City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome every welcome everyone and good evening. Today is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 and the time is 6 pm. I will call to order the regular meeting of the following will come to order at the Victorville City Council in the same council sitting as the Victorville Library Board of Trustees, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, successor agency to the redevelopment agency, the city as a housing asset successor, the Joint Powers Finance Authority, and the Victorville Water District. Madam Clerk, will you kindly call the role? Council member Godam here. Council member Irving here. Council member Mora here. Mayor Prom Haramman here. Mayor Bisera here. We have quorum.

Thank you, ma'am. If you would please stand for the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Tonight, invocation will be led by Pastor KS from Bible Baptist Church and our pledge will be led by Lieutenant John Kluff. Would you join with me in prayer, please? Our heavenly father, we come to you and we come to you with humble hearts, thanking you for everything that we have and that we are. For all the abundant blessings that you have given to us, we recognize our unworthiness of them. And so tonight we praise your name. Father, we thank you for your son who died that we might live. We thank you for salvation that is found in his name. And we thank you, Father, for the truth, the way, and the life that he is. Father, tonight I bring these council members before you and I ask for your wisdom upon them and your direction. I thank you for each of them, their desire to serve our city and each community which they represent. Thank you for these city workers, Father, who give themselves to this great city to serve it, to strengthen it. And Father, I pray for a wisdom on from on high that would come upon them and you'd bless this meeting this evening. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. The pledge of allegiance. Ready? Begin with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, sir. Madame clerk, will you please present the agenda and any revisions there, too? Thank you, Madam Mayor. There are no revisions to the agenda this evening. Thank you, ma'am. At this time, my council members, any conflict of interest? Okay, we'll now move on to public comment. Madame Clerk, is there any request to speak?

Yes, Madame Mayor. Welcome to tonight's meeting of the Victorville City Council. Your city council is interested in your ideas and opinions and furthermore endeavors to incorporate them into its deliberations. At the same time, the council must be able to carry out its business in an organized and efficient manner free from material disruption. Therefore, this meeting will be administered in accordance with the council's established policies and procedures and government code section 54957.9 and 54957.95. Individuals may speak on agenda items or on issues not posted on the agenda during the public comment section, provided those issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council. Individual speakers may address the council once per public comment period and once per each public hearing item for up to three minutes. Additional time may be allotted for appeal hearings in accordance with the city's adopted policy and procedure manual. Those who desire to comment on a public hearing item may wish to reserve their remarks until that particular public hearing has been opened. All testimony is to be directed solely to the council. Although open meeting laws do not permit council members to engage in dialogue with any speaker during the public comment periods, please know your comments and questions may be taken into consideration by council members when discussing the particular agenda item. The presiding officer may briefly respond or have staff respond to statements or questions or may request that the staff report back to the council at a subsequent meeting. Speakers are requested to comment as briefly as a subject permits. Once comments are invited, the speaker will be called on by name then recognized by the presiding officer. The speaker will state the item number that will be addressed or that the subject is a non-aggendaized matter. Audience members may not disrupt, disturb, or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of this meeting, and those who do are subject to removal from the meeting pursuant to code penal for penal code 403. Your understanding and cooperation are appreciated. Our first speaker this evening is Jim Hillard on a non-aggendaized item.

Good afternoon everyone or evening. See a lot of people I voted for here. Oh, can can you guys hear me better now? Okay. Good evening. Uh, I'm here. There's a just two or three issues I wanted to bring up. I'm basically representing my mom here. uh she's 86 years old and um she's getting uh bills from the Bertech Waste Management Company, you know, stating that she they've been they came by and they dropped off like a big trash can in front of her yard, you know, and I believe it's part of this state assembly bill that was passed that's requiring everybody to have like certain things. And so she uh has been told that she could apply for an exclusion by filling out a form, which she's been doing for the past three or four years, but for some reason they forgot to send it to her this past year. And uh in doing so now, they send her a bill for like $200 or something. And so I had a conversation with the manager over there about that and they said that they would go ahead and still exclude her for this year. But um their requirements are that she has to take her trash to a sort facility which is out in felin which is approximately 20 miles from her house. This is like a 40 40 mile round trip and she has to do that uh 12 times a year. And she said that and the manager also told me that the previous um requirements were that they were citizens were supposed to bring their trash there 52 times a year. That's once a week. And in other in order to get simply get receipts to provide receipts to um be excluded and that seems like really completely absurd and excessive that that needs to be addressed. So I did have a conversation with her. She said they did reduce it to 12 receipts a year. That's once a year. But the problem is is a lot of people don't produce that much trash, especially a single senior citizen living by herself. And then and then it becomes an imposition for her to have to drive 40 miles round trip all these times, you

know, just to get receipts to prove to the Berech company who's making like a hundred million dollars a year on this, you know, and it's it's it's wrong and it needs to be addressed. And uh I did, like I said, I did talk with the manager there about this. She said she's open to suggestions about um revising that form. And some suggestions I have is that you know if it if it imposes an undue hardship on a senior um it should be addressed and it should be granted like without question. So that's one issue. The other issue um is I I have tried to reach um several like different county members um uh representatives offices and usually uh I get no no answer to any phone call ever. I always have to leave messages and wait for somebody to call me back. And it's usually some secretary there that doesn't know how to do anything. And it's sad to me that this is how things are run. And I think it should be should they should do a better job and that the people that we represent should be available to the public, people like us directly face to face, so we can sit out and talk about these stuff and hack hack them out. The guy that I did talk to, he did

their time is up. Sir, can I ask you a question? Where does your mother live? Over here. Where does your mother live? She lives right down the street on Palmdale and Amethyst. So in the county section. Yeah, we've been trying to get a hold of Sanino County, too. We'll have fun with that. Mr. Mensler, can we at least give them

I I think on that issue because we do have some folks here that that certainly represent us as the city on all of our solid waste related stuff. So either Doug Matthews is in the back or Ben Lucha is over here. He's our environmental program manager. maybe before you leave, they can meet you in the back and at least uh offer you some guidance uh because if you're not in our jurisdiction, there's probably little we can do uh directly, but we may be able to give you some good advice on on how to how to handle your particular situation.

Uh the second one I think was regarding county staff, not necessarily city staff, if I understood you correctly. For me, it's pretty much been anybody I've ever tried to get a hold of. But, um, I did reach out to the county clerk and and the secretary called this person that I mentioned, I guess, on behalf of their office and then he called me back and he said, "We're just going to defer to her on that." And that's to me, that's not how you handle it. You know, these people probably don't know how to resolve problems like the people who are represented can. You know, they probably don't have the power to do it. So, people won't listen to them anyway. you know. So, um,

yeah. So, let's start with Doug and and Ben in the back. But, you know, to the extent you run into that experience, I agree. I mean, regardless of what jurisdiction you're in, if there are issues, you know, I would say you're close enough to to our jurisdiction. If we can at least hear what your issues are, we can certainly, if it's not something we can help out with directly, certainly something we could potentially influence from our end, government to government, being able to at least connect with the right person to be able to get you the service you need. The thing that the thing that really bothered me about it was they said that if she didn't pay her pay the bill, they were going to put a levy on her home. And that just really ticks me off. If it never that ends up happening, we're going to have a massive class action lawsuit. Okay. So, just FYI,

if your mom needs your trash dump, we're going to Somebody back there will give you my phone number. I'll go pick up. We've been taking her trash to the dump every couple months. I'm the one that helps her do that. Okay. But if your mom needs help, have her call me. I'll go pick up the trash. 40 miles round trip to do it. I get it. I'll dump it in mine. I can understand that. Can I get you on the phone, though? Yeah. They'll give you They'll give you my number. They'll give you somebody back there. Juan, give them my number. I think we'll find some assistance to get the mayor out there. All right. Thank you, sir. Thanks, guys. Our next speaker is Mary State on a non-aggendaized item.

Good evening. U my purpose for coming this evening was to thank our sheriff's department and our first responders and our um fire department. Uh there was recently tragedy on my street. Uh crime is on a upcline on off a wagon wheel in La Mesa. Okay. And and I would I'm just requesting like for the city to look at giving our sheriffs more funding as well as our state agency and our federal agency. so that they could have more pathways for keeping our community safe and that they can have a point of contact with the community when there's um hotspots that they need to address. But once again, they have to have the staffing, they have to have the funding to make that possible. So um that's that was my main uh reason for speaking tonight. I didn't have enough time to speak the last time that I came when I addressed your um other programs that you provide for the senior citizens, but we definitely desperately need um more sheriffs to be able to do more patrols to keep our city a safe place to live, work, and play as is advertised on our on your website for for the city of Victorville. So, thank you very much. And please do feel free to contact me should you want any additional information. And also, it would be nice to suggest them having a neighborhood watch. I'm I'm from the foothills of Aladena and we had neighborhood watch there and that sort of helped keep crime at bay because they work with the sheriffs to let them know what was going on. So, I just wanted to give that a suggestion because I don't think that we have neighborhood watch. Mary, do we have your information, a contact number that we can pass on to the sheriff's?

I can give it to the city clerks over there and you all can feel free to contact me and we could sit down and have a round table because it's about making our city safe. Like I said, there was recently a really a bad tragedy and I will leave it there. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I don't have any additional speaker cards. However, we did receive one public comment via email that was distributed to the council and posted to the website. Thank you very much. Our first business of order is a consent calendar items 1 through 13. At this time, I'll invite a motion. Move to adopt. Second.

First by council member Godan, a second by Mayor Prom Haramman. Madam clerk, will you take the vote? Council member Godan. Yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Prom Haramman, yes. Mayor Bisera. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. We've now taken action on items 1 through 13 in accordance with recommendation as set forth on the agenda. We'll move on to written communications. Item 14, Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. Mr. Mensler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the council. This is an a grant uh called the Edward Burns Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. It's a grant that we're used to uh getting through the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department will take the lead in applying for these funds as they're the eligible party to do so. Uh and then ultimately uh pass those funds through to be spent through uh our our budget. And so that's a big part of why this item is here is uh to deal with the appropriations on the revenue uh and the expenditure side uh but then also accepting the grant. And this particular grant um will be used largely to fund overtime worked with a number of our uh uh multiple enforcement team uh and gang you unit uh specialized enforcement uh efforts. Uh and so and largely it's uh funding uh the overtime for those. And so with that, the item has been authored um by the police captain, Mr. Jerry Davenport. Though he's not here, we have Lieutenant John Kluff available to answer any questions or comments you might have. Thank you, sir. Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation

that the honorable city council adopt resolution number 26-019 and 26-020, thereby accepting grant funds from the Department of Justice's Edward Burn Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program for 2023. Authorize the city manager or his designate to finalize all documents needed to execute the grant contract and amend the annual budget for fiscal year 2025 2026 to reflect an additional appropriation in the amount of $75,351. Thank you. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Council member Godan, I have none. Thank you. Council member Mora, I don't have any. Thank you. Council member Irving,

I don't have any questions. Thank you. Mayor Tim Herman. I have no questions. Thank you. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation as to points one, two, and three as presented on the agenda. Second. The first by council member Goden. A second by council member Irving. Madam clerk, will you take the vote, please? Wait, I'm sorry. Comments on the pending motion. Mayor Pam Herman, comments on the pending? I have none. Council member Mora, I have none. Thank you. Counciloman God. I have none. Councilman Irving, no comments. Okay. Now, Madam Cler, will you take the vote, please? Council member Godan, yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Prom Haramman, yes.

Mayor Bera, yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 15, Homeland Security Grant Program and Ballistic Shield Purchase. Mr. Menser, would you kindly introduce this item? Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the council. This item also uh deals with the accepting of grant funds. Uh this one, the 2023 Homeland Security Grant program, also applied for by the sheriff's department and made available uh to assist us in our uh efforts. Uh this item uh also deals with the revenue and expense side of the uh grant receipt and expenditure. Uh this one is intended to spend uh on ballistic shields uh for use during critical incidents. Uh really to help ensure additional uh safety and uh personal protective equipment on some of the u uh critical incidents uh such as active shooter type events. And so with that uh this item also has been authored uh by the police captain, Mr. Jerry Davenport, uh Mr. Jerry Davenport. Uh but we have Lieutenant John Kluff sitting in for him. Uh we're both available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madame Click, would you please read the recommendation? That the honorable city council adopt resolution number 26-022 accepting grant funds for the 2023 Homeland Security Grant Program. Adopt resolution number 26-023 amending the annual budget for fiscal year 2025 2026 to reflect an additional appropriation the amount of $31,417 and authorize the purchase of ballistic shields from blackbox safety. Thank you ma'am. At this time we'll do technical questions from council members. Council member Irvy, no questions. Thank you. Counciloman Mora, no questions. Thank you. Councilwoman God, I have none. Mayor Pam Herman, I have none. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item.

Go ahead. Move to approve staff recommendation as it pertains to items one, two, and three. Second. We have a first by Mayor Pam Haramman, a second by Counciloman Mora. Madame Clerk. Yes. Comments on the pending motion? I have none. Council Mora, I have none. Thank you. Council God, I have none. Thank you. Council Irving, no comments. Thank you. And I have none. Now, Madame Clerk, will you take the vote, please? Council member Godan, yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Pam Haramman, yes. Mayor Bera, yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 16, award of a construction agreement, Oldtown Commercial Faucer, would you kindly introduce this item? Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the council. Through our community development block grant program, uh it's a competitive process, as you know, where applicants apply for monies uh available. And in this particular case, uh these monies uh have been used uh to award funds uh to two applicants in Oldtown basically to conduct facade improvements along two facilities. one uh along D Street at 17053D D Street, the other at 15593 uh 7th Street. U and in this particular case, these funds will be used to to help uh make improvements to the exterior of buildings, really to help try to to to improve the aesthetic feature of some of those buildings in Oldtown. It's a part of our uh larger goal of of trying to uh clean up the Oldtown area. And so with that, this item has been authored by your deputy city manager, Mr. Tony Kamargo, and he's available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, sir. Madame Clerk, would you please read the recommendation? That the honorable city council award a construction agreement to Global Builders, Inc. for commercial facade improvements at 17053D Street and 155937 Street in the amount of $185,522. authorize a 10% contingency for unforeseen repair expenses and authorize the city manager or his designate to execute the construction agreement and any related change orders by and between the city of Victorville and Global Builders, Inc. Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Mayor Pam Haramman, I have none. Council God, I have none. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilwoman Mora,

I have none. Thank you. Councilwoman Irving, I have none. Thank you, Madame Mayor. We don't have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Madame Mayor, move to adopt staff's recommendations. Second. We have a first by Councilwoman Irving, a second by Councilwoman Godan. Comments on the pending motion, Councilwoman Irving? No comments. Councilwoman God, just that I'm excited to see this progressing forward and uh I'm happy to be able to see the results soon. So, this is this is good and I'm glad that this is finally getting um some motion behind it. So, thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Council Moira, I have none. Thank you. Mayor Tim Herman.

Yeah, I do. Um although I think this is great. I I I still can't figure out, and I discussed this with our city manager, why nobody is bidding on this work from our high desert. The money is not staying up here. And I just I just I can't figure it out. I made some phone calls uh the other day and you know I don't know why these the our local contractors are not participating in work like this. There's there's a hundred of them out there. So I'm just kind of disappointed in that. I'm glad it's getting done and I'm excited for Oldtown and all. I just I I I'm struggling to find a way to get uh try to get these guys in here to start doing some work so our our wages and the money stays up here in our area. That's all I have.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please? Council member God, yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor PM Haramman, yes. Mayor Bisera, yes. Motion passes unanimously. We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 17, the purchase of a skid steer caterpillar PC306 coal cleaner with a water tank attachment. Mr. Metro, can you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. This item involves uh the purchase of equipment uh for the airport. And as you know, out at the airport, the Southern California Logistics Airport, uh we do operate and maintain a large facility with a vast amount of asphalt and concrete. Uh in many cases that asphalt and concrete especially when we're doing uh repair work um currently requires a physical uh jackhammering of uh concrete or asphalt uh to perform repairs of those surfaces. This type of equipment will actually help make that process a little bit easier uh by actually um uh milling uh asphalt and/or concrete um which can help um uh us repair a lot of the servants surfaces out there at the uh airfield facility. It's also a piece of equipment that I expect uh or envision being loaned to public works when they're in need of doing sidewalk uh work uh throughout the city as well. So, I think it'll get multi-purposes, but this item has been brought forward by your airport director, Mr. James Morski. He's not here tonight. Uh, so I can certainly answer any questions uh that you might have.

Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation? That the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority Board of Directors approve the purchase of a Caterpillar PC306 cold planer with water tank. Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Council member Mora, I have none. Thank you. Councilman God, I have none. Thank you. Counciloman Irving, no questions. Thank you. Member Cham Harman, I have none. I have a question. Mr. Man, you know why Mr. Morowski didn't come in today? Right. Right. Putting the pressure on me.

Um, is when you say it's going to be loaned down, is public works, and they're going to get mad at me. I'm glad they're not there. Are they going to help pay for any of it? No, no. This is going to be funded entirely by the uh by the airport. So, it'll be principally to serve the airport, but certainly if it's not being used every day uh and there's a project that could be uh it could be useful for certainly uh uh the airport uh will be looked upon to share that with either public works or even water if that might be the case. Thank you, sir. You let me know when it comes in, will you? I'll invite a motion for this item. Madame Mayor, move that we adopt staff recommendation. Second. We have a first by Councilwoman Irving, a second by Mayor Tim Haramman. Council member Irving, comments on the pending motion?

No comments. Mayor Tim Herman, I have none. Council God, I have none. Council member Moira, I have none. Thank you. And I have none. Mr. Master, I'll leave you alone. Madam clerk, will you take Council Member Godan? Yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Prom Haramman, yes. Mayor Bera, yes. Motion passes unanimously. We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 18, rejection of proposal civic civil engineering services for the new park restrooms various parks project CC26-046. Mr. Mensler, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the council. We did uh go uh through a solicitation process inviting civil engineering firms to to bid on a scope of work uh focused on uh the civil work surrounding uh the ultimate installation of modular bathrooms uh pre-engineered uh restroom facilities I'm sorry at multiple park locations Eagle Ranch Schmidt Park uh and Green Tree Golf Course uh at Green Tree Golf Course it' be two locations um uh out in the the golf course area holes uh five and 14. Uh but that notwithstanding the bids came in at a price that was something much more than we envisioned. Uh and so certainly we are recommending because there isn't sufficient budget to handle this uh go through a formal rejection of the bids. we'll go ahead and go back to uh redrawing the scope to make sure it's much more clear uh and then determining the the next best uh step forward. Uh and so with that, this item has been authored by your community services director, Miss Donna Mester, and she's here and available for any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Would you please read the recommendation? that the honorable city council reject all proposals received for civil engineering services for new park restrooms various parks project CC26-046 and authorize staff to re-evaluate the project scope and procurement approach prior to issuing a new solicitation for civil engineering services. Thank you ma'am. At this time we'll do technical questions from council members. Councilwoman Mora I have none. Thank you. Counciloman God already had my questions answered. Thank you. Councilwoman Irving, I don't have questions. Thank you. Mer Herman, are both those contractors out of the area?

Let me check. Didn't look that close. They are. Okay. All right. Uh, yes, they are. Sorry. Okay. I'll save the rest for comments. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation as to points one and two is presented on the agenda. Second. I have a first by council Godan, a second by counciloman Irving. Councilman Godan, comments on the penny motion? I have none. Councilman Irving? No comments. Councilwoman Mora? No comments. Thank you. And now Mayor Pam here.

Okay. So, uh again, uh and I I'm going to speak from as a retired contractor. uh work is bid geographically and I guarantee you and I'm sure our engineer and others will tell you when companies come from down in the valley they're too they're not in line with what things go for around here. Maybe sometimes they are, but the these these prices are just outrageous. And we got to figure out a way to get our local contractors to start getting active in bidding the work for our city. That's all I have.

Okay. Mayor Tim Herman, don't take this wrong, but Mr. Medler, how many meetings have we had with the contractors to try to teach them how to bid on our jobs? Two or three that I can remember. Yeah, I don't know the exact number, but we have gone through that process to So, we basically hold their hand through the process short of us hiring their employees. We walk them through and show them how to fill out the bids, how to get the insurance, how to pay for work when comp, everything. Correct.

Yeah. We've had those uh environments where we're educating people on the process. Ultimately, once they submit the bid, you know, then there's no more handholding. Uh you know, goes through the the selection process from there. Uh but yeah, we've we've done a lot to try to help the the community be aware uh not only of the projects, but the process. Okay. Um, hold on. Our our engineering, our public works department, our community service, HR, top-notch. We know what we're doing. We know how to get the bids out there. If our local contractors cannot come to the table, we are doing everything we can to try to bring them to the table. I'm stick up for you guys.

Can I Can I go ahead? I wasn't talking down on our staff. I I agree. We've done a lot of things. That's why I I said it we need to figure out a way because it it just uh uh we've done everything and I agree and I wish we had maybe staff uh that could do the same save us a lot of money. But anyways, yeah, that's all I have. I'm not talking bad about our staff. I've just and I'm not saying we haven't helped and held people's hands. I just I just I I have a hard time understanding why nobody wants to do work for us. That's all I have.

Madam Clerk, will you take the vote, please? Council member Godam, yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Prom Haramman, yes. Mayor Bisera, yes. Motion passes unanimously. We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 19, Senate bills 1061, 1062, and 1063, AO AOA B. Mr. Mencer, would you kindly introduce this item?

Thank you, Madame Mayor, and members of the council. This item was brought to our attention uh through the attendance of our Mountain Desert Division uh of the California League of Cities. And this was brought forward as we were requested to consider taking a letter of support uh for these bills. These bills uh Senate bills 1061 2 and three are all related to the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act which uh went into uh effect I believe uh starting January 1st of 2023. Um, in in its simplest form, the the the act uh actually uh provides additional protections to the western Joshua Tree, which is the the species of tree uh found here in the Victorville area. Uh and altogether it serves as a protection to that tree. Uh and it actually does create impediments to further development including uh the construction of affordable housing. That notwithstanding uh this bill was put in place u to uh ease some of the burdens. Uh certainly one area is establishing a targeted exemption for the relocation within same parcel or contiguous parcels. Uh also there's a recognition that uh for the construction of uh life sa life self life sustaining services roadways utilities things of that nature uh to have the the Joshua tree impeding upon those abilities for us to provide our essential services doesn't sound right. And so those are some of the um things that these bills do in terms of uh just offering some relief uh to uh the the original act. And so with that, um, this item is brought forward, uh, for your consideration. I did author the I did author the staff report. There is no fiscal impact. Uh, with your approval, we'll, uh, proceed in

submitting letters of support to, uh, legislators on these bills. That's all I have, Madame Mayor. Thank you very much. Madam clerk, will you please read the recommendation? that your honorable city council support Senate bills 1061, 1062, and 1063 and authorize the mayor to sign a letter of support. Thank you. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Council God, I have none. Thank you. Counciloman, I don't have any questions. Thank you. Councilwoman Mora, I have none. Thank you. Mayor Pam Herman, I have none. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Move to adopt staff recommendation to draft the to send these letters out to support the bills. Second second.

I have a first by Councilman Goan, a second by Mayor Tim Herman. Comments on the pending motion. Councilman Goan. I have none. Mayor Tim Herman. Yeah. Um small small step, but uh we're getting we're we're moving in the right direction. Counciloman Irving. I don't have any comments. Thank you. Council member Mora, I have none. Thank you. And I have none. Madame clerk, will you please take the vote? Council member Godan, yes. Council member Irving, yes. Council member Mora, yes. Mayor Prom Haramman, yes. Mayor Bera, yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We've now taken action to approve staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda. Item 20, discussion and possible action to consider an adjustment to the city council compensation. Mr. Meer, would you kindly introduce this item? Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the council. This item is brought forward uh pursuant to an action taken by the city council back in November of 2024 where then uh the council um asked for an item to be automatically placed on ag on an agenda in every even year um so that the council can consider uh whether or not it wants to um alter increase uh its salary. And as you know, uh, the salary offered, uh, to council members is prescribed in municipal code. Uh, and it specifies a certain specific dollar amount and also includes provisions, uh, as to the ability to increase it. Um and the increase allowed for pursuant to the code uh if you so choose to increase it is um a measure of either 5% um uh or CPI whichever is is greater is the basic measure and so um the council this item's brought forward for the council to consider whether or not it wants to make an increase to u its salary within those parameters. Uh and it's also important to note that notwithstanding um any action by the council tonight to change its salary, the effectiveness of that uh change in salary would not take place until uh after the um general election uh in November. And so with that, uh the author is uh authored by your city clerk. Uh but both she and I can answer any questions or comments you might have.

Thank you. Madam clerk, would you please read the recommendation? Any action is at the discretion of your honorable city council. Thank you. At this time, we'll do technical questions from council members. Counciloman Goa, I have none. Thank you. Councilwoman Irving, I only want one uh one point for clarification. The last time we considered this item, we got a 5% increase. Is that correct?

I believe it was a 5% increase over a number of years. because the council hadn't uh raised its salary for uh quite some time. So when it did it last, it was playing catchup. Okay. Thank you. Councilman Moa, I have none. Thank you. Member Herman, I have none. And I have none. I'll invite a motion for this item. Since there is no motion, motion dies. Correct. Uh, city clerk. Yes, madam. The item dies for lack of a motion.

Okay. Item 21, city manager reports. Mr. Metsler.

Yes. Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of the council. Uh, a few items to report on the animal services side. Uh, the animal services uh, division will be at the High Desert Farmers Market at BBC this Thursday, April 23rd, from 8 a.m. to 12 pm. an opportunity to stop by, meet some of our adorable pets available for adoption. Uh, also join us this Saturday, April 25th, uh, from 10 am to 2 pm at the Animal Care and Adoption Center for our national adopt a shelter pet uh, day event. Uh, we'll be featuring a live radio broadcast from Y 102. Um, and all adoptions are free and include vaccinations and microchipping. On the community services side, uh, this is, uh, National Library Week. Uh the library is celebrating with fun activities throughout the week, including a scavenger hunt and uh art projects. Uh then to wrap up the week, join us for a community celebration this Saturday, April 25th, from uh noon to 2 p.m. uh featuring refreshments, a movie, and a number of giveaways. Uh on the environmental program side, uh we do have Shredfest and a composting giveaway uh on Saturday, May 2nd from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And that's at the MURF uh here in Victorville. Residents can bring up to four 20 pound boxes of bags of paper documents uh to be shredded for free. Uh and we'll also be giving away up to 50 gallons of free composting per household. And so with that, I also will forward you the email that has all the projects uh of interest that are going through our development process. uh on that document, you'll be able to see where uh all the commercial and residential projects that have been submitted, where they're at in the process, and what you can expect to see uh in terms of breaking ground in the near future. Uh that's all I have at this time, Madame Mayor.

Thank you, sir. At this time, we'll move on to item 22, discussion and possible action regarding upcoming agenda items. Councilman Godan, I have none. Councilwoman Mora, I have none. Councilwoman Irving, I don't have anything. Thank you. Mayor Tim Herman. I have none. And I have none. We will move on to item 23, reports from council members. Council members, if you guys want to say thank you or something came up or whatever you want to say, go ahead. At this time, you know, we'll be allowed. Uh, madame clerk, is it a three minute or a five minute? Three minutes.

Three minutes. Okay. Um, we'll start off with Councilwoman Mora. I just want to say congratulations to our survey tech on passing the National Council of Exams for Engineering and Surveying Mr. Bradley East. So, and also a big thank you to all of our city staff. Um, everyone does amazing job and our public safety um public comments really there are lots of incidents, but I know our first responders are always out there dedicated. So, I'm always thankful and grateful for them. And um that's all. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Council Mcota. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I just wanted to thank uh Mr. Bonia and his team for an amazing engineering report. Um I definitely enjoyed the traffic edition section um with all the information. So thank you. I enjoyed reading through your report. Lots of good things. Um and then I also just wanted to thank Mr. Duran for his uh engineering or his code compliance uh pardon me, your code compliance report. You and your team, good job. Um, I was happy to read all of the just improvements and the numbers especially that we've added the parking. Um, and so I think that's great and uh I appreciate both of you and your teams for just such amazing reports. They're very easy to read, very thorough. So well done and thank you. That's all. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Councilwoman Irving,

I just want to Well, I want to echo what my colleague has said. I'm very very pleased with the direction of the city and I too would like to commend code enforcement for their hard work and the department of engineering for their hard work and I do appreciate their reports as well. Thank you. Mayor Tim Herman.

Yes. Um I love my city. I really do. I think this city I love when I'm out of town and I'm going to do it again the next three days in Sacramento. I love bragging about how good this city is and how we're we're leading I at least in my opinion I I believe we're not only leading the high desert but you know we have cities that come up here just to look at the things we do and I want to thank Freddy and uh code enforcement George I I just can't say enough on how things have changed and since I was on the planning commission it it kind of took off from uh with uh putting the uh uh wellness center together and I just I I probably I I can't begin to tell you how much nicer uh and cleaned up at least where I live is and I live in like the the biggest retail area in the city. Uh, I want to thank Doug public works. Uh, Alex uh uh planning and Bobby for the the the uh fire department and Joe for building and Heather for HR and forgot your name, but but I I I I I mean it, you guys. I I love this city. I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go to bat for us no matter what it is. And I want to thank uh all the deputy city managers who have been a world of knowledge for me and when I have questions and our lieutenant uh our our police department is really going through a challenge right now. I in the last last two months have been hell. There's been some real strange stuff going on and the the police department has had handled it very professionally. I'm proud of that. Uh there was a fire at a house in my

neighborhood and our fire department was there to get it all under control. I just love how everything is happening in my city and I just want to say thank you to everybody. I know that wasn't real, but I mean it. That's it.

Thank you. Um Engineering and Code, I also read your reports. Joe, I read your reports. Yes, buddy. Thank you. Very informative. For those of you who did read the reports, Bear Valley Road is going to get restriped at Bear Valley and Armagosa. Now we can make it to Double Hand Turn Lane. That's going to be fun. Thank you, sir. I agree. I appreciate everything you guys do over there, Juan. You and your guys, you know that Doug, thank you. Um, Sue, Route 66 fair information has gone out. Um, people have been writing back and everything. It's going to be exciting. So, the Route 66 fair that's going to be downtown. It's on the website. Any questions, go through our PIO office. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. Also, the tour of Victorville 101 is also coming up. So, get on that. That's the one that everybody needs to go to. So now I would like council to know that I was busy this morning. I decided to go to the Sanino County Board of Supervisors meeting and speak at their meeting this morning. So, if you guys hear about it, um, I spoke with being upset, not being upset, concerned with our landfill being closed because outside trash is being brought in from other counties and there isn't a concern of our trash having to sit in trucks on the side of the road because they couldn't dump. So, that's what I let them know. Um, I behaved. I They used English your guys. So good to go. Um if there is anything else, Mr. Medler,

not you again. I forgot it. He had such a disappointed look on his face. How could I forget? Every time my password needs to be redone. And you forgot the city clerk's department who makes your travel arrangements. and our city going on air. I I I told you I wouldn't remember everybody. I'm sure the parks department is very upset. They just cut the grass today. Thank you. Thank you, Donna. At this time, at this time, if there is nothing further, Andre, do you have anything? Thank you, mayor. I have nothing.

Thank you, sir. Um, the time is 6:46 and this meeting's a journ. HR got you guys. Thank you.