City Council - Regular Meeting

So we had to review our organization structure. We started off by eliminating and restructuring bad contracts and agreements. We improved our accountability across the organization. And what I mean by that is when I started as a city council, I would call our city manager or our finance director and I could not locate them. And this wasn't on Monday, this wasn't on Tuesday, it was during the week. And so what that resonates is if your leadership is not there, where do you think staff is at? So a lot of the simple hanging fruit was not being addressed. So what we did is reorganize departments, establish a culture of responsibility and performance by creating subcommittees that increase transparency. What I mean subcommittees is we had an ad hoc committee and basically it took not the power away from the city manager, but it actually held people accountable. So you got to discuss things to staff, department heads. We also did a public policy committee. We also had a quality of life committee. and very transparent with the community whenever they came in to ask questions. So those were some of the steps that we took for the structure. So first, obviously after we canceled some bad contracts and reconstructed other contracts, public safety was a first operational priority because if you don't have safe streets, safe schools, or safe communities, nobody wants to come to your community. Nobody wants to live there. Nobody wants to invest. So we started by recruiting experienced leadership as far as the chief of police. We built a professional police department. We invested in officer training and make sure that they were certified with the post and they weren't second or third chance officers from other areas. We restored responsible policing and we rebuilt the confidence of our community where we're holding our police officers accountable just like holding ourselves accountable because nobody runs a perfect police agency but we try to figure out every capacity as far as what went wrong and what didn't, and what we implemented was body-worn cameras, because we're protecting our community, but also protecting our officers. So, building trust through financial stewardship. Once public safety was stabilized, city turned to restoring our finances. We brought in, we brought our audits up to date, we adopted balanced budgets, improve the transparency, strengthen our financial reporting, and obviously our professional operations we're delivering because when we started in 2020, every employee that we had in the finance department was outsourced. So what that meant is from an entry-level position that could be paid $18, $20 an hour, they were getting paid $45 an hour. And what background did they know about our finances when they kept on shuffling, coming in, coming out? So we had to restore and build within. And at that point, we couldn't ask residents to invest more until we demonstrated that we could be responsible to manage what we already had. So in November 2022, the committee chose to invest in the McFarland future with Measure M. But that wasn't the finish line. It became the catalyst. So our strategy was simple, strengthen our organization by people, technology, and partnership. And these three investments stretched out every measure and dollar. So investing in our people, by building internal capacity, increasing staff levels from 52 to 80 plus full-time employees. What does that mean? That means that by not outsourcing, we're able to hire within the community or within local communities to bring in talent that wasn't going elsewhere. And at the long run, it saved the city a lot more money and then services were being provided because we could actually address That department with employees.

Measure L, Mayor, if you can, for those of us that don't know, what was Measure M?

Measure M was a 1% sales tax that was put on the ballot for 2022 and it was passed by the voters. So from finance, we contracted leadership and internal finance team, facilities from outside contractors, construction expertise in-house, utilities from contract operators to certified city staff employees, from project management, from engineering consultants to internal project oversight, From this project management, which when I would see the bills, how much we're paying an individual just to stand out there and see one road being fixed or reconstructed, it was $80,000. And I said, there's no way we're going to pay that. So we need to hire a project manager where it was a complete offset for our city. And for our police, we increased sworn personnel such as school resource officers, a detective unit, a canine unit. We brought different units to the police department to make sure that our community was safe. And the knowledge stays with the city instead of leaving with other when the contract ends. So we continue to have projects and they can continue to be completed by not taxing our and using those projects to be delivered. Investing in technology. For our finance department, our budget was we used modern technology, finance, reporting improvements, and process automation. For public works, we used AI for payment management technology to assist management tools. For our police department, it's such a tool as flock cameras, drones, body cameras, and canine units. For community development, we modern permitting tools, digital process to speed up and streamline projects. So for technology, it allows small cities to perform like a much larger organization. And then these are the multiplying every dollar from that Measure M. We're able to partner with Caltrans, Wonderful, the school district, every vendor in our city, because local investment unlocks regional, state, and federal investment. And I'll go in at the end of our presentation as far as meeting, going to Sacramento, Washington, D.C., Santa Clara, wherever I needed to go to get some funding for our city and our county. Stretching every dollar from the measure end, local revenue, operational efficiency, grant competitiveness, outside funding, and more community investment. What I mean by stretching out every dollar, with this measure, we're able to hire grant administrators, grant managers, So we didn't outsource it and they were able to apply every day, every week for different grants that matched our city with a no match grant. And so by stretching out every dollar, that's what I mean, what brought to our city. And just to give you a simple, not a simple, in the last five years from grants that we've brought to our city, it's close to $100 million from water to roads, to infrastructure, to police. And I'm gonna go into detail with it. Reinvesting in McFarland, this is what Measure M has brought. Facilities, police, roads, wastewater, and water. Our public safety today, we have modern policing. We have a drone program. We have flock cameras. We have body-borne cameras. We have a canine unit. We have a mobile command post. We reestablished the cadet program for our youth. And we have a new police facility coming. Our city has been incorporated for 67 years. I'm not going to do the kids. I always do it. I can't get it out of my system. My students say, Mr. Ayon, that's old already. Educators, you know what I'm talking about. So the transformation began with the public safety and it continues today. So this is our canine. Sometimes canines are used so police officers and victims don't get hurt, and it's a tool that is needed. We have our police command post. It could be used for DUIs, different events for our policing. This is our police cadet program. We just had seven graduate this past year, and we continue to bring it. This is our next generation for public service or public safety. And this is where we're going to have our police facility. It's 18 acres. We negotiated for a dollar. But it's not only a police facility. It's going to be our community-centered campus where we plan to bring a senior citizen building, an emergency room facility. But we have a lot of room for growth. And then this is the groundbreaking we did six months ago. We should be up and running in about 10 months. Yeah. And this is the rendering. So our roads, I know a lot of you with the public deal with our roads, where they actually see or they feel the roads, right? So we did road rehabilitation, preventive maintenance, and future reconstruction, visible improvements, strengthen community confidence. So in 22, we did a roadway conditions report. If you notice, there's a lot of red. And all those red from our engineers, we needed to reconstruct, not resurface. All those, because that was a problem that when they're not addressed, there's no way of them repaving it. Because then you start feeling like you're on the ocean. So as of today, you see all that red? Now these are all the improvements we've made. from measuring in money and in different capacities. See a lot of green, right? So that just goes to show you what this dollar and what things when you work together could happen.

Those are all redone roads?

Yes. Yes. And then two of our overpasses that connects our community weren't addressed in close to 50 years. And we were able to get those done this past year. And we continue to advocate for different safety and repairs capacities. And that's why I also sit with Kern County to represent the county for infrastructure and transportation. We pay a lot of money to have our roads be fixed. So I'm just going to go through some pictures. That was Davis because I know a lot of elected officials, a lot of politicians like to tell you. I like to also show you. So that was Davis. This is Davis now. San Juan Street. So Wiley. Yeah. So.

Wow.

Yeah, I used to tell people you might need a neck brace when you come to our city, but not anymore. So, yeah, so. So this is the overpasses that I was talking about, the bridges that connect, and they were expensive. They were very expensive, but they needed to be done. So. And then for the roads that don't need a reconstruction, our staff with AI, they figure out what roads need to be addressed or which ones are at different levels. So this raclamide treatment or slurry, depending. I'm going to be talking out of my wheelhouse. I'm just copying some of our public works. But these are the things you maintain it so it doesn't cost you 10 years from now, five years from now. So as far as our water and wastewater, we have We're going to have three new water wells coming in, our wastewater expansion, future capacity, and our investing today prepares for city for tomorrow and the growth. So this is our future well site number one, fully funded through the state revolving fund. So when I'm talking about funds and grants and every measure that you can stretch out the dollar, We have our city manager here, Diego Villamontes. He's an exceptional city manager slash finance director. Please don't try to poach him. He's connected. No, I'm just kidding. But when you prepare a proposal for the state, you got to have to have a team that's qualified and knows what, what provisions because it's so competitive. But in the last five years, we're able to propose a grant, go to Sacramento, advocate, fight for the water wells and the water expansion. And it was about close to $42 million. And what that relates to is that we're not placing it in the backs of our taxpayers' money. So by stretching out that dollar and getting a grants team, and they're doing all the work, my job is to be the messenger. So... And it carries because without water, I mean, it's a need, obviously, right? So these are our wells that we're actually drilling as we speak now. So future well sites. And then this is also partnering up with the developer because people don't realize that the more homes you bring, it doesn't offset the cost for city operations. So developers have to have skin in the game as well. And this is our wellside three funded with combination and local and federal funding. This is our expansion to our wastewater treatment facility, which is going to give us enough growth because we annexed over close to 3,000 acres of land for commercial industries to bring better jobs for our community. So without water and expansion, you can't expand growth. So we've had so many issues in the northern area from McFarland, Pond, Taviston, that we've had recurring floods from Pozo Creek. It's threatened our homes and businesses for close to 40, 50 years. And through advocating with our different vendors and advocating to the state, we're able to get a... Well, it's actually not a donation. We bought those 12 acres for another dollar. So it's 30 acres for $2. I think that's a pretty good cost savings for the city. But what those 12 acres are going to be a retention basis for our residents. So when flooding comes, that's where the water is going to go. Also advocated for State Bill 556, positioning the city to pursue up to $20 million for flood mitigation. But this is not our city. It's Holkern County. And it's actually going to help our farmers, for storage of water, instead of just running alongside the 99. So, and regional collaboration with state, local, and private partners working together. Measure M strengthens our local foundation, but partnerships multiply our impact. So, these are the, this is the 12 acres that we purchased, and this is for, we're actually gonna, we're, our grants team is applying for a federal grant So we could actually have a dock park plus retention basin for our east side residents. And a potential prop for river restoration sites. So the county's already been funded. I mean, it's already been approved for the $20 million. So we need another $20 million to finish the project. Growing the tax base, annexation 18, 19, 20, innovation hub, when the size that you have, land, and then you have that, it's annexed, That's where potential growth for industry or different opportunities. So long-term financial stability comes from the economic growth, not tax increases alone. So this is our annexation we have alongside 99. Investing for the next generation, leadership development, college interns, high school interns, employee development, professional certification. Our greatest investment is in infrastructure. It's our people. And we've launched two programs for our high school and college students. A cadet program for our college students is... It's city governance. So they get to work during the summer, house city manager, HR, different finance department, so we can retain our talent. And plus, they get to come home back to their families and have a job. So we've had it for the last three years. Believe me, I didn't come up with the idea. I'm very good at copying and pasting. So those are the things you have to do. The results, financially stable, modern police department, improved roads, water, investments, economic development, technology, modernization, and a stronger organization. Challenges still lie ahead, fire services, water reliability, housing, infrastructure, and public safety staffing. Measure M positioned us to tackle these challenges, responsibility, and not eliminate them overnight. Lessons learned. Leadership comes first. Public safety builds confidence. Fiscal responsibility earns trust. Invest in people before consultants. And technology multiplies every dollar. And growth creates sustainability. I want to thank you for allowing me to speak today. The greatest transformation wasn't in our buildings or our streets. It was in our organization. Measure M gave us that opportunity. But our council, our employees, and our community made the transformation possible. It was a team effort. So my final message before I take any questions, my hope is for the city of Arman, for the city of Arman is simple. Learn from McFarland's journey and his mistakes, and you never have to overcome these challenges that we inherited. Because I see what you guys are going through, and I've come to other cities before anything, because we don't know if we'll be in a situation like that. That's why we come from the rural community to help each other There's only so many of us. We build early, we invest wisely, and we lead boldly. Some of my students ask me, Mr. Ayon, do you like being the mayor? I feel like everybody's calling you. I said, no, I enjoy being the mayor because leadership comes from serving others, transparency, and delivering real results. And that's what you should do as an elected official. I'm not here to tell you how to vote or what direction to go. I'm just here to give you a platform of what we've done with Measure M and how it's helped our community and it's transformed our community. And if it's put... And if you deliver the results, Arvin could see the growth and the path forward. But I'm here to answer any questions. If I don't have the answers, I have our city manager here.

Great, thank you. Are there any questions from the audience to the mayor of McFarland at this time? If you have a question, you can come up to the mic, please.

First of all, congratulations. Thank you. Their measure didn't work because they had a plan. We could have had 20 flat cameras and two drones already, but we got a sound system for a veterans building. Okay? That's one thing. Congratulations. They had a plan when they got the measure out.

Can you speak into the mic, sir? And please, your question.

My question is, if there's no plan for the measure, you're just trying to get one cent. First, you should have a plan like they did. It worked for them. Just ask for the 1% because people are leaving the city because everything's going to be more expensive. They go buy a Bakersfield when we should have it here and not have to go to Bakersfield and spend our money over there.

Thank you so much.

Is that a question for the mayor?

I don't, was that, mayor? The question is, I didn't understand. I didn't, did you get a question from that mayor? Or was that a statement?

It was a statement.

It was a statement. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.

First of all, I'd like to say congratulations, and you had a lot of goals to reach, and it looks like you reached them all. My question to you is, how long did it take to get going on reaching these goals?

After, yeah, you adopted the Measure M. How long did it take?

Yes, once we adopted Measure M, And then the money started coming in with the projects. And then our audits were caught up. Everything came in full circle. So we had to start with one department and then move on to the next department. Because when you don't have any money, you can't really get anything done. But the community saw the... what was addressed the first two years. And they're like, we can actually make this happen as far as passing it. And just the community trust. And I understand the gentleman's question and statement regarding having a plan. If you wait two years for a plan, then your city is going to be in a worse situation. as far as your infrastructure and everything else. And this is a time I'm glad that you got to be proactive instead of reactive. If you can learn from our in the city of McFarland, I say our mistakes because I live in the city. Those are the things that you need as an elected official, make those impactful decisions. And I understand the community. Nobody wants to be taxed. We're heavily taxed here in the state. And a lot of the money that's being taxed is not being utilized for its purpose. But this is why you have local control.

Thank you so much. Any other questions? Yes, please.

So I saw in your presentation that you said that you're at a $3 million deficit. How did you start the process of building the trust with being within a deficit? That's part one. Two is... When you were going through this process and you were dealing with the public, what do you expect our council and mayor to deal with on pushback so that they can reflect on that and how to build the community trust, right? And three, when you started to talk about a plan and stepping forward into this decision, can you explain like real money, what it looks like for a consumer, but you are, you live in the city of McFarland, how did that actually affect you financially having that 1% added?

I'm going to try to go over every question, but those are great questions. First, the way we addressed the deficit was by eliminating all the outsourcing as far as the companies from the finance, the public safety. We had three firms for attorneys. There was no reason why we needed three firms. We just needed one attorney and then we were going to go from there. So that was a lot of cost savings. And on top of that, some of our vendors weren't paying what they were supposed to be paying. And once I saw the agreement and contract, I called the vendors to the table. I say, you're either going to pay what you pay in other cities, or obviously there's a different location. You've got to hold people accountable like we hold ourselves accountable. That should answer the question number one as far as the offset of the cost of the deficit. Then by canceling some of those contracts, it saved the city close to a million, I would say, at least a million that first year by canceling some of those contracts and reconstructing those other contracts brought another million. So that was almost two million in one year. And it just continued. And then once you start figuring out one agreement, I started looking at the other agreements, and they weren't favorable to the city. And then what was question two? I'm trying to remember. Thank you. I was blessed with a big head, so I got a lot of pushback. I got a lot of pushback because people didn't want to be taxed. But here's the situation. We're all small communities. We all want the best public safety. We all want the best law enforcement. We want the best for our community. you're gonna get pushback because until you see results. And nobody wants to be taxed, I don't wanna be taxed, but if you're delivering those results, people understand because to compete against cities like Bakersfield, Shaft, or Delano where they have such a bigger revenue source, They're paying more for our police. They're paying more for our employees, our department heads, our city managers. So you've got to be able to compete. And those cities already have a 1% sales tax. But that gives them more leverage to hire qualified and certified employees. Because let me tell you, you're going to pay it directly and indirectly. And I'm not just talking about employees. I'm talking about litigations. So, and number three. Financially, I just, I feel like I'm getting in my bag, but I hope you're good. Okay.

Into the mic so we can have it recorded.

Financially, Realistically, I don't think I've had one complaint because they've seen our roads. They've seen our police respond. If you go, we're not perfect by no means, but we go to the park at night. There's kids playing basketball, baseball. Matter of fact, Axial's paper came out to the city of McFarland two years ago and wrote a piece about how we had turned around the whole city. And there's no price in the value of life, especially having safe streets, safe communities, and having the infrastructure. Everybody should have access to clean drinking water and then sewer. But yeah, I haven't had no complaints. I've gotten a lot of testimonials about... People are actually saying they're proud to be from McFarland, that they moved away from McFarland. So I hope that answers your question.

I was wondering more realistically what impact it had on your finances, right?

Like on your wallet, on your personal pocketbook.

How did it hurt you? Yeah, I mean, how did it affect you? How did it, the impact on his personal, on your personal? Yeah, because realistically, if you're saying you spend $1,000 here in the community a month on goods or whatever, it's a pinball.

Basically, if you start a business, you don't...

Yes, in that capacity. What I can tell you impacted me individually. To me, it was like I just mentioned, and our residents, we haven't had the complaints personally. What it did bring is it brought the revenue to fix a lot of the issues that we had at the time. Financially, I mean, if you're going to pay taxes, you want those services provided and delivered. And that's the thing that we've done for the city of McFarland.

Are there other questions? There's another one.

Muy buenas tardes, soy Salvador, presidente de la Cámara de Comercio Hispana aquí de Arvin.

Good evening. My name is Salvador. I am the president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here in Arvin.

First of all, I want to congratulate you for the work you are doing. You can see that you are doing an excellent job. I have had the opportunity to go out and visit some places. I remember very well a time when I went through Baron Willow. I loved that town. It was very clean.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you for the wonderful work that you are doing. I can see that your work is really, really good. And I would like to tell you that I have had the chance to go out and travel to different places. And one time I went to Bottom Willow, and I want to tell you, I love that community. The streets were clean. There were parks and there were basketball courts. It was beautiful.

Campos hermosos de todo tipo de deporte. Yo recuerdo que en ese entonces vine con una propuesta a la administración que estaba en mando. Entonces, la respuesta que tuve de un membro del concilio que hasta ahorita... And...

When I came here, I mean, it was beautiful. They had all kinds of sport courts, and I was very happy. So when I came here, I had a proposal. I came to the council members with a proposal, and I don't know why I received this answer from a council member. I honestly cannot tell you why this council member told me this. But the answer was, in Arden, you will never see that.

¿Por qué le comento esto, alcalde? Es porque yo personalmente y los negocios de Arvin estamos viendo que la nueva administración está trabajando más de al 100 para que Arvin esté en el lugar que debe de estar. Okay. And

Why? I don't know why he said that, but what I can tell you is that I would like to tell you mayor and I would like to tell you members of the council that we can see that you guys are really working, working really, really hard. you are giving your all. You're giving more than 100% to make Arvin a very good place. And I can see that. I can see that in all our businesses, we can see that you're working hard to make Arvin a number one, the number one city in this county.

Y le hago una pregunta. Cuando usted recibió la ciudad de McFarland, No sé en qué números estarían, pero la realidad aquí en nuestra ciudad se han cometido muchos errores en administraciones anteriores y este es el resultado de esos errores. So I would like to ask you, Mayor of McFarland, I mean, what were the numbers in the city when you became the mayor? Because, I mean...

As I can tell you here in Arvin, we have made many mistakes, many mistakes. And what we are facing now is nothing but the result of those mistakes. And I would like, I mean, I understand we're doing our best, but I would like to ask you, when you became mayor, what kind of numbers, what kind of financial situation did you face?

To answer his question, it was over $3 million because we were in a deficit, and then we also owed the fire services for a year and a half. And then on top of that, trying to recruit and retain city manager. finance department individuals, police, police officers, all that. So all that in one circle took a couple years to figure it out, but the Measure M extremely helped us out. When HDL said, you know, it was conservative, it was going to bring in about half a million, it's actually a lot closer to a million. That was a couple years ago. So having commercial, having industries out here helps out tremendously.

Thank you. Are there any other questions from the audience? You can have one more turn, but I'm going to tell you, we're going to take one at a time. So when you come to the mic, that's your turn, and then we're going to open it up to the council. Yep, go ahead. If it's a question for the... You can speak into the mic.

For you guys, the $3 million that started one in 2020, when you were in debt?

Can you ask the question into the mic for the mayor?

I was asking him if that three million deficit was in 2020. Okay. McFarland, there's like 15,000 people.

Ask the question to the mayor, the question, and he can answer the question.

McFarland has roughly 15,000 people. 15,000, 18,000. Okay, we have double that.

Yeah.

We don't get $2 million revenue from the geo group.

Right.

Now, could that have made a difference in everything that you presented us today? Absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, I didn't hear the question.

Yeah.

He's saying the $2 million revenue from the GEO Group, and I said, absolutely, when they were paying a quarter of that. That was one of the contracts that had to be reorganized. But to answer this gentleman's question when saying what we're ranked, we're ranked in the bottom by Maricopa as far as finances, and Maricopa obviously incorporates Citi as well, so.

Thank you. Are there any questions from Anselm? Questions from the council?

So let me ask you this question.

Can you speak into the mic, Mr. Tarver, so we can hear the record?

The fire contract, when did you guys get hit with that? Was it back in like 2008, 2000, way back then?

No, it was 2020.

You know, see, it's funny because we got hit with that back when Enrique was here. And... you know, it came to light that we owed the county a whole bunch of money. So we had been trying to catch up. So our Measure L was part of that catch up with that fire department. Okay. How much revenues do you guys get from your Measure M?

Close to, I would say close to a million.

One million dollars a year?

Measure M, yes.

And you guys did... You guys did all of that with that million to stretch everything.

Stretch everything out and then also partner with our partners because they're...

So at this time, would you actually say that the major L money is actually carrying your city? Is that correct?

The Measure M?

I mean the Measure M, I'm sorry. Measure L was ours.

Is it carrying? It's not carrying because we had to do other investments, but it's doubled our general fund. Not only that, but it's actually gave us, it was a catalyst to get other projects. Absolutely. And without it... Who knows where we would have been?

There you go. So the decision to go with your major L has dramatically improved the quality of life for the folks in your community because they took it on themselves to realize that they were in this together along with their leaders in the community.

110%. Yeah. It's improved it dramatically.

Yeah. And you guys have done a good job in McFarland. I've been there several times with the girls playing basketball, and I know some of your colleagues up there. But, yeah, McFarland's done a wonderful job. And then your water is also along with the city. It's not separate, right?

That's correct.

Where ours is separate. A separate entity. A separate fund. So we're away from that. But...

You definitely have some challenges, but this would definitely help.

Oh, you're not kidding. And the other question and final question, how much did the economic development help you with this whole thing?

Okay, and that is a very good question because anybody that knows city entities, you have to have commercial in order to provide those services for that sales tax. The city of McFarland had 97% residential We only had 3% commercial. Now we brought it down to 92% commercial. I mean, 92% residential, 8% commercial, which brings more tax for our residents to provide those services. So you have to have a balance of 75-25. That's what most cities should have. But without the major L... you'd be fried. Absolutely. I mean, major. Yeah, we would have to deal with different alternatives and it would have took a lot longer. And then we wouldn't have had the staff to apply for some of these grants proposals that we're able to acquire from the state and the federal government.

Yeah. All right. Thank you, Mary, for sharing with us. And we appreciate you guys coming down. Thank you, coach. All right.

Any other, oh, we'll go in order. Mr. Horton, do you have questions for the mayor?

I do. Mrs. Reyes? I don't have questions, a comment. McFarland has come a long way. As I used to go, there are a lot for basketball games, like Mr. Tarver mentioned. Okay. I think I love the idea of how you first start. It took you two years, correct? From 2020 to 22? Yeah. That's when you first start initiated the Measure M. Yeah. But I really like the idea of how you restructure the whole city as essence. You improve your ability, you create it, you reorganize your departments, you reestablish a culture of performance and responsibility, as you mentioned. And I think that's what kind of helped you because you built that trust with your residents. And then that's when you went ahead, if you want to continue that quality of life. But I think it took you two years. And I think I really like, I do like the idea how you, started and where you're at right now, but what it took you to get to where you're at right now. I think that really makes a difference because you have to build that trust and you got to show what you said you were out there to do is what you're attaining and you're showing that. And I think that's what really helped you. Am I right or am I wrong?

Yes. No, I understand the comment definitely, but What I'm trying... The message I'm trying to deliver is if I didn't have all those challenges and... It was so difficult to retain any policing because our other cities were, they were going elsewhere. And so you have to train and train, and then there's potential litigation. So if I didn't have all those challenges the first two years, it's not that we want to be taxed, but we just don't have the revenue. And not realizing that we didn't have the, seeing that we didn't have the commercial, but when I walked into this elected position, I had no idea all this, where the FBI and different groups have come in. Because you don't want to, and this is what I mentioned, you want to be proactive, not reactive. You don't want to wait until you get to that point and say, okay, we're now not per se saying in shambles, we're on fire. You want to actually address those issues while you have the opportunity. Because Once you start having failing infrastructure, failing other departments, then you're going to have to pay it directly and indirectly because staff's going to say, you know what, there's a job elsewhere, and you're going to have to hire somebody brand new. But if you have that money to compete with other municipalities, to answer your question is, if I had the opportunity to go back and we didn't have all those fires, but we needed revenue, that would be a way to streamline it.

The quick question out of your infrastructure, how much was that your actual revenue? How much was that your actual grant?

For the, to all the wells or the infrastructure? I would say, yeah.

Diego Veramonte is a City of McFarland City Manager. As far as the water and the wastewater, the majority of that was grant funded. Some of the road projects we leverage Measure M, the 1% sales tax funds, as a local match to apply towards SOME OF THESE GRANT FUNDS FOR THE STREET PROJECTS. SO IT REALLY DEPENDS ON WHAT TYPE OF PROJECTS, BUT MANY OF THE UTILITIES WERE PRIMARILY GRANT FUNDED. SOME OF THE STREETS WERE LEVERAGED WITH THE SALES TAX DOLLARS. SO IT ALLOWED US TO APPLY AND BE ELIGIBLE FOR SOME OF THESE GRANTS ON THE ROAD PROJECTS.

Thank you.

And just to add, Ms. Reyes, it's huge, especially you serving in the COG. You know that a lot of projects, unless you're shovel ready and you have the money, they're actually going to match it. But if you don't have it, they're going to go elsewhere. And that's why it's important to have reserves so that you can say, hey, this project, we're ready to go. And that's what we're able to. I can't give you the certain percentage of what, but it was just a starting point for us.

Mr. Vice Mayor Press, do you have any questions for the mayor?

The only question I had was, you guys have a grant writer in town?

Yes, that's correct. A grant writer and a grant manager.

And then from there, do they go after all grants? As small as they are? Because I see your DUI enforcement, that was also granted?

Yep. One of those grants offsets their salary. And it provides... different opportunities for different jobs, different projects. And it doesn't come from the taxpayers' money.

Got it.

I got one more question. Please.

Okay. With your Measure M money, would you say you're top-heavy anywhere across the board, the way you've spent it?

No, it's based on priority. whatever is needed at that time.

There's not one department eating up more than the other one or the other one. So you guys have maintained a balance across the board use of these tax dollars.

That is correct.

And you didn't overload it. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Any other questions from the council? Seeing none. I have a question for your city manager, if I could. Thank you so much for also being here. Could you share with us your one cent Measure M, how much you come in, you have a $3 million deficit. So you're really in an emergency mode, right? You need to cover your debts, like you said. You didn't have fire contract. You weren't able to pay that fire contract. So can you share with us again You were in a state of emergency. Would you say that the city of McFarland was in the brink of bankruptcy?

At the time, I would say from the outside looking in, absolutely. I didn't come on board until 2022. So the mayor can take full credit for everything up to that point. But from the outside looking in, because I was paying very close attention to it, I won't share exactly why or how, but it was absolutely on the brink of collapse. And that's, as crazy as it may sound, that's what motivated me to take part in trying to be the change that the mayor had started back in 2020 and really try to add that missing piece to tighten all this up, which was the financial reporting aspect and the audits, which was my background.

When you come into a city where what you described was a $3 million deficit, you described something so extreme, you said you found your city manager at the bottom of a river. No, I'm saying the law enforcement. I'm saying you had so many extreme examples. The streets were all in collapse. You had what appeared to be on the outside looking in, a failed city, failed local government. And public trust, you said, is important. But you knew that you needed to pass this measure because you were on the brink of collapse. And so going out to, like, again, to the public, to communicate to the public and... not only put on the ballot because you could vote to put the measure on the ballot but to to communicate to the public that they understood the emergency you were facing and really had them tax themselves and trust you trust the city to tax themselves when they just saw patterns in the past of failure What did you all do to set up that measure for success when you put it on the ballot to get the public to trust that things were going to turn around?

Well, you would have to, I mean, hire a group that's dealt with this and been successful to relay that message besides elected officials. But as elected officials, what I did is I went to different meetings, different groups, and I explained the whole process, what what needed to be done and how we were able to, because I'm not, not to kid you every six months or every six weeks, we're losing an employee to another municipality because we couldn't pay. And this is where I'm like, how can we compete with other cities? So you have to be able to compete to good, the best talent or the best, um,

employees so it's like the saying goes you get what you pay for and that if you were going to be able to pay for qualified experienced employees you need to have the money to pay for that and bring in the leadership yes sometimes i use other words but yes yes the professionals you brought in so you knew that you there was the alternative was measure m or failure right a total collapse. So you brought in professionals to help educate the public and do that messaging?

Yes. It's a two-way street. As elected officials and the company, you have to deliver that message. And then you have to not only tell them, but you have to show them what you plan to do with the taxpayers' money.

And that's what the professional comes in to support you to do?

Yes.

How much did you generate, and how quickly did it take you to, I know you said you restructured, but to be able to, as soon as, because we pass a tax, but the money doesn't come in right away, right? For you to be able to leverage it to say that you stretched the dollar. So how long does it take, typically, once you pass the tax, that you were able to leverage it to start?

I'm going to let our finance guru give you those numbers. But the one issue I did communicate with our community was we have an oversight community where the money goes, how it's spent, where is it directed to. So that's how you're able to trust. You ask community members to apply for the position.

You have a community oversight committee over Measure M?

Yes.

Oh, fantastic. Thank you.

Yeah, so... It takes about five to six months before you even see a dollar of that measure. How much? About five to six months. Five to six months? Right, until you see your first payment. So it does take a little bit, which is why what we did is control what we could control, as the mayor mentioned. We focused on our audits. We focused on doing what we could and really rolling up our sleeves because we had no other alternative at the time to really get the work done to to get us in a good in a good um in good standing so we knew where well actually before the measure was even adopted we we were able to catch that up so we knew that unfortunately we had that deficit as the mayor mentioned but control what you what you can control um streamline the processes that you can process that you that you can streamline and um Really invest in the people that you have now that are qualified to do those positions and chip away at it. Like the mayor said, one department at a time, one process at a time. Do what you can with the resources you currently have. And once that measure comes in, you're supplementing that with additional resources, whether that be investing in technology to help. you know, multiply those tax dollars or investing that in additional full-time equivalents to try to improve your processes. Do what you can with what you have now to focus on the critical areas. Public safety, financial stewardship are the two big items. And then supplement your measure revenues with addition or use those resources to supplement and build upon that progress.

You now have a 9.25 sales tax rate in your city. How has that impacted your residents? Have you heard from them in terms of how it's impacting their household budgets, their pocketbooks? And how has it impacted your small businesses in your community?

That's a great question. The reason the other measure was proposed, and I'll just make a very long story short, our city of McFarland hasn't had a community pool for eight years. It's being run by a special district, and they have felled our city. going into the numbers and bringing in a new pool, what that means, like the mayor and members of the community and council members, that's eight years that generations of youth don't know how to swim.

They don't know how to- So your pool has been shut down for eight years?

It's been shut down since 2018. And this is a problem. We have another financial debt that we had to inherit that's not our, it was a special district. So when I went out to the community, because they kept on asking for a pool, other services, other things that were needed to inherit that, deficit of $10 million because they're stuffed old and to build a new pool, it's anywhere from eight to 10 million, depending. So we asked our residents, what do you, our voters, our residents, do you want this? We put it on the ballot. It was put on the ballot and it was passed. That's the trust we have with the community. And we're still trying to figure out, we're hoping this summer, We would have had that pool going, but it's not going to be until next summer. I teach at the high school, and it really bothers me that, you know, I did a survey of 150 students, and 112 from the age of 14 to 17 don't know how to swim. I mean, it's total negligence, but that's for another day. But as far as your question, the impact... We haven't, I personally haven't had anybody address it with me. A couple businesses were like kind of upset about it, but I just told them, I said, we need to bring more businesses. The one thing I wish we would have put was, and we still can, is the sunset clause. So when we're able to fix and maintain that pool, we could actually go back down that percentage. So that's another thing that you could address as well.

Because swimming is a life skill. You know, we also have been facing that issue. We have a special park and recs district as well. And our pool has been closed. And we know that swimming is not just a nice recreational activity. It's also, it saves your life and you can save the life of others. Yes. Well, I just, you know, I appreciate you so much. What I'm hearing you say is that... similar to Arvin, McFarland, you were facing your financial challenges and you went to voters and they just chose to tax themselves to invest in McFarland. And what you've done is you've delivered results. That it would be nice to have this 10-year, 20-year plan, but when you're facing a financial catastrophe, when you're looking and you're looking down a cliff and you're saying, we need to act now so that we have the funds so that we can be able to bring in the professionals that are experienced to help us then navigate this and then deliver on what the community is saying. We know that here in our community they're saying fix our roads, invest in our parks, recreation for our youth. public safety and all the critical city services. And so I just appreciate that it sounds that you all decided to put it on the ballot, but you also wanted to ensure that your community was educated, that they were well-informed voters. However they were going to vote, they were going to vote, but let them have the education and the information, which is why you brought in the professionals, so that they could then make that decision at the ballot box.

Absolutely, Mayor. The one thing about me is I'm very transparent. And the thing is, you put it in front of your voters, they're going to make that decision. At least you're not imposing a huge increase on your sewer rates. You're not shutting it down. And you're actually addressing it before you get to that point. You're giving them that option. So I think that's the best way to govern is give your voters that right to say yes or no. And then from there, if you figure another alternative. But, you know, this is why we came here. We're here to serve. We're here to serve our residents for Arvin, for the county. Delano, Wasco had flooding issues. We told them, hey, we have pumps. We're experts at floods. So we got to help each other out. We come from the rural community. So I just want to thank you for allowing me to speak today. And we're not perfect, but we figured a way forward. Thank you.

So you passed a tax measure of 1% in 2022, and then again you went back to the voters and they passed a tax in 2025? That is correct. Is that correct? And so now you are using that for expansion. As it related to economic development, were you doing that simultaneously? economic development along with the tax measure? Or is it something that you were able to now, with the expansion, do after you actually were able to address the emergency, emergent crisis and the needs?

A little of the both. Infrastructure, economic development, everything that's going to bring back sales tax revenue. So, yes.

Right.

And hitting on economic development, it takes time, right? Right. Projects back when I first started in 2022 are barely coming to fruition over the next year. So some of these projects, especially in a small town where we have limited resources, limited incentives to provide these businesses, it takes time for that to come to fruition. So the revenue was very, as far as the 1% sales tax was very critical. to help us bridge that gap until some of these projects came to fruition. So it's essentially for us, it was a lifeline to help us build for that sustainability going forward. So as the mayor mentioned in his presentation, The one cent sales tax in itself is not the solution, but it helps as a lifeline to help build some of these other sustainable economic development functions. So that's how we've approached it, and McFarland is understanding that in itself is not going to solve all of our issues, but it's going to help create the capacity so that we can deliver on these other long-term projects that should come to fruition here in the near future.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor, for your presentation, Mr. City Manager. We appreciate you so much. Thank you. Okay, we are moving on to the first action item. And this is item 3A. Staff, will you please provide your report to item 3A? Can you speak into the mic?

All right, this is complicated, so I'm going to read from the... the staff report to make it... Yeah, into the mic so we can hear you clearly and everyone can take their time. This is kind of complicated. There's a couple of choices here. So first of all, I'm going to read the agenda item in full.

Would you like me to read the agenda item? I got it. Okay.

I rehearsed my voice a little bit from two days ago.

That's okay. Sure. So item A is consideration... and approval of option one, which includes the measure. This is a tax measure for the November ballot. I just want to just clarify what that includes. The measure includes the tax to give voters of Arvin the option to vote for a 1% sales tax. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Arvin, California, Arvin, California, calling and giving notice of holding a general municipal election to be held Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026, for the election of three members of the City Council, So this is a regular election, three members, their term is up, so they're gonna be, it's gonna be these three members of the city council. For submission to the voters, a question related to the establishment of a 1% transactions and use tax. This requires four-fifths of the council's vote. So four of the five council members must vote in the affirmative, yes, to put option one on the ballot. A resolution of the City Council of the City of Arvin, California, setting priorities for filling written arguments, arguments for or against the city measure, and directing the city attorney to prepare impartial analysis. A resolution of the city council of the city of Arvin, providing for the filing and rebuttal arguments for the city's measure submitted at municipal elections. and a resolution of the city council of the city of Arvin, California, requesting the board of supervisors of the county of Kern to consolidate a general municipal election to be held on November 3rd, 2026 with the statewide general election to be held on the same date. And so in plain speak, what this is saying is, We know that this year, November 3rd, 2026, we have an election, right? We're voting for governor. We're voting for congressional representatives. We are voting this November. We also know that we have our municipal elections that we need to make sure that we inform the board of supervisors. We have a municipal election because our council seats are four year terms. and three council members terms are up. And so those three seats are up for reelection. And so this option would include informing the Board of Supervisors of the county of that and consolidating it along with the establishment of that 1% sales tax on the ballot, on this ballot. That's option one. or option two does not include the measure, does not include 1% sales tax. This reads a resolution of the city council of the city of Arvin, California calling and giving notice for holding a general municipal election to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026 for the election of three members of the city council. and a resolution of the City Council of the City of Arvin requesting the Board of Supervisors of County of Kern to consolidate a general municipal election to be held on November 3, 2026, with a statewide general election to be held on the same date. staff recommends the adoption of four resolutions listed in option one. So staff recommends the four resolutions that I read in option one. So with that, staff, do you have a report?

Yes, Madam Mayor, members of the council, this is the decision point. I have clearly stated in my budget presentation of two days ago where the city is at. We're looking at some layoffs. We're looking at cuts. The future is rough. This tax measure will allow us to get approximately between $2.1 and $2.4 million a year, not only to restore and retain the critical services of Arvin for police services, for parks, for public works, but also to save a little for the future, invest in our roads and our streets even more going forward. What I'm asking for tonight is not to tax the voters. I'm asking the council in their wisdom to allow the citizens of Arvin to make the choice of what they want. Do they want the future? If we don't do the measure, that looks like we are today slowly deteriorating. Or do we want to promise for the future by incorporating this tax? I recommend that the city council allow the voters this choice. One other thing. I personally believe that if we don't do this measure for whatever reason tonight, we will be back in less than two years asking for the same thing. I don't see any other options. And what happens if we have to do something, say, in 2027, for example? Then we're in the situation we were when we had to hold the special election for the fifth council member. We will have to pay at least $30,000 in fees to get on the ballot for that special election. So by acting tonight, not only do we allow the voters the choice, but we save $33,000 minimum in the future because I feel we'll be right back in the situation. Thank you.

Thank you. At this time, are there any comments or questions from the public?

Hi, everybody. My name is Jeanette Schumacher. And I moved here to Arvin in 2005. And that's when they put the third streetlight. They just put the streetlight there at the end by Comanche. And from 21 years, I saw a lot of improvements here in Arvin. you know i learned to love this place and i think we do need to get that one percent tax i know i'm on a fixed budget but this one percent this text will help the community improve and not go down the drain you know and um and make sure that people don't believe in all this bad social media they see on the internet. And they live here in Arvin. Instead of putting bad social media online, they should help tell the people here in Arvin to get involved in the community and come here and listen to the truth, what's going on, what they're gonna do with that tax money. And that will help a lot, educate them.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Ms. Schumacher. Are there any other comments from the public?

Margarita Perez. Like my friend, I'd like to say that, yeah, I think that we should allow the people here of Arvin to make a choice. And I also would like to say that I have trust in the people in Arvin. There's a lot of people here that are strong in their beliefs. Arvin is their home. We've been here many years. And if it's our home and if something is happening in our home, we fix it. Arvin is our home and I trust that our people would do the right choice. Put it on the ballot. Thank you. Are there any other comments?

City Council, Mayor. normally really don't care about this type of stuff, but you guys made the news, so I had to read the article. Do you have a question for Jeff? Reading through the fiscal year and everything, and them deciding not to release two police officers, how does that affect the deficit for next year?

So what I've been tasked to, were you at the last meeting?

I wasn't. I kind of read through the thing. It's like 317 to three something.

So what I was tasked to do at the last council meeting where they approved the budget with conditions. The conditions was keep the two police officers and also verify that the sales tax revenue I'm projecting is correct. They felt, members of the council felt I might be a little over-optimistic. So right now I am taking those two factors into consideration, but with no revenue, I'm going to have to cut elsewhere.

Without the revenue, let's assume without the revenue. Correct.

I'm going to have to cut elsewhere and quite frankly, I'm still working on that. It's going to take me several weeks to get there.

And how much is our general reserve?

Well, at the end of the year, we're going to be about $250,000. $250,000?

Mm-hmm. How fastly will that go if we don't do the new measure?

Well. I do propose to balance budgets, so in theory it shouldn't impact the reserves, but if anything goes wrong, $250,000 is not a lot of reserves.

When you say making cuts, that means somewhere else in the city, not the police department. Anything else will have to be sacrificed to keep the budget in line.

Correct. It could be other personnel. It could be... producing or parks. There could be a lot of situations.

In your opinion, can the city of Auburn afford to lose any of those other potential sacrifices that are made to get this deficit down or the amount?

No, I don't believe so. Right now, we're barely providing what the citizens need, and I'm hoping to keep it at that level. If we have to do more cuts, it's going to take it even further.

And especially for the Reverend. I have one comment to the council, right? We voted for you guys to make the right decisions for the people. You have to understand a lot of us don't understand, read or care about this. We hired, like we elected you guys to care, to understand what's in our best interest, even when we don't understand why it's in our best interest. Right. We're not here for elections. We're not here for, you know, personal pounding our chest. Look at the position I have. We are here for the community. We're here to improve our kids future. Right. This measure will help that. Do I agree with Mayor McFarland about having an oversight committee? Absolutely. Look what happened to Measure L. But this makes sense. I mean, the community will see that it makes sense if you guys believe in it. All five of you. Not just two, three of you, or the three that it requires to get it approved. The five of you. You guys have to stand in unison and make us believe that this is the right path. Because if it's three versus two, you already lost the battle. There's no winning that. So, thank you guys.

Thank you so much. Any other comments?

The question is, are we prepared for this? We won't be having a city manager pretty soon from what I understand. I'm all for the 1% tax. It'll better everything, I'm pretty sure. But are we prepared for this, not having a city manager soon?

That is inaccurate. We absolutely will have a city manager. So I like to ground... conversations based on facts. Fact is, we have a city manager and we'll continue to have a city manager.

Good afternoon again. Well, as far as I'm concerned, the people have been respected. The majority has won. Stamos en un país de democracia y el pasado martes el pueblo decidió que se quedaran los agentes de policía. Y pues bueno, se respeta. Ahora hay que buscar la manera de cómo recuadrar los fondos. Y pienso yo que estamos en el momento indicado para que aprueben esta medida y empezarla. Empezar el próximo noviembre. Hay que hacerlo. Hay que seguir el camino que el alcalde nos está dejando. He took the city of McFarland in a worse situation than the one we are in. We are in the right time. Approve it and let the people decide. Thank you.

Well, I believe that we are here. We are here as people. We are together. And here we are in a democracy. And in a democracy, the majority wins. We saw it last Tuesday. The majority were against firing the police officers. And that has to be respected. And if that is the way, well, I think We have to do this. You have to approve this. And I believe that we have to start with this proposition in November. I think the mayor of McFarland has set the way and we have to lead the way. And I believe that we are at the perfect time. the mayor of McFarland inherited a much worse situation that we are in right now. So I honestly believe that you should approve this and this is the right one.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the public? Seeing none, are there any comments or questions from the council to staff?

I do. What is currently measure L? What's the revenue that it generates currently?

It has been as high as $3 million. However, due to the triple shock I discussed, it has dropped to $2.1 million for fiscal year 25-26. But prior years have been what? Prior years have been on the upswing. We've We have seen a steady increase in 2018. We're about 1,900,000. It increased incrementally through 24-25. So 24-25, you're looking at one point, let's just say roughly 1.5?

At 24-25, I was looking at close to 3 million. Prior to that, it was 1.5?

It went from 1.8 million to about 3 million. It was on an upswing.

But I think, I believe you mentioned before, 25, 24, 25, you said maybe that was due to after COVID, that you noticed the increase?

Yeah, we steadily, we did see some steady impact from COVID in 22, 23, 23, 24, and 24, 25. Okay. Okay.

I support the measure being placed on the ballot. I think let's just have the residents decide for themselves. And that's my take on it. Thank you, Ms. Reyes. Any other comments?

Yeah, I have a question. So the projections for... Yeah, so if this passes the projection for the amount of income we're going to raise... Is that based on current Measure L funding, or is that based on, where are your numbers coming from?

I can appreciate that. I was basing it on what I was projecting in next year's budget, which was $2,350,000, because Measure L, this proposed measure, tracks exactly with Measure L as far as where the money comes in. For example... if somebody buys a car, we get that 1% in measure L, now we'll get that 1% in this new measure.

Okay.

All right, that's all I have.

Any other comments or questions?

Okay, so let me say something here. So since I was here when the first measure was passed, I can clearly see some mistakes that were made by the council in getting that. And the biggest mistake we didn't think about not being here to guide it because it was never set up to go in the direction in percentage that it is today. So the old guard had no control of that. Now it's in a position to where it's hit the wall because people change, faces come and go. But with this, in presenting this to the people of this community, learn from the mistakes and you have to figure out how to put safeguards in there when you are not there because the intentions of this are nothing but good. And the other part of this is, this is your survival line. Because the other night I said to you, the worst part of being blind is when you can see and you don't have any farsight. What do you see going on around you? Do you realize what's happening out at your home? Do you think that's gobbling up a little bit of your, maybe your economic development? Opportunities to bring in different things in your community. And if you don't believe that's true, get on the freeway and go east and go around over the Mojave is where they rerouted that freeway. Look what it did to that little Mojave place. In college, me and my brothers would come home. We'd stop in Mojave every time because that was the only thing out there. Now it reroutes you away from that. Now you look south of you folks, but one bright spot in this whole thing is the development that's going on across the street with those apartments over there. That's going to generate more people in your community. That's a positive. And if you get behind this sales tax, the folks in this community get behind this, it's going to help tremendously. But again, putting in the safeties to assure that this is going to be right across the board where it's not top heavy anywhere. So I'm definitely for the major tax measure on the ballot.

Thank you, Mr. Tarver. Mr. Perez, any comments?

I'm also for it, but I would like to see a committee an oversight committee over it, just so we could, for the future, so the money's going where the public wants those funds. And it's not controlled the way our measure L is.

Thank you. Is the council complete? I want to say thank you to Mayor Ion. Thank you. Thank you to the residents that are here on such short notice. I love Arvin. We love Arvin. Arvin is our home. And I know that as your neighbor, I am willing to pay one cent more to invest in the future of our city for our neighbors, for our kids. We, on Tuesday, were presented a really painful budget. None of us ran to be your representatives to then sit here and lay anybody off. I appreciate so much that Ms. Sosa described Arvin as our home because we are. We are one family. We're one team. We're Team Arvin. And our city employees, just like the residents, they're public servants too. And they come in day in and day out. And to have to lay anybody off is the worst case to be presented with. We know these are very, very difficult financial times. And we know that this challenge didn't happen overnight from one year to the next. I invite everyone, please, if you have not read the summary report on the budget, it's only six pages. Read it, please. It starts on page 319 of the council agenda from this Tuesday. And if you could see, it tells us all exactly, it paints a clear picture of how we find ourselves to where we are now. We have been steadily eating into our reserves, which is our city's savings. We've already started behind the curb last year. We had projections in revenues when we passed a budget where we dipped into the savings, our reserves by $470,000 to cover our fire contract that keeps going up year after year. That and in addition to we were already spending because we know that in our city, We provided a 20% salary increase to all of our police officers in January of 2024. All of our officers received a 20% increase in their salary. And we knew that that was going to cost us $280,000 more than we had coming in. And the projections were that we were going to have revenue that was going to come in to cover that and economic development. A lot of our revenue projections, they have not come through fruition. And much of it, we're all seeing it. These are projections. And then you have economic forces that are outside of our control. No one expected inflation to be rising. No one expected the uncertainty of tariffs. No one expected what we know we're all facing when it comes to folks that are making less and having to do more with it. No one expected all of that and the impact it was going to have in a city that, as you can see in that report, we haven't had any significant economic development in our city. that the cease and desist we were issued from the water board has been in place now, making it impossible for us to grow and build for almost four years now. Since 2023, we've been facing a cease and desist from the water board until we're able to repair our wastewater treatment plant. So that's kept us from being able to have economic development. In addition to that, we've inherited debt obligations that we've been paying back. And I say this because the last time the city, the residents taxed themselves was 18 years ago, 2008. The city has changed significantly since that. I know folks will say, but look at all the housing. You have so much housing now. Housing, as Mayor Ayon just described, is not an income generator for the city. It costs us more because we have to provide public safety, police services. We have to provide waste treatment services. We have to do public works. We have to pick up the garbage. We have to provide all of the city services to the new folks that live in those homes. It's through commercial and retail. It's that type of economic development that we need to bring in revenue to our city. I say this because I know that these are difficult times, but I too trust Arvin voters to do the right thing. I trust that if we give voters the option, that voters will also respond. But we do get to keep our word and keep working as hard as everyone in Arvin does so they can trust that we're going to keep our word and we're going to invest this money. And what the community has asked us, back to basics, infrastructure, our roads, public safety, public works, our parks, recreation, because public safety is twofold. Yes, we need to have police officers, but we also need to get the kids off the streets. through sports and so that they're not out there bored and getting in trouble. And I just want to say thank you to our business owners that are here tonight because it's our small businesses, right? We go and provide, we buy the services, they pay the sales tax. And I just want to say thank you to the Hispanic chamber of commerce, to all of our small businesses who have also expressed support for this being an option. And so with that, if, I am so, my heart in this moment is going to just explode out of my chest when I hear that the council is unanimous in supporting this tax measure. Because it's going to be through unity and working out there together as one team that will help us be successful moving forward. That we need to work as a united council and move our city forward. So I'm just grateful for that and I know that if we now support to put this tax measure on the ballot and give our voters the option, then we also need to ensure that we're set up to succeed and that we bring in a professional to be able to help provide the education to our community and work with us to educate so that the voters are making an informed decision and are not distracted by social media noise that only causes to confuse and divide our residents, but that folks base their decisions on facts. not on gossip or rumors, but on the facts of what we're dealing with and how we plan to work as a united front. And I too want to say thank you for suggesting a committee to oversee this measure to make sure that there is transparency and accountability in how we move forward with this sales tax if Arvin voters decide to pass it. So with that, will you please call the roll?

for option one oh do we have a motion a second second roll call Mr. Perez and seconded by Mr. Tarver thank you roll call councilmember Tarver yes councilmember Horton just to clarify this is for option one correct yes councilmember Reyes yes mayor Pro Temporez yes mayor Calderon yes motion carries 5-0

We're now going to move on to item B. This is consideration and approval of professional services agreements with William Berry Campaigns for public information and educational services related to a potential November 2026 local sales tax measure. Staff, please read the report.

Thank you. Now that the council has in its wisdom, decided to let the voters decide on this measure, the most important piece now becomes educating the residents of necessity of the measure. And for that, you need a consultant with experience with passing measures like this in cities of our size. After research, I have located the firm of William Berry Campaigns. I'm going to read from the staff report now. The city of Arvin is evaluating whether to place, we actually did that, so, as part of the process, the city must ensure that any public communications regarding a potential ballot measure are legally compliant, factual, educational in nature, consistent with California law governing public agency communications. To support this effort, the city solicited a proposal FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO ASSIST IN THE PREPARATION OF INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS THAT CLEARLY EXPLAIN THE PURPOSE, POTENTIAL IMPACTS, AND ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES ASSOCIATED WITH A PERSPECTIVE BALLOT MEASURE. MAYBE YOU CAN PULL UP THE STAFF REPORT FOR ME. I'M HAVING CECILIA PULL UP THE STAFF REPORT SO MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE CAN FOLLOW ALONG. The proposed agreement provides a limited scope package of informational and educational services designed to support the city's public communication responsibilities. The services are intended to inform residents about a potential tax measure without advocating for a particular outcome. The scope of work includes the preparation of the following deliverables. 75-word ballot question label language, city website frequently asked questions document, up to three one-page informational handouts, messaging memorandum with key communication guidance, targeted messaging for tax-sensitive and conservative residents, informational PowerPoint presentation, and 10 informational social media posts. The materials are intended to clearly explain the city's financial needs and service challenges, describe how potential revenues could be used, provide transparency regarding accountability measures such as audits and oversight, and address common community questions in plain language. The proposal emphasizes a neutral and informational approach, ensuring compliance with legal standards that prohibit the use of public resources for campaign advocacy. So this is a bright line there of what the council can and cannot do in educating the voters, and this consultant makes sure we stand on that right side of this line. Okay, go to the next slide. William Berry Campaigns has nearly three decades of experience assisting California cities and agencies with revenue measure communication and public information strategies. The firm has worked with numerous jurisdictions, and you can see that in the proposal that's attached to the staff report, across the state and specializes developing clear, compliant, and effective public materials. Approval of this agreement will provide the city with professional support to develop clear, factual, and legally compliant informational materials regarding a potential local sales tax measure. These efforts will help ensure that residents are well informed about the city's financial considerations and potential implementations of a ballot measure. Staff recommends the city manager to negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with William Berry Campaigns for an amount not to exceed $26,200 TO PROVIDE LIMITED EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL SERVICES RELATED TO A POTENTIAL NOVEMBER 2026 LOCAL SALES TAX MEASURE, SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AS TO FORM BY THE CITY ATTORNEY. NOW WHEN I MENTION OTHER CITIES, I DID MY RESEARCH. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT WILLIAM BARRY HELPED MCFARLAND IN SOME WAYS ON THIS, WHEN THEY DID THEIR MEASURE. AND SO THEY ALSO HELPED THE CITY OF ORANGE COVE. And there's several other cities of size within California that they have assisted on this.

Are there any questions from the public? Seeing none, are there any questions from the council? Oh, sorry, Mr. Singh.

Yeah, I just want to add, there's three things. I didn't see on the proposal they would do something in Spanish, which is critical, especially for our communities. Number two, I mean, since it's unanimous voted by the board, I think we should be negotiating a better price for the proposal, maybe a good discount. Just kidding, just adding to that. Always negotiate a better discount. No, thank you, that's it.

Thank you so much. And yes, the consultant in your conversations have provided this type of information in Spanish for Spanish-speaking communities such as Arvin, where 90% of our voters, 90% of our residents are Spanish-speaking. Mr. Jones? Spanish-speaking, that this... providing materials if we're going to do education and outreach that our voters, our residents are primarily Spanish speaking to make sure that this is also information that's translated in Spanish.

Oh, exactly. My understanding when I spoke with the consultant is with the expectation there would be translation into Spanish.

Excuse me. Sorry, the limited proposal right now as it stands does not include Spanish translation. So if that is the desire of the council, we have one of two options. We can ask for that to be included and bring this back to see how much additional cost, if any, that would be. or we can look for a third party to conduct the translation.

Great. Thank you so much. That's Gloria, our translator, everyone. We're so blessed in this community. Thank you. Gracias. Okay, great. Are there any other questions or comments from council? We'll start with Mr. Tarver.

Well, thank you, Mayor, for coming out and sharing your experience and city manager and SOSA family. It's always a good time when I see you guys. And when they mentioned swimming pools, I got a little laugh in my face. in my throat because I can remember when Margarita and I was down there at that swimming pool when we were little and Lucy and Conrad. So we had a lot of fun in the pool, but poor kids now, nothing.

All right. Mrs. Reyes.

I do want to take the time to thank you guys both for coming here. Are we commenting on?

Yes, it's this before we call the roll.

As much as I support the measure, the tax measure to be on the ballot.

We are considering B to bring in professionals to do the education, to write the 75 words. And so Ms. Reyes.

I yield my time back to you if you like.

Okay, well, I'm just going to say it. I'm good for a motion to approve.

Okay. As much as I support the tax measure to be placed on the ballot, I just can't justify spending almost $30,000 to advance a tax measure, especially after we just met last week, no, the 23rd. And we're facing a financial crisis right now. So I just can't see how I'm going to let the residents know, how am I going to justify spending $30,000? Because on top of the $26,000 is your attorney fees, right, to draft any documents. I don't know how much is it to put it on the ballot. How much extra is it to put it on the ballot?

If I could address your question. So I imagine that that's a question that a lot of folks are asking is, we were just on Tuesday faced with an all cuts budget. And so how can we justify paying 26,000 plus our attorney fees to be able to draft everything that needs to be then submitted to the county? And I will say that the return on the investment is significant. We all voted unanimously and heard from the audience where the majority, the overwhelming majority of our residents, asked places on the ballot and also said, count me in. I'm willing to also put in my part. If we're looking at what the city manager has projected, we're looking at possibly bringing in $2 million. $2 million. Think about that. For an investment of...

26.

Let's say 26, but no, additionally with the legal fees. Let's go ahead and say for an investment of even $50,000, let's say this was going to cost us $50,000 and a return of $2 million. Could you justify that for voters? And I would say that this is the kind of decision where if we all agree to put it on the ballot, then we all want to make sure that it succeeds. So that if we're now going to give the voters the option, that the voters have the education, the materials, and the resources to make an informed decision. And so that... We can make sure that what we all just voted on right now is successful. Mr. Tarver described a lifeline. We all know what we're dealing with. We want these cuts to be temporary so that we are then put on really solid, strong financial footing to then also be able to recruit and hire the professionals that are going to move our city forward. So the return on the investment, Ms. Reyes, is the question of how you could justify it to voters because you're looking at bringing in... over $2 million.

Does that answer the question?

Are there any other comments or questions from the council? Mr. Horton.

Yeah, I have a question. So do we have any kind of ballpark on how much your fees are going to be to add on to this? Just to give us an idea. I mean, I'm not going to hold you to it.

Yeah, maybe $10,000 at the most. You know, we do have... professionals that specialize in elections and multiple clients are already dealing with this. We're not reinventing the wheel. The most that this is going to take is probably that impartial analysis. And then if we have to kind of guide either employees or counsel on the do's and don'ts of campaigning, but that should be very limited.

So with your fees of 10,000, we're looking at 36,000. So under 40,000.

And given the tight budget that you presented us two days ago, Jeff, where is this money coming from? Is it coming out of reserves?

No. I have a consultant budget for professional services in the current budget. The current budget was $272,000, of which $162,000 is for planning services. And this is for planning services that are not reimbursed by fees or people coming in asking for permits and stuff. This is just, this $162,000 covers like what would the planning cost be if we wanted to run a taco truck ordinance? What would the planning cost be if we wanted to change our parking ordinance in town? Things like that. So $162,000 there. I also have $80,000 for Engineering services, the same thing, additional that's not covered by the general fund. And I can tell you that the majority of the engineering costs are covered by fees, either impact fees or they're fees used when we design a grant. So $80,000 for engineering. The final $30,000 I've slotted is for an economic developer development consultant. So combine those together, I have $272,000. My recommendation would be right now to reduce this by about $36,000.

So the question of Mr. Horton is where is it going to come from? And you're saying you have it in the budget to cover the cost of the $40,000? Yes.

Correct, by reallocating a little bit of our planning service, so understanding that we might not be able to have as many opportunities to revise certain things. And I'm monitoring that very closely. Now, when the city council, in its wisdom, says, you know, city manager and staff, go back and tell me what it would look like to do a food truck ordinance in town. My first thing is going to go to my planner and say, Mr. Planner, how much does that cost? And in this environment, Council, I actually plan on coming back to you with that number. So we're always going to be in control of the majority of this budget because I'm telling you what we're going to do, and you'll tell me yes, no.

Does that answer your question, Mr. Horton?

Yes. Yes, thank you. I was, yeah, I don't know. It's a lot of money. But I see, I hear the mayor... from McFarland's testimony, and they were in a way worse predicament than we were when they hired a company like this. So it's a lot to think about. That's all.

Go ahead, Mr. Tarver. You know, and the other part of this is it has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with how you prepare for success. If you don't prepare for success, just like they did, Well, you're going to get a different outcome in the end. But at least go 100 so that you have prepared for success for this to get across the line. And you have to spend that money. And you look at you're weighing the benefits from where we're at. I mean, we're in a bad place. I get it. But that's why we've been put up here is to make the hard decisions to continue to drive the city forward. And this is one of those hard decisions. Now, there's some other things I would say no on, for sure. But this, this is a have to. We have to get this. Unless you guys got a better plan for maybe some kind of economic development that's coming to you, city, that really skyrocket and bring our coffers up. Don't have it. But this we can at least see. So are you.

Mr. Perez.

I have no comment.

I'm for it. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. Yes. And I also echo that having the city of McFarland say preparation is key, bringing in professionals so that this is successful and that the voters have the education. I also agree. So let's go ahead and call the roll then. Do I have a motion for Measure B, approving this agreement with William Barry Campaigns, for the public information and educational services related to this tax measure that we've all unanimously voted to put on the ballot. Do I have a motion?

I got a motion.

Second? Second. Roll call, please.

That was for 3B. Council Member Tarver?

Yes.

Council Member Horton?

Yes.

Council Member Reyes?

No.

Mayor Pro Tem Perez?

Yes.

Mayor Calderon? Yes. Motion carries 4-1.

Great. Thank you so much. We are now going to move into closed session. We have one item on closed session. This is a public employee appointment. Government Code Section 54957B, title City Manager. We will go into closed session. And the meeting is still on. You won't hear anything. And we'll come back if there's anything to report out with that. We're going to take a five-minute restroom break. And thank you all very much again.