City Council - Regular Meeting

All righty, this is the regular meeting for July 15th, convening at 5.32 PM. Roll call, please.

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

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Hothi.

Here.

And Mayor Upez is absent for the record.

Thank you. C2, announcement of closed session, city attorney?

Yes, you have four matters this evening. Two employment matters under government code section 54957B. The first title is city attorney recruitment. The second is city clerk recruitment and interim city clerk appointment. There are also two litigation matters under government code section 54956.91. The first is Scott Carney versus City of Lodi, case number 003828, and the second is Scott Carney versus City of Lodi, Superior Court case number 0044713.

Thank you. Is there any public comment on the closed session? Seeing none, I'll adjourn the closed session at 5.33 p.m. OK, we're going to return from closed session at 7.04 PM. City Attorney, any readout? No matters to report this evening. Thank you. First, we have our invocation, or call to civic responsibility, Chaplain Matt Lew.

Good evening. Heavenly Father, this evening we pray for our nation, state, city, and civic leaders. We lift them before you asking for your covering hands for wisdom and strength during this meeting. Grant them wisdom in the decisions they make in governing us. Surround them with your protection and remind them that their work is noble and deeply valued. May they always know that they're never alone as they make decisions to governing us. In your holy name we pray, amen.

Amen, thank you. You'll join me for the flag salute.

Ready, salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

so this is the regular meeting for July 15th convening at 7 0 6 PM roll call please council member Bregman council member Nakanishi council member Craig Hensley and Mayor Pro Tem Hothi here thank you thank you are we doing the Junior Giants recognition am I missing a resolution OK, so here to accept the recognition for Junior Giants, we have Deputy Director Emerson Yellen and the Junior Giants. If you wanted to just come up to the podium as I read this out here. Whereas the Lodi Junior Giants provides free baseball and softball opportunities that encourage youth to develop confidence, leadership, teamwork, integrity, and healthy lifestyles while ensuring that every child has the opportunity to participate regardless of financial circumstances. Whereas the Junior Giants is the nation's largest free non-competitive youth baseball and softball program serving more than 24,000 young people annually throughout California, Oregon, Nevada, through the support, sport, of support of the San Francisco Giants Community Foundation, whereas the Lodi Junior Giants has grown into one of the largest Junior Giants leagues in the entire program and in 2026 provides, proudly serves 563 players on 36 teams made possible through the dedication of more than 50 volunteer coaches and volunteers, as well as three Junior Giant ambassadors serving through AmeriCorps program who work alongside the City of Lodi Parks and Rec Department. Whereas in 2026, the Lodi Junior Giants program reached another milestone by becoming one of the inaugural communities selected to offer a special dedicated Special Olympics division through partnership with Lodi Junior Giants and Special Olympics Northern California, creating new opportunities for athletes and intellectual disabilities that participate, build friendships, develop skills, experience the joy of being part of the team. Whereas the success of Lodi Junior Giants would not be possible without the dedication of volunteer coaches, team parents, city staff, community partners, and families whose service creates lasting memories and positive experiences for local youth. Now, therefore, be it. proclaim that the City of Lodi does hereby recognize and celebrate the Lodi Junior Giants and extends sincere appreciation to all players, volunteers, coaches, families, and supporters for their commitment to enriching the lives of Lodi youth and strengthening our community to the power of play, inclusion, and service signed this 15th day of July 2026.

Yeah, you're right, thank you.

Next, we have a presentation of the certificate of appreciation or outgoing city clerk, Olivia Nashed. This is her last council meeting with us. Olivia, I remember vividly sitting on your interview panel back in 2022, and you've always been a very bright spot as far as our city staff is concerned. I always enjoyed my interactions with you, and I think I speak for the entire council when I say that. So I'll just go ahead and read off your recognition here. The Office of the Municipal Clerk is one of the oldest offices in public service and serves as the professional link between the governing body, city departments, elected officials, and residents. We thank and appreciate Olivia Neshed for the outstanding dedication and professionalism she has demonstrated in support of the City of Lodi over the past four years. Her commitment to the City of Lodi and her unwavering integrity have been invaluable and reflect her exceptional character as Lodi City Clerk and Custodian of the City Seal. The City Council staff and community extend our sincere gratitude for her resilience and devotion to the mission of good governance. Her leadership has made a lasting and meaningful difference in the City of Lodi signed this 15th day of July 2026.

Just a thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Hothi, Council Member Bregman, Council Member Nakanishi, Council Member Craig Hemsley for the last really memorable four years. but I also want to thank the city staff. I know they've all gone home for the evening but I just want to say a very sincere thank you. I know they serve the city not only with their skills but also with their hearts. I've seen dedication, I've seen resilience, I've seen commitment to serving the city with the best customer service that they can provide. They have taught me so much in the last four years and I will take those lessons with me on my next adventure, so thank you.

All right, one, two, three. One, two, three.

I'm gonna comment because I worked so closely with you and Maria when I was serving as mayor and you know it's it's not fully in your job description you know how you serve council but I will say You have always been there when I asked for something, and I didn't ask for small things. Create a grant program for us, Olivia, okay? I want to fill 47 seats on boards and commissions, Olivia. You took on my calendar when I was mayor, and that's not an easy task, as you understand, in my multiple jobs. So trying to fit in appointments and meetings with constituents and meetings with staff. You did a phenomenal job. You've re-org that department and I think we are set well to go into our next few years with a very strong set of guiding principles for that department and I just know we're gonna miss you and you're irreplaceable. but I get to see you. At least I get to talk with Mayor Marshawn since he sits on my rail commission and I'll give him heck about the fact that he stole you away from us. So thank you for all of your service to our city.

Olivia, thank you very much for your resilience and your patience with me and the rest of the council. We appreciate your time to the city and again, Working for the city of Lodi is more than just a job for you and I realize that and I recognize that and I think everyone else in the room knows that. You only can be good at your job if you have to do it, but you can be great at your job if you love it and you absolutely love it and the city loves you too. So thank you very much and best of luck to you in your endeavors. Thank you.

A lot of time, right? And you're one of the best, I must tell you that. You come to your office, you have a smile on your face, you make people feel good, and you've done so much for me. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Madam City Clerk, for one last time, can you present the consent calendar?

Our consent calendar tonight, while it's very few items, there was a lot of minutes, I am proud to say. So shout out to Pam Ferris for all the minutes that she prepared. So we have items C1 to C3. There are no changes, so we submit it to council for your review and approval.

I believe yeah, I'm I'm only pulling c1 for just some additional comment. Thank you for Providing a comprehensive list of of the back minutes and just as a note I've spoken city manager is going to take a look at these Oftentimes there's action items in the minutes that we remind our own selves when we read the minutes about and kudos to our city manager who is going to take those on and actually continue to crafting a list of items pending for response to council items completed for response to council so that we'll understand that these items have been taken care of so thank you very much for putting that all together for us okay comments seeing none but any members of the public like to pull an item the consent calendar saying none entertain a motion Move to approve consent calendar.

Second.

And before I put up the results for the purposes of tonight's meeting, the vote that's for Ramon Yepez is actually Mayor Pro Tem Hothi.

Motion passes. Next comments by the public on non agenda items. Do we have any comments?

Yes, I do have three comment cards for tonight. The first one I have is from Travis Castle.

Thank you for having me. So I'm Travis Castle and I'm the founder of the Path to Humanity. We've been running a discount card program this spring and the beneficiaries are going to be receiving their checks. So the discount card, you scan a QR code, you have access to thousands of discounts throughout the state of California. And as you see in your packet, we have copies of the checks that are distributed to the beneficiaries. So what happens is the third-party vendor takes $7 per card. The remainder goes to nonprofits, as you can see here. And we'll start with the first beneficiary, which is OMI. So it was a real big privilege to be able to support them. They run the access center and they do a lot of really good work for us and for the city and it's an absolute honor to present this to them. And the other beneficiary is the Salvation Army, which is, they speak for themselves, a international powerhouse. For the one that's back there, benefits the Salvation Army directly. And you can see the financial breakdown. And there are flyers in the back of the room. And thank you for your time. With God and the power of this community, we can make the impossible routine. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Castle and the path to humanity for your generous contributions. Appreciate it. Next public comment.

Joseph McBride.

Well, good evening. Thank you for having me. My name is Captain Joseph McBride. I've actually been in this community for about two weeks now. I'm the new Corps officer for the Salvation Army Lodi Corps. My wife and I have been appointed to this location. It's been the first year back to our home division. We've served in the Del Oro Division before, and so we've been in Oregon for the last nine years, and so it's a privilege to be back closer to family, closer to home, but also to be able to serve in the city of Lodi We are excited for what is going to take place here. And we continue to ask for God's guidance as we continue to serve through the ministry and the vehicle of the Salvation Army. Am I nervous? Yes. But at the same time, we know that God is going to do some amazing things. And we're just excited to come alongside our community and to make the best impact as much as possible with our leadership. And we hope that in time, we can look back and see a love footprint and what we can accomplish here. So thank you for having me. If you're wanting to stop by and visit, you know where we're located, and I'd love to meet with you and take some time to really get to know you as well as you get to know me. Thank you very much for having me.

Thank you. Welcome to Lodi.

And the last comment card I have is from Alex Aliferis.

Hello, everybody. I want to bring awareness to an issue on East Locust Street. On the cross streets of Central, Garfield, Washington, and well, probably Stockton, I think. But there's been nasty accidents, especially in front of my house, because People on Garfield are trying to take a left turn, and then you have speeders on East Locust. There was a nasty accident. I mean, there were two cars that got into a nasty accident near my house on a corner, and they nearly damaged the neighbor across the street. It went on the sidewalk. I mean, just imagine if... And there's a lot of kids that play around there with their scooters and all that. Just imagine if there was a kid right there. That kid would have been dead now or even, you know, severely injured. And there's been, I could just go on and on. There needs to be a four-way stop signs on East Locust Street because they're speeding down there. Then with all these cars parked, you cannot see when you're trying to take a left or a right turn because you have to... go beyond the white line and also in downtown on West Locust Street and Sacramento Street right by five windows You need a four way stop. Because I remember telling the past couple years ago to the city that there needed to be a stop sign on School Street and West Locust Street and they finally put like a four way stop instead of having a two way stop. Yeah, it's just it's just getting out of control. There may be more accidents down the line. I also want to bring awareness of two propositions that citizens ought to vote yes. Very few times that you should vote yes. Yes, I'm Prop 43, and yes, I'm Prop 39. And I think 43 is regarding we need a voter ID in our elections. And by the way, for those of you who don't know, in 1998, the state of California removed voter ID. So we've had a history of voter ID in California. And those that say, oh, everyone has an ID. To board an airplane, you need ID. To go on the train, to buy tickets online, you gotta have an ID. Buy alcohol, marijuana, you need ID. To buy cigarettes, you need ID. To go to a nightclub or to a bar to get a drink, you need to be 21, show ID. Drive, you should be having an ID. I know that many Californians, you know, are driving on our streets with no driver license and no insurance, and I got hit by one of those guys. And, you know, it's bad enough the guy was illegally in this country. But yeah, vote yes on a voter ID, and then vote yes on saving Prop 13. The state of California wants to erode Prop 13, and over time they've done that. For example, Prop 13, what it does, it sets the property rate at 1% of assessed value. It restricts annual increases of assessed value not to exceed 2% per year. It establishes property value for tax purposes at its purchase price and requires reassessment upon change of ownership. It requires that local special tax increases be approved by voters with a two-thirds vote, including parcel taxes. And it requires that state tax increases be approved by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature, and as you all know, Most of these propositions, they put on the ballot. It's all about tax increases, and I could go on. I mean, I got a couple seconds here. You guys wanna know how bad it is in California, and these are stuff that I pulled 10 years ago. We have the highest individual income tax of all the 50 states. We have the high California corporate tax. California has the highest sales tax, and Governor Newsom actually increased it to 11.25%. We have the second highest gas tax in the state. Of course, we're probably number one. California has the top two highest unemployment rates in the nation. We're worst in the nation for job creation. And California is one of the five worst states for retirees to live. Everyone wants to go to Idaho, Florida. Yeah, Republican states, Texas, Nevada. So yeah, we got a lot of stuff going.

Would any other members of the public like to make a comment? Seeing none, council comments on agenda?

Just a couple of things. I attended this past week, last week, two rail commission activities, one was the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission meeting and pertinent to Lodi out of that is that the Rail Commission has applied for a Chrissy grant to fund the design and planning for the Lodi station the West Lodi station so off Kettleman so whereas that project had taken a pause for a while, it's now back in the run of activities for the Rail Commission, so that's one thing. The next day we did a ribbon cutting for basically a pedestrian, bike, bus, multimodal, as well as landscape improvements, sidewalk improvements, street improvements. on the Channel Street project at Stockton. And the reason I bring that up was because of the relevance to our efforts for our area where we have transit and we're trying to connect Main Street to the rest of downtown. So SJCOG, the San Joaquin Council of Governments worked with the City of Stockton and the Rail Commission to provide funding for that project. I think that that's something I would look forward to our staff researching some more, looking at the options they had for piecing together funding to get that Channel Street projects completed. So just two big things. And then the last thing I'll say is on Friday, July 31st at 11 a.m., the Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring along with the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission ribbon cutting and a passenger appreciation day at our transit center because of the Gold Runner Amtrak line that comes through there around 1130 each day now. So just a few things to be aware of with Lodi. So thank you.

Councilmember Bregman. Yep, got a few updates. So number one, I have a meeting with the Delta Protection Commission tomorrow, which I'm the representative for and current commissioner. We are currently in a lawsuit as well as a few other groups against California to again fight the Delta tunnels. Very glad to be a part of that fight. Of course, it's been a year long process or many year long process. to ensure that that doesn't happen in general. I do have something for the council to consider. For those of you that recognize the name Jack Fiore, Jack was a part of a major fundraising push back in about 2014 to fix up the Great Bowl. There was some buzz around town when he did pass away a few months ago about renaming the entire Great Bowl in his honor. My suggestion is we rename a piece of the Great Bowl after him. such as the bleachers, open it, different ideas on that. But at the time he raised about one point, no, it was, I think it was about $2 million. And we do have a new committee based on helping fixing, to fix up the Great Bowl. But I think it's a great thing to be able to give appreciation to somebody that gave it his all when it comes to a city park. I would love to hear your thoughts on that. Besides that I served the Kiwanis pancake breakfast this last 4th of July. I think we served around 4,000 people. It's actually the largest turnout in our history. Pretty efficient. Our hands were hurting afterwards that's for sure. um but thank you for all those that attended and or helped so that was a great event um but again just wanted to reach out see if council has any opinions over renaming again a piece of the great bowl after jack i like it sounds good to me i know jack i kind of don't know how we'd go through the process and find out if the family for example if they want bleachers named after him or a dedication plaque or

You know, however it would need to be done.

I'll go ahead and reach out and then I'll have them come in council and or send off an email seeing what they would prefer.

Sounds good. Thank you. While we're on the topic of naming things, Councilmember Craig and I had the opportunity to go to John Ledbetter's funeral last week, and I did suggest to one of the family members with the Access Center new facility potentially opening, or soon here, some sort of a naming thing because of John's work in that space.

I think a recognition plaque would be a great thing to incorporate into that Center so yeah great um no further comments from Council uh we'll move next to G1 G1 is a presentation on opportunity zones 2.0 program and I'll turn it over to our economic development director Luis Aguilar for the presentation

Good evening Mayor Pro Temp, Council Members, Elise Aguilar, Economic Development Director. So I have a brief presentation for you tonight on the Opportunity Zones Program. The Opportunity Zones Program was established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage reinvestment of capital gains into economically distressed communities. It offers preferential federal tax treatment for capital gains invested in qualified projects located within these low income census tracts. Eligible projects may include new real estate construction, rehab of vacant or underutilized properties, equity investments in operating businesses, and infrastructure or energy related projects among others. The program was designed to reward long-term patient capital that generates sustained economic growth, job creation and community revitalization in historically underserved areas. So you may recall that there's currently an Opportunity Zone within Lodi, and I'll just refer to this as Census Track 4403 for simplicity. And this census track is bordered by the railroad tracks on the west side, east Lodi Avenue to the north, Kettleman Lane to the south, and Central Avenue to the east. To date, there has been no Opportunity Zone investment in this census track. So the program was originally scheduled to sunset later this year with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act In 2025, the program is now a permanent part of the federal tax code. As part of this legislation, a new round of Opportunity Zones, census tract designations referred to as Opportunity Zones 2.0 will be introduced. So just a little bit of the process, the states will have the ability to nominate a new map, send that to the Treasury, and then Treasury certifies the nominations and the maps take effect. January 1st of next year. The duration will remain at 10 years, and future updates will be refreshed on the maps every 10 years going forward. So there's new targeting criteria, and governors may designate up to 25% of their state's eligible census tracts. So for California, that is 618 of the 24 100 plus eligible census tracts. To qualify, they must meet a couple of tests, median family income below 70% of the metro average or statewide average, poverty rate of 20% or greater, plus a newly established median family income cap set at 125% of the applicable state or metro median. So with this new criteria, we now have two opportunity zones that are eligible within the Lodi community. And again, I'll refer 4502 and 4403, which is the existing opportunity zone. And this new one actually covers a larger geographic area. Again, it starts at the railroad tracks, then goes all the way east to Guild, and as far as Lockford to the north, and then it's on Lona Avenue to the south. The state has identified certain criteria that they'd like to see for local jurisdictions in their nomination. And those things that the state is looking for is that these census tracts have housing element sites, that they support the RHNA or Regional Housing Needs Assessment goals, that there's shovel-ready sites as defined by the governor's office. that they're located in existing tax increment financing districts that tracks that may support strategic sectors as identified by the state's California Jobs Force blueprint. These include, for example, clean economy, life sciences, manufacturing, healthcare, housing, education and skilled workforce, tourism, and outdoor recreation, to name a few. They're also looking for census tracts that have committed public investment, and that could be local, state, or federal. So with that criteria, we recommended, we brought this recommendation to the Economic Development Ad Hoc Committee. And so our recommendation is to nominate the census tract ending in 4502. And the reason being is because this is, out of the two census tracts eligible, this is the one with the highest poverty rate. It has a larger footprint, which includes a downtown specific plan area, and that's downtown mixed zoning. It includes the Cherokee Lane corridor or parts of it, and that's mixed-use corridor, and as well as an area within the industrial area or zoning. In addition, it has 29 housing element sites, and so that's important for the state criteria. And then it obviously aligns with our economic development efforts. It also would benefit investment in businesses and in certain industry sectors. And again, it aligns with the California Jobs First North San Joaquin Valley Regional Plan, which covers the three counties in the North Valley. As next steps, there is no formal action required from Council, but we did want to bring it to your attention as this is going to be if if if not, if Lodi's census track is nominated, it will be here for the next 10 years. And so there were prepared to submit to the state for, you know, by their deadline of of July. And there will be a public review period, and through that public review period, we're able to submit letters of support. So we've already contacted various organizations like WorkNet, San Joaquin Partnership, Beam Circular, just to name a few, and they're all willing participants for providing letters of support. And with that, I just wanted to bring this to your attention and happy to answer any questions.

Question, council? Yeah. From Craig. Good report. Obviously, this is what we should do. But it says, G2 says, consider adopting a resolution establishing a city council ad hoc committee to advise. Are we going to do that at all?

I think that's the wrong item.

Which item? G1. G1. OK. Sorry. It's the presentation. Yes. This is the right choice. Thank you.

Just a couple questions. The TIF, so we actually have to establish TIF. Is that correct?

It's not a requirement, but that's one of the things that would be favorable. But that's something that in the application that asks if there's an intent so we can.

We can indicate, do we have to indicate the boundaries of the TIF or would it be the entire?

No, I think in a general sense is identifying whether there's interest to establish a TIF. Okay. But then there's a longer process for that because it would involve multiple agencies.

Can you, just for council's benefit, can you explain the TIF? Because that is something that we would need to take a council action on, correct?

So it's basically a designated geographic area where there's a tax increment financing mechanism. And so basically you're utilizing those future increments to fund, to finance infrastructure, for example. And so that's at the very broad sense. But you do have to work with the county because it's going to impact the future tax of the properties.

But I do think it's critical, because again, those areas of the downtown plan that we've been talking about that go over the railroad tracks, infrastructure is an opportunity and a need for that area in order for this opportunity zone to be seen favorably. So there will be that need. On letters of support, County Board of Supervisors, can you get that from them?

Yeah, so I've been working with the County Economic Development Association, so they're obviously in support of this. Okay. All right.

Thank you. Good work.

So we submit the nomination form, and it goes to GO-Biz and their board for approval?

Correct. It goes to GO-Biz, and then there's a public review period, and then the governor's office will then determine which of the eligible nominated census tracts are going to make it on the list for California, and then they submit to the Treasury. for certification. But it is pretty competitive because it's only 25% of the eligible census tract. So our thinking behind, even though we have two, the one that we think has a higher chance of being selected by GOV is the one that has the greater reach in terms of zoning and opportunities and in terms of the housing element sites and the arena. So it checks a lot of the boxes.

OK. Thank you. Do we have any public comments on this item? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion.

Well, there's no, I think it's no formal action taken. Oh, sorry.

Okay. Great. All right. Thank you, Louise. G2.

G2 is to consider adopting resolution establishing a city council ad hoc committee to advise and make recommendations on the request for a proposal for federal and state government relations services and setting committee objectives and tasks. And I will turn it over to our city manager, Kara Reddick, for that report.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and members of the city council. Kara Reddick, city manager. Staff is recommending that the city council create a limited term, limited scope ad hoc committee. to devise on the city's upcoming request for proposal or request for qualification process for federal and state government relations services. This is a different approach that is normally taken. having a city council member review proposals with staff and provide direction on those initial documents. But often when the city is engaging in legislation, city council members are right there at the table. So it's important that any firm selected has a good relationship with our city council members. So I would be looking for two members of the council that would like to serve on this limited committee.

nominate myself and myself we've had this discussion so yeah and maybe we could help with the go biz thing with lobbying once yeah it's going here so um is everybody okay with that yeah fine great okay good choice um just clarify um i know we've written up uh we're being fairly flexible um but you're entertaining the rfq versus the rfp process in this selection process correct

Yes, I think we should, let's keep it flexible and the ad hoc committee can determine if it is a request for proposal or a request for qualifications and then we can go from there. Okay, thank you.

So with those nominations, I need one vote for both members.

I'll make the motion.

Sorry, motion for both members.

I'll make the motion. Any public comment on that? Seeing none, we have a motion from Council Member Bregman.

I have a question. You guys are the right people, but you guys also are part of the Opportunity Zone, too. Is that your district?

This isn't just limited to Opportunity Zones. This is just a larger lobby discussion. I was just saying that it could help with a variety of things, including this whole effort around Opportunity Zones.

It's good. Very good.

And then I need a second. Second. Thank you. Great.

Motion passes. Thank you. G3.

G3 is to adopt a resolution appointing Walford Solorzano as interim city clerk at a rate of $70.41 per hour and approving the corresponding employment agreement. And I'll turn it over to our human resources manager, James Peavy, for that report.

Great. Thank you very much. So effective August 3rd, 2026, the city clerk position will become vacant. And during the permanent city clerk recruitment process, the city would like to appoint a person with specialized skills qualified to fill the city clerk role on an interim basis. The proposed candidate, Walford Soloronzo, has approximately 20 years of public sector experience, was approximately nine years serving in the city clerk's office in the role of either a city clerk, an assistant city clerk, or a deputy city clerk. At its regular meeting on July 1st, 2026, council directed an item to be placed on a city council agenda to consider the appointment of Mr. Soloronzo to interim city clerk for a limited duration. He also desires to accept the appointment as the city's interim city clerk and will be compensated at the rate of $70.41 per hour. He will receive the following basic benefits. Sick leave accrual at the rate of was him also contributing the employee's portion to his CalPERS account.

Some of the location requirements.

The location requirements, does that improve it?

We were asked and directed by council