher like our salaries for full staff. We haven't done it and then a corresponding impact on the original budget for next year. If you approve based on that the items that would be in the recurring slide, we would then adjust this accordingly as well. Any questions? So, moving on, that's it for general fund measure W. We have three items that tie back to measure W, fund obligations of items that were in last year's budget that are carry forwards or roll forwards. Um the and there were various items that you approved in one of those staff reports back in the April May time

frame for measure W purchases from the fire department and three items didn't make it with respect to possibly order but not delivered and so if it's not delivered or a service is not provided we can't pay for it out of that year. So that's what these three carry forwards are. The striker chair, um, miscellaneous uniforms and safety gear, and then the broadband and cellular services that ties back to the command tablet. Ironically, the command tablet software was purchased in the old year, but the hardware was not. So part hardware got delivered after June 30th, and that's what that $23,000 number is for. So in total, that's $45,000 and change. So to emphasize and this is why we'll be back to you next month. Um because of the budget that we have that we passed and now with these adjustments, we feel that it is even more important and prudent for us to be more deliberate and focus on efficiencies and priorities of our internal operations and supporting our community and our constituents while at the same time safeguarding our financial stability of the city's general fund. In doing so, we continue to monitor current year general fund expenditures and evaluate any changes as necessary. So that's why one of the items on future council reports in the December 10th meeting is to give you a status update on where we're at in the first quarter or as I should say as of the first quarter because as you're aware many of our revenues are delayed. This is in support of our five-year strategic plan goal C and our main objective in goal C with respect to being economically prosperous. So with your support of the proposed

amendments, we would ask that city council approve these budget increases for the general fund. It would be that number you see before you minus the $8,500 that was discussed. And then for measure W, the 45 and change. Any further questions? I do have a question. Yes, sir. The uh $32,000 I believe it is for a new truck, is that for the new employee that was hired? Yes, that was the Yes. in the building department. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. an inspector. You guys hear that? That's the third time. Oh, we're we're just trying to

We're ignoring it. Yes. We're almost done. Mayor, you see that sign that says moving forward? We're just moving forward. Okay. Just moving forward. That's it. Any other questions? So, I don't have any questions about this, but when we get that report next month, because it's so, as you say, the revenues, the expenditures are a little more even. E even they're not 100% even because you have certain ones that occur at certain times, but the revenues are all wonky. Do you also look at

compare it to the same quarter of the previous year? Yes. So we can see that to me that tells you more whether and there may be reasons why but if revenues are off you know then you can you can tell because they tend to follow some type of pattern over the correct year. So

and and a good example is sales tax. When the when the state provides us sales tax the first two months of the quarter are estimates the third month of the quarter which we won't receive until Thanksgiving week for the month of September. That's a true up. So in the third month of every quarter, we have a true up. So it's hard to look at just those first two months because they're estimates, but the proof is in the pudding with what the vendors actually providing their tax quarterly tax. All right. Good. I'll look forward to that report. That sounds good. Okay. So I've already pulled them. We don't have any questions for you. So are we don't have any members of the public,

but we do have a written comment that we're receiving. Okay. Written comment is great. So, we did receive a written comment from Sunshine Herrera expressing her concern with how the information is provided in the staff report. Thank you, madam. Do we have a motion to approve? So, I move to approve as as amended during the presentation. So, we have a motion by Mayor Prom. Oops. Hold on a second. Mayor Prom Gregory and a second by Council Member Lamb. Please vote. Mine is not working. Your still is missing. Okay. And is yours I or no? Yeah. I

I Perfect. So that just leaves one question. Do we have any discussions on future agenda items? Mr. Bradley?

No. But I I will note that I I have asked the city manager to look at dates for a um future goal setting. I know we had talked about it in relation to a new city manager, but it it seems that it would be a good idea to get it on calendar and likely if a new city manager isn't in place by then, they're not going to be ready to, you know, have goals. They're not going to be ready anyways. So at some point we need to before we get too far into the year if we're going to have goal setting and we need to just do it and then they can come in and and learn what we discussed.

So recommend we go ahead with it whether if if we have a new city manager fine. If not an would just have to bring them up to speed and at least they would then have the document and the discussion. I I'm agreeable. What we can do is also have that uh and a video on videotape so she can watch it. Yeah, we could do that too. That's not a bad idea at all. Thank you. And and also we like to bring something up both so that uh we have an employee that is going to be retiring soon and we like to extend her contract for another five years. That's going to be a hard one, right Tracy? Sometimes. So what what are you recommending, Mayor Portim? So she's working on dates.

I can bring that back to the next council meeting um for discussion. Yeah. And we're looking at another we're looking at doing like a fullear calendar too so everybody will know in advance. Where did we have it last year? I don't remember. Was it We did it here last year. We did it here which is save the costs from uh using the hotel. Yeah. Yeah. Because we also need to we know we need to move at least one meeting um because Veterans Day falls on our normal meeting Wednesday next year. So we know we need to move that. And of course we want to look at where Cal Cities if they publish their dates and those kind of things. So, she's working on a calendar anyways, but I just wanted to mention the council because we'd had some discussion um before about the um goal setting and

I think that's good. Really does. Thank you. We did not have any closed um session that hasn't already been reported out. And so, we are adjourning. Our next council meeting will be held December 10th. And we wish you all a great week. Congratulations. That's it. That's it.