City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Good afternoon. This is the City of Desiree Hot Springs regular meeting of the City Council. The City Council is serving as the successor agency to the former Redevelopment Agency Board for Tuesday, September 1st, 2026. This is our 4.30 p.m. closed session. Roll call, please. Council Member Gardner.

Present.

Council Member Pitts. Present. Council Member Pye. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Vos.

Present.

And Mayor Menes.

Present. I do not see anybody in the audience except for our police chief, but I don't think he's here to make public comments. Anyone else? We have no one on Zoom. Thank you. And please, Mr. City Attorney. No, Mr. City Attorney is not here. Mr. City Clerk, would you announce the closed session?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The council has two items on for closed session. The first item is conference with legal counsel regarding existing litigation pursuant to paragraph one of subdivision D of section 54956.9. Name of case is Janos versus City of Cathedral City et al. Riverside Superior Court case number CVPS2604510. Second item is conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation initiation initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph four of subdivision D of the government code section five four nine five six point nine and there are two cases Perfect.

All right. We'll recess closed session

Thank you.

You want to stop here?

Close enough? All right, so if I can get everyone's attention. So one of the most awesome things I get to do as the mayor of the city of Georgia Hot Springs is I get to have this presentation period between 5.30 and 6.00. Each council meeting, if I choose, And what we do during that time is that we recognize community leaders and awesome kids that went to tournaments and did great during this time. So today, to introduce all of you to the audience out here, we have some special guests with us from the Desert Hot Springs Little League softball girls program. We have the 10U team, who went all the way to the state championship round. here in Southern California. So before I start talking too much about you and all your accomplishments, I want to bring you up so you can get on camera and become famous. We're going to bring you up here so you get more famous. Yeah. So the 10U team was represented this year by, as I call your name, just come on up, and Denise is going to help you. Oh, my assistant tonight is Denise Abrel. She's with our Little League program, and she's here to assist me tonight on this presentation. But why don't we have the coaches come up first. So we have coaches Tyler, Aaron, Taylor. Cassiana? Cassiana and Tony, I don't know if they're all here. What's great about Tyler is he gives most of his day's time to the City of Desert Hot Springs working, but then he gives his evenings and afternoons and weekends to the Little League program. And Taylor, who grew up in our program over here, come back to coach, and that's awesome. Thank you so much for everything you guys did. So why don't we invite up Mia, Kimora, Sophia, Evelyn, Jalen, Haley, Maya, Romana... Ramona, Andrea, Valerie, and Isabel. They're gonna set you up behind me here. So you guys can look this way and you're gonna be famous up there now. yeah there we go all right so again this is the 10u team from the desert hot springs little league desert hot springs little league program has been in effect since 1972 built on mentoring and raising kids in the baseball and softball program now softball is newer to little league as it i think it's only about 20 years old comparably to little league being over 40 something years almost 50 years old but this is what's awesome about girls softball is that now we're having We have a team at the 10U level that has gone all the way to a state championship round, showing that they can compete in these types of competitions. So what they did is, what the Little League has set up is you have your Little League within your community, and you play on different teams. They were all one team this year, weren't they?

They were all one team, but they were made.

three different teams. So the best players from those three different teams got together and were picked by the league to go represent Desert Hot Springs at the district level, which is the first tournament. So the first tournament is the district one, which is basically The district, which is, I think it's eight different leagues within the district, but only a few participate in softball. So only three teams participated at the district level, and Desert Hot Springs hosted the district tournament this year. So they just cleaned house with that tournament, didn't they? Man, two games, win, done. So they basically came in and they played two teams. They played 29 palms to begin with, and they won by a small margin, 17 to nothing. Good job. Yay! And then they played 29 again, who went to the loser's bracket. They call it a winner's and a loser's bracket, and if you lose a game, you get into that bracket, and you have to work your way back to the winner's bracket. And 29 worked their way back in, and they beat them 11-0 in that bracket to win the championship for the district here in Desert Hot Springs. So congratulations on that. Then the little league process, what happens is you go to a section tournament, but because there was no other teams in their division within our section, they actually got to advance straight to the championship round, state championship round. And they traveled all the way to Los Angeles, California. to be in that state championship. And how that works is they do a pool play, which you get to go practice, well, practice game sort of, but they don't count against you being pushed out of the tournament. So basically they play two pool games is what they call it. And on July 2nd, they played in Los Angeles, and they played Fontana American, and they won that game 3-2.

So that was pretty awesome. That was a close game, wasn't it?

And then they came back on July 8th, and they played Grand Terrace, and that was a little more close, wasn't it? 17-0. They won. No, it wasn't close at all. They actually cleaned house on that one. And then they go into the winner's bracket, and they have it's one and done, meaning they lose one, they're out. And this is how close it was. So they went to the first round, and in that game on July 10th, they played Ladora, North Venice, and they lost by 1 point, 2-1. But they made it to the sixth inning. They only play sixth innings unless it's a tie. They'll move on. They got all the way to sixth inning. It was tied one to one. So that's how much you guys battled, and that's how close you were to getting to the next round. And we just want to say from the City of Desert Hot Springs, we appreciate everything you do. And we want to congratulate you and award you with, first, we're going to hand out some championship rings. You guys want to see those? Yes. Yes, I do too. So Denise is going to help with that. At the same time, what I'm going to do is bring up the manager up here, Tyler. And I'm going to award you with your ring. And you can wear it on your finger during work if you want or show that bling off. You can hang it up there.

Thank you.

And I'm going to hand these to your other coaches. And if you want to say a few words about your teams, then we've got a couple more presentations. I do have a couple more than a few words. Let me grab my speaker. I'm sorry. And these are for the other coaches.

So I just want to start by saying it was an incredible honor to stand before you tonight and recognize the very special group of young athletes we have standing behind me, our District 58 10U softball champions, and the first team in the city's Little League history to compete in the state tournament. To our players, congratulations. What you've accomplished this season was historic, but a true measure of the team goes far beyond the championship banner. It was found in your dedication, your attitudes, and the way you supported one another, and your willingness to keep fighting until the very last pitch. We coaches began this journey with you at the start of the season from that first practice to the final tournament game. We learned together, grew together, celebrated together, and fought together till the very end. Coach Cassiana, Coach Gio, Coach Tony, Coach Taylor, None of them had children playing on our team, but they gave us their time, knowledge, and support because they believed in these girls and they wanted to help them succeed. That kind of selfless dedication is what Little League and community are all about. Thank you for standing beside us during such an important moment in our journey. I would also like to recognize each of the players for what they brought to this team. Evelyn, our starting pitcher, she was a star. You approached every practice... You approached every practice, every game, every batter with focus and determination. You threw every pitch with a purpose, and your dedication to the sport helped carry our team throughout the tournament. Ramona, you may be the smallest player on the team, but you always had the biggest voice. She brought energy, enthusiasm, and heart wherever we went. Ramona, you are truly the spirit of this team, and you reminded us that leadership does not depend on size or age. Andrea, she was there when her team needed her the most. She showed up, she showed courage under pressure, and she threw the final pitch of our historic tournament run. Andrea stepped in that moment. into that moment for your teammates and could not be prouder of you. Kimora, Valerie, Haley, Sophia, Mia, and Jaylene all stepped outside their comfort zones and trusted the decisions of their coaches. Many of them played positions they had not expected to play, but they expected every challenge and did whatever the team needed. That willingness to adapt, learn, and put the team first was a major part of our success. Maya and Izzy, you are an absolute unit on first and third base. They played with confidence, toughness, and incredible awareness. Opposing coaches quickly realized they could not take chances when these two were on the corners. Maya and Izzy, you owned those positions and you made this entire team stronger. Every girl on this... I'm not done, guys. Every girl on this team contributed to our success. Every hit, every catch, every throw, every cheer from the dugout, and every moment of encouragement mattered. You trusted one another, played for one another, and showed everyone watching what it means to be team. Finally, I want to thank the city and each of the players' families for recognizing these remarkable young athletes and supporting youth sports in our community. But more importantly, you proved that when you trust one another, work hard, accept your role, and refuse to give up, you are capable of accomplishing things that have never been done before.

And so I challenge you guys to stay in this program, to work your way up through the Little League program, play travel ball if you can find a travel team, but make it to the high school so you can be ready to go in the next, how old are you now, 10? So you've got another few years before high school. But when you're there, you're going to be ready to go. And if I hear your pitch is as good as it is, man, watch out the rest of the valley when you get to high school. So with that said, we still have a few little things we want to hand out to you and say appreciation. But one of the things that we're going to hand out to you is a bat. And on the bat is to be on your wall or your bed stand or something, not to be used in other ways. No brothers and sisters are going to play with this bat with you. It does have your, it does have the, this one has the manager's name on it. It has the year and the district 58 champions. And it says she believes she could, so she did. And it has all your names on it. So, I'm going to... I'm going to have Denise help me hand those out to each of the players. And then what we'd like to do is give each of you the mic for 30 minutes to say a speech. Who wants to go first? This one wants to go first. I know what you're doing. I'm joking. You don't have to say anything. I was totally joking. Don't panic. We're going to take some pictures. Is that okay, though?

Yeah.

Oh, yes, the banner. And this is really the most important part. So I've been involved in Little League for about 25 years. And I don't know, about 15 years ago, we didn't have a banner on the wall. And I don't remember which division it was. But finally, one of our teams made it to a district championship and won a banner. And that was one of the coolest things that ever happened was to have this banner inside. If you go to the Snack Shack or the little room there at Little League Field, you see those banners. There's a few of them up there now. This one will be hung in there. And what we do after we take some pictures and stuff is Denise is going to find a marker that we're going to mark on the banner, not our faces, and you're going to sign their names. And these names will be there forever. So I still have parents now coming to look at those banners, and they'll find their name on that banner somewhere. And they'll go, oh, that was me, you know, 15 years ago. And that's awesome to see. So one of you, if you decide to come back to Desert Hot Springs and have a family and have your kids in the program, maybe someday you'll be able to point to this and say, that was me on that banner. So congratulations again. Wait, hold it high. Hold it high.

I'm joking. If everybody takes a step back to the line right about there, yes.

And then we can get everybody up front for a picture with the banner.

Is everybody got their ring?

Show your ring. Pull it straight, guys. Pull it nice and tight. The corners, pull it. If your parents want to come up, you can come up and take pictures. One, two, three. Do you guys want to do a funny one? Yeah.

They're not funny people.

One, two, three. All right, Denise, do you want to hand out the basket?

Take a picture of the basket.

Maya here. Maya here. Maya here. Hi, I'm Marquez.

Hi, I'm Maura. Oh, they have their own line. What did I want to say? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was close. Yeah. Isabel.

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm Alona. Kaylee. Evelyn. Hello. Hello. How's your day going? Good. All right. Stand behind you here. And picture, show your backs. Show your backs, don't get anybody with them. Ready?

One, two, stretch your back.

No, the banner needs a stretch.

Ready? One, two, three. All right, city council is going to get out of the way, and you guys can take some pictures.

Parents, you want to come up and take some pictures. Congratulations again to all of you. Good evening, everyone. We're going to get this meeting going here. So I'd like to welcome you to the city of Hot Springs, regular meeting of the city council and the city council serving as a successor agency to the former redevelopment agency board. This is Tuesday, September 1st, 2026. This is our 6 p.m. regular session. Roll call, please.

Council Member Gardner. Present. Council Member Pitts. Present. Council Member Pye. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Voss.

Present. And Mayor Mattis. Present. Invocation tonight will be given by Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss.

Thank you. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful opportunity for us to gather together and your guidance and leadership and working with our staff and the public and leading this wonderful town of ours, Desert Hot Springs. We ask for the strength and the ability that you provide. We ask for guidance. We know that we're not worthy of your attention at times, but we ask that you give it to us when we're doing our things that we need to do for our community. We ask that you give good health to our people in our town and good schools and education through our kids and keep a shield of protection over our community through our public safety organizations. And in your name, amen.

Amen.

Mr. Pitts, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We do not have our city attorney here tonight, right? I'm sorry. Madam City Attorney, I don't think we have any reportable action, do we?

We do not. And I just want to tell you, no, I am here. I can hear everything for whatever reason. My camera is not working, but I am here and I'm listening to everything.

Thank you very much.

You do not have any reportable action, correct?

Thank you. Before we approve the agenda, at this time, we also will take... Got that? Okay. We'll also take the consent calendar. Before we take the consent calendar, I do have some public comments and a comment from a council member. So we're going to start with the public comments on the consent calendar first. Let's see. Item number eight is the second reading and adoption of the rental registration ordinance. I have three public comments on this item. I'll start with Mr. Hedrick.

Good evening. Thank you, council, mayor, and citizens here tonight. I'm Joshua Hendrick. I'm a resident in District 2. I support protecting tenants and cracking down on slumlords who exploit our neighbors and blight our neighborhoods. This ordinance is not how we get there. The amendments that I sent the clerk, each of you have from the 24th and 26th, make it stronger, not weaker. I'm calling for a warrant before the city enters an occupied home. an independent hearing officer instead of the city manager deciding the appeals of their own program, and 10 days notice to the owner and occupant before the city goes to a judge for an inspection warrant. Council Gardner said twice publicly, both on local news on the Roggin Report and on his campaign Facebook page for this year's election, Mr. Hendricks, I'm going to stop you right there.

There's no electioneering from that dais. It's free speech, but when it comes here, we don't talk about campaigns and we don't electioneer from that dais. If you're calling a council member out or any member of this community during the election, that will be considered electioneering. Thank you. Please reform your comments.

So I'm asking whoever of you on the Council Dias tonight is willing to pull this from consent. There's been much support from many of you in the comments made to the public regarding this and many, many claims of misinformation. This is your opportunity to correct that. The second reading's tonight. On consent, nothing is read and nothing is discussed. Nothing comes back. Please pull this from consent so that the public gets a voice on this and there can be amendments made.

Thank you very much. Kelly Copla? Copla. Sorry about that.

Hi. I am new to Desert Hot Springs. I just, I guess, three minutes on the clock. And I'm new to this, so pardon me if I don't know everything. But good evening, the mayor and members of the city council. My name is Kelly Copla. And I've been here for five days. I used to live here eight years ago. And I've really been shocked about reading this. Now, let me see here. While we all show the goal of keeping our community safe and maintain quality housing, this sweeping ordinance is wrong tool for the job. It penalizes responsible property owners, which I have met with twice at lunches, and hardworking tenants. And I actually went door to door asking tenants how they felt about this, and they were very shocked. And let's talk about the affordability. The program introduces new registration fees and administrative costs in a time when inflation and the cost of living are already so straining. I mean, honestly, who do you think is going to pay for these? It's going to be the tenants, obviously. And second, the program raises serious privacy concerns for our local tenants, mandating government entry into every single rental unit on a rolling five-year cycle. is a massive intrusion. In fact, I read this to my great grandmother and she says it sounds like communism or something. I thought that was kind of funny. The government should not be forcing its way into a resident's private living space unless there is specific documented complaints or an emergency. And finally, this registry is a redundant use of city resources from what I can understand. Our city already possesses the code enforcement mechanism necessary to investigate and penalize public nuisances and unsafe living conditions. And then, you know, we should basically empower the people that are already doing that rather than creating another massive, expensive new database that treats every mom and pop landlord. They're basically treating them like criminals from what I see. And that's just in five days. I can't imagine being here longer. Now, instead of passing this ordinance, I urge the city council to consider a compliant-based enforcement model or a landlord certification program to protect the tenant privacy as well, because that was one of the major concerns when I was door knocking today. Just trying to get an idea of how people felt is, oh my gosh, I can just come in my house. So let's protect the tenant privacy and keep housing affordable and focus city resources where they are truly needed. And please vote no on this because there's got to be better ways. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Mr. Lesko?

Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't write this, but I'm going to read it, and I might screw up just kind of letting you know. Good evening. I'm here to address basic but important constitutional question. Can the city of Desert Hot Springs and our private residents without consent simply because the city says... its ordinance or an administrative warrant allows it. The answer should be no. A private home receives the highest protection under the Fourth Amendment. When a resident refuses consent, government officials cannot rely on their own unchecked authority to enter. There must be a meaningful judicial review, reasonable grounds for the inspection, and clear limits on the scope and manner of entry. Desert Hot Springs' own municipal code appears to recognize this limitation. Section 4.12.060 states that when an owner or occupant refuses consent, the code enforcement officer must obtain an administrative inspection warrant under California Civil Code or Procedure Section 1822.50 before conducting the inspection. Other sanctions refer to court-issued inspections warrant and limit forcible entry unless the warrant expressly authorizes it. That language matters if the city is claiming that an administrative officer may simply authorize entry without a neutral judge, without administrative probable cause, and without reasonable limits then the city's position conflicts not only with the fourth amendment but potentially with its own code the leading supreme court case camara versus municipal court in that case the court held that a municipal housing inspection of a private residence is a search under the fourth amendment the court recognized that administrative inspection warrants may be used but it also made clear that residents have the right to insist on a warrant before inspections enter into their homes a city ordinance cannot override that constitutional protection. City of Seattle v. C decided the same day reinforces the same principle. This issue also applies to Desert Hot Springs through the 14th Amendment, which makes Fourth Amendment protections enforceable against state and local governments. The question is therefore both municipal and constitutional. What does the city ordinance actually permit, and if it purports to allow warrantless or unrestricted entry into homes, it is unconstitutional. For that reason, I would ask, who is the neutral party reviewing the city's request to enter a home? What facts support the inspection and what limits protect the resident's constitutional rights? Those questions must be answered before any forced entry into a private residence can be justified. This is why I think you guys should take a little time and review this before you pass it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there any more comments for item number eight, the rental registration program? All right, do you have... Okay, you're more welcome to come up when you're done. Please just fill out a blue form so they have it. Yeah, perfect. Come on up. Yeah, that'd be perfect. Just state your name.

A.C. Dean, and I've been a realtor since 1999, and I'd like to read something and probably go a little bit off the cuff also. So it seems to me that the city staff due diligence research on this topic is lacking. Either that or they went ahead and drew it up intentionally regardless of the fact it violates, as other people have mentioned, the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 13 of the California Constitution. In Camara v. Municipal Court 387 U.S. 523, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that city code inspectors cannot conduct nonconsensual inspections of private residences without an administrative warrant on probable cause. We property managers and owners have good rapport with our tenants, and if something is amiss, it's taken care of ASAP. We do not need or appreciate what amounts to us city gendarmes poking their noses in places where they don't belong. That is not to say if there's a slumlord that isn't being proactive about addressing tenant issues that said tenant shouldn't call and get the city involved to resolve the issue. But what is being proposed by the city is total and absolute overreach besides the unconstitutionality of it. And those of us with half a brain like me can see the not-so-hidden goal of this proposed ordinance, seeing property owners as nothing more than a cash cow. The city council should reject and withdraw this unconstitutional proposed rental registration ordinance. Thank you for your time. You're welcome.

Thank you. Anyone else didn't get a chance to speak on this item? Just state your name and your three minutes will begin.

Steve Waterstrand. I live on Yucca Drive in Desert Hot Springs. The first three speakers, they pretty much covered it all. I just wanted to say it all comes down to money. I live here. More inspections. I know the tenants have a lot of rights. They can request city inspections. They have plenty of power against their landlords. If we're going to spend... the money on, I don't know, five more enforcement officers. I see enough code enforcement cars driving around. I'd rather have another cop or two. I would definitely rather have some of the really gnarly streets near me paved or repaved than pay for more code enforcement telling poor people, we can't have you parking on dirt on your property when none of your neighbors are complaining. Thank you.

Is there any other comments on this? Yes, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Ashley. I'm a property manager here in town. Some issues that I see with the new ordinance is So we can provide a 24-hour notice to tenants, but if we show up there or the city inspector shows up there and they refuse entry, we can't do anything about it. And I understand that you're saying the landlords are responsible for it and can get fined if a tenant refuses entry, but I know quite a few of my tenants personally that I know are not going to let somebody inside their apartment or their house. And if us as landlords or property owners can't even enter the property, it's going to be hard for a city inspector to do so as well. Some other problems that I see are that, what about people with mental health issues? such as like hoarding issues? Is that going to be seen as something that could get a tenant kicked out or evicted if it's something that's out of the landlord's control and out of the tenant's control because it's a mental health illness? I have quite a few tenants that are actually hoarders, and we've tried to help them over the years, and they don't want the help or don't accept the help. and then it just turns into a bigger issue in the end. But we don't see that as an evictable offense. They're still good people. They're still good tenants. It doesn't affect their neighbors in any way. We don't receive complaints from their neighbors. And they still deserve a right to have somewhere to live. And if it does come down to something like that, is the city going to have a mental health awareness person on site to help these people if they're having a breakdown? Also, relocation assistance. Is there going to be a plan for relocation assistance or some program set up to help the tenants that do have to move due to repairs or whatever it may be? Is there going to be a separate side program that helps them get relocated if they're elderly or they have children? Also, in the ordinance, it did mention overcrowding. There are quite a few families that have three, four kids, and then they also take care of their parents. And they can't afford a bigger place. They can't afford a three bedroom. And like I said, we don't get complaints from neighbors. They live peacefully. They're happy. They're comfortable. And it's not really any of our business or the city's business how the people decide to live their lives and their lifestyles. And we just want to make sure that our tenants are protected long term when this does take effect. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Are there any other comments on item number eight? All right. I'm going to move to the other consent calendar items. I had no comments on nine. I did have a council member's comment on item 10. Ms. Pai?

Yes. The housing says that it has to be done July 31, 26, but we're doing it on September 1, so you can explain.

And real quick, let me introduce the item. It's a cooperation agreement with the updated language for the Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, Home Investment Partnership Program, and Emergency Solutions Grant for fiscal years 27 through 29.

Yes, thank you, Mayor, City Council, and the community. So this item actually came before the City Council at the last council meeting in July. Staff presented the agreement as it was presented to us by the county, and the City Council did approve that contract, and that was executed by the date that was referenced. Unfortunately, during the summer, we received updated language from the county that was requested from, I believe, the federal government. And because the changes were substantive, those changes needed to come back before the city council, which is why this is back on the agenda, so that it could come back before you all for review and approval with that new language included. Thank you.

Okay. We don't need to pull that item. She just wanted the comments to be made. I did have the last comment for item number 12, which is Hosting and Administrative Improvements, City Project number 3003, Notice of Completion. Mr. Hedrick, do you have comments on that?

Yes, sir. Again, Joshua, homeowner in District 2. Item 12 asks you tonight to authorize final payment on a contract that finished $478,741 above the ceiling this council set. That includes the contingency. You never voted on that overage, and tonight's the opportunity to do that. It's also the first public hearing of that number. Three questions we deserve out loud answers from staff on record is when did staff know the contract would exceed that authorization? Why this overage never come back to council? And who signed each of the change orders that added up to nearly half a million dollars? Thank you.

Is there any other comments on any consent calendar items before I go to the city council? All right, I see nobody standing up or coming forth.

I apologize, Mayor. The city attorney wanted me to, unfortunately she's having some trouble with her audio. For the item number eight, the second reading and adoption of rental registration ordinance, she did ask that we make note that there were some non-substantive items that were actually brought to to the city's attention. Those changes will be reflected if the council does move forward with this tonight and corrected. They were typos, essentially, in what was published.

All right. Is there anybody from the city council who would like to pull any of the items from the consent calendar for more discussion? All right. At this time, I'll take a motion to approve the consent calendar.

So moved.

There's a motion by Ms. Pai to approve the consent calendar. Is there a second? Second. There's a second by Mr. Pitts. Any further comments? Please vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right, so we're going to move to public comments. At this time, pursuant to the Brown Act, any persons may comment on matters of general interest within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council not listed on the agenda. Under the Brown Act, the City shall not take action on or discuss matters raised during the public comment portion of the agenda that are not listed on the agenda. All comments that are directed to the City Council shall be devoid of any personal attacks. Members of the public are expected to maintain a professional courtesy decorum during public comments. My first comment is from Adam Sanchez.

Good evening, Mayor, staff, residents of Desert Hot Springs. First of all, it's really great to see that there's a lot of participation at this council meeting tonight. Seems like residents are really concerned about many different issues that need to be addressed in a fair and political way, I should say. Anyways, I'm here as part of the neighborhood watch group in Pomelo Drive, which is coming down on District 3, coming down to Pearson Avenue. I think you're all pretty familiar with it, I hope. A group of residents have now started a petition to basically get signatures in order to make that street safe. Anybody who goes down Pomelo Drive today, you got cars coming down 60 miles an hour, 50 miles an hour, 40 miles an hour, and even 30. But there's no signs. There's no children signs. There's no speed limit signs. And basically residents are really upset, I should say, because they've been bringing this issue, I guess, up to city staff. And they've been bringing it up to other members. But there hasn't been no movement. And it's really unfortunate because we never want to wait for a young child or an adult or someone to get seriously injured and hurt. because of a lack of a sign or lack of a measure. So what I want to do is I'll just read the petition to you, and then I'll just go ahead and make a few other comments. To the honorable members of the Desert Hot Springs City Council, this petition of the undersigned city residents of Pomelo Drive is the first step to notifying City Hall to conduct any engineering street speed study. Traffic calming measures are needed to keep our children, families, and even our pets safe. Vehicles travel down the hill at speeds between 40 to 60 miles an hour, leading to accidents and close calls with local residents. Calming measures provide road safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists and encourages safer, responsible driving. Based on the city engineering judgment study, traffic calming measures are considered whenever there is a need to reduce speed. And it's quite evident that a calming measure needs to be put in place along with other signs notifying people that are driving that they need to slow down. They need to just be more vigilant about their neighborhood. And so as part of District 3's neighborhood group, I'll be coming back in two weeks with the signatures and I'll You can email them to the city clerk. But I think we want to get this done because we don't want to wait. And what bothers me more than anything is that city government has a tendency to move slow. And I know it moves slow. But in this area, it needs to get done. And as you're all aware, District 3 falls under the responsibility of Jan Pye. Thank you.

Mr. Hedrick. Good evening again, Mayor, Council, and residents. I'm Joshua, a resident here in District 2, and I'm here tonight to ask one simple question. Who works for whom in Desert Hot Springs, and who's accountable to its citizens? Desert Hot Springs now has 26 license plate cameras watching the city. You never voted for them, and the public was never given a chance to comment. The first six were signed by then-Chief Jim Henson. You never voted. Ten more went up in the winter of 2021, almost $30,000 again out the door. Never voted. Ten more awarded in 2023, signed for by then interim city manager Doria Wilms. Never voted. Five years and over $340,000 spent with this vendor. And the word flock has never graced a council agenda. State law requires a public meeting before any new ALPR program starts, and we never got ours. This afternoon I sent the clerk a formal demand to put it on your agenda. Any one of you sitting on the dais tonight can correct that. Direct staff to bring this back as its own item next agenda. As I've been and will be through the rest of this meeting, talking about the litany of other items just on this agenda where council's handled the opposite way it should be. Council should be setting the policy, reviewing the policy, auditing the policy, approving payments. You're the only people in this room that we get to vote for. Staff is talented, they're committed, they work hard, but they work for you and you work for us. Thank you.

Mr. McKenna.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Councilman, and everyone else. This is a property tax bill. This is a bill that most of us get, and it's probably the worst bill you get every year. One of the line items on this bill is Desert Water Agency. I'm serving as a representative for the southern part of Desert Hot Springs, and I'm currently board vice president there. In action in June, we set a budget for next year and we have reduced the property tax. I thought you might like that good news. Four years ago when the agency went to district elections, election by division I should say, three members were elected from the City of Desert Hot Springs. We represent the poorest, shall we say, customers in the agency area. The tax rate was $0.10 per $100 assessed value then. On my house, that was $473. We reduced it to $0.08 the following year. We reduced it to $0.07 a year out of that. It's $0.06 this year, and next year it will be $0.05. So we will have cut it in half in four years. And I thought you might like that good news. Me personally, I've saved $680 in the last four years on property taxes. That saving applies to every homeowner in the city, every business in the city. It's just all-around good news. So I thought I would share it with you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. McKinnon. Thank you for your service. Mr. Raymond Urena, is that correct? Yes. Thank you, sir.

Good afternoon, Mayor, and everyone else. My name is Raymond Urena. I'm a resident here in DHS. I'm coming here just to talk about the upkeep of private property. I made a video about a few weeks ago about the tree out in... By the night of the boulevard, it got taken care of with the tree being removed. There was no reason for the removal of the tree. I was just asking for the upkeep because there was no reason for the sidewalk to be blocked for months. Even if there were police officers outside as the entry of the event, you still had to walk around the tree on the dirt path. It just didn't make sense. So if you guys are collecting property taxes and upkeeping these property, whatever you guys are doing with this money, We need to set a program or something. I'm actually advising like a program or I'm just going to be talking about something where that the resident or a position. I'm going to learn. I'm going to learn how to come forth to you guys a way how to upkeep our city because Desert Hot Springs, Hot Springs Spa. Is there any spa members? Is there any spa specialists? manicurist, esthetician, massage specialist, skin specialist in this board? No? Yes or no? It don't matter. Because this city does not look like spa worthy. You guys did a what? Hacienda? Make it look nice and pretty? We still have trash everywhere. There's fridges. Three fridges in front of one house. Three blocks later, another five. We have lots. You guys are collecting property taxes. What I'm trying to say is we try to find a lot. We try to find something where we get with the private properties, right? Because it's everything about the private property. Oh, it's private property. It's private property. But hey, where's my money? Where's my money? Our city still look like crap, though. Okay? So, we find empty lots, we get with the owners, we say, hey, we're tired of this illegal dumping in our city. Can we do something to coordinate with your empty lot that's right here next to the dump, whatever's closest to the dump, have everybody that has illegal dumping, hey, free pass, take your stuff, dump it here, empty lot, empty lot, dump it here, dump it here. We're tired, we're tired of having it here in our city. We're tired. Me, by myself, took care of four properties. Four properties here in Desert Hot Springs City. Two Dollar Generals, a corner lot that belongs to I don't care who, and somewhere else. And right now, I'm going across the street, that building right there, I'm right there weeding. I'm right there weeding.

All right. Next comment, Tammy. Tammy, your writing is better than mine, but I could not read your last name. Tammy? No worries.

Hi, everyone. How are you?

My name is Tammy Gokey, and I wanted to come tonight to just address an issue that you might not all be aware of. It seems as though There's a certain part of land off of 18th Street and Indian on the north side. Okay, 18th Avenue, kind of by the Mike Tyson's dispensary. And there's animals out there, dogs, that have been attacking people and attacking other dogs. and animal control has been called and it is desert hot springs we went through this between palm springs because it could be north palm springs but it is actually desert hot springs and um when i spoke with them because actually i was bitten by one of the dogs and when i spoke with animal control they are telling me that they're having a problem going because these people are on rvs on on land i'm probably you know private land but they have their rvs there so the encampment or however you want to call it. And they're having problems with going because of, I don't know why, because it's not like a house with a home and it's their property. So they're not wanting to approach and take care of this problem. But the bigger problem is there's actually people out there that are shooting at these dogs because these dogs are aggressive. And I told animal control, I said, what is it going to take, a dead body, before somebody comes and removes these vicious dogs that are out there? The lady is a nice gal, and she's just a little different, and she's got about 11 dogs. Eight of them are puppies, and three of them are the black vicious ones, and then there's an older boxer and another boxer. But she won't contain them. We've given her fence, and they have yet to build the fence around to contain the dogs. And even if the fence was up, I don't believe she'd keep them in the fence. But I don't know how you guys can maybe help with animal control into going in and getting those dogs removed before something bad does really happen, worse does happen other than me getting bitten and all the other dogs that I do. I work with Rescue Life, too, and I take care of the dogs out here in the desert and I just feel bad when I see another one with puncture wounds in their legs because something could have been prevented. I mean, this is not the first time she's been called on, and yet she still has these three dogs. So I just wanted to bring it to your attention. I know that the guy yesterday I spoke with is going to talk to his manager, and I don't know when he's going to get to go out there, but I'm going to try to meet him out there to see if I can help in any way. But if there's something you guys can do, I'd really appreciate it to just help get these dogs, you know, Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

I don't have any other speaker cards for comments on non-agenda items. Anyone like to make any comments on non-agenda items? All right. We're going to close public comments this time. We'll go to the city manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council. Tonight, Christina Newsom, our deputy city manager, has some updates.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I have some exciting updates since Council went dark in July. Animal Care and Control has had nine animals adopted and 24 animals rescued. On August 13th, we discovered 10 abandoned puppies at our Indian location. Our staff provided them with warm shelter, food, and water, and after some care, they began to feel more comfortable. Our compliance manager connected with a local rescue organization. We were pleased when Woodward Animal Center of San Diego agreed to take them all. The puppies were transported there the next day. We're also excited to announce a low-cost adoption event on September 24th from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cabot Building at Wardman Park. You can join us for adoption opportunities, merch sales, pet licensing, and microchipping services. And last but not least, we have a special guest, recently turned star named Cinnamon, who is featured as Pet of the Week on NBC Palm Springs.

Tyler Messer with the City of Desert Hot Springs is here this morning with Cinnamon. Welcome. Look at this little adorable puppy. Can you tell us about her?

So this is Cinnamon. She's a seven month old shepherd mix.

Seven months, so she has a lot of puppy energy.

Very much. She's been with us since June. She's fun. She's very fun. She gets very excited to see new people. But don't let that excitement fool you. Once she gets all that excitement out, you can usually find her just sunbathing at the end of her kennel, having a good time. She gets along with all other animals, so we truly believe that she'd make a great addition to just about any family.

She's very soft. You said shepherd mix?

She's still very much a puppy, so she's been working on a little bit of obedience training with us down at the shed.

Come a long way. She was found as a stray inside of our city So we're happy that we were able to find her and have her with us If you're interested in adopting cinnamon, please contact City Hall.

That concludes my abates Oh, yeah, that's it that concludes updates for tonight awesome.

We'll go the mayor and councilmember comments.

I'll start with miss pie Okay This is another do the right thing. And I'll only read part of it. The person that nominated her gave three pages. Callie McPala, she exemplifies what it truly means to act with integrity, perseverance, and compassion in both academic and personal life. She attends winter school in order to improve her overall credit speaks volumes about her accountability and dedication. Her participation in the art of self-love counseling program highlights her commitment to self-reflection, emotional growth, and building a strong sense of self-worth. She also takes full advantage of the Wellness Center utilizing available resources to support both her mental and emotional health. These choices show maturity and a proactive approach to becoming the best version of herself. Since transferring to our district from the state of Colorado, she has shown remarkable resilience and adaptability. Adjusting to new environment can be challenging, yet she has navigated this transition with grace and determination. She is an inspiration to her peers and a valued member of our school community. I wholeheartedly welcome her for Do the Right Thing Award. And she is a member of Desert Hot Springs High School. And in the picture is Council Member Gardner, myself, and board member of Palm Springs Unified School District, Madonna Jarrell, and I believe that's her brother. And that concludes that part. Also, Desert Valley Builders Association is doing a presentation here on September 10th. A Desert Hot Springs resident for more than 40 years and a dedicated public servant, the City served the City for over a decade. Join us as she shares important updates and discussions regarding the future of Desert Hot Springs. And the person that is doing the feature speaker is Dora Williams, city manager. That concludes my comments.

Thank you very much, Mr. Voss.

Sir, thank you. You said 30 minutes, right? I did. OK, perfect. So beginning on July 1, And then I'll just go down here and read what I did. There you go. Okay. So let's see. I had the pleasure of going on Rogan Report and having to be able to talk about our police staffing program that we have for Resolution Vote Today. Got a lot of good reviews on that and attended the Riverside County Sheriff's Association Awards dinner and a lot of our neighboring counselors and staff members and the like from our neighboring cities were there and it was just Kind of nice to see the extra over and beyond activities of various sworn staff from the different cities and throughout Riverside County Sheriff's Association and some civilian employees did and services that they did as well. They also recognized a couple security specialists that worked in the rail industry as well, railroad industry. So that was nice to see. Attended our RCTC. Of course, we have the measure on the ballot this November. just to continue on with the sales tax that's there now that we're currently paying for, and it just continues on. So it's not in addition to, it's what we're already paying. On the 20th of August, KNews, it's our local radio station out here in the valley, they had National Radio Day, so I was able to speak on their And, of course, the great thing was we spoke a lot about our spas and water and our water program and the event we're having in October, so that was nice. Two events coming up on Friday, September 11th. The National Hispanic Contractors Association Desert Cities Chapter is holding a 9-11 memorial event at our own Casablanca. They're off Pearson. It'll be from 5.30 to 8. We'll have our fire department there. I believe our police department's going to be there. And they're going to have vendors. They're going to have lowriders. They're going to have other type of, just a variety of things there. So it'll be a good community event and memorial of 9-11. Again, that's held by the National Hispanic Contractors Association of the Desert Cities chapter. On September the 18th, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is doing a legislative mixer at Las Palmas. That's in our town as well, off of Palm. And that's from 8 a.m. to 10, and that's going to be the legislative mixer. We're going to have one of our assembly members and Senator Osha Bogue will be there, and she's going to be the guest speaker and give us an update on what's going on in Sacramento and the like. And one of the things that's important with both of these, of course, is that the kickoff for the Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15th. And so both of these organizations have decided to do their kickoff for the month and start in Desert Hot Springs and then kind of go down to the other cities throughout the rest of the month. So it's nice to know that they're kicking off the Hispanic Heritage Month in our wonderful city of Desert Hot Springs and that's what I have Mr. Gardner Thank you Mr. Mayor

Long break. Had two meetings, though, that I'll just touch on real quick with Southern California Association of Governments. As you know, I've been appointed as one of three Riverside County representatives on the regional housing needs assessment process. Nothing quite yet to report other than that we're working on the methodology for setting the initial numbers once we get the results. dump of total numbers from the state. It should be about a two-year process, and we're expecting some of those preliminary numbers later this month. We have another meeting, and we should be able to report on that and how that process is going at that time. That's all I've got.

All right. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members. This is my city council update for September 1st, 2026. On July 17th, we had the honor of celebrating our local public safety heroes at a special event presented by the Riverside County Sheriff's Association. Mayor Pro Tem just spoke to this. It was a wonderful event that brought together community leaders, elected officials, and public figures throughout the Coachella Valley. Guests enjoyed a delicious dinner and of course, a rich piece of chocolate cake. How do you have that chocolate cake? More importantly, the evening recognized outstanding members of the Riverside County Sheriff's Association and Department who consistently go above and beyond in service to our communities. The event also paid tribute to deputies who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, including two remarkable canine heroes, Sutton and Rudy. To every deputy, officer, firefighter, first responder, and public safety professional who puts their life on the line each day to keep our community safe, thank you. Thank you for your courage, dedication, and selfless service. We deeply are grateful. So switching gears, then on July 22nd, I attended my monthly Sunline Transportation Board meeting where we discussed some very important transportation initiatives, including the return of Sunline's Hull Pass program. You ask, what is that? So the Hull Pass program helps ensure transportation doesn't stand in the way of education by providing fare-free rides at Sunline, local fixed route buses for eligible Coachella Valley High School and college students. Students can learn more about this, and I would encourage you to go. They do have a link, sunline.org forward slash Hull Pass, if you want to learn more about that. Okay, in animal news, a look at our August progress for our fur babies and fighting food insecurity. On August 6th, I attended the Riverside County Coachella Valley Animal Commission meeting, and I'm encouraged by the positive pivot we are seeing when it comes to our fur babies and the Riverside County animal campuses. One of the most encouraging indicators is the improvement in live release rates. For dogs, the live release rate increased from 81.2% in 2025 to now 90.1% in 2026 for cats. The live release rate increased from 73.1% in 2025 to 79.3% in 2026. These numbers represent more than just stats. They represent animals finding homes, receiving care, and getting a second chance. There is still work to be done, but these improvements are encouraging and I believe continued collaboration between Riverside County and our city's animal welfare organizations, shelters, volunteers, and the community can truly make a difference. One last thing regarding that. During that meeting, I was approached by Tom Snyder, he's the CEO of Animal Samaritans, who shared some exciting news. He said his organization plans to resume providing spay and neuter services throughout the Coachella Valley and is looking to partner with local cities, including our very own Desert Hot Springs. They want to do obviously spay and neuter programs, they want to advocate for those. So stay tuned, there's more for that. Okay, in closing. On August 27th, I had the opportunity to tour our very own Food Now facility here in Desert Hot Springs, joined by City of Desert Hot Springs Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss. During our visit, management shared that Food Now has outgrown its current facility and is looking to expand so it can serve even more local families experiencing food insecurity. We met with the leadership team. We toured the facility. We saw firsthand the tremendous need that exists right now here in our community. And here's a staggering stat I want to leave you with. One in six children in America face hunger. And for some of those children, the only meal they're going to receive is provided at school. It's really sad. But I want to say a huge thank you to Food Now, the team, for allowing myself and Mayor Pro-Champ Dirk Voss to tour that. And that completes my update. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Just a few quick things. I know the gentleman that was upset during the comments about trash throughout the city. I think we all are at all times. And I understand the frustration when it comes to it because I have that same frustration. We spend close to a half a million dollars a year just to pick up trash. That's not including your normal pickup and all the other things. When we... You need the city council at one point. I sat on a subcommittee at one point. Work to deal with Desert Valley Disposal to pick up trash at your home four times a year at no charge for bulky items every week in your trash cans. And then I think you can call two more times. So for a total of six times a year, you can put large items out on the street, have those picked up. I don't know why people use our deserts. I don't know why the wind blows so hard and people don't pick up their own trash. It is frustrating because there's lots of groups that have gone out and given their own time to pick up probably, at this point, I would say millions of tons of trash throughout our deserts. I get reports all the time. Deserts Valley Supposedly is a great partner. They'll go out and clean up these sites. We have code enforcement out there cleaning up sites. They have contractors cleaning up sites. We have lots that just are... We have to get permission to get on them sometimes, and we don't get that, and it's a shame. It's a long process for the due process to happen, for rights of individuals to keep their property dirty sometimes, and it's very frustrating to the city council. I would encourage anyone that's having these conversations to just meet with our code enforcement staff or our staff in general. Get the numbers and see how much work is being done out there because there is a lot of work being done Is it enough? Nope, because the trash isn't picked up and as soon as you clean up one lot seems to get dirty again and I Don't think the city staff or the City Council here is going and putting that trash on a lot That's coming from the residents here in desert hot springs or people that just don't care. So I know Gary Gardner worked on a campaign one time with another council member and they put up signs. We have $10,000. If you're caught dumping trash, it's a $10,000 fine. There's signs all over this community that get graffitied all the time and we have to replace them because people graffiti them that state that. Anyways, I'm hoping he's listening and I hope that he understands and we understand his frustration and I hope he can spend some time with the city and understand what is being done behind the scenes to try to make it better. I also visited with Food Now. I've had a long lasting relationship with them well before I was on the city council as most know. I was asked to do an interview NBC Palm Springs is doing a series on food now helping them to campaign for what they do best is bringing donations for giving food to the Individual that need it Food insecure individuals. That's the proper terminology they also food now also puts together backpacks that go to schools a few children and I believe at one point it was for every dollar they could feed five families on that dollar, and they do need to grow into a larger location. It's going to cost a lot for them to do that, and they are on a campaign right now to find a way to do that. So if you're interested in helping, please do, and please reach out to any council member and or the city, and we will get you in contact with the proper people. I did have – we did have a six-week, seven-week break here. This is not time that everybody just takes off and goes away. This is time the city staff can catch up on their projects, take some well-deserved vacation if they've incurred it. The council takes some time off of meetings, but it doesn't keep us fully out of our regional responsibilities. So I did have one meeting. The Cajala Valley Association of Governments Transportation Committee met, and you might have seen on the news last night that the City of Indian Wells Ranch Mirage have – had some discussions on what it would look like for the CVLink in the future. With their current ballot measures that were passed, they have to go back to the voters, but there is an open dialogue going back and forth on what that looks like. There's been a lot of misinformation about why City Desert Hot Springs is not part of the CVLink plan, and I just want to refer you to CVAG's webpage if you choose to to find out the history. There was multiple council members at that time when this plan was being developed that were against the CV link being built and used, certain funding being used and built in the Desert Hot Springs. Since then, and when about 2016, 17, I think when I was elected mayor, we started that conversation again and we do have tentative route. We've talked about different routes now due to the CV link being completed in most of the areas. but we do have a lot of avid bikers. We have people that would like to bike up in Desert Hot Springs, so I think we'll keep that going in hopes that there will be a path eventually through Desert Hot Springs. The Indian Canyon blow area, this is a big discussion that I've worked on for many years. The section that you see under construction right now is this section that goes over the Union Pacific Railroad, and that's been in the works for 20-something years. It was actually held up. It was supposed to be built at the same time that the overpass over the Union Pacific at Gene Autry was built. But due to just some miscommunication, the city of Palm Springs had to hold that project until it could be redesigned. And it took almost 20 years to get back into construction. I think it's been in construction at least two years now. It's a long project, and it's not easy to build over the railroads. There are so many demands and processes on how to build over it. That's why it's taking forever. But once you pass over that area, there is a section of Indian Canyon that goes from that section into Palm Springs that has washed out, been closed because of blow sand. And there was a big effort led by myself and, at the time, Council Member Middleton to build to find a way to not have to build a half a billion dollar bridge, because that's what it's going to come out to today if we were to build a full bridge over that whole section. So there was concepts built, there was a lot of discussion, and it was planned to be about $100 million that could be done to really keep that road open more, especially during flooding. The engineering that was being done and the engineering firm that was hired Let me go back one step. There was $50 million awarded to that project, probably going to be closer to $100 million, but there was $50 million, which means we could get started on the project. But it had to be engineered, and the engineering firm that was hired to do that has maybe not failed, but they haven't completed the project in a timely manner. And because of that and because of the funding being sensitive to timing, CVAG had brought an item to the Transportation Committee to change engineering firms. And so we awarded that contract to Dokken Engineering, and they're going to move the project quicker. And hopefully within the timeline, they have less than 12 months to have this project fully designed and ready to go and to start using that $15 million before it's taken away from the state. So I just wanted to give you an update. As most of you know, I've been a big proponent, along with other council members, on keeping that avenue open, especially that it's the only travel path to the most needed trauma center in the Coachella Valley, which is Desert Regional for the city of Desert Hot Springs, let alone we like to get to Palm Springs in a timely manner for our doctor's appointments and shopping and other things. So with that said, I just wanted to put it back on the radar that it is moving again. And the project, there has been quite a bit of work done, but not completed enough. So that will be moving along much more quickly. Part of that study that's in engineering is being done. There's also sections of Varner Road that's also being engineered to help find a way to keep Varner Road open. We all remember Hurricane that turned into Tropical Storm Hillary on how it crippled the Coachella Valley in a lot of ways. And there has to be bypasses and other ways for traffic to get around Interstate 10 and or other ways to get emergency vehicles in. So this is being studied and hopefully moved quicker. Just wanted to remind everybody, school is back in session, even though it starts way early now, the first week of August. Just please be aware out there. Lots of traveling parents due to the fact that the bus routes only go and pick up kids for certain distances from certain schools. So a lot of traffic out there in the morning, a lot of traffic in the mid-afternoons. Just please be aware out there when you're driving around, we hear about too many tragedies throughout the country in school zones when they shouldn't be happening. And on the school note, we are going into the second year of the homecoming parade for the Desert Hot Springs High School. If You watched last year. We had the first annual homecoming parade, and it was in the middle of the day, very hot, I think. But this year, they're actually going to put it off on a day that's not the exact homecoming day. It'll be October 14th. It's going to be 6 p.m. in the evening. It's going to be down Pearson Boulevard to the high school or vice versa. We'll have more information coming on that. I just saw the principal the other day. He wanted me to remind everybody. So October 14th at 6 p.m. here in Dutch Hot Springs will be the second homecoming. Homecoming parade so pretty excited about that That's all I have. All right, we're gonna move along to the administrative calendar The first item on the administrative calendar is a designation of voting delegate and alternate for the 2026 League of Cities League of California cities annual conference Each year we participate in the League of Cities and we have to appoint delegates Mr. Suriano, you have a report

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, City Council. The 2026 League of California Cities annual conference is scheduled for September 23rd through the 25th in Anaheim, California. A key component of the conference is the annual business meeting, which will occur during the General Assembly. During the annual business meeting, member cities consider and act on resolutions that establish league policy and guide the organization's advocacy on matters affecting California municipalities. To participate in this vote, the council must formally designate one voting delegate. Council may also designate up to two alternate voting delegates who may vote only if the designated voting delegate is unavailable. For the 2026 Annual Business Meeting, CalCities has received one proposed resolution for consideration by the General Assembly, which is titled, A Resolution of the General Assembly of the League of California Cities, calling for a working group to consider a state constitutional amendment or other form of initiative to ensure final local authority over housing and land use decisions. The resolution is included in your packet, provides the full text of the proposed resolution, background information, and analysis of the potential policy implications. Staff recommends that the council designate a voting delegate and up to two alternates, and then provide direction to the voting delegate on the city's position regarding the proposed resolution. That concludes my staff report.

All right, I'll start with public comments. Anybody have any public comments on this item before I go to council comments? See, nobody coming forth. I did have two inquiries for this position, one being the Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss and Ms. Pye. Are you two still interested in being those delegates? They both shake their head yes. Is the Council okay with that?

Yes, I'll make the motion.

All right. Do we need the motion to appoint them first and then talk about the items or, yeah? Would you like it that way?

Yeah, I think that would be cleaner.

Okay, I'll move that we appoint Mayor Pro Tem Voss and Council Member Pai as the alternate to lead California City's meeting. Is there a second? And Daniel will second it.

All right, so motion is second. Please vote when it comes up on your screen.

Motion passes unanimously.

And then on the position of the proposed Cal Cities resolution, is there any discussion? Did you want to give direction? Is it controversial in any way? What I read, I didn't think there was any reason not to support it. Is there any reason that staff thinks we shouldn't support it?

There is not. So I'll just give a very for the purpose of transparency to the public. So there was a resolution put forward by the city of Murrieta to advocate for a working group of coalition of cities throughout the state to advocate in Sacramento for more local control. That is a very brief description of that. And so they're asking cities whether or not to endorse that and try to move those efforts forward.

Which sits on the same line that Cal Cities has been pushing forever is local controls, not letting Sacramento control exactly what the local cities do. So it makes sense. Anything to add to that?

Yes. I think we should support it and also League of California Cities wants to start a subcommittee to have the state change it because right now it doesn't have local control. And one of the things that we may run into with not having local control is coming back with data centers. And we need to have local control. So anyway, League of California Cities is trying to do it where there is permanent, not just against this, but that it is permanent up to They're trying to push it out that far. So we really do need to approve it.

Mr. Voss, anything to add? Absolutely, she's correct. Many years ago there was a group of folks up in Sacramento that wanted to take land use away from cities and they wanted to do regional planning commissions that were appointed by the state. And if you don't think this is a possibility, they're already starting this by what they're telling us to do around transportation areas and forcing higher density projects around transportation hubs and the like. And that's the trend. I remember reading about that. It never really got anywhere, but it always ticked itself a little bit, you know, and it percolates and you read about it again. And this is something that, you know, CalCities, I think it's very wise that we're doing this. for our cities and stuff, because if we have no control, then like Council Member Pai had mentioned, what's the next topic? Are they going to decide what type of commercial entities or industrial, whatever, without any understanding of what the local community wants? And I'll use an example, like in Huntington Beach, their arena numbers, they have to find 18,000 homes for that city. If you've been over there, it's quite congested. Where are you going to put them? That's going to put it up into 12, 15-story buildings. So, you know, I think we're all on the same page. So, anyways, those are my comments.

Any to add? All right. All right.

Do you want to make a motion to support the resolution? I'll make a motion that we support the resolution.

Motion and a second. As soon as it comes up on the screen, please vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Move to item number four, First Amendment to Professional Services Agreement with STK Architecture for Fire Station 36 tentative improvements. Mr. Porras?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. The Fire Station 36 tenant improvements project includes the design and construction of tenant improvements within Fire Station 36. This will convert a vacant, unutilized space on the north side of the fire station into two bunk rooms, two workstations, a kitchenette, and a restroom with shower. That north area of the building has been vacant for many years and was previously used as our city's emergency operations center. With the construction of this City Hall and the new PD Annex, we now can have our Emergency Operations Center here or there, and therefore there is no need for having that unutilized and vacant area. The City plans to accommodate the Fire Investigation and Prevention Bureau within that area and the new workstations and workspace. The Fire Investigation and Prevention Bureau enforces state forest and fire laws and investigates fires and manages criminal and civil cases. The Fire Investigation Prevention Bureau currently serves the entire Riverside County but has no facility in the Coachella Valley. Fire Station 36 will become the new and only facility in the Coachella Valley for that bureau. This new facility location will help improve emergency response time and improve coverage to the other hot springs and throughout the Coachella Valley. These services are already incorporated into the existing fire service contract. There is no additional operation cost to the city and will function solely as a dedicated workspace. Excuse me. SDK Architecture was the original architect for Fire Station 36. They have designed over 50 fire stations and public facilities over the last 30 years. Therefore, they were, on May 4th, 2026, the city approved the Professional Service Agreement for them to complete the tenant improvements and changes to the existing building in a contract amount of $44,050.00. The plans are currently in plan check and are now moving through that process. After the plans are approved, a notice inviting bids will be released. Seeking construction bid proposals, the construction costs are estimated to be around $360,000. The City did receive a change order request for additional architectural services to move them into construction drawings and to provide construction support during construction for $22,025. Per the muni code, this has exceeded the $60,000 cumulative total, which requires city council approval. Therefore, the first amendment that's proposed today will increase the contract by $22,025 to a new amount of $66,075. Funding for this project will utilize the fire department, development impact fees, diff fees, and the design and construction costs will be fully reimbursed to the city by Riverside County Fire Department through the fire service contract. Staff's recommendation is to approve the first amendment to the professional services agreement with SDK architecture, increasing the contract amount by $22,025 for a total new contract amount not to exceed $66,075.00 for the fire station 36 tenant improvement project. This aligns with strategic plan goal number four for public safety, providing staffing, community policing, enhancing the quality of life for our residents and staff by establishing appropriate law enforcement staffing levels and implementing community policing initiatives. That concludes my staff report. And attached, you have the proposal and you have the first amendment. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Do I have any public comments on this item? I see nobody coming forth. I'll close public comments and open up the City Council for discussion or approval.

I have one. I'm glad that the ELC is coming to City Hall and the annexation of the police department. It's closer, and that's good. And the other thing is that the sheriff's department, not sheriff, yes, the fire department is reimbursing us. Correct.

Jeffrey smiled. well he's ready to get that fire station remodeled I'm just surprised we had the actual same original architect that we're still around so any other questions comments so entertain a motion I'll make a motion that we make the changes to the to the contract let's come up on the screen please vote motion passes unanimously thank you with item number five resolution adopting a

Sworn police officers, staffing levels, Chief Shaw.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Good evening. If you recall, on July 7th of this year, I presented the Police Department sworn staffing analysts to Council here. Staffing recommendations came from the Commission on Police Officers' Standards and Training, or POST. based upon an independent organization review of the Desert Hot Springs Police Department. On July 7th, council discussed the staffing information and recommendations provided to them. At that time, city council determined that a resolution should be brought back to them establishing a police department sworn staffing level of 45 officers. any triggering mechanism for hiring additional officers once the staffing level of 45 officers is achieved. Tonight, I'm bringing that resolution to you. If you recall, the staffing level of 45 officers was going to be achieved by two additional officers hired every year over the next five years. The average annual cost of a police officer position in the city of Desert Hot Springs is about $185,000 a year. So the city will need to increase its police staffing budget by about $370,000 a year for the next five years. This resolution does support goal four of the city's strategic plan, which is public safety, staffing, and community policing. Enhance the quality of life for our residents and staff by establishing appropriate law enforcement staffing levels. and implementing community policing initiatives. Staffing recommendation tonight is for City Council to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Desert Hot Springs, establishing a Desert Hot Springs Police Department sworn staffing level of 45 sworn officers to be achieved over the next five years, and establishing a trigger mechanism for the hiring of additional sworn officers once the staffing level of 45 sworn officers is achieved. That completes my report. Happy to answer any questions.

We'll start with public comments first. Anyone have any public comments on this item? I see nobody coming forth. We're going to close public comments at this time and I'll move to the City Council.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we adopt item number five.

I'll second that and I'll just echo what we approved before the break. It's a great plan and it's going to keep us on track to

keeping us safe a city in the valley so I'm excited to support this and I would like to comment I'm I always ask what's next and I'm glad that you got that last paragraph in there when we get to 45 you can keep going because how population is growing and I don't want to have to come back here because he can't hire more police officers mr. Pitts anything

I just quickly, I mentioned this already, we've been talking about this for almost the full 20 years I've been on the city council, and finally getting to a point where we can implement that and add the officers needed to make sure that not just our citizens are safe, but our police force is safe. You've got to have the force to be able to not be overworked, to be able to handle the calls for duty, and to be able to serve the public and a customer service base. So I'm really thrilled about this. All right, please vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Item number six is the Pavement Management Plan Update 2026. Mr. Porras, and there is a correction to some of the recommendation. Correct. You'll allude to that.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Decisions regarding the Pavement Management Plan update for 2026. This is actually a continuation from the July 7th meeting on the Streets and Roads Subcommittee. And I'll go into that a little bit more. On the background, April 21st, 2026, the City Council appointed Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss and Council Member Daniel Pitts to the Streets and Roads Subcommittee to evaluate roadway priorities and potential funding mechanisms related to street improvements. On July 7th, the following recommendations were approved by City Council. One was to designate and utilize a portion of the 25% of the annual cannabis tax revenues that is transferred to the emergency reserve funds for road rehabilitation and street improvements for a five-year payment management plan. But this can only happen after emergency reserves amount reach the maximum ceiling amount of 17% in the city's general fund appropriations, which is estimated to occur in about two to three years. And the last one was to update the payment management plan based on a five-year plan to construct an estimated $1 million in slurry seal on residential streets only as a priority. And a follow-up to that, the city has completed a pavement management plan update. The city's pavement management plan is a current inventory with asphalt condition and preservation recommendations for the roadways. This plan is utilized as a planning document. It is not an engineering document. It's a planning document to develop a program based on forecasted budget needs. The process we take to finish and complete a pavement management plan is one. The pavement management plan scores individual road segments based on pavement condition index, PCI ratings they call them, 0 to 100, 0 being the worst, 100 being the best pavement condition. Each road segment is given a recommended pavement rehabilitation preservation method with corresponding estimated cost. For example, a certain rating can receive a slurry seal, another one can do a grinding overlay, another one will require full reconstruction. Each rating provides recommended timing for when to complete the most effective and cost-efficient pavement rehabilitation. Some roads might be, or certain ratings might require now, some roads might require it later, depending on the actual rating that it is. We then run scenarios and complete a pavement management program based on budget and years of what the city desires to do. For the city of Desert Hot Springs, we have a total of 125 centerline miles. 89 of those miles are local roads. 14 of those are collector roads. 21 of those are arterial roads. Desert Hot Springs has an overall rating of good with an average PCI index of 67.5. Just to keep it a little bit in relation, in 2019, we had a PCI rating of 78. So as time goes by, obviously, a PCI rating goes up. When we do maintain the roads, they keep on going up. But with time, no matter what, the payment conditions always go down. Here's a table explaining the payment condition ratings. These are the range between each one, excellent being over 85, very good being 71 to 85, good being from 56 to 70, fair, poor, very poor, and failed. Based on these ranges, we identify what the actual payment rehab method will be and when to do it. Do we do it now? Do you wait? When's an actual time to do it so you get the most cost-effective result while utilizing the least amount of funding? This is the payment management plan results first draft for all of the citywide streets. You can see the highest rating streets are in blue, the second highest are in green, and then it goes to teal, magenta, yellow, orange, and then red as one of the worst ones in the city. Now, just because, let's say, it's the worst one, it doesn't mean that that's the first one we do. This just identifies what... process and what type of method we do at one time. When you have, let's say a green one, you might be able to do a simple method where it'll raise it up to a blue. Those are the ones that you want to do first, but you do not want to let a green one go to the magenta because then it costs you twice as much to actually repair it and bring it up. That's the idea between this planning document. This is the scale that we use to rate that. It's not a perfect scale, but it does utilize it and it does make sense. So when you first paper row it, it's brand new, it looks great, and then it goes into about a 70 for a few years before it needs some type of maintenance. That's what you say between one to five years, you're supposed to slurry it. And this one gives an estimate of $2 per square feet to slurry. If you miss that, you then move into the $5 to $6 per square feet for full rehab or grind and overlay. But if you continue to slurry, you're able to extend the life to a 70, 80, and you're able to do it multiple times throughout the entire life cycle without having to reconstruct the entire road. When a road hits another severe area, you do not do any type of treatment. You pretty much have to do full reconstruction no matter what. So in that area, you don't go for those at the beginning. Those will be full reconstruction, and it will be $12 a square feet no matter what. Our payment management results is that this is the table for our residential streets. We have majority of our residential streets, 82.4% are range between 56 and 85. That is actually a really, really good number. That means that we can do a very similar easy approach, which would be a slurry seal to bring some of those streets all the way up to the 86 level. Slurry seal is the most cost-effective type of pavement rehabilitation. It is a oil with sand mix layer on top of the asphalt. Anything above that would be grind and overlay, and then it'll go into full rehabilitation, full reconstruction. The slurry seal target we're using for the city is a range between 62 and 72. If you see these, majority of the residential streets are within 62 and 72, some are a little below, some a little bit higher, but that is our target range that we recommend doing slurry seals for. If we had an unlimited budget, we ran a scenario saying we have unlimited budget, we were going to slurry seal the entire city that needs it now, it'll be $5.5 million, and these are the streets that are shown that would require that. This would bring up almost every single street up to about 80, which would bring the entire PCR rating of the city to a higher number that we currently have. This will be a $1 million per year slurry seal project if we do $1 million for every year from 27 to 31. So starting in 27, you do the blue ones. In 28, you do the red ones. In 29, you do the green ones, the magenta, then the yellow. This won't address the grind and overlay or the full reconstruction that are also needed, but it will address slurry only. Now the recommendations are, again, it's a planning tool. Based on the council's recommendation of doing residential streets only, 82.4% of residential streets are between the rating of 56 and 85. Slurry seal target is 62 to 72. Again, city council approved 25% of the annual cannabis tax revenues to be used, but it's only gonna be used after 17% of the city's general fund appropriations are reached, which means that we won't be doing this until about two to three years. That payment condition that exists right now, 56 to 85, is going to continue to deteriorate. Those PCI ratings will go below the salaried cereal target and would then hit the grind and overlay target, which would then require more expensive type of payment rehabilitation. The current unlimited budget for salaried cereal is $5.5 million. Therefore, we are recommending to complete a large third-issue project now as the most cost-effective method of payment rehab to maintain those, let's say, half of those $5.5 million roads. And then when the actual 25% of the tax revenues hit in two years, then we can continue to maintain them at that $900,000 per year, $1 million per year that we had previously approved through City Council action. The way we recommend we fund is here's an actual five-year plan. It would be fiscal year 26-27. Would it be to refinance the bonds or issue a new bond? Utilize half. We just estimated. We said 2.5 would be a great number. In 27-28, $2.5 million to complete slurry seal. It will complete at least half of what we currently have for residential roads. Then in 28, 29, we approximate during that time, we would hit the 25% cannabis tax ceiling. So then we'll be able to utilize the $900,000 to complete additional slurry seal. And then every year after that, use the same method. The recommendation that we have that's a little modification to the one that was provided in the packet is to direct staff to research utilizing a $2.5 million either in bonds or refinancing existing bonds or issuing new bonds, but directing the staff to research that $2.5 million amount. And two, to utilize the $2.5 million of the bond proceeds to complete a city-wide slurry seal project of residential streets only. And three, after the emergency reserves again reach the maximum ceiling amount in estimated two to three years, continue to utilize the 25% of the cannabis tax revenues to continue road rehab and improvements annually moving forward. The third one was already approved previously, but this goes along with the actual five-year plan based on the updated pavement management plan that we have here in your packet. This completes the city's strategic planning alignment with goal number 10 for streets road infrastructure to the intense focus on fiscal and operation needs to ensure the city can meet the growing demands of the community by maintaining existing street road infrastructure while planning for long-term growth and development. Again, the first draft of our Pay and Manage plan is in your packets. It's zoomed in to the center of the street, but we do have some other streets that are not shown. So like Indian areas of Dillon are not shown here. This is just zoomed in. It is a larger one that we will finish when this gets approved and moves forward. That concludes my staff report. I'm glad to answer any questions.

All right. Let's start down there, Mr. Pitts.

So first of all, thank you, Mr. Deputy City Manager, for that extensive and amazing report.

We all know streets and infrastructure matter. They matter. Yeah, there's lots of – each option actually is great, and it looks like we've got three of them. Is there one that staff would recommend more over the other? Yeah.

The recommendation would be to do all three in sequence. So the first one would happen now, the second one would happen in two years, but that way there is a five-year plan to continue those, or starting to continue those road meets.

Again, thank you so much for that time, because I know it's very time-consuming to pore over that, to be able to make that report. Yeah, I concur with all three of them to move to do that. Mr. Carter?

Yeah, great job, Danny. I think there's some very viable tracks there to pursue on this, and I'm fully in support, and I want to commend both Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member Pitts for their hard work in putting this original draft together. You know, it is something that... I think probably ranks in the top five of complaints that we get as council members is the condition of the roads. And we've managed to keep the arterials, for the most part, going pretty good. Some few bad spots on Pearson and a couple of other places. But the main arterials seem to be in good shape. I remember when I first got elected, we did Palms. And we think we had to redo it twice because the original contractor didn't do the right job. And so it seems to be holding up well. And I think this will prove a lot of benefits. And I do like the idea that once we hit the cap of the cannabis reserve that we take that extra money and keep the cap going at the same rate. And then what's left over, we can use it for this. So I think that's a really wise funding solution. So I commend you guys for that. Mr. Foss?

Mr. Assistant City Manager, could you go into just a little bit about how some of the cannabis funding, the ones that's in place, will be used with the gas tax and some of the Measure A money with some of the grant matching fund requirements that we've got? So it kind of puts us over the top instead of using year one, year two, and applying year three, that once that kicks in, we'll be able to expedite those grant processes a little bit, just so it's clarified.

Yeah, so I'll give some estimates. So based on our, we received SB1 funding, which is restricted funding only for road maintenance, and we received Measure A funding, also restricted funding for road maintenance. Measure A funding is about half a million, but some of that we're using to pay some trip bonds, and we use that to do potholing, lifted sidewalks, road shoulder maintenance. The $1 million of SB1 money that we use every year, we allocate for matching. What that means is we'll do a $10 million project as Hacienda. We just finished it. We apply for a grant for $9 million, but it requires a 10% match, so we use that $1 million for the match. So we extend $1 million into a $10 million project, and that has been very, very effective for large corridors. We did Palm Drive. We're doing all of Hacienda and now all of Palm Drive down to the freeway. The issue with that is we're prolonging and putting aside the ongoing maintenance of the other streets. So the 25% cannabis tax will allow to utilize that fund for the other streets that we haven't maintained due to the actual SB1 funding or the Measure A funding that we currently use to match these large projects.

Yeah, and that's great, and that's exactly what I want to do to kind of elaborate a little bit on. I mean, you know, I always call it my office hours over at Five Star when I'm at the gym. But, I mean, it was just yesterday when I was explaining this to people. It was like Halloween with a bag full of candy. They were so happy. They're like, wow, we're really going to get started on this. And I said, yes, here's the agenda item and take a look. And they were just really tickled to death to know that this is something, and not only this, but also our police staffing situation was like that. And, you know, they were super pleased to know this kind of stuff is going on and they don't hear a lot about it. You know, they hear a lot of misinformation and false information and things like that on social media. And then when they get the factual information like this, they're like, wow, you guys are really addressing foundational things that are important for our family and stuff. And especially when you hear it from long term residents. The person I spoke to, she was. She's been here since she was six years old when her parents moved here. And so to hear this kind of stuff, I can't wait to go home and tell my mom. So that's exciting to hear. So I thank you for your very thorough report.

Ms. Pai? How much do we have in the cap, the cannabis cap, once we get there?

Right now we have $4.4 million, and if – This year we have $34.1 million in our general fund appropriation. So if we were to use this as a number, it'll be $5.8 million when we reach the ceiling. So if we multiply that in two years, a million dollars a year that we receive every year, then we would reach that $5.8 million in about two years.

Okay, that's all I wanted. Hold on. So if we, once we reach the cap and then we turn it over to, to the general fund, but we keep turning it over. Is that what you're asking?

Yeah, so basically instead of going into the emergency reserves, it'll go into streets and roads to a payment management. So at 900,000, that currently goes per year to the emergency reserves or go to the streets and roads, yeah.

I just want to know how much are we keeping that we can use for other things And if we keep putting the $2 million over and over, that keeps our streets together, too. Correct. That's all I wanted.

Well, I think we're all thrilled with this and looking forward to getting some of our streets done. It's been years. 20 years ago, when Rick Daniels was first here, I think Danny was just getting out of engineering school. doing some work for the city, but we repaved, I think, 20 miles of road. But 20 years later, those roads are in need of some sort of maintenance or repaving at this point. So, unfortunately, our hot desert weather doesn't keep them in good standards, and we've got to continue to have a good maintenance plan, let alone a reconstruction plan for these. Something I forgot to mention, they did talk about yesterday at CVAG, was that Measure A funding, which is part of the gas tax that we receive for all our streets, for some of our street maintenance each year, there will be an item that RCTC is putting on the ballot in November that will re-up that for so many years. Oh, no, it will take the sunset out. The sunset's going to be, I think, in 34. And so it'll take the sunset out, and we will continue to be able to capture those dollars. And what Measure A does is part of it goes to the regent, And then there's a certain percentage that goes back to the cities. So when you spend your money at the gas pump, that's where we get that tax revenue back to fill potholes and other things. So with that said, is there any public comments on this item? All right. We'll close that and go to a motion if someone has one.

Mr. Mayor, we have one person on Zoom, but I'm not sure if he would like to speak on this item.

Any public comments on Zoom? Just raise your hand. All right, I don't see any hand being raised. I'll entertain a motion.

Second.

Motion to second it. Mr. Foss, Mr. Gardner, please vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

All right. We're going to move to the next item, but I lost my page. Returns was five six seven. There we go. Last item on the administrative calendar is a police department patrol vehicle purchase. Mr. Ted Chief Shaw.

Sorry getting tired Thank You mayor lieutenant sauce here will present this item Good evening council. Mr. Mayor staff June 17 2025 the City Council approved the two-year budget for all funds for fiscal year 25 and 26 and fiscal year 26 and 27. As part of its ongoing patrol vehicle replacement plan, the police department budgeted $175,000 for the purchase of new patrol vehicles. The fiscal year 26-27 adopted budget appropriated $175,000 for the purchase of patrol vehicles. Staff inquired with the National Auto Fleet Group, NAFG, a vendor under the Source Well Master Contract, on the availability of a Chevy Tahoe patrol rated vehicle. NAFG did not have any Chevy Tahoe patrol rated vehicles available. Staff inquired with other vendors on availability and price. Penske Chevrolet offers comparable pricing like NAFG and has a Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle in stock for purchase. The fiscal cost, the fiscal impact, I'm sorry, the vehicle cost is $64,461.68. Outfitting the vehicle for patrol use would be $50,738.74. There's an Axon quote in here, which is a four-year quote. There's only year one included in the initial cost. Years two and four, two through four, rather, will be included in the Axon contract in future budgets. The total fiscal impact for this purchase is $115,200.42. Funding is allocated in the fiscal year 26-27 budget in account number 245-5030-4223-000. This initiative supports the following goals of the city's strategic plan. Goal four, public safety, staffing and community policing, enhancing the quality of life for our residents and staff by establishing appropriate law enforcement staffing levels. and implementing community policing initiatives. The recommendation would be to authorize staff to purchase a Chevy Tahoe police vehicle from Penske Chevrolet and outfit the vehicle for patrol use for a total cost of $115,200.42. That's the end of the staff report. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Before we get to questions, I'm going to... Actually, does anybody have any specific questions for Lieutenant? Okay, I'm going to take public comments. Is there any public comments on this item?

vehicle purchase, but as I just mentioned, under $65,000 of that is actually the vehicle. The total is over $115,000, and that's if you don't include the three years of license plate reader licensing that is not on this quote. So that is not the total expenditure. If you look to 228 in the staff packet, that is the only place where ALPR or license plate camera actually is mentioned here, even though that's a large component of the expense of this. And the staff, or the die sitting behind you here, has never voted to or had public comment for any automated license plate program. So before you vote for this, I think we should actually take into account whether or not we are operating a legal license plate reader program in the city of DHS and when that will come before council for a vote or before the public for comment. And finally, I'll end with my earlier comments regarding electioneering. There is absolutely a duty for me to speak out.

Mr. Hendrick, it has nothing to do with this item at this point, so if you want to bring that up in your next public comments or the next meeting, you're more than welcome to.

Yeah, and when you brought it up, there was no electioneering taking place.

Mr. Hendrick, I'm going to stop you again. This isn't your time. Thank you, though.

You took mine.

I didn't take your time. This is a controlled meeting by this city council, not you. Alright, with that said, I'm going to move. Is there any other public comments on this item? Alright, we're going to close the public comments this time and go to council comments. I have one.

This happens a lot of times where you need a car and you don't have... the ability to buy the car, you have to wait until it comes to council, and by then the car isn't available anymore. That jumps that up, and it may sometimes do the same thing with what needs to be equipped. During my conversation with the city manager, I think she came up with an idea where we can save money. Please.

Yes, thank you. So you're absolutely correct, Council Member Pai. We have run into circumstances where we will locate a car, whether it be for the police department or the city, that is budgeted for. My spending authority is $50,000. In the instance sometimes where we need to get something that's a little over my spending authority to council, by the time we get to the council meeting and we get approval, the car gets sold because they don't hold the vehicles for us. We had a situation where we actually had to bring a couple cars back to you guys previously when that happened. So what we had talked about that would potentially come before you all at a future meeting was would be a potential solution to that. So that could be addressed in a future council meeting separate and aside from this agenda item to alleviate that issue that we have experienced in the past.

Good. All right. There's no comments. I'll entertain a motion. So moved.

I'll second.

And please vote when it comes up on the screen.

Motion passes unanimously.

That's all we have for the administrative calendars. I had no items pulled from the consent calendar. Do I have any public comments? If anyone didn't get to speak at the beginning of the meeting during public comment period. All right. Before we adjourn the meeting, December 8th, the Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. here in the Council Chambers, Public Safety Commission on September 10th, and the City Council will be back here on September 15th. We are adjourned.