City Council - Regular Meeting

For the interest of time, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Arvin City Council successor agency to the Arvin Community Redevelopment Agency, Arvin Housing Authority, and the Arvin Public Financing Authority. Today is Tuesday, 05/12/2026. I call this meeting to order at 06:00. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for a moment of silence.

Roll call, please. Council Member Tarver is absent. Council Member Horton? Here. Council Member Reyes? Present. Mayor Pro Tempurais? Here. Mayor Calderon?

Here.

Thanks. We'll start with the approving of the agenda. Are there any comments from the public? Are there any comments from the council? Seeing none. Is there a motion to approve the agenda?

We have change to the agenda.

Oh, there's a comment on the agenda? Okay. Would you like to come up really quick comment on the agenda as to form? The agenda as to form, the way the agenda is laid out in detail? No. Okay. There's a change to the agenda, what would that be?

Staff is recommending removing item 8A, the closed session item tonight.

Which one? 8A. 8A, the closed session item.

One second. Which one? I'm sorry. No closed session? Correct. Oh, no closed session tonight?

Correct.

Okay. Is there any are there any concerns with that? Okay. Then can we have a motion to remove that item?

I'll make a motion.

Great. Is there a second?

Second. Roll call.

And

we're going to the motion is this. The motion is to remove this item and then to approve the agenda as to form with item eight a removed from the agenda.

Correct.

That's been motioned and seconded. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Horton? Yes. Councilmember Reyes? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Perez?

Yes.

Mayor Calderon? Yes. Motion passes four zero.

Wonderful. Okay. Now we're gonna move on to public comment, and this is your opportunity. Anyone in the public can come into, the mic. You could provide comments on anything under the jurisdiction of the city council. And I'm gonna ask again two minutes. And just so before folks come to the mic, before you come, if I could just provide clarity. And this is

an issue of decorum. It's two minutes for comments in English. It's four minutes if

you need a translator, and you will only be allowed to speak one time. Okay. At this point, we can come forward.

Good afternoon, madam mayor, city council members. My name is Alma Fernandez, and I'd like to ask to grant officer Ramirez my two minutes of public Wonderful.

Yes. So then you're going to give him your two times, so he'll have a total of four because you're taking your two as well. Great. Go ahead and come to the mic.

Hello. Good afternoon, council members and city manager. My name is Officer Ramirez, and I'm the Vice President of our union. Congratulations. I want to speak on something tonight that's a matter that affects every resident in this community.

Officer Ramirez, one of the things we do is we record meetings in real time and they're being translated in real time. It's being streamed. And so for the accuracy of the recording, if you could slow down for the interpreter. Okay? Alright. Thanks.

So I want to speak tonight on a matter that affects every resident in the community, public safety. The Auburn Police Department is moving towards critical staffing levels, and I want to be very clear, this is not just an internal department issue. This is a public safety crisis in the making. We're losing officers, morale is low, and retention appears to be an afterthought. From where many of us stand, it appears the city does not care about losing its officers nor does it seem committed to retaining the experienced people protecting this community.

And the problem is getting worse. The police department is looking at losing at least three more officers by July. Three more officers in a small department is significant. And this is not a minor staffing adjustment. This is a serious blow to safety services in the city.

Every officer every lost officer means less coverage, fewer proactive patrols, slower response capabilities and increased strain on the officers who remain. What is even more concerning is that we're also losing the we already lost the overlap shift, which is the swing shift from eleven to eleven or two to two. So removing the overlap shift, while staffing continues to decline is a dangerous combination. The question is, why are we allowing ourselves to get staffing levels? Why are we not doing more to retain officers, support them and stop the continued loss of personnel?

It sends a troubling message when officers continue to leave and little appears to be done to address why. It gives the impression the city does not value of COVID-nineteen. We been made pleased in I urge have this city council and the mayor and the city manager to take this seriously before it becomes a full blown crisis. Protect patrol staffing, reevaluate decisions that are driving officers away, eliminate cuts that weaken coverage. Because once staffing reaches a breaking point, the consequences will not just be felt by officers, they will be felt by every single resident who calls 911 expecting help to arrive.

People of Arvin deserve a fully staffed supported police department. Officers deserve leadership that fights to keep them, and this council and city manager has a responsibility to make public safety a priority before it deteriorates further. Please act before the residents of Arbonne pay the price.

Thank you for your comments. Anyone else?

The make we're

to

to make

be a to And

to

be in the very very excited ir where to very point to we're get the requirements or the standard of a standard police officer, we're not going to cut them loose to the street. If they don't make they just don't cut it, they're not going to be let out on their own because now it's a liability for not only the city, but the police department and the training officer himself. So it's a serious thing. Our biggest concern is that we have a lot of officers that are getting ready to leave. At this time, we understand that the issue is with the city, with budget, cuts and all that stuff.

But at the same time, there's a budget for a reason. I mean, you're budgeted for this position. If we're losing an officer, it makes no sense not to rehire an officer. Process them between the time that the guy leaves and have them stand by, okay? There's an eligibility list. And you put them through the process, hold on to them. Once that somebody leaves, okay, question. Going be get a sense what I we're I

going to

to that's all I have to say.

Thank you. Any other comments?

Good evening, mayor, city council, staff. My name is Salvador Moreno. I am a resident here in the city of Arvin, and I'm here tonight because I strongly support our police department and officers and everything they do on a daily basis. The department has already lost some patrol officers along as some positions as most of us are aware. And those cuts directly affect public safety, the response times, and quality of service our community receives as well.

These officers put themselves on the line for our city and for us every single day, and they deserve support, not fewer resources as we're seeing. I understand budgets are difficult at this time, but public safety must remain the main priority for the city. I ask the council to seriously consider supporting and resorting these positions for the safety of our community and our officers as well. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there any other comments? All right. Seeing none, for the record, Mr. Councilman Tarver arrived at 06:06 p. M. Moving on to agenda item, three, we're going to approve the consent. Are there any comments from the community, regarding the consent agenda? Any comments from the council? Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Roll call, please.

Councilmember Tarver?

Yes.

Councilmember Horton? Yes. Councilmember Reyes? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Perez? Yes. Mayor Calderon? Yes. Motion passes.

Great. We are going to move on to our first action item of the evening. Action Item 4A, consideration and approval of a resolution of the City Council of the City of Arvin finding there's a need to take emergency action and waive the formal bidding requirements as outlined in the California Public Contract Code Section 22,050 and Arvin Municipal Section 3.08.070B and authorizing the city manager to coordinate with Veolia North America to identify a contractor to provide the needed services to counsel for approval to present an agreement for approval. Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the resolution, finding that there is a need to take emergency action and waive formal bidding requirements as outlined in the California Public Section Code that I described and the section, so 22,050, Section 3.08.70 of the Arvin Municipal Code and authorize a city manager to coordinate with Veolia to identify a contractor to provide the needed services. Staff, do you have your report?

I do. Just a second here. I apologize. A little

bit of That's okay. Take your time. And we know that we have Representative Finbriola here if there's any questions from the council as well. It's good to see you here, sir.

Alright. I'm ready now for the stuff.

Yep. Please.

So we had an issue at the wastewater treatment plant where one of the emergency one of the monitors the system has failed and the city is currently having depend on a backup system that could also fail at any time. It's a very aged system. And Veolia has indicated to me that there's an emergency that we need to replace the system as soon as possible, which means we don't have time to go out and get the normal three bids that we have as required by the urban municipal code. Veolia can identify a contractor for us. However, in order to accept the contractor from Viola, we would have to agree that a an emergency exist in the city and bypassing the city's purchasing policies.

This measure takes a four fifths majority.

Okay. Great. Are there any question from the public? Seeing none, are there any questions from the council?

I do have a question. Is this like a one time thing?

What I can do as far as emergency or the the system?

Yeah. Can explain how emergency By us approving this resolution, will it only be a onetime emergency or will it be ongoing?

No. That's correct. So this is only contemplating the specific purchase that's outlined in the resolution and would not apply to anything else. So if there was something subsequent that Veolia would need in order to make this happen, we would still have to go through the purchasing policies after that.

Yes. And my understanding, city attorney, correct me if I'm wrong here, is that even emergency, even when we identify the correct contractor, the contract still has to go to counsel before we work

Correct.

Start the work. So you guys will vote on whatever contract is presented. City Manager just doesn't go out and just do the stuff.

Okay. Are there any other questions from the council? Seeing none, do we have a motion?

So move.

Second?

Second.

Roll call, please.

Mr. Tarver? Yes. Councilmember Horton? Yes. Councilmember Reyes? Yes. Mayor Portem Perez?

Yes.

Mayor Calderon?

Yes. Motion passes. Five zero. Great. We're going to move on to action item 4B. Staff, will you please provide your report? And this is consideration and approval of a resolution of the City Council of the City of Arvin to submit an encroachment permit application to the California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, to hold the City Of Arvin's twenty twenty six Christmas Parade on State Highway 223, which is our Main Street, Bear Mountain Boulevard, and approve the city costs associated for this event. Staff, do you have your report?

I do. And Madam Mayor, if I may, this is to me, this is a very important item. So I am going to read the staff report verbatim. So those that are reviewing online and see this later can understand what we're talking about here.

Thank you. Alright.

For several years, the Arvin Chamber of Commerce has submitted a special event permit application to the city of Arvin requesting to hold an annual Christmas parade. The parade route would normally come on Campus Drive and travel east on Bear Mountain Boulevard. However, during the recent past three years, the Arvin Chamber of Commerce did not obtain an encroachment permit from the California Department of Transportation, which is required for the parade to travel on a state highway. Because there was no approval for the parade to travel on State Route 223, the parade route was shortened and updated instead travel through Arvin local streets. Caltrans requirements are provided in the attached encroachment permit application.

Hundreds of permits are issued to Caltrans throughout the year to the state for special events. Caltrans has informed city staff that they currently have a backlog and to keep in mind that all permit applications are signed dependent on workload once it is officially submitted for review. Therefore, if the council approves this event, it is recommended that the city engineer complete and submit an encroachment permit, including traffic control plan, detour plan and any other required documentation to Caltrans as soon as possible. Basically that's why we are doing this request starting the process six and one half months ahead of time. The parade is proposed to be scheduled for Saturday, December 5, and will begin at 7PM.

Setup will will begin at five and the event is expected to conclude by nine. The parade route, as I mentioned, will be on Campus Drive South from 4th Street onto Bear Mountain Boulevard, then travel east and ending at the near the intersection of Derby and Tajon. The rain date for the parade will be Saturday, December 12.

I think it's vice versa. Sorry to cut you off.

Yes, if it rains. Go ahead. If

it rains, it's the twelfth. It's scheduled for the fifth with the backup of the twelfth if it rains. Yes.

Not what the backup says.

Okay. On the you mean here? The staff report.

Oh, on

the staff report. Staff report.

Says scheduled for Saturday, December 5 and then rescheduled Okay. Saturday, December

we can clarify, Yes, the fifth and then back up twelfth. Harvard

Police Department will provide traffic control and maintain safety for the participants and spectators. The Public Works Department will assist with setup, cleanup costs, street closures and will provide the required notices to nearby residents who may be affected by the street closures. Following costs are estimated and they're actually much higher than this. We had anticipated the special event insurance to range between $350 to $500 The quote we got was $10.25 dollars just got that after the staff report was published. The police department, 2,360, but staff is taking a look, it could be more.

Public works, $13.50, again, could be more. The biggest cost is to have the city engineer prepare the traffic control plan, which is required by Cal Caltrans. The good news about this traffic control plan is unless Caltrans changes the formatting of traffic control plans in the future, this $3,900 will not be a reoccurring cost. So I'm going to estimate that the estimated cost of the Christmas parade will be between $10,000 to $12,000 continuing on. Other costs for supplies, lightning and equipment are unknown.

So 10 to 12. The city plans to pursue donations in accordance with the city of Arvin's donation and gift policy to absorb cost we past. The And we

made the

parade progress and that we can we expect are in donations.

Are there any comments from the public at this point? Are there any comments from the council?

I don't. Would like to, this is for the city manager. If you could clarify where the funding, where would you be reducing the funding?

Can you say that again, please?

Where will where will you be reducing the funding to cover the cost?

Of the parade.

Of the parade.

Well, because this isn't in because this isn't in the twenty sixth, twenty seventh, which hasn't been presented for the council, I would have to right now, we're assuming a donation. If there's no donations, then I would have to find somewhere else in the budget to cut, which I can't identify right now because we haven't adopted one.

So we've adopted the policy in the city to accept donations. And that is now a policy that is in place in the city. There have been several local businesses that have expressed enthusiastic support to fund the credit in the city of Arvin. One time event that occurs, benefit of the community. The plan that we would pay for the engineer submit to Caltrans is a plan that the city of Arvin could use for future parades.

So it is a plan that has it's an investment that will benefit the city for years to come. But the idea would be that it would be a community Christmas parade and that the city would receive donations to absorb the cost and to pay for the Christmas parade to benefit children and the families of the city of Arvin. We know that for the past couple of years, when the Christmas parade has run through campus over the and that there are sections, obviously, that are not well lit and or sections that are a bit narrower than others. And so that the complaints come directly to the city. I think the community assumes that the city of Arvin is the one that hosts the Christmas parade, not the chamber, and that somehow the city had something to do with rerouting a parade when that's not the case.

But that historically, it has happened on Main Street. I'm not sure as to why the chamber has not submitted that for the past three years. We know that St. Thomas has for the annual parade of La Virgen de Guadalupe in December, and they've been doing their parade. But that now that the city has a policy in place to accept donations and that community is interested in donating, that that's the way that the city could offset the cost for this parade. And in terms of accounting in the policy itself, it does say that there could be a special account, right, a set aside for this purpose so that there's accounting for the Christmas parade costs.

That is correct. We would the way this would work for donations is that there will be what's called a special revenue fund entitled donations added in this section to the city's budget. And within that budget, there will be projects. So each particular project will be within this donation fund, so we can track expenses and revenue project separately for accountability and transparency.

I will also share that today I did have coffee with the mayor at the library. There are several community members that did attend and there are community members that have expressed interest in wanting to be supportive of helping to organize the Christmas parade. If there was a community committee formed, for instance, Margarita Perez, who many know well because she used to be a member of the chamber, has expressed interest. The women of the art collective group, Adelante, those senior women, all of whom are retired, have also expressed interest in volunteering their time to coordinate the Christmas parade as well. And I'm sure that there might be many others that you, perhaps you, yourselves or your spouses, would also want to participate in wanting to volunteer to coordinate the Christmas parade.

I have another comment. I think I would love to see your report as like a cost breakdown as well, like the police department, ir hours, if it's three hours. Public works, how many public work, the hour times how many you're going to have out there and the hours. I think that would have been a little bit more clear because this is a little vague because it's not identifier. How many police officers are going to be out there?

How many public works are going to be out there, and who else is going to Ms. Reyes? Other staff, if they're going to volunteer or are there it's going to be on overtime as well?

So I would address that. If you want to answer tonight, I know Acting Finance Director Clark was the one that prepared the analysis. Dennis, do you happen to know per chance that how we calculate the hours and the rate and all that?

I took the average rate for the weighted average you for all the

speak to the Mike Dennis? Yeah.

I took the weighted average for all the officers and I multiplied it by 1.5 to arrive at an average overtime overtime rate for the officers. And for I did the same thing for public works.

Ms. Reyes, would you would it support you if you want a deeper analysis in terms of how many I

don't know how the other council feels, but I think that would be best for me is public work. I understand how you indicated it, Mr. Dennis, but it's their hourly rate times one and a half, but how long are they gonna be out there? Is it four hours or two hours? How did you come up with this amount?

I my estimate, I used I think I had I put in a spreadsheet and sent it to Cecilia. Thirty five hours total for the police department, thirty five hours total for public works.

Okay.

I can't recall the rates and the totals, but that was how I put it together when I sent it to Cecilia.

Would it support you, Ms. Reyes, that this is clear that it would be that the cost, given our financial challenges that we're facing, that the cost for the parade, that it would be fully funded through donations from the community and that that's how the city is the cost of the parade, cover staff time to be at this Christmas parade for our children and family. Would that support you?

Well, that would be wonderful. If it's going to cost the cities, you said 10,000 to $12,000 Correct. Correct?

Correct.

And hopefully you could fundraise more

than half. We could fundraise the max amount. I'm pretty confident we have the community support for a Christmas parade, particularly if there's accounting for it. Go ahead, Mr. Tarver.

So my question is this, can we focus on the most critical part of it, which is that the approval to have the parade, where the engineer is going to do the study. But what I don't understand about that either is how are they getting us twice?

How are they getting what?

How are they getting us twice? Because look at this, The church has a parade. Have to have paid for that study too.

They've been using the same plan.

Now we're turning around, and we have to pay for the study. So my question to staff is, if the city pays for the study, is the study good for not only city but also the church? Because that doesn't seem right that they would do that to us. Why are they doing that?

Why is Caltrans requiring a traffic control No.

See, if St. Thomas has already paid for that study, now the city is gonna turn around and pay for the same study down the same road. How does that make sense? That's not right. Staff?

I agree. I agree with that.

So, I think that somewhere in there, there should be some talking points, because that study, if we're paying for it with tax dollars, it should benefit

We're the not paying for it with tax dollars. We're paying for it through donations. We're donating to cover the cost of the total parade.

Guarantee that until the donations are there.

But we could make that contingent on this that we move forward to submit this. You're saying not to cover the cost for doing this study? Oh, that's your concern is the study. Could we just get clear, the city obviously must be legally obligated to do its study. Whether the church and what year the church did that and what laws have changed since St. Thomas had their control study submitted?

They did it last year.

Was it last year when did they have they run it down this street two times or once?

Every year after year they run it through Main Street.

And they did it last year.

Last year they ran it down this street. I think that was the first year that the chamber didn't do it, right?

No, the chamber hasn't done it for the past sorry. Two years in recent

I'm to the

church. Okay.

Last year, the city facilitated the parade.

No, we did not.

Oh, no, no. I'm sorry. The year prior,

I'm sorry. The last year prior, the city spent 10,000 for the parade to go down and Meijer. Did you have something to add, madam attorney?

No. I I think I'm hearing a couple of concerns. We can still get some authorization to maybe look into some of this stuff. Yeah. As the resolution is written, it doesn't identify that the city will pay for it.

Right? It identifies that they are approving the cost, but the goal is for this to be covered with donation. So I don't think we need to change the wording of the resolution, but I spoke with the city manager. I'm not sure. I don't know if we've even contacted Caltrans to, you know, even inquire if a study that has already been conducted on the same route could be applicable to maybe just a different entity if we're interested in doing that and maybe that could offset even the donations that we would need to kind of do that study. But I don't think that we've and

I don't think staff mentioned to Caltrans. It's just that the Caltrans requires it and that there's

a hearing that that is a concern too, but

I reach out to Caltrans.

Oh, you did?

I did. Haven't heard from them, but I did.

Okay. If it is somewhat recent and if Caltrans is open to the fact that maybe we can have some sort of agreement that, you know, the city is assuming liability with using this, it could just limit maybe our engineers' review instead of just preparation. Preparation. So the cost might be significantly less to Mr. Tarver's point.

So you suggest leaving the language as is approving this and that it would be lower than what we're projecting because we could use that study?

Yes. I just but I just wanna make sure that everybody is on board with letting us have a little bit of time because I do think that the timing is is trying to get this plan done in time to get the encroachment permit for us to adequately hold the parade. So we would just have to make this hopefully, council member Reyes gets a callback really faster as a contact.

So I'd like to ask one more question, staff. How much would it cost our staff, our engineers to do this study? Is there a breakdown for that dollar amount?

That was flat fee that Sam gave to me. He did not give me a

How much was it?

That was a 3,900.

Think that's right.

Dollars 3,000.

Yeah.

So, if we decided that the city could take on that $3,000 and pay for that study, the traffic study would not only benefit the Christmas parade, but it would also benefit Saint Thomas. But again, I think that there's some talking in there that needs to be done to Caltrans because that's not right. I know you're saying get donations for it, but I I just kinda think that that's something the city should have hold of. Now I'm not talking about the extra charge for the police department or whatever it cost the maintenance. We can't bear that burden.

No. But the other part of it is a definite reflection that goes definitely right back to the community, the taxpayers that are paying. And I don't think that there would be too many of them upset with that if we made that step and paid for that study. If it surfaced if if it sufficed to benefit, if Arvin High wanted to run a parade down Main Street. We already did the study, so they don't have to bear those costs. We already have that. But the other stuff, you know, we'd have to talk about how they pay for that, and that would be on them. That's how I see it. But whatever you guys want to do.

So then, is recommending again that we approve the language as is, and that way the timing issue, do you want to provide that clarity again?

So the resolution would be one part of it, but I I think we should look for consensus and and city manager, please feel free to jump in. But just consensus on I misunderstood, mister Tarver. I was thinking possibly using an existing traffic plan. Yes. Too. That Okay. So maybe I just want clarification to make sure that when we contact Caltrans, we're going to come from it from two points, whether we could use the existing. And if it's possible to maybe create something that allows certain entities within the city to be able to use it instead of it being that each the church, the high score, any other entity has to individually use Yep.

A plan. That's fine. And so is it staff that's been the point connecting with Caltrans, communicating with Caltrans, Jeff is?

They will be because Sam was the city engineer was in charge of

Communicating Caltrans and asking those questions.

He's one the that actually should get out where the equipment permit exists. I'm sure he can make that contact.

Okay.

I have a question regarding the days of the date. Who who so Oh, I'm sorry. So the date who that's always Saturday is always Lamont's Christmas parade. Have we contacted anybody there to see if it's going to conflict?

With what?

Lamont's Christmas parade? Because our bands go to

their That's in the I go to the Christmas Parade in Lemont. It's in the morning. But that's the morning Christmas Parade. Ours is in the evening. That's the morning in Lemont and more is in the evening. So it doesn't conflict with Lemont.

Well, yes. But if a marching band, that's a lot of marching, won't they? So I don't know. And we're sure that the chamber is not applying for this? Have Because I don't want to spend all this money and then them turn around and apply for it and for the same you know what I mean? It's going to be redundant.

What we know is the chamber has not applied for this in the past couple of years and perhaps there's cost constraints with not applying or submitting this. So

It's a lot to think of.

I can imagine anyone being upset about us moving forward with seeing how we can either use this existing study or investing in one that could be used down into the future for the benefit of future generations hosting a Christmas parade once a year?

Well, I have a suggestion opportunity we're make sure sure we're directed to provide a corresponding amount of cuts to the next year's budget to balance this thing. So we'll to identify in order to make it happen, there'll be a direction to staff to show where we're cutting elsewhere to make this balance.

Yes, sure. I mean, again, we're talking about a few thousand dollars, right, that the goal here is to fundraise for it. Yes. Has everyone's questions and comments been responded to? So staff is saying we can approve just given the time sensitivity of this with getting clarity from Caltrans about if past studies or existing studies can be utilized, which would lower the overall cost of the Christmas parade.

And if the city council would like as well, once we get a little more information from Caltrans, this at least would provide us the authority to move forward knowing that there's a possibility that we may have to absorb the cost even though the goal is the donations. And then we can bring back an item kind of doing the breakdown that, you know, council member Ray has requested and also identifying what Caltrans indicated and then look for direction that way as well.

I can commit to actively fundraising for the Christmas parade from our local small businesses, and I've already can tell you that there is enthusiasm out there, knowing that there would be a specific accounting for it from the city for the purposes of the Christmas parade. Would anyone else like to

join me in fundraising for the Christmas parade?

Sure. Okay. Great. I have one more question. Does the city have a letter? Because usually when you reach out to large agencies or any other private sector, you usually have to give them a letter. Do we have a letter like requesting any donations? And the reason that we're requesting donations because usually there's a letter.

For

For

tax tax purposes, yes. Is this something that could be drafted?

Yeah, we have to look at from other cities because this is new to us. We pretty much we've addressed the other side of the scenario where people are donating to us. But this time we're soliciting from them. So it's a different type of letter. But I can

So the answer is yes. A letter could be drafted to so make it easy for the council to Can share for us to you draft a letter, yes? Yes.

I'll reach out to the city manager and see what they have.

Are there any other Mr. Press, do you want

to help fundraise for the Christmas parade?

Sure.

Okay.

Do we have a motion?

We got a motion.

Do we have a second? I'll second. Roll call, please.

Second here. Motion by Mayor Portem Perez, second by Mayor Calderon. Council Member Tarver?

Yes.

Council Member Horton?

Yes.

You have to have to name, he said yes.

Yes, I'm sorry. Didn't hear Councilmember Reyes.

Yes, as long as we all commit to fundraise. Okay.

Yes with an asterisk, fundraise. Mayor Pro Tem Perez?

Yes.

Mayor Calderon? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you.

Moving on to item five a. This is a discussion of the draft city council policies and procedural manual. And I want to begin by just saying thank you to staff. We have made significant, significant progress on this manual. And my understanding is that in recent memory, there hasn't been a city council policy and procedural manual.

And so just thank you for this extensive document that's nearly 200 pages. And I will say that there's a specific section on decorum that I'd like to add additional language to. I know that when we're all in here, the minutes, the max amount of time that someone could come and speak to the mic, two minutes, we obviously allow more time because we know that folks need translating service We provide additional time. We know that often things can get heated, particularly in the world of social media when people are hearing things like, for example, Arvin is building a homeless shelter, or Arvin is building this rehabilitation shelter. And people get heated when they hear things on social media that are not factual, but then will come in.

Or when there's been other incidents, for instance, where perhaps folks allege certain abuses or so forth as it relates to law enforcement. And that decorum is really important and that we just provide clarity about how you behave in a council chamber, how you're to act here. Like, you know, seats appear. We always say the community has the power. We just have these titles.

But these positions are to be, you know, and staffed to be respected. So I do want to add additional language there. And I know that we have a lot that's been on our plate. Obviously, the budget right now, it's huge, the financial challenges that we're all facing. And so I've gone through it and I'm going through it section by section.

And so I'm going to ask for the courtesy of additional time and to table it so that we could give it the time that it really requires because it really requires all of our attention to go through and read this manual. I don't know if the other council members have had the opportunity to really read through the manual and all 200 pages of it in the various ways because there's also there one on the city logo, for example. It talks about the seal of Arvin. And there's the Arvin seal that we have here, obviously, poppies that we're using. That seal, folks are saying that the chamber has purchased it or the chamber has rights over it and that they've been utilizing it as their logo.

So also just getting clear there so that we could communicate if, in fact, it belongs to the city of Arvin and it is our seal. The manual itself says that no one can use it inappropriately. But for, I don't know, as long as you all can remember, the chamber is using that seal. And I think that that's why there might be confusion when we have things like a Christmas parade that perhaps the community then comes and complains to the city because seal is being placed on different flyers or different events that the chamber hosts, for example. So I do think that just getting clear as to who has rights over that and if it is the city, that we communicate with the chamber in advance as well.

But I do want to continue to just give this document the time and the attention that it absolutely deserves. So we're just not rushing through this like my experience has been with other things that we just seem to rush through, but really give it the time that it requires. Are there any additional comments or discussions about different sections

No, agree. That you've

all looked

We could table it so we could further look into it and review it instead of rushing into it and making sure that everything is, but you know the language is accordingly to what the policies and procedures should indicate. So I agree. If I

could add a little bit here, I would recommend we table this to meeting of June 10. The with counsel attending ICSC next week, it's going be a very compact short agenda, I mean time frame to work on stuff. So that's why I was recommending we come back not at the next meeting, but the meeting following.

Well, I would even say to give us additional time simply because today, we're going to go through expenditures, and it's the first time that we're all going to go through expenses. This is really heavy. And it's presentation today that many of us are receiving for the very first time the way that we're going to receive it. And specifically expenses that relates to the general fund. This isn't even really looking at department by department and how all departments are funded.

And then those funding streams, how they can be allocated because in many ways, some departments are fully funded by federal state grants. However, it's going practically 100% to like operations, is funds that could be used for critical services that our city is demanding like road improvements, which is what we hear all the time. And so we hear from our police department and others about the pressures that they're experiencing. We also saw your interview about just the financial crisis that we're in and the hard decisions that we're going to have to make. And imagine that, that budget is our priority as it should be so that we can really give it the time and attention.

Because at this point, we only have three more regular council meetings before we have to approve a budget. And we still haven't gone gone through also I mean, today it's big picture, but really department to department as we go through the line items to get more direction and figure out where we continue to make the tough decisions.

So basically we're cabling this kind of indefinitely until

No, not absolutely not. As we just Because I know that there are things that are up in the air. I know there are meetings that still have to happen with like the unions and meeting confers and things that have to happen that way that will also help inform a lot of what we're discussing up here. But we need to give this the attention that it absolutely requires. And also, we're balancing it with a really heavy budget conversation and discussion.

And we need all of that information so we're able to give that the attention and make these really tough decisions. It's a lot that we're all so that we could focus on the budget and we can revisit this. Is there any other further notice then? Yes. Okay. So can we now then move on to your budget presentation and just let us know how are we on expenses?

All right. Where is it? I thought it was attached. Great. All right. It's going to take me a couple of minutes here because I thought we had loaded it. It was at the last it was present the last minute and I thought Cecilia had included to the budget presentation. Minute break before I figure this out?

A ten minute break?

I don't want anybody to try to

Yes. And I imagine that our translator would appreciate that too. Okay. We'll take a ten minute break.

Yes. Oh, we have it on to the back.