City Council - Regular Meeting

This is a regular meeting for June 3rd, 2026, convening at 6.33 p.m. Madam City Clerk, can you please do roll call?

Council Member Bregman, Council Member Nakanishi, Council Member Craig Hensley.

Here.

Mayor Potem Hothi.

Here.

Mayor Yepez.

Here.

Thank you.

City Attorney, can you please announce the closed session items?

Yes. Conference with legal counsel existing litigation. Pursuant to government code section 54956.9d1, Scott R. Carney versus the City of Lodi, San Joaquin County, Superior Court case number 20260003828.

Thank you so much. Is there any public comments on closed session items?

No.

Okay. So none. Then council is adjourning to closed session at 6.34 p.m. All right. Let's go in here. All right, council attorney from closed session at 7.03 p.m. City Attorney, can you please report on closed session?

There are no matters to report this evening.

Thank you so much. So then we will move to the invocation by Pastor David Geiner. If he can come, thank you.

If you would bow your heads with me please. Our gracious Heavenly Father, as we come before you this evening, we're thankful for your blessings in life and all that you do for us, Lord. We just want to come here tonight and we want to gather together in one mind, one accord. We pray for all of our city leaders that are here. We pray for their staff that help support them. We pray, God, watch over their families, protect them, help them, give them discernment, wisdom, and insight as to what we need to do to continue to make our wonderful city a place that is so wonderful to live in and to be here. we want to pray for all of our law enforcement and all of our firefighters who protect and serve and who literally put their lives on the line every day for all of us be with them be with their families be with each and every person here tonight uh be with their their families as well watch over and protect us all dear heavenly father we pray in your son's holy and precious name amen thank you so much now we'll do the flag salute

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. This is the regular meeting for June 3rd, 2026, convening at 7.05. Senator Clerk, can you do, please, roll call?

Council Member Bregman.

Here.

Council Member Nakanishi. Council Member Craig Hensley. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Hothi.

Here.

Mayor Upez. Here. Thank you.

All right. I see we don't have any presentations, so we will move to consent calendar. And before we do that, we would like, some of us would like to pull C2 from the consent and to move it to a future meeting in the future. Do we need to do a vote for that?

Did you want to place it on a future agenda?

Yes, the next agenda. That would be a motion. OK, that would be a motion. OK.

So I would move to put C2 on a future agenda in light of the fact that I want to hear about the downtown plan priorities and discussion first from the public and from council. So then we can follow through with the C2.

Second.

Yes.

Just to offer up something. Only because the consultant who prepared the specific plan document is in attendance tonight. So if there's a desire maybe to hear that item and then have that item after tonight? to take advantage of the consultant who's...

I don't have a problem. I can be pretty clear on what I think would be the priorities for the additional expenditure of funds. So if we want to put a C2 after the downtown plan, that's fine with me. I'm okay with keeping things moving.

Let me confirm that we have them in attendance. Perfect. Okay.

Then I don't want to waste your time here today, so let's use you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay, thank you.

Okay, then we'll move on.

So if I can just make clear, the motion is to move item C2 to after F1, to be heard after F1?

Yes, that's correct.

OK. Councilmember Craig-Hensley?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay, and it passes. So now Madam City Clerk, can you please introduce the consent calendar?

Yes Mayor and Council tonight we have items C1 to C13 and we do have a couple of updates or requests for a few a couple of them so for C9 there is a blue sheet and this is just to make sure that the title has the exact location or the address where There are traffic updates on Washington Street and Sacramento Street. So C9 will need to be approved with the blue sheet. And then for C11, Public Works staff is requesting to make an additional request. So I'll turn it over to our Interim Public Works Director to provide more information on that.

Yeah, so this item is to add some money to our on-call HVAC contractor, and it's really because just we've had more issues with ACs citywide than we originally had, so we need to add money. Most of those issues do come for, at least for the air conditioners, like first heat wave, and so that would be pretty much starting in the next few weeks. That's the whole purpose of this, but what we're also doing is we're putting out our new contract out to bid, which is on the next agenda for 17th. And so what I'm asking just on this one is to amend the approval to include a three month extension. That way it gets us we don't have a gap without an on call contractor. Not not modifying the money that we're setting aside. So if something does break, we have it just so we don't have a gap in this contract expiring versus when our new one that that's going to be out to bid here in a couple weeks gets executed.

Okay, thank you so much. Will any member of the council like to put an item from consent? I would like to like pull C12 for just information.

Did you have a specific question, Mayor?

Is the academy here today?

We reached out to them, but I don't believe that they responded. We'll just notify them of council's vote.

We don't need to pull it in.

I also did reach out to him as well and let him know it was going on and let him know that I would send him the results too. So duplicate effort, but he just said he responded, said thanks, and that was it.

Okay, then we'll move to, any member of the public would like to pull an item for consent? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

I would move to approve consent minus C2, blue sheet on C9, and change to C11 to include a three month extension with the same funding as identified in the C11 staff report.

Second.

All right, it passes. Madam City Clerk, do we have any public comments?

Mayor, yes, I do have one public comment for non-agenda items. It's from Amar Ali. Go ahead.

about the food trucks what's going on with that and the city plan for how you guys are now allowing nobody in downtown me and another person is on the main road of Lodi Avenue we're trying to get a permit for that and I think we're gonna come in the zone where you guys are trying to say it's not allowed so I would like to say the main road of the Lodi Avenue right after the tracks It kind of touches downtown, but we have leased with the property owners over there. One is right in front of CVS, the prime pizza. The other one is on the corner right next to the tracks. That's where I'm at Lodi auto shop. So that comes in the area where I was talking to the court ordinance. The people next door, they were saying, we won't be able to let you get a permit if that's the spot you're picking. So I might have to switch a spot, or I was just trying to see what I could do. Or maybe you guys can allow the middle street of Lodi Avenue to be permitted. That's it.

Thank you for your comment. I understand that the city clerk has your information, so I will follow up later.

Mayor, that's the only comment card I have, but you're welcome to open it up to the audience.

I will open it for public comments now.

Hello, I'm Bailey Caswell. Tonight I'm here to talk to you from the Lodi Arts Foundation. I try to come up here a couple times a year to invite you all to come to the Lodi Art Hop that takes place right here in this park. The Lodi Arts Foundation works closely with the Lodi Arts Commission. We're actually their fundraising arm. And our real goal is to connect the artist community in Lodi, create more opportunities for artists, and open the creative minds of the Lodi community. We have a really thriving group of artists here in Lodi. And it has been really lovely to see them come out of the woodwork and out of their studios and come out in public. So the art hop is an opportunity that we create for them where we actually pay the artists to participate. Every artist that shows their work at the art hop receives $75. so they're able to make money on top of what we give them. It is at the park. We have 10 artists and live music. We feature a couple non-profits. We also have Coffee Cart and then three other locations. The next one is on Saturday, June 13th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We do it at the park and then there are exhibits at Double Dip Gallery, Ruby's Bakery, and the Lodi Community Art Center. So it is a really just community-focused event that really helps make economic activity in downtown Lodi and increases public wellbeing. So people have a lot of fun out at the ARHOP. It's free, it doesn't cost anybody or the artists anything, and we do it for fun just to create more opportunities. We have a big arts community here, so it's fun. So yeah, I handed some brochures to Olivia to hand to you guys just some information about the Arts Foundation and a couple of the other projects that we do as well. Thank you for your support and please come.

Thank you so much for your comment. Do we have any more comments? Seeing none, I will move to now cancel comments and then agenda items. Councilwoman, great.

I just want to acknowledge that mayor and I both attended the file catalyst conference. That event was hosted at wine and roses by beam. So it was quite interesting to hear some of their very forward looking approaches to basically the bio economy, which as an agricultural economy, we are part of in the reuse of agricultural waste. And that was something we talked about from an economic perspective. I know that Certainly clean energy and looking at opportunities for reuse of bio waste is an important part of our economic development plan. Luis was there as well, so I think it was a packed house. We had a lot of good presentations and appreciated us having the opportunity to host that in the city of Lodi, first one in San Joaquin County. Also attended the Memorial Day events at Lodi Memorial Cemetery and at Cherokee. So again, a wonderful day to recognize those who've lost their lives in serving our country. And lastly, I got to go out to Salus Park and do the first pitch for the tournament out there. So that was a lot of fun, too. So very appreciative, everyone, of the lights. And I would say that now the lights come on immediately. It doesn't take them 30 minutes to warm up. And you got a lot of kudos as well. So glad to have done that. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you so much. So Councilman Bregman.

Yes, thank you. So yes, I actually attended Lodi Memorial as well, or Cherokee Memorial, my apologies. And in fact, I learned that they're the largest cemetery in the county. So we're grateful to have them. And I believe they're starting to expand across the street. So they keep on growing and growing and growing. The last thing I'd mention is I just finished up, as in like an hour ago, an animal services town hall. We packed the Chamber of Commerce building and had people standing, so very happy about that. Wanted to thank our chief of police for speaking, Sean Nathan, our public works director, for speaking. And we did also have our animal services manager speak as well. So just wanted to thank all of them and Dr. Turner. On any case, one little tidbit that I did learn is that we put $20,000 a year towards spay and neutering, which is a program for all residents of Lodi as long as you qualify income wise. And again, that program is to help you again spay and neuter your animal. As you know, we do have a issue in Lodi. We have quite a few animals. And let me tell you, they do multiply quick. I have an office right next door and we have about four cats there. I did want to thank our animal services department for what they do on a regular basis and all the volunteers. And also throw to the city council that that item for spay and neutering at $20,000, it typically lasts, The budget around up to August and then the program is actually cancelled from from from lack of funding so. Although it would be a very small item down to the budget, I would request that that be put on just for the sake of completing that year round so anyways that's it Thank you very much. All right.

Just one for me, for NCPA and the Northern California Power Agency, Randy Howard, as you may recall, retired not too long ago. And so we went through probably one of the more extensive recruitments I've ever participated in as the vice chair of this commission. And we ended up hiring Tony Zimmer based out of Roseville. He's one of the assistant general managers. And he's incredibly capable. He's well aware of the Lodi Energy Center. And he works well with our utility director and became highly recommended by him. And so I think this should be a good situation for Lodi.

Thank you so much. So now we'll move to public hearings.

Um, the first public hearing we have tonight is to consider a resolution adopting the downtown specific plan. And I'll I'll just know that there is a blue sheet for this item. And this is a request that the community development department received from Cog to add to Chapter nine of the plan. And I'll turn it over to our interim community development director, Cindy March. for the introduction of the presentation.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. We're pulling up the PowerPoint here. Give us just a moment. There we go. We're very excited to bring this item before you tonight for adoption of the Lodi Downtown Specific Plan. This wraps up a nearly two year effort. And tonight, this presentation will be presented by our consultant, Jamie Williams with RRM Design Group.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. Thank you for having me this evening. I'm excited to present the conclusion of a really wonderful effort that we've been engaged in. This team, as shown on the screen, brought a lot of depth of bench on a number of topics. The specific plan is grounded with professionals in mobility, historic, economics, environmental, and the railroad strategic group, Rail Pros. RRM Design Group, if you remember, is a multidisciplinary design firm. So we have architects and planners, landscape architects and engineers all under one roof, and that ensures that our specific plans are setting a good framework for the future and implementable. Next slide. As a reminder, a specific plan is a planning document. It sets a vision for a specific area with implementation items that would be coming to fruition in a 20-year period. So it's a long-range plan. It is necessary that it conforms with your general plan, and if you recall, you all set this stage in your strategic plan early on, and so it conforms with your initial objectives. The specific plan is in 10 chapters. It also, the area as shown on the screen here, but essentially it is from the sports fields to Lodi to the south, as well as Washington and Pleasanton. Next slide. Thanks. There was an extensive amount of community engagement in this process, and we had a fabulous steering committee that helped us along the way. We met seven times with them throughout the process. We also engaged with you and the Planning Commission along the way through study sessions. We met with a number of individuals that helped us through focus group meetings, as well as community workshops and open houses. The Big Bang was the multi-day charrette that happened on Main Street, and through that process, a number of big ideas came about and that were delivered and put into the specific plan itself. A number of those are listed here, but essentially the specific plan area is bifurcated by the railroad tracks. School Street is very successful. It's nearly built out. However, there's opportunity to continue to build and enhance all the awesomeness that's happening there. The east side has some opportunity for redevelopment, and so the plan provide some recommendations to that but a number of the things that came out of the outreach process included updating and branding and signage providing alleyway and paseo enhancements providing year-round string and twinkly lights Providing an additional hotel or allowing or permitting for additional housing and a hotel downtown, modernizing Hale Park, improving connectivity throughout the downtown pedestrian bikes, mobility, vehicular mobility. Exploring a quiet zone, which is a specific improvement that would happen with safety measures at the rail crossing that would allow for a quiet area, meaning right now the trains as they go through the corridor have to honk their horns abundantly. a quiet zone eliminates that need as well as looking at some property acquisition through Union Pacific Railroad and improving and redeveloping Main Street this is just an example of how some of those improvements could come about improved Main Street new benches new lighting new banners This example shows how the main street that is today, in order for it to really be ripe for redevelopment and new opportunity, needs to be redesigned. There needs to be sidewalks and bike lanes and parallel parking, and so this is an example of what it could look like. And this is an example over time. If you can see on the left, there is blue parcels. Those are currently owned by Union Pacific, but over time, if the city could acquire those properties, a vision could be achieved with redevelopment in the area. This is a concept that came out of some of the community engagement process to modernize Hale Park. But essentially, the most important thing is to really look at the pedestrian connectivity. And it's a walkable downtown. There's so many great things about the existing downtown. And so looking at improving safety perception at the parking structure, the graphic on the right emulates a quarter mile radius of your existing Costco and how you walk from one of that parking lot to the other that's similarly laid out on the left, where you see the parking structure is in the center in blue and a quarter mile radius around that. So it's a very walkable downtown. But would make it nicer is a few additional places to walk. And so this is an example of how you can improve the sales or alleys within the area. And with that, I'm happy to entertain any questions.

Thank you so much for the presentation. Do Council have any questions?

Might I suggest that we take public comment first, just because there may be information that no reason for us to repeat it if it's what I'm going to, or emphasize it.

Yeah, that makes sense. So we open for public comments.

Yes, Mayor and Council, I do have already two public comment cards. The first one is from David Claxton.

Before you, do we have to open the public hearing before? So let's do that first, right? Okay.

Well, the hearing was open when you initially began it. The important thing is that you close the public hearing.

Oh, that's an important thing?

When the clerk announced that the public hearing was opened at that point. Okay. So you can, you just, we'll make sure we close it.

We'll close it. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Yepez and council members. My name is David Claxton. I'm the president of the Downtown Business Alliance. We work closely with the chamber, Visit Lodi, and the city to support and promote all businesses in our historic downtown district. I've had the privilege of sitting on the steering committee for the downtown specific plan project. The committee has been involved in the process from the RFP creation through the drafting of the specific plan and the community review process. I've reviewed the document throughout the process and shared its contents with the DBA board. Several of our board members participated in various community outreach meetings. With everyone's input and thoughtful consideration, this specific plan lays out a pretty clear vision of what the project area could look and feel like over the next two decades if fully implemented. We believe that the plan is a good blueprint for guiding, planning, redevelopment, and expansion of Lodi's historic downtown over the next 20 years. There are areas of the plan we wish had been more fully explored and that the issues surrounding the rail properties had been addressed and presented differently. But in the bigger scheme of things, making changes or diving further into issues at this time and delaying implementation would be a waste of resources. We recommend that the Council, after its own review and consideration of public input, adopts the plan in its current final draft. We also believe that in order to ensure that the specific plan becomes a working document, it was intended to be that the steering committee or some other appointed ad hoc committee be established to ensure that city staff, the commission and the council are held accountable for moving the plan forward in a timely manner, staying focused on both short and long range milestones set forth in the plan. For all the hard work that everyone is put into, it would be a shame if this plan ends up sitting on a shelf someplace collecting dust. We want to thank everyone, including the planning staff and the consultant team who have worked on this project over the past two years and look forward to the implementation of the various plan strategies. And I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you for your comments. Thank you.

Mayor, would you mind if I ask a question? No, go ahead. Mr. Claxton, in the regulatory actions on page 9-17, I know you don't have it in front of you, David. Got it right here. The objective design standards, that is something I think that folks in the committee had expressed some concern about wanting to see those completed. And so I'm asking if you think that is, because it's listed as a near-term timing issue and basically stating downtown mixed-use design guidelines, residential design guidelines, and multifamily clustered housing design integrate objective design standards. Are you anticipating that that would be a next step that you would like to see because I do know we had some discussion about design standards.

Yes, we have had discussions about it and know my take on a specific plan and what the intent of this plan was was that it would be a working document that would provide enough detail to allow and the entitlement process to go forward more quickly expeditiously and financially uh you know better for applicants and part of that would be having uh detailed design standards which would allow somebody if they pick those standards they're working within those they get through the entitlement process more quickly my understanding from staff is that um there are already a number of standards in place within other planning components that the city has and that they are going to be working on the design standards to ultimately get attached to this document And as long as it's one of those short range goals that we can stay after, I'm fine with that.

Okay, that's what I wanted to hear. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much.

The next comment card I have is from Steve Dutra.

Good evening. My name is Steve Dutra. I'm the current president of Tree Lodi. May I have a show of hands of who has heard of Tree Lodi? All right. Touches my heart. Thank you. So I had an opportunity to talk to a couple of your staff today about this project or plan. And Tree Lodi has asked me to stand here in front of you letting you know we're in support of the plan. In fact one of our very talented members have done a urban canopy planning review of all of your documents of not only this plan but your general plan and others and I would encourage your interim community development director to contact me so we can go over our findings and I think it would further strengthen this plan of our recommendations. Also, I've been asked to offer our services. I believe the city, correct me wrong, interim public works director, but I don't believe you have a certified arborist on staff, and I don't believe you have a urban forestry professional certified on staff. So we have those services we can provide towards this plan. Also, we have grant writing experience. I think we've been fairly successful. Like for an example, the mayor attended our last Arbor Day event. That event did not cost the city a dime. Through grants and so forth, we rendered about $7,000 to put that event on. Small change in regards to this plan, but we're here to serve. So thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Mayor that's all the comment cards, I have, but I do have a member of the public on zoom so i'm just going to make a quick announcement that if you are on zoom and you would like to submit a public comment. Please you raise your hand during that item, so that I may call call on you to present your public comment and i'll just give it a second to make sure that this is not the item that if they're joining for this item. I think we're safe to proceed.

Okay, so I will invite anyone if they would like to speak at this moment on this item.

Thank you, Mayor Upez. Council, city staff, thank you very much for all the hard work everyone's put in towards this process. My name is JP Doucette, President and CEO Lodi Chamber of Commerce. I also served on the steering committee for this project. I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Claxton and many others and we as the steering committee really did take our role very seriously and tried to provide as much critical input as we could throughout the process to try and achieve the best result and I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Claxton's comments about wanting to see this plan really serve as a roadmap, which means we're going down the road of implementing many of the things on there. A lot of them do seem like a large lift, and it is a multi decade document so sometimes I think you know it could be easy to. Maybe feel like some of the goals are almost unattainable because they are they are ambitious goals, but we want to really focus on those short term projects get some momentum going. with the implementation of this plan, see early success, and get closer to those eventual goals. And the Chamber, I know the DBA, Visit Lodi, and even others out there are ready to serve and be an asset and help to drive some of those items forward. in reviewing the plan um as i have a few times and reviewing the economic development strategic plan that was recently adopted uh i do feel that there's some overlap that the chamber can come in step in and assist with kind of right at the get-go Business retention and expansion is an element of this plan, as well as economic development strategic plan, and it kind of marries up with the investigation into the P bid that is ongoing, so that we can really understand. why businesses are located downtown, what challenges they have, if they have an appetite for expanding or maybe there's many businesses that not just have the single business, they have multiple businesses and they'd like to have them in close proximity. uh the chamber really we do this already to a certain extent through our committee work for our business development committee and so we really want to work with community development and with economic development to really close that loop in terms of feedback and really start to understand what we can do to support businesses in the short term I touched a little bit on that P. bid effort. P. bid is a property business improvement district which is an assessment on property taxes that can be used for a range of functions. We are currently investigating whether there is enough of support for that initiative via downtown business owners. We are currently working on that outreach part of the process, and so you know we as we go through the summer and into fall after this plan is adopted, we'll definitely be doing more outreach in order to kind of understand if the concerns that are being expressed through that retention outreach are being addressed in through that P bid and whether those things marry up. And again, we want to close that loop with city staffs and council members so that we can hopefully get to a point where if it's the desire of those downtown business owners to have that PBID, we're bringing forth the necessary support in order to accomplish the objectives of those property owners. Also, you know, there was a discussion around the objective design standards, what that may look like. We are here to help really advance that conversation so that we make sure that we're bringing forth a tool that really does help with all the objectives that Mr. Claxton brought forward. We don't want to make them too prohibitive. But we want to make them. They want to make them work for both applicant and the city. So to have those conversations about what that looks like. We're happy to host to bring people to the table. Make sure the right people are at the table to have those discussions, because I know that staff is currently working through those standards or or that process. So we'd like to be at that table as early as possible again, so that we can bring forth the best product possible. So thank you all very much for all, again, all your work on this. I look forward to working together on implementation. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Any other comments? Seeing none, so I'll close the public hearing at 7.40, and I will move to council comments now.

I'm happy to start. I appreciated both of the comments that were made relative to something I'm seeing for the first line in any city document first time, which is streamline permitting and entitlement. It makes me very excited to see that, streamline permitting and entitlement. So I think to Mr. Clark's point, by having greater surety in terms of the objective design standards, that helps with the process. And I am looking for that to be part of this implementation in the downtown. So that matters a lot to me and to those potential property owners. So I'm just going to go through and make a few comments and then get to the table and make a few suggestions. I am interested in the Locust Street closure, because that can address maybe that quiet zone in a shorter time frame with a little less money than what we know it would take to have a quiet zone or silent crossing. Street closure might be one step closer to doing that. So I am interested in seeing that. I can't recall if that one was a midterm or near term, but at least the investigation and start making the phone calls and looking at the grant opportunities tied to that through the various transit and or transportation funding sources would be good. There's a couple mentions of areas within infrastructure, in water, in wastewater services, relative to the CIP not identifying projects within the specific plan area as the preparation of this document. I think that there is mention in the plan about the need to take a look at those, and I would leave it up to our department heads to decide if This is something that aligns with the need. If we're looking at growing, we're looking at the infill areas. Do we have capacity? So it's water, wastewater, electric utility. I think that's something I need to understand a little bit more about because we can't move forward with any of that if we don't have the infrastructure in place. So that is something we're going to be looking at for longer term implementation. the undergrounding of electric utility lines. I'm sure that everybody would love to see that. It is extremely expensive. And I think that's a long-term project, because that's just going to cost a lot. And I think, Mr. Berkheimer, your folks are going to be kind of busy with that 230KV line and a lot of other things. But at some point in time, we may have that opportunity to look at it. So just noting that. Did that already. Let's see. The PBID. The Chamber needs to be added as the partner in the framework on the PBID. We gave them money to be able to start the investigative process on it, but we don't identify them and hear their leading efforts. So within the matrix that's developed, we need to add the Chamber as a partner in that, as Mr. Doucette just stated. I'm very interested in the density transfer program. I don't really think we necessarily need to go hire a consultant on that. I think that's something that we should have in place. I think it's more along the lines of understanding where the locations would be where we can transfer density. And I think that that's one of those low-hanging fruit areas that we can start to implement. So that would be something I would look at staff for assistance in that. The active transportation program. I already know that S. J. Cog is looking for funding to give to the city of Lodi. So let's make sure it's going directly to the downtown plan implementation. We need. We've said we want to look at sidewalks and crossings and assess lighting and traffic calming. So any opportunity we have to take advantage of that funding, which is going to be available very soon. I'd like to see it. directed to the downtown plan. Of course, near and dear to my heart is I want the preservation ordinance. I want the Mills Act. I want the incentives tied to voluntary designation of historic properties in place as soon as possible. We already have a couple of public property owners. The county is indicated an interest in landmarking. We've got a historic firehouse we have not yet landmarked. We need to put in place the California State historic building code to make it easier to redevelop these buildings. So that's my number one priority, and that's what I want to see come out of this sooner rather than later. The matrix. Just some comments on the matrix. We can check off adoption of the specific plan in a little bit here, hopefully. So we'll have done that. The objective design standards, glad to hear those are somewhat underway. I think that is a priority. gateway and wayfinding program i think you need to add visit lodi to that because again how we experience the city what they're doing in marketing how they're branding how we're working with them we should include them in this process p4 the downtown shuttle service RTD is going to be providing bus service. This is the long term, okay? I know this is probably eight to ten years out before we get a rail station because we can't afford it out there now. But both the Rail Commission and RTD should be added as partners in that because they will have a say in the process. The Chamber needs to be added in the PBID, as I mentioned previously. The for grant funding on P. 14, I would suggest we add economic development because Mr. Aguilar is going to have content or resources that may be available for economic development. So it'd be helpful to add him to that. I think that, let's see, let me go through the rest of this. I would add to P26 on page 9-21, again, the chamber, focused marketing outreach on recruitment of unique restaurants and small-scale retail in downtown. I think our chamber can help on that. We can also, for improvement projects, gateway monuments, and additional wayfinding, again, I would work closely with Visit Lodi on that, just as we would with any other wayfinding program. I'm not quite sure why the Chamber is listed in the Stockton Street bike lane improvements, I-14, 9-24. I don't know what role they play, so that might be a discussion with Chamber. Alleyway improvements on I-17. I think the highest priority is public safety first in the alleyways. I mean, there's some great designs in there, but again, very costly. Safety is my number one concern as it relates to lighting downtown. And it's mentioned in another location as well. So let's try and look at alleyway improvements first with sufficient lighting. I know our improvements to existing parking structure is something we've talked about. There's a cost associated with that. But we're also talking about upgrades for cameras and automated systems. Obviously, that's been expressed as a priority to the community. Those are just some of what I'd identify as priorities as we move forward in the near term because there's no way we can, even the near term things can't be accomplished in one to three years as I read through some of this, unless we have a lot of money coming in and we're fortunate in getting grants. So just a thought about where I think we should invest our time and energy with staff.

Thank you for your comments. And as you talk about the historic buildings, I think it will be good that we have a meeting about that. Yeah.

So we talked about that with the city manager that we could try and schedule that after the passage of the downtown plan and then move into just a special informational meeting to talk about that. So I know that won't be under your watch, city manager, but Ms. Reddick can take that on.

Okay, thank you. Any more comments from Council? Seeing none, are we entertaining the motion? Second.

Can I clarify, sir? I'm sorry. So moved with what I've mentioned as some changes to the framework of the plan?

Some who put your edits.

Okay, thank you.

All right, and it passes. Next item.

So the next item would be reverting back to C2. So I can turn it over to Interim Community Development Director Cindy March, but if Council has any questions.

Do you have any other questions?

All I would say is having just heard what we heard and knowing that $137,000 goes really fast, that I think that the priorities that we would start with with consultant support and assistance i think that if i understand miss marsh we already have the historic preservation ordinance draft underway with them so correct that would be one i would say just keep going It sounds like the downtown mixed-use design guidelines, is staff already working on those? Correct. There you go. And then obviously downtown specific plan edits and adoption follow-up items, those are the only three. I think the rest of these things are falling in midterm or longer term and that if we get through these and we still have funds remaining, Then we can come back and talk about it at that point if those additional funds should be spent on that or they should be spent instead on something else. So, so that's where I would leave it. Sure.

If I may clarify, a couple of those items are tied to grant applications that we're ramping up to apply for. You mentioned ATP. We're also talking to SJCOG about the TCC grant application or transformative climate communities. So those grant applications when we're applying for the corridor improvements, such as sidewalks and street trees and those sorts of things, undergrounding of electric power lines, we have to have the kind of a plan prepared before not engineering level, but we have to have the plan attached to those grant applications to show what we're applying for. And we have to have cost analysis tied to each of those. So a lot of these items surrounding like the railroad property, for example, we're not exactly sure where the parcel lines are because the parcel is so old. So we're doing that research through this effort to gear up to apply for those grant applications in conjunction with SJCOG.

I I just would say that the minimum of what we need to do if we're applying for those, because some of those are also the pedestrian related options and bike lanes, and that I understand. But my point here is that I just really feel like we need to be focusing on the things that we can get done near term. Because it's great to have those studies in place, but if we can't get to the UP projects for another three to five years, we're going to have to do another study again. So a minimum amount of work in order to meet the requirements of the grant requests is what I would support. So I think that's clear.

So, okay. So do you want to pass this with those recommendations.

Yeah, I think if if council is willing to accept that. That's what I would say that those three priorities. I mentioned and anything tied to The necessary amount of work to be able to apply for the grants. Is that clear, Mr. City Manager?

Yes, it is, with the understanding also that we come back and report in with the council that should there be funds left over that we can get an update on the work that has been completed and then request to move forward with any other remaining outstanding work.

Correct. Thank you. Yes, I'm fine with that.

All right. So would you like to do the motion?

Do we need to take public comment on it since we've agendized it?

Okay, so City Clerk, do we have any public comments? And at the same time, I would like to invite anyone from the public to speak on this item. Good, we have one comment.

I don't have any cards. Scott doesn't need a card.

I know you think I'm gonna talk about old buildings, but I'm gonna talk about Quiet Zone. Very expensive to do some big things. Shutting down locusts seems like it's fairly straightforward. Putting in concrete medians doesn't seem like it's a very expensive proposition. Putting in a couple extra gates doesn't seem like it's very expensive, but we need to have a conversation with UP to figure out what that minimum level of requirements are to get a quiet zone. If you wanna activate, forget Main Street, if you wanna activate Sacramento Street, you gotta get rid of that horn. Seriously, that is the worst experience in that downtown area. And there are so many people that would benefit from that quiet zone. Even if it costs some money, I'm sure it would pay dividends in the long run. So I would recommend short term, let's at least include some analysis so we can figure out what it's gonna take to get a quiet zone downtown. Oh, and old buildings too.

Thank you for your comment.

I would support that. We got to know what the answer is.

So we will go back to the motion then.

So I would move to approve C2 as prioritized in comments. And if there are funds remaining, those would come back to the council for consideration on the next use.

Second. All right, passes.

Okay, so then we will continue with our public hearings and the next public hearing. F2 is the public hearing to consider adopting a resolution approving the 2026 2027 annual action plan for the community development block grant program. And I'll turn it over to our neighborhood services manager, Jennifer Ryan.

Mayor, members of City Council, thank you for having me today. We'll give it just a second for the PowerPoint to come up. There we go. So as the city clerk said that we're here to try to request to adopt the annual action plan. It is essentially the purpose is to revitalize low and moderate income neighborhoods to expand affordable housing and economic opportunities and to improve community facilities and services. That's really the heart of CDBG. The current objectives include assisting low to moderate income residents, preventing slum and blight, providing decent housing, ensuring suitable living environments, supporting community development activities, and supporting public services. So as part of this process, I apologize, getting a little feedback here. As part of this process, we actually do have to go out for a five-year consolidated plan. With that, we seek community input, we seek nonprofit input, we present at public meetings, we post on social media to really identify kind of what the key priorities are for that five-year term. This is not only just a requirement by HUD, but it just kind of gives a framework and guideline for the annual action plans during that five year period. So currently our consolidated plan runs through 2024 to 2028 and identify specific goals and priority needs in the community that CDBG funds should be directed toward in the next five years. Currently, our goals are identify resources to assist rehabilitation of existing homes, increase rental subsidy opportunities, assist or identify resources to increase homeownership for low to moderate income families, increase public services to youth, crime prevention and drug abuse counseling, assist in maintaining existing affordable rental housing, increase and or improve parks and recreation opportunities, encourage the development of affordable rental housing, increase youth center opportunities, encourage the development of more family size units and reduce homelessness. And again, these are based on community engagement efforts and the allow abilities within the community development block grant program as outlined by HUD. So the annual action plan is required to be submitted annually to HUD to receive CDBG entitlement funds. We are an entitlement jurisdiction, which means that we get allocated a set amount of funds every year based on HUD's methodology at that point in time. The annual action plan provides detailed descriptions of the programs for that year's budget, projects that will be funded through the funds for that year and description of community development and housing related updates and plans for that program year. So, for example, on the last page, you kind of saw some of the key priorities for the community. Sometimes if we get funds for those purposes through other grant resources, we try to kind of just note them in the annual action plan to share that while CDBG funds may not be going towards that effort, other grant resources or other funds are being utilized for that. So HUD understands that we are making strides towards those objectives. The annual action plan process includes several different meetings and community input sessions for us to gather public comment and recommend activities to meet those needs. And so that kind of starts with us going to like the Lodi Improvement Committee, us posting on social media. It also has to be posted in the newspaper for any type of public hearings such as this one or any other items for community feedback on the process. Community-based organization capital project applications for funds are scored by staff. Staff also review city-sponsored applications, and those are kind of like the alleyway projects, parks projects, and other things like that. Those are determined internally. activities that further the city's five-year consolidated plan goals and meet priority community needs are given the highest priority for funding. Lodi Improvement Committee reviews, scores, and recommends awards for the public service applications on a biannual basis. The biannual basis allows for community-based organizations to be funded over a two-year period. This is especially important if they're expanding or ramping up their programs because it gives them the opportunity to really plan their budget. As we're aware, nonprofits often rely on grant resources, donations, and things like that. So a two-year cycle allows them that opportunity to know kind of what their allocation is gonna be. The only caveat is that based on funding allocation, if our allocation were to reduce, then what they were awarded would reduce based on that percentage of our reduced allocation. Our draft annual action plan is posted for community input for 30 days and any comments received are incorporated or responded to during this 30 day period. The comment period ended yesterday and we did not receive any public comment during that time period. If we were to receive any comments because it is usually right before this meeting, then we would note it here and then we would also update the annual action plan to designate any comments received. Recommendations are then presented to City Council for approval, which is why we're here today. So the budget for this upcoming program year, the city has been allocated $665,263 in the 26-27 program year. This is based on the HUD allocation. It usually comes out anywhere from April to May. We did get it a little bit earlier this year, so it allowed us to be able to update the annual action plan and have the actual totals in there this year. The new program year will begin July 1st of 2026. HUD keeps a cap on public service activities to only 15%. So we are not allowed to adjust that public services cap at all. Same with planning and administration is maintained to 20%. So for this year, administration will be about 133,000, public service almost 100, and capital projects will be approximately 432,000. Any unused balance will carry over to future capital projects. For example, if we have any community-based organizations that we fund for a capital project and they under-expend, or a city project that under-expends, we don't lose those funds, they just can be reprogrammed in a future year, or we can do an amendment in the current year and utilize those funds that year as well. Administration includes fair housing activities and a portion of graffiti abatement. Capital and projects include project and activity delivery costs. Activity delivery costs often include environmental assessments, especially with capital projects. Oftentimes those are required, even if they end up being exempt. We still have to go through the process of determining if it's exempt or not. The environmental process includes tribal consultations, evaluating depth of land breaking and things like that. So that's often the process. It takes a little bit longer to get some of those projects, including alleyways going as well in those regard. But those activity delivery costs cover that and labor compliance that is also required by HUD. So the request for funding, we received Delta Community Development Corporation Seniors and Salish Park Project. So there's the Senior Lodi Commons Project of $100,000. Salvation Army Hope Harbor Laundry Upgrade Project, $30,000. We do have some additional CV funds that were allocated back in 2020 that do have to be expended in this upcoming program year. And so we're going to utilize those funds to maximize the current available resources. And so the laundry upgrade will be to provide commercial based laundry equipment, which they do not currently have, and it will be a large impact beneficially to their program. We do have allocated a public works alleyway improvement project. And then we did set aside some miscellaneous funds because we did have some potential projects with parks and the Bob's program. And so we're still trying to identify those. So those are ones that are yet to be determined, but we're able to put them in as potential projects this year. So funding recommendations are program administration, planning administration, 93,000. That includes the $15,000 for graffiti abatement and fair housing, $40,000. Just to note that fair housing, San Joaquin Fair Housing previously provided our fair housing services. We have recently gone out for a request for proposals for a new provider for those services. So that will be implemented in the upcoming program year. Currently staff are providing those services. City capital projects, public works alley improvement. As we noted on the last page, $205,000 is the actual project. $30,000 is in activity delivery costs. Community-based organizations capital projects is the Delta Community Development projects, and that includes $15,000 in activity delivery. And that one is lower just because it has been a previously funded project, so the environmental has already been completed on that largely. we just have to update it for the upcoming program year. So we kind of just add it to that environmental assessment that was conducted the prior year. And then again, we have the miscellaneous capital projects identified. So city services programs is another 15,000. So for graffiti abatement, so total is 30,000. Our graffiti abatement individual works very hard throughout the year, and they do work very closely in the CDBG target area, primarily on the east side, and respond very quickly to those items. And that really does impact one of CDBG's objectives of reducing slum and blight. And so just making sure that those areas are clean. for the community, they do a great job of that. So in order to maximize public services, we split it partially into administration and partially into public service. The community-based organizations that were awarded two-year cycles, Community Partnerships for Families, $29,500 for their Family Resource Center and Youth Program, Prevail Propel Program for $16,000, Second Harvest.

I have a question. So when you go on this list, can you say what this organization do?

Yes.

I don't think I recognize some of them, so just for me.

Absolutely. So community partnerships for family is actually near our main street project. It's actually at the corner there and they do provide services to families directly. And so this one is really linked to the youth programs. They work closely with our Lodi grip program, the gang reduction intervention and prevention program. And it's really about working with at risk youth and helping families make sure that they're able to progress in their families and be able to afford Services such as utilities, rental assistance, they provide a lot of different opportunities to the families. prevail propel program. They actually used to be youth and family services, women's center family services, and they provide youth programs. So this one specifically is for youth outreach within our community. We actually do have a large growing population of youth that are at risk in our community as well as unsheltered in our community. So this program really helps with that outreach to those individuals and they do work closely with other community based organizations within our community, including our shelter operators as well. Second harvest greater valley food assistance they actually provide food boxes to families, so that $10,000. Stretches to a large number of families within the Community often hundreds of families just for that $10,000 because they're also able to garner donations and other things that stretch that dollar amount. And I will say that, with most of our Community based organizations these dollars may seem small, but it helps them leverage other funds to expand their programs so often that 10,000. turns into a $100,000 program based on the other services they're able to provide. Lowell Meals on Wheels program provides meals to seniors. Those meals are delivered to them and it ensures that they not only receive a warm meal, but they also receive interaction from the individual providing those services to them. The Salvation Army Hope Harbor operations is 17,500, and that is for shelter operations that help support their shelter. It's a very small part of their budget, but it does help them assist individuals that are unsheltered in our community that are part of the program. So we do have specific timelines to meet objectives for HUD. So we have to submit to HUD within 10 days of receiving council approval. The program year begins July 1st, 2026. And with that, our recommendation is to adopt a resolution approving the 2026 Annual Action Plan for the Community Development Block Grant Program. And we are open for any questions.

Thank you so much. Does Council have any clarifying questions for the staff? Councilwoman Craig?

Ms. Ryan? Thank you for the depth of knowledge and the presentation. Every time we do a CDBG report, I learn a lot more about what we're doing to help our community. So thank you for knowing so much about these organizations. I think it's really important to have that connection and really understand how our funding is leveraging that much more in the community. So I appreciate that.

I appreciate that. And I will note that several of those members have actually received funding from the council's grants as well. And so all of those kind of commingle together to create the services here. So they are much appreciative of our support.

A couple of questions. So for example, with the graffiti abatement, is that the first time we're putting 15,000 from CDBG into it? Or have we done that in the past?

Is actually 30,000 15,000 will be from administration and 15,000 will be from public services yeah we've actually kept it at 30,000 since i've essentially been here for the last five or six years. Most of it has previously come from public services, but because some of the work that is done is work orders reports and things like that it can be kind of put under that administrative CAP. And because we get so little in that public service amount, we're trying to maximize those dollars to get them out to the community. We just split the dollar amount. So it's just looking a little different this year than it has before.

And is that really only in the CDBG qualified area that we can spend those funds? Correct.

So the 30,000, we actually get a report quarterly from Public Works with hundreds of abatements that have occurred for graffiti. And then they actually have a checkmark in their work order system that says it's in the CEBG target area. And then we just make sure that we allocate those hours specifically to these 30,000. So we actually have to account for it. So we have to look at their fully loaded rate. So including benefits and everything like that, multiply that by the number of hours that they're in the CGV target area, and then that's when we're able to issue those 30,000. But they will exceed that 30,000 in the CGV target area. It's just not a large priority for HUD, so we try to keep it within an acceptable level so that it's still approvable by HUD.

So Mr. Nathan, that's in your shop. So just off the top of your head, I'm curious how much we spend on graffiti abatement if we get some of this, but obviously not all of it, because you're looking citywide too. You're not just dealing with that area.

Yes, we have one full-time graffiti abatement staff, and they go around. They do between 1,500 and 2,000 locations a year. Okay. And so they do work citywide, but there is definitely enough concentration in the CDBG area to validate that, you know, 30,000 of that probably $100,000 roll-up of that staff's time. Okay.

I appreciate that. I think that's one thing I've noted is how quickly the graffiti disappears.

We do get a lot of compliments from his work.

Yeah, thank you. I think that the only other thing that I would like to comment on, I know we are at a 24-28 consolidated plan year. I know we have criteria that HUD holds us to for how we can use those funds. What I'd like to see whether it's in the next action or in the next plan report or in the next consolidated plan is how our city council identified priorities align with what HUD is funding. Just to demonstrate to us that we're addressing issues that are fundable through HUD. And I think that's important for us for council to understand. So as we look down the road on the new CDBG plan, consolidated plan, I'd like to keep that in mind. And then in the reporting on the action plan, when we are able to identify a fit with what our city council priorities are, that that would be great. So just a comment, because I think these are all important programs and activities. But we've also as a council decided where our funding priorities should lie. And I'll never turn away HUD money. But in this instance, you know, help us better understand where it meets the city's priorities.

And Councilwoman Craig-Hensley, we do come back for the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, the CAPER, in a couple months as well. So that could be something that closely ties to what we actually did in this program year before we go into the next program year. So that could be something that could be added as a slide to that presentation. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, howdy.

Jennifer, could you speak to what the potential projects are with Bob's, the roughly 80K, and then second, the alleyway improvements, which alleyways would be next on the docket?

So with the Bob's program, we're actually working closely with parks. It's actually similar to you guys. The council has provided some funds for their concession stands. And so it's trying to be a phased approach to getting some of those improvements done. So we're still looking at what that would look like logistically with not only the funds that were provided by council, but what that next step would be. Because they do need quite a few upgrades in that concession stand area. So we're working closely with parks on that. And we've already had a meeting on that. That's where we're still trying to dial in what that scope might look like with that. So that's why we kind of left it open ended so that we could potentially fund it. But we wanted to make sure that it was in line with what needed to be done based on the prioritization of those funds. And then for Public Works, I'll let Interim Director speak.

I can speak on that. So we don't actually have the specific one selected. What we do is we have 140 alleys in town. And so we rate them every couple of years just as a whole on drainage and pavement. And then that's a score out of 10, with 10 being the worst. and then we take eights, nines, and tens, and every year we need to scope an alley, we drive them all, because sometimes one will deteriorate really fast, and so we just want to make sure we get eyes on those, and then based on that assessment at that time, then we choose which one we believe is the worst.

So 200K is what, one alleyway?

It's hopefully a full alley, yes.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

But to clarify, you have to use it in the CDBG area?

Correct, yeah. A vast majority of the alleys are in the CDBG area.

All right. Any other comments? I see none. I do have a few comments about Alice. You know, I always have comments about Alice. Good that you brought that up. So what other funding mechanisms do we have besides the CDG funds for Alice if they're not in that part of town?

So as far as our funds, it's really, we do CDBG. Obviously, we have a minimal amount of streets funds that we kind of talked about that we have the ability to use there. There's just no extra money, as we kind of talked about recently. And then obviously, council could designate a general fund if there was surplus, but we're kind of in the same boat there. So it's really fighting for the same pool of money as our streets, as our, in theory, as our parks and all the other general funded stuff.

Okay. So any other any money that we use for other stuff for public where we can move it to Alice if the council decided some of it can.

There is some discretionary like some of the measure came money that goes to the street resurfacing in theory could could go to those because those are also streets. We typically haven't used that money just because the the amount of people impacted or is significantly less than we're still playing catch up from a decade ago of of shortfall funding for street and so that's why most that those typically go to like our our our mainly used city streets okay thank you and i have a another question for jennifer uh for the fair housing what is that program in in tales or

So the fair housing program is really to assist with tenants and landlords understanding their roles and responsibilities and their kind of legal rights through the situation. So it often maybe guides them to some free legal assistance, gives them provided guidelines to what what is required. Like there's certain rules and regulations to how much a landlord can increase rent over your basis if they're on annual lease and not a month-to-month. So there's certain requirements to that that you just kind of help guide tenants and landlords through those services. It is actually a requirement of HUD to have some type of fair housing service provided by the city. That is an entitlement jurisdiction of those funds.

Because over the last few months, I've been getting a lot of comments about landlords, specifically about this subject. And I didn't know where to send them. So now we know that I can send them to you.

Yes. Neighborhood services at Lodi dot gov is our direct email address and anybody that has any concerns or questions they can reach out to that.

Thank you so much. That'll be very, you know, I will pass the word. I will, you know, appreciate that.

And once we get a new fair housing operator on board, we'll make sure we get that information out to Council as well. And we'll probably do a social media blast to get it out to the community as part of those fair housing services. They do conduct usually workshops at least once or twice a year as well. That's usually virtual based. So anybody could attend during the day and that provides those kind of information sessions for them.

Okay, thank you so much. Right. So now open the public hearing at 818pm. City Clerk, do we have any public comments? Or do we have anyone who would like to speak on this item? Seeing none, I will return to council. Any final comments? I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve the CDBG action.

Second.

All right, any passes?

That's mine.

Okay, the last public hearing tonight is the public hearing to conduct the annual review of Ordinance 2001 Lodi Municipal Code Chapter 2.26 and adopt resolution approving the annual review and report of the military equipment use policy and Chief Garcia will introduce the item.

thank you olivia mayor members of the council thank you for having us to present this in 2021 the california legislature adopted ab41 which required a law enforcement agency to submit their respect to their respective governing body an annual military equipment report Today I have with me, Lieutenant Mike Minetti, who is our investigations lieutenant and our SWAT commander, who will be presenting this report to you. But last year we didn't have a PowerPoint, so this year we wanted to step our game up. And I have Captain Kent here who will be demonstrating one of the items on this list, which isn't a beanbag or anything like that. but is one of our drones that we use for indoor searches. And he is a licensed pilot, but for indoor drone use, you don't have to be, but he is a licensed drone pilot. And I did get permission to do this because I like my job very much. So I did ask before I did it. So yeah, I authorized that. So this is one of our indoor drones that we use for SWAT operations, barricaded subjects, and it's another tool that we use to keep our officers safe and the members of the public safe so that we can effectively conduct our jobs again in a safe manner. Are you able to speak through it? Kevin? Yeah. No, not right now.

So there's eyes.

Yes, it's eyes. And we do have other options to communicate with someone who will be barricaded. But it's more of a tool to help us go inside and search a room safely. But as you can see, it's something that anyone could go buy at Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon. But it's considered military equipment for us under AB 41. 481, I'm sorry. These? So we have two of these and one larger drone. But Lieutenant Minetti will speak on that shortly. But again, last year we didn't bring a presentation, so we want to step our game up. I guess we'll have to up it next year. So I set the bar, and here we are.

Yeah, the tank is next to you, right? What's that? The tank?

Oh, maybe, yes. We'll have to go outside. I don't think I could drive it in here. So then I'd probably be in trouble. Yeah. So Lieutenant Minetti, it's all yours.

OK, good evening, Mayor and members of the council. As the chief just spoke about, this was an assembly bill that was passed in 2021. It took effect in January of 22. It requires us to obtain approval from our governing body. by means of a public hearing in regards to funding acquisition and use of equipment that's specified by the state of California as military equipment. It's been posted on our website along with our military equipment policy 706. Nearly all the items we're going to talk about have been purchased with council approval at some point or another. Those that haven't were probably smaller items that were posted or that were purchased before this went into effect. And as he mentioned, all of these items promote safe outcomes to both officers and the involved party. So if you go to the next slide, those are our drones. As the chief said, we have two of what I like to call the small drones on the right and one big drone on the left. I don't know the specifics. I know one's a Matrice. They're both DJI. But the big drone is the one we will use for outdoor operations. You'll see that at the great festival, things like that, specifically for outdoor. The one on the right that they just flew in here is indoor and outdoor. So currently, we just have three running. They're used for search for missing persons, major collision investigations, disaster management, crime scene documentation, and SWAT and tactical operations. The approximate cost to run those is about $1,600 annually. That's to replace batteries mostly and the occasional mishap when we run one into something. Something, I said, not someone. It doesn't happen very frequently, but with training and everything else, it does. Intended future purchases are we're proposing one more of the DJI Matrice 400s, which is similar to the one on the left there, and then one DJI Avada 2 drone, which is a smaller drone. You can look them up. They're available on Amazon. They're very cool. But they're smaller. The blades are guarded. You can run them into things. You can crash them, and they will flip itself back over. So it's a much better option for those indoor operations we were speaking of. Because very often, the smaller dome will get taken out by something inside a building, and then it's pretty much just out of commission. Next slide is the other unmanned remote-controlled cameras or robots that we have. The one on the right is an I-Core technology mini caliber. That's the one that was bought years ago, purchased by the Police Foundation for $66,120. It's mostly used by EOD, by our Explosive Ordnance Disposable Unit for their operations. Obviously, you can see the big arm on it that can manipulate things. But it has also been used for other operations, SWAT operations. That has a camera and two-way communication. Go upstairs. The one on the right is a, we have two of those. They're Recon Robotics Throwbots. It looks like a toilet paper tube with wheels on it. And it has a little camera on it and a little tail. And it's pretty maneuverable, easy to access. We have one of those for patrol and one for SWAT. And no future purchases requested for any of that. If you go to the next slide, our ballistic armored tactical transport, if you guys recall, caught fire two years ago and was approved to we were approved to purchase a new one. So we have that but it is I don't know that it's going to be fixed before we we obtain a new one. We were approved June of 24 to purchase a Lenco Bearcat which is more of an industry standard armored armored vehicle and We've been in communication with LENCO now that it's been two years. We were told early this year. We were told mid this year. And they have promised a firm date now of November 12 of this year. So we'll see. But the chief's been hounding them about that. And we also, because of the way the the government code is written, we have to our watch commander vehicle because it has it has a computer and a radio and a board and TV and it is also can also act as a a mobile command center. So it is it is also listed on here. It is a it's the black Ford Expedition that you see rolling around town. The watch commander usually drives it. That was I think we got that four years ago. The Mobile Operations Command Center, the big tractor trailer that you guys have seen at events, is still our current Mobile Operations Command Center. You'll see it at the 4th of July, unless the new one's ready. We deploy that about three to five times a year. It requires a Class A license to drive. It's cumbersome. It's hard to maintain. So we obtained funding from Oh, yes, thank you, to purchase a new one. And that actually arrived early. So after this was written, it arrived last month. But it still requires about $50,000 in outfitting for computers, radios, and decals. So soon, hopefully soon. And that one is, I think, 19 feet or so. It doesn't require any special license to drive, so anybody can drive it. Next slide, I think, has this other equipment. So the assault rifles that we carry in our cars, the patrol rifles and the rifles that SWAT and motors carry are listed as well. We currently have 64 .223 caliber M4 rifles. They're 16-inch barrels. That's generally what's assigned to patrol. We have 11-and-a-half-inch barrel rifles, same model, or same make. Secondly, a different model number for patrol and motors so they can carry them on their bikes and SWAT because they're easier to maneuver inside buildings. We have 19 of the short-barreled rifles. There's little to no maintenance costs on those. However, the SWAT rifles are due to The training and use, they're reaching kind of a limit to the round count on their barrels. So we did propose purchasing 15 new rifles next year, if we have the budget for it. That would be 15 of their Geissele Super DD Mod 1 rifles. for a total cost of $24,350. So that's just to ensure continued reliability, safety, and effectiveness. And then we have on here as well, because it's a specialized rifle, the SWAT team has four Ruger Precision 308 rifles that are assigned to snipers on the team and only deployed by the snipers on the team. And that's just for the purpose of highly volatile situations where you need precision shooters. And there's little to no ongoing costs for those and no intended future purchases. Next item was our flashbangs. So we currently have 23 CTS flashbangs. That's just a distractionary device. It makes a loud bang and a large flash. Those are used in high risk, volatile situations where we need to get somewhere quickly. And it adds to the safety of the officers entering the room. And we also have 11 CTS, they're nine bangs. So it's like that, but they're nine in one. So they go off nine times. Similar sound, maybe not quite as loud, but it covers about four and a half to five seconds. And there are different intervals. So it's a longer distraction in case there's, we need to get from one place to another, or we need to, like if we had to approach a vehicle or we had to cover a longer amount of ground. And we don't have any intended purchases to get any more of those this year. And then we move on to tear gas, which currently we have 10 tri-chamber CS gas grenades, 48 12-gauge ferret liquid barricade penetrator CS gas rounds, four 12 gauge barricade liquid CS rounds, 15 40 millimeter ferret CS liquid rounds, five stinger ball CS grenades, five CS grenades, three 37 millimeter short range CS rounds, and 12 OC rubber ball grenades. Now that is not all SWAT, that's shared with our mobile field force which handles riot control. Um, if necessary. So, um, and those are only utilized by SWAT personnel or, or mobile field force personnel with the proper training, including the launchable projectiles, um, whether 12 gauge or the, or the 40 millimeter. So, and, um, because those have a five-year shelf life on them and some of those are, um, are expired, um, we, proposed purchasing 24 CTS, not only 30, sorry, 24 CTS CS baffled canister grenades and 48 40 millimeter liquid barricade rounds. And then next, I don't know why that one got bumped, but if we go the projectile launchers, which is, used for the 40 millimeter and we currently have one 37 millimeter launcher and two 40 millimeter launchers. 40 millimeter and the 37 are for SWAT and then Mobile Field Force has 37 as well. And there's no future purchases intended for that. And then one of Two intended purchases for for the next year going forward would be a would be. 100 rounds of Royal Arms Tesser 450 grain frangible copper 12 gauge breaching ammunition. This is becoming kind of a. It's a standard. Option for for SWAT teams. It's the thing I don't you've seen in movies or whatever where they put the shotgun against the door and they blow out the either the. the doorknob or the hinges. These rounds are specific because they're designed to hit and take out the portion of the door that's necessary, but then basically, they're frangible and they disintegrate into, so there's nothing that goes through the door and it lessens the chance of injuring anybody, either officers or anyone on the other side of the door. And we already possess a shotgun capable of shooting those. Because it's a launchable projectile that's used for that, it's on the list. And we have a policy for that going through the city right now. And that would only be used in very specific circumstances that would require us to get in very quickly. It would not be a standard. It would not be something we would use consistently. And then also there's a launching cup, which I believe was on the previous slide. Is this got mixed? I didn't put this together. But that thing in the upper right corner, you can see right there, that attaches to a 12 gauge shotgun. And then with a specialized shell, it propels one of the larger canister grenades. into into a house or wherever it needs to go a distance so you can get gas and more gas into into something quicker and again because it's launching a projectile like that we it's it's required to be on the list and and uh be approved so and i believe That covers it. Sorry, I kind of flew through that. I'm open for questions. I might not be the expert on some of these things, but I can make do.

Thank you so much for the presentation. Council, any questions from Council? Seeing none, I will open the public hearing at 8.37. City Clerk, do we have any public comments? At this moment, I will invite the public if you would like to speak on this item. Seeing none, I will close the public hearing at 8.37. And I will entertain a motion.

So moved. Second.

All right.

Council member Craig Hensley.

Oh, sorry. I didn't know what it is tonight.

And it passes. Next item.

Well, that concludes all the public hearings for tonight. We're moving on to regular calendar. And item G1 is to receive an update from the Downtown Lodi Business Alliance and provide direction for funding request. And I will turn that over to our Economic Development Director, Louise Aguilar, to introduce the item.

City Council Chambers. City Council Chambers. City Council Chambers. City Council Chambers. City Council Chambers. a report on that and also request the remaining funds to be disbursed and so tonight they're here to give a general update on the entire investment from the city and also they also brought an additional request. And without further ado, I'll introduce David Claxton, President and CEO of the Downtown Business Alliance.

Sorry I don't have a drone. Good evening again. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with an update from the DBA for what we've been doing and how we have spent the 2024-25 funding provided by the city, as well as an opportunity to request additional funds. First, I would like to thank you and the city for providing us with the funding that you did. It's very much appreciated by us and by our businesses downtown and what we've been able to do for it. Next slide. There you go. That one. The Downtown Lodi Business Alliance is a nonprofit whose mission is to support the downtown Lodi businesses, promote tourism, create a thriving destination for residents and visitors alike. Through the DBA's beautification efforts, strategic marketing, and community partnerships, we work to make downtown Lodi a vibrant and welcoming place to live, work, play, and do business. Next slide. Please. There you go. Our 2024-2025 projects included our potted plant project. We secured, replaced, and maintained 100 new decorative pots downtown along School Street, Sacramento Street, and the side streets. We also bought 20 additional ones to accommodate individual businesses that wanted more planting in front of their stores. We maintain the plants and the planters. And Dave Kirsten, who is our DBA vice president, sponsors the weekly watering and has a water cart that goes around and waters them every weekly. Our marketing and communications, led by Bailey, who's here, and is doing a fantastic job for us, includes being a touch point for downtown local business owners to engage with city initiatives and actions. We share information from our community partners, which are the city of Lodi, Lodi Chamber, and Visit Lodi, and of course our downtown businesses. We help maintain and grow our online presence for downtown Lodi that serves and engages with visitors, locals, and business owners. We share events, opportunity, and highlights. Next slide. There you go. In 2024-2025, our holiday program As any of you know that we're downtown during the holiday season, what we've been able to do over the last couple of years is really help transform downtown Lodi during the holiday season. We've collaborated with Lodi Electric Utility and private investors to install the lights over School Street and Jeff, thank you and your department. We appreciate your ongoing support. We've increased traffic to downtown Lodi through multiple holiday events. We had three days designated in 2024, four days in 2025. And of course, we're going to be doing it again in 2026. And 24, we built the Gingerbread House as the first installment of our planned holiday village at the Post Office Plaza. In 2025, we expanded that with two additional structures as well as a small stage, and we're hoping to add more enhancements this year. In 2025, we launched our first holiday scavenger hunt with Archie the Bear, thanks to Bailey, and we increased participation with businesses during the events each year. Dba has pretty large community engagement as the president. I've served as a member of the downtown specific plan steering committee, a member of the economic development plan steering committee. I participated in multiple interview processes for city management positions. I work directly with the city and the Chamber on the downtown parking issues. We're a member of the P bid steering committee. We've also worked directly with Lodi Electric on the permanent lighting for downtown, and in fact I can. report that we are actively working on that right now and are making progress towards some sort of resolution for future lighting. The DBA has also helped the city in supporting EPA brownfield assessment grant applications and assisted the city by supporting its application on the railroad crossing elimination program. Our 2024-25 fund distribution, as Louise said, in 2023, we made our initial application. We received our first group of funds in 2024 and the balance in 2025. The total funding was $100,000. To date, we spent $6500 on holiday event costs $17,792 on the downtown lighting project, the pots and plants 23,327 80 and marketing and communication 44,100 we have a remaining balance of $8,280 and 20 cents. through our fiscal responsibility and the fact that we hate spending money if we don't have to, we've managed to stretch the money that you gave us as far as we possibly can. Our goals for 2026 and 2027 is to continue to expand our marketing and collaboration and outreach Expand beautification footprint, including onto Sacramento Street. Establish a downtown watch group in partnership with Lodi PD and the Chamber. I can report that we already have our first business watch meeting scheduled for August 21 at 8 AM at Dave's office. During the holiday season, we will, of course, light up the school street again. And again, thank you to Lodi Electric and Jeff. Our Santa's Village and decorations up and down the street will be there. We've got several holiday activities already set. November is tree lighting, our scavenger hunt, and after hours shopping on December 18th. We're going to create additional place marking events in downtown, and we're looking to launch a downtown Lodi mural project in 2027, which is consistent with the downtown specific plan. Our 2026 through June 30, 2027 projected budget. We're looking at spending $10,000 this year on our holiday events. This includes Santa Claus, our drones, music, and administrative costs. We have another $17,792 for the lights. The lights that we've had the last two years have to be replaced in their entirety because hanging from the trees just beats them up and we just can't use them again. We also want to purchase custom holiday flag Poll flags. So on every one of the street light posts, there is a bracket that's already in place to hold a flag. And so we've already priced out to get approximately 140 two foot by three foot custom holiday flags similar to what Lodi or visit Lodi has in the banners. But these would be flags. So this is one more street level enhancement that we can do for the holiday season. Our marketing and communications and media is $32,400. So our total fund request tonight is 70,192. We recognize that the city like most municipalities is facing a difficult financial times, but we are hopeful and appreciative of any funding you may be able to provide through the general fund, economic development or other funding mechanism. Thank you very much and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much. I'm going to move to council comments. First, I will start away from that side with Mr. Reckman.

Yes, so I had a conversation with Erson. First of all, thank you for your service to the community and to our downtown. Love what you guys do. All for, again, some type of funding for you. The question that I had had to do with our transportation department is many of you know our transportation department does... I have fund the security and up keeping of our parking garage and in light of trying to figure out a ongoing source of revenue for the DBA that doesn't necessarily have to be on the general fund I figured to myself well. and fyi i did need to talk to you guys it's been a busy day and a busy week but it is an option for us to try to work out something between the dba possibly taking over the parking garage and you guys getting funding from the transit department to again take control of that and i would note that again That could have a cap for funding. It could be per car for funding, but it is an option again for ongoing funding towards you guys. It would be work for you, but I also am trying to figure out ways to really I don't want to say revitalize but bring into the public eye more that that is a great option for parking and I don't know that there's a better group than you guys to take it over the DBA. Most of your business owners in downtown and so obviously you employ quite a few employees. And if you guys are getting funding by using that parking Center, then I think that might be a win win so. still throwing ideas out but that was one of them but no matter what i love you guys and you provide a very valuable service to the community and we need to make sure it keeps going thank you now we'll go with councilwoman craig um mr claxon can i ask you to come up there for a minute and i i'm just going to reconfirm this i talked with mr berkheimer

$25,000 is what we budget annually for, and I'm sorry, I'm putting you on the spot. Maybe I could actually ask Jeff to clarify, because I'm not sure exactly what the 25K pays for.

Thank you for the question. It's actually a sponsorship of the downtown holiday lighting event. So we basically utilize this. Our staff has a booth set up multiple days during the downtown events. I think the tagline or the slogan is low die electric lighting up the holidays or Some variation of that, but we basically use it as a marketing community outreach opportunity. So with all the foot traffic out there, we have staff that are handing out information on energy rebates, incentives, programs that they can sign up for. I believe we get some additional branding on just the golf cart discussion we had had. Yes, it's part of our branding and marketing effort that we utilize to basically be the main sponsor of the downtown lighting every year.

So that 25K goes to DBA?

That 25K is earmarked for the actual installation of the lighting and removal.

So the lights to buy new lights and install them costs 42,000 and some odd dollars. That's why there's the differential, the sponsorship of 25 and then the 17,700 that DBA pays directly. So yes, they give us the $25,000. We send it directly over to K&T Lighting as part of the payment.

So there I'll ask you next. Where do you get your other additional funds, Mr. Claxton, to pay for this?

Well, we're asking for funding from you. We used the funding that you previously gave us to help pay for that. And then we had several private sponsors who also Put in additional money for our various other holiday projects, building the gingerbread houses and all that stuff.

Okay, so I guess here is my concern. One, I think we should look at a long term agreement if we're going to, if you're going to be coming every year and asking for funding, it needs to be in January, not In June, when we are finishing the budget, and we have not allocated any funds for this for the coming year. So my first recommendation is come see us in January, and actually go see whoever's sitting in the city managers in January, and start talking about a ongoing budget. Maybe it's a five-year commitment the city can make, so it can get in the budget, because it's not in the budget. When I made the point of setting up $100,000 fund for nonprofits, you're included in that. So you have the potential. to request funding from any council member to pay for that. So I'm not saying you're gonna get 20,000, but I encourage you to come in and ask us because once June's over, if I understand correctly, Mr. City Manager, come July, that 100K is back in the program again that council, okay. So we have some money that council can allocate in this next budget year, which starts July 1. So that's an opportunity for you. My challenge is, and as an example, my fire department's cutting half a million dollars out of its budget this year. Correct. And that's not counting all the other programs. So I would say it's a little late to come in to make the request now. It should have happened in January when the budget was coming together and city staff economic development, because economic development, unless I understand, Mr. Aguilar, if you budgeted in for this. He is not budgeted in for this. So this is where I am right now. I don't have that extra money. And I wish I could say we did, but we don't. But we might have 20,000 available if you come in and make a request through the city clerk's office.

So thank you. I appreciate that input. I am fully aware of it, having I've been involved in a little bit of government stuff myself. I understand that the budget process. Understand that a couple of things. One, we are in the process of setting up a downtown Lodi Foundation, which will become a the charitable arm of DBA. We're working through that. It's going to take a little bit of time, but we've already got funding commitments to start to move us forward. We also, as I mentioned earlier, have been somewhat involved with the PBID process and there's been talk that if and when the PBID ultimately passes, and of course everybody was thinking it was gonna happen a whole lot sooner than it is, that DBA would be involved in the marketing and support arm of the PBID, which would provide us with ongoing funding. Knowing that the PBID process has stalled at this particular juncture, and it's gonna take longer than everybody anticipated, I thought I would at least come before you, report what we have successfully done with our funds, let you know just in case anybody happens to have a few extra bucks, you know, we're happy to take it, and we're going to move forward. We're not going anywhere. We've, you know... We know what we need to do in terms of getting funding to complete the projects that we've got. And if the city is got some great. If not, we'll take care of it and we will be back before you at a more appropriate time.

I appreciate that. And do put in a grant request to the city clerk. It's an easy process. Olivia will help you with it. And, you know, let's see. I think it might be a project that one of the council members would find worth funding.

All right.

All right.

Well, thank you all very much. I appreciate it. Anybody else got any questions for me?

seeing the growth in the in the christmas uh village and everything that you how much you've stretched the dollar i think this is a worthwhile expenditure it brings more traffic i'm a downtown property owner i'm down there often and i can tell you that this is an overwhelmingly positive addition to the downtown community and so you know i guess i'd be looking at our city manager here as far as you know If there are any thoughts or ideas as to a way to like bridge this gap for funding.

I appreciate the question. The next item is the next round of your budget presentation. And so right now, just about every dollar is accounted for. So it would need to be a discussion amongst council as to whatever you choose to fund this, what would you not choose to fund in its place?

We don't have that surplus that we're pushing over. That is another possibility.

But again, that surplus, as we did illustrate in one of the first presentations with your forecast anyway, is needed to support the ongoing forecast. But if it's the direction of the council, we can certainly find a means to program a dollar amount in for that purpose.

I'd be interested in that.

I would be very interested in that. I think with the amount that we're talking about with the surplus rollover and the pension stabilization fund, these are crumbs. And I've been on council for 3 and 1 half years. I've always been told, budget problems, budget problems. And I told Mr. Karuba this today. On all those years in our city's projections they've been more conservative for our expected income than it really was, and also more conservative for our expected expenditures and so not that you're wrong, but I will state our budget typically turns out better than we're showing on paper.

So I'd be remiss if I didn't do my duty as responsibility for the budget in that it will be pointed out to you on the next item that, and I believe it's already been mentioned by one of your colleagues, that every general fund department tonight is taking a significant cut. in addition to not adding any new features. There was a discussion earlier tonight about alley improvements and roadway improvements. We're not putting any new monies towards that. That fund is being reduced. Public safety funds are being reduced. Parks and rec funds are being reduced. I appreciate the comments that the forecast seems to work out, but it's because your departments are being stretched leaner and leaner each year, as I've noticed. And the budget before you tonight is going to continue that trend. um but you know we did have a strategic plan discussion uh you know last month that talked about you know fiscal sustainability and the long-term importance of that and so um it's not something that we're prepared to talk about right now but going forward that will be something that the council definitely needs to consider in terms of how to increase revenue opportunities so that it is easier to address your general fund departments and other departments that need those additional services and funding, as well as to help organizations such as the DBA with their requests such as this.

So a quick question. So the fund to fund nonprofits, that's going to stay within the budget for next year? Because this was like this year's exploratory. So it's a budget right now as today for next year?

It is proposed within the budget. The council can choose to keep it in there going forward. Or if you decide that you want that to go some other location, that's your purview.

Okay, because my comment is that some of the items I think like now that we have so many organizations in downtown, like the Chamber, DBA, the PB and all of this, and for marketing, I think sometimes we're doing the same things over and over. So for some of the things I think we can collaborate between organizations. And I think with a downtown plan, we need to kind of meet all the organizations and see how we can help each other. So so that's why we can specialize so for So for me, I think I would like to fund the $17,000 for the lights because that's a good benefit for all, but since we have those funds that are going to be in the budget for nonprofits, I will put $5,000 to allocate for that if the council decides to fund the program in the future.

And I'll put $10,000. Pardon me? I'll put $10,000.

thank you very much it's taxpayer money not mine i'll rematch moden's five so that's 20. there you go that's how it works david thank you all very very much i appreciate it and i do think there's value to maybe programming something like this in because these guys do such hard work i think free labor and he shouldn't have to come back every year you know, sit down with Kara, you know, so let's figure this out for future years, because I would love to figure out some program.

Yeah, so I'm sure you'll see me before Jan January on something else, but I'll be here in January. But thank you all very, very much. Appreciate it.

I still have a question for you about city manager like to say something.

I would just add that a lot did happen tonight with regards to this subject in a kind of indirect way. Thank you for your adoption of the downtown specific plan. And as was discussed in a variety of different ways, you have several different key players that are going to be participating in that. And one of the things that you heard from both the DBA and the chamber is the continued ongoing support of that. Now, having worked through five different downtown plans in my career, the key that you need to keep those things going is that ongoing communication between those different agencies. Because to the mayor's point, you're absolutely correct. there can be shared services. There can be those sharing of equity and value into the product. And even more importantly though is the coordination between those agencies that you're all working on the common feature and not going in different directions. And so I think that we'll figure some way out with staff to coordinate and collaborate with the other agencies that are identified in the downtown plan. and seek those priorities. And then to your suggestion about coming back with a long range strategy or plan, that tends to have some merit as well. And so I think this is just the beginning of a real opportunity to really begin focusing efforts on where does your shared funding opportunities go, where do the projects go, so that we can make this vision happen.

I might just add, David, it really is placemaking, which is part of the downtown plan. So I very much appreciate what you're doing. And I think sooner you basically the staff report and turn it into a grant application with the information she needs, the sooner you're going to get your $20,000 from these members of the council.

Right for the flag. The banner thing you're talking about is that you're talking like the advertising banners hanging off the polls. Is that what you're in?

So you know the ones of the banners that visit Lodi has. They've got a couple of different sets and then they have the holiday ones and they're, you know, two and a half feet long and about this wide. Okay. On every one of the light poles, if you look at it, there is a standard that goes out at a 45-degree angle that allows you to put a flag in it. And I don't know if the city's ever used those with American flags.

No, no, we had it back in July for Memorial Day. I'm sorry, they were up.

Yeah, so we're looking at having custom ones made that say, you know, shop Lodi during the holiday season, kind of mimicking what Visit Lodi did with the banners. So we get one more set of... you know, decoration, if you will, down there at street level for visitors.

Yeah, got it. Okay. Yeah.

And we're having them done locally. Sure.

Yeah. So one of our Janice who used to be at Scotto's and retired now she often talked about this being like a free advertising or an opportunity for us to generate advertising revenue and you know, posting some sort of signage there. So that's kind of where my head went.

Right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time.

Yes, go ahead. If I may, Mayor. Mr. Clarkson, just to clarify on those flags, is that something that the DBA is intending to install? Or is that something that you're looking for?

No, no, we take care of it. We're just we looking for, you know, some the additional funding to buy them. And then just just like the bows that we put up on, you know, up on the trees, right? We have them sitting in our warehouse right now. And come Christmas, we'll put them out and we'll do the same thing with the flags. And you know, they should last us three to five years. Thank you.

So I had a question about the planter program with the plants. Yes. So I had a question from a resident, not resident, a property owner on Sacramento Street. How do they get enrolled in the program?

Or how does... Just get a hold of the DBA and we'll, you know, we've... We've got, right now, we have over at Dave's warehouse, we have additional plants that are growing so that we can replenish the pots as they go. We still have a number of the original pots that we replaced sitting over at his warehouse, so we can always take those and use them, or we're happy to go buy more of what we've already got. But we've systematically, when we first started the program, everything we did for the most part was on School Street. We systematically expanded on the side streets, and we're now over on Sacramento Street. And so just have them get a hold of the DBA. We're happy to take care of it. Okay. Thank you so much, and thank you for coming today. Great. Thank you very much.

All right, since we are not going to vote on this way still have to do so have to vote on Okay, no, that was just if there was going to be a council vote, but since There was discussion and general direction was was Spoken out loud. Okay, we can move on to G two.

Okay. Thank you so much.

So, which is to receive a presentation regarding fiscal year 2026 2027 general fund and measure L budget and the general fund and measure L five year forecast and I will turn it over to our internal internal services director and man and budget manager for the presentation.

Well, good evening. Please, no. Oh. Awesome. Okay. Good evening, Mayor Yepez, Mayor Pro Tem Hothi, and members of Council. Tonight I am going to present you the Fiscal Year 26-27 proposed general fund budget. Today's overview is in preparation of adoption at the June 17th Council meeting. And this is for Fiscal Year 26 and 27, which I'll be calling Fiscal Year 27 throughout the presentation. The fiscal year 27 budget covers the period beginning July 1st of this year and ends on June 30th of 2027. So this slide outlines the schedule for the fiscal year 27 budget study sessions and adoption process. We've already completed the first two study sessions. Study session one included the third quarter budget review and an overview of the general fund budget challenges. Study session two provided a review of the enterprise and special revenue funds. And tonight is the third and final budget study session, which is focused on general fund and the results of the balancing act outreach tool. The information presented this evening will support council's consideration of the proposed budget and lead into formal budget adoption scheduled for the next council meeting on June 17th. And I did just wanna mention that if the budget, the budget must be approved by June 30th to avoid risk to state and federal funds. And then we also only have authority to work off of fiscal year 26 budget in the meantime. So before discussing the proposed budget, I would like to share the results of the city's Balancing Act Community Engagement Tool. Balancing Act was launched to provide residents with an opportunity to learn about the city's budget challenges and provide input regarding their priorities. Participants were asked to review various budget scenarios, make trade-offs, and share their perspectives on city services and funding priorities. So overall, we had 2,246 page views with an average of three minutes and 18 seconds on the site. From these visits, we had 130 simulation submissions. The top expenses increases were unfunded annual operating costs. fire department and streets and then the top decreases are police internal services and parks department and i want to add those three are very high dollar um departments so i don't necessarily i want to say i don't necessarily think the public wants to decrease services however they needed something to show that they want some of the unfunded um the unfunded initiatives funded So this slide highlights participation levels and engagement with the Balancing Act tool. You can see that the unfunded annual operating costs along with streets stand out as the two highest increased budget categories for interactions and police, fire and internal services were the highest decrease in budget categories. While no community engagement process can fully represent every resident, the participation we received demonstrates a meaningful level of public interest in the city's financial challenges. The results reinforce many of the priorities that council has heard through other outreach efforts, including new services, public safety, parks, maintenance, infrastructure and maintaining quality city services. In addition to quantitative data, participants provided written comments regarding city services, priorities and potential budget solutions. There were six comments total, so I thought it was appropriate to show all of them if since they took the time to make a comment. As with any public engagement effort, comments reflected a variety of viewpoints. A resident commented on capping retirement. The next question, why Lodi Police Department does not already have a real-time information center. There were also comments on the condition of streets, funding towards economic development and downtown redevelopment, and lastly, contracting out park services. These comments also show the amount change corresponding to that category from those comments. And with that, this interview or overview of the Balancing Act Submission, does Council have any questions on the overview?

So you go back to the charts before.

Yes.

That one is the average of like what people were deviating from what our actual budget is.

Like, for example, they want to put more into the streets is that i'm reading it correctly or correct Okay, yes, so we it wasn't exact dollar for dollar for what we put in there, it was it was by million basically but these average submission changes are what they either. what those 2000 visitor or 120 that actually submitted their budgeting act submission. They this is what they increased or decreased on average by.

So it's very clear that they are very interested in the streets, right? Yes, it's very clear. So question for city manager. So For a city like Lodi, for the future, not obviously in this budget year, for the future, how do we get more funds for the streets? Because as time progresses, they're deteriorating more and

No, it's a real, a real concern, quite honestly, and something that our interim public works director, Sean Nathan, has been putting together to bring forward to council is a discussion, an overview of just that subject in terms of what, you know, their department does in streets, the challenges that they've been facing, you know, year over year, and, you know, what are the real-time issues that they're facing? Should the trend of status quo funding or reductions in funding continues because it is a challenge. And one of the comments on there is as we continue to grow and expand, keeping up with the actual capital improvements, But not just that, but also the ongoing maintenance that's associated with that, not just the materials and the repairs, but also the labor that goes with that. So I believe that Mr. Nathan is looking to bring something along those lines to council in September. And so I think that that will be a real opportunity to have that important conversation.

Yeah, I think that will be very welcome that conversation that thing. Yeah. Thank you. So yeah, we can continue. Okay.

Any other questions? Okay. So this slide was originally presented during study session one, but I wanted to briefly revisit it before we dive into the rest of tonight's presentation because it provides important context for the decisions reflected in the proposed general fund budget. We have grouped the city's budget challenges into three primary categories, quality of life, foundational, and structural. Quality of life challenges reflect the growing expectations and needs for our community. These include increasing demand for city services, supporting economic growth and job creation, improving and expanding parks maintenance, enhancing public safety services, and managing overall city growth and development. Foundational challenge focused on the city's long-term fiscal health. These include maintaining fiscal stability, growing revenues to keep pace with service demands, and addressing rising labor pension and capital costs. Structural challenges are tied to the underlying cost drivers of our organization. These include increasing operational, indirect, and insurance costs, ongoing maintenance and improvement of city facilities, fleet replacement needs, and ensuring the community facilities district rates adequately offset the costs associated with growth. While these pressures are not unique to Lodi, they are significant and require ongoing prioritization and strategic decision making. The general fund budget presented tonight is balanced. However, as we move through the presentation, we will discuss the difficult decisions, cost reductions, and use of available resources that were necessary to achieve that balance while continuing to provide essential services to our community. So the topics covered in tonight's presentation is a high-level overview of the budget balancing measures that are included in the expense projections, a summary of revenue by source, and a summary of expenses broken down by category and department, the department budgets, where you'll have the opportunity to ask questions of the department heads, We'll go over key inputs such as the vehicle replacement fund and general fund contributions to library and parks and general fund capital. And finally, the city recognizes the need to look beyond fiscal year 27. So we have the long range forecast again, which we also had that on the first study session with slight updates. So at a high level, the fiscal year 27 general fund budget is balanced, but it reflects the ongoing fiscal challenges facing the city. While revenues are projected to increase, that growth is not keeping pace with rising operational costs and service demands. Expenditures continue to increase primarily due to negotiated salary adjustments, rising CalPERS retirement costs, and increased medical benefit expenses associated with the recent MOUs. To achieve a balanced budget, approximately 3.9 million of the general fund balance was programmed to offset these compensation related increases. This amount is lower than what we presented during study session one and reflected in the draft budget book. Do to the reassignment of the public works management analyst position to the wastewater and water funds, which more accurately aligns the cost of the position with where with the fund where the majority of the work is being performed and i'll talk again about this one we're in the public works department section. The proposed budget does not include any additional full-time positions and does not expand the city's service capacity. While current service levels can be maintained, the budget does not provide resources for significant service enhancements, new programs, or additional staffing to address growing community needs. In developing the fiscal year 27 budget, we incorporated current labor agreements, which required programming 3.9 million in fund balance to support salary and benefit increases. We also implemented a one-time workers compensation rate holiday to provide almost 1 million in relief to the general fund and 218,000 to other funds. Additionally, we eliminated convenience fees approved by council on April 15th. The initial department budget requests would have resulted in a general fund deficit of approximately 11.2 million to develop a balanced budget while maintaining core state services and number of difficult decisions and reductions were necessary. The proposed budget reduces fire vehicle replacement funding to straight line depreciation levels and eliminates the fire equipment replacement contribution. That resulted in a combined reduction of approximately 1.64 million Police vehicle replacement funding was also reduced to straight line depreciation levels, and police equipment replacement funding was eliminated, reducing expenditures by approximately $668,000. The budget also does not include funding for a proposed facility maintenance fund. While staffing identified approximately $2.7 million in current facility maintenance needs, available resources were insufficient to establish the fund in fiscal year 27. departments were further directly directed to identify approximately 2.8 million in budget reductions these reductions were achieved through a combination of overtime reductions operational savings deferred equipment purchases reduced training and conferences expenditures and the deferral of certain capital and maintenance projects Oh, there we go. Okay. So finally, no new general fund positions were recommended in the fiscal year 27 budget. While departments submitted requests intended to address strategic plan objectives, operational demands, succession planning, regulatory requirements, and growing community service expectations, available resources did not support expanding staffing levels at this time. So these measures were necessary to produce a balanced budget while preserving existing service levels. So next slide. Now we get into the general fund numbers. So following each of the tables, I have included graphs to help visualize the information and provide a clear picture of the city's revenue and expenditure structure. But we're starting with revenues, the largest portion of general fund revenue comes from taxes, this category includes measure l sales and use tax, the electric utility payment in lieu of taxes or pilot transit transient occupancy tax and the waste removal franchise fee. Property taxes include both traditional property tax revenues and the community facilities district or CFD revenues. Together, these revenues continue to provide a stable and significant source of funding for the general fund operations. Operating transfers in represents reimbursements from the enterprise funds for general fund services provided on their behalf. These costs include support from the city attorney's office, human resources, city clerk, finance, risk management, information technology, and fleet services. In fiscal year 27, this category also includes the programmed use of the approximately 3.9 million in available general fund balance to offset increased salary and benefit costs. The majority of revenue from others consists of property tax in lieu of vehicle license fee. This revenue source was created by the state as a replacement for a portion of local vehicle license fee revenues and functions similarly to a property tax allocation. This category also includes various grant reimbursements and miscellaneous intergovernmental revenues. Other revenue includes business license administration, administrative fees, solid waste administrative fees, investment earnings, rental income, and other miscellaneous revenue sources. Charges for services consist primarily of cost recovery fees such as engineering inspections, engineering plan review, encroachment permits, and other administrative service charges. And then fines and forfeitures are primarily generated through utility late fees, parking citations, and community improvement enforcement activities. Finally, licenses and permits include fees collected for animal licenses, bicycle licenses, alarm permits, street and lot permits, vendor permits, and similar regulatory programs. So here is the pie chart to show the breakdown in general fund revenue detailed. The majority of the revenue in this pie chart is tax related and is important to note that measure L is included in the tax revenues and will be discussed in a later slide in this presentation.

Now, can I want to qualify this? This is over a period of time. Is this an average? Is this last year's? This is this year's revenue.

I'm sorry, fiscal year 27. Yes, fiscal year 27 revenue. I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. Yes, so this is our projected revenue for next year. Okay, so the next slide is the expenditures presented by departments. So just under 60% is public safety related between police and fire. A little under 35.6 million to police and 21.6 million to fire. We have non-departmental at 19.1 million, which includes transfer out, debt payments, and insurances. Administrative services is in 9.3 million, includes IT, finance, and human resources. Public works general fund division, such as admin engineering and engineering, are at almost 5.3 million, followed by the city attorney, city clerk, city manager, economic development, community improvement, city council, and one library position, and a partial streets worker that is paid out of Measure L. So next is the pie chart to show the breakdown of general fund expenses by department. And you'll see the blue and red take up the majority. Okay, so the next slide, it actually breaks down the expenses in a different way. It's by category. As you can see, the largest share of the expense is for salaries and benefits at 52.9% or 5.9 million. Next is supplies and services at 14.6% or 14.6 million, and operating transfers out at 15.7 or 15 million. The following three categories are fixed. The first is the UAL for CalPERS, which is a non-negotiable to keep Lodi in the retirement program and to stay competitive in the labor market. And then debt, which is a payment that is contractual amount, and if we do not pay, we will default on our general fund debt. And then lastly, insurances, general liability and property liability are included in this expense at 2.2 million. And then again, here is the pie chart with breaking it down by category. As you can see, salary and benefits are the largest portion of our general fund.

What is unfunded and accrued liability?

So that is our UAL for PERS. So I broke that out of salary and benefits in this category driven one so you could actually see the effect of that UAL payment. Again, that will be growing year over year until 2033 and then gradually decreasing. Thank you. Okay. So to provide additional detail on the transfers out category, this slide summarizes how general fund resources are being allocated to support other program services and long-term obligations. So the largest transfer is to parks at approximately 7.47 million, representing 49.4% of all general fund transfers. This reflects the significant level of general fund support required to maintain parks and recreation programs, community services and cultural amenities through the city. The second largest transfer is the library operations at approximately 1.5 million or 12.9% of total transfers. The library continues to rely heavily on general fund support to maintain current service levels and programming. Debt service accounts for approximately 1.6 million or 10%. And again, that goes to our general fund bond debt. The general fund also transfers approximately 1.1 million for the streets maintenance of effort requirement. This contribution is necessary to remain eligible for regional transportation funding. Community development support totals 165,000, and that includes support for one position in their department. And then finally, $100,000 is transferred to support downtown streets maintenance. This funding helps maintain the appearance and functionality of the downtown area. And this is funded by the revenues associated to the solid waste contract. in total the general fund is transferring approximately 15.1 million to support these services programs and obligations and then these transfers demonstrate the extent to which the general fund supports city operations beyond direct departmental expenditures and highlight the significant ongoing commitments funded by general fund revenues can i ask what uh for parks I can't find it in the budget book is there anything how much of that is measure l funding, oh, it is on a slide coming I know okay okay for the slide Thank you all right, so I don't have to skip ahead and or that's not me but olivia we will get there. Thank you. Okay, so now we will move into the individual department budget overviews. After each department slide, we'll stop to give council opportunity to ask the department representatives any questions on their individual budgets and planned operations. We'll start with our largest general fund budget department, the Lodi Police Department. This slide compares the police department's fiscal year 27 proposed expenditure budget to the fiscal year 26 revised budget. Overall expenditures are projected at approximately 36.3 million, which is essentially flat year over year, decreasing by approximately 36,000 or less than 1%. While salaries, benefits, retirement costs, and medical insurance continue to increase due to existing labor agreements and benefit obligations, these increases were largely offset by budget balancing measures implemented throughout the department. These measures include reduction in overtime, deferred equipment purchases, reductions in training and conference expenditures, and the elimination of or postponement of certain technology and vehicle replacement funding. The proposed budget maintains the department's current staffing and service levels, but does not include any new positions or expanded service capacity. So overall, the police budget reflects the city's effort to preserve core public safety services while addressing broader fiscal challenges facing the general fund. So then turning to their revenues, the police permit is projected to generate approximately 1.22 million in revenue during fiscal year 27, an increase of about 16,000 compared to the fiscal year 26. revised budget the department's revenues are derived primarily from the contract with lodi unified school resources officers licenses and permits animal service fees false alarm fees police service reimbursements and various other charges for services so the year-over-year increase is relatively modest and the vast majority of its operations continue to be funded by general fund revenues So this slide highlights the reductions made within the police department budget as part of the city's overall effort to balance the general fund. The largest reduction you'll see on these lists is was approximately 6.68 thousand from vehicle and equipment replacement funding. Additional reductions included approximately $338,000 in part-time staffing, $175,000 for radios and drones, $125,000 for axon, in-car, and body camera replacements. And those actually were additional to that they have the body cameras. 50,000 in conference expenditures, 49 in specialized training equipment, and approximately 47,000 in overtime. This slide demonstrates the difficult choices departments were required to make in order to help close the general fund deficit while continuing to provide essential services to the community. So although no new general fund positions are recommended in the proposed fiscal year 27 budget, the police department identified several staffing requests that it believed or believes are necessary to meet growing operational demands. The department also requested the conversion of several part-time positions to full-time status. These requests were largely driven by increasing workloads and anticipated operational demands associated with the new animal shelter. In addition, the department proposed several position reclassifications. These requests were intended to better align classifications with assigned duties, improve organizational efficiency, and support succession planning efforts. So with that, Chief Garcia is here to answer any questions that council may have regarding the police budget.

Any council questions?

Yeah, I'll have, since the chief is here. Oh, there you are. Thank you. On the issue of overtime and part-time, that's got to be a little hard to estimate, given you never know what you're going to have to be dealing with over the next year. So the fact that you reduced overtime, and then tell me a little bit more about the $338,000 in part-time. What are you losing with that?

Sure. So when you look at overtime, you're correct. We can't gauge a lot of our overtime. What we can is what probably hurts us the most is our community engagement. Most of that is done on overtime, but they're planned. And that's what we're having to reduce. Um, so our community outreach and um, you know, those positive contacts we're making, I'd like to refer to that as our community deposits are in the community bank deposits. It takes a lot of those little deposits and all it takes is one bad one and completely wipes you out. So that is something we It's our culture. We're built into going out and being a part of the community because every time you call the police, typically it's not a good day, it's not a good interaction. So we have to make those commitments to go out and be a part of those community events. We did a lot more this year. I mean, I could think of something new we did where our bike officers joined a bunch of little kids on like a bike expo and a bike ride, something we did and something new. However, those are some programs we're going to have to cut this year just due to the fact that that's something we could plan for.

So what's your part-time number that you're cutting?

So part-time is a little different. Those are, we're cutting back our part-time hours. That's our annuitants, our CSOs that help supplement our existing full-time staff. And the other, when you talk about part-time, we have a lot of retired captains, lieutenants, top-step officers that have come back and retired annuitants, and we're just looking to compensate them close to the rate that their experience and tenure would essentially relate to that we could. So we pay them at step zero, which is the step zero of the officer pay. But we were just trying to compensate them for their expertise and what they bring to our department, especially being so young.

Does this mean that, well, the Youth Citizens Academy is in this year's budget, not next year's. Are you going to be able to not do a Citizens Academy next year?

No, that is the youth academy that we're actually doing in June next week. That is something we've tried so hard to get going. So it's one of those things that we'll prioritize, but we just won't be able to do some of the other engagements we do. But those are some of those decisions that we have to make on what can we do, what can't. And you're correct in the fact that when there's a critical incident or a swap call out or court overtime, Those are the unknowns, but again, the ones we can plan for is where we're making those cuts.

OK. I appreciate that. I'm sorry to see that we're going to see some reduction in community outreach, because I think that's really critical and much appreciated by the community. So thank you. Thank you, Chief.

Any more comments from council? I have one question about what is RTIC?

So that is the real time information center, the one you, I believe you visited Modesto and Elk Grove. And that is something we've been trying to bring to Lodi to help essentially provide more safety, provide some more technology would help supplement, not replace, but again, to make our response times faster to ensure officers are getting updated information, but also if there is a natural disaster or other, we can utilize it for other information, not just police-related events.

I think one of the comments, somebody was asking about the comments they presented from the public. So can we explore maybe grants from some agencies that can help us fund this in the future?

Yeah, actually we are exploring a grant. When we made the decision to cut this, we pivoted to a grant. What it won't give us is the staffing to staff it. And that is where we'll have to use some of our part-time budget to at least get it going and hopefully

um see the benefits and be able to present to you later on on why it's necessary okay no thank you and thank you city manager for i know cats are very difficult but thank you for you know prioritize what is important for the community for having this budget balance that's all my comments if i can just clarify something chief do we have a second um clo we have it budgeted um i could break down i was just doing the numbers so

We have it budgeted. Right now, we are 77 out of 81 sworn officers with enough in the background to get to 81, which is our allotted number. Out of those 77, that's six in the academy due to graduate in September. four in the FTO program. And like I've shared before, out of, I don't know, at any given moment, 10% of our staff is out on some type of leave. So that brings that number down to about maybe 60 working officers at this time. So as we continue to hire and get people out, on the streets, we will be able to fill that second CLO position. Right now, we're actually having to pull our CLO back to help train. And that's just the needs of the department. But we fill those gaps with overtime. So we still have our top teams that go out and help address some of those growing issues so it doesn't balloon or get out of hand. But we do have other ways to supplement that.

Thank you.

Okay, we can continue.

Okay. So now we're turning to the Fire Department expenditures. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately $21.6 million, an increase of $1.45 million compared to fiscal year 26 revised budget. The largest increase is in salaries and benefits, which are projected to increase by approximately $2 million. This increase is primarily attributed to the MOUs, rising CalPERS costs, increased medical benefits, and budgeting of the department at full staffing. Supplies and services are decreasing by approximately $411,000 as a result of budget balancing measures. Insurance costs are increasing by $91,000 and that's for liability insurances. Operating transfers out are decreasing by approximately 170,000 due to primarily to reductions in replacement fund contributions as part of the city's budget balancing strategy. Equipment purchases are also reduced by approximately $50,000 compared to the revised fiscal year 26 budget. So this slide highlights the reductions made within the fire department as part of the city's overall effort to balance the general fund. The most significant reduction was the elimination of funding above straight line depreciation for vehicle replacement, along with the elimination of the fire equipment replacement contribution. Together these reductions totaled $1.64 million and represent the largest share of the department budget reductions. Additional reductions include approximately 141,000 miscellaneous contract services, 62 in training and education, 41,000 in small tools and equipment, 30,000 in professional services, and 22,000 in contract services. Other reductions include safety equipment, fuel, medical supplies, communication equipment repairs, conference attendance, employee recognition, and various other operational expenditures. so these reductions were identified by the department leadership in an effort to minimize impacts on frontline emergency response services while contributing to the city's budget balancing efforts however many of these reductions represent deferred investments in training equipment replacement maintenance and other operational support The Fire Department submitted two new position requests that are not included in the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. The first request is for a fire inspector position. This position was intended to support increasing demands related to fire prevention, inspections, code enforcement, plan review activities, and development related services. The second request is for a deputy chief of administrative of administration position. This position was proposed to provide executive level oversight of administrative functions including budgeting, personnel management, strategic planning, accreditation efforts, grant administration, and other organizational responsibilities that continue to increase in complexity. While neither position is recommended in the fiscal year 27 budget, both requests reflect operational needs identified by the department leadership and are intended to support long-term organizational effectiveness and service delivery. So with that, Chief Johnson is in the, oh, there he is, is in the audience if council has any questions.

Any council comments? Councilwoman Gregg.

Chief, tell me what the contracted services are that you're cutting out.

Mayor Mrakas, So you'll see that listed there twice and we break down our budget to an administrative function of the budget and a suppression side of the budget. Mayor Mrakas, And so the 22,000 or miscellaneous contract on their admin services was more of our abatement work our board up work after structure fires are we debating contracts that we would we would employ someone to go abate a field if we didn't have. Mayor Mrakas, Compliance issues there and then work towards a reimbursements for those services that are provided. On the opposite column, you'll see the mislaid contract services for 141,900. That actually was more of an easier concession for us because we actually saw that relief in our dispatch costs from the Stockton Regional Dispatch Center. The formation of the SEN-CAL group and bringing all those bodies back to the dispatch center, actually, that was the reduction in our dispatch costs. And so that would be a net positive from the SEN-CAL perspective, but a budget reduction from the line here.

OK. That's all the comments? OK. So we can continue.

OK. So turning to the administrative services, the proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately $9.3 million, an increase of $404,000 compared to the fiscal year 26 revised budget. Salaries and benefits are increasing by approximately $598,000, and this increase is primarily attributed to adding a full-time administrative service director position and MOU updates. And we're happy she's here. Supplies and services are decreasing by approximately 320,000. The largest contributor to this reduction is the elimination of convenience fees in our revenue division. Insurance costs are increasing by 91,000, and that's our liability insurances. And then operating transfers out are increasing by approximately 36,000 due to computer replacement contributions and then the computer refresh. So this slide highlights the reductions made within administrative services as part of the city's overall efforts to balance the general fund. The largest reduction was the elimination of convenience fees resulting in savings of approximately 280,000. Additional reductions included 20,000 in postage, 14,000 in overtime, 8,000 in office supplies, 8,000 in small tools and equipment, and 7,000 in conference and training expenditures. So the administrative service director, Jamie Bandy is here and the other admin services division managers. So if you have any questions, let us know.

Where are you staffing in all of your various divisions right now? Are you at full staffing in each one or not?

I believe for HR, we have the one vacancy we had. That person is going to be joining us at the end of the month. Our utility billing, I believe we have one outstanding. And then the rest of the groups, I believe, are fully staffed.

OK. So the budget includes those positions not yet filled, but to be filled. OK. Correct. All right. Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much. Let's continue.

Okay. Public works. Public works general fund operations are proposed. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately 5.3 million, a decrease of 300,000 compared to the fiscal year 26 revised budget. This department accounts for the general fund budget, revenue and expense chain. Department decrease accounts for the general fund budget revenue and expense change since the draft budget book was published. So this is what I mentioned in one of the first slides. This change is the reassignment of the public works management analyst position from the general fund to water and wastewater funds. The adjustment better aligns personnel costs with the funds that receive the majority of the position support and services. As a result, both the positions based salary and the reclassification related costs have been removed from the general fund budget and offsetting fund balance allocation was decreased. There is also an increase in personal transfer recovery from enterprise funds and engineering and facilities. So that is also why the delta is so high in salary and benefits. So overall, the Public Works General Fund budget reflects the city's effort to maintain essential administrative engineering facilities and solid waste services while aligning their operations accurately to reflect the true impact on the general fund. Public works general fund revenues are projected approximately 734,000 for fiscal year 27 an increase of about 43,000 compared to fiscal year 26 this is primarily an increase in engineering inspection fees. So the next slide highlights the major budget balancing measures implemented within the public works department. The most significant reduction was obviously the facility maintenance fund, which would have required approximately 2.7 million in general fund support. And as I mentioned, the reassignment of the public works management analyst position to the water and wastewater funds. And finally, approximately 170,000 in convenience fees was eliminated from public works. So while no new public works positions are recommended for the proposed fiscal year 27 budget, the department identified several staffing needs that support operational efficiency, infrastructure maintenance, and the city's strategic plan objectives. The department requested new positions, including an assistant associate civil engineer, facilities manager, and an engineering technician, one, two. These positions were intended to address increasing workloads associated with capital projects, development review, facility maintenance, responsibilities, and engineering services. The department also requested a reclassification of an engineering technician II position to a senior engineering technician. So unlike the new position request, staff is recommending approval of this classification. The proposed change better aligns the classification with the duties currently being performed. And it recognizes the increased level of responsibility assigned to the position and the person that's occupying it. And it supports the session planning within the engineering division. So while the new position requests are not recommended due to the general fund constraints, the reclassification request is recommended because it addresses organizational needs without expanding staffing levels and helps ensure the position remains appropriately classified. the increase is approximately six thousand dollars and if human and human resources will determine if the position actually qualifies for this reclassification and the upgrade would become effective july 1st of 2026. so with that interim public works director sean nathan is here to answer any questions from council councilwoman correct

2.7 million facility maintenance fund what gives you the most heartburn about what you can't maintain lots of things mostly it's unknown stuff it's stuff that's kind of a similar ass last year and it was kind of a similar result and the biggest ticket item on that is a new roof for the police department which is estimated to be a little over 1.4 million and You know, it's based on useful life and useful life and our roofs in general are inspected and recommendations are made based on that. But you know, when your roof is good, it's good until it's not good. And then you have leaks and then you have mold. You have to relocate people, especially at a facility that's 24 seven. That becomes really problematic. So out of that 2.7, that would be the main one. But we also have roofs in here. We have air conditioning units, heaters. We have sewage pump stations that, you know, make sure our facilities have toilets that work. So it's a lot of things, hence the big dollar amount, but the biggest one to answer your question would be the PD roof.

Okay. And what's your price tag on the PD roof?

That was a little over 1.4.

1.4. And what's the age of it right now? How far is it over its life?

Well, that would have been with the original building, so 2001. So it's at year 25 of probably a 30-year roof. And the replacement year on that specifically wasn't as much on life as it was. We have a roof company that comes and inspects all our roofs in the whole city and makes a recommendation on replacement year. And that recommendation for that was 2025.

OK, that's where you are.

And we do plan on having them come through and doing an update in the near future.

Do we have warranties on any of the roofs the contractors give them?

We do for a certain amount of time. By the time they hit our, what we really need, they're beyond the warranty period, usually.

Are we able to get the warranty period just for future reference? Again, sometimes you wonder if the information you're getting is accurate or not. But when we did do the Hudson Street Square roof, I had heard after the fact that there's still a few years left on the warranty. Anyways, just telling you what I hear.

Any specific one you want to know, we can find out what it was for that specific product. Sometimes if it's like a patch or a short-term one, that's going to have a reduced warranty than the standard ones. But we have all that documentation when they go in.

Well, in the roof we're talking about tonight, and then if there is an industry standard, it would be nice to know that.

yeah the industry it varies by type some of ours are you know clay shingles some are comp roof so some of it depends but specific ones we can provide that if you want to know that would be great thank you

I would be interested on the HVAC. Have we done a full assessment of all of our HVAC systems and know what years of replacement need to be? I mean, I'm familiar with this enough to know that they'll probably have a lot more replacement. I mean, we had the item tonight that we're anticipating replacements.

So two years ago, we went around to every, we'll call it general fund facility. We did other ones too, but that's what we focused on. And we looked at all the big ticket items, anything that we thought would be five to 10,000 or more. And we, visually looked at them and said based on what we're looking at with our facility staff based on how much this individual item has given us problems we think it needs to be replaced in this year and we took that and we built a what we call facility maintenance plan of all our facilities and that's where our cumulative recommended budget number for each year comes from is that that inspection of all those facilities so

All right, so next item.

Okay, this slide summarizes the combined budgets for the city attorney and risk management functions. The proposed fiscal year 2017 budget is approximately $1.54 million, an increase of $19,000. Salaries and benefits are projected to decrease slightly by approximately 16,000. This is due to an employee opting out of deferred compensation contribution and lower medical premiums for another due to dependence. Supplies and services are increasing by approximately 21,000. Insurance costs are increasing by approximately 11,000 and operating transfers out are increasing by 3,400. And that's due to the computer replacement and refresh costs. Overall, the budget remains relatively flat from mid year and continues to support the legal risk management claims administration and compliance functions. That are critical to protecting the city's financial and operational interests so with that, if you have any questions I know city attorneys here to answer those.

So question, um, you are an outside, uh, person, right? So it's good that we have people from the outside so they can look at how things are run. How much do we spend percentage-wise on outside cancer over the last, like, two years?

No, that's a good question. Um, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but one of the things that, um, is telling is that the litigation that the city's engaged in appears to be at a rather low level. I was actually kind of surprised at how few actively litigated cases we have. And so I think when you look at it overall, it's probably at a very healthy level. There are some indications that the use of advisory council was quite high. However, that is always a circumstances related expenditure. Some years are going to be far more busy than others. And so it's hard for me to make a judgment because every year the circumstances are different. The challenges are different. But I don't see anything that's out of line. That's for certain.

Just to follow on to that. We don't have any funds, at least I can't see them here, for contracted outside legal counsel services.

Well, there was funds in the budget for that.

So it's just...

some of those expenses actually sit in the non-departmental since it and it gets cost like not only does it get cost allocated um but it it obviously all those expenses kind of hit everyone in the general fund and whether it's in the non-departmental correct all right that's all i need your comments see none let's continue All right. So turning to the city clerk's office, the proposed fiscal year 27 budget is $804,000. And that is an increase of $149,000 compared to fiscal year 26. Salaries and benefits are increasing by $64,000. Supplies and services are increasing by approximately $79,000. And the primary driver of this increase is the upcoming municipal election cycle and the associated costs for election administration, public noticing requirements, records management, and other statutory responsibilities managed by the city clerk's office. Insurance costs are increasing by 4,800. And that has to do with the liability insurances. And then the transfers out are increasing slightly because there is computer replacement and network refresh in their department. So City Clerk Olivia Nashed is here to answer any questions about the City Clerk's budget.

Any comments?

When's your deputy gonna, are you gonna have a deputy? Because you haven't, it's budgeted, I'm assuming for a deputy again, right? For the assistant. For an assistant. Yes. Okay. All right. And then is Pam still with you?

Mm-hmm. That's part of the increase to the salary is to make sure there's funding for her to continue on even when the assistant position is filled.

Okay. So because she's an annuitant, she's got that same 960 hours. Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. No more question. Okay.

Now the city manager's office. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately 904,000, a decrease of 529,000 compared to fiscal year 26. The largest decrease is within salary and benefits, which are projected to decline by 355,000. This reduction is primarily attributed to staffing salary and benefit moves to economic development and public information organizations for the better oversight and transparencies of these divisions. So supplies and services are decreasing by approximately 150,000. The majority of this reduction is related to one time professional services and consulting contracts that were budgeting budgeted in fiscal year 26. Oh, and also the move of expenses to the public information organization and some expense moves to economic development, but a lot of those were already in there in fiscal year 26. So insurance costs are actually decreasing because those are moving out also to a PIO and economic development organization. And transfers out are increasing slightly, and that's just timing of computer replacement in the city manager's office. So with that, City Manager Aaron Bush is here if you have any questions or we can, we're here as well.

So when did you move? So what was the changes that happened?

So we essentially took the public information office and economic development out of that, but primarily the public information office to give them their own identity for their budget because of the work that they do. So admittedly, it looks like we're taking a big hit for the team, but in all honesty, we're moving some of that over to the next public budget that you'll see, which is public information.

Okay. So next we're going over economic development. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately $443,000, a decrease of $43,000 compared to fiscal year 26 revised. Salaries and benefits are increasing by $195,000 and that's because we're moving the economic development director into his own organization and out of the city manager's budget. Supplies and services are decreasing by approximately 239,000 and this is a little misleading because. The he actually had a personal transfer into the city manager's office which again isn't a great way for oversight and transparency in the budget, which is why he is moving in his into his own organization. So that 239 part of that is that personnel transfer that was there in previous years. So with that, the Economic Development Director, Mr. Aguilar, is here to answer any questions regarding his budget.

I don't see questions, so we'll continue.

All right. Now public information, and this is a new they don't have any history, because it's a new organization for this year and again pulling it out of the city managers budget. So their full budget is 423,000 the largest portion is supplies and services at approximately 265,000. And these expenditures support Community outreach efforts public education campaigns communication materials website content. media services, and other tools used to keep residents informed about city programs, projects, and services. The salaries and benefits are approximately 148,000. Again, moved out of the city manager's budget for better oversight and transparency. And then insurance costs are 8,600, and that is basically moving the allocated insurance. And with that, that is the new PIO organization. And Nancy's not here tonight, but if you have any questions. Yes, it is. Yes. OK. So it's contract services.

OK. So was that Bailey? I mean, I don't know.

Yes. And she also has some other social media type agreements for different platforms that she uses for, Social media outreach so Bailey is within that though okay, yes, thank you. All right, now we're in community improvement. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately $505,000, an increase of $14,000 compared to fiscal year 26. Salaries and benefits are increasing by $12,600. Supplies and services are decreasing slightly by $5,400. Insurance costs are rising by $4,800. And there's a small transfer out for the computer replacement funds. Community improvement revenues are budgeted at approximately 42,000 for fiscal year 27, which is unchanged from fiscal year 26. And these revenues are generated through code enforcement fines nuisance abatement fines vendor permits reimbursements for repairs and demolition demolition demolition activities. and other cost recovery fees associated with compliance and enforcement activities so with that I don't know if cynthia's still there cynthia is still here, if you have any questions. On the Community improvement. So now City Council's budget. The proposed fiscal year 27 budget is approximately $385,000, an increase of $26,000 compared to fiscal year 26. Salaries and benefits are increased by approximately $24,000 due to retirement and benefit costs. Supplies and services are increasing slightly by $2,000 due to an increased need in general supplies. And this is an opportunity for council if you have a comment on your own budget, but really not a lot of changes. It is in supplies and services and each district has their own.

Okay, so we'll continue.

All right, so this slide highlights the significant level of support the general fund provides to parks. In fiscal year 27, total general fund and Measure L support for parks is approximately $8.34 million. Of that amount, approximately $7.07 million comes directly from the general fund. $836 is supported by Measure L revenues, and an additional $430 is allocated towards capital improvement and projects. It is also important to note that due to the budget balancing measures, parks did not get out of that. So it was necessary in the fiscal year 27, the parks fund was required to program approximately 530,000 of their capital funding towards operating expenses. So while this approach allows the fund to remain balanced in a short term, it reduces the amount of funding available for future park improvements, facility enhancements, and capital maintenance projects. So if you have any questions for Christina, that's the only slide. I just wanted to go over the support for them for Director Jeremy.

And Janelle may be able to answer this, but you might be able to. 836,000 from Measure L, is that up, down from last year?

You know I'm not sure it's about the same and I actually have it on it, I have that on a table coming up with it, yes, I think we measure all used to just fund capital projects Okay, but now we have started programming operation okay and then the funding from the peaker plant is that a transfer.

in or is that capital?

So the 530 that Janelle was actually talking about is going to be on that. That was part of the capital money that we were going to use that we are now using towards operations. OK. I got it.

so in a perfect world annually we would give them 400 000 contribution from general fund for capital and then on top of that once the peaker plant rent revenue came in we started giving them 560 000 which was an excess amount over and beyond if the council chose to buy the peaker plant out of general fund so unfortunately the she had to or parks had to cut um operational costs so instead of So instead of going line item for line item because she needs her expenses for her operations, she actually cut her capital improvement budget and actually programmed that as operational.

So those funds are flexible. It's up to the city what we're going to do with those monies. Correct. So we can go to operations.

Yes, and it has in the past. OK. All right.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

okay so next is the general fund support to library in fiscal year 26 library will receive approximately 1.95 million in ongoing support this includes approximately 1.6 million in general fund support and approximately 290 000 in measure l funding measure l is also funds a librarian position so the full position in the amount of 123 800 to maintain current service levels and programs. So the 200,000 deficit in the library, it comprises of strategic drawdown of fund balance, which was recommended in the Moss-Adams report, And then this year, the library wanted to program an additional $100,000 from their fund balance for a space planning project. And they're hoping that this $100,000 for the space planning project with rendering will help them raise funds for future improvements at the library.

Yeah, I think we can continue.

All right, so here's the Measure L slide. So it summarizes positions and programs currently funded by Measure L revenues. So for fiscal year 27, Measure L is funding approximately 31.2 full-time equivalent positions at a total personnel cost of approximately 5.4 million. We did have to move four officers from Measure L back into general fund to balance the Measure L budget. All of the remaining positions support a variety of services throughout the organization and represent a significant investment in maintaining service levels. In addition to personnel costs, measure all revenue support a variety of operational services and capital projects through the city. So the total measure all expenditures for fiscal year twenty seven are budgeted at nine point two million. And I see I only have the positions year over year, and I can add a slide to that on the 17th if you'd like the year over year contributions.

That'd be good.

Okay, definitely. Okay, so this slide highlights the Information Systems Computer Replacement and Network Refresh Fund, which is used to ensure that the city's technology infrastructure remains secure, reliable, and up-to-date. The fund is projected to end fiscal year 26 with a balance of 2.03 million. During the fiscal year 27, revenues of approximately 1.25 million will be collected through departmental replacement contributions and technology cost allocations. projected expenditures total 1.03 million and include planned computer replacements, network infrastructure upgrades, cybersecurity improvements, server and storage replacements, and other technology investments necessary to support the city operations. So maintaining adequate reserves within this fund is important because technology replacement cycles can be uneven from year to year, and majority infrastructure projects often require significant one-time investments. The projected ending balance provides flexibility to address future replacement needs while maintaining the liability and security of the city's technology systems. And I know Joe Kasten is here if you have any questions on that. So next is a vehicle replacement fund. This slide summarizes the status of the city's vehicle replacement funds and compares projected fund balances to the long-term replacement funding targets established for each department. So, as discussed earlier in the presentation, one of the budget balancing measures implemented in fiscal year 27 was reducing fire and police replacement contributions to straight line depreciation levels. While this approach helped balance the general fund in a short term, it continues to leave the replacement funds significantly below their long term funding targets. So at the end of fiscal year 27, the combined vehicle replacement funds are projected to have a balance of approximately 2.6 million compared to a calculated funding target of approximately 9.7 million, resulting in an overall funding gap of approximately 7.1 million. So while these funds remain solvent and continue to support planned vehicle replacements, the funding gap highlights one of the city's ongoing structural challenges. Deferred replacement funding can create future pressure on operating budgets as vehicles age, maintenance costs increase, and replacement needs accumulate. Okay, so the next slide summarizes the general fund capital improvement projects proposed for fiscal year 27. So as discussed throughout tonight's presentation, one of the budget balancing measures implemented this year was the elimination of the 2.7 million facility maintenance fund. So as a result of that the general fund capital program has been limited to projects that address critical facility needs operational liability and long term planning efforts. The largest project is the civic Center roof repair at 300,000 this project addresses ongoing facility maintenance needs and helps protect protect one of the city's most important public assets. The budget also includes $100,000 for planning and design work related to future renovations of fire stations one and three. Additional projects include replacement of the Civic Center compressor at $100,000, Carnegie sewer pump replacements of $60,000, and repairs of the City Hall boiler exhaust system at $40,000. So in total, the fiscal year 27 general fund capital includes $600,000. in funding with a transfer of funds of $650,000. So this leaves $50,000 for any overages and project costs or to accumulate for future capital projects. Okay. So now we will move into the review of the city's pension status, starting with the increase of unfunded liability year over year. So in the context of the California public employees retirement system or kelpers and unfunded liability liability refers to the difference between the present value of pension benefits promise to retirees and the assets of kelpers. has available to pay those benefits. So essentially it's the gap between what CalPERS needs to pay out and what it currently has in its coffers. So CalPERS members and their employers contribute to the pension fund and the unfunded liability that is the responsibility of the municipality to cover the shortfall. The unfunded liability year over year is $1,227,000 or a percentage increase of 11.2%. So here is a breakdown analysis of our CalPERS actuarial and our current funding status, including our pension stabilization investment. So our pension stabilization investment is PARS, and the assets are considered alongside the CalPERS assets that we have paid into the UAL. The city's overall pension funding position is improved from 65.4% to approximately 71.6%. This represents a significant improvement in the city's ability to meet its long-term pension obligation and demonstrates the value of setting aside resources specifically for pension cost management. And this does meet the new pension limit, which is the 70% level. So we are 1.6% over that. And this is as of April 30th of 2026. So the remaining slides will cover the five year forecast and then the forecast assumes contribution of continuation of existing operations as presented in the fiscal year 27 budget. It is strictly based on the city's ability to sustain the current level of staffing and operations. So before reviewing the forecast results, I want to briefly discuss the key assumptions used in developing the city's five year financial forecast. So the forecast begins in fiscal year 27, recommend a budget and projects, revenues, expenditures, and fund balances forward through the forecast period. The forecast assumes the city will continue making contributions to critical replacement and capital programs, including parks, capital improvements, network infrastructure replacement, and vehicle replacement funding. Current labor agreements are assumed to remain in effect through their expiration dates of June 30th of 28 or December 31st of 2028. Depending on the bargaining group, future compensation assumptions beyond those dates are based on reasonable estimates and historical trends. Revenue growth is projected to remain relatively modest throughout the forecast period while the city continues to experience development activity and economic growth. The forecast assumes a slower growth environment and does not rely on significant new revenue sources. The forecast also assumes that there are no adverse impacts to the city's unfunded pension liability from future CalPERS methodology changes, actuarial assumption changes, or significant market downturns. So as Council is aware, changes in any of these areas can materially affect future pension costs. So finally, the forecast assumes there's no general fund subsidy for the Access Center either in fiscal year 27 or throughout the forecast period. And any future general fund support for the Access Center operations would have a corresponding impact on the forecast results presented tonight. And then, as with any long term forecast, the purpose is not to predict the future with certainty, but rather to identify potential challenges early and provide a framework for evaluating for future policy decisions. So this is just a list of the mo use, as I mentioned, which is put in consideration in the five year forecast. And then I went over these assumptions in the first session, so I'm gonna go very quickly. These are the five-year forecast assumptions for, and these are covered in the first study session. The overview is that revenue will continue to rise through the forecast period. The fire beer forecast assumptions are projecting the city at 100% fully staffed with 2.5% cost of living increases with per on the out years with purse following that trend. You will ual costs are projected to trend a little higher at 3% in out years. Benefits are projected to increase at 6% per year and operations at 5% based on inflation escalators. So debt follows the actual costs and the transfers which include operational costs of parks and library and increase of 0.5% per year. The proposed revenue for the fiscal year 26 is represented in the second column on this table with projections based on these amounts continuing through fiscal year 2032. You'll note that the revenues exclude 2.8 million in peaker plant rental income, 3.9 million in fund balance budgeted, and revenue excludes ARPA funds. And then this slide summarizes the expenditure assumptions and projected fund balance over the five-year forecast period. The forecast shows that expenditure growth continues to outpace revenue growth throughout the projection period, while annual expenditure growth averages between three and 3.6%. The city's major cost drivers continue to be salaries, pension costs, and employee benefits. Salary costs are projected to increase from approximately 37.3 million in fiscal year 27 to 42.4 million in fiscal year 32. During the same period, the city's CalPERS costs continue to rise significantly with the unfunded accrued liability increasing from approximately 11.2 million to nearly 12.9 million annually. Other employee benefits costs are projected to increase steadily over the forecast term. The forecast assumes continued investments in operations, replacement funding, and transfers necessary to support services, capital maintenance, and long-term infrastructure needs. As discussed earlier, this includes continued contributions to the Vehicle Replacement Fund, network infrastructure replacement, and parks, and the parks capital improvement, and the library. As a result, annual operating deficit grows from approximately 4.3 million in fiscal year 27 to approximately 5.6 million by 2032. So while the city is able to absorb these deficits in the near term through existing reserves and pension stabilization fund, the forecast demonstrates that current expenditure growth is not sustainable through additional revenue growth. expenditure reductions, or a combination of both. The total fund balance line illustrates this challenge. While the City begins the forecast period with a healthy reserve position, continued operating deficits gradually reduce available resources. So under the current assumptions, we will need to use reserves or pension stabilization starting in fiscal year 28. and fund balance is projected to become negative during fiscal year 2031 and continuing to decline in 2032. So the purpose of this forecast is not to suggest that the city will allow reserves to become negative, rather it highlights the importance of addressing structural budget challenges early so the council can make informed policy decisions before those conditions occur.

Janelle, can you go back to the previous slide?

Yes.

Okay, exclusion of the 2.8 million in rental income from the peaker power plant. I'm just wondering if if we start to slot in some of these exclusions. If things look different.

Yes, they will.

Okay. So something I think we need to be thinking about in terms of of how we're looking at that income so that revenue that's coming in so um because it doesn't look good you know for the next few years so anyway just wanted to know yes i know it also excludes the uh access center but i'm working on that so yes yeah i know i'm glad i'm happy for that yeah

Thank you for that clarification. But I think this is important to see how the council needs to act. We need to have a plan for the future for the next decade, not just today for this budget year.

No, I agree. But I think one of the things on the table is the peaker plant revenue. We have to look at what we're planning on doing with that down the road. And that's an asset that has great value. So something we need to look at as part of the solution.

And just so everyone knows, the peaker plan, we will receive our last rental payment on the current terms in March of fiscal year 27. So March of 27 will be the last one under the current terms.

I had a meeting with Mr. Aaron this morning with the Beaker plan as well. I think all council members should have a private meeting with him. All good, but all the same, be something to catch up on.

OK.

So the next slide is pretty much going over the fund balances that you saw from the slide previously. You'll see that the fund balance starts getting used this year, next year, and then we'll start going into having to use economic reserves first and then catastrophic reserves second. Also using the pension stabilization fund depending on, again, future policy changes, new revenue, etc. Okay, so these, this is in the Budget Big Two. So these are our risk and opportunities for the five-year forecast. So the risks that can negatively impact the forecast are obviously a local or regional recession, could slow revenue growth and reduce economic sensitivity, such as sales tax, measure L, and transient occupancy tax. So future labor contracts, which we are in now, and the cities need to remain competitive in later labor markets. So all these only go to 2028. So those negotiations will be coming sooner than later. So the pace of residential and commercial development also remains a key variable as slower development activity could affect both revenue growth and future economic expansion. Additional risks include continued inflationary pressures rising insurance costs and potential charges changes to kelpers actuarial assumptions or investment performance. So, all of which could significantly increase future expenditures and then finally growing Community expectations and new service demands may create pressure to expand programs staffing or service levels beyond what is currently reflected in the forecast. So at the same time, there are several opportunities that can improve the city's long-term financial position, and the recent revenue trends have generally outperformed historical assumptions and may continue to provide additional financial flexibility. Strategic annexation opportunities could expand the city's tax base and create new revenue streams. Continued economic development efforts may generate additional sales tax, property tax, and business activity that exceeds current projections. The city may also realize additional revenues from the Lodi Lake power plant or the peaker plant, which is not included in the forecast. Finally, future revenue enhancement strategies identified by council could provide additional resources to address structural deficits, maintain reserves and support community priorities. So again, as with any long range forecast actual results will depend on a combination of these risks and opportunities. And then in staff will continue to monitor financial conditions and update the forecast annually to ensure Council has the information necessary to make informed decisions. Okay, so that is it for general fund I have one update from the last enterprise and special funds. Do you want to have any questions on general fund or should I just finish these last few slides okay. So as a follow up to the previous budget study session transit has balanced its fiscal year 27 budget by programming additional revenue from its transportation development act allocations. Following council discussion, staff met about negative fund balance and completed a review of available TDA funding sources and identified additional revenues that can be utilized to support transit operations and capital activities. These additional revenues eliminate the previous projected operating deficit and result in a balanced transit budget for fiscal year 27. So the increased revenue from TDA Act funds is in the amount of almost $1.3 million. Of that $1.3 million, capital revenue is increased by $554,000, and operational revenue increased by $741,000. So with that, does council have any additional questions?

CHRIS RODGERS, JR.: Any questions? Seeing none, then we'll go to public comments. Do we have any public comments, city clerk?

Old buildings. There's a risk that we're incurring that keeps coming up in budgets, but is pushing a bow wave in the future, and that is your deferred maintenance. This is really going to hurt you in the future. I pretty much only worked in Fortune 500 companies and we use a ratio of 5X a dollar. You don't spend today on your maintenance will cost you $5 in the future. And it was things like Sean was talking about. You don't spend $10,000 on HVAC unit. You're going to spend $100,000 in molding remediation, right? I've heard it in. Fire. I've heard it in PD. I heard it really loud in parks. I think I saw number $18 million in deferred compensation. This is a huge problem. I think. There's an illusion that says we have a balanced budget. We're good this year. Let's go to next year and then we do the same thing next year and we do the same thing next year. You need to think about deferred. Maintenance as debt that compounds every single year. And you don't see it in the budgets. It's not described in the budgets. You only see a snapshot of that point in time. It's up to you guys, but I would recommend having staff pull that together. As gloomy as this budget is, I think it's optimistic. I think you've got bigger problems in the future.

Thank you for your comment. Do we have anyone else that would like to say none? I will return to cancel.

I'll throw this on the board. We spoke on it this morning. I wasn't going to put it on there, but then I saw opportunities, and it's not on there because it was late. Self-insurance, so you have two different types of self-insurance that the city could look at. This is for future budgets, not this budget, it's too late. Number one are property insurance, catastrophic insurance. I think our deductible's around 500,000 right now. If you increase the deductible, you're gonna lower your premium. We all have auto insurance, all this other stuff, that's how it works. My suggestion would be looking at a $5 million and a $10 million deductible and seeing what the difference in insurance cost would be. I mean, we're paying about $1.52 million a year, I believe, for that coverage. So that's number one. It is leaning towards self-insurance, but you're capping your liability. Second item is health insurance. There's also products out on the market where you can self-insure. Obviously, we would want to get our union's opinions as well, but it could be a better product. And because you're self-insuring, it could save you money in the long run, and it usually does. So these are two suggestions that I gave to Erin, some of our budget staff this morning. Again, it's too late for this fiscal year, but moving forward, those are definitely items we should look into and would love more information on. Thank you.

I would say we did have risk management, I don't know, is it three years ago, do a presentation on our pool that we're part of as part of the self-insured. So it might be good to circle back around and have them do another presentation. I thought we were raising our deductible to a million. We were at 750 and we were raising it to a million at that time. But that was when Janice was here. So that's how long ago it was that we had a presentation on it. So to the councilman's point, maybe we need to get reoriented to where we are in that program.

Any other comments?

Yeah, I think we clearly have to address the revenue issue here. And there's a variety of ways to do that, whether it's through growth and collection of new revenues there. Or something I brought up before is looking at things like cannabis tax, something that's allowed in California. And then also something else that I brought up often is just need for lobbying services as we pursue state and federal dollars. I think we have some good leads in the works at the moment, but these are all important things that I think are additional opportunities.

Just to follow up on that, didn't we budget for that? Didn't we say we put aside $70,000 for lobbying services in this year's budget? I think there was an RFP in the works.

I don't know. Yeah. Yes. You have $70,000 in your budget this year and next year for lobbying services.

OK. Did the RFP go out on that? OK.

I think that'll be a good project for- Top of the list for CARA. Because Elk Grove actually has a lot more.

Yeah, she talked about that today. Yeah. Yeah, so OK.

Thank you. Very good comments. And yes, I always have thought about it. We need to plan for the future. And that's why I've been an advocate of annexation and economic development, because that's the way that we're going to be in growth, simple and clear. So I will always advocate for them. So that's all my comments.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, so that was it for the regular calendar. So the last item of the night is one ordinance, which is to waive the second reading and adopt ordinance number 2047. uh, to enter into a development agreement with Rogers Media Company, um, to install, maintain, operate, and operate electronic message signs on City-owned properties. Um, the public hearing was held on May 6th, and, uh, Council waived the first reading at that public hearing, and so this item is to waive the second hearing and adopt. And I will wait for further action until John has, stepped away.

Yeah, so, uh, city attorney, um, will have to recuse himself, and we will have in place a deputy city attorney.

Mayor and Council at this time, the recommendation is to waive the second reading and adopt ordinance 2047 to enter into a development agreement with Rogers Media Company to install, maintain and operate electronic message sign on city owned properties. And I will turn it over to you.

Okay. Do we have any public comments?

No comment cards.

Okay. Do we have any comments? Seeing none, I will go to Council. Any comments? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve.

And it passes. Seeing no more action on the...