City Council - Regular Meeting

of policy and research and uh she'll be sharing part of this presentation as well. Tonight we briefly want to cover sorry actually am going back. There we go. We're going to cover three things who lift to Rise is and the role we play in supporting affordable housing projects across the Coachella Valley. Second to recognize and uplift the city of India's leadership and progress on affordable housing. And third to share why our upcoming regional action planning process is an important opportunity for India to continue shaping solutions and unlocking resources for our region. So who's live to rise? We are a nonprofit organization. We're based in Palm Desert. We serve the whole Coachella Valley and we're the regional backbone organization that works alongside more than 70 partners including cities, developers, nonprofits, service providers, and residents to advance a shared regional goal of expanding affordable housing across the Coachella Valley. In 2018, we set an ambitious goal together with our partners to get 10,000 units of affordable housing built over 10 years. And we're well on our way to meeting that goal. Currently in 2025, we're tracking over 9700 units across the Coachella Valley. So, what does Lift Rise actually do? We track affordable housing development in progress and work with our partners to overcome barriers to development that are keeping projects stalled. And overcoming barriers to development can take many forms. So, we offer financing support through our WEIFift Catalyst Fund, which gives low interest loans to projects with gaps. We provide technical assistance to affordable housing developers and cities to come up with creative solutions to project barriers and help projects access program funding. We mobilize community residents to support affordable projects at the planning commission and city council meetings. We translate our region's challenges into policy proposals that we push in Sacramento and Washington DC so our region gets its fair share of resources for affordable housing. And we read we raise our region's profile with state and national leaders through strategic communications and media coverage like a recent front page article in the LA

Times that uh talked about the Coachella Valley's progress on affordable housing. Next, and most importantly, we want to recognize the city of India's leadership in advancing thousands of affordable housing units now underway, demonstrating real commitment to meeting community needs. India is also the only city in the Quatula Valley to earn pro-ousing designation from the state of California which speaks volumes about your policies, your processes and your willingness to say yes to housing. That designation indicates that India is a regional leader in its commitment to affordable housing solutions and a city that other jurisdictions can learn from. Lift to rise is proud to have been involved in several projects in India through a we live to we lived housing catalyst fund. Through that initiative and developed by Kchellf Valley housing coalition both the JFM senior and JFM family projects were financed. These are exactly the kinds of projects that stabilize families, support seniors and make communities stronger. and they would have not have moved forward as quickly or affordably without strong collaboration between city the developer and flexible local capital from our fund. We also want to recognize council members Ortiz and Miller or as well as senior management analyst David Razo for their ongoing engagement with live to rise and the housing collaborative action network. Your participation matters and it has helped move real projects forward. In addition to working closely with the city leadership and staff, we're also engaging directly with India residents through our community by cities program. The India's community by cities program brings together local residents to share lived experiences, surface community priorities and advocate for solutions that reflect what families in India actually need. That resident input is a critical part of how we approach housing solutions and it

informs the work we do with cities and developers alike. So tonight we also wanted to highlight a couple of projects that are in the works here in the city of uh India that uh are very timely opportunities for the city to get involved and really push these projects over the finish line and the city's participation in these projects is actually kind of make or break because of the funding programs that the projects are going after um require city participation on the application. So the first is uh the Sonora Homes project which is develop being developed by Abode communities. It's at the corner of Fred Wearing and Hoover next to the county facility. Um they're going after a program called the affordable housing and sustainable communities program. It's a state level program that intends to help cities with trans transportation infrastructure improvements as well as affordable housing. And it's one of the few programs at the state level right now that actually has funding. And if this project doesn't get an ASIC award uh from this program, it's going to be very difficult for them to secure tax credits and actually make this project come to fruition, the program does require significant participation from the city, but it will fund the infrastructure improvements that are needed to make this project move forward. Um and then the other pro project is the Liberty Star Fields project. It's on uh California on Highway 111 right before Carryon, Dr. Carryon Boulevard. They're going after a different state program called Homekeep Plus. It also requires participation from the city. I know you guys you uh you folks are probably aware of both of these projects, but what we kind of wanted to reiterate is that um in order for these projects to actually come to fruition, they're going to need to access the state funding. These are two programs where the funding is actually there as opposed to a lot of other state programs which are tapped out. So, without actually um working together with the city, Sunline, and other uh entities like us, these projects aren't going to be able to cross the finish line, and we're going to be leaving funding on the table. All right.

On the topic of collaboration and participation, I'd like to share a bit about of our upcoming regional action planning process. Every two years, we meet with our coalition partners for a strategic planning effort to ensure we stay on track toward our 10-year goal of 10,000 affordable homes. The process starts with collecting and analyzing data on housing and socioeconomic issues, engaging with cities to understand the development challenges, and listening to residents through a series of targeted community listening sessions. Then on January 28th and 29th, Lift to Rise will convene partners from across the valley to develop our 2026 to 2028 action plan. This process is about taking stock of what we've accomplished, identifying remaining barriers to housing production, and developing practical and actionable solutions that help cities and developers move projects forward. Given India's leadership and experience, your participation and input are especially important. The lessons India has learned, the challenges you're navigating, and the strategies that have worked here can help shape solutions across the region. We're grateful for the partnership with build with the city of India and look forward to continuing to work together to advance affordable housing that meets the needs of India residents and make the Coachella Valley stronger. Thank you again for your time and we wish you a happy holiday season.

Thank you very much for your presentation. An excellent presentation council. Any thoughts or comments? If I could, first off, thank you for presenting this to us on the two properties you're talking about and you're talking participation from the city. Are you talking financial participation? Are you talking out as backing you up? What is it that you're asking? So, it's more about uh it's a co-lication, okay,

between the developer and the city for both of these projects. and especially on the one the abode communities project um next to the county facility there will be some infrastructure upgrades required to make the project eligible so things like bike lanes and some transportation infrastructure and obviously that requires uh funding upfront to pay for but the project will pay it back or the funding from the state program will pay it back once the project breaks ground so that's kind of help

transportation helping with infrastructure so I don't see that would be a problem if they bring that to fruition at least it my my opinion. And then secondly, I on I know of your company or your organization. Um what is it that you guys are doing in terms of house purchasing? Do you have anything that's going in that way or is it all affordable apartments and that because you're not going to get nobody's going to gather any institutional or financial wealth unless they own their properties.

Yeah, it's a great question. So, we actually have our catalyst fund has supported the construction of some home ownership units in Palm Springs. We're looking at um some projects uh through CVHC in Coachella as well. And then we also host home ownership workshops at our office where we help residents connect to the county down payment assistance program and other home ownership resources and help them navigate that process. We bring in some mortgage lenders that help work with uh community members to navigate that process. So we're we're uh approaching it from both the production of new housing but also uh helping folks navigate that that process. Yeah. unless you you own your home to start building that wealth and and putting dollars in and everybody needs a roof over that. So, I completely agree with that.

But until they're putting money in their pocket, if it's 200 or $500 back into their pocket where they can then take that home and sell it and use that money for a down payment on a bigger home to be able to move through, but the for the homes need to be affordable. So, they need to be town houses, condominiums, things that they can actually afford to be able to do. So if you could look towards that, the city would be look very favorable on seeing how we could help you to be able to do that. So definitely we're looking at partnerships where people actually buy their home and start building wealth. So yeah, we we support that as well. equity. Council member Trump,

I'm well familiar with you and I've had the opportunity to work with some of you in the past, especially Joe Moda, probably the last 25 years um in my prior livelihood is that the only thing I see and I continuously stress it because it's made a big difference in the last 20 years. investing in these projects are beautiful, but they can't they can be better with the wraparound programs on site, whether it be serving our seniors, uh the active uh adults that, you know, they work all day and they're trying to catch up with their families or their families that are there their children after school. Yeah, they're working on their homework, but sometimes they're challenged or there's constructive activities and it to be local, not an agency from another county, not an agency. The only people that know their people best is our local services here. And I look for those because it's nice to build these beautiful homes or apartment opportunities, but we need to invest in them so they go on to bigger and better things as the family grows.

I couldn't agree more. And we do have partners in our coalition that are lo local homegrown service providers that provide some of those services. Um, one example is Jewish Family Services of the Desert that really actively serves seniors, especially in the uh, Palm Springs area, but across the valley. Um, but we have a number of partners that are serving those exact needs that are here. And we also prioritize

fine. There's developers that come in and they bring their what they're what they know from their areas. But our city is served by two school districts and two private schools. And then we have a large population of seniors. um from an active career to being hard frontline labor and so they need those opportunities. Thank you. Thank you.

I first want to say just thank you for all the hard work that you guys are putting in to make sure there's, you know, affordable housing progressing throughout the Coachella Valley and also for being a great resource for all of us elected officials. you know, anytime I'm thinking through affordable housing issues, uh, definitely call you guys and you guys are always, uh, helpful with guidance and advice on that area. So, I really appreciate that. Uh, looking at those two projects and the catalyst fund as well, I think maybe we should have a a deeper conversation there, I think, including Mr. Wr's comments on, you know, the wraparound services that are needed and possibly getting into some agreement with that and then helping out uh, on those applications moving forward. I think that'd be a good move for us on our end to asssure that those facilities are going to have the wraparound services and then helpful on your end to make sure that those uh projects get built in a timely manner and we get those funds from the state down here. So u just want to say I really appreciate the work and you know keep up uh the great uh motivation going out there and yeah really appreciate it. Thanks.

Great. Thank you so much and we welcome any opportunity to to meet with you on on any of those discussions. So please let us know.

Thank you. how you doing? Uh first of all, just thank you for the hard work that you all do. I know there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that folks don't see. Um so we appreciate that. Um I just want to bring a couple of things to your attention and respect to the city of India. You know, every city in the valley um is the best version that they are and I think Indo is way on its way to being the best version. And I think this area is a prime location for some housing, whether it's affordable, whether it's student housing, whether it's senior living. And I I I would just implore you to work with our staff and um to see if there's city properties that that you can collaborate with with the developer and the city um to build on city properties. I I think that cuts out a lot of red tape. Um we we've been able with our our our staff to uh work on some things downtown in with city properties. Now, I don't know if there's availability right now, but I think that's a avenue to uh look at. Um the other thing too is also in the city, one of the things we've always talked about in recent years is that missing middle housing, right? those duplexes and triplexes, maybe senior living, um some some innovative housing that we don't have that you might have uh uh knowledge of, or if we talk to uh council member Ortiz, um straw houses, 3D houses, let's look at something innovative that we could bring to India and downtown as and also serve as a model for the rest of the world because I think we have the opportunity to do that here. So, uh once again, thank you for your work and looking forward to working with you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Yeah, and I'll echo all of that. Um, having a place to call home, you know, that's really a catalyst catalyst really to to to success to being able to move forward. Um, we here in the city of India, we want to make sure our residents have homes, places they can call home, and and places they can move on to. That sense of building equity is very, very important to us. And having a a safe place to call home is also very, very important to us. And I just wanted to thank you for um your presentation. It was excellent. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Happy holidays. We really appreciate the time. Thank you.

Okay. Next on the agenda was something fun. It's as well is a presentation um recognition of Gene Lewis in invitational boxing tournament winners. I'd like all of us to meet down there, but I'd like you, Council Member Ortiz, to since this is something you brought forth, to introduce it. How's that? Okay, sounds great. Thanks. Wait, are we go going down there? Here. Well, introduce it first and then we'll go down there.

Yes. So, we have um some boxers out of the uh Diaz Training Center. They went to the Gene Lewis Invitational Boxing Tournament out in Arizona, which is a really well-known tournament. uh boxers worldwide attend that uh tournament and we have I believe nine uh champions that came down and we would like to recognize them for their efforts. There's a great work being done at that training center. You know, you go there in the afternoon and it's full of kids in there, full of kids uh getting a good workout in and learning a lot of discipline and hard work. So, we want to recognize them for all their efforts. So, thank you for joining us. If you'd like to step up to the front, we'll join you up there. The certificates

I'll put on the bottom. Okay.

Okay. Sure. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And and if all the second and third place tournament participants want to come up as well, we'll recognize you out here too.

Guys, take like one one big step forward and we can get right behind you. There we go. Um I'll hold you'll read them. We can you and I can alternate. How's that? All right. There you This is a team effort. Those belts are beautiful. Congratulations. Um, thank you so so much. You have worked so so hard in a in a trophy. Those are Yes. Absolutely beautiful. I want to get out of the way because there are lots of pictures that have to be taken here. These are just gorgeous. Thank you. Okay. So, I'd like to give the first certificate to Roman an I'm going to have to Anzel Dua. Anela Anzel Dua. I'm sorry. We got to go to them so we don't keep moving around. Yeah, it's Roman.

Roman. There you go. Thank you. That's a awesome. What is What does your belt look like? Jean Lewis Invitational fifth. Oh, that's fantastic. Congratulations. Right. Go ahead. Next one we have Renee Analdua. Okay, there you go. And what was your nickname again? Toito. Toito. Toito. Oh, I love it. Fantastic. That's so wonderful. And the next one is Dwarte Jr. There you go. Congratulations. Fantastic. All right. And next one we have Amari Martinez. Did I say that right? Champions for sure. Carmelo Orta, Julian Alvarez.

Congratulations. Jesus Ortiz. Estean Ayala. Not here. Okay. You want to hold that one? Canada. Oh, he lives in Canada. Oh, wow. Lives in Canada. Oh, it turns down here. Awesome. I love it. Fantastic. Gustavota there, huh? Yuriel Mendoza. I think it says Sale Deanda. Yeah, Seline.

Great trophy. David Vasquez. David Vasquez. David Vasquez. Oh, sorry. David Chavez. Okay. We We'll get We'll get that fixed for you. We'll get that. So, I apologize, but you do have a certificate and we'll get that fixed for you. Carlos Vasquez. Angel Seraniano, Antonio Diaz, actually for the coach. Oh, fantastic.

We gave the coach a certificate as well for his efforts. There you go. Because your leadership just never heard of this guy either. Hel Diaz as well. Coach Diaz. Give a round of applause. All of you. Thank you. Thank you for all of your hard work and hours and thank you for your leadership. Yes, definitely. Yes. We'll take care of it. Absolutely. Please go right in. Go for it.

Well, first of all, I want to thank you guys, City of India for the support. Uh we really appreciate the acknowledgement for our kids. We really uh we really want to keep these kids off the street. First of all, we want to keep them off the streets. We want to keep them doing something positive. Uh we don't only teach them, you know, the boxing sport. We teach them discipline. We teach them hard work. And uh you know, in in our gym every day, we're always full. We have a lot of activity, a lot of kids coming in. And this is motivation to all these new kids are coming in because these kids have been putting time uh for some time already years, two years, three years since we opened the the gym. So uh we have a lot more kids that are looking forward to coming to this tournament. And there's more tournaments all year round. And every time we go and participate in a tournament, we've always been a strong team in the nation. The India team has always been one of the strongest teams. And Antonio has put in a lot of time since we were at the Boys and Girls Club. I mean, we worked with kids for over 18 years. We worked at the Boys and Girls Club for almost 20 years. So, after COVID, you know, we came and I opened the gym here in India Boulevard. And uh honestly I need to expand because I mean we have a big waiting list. My wife is the one who manages the list and we have a waiting list since probably the beginning of the year. So you know we're looking forward to having more champions next year and thank you guys so much uh the city of India for always supporting us.

You're good. Oh fantastic. Again thank you so much and congratulation to everyone. This is your leadership here in the city is is fantastic. Hang on a second. We have so many of you. We're going to need to get a little

Indo. Indo. Congratulations. Congratulations. got. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Congratulations.

See you around. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. You got your hands full. Congratulations. See you around. Congratulations. Congratulations. I didn't bring my glasses though. What's next here? Take a moment pages here. Okay. Uh, youth advisory council.

Good evening, Mayor Holmes and city council members. My name is Juliana Barca Hernandez and I am a member of the youth advisory council. Since our last meeting beyond these events, our members had the opportunity to attend a Rotary Club of India meeting to learn more about them. In return, members gave a presentation regarding the Youth Advisory Council's work and responsibilities. Lastly, we'd also like to donate We'd also like to thank all those who donated to our blanket drive. We really appreciate you. And this concludes my report. Thank you.

Thank you very very much. You guys are busy since the last meeting last couple of weeks. Thank you so much. Uh, next item, city manager reports and information. Thank you, mayor. really just uh happy holidays to everyone and and on behalf of the city team uh a great 2025 and we look forward to a fabulous 2026. Thank you. Thank you. And next item, item number eight, city council conflict of interest disclosures. Anyone have any conflicts on this agenda? Okay, great. Uh item number nine, city council report on meetings attended for government code section 53232.3D.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh I only had one very busy two weeks for the city of India overall but a lot of things going on. I only had one uh committee that was active. Uh council member Ortiz and I sit on the waste transfer station with the city of Coachella and Bertr and we were discussing our expansion as the city is growing and along with the rest of the county in that area and the city of Coachella. We need to expand our waste transfer station. That's where we take all our waste and we divide it up and take it into recycling or wherever it needs to go. And so we were looking at a parcel to expand it and looking at the price. So that will be coming forward later and so uh we'll be able to uh extend our our use of that area. So right next door to it. So we'll be discussing that. Uh had a couple of ribbon cutings. The Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting over at the COOD campus. They have moved over there to the second floor. opened up an open house showing what they have going on and how their new digs are going to be able to work with the College of the Desert and and working with them for opportunities not only for businesses but also for students. And then also uh the mayor and I uh were at the uh JFK hospital. They have the new MRI um imaging machine along with the building that it does it state-of-the-art more than what they had. It actually can see where you've had a stroke. if you're going to have a stroke, it it is state-of-the-art. So, it's another addition to uh JFK hospital and they are going to continue to spend as the the the process gets finished up with their purchase tenant of their purchase of Desert Regional Medical 80 million more will be going into JFK hospital, update it and upgrade the emergency area and also some of the rooms. So, it's great to see that they're already investing the MRI machine in the building that was adjacent to it and then refurbished uh cost them a little over $8 million to do. So, quite an investment. So, thank them for that. Uh we had a couple of of

events. The Veterans of Foreign War, the auxiliary 3699 hosted the Marines like they do every year. This year they were at the Masonic Lodge in Coachella. over a hundred active duty military Marines, most of them 21 years and under that didn't have family were able to come down and have a hot meal with the veterans and our VFW. They were also given a gift and were able to uh have some raffle prizes. So, a great day for them to thank them for their service to our country, especially during this time when they're away from family and home. And and I tell you, the the average age of them probably was 19 years old that was there. So my heart goes out to them and the service that they're doing for our country. Uh but the VFW has been a great and American Legion Hall have been great partners with us to help not only our veterans but our community as a whole. So we thank them not only for their service but also for their community work. And then the want to thank the staff for both the Tamalei festival that was excellent. Thousands of people came down and Pickering uh entertainment for their work. And then our Christmas concert, the first one, Radio Ready is amazing. They did a great job. Jessica and the whole team uh did a great work there. It we continue to build on our downtown, but it comes with a lot of hard work and dedication. It looks like it's easy, but it's all stuff behind the scenes, setting things up, getting the advertisement out, setting up the groups, making sure everything's ready, security, closing streets. It comes with a lot. It seems like it's simple, but it's not. So, uh, we built that downtown center stage to be a focal point of our downtown and we're using it, but it came with our staff doing a lot of hard work during the other time. So, my my thanks to them. Uh, on a more somber note, I was able to go to the celebration of life for Mark Carnival. Uh, good man, gone too early. I'd like to adjourn the meeting if we could in his honor. Um, it was a beautiful service by a lot of friends and a lot of people there. took up three theaters at

the uh Mary Pickering theaters. Uh being able to honor him and thank him uh and celebrate his life and all he's done for our community. Longtime council member, owner of restaurant Nicolenos and community uh person that contain continued to give back to the very end. And then lastly, I'd like to talk to the council one. I'd like to look into doing an ordinance. Years back when we had to downturn the economy and a lot of the reforclosures of houses were getting repoed, the banks took them back over and then they let them go to to heck. They didn't do the yards, they shut off the power, they did everything and they it just ruined the property values for everything else. And as you're starting to notice as we're expanding, this as big as we're getting expanding, we have some empty buildings. Some of them are the drugstores. Uh, a couple of them are downtown the auto parts and a lot of these are getting damaged. I'd like to see an ordinance put in place where we have make sure that they have a business license so we know who to contact in case something's wrong. Not I'm not talking a full one but something there so we have contact. Make sure they have the lights on, they take care of the landscape and that they have an alarm so that if something goes wrong because a lot of these buildings are viable but they getting in there and they're stripping these things out and we need to make sure that they don't become blighted areas in our city. And we have a couple of them. We all know where they are and I think we need to hold the owners responsible just like we do the vacant lots. Just because it's a building doesn't mean it should be any different. So I'd like to see if we could get an ordinance drawn up making sure we take care of these buildings so they don't become a blight to our community and at the same time when they're ready to be sold or utilized they're not in pieces so that we're knocking things down. So I'd like to some support on that.

It's any any thoughts? Yeah, I couldn't agree more. and that concept of lighting and an alarm, people tend to move out and and and that's it and then you see the challenges that result. Um, council, your thoughts? I think that's a no-brainer. Yeah. And and you're talking about just code enforcement violations if they're not keeping up with that or what enforcement type are you looking at? I think you're you're asking sort of something more proactively.

I was talking proactive and I'll just keep on. I'm talking making sure that's the basics. So if the alarm so we know who to go to just like we do with the vacant lots and if public safety if we have to do it but if they're not doing it we we write them up and we ordinance and we lean them if we have to take care of it. It should not be on the burden of the residents of the city of India. It should be on the burden of the property owners and because they're out of area owners or it's a a property they don't want like one of the drugstores they need to find a use for it. If not then they need to maintain it like it's there. It needs to look like it is active even if it isn't. And that's just something that any of the other cities would do and and the city of India is going to be no different and we need to set our standards a little bit higher. So I think we need to be a little bit stronger on this.

But the the enforcement tool would be uh code enforcement.

Code enforcement. And then from there we go to the prosecutor and we we do what we have to do just like we would any other property owner to make sure that they do not become a burden on not only the residents of Indial but as we're trying to get better and bigger, we need to make sure that we're setting our standards higher. If I may, it's not just the code enforcement aspect, but it becomes a team effort. Building and safety, business licensing, and then registering it. So, when we had the mass for closures, it was a challenge. And I got to give credit to Jason Anderson, then his supervisor, Lieutenant Forest Meadows, they came back with a program that was recognized nationwide, that was recognized nationwide, and it was effective. So it requires the bank or who'sever responsible to register it. They have to maintain it under the conditions that are listed in the municipal code already. But that's part of it. And that way we don't have to worry about the smashed windows. We don't have to worry about it's it's pitch dark and that we have trespassing and lawyering issues. And unfortunately it's becomes a negative magnet when they're not maintaining it. And yeah, we have things in the code system or which is our city municipal code, but if they have to register them 30 days after it's vacant because you have to realize if there's a business moving. So we have a little big box store, whatever is going on, they're going to have to there's going to have to be a checks and balances on it. And that way everybody has access. In other words, it it might be code, it might not be code, but depends on the circumstance, but that's part of the registration process. Code would oversee it. We have a model right now. We still have forclosures, but not the amount we used to. They get a few, but the process is still there. But it holds somebody directly accountable. And that's the problem that we're challenged because unfortunately um we've seen some some drugstores that have closed up and the owners turned off the lights, let the landscaping go. There's lording, it's dark, and it's a negative attraction. And if we're going to

maintain the quiet life and put so much investment into our downtown and all these areas in our city, then look, if you can't maintain it, then you shouldn't have it. You need to meet the standards like we have this beautiful facility here. This is the standard and I think it needs to get done. Well, absolutely. Sounds like we have a consensus staff. Is can this be put together or does this work with some of our existing ordinance and code enforcements, etc.? Do you What is the best way to approach this? Uh, so, so this type of ordinance is something that many other jurisdictions have implemented. We've got excellent templates from other jurisdictions I serve. We can get it turned around to the council pretty quickly. Perfect. Outstanding. Thank you.

Definitely. And no boarded windows. I mean, I I I know things happen, but having a boarded up window that that stays boarded up for any length of time is is a is a huge challenge. I can show you what it would look like if it's maintained. You wouldn't even know it's closed. It's Exactly. Exactly. Absolutely. Thank you, madam. Thank you. Uh, next item number nine, city council report on meetings attended. Uh, we've already started gone down that path. Um, council member Gutron.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. So, Thursday, December 4th, um, we Coachella Valley Housing Coalition had their annual Christmas party for the Farm Labor Center, Desert Gardens, and uh, via Edamosa Apartments. It's an annual event that they have. It's been something that I've been involved in in in my prior livelihood. It's been a tremendous impact of bringing the families and pretty much what was described just earlier by the lift to rise. But it's really neat that it's a whole different environment from what we had 25 years ago. It there's a lot of pride. There's a lot of opportunities. Uh the school district of Desert Sands has done a wonderful job on Van Beern Elementary and they're in the process right now of planning a brand new um uh daycare on inside the farm labor center which is part of the expansion on phase I think it's four with the housing coalition. So it is something that was a challenge but it didn't happen overnight. So it's really nice to see that the traditions going and things are moving. Um, the next one was the tree lining was outstanding. I had the privilege of being with our mayor, members of council, and it was really nice to see other than the fact a couple of comments. The tree needs to be bigger.

Yes,

the tree looks small now with a big I was Oscar and I were talking about it. He goes, "It does look smaller now." I go, "Yeah, like people when they stand up to you, Oscar, everybody looks small. That thing we need to figure out how to make it taller." But other than that, there was nothing but a really good reunion of families and appreciation for what we have. So, I'm very thankful to the staff and everyone that was involved and Miguel making sure that tree lit up when the light says, "Come on, Miguel. You did great." Um the uh December 5th and December 6th and 7th was act obviously the Tamalei Festival. It was nice to see it growing again. Uh my hats off to Pickering and my hats off to the staff working together. I was really worried because I I kept saying is it happening this year we didn't see the advertisement. The only comment was is to do more weeks before would really be nice. But it's a positive comment. It's not negative. And they look forward to having it back downtown. It's uh hard with uh strollers, people with limited with disability issues to be walking on uneven ground and everybody wants to come back to downtown. And I I think that obviously staff's done a wonderful and a handful of events by using the baseline at the corner of Smur and Miles. I think we can do it again. I think it could come back downtown and I think we will see it grow. The other one, the parade, um I know that a lot of us visit with the schools and everything, but India High School band director, Shadow Hills High band director, uh even Mirage and CV High School because those districts serve the city. They want to, they literally said this, we don't want to go to another Christmas parade or thing. We want to do it in India. They want to have rallies in India. So I said all they can do is ask. I know that it's been asked to come back. They want the parade back. The biggest advantage point as we all know elementary schools are heart of gold. when their little ones are playing, when the middle school are playing, when

they're done, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, whatever the relationships is, they converge into the tamalei festival and they start buying anything that that they can consume because it's good food. So, I think we need to come back home where it needs to be. That's my only comment on that. I had the opportunity today to um as a prior representative, now a board member of Coachella Valley Crimes Stoppers, has served the valley for 45 years. It started with the direction of the business community of Indial and Chief Sam Cross and for 45 years they made a difference in partnership later on with the city of Palm Springs but now it serves the whole valley. They have done over $190,000 in rewards in 45 years. They have helped to contribute to solving crime in the Coachella Valley anonymously by people coming forward to make a difference with almost a thousand tips. uh they're still strong and they're still there and they support every law enforcement agency in the Coachella Valley and so my hats off to the efforts to those because it's made a difference in our community. Uh with that, Mayor, I'm done with my report.

Thank you so much. All right, Council Member Ortiz.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh I recently attended the public works and India water authority lunchon where we we were able to catch up with some of our employees and enjoy a lunch together and thank them for their hard work for this year. So thank you all for your continued efforts for the city. We also uh also attended the state of the county hosted by supervisor Perez. I learned a lot about projects upcoming throughout county and some of them were Lake Kawa the improvements happening out there. The pool is open now and there's a lot of new facilities to enjoy. And then Carver Track getting some investments right here neighboring to our city. I also attended the waste transfer station uh JPA meeting with council member Miller and we met in close session to talk about property negotiations that we could potentially use uh for expansions. I also attended the IID meeting regarding data centers. uh so learned about what the conversations and concerns are currently for bringing in data centers to our power grid and I attended the Greater Coach Chilla Valley Chamber of Commerce open house at their new space at College of the Desert. So I want to thank them for their hard work in supporting our small businesses and for now working with our students as well to get them jobs with our local businesses. And lastly, I attended the tree lighting ceremony. I want to thank our staff and our youth advisory council for all their hard work they put in to provide a really fun night for our residents. That's all I have. Mayor, thank you.

Thank you. And a good time was had by all mayor prom. All right.

All right. Um thank you mayor. Uh during since our last meeting, I attended the visit greater Palm Springs meeting where we had presentations from friends of the desert in partnership with the Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy. Um, if you don't know who they are, their work focuses on conservation, expanding public access to outdoor recreation, uh, and preserving cultural and historical resource and advancing climate resilience throughout the Coachella Valley. Um, and this work is crucial to protecting our desert environment while also supporting tourism and quality of life across our region. And uh we also received a legislative update from former assembly assembly member Chad Maize who is a lobbyist for visit greater Palm Springs in Sacramento. Um he provided some insight on current state policy and legislative issues impacting local governments and regional priorities. It's way too many to list, but it was a good update and uh that's something that's uh tough to keep up with, but uh Chad Maze does a good job of of uh keeping us up to date with that. Uh we also had a uh tourism forecast shared by Visit Greater Palm Springs um that continues to show strength and stability in our uh regional tourism um driven by events uh outdoor recreation and destination marketing. Um and it supports jobs and local businesses and the tax revenue throughout the Coachella Valley including the city of India. So it was good to uh hear that uh forecast. I also attended the state of the county by uh supervisor Perez um and as he addressed uh county priorities and emphasized the importance of continued collaboration with cities on infrastructure services and long-term regional investments throughout the county. So great event hats off to the county for putting that on. It was at Aqua Arena and it was cold on the floor and so um but just a great event. Uh seeing a lot of folks from

throughout the western side of the county come to the Coachella Valley and uh you know being at Aquacer and seeing this uh presentation it really shows how Aquasher is a game changer for our valley and so um really good event. So hats off to them. Also, I just want to uh report that the board of supervisors met earlier this week and they approved funding related to the Maro Street I 10 interchange project. So, that's more good news for us. We're inching inching clo closer to turn us some dirt in that area. And so, I know it's always a constant of are they going to uh work on this interchange? So, we're getting closer uh to that uh interchange uh to start some construction. So um I always I also attended the Tamalei festival. Um hats off to Pickering Events and congratulations to our city. you know, um the shows, uh through all these years and this community event that was started, um is still here. And uh I I I want to make a a request, you know, from the council, um our our staff, and also Pickering and the community to remind us uh let's honor the originators of the Small Festival. Um I know we've talked about it on on our DAS before and um things happen. We have a lot on our plate so we might forget. Nonetheless, I think uh we could do something to honor uh the folks who actually started the Tamalei Festival because it is a worldrenowned festival that folks come from all over the world to come to downtown uh to participate in. And that takes me to another thing, the location. Um it's a good thing that it's at Miles Park right now. I know some folks are asking is it going to come back downtown and yeah I I you know maybe it is but it's a good thing it's at the mouse park you know why because there's been a lot of construction in downtown India so it

couldn't be here and uh this DAS in this chamber is a perfect example Oasis Street is a perfect example um miles in town and all these the center stage perfect example so as we move forward and uh get in where we want to be downtown. Um I I foresee that it could come back downtown, but I it's been a good thing, folks. So, please uh uh re uh be patient with us. So, it's been a good thing. Um and also I attended the India Water Authority Public Works uh lunchon along with some of our council members and it was just another great opportunity to get out of the office and spend time with our staff and personally thank the women and men who keep our city running every day. um especially during the holiday season and recognizing their hard work and having that face tof face conversation with them that's real important you know um they don't take days off you know um this holiday season right now but I guarantee you if something goes wrong on Christmas day or New Year's and we call our city staff they'll respond and so um this is just a great opportunity to hit that reset button and show them uh recogni uh recognition So that concludes my events, but I do have uh two requests. And so uh one request is I like to request that uh we bring uh our city manager bring the city's policy uh regarding flying flags and city uh markers, I mean markers on city properties. Uh my entrance to this is rooted in inclusivity and representation. Um at various times of the year, I believe it's important that we recognize people in the community that we live in and that contribute to our city. Um this includes the LGBT community, um the uh P uh flag, the Mexican flag, uh the Canadian flag. So I I think if we bring an item forward, we

could have a a broader discussion on how and what we want to recognize in our city. And I also have uh one more uh request. Um I had talked to the chief about this. Um since our last meeting, I ran into one of our former retired officers, Officer Jeff Merritt. And I tell you, it was uh it was Godscent, you know. Um, I I I just celebrated my mother's uh birthday who passed and I I went to one of our local uh grocery stores and uh Jeff went by me and he turned around and looked. I turned around and looked and we made eye contact and I said, "Jeff, and we had this long conversation about our community. We seen all these kids here. We talked about youth. We talked about the future and and and how we should move forward as a community." Um, Jeff has a story that I think he deserves to tell. Um, he is a decorated officer that was in our city and I'd like to ask the council, how can we come up with a way to recognize him and um, recognize him while he's here. I know we have policies and things that um you know when when people pass or things like that, but I I think we have opportunity to recognize someone who who has sacrificed a lot for our city. So um that would conclude my report and I'd just like to wish everyone a merry Christmas, a felis navidida, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanza and a happy new year.

Thank you. And before and and council member um I before I get to you, I'd like to get consensus on the two items that Mayor Pro Tim brought up. One of which is is the the flags in our community based on certain milestones and events and and looking at that and bringing that back. Um what are your thoughts on uh on on considering multiple flags throughout the year flown in addition to the United States, the California and the city flag? I think they need to come back with something that we can look at, but I don't want to focus away of our purpose for it.

I'm I'm more than happy to look at it, but I would prefer to keep what we have. Keep it simple so that you're not going back and forth between different individual flags. Just fly the flags we have. I mean, to be honest with you, my flag issue is that don't let me finish before it's just asking for a discussion. It's not it's not agenda. I was just can I may I give my opinion? May I? Absolutely.

Thank you. I was just going to say that I still feel that we need to have a flag that has our city seal. I'm sorry if you thought I was going to say something else. I'll apologize because is that I just think that we still need to display our city seal. I don't see it coming into the lobby. And that's our city seal. If it was something else, that's our city seal. I I think that it's a beautiful thing that we have our marketing thing, but if we're going to get in this discussion, we need to come a decision that every single one of her facilities should have that city seal and it should be displayed because that's important to me. But not to what the purpose was, but since we're going to talk about it, so excuse me if there anybody thought I had bad intentions.

No, no, no, no. That's that's perfectly why we need the discussion, not it needs to be agendaized. Okay. Council member Ortiz. Yeah, I'm usually okay with just the tradition of keeping just the US flag and California flag, but I'm open to the conversation. Yeah. And you want to before I weigh in, did you have another comment to make, council member?

Oh, yeah. I just want I Wait a minute. You you brought up the tamalei festival and you you said about putting it at a location. you were talking about a plaque or recognizing them somehow, but you you were going to say something like where you wanted to do it, but are you talking about because it was where the hotel is, where the center stage is, are you talking about like putting a plaque somewhere there on the wall where they could see it? I mean, it's got to be somewhere where it can be protected one, so it doesn't get stolen. And then secondly, it needs to be somewhere where people can see it, where it has an idea of being able to do it. So, if you're willing to recognize something like that, I don't think a certificate that they're going to put in, you know, the family, if you're going to do it, needs to be a plaque. So, I think you need to come up with where you're going to do it. And is it David Hernandez and others? Is it Mr. Hernandez by himself? And that's something we need to I think discuss.

That's a historical discussion that folks will have more information than I No, it's just you you were going to say something then you you act like you were going to you made it sound to me like you were going to say a location. I thought that's why I wanted it to be a council discussion and probably the community. That one I agree with you 100% on.

Okay. So on the first item with respect to the flags, uh I I I think we are all looking at at you trying to be very open-minded. We are an inclusive city. We care. We embrace everyone in our community, myself included. So, I think we're looking at ways to be able to show our support of that. I like to keep the three flags, the American flag, the state flag, and the city flag up. Um, and I'm would love to have a conversation around what other ways can we illustrate that we embrace every member of our community at any time. Um, and and how we can uh let the the community and beyond know that. So, so there's some consensus to bring that back in some form or fashion so that we all feel like we are getting the message out of inclusivity. Uh, the the

Jeff, I'm sorry. Jeff Merritt. Jeff Merritt. Uh, what do you guys think about the Jeff Merritt um having some sort of manner in which we honor officers?

Jeff and I worked together for 30 years and unfortunately he had an incident that took his life and I was there that day. Uh, we've been very fortunate. I won't even say it. We'll just say we've been very fortunate. And so honoring our our firefighters and our police, I think that we really need to look at a memorial that we can display. At the same time, we can commemorate and honor people that we feel meets that merit because Jeff is a great man. He grew up in North Indo. His father was a director of public works in Palm Springs. So, he's vested. He started his career here. Um, I I think it's important that we do recognize our public safety staff and I think we maybe come back to see what we could do to honor that.

I I think and let me get your your other thoughts on that. But I think I think we need to to look at ways to honor let's look at at a program um a consistent way of saying all right these are the people these are the criteria that that need to be met so that we can honor them in a consistent manner. How does I thought that's what we were going to use our memorial for for the the 911 piece and that when we were going to do it. Weren't we going to celebrate and honor our public safety and our veterans at the same time? Your microphone.

Oh, I'm sorry. It was on. But weren't we going to I thought we were That was what the 911 piece was going to be for. We were going to do a memorial for public safety with it. And on the other side was going to be the veterans part of it with the flags and and the uh the each branch of the service and we're going to put the names on it. I think that'd be a perfect place to put mechanism another monument there and put it next to the 911 piece with public safety and people that have been in that we and put them in there onto that display so that people see them forever. um people that have given and worked for our city in the public safety realm

and I think there's okay I think having said that there still needs to be a mechanism uh absolutely of of again of criteria what what is a program who who do who is honored to be on there did you have a

no I I just think that um sorry maybe it and these should be agendaized so we could talk about this maybe the chief could come back with something um he could talk to his his department of how they want to recognize Maybe it's an officer of the year. Maybe it's a retired officer. Maybe it's naming uh the award after a certain officer. So I think, you know, we could come back and have a broader discussion how we because uh uh officer Merida is still with us, right? And so I know there's certain criteria that we have when we honor people. So staff could go back and look at that and and give us our options maybe. All right. Everyone's okay with that? Yeah, I would say I would say please stand. Fantastic. We have a handful of ideas that we can bring back. Good. tested. I would like to go back to just the uh parade.

Can we have that discussion again? Because I think we've been having that discussion for I don't do I do I need to recuse myself from that? That's it's the parade, but it ends up being I I'll just jump in at the attorney. Oh, my mic's even on here. But um yeah, we're st it's not on the agenda. So, we should bring back to you in my opinion an item that discusses the tumaly festival location, parade, other details. then you'd be agendaized and you can talk about whatever you want. So it's perfect. It sounds so can we bring back something that we can look at and review our tumali festival and events. I I think that's the plan. That's that's what we need to do. Yeah.

Absolutely. Okay. And so now some of the things all of my commissions were dark um but gosh I was someplace at least a couple of times every day. Uh I attended the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce uh this month at Siros again another local business with Council Member Miller and Gutron. Um always great to to work. They're a great team of people. Um great presentation. So it was a great opportunity to also celebrate um a local restaurant SOS has been around well I've been here 20 years and SOS was around before then. So um a great legacy a great family legacy. I I attended the Aziz farmer farm uh ribbon cutting along with again council member Miller. People might think well that's not in Indo but let me tell you that farm is a is an educational farm and so many of the students um from all the schools in India and of course beyond go through they learn they learn about where their food comes from. It's a it's a it's completely educational people these kids they learn how how things are grown. They understand they learn the environment. to go on field trips. And I think it's just a wonderful opportunity for our kids. Um we have we've have a a farming community here. It's it's shrinking as as progress occurs, but that farming community and that history needs to um to stay and and just like with the Coachella Valley History Museum, we need to teach it to our kids. They need to understand that whole agricultural component of our community. And I um I I think what our Aziz form farms is doing with our kids is is outstanding. And so it was great to have that ribbon cutting uh tree lighting. So what's the best part about the tree lighting is all the families and kids. I mean we're up there on the stage and what you see is a sea of people with Santa hats. Oh by the way they say India on the front and having a good time and I think that's the most important thing. Um people are coming out by the droves. They're standing room only to to celebrate. And then when you when you

give out the little bikes to the kids they're absolutely elated. And that last little girl, the last little bike was absolutely precious. So, uh, the tree lighting was fantastic. Yes, I vote for a a taller tree, 25 ft, right? I think that's that's what we we need to the tree needs to be a beacon across the community. So, at any rate, yes, it was an excellent evening as was the weekend of the tamalei festival, the music, the performances, um, the tumali's of course, uh, it was a wonderful event in in a wonderful location. Uh and and again I just it staff is just infinitely creative. Um I attended the radio ready concert as well with my sister. I bring my family or my friends because it's so wonderful and and um it just gets better and better. So don't you think it's it's wonderful here staff finds new ways to engage the audience and engage the community and all these things are absolutely terrific. So hats off um to our staff. I can't wait till 2026 because I know you you guys don't I I know you're getting a couple of weeks that's just going to recharge those batteries and you're going to be more and more creative and come back with some amazing things. Um so thank you very very much. Also attended the JFK ribbon cutting. I don't know if anybody knows this but they're an accredited stroke center. I know that from a while back because my husband had a stroke and that's where we went. And now with this MRI this new state-of-the-art they Yes. They already had an MRI. They already have a CT scan scanner. They have everything that any other hospital has. But this brand new almost $10 million MRI there at JFK um what it can do to identify identify early on to be able to prevent uh identify you know after u something has happened to be able to come up with a course of action. So really great because that can now serve our community even better. Um, you know, I it was nothing short and I'm I'm sorry it looks like he's left of a total honor

and privilege along with Council Member Gutron to attend the Hanukkah ceremony on Sunday night. Um, it was so wonderful and to have Rabbi Mendde there and and families and his family and his kids. Um, the Festival of Lights and everything it represents which is peace, love, happiness and and kicking off that season. Uh it it was a wonderful ceremony. It was um it was just it it's a perfect way to kick off the season as well and it was really wonderful to be a part of that. Uh let's see what else do we have here. All kinds of wonderful things. I also attended the public public works lunchon. It's just a great way to get to connect with everyone for a few minutes. Uh something that I think everybody probably knows is near and dear to my heart and that's the senior center. Um and and so every month I try to find a way to do something for the seniors and around the holidays I try to do something special. Sometimes for our seniors the holidays are challenging and difficult both financially some have family some don't some family are out so some of them are are alone. Uh again, amazing job by staff. Shelley, Edith, I I mean there the whole staff at the senior center is outstanding and how they engage our seniors and um whenever they can celebrate something. I know once a month they find a way to an event to celebrate standard holidays, whatever it is, they celebrate and everybody feels um loved and cared for. They ensure they they embrace that senior community to make sure no one is left behind. Um I want to take a minute to thank our uh city attorney because he donated what was the final count? 70 75 75 live Christmas trees to the Indo Senior Center. I went there for lunch uh for the lunchon because I also donated to

make sure that um everybody received a gift uh a gift card and some some of the nonprofits had um already donated some of the gift cards and then I just fill in the blank and between the two the event for Christmas was wonderful and these live trees which were decorated um you know basic by staff were beautiful. these in some cases these folks may not have even had a Christmas tree and this this little tree represented caring. It represented love. It it was an amazing thing. Thank you um Steven and city attorney for doing that. It meant a lot to the senior community here. It was a wonderful event and it was fun. I'll I'll post but you should see they had all dressed up the food everything was f they had music. They had contests. Uh it was a wonderful afternoon and I'm going to end on that note because I can't think of anything more wonderful or positive and uh and move on to the next item which is the consent calendar. No one likes to think a motion.

Second that. Uh roll call vote, please. I think that's that's where we're at at this point. A roll call vote. Council member Miller. Hi. Council member Wetron. Hi. Council member Ortiz. Hi, Mayor Pen Ferman. Hi, and Mayor.

I thank you so much. Next item number 11, administrative items. Resolution number 10532 of the city council of the city of Indo acting as the legislative body of the community facilities district 2004-3 which happens to be terago. authorizing the issuance of the 2026 special tax refunding, I like that word, bonds for community facilities district 2004-3 improvement area number one and approving certain documents and taking certain other actions in connection there with uh Ruby Walla. Good evening. Can you hear me? Uh quiet. If we're all very quiet, we can

uh yeah, the button's a little picky. No, nothing. You might you might have to come up to the mic. We should be able to hear you.

City clerk to the rescue. This works, too. Can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Thank you.

Great intro. Good evening, madame Maya, Madame Mayor, Mayor Protemp, and city council members. Ruby Walla, director of finance for the city of India. Um the item presented to you this evening is seeking the approval by resolution of the city council of the city of India acting as a legislative body of the community facilities district number 2004-3 Terralago authorizing the issuance of the 2026 special tax refunding bonds for community facilities district 2004-3 Talago improvement area number one. Tonight I am joined by members of our financing team. We have our municipal advisor, Jim Fabian.

You hear me now? Yeah, you're working now. We have our municipal advisor, Jim Fabian with Dilmanip Associates, Bond Council, Brian Borbath of Stradling Yoga, Carlson, and Roth. Underwriter Ralph Holmes with Piper Sandler and Company. The team has prepared a brief presentation that will provide a financing overview as well as the estimated savings summary for the residents of Carolago. Um, now I'll hand it over to Jim for the presentation. Thank you, Jim. Go ahead. Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. Have to speak a little loud more loudly, I think, perhaps. Okay, there you go. Is that okay? Well, can what are we all good? Go right.

Okay. All right. Great. So, good evening. it. What a pleasure it is to be here in the new council chambers and the new city hall. I just really appreciate the chance to see it for the first time and uh beautiful facility. So, thank you for having us here tonight. U we do have a brief presentation that we're going to walk through. Uh working with Brian, Jonathan, and Ruby. Uh we have put together a presentation to discuss with you the refunding of the existing Terra Lago CFD bonds uh to provide resident savings starting in fiscal year 2627. Uh with me is Brian Forbath uh who is bond council and disclosure council for the the city. Ralph Holmes uh from Piper Sandler is also here. He serves as the city's underwriter. Uh once again, my name is Jim Fabian of Field and Rolap, the city's municipal advisor. Uh we were also assisted by a special tax consultant. Sounded like it just went louder, right? Okay. Special tax consultant Will Dan and Associates who works closely with city staff for the special tax administration uh on this uh endeavor as well. Uh so uh financing overview uh the uh existing Terraago bonds are outstanding in approximately 8.53 million. Uh those bonds were issued in 2015. Uh those bonds did not receive a rating at that point in time. Uh tonight in front of you and is an action to refund those outstanding bonds and issue approximately 6.7 million1 of new 2026 special tax refunding bonds. Uh the bonds are will be secured by the special taxes that are levied on properties

within the CFD boundaries. uh there is uh no ability to issue any new debt for this particular CFD and these bonds will be non-callable due to the short maturity left on them. Okay, just a a snapshot of the CFD boundaries. Uh 94, you know, roughly 95 acres, a gated community surrounded by uh the the lake that 20 acre lake. Uh construction began back in 1998. There are 624 developed properties and by that I mean there are structures on on them, homes and then we have four undeveloped parcels within the the the district. The debt service on the bonds are paid by the developed property. uh key credit features uh for this particular CFD is we've seen really great increases in the assessed value of the property within the CFD. Uh we'll talk about uh how important that was with the uh rating that we received from standard and pores. Uh we also have very low uh concentration of ownership. Uh the top 10 taxpayers within the district only makes up 77%. So 93% are made up of other property owners within the district. We have very low delinquency rates. So people are paying their taxes and have consistently paid uh their property taxes which include the special taxes. Uh we have really as I mentioned the strong value to lean and that's the total assessed valuation of the property within the CFD uh divided by the amount of bonds and that's roughly 45 to one. very very strong and we have a reserve fund that's

there if needed uh to pay uh debt service if there's any delinquencies on the next page just some nice photos uh as I mentioned in our rating presentation with standard and pores the district just showed very well I mean they were very impressed by the the beautiful homes the the layout the amenities of the the CFD On the next slide, wanted to talk about the legal structure for this particular CFD. As I mentioned, special taxes are levied and collected on the taxable properties within the CFD. Uh and then we pay the administrative or priority administrative expenses to for the city to administer the the CFD. As I mentioned previously, the bonds are not subject to optional redemption. So, uh, they will stay outstanding and, uh, property owners could still prepay their special taxes if they needed to or wanted to. That's an option that they have. We've had had, uh, some prepayments in this particular district in the past. Uh we have a debt service reserve fund as I mentioned uh that is based upon the uh internal revenue source services test for how a debt service reserve is funded. We are actually going to be able to secure a debt service shy uh instead of funding out of cash the debt service reserve fund. And the reason we're doing this is this will enhance the savings to the property owners within the CFD. And we're also going to be able to get bond insurance for a portion of the maturities. Uh the underwriter will decide based upon market conditions when we price the bonds which maturities it makes sense to buy bond insurance for. So that's another good thing uh that we have. I'm going to turn it over to Ralph

Holmes. He's going to walk through the sources and uses and talk about the savings the residents for the the residents next. Okay. Uh, good evening. Uh, listed on this slide is the source and uses of uh, funds. So, a par amount of $6.7 million. We're funding $8.5 million in bonds. Um, the the key items here are the maturities, the same maturities, existing bonds. So, you're not extending it. Um, you're just creating savings in every year. And so if you look at total savings on the bonds, $2.4 million. That's money that's going to to the homeowners. Um annual average annual savings is 2, excuse me, is $273,000. Um again, this the same interest payment dates 31 to 91. And on a present value basis, it's about $390,000 in savings. On the next slide, um, couple things that Jim mentioned is we did go to S&P to get a rating for this, which is great. Um, S&P assigned a rating of A, which is a very good rating for a CFD financing based on the strong development uh, information they provided earlier. um the value to lean ratio, the uh low delinquency rates, the closed lean, and of course the fact that it's mostly built out. Uh this slide is kind of my favorite slide. So based on the savings, each residential unit will receive about $436 in savings per year. The life of the refunding, each property will save $3,924. Uh

so that's the reason we're doing this. Jim, do you want to go ahead and finish it up and we can take any questions after that?

Thank you. So uh looking at this slide, this is our timeline. We're in front of you for uh your consideration of approval of the refunding to allow us to move forward. Uh we'll take a little break over the holidays. uh come back in uh with a bond sale in late January and close in February. Uh the exact timing of the issue will be based upon uh guidance from Ralph and his underwriting desk as to which which day in January will go to the market. But right now we we have the the January 21st as our our target and then the closing date right around February the 19th. Uh tonight's action you have a resolution in front of you uh for adoption. That resolution approves a lot of documents. The bond indenture which is the uh really the the underpinning document of how the bonds work with the uh trustee US bank who has served as the city's trustee on this transaction uh beforehand and will continue to be the trustee going forward. We have the escrow agreement and that's really the document that says you take the money from the refunding, you put it into an escrow fund and you call the bonds with that money. It's really a lock box that is uh used to make sure that we have sufficient funds to refund the outstanding bonds at the closing date. The preliminary official statement, that's the uh important document that the underwriter uses to market the bonds to potential bond investors. It contains all the information a bond investor would need to make a decision whether to buy the bonds or not buy the bonds. Uh also we have the bond purchase agreement. That's a contract between the city and Piper Sandler as your underwriter where they buy the bonds from you and then resell them to the public. And then we have a continuing disclosure agreement. Annually we have

to provide the marketplace with an update on the development, the status of of the collection of the special taxes, any delinquency. That type of information is provided to the bond marketplace on an annual basis and will Dan does that for you working with with Ruby. Uh just the the the last thing as I mentioned really proud of the fact that uh we were able to secure the A rating for this CFD as I mentioned before back in 2015 when the bonds were first refunded. Didn't have enough momentum in the development to be able to get it rated at that point in time but you know 10 years later with all the great things that have happened in the development it was now ready to be rated and we secured the uh A rating. The other thing that we did is we worked real close closely with Ruby and her staff to make sure that we could apply as much money as possible to help buy down the refunding. Uh we really scrutinized the the amount of money on hand uh with the trustee with the city and we applied as much of that money as we could to to buy down uh the transaction. And then city staff will work with the special tax administrator after we uh sell the bonds, close the bonds. When we levy the special taxes in 2627, uh the homeowners will see the benefit of the refunding with that tax levy at that point in time. And that's uh the end of the presentation. Happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this matter.

Good news. Any questions? pretty good. Happy to hear this especially after what we went through what about 15 years ago. Yes. May I May I ask mayor what how we will communicate with the residents? Well um the res well I'm going to ask staff that is part of my my area and I have already provided some in information about the council meeting tonight to let them know what was on the agenda. What other way can we let the residents know?

Yes, we will be able to communicate with them after the the sale takes place assuming your approval uh this evening and advise them of the good news. I think they'll be happy to receive it. We did have a town hall meeting uh 10 days ago, maybe 50 attendees there, but we have far many folks to communicate with and look at that. Yeah. The only reason is when we went through this experience there, there's about five other communities with some very strong feelings and it's nice to have some resolution and a positive direction. Oh, I I couldn't agree more. Because they still don't they still remember. They they still do what I'm saying. They still remember. Yeah. I I Who doesn't? Absolutely. The sooner we can get back to our residents, the better they can see progress.

Yep. As soon as this goes through its process, again, assuming we all approve it, then we will definitely follow through on that. Any other questions? Go ahead. I'll make a recommendation for the staff recommendation that the city council adopt resolution 10532 to authorize issuance of the 2026 special tax refunding bonds improvement area number one by the city of India community facilities district number 204-3 Teralago and approve certain documents and taking certain other actions in connection there with so second. Okay, I have a motion by council member Miller and a second by council member Gutron. A roll call, please.

Mayor, did you want to ask if there was any public comment uh for for the administrative? I'm sorry, I understood. Is there any public comment? I do not have any. Okay. Got the formality. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Council member Miller, I. Council member Witron, I. Council member Ortiz, I. Mayor Proen Ferman, I. And Mayor Holmes,

I. Thank you. Thank you so much. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Item number 12 is a public hearing 12.1 urgency ordinance number 1829 extending the gas station mortorium or ordinance number 1828 to allow staff reasonable time to study and draft amendments to the unified development code. Uh this is a public hearing. Um and before I we we discuss it here on council, do I have any uh request to speak? We do have one for after uh when you guys are ready for public comment. Okay. Terrific. Uh comments by by council. Oh, good.

Good. All right. I think at this point then we'll open up the public hearing. Public hearing open. Does anyone wish to speak? I have uh Jackie Lopez. Okay. For this item.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh Jackie Lopez. Um I'm here tonight to support the adoption of the 90-day extension of the gas test moratorum and urgly to urge and respectfully urge council to direct staff to um to do more during this extension and to recognize that additional time may be necessary to ensure the city adopts a strong permanent zoning changes through amendments to the unified development code. As outlined in the staff report, the purpose of this moratorum is to give the city time to study saturation, spacing, buffers from residential uses, landscapes, amenities, maintenance, and fresh food access. These are not minor code cleanups. They are significant city-wide land use decisions that will shape India for decades. For that reason, I respectfully urge um encourage council to ask staff to um clear a work plan with milestones, data-driven standards, and realistic timeline for completion. That includes defining saturation numerically, mapping gas stations by corridor or planning areas, proposing objective spacing and concentration threads thresholds, and comparing Indio's approach with other Coachella Valley cities. These steps uh turn policy goals into enforceable defensible zoning changes but they take time to do correctly. I also want to acknowledge an important regional reality. India does not plan in isolation. We share borders with our tribal me neighbors and that are actively building out gas stations and related uses. That development is is lawful and sovereign, but it underscores why NGO must carefully evaluate um impacts over concentration and long-term compatibility compatibility with its own jurisdiction. Thoughtful planning requires understanding that broader context while ensuring that India's existing gas stations operatives remain viable,

well-maintained, and economically sustainable under clear and uh city fair standards. Uh, council member Miller raised a strong and important point at the last uh, council meeting using drugstores and as an example. I will add that gas stations are fundamentally fundamentally different. Unlike Ryade or CVS, gas stations involved underground infrastructure contamination risk and environmental remediation issues that are far more complex, costly and permanent. Once approved, gas stations are extremely difficult to undo and clean up can take decades. That is why I believe councils should not only approve the extension tonight, but also be prepared to use the full authority allowed under the state law if these permanent zoning changes cannot reasonably be completed within 90 days. This is not about delay for delay sake. It's about ensuring the city has time, data, and public input necessary to adopt durable, defensible, permanent zoning changes that protect neighborhoods, retain responsibility of existing operators, provide clarity to applicants, and avoid long-term environmental land use and consequences that are difficult to reverse. Again, I respectfully urge council to approve the extension, direct staff to return with a clear work plan and realistic realistic um assessments of time needed to ensure this moratorum leads to lasting policy than rest decisions. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Is there any other requests to speak before I turn this over to staff? I have none. I'm sorry. I have none, mayor. Thank you. All right. So, I'm going to close the public hearing and just because I guess I wanted to create my own uh schedule here, I'm going to turn this over to staff and ask for um their comments and and review of this, please. Brian.

Yes. Thank you very much, Mayor Mayor Pro Tim, members of the council. Brian Alverson, community development director. Um want to just rewind a little bit. Two weeks ago on December 3rd, 2025, the council approved a 45day interim gas station moratorum which is set to expire on January 18th, 2026. If an extension is approved tonight, staff will begin working on focus areas. Council brought up many different areas for us to look at. Um those are a total of seven focus areas uh including saturation and concentration, appropriate spacing, distances from residential uses which may also include schools, um better landscaping, um on-site amenities, improved maintenance, and fresh food options. Prior to the expiration of the extension, staff would bring back their final analysis to the council before returning to the planning commission who will then provide the recommendations to the council for consideration at a future meeting before the moratorum expires. Now, I wanted to emphasize even though the ordinance tonight has a 10 month 15 days, staff is recommending 90 days. We believe that's more than enough time to bring back these focus areas, even show you some draft language that could be incorporated into the unified development code. So, that being um taken into consideration, um I anticipate those could be in the form of a new section in the code. Also, it could be, like I said, development standards so that we can actually improve um gas stations, make them better overall citywide. And with that in consideration, uh, staff does recommend that the city council adopt urgency ordinance number 1829 extending the gas station moratorum for 90 days. Again, the way it's drafted, it says 10 day uh 10 months, 15 days, but we're recommending 90 days. I am available now

for any questions uh that the council has regarding this item. Questions, comments? I have a few, but go right ahead. Is there go right ahead? Jump in.

Thank you, Brian, and thank you for the the information. I I I'm I'm good with 90 days if that's what you feel that you can utilize to be able to get what we're we're trying to get, but I think there's a couple things we need to look in when we're doing it just not only the amenities considering if we're going to put them in strategic locations. Do we want to have a ranking system based on not first come first serve? Because if people know that there's only five or six gas stations going to be allowed Indo or somebody going to bottle them up, but is it something we want? Do we want to be able if they're going to bring good food, landscaping, and other stuff, do we want to rank them to make sure we get the best ones in those locations if we're going to put them there, especially if they're going to be strategic since they make sure they might be the only place there has a market or whatever it might be. So, we might want to come up with a way that staff can rank these based on it and just not first come, first serve so that we know that we get the best ones there if we're going to limit what we have. Uh, the second is Highway 111. We've discussed this before and this is part of it because it's it's an automotive use. I don't believe we should have any more automotive uses on Highway 11 if we really want to look at making that into what it needs to be. We don't need any more gas stations. We don't need any more auto stores. We don't need any more car washes. We have plenty of things. We have plenty of other places to put them. We don't no longer need that on 111 if we're really going to focus on making that a focal point coming into our city in an opportunity zone that we need to make sure we have the best use for it. And I don't think any automotive more automotive uses what we have. So here's an opportunity gas stations and automotive use. We should ban the rest of them at the same time. That's my opinion on that part only because there's other places to put them that could be put in logically without having to take up that prime property. Um the amenities is another one that I was talking about, but it really does need to come down to and I I I agree with Miss Lopez on it's very difficult to unwind a gas station. We have some of them all over the place. Alme's place and other ones that are there. The gas leaked over years and times. There's new monitors. But at the same time, it really comes down to the amenities and what we're going to do. We've seen some really good gas stations in terms of what they are. They're just they're they

happen to pump gas, but they're a convenience store that has quality food and items in them that a local family can go down there and get fresh food and other stuff and be able to get out of there. And they happen to pump gas at the same time. But it needs to have charging stations. It has to have other stuff to make sure that we don't have to put them in other locations that we're able to focus everything into this area to make sure that it's able to be utilized. And the more services we're able to put in that spot, the more people will go there, the less we have to worry about taking out to other areas. So really need to think this through to make sure that we're beneficial to that community at the same time, but we're also getting the best value for not only our residents, but ourselves to bring cash into the city coffers. Uh there's a lot of opportunities there, but if we're going to limit it, let's make sure it's the best. That's my comments.

Excellent comments, and I will open it up. I just want to ask the city manager, is it possible to create that sort of ranking system rather than, you know, first come first serve to to be able to create a criteria?

I think there could be a way what might take place as we bring these back to you before you want to refer back to the the planning commission. You would could give us what are the most important? Is location the most important? Is it the fresh food? Is it the maintenance? Um perhaps we can come up with a scoring sheet of 100 points and each one of them are 10 points according to the priorities. So when we bring those back, that would be a good time for discussion of what are the highest priorities. Uh council member Miller also brought up in a discussion I had with him this week of hours of operation if that's a significant factor. We did not include that in the staff report, if there's consensus, we can include that as a potential development standard. The concept there I'm kind of speaking for, I apologize, is that while the pumps might be 24 hours, a convenience store may have some reasonable hours, perhaps it's midnight, they're not open all the way into the wee hours of the morning as a potential development standard to add to the list that Mr. Halver reviewed. My might, if I could finish up because we discussed it, and I don't mean like along Highway 11 or I 10 or whatever, wherever you got a main corridor. I'm talking about in the in the if it's in the community. You know, a lot of the gas stations like Apple Market's a prime one. It's open there. They the pumps are still open. You can get gas and that, but the market's not open,

right?

So, some of those need to shut down. And we also had some of the these stores that sold alcohol. We locked it after 11:00 or 12:00 and they had to come in with a key and open it up so people weren't taking it out and doing the other stuff. So, there's standards that we can put in place to protect communities or or family areas at the same time while still being able to provide it. And if it's along the corridor 110 and it's there about making money because we want them to be successful, we can allow that station to continue to open up because people are coming through and getting food and doing other stuff. But if it makes sense and it's in a community, let's say it's the 48th in Monroe and the Friday was the change that might not be need to be open like a grocery store. It's not open till 2 in the morning. So that shuts down and the rest is there available. But if it was needed because it was the focal point of that area, you could leave it open based on that actual one is what I was looking at. So, case by case basis,

case by case basis. I'd like to get the thoughts of the other council members.

Well, I agree with what was said. Uh, the hours of operation has worked well with some new businesses that have come in. They maintained them. My issue is the quality has to be there. We can't settle for less. And they have to have a reparable background when they're coming through here. If they have a hard time maintaining them and operating them, why do we want them here? Because then it's an ongoing challenge. the community doesn't like them. If they're clean and kept clean, they they're they're presumed safe. And we right now in the last 10 years, we have some really nice places that have gone way beyond our imagination. And they're entitled to that. But, you know, we have all kinds of people that visit our city right now from the equestrian background to the concerts to our annual festivities and they take advantage of these facilities. and some of them they're are long-term rentals, but because they're here more than just the concerts, uh they like that quality and I think we need to do that because it benefits our community. So, everything that was said, I'm open to it. I feel that uh we go any longer, we might lose opportunities of doing things. And I think that if we need more time, then that's up to staff to decide. If it doesn't pencil out within 90 days, they're going to come back. Nothing says it can't come back to the body and make that decision. But at least we're moving a step to getting something that we can work with. And we're not looking at today. We're looking for tomorrow.

That's right. Gentlemen, any comments? May. Yeah, I don't need to repeat everything that was said. Everything that was said was uh extremely correct, but it gives us 90 days to really look at uh our standards. We want for the city of Indo. So, um open it up to uh council member Ortiz.

Thank you. Um on the maintenance issue, I think you know how can we include current gas stations as well on if we are pushing a policy for maintenance requirements. I think you know current gas stations should also uh be up to that code on the EV chargers. I would like to ask staff for their guidance on that because one of the things that I've heard is that they are more used in like commercial centers because people are shopping around and take more time in those kind of facilities. So, I think, you know, as much as I, you know, push for renewable energy, I want to make sure it's in the right place. And so, uh, maybe some advice on that from staff, should we be requiring these or should we move that towards maybe commercial centers that are developing and other spaces like that where they're going to be more often used? Um, you know, we see the the Tesla chargers out there next to Winkco. They're pretty busy out there and we um, so I think that's going well there. on the moratorum. I did want to ask staff, you know, we're looking at 10 months versus 90 days. Is there uh any issue with the 90 days, you know, if we need a further extension, are we able to provide a further extension or is it safer to go with the 10 months because we can stop the moratorum when we need to?

So, so you the 10 months 15 days was because we prepared that extension before we actually had the public hearing the first time because the time frames were so compressed. uh extending it for 90 days past the 45 days is not an issue. If we need more time, we can always extend it further. Okay, that's what I wanted to. That's all I have. Thank you. Okay. Well, uh what is the pleasure of the council? If uh I'll make a motion to recommend the city council adopt emergency ordinance number 1829 extending the gas station moratorium ordinance number 182A for 90 days. Second that. I have a motion by Mayor Prom and a second by council member Miller. Roll call, please. Council member Miller, I. Council member Wron, I. Council member Ortiz,

I. Mayor Prom Ferman, I. And Mayor Holmes, I. Motion passes unanimously. Uh, item number 13, public comments for items not on the agenda. I do have a request to speak. Gordon Smith. And thank you for speaking. May I remind you that we have a a three minute um and the screens down there will will help guide you through. It see it goes by really fast. So, thank you.

Thank you. Uh, good evening, uh, mayor and council members. My wife and I are Canadian. We live in Indo for about five months a year. We love the city there. Our our residence down here is in Sun City, Shadow Hills, and it's a great community. However, in August of 2023, Hurricane Hillary destroyed one of the pump houses there. They rebuilt the pumps in a very hasty manner and now the noise from the pumps is much louder than it was before. Paragraph three of noise ordinance 95 states specifically that noise cannot be heard beyond 50 ft from its source. Our house is a little over 100 ft from the source and the noise clearly is over 500 ft away. I'm going to just play just a second or two of what it's like. What the noise that we have, this is the noise we hear 24 hours a day almost when we sorry when we sit in our backyard and the noise we hear when we sit inside our house with our doors and windows open. We tried working with the HOA for a year and a half to get them to reduce the noise level to something that's more acceptable. We even asked that they just curtail it during certain hours of the day. They refused to do so. So, we filed a statement of claim against the HOA. We had it heard in the Superior Court of California in September. The Superior Court ruled that in order for us to continue pursuit of our civil claim, we have to have the City of Indial Police Department investigate this matter. On November 1, we filed a complaint with code enforcement. On November 14th, the uh city building inspector and code enforcement came and assessed the property. The building inspector inspector found some deficiencies but not of concern to us such as heights of panels and things like that. But the concern to us was one noted by code enforcement which states in their uh f

their preliminary report while inside the home I could clearly hear the pumps operating. That's a definitive breach of paragraph 3 the over 50 ft. Paragraph 10 of the ordinance states the city shall enforce this chapter. And it goes on to say the enforcement officer will issue a written notice warning to the to abate the disturbing noise. And that's what I'm really asking about is this written notice here. Paragraph 11 states that the police department has a duty to enforce this ordinance. So given that there's a definitive breach of uh paragraph 3, we believe that there's a statutory requirement for the city police and uh code enforcement to issue this noise warning notice. We've tried working with noise uh with code enforcement and it may be that they're getting boggled down because of the building inspection report being done at the same time. It's been seven weeks since we filed our complaint. 7 weeks may not be a long time for a investigation, but it's a very long time when you have to listen to this noise on a daily basis, 24 hours per day. My request of city council is ra relatively light. I don't think it's overly complex. I would just ask that they have their city attorney review this matter on a timely basis and if my interpretation of the law is correct that the there is a statutory duty to issue this noise uh notice that they simply write me a letter or sorry that they ask city council to have code enforcement issue that noise notice. If my interpretation is wrong and that there is no statutory duty to issue a notice when there's a definitive breach, then a letter from city council to me explaining why they don't have to do that would be appreciated. That's really all I have.

I thank you very much. So noted I appreciate your time and we have received your comments and staff has heard them as well. And I'm just curious how do we proceed from here? Well, well, at this point, this body receives or listens and then staff will um someone on staff will likely get in touch with you or or make a connection of some type. Okay. Can I just ask one quick question, Mayor? I'll I'll talk to him as soon as you join the meeting. Absolutely. So, I can just confirm that the city attorney does have my letter. You bet. So, thank you very much. Get through. Absolutely. Thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate you, your attention.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, let's see. At this point, um there are no other items before I adjourn. In the memory of uh Council Member Carnival, I just wanted to take a me a moment um to wish everyone uh not just happy holidays and a merry Christmas. I I think you went through all of it. However you celebrate and whatever you whether you're celebrating with one or a hundred, I wish for everyone um a holiday season and a new year filled with with peace, with happiness, with friends and family. Um and I I really want everybody in our community to feel on behalf of the council that level of caring of embracing of our community. And I also want to say I can't wait till 2026 to see what staff is going to be uh coming up with because I'm sure it's going to be wonderful, off the charts, incredible and very exciting. And having said that, I'd like to adjourn this meeting in memory of a really wonderful man, Council Member Mark Konovali. Um I'd like to take a moment of silence, please. Thank you everyone. Take care. Meeting is adjourned at 6:49.