City Council - Regular Meeting

mayor. Uh, Korum is present. So, we are ready to start whenever you are.

This is the regular meeting for February 4, 2026. convening at 6:34 p.m. City Cler, can you please do roll call. Council member Bregman here. Council member Nakani here. Council member Craig Hensley here. Mayor Promhoy. Mayor Yopez. Okay, I will ask the city clerk. Mary Lopez, you're here. I'll just say Oh, yeah. Sorry for that already next item. Um, so yeah. Uh, could you introduce the item for tonight as city attorney?

I will. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council will convene in close session regarding C2A, public employee appointment, pursuant to government code 54957B for the interim city manager position. Item C2B, conference on labor negotiation with all of the city's bargaining groups, uh, unrepresented employees, confidential mid-managers, appointed PO, uh, employees pursuant to government code 54957.6 six and item C2C, conference with legal counsel regarding anticipated litigation to cases pursuant to government code 54956.9D2.

Is there any public comments on close session items? Mayor, I don't have any comment cards for close session, but we do have a number of um residents in the audience. So, I just want to make a quick announcement. If you are here for an agenda item and you would like to speak on that agenda item, there are comment cards up in the front and in the back, they look like this. um if you can please fill one out and just note up here whether it's a an agenda item that's uh on the agenda and you right here or if it's not on the agenda mark it right there and you're more than welcome to come bring it up here. Thank you so much. Um, council is adjourning to close session at 6:35 p.m.

Council returning from close session at 7:04 p.m. Um, city attorney, could you please report on close close session items?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Council convened in close session regarding item C2A, public employee appointment pursuant to government code 54957B. Item C2B, conference with labor negotiations, uh, regarding all the city's bargaining groups and unrepresented and represented and appointed employees pursuant to government code 54957.6 and item C2C, conference of legal counsel on two anticipated litigation matters pursuant to government code 54956.9D. And there's no reportable action at this time.

Thank you, city uh, city attorney. I'm going to invite Reverend Nelson Rabel from the Elesia Lutana Santa Maria Perina for the invocation/cult to civic responsibility.

Let us pray. Try God whose will is that human beings live in community. Bless all of us here and everywhere. Fill our homes with respect, joy, laughter, and prayer. Strengthen the commitment we have for each other so that we may all mirror as a community, as a city of Loi, your covenant, your faithfulness, your love, and your concern for all people. May we have unconditional love for all of those who are unhoused. And may you empower all families, all members of this community to care for each other. In your gracious name we pray. Amen.

Okay. Now we will do the flag salute. of the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

This is the regular meeting for February 4, 2026 convening at 7:07 p.m. City Cler, can you please do roll call? Council member Bregman here. Council member Nakanishi here. Council member Craig Hensley here. Mayor Pohoy here. Mayor Lopez here. Thank you.

So before we start uh today given how many people are here and for the sake of efficiency and clarity I'm going to reduce the comments from the public to two minutes for all the items for the rest of the night. So just public comments. Uh, city clerk, could you please introduce the consent calendar? Yes, mayor. Uh, tonight we have items C1 to C9. Um, there are no changes to the consent calendar, so we submit it as is for council's review and approval. Would any member of the council would like to pull an item for consent to vote on separately?

See none. Um would any member of the public would like to pull an item for discussion? Seeing none, um I will now entertain a motion for the consent calendar. I'll make the motion. Second. Okay. Motion carries. Uh, city clerk, do we have any public comments on non-aggenda items?

Mayor, yes, I do have at least com two comment cards. I have a stack, so I will be going through them to see if there's any more, but I will start with the two that I have in front of me. The first one I have is from Claire Bakta. Hello council. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. My name is Claire Bakda with Open Innovation Centers and I just wanted to come and bring good news about Loi because great things start in Loi. Um we are an educational nonprofit specializing in new collar skills. Those are high-tech skills that do not require four-year degrees. We have a center here on East Victor Road on the east side and we are launching thanks to a North Valley Thrive Catalyst grant. We're launching three new workforce development classes. Um and these are aligned with industry certifications. So if people in LOI are looking to change jobs, rescale or change their lives, we are teaching a 3D boot camp. We are uh providing seven badges in additive manufacturing. We're doing video game design and we're even uh partnering with the Loi Library where we're going to be teaching how to design for ARVR headsets. So, we're doing exciting things. We just wanted to share it. And uh I have some flyers for you. I'll give you after as well as a 3D printed dragon for each of you so you can talk, touch, feel. Um we're about play, fun, and really changing the lives of the people around us. So, thank you very much. is it? I don't know who it is.

The next comment card I have is from Diane Nat. City clerk, can you adjust the clock because it still says four five minutes. So

Oh, my apologies. Mayor, council, my name is Diane Nant and I have the pleasure of walking downtown several times a week for my exercise and I would like the council and perhaps the paper to acknowledge those women and men who clean the sidewalks uh with brooms and dustpans. Um, I thank them every time I see them for keeping our city clean. And I know it can be probably frustrating to them that at times they're out there sweeping and those with mental problems who camp out in front of businesses leave a big mess for them to clean up. But I just think that they do a great job and I would like to acknowledge them. Thank you. The next comment card I have is from Tara Voluone. Hello. Good evening. My name is Tara Voluone. I'm a longtime resident of Lodi. Um I've lived we live on the corner of West Elman Mills. Uh I've lived in my home for eight years with my husband and we're raising two small children. Um our roots go deeper than that. My husband's grandparents lived in the same home since it was built in 1961. We love our neighborhood and this town, but over the years, we've watched traffic safety concerns escalate to dangerous levels. I know the city focuses heavily on public safety safety. Tonight, I'd like to bring you a real on the ground example of where those priorities are failing in our neighborhood. We live on the stretch near Reese Elementary and Millswood Middle. However, I want to be very clear this is not about only school zone

issues. While the school traffic is heavy, dangerous driving occurs 247. It happens at 6 PM on a Tuesday. It happens on Saturday mornings. It happens every day at all hours. As I'm a stay-at-home mother, I'm at home quite a bit and I hear and I see a lot. It has reached a point where I cannot let my children play in our own front yard without putting a neon slowdown safety figure in the middle of the road. Even with that sign out, I watch cars fly past at speeds that would be fatal if a child stepped off the curb. Traffic incidents and collisions are not new to us. They happen continuously. The most recent major accident occurred on January 22nd right in front of Reese Elementary while school children and faculty were present. While we understand the specific crash was caused by a medical emergency, seeing a wreck of that magnitude just 15 minutes after school dismissal highlighted a terrifying reality. There's zero margin for error on our street. Whether it's a medical emergency or more commonly distracted and reckless driving, our families are exposed. We have seen children hit and pets killed in the past. We shouldn't have to wait for our luck to run out. I'm not a traffic engineer and I respect that determining this specific issue is the city's role. But as a resident who sees this every single day, I can tell you that the current painted lines, flashing lights, and stop signs are not enough to physically slow people down. We're asking the counsil to direct staff to do three things. View the traffic behavior on west down between Mills and lower sack, focusing on speeds outside of school hours. Evaluate why current measures are failing and identify immediate physical improvements to protect our families. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

The next comment card,

may I just just make a comment on that? Since it's in my district, um, and I've heard the concerns before, Miss Ms. Malone from you and others. Um I I would ask I mean you know it's in my district everywhere. It's over on Turner Road. We've been dealing with that. We're looking at developing some type of a a safety plan and taking a look at a traffic study there. Maybe the time is right. I'm sure Chief can provide police reports relative to what accidents have occurred. If it's speeding, if it's just ignoring the stops and you know driving through them. And I know a big concern is around school time because the kids are walking there. and I' I've seen that myself. So, I do think it merits a look by our uh traffic folks to see if there are are issues there and and PD to perhaps do a little bit more monitoring of the area. So, thank you for bringing that issue.

The next comment card is from Andrew Aina. Good evening. Yeah. Good evening members of the Lord City Council. I must admit I feel a bit small standing in front of you today, but is with full gratitude that I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Andrew Avina and I represent the NorCal Science and Technology Festival. It is one of my highest honors to speak for our team of young leaders who are shaping the future of innovation and science right here at the heart of the Central Valley. I'm here today to extend a very special invitation to you all. One that comes as a result of months of hard work and planning. The NorCal Science Festival is a celebration of curiosity, learning, and discovery accessible for all ages. We have brought together a group of scientists, engineers, and educators to explore how science can affect our everyday lives. and we would be thrilled if you can find time in your busy schedule to attend Saturday, February 21st at Loai High School. Go Flames. I am also pleased to showcase our new poster which highlights the fact that this is our 10th festival. Um, it reflects not only a growth of our small hometown event, but also represents the countless hours of planning and teamwork it took to bring this very special day to life. We hope that it'll inspire everyone who sees it to explore their wonder and science. None of this would be possible without the generous support of our presenters. I want to extend a very heartfelt thank you to the city of Loi Electric for helping us bring this vision to light. More specifically, Tim Cones and Justine Delgado for bringing their expertise to the field by tableabling for us. They will be hosting a booth called electricity lights the world and their presence and continued support illustrates how institutions can partner with young leaders to create opportunities to inspire the youth. Additionally, I also want to highlight some of my fellow committee members who sadly could not be here tonight. Um, it has been an honor to work alongside them and in fact, one of them is here today, Peyton Piper. Um, they serve as a reminder that investment in young adults and teens is an investment for the

future of our community. Tonight, I warmly invite all of you, young, old, curious, and skeptical, to attend the 10th anniversary of the NorCal Science Festival. We have a few tricks up our sleeves this year, not to give anything away that ensures this festival remains fresh and ever changing. Your support means the world to us, and we ourselves are always looking to celebrate science together as one community. Thank you for your time, attention, and and dedication to making LOI a place where learning, curiosity, and innovation thrive. Yeah, that was very good.

When John Del Monica's face goes red, you know something incredible's happened. So to follow that, uh, Erin Van Nortwick, I won't talk that fast. Good evening, um, members of the city council. My name is Aaron Van Nortwick. I am speaking this evening on behalf of the Loai Parks and Recreation Commission regarding Lawrence Park. Uh Lawrence Park is one of Load's oldest neighborhood parks with roots going back to the mid 1920s. It was acquired by city to provide public open space and recreational opportunity for residents on the northeast side, which probably at that time was just the north side. Um and it's been part of the fabric of that community. Today, however, Lawrence Park is not fully meeting its potential. The park has experienced years of deferred maintenance and lacks amenities that would encourage regular positive use by residents. From the commission's perspective, there's been clear opportunity and need for renovation, beautifification, and thoughtful reinvestment to ensure the park serves the current future uh the current and future generations. In the past years, um it was discussed, Lawrence Park was discussed as a potential site for a skate park. The commission appointed a skate park subcommittee to develop some scope of work in the design of the skate park including development of the park amenities such as a playground, picnic shelter, and restroom. That concept generated interest, but it appears that the city has since um stepped away from that direction. As a result, the park remains without defined long-term plan, which we believe contributes to its current uh underutilization. We also discussed the police department's K9 use of training in the

park, and we appreciate the police being there, but their current footprint of the training limits the park's accessibility and limits uh the neighborhood feel. We ask that that uh be explored to find a different location for the K9 training that suit those their operational needs. We'd also like to share our perspective on the recent discussion town hall meeting regarding potential sale of a small portion of Lawrence Park to the new owners of the American Legion Hall. While we understand the financial and practical considerations involved, the commission has concerns about um selling public parkland even in small amounts. reducing Lawrence Park would disapprently impact the city and those in that part of town. Uh given the city's ongoing budget challenges, the commission believes that there should be a more balanced alternative. We recommend considering maybe a long-term lease agreement. This would be with the American Legion Hall ownership and maybe paired with a creative partnership that allows for shared investment into Lawrence Park. Potential enhancements could be could include a small or uh soccer or football space, basketball multi-use, maybe revisiting the skate park, as well as a walking path around and improving uh landscaping, lighting, safety, um usability, and pride in the park. These types of improvements,

excuse me, sorry to interrupt you, but uh we're today almost done. Yeah. Almost done. Yeah. In closing, the parks and recck commission encourages the council to view Lawrence Park as an opportunity and an opportunity to reinvest and collaborate and to ensure equitable access to those on the northeast side of Loi. Thank you for your time. I want to I want to invite uh Councilwoman uh Craig that had a town hall meeting that I attended to give us some We have and Mr. Van Norwick, you were there, were you not? I was not. Oh, you were the one. Okay. We did have

three others there. Yeah. And um Brett made a point of saying much of what you had said. Uh just so folks are aware um at at least myself and council member Yepz. Obviously we share districts in this area and that is extremely important and very historic park for LOI. Um I think that the effort underway with the Legion Hall is actually a very positive change in that location. So, we're looking forward to seeing that project completed, whatever component of it may be leased, sold, whatever. But I think in the town hall that we had done, what we did hear was there is support for a PD presence. People felt in the neighborhood that it was keeping them safe. So, um maybe that's an option moving forward in the future to take a look at another location, but they do more than the K9 training there. They do agility. uh chief was telling me about a youth academy they're going to have out there. Um and we totally agree and the community agreed that there needs to be uses that are family centered. So restrooms again, picnic tables, can we play soccer out there, basketball court, even community gardens were discussed, make it very much a family centered area for uh those people who a walking trail was discussed as well. So, I think we're going to move forward uh with the idea of doing a survey for the entire community. Community Partnerships for Families 180 Teen Center and others have volunteered to help us with that effort and to get the word out and hear more from the community about what improvements they want to see to make Lawrence Park a family park again. So, I appreciate your commitment and parks bringing that issue to the table because it aligns very much with uh Mayor Yupez and I's uh approach to working together to to make improvements to that location. So, thank you.

Right, mayor. That's all the non-aggenda public comment cards that I have for for tonight, but you're welcome to open it up to Okay. Thank you. So, I will invite anyone in the audience if they would like to speak on a non-aggendum item right now. Seeing none, um I'm going to go to council comments, I'm going to give uh city manager the opportunity to share some news.

Great. Thank you, uh mayor and city council. I am very honored to be able to introduce uh our new IT manager, Joe Coswell. Um so, we welcome him as part of part of the load IT This is a critical position um that uh we are very very fortunate to have filled. So, thank you for that opportunity to introduce Joe to the community and yourselves this evening. Would you like to come to the podium and sorry to put you on the spot, but we do that here.

Hello. Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Joe Caswell. Um I'm very honored to take this position as your IT manager. a bit of my history. Just so you know, I come to you from HSA, human services agency for the county, running their IT department. And before that, I was the chief deputy treasure tax collector. So, if you have a tax bill in the county, I made that tax bill. Thank you. Um, I'm here for I'm here to get the work done. I'm very happy to be here. Thank you so much. So, I'm going to move to uh council comments on non-aggenda items. Did Can you see it? Okay, good.

It works today. All right.

Uh yeah, just appreciate the opportunity to talk about uh Lawrence Park and the town hall. I want to thank uh Christina and your team for being there. Uh Chief, appreciate your presence there. We also had um our three of the parks commissioners. uh our supervisor Steve Ding and his staff were there um along with uh visit Loi and uh the chamber of commerce um and and it was really a good gathering and uh a discussion. So we'll continue that conversation moving forward. We'll be looking I see Berth is over here. We'll be looking for input and assistance from our partners like you uh to get the word out to all of the community members that we really are very interested in hearing what they have to say and we we can move forward with things. We just need to know their priorities. So, um I'd also mention that I participated the other day in grape. Um a lot of technical discussions about uh irrigation and pests that y'all don't have to sit through. Um but it is very um uh informative and uh the lunchon speaker did talk about some of our challenges in this area. We are really dependent on our wine industry and uh it employs people here. It creates opportunities for entry-level jobs. So supporting our a community, our wine community is important. Three big things that came out of that. Americans are drinking less wine, sad to say. Uh California is losing market share at about 20%. So, California wines weren't what California wines were when I was growing up. And we have a wine inventory glut. The good news is that they think that that wine inventory glut has been addressed and we might see uh more purchases of uh grapes in in the future. But, you know, we really it's it's going to be about getting more people coming here to appreciate our wine and getting our industry, our grape industry um into

higher priced bottles. That's what it came down to. So, uh, it's something that if I could figure out how to make this all work with a piece of legislation at the city council level, I would. But it's not the type of thing that we do. But buy more wine. Okay, that's all I have to say right now. Buy more wine. Please support Loi Wine. Buy Loi Wine in the grocery stores. Become a wine club member. We can do what we can do in in our community. So, I encourage that. Um lastly participated in the last Sanwaqin Council of Governments uh meeting very quiet took 15 minutes the shortest COG meeting I think I've been in and thanks to um uh Mr. Hoth's absence I was able to sit in the SECL meeting as your alternative so learned a lot about that and appreciate pretty pictures that Chief Johnson showed us of the new EMS vehicles that are going to be the SenCal vehicles. So, uh, it it really is a wonderful cooperative, uh, relationship between South County, Stockton, Loi, Tracy. So, we're we're very fortunate to have those chiefs all working very closely together. So, thank you. That's it, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you so much. Any other comments from council? See, seeing none, we'll move to the first um to a regular calendar.

Yes. Uh, mayor, item G1 is to receive an update from the LOI Senior Citizens Commission. And while we are getting all that set up, I'm just going to do one more reminder that if you have an I if you want to speak on an item on the agenda, there's comment cards in the front and in the back, you're more than welcome to fill one out and then drop it right in here. And with that, I will turn it over to our senior commission here to provide the pre their presentation. Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh I am Dr. Joe Welful and of course our audience speaking on behalf as a servant of our commission commission on Aging and we're going to be presenting this evening our goals for 25 19 or 2025 and their accomplishments. So I will be brief on all of these. Uh to begin with the vision and goals of our commission. Identify, discuss and introduce and establish programs, projects and resources to better meet the ongoing needs of our senior community. In reference to that, we feel very strongly about alignment. uh California's master plan for aging and our own city council strategic vision which is also being addressed as we speak. Uh we feel strongly it's important to align what we do as a commission with California and locally here in Lodi. So very important for us. Our primary goal and accomplishment, I'm happy to say, is really to establish a senior social cafe or senior cafe meeting every quarter at Lel Center. And

we thank Janelle Wilkerson for that opportunity to be at Lel on behalf of our seniors. And the the goal of our our project there is really the senior needs and concerns. uh a safe place for those seniors to voice what their concerns, needs and to socialize with other and so others and the socialization is very important. Our action is really to listen and respond to the voices of the people. That's what it's all about. I think as a community that's what it's all about. Develop an action plan in response to the cafe participants questions and recommendations. Our first senior cafe was held in February 2025 and it began with a presentation by uh then mayor Cameron Bregman and we thank him for the presentation was well received by all participating in in that cafe. Also, Elise Vigil, deputy uh director for uh human service agency gave an excellent presentation on the services that they provide so that seniors were aware of what resides within our own domain here. Very important for people to know about what happens. Um additionally, one of the focal points is questions from the participants. And so that was an important aspect. A variety of things are there. I won't go into them all, but knowing what questions folks have and being able to address those things and uh that is essentially a major part of what what we do and some of that focused on our website, our our city of Loi website and for improving things there. I won't go into all the specifics. One last part is shown there. What kind of presentations do our seniors need in Alzheimer's? a topic that is of major

significance for so many in our community and in Loi. So with that in our next senior cafe we did address that uh we had Denise Davis with the Alzheimer's Foundation give an excellent presentation about all aspects and about the needs of caregivers as well feedback from the the important part is feedback of course we gave feedback of about our February senior cafe some of the things mentioned the website phone numbers that people can call when they have needs uh very important for those those aspects and then questions from uh the participants but also to interject the aspect that we as council members take action. What are those actions? What do people know about what we do behind the scenes? And so that we wanted to bring forward with those participants so that they knew or know what we are doing on their behalf. August, a presentation on advanced directives by Adventist Health, Loi Memorial, feedback from our past senior cafe, and then past commission meeting actions and again sharing that uh the November meeting also was much the same with a presentation in this case on palative care. those topics that are important for seniors, a loved one who is perhaps not doing as well as used to be and folks need help in those times. Feedback from the prior cafe and then past commission meetings and action plan, one of which focused on the city website, which as we know is in the works right now for 2026 this year for improving, for adding many different aspects to that a very important topic. We ask folks for what are their needs as to presentations. So, one of the key

things is the new city manager and our mayor to address our group and have that opportunity to meet and see and hear what the needs are. Um, se senior safety by our fire chief uh city partners on the home alone and and possibilities for some senior checks of those who are alone in their home. uh use of cell phones, the rising cost of wastewater, and the senior grief grief support groups that might be available for folks who are in need. And tomorrow, uh not tomorrow, excuse me, Friday, we are going to be addressing wills and trusts, a presentation at our senior cafe to be held this Friday at 900 a.m. So, senior cafe is making a difference. It's a voice and that's what we feel is so important. Uh last year 2024, our goal was to establish senior resources, a guide in both English and Spanish. That is an ongoing project, continuing to update and add new services that will help our seniors. So that senior resource guide, it will be placed on our city's website so that folks have uh the ability to view that. Some of the programs included water fitness and walkability, senior safety. And really, if I had to say something about where do these come from, they come directly from our our California master plan for aging and from our own vision and goals here. Those include environmental safety, lifelong healthy aging, so important for all. And these are some of the the listings that we have there for things that are found in that brochure. the Red Alert program, emergency preparedness and response, lifelong healthy agent and geriatric care expansion. So, Red Alert cooling centers, the police department and their

project lifesaver. And then the annual health fair put on by the University of Pacific and the students and faculty there. And here's a brochure that we had used for uh identifying the Medicare clinics that are held at Lowell and at Hutchinson Street Square. Numbers were excellent this year on behalf of all the participants. Immunizations, health screenings, and of course Medicare Part D assistance because as you all know the Medicare programs change each year and folks need to examine that so that their out-of-pocket cost is low or lowest that it can be. So, some of those things, Adventist Health, our adult daycare, uh Terry Whitmer in that program is an excellent program. Llewell Center of course for all of our seniors. Quite a gathering place offering so many diverse services. Uh the Medicare Healthcare Alzheimer's Association will continue with those types of programs as well. And then uh again this alignment aspect a review of the 2526 California master plan for aging. We looked at that to see what had been added and we were able to identify some actions that we could actually take in addressing. Some of those included the advanced directives presented at one of our cafes, palative care at another and our uh affordable aging aspects that are really from the center and also adding the again the Medicare program. The average beneficiary savings is almost $1,000 per beneficiary or patient. Not just here in Loa. I'm talking across the board for where Pacific reaches out including telephonic telephonic uh uh support for those seniors.

Coming soon there will be a public works department uh transportation team presentation to us as commissioners which will then be also added to the calendar for our our senior cafe wills and trust. That's going to be on Friday. a nice presentation. They've requested donor donations, organ donations, I should check say, and the new Medicare and medical or Medicaid changes that have occurred. A falls presentation for preventing falls in our senior population, so devastating. And our new city manager and the mayor to talk and speak with and listen to those questions that they may have. And then a big part will be also how to navigate the city's new website. We feel that's a real great resource. Returning our senior cafe, of course, we want to continue on with that has been so beneficial and been a great yield. And then our Medicare health fairs, October and November of 2026, they are held. So, in the end, it's all about advocating for our seniors. That is really our purpose. and listening and responding to the voices of the people. You are the folks that count. Our senior population needs to be heard. If you have a senior that needs help, we are here to help you. So, also continuing on with building partnerships with others to benefit our seniors. So, I want to thank you all for allowing me to present on behalf of our our commissioners this evening. And our commissioners, those who are present, if you could stand and introduce yourself and uh be thank all that you do.

I'm Janelle Wilkinson. So we thank all of you for your ongoing help for our senior population. Thank you. Thank you.

So, first of all, I want to thank you for that presentation. It was very informative and um you presented the information very well, concise and I learned a lot. And um so this Friday is a coffee the coffee this Friday. Coffee this Friday and some snacks too. So what the duty of uh uh what is that? What time is it? It's at 9:00 am. Okay. Well, I I will come this Friday then just to meet meet people. Sure. We we welcome all of you to come. So, okay. I'm going to invite uh M uh Councilman Anakanish. Thank you. So,

thank you so much. I want to outline the lower center. Uh when I was younger, my older people, my older senior would go to lower center or good. We we have we're lucky we have low center. My question is you said call this number for walkability. Now if I call that number what kind of information will it give me as a senior?

So great question and walkability. What is that program? The program is is designed so that an individual who looks at a sidewalk as they're perhaps walking and they see that it's un it's not level and it could be a fall or a trip hazard. We want that person to call the city and notify public works. You can call the city clerk, let them know the where you are and what is the problem. And city works has done an excellent job of coming out very quickly and repairing those things. Again, it's all part of keeping our seniors healthy and preventing a fall from happening. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilwoman. And Greg,

Miss Wolf, you stay there. Um, I do want to commend you all. I remember a couple years ago when I would go to the senior uh citizens committee and talked about the fact that we really need alignment with our strategic vision. You guys took that up and you were the very first to do it. I think maybe the youth commission was the second. So, you know, I I just want to thank you for being cognizant of the fact that that's what we need to do as a city is align. Um, and I think that was a very appropriate use of that term and also with our our state pro our county and state programs. So, um, I appreciate the effort you guys put in and you have a very involved uh, senior citizens committee. So, we're fortunate uh, for that. And I would just state anytime you send a letter to the city manager asking for the things, please copy the council members because it helps us understand you. you are advisory to us and so in that capacity we need to do everything we can to help you meet your goals because if you're meeting your goals you're meeting our city's goals. So thank you very much to me.

We are servants of servants as I always like to say servants of servants. Yes. Thank you. Any more council comments? Seeing none we will move to uh city clerk. Do we have any public comments? I don't have any comment cards for this item. Um, if you are on Zoom and you wish to comment on this item, please raise your hand now. And mayor, you're more than welcome to open it up to the audience.

Okay. Thank you so much. So, I would like to invite anyone in the audience to uh comment on the item that we just discussed. Seeing none, um, this is not an action item, so we can just go to the next item. Yes. Um, item G2 is to receive report and adopt a resolution approving fiscal year 2025 2026 meteor budget adjustments and approving the addition of one police officer, one senior billing specialist, one management analyst confidential, and a senior plans examiner, deletion of one customer service representative, and one health and safety specialist, and the reclassification of a deputy city clerk to an assistant city clerk and program manager to a recreation manager. measure and adopt updates to the budget and fiscal policy. And I will turn it over to our budget team to take it away. All right. Thank you, Olivia. Good evening, Mayor Azor Prom Hoi, and members of the council. I am here tonight to present the fiscal year 2526 midyear budget report. The fiscal year 26 budget covers the period beginning July 1st, 2025 and will end on June 30th, 2026. The midyear report is a review of the first six months of the fiscal year where we take a snapshot of the budget and we see where we are in regards to our budget plan that includes changes that have happened since adoption on June 4th, 2025 and recommend mid-year appropriations based on these salary and benefit and operational updates. Each year, the city of Lo prepares a mid-year update recommending changes and appropriations to continue operations and projects during the year. The mid-year review includes all funds and these funds have been reviewed for both revenue. Hold on.

Sorry about that. Hold on. Let me try to re broadcast. When did we say the IT director is starting?

Is he still here? Okay. So, I'm on slide two. Um, and with and I'll start over again on this one. Each year, the city of Loai prepares a mid-year update recommending changes in appropriations to continue operations and projects during the year. Olivia, do you have the presentation I emailed you?

Yeah. Dang. Where did you go? Yeah. Can we close out this?

Yeah. Okay. Sorry about that. Again, it's not

Can we just move this to the next council? Is this something that we're not able to figure out here? And can we load up the next presentation so that we're ready to go in case

if council would like to move to G3 and come back to G2? Yes, I think that'd be good. Are you okay with that? Okay, let's move to the next item. Okay, we'll go back to that one. All right, so then we will go to G3 and then come back to to G2. G3 is to adopt a resolution awarding operation of the LOI access center and emergency shelter to the council selected operator of outreach ministries international inc. Uh based on ranking and recommendation provided by the evaluation committee and authorizing city staff to negotiate an agreement and return to city council for final contract approval. and I will turn it over to community development. Before the the city attorney, you had a comment.

Yeah, we should probably take a motion to amend the agenda to uh flip-flop them just since I'll make the motion to change the agenda. Thank you,

Mayor, members of city council. Thank you for having us today. Sorry, it's a little bit out of order. Um, so hopefully mine will advance. Oh, sorry.

Okay, we're ready when you guys are ready.

Okay, thank you. Okay. Okay. So, as city clerk said that we are here today for the access center operator uh request for proposals and de uh sharing what those proposals were and um we want to we're going to share an overview of the access center emergency shelter RFP process and evaluation and adopted a resolution awarding operation LOI access center and emergency shelter to the council selected operator based on ranking and recommendation provided by the evaluation committee and authorizing city staff to negotiate an agreement and return to city council with final contract approval. So, the access center RFP overview, uh, the access center RFP that was released a couple months ago was for 27 operations with 60 f fixed beds and it flex to 208 beds uh, per our prior point in time count. It is low barrier, accommodates partners, pets, possessions with wraparound services and pathways to housing, health and stability. Um, we will be collaborating with Sanw King County Health and Behavioral Services and other community partners including SJ Health. Um, and this should cover full facility management. Just a brief summary of wraparound services. We went over this a bit uh before we developed the RFP, but day and night operations, three meals a day and snacks, hygiene facilities, clothing closet, 247 monitoring, case management, resource coordination, housing navigation and outreach, homeless management information system entry, uh monthly reporting and outcome tracking, uh federal, state, and local compliance. Um those last few are really important um because every agency right now is looking for

outcomes and metrics and understanding what those look like um to ensure that any programs or projects that are getting funded are moving forward with um expected positive outcomes but also tracking uh any potential outcomes that um may mean recidivism or anything like that to best uh approach practices moving forward. So just brief overview of RFP timeline. There was a lot of things that went um in between this behind the scenes, but this is just kind of the highle items is October 1st. Um city council approved the draft and authorized our release of the draft our the final RFP. October 2nd the RFP was released. October 22nd we did hold a virtual pre-proposal meeting for any potential proposers. They could come they could ask questions. since we then released an FAQ as well. On November 3rd, the proposals were due. Uh November 4th through 17th, eligibility determination. So that was kind of just review of the proposals, making sure that they they met requirements, they weren't debarred from SAM.gov, all those items like that. Uh December 2nd, 2025, our evaluation committee meeting to review and score eligible proposals occurred. That was an in-person meeting. So we did have the whole evaluation committee. Uh we went over to Hutchinson Street Square. We had all the proposals. Uh they were printed out uh by the proposers um and everybody reviewed them in person and then had open opportunity for discussion and scoring. On December 10th, the evaluation committee then did the interviews of the top three proposals and final recommendation is based on combined scoring. There were five proposals received by the deadline. However, one proposal was deemed non-responsive as they did not have all of the attachments um and uh because they did not have all the attachments, it wasn't deemed complete at that time. So, we did have to reject that proposal and we did um formally

notify them that same day. Four proposals were evaluated. This is in order of receipt. So, First Step Communities, Five Keys, Outreach Ministries International, and the Salvation Army LOI Corps. And I do just want to state that all the proposals received were just well put together, well thought out, and we were excited to see that we had four strong organizations submit proposals um for this uh RFP process. And um the evaluation committee had a hard job. Speaking of the evaluation committee, we want to heavily thank them because they did take a lot of time out of their day. I mean two full days that they took out for not only the proposal evaluation but then the interviews as well discussion and that's not to take into account the other communications that will be on the next slide that occurred as well. So we had Janelle Frederickson from Sanw King County uh behavioral health services. We reached out to the county and asked who they would like as a representative on the evaluation committee as they are a partner in this whole program. Uh Lana Lana Lozano, City of Stockton. Uh she actually stepped in last minute because our Mantika counterpart unfortunately was not available. So we are thankful that she was able to step in last minute to assist. Uh Virginia Carney from City of Tracy, Lisa Hill from the Loai Committee on Homelessness, chair um and uh Loai improvement committee vice chair. Uh JP2 set, he's on the access center advisory committee and CEO Chamber of Commerce. Russ Hayward, former SJCOC member, um, and LCH founding member. Uh, Sergeant Ryan Holt, City of Loai Police Department, former community liaison officer. Um, because he Sergeant Holtz had been involved in this process for many years, we felt his his input would be important from kind of the the law enforcement side of things. So, we, like I said, we did have a lot of communications with the evaluation committee in addition to the the in-person interviews and proposal evaluations um through invitation. Um, we even requested input on the

interview questions just to make sure that we didn't miss anything and that we captured kind of the essence of what we were trying to accomplish. Um, our city counterparts were especially helpful just because of the fact that they're kind of going through this in their cities as well. So being able to kind of see their perspective on um some of them have already gone through the process or will be going through the process and so it was helpful to hear um feedback from them. Uh the interviews of the top three proposals um before the staff report was submitted for this council meeting. We actually sent uh their section of it off to them as well to see if they had any input that they would like to provide on it just to make sure we captured kind of the essence of their thoughts and concerns throughout the process for each proposer that submitted one. uh the invitation to this council meeting. Uh we were eventually we were initially going to hold it on the 27th and we held it on the the 4th. So we did notify them of both of those meetings. Um so everybody on the evaluation committee um was notified of these meetings in hopes that they would be able to attend. We do have a couple of them in the audience and again I want to thank them for all of their time and commitment through this process. Um several of the members of the committee said that they may do similar things in their city. So I'm glad that the the process was helpful. So the evaluation criteria for the RFP, this is very short summary of this. It's organizational experience in and capability, operational readiness and staffing, fiscal responsibility and budget, client service delivery approach, community engagement and collaboration, proposal quality and completeness. Written proposals were scored independently by each evaluation committee member at an in-person evaluation meeting. top three proposers were advanced to interviews. And this was similar to the approach that we had mentioned at city council when we had the approval to release the RFP is that we would likely select the top three just to be cognizant of everybody's time and availability. Pre-prepared interview questions with input by evaluation committee used for

all interviews. Final rankings based on combined proposal and interview scores. So evaluation highlights as I mentioned all uh responsive proposals were thorough and very competitive. um a lot of them brought different things to the table. So, it was really um complicated for the evaluation committee to kind of uh review those, but I think they were able to kind of look at key factors to be able to uh score their proposals. Uh kind of some of the differentiators were local operational experience, staffing, staffing depth and supervision, community partnerships, readiness to begin operations and budget. Final rankings based on combined written proposals and interview scores by the evaluation committee. Our Outreach Ministries International ranked first overall, Five Keys ranked second overall, Salvation Army Loi Corps ranked third overall, First Step Communities ranked fourth um and were not advanced to the interview phase. Um, I do just want to state that we did invite all of the proposers to this regardless of their their rank because we did want them to be available to kind of see this and the process that occurred. Um, with the combined proposals and interview scores, it just has the the noted scoring there uh for both proposal scoring, interview scoring, and the combined total budgets came in at approximately 1.8 for Outreach Ministries, 2.4 four for five keys and Salvation Army loaded corpse at almost 1.7 million. And then we also do have kind of an overview of the staffing that was presented for each of the proposals. Uh outreach ministries had uh 20 each for full-time and part-time staff. Uh five keys did have 23 and 12 part-time staff and Salvation Army had 14 and 11. Um, and it's to ensure that we had a fair comparable to that, we did ask the proposers to submit a a unified uh staffing sheet to be able to have the evaluators review their staffing on a

kind of onetoone basis. So, because sometimes proposers will submit their staffing and their part-time staff might be 0.1 of an individual because they're in a leadership role and they're actually going to be at the main office and maybe not there full-time. So for them to be able to kind of compare apples to apples, we had them submit that. So we did have supplemental information that was able to be shared with them. So comparison of the top three proposers. Uh Outreach Ministries International is the current operator of the temporary LOI access center with strong established relationships with the unsheltered community, local nonprofit partners and county agencies ensuring continuity of operational institutional and successful t track record. uh balanced budget to staffing ratio aligned with operational needs. Five keys extensive experience operating similar facilities statewide with knowledgeable staff ranked them highest in the interview by a two-point margin. Uh newer to the LOI community with anticipated ramp up time needed to establish local connections um could potentially be a hindrance. the Salvation Army LOI corps long-standing presence in in Loi um well respected and uh the only concern with them was the lower staffing depth and supervisory capacity identified as concerns to meet all operational requirements. Uh there's a little bit more details in the staff report that this is very a brief summary kind of of the items there. There was extensive conversation with the evaluation committee at the at the end of the interview process. Uh what we thought would be half an hour 45 minutes. I think we were there about an hour and a half afterwards kind of just discussing the proposals and and and where they stood. Um and the evaluation committee kind of shared their thoughts, their concerns and um overall they were uh good with the combined ranking. So with that uh the recommendation is to adopt a resolution awarding operation of LOI access center emergency shelter to the council selected operator based on ranking and recommendation provided by the evaluation committee of outreach ministries international based on uh

provided by the sorry authorizing staff to negotiate agreement and return to city council for final contract approval. And the reason why we are requesting contract negotiation is because we do feel like there are areas that we can re refine any proposal that was received. Um staff took deep looks at all of the budgets and felt that there was areas that uh could be improved. uh even during the interview process. That was one of the questions that the evaluation committee asked all of the the proposers is um if that would be an ability to be able to have a conversation with whoever was awarded to be able to work on budget. as we know, budget availability is um limited currently and that we're still working towards future operational years of the access center and so wanting to get them in line with with what that might look like, especially for the first ramp up year that we're we're kind of trying to accomplish that. And with that, again, we do have members of the evaluation committee here and um likely members from each proposer uh and we open it for any questions uh to city council. Thank you for that presentation. So, first I'm going to suggest something to the council. Will you guys be okay if we move first public comments and then we say our comments after?

Do we need a motion uh city attorney for that? You can go and then bring it back to council after. Okay. Thank you. Uh senator clerk, do we have any public comments?

Yes, I have quite the number of comment cards and I will make an announcement now. I already see one hand raised on Zoom. So um I will take the cards. I will um announce them three at a time. So if you all can uh when I announce your name if you can come up to this area right here and be ready to provide your public comment and then um we can take the individual on Zoom. That's okay. Um the first three comment cards that I have and I apologize if I mispronounce any last names. Um Chris Ray Reich. Um Kimia Nen and Maria Elena Cerna. Uh good evening, mayor and council. My name is Chris Reich. Uh many many of you may recognize me from uh speaking to the city council with my two sons uh regarding the skate park, but tonight I'm here for something else. Uh I'm a resident of Loi and was once homeless and a drug addict for many years. Uh I'm here tonight to tell you about my experiences with Pastor Jason McCaffran and the members of Outreach Ministries International. Like I said, I was homeless for many years and I had given up on hope until about 15 years ago when I met Jason McCackan and his friend Vince Yorba at a weekly outreach they would have at Lawrence Park. They were out there connecting with people and building relationships with the unhoused population even way back then. They were also involved in a thrift store that was downtown and together they loved on me and talked me into going to a substance abuse program on October 20th, 2011. I graduated that program and I came back to Loi a different man uh living in one of Jason's sober living homes. They had

continued to mentor me and show me how to do things that were completely foreign to me. My oldest son, Elijah, was four years old when I got clean, and today he's a student at UOP on a full academic scholarship. I know my son's life would not be where it is today if I had not gotten my act together through the help of Jason and Outreach Ministries International. Today I'm a father, a husband, a friend, and a business owner. My life and the lives of my family are a direct result of the work that they've done and continue to do in our community. Please take this in consideration when making your decision over the access center tonight. Thank you for your time. Good evening, council. Uh my name is Kamino. Uh, I met Johnny, Zach, and Marvin at the lowest point of my life, and they have uh loved on me, helped me get my life together. Uh, they met me where I'm at. They loved on me, and I think that you should uh award them this contract. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Marena Cerna, president of the Breakthrough Project for Social Justice. Good evening, Mayor and Mayor Epis and council members. The breakthrough project for social justice is here to tell you why we support the outreach ministry international, Inc. to operate the access center on a permanent basis. We agree with the evaluation that has been done by the independent committee and the proposals that have been and the proposal that's been presented. uh and they recommend they recommend also okay that the trunk the contract be awarded okay to the outreach ministries international we base our support um because they have very strong uh organizational experience they already are locally trained um they have excellent managorial and supervisational staff in place um they have a they have services 247 I think many have already been mentioned here already and uh we're so and they're not new to the community nor to the local providers which I think is a big plus for LOI. They also have presented sensible in a low a lowc cost budget okay to meet the needs of unsheltered um individuals in Lodi. The access center is not new to our community because it's already been here, okay, for several years and you already have, okay, a temporary operational. They have status already and they are already they have already proven themselves um by reducing the number of un unsheltered okay individuals of which you've already heard, okay, two um two individuals here where it has been very successful for them. the um the access center has has uh caught the interest of many local organizations and group in solo and they're very interested in assisting and helping people that are in need. Um the

access center continues to is continually we believe okay great okay the ministry outreach center international and awarding them a permanent contracts so that they may help individuals redirect their lives in a positive manner and become participating citizens in our community. Thank you. The next three comment cards I have are Jeff McCochran, Katherine Siddle, and Melvin Bryant.

Um, I'm Jeff McArin and Hello to the uh city council. Um I've been involved at the access center since outreach ministries took it over for a short time. But I just want to say one thing about it. Uh I go there and I sit down and I talk to the people that live there. And I was talking to a woman that lives there and we were just I was just listening to her and uh she made a comment to me that uh really spoke to my heart. She said, "Jeff, you people here at the access center are doing something for the homeless people, which is good. But I want you to know, Jeff, to me, it's a home. And that hit my heart. It's more than just a place for them to sleep at night and have some meals. Some of them, for the first time in their life, have felt love. They've felt people that would listen to them and uh they could move on with life. So, it's an honor for me to speak on behalf of Outreach Ministries International. Thank you.

Hello. Um, as many of you may know, I'm Katherine Siddle and I committed myself to serving the homeless over eight years ago. And and I did leave Loi four years ago, but this is important. And so I came back. Even in the four month four years ago, four months ago, and even in the four months that I've been gone, I have had contact almost daily with somebody from the access center, whether it's a client or one of the staff members. And I am going to continue to serve to best of my ability to support them because they meet the clients where they're at. We're at a point now in addressing the unshelter where we have the toughest of the toughest. The first Brian Holtz, Officer Holtz, can tell you that the first couple years out there, we had lowhanging fruit and we were able to get people off quick. We don't have all the services needed for all the mental health issues we're dealing with and for all the unhoused for how to have a bed. So meeting the client where they're at. This group is so open to the staff is open to teaching and to training and to really seeing the person where they're at. They're willing to accommodate our learning disabled. I probably won't shock you if I tell you how many people who are unhoused still can't read well, can't write, and having to teach these basic things. This staff is doing that. It was truly a pleasure and a gift to be able to work with them and to see the progress we were making. And I would just really encourage you to allow us to continue because the numbers are there, the success is there, the work is there. You look around this room and you can't my heart just bursts with joy for the number of people who've gone through the program and are doing amazing things now. So, thank you for your time and consideration of this matter. I appreciate it.

Well, I had the joy of of replacing Katherine, which I'm still trying to do. Um, everybody I've come across has said that is a gigantic shoe to fill, and it has very well been that. Um, you're going to hear a lot of stats and I know you guys get the report so you look through the pamphlets and so I thought about what I would say up to when I was up here today. Um, and really I just wanted to brag and I wanted in alignment with what uh, Council Member Craig said about alignment. Um, Katherine taught me when I first took over um, that it was all about who you know and having people's cell phones. And so I put a a quick list together that I'm going to run through that are intimate daily um collaborations with the access center daily. Um we've rebuilt and reestablished a relationship load at Memorial. Um we have quarterly meetings with all of their social workers. I'm there two or three times a week establishing discharge plans for our unsheltered community to make sure that they aren't tossed back on the street and they're handled with dignity and worth from the hospital back to the center or wherever they're going. Um I am now intimately working with the Lai Unified School District to help our unsheltered youth u make sure they're in school getting the supplies they need and getting everything they need to be successful in their youthful career. Um, a lot of times people spend a lot of time thinking that we're all drugging and alcohol and really one of our ginormous demographics at the shelter is seniors. And so I've developed a relationship with APS where we work weekly together to help establish a plan for them to find a safe and secure place to be. And I have a whole list I'm not going to get through and I can't talk as fast as the kid did. Um

but BHS has also been uh intrical and all of their separate by parts that I work with depending on whether it's behavioral health like all of the healths um they now come to the access center to meet the unsheltered population where they're at instead of having to try to find transportation to them. So thank you The next comment cards I have are from Dennis Buffner, Annette Depali, and Johnny Coffin. And again, my apologies if I mispronounce any names. Good evening, council. Hi, my name is Dennis Bututner. That's just for clarification. Um, I spent 23 years working for Sam King County as a homeless outreach worker. And so I bring just not just my experience. I have to tell you something in all the years I worked there and it was a very very rewarding job. I can't imagine another job I'd rather have ever had. It's been an absolute blessing for me to be able to work with um Outreach Ministries. The key to what we do is compassion and connecting with the clients. If we don't have the time, if they don't get them to trust us, they won't accept our help. And so, one of the things that I see as our strategy besides just being love, it's about being able to connect with them. They will not listen to us otherwise. Uh there was an old quote that says they won't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

And that is so true. And we have to be willing to step out and meet them where they are and try to connect them with services. Um I spent 23 years with behavioral health services and uh I the good part for me is I get to continue to work with them and partner with them and still get to work with all these different agencies. So I bring with me not just that but also knowledge of HMIS because I have been using it since it came out and so we're able to do so much more. Um the leadership through Johnny and and Jason and everything has been fantastic and and I'm sorry Marvin I think I'm replacing Katherine, not you. Sorry. Um because she was the original outreach here for a lot of people and she just loaded everything up in her car and she was the access center for so long. So it is an honor for me to come in and continue my work and continue to bless as many people as I can. Thank you. Good evening, mayor, city council. Um, first I want to really congratulate you on having two very solid um applicants, both outreach ministries and Salvation Army. My name is Annette Depali and I started um working with the homeless at Adventist Health about 12 years ago. So I came after retiring from the county, I came to work at the Loi Memorial, which at that time was still LOAI memorial and working in the emergency room. And at that time then I met both of those agencies and worked very closely with them and became amazed by the work that they were doing um and built strong relationships in working with them. From there I went to um St. Joseph's and worked with the homeless health initiative in the emergency room and continue the relationships. And even though um we were I was in Stockton, it was still important that we maintain those relationships because at times we needed to share resources which is a

really important part in this population. From there I went in um led the program. I was director at St. Mary's community services for the social services program and again trying to rebuild our resources and build connections. That's there where Johnny and I and the outreach ministry really connected and he really demonstrated his deep interest and deep compassion in trying to make a program that was really going to serve the Lodive community. Um, with that I'm really wanting to emphasize how much um he has built that program as far as the access center um learned how to do the data, learned at what potential prospects there are to build relationships and what it is going to be able to expand and make it sustainable. So with that, I'm just really encouraging you to understand the incredible importance of all these aspects to make that type of a program continue and serve this community. I'm sure that's what you want for your own constituents as well. Thank you.

Good evening, council. I'm Johnny Coffin, director of the current LOA access center. Um, first of all, I wanted to thank you um for entrusting us this little uh David sized of an organization compared to uh some Goliaths that were in this bid proposal. Uh we know how that story goes, but this story is a little bit different um because now we're teamed up with the Goliaths. Um we've been able to team up with Salvation Army and a lot of other organizations, St. Mary's, uh countywide organizations. We've even gone outside of the county to have that many more resources available because in order to have success for the different type of person, you have to have a different type of connection. So, we've really been able to uh find our our setting in what we do and how we do it. Um we've created a machine in a sense that is producing fruit at 14 people a month. Um to date, we've gotten 203 people into either program or housing with about a 78% success rate. That equates to a little over $8 million ROI to the city of LOI. Um what that really translates to and what I want to speak to right now is the financial concern for future sustainability. Yep. Um there is some concern there but with the success that we've been able to gain the machine we've built in just over 15 months the success we've gained measured and proven in the HMIS system um we our success is acknowledged and commended at a county level and we have set ourselves up and to be in a prime position for any grant funding if it does become available but also with the community support. This is just a fraction of the support that we really have out there. Um, I think the momentum is very much in our favor to gain more support. We'll be pulling the trigger on a lot of fundraisers coming forward, but uh, we want to work with you. We the financial concern is ours also, but uh, we are confident in our ability with the success and the support that the funding

will come and uh, we want to partner with you guys and thank you again. Okay, I have three more comment cards and then we will go to Zoom. I have Susie Endo or Endow um Katie Morado and Oscar Schwolinger. Good evening. I'm also in Breakthrough Project just to throw that in. Um, thank you for for not giving up on the homeless and um means a lot. They're human. They like the love that they've received. I'd like to say also um I'm a volunteer at the Lai animal services three days a week and a lot of these people have dogs. A lot of them need to go into the program substance abuse program but they have nowhere to put their dog. So I've been trying to think of a way to help come up with a foster system or something. Um, wanted to just throw that out there for anybody who might have an idea or who might like to volunteer to foster because dogs love us unconditionally and that's what everybody wants to feel. And these people that are homeless, um, that's all they have. Some of them is their dog. Uh, I think that's that's it. Except for if I could put in a plug for the animal services. They do such a good job.

Hello, council. My name is Austria Schmolinger. I'm actually a long uh LOI resident. Lived here, born and raised here my entire life. I come to talk before uh the outreach ministries here. um a short background for me and not just for myself as well, but um I was uh really good in school and all that. And um by the time I got to like 23, I had I lost my brother and I went to a really dark deep spiral. Um and uh at the same time, I was starting to lose everything and then uh I went to the access center and um not only that, my dad was actually there. So not only for myself, but they've actually had my father and they're currently actually my dad is staying with one of Jason's houses and um For me myself, I went in, I was a broken man. I was lost. I was troubled. Um, no purpose, no direction. And right now, I can happily stand here and say I'm 10 months sober because they actually grabbed a hold of me and they redirected me toward a program team challenge in Turlock. Um, so because of the love of these people right here, I have a family right here. And um, sorry, it's emotional. Um, but I feel like I feel like I gained a family. I feel like I gained a hope for my life again. And that all started with Johnny, Zach, Mish, everybody sitting right here. They all took care of me when I was really in need for it. Sorry for my nervousness. But yeah, um more than just myself, my father, um they're helping them tremendously. And just the what they do at that center is so tremendous to everybody. I just went I just came visited there tonight because every time I come back here, I like to go there and just see what they're um see what they're like and see how they are doing and just kind of, you know, be a light for the people that need it. Um, but this people, these people are here, they're tremendous and they actually have a heart for anybody that walks through those doors and not only the day and night, everybody there. And I just want to say thank you guys for your time. Thank you. I'm just going to do one last call for

Katie Marado. Okay. And then I will go to Zoom. Um, Kenneth Huntley. Mr. Huntley, can you hear me? Yes. Okay, I will start the timer. Go ahead and provide your public comment.

Okay. Uh, my name is Kenneth Huntley and I just wanted to say that Ed Cole tells us that character is more important than talent. Jason McCackran, Zach Dalgo, Johnny Coffran, many people from Outreach Ministry International have that character. When it comes to talking with people, building relationships with people, it's getting to the core of what's going on of the triggers of homelessness, addictions, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts. They go to the core of everything. Um, I'm a success story of that. 2013, my niece pulled me and took me to gravity, gave me baby uh puppy dog eyes and I was on the brink of some very dark stuff and today because of outreach ministry international. I'm a board director at Valley Mount Regional Center and I'm also uh on the mayor's round table for people with disabilities at the city of Stockton and I attribute everything to outreach ministry international and that's my comment.

Thank you Mr. Huntley. Mayor, those are the all the comment cards and Zoom comments that I have. You're more than welcome to open it up to the audience. Yes. Uh so now I will open to the audience if anyone has additional comments to come to the podium right now. Seeing none, I'm going to move now to council comments. Sorry. Uh

oh, we have one. Oh, sorry. I had no intention of coming, but I have one of the staff members that is staying with me. Uh, and he he keeps me aware of what's going on. But his his comment, I don't know how many times, is this is not a job with him. This is a calling. And when I hear that and I go over and visit them, that staff is the tops. You'll never be sorry with them. Thank you. Do we have any more comments? Okay. So, I'm going to call council members um the order that they uh raise their hands. So, first I'm going to start with councilwoman Craig.

I might sentiments are are similar with outreach ministries. I think you know they were homegrown to start with and that matters a lot here because they had already made an investment in the community. Um, so having been to a number of the Gravity Church Monday morning breakfasts, I appreciate their service, not just to those that are homeless, but to the entire neighborhood. So when we selected them, I knew that we were moving on with a better organization. And I think over this last 15 months or so, they've proven that they are able to meet the outcomes uh that we're all looking for. Um, so the opportunity to continue investing, it's like a business. This business expanded. Uh, it went from Sobering Homes to being so much more to the community. Um, so it's really important that we invest in those that invest in our community. Um, so, uh, I'll say I'm I'm supportive of of the contract going to outreach ministries, but I have a lot of questions because we do have a a bottom line. Johnny said it himself that we have to all uh address. Um so some of the questions may be for outreach ministries. I don't know who would answer them necessarily, but I'll I'll maybe start with a couple of those and then I might move to staff or John if your staff uh you and Jennifer can comment on something that I'm happy with that too. Um, so one of the things that I remember speaking about when Outreach Ministries was selected and a quote was made tonight, which I appreciate, so that they can move on with their lives. And I think that's what you are making every effort to do. It's a center where we're navigating people into their future and transitioning them. Hence why we are so beneficial to have the county as a partner and we have that next step of transitional housing. And then to the point well made as well, we have other

partners. We have the Salvation Army, you know, we have Grace and Mercy, we have St. Mary's, we have others that are partners we can work with on that transitioning process because I think that's what we're all looking for. Your 78% is really impressive and you know, we just keep working on those individuals and know they've got the support and um we've made a good investment in that respect. Um, so one of the things I I want to uh underscore is it is my understanding we we're continuing on that process that our goal and the outcome is to always navigate individuals in and on to the next level of their lives. Um, so maybe you guys can talk about who does that within outreach ministries that really takes it to that next level and how how you how you staff that because you do have a number of staff which I understand the need for that. So maybe you can just quickly tell me what the what the goal is and how you staff that process.

Yeah, in past um thank you also for letting us be here. Um in past presentations, we've shown you that we've developed a process that we believe is reproducible when someone comes in. Our our approach to every single person is to um engage with them wherever they're at. and their journey. They're very different, every single one of them. But once there is an engagement and there's an assessment, we're able to help them to find a path that's suitable that moves them out of the center. We've said it before and we'll repeat it. We have no interest in housing people at the LOA access center long term. We are not in the housing business. We're in the moving of people into a better place business. And so whether that is uh like our friend Oscar into treatment or whether it's like his dad into a safe sober um living environment or whether it's family reunification, believe it or not, there are many people that just don't know how to pick up the phone and call a family that's there um because of family relationship fallout. We can help make those phone calls. Um there are some people that just need to get working and they need assistance to be able to have the self-confidence to be able to be job ready and apply for work. And we're very very uh focused on that. Um I'm a general contractor here in Loi and um I would say almost my entire work crew at one time in their life were homeless. And so I see the value of putting people to work and watching what that does for their family and the long term. And so the short answer to your your question is um we are going to do whatever it takes to help people transition out of the load access center and that's the bottom line.

Okay. Thank you. Just want to underscore we're we're on the same page with that. I appreciate it. Um I think Johnny we had this conversation the other day. Um your temporary contract ends October. Is that what I understand? The current October 31st. Okay. It ends whenever they get that building done. Yeah. Okay. which I'll be getting to you soon on that, John. So, um, so where are you with your budget to date? Are you finding that you're you're right at kind of what you budgeted for expenses? Are you a little under? Do you guys know where you are with your operating costs relative to the temporary? We'll speak for the money,

okay? Just because I actually did look at that earlier today. And so, in the last contract year, they actually came under just under $70,000 under their original contract obligation. Um, and this year, um, we only have a couple months in at this point in time, but they are projecting to potentially be under another $100,000 as well. But again, we're only a couple months in, so I I want to underscore that, uh, for sure. But, um, they are good about contacting us if there's going to be an out ofthe-m budget expense or anything like that to make sure where their budget is at and if they have availability um, before that that has taken place. So, we we appreciate that.

Okay. And I thought I'd heard that to be the case in in one of the last reports. So, I appreciate hearing that too because every penny has to be accounted for for uh the needs for for the access center. Um, in terms of the out I think there was a mention of the outcome tracking um and the federal, state, local compliance issues. We have our county partners and we're going to be operating a clinic use within that. Is there dual reporting going on? How is coordination of of reporting going when some of the beds are county beds and some of the beds are city beds? And I don't know if it's county to answer that question or or what. So I I will note that we plan to bring them in when we're um kind of navigating the the final contract amount. there was a draft attached to the RFP and they did uh provide input on the RFP as well as far as collaborating um between the county and whoever the operator was and making sure that um everybody kind of stayed in their roles and didn't have a navigation uh um that could potentially overstep bounds or anything like that. Um but we do plan to have them part of that negotiation process so that they can see the the contract terms before we um bring it to city council as well as they are a big part of the access center.

And Miss Valentine is here so I'm sure she'll she'll uh give us a little bit more detail on that.

Good evening um mayor to our councilwoman Genevie Valentine, healthcare services director for the county. There are definitely a lot of reporting opportunities that the county has for the six beds specifically for the mental health um respbit. There is also the proposal for the sobering center within of the center plus um I have with me the new project director of the health clinics within the county. Um and there's also federal requirements there. But in terms of bed counts in order for tracking, we are 100% committed with the operator to make sure that we are meeting all grant requirements both from the state requirements because the beds that are the mental health respit are actually um bridge housing grant dollars and there's very specific requirements. So we just have to come up with some screening opportunities working in partnership together. Um I take great pride in making sure we don't lose any of our state and federal dollars. So, we will track it to the tea um in order to make sure we can retain the state and federal dollars that we have. So, we have no concern with the partnership and making sure that we're meeting our state obligations in order to make sure that the county is also operating the way it needs to. Um there will no longer be um any concerns of duplication of efforts because we will be one team partnering together um once this is completed um both with the new center at large um but we also are excited to be able to work in partnership with the LOI fire department um with the ability to have the alternative destination. So we will be able to continue the efforts of the outreach ministries and their works with Lodi Memorial and and so forth. So, we are excited about the opportunity, but I can rest assure and that the council rest assure and my partners with the county rest assure that we will make sure that every dollar is counted for that is within our control as well as the the data reporting that necessary.

Okay. Thank you, Miss Valentine. I wanted to hear from the county. So, I appreciate you making it here tonight to to share that with us. Yeah. So, quick question to quick like comment. Yeah. Thank you for coming because I know you had a conflict and you drove like one hour and a half to be here. So, thank you. Thank you. You're you're very welcome. Thank you. Um, so I would go back to staff on this one. Um, are we on track with capital costs? Are we anticipating any change orders coming forward with the completion of of the access center?

Right now, we're actually um still within our budget authority that we have implemented. Uh, luckily the soil did come in a little bit under what we had originally anticipated. Um, as we are aware with capital projects, we um don't always know what's going to come down the pipeline, but um as of right now, yes, we are within our current budget authority.

Okay. So, I had the benefit of of seeing the um we haven't gotten to this report yet, but looking at the budget and the rollover of ARPA funds on that $5.1 million of ARPA funds, is is that access center money? All of the ARPA funds are now tied to access center. Correct. Because all other projects that were tied to ARPA have been completed and so access center is the only one that's remaining towards ARPA.

Okay. So that 5.1 that's carrying over will roll over uh that's in the midyear budget adjustment is all access. Correct. All right. Um I think the oh outreach costs. So, one of the things I think that um outreach ministries, hence its name, has done very effectively is going out and engaging and not just outreach to bring those in that need the support, but outreach to the surrounding business community. Johnny and I had a very good discussion about that because making sure the business community feels that their issues are being addressed, that their concerns are being addressed, and what you may be able to do to help with those surrounding businesses is really important. Do you have any idea? I mean, is that take a full-time person to do all of that? What is it that you are really looking for in terms of your staffing to help with with the outreach in the variety of ways you're conducting outreach?

This bid was last October and I'm trying to remember specifics, but I do believe we have one and a half full-time outreach people if I remember correctly.

Okay. Uh but that doesn't go to say. Um Marvin is our program director. He goes out and responds to uh a lot of those calls also. He also does community engagement. Dennis Bututner who has 23 24 years with behavioral health. He does engagement um with the unsheltered population but also with businesses and keeping intact. Uh I'll be honest right now our spotlight is on the industrial area. Yeah. Uh that's a hot spot that we are pivoting towards and trying to find resolution over there. Um because we want to keep all those big businesses especially um in support of this. Yeah.

Uh but with outreach. Yeah. It's just we're going to we've already started a neighborhood coalition meeting. Um Jennifer put that together that we had um fire PD and city or city staff there. Uh we also want to set up more meetings like that to hear from the public. But also, I'm of the opinion that if you give understanding, you'll gain support because if people truly understand of what we're dealing with, our restrictions, what we can do, what we can't do, they'll come alongside. Um, a lot of people are just uninformed. So, we want to open up a lot of those avenues for quarterly or possibly more every month, every other month, something like that. But, um, gaining gaining community support is going to be critical in gaining future financial sustainability. So that is uh on on our priority list.

I I appreciate that because I I do hear from the businesses and they do compliment you when you know you've been there to talk with them. So thank you for that. Well, there's one more item I'll mention. I was waiting for him to get off the evaluation committee. what JPU said is uh in the process of organizing a meeting like that for the businesses so that they can speak their minds, concerns, um support or um any way that we can come alongside of them because uh the majority of our staff lives in LOI. We're taxpayers in LOI. Um so we we want we're a part of LOI. So we're in this with you. We're in this with the community. So we want to make sure that we have full support for this.

Appreciate it. Did you have a comment, Miss Valentine, on on outreach or through the mayor to the council woman, not on outreach, but actually on budget. Thank you.

You're welcome. So, two different um pieces in terms of budget. The county awarded the city $8.2 million in ARPA funds. There is still $5.6 million that the city can get reimbursed of from the county um based off of the cost reimbursement of the project. It is important to note though that we have until December of 26 to have that expended and whatever is not must be returned to the federal government based off of our our ARPA requirements. Um the $575,000 of infrastructure dollars from behavioral health. The contract went into effect with the city in October. Um once the um deed for that square footage is uh awarded and sent over to um the s the behavioral health department, the check for the $575,000 can be sent over to the city. Um and then we also have the $1.8 million of infrastructure dollars specifically towards the SJ health clinics. And so we have a little bit more time, but those are still dollars that need to be um drawn down from the federal government through the county over to the to the city. So, I know that's all included in your budget at large, but those are funds that are still um available to the city in order to make sure that the construction is completed. So, there are those buckets for reimbursement still.

So, the 575 and the 1.8 are capital or are those are infrastructure? Those are all infrastructure. All of the all of the funds that were just mentioned, the 5.6 that can still be drawn down for ARPA. Um the 575,000 from behavioral health and the 1.8 8 from the health clinics are all infrastructure dollars. Okay. Could I chime in? Have there been any prop one dollars allocated to the project or is there any progress on

So there so through the mayor to the councilman there is actually no prop one dollars specifically tied for housing into this. Um so we there's some very interesting dynamics that come to um proposition one. So 35% of behavioral health's aotment of um BHSA must be um housing initiatives um subsidies and so forth. However, we cannot based off of new uh entitlement requirements. We cannot use those dollars until we use the ability to do transitional rent dollars first, which is a new benefit through the managed care plans. and we actually have to link people to um that six months of the benefit before we can do proposition $1 for um the project at large. So we are actually at this moment in time maxed out on what we need to do after our transitional rent requirements. So you have to use the transitional rent who's identified and then use your Prop$1 dollars. I can tell you though that Proposition one dollars will be used for the operation piece of what behavioral health needs to do within the the the shelter at large in the access center. So um we are also earmarking $35 per day um in order to make sure that their operating supports can be offset um with operations for those beds that are specifically put aside. Um but in terms of aotment of Prop One, unfortunately um we didn't get new money from the state. It took from treatment. And so I think that's important for the community. No new dollars came to behavioral health with the passing of Prop One.

We actually had to eliminate um treatment and we actually had to eliminate all prevention in order to meet the new bucket of 35% of housing requirements. So that is that the funding is addressing the transitional housing.

So Prop one does not address transitional housing in of itself. The Proposition One housing bucket is for housing interventions. That could be um rental assistance. It could be a deposit of um a housing deposit. It can be a variety of things, but it has to actually be a subsidy, a housing subsidy. But it cannot be used until 6 months and one day. if someone is in transitional rent. So we have to use the transitional rent benefit if they qualify for that through the managed care plans and on day six months and one day that's when the county can actually pay for that next piece. Um unless they are in a um enhanced boarding care which is not the situation that we are talking about. Um and then we can actually use um patches for housing subsidies and so forth. But from a transitional rent it's six months and one day. Um I think my last question is more a comment on um the staff report. Um maybe we can address it by saying specifically what we anticipate we have for operating for that first year because the last sentence says should there not be sufficient grant funding enter into the first year of the agreement staff will evaluate options and bring to city council for consideration. So, I'm of the belief we have at least one year of funds available. Am I incorrect in assuming that? Council member Craig Heley, you are correct in assuming that. It's kind of one of those things that you always kind of put a disclaimer in there because you don't know what the future holds. Um, but yes, at this point in time, we do have uh sufficient funds for the first year of operations. So, is that sufficient based on the proposed uh amounts or what are we talking about dollar-wise that we've got starting post uh temporary uh access center? What have we got left?

Um well, it was brought to city council when uh the RFP was being brought forth was $1,650,000. Um we are working on additional grant funds that we should know the outcome of um during this negotiation process as well. Um, but we do, like I said, anticipate having that first year of funding available.

Okay. And my last, this is just a comment, not a question. Thank you all for uh answering this. The the comment was made, and I've also received uh emails on this. Um, the concept of animals not having a place. Um, I I would wonder if once we get our new animal shelter built that if the old animal shelter has a role or purpose or could be used for temporary uh uh use for animals uh as people are going through through this transition. I have no idea. I'm just putting it out there because of the fact that that question has come up more than once. So, thank you for bringing it up tonight. I I will note that there has been some conversations at like the Lo Committee on Homelessness about establishing a foster system for that. Um the chair uh she's actually here tonight. Um member Hill um has done a lot of leg work on it and uh I think they were just kind of waiting to till this moment to understand who the new operator was going to be awarded um and kind of working with them on establishing a more long-term program. But there has been interest in volunteers assisting with that. Um, obviously there's a lot of logistics like liability for the animal and things like that that have to be worked through, but that has been a conversation that's been going on, especially at the LOI Committee on Homelessness for for a good bit of time now. So, um, we're hoping that maybe something could come through fruition with that. Um, and I think it would probably be one of the f first of its kind in this area. So, hopefully it could be something that could be modeled um, throughout the county uh, as well because that is a major need and most shelters can only house a certain number of animals. um in addition to the clients that they serve. So, uh it is much needed um because you don't want someone to turn down treatment or housing because of uh a family member to them. Um so hopefully we'll have a resolution to that.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you and appreciate the Thank you for the call. So now um the question sorry. So now I'm going to move to the next council member uh council member uh Bregman.

All right. Well, I got to say I haven't been excited in a while for an item, but this uh this tops the uh the last few months, and I think uh a a nice little correction is I had the number 154 in my head, which was the last number I got for individuals off the street. Now we're over 200. Um can everybody that has served at the access center please stand up? Can we give them a round of applause, please? Thank you very much for your service. And what I will say is I believe this will be our first point in time count where LOI's homeless population actually goes down. Uh that's my expectation. Um when do we expect to see that point in time count by the way if we do have a date? Just rough date.

Council member Bergman, I'll go ahead and answer that. Usually we see the data around April. last year uh last count we did see it closer to May. Um so that's likely when we would have the final numbers out because um ASR is the consultant uh for the county and the COC and they actually do provide a methodology. So the count that was conducted is only a piece of it and then there is a methodology that is attached to it for say if there's an RV or a vehicle or a tent or something like that. Um it's not just necessarily counted as one. It could be one one and a half individuals. So once that methodology is attached, then they'll get that report to us and it usually does go to the COC and the county board of supervisors as well for approval.

Great. All right. Well, couple other details. Uh me and my girlfriend actually our second date was serving at the access center and she said to me, "Manny, these are the cleanest homeless people ever." I'm like, "They are." And and I will say that says something. And you know, I always tell people uh my belief is if somebody doesn't have a disability that getting a job is the ultimate level of rehabilitation because they get their pride back, right? They're back on their feet again. And guess what? You can't go to a job interview if you smell stinky and if you don't have a driver's license and all these simple things. So, um that was that was very neat to see. Um again, I have a office downtown here and I got on council for mostly two reasons. Okay, top two. One of which was homelessness. And I remember when we used to have people throw rocks at our glass doors, breaking them, and I'd have to board them up, broken uh cameras, feces everywhere. I mean, it was it was terrible. Okay. And I know some downtown businesses still have that issue. But I got to say, I look at our streets now and they are so much cleaner than they were two, three, three years ago. So, um I just really want to thank the entire team to outreach ministries. Um I also want to thank our load IPD. I want to thank Salvation Army. Um all the people involved because it is a partnership. It's not just one group, right? And what I'd also like to say is Mr. Jason, if you're half the man as your dad is, you're pretty darn good leader. And if you can tell half as good as the story that he tells, you're going to run this entire city. So, I I think you'll you'll have a good history and but it it does give me chills because I think this is one of the biggest wins our city has ever had. Um, and obviously we got to deal with the financial part. Um, and I'm caught between a crossfire. I right I'm I'm voting for you guys tonight. I'll just say that out loud. And I love Salvation Army. And what I

will say is I'm hopefully going to be invited to the Friday men's life group still, but you and you guys are an absolute great group. Um, and you guys still serve a huge need in Loi, right? Um, and I'd like to thank you for your decades and decades of service and and again that you still do provide. Um besides that, uh what I would say is again I think that we'll we'll have partnerships in this funding right towards the access center. Um I don't want to see us pull any funds from police and fire. That's that's a hard line and obviously we don't want to vote for any fiscal deficits. And so that's you know my my position too. But um I absolutely love the work you guys are doing. You guys have the highest success rate I've ever seen out of any group. Uh 200 plus people off the streets in low night. That is that's a win. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much for not us choosing you, but you choosing Loi. So, thank you,

Councilman Nekani, Pastor Jason, Johnny Cochran, and the outreach group. I applaud you for doing a good job. You've got shown that you can run an access center and you have a cohesive team. You have the dream and the vision. The other thing I also see is that uh I've got to know you guys so I applaud you. And you you won the evaluation evaluators. We had good evaluators. They chose you as number one. To the uh Salvation Army, I support you. You know I support you, right? and you're doing a good job at Hope Harbor. That's a big job. Keep doing that.

One of the concerns of beginning getting too big is it hurts you, right? So, you're doing such a good job. You raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep doing this. So, I applaud both of you and I congratulate you for winning the evaluation to get this cut bid.

Yep. So, I was on the council I think in 2021 when we initially voted to approve the access center and I'm the only one who survived the vote, hence being, you know, still up here. But, um, I actually met Johnny back in 2020 knocking on doors running for election and he was at his grandma's house and just peppered me with questions about like my thoughts on homelessness. I think just that just really speaks to like before you were involved in this at all, you were simply a concerned citizen who had a keen interest in trying to help people who really need help in this community. And I think that says a lot about you. For those who haven't seen it in the lot of News Sentinel, there's a great write up about Johnny that I didn't even know half the story, but it's a real tearjerker and it'll tell you why uh he's so mission driven and that why they've had so much success uh why they've had the success that they've had. What I'll say to Salvation Army is major kudos to you because all I hear is compliments all around about the collaboration that you have at your neighboring sites and I think that also speaks to the the success of this facility. the fact that you guys are able to collaborate. So, I think my support here has been pretty clear, but kudos to you for everything that you've done and for running under budget. That's pretty rare when things come to council. Generally, they're over budget, but just appreciate everything that you're doing and uh I think I'll be supporting this today.

Thank you for all that council comments. I think we have covered most of the of all the issues. So, I have just a few questions. So since I've been the mayor of the city, I've been thinking and always I always think of the future. What what is it going to happen? And the problem is the finance. So I want to ask about that. So what is the plan if the So we have so far one year to operate it, right? Is that correct?

Yes, that is correct. So what is the exit strategy in case there there's no funding? Like we know how the climate is with the federal, with the state, with the county. Their funding for these initiatives have they're gone now. So what I don't what I would like not to see is that US are open on a Monday and then on a Tuesday is closed because that would not be a service for the homeless uh population that you guys are helping. And I have learned from other cities like San Francisco that they have a program and you guys also about trying to connect the homeless individual with their families with other agencies that they can get the services that we don't have because I have said from the beginning there's a problem homeless in the city but we as a city we're not operated we're not built to deal with the access center. We we know we just fire police infrastructure which is the street. So this is beyond our expertise from the beginning it has been. So for me my question is what is the plan that in case the funding doesn't come because I want to plan things for the future too. I want to have plan A, plan B.

My question for us

just for you guys. I I appreciate that question and we've we've had a lot of internal conversations and um brainstorming sessions, if you will, of what would happen uh if that day came where the the money from the city wasn't available. And we've we've all seen budget cuts. We've all seen uh things that start and then they're not able to continue. Um, but our heart is that we have been doing this same kind of work in the city of Loi for 15 years before we started working at the access center. And so we won't stop even if we don't have a facility to work out of. But heaven forbid the city runs out of money and wants to uh lease the building to outreach ministries for a dollar a year, we would fund raise our butts off to try to find a way to keep the lights off on and keep the operation going.

Yeah. So, what would that be like? Yeah. For example, let's explore that. Let's say that yeah, we run out of money and uh so how like in what capacity would you guys be able to operate it because it's an interesting probably need to be a coffee meeting where we can have a a conversation. Yeah. Uh maybe I would invite the county uh uh Valentine to maybe can talk about that. What will what will happen if that happens, right?

So Genevie Valentine, healthcare services director. So I do want to say I am speaking on behalf of healthcare services. I cannot speak on the fiscal uh requirements of the county at large, but I do have a friend here next to me that can. So, I just want to make sure I have that caveat there. So, there are obligations within the ARPA dollars and there is obligations with both the HERSA dollars, that is the health clinics, and the dollars connected to the um six beds, behavioral health beds. There are minimum requirements when we give those infrastructure dollars that the city is on the hook for. I will I'll put it in the um clear terms. Um ARPA you have to once done there has to be 18 months of operating. There has to be through the grant of um the bridge housing those dollars require through the end of 2027 that there is operations. Um the moment you have a health center and um FQC there are federal obligations in terms of our our grants and so forth. Um, so there are definitely um requirements that if um the doors closed the next day that there is a likelihood that dollars would have to be returned to the county in the various um buckets if if that happened before those timelines.

Sorry to interrupt you. So in that case we have to the city of Lor will have to give the money back. That is a correct state. So then there will be an impact on our budget like we will have to cut like police or fire department or whatever department to get the like $2.5 million right operations. Oh is this the see she's responsible and I'm not. So I can say whatever I want for for those 18 months. Yes. Is that is correct? 18 months. So the the access center is currently ran has to be there otherwise the the original 11 million 11 million

11 million of ARPA would you know have to go back to the federal government. So that's 8.2 because we've already spent capital LA. Okay. I I think what you're asking though mayor is there has to be a backup plan. Exactly.

Okay. Um, nobody, you know, I last I' I've seen from the LO budget, we probably don't have $1.8 million um, just laying around. Otherwise, I'd have my skate park and a few other things done. So, we have to that what we're thinking, you know, again, and it goes back to um, Councilman Craig, your comment, Councilman Bregman, Johnny, and I've got a few words to say about Johnny. Um the goal is to get them off the street and into transition. Period. What we're looking at the front end of the property, you're looking at the clinic, which is then Congressman Jerry Mcernney, now Senator Mcernney's 1.8 million. It's it's using the alternative destination in the front, the Soberine Center uh in the front as well. What we're talking about is the access center beds, the walk-in facilities that we have now. We do need a plan B in case there's no funding. And you just heard them saying it doesn't matter whether they have a facility or not. They're going to continue doing what they're doing and we might have to pivot in order to do that. So, after our our 18 months, there's some ideas that we've batted back and forth about maybe putting the property in receiverhip. the county taking it over uh and we will uh go from there. That's my opinion. I have four other supervisors so I can't speak for the board of supervisors. Um but that is a a plan that we are uh actively uh looking at. And I I do want to say one thing especially about Johnny and he talks about love. But you know I have two hats. One is board of supervisors. I got to watch out for the financials. I've got to watch out making sure our dollars are being spent well. But but

but loving on somebody in tough love, there's two. There's two. And Johnny knows how to do it because he he's walked the walk. You know, I've I've been down the same path Johnny has. I don't think I hit the bottom quite as bad as you did. But uh but I get it. It takes an addict to help an addict. And you cannot teach anybody how to do this situation unless you've been in Johnny's shoes. I'm very proud of you. So, uh, Councilman Breman, do you want to comment on something? I'm all good. Thank you.

Okay, cool. Thank you for coming today. Um, supervisor and Miss Valentine because this is as we know there's so many variables. This just a simple condition change from when this vote what happened a few years ago. So, the conditions have changed a lot. So, we need to plan for those contingencies. Um so yeah that's I think that was my my last question. Uh like for like uh the recommendation is just a recommendation that's why it becomes to cancel for me I feel uh Salvation Army will be a better operator and that's just my opinion my vote. So I see here if anybody has more comments I feel that you got the support of the council but for me I don't uh yeah and nothing against you guys just look at the numbers they have a lower bed and I think I have been talking to them for the past three years since I've been here at council and I think they will be better for this so

yeah any more comments from the council vote yes after if anybody can I'll make a motion that we accept the offer from Outreach and Ministries. Second,

Mayor and it passes. Okay. Now, we're going to try to return to the previous item. We're going to circle back now.

Yes, Mayor. I'll go ahead and do that. Um, I'll just call out if any member of the audience was here for this item and would like to get up now and and enjoy the rest of their night, you're more than welcome to while we uh transition. Oh, no. No.

I thought that Hello Maria. How you doing? Very nice.

Oh my gosh. Yeah, I think No. How's it going? Very nice. How tall are you? These guys are being swayed. I take everything outside.

It's a great memory. Kevin, how are you? Good. Hey,

you're Are you in my district? Let the Lord lead. No, no, no. So, let the Lord lead. I was thinking about salvation. It's about to chew. Mayor, members of the audience, we are moving on to the next item one more time

and if not CC very much for being here.

Okay. Barely barely No, not at all. Hey, I don't know whether to congratulate him or tell him, but we're there to work together. Yeah. All right. Have a good night. See you Friday. See you Friday. I know. It's pretty cool. All right, we're ready with a we're ready with a presentation. City clerk. Yes, sir.

Good evening, everyone. We will be continuing with the meeting. So, if you could quietly take your conversations outside, the meeting will be continuing. We are continuing on. We still have agenda items. Thank you everyone. Please step outside. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney. Yeah. All right. That would be the gavvel. This is the gavl time. Thank you, Raone. There is a time to use it.

Right. Mayor, we are back. We are back. We are back. We're back to G2. And I will turn it back over to our budget team.

All right. second try which Olivia is going to drive. So Olivia, I'm gonna start on slide two. So each year the city of LA prepares a midyear update recommending changes and appropriations to continue operations and projects during the year. The mid-year review includes all funds and these funds have been reviewed for both revenue and expenditure needs. With thousands of account lines review, I wanted to give a shout out to the department heads and department staff that got this midyear together in time to start a timely budget cycle. Midyear is an opportunity for departments to recommend new essential services and operational adjustments that were not realized during the original budget planning. And this pres presentation also provides a summary of where we began the fiscal year with the adopted budget. discuss a number of revisions that were made um after adoption and between midyear and provides detail about recommended changes. Starting with the background um the city council adopted the fiscal year 2526 budget on June 4th of 25. Per the budget and fiscal policy the budget sets the priorities for the funding services within the city of LOI for the fiscal year. The general fund adopted for fiscal year 26 was balanced at 89 million estimated revenue and expenses and the citywide budget was estimated at 294 million revenue and 291 million expenses. The adopted budget included a five-year forecast and it expected an ongoing structural deficit of approximately 5 million over the next five years. Since the adoption of the fiscical year 26 budget, three revenue revisions have been made to the general fund. These adjustments include a $5.1 million carryover of the ARPA that we discussed earlier, a $64,000 appropriation of a donation from the fire loi fire

foundation for cardiac monitors and a $16,000 transfer from water and wastewater for the public works director recruitment costs. So, as a transfer from those funds to general fund, the updated fiscal year 26 revenue totals by category before the mid-year changes are shown in the displayed table and included in your staff report. As you can see, the recruitment revenue came in as an interfund transfer from water and wastewater. The 64,000 was posted to the donation account within the charges for services and the ARPA 104 fund houses the rollover of ARPA revenue. So now to review the expense changes. Since the adoption of fiscal year 26 budget, six expense revisions have been made to the general fund. These adjustments include a 5.1 million carryover of ARPA funds and are offset by the revenue discussed on the previous slide. There is a transfer out of 32,000 from the city manager's budget to human resources for the city manager recruitment. a carryover of 359,000 for the assistance to firefighters multi-year grant for paramedic training and overtime and the $64,000 expense appropriation of a donation from the fire foundation that we discussed in the revenue category. There was also a transfer of 25,000 into human resources of from the public works water and wastewater funds um for the public director work uh works director professional recruitment services and 8,300 of this transfer was from the public works admin account with the remaining 16,000 from the revenue the intra fund transfer um drawing from the water and wastewater funds. So this is the updated glimpse as of today of the fiscical year 26 expense totals by department. Of course this is before midyear changes are shown in the

display table and included in your staff report. Internal services actually houses the human resources um accounts. So when I mentioned the recruiting services transfers into human resources, those are included in um internal services. So now I'm going to go into the midyear review. Fiscal year 26 midyear is unique from other midyear reviews. First, the review and approval of the budget and fiscal policy is usually done every two years as part of the annual budget review and approval. Um the adoption of the policy changes are essential at midyear due to salary and benefit and operational needs. The approved and pending negotiations have required budget staff to rerun salary and benefit projections to capture increases in salary and benefits resulting from approved and proposed updates. So this is unique because usually at midyear we just kind of see what operational needs are needed with um staff overtime part-time. In this case, because theou changes were not completed by the time adoption happened, we actually had to run rerun those projections. So you'll see updates within those and those are the major changes which makes midyear unique this year. Midyear also includes general fund position classifications and other position requests and the appropriation of the remaining general fun um general fund capital funding. As mentioned on the prior slide, the adoption of the budget and fiscal policy is recommended to set a new pension stabilization funding base of 70% of the combined liability. This recommendation is based on the solid foundation that city that the city of Loi has built with this fund and the actuarial evidence that it will sustain the city through the term of the unfunded liability obligation. This will also allow the use

of general fund balance to cover any additional budget expense needs. Other changes to the policy are related to staffing title updates and the redline copy is included in the staff report. So I I snipped the major part of the change for the budget policy and put it in this slide. So what we're what staff is asking is for a 70% um funding instead of 80%. So it's just a decrease of 10% of what the policy says and that will greatly help our operational needs as I will talk about more on the next slides. This slide shows the city of LOI um PERS public California public employees retirement system or PERS and public agency retirement services trust or PARS combined liability. PARS is a section 115 trust program designed to preund pension costs and address pension liabilities. The city design decided to open an account with and contribute to the trust in 2017 because it can generate a higher rate of return than general reserve fund and can serve as an additional source of pension contribution funds during challenging economic or budgetary periods. The table shows our current market value of assets and our liability with PERS funded at 65.4% combined between the safety and miscellaneous plans. Our PARS balance as of December 31st, 2005 is a little over 31 million, bringing the combined pension stabilization funding balance to 71.3% 1.3% above the proposed 70% base level of funding. So this table was created by PARS um for us as we were discussing this policy

change and it was presented to the finance committee on January 27th of 2026. This table shows the growth of the pension stabilization fund in the next six years while the city discontinues contributions towards PERS funded liability based on the 70% funding level and allowing the PERS trust to grow at an annual 4.59%. So that is what they what PARs projected as an average that it could grow in the next um six years and it's actually less than what we are experiencing today. It is projected that if the city or the city will hit the 80% funding mark in fiscal year um 3132 without adding additional contributions and with modest draw draw downs starting in fiscal year 2728. So we can actually achieve PARS is projecting that we could actually achieve an 80% funding level on its own with just investment earnings while we can start drawing down approximately 600,000 to 800,000 per year um for the next six years. The PERS and PARS combined liability does not include contributions from the general fund or other funds for fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24. So based on the annual comprehensive financial report, these contributions would total nearly 3.7 million. So staff recommends the adoption of the budget and fiscal policy based on the current funding status and to use fund balance for the last or fiscal year 23 and 24 um to balance or cover mid-year budget appropriations.

Can I'm sorry can I ask a question? Yes.

Okay. Um so for the last three slides or so for example can you go back Janelle just two slides slide 10. So I recall back when I first got on council, if I'm not incorrect, we had just over 20 million in that we've grown that much in the past few years, right? So um which hence back to interest income has been significant for us on that account. So kudos to our investment strategy, whatever the case may be. So flip up to the next two slides, the last one you were at. So um so what I want to clarify here is that in 2223 and 2324 this amount of money 1.6 and 2.0 should have been contributed to that or it it was it's held and we didn't contribute it towards it. I'm I'm missing what this this dollar amount is. Well, if you last midyear, um, this was actually postponed because of the ACT. This discussion was postponed because of the Afur.

Okay. Um, and then with different staffing changes, it was never brought back to council. So, we're here today. It's just kind of sitting there. It was sitting there in front balance. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, now I understand what you're saying. instead of putting it into the pension stabilization, we just spend it on what we need to spend it on because if we go to the 70% mark, we're good right now. And and as we move forward, we're we're good based on not even putting any money in, just the level of interest that we're realizing and the um reduced amount of our liability. Is that correct? Exactly. Okay. Yep. I I got it. Absolutely correct. Thank you. Mayor, I have a quick question here. uh the year 2023 2024 you add them up that's how much we have is that right

yes and which account which account is it in it's in fund balance so anything or we have um our catastrophic fund balance and in our in the general fund it's a 16%. This is sitting above that 16% in our fund balance right now. How much do we how much do we have in the fund above it? Oh, ab above that. Yeah. Um this is what we have right now over our 16% because we did contribute um in 2022. I understand. Oh, it's it's 3 million if you combine the two of them or correct. Okay. All right. Got it.

And I guess this is a good time. Um the act for for 25 will be coming out in the next few months um presentation to council. So it'll have an update on fund balance as well. Ask next question. I have one more question. So that means we have about three million bucks to spend, right? Yes, but you will see the midyear presentation where that money will be we are asking you to our recommendation is for you to use that money for this year's um budget expenses forus and operational needs.

Yeah. So, Mayor YaZ uh and I sit on the finance committee and we had an opportunity to do a real deep dive into this today and actually sat down with some of the PARs folks. So, all looks great and great return on investments. I think what the gentleman said was that the return over the last I think there was like a 30 some odd percent return for one of the years which is amazing.

Yeah, that's like a that's a rare rarity you see. Uh, one question I did have during the finance committee that I intend to keep bringing up as we review all of our account holdings is, you know, I'm curious about the banking institutions that oversee these dollars and I'd like to ensure that they remain like local dollars. For example, the PARS account that has the 30 plus some odd million, they contract with US bank. Uh, I don't know the the US bank's presence in LOI. I can't imagine it's very prolific but you know you want to make sure that these dollars are able to be leveraged for various you know local projects and you know we had wells carry significant city dollars in their accounts as well and you know I asked about the sort of community impact that that they had and they sent me some literature and it was clear to me that there these aren't dollars that are necess oriented I think if I recall correctly but anyways I intend to keep asking these questions at the finance committee because I want to ensure that whatever city reserves, whatever city dollars that we're investing that, you know, we're able to see some of the upside there.

Yeah, I I I support that because we want to see that money spent locally, saved locally. So, Council Brickman,

Mr. city manager. Um along as same conversation, if we could get a summary of again what amount of funds we have invested, what amount is sitting in cash, uh what banks were utilizing, what interest rates, some type of informative and detailed printout that would be much appreciated. I I would be looking at yes, absolutely the rate of return that we're receiving. And then number two would be the local portion. So what what would be the actual city of Loi not body as in this organization but are our residents receiving in us investing those dollars if they are community oriented banks?

Yeah. So every quarter uh the council does receive that information. So I'm glad that you asked because at the next council meeting you'll be getting the quarterly investment report um and that will show all of that information that you're requesting. And that's not just for the general fund, it's for all departments. Um it is all of the accounts that we have in our reserves. Um and shows you the rate of return uh the different investment vehicles that that money is placed in. Um and so that's the quarterly investment report. Okay. And just to confirm it's not just for general fund. It is all funds. Yeah. Reserves are all funds. Correct. And it's going to go through which banks we have it with and interest rates and everything else.

Uh it it'll show you um the the exact banks we are using. uh two major financial institutions to manage our reserves or our trust fund. Wells Fargo Securities manages the reserves account. We also have funds locally with that through our cash. Um other more sophisticated instruments are managed through Wells Fargo and then the PARs Trust uh as the vice mayor described is um they have a partnership with US Bank. So we know that of the two major sources of reserves, neither one of those are LOI institutions. So I can just I can save you that won't be necessarily in the report, but you all know that.

Okay. And they list out in detail what specific investments were invested in within the categories. Correct. Within the categories. Okay. Mhm. Would you be able to CC council and and send that out before the quarterly report or our last one? Um, so yes, we we we would be happy. You're going to see that in two weeks. Um, and then the finance committee uh has a greater level of detail and we're happy to send you that greater level of detail. That would be appreciated. Yeah. Thank you.

That's what I was thinking. the presentation that we got from PERS, we should maybe send it to council to council members securities and that's who the finance committee met before the holiday break. Okay. was the person who ma who makes the recommendations for the investments. Okay.

The nature of are these investments is that is not a fiduciary. They make recommendations and then the city treasurer myself then authorizes the trades as it relates to the pension trust. That is a complete trustee account. So they manage everything and they are actively trading to be able and and we're seeing the the results of that professional management. um versus the reserves are much more conservatively invested. We are limited by state law on what we can invest in with the with the general reserve accounts. Um so thank you. Okay. No uh no more comments. So let's return to the presentation then. Okay.

Okay. The next slide 1328. Okay. Um this was actually a request from the mayor at one of the finance committee meetings. So I quickly put it together for today's presentation. So if the city contributed the end ofear fund balance from general fund in fiscal year 23 and 24 the unfunded funding ratio would increase by 7% overall. So the graph table shows the addition of the contribution compared to the actual current fund funding ratio and as you can see these funds do not increase the funding ratio drastically in the short term. Okay, so now we're going to move into the general fund mid-year recommended budget adjustments. General fund revenues are currently estimated to come in under the revised budget projection by 188,000. Primarily, this is due to latest projections from HDL, the city sales tax consultant, indicating a decrease of 1 million in sales tax revenue compared to the 2024 fourth quarter HDL projection that was originally used for the budget adoption. These declines were are being realized and projected in auto and transportation, buildings and construction, and food and drug sales taxes. Other decreases include the loss of AFG grant revenue in the amount of 492,000 and then this is due to the grant expiration that happened on December 31st of 2025 and lower than expected fire inspection and strike team revenue. So police lowered their projection modestly due to a lower post reimbursement for training in the amount of $25,000. But however, although we had these um losses, they are partially offset by a projected increase of 1.3 million in

interest income due to year-to-ate actuals received higher than expected and $233,000 transfer in from general fund capital to offset legal services related to employment matters, personnel, and financial investigation um expenses. Before we go to the next uh page, can I can you What is the AFG grant? Do you want to speak to that?

Mayor, members of council, the AFG grant was the assistance to fire grant that we received from the federal government in the tune of just about a million dollars to send our people to paramedic school. Okay. Thank you. And I'm sorry, just chief. So, we didn't use all of that. Is that because that's one of the questions that I had relevant to uh unexpended the loss of the AFG grant revenue in the amount of 492.

So, what had occurred was we we could only send so many people through school at a time based upon staffing levels. And so, our grant timeline initially was going to time out. So, we asked for a grant extension so we could continue to add more bodies into that that training uh program. And we actually completed what we intended to do by sending nine people through paramedic school.

We asked for a grant extension and we were awarded that grant extension and also asked for two more positions to be filled. What we found was it was actually um cheaper how we were going as far as what we had intended to do and what we had budgeted for when we went through SAK state as our our training institution. They provided a high level training at a cheaper cost and so we actually didn't realize the full cost that we had anticipated. Okay.

So that brought that down. The other part of it was um the AFG grants uh processes had allowed in previous AFG grants to realize those those dollars on the back end to go to other aspects of your program. We had originally intended to buy like cardiac monitors on that that what was left over in the program. So, we wanted a little bit of cushion. With the new change in administration, they've changed their policies on what what um you were allowed to spend those those those allocated dollars through AFG. So, we were no longer given that as an opportunity. We had to actually return any monies that was not part of the actual um original agreement with the AFG.

So, you're not concerned about gosh, we couldn't spend what we needed to spend, so we returned it back. So, are we going to jeopardize getting a future AFG grant because we didn't spend? What? No. Not a problem. Okay. In the in the past, AFG wanted you to spend all the dollars and now they've changed their policy, okay, to be um where that's not a practice anymore. We have asked for another extension and with the government shutdown that took place back in the fall, they're still catching up. So, they haven't yet realized whether they're going to accept or reject our grant extension. So, that's we're kind of in a limbo state. It's just kind of in limbo right now. Right. And we have till May till we have to pull that that request back. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so the next slide is the table um that pertains to the general fund revenue changes and you'll see that the bottom line is it's 188,000 and this delta is comparison to the midyear recommendation and the revised budget that we went over in the first few slides. Okay, so the overall general fund expenses are projected to be 2.9 million higher than the current revised budget of 95.3 million for a total general fund appropriation of 98.2 million. The expenditure increases are due primarily toou salary and benefit changes and that will be detailed on the next slide. I wanted to break it out for you. So this table shows the changes from the original budget by department. 2.4 million of the 2.9 is directly resulting in negotiated changes and projected changes for unsigned. It also includes a police overtime increase of $250,000 and a fire part-time increase of 28,000 for an administrative assistant. The PERS employer contribution for the general fund is projected to increase by approximately $700,000. The city's medical contribution is increasing by almost 500,000 and salaries are increasing by approximately $857,000. So then all other benefits are increasing in the amount of $220,000. So that is a quick breakdown of the salary or theou changes and then obviously the other um salary changes that are requested by safety. Additional expense updates outside of

the salary and benefit projections are an increase in expense in revenue for overages in um budgeted bank service charges and are and are incurred from credit card and online payment fees in the amount of $130,000. The city council budget will increase in the amount of 70,000 for legislative advocacy. Human resources also needs an additional 22 21,500 appropriation for contracted services related toou negotiations. Non-EP departmental includes an appropriation in the amount of 233,000 for legal services related to employment matters, personnel, and financial investigation expenses. And this was in the revenue also as a transfer from the general fund capital. Public works is in need of an additional 86,000 for unexpected repairs to facilities. The city's clerk budget is actually lowering their lowering their expenses. Thank you, Olivia. Due to election costs coming in lower than expected. Fire also has slightly lower expense projections due to the following. Loss of the AFG grant in the amount of 42,690. An increase in fire academy costs of 35,000. Expenses related toou negotiations total $470,000.

Can I get a clarification back on bank service charges for credit card and online payment fees? 130,000. So tell me what that is. Are we not paying off our credit card? No. Each month. I mean I I want to know what that 130 is. We are paying for other people's fees to pay us. So out in the real world right now, everybody accepts those fees. I mean, it's getting to the point, you know, I go to a restaurant and I charge with a card and I'm now having to pay that fee. So, should we be thinking about that as part of moving forward and getting kind of up to speed with what society's become used to?

Absolutely. And um Tara, our revenue manager, is here um if you want to ask her any um questions regarding be doing this. I I I just wonder if other governments are now kind of looking at the same thing, you know, the the cost of money in essence. So,

good evening, council. Um yes, there are many cities that are passing on the cost. Um, typically you see about a $150 um charge that usually covers any cost that we um get from um you know the credit card companies, the companies that we're using to process these fees, you know. So $150 usually covers that. It is like you said a norm for it to be passed on to the customers now because it is getting so expensive. Um I did an analysis a while back and if we were to pass that on it's I think it was about a million dollars that we would be saving.

Yeah, I think that's pretty considerable. I I mean the reason I say that is I pay for example I'm I'm not 100 so this is general fund but like when I pay my electric utility bill and I pay it with a credit card you know it automatically comes out if you're talking a million I'm assuming that is beyond just the general fund that we're looking at is that correct we're looking at all ways in which the city service okay yeah it would um you know community development has credit card mach machines. Um, American Express, uh, fees are exorbitant. They are like I know

like 35 bucks for a simple transaction. So, these costs we're we're paying for them. I mean, I I'd like to look at that. I'd like to see the breakdown in the in terms of fees where it makes a lot of sense to do it and where uh you know and it could be in instances um where it it just doesn't make sense or it's just exorbitant enough that it's so somehow or another I think we need to if we're talking about that level that amount of money that we could save that substantial. Yes. And so you know I I I appreciate you guys don't quote me on that amount exactly.

No I'm not I'm not but been about six or seven months ago that I run that. So, um definitely if you want to see that, I I I would like to see that. So, yeah. Can we agendaize the item for future discussion of council? We we were actually already planning on bringing you back a fee um as and having that be effective July 1. So I think with with whatever normal fee cycle there is before the fiscal year or if there's not this will definitely be on the docket for you all to consider with the analysis you're looking for and the recommendation we adopt the fee. So 100%. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. So the next slide is the table showing the non salary and benefit budget adjustments. And I would like to note that the revenue and for um human resources and revenue are both housed in the internal services department. So I mean and so I said that one the revenue division their expenses and the human resources expenses are in internal services. Okay. So now we're going to general fund midyear capital and council had a formal presentation at the August 6, 2025 council meeting regarding the unassigned proceeds from the waste management contract and the one-time surplus general fund capital funds. So the total funding available at that time was 1.6 6 million based on the available funds between the general fund capital and parks and recreation and cultural services which is funded by the general fund. So all of the dollars that go into the parks capital um come from the general fund. So at that meeting the council appropriated 290,000 to priority projects. In addition, 110,000 was appropriated at the November 19th, 2025 council meeting for work needing needed at Salis Park due to repairs as a result of vandalism. So, this left 1.2 million for the plan of funding unexpected legal services related to employment matters, personnel and financial investigations and evaluating at midyear what amount was available for additional projects. So, it is recommended to transfer the $230,000 back to the general fund to offset the expenses and that will leave approximately 900 $900,000 for new projects. And parks and recreation is

requesting to reallocate $590,000 from the skate park um phase one planning. So, that's their first request. They're actually going to draw down on a already approved um CIP and then they're planning to take part of that 590,000 and put 175,000 in their repairs to the existing Kofu skate park. Then the remaining 415,000 and part of the remaining capital balance will be allocated to the Beckman Park Cricut lighting and field improvements to complete this project. $40,000 is requested to complete the boiler replacement project at the police department. So, this will leave approximately $100,000 in fund balance for unexpected overages that would come back to council for approval or for the available availability to program in fiscal year 2627. So, the CIP forms um for these specific projects were included in the packet and Miss Mrs. Jeremy is here if you have any questions.

So, can I So, I'm going to start. Um, so if this amount will be enough to do the lighting for the cricket field and Beckman Park and all the improvements that we talked about before. Yes, that's correct. 900,000 will be enough for Beckman Park. So, then it will be a complete project then. It would. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Can I just uh just note I went back and looked at the meeting minutes from 23 and I just want to clarify and I asked Mr. Ding ahead of time the 25k sitting in the is it still sitting in the commute the LOI community foundation uh parks and recck account? Yes, it is.

Okay. So I would just say that he intended it for a skate park. he's fine with going to the skate park repair and so that 25 can supplement the 175 and then 25 from somewhere else goes into the uh Beckman Park Cricut lighting. So, so that we can just make it nice and clean and then send them a letter saying thank you very much. Here's your skate park. Understood. So, thank you.

Okay. Okay, so now we're going to move to enterprise and special funds or as I'm labeling it, other funds, revenues. They are recommended to be adjusted according to the list shown. Streets is expecting increases in revenue from measure K and federal funding, but a decrease of 304,000 in development impact fees for a total of 1.7 million. Capital outlay decreases in the amount of 460,000 are due to development impact fees coming in lower due to slowing activity. Electric utility is projecting overall increase in revenue due to additional lowcarbon fuel standard funds from the state and an increase in ECA revenue due to higher power supply costs. Wastewater and water are both experiencing an increase in revenue from customer accounts due to usage. And employee benefits is expecting offsetting revenue from the increases in chiropractic and life insurance due to higher rates and increases in salaries due to updates. So here is the table showing the proposed mid-year updates to revenue and other funds. And I'd like to note that electric utilities increase in lowcarbon fuel standard funds from the state amount to 880,000 which was also pro programmed as a transfer into the 501 capital account and their funds all come together in their revenue. Um so there is also an internal transfer from 500 from their fund 500 balance in the amount of 300,000 to the capital 501 fund which is on a um future slide. So the actual net revenue to um their operating fund balance is 1.4 million with an increase of ECA revenue and decrease of base rate revenue. Can I ask on the waste water and water is is that just because of the rate

increase and we just didn't really anticipate or budget for that being such a significant I mean it's almost a million short of. So is it due to the rate increase. It was ba on the convers or the notes we have with the back and forth with the department. It was based on usage, but the rate or the rates could be part of it as well. And I don't know, Sean, if you're if you have more information than I do. Yeah, I think Well, does that include the uh those impact fees too for the water and wastewater? The what? The impact fees for those as well? Are those lumped in there?

Um yes, it it would be that. So, just when we do impact fee projections, okay, um a lot of that's development driven and so we're kind of looking at what's in the pipeline and kind of guessing and that's very specific to what it can be used for anyways. So, um the numbers fluctuate a decent amount based on those early projections. Uh and then yeah, you're going to have some usage based stuff that just uh went in in September. Um, and so we were just conservative in budgeting and as it turned out probably we had more impact fees than we anticipated. That's that's a big chunk. Okay. All right. Thank you.

And I just want to point out this is a good time to make those adjustments for if they are going to have more re seeing a trend up in revenue because it really helps project the fund balance when the fiscal year the new fiscal year planning comes so we can see where they're at. Okay. Okay, so the enterprise and special funds are recommended to be adjusted according to the list below and any changes not listed below are due to negotiation projections. So the electric utility projects an overall expenditure increase of almost 3.7 million partially related to power supply costs due to softmarket prices and less plant revenue. Other increases are related to capital expense and that's on a future slide and these are offset however by a reduction of approximately 1 million in transmission charges based on reduced energy consumption. Revenue to expense is a minor net fund balance decrease of $260,000. Community Development recommends moving 1.5 million for the comprehensive general plan from their operating budget to a capital project. This move will keep the funds within CDD but allow for the unused expense to roll year-toear over the length of the project. And per the purchasing policy, this the um general plan does qualify as a capital project.

So that's what I was going to ask. So if it's moving to uh capital project that what is the project? So that's what I was kind of looking at. So if you got 1.5 going from the comp plan to capital that's not operational. So what's the project the general plan? So completing the plan. So the point is it's expended it's anticipated outside expenditures. Okay. So, okay. So, it's just moving a category urban comp plan to operating to a capital project so that it can carry over yeartoear. Correct. Correct. All right. So, it still stays within community development to be used in a planning effort. Correct.

Okay. That's all. Thank you. Yeah, it does qualify as a capital plan because it is a multi-year project. Okay. And it obviously is over the um limit of um how much the cost. And the idea behind this too is right now the department has to reprogram it every year based on what their actuals were for the year before and with the planning process that's really difficult. Yeah. Okay. So it all around it makes sense and it's going to stay their fund balance. So

um transit needs an additional 5,000 due to unexpected repairs to buildings. um police allocating fund. It wants to allocate funds from the vehicle replacement fund to outfit an animal services truck and an emergency response SUV. The employee benefits accounts for chiropractic are increasing due to contract increases as well as life insurance costs. That also directly correlates with the increase in employee salaries. Workers comp is requesting an increase allocation of expenses from the fund balance. So there are two different funds. Employee B and I and it it's confusing because work it I say workers comp for both. So we have a fund that holds um our employee benefits and one that holds our workers comp or risk benefits. So both of those are increasing due to umou negotiations but our workers comp our risk wants to allocate $200,000 more um for costs. question.

Yeah. Uh transit building $5,000. I thought the transit was paid by federal funds. Yes. Bill for buildings and so forth. We take care of that. So why the $5,000 for transit building? It could, but you have to allocate the expense before we can actually get the reimbursement. So those federal funds are reimburseable. So we have to allocate the cost of the repairs. So, they actually have the money available to do them and then they can get reimbursed. I'm not positive if these this specific $5,000 project is reimbursable, but um I I can follow up unless you know Sean.

Yeah, I think that was cumulative of of a few different adjustments, but that's all covered by transit. It's not general fund, but it is transitive.

Okay, so this is the table showing the proposed mid-year updates to expense and other funds. Other increases shown are due to projectedou negotiate negotiation increases. And in addition to the list on the prior slide, the salary and benefit increases across the other funds total approximately 1.6 million. So this is the table with the two capital requests from electric utility. Electric utility has a net decrease of 982,000 in capital project. I'm sorry, increase of 982,000 in capital projects. The first is the EV charging infrastructure master plan, which outlines the projected need for EV charging stations across the city to support both passenger and medium and heavy duty vehicles through 2030 and 2035. The fiscal year 2526 includes lowcarbon fuel standard program funds that will be transferred to um the EU's capital account for expenditure through this midyear action. And then the substation intrusive maintenance work um needs an additional 98,000 added for u midyear 26 to account for unexpected work at the industrial substation. So the CI the CIP forms are also in the packet for these two projects. So um now on to the midyear personnel adjustments recommendations are for a net general fund increase of one employee and other funds net increase of one employee. And here are the recommendations. Add one police officer community lays on officer. This position will follow the department's core value of safety and security for the community and will be assigned as the second officer to the CLLO.

This position will enable proactive policing downtown and the savings from the ambassador program will fund this position bringing internal well-trained enforcement to this focused area. So this one is to add one senior billing specialist and replace one open customer service representative. Creating the senior billing specialist position is a critical investment in the success of the res revenue division. This role since it's a senior will provide leadership and support to the billing team and overseeing staff. They'll offer hands-on training and resolve complex billing issues with expertise. This bill that they are planning for this also to overlap and assist with customer service during high demand periods and act like a supervisor when needed. Um again this will take the place of one customer service represented that is vacant. So we had a request for to reclass the assistant city clerk. the incumbent has been performing higher level duties for the past year and this action will add the classification um before this happens. So you'll approve this to move forward but human resources will determine if the candidate is qualified for the position before formally reclassifying and the updated salary table will be completed by human resources and brought to council before um incoming months for approval.

So if you approve this quick, you'll be seeing it again. I do have one question if I may. Uh I see non-general fund position says the recreation manager program coordinator under parks. Parks is general fund. Could you go over that please?

It is general fund or it parks is general funded. Um their percentage I believe is about 75%. They do fund part of their operations themselves with fees. Um, this one, and I'll get to it, but this one would actually be assigned to Loi Lake, and since they have implemented some new fee structures there, and they are realizing some more revenue, um, this person would actually be a higher level oversight of Loi of Loi Lake and the activities that are going on there. Is that just is that full-time? So this request is actually for a reclassification of our current program manager at Loi Lake.

Okay. Into a recreation manager because of the expanded duties, but of course HR would need to approve that reclass. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um can I ask a a question? Um would be for the city attorney, I guess. So health and safety specialists can't hire somebody. Haven't been a for able to do that. What does a management analyst confidential do? Is that a completely different position?

It is. We currently have a single management risk management analyst that handles primarily our workers compensation um claims process works with our division segregation if there are issues um getting restitution payments and things. Those are primarily handled by our current analysts. And so with the difficulty in recruiting for the health and safety specialist position, we're asking for this change to allow a second kind of versatile uh type risk analyst position that can kind of help out with some of those other duties crossrain. And then we will lean on um safety consultants and stuff that will still be directed with by that analyst position working on consultants on the safety side. But this would be kind of more of a flex position rather than just health and safety specialized, but could help out on some of those other duties.

It's much easier to recruit for that. That's what we're hoping. Yes. Okay. Yeah. I have a question. I have a question. What's the requirements? You know, what do you when you advertise for health and safety business? What are some basic requirements? So uh we were looking for uh basically professionals who had experience in training working with OSHA responding to workplace injuries um things working and developing plans. It was a new position that we had started out and so setting up the structure of a safety program and that's kind of what we've been focused on but there is not it's a uh a narrow field and so it's hard to find professionals in this area. Thank you.

Yes. Okay. Well, the last one we haven't gone over is senior plans examiner and um the quick synopsis of that is um that CDD relies on contract services for building and fire code plan review and currently outsources this position. So creating this position will substantially reduce the dependence on these contractors and will allow CDD to retain a substantial amount of revenue by keeping plan review services in house. This position would is also responsible for training and developing new plan examiners to promote growth and sustainability creating less reliance on contract services in the future.

So you're pretty much taking it from contract the money from contract services and putting it into a full-time employee. This represents $130,000 less in cost to us annually with in-house services which will be greatly increased. Okay, great.

I will say this one does have to come back to you from HR2 um to set the salary table for it. Okay, so that wraps up the midyear review and the recommend action tonight is to adopt the budget and fiscal policy updates, adjust appropriations and various funds to address fiscal year 26 needs and approve the personnel adjustments as outlined in this presentation and in the staff report. And if you have any additional questions, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Um, does Kel have any additional clarifying questions?

I just have one comment and Oh, Louis is still here. Good. You No, you cannot hide. Okay. Um, and I'm bringing it up now because we have to really look at the opportunities for implementation of the economic development planning moving forward. And I'll probably discuss it again in February 18th. But I really would like us at this point in time to revisit the business tax because I we all know exactly what happened with that fiasco. But at the same time, when I look at other cities, they're collecting business taxes. I don't know how we're going to fund the economic development plan. we're not looking forward to reinvesting in our business community and having the business community address that tax is is really the logical way for that to happen. So, you know, I'm not a big one for for adding a tax, but in this instance, I can't think of a another way we're going to fund economic development. So, I think we at least need to look at it, do some comparatives to other communities and see what their tax rate is. We need to find out what the stomach is of our business community to pay a tax that goes back into business expansion. Um, and so I I just want to know what the process would be and to start those conversations with our stakeholders. That's the only only

I think you just mapped out the process. Um, first is is bring it back to council for discussion with some research of staff, right? Determine if there is a council consensus, right? That this is something that you would then like us to do outreach on and then map out the process. Well, we will have the process mapped out when we come back for the council discussion. Yeah. So once you're absolutely right, we're going to adopt the strategic plan first and then um in the coming months then the staff can return to you with that discussion item with some research and then uh seek consensus to be able to continue the effort. Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, Mayor.

Any additional comments? Seeing none, we're going to move to public comments. City clerk, do we have any public comments? Mayor, I don't have any comment cards for this item and I don't have any um members of the public on Zoom anymore. So, you're more than welcome to open it to the audience.

Okay, I'm going to open it for public comments. See none, I'm going to return to for final comments from the council. Um, so I just want to see none, then I will speak. I want to congratulate you all for thinking outside the box with community development, moving those funds to other areas because we need to do the plan at some point. So, we need to have the money set up so when we're ready to do it, we can do it uh for the city clerks for reducing costs in an election year. So, thank you for doing that. And uh yeah, so thank you. So, now I will go back to council and I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve. Second and it passes. See no more actions on the agenda. I will adjourn this meeting at 10:09 p.m.