City Council - Regular Meeting

LA Chicago across the north. Face to face We shadow fox insurance. I like Chicago.

School operator operator. How did I do that without a gavvel?

I think that's a first. Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. City clerk, city council member, agency director, authority members. Here's Leslie present. Molly present. Man, present. Vice Mayor, Vice Chairman Chris present. Mayor Chairman Paris here. We have a quorum. The invocation is Eddie Beran with World Harvest Christian Church.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, council, for having me here today. Yes. Uh Eddie Beran from World Harvest Christian Outreach. And uh let us pray. Amen. Father, we just thank you for your grace and your grace and anointing here in this place today. thanking you for all that you have given us and have granted us with your mercy and your sovereign power. We acknowledge you as alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. There is none like you, none beside you. You are creator of heaven and earth. You alone are holy, righteous and just. Today we invite your presence, oh holy spirit, into this place. We ask you that your wisdom, your order, and that your authority would be established in this meeting. Let your rule, let your reign be reflected in every decision, every conversation, every outcome. Father, we lift up every council member, every leader in this place. Grant them with wisdom beyond human understanding, clarity of mind and discernment in every matter. Let truth prevail. Let justice stand. and let every decision be aligned with what is right and good for the people they and we serve. Give them strength to lead with integrity, with courage, and to do what is right. The heart that serves with humility. Lord, we declare that your peace be established over this valley. Where there is division, let there be unity. Where there is confusion, let there be clarity. And where there is brokenness, bring restoration. Strengthen families, uplift communities, and bring hope to every neighborhood represented in this place. We acknowledge your great love that you sent your son Jesus the Christ, that none would perish, but that all would have everlasting life. We thank you that you loved us and lived among

us. That he died and he rose again on the third day. And through him we have hope. We have redemption and we can have new life. Father, we ask you that you cover our city. You guard our streets and our homes and our youth. We ask you that violence be restrained and we push back the gates of hell that it will not prevail not only against the church but against this valley. Father, that addiction be broken, that every force of that seeks to harm this community be pushed back. Raise up leaders, mentors, spiritual fathers, spiritual mothers, and voices of righteousness that will bring healing and wholeness and direction and lasting change. Let your spirit guide this meeting. Let there be order. Let there be respect. Let there be productivity in every discussion and every decision being made. May what is established here today lead to the flourishing safety and well-being of this city and its people. We commit this time into your hands and we declare that your will be done in the name of Jesus the Christ the anointed one. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Thank you very much. Please hand over your heart and repeat after me to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy for all.

Thank you. Reminder, mayor, you wanted to move up the CA item. Where's it at? What page is be the second or third page there? Page 10. It's a little different than second or third, isn't it? I surprises.

Okay. Pull CA1. Move it to the top. You know, later today I'm going to share the crime stats with you. And the crime stats I'm going to talk about are called part one crimes. You know, they're the serious crimes. They're the ones that really seriously affect the quality of our lives. But, you know, I wish I wish that on that list was truency because, you know, I've been sitting in the seat 20 years and what I've learned from seminar after seminar and conference after conference. The biggest crime we commit is having grades one through three not having those kids go to school because the statistics are just overwhelming. There are some states that build prisons based upon third grade literacy rates. prisons because they know with absolute certainty that you're going to need them if the third grade reading scores drop. How I stumbled onto this is during COVID, we had that medical team and when CO started coming to a conclusion, they were still on contract. So I said, "Figure out a way to lower the mortality rate of a one neighborhood by 30%." They worked on it, worked on it, and then they came back with a report. The report was if kids can read at a third grade level in the third grade, doesn't work if it's

the fourth, fifth, or sixth. It has to be in the third grade. Their lifespan increases 10 to 15 years. Think how significant that is. But it's so far down from when the problem arises. It's so far we call that call that upstream. It's so far upstream we don't spend any attention on it. Well, I want to fix that. staff's working on that and I'm appointing an Harvey as a deputy mayor of I think we call it three and three read in the third grade level when you leave the third grade that's going to be her singular focus because it is becoming my biggest priority if we could fix that and you know the interesting thing is is the schools have incredible reading programs. But what good is is it if the child doesn't go to school? I mean, we have abominable abominable is that how you say that word? Reading scores in our grammar schools and it's for one reason only. It's because of truency. So, Anuk is going to fix that. Aren't you, Anook? Come on up. just come around. While she's coming around, I guess I had to do the motion. I'm nominating her for deputy mayor of three and three. Second that. Let's vote. All in favor? Well, I guess we can vote. Unanimous.

I will support I takestruction. family. Come on up. Anuk is young, but she's a great

teacher. I mean, I I imagine most teachers love their students. She really loves the students and really gets upset when they're not advancing. So, I thought she was the perfect one for this job, and it really is the most important job out there right now because if we had done this 20 years ago, this would be a different city. Thank you. Okay, city manager.

Thank you, Mayor. So, this first presentation, we're actually going to open it with a video. And I have to say, when we went to make this video, we started filming it. We had a lot of people coming in. And I got the first cut for review and it was over 45 minutes long. And I don't even think we got all the people included that needed to be included in it. So, I said, "No, no, communications, go back to the drawing board. We got to cut it down. Get it all in." And this is the product of that. It's a thank you video. We'll watch it now and then we have a little presentation after that.

Well, Marvin, they asked me to do something in memory of Marvin Christ. I assure them you're not dead yet.

Yeah. Before I start, I just want to mention that the fact that whatever I say today is probably going to be held against me. So, I just know how Marvin's going to be is that some way, somehow, at some time, he'll get me for it. So, I got to be careful for what I'm saying. 18 years ago, Marvin came into my office and said, "I'm going to run for council." I thought that was an interesting conversation because he didn't say what do you think about it. He wasn't asking. He was telling. And in the 18 years since then, nothing's changed. What a blessing. What a blessing to the city. What a blessing to the people that have had the opportunity to work with. I don't know anybody who gets things done as quickly and as efficiently as Mark. And to be totally candid, I'm a little frightened of what it's going to be like with you not sitting next to me. You have always been there. When I faltered, you have held me up. You have never hesitated to tell me what you think. And you have been loyal to the city from the day you started. And not everybody can say that.

Marvin, I love you. I personally want to thank him not only for the time that he led our organization as a council member, um, but the staff that I led at the time. Thank you, Marvin. Um, your service is not unnoticed and your service is not unloved. Thank you very much, Marvin. Thank you. I've been here six years. You've been a rock for me. Um we've uh broke bread together multiple times. We're we're we're going to miss you. Um we'll see you in the community, but we're going to miss you here at city hall.

Thank you for everything you've done for the city of Lancaster. Vice Mayor, it's been a pleasure working with you, working under your your leadership with the rest of the council. I'm so grateful for everything you've done. Um and we'll definitely miss you. Chairman Chris or Vice Mayor chairman of my AB board. Uh sincere thank you for being to you. Uh thank you for all the years. When you first came to me uh to to take on the league role of AB about 5 years ago, I was a little hesitant. Um it was rocky the first couple of months, but I can assure you that the last 5 years working under your leadership has been tremendous. I've learned a lot from you.

So as you know, Mark, and we don't have to say this, this is not the end. This is just the beginning of another journey that we will continue to be there and you will continue to give for our community. I love you so much and I'm so proud to be known as your sister.

Actually, there is no word to appreciate you that you know there is no words to thank you. I this is how much I I feel that I owe you and I love you. You you are truly a great mentor, great friend and a great great community leader. You are such a leader we need. You know, I just I'm running out of words. Love you.

U Vice Mayor Chris, thank you so much for your leadership uh for entrusting me um as your parks director. I'm truly grateful um for everything you've done for the city and for the staff here. Thank you, Marvin. We're going to miss you. This community is going to miss you. Your leadership over the last what, 16 years has been tremendous. Um, wishing you the best on your next adventure, but I know you're not going away and I know we'll still be working together and I'm looking forward to it.

Vice Mayor, thank you. Thank you, Marvin. Thank you for the laughter. Thank you for the fun. Thank you for sharing the same sense of humor as I do and we'll see you again soon.

AVA QMD would like to thank you for your vision, dedication, leadership, and commitment to our community. You have made a difference by bringing people together, guiding us through challenges, and helping us grow stronger. Your leadership has left a positive mark on our agency that will be felt for years to come. Marvin, I just can't tell you how much I really love you and really have enjoyed working with you and looking forward to many, many, many more years of working with you. Thank you, Marvin, and the whole community. Thanks, Laura. I want to thank you for your many years of service to the Envelope Valley and the great city of Lancaster. It has been a blessing to watch the various developments uh to see the projects that have been fulfilled and completed under your leadership and to see you give yourself in service of your fellow citizens. All of us here at Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College are grateful for the service and leadership you have rendered and we're praying that God will continue to use your gifts uh your responsibilities with other entities to further the advancement of our great city in the days ahead. Thank you. May God richly bless you and your family.

I appreciate your love for your hometown and your belief in its future. There is no roundabout way of saying that you certainly know your mark and you even have a roundabout name in your honor in the process. I know you'll still be a strong presence in the community and will continue to invest your time in the issues that matter most. I hope you have a lot of fun in store with your family and I know you'll still be a strong presence in the community. Maybe I'll see you back at the crafts table at the next sheriff's booster event.

Marv Chris, I just want to tell you how much the faith-based community genuinely appreciates you and all of your efforts in many ways. You have been the heart of our city for many years and I just want to thank you for the thousands of bicycles over the years that you got into the hands of needy families so their kids could have a Christmas. Thank you so much for helping and advocating for the homeless. There are many people that got off of the streets because of your efforts. Thank you for your support of law enforcement. It is critical that we supported law enforcement and you have done that like none other and so we're so grateful for that. I also just thank you for your personal friendship. It has been truly a joy to serve in this city alongside with you going all the way back to the criminal justice commission many years ago. You and I getting to know each other that way. I also would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to your wonderful wife Cindy and your beloved son Ryan. They have been on this journey with you and you have worked tirelessly to advance our city to advocate for people and I am just personally grateful.

So Marv, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your heart and for continuing to show us what it really means to take care of your own. Marv, I truly want to thank you for everything you've done for our city here, for me at the station, for our personnel at the station. Again, I look back to everything that you've done over the years that I've been in this position to deal with you. And you truly have a big heart for the deputies and anytime we needed something. Just 3 weeks ago, I called you. We had the barricade here in Lancaster. Anything we needed for the deputies, for the SWAT officers there, you were there. You're willing to provide and help us out with boosters and yourself personally. So, It's truly heartwarming to see that everything you do. Marvin, I want to sincerely thank you as one of the people in my life that I've worked with and for who has made me a better person, better professionally, better personally, and really got in touch with my love for the Anna Valley based on your inspiration and your example. Marvin, Godspeed. I am so glad you're still going to be involved. The envelope valley and this council will miss you, but you're still here for all of us. Thank you, Martin.

And I just want to say thank you for being a tremendous leader, a friend, and a mentor. We're going to miss you, Martin. Take care. Marvin, all of us from the city of Lancaster, thank you and wish you continued success in your retirement. I would just like to say thank you so much Martin for everything that you've done not only for fairgrounds because it's been an extremely large amount of things that you've done for us but the things that you've done for the city of Lancaster and the entire valley. Thank you so much.

So I salute vice mayor right now. You are one of the best mentors a young man could ever have. Thank you for doing what you have done for the city these nous years. I don't think Lancaster will ever know the sacrifice that you church enjoy your time. I want to thank you. Uh you make it a pleasure as I serve the public but work for the city. Make it a pleasure to work for you. I know you care about our department, our personnel, our job. And at the final uh part of it, the most important part, the people that we serve. I know how much you care about the people. And so I just want to the leadership you have demonstrated uh to not only myself and the department but the city of Lancaster and I have the opportunity to spend time with you as we serve the city of I want to thank you for appointing me to all the committees and boards that you have. I've enjoyed working with you and there will never be another Christian. It's going to be uh some big shoes to fill. I'll tell you that much. Uh with your leadership experience and everything you've done uh it's going to be a very difficult uh position to fill and I wish you the best of luck.

I think the biggest thing with you is your character and character is that thing that comes on the hardest of days on the darkest of days on the days when life is unfair, unbalanced and loud. Character is what not only gets you through the challenge, but it's the thing that people can gravitate to and say, "I've got a leader. He's got great character, and we're going to get through this." And you've done that countless times in every walk of life that has ever been here. And we thank you for that.

Not only have you paved the way for the next generation of leaders, you've invested in us. You've led us. You've shown us by example while also allowing make a few of our own mistakes. That is what legacy is to me. And I'm delighted and honored and privileged to carry your legacy forward. Years of being your best friend. Can't thank you enough for what you've done for me and this city. Being involved with the criminal justice, learning from you side by side has been a lifong. Really appreciate everything you do and the continued work that I'm looking forward to doing with you. Can't thank you enough. appreciate everything you do. Love you, man.

Marvin will probably go down as probably the best leader that the has ever sat on the Lancaster City Council, even far beyond the founding fathers. And I know that he will be sorely missed. And so I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Marvin. And may God bless you. Well, the entire community has got together and we decided to clean up the city of Lancaster. And it's because of when you put the government, churches, community together, that's what this country was built on. I hope to have many more years working with you in other capacities. because you bring something to the table that I've never experienced before. Thank you for always being there. Rex's asking if I'd like to say anything and um I can't look at my family cry. Uh

it's the experience, it is the dedication that I see throughout the community that keeps us My family has put up with a lot. They tolerated me being there when at the city when I should have been with them. But we have a great city. and it's worth fighting for. We have great friends and communications does a great job. I don't know how you got Jeff Little to say that in 10 seconds. The story with Jeff, if you give him a microphone, he'll talk for an hour and a half. Um, we just have good people, good leaders, and we need to all step up and continue the progress and the the progress from the the fairgrounds to ABTA to other things. But this entire community is built on a partnership, a partnership that we all have to continue. And It's important for me to step aside for other leaders to come up. I truly believe that's important that uh the Cynthia

Hernandez of the world the that they get the opportunity to take a step up and show what they can do for this community. We had a meeting a little while ago and we talked about the importance of teaching people to fish rather than just to give them the fish. We had a council debate the other day and we had six people up there. Five of them were saying, "What's the best way to give everybody everything that they wanted?" And that's not what this community is built on. This community is built on working together. It's built on working to see how we can make it work together. If you see that new building, the Paris Center at the fairgrounds, that's the work of everybody in this entire community from the school district, from city of Palmdale, city of Lancaster, the state, the county, everybody's hearts is in that. I truly believe that facility will change the face of this city, you're going to see some crime statistics that are unbelievable that what we're doing with the police department is working. What we're doing with parks and wreck is working. What we're doing with finance, when I started, we had 11 million in reserves and I think we have a little over 47 million So, we're building things, we're doing things, but we're doing them correctly.

And, uh, I just want to thank all of you for giving us the opportunity and the trust and to for us to be able to do it. Thank you. I'm going to ask Mark and Jason to come on down and join me up here and we're going to build something that we're going to give to you. So, I'm going to start with the first five years here and let them There's your piece. There's your piece. So, I don't know where to start except for Thank you, Marvin. I know I wouldn't be in my role here at the city and be able to contribute to this community without you. Um, I can tell you're probably one of the best teachers I've ever had. The quick story I'll tell on that is we're driving down to NCTC and you may or may not remember this and you looked over at me and you know you go you know you're really good at getting things done and I said oh well thank you and you said but you know what you really suck at following up and telling me when to get done. and I said, "No, dude." But the one thing I learned is I never need to guess what you're thinking because you're just out there and you tell me and I can fix it if it needs to be fixed. So, I always will appreciate that about you. The other thing that I'll miss most and so I hope I don't have to miss it is our Friday morning chats. I think we talk almost every Friday morning and if you don't have a meeting that day, you give me plenty of time and we'll chat about

everything. I know that uh Ryan is probably the the uh what he spent more time doing cut taekwond do growing up than anybody I've ever heard about. Um and I probably know more about hunting bear in Alaska than anyone could ever learn. I think I'm ready to go teach my son how to do that. So just thank you. I hope we still get to work together and I appreciate everything you've done for me.

Thank you. Marvin, thank you. And I think the uh audience doesn't know, the citizens don't know, I know you council know that the amount of effort and pain you put up with and suffering to serve over the last 16 years generally goes unnoticed. Um, but what you see up here today, what you see there is a continuity of leadership that's a result of your stories and support for this community. And I think what's key about that is your leadership with integrity. And over these 16, 18 years, I know every one of you up there, every one of us here has qu somebody has questioned our integrity. And I can tell you, Marvin, without a question, without a doubt, you have served this community as a high integrity leader. And each one of you have done that as well. So, and and it doesn't get said enough, but I can know I can speak on behalf of these guys behind me and your colleagues that over 16 18 years, I have never ever questioned any one of your integrity and I think the community knows that and it's hard to serve that way. Thank you, Marvin.

This will probably fall over if I put it here. So, Oh, no. That was smart. They're magnetized. Very cool. You guys have really upped your game. We engineered.

Um, I was starting out thinking of funny stories and situations and then they're best shared over a drink and certainly not with a public record of any kind. Um, but I also want to be serious because Marvin's too important to this community and to me personally. Um, the best and most productive relationships I believe are like family where you can challenge each other, you can disagree, you can yell at each other. You can question, you can try to get what's best because at the end of the day, you know that what the people you're working with have your back and they have the single purpose which is what was best for Lancaster. And that's really what Marvin is. Um, just a couple of examples because I don't want them to go unnoticed. Martin was assigned to a lot of committees, but they weren't always in agencies. They weren't always what they were. And no offense to the air district, but when he was assigned, it was an afterthought in terms of it was a regulatory agency. He turned that into a economic dynamo, bringing millions of dollars into the community and turning it into a real differentiator for the Analope Valley to attract businesses. We have thousands of jobs because of that, because of those efforts. Um the sanitation district when he got on was outright ha hostile to the analopee valley and businesses here and um he tamed them in his own way and actually and there are some people who no longer have jobs because of that taming um not on the city somewhere else and um he turned them into an agency that's very important for water. Um, I'm not going to go over the AVTA and the fair because that's already been, but probably the best example I have is the sheriff's department. Many of you may know that the city of Lancaster pays more than any other city in LA County for police service to the sheriff's department. That's not even counting the wonderful

PD that they've also set up. But it beyond belief when you pay that there's certain things you don't get like tasers, gun safes, protective vests, and command post, which is ridiculous. It's like buying a car when you don't get tires. So Marvin, you know, most politicians, most elected officials would point fingers, say it's his fault, it's their fault, whatever. We see that in DC right now. Marvin just said screw him. Take that back. Marvin's It's out there.

I'm assuming I'm assuming that's still not allowed. Um Marvin said poppycck and he had the sheriff's department raise hundreds of thousands of dollars of the booster club and because of that the community and the deputies are safer because of that. Um, I'll end by saying I don't want to give people the impression that Marvin's just a bully. He can be a bully, but he's not just a bully. Um, and he rarely is to be really honest with you. Um, he doesn't seek out the limelight. In fact, he avoids the limelight. But what he does is he puts the work in on everything he's responsible for. Um he's exceptionally creative and he demands excellence of the people that he works with and he pushes people to be better and achieve more than they could on their own. That's the definition of a leadership and I know Marvin would say it's not just him and it's not. This is a wonderful council. Mayor Baris has been here for forever it seems like. Um, say that with love, sir. Um, and this council. So, it's working as a team. Just being a bull in a china shop doesn't work. Getting people together and pushing them to be the best they can is what works. The Enlo Valley owes you so much. We personally owe you so much. And um, thank you so much, my friend, for making all of our hometown much better than it would have been without you. Thank you.

Thank you. I believe there's many more people here that want to speak too. So, Gbani, you needed to go first, I think. Yes. Thank you guys.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. for mayor, vice mayor, city council. I'm honored to have the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Jason Gorbani, the assistant fire chief for the county Los Angeles Fire Department. I'm assigned to division 5, which provides fire service for Lancaster. With me today are members of Firehouse 33, Cshift, Battalion Chief Ryan McKon, and my community services liaison, Bonnie. Bonnie, why don't you come on down? We're here today to represent over a 100 voices of firefighters that serve Lancaster who proudly protect life and property. I have the honor to be their voice today and saying congratulations to you, Mr. Vice Mayor, on a job well done and thank you. Your support of public safety, specifically the fire department, has been purposeful and enduring. Your caring and commitment to our membership and their work has always been evident and again appreciated. We would like to say congratulations and thank you for support of all these years. To that end, we have a scroll from the department that we would like to present. Going into burning buildings is really easy. This public speaking thing is hard, so you have to bear with me. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We're not there yet. I'm going to keep going, though. Um, we have a scroll from the department for you, sir. And that scroll says, um, presented to Vice Mayor, City of Lancaster, Marvin Chris, the Los Angeles County Fire Department proudly recognizes and honors you for your professionalism, distinguished service during your 16 years on the Lancaster City Council. As vice mayor, your steadfast leadership, selfless dedication, and unwavering commitment to the city of Lancaster have resulted in lasting achievements that will benefit the community for years to come. Your service on local and regional boards along with your supportive community traditions such as the fallen heroes ride and the Hank Hunter after the fair barbecue reflect your deep commitment to public service. Your unwavering support of the Los Angeles County Fire

Department and its firefighters who protect the city of Lancaster have been both evident and I will tell you sir, deeply appreciated. On behalf of Fire Chief Anthony Corron and all members of Los Angeles County Fire Department, we extend our sincere gratitude for your partnership, friendship, and steadfast support of our public safety mission. And I'll get this up to you here in a second. Sorry, I got a couple more words I got to say if I can get them out. So again, sir, congratulations. Truly heartfelt. I want to say uh really, it really, really is my opportunity, this role as a assistant fire chief and understanding the city support has been just tremendous. particularly in the conversations and the support I've had and I've experienced. Um I would share with you that the core values of the Los Angeles County Fire Department are caring, community, courage, commitment, integrity, and teamwork. And Mr. Vice Mayor, it's been my observation that these values are natural for you. I would also say that you carry them with a humility that is rare and that is worthy of recognition. I define humility as meeting people where they are and as meeting the need where it is. And uh I I would say that this I observed in you is very very natural and it's what you do all the time any interaction I've had with you or uh my proud protectors of life and property. So I want to thank you for providing that support to my department to our members in such a remarkable and dignified way. And if I may, as a man, uh not as a fire chief, but as a man, I just want to say I pray God's blessing for you in the next chapter of your life. And thank you for supporting your fire department, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

What do I do now? Okay, I respond to I think there's several other people in the room that want to speak too. I'm not going to call them up because I will miss somebody. So, if you want to speak, just come on up and we'll have at it.

I see the bishop Doris is here. So I want to remind people that it's like three four minutes tops.

Good afternoon, Mayor Council. Anna Zarly from Assemblyman Tom Lackeyy's office, District 34. I want to I'm gonna cry here. Sorry. But I want to say it's an honor that I get to present this to you. years ago I met you when I was at the chamber. Um, I was really scared of you. Um, but we became buddies. I knew not to cross you, so we stayed friends. But I just want to say thank you for the person that you are. Um, honesty, integrity has been used here a lot and I've seen that over the years. So, on behalf of Assemblyman Tom Lackey, he is sorry he couldn't be here, but he's going to catch up with you later. Um, but he wanted me to go ahead and present this community partnership certificate for you. And it says, "It is with great honor that I recognize Mr. Marvin Chris as a community partner. Your unwavering dedication and commitment to supporting our community exemplifies through initiatives such as the Analopee Valley Sheriff's Boosters, the Fallen Heroes Ride, and numerous other organizations you have enhanced and uplifted are truly commendable. You embody the spirit of service and you are most deserving of this recognition. I extend my gratitude for your generous support and congratulations. And thank you on behalf of Assemblyman Tom Lackey. Okay. So, um since you said something

Rex, I'm gonna tell this story. Um, first of all to Raj, Lauren, Ken, you know how I feel. Mayor, we talk almost every day. So, but this is about you. Um, I'm going to let my wife say something real quick and then I got to tell this story and I promise y'all I'm done. All right. Go ahead. All right,

Marvin. I am so honored to have met you. um when my husband came into the political field um you know he's done a lot of things but um when I heard in in honor to you as well uh mayor but when I begin to hear you all speak and the wisdom you gave him you know he thought he knew it all but I told him I said this is an honor that and a position God has placed you in to learn. And I told him, I said, "Stop talking so much and listen." And I'm glad I did because he has gleaned so much wisdom from you. And I've been a secondhand um participant of that wisdom. So, I want to let you know that I honor you. I honor you, Cindy.

Thank you. I know it takes a strong woman to be behind a strong man. So, I want to let you know I have your number. So, you can't really leave. Get away from me. So, but I want to let you know I honor what you've done in this city and I know that my children are benefiting from it and my grandchildren who I probably will have some soon, but they will benefit from it. So, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you.

Um first of all, uh I don't know what that was. Um no. Um my wife So, when I got in office, I I got in I got here by unconventional way. Me and Rex got into a bad argument with all these preachers here and then we fell in love with each other. So, uh, Rex tells me, "You got to convince Marvin and Ken." Who are them? And, uh, I don't know if you remember this. We met at Marie Calendarers and Marvin starts asking me all these questions and I'm sitting there looking at him already not liking him. And my wife uh, textes me, "Shut up. sit down and don't argue with those men. And so I'm like, "Oh man, I gotta learn." Um, so this is the first time I learned Marvin. Um, I'm in my race. Uh, me and Rex are talking and Marvin does something that Marvin does. He gets Rex mad about something at me that really wasn't what it was. And me and Rex get into it real bad. Like really bad. And after we hang up with each other, Marvin calls me, "What just happened? So afterwards I'm like, "Oh, you did this." Then me and Rex talk and Rex's like, "Marvin just winds me up all the time." So Marvin laughed. So when I found that out, I said, "Marvin don't know I'm just as bad." So I'm going to tell the story. I'm done. So one day I I wanted to get him back. He never knew I wanted to get him back from that because me and Marvin Marvin actually ran against my high school that I grew up with. I grew up in England, California. Um we have the same type personality. And so, uh, Marvin, I went to Marvin's house and, uh, Marvin said this is the reason why he put a gate up in his house. If he lied, it's he told it. Um, he said, "I'm the reason why he had to put a gate around his house." Um, Marvin got his car on Cindy and he's getting ready to go somewhere. You should remember this. I see the car running. I drive by, I stop my car, steal Marvin keys, and hide them. And then I come to city council and Marvin's on his way to

me. See, he don't like it right now. He's still mad about it. Um, I still excuse how I he calls me and this the first time I ever think he cussed out a preacher before CUZ HE'S LIKE, "DARL, WHERE ARE MY TES?" AND I SAID, "YOU GOT TO PAY ME for them." And I hang up the phone. And so after that, Jeff calls me and all of Marvin's friends like, "I can't believe you did that to Marvin." I said, "I ain't scared of them." And ever since then, me and Marvin had this little rivalry going. I want to thank you because from that, you started really being tough love with me. You taught me the who, what, when, where, how, and why. From learning you, it took my ministry to another level. And now we're in multi-million dollar purchases in our ministry because you taught me not how to just find the money, but how to make the money. And I don't know if you're Irish because my father was Irish and you and my father are twins. I declare y'all are. Um, but I felt like I used to tell my wife all the time, I feel like I'm talking to my father. And uh man, what you've taught me, what you've shown me, let me meet the speaker. Let me meet the president. Let me meet people that I thought I'd never meet. Thank you for honoring me with that. Thank you for the private talks. Thank you for the encouragement. Even when Rex had me in tears and I wouldn't let them see it, you encouraged me to do it uh and be the best that I can be. So, you will forever, forever, forever be in my debt. I love you to life. Okay. God bless you. After Daryl, this gonna be easy. Um, my name is Howard Harris and I'm the broker owner along my wife of PMI Valley. The purpose of mentioning that is not for advertisement, but rather to describe the type of individuals and businesses that Marvin Chris has supported and helped to grow during his years on the council. All while educating business owners on

the importance of giving back to your community. Marvin does not do this with words. He is truly a leader of by example. Through the encouragement of Marvin Chris, I've become a fellow board member of several of these organizations that constantly support the Allen Valley region. The Allen Valley Boosters. This board raises over a million dollars annually to support both the Lancaster and Palmdale Sheriff's Department, Lancaster Police Department, and numerous other first responders. Shortly after I joined the board, more Marvin proposed the idea of doing a casino night as a fundraiser. Being a new and enthusiastic board member, I quickly said, "That's a great idea." Marvin was just as quick, stating, "All in favor of Howard chairing casino nights, say I." Thus far, I am the co-chair of our biggest fundraiser, Casino Night. Air Quality Management District has already been mentioned. The Allen Valley Event Center has been mentioned. Uh, criminal justice. Being a member of this commission has allowed me to be a part of the creation of our Lancaster Police Department. This will be an accomplishment I will cherish for years to come. With that, I say thanks, Marv. In closing, I would like to highlight that in all my years in business, I have never met anyone that is able to think outside the box like Marvin Chris. Though Marvin has a tendency to pose a larger than-l life personally persona, ironically, he also provides an open door policy to anyone that is willing to work together with everyone to make the Helen Valley a better place. Marvin Chris and Howard Harris have not always seen eye to eye. However, he knows how to be the bigger man in knowledge if he is wrong. Unfortunately for me, through our hundreds of conversations and community reactions, the score remains Marvin 100 Howard one.

I'll be very quick, Vice Mayor. Um, investing in the next generation is 100% right. I remember when I was 19 years old and I had a big old afro and a pick in my hair and y'all were going to appoint that guy and I came at this podium and I said no and appoint me and you guys said no and I said well I'm going to ask the voters and Marvin said okay. Um and and since then you have a lot of people like to a lot of younger people and people who want to be in positions of power who want to be next up say I'm going to pick up the baton and I'm going to take it. But a lot of times we don't even know where the baton is. And so that takes the people in the leadership to show the next generation of leaders where the baton is. And that is so important. And I want to say thank you so much. Um coming here and just in 2020 and learning from you and the rest of this council, from Jason, from Tro has taught me brought me from the activism to governance. And now that I'm somewhere where I feel I realize that I am privileged uh to have worked in good governance. and now I'm, you know, trying to figure out how to do that where I'm at. I thank you for always being able to pick up the phone and giving me advice and I look forward to continuing to talk to you. Um, and thank you for all that you've done for this community and the next generation of leaders.

Hello. Good afternoon. Arthur Sohikian. I'm the executive director of the North Los Angeles County Transportation Coalition Joint Powers Authority. Yes. Some of you hear that moniker sometimes, NCTC JPA. Uh Marv was one of the founding members of that JPA. It is a regional body for those of you that don't know that deals with transportation. It has the cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, Santa Clarita, and the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County. We serve on a transportation body to try to work on regional transportation issues that are big ticket items. for example, the I5 freeway, the SR14, the Analopee Valley Line, uh, Analopee Valley Transit Authority, Santa Cita Transit, those kind of larger items where we have to work together to to make the North County heard in Los Angeles. And speaking of having to have someone help you to make someone hear you in Los Angeles, Marv's voice would reach 35, 38, 40 miles, take the number, uh, without a microphone down to downtown where a lot of these decisions are made. A lot of decisions of funding, how your money comes back and forth happens in downtown Los Angeles with the board of supervisors, with the Los Angeles Metro Transportation Authority, with Metro Inc. And this at first when we first had our discussion, I will have to admit Lancaster did not really want to participate a whole lot in those regional bodies. They don't listen to us. They don't know what it's like to be up in the Analopee Valley. They just listen, don't listen. Well, you know what? They listen now. They listen now. And what it has done, Mr. Mayor and Council, with your leadership, all of your leadership, it has brought millions back to this valley. Millions. And you're seeing it in the transportation projects all over this valley. You're seeing it on the I-5. And when you do see it and they didn't do it right, he

was the first to tell Calrans, "You're not doing it right." And frankly, he's still telling them they're not doing it right. So, we have one more board meeting. Look forward to seeing you there, sir. In closing, um, as the executive director, you worked very hard to build a reserve, as I've heard here for the city as well. Congratulations for that, sir. And while we don't have that many zeros on the back of the reserve at the NCTZ, uh, I did not go ahead and get a plaque or do anything for you because I did not want to dip into said reserve, sir. Uh, it was not a budgeted item. Thank you. Marvin, I just want to take a minute to say you've been a true example and leader of action in this community the entire time I have served as the city attorney. You've been a dedicated and selfless provider of your time and as a mentor to and people throughout the Analopee Valley including me. Thank you to the Chris family for sharing for sharing Marvin with all of us. I will personally miss working with you here at the city, but I look forward to seeing you throughout the Analopee Valley for many years to come. Good afternoon, Mayor Paris, Vice Mayor Christ, rest of the city council. On behalf of the AV Fair and Event Center and all of our board members, we want to thank you, Marvin, for all that you have done, not only for the city of Lancaster, but also for the fairgrounds as well as the entire community. I have a proclamation here for you. I

won't read it, though. I very much appreciate being able to honor Mr. Chris today as he has been helping the fairgrounds for decades, long before he was on the city council, but he really developed his stride when he was able to use a much larger platform. You all know that Marvin is an extremely unique individual and he deserves a lot of credit and accolades for what he has done for this community. But I think the one thing that I hope everybody remembers more than anything else is the way that he has been able to change the way people and organizations work together. Marvin has been able to get people and organizations to think differently to understand that they can accomplish more by working together than on their own. He has been able to break down so many different silos. That has been his true superpower. He believes he can do extraordinary things and he transfers that belief to others. That is not just an accomplishment. That is a legacy. On behalf of the entire Analopee Valley, thank you Vice Mayor Christ. Thank you chairman Chris. Thank you Marvin. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak. I want to express my dearest happiness for you and your family. And I want to tell you something. when I started my advocacy for this community which was

like I think 14 15 years ago for the senior center and not only you and I'm talking about our mayor helped me or helped us to en enlarge the Lancaster Senior Center which the county gave us a million and a half dollars to to expand it. But my thing with you Mr. Chris, oh my excuse me, vice mayor, you when I started, I was a lowest man in the totem pole. I did not go to college. I did not do a lot of things that a lot of people did. What I had in my my pocket was my age. I have a lot of lived experiences, but mostly all I've learned. And when I came for the very first time here, I had never spoken in public, but the good Lord put the words in my mouth. And I'm grateful to you because I've been watching you all these years and I'm in a lot of committees that you're on and I watch you and I listen to you and I have learned a lot. You have given me a lot of confidence which I didn't have because I didn't know what I was doing. But now maybe I don't still don't know what I'm doing but I know a little bit and I also want to say something to if I may to our mayor because with you two and the city council and all the staff we wouldn't have like they say this count this city that we have. I remember we when I first came to live here 25 was almost almost 30 years now and it was I'm going to tell you a quick story and this one you're going to I don't I don't think anybody knows this story I came to Lancaster about 60 years ago 65 years ago with a friend when

Courtz Hills had just opened up their new homes there were the first track homes built at that time there was nothing nothing here at all. It was all desert. You would see a little farm here and Palmdale had maybe one. Lancaster had one or two. There was nothing nothing here. And then I came back 20 years later. In fact, when my friend, she was the one came here to clean those houses and get them ready for sale. And I was telling her, "Where are you taking me?" I had never I didn't know Lancaster even existed. So anyway, uh time passed 20 years later. I got a I was renting a house at that time and I was speaking to the landlord of the build of the house I was in and that he was going to buy a house here in Palmdale. Very very reasonable. So I said, "Shoot, I'm going to go check it out." Well, that's 20 years later about I think it was maybe five years later is when I finally came up here and I've been here now 30 years. But the my main thing is Mr. Vice Mayor, you have instilled in my heart a lot of things that I didn't even know I I had within me. You've given me a lot of courage and you also you don't have too many words because I don't have too many words for you either because I'm afraid of you. Well, not really because now I know you and I'm not I'm not that afraid anymore. But but I want to just thank you from the bottom of my heart and bless you and your family. bless this council, the staff,

and everything. You know, the people that live here. I wish they would all come to see what this staff does, what this council does for them. And uh since then, now I've be now I'm a my second year as a commissioner for LA County because of this. Thank you and God bless you. I don't think I can get out. See, you really want me to go.

Yeah. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Angela Underwood Jacobs. I had the honor of u sitting up there with you for five years. I cannot believe the uh time has gone by so very very quickly. But I want you to know that we we would have our conversations. is I would always have a notebook in front of me writing down every single word that you said because you were sharing your wisdom with me. At the time I was so green. I thought I knew what I didn't know and I all of it was I was a bit a bit of a hot mess at the time. I didn't necessarily find my voice. And then through you um kind of always kind of keeping it real, telling it like it is. And I learned a lot. I really did. And I just want to say thank you for that because not only when I left in 2020, there was five months later I would have a very horrible thing happen in my life. And because of those conversations that we had, you helping me find my confidence, I was able to find my voice. So, I just want to say thank you. You have been phenomenal. You have done things that no one actually even probably thought were possible for a city. You put us on the map and I just want to say thank you for that.

We also have Senator Valdes on the Zoom who wants to say a few words. Hi Marv. Um or mayor, vice mayor, can you hear me? Yes.

I'm so um sad I cannot be there in person with you. I actually just popped out of a transportation committee hearing and I know all people you can appreciate the importance of transportation. But I just wanted to pop in to say one, how thankful I am to you for your mentorship, for your leadership for our community, for time served on the Lancaster City Council and time that I know is going to continue. You're going to continue to be a mentor and an advocate for Lancaster and the entire Analope Valley. I'm proud of you. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you and congratulations. Can't can't wait to help you in your next journey.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Hello, mayor, vice mayor, council members. Um, hearing everyone speak is as if I was speaking. Everyone is saying exactly what we're all feeling that you have been our leader. You have been there for us. You have taken the time to check on all of us. I want to share how I became your sister. Uh we first met I won't say what year because then everyone will know how old I am. So, but many many years ago, many moons ago, we met at a facility where Marco, my study husband, if we don't know who that is, and I wave, honey, and I were just starting our company at that time was a CPR first a company. We were just starting and um you and your beautiful wife Cindy right next to us and we went to say hello and introduce ourselves and the first beautiful face I see is not you is your gorgeous wife and she walks and says, "Hey girl." I immediately fell in love with her first. And I knew right away we were going to be connected forever. And I remember that was when you and your beautiful family started your political career. And to watch not just you, Marv, but

your gorgeous wife, your amazing son, watch all three of you go through this journey together has been an honor and a privilege to be part of this. Marv, I cannot express the laughs that we've had, the joys that we've had. You renewed mine and Marco's vows. You were there when my father passed away. You knew why he passed away. A mosquito bite was nonvirus. And you stepped up and did the research that was needed so that we can be proactive as we are to this day. with Westnell virus. And I thank you. Thank you, brother, for taking the time to know me. Thank you for loving me even after you knew me. I love you with all my heart. You know, as you you listen to all the people and their stories, what you don't see is the incredible sacrifice he's made. I mean, incredible. First of all, I'd like to say I've known Marvin for over 60 years. And when he first decided he wanted to run for council, well, back in high school, I was terrified of him. I was a nerd and he was Marvin. He was a terrifying guy. And so when he wanted to get on the council, you ever notice how your demons in high school come back? I was still terrified.

You getting on this council was the best thing that's happened to this city. You know, I I recently read that human beings, we all have a desire to be altruistic, to help each other, you know, to be a benefit to people, but we also have a deep suspicion of anybody else's altruism. Well, it seems that it's the default position that we take is there must be something in it for them, right? Uh, you know, I can't tell you how many times people will say, "Well, yeah, you needed the tax write off." Trust me, I don't need another tax write off. it. There isn't anything in it for you except the love of the people and the joy of seeing things will be created, restored. In many ways, that's what's happened with this city. But because of that suspicion, he has been under investigation for five years. People have called him up and said, "Don't take my phone calls because they're recording the calls. They've investigated every nook and cranny of his life." We hired lawyers to do the same thing to see if there was anything anything that Marvin had done that was in any way inappropriate. Nothing.

Nothing. I told the first part of it because I wanted you to understand why that happened. You know, when you see people accomplish great things, there must be something wrong with how they're doing it. You know, it seems to be the reaction. You know, most of the time there's not. There's just this desire to love each other to sit in that chair. and he has never missed a meeting in 15 years. You know, you would have been able to read in the third grade under serious health issues at times. I mean, I remember one meeting where we had to rush him to the hospital, but he refused to go until the meeting was over. I mean, it it sometimes I think you're a little nuts, Mark. 100% attendance. You know, he he talks about the reserve. The reason that reserve is so important is because we pay a lower interest rate, you know. It it's really important to have that reserve. It's also important for crisis, you know, like when COVID came along, we didn't miss a step. The it's the the real significant things Marvin has done, you've never seen. the uh your first meeting very first meeting we he tells me about something that's happening at one of the JPA involving

money disappearing right and we had to clean that up your very first meeting and I got to tell you I couldn't have had wished for a stronger person to be sitting next to when we did that he was able make decisions that are not popular. It's what's good for the city, more importantly, what's good for the city 10 years from now when he's going to be gone. That was always has always been his thought process. But there's also a wisdom that comes along. You know, we were having problems at the fairgrounds. Kids were fighting. Kids were raising hell, doing what kids do. Marvin says, "Why don't we require them to have a chaperone if they come at night? Problem's over." Just like that, the problem's over. Just using common sense solutions. I don't know how we replace it. You know, I I look at the people running for your seat. Nice people. Nice people. But they're not you. The we need people with the business sense with business experience, not people who know how to give money away. The reason for that is because then there's no money. You know, it it slowly just disappears and then when crisis comes, there's nothing we can do. we would never have been able to build that police department but for Marvin cost a lot of money. It took 10 years and at the end of this meeting if you stick around you'll hear what that police department has already been able to do with the sheriff's department in a

matter of months. It's it's truly remarkable. You're going to miss him. The whole city is going to miss him. I know it doesn't look like it. We will miss it. Thank you for all that you've done for us. Thank you for being who you are. I just wish you were nicer to me. Thank you to everyone. All the kind words. Thank you to, you know, the entire city. It's been a pleasure. It's been, uh, interesting at best. Um, but it's I have to tell you that don't believe everything Daryl says because Daryl will always remember me because I told him something that was given to me many, many years ago. And I told him about the keys. He took my keys and he hid them and I had to be somewhere before 1:00. And he thought it was hilarious. And so I said, "Okay." But I explained to Darl, "Sometime, some place, somehow, somewhere I will pay you back. And for five years, I've rented space in Daryl's head. Every time

something went wrong, Marvin did it. Every time something goes wrong, he blames me or he says, "Marvin did this. Marvin did this." So, thank you everyone. I really appreciate it. I appreciate that there's a lot more work to be done. And uh thank you and thank you all for being here.

Okay, back to work. Do do we want to take a break first or Let's take a break. Yeah. And I think we it's appropriate too if we got a group picture of everyone here. Great idea. Yeah. However you want to do it. Just tell me what to do. I take good direction. Let's bring them all up right here.

And we're back in session. Are you composed now? Have you Have you Have the tears stopped? I can I can I start the meeting now? It's because I'm going to miss you. All right. Community preservation update. How do you hear Garrett?

Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm excited to have our team share an update on our community preservation efforts. Um, as you you'll hear through the presentation, many of the programs that we've developed recently are a a direct result of the collaborative community cleanup team efforts led by the vice mayor. So, thank you, sir, for all all of your support. Uh we currently have a dedicated team of six officers along with four contract staff and four support staff who work diligently to keep our city compliant and well-maintained. I've been in my position for a little over a year now. Um and it's been a lot of fun. I've been fortunate enough to build a brand new um management team and to fill critical roles in our department. Today you'll hear from our assistant director, Huin, who will provide an overview of the community development department and the divisions that make up our team. and he'll be followed up by Justin Hillman, our community preservation manager, who will share an overview of the initiatives that he's leading with the team. As part of our ongoing efforts, we're placing a greater emphasis on community engagement, um connecting directly with residents, being present in neighborhoods, and providing education on how everyone can contribute to maintaining a clean and attractive community. We've also recently assigned one of our officers to uh focus specifically on our business community. Um, this role will serve as a dedicated liaison so that we can efficiently take care of any um concerns um and uh and make sure that our business community looks good. We're very excited about the progress we're making and the opportunities ahead for community preservation and uh look forward to the coming year. I'll turn it over to high to give some more information on our department.

Thank you Patty and good afternoon. I'm high new win. Um, as Patty mentioned, there's been a lot of change within the community development department and a ton of progress in development citywide. So, we thought it's due time to reintroduce our department and uh then focus specifically on community preservation, also known as code enforcement. So, community development consists of five main teams. First off is planning. So planning deals with land use entitlements and we work very closely with the planning commission. So one major project that we recently received approval from LAFCO was is the uh westside annexation project where we're literally growing the city by 11 square miles. So that planning team is led by our new planning manager Kendall Brekie. Housing is led by Becky Bartlett and uh they work on expanding affordable housing opportunities for our constituents. One program that recently launched is the ADU loan assistance program, which provides an interestfree loan for families wanting to build an ADU but need a little bit of financial assistance. Another thing we're really proud of is uh we're getting ready to launch the pre-approved ADU plans program. Uh we have five plans designed by renowned architectural firm RRM Design Group and the home homeowners can now purchase these plans at a very low price which will already meet the city's requirements. Next up is building and safety and they're pretty self-explanatory. Uh they are led by our new chief building official Matt Wyatt. And then build beautifification works on literally beautifying the city's parkways and medians and a lot of other things. But today's main topic is community preservation. So I'd like to introduce you to our new community preservation manager, Justin Hillman. And he has about two decades of local

government experience specifically in code enforcement. Justin, so who rebranded it? I think that's brilliant. Was that your idea? No, it was actually Brandon before I got here. Okay.

But uh I agree. It is a brilliant name and I think it really tells the story on what we do. So, uh, with that, mayor, vice mayor, members of council, I am Justin Hillman. I am the manager that serves as, uh, serves as a community, community preservation, uh, division as well as, um, uh, within the community development uh, department um, which encompasses code enforcement and parking enforcement. Uh, I would like to preface um this presentation really to state how code enforcement is a fundamental public service that directly supports the city's priorities of protecting public health and safety while enhancing quality of life across the community through fair, consistent, and equitable enforcement. We help ensure safety h safe housing conditions, reduce neighborhood blight, and maintain properties in a way that preserves community standards and stability. Our approach and emphasis uh emphasizing education, voluntary compliance, and collaborative problem solving, allowing us to resolve issues efficiently while building trust with residents and businesses. At the same time, we continue to leverage technology and datadriven practices to improve responsiveness, transparency, and measurable outcomes. Ultimately, code enforcement is not just about addressing violations. It is about preventing them and strengthening neighborhoods and supporting a safer, healthier, and more resilient community. In alignment with the council's goals, our code enforcement team works on a myriad of programs such as unpermitted street vending, parking enforcement, noise nuisance such as barking dogs, mobile home inspections, residential rental inspections, business licensing, commercial property enforcement, and abandoned property vacant lot enforcement. I've got a great team of officers and I really want to share some stats from the previous year. In 2025, the community preservation team condemned over 4,000 pounds of potentially hazardous food from illegal street vending while impounding 10 vehicles, including their cooking apparatus. Parking enforcement issued over 37,000 parking citations focusing on health and safety violations such as handicap stalls, fire lanes, and abandoned dismantled vehicles parked on

public roadways. staff towed a total of 410 vehicles from those public roadways. Our division received and responded to 2,764 code enforcement cases, effectively closing 1,922 public nuisance cases. To put that into further context, staff resolved over a thousand cases of unmaintained properties consisting of junk trash to un unkempt landscaping and inoperable and dismantled vehicles. I want to go into some some collaboration, some collaborative efforts that we've accomplished. Collaboration is so important with code enforcement and I'm really excited to continue to work with Chief Armland, with the LPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department um to really uh join efforts to combat major issues such as illegal cannabis cultivation, illegal street vendors, illegally gambling dens, and any dangerous properties that pose public safety threats. I'd like to share a brief story. Uh you could you could see on the slide some of the photos kind of tell the story I'm about I'm about to tell regarding a collaborative effort with um several personnel. We have an active code enforcement case on a 10acre property down Avenue K and 40th Street East that has been abandoned for quite some time. We recently performed an on-site inspection that included multiple personnel including LPD officers that provided safety and security, building and safety inspectors that assessed the property for building code violations and severe safety conditions, as well as our contracted city attorney JAR who helped facilitate conversations with the property owners on our legal process. SoCal Edison to disconnect power to prevent any issues with squatters. And this was all led and and coordinated by code enforcement staff. And with the cooperation from property owners, they are now process of obtaining their demolition building permits to demolish all unsafe structures on the property. And furthermore, the city hopes to finalize uh finally develop the property and something that the community can enjoy in the future. When it comes to support uh there's really two categories I want to show highlight. In order to achieve our goals in code enforcement um and bring

properties into compliance that is timely, we need to strengthen our enforcement process in the form of a legal team and a debatement team that directly supports code enforcement cases. We currently have an RFP seeking legal counsel, specifically a code enforcement attorney that specializes in municipal law, experienced in code enforcement, uh civil and criminal prosecution and public nuisance abatements. This is a vital component to help bring cases to resolution and better support our operational and our strategic objectives. In addition to that, we're also posting an RFP for an abatement contractor who will assist with code enforcement cases. This contractor will be readily available to abate any nuisance conditions, perform emergency abatements to secure abandoned properties from becoming dangerous and and much more. We'll be selecting these teams in the coming weeks as well as our proactive approach to obtain obtain code compliance uh technology. Um as Lancaster continues to position itself as a leader in the technology and innovation, City Detect has become an important part of that progress that thanks in large part to the support from this council. On the left you'll see what we've equipped our four city vehicles with city detect technology. Each vehicle now includes an onboard computer and a set of uh extremely advanced cameras. uh that navigate throughout the city. City detects AI then analyzes those images, identifies potentially potential code violations and generates heat maps that show where the greatest needs are. This allows us to focus on our resources while they have the most where they have the most impact. The program will significantly augment staff time performing field inspections, automatically detect violations, and provide up-to-date photos and data directly to our code enforcement staff. Actually, item six on today's consent calendar is to step it up a notch and acquire funding to install four additional cameras on our city street sweepers. Um, having additional cameras uh on the street sweepers will pivot us and help allocate uh cities detect cameras that are on staff vehicles to be used in targeted enforcement strategies. Uh I'll give an example of that in just

a little bit. And as always, we appreciate the council's guidance on these efforts. Uh vacant property ordinance update. Um so the next few slides I'd like to share a couple of our programs. First one being the vacant property registration compliance program. Um this was approved by council last year. It is an update to our city ordinance chapter 9.55 to directly address the growing number of commercial property vacancies and the lack of attention to the to the upkeep of these commercial centers. This is part of our broader effort to transform long-standing challenges with vacant properties into opportunities for revitalization and reinvestment, including Love Your City, uh, cleanup events, and making Lancaster beautiful, not only in residential areas, but citywide. The goals of the vacant property registration compliance program are to reward compliance, penalize neglect, and provide staff with up-to-date property ownership information to keep them accountable for their properties. We officially launched this program in January and since then um when we launched the program in January we sent out 1,400 mailers to the property owners and to date our staff has received a positive response um from the business community and inquiries on how to properly register their properties within our guidelines. Uh lastly, the yards smart program. I want to mention uh this this is something uh that you've heard about already and I'm really proud of it. Our staff uh were at the last Love Your City event. Um, in addition to cleaning up the neighborhoods, we launched our first pilot for Yards Smart. On display is a before and after, and it's clear the immediate impact of this program, and I'm glad to help shepherd this program along. Uh, I want to highlight City Detect with respect to Yardsmart program. Yardsmart is currently focusing target enforcement in a neighborhood at Avenue K and Challenger Way. Uh this is the location that we decided u with the help of LD's crime statistics demonstrating area with high level crimes combined with LPD's recent community need survey um in the same area. So we deployed city detect cameras in the neighborhood which in inspected

over 100 properties and was able to detect eight different properties with violations at a blight score level of three which means the properties have severe nuisance violations. The camera was able to inspect the neighborhood within 30 minutes. that took staff approximately two and a half hours to inspect the same properties augmenting staff time by two hours. I want to say uh I want to end by saying how proud I am to be a part of the community development department and lead the community preservation team. Uh I believe that code enforcement uh in collaboration with our brothers and sisters with LPD and the sheriff's department uh with cutting edge technology and can make an can make a positive impact on our community. And with council's guidance and support, I'm excited to bring our plans to fruition. And with that, I'll be available to answer any questions. Um, but if not, I'll see you at the next Love Your City event.

You're not getting off that easy. I'd like you to look into at least having one person who's on the scene with a body cam. And the reason I I say that is because I get calls and they make the most horrendous allegations about you guys. that I know are just but you know I I'm powerless to deny it because I I haven't seen it. So that's something I'd like you to investigate. Got it.

The other thing I'd like you to look into is I learned this from KB Holmes when we first started doing the uh the yards so they conserve water is they said you put a little patch of grass on it. Just a little patch. I'd like you to consider that and and what that means. Uh, I think we might be we might get a lot more interest in doing it if if we did something like that. I think you guys are doing an amazing job. I'm also struck by the I mean, it's obvious to me that the departments are meeting, they're talking, they're communicating, and they're working together because you do joint operations, you know.

Absolutely. That is relatively new, you know. I mean, as far as you may have been doing, but but you kept it a secret, you know, now now I'm aware of it. I think that's superb. And I think the the more we do that, the the more effective you're going to become. Absolutely. Uh you guys are you guys are all incredible. It uh it took a long time to bring this city to where you brought it, but you did bring it. I'm happy to Sir, thank you. Anything else, you guys? Thank you. Thank you.

Parks. I still want to know who spelled this with a C. I mean, it was a good idea, but whose idea? It It's an acronym, sir. It's parts, Arcs, Recreation, and Community Services. Oh, so it's an acronym for all of our divisions. So, all right. Thanks.

Good afternoon, Mayor Paris, Vice Mayor Chris, Council staff, and attendees. Um, this presentation isn't just a presentation, it's also an invitation. Um, I'm here, um, representing our parks team. Um, just like you were talking collaboration, we do work amongst all of our teams here in the city. Um, and we couldn't throw any of our events without the teams that we have. Um, from LPD providing us safety to the traffic teams to code enforcement all being out there. So, I'll start with that. Um, as you know, our parks team stays super busy throughout the year, um, providing quality programs and and some of the events that we put on throughout the year. So, I'm honored and privileged to be up here just to invite you guys to the spring events that we have coming up. Um, our first event coming up is actually this Saturday. It's our bunny hop event. It's our Easter kind of celebration. Um, this event will offer a plethora of entertainment and attractions for families of all ages to come out and enjoy. Um, free activities this year will include a petting zoo, a train ride, carnival rides, uh, jumpers, jelly ball, face painting, and so much more. Um, entertainment including a magician throughout the event, a DJ, live music throughout the events as well for for all to enjoy. Um, we heard our community last year, we extended it an extra hour this year because there's so much more to do. Um, be sure to come out this Saturday for the bunny hop. It's one of our family-friendly events that we do um in parks and it's certainly a favorite for those who do come out and attend. Um the next one is kind of our crown jewel. Um this is our 33rd year of the California Poppy Festival and every year we're trying to change it up, bring something new out. Um this event is our crown jewel one because of the 33rd year. Uh but it also brings out um tens of thousands of people. I think we're averaging somewhere in the range of 35 to 45,000 people over the course of three days. Um, this event will offer a variety of entertainment throughout the await uh throughout the weekend, including strolling entertainment um and two stages that will offer live entertainment throughout the weekend. Um, families will be able to enjoy stilt

walkers, local community performances, cover bands, high school performances, live bird presentations, acrobats, and again, so much more. So much more. Um, every hour on that schedule will have something different for everybody to enjoy. um when we shifted over to the fairgrounds for this event um who and and the AV fairgrounds have been a great partner in this as well. Uh but when we shifted over to the fairgrounds a couple years ago, one of the things that we weren't able to offer at the park um are actually probably the biggest and most familyfriendly, most family fun are the arena events, right? Um we bring out on Friday night the figure eight and the autocross, um the demolition derby on Saturday, and everybody's favorite, the monster trucks on Sunday. Um, some other attractions that tend to to gravitate towards the families, um, obviously our carnival will have one for the older kids as well as one for the the youngers. Um, our food vendors, our festival food vendors are always a hit. Um, as well as our arts and crafts vendors that will be in the hundreds um throughout the event grounds. Um this year we're bringing the create festival um where stu high school students will showcase their visual, musical, and theatrical arts throughout the weekend on several stages um and including um one of the buildings, the Vanam building um just near the entrance. Um in addition to that, the annual Junior Livestock will be happening throughout the weekend in the barns and in the show arena um uh for everybody to enjoy. Um again, it's an invitation. Tickets are on sale now at poppyfestestival.com for those of you who are interested um in attending. Get your tickets now while the pre-sale is live. Um the next event um so those two events are kind of one day or kind of one set standard event um obviously it's one weekend for Poppy, one day for Bunny. Um but we also throw a series of events um throughout the summer, spring into the fall. Um so in addition to those, the Boulevard market starts actually next Thursday. Um this

is um Thursday starting in April. They conclude in October. Uh this particular event brings out a variety of farmers market vendors, arts and crafts vendors, food and artisans. Um and then in the summertime throughout uh July, we'll have a summer concert series to accommodate or to accompany uh the Boulevard market. Uh the next series of events that will start up very shortly is our Monday nights. Um, this has become a a staple really quick in our community. Um, and allows families to kind of escape that long Monday. Nobody wants to do dishes on a Monday night. Um, so this event is a weekly event that happens May through September um, from 5 to 9 at Sergeant Steo Memorial Park. This event is centered mainly around food trucks. Um, we do bring some live entertainment out there. Um, but it's about community. It's about being in our parks. Um, it's a safe space for everybody to come out, enjoy, um, and really kind of escape that long burden of a Monday. Um, each week offers a variety of of different trucks, different cuisines. So, if you come out the first Monday of the month, it's going to be different than the second Monday of the month. So, definitely something to to keep coming out to and enjoy. Um, I would be remissed if I didn't thank our partners and our sponsors who help support these events throughout the year. Um, I put the list up here um for everybody to just kind of be thankful for and thankful to. um they do support us on a variety of different manners from financial support um to just being volunteers at an event. So I want to make sure that we we recognize them. Um and and I'm going to finish by saying kind of what it's all about. Our parks team prides itself in providing memories and long lasting memories to our community. Um I've said it time and time again. My favorite part of the event um is standing at the exit while people are leaving regardless of the time of the day that it is. Um, and just listening to people laugh and listening about what their favorite part was or just listening to the kids and how excited they are. Not that they're leaving, but the memories that they created while they were there. Um, so we make sure that we try to bring something

out for everybody at each of our events and we work hard and diligently to try to make sure we do that. Um, so again, yes, a presentation informational for everybody, but more of an invitation for everybody to come out to our events. Um, so thank you all and I am available for any questions regarding any event that you are curious on. I think you guys are doing an amazing job, but I want more events. Just wait till the fall, sir. We got you. I I like to party. What can I say? Thank you guys. Okay.

Yeah, we need to pull CC6, CC 10, and CC12.

Got that? Is there a motion on the rest of the consent calendar? I'll make a motion that we accept the consent calendar pulling CC 6, CC 10, CC 12. I second. Let's vote. and it's unanimous. So, let's start with CC10. What is CC10? I believe the card we received for CCT10 was uh France Sarah Saras's card. No, I'm sorry.

We do have a card. Um, Mr. Vice Mayor, you have a card for CCT10, I think. No, the mayor has it. Oh, he has. Sorry. So, what's your question? We have someone who wants to speak. Yes. Mark Hower.

Good afternoon, council. Mayor Rex Paris, Marvin Christ, Vice Mayor, Rest to Council. My name is Mark Rithhaller, Lancaster resident. And uh first I'd like to say that I've thought that the slogan of the city of Lancaster should be Lancaster loves ever since I took the Palmdale's ambassadorship when they came up with uh Palmdale cares. But I think today you all should vote on that and do it in Marvin's, you know, honor because really he does love Lancaster. Uh the reason why I wanted to talk about the approval of uh legal services for the city of Lancaster to basically do abatements and all the other things that Justin and Amanda just talked about is I think that the $150,000 annually should be allotted toward the community preservation department. Um, I was going to refer to them as the community destruction department today, but I believe they can do better. And I think the funds that you were going to spend on lawyers and things like that to look into ways to stay in line with ordinances and things like that, you should just instead give to the community preservation department for salary increases so that people like Justin, Patty, and everybody else can actually look into case by case and figure out what's really going on in on this city. because sometimes we tend to sprinkle glitter on dog crap and ignore it, but if something's wrong, we should just throw it away and fix it. So, the community preservation sounds good in theory, but in reality, there's going to be a time and place where you're not going to be allowed to enjoy your yard, your city the way that you think you were once able to. And so when you're no longer allowed to have anything in your backyard other than a stack of firewood, and that's only until they outlaw your

wood burning stove, you might want to stop and take a look at what are we actually passing in ordinances. Why is land usage so expensive to start construction to begin with and what can we do to make it better? Thank you.

Thank you. CC2 Caleb Norwood. How's it going? Uh my name is Caleb Norwood. Uh quick sidebar, I'm running for Congress in this district, California House District 27. But I do actually have some questions. Um, for example, for on CC-12, uh, the roots of many sources of violence can come from people not being able to get their needs met. Uh, poverty, for example, uh, could cause people to want to rob others. The precariousness of homelessness combined with unmet mental health help uh, can cause behavior that people may perceive as violence. I'm just wondering how this grant addresses these root causes, uh, or if it doesn't address what I was saying, um, what exactly will it address? Thanks,

Rod. You want to touch on the grant and give a little briefing on the details?

Yeah, absolutely. Our uh, our senior analyst, John Keith, is actually going to speak on that today. job. Okay. Good afternoon, mayor, uh council members, leadership, um community members. Um so, this grant is called the uh California Violence Intervention and Prevention um grant. It's one that was established in 2017 to be able to address the issues that revolving around gang violence. And um one of the things I like to say is um addressing the young man's um inquiry. A big part of what this does is it it allows for us to be able to have effective communicators to be able to bridge the gap between um resources or needs and um the opportunity. And a big part of being able to do that is being able to get the people to actually con um to agree to take on those services. So high level uh the Calvip grant I look at it's the epitome of community violence. I'm sorry not the community violence but community led policing. Um this is literally two organizations coming from two different walks of life to address and tackle a common issue which is reducing community violence and prevention and also retaliatory actions. So this grant focuses on five pillars um between law enforcement and violence interrupterss to be able to be addressed which is one focused deterrence. So this is reducing violence um by coordinating enforcement and intervention strategies. Two, street outreach. This is engaging youth and young offenders directly where they live and um where they gather. Three is credible messengers and mentoring. This is leveraging trusted individuals to guide youth to build the resilience. Um

four is incident response and rumor control. This is preventing the retaliation through rapid um rapid engagement. And then five is intensive case management. This is connect connecting individuals and families with wraparound services. So, when we reference when you're talking about some of those things, uh, homelessness, um, a big one is ACEs. ACEs is, um, what we call adverse childhood experiences. And sometimes those experiences can end up forming what you were referencing. If you, if you're past the third grade and you're struggling with reading myself, I graduated high school with a sixth grade reading level. Um, but I had the resources to be able to assist me with getting back on the right track and preventing me from going down the um going down the path that some of my friends and associates ended up going down. But at the end of the day, one of the things that this does is it allows for us to have that that um speaker to be able to bridge that gap. So, I find this collaboration unique because um I've worked in this I worked in diversion for 20 years and one thing that rs true is as good as I am at what I can do, I can't reach everyone. And this goes the same for officers. Um there's some experiences that we can't relate to. So, even though I may have struggled with reading, I've never had an experience of actually dealing with gang violence and retaliation. But there's organizations that's out there that actually does it. And at the end of the day, what makes this thing unique is um if a person with lived experience is able to do that, um and they're able to prevent violence from happening, a test of true community leadership is getting to a point to where it doesn't matter who gets the credit as long as we get the quality outcome. And that's really what this grant is about. Being able to work together from two different walks of life to get the quality outcome of reducing violence and being able to have

a safer city. And with that being said, you guys have any questions for that? Thank you very much. Thank you guys. CC6 Kale of Norwood again. Are you taking advantage of the video for your congressional race?

No, I mean I've been up a few times before even uh before I was running here. Um yeah, a few quick questions is uh again um what what's the cost per camera? Um, also from what I've seen, um, it these cameras identify like neighborhood blight. Um, do they also identify or use facial recognition? Uh, if they do, um, to what extent, I guess, will the facial recognition be used? Is there a database? Because, uh, I also remember we have axon cameras, uh, that do that as well. Uh, so are we going to have like two different databases? How, you know, can we prevent um information leaking out? That'll be it.

Thank you.

Uh you know, I think what we should be doing on that is whatever the policy is, whatever the protocols are for how long we hold the the data, I think we need to put that on the website. And you know, I I I want to be as transparent as possible what of what we're doing with the data. And if the community wants to change it or tighten it up or because you know the the the where this can be abusive is when you look two years back you know I mean just as an example we shouldn't be holding that kind of data that long. We should hold it as long as necessary to prevent crimes from occurring. But I I would like us to formulate the policy, put it out to the community, and then do a final policy, and that's what we follow. Okay. Thank you. Uh Caleb, thank you for reminding me of that.

Motion to approve CC 6, CC 10, and CC2. I'll second that motion. Let's vote. passes unanimously. PH1, the public hearing is now open. We'll hear the staff report regarding PH1. Are there cards? Speaker cards.

Oh, wait a minute. There's no speaker cards. So, did you practice? Did you wanna Did you want to deliver it anyway or Okay, I think we're good. It's been a long meeting. Thank you. Uh, we'll close the public hearing. Motion to adopt resolution 26-11. I second that. Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. PH2, the public hearing is now open. No cards.

We'll wave the staff report. Well, Nicole, did you want to do the staff report? Oh, you wanted to do it. No, I didn't.

You know, Patty, every time you get a chance to speak publicly, It's a time to practice. You want to embrace it, but you don't have to. Today,

the public hearing is now closed. Is there a motion? Um, I'll move that we accept PH2, uh, ordinance 1148, ordinance 1149, and ordinance 1150. Is there a second? Second that. Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. PH3. The public hearing is now open. Speaker cards. No speaker cards.

Wow. Interesting. Uh, we'll wave the staff report. George, is there a motion? Motion. I got to close the public hearing, right? Yes. Close the public hearing. Now, is there a motion? Motion to approve PH3. A second. Let's vote.

And it passes unanimously. New business item one. No speaker cards. Let's wave the staff report. Is there a motion? Motion to adopt resolution 26-12. Is there a second?

I second that. And it passes unanimously. We've already done CA1 council reports. Council member Molly. Yes. Um but a couple weeks ago we had a groundbreaking council member Ken man and myself we went to and this is a pretty big company uh Johnson they we were talking to those two brother this family-owned company and they said they're going to bring about 1500 jobs which is amazing so that was a good groundbreaking and Ken you want to say something?

Yes. I think sometimes we forget. I tried to do my best at the ceremony to give accolades to the staff, especially Joselyn, both the brothers. It's a family-owned company. They have 25 locations, of which about 15 are in California. And he went out of his way to say out of all the cities he's ever been in, that Lancaster was the best. And they were overhatic, both brothers. They pulled uh Triss Raj and myself off to the side and they they they just would not get off of that. They just said they've never been in a city with all the different locations that they have. And then he said, "Ultimately, Ken, I think we'll run our all of our California offices. This will be the main office."

Yeah, he did say that in California. And when you hear that, kudos to Joselyn because he said it was so easy. And he says, "We've been in business second," he's second generation. and he said, "We've been in business, I don't know, 40 years." And he says, "We've never been treated like this ever." And he was just overemphatic. And it makes you feel so good when somebody comes into our city and these are really good paying jobs. So, just wanted to share that. Mortgage trading jobs. Yes.

I think we have a video right on that. That was a good catch you guys. Who brought that company in? Was that you, Patty?

Uh, team effort started with the city manager's office. We had a really good meeting to kind of get everything started and uh we fulfilled basically everything we said we would and uh and we uh we did some really good work. So, thank you. Thank you.

Okay, city manager, you have your edge and then this one. Oh, okay. And we'll now show a video recap of the AV Edge Business Summit. There is no other city that uses technology that uses AI like Lancaster in solving crime.

This program is really good for like especially for small businesses or even big businesses. Uh this kind of give our community a overall idea what's happening in our city. You know, I think the saying is build it and people will come. That's what Texas Roadhouse represents to me. I know I'll be there. I know I'll be making memories there. And that's what other small businesses who are thinking about starting, that's what they have to look forward to.

It's highly important that we as law enforcement understand that we don't just have a responsibility to to keep folks safe. We have a responsibility also to ensure we're making efforts and a part of this big mission like with our city to give businesses the opportunity to thrive.

We have affordable property. We have affordable housing. We have a workforce that's tired of driving down the hill and willing to work here. And most importantly, we have amazing partner in Lancaster. So come be a part of us here in Lancaster and build your next business here. what Lancaster PD has done with the sheriff's department. There is no other city in the world that has been able to accomplish this. Do you guys ever think just how many things you've done that no one else has been able to do? I mean, it's it's truly remarkable. Thank you. Okay. Is that it for the city manager?

Just one one quick thing. So, the staff stole my thunder. They they gave my normal updates and my commercial breaks for all the events, but what it did it did what I do want to point out uh and I think today's theme is leadership. And it really starts with the mayor, the vice mayor and this council. And I want you to see that that translates down through to the staff. You saw two presentations today and two of them were from people that went through the leadership academy, Junior and John Keith. I think a year ago they they would get up here and they wouldn't be able to give a presentation like that and be so comfortable. So we're building the next generation and it and it starts with this leadership. I think you know Lissa and I were just talking. you you saw the changes in community development that that that's just one of the departments, but all of our departments have experienced the same change in staff and the staff level now is we're running up here and and it's I'm just couldn't be happier to be here and work with the everyone, work with council, work with the team here. So, thank you.

Thank you. This is the time to address the city council agency authority on Agendaize 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 state 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. Replay the tape or should I go? Just go. Okay, Caleb, you're back up.

Come on now. You got to have some enthusiasm if you're going to get some votes out of this.

My last two, I promise. Uh, my first question would be, I mean, I've heard a lot of complaints, people just wondering why are these meetings still at 1:30? A lot of citizens of Lancaster, they have jobs, they're working at this time. I've heard, you know, it's more businessfriendly, but it makes I think the regular residents feel like their voice isn't heard. And then the last one would be, uh, would you advocate for, let's say, for example, like a ballot initiative for a pay raise for city council? Um, if I or if I what I've seen is right, it's about $600 a month for city council members. And um that kind of that allows basically a pay raise would allow those who aren't already independently wealthy be to be able to run

in order to be able to uh you know uh better their community because I mean it'd be better for you all in general I think than $600 a month but still um someone can someone uh from maybe more of an impoverished background may be able to live off their city council as well. But thanks. Thank you. I think the amount that the council gets is statutory run by the state, isn't it? As far as compensation, yes. Uh, it is the max is set by the state. And where are we in relationship to the max? I don't remember. I'm sorry. But I will look into it and get back to you.

You know, I mean, that's something to consider. I I don't think we ever have considered it. Uh, And just just so everybody's clear,

every dime I get goes into the scholarship fund. All right. I'm not raising my my fees here, but I I do get your point. Yeah. So, we'll look into it. Okay. In regards to the meeting time, I I it's totally understandable that there would be probably more community involvement, meaning people coming and watching the council meeting if we did it later. But let's think about that for a second. That means all the people on the staff here now have to work into the night. The council is called on to make decisions and and this used to happen one time one o'clock in the morning. I mean, real decisions that required a lot of debate. That's why it was 1:00 in the morning. You know, I'm not much good after six o'clock. At one o'clock in the morning, you know, you're getting in a zombie vote at that time. You know, I mean, we have to recognize that this council actually does things. It actually has input that is significant. And if they're tired, if their bandwidth is shot, they're not going to do a very good job. I mean, that that that should be obvious to everybody. What we give up is the show, you know, because I haven't seen a real decrease in the number of speakers. Now, I do know that there is a group in Palmdale that wants to come to our meetings and raise hell, but I really don't care what people in Palmdale want to do. I care about the people in Lancaster. And I think the people in Lancaster are best served when everybody who's involved in the decision- making is operating with all

cylinders at 100%. And that just doesn't happen late at night. It just doesn't. Uh So that's my reasoning and I get to set the meeting. Okay. Thank you. Can I elaborate on that? Sure. It's not just the wear and tear on the the staff and the council, but it's when business is conducted. Mostly conducted business in this community is done between 10 and two. And all the other uh businesses. Uh we went to me and Raj have been to three meetings before this meeting because that's when business is being done. So when you go to all those meetings and then you go to one afterwards, you're missing all those people that are actually doing business. So we're trying to be business friendly. We're trying to say that you have a voice, you have the ability to be into uh our December meeting is at five o'clock. Our March meeting is at 5:00. And when we have those meetings for those people that we have missed during that other time that didn't have the opportunity, they have opportunity at that time. So it's it's a collective thing of everything that we do and it it works really right now.

Can I also add, mayor, I I also want to share with the community that this isn't the only form in which you guys can voice your opinions or share or collaborate. Um, if you want to have comments put into the record, you can email, you can use the different resources within on our website. Um, I I too appreciate I'm not independent independently wealthy, Caleb, so thank you for recognizing that. Um, I'm not apologizing.

I'm not apologizing either, but in all seriousness, just because you're not present here in the middle of the day to have a conversation with us doesn't mean that's the only way you can communicate. In addition to the the months that the vice mayor shared, email us, call us, come visit us at city council, schedule an appointment. Frankly, I I think I have more meaningful and thoughtful conversations when we're not in front of everyone where we could throw spaghetti at the wall and brainstorm together. People can express their frustration or their praise. So, please I I feel like we keep getting this question. Um I think you've both answered it in the same manner. So, I just wanted to throw that out. Email us, call us, visit us, schedule a meeting. Triss will come and connect all of us if if needed.

Thank you. Anyone else? Oh, it's my turn now, right? Speaker. Any comments from the city council? You're good. You're working that mic much better. I I mean, you're getting good at it. Before we go into close session, could we put the crime stats up?

The one you gave me in the office today. Can we blow up the uh right two columns? That possible. Give me the uh give me the totals. Move it over. Okay, this is really fabulous. I mean, we've never seen this before. Look at all of the columns on the right. They're all in the green. All of them showing appreciable drops in crime. If we continue on this, we will break the 3,000 part one crimes per 100,000 people. Is that it, Paul? Is that how they do that? Okay. Which is considered a safe city if you can break that that barrier. We're on track to break it. I think we're going to be astonished by just how much we break it. And then look at the only red column. The only red that lararseny and theft went up 52%. But that's a that's not in the city. That's in the county portion. In the city, everything is dropping. Everything is falling. the uh there's a lot of reasons why in the unincorporated area that number exists and I think it's

primarily because the county could do a much better job enforcing the homeless initiatives we we've started because that's where that that crime number is coming from. This has never been seen in any city in America. what you guys are doing is beyond I mean it wow and it's because the two departments are working together. You know, it allows the sheriffs to do what they do best. It allows you guys to do what you do best. And there's never been a this level of technology brought to law enforcement. Am I right in that? It used to be that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was the department everybody wanted to copy. Everybody tried to be as good as they are. Soon it'll be you guys. And it's because the numbers don't lie. I mean, this stuff is working. Uh I'm just wow. You you guys have done a great job. But it's also what I said earlier. It's not just you. It's all of the departments now working together. All of the departments communicating with each other. You know, it it's I don't know that any other city has that level of cooperation interdep department wise. U I'm just thrilled. Thank you. Now, you know, if it goes up, Marvin's gonna You know what Marvin's gonna say? Wait a minute, Marvin. I did it. So that concludes the comments I have for

I I left you in good hands. The uh the city council will now move to close session to discuss close session items number one through 16. Thanks folks. Glad you came.

In close session, the council took up close session agenda item one and gave direction to staff and legal counsel. No reportable action. mic on, please. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. The meeting is adjourned.