City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everybody to today's city council meeting Monday, April 27th, 2026. I now call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. District 1, Council Member Casey, present. District 2, Council Member Vieiraa, present. District 3, Council Member Otto, here. District 4, Vice Mayor Martinez, present. Mayor Lopez, here. Thank you very much, everybody. Please stand for the invocation by Ken Silva, Youth of Christ. he is in person and followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Good evening. Uh thanks for letting me be here. Let's uh let's pray. Dear God, I thank you so much for this community, for this uh celebration, this past weekend of service around the city. Thank you for these leaders, for the time, the the stress, the all the decisions they have to they make. Lord, I I pray that you'd give them wisdom, give them peace, watch over them, their families, their spouses, their children as they uh serve this community. Uh Lord, thank you for the place that many youth and families call home. This place is calling home. And uh God, I just ask that it would continue to thrive. Thank you for the new businesses coming in and the the economy that's uh coming here. And uh above all else, may you be uh honored in your name. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We do have a young man from Tisha K. Beaver Elementary School. If you could please step up. And I know that your your name is spelled with an X. If you could please tell everybody your name. I just want to make sure we get it right. Your name, your first and second. Um, hi, my name is Xavier Mulg. Okay, great. So, it's on you, sir, whenever you're ready. Okay. Please join me in singing 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, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much.

Welcome. Thanks for having me here. Okay, now that the city council has sat down, I would like all of you to stand up with me. And we have a proclamation today, single mile proclamation. And this will go to the Latino Leaders Club of Series High School Council. Welcome everyone. This proclamation is proclaiming May 5th, 2026 as Cinco de Mayo. Whereas May 5th, 1862, the Mexican army achieved a significant victory over the French forces of battle of Puebla, symbolizing the resilience and determination of the Mexican people. And whereas Cinco de Mao has evolved into a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture observed not only in Mexico, but also across the United States, including our own community here in series. Whereas this day serves as an opportunity to honor the rich traditions, vibrant culture, and significant contributions of the Mexican-Americans to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of our city and nation. Whereas the city of Siri recognizes the importance of fostering inclusivity, understanding, and appreciation for the diverse backgrounds that enrich our community. Now, therefore, be it resolved I, Javier Lopez, Mayor of the City of Series, on behalf of city council, vice mayor Daniel A. Martinez, Council Member James Casey, Rosalinda El Vieiraa, and Serena Otero do hereby proclaim May 5th, 2026

at Cinco de Mayo and encourage all residents to and to recognize and celebrate Mexican heritage in Cinco de Mau throughout the year. Congratulations. And before I allow them to to make a comment, I just want to note that majority of the council, hopefully all the council will be participating this Saturday, not only at the Siri Street Fair, but also at the Cinco de Mau parade, which will be on Crows Landing. Uh SMBU is a city of series organization partner with Modesto and we will all be there. So I just wanted to make that note. Would you like to make a comment? Thank you for this opportunity and this recognization who a series highwome great job.

Thank you very much. You have to have a good

Oh yeah, we'll take a picture. I'm already showing you off. My apologies. Thank you very much. And now we will move on. We have a presentation by Love Stannis County by Gabby Fernandez, who's also a council woman from Patterson, by the way. Thank you for being here.

You for having me. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council Anubia. I appreciate um your interest in learning about Love Our Neighbors with through Love Santaas County. My name is Gabby and I'm the director for Love Our Neighbors. And I actually have a few of you guys on those pictures up there. I have Council Member Oro and um Daniel in the bottom right there. a few of your events. So, at Love Santaas County, we believe that fostering strong relationships and supporting local initiatives are key to creating a thriving environment for everyone. Tonight, I'm thrilled to share some of the ways we can work together to make a positive impact. Our programs are designed to bring people together, cultivate kindness, and address the needs of our community. From organizing neighborhood gatherings to supporting local schools and families, there are so many opportunities for each of us to get involved in on this side. There we go. All right. So, our mission, sorry. Our vision is for every person uh to value one another and seek to help or help is needed. Our mission is to inspire our community to love each other through building connections, generosity, and volunteering together. Now, a lot of a lot of community members know us for our one-day event that started in Love Modesto. I think you

guys just had your love series here on Saturday. But what a lot of people don't know about Love Santaas County is that we actually house three programs. We used to house four, love our seniors, but now we just house love our kids, love our schools, and love our neighbors. Love Our Schools works to help meet the needs of local schools in our area by connecting volunteers to some of the schools that are in need. Love Our Neighbors, which seeks to equip and inspire people to host neighborhood gatherings with the goal of forming deeper connections and a sense of belonging amongst neighbors, which we will learn from this program today. Love Our Kids is dedicated to making sure children throughout Senos County feel loved and cared for by assisting CPS and some of their referrals for items. Now, Love Our Kids also builds thousands of comfort kits in December and distributes it distributes them throughout Stannis County and other counties that are in need. All right. So, today we're bringing information to you about neighborhood connections and the financial assistance there is available for your very own town. I encourage you to think about the unique talents and the resources you can contribute. Whether it's through volunteering your time, sharing your skills, or simply spreading the word about our mission, every little bit helps to weave a stronger and more connected community. Is there a way to play that video or no? Okay. Well, that was a video from some of the many volunteers throughout

Santaas County that have held multiple events. There's videos from Modesto, from Newman, from Series and Patterson. um I believe also Oakdale and Riverbank. Now what is the need for connection and why? Per per the CDC there is an indication that a significant portion of adults report feeling of loneliness and a lack of social support factors that can adversely affect the mental health. Locally in Stannis County, the need is reflected in several key data points. A recent community health assessment for the county identifies social isolation and related behavioral health needs as priority areas through the health services agency. A behavioral health evaluation found that among respondents in the county's prevention programs, 19% of all respondents reported not asking for support from other community members. And among a specifically at risk population, this figure was as high as 59% per stands prevention. In the senior population aged 65 and over, nearly 45% of residents were considered economically insecure. According to the elder index, a factor that often correlates an increased risk of isolation. This these facts are known through the senior coalition. The 2025 and 2028 community health improvement plan explicitly includes the goal to gather and analyze data on social isolation and related behavioral health needs in Santaas County to identify priority populations and this

is through the health services agency. Now, love our neighbors program has also conducted its own research through our LON survey where we have surveyed 461 participants which include participants and host. We have gathered key data that shows how impactful connections are. People crave connections. Isolation and loneliness surged in recent years. Decline in community engagement, volunteerism, and neighborhood safety as we see more and more residents become more withdrawn and disconnected. Reduced quality of life and resilience, especially for vulnerable groups such as seniors, youth, and low-income families. The benefits of gathering. Facts about benefits of gathering. People who have friends and close confidence are more satisfied with their lives and less likely to suffer from depression. This is through the American Psychological Association. Improved mental and emotional well-being for individuals and families. Empowered neighborhoods where kindness, volunteerism, and mutual care become part of local culture. These are through our sources of information from the CDC.gov. GB 2022 social isolation and loneliness amongst adults. So what do we do? Again, we believe in the power of bringing people together. We want to equip and inspire people to host neighborhood gatherings. We foster deeper connections and a sense of belonging amongst neighbors. Now neighbors doesn't necessarily mean your next door neighbor or across the street

neighbor. It could be family, friends, or your community. We have a platform through loveoscount.org/nighbors. We make it simple for residents, churches, and our city leaders like yourselves to connect by accessing our toolkit. Our toolkit, neighbor connect kits, and mini grants are available. We also offer neighbor connect kits that contain multiple activities so that neighborhoods can create connections. We have received 401 participant surveys in 60 host surveys in the past year where people have expressed optimism after gathering. 96% stated that they feel more connected to their neighborhoods, their community after their event. 96.3 feel an increased level of optim optimism towards their neighbor. 93.3 stated if they needed help, they could call on their neighbor. 99.4% believe community connection is important and decreases isolation and depression. We have created a toolkit called the neighborhood connection toolkit. The content serves as blueprint on how to start planning, gathering events or connections. The goal is to simply plan the process with tips and tools many of our neighbors can use. In the toolkit, you will find a neighborhood magnet, a list for contacts, ideas, tips for successful planning, setting a date, a budget, selecting a location, need of

permits, entertainment, and spreading the word. It also contains information or on our grants, information on our neighborhood, connections, activity kits, and how to draft an invitation. We have many other goodies as well. We have magnets. We have um stickers to give out bookmarks. And of course, the toolkit is a great tool for people to use. And we also have um submit your feedback. In case you're already hosting events, you'll be entered into a $50 raffle each month. This is the neighbor connection kit. We have been giving these kits out in the past, I would say, year and a half. The connection kit includes kites, jump ropes, chalk, bubbles, stickers, journals, pens, bookmarks, tugof-war rope, a ball, and toss and catch. Now, we have a lot of leaders in our communities that receive these toolkits because they actually go out to parks and they bring their neighborhood connection kit and they connect their kids with other kids and they do a lot of parks and plays as well. Here we go. All right. So the following are stories and quotes from some of our grant recipients from around Santaas County and their connections with their neighbors. These are actually quotes from seriesir. So a local neighbors ready to help and assist where it was needed. It reassured the need for familybased events similar to this one

that way that we all can enjoy regardless of financial status. a family is in. This was a national night out here in series. Now, we do um sponsor some of the national night outs and events here in your town. Now, another quote from another series resident. She said if not if it not only brought immediate neighbors together but also neighbors from other neighborhoods throughout the city of series. The best part is that it helped show the camaraderie among amongst the community and our local 911 emergency servicemen. It also helped build bridges amongst the neighborhoods to help make new friendships and strengthen the city sorry of series neighborhoods as a whole unit. Another series resident said, "Great conversations with neighbors and participants. You guys are doing a good job with connections." Now, these are the categories. There are many different categories on how to form connections in a neighborhood. Subcategories to keep in mind when selecting a project would be the following. Community asset guide and identification is more of a collection of resources in order to connect with one another. For example, a neighbor walks their street and takes notes on neighbor stren neighborhood strengths or a neighbor who's retired nurse that has health knowledge. Another example, a home with a shady front yard. Great location for a gathering. Um, health sorry, block connector connections with neighbors to form a neighborhood watch. Neighbor skill swap can be a plan, a neighborhood skill swap event. Number

four, health and wellness. That can be in a form of exercise. For example, walking group, a jogging group, a park and play, playdates, pet playdates. Number five, neighborhood event is just that, planning an event with your neighbors. Now, ask yourself this. How would you connect? There's so many ideas on the toolkit. Block parties, book clubs, game nights, community gardens. Now, if cost is a barrier, you can apply for a mini grant. Many grants are need-based one-time grants. Jumpstart qualifying community gatherings. You can purchase supplies, food or drinks, or you can fund entertainment and promote. There is a li limited availability, so apply early. Now, meeting grants are intended for neighbors holding gatherings with other neighbors. Nonprofits, businesses, and special events do not qualify to receive this funding. Our phase two of love our neighbors is the family strengthening component. Family strengthening through neighborhood connections and parent cafes. We did receive accredit accreditation for parent cafes. And if you are interested or know anyone that is interested in holding parent cafes, you may reach out to us. What's next? Spread the word with your community, your clients, your church, or host a gathering. How can you help? You can reach out to me at gabbylovescount.org, RG or explore our toolkits. Sign up for our emails. Share about the many grant availabilities through your social

media. Promote grant fund funded gatherings to residents, clients, and community. I will leave you guys with this quote. When we take the time to know our neighbors, we plant the seeds of trust, belonging, and hope. At Love Stannis County, we believe that the stronger communities begin one connection at a time. Thank you, sir. Oh, thank you very much, Gabby. Really appreciate it. Yeah. Do you have any questions, council? No. Oh, actually Rose Linda does have a question. Is it a a comment or question? Council member,

thank you, Gabby. I appreciate because I know you helped with the community Easter egg hunt that we had at Samara Park and you were a huge part of it and I appreciate you helping the community have that. We had a lot of kids there at Samara Park this year and I don't think it would have been as big without you and I appreciate you helping me and the community make sure having that happen and I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you very much Gabby. Thank you, Gabby, for uh being here tonight. And I've actually personally seen the Love Stannis Lost team out there in different communities. Um like last year when they came and did the the chalk at the school, that was fun for um you know, just the kids when they showed up the next day. So, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Code enforcement first quarter presentation and analysis. This will be police chief Trenton Johnston which will also point out to that no it will not be police chief Trenton Johnson. It will be Cassandra.

Good evening council. Uh my name is Cassandra. I am the secretary for the code enforcement division. Uh today's presentation uh will highlight our key trends, our workload data, uh proactive measures and what areas we are focusing on moving on moving on for the next couple quarters. All righty. So program goal uh code enforcement is very vital to protecting uh the public's health, safety, and quality of life. Now, how does code enforcement do this? uh one by taking proactive enforcement um doing increased early identification of violations uh before they escalate. Uh this is a proactive measure we've been taking recently. Uh abating illegal camps early in the A.M. Uh that's one of our um proactive enforcements in especially with our Wednesday projects which if you guys will see us out this Wednesday um off of H. uh also voluntary compliance. So prioritizing education and cooperation with residents and business owners um to encourage long-term compliance rather than short-term. And uh we also do this by doing um interdep departmental coordination. So strain straining those uh collaborations with our police department, our planning department, finance and all other city departments. and uh decision- making using our data. So, uh using these quarter trends to guide enforcement priorities, help uh code enforcement continuously evaluate our program effectiveness and our strategies moving forward.

So, 2026 at a glance. So, our bar graph to the right will indicate three colors. our request, our cases closed, and actions. Um, let's start off with the blue uh bar, which is our request. So, request are usually calls that are coming in from dispatch, the ask series website um and um other calls directed at us from leadership. Uh the cases closed or requests, which is in the green, and actions are the ones in red. Those include cases, um, reinspections, inspections, courtesy notices, and administrative citations. So, what we see from January to March, we'll start with the request. So, in January, we had an moderate increase from January to February by 5%. uh followed by a significant rise of 44% uh resulting in an overall increase um of 50 I want to say it's 52% from January to March. Now our cases closed usually fluctuate uh depending on when we receive the case. So most cases are resolved voluntarily um showing that education and early intervention works. Um now the actions so you'll see the actions um are very high um overall activity peaked in February uh driven by an interdep departmental um initiative between code enforcement and the planning department doing business compliance checks that actually increased our numbers um in the red. So the action well we had 394 actions taken that included all of the inspections and reinspectiones done on businesses and

administrative citations for those who continued um in violation. Um overall March had the highest closed cases or requests and the most inspections um and reinspections. When we are not managing our case load, we are actually doing other things such as our illegal camps, which take up most of our time on the pie uh the pie chart to the left. Um illegal dumps, uh shopping carts, which usually stem from the illegal camps, and graffiti. So, what are the residents of series calling in about the most? Those top five are our public nuisance, our zoning code violations, our substandard housing, our illegal dumps, and weed abatement. So, we'll talk a little briefly about each one. Public nuisance. When we refer to those public nuisance calls, we're talking about those crazy roosters that are living in our residential areas, our noise complaints, our illegal camps, our waste wheelers that are not being stored properly, uh vehicles on lawns, um pole maintenance is a big one. We don't like those mosquitoes. Signs, vendors, property ma property maintenance, and public rideway encroachments. Um zoning code violations was the second highest. Those are properties that are usually being uh worked on uh built, modified or used in a way that is not meeting our city's standards. So those are your carports, your fences, your front yard setbacks, and improper landscaping. Substandard housing uh housing code violations. So those refer to the the homes that are um endanger the life, the

health, the safety and welfare of the occupants. So these cases are usually your dilapidated structures, your uh lack of utilities, so running hot, cold water, um electrical, plumbing hazards, um infestations, so vector infestations or mold. um and in certain cases hoarding. Now, our illegal dumps, plain and simple, those are your trash, your furniture, your debris, your leaf and limb, um left where it's not allowed to be left. Those are your alleys, your public rideways, uh lots that are vacant or being used. And lastly, weed abatement. So, um especially now during this time where we are pretty much, I think, safe from the rain now. that's given uh more life to the weeds. Um now with the the summer coming up, you'll be having a lot of dry, tall vegetation. So um those were the top five uh residents have called about the most. Now, ask series. So this is a video um to uh kind of show how to use Ask series. It's very um accessible for your cell phone by downloading my series or visiting um on a desktop. So um I just want to emphasize the importance how critical it is that all requests are entered into the series ask series. Uh we strongly advise on this um to request um on your request because it allows us to track um and identify trends are in your area. Um the video was supposed to show kind of how to go through it. Um that map actually is live. So you'll see other calls that are being serviced in our area. Um you'll see all types of calls and requests. Um when requests are

not handled um outside of the system such as like phone, email or informal communication such as social media posts, they are at risk of being overlooked. So they might get lost, you might not get to it. So, please do so. Let's see. Couple uh quick success stories. So, uh both properties um located here in series, one off of Hackit Road and the other located off of Hollister, both were coded for substandard housing code violations. Um the one to the left uh was a hoarding case. There was 3 ft of belongings that high up. Uh rotting flooring, vector infestation, so rats, uh unpermitted structures, ADUs. Um and on the right there was a home um that I think had over 85 dogs living on the property. Um another hoarding case, another vector infestation. Um to sum up, both homes actually did not receive any type of um citations. So, the property owners worked really well with our code enforcement officers. Within an 8-month period, both homes were cleaned out, remodeled, and sold here in the city of Series. So, working across departments, why this matters to code enforcement? So, most code enforcement cases are very complex, meaning it takes a lot of coordination between all the departments. For example, if we have a home here in series building an ADU, well, great. Now, code is going to be there, but we need to make sure that proper permits have been pulled. So, who do we go to? The planning department. So, every situation is different. Or when we're picking up an illegal dump, um well, who are we going to get in contact with? Our streets department or our public works

department. So, um, very important that, uh, code enforcement does rely on all of our city departments, uh, to move forward. Um, I would like to highlight an event that took place in our first quarter, which was in February, the free community day disposal event. It was nice to have our city council members out there, our code enforcement officers out there. Um and we look forward uh this quarter we've I think we already have two in place. So we look forward to working with other departments. A couple challenges within our first quarter. So one of our persistent challenges that have been uh demonstrated within our first quarter are absentee owners. So, when a property owner does not live locally, communication, the notice requirements and coordination for repairs takes way longer than it should. Um, a perfect case of this is your tripleR, your 2925 Whitmore. Um, absentee owners, we don't like that. And so that's been one of our biggest challenges to closing code enforcement cases which make them stay open longer and um more resources for those certain properties. Um another challenge that we've had is uh legal support um specifically legal support that specializes in code enforcement. Um the ability to um take timely um effective action in a significant limited time. um is something that is a challenge for us as well and um the authority the authority that code enforcement has has been an issue especially when we have high impact cases um overlapped issues. So this is one of our last challenges um there's often a gap um and understanding what code

enforcement can do and what enforce code enforcement should be doing. um especially with interdep departmental coordination there's a lot of well we don't know so um those have been our our top issues as well and that is it for me um these are our uh ways to contact us our office line our email and of course our uh ask series web page thank you any comments or questions from the council question ahead councilwoman

thank So, um, thank you for that presentation. It was very thorough and informative. Um, I do appreciate everything that code enforcement does. You know, we don't have a very large team and sometimes you guys come into unique situations. It can be very complex. So, I do appreciate you being out there and um doing what you can in keeping our community clean.

Thank you. I would just say, you know, code enforcement, you guys do such a great job. I've seen it personally and I've seen what you do even when I'm not there and I know that it's a lot of hard work and Serena is correct is it as a small team. You guys do what you have and hopefully in the future your team will get bigger and bigger just depending on the the chief's priorities. Would you say that? But thank you very much. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. Okay, we'll now move on to citizens communication by the city council welcomes and encourages participation in city council meetings. Adopted rules allow no more than 5 minutes. Resolution 2007106 for expression of non-aggenda items. Matters under the jurisdiction of city council and not on the posted agenda may be addressed by the general public. However, California law prohibits city council from taking any action on any matter which is not on the posted agenda unless it is determined to be an emergency by the city council. Citizens are entitled to address city council on any agenda items subject to the five-minute provision. Anyone wishing to address city council must adhere to the rules of decorum. The rules of decorum are posted outside the chamber doors. And just for a note, anybody here who is here to comment on any budgetary questions. We do have a presentation on the budget towards the end for discussion. We'll go ahead and start off with our representatives. I know that we have Justin Farcus here from Juan Alanise's office. Welcome, sir. Good evening and thank you uh series community and council Justin Farcus representing the office of Assemblyman Juan Alanise. Uh first I want to uh recognize Miss Hernandez and all of her hard work that she's been uh doing with Love Our Neighbors uh the Assemblyman's office. We had the opportunity to participate with three different cities this year across our district. Um don't feel slighted because we did participate in series in 2024 but we did participate this year in Modesto uh Turlock and Patterson this year adopting a number of uh projects throughout Santaas County in hopes of making uh things just a little bit better here. Um aside from the work that we do up in Sacramento. Uh going into Sacramento we do have a number of bills to cover here. uh five in particular. Uh two dealing with road safety. AB1814 um establishes minimum training

requirements for peace officer training in identifying impaired drivers. Um that bill is one of uh 10 bills part of a larger package to uh to deal with uh impaired driving in the state of California. Assembly Bill 2328 raises sentences for hit and run resulting in severe bodily injury by one year. Both those bills are in the appropriations committee. Uh also in public safety, Assembly Bill 1612 establishes a statewide process to destroy evidence like narcotics. That bill has passed two separate committees and it's now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. I'm sure Chief Johnson can let you know that um uh destroying that type of ev evidence is quite difficult right now in the state of California as we have no incinerators left and there's a lot of legal gray area as to what's allowed to be buried, what's allowed to be shipped out to other states and incinerated or it's just backlogged by months if not years at this point because we still need to uh collect this evidence and find a way to get rid of uh specific especially um drugs in our community. So, uh, that bill is in the appropriations committee as well. Assembly bill 1765. This is a bill that has been, um, a great, um, been help. We were pitched this bill and it's been a great um assemb um push this bill um Assembly Bill 1765 which will expand the uh disabled license plate uh veterans uh disabled veterans license plate exemption program from 8,000 to 10,000 lb cap um for our disabled veterans in our community. That bill is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. And lastly um Assembly Bill 2282. This is um going to be a uh what we call legacy bill, one of the largest, most important bills in the assembly men's tenure. Um this bill um allows Del

Puerto Healthcare District out in the west side to um contract with the uh neighboring hospitals in our county and allow them to establish an emergency stabilization center, health center um in their city. They're expected to have an acute hospital out there by about 2045. This bill allows them to contract with Memorial Emanuel Doctor's Medical Center and provide emergency stabilization services in town, keeping people from having to wait 30, 45 minutes to get to Emanuel in Turlock before they can get some sort of emergency healthc care. So, we're really excited about that bill. It's also in the Assembly uh Appropriations Committee. Uh, and lastly, um, I is, um, with a sorrow heart that I have to let you all know that this will be my last meeting representing Assemblyman Alan's office. I'm taking a new position, um, with the Assembly Republican caucus, and we'll be working up in the capital building doing some different type of work uh, for the uh, Republican side of the legislative body as a whole. So, it's been awesome being here at the fourth t Monday of every month um, in the city of series. for going on a little over two years now and uh I anticipate still keeping strong connections with many if not all of you. Uh and I promise you that uh my shoes will be filled by uh another young lady who is of equal um standing in this community as I am and uh can probably run laps around me. So I thank you guys for everything and we're always have an open door if you need anything.

Thank you Justin for all you do, sir. Well, I'll go ahead and open this to the public. Is there any members of the public that would like to speak during citizens communications? I know Mr. Jones, you you have you slated for the budgetary portion of this. So, so you so you don't have to speak at this moment. Yeah, I have you slated for the budgetary according to your your notes here.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, city staff, and residents. Um just a few things. We did have our love series as Gabby mentioned. So um we had a little over 130 volunteers. We had 13 projects. Um one of our projects was unable to um have a project leader. So we actually took that project and divided it into other projects and it worked out actually just fine. So um we did some senior yard work cleanup. We did the downtown community center, American Legion Hall, cards for veterans. I think everybody participated, not everybody, but majority of people here participated in our love series, and I really appreciate all the help. It was a great turnout, and uh I think it was a great success. So, thank you for everybody who came and volunteered. Um this the chamber did our second foundation for business uh success meeting. We did have 25 uh businesses that showed up. We had dinner together. Weorworked. It was a great time. A lot of questions asked and answered and uh some we even have some new members out of it. So, we're really hoping to continue with that program and we'll let you know when there's other meetings scheduled. Um also we have the big one series street fair this weekend. So, uh don't forget the street fair is this weekend. We do have two children's sections this year. So, there's going to be a lot more for kids to do. Um, we have the antique car show on Saturday, the low rider car show on Sunday, and the weather looks amazing. So, no excuses. Everybody should be out there, and uh we're really looking forward to it. Um, the chamber is having our egg lunchon on May 19th. It will be at Diamond Bar Arena. Once again, 100% of the proceeds go to our scholarships for next year. So, we would love to have as much support as possible. Um the lunch is completely

donated. So again all the proceeds go into um scholarships for students or our a students and we have started um the chamber started to discuss with the city and uh unemployment department or sorry employment development department or job fair in June. So we'll have more details for that pretty soon as well. You have any questions let me know. Right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Brady. Any members of the public. Don't like it right in my face. Shirley Rogers series, the uh lunch bunch from the city. We had our yard sale on Saturday. It was very successful. A lot of the people from Love series came to it and I want to recommend a lot of the teenagers that came. We had a tip jar and they did good. They did really good. Now to the city stuff on the roundabouts that you put in down at the corner. It juts out into the street and takes away approximately eight parking places. Plus, it's a [ __ ] to go around. So, if you put the curbs back where they belong, I'll bet you you wouldn't have to put a time on the parking downtown, which will probably cost you more to have the police go by every hour. Now, the other thing, sister city, do we have one? Come on, don't look dumb. Yes or no? No, we do not.

Thank you. Thank you for your time. Next person, please. Seeing nobody, we'll go ahead and close public comment unless you have an email. Ellen, any emails? No emails. No hands raised.

Thank you very much. We'll now close public comment. Is there any conflict of interest from the council? Okay, moving on to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by a single motion unless otherwise requested by individual council member or public for special consideration. Otherwise, a recommendation of staff will be acted upon by a roll call vote. Is there anyone in the council that like to pull a consent item? I have one. Mine will be number nine, Mr. Casey. Number eight. Number eight. Anybody else? Councilwoman number seven. Seven.

Thank you. Any members of the public would like to pull any items? Yes, sir. Please step up to the podium, sir. Number three. Number three. Thank you. Any hands raised? Okay, there are no hands raised. I bring this item back for motion. Make a motion to accept items 1 and 2, 4 through 6, 10 and 11, of the consent calendar. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Casey, yes. Council member Vieiraa, yes. Council member Otero, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, I. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Okay, we'll start off with the first item, which is number three. Glenn, we're going to address item three. Okay, thank you.

Welcome. Please state your name.

Yeah, Galan Guzman. Uh so the reason I pulled uh this item is because over um the last few meetings I've noticed that there's no individual invoice number associated with every invoice subscription. So um I just wanted some clarification on that just to ensure that there's no ghost invoices per se. Uh additionally I've noticed that u it's not categorized by uh department. Um so we just it's just a bunch of lines over line. Um so how do we know which which uh which invoice goes to what department? And then thirdly um for professional development fees um charged is there a limit on each department on how much each department can charge per employee?

Those are your three questions. Uh yeah. Yeah, for sure. Right now, we'll we'll start with um our finance department. Thank you. Good evening. Vanessa Porto, finance director. Um so no invoices or departments. I believe there was a security risk that uh when we were when we were adding the invoices and the check numbers on the voucher list, we were exposing the city to um fishing and scams. So those that information was removed from the voucher list.

That is correct. There were several people out there were abusing the power and using that against the city and it was unfortunate but we had to remove it. Uh can you answer the second and the third question? Um so for the that would go for the invoices and departments professional development it is dictated by the uh labor groups. Each one of the the labor groups are as depending on the positions they get assigned or they're ellegible for professional development um reimbursement. Do we have that number for each one?

It depends. Um some of the labor groups they re uh the positions that are represented they it varies between $750 per c uh fiscal year and $900. um who keeps count of like record of of how much each employee has has charged? I'm sorry. It it is a combined effort between our HR department and our uh finance department and the department head who's approving the uh professional development for the employees that are eligible for it.

Okay. The reason I ask it is cuz there's a 4,000 charge by uh engineering uh for for professional like a for a conference and then so it's not really itemized. So that's that was a big red flag.

Conferences tend to be different than professional development. Uh the city does have a trainings and conference budget for each one of the departments and it and not necessarily is linked to the professional development. professional development. It depending on theou and um the limit it would usually be uh used for for a class outside of the approved training uh that is budgeted for the department

for the training. Does that cover lodge lodging and like travel and food expenses? would be inclusive of all of that cost that okay that is the cost of the training the lodging the registration okay transportation and again is it a combined effort of you guys or is it finance or HR that keeps t combined effort and also the department head who's approving the training for the particular uh department okay was that Was that Did you answer my third question? I believe so. Okay, that's it for now. Thanks. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Is there any additional comments or questions on that item from the public? Okay, we're bringing this item, Mr. Casey. Yeah, we're going to bringing it back now for the council for any comments or questions. Mr. Casey, thank thank you back to that personal development. I I've noticed in the past that it's been used to buy computers and so I'm not sure who makes the decision what is personal development the department head the individual. Thank you.

Good evening council. So in their professional agreement or their employment contract, they are allowed professional development and that could be utilized for equipment or it could be used for training to help with their professional development. So those are um purchases that are allowable. Okay. So, so when they purchase this for personal development, does it belong to them or do they turn it back to the city when they leave? Thank you.

They are authorized at professional development. It's a part of their package and it depends on the memorandum of understanding or the employment agreement on the terms and conditions. Is there any additional comments or questions? Bring this item back for a motion. Make a motion to approve item number three of the consent calendar. Second. Roll call. Council member Casey. Well, again, the money's already been spent, so yes. Council member Vieiraa, yes. Council member Otto, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, hi. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Okay. Um item number seven, I wasn't I don't remember who. Hold on. Okay. Councilwoman, go ahead. Thank you, mayor. One quick question. Um I just want to confirm because with number seven, um during the process of construction, one of the light poles was damaged and T we had to call TE remove it. I just want to confirm that the contractor that damaged it will be reimbursing the city for that and that's not coming out of our uh budget. Well, we will get reimbursed.

Uh yeah, that that'll be uh reimburseed. Um I've been working with uh Streets and um and Delilah to uh make sure that that's getting taken care of. And um even if uh the contractor doesn't reimburse that, we do have bonds uh from the contractor. You know, that's what that's what we have those for. just in case things like that happen. So, okay. I just wanted to confirm it wasn't going to hit our budget because I'm sure removing having TD come out and remove a live light wasn't cheap for us. So, I just want to make sure that that was going to before I authorized anything further on that. I just want to make sure. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there any questions from the audience on this item? Bring it back to the council for any additional comments or questions. Make a motion to approve item number seven of the consent calendar. I'll second that. We get a roll call. We'll give we'll give Casey the second. Council member Casey, yes. Council member Vieira, yes. Council member Otto, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, I. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Okay. Item number eight. Who was that? That was me. Casey, that was you, sir.

Thank you. This is seems to be what we regularly do. We wave the second reading. I'm not sure that the the public has had it the proper timing to really voice their opinion on this. That's the reason I hold it. I didn't want to vote waving the second reading. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll move to the audiences and members of the public have any comments or questions on this item. Mr. Warren, go ahead, sir. Good evening, council members. John Warren from the city of Series. I have a question has to do with housing and uh series uh supposedly needs to have a certain number of houses. um or housing units built to be in compliance with the with the state requirements. And if I remember correctly, that's like 3,000 houses or 3,000 units. Is that correct? Or am I not correct?

It's approximately that number. Yes. 3,300 maybe or something like that. I remember

I don't have the exact number, but it's approximately that. Yes. Uh, and as I recall too with the with Copper Trails, one of the comments that was made by LAFCO in their letter of response early on in this is that the city of Series does not really need the uh, Copper Trails area for housing because Sir is at like 110% of available land for the houses that are required that we need. Um, so I point out that uh West Landing, I believe, has a uh uh area to build 4,000 homes and then there's a couple other areas here within u um I think Whitmore Ranch or whatever that has like 46 parcels. So the city really doesn't need copper trails to meet the requirement for the state housing requirement. And that was pointed out by a letter from LAFCO in their early on discussion. And also um I think um I u made my point by bringing that up that even though Copper Trails is an excellent opportunity for the series. I don't think this is a good time for us to take on another financial burden that we can't afford. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Warren. Is there anybody else? Welcome, sir. Please state your name. Uh Tim Sanders. Uh I just think I have a comment. I have a question and then a couple comments. My question is what's the timeline for the buildout on this Copper Trails project? City attorney or Julian. Well, the full the full buildout for copper trails is going to be based on the market. So, you're looking 10, 20, maybe 30 years.

Okay. And my comments are is you still have you've got a project approved on the east side of the freeway along Whitmore and Moore Road for houses. You've got apartments on the west side of the freeway along Whitmore Road that aren't completed. There look like dereliks out there. Those need to be completed. you got more housing. Uh I think you're just a little bit premature in this copper trails deal. I can see you uh bringing in that pocket area. That makes a lot of sense. But there's no infrastructure. The service road overpass has not been improved. Service road itself has not been improved. That exchange needs to be put in before you decide to go a little bit further to the south and build more houses. Uh, and if you were going to do that, I would say stop at stop at Redwood Road right now. And that leaves a little bit more of a buffer. It's just looks like uh it's going to cost millions and millions of dollars. And I don't know where all that money is going to come from. Uh probably it it'll come eventually, but you know, we've got to sometime along the line, we've got to draw a line in the sand and say, "Hey, this is how big we want our city to be. This is how many services we can provide. We don't need to go any bigger than this and I think this is just a little bit premature as far as uh putting it together so far. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else? Okay, I bring this item back. Anybody from the council have a comment or question? Make a motion to accept item number eight. I'll second. Roll call, please. Council member Casey, no. Council member Vieiraa, yes. Council member Otero, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, hi. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 41.

Item number nine is an item that I I pulled after a previous conversation with our interim city manager. We just wanted to clarify some points on this agreement and also some clarifying points on what was placed on the agenda versus what is true. Sir, go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh item number nine regarding a an agreement for concession services. There is a discrepancy in the staff report between the wording of the dollar amount and the numbered figure of the dollar of the percentage. I'm sorry. It says 20% written out in the staff report and then in parenthesis it says 30%. And I know at one point uh staff did correct that error because I saw the corrected uh version, but that did not make it into the council packet. What made it into the council packet was the previous incorrect version of the staff report. In addition, the agreement itself, the language of the agreement, and I believe it's section J, the words say 15%. And in parentheses, it says the number 30%. So, I just wanted the mayor and the council uh to know that we have confirmed it should be 30% throughout the staff report as well as 30% within the agreement itself, and that will be corrected prior to execution. Thank you very much, city manager. We'll go ahead and take this out to the public. I know we have uh the application applicant here. Is there anything you would like to say? You don't have to, but if you would like to, especially on making sure that you understand that it's 30% as well.

Hi, my name's Irene Ortiz, uh, City of Series. Um, I did type something out in the event that this did get pulled and I had a chance to speak, so I will share it with you guys. Many of you guys know me, many of you guys maybe don't. Um, but I want to thank you for the opportunity uh to speak with you today about this potential partnership. I'm here to share why our churo business would be a strong and meaningful addition to your concession stand offerings. Um, our business is proudly based in series and more importantly, it's run by a family that lives here in Series. This isn't just about where we operate, but it's our home. Because of that, everything we do is rooted in serving our community. We've had the privilege of working closely with local school sites, community events throughout series, and that connection drives our commitment to quality, re reliability, and positive impact. Because we are from this community and we have a long lasting history here, we truly understand the needs of the people that we serve here. We understand that this directly shapes how we build our menu and set our prices. And one of the things we bring to the table is uh our extensive concession style menu. Uh but also while churros are a specialty, we offer a variety of options designed to appeal to a wide range of guests. Because we know the importance of keeping prices accessible for families, students, and community members. We don't aim to serve great food. We aim to serve our community and everybody um will be able to get something from us. We also uh what also sets us apart um is how we approach partnerships. And um we understand that this isn't just about sales and giving back through our contract agreement. It's about uh sorry, it's about creating value for the organization behind it. We've got experience in working in partnerships where a percentage of sales is given back. For example, we've supported local school fundraisers, contributed to through drink sales at large street fairs, worked with nonprofit organizations to help generative funds and many more opportunities that we've had. In addition, we operate with full professionalism and compliance. We carry all necessary license, permites, and

insurance. and we understand the importance of responsibility behind business practices, including proper reporting and contribution of sale tax within the cities that we serve. This ensures that our operations are not only smooth and reliable, but also aligned with local regulations and community standards. We're flexible, collaborative, and transparent in how we structure these agreements. And whether it's a fundraiser or ongoing concession arrangement or a special event, we're committed to making sure the partnership benefits everybody involved. Beyond that, we bring reliability and professionalism. Um, and at the end of the day, choosing us means choosing a local familyrun business that's invested in series, not just economically, but personally. Uh, we're here to grow with the community, support local initiatives, and create partnerships that make lasting impact. So, thank you for your time and consideration, and thank you for clearing things up on the numbers, and we look forward to serving you out there hopefully in the next couple of months.

Thank you very much. Is there any any other members of the community that would like to make a comment on this item? Seeing none, bringing this back for the council. I know I have council member Mr. Casey. Go ahead.

Yes, turn it on. Want to make sure you can hear me. I had to turn it on. The uh experience that I had, again, I mentioned at last council meeting at the Christmas tree event. Uh we had vendors that were authorized by the city to do business, but they didn't have resale licenses and weren't collecting sales tax uh on processed food. I just want to make sure that uh this vendor has all those documents. I know that our application to for a is it called a C CP CUP doesn't require that information and for what for whatever reason I I can't I don't understand but I just want to make sure that going forward that we have businesses that are doing business with the city of Siri have all the proper documentation Thank you.

Yes. Uh thank you for your question, Mr. Casey. Um, I just wanted to clear up, uh, I did, you know, I wasn't well verssed on this before, but I've spoken with some of our recreation staff, uh, including our recreation supervisor, and, um, she informed me that, um, though the, um, Christmas Tree Lane was authorized by the city, the individual vendors that were selling throughout the neighborhood were not, uh, selling through the city. They they went and registered individually through the county. So, um, when they register through the county, they're not, uh, they're not, uh, required to have any type of, uh, forms shown or on display. Um, the ones that were at the at the park facility, they were, um, registered through the city. And Jessica as our event coordinator, she collects all those documents. She keeps them, she registers them with the county. So, she's making sure that all the vendors that were at the park in the parking lot were registered and in compliance. Um, and then also for this uh for this vendor in question, um, she's already shown me all the documents. They they've already turned everything in, even what is uh not required on the application.

I appreciate your statement, but um, the vendor that I'm speaking about at Christmas tree was unsnr park. I spoke to Julian about it afterwards and the person is lives in Modesto. The business is in Modesto did not collect sales tax. He did not have a resale license. So yeah, your your person that's checking all the documents is based on the application that we have which doesn't require that. Sir, our application doesn't say you have to have a resale license. So, there's no reason to think that the person that's verifying the documents uh why why would she look for one? Because our application doesn't ask for that. And you know, it's a it's a pet peeve of mine because I pay sales tax where I work and and I've actually been challenged by all kinds of reasons why I didn't pay taxes and had to pay taxes later on. So, and and it's one of the sources of income for the city of Siri and who knows how many people out there are operating with this application that we've given them without the that requirement. I I have no idea. All I know is the 10 or 15 over the last few years, none of them collect sales tax. And all I want to make sure is a person that's at the city property at least has all the proper documents. And I'm not suggesting that she doesn't. I'm just suggesting that the city has an obligation to make sure that she does or they they do the company does. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Casey. Miss uh Councilwoman Rosinda. Thank you. I just there's a couple questions on there for me. Uh the first one is I just want to confirm the legal name because I know it was spelled multiple ways throughout the contract and so I just want to make sure we get that correct because it's not binding if we don't have the correct legal name.

Yeah, those have all been corrected in the um not in the version that you guys received but or I'm not sure if it made it to the version that you guys received but uh all the the apostrophes in the correct spot on both the resolution and the staff report. Perfect. And then I noticed on there there were some looks like some standard hours or and times closed. I know this year they came forward there were some soccer tournaments in January and that's how I became aware of the issue because they had reached out to me about not having the concession stand open during tournaments. But I noticed in the contract again we had it stated that they were closed. I just don't want to run into the same problem we ran into this year when the concessions were closed and we had tournaments going on in the um larger field.

Yeah, I believe that on the um in the staff report it does say for them to be open during all um city events and scheduled scheduled events, scheduled uh tournaments. Uh and then when they when we don't have anything scheduled, they're not required to be open. Uh and then it does state when we would be closed. I believe it was from uh Jessica's here, but I think it's from December 1st to January. Jessica, I I understand that. Yeah, sorry. This is your Jessica. It is only from December to January, but because Hello.

Okay, we can hear you now. Please start all over again. Thank you. Typically, it is only uh December and January, but because we were unable to close the prior year, we had to close a little bit longer to make sure the fields were maintained and there was no potholes or anything like that. Doug, thank you, Jessica. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. Even with closure though, she is able or whoever is there is able to be open and they are sent weekly um weekly reminders of who will be there and what time.

Okay. I just wanted to confirm and the contractor said they were to be closed J December and January and I know this year we had a tournament going on on the large field although I saw the smaller fields were closed for repairs. Um, so that's where I just want to make sure if we do have tournaments out there that they have the option to be open um, in the event that they're available. I just this year that's where I started getting the phone calls is when they weren't open and we had tournaments out there. And then the contract doesn't say that they can be. It might stay in the staff report, but I have to look at the contract because that's what we're ultimately having to go to the attorney if they're violating the contract, not the staff report.

Prior, we did have an individual that was in the concession. However, um it was too fiscally irresponsible for him to go and have individuals out there as he was not making enough money. So, he did end up pulling his contract early. So, he ended up pulling in February, I believe, of this year out of the contract and that's why it reopened is because he was unable to fulfill it. Thank you very much, Councilwoman Lo.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, it seems like there's some discrepancies in this contract and it it truly does just make me it makes me a little bit nervous to approve this tonight without seeing the corrections. Um, what if this we approve this and it gets put in the minutes, but there's an error in the contract. Is that going to come back to council?

So, um, thank you for bringing that up, council member. My recommendation was as to the grammatical errors, we can fix that, um, through the staff process of cleaning it up and sending it out for signatures to make sure that it's consistent. As to the discrepancy with the gross um percentages, my recommendation is that as part of your motion, you state because it's it both in the resolution and in the contract to make sure that it states that it's a motion to approve it subject to correction that the percentage to be reflected is 30% in both the resolution and the and the and the contract. So that way it can be approved as part of your minutes. we don't have to worry about bringing it back. If there are additional concerns with maybe language of the agreement, we can always look at it, bring it back and and bring it at your next meeting.

Okay. Thank you, Nubia. And the next thing is um when it comes to these kind of contracts, I just have a recommendation for city staff or city manager. Um is it possible for the council to be made aware if a contractor terminates their contract early? this uh particular um location is in my district and I had no idea that the uh concessions wasn't even open. So, it's not really fair to the council or the community when we don't really know what's what's going on. So, thank you.

Thank you very much. And for the last check box, any contract will be reviewed by myself before I sign it. So, I will make sure, especially in these cases, that everything that we motioned today will be in that agreement. Other than that, I'll bring it back for a motion. Make a motion that we approve an agreement for concession services with Vick Churros at 30% and authorizing the interimm city manager to execute the agreement.

I'd like to add to the motion that it have that the contract have all state and federal city and county requirements. Uh just a quick point of clarification on that council member that is already included in the in the provision of the uh contract under section I compliance with law and regulations which includes federal, state, local laws and regulations including the business license and any other local requirements. So that's already in in the agreement and you thank you. Okay, I'll second it. One point of clarification also, Mr. Mayor. Sir,

um on the motion itself, it is to include the adjustment not only to the agreement but to the resolution as well for the 30%. Correct. Correct. And the grammatical corrections. Correct. Okay. Roll call, please. Council member Casey, no. Council member Vieira, yes. Council member Otero, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, hi. Mayor Lopez, yes.

Motion carries 41. And congratulations to Vix Churros as they have always been great members of the community as they were very heavily involved in bridging the gap event that happened for four years and that was a educational forum in order to help people who did not understand how to open up a business open up a business and that's why I'm very was very confident that Irene was the one taking care of all of this. Okay, let's see. That is it for now as far as all that and I just want to go into a fivem minute recess. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're getting ready to start. So, please take your seat. Welcome back everyone. We are now in our public hearing section. Item number 12 is approving the concurrence of the Stannis's urban county and Stannis house home consortium the annual action plan for fiscal year 2026 2027 and supporting the submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD. And this goes to our economic development manager Julian. Good evening, mayor and council and community members. So tonight we will go over a short brief uh presentation on the annual action plan um this year 2026 to 27 outline how federal housing and community development funds will be used and the consortium consists of the city of series Houston Newman Oakdale Patterson Riverbank Waterford and Turlock. Um it is not a member of the urban county but is al but is a member of the home consortium. Uh the county receives funding annually from HUD. Uh the funding supports housing and community development activities. Projects focus on improving neighborhoods and helping lowincome residents activities align with the priorities identified in the consolidated plan. Slo County works collaboratively with cities throughout the urban county. Together we receive federal funds from HUD. These include CDDBG or also known as community development block grant, the ESG grant which is the emergency

solution grant and our home investment partnership program. The goal is to address housing infrastructure and community needs across the region. The annual action plan is required by HUD. It identifies how funds will be used. It focuses on housing and community needs. And it also provides an opportunity for community input. The HUD entitlement requirements include the consolidated plan, also known as the comm plan, which is a five-year plan, the annual action plan, which is before you this evening, and the caper annual performance report. These help ensure transparency and accountability. The consolidate plan identifies key priorities for funding. These priorities include improving infrastructure, supported supporting affordable housing, addressing homelessness, and providing essential services. These priorities guide the project selection each year. The plan includes uh proposed projects. It identifies funding recommendations. It outlines geographic distribution. It provides opportunity for public participation and public comment period from April 8th through May 8th. So all consortiums within the city are doing the same presentation in their cities. Um the final one will be at the board of supervisors. Um and all comments or suggestions will be filtered into that uh presentation. The consolidated plan covers the five years. The annual action plan identifies projects for each year and allocates

funding amounts for specific activities. The 2026 27 plan covers July 1st of 2026 through June 30th of 2027. The plan must be submitted to HUD in May of 2026. The community development block grant used for a wide range of community development needs. The home investment partnership is used to create affordable housing opportunities for low-income households and the emergency solution grant is used to address homelessness. So as you can see here with the total allocation for this year is approximately 3 million 696973. So here the CDBG and ESG allocation for series we received the CDBG um is allocated at 260,115 and 18 cents ESG as a consortium. So that is the 202 on the bottom there that is allocated to the consortium. Community development law grant meets national objectives to benefit low to moderate income, prevent slum or blight and address urgent community needs. Each city receives funding for infrastructure projects. These projects improve neighborhoods and infrastructure. Projects include streets, sidewalk, sewer, and water improvements. These projects benefit low and moderate income communities. So the projects that are being funded for this year in series is the Marl Village for the ADA improvement phase three project. So over the last couple of years, we've used this money um to offset the cost for that project. Um and this project is still ongoing. Um and so as you can see the other cities and county and their

projects here, but uh just the city specifically will continue with the moral village ADA improvements over um the funding recommendation for the 2627 uh priority funding for CDBG is the WCARE program. Uh we cared substance abuse counseling and treatment program and they were allocated 172,000. Public services awarded uh was went to housing stability with center for human services. A c children's crisis center was um allocated 35,000 to the guardian house 35,000 to Marsha and verda shelter. 35,000 was uh the courtapp appointed special advocates for direct services and legal program for healthy alternatives to violent uh environments. Shelter services included shelter operations, essential services, homeless prevention is any rent and utility assistance for families and individuals in immediate danger of homelessness. And then rapid rehousing provides short-term rent and utility assistance to homeless persons. Fiscal year 2026 to 27, the funding recommendations for emergency solutions. So this is that 202,000 um went to center for human services for low barrier shelter. This is their I believe their youth transitional housing on um Orangeberg. Haven emergency shelter received 45,000. Community housing and shelter services uh was granted 80,000 for rapid rehousing. So this is your uh rental assistance. So anyone in in the county that needs rental assistance, community housing shelter service was allocated that

amount and then the county administration got a portion of that. Home eligible activities. These funds may be used for a variety of affordable housing activities that generally fall into four categories. So one, rehabilitation of owner occupied housing, assistance to home buyers, acquisition, rehabilitation or construction of rental housing and tenant-based rental assistance. So the these funds are allocated to individuals in the consortium. Members must be committed to an approved project within six months of July 1st. An approved project is one that is included in the HUD approved annual action plan and has completed the required environmental review process. If a consortium member does not have an approved project, it will be made available to all consortium members through a requested for proposal or RFP. So, the city of Series at this time, we don't have a proposed project to use the home. Um, we don't have the staff to do like the first-time home buyers or rehab program. So, what we've done, what the city, the county is doing is an RP is going out um for rehab loaning. Um so to look at either Stanco um housing authority or self-help to service that program um to do the rehab loan we have approximately $600,000 that can be used for for that service. um the old home allocation that um is sitting with the city of Churlock um A RFP will be going out for first-time home buyers. So that first-time home buyer

program should be coming forth, I believe, in July or August. Um and that that home money that was been allocated will be used for first-time home buyers. So, we'll have some first-time home buyer money. Um, also I want to let everyone know that there is some home allocation potentially to use for ADU units. Um, so, uh, those individuals that are looking to develop ADU ADU units, um, they must be affordable units with a 5-year deed restriction on them. So, those are, uh, what that home allocation can be used for. Uh the county previously issued an affordable housing RFP in September to solicit projects for the home consortium. Uh three projects ranked the highest and were awarded funding in December. All three projects are currently in contract negotiations but have not begun. So we have as you can see the Park Street Cottages uh develop site with four units. uh the Valley Manor project uh for 48 units in Abbey Street, I believe that's in Empire, uh to do develop four units and develop an additional five units. And that is uh the conclusion of our presentation. If you have any questions and we do have I believe a county representative um online too. Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and open up the public hearing for members of the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on the public hearing? Seeing none, I'll bring this item back for the council for comments and or questions. Council member Otero. Thank you, Mayor Julian. I just want clarification. The opportunity for citizen participation is that to assist

with um where these projects are, what projects will be done?

Yeah. So, if you have a project in like your district that that's meets the low income, um what we do is we send those requests to the the county and they make sure that it is approved uh project. It meets the low income. Uh the environmental has been taken care of and then they can put it on the list when we do the whole consolidated action plan. Um, but in the past it's been the Marl Village um project because that's what we have going on right now. But if there's something that you see in your district that you would like to present to the county, then we can take it and present it to the county.

Thank you, Council Member Pier. Thank you. A couple quick questions. I just want to write it down so don't forget. Um, we recently had a community meeting, correct? And that was what about a week ago I believe. Do we have other projects that came forward during that community meeting? There was only one individual and no new projects. Thank you. Um now if that area goes forward with getting annexed the pocket area near my district, would that be one that could future be added similar to Marorrow Village with sidewalks and improvements into that district? Yes, it would qualify. Yes.

Thank you. And one last thing, um, since I know we have the budget nicks, are any of these fun like CDBG or CD, sorry, ESG or CDBG, alphabet soup here, just want to confirm because it sounds like from the description you've given me today and in the past that this could be used for code enforcement and some of the enforcements when it comes to addressing some of the homeless and the homeless encampments that they had talked about today. So, it's allocated specifically for CDBG. Um, are you talking about currently right now?

Well, obviously we'd have to do year out, I believe, is what we had to do. Um, because I think you had said we had to be year out. I thought ESG was for could be used in CDBG for some of the um homeless prevention and stuff. And I know a lot of our time, especially what Cassandra had said, is done first thing in the morning when it comes to dealing with encampments. And I didn't know if some of that money can help cover and keep our code enforcement at least a little bit. So I would have to refer that to the county because that is they would have to get that from HUD. I know Anna was on there. I don't see her on there now. If she's not on there, I can bring that back to you at a report out.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Any additional comments or questions? Bring this back for a motion. I believe she was on. Anna, can you answer that question if that can be used for force issues not on? We're going to have to move on. Back for a motion. Make a motion to approve item number 12. I'll second that. Get a roll call, please. Council member Casey, yes. Council member Vieiraa, yes. Council member Otto, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, I. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Moving on to discussion items. We have two. First one is securing commercial garbage containers, but this is a information only from Casses. Sir,

thank you, mayor. Thank you, council members. Um last year um the council requested information on the provisions in the city of Siri's municipal code regarding securing commercial garbage bins and the unauthor the unauthorized tampering with waste recycling and organics containers. um highlighted in the in the packet you guys got. Uh it's just our city ordinance that's preventing or that's a lining out the the unauthorized entry into collection containers. And what classifies as that? Basically any uh rumaging or anything um even collecting, searching, all these things by anybody that's not the owner of the waste container um or someone acting in in their with their consent. um an authorized city, county, state or federal personnel uh in the performance of their duties or employees of the solid waste company. That would be um Bertilotti right now but uh at any time it would be anybody that we have contracted. um these anything you know any rumaging, exploring, scavenging or otherwise searching a waste container is a violation of the provisions of um our MUN code and it's declared a public nuisance and as uh Cassandra shared earlier those public nuisances have to be reported to um our code enforcement using the ask series um and the the phone number and email that they gave out there. Uh in addition to the ordinance as part of the city of series and Bertilotti series uh disposal franchise agreement, Bertilotti uh is required to make available for for an extra charge to any customer who uses the bins as a meth uh they have to supply them with a method of locking their bins um to prevent other parties from using or accessing the contents of the bin without authorization. Um that basically lines out what our our city ordinance that's already in place and what's already in place in our

franchise agreement with Bertilotti regarding uh locking up and securing the commercial bins. If you guys have any questions, we can take those. Thank you very much. Before we go into the questions, we'll go ahead and open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment or question on thisformational item? uh day pride series. Uh there's no way that you're going to enforce that. You got to have somebody on that 24 hours a day if you want want those to stay clean. I've se they put lock put locks on them. They put all kinds of thing. They wind up getting their locks cut. My brother, his his blocks would cut and they even set fire to it a couple times. And then the people drive by, they just leave their stuff, pile it up up around the garbage can. They don't even they once they fill up the garbage can, they just dump all along there. I've seen places that they tried to even even our Legion Hall there was locks on it. It still looks like a like a pig pin because people just dump whatever they want. There's no way you're going to enforce that. Thank you, Mr. Prrent. Anybody else?

Uh, Galen Guzman. So, I just have a question. For businesses that don't comply, is there like a fine or a fee like for them? No, not that I'm aware of. Uh, this is something that's available to anybody that requests it. It's not a a requirement of us to to have them lock up their um their bins or even the containment areas for their bins. Um, the these are all provisions within our MUN code to allow them to do that and to take those necessary steps to secure their waste bins. Um, but just because uh we can't enforce it doesn't mean that the law is not there and and active.

I hear you. Um, so what there's a business that comes to mind in District 2. It's like right by the railroad tracks. Uh, I jog by there and it's always like there's garbage everywhere. Usually there's like no one there at the I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, at the Union Pacific Railroad, like business right by Crows Landing and Whitmore. I always jog by there and there's folks that like are rumaging through the through the garbage sometimes and then other times it's just open and then there's garbage everywhere. So, um that that little like uh manufacturing office like uh home or office usually doesn't have anyone there like 24/7. So, it's kind of hard for them to like lock it up. But, I mean, I think like there's steps that we as a city could do to try to like keep that from happening. And perhaps one of them would be like doing like a fine for business owner owners that don't keep their bins inside. Just a thought. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Anybody else? I'm bring this item back for comments or questions from the council. This is an information item only. No motion is required. Oh, Councilwoman Otter, sorry about that.

Thank you for um bringing this up tonight, Josh. Um I appreciate the information. You know, I know that it it's this is something challenging to enforce. Um, but I I've always wondered if there is a a requirement we can put on the business owner. I know that um the the service is available to have them locked, but I feel like some of the responsibility needs to be on the business owner because there are times when their trash is overfilling. Um, we do see new businesses coming in and they have an enclosure and everything, but specifically my concerns started coming up uh with this topic when we had the homeless in the La Pearlla parking lot. Um, so if there's something that we can explore as a city to try to help with the problem, I think that would be a good thing.

Thank you very much. Any additional comments from the council? Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And then Josh, just to confirm, this is just for uh businesses and commercial dumpsters. This isn't for uh residential trash cans and receptacles that are in the community. Um the the ordinance applies to all um but the the availability for locking mechanisms is for the commercial. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much, council. Unless there's any additional comments, we'll go ahead and move on. Moving on to item number 14. This is the budget workshop draft fiscal year 2027 proposed budget and this will be headed by our finance director Vanessa Portillo. Thank you very much. Good evening, mayor, council members, and members of the public. City staff here present. I'm Vanessa Portillo, finance director, and today I'm going to walk you through the city's fiscal year 27 proposed budget presentation shown during the budget workshop meeting held last week on April 2021, 2026. This presentation is intended to provide a high-level overview of the specific focus on the general fund. Tonight's presentation will cover the budget process and timeline, a citywide overview of old funds, stuffing updates, and a deeper look at the general fund. We will also highlight major impacts to the budget through key revenue and expenditure trends and close with next steps in the adoption process. Before we get into the numbers, I'd like to briefly explain how this budget was

put together. We kicked off the process in January. Departments then prepare and submitted their budgets between late February and early March. After that, the city manager and finance team met with each one of the departments to review their request, look closely at the revenues, expenses, and overall impacts to the city's finances. This process is both both detailed and collaborative. It is not just about the numbers. It is it also involves making policy decisions and working across all departments. At the end of the day, the goal is to make sure we're using our resources effectively while keeping the city financially stable over the long term. As you can see in the chart in the budget process timeline, we held the budget workshop last week. We are doing the presentation for the budget workshop here in our open meeting tonight, too. from the bud uh from the budget workshop. The city held this workshop last Tuesday, April 21, 2026. And the purpose of the workshop was three-fold. First, it was to present the preliminary budget information. Second, receive feedback from the public. and third receive direction and guidance from the city council. At a high level for fiscal year 27 proposed budget, it reflects several structural and operational updates. This includes the creation of a new solid waste enterprise fund. It's fund 587 and updates to internal service funds. the internal service funds, the ISFs allocation methodologies and the addition of two new positions, one

administrative analyst for wastewater and one accounting technician in the finance department. These positions do not impact the general fund. Citywide total revenues are projected at approximately 86.6 6 million with expenditures at $84.9 million. Personnel costs account for about $32.1 million while operations and maintenance make up approximately $52.8 million. Capital improvements and debt service numbers will be finalized as part of the budget adoption process and they will be brought to council uh with our next meeting in coming up in May 2026. This is a staffing update and from a staffing perspective, the fiscical year 27 budget includes two new positions, an administrative analyst and an accounting technician. Both positions are funded outside of the general fund. And we have included the unfunded position list which the total remains of 14 positions for fiscal year 27. There are no recommendations to unfund additional positions. Now, I'll transition to the general fund, which is the city's primary operating fund and supports core services such as police, fire, parks, and administration. This is where we see the most significant financial pressures and policy considerations. There are several key factors shaping the fiscical year 27 general fund budget. Specifically, what we're seeing here are inc increases in unfunded

pension liability, significant increases in fire service contract, flat performance of in major sources of of revenue like property tax and sales tax, rising personnel cost, and a decrease in charges and services largely tied to the cannabis development agreement. We will go through and review the top three general fund revenue outlook. This is property tax, sales tax, and charges for services. Together, these revenues represent 2thirds of the general fund total revenues and they form the backbone of our operating budget. for property tax. We can see in this chart, it continues to show steady growth over time. The total growth from fiscal year 22 to fiscal year 25, it totals just about $1.5 million. With the exception of fiscal year 22 where our actuals did not meet the property tax projection, all other years our actuals have outperform the budgeted projections by a total of nearly $900,000 combined. For fiscal year 27, we are projecting a modest increase, continuing that stable trend without any significant spikes in our property tax. for the sales tax. Sales tax revenue remained largely flat over the past several years with modest year-to-year fluctuations. In both fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24, actual collections fall short of the budgeted projections. This shortfalls show that sales tax revenues can be

unpredictable. It is affected by changes in the economy, how people choose to spend their money, especially as more spending shifts to services that are not taxed, and overall consumer confidence. Although slightly slight increases are projected through fiscal year 27, overall growth is expected to remain flat. These projections reflect cautious assumptions about the econom economic outlook and reinforce the need for careful revenue forecasting and fiscal planning. Our charges for services are projected to decrease by approximately $387,000. This is primarily due to a reduction in revenue from the cannabis development agreement which accounts for the majority of the decline. On the expenditure side, the same key pressures appear. We will take a look at pension, fire and personnel cost. We will start with with our pension which is one of the most significant cost drivers in the general fund. It is important to note that pension costs include two main components. The annual cost of benefits earned by employees as well as payments toward the unfunded liability from prior years. The chart of the slide represents a historical view of the city's pension cost. The bars indicate the annual pension expense and the trend line indicates how much of the pension costs the general fund covers. Looking at the historical trend, total pension costs have steadily increased from just over

$5 million in fiscal year 22 to more than $8 million in fiscal year 27. At the same time, the general fund share the general fund shares has grown from about $3.3 million to roughly $5.7 million. The general fund covers a large portion of this cost, paying for about 70% of total pension expenses. As you can see in the chart, that share has gradually increased over time, reaching that 70% mark in both fiscal year 26 and fiscal year 27. For fiscal year 27, pension costs increased by approximately $1.4 4 million which represents a 22% rise compared to the prior year and this trend we see it continue to grow in the future as well. We have included this next slide which looks at the pension costs and the unfunded liability for both of our groups. the miscellaneous on the green um with the green bars and the in our safety group with the blue bars. And as if we start on the left with the miscellaneous employees, both the normal cost and the unfunded liability have increased over time with the unfunded liability making up the larger share of this increase. Another way to look at it is how p how each pension dollar is spent. About 42 cents go towards the normal cost and 57 58 cents go towards the unfunded liability. Now the trend line shows the pension costes in comparison to payroll. The trend line is showing that for every

dollar in wages the city is spending about 28 cents on pension cost. On the right side, for safety employees, the costs are even more weighted towards the past obligations. About 20 cents for of every pension dollar goes to the normal cost and 80 cents goes to the unfunded liability. When we compare this to payroll, the impact is much higher. By fiscal year 27, for every dollar in wages, we spent about 96 cents on pension. Our fire services contract with the city of Modesta is also a another um cost a major cost driver. For fiscal year 27, the contract increased by approximately 1.5 million or 19%. However, it is important to note that the contract terms are still under negotiation and there's a potential for the final costs to come down and we will be updating our projections and report back once the terms are finalized in our contract. For personnel costs, our personnel costs remain the largest expenditure category in the general fund and continue to be the primary cost driver. Within that total, police sworn personnel account for roughly 60% of overall cost with police nonsworn which is in it's including dispatch and code enforcement contributes to about another 12 to 19% depending on the year. Fire services represent about 23% of personnel costs in 20 in fiscal year 22. Series fire services transition to a contracted model through the Modest

Modesta Fire Department, which is why those costs are no longer reflected in this chart after fiscal year 2022. The remaining categories, administration, recreation, and parks maintenance make up a smaller portion of the overall total. And you will also notice a reduction in administrative and in fiscal year in administration in fiscal year 27 which is driven by the trans the transfer of certain functions into the new enterprise fund supporting our solid waste operations. Now that we've walked through the major impacts of the to the general fund, let's connect the dots, showing how those factors shape our revenues and expenditures and what what it means to our reserves. This slide provides a highle overview of the fisc year 27 general fund budget. Starting with the department requested budget, this represents the status quo budget, meaning it reflects the full cost to maintain current service levels, including known increases from fiscal year 26. Revenues are estimated at about 27.3 million, which is a slight decrease of about 260,000 or just under 1% from fiscal year 26. and expenditures total about $32.9 million, an increase of roughly 3.4 million or 12%. This is mainly due to higher personnel cost, contracts, and operating expenses. At this status quo level, the city is facing a projected deficit of about $5.6 million. To address this gap, staff identified

and implemented cost-saving measures or balancing strategies which are reflected in the city manager's recommended budget. These strategies total about $3.2 million and do not impact any staffing levels at the moment. After applying these adjustments, expenditures are reduced to approximately 29.7 million, bringing the projected deficit down to about $2.4 million. And at the bottom, you can see the next graph, which is showing you a breakdown of general fund cost, and it's showing us that about 80% of expenditures are personnel related, including our fire services contract. Another 17% is allocated to operations and maintenance with the remaining 3% supporting internal services, capital, and transfers. This table is showing a list of the cost-saving measures that were implemented to help address the 5.6 million status quo deficit. The balancing strategies total approximately $3.2 2 million. The balancing strategies are grouped into three main categories. First, one-time solutions totaling about $1.3 million and that is primarily coming from the is uh the internal service funds facilities and IT reserves to provide immediate relief. Second, ongoing reductions, also about $1.3 million, which include items like vacancy assumptions, employees, overtime adjustments, and updates to contracts and operational budgets to better align with actual spending. And third, technical adjustments totaling roughly $57,000

reflecting cost reallocations and methodology updates reducing the impact on the general fund. It is important to note that none of these strategies impact funded staffing levels. Now we can take a look at the general fund balance or our savings. We started fiscal year 24 with an ending fund balance of approximately $7 million. In fiscal year 25, we plan to use about $600,000 of that of those reserves. And in fiscal year 26, another $2 million, which brings the fiscal year 26 balance down to around $4.4 million of our savings. And looking ahead, we are projecting another two $2.4 $4 million in use for fiscal year 27, bringing the fund balance down to about $2 million. That is about 6.6% of our budgeted expenditures, which is well below the established 18% reserve target. To meet that 18% target, we would need our reserves to be at about 5.4 4 million in the event of an emergency or or an economic downturn. The reason we are required to to keep a reserve is so that we can weather those events and at our target reserves of 18% we could cover about two months of operations. However, at the 6.6% 6% we wouldn't have enough funds to cover even one full month.

On the right side you can also see the audited fund balance trends over the past three years. While it looks stable, we've been using fund balance each year which shows our revenues are not keeping up with expenses. To summarize, revenues remain relatively flat. Essential services are maintained in this city manager fiscal year 27 budget. We're facing a $2.4 million deficit. Fund balance is projected at 6 6.6% below the 18% target, and the budget relies on one-time solutions to reduce the use of reserves. some of our next steps looking ahead. Um this are just what what it will take for us in the to complete this budget process and take takes us all the way through the adoption of the budget. Um staff received feedback from the budget workshop last week and we will continue refining department budgets. We will be presenting any additional general fund cost-saving measures during the proposed budget meeting scheduled for May 11, 2026. We will finalize our projections for the budget adoption meeting tentatively scheduled for June 8, 2026. And once our fiscal fiscal year 27 budget is approved, staff will continue evaluating long-term sustainable solutions for the general fund. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much. Let's go ahead and open this up to the public. I do have a yellow card. Sebastian Jones. Make sure you get that microphone right up to you, sir. Good afternoon. No, Amber. a hazy force, but I'm going to let my AI do the talking and just had it. How's everybody doing today?

Doing very well.

So glad to come down and support this health. And I got it right here coming up. There we go. I'm trying to get it to play. My time is go. It's not going to work today. I cannot believe it. Good afternoon. You have a presentation that I had set up and to talk more about your health carrier. So embarrassed. So embarrassed. Is is there anybody here that can assist him with trying to help him get that started?

Yeah, let me try to get this just give me a minute. We'll give you a little assistance here.

Just for the record, everybody be please be patient. This is 88 accommodation. Start it over. This is ridiculous. Practice it all day. Let's get out. I just don't understand it. Just going to try to start over. I'm so sorry, mayor and city council. I am embarrassing that I didn't set. Here we go. supposed to speak for. It's not Would you like to to read it instead? It's not working.

Yeah. Just just This is so embarrassing been over this thing and open now when I get up here. If you would like, we can go ahead and um Is there any suggestions? attorney. The only thing I was thinking is if there is a way to send the text that can be read into the record alternatively or maybe we can we can give um him the opportunity to work it out and and provide other public comment and we can go back to him. Yes. So So are you suggesting that we can you can take other public comment on this item and then come back and have him come back? Yeah. while he works out that hey is coming up again coming up

we might have some uh it's attorney is there any possible way that it could be read into the record by the city clerk by her reading it yes that's that's I'm that was my first suggestion is if he has it in text form do you have it in text Mr. Jones cuz I can have the city clerk read that out loud as if it was a email. So, she'll do it over here actually. So, if you just hand her the phone and she'll go ahead and read that read it, I guess if it was an email. So, she'll she'll take care of it for you if you just give her the phone and she will we'll go ahead and and read it out loud. Mayor, in the in the meantime, while they get situated, you can take other public comments.

Me, any other members of the public would like to make a comment while they get that situated. I think she got I think he got it. How How would you like to do it, city clerk? All right, I guess city clerk came through. Go ahead, sir. Push play on that.

My name is Sebastian Jones, president of series, and I'm here to talk about an issue people are raising online about whether our elected series should have health benefits for them and their families. This issue is not about fairness. It's about whether working and realistically serve in public office. Health insurance is not a free perk. It is a basic necessity that elected officials still pay to just like any other working person. If we take this away, we are basically saying only the wealthy, retired or privileged can afford to serve. And that shuts out younger leaders, working families, and people of color. That's not the kind of community series is come on now. Siri should be moving toward more inclusive leadership, not policies or efforts that discourage good people from stepping up to serve their community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. I got it.

Thank you. Thank you very much for your patience. Take time. You're doing service. You have to make decision serious church cuz you are you servant. Go out to the community. Spend tons of time with the house. What is the big table? Let me call again.

That big [ __ ] behind it. Take it. Church. I want to Sorry. Straight out. some of the benefits back. So may I urge this council member to take this or just keep it in that's true. It's true cuz you may have one person and think it's different and easy good. So he wants to do that. [ __ ]

Two years.

Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Uh Guzman, you said you had a comment.

Wrong one. Ellen Guzman. Um and last time I spoke at the budget workshop, I just want to make a public apology to the chief. I didn't mean to to pick on you. Uh although I'm not sorry for what I said, I think there's a time and a place for everything. So I did apologize after the meeting but I just want to make it public. So any so for today's workshop one of the things that came to mind is about landscaping services. Um we spend like 24,000 about each month on landscaping services. I'm not sure if it's due to personnel that we can't get you know that we can't service our parks like with our own city employees. Uh but that's just something to look at. Um I don't know if there's any cost me any cost-saving measures that we could take on um outsourcing our jobs to uh independent contractors cuz uh I've noticed a trend where we're um hiring out instead of like doing the work ourselves. So just a thought. Um secondly, um la at the last budget workshop last week um a gentleman uh mentioned something about increasing our sales tax. Uh there was a survey that was done um last year from June uh 14th to 24 that um only 311 citizens responded to. Uh we're a city of like close to 49,600 people. So, I did the math and that's like less than 1% of of community members that participated. Um, I just have a question if there's anything that came of it. Um, there was a there's a survey that was put out and I think it's like utility bill if I'm not mistaken. Um, but not everyone gets a utility bill. One because online services and then secondly because we have a lot of people who rent. though

their landlord could um possibly um pays their bills, so they never get a chance to respond to this survey. Um when I read the survey, uh the the questions that were put on there were pretty leading. Um and to me, like I don't know, during like research and undergrad in my graduate studies, a survey is not supposed to be leading. Um, so I'm not sure who made the the survey, but um I just was wondering how much we spent on uh on companies that uh that conducted this survey and it was a lot of money. Um and if anything came of it because it's like we're spending money to do XYZ things to get like insight on like what people want. Um but you know there was a low um participation participation rate and then secondly um did anything cover of it because if it didn't then we're just basically wait wasting tax dollars you know um there was something else. Oh yeah. Uh so recently I went to In-N-Out and the reason I bring it up is because I looked at the business license and it was expired uh for fiscal year 25 to 26. It expired on March 31st of 2026. So, I'm not sure who's in charge of like auditing like business license and to making make sure that they're in they're compliant because uh that's this is something that I caught last year back in December I think and I thanked the uh council member uh I spoke about it and uh um anyways I mentioned thing and uh yeah so I'm just curious as to who keeps tabs on like how compliant businesses are um with their business license because this

uh this is the In-N-Outs here at the corner of Mitchell and service is pretty popular and they're not complying with the business license. So, I know that uh yeah, that's it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Thanks. Is there anybody else has any comments? Good evening. I'm Michael Borges. Uh questions on the presentation. I wanted a clarification. Did I understand that the fire service contracts is still under negotiation and those cost savings or costs would be reported out later?

I believe that is correct. They they are still in negotiation at the moment. And the reason I asked that question is that in reviewing the budget positions that have been uh frozen for the last two years that are all general fund allocated, you have 14 positions there. Eight of them out of public out of the police department and six out of the remaining general fund departments. Now they're pulling, for lack of a better terminology, their weight in regards to trying to balance this budget. How and what control does the city have in regards to the fire budget? Previously when the city saw issues back in 2007 when I was employed here, there was talk and there was options that we had because we controlled both public safety in regards to browning out a station if necessary to lower our personnel costs. I'm unsure what in regards to the contract and is that part of your discussions in regards to trying to lower some of those personnel costs that have been taken on by other departments already affected by the general fund budget.

It's my understanding that the city manager is working with the fire department to negotiate that contract and I don't think that we have received all the full details yet, but I believe it will be agendaized here pretty soon. Is that correct, city manager? Yes. Thank you, mayor. Um, I am still in negotiations uh with the fire uh contract. The timeline to bring that contract to council, it's currently on track for a June 8th meeting. So, we have up until that time to continue negotiations, including any cost savings measures that might be afforded through that contract.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Borges. Is there anybody else like to make comment?

Am I right? We don't have any firemen. We have fire stations. We pay a tax for firemen, but we don't have firemen. Modesto has firemen. They quit here and Modesto hired them. We don't have firemen. We have firemen that come here. We don't have firemen. Right. We have firefighters here, but they're not our firefighters. They're just firefighters. And you you put them here. See, also the amount over the budget, that's not acceptable. You should go back and do it all over again because if you know anything about finance, you know, you can still do a lot. One thing you could do is give up your insurance. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else?

Okay, I bring this item back for council for comments or questions. Council members have any comments or questions? Mr. Casey, go ahead. This goes to the annex that that we voted on tonight. Do we have any idea what the property first off when it might happen? And do we have any idea, forget about the development, but what's in place now, the property tax that's there once we annex this this property. Again, forgetting forgetting about the the development. Do we have any idea what the total property tax will be once it's annexed? Well, I mean, I know that my bill trans was is not here, but I know that there was some information there when we had that presentation about that. Mr. Casey, if it's possible that they can get you that information if they don't have it on hand.

Yeah, we'll have to bring that back because I don't have it in front of me. Thank you.

Another point is um our chamber of commerce in the budget. Is there any many funds available uh for to help them develop the chamber of commerce or is it just every time they need something they need to come and ask for it? The reason I asked that question is recently we all know that uh Ace Hardware store in the Richmond shopping center closed I think the beginning of the year and I talked to the property owner and asked him and the city had come forward and asked him if he needed any help filling that vacancy and his answer was no. I think if we had an active chamber of commerce, um, they would have worked diligently with that property owner to fill the business. We talked about the empty Walmart building for God only knows how long, but really we we understand that in in the in the nation really, it's small businesses that drive the the economy. So, if we had a more active, if the Chamber of Commerce had maybe more funds available, they might be able to supplement what the city's doing in attracting businesses. And that's it for tonight. I'll save the other questions for another workshop. Thank you very much, council members. Anything? All right. So, I know that we had this workshop on Wednesday. I just want to go over the same thing that I mentioned that day. Uh for example, uh we discussed today shows the pressure of the general funds is being driven by rising ongoing costs while revenues remain projected and not fully materialized until the later of the fiscal year. Some of the key points to

point out is last year's general fund balance was about 6,997,000 roughly and then we used the fund balance from the general fund about $635,000. That would that left us an estimated ending balance of 6,361. Revenues decreased also by 259,000 and department expenditures request came in about 3 3,420,000. At the same time, as you pointed out in the presentation, the salary and cola police adjustments increased for about 1.5 million. Fire agreement increased about 1.5 as well. Pension cost increased by about 4.48 million. workers compensation increased by 195,000 SR army one agreement about 46,000 and animal services about 42,000. We also reviewed one example showing the difference between a budgeted amount of actual usage of the health insurance. I know the question was asked last time and the health insurance was really only funded by the general fund of $51,000 and the actual use from what I was told was $27,825,000. That means that the full budgeted amount was not actually used. And so my main takeaway from this is the budget pressure appears to be coming from ongoing operating cost increases especially in labor pension fire and public needed obligations. This is why it is important to determine whether the 2026 27 budget is structurally balanced and whether the city again can be relying on fund balance to cover the recurring cost. See, these are my questions and I think since we've already gone over this, we don't necessarily have to answer all the questions today, but I will be receiving those questions at a later date. My questions were were this. What was is there an opportunity to do an uh to contract out from it? you know what the total current house IT cost would be, the total cost of contracting out, any one-time transaction cost or savings, any annual savings that could be added to that expense, whether the change would improve the general fund position or not. And I believe staff will be

bringing that information back to us at the next meeting. How does this compare against the roughly 1.2 million revenues that were that would never been used? And I was referring to the IT department section on one and two that we had some funding uh that was in their reserves in IT and that's what I'm referring to that uh you know and also mentioned last time you know police overtime and and what what does it look like if instead of continuously uh paying for overtime could we just unfreeze five positions that would relieve us and I think that that would actually make sense and that's the question that I brought to the attention of of finance last time and they said that they would bring that back. The last and final one is the community development position. I know we went over this last time. My question is why that I felt that it was more important that we fund the community development position and right now it's not frozen but is also unfunded. But recently um talking to the city manager, I believe that they're already moving forward with hiring of the technician. But I also requested for more information to come back about what it would look like to fill that position. At the end, my overall concern is not just where the cuts can be made, but whether we are making the right operational discussion. And I will say this that I I do fully expect that now with the information that you have received and from city manager that you will hopefully come up with a great solution. We have a little bit of time and I do have uh the trust that you will and by the fact that you know you walked into this job nearly three three weeks ago and with the recommendations of the previous matter manager you've also looked at what's in front of you and that you're already trying to figure out to make adjustments and at the end of this I will also say that I do appreciate the city council always putting in their inputs and for those people that were not here last Wednesday they provided additional comments and questions And I know that just don't want to repeat themselves, but I think it's very valuable if you missed that city council meeting to go

online. It looks like I just sparked Councilwoman Vieira to to chime in. But I just wanted to say for everybody who wasn't there last time, those were my comments and questions and I did look forward for that information to be brought back. Councilwoman Vera,

thank you. Mayor, just listening to it again and going through some numbers, I was able to do some research. Um just looking for the planner which you had just mentioned. It looked like we had already allocated just for part-time help. Looks like in September we allocated 35,000. In February another 40,000 and then from again in February we did another 49,000 which is 125,000. I'm wondering and that's just the three that I was able to pull up online. I'm sure there was more before September in this fiscal year budget. And so I'm wondering if it may be cheaper just to hire someone as opposed to doing these contracts for part-time help because I know they're not there full-time. And so that raises a flag for me. Um and then the other one which I thought I wrote down which I have no idea where I wrote it. So I think that was one. And then the other one was mechanic. Um, it was brought to my attention that we and when I looked at it again tonight, it looks like we have a senior mechanic that's on the freezing. It looks like it was a hiring freeze. However, we've done several contracts to outsource some of our senior mechanic type work. So, I'm just wondering if it's cheaper to have a senior mechanic versus outsourcing that work. And I think that is key. If we can if we if it's cheaper for us to keep it in house, let's try to keep our employees employed as opposed to outsourcing it. especially if it's going out of town and that tax dollars are now going to Turlock because ultimately that doesn't help my budget here locally. Thank you.

Thank you, councilwoman. I do appreciate that. And with that being said, we'll go ahead and close out number 14 and we'll move on to council member referrals. Council members, do we have any referrals today? Seeing none. And with that, we'll move on to reports. I have nothing to report. Any council members have Yes. Councilwoman Vier, you are first. Go ahead.

Okay. So, um just kind of going over what's happened. So, on um Friday, April 17th, the series Partnership for Healthy Families had their family fun night. It was an evening about two hours a free event primarily focused for children around the first five years with activities and there was activities for school age children as well but it heavily focused on activities for um our under five and elementary school age children. So it was a great event, a lot of activities, a lot of um just coordination and other type fun events for our children. Um the next day the mayor and I both attended the high school booster dinner which was both Central Valley and the Hawks and Series High School. So it was great to see both of them together and supporting our youth. It was a great fundraiser and I know um my son played football and volleyball. My girls play was when it was a cheerleader. So we were involved when they were in high school quite a bit. Um then let's say the 24th um actually mayor and I again attended the every student succeeds award ceremony here. Um we've been doing this annually. It's a ceremony of celebrating the successes of children a lot of them who've encountered struggles that were just seemed imaginable to me. Um and I was just happy to be part of this um event although it always makes me cry. I'm going to cry now just thinking about it. Um this year was not changed. It was just filled of happiness and support and it's just amazing how well our children thrive in the right environment and with the right support. Um we also had the Dia Nino celebration that evening at Caswell School. It was an amazing night full of just celebrating our youth with free food. There was some also fundraiser for the family PTA or parent teachers uh club as well as a lot of different activities and free activities for the children which I thought was amazing. And then later that evening, we had the cruise for the youth where we

went out um with the cars, police was there, fire. I appreciate you always participating in this um where we went out and handed free ice cream out to the children in the community. Um and that was always a fun event. Um Saturday was the love series and I think almost all of us were there um including the city manager who joined us. Um, I did continue with my project, although I didn't get a whole lot done because of the weather and how long it takes to go through the whole process of painting curbs, but I do want to try to do more. Although it was a fun, but it was definitely something that was needed to be done in our community. And I'm sorry I did not get to every house. I was by myself and it does take about 25 minutes for paint to dry and it's not fun in this kind of weather. But it should warm up so it should go a little faster if I choose to do this and have time to do it again. Um, Saturday I know we had a big fire. I think the police and the fire I think police actually were there before the fire department. I see the chief laughing. Yes, I was there. I think before fire as well. Um cuz I could see the smoke from my house and so I was glad they were able to out there secure. I was glad no one was hurt and everything went through and I appreciate the coordinated efforts. I know we had I think fire six fire engines that came out between Modesto and the series area stations um to put out that fire. Um, I do want to also coordinate. Um, then on, let's see, we also had a free toy giveaway at Avar Matito later that afternoon. Lots of kids, lots of free food and drinks and then also brand new toys still in the boxes. Um, as we celebrated our youth there at Amatito and it was a free event as well. Um, on Sunday um it was a event over at the Seek Temple. It's an annual event um celebrating and you know how to describe I'll let the mayor kind of he can probably touch a little more than I do.

Thank you. Um it was a great event. I was glad to be there. Um and just to kind of continue celebrating their tradition and their religion with them. Um upcoming it was a busy week. Um upcoming Friday is MJC's graduation. I want to personally congratulate students of all ages for their hard work. I know a lot of my students that I work with live here in Series and I couldn't be prouder of the many students that'll be walking the stage this Friday. Um, Saturday is the Series Street Fair this weekend. So, I plan on seeing everyone out there both Saturday and Sunday. There's also the parade on Crows Landing Road, which will start on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. It'll go from Hatch to Glenn Avenue. It'll be longer route this year. Um, so hopefully everyone can come out. It is a free event if you want to come out and just watch the parade and participate. Um May 7th is the National Day of Prayer. Um it'll be held at 7 a.m. at the 7th Day Advocac. Unfortunately, I won't be able to join physically, but I will be joined spiritually. Um I do have to work at 7:00 a.m. Um and then May 9th, we'll have the lead her up mindful May event for students of all schools here to join. Um it'll be here at the community center. I encourage you to go online and sign up so you can take part of it. the about ways to physically u physical and mental health and interactive activities for a positive mindset. So that'll be coming up this next week and thank you everyone.

Thank you very much council member Councilwoman Otero.

Thank you mayor. Um I just want to thank everybody who joined at the love series event. It was a good turnout. um the organizers, the series lions, um the Rotary who served lunch. Uh it's much appreciated. I also want to thank the community members who come to the council meetings. Um I try to encourage involvement, attendance. It's really important right now, especially to get the right information that you need to know what's going on in our city. So, those that are online and those that come in person, thank you. Thank you very much, Councilwoman. Moving on to city manager report.

Thank you, mayor. I would just like to say thank you to the city council and the department heads and staff and the community as well for the warm welcome that I've received. This is day one of week three and as I settle into the position, I look forward to partnering even more with all of you, especially during this budget time and just look forward to the good work we have ahead of us. Thank you. Thank you very much, city attorney. Nothing tonight, Mayor.

Thank you very much. Department heads. Yes. So, I want to uh follow up with uh Councilwoman Vieier's question on the CDBG. CDBG can be used for code enforcement. So if I don't know if we want to we're able to amend if you want to make a motion to amend the purpose to use for code enforcement and we can work on defining the program. So it would have to be um if you want it we'd have to amend the vote today so that the county can work on that or we can take it as a suggestion and bring it back. I don't know how that maybe we have to ask city attorney being that we're towards the end of this

procedurally I think we it's technically we we have to take a motion to take it up again to modify it and I actually I'm trying to think if it can be done because I believe it was a 50 vote right so we'd have we'd have to take a motion to reopen the item and go back and do it. Um, so procedurally we could What item was that again? Item five. It's ultimately this could affect our budget which is the current item that we were just talking about because that

Okay, you know where I'm going with the is a public hearing item number 12. Oh, it's 12. Okay. Sorry. Sorry about that. Yes, it it would require a motion to reopen the item. We'd have to go back and take a vote, then reopen for public comment, and then with a modification to the to the motion. I'm okay with that. Um, Martinez, a motion to open up the public hearing resolution approving concurrence with Stannis's Urban County and Stannis home consortium, the annual action plan for fiscal year 2026, 2027, and supporting sub submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. I'll second. Roll call, please. Council member Casey, are we reopening it right now?

Yeah, right now. No. Okay. Council member Vieiraa. Yes. Council member Otto, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, hi. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 41. And with that being said, Julian, can you please repeat what you just said?

Yes. So, if you would like, the council would like to utilize a portion of the CDBG uh grant, um all we would need is a either an amount or percentage of the allocation. So, indicating that a portion of that CDBG fund would be used for code enforcement uh proposed to use that money for code enforcement. And then we can define the program. So, we'd have to go back to HUD and to see exactly what we can utilize. We believe we can utilize it for salaries, but we want to make sure that you can make that proposal. Um, and then we can take it back and work on it and get that to you. Okay. Thank you very much.

What was the abbreviation? So the appropriation I think was for 200 video series has 260,115. What was the acronym? the abbreviation CW CDBG community block. Okay. And that was four that was 260 community development block grant. Yes. 260.

Okay. Let me go ahead and open it up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item now that we have reopened item. Yes, Mr. Guzman.

Um I would just well Galan Guzman for the record. Uh, I would just like our roads improved and our sidewalks improved so kids could get to school safely before we invest in code enforcement. I I understand that uh there's like money. Anyways, point being, I just want to ensure that kids get to school safely, that they're able to walk to school safely. Uh, you know, the little pocket that of annexation by uh Central um Central Avenue still doesn't have sidewalks. So before we give code enforcement more money, um I would like to see um public roads and streets improved and potholes filled with that money. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else? I'm bring this item back to the council. So I have a really quick question. You said that in order for us to implement this, we would have to give you a percentage. Yes. Either a number or a percentage. So like a portion of the salary, a full salary amount. Okay. Or a percentage of that 260,000. And I know you had mentioned that. So this in this particular item, it it talks about different projects, but this was this particular item specific to Mororrow Village. That is correct. So in the past, we've used uh this allocation for Mar for Mororrow Village. Yeah.

But as Councilwoman Vier um stated that we can use it for code enforcement to help with blight um health and safety. And so that is the recommendation if she would like I'm understanding that's the recommendation that she's proposed for the council for this evening. And so that's why we've opened it up to see and then we just need a recommendation as either percentage or an actual number that we can take back to the county um so that they can do that proposal to HUD and come back with a determination. I have a question for finance department. Um, what is it cost for one full-time employee for code enforcement?

I I would have to go back and look at into our budget allocations for it. Uh, do you know what's what's the percentage if anything? And Chief, do you know off the top of your head? I'm not sure what the percentage would be. um or the budgeted amount, but it would be the salary plus benefits. Salary plus benefits. So, maybe around 100,000 per code officer. That's just a a guess.

Okay. I I mean, I would just make a recommendation to my council that we use 50% of this funding towards code enforcement and that would alleviate our our deficit. Any additional I know Councilwoman VR, you have any additional comments? I I think you answered what I was looking for because I was just like, "Oh, I need to know what the chief wants because we're looking at the budget. We're going to have to make cuts." You see what we're trying to figure out a way to balance and ultimately we have a way of allocating at least a small portion to offset the pressure that you have when it comes to public safety. I think that is very key to make sure that we have the people in place to keep our city safe and clean at the same time.

Thank you very much, Councilwoman Otto. Thank you, mayor. Um I I'm just a little confused about this. So, we have a recommendation to put some funds towards code enforcement, but are we prepared tonight to make that decision and and say that that is what's needed? Cuz at the last budget workshop, I thought we already had some funding that would be set aside for code enforcement. Could we potentially use the funding to go if the chief decides, well, I need another police officer on the street? I don't know. Like, how how do we make this decision quickly tonight without actually having finance and the chief look at the numbers and figure out if that's the the best option?

Julian, you said we could only use this for code enforcement and not for a police officer. Correct. According to um what is her name again? hand. You said she's on um I believe she's the phone one Anna San Nicholas if you are on Zoom can you please raise your hand?

Anna the question was if they can use it for law enforcement instead of code enforcement.

Anna, you'll need to unmute your mic. Can you unmute your mic so we can hear you? She says she's unmuted. She's not unmuted on our end.

Mayor, if I could interrupt while they try to figure that out. Yes, sir. Um, we did put in for a grant for code enforcement. Uh, we don't know, I think, until June if we're going to get that. Uh, I just don't I want to make sure you guys understood that, too. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Can I ask Julian then a question? If he has till June, does that mean we can allocate it in the event he gets the grant and we don't need that? We It's still a list of priority, but we can re adjust the numbers as long as we have all that fund, I believe. So, yes. Yes. As long as it's been allocated in in that CDBG grant, then yes.

And then if he doesn't get the grant, we can allocate these monies for that. So, we're not looking at risking of losing a code enforcement or the entire Yes. Only for code enforcement to cover blight. Um, at this time it is not used for law enforcement, only for code enforcement specifically with the CDBG grant according to and I'm just going off their presentation when they said um homes that were not up to code, homeless encampments and other stuff that they had specifically said that they were getting several calls on their priority calls. Okay. Blight, homelessness. Uh, important. Yeah, Serena, I'm sorry. Did you press your button again? Go ahead. I did press my button. Um I saw you

the rest of first I guess for these funds have I mean you mentioned the community still has the opportunity for public participation right until May 9th May 8th correct okay cuz I just goes to sorry it goes to the uh board of supervisors in May so yeah

I mean obviously I'm completely supportive of the police department and public safety But if we're looking at the opportunities that we can use this money on, is it is there something else that we're missing where we could potentially move those funds to? So trying to make this decision right now, I feel like is kind of a lastm minute scramble and I don't want to vote on something and say yes, put it towards code enforcement, but we end up changing it later. Is that going to be acceptable?

So it's only used for low income. So there's a specific criteria. So low income, so individuals that have low income, so blight. So anywhere that um most of your low-inccome areas like moral village um if we annex that new um pocket in the city to utilize for uh capital improvements. So which is one of the the main reasons why we use the CDBG funding. And then the other would be to assist code enforcement um a portion of that um to do it. And so there's very specific guidelines as what we could use CDBG funding for. Um, a lot of the community engagement has been to put sidewalks, um, gutters, um, in their areas has been most of the priorities from the since I've been here last three years. Um, and then we just, uh, looking it over, I believe they came to us last year about using CDBG for code. Um and it was a recommendation and and so we are now have got some of the approval. We just need to get clarification as if this is the proposal. Um we can believe it's only for the salaries for the code enforcement to help with that. And so I understand your concern about what are the other projects there is a lot of the projects going forward. This is the allocation. um we can't there's nothing that says that we can get the comments and when it comes around again that we have a list of things that we have for the city of series moving forward and then how do we prioritize that when it comes back again for another because this is every annual that it will come back for us um when we do the consolidated plan the five-year plan it has to be a portion of

that consolidated plan that's been approved by council um during that and I want to say that the Marl village that there are certain projects under that and I can take a look at that too when we come back but I know for this round um it is how do we allocate that $260,000 moving forward? So just for clarification for either uh finance or the chief is this something that you're confident tonight in are if this decision is made um that it's important these funds go towards code enforcement. I think uh it's probably need to ask the finance director to get more specific information. Um, keeping our three code enforcement officers at our secretary is a priority for me.

Thank you. Al, also, if I may interject, uh, code also, uh, affects the streets department too. We have two part-time streets code that are only funded through ARPA till um, December 31st. And as uh, the finance director said in her uh, uh, report, they they didn't eliminate those positions. So, extra funding is being used to I think it's general is it general fund? General fund is being used to supplement those two part-time positions and the full-time position um going all the way to the end of the fiscal year.

Thank you, Josh. If I may, um the the cost for the code enforcement officer is about $125,000 with um salaries and benefits and retirement included. Okay. Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I'm fine with the term portion and not giving a specific number. I think if we say 50% that takes away from other projects that we do have currently, Mororrow Village uh in the other county pockets we annex in the other sidewalks that need to be uh amended to add to the project. Uh using the term portion also gives us flexibility. if we have a better year, we don't have to use as much of the amount or uh if we need to, we can use more of that amount. I would be fine with the portion. I don't think uh specifically saying 50% right now would be the right term.

Uh Vice Mayor, I think I I do agree, but I think that is a better term to use and I and I will pull back my 50%. Councilwoman Ver, do you have another additional comment? Yeah, I just want to say I like the 50 up too so we can adjust it as needed, especially with the cost of the sidewalks and how much we actually get since these are estimated and not actuals. And then the fact that with with the budget situation we're in, if we can take any pressure off of um the impacts to public safety, I think it's key and if this is one way to kind of help soften the blow to our public safety department and our police department, I am hands down here to support them. And if it means 50% of our CDBG while we have it and adjusted in the future as our income tax and our taxes adjust, I'm happy to do this since we have to have it done tonight before it goes to the board of supervisors. And as Julian mentioned, this is not the first time I've mentioned. I mentioned it last year at the same meeting. So this is the same thing I'm repeating, but I just think we're in a different budget situation that it becomes a little more of a priority for me. So, I'm supportive as well, Daniel, of the 50% or up to as if needed.

Mayor, yes. May, it appears that the language that you'd have to include as part of the motion so that it can be memorialized, it's either a specific dollar amount or a percentage. And so, if Oh, I see. So, I unless I'm mistaken, but that's that's what goes up to up to Yes. Can decide later. So I think that maybe the best approach combining the two is up to 50% with a goal of and you can state as much to to fund one full code enforcement officer within the parameters of the program guidelines. I'm okay with that. How's that sound, Councilwoman?

I'm fully supportive of that. Thank you. And thank you for making it happen after me complaining I think for like three years now or four years my entire time here. But I I think code enforcement and our public safety officials need to be supported. I'm fully supportive of it and I appreciate you making it happen. Okay, vice mayor. Motion. Make a motion approving in concurrence with Stannis Loss Urban County, Stannis Loss Home Consortium and the annual action plan for fiscal year 2026 2027 and supporting a submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development with up to 50% of the CDBG funds to be used to fund a code enforcement officer salary. I'll second that. Thank you. Roll

call. Council member Casey. Sure. Before I vote, I want you to know why I'm voting the way I'm voting. The We need to have a forensics audit to make sure that we spend our money correctly. And it's no wonder that we're $2 million over budget. We've just spent all this time talking about this money that was already allocated and and it's very in my opinion came about at the wrong time. So my vote is no. Council member Vieiraa,

yes. Council member Otto, yes. Vice Mayor Martinez, hi. Mayor Lopez, yes. Motion carries 41. Thank you very much, everyone. Did we go over all the department heads? Everybody had their opportunity. Fire.

Good evening, mayor and council. I just wanted to let you know, you've probably already been made aware, but uh uh in Chief uh Shannon Evans, he's been uh appointed as the fire chief of Modesto Fire Department. And uh we look forward to a ceremony to swear him in in the near future. We'll make you aware of that. Uh but with that in mind, I want to let you know that he takes very seriously um the importance of providing the highest level of service to uh the city of series and the other 10 communities in which Modesto Fire Department uh oversees directly or assists with through administrative contracts. And uh I'll be reaching out to you to share with uh him with you his phone number. So if any questions come up, you can feel free to reach out to him directly.

Thank you very much. Anybody else? Okay. I just want to once again thank finance for the report and the city manager for his current recommendations. We will now go into close session for conference with with labor negotiations California government code 54957. Agency designated representatives are interim city manager Steve Williams and human resources director Vasquez. Employee organization is labor's inter international union of North America Luna. A conference with legal council regarding existing litigation California government code 54956.9D1. Name of the case is Matthew Berlier versus city of seriesir and public entity city of seriesir police chief Christopher Perry both in his official capacity and as an individual of Stannisaw Superior Court case number CV24007723. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak regarding to the close session at Thank you very much everybody. After the close session, I will come back and report out everybody. Have a good night. Drive safely and God bless you all.

Welcome back everyone. Direction has been provided. Thank you.