City Council - Regular Meeting

on uh repair and re rehabilitation projects um and capital improvement projects to make sure that that infrastructure um that is in place to provide services to your residents and customers um remains uh remains high working order and able to continue to provide that uninterrupted quality service. And then third and and just as important as number one and related to number one um the rates for either of the two two utilities have not been adjusted for a little over six years now. So, uh, as those costs have gone up over those six years, those rates have remained stable. And so, that gap between the the amount you're collecting and the amount that you're paying for all those costs has, um, has widened a bit over the six years. [clears throat] So, let's talk about the kind of the process we went through and what the initial projections look like and then we'll talk more about the the recommendations and the rates and then ultimately the next steps. So, the rate study methodology is is built around three phases and this was described in the staff report as well. Um the first phase is called a revenue sufficiency phase and that really is is to answer the question of how much revenue do you need for each of the two utilities to do everything that they need to do and meet all the financial objectives. So that serves as the basis for a five-year financial plan um that is for the purpose of setting the rates but we extend that five-year plan out to 10 years um just to have a little bit term longer term visibility so we don't get the year five and drop off the edge of a cliff without any idea of what's coming next. So um that financial plan then leads into phase two which is a cost of service analysis. So under proposition 218 in California all rates for utilities are required to be based on the cost of providing the service. They cannot exceed the cost of providing the service and the rates paid by different categories of customer have to be proportionate to their their use and the cost that they cause the systems to incur. So we conduct a cost of service analysis where we take all the cost of operating utilities and we bucket those up um into the different uh customer groups. based on usage profiles, looking at your actual billing and demand data. And then that leads into phase three, which is what do the rates need to be in order to collect the revenue necessary

to meet all those financial objectives. So building on that cost of service analysis, we develop a structure of rates that ultimately ensures that we're able to have rates that recover the cost proportionately um in compliance with Proposition 218 based on customers demand profiles and usage profiles. So let's take a look at water first and we call this kind of the status quo projection. What if we did nothing? What you know with the financial plan that we know, the the the revenue needs that we know we have over the five years and the rates not changing. What would that look like? So the top graph here compares revenues to expenditures. The revenues are the dark blue bars, the expenditures of the light blue bars. And you can see uh in the first couple years the revenues are are more than expenditures but the gap is narrowing. Then starting in year four the expenditures are more than the revenues. you see that solid black line which indicates your net result um swinging negative in year four and then continuing to get more negative in year five and and that would continue over years 6 through 10 if we were to project that out even further. So not a situation that you want to have going forward and you can see on the bottom left the impact that that has on the amount of cash that the city is holding in reserve. Um that solid black line is the city's goal of maintaining 180 days or half a year's cash in reserve and that's about $6.3 million is that amount. um starting out in year one, we're already below that target and we're at about 5.1 million and then you can see the balance declines over the five-year period uh till it's negative in year four and even more negative in year five. So again, not an optimum situation for meeting the financial needs of the city and and staying in compliance with the city's policy of having that 180 days cash and reserve for the sewer utility. The picture looks um similar. first two years, looking at the top graph, the first two years, you see the revenues are a little bit more than expenditures each year. So that's good. But then by year three and four, that starts to swing the other way. That solid black line indicating net results again swings negative by year four. Um and then similarly on the bottom left, uh you see similar to water, the cash balance declining. We have a nice

balance to start with about 8.8 million. Um by year five that's exhausted. Um the goal again is to have 180 days of operating costs held in reserve. that's about $1.7 million and by year five that's mostly exhausted. So um and in both of those cases the the fund balance is declining um due to capital project spending and and primarily because of capital project spending on a on a strictly operating basis the the picture would look um not better or not not not completely better. We still would need some changes but um not nearly to the extent needed to make sure we can take care of all these capital projects. So, here's a list of the the different capital projects for water. And you can see predominantly those are um rehabilitation and replacement projects for water manes. These aren't expansion projects. These aren't being done to serve new development coming into the city or new properties or anything like that. These are strictly going out and replacing pipelines that through the years have degraded. They've been in the ground a long time and they need to be uh upgraded to make sure again that they they stay uh stay intact and the system integrity is maintained. Um, so you see that each year that the list of projects, it's about 12.7 million over the five-year period. Um, and uh, and you know, again, that that's being funded from the rate revenue. There there's not any debt associated with this. Is all being funded from the the utility rates, [clears throat] sewer, the similar similar description, uh, fewer projects and the dollar amount isn't quite as high, but they are just rehabilitation projects going out and replacing sewer mains and lift stations. So again, these are facilities that are already in the ground that are just aging and degrading through use and and time um and not being added to the system to serve any any new development or anything like that. So it's about $10 million over the five-year period and again mostly sewer main projects as you can see there in the descriptions. Excuse [clears throat] me. So with that in mind, let's take a look at what the uh the five-year plan of water and sewer rates looks like. We'll look at a typical what we call typical bill because it's based on on your actual

statistics of a of a a customer using 800 cubic feet of water per month. We'll look at what the combined water and sewer bill looks like at different levels of flow so you can get idea of that. Compare those rates with some of your neighbors and then finally revisit those financial metrics that we just looked at with the recommended changes incorporated. So here is the rate table for the water rates. So you see it's [clears throat] made up of the the the fixed charge, what we call fixed charge or meter charge, which is a charge every customer pays based on the size of their meter. And that's the the matrix of rates. Across the top there, you see the existing rates and then the rates each year beginning in 2026 up through 2030. And then at the bottom you see what's called a volumetric rate, sometimes called a consumption rate. Um that's the amount that customers pay based on the amount of water that they use. And so the the key change here is that the the meter charges were re-calibrated to comply with cost service standards and be consistent with AWA guidelines for meters. And they have a a p published best practices where this the meter sizes. The meters are tested for the amount of of flow that can be uh put through those meters and they create a system of ratios and their meter charges are increased as they get bigger to reflect the different size of meter and the amount of water and demand that can be placed on the system. So that's why those chargers charges grow larger as the size of the meter uh increases. And then because of that change in the meters the first year you see the the volumetric rate stayed the same in the first year. So there's no change in the consumption rate the first year and then it increments increments up um each year after that. [clears throat] Here is the the plan for sewer. So again you see uh or you know a little simpler structure compared to water. There's there's no meter charge and volumetric charge. There's just a monthly fixed charge for all customers there at the top per sewage unit. You see the existing rate and then the projected rate for each of the five years. Um there's a about a $130 charge for the

first year and then the rates go up about 50 60 cents each year um after that. That first year was kind of a catch-up adjustment to reflect the fact rates hadn't been adjusted since 2020. We're showing the EMWD charges below that just forformational purposes that we did not look at the EMWD rates or do any work on those rates um as part of our work with the city. Um, but we wanted to have that information included so that customers understand the full, you know, what they're going to see ultimately when they get a bill. [clears throat] So, here is what a combined uh monthly bill for a customer um looks like at different levels of flow. So, starting on the left, it's a customer that uses 400 cubic feet of water. Um, some sometimes called four units of water. 100 cubic feet is a unit of water. So uh sometimes the term unit is used because 100 cubic feet is a standard unit for billing purposes. Um and then moving for toward the right you see 800,000600 and 2,000 cubic feet um increments there. So you see in each of those instances the the existing bill compared to the proposed bill. Of course the proposed bill does go up and it's um in the range of $2.16 up to $223 a month is the impact um on a combined water and sewer bill for the customers at all those levels of usage. [clears throat] slightly on the the lower end of that range for the the low usage customer and then about um about eight cents higher on the uh the higher use customer. So, and here is just focusing in on the customer using only 800 cubic feet of water. You can see the change over the whole 5year period. So, again, that first year their bill goes up about $2.18. Um then it goes up about $10 the second year and then a little bit less each of the three years after that. about eight between eight and nine eight and $10 each of the last three years. And so that's again a combined bill for just the customer using the 800 cubic feet. Um what their their bill change will look like over the whole 5year period. And then here is the comparison of how

the rates for Hammet both existing and proposed look in comparison to a wide range of your neighbors and and cities that um some of them are not exact neighbors but um EMWD serves so much of the area here we had to look a little bit farther to find some neighboring city comparisons. So you see the city stays right in its lane. Doesn't jump above um Valceos or or go up any higher. Um the charge goes up about $2.16 like we talked about. still stays just below that solid black line which is the average of all the different municipal utilities that we looked at. That average was $125.30. Um so the the city of Hemetville um is $12323 with the changes and so it stays just below that average. So these rates are all static. These are just one moment in time. Um we know many of these cities are going through rate studies or will go through rate studies. That's typical. Um you know cities do increase rates every year. So this is just what the rates look like now. And I would expect that that this chart would just kind of go up in lock step with with all of these agencies including EMTT, you know, increasing their charges each year as as they go along. So going back to those metrics, those charts that we looked at at the beginning, um here is the uh the chart for water. So now you can see in the top the the dark blue bars um higher than the light blue bars and the black line indicating your net results staying positive each of those five years. And you see the targeted cash balance staying right at the 180day mark except for year two. There's a a huge uh chunk of capital being done in year two. You may remember that previous table. There's about $4.5 million of capital um just in that one year. So we let the balance drop that one year knowing that it's going to pick back up the next year uh and be right back at the target level. For sewer, um little bit different picture. The top looks similar. We've got revenues uh exceeding expenditures each year and the solid black line um showing positive for the net results and and continuing nice and stable. Um and that large capital balance we started

with being spent down slowly over that 5-year period. Um so that just after the the 5-year period, it gets closer down to the 180 days. We wanted to make sure again that um you know we don't spend that all down and make sure wanted to make sure that the utilities left in good shape. Um so when the next rate cycle comes around starting on solid ground. So finally the the last discussion here um will be about drought rates. So, as part of our work with the city, we were asked to develop a system of drought rates. Um, and so what a drought rate is is the city under under state legislation, um, water suppliers are required to plan for different levels of drought. Um, and have that as part of their drought ordinance drought ordinance. And you can see the city's drought ordinance is under the the, uh, municipal code there under chapter 82 if anybody is interested in looking that up. Chapter 82, article three. And so drought rates can be implemented um by the city manager under a couple under you know usage or demand where demand or I should say water shortage problems exist due to system problems, water shortages, um system failures, things like that or the governor or the state water board can declare a route a drought um you know based on um severe drought conditions throughout the state. Um and in either of these situations the drought ordinance would be enacted at at the appropriate level depending on the amount of uh reduction that's necessary. And so a drought rate is necessary because under under these conditions now the city is going to be selling less water. Um the city will also have some reduced cost because the the the cost of producing water um will go down slightly as well. And so the rates kind of need to be reccalibrated to to adjust to this you unique situation. So it allows the city to make sure it's able to still recover the cost of operating the utility when demand goes down as a result of um you know the drought drought ordinance being enacted. um it only impacts the volume rate or the or the consumption rate. So the base charge remains the same. It only the volume rate changes. So the it's only impacts or it only changes based on the amount of water uses used. Um and it

does cause the rate per unit of water to go up slightly because the the costs don't go down equivalent to the amount of demand reduction. So you know some of those costs still have to be incurred. There's still personnel. There's still uh the plant has to be operated and things like that. Um but we did reduce um you know all of the costs that that were appropriate based on anticipated reduction in demand under the drought. Um and then finally the as I said the water fix charges uh would stay the same. So here's what that table of rates looks like. So the the top line there is the standard uh volumetric rate. That's the same $4.79 that we looked at when we looked at the the table of water rates. The first column A there is the total cost related to volumetric water use. The second column B is the number of of water units that are sold. So about $7.6 million in costs um spread across 1.6 almost 1.6 uh million units of water. And that's how you calculate that $4.79. And you can see through each stage of the drought and each of those corresponding reductions in demand, you see the costs do go down somewhat. um but the the number of water billable billable water unit sold goes down even more. So that's why you see that rate per CCF um goes up through each of those five stages of the drought. So again these rates would only be enacted they'd have to be enacted by the city manager under the drought ordinance and that would be done you know publicly. Um so you know there would be notice of of this happening and only under you know a declared drought situation. And this is the table that shows what those rates look like out over the whole 5-year period. So these rates just like the other water rates would go up slightly each year um so that if if if in any year they would be enacted they would be the rates um in that year corresponding. So finally just to wrap up um kind of a summary of the steps that have gotten us to this point and the next step um we presented preliminary results to the planning commission back in the first

week of December and then uh presented the results to you all a week later at the council meeting. Um at that meeting you authorized uh the public hearing date for tonight and authorized us to mail notices to property owners and customers uh informing them about the public hearing. Um those notices were mailed December 22nd. And so we're here this evening. Um you will open up and conduct the public hearing. Uh there will be a portion of that public hearing where where folks can come forward and ask questions and and provide their feedback and uh any comments that they might have. Um once the public comment portion of the public hearing is closed, you'll tabulate the written protest or the city clerk will tabulate the written protests. Um assuming there is no majority written protest, then you will have the discretion to move forward to adopt rates. Um you're not required to do that if there's no majority protest. However, if there is a majority protest, then you can you can take no further action. Um and the process would stop. Um we sent out um 12,585 notices to property owners. There were also an additional 4,389 c uh notices sent to customers or occupants, tenants, you know, folks who are renters. Um as required under Prop 218, only one protest can be submitted per property. So either a property owner or a tenant can submit a protest, but only one gets counted per property. So in order for a majority protest to exist, we'd have to have 6,293 um submitted written protests. Um and so again, once uh the public hearing is concluded, you'll tabulate those and then you'll be able to discuss and deliberate and move forward um at your discretion. That's concludes uh my presentation. So I'm obviously available to answer any questions um either now or after you you uh discuss. So thank you very much.

Thank you very much. I will any questions from No questions down the line. Okay, I will now open the public hearing. City clerk, are there any registered speakers for or against this project? Mayor, there are no registered speakers, but I will note at this time that we did receive four written protests in opposition for the project. Okay, I will now close the public hearing. Any questions? Any questions now? No. Nope. Hearing none. Then can I have a motion to approve this item?

I will move to adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Hammock, California, approving the water and sewer rate schedule to be implemented from March 1st, 2026 through January 1st, 2030. I second that motion. Okay, we have a motion and a second. City clerk, may we have a roll call? Thank you, mayor. We have a motion by Council Member Peterson, second by Council Member Lodge. I will do roll call. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Lodge, yes. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Prom Mills, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes five to zero.

Thank you very much. We will now move on to our next public hearing item. Presentation on STA agenda item 21B. [clears throat] 21. 21B.

Thank you. [snorts] Good evening, mayor, members of the city council, and the community. My name is Monnique Alanise Flater, community development director. Uh tonight we are going to uh review the repeal and replacement of our current zone zoning ordinance uh concerning accessory dwelling units. Um, in recent uh years, the California legislature has approved um and the governor signed into law a number of bills that impose limits on local authority to regulate ADUs in JADUs. And on um October 8th, 2025, a letter was received by the Department of Housing and Community Development regarding the status um of the city's adopted ADU ordinance, which was last updated in 2021. The letter from HCD indicated that if an ordinance um an existing ordinance fails to meet the requirements of state ADU law, the ordinance is null and void and the local jurisdiction must apply the standard set forth in state law until it adopts an ordinance to comply with state law. As such, HCD recommended that the C city either repeal or amend the current ordinance to provide clarity for ADU applicants who may otherwise rely on outdated ordinances. Due to the significant number of amendments to the state law um of our existing ordinance, a repeal restatement of chapter 90, article 11, section 90-321

is proposed, including the provision of newly adopted state housing laws that go into effect on January 1st, 2026. On [clears throat] January 6, 2026, following a statemandated 20-day advanced public hearing, the planning commission voted to adopt resolution recommending approval of the zoning ordinance amendment to the city council subject to the findings outlined in the HMT municipal code, also included in the staff report. Additionally, the Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission found that the ordinance uh is consistent with the 2017 Hemtt Ryan Airport land use compatibility plan. So, accessory dwelling units um essentially are are um units that are attached or detached. They're residential dwelling units which provide complete independent living uh facilities for one or more persons and are located on a lot with a proposed or existing primary residence. Um it shall include permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation on the same parcel as a single family or multifamily dwelling. Um, an ADU also includes the following. Um, an efficiency unit, which is, um, the minimum for an efficiency unit is 150 square ft uh, for no more than two persons and should include partial kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as a manufactured um, home. A junior accessory dwelling unit means an accessory dwelling unit that has no more than 500 square feet in size and is contained entirely within the single family residence. It includes its own separate sanitation facilities, kitchen or shares sanitation facilities with the existing or proposed single family residents.

So since 2016, state ADU law has continued to evolve to further lower the barriers to development of more affordable housing. And as the legislature works to address the housing crisis across the state of California, these laws change. HCD's goals um is to ensure consistency and clarity in the application of these laws through education, technical assistance, and enforcement. Some of the key benefits um as provided by AC HCD is that ADUs are a coste effective um uh type of construction which uh significantly uh reduces the cost uh that than homes in multifamily um and infill buildings as well as extends um families to uh near one another to the that families may live near one another while maintaining privacy. ADUs give homeowners the flexibility to share independent living areas with family members and others allowing seniors to age in place as they um they require more care. Uh some of the key changes of this um of the legislation that have been included uh with this ordinance are the inclusion of a 15-day completeness determination upon receipt of an application for an accessory dwelling unit. Uh there are also um new exemptions. There is a school fee exemption for impact fees for ADUs and J ADUs of less than 500 square feet. There's a impact uh a school fee exemption and there's an impact fee for development fees. The impact fee exemption for ADUs um which has been in in place for quite some time but if you have an ADU that is less than or up to 750 square feet um the impact fees are exempt.

The uh other key changes include parking exemptions. Um the owner occupancy is not required for J AU. Um as long as they have separate sanitation facilities. There are um uh requirements or the city can require addressing to separate addressing to facilitate emergency response. There is a sunset on the owner occupancy requirement that was previously required by state law. Uh fire sprinkle fire sprinklers um are only required if the if the sprinklers are required in the primary residence and the uh new legislation also prohibits subjective design standards um from being applied um when reviewing the ADU applications. And then lastly, I want to do I did want to mention there is an amnesty for uh legalization of unpermitted uh ADUs. the uh the actual uh text amendment is uh exempt from the California quality environmental quality act. uh it is catechlorically exempt uh pursuant to SQA and the California public resources code section 211080.17 um which [clears throat] is as defined by government code as well as the SQA guideline section 15061B3 um in that the there is no certainty and no possibility the post proposed ordinance would have a significant effect on the environment On January 30th, um a notice of public hearing um was uh published in the press

enterprise prior to the holding of the city council public hearing. With that is respectfully recommended that the uh city council find that the project is categorically exempt in accordance with SQUA in the California public resources code and adopt ordinance of the city council of the city of Hemmet California adopting ordinance uh amendment 25-003 repealing and restating chapter 90 article 11 section 90-321 of the Hemet municipal code regulating accessory dwelling units in accordance with state law. This concludes my presentation. Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. I'll now open the public hearing. City clerk, are there any registered speakers? Thank you, mayor. We do have one registered speakers. Do we have a Scott Garrett? Mr. Garrett, will you come up to the microphone [snorts]

right here? Can I give that to you? Sure. Give it to the city clerk.

Thank you. My name is Or can I just wait till you guys have it in front of you? Need to turn the microphone up. There you go. [snorts] Thank you. Okay. Um this is a project that I've uh this is at Laam and I in I can't I can't hear you. Is that better? Yeah, better.

Okay. Um this is a a project that has been submitted for um planning plan check at Laam and INZ on the norththeast corner of Laam and INZ. The existing house the house the singlestory part of that picture that's in front of you exists. Um the proposed addition is the second story to the house which would be an additional bedroom and additional bathroom and then the ADU is the uh in back above the garage. The problem I'm running into, and I I'm seeking your your help, is that um the state ordinance says that uh uh that a second story can be no higher than 16 ft, 18 ft with certain provisions and 20 ft with other provisions. Um I can't build this second story and and get under 20 ft. If I attach this to the house, I can build it. My setbacks in the rear and on the side are conventional. I'm not encroaching. The ADU allows the ADU ordinance allows for you to go down to four feet on the side and the back. I'm not doing that. I'm at um 10 feet on the back and 5T on the uh on the or 10t on the Yeah. And 5t on the side. And those are conventional numbers. So that I could build that. All I'd have to do is attach this and uh what I'm asking is that maybe maybe the planning director could have discretion that if a proposed ADU is meets conventional setbacks, rear and side setbacks that it can be built even if it's detached because like I say, I could attach this and I can build it. But because it's detached, I'm running into a problem. And I would like to

point out that the ADU the numbers the 16 18 and 20 feet are floors and not ceilings. So that the city the state is saying if I came in and said I want to do something that's 16 ft or 18 again there's different provisions that the city couldn't deny it but that's the floor the ceiling. There are cities that allow uh for uh compatible if you're if what you're proposing is compatible with what's on the site or or can be built normally then um then it can be approved or you know it it they allow it to be prop approved. So that's all I'm asking is perhaps that maybe the planning director could get discretion that if the setbacks are conventional and the only thing that distinguish it that would deny it is that it's detached instead of attached that possibly that the projects could get approved because I would like to do this uh do detached ADUs on other projects that I'm working on and I'm going to run into the same problem. So that's what I'm asking for and I appreciate your help and if you have any questions I wanted to provide you a picture and I want you to know that that like I say this is in for approval and it's not a conceptual thing. It's that you know I'm I'm ready

Mr. Gar's time is up. Thank you. [clears throat] Next speaker. And that was our last speaker. Oh that was the only one. Is there anyone online that wants to speak? No further speakers. Okay. So, would you like to reply to that, Monique?

Yes. It's actually an o it's an opportunity for me just to discuss a section of the code that I was after further review uh was going to recommend that the council strike regarding um the uh height requirements for a detached um ADU. So, um, yes, the the the state does allow us to increase the the council could allow an increase in height for a detached um even going out to a second floor. Other cities do allow twotory uh under you know under um ADU above the garage. Um however um we have we have also a competing [clears throat] uh ordinance that um talks about privacy um for second floor um uh adjoining residential properties where there could be privacy issues depending on how uh what that setback is and which is uh that ordinance established a no build easement or a no build area that would apply So, this is a unique um case where we would have to come back to the council to really study the issue to see how we would allow uh twotory um detached ADUs up to 25 ft in height. Um that would be my recommendation.

Okay. So, legally, how do how do we do this? Do I close the public hearing and then have this discussion? Yes. If we have no other public speakers, close public. We're closing the public hearing. We got that done. So, council discussion. Council discussion. Yes. You guys have any questions or can we can go through this question first?

First of all, the privacy question is something very important because there are other people around other than trying to get as many people on one lad as possible. So, I I think we need to be sensitive to that. The other thing is authority to designate areas number four which is page 9 to 38. Um what is uh because we may designate areas within our jurisdiction where ADUs may be permitted. I'm concerned about homes highdensity homes homes that are in high fire zone. Um and that is the impact of this ancillary dwelling being, you know, impeding traffic flow or public safety, i.e. if you've got a fire department that's needing to come in or some evacuations. So, do we have that map?

Yes. So, um this provision was added in accordance with government code. Um we did look at that that question ahead of time. Thank you. uh government code 66314 does add this provision. However, if uh should the city wish to we put this as a safeguard should the city want to come back and look at and explore locations where it may not be appropriate to have um ADUs. Um we could come back but we h are subject to by state law to um prepare findings uh for that. So that so this is a safeguard in place that we could look at in the future.

Sure. I just feel like we are doing a lot of ADUs, which is great, but it may not necessarily be good in that part of the city. And I do think we need to look at that. it it just can't be willy-nilly, especially if we're in we've got couple of sections in our city that have um high fire zones. And if you've got compact people in there and you add even what are you going to say, two and you have 10 of them in a subdivision, that's a lot of extra people and it's their safety that I'm worried about. My two cents. Thank you, Mayor. So I just need some clarification. We have a ordinance in place for sighteline. Is that what we're going to call it? Second story.

We do invasion of privacy whatever is that kind of like a peeping combo. We do have a Yeah, we do have an a second story um or we have an ordinance in place that uh limits where you can and the setback and your building uh plane area where you need to be set back. so many feet away, you need to provide uh certain type of uh screening um uh in a manner that provides uh when you're joining another single family neighborhood that's been there for quite some time. So, we want to be sensitive, especially with new development that's coming forward, we want to be sensitive to that.

Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't want anybody building a second story next to me just so they can look in my backyard. Um and there's one more and I'll get back to you on that one. I'd like to say something if I can.

Okay. I like this house. [laughter] Now, I'm a person that I I feel if you own a property, you should be able to do what you want with it. I'm looking at all the background here. It looks like it's close to a park or I don't even see houses behind this house. Is there houses behind it? There are houses, okay? Because it looks like a a lot of trees and everything. Um, I know the laws have changed on ADUs, the state laws, and and their requirements. Um, and I know that our changes have to be made in order to adapt to what the state has already um put in force. And um you know it's hard for me to say because this is one of the reasons people don't want to be annexed because they're in the county and the county you can do a lot. You know there's things you can do that you can't do in a city. And if we limit people from doing certain things, even if it's going to look nice and it's going to be, you know, something that's going to turn this uh property into something really nice and we tell them, "No, you can't do it." And and you know, it's but yet if it if this was in the county, they would probably be able to do it, you know, without any problems. So, um you know, I'm for whatever we can for property owners. If they want to build, let them build. So, that's just me. Thank you. Comments, Jackie.

Um, when I was reading this agenda item, I was talking to the city manager and I said, you know, this is a great thing if it's done correctly for the people of Hammet because a lot of the lots are bigger in town and they have extra space. And I know that a lot of people are struggling financially and some people can't afford to build an addition or buy a unit. But for those that are just getting by, you know, may maybe they're living daytoday and they need some extra income or some savings, I think it's a great thing and I think we should publicize it more that it's available for people because I think it could really help our economy. So that's that's what I was looking at when I was reading this. So

okay, thank you for those comments. I have a question on how we bring this forward. Can we approve this tonight and then bring an amendment or a change to the ordinance or how do we do this in light of the question that was brought up and needs to be looked at?

I mean, I I think we might be able to fix it. It sounds like the community development director has a fix in mind. I I'm looking at C15 and I think it's probably B, Monique, is that correct? Um, so what number does that need to be to be consistent with uh I guess just the standard residential height uh objective standard for residents in the single family zones? be well it would be consistent for both single family and multif family um in accordance with a the 25 ft and if this is where we when we wrote this into it actually when you're in a multifamily zone uh you can add ADUs onto the actual multifamily structure up to the height of the zone. So the height is um so um where it should be is in accordance with a which would be um 16 feet. No. Um, a maximum of 18 feet if you're within like within a half mile of a public transit. Um, and additional two feet uh would be allowed to accommodate a roof um roof pitch on an ADU to align with a roof pitch. So essentially 20 feet. So in accordance with A and C.

Monique, just uh to ask a question on that. Um, what if instead of having specific height standards for ADUs, what if we simply required ADUs to be within the objective height standard for the zone that they're in regardless of how many stories they were? So, if you could build a single family home that high, why not be able to build a detached ADU to that height? That would seem to simplify the process. the the development standard set forth for ADUs is a little bit different and they're uh it's more complex because they're allowed to have 4 foot side and rear setbacks um and that's just stand by state law. So the recommended height, maximum allowable height um is by state law is this 16 feet um at least and then to allow for at least 18 feet because many cities have allowed um such as city of Hammet have allowed ADUs up to a maximum of 16 ft in height historically. Um that's usually the appropriate um height when you're in the single family residential area. You have that's an accessory structure right to the primary. So it's limiting size as well as the height. Um

so so I think to to the speaker's question then you know when we're com when we're dealing with the side and rear setback and the height we're dealing with that plane that we dealt with on the original twotory um um ordinance. So could we add an additional provision? I'm trying to sort of get the council where they want to go tonight. Could we add a provision that if the detached ADU complies with the standard setbacks for that zone, then it can be this it can also be the standard height. Does that make sense? Yes. So, if you're not relying on the 4oot setback, but you're going to the standard setback.

Yes. If if it if however based on the images that were you know u being provided tonight as an example um those setbacks would be not not in compliance with if we're going to allow as long as it meets the standard setback for the zone and and it's 25 ft. Um I'm not sure that's would be the intent of

I I I'm not trying to get a particular project. I'm trying to address the the issue. Uh, mayor, I I think that we probably need some more time with staff. If the council wants to direct us to address that issue, I think we're gonna have to pull out a protractor and do a little bit of math similar to what we did with the uh backyard second story ordinance. I don't think we're able to do it from the dice tonight. Well, and and that's you. It's great to make all these changes and come into guidance with state law and have this rewritten, but we have to deal with reality of our community and maybe we do need to look at this a little bit more. So

yeah, we can we can look at it. We can we can see if we can get the objective standards and then obviously we can meet with this project applicant to see if that would solve the solve and if it doesn't then but you could continue the public hearing to the next meeting. We should have it fixed by then. Okay. Okay with all of you. I see that's okay with nodding heads. Okay. So, we will continue this item which is 21B to Is that enough time to the next meeting? Yeah. In March or Feb? Well, wait a minute. We're at the beginning of February, aren't we? February 24th. February 24th.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Okay, moving on to receive and file item number 22, the HMT warrants of January 15 and January 22 and periodic payroll payments. Any questions, comments that council has? I have none. None. Okay, seeing none, that is a receive and file. Moving on to the consent calendar. Uh we have a request. No, we don't. Uh any any items council wants to pull? 23B. I'm sorry, which one?

23B B as in boy. Okay. Uh there were some a couple corrections to the December 9th minutes that have already been uh corrected and those were only to uh the who adjourned the meeting and uh who approved one item. So it was just a change in in names for council. Um yeah, I don't have anything there. So, I'd entertain a motion to approve 23A and C.

I'll second it. I'm entertaining the motion first. I'm sorry. I I thought you were motioning it. Okay. [laughter] Second. Okay. We have a motion by Lodge. I'll second and second by Joe. Roll call, please. Thank you, mayor. We have a motion by uh council member Lodge, second by Mayor Prom uh Males. We'll go ahead and do roll call. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Lodge, yes. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Promos, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes 50 to approve the consent calendar with the exception of item 23B.

Uh we will question on on Well, let's have a presentation on 23B. Yeah. And then because we do have public comment on this item. Yeah. And I forgot to ask, did we have public comment on A or C? We did not have public comment on items A and C, but we do have public comment for item B. Okay, Dan, can we have a staff presentation on this, please?

I will provide a quick presentation for you. Uh, the Juan Batista Deanza National Historic Trail has been documented in the National Park Service under the US Department of Interior. There's an impressive report that's attached to this staff report that identifies this historic trail that uh is named after an expedition in the 1775 1776 era that traveled through the valley and toward Anza. And so, uh, tonight, um, the mayor has requested that the city council consider adoption of a resolution that would support and encourage other public agencies to support the preservation and conservation of the Juan Batista, Dian's, and National Historic Trail.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh, let's have public hearing comments on this item, please.

Thank you. We'll call the first speaker. Do we have a Debbie Green? Debbie Green. Thank you. You have three minutes. Hello. Me get to the top. The Juan Batista Deansza Trail will become a source of community pride and identity. It highlights the natural beauty and uniqueness of the area and gives residents something meaningful to rally around. A recognized trail often strengthens social connections as people work together to maintain, protect, and promote it. This shared responsibility builds a stronger, more united community. National trails also help promote healthier lifestyles. They encourage outdoor activities, uh, general well-being, mental health, good for everybody. In addition, the trails provide educational opportunities. Schools and communities can use them as outdoor classrooms to learn about local ecosystems, wildlife history, and environmental stewardship. Young people in particular gain hands-on experience that deepens their understanding of conservation and sustainability. Finally, recognized trails help preserve cultural and historical heritage. They may highlight indigenous pathways, historic roots, and important local stories, strengthening connections between the past and the present. In conclusion, recognizing the Juan Batista Dansza Trail fosters community pride, promotes health and education, protects the environment, preserves cultural heritage, creating lasting benefits for everyone. Many groups in our community are already in the process of adopting the resolution including uh local nonprofits Sino Museum, Estadio Mansion, Hammet Jeep Club and we thank you for your

consideration.

Thank you. And the next speaker that we have is going to be for Matt McFersonson. Three minutes. Good evening, Mayor Council. Um, preservation of the Juan Batista Danza Trail. Um, I want to begin with something I learned only recently, something I think may surprise many people in this room. Uh, Batista Canyon is not named after Juan Batista Danza. Did you know that it's named after I told Stephen Le at the press enterprise presentation um was named after Chief San Juan Batista of the Paula people. The Paul of Native Americans from what is now the Fbrook area just south of Tmacula, not after the Spanish explorer whose expedition passed through this valley. That distinction matters. It also highlights a broader issue throughout this region. Names like Batista and Dansza are often con conflated or misunderstood. For example, Sano has Dansza Elementary while Hemtt Unified has Batista Creek Elementary. Yet Batista Creek itself is named after the Paula Chief, not Juan Batista Deanza. Over time, these overlapping names have created confusion rather than historical clarity. And that confusion reinforces the point I'm here to make tonight. Because despite the fact that Juan Batista Deanza physically traveled through the Santa Valley, we do not have a clearly recognized canyon, road, or protected landmark that formally honors this actual route through this land. And it was as famous or more than the Louiswis and Clark expedition as far as a land route. It went as, you know, as dangerous, as treacherous as the Louiswis and Clark, but through the southern kind of desert, uh, more uh,

aid. Um in 1775 1776 as Lieutenant Colonel of Spain he led one of the most significant overland expeditions in the history of the American West. His mission was unprecedented to establish a reliable land route from Sonor Mexico across the desert to Ala California and to secure the San Francisco Bay area. This was not a small scouting party. More than 240 soldiers, women and children traveled over,200 miles through deserts, mountains and unknown terrain. The expedition included people of Spanish, African, and indigenous ancestry, making it one of the most diverse founding journeys in early California history. They began near the Tubac Prescidio in present day Arizona, across the Colorado River near Yuma, where they encountered the Quan people. They moved north and west through the desert corridors up through Coyote Canyon, where my family homesteaded, Trip Flats, and Reed Valley in 1864, and down into what we now know as the Santa Valley before continuing to the coast. This valley was not incidental. It was part of a deliberate and strategic route route. The expedition reached the San Francisco Bay area in the spring of 1776 leading directly to the establishment of the P City of San Francisco at the same time where sign of the uh declaration of independence on the other side of the country. They had just made this expedition. Um mission Dellores was also established. Because of this success, Spain proved that California could be supplied by land, not just by sea. fundamentally changing the course of the state's history and there's a lot of English ships going back and forth around California. So they were nervous and wanted to make sure they could establish it. Today this journey is recognized at the San Juan Batista Nanza National Historic Trail, a federally designated trail stretching from Arizona to San Francisco. And yet here in Hemet where the history passed through, we're considering building over it. Once a historic trail is erased, it cannot be included.

Please make this a historic trail. Thank you. Thank you very much, Matt. Any other speakers? One more. Yes, we have two three more speakers. The next speaker is going to be for Bellisa Soul. Three minutes. Somebody lost their forgot their phone. Look, Matt's phone.

All right. Good evening. I'm obviously here to speak on this. Um, I'm a bit concerned. Well, first of all, I'm going to say this. I'm happy to hear about Am I Can you hear me? Okay. I am going to say I'm an avid outdoors person. Love nature. Love hiking. Hiked all the six-packs of peaks in Southern California. So, I totally get the trail and the outdoors and all that. I'm just speaking on this because I'm concerned that two weeks ago, the council received a history lesson on this trail. [snorts] And then in that two weeks there's been a turnaround for a resolution with a beautiful staff report 40ome page um report from the National Park Services. However, we have and this is coming that the the history lesson was from residents that were outside of HMT which we were previously told that outside Hemtt, you know, unincorporated voices don't matter. Um and shuffleboard people have been in here for a few months now and have not even tonight have still not received an answer yet. Twoe turnaround to a resolution for this trial. So what I'm here to really kind of express a question hopefully someday get an answer. What is the motive? Where's the transparency? Why so much attention to this? Now, Fair View in Florida, there's already a sign that says auto route this way for the Wombatista Trail. So, I think McFerson just mentioned it. You don't want to develop over it. So, let's be transparent with us to see what is the motive behind this. If you're trying to get this, I don't know. I would just love for one moment for the city to communicate their intentions because again two-week turnaround. The residents, city residents right

here, right here along with those who continuously show up to discuss shuffle boards seem to not get any answer. But thank you city manager for providing a presentation. Do the residents get this? Thank you. Any other speakers? Yes, mayor. The next speaker is going to be Jeremiah Herridge, I think it is. Jeremiah, sorry. Three minutes.

Hello, city council members. As a resident of the city of Hammet, growing up in the city of Hammet, being a boy scout in the city of Hammet, I was taught to be um receive something called citizenship in the community. It's part of a badge that you receive as a young man and then also you do citizenship in the nation and citizenship in the world. The concept behind that is that individuals should take ownership of the community in which they are in. When we take ownership of the community which we are in, we're able to develop a foundation for those who are yet to come.

When we do that, we make sure that the future looks bright for those around us. Now, I get it and I understand that there are a lot of needs in our community. There's a lot of needs in our nation. One of the things though that I want to make sure that my kids understand is the history of the valley in which we have. I am very well aware that we have many amazing things with the Ramona bowl shuffle board. I mean, I just learned about that actually two weeks ago when they were talking about it and listening in on it. How amazing that is. At the same time, there are historical sites that are much long and much older than that of what's existing right now. and to make sure that our children understand the sacrifices of those individuals in order to make our lives be where we are today. Let's face it, how many of us would actually be here if somebody didn't walk through? Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. We have one more speaker. We have an Andrew Kek and he does have a donation of time. Do we have a Katherryn Rom here? Thank you. six minutes.

Good evening, mayor, city council, and and staff. Thank you for presenting this this evening uh to hear this is vitally important. Um, you know, as uh longtime residents and uh the historical different age groups we have in our community, this is something that's vital and there's been multiple different generations that have tried to do exactly what you're taking the step to do tonight. Um, in dealing with the Santa Museum, um, we discovered that there's a folder full of congressional efforts um, decades ago to accomplish this. We're actually going through it. We're getting updates. um our past supervisors um had been involved with that. We're digging into that as well um with their efforts to to retain this and protect this. And I think that's one thing that your leadership has brought out. Uh you have identified the Seno Valley asset map. Um I was at those meetings. I participated along with a lot of the public items and uh the trail was brought up that evening and it made it on your map weeks ago. Um it wasn't something that uh um was requested. that it was something that the community had brought up and you had put on this map as well. Uh what's significant about Hemmed and your restoring is that uh uh we have an identity and we have assets um to protect and conserve. Unlike a lot of the new cities around us that are really new, we're not. This valley has been here a very long time. And just like this thoroughare um it's been a part of uh you know uh the Santa Fe uh depot right that the original train paths the stage coach trails um uh Native American trade routes Spanish trade routes Mexican trade routes um this valley significance for use and trade and trails of California history is utterly significant and we're a part of that but this trail hasn't been

protected and conserved and as you can see with the federal guidelines in the m 300 miles that they've preserved. Uh it's a quality of life for the community, right? It's protecting who we are, but it it's also a way for not only our our current generations that live here, but the new people that will move here to enjoy the beauty of this community, to enjoy the natural wildlife that's out there to get outdoors and enjoy. It could be a center point for tourism, for biking, and also for education about who we are and what we are, which is so different than so many other communities around us, right? Some people have wine country or outlets. We have California history and uh your steps forward to um to step forward and to signify that this needs to be protected is is urgent because we have massive developments around the area that doesn't recognize it. Um the county doesn't really recognize it in the development plans and um they need to um you can see the federal legislation of why they need to and uh instead of developers plowing homes over this um this is going to be something that's protected and you're taking leadership in doing that. So um thank you for that. We'll keep you updated with what we find along the way and our advocacy. Many groups have this on their agenda. This is something that is a ground swell much like the 79 um organizations and people across the valley and the area unifying to to support this and this effort. So um thank you for caring and and protecting the beautiful assets that we have here in the valley for our residents.

Thank you. No further questions. Okay, I'll turn it over back to council members.

Who wants to talk first? I I would like to I was a Girl Scout that was back there. There was a plaque at one time. Um so we acknowledged it at some time. Here's the deal. We have a little historical gem that's sitting there whether we knew about it or not. We don't get consulted when another jurisdiction wants to put homes or put a bunch of uh roads through. This is history. I'm a history major. I have a BA in history. BA means probably nothing to a lot of people, but it does mean that I value history and I value where I came from and I came from here. I desperately do not want to see a bunch of homes and this trail to go away. If those homes are going to go in, it needs to be around it for all of us to share. I have no conspiracy on this. I have no ulterior motive. I just want to see us have a voice in a sphere of influence that is historically very very important to this valley. We need to thank those people that did that. They went all the way up to San Francisco. There's a whole culture. They went through all the missions. This is education, folks. I don't think we need to go out and, you know, break the Berlin wall over it, but I do think we need to at least

acknowledge so that it's in a timely manner so that homes don't wreck. It'd be really nice if we still had that old hotel down downtown, Hemmed Elementary. There are a lot of jewels here. So that's my only re reason I wanted to pull it was because I wanted personally to value something here in our valley and appreciate it. No ulterior motive though. Thank you. Thank you. Next comment. No nothing here.

No nothing from here. [laughter] Sorry about that. Um, I want to thank all the speakers on on this item and I think it's extremely important that we pass this resolution tonight and also make sure that the county is extremely aware that we have this trail in our backyard, so to speak. And that is very, very important to preserve it. And if development comes in, it has to be acknowledged. It has to be maintained and it has to be preserved. So with that, if there's no other comments, I would entertain a motion.

I move to adopt a a resolution of the city council of the city of Hammet, California, in support of preserving and conserving the Watisa Deansza National Historic Trail. I'll second it. We have a motion in a second. Thank you, mayor. I'll do roll call. We have a motion by Mayor Prom Mills. Uh second by council member Peterson. Do we have council member clerk? Yes, please. Council member Lodge. Indubitably. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Promos. Yes. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes 5 to zero.

Thank you very much. We will move on now to the discussion action items. Uh and there is a request by the women's club to continue 24A to the next meeting. and we'll move on to Do I need to say anything else? Nope. Nope, that's it. Okay, we'll move on to 24B and have a staff report on 24B. Sorry, mayor. I was just adjusting my microphone in preparation for being called on. Uh Steven Graham Pacific, your city attorney. Uh we, you know, speaking of turning around resolutions quickly. Yes.

Uh uh here is a resolution that was requested at the last city council meeting uh we've put together. It would call for a special municipal election on June 2nd, 2026. That is the date of the statewide uh primary. Uh so it is a regular municipal election that we can consolidate this election uh with the election that's being run statewide and it would be consolidated with the county of Riverside. Uh the election, if the council adopted this resolution, uh would ask our residents uh three questions. I know that those three questions can appear a little confusing, but those are the three questions we are required to ask by law and the way in the way we are required to ask them. Uh I'll go through exactly how it all all work through the presentation. Um but fundamentally what we are what it would change if that uh election succeeded in June. uh we would move from a current system where the city council typically in December uh selects a mayor from the five council members that we have on an annual basis. It would move it to a system where the mayor is instead directly elected uh by the population of the city uh for a term of either two or four years. Um so like I said there are three questions that we're required to ask. Uh the first one is whether we should have an elected mayor at all. Uh that requires a majority vote 50% plus one. Uh if that passes, then we will have an elected mayor. If that does not receive a majority vote, then the rest of the questions don't matter because we we will not be changing uh how how the mayor is selected. Uh the next ones uh have a we have to ask whether the mayoral term should be two years, yes or no. And then we have to ask whether the mayoral term should be four years, yes or no. Now you may ask yourself, why shouldn't we just ask them should it be

two years or four years? Um, and I don't have an answer to that question. Uh, except to say that that's what the government code says we have to do. Um, so if you want to know what happens if they both pass, uh, that's addressed in the resolution. If both the two-year and the four-year term pass, uh, whichever one gets the most affirmative votes would control. Um, so you know, there is a a method to the the madness that the legislature has set up here. Um, but that's essentially functionally how that will work. Um, I did get some questions about uh, you know, is is this moving to a strong mayor form of government? Um, so first I I I wanted to say that uh, you know, current municipal practice typically doesn't refer to a strong mayor form of government. uh we refer to a council manager form of government where you have a city council as a legislative policy leading body and a professional city manager who is the uh executive head of the city who runs the day-to-day operations. Um the alternative to that is typically called the council mayor form of government and so or mayor council form of government. Uh and so you would see those in in things like Los Angeles or San Diego. They are sometimes called a strong mayor uh form of government and that's because the mayor in those cities acts as uh the chief executive officer of the city. Um they are less a member of the city council and they are more like your city manager um hiring and firing department heads running the day-to-day um operations of the city. Uh that would not happen if this was to go forward and it was to pass. uh the mayor would remain would maintain a council manager form of government. The manager would remain the chief executive. The city manager would continue to be responsible for day-to-day operations. In fact, there are several cities in Riverside

County uh that directly elect their mayors and maintain a a healthy uh council manager form of government. Um you know, it's really a policy decision for the council and ultimately the electorate if you wanted to go down it. I'm not going to give you sort of pros and cons, but what I can tell you is that there are many cities in our county, in our region, and statewide that operate perfectly fine under both models. Um, you would be moving to what is essentially a four plus one. So, we would go from five council members, five districts to four council members elected by in four districts and one mayor who's elected at large from the entire city. Uh, it's structural. Uh so you have that structural change in terms of number of districts and then also just the simple question of who selects the mayor and how long is that person the mayor. Um the mayor uh is a new elective office that we don't currently have uh separate from that of council member uh but for for most purposes continues to act as a member of the legislative body uh that we have up on the dis today. Um I spoke about going from five districts to four. Uh so redistricting would be a necessary part of the process. Um we went through this uh originally in 2016 when the city moved to districts. Uh we did it again recently. I think at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022 after the 2020 census. Uh we're required to do it every 10 years. Um but if we're reducing the number of districts, we would have to uh go through that process again. um based on the number of public hearings that were conducted to do uh outreach that were required to do and just the work of the demographer um you know my recommendation would be that the city if it decided to move forward with having a June election on this issue that the city council also begin the process of redistricting. Uh and that ordinance if it was passed would be

conditional upon the the electorate uh moving forward. And the reason for that is uh we would likely not have the results of the June election until the end of June, beginning of July. That isn't that doesn't mean we don't know. Most people know on election night uh how things are going to go or at least shortly thereafter, but we wouldn't get the certified results of the election um until the end of June. Uh the council meets at the beginning of uh July uh where it could certify those election results. Um but the nomination period for the November election happens shortly thereafter. So people would need to know what district they're in and running for um in advance. And with the four public hearings we're required to do, the time periods to adopt an ordinance. Uh anyway, my recommendation would be that you would uh run those two things concurrently if you wanted to. Uh I included a financial uh analysis. [clears throat] Um, we did get an estimate from the Riverside County Register of Voters for a citywide election in June, uh, it would be 101,8800. Um, that number usually comes down the closer you get to the election. Uh, as more and more agencies call for elections, uh, the more agencies calling for election, the lower the per cost is. I wouldn't anticipate it coming down, you know, by half, but I think it would come down a bit. Uh the demographer fees uh we spent approximately 40,000 uh doing the redistricting process last time. Uh in the staff report I estimated 50,000 just based on increased uh costs overall uh postcoid. Um however I do think that there's probably some cost savings as well especially if we went with the same demographer who already has we would be using the same data set. We would be using the 2020 uh census data. Uh so they already have done a significant amount of work. Uh but we would have to go through and verify that we are uh

maintaining uh communities and minority voting rights in a four district system as opposed to a five district system. Um I think that that answers everything. I I did, you know, want to put in there that in my research, I did note that there is a new statute, government code section 34886, uh, which the legislature adopted at the beginning of 2024, uh, not that long ago. Uh, this allows for a streamlining process, uh, for cities to transition into, uh, district-based elections. Um there a lot of cities over the past decade and a half were getting threatening letters under the California Voting Rights Act. I think the city may have gotten one in 2015. Yes.

Uh which is why it moved to districts in 2016. Um and that's really challenging for cities because you know you get those letters but the council didn't have the authority to move to district-based elections. Um and so they would have to call for and incur the expense of an election. Um, so the legislature adopted uh this government code section which allows cities to transition to district-based elections uh without uh a vote. You could of the people you could just do it by ordinance. Um the plain language of that section says notwithstanding any other law uh a legislative body may adopt an ordinance without a vote of the people uh that would allow transition to district-based uh elections or districtbased plus an elective mayor. No city in California to my knowledge has utilized that section to move from five districts to four districts plus a mayor. Uh so we we would be the first ones if you decide to go down that path. Um obviously uh as a city attorney being the first would always make me nervous. I'd much prefer that another city do that and see how it goes. Um however uh I did feel uh obligated to at least point out that option appears available uh based on the potential cost savings of $100,000. Um that concludes my presentation on the legal side. [snorts] I don't know if the city manager had anything he wanted to add uh to this before we uh turn it back over.

Okay. You want us to speak before we have public comment or do you want public comment first? Public comment. Let's go for public comment. Righty. [snorts] So the first speaker that we have is for Jean Fuenza. And Jean, you have three minutes. [snorts] Hello everybody. Welcome. Yep. Pull it down there.

Green light. There we go. There. Hi everybody. So, I wish I had known about your comment earlier. I would have spoken on a non-aggenda item versus this agenda item, but here we go. We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming month, I assume. Um, I haven't heard why we would go to a mayor and four council members. I haven't heard that in any comment. And that also fuels my thought. Why would we lose a district and then segment into four? And how would the voting process be? Does the mayor then have veto power as a mayor council format? They typically veto power of ordinances and the likes of that. We're having four people. You need twothirds to to go against the mayor. That's 2.67 people. How does that work in our city? Um again, it's like Bellisul said an ordinance came up about taking the trail away two weeks ago. Mr. Lodge, Council Member Lodge, excuse me, had brought this up and and two weeks later it's before the public. It feels rushed to me. To me, it's big enough to have an elected mayor. I I don't know the benefits to that. I do know Sam Bernardino's council's trying to take their mayor away. [laughter] So, a lot seems to happen when these things go on. Um, while the council, I know you just mentioned may redistrict without the public. Good luck. I mean, people would not be happy with that here. I think you know that you've asked we get engaged. If you get engaged and then you're not happy with us because we don't necessarily agree. We have an very competent city manager. I don't understand why we would need a mayor. What would their what's the difference if they're not a strong mayor? We'll use that term because that seems to be the term for the large cities that have that

position where they are the executive. This person's not going to be the executive. And I would hope that my goodness, they'd at least have the experience that Mark has because when he did his fire presentation tonight, he was speaking right off the top of his head. I was impressed. I don't know that any of us could do that here or any of you, excuse me. So, I wonder why on earth why are we doing this? I don't I don't see the point. I'm concerned about veto power. I'm also concerned about consolidating power into one person. We all see what it's done across our state, what it's done in our country. So, I worry that we don't have five people representing equal districts with equal vote and equal power. I do know that you all represent your district. You think of your district first, but then you as a group seem to meld together and come what's up best for the city, not what's best for my district where council member Molly serves. And that makes sense to me. So, I'd like to see that continue and unless somebody could tell me why on earth we need it, why would we go through it? Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Jean. M Mayor, I I know we normally don't, you know, interrupt the speakers, but please do. I did want I I had in my notes, no, it's it you can sit down. Well, thank you. Uh it uh I did have in my notes that under this the mayor would not have veto power and I just didn't get to that part of my speaking note. So, I want to clarify. Shame on you. Yeah. I I apologize for not including that. So, thank you, mayor. Okay, next speaker. The next speaker that we have is for Karen Steppp,

and you have three minutes. There we go. Good evening. It's been an interesting and informative night. I really appreciated the uh presentation by the fire department and the information from Mark. Very well done. Um I'm I'm Karen Steppp. I've been a 12-year resident of Heman. I wish he I wish I would have known that uh Mr. Graham was going to address some of the concerns that have been brought forward in the last four days. um because I would have adjusted my little piece here which I wrote um on Sunday with the help of my new BFF chat GPT. Um I do still have a few questions though that are kind of sticking in in my craw. Don't know a lot about this process. um but willing willing to learn. First um like Jean I I want to know why you know whose idea was this and why do we have to restructure the entire city government um at this point in time when we have very little money, not enough money to do the some of the things that we need to do. and it it's just been starting to feel like things have been going along pretty smoothly, at least until what I heard tonight. Um, I'm concerned about the process. Uh, why are we considering a major restructuring of our government before holding public workshops, study sessions, so residents can understand and and weigh in on such a humongous proposal? Um I am a little bit worried about the voting rights act. Um because our boundaries have been

they were redrawn based on the 2020 census and that is so outdated with all the new housing developments, all the new city residents that have come in since 2020. It's no longer accurate. And then again to go to four districts instead of five is going to make each district larger um harder to reach all the people. Um yeah I I again I'm I'm just going to fall back on I don't know why I I I don't understand the reason for it. Finally the cost. I know um Mr. Graham, you you said again, you quoted about the $150,000, but I'm thinking of staff time, additional legal reviews, consultants, hearings, voter education. There's going to have to be an awful lot published um before we make a change of this magnitude. So, just to kind of summarize the um the fact that I've only known about this, most of us in this room have only known about this for the last four days. Um that you know, I think it's going to cost a lot more

and I I don't feel like we've been as inclusive and transparent as we should have been. Thank you.

Thank you, Karen. And the next speaker that we have is Judith McFersonson. You have three minutes. Good evening, council. And I apologize in advance because I talk in kind of scattered uh modality at times. So bear with me. That's what happens when you get really old. Uh first of all to begin with, I would like to uh announce I know this is political but it's not coming from there so it's okay. uh that last night at our at our uh Riverside Republican Assembly uh very uh handily endorsed uh Joe Mills for his run in congressional district 25. Congratulations and as uh before the I think the largest concern is uh making such a radical change and with that you know as we are human we seem to resist that kind of change and so you know there's still a lot of questions think in the past think how angry we all were about the median okay remember before the median on Florida Avenue on state highway 74 you saw accidents on about every block and probably there were five or six HPD units engaged in cleaning up accidents 24/7. That put more officers in the street to do what we really need them for. You don't see accidents on Florida Avenue hardly anymore. And I apologize to Mr. Graham if I missed some of what you said. I'm a visual learner. There was a lot of verbal and I did not read the full

report. But my first question is the timing. Um I think it's kind of a short window. I I I think the public needs some time to become educated as to the difference between the the the u governance design proposed as opposed to what we have existing. A comparison of uh what a general law city is as opposed to a charter city. I know there's a lot of good information from the California State of No, the California League of Cities. A lot of good information there and I think the public needs to become educated and have time to digest. Um, and secondly, or I don't know if this is the second or third, but I'm scattered. Um, when we do get to elections, I would I would really love the city of Hammet to pursue looking into RCV that is rank choice voting. Palm Desert has adopted it. The state of Alaska is using it. that could it's more of coalition building that if you have like we're we see in the governor's race right now I don't know how many candidates there are but the top candidate is is you know only around 13 14 15% in which you rank your your options on the ballot 1 2 3 4 you toss out the lowest. So it could be that the second that that the person that wins could be the one that was the second place for 80% of the voters rather than the first place that might have only had 15% in first. And um there is an option on the Oh, I'm sorry. Am I out?

You're out of time. I'm [laughter] so sorry. Oh, dang. I just don't want you to vote tonight and take it away from the the uh community on June 2.

Thank you, Judith. Righty. And our final speaker. Do we have a Kristen Mason? You have three minutes. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, and honorable council members. Christa Mason, resident of district 4. Um, I don't want to be repetitive tonight because I think, um, the previous speakers have touched on a lot of the points that I have concerns about. Um, I would like to ask the question as far as a public hearing. I know that there's four public hearings that are required for just the redistricting. Are we going to educate the public during those public hearings or will there be separate an education period in which we can learn about what we're voting on? I'm concerned about that. I know that um, city attorney, thank you for providing more information on um, what we would be moving to, but I have the same question. Why are we doing this so hastily? Why are we doing it now? Are we doing it to consolidate with the primary election or the special election? Excuse me. Not really sure exactly which election it is. Hence, we need more education about what's happening um and what the positive the pros and cons would be to it. Um to moving to this and what happens to the election we just had. We have some council members that just ran. What happens? What happens to the council members who term out? Are they able to run again? I have a lot of questions and concerns about what we're moving towards. Um, and then the possibility of having two reps for one district. Is that okay? Is is that, you know, equitable for the rest of the districts? Um, you know, just a lot of I think clarification on where we're headed and why we're headed there and clear outlining of what the mayor's role would be. Um, is there veto power? Is there not veto power? um just those types of clarifications and will there

be a forum to discuss this? We have a short window. I think we're already past one window and the next window is like March 6. What is the timeline on this? Do we have clear timelines on what we're doing? So, um I just like an opportunity to have a public forum or some type of workshop or a committee forum to discuss what we're choosing here and why. So, thank you. Thank you, Christa. And [clears throat] mayor, that was our last speaker. Those are all of the comments. Okay. Mayor, would you like me to take a stab at trying to answer some of those questions? Um, let's let's have council comments first. I'd like to speak if I could. You want to speak first? Yes. Okay. Please. [clears throat]

First of all, I want to agree with the four young ladies that stood up here and talked. I had the same questions when it first came up. You know, I'm not opposed to voters having a voice. I'm opposed to rushing a major governance change through a special election that costs taxpayers over $150,000 and forces redistricting for the community. And you know it's on a special election uh the June election you we have low turnout high cost limited engagement and you know this is something that should uh come out in a general election when when you change governance you you know it should be on a general uh election. So rushing something like this and having to pay the money plus the cost like you said for the city employees that have to get all the paperwork together, the meetings that you talked about that they have to have for the general public. It's just it's it's crazy. It's it's something that shouldn't happen this fast for something this big.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Joe. And actually, I'm going to ask one question first, and that's going to be a question to Council member Lodge, who brought this forward at [snorts] the last meeting, why why now? And what benefit will it be to the city?

Well, the reason now is because of term limitations and this will only happen once every 12 years. uh if somebody maxes out and I was asked to bring this by several people um just because they want to make sure that there is a full representation and transparency on this on the council is one of the things that we brought up and that's why and now is because of the election this June's election the timing should have been earlier but it just wasn't So, okay. All right. Thank you.

We'll go down to Connie. Left me off easy.

So, when I was asked about this, I said, "Yeah, I'd consider it." Um, I can't tell you how many people have gotten to me. So, one light went on and I was like, "What is the problem we're trying to fix here?" And I don't have an answer to that. What's the problem? [clears throat] It came up back in November 2023 and there were some entities that had requested this also and I don't like what I see in what that manage that mayor would be. I see it becoming a political position because it's one person and all the other districts are separate. So that mayor has no district of their own. Therefore, that person is someone that you would want to have on your side so that there is that extra vote. Um I don't like the time frame. I did not know that the time frame was so quickly. Um, I was just in Cal Cities. If if there's something that needs to be fixed, then why don't we discuss charter or have a discussion of maybe a mayor being two years instead of just the one if if one

year isn't enough for the mayor. But I um I don't like 151,000 to spend quickly, especially when it's come up before two years ago. And I don't have a problem that we're going to solve with this for 150,000. And that's my feeling. I went in and I looked at the strong mayor. I looked at the weak mayor. And I got educated about what it is. But it this isn't that. But I don't know what it would be either. And I'm not willing to just make a a decision because we've got to get it into a vote. I'm not a planner like that. Trust me. When I moved back home to him, it was I made my husband live with it for years. So [laughter] I'm just thinking I don't know that I could handle the bigger district. I just sat with some of my people in district. Um, but I I just I can't I can't do it. I cannot spend 151,000 and think that we're solving a problem that I don't even know. And thank you.

Okay, Jackie. Okay. So, [clears throat] one of the reasons we brought this up a couple years ago was for continuity. So, every year we the council nominate somebody for mayor and we get criticized for who we pick for mayor. Okay? They say you pick that person. Okay? So, you people want to vote for your mayor. That's what I'm hearing out in town. And it's democracy. You choose who you want and you elect your mayor. If you get somebody in there bad, two years might be a good thing. You know, if you get somebody bad, you don't want them in there for four years. So, that would be an option maybe that the public would want. But when we discussed this a couple years ago, I said, I think people would be more involved. So, if people are looking at a ballot, they're going to read what the people stand for. They're going to vote for that person. They're going to follow that person to see if they won or not. If they get in office, they're still going to follow them more. I think it would have more city involvement. Um, and the mayor would just be another council member, another vote. It's not like they're up above us when it comes to the DAS. We all have the same vote. Um so basically um it is it I I hear it out in town. They say we want to elect a mayor, you know, and like I said, we get criticized for the people that we do pick. And you know, a lot of times it's like this little game every December, you know, it's like, well, who's going to be mayor? And, you know, well, we don't want this person. And I mean, I've

I've watched other cities. We've watched other cities and the fiasco they go through trying to nominate and select a mayor. And it's ridiculous, you know, why don't the people elect their own mayor? That's what I'm saying. We're we're growing. We're getting bigger. Um, a lot of cities have gone to this now. So, I think it's a good idea and that's what I have to say. Okay, it's my turn. Um, I was very taken aback when when when this was brought up at the last election or the last council meeting. Um, I don't like the idea of being basically blindsided by an issue that needs a lot of transparency, that needs a lot of research, that needs a lot of education from the public. I don't like the idea of having to spend $150,000 or more when we could be spending it on something else. So, um I know there's a lot of information that goes into a situation like this and I can make a motion, right?

And then figure out what whether anybody's going to agree with me. I would make a motion that we deny the recommen recommendation, but also make a recommendation that we look into this alternative, gather information on other cities in the state of California in going forward with a and not having a citizen vote, but just having it by ordinance, taking input from the people, and going from there because quite frankly, I'm satisfied with the way the government runs right here, right now. I'll second. We have a motion and a second.

Thank you. We have a motion by Mayor Koopa, second by Mayor Prom Males to deny the recommendation and to do further um was it meetings in regards to it? So, Council Member Clark, would that not be two separate things? Would not pardon. Wouldn't that be two separate things? recommendation to deny and then to move forward on researching this other option that the city attorney brought to us of having it done by ordinance. Right. Okay. If you want to separate them. Go ahead. We can separate them. Yeah, let's separate.

We'll make I'll make the first motion to deny the recommendation. Still seconded by Mayor Pro Males. Are you still We'll go with roll call. Council member Clark. Yes. Council member Lodge, no. Council member Peterson, no. Mayor Pro Mails, yes. [clears throat] Mayor Ka, yes. That motion passes 3 to two.

Okay. My second motion would be to direct staff to look into this further into this government section code 34886 uh and see how that applies to this council to see gather information on other cities who have changed or will are thinking about changing their style of government and bring back a lot of the factual education on what type of governance this would be. So just to clarify, are we specifically looking at a direct obviously a council manager form of government? Yes. A general law city?

Yes. And a two-year andor four-year directly elected mayor. Yes. Thank you. Do we have a second? Oh, second. Thank you. We have a motion by Mayor Kupa. Second by Mayor Prom Mills. Council member Clark. Yes. Council member Lodge. Yes. Council member Peterson. Yes. Mayor Prom Mills. Yes. Mayor Koopa. Yes. That motion passes 5 to zero.

Thank you everyone for your comments. And now we will move on to 24 C consideration of the 2026 city of Hammet community survey. May we have a staff report. Mr. City Manager. Yes, let me bring this up. Okay. Uh first of all, apologize for not uh publishing this report earlier. uh competing priorities I think challenged my ability to move this forward. But I was ambitious in the sense that I think there's a timing issue uh in res in response to Mayor Koopa's request at two meetings ago to consider bringing um some form of public outreach forward in advance of two things two important um nearer milestones. One of those is our goal setting workshop. And today it appears we've started to hold time on April 10th. That's a Friday. Uh I don't know that it's even been placed on your calendars yet. It was placed on mine as we as we've been looking at options uh in the context of budget development. The second milestone is the forthcoming consideration and development of the budget which will take place largely between April and June uh the end of June. And so um sometimes cities take the take opportunities to do community surveys. Uh often this occurs uh with the assistance of outside help and often it may happen let's say every three years to provide uh cities that continue to maintain that uh commitment of survey work to spot trends over time. Um the importance of that is it the early let's say the first survey may identify a policy challenge or a citizen challenge and uh a council may subsequently address those issues and uh the

expectation would be that the that the feedback from the community would improve right over time and you're able to measure that performance through citizen survey work. So in the and and then there's two different types today available to us essentially um if uh we are looking at it from a purely statistical uh clean research perspective that should be done with statistical sampling. So what we would one option there's really two options moving forward um should we want to move forward one option is using some statistical research where a random sample of 4 to 5,000 people would be selected and the survey would be administered to them. Uh that is going to cost between approximately $12,000 and $25,000. It depends partly on different different companies provide slightly different services. Sometimes it's like Southwest Airlines today. You pay for the bags or you don't pay for the bags, right? Uh there are add-on uh elements to this. Sometimes uh Spanish translation is free, for example, it's included. Other times it's an incremental cost. It just depends on the vendor that we're working with. And there are a number of vendors that are available to provide services in this area. Another example is um if a if the survey um leader, the the consultant was invited to present to the city council the findings and essentially u convey their own experiences and interpretation of the data uh whether they're u in person or uh via via zoom for example there'll be a different cost to that it doesn't have to happen uh staff is capable of doing that same providing that same service to you. You probably would receive a slightly higher level of service from someone that does this regularly. Um the other alternative is

something that uh if you're comfortable with it could be more affordable on the lower end of the cost range and that is uh it would be a survey link available to everyone uh where a survey link would be provided. Anyone uh in the community would be able to answer questions. We would obviously have some questions early asking people what their zip code is or if they live in the city or not in the city just to help uh understand the data set a little bit more. Um there are enough questions that um you know it's highly unlikely that someone would want to take the survey thousands of times to try to influence the the margin of error. Um but uh there these are the two distinctions and it really is a range from about 12,000 to 25. I think it'll be lower in the low 20s range based on conversations I've had. I have one more um telephone call to make tomorrow. We've set up a time to talk in the morning with another vendor that may be slightly more affordable and I just need to understand what those um what the services are that they provide. um the type of topics that we would seek feedback on. Uh and this is really for to really assess um community perspectives on quality of life and governmental services. But those could include quality of life issues, customer service issues, governance, economy, mobility, safety, mobility is really transportation, right? And accessible roads, etc. Safety, infrastructure, education, arts and culture, and health and wellness. Those are typical categories. Um I would recommend that we um if if desired by the council to move forward with the survey, it would be my recommendation, a strong recommendation that we produce the survey instrument in Spanish and English. And um in terms of timing, the staff reports in staff report indicates that uh this could

deploy in three weeks. I do have a draft. It needs to be reviewed. It would be my recommendation that uh the mayor and the mayor prom uh if possible would work with me to look at a final product uh before it moves forward. The if there are any council members that would like to offer recommendations on questions, we would uh I would request that you send those to me and we can potent and we could potentially incorporate those into the survey instrument. [snorts]

Um, it is technically possible to deploy this in approximately 3 weeks after signing a contract. Uh, I probably am a little ambitious because I'm a glass half full type of person. So, I would like the grace of an initial week. Uh, I think the real target is we would like to get some data if if we move forward. It would be important to receive data before April 10th. That's the target. So, that we're two months out from that. uh we would begin to see data um in the first couple of days and trends. Um so the hope would be that we'd complete um a couple of weeks minimum on the survey instrument before April 10th. So that from a timing perspective, I think we still have room to do this. Um and then in terms of how to fund this, uh we do have some salary savings that avail that are available. Uh we've essentially hit our target. that we're close to hitting our target even after accounting for uh various individual uh decisions to fund certain additional um services for example fire prevention which is being partially funded out of salary salary savings to deal with vacancies. So there are are some funds that are available for reprogramming. So, uh, I'm happy to answer any further questions you would have on this

question. So, how would we know if you do the the last one you were talking about that everybody could do the survey? So, will there be a question for instance, what district are you in? Will we get that kind of feedback because I care? You know, I I think the challenge um you know, the challenge with districts in particular is that our district boundaries are so irregular. It's very difficult for the average person to know without consulting a tool on our website which we can make available.

I I I would have to I'm sure we could I'm sure we could integrate it into the survey. Um, generally there are hyperlinks available and someone could look up their council district. Um, we could also ask the question, which of the following members of the city council is your directly elected representative? But it it wouldn't surprise me that the sort that the question should be asked queried, you know, placing the address into the into the query and and receiving feedback. It's probably the easiest way to do it. Yeah, probably the address definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Other comments? No. No.

Um, yeah. You know, I like this idea because when we sent out the survey on the branding and on Weston Park and what else did we do? We sent out another one on the traffic and pedestrian street traffic, whatever that was that that we did. We got a lot of really good information and u I just like the idea. It's I mean it's it's it's not mandatory, but it sure it sure helps when you're when you're sitting in this position trying to make a decision and you have no clue what people want and what they're thinking about. So I think a survey like this um this ones that I have looked at some of them have been so confusing I had no idea what the questions were or even how to answer them. But others are really kind of straightforward and it's I mean there's some basic questions. Where do you live? Do you like this? Do you not like this? What do you like? You know, I mean it's it's just things like that. What should we do? What should we avoid? Types of things. So I think it's a great idea. So any public comment on this one?

We have no registered speakers. Anybody want to say anything? [laughter] I think you all agree. Yeah. If if you want to make come come up to the microphone if you want to have a public comment. I just have one other question about the mayor thing. I know it's on this topic. Oh, that's what I said. Is it on any topic? I didn't hear I I hearing problems. Are you sure? Yeah. I'll I'll talk to you afterwards. All righty. Anybody want to comment on this particular item? Yes, Karen, come on up to the microphone before you start talking. Quick question.

Green light. Okay, just adjusted. Oh, no. I'm sorry. It wasn't my eyes. Um my question was if um council member Males and Mayor Koopa are going to review the survey questions, would it be possible to put a citizen or two um on that same committee or meeting or whatever to It's okay with me. Yeah. Okay. It's an open meeting. We could have an open meeting. Sure. We can we can schedule a meeting. Okay. That's a good idea. I'd be I'd be interested. Thank you.

It it uh what I would recommend is we have the you know council if the

from a structure standpoint it would be helpful to have a a limited number. So one option would be for example to have each council member ask one or two members of the public to join us for a conversation. The longer we take the more we risk not um getting it out in time. So recognize that there's some limitations. Now there are some um there is a a survey instrument called the National Citizen Survey. It's a survey that I should mention this for context because this might be helpful. Um the National Citizen Survey is a survey that um benchmarks it it asks a number of questions. It's it's roughly 80 plus questions. A lot of these answers are a range of uh feedback from strongly agree to strongly disagree and everything in between. Right? So it it's very time consuming that survey would if if that was you know that survey can be um we can adapt questions from the survey that's used by a lot of other agencies particularly if we're leaning towards the survey link that's available for everyone as opposed to the statistical sample. Um the everyone link uh we can still replicate a number of those questions. That's where I started from frankly because I wanted to make sure that we asked a number of questions that were commonly asked in sim similar citizen surveys developed by many many agencies over dozens of years. I actually worked on and we deployed a citizen survey like that in another agency came back three years later and did it again. Um but I think we have a a broad um range of questions. The only thing I'm concerned about is it being too long. I think there's a balance between and I think that national citizen survey is extremely long. there's probably a value in pairing it down uh including some question and that this is another consideration when we work with certain vendors there's a cost

to adding your own personalized questions and the feedback I've received to date is anything more than five even adding five costs money but that's going to be about the limit uh in some cases but if we choose this other alternative of it goes out for everyone we can really choose as many different questions as we want that pertain to the city of that are unique to us that are unique to the moment in time that we're at. You may have specific questions about projects and so forth coming forward. And uh in some of the platforms, we're able to have unlimited surveys through, you know, the next year. It's often set up as an annual subscription. So in in some cases, you can run as many poll, you know, polls as you want on various topics. So in some ways, it could be helpful for a number of other policy issues coming forward. Okay.

Hope that's helpful. Jeremy, right? Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Okay, there we go. Uh, there is a concern that my wonderful wife decided to bring up. Um, and I'll just go ahead and be blunt with it. We have a lot of old people that live here in the valley. We're all old people. I know. I know. [laughter] I got the white hair already as well. Come. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's true. Yes. I still am a whippers snapper. That's right. Mhm.

Um, but one of the concerns that we have with regards to the survey that my wife brought up is that a lot of people the way that it is accessible is typically through phone service like a text message or it's through some other type of median like social media. The problem is is that we're going to be focusing then on an age group that's probably in their 40s and 50s and less. whereas a lot of our population comprises of individuals that are 50 years old and higher. So yeah, way higher. As Joe was just indicating, I see the smiles on most of the people in the audience and they're all

I'm trying to represent. I'm trying to help everybody represent, but that is a question that I have for the city manager is how are we going to be able to make sure that we cast a wide enough net to make this inclusive for our senior citizens? He'll have an answer for you. Yes. First of all, I want to clarify for the record. I am a senior citizen. Yeah.

Uh I uh I'm 56 years old and my generation invented the internet, I believe. And so all these tools that my children use, uh I remind them that uh those were brought to you by the 56 year olds and some of them a little older than me. Um so that's an important uh fact to put on the on the record. um we can control for that uh in both the the in both options the statistical method where a random sample of let's say four or 5,000 people were selected the vendor would also send a paper version they would send a postcard or a letter with a a special QR code or or um website link and they would also send the survey in paper form so that person would have an option to do it to complete the survey in that format. Alternatively, we can make available to the community either at city hall, library, fire stations, um online for download. You can print your own copy. We would make um paper copies available. Uh what we would need to do is then input the data. So there would need to be some data input um with how however many surveys show up in paper. And so there's a little timing associated with that, but uh we do have some interns that can help with some of that work product. Um it would be the e it's easier for us if more people use the survey link. And I'm I'm u I'm receiving text messages from in-laws and others that um I'm confident can take this survey.

Yes, city manager Mark. Um, don't forget we had probably 10% of the population at my district meeting that had no phone. So, he was spot on, right? And we had that's why we had the paper versions available. And that's what we did in these other agencies as well. Even, you know, 20 years ago when we were I was working on this larger survey, that was still the format. We had paper alternatives for all surveys that we did.

Yeah. At one time we did a survey and we inserted them in utility bills, make sure everybody got them. And that's that's always a way to get it out to everyone, too. So, [clears throat] if there's no more questions or comments, entertain a motion. Entertain a motion. I will make a motion to approve this item and go with the survey. Second. And and can I clarify that u there's a is there a preference for the survey that is available for anyone in the community? Oh yeah.

Okay. I think you'll it'll end up being slightly more affordable. Uh we will have the opportunity for some open-ended questions to receive some suggestions on various topics and those can be very valuable as well. We have a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Thank you, mayor. We have a motion by council member Peterson, seconded by council member Clark. We'll do roll call. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Lodge, yes. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Promos, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes 5 to zero.

All righty. Thank you very much. We'll now go on to city council and staff reports. Let's start down at the end with Council Member Clark. So January 29th we had my district gathering. I wouldn't say it was overwhelmingly um attended but I think it it started a thought process and yes we didn't know that some people were not going to have phones or um I had a 10year-old boy [snorts] come to me who had somebody in the halfway house that had been following him and he had called the police twice. Um, and the captain had another officer come in immediately and talk to the boy. I talked to his mother uh yesterday and he hasn't been bothered. I went to Supervisor Guteras's office on that next Monday and I told them what I had encountered and I wanted us to have a united front because I think we're forsaking our kids for adult rights and that's not right. I'm not I told his mom I was not going to stop there. I'm going to start moving up the ladder because um it's not okay. Um but I would say that most of the information that came from that meeting, I would highly suggest any of my fellow council members that if you want to figure out what's going on, spend an evening with Noah and Mon'nique and um Sarah, everybody. Captain, uh,

Ryan Webb, uh, city manager. It It was great. So, I want to thank everybody. Um, I went to RCA and WRCOG. That's moving along nicely. Apparently, there are six cities that are um, up in arms over Calrans not working on their 215 and 15 exchange, getting it bigger. So, I I did kind of throw in they are,

you know, maybe we could get our alignment, too, because we've been waiting longer than you. Um, I doubt that'll happen. Um, so then we had our investment meeting. Um, city's doing wonderfully and I'm very happy about that. There have been some recommendations we're looking into. Um, Hemtt fire ladder of excellence. I enjoyed all the kids, all the firefighters, the chief. They have a unique family and I think that's pretty cool to see that interaction. Um, and then let's see. Oh dear. Um, Monday we had a lot of things on our agenda. um CBD, no CDBG, ad hoc funding recommendations. Um, Council Member Mel and myself are going to go on a little field trip to see if um, a potential uh, funding recipient. And then we had the downtown theater ad hoc meeting which was um, an exchange of really good ideas, aspirations, enthusiasm. Um, and I think we really hit all that. Um, I couldn't get to the Hemet Youth Council, but I'm here. And that's it. Thank you.

All righty. Well, I don't have much to report, if anything, because I've been a slug and laying on the couch. [laughter] Not voluntarily. Um, so give me two weeks and I will have a amazing hour and 45 minute report for you. We'll we'll give you six minutes when you come. 45 seconds. We appreciate the fact that you are here in person. Jackie.

Uh, last night, Mayor Krupa and I, we attended the Cal C's meeting and um there were three um elected officials who had representatives there and they talked about the many bills that are in motion and um Cal Cities is very active and we are sponsoring some of these bills. So, that was kind of interesting to hear what's coming um forward for us um in the state. Um, we had an arts and culture ad hoc meeting and I'm telling you, we're doing a lot with this. Um, I'm going to go over some of the things. We had uh an extensive agenda the other day and uh we mentioned at our last council meeting we're going to have this new website called Hemet 365 and it's through a company called Artsopouloolis and we are um going to have a kickoff date soon and we hope to launch it in April in time for the Ramona Bowl to pro pro to promote it especially but we want everybody everybody to give us input when this goes live. So, we want nonprofits, we want um you know, churches, we want the Hemet Theater. I mean, we want everybody. So, Hemtt is doing this, but we will take input from the valley. So, if Sabba is having something, if Saninto is having something, it's good for the valley and we want to bring more tourism, so it's good for everybody. So, that's pretty exciting that we're going to have this and it'll be a central point where visitors and local people, people say there's nothing to do in Hammet. I'm so tired of hearing that. [laughter] There's a lot going on. They just don't know where to look for it. So, this will be a a central place where they can go. So, we're we're really happy about that. Uh we have a public art ordinance policy update. The planning commission just looked at our ordinance and they

approved it and we will have that coming to council shortly. So we will have um guidelines for people to um you know do things in the city for um arts. Um we have a mural task force that is um alive and well. Uh we have a wonderful artist that is going to help us with our first city mural and we're going to be selecting young artists to help and she's going to mentor them and that's coming up real soon. Um we also have uh five grants that we are going to be looking at for uh library and other things in town. So, we're doing a lot and we're really trying to get more artsy and culture oriented and uh you know bring he up to where a lot of our local cities are because they're doing a lot and we're just a little bit behind. So, we are going to catch up. Uh Ramona Bowl um the pageant is April 18th, 19th, April 25th, 26th, and May 2nd and 3rd. Tickets are on sale now. You can go online or go um up to the bowl and purchase them. And they have a lot going on. Um they're going to have a concert series and you can go to their website. They have have all different genres of music that they're going to do this summer. And um there's a quite extensive list that they're going to be doing. And also they have Ramona Market. So there's a lot of uh fun activities going on with that. And that's also listed on their website the dates for that. And just a reminder, uh the wonderful documentary that was done on uh Ramona, um it will be showing at the Idle Wild Film Festival and that's on um Tuesday, March 3rd at 11:00. I know a lot of you are working and everything, but if you can, you know, run up there and see this

documentary, you will be blown away with the impact that it has. Um you know, this isn't I'm I'm going to bring up something kind of different. Now, this isn't an official ad hoc, but I'm going to ask Mayor Krupa and the city manager, can we please address Western Park now and the shuffle board? Yes, sure. Absolutely.

Well, a dec final decision has not been made. However, I have totally changed my mind and I was the one that said, "Let's move the shuffleboard building." So quite honestly, I don't think they have anything to worry about, but we're going to put murals on it. You want to add anything else? And and another thing on that, you know, we're talking about um engaging the community more. We've had several outreach meetings at different community events and the public has given us input. We had three concept drawings and we've narrowed it down to one. And um I think you're going to be really happy with what we decide on and um it'll be a big improvement for our city. So, you know, it's coming. You know, it's just not finalized. So, we can't really say anything because they're just tweaking the design yet. So,

we are trying to be transparent. It's just not final yet. You can add whatever you want. I would just add that the final recommendation includes the uh the shuffleboard building uh with the expectation that art be added to the exterior. Thank you. Not going anywhere. It's not going anywhere. Okay. Not in my lifetime. No more shuffle board people. It's here.

Hey, you know something? It gets them out. This is terrible to say. It gets them out of the house and gets them engaged. And we had no idea how many people belonged to the the shuffleboard group in Hemtt and how I knew they used to bring in big tournaments, but I haven't been to one of them in the last few years, but it's still going on and it's absolutely wonderful. And the reason I don't go there anymore is because they basically ban me because I was playing shuffleboard at one of the courts and I put a puck through the wall. It's like you can't hit it that hard. So, I'm banned from shuffleboard. Go ahead.

Okay. My voice is really out, so I'm I'm going to keep it short. um uh council members. Uh Connie Clark and I did have the CDBG um um talks and uh got the nonprofit squared away and we will be out there at one nonprofits trying to just to make sure that everything's going right um the way it should be going and the nonprofit making sure we're that the money that we're giving out from uh from our uh grants are being used properly. So, we are doing our due diligence. Um, also, um, Council Member uh, Peterson and myself, um, hit um, we're at the quarterly leadership meeting for the homeless, um, county homeless um, river, Sana Seno River Bottom outreach and uh, we had some good news. We um, they told us that 237 permanent housing uh, people got housed. Uh 14 temporary h um people got housed, 14 uh veterans got housed and um they're doing a great job. Um along with the sheriffs, along with the the uh Hemet police, our arrow team, we have two arrow teams uh that are now I believe seven days a week and from 7 or 8 in the morning till 7 or 8 at night. I'm not sure what the exact hours are, but they're working with our homeless and um people still bring them out here. You know, they're still coming. So, um we're doing our job and trying to get them housed and trying to um make sure that they're not out um with signs on our um mediums. But I'm going to stop there and pass it on to our mayor. [clears throat]

Okay. Um, I thank Connie and and Jackie for reporting on all the things that I went to with them. So, I don't need to do that. I will say the ladder of excellence uh event that we had up here at the library for the fire department last week was wonderful. It was so nice to see the number of new firefighters that we have and the paramedics. And there were so many young children here from the age of about 10 down to little babies. I don't think I've seen so many kids associated with the city of Hammet in a long time. And it was really gratifying to see. So with that, um I Kathy, is anything going on in the library? Do you have reading tomorrow? Okay. So

1 1:30 3:30 3:30 uh reading at the library. And if you know as people in the community, you want to read to kids, talk to Kathy. Sign up to read a book to children at the library. It's a fantastic experience. Look for In and Out and Out to In and Out is coming in March. So with that, city manager, it's up to you.

Thank you, mayor. Uh just a reminder, this is the year of quality of life and so we are chasing a number of um citizen initiatives. One of those is HemT beautiful. We're coming back for the third consecutive year. This is uh going to be a community day of service on April 25th. Last year we had 498 people sign up for this. I'm confident that we can get to 500. Right. Yeah.

Um one of the reasons I'm confident for that is we've just launched this last weekend the I love HMIT initiative. And if uh we had 50 people, 50 volunteers and others that joined um and volunteered their time on a on a Saturday morning to help clean up um parts of Hammet. And uh that's going to continue every month. Um we have right the last Saturday, the next one will be February 28th and then followed by March 28th. People can go to hemmeta.gov and sign up uh for these. Um, I want you to know that just in the wake of that event, we have now nearly 90 uh, I think almost a hundred people that have signed up for I love HMT. And so what we're going to do internally is ask all of those folks uh, would you be are some of you interested in um, assisting once a week for an hour on some given morning? And maybe we can have a couple of different crews out there. But I'm really excited about the feedback and the turnout for this. this is uh the community stepping up and I'm really proud of that. So um I'm I'm confident that they will also join him at beautiful and we'll pump those numbers up. So today we did some internal planning on projects. We're going to be looking hard at the downtown uh the number of projects that will help in the downtown. Really excited to bring that forward on April 25th. Thank you.

Very good. And do we have any future agenda items? Well, we just added not agenda items, but we added some more work to your schedule. So, uh, with Okay, everybody wants to go home. You're already packed up. Okay. [laughter] Waiting on you. You're waiting on me. Okay, with that, I am going to adjourn the meeting to our next regular meeting, which will be Februaryth 24th. We are adjourned. Thank you all for coming.