City Council - Regular Meeting

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Be quiet. Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry. picture. I know you know long me long You wait a long time a [singing and music] Just [music] [music] [music]

Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. City clerk, city council member, agency director, authority members Hughes, Leslie absent. Molly present. Man present. Vice Mayor, vice chairman Chris present. Mayor, chairman Paris here. We have a quorum. Thank you. John Meadows from Christian Life Assembly will be doing the invocation.

Praise the Lord. Let's stand. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for your goodness to us and this next year, this next month as we begin to celebrate your death and resurrection and all that means for us. Lord, I pray that that message and the hope that it gives would fill our hearts. Guide this meeting. Uh give our leaders wisdom and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. United States of America to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible.

May I [clears throat] have your attention please? Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. The city council encourages public participation at its meetings. However, the right of the public to address the council must be balanced with the need to ensure that public participation does not interfere with the orderly course of public business. The city council follows the city's code of conduct and ethics and Robert's rules of order in the conduct of its meetings and we respectfully request that all are reminded to abide by the following rules. As stated on the agenda for this meeting, any person who would like to address the city is requested to complete a speaker card for the city clerk. Please be sure to identify the agenda item you would like to discuss on your speaker card. Speaker cards must be filled out and submitted prior to the agenda item being called. You will be given an opportunity to address the council at the time the agenda item is discussed. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes unless a different time limit is announced. Speakers must cease speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. Public comment on non-aggendaized items is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the council. Please keep in mind that state law prohibits the council from acting on items that are not on the agenda. The public's right to address the council does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with individual council members or staff. Please remain respectful of the forum and refrain from uttering, writing, or displaying profane or threatening statements towards the council, any member thereof, staff, or any other person. Any person engaging in conduct

that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the council meeting. If you disrupt the meeting, you will receive one warning. If you continue to disrupt the meeting, you will be escorted out of the meeting or the meeting will be recessed. Upon reconvening, if disruptions continue, the meeting room will be cleared in accordance with the provisions of the Brown Act. We ask that you now silence your cell phones as the meeting is about to begin. Thank you for your participation.

Anything to be removed from the consent calendar? There are none. Uh could you remove CC11 just because I want to hear it? U is there a motion? Motion to accept a consent calendar as currently comprised pulling CC11. I'll second [clears throat] that motion. Let's vote. Passes unanimously with Lauren Lesley abuse her absence.

I'll make a motion to excuse. Uh can I second that? Let's vote. All in favor? I.

All opposed. Passes unanimously. Okay. The micro group. I don't know. It's the our weapons. We got Chris, can you do that? Are you up for that or you want me to put it back on the consent calendar? Good afternoon. Um, this is our uh yearly uh update for the military equipment list. Um, Assembly Bill 481 is a state law which requires police agencies to list certain items that they've determined uh meet the criteria for military equipment. And so we do this every year. We update the list. Um, we uh document on the list what is in current inventory, what we anticipate uh requesting for this year, which would be additional costs. We bring all that here. Um and then we hold also once a year a public meeting. We held that meeting last month uh at the LPD um where public members came, ask questions, they can complain, voice opinion, provide suggestions. Um our meeting was very favorable. Um we answer any questions. We highlighted our our drones. Um, and there's for the most part common like the common weapons you would see police officers carrying are not listed on this, but specifically the rifles are. As we're onboarding 18 new uh police officers, we are going to need to purchase more duty rifles for them. So, these are not anything um unusual

and it's just more inventory of what we currently have to fit our growth. Well, it's state-ofthe-art, isn't it? I mean, isn't that unusual? It's all state-of-the-art, sir. Yes. See, uh, all of the every officer will have the what is it? M4, right? Is that correct? M4 is 223.

Yeah. So, the 223 and the the 5.56 are very similar rounds. Only slight difference keeping their characteristics. Um ours are the 5.56 um Guesley rifles. Um and yes, our officers are issued those. Um some departments, larger departments will have a uh a cadre of rifles that get checked out by officers. Um we believe in uh the importance in having a rifle cited in specifically for the person because sighting in um a weapon is unique to an individual. Um and so we're purchasing those so that we have enough for each officer to have that um trained and cited for that individual officer uh for obviously safety and and protection of the public.

And we have sound suppressors, right? Um we do. So, um, uh, those came as a result of, uh, multiple lawsuits out of the county of Ventura, um, where the public, anytime any of these were used, and in fact, even people that were close to a range, uh, were filing lawsuits, filing complaints, and so there is now a trend in law enforcement to uh, suppress those. Um, it's just for sound. It doesn't make the weapon capable of anything else other than it was already. Uh, it just is for hearing protection for both the officer and for the public. Thank you. And I assume we're training the officers. Never a head shot with the non-lethal.

I'm sorry. Say that again, sir. Never a head shot with the non-lethal, the bean bags or the

Right. So, California um the post commission is who determines the the training levels for law enforcement in California. California is known to have the most advanced uh rules, training, and regulations of any state in the nation. Um they're very strict on this particular thing as well. Less lethal munitions are not to be applied for head shots or even groin shots. Uh they're they're specific areas that you're supposed to target. Um specific uh situations that they're used in. So, California has done a great job in regulating how police utilize these types of of weapons. And that's largely why you don't see a lot of controversy within California. Most of the stuff we see on news is from other states. Um so we follow the law um and follow the training that is consistent throughout the state.

Thank you. Yes, sir. The reason I had you do that I I want to emphasize that Lancaster Police Department is the most advanced police department in regards to equipment and training than anyone. Uh And we're very proud of that. And so whenever I get a chance to show it off, I do. Yes, sir. But you and you and Rod are responsible for that. And we're appreciative. Thank you. Appreciate it, sir. Thank you. You you were building that department at 110% from the very beginning and that's going to show for decades to come. Thank you. Appreciate that. Is there a motion?

I do. I have a question. Uh, why aren't the drones listed on here?

Um, if you Excuse me one second. If you look at the u uh equipment military equipment use report, which should be part of your packet, um on the back, the back several pages is our equipment list. And you'll see some of the drones numbers increasing, but they're not unique or new models. So, they're things we already have in inventory. We're just increasing those uh particular things. And uh some of those don't actually meet the criteria. We're just including those in here for transparency.

Motion to adopt resolution 26-06. Second that. Let's vote and it's unanimous. New business item one. No speaker cards. No, I'll let you go. You're out. You're fine. No speaker. You want to wave it? It's just the budget. Yeah. Okay, let's wave it. Is there a motion? Motion to approve uh NB1. I'll second that motion.

Let's vote. Passes unanimously. In two, we will now hear the staff report from George Harris, senior director, administrative services. This is something. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, and city council. before you on item number two um is the adoption well the receiving and file of our 202425 fiscal audit results. Uh historically speaking for the last five years we have we have completed uh the audit with very minimal findings. This particular year we have completed the audit with zero findings and so there's absolutely no findings. Can I wrap this Chris? I think I was shorter than I actually

Oh, got it. Uh, so there are no findings with the with the audit results this year. Um, and in addition to that, the results uh of this particular audit was used and this is where I think the mayor is headed. Um, was used for our disclosure document that was used for our latest financing. And as of uh the review of these findings, interviews with staff um and and looking at our policies and such, again, the city has achieved an A+ rating for its latest financial uh financing that's going to take place in the next couple of weeks or so. Um an upgrade from even last time, which we are very proud of. So, we are now an A+ um bond issuer. Uh we intend to purchase bond insurance uh which we got the quote today and that will give us an additional uh increase and bump in our ratings to double A plus ratings. So we're going we're a top credit in the state of California and quite frankly in the nation when it comes to investing in our community by those by those public investors. Um as we as we stand here today the fin the action tonight is simply to receive and file the financial documents. But thank you, mayor, for giving me the opportunity to come and speak because I am uh want I want to take the opportunity to thank the staff Gianna Pena here in the in the audience. She led the audit this year, done so in record time uh with no with no issues, with no findings. Uh her and her team did an amazing job this year. Uh well organized from the beginning uh all the way through to the end. And um and I'm proud to say that we we were able to accomplish getting what we needed to do for the audit done by the end of December. It was in review in the month of January and before you tonight for final review and file. So uh with that I'm available for any questions.

I take it what you're telling us is all the money went to where it was supposed to go and nobody took any of it where it wasn't supposed to go. Correct. Correct. And there's a reasonable belief by the auditors that we are presenting our financials accurately. And that's really what the results of the of the audit tell us is that we're reporting our financial position accurately. Great job, George. I mean, all all across the board. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Do I need to vote on this? Yeah. Is there a motion? Motion to receive and file. Second. I second that. All in favor?

I

I unanimous. Okay. Council reports. We'll have a recap of the Whiteside tour of Lancaster Police Department. George Whiteside is our congressman and he got us a million dollars to further build out the technology that we're deploying throughout the city. this particular facility is is unmatched. I mean, it it we're literally leading the nation with this because we're able to predict crime now. We're able to to keep it from occurring in the first place. You know, that's really the goal.

I think we all want to keep our family safe here in Lancaster in the Analope Valley. And my hope is that the support that we extended to the police department will help make us even safer. This is was very impressive. I I also took a tour along with him. You know, we could tell like this gunshot and what kind of gunshots are where at the locations and all those [music] things.

I get goosebumps walking in here. I really do because I know what the impact is going to be. We just need to build out the system in the city and we're in the process of doing that. Thank you. Next is me. Um last Saturday I got to go to a Hot Sounds Gala. It's for fundraising for the kids. They do such a wonderful job every year. So, council member Huge and myself, we attended and it was really uh it was what like 400 people and all auction money would go to the kids. So, it was a wonderful event. So, we have a video I believe Heat. Heat. Thank you, city clerk.

City manager. Oh, I forgot the city manager. What do you got for us?

A couple of updates. So, parks, they're already getting ready for the summer. Um, they're actually having a hiring event. So, if you have any youth or anyone you know that's looking for a job as a summer recreational leader, that event will be on March 6 or they can go to our website and find where we are advertising our jobs and click there and apply right online. So, yeah, we're looking for people. So, come on out March 6. The other thing we're looking for food vendors um with summer our Monday night bikes event that happens at Owens Memorial every Monday comes back and if you know a vendor and they want to be part of that event have them get their applications into park so we can make them part of that event. Public works they are also working hard. They got stuff going on. Um they are working on an Earth Day event which will be April 11th just over a month away. This year it'll be over at Hall Park. So, at the dog park there and they're bringing a whole dog theme to the event. Um, they're going to do an Earth Day dog photo contest. They're going to have plant giveaway, green goodie bags, recycling center drop off, and then we're doing a big community cleanup as part of that as well. Not to be outdone, then April 25th, we come back and we have the love your city cleanup event and that'll be in some of the neighborhoods over here on the east side of town. So public works is really really busy. The last thing I wanted to just shamelessly plug our inform Lancaster app. So if you're a resident and I and the reason I'm saying this is because we see a lot of this on social media where they'll post on a pothole or graffiti or in legal dumping and we it takes us some time to figure out that that's been posted and then go correct it. We do have a great informed Lancaster app. You can download it on your phone. If you see something, it'll geo tag it to the location that you took the picture and then we can fix that pothole or that traffic light that's out or that it get the illegal dumping

cleaned up. So, if you don't have that app already, please go get it. That's it for me. Next meeting. Let's put that up on the screen, the the link so they can copy it down. Okay. Okay. Uh, city clerk, this is the time to address the city council agency authority on non-agendized matters. Speaker cards may be found on the back table of the council chambers. If you have completed one, please ensure you've given it to us so you may be recognized. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each. Please keep in mind law prohibits council from acting on items that are not on the agenda and your matter may be referred to the city manager. Thank you.

Thank you, Fran. Sarah Harris. Fran, you're the only person I know that the spelling of their last name goes either way. That That's so cool. Cut it in half, put it upside down. You can do everything with it just like you can do it with me. [laughter] No, I was Oh, yes. What do they call that? A pair of What do they call that? what

yeah so my name can go on for eternity my last name thank you good afternoon mayor vice mayor and uh council members and uh staff and everybody that's here happy to be here for all of you enjoying this nice weather um I basically want to kind of comment on Saturday I went to your committ I mean a community meeting for parks and reccks for uh uh getting plans or getting the count the committees the committees the people's ideas on our planning of our parks and uh I was there and I got I spoke with a lot of people while I was there and I I've got a I'm a person that got a lot of feedback and also brought up a lot of things for the ADA people and the seniors and and it was I thought I thought it was pretty pretty good. Huh, Sonia? Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. Quite a few people showed up and were very very interested and gave a lot of good ideas and um thank you for having it and thank you for having me to go there and well you didn't have me go there. I mean for you know for me participating because that's something because there's because one thing on the parks mainly that besides being for ADA approval for seniors and handicapped people, there's not enough trees. I I put that on the on the list because you know like when you go because most parks are so open. They have a tree here and a tree over there, but in between there's no trees. And I understand it's for play for the kids to play or playground area, but I think we should have a few more trees in there where people could sit under the trees, like the parents could sit there while

watching their kids play and, you know, have a little shade. There's a lot of other things that I brought up, but uh I thought that was kind of nice. Anyway, I want to thank you very much. Have a good week. No, don't already. Yeah, it's already week for me. It's already next year. Thank you very much and everybody have a good day. God bless you all and God bless America.

Thank you Fran [clears throat] Randy Terrell. My name is Randy Terrell. I am the communications manager for Kaiser Permanente here in the Analopee Valley and I'm here today to speak real briefly on the Parkway Village specific plan. Uh we just want to thank the planning staff and specifically Kendall Breck and Jocelyn Swain for their hard work and flexibility in finalizing the plan. The planning team was great to work with and spend appropriate amount of time and research to investigate our concerns. Following that, we were able to dialogue with the team to find some mutually agreed upon solutions and we look forward to working with them in the future as we work to meet the evolving healthcare needs in the Analopee Valley. Thank you.

Thank you. Hey, before you go, how come you're not paying your nurses more? [laughter] So, final item of business. We had a contest. It was a huge contest. It was a floral arrangement contest. And this is the winning floral arrangement.

What do you think? [applause] It took me two hours this morning. Thank you very much. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 5:00 pm. The meeting is adjourned. And if anybody wants to enter in the next meetings contest, bring your arrangement.