City Council - Regular Meeting

Please tell us why you had to hide away for so long. Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long. Where did we go wrong? Please tell us why you had to hide away for so long. Where did we go? Mr. Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you. Hey there, Mr. Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you. But soon comes Mr. Night Creeping over Now his hand is on your shoulder Never mind I'll remember you this I'll remember you this Last of the stars Tell us why You had to hide away for so long Hey there, Mr. Blue. So pleased to be with you. Walk around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

City Clerk, roll call please.

City Councilmember, agency director, authority member to include housing, Cassianos. Present. Mann.

Present.

White.

Present.

Vice Mayor, Vice Chairman, Hughes-Leslie. Present. Mayor Chairman Peres absent, we have a quorum.

I'll entertain a motion to excuse the Mayor.

I'll make a motion to excuse Mayor Peres. I second.

Let's vote. We'll verbally vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passes unanimously. Next we'll have our invocation by Eric Mendoza from Grace Chapel. Welcome.

I'm just gonna start by quoting God's word in Micah 6.8. It says, he has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Please bow your head and pray with me. Heavenly Father, we gather together just to recognize our city government and I pray Lord for wisdom for them, give them discernment, allow them to make decisions that would be honoring both to the people and to God. And Lord, I pray that we would always be reminded that you are a God of order. You have brought things together. And Lord, you put government officials in positions of power for our good. And Lord, we may not always agree with that, but we know, Lord, that you have ordained and put people exactly where they're supposed to be. So as this meeting starts, I pray, Lord, that your will be done. And that ultimately, Lord, the decisions that are made here today would just be at peace with one another, and Lord, it would be glorifying to you. Pray all these things in your son, Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you.

Thank you, Eric. Will you lead us in the pledge?

Sure. If everybody would face the flag, put your right hand over your heart and repeat with me. I pledge allegiance

We'll now move on to presentations. Our first presentation will be for the impact program.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor, City Council, and city staff. My name is Bailey Zier, and I am the coordinator for the IMPACT program, which lives within the Parks Department. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I wanted to give a little brief overview of what our program is. So IMPACT is a teen volunteer scholarship program where teens have to apply, interview, and be selected. And then, essentially, they are our wonderful volunteers here with the city that help us with a wider range of programs, events, and other things we're going to talk about today. So one of their favorite parts is a $1,000 scholarship when they reach 100 impact hours. And then we also push some workshops and other skill building and development at them to really just prepare them for their futures. So to get started. here are some of our wonderful teens this is only a small group of the 74 currently part of the program we recently had one member as we like to call it promote and was actually hired by the aquatics department so that's a small win for us we always love when they move up and become part-timers with the city and over this past year we had 84 members they move away sometimes they get too busy with school and for other reasons they move on but we're always excited to have them while they're a part of the program So to start off, obviously volunteerism is at the heart of the program. So the main focus for them is supporting the City of Lancaster in events, programs, and activities. You can see up on the screen, we have just a few pictures of the various things that they're helping with. Over 30 different City of Lancaster events and programs a year you'll find impact at. This ranges from Lancaster Community Center events, aquatics programs, MOA opening exhibitions, you'll see them a huge role at Backpack Giveaway, Tour de Luc, and then even larger events like Bunny Hop and Juneteenth. One of their favorite things on the calendar each year are our major, major city events, the big ones. At Haunt this past year, we had over 30 teens out there and they were really the driving force behind the arts and craft stations, pumpkin decorating, and carnival games. At Magical, similarly, they were in charge of arts and crafts and cookie decorating, running those stations. Then at California Poppy Festival just a couple of months ago, we had the entire Harley Davidson Kids Zone where they ran the programming out of there for families that were attending that festival. This is great for their development and to earn their hours, but it also significantly helps the Parks Department with our part-time staffing needs as well. They fill that role really excellently. I can't talk about impact without talking about Cool Summer Nights because it's really truly impact run. The teens in our program generate the ideas behind that event series, they plan the different components, and then on the day of each of those six events, they're the ones out there implementing those activities and running the event with just a little bit of help from the staff. So last year the teens earned 998 hours and for all of their efforts we were able to have over 2,000 patrons come through all six of those events. So a huge success and in a few weeks we're gearing up for it again so please join us. And then outside of official city of Lancaster, but still within our local community, we've really been working to expand our partnerships. So some of these we previously had, but we've been growing in our existing partnerships and then building new ones with different organizations and nonprofits to support them in their efforts, their events. their activities. This has really brought in our impact and then it also is a great opportunity to align the things that our teens are interested and passionate about and find opportunities for them to explore them. So those are always really successful and a fun way for us to engage in the community. a few large volunteer day highlights. We have a few big ones. Really excitingly this past year, we participated in all four of the Love Your City community cleanups. We had a ton of teens at each of the events out there picking up trash and participating in one of the zones to really help get that area cleaned up. We also went to the LA Marathon again this year. This is a really exciting trip that the teams really look forward to every year. And we go in partnership with Run for Grace to support runners at the cheer and aid station. It's a great way to kind of broaden Impact's horizons and see what other kind of volunteer opportunities are out there. And lastly, we have to highlight the Ventura Beach cleanup. Although we do leave the city to go and do this, we learned a lot this year from the organizers of that event about how trash here can result in trash there. And it really started to kind of open the teen's eyes to, the importance of community service everywhere. So right now, we primarily focus here in the AV, but they are gonna move on and do bigger, greater things some days, and so volunteerism should stay important to them always, no matter where they go. Moving a little bit away from volunteerism, as I mentioned, we also push educational opportunities at the teens whenever possible. So last year we had a small handful of workshops and this year we were able to offer 25 and these are over a wide range of different categories and topics. So a big one this year was career explorers where we would bring in professionals to just talk to them about what they do and kind of open up different pathways for the teens to explore. We also offer skill building workshops like financial management. They participate in Fight Fentanyl every year. Just really anything to help them learn more and be more successful in their futures after they graduate high school and graduate the program. Very exciting for me to talk about this slide. Internship committees is something new that we launched within Impact this past year. This program is really built for current Impact teens who want to make even more of an impact within the program within the city and within their communities. We had four different committees that the teens within impact had to apply into and be selected for. And then they were treated as essentially many interns that work together to actually plan, coordinate, organize, and implement entire things by themselves. Things is a really broad word, but that's really the best way to describe it. We had marketing recruitment designing t-shirts with an actual design company. We had service and volunteer connecting with nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the area themselves and planning activities for them. College and Career hosted a military fair for local teens to explore different military pathways. Special events is gearing up for, as I said, cool summer nights again and is really the driving force behind that program this summer. When I say they're doing it, they really are. They've blown it out of the water this year. We're excited to start up cohort number two here in the next couple of months and see what else they're able to come up with. Scholarship, this is a big one, especially for the teens in the program. And just a quick highlight here, we gave out 107 checks this past year, and that was over $75,000 in scholarship money for our teenagers. Quick shout out to Waste Management, we thank them for that and their support in those scholarship funds. And then here's kind of our year at a glance. As I said earlier, we had 84 Impact members throughout the past year. We were at over 85 different volunteer opportunities, 25 workshops, and this number I think is really awesome. Out of 365 days, Impact was out there 161 of those days, which is over 40% of the days in the calendar, volunteering, learning, and becoming better for their futures. Over 7,000 hours were earned as a group, Again, $75,000 was awarded. I am done talking now, but I want to have you guys hear from a few of our current impact members. These three were selected from a little mini competition because we had a lot interested in speaking with you all today. Some members from the Parks Department, they had to give their speech to them and they were a panel and judged and this is who was selected. I will let them introduce themselves. Ready?

Hello. My name is Salam. I'm a senior in high school. Thank you for having me. Impact has truly changed me as a person. Through this program, I've learned how to become a leader, how to serve others with compassion, and how to make a difference in my community. Impact has shown me that kindness and service can have a powerful effect on people's lives. My favorite part of Impact has been being part of the service and volunteer committee. We get to create volunteer opportunities for young people and encourage others to get involved in the community. One of my favorite memories was Letter to an Elder Day that Bailey talked about. Impact volunteered at a nursing home, and we got to spend some time with the residents and got to paint with the residents. Later, me and my committee got to hand out handmade letters from Impact to the residents of that nursing home. And honestly, the appreciation on the residents' faces is something that I'm never going to forget. Impact has taught me that leadership is not just about leading people. It's about serving, caring for others, and making a difference wherever you go. As I prepare to study biology in college, I know the lessons I have learned in Impact will stay with me. Impact has taught me that success is not just about how much you accomplish for yourself, but also how much you help others along the way. Thank you, Impact, for that. I'm really grateful for how much you taught me.

Hi, my name is Callie Swenson. And as I'm coming up on a year of being an impact teen, I can't help but be truly surprised by how much I've grown. I was extremely shy and nervous on my first community cleanup where I was in a group with people I didn't know and anxious I wouldn't follow exactly what my tasks were given. Once it was over, I quickly realized I didn't need to be so scared. And I noticed the gratitude that the program we worked with had for the work we did actually made me feel so incredibly happy. After attending many events and volunteering for a variety of things, I've come to understand just how important it is to be there for our community and how meaningful the work we do as a group is. In my first few months, I applied for a separate set of impact we call the internship committees. I felt like everybody in the program would be applying and because of how big it was and because I was so new, I felt like I would have an extremely slim chance of making it. To my surprise, I got in and was again met with a team of people I didn't know. But not only was this my first experience behind the scenes of the program and handling a bit more of the office perspective, but Committees was a brand new extension that everybody would be working on building together. The closest I developed with my peers and supervisors have helped me to better understand my relationships and how to work with others effectively in such little time we had. As I'm branching out to more volunteering and the search for colleges, I know I'm carrying a handful of skills developed simply from being an impact. My passion is to continue my schooling and to become an American Sign Language interpreter. As I've evolved in my language classes, the rich culture the deaf community holds has fascinated me into wanting to become an advocate for minority groups. The immense experience I've had with a variety of people from Being an Impact has prepared me for doing just that in realizing what my community needs and how I can personally give back. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Humberto Galindo, and I have been lucky enough to be enrolled in Lancaster's Impact Program. Throughout the time that I have been in Impact, I've had the opportunity to work in the Special Events Committee and help plan events like Cool Summer Nights. Opportunities like this help teenagers get a taste of the responsibility that they will face in the workplace. Outside of the committees, teenagers get to help the community by dedicating days to pick up trash around the city, help with city events, and attend workshops, where we can learn how to invest money, how to earn scholarships, amongst other things. But throughout all the meetings, workshops, and community cleanups, this isn't what has stood out to me the most. What has stood out to me the most is the tight-knit family behind the blue shirts that are in this very room. I've made many friends in this program, and I've gotten to meet people who have influenced me for the better. These people have pushed me not only to do better in the program, but to do better in my personal life. When I was in school, I had some troubles regarding what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I didn't even know if I was fit for any profession. But, excuse me. if I was fit for any profession. But with the help of the amazing staff and encouraging young people, I was able to fix my mind on becoming a family medicine physician. There is also another memory I recall that exemplifies the family behind IMPACT. It was an early morning in the summer, and I had signed up for an event. I hadn't really known many people then, so I was a little timid. But someone by the name of Yehida had the spirit to greet me and start up a conversation. This simple welcome from a stranger was the beginning of a blooming friendship. and this positive connection has shaped me into who I am today. Because of this special interaction, I'd come out of my shell and I'm not afraid to express who I am anymore. Yahida has left such an impact on me that I'm now striving to walk in her footsteps. I want people to know that they belong, to be true to themselves, and to become a part of the impact family. This is a true legacy of this program. It doesn't just train teenagers how to plan out events, but it teaches leaders how to lift each other up. And with these leaders, we can help make a positive impact on our community. Thank you.

And I don't think I have anything else I could possibly say after that, so thank you. Please let me know if you have any questions or any questions for these individuals.

No, no questions.

Fantastic. That's all I can say. Great speakers, too.

Oh, my goodness. I just wanna express our gratitude for you guys, for our young adults sitting here on the team. I know you've shared with our community what you've gathered or what you gained from being a part of this program, but I can't even put into words how thankful we are for you. You guys are our current leaders. Some wanna say, oh, they're our future leaders. No, you guys are leading our community now. And the fact that you all, or a majority of you guys wanted to get up here and share that with our community, thank you so much. This program represents the very best of Lancaster. The fact that we have 84 individuals who want to give up their weekends, their free time, and make a huge and tremendous impact on our community. I can't thank you enough. And one of you had alluded to legacy. This is your legacy. You're already creating it. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Just continue to shine, continue to be a blessing wherever you go, whether that be college, you move, you get to be a part of a different community or nonprofit. Thank you so much for representing the very best of us. And Bailey Waste Management, you guys, thank you for making this program possible. Thank you for instilling and investing in our youth, because they are our leaders of today and the future. So thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Could we get all the impact kids up and do a photo in the front?

I would love that.

Can we do that with the award? OK. Can we do it with the award? We're ahead of you. Hi. Hi. Sorry, jumped the gun. I feel woefully unprepared after the impact presentation by these young individuals.

They didn't stutter like that.

I know. I'm unprepared. They got it today. They win the award for best prepared. But I just want to, we're going to bring them up in a minute, but I just want to thank Bailey and the IMPACT program youth for all that they do to support our events. And they are definitely our future and our future is bright with these individuals coming up under, into the workforce and being our next generation of leaders. And as you saw from Bailey's presentation and heard from Impact Youth, Impact is a phenomenal program. But not only is it phenomenal, it is an award-winning program. Each year, our California Parks and Recreation Society, which is our professional organization for parks and recreation, does a call for awards. And we submitted a number of applications this year for a variety of things, but the Impact program was chosen. as an award winner. And so it's my honor to introduce our current CPRH president, Jenny Worsham, who made a trip all the way up from Fountain Valley, Fontana, sorry. Fountain Valley, excuse, I'm underprepared, to present this award to us today. So Jenny, please come on up.

I too am a little bit intimidated by these guys. Wow. I thought it was not just me. No, it's definitely not just you. Yes, as Sonya said, good afternoon. My name is Jenny Worsham. I am the Community Services Manager with the City of Fountain Valley and the current California Rec and Park Society State Board President and it is my honor to be with you guys today. The CPRS Annual Awards Program celebrates outstanding examples of quality facility and park design, programming accomplishments, effective communications, community leadership, and professional successes that take place in our profession every day. Through our five award categories, we highlight the people, the places, the spaces, programs, and stories that make communities like Lancaster so special. This year, the awards program included a record-breaking 186 applications received across all five categories with 52 awardees total. The Community Impact Award of Excellence category, there were 16 awardees in five subcategories and the City of Lancaster came out victorious in the Connected Community subcategory for the Impact Program. You should all be so proud. As you heard, the Impact Program connects Lancaster teens to their community through service, leadership, and opportunity. It brings teens, families, and the community together to celebrate service, youth growth, and civic pride. By empowering young people to lead and belong, IMPACT is building stronger connections and a brighter future in Lancaster. It is truly a very special program. Congratulations to the City of Lancaster and your outstanding Parks, Arts, Recreation and Community Services Department, or PARCS as you call it, on being awarded the 2025 CPRS Community IMPACT Award of Excellence. Please come forward to receive your award.

Vice Mayor, council members, would you like to join us for a picture with our impact youth and our award?

Our next presentation will be on Juneteenth.

That's a little bit. I'm not quite that short. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and members of the City Council. The Parks Department is honored to partner with the community-led Juneteenth Planning Committee in facilitating the fifth annual Juneteenth Community Celebration. Throughout the planning process, the committee has dedicated countless hours to ensuring this year's celebration reflects the values, history, and spirit of the Lancaster community. In addition to a full committee, there are four subcommittees that are part of the full committee. That's the Activities and Games Subcommittee, the Arts and History Subcommittee, Stage and Entertainment Subcommittee, and the Vendors Subcommittee. Each led by two co-chairs who help plan and execute key components of the event. The Juneteenth Community Planning Committee and its subcommittees are responsible for developing and implementing the majority of the event programming and activities while the city provides logistical and operational support. Joining us today are six of the committee's eight subcommittee chairs. They will provide an overview of this year's Juneteenth community celebration and the exciting activities planned for our community. I'll allow them to introduce themselves. But now, at this time, I am pleased to turn the presentation over to the Juneteenth Community Planning Committee Coaches.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and council members. My name is Joshua Patterson. I am the Lancaster Palmdale vice pole mark alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated. And I just wanted to discuss a little bit about what Juneteenth is and why it's important for us to celebrate it. On Saturday, June 13th, we will be gathering from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Sergeant Stevo Memorial Park to recognize and celebrate Juneteenth, a day that marks June 19th, 1865, when freedom was finally announced to thousands of enslaved African Americans in Texas. To understand the significance of this day, it is important to know what happened. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people in Confederate states to be free. However, because the Civil War was still being fought, many enslavers in Texas ignored the order. Texas was far from the main battlefields, and some slaveholders even moved there to avoid Union troops and maintain slavery. It was not until June 19, 1865 that freedom was formally enforced in Texas. Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with Federal troops and issued General Order No. 3. The order was announced that all enslaved people were free and that there was now, and I quote, an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, end quote. between former enslavers and enslaved people. There was no Facebook, Instagram, Fox News, nor True Social at the time, so unfortunately, it took a while for the information to spread. But eventually, the news spread through public readings, churches, military announcements, word of mouth, and gatherings throughout Texas. For many people, this was the first official confirmation that they were free. While freedom did not immediately bring equality or end hardship, June 19th became a powerful symbol of liberation, hope, and perseverance. Celebrating Juneteenth in our community is important because it helps us remember this history and honor the courage and resilience of those who endured slavery, and those that work toward a more just society. It gives us an opportunity to learn from the past, celebrate the contributions of African Americans, foster understanding, and strengthen our commitment to freedom, equality, and unity for all. This event serves to create connections amongst neighbors. As we celebrate this national holiday on June 13th, let us reflect on the meaning of freedom, appreciate the progress that has been made, and continue working together to build a community where every person is valued and respected. This will be my fourth out of five years serving on the committee, and I look forward to doing it year after year in the coming future. I'd like to next introduce Mr. YB Terrion, who will provide info regarding this year's direction and celebration theme. Thank you and happy Juneteenth.

What's up? Hello. Hi. Hello. Whichever greeting you prefer. My name is Brandon. I am creatively known as YBTRION. I don't have any notes in front of me. I'm going to shoot from the hip, so if I stutter or stumble, just hear me out. See, there we go. Our focus this year is actually the youth and young adults, or kids, whatever you want to call them. We have three primary focuses. We want to focus on root, rise, and reach. Think of a tree. It's the root, it's the rise, and then it's the reach with the branches. We want to show them and educate them on where Juneteenth came from. We want to show them not just with banners and posters, but actually with an actual walkthrough, which they'll probably express in a minute. We also are going to help them get involved with other community organizations as well. And then we want to elevate them as best as we possibly can, which one of those ways is actually being on the stage. So I'm very happy to announce that majority, almost all of our performers this year are actually under 18. Most of them are in high school. Shout out to Highland High School, by the way. That's what we're focusing on this year, the root, the rise, and the reach of our kids in our community. Hopefully, you guys can come out Saturday, June 13th, 2-6, and yeah, see you guys there.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council Members. My name is Tenille Gossam, and I serve as Chairman of the Activities and Games Committee for our upcoming Juneteenth. Our goal is to create a fun, family-friendly environment where people of all ages can gather, connect and celebrate the spirit of community that Juneteenth represents. For our youngest attendees, we'll have a dedicated soft play area for toddlers. Families can also enjoy face painting and balloon artistry. For children, teens, and adults, we'll host a variety of interactive activities, including potato sack races, three-legged races, and a team hamster wheel race that encourages teamwork, laughter, and friendly competition. And I respectfully challenge you to a potato sack race. We're also excited to feature a foam arena, giving people an energetic and engaging activity space that promotes active play. For those who enjoy strategy and tradition, we'll host a domino and spades tournament, games that have long been a staple at family gatherings and community celebrations. Our committee has worked hard to ensure that there is something for everyone and we believe these activities will help create lasting memories while celebrating freedom, culture, family, and community. Thank you for your time and support and we will see you Saturday.

Greetings, everyone. My name is Laniel London. I'm a small business owner here in Lancaster, and I'm also an AV baby, Highland High School Bulldogs, class of 95. So it's really good to see the young people coming back to the community to serve as I have. And Serenity Village Developments is the nonprofit that I run, and we believe in community-hubbing resources. So one of the featured part of the Juneteenth Committee, I'm the co-chair of the Arts and History Committee, is bringing resources together. So we're bringing art into the community from the youth. So we had a youth contest. I don't know if everybody heard about it, but we had a youth contest and we had some winners. So we'll be announcing those winners from the stage. Their art will be displayed through the art walk. We'll have a beautiful display of art from local vendors as well as the youth and some pretty interesting secret pieces that you don't normally think is art. So you'll have to come on Saturday to see what we're talking about. We'll also have some really fun displays of art like photo booth pictures. So having Juneteenth photo booth pictures, we all love pictures. So we'll be there for that as well as the art walk. The art walk will actually be displayed throughout the park. So you'll be able to see art on one side of the park, see the vendors, see the rest of the event without being stuck in one space. One of the other special things that I hold very dear to my heart is we will be giving out the Emancipation Proclamation, the actual document that was signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, because 1865 is when we actually celebrate Juneteenth. So we want everyone to come. Come get your copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. It'll be part of the Art Walk, and we can't wait to see you all Saturday. Thank you.

I'm sorry, you guys.

Hi, I'm Connie Amels. So now that we heard about what Juneteenth is about and what it means to celebrate it in our community and the overall focus and the theme and the direction of this year's event, she talked about the games that we're going to have and the art and history. So we would like to show you a video of what to expect. this Saturday at June 13th.

13th, 2 to 6. Please be there. Come out and bring your mom, dad, cousin, auntie, uncle, dog, cat, fish, bird. Bring everybody.

What is Juneteenth? Well, it is the celebration of the emancipation of us. And we're celebrating freedom. We're celebrating black excellence. We're celebrating everything that impasses black and freedom and what we fought for.

Coming up, thinking of like, OK, who are we going to get to entertain to bring in the young crowd and the older crowd? They really want to see the entertainment. So that's our biggest leverage here is to get a good somebody that will bring the crowd to the park and have fun with us.

Staging entertainment, we're going to have some fun. It's a family reunion. You know what I mean? We're going to play some games. What happens at family reunions? We play some games. You know what I mean? There's going to be food. Another very important part of family reunions

So we are using a curator. So we have a young lady from the Antelope Valley who is actually a study of archaeology and African-American archaeology. And she will be doing our curation of an art walk. So we'll have a live walking museum.

I think somewhere around 80 vendors will be there.

A lot of vendors, for sure.

A lot of food vendors, a lot of vendors selling clothing and art, stuff like that, jewelry, that type of thing.

So this year, as far as activities go, we have a foam arena from Gather Blast so the kids can get out there and play in the foam bubbles. We have a face painter. They're going to make some balloon animals for the kids. The theme is family reunion, so some relay races, potato sack races, little play area for the toddlers.

Juneteenth just even becoming a holiday is the quote unquote celebration of everything that black people has been through. Well, we want to celebrate that and say, hey, I know we've been through all of this stuff, now celebrate it.

Hi. Good afternoon, last but not least. OK. Good afternoon, city, vice mayor, city council members. My name is Fawn White. And on behalf of the Juneteenth Committee Planning Committee, and excuse me, because you get to a certain age, you have to look at your notes, not by memory, I'd like to cordially invite you all to participate in our fifth annual Juneteenth celebration to be held on June 13th, as stated before, at 2 p.m. at the Sergeant Steve Owen Memorial Park. Juneteenth is an opportunity for everyone in this country to not only observe but recognize and reflect on the history and contributions of blacks in the United States. Community partners have planned a day that will bring together a diverse group of people, unifying, understanding the black experience. We would like to thank the mayor in his absence, the Lancaster City Council, the city manager, and all the staff that have continuously supported our vision. I'm proud and grateful that for five years now, we have continued to carry on the celebration of Juneteenth as a tradition here in Lancaster. We look forward to your presence at this memorable event. The invitation has been given to you already. And before I leave, I want to acknowledge Mr. Cannon. Five years ago, when we started this whole vision, he was part of that planning process. So I do want to acknowledge him in that because we brought together minds and ideas. And for five years, we've started this and we keep it going. I do want to acknowledge him on that planning process. We look forward to you guys coming out, bring your blankets, your energy, your portable fans. We look forward to you all because it's going to be hot, but we look forward to seeing you guys out there and sharing a good time with us. Thank you.

That concludes their presentation. If you have any questions, we're here to answer them.

Well, I look forward to coming. I know I've been hearing so much about it. I haven't had a chance to come yet, but I will be there Saturday to enjoy and have a good time with you all. Ms. Patterson, is this under Parks and Rec?

It is. For the last three years, we've assisted the community partners in planning. So our team leads them through the planning process, helps them with a number of things, but they really are the minds and effort behind what you see produced for Juneteenth. Our goal is to really just uplift them, guide them, and help them obtain their vision and their goals for the event.

Well, I want to thank you for doing such a great job with Parks and Rec. We've allowed our community to grow, express themselves, and be who we are, from impact to Juneteenth. Thank you.

You're welcome, thank you. Same like Cedric, very excited to join you. And thank you for changing the date. I know. It was very difficult for me to attend when it was Father's Day this weekend, so thank you for that. Thank you for listening to the community that a lot of us, we wanted to attend, but it was very difficult, so thank you for that.

And I have to reiterate what you said. Thanks for moving that from Father's Day to, I know that in itself was challenging. Your family's pulling you different directions, so I think it's gonna be a well-attended event this year, thank you.

Thank you guys so much. I'm excited to see what is going to be all there on Saturday. Every year, you guys wow me. This subcommittee team, wow. Hats off to you guys. Thank you so much for creating more seats at the table. Yeah, that deserves a round of applause. Thank you. So I expect even bigger and better things. And I know you guys will deliver because every year I'm like, wow. So thank you so much. Can't wait to see you there. And even if it is or is not on Father's Day, my father will probably be there with me just like we've done every other year. So thank you guys. See you soon. Oh, and Cedric's on my team. The athlete's on my team. Cedric.

OK. How is the spade game?

How's your spade game?

It can get up to par five.

All right, moving on to the consent calendar. Are there any items on the consent calendar that we'd like to pull for discussion?

I have two things to note actually. Staff wants to pull from this agenda to postpone to the next one CC 10 and CC 17. And I think we also have a public announcement to play.

Okay, and then we have speaker cards on, so we're gonna pull, what did you say, Ken?

Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. The City Council encourages public participation at its meetings. However, the right of the public to address the council must be balanced with the need to ensure that public participation does not interfere with the orderly course of public business. city council follows the city's code of conduct and ethics and robert's rules of order in the conduct of its meetings and we respectfully request that all are reminded to abide by the following rules as stated on the agenda for this meeting any person who would like to address the city is requested to complete a speaker card for the city clerk please be sure to identify the agenda item you would like to discuss on your speaker card Speaker cards must be filled out and submitted prior to the agenda item being called. You will be given an opportunity to address the Council at the time the agenda item is discussed. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes unless a different time limit is announced. Speakers must cease speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. Public comment on non-agendized items is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the council. Please keep in mind that state law prohibits the council from acting on items that are not on the agenda. The public's right to address the council does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with individual council members or staff. Please remain respectful of the forum and refrain from uttering, writing or displaying profane or threatening statements towards the council, any member thereof, staff, or any other person. Any person engaging in conduct that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the council meeting. If you disrupt the meeting, you will receive one warning. If you continue to disrupt the meeting, you will be escorted out of the meeting or the meeting will be recessed. Upon reconvening, if disruptions continue, the meeting room will be cleared in accordance with the provisions of the Brown Act. We ask that you now silence your cell phones as the meeting is about to begin. Thank you for your participation.

Thank you, and then just to reiterate, so we're going to pull CC 10 and 17 and postpone those two items, is that correct, Alison?

Yes, we're postponing those to the June 23rd meeting.

Perfect, and then Councilman Mann shared we have speaker cards for CC 9 and 12, so we'll pull those as well. CC 5. CC 5. CC 11, CC 12, CC 16. OK. So we're going to pull 9, 12, 5, 11, and 16. Is there a motion and a second for approval of the consent calendar?

I'll make a motion to accept the consent calendar as so mentioned.

Well, before we start, I know I should have did this earlier. For CC16, I just wanna thank our vice mayor for tirelessly putting in the effort to make that project happen for our kids and our community. Thank you for creating a safe space for our kids.

Thank you, and I have to say, it was a team effort. We have the best staff out there, so thank you for those kudos, and right back at ya. Okay, so I have a second for the calendar as comprised with the following items being removed. 9, 12, 5, 11, 16. Ken Mann motioned. May I have a second? And 10 and 17 pulled. And 10 and 17 pulled and postponed. Yes. Second. Okay. Thank you. All right. Let's vote. The motion passes unanimously. Okay. CC5.

Good afternoon, council members. There are four items on the agenda related to annexation, so I'll cover them generally. These items are related to basically annexation-related actions that would allow a property owner to receive new utility services. One annexation was into the LA County Water Works District for water service, and three annexations were for the County Sanitation District 14 for sewer services. Before these services can be provided, state law requires that the city and the other affected agencies approve agreements determining how future property tax revenues from the annex properties will be shared with the districts providing the new service. Approval of these tax sharing resolutions is a required administrative step in the annexation process and will allow the affected properties to move forward with receiving water or sewer service.

Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions for my teammates?

Yes.

Can you clarify property owners?

Sure. The property owner is the person who is receiving the service.

Would that be the new houses being built or would that be the businesses?

For this one specifically, it's one house or one person who's asking to be annexed into to provide this service.

Okay.

Thank you. You're welcome.

All right, if there are no further questions, I'll entertain a motion.

Do you wanna, you don't wanna hear the rest and see if we can? Do it all at once? Yeah. I like that idea. That would probably be a little more streamlined.

Thank you. Okay, CC11.

I have CC9, do you wanna do that first? CC9? All right, go ahead and take it nine. Okay. That we're in order, right? For your consideration, council is the approval of an increase to the contract with Shana Mabari Studio LLC for repairs to the Astro Challenger public art installation on Avenue L and Challenger Way, bringing the total contract amount to $132,000. The artwork was damaged in a vehicle collision that occurred back in December of 2025. Because this is a unique artist design installation, the city hired the original artist and her team to complete the restoration. Additional costs were identified during the repair process for specialized fabrications, installations, lighting restoration, freight, and project coordination. This amendment will allow the repairs to be completed and restore the artwork to its original condition. Funding is available within our existing budget and the city will seek reimbursement for the repair costs related to the collision. Any questions?

Any questions for my teammates?

No.

Okay. We have a card. Can I please have Mr. Sergio Coben?

Thank you, Honorable Vice Mayor.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you. Please excuse me for giving you my back, everyone. Honorable Mayor and everyone else, honorability, I have no objection of making our city more beautiful as it is today, but can't funds also be found to repair the intersection of Avenue J and Challenger. Sometimes I do think that maybe it hasn't been repaired because people drive too fast and it may create an accident. But now if you see that intersection, it's a little bit embarrassing and it's also could create an accident because it's not well paved. And I think this is something that should have been done a long time ago. But I also realize that things don't happen with a magic wand. And I know that you guys do hard work and we appreciate that. But if you can please fix that, that will be great. We will be very grateful to our East Lancaster. I also live in Sherman Oaks, so I get confused where I'm at, but my roots are Lancaster with my home in Lancaster also. Thank you for listening.

Is that not released on the pavement plan for the upcoming 26, 27?

It is. That is actually some grant money we did for a, it's not active transportation. There's another term for it, SS something or other. SS what? Remind me, Marisa. SS for a safer street and roads.

Yes.

Yes, safer. So it's going to be repaired. And that is about, it's close to a $30 million project to pave it from all the way from Avenue L to Avenue I.

Thank you.

We look forward to that. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Thank you all.

I'll entertain a mo- Just kidding. We'll try to take it all together. All right now, CC 11.

Good afternoon again, Vice Mayor, Council Members. The item before you is to accept the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District Measure A Planning and Design Competitive Grant Award in the amount of $445,000. $200, sorry. And this project and this grant will allow us to conceptualize and finalize the design of the proposed future Avenue J Pocket Park, which is on Avenue J and 20th Street, right by that new on-ramp for the Avenue J freeway. We've already received one grant in the amount of $2.4 million, and that's about 50% of the funds we need for the entire project was estimated to be about $5 million. The competitive grant that we're awarding tonight or accepting tonight will go towards the match for that and allow us to design that part of that grant. will provide for community engagement to have the community and allow the community to inform us the amenities that they would like to see in that park. Right now the proposed park contains a playground, walking trails, fitness equipment, a native garden demonstration, picnic area with shade, trees and so on and so forth. So it's much needed new addition of open park space in our community and we are actively applying for grants for the remaining matching funds. Our goal is to have this project completely funded by grant funds so and we have until 2030 uh to complete the project and have that park built with the existing grant funds that we have today so any more future questions i'm happy to answer them questions

Thank you for letting us know that the community will be able to be involved in designing their park, right? And I'm always in favor of having more parks. I do have a question. What is the city obligation in maintaining this park and do we know how much it will cost once it's built? How much it will cost the city to maintain the park?

I don't have that number off the top of my head, but I can get that for you and provide that to you. There will be a cost to maintain in the future. I mean, it's a small 2.9 acre park with no facilities like restrooms or a substantial infrastructure. So while there will be a cost, it will be minimal compared to some of our other larger parks.

Can you define park or Westside?

Sure. So that's a term that comes from the National Recreation Parks Association. They define park poor as communities that lack just and fair access to quality parks, green spaces, recreation facilities, and NRPA measures park poverty based on the following key pillars, quantity of parks, so the amount and total acreage available parkland to our residents, and the proximity, so the physical distance, such as a 10-minute walk to a park or green space. So NRPA, their standards and what they recommend for nationwide is that park systems provide at a minimum six up to 10 acres of developed open space per 1,000 residents, or they also say a park within a 10-minute walk. The west side of Lancaster has 198 acres of parkland, which equates to three acres per 1,000 residents in the west side solely, which is far below, 50% below what is nationally recommended standard. So that's what we, how we, what park pour means is we don't have enough parks for the number of residents we have.

Thank you for the explanation.

You're welcome.

Okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And kudos again to you, Sonia, the team and all our grant writers, um, for keeping their eyes out, looking for those grants and putting in solid applications. Here for CC12? Wonderful, thank you.

Yes, ma'am. I'm glad we're spending on the parks. I have fond memories of spending summers with my grandparents and my grandmother taking us to the parks. One of my childhood treasures almost, so. CC12, we are recommending the approval of school law enforcement services agreement for school resource officer program by and between City of Lancaster Police Department and the Eastside Union School District. We also recommend authorization of the city manager or his designated city sign all documents related to the agreement and all amendments including amendments to extend the term, add additional services as desired subject to city attorney approval.

Thank you. Any questions? Comments?

Yes, two questions. Can the city confirm that the Lancaster School District will be reimbursing the city back for the officer's salary?

This is not with the Lancaster School District. This is with the Eastside Union School District.

Eastside Union School District. Eastside.

Yes.

That's what she said. That's what I said? That's what I thought. Let me drink more Starbucks. That's what I thought.

Yes, and the costs are outlined in the last page of the public document.

Any follow-up questions?

Just to confirm, this is just a contract that the Eastside School District is paying for that resource officer, is that correct?

That's correct. These contracts, the way they work is there's an established cost for the officer. The district determines what the need is or what they feel the need is and how much they want to contract for, how many hours, how many officers, that sort of thing, and then they do pay for that.

Okay, I have a second question. I'm always forward with having resource officers in the school. You know, I had two girls at Courts Hill High School, so I always want to make sure when I drop my girls at school they're safe and there's someone there they could talk to. But my second question will be, Well, the Eastside School District and the Lancaster Police Department will be working together to make sure that we are finding or pairing the right officer to that school or with the district.

Absolutely. The police department does not want to place the wrong person into that position. The chief has worked very hard to staff our entire department with just the right people. And this is no different. We want just the right person for that position. but then also the district does have input into that. We meet monthly with the district to make sure things are going as planned, to make sure that the personalities are working out, to make sure that the resource is being met with the expectations.

Thank you. I have met all the officers. They're amazing. We just want to make sure that we're just connecting and making sure that we're placing the right officer for that particular school.

Absolutely. Yeah, I want to thank you and the Chief for actually hiring great officers with great temperament to continue the community policing that you're doing here within Lancaster. I see the effects of it, and we have faith in you that you'll place an officer with the right temperament to be in the school district. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yeah, 100% agree.

No questions. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right, we have a speaker card, Mr. Sean Cannon.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and Council.

I always love meetings like this because my face hurts because I'm always smiling about the great things that our city is doing. I'm Sean Cannon II, a Deputy Mayor, a Representative for Trusty Area 2 of the Eastside Union School District, but I'm here speaking on behalf of myself and my most important role, and that's an Eastside parent. And I'm also a PTA member too, so dads, join your PTA, okay? Years ago, community stakeholders gathered at the LPAC to launch the council's vision for a hybrid policing model. And years later, we have turned our public safety department into a true community police force under the leadership of Chief Armland and his team. Not only are Eastside parents and students benefiting now from safer campuses, but from a safer community overall. With contracts like these, we have an opportunity to bring more of our youth aboard this public safety journey and for them to see firsthand what the LPD has to offer them. Because of the time that was taken to truly connect with the community and build this department with them, many parents already know what the PD is all about. For those who don't know, well, now you know. We thank you. We look forward to these SROs on our campuses and we're not done yet. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And I just also want to highlight and thank Chief and Assistant Chief for their thoughtful approach in what community policing looks like, whether that be having community members come and be part of the selection panel. I think when you do things together collaboratively, you seek input for those who are called to serve. Um, we can't help, but get a better product. And I think that's why we have such phenomenal teammates on our LPD team. And the fact that we have an officer who's going to be boots on ground with our students, that's where the relationship, the trust forms. So thank you everyone involved. Thank you to board of trustee cannon for being here and just echoing, um, on behalf of yourself as a parent. Thank you. All right. CC 16.

Assistant Manager Gary Jones will provide the presentation.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council. I'm going to go through some talking notes here about replacing the flooring over at Sergeant Steve Owen Park. We're looking to replace 13,900 square feet of pour and play safety surfacing and artificial turf. It has all been vandalized and the amount of wear and tear that it goes through every day because of how popular it is. It's basically to the point where it needs to be taken care of. That playground was renovated in 2020. Since that was done, the flooring there has been a reoccurring maintenance concern. We've gone through repairs with contractors. We've done it in-house. We've even tried special designs to try to make it fit in, but it doesn't hold up at all. About two years in from it being renovated, we had about half of it totally replaced, under warranty, and it still is a safety hazard. To extend the life of it, we've tried different techniques, and they still haven't worked. We're looking to, Sorry, here, I'm just reading through my notes. We've used the same company that we're proposing now at Raleigh-Donnelly Park, and it's held up really well. It's about a three to four week project once the contractor gets mobilized. The new flooring, the pour-and-play surfacing, which is the rubberized coating, that warranty will be about five years, and the artificial turf that's going in that area will be an eight year warranty. Hopefully that'll, and then along with our staff inspections, we're hoping that we'll be able to make it last a lot longer than what's currently there. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Thank you. Questions?

Thank you for that presentation. And thank you for replacing the surface. I know we were there, Cedric and I, several times in that park. Very well attended, especially for Monday Night Bites. So thank you for that. I have a question. Can the staff also give us an update on the condition of the slides and the other equipment in that park?

So the slides are currently on order. We've been told it's a three-week lead time from what we were told last week. We worked trying to get the slides repaired previously, but the manufacturer sent us the wrong tubes. So it was supposed to be a straight tube, and they sent us a curved. So they should have been repaired a month ago. But we were told about three weeks out, and then we'll have a contractor install them since it's so far up in the air.

Thank you for that. My second question, the company that you mentioned, we have worked with them before.

Yes.

And how was their performance?

They've done a really good job. Raleigh-Dunley Park was one of the playgrounds we've used them on. We've also had them do the hard court servicing at Owen Park. They did all the tennis courts, pickleball courts. So they do a wide range of different parks projects.

Thank you. One recommendation, if we could just make sure we are posting on social media, putting maybe some signs so the committee knows that this is a project. And thank you for letting us know. And it will take about three to four weeks, and then you'll have an amazing playground again. Absolutely. Thank you, sir.

It's heavily used.

Thank you. Just something quick. I know it's not on the agenda, but if we could also have a conversation in the future about the tennis court.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you.

Have a great day. Sorry. Do you have any questions, Ken? no i'm as a mom with small kiddos i understand the pressure of my fellow parents out there when you bring them to a park and the kids can't go do their favorite thing but it brings me joy to hear that this park is getting so much use and i can't thank the whole team all of us staff included that at the end of the day we're putting their safety first because like chris mentioned and sonia and i know my other teammates we have fond memories at our parks So I would hate to make anything but a pleasant memory for our kids. So thank you so much for the care, the concern, the follow-up with our partners. Thank you to you.

You're welcome.

All right.

Appreciate it. Awesome. Thank you.

Okay. So that rounds us out. I think we should be able to do it. Can I have a motion for CC 9, 12, 5, 11, and 16?

You don't want to take everything but 10 and 17? You don't want to take the whole consent calendar?

We already did that, but now I just need to do 9, 12, 5, 11, and 16. Correct me if I'm wrong, Allison. I think you got it.

Okay. Okay.

Don't confuse me. Sabotage.

So moved as stated. Second.

Awesome. Let's vote. He's always quizzing me. All right, that's four yes votes.

So carried.

So carried. Okay, moving on to joint public hearing item number one. The public hearing is now open. We will have a staff report regarding this item from our city manager, Trelease Niebla, George Harris, our Senior Director, Admin Services, and Larissa De La Cruz, our Assistant City Manager.

Well, thank you. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council. It's with great honor and pleasure that we get to stand before you today. I have Larissa de la Cruz, our Assistant City Manager joining me and George Harris, he has a lot of hats, but today he's wearing his Chief Financial Officer hat. Some people look forward to Christmas, George looks forward to Budget Day, I promise you that. I just wanted to thank this council, really for your leadership, your guidance, letting us know what the priorities are, constantly communicating with us. It goes a long way with us building this fabulous budget that is very physically sound. The other thing I wanted to touch on is just thanking the community. We'll hit on that a little bit more, but we really appreciated their involvement, letting us know what the priorities were. and really building those into this year's budget and making sure we're doing more of what they want especially given the fact that over the last five or six years they've entrusted us in a couple of different sales tax measures knowing that there were priorities we needed to work on we needed to keep our money locally those got approved and that's exactly what we're doing and that's exactly what we're going to show as we go through this presentation so overall The budget is a $357 million budget. Of that budget, 147 million is what we call general fund. So those are the monies that don't have a lot of restrictions and the council, the community, us as staff, we can determine how those monies are best spent in our city. The other monies above and beyond that, those are typically restricted funds, so they're very specific and they have a very specific use type on those. I'm happy to report we have a 40% general fund reserve. That is through the leadership of this council. This is not the first year. I believe this is either the fourth or the fifth year that we've had that high of a reserve. And what that means is that we're being good stewards of the public funding and that if we are to experience any economic downturn or something that comes up unknown over the next few years, we will be able to weather that storm without any impact to the level of service that we're providing. applying to this community. So thank you again for your leadership on that. So before we jump ahead, I wanna do this very backwards retro rewind of what did we accomplish with last year's budget? And then Larissa will come up and she'll take us into the future. So this last year, and these are my people, Public Works, you all know that I was the city engineer for a time and I worked down there. And these are the people that if they're doing their job well, we don't often see them if the toilet is flushing and then the city's not flooding and the roads are paved nobody talks about public works but today we're going to celebrate them this past year they did 47.4 million dollars in safety and capital improvements um specifically and kind of the big project that they accomplished this year is the avenue j interchange that's up that's opened although i think caltrans decided to close it like a day after we opened it you gotta love them but It's there. It's looking beautiful. There was some comments in the community about some of that lamp form rockscaping we did where the weeds were growing. That's a construction defect. Our team and Marisa's public works team is working through that. We're coming up with a plan with the contractor so that will get repaired. We definitely don't want to leave our new stuff looking like that. It needs to look new for a long, long time. We also had an impact on 12,000 students this year through our Safe Routes to School program, so ensuring that those kids can get to school safety. And then the other thing they worked on, and they were a big integral part, it was led through the city manager's office, but Public Works provided a big resource, was our Love Your City cleanup events. So we did four of those events this year. You saw it in the Impact Kids presentation. We had a lot of volunteers. We cleaned up 195 tons of trash and unwanted stuff. we did 6.9 million square feet of vacant property cleanups. That's pretty unheard of. We impacted 2,919 homes and helped those homeowners clean up their property. And most importantly, we had 1,714 volunteers. So those were people that wanted to get involved in their community and make their community a cleaner, a nicer place to live and really quite frankly create a sense of community. So hats off to those volunteers. We have a couple more events coming. I think the next one is in October and then there won't be one until the spring of next year. We also implemented a new AI sewer inspection program, which is streamlining how quickly we can inspect sewers, and therefore we can get them and keep them cleaner faster. The last thing I'll touch on for Public Works is we did win an award for the municipal stadium remodel. It was the project of the year for APWA, and that is now the home of our own AV Alta. The police department. I don't know what I can say here, but other than just what a year for them. This was the first year, and they're not even completely built out, so there's going to be more to come, but it was the first year they were really able to operate. They started having the sworn officers. We had implemented all the technology so we're tied in with the cameras, the traffic signal cameras. We have ShotSpotter. We have the drones, and those are not just the drones that the pilot can fly out of the truck, but we have three strategically located throughout the city. Our Intelligent Crime Center is now up and running. It is the envy of the North County. We had a couple of the other North County cities over to visit that and come check out what are we doing to solve crime. What this leads to is we have an over 90% solve rate on our homicides in this city. The county average is in the low 40%, so we solve our crimes at about two times higher rate than other communities in this county. Hats off to the PD there. We also started traffic enforcement. We've got five motors out there now doing motor patrol with two more on the way. What that meant is in the first quarter of this year, citations were up 150%. And collisions were down 22 percent or over 22 percent, actually. So that is working. We are making this community safer. We are making this a safer place for us to drive our kids around to baseball practice and different things of that nature. We did a number of joint operations and special operations. They hit the smoke shops last fall. We have done a couple of prostitution operations on Sierra Highway, the DUI checkpoints. We've been working vigorously, I'd say, on a couple of hotspot areas, I and 10th Street West. Kay and Challenger, I know a community member came out at one of the last council meetings and actually expressed concern over that area. That is one of the areas we're hitting. You just approved a contract for the SROs in Eastside School District. We've had two the last year working in the Westside School District, and I hear nothing but praise from the superintendent and from the good things that those officers are doing in that school district. On a personal note, my kids go there, so it makes me feel safer as a dad having those officers in there. And then we've built out and we have two homeless engagement teams that go out daily engaging the homeless and attempting to get them the services that they need so that they can get out of those conditions and then we can make our city a better place. Hats off to that team. I think it was either last week or the week before, On one of their engagement days, they went out and it was a record for them. They had nine different individuals accept a bed and take services to get help. So that was a phenomenal day for them. But most importantly, crime. If you look at what this team did with their operation in 2025 versus 2024, in partnership with the LA County Sheriff, we were able to drive crime down 15% that year. And that was just the beginning. If you look at the first four months of this year, which are up there for 26, and you compare them to 25, they're down even further. we're on track to be over 30% down in a two year period in part one crimes in this city. That is a huge impact. And I wanted to take a moment really to thank the community for that, because it was those tax measures that they approved that gave us the resources that we needed to build out this police department and really start attacking the crime rate in this community. So thank you community. Thank you for entrusting in us. That budget is now 60 million that we do spend on public safety. It is money well spent. The proof is in the data and Larissa is going to come up in a minute and share some more news about the PD, but what we're doing next year is only going to further our presence in the community and make it so that we continue to see these numbers plummet and drop off the radar. There's still a lot more work to be done. We're not done yet. We're still coming and that's what Larissa will share. Now, let's switch gears to our parks team. When I got this slide, they gave me a bunch of notes to speak on and it was like two pages of notes. The parks team is super busy. You guys have been praising Sonia and her team all day and now I see why because they're everywhere. I'm going to cut some stuff down. If I missed something important, Sonia, don't get upset. I did want to hit on because there has been this narrative in the community that we are not maintaining our facilities, we are not maintaining the parks. We are. We were behind, but now that the community has entrusted us in all this new sales tax money, we're working on it. If you look at just back at the last three or four years, we've redone Sky Tower Park. We've redone Mary Posa Park. We've redone Raleigh-Dunley Park. We're working on Samaritan's Purse Park right now. You can go drive by it. It's over on Fifth Street East, and you'll see it, the contractors out there working. We invested $4.6 million last year alone in just facility and park improvements. We are investing in that. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect. You saw that our floor at the playground at Owens Memorial was falling apart. However, we were really behind and we're just now getting caught up. Then normal wear and tear and sometimes different vendors don't give us the best flooring or equipment and it falls apart and we got to go back out there and redo it just like it owns more of, but we are working on it and it is a priority. Public art. Public art is another priority. If you look around this town now, you will see murals all over. There's more to come next year as well. Programming. So we've got senior programming, aquatics programming, tons of special events. Now, I think this is one of the most important things that Parks did. Last year, they had 116,891 people partake in an event or a program or a class that they offered. That's over 70% of our residents that we touched and we helped out. So good job, Sonia. Another thing I wanted to touch on real quick, and we're just seeing the beginnings of this, and some of the newer facilities that will be coming online will allow more of this, but sports tourism. So we've been working on bringing soccer tournaments and softball tournaments to the city. We had a few of those this year. The three or four that we had this year were a $12 million impact to us in restaurant sales, hotel stays, all the things that tourism brings to the city. So next year we'll have the new event center over at the fairgrounds open up. That'll give us more opportunity to have more tournaments, more events, and we'll see more of that. And then at some point when the Aquatic Center comes online as well, you will see more tourism to the region, but definitely a priority. Great for hotels, great for small business, great for our local residents, so now they don't have to drive 150 miles for their kid to go play at the latest tournament. Economic development, another priority of ours. Their mission is to provide opportunities and prepare Lancaster for long-term growth, and that's exactly what they did. This past year, we did over $400,000 in grants for both vandalism, and restoration of local businesses. I think they had the opportunity to impact many small local businesses. We had that shop drive earn program last year, which was a rebate if you were a Lancaster resident and you bought a car here locally at our auto mall. We had about 400 residents take advantage of that program. And then big thing we did was start recruiting new businesses. North Point has been a great partner. They've got over seven million square feet of industrial improved kind of north of the city. They've started to build facilities. They brought in a company called Wally's who is now up and running. I think that was 300 to 400 jobs. Jensen Precast broke ground probably a month, month and a half ago on their grading for their new manufacturing facility. We've been in meetings with, I think, three different Fortune 500 companies that are looking at Lancaster. All this to say, over the next three to five years, we will see probably 3,000 to 5,000 new jobs in this region, and these are mortgage-paying jobs. and it will bring people who have to commute down the hill now they can get a job locally they're not spending time getting road therapy instead they can go coach their their kids baseball teams or softball teams and be more active in our community and start giving back to us so that's a huge priority of this city let's see community development with all of that development and growth They're busy. Our planning department last year did 379 planning cases. We did 2,265 building permits and 283 certificate of occupancy. So that's new residences that were built. So we're one of the few cities in LA County that's still growing. I like to call us the Texas of LA County, actually. There's no reason to leave the state if you're a business owner. You just come here and you see how Lancaster from the top to the bottom treats you and gets your business approved in a quick manner. They worked on the vacant property ordinance this year. That was an ordinance that allowed us to have a little more teeth on some of our vacant commercial properties and ensure that if it is vacant, they're maintaining it. They're not allowing you to get graffiti on it. They're not maintaining the landscaping, but that those are not becoming blight in our community. We're working now on the Mart ordinance. We just had a workshop last week. Those are it's an ordinance to retroactively some of the grandfathered businesses on the massage recycling centers, tobacco and alcohol uses will have to come in and get up to current standards. they have a certain time to do that but what this will ensure is that we have more control on those businesses so that they are following all the rules that everybody else has to play by and not selling things to our miners that they quite frankly shouldn't be doing we started the yard smart program to help people with their different yards that can't necessarily afford it so they may have an issue with their front lawn they can't maintain it well we actually have a grant program now to go help them so rather than just doing a code enforcement case on an individual we'll come out we'll assess it you fill out an application and we give you a grant to redo your front yard and then we did win for the second time a skag award for being a very housing friendly community and pro pro-residential Let's see here. City Manager's Office. Our primary priority this year or last year was our people. We were investing in our staff. We're succession planning. We're building them up. We graduated our first leadership academy cohort. They graduated in December. They had a celebration actually here in the council chambers. It was a great night. I'm happy to say that the second cohort started I think a couple months back. They're either in session four or five, and so we're looking forward to graduating them. Like I said earlier, we did lead that Love Your City effort and help beautify the city. We focused on innovation. We've implemented 12 different AI systems, which streamline a bunch of different processes that we have to do. I like to call AI the force multiplier. It takes one employee and makes them four employees. So now we can get a heck of a lot more done with it. And then we did just wrap up and we will be bringing them forward at the next council meeting two union mous so both with our police officer association and our teamsters union and those were great conversations and i think they're very good contracts that we're going to have with them going forward over the next four years Then the last thing that I'll hit on was this budget workshop. We did this on May 11th over at the ELPAC. We opened up those front doors. Some of you were there and had the opportunity to attend. We had over 150 people from the community come out and provide their input. We also did a community survey where we had about 145 responses. What it told us is what people care about, roads and infrastructure, public safety, homelessness and economic development. That's exactly how we built this budget. It aligns with this council's priorities and that's where we're going. With that, I'll bring Larissa up and she's going to zoom us off into the future. I think lightspeed ahead. Larissa, let's go.

Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon. This is the Space Mountain slide. Just imagine you're at Disneyland and you're about to go on a ride. As Charlize just mentioned, a huge thank you to the community for their participation in our budget workshop. A huge thank you to the council for your vision and for your continued guidance into our priorities here. As we saw previously, one of the major priorities for this year is pavement, pavement, pavement, pavement. There's quite a bit of an investment that will be going into our streets, our roads, our road maintenance. Specifically in the coming year, we're allocating $1.7 million, $1.788 million that will go specifically into the hiring of four new asphalt maintenance workers as well as the purchase of a new pothole truck and a new pavement attachment. In addition to that, there's a new paver that will be purchased that will be coming to council I want to emphasize this is in addition to all of the projects that are already happening and there's even more paving that will happen as you'll start to see in the coming agendas and your coming meetings. There's a significant investment that's going into our roads and it completely aligns with the priorities that the community has shared with us. Also, in addition to pavement, the Public Works team will also be working on incorporating more AI technologies. You just heard Trolleys talking about AI and the efficiencies. We'll start to see more AI technologies into traffic management. We'll be using AI to improve signal timing systems, as well as other roadway management technologies that are available that will help improve the flow of our traffic. The team will also increase the graffiti crew with one new maintenance worker position that will further maintain our city clean and free of graffiti. And it's really important to maintain our city clear of graffiti. And as you can see, this is quite a bit of an investment in public works. In addition to what you already heard, we will continue all of the priorities that you already heard from the prior year. And these are just some new highlights in the road or in the not the road ahead. I'm reading the road ahead and the year ahead. And the total budget would be a 42 million budget for the Public Works Department. Also, as you already heard, police department. I want to clarify, there's several numbers that are thrown out of the police budget and what the police budget really is. The total budget for public safety is $60 million. The way that that's broken down, as you can see in the upper right, is Lancaster Police Department is a $24.7 million budget. The LA County Sheriff's Department has a $29.6 million budget and there's an animal control budget as well for 6.5 for a total of 60 million. I just wanted to clarify that it is not 60 million specifically to LPD, but rather 24.7 for LPD and the rest are contracts with LA County, not the city. Over the next year, we will be transitioning our traffic enforcement division from LA County Sheriffs to Lancaster Police. That will include the hiring of four traffic sergeants, 12 traffic officers, operation sergeant. We will also be hiring dispatchers. This is August 1st when we will have that change. You will see much more motor visibility in the streets. much more safety operations. Really, we believe this will completely transform our streets, more visibility, reduce speeds, reduce collisions, and overall safety in our traffic and movement of our vehicles. Also in the police department, the core homeless team will be expanded with two new homeless engagement officers. This year, we're also looking to launch the Youth Activities League and hire the team for that. As you know, this program will aim to keep kids safe, build character, and foster those positive relationships between our teams and the youth. You already heard the expansion of the SROs. We're excited to fully implement the expansion with the school district, with Eastside and Lancaster. Overall, you'll see there's a significant incorporation of the youth and those relationships between our police department and the youth in our community. Quality of life, Sonia's team. Sonia gets to do even more. The priorities that we will be launching this coming year is our parks master plan, the adoption of our parks master plan. That really will include the results of community feedback, stakeholder feedback. There were interviews and there was quite a bit of outreach into what's important in the community from parks and programming. We'll see that come to fruition. We'll see that come to you, Council, for the adoption. Really looking forward to that. We're also increasing our senior programs, even more fitness, technology, AI programs, summer programs, movers and shakers, bingo, AV boomers. I was hoping Fran was here because there's also dancing. Really excited to get our seniors out in the community moving and really focusing on what's available to them. Our youth program will also be increasing with Project Stride. Project Stride will launch that is really putting an emphasis on enhancing literacy, on enhancing our attendance within our schools. We will also be incorporating Taekwondo at certain schools where children can learn to master those skills, set goals that will ultimately help them mentally and physically and really instill that discipline from Taekwondo. As you just approved in one of your consent items, we'll be moving forward with the park at Avenue J and the continued design phase for that. Lastly, the city will be celebrating 250 years of America with events that are starting on June 29th through July 5th. We will also be gearing up for the city's 50th birthday with FIFA watch parties among other great activities. Yes, that was a shameless plug. We will be bringing more information to the council on all of those events that are coming this summer. Lots, lots to do in the community over the next several months. Community development, it's near and dear to my heart as well. Charlize is a former city engineer, I'm the former community development director, but we love all of our children equally, just want to make sure we say that. We will continue with all of those initiatives that will focus around community development, improving our neighborhoods, expanding those housing opportunities, customer service, expanding that customer service experience with folks coming to our counter, streamlining our process, and working on all things related to the permit approval process. Some of those efforts to highlight are the Yard Smart program, as we already heard. We will continue with that program that will highlight those target areas instead of code enforcement cases. We want to provide that assistance to those members of our community that need some little extra help in their neighborhoods. We'll be strengthening enforcement of vacant properties, expanding housing assistance programs and those partnerships that promote those opportunities. We'll also continue to leverage our technology that improves our efficiency with software, automated permitting, again, the streamlining of the development process. We'll continue with that. We're also updating our municipal code. As Charlize mentioned, we just had our first workshop for the MART program that will be coming to the council in a couple of months. Again, just greater clarity, more effectiveness in our process. We'll be investing in beautification, improving our LMDs and all of those beautification efforts that really just enhance that safety and community pride. In the City Manager's Office, which includes economic development, emergency management, and those special projects we shared, we'll be launching a series of new programs that will be community focused. We'll be looking to start a facade program that will help small businesses that are in need of some facade repairs. We are also looking at a commuter fuel assistance program with the cost of gas prices and our commuters in our community will be looking to launch a program that will provide some assistance at that level. We'll also be enhancing and increasing our communications and marketing to really promote and further promote our city events, our operations, our programs, really get the community in the know even more so. Lastly, and selfishly, I will be kicking off our Lancaster Resident Ambassador Academy. That's the first of its kind for the City of Lancaster. We've never done that before. Really excited to launch that. I'm personally, again, selfishly spearheading that and so we're looking forward to kicking that off. It'll give an opportunity, residents an opportunity to really engage, come and meet the city, come and meet the city partners and understand how the city is ran, how the functions of the city are done. It's about 20 people will be selected to participate. Really looking forward to that. Really exciting times. Again, we will continue our operations and we'll continue to work on all these priorities in the year ahead. The next part of our presentation is the numbers, the really good stuff and how we pay for everything. I'll turn it over to George. Thank you.

All right. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. First of all, I want to say how much fun I had at the workshop that we did over at ELPAC. Like Trillie said, this is my Christmas. And so it's really hard to get people excited about the budget. And so much so, I got to say that there's some people that showed up at the workshop. They're actually here for the council meeting tonight. I did not invite them. They have chosen to be more engaged. And I appreciate it. I just happened to notice that they were here. So thank you again for being here. Let me switch my slides. The budget process takes about three to four months to get us to this point of being able to present it to you. A lot of folks are involved, namely the departments, the budget managers, the department heads in each department are going to take part. More importantly, I have somebody in my department who spearheads the gathering of all that information. Before I get to the end, I want to thank Gianna Pena for doing that and having that effort in my department. Thank you, Gianna. It's really easy to say since I've been here the last six years that we are presenting to you tonight a balanced budget. By balanced budget, I mean that we have gotten to the point and we don't come by that easy. There's a lot of horse trading involved. There's a lot of, I have to be the bad guy. I have to say no. I have to say, hey, we don't have enough to do all of these things. We only have enough to do these things. For us to be able to actually show you what's in front of you today, the vast majority of things we are able to accomplish. There's even more that we wanted to do that we couldn't do just because of financial constraints. And so those decisions are made every year. And we are thankful to the residents for supporting measures LC and YM. Without those two measures, this list would be significantly shorter. And as we look prospectively into the next few years, there's a lot of things that we took off that we will be able to add later because of how we implemented Measure YM. In general, balanced budget, again, the new officers for the patrol service, well, public safety department, that's going to be our traffic team. The financial strategy for the Chris Aquatic Center is going to be a priority in my office as we look at how we're going to finance that and then partner. Just so most people don't know, we're not going into that project alone financially. We do have a partnership, 50-50 partnership with the high school district and I don't know. Charlie was still here. I think he left. But there was a strong effort on the school district part to drive that project home as well. So their participation is 50%. So I just want to remind people that. We have been able to accomplish a lot of our most major projects in the last couple of years because of these partnerships. This is not just all city Lancaster tax money. It's a coordination with the other agencies as well. implement and fund a variety of technology projects. So Measure LC, Measure YM has helped with that. And then we have some energy incentive programs, which is a lot of the solar projects that you see popping up, as well as the launch of our first, and I believe just this past week, they were able to launch the solar project over at Bravery Brewery. And then we're working on the risk management initiatives, which looking at how we handle risk management. Is it smart the way we have been doing it? Has it been too costly? Can we become more efficient? We're looking at every little detail where we can squeeze funds out of to make them available for these projects that we had to really pull off of the rack. And so we're trying to find a way to make sure we can afford everything that this community is looking for. And then Turley's talked about the labor negotiations and then the compensation analysis. We'll talk a little bit about that in a few slides. The total budget, $300 million for all of the funds combined, bringing in 323 million. We'll be back in October to discuss the capital project, which is going to actually shore up the spending through the end of the fiscal year, utilize any savings from that, and then put those right back into new projects. The general fund, $147 million in revenue, combining 141 in direct expenditures to the general fund, and then supporting $5.5 million in spending in the other funds, not the general fund. So that transfer out, that net transfer out is the general fund supporting some of the other funds. And then we talked about reserves. So all that we were able to do, we're doing it on only a 2.7 net growth in revenues. So 2.7% net growth in revenues. And so we were able to, one, be really, really creative with the funds that we have, and two, we really looked at a lot of one-time items, and we did that intentionally. So a couple years ago, we knew that we had union contracts coming up. We knew that we were going to have to do something with the class and comp. We knew we're going to have to do those things. What we did two years ago when Measure YM was approved is we made sure that we didn't spend all that money on ongoing operational spending to where it would not have allowed us to do the things we needed to do this year. There was a lot of one-time projects that were added to fill that gap, but still take care of a short list of items that we knew we had to take care of. Then we knew that we could squeeze those to take care of these long-term operational obligations. There was some strategy that was put into this budget along with every other year, and it's all going according to plan. We talked about our reserves at 40 percent reserves. That's probably a stronger percentage, as you will see in the community. We often get congratulated by having strong reserves. In order for us to get affordable financing for our projects, i.e. the event center, i.e. a lot of the parks fencing and stuff that we financed, and then the aquatic center ultimately this next year, we want to show strong reserves. They want a showing of strong reserves against our policy that we've created, is a credit to our overall financial management and responsibility for the stewardship of these funds. And so what we've seen over the last couple years, although we were surplus reserves in those earlier years, those were excess projects, one-time projects that we took care of, Now we're coming down to where the reserves were met. The reserve requirement was met in 24-25, and then we're starting to grow as Measure YM has come in. It's actually increased our reserve requirement because that's a new revenue, and as the reserves are a percentage of that revenue, we're starting to build our way up to meeting that reserve requirement. Again, this reserve policy that we adopted back in 21-22, you've seen it many, many times. We're going to flip through that. From a staffing standpoint, at the conclusion of the budget process as well as the classification and compensation study, we are adding 14 positions this year, and most of those positions are being added as a result of some stuff that you've already heard about today. The two LPD positions are as a result of the SRO program that's being added. The eight public works positions are all added as a result of the survey results, and the street maintenance, the graffiti, all those things, we're putting our money where and making sure that we add only when we need to in those areas that are important. We did perform the classification and compensation study this year. In results, we compared ourselves to what I believe the market is and the union agreed. Our market for attracting talent is generally from these three cities, I believe. We have been successful in getting them from other areas, but primarily we're getting folks from the city of Palmdale, Santa Clarita, and Victorville. This is not a plug to say we're going after their people intentionally, but if it happens, it happens. That's all I've got to say. We've been successful. When you actually interview our newest hires, there's some common names where they are actually being attracted from. Then for our sworn officers, the Sheriff Department, CHP, cities of Tehachapi, Bakersfield, and Sierra Madre were all tested as far as comparisons. The majority of our positions were deemed competitive when the analysis was done. We did find that we had some missing titles and a couple of things that we had to do there. Our medical package is highly competitive in that we do cover the cost of medical for the employee and family at the HMO price. A lot of people will have a cap on what they provide for that benefit. We offer a full package. And then we looked at, most importantly, was upward mobility. When we looked at our actual, the classification model, and somebody can come here, start, as a part-timer or start as an impact kid and work their way up to city manager one day via a variety of paths, right? And so we just have two examples where Trolease was in engineering, Larissa was in planning, and very likely your next city manager can come from parks, PD, finance, and we've created a path from the entry level to that point that they can do that. And so that's important to make sure, that was important for me to make sure that that got put in there. We did complete the bargaining for our Teamsters Union and our Police Officers Union, our first contract with our police officers, so that was fun. I did appreciate their feedback and their focus on making the role attractive. In addition to looking at benefits for themselves, and I'm not just saying that because a few are in the room, but they really, really wanted to hone in on making sure that the package we were offering was competitive and attractive to those other cities so that we can staff up this organization with quality personnel. Getting into measure, every year I do this measure LCYM presentation. This year is no different, but this year I did want to highlight an analysis that was conducted because people are really confusing the sales tax versus total tax. And I wanted to make sure that we took the time to compare. So yes, we have one of the highest sales taxes in the nation. Let's call it what it is. At the same time, it's not us. If measure ER gets approved and right now it's leading, that's going to add another half cent sales tax to our city that'll be spent primarily down the hill. I have a slide that we'll talk about in a little bit to show why it was necessary for us to do what we did. We conducted analysis of all the 88 cities in this county of Los Angeles. We added up the total amount of tax received in revenue for those cities, all the different taxes, not just sales tax. We look at a property tax, property transfer tax, property tax in lieu of VLF, sales tax, special taxes, utility users tax, which is a tax that they put on all utilities in some of these communities. You add up all of those taxes, some of those we have, some of those we really don't. We don't have a utility tax here. and you divide that by the population to normalize it across the cities, and you come up with $1,000 on average every city in LA County is collecting per capita. Even with Measure LC and YM included in our tax portfolio, we are still only collecting $616 per capita in our city. receiving less revenue per capita in the county, and that's with Measure LC-NYM. I'm not here to suggest we do any more, but I'm saying we are grateful for the community for supporting those measures, and that is just making it more competitive or more, accommodating for us to be able to fund the same things that all of the cities in la county have to fund we don't pay a different price for our sheriff officers our sheriff contract than those other cities down the hill that are making that are collecting the thousand dollars per and above we don't We pay the same. Road maintenance and repair, we're paying the same. Labor, generally, we just did a classification compensation study, we're generally paying the same. Utility costs, animal control, all of these things are cost elements that we are paying the same as the rest of those cities in LA County, but we are doing it with less money. We had to do something to be able to compete and continue safe service levels. I'll move on from there. This is a breakdown of the sales tax in Lancaster. I thought this was educational for a lot of folks because there are some assumptions that the whole 11.25 is City of Lancaster and that is very not true. If we did nothing, the state would be collecting 7.25. True, of that 7.25, the city does receive 1%, so we do get 1% of that 7.25 in our normal sales tax. If we did not take a measure, we would get that money. All cities in the state of California get that money. LA County, and this is before Measure ER that is leading in the ballot right now, LA County has added another 2.5 to the 7.25. Below that is our allocation of what we get from those revenues that are collected countywide. Think about it like this community, if you get $7 million, if we produce $7 million for every quarter cent of sales tax that's collected in town, we'll use, let's just use measure R right there in the middle as an example. So if $7 million for every 0.25 is collected per the transactions that take place in Lancaster, the county collects $14 million out of our community, of which they return through an allocation to us, 2.895 million. So they get 14, our share of that that's collected, this is the share that's collected in Lancaster, is 2.9. When we started looking at, hold on, the county will add these taxes at will. Well, not at will, they do it by voter initiative no different than anyone else. What they end up returning back to the Antelope Valley is pennies on the dollar compared to what they collect and spend down the hill. We found it very helpful that the community understood that and supported measures LC and YM. By comparison, you look at the taxes that we collect, the 1.5 at the top, Measure LC brings in is a 0.75. It brings in about three times that 7 million at 22.5 this year, same with Measure YM. Of what's collected for the City of Lancaster measures is spent 100% right here in the City of Lancaster and not anywhere else. That's the point that we're making. That's the reason why we did that. Thank you, community. It's not an insignificant amount of money to our budget. When you add up just those three items of what's collected on that sales tax bill, Measure LC, Measure YM, and the general sales tax that we get from the state that they kicked down to us, that represents almost half of our general fund. This is not an insignificant amount of money to us and we're still, I think, below what the county average is even after collecting those. And what do we do with it? Well, in this particular budget, we've talked a lot about what is planned, and this is just a summary of that. So the Public Safety Lancaster Police Department, there would be no Public Safety Lancaster Police Department had we not received measure LCAYM. That was a book. that proposed creating a hybrid policing model that sat on the shelf for three to four years, and we weren't able to do anything with it. Now we see the benefits of it. We weren't able to see or do anything about the wisdom that was in that binder until we collected the money to be able to fund it. The Paris Convention Center, we've talked about that. ELPAC improvements, we've been able to revitalize ELPAC and get shows going there with the use of these funds. The new community center that was built on the east side, same, that would not be open and available without these funds. The illegal dumping, street road maintenance, all the citywide technology and the AI technology that we've been purchasing to, what do you call it, Trillies? Force multiplier. Yeah, force multiplier. We wouldn't be able to do any of that without the funding. Then community preservation. We have launched more code enforcement efforts, I think, over the last three years than we have, I think, in history of this community because of what we've been able to do or because of receiving that revenue. Then animal control, I really want to talk about. animal control contracts, that $2.8 million that you see being funded, that is just the increase in the charges by the county over the last two years. That just represents two years of increases that had we not had the Measure LC, Measure YM funding, I don't know what we would have been able to tell the county when they sent us that invoice. We would not have been prepared to pay those invoices. Then the citywide facilities and maintenance effort, which you see throughout our presentation. These are just visual representations of all those wonderful things that we've been talking about this whole presentation. And I leave it open for questions. And we're all available, I'm sure, to answer questions.

Great presentation. I learned a lot from it. Thank you.

Thank you. Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time. As we are new, we had a lot of questions. There was a lot of follow-up emails. My emails were long, and so I just wanted to say thank you, but I appreciate it because I actually read the whole budget, and you answered all my questions, and we stay here until like 8 o'clock p.m., and so I just wanted to say, again, thank you. I do have a question for you. What are the biggest changes in this year's budget that the residents should know?

I think it really revolves around that feedback we got from the community and hearing what their priorities are. So I would say the biggest changes you're gonna see are the pavement and the commitment to making sure that our roads are smooth, especially within the core of the city. We are purchasing about a $375,000 paver so that that crew that you saw that we were adding, those, I don't know, five or six bodies for the paving crew, they can go out and they can do minor repair work instead of just filling potholes all the time too. So that's the first. The PD is the second. I don't think I need to say anything more about the PD, but that continued investment into the PD. Homeless and those two officers for the homeless teams. We were just on a call yesterday too with the county and we're trying to bring in a mental health evaluator to help out our teams too so that we have somebody who can respond to those mental health crises with our teams in real time. Innovation, all the AI stuff we talked about. The Midtown Community Center and being able to provide that Youth Activities League and focus on those community-based programs. The Resident Academy. bringing in our residents and showing them how this all works how this works behind the scenes and putting them through that so that they understand what what all goes into this i mean we all have a lot of great ideas and and and if we had all the money in the world we could do all these great ideas and make this a great city but there's always trade-offs and showing the community that that yeah if you say yes to this You're saying no to this. Life is all about decisions. Then the last thing, and I guess it's not the sexiest thing in the budget, but it's that general fund reserve and ensuring that we're preserving the quality of life in this community no matter what happens. If the economy goes down, we have that strong reserve there. I think that's really what sets this budget apart from prior budgets.

This is more of a complaint, so it's probably not a... First of all, I think the staff did an outstanding job. Here we are again, another new year. And I know there's a lot of frustration as George took the time to explain a little bit about the two measures that were passed. But again, I think what happens is people, the public, their frustrations, because often we hear about, well, the sales tax is awful high in Lancaster, but George just pointed out, the part that we actually get here in Lancaster, is minuscule compared to both the county and the state. And I say, when people speak with frustration, it's misplaced. Their frustration is really with the county. And I'll give you an example. Monday, we just passed that 50% piece on Measure ER, and that's another half of a point. About 30 cities within the county right now have a sales tax at 10.75. So their new sales tax is going to be 11.25. Now here's another one for you. The county in their wisdom knew, i.e. Lancaster, i.e. Palmdale, where were our sales tax, they went to the state and said, we wanna work around over the city of Lancaster and the city of Palmdale because we want that .5, to be in addition to what they're already paying. So again, the frustration on my part being an elected official and having a fiduciary duty of, okay, how do we walk this balance beam? People should be aware where their frustration should be placed with is with the county. Here's another example. I've been involved with the Homeless Coalition now for, Gosh, I don't know, maybe eight years representing the city of Lancaster. Currently, the county is collecting a half a point. Mind you now, that's part of our 11.25. So roughly, we've been sending them, not just us, Palmdale too, we've been sending them roughly $14 million a year over the hill. And they give us back, we got the biggest check ever was last year at roughly, just a little over $3 million. So they're taxing us 0.5, but only really giving us back about a third, less than a third of that back. When Karen Bass, and our elected official representing the county, and she might not like this because she didn't like it when they asked me, they said, what do you want, Ken? And I said, you know what I want? We gave you $14 million. Give us our share back. I said, I've been historically involved with a lot of nonprofits. And typically, most nonprofits run with a small administrative fee. usually like 5%. I said, I'll tell you what, it's collected, you got the money, we'll give you the, we'll give you the?

Admin fee.

The admin fee, but then give us all of our money back. So again, when people speak up and they talk about the sales tax, both in Lancaster and Palmdale, and I'm speaking on behalf of Palmdale too. Because they were with me when I said, give us our money. It's our money. It's not your money. It's our money. And mind you, they're getting ready to do it again with this ER. And they specifically said they wanted to work around on Palmdale and Lancaster. Because they know we're legally capped. And so they're the ones that are playing the games. And that's the reason why I applaud the staff and what we've done collectively as a group. I could share more with you. It's so frustrating to sit on these boards and interact with the people, I'm going to say, over the hill. But people need to know. Speak, we need to speak straight. We need to tell the truth. And people need to know what's going on. So I know it's frustrating. Gosh, it's so frustrating to deal. Somebody says, what's your biggest problem as an elected official? And my biggest problem as an elected official is dealing with the county and the state of California. It's not with our citizens. I think for the most part, we've got a great community. The problem is, is we got somebody that sees us as a money machine, and what they wanna do is go cha-ching, and we're gonna continue to pick on Lancaster, and we're gonna continue to pick on Palmdale. And so if you get a sense of frustration on my part, when we come up to budget time, it's like they're stealing our money. And when the public says, and I'm sharing this too with my counterparts, because they haven't had the opportunity yet to sit on some of those boards and listen to the BS on their part. But I do want to let you know that I think the staff has done phenomenal job. I also think we're starting to turn the point on, you know, if it wasn't for the two measures that were passed and for us to go all in on the police department, mark my words, and I hate to sound like my mom, But I'm gonna tell you that we're starting to turn a corner on safety, public safety, that other cities in the LA County are not gonna be able to enjoy. We've already got them coming to us now, going, we've got the same problem with Contract City, with the Sheriff's Department. And we're gonna be faced with going to the public and saying, hey look, you need to help us out here if we're gonna try to do this balance. And I think finally it's coming to rest. We can already see where crime is down, and I don't like to beat up on Santa Clarita nor Palmdale, but we've already surpassed them in relationship to lowering crime. I know people saying they're discounting that, But we're already finally turning the corner, and I believe that's because of the investment the public said, yeah, vote for these two measures, and we're going to make some headway. And this next year, I think, is going to be one of those probably a banner year for us, seeing a drop in crime. So I just want to share that with you. And again, I want to... Salute the staff for walking that balance beam. I think the city manager said if we do this and You know, it's like it kind of like a waterbed if we push down over here, it's gonna come up over here and But anyway, I I just wanted to share that with you I know that We've got the newspaper out there and I know that we have a county representative out there and it's a value for the public also to be informed exactly what's taking place. So don't be misled. Because my issues are with the county and with the state. And we'll see. As frustrating as it is. But thank you, staff. I just want to tell you what a great job. And I'm going to get off my soapbox, but I just thought I'd share with you that missing money that I'd like to have from a homeless standpoint.

I'm going to step on the soapbox just with a quick question, and it could be anyone on the team can answer this. With ER on our horizon, do we have any insight into what that looks like?

ER is another $14 million out of this community. We have done an analysis of that resolution and the measure, and there's no money being spent up here in the animals.

No, not a penny. Again, and they asked for a workaround. In other words, they went to the state and said, we don't want Lancaster and Palmdale to be able to opt out of ER. I say they're thieves.

It's my soapbox.

I'm sorry. You asked the question. I'm so upset.

Okay, thank you for sharing that with us. It wasn't obviously the news that I was hoping for, but it's very educational. I laud the team sincerely for really putting it up and illustrating where our tax money is going, where our community's hardworking money is going. And I really just want to highlight again what you said, George, about our staff, the fact that When you look at the percentage of increased revenue per capita this year, 2.7%, that's so minuscule. But the fact of this presentation, and I know you guys only got the highlights for us, the staff, this team has done so much with what little that we do have. And that takes investments, that takes risk, that takes, hey, let's try it and see what fruits of our labor we see. So I can't thank the staff enough. I commend all of our department heads. I know what it's like to be in a budget cycle myself. It's not very much Christmas for me. I don't know if George is the Grinch or Ken Mann is the Grinch today. But all jokes aside, I know what it feels like to have to barter with my fellow department heads and say, I really need this. Tralee said it best, if we had unlimited money, if we had a cha-ching entity, who knows what we could do? We don't know what that feels like. So thank you guys so much for being respectful, being collegial, for really putting the whole city at the forefront because that's what you guys did. I know all of you guys are doing more with less, but thank you for seeing the long-term vision, the long-term investment in this city. It doesn't go unnoticed. And then I just want to highlight that even more so. I had the opportunity to see the budget through a new teammate's vantage point and I actually really enjoyed it because the types of questions that she asked were very thoughtful were very like what do you mean or tell me more about this and I think one of the things that I walked away with that stuck with me was I think I said something along the lines of well Rocio that's a luxury and we we don't have the money for that and when I went home and I reflected on it it made me upset I'm not gonna get back on the box, but why can't we have those luxury items? Why? Where's our money going? Who's making the decisions for our money? So I can't thank the community enough for trusting us, for trusting yourselves with YM and LC, all those amazing things that we have. They shouldn't be called luxury items, but that's how, in my view, I saw it. So I just wanna say, no, we have some basic needs up here. And it saddens me that we have to invest more money in graffiti or homeless prevention or homeless care. But that's our reality. So those luxuries that we do get to enjoy, that's because of you all. That's because of our community who trust and demands that we have some good luxuries up here. And Traleece, you said it best. With our public safety, it continues to be a priority for not only just this team, but for our community. And I look forward to what you guys are going to continue to do. And I just can't thank the community, the staff, the team, our department heads enough. And thank you to our teammates.

Sorry, just have one recommendation. Can the city, I know it's available, the budget, the entire budget on the city website. Can we have it on the main page and make it easier for our community to see it or maybe post it on social media where you could direct them to the section? That would be helpful.

We'll put a link right on the cover sheet of the webpage.

Thank you.

To wrap up this, there is no action item tonight. This is a public hearing. This will serve as our notice public hearing for the budget. There's really just for you to receive file, take the time to ask the questions that you did, show appreciation, which we appreciate. More importantly, this is our best opportunity to get the word out there in addition to the workshop that we did. so the budget will return to the agenda on june 23rd for the final adoption included in that is going to be these the salary schedule as well as the two on that same agenda not in the same action you'll be reviewing the new mous with the two unions that we discussed so with that um we're available for more questions but as the conclusion of the presentation

Thank you, guys. And one last final point on that. Again, I can't thank our community enough just for voting for YM and LC, but also the amount of involvement and interaction engagement that's been happening lately, whether it be at the MAR open house, our budget open house, We're a great team up here. I think very highly of ourselves. However, when we collaborate, when we come together, when we have different perspectives, we're all at different milestones in our lives. When our community comes out and shows up and tells us, hey, this is what we care about as a community, we can't help but get a better product. Hope I don't eat my words. I know I won't, but please continue to be engaged. Please continue to join us on soap boxes. Please tell us what's important to our community because ultimately that's what we want. I think I can speak for all of us. We're here to represent this community. We want what's best for the city of Lancaster and I know that's what you all want as well. So keep up the engagement. Uh, the public hearing is now closed. And just to confirm, George, no motion needed? No motion.

Perfect.

Okay, now we're moving on to PH1. The public hearing is now open. We do not have any speaker cards, so George, I'm gonna go ahead and waive that presentation, and I'll invite my team to make a motion. Would you close the public hearing, please? I will close the public hearing, and then I will invite my team to make a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve PH1. Second.

Wonderful. Let's vote. And the motion passes with four yes. New business and be wine. We will now hear a staff report from Nicholas Godin, our assistant director of PWC engineering.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor and members of council. My name is Nick Godin and I'm the City Engineer and Assistant Director of Public Works. I'm here today to discuss the city's pavement management program and make a recommendation to award the 2025 PMP project for preventative maintenance and road rehabilitation. I'd like to start by explaining the scale of our roadway network. The city of Lancaster maintains approximately 1,510 lane miles of roadway. To put that into perspective, if those lane miles were placed end to end, they would stretch roughly the distance from Lancaster City Hall to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Collectively, this roadway network has an estimated replacement value of $3.5 billion, making it one of the city's most valuable assets. Our pavement management program is designed to maximize the life of that investment by performing the right treatment at the right time, preserving roadway conditions and minimizing our long-term costs. Next, I'd like to share the distribution of our overall pavement network by pavement condition index or PCI. PCI is a standard numerical rating from 0 to 100 that quantifies the condition of a pavement surface with 100 being a perfect surface and 0 indicating total failure. The city's most recent pavement management program update indicates that the city's overall network PCI is 52. A PCI of 52 places Lancaster's overall roadway network in the fair to at-risk condition category, representing a critical transition point in the pavement deterioration cycle. You can see in the chart here approximately 49% of the system is rated fair or better, represented by PCI above 50, while approximately 51% is classified as poor or failed, which is PCI below 50. With the understanding of the current state of our overall pavement network, we can move on to the various solutions we have for pavement management. These solutions are categorized into three main types, preventative, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. Preventative maintenance includes crack sealing and small surface treatments is the least expensive option and prolongs the lifespan of the pavement by five to seven years. Rehabilitation treatments include milling and overlaying asphalt treatments, occupies the middle ground in terms of cost and complexity of repairs, and prolongs the lifespan of the pavement by eight to 10 years. Reconstruction includes full depth removal and replacement of the pavement, is the most expensive option, and prolongs the lifespan of the pavement by up to 20 years. The trick to pavement management is balancing the right repair at the right time with the available budget. Finally, I'd like to address how the city selects which streets receive what treatment. And contrary to popular belief, it's not simply a worst first methodology. The City of Lancaster utilizes an objective street selection process to provide the most value per dollar spent and factors in the street's geographic location, pavement condition index, average daily traffic, and a weighted effectiveness ratio to produce a priority score for each category of treatment and each classification of roadway. The streets with the highest priority are then compared to the available budget, leading to the creation of the scope of work for each pavement management project. This analysis, evaluation and prioritization is updated each year to ensure we have the most recent data, account for streets deteriorating faster than expected, and allow us to select the streets that can benefit the most from the treatment. I'd also like to point out that the previous information and much more is available on the city's website. You can navigate to it from the main landing page by clicking Public Works under the Our City tab and then clicking on City Engineering and Pavement Management Program. The city updates the information on this page annually as we complete our pavement condition analysis each year. The agenda item before you today is regarding the award of Public Works Construction Project number 24-023 for the 2025 Pavement Maintenance Program. This project will include rehabilitation at the following locations, Lancaster Boulevard from Division Street to 15th Street East and a neighborhood bounded by 30th Street West to the West, 26th Street West to the East, Avenue L4 to the North and L8 to the South. The lowest responsive bidder was Vance Corporation with a total bid amount including a 20% contingency of $4.215 million. Consultants for materials testing and labor compliance will be selected from the on-call service group categories and estimates for each have been added to the total project cost. The project will pave approximately 2.5 lane miles and has a total project cost of $4.258 million. It is staff's recommendation to award Public Works Construction Project number 24-023 for the 2025 Preventative Maintenance and Road Rehabilitation Project to Vance Corporation and authorize the task order expenditure for materials testing and labor compliance to the successful firm as identified in the Multi-Year Professional Services Agreement. Myself and staff are available if you have any questions.

Any questions?

No questions.

Hello, just have a question regarding your process. So how many people, so I just want to understand, like when someone wants to bid and obtain this project, how does that work? Just want to understand, like, do we have a process? How many people apply? Because I did notice that you, well, you did mention that, you know, someone bid and we hope they could get awarded, right, for the project. But just want to understand that.

Yeah, so we have a competitive bidding process. We post everything through what's called planet bids and vendors are required to register for work or if they're interested in work there and they're notified based on a category. In this case, it would be roadway maintenance. Any vendor that signed up on that site is notified and we have a public competitive bidding process.

Thank you. So if I am a new vendor, how would I find out about this?

Um, so there is a post that goes into the newspaper as well, letting people know that this is coming available and that it will be on planet bids. Um, other than that, I believe our city website has a bids and notices, um, specific link or webpage that announces the bids that are active and directs you to the Planet Bids website where you can sign up as the vendor and select which categories you'd like to be notified for.

Perfect, thank you.

And also as a contractor, Planet Bids will also notify the contractor that you put out an RFP.

I'm sorry, ask that again?

I said, also, Planted Bids will notify the contractor that a new RFP is out and give them opportunity to bid also. Correct.

Correct. Yeah, as soon as it's posted, as well as any updates that come after the bid was originally posted. Yes, sir.

Thank you. OK. Thank you so much. I don't have any questions. We do not have any speaker cards. Any other comments, questions from my teammates? Okay, wonderful, I'll entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion to accept MB1 approving items one, two, three, and four.

Second.

Okay, let's vote.

And the motion passes with four yes votes. Thank you. All right, moving on to council reports. Cedric, would you like to share anything?

I have nothing to share at this moment.

Yes, just want to say that I attended the Earth Day celebration. Actually, it was my daughter who convinced me to attend. You're like, mom, you're going to get a free plant. You need to go. And so I said, fine, I'll go early in the morning. So I was there at 8 o'clock. And so thank you. I learned a lot. There were some services actually that I didn't know that the city provides to the residents. And so great information. So thank you for the city for doing this. It was just amazing. I also attended the Pride Walk. It was very supportive, inclusive, and it was very engagement. So thank you for that. And I also attended the AV Edge Luncheon with our Congressman George Whiteside. And I attended with Lauren as well.

And then do we have a video on Earth Day by chance? Awesome.

this is amazing you could come here get plants you could get free samples for your doggies we have activities for the kids plus you could help us paint our mirror for this beautiful and amazing part one of the things that i learned today is actually every single dog that you see is part of the community so that's amazing i didn't know that so it's just a history and there's a story of every single dog and the family here so something that you will be able to see and connect

What I think is so impactful about these events is I think it educates our youth, and it instills in them a sense of community pride from a really young age. People can come and dispose of bulky items there. We have a lawnmower exchange program going on. And as always, our recycling center is open there today.

take care of our earth, of our community, of our city. So it's everybody's responsibility to plant trees, to plant flowers, to plant just everything that you can to make the earth a little bit better for all of us.

Wonderful. Ken?

Yeah, I actually got three things to share. The first thing is I attended a fundraiser for the rural museum. They've actually outgrown their building. And now they're working on the goal of raising funds to be able to add another 8,000 square feet out to their museum. So that's a positive thing when you get to be involved in the community. The second thing, and often at times I guess it's probably pretty boring to attend the Air Quality Management District monthly meeting, but I was surprised The manager shared with us that CARB showed up, and that's the California Air Resources Board, and they did a surprise visit to check on the landfills here in Antelope Valley. And I know this might sound boring, but they attended, or they actually went and did a surprise visit to see whether or not the Lancaster landfill is in compliance, as well as the Palmdale landfill. and both of those landfills are owned and operated by waste management and sometimes we don't take the time to give those guys kudos so this is what the manager shared with us when they showed up to lancaster they had one violation so of course And I've sit on the air quality board for, gosh, I don't know, 15 years. First time I ever heard CARB showing up. So you worry about that. Like what? We got a violation? And then she said, yeah, so we had one violation and they were able to fix it within about two minutes. They had to go get a wrench and tighten a bolt. And that was the end of the violation. So it was taken care of before they left. Then they went down to the Palmdale landfill and they found two violations. And again, I'm naive. As many years I've sat on the board, you worry about, okay, what the heck, these might impact the community. They were able to fix both of the violations before they left. Now let me share with you what CARB told the manager of AQMD. These are the best two landfills in all of the state of California. And the typical, when we do a surprise inspection, is they have 74 violations or more, and it usually takes months for them to get back into compliance. So that makes me feel good because then it says, okay, we know staff at the AQMD board when they go out and make inspections, we know that they're doing a great job. So it gives me the opportunity to say kudos to the staff that works for the Air Quality Management District. And then number two, it really makes me feel good that Waste Management is running what they, CARB told us, the two best landfills in the state of California. And so I thought I'd just share that with you. Because again, sometimes it might be boring to show up to one of those meetings. And then the third thing I want to share is the four of us actually had an opportunity to go celebrate on Memorial Day out at the Lancaster Cemetery. And I think we have a video. And thank you everybody for being there. Part of the responsibility of one of the older guys is to be a good leader and teach how respectful that we should be of those who lost their lives. You know, we sometimes get confused about Memorial Day, and Tom said it best, it's where we have an opportunity to reflect on people that really gave the ultimate sacrifice. the entire nation as well as the city of Lancaster comes together and this is the time where we stop and remember our fallen heroes and also remember that freedom isn't free.

One other thing. Let's make sure we get out June 16th and 17th at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center from 5.30 to 7 p.m. You can learn more information about Prop 218. We'll be there. We'll be there to answer your questions. Whether this passes or not, it's in your hands. So we need great civic engagement from our community. So please come out June 16th, 17th, 5.30 PM to 7 o'clock PM at Lancaster Performing Arts Center.

Thank you so much for that. And then for my report, I want to just say thank you and show so much appreciation to the Antelope Valley Outreach team. I had the opportunity to attend their ribbon cutting. Shout out to our Chamber of Commerce for putting on such a delightful event. This organization, again, AB Outreach, They're here to fill a need in our community. There are a lot of different places they could have set up their home, their shop, but they prayed on it and the Lord brought them here to us because there's a need. So please go check them out. They're here to provide all kinds of service, whether it be food insecurity, education, leadership, mentorship. Thank you so much to that team out there. And then... I also had the opportunity to attend Congressman George Whiteside's Military Academy nomination panel send off. And again, I have to brag about the Antelope Valley as a whole, because we had students from both Palmdale here and across the AV. We continue to trend upward on young adults who raise their right hand and say, send me, pick me. You don't just apply and go to a military academy. There's, in addition to just the sacrifice and the courage it takes, it's quite the paperwork drill. There's applications, there's essays, there's medical evaluations. And then, oh, by the way, you have to get a congressional nomination. So kudos to George's team. I know it's a staff team effort for him to go through those applications, to interview these candidates. And it was such a delight and a pleasure to, again, unashamedly be excited about the number of students that came out of the Antelope Valley and my alma mater, Quartz Hill. So we have a video on that. Oh, I'm just beaming with pride. I know, I personally know what it took for these students and these families to get to this point, but I'm just overwhelmed with excitement for them because I know what their potential holds. Their futures are so bright. Our futures are bright because of them. I'm just, again, I'm just overwhelmed with a lot of emotions.

Jordan, what are you most looking forward to learning at the Air Force Academy?

I would say learning personal growth. learn how to handle my emotions, how to be the man I was set on this earth to become, and to be the very best version of myself as well.

The commander of the 412th wing said it perfectly that It's easy to be a critic, but it's very different to be in the arena, to have the ability and the power and the opportunity to enact change, to contribute to something better than yourself and bigger than yourself. I say jump in. It takes a lot of courage, but nothing worthwhile is done alone, nor is it done without fear or without excitement of having to jump in. So big kudos to those students. Those are our future leaders of not only our military, but our communities. And I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to their parents, their coaches, their mentors, the principals at their high schools. Because again, it's not just your typical application. It's a paperwork drill. They're looking at all aspects of these young adults. And again, the fact that here in the Antelope Valley, we have record number of students answering that call. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And then at this time, city clerk, ready for your announcement?

Before we go to public comment, I have a couple quick updates.

Okay.

I did want to, so you stole my thunder, Council Member White. I was going to announce those Prop 218 community engagement meetings in the spirit of community engagement. We do want to invite the public out. I did want to make one correction. The June 16th meeting at 530 is actually over at Lancaster Soccer Center. So that one's at the Soccer Center. And then the one on the 17th is at ELPAC. So two different locations trying to really engage and make it easier for people to get there if they don't live close to the boulevard. And then a couple other updates. This is 250 years of America this year on July 4th. And because of that, we're doing a big week leading up to the 4th of July and then a big 4th of July celebration. So on Monday, June 29th, we're having our normal Monday Night Vites event, but we're going to have a 4th of July theme there. And we're also doing a watch party for the FIFA World Cup. So come on out, enjoy some food, and watch the World Cup. On Wednesday, July 1st, same thing, cool summer nights. It'll be at Forest E. Hall Park. We'll have food. We'll have a FIFA watch party. We have a band. Come on out, enjoy, and celebrate this great country. On Thursday night, July 2nd, the Boulevard Farmers Market, we'll have a concert, more FIFA watch party, more food, another event. And then 4th of July, will be over at the fair and event center, the Antelope Valley Fair. Gates open at five, land co-performs at seven. There will be a fireworks show at 9 p.m. That morning, there is a AV Chambers parade that we are participating in and helping coordinate over on 50th Street West in Quartz Hill. That's a collaboration of all the agencies in the entire Valley, so we're looking forward to that event. And then capping it all off on that Sunday, we're having a soccer game at the stadium July 5th. There'll be extra family fun stuff to do before the game. And then at halftime, we're going to bring out some of the City of Lancaster staff and elected officials and really celebrate everyone. The theme is Flight and Freedom. And then at the conclusion of the game, there will be a state-of-the-art drone show for the public to enjoy. So come on out. There's something for everyone that week. It's a big week. And then lastly, we have a new person sitting behind me today. He is Acting Chief Mo Kazal. He's replacing Chief Gorbani, who has decided to move on to greener pastures and retire from the fire department, I believe. Not allowed. Yeah, yeah. He has, the acting chief most recently served as a battalion chief in Santa Clarita, so I just wanted to welcome him to our community and looking forward to working with him and building a few new fire stations, hopefully, the next couple of years.

Thank you. Now city clerk.

Sorry. I do want to give a highlight to city manager. Last week, I got a phone call and a text message that Salva, a local organization, had a resident of Lancaster, a 20-year-old that was unhoused. They were asking if I could help them, what can I do? Right away, I contacted and he was able to connect with his staff. The next day, they actually, with the help of Grace Chapel, and then please correct me if I'm missing somebody who supported with this, but they were able to find him a bed, and he was so thankful and grateful, and this is what we call partnership, right? That the local city is working with our local organizations when our community needs help. So I just wanna highlight, because I know you don't like shout-outs, but...

You deserve it. I appreciate it, but I'm going to deflect. And actually, I think Christine Malt is in this room. It was really all her. She was the one who reached out and connected and got that person to bed. So thank you, Christine.

This is the time to address the city council agency authority on non-agendized matters. Speaker cards may be found on the back table of the council chambers. If you have completed one, please ensure you've given it to us so you may be recognized. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each. Please keep in mind, 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. Mr. David Paul.

Vice Mayor and Council, good evening, afternoon still. Talese, I put my hat on in recognition of our 200th anniversary. You know, last night I was watching Netflix and they have the Will Ferrell, Ron Burgundy Part 2 movie out. And that's very inspirational, you know, just being silly about America. And I'm guilty of that. Tonight's meeting was great. There was just layers and layers of great things in here and I don't know where to start. The impact group, my youngest son went through that and he benefited greatly and I really appreciate that. And the Juneteenth celebration, that was a project of mine in the beginning and I enjoyed participating and helping the city come together and learn new things and it's just, I love this city. I get up here and I talk about it and I love this country. And you know, there are problems, of course, but I love the feeling I get from recognizing what is good. And if I've missed anything that happened good here tonight directly, it's just that I'm overwhelmed. There's just so much And I'm not naive. I mean, I recognize that other places have their own particular concerns and interests and problems. But I'm happy I live in this city. And I'm always proud to come to these meetings and participate in civics and see what actually gets done. So thank you, city. Thank you, everyone. I love this city. Thank you.

Thank you, David. Patrick Sautzer, thank you for correcting me.

Good afternoon, my name is Patrick Sautzer and I'm representing the Friends of the Prime Desert Woodlands. And I have recently joined MOA. MOA is now the management of the Prime Desert Woodlands. We didn't say a lot about the Prime Desert Woodlands tonight. It's one of the finest preserves in any city. Now I've been involved in the preserve for 40 years. I was there to select the site, on on the k-8 and 35th street and it is not getting enough funding The preserve is a different type of organization. It's not a soccer field. So what's happening here, I was there, as I said, when they first started it. And what's happening now is there's a big problem with the drainage in the preserve. The preserve is about 120 acres and we laid it out in the 80s for the bridges and we had a natural drainage pattern. The drainage pattern was there because it was the early on the western branch of the Amargosa Creek. So what's happening now, all those channels have filled up with brush and debris. And so what happens when we have the rains now, it doesn't go down the normal channels which goes to the north. I think I gave you a picture of it if you have it. It goes straight north out of there's two bridges and goes all the way up to K4. Now it's changing because those channels are all full of debris. It's going to the west, floods out the trails. We've had three washouts this year. We had to replace the trails. It takes a month and the made landscaper comes in there and it's very expensive. What needs to be done is a crew needs to get in there and you need to put some money in there other than the soccer teams and other places to get all the brush out of the natural drainage channels. then the water will flow where it should be and it'll be like it was when we created it. So that's the main thing I want to say is that, you know, that has to be done. Otherwise, we're just going to have more and more when the rains come. It's not going to drain properly. Now, the other problem I want to talk about is the front is a security in the preserve. That preserve is set up to be closed at night. There used to be an automatic gate. It has been not working for three years. There's homeless in there, the cars go in, and there's no police inspecting it. The sheriff, I called him, I have people, I live there in the back, and they have gunshots, homeless people. The sheriff doesn't come out. The City of Lancaster Police needs to take it over and inspect it at night, lock it. Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much and thank you for your service on both boards, sir.

I'm a park ranger for the state parks and also the Conservancy in Tohono.

You know what you're talking about.

I do know what I'm talking about.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Chris, can you guys look into that for us?

We absolutely will.

Thank you. Up next, we have Greg Basham.

I'll start with what I always start with.

Hello, City Council, Vice Mayor. Roads, roads, roads, very informative presentation. I appreciate that. I'm kind of here more about the ballot initiatives that we got going on. I already deposited my four ballots and I'm trying to get neighbors and family to do the same. But on AV scanner, ring neighbor and next door, there's all kinds of people saying all kinds of things. about what this amounts to be. I've seen $300 extra year, $400 extra year, $600 extra year, $800 extra year. If I'm reading this correct, I think, and I hope I can get an answer. I know I'm not supposed to talk to anybody directly and that's why I just pointed at you. I didn't want to say a name. I think, and I might be wrong, but I think it's $121.58. Is it an increase? Yes. Is it crazy increase? I don't think so unless I'm reading this wrong. I think the lighting is like 25 bucks, the landscaping is 38 bucks, the drainage is 53 bucks, and then the sewer averages out at about $5. Yes, I guess it's an increase, but it's not what these people are saying on these social media sites. I think you're saying you should get this stuff out into the social media sphere. Yes, I think it really knew to do that. it's like a couple more meetings or something now you're talking about the soccer field and lpac and i know you got the meeting itself so um yeah and then i guess the vote will happen or be be done at that time but yeah i think you should get the word out there because i think there's a lot of misinformation that and maybe i'll get a a correct answer before I leave. Thank you guys.

Thank you so much for your comments. Trulius, do you mind giving just a high level overview and then reemphasizing where we have more opportunities to engage with the team on that matter?

yeah i'll elaborate on both well first to to elaborate on great question that probably is correct for your particular case greg however each individual depending on when they were annexed in originally to the district when your home came in and what districts apply i can even speak for myself personally i am not in the landscape maintenance district because my neighborhood has an hoa that covers the landscape maintenance so i'm only in three of the four districts So every different property or every different neighborhood is going to be slightly different and unique to them. That sounds accurate. I think on the highest end, so if you were annexed in the longest time ago and you're in all four districts, I think that the maximum total increase is right around $200 annually. So I think that breaks down to like 18 bucks a month. So yes, even... the highest increases are not that high when you put all things into perspective. And again, these are fees, fees for a service, either storm drain maintenance, sewer maintenance, street lighting, and landscape maintenance. These are services that you get. Over the last, and I think in the public hearing, the last meeting, you heard some of these haven't been raised since the early 90s, but we know what has happened to labor cost, material cost, gasoline, all the things that it actually takes to maintain these districts appropriately. They've gone up exponentially, and we have not raised those fees. This is the first time we're coming back. with a raise of those fees and it's all to ensure that we have infrastructure. The other gentleman that was here talking about the drainage over at the Prime Desert Preserve there, he didn't mention the other issue that we have is actually on 35th Street West and that turns into a river when it rains and runs right through there and it leaves gorges that we have to go out and fill from time to time. If this drainage fee is increased, things like that can have increased maintenance. Some of the drainage fencing around our channels can be better maintained. All these things that have quite frankly been neglected will no longer need to be neglected and they'll be properly maintained. So that's the reason for the fee increase there. We are going to be putting out, and I think they go out today, I've been told by staff, but we have a few flyers that are going to post on social media. They have all the pertinent information and facts in there. we were going to go to those different ring and next door and all these different things and post them there so that the facts are there. It's not just, hey, I read it this way, I read it that way, it has the facts. And then we have the two community meetings too to help educate and really help the public understand what it is that's being asked of them.

And then Trillies, can you confirm, and I don't need you to name any names on our team, Are there people who are receiving a benefit but not paying into the fees to maintain these different districts?

There are. There are certain neighborhoods that when they were built, they weren't annexed in, and he's smirking over there. They weren't annexed into- No names. They were not annexed into some of these districts. So an example is we did have a staff member who shared their property tax bill with us, and they do not pay a fee for sewer maintenance. So they're eating our free school lunch. So the rest of us are paying for their school service. So that is the other part of this too. We're trying to rectify and if you are receiving a benefit from any of these districts, you should be paying a fee for that service as well. And that's what this is doing also. And you'll see many of the people actually in the THE LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE DISTRICT, THEIR FEES ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO GO DOWN AFTER THIS. THEY'RE PAYING MORE THAN THEY WOULD NOW THAN THEY WILL LATER BECAUSE ONCE ALL OF OUR NEIGHBORS ARE PAYING THAT ARE GETTING BENEFITS, SOME OF US DON'T HAVE TO PAY AS MUCH.

Thank you so much. And one more time, what are those dates and times and locations?

June 16th at 5.30 at the Lancaster Soccer Center in the big building in the back on the east side. And then June 17th, 5.30 right here at the ELPAC in the front lobby.

Thank you. At this time, do my teammates have any additional comments or questions? No? Wonderful. So then the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 23rd at 1.30 PM. This meeting is adjourned.