City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to everybody. Welcome here to the City Council meeting today, Monday, July 13, 2026. I now call this meeting to order. Roll call, please.

District 1, Council Member Casey. Here. District 2, Council Member Vieira. Here. District 3, Council Member Otero. Here. District 4, Vice Mayor Martinez.

Present.

Mayor Lopez.

Here. Everyone, please stand for the invocation by Connor LaRosa from Valley Grace Community Church, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance from the American Legion Post Commander Pete Cemento. Welcome.

Good evening, everybody. Please join me in a word of prayer. Almighty God, creator of the heavens and the earth, we thank you for another day on earth, another day that you have raised the sun on us, given breath for our lungs and strength for our bodies. We thank you for your goodness in all these moments every day, the seen and the unseen moments of goodness. Lord, I pray for your blessing on this city. I pray for the families to be united and to love one another, for the safety of Ceres and her citizens, as well as those who serve her and our police and our fire departments. Thank you for this council, this collection of individuals that you, God, have sovereignly placed here. I pray that they govern well. I pray that you would give them courage and strength. I pray that they would serve you and that they would serve the people of this city well. Thank you for their lives. Thank you for their families. Thank you for what they have dedicated themselves to. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. Thank you for your mercies that are new every morning. I pray for the well-being and the redemption of all who live in series and call her home. It is in the name of Jesus Christ that I pray these things. Amen.

Good evening, everyone. Please remain standing. Place your right hand over your heart. Remove your covers. and join me in 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. You may recover and be seated, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Pete. We'll now begin with a presentation from Stan RTA, Welcome.

Hello, good evening, Ceres City Council. I'm Adam Barth. I'm the Chief Executive Officer for the Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority, or StanRTA. I have Angela Swanson here.

Good evening. I'm Angela Swanson. I'm a Senior Transit Analyst at StanRTA and the Project Manager for this short-range transit plan update.

So tonight, we're providing an update to our transit routes and have a presentation up on the screen.

All right, here we go.

Awesome. So the standard TA was formed about five years ago and started operations, and we made a few service changes at the beginning of our service, beginning of the standard TA. We're at a point now where we're reevaluating our routes due to a couple things. One, we just need to take a fresh look at our routes, see where they're working, and see where they're not working, and make some refinements. Although we're also in a time right now where we are having to make some service cuts due to our funding reduction in our revenue. So because of that, we're looking at our routes, trying to find ways to make them better, but also trying to deal with this funding shortfall and how we can better craft our route. So tonight we're going to talk through what the routes look like today and what we propose them to look like in the future. We do have next steps here. We're in this public participation phase today where we're looking to you and looking to the public to provide us some comments on the proposed routes, what they look like, would they work for you or not. And that public feedback will help us refine our service changes, which we'll start to do in the late summer and come to a final resolution in the fall on what routes that we're going to change and how we're going to change it. And then we'll implement those changes that we come to next year. So just a recap of the existing conditions. Again, like I said, our service formed in 2021. It was formed between, it was a JPA that was formed. In 2022 and 2023, we did a big planning effort where we looked at all the routes, looked at all the former routes and how we could better align them. So in that process, we ended up with 27 routes with four types of routes. So we had the frequent routes, local routes. The inner city routes was run, obviously, between the city. Then we have express routes and inner county routes where we run over to the BART station in Pleasanton, the ACE station in Lathrop, and then down here, down to Turlock as well. You can see this is a ridership trend since July of 2022. So we start off low, and there's ups and downs throughout this time. But you can see there's an upward trajectory of our ridership, which is awesome to see. More and more people are riding the bus or using the bus to get around to medical, to jobs, to education, and whatever they need to do. It's been great to see how the routes have really, the route changes that we did back in 2022 and 2023 really took hold and provided a better service for the communities that we serve. So we really get more people around to more places, which is really the goal of what we wanted to do. So this screen shows the ridership distribution amongst all the bus stops that we have in the Modesto series area. So each dot is a bus stop. And the larger the dot, the more people use that bus stop. And so this is one of the tools that the planners use to figure out where the ridership is at and how we could better run the routes to get more people on the bus. Obviously, it doesn't make a lot of sense to run routes on roads that have bus stops, but no one's on the bus. So we want to focus the efforts and focus the resources on areas where more people will ride the bus, although we do need to balance that with our rural areas as well, because there are some rural areas in our county that we serve that we don't want to cut off service to completely, but we do want to provide some service, but we need to need to balance that. So this is just one of the tools that the planners use to that they use as they develop the proposed routes for what they want. If you look at some of the big, big, big dots, those are really those key destination points that are listed there on the screen, from MJC to the Mall in Modesto to the Walmart here in Ceres. Route performance. This is a graph to show the different routes that we have and how many people ride the bus versus how many people are on the bus each day. And so you can see that we have some high ridership routes around the right-hand side of the graph. Middle routes are in the middle, obviously, and the ones that are down below in the lower left-hand quadrant are the routes that don't do the best. They're rural routes or they have other limitations to them. But it gives you some perspective on which routes do well and which routes don't. The ones that are circled in red are routes that serve here in Ceres and go to different parts of town depending on the routes. And so it's another tool that the planners used as they looked at the different routes, which routes are doing well and which routes aren't. So as the planners continued with their process, they had a lot of other inputs that they used to develop the proposed route. So we'll start on the left-hand side, the existing conditions report, which showed the existing condition of the routes themselves, the routes as they exist today. They did an analysis of each route and an analysis of the market as well. Moving on to the community input phase, we were out in the community back in December to get input from the riders on what's working well for them today, what's not, and use that input to help craft the proposed routes that we'll talk about here in just a moment. We had a survey back then as well, which helped inform that. We have some financial realities that I talked a little bit about at the beginning of the presentation. We are seeing a decreased amount of revenue in our system, which is making us look at some route reductions due to that decreased revenue. And then they also talked to staff. Obviously, we have a good perception of the system and want to get our input as well on the best way that we saw that we could improve the routes. Our priorities were to preserve coverage in the area. That means that we want to stay in our service area, stay in the county, and even if there's routes that don't perform the best, but they still serve a population that needs to be served. So we still want to maintain that coverage, but we still want to optimize the network, make sure that we're serving the best way we can, needing to balance the service versus coverage areas. So we're looking at connections as well, connections on how we can better place connections or transit hubs throughout the system to better connect people to the different routes. Looking at simplifying the routes, making them easier to understand, which is a key principle to make it easier to use as well, and improving the schedule in life. Also looking at service efficiency as well to prioritize the productive services but still balance the less effective services. With that, I'm going to hand it over to Angela. She's going to talk through the proposed changes.

And I can start off by saying we can all take a deep breath here in series. Your service is essentially going to remain unchanged under the plan and the proposals being brought forward. So we know that that's very meaningful to you all. especially because I remember being part of the team that came here when Ceres terminated running operating CAT and entrusted it to Max and then allowed it to move forward to us as standard TA. So we're happy that we are continuing in good faith to serve the community of Ceres. So sit down. So one of the things that we're trying to do that's transformative in the long run, and I'll focus on series, is originally as MAX, we ran everything coming out of Hub and Spoke, coming in and out of Modesto downtown and the Modesto Transit Center. What we're finding, though, is that people don't always need to come from the outer areas of the cities and the rural areas into downtown Modesto and then pulse back out again. We need hubs to move around more the way airlines are designed. designed work distributing so you're moving people around without having to go into the center so a key place that we see still needing to have a satellite hub is to develop the series Walmart property more to be able to do more than what we have for our street level where we have the five routes that come in and out right now we're looking long term to be able to do some sort of an off-site facility and to really develop that but that we're really, with the new service plan, one way to cut hours but not cut service is to do shorter routes that come to these other satellite hubs and then moving people out from there. So that's one of the key changes we're making and continuing to keep it. And then here we're looking at the routes that affect you. West Modesto and Ceres are kind of clustered together. The key routes you're looking at, though, are the 29, the 42, the 47, And then the 10 that comes down that are expressed between Modesto and Turlock that now is coming into series, we propose to bring into series. We've also redesigned a little bit of how people are moving around in West Modesto. The one piece right here I can call your attention to where we, the only service you are losing is the connectivity coming from West Modesto. On the 47 it was on Hatch that connected over to the, into where the 20 and 21 are. That was something that was requested that never, ridership never materialized. So we had to let that segment go, even though people liked the idea of it. Otherwise, you remained as you are and keeping you intact. Again, everyone being able to get to the churches, to get to business down here, to get to Ceres, Walmart, and the CSA and those services operated by the county. Then the 29T is being reorganized a little bit. This is the primary connection between Modesto, Ceres, Keys, and Turlock, keeping that connection going through the county going. Minor realignment, but keeping the service essentially unchanged. And then the East County, the 61 comes directly from Houston to Ceres, Walmart, and then goes up to the Transit Center, Modesto. We are looking at some options to, because this is an underutilized service, but Houston is loud and clear. They still need to come to Ceres. They need to get to downtown. So do we run maybe fewer hours? Do we run more express hours? We're looking at some options. But again, that remains a service. And then a real quick summary. We look, as I talked about, simplifying it where sometimes it's being able to make the route shorter so it's more efficient so we aren't tying up as many buses, really making the system flow better, really prioritizing frequency where we need it. We are asking people, the common theme underlying all this is we're asking people to walk a little bit further. Right now our standard in the urbanized areas is about a quarter mile or about a five to seven minute walk. We're looking now at asking people to walk up to a third of the mile. But we're keeping their frequency up so that it's worth it to walk that little bit further to the bus, but that allows us to make the routes a little more streamlined. And then I will tell you, the place to send everybody in your community to if they want to learn more or be more involved is connectthes.org. And this is a sample of what goes on. So right now you'll see on the website, Should start going. I got impatient with it. What we have is the bar will start swiping from the right to the left. It's done at every other place but Ceres. OK. Won't keep you on this, but anyway, where it will show the existing is overlaid over the proposed. So you can compare how the routes look in relationship to each other, going back and forth with this toolbar, moving back and forth across. I apologize that that didn't work tonight. And then this is one more way of showing you how we're making those 15% cuts without compromising service. The navy blue lines show you the proposed routes that we're doing. Red lines are where we've given up service. And what you can see is generally there's service happening within a third to a half mile of where that red line was, that there's still service available. You just have to walk a little further or do it a little differently to be able to make your connections. But no service is completely gone. And then another thing, again, where I referenced one of the key concerns your community had at that time was preserving paratransit service for the elderly and individuals with disabilities so that they would still have their rides. This route shows in the pink is where the couple of areas where our transit network is a little smaller, so they won't receive service. And if you look at it, as you see the Modesto series area, we're really only talking about very rural areas, and anyone who's currently served what we proposed to grandfather and to keep them in the service. So essentially, all the paratransit service and that within the city of Ceres limits will remain unchanged. There is one change that we are proposing, though, that's a no-brainer cost-saver, we think, is currently paratransit operates 365 days a year, but fixed-ride is closed for six holidays. We're proposing to close for four out of six holidays, but to still operate paratransit on Christmas and Thanksgiving, so those individuals with limitations for their mobility will still be able to be with friends and loved ones. And then next steps, I won't need to say anything except at the bottom, connecttheus.org. If any of the folks in this community of series have any questions or comments, they're more than welcome to please go to the website, learn more. There's ways you can leave questions, ask for us to respond to. Come to our next board meeting in August. We'll be talking about it. And then it'll be going to our board in September. Again, connecttheus.org. And then... This is the note we love being able to close on. In other news, coming to series fall 2029, the new Standard TA headquarters facility at the corner of Crows Landing and service roads across the street from the county service areas. We want to give a huge shout out to your planning and staff here at the city. You have been the most amazing partners to us. We are so looking forward to moving forward. This is the latest rendition of the Facility that will include our administrative operations headquarters and our fleet maintenance facility to house up to 200 buses. So we thank you and look forward to joining you. And I'll hand it back to Mr. Barr.

And so with that, definitely thank you for the time tonight and happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you very much. Does the council have any comments or questions? Thank you very much for the presentation. Appreciate that. Moving on to citizens communications. While the City Council welcomes and encourages participation in the City Council meetings, adopted rules allow no more than five minutes in 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 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 City Council on the agenda item subject to the five-minute provision. Anyone wishing to address City Council must adhere to the rules of decorum, and the rules of decorum are posted outside the Chamber's doors. Are any of our representatives here today? Seeing none, and we'll go ahead and start off with some in-person comments. And the first person I have here is, I believe it's Gary Condit. Okay, sir. My apologies. Please state your name. That's probably why I thought it was Gary Condit. I just saw the last name. Welcome, sir. Please state your name.

Good evening. My name is Earl Condit. I live at 3613 Dormia Court in Ceres. I've been here for 60 years. The other week ago, yesterday, I was having lunch at La Morita's. And I came out, and I noticed a clock camera in the parking lot. I hadn't seen it when I went in. Had I seen it, I wouldn't have went in. I would have left. I talked to the manager, and I asked her, where did that thing come from? And she said, the city of Ceres put it there. And so I got home. I called Mr. Casey, and I asked him about it. And he said he'd find out. He called me back. Monday, last Monday, today, and told me that the city didn't have anything to do with it. So I'm kind of puzzled who put it there. The manager said they didn't do it. Mr. Casey says the city didn't do it. Now, I know what these flock cameras are all about, and they're not good. And I told the manager, I won't come back. And I've been going to La Moritas for a lot of years. I won't go back as long as that camera's parked in front of their business. I won't go to any business that has those cameras parked in front of them. I went up to Rayleigh's last week. Rayleigh's has one. I told the lady there, I said, I'm not coming back again until that camera's moved. City of Modesto put that one in. City of Modesto's in bed with flock. They got them all over the town. You can't go nowhere in Modesto without being recorded. These things take your license plate, your cell phone, any medical device that transmits anything to your doctor, your kids' cell phones. They keep track, and they keep track of everything. This is all going to these data centers. It's a highly sophisticated surveillance system going in to control the people of this country. If you don't believe that, then I feel sorry for you. But I hope the city of Ceres doesn't have anything to do with this flock of people or these cameras. I understand the license plate readers. I was a cop for 31 years. That's all good. Cameras inside these businesses, security cameras. We have them at our church. They're not connected to the internet because I can watch them at home. But they don't go anywhere. They don't go to the government or some place, some IT or AI place or whatever. I just want to, I don't think the people of series one, I'm here watching them 24 hours a day. It's our constitutional rights under the fourth amendment to live without this stuff. And I urge you not to have anything to do with it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Condit. The next person that I have is Linda Rhino. Former council woman, Linda Rhino.

Well, this is a different side for me to be speaking from. But before the 26-27 budget was adopted by the city council, our parks were already showing signs of neglect. In fact, it was so bad that residents were posting on social media about the condition of the parks. Yet, with 14 parks, five of which have restrooms totaling approximately 148 acres, the city council still eliminated one full-time parks worker now leaving four, four employees to maintain all those parks. Since the council eliminated the contract for the company that had been cleaning those five park restrooms, who will do that? One of those four remaining park workers. The city council also eliminated two part-time code enforcement officers who gathered up homeless leftovers in parks. Who will do that? The city council also canceled the contract for security at the park, which included blocking park restrooms at night. Is that even being done by city staff? Because that's what I heard during the discussion on the budget cuts, that other city staff would step up and take care of that. The city council also canceled the contract for right-of-way landscaping. Were you thinking those four park workers could add that to their duties, or did you want our right-of-way landscaping to look as bad as our city parks? Hopefully, the council will find a way to make cuts somewhere else and do a budget amendment to get the help our city parks desperately need and not let them continue to look like parks in third-world countries, unless that's the plan to get that one-cent tax passed in November.

Thank you very much, Councilwoman. I think it is appropriate for me to ask the City Manager, I believe that you could possibly answer some of her questions, if that's okay.

Yes, good evening. Thank you, Mayor and Councilmembers. It is true that one full-time park maintenance worker was eliminated from this year's budget, as well as the funding for the Brightview landscaping contract, which included service at Smyrna Park and River Bluff, along with several right-of-way landscaping duties throughout the city. And that work currently falls on city staff to do. The public works superintendent intends to put out a request for proposal very soon, specifically for landscape and lighting district areas, as well as CFD areas. But unless there is a budget amendment or some other additional funding recognized, those duties will continue to fall on city staff. And in fact, we have a meeting tomorrow at 8 o'clock in the morning to discuss the current condition of Smyrna Park along with Ochoa Park, Independence Park, so that we can develop a realistic staffing deployment plan with our limited staff that is available since we no longer have the maintenance agreements. we will be able to create and make available a schedule of activities so we can know when each park is planned to be served, how often it's going to be served, by how many staff members it will be served. So that way that will be a document that can be shared and everyone can be aware of what the expectation will be moving forward. That meeting's at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Thank you very much, city manager.

Is there anybody else who would like to ask a question? Please step up to the podium, please.

Good evening, city council, city staff, community. I don't have a question, but I do have my report for the chamber. So my name is Brandi Meyer, president and CEO of the Ceres Chamber of Commerce. I just wanted to give some updates. This past weekend, we had at the Modesto Roadsters baseball game a 19-time boxing champion, Damian Flores, throughout the first pitch. He did an awesome job. So if you guys see him, make sure you tell him congratulations. He did. He got it right over the plate. So he did great. And there's videos online if you want to see them. Second, I'd like to thank everybody who came to our grand opening for Little Papas. It was, from what I heard, standing room only. It was packed, and I really felt the love, and I really appreciate it. We had a great time. I wasn't expecting that many people, but we got through it, and we've been busy ever since. So if I look exhausted and dirty and tired, I am exhausted, dirty, and tired. But it's a good thing. It's a good problem to have, so I'll take it. I just want to remind everybody that on September 19th, we are trying to plan our One Table One community, so stay tuned for that. And on September 25th, we're doing our golf tournament. This is our third annual golf tournament starting at 8 o'clock at the River Oaks Golf and Events Center. And we'll bring some more details for that as well. We are looking for teams of four plus sponsors, whole sponsors, and sponsors. Once again, we're going to be providing all the funds raised. We'll be going back into the community to nonprofits around the area. So we want to make sure that we continue that tradition. Any questions? You know where to find me? Come see me. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Brandi. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment?

Greetings, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, city staff, My name is Nathan Sanchez, and Ceres is a city that I call home. Excuse me as I read this really quick. A definition of philanthropy. It is a derived word, Greek word, of phylos and anthropos. Philanthropy is an active effort to promote positive human welfare and improve the quality of life. The key concepts, philanthropy, acts are driven by the desire to help others without expecting immediate personal or financial gain. It is of giving of time, talent, and treasure. The reason I bring up this word, philanthropy, here in the next couple of weeks We all know what's going to be taking place, not only here in our beautiful city of Ceres, but also in the neighboring towns and the towns nationwide. It is a day set aside, we all know, as National Night Out. This day is driven. This day is specifically focused to bring the community together. and to recognize and to give proper recognition and appreciation to all of our 911 emergency services. But this day on National Night Out, there is going to be many neighborhoods. There is going to be many families, not only myself and my beautiful wife, Sonia, and my fellow neighbors on Saturn Court. but also citywide, we are going to be doing this, what we call philanthropy. Nobody is asking us to do it. Nobody is saying here is a paycheck for you for your personal gain to do it, to spend on yourself. Surely there are individuals and businesses and directors and other elected officials that are helping out to cover costs for it. But I sent an email the other day to reserve a time slot to have our police department join us. And as I was reading this email, I came across a section where it said that there could be possible fees to pay. Now, to do this would damper it. What I'm asking for the council and the city staff or whoever's going to be the one to make the final decision on if there's going to be permit fees that are going to be after required to be paid. On this day, if there is a day to waive a fee, let it be this day. Why keep it alive? Keep what the community is doing, taking time out of their time, out of their own time to do this. It would be a good thing. It would be a positive thing to have the support and to know the backing for this. I've called various cities, our neighboring towns, and I've asked them. I didn't give them the details on what the question was or why I was even asking them to begin with, but I questioned them, are you guys going to require permits and pay permits? And they were a little bewildered when I asked them that question, confused in a way like, No, no, it was almost, one of them almost started laughing at that question. Not necessarily to me, but just the thought of that. So I ask again, keep in mind on this day, whenever you do decide, please let it be so to waive the fees, regardless of the size of the event that they are having. Nurture it, protect it, what we are doing as a community. I'm going to leave some flyers here to invite our elected officials and, of course, our chief and our fire department representative. We thank you time and time again for being involved in all aspects. Thank you.

Thank you, Nathan. City manager, I think that it's warranted we answer that question about fees, but I don't think that we've ever given direction about fees.

Is that correct? That's correct. The council has not given direction about fees, but I believe the chief has a plan. Chief, do you have anything to share?

Yes, thank you for that. We do have a staff report coming to City Council that we're going to ask that any fees associated with the conditional use permit are waived for that one night if you have a registered National Night event with the Police Department. It goes against the whole premise of National Night Out if we're charging the communities to hold these events, but I also think it's important that They don't hold events without the proper work where they're shutting down roadways, where we could have issues getting emergency vehicles in for emergency and stuff. So that will be coming at the next council meeting.

Thank you very much. Mason, I hope that helps answer your question, sir. I know that we talked about it at the concerts in the park, and this is your answer. But thank you very much for bringing that to our attention. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment? Closing the public period. Is there any emails?

We're no emails and there's no hands raised on Zoom.

Okay. Thank you very much. Now move on to, there's actually, can I ask the council if there is any conflicts of interest? Seeing none. Moving on to appointments to boards and commissions. Measure H, Citizens Oversight Committee interviews and appointment. City Clerk.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Our Measure H Citizens Oversight Committee currently has one vacancy. The term is July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. So it's a three-year term. The final filing date to submit an application for this vacancy was June 15th. We did receive two applications, Angela Huerta and John Fayad. Both applicants were notified via email on phone call of tonight's interviews and appointment. A list of questions have been provided to the council to ask the applicants. I do see one of the applicants is on Zoom, and I do believe the other applicant is here in person. So with that said, I'll turn it over to the council.

Thank you very much, and we'll go ahead and open this up for public comment. Is there anyone in the chambers that would like to make a comment on this item? Seeing none, anybody on Zoom?

There are no hands raised.

And we'll bring this item back to begin the interviews. And the first person that we will interview will be Angela. Please step up to the podium.

Angela is actually attending via Zoom.

Oh, she's right there. Thank you, Angela, very much for being here. And City Council, everyone has questions right in front of them from one to five. And it is labeled with your name on it. And we'll begin with question number one.

What is the purpose and the goal of Measure H? What do you think it is?

I believe the purpose is to collect the tax from the city taxpayers. It's about a half cent tax. It's a transaction and use tax. It's voter approved. And the goal is to help provide funding to improve critical public safety services to the police and fire departments to utilize equipment and tools to help keep us safe.

Go ahead. Thank you. Question two, should you be chosen, what do you see your role being on the committee?

As a committee member, my role would be help oversight of the cost containment and public reporting based on the budgets that are being presented to us from the departments.

Thank you. Please tell us about yourself and what you feel best qualifies you to serve on the Measure H Citizens Oversight Committee.

I just completed three years terms as a Measure H Committee member in the City of Ceres. I have lived here since 2010. I've also served on the Centennial Committee Hearing Ceres. I currently as a case manager for homeless individuals, sometimes work alongside fire and police in the county. And I was interested in being able to be on such a good committee to help oversee the budget in the city for fire and safety.

Thank you, Angela, for being present this evening. Question number four is, as an advisory committee responsible to make recommendations to the council, the final decision-making process is held by the council. Please describe any experience you have in an advisory committee and how you will carry out your duties.

I have served on various homeless oversight committees in the county. I have served through Measure H here in the city of Ceres. I am an executive director of a nonprofit here in Stanislaus County where we do annual budget and reviews. I have experience in safeguarding intent for tax monies use and help identify any financial discrepancies. and address any community concerns or expenditures regarding the funds.

Thank you. Do you have any questions for us relating to the application to be a member of the Measure H Oversight Committee?

You said related?

Yes. Do you have any questions for us?

I do have a question. How can we incentivize the community to learn and participate in Measure H meetings?

That's a great question. I think that would really fall on the city manager.

Sir? Yes, thank you again, Mayor. As a city, we are just now in the process of transitioning to a more formalized communication plan with the public to include social media, updating our website, and really engaging with the community in an effort to get them engaged with us. So this effort through social media, website update, word of mouth, And just community engagement is something that we will be focusing strongly on over the next month.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for your time.

Thank you very much. City Clerk, you said John is in person or is he on Zoom? John, you're here. Please step up to the podium, sir.

Good evening, Council Members.

Thank you very much for coming. Council Member Casey, go ahead, sir.

What is the purpose and goal of Measure H?

Measure H was voted on and approved back in 2007 with the taxes, the additional half percent sales tax to aid police, fire, and emergency services.

Thank you. Should you be chosen, what do you see your role being on the committee? Okay.

I would like to think that with my 35 years of service at Mission Linen, I managed my own successful route, that I understand profit and loss. I understand about return on investment. Being a member of that council, I would be in a collective with other people where we'd be passing ideas that would benefit the citizens of Ceres.

Thank you. Please tell us about yourself and what you feel best qualifies you to serve on the Measure H Citizens Oversight Committee.

I'm retired now. I like to volunteer. I volunteer with the What Would Jesus Do Ministries. I serve at the Shower Shuttle there on Hatch Road at the New Visions Church every Thursday. I also serve and help out with the 9 to 99 Project. I just, I have time that I would like to donate back to my community.

Thank you, John, for being here this evening. I appreciate that, sir. As an advisory committee responsible to make recommendations to the council, the final decision-making process is held by the council. Please describe any experience you have in an advisory committee and how you would carry out your duties.

Well, as the member of the council, what we would do is we would have ideas and pass them around and propose those to you. Also, we would have to discuss what the advantage or disadvantage would be of certain money spent, that the money was spent appropriately and not squandered.

Do you have any questions for us relating the application to be a member of the Measure H Citizens Oversight Committee?

No, sir, I don't. Okay.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Okay. I bring this item back to the council. Council members, any comments and or questions and or a motion?

No comments.

Okay. Councilwoman.

Thank you, Mayor. Well, first off, I just want to thank Angela and John for being present here tonight. I know that Sometimes it can be a little intimidating coming up in front of the public to hold these interviews, but I think it's important for the public to hear. Based on the interview tonight and reviewing the application, I would like to make a motion to appoint John Fayyad, I'm sorry if I said the last name wrong, to the Measure H Citizens Oversight Committee.

I'll second that.

get a roll call please council member casey yes council member vieira no council member otero yes vice mayor martinez aye mayor lopez no motion carries three two congratulations john you are now appointed to the meduration committee

We will now move into consent calendars. All matters listed on the consent calendar are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by a single motion unless otherwise requested by an individual council member and public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommendation of staff will be acted and, excuse me, accepted. Did I skip something? Did I skip something? I'm sorry. Let me go ahead and drink my energy drink. I think I'm a little tired. That was the windfall. Okay. Council, designating of the voting delegates and alternate delegates to represent the City of Ceres at the League of California Cities for 2026 Annual Conference. City Clerk.

Thank you again, Council and Mayor. The League of California Cities has their annual conference this year, September 23rd through the 25th. We have two council members that will be attending the conference. The General Assembly meeting is a component to the annual conference. This is where members consider to take action to establish policies with the League. The General Assembly meeting is scheduled for Friday, the 25th of September. It's the last day of the conference. In order to vote at the General Assembly meeting, the City Council must designate a primary voting delegate. Council may appoint up to two alternate voting delegates. And in order to be a voting delegate, they must be registered for the conference And they must be present at the General Assembly meeting in order to cast their vote. So with that said, I will turn that over to the Council for discussion.

City Council, any comments? Could you please tell the public who exactly is the two Council members who are going?

Yeah, so Mayor Lopez and Vice Mayor Martinez will be attending the conference at this time.

Okay.

Are any other Council members going to be attending the conference at the moment?

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to be able to attend, but if I do, it's going to be for my committee that I have scheduled.

Any other council members have any comments?

No, I am available if you do need another alternative, though. Alternate, sorry.

Okay, sounds good. Ms. Casey? Okay. Now, you need consensus, correct? Yes. So me and the vice mayor will be attending the conference. I can be the main delegate.

Okay, you'll want to open up to public comment, too.

Okay, sounds good. We'll go ahead and open this up to the public. Are there any members of the public who would like to make a comment on this item? Seeing none, bring this item back. Just consensus, you don't need a motion, correct?

Correct. Consensus is fine.

Okay. Sounds good. Then it will be me and Vice Mayor. And then I know that Councilwoman Serena Otero will probably not likely be there, but we can also have you as a third, just in case you change your mind. As a second alternate, just in case. That's fine.

So we'll need one primary and up to two alternates. Mayor Lopez will be primary and vice mayor and council member Otero as alternates.

Correct. Consensus? Consensus? Okay. Thank you very much. Now we can move on to 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 an individual council member or public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommendation of staff will be acted upon by a roll call vote. Is there anybody in the council that would like to pull the consent item? I am pulling item number nine. And I see Councilwoman Otero.

Mayor, I'd like to pull item number four. And... Yeah, you pulled number nine. Thank you.

Councilwoman Vieira. Nine. Okay. Anybody else? May I take this out to the audience? And the members of the audience would like to pull an item on the consent calendar.

This is Galan Guzman, City of Ceres. I'd like to pull number four, number six, seven, and nine.

Six and seven, sir. Okay. We already pulled nine, sir, but thank you. Bring this item back to the council for a motion.

Make a motion to approve items one through three, five, and eight of the consent calendar.

Second that.

A roll call, please.

Council member Casey.

Yes.

Council member Vieira. Yes. Council member Otero. Yes. Vice mayor Martinez.

Aye.

Mayor Lopez.

Yes.

Motion carries 5-0.

Okay, we'll go ahead and go to item number four, which was Council Member Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. My first question was, and I did email city staff earlier, so I apologize. It was probably a late question, but what is the Valley Water Contribution Payment for?

Thank you, Council Member Otero, and we did receive your email this afternoon. I believe the Public Works Superintendent is prepared to answer that question.

Thank you for your question, council member. Valley Water Collaborative is an agency, a multi-jurisdictional agency that the city of Ceres is part of. The city of Ceres, along with agriculture, poultry, wastewater, all these different agencies have contributed to the nitrate that's in the ground based on all the years of running the way that they run. So all these agencies have contributed to this. The state required... Every agency to either create their own path for mitigating these nitrate issues or the wells that have been affected by them on their own and submit a whole process and a whole get that approved by them. Or you could join in with a larger agency, us along with a lot of other local cities, including Modesto and Salida. went with Path B, which was joining an agency. We joined Valley Water Collaborative. It's our annual contribution. We're in the Turlock Subbasin. So there was a little bit of confusion when that came out because it said Turlock on it. There's two water basins. There's the Modesto Subbasin and the Turlock Subbasin. And we are part of the Turlock Subbasin. So that's what some of the confusion comes from there. But any other questions you have with that? That's just our annual contribution to keeping the, for our portion of the funding requirement.

Thank you, Josh, for that explanation. My second question is regarding the Brightview payment that was made. It's always interesting in government because payments are made sometimes to contracts that maybe work hasn't actually been done. So my question is for a Brightview payment for the month of May, was there somebody from the city that actually verified the work? The reason why I say that is because In my district, the city right-of-ways haven't been maintained. City manager is aware of this. I've been bringing it up for over, well, actually about a year now. I noticed that right now the city right-of-ways, at least let's say for June, they did not complete the work at all. I know Smyrna hasn't been maintained like it was supposed to. So my question is, who's verifying the work before these payments are made?

Thank you, Council Member Otero. I understand the concern and staff shares the disappointment with the services that were provided as a part of that contract. As you pointed out, this invoice was for the month of May, and I appreciate you asking the question by email because it caused me to go back and look at the agreement that was in place. The agreement is now terminated, and it was not performance-based. It was strictly budget-based. So as a result of budget reductions, we are no longer in a maintenance agreement with Brightview. But when we were in that maintenance agreement in May, there are provisions within that agreement that would allow us to withhold payments, but there are specific things that would have needed to have been done in May, which were not done. Things like documenting the actual service that was not performed, conducting routine and consistent spot checks and documenting those spot checks. So by you bringing up this question, It pointed out a weakness or a deficiency in the process. So moving forward, we are going to implement with all of our agreements that have this type of language that allows for withholding payments for non-service or unsatisfactory service, the inspections that will be necessary, the documentations that will not be necessary. It talks about photographs. It talks about... formalized written communication with the other party from the city. So those things will be put into place in the future. So while I would very much agree that it would be nice not to pay May and not to pay June, I can tell you that the steps were not taken that would allow me to be comfortable with withholding those payments at this time, even though I agree all of the services were not performed. I will be working with the city attorney specifically for the month of June to see if there's anything that we have done as a staff during that month that would allow us to withhold payment for June. But for May, I don't believe that's possible.

I think the work speaks for itself. The lack of maintenance, the weeds are growing tall. You can tell those weren't you know, they didn't grow in one month or a couple of weeks. So I think that's something that we should evaluate as well. Thank you.

Go ahead and open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to comment on item number four, please step up to the podium.

Hello, City of Ceres, Gullane Guzman. Well, Gullane Guzman, and I live in City of Ceres. All right, so the first question is, I see that there's a lot of like telephone service providers. Could you provide some clarification on why there is AT&T and then also like Verizon and then T-Mobile? That's one. Secondly, there's how much is how much does the grant writer get paid? Because there is a fee here for seven thousand specifically for Prop 64, which I think it's for law enforcement. And then secondly, there is like another fee, meaning another payment. That was given to her. I'm like, I don't know, this one was pretty long, so bear with me. I don't know. You could go back in and look for it. But there's like she's paid like three times. So I just have a question on like how she gets paid and then if it's per like contract or if it's per like grant that she writes kind of thing. Thirdly, The janitorial supplies. So I've been keeping track mentally of how much is paid for janitorial supplies. So usually it's like $1,000. And if I'm not mistaken, the Ceres Community Center, there's a contract in place for like $75,000, which I think in the contract it said that the... company was supposed to supply their own stuff. So I just have a question about that. And what does the janitorial supplies actually entail? I think there's a lack of transparency in the voucher list because it's kind of hard to tell what uh department like cost center is coming from you know it's not really transparent to say like oh like travis hudson's uh uniform allowance of like seven or whatever it's allowed it's coming from like the police department budget you know what i mean so uh i would just like a little bit more of transparency in that regards to i know others uh other uh Other cities, they actually have it a little bit more organized. So, I mean, this is a lot and it's hard to process. I know usually the agenda packet itself is like hundreds of pages. And to the average person, that takes a lot of mental tax. So also look into that about condensing or providing like a table of contents where there's a hyperlink for each thing. Because if you spend a few... Quite some time, then it kind of like zones out and it brings you to the beginning and then you lose your place. So, oh, yeah. Also, the PG&E, it says like there's multiple addresses. There's one for Fort Street service and then Fowler. But then at the very bottom on page. five of the voucher lists, there's like services for various locations and its total amount is 1,962. What are those various locations? Like what other, what specific addresses are these? Let's see. So Verizon, it was like 2,000, 2,500, and then you have AT&T for like 438, then there's another T-Mobile one. Also, how many, oh yeah, this one's important. So the, The settlement, it's listed here as 341 and I read the minutes, which was like 325,000. So I just would like some clarification on that. And then I did ask for like some public worker, public, I did submit a public records request and the request was a little bit incomplete or not to my satisfaction. It was very, yeah, so... If if a department is sued, I understand that the insurance will, you know, give the money or whatever. So but in the future, like, does that money come from like that budget from that department? Because, yeah, it's yeah. And then for the uniform allowance of 646 for Travis Hudson, this is the first time that I see this actually listed, but not listed for every specific police officer. So why was this different? Next. Oh yeah, Alpine Protective Solutions. I thought we had not, I thought that we were no longer being provided services by this company, but here it's listed as 4774. Whereas like, I think it was like sometime last year, I think it was like removed from the agenda. So yeah, what happened? The AT&T, you know, it's a lot, it's like 2000, 2069. Your time is up. I appreciate your time.

We'll try to get that information over to you, sir. Thank you. Anybody else have a comment on item number four? Anybody with their hands raised?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bring this item back for motion.

Make a motion to approve item four, the consent calendar.

Second.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Casey?

No.

Council Member Vieira? Yes. Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes.

Motion carries 4-1.

Item number six. I believe that was you, Guzman.

So interesting. Will I get a response to my questions? Because it doesn't mean no service to come up here and talk to and preach to the choir. I'm not going to get any answers. Okay, for number six. So yeah, there is just a typo. There's just more so like a typo. And then why are we selling land and not maintaining it? I mean, what's the purpose of number six? And then I hear it's exempt. And let's see. Let's go back to number six. The typo is on. Let's see. It would be great if these had page numbers. I actually know the typo is number nine. So I guess I could just ask for like a public records request of like all the city property and then how much has been sold over the years and what for what price. So never mind. I digress. Thanks.

No problem. Anyone else would like to make a comment on item number six? Bring this item back for motion.

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

I'll second.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Vieira? Yes. Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez? Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Item number seven, Mr. Guzman, this was yours as well, I believe.

The typos is on the notice of public hearing. Excuse me. It's mid-page, right where the second hole punch is. It says, the engineers report, blah, blah, blah. Landscape and Lightning Act of 1972. I think it should read 87, if I'm not mistaken. And then secondly, the company that was contracted to do this assessment and- Excuse me, I'm sorry for my interruption.

You're on item number seven, correct, sir? Because that's the one that you had pulled.

Oh, yeah, my bad. Okay, I'll sit down for the next one.

Okay, no worries. Anyone else would like to make a comment on item number seven? He was referring to item number nine. Yeah, he pulled seven. Anybody else? I'm back for counsel for a motion for number seven.

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

Second.

Roll call, please.

Council Member Casey.

No.

Council Member Vieira. Yes. Council Member Otero. Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez.

Aye.

Mayor Lopez.

Yes.

Motion carries 4-1.

So item number nine. Mr. Beltrans, could you please do the report on this item and then I'll ask my questions if that's okay.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. So, this is the resolution to declare our intention to levy assessments per the 1987 Landscape and Lighting District Act. So, this This will also set the public hearing for August 10th, which will actually levy the tax. And so really, this goes through, it presents the report on, for instance, the total budget is $659,397 and change. There are $527,597 in revenue that is projected for this. It's about a 3.1% increase in the assessment that will go. And those are all listed in the report, which parcels and how much that they are getting. And so there is a general fund supplement of 131 799 however that supplement was not approved in the budget so that will be something that will um will not be fulfilled whether that's you know we don't provide as many services for it um for the landscape and lighting district or however we kind of maneuver around trying to make all the services happen that we can with the funding that we are going to receive. In general, there's about $140,000 in lighting that is paid for lights in all the landscape and lighting districts. There's about $250,000 in total staff. And then there's about $90,000 in contracts And now, mind you, this is just for the LLDs. This does not include the CFDs that will come to you at a separate council meeting. And so... If we have questions regarding where services are provided or we want to dig a little deeper in the fiscal aspect of it, both Vanessa, the finance director, and the public works superintendent, we've all talked about this. So we're happy to answer any questions that you guys might have with regards to the LLDs.

Thank you very much, Mr. Belcher. And I had a concerned citizen reach out to me and ask several questions. And I've emailed those questions to you and the city manager. You already answered the first question. The first question was how much revenue was collected for this fiscal year? And you've already answered that question. And the second question, what specific services and areas are funded by those assessment dollars? I know you kind of responded to that, but if you can clarify, please.

So there is a map. The map is not 100% clear. It's a color-coded map in the actual report just with the PDFing of it and those types of things. We do have a more clear map that we can send out. That's not a problem. I can let Josh Casas go over any specific geographic areas, but generally speaking, it's taking care of landscape in certain districts, which are all listed in the report, and it is taking care of the lighting also within those districts that are listed in the report. And Josh, if you can give any details on the geographic areas would be great.

Thank you, Mike. So I do have, as part of our work for creating a new request for bid from a new landscaping contract, I have our current Right-of-ways, streets, all the medians, everything that we have listed. And then going over the areas with Michael from the CFDs and the LODs, but specifically right now speaking about the LODs, we're seeing which areas from the current contract are already covered in the contract. previous contract, and then which areas we may have to include in the new contract. So although there may be some time, you know, in the time that we're getting this contract out, that it's not being serviced by a contractor, the result that we have, like, like this city manager said, it's falling on staff. So at the moment, we're trying to resolve these issues when they come up. And when they reported to us, we're having staff go out just because we have not had the the the time to plan out the exact staffing allocation for these areas. But that is something that we're looking at right now. Thank you very much, Josh.

So one of the questions that was asked of me was, and I believe that you sort of answered the question. So Brightview, were they responsible for any of these areas?

I believe some from the report. Some of those areas are listed because I know some of the, I think Eastgate was on there, some of the Eastgate streets and some of the medians were on there. They are on the current list, even if they were not being serviced to the satisfaction of us. DriveU was providing us with a weekly report of the areas that they hit, and we would send somebody behind them and respond, hey, this is not done, this is not done. So we've categorized all that. But some of those areas are in the previous contract, and some will have to be added to a new contract. So our goal is to make sure that in conjunction with finance, with engineering, to make sure that all the money that is allotted for landscaping is being used for landscaping. All the money that's allotted for lighting is being used for lighting. We want to make sure that and even if there's specific money, which there is specific money allotted to staffing versus allotted to contractors. So we're trying to get all that separated right now and make sure that we the new contract that we put forward is clear in those in those sense.

Thank you, Josh. I know that the question was also answered about the funding sources. You explained that. Now, this is one particular question that I think is very warranted. How does the city ensure the homeowners who pay this assessment receive the direct benefit of those funds?

So the citizens, so we have a separate fund for one, and we've had it for a few years that this money goes into, and that's where this money comes out of. So we do wanna make sure that we are acting on the behalf of citizens per the report, and that we are servicing those areas with those specific funds. um they shouldn't be intertwined um if there's a general fund supplement that that can be put in there also but we do keep this money in a separate fund so that we know that we are spending money per the landscape and lighting district act within those district areas

Thank you very much. Most of these questions and answers were in the agenda. I believe that it's very important for the public to hear from your staff and your team of what you guys are trying to do to make sure that these citizens are getting exactly what they're paying for. These are taxpayers, and I believe that you're going to figure out a way. I do appreciate that. Those are all my questions for now. I believe I have Councilwoman Otero has pressed her button.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. For our engineer, I just want to get clarification. You mentioned there will be an increase from last year?

Yes, that is correct. So when we do the LLD assessments, they are increased by the inflation rate every year. Council can forego that increase if that is the council's desire. It's definitely not recommended simply because we need to keep pace with contracts, increases on those contracts, increases in staff wages, increases in electricity. But it is something that is within the act and we can increase by up to 5%. So if inflation was actually at 6% or 7%, We still can only increase by 5%. And in this case, I believe it was about 3.121% this year.

Thank you. So I do understand the need to levy and collect the assessments. It's something that's been happening for years. But with the collection of the levies, we have to ensure that our city is maintained effectively or efficiently. And currently, I don't feel that that has taken place. I've had a lot of concerns about the landscape in general with current budget concerns. I know, you know, the city is looking to make sure that we keep up, like you said, with the costs and all of that. But for me, I think we need to evaluate the workload within the department right now and figure out, you know, accountability, oversight of the tasks that are being done before we put it back on the residents to to increase the fees on this or the levies. I know last year the contract for the landscape, there was a missing page. Things like that can't happen, especially when we're using taxpayer dollars. So with this, I can't support an increase in this.

Thank you very much, Councilwoman Vieira.

Thank you. And I know I emailed you a couple questions. I appreciate you getting back to me on those questions. I guess one of the main concerns I had, which you kind of addressed, was it sounds like they're separate accounts. So money from one district isn't being used in a different district. And I think that's one of the concerns we had. And then the other concern was During the budget discussions, it was discussed that the medians, people may not just get them cut, or the medians wouldn't be done. Well, our district has, there's three separate funds specifically that I contribute to. And so... My neighbors are asking me, well, why am I contributing to something that I'm not receiving? And so that was my concern. And then also, what are our long term plan when it comes to addressing this? Since we don't have it in the general fund, we don't have money to make up the differences. And the market is softening, as you know, that we're looking at growth. A decline in sales tax, I guess is the best way of putting that. And then have we considered going to solar, something that could reduce our long-term electrical uses, especially in our parks and our median areas? And I will leave it at that for now. I know I emailed you a few more questions I think that you guys were going to get back to me on.

So, thank you for your questions to address the solar issue. We have looked at citywide solar. It is a rather large investment to go with any type of citywide solar that would help reduce our costs at this point. And so. Right now, we have not brought that forward. I believe council did hear presentations on it last year. But at this point in time, I don't know. That's probably not a feasible option for us to do that. One clarification I do want to make. is that the landscape and lighting districts, in the report, it breaks out how the money is broken down into the different districts. All the money is in, I believe, Fund 292, if I'm not mistaken. And I can let Vanessa jump in there on how it's allocated throughout and goes to each district. But that is something that has to be tracked because the money that is used given by a district has to be used within that district. And so that is something that I can let Vanessa and Josh on their allocation for contracts and stuff elaborate a little bit on that. Okay.

And then... What is our long-term strategy, I guess? Because right now it sounds like it's, right now I guess the confusion is up until the RFP is done, received and the contract presented to council, what is our goal or what is our plan in place until that process is completed? Which I'm estimating is probably gonna be four to six months. What are we doing in the term? Because again, we're asking the taxpayers to pay, but it sounds like there's nothing in place as of today. So I wanna make sure we have something that we can tell, especially the ones here on the crowd and on Zoom, or the ones that have emailed and text and called me, I can say this is what our plan is, especially long term, especially if we're asking for, to try to, I know right now we're paying out more than we're receiving. So I do understand that we still, we don't have the general fund to absorb the differences. And so I just want to see what our plan is in place.

So thank you for your question. And Mr. City Manager, if you could correct me, is the meeting tomorrow also about how we're going to provide services in the landscape and lighting districts?

It is. It is the streets department, the facilities department, and the parks department all coming together to talk about parks, right-of-ways, landscape and lighting districts, community facilities districts, all of that tomorrow at 8 in the morning. Yes. So the long-term plan, Council Member Vieira, is to engage with a third-party contractor for landscaping services. That's the long-term plan. The short-term plan, until we get that contract with the third party, is that staff will be responsible for maintaining these areas until that third-party contract is executed.

And is that even with the delay, is that going to affect the amount? I just want to make sure we're not overtaxing, especially if they're not getting the services they're paying for. And I guess that's the biggest thing or concern that I have right now.

So, I mean, we obviously haven't sent out the request for proposals yet. My guess is the amount that is allocated for contracts will not serve for the entire contract. So we will have to look at how much is allocated to the contracts within the LLDs and make adjustments from there. But until we get that final number, we won't have that exact answer until we have those numbers so that we can figure out how we're going to allocate, is there supplement needed by the city, not general fund supplement, just supplement in staff. There is things that staff may have to continue keeping up as opposed to actually putting it in a contract because we don't have the funding for that contract. in full. So that's going to be something as we receive those bids, we are going to need to figure out how that works in the end. And that's something as soon as we get those numbers, we will look at.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Go ahead.

I just want clarification for this item. We're not approving the levy right now. We're just declaring the intention. Your report we're approving and then you'll bring it back for a public hearing and that's when we'll either approve or deny the levy.

That is correct. This is declaring our intention to levy the tax and this is also approving the engineer's report for the landscape and lighting districts.

Thank you.

There's no questions. I'll go out to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

Step up to the podium. The first one was a typo. The city of Ceres notice of public hearing, mid-page, it should read 1987. It reads 1972 currently. Then I was looking at the contractor, like the publication that MBS put out, and it It seems like they gather the information from these numbers from March 2026, the CPI, which is the inflation factor or rate, whatever. And I checked online and then it seems like back in March of 2026, that's the highest it's been since 2005. So we're looking at we're using data that's a little bit outdated, which doesn't reflect our current economy. If you take a look here, it says. Yeah, so one, I guess, first question is, when was this MBS with this company, this contract approved? And then when did they start working on this? And then why did they select March 2026 numbers instead of like, let's say, April or June numbers before putting it out in August? for the public hearing notice. So that's one of the things. And then secondly, yeah, again, like the services aren't there. You know, you can't be just like increasing taxes when the residents aren't receiving the services. You know, it passed last year. And then again, you know, the city council is being asked to do this again. But the services weren't there last year, nor the year prior. So it's just it's kind of mind boggling that we keep doing this and contracting out when I think we should be investing in public workers, you know, not removing them. You know, we should be allocated more. We should be allocating more money to parks and rec, you know. to take care of our city streets, our city parks, but instead we're contracting out with like multiple landscaping companies that are not providing the services that we need and to our satisfaction. So at what point will this council decide to invest in our workers instead, because, you know, before, like, I had, you know, I'm just going to say that before, you know, if you were, like, a city employee, you got great benefits, you know, but that also trickled down, you know, to your family. It provided a safe, you know, income, you know, benefits for your family, but now we're contracting out, you know, and we're asking our park crew to do more with less, you know, and I... The point is, if you contract out, you lose the accountability aspect. If you were to have city workers, you have that immediate oversight. If someone's not doing their job, OK, we got to replace you. You know, go figure. But yeah, we're we're canceling contracts and then we're still losing the service. And we're asking taxpayers to, you know, you know, increase forty dollars, you know, for the next year or one hundred twenty two, you know. But yeah, like the services aren't being given. So it's just it's just mind boggling to me that this keeps happening and. Yeah, when the services aren't there. Like, obviously, public works, like, needs work, and it needs it now. Like, not tomorrow. Or, I mean, it needs it now, not, like, in a year or two, you know? So that's one thing. Also, I submitted an application for Adopt-A-Park, and I was looking to service the three parks there. of where I live, which is District 2. And I selected these parks because they're in five minutes from my house. I have the resources and I have the time and I'm willing to volunteer and give back. And I'm not seeking any compensation or any recognition. The application states that it'll go to city council and then I'll be recognized. I don't want that. I'm just here to donate my time and give back to the community. And I talked to Joey and he said that I can't use the riding lawnmower to service the parks because it's a liability. Right now, like I said, I have the resources. I have the riding lawnmower. I know how to use it. I'm willing to go out there at 6 a.m., 7 a.m. and take care of these parks. but instead I'm being offered to pick up garbage with, you know, the garbage holder and bags will be provided. I'm looking to do a little bit more of that. I'm looking to do a little more than that, you know, so that was a little bit upsetting to me. Yeah, again, like we have contracts with, well, Elite Maintenance, West Coast Arborist, Grover, Brightview, we had, you know, it's just, you know, why not consolidate, you know, or Like I said, invest in people. So, yeah. Let's see.

Is that Jurassic Park? What is that? Yeah, that's it. Thanks. Thank you, sir. Very valid points. And thank you very much. I appreciate that. Is there anybody else in the public that would like to make a comment?

Good evening. My name is Andres Reese. I've been a member of this community now for over 20 years. And I want to echo some of the sentiments that he made. I live in the Eastgate community. I've been there since day one, since it started. And I've seen it just go downhill. I agree that we should take some of these funds. And if you guys haven't allocated for a certain pot, create a department that can hire some people to work with that pot. Because over the years, over the last 20 years that I've been there, we've probably got about half of the foliage that was there initially. I've seen these workers with my own eyes doing their job. Instead of nurturing the plants and the foliage, they'd rather weed whack them down to nothing so they don't have to worry about it the next time. So there's lots of areas there that are just barren. There is water that runs to those areas, but they're not watering anything. So I would just like you guys to take that into consideration. I do agree that there needs to be some oversight that when these guys go out there and do their jobs, whoever it is, I really implore you to not think about a third party. Reinvest that money into somebody that's willing to take pride in their work because a lot of these workers may not even live in our community. So they go in there, do their eight hours, and they're out. They really don't care what the job looks like. I want somebody there that's actually going to care about the community that we live in. It's really gone downhill. I'm almost embarrassed to say I live here, and it's really hard for me to say that. Like, I've had people that live in other areas that are like, wow, it's really gone downhill. It has. And I really think we can make a change. I really think this city could be great. But at the same time, I have thought about leaving. And like I said, I've been here since 2002. So I have invested in this, a lot of investment in this community I'm an educator. I worked for Ceres for a few years. I work in Modesto now, Modesto City Schools. My children have gone through elementary, junior high, high school. They've graduated from Ceres schools. And I really feel a part of this community. And I just really want to see it make a change for the better.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else would like to make a comment? Seeing none. Anybody on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bring this item back for a motion.

Make a motion to approve item number nine.

I'll second. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Casey?

Yes.

Councilmember Vieira? Yes. Councilmember Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez? Aye. Mayor Lopez? Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

We'll now take a five-minute recess. Thank you, everyone. If everyone can please have a seat, we're getting ready to start again. Welcome back, everyone. We're going to go ahead and start off with new business. Item number 10, ratifying the Measure H expenditure plan for fiscal year 2027, beginning July 1st, 2026, and ending June 30th, 2026. Portillo?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers. Tonight's staff is requesting approval of the resolution ratifying the fiscal year 2027 Measure H expenditure plan. Measure H is the city's voter-approved one-half-cent public sales tax that was approved back in 2007. By ordinance, these revenues may only be used for eligible police, fire, and emergency response services identified in the Measure H expenditure plan. Just a little bit of background. The initial Measure H expenditure plan was adopted by the city council back in April of 2008. as a 10-year expenditure plan. And the expenditure plan was then amended in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2016 to address evolving public safety needs, including additional fire personnel, narcotics, canine program, crime analysis capabilities, and public safety technology. In 2017, the Council approved the most recent expenditure plan, which reorganized and updated the plan's presentation and formatting. The expenditure plan before you does not authorize any new spending. It was already reviewed and incorporated into the fiscal year 27 budget adopted by the city council on June 8. And as presented, the expenditure plan continues to fund eligible public safety services consistent with the measure H ordinance. For fiscal year 27, measure H funding supports 10 police officer positions. roughly 21% of the fire services contract, and about 35% of the agreement for Axon for the body cameras. There is no additional funding or fiscal impact beyond what has already been approved in the fiscal year 27 budget. Moving forward, the measure H expenditure plan will be incorporated into the annual budget process to ensure that the city... has ongoing compliance with the Measure H ordinance. And tonight's action formally ratifies the fiscal year 27 expenditure plan in accordance with the city's ordinance for the measure. Staff is recommending tonight that the City Council adopt the resolution ratifying the fiscal year 2027 Measure H expenditure plan. And with this action, it will bring us into compliance with the Measure H ordinance with the last expenditure plan having been approved by the Council in 2017.

Thank you very much. We'll go ahead and open this up to the public and then any members of the public that would like to make a comment on this item. Seeing none, any hands raised?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

I bring this item back to the council for any comments, questions. Councilwoman Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. So Measure H has been one of my concerns. And for me, you know, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars. Measure H belongs to every resident that we represent and it affects our public safety. I'm not sure why there hasn't been a public safety expenditure plan in the past several years or why the city hadn't been following what was stated in the ordinance. But I do want to thank our finance director and city manager who quickly took the time to address the issue. Once I brought it to our city manager, he worked right away with our finance director, so I appreciate that. But we shouldn't be out of compliance with our own city ordinance, and we certainly don't want to be out of compliance with these requirements that govern how tax dollars are supposed to be spent. The intent of these public safety tax dollars was to supplement existing public safety funding. It was supposed to provide additional resource but never replace the general fund. funding that was given to public safety. So for example, through my research, my understanding is that's probably how the Street Crimes Union at one point was maintained. So it makes me wonder if we would have completed a forensic audit at the time that a Measure H committee member had requested it, would the issue have been found months ago? But again, I'm glad that we did find this and we're correcting it. We must continue to evaluate our policies when it comes to our finances. We need to closely review how the funding is allocated and ensure our taxpayer dollars are spent as they're intended to with the accountability and transparency in place. So with that, I know... finance director, you did mention the breakdown of positions and then the body worn camera and then some fire. Is there a way to I know it might have been too late to put in the staff report, but either in the minutes or maybe an amendment to the staff report to add the specific positions that are going to be used in this safety plan?

I'll defer to the city clerk, but I believe the comments from the finance director as part of the report can be included in the minutes.

I'm sorry, can you repeat what you're wanting amended or included?

So what I would like is, I know there is a plan for the funding itself and she went over the specific positions, the body worn camera being covered by this and some of the fire costs. I would like that to be in place either in the minutes or amended on the staff report. So that way, a year from now, two years from now, we're able to go back and say, this is what we previously allocated the funding to.

I think in that case it would be most appropriate to have that included in the minutes as opposed to amending the staff report. I don't know if it's something that we would need to have included as the motion.

I think that would be a good idea is to include as part of the motion in adopting the resolution specific language mentioned by the finance director to be included as part of the action.

Thank you. And then just to clarify, we would, correct me if I'm wrong, Nubia, we would amend the resolution to include that language as well. Yes.

That'd be great. Thank you.

Anything else, Councilwoman?

No, thank you.

City Manager, could you do me a favor and please give a little bit of background on how this happened based on this research and the conversation that we had dating back to the previous council?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. So when I was researching this item, I recognized that the ordinance calls for an annual approved expenditure plan. An expenditure plan, as the finance director mentioned, was initially adopted. It was a 10-year plan. beginning in 2008 and concluding in 2018. And over the course of those 10 years, that plan was amended, I believe three times. But even though it was amended three times, the report concluded in 2018. In subsequent years, Expenditure plans were not brought before the council, were not approved. So when we recognized that this was a deficiency, credit to the finance director, she worked very hard to create an expenditure plan while the Measure H funds, even in those years where a plan was not formally adopted by the city council, while those Measure 8 funds were technically approved as a part of the budget adoption process, because the Measure H money is included in the annual budget that the City of Council approves every year. There is not a page in the budget that you can flip to to see this is how all of the Measure H money is allocated. It's spread throughout the fiscal year budget, throughout the general fund budget. Sorry, not throughout the general fund budget because it's specific to Measure H. It's just spread throughout the formalized budget that's adopted. So what this action is doing is in addition to it being within the entire budget that is approved by the city council, there is actually a document that you can turn to to say this is how we're spending Measure H money without having to know where it is within the adopted budget throughout all of the different funds and departments.

So I do want to say thank you very much, Councilwoman Otero, for bringing this to the city manager's attention. He explained to me how it all unfolded. And my question is, if we want to amend the minutes, could we not just amend the budget to place this item in that budget as a separate page, which your hope is that in future budgets will provide this expenditure plan in the budget as it's supposed to be placed, correct?

If I understand you correctly, that is correct. So in future years, as part of the budget adoption process, and again, you have technically approved Measure H money as part of the budget adoption process from 2018 through now. There wasn't just called out in the budget a specific, this is the plan for how we use that money. It was sprinkled throughout all the different departments that are affected by Measure H money. Moving forward, as part of the regular fiscal year budget adoption process, what the finance director is doing this meeting, that will be a part of the regular budget adoption. So we won't have to have, after the budget is adopted, this item come forward. So it will be a part of the formal budget adoption process moving forward.

Because I just want to get clarification, Councilwoman Otero, in regards to the amendment of the minutes. You want it to be specific. Now, my question is, and I just want to make sure I'm supportive of it, is the amendment that she's requesting, are those specific items already included in the budget? So that we don't have to necessarily do it again? I'm just clarifying. Roteo?

items are included in the budget, but they're not specified as an expenditure plan. So one way to, I mean, like city manager said, there's sprinkle or stretch throughout the different departments. That's how we section the budget book in the city. So There is partial monies in the police sworn and partial monies in the fire department. So there isn't one document that compiles all of the measure age funding in one place. So this would be the page or the expenditure plan that will be incorporated in our budget. One thing I know that we can amend the minutes, but my expenditure plan here, it's a separate attachment. So we can also incorporate the language of what is being funded on the attachment. I can update the attachment if that is a possibility.

I'm in support of what Councilwoman is saying, but I would also, if you can, maybe come back to us at a later City Council meeting to clarify that that has been done. And that way, in the future, folks can refer back to the agenda and also refer back to the budget that you have the expenditure plan placed in it. Does that make sense, City Manager?

I just want to make sure I understand. I believe what Councilmember Otero is asking, in addition to the document that's in front of you today, the resolution approving the expenditure plan, I believe she wants included in the motion to approve this resolution an additional item that clarifies that the current year's expenditure plan is paying for 10 police officers, 21% of the fire agreement and X percent of the body worn cameras. Is that what you're requesting?

That's correct.

Thank you. And those funds are already allocated. We don't need to amend any previous meeting minutes. This will just be included in that motion if that's the will of the council.

That's the easiest way to go about it. And I'm okay with that.

Okay.

Any other comments or questions from the council? And we are looking for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve item number 10, ratifying the Measure H expenditure plan for fiscal year 2027 beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027 with the addition of... A breakdown for the 10 police officer positions, 21% of fire costs, and then a portion of the body-worn camera acts on program.

I'll second. You get a roll call, please.

Council Member Casey?

Yes.

Council Member Vieira? Yes. Council Member Otero? Yes. Vice Mayor Martinez?

Aye.

Mayor Lopez?

Yes.

Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you very much. Moving on to discussion items. Discussion regarding the Planning Commission's request for City Council to adopt an interim urgency ordinance establishing a temporary morandum on a new gas station and car wash facility within the City of Ceres.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This evening, before you today, we are asking for direction regarding additional staff time and resources should be committed toward evaluating and pursuing a potential moratorium on new gas stations and car washes within the city. Discussion has been presented both in Planning Commission and in Hearing Council and so therefore staff is bringing the matter forward to avoid any duplication efforts and asking for direction for any future work if so desired by the Council. The work would include under government code section 65858 for the findings of immediate threat to public health and safety for a memorandum, which would include significant research findings and evaluating existing land use pertaining to the memorandum. So we are asking for some direction, depending on the scope of analysis required will require outside planning and legal consultant services. So this evening, we're just asking for some guidance, either direct staff to continue discussion with the Planning Commission, direct staff to prepare a future agenda item, evaluating the feasibility and looking at the impact. or take no further action and allow existing zoning regulations and development review process to continue as is.

Thank you very much. I'll go ahead and open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

Dave Pratt of Ceres. I want to know at what point do you consider you have too many car washes and too many gas stations? Well, in the middle of town, you allow these super gas stations built next to mom-and-pop stations, and many stores have been there for years. You have to compete with these super centers. And you allow gas stations, bigger gas stations, I mean car washes. When you've got one car wash in one corner, now you've got another car wash in another corner. Drive-through car washes. At what point do you say you have enough? It's the same thing with the food trucks. In the beginning, you had a limit on that. Now, all of a sudden, there's an explosion on food trucks. You're going to have to decide, you know... Are we going to have gas stations and car washes on every corner? Is that the way it's going to be for this small town? I still call it town. You can call it whatever you want to. I've lived here 74 years. I grew up here. All of a sudden... Even a lot of the restaurants and stuff has got to compete with the food trucks now. You know, I'm getting ice cream trucks and... They're coming from other cities coming through. Are you even getting taxes from those stuff? I think on the food trucks. I think every six months we ought to have an audit on that and find out are you actually collecting taxes on the food trucks. I know that's getting off my hand because we're talking about the gas stations and the car washes. And it's just like... Just like in the middle of town, they want to put super electric chargers in when actually they need to be closer to the freeways. Because every house, why do they want to go to a gas station and get their vehicle charged when everybody's got chargers in their houses? That's another thing. You've got to realize where you're actually putting these things. Really, you need to do a lot more than just a temporary moratorium on this. I think we're already overextended on some of these.

Thank you very much. Next person, please.

I'm in support of this discussion item. I did attend the planning commission meeting when the sixth cycle housing element meeting took place. And one of the questions that was asked to the economic development Mr. Aguirre, was how many gas stations are pending? And he stated four, if I'm not mistaken. And I was like, you've got to be kidding me. Like, that's too much. Like, we already have an excessive amount of gas stations. We do not need four more. Like, so I'm in support of this moratorium of limiting gas stations and car wash facilities. Also, like, I went to the Mr. Car Wash, the new one, and it scratched my car. So I'm going to hand wash it at home. So, yeah, I'm in support of this because it's ridiculous the amount of gas stations that we have. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Next person, please.

Good evening, council members, previous council members. John Warren, City of Sirius. I don't believe the Planning Commission has voted yes or no on this particular item to bring it to the council for their guidance and suggestions. So I think the cart's kind of in front of the horse. There's a process that the city has. And that's not being used. That's part of the problem with our way of doing business. There's a proper order of things, and it never seems to be followed. And talking about the planning commission, I don't think the city really needs one. They only have six or seven, possibly eight meetings out of 24 during the year. And so things should just come directly to the council. and be cited upon at a regular council meeting, it wouldn't take that much extra time to do that. And you eliminate a whole process, which includes funding and people making applications. And if they don't like the decision of the Planning Commission, they bring it back to the council anyway. And it costs a lot of money for them to do that. So consider, when you're doing this, just eliminating the Planning Commission altogether and having the City Council take care of business.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Warren. Anyone else?

For a temporary moratorium on gas stations, but leave it open for them to add the electrical charges that the gas stations that are here might need because there's going to be more electric cars with time. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else? Seeing none. Any hands raised?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

I'll bring this item back for counsel for discussion. I had Vice Mayor Martinez press his button. Go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Julian, could you answer that? Has this gone to planning and have they voted on it to bring it to us? Can you answer Mr. Warren's statement?

So this evening, that is the discussion to have is if you're going to approve staff time for the research that needs to be done to bring this back to Planning Commission. In order for us to bring it back as a staff report, there is significant research that needs to be done. And so we're here to ask the council if your decision tonight will determine if that gets moved forward for a staff report.

Thank you. Councilwoman Otero.

Thank you. I did have the same question was, you know, Planning Commission, did they make the official recommendation? Because when I watched the Planning Commission meeting, my understanding is that a report would be presented to the Planning Commission to then further review what was stated, you know, in the report and then they would discuss if that would move forward to the city council. So I'm just concerned why we would discuss this today if planning commission hasn't, I guess, made the official recommendation. My understanding is based on the series municipal code, the 2.05.040 planning commission does have the authority to make recommendations as this. So I just want to make sure that we're giving them the opportunity to do that. But I do have a few questions. Is there a state guidance for the number of car washes and gas stations that are sufficient for a city based on like a population?

So like a state matrix? There is not. So for every, I believe it's 10, 4,000, 10,000. So the state estimates that approximately three to four gas stations per 10,000 is a rough estimate, is what I did a brief research on. But without getting too much time into it, because it does take a lot of time in order for us to bring it, because if we're looking at a moratorium, we have to find the findings for the moratorium and to bring that in. So tonight, we're just discussing that if council wants for us to continue to do the research and continue to bring it back, then we just need approval for staff time to do it. And so the recommendation to go back to the Planning Commission is going to take staff time to bring back the research, to bring back all the evaluations and stuff. And so tonight's discussion is basically on a financial side of it. to move forward, then we would need the blessing from the council in order for us to do that.

Thank you. How many car washes do we currently have and how many gas stations do we have?

Currently, we have eight car washes and 17 gas stations. The 17 gas stations, majority of them are in locations that are right off their freeway, both northbound and southbound, easy access on, easy access off. That's where you want your clusters of gas stations to be.

Okay. So I understand that it's going to take stop time. I know there's research involved. I've done a little bit of my own research. There are cities throughout the state who have done these moratoriums, whether temporary or permanent. And I feel like we should... reach out to those cities, look at their staff reports. They might have, you know, government code cited or zoning code, whatever it is that might save staff some time. But for me, I don't know that I can discuss this further without it having come from the planning commission officially. So I would like to see you go back to the planning commission, let them have some discussions because ultimately right now we don't know exactly what, what their thoughts and ideas are either.

Thank you. Council members? Mr. Casey, go ahead.

Follow up on Serena's. You know, I think Lodi, I mean, I'm saving money here. Lodi and Manteca both have proposed the no more gas stations. I'm not sure about the car washes. And I'm not sure where that went. But Certainly as far as staff time, not that we should do things that other cities do, but part of the city meeting that our council members are going to go to, you share ideas. So it wouldn't, I'm not sure, I'm getting the impression from you that it's going to cost a lot of money. And when we do this, it's going to affect our budget. I'm just suggesting that we make a few phone calls. We don't have to follow up on it. And I also agree with Serena, because I'm confused. I thought the Planning Commission already had voted 5-0 to bring this to us. Thanks.

Councilwoman Vieira.

Thank you. I do agree to go to planning first. And if we do, I would think that we would want to limit staff time because I know they are busy. And there's a lot of other things going on right now in several businesses and even new developments that they're currently working on. You know, there's two on Mitchell Road and I know we have the G3. I don't know if they have a name yet for that shopping center in my district, as well as one there. on morgan and whitmore that's also looking and expanding so i guess my concern is just looking at my district alone not the rest of the city i only have one car wash there's always a line there um we're looking at developing we're looking at addition adding additional homes apartments and other stuff in my district that's already in the process or in development in the discussion um we also have um there's no gas stations for the most part on the crow's landing aspect where these new developments are going and so those are my concerns because then we're not servicing my district which is a concern for me by putting these limitations in While these developments are in the process and while Gallo is working on adding this new shopping center with two major anchor stores, I want to make sure we're not limiting the anchor stores in their ideas and their visions of what they have for the development there, especially on Crow's Landing and Whitmore, which is key, as well as what Stan RTA had mentioned that they want to do there as well. I want to make sure that work because they're going to need to do something with their buses. And I want to make sure that they have the resources that they need so that way they can be sustainable and successful here in series. And I guess those are going to be my concerns right now when it comes to this. And then. Gas tax does play a significant amount, which is why I think we rely on gas stations when it comes to our budget and looking at what this would affect our budget long term, especially with growth and our dependence on the gas tax here in Ceres.

Thank you. Mayor, before I go to you, I do have a couple of comments. You know, Ceres cannot claim to be open for business while you're telling a lawful business we're open, which is not for you. If a project complies with our general plan, zoning code, safety standards, and required findings, it deserves a fair opportunity to compete. These projects create jobs, construction activity, property tax, growth, site improvements, ongoing revenue for the city of Ceres. The Quick Quack project alone represents more than 15 potential jobs, along with construction investments and additional property tax revenue. The Maverick is another example where projecting annual sales could be up to $600,000. That revenue can help relieve pressure on our city budget. This would not create an economic diversity. It would limit competition and give existing businesses a government-created advantage. I am pro-business, and I would not participate in creating a protected market or a monopoly that benefits one business or a select group. My direction is not to take any further action. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have one more question for Julian. Julian, how many gas stations in the city currently offer electrical charging stations? And then of the eight car washes you had mentioned, how many are standalone, not attached to gas stations?

So on electric, I believe there is Two in the city. And then I'm sorry, what was the next question? I apologize.

You had mentioned that there's eight car washes currently in the city. How many of those are standalone only car washes like quick whack and the quick car wash on service?

There's five.

Thank you.

Council, we're looking for consensus. Today is an opportunity for us to either give direction for staff to work on this or to pass on the idea. So I will go ahead and start from my left, consensus. No, Vice Mayor? Councilwoman?

I would like to pass it back to the Planning Commission and they're provided with the report.

Okay, that's not what I'm asking, but I understand what you're asking. Is it a consensus no or yes?

Yes.

That's no for me. Council Member Vieira?

No for me.

And Council Member Casey? Yes. You got the consensus? Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to Council Member referrals. We have one, two, three. Roughly 13 referrals. So please be patient with us. And we'll start off with number 12. And this one is creation of a citizen's financial oversight and audit committee. And this was requested by council member Otero on March 24th, 2026. And she will now present the item.

Thank you, Mayor. So as you know, we heard tonight with Measure H Committee, we've had myself and Councilmember Casey asked for forensic audits. Our city, I think, lacks in some of the financial oversight. There's a lot of improvements that need to be made. And I think it's best that we allow the citizens to get involved. And I would request that we create a financial oversight and audit committee. We're currently lacking in committees, so it doesn't give the citizens opportunities to participate in some of these things. There may be ideas that they have that the council may not have, so I would like to create this committee.

Thank you, council member. We'll open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item? Seeing none, hands raised.

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

I'm bringing this item back for comments, questions, or consensus. No comments? Consensus? You're okay with it, Vice Mayor? I'm a no. Roslinda? Okay, you got your consensus. Item number 13. Installing K-Rails at the Ceres Cemetery. This was requested by Council Member Casey at the April 6, 2026 Regular City Council Meeting. Council Member Casey?

Yes, this K-Rails is a the term that I use, but actually the situation is simple. Because of the highway design that was approved by Caltrans or the city, occasionally, and I don't know how often, but often enough, we have cars that come over the overpass and then run into the fence and into the cemetery. As the cemetery grows, they're going to have our loved ones right there. And so I think that we, the city's obligated to protect the safety of the cemetery. Pretty simple.

Thank you, Mr. Casey. Go out to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment or question on this item?

Who would pay for the K-rails? Who would pay for the K-rails?

We'll get that answered for you in a second.

In other words, are you asking? The city owns the cemetery, but the cemetery has money. Would the cemetery be paying for the K-rails and you only given permission? Or are you going to pay for them being put in?

The situation is that the property that we're talking about belongs to the city, not to the...

The city cannot afford to keep doing all these little things. If the cemetery has the money and the cemetery is a business, then the cemetery should take care of it. That's my opinion. Thank you.

Thank you. And actually, the recommendation was for the city and the cemetery staff to get together to see if they could resolve it. Thank you.

Any additional comments or questions from the audience?

John Warren, city of Ceres. The city of Modesto has a similar problem along Scenic Drive, where the cemeteries are there, the brick wall. And they quite often have to make repairs because of some errant driver going down the street. The city of Ceres can't control the motoring public out there as they come over the overpass and come down the highway. Accidents are going to happen. They're called accidents. Very seldom I don't think someone will intentionally run into the fence at the Ceres Cemetery. If the Cemetery Association feels they need some sort of protection along the right-of-way between the sidewalk and the fence line, They need to install that themselves. That's my feeling. I don't think it's the city's obligation to try to determine whether someone's going to have an accident there or not and try to prevent it with a K-rail so they won't run into that property. K-rails are going to be maintained. Pretty soon you're going to have homeless people sleeping behind them, people riding all over the front of them with spray paint. So there's things to consider when that happens. If you put a wall down through there, a sound wall of sorts, to protect the cemetery, which a cemetery should do themselves, they're going to have to maintain the writing on it because people are going to come along with spray paint and do their graffiti thing. So those are things to consider. I don't think the city has an obligation to provide traffic safety for the cemetery. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Warren. Anybody else has a comment or question?

Mr. Mayor? Yes. Just for council's awareness, I know that this referral item was requested by Councilmember Casey back on April 6th of this year. About a month ago, the police chief economic development director, the city engineer, and myself went out and met with board members of the cemetery district, along with, I believe it was the general manager. And we discussed a recent event that had occurred out there where I believe a vehicle went through the fence that sparked this conversation. The police chief was very good about giving some suggestions about what they can do on their own property. The engineer talked about right-of-way access and some different things that they can do. So while there is an opportunity for the city to do something on the city property, my impression is that the cemetery board of directors that were represented there along with the general manager were satisfied with the recommendations made by staff on what they can do on their own property. And this is not to sway the decision one way or the other. It's just to make the council aware that four of your top staff members did meet with the cemetery staff about a month ago regarding this issue.

Thank you very much. If there's no additional comments, I'll bring this item back for the council. Additional comments or questions, I do see every button was pressed. I believe, Councilwoman Vieira, your button was pressed first. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, City Manager, because I was going to ask, because I remember having this discussion with you when that occurred. Again, I would like to concur with several of the other residents that have already spoke regarding the budget. I don't think we have a budget to be paying for it. And I think with the recommendations you made, From what I had heard, the feedback I heard back from the board members is that they were satisfied with the discussion and the steps that were taken. I guess my only concern are, are the steps being taken so we can recoup the costs? Or are they recouping the costs from the drivers that are damaging the fence? Because ultimately it's the drivers that are damaging the fence. And I think at this point in time, I'm satisfied with the meeting that occurred. And the board members seem to be happy that had talked to me. Again, not all of them. I only talked to a few. And so I'm happy with what the discussion that occurred and the steps that you laid out moving forward.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My issue with this is it just goes back to what I've kind of been harping on is how quickly things are expedited. There's 11... Is it 11 council member referrals on here tonight? Mr. Casey's referral was 98 days ago, almost 100 days ago. A month ago, you're telling me that you already went ahead and did Mr. Casey's referral. Now, why are we discussing this if you guys already went ahead and did it? That's my problem. We make a referral and then we sit around and we wait months for them to come to us. We've got 11 here, two before Mr. Casey's or one before Mr. Casey's was further along. So beforehand, I would have said, yes, I would like to sit down and see what the discussion would look like since that was Mr. Casey's initial request, but seeing as how you guys have already done it, I would be a no for this as it doesn't seem like it would be necessary now.

Councilwoman Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. I know this is part of the cemetery's responsibility, but I'm just curious if there is any potential liability on the city side. That overpass, I don't know how many years, it's been a long time since it was redone, right? And it was widened. Is there a possibility that something with the design at one point is... you know, part of this issue. And I know people are going to speed, there's going to be accidents, but that's what I think about when it comes to liability for the city. I would be interested in still getting a staff report to cover like some of the things that the city manager just discussed and what was, what occurred in the meeting that they had with the cemetery. I think it's great to you know, they did that beforehand. So we have an idea. But I do support Council Member Casey's referral because we should look at all options, even if we don't move forward with it. Thank you.

Okay. So, City Manager, I do appreciate you going out and communicating with the board. But I would say And I think that it's still warrant that we at least get some information back, even if the council may not move forward with funding from our side, but at least understand what you guys spoke about, what the plan is, and if there is liability, a city attorney, what that would look like. I think that's fair to ask. And then we can take action. I mean, today is more about consensus, but at least I'm supportive of that. Mr. Casey, would that satisfy your request, sir?

Sure, and you know, this is no fault of the staff or the council that's sitting here, but my understanding is that the board and the cemeteries come before the city and ask if there's anything we can do. And like other issues, they never got an answer. No one took the time to talk to them. So I'm pleased that the city manager's staff was able to get together and kind of agree with Council Vice Mayor, rather, Vice Mayor Daniel Martinez, that maybe we should have pulled this because it's already in the work. And that was the point of it. But again, the reason it was even brought up is because they, secondhand information, I was told that they came before the city, tried to get a hold of somebody to see if we could work together, and their neighbor got an answer back. And so they asked me to do this, and I did it. Thank you.

Sounds good, Mr. Casey. One more clarification, Mr. Mayor. So this was a pending referral item specifically for K rails. And until we got to this referral item at the council meeting, there was a request by the cemetery staff to meet with city staff. So the discussion between city staff and the cemetery staff was not part of this referral. It wasn't specifically for K-Rills. It was the city staff responding to the cemetery staff's request for what can they do. Can they put K-rails on their property? Can they grow specific type of trees that if it does crash into the fence, it hits the tree instead of the railing? So while the meeting was at the request of the cemetery staff, separate from is the city going to put K-rails here? So just to clarify that, that's why that meeting happened.

you i'll go ahead and do a consensus from left to right vice mayor no councilwoman yes uh yes for me no for rosalinda and mr casey yes okay thank you very much moving on to item number 14 this is a joint city council and planning commission meeting this is requested by vice mayor martinez on april 13 2026 vice mayor

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know we've had them in the past. Before, they weren't referrals. They were just held. But I was told this time around by the city manager it would need to be a referral from a council member. So that's what this is, just requesting us to sit down and have our joint meeting.

Thank you very much. Any comments from the audience? Seeing none. Nobody online. I'll bring this item back for comments, questions, or consensus. I'll go ahead and do a consensus left to right. Vice Mayor? Yes, yes for me. Okay, you got your consensus city clerk. Moving on to item number 15. This is amending the series municipal code to eliminate city council healthcare benefits and reduce the city's council stipend by 50%. And this was requested by council member Otero on the May 11th, 2026 regular city council meeting.

Thank you, Mayor. I've mentioned this a few times, and the council is aware of my suggestion. But I do want to put this on the record that I'm requesting to amend the municipal code to eliminate the city council's health care benefits currently because of the budget crisis that we are in. That's not to say, you know, later on in the future, a council could come back and reevaluate it. I also would recommend that we do our part as well in these budget cuts and cut the stipend in half for the council members.

Thank you very much, council member. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

Welcome.

Sue Reynolds from Ceres. I strongly agree with this. And I think it should have been done prior to right now. It should have been discussed and handled when we were doing the budget cuts. But I think this is an excellent recommendation.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else? Seeing none, anybody on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bring this item back for comments, questions, or consensus.

Consensus from left to right? Vice Mayor?

No? Councilwoman? Yes? No for me. Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies. I did not see your button. Let's hold that thought for a second. Councilmember Vieira.

Sorry, a little fast. Although just looking at past history, this has been, we haven't adjusted the pay or the benefits in years. I saw prior council members and mayors have used this. I think cutting the pay actually hurts not the current council members, but future generations and future leaders. Those that are looking at coming to council, working mothers. I know there was one that was considering running, but she's like, what about daycare? What about, how do I take care of single mothers? I'm young professionals. And even, um, different people that are considering running, because again, there's a lot of cost. My contribution is not just coming to the council meetings. I work with our city staff. I know all of them have met with a lot of us here on the dais almost daily. I think some of us see me daily or multiple times, including the mayor and Martinez. I know we're in almost daily. The cost of doing business, because again, We're going to these dinners and handing out certificates. We're not getting in there free. We're not eating the meals. We're usually handing out certificates while everyone else is eating and having dinner. We're also sending welcome letters to new residents about the homes in my district. Those stamps came out of my pocket. That was part of my contribution back to the community. I'm engaging with businesses. I'm engaging, working a lot with Julian. What's open? What's available? What can I promote so I can bring businesses in? Because that's key. We need diversity. We need to engage in businesses so they want to come to series. But that takes time. That takes money. That takes strategy. And that's not money that I get reimbursed from the city. That comes directly out of my pocket. I also look at state law, heavily lean on California's SB 329. It's a state legislator bill that actually changed the caps because our pay cap hasn't been adjusted since I believe it was 1984. We're still making the same stipend that they were making in 1984. And $500 there in 1984 is significantly different than what $500 is today and how far that goes when it comes to a lot of what we contribute, not counting inflation and representation. A lot of my district live in multi-generational households. So there's three or four generations living in one household because they can't afford to live in a large home or have multiple homes. large bedrooms individually to themselves. So when I look at what the state was doing when they passed this law, I think it's important that we make sure that it's set up so that way those single moms that do have to pay for daycare, those that need other reasons and still want to contribute to series still have that opportunity. And that is why I'm not supportive of it at this time.

Okay. So we got your consensus. Council Member Casey, did you have a couple of comments, sir? Thank you.

You know, those of us who are responsible for the situation that we're in, we should be the first ones to take the hit. So I think that you think about this. In the budget cut, we did away with the Christmas tree thing, the Easter thing, the Halloween thing, the swimming thing. So we didn't do such a good job. And if you ran for this office because of the benefits, maybe you should rethink it. We should be running and serving the people for their benefit, not for our benefit. So that's the way I feel. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member. Did you get the consensus from all? Thank you very much. Item number 16. This one is evaluating strategies of amending the zoning code to diversify business types. This was requested by Councilmember Otero at the May 11, 2026 Regular City Council meeting.

Thank you, Mayor. When it comes to the speed limits on the streets that are listed on this agenda here, East Gate Booth. I did mention Moffett Road to the...

I think you're on number 16.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm ahead here. Backing up to evaluate strategies of amending the zoning code. So tonight we talked about, you know, potential temporary moratorium on the gas stations and car washes. There's got to be a better way to... diversify, like it says, the business types that we have here. There's got to be a way to bring in some different types of businesses. I feel other cities do it. And that's why I brought this referral forward, because I'd like to see us amend the zoning code. We're going to be growing with more housing and all of that. But I don't want I want people to come here and stay here. I don't want them to leave. I don't want businesses to leave. So I would like us to you know, have an option to amend the current zoning code.

Thank you very much. Open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

I just want to say that was quite a speech that the mayor gave about the gas stations, about the diversity and not telling anybody we couldn't have another gas station. Where were you when you butted into the Guatemala chicken deal?

Thank you very much for your comment. Anybody else have any additional comments? Seeing none, bring this item back to council. Anything on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

All right, thank you very much. Looking for, Rosalinda, you're quick. Councilwoman Vieira.

right i i don't exactly know what you want to change um now when it comes to diversify i guess it comes down to julian are you still attending the icsc conferences which is where you connect with the businesses to try to convince them that series is where they want to build and live and reside and be okay and that's still part of the budget because i think that's going to be the biggest key is having you connect with those businesses and trying to get them in here and sitting down and having those continued meetings. I know I've been on a few of them, not all of them, but I think that's key in making sure that you still have those opportunities and if that's going to be part of the strategy.

That is correct. And we do have several items in the pipeline. I just can't share at this meeting, but we do have a lot coming through. And so if there is a point where the zoning does not match, then that is the discussion that we have with those businesses for an amendment. If they're willing to do that, then that is an option for them to do.

Now, do we have a lot of businesses that are requesting amendments or for the most part, they're going directly kind of where it's already zoned for commercial?

For the most part, they're going to where they are permitted by right for the zoning. That's what they look for first and foremost in those areas. And so a lot of them have reached out because they do their due diligence. And so when they usually knock on our door, it's because they've done their homework and we've engaged with them over a period of time.

And you're not specifically telling anyone, no, don't come to Ceres, correct?

I would never tell anyone, no, not to come to Ceres. Okay.

And you are scheduled. I just want to make sure with the budget.

And we are scheduled for ICSC in Monterey. Yes, that is correct.

Okay. That answers my question. Thank you.

Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Julian, it sounds like you already answered. I just wanted to have you reiterate. You already do the process of going and networking, finding businesses. And when you have somebody that applies for a location that doesn't fit where they should be, you work with them to move or find different site maps that they could possibly apply to, correct?

Yes, that is correct. So we do a pre-development meetings with them. So they'll give us a site plan, a description of what they want, the zoning area, the location. We verify everything. And then if it is not a permitted by right, we'll look to see if there's a conditional use permit that can be done. If not, then we ask, then we'll go into possible general plan amendment or zoning amendment or

Awesome. Thank you. So it sounds like essentially you're already doing what the referral is requesting.

Yes.

Thank you, sir.

And Julian, could you name an instance recently where you brought a business owner to the planning commission and give them a conditional use permit and they were allowed to continue to run their business?

So we have the, in our industrial park area, we have a... jujitsu, I believe, organization, that it is not permitted by right. They needed a conditional use permit to establish the business there. So we made sure that they provided all the information, documentation, site plan that they needed so that we can present that to Planning Commission to get it approved. Parking was one of the things that we had discussed back and forth. So they adjusted their times and made it so that, so yeah, so we will work with them and we'll do our due diligence to try to bring the business to the location that they're at. We are also working on another one that's coming that is not permitted by right, but that needs a conditional use permit. And so those are the options. So when they come through, we will have those discussions with them and give them the options that are available. Thank you very much, Julian. I do appreciate that.

Any additional comments or questions? Can we get consensus, please, Vice Mayor? Councilwoman? No for me?

No.

Vice Mayor, can I get what your consensus was? So no for Vice Mayor, Mayor, and Rosalinda, Councilman Rivera.

Thank you. Item number 17, form a budget committee with a member from each council district requested by council member Casey on the May 11th, 2026 regular city council meeting.

Yes, you know, since I've been on the council, we have, this year was probably one of the better years, but typically we as council people, at least this council person, get information about the budget. The last meeting in May, if we have one, and then we have, you know, first meeting in June. We're going to decide on an 800-page thing. I think that we should form this committee. It should be partially from the community. How we select those members, I'm not certain. But we need to get started on our 2026, 2027, 27, 28, I guess, budget sooner than not. And I think it's important to have input on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Casey. We'll open this up to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item? Yes.

Galan Guzman for the record. So, yeah, I'm in support of this proposal. I'm in support of this Yeah, the city of Ceres does a poor job of engaging its citizens and like day-to-day daily activities But the budget it's like one of the main vital documents to a city including the strategic plan so I think it does also a poor assessment of community needs. From one district to another, the needs of the community are slightly different. So including a member of each district I think is vital. There's other cities that actually engage more of their residents in the budget process, the city of Ceres, yeah, it's bad. Like if I'd give you guys a grade, I'd do like D, like it's not passing. So, yeah, like, I do agree with Councilmember Casey in saying that, you know, for fiscal year 20, you know, 26, 27, budget was a little bit better, but only holding, like, one or two meetings a year. as far as community and public engagement is not sufficient. And then only holding these budget workshops at a certain time, it doesn't work with everyone. Everyone works a different schedule. You know, and creating this budget committee, it would allow more public feedback and then actually going door to door, perhaps like to get like, hey, like, what do you think this district needs? You know, so just the stuff like that, like, obviously, I live in district two and like the landscaping is really bad. You got plots of along like St. Clair and Morgan, you know, you got a tree, a dead tree, you know, like if. Perhaps like allocating more money to actually beautify series would be beneficial. And like it's an eyesore right now and it's been an eyesore for a long time. You know, this didn't happen overnight, you know, and the whole like financial audit that wasn't done for fiscal year 24 to. 25 you know it's like a year later or two years later you know what I mean like this if this was implemented it would be it would have been caught on time you know a budget like turnaround time is average six years I mean six months after the end of the fiscal year here we are in July we don't have it completed yet you know it's already it should have already been back you know and like for fiscal year uh 25 to 26 we should already have submitted it so we're like behind the ball you know and it's your guys's um you guys are the checks and balances and you guys are i feel like it's you guys aren't doing like a great job so honestly i think this is very needed thank you very much anyone else would like to make a comment

John Warren, City of Ceres. Forming a budget committee with a member from each district would be an ideal thing for our members of the community to become involved in and looking at what the budget process actually takes place. Starting in January or December, coming up for the next budget year. So each department's budget could be analyzed and discussed and gone over with your budget committee and then a report back to the city council. Or in addition to the five members of the community, there should be someone from the city council sitting on that committee as well who's familiar with the budget process and maybe somebody from staff that could sit in occasionally as the meetings progress through the process. One or two meetings, probably not enough. because it will take a while to go through line by line each department's budget and ask questions about what this expenditure is for and why this expenditure is there. And by doing that, all the things that you talked about during the regular budget process will be brought forward and the public will understand how that goes. I know some of this city manager does these things privately or in meetings with each group as the budget year goes along and they're preparing for the next budget. But citizens don't have any opportunity to see what's going on here. So maybe it's something they could do together or be involved with simultaneously. And so I think this is a good thing to consider and I hope you do so. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anyone else? Bring this item back to council for comments, questions. Councilwoman Otero.

I just want to get clarification from Councilmember Casey. Is your request for a budget committee only during the budget season, during those couple months? Or could we incorporate this into the forensic, I'm sorry, the financial oversight and audit committee? Maybe we can call it a budget oversight and audit committee. And additionally, I do like the idea of having one representative from each district.

Yeah. Good question. And for clarification, it would be an ongoing thing. We're scheduled to have a review this September where we are with the budget. So that committee would be part of that review prior to coming out to the public. Somehow we need to work on that. Thank you for the clarification.

You're welcome. And so Just for confirmation, could city staff combine your referral and my referral to bring back a staff report on what this committee would look like?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, can I just make one clarification real quick? Go ahead. the quarterly audit that we have committed to do. The first one will be for the month of July, August, and September, but that report will not be made in September. We have to get through the month, reconcile the books, so that first report will be in October, but it will be for the months of July, August, and September. Councilwoman Vieira?

Thank you. I think my question was pretty well answered by Councilmember Otero because it sounded like it was similar. And it just sounds like the only difference was, since it's a financial one, it was incorporating the budget and one from each district, which I think are, if you're okay with those reasonable adjustments to your recommendation, I would be supportive of that. I don't think we necessarily need to Groups overseeing the same thing, unless it leads to that. And then maybe we. Make that change at that point once we get the foundations of whatever we're doing here together.

But if you're supportive of that, I'm supportive of that as well.

City manager. No, in regards to the quarterly review. No, if this committee were to, if you guys were to bring a staff report back, you would give us in detail. Exactly. what this committee is out to do. They're going to be an advisory committee. They would be provided with the quarterly reviews. They would provide that oversight throughout the entire year. And then what I wanted to clarify is that before that advisory committee received the final budget, which would be the budget that we would present next fiscal year, that budget in particular would have to go through the process of the city manager and all the departments before it was given to the advisory committee, correct? Not the other way around?

That is correct. My recommendation is staff have the discussion first, decide amongst ourselves what recommendations we wanna make. We would then present that to this budget oversight committee, make sure that they're fully on board, see if they have any additional recommendations that perhaps we have not considered, but ultimately anything would still come back to the city council for final approval. First to the staff, then to the committee, then to the council.

So this would be established. You would bring this item back if we got consensus and outline what those jobs and tasks will be for this committee, correct?

Correct. And the appointment process, much like your other committees, there would be established expectations for committee members. There would be a selection process. There would be a term. And all of that would be brought back in a staff report before the committee is established.

Okay.

I like that idea.

I'm on board with this. Any additional comments or questions? Vice mayor.

Mr. Mayor, I thought I pushed my button. No, I'm just going to agree with pretty much everything everyone else has stated that item, what is this? 17 sounds a lot like item 12. So combining them ultimately makes sense. Having each individual council person make a recommendation as to who they'd like to have their representative be, but still have that go through the process of council approval, making guidelines for expectations, meeting attendance, and how to replace those people should they no longer attend or move out of the district or longer live in the area. So I definitely support combining those like Council Members Otero and Vieira discussed and I support it.

Could we possibly bring both those staff reports back even if they're separate or the same and then we decide and we would have to motion at that time when this report is brought back so that way to avoid any confusion?

And just to clarify, you're asking each Council Member to pick a individual from their district and the Mayor would be in the city at large?

What I would recommend is we take item 12 and item 17 if it's approved by you. We will bring one staff report back to the city council that incorporates both referral item 12 and referral item 17 into one action that the council would take to establish the committee. The fact that one member from each district will serve on the committee as well as a fifth member that's chosen by the mayor.

Sounds good. And then obviously when you bring that item back, you'll also ask us how we want to do the interview process, whether we want to do it in person or have we done it in the past. It looks like we're starting to do that, which is fine with me. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. You're okay. Okay. Sounds good. I'll go ahead and ask for consensus from left to right. Yes.

Okay. Mr. Casey, I didn't see you, but you probably said yes, right?

Okay.

Thank you.

Moving on to item number 18. This is the reduce the speed limits by five miles per hour. And this is requested by council member Otero on May 13th, 2026.

Thank you, Mayor. I was so eager to get to this one earlier. So the speed limits survey came back. There's speed limits that have been set or actually will remain the same. But there are streets that I want to lower the speed by five miles per hour. My main goal is to lower the speed on Eastgate and Booth. And then I did incorporate Moffett Road. I've talked to staff a little bit about Moffett Road. We're going to look at the options, but specifically Eastgate and Booth do need to be done. I've also done some research myself, and I feel that there are ways for the city to allow these speed adjustments, especially by our parks citywide. And I did send that information over to the city manager. I think yesterday or today in an email, but I'd like to see this move forward and get those speeds reduced. I don't know what the, I know it's probably not the time, but hopefully the police department is also supportive of this. They're the ones that along with fire have to respond to some of these calls or some of these, give these speeding citations. So that is my referral for number 18.

Thank you. Going now to the public, any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

They predecessors. Yeah. It's tough getting old. I'm glad at least you're not raising the speed limits. All these are main thoroughfares through those neighborhoods. And no matter what speed you set them at, you're still going to get the speeders going through these. When I'm going through, I see most of them drive at it. It may be above the speed limit, but they're not actually speeding. And I know... When I got a lot of cars parked along the park or the schools, I probably even drive even slower because I worry about something jumping out between the cars. So I'm OK with what the speed limit is now or lowering it five miles an hour. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else who would like to make a comment?

John Warren, City of Ceres. I want to say that this is a good idea. I would support this. I think the city engineer has some leeway in lowering the speed limits by five miles an hour or raising them. in some instances, based upon the 85th percentile and the traffic surveys and so forth and so on. But I think all these, especially Moffett Road, which I am on more than I am on the Eastgate side where a council person is. But yes, I would be in favor that the traffic speed limits be reduced by five miles an hour. And that should take care of the problem.

Thank you. Thank you. Next person, please.

OK. Think about what it's going to cost to change all those signs. Again, money. You just keep nickel and diming us to death. If you have to change all the signs on all those streets in all those areas by five miles, is just going to cost more money. Please stop and consider how you're spending our money.

Thank you very much. Next person. Anybody on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bring this item back for comments and questions. Councilwoman Vieira.

Again, I don't know if speed limits necessarily change behavior. At least that's what I'm kind of hearing from the police department is even changing. It doesn't necessarily mean someone's going to drive slower. My concerns, one is I thought this something was going to be allowed for all of us because I had specifically had already emailed and asked about the streets in my district. And I see I was told that that was going to be incorporated because I was but then I was also told if I was to bring the streets in front of the schools in my district that there was going to be a cost. So I'm just kind of curious on what the costs are, why other council members were not given the same opportunity because I did email. I did ask immediately why I wasn't. part of this, because I had asked as well, because I want to know what the cost, I believe Martinez had also brought it forward. If we all had asked for three streets, what are the costs? And I'm hearing now if anyone else asks, there are costs involved. And so I think that is key for me before I consider making this, because unless we can find a way, are the police going to enforce the changing speed limits? I don't know if it's going to change behavior and I think each district should be given the same opportunity as well as discover how we're going to pay for this because that's also key. And I believe at the council meeting when this was discussed, I was told it was about $1,700 a sign. And when you look at four, what, three signs each street right here, we're already at four signs. And if each one of us each have three recommendations, we're talking about a significant amount of money. And so that's my biggest concern right now. And I think that needs to be, I'm not in favor at this point in time based on how it's being presented.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I kind of agree with what Council Member Vieira is saying. We can lower speed limits, but that doesn't necessarily stop bad drivers from driving dangerously. I am concerned that this only seems to impact one area of the city when there are other areas that have, like my item coming up around Smyrna Park has streets that have speed limits that could be reduced to potentially reduce accidents. So just that alone with the fact that, yes, there would be signs that would need to be ordered. There would be crews that need to replace them. I would be a no for this.

Thank you. No, I would like to see if Bill Trans could. Give us a little backstory. I know that you actually brought us a report and gave us statistics on whether or not we decided to move forward with lowering speed limits in certain areas. Could you please rephrase or just explain to us again what that process and what it took to get to the findings that you found?

So thank you, Mayor. We did come with an engineering and traffic survey that set the speed limits. It did not raise any speed limits at the time. I think it's important to note that if we want to look at different roads, we can do that. The big thing is, is that I will look at a cost. I'm not going to move forward without, as a matter of fact, if there is a cost that has to come back to council because that contract is already over the $25,000, which means I need to come back for an amendment in order to have that contract amended for an additional amount. As far as the signs, yes, I've, said it's about $1,500 to $2,000 per sign that we need to change. There could be some savings as we move signs around if there's one road that's coming down to 35 and we're taking signs off of a 35 because it's lowering to 30 and we can use those signs. We haven't done a deep dive on all of that. I think it's important to know which roads everybody would want. Secondly, I think there's another portion to this. You know, we look at AB 43. AB 43 is actually what they consider a safety corridor bill that was passed by the state legislature. It includes parks, schools where children are present, those types of things that allow for us to lower speed limits by five miles an hour due to it being considered a safety corridor. The second item is actually AB 382. AB 382 will become a mandate in 2031, and that will mandate, the state has mandated that by 2031, all school zones will need to be down to 20 miles an hour. There is a provision in there to bring them down to 15 miles an hour, but we would need to look more into that provision if we wanted to bring those speed limits down to 15 miles an hour. So There's actually a multitude of things that we could look at as we move through this process, if that is the council's desire. But there are provisions to lower speed limits by five miles an hour. And then it will be mandated in 2031 that all school speed limits come down to at least 20 miles an hour. So that's really what it is in a whole. And if it's the council's desire for me to bring that back, I can bring a staff report back. I would like to be in contact with each one of you to know which roads you guys would like me to look at in your districts or within the city and go from there if that is the desire of the council.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just had a question, sir. So you had an engineering report brought back where, you know, they went through the process of reviewing our roads and they said everything was fine. But now you're telling us if we have specific streets that we're concerned about, then to give you that list, why have the initial engineering report in the first place then?

So the initial engineering report from an engineering traffic study standpoint actually only looks at the 85th percentile in general. So they go, there was a lot of public comments, for instance, on social media about the cameras that were up around town and their recording speeds of vehicles that are going by for the purpose of the study. And so in general, When they do an engineering traffic survey like this, they look at the 85th percentile. Then there are certain parameters. The engineers also know that changing speed limits takes money. It takes crew money. It takes sign money. There's just money that is involved when they start to do that. So generally speaking, if there is an ability to keep speed limits the same, that's what they try to do because they know the cost burden that it puts on a city. Some of those may already be under maybe the percentile on one of the roads what showed the 85th percentile was at 40 miles an hour, but the speed limit was 35 miles an hour. they will use engineering judgment at that point in time to determine, hey, can I apply AB43 to this as a safety corridor to keep that speed limit at 35 miles an hour? So all of those judgments are made while we go through this. And the engineers, they don't want to, one, create a cost burden for the city because it does get expensive. And two, if they can keep speed limits the same, then that's what they will try to do under most circumstances. Sometimes that's not possible and speed limits do go up. And that's why I kind of praised the public when we presented this report that for the most part, everybody was good in driving and we were able to keep all of the speed limits within the city the same as they were.

Thank you. And with that engineer's report, it would make us or take away the liability Nubia. If there's an accident, we had an engineering report done that showed that that, that street had a safe speed limit, that there was nothing we could have done because ultimately it comes back to the driver and their negligence.

I wouldn't say that it completely bulletproofs. Obviously you want to be able to document everything that the city can do and steps to take to make it safe. But there's a lot of factors that would go into ultimate liability. But from, uh, documenting the steps and the procedures that would got to start there.

Thank you. And like you said, the school zones are going to be eventually reduced down to 15 miles an hour. Would that be a safe school? I know a few years ago, Lieutenant Godfrey worked with the school district to do safe paths to school. That'd be something that goes through the school district in the city, or that'd be something that only we would handle?

So the assembly bill actually mandates that cities lower the speed limit in a school zone to 20 miles an hour starting in 2031. That cost will be burdened by the city to reduce those or really to change those signs in school zones for that provision within the law.

Thank you, sir. Councilwoman Otero. Okay. Councilwoman Vieira.

I think for me, it sounds like we are going to be removing most of these signs anyways under this new assembly bill. I don't remember which one you said it was. 382. So I think it's just a matter of working through those and working on financially, because I don't think I'm okay at 1,500 to 2,000 per sign for three streets that... could potentially be $6,000 to $10,000 per street. And I don't think I have it in the budget currently. And if it's legally required under the current requirements under your engineering report as required by the traffic engineer, I think that's where we're at. And then we should save the money or start figuring out how we're going to allocate the new requirements because ultimately it's going to be reduced down by 2031 to 20 anyways in most of these areas.

Just for a point of clarification, Councilmember, we are not mandated to do it at this point in time. That mandate does not happen until 2031. It would be a Council decision if they would prefer to implement that at an earlier date, whether that be this year, next year, or any year up to 2031. That can be done, but it will be mandated in 2031.

Any additional comments? Okay, if there's no additional comments or questions, I'm looking for consensus. Vice Mayor, no. Councilwoman, no for me. Mr. Casey says yes. Thank you. Item number 19, this is a report on watering days and increases to three watering days per week. This was requested by Vice Mayor Martinez on June 22nd, 2026.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like the request as just reviewing what it would look like to change it from two to three watering days. Okay.

Going now to the public. Any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

Dave Pratt of Ceres. I already noticed there's a lot of people are already doing more two days a week. if not more than three. But there's also, I see quite a few, it's surprising they don't complain about their water bills. I see on their front, most of the water is going down the gutter. So, Basically, I think at least once in a while I check my sprinklers to see if they're working halfway decent. Sometimes they're not. And people ought to get out there and look at what theirs are doing, too, to see where most of their water is going.

Thank you. Anyone else would like to make a comment?

John Warren, City of Ceres. Each month, each residence allowed a certain number of gallons of water. In the spring, the summer, the fall, it changes. Sometimes it's 27,000 gallons a month is the maximum per residence, and then it changes down to 12,000 gallons per month. So if a person watches that, it doesn't make a darn bit of difference whether they're wearing five days a week or three days a week or two days a week, as long as they don't go over their usage allowed. And that's what I think our water reports and things are based on is that allowed usage. Now, if a person doesn't monitor their usage, there's a problem there. I know one time I talked to Jeremy, and there was people in this community using 75,000 gallons of water a month in the wintertime. It just ran out the door and down the street, and they had a constant battle with those particular property owners. issuing them notices and fines and things like that. But I think for the normal person, and I use my own usage, my usage last month was 17,000 gallons. And we're getting into the warmer months, and I haven't changed my sprinkler times at all. So anyway, I've never used over the amount that's allowed. And so whether I water two days a week or four days a week, I'm going to still use the same amount of water. I think that needs to be considered. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else? Seeing none. Anybody on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bring this item back for comments, questions, or consensus. Vice Mayor? Yes, for me.

I have a question.

How long ago, Joshua, did you present this to council? Because I thought we just discussed this and we were going to exceed the water usage if we went to three days.

It was in November. I believe November because Sam was still on board. We would exceed the water use efficiency objective if every resident were to use all three days, just based on the quick calculations that we did. But just objectively speaking, I think there is some wiggle room. I know, I believe at the last, when this was brought up, there was also talk about having it three days for the summer versus, you know, or having it change during the season, having three days for the summer versus the winter. So I think we could provide some more information if that's what the council wants. I know We have difficulty sometimes, the water department has difficulty sometimes using some water and water is being stored that we're not able to take our full allotment from SRWA at some times. We have wells that are not running at some times. So there is some use for having the water being used without going over the water use efficiency that's set by the state.

So with this, again, we're just moving to consensus to research. If we approve this, we're looking at difficulties accessing water because we have limited water accessibility currently is what it sounds like you're telling me. As well as we have the possibility of exceeding our state required limitations, which those two alone make me concerned in moving forward. Although I like the idea, I don't necessarily feel jeopardizing our ability Standing with the state water board and the inability to access water as well as drain our wells further down and getting more contaminants into it and sand, which I'm hearing a lot about. I don't think I'm comfortable with that. So I guess without more information, it's really hard to make a full decision.

Just a point of clarification. We have difficulty getting all of the water that we have allotted to us from SRWA from our surface water. Sometimes we're having difficulty getting it out into the system because it's not being used. So we're having to ask SRWA to decrease our water intake then compared to what we've ordered. So there's, you know, some the case could be made that in some cases we are not getting the full benefit of that water that's allotted to us. That's just at different times. You know, in the winter we've had difficulty, you know, turning over our reservoirs and making sure that the water is being used at some times. But it is a balance because we have to compare that with making sure that we stay under our water use objective. We changed on our monthly report, we changed the way that we were reporting. So this public works monthly report that goes to the council every council meeting It does show our current usage in comparison with our water use objective from the previous year. So we can kind of see where we're at as we go. And it is a live document, so we can make changes as we see fit. But the initial recommendation was not to go to three days because we were near the The water use objective, we still had a couple million gallons of leeway, but I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head from when we gave that report in November.

I'm okay with moving forward with the idea during the summer, as long as we're not moving or exceeding our state requirements. I think that's my biggest concern is I don't want to get fined or disciplined or any kind of penalties coming from the state. So if it comes to that point, I'm not... wanting to move forward with this idea if it does put us or jeopardize us with the state. So that's kind of where I'm at. I don't know how you want to judge that because I don't understand.

Staff can move forward with looking at those changes just based off percentages, increased by percentages during the summertime or do a comparison for the whole year. I believe when the initial report came out, it was kind of just like, hey, if everybody did this, let's multiply uh this you know two days by making it three days and that projection put us above the the water use objective but um yeah we can we can come with a more detailed report i'm interested in seeing that report thank you yeah that would be very beneficial for us to move forward councilmember casey go ahead sir to go back to mr warren's point

Does it really matter if we do two days, three days, four days, five days? Because we're only allotted so many gallons anyway. We're not asking for more gallons. We're just asking for the opportunity to water our grass and flowers. without being fine, whether it's three days or four days. It doesn't matter, really. We only are allotted so many gallons. And then, of course, this is not part of that. But what the heck are we going to do when we build all these other houses? Where are we going to get the water?

Yeah.

Thank you for your question. I mean, this is a simple question. So if we approve... To go forward to study the three days a week, we only allowed it so many gallons anyway. And we're not asking to increase that allotment. We're just saying, now don't worry about it if you want to water your grass on Sunday.

Yeah, I understand. Thank you for your question. So the reason that it matters is because when drought conditions come, there are steps that are mandated by the state. So, you know, the reason that we initially, the city, you know, years back went to two days was because a mandate was put out by the state. There was an order by the governor to follow certain drought restrictions. And part of those restrictions was decreasing your watering days by one day. So if... something like that were to come out again and we're at two days we may have to go down to one day or we may be considered for that so it's just there are things I understand that we all do have allotted amounts and as long you know there's people that go over the allotted amount with two days right so it we address those cases with our fines and our fee structure but having the watering days increase back to three is or whatever we increase it to. It does matter because when drought restrictions happen, we have to take certain steps. And then there was a second question. Oh, when we build new homes, a lot of those developments come with installing or drilling new wells or building new reservoirs.

All right. So I think we've gone through the consensus, right?

I think I have four yeses.

Mr. Casey. He said yes.

So we have five yeses.

Mr. Casey, are you a yes? Yeah, we're good. Thank you for the questions, Mr. Casey. Moving on to item number 20, which is safety around Smyrna Park. This was requested by Vice Mayor Martinez.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We had some citizens in here. What meeting was this? June 22nd, so just this last month, describing how unsafe it is to walk across the street, especially when there's heavy baseball tournaments. And we do have two schools there at Samaritan Park, right? It's sandwiched in between two. So I would like to see about maybe updating the crosswalks, adding lights, maybe putting a safety signal that when someone is crossing, it alerts drivers that are coming just to improve the safety around the park, especially since it's such a heavily used park. It hasn't been very well maintained of recent, but it is still a used park. I'd like to see about getting those paths a little safer.

Thank you very much. Is there any members of the public would like to make a comment on this item?

Thank you. There's also a criminal element. that needs to be addressed with some of our park systems. Most recently, a family member of mine was relieved of her cell phone and driver's license and wallet and stuff at the park during broad daylight. I don't know if it was all that person's fault, but the young man that came over and talked to her that didn't know who she was was very interested in her belongings, and when she got home, she didn't have them. So there's an element there of safety, too, in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon at Samara Park. And also, I think on Facebook today, the party at that pavilion that she was sitting by, left about 1,000 pounds of trash. I mean, the pictures that the ladies that were working in the Rose Garden and weeding and stuff because city staff wasn't able to do that. took some pictures and posted them. And it was just terrible. I remember Mike Klein did the same thing years ago after a Sunday event at Samara Park. And it was just terrible. I mean, there's trash everywhere and People wouldn't even put it in the trash cans. And then the trash cans were overfilled in some cases, and they'd just throw it on the ground rather than take it away with them. And that should be a requirement, I think, when these people rent or sign up to use a facility there. If they leave it in shabby case, they should be billed for the cleanup. I mean, we should be collecting from them or have a deposit big enough that they will take it away or we just won't return the deposit. We keep the pictures and show them, say, hey, this is how you left it. And so we're going to have to pay someone to clean it up. That's what we should do. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Is there anybody else?

The trash at Smyrna Park is a difficult thing. A woman posted a whole bunch of pictures of the trash everywhere. People were having parties and leaving the trash in bags, and they were attaching the bags to the garbage disposal things. But the garbage disposal things you have there are real pretty, and they have these cute little tops on them, and it's hard to put the trash in. If you just go back to plain old-fashioned garbage cans, I think you'd have a lot better luck. And then keep the homeless out of the garbage. That's the two things, the wrong garbage cans and the homeless. That's your problems.

Thank you. Is there anybody else? Seeing none. Anyone on Zoom?

There are no hands raised on Zoom.

Bringing this item back for consensus. Vice Mayor? Councilwoman? Yes, for me.

If I may, Mayor, to address Councilman Martinez's issue with safety around Smyrna Park on the roadways, we actually do have two projects. One is an ATP, an active transportation project. The other one is a CMAC or H-CIP project Both grant funded projects that are actually going to be repainting crosswalks, those types of things, putting in a couple of speed tables. So those things are in progress. They are currently being designed right now. And so I just want to do at least let the council know that there is a project. A couple of projects that are going on on Moffitt, one that both that will include some safety aspect of at least the Moffitt portion of Smyrna Park. But obviously there are other portions to that that are not included in those projects. And we'd be happy to address those also. But I did want to let the council know that there are two projects currently on Moffitt that will address some safety aspects with regard to the roadway at that point.

Council Member Rivera, did you have an additional comment?

Did you want to go first?

That was part of my question was I thought there was something in the works already. I didn't know if police were also looking at the safe route. So I didn't know if that was you or police that did the one on Morgan Road. And then you also have the one that's on Hackett and Central that you're currently working on as well and bringing sidewalks into my district. But that's all grant funded because that was going to be my concern is the cost in doing these upgrades. What are we looking? And then I thought we also had cameras at that location that the police or dispatch monitor because I don't know if that is maybe another aspect that could reduce some of the criminal aspects that were being discussed and maybe that might be another alternative because ultimately safety is going to come down to police and they'll really regardless of what we do I think ultimately it's going to come down to the police department.

So there are cameras at Smyrna Park however in the area that this occurred there was no camera coverage. Thank you. Vice Mayor?

No, thank you. Council Member Vera asked about the grants. Okay, thank you.

Let's go ahead. I know that we were in the middle of consensus, right? It's okay. I believe I had made my consensus, correct? So are we going to...

I want to wait until I see what Beltran has coming forward. I'm not interested in using general fund money and stuff that we could possibly use with grant money.

I take that as a no. Council Member Casey? Okay. Yes. Thank you. Appreciate that. Moving on to item number 21. This is a review of the 2021 CARES Act audit and RAD funding requested by Councilmember Otero on the 22nd of June, 2026.

Thank you, Mayor. So during the budget process, I had mentioned some concerns that I had with the CARES Act funding. And through my research, there was also some RAD funding that the city had received. There was like a partnership with businesses during COVID. So for me, I want to ensure that the funding during that time was reflected correctly in our budget and our staff reports. I know that the single year audit for 2021 was not completed timely. It was completed in 2023. And at that time, there wasn't a audit done. It was stated in a letter that basically the city would be exempt from it. But it's important to note that the city was a subrecipient of the CARES funding. It came from the county. And I believe there's some that came from the state or federal government. So there is some reporting that I believe should have been done because during that year, the CARES Act funding had to be spent by a certain time frame. And the funding was over, our expenditures were over $750,000. So I would like to go back and evaluate that. I don't want us to run into an issue where we get called out by the state after they do their own audit and we were supposed to do one. When it comes to the RAD funding, same thing. That funding source was through the CARES Act. There was also some RAD funding that came from ARPA. So I'd like to just, you know, track that funding and ensure that all of it has been documented correctly because I would hate for us to be audited by the state or federal government.

Thank you. Is there any members of the public that would like to make a comment on this item? Please step up to the podium.

City of Ceres, well, Golan-Guzman City of Ceres for the record. So I just want to take the time to thank Councilwoman Otero for listening, first of all, when I spoke at, I don't know, was it the last city council meeting or one of the meetings where I noticed that discrepancy? Yeah, so according to the financial documents online, the city received in revenue from grants and contributions $16,500,000 hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty four thousand dollars. And if that like it's listed under the capital as right below it, its capital money is two million four hundred and eighty five thousand nine hundred and twenty seven. So that definitely surpasses the seven hundred and fifty thousand. exemption you know limit that the like if the city spends 750,000 in federal government by law or like they're supposed to do a single year audit which wasn't done you know and it's just it doesn't make sense because three out of the five oh wait one wait one two most of the city council sitting on the dais right now had the obligation to do this and catch this, and this was not caught on time. So you guys are, like I said, you guys are the check and balances, and when stuff like this falls through the crack, it's not acceptable, okay? So yeah, I do support this because you guys should have been doing this a long time ago. And this was missed. And so I did do a public records request. And one of it was several, you know, and some of it still has to get back to me by July 20th. You know, and I don't like waiting. So but number the request number 11 out of the 12 was a list of ARPA funds and CB funds. CBDG funds received by the city of Ceres from fiscal year ending 2018 to present day 2026. Please include list of contract bid awardees as well as contracts made with the city of Ceres for such funds and if city departments receive such funds, an itemized list of expenditures for each monies used by departments for each fiscal year from 2018 to 2026. Now, we've discussed the forensic financial audit, which I don't understand why you would vote no to do it, because obviously something's off. And if you guys are not going to listen, this will go to the civil grand jury for them to investigate, because this government is inefficient. Stuff is falling through the cracks. There's a high turnover rate, and that's not accidental. And I think the public is left in the dark, and that's not acceptable. You guys work for us. And if citizens present concerns, serious concerns, you guys should listen. And I'm talking to you, Rosalinda. Okay, because I sat with you and you've dismissed these concerns and have failed to address them. I spoke with you and I had questions about measure L, the quarterly reports. and you were dismissive, dismissed my concerns. So I now approach council member Otero who actually takes the time to listen to my concerns and actually address them. For measure L quarterly audits, there's actually a civil grand jury report from StanCog that says these need to be done. And county government, you know, it slipped through the cracks in the reports where they needed to be done. And here I am in 2026, and it's still missing. So, yeah, this government is inefficient, and it's not okay. So, yeah, do your job, please.

Mr. Guzman, real quick, sir. You received the document that I provided to you on Measure L. Yes, sir. But it's still, you know, there's a lot missing. I'm sorry your time is up. But I just wanted to make sure. Yeah, I'm not listening. If there's anything else that you need, just please reach out to me. Oh, I'm willing to help as other council members can help you. I'm willing.

I already had requested measure L like public records requests before you gave me that packet. So I appreciate you.

No problem. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment? Bring this item back. Consensus, yes. Okay, it's a no for me.

It's a yes for me.

Get your direction.

Clarification, Council Member Otero, was that a yes or a no for you? Yes.

And also, just for the record, I believe the city manager, you're kind of hidden there for a second. But there is a RAD funding document that was provided to the city council, correct? Yes.

I believe the city recently received a report of RAD funding for the most recent year, yes. Okay, I just wanted to make sure the public knew that.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to item number 22, which is the last item. Locate the resolution on general fund reserves percentage, and this was requested by myself. The reason why I made this request is I am requesting that the city council consider adopting a formal resolution establishing a general fund reserve policy. reason for this referral is simple if the city of syria is going to reference a reserve percentage whether it's 18 20 or another number it should be clearly adopted by the council through a formal resolution this gives the city a clear policy removes confusion and makes sure future budget decisions are based on adopted council direction not just past discussions or recommendations As a formal reserve policy would also straighten the city's financial stability, it would help protect essential services, public safety, staffing, and emergency response during economic downturns, disasters, or unexpected revenue losses. As a part of this referral, I would like the staff to bring back options for a target reserve level, including whether the city should remain at 18%, or towards 20%. Now we'd also like to see a five-year roadmap to gradually rebuild reserves and the clear rules for when the city may temporarily fall below the adopted percentage, along with the plan to restore those funds. The goal is accountability, transparency, and a long-term financial discipline for the city of Ceres. Is there any members of the public that would like to make a comment on this item?

I'm Dave Pratt of Ceres. At one time, Ceres was in black, and actually the council raised the percentage. And basically, you're not supposed to just keep robbing that. The problem is Brown and the COVID came along, and all the cities are hurting. Everybody's been trying to get back towards the black, and it has been difficult. Everything's getting more expensive. People just don't have the funds to go to the restaurants and stuff. Basically, that's where a lot of the money comes from, for your funds. You keep putting in stuff. It doesn't really get a high turnover. I don't believe that. All these food trucks and stuff that you want to bring in here, I doubt if you can even prove that you're even getting a tax off of those things. I remember Alfonso's, there was a time that restaurant was full of people all the time. And all these drive-throughs came in and took the business away. And now people are getting away from it. Prices are getting so expensive. Businesses are coming up with ways to do without employees. Just because an employee can get now $20 an hour flip hamburgers doesn't mean he's going to be able to. They're coming up with machines to do that. AI, they're getting computers to do take your order stuff. Most of the time, they got little iPads at the tables and stuff to take it from the people who aren't working. The cities aren't going to get money.

Thank you. Is there anybody else that would like to make a comment? Okay, I bring this item back for Council for comments, questions. Council Member Otero.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm obviously not the finance director, and I'm sure she'll do a great job of finding some resolution for us, but it looks like historically the the reserve percentage was at 25%, possibly that was prior to 2010. And then in 2014, it dropped to 20%. In June of 2015, during a council study, it had dropped to 18%. So it's obviously reduced. And I know I've, I think I've heard our finance director mentioned the Government Finance Officers Association they give a recommendation as well when it comes to these reserve percentages. So I think it's important to evaluate what their recommendation is. And it looks like in 2014, 2015 is when the city might have possibly set the policy in the budget discussion and study sessions during that time. So I would recommend that we look at what that association recommends. It's important that we kind of have that guidance of you know, along with other cities in the state. I would be careful with creating a set percentage because obviously budgets fluctuate. So we don't want to say, you know, it's going to remain at 25% and we run into an issue where now it has to be lowered. Those are my thoughts behind this referral. Thank you.

You have a point on we have to use a reference. I know I spoke to the city manager and you had also did some research and You had found that during the budget discussions, they had referenced 18%, but there was never a formal resolution, correct?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. In the limited search that we've done so far, we've been unable to find an actual formal council-adopted resolution or other document establishing a set percentage or number of reserve. We did find in a staff report, I believe it was in 2018, a reference to an 18%, but nothing formally adopted by council that we can find.

Because as long as I've been here, the number has always been 18%, but nobody could ever figure out whether that was a resolution or if that was just a recommendation. I think that if we establish that recommendation, but also provide a plan to bring our reserves back to 18%, whatever number we choose, I think that it would be beneficial. I think that Serena, you're absolutely right. We do need to use a reference. And if there's guidance in that, that would really be great to use during this process. Councilwoman Vieira.

Thank you. I do think we need to have an established percentage, at least a bare minimum. And in the event there is a town and we also need a plan to get to if whether it's 18 or 20 or whatever is recommended, I do like the recommendation. based on what a lot of cities our size are doing with our similar demographics and income levels and stuff, because I definitely don't want to use a city down in the beachfront property down in LA, because they're not very similar to where our demographics are. But I would like to have a set number or percentage. And then when the budget is discussed, in the event that there is a reason that they have to go into it, maybe they add that resolution to the budget and say, hey, you know what? We have to have X amount. But because of this situation, this one year, we're going to do a motion or resolution to change it down to a number a little bit less. But I do think we need to have a set number. So there's no questions whatsoever going forward on what the minimum is that we need to have. And I would like to see what the numbers are for similar cities of similar demographics. So yes, it is a yes for me.

Any additional comments before I get consensus? Vice mayor. Yes. Councilwoman. Yes. For me. Okay. Sounds good. Moving on to reports. I don't have a report, but vice mayor, can you take over for a quick second? I'm going to go use the restroom. Moving on to city council reports. Vice mayor.

Absolutely. Yes. I'll start and then I'll move along.

What was that? Oh, okay, let's take it back. Vice Mayor, can you please take over for additional referrals? I'm sorry that I skipped over that, Serena, but I'll be right back.

Sorry, thank you. Vice Mayor, if you don't mind, I just want to make a comment. The referral list has seemed to stack up, and it sounds like, City Manager, you kind of brought all the referrals tonight. Are we now caught up with our referral list?

So if you recall, thank you for the question. If you recall at the last city council meeting, we brought about an equal number of referrals to that council meeting. With these 11 referrals today and those approximately 11 last meeting, we are caught up. However, I received five additional referrals in person today. So as of right now, there are five pending referrals that I just received today.

Okay. I think as a council, we need to evaluate this referral process. I mean, I'll admit this going through all these referrals was pretty painful tonight. In my opinion, it's taken a long time. I don't know if there's a way where if we make a referral up here, maybe we just get consensus at that point. And then now your staff can decide if, you know, or we can decide if a staff report is going to be presented. Again, I haven't researched much from other local cities, but it's something worth exploring. So unfortunately, yes, I would like to make a referral to evaluate our referral process. Thank you.

Thank you. Now we'll be moving forward to council member reports.

Just a quick point on that item. We'll be bringing that referral back at a later meeting. Just a quick note. We can't have the council make referrals from the dais and not have it agendized and ask for consensus at that meeting because it's Brown Act issue. So that's why we have this multi-step process. And we have generally advised council members that if you have a referral item get it to staff or the city manager ahead of the agenda posting so that it can actually make its way on the agenda. So that way, if it is on the agenda, we can take consensus and save a step as opposed to just taking it from the dais. But that's just maybe one thing to consider as part of the referral evaluation process.

Thank you. With that being said, then I think we'll just scratch that for now and I'll just do some more research. Thank you.

So the mayor had no reports. I have two. I'll let Councilmember Vieira speak more on the last concert in the park tomorrow, but I did want to mention for that event that the firefighters will be out there tomorrow night. They'll be barbecuing, and they wanted to let you guys know and let the public know that they'll be selling chips, sodas, and hamburgers for $5 a person if you want to stop by and support them. my second is is about uh the facebook group that recently had to go about and clean the rose garden themselves um like councilmember rhino and others that were here this evening had mentioned uh they took it upon themselves uh to come out and to clean clean the rose garden and to get it back to a more suitable than what it had been um i know that we just recently cut our contracts for our park maintenance but like we've heard all evening i think councilmember otero would mention that the the weeds and the growth It's not just a few weeks old. A lot of parks have months worth of neglect. And so, you know, we need to do better as, as counselors, as leaders, as department heads, especially with us being understaffed now and not having contracts to, to find a way to get these parks cleaned and to take that responsibility away from the citizens since those parks are our job to maintain.

Councilwoman. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you, Martinez, for bringing that up. I have spoke with Joey a few times now about the Adopt-A-Park. He's promised that he's going to make it much easier so we can go out there and just get it done. So it's not just a group that's going out there. We can do it just as ourselves. You and I can go out there tomorrow and do what we need to do, as well as local businesses and not have to submit the paperwork and permission slips and all these other things that are required in the current process. So we've had these discussions. You're putting them on the spot right now. So I'm sorry, Joey. There's also a few other things. This last week, we started discussing the point in time count. It was reviewed. It is public now. Ceres didn't have significant changes. There were 15 that were identified, although I'm positive and i can check with the code enforcement i think there's more than 15 homeless in the town but at least on the night of the day that we did the point and time count that was what was found by the volunteers um again we still provide services that's done through the care program they're handling the resources calls are are they still going through code enforcement chief or can they call care directly as far as i know it's still going through code enforcement Perfect. So you can call code enforcement to make those referrals regarding those that are unhoused that need resources. Majority of the barriers from the point in time count appeared to be transportation, unsure where to go, or not qualifying for services. Chief, were you going to touch on the National Night Out? Awesome. So I won't touch that one then. I am trying to coordinate something in my district and I'll let him go into details on that. And then concerts in the park. The final concert is tomorrow. LaVon will be presenting. She is always a blast. So I look forward to having her here. She's another series local. So I love seeing these wonderful, strong, amazing women. here closing out our series please come come early i know we had a group this time we had up to 500 people at the concerts so come early it's great to see the community involvement in this um and that is all i have i'll let chief go into the national night out aspect of

Councilwoman, I know this might be a little bit different than what we normally do as far as the council reports, but you mentioned the bid count. And my question, and I was with you that day when we were out there doing the count, the number that you got, 15, that was from the day that we counted? That's what was given to Joey?

No, the 15 from the point in time, yes, that was what was handed to Joey. That went into the annual report that was submitted to HUD.

The reason why I bring that up is because the pit count came out in the county, put out documents, but didn't reference any of the nine cities and didn't give us an example of what the counts were for the nine cities. And I know this is a concern. If you have that, that would be great. The reason why I asked that is because I think that. This is a great information for the cities to have. There's some cities that go out for grants, and if we don't have that data, then they won't be able to go out for those specific grants. So if you do have that specific number, I was going to email the county. I was going to email our supervisor. But if you have that information offline, we'll get it. But I just wanted to bring that up. Mr. Casey, is there anything else? Councilwoman, do you think you have it? If not, offline. Oh, you're right. Series had 15. Last year we had 20 something. Okay. Thank you. Please forward that to me, to my email. Now, with that being said, city manager, any reports? I have no report. Thank you. Okay. City attorney. Okay. And now we'll start off with our departments and we'll start off with the chief of police.

I'm going to apologize up front. I know this is a late meeting, and I have more reports than I have all year, so I'll get started. I'm going to touch on the tobacco enforcement update. I'd like to thank the mayor and the council for your guys' support on this. Since April of 2025, the Ceres Police Department has worked closely with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to regulate the possession and sale of illegal tobacco products within the city of Ceres. In October of 2025, the city council approved a local ordinance restricting the sale of certain tobacco products within the city. Since the start of enforcement operations, the police department has conducted 84 retail inspections, issued 29 citations, completed eight undercover purchase attempts, resulting in four violation of flavored tobaccos. And during one inspection, some illegal weapons, brass knuckles were found. In addition to two smoke shops, also received 30-day suspensions for repeated violations. And just late, we have revoked the business license of one of the businesses because they continue to get violations, which result in the permanent closure of the business. When enforcement efforts began, there were 12 smoke shops operating within the city of Ceres. Today, there's only six remaining, five voluntarily shut down, and one was closed due to the repeated violations. There has been a significant push from the marijuana industry to regulate smoke shops. To date, however, we have not located any marijuana in those smoke shops during any of our inspections. Overall, The success is measured by what the school district told us is that as they're seeing in the schools a lower number of vapes, meaning that the children are not getting access to these tobacco products. And I truly believe the ordinance has a lot to do with that. Any comments or questions before I move on?

You said the school district have let us know that vaping has gone down in the schools and that's in their thinking, the ordinance. You know, I think that this has been a long time coming. I know that with the tobacco grant and with the enforcement and all the great work that code enforcement, law enforcement has done in our community. At the end of the day, we want to be supportive of businesses. But if businesses are not doing what they're supposed to be doing, such as selling illegal products. I think that, you know, they need to be held accountable. And I'm glad that you guys did. On top of that, I know that there's been some reference to you said that you did not find any marijuana in any of the locations during your inspection. But it was brought to our attention by other, I would say, undercover operations. But the problem is that it needs to be found during the time of your inspection. Correct? Correct. Okay. So I just want to make that clear. I do want to praise you, Chief. At the end of the day, this city council and our policy is supportive of this ordinance, but it's you as a chief and the leader, by you implementing this and your officers on the ground, finding these things and protecting our children is what the utmost importance. And I take that personally. I do want to say thank you. And please let everybody else know that I thank them as well.

And we do have the tobacco grant and we're going to renew that. And I have to pass all that credit down to Lieutenant Grebel and Sergeant Blount. Sergeant Blount actually wrote the grant, didn't go through the grant writers. They're doing an amazing job. Fourth of July report. So this is from July 2nd to the 5th. These are the statistics. We had 12 uniformed officers working on the 4th, three 911 dispatchers, a drone operator, extra records clerk, and a community service officer. Our stats for those days, we had 16 DUI arrests, 20 fireworks citations, 74 fireworks related calls, 28 submissions on the NALA map, and 40 calls came in on the 538 loud. Overall, the operation was very successful. The combination of the proactive enforcement increased staffing, drone operations, community reporting tools, allowed officers to quickly identify and respond to violations while maintaining proper staffing on the streets. The third, which is Friday, was not as active as I thought it was going to be. And the 4th of July, although the fireworks were the same in the amount, No critical incidents on the police end in series, which was really good. Any questions on that? Council Member Otero.

Thanks, Mayor. Chief, did you have any repeat offenders this year?

I don't know yet. We're still kind of sorting through some of that.

Thank you. Just thank you to your team again for all the enforcement for the 4th of July and then the continued enforcement on these smoke shops. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Councilwoman, be here.

I think that's pretty much what I wanted to say. I know I was able to talk to the sergeant when he was in here and thank him and his staff, but I do want to, I appreciate, especially, I know we hear a lot of DUIs right now on 16. I saw the report when it came through and that takes a lot of time and a lot of work on top of all the other fireworks and everything you did. And you're able to do this with 12 uniformed officers. And I appreciate their work because they sound like they were going one call after another, after another. And, I appreciate the hard work and coming in and getting all of that done and keeping what series safe without any critical. I know last year we had a few responses and a few fire. I think there was one major fire or kind of a fire of a bush in my district. But we were something that was out pretty quickly. And so I appreciate them responding and all the work that everyone put in that night or the whole weekend rather.

Thank you. Next one's quick. We had some questions about golf carts being used. I have some clarification for that. You can't use golf carts within the city of Ceres unless you're a mile within a golf course, and it has to be approved by ordinance. Now, low-speed vehicles, on the other hand, which look like golf carts, they have to have all the proper equipment that makes them a motor vehicle. They have to be registered. They have to be insured. You have to be a licensed driver. They can only operate on streets that are 35 miles per hour. That does not take an ordinance or a resolution. It's within their rights if they want to register them. as a low speed vehicle. And that's, I talked to our CSO today, that is what they do in Houston. There's really no more debate on that. If somebody wants to get a low speed vehicle, then they're more than welcome to do that. Any questions on that one? Lazy Wheels update. It looks like Lazy Wheels was hit with a hurricane. I understand that. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and that's exactly what happened. I am happy to report, though, that they have almost completely gone through every trailer. They were dismantling it. Although it was slow, they had to take all the recyclable materials out. They should have heavy equipment on site by Wednesday. Don't hold your breath, but that's what we were told. They did have a delay for a couple weeks. I am happy that they are moving on it. They are doing work on it. But hopefully Wednesday we'll have some heavy equipment to start cleaning up some of that mess. Last one is National Night Out. So National Night Out is coming up August 4th. We are changing it up this year. After last year's, I told the staff I wanted to go back to the original plan of getting out in the neighborhoods. That's what National Night is all about, is connecting with the communities. I think it's very important. We haven't done it in a long time. There's going to be some hiccups, and I'm all for any input that the council or the public has before. Definitely afterwards, if anybody has input on how we could do it better, I do feel like we're a little bit late getting this information out, especially that we're changing things. But anyone that wants to hold an event, please contact either Sergeant Blount or Lieutenant Godfrey, and we will get you signed up. My goal is to get us back out in the communities and getting the communities together in their areas of town, which it was intended for. But I think there might be a few hiccups, but we'll get through it. And definitely next year's is going to be even better. Last thing I'll leave you with for... Maybe some interaction with the community. I've dedicated an hour of my time every week on Tuesday from 8 to 9 to have coffee with the chief. It is limited space, but anyone that has any questions whatsoever about anything that we do at the police department, whether it be budget or enforcement or you want to just complain for an hour. please feel free to contact my executive assistant, Marcy Peterson, email her, let her know. It'd be helpful if you tell me what you want to talk about so I can be prepared. If you just want to come have coffee and talk about the weather, that's fine too. But any citizen in series is welcome to do that. And I will provide the coffee and sorry for the long report.

That's great. Thank you. Anyone else?

melissa that don't worry um thank you mayor council um so i want to give a a quick shout out to our water department um last night we were all out there a couple of us from the engineering department and a few from the water department trying to figure out the shutdown on Richland Avenue. It did take us, essentially, we started turning valves about 9.30, and I think most of us left somewhere around 3.45, 4 o'clock. uh this morning uh it was a fun night if you want to put it that way but we did manage to um figure out what we needed to do for the shutdown which we've been trying to figure out we actually found two valves that were uh bad and so we will be replacing those with the with the hatch road main project so that way we can do uh shutdowns on the main as as needed So that it all went well. Water was back on by about four or four thirty, you know, to to everybody. So that was that was a good thing. Also, another thing back in September of last year, you guys authorized the engineering department to file grants and apply for grants. We applied for twenty five. three million, I believe, in grants. We ended up getting eighteen and a half million. The only city that got more grant funding than us was the city of Modesto, and that was only by three points. Had we gotten three more points on our Hatch Road project, we would have been the We would have gotten the most grant money out of any jurisdiction in the county. So just a quick recap on that. We got $5 million for the design on service and Mitchell interchange. We got $5 million for the construction of crow's landing from Whitmore to service. We got $2 million for the Herndon and East Gate bike lane project. We got $2 million for the Walnut Avenue sidewalks project. We got $2 million for Morrow Village Phase 4 and $2 million for Morrow Village Phase 5. And we did end up getting $420,000 for the hatch road design to widen hatch road from essentially Mitchell all the way out to Faith Home. So All of those grants were written by staff within the engineering department. It is a huge undertaking for us to do that. And you could tell by getting most of our projects funded that the staff did an absolute amazing job getting these grants in and eventually being awarded all of this money. Lots of construction to come, and we will keep plugging away, but thank you.

I have a quick question for you, sir. You say we received $5 million for the design of the service road interchange? Yes, sir. So how far along are we with the design? I know that you had mentioned in a staff report that went to the city manager that went to us in reference to that we are 80% complete, but you also mentioned something about Caltrans. reviewing some of our documents. Can you please expand on that?

So we're about 80% complete on the Crow's Landing design for the roadway and lift station. On service and Mitchell, we've gotten a lot of approvals from Caltrans. The biggest one that's taking the longest time is the revised traffic study that we have to do for the on-ramps, off-ramps, bridges, all of that area right there. so we're not as far along on service in Mitchell. However, this will greatly help us in reducing the amount of funding that we have to use because obviously we get to use an additional $5 million of grant funding instead of using our own Measure L money for that design. So it is progressing well. We're happy with what with the decisions that Caltrans has made thus far on some revalidation of reports, but the overall project is progressing and progressing well.

Now, I think I know the answer to this next question. What would it take to make that project move faster?

I think that our consultant is pushing as hard as possible. You know, once we get into Caltrans, you know, they have their review periods, those types of things. And we work very well with Caltrans. Our project manager at the state level has been great to work with. Anytime we've requested meetings, they are on top of it. So I can't say, I mean... It is the state. It does move slower than I would like, but they've been pretty efficient for us here in the city.

Okay, I'm going to refrain from giving any type of direction to city manager, but as you can tell, that's something I'm interested in seeing. Next report.

Good evening, mayor and council members. On Tuesday of last week, the city manager sent an email to you guys regarding a letter that went out to the public. I just wanted to touch base on that letter, give a little bit of information and provide an opportunity for any questions if you have them. he, uh, our city manager outlined very well, the, the main topics of the letter, but I just wanted to clarify for any of the residents, cause I'm still getting calls right now about, um, the letter, uh, basically, uh, 2024, um, guideline from the EPA was to get a service line inventory. So they want us to verify the material of the pipe that is not only going from the city main to the meter, but from the meter to the home of every resident in the city. The reason it's a 2024 regulation, but we did it in 2026 is because we were not previously required to do it because we were under the 50,000 mark. And then in 2025, The DWR decided that since we were so close to 50,000 population, they were going to start considering us 50,000 population and we had to meet all those requirements. So we had to do it in a relatively short amount of time. We did an initial inventory with 120 Water who used county data to use the building date of a lot of the homes and any other information that they can pull from various sources to eliminate some homes from being part of the survey that has to be verified. But it did leave us with about, I believe, roughly about 5,000 homes that are unverified. So our staff did in 2025 and 2026 go through a few hundred homes and verify the service lines manually. They went out, they opened up the boxes, they checked both sides. So staff did that. But until we get all the other 5,000 or systematically eliminate some of those homes, which starting the process of doing now, if we can look at developments that were put in after a certain year, we can eliminate all those developments. So there's a lot of ways that we can Continue to update that inventory until we get that inventory complete for the entire city. This letter will go out annually as the city manager stated in his letter. We haven't violated any lead or copper sampling. We don't have it. We're in compliance with the EPA for all of our sampling all of our water constituents. We're in compliance with all the state regulated sampling. It has nothing to do with whether there's lead or copper in the residence water. We do sampling for that, and we've stayed up to date with that in the past years. So this is really just about physically verifying the type of pipe that is going from their meter to their home. And that's going to be an ongoing work that goes on for probably the next few years. And we're going to continue to eliminate whatever sections we can using different data that we can pull in. Yeah, again, so I just wanted to touch on letting people know that the water's safe to drink. There's no kind of notice or anything. I mean, there's no kind of regulation on that. And I was getting a lot of calls with people just concerned about the letter and that it was hard for them to read and understand. We can't change this. This is an EPA template. All we're able to change is our city name and our specific data so what our specific results are on our sampling you know and any specific information to the city of Ceres other than that it has to say stay the same as what they provide us with so I just wanted to give you guys that information and any of the public that are wondering which I'm still returning calls right now and just you know letting everybody know that what the exact issue is. The next steps for us is going to be sending out a survey after getting that approved by city manager. Sending out a survey that people can, if they do know their own, they can just let us know what the service line material is. Or if they know that it's been replaced that they can let us know in that area. And then we have different options as far as using staff. We have Yeah, we have different options for finishing out the rest of the inventory. So I just wanted to make that clear to you guys.

Thank you very much. Mr. Chavez. Okay. Thank you very much. And with that being said, we will now go into closed session for conference regarding public employee appointment. California Government Code 549571. Title is City Manager, a conference with legal counsel for existing litigation. California Government Code 54956.9. Name of case is Ashley. Renewal, City of Ceres versus City of Ceres, Senesal Superior Court, case number CV25-009856. And lastly, a conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation, California Government Code 54956.9D2 for a one potential case. Is there anyone in the public that would like to make a comment on the closed session items? And seeing none, we'll come back after closed session and I will report out. Thank you very much, everyone, and have a good evening and God bless.

We.

Welcome back everyone. By a 401 abstention vote, the city council has approved a settlement agreement with the petitioners in the matter and has authorized the city manager to execute the agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the petitioners will dismiss the case against the city of Ceres and will refund petitioner their CUP application. Each party shall incur its own attorney fees. The agreement shall be final upon execution of the parties. On the other two items direction has been provided to staff. Thank you.