City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone to today's city council meeting. Today is Monday, June 8th, 2026. I now call this meeting to order. Roll call, please.

District one, council member Casey.

Present.

District two, council member Vieira, absent. District three, council member Otero. Here. District four, vice mayor Martinez. Present. Mayor Lopez.

Here. Do we have Tim here today to do the invocation? Okay, is he online?

Tim, if you are online, if you can raise your hand.

Okay, if that is the case, then I'm going to put one of our fellow firefighters on the spot here. Mr. Spanning, would you mind doing the invocation? Followed by his daughters who are doing the Pledge of Allegiance, Olivia and Claire. Please stand.

Good evening, everybody. Please bow your heads. Tonight we ask for guidance and knowledge and understanding from our city staff. And we wish that everyone is happy with the outcome. Excuse me, sorry. Wasn't prepared for it. And we have... Harmony within the city.

Thank you. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much for doing that. Greatly do appreciate that. We do not have any presentations and we'll move on to citizens communications. The City Council welcomes and encourages participation in City Council meetings. Adopt the rules. Allow no more than five minutes. Resolution 2007-106 for expression of non-agenda items. Matters under the jurisdiction of the City Council and not on the posted agenda may be addressed by the general public. However, California law prohibits the City Council from taking any action on any matter which is not posted on the agenda unless it is determined to be an emergency by the City Council. Citizens are entitled to address the City Council on any agenda item subject to the five-minute provision. Anyone wishing to address the City Council must adhere to the rules of decorum, and the rules of decorum are posted outside the chamber doors. Do we have any of our representatives here today? Okay, seeing none. And we'll go ahead and start with our cards, and then we'll go on to the remaining people who would like to speak today. We have, well, actually, my apologies, Shirley Rogers, this card is for the budget, so we'll wait until the budget And is there anybody here who would like to speak?

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, City staff, and citizens. I'm here on behalf of the City's Chamber of Commerce. My name is Bernie Meyer, President and CEO of the City's Chamber of Commerce. I just want to extend some invitations for some upcoming events. On June... 11th, we'll be having a job fair here at the Community Center. I believe it starts at 10. Let me confirm that. Yeah, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. And we have over 30 different employers who will be present if anybody's looking for a job. And then on June 17th, which is Wednesday, we have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Joaquin Painting. That will be at 4 p.m. at 992 Marchie Lane. On June 25th, the Ceres Chamber of Commerce will be holding a mixer hosted by American Italian Bistro. That's going to be June 25th from 530 to 730, right here on 4th Street. And then last but not least, we are planning our golf tournament in September and our One Table One community in September as well. So lots coming up, and we hope you'll join us. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Brandi. Appreciate it. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? Seeing none. Anybody on Zoom?

We do have a hand raised. Go ahead and unmute your mic.

please state your name for the record hello everyone this is galen guzman i'm sorry i couldn't make it to the meeting today but i just wanted to talk about a few things today the first one being that i did attend the measure h oversight committee meeting that took place three weeks ago And I made a comment in regards to reviewing the minutes for the Measure H Oversight Committee, and it's stating that the committee stated there was some discussion about a forensic audit for Measure H funds. This was the meeting on October 15th or 13th of 2024. So given that the city barely, you know, accepted the fiscal year financial audit for 23 to 24 present day work, the year is 2026. So it's really late, you know. So I did state that I had some concerns about the transparency of the oversight committee, you know, and being one that, you know, yeah. I won't go off on a tangent, but yeah, I just wanted to bring that up to the city council's attention, you know, and then Randy Cerny stated that he was the one that requested the forensic audit for measure H funds. Okay. And he said that he brought it to the city council's attention. And after that, we don't know what happened. So I just would like to follow up on that and seek some clarification as to, um, you know, what happened if, uh, if his concern was validated or not, you know? Um, and then secondly, um, what else? Oh yeah. Um, I did raise my hand on zoom via that meeting and it wasn't, um, caught by the city clerk and this has happened. in previous city council meetings back in December. So I just would like to bring that to your attention as well as perhaps paying more attention to the raise of hands for resume participants. Let's see. Also, I did attend the state of the city address and by accident, because I was at the library and I walked over to the city community center because there was a lot of fire personnel parked outside. So I was like, what's going on? Maybe there's a fire training. So yeah, I walked into the city of, what is it? The state of the city address and noticed that, you know, there was quite a few people, you know, mainly being like, public safety, you know, the fire personnel from Modesto and then our police, you know, and then the mayor of Modesto and stuff like that and some some Anyways, I won't go off on that tangent, but I saw that there was a lack of citizen participation and this seems like a recurrent theme, you know, so I would like to see more civic engagement from the city council, you know, perhaps, perhaps make a smart goal on like on efforts made to increase civic engagement because yeah, it's lacking and I'm pretty disappointed. And yeah, Yeah, I also wanted to discuss about my experience with the Measure H Oversight Committee interview. I was kind of caught off guard by Rosalinda Vieira's feedback on someone in the audience submitting the wrong form, application, and then the mayor making a recommendation to keep her on the Oversight Committee. Um, from my understanding, uh, the person that was in the audience kind of sitting adjacent to me is, uh, a colleague or friend of Rosalinda Vieira. And, uh, I don't think that's fair. You know, um, me, like I turned in my application on time, you know, uh, I, I, I suck at interviews, but I'm good with one-on-one conversations. Okay. Not really good at public speaking, but, uh, you know, I feel like that's like a form of not necessarily nepotism, but there's this definition called there's this word called cryonism, which is the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority without proper regard to the qualifications. This committee member has been on the committee for a few years, you know, and like I said, one of my concerns was the Measure H Oversight Committee is their, you know, their duty to review you know, the financial, to hold a meeting after a financial audit is performed and after the adoption of a city budget, which this current committee hasn't really done. So again, I would like to bring that to your guys' attention. And then, yeah. Anyways, thank you for your time to listen to me. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else on Zoom?

There are no other hands raised.

Any emails?

We did receive an email. It's from Elijah F. And it says, I am a homeowner and resident of Ceres. I'm writing to request that the following message be read during the public comment portion of the June 8th City Council meeting. As a resident whose neighborhood was directly impacted by the recent police activity near Strawberry Fields Park, I was deeply disappointed by the actions of a City Council representative, Rosalinda Vieira, who continued filming and posting photos and updates about the incident on social media, even after being personally asked by our residents to stop. many residents felt their privacy and sense of safety were compromised when images of our streets homes and parked vehicles were publicly shared during an active law enforcement operation we believe elected officials should exercise greater discretion and respect residents wishes especially during sensitive situations involving public safety rather than prioritizing social media posts i respectfully ask the city council to address this matter and establish clear guidelines regarding elected officials' use of photography and social media during active police or emergency incidents in residential areas. Thank you for your assistance in reading this statement, and thank you to our first responders for their work that day.

Thank you very much. We'll now close public comment, and we'll move on to any conflicts of interest. Is there any conflicts of interest from the City Council? Seeing none, there is no appointments to boards and moving on to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine in nature and will be acted by a single motion unless otherwise requested by an individual council member or public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommendation of staff will be accepted and acted upon by a roll call vote. Is there anyone on the council that would like to pull an item from consent? Council Member Otero.

Thank you. Eleven, please.

Mr. Martinez. Item seven.

Okay.

Is there anybody else? Moving on to the public. Is there any members of the public that would like to pull an item? Please step up to the podium. Please step up to the podium and state your name.

Roley Rogers, Sears, California. Five and six. I'm against them giving out any money.

Five and six.

Period.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else? Anybody else would like to pull an item? Seeing none, bring this item back for a motion from the council.

Make a motion to approve items 1 through 4, 8 through 10, and 12 of the consent calendar.

I'll second.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes.

Motion carries 4-1.

Thank you very much.

4-0.

Okay. Thank you very much. Shirley, you have items 5 and 6. If you would like to take them individually, it's up to you. You can do both.

I see the money that they want to give out rolled over to next year. So that's $2,000 already that you saved. It could be done.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to comment on five and six?

John Warren, City of Ceres. I just want to comment that those items have already, or those dollars going into next year's budget, have already been removed basically from the budget going into next year. So these dollars from these two items are from this year's budget, and it's a different kettle of fish. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Warren.

It doesn't matter what budget they're from. They can be rolled over to next year. Don't give them out this year, period.

Thank you, Mr. Rogers. I appreciate that. Anybody else that would like to speak on five and six? Seeing none, is any hands raised?

There are no hands raised.

I'll bring this item back to the council. Any comments or motion?

Make a motion to approve item number five of the consent calendar.

Second. Roll call, please.

Council member Casey?

No.

Council Member Otero. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez.

Aye.

Mayor Lopez.

Yes.

Motion carries 3-1.

And then I'll make a motion to approve item number six. Second.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Casey.

No.

Council Member Otero. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez.

Aye.

Mayor Lopez.

Yes.

Motion carries 3-1.

Thank you. Item number seven. Vice Mayor.

Uh, thank you council members mayor. Uh, so on this item, uh, we'd like to make the resolution contingent upon, uh, the contractor showing proof of payment to subcontractors on this project. Uh, we have received 2 items from subcontractors. related to this project that have not been paid. I will state that they are what we call second tier subcontractors, meaning you have the prime contractor, their subcontractor, and then second tier subcontractors. It's the second tier subcontractors that have not been paid. And so we are actively trying to resolve this, but we would like to amend the resolution subject to verification of those subcontractors being paid before we release retention to the contractor. Thank you very much. I appreciate you looking into that and bringing that to our attention.

We'll go out to the public. Is there anybody who would like to comment on item number seven? Seeing none, is there anybody with their hands raised?

There are no hands raised.

And I bring this back to council for either a motion and or comments.

I'll make a motion accepting the 2024 pavement preservation as complete and authorizing the filing of a notice of completion and authorizing the release of the remaining retention contingent on the payment of second tier subcontractors being paid.

I'll second.

Roll call.

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes. Yes.

Motion carries, 4-1, 4-0.

Thank you very much. Item number 11, Council Member Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to get clarification on this. I know this is the waiver of second reading and adoption of this ordinance. I do have concerns. At one meeting, I mentioned Eastgate and Booth to reduce the speed down by five miles per hour. And then I also had emailed the city manager to look at Moffitt between Whitmore and River Road. So I just wanted to get an update before we move forward for a motion.

Thank you, Council Member, for your question. So we are having our consultant look into it. We do have Eastgate confirmed that we will be able to lower the speed limit on Eastgate by five miles an hour. On Booth, they've indicated that they're in the final phases of determining whether or not that they can lower the speed limit per the law on that road. And additionally with Moffitt, they're also still in the analysis of that, but it is going forward. Being that Eastgate is confirmed already, that will come back as an ordinance amendment. We'll have to go through the ordinance amendment process, a public hearing and a second reading on that. And at that point in time, we will present for all Eastgate, Booth and Moffitt when we bring that back, but we will be bringing it back for your council's consideration.

Thank you for working on that.

Vice Mayor?

Mike, is there any additional fees outside of what we already approved for that, or street signs, having crews go out and change them? Do we have to pay the engineering firm any additional money for that?

Right now, so the engineering firm is not charging us for that. The signs, there are 17 signs on the three roadways. For instance, though, I don't have a final number. Each sign with labor is about $2,000, $1,500 to $2,000. But when, for instance, if Booth were to get approved, there's a bunch of 35 mile an hour signs there that we could transfer over to say Eastgate, which has been lowered to 35 miles per hour. So there will be a little bit, depending on the outcome of the Booth, Booth and Moffitt segments, we have the potential to reuse some of those signs, but at a worst case scenario, we're at $1,500 to $2,000 per sign. Between the three roads, there are 17 signs total.

We're going out to the audience. Anybody in the audience would like to make a comment on this? Seeing none, bring this item back. Is that a back for a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve item number 11 waiver of second reading and adoption of ordinance amending chapter 10.17 section 10.17.010 speed limits of the series municipal code to reestablish the prima facie speed limits on various street segments in the city of series based on the 2026 engineering and traffic survey.

Wait for a second. Mr. Casey, would you like to second? Second. Get a roll call, please.

Council Member Casey?

Aye.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

No.

Mayor Lopez? Yes. Motion carries 3-1.

We are now moving on to public hearing. This is item number 13, resolution 2026, adopting the annual budget for fiscal year 2027, beginning July 1st, 2026, and ending June 30th, 2027, and improving positions for fiscal year 2027. And our finance director, Portillo, will be addressing this. And there will be a presentation, right?

We don't have a presentation for this item tonight. Okay, thank you very much. It is... the budget book posted online at the moment. Tonight, staff is presenting the fiscal year 27 budget and annual GAN limit resolution for adoption. The budget development process is extensive and begins months before the budget book is finalized. City departments submit budget requests. The finance department updates revenue and expenditure projections, develops budget scenarios, compiles all the information into a single budget document, which we call the budget book. An important part of this process includes opportunities for the council and public input. This year, staff held the budget workshop. on April 21st. We presented the budget information at the April 27th council meeting. We introduced the fiscal year 27 budget at the May 11th council meeting, and we also received final budget direction from council during the June 1st special meeting. As presented in our budget workshop and at the follow-up meetings, the initial status quo general fund budget projected a deficit of approximately $5.6 million. Through balancing strategies that included expenditure reductions, operational adjustments, and updated revenue projections, staff was able to reduce that deficit and develop a structurally balanced budget in the general fund with a projected surplus of approximately $22,800. The fiscal year 27 general fund budget includes approximately $27.8 million in revenues and $27.8 million in expenditures. Citywide, the total budget includes approximately $86.5 million in revenues and $110.4 million in expenditures. The difference is primarily related to one-time capital projects funded through existing enterprise and special revenue fund balances. While the general fund budget is balanced for fiscal year 27, the city continues to face the long-term financial challenges, including rising pension, insurance, operational, and inflation-related costs. Staff will continue focusing on operational efficiencies and long-term financial planning to support the city's financial stability. Tonight, staff recommends that the city council first opens a public hearing, receive the public comment, closes the public hearing, and finally adopt the resolutions approving the fiscal year 27 budget, authorized position list, and fiscal year appropriations limit.

Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and now open the public hearing. Is there anybody in the chambers that would like to make a comment on this item? Please step up to the podium and state your name. We'll start with Shirley.

Welcome.

Shirley Rogers. Okay. You want to cut the woman that makes all the planning for the seniors. Well, the seniors are 17% of series. That's 8,500 seniors. You don't want to piss off that many people. At the last meeting, we were short Martinez, which means my district had no representation in this whole budget conversation. Now District 2 is missing, and there's no conversation. It may be legal, but it's not right. We need representation. I'm speaking now as a representative for the Commission on Aging versus Dissidious Series. And I want to keep the woman that's doing the planning. The reason I say that is it's the equivalent of you getting rid of TJ. You get rid of him, you keep the position. And you say, well, the cops will just do it. It doesn't work that way. The people in the rec department are qualified. But they don't know what she does. They cannot take over her job and do it properly. I beg you, as a senior citizen speaking for 8,500 people in this city, please do not get rid of her job. Do not fire her. Do not lay her off. Leave her where she is. There's other ways to make money. Get rid of the yellow house. It's a nightmare. Whitmore Mansion is just going down the rabbit hole. Please consider what I'm saying.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else? Anybody else like to make a comment on the budget? Mr. Warren, go ahead, sir.

John Warren, City of Ceres. I think Shirley is correct. I think there's other places in the budget that can be adjusted and find the money for our city to move forward. One of those is the Olpecos Fire Station that is not in the city limits of Ceres. I think the cost of that fire station to the city is around $1.5 million. And we only maybe have 30% of the calls, according to the budget that's coming up and reading some of the staff reports. 70% of the calls are from outside of our city. And so that fire station, even though it has been used or supported by the city of Ceres for a lot of years, has probably outgrown its usefulness to the city. It does have some responsibilities. I understand that. But when we're looking to conserve thousands and millions of dollars, I think we need to look at that real close before the budget's finalized. And the other thing is the overtime that is extended by the members of our city staff, whether it's the police department or the people working in the engineering department or whatever, When overtime has occurred, it should be placed in a special bank at the time-and-a-half rate, CTO, which they would be paid dollars and cents of time-and-a-half. But in the case of our city right now, just like the state of California is facing severe shortages, one of the things that I know with the local California Highway Patrol is that they're on a zero overtime rate. In other words, officers are responding from the office to handle calls so those officers can return to the office and not occur any overtime. If overtime has occurred, it can be placed in a special leave bank. Our personnel need to be compensated for their time, but it should be compensated in the form of CTO. And the city could probably save a million dollars in the whole year looking forward. And so I've just found two and a half million bucks for the city in these two items. I understand a lot of the personnel look forward and need overtime hours, but they should not factor that into their budget. That should be something that's very, very extra. And if the city can afford it, that's fine. If they cannot afford it, then they need to make considerations elsewhere. And I know it has a lot to do with the contracts with each of the labor unions, but I think most cities write their contracts to where if they're in a situation, they can control those issues. And if they don't, then the people writing those contracts really need to be looking at what they're doing and what they're not doing. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else like to make a comment?

I didn't use my full five minutes. I have two questions that I know you're probably not going to answer. One, what's going on with Joey? All the people in the senior wants to know what's going on with Joey. And the second one, if I could remember, give me a minute. I went blank. Sorry, I went blank. But anyway, the one is about Joey. Oh, the other one is case manufacturing. Has case journey went back to business yet?

Very much, Shirley. Appreciate it. Those are non-budget related items, but thank you for the questions. Is there anybody else who'd like to make a comment on the budget? Okay. Is there any hand raised?

There are no hand raised and there were no emails received. Oh, we did just get a hand raised. Go ahead and unmute your mic.

Hello, can you guys hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, this is Galan again, Galan Guzman for the record. So last year, the proposed city budget had, you know, the city function, I mean, the city department function, along with some goals associated with for each department. So I'm wondering if this year's proposed budget will have that as well. Secondly, will the city budget, you know, after it's been adopted, will it be located at the Ceres Public Library? Because I know that the, what is it called, the Stanislaus County budget, there's like two budgets that are available for public view. So I'm wondering if the city of Ceres will have their itemized budget or adopted budget available for public view at the Ceres Public Library. And then secondly, I know that like at the very end of this agenda, there's a fire staff, like metrics and data for the fire station located on Pecos Avenue. But I'm wondering if there's any like, data to support, I mean, or any like service calls or any information for the other three fire stations that are, or how is like each personnel like calculated? Like there's a, at the end of, Part of the package, agenda packet, there's information for that station, for Pecos Avenue, which the city of Modesto will cover the personnel costs, but what about the other three remaining fire stations? Do we have any data in regards to the last year, how many calls of service were actually in the city's jurisdiction? Because that's really important to know. And then, as well as for... the Ceres Police Department. They posted their statistics, you know, just the last two months, but for the rest of the months, you know, the public was kind of left out in the dark. You know, we don't really know how many calls our officers are responding to, you know, or the crime rates and stuff like that. I think that's very important to know. And Being that public safety is a large portion of the budget, I think that those metrics are important to consider and very insightful. And I think that's it for now. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there any additional hands raised?

There are no other hands raised.

Did we receive any emails? We did not. Okay, we're going to go ahead and close public hearing and bring this back to the council. I have a couple questions to the finance department. I have a quick question. So online, we have a open position for the recreational supervisor. Could you tell me what is the cost or what is the budget item for that position?

The open position we have online, it's for the recreation coordinator.

Right. Okay. So how much are we paying that person?

It is a part-time extra help, the position that it's being recruited. It ranges... for checking on the range.

Is that under department item number 55?

Our HR director is letting us know that the position has been closed. It is a part-time position, and the part-timers, their salaries range between $17 and $21 per hour.

we don't have an estimate on what that's costing us per year?

It is based on the hours worked. I believe those part-timers in the recreation department, they work between 20, 15 to 20 hours a week. And...

Okay. While you're trying to get that information, I just, I mean, looking at... The fact that we're considering tonight getting rid of a position that is $91,000 a year, and yet we're still recruiting for part-time positions after the last meeting where we gave direction to cut additional part-time positions. makes me wonder if we can find a way to keep this position here, because I think that we should have at least taken into that consideration that that position should have not moved forward in hiring that part-time position. There's some cost savings from that, including now that we have a $22,000 surplus. I just want the council to take that into consideration. I know that sometimes when these questions are asked on the die, I said you can't quickly come up with those numbers, but if we can try to get close so we can try to figure this out i think that if there's a way that we can save this position tonight um that would be great um on top of that so then so i'll continue i don't know if you're still working on that i do want to say that before that question i was thinking about the fact that we did have a surplus and i was under the impression we had only eight thousand dollars surplus but now we have 22 000 surplus And I know that we also cut back on supplies for the Parks and Rec Department. And I know that Christmas Tree Lane and the parade is huge for our community. And so is Trunk or Treat. And my only suggestion I was going to make today was that we use some of this surplus money to go back into the Parks and Rec Department so that way they can what they have to do i know there's some committee members here today that participate in coordinating that event along with our parks and rec department and i just for all the things that we're cutting i think the community is going to need something like that to uplift them especially during the holidays we can circle back to that once we have additional comments if you need some more time just let me know

Based on the calculation, a part-time worker is about $22,000. Okay.

Let's see. Double-checking any of my other particular questions. I'll circle back, and I'll go ahead and allow Vice Mayor to go ahead and comment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the $22,000 potentially for that position, is that position frozen or is that position still, I know she said it was closed, but is that still something we're considering filling?

Excuse me, thank you for your question. We don't make any changes until the budget is actually adopted and council makes a final decision. And then once that decision is made, then we'll make those changes accordingly.

So then is it possible, feasible at least, to move that $20,000 and maybe budget this position, the REC supervisor, instead of laying it off? Maybe budget it for six months while we find other ways to make it sustainable?

I would be open to that concept after we allow everybody else to speak. Is there any additional comments, Vice Mayor?

No, just to follow up with what you said, sir, the Christmas Tree Lane event and the Trunk or Treat event, finding a way to make sure that those have some money to continue operations, even if it's cutting them both in half and then asking for people that participate in Trunk or Treat to provide their own candy this year instead of the city buying all of it and providing it for them, if that's something that's possible. But those two items staying, I would support.

Okay. Thank you very much. Council Member Otero.

I have a few things to comment, but I'll start with this topic of recreation. What is the cost for planning commissions travel and training under their budget currently?

I'll pull that up.

And while we're waiting for that, so tonight we do have one last chance to take an initiative as a council to reduce the elected officials budget further. One of the greater costs would be to eliminate the health benefits this year and reduce our stipends to half this year as well. If we as a council can't effectively lower our costs, it would potentially affect funding over time. I mentioned before that our part-time employees also don't get the same benefits as the current city council. As I make my further comments, I just hope that my colleagues up here would reconsider. This might help us get to the cost of that part-time position as well.

Any additional comments, Mr. Casey?

Well, first, I'd like to make this remark. We have a lot of firemen here today. but very few citizens and even fewer citizens at our June 1. I think that we do such a poor job of communicating what's going on and getting input. I've understood since I've been here that at one point, the city is going to try and possibly pass a bond issue to increase the sales tax. And I bet you $5 to a dime that there will be plenty of communications coming from the city. They'll find the money to communicate to the citizens why we need to increase our sales tax. And you'll have plenty of money spent to invite them to public hearings. But our everyday activity here, nobody shows up because nobody knows. But going back to the department, I mean the city's council's adopted budget, I have a question about the IT allocation. This year we're budgeting $27,000. For that in 23-24, it was only three. Last year it was 18. I wonder what that's for. Do you know, Mr. Mayor?

Maybe we can refer to the finance department because I had a follow-up question, Mr. Casey. Mr. Casey, do you know, in fact, who of all the city council members actually take health insurance, sir?

Do I know, in fact?

No. Do you know? Pardon me? Do you know who out of all the council members here on this dais?

I have no idea. All I know is it's budgeted for $46,000. I have no idea who has the insurance and who doesn't have it.

Yeah, because, you know, this is obviously honestly not directed to you, but there's been some information regarding specifically three council members on this diet that is taking health insurance. And one of them is supposedly me. I don't take health insurance. And I will continue to support voting on that item because I feel that it's very important that families have health insurance if they need it. So that's why I continue to support that item. I don't think that it's important for us to, I shouldn't say important, I don't think that it's necessary for us to take away the one thing that allows people to even take consideration in running for office, sir. And this is not, I take that back. It's not to you, sir. It's to the public. There's a lot of hours that are spent. It's not a part-time job. If this was a part-time job, then it's by choice. This is a full-time job for me, and I love this city. And I want to try to focus on the things that are very important today, and that is the possibility of trying to save somebody's job. And if we can pull that off today, I think that would be great.

Mr. Mayor, I might add to your comment about the health insurance, about anything that any benefits are paid otherwise. We, the five of us, are responsible for to make sure that we have money for this hall and to fire the police, the other staff people. And if anybody needs to take a hit, it should be us. I know that private business and public business is handled so differently, but it only makes sense. If cuts need to be made, it needs to start at the top and go down. So I disagree with you when you say it's important. I understand probably better than most people the importance of having insurance or not having insurance. But still, when we take this job, we say to the people, vote for me. I'm going to make Ceres a better place. Vote for me this. Vote for me that. We don't say vote for me because I need health insurance. We have an obligation. If we're going to make any cuts, it should come from us first. Thank you for listening.

No, I'm actually going to have to agree with you, Mr. Casey. The fact that you're absolutely right. That's why I didn't take the health insurance. That's why in January when I went to D.C. on behalf of the city of Ceres, I paid for my entire trip. I think that shows that there is a huge understanding that we need to be very cautious with our money. And yes, you're absolutely right. It is a huge responsibility on this city council. Going from a $5.5 million deficit to now a $22,000 surplus, we've made some very difficult decisions today. And I've been paying attention to every single council member and their comments. I think that every single council member here today, even the council member Rosalinda, who's not here today, has been involved in making those deep cuts. These deep cuts are not just being made here on the dais. These deep cuts are actually being decided ahead of time. And with the direction of the city manager and his recommendations and the hard work of all the staff that made the sacrifice for us to get to where we are today. And I think that today should be a moment for us to reflect as even I made this comment during my State of the City address that the City of Ceres is going to be dealing with some difficult decisions in who we are today. Going back to what I was saying earlier, if there's a way that we can possibly save somebody's job today, I would be in support of that. Any additional comments from the Council?

Thank you. So over the past month, I've spent many hours reviewing the budget. I've looked at prior audits. I've looked at prior financial documents, try to identify a lot of detail for myself. And I did ask a lot of questions of city staff, our finance department, our city manager has been extremely helpful in answering many of my questions. And I want to outline some of the questions I asked. some of the topics. One of the things is on our city website, I know there's been some concerns about what information is out there. I did ask for city staff to update the budget tab on the website to ensure that any missing documents are placed there so that as the public, you have the information. Our city manager also had shared with me and took the initiative to make sure like all the measure out documents are on there as well. So you know where those taxpayer dollars are going. When it came to the youth sports players fees, if we have contracts with our organizations, I just want to make sure that the funding is accounted for and it's being used effectively in our community. I had concerns about the community center, any debt that the community center has, the operating costs. So our city manager was able to share that information with me as well. And that's something that, you know, finance and the city manager can continue to look at. Another thing is the events and partnerships that we have in our city. There are events that we have partnerships with and it may not be advertised that way. But I just want to make sure that all residents are continuing to benefit from those things. And we're also being fair with all community members that want to host events here in the city of series. As I moved on, I did review some of the Measure H documents and other audits. When it comes to Measure H, it's important for me that we do have a public safety expenditure plan in place. And I did bring this to the attention of the city manager and thankfully he will make sure that we are always in compliance moving forward. But it looked like the last one had expired around 2018. So we haven't seen any public safety expenditure plan in place on paper. There could have been amendments over time, but I want to make sure that there's actually a formal plan so that way we know exactly what those tax dollars are going to. So like I mentioned, a city manager will make sure that that does get done. In past audits, 2023, 2020, there's a few years that we were late on audits. And when that happens, it does make us out of compliance. Some of those audits have noted material weaknesses. The city of Ceres did concur with the findings. And so it's important that as we move forward, there are procedures in place to prevent this in the future. As stated in the audits, prior management anticipated a full resolution in fiscal year 2027. So here we are. And I do believe that our current finance team and our city manager will make sure that we don't fall behind again. But moving forward, I just want to make sure that, again, if there's any discrepancies or anything that becomes untimely, I would expect once the city determines a resolution for that, that it's reported back to the city council. It's also important the city reviews and audits the reporting that was required for CARES and ARPA funding. I just want to make sure that we're not out of compliance with federal or state entities. And if there are any amendments or discrepancies, I think those need to be corrected. That's critical now, especially since we've had staff turnover and we have a new team. When it comes to contract services, this is something I asked for last year and I asked for this year. It's complex with the new system that finance is using, but there are contracts that are under review. So I do appreciate the city looking into those. One of those being the landscape contract. We have three separate ones, but if we can consolidate those, hopefully we can find some some savings there. Subscription and software, that's important. A lot of government entities sign up for these things and sometimes they're no longer needed because staff you know, one department may not use it versus another department. So it looks like they'll be able to look at eliminating unused or redundant services, which I think is going to be helpful for us. I also question training requests. As someone who works in local government, I know the amount of training requests that come through. And so I just want to make sure that we are handling those properly when it comes to the funding or where those are at. And I was assured that somebody monitors those and those are operated properly. I mean, those are authorized by the directors so that we can prevent overspending. I just want to see the city, you know, one day get back to the positions that are needed. We continue to have our 14 unfunded positions that were noted last year. So we need to move towards a plan. I did ask a lot of questions and I'll hold some of my comments for our fire services later, but I did get clarification on that on behalf of the citizens so that way I can make sure that the benefits are there. And then last thing, when it comes to contracts, I would like to request the city get a detailed breakdown of the fire dispatch costs from Stanislaus Regional 911. It's something that me and the city manager talked about. I was not able to find a formal dispatch contract for fire, even though we've had ongoing payments through the years. I don't think that's any fault of the city. I think that, well, for one, we do lack representation on the board to review the cost. In the original JPA from 1999, there was a seat for us at the table at that time, and then things changed over time. But I would question, where is our position now with it? If we're agreeing to cost that they implement, I think we need to have a breakdown and a say in that. And we should pursue a formal contract so there is more transparency when it comes to that and an actual cost review. And as I stated before, I do appreciate all the staff. This has been challenging for everybody over the past month, trying to cut things out that... that they need, but they have to make the cut. I know it wasn't an easy task. And I did have community members reach out to me as well about the senior program. And I understand there's a lot of concerns there. I spoke with the city manager and that right now that I could determine, I don't know what the options are currently. But overall, this budget isn't easy for the public to take in. These were hard decisions that had to be made by the city council and city staff because we need to work towards improving our finances. But I am confident in our current finance team and city manager. They recognize the needs, and I believe they're going to work towards making the necessary changes. So we're fiscally responsible moving forward.

Thank you very much, Council Member. Mr. Casey?

I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you asked me if I know who has insurance. Do you know who has insurance?

I only know that I don't have it.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

And I don't have it. No, yeah. Yeah, so you're absolutely right. We shouldn't be guessing who has insurance and who doesn't have insurance.

But I'd like to add something besides that. I think in the previous years that I've been here, we've asked for it and it's been agreed to. And I think regardless of how the budget goes today, whether it's approved or not approved, I think it's somehow or another it should be mandatory, mandatory that we have a quarterly review of where we are The other thing is going forward to 27, 28, I think you should have start at the council involvement and the public's involvement as early as February, not May. Especially, you know, like this May, we ended up only one holiday, I mean, only one meeting, and then we changed that and had a special meeting. And again, it's so important that people that are paying the money for this budget be informed about these meetings so that they can be here and give their input. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Casey. I'll just say one thing that there's times where we agree and times that we disagree, but you know I have a lot of respect for you, sir. I just want you to know that. Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to follow up with what Council Member Otero had said. I want to thank staff. There was a lot of cuts, a lot of difficult decisions that were made, and we're sitting here discussing. one employee's contract as well. That's another difficult decision, like she said. I want to thank Steve for coming in. He came in at a crazy time. He put his foot forward, and he did his best to meet with everybody, all the department heads, and see where we were and what cuts we could make. But I'm going to make a recommendation that we fund the recreational coordinator's position for six months. So if we take that $91,000 and cut it in half, it's $45,000. which would put us in a negative deficit. But if we don't hire that part-time position of $22,000, it pretty much balances that out.

Can I make one comment? The allocation, based on the budget decisions that you guys made at the last meeting, the allocation for... The part-time employees has already gone down significantly. So it went from 125 down to, I believe, 75. There was a $50,000 reduction to the part-time staff. And after speaking with recreation full-time staff, they find the part-time efforts more more necessary at this moment than funding that position or refunding it for a short amount of time. If we had to pick the lesser of the two evils, I think if you were going to try and reallocate that money, it would be better used in the part-time staffing because we're already cutting down the staffing. It's not a decision of whether we fund that or not. It's not the full amount. because the entire budget for the year was cut down from $125,000 to $75,000. So that's going to affect all part-time staff already who do the flips, do the setups for all the rooms, are here working the events, including the senior events. Supervisory and management staff believe that they can take over those senior coordinating tasks, but would require the staffing efforts of the part-time staff.

Okay.

Okay. So, you know, council, we can make a decision today to make some adjustments. I know council member, excuse me, vice mayor has recommendation. I have a recommendation of maybe, maybe, uh, They're fully funding recreational departments, fully funding all of their cuts that we made as far as the, I'm trying to blank here.

Trucker tree and Christmas tree.

Yes, I'm sorry. The trucker tree and Christmas tree lane. If we don't wanna do none of that and there is no support and we just move forward with this budget, I don't wanna hold up the process. I just wanted everybody to know that I made these efforts and I would support the idea of not cutting that position in Parks and Recs. And I would also support the idea of moving some of the funding over to the recreational department for Christopher Tree Lane and Runker Tree. And if the council doesn't want to move forward with that, then we should just go ahead and motion to pass the budget and not waste anybody's time.

Mr. Mayor, can I jump in real quick? Absolutely, sir. Go ahead. Thank you. So I appreciate Acting Director's comments. Just to clarify on the part-time hours, The fact that we went out and hired an additional part-time person is not going to result in an increase of the amount of money that was mentioned, the 20,000, the 22,000. It's all still 75,000. So what would happen with that is... the number of hours that each part-time employee would work would be reduced. So if we can add five more part-time employees, it's not going to increase or decrease the amount of money we have available. It's just more or less hours that would be split amongst those part-time staff members. So I can tell you that once again, I've said it every time, I appreciate every department head for chipping in. and giving, almost giving until you bleed. And I appreciate that. Every department has contributed to what we have now, which is a $5.6 million reduction to get us to a balanced budget. And I can commit to you that while I'm here, the recommendation to do quarterly updates to the city council on budget is going to happen. And along with that will be an opportunity to do a mid-year budget adjustment sometime around the first of the year. So with that, I would be supportive of using this $22,000 to allow the full-time recreation coordinator to continue for at least three months. possibly six months, and when we do that quarterly review, when we do that mid-year budget adjustment, we will take an assessment. Can we continue to afford it, or has that money been exhausted and we have no additional revenues? But at this time, hearing from the public, hearing the will of the council, I think that's a viable option.

So, Mr. Interim City Manager, would you suggest three or six months for my motion?

I would suggest six.

Thank you, sir.

Just the reason why is because we have had discussions about how this community center would operate differently if all of these cuts were implemented. And I'm not confident. I don't have a fully developed plan of what that's going to look like July 1st. So I think that we need a little time since we have this extra money available to develop a plan that if we are not going to continue funding, how would the center operate without that position? There simply wasn't time to do that before July 1st. So I would recommend the six months.

So it would just be, you would be making a motion to add on to the budget, Vice Mayor?

Yes, sir. So with that, then I'm going to make a motion adopting the annual budget for the fiscal year 2027 beginning July 1st, 2026, ending June 30th, 2027 with one change. Instead of laying off the recreational coordinator, we fund that position for six months.

I'll second that.

We get a roll call, please.

Council Member Casey.

Well, I would like to add the quarterly review to that. Without the quarterly review, I would vote no.

I think it's two different things. I mean, the city manager can give us quarterly reviews without a motion if you have that information. I mean, city attorneys, that's right, right? I mean, it's not like it's...

Typically, that would be more of an administrative function, separate from the budget. But as you've heard from your interim city manager, his commitment to the council is to provide quarterly updates as long as he's available to do so.

Maybe providing those quarterly updates up until we get to the six months, Vice Mayor. So that way, in three months, we get an update, and then we'll have that update after six months. That would make sense.

So my thought is if we can redo the motion with that change so that we're clear on what the council's voting on.

I think we have to motion to rescind the last motion to make a new motion, right?

We can do that to formalize it. So let's do that. Yes.

OK, so then I'll make a motion to rescind my motion.

It's a motion to rescind the previous motion, yes. Previous motion.

Even though no one had voted, we want to make sure that we're doing it right, so I'll second that. So we'll rescind the last motion.

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes.

Motion carries 4-0.

Now for the new motion, Vice Mayor. So then my new motion will be approving the annual budget for fiscal year 2027 beginning July 1st, 2026, ending June 30th, 2027 with one change, no longer laying off the recreational coordinator's position, but funding it for six months and adding quarterly updates, financial quarterly updates.

Second that. Roll call, please.

Council member Casey.

Yes.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes.

Motion carries 4-0.

Congratulations. We avoided a $5.5 million deficit. Thank you, staff. Appreciate that. Moving on to the next item. Resolution approving the amended and Restated agreement to provide fire protection services between the city of Modesto and the city of Ceres and authorizing the interim city manager to execute the agreement.

Mayor, quick interruption. I want to make sure, I believe we have to take a separate vote on the resolution for the appropriations limit from the previous item.

So there were two resolutions. Oh, I'm sorry. Going back to the public hearing, my apologies. I skipped over the appropriations limitations to the fiscal year. So we'll move back to that. And looking for a motion, Vice Mayor?

Make a motion to adopt the appropriations limitation for the fiscal year 2027.

I'll second that. Member Rocco?

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez? Aye. Mayor Lopez? Yes. Motion carries 4-0.

Okay.

Mr. American, I ask for a five-minute recess.

And we will now move on to a five-minute recess.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Well,

Okay. Wait. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you.

All of them.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please have your seat, we're gonna get ready to commence again. Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seat. If you can please take your seat and if you need to carry a conversation, please take it outside. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we're now back and we're moving on to new business. This is approving an amended and reinstated agreement to provide fire protection services between the city of Modesto and the city of Ceres and authorizing the interim city manager to execute the agreement. And our assistant fire chief, Andrew Hunter, will be presenting the item. Welcome, sir.

good evening mayor city council members of the public my name is andrew hunter i'm the assistant chief with modesto fire department tonight i'll be providing an overview overview of the proposed five-year fire service agreement between the city of series and the city of modesto in july of 2021 the city of series entered into a full service fire service agreement with the city of modesto the purpose of tonight's item is to consider a five-year renewal of that agreement Uh, for the benefit of the council and public, I would like to briefly review the history of the partnership, the progress that is made since 2021 and, uh, the, uh, and the proposed agreement before discussing the contract renewal. One of the unique aspects of the fire protection in series is that services are provided across 3 separate dirt jurisdictions, the city of series has been providing a regional response model for many years. The first area is the city of series which encompasses approximately 9.5. A square miles and serves a population of approximately 49,000 residents its boundaries encompass the city limits of series. The second fire protection area is the Ceres Fire Protection District, formed in 1930. Ceres has been providing fire service coverage for this district for over 40 years. The district consists of approximately four square miles of unincorporated county territory with approximately 2,000 residents. It covers a large area on the southern border and eastern border of the city of Ceres. The Copper Trails development and additional annexations will reduce the size of this district by a quarter, going from four square miles to approximately three square miles when that takes place. The third fire protection area is the Industrial Fire Protection District, also known as the Modesto Series Fire Protection Agency. This area encompasses approximately three square miles and serves nearly 13,000 residents in a county pocket located between Modesto and Series. The city of Ceres and Modesto entered into a JPA in 2007. The resulting JPA divided the area of responsibility in the district along the current sphere of influence boundary lines for Ceres and Modesto. This agreement assigned responsibility for the Pecos Fire Station east of 99 to Ceres and the Imperial Avenue Fire Station west of Highway 99 to Modesto. These three service areas are supported through one coordinated real regional fire protection system, their response to nearly 6,000 calls for service each year. This map illustrates the service areas as well as service areas just discussed and demonstrates the geographic complexity of providing fire protection services throughout the region. The regional model allows resources to be deployed based on need rather than jurisdictional boundaries, ensuring the closest appropriate resource responds regardless of location. In 2021, the city of Ceres evaluated several challenges facing the fire department. Those challenges included limited administrative staffing, vacancies in the fire prevention leadership positions, limited fire prevention capacity, the absence of ALS paramedic fire services on fire engines, staffing challenges, and limited access to specialized emergency response resources. The goal was to develop a sustainable fire service model capable of meeting both current and future community needs. Since implementation of the agreement, significant improvements have been made to fire and emergency medical services in series. The department successfully implemented advanced life support services on fire engines throughout through the addition of paramedics, Staffing on Quinn 18 was increased to 4 personnel improving both firefighters safety and operational effectiveness. The city also gained a dedicated fire prevention staffing expanded command support and access to specialized regional resources include the hazardous materials response. Technical technical rescue and water rescue. These enhancements have significantly increase the depth and capability of the fire service available to the community. These enhancements have been validated through the city's insurance service office or ISO rating, improving from a class three to a class two rating. The ISO evaluation measures a fire department's ability to effectively respond to and suppress fires through trained personnel, adequate staffing, equipment, water supply, and communication systems. While ISO does not evaluate every service provided by the fire department, the improved rating reflects the overall strength and capability of the emergency response system serving the community. This slide summarizes the current staffing model funded through the existing agreement as it is today. The current contract includes funding for engine 15, twin 18, engine 19, battalion three, fire prevention and administrative support positions. This staffing model provides the personnel necessary to support fire suppression, emergency medical service, fire prevention and command functions within series and the surrounding service areas. The proposed agreement maintains the current level of service while adjusting how costs are allocated. under the proposed agreement which will be considering tonight. The city of series will continue funding station 15 and station 18 resources. While the city of Modesto assume responsibility for the majority of the staffing costs associated with engine 19 at the Pecos fire station. As part of the contract renewal discussions, both agencies reviewed the role that engine 19 plays with regional response system. We found the engine 19 serves not only the city of series but also the Industrial Fire Protection District, the city of Modesto, and surrounding county areas. The analysis showed that approximately 71% of Engine 19's workload occurs outside of the city of Ceres. Based on this review, both agencies concluded that Engine 19 functions as a regional resource and that the funding model should better reflect how the unit is actually utilized. As a result, Modesto will assume responsibility for the majority of the staffing costs associated with Engine 19, while Ceres will continue to contribute approximately 29% of the personnel costs based on historical service demand. this funding will be evaluated as the industrial fire protection district's borders change as the district is index into the city or as funding availability changes one of the questions often asked is how the cost of the contract compared to operating a standalone fire department this slide compares estimated personnel and service costs under both models based on cost projections developed during the city's budget process for series Over the course of the agreement, the regional model has remained generally comparable to the cost of operating a standalone department while providing for access to a significantly greater depth of administrative, operational, training, and specialty resources. The analysis also demonstrates that the revised agreement continues to provide value while maintaining current service levels. Council always has the option of evaluating alternative fire service delivery models, including reestablishing a standalone municipal fire department. A standalone department could provide greater local control over staffing, budgeting, and service delivery decisions. However, it would also require significant investment in personnel, administration, fire prevention, services, EMS oversight, fleet maintenance, facilities, labor relations, and regulatory compliance. A comprehensive feasibility study would be necessary to evaluate the full costs, staffing requirements, facilities, apparatus needs, service level, and transition timelines before pursuing this alternative. So as we think about this contract, this has truly been a partnership between the city of Ceres, the city of Modesto, and the other partner agencies that we're united with under MST. We understand that not one single agency as large as it may be, may have the ability to resolve the emergencies that it may be faced. Now, day-to-day calls, each agency generally can respond to those and meet those service demands. But in the case of series, even when there's a simple structure fire, it requires resources from surrounding agencies to respond and to assist and resolve that incident, as well as provide coverage behind those resources that are already on scene. This model or this contract that we're bringing tonight continues the same service level to the citizens or the residents of Ceres and the surrounding areas that Ceres has responsibility over. Now, as was mentioned earlier, there's aspects of this that are dynamic. Council Member Otero pointed out the dispatching. Within the contract, there was some language that was missed, but the intent was is that the contract, within the contract, that the City of Ceres would continue to receive fire dispatching through SR 911 or whatever agency provides that role in the future. We could look into getting answers as far as having series represented within that JPA and follow up at a future meeting. With that, this concludes my presentation. At this time, I will turn it over to the city manager to discuss the staff recommendations.

Thank you, Chief. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. First of all, I would like to thank Chief Hunter, along with Chief Evans and the Modesto City Manager for working with us through these contract negotiations. As was mentioned earlier, since inception in 2021 through the end of this next five-year period, should you choose to adopt this, approve this agreement tonight, the city of Ceres would have saved approximately $1.9 million in staffing costs. Approving this agreement tonight will allow the city to maintain current service levels of fire protection. It preserves the advanced life support paramedic service. It maintains a four-person quince staffing, supports a class two ISO rating, provides access to regional resources, and supports future growth and service needs. And again, I'd like to thank the chiefs, the fire staff in the room, along with the Modesto City Manager, for working with us as we negotiated this contract. I do anticipate a potential side letter agreement to address the missing language along with the chiefs, and I have already talked about the potential for some additional, while they might be minor, some additional cost-saving measures potentially coming through a side letter agreement. And with that, I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. Sounds good. Council, any particular questions?

Yeah, sounds good. Go ahead and open this up to the public. Members of the public would like to make a comment on this item.

Good evening, everybody. Joe Spanning, Ceres resident, former Ceres employee, and current Minnesota firefighter. Worked for Ceres for just over 15 years and became a Modesto employee when the first contract went into effect in 2021. The contract not only provided everything that has been presented to you on the screen, including ALS, paramedic firefighters on all of our apparatus, put more firefighter staffing in Ceres every day and increased the insurance rating of the fire service, causing reduced insurance costs for our citizens. but also save the city $1.9 million that's been spoken about. At Ceres Fire, we weren't able to complete all of our state-mandated requirements, some of those including not being able to do all of our business inspections and our school inspections because of our lack of staff. Those are some of the problems that have been resolved since we've become Modesto Fire here in town. As a firefighter, I believe that we owe it to the people that we serve to be active within the community. One of the things that was spoken about when the initial contract was presented was that these will no longer be your firefighters here in town. They won't be your series firefighters. They won't be accessible to you. I can tell you without a doubt that that is not true at all. We have been, as firefighters, more active in this town than we were when I was a series employee. You'll routinely see us at council meetings on duty and off duty, different events, series street fair, the trunk retreat, concerts in the park, Christmas tree lane parades, series unified school district events, youth sporting events throughout town, both on duty and off duty. Unfortunately, I've had to use our emergency services before in this town. As a series resident raising a family, the last 16 years. I can tell you without a doubt the emergency services that we have in place right now between the fire department and the police department is the best I've ever seen. I appreciate the work that you all do and I encourage you to vote to expand or extend this five year contract.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment? Seeing none, I'll go here to online. Is there anybody who raised their hand?

There are no hands raised and there were no emails received.

Okay. Council Member Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. So when I first got on council, I wasn't fully familiar with the fire contract. I had concerns, just like... Mr. Spani just mentioned, you know, are these really our firefighters? And I can tell you they are our firefighters and I'm grateful for the service that they give to our community. I see them out at all the events that I attend. They're there with a smile and they just seem so happy to be there. And I'm grateful for the services that they're able to provide by having this regional model. And I just want to say thanks to Chief Hunter. I've met with him a few times to really understand this entire contract. And I've met with the firefighter, the union as well, to understand their side of things because I think that's important. And going forward, what I would like to see the city do is because we own some of the equipment, we own these fire stations, I also want to make sure for them we have the necessary resources. And one of those is, for example, Station 19. There will be some cost sharing, but when it comes to the station itself, I think we need to figure out a way to make a plan to upgrade or modify that station so it's a long-term investment to keep staffing safe there to give them the resources they need there. But other than that, this is something that I think our city should continue moving forward with. There's a cost savings and the services, as you heard, are better than it was prior.

Thank you, Council Member Otero. Mr. Casey, would you like to make comments, sir?

I agree that the presence of the individual firefighters has been pretty good, super. You know, at the Memorial Day flags, how they came up and got involved in the community. However, I also think it's our obligation to, it is our obligation that we seek other alternatives besides the city of Modesto providing this service. And again, my pet peeve, nobody's here. We need to communicate to the people what's going on so that they can have an input to this. But I agree that the firefighters that we have assigned to CERES are doing a good job as individuals. I do disagree with it being that we didn't make any effort to find another administrative unit. Contract employment is really a win-win situation It needs to be a win-win situation. And I'm not positive that that's occurring with our present contract. But again, do we even go out and seek an alternative city agency besides the city of Modesto? That's a question to you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Casey. I would just like to say thank you everybody for being here today. It's remarkable to see the investment that the city of Modesto has done and the collaboration between not only the city of Ceres, but also the other municipalities involved in this contract. This contract has made a world of a difference to the citizens of the city of Ceres. Citizens of series don't pay attention to the fire truck that shows up to their property when their house is burning down. They just want to make sure that they do everything in their power to save their house. And as somebody who's been over the 20 years as a fire suppression technician, I understand the importance of fire life safety. So I'm going to support this contract for today. Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to start off by saying that I believe this is an excellent partnership that we have with Modesto Fire. Like, Firefighter Spani got up here and just said a few minutes ago, we weren't fully staffed. We didn't have paramedics in our houses. We couldn't do some of the basic necessities, school inspections, building and code and permit inspections. We didn't have a fully staffed fire marshal at the time. So these are some of the benefits that having a partnership with the city of Modesto has been able to bring to the citizens of Ceres. At the end of the day, the fire trucks, the apparatuses, they still say City of Ceres on them. And like the Mayor just said, when a person's in dire need of emergency services, they're not looking at the name on the badge or the name on the side of the fire truck coming to save them. They're just appreciative that those services are being offered and that they're being given to them in a timely manner. So with that, I would definitely support this. This is a no-brainer. So for me, I'm going to make a motion to approve item number 14.

I'll second that.

Roll call.

Council Member Casey.

Well, before I go, I asked the question, Mr. Mayor, did we seek an alternative source besides the City of Modesto?

I believe there is a motion on the table, sir. I'll refer that question to another day. I think that we need to move forward with this.

Okay, then my vote's no. Thank you.

Councilmember Otero. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez.

Aye.

Mayor Lopez.

Yes.

Motion carries 3-1. Okay.

Thank you very much. And thank you to Mr. Hunter for everything that you've done. Thank you. All right. So there's no discussion items. Moving on to councilmember referrals. This item is for council members request to have an agenda item placed on the future of agenda items in council meetings. We do have a referral today in this review of planning commission guidelines in the series municipal code requested by council member Casey.

Go ahead, sir, this is your item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Before I make my suggestions, a couple of meetings ago, we had Measure H vacancy. And we had all agreed on a procedure. fill that vacancy and then somehow or another we changed it. I think that goes on way too often. But at any rate, just to make, I have a couple questions. You know, in our municipal code, Since I've been on the city council, I sometimes zoom in, sometimes I'm here physically. And I've noticed that oftentimes there's a commissioner that's not here this meeting, not here the next meeting. And it says clearly in our municipal code that if somebody misses two meetings in a row, the president of the commission can, with the approval of the other commissioners, remove that person. So I asked the president one time, I go, this person hasn't been here. What's going on? And the answer was, staff approves. So we probably need to remove that if we're not going to enforce it. The other thing is, the planning commission is made up of the five members, and at one time we only had one high school and a student. So I either, you know, add the provision to have, just recognize the two big high schools and have two, or you want to, just eliminate that altogether. Because, you know, what makes government successful is we have good laws and we enforce those laws. And when we make exceptions, it causes a lot of confusion, as we did two meetings ago with the Measure H. So that's what I wanted to talk about. Changing, what I'd like to add... is that we make sure that we have a planning commissioner from each of the four districts. We have four districts. And then the mayor, we could choose the large person. Right now, I'm not positive how it's made up. At one time when I first came on, I did some study and we were way over balanced. So I think that could be added. These other remarks that I made, maybe they should be taken out or they should be enforced.

Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and open this to the public. Is there anyone in the chambers that would like to make a comment on this item? Any hands raised?

There are no hands raised and there were no emails received.

We're coming back to this item for any questions, and this is a consensus item.

I have a question. Mr. Casey, so tonight, what are you asking us to make a motion on or to adopt or potentially adopt? Appointing council planning commissioners based on their district, or are we trying to appoint representation from the schools? Which item are we discussing right now? Is it all of it?

Well, the industry thing would be something different. The actual referral was to either enforce what we had change it. We just don't, we have a tendency since I've been here that we have a particular set of rules but then somebody we know or don't know or you know they're not here they are here so but it clearly states that if you miss two meetings in a row The president of the commission, with the support of the other commissioners, can remove that person. But right now, when that person misses one day, two days, five days, five meetings, somehow the staff, whoever the staff is, so either change it, or enforce it. That's really the question. A separate issue would be the representation. But right now, my referral is, here are the rules. Use them or change them.

OK. You got that, Vice Mayor? OK. Now I'll just go ahead and ask for a consensus from left to right. No, yes, no for me.

No what?

We're doing consensus at the moment. No, we're not going to enforce the rules? No, no, the question, we're doing consensus for this item to move forward, sir. We have a no, a yes, a no, and what is your consensus?

I'm still unsure what we're doing here. So are we going to enforce?

So the referral process at this stage is for the council to consider formally agendizing this for discussion or a vote. So right now it's do you want to consider it further or not?

And the no means no consideration?

No further. Okay. I vote yes.

You got that, Fallon?

Yeah, that's two and two, so that's no consensus.

Thank you, Fallon. Any other council members have any additional referrals? Okay, seeing none, we're going to move on to reports. I do have some reports. I did attend an event that was hosted by the Garden Club in coordination with the Turlock Garden Club, and we went out there. I know Sarita came a little bit later out there, but we went out there and gave them a certificate of appreciation. I believe the Garden Club does great things for the city of Ceres, and that was a great event. And also this Thursday, I believe, Tuesday, Thursday, we had the opportunity to give Cade the key to the city in conjunction with Univision and CYSO Earthquakes at the soccer complex at River Bluff in Serena's district. In attendance was myself, Vice Mayor, and Serena. It was a great event. I know that Parks and Recs was involved, and I just want to say thank you very much for the organizers of this event, even though it was considered a private event, but at least giving the key to the city. And I think that he is a well-deserved person to receive this key. Let's see. The last one I have is, no, I just wanted to say, I know that vice mayor is going to have a report on concerts in the park. I didn't want to steal your thunder, but at least wanted to make sure that you brought it up. And if there's anything else,

Thank you, Mr. Barrett. No, no, no stealing of thunder. You could have brought it up. The first of our concerts in the park for this year will begin. It's going to be on the night. Yeah, the ninth episode is coming up tomorrow. And that will be beginning at 630 instead of six o'clock. So 6.30 be out there. I know there are some food vendors available. I did see that Alfonso's is going to be doing a special where they'll be selling some food that you can take, chips and salsa and things of that nature from Alfonso's over to the park. So there will also be food present as well, but there's a couple of local businesses downtown that are also going to be doing some things for the concerts in the parks.

I just wanted to ask, for the first kickoff, we do have – or the DJ who's going to host it is DJ Tony vibes from the dog house, but also heard that you guys are going to have an intermission. Is that correct? I believe it's the series. There was karate is doing the interview. Yes. I believe so. Yes. I just wanted to make sure. And just for the public knows, and I'm, I'm putting you on the spot here. Uh, if you can tell us how many weeks the concert in the park series is and who, uh,

I believe it goes until July 14th. I don't know. I can share on social media. I know the community does a great job of sharing it on their Facebook and social media pages as well, who's all playing each individual evening and as well as who sponsored those events. I know we're looking to try and do something the week of 4th of July since that is America's 250th birthday. So we're going to try and find something to do for that as well. But I don't have that off the top of my head. I'd have to look that up.

Oh, that's fine. I just want to let everybody know this. It is going to be on Tuesdays and I hope that you bring your family out there. Great job. Councilmember Serena, any? Not today. Mr. Casey, do you have any reports for today, sir?

Sure. My report is, unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the grand opening of the Concerts in the Park because of the election being on the first Tuesday of June, the primary election. The American Legion had to move their first meeting to the second Tuesday. So I'll be at the American Legion celebrating the beginning, the celebration of 250 years of independence and what a great country we have.

Mr. Casey, appreciate that. I'll go ahead and move to city manager. Any reports, sir? I have no report. Thank you, mayor. City attorney.

Nothing tonight.

And to our department heads, anything to report?

Thank you, Mayor, Council Members. Just wanted to throw a quick note out there that Hatch Road Water Main Phase 3 is underway. Best if everybody steers clear of the area. I get that people need to drive there, but please, if you do drive in the construction area, Please drive with caution. We don't need any accidents or anything like that out there. That project is projected to go to October. So it will be kind of a mess out there, if you will, for a while. But we do want to finish it up before we get to the holiday season. So thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else?

Yes, next Monday at the planet Commission meeting, we will have a public hearing or the housing element implementation and there'll be going over some housing development ordinances on that evening.

Thank you very much. Anybody else anybody on this side. Okay. All right, then. Well, with that being said, I will say once again, thank you for all the hard work. And now we move on to other business. Everyone have a good night. We will now go on to closed session for conference with legal counsel regarding anticipation litigation. California Government Code 54956.9. For four potential cases, a conference with legal counsel regarding exiting litigation, excuse me, existing litigation, California Government Code 54956.9. The name of the case is Ashley Runeo, City of Ceres versus her and San Isidro Superior Court case number CV25009856. And a conference with real property negotiations, California Government Code 54956.8, Property APN 127-016-014. Agency negotiators are Interim City Manager Steve Williams and the City Attorney Anubia Goldstein. The negotiation party is Judicial Council of California. Under negotiations for pricing terms of payment. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak regarding to the closed session item? Seeing none, after closed session, I will report out. Everyone have a wonderful evening and God bless you.

Okay.

Welcome back, everyone. Direction has been provided on all items on closed session. Thank you.