City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

I just want to ask everybody for a minute. Okay, so I'm gonna call this meeting to order. Tonight we're meeting for a City of Ulster City Council meeting. Today is May 4th, already May, 6.30 p.m. So can we do roll call, please?

Council Member Pichet? Present. Dr. Resendez?

Present.

Council Member Morales? Here. Vice Mayor DeAnda? Not with us yet. Mayor Stephens?

Here. Okay, thank you for that. And Council Member Pichet, can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Of course.

Okay, thank you for that, Kelsey. Okay, so let's go ahead and get started. We're gonna start with, we have a couple of special orders of the day. I'm really thrilled to be able to highlight these two different groups and these organizations. So first I'm gonna start with 4.1, Older Americans Month Proclamation.

Okay, go ahead. Thank you. I will be participating remotely tonight. Can you hear me now? Hello? You can't hear me? No?

Jennifer, can you check your audio to see if it's working so we can hear you? Yeah, they're both. Okay, so we're going to go ahead and move forward and then we can do that. Okay, so I'm going to move on with Older Americans Month Proclamation. To each May, we take time to recognize Older Americans Month and celebrate the important role older adults play in our community. Since the 1960s, our country has made a strong commitment to supporting seniors through programs, services, and policies that help ensure they can live healthy, independent lives. This year's theme is Champion Your Health. It's all about encouraging older adults to stay active, prioritize their well-being, and make informed choices that support their independence. Here in our community, we are grateful for the Aging and Long-Term Care Commission of San Benito County, whose work continues to advocate for seniors and improve the quality of life for older adults. So on behalf of the City of Hollister, I am proud to proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month. Do we have somebody? Tammy, do you want to come to the? Okay, thank you. So go ahead and introduce yourself, and then you can speak. Thank you.

good evening mayor council members my name is Tammy Aviles and I am the current president of the board of Seniors Council of Santa Cruz and San Benito counties and I want to say thank you very much for recognizing older Americans month I want to also thank council member Morales for being on the advisory council representing the City Council as we work constantly towards offering services and resources for our seniors, their caregivers, family. The Seniors Council is kind of a one-stop shop of information, like the information booth. have a senior that's active if you have a senior that needs some help please reach out to us it's www.seniorscouncil.org and we can get you in touch with the right resources or services that can help you or your family thank you okay thank you you want to hang on so i can give this to you

okay so thank you thank you for that and then we're going to move on to our next special order this is for poppy month proclamation this should be really important to all of us californians so each year in may we recognize poppy month and take time to remember the sacrifices made by those who served our country the poppy has long been a symbol of remembrance honoring those who've lost their lives in service and reminding us of the cost of freedom. Its meaning was inspired by the poem, In Flanders Fields, written during World War I, and it continues to hold deep significance today. Through the efforts of the American Legion Auxiliary, poppies are shared each year to keep that remembrance alive and to honor both those we've lost and those who continue to serve. It's important that as a community and as a nation, we never forget the price of the freedom we enjoy. So on behalf of the city of Hollister, I am proud to proclaim May as Poppy Month and May 27, 2026 as National Poppy, I'm sorry, National Poppy Day. And I encourage everyone to wear a poppy in remembrance. So I know we have somebody here. Would somebody want to come up to the podium on behalf? Please go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is Esther Lepore of the American Legion Auxiliary. And as you know, the poppy is a symbol of the bloodshed in all wars. Well, there is a cemetery in Belgium, a World War II cemetery, with 348 members that are using it as their final resting place. So I'm proud to wear a poppy on the 9th of May, and I'm proud to see it all on you. It looks really good. Thank you for that. Let me walk down and get this for you.

Okay, so thank you for that. And then we're gonna continue on with our agenda, and now we're at the public input session. Do we wanna check in to see if their audio's working now? Okay.

Yes, Vice Mayor Banda, if you could please try again.

Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

No, we cannot hear you. Can you hear me, Jennifer?

So Council Member Deanna, I can hear you.

Let us know that she is participating in this meeting under just cause SB 707. and that there is no one under the age of 18 in the remote location. And then we will continue to work on the issue with the audio. Jennifer, did you have anything to add?

We probably can't hear her.

No, I can hear her, but I did want to add that she will have to by the time we take votes.

Okay, well, we'll continue to work on that. I'm going to go ahead and proceed to public input, and then we'll check in with them.

We were told we could hear it on the streaming side on YouTube, but it is not working in the room, so we'll continue.

okay okay thank you for that okay so now we're at the public input section this is the time for anyone in the audience to speak on any item not on the agenda and within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council speaker cards are available in the lobby and to and are to be completed and given to the city clerk before speaking when the city clerk calls your name please come to the podium state your name and city for the record and speak to the city council if you are joining via zoom please click at the bottom of your screen and raise your hand if you are joining us via zoom using a cell phone please press asterisk each speaker will be limited to three minutes with a maximum of 30 minutes per subject please note that state law prohibits the city council from discussing or taking action on any item not on the agenda city clerk do we have any um comments

Good evening. I've come down tonight with some fellow residents about the parking garage.

So we've been in our condo, it'll be two years next month, or this month actually, and the parking elevator, I know you've had it worked on, it's been working. Every weekend, even the new one doesn't work. And there are people in the building that have, they use a scooter for their knee, there's two people with wheelchairs that can't trust that elevator, even though, I don't know why it's not working on the weekends. It works during the week just fine, and I don't know. Someone told me that the cameras in there weren't functioning either. If that's true, we don't feel safe, right? And then the other thing is the pigeons, the pigeon poop. It's tracked everywhere. So I'm hoping that you can address, we as tenants pay a fee to the city for that parking space. So I think we do deserve to have some attention brought to it. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I appreciate your comment. Ms. Poyd, next speaker.

Judy Hanson, followed by Andres.

Yeah, Judy Ganson, I also live in the 400 building and we use the parking garage as our parking spaces. We pay a monthly fee for it. And there are always kids playing, whether they're riding bikes or skateboards or just dancing or yelling and hollering on the top floor of the building, the parking garage. And on Friday... I called the police to have them run off, and within an hour, the elevator wasn't working. We, several of us, have contended all along that the kids are damaging the elevator and one time they were stuck in it the group of kids and they were stuck between floors and the fire department had to come and get them out and then the elevator was totally out of commission for another week after that but this one elevator is perfectly new they just finished it up a month ago and it's already been not working twice so anyway i don't usually park in the parking garage anymore because i don't want to deal with stairs so i've been trying to find parking places i've got tony labu lets me park down at his spot so anyway that's what i have just oh and when i the first time the first year i lived here i've lived in the building a year and a half first year i called public works at least four times every month to tell them that it wasn't working anyhow thank you thank you miss benson um next speaker

Andres followed by Sammy Alvarez.

Good evening, council. My name is Andres. I think you guys are getting to know me. I've been a resident of Hollister for the past 25 years. I normally don't speak in these settings, but the past three months something has to make me to come here and speak up for the people of Odyssey.

I'm gonna be very simple and direct.

This is about the capabilities of the city manager, Ana Cortes. What has happened for the past three months is no random, it's a pattern. It's something that has happened in other cities in the past. I send several emails to you about my concerns. I have received responses from some, and I appreciate those. I believe you are smart people, that you've seen what has happened in the past few months. This is not just about dispiriting permits. This is not just about making some people happy. This is about which is providing services and making the quality of life of the residents of Hollister better. You've seen the expanded authority of the city manager for the past few months. Expanded more than any other city manager. Perhaps for the rally, perhaps for other reasons, I have no idea. But more than ever, we have given so much power to someone in such a short period of time. You've seen the replacement of institutional knowledge to consultants. Why? It makes no sense. Why, today, people that have no experience whatsoever in critical roles such as planning or building being run by people that don't have any experience. Literally, today, The building department is run by a security guard. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. But it tells you what is really happening within the management of city halls. Using restructuring doesn't make any sense. Using hiring and procurement decisions that raise questions. And this is not random. This is a pattern. This is a pattern that has been seen in other cities before. I ask you, when are you gonna take action? When are you gonna wake up? When is that point in life where we're gonna make a change? When are you gonna stop this? Thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Andres. Next speaker.

Tammy Avalos.

Good evening again. I'm wearing a different hat now. I'm with the Friends of the San Benito County Free Library and I just wanted to share that our Book sale will be this Saturday behind the library from 9 to 11.30. And we didn't have one in April, so we have lots and lots of books to choose from. A lot of classics for potential summer reading. That's available as well. So just come on out and see us on this Saturday. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Adelante.

I'm representing the 400 block there's 22 residences that live in the three-story building on the corner of 4th and main and also the Community Foundation, which is right next door on San Benito Street, along with the new 12 apartments on the corner fifth in San Benito. They're up for rent, there's 12 of them. They'll be using the parking structure, so the reason I'm here is because of the parking structure. I know that there's a new elevator that's working and on board, but obviously you know that it's got some issues, and they're working on the second one, But I think we need to really address this, because we do have three or four people on the three-story building that are in wheelchairs. And I'm sure the Pendergrass may have some ADA residences as well. So I think we need to address that. The security is an issue as well. There's a couple of tenants that had their tires slashed in the middle of the night. because it is overnight parking. The residences do pay an overnight fee, but there's just an ongoing problem on weekends and in the evenings. And so just wanted to address that. Hopefully we could work on this because it really is going to be a problem, especially with people that are going to be using. There's going to be 34 residences that are going to be using that parking structure for overnight parking. and so I think we need to address that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. DelCardo. Other speakers?

Is this good? Okay. No, I just want to say a couple of words about the city manager. earlier someone came up and said that the city manager didn't know what she was doing i believe i've been coming to these meetings for a couple of months i've been here since before the city manager was here and i just wanted to say that in my time here it seems like at the very least city manager knows what she's doing the restructuring seemed to make some sense holsters in a bit of a financial situation and it seems like with what's available to her and with all the knowledge that she has behind her, it seems to make sense, at least to me. I do think that it's good to have people questioning what's happening, to be suspicious of growing power, but from everything that's been put before me, I trust the city manager. And I just wanted to put in my opinion for what it's worth.

Thank you, Mr. Webb. Are there any other speakers? Okay, thank you for that. Okay, so we're gonna move along on our agenda. So we're gonna move on to consent items on our consent agenda. Do any members of council have any brief questions or comments on items on the consent agenda? Any quick questions, comments, not seeing any. Okay, so I'm gonna move on then to public comment. Do we have any public comments on anything on the consent agenda?

Okay, thank you.

Okay, okay, okay. I mean, you can listen, please listen, but we're gonna, yeah, so it looks like officially you won't be able to participate. Okay, thanks for that. Okay, so I'm gonna go back. Do you have anything else from the consent agenda? Yeah, that is true.

That's true. That is true.

Can we touch the microphones one more time?

Can you hear me? If you can hear me, Ms. Thompson, I think that it's not right that you, obviously we need you to participate, that the vice mayor is here. I'm requesting that we get two microphones, get at least your audio on two cell phones and allow you to participate. So we're looking into that probably before we make any votes.

So maybe they can call your cell phone or the city line.

Yeah, can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Oh, okay, just a little louder.

Okay, I was muted. A little screen popped up. Okay, now try again, Jennifer.

Try again so we can just hear how loud it is.

Can you hear me?

Okay, that's better.

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me?

Okay, great. Thank you for that, Dr. Resendez. Good, just went way over my head, so thank you for that. Okay, so with that, let me check in with Vice Mayor, any questions on the, any of the consent items? No, okay, I see you're saying no. Okay, so can I get a motion? We did, we did, we did go to public comment, yeah.

I'm so sorry, I will move to adopt, Ms. Stevens.

Second?

I'll second.

Okay, and so let's just do roll call roll, please.

Council Member Pache. Aye. Dr. Resendez. Aye. Council Member Morales. Yes. Vice Mayor DeAnda.

Yes.

Sorry, he muted me. Yes. Okay, turn again. Give me a thumbs up, thumbs down, please.

yes thumbs up okay thank you and they are students yes thank you okay thanks for that and thanks to the public for your patience as we grapple with technical stuff okay let's move on we're going to our public hearing um this is item 7.1 a resolution for the 2026 weed abatement program can we get a staff report please

All right, good evening Madam Mayor and members of the Council. For you tonight is a public hearing for the property owners to contest the declaration of their vacant properties as a public nuisance. On March 16th, the Council adopted Resolution 2026-26 declaring the conditions of certain properties to be a nuisance and directing the abatement of those weeds. The list before you in your packet this evening reflects those properties that have failed to comply with their required notices. So following the public hearing, staff's requesting council approve a resolution authorizing the fire department to proceed with weed abatement. This resolution also directs staff to track all associated abatement costs and return at a future meeting to seek authorization to place liens on the affected properties to recover those costs, including contractor services and administrative expenses. At this point, I'll take any questions you have. I know Chief Badola was on, but I think with our technical difficulties, I'll probably handle all those questions.

Okay, thank you, Chief. Any questions for the Chief? Any questions on this side?

I just have one question.

So for the affected households, are we going to find contractors that are reasonable contractors

yeah so so this is we are under contract this council approved the contractor that we're utilizing these are vacant properties these are not actual occupied residences if there are weed issues at occupied residences there's a different notice that we're sending out those are going out the next day or two these are vacant plots of lands that they were notified they had to abate the weeds

and then this is the customary rate our administrative fee i think is 250 per property but then it has to do solely with the amount of time it takes for the contractor to abate the weeds okay thank you okay any other questions from you guys uh vice mayor any questions for me okay okay let's let's go ahead and open the public hearing so we're gonna open the public hearing at 6 58 do we have any public speakers on this one Okay, so I'm going to close the public hearing again and bring it back to the dais for any other questions or brief comments. Okay, so can I get a motion on this?

So moved.

Can I get a second?

I second.

We'll call vote, please.

Council Member Pache. Aye. Dr. Ascendant. Aye. Council Member Morales. Vice Mayor DeAnda. Aye. Yes.

Yes. Okay, thank you. So we're going to move on to council business item 8.1, the resolution approving the creation of the human resources risk and technology director position. Can we get a second report, please?

Thank you so much, Madam Mayor, members of the council, members of the community, colleagues. This item is in front of you because we would like to proceed with a full recruitment of the human resources director position. Please note that this is not just human resources. It's also risk management, and it also involves technology. The idea behind it is to fold the IT department into the HR department. So we're basically trading one director with another director. member of the IT department is losing their job, there are no layoffs, there's nothing like that, we're just folding one group into another. It makes perfect sense to actually have greater coordination between the IT team and HR, for example, when it comes to onboarding, when it comes to offboarding, to make sure that everybody's in the loop when we're having new employees or when employees are leaving. There are many reasons behind this position. We have a number of workers' comp claims that have been on the books for years. We have negotiations that have been very costly. We have policies that are unclear and therefore cost the city money because we have to settle with the individuals we were trying to discipline because in reality we don't have the policies to support the disciplinary action, and the list goes on. This is not in any way a reflection of the hard-working staff that we have in the Human Resources Department. It's very thin. Our Human Resources Department manages, let's just round it up to 200 FTEs, with basically two full-time positions and a half, and without senior management. The need for it has become more evident as I have stepped into the role of For All Purposes and HR Director. And I can tell you that both Ms. Stephanie in Sydney do an amazing job, but they need help, they need support, help and support that I cannot give them given all the responsibilities. And so the need for this director is pressing. Originally, I was going to wait until the actual budget process. We had started floating recruitments to determine if we're getting any good candidates we received. We interviewed actually one candidate. The panel didn't like them. The candidate was composed of two directors plus a member of the business council. We wanted to make sure that we had a member of the community as part of that panel. And we haven't really done that much recruitment because, frankly, we've just been busy. And so here's, again, another example why an HR director is needed. Right now, Stephanie does the recruitment, and we are a busy city. So that's the reason why we're bringing this forward to you. So as far as an additional director is actually a swap with the IT director, there is a cost of touch to it, no doubt about that. In the report, we indicate that the salary tops off at around 220. The cost itself, though, will depend. If we get a member that is classic, CalPERS classic, it's more expensive than a PEPRA member. If we get a person from another state, the assumption would be that they are not classic, and therefore they would be cheaper. There's the reason behind the Hawaii and the Washington As far as labor relations, the state of California is only third as far as complex labor issues. The first state is the state of Hawaii, followed by the state of Washington, and California is actually number three. So bringing somebody with that level of expertise would be nice. I'm not sure if it's possible, but the idea is to basically recruit the best. In the past, I've been in conversations where folks talk about settling down with candidates. I don't believe that you settle with a candidate. I think that the only thing that's harder than to separate an employee is to actually recruit a good employee. And it's worth spending the time, the energy, and not to settle for anybody just because we need to fill a position. So the idea is to bring the best. And so far, I'm very proud of, I mean, technically only one recruitment that I've done as a finance director, and it's been wonderful. And yes, it went through all the processes according to governmental procedures, regardless what the Facebook environment may say. So there you have it, council members. Obviously, it's your call if I can move forward with this or not.

Okay, thank you for that city manager. Any questions or comments? Any questions or comments? Okay, so let's go ahead and move to public comments. We have any speakers on this one?

Yes, we have Andres. Andres.

Good evening, Council. Again, I'm sorry for my delay. I hope I was not the only person who read the description of this role. I really hope. By the way, I think I mentioned to you guys in the past, my background is in finance. I work for a 500 fortune company. I have an MBA. I'm an economics major. If you ever guys, if you ever need city manager i'm willing to wait my salary for one year to the support of the rally i put it outside of it i'll sign it for a year and there you go 250 000 get the rally done she will support it there you go read the description imagine an hr director a frankenstein role HR director, IT, and risk management. I thought we had a director of IT. He might not have a job. I don't know. But imagine a role where the HR director manages risk management, IT, and HR, all in one. Beautiful. Not only that, part of the description of the role And I will read it to you. It's unbelievable. By the way, this role was just posted. Even though it's being posted in her own company, Multitalent, that's where I need to send my CV for the next city manager role. I'm gonna send it to Multitalent. That way maybe you guys can see my resume. And I hope the employees of the City of Hollister read the description of the role. Serve as the spokesperson for the city manager. That's such a red flag, such a red flag. Imagine you're being the director of HR, receiving all the complaints, but at the same time asked to be loyal to the city manager. Doesn't make any sense at all. Just ask yourself. Someone has a complaint against the city manager. Someone has a complaint for anyone, but you need to report to the city manager. You have to be loyal. You have to follow her agenda. And there is no checking balances. Same reason why the roll was posted months ago. And the roll closes this Friday, by the way. The first round of interviews is gonna close this Friday. City Council, she already has someone for the roll. She already has someone for the roll. And that's why a complaint was made. She has someone for that role months ago. We need to stop this. If you don't care about the city employees, they are the members of this community. She can pack her three bags and go back to Washington. Thank you.

Thank you, Andres. Do we have other speakers? Okay, so we're gonna move, I'm gonna bring it back to the dais. Any questions for the city manager? Any questions or comments for the city manager? Vice Mayor, any questions? No, okay, so I'm not seeing any questions from the dais, so can I get a?

We'll move to adopt.

Second, second, can you please help him? Thank you. Can I get a second on this one?

I second.

Okay. All those in favor? Actually, we'll call vote. Sorry, I apologize. We'll call vote.

Council Member Pache. Aye. Dr. Resendez. Aye. Council Member Morales. Vice Mayor DeAnda. Yes. And Mayor Statham.

Yes. Okay. Thank you for that. Let's move on to the next item. We're at 8.2, a resolution.

You're out of order, sir.

You're out of order. Dr. Resendez, I got this, okay?

You're also on camera, sir. How embarrassing.

Okay, so we're gonna go on to 8.2, resolution approving an out-of-jurisdiction sewer services agreement for the property at 340 Bridged Vale. Can we get a staff report, please?

Yes, Madam Mayor, members of the council, members of the community, I must apologize. There was an additional piece of information that I should have added to this report, giving more specific information about the actual development. I did not include it. So I would like to, if it's okay, to table this particular item until either June, or if I can bring it back in two weeks, I will. But at this point, there's one big piece of information that's missing.

Yeah, and if I could just chime in, I was gonna see if you had any information to provide before I asked to stable it too, because I had conversation about what was happening at the county level. They are moving, I spoke to a couple of representatives from the county who have moved to have some sort of open forum, like town hall or something to talk about this project. and I think it would be important for us to participate in that and maybe have, do like a joint kind of town hall or something with them, but I was gonna ask that you just give whatever information and then we can move on any action at a later date once we have an opportunity, because I do think that this is something that would be beneficial to have some more public comment on.

um so i was going to ask to do that as well uh so let me check it did you have another comment go ahead dr resendez thank you mayor thank you city manager cortez i'm just hearing the conversation that you two are having and then i've got a lot of concerns about it as well um i would just suggest that we withdraw the item for now rather than table it to a date certain please because we just we don't know what's going to happen this is a county project it's not even within the city jurisdiction, so I'm going to suggest that we withdraw rather than table it to a certain date. We can always bring it back. Right.

Right. I think we could do that. Yeah. Okay. Let me check on this. Mayor Stevens. Any questions or comments? Okay. I think everybody seems to be okay. Let me check with Vice Mayor. Mayor Stevens. Any questions or comments on that? Okay, let me just check with Ms. Thompson. Yeah, okay, thanks, sorry. Do we need to do any action other than to just say we're gonna table that? Do we have to do any formal motion or vote? Let me just check with Jennifer.

Yeah, can you hear me? Oh, good. So if you're going to take any action, even if that is I mean, if the city manager pulls the agenda item, that's fine and there's no further discussion. But if you're going to take any action yourself as a council, you do need to take public comment. So if you're going to table it or if you're going to delay it or anything like that.

Okay, so let me just make sure that I understand what you're saying. So if the city manager asks to table it without a time certain, is that enough or should we go to public comment anyway?

No, I mean, if council wants to take action, you should go to public comment, but if the city manager is just pulling the item and we'll bring it back at some further date there's no public comment required it's just if council discusses and takes action okay thank you miss thompson okay so we're just going to table it and then with an indefinite period we don't know when

Yes, and I do apologize, it's budget time.

Yeah, yeah, no worries, okay. Okay, so we're gonna move on then to informational reports. So this is a time for anyone in the city council to provide any reports on any committee meetings, ad hocs, anything that they would like to report on any other meetings that they've done outside of city council. So let me check over here with Dr. Resendez, anything to report?

Thank you, Mayor Siemens. I have nothing to report as far as committees, but I just wanna say for informational purposes, May the fourth be with you.

Thank you. Council Member Morales, anything to report? Okay. Council Member Pichet?

So on the 25th, I was honored to present some awards for some youngsters that did some pretty incredible art. That's going to beautify our garbage trucks. So it was an Earth Day celebration in San Juan Bautista. And, I mean, just incredible art these kids did. And you can tell they put their heart and soul into it. So incredible work. A lot of just the community came out. Great music. awesome DJ, live music as well, and some ethnic dancing, which is much better than my dancing. I was super impressed. So, Hollister Hills came out, 3CE, Central Coast Community Energy came out and had some kind of sitcom, Saving Energy, and it was just a great event.

So, it was just a real feel-good thing, and I was

That's all I have for now, thank you.

Okay, great, thank you for that. Vice Mayor, do you have anything, anything to report? Okay, I think she said no. Okay, okay, thank you for that. I was also at this event, and you're right, it was a great event, so it was really fun. San Juan Bautista and the mayor and the city council that they hosted, it was a great event. We saw a lot of people come out, even though it was a rainy day, but it was great, but a great Earth Day celebration. um and then last week we had a ad hoc committee meeting non-official committee was more like a community meeting uh on some issues related to uh animal services we had a really good discussion and um you know as we continue to always want i want to improve services in within the city uh we were able to uh talk about some other concerns I will continue to have some community meetings, such as the one that occurred last week, and then continue to report on how things are going in that area. And that's all I have to report. City Manager, any reports from you?

Yes, thank you so much, Madam Mayor. Just focused on two things, sewer and water. So for sewer, we provided a response to the State of California, to the Water Board, indicating our response, our analysis of the notices of violations. So as you may recall, in December last year, we had visitors who made a list of findings and indicated that we would receive a notice of violation letter, which we did. They gave us six weeks or so to reply, and the letter was a reflection of input from Veolia, our staff, Wallace Group, and the city manager's office. The gist of it is maintenance has not been done in a manner that is consistent with the plan. So there is a plan, so we can say that there isn't such thing. There is a plan and maintenance has not been done appropriately. So moving forward, we actually indicated a few actions, action points that we wanna see. As far as management of our contractor, And we continue to have, I think, a very candid and open conversation with the contractor, continue to be engaged in how we move forward and solve our situation. And obviously, we're beginning to make phone calls and find out who out there may be a potential partner in the future. Like in anything else, it requires homework. We don't pick a partner from one day to the next. It requires months, if not even years, of doing some research to see who out there is providing services that may or may not be what we're looking for. So that is not to say that we're making a switch, but it is to say that we're looking at other options as well. Let me stop there. Any questions before I go to water?

Vice Mayor, any questions from you on that item? Okay, no questions.

And the smell is definitely more manageable, so obviously the strategy that was put in place is working, but we are not forgetting why that was needed in the first place. So yes, we recognize and we're looking at sludge removal that's more consistent and so on and so forth. So yay, we're moving forward, but we should never have been in that situation and certainly not affecting one particular town in such an equitable manner. now as far as water we are working on rates um we're working on rates we will go ahead and survey you guys to see if we want to have a study session so i can go into more detail on the water rates but um i can tell you that we have we have i think a pretty good that is very simple as far as personnel. There are some hard decisions that will be made when it comes to personnel because currently we have too many individuals being paid out of a fund that it's in a deficit, but also we're trying to keep the new rates at a certain level. It's gonna be hard, but O&M, we're including our operations and maintenance, we're including debt, we're looking at reserves. We do have a policy. We will ask you to consider that policy. We have cost allocations, and we have a cip now one of the approaches that we will present to you is that we take the actual bill and have city of hollister and separate from that purchases of water to the sunny slope district because it is significant right now we're looking at 47.22 for this year and it goes up according to some assumptions that we make so i think it is important to separate because we don't control that amount there's nothing we can do about that amount and so for people to understand that yes the city does charge you a certain amount but then there's a district that charges us an amount for buying water so more transparency in the bill more clarity on the bill and And there'll be some, I think, very interesting conversations. My intention is, if we do have this study session, is to have a calculator that you can see on the video, so that way when you say, well, what if you do this, we can actually enter it. What if you decrease the amount in the reserves? What if you decrease the amount of the consumer price index calculations, and so on and so forth, so that you can see truly what your options are. I mean, in reality, the sky's the limit. It really depends on the policy direction that you want to provide. So, stay tuned. We're still crunching numbers. Okay, thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Resendez.

Thank you, City Manager. Thank you, Mayor Stevens. I was talking to some constituents, and I just don't know how much they are aware of the discount if you qualify for, I think it's called a PG&E lease? I don't know what it's called. Care. Care, thank you, thank you. So if we can just, again, just push that out as much as possible. I don't know as far as like how many applications we've gotten, maybe streamline the process and make it more accessible for people to apply online and that type of stuff. If we could just really advertise that. Thank you.

okay great thanks for that and that's a good reminder that we need to be more vocal about that any other questions after we send this yeah okay any questions on this side i just have a wonderful question so in 24 the state you know put the ppb of the chromium 6 at 10 parts per billion and then we set out to do some you know in 2025 we had to do a series of tests right you have a and then you city manager went on a fact-finding mission and discovered that we were getting when we purchased our water we were getting a higher mix of groundwater versus surface water meaning we were getting it from underground, like granite storage tanks, that was contributing to a little bit of a higher number. Super concerning, but can we alter that number? Can we get a better mix of surface water to groundwater so we have a better number?

Yes, and my understanding is that, refs tell us, when they were doing an overview of the race studies, they might have mentioned to you the fact that it's a cost issue. if we take water from the from the central valley project from the san juan san luis reservoir is more expensive than if we take it from from the ground um there are different different schools of thought one school of thought is the ground is fine the only reason why chromium is a problem now is because the state of california lowered the threshold so it's been what it's been and they decided to lower it some groups as i understand are considering taking legal action against California for that reason, because it puts a lot of communities, ours included, in violation, but in fact, nothing has changed. So there's a school of thought that says, leave it the way it is, it's okay, you don't need to incur additional costs. Then there, the other school of thought, of which I have to say that I subscribe to, which is, what is the quality of water in the Beverly Hills? So I wanna know what the best water is, because I do think that our residents deserve the best. So if the best is to get it from the Central Valley, then that is what we should be, that should be our goal. Having said that, it is not cheap. So I have to say that I was very gung-ho about trying to get more water from the Central Valley project. It's a lot of money, $4.3 million a year, just for the current mix. So if we go to a higher mix, it's more money.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. So I always appreciate when you ask questions because it reminds me of questions that I have. I really appreciate it. So as far as the chromium six goes, we never really determined where the chromium six was. And the reports that we got told us that it was in certain wells and not other wells. But what I heard Council Member Poche say is that it's in the groundwater. Do we know that for sure? And I'm looking at the public works director, have we determined where the chromium six comes from or not? I'm just looking for transparency and answers because if it's from the groundwater, then we can start looking at other options, but if it's from the wells, and from my understanding, chromium six comes from rusted infrastructure. I thought maybe it was the cannery, I don't know, but we really need to determine where it's from. So do we really know where it's from? We do.

So we did test, I don't know if you remember, we gave you a map of the wells that were tested. So there were two, if memory serves me right, two of the wells that were actually tested. we have made a determination, there is a belief, let me not say we have, there is a belief that chromium six is, Mother Nature has been very unkind to us in this area by giving us chromium six. And so those are the facts. Again, if the state of California had not decreased their threshold, we would not be sending letters, but they have. Now, can we go 100% Central Valley water? Sure, if we pay for it, yes. And so Sunnyside has, I'm trying to remember, I think it's a 70-20 mix, so 70% Central Valley, 75% Central Valley, 25% groundwater.

Okay, so, and I see the public works director shaking his head, so you agree with what the state advisory manager, okay. And then, so thank you for that, I think that's something we were looking for. The other thing is reminded me of these testing kits. I did have some conversation from some constituents asking about testing kits, and I was completely out of the loop. And I know you put something on social media, so can you just speak to that? Where are these testing kits coming from?

Thank you so much for asking that. found like everybody else completely by accident. A member of the public brought a tube with water to the water department and that made it to my office. A third party, we don't know who that third party is, has been dropping off those kids basically to solicit customers. They are trying to sell water treatment widgets. And so they left them there. Unfortunately, I think some people thought that it was us, which is why we want to say, nope, the city of Hollister is not asking you to test your water. We don't have anything to sell you, et cetera, et cetera. So a third party is conducting business in the city.

Okay, thank you.

So the sunny slope water is 25% ground, 75% surface. What is our mix?

Have you ever held me up on that one? No, that one I don't remember.

And then just in the near term, what's our mix? Good evening. In the near term, would buying more surface, even if there is a higher cost, slow the 10 threshold?

I'll add a little bit to what our city manager is alluding to. Our current blend is 60-40. Their blend is 83-17. So they are having a higher blend, which is kind of the point sheet the city manager is making. What we're going through right now is to incorporate this plan with the Department of Water, the State Department of Water. So currently what we're testing is pure groundwater. We're not even testing the blend yet. We're not allowed to do that. So not until this plan is implemented can we test that blend. So once we test that blend, our reports indicate mathematically that we should be under that 10 parts per billion at that 60-40 blend. So that is a big contributor, yet we still have to, we presented this report to the state about two months ago, and so we're, they came back with comments, we're issuing the revision as we speak. That's huge. Thank you.

Just really quick, do we have an expectation of when we will be testing the blend? Do we have an idea of when we will be doing that?

We actually, this coming month, as part of the request from the state is that we start testing that blend to start creating the curve and determining what we're actually producing to the residents.

And Mr. Hernandez, when will you have like a report that will give us some good pieces of data from that?

So we are going to be testing on a monthly basis on this 60-40 blend, as well as Sunny Slope District is going to, they've started their testing just recently because we're still, this plan is not approved by the state. So this is what we're presenting to them for approval. And yet, so we are doing preliminary testing on it.

So when can we get it? Because I know that if you test it one time, that's not enough data. So when do you think would be a time where you would have a good amount of data that we can get some information on?

The final approval of the report is to be completed by the end of 2027, right? So we will have plenty of data by that point, but we should be getting a clear picture as early as probably three to four months on what we're actually producing.

Okay, so that would be good to get some preliminary information

And then you will also receive the quality report. The water quality report will come to you in June. This is a report that all cities do once a year. I'm not sure if you received it in the past, but there will be a presentation on that report for you in the community.

Okay. Okay, good. Go ahead, Dr. Resendez. You have a question. Thank you, Mayor. So then just if memory serves me correctly, we have some residents that get water from sunny slopes and we've got some residents to get it from us correct about 50 50. okay are we so does that mean that we're only finding chromium six in half of the residents' waters? I just want to make sure that I'm clear about that.

No, it's a specific geographical location. So we found it in two of our locations in our first quarter testing, and then in the subsequent testing, we only found it in one of our locations. So the Tier 2 letter the second time was only for one location. Sunny Slope, they were testing high on one location as well.

Okay, any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Anything else on that? That's it. Thank you so much, ma'am. Do you have any other parts, anything else to report on, any other topics to report on? No, I don't, thank you. Okay. Okay, good, then.

We're going to, I think we are... We do have 9.2, and I've got something.

We have a closed session.

Okay. Okay, and I have a request for a future agenda item.

Did you submit a request? Yeah, so let me check in again, but I'm pretty sure. I will follow protocol. Yeah, okay, so yeah, just submit the request and you'll be on our next agenda. Okay, and so then we're gonna go into closed session and then we will come back to adjourn. Okay, so we're gonna clear the chambers for that.

Mayor Stephens? Oh, right. Sorry about that.

Go ahead. Can you read that? Sure.

The City Council will meet in closed session to discuss conference with legal counsel existing litigation. Closed session pursuant to government code section 54956.9. The case is Ingrid G. Siwak and Alexander Siwak versus City of Hollister. Hollister City Council and DOES 100, 1 through 100, case number CU25-00167.

Okay, thank you for that.

Okay, thank you for that as well.

Yeah, I couldn't do this. I can see it. It's like right here in front of me, but only if the camera's right here. Yes, I think we, yeah.

Yeah, it didn't come on. Yes. Yes.

I guess the ask is can you just fix it so that it works? Okay, yeah, okay, thank you. Priscilla, we're gonna do one quick like one potty breaking.