City Council - Regular Meeting

January 7 special council meeting. I would like to call the meeting to order the sixth. I'm a stay ahead of myself. The sixth. Thank you. Call the meeting to order at 06:00. We oh, there's pastor Penn. Yay. Thank you. Pastor Penn will be doing the invocation. And council member Greg, can you please lead us in the pledge?

I invite you to stand with me. Let's bow our heads together as we pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for the rain. We just didn't expect that much. And we pray for wisdom to know how to best take care of the challenges that are there, and we pray for those devastated by it. Lord, it's the longing of our heart that your righteousness and holiness would be the landmark of our High Desert in our community. And we pray for wisdom for our council this evening and our staff as they deliberate on how best to take care of us and provide for our future. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Alright. Please join us in

the pledge by placing your right hand over your heart.

Ready? Make it.

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

Can we get a roll call, please?

Mayor Bennington?

Here.

Mayor Pilton Polin? Here. Council Member Greg? Here. Council Member Lee?

Here.

Council Member Ochoa?

Here.

Thank you. We have one item, new business. Since this is a special meeting, all public comments are welcome but will only be taken related to the agenda item. The new business is storm response update. And we have our first speaker is a voicemail, please.

My name is Catherine Melmolito. I'm a resident of Hesperia calling about the flooding that occurred on 12/24/2025, and it destroyed my home and displaced my family. This was not a natural runoff. A reservoir tied to various subregional water recycling facility at Muscatow and Maple failed, sending a violent surge of water and mud east on Muscatow and north through Hickory Avenue. The city's containment failed catastrophically, sending bricks, fencing mud, and asphalt down our street.

This has damaged my property and at least four other family's properties that I've known and cost us thousands of dollars to repair. There's literally a city do not enter when it's signed on my property line, and the city has ignored ongoing irrigation and water control issues in the area. The city of Hesperia has a duty to protect our homes and prevent this from happening again and should provide reimbursement and support for damages and displacement.

Just as a reminder for public comments, individuals wishing to speak during the public comments are registered to submit a speaker slip to the city clerk with the agenda item noted. Speaker slips should be turned in prior to the public comment portion of the meeting. Comments will be limited to three minutes. For new business items in compliance with the Brown Act, the City Council may not discuss or take action on non agenda items or engage in question and answer sessions with the public. The city council may ask brief questions for clarification, provide a reference to staff or other resources for factual information, and direct staff to add an item to a subsequent meeting.

Thank you. Bob Nelson?

Yeah. Bob Nofin. I've been in this very neighbor for eighty years on and off. And, I'm here this evening because I'm concerned about how people, you five right there, are violating the law. You're ignoring the first amendment.

Bob, this has nothing to do with the storm update. Understand This has nothing to do with the storm update. I'm asking you to step down.

But my understanding of the law is what my content cannot disturb the meeting unless I get rude or vulgar.

Bob, I'm going to ask you one more time to step away.

Stop me from being

Can you please remove mister Nelson? Thank you. We have to conduct this

for violate

Kim Jones, please. Kim.

Yeah. Like a lot of people around here, the water we're worse the dirt from either side of the asphalt, and it's like this high and a lot of sharp rocks. My truck is like 56 years old, and the tires, I just bought them last year. So I wonder when the city's gonna get time. I know, you know, a lot of miles of roads to fix, but to feel the dirt that disappeared.

I did see it on the corner in big piles, and now it's gone. So I don't know what you guys did with it, but it's kinda hard to do that, and it's not easy on my truck. But one thing about what the water did, there was a big watermelon sized rock that I always tripped over, walked into my mailbox, and the water washed away. So I was able to pick the rock up and get that out of the way. But the rest of it, you know, it's not funny in a way.

It is funny because I know a lot of people have had a lot of damage. And coming to the council for years, when they make the new developments, I always wonder, do they check the natural geology and water courses when they build these houses? Because I have seen people come in here that bite the new houses, and they have, like, flooding and stuff. Now my house old. It's the oldest one on the street.

You know? But a lot of people South Of Sultana, and I know a lot of those houses, I think, are older houses too. But still, I think the city and the folks have known about some of this problem going around Sultana and stuff. So I hope, you know, things can be rectified. And I just hope you guys got enough dirt to fill in all the empty places that disappeared because I don't wanna pop my tires. Thank you.

Robert Davy, please.

Alright. Good evening, council. I wanna keep most of my remarks towards Maple, Basin At Muscatow in Maple since how I live right by there. I've been doing a lot of research on the flood since our last meeting. I got a lot more information than I'd care to ever learn in my lifetime, but, that basin is willfully inadequate.

And I drove by there at 04:45 this evening, and stage two of it is still full. Still full of mud. So if it would if we were to have a heavy downpour today, we can't handle it. K? The the trough that comes in behind those homes between the the ones that used to be Jamestown too that is now the Richmond homes, whatever they call them, that dumps right into the one basin, and then it's got a barrier in between. Not supposed to catch the water. It's full of mud. And so it it, and there's no outlet. And if there ever was an outlet on that basin, it's it's covered. So now the water that's coming from Bandicoot Basin is supposed to handle that in Maple.

There's just no way. Absolutely no way. And I appreciate your comments in the last meeting, Rachel, about, you know, it's an earthen basin. Okay. On an earthen basin, the water is supposed to drain down into the ground, and it's called percolate. Well, once the mud comes in there and slimes that over, there's no way that water's gonna percolate. It's just gonna stay in there. And then during warm weather, that becomes a health hazard, and they liberate by there because it's a mosquito haven. Okay? Once it warms up, we're gonna have mosquitoes besides our flooded houses.

So something's gotta be done with that, and that's where a lot of these people in here, that flood came from was that Maple Basin is woefully inadequate. And some I mean, how many times in the last twenty years since I've lived there have they gone in there and dug it out and dug it out and dug it out? And this time before they built those homes, it was supposed to have been fixed. You know, those homes sat there for fifteen years because the bill the bill in my house went bankrupt. He started those homes, and we all know they sat there. And they never got finished because the economy took a tank. But, so they were supposed to have fixed all that for flood control. It didn't happen. The bubbler. I see what you told me, you know, at one meeting, mayor, that it wasn't sewer because it looks like sewer.

I know it's not, but it's full. A bubbler is a pressure relief. It's not it is full today up to the brim with dirty water. It's supposed to be empty once the storm is gone. So it's either a slant problem or it's clogged. It's not working. That's why Sultana always floods. I've been told it goes all the way to Cedar Middle School, comes over. I know it felled over by Cedar. I've been told it goes as far away as Oak Hills. And also, for two sources have told me there was a main a water main broke, and it was spewing for hours, which contributed to this flood.

Thank you.

Chris Hamack, please.

Good evening. My entire house got flooded by that, what he just talked about. And I don't know what the city plans to do about it, but devastated my entire life, and it's bullshit. That should not have been allowed to happen. That basin should have been deeper. It should not have filled like the way it did. It fell catastrophically. The whole fence got knocked down. It didn't get implode inward. It got exploded outward, which means the water overfilled that basin by a significant amount. On top of that, we had a water main break that was not addressed for hours. And when it was addressed, the citizenry wasn't even warned about the water coming our way. I was sitting on my couch. Next thing you know, I have two feet of water at my door when I had inches not even an inch below before that. I was fine.

I got hit by a wave of water, not by the rain, by a literal wave of fucking water. It was ridiculous.

We just ask that you maintain your decorum, please.

Thank you. Sorry.

I'm very upset. I spent my Christmas cleaning up my daughter's rooms, their their toys. They never even got to play with any of their presents. Everything I've destroyed. And at first, thought, geez, that was a lot of rain. Then I realized, no, the city failed me. You guys did not do your jobs. That's what happened. And it's not right. On top of that, know, called 911 for help, because I literally opened my door, had a wave of water hit me. I closed the door, ran to my garage, had two feet of water in my garage, right to the tailpipes of the cars. Didn't know if we were gonna make it out or not. Called 911 for help. They didn't even show up. Not the next day.

Not even I get a lot of things happened that day. But at least make sure we're alive. Just I like, I didn't even matter to any of you people, to the city, to nobody. I've never called for any help from any city or anybody. I've always taken care of myself. This is why. Because when we need help, we can't even rely on you guys. I don't know what the city plans to do to make things better, but they need to do something. This needs to end. It sounds like that basin's been a problem for a long time, longer than I even knew about it. It needs to get deeper. It needs to be fixed. We need proper infrastructure. It is my responsibility to take care of my property, pay my taxes, do what I need to do. It is your guys' responsibility to deal with storm water like this.

This rain was heavy, but we've had rains like this before. In February 2024, we had a similar rain. It was a little bit less, but it was very close inchwise. This is not a once in one hundred year storm that no. This has happened before. It can is this going to continue happening, are we going to fix the problem? That's all I got to say.

Al Vogler.

Good evening, counsel. I am Al Vogler. I'm aware that you have all studied the effects of the recent rainfalls, and I'm also aware that none of you were on the city council during the period of time that I'm going to talk about. We bought our lawn on Danbury in 1974, and moved into the house in 1976. And never in all of those years, including really wet years, 1978, '79, again in 1983, did water flow into our yard the way that it most recently did.

It flowed into our yard and then into the yard of a new house next to us where the ground collapsed. I can only presume that ground collapsed because that ground was not properly wetted down and compacted when the septic tank went in. Over the years, I would say three times, Danbury in our area received different pavement on it. And each time it received that pavement, the elevation of the road rose up. But, unfortunately, the city at that time didn't raise up the approach to the driveway where it meets the street.

Had those also been raised, the water would not have come into our yard and the yard next door, at least this time, wouldn't have collapsed. The bottom line is a lot of pavement's been done. But, where the pavement meets the approaches, as far as I know, it's never been raised, not just on Danbury, I mean in a lot of areas. It's something that's going to have to be concentrated on. My experience here, and my hobby is water and the weather is that this winter isn't over.

And if there's a way for the city to direct staff to go out into some of these worst areas to raise up the approach where they meet the street, it would be money well spent. Thank you.

Gail Rickard, please.

Good evening. I've lived in the Pinon area just West Of Maple for forty eight years. We've had big rainstorms where the road was flooded going down, but nothing like the tidal wave that hit us on, Christmas Eve. I was having a dinner for the family. We ended up shoveling mud and not eating, shoveling mud out, water out, getting suction, vacuums, stuff to get the water out of the house.

My neighbor south of me, her whole house was just destroyed. And it's sad because I feel like the older parts of Hisperia have been forgotten as far as streets and upkeep and everything, and it's all concentrated on the new things coming in. And we've sort of given up, but we still have hope that the city will do what's right and repair streets and pave streets. Half of my street is paved. Half of my street is dirt because the mayor built a house just west of me.

And when he built that house, the street from Sultana going to Cottonwood was paved, and my house was there. So only half of my house got paved, and the rest was dirt. So everything so when we had the big torrential rain, there's just solid mud on the asphalt and the street. But in the forty eight years, it was like a tidal wave coming through my property going to the people in back of me on Hickory that got a lot of it too. So I just hope we're not forgotten anymore and things are repaired and taken care of and put in the right order. Thank you.

Megan Salazar.

Hi. So this is my first meeting. Do we, like, share all our feelings and our concerns and then you guys answer the concerns while we're sitting here? No. Have three

minutes to talk on the agenda item. And due to the Brown Act, we are not allowed to engage in back and forth discussion.

So we're just here to share our feelings?

Yes, please.

Great. So my feelings are that I would like my street paved. It's Aspen Street. Next door, one street over is Muscatil. Also not paved, of course, just as she spoke on. I'd like to know if you are gonna pave it, if you're gonna have somewhere for the water to go, if this ever does happen again, if you're gonna fix the retention basin. So and if you're gonna help the devastated citizens. I'd like to know if you're gonna assist them in everything that happened. It's it's really bad. I would like to know if any of you have driven over there. It was it's awful. Alright. Thanks.

James Carlson.

Good evening. I live off of I Street in Valencia and Tailsman, and we become an island when it rains. And I lost a little bit of land and fence. My neighbors, they lost all their back fence beside me and across the stream because the water comes at an angle instead of downstream straight. It becomes a snake, and it tears out all our land and then goes across and tears out the land over there.

I've lived in the house where I'm at. I owned the house in about fifteen years now and I love it. Even though I become an island, I've been working all that time trying to get people to get an emergency entrance into our property during storms like this. And I've given some ideas and it's not been listened to. And one of the things was the maintenance has been really good the last few years until the last three years of the time that I've been there.

And they quit digging the stream out to push dirt back because it keeps filling in and that stopped the corrosion. Well, the last three years, me and my neighbor have constantly asked them to do something about the digging and get it done before the storm. And last fall, after three years, they tell me it's my responsibility to to take and do whatever it needs to fix this issue. Even though the city hall I mean, the city engineers have told me that they're still responsible because they've been maintaining it, but the maintenance people have been told that they received a letter from the county saying that they are gonna take it over now without notifying me ahead of time. And then they take, and I asked for a letter.

And I was told they wouldn't give me a letter. So I'd appreciate it. Maybe if you could come to the get to the bottom of this. It's it's something that to me that should not have been happened in the first place. And I I really mine is a minor situation compared to the other people in this community, and I feel deeply saddened for those people that are suffering. But this should never happen in my opinion. And I appreciate your time.

Amy Preston.

Good evening. I'm Amy Preston. I live in Hesperia. I'm new to this. Just want to express my feelings.

I've lived in my house since 2017. I live North Of Eucalyptus and South Of Sunset, and my in laws own the house they had built in the '70s. Maple's been paved once, and ever since then, it's been patched. My concern is that in the late 2000s, they built a track of homes South Of Eucalyptus that distorted the natural course of the water, and then that first storm, when we bought our house, our house flooded because all that water came into our neighborhood unprepared for the rainstorm. They put kale rails up after that on Eucalyptus, but it does not protect the flooding that's coming from the K Whirls down Maple to the outlet that the city had built between two homes that has never been maintained since I have lived in my home for nineteen years.

My concern is that needs to be re dug out so the water can flow through those houses and into that alley and back into the streets. This year, that flood took out my front yard. I have a six feet in that belongs to the city, that's where the sidewalk is supposed to go, and it took that all out. My neighbor, diagonal for me, his mud was halfway above his vehicles. My concern, I'm frustrated, I'm disappointed because it hasn't been addressed.

Now, the K RELs have mud all the way up to it and it flooded right over into our neighborhood again. They put the roads no entry, closed roads, but the city came out and nobody addressed that outlet right there. So that is where my concern is, when are we going to get that fixed so the flow of the water doesn't get into our neighborhood? We had cars all piled up because they were stuck in the mud. And I just appreciate your time. Thank you.

Amy? Hi, Amy. Hi. Can I have your cross streets?

I may Eucalyptus and Sunset. I'm North Of Eucalyptus, South Of Sunset on Maple.

Thank you.

Janice Goodrich, please.

Evening. Janice Goodrich. I've lived in Hesperia for over thirty years. I live on Pinon Avenue, Sultana And Olive. And I now have Pinon Avenue, parts of a field and on Olive, all in my backyard.

I have two and a half over two and a half acres in the back. I now have five over five feet of dirt, my entire back. If I didn't have a retaining wall at the front of my house, my house would have been wiped out. Pinon was a raging river, and it all came to me. It came down Sultana. We have a berm. It went over the berm like it wasn't even standing there. I got some estimates. I have fences that are down. I can't even put the fences up until I get filled up.

I had a contractor come out, licensed contractor. And with all the dirt and debris, I had people's mailboxes. I had their trash cans all in my backyard. My back fence was completely full of dirt. Anyway, I had a licensed contractor come out to give me an estimate on what it would cost to get my property back into its original order. Was $30,000. I am 81 years old. I am living on Social Security. I do not have this kind of money. And another thing, during this storm, I went to the fire stations to get some sandbags.

They give you tin. Tin covered my front door. I asked if there was any service that could help fill sandbags and bring them out. They said no. You get sandbags, you fill them yourself. What are senior citizens supposed to do when they can't get any help from the city? Thank you.

Gina Whalen?

They always pronounce the name wrong.

That's my mom, by the way. Okay, mama. Good evening. She's here today to speak also. Wish it was under better circumstances, but unfortunately, it's not. Chris is my neighbor I was telling you folks about, and also Catherine was my neighbor also that got it worse than us. They all got the river that came through our backyard, wiped out our house, went through other yards, did a tidal wave, went across the street. But across the street, they had another river going on that was from Aspen and Muscatale. All that originating from Maple and Muscatl, a problem that you guys have known about every time there's an issue when it rains. It's laid out before you.

And you can't tell me it's a one hundred year storm. We've had worse storms. And our house, as many in my neighborhood, have withstood many storms and many winds and everything. That's for one thing. What are we supposed to do about the damage? We don't make $300,000 a year. My mom is elderly. We're on an island living in her house right now, just like most people who are displaced. I really feel for people in Wrightwood and Pinion Hills, yes. But what about here in Hesperia?

Everybody has been failed in Hesperia because of laziness, lack of care. I want to read this really quick. The city of Hesperia's core mission is to enhance a safe, friendly community by blending a rural lifestyle with progress and responsible growth, focusing on public safety, fiscal health, and balanced future development to ensure the high quality of life for residents. This is not high quality of life. You are forgetting about us.

You are getting money. You're signing off on all those housing tracks, not caring where that extra water goes because you just ruined the whole natural flow of the water. And nobody can tell me that I have a river flowing through my yard every time it rains. It was swift, running water. Several times, I almost got knocked off my feet. I lost my sandals. I was out there in sandals and socks and sweats. In the pouring rain, trying to divert the water with my neighbor and my sister. Of course, everything went in the house. My neighbors across the street, well, you heard their stories.

Pinyin was actually what came into our backyard. It was a river from Aspen, a raging river. This is not correct. This is not right. And the city manager is accountable for that. She is in control of everything that goes on with public works, with the water district. Oh, and yeah, what about that water main? Did that really blow? That's what I've heard also. And that's an ongoing issue because it's happened several times at that location.

And I have proof of that because I've made several calls on that before, when it caused a river going down Sultana. What are you going to do for us residents that have to pay out of pocket and have lost pretty much everything? You didn't see the pile of my dressers or whatever else in the carpet. My neighbors were packed out. Mean, they still have stuff. Chris is Thank you.

Mary Whelan, please. You're welcome.

Hi, I'm Gina's mom. My parents built our house in 1976, and my family and I have lived here since 1980. We've never had any floods like this before. In all these forty five years, the water came in from our neighbor's backyard and into my yard through the entry to the patio and through to the other neighbor's yard on the other side, our casita in the back of the patio, which was fully furnished even with or you could cook in it. No stove, but you could cook like a studio apartment, yes.

That was destroyed. Our dining room, our kitchen, two of our bedrooms, and one bathroom, and it was raging water.

It was up to my knees when I walked up to it. I went to my neighbors for help.

And a contractor who we've worked with before is working on our house right now. I'm paying out of pocket. I'm I'm a senior. I'm Social Security. I have a small British Army widow's pension. My late husband was in the British Army. And, like I said, I'm paying out of pocket because insurance doesn't pay for it. Who's gonna pay me? Are any of you gonna pay me? Who's gonna pay us? Or all these people, who's gonna pay us? And flood insurance, no. Flood insurance doesn't pay. Regular homeowners insurance won't pay. We're stuck.

Warranty doesn't pay anything.

And so stop neglecting the citizens here and start taking care of things that need doing, like paving all the dirt roads. Pinyon, that dirt road has been there forever and not going all the way coming down. There were no houses in back of us when we moved here on Pinon. I live on Hickory, by the way, right behind Pinon. You need to start making the flight controls better, a better system, and take care of people in the older neighborhoods.

All you do is work on Silverwood, on all these new things, Oak Hills, all of that.

We're

still residing

in the

area. And luckily, she did have me and my sister there to help with the flooding. Like, I had to shop back the water out of my house to keep it from destroying completely everything. And then on top of it, I did run because that's all I could think of is to go to neighbors for help. And luckily, they did come over and help with wood and making diversions for the water.

Thank you.

Dan Muncy, please.

Bridget, thank you for the sandbags, although we couldn't fill them because we don't have anybody to get sand.

There was another thing. My neighbor did go to a fire department, and they were all bags.

Thank you.

Mayor Bennington, members of the council audience, I'm Dan Muncie. I'm the fire chief for the county of San Bernardino. I heard that you were gonna have a flood meeting today, and I thought I should be here to own up to some of the responsibility on the responses during the flood. It is my responsibility to provide fire rescue and EMS services to your city. The night of twenty fourth, was significant rain, not only affecting this community, but also affecting Lytle Creek.

All of us saw the news, Wrightwood, and, of course, Hisperea. It was devastating. And many of the members here in the audience had severe damages to their house. I'll say God is good because nobody lost their lives, but I'll say God is also devastating in this county. We are the third rated disaster county in in The United States. We are going to see floods over and over and over again in our beautiful deserts. Why we choose to live here? And, yes, I do live in the desert, Yucca Valley. Benjamin Franklin said many years ago and by the way, Benjamin Franklin was a firefighter in his many passions, but he said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We all know that.

The problem is, where do you put that ounce of prevention? There's only so many dollars in the world that we have to apply to the needed infrastructure. And when we live in this desert community where we can have the amount of rain that we had on the twenty fourth, the twenty fifth that comes so quickly, it's hard to keep up. I think the city did a couple of good things. The first, Rachel, declaring making sure that the council declared that disaster declaration, that local disaster declarations can bring needed dollars into the city to help restore the infrastructure.

It's going to suspend some of the environmental quality act, the California Environmental Quality Act that we have to abide by, unfortunately, that keeps us from doing our job and keeping the citizens safe. It's going to allow us to bypass that. Rachel, I also want to offer full resources from the County Of San Bernardino Fire to support you in these cleanup efforts. As you well know, we have heavy equipment. We have hand crews.

We are absolutely willing to get in the flood controls into the basins and even get into residents houses. If you have severe flooding in your house, we want to send our hand crews in to help you clean that mud out and that debris. That is what your fire department's for. To the gentleman where the fire department didn't respond, I'd really like to talk to you after the meeting, and and chief Anderson is gonna be in the back. If you can come up and speak to one of us. On the day of the twenty fourth, we did recall of our personnel. 100% of our chief officers came in on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to support the effort. And we had members of the fire. It was fully staffed. Fire department came in to support it, but you just can't go to all the calls.

And those calls are screened, and often the fire departments don't know when a call comes in. If there's not immediate dangers to humans, they're gonna assign the higher priority calls to us. I wanna thank you for your continued support for allowing me to come speak to you today. And to the audience members, I'll be happy to stay after the meeting and address any of your questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Darcy Thompson, please.

Hi. I live on Locust in Hisperia for the last twenty eight years. And because of some water main breaks in, in the street in front of my house. It's moved a lot of my, foundation, and I addressed this with them earlier in the year, Jeremy McDonald. Well, now that it's raining, you know, and even a little bit of rain, it's flooding my entire yard.

And this last big rain, it actually came into my house. And, I have I called the homeowners insurance, and they won't you know, they're not gonna do anything. So I have asked for a berm or a what are they called? A waterway just to go around the house. Two doors down, there's a waterway in between the two houses. And I asked if they could just put some kind of a, what's the word I'm trying to find?

Go ahead.

A drain or something that will go down in between there. But my fence is rotting. My my, gate, I can't let the dogs out because the the dirt has flowed so hard into the neighbor's yard, you know, that there's, like, this much space between the the ground and and my fence. The water came into the garage. We were able to, you know, sweep it out and stuff, but, I'm concerned about this because I've lived there for twenty eight years and did not have a problem like this until those water main breaks. And I asked them back then earlier this year to fix it in front of my house so this wouldn't happen, and it never got done, and it happened. That's all I have.

Darcy, what's your cross street?

Riverside.

Thank you.

Kristen Guidry, please.

Good evening. I'm going to

go a little bit

not really off topic, but we did not have flooding at our house. However, the maple muskete thing is the bane of my existence right now. As much as this flood sucked, we should be thanking God that it happened on Wednesday the twenty fourth, not a random Wednesday like, say, tomorrow. What happens on a random Wednesday at 12:50PM? Cottonwood Elementary gets out early. How many of their students walk across the intersection at Maple And Muscatow? Because all of the houses on the west side of the street are too close for busing services. This means that maybe little Johnny and Susie are walking home. They're already wet and miserable by the time they get to the corner and find a flood. They have to make a decision to cross it or go back home or go back to school, sorry.

What if they cross it and get swept away with their backpacks holding them down? Or worse, what if it's clear when they start to cross and it breaks while they are crossing? Do you think that they would survive? The district is responsible for the kids from door to door. The district is part of the city. Sorry, I lost my place. How deep are the city's pockets? Also, what about the buses from Oak Hills and Cedar? They have to pass the flooded area. Would they go through the water and risk all the kids or go or have to go all the way around? The retention pond has been an accident waiting to happen, and guess what? It happened. I stood up here and asked multiple times for it to be cleared out and nothing. We have had two years since it flooded last. Why wasn't anything done to fix it?

It could have been done when it was dry, not during a storm. We knew this storm was coming, and Earth Basin does no good once it's filled with slimy mud as there's nowhere for the water to be absorbed. Maybe we need to figure out a different design than a cement river basically ending onto a busy street. Had it been empty, then the residents have stood a chance, and the mud would have been stopped. Please do something now to save the residents and the kids that have to cross that street. Thank you for your time.

Angel Jimaras, please.

Good evening. My name is Angel. I'm here on behalf of my father. He he lives off of Yucca. The nearest cross street is I Avenue, right behind the Wells Fargo Bank. You guys have a drainage system right there on that street, Yucca. My father has came here before, and he has called too to voice his concerns about that that area. It it always gets flooded, always. Even even with that drainage system that you guys have, it still gets flooded. So that that day, it was it was pretty bad.

The the street got overflowed with water, and then the water went into my dad's property, knocked over the gate. Some water gotten inside the house. Backyard half of his backyard is completely gone. It's gone. The retaining wall behind his yard, it's knocked over.

So that's why we are here today. Also there's some debris that went into, there's a school right behind where my dad lives, an elementary school, there's some debris that went into their, I guess their property. So, yeah, that's why we are we are here, voicing our concerns. And one thing I want to say too is the city is quick to find and, sent letters warning letters cleaning warning us to clean our yards or do something if now we're gonna get fined. So that's one thing that I'm I'm upset about.

What are you guys gonna do about this? Are you guys gonna act? So, yeah, that's that's my concern. That's our concern. Do you have anything, sir?

Yeah. Well, actually, prior to that, I request some cleanup on that area because even though there is no no rain, it was a lot of trash and basically in front of of the property. And also in front of the property, there is another empty land where somebody went over two days before probably, cleaned up all the mess that they had on the backside and then put it on the middle of their property. And then when the wind came over, all that trash, it came over to our property. And that's I guess that was part of the issue we had because all that area is basically is two slopes, One in here and one in here and in the middle become like a lagoon.

And then it's and all that water, it gets into the property. That's the reason we are we we had a lot of issues. Now I don't know what you guys do for PM. If if some people say, if we do if we attack this before something like that, then we can the the city can can look good. But if not

Thank you, sir. Your time is up.

On on the same issue all the time.

Thank you. Okay. Thank Luz Yolanda Quintero.

Hello. My name is Luz Quintero. I live off of Maple. I'm on Olive Street. My house got destroyed. I have three kids. I am a stay at home mom. My husband works really hard. Right now, it's just a debate of what do I do because all this mud came into my pool. We had to drain our pool and it's stuck now because it's just a bunch of mud.

Debating on to put a retaining wall somewhere or fix the inside of my house. I have little kids so we started tearing off the flooring already. We have to tear off about two feet of drywall on the whole house. We have dehumidifiers, heaters because I can't put on fans with this cold and have the little kid running around the whole house. She loves being barefoot. I just I'm in the same boat as him where I'm thinking, you guys are so quick during the summertime. Hey, the weeds, and I'm on it. I'm at home. I'm on it. I get my kids to help me, and and we're always on it to make sure it looks clean.

I'm always making sure everything is how you guys want it. But I just hope in return you guys are able to help us because when I called in the next day on the twenty sixth, all I got was, well we're doing everything we can to fix the streets. Well that's great you know and I'm great that's great but what about us where if my husband is the only one working how do I do the outside work to prevent this from happening in the future and how do I fix the inside so my kids can have their room back and be able to sleep at night and be comfortable and not when are we going to adjust, you know? And that was just my I just wanted to address just like everybody else their concerns and what I'm doing to to keep my house and my kids safe. And I hope you guys do the same for us and try to help us and keep us safe next time.

Thank you.

Alma Beltran, please.

Hi. My name is Alma Beltran, and I'm here on behalf of my daughter. During the storms, my daughter's car became flooded and got stuck between sunset and eucalyptus. My husband tried to help her using a four by four SUV, and even his vehicle became partially stuck due to mud and road conditions. There was many people that were stuck that day.

My husband tried to help as much as a lot of people were there with their jeeps, being really nice, people, helping everyone that was stuck. I wanna say as of Sunday, we drove around. Many of the roads are still covered in dirt and debris with no visible cleanup. This is a safety issue. I also want to point out that many residents have experienced water damage to their homes.

And as a result of the flooding, when there is no proper drainage system, water has nowhere to go and ends up entering homes causing financial loss and putting family's health and safety at risk. In addition, the current road conditions represent a serious hazard for emergency vehicles. Roads filled with mud, standing water and debris can delay or block access for firefighters, paramedics and other emergency responders. If a regular vehicle can get stuck, what happens if an emergency vehicle can't get through or is input in danger while trying to respond? This could be the difference between life and death.

I also want to speak about funding. The city of Hisperia receives millions of dollars every year that are specifically restricted for roads and transportations. For example, through state SB one road maintenance and rehabilitation account, which is funded by gas taxes and vehicle registration fees, the city receives approximately 2,600,000,000.0 per year. In addition, Hisperia receives about 3,700,000.0 annually from Measure I, the county transportation sales tax. This is over $6,000,000 a year that residents pay towards street, road maintenance and transportation infrastructure.

Yet after a major storm, residents are still driving on mud covered roads, vehicles are getting stuck and families remain at risk. I also want to ask why adequate drainage systems have not been implemented here in the High Desert. Every time we experience heavy rain, water has nowhere to go. It pools in our streets causing flooding, damaging homes and creates dangerous conditions. This is not a new issue.

It is recurring. My question to the city is, how is the transportation money being used and why are we not seeing real improvements such as proper drainage, immediate cleanup and timely road repairs as flooding events. We want clear priorities, timelines and accountability. We deserve safe, passable roads. Thank you for your time.

John Duger, please.

Hello. My name is John. I've lived here since, o three, so coming up on twenty three years. I bought a house right off of Ranchero. They had did some construction and everything was looking good, and then we had a big flood on Christmas Eve.

And so we're here. Our house got flooded. A lot of the neighbors so my whole neighborhood, about eight houses, nobody's here, so I'm just going to talk about houses and flooding and Christmas Day, we're ripping out flooring and I mean, just a lot of money really. I don't make a lot of money, but I look to you guys to be like my boss, right? My boss.

He runs around the job site and puts out fires, you know? So I'm hoping like a little bit of compensation, right, or some type of some type of help from the big guy. So I'd say just I know I know you guys are gonna help us figure it out. I'm I'm hoping for, you know, I mean, we pay I feel like I'm I'm just property taxes and, you know, one year I got hit by weed abatement. I was working weekends. That's $3.50. I'm just we're tapped out out here. So I'm I'm we're looking to the big guy. You know? We're we're reaching for help.

I feel like, and it's not just a couple of us families. It looks like there's a lot of us here. My whole neighborhood's not here. I know about eight of the neighbors who were talking about being here. Course, we gotta I would just take it as it is. I'm hoping for some compensation. So that's about all I got. Thank you very much. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Seeing no further comment,

we have

do we have any more?

No more white cards.

Thank you. Then we will ask staff to give a report on the storm update, please.

Thank you, mayor and council. I've, made some notes while residents were speaking, so I will attempt to address some of the recurring questions that I received. And then if the city council wants to, ask clarifying questions or additional questions maybe that I omitted, I will be prepared to respond to those as well. So to start with, in preparation for the storm, public works did prepare for the storm, prepared signage across the city, inspected construction sites, ensured that basins were clear, identified staffing that would be here local in town during the holiday, and staged equipment across the community. And by midday on Christmas Eve, as our residents have shared, it was evident that the storm was significantly larger than we've experienced in several years.

The city's emergency operations center was activated on Christmas Eve, And staff has been working in response to that event ever since. Our city engineer, Cassandra Sanchez, provided an analysis of the magnitude of the storm, and I'm going to read an excerpt of that to help put structure around the kind of storm event that we experienced just two weeks ago. And so there are various watersheds across the city. We'll be discussing a few of those in particular. The 804 Watershed begins at the county and near, I guess, in Cassandra's notes, Summit Trail and Lynn Croft Road and travels northeast through the city.

And after crossing the aqueduct, this flows, travels through a natural drainage course to a basin located at Tamarisk and Mohave, and then continues into the city of Victorville. Another drainage course that I'll be discussing is the H-one drainage course, and this watershed begins near Farmington and Coyote Trail and crosses the aqueduct. And before it passes through the basin at Maple And Muscatow, this pipe discharges at the basin near 4th Avenue in Mauna Loa, and then also be discussing minorly the DO1 and DO2 drainage courses. And so I wanted to share some of the analysis because of the size of the storm. And so we do often talk about one hundred year storm events.

A lot of our infrastructure is constructed to withstand a one hundred year storm event. And so, what that means is that this type of storm event has a 1% probability of occurring every year based on statistical data observed from previous rain events. So I'm going to read again from this analysis directly so I don't misstate it. The HO-one Watershed saw almost 5.7 inches in less than twelve hour duration, meaning that it saw between a five hundred year and one thousand year storm event. This resulted in the basin at Maple Avenue and Muscatl becoming overwhelmed by flows and debris, and it did cause that wall to fail.

This breach resulted in neighboring streets becoming damaged as flows traveled east, and large amounts of sediment reached the bubbler on Sultana. So, further down the watershed, at the end of the HO-one line, there is a basin near 3rd And 4th in Mauna Loa, and so this overtopped and washed out part of 3rd Avenue. There is storm water infrastructure that was constructed there prior to 2010. This infrastructure was constructed using redevelopment monies, which is a funding source that used to be available to cities in California before Governor Brown eliminated that funding source. And so, this storm drain system has two ten foot diameter pipes that inlet at Hickory, and they run just under two miles I mean, yeah, two miles.

And so in February, the construction of that project was about $11,000,000 Again, that was using redevelopment monies. Where that basin outlets is where we saw a massive amount of storm water flow. Again, 501,000 year storm events. The DOT watershed saw approximately six inches in less than twelve hour duration, meaning it saw a one thousand year storm event that hit Ranchero Road. And so when we're talking about rain in a community that, on average, sees between five and ten inches per year, to receive that amount in one twelve hour period or a twenty four hour period, none of these basins were designed to capture that.

It is maybe a once in a lifetime type of event. According to statistical information available to engineering, the Christmas holiday hasn't seen a storm event like this in our region since the 1970s. And so, in response to this event, we did declare a state of emergency, and robust storm cleanup has been underway across the city. We had people working in the city every single day. And when there is, you know, water flowing, sometimes there's not a lot of work that can be done in those moments, but work has been happening every single day, throughout the holiday, throughout the weekends.

And we appreciate hearing from residents who have been impacted by this event because we do want to hear those individual stories. And we want to say that, yes, we we are not blind to what is happening in the community. I'm gonna touch on a a couple of the projects that were mentioned or questions asked regarding the basin on Maple and Muscatel. It is intended to percolate water, and it had been successfully doing that the last couple of rain events. Again, it would not be able to take in that much water that it experienced.

All the basins were clear prior to this event. And so while some people don't believe that to be true, many of the basins have an earthen bottom. And so each basin was visited prior to this event, and it had been successfully working. Now, with the damage and sediment and mud in these basins, yes, that has to be cleaned out. That's not going to just soak in and go away.

And so that's part of one of the projects that we're actively working on. We've had staff working across the city on cleanup and also contractors working. We have contractors working on 3rd Avenue. And so the work is happening, and thankfully, with better weather, we're able to move a bit more quickly.

Regarding

comments on Talisman and that issue there, the issue with the city maintaining that area is the county notified the city that we were not allowed to maintain their property. And that's an issue we're actively working through with the county, and so I don't have an immediate solution for that. It's the county has ownership of it while it is in the city, and they have since the 1950s. And so it is an unusual situation. We had previously, in years past, been doing work there until we were put on notice to essentially cease that work.

So we're working through a solution, and that is ongoing work. With respect to, you know, resources for our residents, many of our residents have visited the city's website, and we have a storm landing page, and on that page, a resident can submit a concern that they have, and that concern could include something in their neighborhood, a street that needs to be cleaned, a road that needs to be paved. It could include information about damage to your property. If you have not submitted that form to the city, I encourage you to please do that. Many residents have, but I think that not every resident here may have visited that site, and so please do that.

Call the city manager's office and we can walk you through the process of submitting your concern. Please submit as much details as you can about how you've been impacted or what type of cleanup you'd like to see in your neighborhood. Or even if you're just sharing, you know, what happened to your home, please do that. Also, there is a local agency center that's being stood up for the next three days, Wednesday through Friday. And that center is being housed at the Rick Novak Community Center, which is on Palm Street on the West side of the city off of Escondido.

And that center is open Wednesday and Thursday from 10AM until 8PM, and then again on Friday from ten to 4PM. And I encourage residents that have been impacted to stop by the center. The county will be there. The state of California will be there. We are inviting impacted residents from Hesperia.

Also being invited there are residents from outside communities, Phelan, Wrightwood, anyone that has been impacted, you're encouraged to stop by and discuss storm damage to your homes at this center. So again, that's at the Rick Novak Center, Wednesday through Friday, ten a. M. To eight p. M.

Wednesday and Thursday, and then until four p. M. On Friday. With respect to investment in stormwater projects and taxes received, The city does not receive special funding for storm water. There is a bit of funding for that and development impact fees, but it's a it's a small amount.

And so, yes, we do receive Measure I monies and gas tax monies. And so those monies are programmed every single year into projects we are delivering in the community. Yes, I'd be happy to. And so I'm going to list some of the projects that we have in the works currently. I don't have a list in front of me, but the list is available on the city's website.

And I'm also going to talk about investment over the last twenty and twenty five years. And so some of those monies, gas tax and Measure I monies, have been used to construct the Ranchero Corridor project. Nearly $150,000,000 of those monies have constructed phase one, the underpass phase two, the interchange at Ranchero and I-fifteen and phase three, which is the widening of the project between phase one and phase two. In addition, we have widened and resurfaced Main Street over the last ten years. Next year, being constructed, is projects on 7th Avenue and Jackaranda.

Oh, it's this year. It's this year. It's a new year. So this year, we're constructing Thank you, Council Member Lee. This year, we're constructing on 7th Avenue and Jacaranda. We're also constructing a rehab on the South Side of Maple, and that would be between Main Street and Ranchero.

So,

thank you for the question. The north section of Maple, part of it, the most northerly part of it, will be constructed probably a year from now using a special funding source that has to be used in that area. And so that will construct from Mariposa. I don't know the exact limits because the engineering isn't complete on that, but moving south towards Willow. Again, I don't know the exact boundary.

Those are the projects that are underway now, but those monies are used every single day to provide street projects in Hesperia. When we are talking about a rehab project of an arterial, the cost of those projects is roughly a million, $1,200,000 a mile. That is the cost to pave streets in the state of California currently. And so, we leverage available funding for the Maple Project. We are using local monies combined with monies from Congressman Obernolte, who gave us some member directed funding of $2,000,000 So we are combining local monies, including gas tax and Measure I, to be able to expand that project to reach the full length between Main Street and Ranchero.

Other streets that are being considered, you know, again, don't have a full list in front of me. With respect to paving dirt roads, we have paved a number of dirt roads in the past ten years, and it is something that we have used community development block grant monies to pave. The next block grant that will be paved with that, I believe, is Live Oak, which is not a dirt road. And we recently finished Oakwood with that same funding source. And so, we do look at all available funding to be able to be creative in how we deliver projects to the city.

At roughly 75 square miles, we have more than five fifty miles of paved roads in the city, and about 40 dirt roads. And so it's a big inventory of roads to maintain, and we take that responsibility seriously, understanding that we do prioritize arterials and heavily traveled roads. Let me see. Currently, the city has expended monies to be able to fix the damage on 3rd Avenue, to be able to restore drivability to Aspen Street. And we are bidding out more than a half dozen projects with respect to things that need to be repaired in the city related to the storm.

With respect to a break in the water main, I'm not aware of a break. We are not aware of a break. There's been no water main break in Hesperia. However, at this storm, there had been a minor break, but not a major break. And so while that is something that is circulating, the water department has no that is not the case. I think I'm gonna stop there and allow the city council to ask additional questions of me.

Any council comments?

Go ahead.

Rachel, so in regards to the Maple Muscatil Basin there, do you have an exact date that that was inspected to where we can actually put down some numbers to when that was last inspected prior to the storm leading kinda leading up to that. I I you mentioned that it was it was inspected and it was cleaned out. Do we actually have anything

in writing?

It was the twenty third.

Okay. And if that date if that if it

it was the week of the event. Yes.

We are trying to conduct a meeting. Thank you. You've had your opportunity to speak.

And and I'm sure you'll you'll dive down into that more so. And if that date changes, just if you wouldn't mind let letting me know or letting us know collectively. Regarding the county property on Talisman, that that's kind of news to me now to that. I didn't know anything about that prior to, so I'd like to kind of buckle down into that. Is there a way that we can look at whether it's annexing or actually hold the county responsible for cleaning it up. I mean, they hold all of us accountable for weeds and things like that. Why can't we do that to the county? So whatever we can do moving forward with that, that would be helpful. You mentioned the forms that were submitted on the city website to date. Do we have a number of how many have been submitted?

I don't have a number, but I can get you one.

And then would will council be privy to that information to where we can actually take that metric and see what the residents are putting out there other than what we hear on a daily basis to actually measure what's being accomplished and some of those concerns that are written down?

Yeah. And so I can provide the council with that information. Our operations staff has that information. They report on that every single day. I don't have the numbers with me, but they are tracking the work orders that are accomplished, the work orders that are outstanding, exactly what they're doing every single day. I'd be

happy to share with the council.

Yeah, I think for possibly the next update, I think that'd be helpful for us to be able to put numbers in perspective. I know that our crews are out there working diligently, but to actually put calls, responses into the residents' minds may actually provide a little bit more insight and transparency nonetheless. You mentioned the water break. There was no main water break, but then you mentioned there was a maybe a minor. Do we have a location of where that was and when that was?

I've inquired, but I don't have the information I can provide it to the council.

Okay. That would be great if we can get that after the meeting in an email is fine.

Is there anything that counts excuse me, the city can do to assist many of our residents who don't have access to their driveways due to mud and flooding. It's I know that we're addressing major roads, and that's the priority to get people safely throughout the city. And I know that a lot of people feel stuck. One of the things that stood out to me tonight was people kept saying they're they're stuck on an island. They're stuck on an island. They a lot of people feel trapped. Is there, at any point, anything that that we can direct? I know that, Captain Muncie did I get his title? Chief Muncie. Excuse me.

I apologize, sir. Chief Muncie said that he would send hand crews. Is there anything that we can do to assist with the state of emergency?

So residents are filling out those online forms with all types of requests, and we are triaging those requests. So if there is an access issue in their street, if a bunch of dirt has blocked their driveway, those requests are coming in currently, and we're addressing them. So, I mean, on-site work, you know, we're not doing on-site work, but we are, you know I think, you know, it's important for residents to share the information with us so that we can have a holistic picture of, you know, what they're experiencing in their neighborhoods. And so I do encourage residents to fill out those forms. With respect to the the assistance that the fire department can provide, I would direct people to the county directly for that type of assistance.

And is that information that we can make readily available?

Certainly. I will speak with Chief Anderson about how we can update our storm page to include more specific information so that residents can be guided directly to the most appropriate contact.

Fantastic. Rachel?

So when Mr. Vogler was talking about his street being paved over and over causing a difference

between the street and his driveway, is that something that

the city is responsible for at this point? Or do we want to tell residents that they need to even out their driveways? Or how are

we going to work on that one?

Well, Mr. Vogler is describing that since the nineteen seventies, as the road's been paved, it's at a different, you know, height than it originally had been. I don't know that he experienced storm damage on at that house, on Danbury. He was referencing his home on Danbury specifically. And so I'd have to look and see exactly what type of issue he's had because it sounded like, just in general, he wanted the city to take that into account when they do a paving project rather than come out and address that issue. But I can speak to mister Vogler about that.

I I wanted to to kind of add into the resources that were offered by by chief Muncie and the San Bernardino County fire family there. Instead of directing them, of our emergency plan and and things like that, doesn't that have a collaboration component with county fire to where we can not just direct and push off responsibilities onto county fire but actually kind of try to encompass it better to to use those resources collectively with them and then, there's been a lot of talk of of, you know, residents need to reach, you know, fill out a form or residents need to reach out and it's great that they're they're here giving us this information but who do we have out in the streets of Hesperia saying, hey, this is a problem area from the city side.

That

that's what I was gonna ask, Rachel. Do we have the technology available to the city where we could have a live dashboard or at least a dashboard that's updated daily about what storm repairs we've made and where we're moving?

I don't know. So I can probably not dashboard, but we can do something that to mimic a dashboard to be able to give an idea of how cleanup is going in in maybe not in real time, but maybe daily, I think that would be something that we could accomplish, certainly, and that would help to paint a picture of how cleanup is going across the city. With respect to damage assessment, damage assessment is underway. It had began just shortly after the storm, primarily a public infrastructure. It's happening this week, both public and private infrastructure.

So we do have staff that are going to inspect property outside of people complaining. So we know where the damage is, and so that is also ongoing, and we are communicating that to the County of San Bernardino, Office of Emergency Service, and also the State of California, of Emergency Services. Tammy Pillaias is working directly with Cal OES and County OES on those damage assessments. And so that information, both inspections in the field and ongoing conversations with residents are happening every single day.

So the damage assessment for residents, You said that that's not gonna take place until next week. Correct?

No. It's happening this week.

Happening this week. I know that we're busy, and I know that we're inundated. But I have to ask why almost two weeks later are we just now getting to that?

Well, we've been speaking with residents about it since the storm started. And so those conversations have been ongoing. People have submitted photos. And so not everyone has shared photos. Some people have. They've shared all the information that we need to paint a picture. But this week, we're leaning into people that have not done that. We're going and inspecting where we need more information.

So reactive. So I'm trying to get away from the reactive, and again, as I know that we're busy fielding those calls, is that why we haven't been able to take a reactive approach? Because there's so many calls being fielded right now, or so many, I guess, investigations on that sense the staff's taking on to where we've kind of been able to get out into the the streets, the boots on the ground, so to speak, of doing that?

I think that, you know, as access is becoming easier, it's allowed us to do more of that. With the storm still happening, with water standing, with some of the streets undrivable, we didn't send assessment teams out in the middle of that. And again, a lot of the teams that we have are wearing multiple hats. And so we are managing this with the staff we have available. The staff is trained. They're professional, and they are doing the next right thing in this respect. So does that answer the question? I

live on the West Side of town, and there was a lot of dirt and debris that had had to be removed from the water from the dirt that was moved. There was a lot of washouts along the right of way that are being looked at and being prepared. And I know there's a lot of work going on in my neighborhood in the West Side, not my neighborhood. And it's been going on from daylight to sunset. So to answer your question, I think we were working as staff and contractors getting these roadways open because the amount of dirt that was on Cottonwood and Sultana, an emergency vehicle would have had trouble getting to the residents in case of emergency.

So I believe things are settling down, but there's still a lot of work to be done, and we're diligently getting to that. So I'm glad that we are able to move as quickly as we have getting our staff out and talking to the residents too. But we had a lot of on the West Side, there are a lot of roadways that were just impassable.

Yeah. And and look, I completely understand that. I just wanted to see when we actually had somebody out assessing homes. I mean, people said as as Chris mentioned, you know, islands and stuff like that. Well, it looked like that we prioritized major thoroughfares and public infrastructure, but what about the residents as well to where maybe they couldn't access their homes and things like that.

So that's where I was trying to get a timeframe of where we actively going out, getting a battle assessment of the situation, and then kind of following up with needs based on priority. Or was it, hey, these are our hotspots because it's Main Street or whatever else.

So, yes. Certainly, access was prioritized. One of the priorities was Aspen because it was so impacted. And so Aspen saw some of the first assistance to be able to get the road drivable so residents could leave their homes. We spoke to many residents on Aspen who called and talked about, you know, the trouble they had on that street.

And so Aspen is where we had our contractor working. So work was ongoing, you know, as we had rain continuing to come in, you know, that can create a challenge when you're moving a bunch of dirt and mud. But, yes, access across the city was the priority. We wanted to make sure people could get in and out of their homes, And and that will continue to to be, you know, the first response when we are rep responding to this type of weather event. Staff is helping to clear driveways of residents that have been impacted.

That will continue to be ongoing. So if a resident needs help with their driveway because of the storm debris, we are available to render that aid. We, the city manager's office, have logged a 165 requests for service. And those requests don't include phone calls coming directly into public works and engineering. And so these logs are being funneled to operations, again, and triaged so that the most urgent needs are addressed.

Everyone that has contacted us via the contact form, we are getting back to them right away to let them know we have received it so they don't submit something and just disappears into the Internet. I think does that answer those

questions?

Yes, it does. Thank you, Rachel. And I just want to commend our staff and to also say these are the types of acts of nature, acts of God that you just cannot prepare for every single emergency. I think it was Chief Muncy who quoted Benjamin Franklin earlier, and very, very true, we can't. We just can't be that prepared for everything all the time.

But staff has responded exceptionally. And I know people are angry, and that may not be what people want to hear in this moment because maybe enough hasn't been done, and enough hasn't been done. You're right, because you're still suffering. All of you are angry enough to show up and fill up a room. That means enough has not been done. We are dedicated to making the decisions up here. I know all of these individuals, and while some of us may not get along 100% of the time, we 100% of the time work together and we're going to get it done. And we're going to support our staff and we're going to get it done. I was out driving as a storm was happening. I was working.

I work for my day job is in health care. And I'm visiting members, I was doing running an errand and back and forth, and I got stuck. And the first person I called was Rachel. And I said, this is bad. This is really, really bad. I was part of the problem. You know how we tell people to stay at home? I was part of that problem that day in that moment. And when I asked her to declare a state of emergency, she did that. She did her job.

Our staff did their job. I talked to every one of these council members in that in that time, you know, and we all were on the same page. And because it was the holidays, it was a rough, weird time. But someone did say, thank God. Thank God it wasn't during a regular school day. Someone did say that. So we were fortunate. We have to count our blessings. We've got to come together as a community to fix a problem together. That being said, I heard some of the things that I heard back tonight, I'm going to direct staff here.

We are quick to fine you. That is true. It's part of our revenue, but it's not a big chunk of our revenue. Under California government code eight fifty five, 88, eighty six thirty, eighty six thirty four, and 8645 during an emergency state, the city has temporary powers to suspend fines. I would like for the city of Hesperia to suspend fines for weed abatement.

We're going to have an unusual weed growth over the coming year because of all these rains. In addition to fines for trash that people cannot reasonably fix, piles of trash that have flown into their backyards, I am requesting that an ordinance be written to further outline this so we don't have to make this special request, emergency ordinance that will direct us into future action so we are proactive rather than reactive. I understand staff is inundated with the time in response to this situation. I would like this brought back as soon as possible within thirty days, no more than forty five days going into March. If staff is inundated, I am willing to come in on my time and write the ordinance myself.

And I believe that under California Government Code 36937B, we can make such an ordinance. And that is all I have to state. Thank you.

I think Chris hit the nail on the head there. Good job, Chris. What I would ask, Rachel, is that I know staff is extremely busy, but that we look at doing an after action review. And we we we review, take an honest look at what we did right and what we did wrong and what we can do in the future. Events like this remind us that the import of the importance of preparedness.

As chief Muncy said, we're always quick to fund, response and recovery, but we don't, fund preparedness often enough. So I think we need to take a good long hard look at an AAR and, evaluate what the city did right, what the city did wrong, what we could do going forward to implement, technology or anything that'll help, I guess, put our residents at ease. With that, I will echo what Chris said in terms of the staff. Thank you guys very much. It's much, much appreciated.

But to the residents here, thank you guys too. I think, by the way, everybody responded tonight, even though you guys are obviously upset and and justifiably so, you guys were all respectful, and I think that's a testament to the resilience of the city. I think that's why we'll move forward, and and we'll do better the next time. So

Any further comments? I, too, would like to thank staff. I understand the residents. I'm it was it was devastating to the city, but I will go along with chief Lindsay. There were no lives lost, and I just praise the Lord for that because the amount of water that went through the period, Christmas, everyone's going to see their family.

Everybody wants to get together, and most of us stayed off of the roads. And I respect you for that. It was a worst time. There's never a good time, but when we're celebrating Christmas with our families and our loved ones, it was the worst time. So I appreciate your comments. Please feel free to reach out. I will speak on behalf of the council members. Please reach out to us. I've been answering many emails, many text messages. We are here for you.

So if you have any concerns, please reach out to us. And thank you very much to our entire staff, public works. I gathered a whole bunch of sandbags, and we just it's amazing that our community not amazing. I'm proud that our community comes together, neighbors helping neighbors. I saw a lot of people helping clean debris, people helping pull cars out of the ditches.

I hope never in my lifetime that I we experience a storm that we did over that period of time. So thank you, especially to public works, our police and fire. I had reached out to Kelly a couple times, and I got great answers. And I know everybody was tapped out. So with nothing else being said, I will okay. Go ahead, please.

Regarding the local assistance center that, Rachel spoke about, Chief Anderson placed flyers on the back table. So if you need more information on it, I know she placed flyers back there just a little bit ago.

And one last comment from me. I'm remembering the normal procession of a this is an extraordinary council meeting. If any of you think that you live in my district, I want to hear from you. That's why I was asking cross streets. I go I walk, you know, I go door to door, and I want to hear from you. I want to hear from you. And even if you don't live in my district because we're all one city. I don't live in District 4 Or 3 Or 4 Or 5. I'm District 1. That's the areas between the freeway, Bear Valley Road, down the railroad tracks, down Hercules and it comes down Willow and it pretty much follows Willow to cash you all the way back to the freeway.

On what side of Ranchero?

So

east or west? To Maine to Ranchero?

Maine. That

is my that is my district.

Do you call it

Sultana or River Street? I don't know.

I River Street.

I live on Sultana. That is my district, District 4, and I live on Sultana. So I feel a nightmare. I feel your pain. I joked in the past about we all should have a kayak if you live on Sultana.

Yeah. Good shit. I almost brought my jet ski out.

Yeah. Well, please don't do that. Right. But, again, we appreciate you, and our numbers are on the website. I have my business cards, and, we are here to work with you. Any additional council comments, staff comments? May I adjourn the meeting now,

Chris? Yes.

Thank you. We will adjourn the meeting at 07:39. Thank you very much.

Oh, Bob.