City Council - Regular Meeting

Uh this is the Indo City Council. It is 3:03. Um we are here today for a study session. Um since I've called the meeting to order, may I have roll call, please? Council member Miller, present. Council member Retron, present. Council Ortiz, present. and Mayor Holmes present. And for the record, Mayor uh Prom Ferman is absent. Okay. Uh may we please uh stand please and do the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation and justice for all.

All right. I was hoping he'd be up here by now. Okay. So, tonight we're going to the purpose of the study session. Uh, first of all, yes, we have to go to public comment. Does anyone here wish to speak? Nobody here wishes to speak. Uh, so we'll go on to the next item, item number four. First of all, 4.1 strategic plan presentation. Cool.

Good afternoon, madame mayor and members of council. Jonathan Nicks, assistant city manager. Um, for this workshop, we're going to start with our strategic plan, give an overview back to the community of all the progress we've done over the last 10 months or so since we adopted the strate strategic plan last June and how that's going to tie into our budget priorities presented by finance director Ruby. So just as an overview back to the community uh this council the community the staff all work together on our vision our mission and our core values and we developed these strategic plan focus areas looking at public safety um community well-being infrastructure organizational excellence economic development and vitality and then also the downtown destination. So within those six uh focus areas, we have 64 objectives that were identified by the council and approved. The staff worked um on those objectives and developed 22 uh 220 plus action items to get all those things done. So this being a five-year plan, our target is to get about 20% of those things done each year. So in the last 10 months, we've actually exceeded that goal and got 28% of those action items completed. I will not go over all 220 action items, but I'm going to highlight some key things within each of those um strategic focus areas. So, for public safety, a few of the um key highlights there, you know, we've upgraded 111 corner ramps with the in the city um with our grinded overlay projects, improving um accessibility for residents as they traverse the community. um police department and engineering have really pushed out the drive smart campaign on social media. Uh also working with our PIO paired with targeted police enforcement to get people to drive safer within the community. Um our emergency management um team especially Scott Viziaak has um actually provided a lot of search

training and uh 62 emergency backpacks were sold. So and for those in the community, those are still available. Please come see Isabelle downstairs and get your emergency backpack and be prepared. Also, u we've really moved forward and completed I've worked with the police chief on this key project to complete the design and construction documents for the police headquarters is actually out to bid right now. We're anticipating getting those bids in about 3 weeks and presenting that back to council next month. Um the police department completed the post study and they've distributed to staff and they've analyzed it. And coming very soon um in January 2027, the Crime View analytics is going to be going live and available for uh people to review what the police department's doing. Uh in community well-being, we've done a lot of uh great things with our events. We had dedicated no uh cost kid zones, uh free popcorn, burgers at our movie nights. I I may have eaten some of that popcorn and burgers, although I'm not a kid. We had our inaugural experience at um Indo publication mail to over 44,000 households and uh businesses letting them know about all the great things and wonderful things happening in Indo. We've placed tourism advertisements. Uh they were distributed throughout California and at all the airlines and the airports. Uh conducted two CDBG outreach events in March of 2026 letting them know that we're using those federal funding wisely on projects and services. Also in community wellbeing, we had our opening of our India Sports Park. We had the ribbon cutting for that. Uh encouraged the community to come out on May 16th for our grand community opening that um next Saturday. We've incorporated some traditional cultural programming at both the teen center and the senior center. And uh we've already invested $100,000 into refreshing the IPAC and we repainted the outside, got a new sign there, new landscaping. And you'll see in the CIP they were also um proposing to add some more funding to do some interior improvements. We had the ribbon cutting for the Badlands trail. Very well attended, a very well visit visited trail there. And they've also

hosted a myriad of events throughout the year. We have an echol lounge with center stage presents movie nights introduced three new events. The giddy up lounge um in coordination with stage coach and then um unplugged at the center stage. So we'll continue having those wonderful events in the downtown at the center stage throughout the year. So downtown destination when we were speaking about the center stage uh beginning the process of hiring a firm to look at our downtown specific plan um the council approved that several years ago. We've seen some um good parts that are working. We've seen some areas that need refinement. So we're going to bring that back to council to explore those items and making some adjustments. And then uh we've our team has also attended quarterly meetings with visit greater Palm Springs to enhance our regional economic development and outreach getting India out there in regional um collaboration and also attending the ICSC meeting with a lot of hotel restaurants and retail developers and drawing them here into India for future developments. Also with the downtown destination, we're working on grants to fund uh pre-approved ADUs or uh community elements looking at that, you know, giving the residents the opportunity to have possibly have an ADU within the property. Um also hosting the food truck Fridays, very popular, having those Saturday morning marcado and yoga also available here in the downtown. And then we've also executed a lot of leases um for new restaurants, Donna Forte, Little Bird, and a bookstore coming into the downtown very soon. hopefully before the end of the calendar year. We've also um unveiled an augmented reality desi mural right across the street and installed the messengers in the downtown which are looming in the background as we speak. Organizational excellence. So, how do we continue to enhance our team, make sure we're being fiscally responsible? We've hosted 50 15 Indo University learning programs for our employees. We've completed our fourth cohort of future leaders of Indo. We've had two very special guest speakers at those cohorts

this last time around. We've hosted an annual employee health and wellness fair with our open enrollment through human resources. We've also hired 16 interns across multiple departments in partnership with College of the Desert and um other facilitators. Uh we launched an employee engagement survey to kind of test the pulse of how we're doing as our organization. our HR director provided a presentation of that a few weeks ago and it seems like we're doing pretty well. We've hosted eight employee appreciation events to keep that morale up here um in city hall and our other locations. And we started an employee spotlight featuring all of our employees whether they're hired new, if they done something well. We pinning that out on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. And we implemented uh budget controls. Ruby's very proud of that. Um looking at the line item levels and all the details. You'll see that in her budget presentation. Um that we're really looking at our dollars and spending them wisely. And we implemented quarterly procurement trainings for all the departments, making sure everyone understands how we get the services and the items that we need to do the services in the community. Economic opportunity. We've had 35 ribbon cutting since the implementation of the strategic plan. So since last July, uh 27 of those are brand new businesses within the city of India. So we're very proud of that. Uh we had the Madison Point master plan that was approved through the planning commission and also coming forward. Uh we're relaunching the shop local program this summer. So that's coming out pretty soon. And we're also working on a new process uh with finance department to verify our monthly transit occupancy tax to ensure we're we're garnering everything we can. Yes, sir.

Local shop local program. That's a good question. I'm going to kick that over to our economic development director. And again, this is a study session workshop. So feel free to ask myself or when we get to the budget, ask any questions. Uh Miguel Ramos Corno, director of economic development for the shop local program. We're looking to invest around $40,000. Uh and it's going to be kind of split. We're going to do a platform, so it'll have a business directory on there, and it's going to be a whole tourism art uh tour also. It's all going to be wrapped up into one.

Okay. Yeah. Because when I was at the city of Ranch Mirage during their state of the city, they actually gave everybody a paper and it had like a hundred businesses that you could use on $25 anybody that went to it to be able to shop local and use it at you could use it at Home Depot, you could use it at a restaurant, you could use at a coffee shop, but they had it and gave it to them as a part of it to make sure that those people that were there already invested in the city would go back out and shop in in uh Ranch Mirage. at the same time. Hopefully $25 is like going to a appetizer somewhere. You usually spend a 25 and you spend another 50 on top of it to get to where you got to go. So it might be an opportunity to do that instead of some of the knickknacks we do. Uh you know, some of the hats and the other stuff are great. Some people wear them, other people put them away. Might be best to see if we can put it back in the pockets of our businesses.

Absolutely. Thank you. You're welcome. I like knicknacks. Get you a hat. You can have a combination of things for that program. Definitely. Perfect.

Um, also within economic opportunity, the installation of a mural, a mural on wall on the wall between Varnner Road and I 10 freeway. I think a lot of people have driven by that already seen the great mural. And also we've been working on the design of the new medians on Varner near the I 10 auto mall to improve um the safety there and um the folks that drive through there. And then uh you may have seen the the refresh that we've done on our old EOC uh EOCC building to also use it as a Indo Business Connect Center IBCC. So we've repainted the exterior. We've done some interior improvements. We're hoping to have that business center open this summer as well and available for our local businesses to get some classes and um different resources there. Yes, sir.

Just had a quick question along the line of our small business community and stuff. How are we budgeting to continue the program with the facade program with some of our businesses because I know it was in key locations to beautify those older established businesses that have been around. Yeah, I believe um if I'm not mistaken, we still have in the budget to have those facade improvements for um the refresh of our existing businesses and um even some of our newer businesses to have those grants available and hopefully they're refreshing in the marketing opportunity. I mean, you tell them once as we all know once is never enough.

Yeah, definitely. I think that's one of the the key points of having the IBCC is to let all of our local businesses know of, you know, those kind of refresh programs or any other resources they can get from, you know, COD or from the city, maybe grants that are available. Some small businesses might need help with um human resources or finance issues. So, we'll be providing that robust program out of that center. Thank you. What's the the for the facade program? What are the guidelines at the moment? Which areas are I'm going to call our economic development director up again so he can highlight that for the entire community. You should just sit up here, man. Yeah, I am. I'm just going to sit up. It's in the front row.

This uh right now, the two geographic areas are along Highway 111 and downtown within the downtown specific plan. Those are our focus areas. This current fiscal year, we're budgeted at 600,000 uh for each of those areas. And next year, we're looking Ruby will will bring it up, but it'll be 500,000 for each of those areas. Have we have we thought about doing like on India Boulevard which is another area that all the way down from Coachella back I know it's not but maybe some funding for that like the burger box they kind of cleaned it up made a big difference but there's a lot of those businesses along that driveway Silva's radiator and all the other ones that could probably use a little facade. They're not going to go anywhere unless they get some help.

It it is area we uh opportunity area that we've looked at. We just haven't moved on from the two areas because they still need a lot of work along Highway 111. We do remind uh our businesses along Highway 111. That's where we don't get a lot of participation of the program. Uh and reminding them, we send emails, do phone calls, do business visits, and just let them know about the program. But we're trying to get more participation along Highway 111. Okay. How much of the funding were you able to get out in this last year? I have to go check on the report. Uh but this is this is the most active year. I don't have that number off the top of my head, but I can get that back for you. Thanks. Very good. Miguel, stay in the front row.

Okay. Public infrastructure. Um, Avenue 44 bridge. Uh, we will be completed May 2026. I believe we're going to have a nice ribbon cutting for that on May 19th. So, coming up, new city hall. We're in here. It's done. Um, and just for the public, we're going to have a grand opening in two weeks on May 20th in an open house at starting at 2:00. So, please come on down for that. Oasis Street beautifification, that's all complete. You see all the new um storm drain in there, but also the new um trees and all new landscaping, the new benches and all of that kind of stuff. So, it's looking very nice down there on Oasis Street. The lights at Indo Golf Course Clubhouse also completed. We're also going to do a a ribbon cutting grand opening for that at the end of the month. Uh we completed the corner ramp upgrades at the vicinity of the CV link to make it easier for folks to get onto that and use that. And we also hosted the tour to Palm Springs, they were able to use uh the CV link segment that was in the city of India as well. So a lot of good infrastructure improvements that have been completed. Um also with um public infrastructure, we're also looking at you know how we maintain things. You we've updated our c custodial contract. We're still exploring you know um updating that and you know should we bring it inhouse? Should we continue to use our uh contractors? So that's part of the evaluation that we'll be doing during the next fiscal year. We've updated our landscape maintenance contract, our park ambassador program. We've planted 187 new trees in the downtown. It's been fantastic. I had to add this one for Mr. McGomery. We added 27 new palm trees in the downtown. So, in addition to regular trees, we added palm trees. And then we're also looking at our Chromium 6 compliance and we've completed 35% design on the wells that may need those Chromium 6 upgrades. So, we're making sure we're staying on top of that.

Jonathan, just just a second. If you go back to the last one, um not not a question or a compliment. And thank you to our city manager,

Brian is um planted 187 new trees downtown and 27 new palm trees. That's important. We've talked for a long time about our canopy in the city. And also I I know there's a lot of conversation about native plants and native trees, but the palm tree is definitely our calling card, right? And so I love to see the palm trees. I mean, you could look on TV, you look anywhere, you see palm trees, you think Coachella Valley and um this this is something that's planned for the future. I mean, if you look in some of our areas, some of our palm trees are leaning, especially after that tropical storm. So, it was imperative that we get in front of this. So, I really appreciate this.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim. So, that is a brief overview of the progress this entire team has made on the uh strategic plan items. And again, um, we've used those focus areas to also guide how we've planned and proposed the budget that we're going to present to you in just a moment. So, if uh there's any more questions on strategic plan, I'll transition over to Ruby Wallow for the budget update. I

I just wanted to make some comments on this was great. You just kind of rolled right through that. I almost wish we had had another hour just to think about everything that you said. Just an enormous amount of work that has been accomplished. And the trees, I know we all love our palm trees. I I love them. They are signature. But to have all these shade trees throughout our entire community, not just the downtown is huge. That'll that'll make our city walkable. It'll make our city a place for for people to come and sit and enjoy and whatever it is they grab a cup of coffee or there or they're shopping or whatever they're doing. So, it'll bring the temperature down really like the shade trees. Um, for those listening, the budget is coming up. Very um very exciting. And I guess when I walked through this, it was so nice to read about all the things that we've accomplished and the things that we expect to accomplish. Very very positive and in the dollars. I want to just say so much of this has to do with economic development. Uh and the investment that people have made, investments in everything from housing to small businesses, all those ribbon cutings. My goodness, every there's a couple every week. um to large businesses. No matter where you look in in this town, there are businesses and we are shopping local and we need to do a better job of shopping local and I really implore everyone out there to every dollar that you spend in the city is returned and that's really reflected in this budget. Um we're even putting dollars into additional dollars into our re reserve contribution which is important to us. So, I'm going to hand that over to you, Ruby, because it's just all very exciting, very positive, very strong financials for the city of India.

Mayor, can I ask a question? Of course.

Uh, when we go back to public and first of all, thank you for the presentation. I think, you know, our staff's doing a great job and want to thank all them for all the hard work they're doing to get all these projects through. One question I have, I know we had set aside a million dollars in the past for a skate park at Miles Park and then it got into the conversation on the new sports park in the second phase of the new spar sport forms park and potentially having it there. But now seeing that we didn't receive the grant for that second phase yet and it's going to be a while before we develop, I think we should start making that decision. Is it going to go to the sports park? Is it going to go to Miles Park? And let's get that funding go. Let's get that funding moving for that uh that skate park for the kids. Um do we have any updates on that?

Yes, Council Member Ortiz. Um in the second half of the budget presentation, we're going to go over uh uh new capital project uh proposals. And so we do have a million dollars allocated as a proposal towards that second phase of the sports park even though we did not receive the grant. So that's what we're proposing the council. So I think when we get to the park section and those allocations, that would be a good time for the council to discuss that. Sounds good. Thank you. Yeah. Mhm. Looking forward to this.

Good afternoon, Madame Mayor, Mayor Prom, council members. Ruby Walla, director of finance. Um, I have the pleasure this afternoon to present to you our preliminary budget for the fiscal year 2026 2027. Um first of all I always like to give um gratitude and thanks to the staff and their hard work as well as bring is for us to bring this financial plan forward to you all. Um it takes a village for sure but with their diligence and their dedication and commitment um I'm happy to present to you our plan that we are proposing for the next fiscal year which complements the strategic plan as as Jonathan just presented. So you are all provided a workbook um and in that workbook were nine sections which provides key drivers and then highlights of the various funds general fund um specifically um as well as uh internal service funds, enterprise funds and of course authorized position listing and then of course the CIP. um CIP. In my presentation, I'll highlight the budget side perspective and then Jonathan will take it over as to explain all the all of the projects that we have planned and outlined. Um today's study session outline is you know our basically our intent is to review the proposed plan. Um our focus will be on the general fund, water fund, um internal service funds and capital capital improvement plan. And the goal at the end of this is is to get direction from city council um if you so wish that we move forward with adoption and bring you back a recommended budget in June. However, this is an open forum. So as we move forward, ask questions, engage um you know stop me at any time if there's needed clarification as well as staff is equipped to answer to their

respective budgets in the event that I'm not able to fulfill uh the response. And just, you know, I I thought it would be helpful to highlight I use I added growth and I added momentum because in my time, this is my third budget presentation to the city council. Um, and I see the momentum and I see the growth and um, you know, piggybacking on the strategic plan, um, it's just a great time to be in India and it has been. So, uh, hopefully we can tell that story in our plan as well to continue that as well. So key drivers in budget assumptions, some of them are pretty standard. We still have modest yet conservative um revenue projections. Really going off of our midyear updates and presentation at that time. So no um big sign significant swings here that we have haven't already presented. Um, as normal, we've uh included any salary and benefit adjustments. Um, our pension contributions, any merit increases, any colas that were obligated tied to um any agreements, our debt service obligations, that's been an increase this year that we're planning for. One-time projects, we'll outline a list of what those are for you in um later in the presentation. As well as capital and maintenance needs, what are those ongoing needs? um and departmental operational needs. What what do they need need? What do they need to get their work done? What do they need to execute the strategic goals of the city? So, they they re-evaluate those. And then we also have the reorganization of um public works and water divisions. Um we'll talk about that uh once we get to the water fund, but highlighting um we recently did a water bond refunding. Um, and with that opportunity was a uh discussion in terms of what we were going to do with the lease between the

city and IWA. And it was at this council's discretion and direction that we went ahead and terminated that lease. And so as of April 1st, the water fund water system has been returned to the city. And so this budget plan um reflects that. We are t measures now to um transition. So, we will be coming forward with some documents and as we move forward through uh through the year and the transition with uh direction from city council to transfer contracts, agreements, but we'll vet that with legal um moving forward, but you'll be apprised along the way, but this budget document does reflect that from a budget perspective. We are moving forward. And then also with that with the opportunity um there was pres there was an opportunity was presented at the time where the general manager retired which caused us to step back and say what is the what is the structure for the city of Indo and therefore we've uh made some transition and some structural changes within the divisions. Uh now we have the water utility and maintenance division and some of these departments now um have been shifted and it's reflective in here as well. And again the biggest estimate as best as we can year end and beginning fund balance. So what are we looking at? We'll start in summary. So overall um we have a budget of 32 million all in budget. Um and that takes into consideration one times and transfers out. So the question's been asked what is our operational budget? And so our operational budget is 112 million. And what we have from there is that we have identified our operational resources are 114 million. So in summary, we um have an operational surplus of 1.3 million. But after we consider those one-time expenses and

transfers out, we net a little under that 1 million. And we'll talk more about that as we work through. But what the next slides will present to you is how did we get there and what's in the plan to drive us there. But if you do have questions, please again um so what does this all mean? We have a balanced operational budget and that's that's our goal at the end of the day. How do we present council with a balanced budget and this budget does achieve that. So this just provides you a historical of general fund revenues um overall and it includes measure measure X dollars. So that's in total of of what's included here. and and so 18 million is the average or has been the average and I know last year we had that conversation about 18.5 181 182 and we went into this year with 182 but we are trending per our last report with HDL about 185 and then some probably a little bit better than than anticipated and going into next year we're looking at 18.9 and that's working with HDL um on that but we work with them quarterly if you crawl last Last year we had presented you with an 18.5 and then we dialed that back. Um we haven't heard otherwise of any need to dial that back but midyear is always that opportunity to make those adjustments and this just provides the general fund revenue by type on the types of categories in the general fund. Again, most significant is taxes. And then we have Measure X, which is 14% of that. And I thought that was kind of important to to bring that out. Um because as we move forward, Measure X is not included in terms of how we drive our operations. That is completely excluded. But for revenue purposes and just presentation, it was uh it is all received by the general fund.

This just gives you the five a five-year historic well current plus four years and what we're trending proposed budget current year amended budget prior year three actuals three-year actuals and we're flat right so we've been showing which was really cool graphs to show over the 10 years where you really saw city the city just take off in revenue growth but now we are flat so it we have to change our thinking a little bit um you know as we plan how we use our dollars, how we invest those dollars, how we measure up measure costs. So we do have in the proposed budget just for um um just to be descriptive is we have revenues of course increasing at 4% but expenses at 6%. So there you see where we have a shortfall right in in terms of percentage in terms of growth. It's just a matter of time um if when when that catches up.

Does it reflect the new concert we're going to have in October the 10th 11th? No, it does not. Okay. Thank you. Uh we decided that we would not assume that at this point. Um it does not assume any revenue. I I believe there are a few categories in here as far as in terms of fire. I think is the only department that did adjust and submit for an estimate about 200,000 which is outlined in the presentation as well assuming some additional costs with the concert. But overall as a city that was the only cost that we've um accounted for but we did not offset any revenue. Our our objective is to come back at midyear to show what that actual performance is.

So let's talk about measure X since it's not included as part of our operation. the figure we put that at the front end at the front part of the presentation. So budgeted at $18.9 million. So where do those measure X dollars go for us or that we're planning off the top the 5 million that we dedicate to streets and roads. The next is debt service at 10 million. So that has increased and these are the measure X debt service commitments at this point. At this point in time, you have the 2017 judgment obligation bonds in 2037 that will mature, but we still have now 10 years projecting before we have that $1 million rel uh relief and the others are are then planned for 30 years from now. And lastly, the remaining funds of that 18.9 3.9 is has been committed or will be transferred for capital funding. So what we do with the measure X fund is we have established the last two years a separate capital fund which the general fund receives dollar for dollar all of Measure X dollars and then at year end we transfer out dollar for dollar Measure X funds to this capital fund and then we disperse from there so that they're isolated and not comingled with any operational funding. So now we move into operations. Here I've listed just minor budget changes and what I considered minor were any budget changes plus or minus 200,000. So that's why you see them here. That was my threshold as far as in to uh present in this this presentation. But if you have any questions, please let me know on any specific one. Um but what are these and what you'll see across is that you're not going to see justifications or

dollar amounts equal um per se because what drives this is as I stated salary adjustments, benefit adjustments, internal service fund allocation adjustments and so those all weigh into these uh numbers moving forward. So make some are direct uh downward adjustments. Let's talk about city beautifification. That's a good one because uh that is a decrease due to us reviewing the budget this year prior to distribution to our departments and looking at how are we spending the dollars. Are we budgeting for dollars that aren't being spent and so that we can utilize those in other ways. So instead of locking them up for the whatif or our own independent uh rainy day fund within our budgets, uh let's let's kind of decide do we really need those dollars? And as well we have the uh appropriation a contingency fund that we've developed and that's also in this presentation. So I did that um worked with the departments and so they were then tasked to tell me if I took it why they need it um and so and we would put it to use and then it would help us balance out any new request as well. So city beautifification into that respect they had a a small tools and minor equipment line that wasn't being used. it was being budgeted year after year over year of 130,000 but yet it hadn't been used so it was time to just kind of dial that back and that's the mo that's the case with most of these here may Ruby so what what is it I some most of them are pretty easy what is it in finance and city clerk that it's up going up almost 200,000 or 175,000

so city clerk specifically is election okay services as well as um they have a proposed closed uh part-time position. So that's part of that and then the remainder are your salaries and benefit costs assoc associated with the annual increases. Finance as well has um contractual obligations with the audit um HDL services. So any contractual engagements outside of salary and benefits that's causing the increase. So, out of those two, there's only one half a position be in the city clerk's office to be a part-time person, intern or part-time person. Uh, it right at this point proposed as a retired annuity. So, it' be part-time.

Thank you. Mhm.

So, so then we move on to now the bigger impacts to the budget, the notable notable budget changes that we have. So, we have police here with four four million and these are the um some the uh costs that they've identified for operational um increases into concert services. To touch on that, that's not reflective of the upcoming fall concert. That's reflective of what we're truly performing, right? So, we contract, we have other outside agencies come in. We're the lead agency and they drive those costs. So this is was to better align the budget for uh for what is truly occurring in the city just with our current festival arrangements.

Th those are refunded by the concerts, right? When we have the increased services at the concerts, those are paid correct to the city. Yes. But so we budget so there's an offsetting revenue that we have to offset the expenditures. So we try to align the expenditures as best as possible. So we estimate the revenue that revenue as well as all the other uh revenue impacts but yes it is offset. How much of this 4 million is offset? So in that sense let me get the detail for you. I believe it was 200,000 if I'm not mistaken or 400,000 is what we increased at. So it would be the 400,000 would be assumed. Okay.

As an ex uh as a reimbursement. Those are all billable to go in. Yes. So all all of them are billable. The PD, anything law enforcement related and we try to capture all costs. Gotcha. Thanks. Any other questions?

So then we have fire and ambulance with 729 um,000. So we have the contract fire services. So last year we presented a a large increase. Um and this year there is an increase of 110 based on our formula and it's half a percent increase this year. Um what we're looking at based on what we budgeted last year compared to this year um based on the most recent uh estimate schedule A. Um and this is where we discussed where they did assume the 200,000 for the fall festival. We also have increases in the PPGMT participation which is the med medic Medicaid reimbursement program that the city particip participates in for ambulance billing. Um currently we contribute that's increased. We currently contribute about a million to participate a year. So it's about 250 a year. um 250,000 per year, but our return on that is we're we also have offsetting revenue, but the revenue return is actually about 4 million. So net 3 million to the city and of course then here's uh striker poor care proare coverage as well as gurnie replacement and that would be a one-time investment. I think it would be good for the public to know because at least I do get asked and Councilman Ortiz brought up a good point. When we do get the concerts, they worry about all the staffing and all because it's not just police and fire, it's public works, all that. I think it would be to know a number to say this is what is every concert we have. This is they cover those costs clearly stated because it would help us because I do explain it that they pay 100% of what we we dedicate over there. But then they don't understand that there's accounting staff that takes to take the time. So there's a whole bunch of other staff in

order to make that happen.

Correct. Uh yeah, we we can gladly present that. And we do we bill uh we bill for a deposit at the be before the concerts. It's 75% that they pay in advance. But we also bill all of the city services. So we project code here uh at the city of India. So we require staff anytime they're working um on anything related to the festivals that's billable. Again, we have to go and coincide with the development agreement. So we ensure that that is uh reimburseable. For example, overtime is straight overtime. The city does incur somewhat of a cost just because we're responsible for the benefits and that's the contractual agreement between us um and as well as the participating agencies. So we gladly to to provide that, but we do get reimbursed uh for all costs incurred

and that's pretty much with any outside opportunity comes into the city and they're wanting to hire our staff or participate, there is a reimbursement as well. So yes, thank you.

So we move on to code enforcement. Um again it's it's small in nature but they they made the list. I know I said under two it was at the border of 200,000 um but uh basically getting new detection software so moving in um with technology as you see there's uh also PD had AI software that they're proposing um code enforcement is moving forward as well and then we have um engineering that actually has a one full-time position which is an associate engineer which uh I think in one section of your memo I listed as an associate planner um and then the other way but it's an actual associate engineer. So, I wanted to make sure we got that clarification that that is the one position that we're hiring and recommending. And then we have economic development. Miguel talked a little bit about this already. Um, which are buildings buildings uh tenant improvements, those investments that we provide to tenants for any city-owned property uh to help move the city along um and beautify the city. And again, that's where now we developed this beautif uh building beautifification program. Um it is a program, but it was when it was first launched, it was embedded in the CIP. Um so theoretically, it was probably like a one-time let's try this out, let's move forward. Um but after we've been um in our discussions, uh economic development has advised like that's a reoccurring program and something to move forward with. So it is now embedded within the operational budget and we move that out of the CIP because CIP theoretically onetime projects and that will we will house there and this we we will now absorb and then again evaluate resources as they are available to see if you can sustain this program. So right now as Miguel stated earlier designate it for downtown and highway 111. Again the line item itself isn't specific but and so that has that flexibility to change.

we on on that how much did we spend this year out of that one point was it 1.2 2 million last year we had how much did we So I did review um some of that detail and I I think because I was tracking it so I would say it was about 500 half a million and how many years we've been doing this now just the one uh it's been rolling for the last three years I believe but full fully funded as this part yeah so it was actually rolling the 600 600,000 okay

and this is per one so I would have to say that it's about I have to apologize because I I'm thinking I'm kind of going back. I'm thinking of one line item in one of these programs that I was looking at to research when we were putting this together and that one alone had about 250 300 so I would say 750 probably alto together between the two programs because they're they're different programs.

Well, my concern is if we've been going at this for three years and we're only spending 500,000 even though there are a lot more that want to that need it. They might not want to take it. So then I think we need to open it up to other areas because Indial Boulevard, we have some other areas along some of our main corridors along uh Dr. Carry on too that could use it. I mean, if we're not going to use it when they're do it, either we need to go out and robustly go to the businesses and ask them that they know about this program, including our uh IWA uh rebates and that, or we need to start moving on to other thing because if you have a million two and you're spending 750,000, that means 450,000 sitting there that could probably be used. And those parts those in my opinion those parts are important but so is a lot of other other areas that are see the facade and some of these other areas where people drive through every day looks kind of shaky in some areas. So I think we need if it does go on we need to look at other opportunities.

I I don't disagree. I the question I have is why aren't some why why are some people so reluctant whether it's whether it's you know in in the Highway 111 corridor or if we were to expand it. Um my thought is why why are people afraid you know I guess maybe they think that there's a there's there's a concern there clearly that um and I know that we have uh you know worked on a tremendous amount of outreach to these businesses but I just I have to wonder why why people are concerned about that and I think we need to continue to you know work on those relationships and try to figure out why and what we need to do because I think there's a concentration

maybe we need to have IBC hold a like a meeting here with the opportunities with India water author authority, code enforcement, and other ones to bring all the businesses in those area to see to let them know that these programs exist what they do.

Mayor, if I might, I think that's a a great idea. And if the if they know that this funding, if they don't use it and take advantage of that resource, it may be reprogrammed by the council to other areas. So perhaps that will be the impetus like it's it's slipping out of your fingers. Jump jump jump in now. Take advantage of it. What we find with these small businesses, quite frankly, is they're so busy operating their business. this is like, oh yeah, I know I need to do that, but then that's kind of a headache. Um, we do our best to handhold. We do have to pay prevailing wage. So, there are a few things that are a little bit of a disincentive, but you're right, Highway 111, Jackson, uh, sorry, Indio Boulevard, Jackson, all could use it. So, maybe at midy year, uh, that would be a good thing to bring back and, okay, this is how much has been used. Does the council want to reprogram to a couple of these other areas? I'll bet there'll be a little bit of money left over to to be able to do that.

Jackson buildings. Exactly. The only thing I can bring to tell you, mayor, is that some of the businesses that are leasing from a landlord are having a challenge to and I can name about five of them because I've talked to him. He goes, and I've even told them, but why don't you have the owner of the business with you go to city hall or they can come to you to encourage it and there's just a discommunicate with some of them. or there's there's a resistance, you know, just trying to figure out why that outreach education. Yeah. Maybe more than city hall is going to those areas, picking a place and say in a morning Yeah.

Uh have somebody host it and they can do their their show and tell and try to promote it. I Yeah, I think that was a great idea. That's just an idea. Yep.

Go ahead. So moving along off uh economic development is then we have communications and marketing um with 441 um and so significant uh changes were to special event services and supplies and why because they do all these things just to name a few. Um and just a few and I just highlighted some that are kind of been becoming a staple have been a staple a tradition to the city of India and these attract um both tourism which the Coachella Valley thrives on as well as provide something to your community and your residents. So um these are increases that we have seen in this budget as well as we have special event supplies one time uh which is just city holiday decor um for this downtown area in in with the new city hall and as well as an addition of a one full-time um marketing uh office assistant. And actually this is um this is a exchange uh with the water department. So there was a discussion as far as now that we're all one city and within that threshold we're uh sharing resources as we did with the finance team some time ago when I joined and consolidated their marketing efforts as well have been consolidated with our uh marketing team and so this was an actual exchange. So what that means is no no change to the FTE count for that position. And next we move on to non-EP departmental which is similar to what do we do with uh where it doesn't fit within any other fund. Uh we proposing to continue the the land acquisition funding of 2 million. Um we also have 2.1 million in debt service uh that the

general fund does pay that not separate and apart from measure X debt service. Uh we do have the 2016A 2016B is actually scheduled to be paid off that portion in the 2027 fiscal year and then of course we have the 2022 portion of that refunded the 2012s. So that's still uh carried on by the general fund which is offset by available resources from our park and building diff uh development impact fees as well as the budget assumes a 200,000 LLD contribution. If you recall uh we have several out of the 50some uh LLDs that we have, we do provide a contribution that's has risen to about 200,000 to various LLDs that are capped. Um right now in the budget is proposed uh there is an additional 81,000 I believe that will be coming through which will be factored in once we move forward with the levy which is one-time improvements that are proposing for these LLDs to bring them up to standard and up to a grade that's uh that up to city standard um and making that investment and then moving forward just its maintenance. uh water has uh provided information saying they there is potential though to offset this cost because there is potential for grant funding. So right now we are assuming the 200,000 until we learn more. So that could be just returned to the general fund um at the year at year end. And then we also increased our appropriations for contingency. And what that was uh basically we were budgeted in the current year for 900,000 and now this is at 1.7. And so what does that tell you? That tells you that we were able to um basically take another 800,000 from department's budgets and then move it into

contingency and say okay when the needs arise when the need arises this funding is available. So, at council's discretion, of course, we're we're requesting the 1.577 million to then if the need arises that city within city manager authority can pull from these funds and reappropriate them within to the to the departments. Um, anything beyond city manager authority would of course come before city council. And then we also have transfers out and that is assuming a 1.5 uh oped contribution as well as an additional 11 million that we're committing to capital and of course we'll get into the details of the capital plan but that is a also a recommended contribution and then I also mentioned that we had one time and one time totaling 7.3 million. So this is the budget that this budget includes 7.3 million of one-time expenses non-reoccurring u that we are seeking approval for to move forward in the next year. Some of these have um been presented to you within the individual slides. Um if not there are mentioned here as they just didn't meet the threshold uh independently. For example, the teen center those specifically were not included as a line item slide for you but they are presented here just for clarity and um information. questions. Now we talk about authorized and unfunded sorry funded positions. So we are proposing an increase of 2.5. And you wonder where the 2.5 it's because we're h um proposing the hiring of a retired annuitant. So we're counting our FTEEs at.5 for halftime. Um we are proposing two new positions uh which is for uh engineering the associate engineer and the property and evidence supervisor for PD which was based off of

recommendation and then we also have uh reclassifications uh being recommended here uh for the departments of economic de development we also have planning and then two in T. So that would bring our count from 345 the one beautifification worker that you approved at midyear. So that with the 2.5 brings us to 348.5 FTEEs proposed for this next fiscal year. So to recap and I have to turn to my page because my eyes aren't that great. So to recap on the budget um as a whole and then we're talking about the general fund specifically and I I will I know we we're cutting close on time but as a whole we have a we have total resources or total sources of 133 million um a general fund budget of 132 net net of one time our operational expenses are 112 12. Our operating revenue is 114 million. With that being provided, we have an operational surplus of the 1.3. And lastly, the overall budget surplus of 992,000. And so what staff is recommending is that we continue the practice of funding the reserve if you so wish and another half a million which would bring the reserve to 19.5 or 17% which is above the 15% threshold uh the minimum that we've been holding. Again this is at council's discretion. It is staff's recommendation. However, you can utilize those resources and say direct us to contribute more to OPED, more to PARs or

reinvest in in a different way. And that is on the general fund. So, any questions on the general fund? I just have a few more slides to recap on the remaining funds, but any questions on the general fund? So we have the internal service funds um which is all the funds that internal that serve this the various departments um and they are funneled by just allocations by the departments and funds. We have risk management information technology vehicle replacement buildings and grounds and fleet and maintenance. So what do we have there? Normal uh insurance increases uh at 16.4% just to keep us insured. Um we have software and equipment purchases. Um we did have the staffing reclassifications that I mentioned previous on the previous slide as well as vehicles for fire and facilities. Uh four four trucks for them for operations. A graffiti abatement truck as well as an ambulance is programmed within the budget not specifically from the ISF fund as we have identified that there are available de development impact fee sources available to fund that. Yes,

that's one. That's separate from the replacement one that we lost last year, right,

Chief? Good evening, Mayor Council. Yes, that is correct, sir. So the uh one that was lost last year due to the accident is going to be replaced um through uh insurance and then this is the this is an additional reserve ambulance uh so that we can bring the fleet back up to par. Um as you may or may not know or recall with our new ambulances when we take them into service uh we take the highest highest mileage uh ambulance and we bump that into reserve status and that way we can maintain um that ratio so that we can always have ambulances available for emergency response. And are still re refurbishing if it's possible the box in the back or is this a whole new unit?

We are. So if if there's an opportunity to do a refurb um unfortunately with changes in the industry and everything else becoming so uh regulatoryheavy, uh the cost savings that we used to see which was uh sometimes as high as 60% by doing a refurb is just not there anymore. But we will evaluate all of those options uh to keep the cost as low as possible. uh the item before you or the number before you is a full replacement. Understood. The status of the onboarding of the replacement from the accident is what's that status?

Uh so that is sitting with fleet. Um they have been working with Frasier who is our ambulance provider um to identify all of the needs um so that they mirror the other Indo ambulances. Um and so my understanding is that that is moving forward, but I do not have a solid timeline on delivery for that. Well, it's a lot better than it was before. It was taking longer. Yes, things the the timeline has shrunk. We were seeing three to four years for a new ambulance replacement. Um with the Ford chassis, uh they're becoming more readily available. Uh so a lot of those uh co era challenges that we were seeing um have have minimized quite a bit. I just wish that the cost uh minimized as well, but unfortunately as soon as we paint it red and say fire and rescue um

it's already outdated. this coming on board does it hamper regular time or do you really need this now or as time permits it'll just when it arrives it's you're okay.

So we worked with fleet uh to really kind of do a deep dive into our current fleet. Um what are we seeing for repair times? Uh unfortunately the ambulances that we do have are increasing in mileage. Uh we have run into several times where not only are all of the frontline Indo ambulances out of service but so are all the reserves. And so we're we're borrowing from our partners uh over in the Cove communities. Um and so that's what really led to this decision to be strategic to increase that reserve fleet by one. Um just looking at the data that was being presented out of uh out of their tracking system. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Yes, sir.

Then we move on to the water water fund. Um and so what we saw just as healthy as we've presented before and um we did the water revenue refunding earlier uh this year and that proved to be successful um because it is strong and it is healthy. So this this pro this provides that information as well. So overall the water fund budget of 33 million there is 10.4 4 million for an investment in capital which is 22 million for opera of operational expenses operational revenues at 29. So there we have a surplus of 6.3 million. When we consider those one-time investments we are using available uh fund balance of 9.5 million to execute those projects. And so year-over-year uh the water fund formerly IWA would provide and and uh project what for their capital plan what they would uh fund from the reserves available. This still maintains sufficient healthy balance capital projects fund. Again just quick overview because I'll hand it over to Jonathan. Um but we have a $195 million capital plan proposed. of that. The highlight here for me is the 80 million that will come from measure X and general fund of the dollars that we're committing and proposing in this budget. And it's comprised of general fund resources uh assigned fund balance that we have 29 million that per the uh fiscal year 2025 closing fund balance. We committed and have those assigned dollars to fund capital to ensure that as well as the measure X dollars that are available. Um and then what we're projecting in this 80 million is what we're projecting to receive this year as well as the proposed deer which helps fund the cap uh the capital need of 80 million to successfully fund those

projects. Now what does that 80 million mean? Um we do have set aside funds. We have about 8 million of the $10 million commit $10 million commitment for public safety campus phase 2. Um that's about 8 million. We also have 23 million um in there on hold for Monroe and then add the remaining funding as well for Jackson. So that's all comprised in here. So these are funds that we'll continue to evaluate and and move forward. But these are cash on hand and dollars that we look at based on timing and project delivery reinvest invest in our portfolio so then we can maximize that opportunity as well. And with that that concludes my part. Um, I will hand it over to Jonathan. I won't go forward my recommendation just quite yet. Uh, but I'll let I'll hand it off for Jonathan.

Mayor and council, I realize we're at 4:00. If you allow us to extend the study session by 10 to 15 minutes, I think we couldn't get through the CIP portion as well. Okay. So, again, I don't want to um emphasize this too much, but we have a lot of completed projects that many of these I mentioned during the strategic plan. City Hall, library, sports park, very large investment in our streets, crack seals, slurry seals, a lot of new um sidewalk improvement projects. We have the Civic Center storm drain as mentioned, Badlands Trail, Avenue 44, Lights and India. So, we're uh we are looking at another robust year of capital improvement moving forward. So, as Ruby mentioned, this is a breakdown of the uses of funds that are going into that 195 million using Measure X, an infusion of general fund, using some street and roads funds, uh, bridges funds, anything that we have available that we can invest in the community. So, u, by category, we'll kind of go, uh, go through these. So, street projects, you know, again, uh, we had 9 million for grinded overlay last year, looking at investing another $5 million towards that. and our annual slurry seal program at three million looking at India Boulevard meetings and sidewalks at another million dollars. Uh we're allocating $95,000 or proposing that to do another assessment of pavement condition in index. Uh it's recommended to update that every 3 to 5 years. We're recommending doing that um study next year. I think it's probably going to come out better than the last time we did it since we've done so much road work. And then also looking specifically at Arabia Street, uh relocating some of those power poles and installing new sidewalk that's north of Dr. Carryon for those that traverse that area.

Yes, sir. When you're saying the total 48.8 million over, how much time is that? Um this is what we're um looking at allocating um total towards streets and but these are the u these items here are specifically for next fiscal year.

Okay. But the 48.8 total is just the plan over the next how many years? five years. Sorry, I should have uh clarified that. So, the CIP stretches a fiveyear, and I'll show that at the the final slide. Thank you for the clarification. And then also an allocating allocation of $300,000 to update signs and stripings in all of our school zones, making sure those are safe and walkable, good on streets. Okay. Freeway interchanges, uh Monroe, U making sure that we have our full city share in there at 23.7 million. uh Riverside County is going to run the project. We're hoping to go out to bid on that sometime in the fall and then we'll have those real numbers, bring that back to council as well as an update. Then also um to fund a lot of these projects uh the um surface transportation block grant, uh state transportation improvement program, local planning partnership, active transportation program, CBG. So these are all the different funding sources that are rolling up to fund Monroe. Then of course, Jackson, as Ruby mentioned, tucking away about $20 million so we can do that one in the future. Start saving for that building projects. Uh police department headquarters, uh we've went over that a few times. We still have the funding available for that. Um as mentioned, the IPAC, um $250,000 towards some interior improvements since we've done a lot of the exterior. Um looking at the digital sign, that's on the auto mallal, replacing that with a new one. Um, fire station 88, that's the one over on Madison, that's our oldest station. It needs some uh interior renovations. So, we're working with the fire chief and our facilities team on on doing some of those. The transportation center u looking at doing some light repairs on the modular building and also um looking at doing a refresh of the design that we have for that transportation center. There's a design done maybe about six, seven years ago. So, we're looking at uh doing a new conceptual design to get that ready for the potential Amtrak to

come in and um maybe some grant funding to um support that project. And just to clarify, design that's complete already. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. This is just to refresh the the design of the project. Yes, sir. Yeah. I just want to put that out there. Oh, no. Understood. Mayor Protown. It's a very feasible project. Yes. Just had a question on station 88. Does that include anything on that open land that we have in the back, cleaning it up? It's an area that's usually used for storage.

Um, this is actually to do um improvements on the station itself, but we can definitely look at that with our maintenance team within our operating budget to clean that up a little bit. Yeah, because I know that fire at a time was looking at an area where we can garage and deal with other of our fire apparatus because we have the property there, but I don't know if that included that or not. Not in this initial scope, but that's something we can look at. The chief could correct where I'm going, but it thinks it was cleaning up.

Yes, sir. Uh, so that is correct. We had had those discussions about parking the reserve ladder truck and some of the ambulances. Uh that project has not moved forward at this point. Um the item that we're discussing was uh interior improvements into the living conditions. So there's some leaky air conditioning ducting uh some mold in the restrooms and some facility improvements uh that we uh we need to complete. Uh so the um the back we call it the back 40 of station 88 was cleaned up. the weeds were um removed and uh some of the training items kind of relocated back there and so it's it's looking a lot better but currently there was uh there was not budget for that project sir. Thank you chief.

Okay. So, uh, water projects, um, allocating, um, some funding towards, um, the chromium 6, um, as previously mentioned, um, some plant 2, um, improvements, uh, water main replacement in partnership with CVWD, some pipeline replacements, hydrant replacement program, um, and then also looking at our water master plan, which we need to refresh after so many years, traffic signals, um, looking at Jackson Street and Avenue 50, uh, Phase two, uh, Arabia Street and Dr. Carryon. Looking at that, traffic signal and sidewalk and then a traffic signal modifications at Jackson Avenue 44, Jackson, Dr. Carryon, and Madison and Avenue 46. Park projects um allocating some funds towards uh memorial at John Nobles. So, making sure we have that available to look at design and execution of some kind of memorial there. um India Sports Park as previously mentioned uh we did not receive that grant. If there's another grant available, we're still aggressively looking for those grants for that um second phase, but for this fiscal year, we're allocating a million dollars that could be for additional restrooms, parking, park maintenance, or another item that was brought up by council member Ortiz, you know, that skate park. Um then also, uh Veterans Memorial allocating 500,000 for that. And then also the retention basin that was recently competed completed at Kenner and Jackson doing some landscaping around the perimeter there and then also continue our citywide roadway and parkway landscaping enhancing landscaping throughout the city allocating some dollars towards that. So

and this one that's not the same 1 million as the skate park funds is it? Are you saying those are the same fund or separate items? Yeah, this this is a brand new allocation. That one didn't carry over, but that's the discussion I think you want to have is do you want to build a skate park where and what is the scope? For example, the the Lita one was like a four or $5 million thing. This would be a little different scope. Yeah. If the council wanted to use this million on skate park at phase two, sorry,

the the 1 million for the skate park that was, you know, a council negotiation that we had two years ago and we've never gotten there. But are we reallocating that to other projects? Cuz I don't think we've ever agreed to that. What's what's happened? In fact, this you look at $80 million. Where do we get $80 million? A lot of that is the carryover from previous years. This does not specifically list the skate park as it was previously. And that's the question I think you want to ask your colleagues is should it be? Should we list it? It's not yet. It's kind of a placeholder here uh as part of phase two, but is that how everybody wants to spend it or not?

We tal we've been talking about skates park for two years. Yeah. More longer than that, I think. So I think we had made that decision to to move forward with that skate park and if not one place Miles Avenue Park then in in another. What's your thoughts? I I'm I'm good forward with it. I think we should put it Miles Park. I think Miles Park as well. Perfect place for it's got a good location in the back there. You'd be able to use it and be But that's I'm good with moving ahead with it. We're allocating a million dollars though. These ski parks are probably two or three times that. Well, it depends on the size, right?

Yeah. Depends on what we do. I just I think it's a good idea because we're regenerating the use of that park with the lighting improvements and now soccer being played where the Macintosh pharmacy was the second location that whole area facing Miles Avenue the activity is gone. So if you add that component to it and then whatever happens to that former building on the north you know that could be part of it but I think that energy of doing the skateboard's a good idea. huge. Yeah. If staff could maybe bring back um their opinion because also I know we're going to do the rehabilitation of that um the parking lot. Yeah.

Should that be incorporated into that project or separately or whatever whatever the building would come down the skate park wouldn't occupy all that area. So some of the parking would be redone kind of as is mentioned. But if you'd like to say, "Hey staff, get us a skate park for a million dollars on that site." That's the direction it can be done or somewhere in that area or something. Yeah, I think somewhere up and down. It's get us a skate park, but realistic. What is What is a million dollar? What's realistic? What do you need if you get a million? Bring that back. Yeah, I'm good with that.

Million dollars is probably an above ground multiple different which is very popular now. Uh multiple units and and activities. It probably is not the big concrete bowl. That's when you get into the four, five, 6 million depending on size. But to the point, there's plenty of space there for parking and the amenity. You're talking if we're not if we're knocking down the building, we already have to dig it out. It's got a basement. We're going to have to dig it all out. So to take out the the debris that's there now, if we're going to do it, I think we should do some factf finding. Yeah, I think so, too.

Yeah. But we should also when we're doing the same thing once we finish the the new sports park. We've got to go to Davis Field and we got to go to Miles. We need more parking there in the front long we have that. I mean we've got to really do a master plan I think back of where we're going to invest the next once that park opens up because no matter what happens we need to be able to rehab some of the other ones so as we're moving them around we move from one park to the next so we can seat it move on and move on without doing damage. Part of our strategic plan was to do a ma park master plan to give us those ideas because there's also an interest on poly pool. It's worn out.

Mr. Aosta from DRD and Councilman Glenn Miller came up with the idea of putting at the regional park. There's so much activity going there. We can probably look in a partnership. But the more of a master plan we have, the better chance we have of getting grants. I mean that pool and those activities and those kids, they have a one-stop shop. They gota they got to go find that. I I was going to say, yeah, we that that's Let's work on the skate park. I That's what I'm saying. We need the master plan. We have to be open. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah. If I may, what I'm hearing from the council is looking at a some type of skate park at at Miles Avenue. What I could suggest is that we use our available resources, come up with some designs, maybe bring it to the community services commission, engage them, get some opinions, and then bring back that to the council. And if we need some additional resources, if it's say 1.1 million, then we can maybe allocate that at uh midyear so we can get the project moving forward million. I think that's an excellent idea. We have that body to give us input. Yep. Yeah, I'm good with that. We need to use them. Okay, very good. We'll take that direction. Thank you.

And some other projects, arts projects. Um we're looking at the arts center there doing a renovation that that is a very large building. It's 20,000 square ft. So, we're looking at possibly 2.4 million investment into rehabbing that and getting it up and running again. And then we have some grant funding to do that fiber optic last mile um project. And then also looking at some bridge and preventative and maintenance programs, safe streets and roads. And uh that uh 962,000 is the city's contribution towards the arts and music line that is um um being headed up by CAG.

Any questions on other projects? And uh here's a complete this a little hard to read on the slide, but this is our five-year uh capital improvement program. So, as mentioned, looking at $195 million investment. A lot of that is Monroe Bridge and um but then we also have a balance of another uh hundred and so million dollars moving forward. So, looking to the future, make sure we're planning allocating our resources as Miss Swallow mentioned. So, that is our capital improvement program in summary. And I'll hand it back over to Ruby to wrap it up.

And with that concludes our presentation on proposing our plan for the 2026 2027 um fiscal year. Um we are happy to entertain any questions, any modifications, adjustments beyond what we've heard um this afternoon. But what we are seeking in the end is uh city council's recommendation and direction to move forward, direct staff to move forward with developing the recommended budget for presentation for the first meeting in June.

Okay, team, we're good. I think the only thing I'd like to see that we're having on the grant program, I'd like to see consistent funding for Martha's Village and and the rescue mission. You know, we're moving back and forth. Are we got money in it this year to pay them provide the money? I thought we were I thought we had correct me if I'm wrong. Um but they requested due to the amount of paperwork and whatnot required that we either give all the CDB whatever funding we have to one and then and then all the funding then goes to the other um the alternate and the year after that. Is that correct or? Yes. And I think find I might be wrong, but CVM or find is up this year and then the next year it would be

whoever's next in line. So it gives a more a larger sum of money rather than the little tiny dribble. I agree with that. But I mean I thought because the other time when we did that, we took it out of the CBDG funding and we gave it all to one, but we gave other money to them out of the general fund to some of the other ones so they wouldn't have to do all that paperwork. That was the reason we put it all together was that that only one group would be doing paperwork for 58,000 but the other ones would still get funding but it would come out of the general fund and I think we have that kind of the right during co that was that we did do that I don't think we've done it since but during co we did yeah oh we should my opinion

you know I think there's immense value in that but I think there's so many other needs I think I would rather take a more global look uh at at what some of the other um you know needs there are in the community in addition to them to make sure that that we're spreading our wealth.

Well, may I add um we do have uh if I may uh with the cannabis operations that we do have within the city part of the their renewal process is that they provide they have a condition to provide a additional 1% community benefit payment to uh civic organizations, nonprofits of that nature. We are u recently going through the renewal process. So part of that process is where they either provide proof that they've made those contributions uh to these organizations or they remit those funds to the city so the city then can disperse those out to select organizations. So we do have uh resources for the city to review and evaluate as far as how they want to program that that type of funding. yet it's it's undefined, nothing that we can at this point project out because it's case by case, yearbyear, operator by operator on how they remit that additional 1% uh commitment.

Would it be nice to have the list though? We have Yeah, we have over $120 million budget. If we can't find $100,000 $150,000 for three organizations that do a lot of good for our community, fine food bank, ABC or in um Kelli Rescue Mission and Martha's Village out of our general fund when there's other places like Lintita and other ones giving them 125 150,000 but we actually use them to continue to keep people off the streets and fine food bank continues to give food to a lot of our churches and a lot of other people out to our individuals. I think we need to invest more back into it. But that's my personal opinion

and I don't disagree with those three. I I am I'm really involved. I guess I just wanted to look I mean there's there's volunteers in medicine and and talk about keeping people off the streets and trying to keep people healthy. So I guess I would like to take a more global view and take a look at where we can um apply some additional dollars because I think I think some of the work that some of these other organizations volunteers in medicine came to mind I think is very strategic and important as well. at the same token, we take the brunt of it because they're in our city. So, we're paying we're paying other dollars, you know, to help support that as well. And that's why sometimes some of the other cities put in a little bit more because some of their folks are coming to our city as well. But, um um to just put something in your your uh toolbox, uh um Ruby is the Scarnner building. Um I think, you know, we need to start looking at that as a council. So, I think we need to pull a plug on that. Um, it needs some repair. I know we're going to have to either invest in it or demolish it, but um, as we continue this revitalization of downtown, um, that is a central location where somebody could go there and I think the next couple years we we need to make a decision on that that property.

Noted.

So, maybe a you know report on that some options or what the dollars look like. Yeah, I think in fact both those uh comments knowing that the Monroe uh bridge is going to bid here later this this fall and end of the year, you'll know what that cost is. If it comes in a little bit lower at mid year, you might have a handful of projects you might consider. If it comes in significantly higher, then at mid year you're going to have to regroup on some of these things. So that might be the big one as the high priority to see where it's at and then defer some of these these decisions. you know, we hope that there's a cushion there and you'll have a little bit of room. Uh but but you'll know by end of the year and February.

Okay. I I I do agree with with both uh Council Member Miller and Council Member Ferman. you know, we do take on a lot of extra costs by providing those services here locally, but I also agree they're doing amazing work and some consistency would be good for maybe three or four of those organizations, but we need to find out where we're going to pull that money from, right? And so, do we want to ask for a recommendation from staff for a certain amount of funding to be brought back for us to have some consistent funding for some of those nonprofits? And how much are we looking for them to reallocate in this budget for those purposes? No, but how much are we recommending for them to bring back to us as

getting back to Waven Ferman's point, we're the second city of the county, we are the lead in public and private services to the need. So, this will never go away,

right? and com hearing two business owners yesterday complaining about the challenges with homeless once I was done talking to them they didn't realize the impact but the perception is we just want to be also be able to get our staff to help relocate some of these families back to their homes and other cities are facilitating that by a bus ticket um if they need to get back to home then we need to help them not because we want to get rid of them but moms dads sisters brothers they don't have the way so they're in circles because there's no services and other cities are making that investment. I'm saying it's not the answer but every bit little bit will help. So this will never go away for Indo because we are we are it we provide the services more than any other city in the valley. So,

and we and now we have the expansion, which will be in my report later, of uh ABC Recovery Center, who performs a tremendous service in our community. And now they're adding um 44,000 square feet, which I I think is just phenomenal. I took a tour, but again, that's another very uh extraordinary organization in our community. But an influx of of more more people that come into our community that that, you know, we need to care for. Yeah. All right. um given the time. Go ahead. Did you

Yeah, I I'm cognizant of the time, but looks like it's going to be a long day. Um the other thing I I had is um we talked about briefly is a community benefit fund and specifically around our festivals. um some of the residents over there, you know, they deal with traffic, they deal with noise, they deal with a lot of people in the area and um you know, sometimes we do get some extra funding from the festivals via fines or whatever the situation is or permits or I know we're we're going to talk about in the future different permits, but um there's different fees and dollars that we get and I think it it would be u probably a good idea to have a community benefit fund to where we could do something for some of those people in this surrounding areas whether it's you know dinner uh uh you know gift certificates um gift cards or um tickets to Disneyland I don't know some people might want to get away for the for the festival season you know you know if we if we have we have

you know one year if we get extra 100,000 from wherever and we put in this community benefit fund whether it's a lottery whether we just allocate it somewhere I think that's a good idea so we have that just to show the community that we understand and we're willing to we want to work with them. A lot of things discussed from skate park to the community benefit to the Scara building to additional funds for some of our major uh contributors. I think we still need to give them a number for what to bring back for I say 200 profits or three

four or five well with ABC recovery volunteers of medicine. I didn't hear you I would say if we're talking about it be ABC Martha's village fine food bank and the rescue mission no volunteers or medicine I I I think well we can do volunteers medicine we can do five Five 40,000 each. Yep. I'm good with that. Okay. Okay. And and if you know depending on what staff brings back, if we want to bring that up or down down or whatever, we can we can talk about it. Yeah. We can look at it. Okay. And I agree on the community benefits fund with with the fines that are coming from the concert. I would just like to see maybe go to something more like park infrastructure or small park improvements or something like that in that area potentially.

I don't know what you think about that. Are the fines from the STRs? Currently that money flows into our community grant program, but it doesn't mean it can't be expanded. Right. Gotcha. Okay. I was going to say, you know, we're starting to see a little more compliance. We're seeing some, you know, fewer, but at least compliance went back to the community that has listened to it. So, that's that's that's exactly right. All right.

Mayor, maybe to recap. So, uh, if there's consensus, what we can do is possibly look at the Scarnner building project at midyear, depending on how, as suggested by, um, city manager Montgomery, um, depending on how Monroe um, bridge project bids. And then for the community benefit fund, um, towards some of these nonprofits and provide wonderful services in our community, we uh, can look at what funding we might have available and bring that back when we bring the budget back in June. Sounds good. I'm glad. We're all good. Thank you. Is there a motion that we need to make on the budget?

All right, we're good. Thank you. Thank you, staff. A lot of hard work always goes in. Enormous amount of hard work goes into this. Thank you um very very much. And thank you for all the different places it goes and making our city beautiful the place to be. The other day I drove down on movie night. It was just great to see. I don't know, there were probably 10 or 15 people in line waiting to get in to see the movie like an hour early. And I just think those kinds of things are wonderful because because they really represent our community, parents, kids out for a night at the city. I think it doesn't get any better than that. So, thank you very much. And we'll now adjourn into close session. Let's see. It is 4:26. I'd like to call to order the the close session. And may I have roll call, please?

Yes, Mayor. For the record, all council members are present. And public comment. This is a time set aside for public comment for items not on the agenda. Do we have any public comments or request to speak? Okay, we have no request to speak. I'd like to adjourn to close session to consider 3.1 conference with labor negotiators government code section 54957.6 agency designated representatives mayor and mayor prom unrepresented unrepresented employee city manager. Now adjourn to close session.