City Council - Regular Meeting

Ooh, child, things will get brighter Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier Ooh, child, things will get brighter Someday, yeah, we'll put it together and we'll get it undone Someday when you hit it much lighter Someday, yeah, we'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun. Someday when the world is much brighter. Ooh, child, things are gonna be easier. Ooh, child, things will be brighter. Ooh, child, things are gonna be easier. We'll get it undone Someday Someday We'll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun Someday Oh child, things are gonna get easier Oh child, things will get quieter No matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name, I'll be there in a hurry, you don't have to worry, cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough. Ain't no river wide enough to keep me from getting to you, babe. The other day, I set you free. I told you you could always count on me, girl. And from that day on, I made a vow. I'll be there when you call me some way, some how. Oh, baby, there ain't no mountain high enough. Ain't no valley long enough Ain't no river wide enough To keep me from getting to you, baby Oh, no, darling No wind, no rain No winter cold Can't stop me, baby No, no, baby Cause you are my gold We'll see you next time. Thank you. It's just a silly place I'm going through. And just because I call you up, don't get me wrong. Don't think you've got a name. I'm not alone.

Hello, neighbors. Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. City clerk.

City council member, agency director, authority members, Cassianos. Present. Mann.

Present.

White.

Present.

Vice Mayor, Vice Chairman Hughes-Leslie. Present. Mayor Chairman Paris. Here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. You wanted to, oh, we got to do the public announcement, right?

May I have your attention, please? Welcome to the Lancaster city council meeting. The city council encourages public participation at its meetings. However, the right of the public to address the council must be balanced with the need to ensure that public participation does not interfere with the orderly course of public business. The city council follows the city's code of conduct and ethics and Robert's rules of order in the conduct of its meetings. and we respectfully request that all are reminded to abide by the following rules. As stated on the agenda for this meeting, any person who would like to address the city is requested to complete speaker registration, either online or at the kiosk located in the council chambers. Please be sure to identify the agenda item you would like to discuss on your speaker registration. Speaker registration 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, and your time will begin once your name is called. If you are joining this meeting by phone, please ensure you mute any background noise. Both in-person speakers and virtual 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. Thank you for your participation.

Thank you. The invocation today will be with James Gibson from Grace Chapel.

Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. I'm just gonna read from James chapter one. It says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive Anything from the Lord. Let me pray. Dear Lord God, I just thank you for today. Lord, I just thank you for our city council. Lord, thank you for the leaders that you've appointed at this time. Lord, I just pray that you give them wisdom. Lord, you have said clearly that you give wisdom freely. Lord, and if we ask for the things... and that we should be asking for, Lord, that you would give it to us. So, Lord, I'm just praying that you give these leaders just wisdom, Lord, wisdom to be able to discern what is the right thing to do. So, Lord, I just thank you for them. Lord, I just pray that everything that they do, Lord, is for your glory and for our good. Lord, thank you for loving us. Thank you for knowing us. You are good and gracious, Father. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

My pleasure. Everybody would remain standing. Put your right hand over your heart and repeat with me.

Could somebody tell the mothers with children to bring the children back? I mean, this is a big day in those families, and kids make noise. You know why kids cry? They cry to develop their lungs. You want them crying, you know, for what it's worth. Okay, Rod. Wait a minute, before you start, let me say something. You know, maybe I should have thought better about it.

You know, today we're adding 17 officers to Lancaster Police Department.

You know, 15 years ago, when crime was just going crazy, I met with Betty Calapaz. She was a former commander of LAPD, but she was also a Lancaster resident, actually, Courts Hill resident. And we were just brainstorming. What could we do different? In AA, we have a saying that if you keep doing it the same way, don't be surprised at the same result. So what could we do differently? And it took 15 years. But already, the first year, it's world changing what they're able to accomplish. I mean, crime is dropping faster in Lancaster than any city in America. The district attorney came up and wants to model and use our criminal intelligence system countywide. I mean, that's all within one year. And Rod, that was because of you and the team you put together. The most incredible team I've ever seen. They're just doing it. I was engaged in a dialogue with myself, I do that a lot, about whether or not I would swear them in because I'm just so proud of them. I'm just so fulfilled that this is reality. But I decided to stay the course on this. These officers do not report to us. They are never to take direction from us, that they have any quibble about that feels the right thing or not the right thing. The chief makes that the decision, and the assistant chief. You are always to go to them, not us. You do not work for us. You work for the chief. Now, the chief works for us. But that's an important... thing to remember, because the only thing that could mess this up is we somehow abuse it. We cannot abuse this enormous authority that we've now created. And we created it to keep us safe. That's the only reason it's there. So, Rob, it's your show.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, I forgot.

You know, my age, you do that a lot. You know, this wouldn't have happened if Marvin Crist hadn't been involved. He raised a substantial part of the money. He was the one that said, you know, hey Rex, we gotta pay for this. Oh yeah. That's that one cent, the one cent on the sales tax. makes it so we're all safe. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Vice Mayor, Council, it's a pleasure to be here in front of you today. You know I'm emotional when we do these. I'm going to try to get through this. Today marks a significant day in the history of policing in our city. As we swear in 17 new police officers, 17 new police officers for Lancaster Police Department. Significant not just because of the 17 officers, but because it's the next step in the country's only hybrid policing program. Impressive. Impressive. I would agree with you. It's also significant because Lancaster Police Department with this prepares to take over handling traffic collision investigations and enforcement for our city. This is a huge step in our department and in the history of our policing. It's the next step I might add, Sir Mayor and Vice Mayor,

Excuse me.

Former Vice Mayor. Never saw somebody so quick to get out of a job. Councilman Ken Mann, our original members who were here when you thought this thing out. It's a significant step in your plan, sir, to an unwavering commitment to the safety of our community members. I applaud you for that. I want our community members to know this did not happen on a whim. This program that is working, by the way, because we are seeing significant drops in crime, this program that is bringing about the significant drops. This program is working so well, and it's not just because of us, it's because of our brothers and sisters at the Sheriff's Department as well. This was a well thought out program, sir, a well thought out plan that you and the original council members came up with. I want our community to know that there was intention there. There absolutely was intention there and those intentions, those ideas, those thoughts are being met and these men and women are going to help us continue to do that. This important piece of us taking over traffic, it's not only going to improve our service to our citizens in the area of traffic investigations and safety, but it's also going to aid in our continued effort to continue to lower the crime in our city and make this one of the safest cities ever. We are committed. This current council, I want to thank you because your support has also been unwavering. I appreciate the fact that you are supporting me and my officers 100 percent, and we will not let you down. With that, I'd like to introduce you to our officers. First up, Officer Stephanie Luna. You want to wave your hand? Huntington Park. She comes to us from Huntington Park Police Department. She's a 12 year law enforcement veteran. She specialized there in sex crimes, even homicide investigations and other things. And I want you to know today she'll be pinned by her best friend Megan Traub, Wine Traub. Officer Devin Nichols. Devin comes to us from LAPD where he's a two year veteran. Devin is also a six year Air National Guard veteran, excuse me, Army National Guard veteran, and he does still serve. Officer Deveon. Officer Deveon Johnson. He comes to us from Maui Police Department and San Diego Police Departments. He is a six year law enforcement veteran, and he will be pinned today by his mother, Sandra Johnson. I know his mother, we're gonna need some tissue in here. Officer Ronald Charles Hamilton II. Officer Hamilton is an 11 year veteran, comes to us from LAPD. He also works San Diego Police Departments. And he has specialized in domestic violence while with LAPD. Ronald will be pinned by his daughter Cheyenne. Officer Richard DeLong. Comes to us from Santa Paula Police Department. Officer DeLong has been awarded Officer of the Year for Santa Paula, and he is a three-year veteran from there. And a very interesting fact, Officer DeLong is a three-time NASCAR champion. We need a different type of driving in this city though, Rich, all right? He's gonna be pinned by his wife, Madeline. Officer Nicholas Brackett. He comes to us from Bakersfield Police Department. He is a nine year law enforcement veteran and he's worked pretty much everything you can for that agency. And he is currently helping us with our sex crimes against children as our investigator. He's going to be pinned by his wife Amber Brackett. Officer Joe Lascano. He comes to us from Sierra Madre Police Department. He's a 10-year law enforcement veteran, and he's worked a countywide task force dealing with stolen cars. Joe is also a recipient, I believe a two-time recipient, actually, of the Lifesaving Award, including one where he brought back an unresponsive three-month-old baby. He'll be pinned by his wife, Ivy, and his two daughters, Madeline and Audrey. Officer Stephen Bakewell. Stephen comes to us from LAPD and the Department of California Cannabis Control. He is a 12-year veteran. He's been a sergeant, and he is also a four-year Army veteran and has handled countless investigations. He'll be pinned by his wife, Miranda Bakewell. Officer Samil Siddiqui. Samil also comes from Sierra Madre Police Department. He is a three-year law enforcement veteran, and Samil has also received a life-saving award for resuscitating a heart attack victim. Pinned by his mother, Shazia Siddiqui today, Officer, excuse me, Sergeant Grant Kadzow. Grant originally came to us as an officer, and he was promoted to sergeant two weeks ago. He's a 13-year law enforcement veteran, has handled countless things while working for the city of Sierra Madre, has six-year sergeant experience with that agency, and will be pinned by his wife, Brittany Kadzow. Officer Samuel Chance Marchini Comes to us from Fresno Police Department where he is a nine-year law enforcement veteran, a motor officer, also a recipient of three lifesaving awards while with Fresno Police Department. And he actually is a specialist when it comes to keeping our roads safe and addressing drunk driving. He received the 2025 Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award, the Century Award for making 129 DUI arrests in 2025. Will be pinned by his wife, Alexa Marchini, Officer Nathan Samuel Cantu, Bakersfield Police Department. Training officer for Bakersfield, handled countless investigations. He is a five-year law enforcement veteran and he'll be pinned by his close friend, Sergeant Jeremy Talbot. Officer Bruno Starling. Bruno comes to us from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and he has the honor of being our first trainee, our first officer to go into the training program. He is originally from Brazil, a soccer player, and we are excited to have him be number one. Pinned by his wife, Michelle Starling, Officer Michael Lopez from Bakersfield Police Department. Five years of law enforcement experience, done quite a few things with Bakersfield, and he is a 13-year US Marine Corps veteran. Gonna be pinned by his mother, Beth Lopez. Officer Andrew Selignac. Comes from Riverside Sheriff's Office. He's a one-year law enforcement veteran, worked patrol out there doing a fine job. And he is going to be pinned by his wife, Samantha Selignac. Detective Hector Lobos. Hector's worked for the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and last, the California Department of Cannabis Control. He is a 13-year law enforcement veteran, has had investigative experience, and is set to be one of our newest motor officers. He will be pinned today by his wife, Christina Lobos, who is also a police officer for the LAPD. And Officer Casey Maselli. Casey is our department's first canine officer. He and his dog, Doc Holliday, are gonna be ensuring that, yeah, and he's a cutie too. They specifically detect explosives and weapons, and that is gonna be wonderful for us to have to ensure all our facilities are safe and also help us with our investigations. He is a 35-year law enforcement veteran from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department. He spent the last 23 years working explosive detection canine with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He will be pinned today by his son, his 10-year-old son, Wyatt Maselli. With that, Mr. Mayor, I need to force you down here again to come and stand beside me and help me honor these gentlemen into being sworn in. They want to see you next to me, sir.

All right, everybody, if I can get you to raise your,

Actually, if I can get you to raise your right hand and repeat after me.

Chief, can I interrupt really quick?

Yes, ma'am.

Traditionally, we stand for the oath of office. If it would be okay with the mayor, can we all stand out of respect for these new LPD guys and gals?

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Good call. Absolutely. All right, if I can get you all to raise your right hand, repeat after me. I, state your name. I, Andrew Summers. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will support and defend.

That I will support and defend.

The Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California. And the Constitution of the State of California. Against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Against all enemies foreign and domestic.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance. to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. I will well and faithfully discharge the duties Upon which I'm about to enter. Upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations. So now if you're a family member who was set to pin your officer, can I ask you to step forward and come and bring those pins and pin your family members? folks who want to snap a picture.

Okay. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, sir.

Down the line.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna ask them to step out and take the photo.

You know, that was truly remarkable. Everybody resisted the temptation to stick them.

All right, folks, so we're going to have the mayor hand them their certificates and oath of office. And officers, when I call your name, we're going to have you step out so you can take a picture with myself and the mayor. All right. First up is going to be Stephanie Luna. Oh, yeah.

And Nicholas Brackett.

Jola Scholarly. Steven Bakewell. Crank heads out. Samuel Martini. Nathan Cantu. And Bruno Starling.

Okay, one more.

Andrew Selinea.

Hector Lobos.

Casey Maselli.

One, two, three.

You guys, you guys, can we get council down to take a picture with all our officers, please?

Call your assistant chief now. Your assistant chief. Hey, Chris.

Other one.

Two, three, we have a few. And then hold on.

Thank you.

okay in a couple seconds we're going to take a break and we got a little celebration for the families and to do all that but before we do that you know i kind of want to talk about the elephant in the room a little bit This department is not to replace or in any way do what the Sheriff's Department does. It's to do something different. It's the Air Force and the Army. I haven't quite decided who's the Army and who's the Air Force yet, but the upshot of it is is that the two organizations working together doing different things makes it, absolute insanity for people to commit crimes in Lancaster. Go someplace else. If you have to be a criminal, be a criminal someplace else because I absolutely guarantee you we will catch you. But it only works, it only works if we have two separate entities doing separate things. The LPD has a huge homeless contingent that deals with the homeless population. It really is a revolutionary way of dealing with increasing the safety of our citizens. And it is not in any way, shape, or form a criticism of the Sheriff's Department. It's just we needed to do additional things, and that's what we're doing. And we needed to be able to gather intelligence locally. that we control, that we didn't wait three weeks to get somebody in LA to tell us. We now have instantaneous. And the Sheriff's Department calls LPD for that intelligence. LPD calls the Sheriff's Department. Well, there's a lot of reasons they call. But it's kind of the equivalent of we can call in a hellfire missile and take care of the problem. is really how it works. I anticipate this thing is going to be copied throughout the nation because it is so effective and for no other reason. And with that, let's go eat some cake and we'll be back in about 30 minutes, okay? I love to do that. You know that? Must be from being a lawyer in front of judges. Anyway, so I learned something. 18 years being mayor and I'm still learning stuff. I learned that if I say it's a 30-minute break, it has to be a 30-minute break. I can't come back early. So I should say it's a 10-minute break and come back late.

You can absolutely do that.

New business item one, is that where we're at?

No, we still have presentation number two.

The Lancaster Loop, okay.

Mayor and council, today, this is the second installment of the Lancaster Loop. This is where staff gets to update the council and all of our residents on all the key initiatives and amazing projects that we're working on. Today, Marisa Diaz, and you can start making your way on up, Marisa, she has the honor of talking through what we're doing in the world of pavement management. Mayor, I've talked to you, I've talked to all the council members on the conditions of our road, and you directed us to come up with a plan, a big plan and really make a big difference on our roadways. So what Marissa is going to present today is the challenges we face because the Antelope Valley conditions are so harsh on asphalt and what we're going to do over the course of the next three years to correct that and to use the words and i don't think he's here today but mr greg basham who was here last week make our arterials look like glass the floor is yours thank you trolleys mayor and council as trolleys mentioned today i'm going to tell you about our proposed three-year pavement plan

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 $3.51 billion. That's billion with a B. It's a lot of pavement and every year we add more as properties are developed and land is annexed into the city. Public Works manages pavement with our in-house maintenance services division asphalt crew and city engineering division capital projects. The asphalt crew in general responds to citizens requests. They have the ability to fill potholes, crack seal, and complete relatively small scale digouts, grinding, and pavement patching. The asphalt crew handles immediate safety repairs that typically last a season or two at best. They do not address rough road conditions, structural pavement failures, or any large scale pavement operations. With council approval of the recent 2026 budget, the asphalt crew budget was increased to double the size of the crew from five people to nine people and provided for several new key pieces of equipment. In this photo, a really bad segment of Avenue J8 between 36th Street West and 40th West has been ground out and the asphalt crew is actually test driving a new paver that we're looking to purchase. Once the new vacancies are filled and the new equipment is delivered in the spring, the asphalt crew will be well positioned to do more in response to citizens' requests, as well as take on some of the smaller capital improvement projects currently handled by City Engineering. Which brings me to our capital projects. City Engineering's Capital Improvement Program, or CIP, handles all large-scale informal and formal bid contracts for capital projects. For our roadway assets, they are responsible for the Pavement Management Program, or PMP. The PMP mantra is applying the right treatment to the right pavement at the right time using the right materials. The overall quality and condition of a road is measured using pavement condition index or PCI. Most of the work the asphalt crew performs is typically so small they don't register in the PCI. Whereas capital projects make large scale pavement repairs, they address structural pavement failures, and they address roughness of roads. Capital project repairs typically last three to five years, seven to 10 years, or 15 years plus. The Payment Condition Index helps us determine what level of treatment is appropriate and at what cost. In general, the lower the PCI, the costlier the treatment. Currently, our average pavement condition index is 52. In English, that means our pavement is fair to at risk. It also means now is the time to act. But our pavement management program faces four challenges. Number one, there's a lot of it, as I said, and the ambient temperature has to be a minimum of 50 degrees and rising to pave. Ideally, the longest lasting pavement is laid when the weather is between 60 and 80 degrees. That means the most we can pave in a year is typically only four months. Number two, it's very old. New pavement is typically designed to last 15 to 20 years. The bulk of our pavement is more than 25 years old. A lot of it, particularly in the city core, is more than 50 years old. Number three, climate. Here in the Antelope Valley, it can get up to 115 degrees in the summer and as low as 10 degrees in the winter. That range of temperatures is brutal on pavement. Combined with oxidation of the pavement oils and water getting into the porous asphalt, every year freezing and shrinking with the winter and thawing and expanding in the summer over and over makes the pavement very brittle, prone to cracking, and accelerates degradation. With so much pavement, it is very hard for the asphalt crew and for capital to keep up with the speed at which the climate is destroying our pavement. Number four, it is very expensive to maintain and repair our roads. The pavement project that we awarded just this last June was $3.5 million, and we only are going to rehabilitate 13 of the 1,510 lane miles. So what is our plan? Over the next three years, we want to invest $100 million to rehabilitate, resurface, and refresh our most used arterial roadways. Which streets exactly? Well, from 2020 to 2023, we were able to rehabilitate several of the roads within the city's core. So these brown streets will not be revisited. The light blue streets were recently completed in 2024 and 2025. And these dark blue streets are the current, oops, sorry. And the dark blue streets are the current and future payment management program projects that will be completed in 2026 and 2027. Between 2027 and 2029, we have three major grant funded projects that will go into construction. The first is the Safe Streets for All grant on Challenger Way from Avenue I to Avenue L, and that you'll hear more about with NB2. We also have the Highway Equity Avenue K interchange project from 10th Street West to 20th Street West. And we have the Active Transportation Program project on Fifth Street East from Avenue H8 to Lancaster Boulevard. So all of those altogether is about $80 million to complete that work. If you can find another 20 million to get us to 100 million, then between 2027 and 2028, we'll also resurface and refresh the arterials within the city's core that are shown here in green. Do you have any questions?

I think you're doing a fabulous job. You were cursed with the council that we kept kicking it down the road. And now the bill has come due. And you're meeting the challenge, which, wow. I wish we hadn't kicked it down the road so much. I mean, it's always a question of priorities and balancing them. But this is an issue we created, not you. And we gave it to you to fix. And you are. So wow. Thank you. Now New Business One, right? Thank you. Oh, that was New Business One.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the City Council. The item before you this afternoon is for your consideration is a request to approve the memorandum of understanding between the City of Lancaster and the Antelope Valley Union High School District to fund the design and construction of the Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center. When we talk about this facility, we're talking about much more than building a new pool. We're talking about responding to a need that already exists in our community, expanding access to programs that our residents are already asking for, strengthening our partnerships with the Antelope Valley Union High School District, and creating opportunities for Lancaster. Before I walk through these opportunities, I think it's important to start with why this facility is needed. The story really begins with the success of our existing aquatics programs at Eastside Pool. Our community has embraced the aquatics. In 2025 alone, we saw approximately 150,000 visits to our aquatics facility. Each year, our team provides approximately 3,800 swim lessons to members of our community. Despite serving thousands of participants, we continue to have a waiting list of approximately 500 people throughout the year who want access to swim lessons and programming. Simply put, we're bursting at the seams. Eastside Pool has served our community extremely well, but we have reached a point where the demand for aquatics programming exceeds the space that we have available. We have families who want lessons, athletes who who want training space and schools that need additional lanes and programs that we would like to expand. Today, we simply do not have enough water space to accommodate the demand. When we talk about the need for swim lessons, it is important to remember that learning to swim is about much more than recreation, it is a life skill. I will say that again, it is a life skill. Drowning remains one of the leading causes for injury-related death amongst children, and it's particularly significant for our youngest children. That makes access to swim lessons and water safety education incredibly important. The encouraging part is that drowning is preventable. Every child we can teach to swim is another child who is better prepared to be safe around water. When we talk about expanding aquatics programming, we also talk about expanding our ability to provide important safety resources to families throughout our community. The Marvin E. Aquatic Center gives us more of the opportunity to address these needs on a much larger scale. Today, I would like to focus on four areas where we see significant opportunities. our partnership with the Antelope Valley School District, the school use of the facility, expanded city programming, and opportunities for events and potential revenue. One of the important opportunities for this facility provides is the ability to strengthen the existing partnership with the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Through a future joint use agreement, the city and the district will have the opportunity to establish a shared use model that will maximize the facility for both residents and our high school students. The partnership alone will allow us to coordinate the use of the facility, support student athletes and high school aquatics programs, and create a long-term relationship that benefits students, families, and the broader community. Most importantly, it's not a partnership where we're starting from scratch. Our high schools are already using the aquatics facilities today. Currently, Lancaster Eastside and Antelope Valley High Schools practice at Eastside Pool. They are currently sharing a limited amount of space as you can see in the image above. During high school season, we are accommodating practices, dual meets, league competitions, and established event such as the pentathlon and gold league finals. The challenge is that we're trying to accommodate all of that activity with a facility that's already heavily used by the community themselves. The Marvin E. Chris Aquatic Center changes what is possible. A larger facility would allow us to provide more lanes, better practice opportunities for our schools, and it would also create opportunities to attract a larger, higher caliber high school competitions to Lancaster. For our student athletes, that means a better environment to practice and compete. For the city, it means that we can support our students without having to choose between school use and community programming because of that limited water space. That brings us back to the heart of this project, which is continuing to serve our residents. We already know that the demand is there. With additional capacity, we can begin to address the demand. We can offer more swim lessons. We can work to reduce those waiting lists. We can expand water safety and drowning prevention education we can grow our recreational and competitive aquatics programs and provide more community events and engagement opportunities. Most importantly, a larger indoor facility gives us the ability to provide greater access throughout the year. This allows us to create additional opportunities for residents of different ages and abilities and expand programs that Eastside Pool simply does not have the capacity to accommodate today. While serving our residents remains the primary purpose of this facility, there is another exciting opportunity that comes with developing the Aquatic Center of this size and caliber. The Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center has the potential to position Lancaster as a regional and national destination for competitive aquatics. We have had conversations with organizations representing USA Swim, USA Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, collegiate athletics, high school competitions and what we have heard that there is interest in high quality facilities capable of hosting large competitions particularly in the colder months of the year. That opens the door for regional statewide and national competitions as well as high school invitationals, championship events, facility rentals and other special events. These events have a potential to generate revenue through tournament fees and facility rentals, but their impact can extend well beyond the Aquatic Center itself. When athletes come to Lancaster, they don't come alone. They bring coaches, officials, parents, siblings, spectators. Those visitors stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our businesses, and spend money throughout our community. That creates the opportunity for the Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center to serve two purposes. First and foremost, it is a community asset, but it also has the potential to become an economic development asset that brings people and activity to Lancaster. When you bring all of these opportunities together, I think the story of the Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center becomes very clear. We're not trying to create demand, the demand's already here. The Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center gives us the ability to respond to those needs while thinking bigger about what aquatics can mean for Lancaster. He gives us an opportunity to serve more residents, teach more children to swim, strengthen our partnership with our high schools, support our student athletes, expand year-round programming, and potentially bring regional and statewide events and visitors into our community. Ultimately, this facility addresses the need we have today while creating opportunities for tomorrow. That is what makes the Marvin E. Christ Aquatic Center just an exciting opportunity for our community. Now, I will turn it over to Ms. Marissa Diaz.

In response to our request for qualifications and proposals for design-build services, Public Works received four statements of qualifications and proposals. After reviewing the statements of qualifications, doing interviews, and then opening the proposals and scoring, Bernard Brothers scored the highest and contract negotiations commenced. This afternoon, I'll walk you through the negotiated design-build conceptual design. The Marvin E. Chris Aquatics Facility will be located in the Parkway Village specific plan area on 10th Street West between Avenue K8 and K15, immediately across the street from Sergeant Owen Memorial Park. The proposed footprint of the building is expected to be between 50,000 and 55,000 square feet. The facility is fully enclosed for all weather year round use and surrounding onsite and offsite civil and some landscaping improvements are included. The proposed building will include two levels ensuring athletes and coaches are separated from spectators. The first floor will include a lobby and access to the second floor. Here you can see an artist's rendering of what that might look like. Pool equipment and pool storage will be here. In this area there will be public toilets and locker rooms as well as a first aid room and lifeguard area. Athletes and coaches will have dedicated toilets and locker rooms. Here we have offices, a classroom slash meeting area, storage, and a dry land training and workout room. The second floor will include seating for 1,500 spectators and access to public restrooms via stairway or elevator. The conceptual natatorium will include a 75 yard by 25 yard combination competition and dive pool that will vary in depth from three feet to eight feet on the competition side and 13 feet deep on the diving side. Movable bulkheads will allow the pool to be separated for different activities, providing flexibility in programming and maximizing use of the facility. If you have any questions, Victoria and I are here to answer.

No questions?

I have a question. Sorry. I know this is just a rendering, but will it be able to serve both long course and short course competitions?

Yes, I believe it will.

1,000 seats.

1,500, yep.

I mean, are the projections that we really have that many people?

Yeah, we were actually hoping to get 2,000 seats because that was the projection that we had. It's just we could only afford 1,500 with all the other amenities.

Wow, that is really cool.

Thank you so much. We're becoming big time, aren't we?

Thank you.

Any speaker cards?

Yes, Mayor, we have four. Okay. If I could please have the following individuals come up to the front and take a seat in a reserved seating. First, we have Arthur Callaway, Carla Johnson, Paula Roland, and then Mark Thibault. Then Arthur, you'll go first.

Hello, everyone. All I wanted to do is just clarification of how the MOU works. It says that The high school district is going to do 50-50 up to 100 million. Then it says that anything above and beyond 50 million that it would have to then be re-approved by their board. My concern is that we have to pay the 10% upfront that it seemed like it would be coming from the 50 million that they would put up first. but it doesn't seem like it's going in order by the way it was written, but is that how it works? Okay. And then, so with that being said, do we already have the plan on if it were to do overrun and then AV high school says, I don't want to do it. I don't want to pay more than the 50 million.

I can answer. There's a 10% contingency built into the contract. So the $100 million already includes $10 additional million for any change orders that come up during the construction that we don't expect. And now it's our job, or Marisa Diaz, our public works director, and her team's job as a project management team to manage the contractor and make sure that they stay within budget. The benefit of doing a design-build contract, which is the way that we put this out, is that we're bringing on both an engineering team and a contracting team to design the contract prior to construction. So we have the contractor overseeing or working with the engineer to make sure that any of those things that would come up on a traditional design bid build project are addressed before we even start construction out there and that they've actually value engineered everything to ensure we don't even need that 10% contingency. But in the event we do, it is there. If we were to exceed that, we would then go back and talk to the high school districts and come to a mutually agreed acceptable form to both their board and our council as to how we proceed with splitting any of those cost overruns. So I don't foresee it with the way that we built this out.

Copy. And then the last clarification is it is a 50-50 agreement with staffing and all the stuff even after the building is built, correct? Operations? Yeah, operations.

That will be the agreement that comes later, the joint use agreement.

This MOU is simply for construction. But that'll be joint with the high school? Correct. Correct. Correct. Thank you.

Carla Johnson.

Hello, everyone. I'll read my statement so I don't run out of time. With all due respect, residents are facing real economic hardship right now. Prices are up, utilities are up, insurance is up, food is expensive, fuel costs are ridiculous, and we're already dealing with a more than double sewer rate increase. On top of that, the council is considering a pay raise for itself. In this economic climate, spending all those millions of dollars on a luxury aquatic facility clashes with the financial realities of the people who live here. I'm also wondering what percentage of residents will actually use this facility. At the last council meeting, the mayor stated that brown people told him they don't swim. By the way, I saw a bunch of brown people on that presentation. But those were his words, not mine. And I want to add that Many residents from the palest of pale to the darkest of dark have told me they don't swim either. When people across different communities say they don't swim, it raises serious questions about the feasibility of spending all those millions of dollars on an aquatic center. It's also ethically concerning to consider naming a facility that costs that much money that is taxpayer funded after, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but after a former council member who's currently under a federal investigation. Public facilities should be named after individuals whose reputations are clear, uncontested, and reflect the values of the community. Doing otherwise risks undermining public trust and creates the appearance of political favoritism. In closing, residents deserve responsible stewardship of taxpayer funds, transparency, and decisions that reflect real community needs. An aquatic center or facility that costs that much does not align with the economic realities people are facing in Lancaster. Thank you.

Paula Rowland. Good afternoon, Mayor, Council Members. My issue is I'm against this. Right now, we have a spending problem. California keeps spending, spending, spending. And what are we getting for it? It seems like the city council, spend, spend, spend, spend. I have to live within my budget. And every time I turn around, the state, the city, the county stick their hands in my pocket constantly. My pay doesn't go up that much. A lot of my friends are on Social Security. The other day, I just found out two of them are leaving the state because they can't live on $850 a month on Social Security. The last four years, my homeowner's insurance has doubled. I hear all this potential stuff, the potential of what's coming in, the potential of this. I want to see hard numbers. I'd like to see what it's going to cost a year with insurance, with employment, employees. The maintenance costs, I'd like to see some hard numbers on all of this. I said, Mayor, you're a personal injury attorney. You know California is a sue-happy state. Anybody can sue anybody. You have a pool, it brings in extra accounts for sue money. I just, I'm sorry, I mean, Palmdale has three pools from what I understand. We had two pools. I don't know what happened to Jane Reynolds. I kinda got out of that. We have George Lane Park that can be used. I don't understand. If you guys are so concerned with teaching people to swim, why can't we work with Palmdale and collaborate with them when they've got three pools? They have two really nice pools, in fact. I don't know what the usage is of Eastside. I know it's great indoors, but I personally swim at Marie Kerr Park in the winter, freezing my butt when I get out, but I do swim there. I think right now in today's economic time, this needs to be put on hold or downsize it because we can't afford this. Thank you.

Lastly, Mark Thibault.

The clock's already ticking. Good afternoon. My name is Mark Thibault. I grew up in the Antelope Valley where as a youngster I swam in city and county summer leagues, later swam at Palmdale High School under Coach Beto. and competed collegially for Division I Fresno State. I coached at Courts Hill for 13 years, where we won several Golden League Championships, CIF Championships, and helped contribute to several student athletes moving on to successful careers at colleges, military academies, and in numerous public service vocations, including law enforcement, fire, nursing, education, just to name a few. I'd like to attribute that to some of the skills they learned in swimming. Currently, I'm an Antelope Valley High School district teacher. I'm also the Golden League swim meet manager and work as an official for the CIF Southern Section Championships and the California State Championships in Clovis. I open with my history not to boast, but as a testament to the power and support that a community can have. I am simply the product of many people's care, patience, and efforts. and quite honestly, taken a chance. On behalf of all who have supported me and come to before me, it is an honor to be here today to express my sincere appreciation for your possible vision, for your commitment, for your partnership, for making this aquatic facility possible. I would like to thank and commend Mayor Paris and the City Council and all the partners who are contributing leadership, resources and determination and the folks that are against it. We need to figure those things out. This proposed project represents so much more than the construction of a new building or a place to swim. It represents what can happen when a community comes together around a shared investment. in its future. This joint investment demonstrates a commitment to creating opportunities for children, families, athletes, seniors, and residents of all ages, where kids can learn to swim, where we can learn to overcome obstacles and celebrate successes. There is a monetary value as well, which was addressed in terms of folks coming into town to eat, to stay, to cheer on these dreams that some of these folks have. Perhaps the greatest value is not measured immediately, but what will happen in the future. There's going to be kids there that learn to swim. They will bring their kids down the road into the Marvin Criss Center, into the Coach Walter Beto Pool. My hope is that this aquatic center will serve our residents proudly for many years to come, and that it may always remind us of what is possible when a community comes together for a common good. Thank you. Any questions, clarifications?

I do, but I can't. I've been told I have to follow the rules of three minutes, so we'll give it a shot.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

I would like to add, Mayor, so I too am a product of this system. I grew up here swimming in the Antelope Valley. I was there when Marie Kerr Park opened up. And it is a beautiful facility. And I know very much what it feels like to freeze my butt off getting in and out. Hopefully you have a parka. I will say I couldn't have said it more eloquently than Coach Thibault, who for the record was my coach. And a lot of those accolades he spoke to, I checked the box. I grew up here. I swam here. I swam my way into the United States Military Academy. And so much of what I learned through my sport, which I know Councilman White can attest to this as well, those are life lessons that you take with you. Those are the things where you work out how to be a good loser instead of a sore loser. You work together as a team, you're disciplined, you're dedicated, Now I am not person who brought their kids here and I don't know what it's like for you guys, but I swear getting swimming lessons, whether here in the city of Lancaster or the city of Palmdale is harder than getting Taylor Swift tickets. Um, the demand is there and, and I don't have to preach the statistics to you. We are very pool safe in California. Our laws require it. You can't sell a house without having pool safety in place. But the matter is, people still drown. Our children are still drowning. So even if we ignore all the other benefits of what this facility is going to bring us, I think of our children, I think of my children, I think of your grandchildren. We have to keep our communities safe. And then if, oh, by the way, we get to enjoy all these benefits as well, count me in. I hear you. I think I'm forbidden from saying ROI this meeting. I'm not allowed to say what is our return on investment. But I hear you. I also, too, am interested in the numbers, the maintenance, because that matters. So thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you for allowing me to share. And thank you to Coach and everyone else who invested in me. I am a product of the people who invested in me, and it is a privilege to sit here now and serve my community.

Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to, you know, I look at this project, I did some behind the scenes work with staff, and I think that something like this is long overdue for the community. I think that as a council, we might have missed an opportunity five, 10, 15, 20 years ago to work in partnership with the high school district. When we take a look at this project, for the city to do it on its own, it would be a big challenge. And if we flipped it around and we gave it to the high school to do, again, by itself, it would be a big challenge. And I think what we need today and in the future is more partnerships that are like this. And then we clearly understand we're investing in the youth and we're clearly building the future for not only Lancaster but also Antelope Valley. And my background is I also sit as the chairman for Destination Lancaster and we got involved early on because we were trying to understand how do you financially carry the responsibility of taking care of a facility like this where our youth is the benefactor And how do we carry that long-term expense? So I know people have brought up, okay, it's gonna be an expensive, correct. But we also think that we've got some modeling that's been done that will offset the expenditure of carrying a facility like this And I think ultimately it's going to be a win. And again, I just think that we missed the opportunity, Mayor, five, 10, 15 years ago, and here it's before us. And with that, I'll pass it on and let my colleagues speak.

Thank you. I actually want to echo everything that you guys said. I invested in my daughters so they could learn how to swim. I don't know how to swim. Maybe they could help me and save me. And so I was raised in South Central. There's not that many swimming pools. My mother just couldn't afford it. So I invested in my daughters. I had to cut back. And now as a mom, My heart is very calm. I'm in peace knowing that my daughters know how to swim. And I want that for our community. It's very important. Thank you.

All I can think of is all the fun the kids are gonna have during the summer. I grew up, in Compton, Enterprise Park, where they allowed us to learn how to swim for free. And those memories still stick with me to this day. It seems like yesterday that I can reminisce on all the fun that I had in the pool with my friends, with the swimming coach who used to throw us in the pool and the free lunches. I don't know if we're going to be given free lunches, but something like this is big for the city. It's going to allow the community to come out and enjoy each other, but not only enjoy each other, learn how to swim and learn life's lessons. So I think it's a great social opportunity that we must act on. Thank you. Thank you.

You know, a couple of issues were raised, and I want to start with the naming of the facility. You know, anybody can make an accusation. That's why they investigate. That's why it actually should not be revealed publicly who's being investigated. But nobody's been charged with a crime. And Marvin Crist, I've worked alongside with him now for 15 years. And in those 15 years, he's never missed a meeting. Not of the different agencies he sits on, not on this council, he's never missed a meeting. And most, not most, but a great many of our accomplishments as a city were because of him. because he had this unique ability to bring different groups together and form partnerships just like he did with this one. Things that the individual agencies could not have created, together they were able to create. The only thing anybody said that was offensive was that, this is America. We are innocent until proven guilty. We should be certainly innocent until charged, until charged. You know, that was offensive. I'm sorry, it just was. Now, as to spend, spend, spend, I understand how people could think that, certainly understandable. But this city has the biggest reserve of any city in Los Angeles County. Isn't that true? We have the best credit rating of any city in Los Angeles. I mean, Los Angeles County. There's 88 cities. It is the most well-managed fiscally city anywhere. And you really can't argue with that. The reason you can't argue with it is because it's measurable. It's not me saying it. It's not George saying it. The people who say the opposite are not measuring. The numbers are the numbers. This is the best fiscally managed city out there. The other thing this thing reminds me of, I mean, I don't think it's any secret, that my wife and I have been incredibly blessed economically. But there was a time that was not true. And I remember the church coming to us and wanting me to help them build their lab for their school. I had to borrow the money to build that lab. And I honestly think that was the reason, one of the reasons we have been so blessed. I just believe it. Something had to account for it. But the money was borrowed to build that lab. It was an investment. And that's what this is. It's an investment in our children. It's an investment in our city. And I don't know about you, but I'm tired of people looking to this section of the of the county and thinking we're some desert wasteland we should be a place where we thrive where the opportunities that thrive are everywhere you look because we have the ability to build that is it a temporary discomfort it is it is you know it I'm figuring out as fast as I can figure ways to soften the pain to people on fixed incomes. But that does not mean we shouldn't be investing. We're going to continue to invest because we're becoming something magnificent. But the only way you get there is to invest in it. And with that, I've had my say. Thank you.

Will you entertain a motion, Mayor?

Yes.

I move to approve NB1.

Second. Is there a second?

Second.

Let's vote. And it's unanimous. Now, this is how you get things done. The next thing is in B2. We'll hear from Candace Vanderhuy.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm very excited actually to present this project to you. It to me is the prime example of your visionary leadership in transportation planning and traffic safety. But before I get into the specifics of the project that I'm here to present, I want to give you a little historical perspective. In 2008, the state legislature adopted Assembly Bill 1358, the California Complete Streets Act. Implementation of the act requires cities and counties to plan for a balanced multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets and roads, including motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities, seniors, movers of commercial goods, and users of public transportation. Now, Lancaster recognized the importance of that and actually you set to work immediately establishing our master plan of trails and bikeways in 2012, safe routes to school master plan in 2017, and then our master plan of complete streets. in 2017, which is really all three of them, but this being the crown jewel of the design guides that help us as staff both come up with projects, opportunities for improvement, and secure funding for those. The second important piece of planning was our local road safety plan. In 2021, the city secured a grant for the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, to prepare a local road safety plan and establish a Vision Zero program. The LRSP was intended to identify priority safety emphasis areas and guide future evaluation and investment in the city's transportation network. The LRSP analyzed city crash data from 2015 through 2019 and identified infrastructure and programmatic strategies to improve roadway safety. Recommended engineering countermeasures included roadway and intersection improvements and non-engineering strategies focused on education, coordination with law enforcement and emergency response agencies, and the use of emerging transportation safety technologies. In 2022, the City Council adopted the LRSP, the Vision Zero resolution, and the city's high injury and fatality networks, which in my opinion is actually one of the best resources to come out of the LRSP. It is a good tool for helping staff identify the best roadways to focus the city's energies, whether it be for programming pavement management improvements or developing projects for discretionary grant programs. This project is the result of identifying the high injury and fatality networks and then overlaying all of our master plans to identify where the city could make the greatest impact in our most vulnerable communities. And that is how the Challenger Way corridor was identified. From 1950 to 1980, the Challenger Way, Challenger Way, previously 10th Street East, was built to oversized conditions as the residential neighborhoods along the corridor were developed to support the expected increase in population and vehicular demand. However, the expected demand never materialized and the city's roadway design standards have advanced beyond the existing historic highway style roadway design and the corridor to consider all road users with priority on the most vulnerable. As the neighborhoods along the corridor have aged, the communities have become some of the city's most disadvantaged, which rely heavily on active transportation options to access school, work, and services along the corridor. Now to the project itself. The project elements fully incorporate our three master plans, but primary consideration of the complete streets. City staff developed the project scope and submitted an application to the US Department of Transportation's Safe Street and Roads for All, SS4A grant program, and was awarded funding in 2023. This project will transform the corridor with safe vehicle speeds, more amenities for active transportation and additional lighting. This project will widen and provide protection to existing bicycle lanes and install raised medians with dedicated left turn lanes at intersections. It will also implement bulb outs at crosswalks and install high visibility continental crosswalks at key locations. There are three schools immediately on Challenger Way in this corridor, and we actually are extending our school zone to account for the need for reducing speeds there. It will also provide additional streetlights and much needed pavement rehabilitation along the corridor. The funding agreement before you, $19,652,736 in grant funding from the federal government. We have a 4.9 million local match, but we as city staff worked real hard to secure the required local matching funds. We also negotiated the grant agreement to coordinate with the City Attorney's Office and the FHWA so that we could utilize Measure M funding, the MSP funding, appropriated in a tapered sort of a way towards the end of the project. Structure the agreement such that we may use 100% grant funds in the early phases of the project and bring in the match in the later phases of the project, namely construction. The grant will fund all phases from design through construction, plus the grant will fund supplemental planning efforts to expand upon the progress made by the Local Road Safety Plan and the Safe Routes to School Master Plan. These supplemental planning efforts will identify specific roadway safety projects for development of low cost, high impact countermeasures that will reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries. This effort will prepare a suite of projects that will Help us develop conceptual plans for other future projects. With that, I'd like to recommend and request that you approve this agreement.

Oh, I think we should turn down $20 million. Wow. Is there a motion? Oh, wait a minute. Are there speakers?

We do have speakers. We do have speakers.

Yes.

Mayor, we have two.

I'm going to bring you back up later, by the way.

If Ms. Cheryl Boswell and Mr. Arthur Callaway could join us up front.

Arthur, I don't care what you say, we're not giving the money back.

Arthur, you could go ahead and go first.

Real quick clarification. I would never tell you to give the money back. I would tell you to give the money to me. If I was going to choose one, that's what I choose. The only clarification I want is in the agenda it said K-12 and then in the packet it said L. Is it L? Does it go all the way down to L?

L2I. Okay. But I think the 12 gets you close enough to the roundabout, so that's probably the project terminus, but that's only a couple hundred feet there.

Are we going to put dynamic speed limits instead of static?

We are doing a pilot project on Avenue K between 10th and Sierra Highway.

So we're going to try it out first? Yep, exactly. Now we have the ability with AI and solar and all that to change the speed limit according to traffic conditions, which is really cool. You can go from 55 to 25, or 25 to 55. I'm kind of excited about it. But I kind of get excited about weird stuff. Okay.

Cheryl. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. I just actually have a question for also. On this, so the 20 million grant is for this project only. Am I correct on that?

That's correct.

Okay. Are we, in the future, going to have, because you said that we have best well-managed city, best fiscal managed, and can we use a general fund for the other streets that need to be fixed in Lancaster as far as potholes and like as she was showing where the, i mean i know it's wear and tear and i know we have the worst weather up here as far as to do this stuff but is there any way that we can start fixing other roads especially like on avenue l between from kaiser up to challenger that where the roundabout is

I'm going to respond to you as soon as you're done.

Okay, I'm done.

I hate rules. I'm sorry.

Do you guys hate rules? Yes, at times.

You're done? Mm-hm. The plan right now, and it's not even a plan, it's just in the back of my head and I've talked to, well, I can't tell you who I talked to. We have a reserve that is probably more than we need. It's 40%. So we're discussing dipping into the reserves to fix the streets. So that's where it's going to come from. But it is a gargantuan project. But we're also addressing other issues, too. In the neighborhoods, the biggest thing that destroys those streets are the trees. Trees too close to the curbs. What happens is it lifts it, and the water gets under it, and everything goes to hell. So we're changing the ordinance. We're going to require tree barriers and all new construction. But that still leaves us with the old stuff. What do we do about that? Homeowners really aren't in a position to remove the trees or to fix the root problem. How do we fix it? We're trying to figure out how to do that with the least disruption to the homeowner. But if we want to save the streets after we fix them, we're going to have to do something about those roots. That's all there is to it. double the lifespan of those streets. So that's just like one of the things we're having to deal with. Does that help you?

Yes, yes. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And we could fix them a lot faster if we did it 12 months out of the year, but we can't. Anything else?

Mayor, would you like to entertain a motion now, or would you like to?

Yeah, let's do the motion now.

Perfect. And then we'll pivot back.

Right.

So I move to approve NB2.

Second the motion. Let's vote.

And it's unanimous. Now, I'd like to take a moment to recognize Candace Vander Hyde, who you just heard from.

That's you. I'm a little out of practice. It's been a while.

Candace led the city's grant application for the US Department of Transportation's 2023 Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program. That means she got us $20 million.

Great. Thank you.

Because of her leadership and hard work, the city was awarded an incredible 19.65 million in federal funding for the Equitable Complete Streets for Challenger Way corridor project. This funding will help us make significant improvements along Challenger Way between Avenue I and Avenue L. Securing nearly 20 million in competitive federal funding is a tremendous accomplishment. It also means we can make major investments in our community while bringing outside funding directly to Lancaster. Candice, thank you. I mean, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

You're welcome. You know this work means a lot to me, a great deal, and that's why I got real excited and nervous at the beginning.

Well, come on up here, because I have something for you.

Oh my gosh, thank you.

You know, keep in mind how this works. You have a staff member that, okay, so maybe it's her job, right?

But she had to see the grant being there, and then she had to put it together. Putting together grants is really difficult if you want to get the grant, right?

It was pretty much all self-motivated, and we've all benefited from it. And one of the reasons I'm doing this with you is to encourage others.

photobombing center.

Moving on to NB3, we'll hear from Alison Burns.

Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, council members. Before you for consideration today is an ordinance amending section 2.04.030 of the Lancaster Municipal Code to establish the salaries of the mayor and the city council members in the amount authorized for general law cities by government code section 36516. This would be introduction. We did discuss this at a prior meeting and you tabled it to today. And so it is back before you for consideration. As a reminder, your current salary under the municipal code was established in 1995 at $600 and has not been raised since. And so before you for consideration is salary in the amount of $2,550 per month. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them.

No questions?

OK. Sorry.

Go ahead.

You asked it so quickly. Alison, I do have some questions. I know there's a difference between the mayor's salary versus the rest of the team. Is that correct?

There can be.

There can be.

Currently under our code, the mayor is paid the same salary as the council members. That is something that the council can change. A reminder that this ordinance will have to pass with a four-fifths vote. I should have said that in my initial presentation. It takes four of you to vote for this.

Okay. Council Member Mann and I went through a similar action on one of the other boards we sit at. I think, are we? Has this one been last updated longer than the other one? AVA came due. Okay. Okay. So I would like to lean in and discuss more about altering the mayor's salary. Okay. For some reason, I thought you got paid more. Well, not here.

Yes.

He has a lot of years on me, people. But what I do want to talk about, I know what's unique to our city and something that Ken and I are trying to bring over to ABA QMD is that our mayor donates any of the stipends or salaries he receives through the city to our scholarship fund. So that's why he gets to enjoy and brighten up our youth stays. So when our impact team comes or our seniors, when they come and present, he's constantly checking the book, seeing how much money do I have left in there? And I think, golly, for you to have made such an impact on all our youth, every single scholarship you've given out with the amount of money you've had, I think it's commendable. I think you lead by example. And I would like to, to kind of bifurcate the two, I would like to look into how do we increase the mayor's salary? With the exception that you continue to donate to our youth.

So as the ordinance is currently presented to you, it is presented as city council salaries as the title of section 2.04.030. if you were going to bifurcate the mayor's salary and set a different amount then i would recommend that section 2.04.030 have the title of city council and mayor salaries so that would be one change and then in the clause that currently calls for the salary of the mayor to be set at the same amount as the City Council to instead include the phrase, the salary of the mayor is established at, and I don't know what dollars you're talking about, I'm going to leave that to you, but the dollar amount per month inclusive of the amount received as a member of the City Council. That would be the change and I would be happy to state the motion for you if and if at the moment that we know the dollar amount so we can state it appropriately.

Okay. I just wanted to start the discussion. Would now be an appropriate time to see what my teammates?

You do have public comment. You've raised the association. You can allow the public to speak on that question. I think that is important that the issue has been raised now so the public can be heard on it. I know we do have a number of public commenters, so it would be appropriate to hear from them.

Okay. We do. have public comments. Mayor, we have four. Why are you looking at me crazy? We have four.

So let's go ahead and- Hey, you guys, I need the gas money. Do you know what it costs to fill up a jet? I actually heard that from a comedian on Friday. I've been dying to deliver it.

You're such a goofball. Okay, can we please get Paula, Roland, Carla Johnson, Fran, and Fran Sarasanos, and then Phillip Brown to join us in the front row? Yes, you are. Okay, and we'll have Paula, if you'll speak first.

Good afternoon again. I'm trying to figure this out. I guess a lot of you guys sit on different boards and different committees and things. I don't know if it's just me or if I'm just naive. I didn't think being on a city council, sitting on different boards was supposed to be a full-time job and get all these perks and pay and stuff because, I mean, going from $600 a month to $2,500 a month is quite an increase. And it's not even really a full-time job. And some of us, again, like I said, are barely making ends meet and trying to maintain a household, maintain everything. And not to get off the point, but Mr. Mayor, I do know what it costs to fill up a jet. I got the bill, $25,000. Thank God for insurance. I'm just trying to figure this out. I mean, maybe you said we're financially stable and this and that, but people are contributing more and more in taxes and levies and fees. I'm just trying to figure out, when does it stop? I mean, I don't think I've ever gotten a raise like that in just 20 years. I mean, I might have got a couple hundred dollars. but not that big of a raise. I'm saying no or change the amount or something. Carla.

Hello again. I will again read what I wrote. Hopefully, I'll stay within my time limit. As someone very dear to me used to say, when we would discuss certain government entities that fail, fall short in their responsibility to others, not talking about you all necessarily, right in the middle is a major flaw. The City Council has placed its own proposed substantial pay raise back on the agenda, yet today the Council has refused to perform a basic legal duty answering my Prop 218 questions, and they are in reference to Article 13D, Section 6, my objections to sewer rate increase that you already voted to approve. Pursuing a pay raise while failing to perform a mandatory duty to the public is a major flaw in governance and accountability. Article 13D requires that effective property owners receive clear, written responses to objections that raise constitutional compliance issues. I submitted my objections in writing, on time, and in proper form, and I also stated these objections in my oral testimony at the last council meeting. Neither at the meeting nor in writing form have any objections been responded to by the council or by the city attorney. This failure is a breach of duty under Prop 218 and undermines accountability to the property owners who must pay this rate increase. For the public record, I am again requesting responses to each of the following constitutional questions. One, what's the city's final adopted certified cost of service basis for the sewage rate increase as required by Article 13D? Two, why was only a preliminary unsigned, uncertified engineering analysis provided to the public instead of the required final report? Three, why did the city rely on AB 2180's future methodology for the rate increase instead of current Article 13D standards, which are the only lawful basis for rate setting? Number four, how does the city justify mailing a notice claiming a detailed engineer's report existed when only a prelim draft was available. Number five, how does the city reconcile its statements at the July 14th hearing that parcel-specific proportionality analysis was knowingly avoided despite Article 13D requiring proportional costs for each parcel? Number six, why we're walking, well, I'd like to know why it was okay to breach chain of custody in our protest ballots. Thank you.

Thank you.

Let me know when. How's that?

Good afternoon, Mayor Parris, and all the council members, staff, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Fran Sarasaras. By the way, I have been reappointed as Commissioner for LA County for the Aging and Disabilities Council. So it's my third year. And I'm very proud of it. Anyway, enough for me. OK, first of all, the salary that we're speaking of, and you're speaking of giving the members $2,550, and they're getting $600 now. So that makes a difference of $1,950. 1,950 a month. Now, as ‑‑ and that comes out to 7,200 a year. Okay. So by the calculations that I got off the computer, the mayor's pay, base pay should be around 15,500,000. But then there are some other numbers. But my main question, forget the numbers. I don't even want to get involved in numbers because that's neither here nor there at this point. I want to know where the money is going to be coming from. What department? Is it a general fund? Is it a new tax? I mean, is it going to come out of our money? This is what the people want to know, because, you know, we're all afraid. I mean, and all of a sudden you're saying, well, we're going to give, you know, which probability you deserve it. But we, as the other side of the fence, we see, you know, $2,500. I don't even make that in a month. I don't even make that. And I see that, and I start thinking, then we have all these other, you know, the lighting, the sewer, and the, gee, my three-minute stop. Well, coming up, you know, And at the end of the year, for me alone, if I have to pay all those three taxes for the city, it's going to cost me over $400 a year. I can't afford that. And I'm being honest. And that's the way, you know, that's the fact. And I'm sure there's other people I know that are making even less. And there's no way in the world they're going to be able to make it. So isn't there a way... Another quick question. This other one that we just talked about, the 20 million, that's a grant, isn't it? A grant doesn't get paid back, does it? It's free money, so you don't have to worry about it.

We do have to build the street.

Yes, but it's going to come out of the 20 million, right? So maybe some of this money, because we have a lot, I know we have a lot of money in the reserves.

I'm not allowed to let you go.

Oh, okay. Well, anyway, I think I said my just. Thank you very much for listening to me, and God bless you, and God bless America.

Thank you.

One more speaker, Mayor. Yes. And that is Phillip Brown. What's that?

I was getting jealous. I was thinking you were the only one that was going to get a tall handsome man coming in service. Thank you. Hi, I forget. Do I need to speak my name or? You're good, Phil. Okay. Unless you want to. No, it's been a while. It's been a while. Okay. Question. It's almost rhetorical. I don't know the number, but what is the city's budget? Just a round number. What do we budget for the city, all this stuff? Is there a round number?

Yes. The general fund budget sits at around $170 million.

$170 million.

The total city budget is around just short of $400 million.

$400 million that the five of you, are responsible for because there's no one else. They make the decision. These five people that make, a comedian would say about $1.39 to make those decisions. I'm standing in support of salary. I spoke about it before. you know you work for me, and I want the best people working for me. And I know history will tell you that salary of people in this position, when there's no salary, go to various counties, it's because it keeps black and brown people from sitting there. Because I couldn't afford to sit there and not get paid. I would have to have other income. And if I don't have it, I'm excluded. So the only person that's gonna represent me is the person that has the wherewithal. That's an unfair process. I am all for my city councilmen, city councilwomen, and mayor to be paid for the service of handling over $200 million I forget the exact amount, $400 million of my tax money. So whether that's a 50% or 1,000% increase to get you to a level that there are other people that are gonna wanna hold those positions and they're not gonna have a side hustle to allow them to do it. and to get paid to do that, it increases the pool of capable people to come and participate in this. That's why I stand in support of it and I don't think I need to say any more. Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Anything else?

I just want to echo the sentiment that Mr. Brown shared. You said it so eloquently in three minutes. That's the discussion we kind of were having at ABA QMD when we were discussing whether or not the salary needed to be adjusted. Again, they were adjusted more recently than what we're describing here. But you're absolutely right. In the grand scheme of things, what is it when you're managing a $400 million budget? More importantly, again, I just want to emphasize, a lot of us are still working. I forgot who said it last time about being independently wealthy. That doesn't apply to all of us. The mayor, everyone up here I know dedicates their time, their money, their family, they make sacrifices. And then our mayor on top of that, I know you guys are very blessed. but he turns around and donates it back to our scholarships. George, sorry to put you on the spot. Do you know how many scholarships, I'm gonna take credit, we've given out with the mayor's money?

That is definitely putting me on the spot, but I know it's been quite a bit. And I don't think that in any instance did he give less than $3,000 to $4,000 in each instance where he provided the scholarships, all funded by his salary going into a scholarship fund that we managed for him.

Right, and then when he runs out, he's calling home saying, Carol, I committed money. I thought we had more there. And as someone who just graduated from law school and business school in the last few years, a textbook alone can cost you $1,000. So the fact that our mayor, while yes, very blessed in today's day, was not that way. It was people who invested in him to go to law school, to get on the right path. The fact that he now gets to turn around and do that, I just, as a teammate, I want more of that. I want us to aspire to that, and I know we do. So I, again, I, If you'll help me, Alison, unless the team wants to discuss further, the motion I'm looking for is not about the four of us, but it's about the mayor. And correct me if I'm wrong, historically in other cities, doesn't the mayor make more than the rest of the team?

Is that- Many, many cities. It applies where there's a directly elected mayor, as we have. Which is what we have. Which is what we have, right. So that ability to provide additional compensation is because the mayor is directly elected.

And just to belabor the point, he's a lawyer, if you didn't know. Every hour he spends here, if you guys know what billable hours are, the city couldn't come close to to what it actually costs for the mayor to sit here. So again, I look forward, if the team supports me, to more scholarships. More than you've already done this year. I'm teasing. But if my teammates don't have anything to add, I'll have Allison tee up a motion for me.

Do you have a dollar amount in mind? $2,550 is what is before you for the council per month. So if you want to tell me what the dollar amount you're proposing for the mayor is, then I can build the motion for you, or I can recite the motion for you.

What is equitable? What is the market price for a mayor these days? I'm sorry, I'm putting you on the spot.

Do we wanna come back to this? Because I don't have that answer and it'll take me a minute. Can we discuss while? Yes, go ahead.

And as Paula said earlier, show me the numbers.

Yes, I will get you numbers.

As I said, the last council meeting, I'll do as I've always done. All of my payment goes back to charity. Not that I have to name all the different charities that I give the money. 4.0. Blue Star Mothers. Blue Star Mothers. The Rural Museum. And I can name on and on and on and on, but that's here and over there. But I'll continue to do that. I think I try to follow the mayor's lead. We have different passions of where we think money should go. The city's been blessed, and as Lauren said, we appreciate, Mayor, what you've done, so thank you. I know the youth does, too. That's for darn sure, because those have been the benefactors of it.

Did I stall long enough, Allison?

We've got an AI response of approximately 40,000 is about the average. And as the 2,550, I have to do math, please stand by. While you're looking. It's 30,600, so it would be Yeah, if you set it at maybe 3,000 a month, then you would, 3,300 a month, that would be about right.

Okay, and I would love to have my other teammates weigh in if they feel the need to.

No, in agreement. Thank you to AI. Okay.

I have no objections.

okay so then allison if you could help me um i would like to make the motion to again bifurcate uh i want to talk about the mayor's salary at increasing it by 50 percent um and all the other changes you said the change to one and two okay so i think what you're saying is increasing from 2 550 by 50 is that correct

Don't make me do math up here. I just want you to tell me dollars. Tell me how much per month for the mayors.

$3,300 was what would get you to the- So what we currently make- Is 600. Times, increase it by 50% for the mayor. For the mayor, okay. That position only.

So you want to change it from $600 to $900? I'm so confused. Trulies, let's get the engineer in here.

I'm sorry.

I went to law school, so I wouldn't have to do math. So did I. OK. Oh, OK. OK. $38.25 a month? Is that what you're asking for? For the mayor?

Yes. And that's in line with.

Got it.

We're still probably underpaying him. But OK. So that is my motion. OK. Do you want me to say it for you?

Yes, please. OK. The motion would be to approve item MB3, revising section two of the ordinance before you to read 2.04.030-City Council and Mayor Salaries, period, according to the provisions of government code section 36516. and consistent with the maximum salary authorized by government code section 36516A2E for general law cities with a population over 150,000 up to and including 250,000. The city council salary is established at $2,550 per month in accordance with the provisions of government code section 36516.1 The salary of the mayor is established at $3,825 per month, inclusive of the amount received as a member of the city council. The mayor and each city council member shall be eligible to participate in any continuing education and or tuition reimbursement program. The city offers to city employees in the same manner and pursuant to the same rules as city employees except that the mayor and each city council member shall be eligible for a maximum of $5,000 per fiscal year in reimbursements. Any amount reimbursed to or for the benefit of the mayor or city council member pursuant to the city's tuition reimbursement program shall be in addition to the salary provided in the preceding paragraph and shall be considered compensation as authorized by section 203 of the city's charter.

That is what I move. I think that's the longest motion ever. I second.

You're going to talk after we vote? No, I want to talk now because- Okay. It's always uncomfortable for me when these type of discussions arise because I really don't feel like I'm giving something because of the joy I get from it. And the reason I'm talking about it is because I think it's a lesson everybody could learn. I'm 74. I think I finally figured out where the value in life really lies. And it doesn't lie with me. It lies with the other person. And what I find is I feel good when I give things away. I just do. Just as I would feel good if I bought something for myself. I mean, there's not a lot of difference. It's value that I perceive. I also find that I get a bigger feeling of good, whatever that is. I feel gooder when it's with young people in a way that they can improve their lives. I like it. I feel good about it. But it's no different than if I took the money to Walmart and bought a bunch of stuff. Actually, it's much better. Much, much, much better. There's a selfishness to it that I feel uncomfortable when I don't acknowledge. The reason I decided to do this was your comment last week, and I actually researched it, whether or not minimum wage applied to the council.

How'd that work out?

It doesn't. Oh, darn. But we are far below minimum wage. People do not appreciate just how many hours have to go into this just to do a marginal job, to do a good job. It's not only studying all the stuff they send on our computers. It used to be a book this thick. It's the hours you don't sleep at night grinding your teeth about it. The people on this dais, and for the most part on every dais I've served on, they do not sleep well because they worry about making the right decisions and doing a good job. And like I said, I've been here 18 years, and I've yet to find a council person putting something in their pocket. You know, it just hasn't happened. Now, it might have happened and they slid it by me, but I haven't seen it. It's even down to not taking free lunches, you know? It's been a remarkable group of people that I've had the privilege of serving with. You know, one time Daryl Dorris asked me about the succession of who was gonna take this chair. And I said, the biggest problem I'm having is finding somebody that can bear the pain of sitting in this chair. Because every single decision you make, somebody's going to hate you for it. And now they have social media. They attack your wife. They attack your children. The latest thing is they even attacked my grandchildren. I mean, how do you do that? Two of them just started to learn to talk. One doesn't talk yet. But nonetheless, that's one of the costs of sitting here. So you guys have no apology for this. We should be apologizing to our family for being the lowest paid council in the history of California for so many years. Anyway, that's what I have to say about it.

She's asking to vote mayor. We all voted to go to you. Thank you, team.

Yes, we are now on PH1, the TEFRA financing.

OK, the public hearing is now open. We'll hear the staff. Do we have speaker cards?

Mr. Mayor, we do not appear to have any public comments.

Hang on.

No public? No. OK, let's wait for the staff report unless somebody wants to hear it. And I'll close the public hearing. Any discussion? Is there a motion?

I move to approve PH1.

I'll second that motion.

Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. Public hearing item two. Public hearing is now open.

Mr. Mayor, I would like to note that a written comment was received from Mr. Wade Stewart and was printed and placed in front of each of you and is a part of the record.

You know, I thought you raised some interesting points, actually, but I had trouble understanding. Anybody care to comment?

Perhaps when we get the staff report.

Do we need a staff report? Oh, I guess we do now then.

And we do have public comment too.

Okay. All right.

Better be good, Shannon. No pressure. Good afternoon, Mayor Paris and Vice Mayor Hughes-Leslie, members of the City Council. My name is Shannon Edwin. I'm an associate planner with the city's Community Development Department. The next item I have before you is the Sierra Gateway neighborhood plan.

There's the clicker.

I want to get started with an overview of the area that the specific plan covers and what a specific plan is. A specific plan establishes unique development standards for a specific area of the city. It serves as both the visioning and regulatory document for this identified area that will guide future development. The area we're looking at is located directly adjacent to downtown Lancaster and the Boulevard. The plan area covers approximately 323 acres and is generally bounded by Avenue I to the north, Division Street to the east, Fern Avenue to the west, and Avenue J to the south, with Sierra Highway running through the middle. Some of the key landmarks in this area include Boeing Plaza at Sierra Highway and Lancaster Boulevard, the Lancaster Metrolink Station on Sierra Highway, Jane Reynolds Park located on the west side of the planning area off of Avenue J, and the Lancaster Community Center located on the east side of the plan area off of Yucca Avenue. Next, I want to give a little background on this area and its previous planning efforts. The area is currently governed by the Transit Oriented Development, also known as TOD, Zones Plan, which was adopted in 2015. The city council adopted the city's housing element in 2022, which identified the TOD zones area as a prime location for future housing given its proximity to transit and central location in the city. The existing TOD zones plan as it is now is not structured in a way that would support these goals. Overall, since the adoption in 2015, this area has seen very little development or redevelopment. The city received a grant from the Southern California Association of Governments, or SCAG, to update and re-envision the TOD zone's plan to better align with the city's housing element, to expand opportunities for housing in this area, and overall just better align with the community's current needs. A major goal of this plan was to truly be shaped by the community. We really wanted to make sure it was reflective of the current needs so that we could create a plan that was more usable and would support future investments in this area. With the support of SCAG and our consultant Dudek, we hosted two open house style community workshops. We had four targeted stakeholder meetings with local groups, including the Lost Angels Career Center, the Boulevard Association, the Lancaster Community Center, and Metrolink. We also had a presence at multiple community events, which included the Boulevard Farmers Market, the Love Your City Cleanup Event, and last year's State of the City. We also had online participation available through a dedicated webpage, as well as an online survey. All outreach, including the online survey, was available in both English and Spanish. On the screen, we have some photos of some of these different outreach events. I also want to give a major shout out to city staff who were our internal stakeholders. We were able to meet with and get feedback from Public Works, Parks, Housing, Finance, the City Manager's Office, and the Lancaster Police Department. These conversations helped us shape the plan to be implementable so that we can more realistically work towards the community's vision. So with all of that, the plan was re-envisioned as the Sierra Gateway Neighborhood Plan, or SG&P. The goal of this plan was to establish the area as a distinct neighborhood that supports walkable, transit-oriented, and mixed-use development. The previous TOD zones plan was written in a way that was both confusing to understand and challenging to implement with rigid development standards and a lack of clarity. Additionally, there are several city housing authority owned sites in the plan area that were not actually zoned for housing. So part of this update is correcting that. In general, the areas that are existing residential neighborhoods are zoned residential, will continue to be residentially zoned. The remaining areas will now be zoned mixed use or commercial, which will also allow residential development by right, as well as for a variety of commercial uses. Overall, the updated plan provides more clarity and flexibility to support streamlined development review and encourage more investment in this area. Lastly, I just want to mention that there is actually no new development or construction being proposed as part of this plan. Next, I want to touch on a feature of the plan that was also rooted in feedback from the community. What really came across all outreach we did was a desire to see more aesthetic and public improvements in the area as well as improve safety. Since the majority of the plan area is built out, we created a path in the plan that would capture some level of improvements in the area as existing buildings are redeveloped or changed over time. There are varying levels of redevelopment. This can be anything from a minor addition to a building or a full rebuild of a site. Depending on that level of change, the plan will require minor improvements to be made to the site, which can vary widely from things like a refresh of the facade, enhanced lighting, or new landscaping. Safety features would also be required, which may include a safety plan, enhanced lighting, and security cameras. Overall, the intent of this is to see small gradual improvements to the area that will have a big impact in the long term. All right. Jumping into our last slide, I'll mention that all required public noticing for this hearing was completed. The project was presented before the City's Planning Commission on July 20th, where they unanimously recommended approval to the City Council for adoption. Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council approve the project by adopting the resolution and introducing the ordinance. That concludes my presentation, and I'm available for any questions.

Any questions? No questions. So wait a minute. We don't get to get off that. So Mr. Wade Stewart had a concern about the median and creating a traffic issue. Is there anything we should be concerned about there?

I don't believe I saw the comment that was provided in writing to the council. That does sound familiar though. I believe he also commented with the planning commission hearing. Okay. Okay, great. I did email him back during the planning commission time and clarified that there's actually no new construction or redevelopment of any of the streets at this time and some of his concerns would be addressed should that ever be looked at or any improvements to the street be made.

Who do you respond?

He said thank you for the clarification. Okay, thank you. Yes, thank you.

Yes, Mayor, there are three. We have Arthur Callaway, Dwayne Spolstra, and Fran Ciriciris. Arthur, Dwayne, Fran.

I'll go first? Sure. So I just wanted a clarification. There's no construction that's going to be done, but when the plan is being presented, it is to encourage investment. What investment does that mean? It means a developer building something. Okay, so by there's no construction, the city's not doing any construction, and then you're gonna do the zoning, change the zoning so that developers will wanna do construction. Are we making sure to understand of not raising the cost of living so that the people that are there get to stay in their homes if the developers come and start to do things and raise rents and stuff like that? I'm not clear on the question. Gentrification. If developers come in and build buildings and it starts to be popular, are we going to do anything to protect the people that are actually there that are currently in the residential zones?

I don't know that it applies there, does it?

There's no residential?

I really can't answer that. There is. There is. There is.

Yes.

So is that just the thought? I mean, just in case, cause I don't know how much, how enticing this new plan is going to be and that there's low income people there. I would hope that we make a plan to make sure that they're not moved out of their houses.

It could potentially become an issue. I mean, as new development comes in, prices will go up in that area, I will say. However, we are working with other developers, like the project we ribbon cut a month or so ago over here off Sierra Highway to create affordable housing product that those individuals could have an opportunity to move to, if that were to happen. Because there's two sides.

There's two sides to that, and I would also think that potentially in the future there may be monies that staff could possibly garner, I would think, under a new plan.

Meaning additional mitigation requirements as they come through the process to ensure there's a community benefit. Correct. Absolutely.

Okay, and then we have Dwayne.

Thank you, Lauren, Council.

A question as a business owner in that development is, maybe I'm asking this young lady as well, is eminent domain part of the multi-use area? Would that be something that the city would move towards to, because the area is... semi-blighted. Is eminent domain part of the discussion that's being voted on now? Is the last two words, to implement strategies. That's kind of a vague, ooh, a lot could happen under strategies.

Eminent domain is extremely difficult now. It's not like it used to be. Perhaps you could answer that for us.

There is no call out for eminent domain in this plan. And this Council has been loath to engage in eminent domain.

No, I'm not.

Historically, this Council has been loath to engage in eminent domain.

No, they haven't.

As the recipient of the response to eminent domain proposals, I would have to disagree with you, Mr. Mayor. But this plan does not include eminent domain.

Thank you.

Can implement strategies be defined a little bit more specifically?

Come on up. I can't hear you. I'm sorry.

The last two words say implement strategies. Those of us that are conducting business and live in the area, it's a very vague coverall. Set eminent domain aside, implementing strategies still has a lot incorporated in it.

I think you just cut and pasted it, didn't you?

Could I clarify which section you're referring to?

The MU section backing up against the railroad tracks on the east side on Yucca Avenue.

Okay. The implement strategies portion of the...

I'm not sure what you're asking.

I think I'm a little confused with what section that's being referred to.

I'm reading this section right here. development standards, guideline, public realm improvements, and implementation strategies.

I see. Thank you for that. You're welcome. I think what that's referring to is that the plan is structured in a way to help actually bring the plan's vision into fruition by making development an easier, clearer process to do, and it has an outline of, even possible financing mechanisms for the future. It has a whole menu of different options. So I think that is what we mean by that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

We have one more.

Sorry, Mary.

Fran?

Hello again. I'm down here. Okay. I just want some clarification. I didn't understand that map. I couldn't see it that well from where I was sitting. It was kind of confusing. But I'm assuming isn't that area by where the Lancaster Children's Center is? In that area?

The LCC.

What's that?

Community centers.

Yeah, the children's community centers. That's where in that area, right? And then next to that is, what is it, Ice Company? There's a nice company next to that, and then on the other side is a used furniture place or a secondhand thrift shop. But all that's industrial.

I don't think it's anywhere near the Children's Center, is it?

The Lancaster Community Center, not CCAB, LCC.

Yeah, it would be near that.

And then I didn't quite understand what it meant. I'm assuming, but I don't want to... I already learned not to assume. transit-orientated development. Now, what does that mean? I mean, I know basically what the words mean, but how does...

So currently, well, by setting up this specific plan, there's monies available for transit areas like this that would fall into a plan. And so when we talked about earlier of getting a federal grant, one of the opportunities that might come out of this would be able for staff to make an application because it's close to the hub for the metro system. And so there's monies that are actually historically been available through grants or whatever the case may be. So this is by, Doing the area, this opens the door for opportunities in the future and we all need to understand this is probably one of our oldest areas. If we go back when Lancaster got developed, there's some pretty well established properties down there and that should just open the door for us.

So all that area then basically will be leveled and refurbished and renewed?

No, not necessarily.

So let's just turn it over to Candice, get a grant, redevelop it.

What the hell?

Let's start it all over again. We'll accept $19 million this time.

Mayor, the irony of that is Candice got the grant to fund the plan that was before us.

Boy, we got to give her two wins now.

Maybe it should be the Canvas Aquatics.

Mayor, that concludes our public comments.

That's wonderful. Thank you.

Is there a motion? Oh, I know. This has to go up.

Yeah, this has to go up. No, no, no.

Just raise the table. Move the whole building. We're talking about reconstructing everything. So might as well start here.

You know, has anybody ever seen any children at the children's center?

Yes. Yes.

OK, good.

Every day.

Mayor, the LCC hosts robotics camp. It hosts, which Eastside High School partners with us, and they put on their robotics camp every month. Also really hard to get a spot in. Art camp, after school care. I've hung out there with the Queens, the community Queens.

At the children's center across the street.

The Lancaster community. Sorry, CCAV. Yes, I have also seen children there. I think Cedric stepped up to use the restroom. Are we still able to move forward? Yes, we have a quorum. Then in that case, I move to approve PH2.

I'll second.

It's unanimous.

With Council Member White absent.

Right. OK. Now we're going to close sessions?

Yes. The City Council.

We'll go into closed session to discuss closed section items number 1 through 17. We'll be back. Okay, the meeting is reconvened. City Attorney.

In closed session, the council took up closed session items 1, 14, and 15 and gave direction to staff and legal counsel. No reportable action.

Any items on the consent calendar we need to pull?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Item number five, CC5, you and Mr. Mann have a conflict and need to recuse yourselves.

Yes.

Oh, and I should note that in closed session, the mayor recused himself on item 15.

And they left me out in the hallway, came back in here, didn't tell me. It was highly abusive is what I'm trying to say. All right. Any speaker cards on the consent calendar?

No, we do not have any.

God is good.

Good. Can we?

Okay. Is there a motion on the consent calendar minus item five?

I move to approve the consent calendar as comprised minus CC5.

I'll second that motion.

Let's vote. It's unanimous.

And for the record, it was clear in relationship. I have property in the area. Right.

And so do you, Mr. Mayor, I believe.

I do.

That's my understanding of the reason for your recusal on CC5.

Okay. I move to approve CC5. Second. Let's vote. And the motion passes with three yes votes and two votes abstaining. Recusals. Recusals. And that's Mayor Paris and Council Member Mann.

You guys will have to forgive the hat. I'm holding the halo down. Never mind. I thought it was funny.

Page nine.

Is that it, the CR1?

Page nine, CA1, yeah.

Okay, let's hear the video recap on Mason's Sierra event.

Did you want to do CA1?

Just take the show away, would you? Don't we have videos now?

You have council action item number one.

Oh, did I miss one?

Sorry.

Oh, sorry about that. Oh, oh. It has come to our attention that how we appointed the commissions procedurally was not according to the California statute. The one that is primarily important on that is the Planning Commission. recourse I see is to recognize that the appointments to the Planning Commission are void and have been void. And so I'm making that announcement. What we will do is we will reappoint the Planning Commission and the other commissions, we're gonna do it all the same, at our next meeting because it requires 10 days notice. And that was one of the errors that occurred. What that means in regards to things that were passed by the Planning Commission, I don't know. But I do know,

I do.

I do know that when we find a mistake, we should acknowledge the mistake and correct it, and that's what I'm doing. Yes, City Attorney.

It has no bearing on the efficacy of the Planning Commission's actions.

Efficacy, that's a big word. What does that mean?

They remain valid. The actions taken by the Planning Commission remain valid.

Okay, good. So that's being the case. If somebody would like to apply to any one of these commissions, I suggest you do so relatively quickly so I can get it on the agenda. But we need to put the names of the people we're appointing on the agenda, and that's one of the things that was not done. Any questions from the council?

Just a question. How would someone apply?

The city website has that?

Correct. There will be a posting on the city's website and the application link is there.

Okay, and list all the commissions that are available and also make certain that the application form indicates whether or not they would be interested in a different commission if they don't get the one they asked for. Will do. Okay. Good. And just so everybody's aware, what I'm looking for is serious people. And that's really the only requirement. You have to be a serious person that wants to contribute to the community. I really don't care what political affiliation you have or anything else. It's just, are you real? Do you want to contribute to our city? That's the criteria. OK? We all good? Good. And we're going to revisit the efficacy of the prior decisions. Because I'm not sure that's accurate.

OK? OK. I'll bring you the case law.

OK, good. Oh, you thought I wanted to raise. You ought to see this one. Before the council is a renewing the contract of the city manager.

Good afternoon, Mayor Perez, Vice Mayor Hughes-Leslie, Council Members. Before you for consideration is an amendment to the City Manager's contract. The changes include extending the term to 2029, increasing the compensation to bring it in line with comparable cities in the region. Currently, the City Manager is 10th out of the 12 most comparable cities in Los Angeles County. in compensation. Palmdale, by the way, is fifth. This increase would place the city manager at seventh out of the 12 most comparable cities, so right at the median. It increases the vehicle allowance, provides clarity regarding deferred compensation, clarifies applicability of certain benefits provided to other senior management, and again, extends the term. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions?

So Palmdale is fifth?

And he's asking to move to seventh.

I will motion to move it to fourth.

Wait a minute. I don't think that's funny. I think that is something we should consider. And I'm serious about that motion.

Okay. Let me go. Is there a second on that motion?

I'll take a second on that.

We do have public comment. Yes. Okay.

Did you want to?

No, I just wanted to say I'm in agreement. Our city manager has done an amazing job. As we are new, there's a lot of learning, there's a lot of time that we connect over the phone, over emails, in person. And I just want to say thank you for making this process very easy for us. And you do an amazing job, so thank you.

Anyone else? Just so the public is aware, You know, imagine being a city manager with me being the mayor. There is no boundaries regarding time. There is no boundaries regarding weekends. I mean, he has to be available 24 seven and it is not unusual for me to contact him at six in the morning with a list of things I wanna know. I've had lots of city managers in the last 18 years. I'm not going to compare them, but I can tell you that I am satisfied. And my assistants over there, her eyebrows just went up. You're satisfied? You're doing a great job. And I agree with Cedric.

That's okay, go ahead. So I've been dealing with Trolley's for a long time, even before I sat here on city council. He's not only working for the city council, he's working for the community. He's done a lot of stuff with our organization. He supported us, not just my organization, the CBOs here in the community that's doing the grassroots on the ground boots. I said I messed it all up, but he's for the city and he does a lot of work for the city stuff that you don't realize he does. He's there doing the work and that's why I made that motion because he's not just a city manager, he's a community member and he's for the citizens of Lancaster.

With that, Mayor, are you ready for public comments?

I'm ready for public comments.

Okay, we have Cheryl Boswell and Arthur Callaway. And we'll go Cheryl, then Arthur, please.

Good afternoon. I should say good evening. Good evening, everyone. Okay, so I have to say on this CA2 that I oppose completely on section four of this part. I am very sorry, but I do not agree with him getting 100% of the premium for health, dental care and vision for himself, his spouse and his children if he is employed for 10 years with the city. Our military have to work and they are in arms way and he is not 20 years to get health 100% paid. I'm sorry, but I oppose this completely. Everything else is fine, but I oppose the health completely, 100%.

Thank you. Up next, we have Arthur.

I just want to know, First, before I talk about that, Mayor, you just got an increase. I know a person who would love a scholarship. He's young at heart and his name is Arthur Callaway. If you could actually start that scholarship. What are you studying? You can start that scholarship. I'll be very appreciative.

I said youth, DK. Scholarships to youth.

Young at heart. I agree with Cheryl, I think that what we can do is come to a compromise because if we start a precedent where we're getting only lifetime health benefits.

Is that what we're talking about here?

Yes. Yes. That's the only part I disagree with.

That is one element of the amendment.

Yes. I would like for us to do a revision for that to say maybe because I know that city manager job is also volatile. The average city manager lasts about five years. He might not even ever get to 10 if we're starting it at the point that he became city manager and not the point that he started working with the city. I didn't get the clarity in that. the wording, which one that was, but maybe for every year he is here that we give him a certain number of months, say six months, because it could take a year or two or three to find another city management job. so i think that that would be a nice in the middle because i don't want my kids still paying for his health care and they don't know who he is because he's been gone for 20 years so i think that that's what i would do to revise this because everything else is great and i'm glad you got from seven to five four maybe Seven to four. I don't know if he was tied yet, but seven to four, car, all the other stuff, but lifetime healthcare for the entire family. He looks like a spry 28. That's 50 years that we're going to have to pay for his healthcare. I don't know if we should do that. We got to be reasonable. Thank you.

Mayor, that closes out our public comments.

That was slick. What did the other employees get?

Depends on when they were hired. The current employees coming in get a health care spending account, and there is an allocation of funding that goes into that that they can use to purchase benefits.

Say it louder and say it clearer.

current employees or new employees to the city, because we have two tiers of classifications. If you were hired pre, what is it, January 1st, 2012, those employees have employee health benefits for life. Newer employees hired after January 1st of 2012 get a money that goes into a health spending account that they use to purchase healthcare benefits after they retire.

So how long have you been with the city?

I have been with the city since August 6, 2016. 10 years. 10 years and two weeks.

May I comment? May I give my two cents?

They elected you to do that.

Mayor, you and I had the privilege to work with the unions here who represent our staff. And I think you and I both agree, I know in your personal professional life as well as the way in which we conduct business here at the city, we want to attract talent. Not only do we wanna attract it, we wanna retain it. And I think you said it yourself, we do big things here in Lancaster, we do scary things, we take risks, we put ourselves out there, we open ourselves up to scrutiny. And we do it with a happy heart because that's what we were elected to do. When I look at our staff and I look at our city manager, they didn't go out and campaign for these jobs. They are engineers, they're planners who just want to make where they live, in Tralee's case, where they grew up, where they choose to raise their family. That's part of the payment that they're fulfilling. And I know when we were doing those negotiations, a big piece of it was this scary medical aspect of it. And you and I both agreed that what sets Lancaster apart? We take care of the individual and we take care of their family because we know that not only is the person who shows up to work, are they sacrificing? Are they working hard? Are they delivering? Are they striving for excellence? But we know that your family, of all families, know what kind of toll that takes. I appreciate what my new teammates see and have said already, and that's only in the short time you've been here, because I was the new girl not too long ago, right? And hopefully, now that it's his second rodeo, he worked out the kinks with me. But we negotiated with our unions the importance of healthcare. So I just, and I really appreciate, Cheryl and I just had this realization that we have some shared military experience and I completely understand your sentiment and I agree. 20 years active duty service is what it takes for an individual to receive healthcare benefits. But you also know that many service members, when they depart the service, they go through the VA disability process, and various people receive other medical benefits who serve less than 10 years, who serve less than five years, who serve less than one year. I'm not by any way saying that Trulese is going into harm's way, but the amount of stress And the amount of employees, problems, fires, transitioning council members, being innovative, executing things that haven't done before, your crazy ideas, Mayor. It takes a toll on one. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm looking at the two of you only because I know you currently shoulder the burden of it, the privilege of it. And I just know, without saying ROI, I do want to say that what has been done in the past? What is the market comp? I know, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Palmdale not only has a city manager, don't they have a deputy city manager, an assistant city manager, an assistant to the assistant city for? And forgive me if I got their titles wrong. We have two.

Yeah, but they sue the city every other year, so. That's a savings.

So think, one, I would enjoy if you don't sue us. Two, I would like to continue to retain and grow talent within our ranks. And I think if we don't lead by example of taking care of our leaders, what message are we sending to the rest of the people who, by the way, the youth who are going to take that scholarship money you give them, go away, go to college, get life experience. I want them to move back. I want them to look at Trulise and Larissa and say, that's what I want.

Anyone else? So what does it mean, what does it mean, family? Does that mean the kids for the rest of their life?

They age out.

No, only when they're eligible to be on a family plan. So I think the current age legally is 26 years old.

And or married?

Yeah.

Yes. Correct.

Takes them out. So I'm a little confused. Are we treating you differently than the rest of the employees in any way that if you're in their category?

I would be treated differently than the new employees, yes. Yeah.

That's not what I'm asking you.

Other similar positions like in- Explain this to me, Allison.

You would be treating Tralee's similarly to employees who were hired in 2020-12 and earlier.

Okay, they're the same. I'm treating them the same.

Same as 2020-12 and earlier.

So they all get this deal?

They all get health benefits, yes.

For life?

For life.

I know what to add. Do they make any commitment to die early?

None. No. The job does it for them.

I tried to figure out a way to contractually require that and couldn't. Allison, please correct me if I'm wrong because I know I asked for the data before this meeting. I'm not remembering the numbers exactly correctly, but Trelease has been lower ranking, I don't know how else to say it, for years.

He has been. His pay has ranked lower than similarly situated, sized entities, or cities, excuse me, in Los Angeles County, I think since you became city manager.

And in the meantime, Trulese has advocated for our employees to get pay raises, and he's driven market comp research.

Is that true? Yes, that is true.

Okay. I'll get off my soapbox. Thank you.

I'm good. Cedric made a motion. I second it. I'm ready to...

I don't think we... Well, if... Well, you're going to need to modify... We need specifics on the motion, yeah.

Yeah, you'll need to... You want to state it?

If Councilmember White is amenable... No, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Oh, okay. Okay. I didn't mean to catch you off guard.

The way that motion... You know, making it forth, I don't know what his benefits are in Palmdale. I certainly think that you are doing an amazing job when we compare you to other cities. There isn't any question about that. And if this provision regarding health insurance is not that aberrant, I'm OK with that, too. I mean, I quite frankly wonder why we don't have health for everybody. But that's just me, and they're gonna kick me out of the Republican Party someday for saying that. But we have deplorable healthcare in this country, and it shouldn't be that way, especially when you're somebody your age. So I'm good with that, but I wanna know if we're gonna, I don't want your benefits to exceed the fourth level, although I'd be good with the first level. But I don't like doing this in the dark. So how do we pass it today? Because we've been kicking this down the road for months. But safeguard that. Any suggestions?

So this is not an unusual provision and is in fact a provision that has, if I recall correctly- It's not the health insurance I'm talking about. Oh, you're talking, okay. So if you're talking about the making it forth, I have a way to do that with a revised motion if Council Member White is amenable, and that would be to move agenda item CA2, revising section 4P of the contract to provide for divert compensation of 18 percent of salary, which is a change from 15 as stated in the contract as presented to you, and that would place... Of course, there is the question of do we really want to, with parity of Palmdale, consider the vast discrepancy? It places it just above.

What?

Just above. Just above Palmdale.

Oh, good. Okay, I can go with that.

Mayor, I had a question.

Yes.

Will we make this effective date the same day we made the effective date for our other employees?

Now we're really getting greedy here. Did you set her up to that?

No, I just, I appreciate someone who leads by example. I do. You didn't ask for this.

First of all, I think what you said made a lot of sense. Thank you. We need to attract the very best. And so far, what I've been seeing is somehow we've been able to do that in an incredibly competitive environment. I mean, the reason city attorneys only last five years, multiple to the reasons, but they're constantly being recruited. Even really, really, really bad city attorneys seem to be able to get jobs. And I think people know who I'm talking about.

So, okay.

Is that good with you? Is that where you want the motion to go?

Motion to increase city managers pay by 18%.

to 18% change for the deferred compensation, as I stated in the motion?

Yes.

With the effective date of? As presented to you, the effective date was the date of the amendment, which is July 9.

Right. I'll second that.

Now Larissa's sitting there going, damn, why didn't I? All right. Everybody had their say? Is there a second to Cedric's motion?

I did that, I made the second.

Okay, let's vote. It's unanimous. Well played, well played.

Now, where are we?

We are on council reports, Mr. Mayor.

Ah. So let's show the video.

The real impact is what's coming after this.

Couldn't somebody have told me my hair looked like that?

Hardworking families can now have their own home, you know? And the management of the project provides real support to families so they can thrive. I envision thousands of these, literally thousands, because people have a right to their own house, you know? Now, it doesn't mean... But they have a right to live in a decent house in a decent neighborhood. I don't know, I'm thrilled by that. It will solve a lot of issues. You know, a lot of people are living under the threat of being unhoused. This solves that.

Phase one of the project, this is actually a two-phase project. The project has a single family house as well as an ADU.

It's a very unique business model that is profitable for the people who invest. It's sustainable. I'm thrilled with it.

If you guys haven't seen that project, you really should. What he's done out there is really quite remarkable. Do we have another video? Mayor, I'd like to go last, if that's OK. OK. No, I think I had a recap of the DA. Go ahead.

So it's important to make these visits to these police departments. We visited over 65 at this point so that they understand that the DA's office now absolutely wants to work in partnership with law enforcement. I tell them that the DA's office is open for business. Bring us great cases full of evidence against whatever individual you think has committed a crime and for whatever crimes you think they've committed and we will give a fair shake to all those businesses.

It wasn't too long ago that our crime rate was really out of control. And since LPD has opened up and is now working with the Sheriff's Department, what we're seeing is it just crashing, crashing. An example is stolen cars, down by two-thirds. I mean, by bringing in this technology, bringing in the trained officers, paying attention to what matters, I mean, it has exceeded about this place.

I think that we probably have the best parks of any city. It wasn't here five years ago. You know, the artwork in the city, that's the parks department that's doing that. You know, we have great parks, and they're just getting better and better and better. And most importantly, they're safe. The safety of these parks today are ten times as safe as they were five years ago. And that's what counts.

It feels good to have some positive things happen in the community, especially out here. I have nine grandkids with me today, so to get out. I'm also involved with Youth With A Purpose, and so I like to mingle with the other communities and see what everybody's doing in the community.

It's beautiful to see the community enjoying the time being here with us. Very sad it's going to end, but even though this is your park, it's available for you.

You know, if you're not getting engaged in these things, if you're not coming to them, if you're not experiencing them, you're depriving yourself of so much, so much. These are great events to come to.

And now we go to you. Or you wanna go last?

She wanted to go last.

Okay, Councilman Mann.

Yeah, so Mayor, I've got a video on National Night Out. And I wanna tell you, I think the Chief had the coolest spot on National Night Out. I think this is a great way to introduce, especially Lancaster Police Department, to the people of Lancaster. Again, we try to stress our police department is a community-based policing model, and we want everybody to feel real comfortable around the police department.

It means a lot. Community policing is what we're doing. Building relationships with the community, bridging the gaps, making sure that we can relate with our community and our community can relate with us, and making sure that we're here for them.

This is beautiful to see our community in one place where they could engage and connect and speak to our officers. I think it's important for our community to get to know them, get to know who they are, learn about our new police department. So I think it's beautiful, the engagement, the connection, and just having that conversation. So these are our services, you guys.

We are the ones that bring them to life with the funding that we use in tax revenue. So we should be able to engage them, to talk to them, and tell them what we need.

Yeah, you know what? You can't beat this. Getting the community out and getting to have fun. I don't know if you saw earlier, all of us were in the dunk tank. So it's just a good thing. And also it's an opportunity to show this brotherhood that we have that is here to appreciate and take care of our community.

Is there really anything that we can do to support the community, be out here in the city of Lancaster and do these things with these people here? It's a wonderful opportunity for us. Thank you again. What a great opportunity to come together for our community, all of our partners here in the Allen Valley. The Allen Valley is a large place, but right now we're showing that we all come together as one and we work together as one within our community.

Who's next?

I had the pleasure of attending several events, Los Angeles cohort graduation and the VA clinic dedication. We had a wonderful time seeing the students at Los Angeles graduate and their parents there enjoying them and allowing them to become productive citizens of our community and dedicating the hospital ceremony grand opening to our vets so they can get served up here instead of traveling on the I-14, the Indy 14, as they call it. Video, please.

We're here with Lancaster City Councilmember Cedric White at Lost Angels Career Project, where Cohort 17 just graduated. Councilman White, so many of these graduates are walking away with jobs that they start on Monday. What does it mean to know that Lost Angels is here doing that for our youth in Lancaster?

First of all, I'd like to thank Los Angeles for doing the work, keeping our kids up here in Lancaster, giving them a trade, giving them skill, saving their life. It means a lot for them to get jobs walking away after graduation because a lot of them, this is basically a start of a new life to become a productive citizen within our community, make sure they get out there and become successful, and then pass it along. We hope that they stay here in Lancaster and inspire other youth to come to Los Angeles and get the education, the trades education, and become productive citizens of our community.

Councilmember White, thank you so much for your time.

First of all, thank you, our veterans, for your service. We would not have these liberties without you. Having this clinic here, it takes the burden off of our veterans. They don't have to drive back and forth on the 14th. As I mentioned, I just heard about the 14 being called the Indy 14 because so many people have to drive just to get basic services. So now that we have the clinic here, it's providing more resources. So therefore, we can stay up here and allow our veterans to live a better quality of life, get the service they need, give them back their time so they can do more things. in the community, volunteer, take their kids to a movie.

It has been serving our veterans. A lot of people come here. They don't want to drive down below. It's excruciatingly painful for someone who has PTSD and then dealing with traffic and all the crazy stuff going on. So when they come here, they're much, much happier. They're better served. We really enjoy it and really, really appreciate that they built it here and stopped having it go all the way down there.

Accessibility. Not only that, but the variety of services that they offer in-house, it makes it a lot easier for veterans to get the help that they need.

I'm next. The next one is Monday Night Bites. It's been amazing attending Mondays, engaging and connecting with the community. Just a friendly reminder, the last one will be September 28th, so please make sure and attend Monday Night Bites. If you could play the video, please.

This is a nice thing to do, and I'm glad we're doing it every Monday night. I think it's important for all of us to get to know who we live with. I mean, these are our neighbors, you know? The more we know each other, the more we get it that we're all pretty much the same.

Well, it was amazing to see the kids enjoying the evening, getting free ice cream, walking around with the mayor, and just engaging and connecting, and also with our Lancaster Police Department. I think it's important for the community to know that we are here for you. We're here to listen. We talked to so many people. I shared my email with so many people today. And so please come join us. You still have time. We're here until October.

I love the city. I love these people. I love the kids. We got good people here, you know?

No video for me today, Mayor. However, I did want to share that the teammates and I had the opportunity to join Congressman George Whitesides at our Avenue G interchange project. We had some of our city staffers, shout out to Nick, who were sharing with the community and briefing the Congressman on what that's going to look like and what it means to this community. So thank you to everyone involved. I also wanted to raise an observation I've had. trying to follow your lead, trying to follow our city manager's lead, and I want to look forward out into the future. And I don't think I'm the only one who's been noticing and observing that data centers have become a hot topic, AI. And I know while it's not here quite yet, I would like to be prepared, because I think there's a lot of interesting conversations surrounding data centers and AI, and I think it's here to stay. So rather than waiting for something to come on our doorstep, if you'll allow it, I would appreciate if we could direct the staff, specifically our innovation and technology committee, to start looking into these matters. Let's start the research now. Let's start talking to our partners in the industry. What does that look like? What are the pros? What are the cons? Any amount of research, you can see that some people have very serious concerns, and I think we should get ahead of them. I also don't think we should just wait. I think we have a great group of people on our innovation and technology committee. I know they're experts in their field. And in my opinion, this is the right group for it. So pros, cons, impact, what would governance look like? What is acceptable to our community members? So if you'll entertain that, I would appreciate leaning into it, leaning forward, just so we're better prepared. And if it never does come, at least we'll have the reassurance that we were ready. But I don't think it's going to stop.

I don't think there's any question. It's not going to stop. I also don't think there's any question that China has invested a lot into killing AI in the U.S. And it's the simple reason that whoever controls the AI is going to control the planet. That's just reality. There's nothing we can do about that. I don't know that that I don't know that we have to be afraid of it. But I think what we do have to be afraid of is specific categories of impacts, meaning what is the water impact? If it's going to affect our water, then no, you can't build it. But if you can build it without affecting our water, then we should consider it. Same thing with the noise that comes from the buildings. Are they going to impact people who live there? Does anybody live there where they want to do it? And primarily, the biggest obstacle is I don't want to see these things on the grid because the cost of power is just too much now. But if there's a proposal to do it behind the meter, meaning not on the grid, that's something we should consider. So yeah, I love that idea. And Larissa, are you running the Innovation Committee?

I sure am.

30 days, I wanna report. Sure. That work for you?

Yeah, thank you. For you guys?

And let's be clear, there's going to be 100 people screaming about anything to do with AI. I don't know what to tell you. AI is here. It's changing the world. You want to be on top of it? You want to ride the wave? Learn AI. And I think the city should be doing everything we can to make it available to people to learn and use. And I think we ought to throw that at the Innovation Committee also, especially the young people. The city is using it a great deal now. Has it been anything but positive? Any negatives? Other than you have to learn a new skill. And believe me, I work on it every single day. And just as soon as I master a piece of it, they improve it, and I gotta start over. But it's gonna change us all, and I think for the better eventually.

And I think if we get ahead of it, Mayor, I know you made the joke that there'll be hundreds of people in here, but if we're getting ahead of it now and we're addressing real concerns, I think those hundred people you referenced, maybe they're our ambassadors. Maybe they're the ones who advocate. Those are the ones who said, no, we've been discussing this for a while. We've been poking holes in the problem. And we're here to basically advocate for it. And I think this is just another example of how we will lead the way in being thoughtful in what we do and ultimately putting our community first and doing what's best for them. And that takes people to come together and give us their opinions to think and ask hard questions. So thanks for the support.

Good. Thank you. OK. So that concludes the reports. City Clerk.

I think it's the city manager's chance. We dare not allow him to not do his updates after he just got paid for working so hard.

I do have a few updates.

I made that same joke about you.

Before I jump into those updates though. Before I jump into those updates, I did just want to thank you, council. More importantly, thank the team. It has been a tremendous two years working in this role. I now know why Jason didn't sleep at night. So learn that. But I'm having more fun, I think, than I've ever had in any particular job that I've held in the last 30 years. These two years have been productive. Mayor, when I first came in, you said want you to do something different and right out the gate we hired a consultant and we built that vision and strategic plan and i think because we did that we set ourselves up with a plan where we started ticking off goals one by one and really showing real progress like we've never seen before in this city the last two years some of the key ones crime what two-year reduction over 22 percent That's a big one for this community. It's a big one for my family. My kids are being raised here, so it hits me here. The Leadership Academy, so talking about developing staff and bringing up the next leaders that are going to do well in this organization. Economic Development, and I have a slide in my update where you'll see we're experiencing growth now, whether it's in the residential sector, the industrial sector, meaning jobs, like we haven't seen in many, many years. It's a good time to be here in Lancaster. We have investments in public art. We created the Love Your City Cleanups, and there's actually another one coming in October. But it's been a fun two years, so thank you, and thank you for your belief in me, and I'm looking forward to see what we accomplish the next two years. Now my updates. Next slide. So we have a couple upcoming events. The first one that we have is the Cedar Arts Collective. This is a program to help develop local artists and they can apply on our website. They go in and they get assistance on how to become a more prolific artist. And then day of the drafts, that's coming up here on November 7th. But right now we have vendor applications open. Those close on September 14th. So if you're a vendor and you're interested in being part of this really fun event over at the fairgrounds, get your information in so we can include you in that event. and then the last thing i'll touch on is lpac there is an lpac foundation event this saturday night if you don't have tickets and you've never been i've been to the last i think four or five editions of it and it's a wonderful event it raises money for the foundation that money goes back into students so they can come later in the year and enjoy the performing arts so it's a great program next slide Wanted to touch on a little bit on what's going on and what Sonia and Victoria are leading over in our parks department, but they've been busy. The last few weeks, they've replaced 140 field light bulbs over at the soccer center, which we actually have an event this week to accept additional monies from Congressman Whiteside. We got some grant funding to fund more lights. But they spent about $34,000 on this project, replacing lights, replacing turf, and just helping that soccer center look state of the art, attracting more tournaments. We also did a 220 feet of linear sidewalk at Samaritan's Purse Park that cost about $25,000 to do. That is in addition to the complete redo that's happening out there at the park now where it's getting skate park, splash pad, and some other amenities that are going to make that park over the top. I think we're ribbon cutting that in the next month or two. And then we did fix the Sergeant Owen Memorial Park slides. Those have been now open. We had an issue with the vendor getting us the right parts. That's been resolved. They're installed. The slide is back and it's working. Next slide. This is some of the community development work I was talking about. So Jensen Precast, 300 jobs, 400 square foot of industrial. They do anything precast concrete that goes into new construction. They've broke ground on G and 30th. If you drive by there now, you'll see the water tanks, you'll see the equipment moving dirt. I think they're about to start going vertical if they haven't already. Sierra Azul Apartments over at 15th Street West and K8, just opposite of the Auto Mall on the west side of the freeway. They've now broken ground. If you drive by there, you'll see tractors moving there. That's another housing project. And then Mason Sierra, we mentioned earlier we had that ribbon cutting. We had the TEFA hearing today for the next phase of, I think, 303 units over there. So that's going. Cahovanian has broken ground on the east side at Nugent and 20th Street East. And then we recently ribbon cut the 30th Street West in Avenue K College Park project where we have a new Chipotle. I think there's a new Asahi place going in there and a new coffee or the... It's the Dutch Brothers that also opened there. So lots and lots of development. And this Saturday morning, the latest in housing development, there's a ribbon-cutting event over at 10 a.m. on 67th Street West and Avenue L for Pacific Communities. So if you don't have anywhere to be on Saturday morning, go over there. You get to look at three wonderful-looking model homes. So lots happening in the development front. Next slide is Public Works. This is all I have to say. I'll borrow Greg Bastion's word, glass. You saw glass last week. You see glass again. Next slide. So play the video.

The City of Lancaster is offering a sewer service rebate program to eligible residents. At the August 11, 2026 City Council meeting, council approved an increase to the maximum sewer service charge. At the direction of city council, the city is providing a low income sewer service charge rebate to help offset this additional cost for eligible applicants.

You may be eligible to receive the rebate if you are the property owner receiving the sewer service charge and your total household income is at or below the applicable 2026 Los Angeles County HCD low income limit or if you qualify for a public assistance program. For more information, visit our website, cityoflancasterca.gov slash sewerservicerebate.

So at the direction of council at the last meeting, we were directed to create this rebate program for the $86 increase for those that are disadvantaged. That is done. If you go to the website or scan this QR code right now, it will take you to move up one slide. to the application, you'll fill that out right there online, submit it, we verify income status, the moment it's verified, the check gets cut right away. So that program is up and live, and those that qualify can get that rebate. We're still working out the commercial program that we were gonna look at for commercial properties and churches. We'll be coming back shortly to get that program approved by council. And then the last thing I wanted to touch on was waste management. A couple council meetings ago, the council directed me to go talk to waste management and see what we could do to help mitigate the fees as best as possible for our solid waste pickup charges. We did have a conversation with waste management. We also did a deep dive into what our current fees are. And if you look at the way that we structured our franchise agreement with that 3.5% annual increase, we've actually had a lower annual increase over the last five years than the other 88 cities in LA County. So we went up 33%, the other 88 cities went up 38%. If you put that in real dollars, that's a $5 million savings over that five year period to our residents. So our franchise agreement did exactly what I think this council's intent was at the time, which was to keep those rates nice and steady and something that you can budget for. The other thing, if you compare our rates to the other 88 cities in L.A. County, the average for L.A. County is around just a little over 42, I think 42.62 a month. Ours is $44.29 a month. We're right next to average. There are a lot of cities on that lower end that are dragging that average down some that are currently not in compliance with all the state recycling regulations specifically to the organic materials. Those cities now have Kyle Recycle coming in, auditing them, fining them $10,000 a day. At some point, it's just a matter of time before they have to go through this franchise process and increase those fees to meet all of the state's unfunded recycling mandates. We, conversely, are in compliance. We just recently went through an audit with CalRecycle. It took about six months. We went through that and made it out of there with flying colors. The other thing I'll say about waste management and what they've done in this community, I think Council Member Mann touched on it a few council meetings ago. The two facilities they run went through a CARB audit, I believe, and they're two of the most well-run, clean, environmentally sensitive facilities in the entire state. They were the model. So they're doing a good job in that regard too. In the conversation with them, they did agree that they would continue to work with us to ensure that we keep our rates as low as possible while meeting any future unfunded mandates from the state. That's it for all of my updates. Thank you.

This is the time to address the city council agency authority on non-agendized matters. Please ensure you have completed speaker registration at the kiosk or online so you may be recognized. If you are joining via telephone, please listen for the prompt to begin to speak. Please state your name and eliminate any background noise. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each unless council has stated otherwise. Please note that each speaker's time begins once their name is called. Council will call for in-person speakers first and then proceed with any speakers that may be joining virtually, which I don't think we have any joining virtually today. But 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.

Mayor, we have 12. But as I'm looking out into the crowd, I don't know if they're all still with us.

It's 6 o'clock.

I know. OK. I haven't eaten. Go ahead. OK. We'll do batches of five. David, Paul, are you still with us?

No.

OK. Homer? Wonderful. Homer, please join us up front. Paula, I believe, left us. Carla, number two. Wolford? Wolford, are you still with us? No. Lonye Johnson or Lonnie Johnson?

Wonderful.

Three. Michelle Roigel? Michelle, wonderful. Four. And then Fran, we'll have you go number five. Okay, so Homer, you're up first.

It was afternoon when I got here. It's evening now. Glad to be here. I'm here to speak in full support of Miguel, Dr. Miguel Coronado. I've known Dr. Coronado for almost 20 years. During those years, I have known him as someone who stands firmly against violence and speaks up for civil rights accountability and equal treatment in our community. I have personally seen Dr. Coronado support black, brown, and white families when they believe they were treated unfairly. He has spoken out when members of our community have raised concerns about police abuse. He has advocated for students and families dealing with suspensions, expulsions, and disciplinary practices within the high school district. In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter marches, Dr. Coronado led and stood with people demanding justice and equal treatment. His history in this community matters when evaluating allegations of workplace violence against him. Dr. Coronado is outspoken, he is passionate, He challenges government officials. He asks difficult questions about how public money is being spent and whether those expenditures truly benefit the people paying the taxes. There have been times when Dr. Coronado has used profanity, raised his voice or communicated in a confrontational manner at public meetings. He has acknowledged this. He has taken responsibility for his choice of words and recognizes there are situations he would handle differently today. But angry political speech and workplace violence are two very different things. To my knowledge, Dr. Coronado did not physically attack anyone. He did not assault anyone. He did not attempt to physically harm anyone. He did not threaten to kill or physically harm anyone. He did not bring a weapon to a public meeting for the purpose of intimidating or hurting someone. His purpose in attending public meetings has been clear to me. He comes here to participate in government document what happens, question public officials, criticizes decisions, advocates for its community, and speaks about taxpayer dollars and spending. What is happening is the man has lost his rights as, his First Amendment rights. I'd like to have him back.

Up next, oh sorry Mayor.

Go ahead.

Up next we have Carla Johnson.

I'm back. Still trying to get some questions answered. And I'm going to be raising a couple more questions. And they are going to be under the category of general governance, transparency, and procedural integrity. Earlier I asked questions, and I did not receive answers. And that's a continuation from the last meeting, which is why I'm here today. The questions that I have are was, and I'm still on Prop 218, was a Prop 218 notice required to be provided in Spanish given our community demographics? And my last one is, and these are to add on to the previous ones, and hopefully one day I'll get an answer. And if I could get answers today, that would be wonderful. And the last one is, does Prop 218 permit extending the protest deadline from July 14th to August 11th without issuing a new notice to reflect that change? The notice is a controlling document and I want to understand whether changing the deadline without a new notice complies with Article 13D. Okay, I did, I actually listened to the mayor and I heard him say two things I'd like to repeat. I heard him say that, I heard you say that you feel good when you give things away. Well, it wouldn't be giving anything away, or maybe it would. Could you do that in the form of getting someone to answer my questions, please? And then finally, I heard you say when we find a mistake, we should correct, when we find mistakes, we should correct them. well there are a lot of non-compliance mistakes if you want to call them mistakes that were made in executing prop 218 section 6 in reference to the sewer rate increase and i just want answers i think that that isn't asking too much and since you have an attorney here and you asked her last time and she did not respond in a legally um acceptable manner I didn't even what she said with all due respect didn't even make sense so if I could get some answers that'd be nice and finally I'm requesting the oral responses and also written responses to that five-page written objection that I filed for public record please and it's not only for me it's for my fellow citizens I think it's asking too much thank you thank you

Up next we have Lonnie Johnson. Did I pronounce that correct, Lonnie?

Good evening. How's my city councilman doing today? Okay. I've never done this before. Good evening, Mayor Oryx, parents, and members of the city, the Lancaster City Council. My name is Dr. Lanya Johnson. I'm a clinical herbal doctor, author, anger management facilitator, CPR instructor, parent, and Lancaster resident. I am proposing the Lancaster Juvenile Task Force, a weekend accountability and community service program for students in the grades six through 12. Youth referred for truancy, fighting, stealing, vandalism, or other misconduct will complete supervised Saturday services instead of receiving punishment that does not teach them anything. They can pick up litter, clean up parks and neighborhoods, plant trees, distribute food, and provide supervised assistance at approved senior programs. The youth will also learn CPR, first aid, anger management, coping skills, conflict resolution, Lancaster city ordinance, juvenile laws, and the consequences of their decisions. They could copy and explain selected laws and write about how to make better choices. Approved parents could volunteer as mentors chairpersons, and project helpers. City departments, schools, probation, law enforcement, and community organizations could help supervise and operate the program. I recommend beginning with 25 students over 12 Saturdays. The estimated pilot budget is 95,000. Funding could come from city funds, Los Angeles County juvenile justice funding, state grants, cleanup grants, local businesses, foundations, and donated services or supplies. This program will not publicly shame young people. It will provide safe, lawful, and meaningful consequences that teach responsibility while improving Lancaster. I respectfully ask the City Council to authorize a 60-day planning period to staff so staff can review the legal requirements, identify partners, confirm funding, and return with a launch ready pilot program. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. We will consider this.

Thank you so much.