City Council - Regular Meeting

All righty, I'll go ahead and convene this meeting, this special meeting at 6.19 p.m. Roll call, please.

Council Member Bregman. Not here. Council Member Nakanishi. Here. Council Member Craig Hensley. Here. Mayor Portempore Hothi. Here. And Mayor Yepes. not here we have a quorum uh city clerk will you please introduce the consent calendar so we do have so we do have one item we have adopted resolution accepting and attesting to veracity of 2025 lodi electric utility power source disclosure and at this point um do we want to say anything about the items And there are no public comments?

No public comments. There's no presentation. Okay. It's up to council. Does this require a motion?

Yeah, it would. Do you have a public comment on this item?

No, he's looking for an item. Okay. He's looking for an item.

No, so we have no public comment. Yes, we do have to take a vote.

Yeah, got it. Okay. Any council comments on C1, adopting a resolution accepting and testing veracity of 2025 Lodi Electric Utility Power Source Disclosure?

No. Do you need a motion?

Yep.

Okay. Move to approve.

I need a motion. I'll second. All right.

It passes unanimously with Councilmember Bregman being absent and Mayor Yep as being absent.

Great. Thank you. And if there's nothing else, I'll go ahead and adjourn this special session at 6.20 p.m.

This is the regular meeting for September. So I think I have the wrong ones. The wrong instruction. There's a special meeting. Oh, yeah. So September 16, convening at 6.32 PM. City Clerk, can you please do a roll call?

Councilmember Bregman. Not here yet. Council Member Nakanishi. Here. Council Member Craig Hensley.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tempore Hothi.

Here.

And Mayor Yepes. Here.

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

Yes, we have two items tonight, both presented pursuant to government code section 54956.91. We have the case of Christopher Bennett versus City of Lodi and the case of Cindy Lee Latham versus City of Lodi.

Okay, and so the council is convening to close session at 6.32 p.m.

Who has the proclamations? I'm sorry? The proclamations? Are they with the mayor?

They're usually with the mayor, that's right. Yes, he had them. I saw them in his mail.

The council is returning from closed session at 7 or 8 p.m. City Attorney, do we have any actions to report?

Nothing to report this evening.

Thank you so much. Then first we will start with the invocation. I want to invite Pastor David Gardner to the podium for the invocation.

Sorry, I don't think it's Pastor Jeff.

We have somebody different today. Oh, we have something. I'm sorry. Can you say your name?

Ellen. Okay.

We're recording. We're recording.

My name is Ellen Tanaway, and I'm the co-chair of Breakthrough Project. So I was asked to do the invocation in behalf of Breakthrough.

Okay, thank you so much.

Okay, so on January 30th, 1998, a cross was burned on the front lawn of Tokay High School. And on February 5th, 1998, the Breakthrough Project for Social Justice was formed. Its mission was to build a community free of bigotry, racism, prejudice and intolerance by celebrating diversity and educating the public and standing against social oppression. So when the co-chair, Susie, and me, the other co-chair, when we first started going to the Breakthrough Project group, there was a bunch of Lorai women. I thought, oh my goodness, how can we join a group that's so different for us? We're Japanese American. So I now know why. It's because these women and men have hearts that long for social justice and diversity and equality. The group is all about getting our Lodi community to realize that diversity and inclusion makes us stronger and better. There are three things I love about the Breakthrough Project. They provide three ways that our children and youth can reflect and respond to why social justice and diversity and racial equality are so important. The first one, Martin Luther King essay contest for fifth and sixth graders, and they reflect upon a quote from Martin Luther King. And then they use that as a topic for their essays and then they get rewarded. The best essays get rewarded. Very good. And then the second one is an art competition for high school students or high schoolers are rewarded for their art projects related to social justice. Also really good. And the third one is farm worker scholarships. And they have high school students who are given college scholarships based on their essays on social justice and financial need. I really love it that children and youth can express their minds and hearts and spirits openly. about social justice and racial equality, and it makes them realize that they can make a difference. We always appreciate the generosity of the Lodi community to donate funds to this project, to the three projects, because they provide invaluable lessons and give our young people hope to see their future with promise and resolve. Breakthrough Project gives our Lodi community tools that can shape our town into becoming truly a livable and lovable Lodi for all. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Now we will do the flag salute.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

This is a regular meeting for September 16th, convening at 7.12 p.m. City Clerk, can you please do roll call?

Council Member Bregman.

Here.

Council Member Nakanishi. Here. Council Member Craig Hensley. Here. Mayor Pro Tempore Hothi. Here. And Mayor Yepes.

Here. So we have a few presentations today. First for National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2026 Proclamation.

Uh, yes, we do have, um, hi. Well, from El Concilio, we have a representative if you can introduce yourself.

Yes, good evening. My name is Dr. Houston. I'm the vice president for civic engagement and leadership development for El Concilio California.

Okay, so we have a proclamation, so. Yeah, she used to be my teacher in high school, in college, so it's just, that's why you're just laughing. Two years ago, right? Yeah, that was two years ago. National Hispanic History Month is observed annually from September 15 through October 15 to celebrate the history's cultural achievement and contribution of the Hispanic and Latino Americans whose heritage is rooted in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and beyond. Hispanic and Latino residents have played an integral role in history, growth, culture, and prosperity of the city of Lodi, contributing through generations of hard work, entrepreneurship, agriculture, education, public service, the arts, and civic leadership. September 16 marks Mexican Independence Day, commemorating the beginning of Mexican struggles for independence in 1810 and holding a special significance for many Lorain residents and families who proudly share Mexican heritage. The city of Lodi recognized the importance of honoring the traditions and accomplishments of generations of Hispanics and Latino residents while celebrating the opportunities and contributions of the generations that will follow. Hispanic Heritage Month provides an opportunity for all residents to celebrate the diversity of our community, learn from our shared history, and recognize the enduring contribution of Hispanics and Latino Americans to Lodi, California, and the United States. Now, therefore, be resolved that I, Ramon Yepes, mayor of the city of Loray, and on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim September 16th through September, October, sorry, October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Loray, and encourage all residents to join in celebrating the history, culture, and achievement and contribution of our Hispanic community. So, thank you. Thank you. Cheers. Would you like to say a few words?

Of course. This is truly an honor and a celebration to have the first Latino mayor, Ramon. Ramon Yepes is a hardworking individual. Love for community, love for the city, and love for education. He is one of so many, over 41% of the residents of Lodi are of Hispanic descent or connected to a Latino. We probably are more by the way we embrace all. We love all, we care for all. That is what this month is all about. The hard work that our families do every day because Corazon, our heart our passion because we believe in the American dream. That tells you with hard work and doing all the right things, you can be mayor of a great city. Today is Mexico's Independence Day. Yesterday was five Central American's Independence Day. And then Friday is Chilean's Independence Day, which I'm part of. But we have so much richness. And one of the things that people fail to remember is somos una raza de todo. In other words, we're a race blended of so many cultures, from European to African to all the Americas of indigenous cultures. We speak so many different languages through and through, and the United States, Los Angeles, has the second largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. That's how diverse we are. And this nation, and I thank you all for this opportunity for El Concilio California, out of so many organizations throughout the county that celebrates our culture, our heritage, our dances, our music, and everything we do, we open you with open arms to come celebrate with us during this month. And when you talk to our communities and our families, dile gracias, thank you. because that's what we need today, is a thank you for the work that we do. So thank you all for giving us an opportunity as El Concilio California continues to uplift diverse communities across the Central Valley. Thank you. I want to see the name of that social media.

Can you do one with my phone? So we can put Boston on social media.

Okay, next we have the presentation of proclamation proclaiming the month of October 2026 as National Community Planning Month.

All right, so.

So we have the progress from National Community Planning Month. The month of October is recognized nationally as a National Community Planning Month, celebrating the important role that planning plays in creating strong, vibrant, resilient, and prosperous communities. A National Community Planning Month provides an opportunity to recognize the important work of professional planners and to increase public awareness and understanding on how planning decisions made today save the community for decades to come. Now, therefore, we resolve that Ramon Yepes, the mayor of the city of Lodi, on behalf of the city council, do hereby proclaim October 2026 as National Planning Month in the city of Lodi and encourage residents, businesses, community organizers, and civic leaders to learn more about planning in the future of Lodi.

So I have a new director. He can say a few words.

Well, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. There we go. I just want to say I've been with the city now for seven days now, receiving proclamations. This is a great place to be. I just want to say I'm very fortunate to be here with the city of Lodi, and with the upcoming planning projects that we have and continuing with community support, we look forward to keep building a positive Lodi. So I just want to thank you for this proclamation, and thank you very much.

Okay, next we have

Proclaim September 2026 as National Library Card Sign-Up Month and recognize the Lodi Public Library Card Art Contest winners.

How are you?

Good. How are you?

Good. We're excited. It's library card sign-up month. I know.

And I see that you have the designs there.

We have the designs. We have the artistes in house. Okay. The whole thing.

All right. So let me get to it. Libraries are essential community institutions that provide free and equitable access to information, technology, educational resources, cultural experience, and opportunities for long-term learning. A library card gives residents of all ages access to books, ebooks, audiobooks, and countless other resources that support learning, creativity, and personal growth. The Lodi Public Library serves as a welcoming community space where children discover the joy of reading, students receive support for their education, adults learn new skills, and residents come together to learn, create, and connect. National Library Card Sign-Up Month, celebrated in September, encourage everyone to discover the many opportunities available through their local libraries and remind our community that one small card can open the door to a world of possibilities. This September, the Loret Public Library is celebrating the creativity of our community with the debut of new limited edition library cars featuring winning designs from the Library Car Art Contest. Created by local artist Alejandra Stevens, that old car, Conan Brickenship, theme car, and Brenton Stackhouse, the children cars. These new cars celebrate not only the resources available through the Lowry Public Library, but also the imagination and talent found in our community. Now here, therefore, we resolve that I, Ramon Yepes, Mayor of the City of Loray, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Library Card Sign-up Month and encourage all residents to visit the Loray Public Library, sign up for a library card, explore the library's many resources and service, and join us in celebrating the creativity and connection that makes our library an important part of our community. So yeah. So now we invite the director to say a few words and introduce the cards.

Yes. Thank you very much, Mayor. I appreciate it. So tonight we are unveiling our new limited edition library cards. We are entering the 21st century. They are not only library cards, but they have key chain cards attached to them too. So I would like to introduce Brenton Stackhouse. Brenton designed a very beautiful card. Go on out and show it off, Brenton. So this is our children's card, and it will be available starting tomorrow in the library. So thank you, Brendan. And in our teen category, we had Conan Blankenship design a wildly beautiful and popular among staff card. It has a cat, and it's very cool, and I love it. Oh good, Felice is here too. And then Alejandra Stevens created an absolutely magical card inspiring imagination at the library and it includes a rendering of her daughter Felice. So I encourage, if you don't have a card, please, please stop by the library and get your library card. They are free. They are free. And we unlock the doors to so many resources and exciting things. And if you have an existing library card and you would like to get one of our new designs, between now and October 15, you can change out your card free of charge. It will change your library card number. So if you're attached to your library card number, don't do it. But if you're not, come on down and we'll get you a new card.

She can.

Okay, next we have representing the Constitution Day Proclamation. Do we have the Daughters of the American Revolution here?

I'm very pleased. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for allowing me to do this because I know it's something important to so many of us who take this oath. Hundreds, believe me, of boards and commission members, city employees take the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of California. And so to be able to celebrate September 17th as Constitution and Citizenship Day is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the responsibility that we all hold as elected officials, those who are first responders, boards and commission members. And I want to thank the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution, for being here to accept this. So honoring Constitution Day, whereas on September 17th, 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution of the United States, establishing the framework of government that continues to serve our nation today. On September 17th, it's designated by federal law as Constitution Day, commemorating the signing of the Constitution and recognizing those who have become citizens of the United States by birth, coming of age, or naturalization. And whereas the Constitution establishes a system of representative government founded upon principles including the rule of law, separation of powers, federalism, individual rights, and governmental accountability to the people. And whereas the city of Lodi recognizes the importance of providing residents, students, and public employees with opportunities to learn about the Constitution and the principles of American government in an educational and nonpartisan manner. And whereas the Lodi Public Library plays an important role in supporting an informed and engaged community by providing residents access to educational resources, diverse sources of information, public programs, and opportunities for lifelong learning and can serve as a community resource for greater understanding of the Constitution, our American history, and civic participation. And whereas the Daughters of the American Revolution were instrumental in establishing the annual observance of Constitution Week and through local chapters such as the El Toyon chapter and continues to promote awareness of the United States Constitution and history. And finally, where a citizen participation in local government through service on the City of Lodi's boards, commissions, and committees provides residents with opportunities to contribute their knowledge experience perspectives, advise elected officials, promote public accountability, and participate directly in the civic life and decision making of their community. Because as we know and well stated by Abraham Lincoln, we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And that was established in our U. S. Constitution. So now, therefore, be it resolved that on behalf of Ramona Pez, Mayor of the City of Lodi and the City Council, the City of Lodi, we do hereby recognize September 17th, 2026, this Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in the City of Lodi. And ladies, thank you very much for accepting that. And we would like you to say a few words.

Good evening, everybody. I am Dina Primack, the Regent of the El Chollon Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Our chapter is based in Stockton, though we have many members who live in Lodi, myself included, and our chapter has been in existence for 125 years. You may have heard about the DAR, the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is widely recognized as the nation's oldest and largest women's service organization with patriotic lineage, which means you have to prove you're direct descendant of at least one patriot of the American Revolution. It was founded in October 11, 1890. And any woman 18 years or older who can prove direct lineal descent from an American patriot is welcome to join. and many of us have proven more than one patriot. The three main pillars of the DAR are historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Within that framework, DAR chapters perform vast amounts of community service, work locally, in their cities, within their states, nationally, and abroad. America celebrated its semi-quincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this past July 4th. This major milestone marked two and a half centuries since the founding of the nation. The DAR collectively sponsored many patriotic events to honor the 250th celebration of the United States. And I was very touched by the Breakthrough Project lady who is here, who talked about the essay contest you have to promote social equality. The DAR sponsors and has for a long time a good citizens contest for high schoolers where we actively, we give them an essay where they have to think about what are their qualities of being a good citizen. So we promote good citizenship. We are here to observe tonight Constitution Week. So just one small correction. It's a whole week. The US Constitution is the supreme law of the United States that establishes the national government's framework, defines its powers, and guarantees fundamental rights for citizens. Constitution Week is an annual national observance in the United States. It runs from September 17th to the 23rd every year. The Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned Congress in 1955 to set aside this specific week each year for the nation to focus on the Constitution. Congress adopted the resolution, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into public law on August 2, 1956. So it's been 70 years in the making. The goals of the observance are to educate the public by encouraging the study of the historic events and framing of the Constitution in 1787, to raise awareness by reminding the public that the Constitution is the living foundation of American life and government. Finally, to encourage responsibility by emphasizing the duty of citizens to protect, defend, and preserve constitutional liberties. Some of the ways people celebrate Constitution Week is by setting up public educational exhibits in local libraries, schools, and city halls, by distributing posters and books on the Constitution, through proclamations, by asking local mayors and governors to officially declare Constitution Week, by participating in community bell ringing events, often at 4 p.m. on September 17th, to echo the moment the final signatures were cast. and by hosting public community-led readings of the text of the Constitution. Finally, some towns have parades to celebrate the event. On September 20th, Nevada City is hosting the oldest Constitution Day parade this side of the Mississippi, and it will be at 2 p.m., and it's being sponsored by the DAR chapter in that area. So, our chapter has a constitution we committee that works on this event each year. I'm going to ask Renee Garcia, our constitution we've chaired to come forward and tell you about the work our committee is doing for constitution week.

Good evening. I'm Renee Garcia. I'm the Constitution Week chairperson for our chapter, and our committee spends time each year delivering posters, books, pocket-sized booklets of the Constitution, and other supplies, if we have them, to area public schools, private schools, charter schools, and homeschoolers. We set up displays in the libraries. This year, display boards can be seen at Margaret Troche Library and Ursula Meyer, the new library in Stockton, and right here at our very own Lodi Public Library. Just set that up the other day, and there's little patriotic fans and posters. Yes, for free to pick up at the library. And if any teachers in the area are ever interested in taking advantage of these resources, myself or any other member of our chapter are happy to drop them off at the school for you. And we hope this makes an impact on our community and helps people to understand the importance of learning about the Constitution. Thank you.

City Clerk, can you please introduce the consent calendar?

We have the consent calendar. On the consent calendar, we have items number C1 through C17. We do have, for public comment, anybody that wanted to submit public comment, please fill out one of the cards up here and return them back to the city clerk. You do have five minutes to speak. And so, there. Okay. So, yeah. We do have one speaker. We have Michael Ordonia.

Good evening, Mary Yepes and city council members. First, congratulations on moving forward with the Turner 99 public art installation and with the alley murals, as will be identified later in the public agenda. However, I bring to the council's attention the present condition of three existing art projects. First, the wide scape mural along Cherokee Lane adjacent to the PG&E substation. This mural is rapidly deteriorating and requires restoration. A portion of it has already been destroyed as a result of an automobile accident. Second, the sidewalk mural along Lodi Avenue extending from Lodi and Cherokee Lane west to the intersection of South Main and Lodi, north and south sides of Lodi, both sides of Lodi Avenue. This installation consists of tesserae embedded in the sidewalk surface. These tesserae in squares are delaminating from their individual substrate, and as a consequence, the overall installation is losing its basic character. That's the overall installation of the art project. One or two of the panels have been completely delaminated and have disappeared. Thirdly, the identifying pylon located in the northeast, northwest corner of Lodi and Cherokee Lane. This pylon has separated from its base is tilting as it as and is in danger of toppling. I urge the City Council to review this matter and take the appropriate maintenance action. These pieces of art and possibly others need immediate maintenance, repair and restoration. I urge the Council to take to act on this matter. While budgeting for public art project remains tenuous, I urge the City Council to adopt an ongoing city budget line item to ensure that the existing public art projects, valuable city intellectual property and intrinsic contributions to city life are properly maintained and restored as necessary. Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Thank you for your comment. We have no further public comment. Okay, I would like to invite the public if they would like to comment on a non-agenda item. Seeing none, we will move to the consent calendar now.

I think we wanted to pull an item from consent, C-17.

yeah i'll say staff is requesting to pull item c17 accept improvements under contract for hudson street square pool repair we need to do some more evaluation before we accept those improvements so we'll return when the item is ready okay councilman brickman yes i have four items to pull c2 i do have a conflict on if you can vote on that separately c4 c10 and on c17 mrs city manager are we able to give the public a small rundown just as far as some of those dates and timelines go?

Yes, I would ask the Interim Public Works Director to do so.

Thank you. Any more, anyone else would like to pull an item?

I would ask to pull C-9.

C-9, okay. C-9. Okay. Then I will invite the public if anyone in the public would like to pull an item.

C-14.

C14 okay, and okay now we will go in order all the items that got pulled So c2 was pulled c2 c4 c10 was was pulled by a councilman regimen You want to speak on the item or?

So you want to recruit yourself from that item do you want to vote on that first? Yes, so let's do that first Yeah, that's my motion.

Move to approve consent item C2.

Second.

I'm sorry. Let's do it again. Let's do it again.

It just disappeared.

Is it working? Yeah, it's not up here. Oh yeah, there it is.

How come Mikey's the only one that gets the photos? Yeah. Oh, there you go. Jump on it quick, Alan.

Okay, and it passes. So now we will continue with the items.

Okay, we have C4.

So if you, when we're pulling their items, when you can start talking, when they pull your item. So we're now in C4.

For item C4, can we have staff go over the expected reimbursement from the school district, please?

Yeah, can someone from our Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services item?

And it's informational for the public. Thank you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. This item is actually, we are a subrecipient of a grant that the Lodi Unified School District obtains from the California Department of Education. It's for after school services and the grant requires a recreation element. for the after school and that's what the Parks and Rec Department actually provides. So this year we will be performing services or after school services at three different Lodi Unified Elementary Schools and they will be reimbursing us for our staff and program costs.

All right, thank you very much. On item C10, again, just more public information. This started actually three years ago when we were dealing with a much worse homeless problem and the city was trying to figure out, well, what are some of the ways we can combat it? And again, to my belief, I believe that small mini-marts, smoke shops, et cetera, and large saturations do not help the problem as well as you don't want to have more shops around when people are addicted to substances. It doesn't help their substance abuse and it doesn't actually help them get back on their feet when they keep on spending dollars at the local mini-mart. So about three years ago, me and some of the community development employees ended up coming up with a policy that was actually able to prevent multiple mini-marts tobacco smoke shops from oversaturating the city. That policy is now in place in the city, but what also came from this was another item which we're seeing here today on C10, which has to do with illegal tobacco vendors. And you would not believe the percentage of tobacco retailers in Lodi that are not licensed and legal. So I would tell you this is a very neat item to have on here. There's also a very, I would say youthful program called Smooth that our high schools actually have high school students inside of and their goal is to stop public smoking from occurring. And so again, I would like to give them credit towards this item. and all that came before it to lead up to this. So thank you to our police department for getting this grant, and go get them. Besides that, as C-17, can we have our, well, I think we said Public Works Department as well, can we give another informational update on the Hutchins Street Square pool situation? I have had quite a few calls and questions on the opening of this facility.

Yeah, so our contractor finished doing their work over there, and I think it was about a week and a half ago, two weeks ago. And so right now, some Hunter Street Square staff is applying some epoxy to the inside, just some hairline cracks they identified on that side. So they're on the inside where our work is underneath. And so we just wanted to wait till they were done, let that cure fill it up before we close out the contract with our contractor, just in case we need them to come back and do some extra work. So they're planning on starting to fill it next week, I think Monday.

And what day are we expecting for the pool to be open to the public again?

I mean, I don't know exactly. I don't know if Parks has a better update. I mean, assuming everything goes well, you'd just be a matter of getting all the chemicals, right? Is that another week or so? And heated?

So probably the 30th. Somewhere in there. Okay. All right.

Thank you.

And that is it.

All right. We'll continue with Councilwoman Craig.

I just wanted to follow up on the C-10. I did actually have a question for Chief relative to some of the phone calls that I have received from individuals were more about businesses that may have been promoting themselves as selling novelties, but then it turns out that they're selling vape items and the like. Does this, in your monitoring and your kind of announced visits, are you hitting places that are within school, in the areas of schools? That's what I'm specifically looking at.

That's the goal. So when the county health department approached us on if we wanted a partner, because they actually got the grant, we're just helping them out or we're a subcontractor of it. But when they approached us, it was a no-brainer for us because of that reason, to help our youth and help build those youth programs we're working on and to keep tobacco out of that. out of the hands of our youth. So that is one component of it.

Great. I appreciate hearing that because it is interesting how businesses might promote themselves. And the next thing you know, you've got some related tobacco type product in a store that is in close proximity to a school. So thank you.

I did have another component to that too. We are working with community development as well just on the aspect that Councilmember Bregman brought up about the licensing and all that so they will be a part of it as well to tackle that problem.

Thank you. I appreciate hearing that and then you might as well stay up here because the second question I had is related to the software program. I'm really glad to see efforts to streamline because we want our officers on the streets not just parked doing 35% of their paperwork when they could be out on patrol. I did find it valuable to see that the Crossroads program is also providing tow forms and that, can you tell me how that helps expedite the process because obviously there are issues that we're actually dealing with right now in terms of illegally parked RVs and trailers and the like and we have to deal with tow companies. So is that assisting that effort in some way?

Yes, so we've had this program since 2023, I believe. Just basically the employees bought the company, so we had to change the name. So we've had it implemented since that time. One of the advancements they made was to allow us to do all those forms. It's called the CHP 180 form, the tow form. on the phone so you could enter everything manually and that creates a readability, it's quicker access because a lot of the information can be imported directly so it makes it a lot faster, more efficient and there are less mistakes.

Okay, thank you. I appreciated both of these pieces of information so thank you very much, Mr. May.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

Okay, thank you. So now we would like to hear your question about your item.

Yes, John . My question, I'm not familiar with the company procedures, so I may be proven wrong again here tonight. But I do question a million dollars for a pump repair. I know you can repair a pump for less than a million dollars. And we do have redundant capacity. Why can't we just take this pump out of service and then put it out for bid to repair? Why pay hundreds of thousand dollars extra to have somebody on call? To me, that's not a good steward of the city's finances. So maybe somebody could explain that to me. Why do we have to spend a million dollars to have somebody on, we'll call, when they can do it for less money that I know can save hundreds of thousands of dollars that don't cost a million dollars to repair one of these pumps. So could somebody answer that question?

Yeah, I'm gonna ask the question to John from Public Works.

Yeah. So this is an on-call contract. And so it's used as needed. And it runs for, this is a two-year on-call contract. So each pump that we pull and fully refurbish typically runs like $250,000 to $300,000. So we're not paying them a million to be on-call. We're getting an on-call contract, so when we need to pull a pump and rehab it, we have a contract because there's not a lot of well drillers and well rehab contractors, so it would take a long time to get somebody in town if we didn't have a contract. And so we only pay them for the actual work they do on those wells, and we bid it as a unit price for depth of well that they rehab and depth of pump that they pull. It's a competitively bid project, and we only pay them for the actual work they do, and they might work on five wells over the life of the contract, and that might be enough for that. If not, we'd come back for a contract change order, but we're not paying someone just a bunch of money to work when we need them. We just have a contract with them. If they do no work in town, they get paid zero dollars.

Thank you. Thank you so much. So now I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. Remaining items on the consent agenda.

Okay, we have a second. Second. Who was the second?

Cameron.

All right. Do we have any issues on the vote?

Okay, and it passes. So now we will move on to our regular calendar.

Oh, sorry. So yeah, we have the remainder of the items, C1, C3, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C11, C12, sorry, not C9, C12, C13, C14, C15, and C16. I think that was the motion that was just- Okay, sorry. The motion that was just, the result that we just had was for the- Remainder of the consent calendar would mean everything other than C2. And are we voting for the consent calendar right now? That's correct. Okay. That was the vote that was just had.

There was the vote on C2. Okay. And then there was the vote on the remainder.

Okay, understood. Got it. So, yeah, next we have then we have public comments. Okay, we have, sorry.

Comments by city council.

I think we did them before, but we can do, do we have any public comments? No, no, we didn't do public comments. That was public comment for the consent calendar. Okay, all right. So we have Maria Rufino.

You already know me. My name is Maria Rufino. First and foremost, I would like to thank this lady that is here to serve as an interpreter. I've been telling you for some time that it's against the law not to have an interpreter present. Thank you because you already have one. I came here to tell you three things. First, the trash that is all over the streets. There are bags upon bags of trash, cars that are filled with trash out on the streets. I walk at the streets all the time. I don't have a job, I work, and I take the gospel out to the streets. It is bad, it's not something good for the city. The railroad tracks are the same. They're filled with trash. I have already talked to you about the homeless that are coming into the area from Stockton. Right now I am not interacting with them per se because I am not taking them food. But I am out in the streets and working and out on Central. That is why I am aware of what's happening in the city. There are 500 houses that they have taken away the homes from the elderly people. And these people are sleeping out on the streets. And they tell them that they're going to do something for them. They make them sign a paper under false pretenses. And these people are out on the streets sleeping without their homes. having their own homes. What is happening in Lodi is very sad.

And you do have to pay attention to all of that.

Who are these people that are abusing these elderly people? They are defenseless. And so you now have to focus and see and find out why this is happening. And you have to stop this for once and for all. And continue to clean the streets. The businesses, if they don't have a big trash bin or a bigger receptacle, I mean, for them not to put the trash out on the streets, right? What is happening is really bad. I have a lot of pictures that I can bring them in subsequently, or I can bring them to her, referring to the interpreter. The boats that are just abandoned out on the streets. The old cars that are just abandoned out on the streets. Bicycles that are upside down on every corner. But that is not good for the city. What is happening is bad. The Holy Spirit was telling me, tell them. They want the problem to end. They have to clean the city. End with all the criminality. The racism. Because there's no justice. You call the police. And then they want to arrest you. And that is wrong. So you do have to focus on that, right? The other question that I do have is the park out on Locust Street. They said that they were going to issue a grant. The park is filled with shoes, like, oh, just hanging from all over the trees. It is, I mean, it's still the same.

The kids are just using one of the restrooms. Where they have a lot of illnesses.

I mean, there's a lot of illnesses out there right now. So the ones that are picking up these illnesses are the innocent children. And we do need, they need another restroom. Where they can, for the kids to use. So no one else can utilize that restroom or that bathroom but only the children. Because they have the kids out there because they belong to a program like a kids program.

I have spoken to Elizabeth and I have told her that they have to do that, but I see that they do not pay attention.

But you do have to pay attention because there's a lot of illnesses out there and those kids can pick those up. And that's everything. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

Next speaker, we have John Slaughterbeck.

John Schlarbach, I'm a resident of the city of Lodi. First of all, I'd like to thank the Chief of Police. He answered some of my questions for me. Chief of Police Garcia, thank you very much for your comments and answering my questions. The number of citations the city has issued is significant. I would add that the number of traffic violations still being committed would equal that number. Traffic citations are a useful tool in helping to limit traffic deaths from motor vehicle accidents. The US Department of Transportation reports, in the United States, about 39,000 to 42,000 people die in motor vehicle accidents each year. In California, approximately 3,800 to 4,400 deaths occur each year. This number does include pedestrian deaths where vehicles are involved. My first experience with a red light runner, I was driving south on Woodhaving Lane out of Woodbridge, and as I approached the signal light on Turner Road, the light turned orange. I proceeded to stop and I looked through my rearview mirror to make sure I wasn't going to be rear-ended and the driver behind me saw I was stopping for the light and he pulled to the right lane and speeded up And he did pass me, but before he got to the white line before the intersection and the light turned red, he knew he was going to run a red light. He speeded up to get through the run light. He had to have been doing at least 40 miles an hour, which could have created a worse accident at 40 miles an hour. But each red light runner seems to speed up each time to get through that light, and they're just creating more danger. My second experience was on Lockford Street. I stopped at the red light at Cherokee Lane. I was going to make a left turn on Cherokee Lane. And when the light turned green, I put my signal lights on ahead of time. I was taught to put my signal lights ahead of time to let people know what I was going to do. So I put my lights on when I stopped at the red light. And when it turned green, I proceeded to make a left turn. The cars in front of me was some ways up yet. I was about ready to make a turn. This car coming toward me speeded up. to such a speed that I hesitated turning because I'd be afraid I'd be broadsided because I had no signal on. And when he got in front of me, he made a left turn and I raised my hand and honked my horn and asked him what's going on and he gave me the finger. He never had a signal or anything. Purposely, what he did was I won't go any further in there. The third example I had was on North Ham Lane. I stopped at a red light on West Elm and North Ham Lane. When the light turned green, I proceeded through the intersection. The driver who was beside me was in the right turn lane only. And he actually sped up and started getting in front of me, and he pulled over right in front of me. And I had to get my brakes to keep from re-entering. And I don't know whether he's a senile or what, or whether he did it on purpose. But that intersection needs some new energy. It needs to be upgraded. It needs signs to state right turn lane only. People are going straight through there. There's nothing but a narrow. And they're going right through there. And that's not the only intersection they're doing that on either. They're also doing it on the one I told you about.

Thank you for your comments.

Mr. Mayor, I might ask a question, and this is relevant to what Mr. Slaughterback talked about. Chief, if you might come up. One of the questions I have, and this came up at our Turner Road community meeting, was red light cameras. We've talked about this, and I'm wondering what the status is, what any concerns are or opportunities we've got with those cameras.

thank you so we did discuss those red light cameras and as technology changes as laws start to change the red light cameras now that a lot of cities are implementing or more like a citation for the vehicle the registration not the driver so it makes it a little easier to process these or enforce them because it's towards the vehicle, not the driver. You take that aspect out of it. There are a lot of cities that are doing it. Actually, Sean went with our traffic sergeant to look at a city nearby that implemented them. And it's a program in its infancy, but it's something we are looking at, especially as technology advances and we're able to do do more with technology.

I appreciate that and Mr. Slaughterback, I just wanted you to hear that because we did, community members did hear that at the meeting and I appreciate the work that Public Works and PD are doing together. So thank you very much, Chief.

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

Since you're talking about this, Chief, I'm going to ask... I had a note from my constituent who says we're talking Rose Gate and Lodi Avenue. We had that complaint. They're going too fast on Lodi Avenue. Can you do something? And tomorrow I'll write a note to you, City Manager Garcia. Thank you.

Thank you. No further public speakers.

If you would like to say any comments on non-agenda items, you're welcome to do it now. Seeing none, I will move to council comments. Councilwoman Gregg.

Just one comment in particular, got to participate along with Councilman Bregman was there in the start, unveiling at JSG Truck, really looking at the program's next effort to address issues of sex trafficking, and I thought it was a very effective presentation. You know, something we are looking at, not just with sex trafficking, but labor trafficking, and even benefits trafficking. Our senior citizens are very vulnerable to that, and so I really appreciated the opportunity, the Chamber of Commerce in Lodi and the Chamber of Commerce in Stockton participated and hosted that event. And I think it's really important for us as a city. I know our PD is aware of what's going on, but particularly when we get to the topic of illegal vendors, that is part of labor trafficking. So it is something that, you know, we need to think about as council members when we're certainly looking at what we need to do to better enforce that type of illegal operations. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Any comments by council? Mayor Pro Tem Hote?

Yep, so next week, Council Member Bregman and I will be in Lake Tahoe for our annual NCPA conference. NCPA is a joint powers authority that represents 15 jurisdictions, with the city of Lodi being one. And so this is our annual meeting, which will coincide with our commission meeting. So I'll report out any items that are relevant to us there. Mayor Yepez and I sit on our finance committee, along with Gary Wall, our planning commissioner. Is that how you pronounce your last name? Wall?

Whale.

Whale. Gary will and we received our quarterly investment report and then also updated some language voted to recommend some updates to the purchasing policy which the council will be seeing here very soon so is that we had our Sen Cal meeting chief Ken Johnson is our point of contact for that my councilmember Craig Hensley's my alternate on Sen Cal and we voted on a reimbursement agreement for correctional health care services also had robust discussion about to related ambulance services and ensuring that ambulances are going to the hospitals with quickest wait times. I requested an agenda item for a more robust update on that. And then just two quick kudos for department staff. Chief Garcia, him and his team cleared out two downtown encampments that I sent in complaints about just related to drug use and other nefarious activities there. And so thanks Chief to you and your guys for taking care of that. And then at the last council meeting I mentioned a lighting issue related to Oxford and Council Member Bregman's district. Council Member Bregman and I have met with Oxford a number of times over the last couple of years related to this lighting issue. And it's taken years. And then I brought it to the attention of our utility director, Jeff Berkheimer. And I'm happy to report that last time, one of the three lights in front of Oxford was fixed. And now all of them have been fixed. And Oxford is very, very thankful. So I just want to give major kudos to Electric Utility for having a can-do attitude in getting some of these things done. So that's my update. CHRIS RODGERS.

Thank you so much. Any updates from Council?

One last item, I think that it is important for us to, number one, bring up in our future budget talks, but number two, might be an educational meeting to have prior, has to do with our CalPERS Stabilization Fund. I think that there's some work that we can do, both education-wise, relationship-wise, between city and unions, and understanding of how that came to be, some of our different options, and again, just what we have already. Is that something that I want to throw to the council and see your opinion on? And of course, don't have to talk about it tonight, but should be talked about sooner than later.

I think we should talk about that, but later we've been talking, maybe after November, start talking about it.

Yeah, we can't talk about it tonight, but if council consents, we can bring it back when we talk about the budget in November, make it part of that discussion or a component of it.

Thank you so much. All right, so now we're going to move to our regular calendar because we don't have any public hearings.

So item G1 is Lodi Access Center and Emergency Shelter Quarterly Operations, Construction and Funding Update.

I have a PowerPoint. If you can pull it up, I think it might be on HDMI 1 or 2, maybe 2.

There you go.

There we go. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Cynthia Marsh. I'm Deputy Director of Community Development, and I will be presenting. This is a regular quarterly update that we've been providing on the Lodi Access Center and emergency shelter, and also updating you on construction progress and a funding update for the permanent shelter and discussion. For background, the temporary access center or an emergency shelter opened in July of 2022 at 710 North Sacramento Street. The temporary facility, distinct from the permanent facility that's under construction, is operational while that permanent center is being constructed right next door on the same site. And OMI, Outreach Ministries International, has been operating the temporary shelter for nearly two years. in that tent-based site. For background, the Access Center was developed after more than a decade of public discussion, community participation, regional coordination, and policy and funding actions taken by the current council and former councils. As you can see, there are numerous community summits. There was a Homeless Solutions Committee, which evolved into the Lodi Committee on Homelessness. There were town halls, regional coordination, and countywide homeless strategies that were adopted through established policy framework. uh following extensive outreach the existing site was selected in 2021 there were about four months of community meetings that were held and multiple sites were examined the temporary shelter was opened in july of 2022 after it became apparent the permanent shelter would take a little bit time to construct the overnight shelter is it's not merely an overnight shelter it has wraparound coordinated services which include outreach, case management, housing navigation, employment services, onsite health and behavioral health services, which will be coming online with a permanent shelter, and workforce development with the permanent shelter. The Lodi Community on Homelessness, known as LCOH, does continue to support community engagement and coordination between service providers, businesses, residents, public agencies, and stakeholders. To date, the funding of the acquisition of the site, the construction of both the temporary shelter, the construction of the permanent shelter, and all operations have been funded through restricted federal, state, and county grants and partner contributions. To date, no general fund dollars have been used for any of those items, acquisition, construction, or operations. For context, regional context, every other year the city takes part in a countywide point in time count. All jurisdictions that receive HUD fund dollars are required to do these. Our count for 2024 through 2026 had a substantial decrease from the prior year. As you can see, total decrease was down 40% in Lodi and unsheltered individuals decreased 49% from the prior point in time count. and sheltered individuals decreased 25%. As comparison, countywide, the unsheltered decreased 47% countywide, and sheltered decreased 16%. So we're a little bit more successful than our county partners in other cities in the county. And although we can't completely contribute this to the Access Center and their case management and housing navigation, There is an important role here with the Access Center in reducing those numbers. Here's the quarterly quantification of the temporary shelter that's being operated by OMI. This is the May to July quarter. So shelter and day use served about 3,500 overnight stays with 130 clients. Again, as you may recall, this information is all tracked in the HMIS system, which is required for all HUD-funded recipients of federal dollars. So this information is reported across all jurisdictions that receive HUD funds. 6,800 day use visits serving about 316 clients, 52 new and 31 returning overnight service clients, and 118 new and 58 returning day use clients. The shelter also provides meals, hygiene, and other support services, including over 3,000 breakfasts in this quarter and nearly 4,000 lunches. Showers are also provided, over 4,000 showers provided to 187 clients. case management contacts, nearly 300. And they also go out and do shelter street outreach, and that exceeded 300 in this quarter. And including OMI also provides transportation for 298 transports for 83 clients, including 22 non-emergency medical care transports. further the Shelter provides services for housing employment and treatment This quarter included 29 housing transitions 19 employment placements 11 transitions to treatment or sober programs 26 folks were enrolled in housing sustainability and tenancy support services and 39 clients volunteered on 176 occasions we're going to invite OMI up to give a little bit more update on the next three or four slides here.

Hi, I'm Johnny Coffman, director of the Loda Access Center. Mary Epez, council members. Typically, Pastor Jason McCackren is doing this presentation, but he could not be here tonight. But following up on what Cindy laid out before you, in 21 months, so this is up through July. Our quarterly is not through August. To tap it off, it was through the end of July. Our totals in 21 months, 95 clients have entered rehabilitation programs, 202 have entered into housing. That's a total of 297 transitions. Some of those people had to do it two times. Some had to do it three times. I myself had to do it about 10 times. But 290 transitions, 265 unique individuals. So that's about an average of 14 transitions per month. To give you an idea percentage-wise, we have 46 beds. So about 30% of our clients are... not there the next month. It's constantly new faces. We're closing a lot of those gaps that we continue to have. But out of those that have moved on, it's about a 75% success rate. Additionally, 93 clients have gained employment. And then going to the next slide, this is our all-in-mighty tree to success. And again, what this is is it's a very simple graph. And the reason that we developed it this way is it caters towards every type of client that comes to our gates. The majority of the clients all want to go straight to housing. Well, I want to do that. I want to go this way. Well, what does it take? What do you need to do to get there? This is a stepping stone, and it breaks down into, they do the top three categories, and then whether you have income, connection to a family, friend, or no income. So you can't go straight to housing if you don't have income. Do you have a family or a friend that you can reconcile with? If those answers are no, then you go to no income. And if they're in their addiction, OK, can you gain recovery through recovery meetings? You need to go to an intensive inpatient program. So that's the way we designate it like this. And it's very clear, non-argumentative, you could say, with the clients and gives them a clear cut, but also there's hope within each step that's illustrated there. And being critical to the successes and our point in time count and the success that we found in the community with the Access Center, a lot of times people can't just go, let's say, for instance, Path C. Those are the ones that they are eligible for SSI, disability, VA connections, whatever that may be. It is a very difficult and long process most of the time to get through that. So we are a stepping stone and connection to making those things happen. Family friend, they don't just get to go back with family and friends typically because they have the connection. They come in, they get healthy. We operate in a love first model with the intention of gaining their trust. Once you have their trust, then we can speak that truth that tells them you're hard headed and that's why your family doesn't want you back in the house or similar situations like that. So a lot of just them coming in, getting a breather, getting some truth and redirected has led to that 53 and Path D. I don't need to go into much more of that, but all in all, that's 290 transitions to date. And again, that's through the end of July. Some of our updates, we had, so Pastor Jason and I went through the United Way Capacity Building Program and graduated from that last month. And then Marvin Bryan, our program director, went through the Medi-Cal Capacity Building track. Because of those efforts, specifically for Marvin and the Medi-Cal track, We got approved for medical. It was about a month and a half ago, but literally yesterday we got our authorization with health plan in San Joaquin, so that will be effective in mid October. There is a entirely new program we have to build around that based on policies in the building. There's just a lot of kinks itself to be worked out, but we are on track and the hope is to be able to start billing. I'm open by the end of the year, but again, it's just it's a long process and depending on a lot of other people and organizations getting that going, but that's a big. It's a big one, because to remind you of our RFP we had. That was one revenue avenue that was going to account for about $150,000. But since that bid, we've learned that there is probably more to be received out of that, hopefully in the $300,000 to $500,000 range a year, depending how we set up our program. So we're really looking to hit the ground running, and especially before we move into the new center, to have some zeros in that account working towards our long-term sustainability. But also along the terms of the United Way Capacity Building Program, we had our first fundraiser. And rather than going big with a, how else do you get this wrong, is it gala? Gala? What do we call it? What's the correct term? Mayor Craig, or Council Member Craig? Okay. I'm going to call it a gala. But those ones are very time consuming and very expensive. We took a more intimate approach and had it at a private residence along the McCollum River. It cost less than $5,000 to put the whole thing together with food and everything else contributing. It was a very touching night, a very effective night, and we hit the ground running and gained a lot of supporters. So that was a lot of the direction that we gained from that capacity building program and then Additionally, we're going to continue to do that each year. And then the plan is to also utilize a tent for at least two or three more fundraisers each year, which will be low maintenance, low stress to set up and break down because it's on site. And we also see a lot of opinions being changed once they step foot into the facility. So having the tent there and they can give tours also, we think that'll be the perfect combination to gain supporters. And then to finish this off, this is a client testimony. This is a big one. As you see, the gentleman on the left, that's Thomas, the man, and his dog is Dutch. Dutch is just a beast of a dog, great dog, friendly dog. And Thomas came to us in July of 25. He came in, he had worked in Lodi, was a resident of Lodi for the majority of his life, but due to some inflation and a job loss and some other tragedies that happened, he found himself living out on the Delta on an island, and he had been out there for 11 years learning how to suffice. Jessica Hinojosa of Red Rabbit Advocacy. She's there on the right. She had been there. Thomas was her client at that time and she knew that he was from Lodi and he wanted to come back here because they were doing a massive cleanup out there and he had nowhere to go. So he came back to us. and he was kind of the ideal client. Came in, didn't trust us at first, but just kept loving him, and he ended up trusting us. Trusted us with his dog, was helping out a lot around the center, just doing everything that you could possibly ask him. If he had been by himself, he probably would have been employed, been employed and had a house within 30 to 60 days max. Because he had a dog, it took about a year to get him to that point. Because if you're going into transitional living or paying rent, as you know, it's usually couple hundred dollars more, sometimes up to $500 more per month to have a dog with you, to have some type of pet. So we waited it out. He got to a job to where he's now working 40 hours a week, plus he wanted to give back, so he's also working part-time for us over at the center. So he's just what I call a perfect carrot for the people that want to move into housing, but he's an illustration of what it takes. You want what Thomas has because all of a sudden, In our line of work, every blessing kind of has a curse behind it. If you give someone something and someone else is jealous or bitter that they didn't get it. So I want what Thomas says. I want you to do that for me. Okay, we'll do what Thomas did. What did Thomas do? Thomas did this. He got a job. He did what he was supposed to. He volunteered around here. Okay, so it's literally just an illustration right before their eyes, and because of Thomas' chosen path, we've now had quite a few that are following in his footsteps. So hats off to Thomas, and he's just a testament of what can happen at the Luddite Access Center. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Do you mind, I've just got one question because Pastor usually responds to this with a number and I didn't see it here. I think Thomas is an exception to the rule if I understand this, but the reality is your average client is there for how much time in general?

I can't remember what our overnights were on that quarterly report.

Overnights, let's see. So it's at the very top. So there are 130 clients with a little bit over 3,500 overnight stays during the quarter up through July.

I think my question is that the average stay of a resident is, in other words, they're not using it as a permanent home. That they come in, they receive the services and treatment, and they're either moving into a job, moving into housing, moving in with family. They're moving on.

Overnights is 27 days.

Okay, that's what I wanted to find out.

Overnights, I think day services are a little bit longer. Okay. But overnights is 27 days. So it's usually right around that 30-day range. And we do have that six-month to update you on our six-month stay. We have that stipulation that you can get extensions based on progress, and health can be progress, just anything to create movement momentum. And then after six months, it's a 45-day suspension of services and so on. Okay. But we do have that, and that has also been a – an effective nudging tool.

And you've been finding also that when they're clean and sober, some of these individuals are transitioning into the Salvation Army's Hope Harbor program?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, no, it's, well, yeah, we do, we can also do that. We house them, I'd say an average of maybe one a month, one to two a month. Okay. They get someone, that's, John Narva shared on that at a meeting the other day. One of the things that we can do that they were unable to do is because in order to go to that program, they have to be clean and sober. So they don't have to pass a drug test or breathalyzer to stay with us because of a low barrier. They do have to be compliant and coherent, but they come to us for a couple days in order to be able to pass a drug test, come and get cleaned up. And if they go under, they start programming when they come to us. It's an agreement set. They can't leave the shelter. But this is a deal you want to come in here, then you have to stay in this place in the access Center and then you can come over to the Center and into the Salvation Army in two to three days, but okay that that's something that yeah the collaboration. Cindy had mentioned it that it's not the success, the point in time count isn't just solely the little access Center it's Salvation Army it's low die house there's many organizations as we work a lot with St mary's and gospel Center. And St. Mary's has a great recuperative care. Gospel Center has another program that if someone doesn't want to go to Salvation Army. So we're literally the hub in so many organizations working together.

Thank you.

Thank you. I will continue with the update on the permanent shelter construction. Here you can see in this image, staff is meeting weekly with the contractor and our architects and our construction management company. They are installing drywall this week and there's a lot of progress being made very quickly. So the permanent access center update we're anticipating completion in late 2026 Construction is taking place in both the interior and the secured courtyard build out is underway right now And the permanent shelter of course will continue the services that are being offered under the temporary shelter including on-site health behavioral health and workforce programs a piece of those We'll be in partnership with San Joaquin County for respite beds, San Joaquin Health for the on-site clinic, and they will be leasing the space once it comes online. And then our workforce partners will be working with us on the employment readiness and vocational support. There's the co-location of all these services is intended to reduce reliance on City of Lodi emergency response services with the on-site which will be coming on line with behavioral health and additional navigation services will reduce emergency calls and hospital transports to the county hospital because folks will be able to remain on-site. OMAI outreach and transportation Already does and will continue to connect individuals to services before emergencies arise preventing some of those transports to the county hospital and these shelter and housing payments placements will reduce Welfare checks and encampment response to illegal dumping and cleanup demands so they will potentially benefit the overall city services and As far as the operating agreement and cost controls, OMI, as you know, was selected through a competitive bidding process. The first year operating cost for the permanent shelter is estimated in the contract to be $1.6 million for 60 beds. That includes 24-7 operations of the shelter, outreach case management housing transportation support monthly invoices performance reporting and all that is processed through the neighborhood services division including the city's right to audit those reports and additional costs would be brought to council if they were increased we have been working on with the permanent shelter construction some challenges with increases in certain items related to tariffs causing increase and our solution has just been value engineering. For example, finding other ways to cut cost within the project such as, you know, cheaper flooring materials or different finishes that do not cost as much so that we can creatively find ways to pay for those items that have been increased due to tariffs increasing cost, which has been an issue for jurisdictions all over the United States. Oh my is and will continue to pursue grants and donations and if the Services are not able to be paid for in the future. The agreement does allow for termination of funding is insufficient Funding-wise, the property acquisition, construction, and operations of the temporary shelter and then the first year of permanent operations have all been funded through restricted federal, state, and county grant sources. There's a whole alphabet soup here of funding sources. cpf our cpf arpa through both the city arpa and the county arpa hf which is uh through the continuum of care the county continuum of care i believe we are in round four round five and six are coming up those are uh Allocated to each of the jurisdictions and will continue on at several hundred thousand dollars a year that the city would receive through the HHAP program for operations PLHA CalAIM CDBG County funds and other partner contributions are in the project and will some of these will continue to remain in the project. As I mentioned, we have about 1.6 million in resources budgeted for the first year of permanent operations. Each grant does carry with it specific requirements for expenditures and performance. Thus far, no general fund dollars have been proposed for acquisition or construction or operations. So as far as the grants, as I mentioned, there's probably a dozen grants involved in the project. There are a lot of restrictions in the grant agreements and leases and recorded restrictions. Those, as part of this future discussion, may limit the city's ability to close the shelter, sell it, or transfer it, there would have to be additional legal research involved as to each of those grant requirements. There are construction insurances that are required with HUD funds before the city would dispose of property. So worst case scenario, we would need to look at if we didn't have funding in the future, So some of the commitments relate to the county funded respite beds, which go through 2045, but those are subject to the executed lease agreement with the county. So there's a variety of restrictions that would relate to the city's receipt of grants and our obligations and some of them may or may not Remain if Worst case scenario there was no other funding available thing or if we were to you know Options as far as like giving away the shelter or selling it or transferring it Would not automatically release a city from those grant liabilities. I Just for reference, I pulled up some of the grant agreements and the language in them for your review in this discussion. There are options or requirements in the grants. This one that I've enlarged here is from the HUD grant agreement that limits the city's ability to dispose of or modify or change the terms of the site, there is some options such as HUD requiring their approval if we were to propose any changes in the future. So as far as future funding, we're seeking Council's feedback. We're not asking for a vote at this time. Staff and the operator are continuing to pursue funding sources through State, federal, as Omai mentioned, philanthropic grant resources. This city, before Jennifer Ryan departed, the city did apply for an ERF grant, an Encampment Resolution Fund grant, through the state of California. If we are to receive that grant, it would provide about a million dollars a year for the next three years. Again, we have the first year funded already. We do have, this is my final slide, but I wanted to mention, we do have some folks in the audience who are available for comments or may be interested in making comments, including advisory committee member JP Doucette, the chamber president, We have Dr. Ahad Youssef, the CEO and Project Director of San Joaquin Health, who will be working on the respite and behavioral health piece within the Access Center. We also have Johnny Coffrin from OMI available, and we also have some folks from the Lodi Committee on Homelessness. I don't know if they're interested in speaking, but that concludes my presentation. I'm available if you have questions. Thank you.

Okay, so we will go to council comments, and raise your hand, and I will call you in that order. Councilman Nakanishi.

I'd like to give you my assessment, all right? I was here when it began, and it's important for the city to know that the city has not used any general fund, grants only, right? But right now, We're stuck with this because if you say we're not going to go, we're going to owe liability, right? So we're stuck with this. So we've got to get, the city's going to get, we need to get about 1.6 million operating costs, either from grants or from general funds. And it behooves the city council member to realize that, all right? We can't stop it, because if we stop it, we'll get liability for the, and that's my comment. So what we have to do is raise funds. or plan on using general funds if you don't get grants.

I'd like to confirm the amount that we're expecting to pay for the first year again.

It's $1.6 million and we do have that all available and funded.

And can you give us the amount that the county is actually going to be giving us each year?

The rent for the space, I believe, is $3,500 per month.

So $40,000 a year, roughly. And then we also have 12 behavioral health spots as well. So what does that come down to as far as funding?

I believe that's combined in there. There are funding sources such as CalAIM, Medi-Cal available for operations of those. Those are not yet online. So that may be a question that we may want to... have invite san joaquin health to potentially comment on what that might look like but i couldn't tell you off the top of my head if we could are you able to tell us what amount of funding would be for those 12 beds thank you sir

Good evening, council members. Ahad Yusuf from San Joaquin Health Centers. Unfortunately, so the clinics, San Joaquin Health Centers are responsible for the clinic portion of the Lodi Access Center. What we are planning to do is building a satellite clinic, about four exam rooms. one of those being a procedure room, offering comprehensive primary care, preventive care, wraparound services. The behavioral health piece is separate, so unfortunately I don't have those details, but we can reach out to Sasha who will have those details. She's the deputy director over there at, I forgot the name of her alphabet soup organization, but she's responsible for housing navigation and she will have the information that you're looking for. I'll be sure to reach out to her.

So to confirm that we are expecting some level of funding from the county in these behavioral seats towards the city? Is that correct?

That's my understanding. But again, I need to get confirmation first before I can actually definitively say yes.

Okay. I would find that very important and useful information to have during this discussion. If we would be able to get those answers, that would be great. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Besides that, I thought we were... Lisa, do you have any more information as far as the county relationship goes?

I think, as I've spoken with the city manager, we have to have some ongoing regularly established meetings with the county to discuss what the county feels it can do to support a future clinic in that facility, because that's what we've been talking about as a location. That's $1.7 million, but that's for clinic. So I think that that's something that's on the city manager's radar to kind of set up some ongoing discussions, which will include the county.

And do we have any numbers as far as what we're expecting, roughly, from Medi-Cal? From that new billing system, or is that a Johnny question?

I do not. I don't know if you have any information, Johnny.

You're not going to like my answer. It will be between $150,000 a year and maybe $1 million a year.

I like the answer, actually.

We are confident that we can get $150,000 out of that. But I feel we're the... Where we see a lot of it is by adopting into the recuperative care area. That pays a lot more. There's ECM where there's, you're doing case management, you're doing services like this, but then there's also housing sustainability that you get 420 bucks a person for six months, and those are all avenues. But what, if we can get into the recuperative care. But again, that's uncharted territory. But we're being told by other providers by San Joaquin Health that there is, uh, it is possible. So those are avenues that we definitely want to explore and, um, venture until we hit a wall. But we feel From what I'm understanding, St. Mary's is getting a couple million dollars a year, and they have 628 beds. They also have about 100 clients on their ECM caseload, so that kind of gives me criteria that I think three to 400 is realistic and hopeful. Would you agree, Hod? I think that that's a good one, but on the safe side, because it's uncharted, we're calling it 150 with the ramp up from there.

Thank you, Johnny. And while you're up here, too, do you have any numbers as far as what you're expecting off those 12 beds? And the only thing I can come up with is if they're funding 12 beds and we have 60 beds there and the cost is $1.6 million, and that's about proportionately $300,000.

Which 12 beds are you referring to?

For behavioral health.

I have no idea how their funding is coming through and what they, because they're a different animal of how they get funded. It's not, I don't believe it's just straight Cal and Medi-Cal. It's different county contracts. I'm not familiar.

Carol, would we be able to get a meeting scheduled within the next few weeks on this issue? Thank you. Thank you very much, John.

But I know that they also have to fund themselves. Behavioral health is in a financial pinch, just like all of us are. So I would assume that some or most of that money is going to their operations also.

Gotcha, thank you, sir. And then the last question I have is, number one, what do we have to spend each year in CDBG grants? And number two is, are we able to legally use all those funds towards a project like this?

Not typically. The city receives about $500,000 or $600,000 per year on CDBG. They are used for a variety of projects such as the alley improvements, funding of subrecipient nonprofits and services in the city. So if you wanted to shift using CDBG funds to the Access Center, you would eliminate all of those projects and programs. We do allocate CDBG funds every other year through an annual action plan and NOFA process. There would also be required amendments through the consolidated plan, which is the five-year plan. that the city prepares for our planned use of CDBG funds. But it's not enough to pay for the entire amount.

Thank you. Well, what I would say to the council is this. We are in an absolute financial crunch when it comes to the city. And when it comes to other nonprofits and or raising taxes, I would rather spend the CDBG money on the access center and not have to raise taxes. Besides that, Again, I think Johnny's right on the ball. And Johnny, thank you very much for you and the team getting Medi-Cal licensed. I know that's no small feat. Still need to pump out some numbers when it comes to those 12 beds. But again, I would strongly advise if we're serious about funding the Access Center and we don't want to use general fund dollars, That CDBG grant is an excellent option.

Well, I've been walking places that I don't walk, typically talking to the voters. And they're not, you know, the numbers say, you know, I'm a data guy. And I don't know what methodology you use, but me seeing in my district, now in other districts that I'm walking, things have not improved. I talked to the residents that are still angry of the Access Center, of the homeless, that they're coming more. So things are not happening. So moving from the CD funds to the Access Center, the residents are not going to be happy about that and I will never support something like that because they promised when they started with this project that there wasn't going to be any general fund Funding to the access that are now with the slide that you show Cynthia shows like we're obligated, which I need to check that we legal how we can get out of the mess because I have other comments, but I just wanted to reply to that call it.

So I will look like if I can add on, we actually did do some research into the county grant. a year ago when I served as mayor because we had a disagreement with the county. With our old city attorney and old interim city manager, it was not our understanding that we had any obligation for ongoing funding.

That's what I understand too until today a few minutes ago. I'm very puzzled by that too.

And I had asked the county before, through Katie, please send me language in why you believe we owe a year of funding towards this. And we never got a reply. So if that's incorrect to the county's understanding, please send us that information. But that is also my understanding.

I would like to, yes, I would like to schedule for another meeting or email to council to look at that because I wasn't understanding until like three minutes ago.

Absolutely. We can look at that. I mean, it often is, part of it is maintenance of effort, but also part of it is if you want to transition to the building or the facility to someone else. there's different obligations. So there will be several different avenues you might choose, and each one of those will have different outcomes or different risks associated with them. So we can definitely talk to you about that and get some clarity for you on that.

Thank you.

I've got a couple of questions, and yes, I think the clarification is essential because the county is operating under the restrictions that HUD or federal and state pass through monies. I mean, so this is something where it's, We really are dependent on the county to give us some sense I think it's the ownership issue that we had a discussion about in other words You can't sell it or give it to somebody else because there is an obligation that the county has embraced for us to construct it and to operate it for a certain amount of time and I think that that's where we need clarification and those various sources of funding and need to be able to verify that. And I don't even know, Johnny, on the Medi-Cal side of things, where that comes into play as well. So there is a lot of overlapping obligations that we may have. We need greater clarity, why we need a regular monthly discussion with the county, and I need the county to be here whenever we have these presentations so that the questions can be answered. So that said, I wanna talk about something else. No, we are not using general fund money for operating. We are using general fund money for everything else that we're dealing with with the homeless population. CD is using it, Public Works is using it, Community Development is using it, Neighborhood Services relies on it. So what I really want to see is what we saw, which was a very thorough job done by city staff for that town hall. How much money are we spending on this issue that is not necessarily general fund money for operating the access center, but for addressing issues tied to homelessness. Okay. I want that report and I want that to be part of this quarterly report because we are spending millions of dollars annually on that. So let's respect the fact that I don't want to hide from residents of this city that money is being spent and I want to see results. I have to say that over the past eight years that I've been living here and the last four years on council, We have seen remarkable cleanups. Overpasses have been cleared. On ramps have been cleared. A steel fence has gone up. We're not seeing fully on encampments at Lawrence Park on a regular basis anymore. So it is still in the city. It is still a challenge. It has been reduced, but it is still an issue that we have to deal with. And just the issue of the RVs and the trailers parked over in the industrial area has gotten worse, for example. So there it's just dispersed. And that's what we have to address. And yes, we have the access center. OMI has been doing terrific work. Johnny, there's a reason that we got rid of inner city action. I mean, seriously, the lack of accountability, you guys have done a fabulous job in being accountable. So I respect that. I respect the hard work you're putting in to go for Medi-Cal dollars. you're gonna be able to be successful in some way. But there's a big delta between $300,000 and 1.6 million to operate it. And we have to address that issue. So now is the time to start working on it. And that's what I respect about what the mayor is saying and what Council Member Bregman.

Can I say a quick comment? I think we should designate some of us somehow to meet with the county officials too. That's why we need to have the bridge to establish conversations. So maybe in another meeting if you guys would be interested in serving the committee and some of you guys meet with the county officials and look at those details.

I would be happy if you would set something up city manager to figure out who it is from the county that we need to have at that meeting. We did have a meeting like that before we did the town hall and that's how we decided what was going to be discussed at that meeting. So I think it would be extremely valuable to have that because questions like we're asking about the dollars, could be something that we could ask in that type of meeting, and then it can come back to the full council. So I would agree with that. I might also, just a few other things, if you might, Mr. Mayor. We are talking about, and we talked about early on, Sunil remembers his workforce development. It is not in your scope of work to handle workforce development, correct? I'm sorry, Johnny, it's just that is one of the things that has always been part of the Access Center proposal that we made to the county was that we would have some type of a workforce development program incorporated into the Access Center. Do you guys feel like,

That's another funding avenue. That's workforce partnerships. Actually, that's why last month we had nine employment gains. Typically, it's in the four to five range. It's all been a ramp-up process and having the right people in the right place, and we just continue to get more team members that are better qualified, and we're improving all around. In that workforce development, now we're running a legitimate program that If you're going to participate in this program, there's going to be vetting, there's going to be drug testing, and it's a walking with. So that's in the process. I haven't talked with ABC NorCal recently, but I know that they are very interested that we wanted to see how that would work out, putting them in the tent, utilizing the tent for workforce development while we're in the center, and then also using it for fundraising. making use of that once we move out of there. But workforce development, I think our workforce partnerships, I started in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. I will be coming to you guys in part of that workforce development request and looking to partner with the city in contracts, downtown cleanup or anything along those lines. So there are different avenues that we're actually applying for some grants to get equipment for our workforce development, but We want to not just remove people from the streets, but have them go and clean up after themselves also to where they're going to be employed. And we plan on creating an income, a revenue for the center through that business model, but creating jobs and a revenue also. Okay. But workforce development is very, very involved, and we're ramping it up right now.

So that is another obligation that I want to know, because we made that commitment to the county. That's how we asked for some extra money to help with an additional space that we ended up not building. So what's our obligation in the agreement as it relates to job training, workforce development? Because we've mentioned it in here, but I need to make sure that we're meeting that obligation. And then I think also the question I have and maybe our county representative can answer this, those 12 beds or so that we have, is that 24-7 care for those beds? Because that is the respite beds that the county is providing. Is that 24-7 care?

My understanding is yes, but again, I do not know. Yeah, I apologize.

No, I just want to be able to put that out there because we are talking about the fact that, you know, PD could drop someone off or fire could drop someone off at one of those beds, just like the bigger Be Well Center is going to allow for down the road. If that's the case and it's 2 a.m. in the morning, I expect there to be 24-7 care there from somebody that can help. So that is an important question to know because that does do exactly what we've talked about, the benefits to police and fire about relieving them from having to stay somewhere or take them to a hospital instead or something like that. So that's a question I've got as well. There there and again this needs to be answered we talked about the various funding sources the low navigate the low barrier navigation emergency center Shelter or to provide specified homeless behavioral health and support service for defined compliance Periods, and I'm not sure what that particularly means so we kind of again need to see what are these? Periods that we need to provide those services and we're obligated under the agreements to do that on the the grant that was mentioned do we know when they have to the deadline when they have to make the grant announcement because I know we've got a pending fairly significant amount of money it have they stated when the announcement might be made and Are you referring to the ERF grant?

Yeah. I do not have a time frame right now. I know it was applied for, it was Jennifer's last day with the city she applied, so.

Okay, so that's three million, one million annually that we're talking about.

We applied for five million total, which would provide other support services. Three million of that would be for operations of the shelter with one million dollars per year.

Okay. That's supposed to be awarded in September We're in September so it would be nice to be able to know If that is occurring because that's obviously a nice stopgap for us to have a little bit more breathing room and I think those were my major issues, but I would just echo the fact that we need to set up some meetings.

Any other questions? Councilman Brinkman? One more question. What is your current occupancy rate on a regular basis? 60 cap, are we filling that 60 on a regular basis?

No, we only have 46 beds right now. The new center will be 60. I think our average in this last quarter was 41, 42, but we're usually at capacity or near capacity. And that's just the way it works out. But right now, we typically have at least one or two on the waiting list. And then people just don't show up at the last minute. But yeah, we're basically full.

And questions. I better ask the hard questions now and early. Otherwise, it's going to be more painful later. But have you hired and are ready to hire more individuals when that new center is open for the 60 bed count? Does that make sense to you?

Last time you awarded this to us, you gave us nine days to hire 20 people, and we got it done. We're ready. You're a miracle worker. We've got it. I'm not a miracle worker. But, no, we've got a lot of candidates. I think I have about 25 applications on my desk ready to go.

Okay. All right, that was my questions, thank you.

All right, any more comments from council?

My estimation, Johnny, you, the police force, and the city staff, we have this homeless problem is not like it used to be. We would have complaints. All full of people complaining about homeless and it's because of the homeless in there, you guys and the police force. So it would be sad not to have it because if you don't have that, you're going to find more homeless in the future and that was one of the main issues as far as the city was concerned. So I thank you guys for doing a good job and we have challenges to make.

If you don't mind, I had JP Doucette Slated to speak on behalf of the advisory committee tonight. Is that okay? Thank you.

Yeah, he will talk on public comments. So yeah, we're still in council comments. Any more comments from council? Okay, now we'll move to comments from the public.

Now you can go.

Now you can go.

Thank you Mary Pez Council and staffs CSAP tonight. I was asked to serve on the Advisory Committee for the the Access Center and I asked Johnny about three times if he was sure that he wanted me to serve on it. You know we we've been advocating. From the the perspective of really, we've been concerned about this funding. Issue since the initial vote of this center, I think it was 1 of the 1st items I spoke to city council about a number of years ago. And so. I really do think that we need to honor all the hard work that that Johnny and Jason, the outreach ministries team has put in. I was very, I don't know if critical was the right word, but you know, yes, okay. I was tough on Johnny and his team. Through the RFP process, I sat through and listened to all the proposals. Since being on the advisory committee, a lot of questions about operationally, their ability to be able to ramp up and deliver. working with them to be really upfront and honest about the concerns of the neighboring businesses and community members. And I will say that through it all, the team, they've really tried to address every concern And, you know, they're trying to run the center. They're trying to ramp up. They're trying to take care of the people that are coming into their care. They're trying to take care of the neighborhood. But they can't do it all alone. And we've always talked about this. And I know Councilmember Craig Hensley and her comments about really all the additional funds, not just to fund the center, but in terms of public safety and public works and all the other things. staff time and involvement that it's going to take to ultimately have this be a successful facility. And so the need is not going to go away despite the amazing numbers that the center has shown in terms of their ability to relocate folks. They still see 11 new visitors probably on average every month and that need the same amount of care, that need you know, that are new. Maybe they're new to the streets or maybe new to, you know, are coming back. And so this need is not going to go away. You know, and I think that I also want to address one other thing is that, you know, I understand that we say that no general fund dollars have been put towards this facility, but all of those grants that were received were not specific to this issue. I mean, we chose, and I say we, you know, the council at the time chose to go after grants that could have been used for economic development or other community centers or other community assets and the decision was made to put them towards this facility so there's genuine opportunity cost we discussed the staff time that's gone into to managing all these grants and proposals And so I think it's I'm glad we're having this serious discussion now, but it feels like the same discussion that we had three years ago. And there does not seem to be any more clarity to the funding of the center, which funding is going to run out at the Christmas time of next year if the if the center opens as it's scheduled to open. And just out of compassion to the team, to the compassion of the people that are gonna be in that facility, I think we really need to have more serious discussions about how are we gonna do this. And we gotta have an option A, an option B, and an option C. And I'm glad to hear that those discussions are finally going to be had because it makes it incredibly difficult as somebody who's supposed to be giving advice to the team when you don't have a, you know, there are so many unknowns. And so I will continue to stay involved. I've offered to continue to help Johnny where I can. You know, I just want to thank him and the team The nimbleness, the fighting through all this uncertainty and all these other things is really commendable. And so I want to recognize that. I know that staff has put an incredible amount of time in on this. And so I appreciate the discussion tonight. I appreciate the ability to share my thoughts. And we will continue to work on this issue. And hopefully, we'll get it right sooner rather than later. Thank you.

Any more comments from the public?

I think, there we go. Thank you. There's another statistic I think, and I think I saw it in a previous presentation. I think there's a misconception that the Access Center creates a magnet for this community to bring in more homeless people that wouldn't normally come here. Because we have all these great services, there's this huge influx of homeless people. I believe that as well, and I think I saw a statistic that said a majority of our homeless people are Lodi natives. So I'd like to see in future presentations if we can include that as well. I think it's an important education for the public. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next comment.

I have a comment. Why don't you guys go each month yourselves to go check and see what they're doing? You know how the money is being invested. Because it is a lot of money. It's a lot of money for those homeless to be just out on the streets in the center or downtown of Florida. You're investing a lot of money. investing a lot of money for those homeless not to have food to eat and be out on the streets. And I invite all of you that each month you visit the site and they can show you all the per item of what they're doing. Therefore you will find out where the money is being allocated.

so that's everything thank you thank you for your comment yeah we have another comment

Just real quick. My name is Lisa Myers-Hale. I'm the chair of the Lodi Committee on Homelessness. And I want to say that we are in the planning stages of a town hall. And I am in complete agreement that we need the figure you talked about, which is what is the city spending on homelessness? Because I was fascinated by that at the last town hall that we did. And I anticipate that that will have come down. And I just wanna say that communities are going to pay for homelessness. You're either gonna pay on the front end and do something about it and help relieve the situation, or you're gonna pay for it on the back end and do nothing and have it accumulate. And I think Johnny and his team have done a remarkable job, as JP outlined, being nimble and getting the job done efficiently and being accountable to the taxpayers and to the council. So I encourage you, I know it's difficult. But I think we should pay on the front end and do something about it.

Thank you for your comments. Do we have any public comments? No, I see none. Then I will move to council comments. Seeing none, so there's good discussion that we're having. As you guys know, I haven't been a supporter of this project from the beginning. But I was inherent with this task now because now we have it, right? So what I wanna ask my colleagues is that they meet with a county and try to see if we can figure this out. I will be interested in this, helping this, but like I said, this is not my project. So with that, I leave you there. Would you guys be interested in maybe appointing two of you to go and negotiate things with the county?

Yeah, I mean, I'd be interested just because I've been having those conversations to start with as a supervisor. So yes.

So how will we do that, city attorney?

Well, there's a couple ways you can do it. One way is just it can be informal, because any two members of the council are not a quorum, and they can meet as they choose. Or the council can choose to make a formal ad hoc committee. It's your prerogative.

OK. Will you guys volunteer some of yours to go?

Yeah.

You and your team?

Yeah. OK. And I think maybe, Cara, if Mikey and I can sit down and have a meeting and discuss who might be at the table for an ongoing meeting because really staff has to work this out together and I'm sure that we could get our board supervisor member to participate.

Okay, this is not an item for a motion, right? Am I correct in that or do we need to make a motion?

No motion.

Okay, then thank you and where was the town hall meeting I would like to go? The town hall meeting? Do you guys have a date yet?

No, but I've contacted Carrie Chadwick and she's working on that.

Okay, thank you so much. I think they will be very good town hall meeting. Okay.

Okay, thank you. All right, next item. Item G2, Unpermitted Food Vendor Tax Force Update.

We have a PowerPoint on the same plug, HDMI 2. And this item will be presented by Community Development's Senior Community Improvement Officer, Jeanique Andrews.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Jeanique Andrews. I'm a Community Improvement Officer within Community Development. Today, I will be giving you guys an update on the Unpermitted Food Vendor Task Force. There's been an uptake and unpermitted bidding within the city additionally with associated complaints When developing a response to that we wanted to make sure that we focus on public health and safety We also wanted to provide clear guidance for the permitting requirements with that the with that we started with an education first approach before focused enforcement enforcement community improvement participated in two ride-along trainings with another jurisdiction in order to learn how they enforce upon the unpermitted vendors. With that, we wanted to provide a citywide coordinated response. In order to provide that citywide coordinated response, we developed a task force. That task force consisted of the police department, fire department, community development, parks and rec, and public works, as well as other affected departments. Within the past couple months, the task force met several times. In those meetings, we reviewed the existing regulations that we currently have in the Lodi Municipal Code. We clarified the responsibilities per the departments. We did that in order to address the public health and safety concerns. We also wanted to provide clear information about permits and licenses and develop consistent education and enforcement procedures. With the help of our PIO Nancy, we developed an educational pamphlet. This pamphlet is currently being distributed by Lodi Police Department and Community Improvement on educational contacts and complaints that we receive. This pamphlet is available in English and Spanish. What this pamphlet does is it explains the required city permits and other requirements. It identifies the potential enforcement consequences. It provides contact information for vendors to get assistance from us to get permitted. Additionally, it provides a QR code and a link to a dedicated food vendor website. The image that we have on the right-hand side is the first page of the pamphlet that was developed. On our dedicated food vendor website, we have an application that people can print and fill out in order to submit to us. It includes all of the permitting requirements for the different types of vendors because we have approximately three or four different types of vendor permits out there. It also includes resources for the city requirements, which include the Lodi Fire Department, the Lodi Police Department, and our city business license. Additionally, it provides resources for outside agencies, which are going to be San Joaquin Environmental Health and then the California Department of Tax and Fees Administration. The last thing on the website is going to be the permitting cost and the term for how long the permit is valid for. The last slide that I have here for you guys is our education campaign, our next steps. So approximately for the past two weeks, we've actually been engaging in our education campaign. What that looks like is the educational pamphlets, they're being passed out to vendors. And the vendors are also getting assistance and being permitted. For the couple that I've done, we've had two vendors come in and get applications and begin working on the process. Additionally, I know that PD has made contact with some individuals, and they've also came in and began the permitting process. Additionally to that, there is going to be public outreach via social media campaign. After the education program concedes, we're going to be transitioning to more focused enforcement. We are currently coordinating with Environmental Health to plan the Unpermitted Vendor Enforcement. And that enforcement will be held on the nights and the weekends. That is it for me. I'm open for any questions.

Thank you so much for that presentation. Council comments?

Mayor Portimao? Could you speak more to that targeted enforcement that would be held on nights and weekends? What does that look like?

Yes, sir. So as of right now, we have approximately 13 that we have observed. Community improvement has went out after our ride-alongs with another jurisdiction, and we went to all the major spots that we get complaints on and that PD has observed unpermitted vendors on. So we have all of those locations notated, and so we're going to hit those spots first.

Is one of those locations on Harney Lane? I should be.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, got it. Okay. I'll just say that specifically on the weekends because I think they target it to where it's outside of cities, normal business operating hours, and so we're not capturing them.

Yes, sir, and that's been a constant thing. Even the permitted vendors and anybody who has submitted a complaint, they told us that it is known that our Friday is off and that we're off on the weekends and that that is the primary time to conduct unpermitted food vending. Got it. Thank you.

MS. You commented on an earlier slide about looking at existing regulations. My question is, are existing regulations sufficient?

MR. Our existing regulations are solid, yes, ma'am.

MS. OK. And you had done the ride-along, so I assume that means that there's been some comparison with another community about how they are regulating? MR.

Yes. MS. OK. MR. So their codes aren't too much different than ours. It's in different order, but it's not too much different. It's the same requirements for the most part.

MS. OK. For I think location is a concern for me too, because I don't it's much like we had the discussion on food trucks. You know, in some very concentrated areas where there's food services provided do we really want to see the competition, because most of the complaints I get are for from those businesses that right across the street somebody sets up. From them, so I think it's not just an issue of are they getting the appropriate? Permit, but are we and this is why I get back to the regulations are we looking at where they can be located? obviously Public space is one of the places that we consistently see them on sidewalks and And notwithstanding the fact that I kind of see differently the guys that are at night downtown grilling burgers and hot dogs a little differently than the guys selling fruit, you know, on a corner. They're still in public space. They're still blocking public space. So, you know, we do have regulations relative to making sure that the sidewalk area is free for pedestrians to pass through and they're not blocking public space. Is that not correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. So they're all over. I mean, I'm surprised that we only heard there's 14 because I would think there's much more than that on an ongoing basis, maybe not all in the same day. But if you look at a month's worth, you know, I can't believe that there's only 14 in the city. I swear I'd see 14 in one day, you know, so It may just take consistent being out in the evenings and weekends to see that, and you'll probably track more. I'm encouraged by the fact that somebody actually came in, that you got a couple of people going after their permits, so that's a great thing to hear. We'll get a new business license and maybe a health inspection, and that would be the first step. I think I do have concerns about the labor trafficking. And I think only PD maybe can address that. I know our district attorney's office has talked about that. It's a countywide issue. It could be what we're looking at downtown as well. It's just an operation. I mean, whether it's a cartel, whatever it is, we have labor trafficking going on. And I don't know how that factors into this, but that is a sensitive issue that I think we need to respect. So I do appreciate and commend the fact that you guys are out on nights and weekends now. Very promising to hear that. But I also don't want Councilman Hothi approaching the guys and saying, hey, get out of here. you know anything you can do to to save my council member from taking somebody on because we know who would win that battle okay um and then lastly i'll just say i appreciate pd putting more information in the shift summaries that gives us more detail about what's going on downtown i don't want to see a knifing or a shooting before we start enforcement And that's where I am right now. We're doing education great. They're starting to come in and respond. It's got to be enforcement now. Now it's enforcement. We don't have to wait another month or two months and make sure that everybody's absorbed this information. If we've got people coming in, they've been educated. And some people are going to choose not to respond and just keep operating illegally. This is when we enforce it. When they start at 8 or 9 or 10 o'clock and open up before the bars close, when we know we don't have them on the streets and creating the public nuisance that it's starting to create. So anyway, appreciate the effort. Appreciate the city manager pulling this task force together, looking at other cities. And I hope we move forward with a much a stronger approach, so thank you.

Any other comments from council? Seeing none, I think we are overdoing this action from council because we have all, I think the five of us have had complaints about this for a long time and we were told before that we cannot do anything, so now that you put this task forward, it's very good for us that we are able to do something now about. And with that, I'm gonna move to public comments. Seeing none. OK. Do we have any public comments?

Good evening, council. Thank you. I'm Alvin Costa. I've been in business over 20 years with a food truck. And nothing is getting done in this city. You go out here, right here to Jack in the Box across the street, there's two vendors every night. They're not food trucks. They're not permitted. They can't get permitted because they're tent vendors selling on full-on restaurants. You go to CVS, same thing. They're out there at night till 1 in the morning. Where are they dumping their wastewater? Where do they go to the bathroom? Yeah, they're getting a lot of business. As business owners, I have to be permitted. health permits, fire. When we do our events here in the town, fire has to come and inspect us for our propane, our fire extinguishers. Nothing's getting done, and it's getting worse and worse every city. Went out here on Turner Road today, out in the middle of the country, a guy's barbecuing chicken, selling it. It's everywhere. And the city needs no more information. They need to start citing them, and it is human trafficking. These guys ain't, I talked to one at the, I was doing the street fair. Bacon wrapped hotdog guy coming right behind me. Went up to him, no English. Where's your boss? Fresno. Bringing him over here, dropping him off with a little bacon wrapped hotdog cart, using gas or whatever, Bacon is hazardous. Where are their health permits? Nothing. Until someone gets sick and dies, then someone's going to do something about it. And I've been shut down in this city with my food truck at five windows because I was on the street. You go out here on the weekend, every weekend, downtown Lodi. There's four now downtown Lodi. Tents. They don't have health permits. I've talked to the health department. It takes an act of Congress to get somebody to come out. They said they can't come out and do nothing unless they have the police with them. The police and you guys need to get together and start taking charge or else we're going to be like Mexico. Every corner there's a street vendor selling whatever. So thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comment. Do we have any public comments? Maybe.

JP Doucette, President and CEO of Lodi Chamber of Commerce. I want to thank Mr. Costa for his comments because he's been in the business for a long time. And the restaurant business, they're all working right now in a very busy group of people. And it's an incredibly challenging business as it is. And so I know that we want to protect certain Uh, areas of our town. I know there's been kind of an emphasis on downtown, but we also know that Cherokee Lane, you know, has a lot of amazing restaurants. And, you know, has to deal with this issue quite a bit. There's there's it's not, you know, we really want to make sure that that enforcement is broad and it's done right. Um, you know, we're at the chamber we support. fair enterprise. We want everybody operating under the same rules. We have a lot of businesses that struggle to meet all of the stringent standards. A lot of times it's not the city's fault, it's the way that the state has set us up. But we just ask for that level of playing field across everybody. And we're here to help support those applicants that have come forward. between us and San Joaquin Economic Development. They have a great program in terms of helping people get through whatever permits and things that they need to get through at the county level. So we're happy to assist in that effort and to help people operate above board, operate securely. But ultimately, it is a public safety issue. It's not just... protecting business. It really is. We've seen issues with just kind of the people that gather around some of these areas at 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. You know, you'd like to see everybody go out to downtown, have a good time, get home safe. I do want to say thank you. You know, this has been several administrations we've gone through on this issue, and I understand that it's kind of challenging to take up this undertaking when maybe you're only going to be here for a few months, That we have a permanent city manager in place that's willing to go ahead on Thank You mrs. Reddick. That's it's greatly appreciated And so any again, you know, I think my usual parting line is anything the chamber can do to support in this effort We're here to help do so So, thank you very much You would like to say

I would just like to mention that the enforcement will be citywide. It will not just be in certain zones. And then when the individuals go out for the enforcement, it will be a team approach. There'll be an officer, a community improvement staff member, as well as a county health individual. So it will be that team approach where we can check the permits and have the safety with the police officers.

Thank you so much for that clarification. And do we have any public comments? Seeing none, I will go back to final council comments. Councilman Brinkman.

Thank you to the city staff who made this happen. That's all.

All right, then I will entertain a motion. There's no motion? No. Just updating?

Yeah.

All right, then. Then we'll move to the next item then.

Item G3, appoint a voting delegate and an alternate voting delegate to represent the City of Lodi at the 2026 League of California City's Annual Conference and Expo. So next week we have Mayor Yepes and Councilmember Craig Hensley attending the conference and we need to decide who's gonna be the voter and who's gonna be the delegate and who's gonna be the alternate.

I'm going to make a motion to make the delegate Lisa and me the alternate. Okay.

Second. Sorry, who said second? Okay. Let me see.

Do we need public comment? Oh, yeah. Do we need public comment? Oh, yeah.

Public comment? Anybody want to talk about it? Okay. All right.

Must be nice, Mr. Mayor, to make that motion and get yourself, you know, put the pressure on Councilmember Cragen.

Thank you for public comments. All right.

Maybe I won't say yes.

all right and it passes so you know more actions on the agenda or during this meeting at 9 32 p.m