City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to our June 16th City Council meeting. We will start the meeting at 632. Our invocation will be done by Pastor Rick Stone Street. And Council Member Gray, can you please do the Pledge of Allegiance? Yes, thank you.

All right. Thank you. Scripture says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And we're going to talk to him tonight. So let's pray. Dear Lord, tonight we are so grateful that you are concerned about the affairs of men. Lord, that you come to us and give us help and give us wisdom. Give us direction. We pray tonight that would be the case here. You would help our city council members. Thank you for each one of them. And we also thank you for those who are citizens here to express concerns. And we pray that you'll just bring peace and calmness and direction in all of these things, Lord. We trust you. And we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Can we have a roll call, please?

Here, Mayor Pelton-Pollin. Council Member Gray?

Here.

Council Member Lee? Here. Council Member Ochoa?

Here.

Thank you. Are there any corrections or revisions to the agenda?

No revisions this evening.

Thank you. Do we have any closed session reports?

Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the City Council. We did discuss in closed session an item of existing litigation in Ray Aquius' forming foam products liability litigation. The council voted five to zero to join that litigation and file a settlement claim. With respect to negotiations for the City of Hesperia and Teamsters, no reportable action was taken.

Thank you. Moving on to announcements and presentations, we're presenting the recognition to resident Gregory Knapp and our Neighborhood Pride Program honoree. If you could, if council will join me at the podium, please. Rachel frowns upon the applause. Thank you very much. Rachel Burns is accepting on behalf of her father. So tonight we are recognizing the quarterly Neighborhood Pride Enhancement Program honoree, Greg Knapp. While Gregory cannot join us this evening, Rachel has offered to accept the award. the gift cards on his behalf. So the Neighborhood Pride Enhancement Program recognizes Hesperia residents who contribute to the beauty and charm of our neighborhoods through exterior home improvements. Examples include drought tolerant landscaping, decorative rock features, fresh exterior paint, and other outdoor upgrades. Each quarter, our City Council Advisory Committee selects one honoree to receive $1,000 in gift cards and a neighborhood pride yard sign to proudly display at their home. Our honoree Gregory replaced his water-heavy landscaping with drought-tolerant landscaping, creating a more sustainable and water-efficient yard. Oh wow, it's beautiful. Looks really good. Tonight we're pleased to present Gregory's award package, including gift cards from Ace Hardware Harbor Freight and Affordable Decorative Rock and Cal Herbal Nursery, along with a neighborhood pride yard sign in recognition of Mr. Knapp's contribution to the beauty of our community. Would you like to say any words on his behalf? Okay, thank you. This is really buttoned down here. This is how my husband wraps Christmas presents. All right, I'm about ready to give up here. Okay, I'm going to give up.

I won.

There's your gift cards for Ace Hardware, Harbor Freight, and Affordable Rock. Okay. And you want me to put them back in the envelope that I just showed you? I'm sure. I am here to help, here to serve.

Thank you. Okay, I will do that.

So thank you, sorry for that mess. So here's your sign, your yard. Yes, of course. Hold on, I don't want you to trip over it. Put that there, okay. Thank you very much and what a great job. Here's this.

Thank you.

We appreciate the interest in making our community better and it turned out beautiful. Thank you, let's give them another round of applause. Okay, moving on to general public comments.

Individuals wishing to speak during general public comments on a particular numbered item are requested 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 joint agenda or before an agenda item is discussed. Comments will be limited to three minutes for general public comments, consent calendar items, and new business items. Comments are limited to five minutes for public hearing 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 for other resources for factual information, and direct staff to add an item to a subsequent meeting.

Thank you. Our first public comment is a voicemail.

This is a comment for general public comments. Today I wanted to talk about democracy, corruption, and accountability. For the past four years, I have been closely watching the Hesperia City Council meetings, and on numerous occasions over the years, I have personally attended the public meetings and spoken on a number of items. Some things that I've observed are that on a consistent basis, only one city council member questions decisions and proposals that are presented by the city manager, Rachel Molina, or other representatives of the city Hesperia. Council Member Gregg does not just ask clarifying questions, but also asks for justification because he cares. That is the Council Member that I'm talking about, Cameron Gregg. I unfortunately cannot say the same for Mayor Bridget Bennington, Mayor Pro Tem Josh Pullen, Council Member Chris Ochoa, or Council Member Allison Lee. Starting in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, that paved the way for the United States of America to become its own country founded on the principles of democracy rather than tyranny and oppressive forms of government. Our whole nation has been founded on this principle of democracy. Democracy means that there are checks and balances in place so no one person is able to be corrupt and make decisions that are a personal benefit to them and their buddies. Under the rules of democracy, we have different forms of government and different agencies and rules that are put into place to make sure nobody is able to completely control the people. That is why the city council exists for the city of Hesperia. The city council is in place to ensure that the representative of the city, Rachel Molina, is not exercising tyrannical principles that are a personal benefit. However, she has been allowed to. She is currently the city manager of Hesperia while her husband, Michael Blay, who used to work for the city of Hesperia but had impropriety involving Ms. Molina, he is the city council, I'm sorry, he is the city manager of another city that is allowing personal benefit. We can no longer allow this. There are people whose streets were destroyed in the rain and they can't even get claims. submitted and approved by the city, yet our city manager can continue to profit off of the city. This needs to change. Remember, it is voting season, and we need to vote for people who will stand for what's right.

Terry Nelson, please.

Good evening. Mayor and members of the City Council, my name is Teri Nelson. I'm a resident here in Hesperia for the last 49 years. I'm here tonight regarding a serious property maintenance code enforcement failure on my block. My neighbor has a dirt V-ditch that is supposed to be kept maintained and clear to ensure proper drainage. Because it was being neglected, I previously reached out to the city for help. This was in January. The city building inspector came out, inspected the property, and personally assured me that the V-ditch had been cleared and passed inspection. Out of respect for the city staff, I took him at his word. This was four months after the very first complaint. Our mayor previously suggested that this is not a code issue. I went back and looked at our laws, Hesperia Municipal Code Section 8, point three two point oh two oh explicitly states that the accumulated trash and debris is declared public nuisance furthermore section eight point three two point oh four oh states that any condition that blocks redirects or concentrates storm flow in a way that may cause damage to adjacent private property is in violation Because this is an unlined V-ditch, leaving it clogged with trash and debris is a direct structural hazard. The next time we get a heavy rain, that debris will block the water flow, erode the ditch banks, and send mud and storm water flooding straight into my property. My property. It is clear to me that a thorough inspection was not actually done and the building manager gave a pass to a completely half-hearted job. I trusted our code enforcement process to protect my neighborhood, my property, and right now my trust has been broken. I'm asking City Council to direct management to send the supervisor back out to look at the dirt V-ditch properly, hold the property owner accountable to the actual letter of the law, and ensure his V-ditch drainage is completely safe before the next storm hits. If you don't know how a V-ditch works, then I suggest you contact the builder of the home on that property and find out because he and the mayor of this city at that time agreed to put it. Thank you.

Your time is up. Your three minutes is up. Thank you. Can I ask a clarifying question? Yes, please do.

The location approximate or you can give the address.

It's on Earhart Avenue here in Hesperia. Thank you.

Thank you. Robert Davey, please.

Good evening, Council. A little different tonight. When something so near and dear to you is stripped from you, your focus kind of changes. And the things that you are appreciative of come forefront. I want to express I'm grateful for this United States that we live in, that we're able to have freedom to come here tonight on a Tuesday night and express our opinions, whether people like them or not, that we can express them. The city of Hesperia that we live in, the first responders on the back row, I'm grateful to them. I'm able to sleep at night because they're out there patrolling and we can feel safer. I'm grateful the council, five to zero vote last year for the pallet yards. You know how close that fire was over the weekend of the pallet yards where that pallet yard was supposed to be? Had that pallet yard been there, we could have had a whole different outcome. And our first responders, they were on it. I mean, their response to that fire was incredible. So hats off to them. So I wanted to say thank you to them for doing that. Thank you for the council because there hasn't been a lot of five to zero votes in our favor this last year. But you guys, we stood up as residents and for all the residents. It can happen. We stood up for pallet yards. We fought it tooth and nail. And it took a year. It took a lot of time, a lot of effort going down the hill, looking at the pallet yards. If they were up here at this time, we might have just had a different outcome last weekend. So thank you for that, I appreciate it. Just one of the little things going around tonight instead of a criticism. And for anybody, you know, our election is coming up really soon. As you know, I'm running. I would encourage any resident to run. If you don't like the way things are going, put your hat in the ring. The deadline's gonna be coming up in July. And you know, run if you don't like the way things are going. So thank you.

Thank you. Pastor Paul Jones, please.

Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, City Council.

Good to see you all again.

I just wanted to make a couple of corrections that I did last month. We started a food program here in Hesperia at the Leisure League Senior Center. I gave the wrong address. The address is 9122 3rd Street in Hesperia. We had it this month. We had about 69 people that came out. Not bad for the first one. We are hoping to pump it up to 300 and some by Christmas time. We gave out laundry detergent, which was very shocking. People did not believe that we were giving out laundry detergent. Yes, we was. There was meat and everything else for anyone who came. At the end, we started getting more than just seniors. We got a lot of people from Lyme Street Park, but it turned out real nice. The time is going to change because of situations. We cannot make it from San Bernardino up here in time enough to start at 9 o'clock, so we'll be starting at 9.30, and we'll go until 11.30 each second Wednesday of the month. I do invite you all to come out. I did hear that one of the people were coming out on our next venture, but I invite everyone to come out and participate. God bless you.

Thank you.

And I do have flyers. I'm sorry.

Ash Sanchez Silva. And due to the translator, we will allow six minutes for your public comment. Thank you.

I was wondering if can I do my speech, everything in Spanish, and then she's going to translate everything?

We're going to extend your time, so then we have time. I appreciate that. Of course. Thank you. Of course.

Hello, good afternoon, Mayor Bridget, Mayor Pro Team Josh, and members of the council. I also want to say good afternoon to everyone here today. First of all, I want to thank you for giving me a little of your time. My name is Eduardo. I represent the Salva organization, a community organization that works to promote education, culture, and family well-being. Hoy me encuentro aquí porque deseo o deseamos como organización realizar en la ciudad de Hesperia un evento para celebrar el mes de la herencia hispana. Más que una celebración cultural, queremos crear un espacio de unidad, respeto y convivencia para todas las familias de nuestra comunidad, ya que bien sabemos que la comunidad latina representa el 62.7% de la comunidad en Hesperia. Vivimos tiempos en los que muchas personas sienten división, incertidumbre e incluso aislamiento. Particularmente, muchas familias hispanas sienten preocupación por el clima social que estamos viviendo en nuestro país. Por eso creemos que ahora más que nunca es importante crear espacios que nos recuerden que somos vecinos, que somos una sola comunidad y que todos contribuimos al crecimiento y la prosperidad de nuestra ciudad. Nuestro objetivo es reunir a las familias, organizaciones y artistas, también a jóvenes y líderes comunitarios para celebrar nuestras raíces, compartir nuestras tradiciones y fortalecer los lazos que nos unen. Por ello, les pido humildemente consideren su apoyo, participación o colaboración en este esfuerzo. Asimismo, respetuosamente, solicito a la ciudad de Hesperia considerar emitir una proclamación para el mes de la herencia hispana. en reconocimiento a las contribuciones, la cultura y el impacto positivo de la comunidad hispana a nuestra ciudad. Para nuestra organización y para las familias a las cuales nosotros servimos, sería un gran honor poder recibir este reconocimiento y celebrar juntos la diversidad que fortaleza nuestras comunidades. Muchas gracias por su tiempo, por su servicio y por considerar esta proclamación.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, City of Hesperia staff, and members of the community. First and foremost, I would like to thank you for allowing me a few moments of your time. His name is Eduardo Medina, and my name is Ash Sanchez, and we represent SALVA, a community-based organization dedicated to promoting education, culture, and the well-being of our families. We are here today because we would like to bring a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration to the city of Hesperia. More than a cultural celebration, our goal is to create a space of unity, respect, and community for families of all backgrounds. As you may know, the Latino population of Hesperia is about 62%. We are living in a time when many people feel division, uncertainty, and isolation. In particular, many Hispanic families are concerned about the current social climate in our country. That is why we believe that now more than ever, it is important to create opportunities that remind us that we are neighbors, that we are one community, and that we contribute to the growth and prosperity of our cities. Our goal is to bring together families, organizations, artists, youth, and community leaders to celebrate our heritage, share our traditions, and strengthen the bonds that unite us. For this purpose, we respectfully ask that you consider supporting, participating in, or collaborating with this effort. We would also respectfully request that the City of Hesperia consider issuing a Hispanic Heritage Month Proclamation recognizing the contributions, culture, and positive impacts of the Hispanic community in our city. For our organization and the families we serve, it would be a great honor to receive this recognition and celebrate together the diversity that strengthens our community. Thank you very much for your time, for your service to the community, and for considering this opportunity to work together.

Any questions?

Al Vogler, please.

Cool. Two positives.

Good evening, Council. I'm Al Vogler. For the last two or three Hesperia City Council meetings, I've noticed an item under closed sessions regarding negotiation price and terms for Hesperia Lakes. Involved in the negotiations are believed by me to be Hesperia Recreation and Parks and a developer. I notice on closed session tonight that that same item is no longer there. So I'm here to ask, why is that so? Have negotiations been terminated, culminated? Have they been completed? Have they been withdrawn? What exactly does it mean? Myself and several other city council, excuse me, city residents and taxpayers want to know. We don't need to conduct a survey for $217,000 to find out what's on people's minds. We ask and we think we find out. In addition, I'm wondering, does the negotiation, has the negotiation involved the water rights at Hesperia Lakes? And based upon a call I got this afternoon, the caller was thinking, stating with no documentation that perhaps it's the large development, residential development to the west that's involved in the negotiations here. We would also like to know that. I will probably submit a public records request, but I don't think I'm going to get answers to the questions that I'm going to ask. And because of that, I'm here tonight to make this issue a matter of public record so that anybody that wants to research it may do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Kim.

I didn't hear you.

I was talking down. I apologize.

All right. Y'all know the times when my dog was stolen. September 9th, 2024. I went searching for him. Couldn't find him. So I called the sheriff to make a stolen dog report. Now, the lady that answered, the information lady or whatever, she was reductant. She asked me a question like, did you look in your yard and all this dopey thing? They got some kind of camera and they can look right down in your yard. Did you look under that white truck and all this stuff? And I said, yes, I looked in my yard. I had told her I was an elderly lady. She acted like I'm kind of stupid, you know, like I couldn't look in my yard for my dog. But anyways, later in the day, a sheriff called me and I give him the report. First thing he asked me, other than the description of the dog, was there any type of camera or video taken? And I said, no. Now, what I'm getting for now is not too long ago, it's been a few days ago, Carpet Corral up on Main Street, the fellow that runs that place or owns it, his little dog was stolen right out of the front of the building. There's cameras, pictures. They got pictures of the lady that took the dog. They got pictures of the driver of the car. The sheriff does. They got pictures of the license plate and everything. And as of now, that little dog hasn't been returned. And I know how it feels to have a dog stolen. Reuben was gone for 17 months until the miracle or somebody cued me in where he might be. You know, I've already explained all that stuff. But I had a bad time that time. I had anger issues, frustration, everything. Somebody steal my dog. He's 12 years old. He's 14 now. I got him a few months back with the help of the pound. 17 months, he was gone. Now, he's 14 now. Now, from what I understand, this little gray poodle dog that was stolen, he's 14 approaching 15. He's blind. Apparently, he needs some medication. He's neutered. And somebody, I wish the police would help find him because I know what that is to have a dog stolen. It drove me nuts. And I imagine with that fellow that owns that dog. And the cockroaches that stole that dog, if you listen, there's a lot of people looking for that little varmint. And y'all better turn him back, bring him back, take him to the pound or something. Do what is right. Return the dog to his owner. Thank you.

Thank you. Brian, Donathan, please.

Thank you.

I'm Brian.

Yeah. Wow. It's kind of a hello mayor and a city council members. Um, I'm Brian Donathan. Um, I kind of overwhelmed, you know, but, uh, Yeah, we've been in business since 1965. We've been an upstanding, I believe, in the community. We've done everything we can for the Sheriff's Department, and I believe they are working on this. But it was suggested to me that I come here and explain to you what happened, and maybe you could help me. And she's correct. Yeah, he was taken, and I believe I gave you guys flyers. Unfortunately, the second page there, the car kind of looks blue, but it's not. It's a silver car. But I was hoping that maybe you guys could, you know, ask the sheriffs to do more. The deputy that's... working on the case, she only works on the weekends. Gosh, this lady said so much that I thought was very well done. I'm kinda not used to doing this, and I believe I know you. I believe you come in the store, Mayor, am I correct? Or am I wrong, I could be wrong. But yeah, I'm just hoping that maybe there's more that could be done. You know, and maybe you guys could, you know, maybe get some other eyes on it. I don't know. But like she said, we've got all the videos, everything, you know. But, you know, and I'm not unhappy with the sheriff. I just was hoping that maybe you guys could maybe do more. I don't know, you know. But I appreciate your time, and I won't take up any more of it. And thank you for anything you can do.

Thank you. Gina Whelan, please.

Good evening, everybody. How are you today? Well, I'm here today as a follow-up to the situation that's going on with Brian's dog. It's been eight days. He was stolen from the property of Carpet Corral, which everybody in Hesperia has gone to at one time or another, even officers, and by these ladies who were probably thinking they were doing a good Samaritan thing, but really not. They never posted up on social media, never reported him missing to the shelters. You know that Paw Patrol is on it, and that's me, and he's gone to the shelters, everything, nothing. The Sheriff's Department has been gaslighting him, in my opinion, and it's pretty much how it has been. Nothing has been done. Nothing has been proceeded on. A report was done reluctantly. The first day, I mean right after he was taken, it was on camera, he got license plate, he got their faces, images, everything, and nothing really has been done. I've actually called the watch commander myself, haven't gotten phone calls back except for the lady who does the public services or whatever her duty is at the Sheriff's Department. She was nice and she called me back and left me a voicemail that it was an active investigation. But it should be cut and dry, there's a license plate. You can't tell me that you can't figure out where somebody lives, like right then and there. It's a priority. It's stolen property. He reported it, the dog stolen. Okay, it shouldn't be like brush off, we'll get to it when we can. I understand that there are priority calls, low, medium, high, I get it. But come on, the dog should have been back home by now. He's almost 15 years old, needs meds, blind, probably scared to death, who knows where he's at. And apparently the car I found out yesterday from Brian, they all of a sudden found out that the car was sold to somebody up here in the high desert. So it has been up here in the high desert. That's where these people live. So, you know, please, please do something to help him. He has served the community with his business for years. He is an outstanding business owner. I mean, member of the community. He has donated to the sheriff's department. You know, I mean, I'm sure he's given homey hookups, you know, to everybody who's gone in there. That's, you know, of some standing in the government and in our community. You know, he's always kind to everybody that goes in there. This is not just so that he, you know, oh, this is my pet dog and it shouldn't even be treated like that. Even if he wasn't a business owner, there's proof. There's a license plate. You cannot tell me you can't run a license plate and investigate. And if it's in another jurisdiction, reach out to somebody in the other jurisdiction. I'm not really dumb. You know, I do know some stuff and I do research. Please help him. Stop gaslighting. What is it going to take to call down to Eternal Affairs? That's pretty much what I am at the point of doing, to file a complaint. Thank you.

Kim Coons, please.

Good evening, everybody. I wasn't gonna talk about Smokey, but I do wanna say that I feel seven or eight days is a little bit too long for something that has, we have all the evidence and we have the address. We don't want the community to start going out and getting hit the dog back. So the Sheriff's Department needs to kind of step up and get this dog back when everything is there laid out. They don't even have to investigate. It's all there on video. Anyhow, please return this man's, help return this man's dog. before people start getting involved. Anyhow, I want to take a moment to recognize the community program manager, Romina Gonzalez, and the work that she's been doing for the animals and the community. As somebody who has spent years advocating for shelter animals, I believe that it's important to acknowledge the progress when we see it. While there is still much work ahead, I have seen a willingness from Romina to communicate, to listen to concerns, and engage with members of the rescue community and the public. The challenges facing our shelter were not created overnight, so we have overcrowding, limited resources, and increasing demands from a growing community. They're not easy problems to solve, yet meaningful change begins with leadership that is willing to listen and work towards solutions. So we often come to these meetings to discuss problems, but tonight I wanted to take a moment to recognize somebody who has stepped up into a difficult position and is working to make a difference. Community Program Manager Romina has demonstrated professionalism, accessibility, and a genuine concern for improving outcomes for the animals in our care. Supporting progress does not mean we stop advocating for improvements. It means that we recognize the positive steps being taken while continuing to work towards the larger goal of creating a shelter system that our community can be proud of. So I encourage the council to continue supporting these efforts with the resources, the staffing, and long-term planning necessary for success. So thank you. Have a good evening.

Thank you. Do we have any further public comment cards? No more white cards. Thank you. Moving on to our joint consent calendar. Do I have a motion? I have a motion by Council Member Ochoa.

Madam Mayor, I think that there was item number, I think there was an item on the consent calendar to be pulled.

For item five, public speaker. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see that. I apologize. A motion to approve the consent calendar minus item five. It's a lot going on. Motion by Council Member Cho, a second by Council Member Gray. Can we have a vote, please? Thank you. The item passes 5-0. Item number five. Mr. Davey, you wanted to discuss item number five?

Item five is the Granicus item. Mr. Davey.

Thank you.

Okay, well maybe he can explain, I thought maybe he'd go first and explain that. My concern has been for a long time is the Granicus system. I get it, it's multi-faceted, it does the agendas, a lot of behind the scenes, but Hesperia is lagging far behind when it comes to city council meeting video. It's difficult, I know for a fact, because my wife could never watch it in our own living room, the link never worked. So if this is gonna improve it, But still, why? I've been to Apple Valley and talked a few times. They have Frontier, Spectrum, and two other options to watch their city council meetings. Victorville has YouTube. Why can we not do YouTube? Why do we have to spend thousands more dollars on a failed system that's not working properly? I don't care if we do the agendas and all the other behind the scenes, but we need to have a legitimate video system. I got family in other cities that are trying to watch the council meetings, and it doesn't always work. So I'd be cautious on spending this money until we can find out is it going to be a better success, new hardware and streaming services, and it needs to be just that. But why can't we use YouTube? It can't be that expensive to broadcast these meetings here on YouTube. Maybe it's more to go to Frontier and Spectrum, but that's what Apple Valley does, and it makes it really convenient for their citizens to watch it. Thank you. We need the transparency.

Casey? Casey?

Mayor and Council, I'll give a brief update on what this is doing. So the last major update to Granicus with 2013, the software is old, the infrastructure is aging, and it doesn't allow for much opportunity aside from the length that we have. And the software not only provides the videoing it is also the vote display as well as the staff report or agenda creation so this software upgrade is not only going to upgrade the software itself it's all the back end servers to allow us more options for those should city council choose those additional streaming options The improved stream will have improved videoing, audio, as well as closed captioning with this upgrade as well. And that concludes my brief presentation.

Do we have any council comments?

Casey, I have a question. Did we look at other entities for the same service? Maybe not a complete package like this, but did we look at different, you know, Gran U.S. may be good at one thing, but did we look at other options like YouTube or Frontier or whatever the case is there for a cost savings and maybe better quality?

No, so because our network is Granicus, to move would be more expensive, but Granicus serves 7,000 different governments globally. Here in California, it's well over 200 are served by Granicus. They're one of the largest providers of this service.

So speaking to that, have we researched those other 200 entities within the state to see how this is performing prior to stepping into a commitment like this?

I'm going to bring up our deputy IT director who worked on this project. Rita will be able to speak to that.

Hello, Council Member Gregg. Yes, we did. Staff looked at several different options and determined that Granicus was going to be the best that fits our needs with our current platform. Okay.

That's all that I needed to know on that. I just want to make sure that we're looking at those other people that are already using this suite and saying, okay, this will meet our needs.

Any further council comments? Do I have a motion for item five? We have a first by Councilmember Chavez, second by Mayor Potem Polin. Can we have a vote, please? The item passes 5-0, thank you. Moving on to item 17. Welcome, Cassie.

Thank you. Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Cassandra Sanchez. I'm the Director of Public Works and the City Engineer. Tonight I'll be talking to you about our 26-27 Capital Improvement Project Program. And before I get started on our projects, which is the fun part of this presentation, I wanted to talk a little bit about our budget. Our CIP budget is $31,917,247, and it's broken up over a variety of categories, such as streets, storm drainage, facilities, water, and sewer. I'd first like to highlight some projects that we got completed in this last fiscal year. The first one is the recoating of the tanks. We had three tanks that we were able to recoat, which helps extend the life of the valuable infrastructure by protecting it from harsh weather and protecting the overall integrity of the steel. These tanks were presented and accepted by council on April 7th. The first tank was plant 21, where we did an exterior recoat. Plant 22 was the most complicated one that we had. It was an interior and exterior recoat where we sandblasted the interior of the tank and then removed all of the sediment. This also involved cutting a door along the side of the tank so that it provided access. My favorite one is the Plant 23, which included the replacement of the old mural. And one of our residents thought it was so nice. He brought out a 72 Chevy for a photo shoot. So I want to include that here on this slide because I think it looks really nice. But that was my favorite one. You can see it from the freeway. Next, we were able to do a CDBG project along Oakwood, which was about one mile of roadway that we were able to repair the road. The pavement condition index, or the way that the pavement is rated, was the lowest in the city. It ranged from 19 to 25, and that's out of a scale of 100, where 100 is a perfect brand new road. show how poorly this this road had been and we are very happy to have a very nice road. We also used a new technology on this one or at least it's new to the city of Hesperia where we did full depth reclamation. There is some cost saving using this where the old road was pulverized and then used as base underneath the new road. Why there was cost savings on this is because it then reuses the recycled material and it helps save costs because we don't have to haul off all of that old pavement. Not every road will qualify for this but it is something that we are very happy with the final product. Another CDBG project we were able to work on this last fiscal year was Live Oak. We did approximately a half mile of removal and replacement of pavement along Live Oak between Cottonwood Avenue and Maple Avenue and the PCI of this road ranged from 26 to 49. We also have the Maple Avenue sewer line replacement. This had to go in place before we were able to do any pavement work along Maple. It was the removal and replacement of about 2,400 lineal feet of sewer pipe. There was a sag that was within the pipe, and our crew spent a lot of time with the maintenance and the pumping of this sag. And so we were able to start construction in May of 2025, and we will be bringing it to council early in this next fiscal year. We had to finish some funding paperwork and some project paperwork. Finally, this was a project that was one that council really was excited about. Larry Bird, our previous mayor, was one that would champion for it quite a bit. This is the signal at Main and Sultana or Timber Lane, depending on which way you're going along that roadway. This provides a nice controlled intersection at the crossing, which allows both pedestrians and traffic safety because we also installed ADA curb ramps and crosswalks in this area. And this project was accepted by council June 2nd. Now before I go into our critical projects, I would like to just talk a little bit about project selection. This is an ongoing process, and that's why we divide our projects into critical and essential projects. Critical projects are ones that city staff feel are important to complete within the next year. But we continually work on the essential projects that I'll be presenting to you a little bit later. And as funding opportunities arise, or as they go through their lengthy process of and construction and permitting, we move those up into critical projects. So we're always working on filtering in new projects as we move forward. We look at a variety of factors, and some of our projects will be multiple categories. And so one of the first things we look at is asset consumption. Asset condition and performance. That's where we look at things like PCI, like I mentioned for Oakwood or Live Oak. Also maintenance impacts like we did for our sewer sag along Maple. We look at available funding sources. So sometimes with grants, we can only use the funding for specific things like CDBG. We can only use it within disadvantaged communities. We look for opportunities for partnerships with other agencies like we do along the Rancho Road corridor where we partner with SBCTA. We also look for community needs for safety or improving quality of life like the traffic signal at Main and Timber Lane. And then we also make sure that everything meets our citywide goals like improving circulation and following our general plan. There is a timeline that each project takes and it's unique to each project and really varies depending on the complexity and the scope of the project. But they all follow this kind of similar formula even though each of these stages can really vary in length. We start with a conceptual design when we're starting out a project. This helps us to determine the overall budget in a preliminary sense as well as the project boundaries. Then we then move into environmental review and permits. Some projects require permits, some do not, depending on what the scope of the project is. We also look to see if there's any need for right-of-way acquisition. We then move in further into the design of the project, where we have milestones at 30%, 60%, 90%, and 100%. 30% is slightly better than the initial conceptual design. 60% is where we're really starting to look at some of the more fine details and really laying out the project. And 90% is almost a completed plan set, but it does give us one last chance to look at the project before we take it to completion. And during that time, we're doing plan specifications and project estimates. We then move to advertise and bid the project, and then we move towards construction. Construction isn't just breaking ground, but it also involves ordering long lead items. When we did Main and Timber Lane, some of the items took about 50 weeks or almost a full year to be able to get all of that material. We review submittals from the contractor, and we respond to requests for information. And then once construction is completed, we move into project closeout, which includes construction punch lists where our inspectors work with the contractor to make any minor repairs or any closures in the construction. And then we do final verification of work and final reports and paperwork for any grants that we may have. Now I would like to talk to you all about our seven crucial projects that we have within the city. Sorry, critical projects. I don't know where crucial came from. Critical projects we have here within the city. The first one is our Ranchero Road Aqueduct Crossing. The demolition of the bridge started in January of 2026 after we obtained a permit from DWR. The anticipated completion of this project will be December of 2026. And work has been moving steadily with the girders currently actually being installed ahead of schedule this month. And actually, as I'm presenting tonight, all 15 girders have been installed along the bridge. These were 150-foot girders. They were huge and had to be trucked across the state. So that was a big undertaking to get that done ahead of schedule. We also have currently under construction our annual street improvement project, and this is pavement treatment along Jacaranda Avenue and 7th Street. Work started in April by Onyx Paving, and we have used a variety of treatments along the roadway, including select removal and replacement of asphalt, crack seal and slurry of asphalt, and grind and overlay. The contractor is wrapping up that project pretty soon, and we'll be bringing it to council for acceptance.

Cassandra, before we move on from that Jacaranda project, there was some community concern with tearing it up and stuff like that. Can you maybe give a better overview of that?

Sure. When the work was being performed on Jacaranda, there was some material deficiencies that were happening. And so I don't know if you had a chance to see it, but it started failing like almost immediately. Our staff noted it. We worked really closely with the contractor and they quickly removed it and replaced it. So it was a really great partnership between us and the contractor to get a good product for our city.

And that's what's important, right? I think that you've heard me preach that quality over quantity within the city. Just one follow-up question to that is, did the city bear any additional costs for that project needing to be torn up again or whatever the case was there?

No, the contractor removed it and replaced it at their cost.

Awesome. Great news. And for the community out there, I hope that they understand that our staff, they're really focused and dialed in with quality now. So any of those questions, we'll always address them to staff in here, and we'll always have an answer. So thank you for that, Kit.

Of course. And they're the same contractor that did 7th Street? Yes. Because 7th Street's beautiful.

Yeah, they did a really good job on 7th. And I think that's why they were so quick to help repair Jacaranda because they were doing such good quality and we were really happy with how everything was moving. I don't think they wanted that to be the quality that they left the city with. So they've been doing a really great job and it's been a really good partnership.

Okay, good. Thank you.

Moving on, we have our new CDBG for 25-26. We have selected streets. We're looking at 9th and Palm, but they have to be approved through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, prior to us moving forward with final design. They have to make sure that it meets all of the CDBG qualifications, so we will be finishing up that with them. Next, which is already under construction as well, is our Maple Avenue Street Improvement Project from Main Street to Ranchero Road. This work started May 18th, where they started with a lot of their concrete work. So it wasn't nearly as exciting as the work that had started on 7th, where they immediately started ripping up the pavement. But they have started some pavement removal now. But most of Maple, the PCI was below 50 with some sections as low as 21. So we are very excited to be able to replace this roadway. We'll be doing a variety of treatments like we did on 7th, including removal and replacement of asphalt, grind and overlay, and crack seal and slurry. Next, we have the Main Street traffic signal synchronization. This project is almost complete. Council just approved the final equipment purchase on June 2nd. And that will be, once we get that equipment in, we will be coordinating with Caltrans early in the next fiscal year so that we can install those cameras on the on-ramps and off-ramps. to complete this project. We also included Main and Timber Lane into this network and so we can already see that intersection as well. The purpose of this project is to help with circulation and to be able to get people along Main Street to the freeway and across town quickly. Next, we have our 2627 Street improvements. This will continue the north-south corridor of 7th Avenue and will focus between Mesquite and Ranchero Road. Overall, this section of roadway had a higher PCI than the rest of 7th Avenue, but we did see some deterioration accelerated as part of the December 2025 storm event. So we are going to move forward with the completion of these improvements as well. So we will begin design in fiscal year 26-27 and plan on bringing this portion of 7th to construction in the spring of 2027. We will also be applying some of our annual street paving funds to Escondido Avenue for street improvements. This roadway as well, we saw accelerated deterioration as part of the December 2025 storm. And this roadway is heavily traveled as a connection to the freeway and retail by all of the residential areas west of the aqueduct and south of Main Street. Pavement rehabilitation along this roadway will go from Main Street south towards the city limits at Sage Street and will begin designed for this project in the 26-27 fiscal year. Next we will be moving on to our essential projects as I mentioned are projects that we're looking ahead in the two to five year plan. So first we have Ranchero Road. This is phase four of the Ranchero Road improvements. Phase four will widen Ranchero to 80 feet total and include sidewalk along the southern portion of the roadway. We are already working in initial design for this one, and once we are all happy with the design, and we'll be moving towards about 60% fairly soon, then we will look at the environmental documents and obtaining right-of-way. We had some interesting issues with this one because of the existing residential to the north side of the street, but we're very happy with how this design is moving forward, and it will be between Danbury Avenue and I Avenue. Next, we have the Temecula Avenue CO1 retention basin. This is strategically located at the entrance of the CO1 drainage system. During the December 2025 storm event, that pipe was filled with sediment and it caused it to overflow and hit the neighboring area. So this basin will be used to reduce sedimentation and help protect that pipe, which also helps to reduce overall maintenance costs and keeps the community roads clear. We also have our golf course trails. We'd like to create opportunities for outdoor recreation through the installation of walking trails for the public. We'd like to do it along the north side of the Hesperia golf course. While the whole trail will be about 4.5 miles long, this will probably be phased as we move forward. We also have the Catawba Road Basin. This is located within the Oro Grand Wash, which is a naturally occurring drainage course, where this drainage course meets the California Aqueduct. The overshoot will get filled with sediment, and so DWR has had some concerns about their infrastructure. We've been working very closely with them. City staff is almost an escrow for the right of way of this project. It has taken a while on that one. But we are looking forward to be able to start a feasibility study as soon as we own the property. We next have the HO1 drainage facility. This area was hit very hard during the December 2025 storm event and 3rd Avenue was washed out at the base of this basin. City staff has purchased some land on either side of 3rd Avenue and so we will begin looking at a feasibility on how to improve the drainage in this area so that we can protect our roadways. Next we have the Walnut Street Basin, also along the H01 watershed. This is at the start of the pipes. So the previous project is at the end of the pipes. This one is at the start of the pipes. And the purpose of this is to help collect sediment because ultimately at the H01 basin that I just talked about, it does get full of sediment. We see a lot of that clogging the pipes. So this will help to collect all of that before it gets into the system, and it should make it overall easier to clean and maintain. Next, we have the aqueduct crossing for widening the bridge at Main Street. We will not be starting this until after we complete Ranchero Road, but this will be to widen Main Street at an area that we do have a bottleneck. We'll be taking it to three lanes versus the two that is currently going on. Plans are almost completely designed, but we will need to do some environmental studies and some right of way acquisition before we can start construction. Next we have Maple Avenue improvements north of Main Street. So we are currently working on a project south of Main Street and we plan on doing some select pavement treatment north of Main Street. The project will begin with design this next fiscal year and that will determine the final project limits. Next, we have a traffic signal at Escondido Avenue and Sultana Street. This project is currently under design, and we are performing environmental compliance. City staff is working on obtaining the necessary right of way required to install the signal poles, and we are currently working with the property owners on that. And then the project is intended to improve intersection safety reduce collision frequency and enhance the overall traffic operations. And finally, we have one more traffic signal that we'll be bringing to the city, which is at 7th Avenue and Sequoia Street. This project will help improve this intersection and also have roadway widening to accommodate turnpockets. This intersection has a history of collisions, so this will help provide safety for vehicles and pedestrians. And while preliminary engineering is underway, construction is anticipated at the end of the 26-27 fiscal year. I'm available for any questions if you have any.

Thank you. At this time, I would like to open the public hearing at 735. Do we have anyone wishing any public comment cards regarding this? No white cards. Thank you. Do we have any council comments?

Yes. I do have a question. The Ranchero Danbury to I... going to 80 feet, is that going to have some property take from the homeowners in that area?

Yes, there will be some right-of-way acquisition that will be needed for that project. We did modify the width of the roadway, and we changed it. The road itself will be almost the same as what you'll see on the rest of Ranchero. It was originally planned to be about 100 foot right-of-way, but we did just leave the sidewalk on the south side versus the north side. We reduced some medians, and so we were able to reduce the amount of right-of-way that we need to take from the residents in that area.

Okay, I do have one more question. The Catawba Basin, is that the basin that's north of Main Street between 395 and, what's that?

It's just north of like the Target Shopping Center. Okay, okay. Right up at the Aqueduct.

All right, perfect. Thank you. That's it.

Do I have a motion? A motion by Council Member Gregg. Second by Mayor Pro Tem. Can we have a vote? And the item passes 5-0, and I will close the public comment at 7.36.

Thank you. Great presentation, Cassie.

Moving on to new business. Item 18, Melinda. Melinda.

Can you hear me okay? Got a brief presentation for you tonight to talk to you about Senate Bill 707. It is a large expansion of the Brown Act, the open meeting laws. We haven't had one like it in many, many years. So I'm here to talk to you a little bit about it. I'm asking that you receive and file the information that we're going to provide, that you adopt a disruption policy that I'll describe to you, and then discuss the implications of the disruption policy and possibly change the starting meeting time, if you'd like to entertain that. So the background is Senate Bill 707 was adopted back in 2025 so staff has had some time to prepare for this and they've been doing that the Clerk's Office in conjunction with IT. This expansion is meant to increase participation in all of the local government meetings while the expansion only pertains to the City Council meetings though so it will not include our committee meetings and it won't include Planning Commission meetings. Some of the provisions went into effect back in January 1st of this year, but most of them will take effect July 1st. The January requirements were more of an expansion of remote participation for council members to allow for unforeseen emergencies or disabilities, things like that. Social media use was also touched on in the new Brown Act expansion and distribution of the Brown Act copies, which you might remember Jessica distributed to you back in December of 2025. Fast forwarding to next month, what the city council must do, according to the law, is provide remote participation through a two-way telephonic or audiovisual platform. IT and the clerk's office have been working towards that, looked into lots of different software programs, and selected public input. It utilizes Zoom and remote registration for comments, and that will be in place for the very next meeting, which will be July 21st. The city must maintain an accessible webpage with meeting participation instructions. That has already been implemented. Meeting agendas must be translated or able to be translated. That's already been implemented as well into, I believe it's something like over 100 languages using a toggle on the website. And provide public posting areas for translated agendas. So soon you'll see an acrylic box affixed to the front of our building structure out here to allow anybody speaking any language to decide to translate it and make it available for the public. So a pretty cool addition. So the next portion of this is the adoption of a disruption policy. And so the Brown Act does require this. So this is something that is legally being forced upon the city. So because it is being required that there's a two-way, either telephonic or audiovisual implement, there is also a disruption policy. So if you lose track of Zoom or something gets disconnected, and since COVID, we've all been using a lot of Zoom or Teams, it's kind of rare for that not to happen. The state law requires that the meeting is paused for up to 60 minutes while city staff determines what the issue is and tries to repair it. We also have to adopt procedures for restoring services. So it's a very simple process and procedure that has been reviewed by the city attorney's office. That's included in your agenda packet along with the entire expanded Brown Act. And that leads into the last section of this item, allowing the council to discuss a possible meeting time adjustment option. So options on the table are 6.30 PM, which would be no change, 6 PM, 5.30 PM, 5 PM, or provide alternate direction to staff. And I'm available for any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. We have a voicemail regarding this item.

There's a comment for the new business item number 18, which has to do with the meeting disruption policy and Senate Bill 707. I wanted to talk about this because I see that the City of Hesperia is finally coming into compliance with the Brown Act. and the Constitution, First Amendment, everything, which is supposed to guarantee that the people of the public can comment and participate in our local forms of government. Prior to this, we, as a matter of fact, I'm actually being forced to use that option right now, where I physically have a disability. I cannot go to the city council meetings. I had made a request and the city denied my request to allow for me to review information so I can make an informed decision. So I was not allowed to personally comment on a separate item that was a public hearing at either the last city council meeting or the one before. I don't remember at this point. But this specific proposal is helpful because it's actually bringing into compliance what should have been in place for a long time without it being required by Senate Bill. It's a common courtesy that... But if the city cared to allow for more comments, then this should have already been quick. However, I did submit a complaint to the Department of Justice at the federal level regarding my being discriminated against. So I have no idea if that's what all of a sudden led to Ms. Sayers making this proposal or how long that's been in the works, but it's long overdue. People have a right to participate in meetings and it needs to be in live time i shouldn't have to make a public comment ahead of time without even knowing what's going on in the meeting so thank you do we have any additional public comments regarding this item no more public comments do we have council member comments

I'm switching. Council Member Ochoa.

I see here that we have the possibility of discussing more convenient times. I saw, leaving it the same, 5.30 and 5.00, I think that we should be able to have an open discussion about what times would work. and what times wouldn't work, taking into account accessibility for our disabled populations, our senior populations, and our working families that want to have access to our meetings.

Thank you. Council Member Gregg.

There we go. Back on. I like the idea of keeping it at 630, knowing that the majority of our community commutes down the hill by the time you get back up. I mean, that does take some time before being a little bit later to allow people to get up here on time for the working class. Looking at what's being implemented here on the technology side, it kind of closes that gap for your senior citizens and your students Disabled population a little bit because they can they don't even have to attend they can chime in things like that But folks that are driving may have a harder time if you start adjusting those times earlier into the night It's my take on it. So I like the idea of keeping it at 630 It's been a long standing time that we've kept here. So people have kind of shifted around that but Curious of what everybody else says Thank You councilmember Lee

So my question is what is it gonna cost us as the city looked into what the cost is on bringing us up to SB 707? And is the state gonna be able to do any type of reimbursement?

At this time, that's a great question, Council Member Lee. At this time, I'm not aware of any cost recovery options for the city. And Jessica can remind me how much the public input software costed us.

For the first year, it was about $24,000.

Are we going to need to have additional staff to deal with this as well? I mean, this is our state doing our lovely overreach again.

RIT department, along with Jessica, has been working kind of around the clock to make this work. We're doing our best to implement it with no additional staff, but that is a possibility.

Okay. Thank you. I think that's about all I've got on that one. Thanks for doing a great job. I know that we need to be compliant, and I get the fact. I do support us being compliant on this.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Poland.

my question is do we know of any other cities that have implemented this already and how it's impacted their meetings when we're discussing time changes to our meetings if we have to pause every time someone loses service and we have to determine that it was lost on their side or not our side have we evaluated any other cities or look to any other cities that have implemented this already

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Pullen. Staff has looked into that. I'm aware of one very local city who's made a drastic change because of that and moved meetings to midday during the week. There are other cities that start already a lot earlier than our city that aren't making adjustments right away, but we've spoken to a handful of cities that are interested in looking at the same thing.

With the cities that have already implemented this, there have been a few hiccups, but for the most part, they've been running smoothly. The disruptions that have occurred have been for the most part less than 10 minutes. But of course, when we all go online July 1st of 2026, that may be a different story. So bandwidths and all that may be an issue. So we'll have to wait and see what happens. To answer Council Member Lee's earlier question, again, this is one of those bills that is an unfunded state mandate and there is no reimbursement requirement from the state as with all the other 200 bills they pass that require the cities to spend more money.

Sad, but thank you.

I share concerns if we do lose connectivity, these meetings are going to go deep into the night possibly. Where I understand a lot of people are commuting up the hill to council meetings, make the earlier meeting but it would be my recommendation that we start the meetings earlier to accommodate because a lot of we have when we have awards for the high school kids the element we have visitors if our meetings are going into midnight and we have sat through many meetings and in midnight and it's really trying and we lose a lot of our audience because they're pretty much tapped out by eight or nine o'clock so there would be my recommendation to move the meetings to an earlier time to accommodate the disconnectivity, to accommodate any, like July 1st, everybody's going to be on board with this. If we start at 6.30, that meeting could very well, I'm afraid it's going to hamper the way we're doing business as a council. So my recommendation would be at 5 or 5.30.

These buttons. I think I have to agree with you, Mayor. I think that if we go too early, we do cut out, we definitely cut out our working class population that will, on typical nine to five schedule, gets off at five. They could perhaps join from a Zoom before they get on the road. But also, when we do give out awards or have kids from our schools come in, if we're doing it in the middle of the day, we're disrupting their learning. And then we don't want to pull kids out of school to come here and then back and forth to get awards or anything like that. I would be agreeable to five or 530.

I would not recommend, I'm sorry, Council Member Gregg, I would not recommend changing this meeting to an earlier time in the afternoon.

And I second Chris's sentiment on that. But more so, the worry of this going so far into the night, is there a cutoff time that these meetings are supposed to happen? I know other agencies, they have meeting cutoff times. But I also want to reiterate as far as we have our general public comment at the beginning of the meeting now. We have our presentations at the beginning of the meeting now, so it shouldn't affect any of that stuff. But it would affect some of the other comments later on. But Pam, can you fill us in on if there would be any cutoff time that these meetings could be?

For cities that do have meeting cutoff times, they're implemented by resolution or policy adopted by the council. I'm not aware of one that is imposed upon Hesperia. I've got to look through the procedures manual, but I don't think we have one of those.

If I may, Pam, the city does actually have one. The council, just by consensus, has decided to cut it off. It's between 10 and midnight, though. It's pretty late into the evening. It's in the council procedures manual. It's never been employed, to my knowledge, since 2006, since I've been here. I've never seen it used.

I have one more question. You were discussing the neighboring cities and the times that they have changed their meetings to. What is that time? I'm not asking what city, just the time.

If I'm not mistaken, it's 11 a.m. on Mondays now.

Oh, okay.

I spoke with the mayor of that location, and he stated that unequivocally they have more participation than they've ever had.

Maybe that city, but I'm almost half tempted to say that we send this out to our community because if we do this wrong, I mean, we already get blasted for transparency issues within the city. If you start changing the time so drastically, that's going to be the first thing that the community is going to rally behind as far as the city's up to no good, they're being untransparent, shifting times. I'd be cautious.

I certainly the City Council also if they're interested in changing the time you could also designate you know January for example as the start of the new time if that was the council's preference to allow for robust public outreach on the new time so if the council wanted to start at 6 rather than 6 30 we would have a few months to be able to communicate that change or whatever the time you wanted, but that is an option available to the city council as well.

Do we have to adopt a time now or say our next meeting, couple meetings from now and we start seeing that it is becoming an issue, could we then shift our meetings?

I believe by resolution it currently states that regular meetings will start at 6.30, so the resolution will need to be brought back in a new time approved. I do see here Chapter 7 of the Procedures Manual under Section A. It does say that no new agenda items shall be considered after 9.30 p.m. unless agreed to by the majority of the Council with all remaining agenda items being continued to the next regular meeting.

So there is no cutoff time.

It just said you can't start after that.

There is a fell safe in there for us. I'm really against shifting our meeting by an hour earlier, especially with our community knowing the demographics and the dynamics here that we are a bedroom community. Most of the population within our city do commute down the hill.

If I can, I'd like to add a little more information. I understand your concerns, Council Member Gregg. Staff went through a lot of different softwares. The software that was selected will allow the public to pre-register for the items they would like to speak on, and then they're reminded. And it calls them, correct? Yeah. The software will call the person. So if you're interested in the item and you've signed up to speak on the item, it jumps through all the hoops for you.

That's pretty nice, but I think I can speak for everybody here is that there's a lot of dead zones coming up at the Cajon Pass for your cell phone service. So again, I mean, I would say that we keep the meeting how it is, see how it works out before we start making drastic changes. We can make this change after we see how it's implemented and it does affect the meetings and how they're ran, but outside of that, why change something that's been an ongoing time for how many years?

Well, I guess what I'd ask conversely to what you're asking is if we did make a change and we saw a drastic drop off in attendance, does anything preclude us from changing back and going back?

No, there's no preclusion. You would just take the steps to change it back. Gotcha.

I believe that people would take advantage of being able to preregister and do their public comment online. We have almost every meeting, there are voicemail public comments that are left. So I would like, I mean, we have to test the waters. It's a state law. We have to test the waters. But possibly we could have earlier meeting that we would have more attendees because people aren't eating dinner at 630. A lot of people, I'm going to assume, are eating dinner between 630 and 7. And it's the first and third Tuesday of the month. I just think earlier we might have more participation.

I think I would agree with you, Mayor, and I think that's a point to consider, Cameron, is that many of the population now are pushing towards the telework, right, and wanting to be on Zoom and so on and so forth. So I think as much as I oppose the state imposing this on us, I think we're going to have more participation.

And I'm not disagreeing that we may receive more participation, but have you gone out to the community and spoke to anybody about this? And I mean, the folks in the audience here today, what's their thoughts on that? We don't have that kind of engagement right now and the ability to do so. Pushing this off for another meeting, I think seems like the right idea to me. So with that, I'll make the motion to... That's a receiving file. Maybe that portion, but I'll make the motion to keep our meetings at 6.30.

You don't need a motion for that. It's already at 6.30.

I'd make the motion to move to 5.30.

Do we have a vote? Yes.

Can I have a second?

We have a motion to move to 530 by Mayor Tam Polin, a second by myself. Can we have a vote, please?

And then we just need one more vote on the disruption policy to adopt it.

I haven't received this vote yet. The item passes 4-1, thank you. I'll make a motion to accept the policy.

We adopt the policy.

Adopt the policy. Okay, I think we're messed up. Did we go back to the prior?

Let me start all over right now. Okay. Go ahead, Mayor Bennington.

I still have motion to be approved. Council Member Cho, second.

Okay, there we go.

There we go. Okay, I have made the motion to adopt the policy, first by myself, second by Mayor Potem Polin. Can we have a vote, please? That item passes 4-1. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Great presentation.

Moving on to item 19.

If I'm not mistaken, what I believe would need to happen would be to bring back a resolution to change the start time of the regular meetings of the City Council from 6.30 to 5.30 on first and third Tuesdays. And until that resolution is before you to be adopted, it would be called as a special meeting.

Okay, so we our next meeting is July 7th and this goes into effect. Are we dark July 7th?

Okay, so it won't go into effect until the council takes action.

Okay, so we will bring it back with the resolution July 21st.

I don't know what noticing is required. So if it's not the July meeting, it is the August meeting. Okay. And as a reminder, the August meeting does start at 3 p.m.

Okay.

So yes, there's an early meeting day for National Night Out. And so that'll be on the agenda.

So with that, I'll request that we push this item to the next regular council meeting, not a special meeting to where we have the same time.

Certainly. That would be fine.

In August, the second week in August, correct? So August 18th. That works. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome, Connor. Item number 19.

Thank you so much. Good evening, Honorable Mayor, esteemed City Council. If we've not met already, my name is Connor Biggerstaff. I have the privilege to serve as the Administrative Analyst for the City's Economic Development Division, and I'm also the Program Manager for the Community Assistance Program Grant, also known as CAP. It's that time of year. CAP is facilitated by the Economic Development Division and is funded through the City's General Fund. Traditionally, $50,000 has been allocated to support our local nonprofits. Due to overwhelming Council support, grants previously set to $5,000 per grantee have been increased to $7,500 per grantee, totaling $75,000 for this upcoming program year. Additionally, eligible applicants for this program must prove that they are an IRS-verified 501 nonprofit. As a reminder, City Council established program guidelines through Resolution 2024-37. This established the current priority funding category areas, food and clothing, unhoused, youth and foster, disability, senior and veteran, and animal care services. And as you all know, the overarching goal of the CAP program is to support Hesperia nonprofits that serve at least 75% of our residents. The CAP program schedule began this year on January 13th with our Notice of Funding Availability, also known as the NOFA, being published to Victorville Daily Press, advertising application availability beginning on January 30th. Additionally, staff reached out to previously interested parties via email, posted the grant opportunity on social media, and also advertised through word of mouth through our partners, such as the Greater High Desert Chamber of Commerce. Applications were then made available through March 13th of this year. On February 11th, city staff hosted, excuse me, On February 11th, city staff hosted three program workshops, two in person and one virtually, to help facilitate the application process and to bring new applicants up to speed. For those unable to attend the workshops, staff made themselves readily available, whether through phone call, virtual meetings, or in person, to discuss any questions and walk them through the application. Following the March 13th due date, staff worked to verify application completeness for the April 2nd CCAC meeting. Staff then presented CCAC scoring members with a binder full of all eligible applications to score. And we are delighted to announce that all 19 applications that were submitted on time were deemed complete by staff. This will be a quick overview of the CAP grant. As noted previously, City Council had codified the program's guidelines, including desired priority funding areas. As part of the application, applicants were required to demonstrate a financial need. Section D of the application, as shown on your screen here, requires applicants to describe their proposed budget, detail other sources of funding that staff reviews and verifies. As noted earlier, previous budget for this program was set to $50,000 and with City Council's approval tonight, the 10 applicants awarded funding for the upcoming program year will increase to $7,500 each, $75,000 total. And as previously stated, April 2nd CCAC meeting recorded the scores for the 19 submitted applications for City Council's final determination tonight. And this brings us to tonight's deliberation by council. Any additional changes for this program will be made by city council at this time. So just to note, here is a summary of the CCAC's top 10 recommendation. Full CCAC recommendations have also been provided to each council member tonight inside the cap binders previously provided to each of you by staff. And this brings us to our final staff recommendations regarding the 2026-27 CAP program. Staff recommends the approval of the top 10 applicants as determined by the CCAC committee on April 2nd. Additionally, staff also recommends to approve the program funding allocations for fiscal year 2026-2027. And that concludes my brief presentation. If any of the members of the public have any comments or questions regarding the CAT program, please visit our program's city webpage or come consult us. We're happy to discuss the ins and outs of this program. And at this time, do any council members have any questions?

No, I just want to make a comment. Thank you for this great presentation. I happen to sit on the CCAC. I was there for the calculation. It was a lot of really awesome communication and dialogue with the community along the path to get there, the revamp. I think that the CCAC committee members were very, very pleased. Ranking was a lot easier this time, and it made for a more streamlined process. So thank you very much for you and your team.

Appreciate those kind words. Thank you so much, Council Member Ochoa.

Did you have many community of the Nine of the Prophets attend the workshops?

Yes, I would say roughly half. It was definitely good to see. We had a couple members that did came in and determined that this program wasn't for them. It just depends on the needs of every specific organization, but quite a few that were accepted in the final 10 here did attend the workshops and happy that it's their first time applying for a grant and we were able to get them through those hurdles.

Perfect, thank you. I'm glad that you guys added that to the program as long as it, and it sounded like it was helpful. Absolutely. So to our applicants, great job, thank you.

I do have a question. Absolutely. The 10 that were selected, were those the only 501c3s that showed up to that last CCAC meeting? I think that is the case. Is that true, Chris?

I believe most of the top ten were there, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, we strongly encourage, 18 of the 19 applicants made it to the CCAC meeting. We only had one applicant that did not make the top 10 that was unfortunately unavailable. We did catch up with her and asked her, hey. She just got the dates switched, unfortunately. But yeah, all 10 that are in front of you, they did attend the April 2nd CCAC meeting.

I was asking that question because I know in the past that we have had Genesis reentry on that and is that the one that did not make it and the dates were messed up that is correct Yes, she's the one that that that breaks my heart because domestic violence is Means a lot to me and and it saddens me that that that did not get on here this year and

I will note, actually, Councilmember, just for your notice, because of this program, because of her participation through this program, she was actually able to open a brick and mortar within the past year, and so now she's got a proper standup store, and I would very much like to credit the CAP program of bringing that opportunity. to get her stood up and help further assist our Asbury residents.

I've had some very wonderful conversations with her, and we've cried a few tears together, her and I, so that makes me sad that this did not get on there this year. I don't know how anybody else feels, but I would like to see this one on here, but I don't know how anybody else feels.

Can I?

Go ahead. Go ahead, Council Member Gregg.

First off, thank you for your hard work on this. Being on this council for as long as I have, this is molded in so many different ways, and it's such a more streamlined and smooth process for us, thanks to the staff that put this together. So thank you for that. Appreciate it. I'm kind of curious as to what kind of role that applicant not being present at the CCA may have played into the scope of the grading process here. I mean, with that, Allison, I know that this is something that's near and dear to you, seeing that she's building a brick and mortar in the community. help by CAP, I would like to see this continue forward. So I wouldn't be opposed to moving Genesis Reentry Services up on the chart there in that number 10 spot and running with that and see what her organization can continue to do for our community now that she's established herself more.

I have the microphone with me, Cameron.

Is that a motion?

Yeah, I'll make that motion that we move item, spot number 10, to Genesis Reentry Services, but keep everything else the same.

We have a first by Council Member Gregg, a second by Council Member Lee. Can we have a vote, please? And the item passes four one. Thank you. Moving on to great presentation. Thank you. Thank you for all the hard work and I agree with Councilmember Gregg that this I believe has been the best year as far as reaching out to the applicants Giving them the ability to attend workshops on how to fill out the applications because last year it was really disheartening that many of them were Disqualified because they didn't understand the process. So thank you to your staff appreciate the hard work and And very excited. Thank you. This is a great opportunity for the council to support our nonprofits that are helping our residents in the city of Hesperia. Moving on to council committee reports. Council member Ochoa, can you start us off, please?

Of course, I just wanted to report on the tri agency meeting that I was able to attend. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. We had a really awesome discussion at tri agency and really started brainstorming about how we're going to come together. between the three agencies to start doing really awesome projects in the city. Things like a tri-agency job fair were thrown around and different ideas of how we can come together and start really doing more for our community. So that was exciting. So definitely enjoyed that. I would like to say thank you to Salva for coming and speaking today. I would be in support of a proclamation from the city to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. And if I can get support from my council as a second to that proclamation and if we can get that issued from the city before Hispanic Heritage Month starts.

When is the date of that?

It should be exact dates. It falls in the middle.

September 15th to October 15th.

There you go.

Thank you. I would be in agreement with that. Thank you.

And then I wanted to discuss another concern that I've had for a while. Last week's conversation about water really – last week, last council's conversation about water really – struck a concern of mine that I have about data centers in our community. One of the things that struck me is that one of the factoids of data centers using about 5 million gallons of water a day, which is roughly about the size of a NFL football field, filled up 11 feet. that is something concerning to me based just based on the fact that we live in the desert we we operate off a water table so i'd like to agendize deep into the end of the year because i know that we have a lot coming up right now with our budgeting and i know our staff is already pushed to capacity but i would like a study done on the impact of data centers on desert communities that study i would like to incorporate the economic value of data centers that the economic value a data center would have to a community such as ours, how many jobs do they create? I also would like to see in that study coming back, ecological impact onto our environment that a data center would have in the desert. So if we can get that discussion going and then perhaps include in that discussion the conversation of having a moratorium or an outright ban of data centers in the city of Hesperia.

To respond to that, I can agendize an item that will touch on this, but staff is not able to in-house do the in-depth analysis you're asking for. So when it does come back, it will be a more cursory review of some of those impacts, and then a request of the council to consider perhaps funding and analysis that goes in-depth and taking additional steps, but the item that I'm able to bring back would not be as in-depth as you are describing, that we can do a stepping stone if the Council has an interest at that time to lean in even further.

And that's definitely satisfactory. I just want to make sure that we have some type of information to create a baseline for us to make a decision as we move into an economic future where we are building warehouses and what is going into those warehouses. Are they going to be massive data centers, or are we going to put 1,000 to 2,000 people to work? Data centers don't require that many people to operate, but I would rather our warehouses be filled with 2,000 jobs versus 20 tech jobs, and that's what I'm focused on. So thank you very much for that, and that is completely satisfactory. Thank you, Rachel. And that is all for me.

It is? Wow. Thank you. Council Member Lee? I was taking notes.

Okay. On June 3rd, I attended BMI with the mayor. That was always a great event. I do like that. On the 11th, I popped in real quick to the Planning Commission meeting. I hadn't been able to attend those as much as in the past. I do have a previous commitment that I had an open evening, so I wanted to pop in at that Planning Commission meeting. And again, those are wonderful. And I think our staff, for all of the information that goes into those. Yesterday, we had a VVTA meeting. And that was Nancy Goff's last meeting. I don't know how anybody feels about trying to have Nancy here to present her certificate for 30 years and VVTA. So I guess we can have that discussion later, Rachel. Don't forget June 21st is Father's Day. And I do want to say, Um, June 26th, they are having the watch party for the tabernacle choir at the LDS church on maple. Bring your chairs. I think that's going to be a great event. Um, tabernacle choir is really cool. Great to listen to. Uh, I do want to give Gina a thank you for helping me find the owner of the lost dog that was in my neighborhood. Um, I put it out online, and Gina was right there helping, and I appreciate that very much. I do appreciate Kim Kuntz for the kind words about Rowena. What else do I have? I know these agendas are not easy to put together. I appreciate staff for all the hard work they do. This CAP program is enormous, very time-consuming, and it's a great program. It's one of my favorites. So thank you very much for all of that. And I want to thank the people in the back for all of your hard work. Appreciate everything you guys do for us to keep us safe. And last but not least, yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present. And that is anonymous. That's all I got.

Thank you, Council Member Greg.

All right, thank you. Kind of a lot to unpack for today for this meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Poland. I'm kind of curious as to your no vote on the cap. Just for my own knowledge. For the future, we can we could talk later, but I just want to make sure that that I'm understand if there's something that we missed. I want to make sure that all of us are having the opportunity to speak and have that that heard. It's something that I could have very easily agreed to agreed with you on as for your no, but you didn't have any comment on it, so I just wanted to make sure that you had that opportunity to provide that comment. A lot has been talked about within our community for what's going down down at the lake. I'm curious, do we have any update from Tri agency? Has this been been talked about at Tri agency? Do we have any update from Tri agency in that regard? If not, I would encourage our Tri agency members to try to bridge that gap and figure out what's going on with the lake down there and. Especially with the wranglers, that's become a hot topic issue as to why the regulars aren't able to. Operate down there. It's a it's a big community event for them. A lot of participant participation from our youth. So try agency should be the place to do that. Regarding the missing animal, the missing dog. I'm kind of curious as to if animal control or code enforcement can fill that that. Our law enforcement there heavily inundated with a lot higher priority calls. Is there anything animal control or code can do to help with this situation and future situations like this, especially whenever there's so much information available that was provided as evidence or whatever the case is there?

Let's see.

Romina Gonzalez down at the animal shelter. It's nice to hear community engagement, recognizing our staff. So thank you for that, Gina. Much appreciated to see and to know that that Romina is doing a fabulous job for the city. It's great. The data center topic I I would caution before we start spending too much staff time and doing something looking and getting all this data that we bring it back to Council as a discussion. If we even want to pursue that, because that's a lot of time. There's a lot of information out there that that could come back from staff time, so I would implore each of us to take that step in that initiative to do our own homework on it to figure out if we want to push this forward at at our next meeting or whenever this item is brought back. Happy Father's Day. We're not going to be here, so happy Father's Day. Fourth of July. We're also not going to be here. America's 250th anniversary. Don't do dumb things, folks. Celebrate, but have a plan, right? Don't speed. Plan accordingly. Get to where you're going safely. Other than that, I have VVWRA on Thursday. I'm looking for a good opportunity to bring stuff back to this council, so I'll provide an update at our next meeting to that.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Poland, please.

Thank you, Mayor. First, I'll address my two committee meetings I had this week, or this last couple of weeks with SBCTA. The Board of Directors, important item happened there. Daniel Ramos, Mayor Pro Tem from Atalanta, was voted in as the Vice Chair there, which is major for the North Desert as a whole. He advocates on behalf of Hesperia a lot in a lot of different areas. So that was huge. And then at the Mountain Desert Policy Committee meeting, we approved the contingency using Measure I funds to widen 395 and move those water lines. So that's good for the city. To the question you asked, Cameron, it was simply because reading down the voting of how it went, they were 13 out of 10. And I think the City Council Advisory Committee voted that way and did the scoring on behalf of what we set up. It had nothing to do with the agency or anything like that. Domestic violence is near and dear to me. I experienced it as a child, so it's near and dear to me. But I think as sitting at 13 to remove 10 and then bypass 11 and 12, that was simply what my vote was on. So there's that. I want to say thanks to staff. Happy Father's Day. Thanks to the people in the back. Remember, the fires are burning. They're burning hot and burning fast right now, especially in the desert with the light fuels. And be safe and please limit the fireworks and just don't use them at all. End of report.

Thank you. I attended the Valley SBCTA. I did it remotely and there are so many projects going on in the county of San Bernardino and many are funded by SB1 funding. So yeah, that's your tax dollars at work. I know it's inconvenient when you're stuck in traffic on the freeway, but in the end, there are so many projects and we are working We're moving forward as San Bernardino County to make San Bernardino County a great place to work, live and play. I attended its swim seniors with inquiring minds. I had so much fun with them. They were such a great crowd. They had fun. They're asking me questions and they're really, really cute. We talked for over an hour and a half, so they kept asking questions. So that was a great opportunity. It's an opportunity for our senior residents to join a group. They're very active within the community with senior events. They said a joke at the beginning of the meeting, and it was really funny. I won't repeat it because it was kind of long, but I thought, oh, no, here comes a joke, but it was really funny. It was great. I really enjoyed that, and they meet monthly, so it was a great opportunity to get out, get our name out there, and they asked some really amazing questions. I would like to thank, oh, carry out. I attended the VMI, the tri-agency. The tri-agency is an informational only committee. I think if we want to work towards the lakes, we may have to bring that as an agenda item for the ad hoc committee. So, yeah. I don't know that I can. I believe that there's potential litigation involving that, so I don't know how much information I could disclose. I had MDAQMD on... June 8th, and then I have an MDA QMD meeting on Monday. Fourth of July fireworks, the fireworks, I think they're less, but don't like them. Almost every day, I know every weekend there's a fire that's burning. I was down the hill and Got text messages regarding the fire that was out in Summit Valley. And a couple kudos for not pushing forward with the pallet yard. So that was positive. I want to thank everybody for the comments. The thank yous on staff. We appreciate it. They have a very tough job. I would like to... My dad's 90th birthday is on Saturday, and then Father's Day is on Sunday, so it's going to be a busy weekend at the Bennington House. And I would just like to say, carry out random acts of kindness with no exception of reward, and that's by one of my favorite people, Princess Diana. So I'm really working on kindness, and I believe I don't have anything else. Do we have any city manager or... City Attorney reports. Thank you. Then we will adjourn the meeting at 8.30. Thank you.