City Council - Regular Meeting

Vice Mayor DeAnda?

Here. And Mayor Stephens is absent.

Council Member Pichet, can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Of course.

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

Okay, any closed session reports?

There was none for this meeting. Thank you.

Okay, so all right. So now we're moving on to special orders of the day. So we have the 5.1 recognition of the Hollister Downtown Association, American Legion Post 69 and Servpro for their exceptional support during the 2026 Hollister Independence Day Rally. so is anyone here from okay okay we would like to thank you as a city for your incredible work and your help for putting on the rally uh it was a group effort it takes a village and we're just so so grateful so thank you thank you so much

It's gonna be good. We take a group photo.

Here you go, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. Jennifer, can you speak? Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you on the computer.

Can you tell me once again?

Yes. Can you hear me?

Hello.

Can you hear me? We can hear you. Thank you.

all right so we're going to go ahead and move on to the next item so 5.2 proclaiming national health center week it is my pleasure to recognize national health center week and celebrate the important work of community health centers across the country and right here in our community for more than 60 years community health centers have provided affordable high quality health care to millions of americans ensuring that individuals and families have access to the primary and preventative services that they need here in san benito county san benito health foundation has proudly served our community for 51 years offering comprehensive medical, dental, behavioral health, and other essential services, including care through its mobile clinic to reach those who need it most. On behalf of the City of Hollister, I want to thank the dedicated physicians, nurses, staff, volunteers, and their board members of San Benito Health Foundation for their unwavering commitment to improving the health and wellness well-being of our residents it is my honor to present this proclamation recognizing august 2nd through august 8th 2026 as national health center week thank you for your continued service to our community is there anyone here

Good evening. My name is Victoria Montoya, and I'm a board member of the Salmonella Health Foundation. And these are my staff that were a little shy to speak on behalf of the clinic. So we do this every year. And I guess it's not new. Some of you guys have been here before. And so Angelica is in charge of all this paperwork. And the proclamation is for two activities that we're going to be doing this month. One is on the 5th. It's a breast walk. And we do this in the morning. And we will give you... some paper here for information and then we have thursday when we feed the people from the community from three to six and everyone is welcome and the best thing is that we do this every year and it gets better all the time so i'm very proud to be part of the board for more than 20 years so angelica and anayeli and Well, I forgot her name. But anyway, we all welcome you, and can we leave this here, or do we have to pass this around? Okay, you... Oh. Well, we can leave extras? Perfect. Okay, because you don't need them, right?

Thank you so much, ladies. We appreciate you. Thank you. Oh, yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Anyone in the audience would like a packet, feel free.

Okay.

Now we're moving on to the next item, 5.3, the National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. It is my pleasure to recognize National Breastfeeding Awareness Month and World Breastfeeding Week, which is observed August 1st through August 7th. Breastfeeding provides infants with the best possible nutrition while offering important health benefits for both babies and mothers. It also strengthens a bond between parent and child and helps build a foundation for lifelong health and wellness. We also recognize that many organizations and healthcare professionals who support breastfeeding families, including the San Benito Health Foundation and its WITH program, which provides education, resources, and encouragement to help families meet their breastfeeding goals. On behalf of the city of Hollister, I want to thank all the mothers, volunteers, health care providers, and community partners who work every day to promote healthy families and healthy communities. It is my honor to present this proclamation recognizing August 2026 as National Breastfeeding Awareness Month and August 1st through August 7th, 2026 as World Breastfeeding Week. Thank you for your dedication and service.

Are you mamas? Does anyone want to say something?

Hi, I'm Angelica. I'm the director of development for San Benito Health Foundation. And I'm also the part of the board of the California Breastfeeding Coalition. And so for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, we're having a breastfeeding walk in honor of breastfeeding and not only on breastfeeding, but just human milk. for all the babies who whose mothers can breastfeed there is also donated human milk thank you so much thank you now we're moving on to 5.4 city council subpoena training

Hello, my name is Leah Calderon and the administrative analyst here for the city manager's office and I have prepared a presentation for subpoena training.

Okay.

Okay, first, what is a subpoena? So a subpoena is a legal order requiring action through the court system. A subpoena may require the city to provide certain documents, for example, emails, reports, contracts, meeting notes. as well as permits, or you could be required to provide testimony. So with that, you would need to attend a hearing and answer certain questions under oath. And the difference between a subpoena and a public records request is that it is issued through a legal process, and it may require mandatory compliance, where a public records request is requiring certain documents, but it's not through the court system. so some of the do's and don'ts for um subpoenas are to preserve records save emails make sure you keep everything please do not delete any records do not edit them make sure you preserve them as they are There are, as I mentioned, different types of subpoenas. First one is document type, and the other one is to appear personally in court, which requires you to testify. And so what happens when a subpoena arrives? So step one, you receive the document, make sure you record when you received it, who served it, deadline, requesting party. For example, individuals are generally not served directly and said the city of Hollister as an agency is served to the city clerk's office. So once the subpoena is received, the city clerk would then contact a legal counsel. So it's very important if, for example, a city council member receives a subpoena through the city of Hollister to contact legal counsel as well as if they were to be served personally as well. So subpoenas involving the city council members, as just mentioned, the city clerk's office will promptly forward the subpoena to the city attorney for review and guidance. So the city attorney will then determine their appropriate response and advise the city council member on any required actions. The response process again pretty similar as was mentioned earlier, make sure you review your records, including the date range responsible departments, as well as collect any emails and any records that you would have any reports and make sure everything is documented. Common mistakes would be ignoring the subpoena, missing deadlines, deleting records. It could be pretty common that if you happen to miss a subpoena date, the court might not let you know right away, but that does not mean that the court is not keeping records that you have not attended. So with that, I will move on to the next slide. And so the key takeaways here are if you receive a subpoena, please stop and preserve all records and notify the city clerks as well as coordinate all of your information. And again, please never respond alone. So that is the end of my presentation. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you, Leah. Any questions?

I do have a question.

I've gotten a few. in the last couple of year and a half. And, you know, obviously we want to be timely about subpoenas. They're very important. And the bodies that are requesting us to be interviewed are also important. They have an important job to do. Is it appropriate if we have a meeting, let's say it's a special meeting and it conflicts with the interview, just to reschedule it? with the subpoena body or whatever the organization is that issued the subpoena?

I can get back to you on that question with the correct information. I don't want to misinform you. But keep in mind that all subpoenas are really important to keep track of the date because the court is keeping track and it's very important. It's very important to do that as well as they're very unique to the type of court. So that is all up to the judge, whether if you haven't been to certain subpoena dates, there's different penalties, right? There could be fine, a bench warrant. So that's all up to the judge, but I can definitely get more information on your question.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Dr. Rosendo.

Thank you. Not a question, but Ms. Thompson's on the line. In my experience, as long as it's documented between the two parties, it's agreed upon. I think the court will find that reasonable enough to make accommodations. Of course, it's the court. They can do what they want if they wanted to. But in that experience, Council Member Boucher, I would say that's a pretty reasonable experience and expectation on my behalf. Ms. Thompson, do you want to chime in on that?

I do agree that it depends, so I think generally the subpoenas that the city council is talking about are through the grand jury, which tends to be a lot more flexible. So they will often, if you notify them in advance, reschedule. If it's a court appearance, it's less likely that they would agree to that because there are other parties involved that will also be at the court appearance. But again, if you do have a conflict that's, you know, something that you truly

can't miss then it you can reach out to the court to try to reschedule and they generally will be accommodating thank you thank you thank you and council members this presentation this training was one of the recommendations in the grand jury reports so check thank you okay

So we're moving on to public comment, 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 speaking cards are available in the lobby and are to be completed and given to 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 us via Zoom, please click the bottom of your screen to raise your hand. If you are joining us via Zoom using cell phone, please press star nine. 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 items not on the agenda. City Clerk, do we have any public comments?

Not for non-agenda items.

Okay. So now we're moving on to consent. Do any members of the council have any brief questions or comments on items from the consent agenda?

Vice Mayor? We are pulling item 7.11, and we'll be hearing that after the consent calendar. Okay. Okay. So let's go ahead and pull it.

Okay, let's see. All right. So let's pull that and then we have to vote for that or no, no. So 7.11 is a resolution approving the creation of the deputy finance officer construction and capital management position and establishing its place on the city's compensation plan.

Do we have any comments or questions? Do we go to that first or should we have public comment? We could do public comment on consent and do a vote on consent and then we could go to 7.11. Okay, so let's go ahead and go on to public comment. Okay, and we have Christina Camarillo for... Sorry, that's for item 7.11. Sorry, not for consent. So we don't have any speaker cards for the rest of the consent calendar. Thank you.

Okay, so... The size okay so besides removing 7.11 does anybody have any questions or comments on other consent items okay can I get a motion to approve.

I move to approve all consent items but 7.11.

All right, all in favor aye aye any opposed. so now okay so okay so items full from the consent agenda okay so let's see okay is there a motion to approve this point no we need to have a discussion we have a public comment um christina camarillo okay thank you

Hello, City Council. Thank you for having me today. So my subject that I wanted to discuss was item 7.11. My concern with this item on the agenda is that we're creating positions for a a resolution to create a new deputy finance officer construction and capital management. It's really hard to justify to create a position of this or any other hiring decisions at this time when we are still faced with a horrible budget that we all know. I had a detailed conversation with city manager just a few weeks ago, and she referenced at least 15 times that we have no money. No money to spend. There's no money to do incentives. There's no money. There's going to be layoffs. There's nothing she can do. There's no money. But when we put positions on the agenda to approve, it feels like there's money for the things that we want in administration, but there's no money for utilities or the police department or for fire. Right now, we should be in the position where there's a hiring freeze on everything with the exception of police and fire, because those should be the only things that we're worried about at this point. And then we need to pull the purse strings back. I don't understand why we still have the city manager allowing her to spend up to, or the city manager to spend up to $220,000 without no oversight. We shouldn't even be buying pencils if we have no money, or pens, right? So we can't live outside of our means, but we're still hiring positions that are going to hit the budget significantly. And then we want to eliminate the positions that are going to affect the public. We want to contract to Sunny Slope Water. We want to pay them to tell us how to run our utilities. It doesn't make sense. I believe we are welcoming a new director for utilities for the city utilities. And they're going to have their hands full. Because we're trying to eliminate their staff. We're asking these people to do a job with five people, eight people. Let's eliminate 17 positions. But then we're going to hire a construction manager. I just want you guys to really consider where we're putting our money. and how we're going to affect the community. I'm speaking to you today as a community member. I'm concerned that we are directing our funds in direction that doesn't necessarily going to benefit the community. And if we are going to do this, if we are going to create positions like this, there needs to be really, really strong oversight of how it's going to benefit us, who's going to pay for it, how we're going to control it and manage it. Because without that, that position is not going to be an enterprise fund. And that's what we keep saying. There's no money because the enterprise funds are sucking it all up. You know, they're taking our money. So please consider how we hire.

Thank you, Christina. Frank Garcia.

Good evening, Council. Welcome back. My name is Frank Garcia, a city employee for Public Works. For months, employees have been told the city is facing financial crisis. We've been told about restructuring, eliminating positions, and reducing staff, and making difficult sacrifices because there isn't enough money. We've also seen a written statement that staffing evaluations were requested without repair work included. If that's how staffing was evaluated, how do you determine how many employees you need without including all the work they perform? Tonight, you're asking this council to create a brand new senior management position, so I have a few questions. If the city truly cannot afford to keep the employees it already has, how can it afford to create a brand new senior management position? If the city says it must eliminate positions because of financial challenges, what analysis demonstrates that creating this position is a higher priority than preserving the position the city says it can no longer afford? Where's the analysis showing this position provides greater value than retaining the employees serving this community every day? What measurable savings will this position actually produce? And finally, Why should employees accept that there isn't enough money to keep them, but there is enough money to expand management? These aren't rhetorical questions. They deserve answers. Because tonight's agenda sends two very different messages. One message says there isn't enough money to keep employees. The other says there is enough money to create another senior management position. Those two messages cannot both be true. Tonight, this council is about to decide what its priorities are. Thank you.

Thank you, Frank. I have no more speakers for this item. Thank you. Okay, so now we'll move to...

If I can. Thank you. So thank you all for coming and speaking up on it. I do have a couple questions, if I can, City Manager. So... This position that's being created is kind of multifaceted, right? So they're going to be looking over finances, capital improvement projects, public works, it sounds like.

Permitting. So permitting, construction permits, CIP, engineering.

And it's going to be funded through an enterprise fund?

Interestingly enough, it is because our development is an enterprise fund. It actually brings revenues not only for its own operation, but other parts of the general fund. This is a revenue producing position. We wish we had more of those. This is a cost center that actually has a revenue center.

Okay, and then my other question, nobody was laid off. Like all the unions, obviously they didn't get a raise, which is very unfortunate, but we were able to save everybody's jobs like we said we were going to. As of today, right? Everybody's positions were saved.

No, one member of the staff has been laid off.

Okay.

Five members took advantage of our incentive.

Oh, good, good.

Retirement, layoffs are coming, and so are furloughs.

Okay, good. Okay, so in my eyes, the way that i'm justifying this is that the city of halters behind on their audits. We need more people looking over the finances in order for us to sort of pull back those pockets. What did you call it? The purse strings? So in my eyes, the way that I'm justifying it, nobody lost their jobs. We're going to be taking money from an enterprise fund, which I see the concern of the union that could go towards the workers, but a huge priority of this council and of you all i think so that we know where we're at financially is to get some more people to look into the finances we need to get those audited numbers caught up and i'm assuming i'm just assuming that this position is going to be working towards that um council member let me actually give you um bad news is not exactly good news is this position is about bringing money

This is a position that is specifically created to increase revenues. How do we increase revenues? Through our permitting process. Once upon a time, the city would take months, if not years, to process its permits. That's money we're not collecting. So, in April, We restructured. We went ahead and sent that particular revenue center that had not been producing revenues to the finance department. Why? Because finance is about money. And we took a different approach on how we're conducting our permitting process. Instead of looking at it as red tape, we're looking at it as money. The quicker we move, the quicker we release our permits without violating any regulations, it's money in the bank. That's what this position is about.

money in the bank so your logic is that they're going to generate revenue yes which we need it's not going to fully cover the cost of oh it will it will and then some okay if you're saying it's going to fully cover the cost and then some of their position if that's what we're being told then i definitely would support that um my one concern sometimes is that you know we adopt these policies and we move forward on these types of um resolutions right and then there's no follow up so i'm not going to be here i'm going to trust that the public and the union follow up on that right you heard it here hold us accountable hold the city manager accountable i won't be here but for those reasons i'm going to support moving forward with this position thank you any other questions comments

I have some. So I was actually going to pull this item because, you know, right. Some of the very same feelings that Miss Camarillo and Mr. Garcia, like I had some of the same concerns. I was like in a time when we're asking for, you know, certain departments to take parachutes. um to take you know effectively early retirement so we can save for the budget um then we're going to add a position that's equivalent as far as the direct pay of our top cop the chief of police it's like almost on on that same level it almost seems uh contradictory or even in some people's eyes repugnant for us to even like put this forward um So is it true, like we went through a lot of budget stuff in June and something stuck out at me and hold me to account here because maybe memory doesn't quite serve. But in somewhere in the last four years, did we go from basically in our expenditures, did we go from somewhere like $35 million to somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million in the last four years? I know they're just round numbers, but I'm ballparking here. Is that kind of accurate?

It was part of, I think you're referring to the forecast that we put together for future years and where we went wrong was in the past that we had a huge increase in expenditures. That is correct.

And then, so it's basically more or less true. Something like $35 million city to like a $60 million city.

That sounds right.

okay and so from our discussions my takeaway was we've hired a quite a few employees hr's the most expensive we're not exactly a business you know but we're kind of like a business where we have inputs and outputs you know cash coming in cash going out um what would you say was the biggest It's like, why did our budget balloon so much in the last four years? Did HR have something to do with that?

It is. It's always in the FTEs. It's always employment. That's where the bulk of the money goes in any operation. We are not unique that way. So I'll give you a perfect example. This position is replacing four. Four people used to do this job, and now we have one. That's called efficiency. That's called hiring the right person for the right job. The city has not done that in its history, unfortunately. Now we are.

Okay, so that puts me in a little bit more at ease. So that was my concern, is that we hired a lot of people. And would you say that in certain departments, obviously not police and fire, we're short-staffed, especially in police, but keeping the city running effectively and cleaning out storm drains is important and making sure the stuff that is maybe not sexy, but like keeps the city running, very important. But are there departments within the city that maybe potentially comparatively to certain cities of a similar size that we might be overstaffed?

Yes, you have to look at operations. So let's start with fire. Fire, we've been understaffed for a number of years, especially now that we're preparing to go into a district type of structure. It is very important to actually present the potential voters with a true picture of what it costs to run a full service fire department. Police, we have also been understaffed for a number of reasons. And that's why those two departments are not seeing any workforce reduction. The rest of the departments, yes, we are consolidating. There's a narrative out there that we will not be able to do the work that we need to do. That is false. The work will get done. It may not be done as quickly. People may have to wait longer. But the taxpayers expect services for their tax dollars. Therefore, we have to provide those services through smarter, more efficient management, staff will be worked planned differently. Please understand that most of our departments up to let's say two weeks ago didn't have work plans. I have no idea how people manage without a work plan because when you have a work plan you for example have a list of every park And you know when you're cleaning the bathrooms, removing graffiti, mowing the lawn, et cetera. So if you don't have a work plan, then yes, I can see why you need 20 people to manage. You don't. What you need is a work plan, good management, and people who honor their work. And if we have that, the city should be fine. The city will be fine.

yeah so i thank you for that um you know i brought it up a few times and i feel like i'm similar in thought to council member resendez i brought him up a few times edwards demming and the kaizen continuous improvement approach there can be efficiencies that can be found if we just look for ways to be more efficient And when you go in somewhere around four years from a $35 million city, as far as what we spend, to like a $60 million city, that's in my, in four years, I don't know if that's the most fiscally responsible way to run a city. And knowing HR, human resources, they are the face of the city. They're helping us keep the city running. They are the most expensive part of any organization such as ours. HR is always just expensive. So I too would want to make sure that this new head panel is doing what is impossible to forecast like what we're going to get out of any employee. But it sounds like if they're going to be paid what they're paid, which is similar and at least directly to our top, the chief of police that they're gonna do what we're asking.

If I could make that correction, that position is picked to the captains, not the chief. The chief is executive. This is a middle manager position.

Completed that, thank you. But we're gonna get what we are looking to like the chief. If they're gonna consolidate for... four headcount into one, that's helpful. If we're gonna get, if it's a revenue generating position, that's also helpful. I have another question. We've had challenges. I mean, we've had this place packed with builders, contractors, You know, people looking for permits, home owners just trying to get a permit to make some modifications like for like for their homes and taking forever. Will this position, it says we'll manage represented and unrepresented staff, will they have some oversight over that department and help us find some efficiencies where, I know we've hired a couple desk clerks, we've hired somebody to answer the emails and the phones. Will this position be able to help us continue to move forward? Absolutely.

In fact, so these are some of the changes that we're making. So let me start with number one, efficiencies. Let me be as clear as possible. It's not rocket science. It is called Sigma. It's Lean Sigma. It's out there, plenty of literature. Some of us have been blessed to be certified. We know how to be efficient. Number two, to manage you need work plans. You plan your work and you work your plan. And part of that work plan are performance measures. Everyone in the organization will be accountable to achieve specific impacts, not process. I don't really like process because process doesn't have to mean outcomes or impacts. So therefore, the performance measures will be on impact and impact alone. Right now, I'm sitting on work plans for every director. And by the way, we have many new faces. Tony White is over here for Public Works. We have Karen Crocker for Parks. And of course, Noelle Mink for HR. So we have new directors, and everyone will have performance measures. The expectation is that they set the same thing for their employees. So for this particular position, the performance measure It's actually kind of simple. It's money. It's as simple as that. We see what revenue you had when you started the job, and then we see where it's going. Because if it's not going where it needs to be, then that's not working out. This is not about personalities. This is not about who we like. This is about who produces. And in this particular case, it's about money.

Okay, thank you for that. That... Department has been challenging. So it's helpful to know that they would have some oversight in the permitting and building department and help us to potentially create some efficiencies where we've had and hopefully some better customer satisfaction because it is kind of a, it's an output. It's something that we, it's a service that we provide, right? Permitting. And obviously we have to, you know, permit things that are compliant with what the state is asking us to do and and make sure everything's compliant so he puts in a water heater or whatever like that it's got permits and everything's safe neck it could make your value of your home a little bit better if you you know a little higher if you actually go to sell your home um but that's that's very helpful thank you

City Council Chambers, Thank you, so you've identified the need right. City Council Chambers, Can you talk a little bit about the reporting structure and what is the org chart who's who's reporting staff contractors vendors and then talk a little bit about you, you touched on the evaluation right, but can you. City Council Chambers, Do you have a. I'm not sure if at this point it would be a developmental evaluation to this office. And what is the vision for that?

Thank you for asking. So this position is a deputy finance director, therefore reporting to Director Jessica O'Connell, who couldn't be here this week. She had already asked for the time off. So this would be a member of her management team, not mine. In fact, I don't really have any interaction with that position except for when there are problems, I will be going to her and saying it needs to be solved. As you may recall, back in April, when we suggested a reorg of the former community development department, we indicated that it was a test. What we were doing was unique. I've seen a lot of things, but I had never seen permitting under finance. The experiment worked. So what we have now, going back to customer satisfaction, we have a number of people. If you wish to fill the room with them, we can do that. Of all the people that are extremely thankful for how well things are going with permitting and inspections, we no longer have people saying that they are afraid. of our public servants. We have people who are no longer asking for help because they feel victimized. Quite the opposite. So the experiment worked. Up to this point, we had been staffing that position with a contractor. Our intention now is we don't need a contractor. We know it's working. Plus, contractors, they're not employees, right? And so if we make this into an employee position, then Director O'Connell is responsible for the delivery of those outcomes. I can tell you that my expectation of her, since she is running this particular team, is a revenue goal. Now, This position will be responsible as it is right now. Responsible for the desk, the permitting desk, responsible for any requests that are made for permits and special write-ups. We have quite a bit of our public records requests is actually related to that and you will see that in the report. This position will also oversee any issues with projects that involve, for example, 10 years ago, I was promised this and it hasn't been delivered, or the city overcharged me. We need someone to investigate those allegations, which we have been doing very successfully. We need someone that can meet with individuals who are not sure what is being requested of them. One of the narratives that I hope you remembered is one day they tell me one thing, the next day they tell me something else. This position puts an end to that because we have someone who's accountable for ensuring that the communication is consistent and is predictable and is not I like you, I don't like you. This position will also oversee the CIP component, the engineers who work in our capital improvement projects. This position will ensure that there is communication between the engineers and the permitting process. Also, the inspectors will come under this position. So you have a team that should be focused on getting to yes. a team that should be focused on making sure that the fees are coming in, development is happening, people are happy, and they continue to bring more business into the city.

So I think the Can you are you it doesn't have to be right now, but are you able to share your evaluation data in terms of was it a survey is a total data is it. I think I like to see that I think people at least within my district or folks that I spoke to they weren't understanding of kind of the Community development piece point into finance that was. offered engineering going to finance that's a little awkward right the capital improvement project that's a little awkward i think in concept is great i just want to make sure that we do i do my due diligence when it comes to those realignments um from the from the vision and the concept to does it actually work in terms of having an engineer or you know A non traditional role reporting to a finance director, because there is a lot of coaching and mentoring work oversight expertise that does go into making sure that people are doing the work.

Yes, and please understand in the job description is included. To a certain degree, we are looking for a unicorn. We need someone with not only financial background, but also building background. We need someone who understands customer service, but also understands how to number crunch. So it is a combination of all those things. Having said that, we are confident that we can attract talent. Going back to this notion that the city is going through a... financial challenge. And we are very upfront with potential employees about the situation in the city. The reality is this. The individuals that will join us moving forward in light of our financial difficulties. These are folks who are not scared of a challenge. These are folks that are perfectly happy with a boat that sank to the bottom of the ocean, and there's only one way, and that's up. This is not for someone who wants to row your boat gently down the stream. This is for fighters. Those are the folks that are going to come and apply to the city, because we're going to tell them, if you're not a fighter, you're not going to make it. I'm confident that in light of the new leadership that we have, that we're going to be attracted. We're going to be very attractive to individuals who want to challenge.

So thank you for that so just to follow up on my request i'm looking for the evaluation data in terms of realignment and i'm looking for an organization chart which encompasses our full time employees right or coded positions and our contracted positions, because I want to see what that looks like as well. yep and. And then an evaluation period and also a the goal of how much revenue we're projecting to bring in.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. So this is what I heard. No more contracted position. That's what I heard. It's a January revenue generating position. It's coming from an enterprise fund. It's supposed to pay for itself. So as far as Council Member Morales' request, I think you're going to have to do that, but I think it's going to be in collaboration with the employees, with the public, with the management team here. That's a real concern. Is it working? Are we following through with what we said that we're going to follow through? Is it sustainable? Is this better for not only customer service, for the public, for the employees? I understand the concerns from the union members. I totally understand. But if those things are true, then I think that would alleviate those concerns as well. So again, accountability from the public, from the management team, from the city council members. That's what's going to have to happen. But I think it's going to have to be tried out before you can assess those things. And I would support everything Council Member Morales is also asking for. But yeah, those are my thoughts. Thank you.

Thank you. So I just want to clarify. I just have a question. Council member Morales. Okay. So the data, the flowchart, is this something that we want prior to? Are you talking about when the position is already established? I might have missed something. I apologize.

So it's an organizational chart. It's not a flowchart. That's a different process. An org chart is basically who reports to whom, including vendors, right?

Yeah.

Okay. The structure.

So is it that you want a layout of what the position is going to look like before we move forward with approval?

No, this is a follow-up.

A follow-up. Okay, gotcha. Okay. I was confused about that thing. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you for your comments and also for Christina and Frank as well for coming out. And so, you know, I completely understand the concerns and the financial challenges that our city has. What I've noticed is just from my own perspective that it seems like we've had consistently structural issues within our city positions. And those structural issues, unfortunately, lead to foundational issues. And so the foundation has become rocky. And I would say it's just got us to where we are now. And we're trying to kind of just fill in the cracks to kind of just see what we can produce as a city, because essentially we've been let down for years. I would even say maybe a decade, who knows. But if this is part of the solution to help our community thrive, especially when it comes to economical development, that is so so important because that has been left behind and that's why you know we grow so much with the housing market over here however our resources are strained to support all the people in this community and that's why you know that's why our public safety department is so So tasked with being short with resources and staff, and that's unfortunate. So it becomes a burden of everyone in the community. And if this is part of that opportunity that we have to help our community grow in a beneficial way and bring in some revenue, that would be it would be ideal. So, yeah, those are just my thoughts. So is there a motion to approve this item?

So moved.

I second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? we're moving on to item 8.1 public hearing for the ecology annual rate adjustment and maximum allowable solid waste collection rates may we have a staff report please selena from innovative voices

Good evening, Vice Mayor de Anda, council members. My name is Selina Stotler. I'm the Integrated Waste Management Manager for the regional agency. Joining me is Mike Kelly with Workology, our exclusive franchise hauler for the cities of Hollister, San Juan Bautista, and the County of San Benito. And then I also have joining me Catherine Ramirez, our staff analyst. I have worked closely with Council Member Dolores, who serves on our Integrated Waste Local Task Force and has provided thoughtful recommendations and guidance over the past couple of years on the regional agency's solid waste programs. I've also had the pleasure of meeting many of you at our community events like Earth Day celebration. I think Council Member Resendez was our emcee back in two years ago. And then we've also had many of you celebrate our green business mixers. Thank you for supporting Integrated Waste. While we appreciate opportunities to engage with the community through those events, tonight we're here for a different purpose, the Recology Rates. This public hearing is being held in accordance with Prop 218 regarding the proposed solid waste service rates. The purpose of the hearing is to receive public comments, announce the results of the written protest process, and consider adoption of those proposed rates if a majority protest has not been received. At this time, I'd like to recommend that the vice mayor open the public hearing to receive public testimony on the proposed rates. Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have any questions from the council? Okay. I will now open public hearing on this item.

That's fine.

City clerk, do we have any public comments? No, ma'am. So now I will close the public hearing for this item. Is there any motion to, or wait, does anybody have any questions and have a discussion about this?

I guess I'm just wondering, do we get any protests? How many did we get?

Yeah, about 236 protests.

And what's the number that we needed?

5,000.

Okay.

It was just 5,091. Okay.

That's good. I think to put out there publicly. Thank you for that. With that said, did you have a question? Okay, go ahead.

So thank you for the presentation and the work. I know your team does a phenomenal job of just everything and working on numbers and just our partners with Ecology have really heard the concerns about affordability. And so the comments I share here is for strategy purpose. So we raised our water rates, EG&E raised their rates, grocery prices, gas prices. So my ask is that we do it. I saw in the report that there's an opportunity for people with fixed incomes to be able to apply. And so my ask of this council is that we have a campaign, a strategy communication effort to make sure that our residents with fixed income really understand that there's these opportunities for them to be some relief in terms of or rate reduction. I believe it's in alignment with PG&E care. So it's very similar. So if they do one, they would also not only qualify for PG&E, but also our water rate discounts and then our integrated waste management as well. So I'm really concerned about that. I know that our fixed population or seniors folks with disability may not have not may consume information in a very different way. So I am asking the council and our partners to be partners with with an intentional campaign to really communicate to a population about making sure that they understand the resources and they can access a way to actually process those applications.

Thank you, Council Member Rouse. Any other questions, comments?

I have just a little comment. Anytime we talk about rate studies, the community knows what likely the direction of the rates are going to go. We inflated the dollar during COVID, right? We inflated the dollar. It takes way more dollars to chase the same or fewer goods. you know it just takes more dollars to do anything and then you know the straight reform is you know fuel prices are up everybody's getting hit over the head i mean grocery prices everything um but these funds need to stay solvent right like you know we have enterprise funds ourselves that we hadn't touched since like 2018 2019 that's you know, going on 10 years, you know, so we need to make these funds whole. So when costs go up, you know, for, you know, everything in the world, we need to analyze these things. And I would submit, you know, I would submit rather that, you know, we do it on an annual basis. I mean, I probably first time I've seen you in here, maybe we did this presentation before. Is this an annual thing?

We did 218 in 2021. And at that time, it was administratively decided by the cities and the county to do a five-year, not to exceed 5%. So that is the same pathway that we're doing today.

Okay, because when it comes to the city, we should probably be looking at things annually. With the way things are going with the dollar, we should be doing it annually. So it just hurts a little bit less if it's two to 3% per year, or instead of like every nine years, we do like a major thing. So I guess that's just my comment. If we did it annually, it might just hurt a little bit less. But we've got to keep these funds whole. And fiscal responsibility is something that we all . Thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you. I agree with Council Member Morales. Selena, you guys do a great job with your outreach, but you are going to be offering like a low-income program.

There is a low-income program with Recology, and we more recently at the recommendation of the Global Task Force increased outreach through social media, the bill inserts. And so we'd love to partner more with the cities and the county to increase at this time we've seen a steady increase in the participation, but, in my opinion, there's a lot of room for improvement, for example, just at this time we have.

um 800 participants in the low income uh compared to 2021 which was at 339. oh that's really good so yeah that's promising again like no matter yeah we have to pair bills but like some people can't afford to pay the bills so even though we want to go like that's always something i'm just going to advise you guys to keep in mind help where morale is just put that on the head like let's do outreach especially that population I think they need a little bit more outreach they're not you know the older people that are on a fixed income you know they're not as I don't know as uh involved with technology and stuff those bill inserts really help and stuff so that's great news if you guys can just keep that in mind keep pushing that forward because things are getting more costly out there so thank you guys for that

Thank you. I agree with many of the sentiments of my colleagues up here. And Selena, thank you so much for your continuous work. Also your colleagues back there. And yeah, so really looking forward to celebrating more events with you. And if you need anything from us, just let us know.

Thank you.

anything else oh yeah okay so is there a motion to approve this item i will move to approve this item can i get a second all second all those in favor aye any opposed so now we're moving on to committee assignments uh does anybody have anything to report

Go ahead. Just we had an obviously July was off, but I just want to remind or refresh for integrated waste management. We are looking at the RFP and we will have meetings to discuss the review and recommendations. I believe our city manager is part of that. I was selected to be part of that process as well. And we should have that complete by November.

Everything okay? Yeah. Okay.

Nothing to report. City Council Chambers, Dr was in this now Okay, I myself, I have nothing to report a July is usually a recess for everybody, so those committee assignments and to be put on hold and as we prepare to go into the next half of the year okay so. City Council Chambers, Okay, so city manager report.

Yes, well, good evening, council members, Madam Vice Mayor. So let me start with utilities. I will actually ask Mr. White to come to the podium and introduce himself, sharing with you his utility credentials, as that is really the feature of my report. As you know, we have not had those credentials in the past, and I'm so excited that he's with us. Mr. White.

My name is Tony White. I have an MBA. I've been doing this for about 20 years. My last position, I was the assistant director of public utilities for the city of Fresno. So I'm familiar with all ins and outs of utilities. I work private, public. So I've actually have experience working for some of the largest companies in the world. I'm really excited to come here and has an amazing vision and I'm excited to be part of it. So I'm excited to be working at WorkPlans.

Thank you. And Mr. White is taking the lead on our response to the water board. We have, as you may recall, a notice of violation. We sent information. They send us more questions. Mr. White and his team are working on a response. And we will go from there. We've already had some very interesting discussions about some of our partners and some of the expectations that we will be having of them in the future if they want to continue being our partners. As far as meetings with our water collaborators, we have meetings with Sunny Slope and also with the county's water district in which both of us are going to attend, meet their governance body. We already went by Sunny Slope and met Mr. Lander. We have not gone to the district just yet, but we are beginning to build our village. Our utilities need a village. We cannot do this alone. And we're beginning to talk to other entities as well. People know, other firms know of our challenges, and they are being very proactive and reaching out to us to see how they can be part of the solution. So I'm very happy in that regard. Moving on to incentives, I'm actually going to let Ms. Noel Mink speak on some of these measures.

Yes, we put out the word for incentives and we've had five people respond. So right now, Stephanie Brown, who I think you're familiar with, and I are meeting with those five employees and giving them a lot of information about what it will look like for them. And then they have approximately two weeks to give us the solid date they have to meet. determine their retirement date, and then we'll process and move those forward. I anticipate at least four, potentially five, we had five people request information and ask to be considered, but everyone's position is unique. So we're just taking our time with them, taking care, meeting with them, make sure they have all the information that they need. It's a big decision. And under normal circumstances, right, people's retirement is a big, big deal. And now with this, it's even more careful consideration.

So as we presented to the Council, our approach was to first incentivize for those who had enough years in the City. It was not mandatory. It was completely optional. People made their own personal decisions whether or not they wanted to take advantage of the incentive. I mean, the reality is that folks that are retirement age, chances are that they have longevity here in the city. So regardless of layoffs, it's highly unlikely they will not be touched. Per MOUs, we have to always go with the most junior. So the folks at the top stay and the folks at the bottom have to... to go. And so we wish more people would have taken it, but that's what it is. And so the council had indicated that we could use up to $300,000 for those incentives. So the remaining we will use as we begin separating individuals from the city. Historical Hollister RFP. On the desk, on the dais, you will see a draft, a draft that we are ready to release probably soon, which is for us requesting partners that would want to either A, serve as promoters of the next project, Historical Hollister, aka Biker Rally, or B, ask the city for support so that they can execute the event. One of the key differences between this and our original Biker Rally is that this is a four-day event. So as I mentioned to some of you during the event, my biggest disappointment was that we didn't have 30,000 people, 40,000 people. A lot goes into the planning, a lot of money spent on these events and Success is attached to the number of folks that come. The more, the better. I have shared with you some of my thoughts about some other events that take place in the Pacific. And I took all three states because to a certain degree, I think we are very similar. And I gave you information on events that are two day long and the type of guests and the number of guests that they attract. And it's hundreds and hundreds, thousands and thousands, and also four day events. So we are also asking for responses for an event that will be taking place in 2028. There are two reasons for that. Number one, we need time to really prepare an event that is going to attract, just for the sake of putting a goal out there, 30,000 people. To do that, we need time. Number two, it is highly unlikely that there'll be any money in the budget for the next fiscal year. So we are not saying abandon this approach. Quite the opposite. We're leaning into it. We want more of it. But we're also saying, let's do this right. And let's make sure that we can capitalize this to the highest degree. So if it takes a little longer, it takes a little longer. It gives us a breather as far as the financial commitment. And so that's the information that I had with you regarding the RFP. And last but not least, we have given you the first report of what will be an ongoing report to you all. So if you go to the very end of the agenda packet, you will see that we have given you all the public's requests that we received in the month of June. We will be doing this every month so that we can see, for example, that Nicholas Burlinson requested information, and the description is there. Mark Surada, Piera Mullen, Woo Park, several. Woo Park is very busy. Timothy Von Erf, Woo Park again. David Mendoza, Alyssa Leeds, Sarah Jackson, JoJo, Matthew, Chris Chris, Jerry and Christina Gutierrez, Adam, and the list goes on. So this gives you a sense, this gives the public a sense of what type of information is being requested. We don't hide things in the city. Hiding takes effort, and we're too busy for that. So this is a way of saying, folks, we're not hiding anything. Here it is. This is also inefficient, so Councilman Pichet, since you like efficiencies. For example, we have a number of folks that are requesting information from the permitting department. One has to ask, do you really need to submit a public records request for that? Why can you just go over there and get it? Ah, the reason for it was, gee, Ana, this is the only way that we can get any information from the old community development department. And what we're saying is that was then, this is now. You don't need a PRA, but don't take my word for it. Let's make it happen. So we are working on how we link information right now. You can go. There's the other mystery is all the secret contracts that the city manager has. Well, all of our contracts are in our in our transparency portal. You can see not only the contracts for this year, but the ones going back to I don't even know the beginning of times. Everything is done in the open. We just haven't had the technology to show it, but now we do. Nothing is being done in some dark alley in the middle of the night. Everything is done according to the systems that we have and the policies that we have, and anybody can see it.

Madam Vice Mayor, if I may. Thank you. Okay, so let's circle back to a couple of points that you just made. You got direction for the $300,000 to give incentives. Where do you assume that your direction is to use that money to lay people off? Was that in the language that was adopted, the direction from the council that you were given? How do you make that assumption? You went from giving incentives to employees, so you're going to use it to fire them, essentially. That's what I heard.

Actually, council member, you make a very good observation. The MOUs that the union entered into do not have any language providing any severance package to any of the latest MOUs.

I'm talking about the direction you got from the council for the budget for the $300,000. That's a major jump. So let's just slow down a little bit. Okay. And remember... you as a city manager get direction from the council.

Correct.

Number two, you essentially said the biker rally is not going to happen until 2028. Did you not just say that? That is correct. Okay. So you, speaking of not hiding things, I don't see the biker rally on the agenda. The city of Hollister residents voted almost 70% to have a biker rally. What was the direction from this council to On not having a bike rally till 2028. How did you make that jump?

That's what is being proposed, but that's why by me, which is why you gave you that direct. That's this is my report to you.

OK, you don't make that decision.

I'm not making that decision, sir. This is why we're giving it to you. So we're giving it... No decision has been made. My role is to report, which is what I'm doing. I am not making decisions. It is the council who gets to decide whether or not you want to release an RFP, whether or not you want to have a rally, whether or not you want four days. Right.

Just reminding you of that. Because that's not what I heard. And I... i just want to slow down and make sure we're following process if you would like to have a study session which would be great to discuss this rfp then let's have it i think there's an ad hoc committee the most appropriate thing to do would be to flesh this out because this is an rfp that was Don up on chat GPT. I know chat GPT. This is a chat GPT RFP that you're proposing for us not to have a bike rally until 2028. That is something very contentious, not only with our staff here, we know that, but with the public. And you do not get to make that decision that there's no bike rally. And this is my interpretation until 2028.

Correct. I'm letting you know that in the budget for 2027, it is not our intention to allocate those funds. That's my proposal to the council. The council can say no.

Exactly. So give the people... My point is this, Ms. Cortez. The people who want the biker rally... need to have it properly agendized they need to have that discussion with all of us up here who make that decision that's fine and it needs to follow process that's that's what concerns me about what i just heard um that's all that to me is like when would you like to agendize it Number one, I think it should go through the ad hoc committee. So if we can have a conversation about this RFP and about what the future of the bike rally would look like, I think it should go through the ad hoc committee. Can I get a vote from the council, please? No, excuse me. I'm still talking. Number two, then I would recommend that like we do with all ad hoc committees, we bring it back to the council and we ask for consensus to move forward. Number three, this council gives you direction on what is going to happen with that bike around.

So can I have a direction from the council, please? I'm hearing direction from one member of the council.

What, excuse me, do I not have a right as an ad hoc committee member to have a meeting with you to talk about the biker rally, the future of the biker rally, to talk about how the biker rally went, and to sit down with the mayor? Am I missing something here?

Yes, you want to agendize this item. So I'm asking for the rest of the council.

Do I not have a right to ask the ad hoc committee to bring that back forward?

But the question is the agendizing of the item.

Can you chime in, please?

Well, I will say that it's starting to become a discussion on an item that's not on tonight's agenda. So from that perspective, I think that it would make most sense to just wrap up this conversation. And I will also say that the city council does have a process to add items to the agenda. So Any council member that wants to do that should follow that particular process.

Right.

It starts with the form and then comes back to the next city council meeting.

And about my recommendation to bring it to the ad hoc committee.

I mean, that is up to the ad hoc committee to discuss and they can do that without the city manager or with the city manager. It's really up to them.

Wonderful. Thank you. Okay. I will leave it at that.

Thank you. Okay, so we need a an approval from the council. Is this? No. Okay. All right. Is that all city? That's it. Okay. Thank you. Question.

Concerns?

Comments? No. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. So now we're going to move into closed session. City Attorney to read closed session items, please.

Sure, the city council will meet in closed session to discuss two items. The first is public employee performance evaluation pursuant to government code section 54954.5E, title city manager, six month evaluation. The second item is conference with legal counsel existing litigation pursuant to section 54956.9D1 of the government code. The name of the case is Roland Resendez versus City of Hollister, and the case number is CU2400299.

Thank you, City Attorney. City Clerk, do we have any public comments on this item? Any of these items?

No, Vice Mayor.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. So now, all right, meeting's adjourned. Thank you, everybody.

Jennifer, if you could just hold one sec. Did you want to have it in here? I could set up that room too. Okay, Jennifer, you can stay on the Zoom and then we'll close it out for everybody else. Actually, Jennifer, I'm going to start the second one just to be absolutely sure that nobody can join it. But I'll just start it in this room. Okay.