City Council - Regular Meeting

Everyone, am I on? Can you hear me? Yes, you're live. Okay, very good. Okay. Um, I'm calling the January 13, 2026 close session city council meeting to order. I'd like to point out that this meeting is being hosted via live stream on the city's website and via Zoom teleconference. I also want to remind the council to have their microphones turned on and positioned so the audience can hear. City clerk, can we have a roll call?

Uh, yes, mayor. And before we jump into roll call, I do have a little um statement that I need to place here. So, mayor, as we take roll call, I would like to note for the record that council member Lodge is joining us remotely this evening, consistent with government code section 54953C. The city is providing remote participation as a reasonable accommodation to council member Lodge. Council member Lodge is considered present for all purposes including the establishment of a quorum as he is as he was attending in person at this physical location. Council member Lodge, uh to satisfy the requirements of the Brown Act, please confirm the following on the record. Can you confirm that you can hear us clearly and that you are participating via both audio and visual technology? Yes, I can.

And then the second question, can you please disclose if there is any individuals 18 years of older present with you in the room?

There's not. Thank you, Council Member Lodge. So, we'll proceed with roll call. Uh we have uh council member Lodge here, council member Peterson here, Mayor Prom Mays here, Mayor Kupa here, and we'll let the record reflect that council member Clark is absent. Okay. At this time, uh members of the public can comment on any item appearing on the agenda. You have three minutes or less and please direct your comments to the council and not individual members. City clerk, are there any registered speakers? Mayor, there are no registered speakers.

And seeing as there's no one in the audience, we are going to what do we do? We recess. We will just proceed to close session. There we go. Proceeding.

There you go. Yep. Just giving her bigger.

Hi. Happy new year. On agenda. Okay. Yeah, those all are. They're all on agenda. Well, these two I think are together. I think that's minutes. And then these are my three. These are donating to me. Yeah. And these are together donating her. Okay. Jenny has donated. Yep. Sorry. I didn't have my glasses. Okay. You got it.

Okay. So, which one of you want to do the pledge? You can do it. Good evening. I would like to call the January 13, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. I would like to point out that this meeting is being hosted through live stream on the city's website and by Zoom teleconference. I would also like to remind council to have their microphones turned on and positioned so the audience can hear. City clerk, can we have a roll call? Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Council Member Lodge. We can see him here. Council member Peterson

here. Mayor Prom Mails here. Mayor Kroo here. We'll let the record reflect that council member Clark is absent. I would entertain a motion to excuse Council Member Clark. I will make a motion to excuse Council Member Howard Clark. I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Would you chief please take a roll call? Thank you, Mayor. I'll uh start with Council Member Lodge.

Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Pretend Mails here. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes four to zero. Okay. We will move on to the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. And our invocation will be by Christian Tikas from all good things ministry. And after that council or mayor prom will lead the salute to the flag. Please stand. Remove your lids covers.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this evening with grateful hearts as we welcome a new year and a new season of leadership for our city. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, for the responsibility entrusted to this council, and for the people who call this community home. As we begin to 2026, we ask for your wisdom to guide every decision, your discernment to shape every decision, and your humility to remind us that leadership is ultimately about service. Grant this council unity of purpose, clarity of mind, and a spirit of cooperation, even when perspectives may differ. Bless our new leadership with courage, integrity, and compassion. May they lead with fairness, listen with patience, and govern with a genuine concern for the well-being of all. Strengthen the bonds between the council, city staff, and the community that together we may move forward in trust, respect, and shared commitment. May this year be marked by progress, healing, and hope for our city. Help us to work together for the common good, always mindful that our actions today shape the future of generations to come. We offer this prayer with gratitude and expectation for what lies ahead. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. If you'd play uh face the uh flag please, right hand over your heart and repeat with me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We are going to temporarily skip the public comment and go right into the presentations because I know a lot of you are here for that. And the presentations are going to be for the 2025 annual Christmas parade. Do you want to do a staff report or do we just want to call people? Let Jackie and Jenny do it. Jenny, do you have a brief? Okay. They were saying you can't hear me. Yeah, they were saying I just pulled it closer to you. Everybody's got to hear me.

Go ahead, Jenny. Thank you. I did have a few slides. I'm not sure if they're gonna Perfect. All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Jennifer Cortez. I'm the communications and events coordinator for the city of Pemmet. And here I am today to present on the annual Christmas recap for our 2025 Christmas parade. And as mentioned, we do have our winners here, so we will be recognizing them. Notice all right. All right. So, our Hemmet Christmas Parade is an annual tradition that takes place annually. It really marks and sets the tone for the start of the holiday season here in the city of Hemmet. It is an opportunity for spectators to come out. I believe this last year we drew over 10,000 spectators and that included both local residents and those from the surrounding area. Now, this last event took place on December 6th. This was a Saturday, the first Saturday uh in December, and the parade route traveled around um through Florida beginning from um Gilbert all the way to Santa Fe. Our theme was the great outdoors. We have a nice little image here from our social media promotion um that advertised the event and really the theme was to celebrate the beauty, adventure and the spirit of endless exploration that is here and unique in the region and it was fun to see all the different takes with the parade entries and how they really brought that uh brought that theme to life. participants were able to enter their organizations under one of the eight categories, which I will get to in just a second. Um, and again, just bring the theme to life. And we're very excited to share that we had over 90 90 parade participant entries this year. So, really good numbers. As mentioned, we have a few different categories. There were a total of eight.

So we had a float category, a high school band, middle school band, animal performance, motorized car club, school marching band, ROC, and a decorated walking unit. To the left, you see a few pictures of some of the parade entries. And all of the entries were were vote were judged by um along the voting criteria that fell under three categories that included creativity and originality, visual impact and aesthetic and exec execution and presentation. And we did have a few judges that were part of the community. We had Jennifer Farerrell from the Healthy Valley Foundation, Chuck Robinson from the historic Hemtt Theater, and Cindy Lumpy from Legacy Bank. So, I will now get into our winners. And so, we'll cover them through all the slides and then after we do, we'll we'll have you each come up. I know there's representatives for a majority of the winners. And we'll have you receive your award plaque and take a picture. So, bottom left, our best float went to Complex Steel Buildings, which you see on the left, that middle one. Best high school band was awarded to West Valley High School. And our best middle school band was awarded to Dartmouth Middle School. For our best motorized unit that was awarded to Imagine School's Hemmet so sorry, best animal performance to Whitebrook Farm. In the middle, imagine schools which received the best motorized unit. And to the right, best car club, which went to the Hemet Jeep Club. And our final two, we have the best school marching unit, ROC, which was awarded to West Valley High School Navy Junior Reserve Officer Corpse. And to the right, best decorated walking unit awarded to Exceed. So, we could just take a minute to congratulate and clap for our our winners.

And we'll go ahead and call you up. Yes.

And this was Jackie's Christmas parade. So, Jackie Peterson, our mayor from last year, will be doing presentations. I I just want to say a couple of words here. First, um I didn't know as mayor I got to pick the theme and I'm kind of an outdoorsy person anyway and we're really trying to promote outdoor activities here and I know when I talked to Jenny and I told her I said I wanted the great outdoors and she said, "Well, what are you thinking?" you know, like lake, um, you know, trees. I said, anything outdoors. We've got Gibble Park. We've got so many baseball teams. We've got soccer. We are so versatile in this little city of ours that, you know, I wanted everybody to use their imagination. And I was not disappointed. I was towards the front of the parade and I stopped on Santa Fe and I watched as many as I could go by because I missed a few of the very first ones. But I was blown away and I loved the imagination and the participation this year and it was a wonderful evening. And I want to thank Ben, our economic director. he and his staff and others, this public works, everybody, they put so much work into this this year and it was just a wonderful evening for our city. So, thank you to everyone. Okay, so for the um winner of the best float, can I have complex steel buildings come up?

She doesn't like So congratulations. You had a beautiful float and um I hope you display this.

[applause]

protected. Okay, the next awardy is for the best high school band and we have West Valley High School. Congratulations.

Come on in. You guys

Then we have our middle school. We have Dartmouth Middle School and it looks like we might have the band director. Yes. Are you the band director? Great. Good job.

Yeah. Wonderful marching unit. So there you are. Congratulations. [applause] The next I have is winner of best animal animal performance. We have Whitebrook Farm. Are they here? Whitebrook Farm not here tonight. Okay, we will save this for them. And I think um Imagine Schools Hemet is not here. Correct. Are you here? Okay, you're here. Great. Come on up.

I'll move down.

Come on in. Winner of best car club, Hammet Jeep Club. [gasps] Congratulations Then we have Navy Junior Reserve Officer Corps, West Valley High School, winner of best school marching unit. Hi, how are you guys?

[applause] And the last one I have is for winner of best decorated walking unit. All our exceed. [applause] Hi there. Everybody's so excited. Come in the middle with me. Sandra, can you get to hold this?

All right. Thank you everyone and all the awardees are free to stay or you may leave. [laughter] Yes. All right. Thank you very much, Jackie and Jenny. Oh, that's that's my kids' names. We will go into the city attorney's report out of close session.

Uh thank you, mayor. Uh the city council gave settlement direction on item 5B by a vote of 5 to zero. That is the only reportable action out of this evening's closed session.

Thank you very much. Proceeding on to communications from the public. We will take items not listed on the agenda first, but we will wait until the item agenda item is actually called before we take uh public comment on that item. So, there's a three minute per person limit on all public general public comments on non-public hearing items. Everyone who wishes to speak, including council members and staff, need to be recognized by the mayor before speaking. Those who wish to join by Zoom will be asked to raise your hand. If you would like to speak, please state your name and the item you are commenting on before speaking. We'll get to that later on in the agenda. So, city clerk, do we have public comment on non agenda items?

Yes, we do, mayor. And I'll start to call their names. Uh, we have Charles Vineyard first off to the podium to your right there, then followed by Sandy Casper, followed by Dan Cortezi. You all have three minutes to speak.

Hello. I don't know if you got the video or not from John down there, but I'm here because last year at the end of your basically last meeting, you talked about needing to know what streets need to be repaired. I live at 240 Linda Lane, Hemtt, California 92544. I [snorts] have a video if you want to pass around, you can see it. Like I said, John got it to send it to you all. The street is destroyed. Kids can't play on it. It's a Kovas sack u less than from where John is to where this wall is. And there's roughly somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 potholes, averaging about 3 to 4 in deep, a foot long to a foot wide. And there are even some that are six feet long to um three and a half inches deep. It's destroyed. And I've been confused for the last 12 years. Every time I see a city worker come out and fill one of the multiple potholes, I ask them why they don't tell their boss that it needs to be repaved. I've had it put in the newspapers twice in the last 12 years. I've went to a council meeting back, geez, I don't know, 10 years ago, and nothing's being done. I'm a taxpayer. my taxes have been paid and I'm just disgusted with my street looking worse than what you would see in the worst parts of Mexico. And that's about it. So, if you can send someone down to get the street repaired, I appreciate it. If you have any questions, go right ahead.

Thank you very much. And Noah, would you please get with this gentleman? Next, we have next speaker,

Sandy Casper. Okay, my name is Sandy Casper. I I live in the valley. I've been a resident of the valley since 1989. And of course, I'm a was a teacher in Him Unified School District for 20 years. First of all, um I want to uh thank anybody who's taken the time to start to research this problem with no annexation, which I believe is the only way to go. I just looked up a few things and found that uh in case anybody in the public isn't aware that the uh current population of him and this is of course according to the last census which was a little while back but we can say ballpark figures right yay ballparks okay so current population in HTT approximately 90 to 93,000 current area of him 29 9.28 square miles. So I looked at another west um west riverside county city that was similar to Meccula has um as of the 220 census 112,000 people which is about 20,000 more than us and their square mileage of their city is 37.27 27 square miles, which is about eight square miles more than him, which makes sense since they've got more people. Well, um, if we do the annexation, the annexation is 53 square miles, we will more than pretty much almost double the size of him. Think of the potholes then, folks. Okay. Um, and uh,

I just it it astounds me that we're even putting a a a study group together to study this. We would then be almost twice as large in square mileage as the current city of Tmacula. H sounds a little bit like a money or a land grab to me, but I don't know. Um, anyhow, it's pretty hard for me to imagine that the quality of our service in the extended area will be the same as that in HIMT or else the city of HIMT's quality of service at the moment will have to go down so that you can take care of us too because it's going to take a while. There is no infrastructure involved that is ready for them to take over twice as many square miles as him already has. Um, if there's anything else I can say, it's Are you kidding me?

Thank you. Thank you, Sandy. Dan Corteesi, followed by George Hayner, followed by Amber Brown. Dan,

good evening, mayor, city council members, and city staff. My name is Dan Corteesi and I am the president of the Valley Community Pantry. On behalf of the Valley Community Pantry, I wanted to sincerely sincerely thank the city council and staff for your support, especially for expediting the agreement that allowed us to use the space over at the Simpson Center. Thanks to your swift action, we were able to open to the public mid December, just in time for the holidays, and make a real difference for families in our community. Since moving into the Simpsons Center, we served seen families and 181 non senior families in December, including 10 families in partnership with the Riverside County programs. So far in January, we've already served 109 senior families and 110 non senior families, including eight families through the county, as well as four senior park deliveries. In December, we distributed over 31,000 pounds of food, and this month, we are already over 15,600 pounds. Those efforts were made possible through the generosity of our community, including WCO, Sprouts, Target, Hemmet Unified School District, local businesses, and caring residents of the Hemtt and Sanino Valley. Along with the dedication of our volunteers, we can always use additional volunteers and anyone interested in helping is encouraged to get involved. I'm also excited to invite the community to our first annual chili cookoff um/mpy bowls event. Uh it's this Sunday, January 18th, at the Golden Era Golf Course, uh from 2 to 6 PM. An empty bowls event, if you're not familiar with that, is an community fundraiser where attendees donate for a simple meal of soup and bread, keeping a handmade ceramic bowl as a reminder of local hunger with proceeds supporting food banks and hunger relief programs. At our

event, attendees will enjoy tasting a variety of chilies. Vote for their favorite and take home a handcrafted ceramic bowl, which is generously donated by the ceramic students at Tacitz High School, Heman High School, and West Valley High School. Tickets are $25 and include a dessert, a chili sampling card, and free day golf or a golf uh voucher for another day. Uh thank you again for your continued support. The temporary move to the Simpsons Center has already expanded our reach and we look forward to continue continuing to work together to fight in fight food insecurity in our community. Thank you. Thank you Dan

George followed by Amber Brown then Elizabeth Ayella.

Good evening. My name is George Heayner as you know. Uh I'm from Western Park Hammet Muni Shovel Board and we found out by email that we possibly might be on the shopping block. Uh we represent about 16 teams that play about 20 uh rounds of play and we also have tournaments throughout the year. We're going to have a tournament, a rookie tournament in next month and the 14th and 15th. And I would like you guys to show up. It's a lot of fun. And if you'd like to play, we can actually give you a stick. Folks, this is what I've done for the last 14 years. That place is kept exceptionally clean. It has been painted. The kitchens have been refinished. The floors have been repainted. The cushions have been redone. It's not by the city, it's by us. And we have no money other than us. We raised money. We also support the pantry. Uh just the little things. And then we don't want anything for doing that. By the way, it's just something that's good to do. Um, we would like when you're going to be on the block discussing it, allow us to come and talk to you oneon-one. Thank you.

Thank you, George.

Next, we have Amber Brown, followed by Elizabeth Ayella, followed by Michael K. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. I'm shorter. My name is Amber Brown and I'm the president of district 7 shuffle board and I'm here to respectfully urge you to reconsider the proposal to close him public shuffle boards. For many residents, particularly seniors, these courts are not a luxury. They are a vital community asset. Shuffleboard is one of the few recreational activities that is accessible, affordable, low impact, and welcoming to older adults of all physical abilities. It promotes mobility, balance, mental focus, and social connection. Key components of healthy aging. Closing these courts would impact him senior population for many. Shuffleboard is not just recreation. It is a routine purpose and connection. It gets people off the couch and engaged with others. In a time when isolation among seniors is a growing public health concern, eliminating one of the city's most senior friendly activities sends the wrong message. Beyond quality of life, there is also a real economic impact to consider. him shuffleboard quotes attract players from outside the city, individuals and groups who come here specifically to play. Those visitors do not simply show

up and leave. They buy meals, shop locally, purchase gas, and support nearby businesses. In other words, the courts generate modest but meaningful economic activity at virtually no marketing cost to the city. Eliminating the courts eliminates the outside revenue stream and removes one more reason for visitors to choose him over neighboring communities. Most importantly, the Shuffleberg courts represent something deeper, joy. They provide laughter, friendly competition, exercise, and community pride. Seniors thrive with friendship forms and residents feel seen and valued by their city. These are the kind of amenities that help define HIMIT as a place that respects and supports its residents at every stage of life. I understand cities face budget pressures and difficult choices, but I would respectfully suggest the cost of losing this resource measured in senior health, community engagement, and local economic activity far outweighs any short-term savings. I ask the council to pause, engage with the shuffleboard community, recognize the value these courts bring to him. Please do not close a space that delivers health, happiness, and connection to so many of our residents.

Thank you. Your time and consideration. Thank you, Amber. Thank Thank you, Miss Brown. Uh, next we have Elizabeth Ayala, followed by Michael. I have one more thing. I have I'm sorry. I have 147 signatures to keep Shuff Bear alive in him. Who wants it? You give it to the city clerk right here. guy at the end. Thank you so much, Amber. You're welcome. Thank you. Elizabeth,

hello. My name is Elizabeth Ayella and I've been in HMT for about a year now. Bring the microphone closer. Thank you.

I've been in Hemet for about a year now. When I got here, I was welcomed by now mayor prom Joe Malice. I was very impressed. He answered every call. He showed up when it counted after hours, before hours. I thought, I've never met a man like that before, at least in any of the cities I lived in. Then I realized that where we lived, we picked our own mayor. We voted for our own mayor. But here in Hemet, you guys do the shuffle board and pick who's who wants to be mayor next. And I think it would be important to let the people pick because unfortunately when you have a job and it's not that it's a bad thing, it's just that you're not there. So having the title as mayor is not just, oh, I want to be mayor. I want to be the title. You need to show up when it counts. You need to show up when we need you. And that's what Joel Malice did for me. Now, then the crime came and when the crime came, that's when it got me scared. Now, Councilwoman Peterson was able to help me with a few things. I live in a senior community called the Colonial Country Club. Unfortunately, they don't treat their seniors very well and are probably not going to get a very good welcome after this. But somebody has to help them. There's 80 year olds that are getting

cited for weeds or trees. And how are they supposed to do that at their age? and the people who come around to take advantage of them want more than they can afford. So, I came around and I thought, you know what? I'll put my gloves on and I'll pull some weeds. I'll help those neighbors. But then when the crime came and I had someone come up to me who I did not even know threatened to kill me. I was scared. I am scared. I was told I wasn't a victim. You may look at me now and all you may see is just the cuts on my arms, but what you don't see is the cuts inside as I was a pizza cutter from a domestic violence I was in before. When I called the police here, Officer Mareno didn't [snorts] help me. E. Shelton didn't help me. Tyler Hall didn't help me. Officer Delgado, he gave me a hard time because he was told by the city that he needed to give someone a restraining order.

Yala, your time is expired. [snorts] Well, let me list the rest of these. Officer Morales, Officer Maynard, Officer Dagado and Gomez, Officer Villro, Officer Perez. [snorts] They've all failed me. The police of Hemet has failed me. Now I have to go to court. They decided to put a restraining order on me.

Your time has concluded. Thank you for your comment. Next we have Michael K followed by Jenny Hes. I know I have two minutes and I please pardon me for this but for a long time I didn't have a voice. Yeah, but I have a voice now sir. So if you give me a second, Mr. Clerk, [laughter] we have give me a second here. I have a voice and please give me that allow me that voice. Thank you, Joe. Well, mayor, would you like to extend public comment? Next speaker. [snorts] Yeah. Your time is expired. Yes.

Thank you for Your police station should be ashamed of themselves. They're out there to protect and serve. Ma'am, we'll look into it. Thank you very much. Next speaker, Michael K, followed by Jenny Hes, followed by Connie Conrad Coronado, excuse me. Thank you. [clears throat]

Uh, good evening, Mayor and City Council. Uh, first off, uh, not a whole lot of exciting things, but, um, the, uh, I mentioned last time we've got a big trash issue along Dominagoni. that can be addressed if that is the city's responsibility. I'm in Mweeny Farms and uh we do our trash pickup there ourself. Um and speaking of that, and this is just a little point of interest, um we uh have requested from the HOA for couple of years now to get flock cameras in there. And I don't know if there's any budget available from the city or not. Uh the reason we're not able to, we're under restrictions from uh the state as far as the HOA budget. Um about 22% of the people in Mweeny Farms are not paying their dues, which equals 144 trucks and we're about $250,000 in the hole. Um the reason I bring up the flock cameras is and the uh police department has done a magnificent job. I want to call out Lieutenant Douglas who we've met uh a couple of times. He's done a amazing job along with the staff there, increasing the patrols in there. But once again, and I know they've done a great job of stopping some of the mail thefts. We had the mailboxes broken in again. Um, you know, I've been sitting on my roof with my night vision goggles every night. And the big issue about that is my wife refuses to bring coffee up the ladder to me every two hours. So, it's a little bit frustrating. And maybe you can make a resolution to have her bring me the coffee on a nightly basis. [laughter] Um, so if there's anything there, we have a HOA meeting tomorrow night. Uh, I'm going to bring it up again as many of the residents do uh about the flock cameras. It also may be a benefit for the city uh because you would catch people going downstate uh towards Crown Valley. Uh that may help uh in catching

some of the pers that are in the area. Um also, as far as I know, I'd mentioned potholes. Uh we have about 200 yards of State Street um between Dominagoni and Mweeny Parkway. That is a lot of potholes there. Um I'm in the process of losing two of my four kidneys and I'm hoping that um that can be repaired in the future. I know there's a development situation going on there that's going to require repaving everything and and some drainage and stuff like that, but if there's anything could be done, I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you very much. And thank you uh mayor and the city council for everything you do along with police department and fire department.

Yes. And if you would talk with Noah and acting chief Moat in the back, they can help you with the flock cameras and the potholes. Next we have uh donated Jenny Hess with donated time is Clinton Hess in the room. Perfect. Uh Jenny Hess, you have six minutes.

Good evening, city council. I wanted to express my concern that the annexation applicant, Hemmet Rising, Hemmeted, etc., continues to spread false information. This past Saturday night at an event I attended, this group stated that each district supervisor has over 1 million people. The population of Los Angeles is under four million. I believe the intent was to demonstrate that the supervisor has too many people to serve and sell a ticket to this local control show. Terribly and irresponsibly misleading. Let me correct that statement with facts. The 2020 census determined that each of our five districts was somewhere around 500,000 people. District one in particular, about 474,000. Population is split between these districts about 19 to 21% each. The 2024 estimate for that population was 2,530,000. A 5.5% increase. So 26,000 more per district. That is not just a little bit off. And I hate math. I hate math with I'm better at words. Um that's significant. That's over 100% off. 100%. Misrepresenting such critical numbers while informing the community about annexation is reckless. Is this the kind of misinformation that'll be expected at the forthcoming annexation committee? And more importantly, is the city council prepared to carefully vet every single number coming out of this applicant's plan of service since they're having trouble with math? This is the same person who also told you all those theater numbers. 5 to 15 million to turn the theater into a 1,000 seat venue with no parking or lodging plan

for the Broadway style shows that will flock to Hemet. I am not a negative Nelly. I am a realist and I'm starting to wonder if any of you have thought about what happens if you don't get this right. You've probably heard the saying in business, poop in, poop out. Data without integrity creates nothing but chaos. I'm not sure you've heard of comparative data, but I hope you look it up. And I hope HR, HU, etc. also looks it up because the forthcoming committee on annexation can be based on one or the other. And unfortunately, I think I know which one it's going to be. I've also heard at that at that meeting about the historic Bautista Trail, which no one has ever mentioned ever before in the history of me living in Hammet and going to almost every single city council meeting. Um, I guess it was to make a compelling storyline, an honorable mission to tug at the heartstrings of what else He rising, Hammet United, etc. is going to get done. So, is one to expect and believe that under the local control of the city of Hemet that this trail will have a better fate than historic places already under local control like downtown Harvard Street or the Gil building or the Hemet stock farm. I'm on a roll with numbers and a couple people already mentioned potholes. The city will adopt the maintenance of over 123 miles at a cost of 43 million. None of that is captured in any fiscal assessment or report so far. And I think we're coming up on a year. You're living off grants and you're shutting down shuffleboard places for goodness sakes. I hope you will revisit and reflect on tonight's invocation. I thought of all of you literally the entire time. Happy New Year.

Thank you, Jimmy. Connie Coronado. And we have donated time. So I'll just verify. Is Leslie Butler in the room? Perfect. Randy Butler. Perfect. Connie Cornado, you'll have nine minutes. Good evening and happy new year. Hope you guys had a great one.

Thank you. I bet you can guess what I'm going to talk about. [laughter] Annexation. All right. The most important part of the LAFCO application process is ensuring that any proposed area to be annexed will remain whole or better when it comes to being supported by the annex annexing municipality. In this case, the city of HMET. This includes but is not limited to fiscal visibility, I mean sorry, excuse me, fiscal viability, public services, public safety, infrastructure, and a long-term sustainability. The burden is on the applicant to prove this through documentation including plan for services, fiscal analysis, environmental impacts, prezoning, and more. This is just the plan of service for 2015. 999 acres at that time. 34,000 acres is what you're trying to annex right now. Just saying. While the city of HIMT has shown some progress within the municipality, that prog progress is not sufficient to absorb the proposed annexation areas. There are statements in the city manager's opening opening letter attached to the fiscal year 2526 annual operating budget that raise serious viability concerns for the proposed areas. Because of time constraints, I can't read the letter in its entirety, but I will be linking it on the No Annex Facebook page for anyone to read. Here are some of my top concerns. Quoting from the letter, slower sales tax growth and escalating insurance costs are beginning to impact finances. For example, the fiscal year 2425 budget included use of a $3.1 million vacancy factor and use of $9,15,200

in general fund reserves to balance. End quote. A vacancy factor means the city assumes not all budgeted positions will be filled year round due to turnover, retirements, delayed hiring in order to lower salary expenses and help balance the budget. In him's case, the vacancy factor is tied to delay hiring. Based on the following statement, given the city's operating imbalance as vacancies develop over the next fiscal year, it will be necessary to to hold non-revenue producing positions vacant and slow expenditures. However, vacant mission critical and revenue producing positions will be on a case-toase basis. End quote. Saving money is not inherently the problem. The problem is that the city already lacks adequate staffing and general in the general municipal departments to support current residents within the city limits. Based on other documents and statements, particularly from an IT staff report and the citygate report, this staffing issue is already a concern. And yet, under this proposal, the city would be absorbing approximately 40,000 additional people to support and provide services to. That is not a benefit to the proposed annexation areas. According to the March 2025 staff report, most general municipal departments would not be added adding any additional staff even upon annexation with the exception of code enforcement and public works. Excuse me, I did bring my water this time. Quoting again, the city's baseline fiscal year 2025-26 operating budget includes revenues of 81,527,000 and operating expenditures of $88,514,000 excluding any one-time general fund reserve use. The general fund balance is

projected to be 52,341 $341 and $600 as of June 30th, 2026. So let's look at that general fund trend. As of June 2023, the general fund sat at approximately 62 million. By June 2024, it increased to 72 million. For June 2025, it is projected to balance at 57.7 million. By June 2026, the general fund balance is projected to drop to 52,341,600. I point this out because fiscal sustainability matters when we are talking about this annexation. According to asterridden March 2025 staff report on expenditures, it claimed an estimated 3,7,7442 in surplus. A single unfunded assumption or one asterct item could eliminate that 3 million surplus entirely. That is not a cushion. That's a gamble. especially when you're talking about absorbing 40,000 additional residents with the responsibility to provide general services, infrastructure, roads, and public safety. Turning to public safety, specifically fire services, quote, "The city's population is leading to steady increases in fire calls for service. This growing call volume is leading to a near-term challenge of funding and deploying an additional squad and begin discussions on funding options for a future fire station 6. And further quoting, there is also an important need to seek renewal of the city's three-year safer grant from FEMA. This critical grant funds 15 key positions within the fire department that will be placed at risk if not extended. End quote. So, the city is not only facing the need for an additional fire station and more

personnel, it is dependent upon a three-year FEMA safer grant totaling 7 million71,90 to fund 15 key fire positions. Grants are not guaranteed funding. My understanding is that this grant was awarded in 2022 and must now be reapplied for in the next funding cycle. And now to the infrastructure, specifically those potholes. Quoting again, declining gas tax revenues and aging streets require a comprehensive long-term strategy to lift the condition of him streets to a pavement condition index rating of 70 or more. The letter further states, sorry, end quote. The letter further states that a survey is needed to form a 20-year strategy for additional road rehabilitation still required after approximately $30 million has already been spent on street repaving projects over the last 30 months. In the proposed annexation area, there are 123 miles of paved road and one mile of gravel road, and the city would assume responsibility for this. According to the March 2025 staff report, $42.8 $8 million is estimated to be needed just to rehabilitate the county roads. While additional SB1 and measure A revenue may be available, the question is, will it be enough? And on what timeline? And how does adding 123 more miles of roadway realistically fit into the city that is still struggling to fund and execute a 20-year plan just to rehabilitate their own existing streets and potholes. Based on the city's own documents, it does not appear that the proposed areas would benefit us in this regard. These are just some of the many hurdles that the city is currently facing and I as I said before at the beginning there has been m momentum in progress but I do not see a benefit to the proposed annexation areas at this time for the city to absorb us and take on additional fiscal and service responsibilities. The potential revenue gained does not cover your existing

challenges and support annexation without placing added risk on both current residents and the proposed areas. So, I will continue to say no thank you to your annexation. Thank you, Connie. Uh, Bella Soul or Bea Soul, followed by George Evans Jr. and then Bea does have donated time. So, I'm going to verify those folks. Is Julie Paula

Parker, excuse me. Marcy Murphy. Perfect. Bea, you have nine minutes.

Thank you. Good evening. Um, I can hopefully can hear me. Okay. Um, so I have several points and at the last meeting I had some positive feedback for the city, but obviously things changed during the course of things. So I wanted to start by stating that tonight. I wanted to say that I appreciated over the holiday season seeing officers introduce themselves to local retailers and explain the death the theft deterrent project for the holiday shopping season. I don't recall the name of it, but I appreciate going into stores and seeing the officers just randomly introduce themselves. So, that was encouraging to know that the retailers were being informed of the project. I also appreciated the city's communication via flyers with businesses along the parade route outlining road closures for that day so that obviously the businesses could, you know, make plans ahead. In addition,

ma'am, yes, I'm going to ask you to stop because our feed Oh, the technical feed stopped and we want to make sure we're recording you and getting it out. So, hold on just a moment with technical difficulties. Yeah, it'd be maybe appropriate to call a brief recess. I'm just going to connect with ID to ensure that okay our Zoom is connected. Yep. We want to make sure that we're doing this right. So, we're going to take a short recess. Five minutes. Five minute recess. Take a seat.

Yeah. I just had to stop when she was on a positive run right there. [laughter] That was awesome. Central. So,

okay, that's the best way.

Yeah, I don't I don't know, but you know, but yeah. So, I believe Florida. It's solid. Just the break. They haven't woke up.

So I would imagine that it started They're solid homes. They're solid homes and that's why I'm still here. Fantastic. I'm gonna call everybody back in and you can start over. You'll have start

I'll make the the rest gentle. I don't want to start her time over. I will. I told her she would start over. Okay. Her time time will start over. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back live and Bella your minutes have been reinstated. So start from the beginning. Okay. Thank you. Um, so just to Would you like me to start the whole thing over? If you'd like to.

Okay. So, like I was saying at the last meeting, um, I had some positive feedback for the city. Things changed during the meeting. So, um, I will start by sharing that tonight. Um, I appreciated seeing officers introduce themselves to local retailers um, during the holiday season and explain the theft deterrent project for the holiday shopping season, which was encouraging um, to know that the retailers were being informed about that. I also appreciated the city's communication via flyers with businesses along or two businesses along the parade route outlining road closures. Um, in addition, timely communication to residents regarding the upcoming public hearing on the proposed water rate changes. This was discussed at the last hearing and to see the follow through from that department. Um, I want to notice that because those those notices came out in a timely manner as the gentleman had stated during the last council meeting. So, I appreciate that. [snorts] I appreciate that level of communication and at the same time, there's still room for improvement and I thank the city for the swift determination letter on a public record request that I had brought to the council's attention last council meeting on the December 9th. Um there was a termination letter the next day on the 10th um stating that based on the request that was submitted that there was no records available. However, there is a record available. That record is visibly available. So to see for the clerk's office to say that it's not available is quite concerning. On January 4th, I sent an email to the clerk's office, all city council members, city manager, and city attorney requesting direction on how to redo that search because I know the record exists. I'm looking for follow-up communication, which if there was a meeting scheduled, as we all know in business, there's

generally an email that's going to follow if that meeting is not cancelled. If there's an agenda listed, we all know that the city is responsible to make sure that minutes are noted for that meeting. So, I know that based on the email that was already previously released in a records request, with that record being related to a meeting with city officials scheduled at the residence of a Hemet United member, we know that meeting was scheduled. I'm asking for any follow-up records to indicate if it was cancelled, any notes, agenda, etc. So, in my email on the fourth, I was asking for direction on how to redo that search. As of this moment, right now that I haven't checked my email since like 5, but as of now, I have not received a return email from any staff or city council member with my request on how to do this. Again, based on the last city council meeting, we were told by city council that the city is fully staffed. So, I am not sure as to why I have not received a return email communicating the next step to ensure those records are produced. If someone would so kindly communicate the next step or if you would like to schedule a time to discuss those records requests, I would be happy to receive some guidance and I would be happy to communicate what it is that I'm looking for. Tying into the proposed annexation is concerns about safety in the city of Hemet. Last month, I wanted to go into my yard and do some yoga outside, but instead, as soon as I stepped outside, there was a helicopter circling overhead, so I stayed inside. A few days later at work, another helicopter was circling. This time, speaking on a loudspeaker, and in that moment, I had to go into a protective mode. Do I need to lock the doors? How close is the situation? What are they saying on that

loudspeaker? How do I keep the people in my office safe? The message that is sent is that outside in the city, we have to stay on guard and it's not safe. So, when I say no to annexation at this time, I say no as someone who wants to feel safe in their community. I want my city to ensure a certain level of safety before expanding into other areas. I recognize that the city is making positive strides and I believe that with the current direction it could be great, but right now is not the time to absorb other areas. At the last meeting, we were told that unincorporated residents are not part of the decision-making process because they fall under the county. And I strongly disagree. Unincorporated residents are stakeholders in this decision. Clearly, the city itself has already acknowledged that residents within the sphere of influence matter as they're eligible to sit on the measure U committee. To then discount their input when they may be futureing future voting members of this city is in my opinion a bit absurd. Another issue that needs to be addressed is the language used to describe some women as they sat and as we as I sat over on that side at the last council meeting specifically being being referred to as the mean girls. That same evening, a member of the public openly belittled residents of the city of Hemet, your residents, by insulting their educational levels and income levels, and nothing was said to him. I would hope that the women in the audience are not being used as an easier target or a scapegoat rather than holding the audience as a whole to the same standard. Lastly, there's been a great deal of talk about division, about sitting down, working together, and coming together to find a solution. I want to be very clear, a very small

minority is actively pursuing the annexation. Many residents in the unincorporated area have not expressed that there is a problem that requires a solution that would require a sitdown. To ask people to come together and coordinate a solution implies that an issue exists for many residents of the unincorporated area. It does not. Advocating against annexation does not mean someone is against working together or developing a viable p plan. It just means that from that perspective, there was never an issue that required joint problem solving to begin with. So the narrative that opposition equals divisiveness or refusal to work together does not fit this situation. And so I hope that moving forward that the divisiveness can be retired from the narrative. That's all. Thank you very much, Bella. Next speaker. George Evans Jr. followed by Mark Basket.

Thank you, council. I'm not here to discuss the annexation tonight. A George.

And I know you're depressed. And congratulations, mayors and council members, for your up and cominging year. Hopefully, you make great decisions. What I'm here to talk about is we're in the process of starting the downtown business association. Okay. The food trucks are a problem. I'm not against the food trucks. When the food truck industry came together, it was, "Hey, my truck, I'm going to be at this intersection." And people would flock. The people are going to go wherever the food trucks are. They don't need to be next to the theater where it is not helping. I have talked to Andrew Kyak just Saturday in reference to this. I talked to Katie. It does not help the theater. what it does, it hinders the theater in the sense that it takes away parking. Now, we know we have a strong senior community here. Uh whether you want to believe it, I don't believe you should take away the shuffle board, and I hope you rein that decision, but the bottom line is they put up parking signs, okay? And they're in operation now. I hear that they start at 2 pm. This is hurting the local brickandmortar businesses. Why not put them out there? And I have mentioned this to some council members. You got the old circus, the the fairground property where Walmart is. You got plenty of room there. You got the auto mall where you had the Chickfilia. Okay? It does not have to be where your business is and you're trying to expand and develop your downtown area. It does not help. It hurts them. And you know, now going from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00, they might as well close up. It's not right. I I mean, so again, we are going to do our part and we're going to come together as a one and work and have a

voice here at council with the downtown businesses. And it's not just going to be restaurants. It'll be all businesses. Okay. Again, you guys are doing a lot of good with some really fantastic projects. You got Mary Henley Park to put uh pickle ball. Pickle ball is a fed. Okay, it really is. But your shuffleboard team, they've been there since 1960. Have some respect for that. I done many of barbecues. When I worked for [clears throat] Miller Jones, I did all the barbecues for them. They're great people. they enjoy what they're doing and it gets them out, you know. So again, the food trucks, folks, please, it's not the right location. It it it is not. All right. And having them in downtown does not make a lot of sense, especially with new restaurants opening up. I did talk to Ben in regards to the grants coming up. I got a local buddy here that has a business that's hurting and he went through CO, but his business is hurting. They need to have grants and Ben did say there's some up and coming.

Thank you, Mr. Evans Jr. Thank you. Thank you, George. Next, we have Mark Basket uh followed by Mike Madrid.

I don't have a prepared speech this time. Um, my main thing is Get closer to the microphone, please. How is it? Oh, that's better. [laughter]

My main thing is to say thank you. And I'm pleased that the three members who voted yes to this idea of cooperation, communication, transparency in the annexation discussion and process. Uh, you know, we appreciate you. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. We appreciate the idea that whatever way this goes, an expanded HMED is only a good thing if we're friends, neighbors, have a happy community, and I think that road that you're taking is a good way to get there. So, I I thank you all for your your vote. number one. Um, number two, like to encourage that communication and uh, dissemination of information to continue, please. Um, I look, I don't know if I'll be a candidate or if I should or if some of the more qualified people maybe should be on that committee, but I know when I'm thinking about it, I'm going to want to know what the mandate is going to be. Um, that'll help me to think about are these areas that I know well enough to have an opinion and be helpful. I I know the seniors. I know the the rent control. I'm talking to Mr. Davis about possibly working together to try to draft something that I think would fit our requirements. Um, and that's stepping across the divide that we have here a little bit. But he couple meetings back asked for somebody to reach out if they were interested in trying to build a a bridge and so I've been talking to him. Not well enough, not enough depth, not enough time, but

[laughter] you know, we're we're going there. Uh we'd like to hear what the process is for constituting the committee. Um it's it's a wonderful and ambitious timeline that you had hoped for. Um, I was at that meeting Saturday with Mr. Kachuk and he talked about this as a five-year process and he had admitted that uh he really did understand the staff pressures that you were under. Um, that was that was helpful. I asked him for a copy of his presentation. I'm going to be very interested to see if it gets shared. [laughter] I would love to have that. I would love to study it. Uh, I'd love to come to future council meetings better informed. Um, you know, but depending on where the focus is, somebody like Connie may be better than me if uh the numbers are what matter the most. If it's the welfare of the seniors, um, I'd love to advise the committee. And as I say, I think I'm going to be available.

Thank you, Mr. Basket. Your time has concluded. available to consult on the rent control issue and the condition of our seniors. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you, Mark. Next, we have Mike Madrid.

Good evening, council uh members and Mayor Ka and city council and staff. Uh I'm here to talk about uh shovel board. Believe it or not, uh I in the city uh we have a lot of seniors in the city of Hammond. Uh not as many as there was a few years ago, but there's still a lot of seniors. Now if you look at the park system that we have here uh most of the park systems are are geared to support the younger generations uh middle middle age I I would say but not not necessarily seniors like myself uh that uh that need some some some place that we can go and uh have a place that we can have recreation we could have do the exercise and uh it's it's it's not a strainous exercise. But one other thing that I want to point out to the council is that the seniors that uh occupy and use the court are seniors that could not uh use any of the other facilities. We have shuffleboard players that play shuffleboard from a wheelchair. Believe it or not, I haven't seen any of the city council or any of the city staff at our uh games that we have. Uh and it would be I I think would be u to your advantage to see what we do and and how much the seniors enjoy uh what we do out there. It's uh like I said, it's not it's one of the it's one of the only places here that we have that we can do that. Now, we have uh I'm one of three teams that play regularly out of that we call Hammet Mun our home base. Now, that's not all of us. There's actually 16 teams

in the in the district 7 league. And those 16 teams are scattered throughout all five districts that we have in here. So, uh the representation that we have from from the shuffleboard community is that we are we are one of all five districts. So when when you close if you if if you do close if you do follow through and close him MUN, you will be affecting seniors from all five communities. I urge you to think about this. Uh like I said, if you if we all our parks had something that seniors could do, I probably wouldn't be up here talking about it. But there's not. Most of the parks you go there, they have basketball courts. Can you see me playing basketball at this age? No. Tennis? Nope. Okay. Uh shuffle uh pickle ball maybe, but not tennis. So, uh think about it. I I and I respectfully ask you to just consider the senior community. By the way, we are uh a big voting block here in Hammet and we do pay taxes. We most of the seniors here own a home. So, we uh we pay taxes. I've been here for over 24 years. I've seen the city grow and in good direction. So, uh, like I said, I'd appreciate it if the council would just think about it and think of the seniors that would be affected by your decisions. I thank you.

Thank you, M. Thank you. Uh, that concludes the speaker cards that we received. I want to just do a quick call out on the Zoom call. If there's anyone that would like to speak uh for general public items, uh, now is your time to raise your hand and we'll give you just a few brief moments. Seeing none, mayor, that concludes public comment for all general items.

Thank you very much. Can I make a clarifying comment on speakers? Okay. I just want to make one clarifying comment regarding shuffleboard that I understand that one of the options that was sent out in a survey on Western Park had the elimination of that shuffleboard building. However, a decision has not been made and I want to thank everyone that came and talked about shuffleboard tonight. So, thank you very much. And with that, we are moving on to receive and file. Is there any comments from council on any of the receive and file items or from staff?

Mayor, I have a request uh regarding the third item on the receive and file, the quarter 2 update.

Okay. uh briefly with respect to task 11 and task 15. Task 11 is the creation concept of a creation of an economic development committee and community committee and council mayor Krupa is the liaison to that. And number 15, launch a business advisory committee. And we have um incorrectly identified council member Clark and males. That actually should be um council member Peterson and council member and mayor prom males. Um what we'd like to do is recommend that we combine those. Uh the staff is working on uh the concept of a business advisory committee that would be created at the staff level uh where we work with uh perhaps two members of the council to help us um you know identify some folks, but we would create the the advisory committee to assist the economic development director. Uh we'd love to have a couple council members dedicated to that. Uh when we combine those though, we end up with three council members. So, what we'd like to do is either work directly with the business outreach ad hoc of mayor of council member Peterson and Mayor Prom Males. Uh, unless otherwise directed, if that's okay,

sounds good to me. Yeah. Okay. Um, is Tom still on the line? Does Yes, I am. [laughter] Do you Okay, so we have three council members, Connie, Jackie, and No, what do we have? We have incorrectly identified council member Clark. Uh, that should be council me that should be council member Peterson on number 15 and um Mayor Prom Males and Mayor Krupa on number 11.

So, it's 11 and 15. We'd like to combine it. Really, it's going to look more like number 15 after we consolidate that. And [clears throat] in consolidating this this would also reach out to the general public to have them on this committee or ad hoc. You know we we haven't um formalized sort of an agenda for the year but that certainly can be an option. Uh we really enjoy the idea of you know survey work and f focus groups on certain topics and um I know we want to liazison as much as we can with the the chamber of commerce and so we would anticipate working with them on some concepts as well.

Okay. Okay. I'll just make a statement. I would love to be on this but if you two want to remain on it that's fine. Say that again. I said I would love to be on this but if you two want to stay on it I'm fine with that. I'd love to be on it. No, three only two because I'd be I'd be the third one. Yeah. So, just you and me then. Oh, yeah. The two of you. Okay. Beetle 75. Two of them. 10 four. All righty. Fantastic. Got that one settled. Any other comments from council on any of the receive and file items? [snorts] No, not here.

Okay. Hearing none, we settled that one. These items are received and filed. Now, we move on to the consent calendar. Items on the consent calendar will be act upon in a single motion unless requested by an individual council member for separate consideration. Are there any members of council that would like to pull items from the consent calendar? 16B. B as in boy. As in boy. [clears throat] Tom, do you uh I'm No, I'm good.

You're okay. Okay, I would like to pull 16F, 16 G, 16 K, 16 L. [clears throat] Do I have a motion to approve items the rest of the items which would exclude Joe? It would exclude Joe. It would exclude I knew it. 16B, F, G, K, and L. I'll make the motion. I'll second it. I'll second it.

I have a motion by Mayor Putin Mail, second by Council Member Peterson, registered first. We'll do a roll call. And this is to approve the consent calendar with the removals removal of items 15B, excuse me, 16B, F, G, K, and L for separate consideration. Correct. Do a roll call. Council member Lodge. [clears throat] Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Prom Mails. Yes. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes four to zero. Moving on to 16B as in boy. Mayor Prom, you have 16B proclamations. Okay. All right.

And no, we're not. We're going to add we are not going to add 15 more. USMC birthday Veterans Day.

This is not right. It's not customary nationwide and not respectful to the distinct meaning of each day. Veterans Day represents honors. Veterans Day honors all veterans, all branches, all eras, and all who served. Where Marine Corps birthdays honors one branch celebrates 1775 founding as free decor. Marine heritage, sacrifice, and tradition. And kind and combining them dilutes both. No other branch is asked to share a birthday with Veterans Day. Marines don't celebrate on Veterans Day. They celebrate November 10th. This isn't about ego or branch rivalry. This is about respect and accuracy. This was changed by the previous mayor and this can be changed by the new mayor, the new sitting mayor. And I'm asking you, Mayor Krupa, to please give the Marine Corps's Marine Corps its rifle birthday proclamation back to the city council.

I don't have a problem with that at all. I looked at that and I was wondering whether or not it was proclamation for both of these because you're right, two different things. Yes. So, yes. I I don't remember them being combined last year. I don't remember that either. I thought we had they were combined. Were they? Yes. Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans Day were combined. We're separating them. So in the month of November, we will have the USMC birthday, we will have Veterans Day, and we will have Small Business Saturday. Thank you, Mayor Koopa. You are welcome. Do I have to vote on that? Okay, you made the motion. Right. Make a motion. I'll second.

Oh, I'll make a motion to uh separate uh both um um holidays uh making Marine Corps Birthday its own entity and Veterans Day its own proclamation. Do we have a second? Tom second. Oh, Tom. Second. Okay. Roll call, please. Thank you, Mayor. I have a motion by Mayor Pertim Mails, second by Council Member Lodge. Start with the roll call. Council member Lodge. Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Pertim Males. Yes. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes four to zero. Okay. Very good.

And moving on to 16F and G. I don't need a staff report. I don't need anybody at the podium. I just want to say congratulations to the police department and to the public works department for getting these outstanding grants to improve infrastructure and programs at our city. Yes. Congratulations. So I will make a motion to approve 16F and 16G. I'll second. I have a motion by Mayor Kupa, second by Mayor Pertim Males. We'll do a roll call. Council member Lodge. Yes. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Pertim Mails, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes to approve items 16F and G. All righty.

4 Z. Moving on to 16K, the vision plan. I have a question on that as to does this only affect the employees listed in these unit uh bargaining groups or does it affect all city employees? No, that is correct. the safety groups opted to keep the prior plan which is not a true vision plan. It's a reimbursement plan. Okay. So, so this is we're just approving this plan for the others and everybody else stays the same. Correct. All righty. Thank you very much. You're welcome. On that I will make a motion to approve 16K. I'll second.

I have a motion by Mayor Koopa, second by Mayor Pim Males. We'll do a roll call. Council member Lodge. Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Pim Mills. Yes. Yes, Mayor Koopa. Yes, that motion passes four to zero. Very good. Moving on to 16L. Just clarification for everyone since this is regarding uh chapter 53 of municipal code of personal conduct and disorderly conduct and prohibiting littering and illegal dumping and establishment of property maintenance standards. We are in the second reading today. So, does this go into effect tomorrow? 30 days from today. 30 days from tomorrow. March.

But people should not litter between now and then, [laughter] but starting 30 days from tomorrow, there will be a fine. Just just this is a warning to everybody. And yes, you still can't litter. So with that, uh, I will move approval of that item. I'll second it. I have a motion by Mayor Kup, second by Council Member Bodgege. We'll do a roll call. Council member Belage. Yes. Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Pretend Males. Yes. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes four to zero. Okay. And as soon as I get my computer back on. Yeah. Spelled my name wrong.

Dropped the pen. [laughter] Now you made me do it again. We will move on to discussion and action items. The first one, uh, could we have a staff report on discussion item 17A, the city council, outside boards, committees, commissions, and appointments.

Thank you, mayor. And I just wanted to call out uh to the public if there's anyone who would like to uh speak on this item. Now is your time to submit a speaker card. And uh with that, I'll start my presentation. Um tonight's uh brief presentation is to uh on the city council outside boards and committees and commission appointments. Uh what I've pro provided in the report is a uh 2025 um list of outside boards, committees and commissions. Uh the city of HMT uh city council annually appoints um officials. Um and then the mayor is the presiding officer of the city council um which stands and represents um on different boards. Um any vacancy or alternate that should be um updated throughout the year we've u made those updates. So what you'll see in the uh proposed staff report are the updates that were um assigned during 2025. uh we did have a vacancy uh earlier that year which led to some updates and so that's what was uh previously captured in the report. Um that is my brief uh presentation and what we're looking for tonight. Madame Mayor and the city council is um approval of a suggested list. Um and we can go through one by one or we could um go as you prefer. I would make a suggestion that if everybody's in agreement that we keep them the way they are for the next year unless there is something that you absolutely want to get rid of or join with some clarification.

I will second that. I thought you I thought you were going to have me assist you and RCTC. You're there. Am I there already? Yep. You're there in front of me. You're there already. Okay, good. And we'll keep it. Yes. I'm happy with the way they are now. Okay. and sounded like Tom is uh need some clarification down towards the bottom where we're talking about the League of California Cities. Um and these are policy committees. So is do we know is there any any one of us that is on Cal City's Community Services Policy Committee? No, not at this time. Okay, so we can take that off the list. What about the governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations? Not at this time.

They're gone. Uh, housing, community, and economic development. Nope. No.

Okie dokie. I am on the policy committee, transportation, communication, and public works for Cal Cities. So, we could add that. And then on the um Oh, that's okay. Regional council for SCAG. That's a that's me. And actually, I was elected to a two-year position last year. So, I will be done in 26. And I am also on the SCAG transportation committee. I don't know if anybody else is on SCAg from Hammet City Council. Not at this time. Okay.

And the other two are are good. the uh Riverside County Waste Management Task Force appointment by WRCOG. I don't believe we've met in the last two years. Uh but the mobile source air pollution reduction review committee, we do meet regularly. Um and we have some exciting things coming up this year. So, we can get rid of some of them and just change that one. We'll update the list. Mayor. All right. and city clerk, we need to add the uh stock farm ad hoc. It's on there.

I don't think we have any ad hocs. Oh, we do. Um, yeah, actually the theater and the stock farm need to be on the special ad hocs. Um my first page on 17A says that uh on the he so stock farm it is Ms. Peterson and myself. Correct. That's correct. Yeah. Okay. Both of those are listed there on a under the exhibit the first exhibit. The downtown theater ad hoc and the um Hemet stock farm. Those were the newly added ones.

Okay. along with the youth council ad hoc and art and cultural ad hoc. Those are the the new the latest. Okay. So, we're we're Okay. We are clear on what we are on on that. So, I need a motion to approve. Yes. Uh you do not need a motion to approve. Excuse me. This is by a consensus and the wave of the gabble. Okay. Everybody say consensus. Consensus. [laughter] Okay. Consensus. Consensus. We're done. Okay. Very good.

Uh, moving on to 17B, resolution of the city council amending the downtown kitchen grant program and authorizing waiver of planning and all of that other stuff that is listed on here. Could we please have a staff report? And mayor, we do have one public comment. Would we like to receive the presentation first or? Yes, I would like to have the presentation first. Perfect.

So, mayor, uh, I'm going to take the lead tonight. This is a an item that uh we held at the last meeting and at that time uh the council requested that we continue with continue this item. Uh one specific issue was additional research related to legal issues uh that were brought forward with respect to the Kimble's Beastro restaurant. And in the ensuing period of time, uh there was a development uh that is new to this and that is that uh the city received a request by Carlton Steakhouse to move um from their prior location at the corner of Harvard in Florida to 123 North Harvard Street. So, uh, that request has been added into the report as, uh, in addition to additional legal analysis of the request for an exemption of, uh, the city's downtown kitchen grant program, um, provisions. Now, to back up a bit, this is a program that the city launched in mid 2025. it. At the time it was focused on the downtown and with the uh proposed changes here, this would um while it remains a focus of the city to focus on the downtown and business creation, restaurant creation, uh this program would be expanded citywide. And um if um the recommendations are um if the council um grants the staff recommendations, there would be $200,000 available today. And it's our recommendation, it's the staff recommendation to appropriate an additional $500,000 which would provide you a $700,000 account uh with recommendations to advise that the estimated awards are expected not to exceed $300,000, but that doesn't commit you anyone to that

cap. Um, we would recommend a 45day uh process where we would go solicit uh a second round of proposals from uh restaurants and any that have previously applied or uh other uh potential new ideas and uh then work with the council's ad hoc to make a recommendation to the city council uh for consideration of funding. And the economic development uh director, Ben Sandival, and I are available to answer any questions you have. Do you have all right do you have a presentation or just want us to ask questions?

Questions would be great mayor and good evening. I believe we we provided the presentation last last city council meeting so there won't be none this time. Okay. Any questions Jackie? I I have no Joe. Uh just curious about the uh steakhouse uh there is that I'm sorry. Is your mic on? Yes it is. council. Just curious what's going on in that the Carlton steakhouse. Is that what you're referring to? They they've requested they still want to move forward with with the steakhouse. They just decided to move locations instead of the current one that they had originally proposed from South Harvard. Now they'll be moving over to North Harvard on 123rd.

Did they sign a contract initially with the other um building or the uh prop the potential uh owner is here. if he had any questions on that one. I I can't comment on him on on there's any been anything signed on that portion. I'm just wondering if if they signed a contract initially. Are you referring to the new location uh vice mayor or the old one? I would not be able to comment on that one. They have not provided anything to the city in that retrospect. Are you asking if we signed a lease? Yeah. Did did you sign anything you

go to the microphone if you want to answer a question? Thank you and introduce yourself, please. I'm just curious if a contract was signed with the initial building that uh you were going to move into and if so, were you able to get out of that contract in order to move into the new building? Um my name is Jessica Ellis and I'm the co-owner of uh Carlton Steakhouse. We do have a signed lease with Mr. Therson. Uh we have uh initiated turn the nation of said lease and we're working on that part of it. So there's uh then we we have some different things going on with that but we've we've we've already proposed a uh lease turn the nation. Okay. So yeah, but it's not been approved yet.

It has he uh is the email I've received was he's unilaterally not accepting our lease termination and he copied his legal on it. Um we our legal team has not heard anything from them so far. I have asked to return the keys to him and now it's my understanding that he's moving forward with the city to propose a downtown vendor food truck fair in the area that would be our area of the steakhouse and I I have not heard back from him. So, um I actually am the realer and I was the representing us on that lease agreement. So, um I and he is the realer representing himself and I've you know we've tried to terminate it. We've there's been no contact. So, Is that going to cause a problem though if if he doesn't allow you to get out of that lease in order to move into the new building or

No, I don't foresee a problem with it. No. Okay. I don't I don't Yeah, that's that shouldn't be an issue. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Tom. Do you have any questions? Um yeah, I got a couple of them. Um, but it has to do with the um permits for the uh Kimble Beastro and I need to talk to uh staff about that one. So I I'm okay for now. Okay. I could I could just comment maybe perhaps briefly on that because I I have that question too

on and then I should have included this in the presentation. So, while uh the re the staff is recommending denial of the request for an exemption to the $150,000 grant award to Kimbles, um we are um still recommending that we provide them the waiver of planning and building fees that would be associated with the uh project and um but that does not include any other agency fees or required uh fees that are external of the city of Hammet.

Okay. Thank you. Um, let's see what else. I did have uh on the application the it still said the kitchen downtown kitchen grant. So, we just need to correct the application that says kitchen grant. Thank you, mayor, for that. And um the map that shows in their in the uh exhibit Yeah. shows the downtown square, not the extended square. So maybe just say this this is the original down or this is the downtown considered downtown but this is a citywide kitchen grant.

Absolutely. Thank you for the recommendations mayor and per these we'll also be updating if approved a updated flyer to open up a potential round two if approved. Okay. Thank you for the recommendations.

I have a question now to the rest of the council. Um, do you have any angst about the dollars? Yeah. An additional 500 or whatever? No. No. I I would like to ask the city attorney if he sees any uh issues with moving to 123 North Harvard. If if they [clears throat] still have a lease signed and it's not approved yet, that concerns me.

Sure. Um so look, we all knew that when we went into downtown and tried to get uh economic activity going uh that we have several business we have several land owners in downtown uh who sometimes uh don't get along with each other. Um and uh we we we want really strongly for everyone to succeed in downtown. Um the application was made by Carlton Steakhouse. Uh now we do need the concurrence of the property owner where their business is going to be located at because we are going to secure that grant amount with the landowner as well. Um what we're asking for here is not in any way for the city to insert itself into what is apparently a private dispute between a tenant and their landlord potentially over whether or not they can terminate a lease. What we're asking for the city council is if they do move, is the council okay with that grant going with the business which was the original applicant? Um, we are not getting in the middle of these two. I know that we've gotten several emails um regarding this. Um, I have no opinion uh on whether or not uh Carlton's [snorts] can legally terminate their lease uh with with the McFersonsons. Um but what I would say is it is entirely within the purview of this council. If you want to say to the business if you move you can take this grant with you. You have that authority to do that.

Uh especially since the new location meets all the guidelines that you established for the program before. Um there'll be lots of opportunity to work with the uh other property owners in downtown. We want them to be successful as well. And I think the fact that the council initially approved this grant for that location demonstrates the council's commitment to to every owner in downtown. On that note, can I ask a question? Sure.

On that note, then we shouldn't concern oursel if with the um gentleman trying to get the grant for the steakhouse. If he doesn't get out of that lease with the other owner of the building and he has to pay fines or pay something, is that going to offset anything with a new building, him getting in the new building and not having the funds to move in there or so we don't concern ourselves. Our grant is not going to be applied to any legal fees or other issues that they may have with the previous landlord if that's your question.

Right. And again, this is an this is an authorization. If they move, right, they can take the grant with them. Okay? This is not a requirement that they do that. You know, there's peace may break out in our time, right? There's still the possibility that they can resolve things. Uh we're looking for Carlton Steakhouse to open in downtown. Okay. Um and so, uh that that's that's how I understand staff's request and the the suggested motion before the council. Okay, you're okay with that? Okay, I have a couple more questions and then we have I think some public speakers on this.

So, the the number one in the recommendation uh appropriating an additional 500,000 in general fund reserves to the kitchen grant program. So we will you we exclude the 350 and 150 take the balance of that and then add that to the 500,000. That's correct. So we would then in total have my math 650 700,000 available to you. 700,000. Okay. Just wanted to be clear on that. And with that, do we have any public speakers on this issue?

Thank you, Mayor. We have uh one public comment. Jason Strain, I'll ask you to go to the podium and you'll have three minutes. All right. Good evening, uh, mayor and council members. Uh, thank you to staff and the city attorney for careful, uh, review of the recommendations before you. I respect the legal analysis that has been provided and the city's obligation to protect, uh, public funds and, uh, preserve the program integrity. I want to be very clear about what uh Kimble's Beastro is asking for tonight. Uh we're asking the city council to grant a limited project specific exemption allowing Kimbell's Beastro to submit legitimate documented project expenses that were incurred prior to the execution of the downtown uh grant agreement for reimbursement consideration. We understand that this request departs from the standard notice to proceed requirement and we acknowledge the legal concerns raised including uh prevailing wage considerations. We're not asking council to ignore those concerns. We're asking you to weigh them against the unique facts of the project and the uh public interest. Kimble's project has not yet opened. Kimmel's beastro is not yet opened. Um yesterday we completed our final inspection for the uh building department and we're issued four minor uh correctable uh items and we have uh not obtained a certificate of of occupancy um and no sales have been uh occurred and no revenue has been uh generated at this stage. Financial stability is critical. The requested reimbursement would not create a windfall for the project. It would provide a financial offset that materially uh contributes to the stability of the project allowing it to open, operate, hire locally, and succeed uh during its critical early months. That stability directly affects whether

this nearly complete project becomes a long-term uh uh downtown contributor. I would also like to address the concern raised with the pay designation. There is no pay designation conflict in this case. During Zoom meetings with the city representatives, Mr. Carlton specifically raised the question whether if uh um he purchased equipment uh directly, reimbursement could be made directly to him rather than a contractor. Um he was assured that direct reimbursement would be permitted for the qualified expenses. We were all on that call. Um Kimble's Beastro relied on that guidance in the choice to participate in the program. This was not an attempt to bypass the program requirements, but a good faith effort to comply with them based on the information provided during city-led discussions. I also want to emphasize full transparency to the uh and city knowledge. At no time uh at no time did Kimble's beastro hide dis uh hide, obscure, or fail to disclose the status of the progress of the project. staff was fully aware that the project was significantly underway and nearly complete. Despite that knowledge, we were urged to participate in the downtown grant program and this award was granted with full awareness of the project status at the time. We recognize that written program guidance govern eligibility and verbal discussions do not override them. However, these facts are relevant when the council considers whether a narrow one-time exemption is appropriate and the applicant acted transparently in reliance to the city encouragement and uh furtherance of the public benefit. Uh Mr. Mayor, I just have a few more. Am I out of time or am I good?

No, go ahead.

Okay. Um with respect to the uh gift of public funds concern, the expenditures at issue directly uh produce public benefit rehabilitation of a long vacant historic building which it actually was uh the first uh post office in town. Um job creation, code compliance, and a project poised to generate sales tax and downtown activity. The requested exemption would support project completion and stability, not subsidize unrelated private expense. Um, and the grant surely incentivize the choice to move forward bringing this project to fruition. We're not asking for a blanket exemption or a change to the program. We are asking for a limited u fact-specific exemption subject to documentation, verification, and all conditions council deems appropriate. Uh we appreciate the staff's recommendation to preserve the previously granted fee and permit waiverss. We respectfully submit that waivers alone don't fully address the financial reality created by early private investment and delivered public benefit before formal program execution. Ultimately this is a policy decision for the council. We ask that you exercise its discretion in measured way that recognizes transparency, reli uh reliance, project stability, and the city's economic development goals. Uh thank you for your consideration. I just wanted to add that um we are looking forward to opening uh we're looking forward to opening very soon and the uh that $150,000 um while it's um not close to the nearly 900,000 we've spent on the project, it adds a lot of financial stability in moving forward in opening more restaurants in the downtown and making sure this one is viable. So, thank you.

Thank you, Jason. Okay. Any other questions or concerns? If not, I'd like to entertain a motion. So, somebody take a stab. Got to find it again.

Okay.

I do have a question for Stephen though. Yes. Go ahead, Tom. Um, what's the legalities on on uh us not granting them the money and resending the money from them? Are we talking about uh Kimble's beastro? Yes, sir.

Uh I I think the legalities are pretty clear. Uh I I completely understand the financial situation that they're in and I appreciate all the work they've done towards bringing that restaurant close to opening. Uh it's been something we've been working with them on uh for quite some time. Um as I go through in the the legal discussion aspect of the staff report, there were several program guidelines that were adopted by the city council uh for this program. And unfortunately the method that the uh applicant chose to proceed and I mean it's hard to fault them too much uh they went quickly to bring the restaurant online instead of waiting for uh the notice to proceed. uh but unfortunately we we don't have the necessary documentation or legal compliance uh in place that to have those payments be made in compliance with the guidelines that the council approved and with state law requirements. You know, just to to go back just briefly talk about the the gift of public funds analysis, you know, the city is engaged in all sorts of economic development initiatives. Um, and you know, a common thread among all of these, including one uh that I was working with with Ben on today for another set of businesses in town, is that the city's economic development incentive has to be the primary catalyst for the end result that we are looking for. But for the city's economic development incentive, the end would not have been achieved. That way we can see that there's a cause and an effect and we're avoiding just writing taxpayer funded checks to businesses throughout town. Um, in this case, the effect occurred before the cause. So, the result already occurred. And so, we can't say that it would not have happened if we weren't engaging in this economic uh incentive program because it did occur before any economic incentive occurred. Now, I fully appreciate Mr.

restrain's point of view, which was that they were moving as fast as they could. Uh that they believed that they were going to get um access to these funds. I think that there are certainly a lot of opportunities in downtown. Mr. Chu owns a lot of properties in downtown uh for us to work together on other projects. I just don't see a legal path with the guidelines in the program that the city council set up to retroactively make those payments. If that pathway was possible, I would have provided it.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, thank you. I was just wondering if Okay, never mind. I understand it. Got it. [snorts] Okay. Do we have a motion?

Okay. I will make a motion to adopt the resolution amending the city's downtown kitchen grant program, authorizing a waiver of planning and building permit fees for program participants and appropriating an additional $500,000 in general fund reserves to the kitchen grant program. In addition to deny a request by Kimbell's beastro for an exemption to their 150,000 grant award and approve a request by Carlton Steakhouse to move their $300,000 grant award to 123 North Harvard Street and authorize initiating a second kitchen grant application period. Do I have a second?

That's denying Kimble but going forward. Staff recommendation. Okay. Um, I I'll second that. Okay, we have a motion and a second. We have a roll call, please. A motion by Council Member Peterson, second by Mayor Pertim Mills. We'll do a roll call. Council member Lodge, no. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Prom Mills, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes 3 to one. Thank you, council.

Thank you. And just as an aside on this, I is Jason. There's There you are. You moved chairs. I drove by uh Kimble Beastro last night when I was done with another meeting here and the exterior looks amazing and the uplighting the exterior lighting on that building is phenomenal. So get it open. We all want to come and eat there, okay? soon as possible. Okay, with that, let's move on to council reports. And Tom, do you have any council reports?

No, I do not. Okay. We hope you get well soon. Jackie, thank you very much because I'd love to be able to walk again. We would love to have you walking again. [snorts]

Okay. Um, even though we haven't met in a month, luckily we were kind of given a holiday break, believe it or not. So, uh, some of our outside committees even took a break. So, um, I do have a couple things and they're actually rather lengthy, so bear with me. So, the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency, we were supposed to meet in December before the holiday and um sadly not enough people responded and we did not have a quorum and we even were told that they were going to serve a nice lunch for the holiday and can you believe it, they serve food and people didn't come. [laughter] So, so we had to postpone it till the next quarter. So, that didn't happen. Um, I have quite a bit of information on Ramona Bowl. Uh, I want to just talk first a few about the a few of their upcoming events. Um, Saturday 18th, there's going to be a car show there. Um, there's going to be a lot of other activities along with that. And on um, Saturday, January 24th at 6:00 p.m. right up here, it will be a totally different transformation up here. The president's gayla is going to be here and a lot of the cast comes. They have entertainment usually with that. Uh we're going to have a great buffet dinner with three entre and a u dessert and it's $60. So you can go to the website. Um is the chamber selling any tickets for that or is it just just Ramona is selling the tickets for that. So anybody's welcome to. It's a it's a great evening. So that's fun. Um, so several of we people that are affiliated with Ramona Bolan and I include myself because I've been the leazison for three years now and I've gotten to know the board and uh, you know, some of the actors and actresses and um, you know, people behind the scenes and everything.

But there was a documentary that was um made almost two years in the making and it's called Ramona and the ballot of Juan Diego and this wonderful couple produced this documentary and we saw it about a year ago in a special showing and they said you can't tell anybody about it yet because we don't know if this is going to be the final cut or not. And I thought it was going to be shorter, but the Palm Springs Film Festival just showed it three times in the last two weekends. And Mayor Krupa and myself and some other people from HEMT and our affiliates were there for the the premier screening of this documentary. And I'm telling you, people that we didn't know just loved this documentary. And it's um an hour and 59 minutes. And I I was sure they were going to cut it down some, but but they didn't. And um it traces the real history behind the story of Ramona, including the novel, the century old play, and the harrowing indigenous history behind it all. And it was fascinating to to see the family and um how how this all came about over a hundred years ago, you know. And um the star of the show was there of course and um he's a big part of the documentary and he even said I wasn't that interested in my background before but when he started this he was like he delved into his his history and um he just couldn't believe the things that he found and it's a wonderful wonderful documentary and um it's going to be shown in Idle Wild because they have a film festival also. It's called Idle Wild International

Festival of Cinema and it's going to be shown up there on Tuesday, March 3rd at 11:00 a.m. And I would encourage anybody to go up there and see this documentary. And they're hoping that maybe a major company will will buy it like Netflix or somebody like that and show it. That was their dream like about a year ago. And and they've got it in another film festival, too. I forgot what the third one is. I think I think they have a third one, but it's it's it's a great great documentary and it it was very wellreceived by all the people there. They really really liked it. So, um, we met with the arts and culture committee and, um, we put out a, um, notice on, uh, Facebook and Instagram that we now have a San Hasinto Valley cultural assets map. And this is a new communitybuilt product on He City of Hemtt's website. It's an interactive map and it highlights people, places, traditions, and creative spaces. And you can actually go in there and add more. So, this is a uh a public a first ever community-led mural. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh a first um community involved big project that we did this last year. So we had all kinds of people come up here again in the library and we identified all these things you know we had professional people here we had um you know just common citizens and you know everybody every walk of life was here and we helped build this map and there's a place that you can go in there on the website and like I said you might have a person next door to you that's a wonderful artist that we don't know about so you can go in there and nominate that person on the website and tell us about them and then have them added to this map. And what we're trying to do, this will help us for grants in

the future and it will also help for our tourism. You know, when people come to town, they're like, well, what can we do? You know, so we'd like to make this um more of a arts and culture community and and let them know what we have. And um the third thing is um we'll be soon having our first community planned uh mural. So we're inviting we're going to be inviting the residents again, partners and local artists to help imagine themes, stories, and visuals that reflect the the valley's culture, history, and collective hopes. So look for more info on this and it's a great way you guys can get involved and um you know learn learn more about what's going on and and we will learn from you. So that's a great thing. So and with that that's all I have. So thank you.

Very good Mr. Males.

Hey that's me. All right. The business uh outreach and ad hoc committee remains focused on supporting our small businesses and improving responsiveness and permitting processes. Uh the C CDBG ad hoc committee continues ensuring grant funds are directed responsibly toward infrastructure, housing, and services for qualifying residents. The cleanup and graffiti ad hoc committee and homeless outreach ad hoc committee remain active in addressing quality of life concerns through both enforcement and outreach while balancing compassion and public safety. And through the Veterans Memorial Ad Hoc Committee, we continue honoring those who served and ensuring their leg legacy is properly recognized. In terms of community engagement, I attended the Met lunchon on December 11th where I won a $500 drawing and donated it to the American Legion Post 53. On December 12th, I attended the Jeff Gonzalez lunch in at Heritage Palms in India, followed by the historic uh Hemmet Theater dinner and show on December 13th in support of cultural uh assets. I also attended the HSJVCC Sabova Foundation and SCR Holiday Mixer at the Saboba Event Center, which continues to be a valuable opportunity for regional collaboration. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um several of the meet uh boards that I'm on did not meet. However, um RCTC had we had our regular meeting in December uh and approved $108 million for 6 and a half miles of the Mid County Parkway expansion. That is the Ramona Expressway. So from Ryder to Warren Road is going to be expanded

to two lanes divided in each direction with the added stuff on the side. Uh and that is actually underway right now. They were clearing uh scraping land on the south side of the of the expressway at the end of December. That entire project is projected to be done by the I think it's the beginning of 2028 or late 2027. So, looks like it's going to be in our lifetime. Uh RTA had uh some service changes that became effective on Monday, but also uh they had a job fair last Saturday at the Hemet facility and they are hiring bus drivers. They've got to hire like 78 new bus drivers for their routes of bringing dialeride inhouse. Starting wage for that is $2627 an hour. So if you're looking for a job that doesn't pay minimum wage, go apply at RTA. You can apply at their website or you can go to their facility down off Wentworth and apply down there. Uh Jackie covered the arts and culture. some fun things that I did. Um, well, it was informational, too. The juvenile justice and probation department for Riverside County had a an expo up here at the library called Decisions and Direction for juvenile justice. It was extremely good and the work that Riverside County is doing with young people who are getting themselves into trouble is really exemplary and they have an very good success rate. What impressed me the most about the speakers

that were there is that every one of them, including the chief of the probation department, was in trouble as a young kid. And something in their life that every one of them had a defining moment when they said, "I can't go down this path any longer because I will absolutely destroy the rest of my life." they usually had a mentor that was working with them and that is what the county is stressing uh is is getting mentors for the the kids the young kids who are getting into trouble who may not have parents at home and may not have guidance that they need but it was it was really an interesting event. I also attended the uh student of the month out at the uh Maze restaurant. Always a a good thing listening to young people and what they go through in school. Um, we had a business walk that was at the Stater Brother Center at State and Stson. Very informative for the businesses down there. And Monday night, I was fortunate to address the youth council u at a meeting up here. Great kids. No, they know what they're doing. They're they're pretty pretty astute. So, uh, where's Ben? Did Ben already run away? Oh, there you are. Ben gave a a pro presentation on economic development and then he and I went over to the theater and he gave a great presentation to the uh the heritage foundation which is the depot museum. I also attended the mobile home education trust holiday lunchon and along with mayor prom males winning $500 I won $500 also that I am giving to the valley community pantry. We all attended the state of the county.

Oh yeah. And uh Hemet was well represented with a booth talking about all the good things that happen here. And that's about it. So I'll turn it over to the city manager.

Thank you, mayor. I have several items to update everyone on. Uh the first is Council Member Connie Clark is going to hold a uh District 1 community meeting at Batista Elementary School on Thursday, January 29th. And this is going to be doors open at 5:30. The program will begin at 6:00. We expect to conclude by 8:00 p.m. Uh you're probably wondering where is District 1. Well, that's a great question. If you live on the north side of Florida, there's a chance uh that you're in District 1. Uh the good news is the flyer that we'll post likely tomorrow will have a map. And in addition to that, we have a link on the flyer that will show you uh how you can look up your district. Um, so you can be part of that discussion. Uh, should be a fun, uh, meeting. We're going to bring some department heads to answer some questions that the community has. And, um, you can find more information on our city website. Um, secondly, uh, profiled on our city website, I wanted to share a few things that have occurred in the last couple of weeks. Uh first uh we have launched a Saturday evening volunteer foot patrol downtown primarily on Harvard and adjacent streets. Um the the vision here is that uh there's keeping an eye out on uh all things cleanliness uh beautifification. Uh they can provide directions etc. So really want to say thank you to our police volunteers for stepping up to assist us. Uh so we look to expand that program. If anyone would like to be part of the uh city's police volunteer program, they can reach out to the police department. Uh second, well, uh we've covered the asset map. It is on the website, so you can find it easily by looking at um the front page today where we profile this, but also under the community link is where that's going to live. And that is a living document. Uh third, uh we have launched an entrepreneur and small business grant program. Uh, so we have grants up to

$20,000 for startup businesses. Uh, that link is also on our website, hemmitca.gov. And finally, uh, on December 31, we issued and produced a, uh, 2025 year in review. It's a really great read. Lots of great, uh, um, moments and accomplishments in the last year. Encourage everyone to take a look at that. That can be found on the city's website as well. Uh later this week, I believe this is the week we will be issuing another city update. This is a by uh weekly um newsletter, a digital newsletter where people can sign up for updates. Uh you send us our your uh email address by signing up on the city's website. We promise not to bother you more than twice a month. It's always generally good information uh and community awareness. So uh again, that's him ca.gov. Thank you.

Okay. Uh future agenda items, you can look on here for January uh fiscal year 2526 midyear budget update, the hemtt auto mall tax sharing agreements for the next meeting and purchase and sales agreement for city-owned Stson Sanderson. Then coming up in February, murals and super graphics ordinance, the women's club facility use agreement and he community garden project. city manager and I were talking about our strategic plan and go goal planning uh goal setting for the next year. And since we had so much success with the outreach to two of the kind of informal surveys that we sent out to the public, uh we talked about doing a quick community service survey on what does the community think? what what should we be focusing in on for the next year in our goal setting and our strategic plan? And I would like for the city manager to bring back more in-depth information on that at the next the next council meeting if you guys are in agreement.

Okay, city manager. Yes, that sounds great. I think it's a great opportunity for us to uh receive some feedback from our community just in advance of um our goal setting workshop which would be late March early April is sort of the time frame. So this would need to be a survey that uh launches relatively soon and we can get started on that. Okay. Well, there being no further business, this meeting is adjourned to the next city council meeting on January 27th, 2026. We are adjourned.