City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. I'd like to call this session to open. Call to order. Sorry. Call to session. Call to order. Pledge of allegiance. Mr. Borave, will you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call, please. Council member Ayala here.

Council member Rhodess here. Council member Judge here. Mayor Prom Litster here. And Mayor Kavanagh here. Are there any items for agenda review? Yes, madame mayor. Item 1D2 is being postponed to a future meeting. This is the presentation of an honorary resolution to the 2026 city volunteer of the year. he is unable to join us this evening. Thank you. We wish him the best. I move that all resolutions and ordinances presented tonight be read in title only and all further reading be waved. Second.

Call for the vote. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. If any member of the city council may have a conflict of interest or any reason why that member must abstain from consideration of any matter on this agenda, he or she should so declare at this time. Seeing none, we may move on. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, the first item on the agenda is item 1D1, presentation of an honorary resolution to the 2026 community volunteer of the year. And senior senior center office specialist to Candace Gray is here to present this item. Good evening. Oh, good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh and members of the city council. Um, each year the public is invited to nominate a dedicated volunteer for recognition as the community volunteer of the year. This year several nominations were received, each highlighting the commitment, time, and talents of our community volunteers. This evening, the city council has the privilege of honoring a remarkable community member whose unwavering volunteer spirit and service have significantly enriched the lives of our community. At this time, I would like to ask Gina Trunkali Adams to come forward to accept the to accept the 2026 Community Volunteer of the Year Award. Now, Gina has been selected for her many years of unwavering service and exceptional leadership across a wide range of community programs. Her volunteer work

includes service with the RO Rotary Club of Seami Sunrise, the Day of Peace Planning Committee and three years as president of the Seami Valley Cultural Out Arts Foundation Board. She has supported numerous community fundraisers and in events including the Happy Face Music Festival and October Fest. Gina co-organized the 2025 Hispanic Heritage Festival and helped plan the first Hispanic Heritage Film Festival, strengthening cultural awareness and community pride. She also organized the Colors of India Art and Performance event, creating a vibrant platform for cultural expression. Her fellow volunteers often say that no simply isn't in Gina's vocabulary when there is a need. She always finds a way to help. Gina's dedication and passion for uplifting others reflect the very best of Seami Valley and a set and set a powerful example for our community. The city council is proud to honor Gina Trunkali Adams as the 2026 community volunteer of the year and expresses its sincere appreciation for her inspiring service. Our handheld microphone is not working, so we're utilizing this tonight. But I want to say, Gina, you have done a fantastic job. Every time I run into you, you're busy doing something, and you've really made a big difference in our cultural arts center. and I really personally want to thank you for that as well as the entire city council. So, you're a great addition to our community and we just love having you here and this is a very well-deserved recognition. Do you want to say a few words?

Thank you. Well, I'm truly honored by this recognition and I stand humbly humbly alongside hundreds of others in our city who contribute thousands of volunteer hours through our service organizations and nonprofit groups. Volunteers are what make our city a special place. When we come together to serve others, we create community. Volunteerism is even written into our city government's mission statement and for good reason. Working together for a common purpose gives us a sense of belonging and unites us in spite of our differences. I'm so blessed by the friendship I friendships I've made by becoming involved and I encourage others to find a cause and sign up. Thank you. Perfect.

Thank you,

Madame Mayor and members of the city council. Next on the agenda is item 1d3, presentation of reproclamation declaring the month of April 2026 as fair housing month. and Deputy Environmental Services Director Cynthia McCulla is here to present this item. Good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh and members of the city council. Tonight, we are pleased to recognize the city of Seami Valley's ongoing commitment to ensuring equal housing opportunities for all residents. Unfortunately, due to the housing summit, um, our representative from the housing rights center could not be in attendance tonight, but I will go ahead and read the proclamation. This April marks the 58th anniversary of Title 8 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act. As a key achievement of the civil rights era, it established national protections against discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. California expanded these rights through the Fair Fair Employment and Housing Act and the UNRA Civil Rights Act, which prohibit discrimination based on age, ancestry, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, source of income, veteran status, marital status, primary language, and other characteristics. The city partners with housing rights center to investigate discrimination, provide counseling services, and educate both tenants and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities. While significant progress has been made over the years, continued education, outreach, and enforcement remain important to ensure that everyone has

equal access to housing opportunities. This proclamation reaffirms the city's commitment to fair housing and to fostering a community where all residents are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. In recognition of these efforts and the ongoing work to promote equal housing access, the city council pro proclaims April 2026 as fair housing month in the city of Seami Valley.

Thank you. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 1D4, presentation of employee of the month to Gamal Duran and public works director Ron Fui is here to present this item. Uh good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh and council members. GMA, do you want to come up? And while he's coming up, I I want to take the uh a little bit of time to show you a couple of videos.

Where's Okay. of why we're here to honor GMA. Here's the mess that he and his crews cleaned up. Uh it was a tree that fell all the way across there. You can see some downed power lines and If you can see that stump, tree stump, that's what they had to work on all day in order to chop it up, in order to get it uh so that can be removed and get the repair repairs in.

I think the thing's taller than I am.

Well, I'm impressed. So I'll um so this evening it is my privilege to introduce Gammael Duran as employee of the month for April. Gamma Leel or GMA for short and much easier is a tree trimmer too in the landscape maintenance section and has been with the public works department for over two years. Gamma Duran was nominated for employee of the month to his due to his response and actions taken to resolve a recent emergency call out as well as his continuous exemply work history. On January 10th, 2026 at approximately 12:00 noon, a call was issued for a tree crew to respond to a major incident involving a 75- ft eucalyptus tree that had fallen across Walnut Avenue west of Tapo Canyon Road. The fallen tree had interrupted utility service for the immediate residents in the area. The situation was what we called a trifecta utility disaster as it tore down Edison lines, lifted and separated a gas main line and damaged a water line. The utility repairs could not be completed until the massive tree was removed. And you saw how big that thing was. GMA and immediately gathered his crew and equipment and proceeded to the work site. After more than 10 hours straight, GMA was pivotal in coordinating efforts between our landscape and water groups and the Edison and SoCal gas teams in clearing the debris, which allowed access for temporary utility repairs and restoring all utilities to our residents. At no point did he hesitate, only focused on finishing the task at hand. for his efforts. We thank Galiel Duran for the outstanding work and are

honored to award him the April employee of the month. Congratulations, G. And he has some friends and co-workers right back there celebrating with him. So, thank you all for being here. This is very, very welld deserved. Thank you for all you do. That tree trunk was huge.

I mean, yeah, pretty big. Yeah. I don't know if we have a fireplace that that'll fit in. That was pretty good size. But thank you for all you do and that was a wonderful, like you said, a trifecta to have to deal with all three of those different utilities at the same time. So, thank you for doing a great job for you and your team and we really, really appreciate you. Would you like to say anything? Thank you. Come on. Well, I just like to thank my crew because um I wouldn't be able to be so efficient if we didn't adapt to each other the way we do and to my boss who has given me this opportunity to work here. So, thank you very much.

Well, thank you for all you do. You do a great job. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 1D5, proclamation declaring April 2026 as earthquake preparedness month in Seami Valley and emergency services manager Eileen Connors is presenting this item and accepting the proclamation. Our tech reserve David Fischer and disaster service worker volunteers Ed Baker and Phil Anram. Good evening, Mayor of the City. As we move through April, our attention shifts earthquake, crucial aspect of safety in earthquake prone regions such as California. In recognition of earthquake preparedness month, the city of Seami Valley through the 2026 Earthquake Preparedness Month proclamation encourages residents to leverage technology for timely alerts and refresh emergency plans and supplies to keep themselves and their family safe during an earthquake or other emergency. We invite you to take action and get prepared before shaking begins by taking the following steps. Download download the MyShake app to have earthquake information at your fingertips. Register for VC alert to receive time sensitive emergency notifications by text, phone, or email. And those are good for all emergencies. Uh sign up for our next community emergency response team training to learn basic disaster response skills. Each of these actions contributes to the preparedness and re resiliency of our communities. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Gentlemen, we have to go to this microphone. How many of you have a go bag ready for when it hits? If you've taken CERT, you really learn how to do that. So, and then after Cert you go to DSW, right?

So, anyone that wants to volunteer or sign up, please do so. Like uh um Gina said earlier, sign up and do something about it. So, but we just really wanted to say thank you for our emergency preparedness, our DSW workers. When I took CERT and then was did DSW for a short time, you have to think about it. We don't have enough first responders in our community to help everybody. So, you have to help yourselves first, then help your neighbors. So, that's what's great about DSW. Who knows how to read a Thomas guy? You still know how to do those things? Yeah. So, I I know I'm aging myself, but my dad taught me how to do one of those. But we really want to thank each and every one of you for your volunteerism, all the time and effort you put in. Eileen, you're you're doing a great job here. We're so proud of you and your whole program is just awesome. So, would you like to say a few words?

I would. Okay. I would just like to say that volunteering is a real privilege and uh to do it in the in the in my town that I'm so proud of. And I have a great team of people that I get to work with and it makes it makes volunteering a lot of fun. Um, if you want to know more about our program, we will be at the upcoming street fair. We'll have a booth there and you can come by and we can talk to you about C and disaster preparedness and joining our team. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. So, good evening. As you all know, we um are having some technical difficulties with our handheld mics, so we're using the podium mic, but um we're also having some technical difficulties with our voting system, as well as potentially our timer on our podium mic. So, um, this evening the council will be doing a voice vote for all action items. Um, so be prepared for that. Um, we haven't been able to display the vote and just for sake of transparency, I want to ensure that the community and the residents in the chamber see what the council is voting and who is voting um, how. And then um, the next item is in terms of the timer for the podium for public speakers tonight. Um, unsure if the podium timer is going to work. If it is not working, um, then Lucy, the city clerk, Lucy Blanco, will be using her cell phone timer. So, when you hear the cell phone timer go off, um, then your time will be up. We'll let you know when you come up, um, what is going to be the process this evening. So, thanks all for your patience. Sorry about that. Um, apparently spring break, um, wasn't ready to be done yet. So, thanks for joining us tonight.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. You may proceed.

Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of the city council. Next on the agenda is item two, public statements on appointments, special presentations, andformational reports. We have two speakers this evening. Uh the first speaker is Sarah Weski. Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the city council. My name is Sarah Weski, and I would like to point out once again how difficult it is to make an informed comment before the presentation has even happened, and I would like to read a statement from a friend who cannot be here tonight. There have now been 37 people abducted by ICE from Semi Valley. I want to continue my conversation from February 23rd about Flock cameras with you. Flock is not a trustworthy company. In December 2025 and again in February 2026, Flock updated the items and conditions of its subscription service contracts. Much the same that your cable company updates its terms and conditions, your continued use of the system implies your consent. There were 147 changes under the new SIS terms and conditions. SVPD can search SV Flock database for 30 days, but now Flock has a perpetual irrevocable worldwide royaltyfree license. They deleted Flax does not own and shall not sell customer data. They deleted the entire section restricting Semi Valley data use for training. No more removing personal details, separate storage or

restrictions on sharing with third parties. Since last fall, there has been a growing conversation about Flock with its US Flock within the US, often driven by people inspecting Flock search audit logs. Flock's response has been to limit information available in audit logs. When I spoke to you in February, I noted that the encrypted user ID file field has not been replaced with asterisks. The camera count field was gone. and the reason field had shown an alarming increasing trend of being blank. Since then, the number of blank reasons has gone down from 43% to 15%. But it's not zero as it was in November and December. The number of cameras queried field has also been replaced. Block cameras use the Android B operating system. This OS has been unsupported since 2021. There are 51 security findings for Flock filed with the National Vulnerability Database, 22 of which are flagged as common vulnerabilities and exposures. Flock has acknowledged them. The response has been and that exploration requires physical access and intimate knowledge of the hardware is nonsense since a video showing how to do a 30- secondond hack allowing a complete takeover and control of a thought camera is available.

I'm sorry, your time is now up. Thank you. Thank you,

Carla C. According to the SVPD flock transparency portal, data is owned by uh the data that is owned by Semi Valley, California PD and is never sold to third parties. Uh this data is prohibited to be used in immigration enforcement amongst other things. I can't help but notice that under the organizations granted access to the SVPD data section, there are over 100 organizations, agencies, and/or entities listed there, including Ventura County Sheriff's Office. I want to know what exactly is the process that SVPD and you as the city council implements to guarantee that these agencies are not willing to give data to immigration enforcement. As we know, Sheriff Jim Kryhoff explicitly communicated that they work with ICE and willingly provide information to them. I don't know about anyone else, but that doesn't seem to guarantee any privacy or transparency from SVPD. Did someone actually go through every one of these agencies policies regarding Flock cameras, or was it a lazy copy and paste? What happens when Flock or other LPR companies change or delete or add to their terms and conditions? How will the city and specifically SVPD guarantee full transparency to the public? Who's in charge of guaranteeing these transparency protocols? Lot of questions, no answers. Any steps going forward with Flock and SPD should take into account constituent input and there should be full transparency to the public on any changes. And I know that the whatever we're going to be seeing presentation will probably just be read verbatim. So I actually want to know the answers to those questions.

Thank you and mayor. That was the last speaker for this item madame mayor and members of the city council. Next on the agenda is item 3A1 appointment to the community projects grant review. And deputy environmental services director Cynthia McCulla is presenting this item. Good evening again. The city council created the community projects grant review committee to review applications and provide funding recommendations to the city council on the distribution of grant funding of up to $150,000. The review committee is comprised of seven representatives from each of the four neighborhood councils, the youth council, the council on aging, and the community at large. During their regular March meetings, each advisory board nominated a representative, and the recruitment for the community at large member position began on February 2nd and ended on February 16th. Council Member Judge and Council Member Rhodess conducted interviews on March 10th and nominated one representative. A total of seven nominees are being recommended to serve on the review committee with terms commencing immediately and concluding when the city council awards the fisc year 2627 funding. A few of the nominees are present this evening and as I call your name, please come forward. Representing NC1, Paul Chandler. representing NC2. Gail Sutton representing neighborhood council 3. Steve Busco representing NC4, Deanna Block. Representing the Council on Aging, David Lewis, representing the youth council, Aman Sri, and representing the community at large, Nadia Kurpensky. It is recommended that the city council approve and the mayor appoint these

seven nominees to the community projects grant review committee. This concludes the report and staff is available to respond to questions. I don't think we have any questions. We appreciate the process. I know we need to make a motion. I thank you for those of you who are willing to serve on this difficult. It gets harder and harder every year. Just so you know. In fact, I think we need to argue that it's time to raise the amount that we give out, but that's a whole another question. We appreciate your efforts. And so I would like to um nominate um or that we approve the seven nominees for the grants selection committee. Second. I will now call a voice vote. Council member Ayella. Yes.

Council member Rhodess. Yes. Council member Judge. Yes. Mayor Prom Litster. Yes. And Mayor Kavanagh. Yes.

The motion passes unanimously. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 3 A2, selection of two city council members to conduct American with Disabilities Act ADA paratransit advisory committee interviews and deputy public works director of transit Ben Gonzalez is here to present this item.

Good evening Mayor Kavanagh and council members. The Americans with Disability Act paratransit advisory committee is comprised of seven members appointed by the city council including five member status and two alternate status. The committee advises the city on issues such as service availability, service policy, access accessibility associated with transportation of persons with disabilities. Four member positions and one alternate position on the committee will become open when terms expire on May 30th, 2026. Five applications were received during the recruitment process. It is requested that city council select two council members to interview anonymate two applicants to the ADA paratransit advisory committee. This concludes the report and available for any questions you may have.

Thank you. Is there any interest? I don't know if my speaker part is working. So if anyone said they wanted to speak. Okay. Council member Ayella. I have done it before. I'm on that committee. So I don't mind doing it again. Okay. Mayor Pro Tim Litzer actually, excuse me. Um, happy to nominate a gentleman if you'd like to do. I know that Joseph and I did it last year. It was actually a very rewarding opportunity to select people just because they're such outstanding candidates and care about our community transportation, but so I would be happy to do it unless you gentlemen would like the opportunity.

Either one. No. Okay. I'd like to nominate council member Ayala and Mayor Prom Litster to serve on this board ADA transit selection committee. Second. Call for the vote. Council member Ayella. Yes. Council member Rhodess. Yes. Council member Judge. Yes. Mayor Prom Litster. Yes. Mayor Kavanaaugh. Yes. The motion passes unanimously.

Madame Mayor and members of the city council. Next on the agenda is item 3B1,formational report by youth employment services board chair Anthony Angelini. Welcome Mr. Angelini.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh, members of uh city council and our great city staff. My name is Anthony Angelini. Thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. I'd like to start with a quote from uh President Franklin Roosevelt who said, "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future." And as the chair of the Youth Employment Service Advisory Board or the YES, yes, I have the honor of presenting our annualformational report and I hope to show how our board works hard to build up the youth for the future. The Youth Employment Service Advisory Board was established in 1982, same year Thriller came out. It is comprised of 15 members and up to three alternates that include representatives of government agencies, schools, employers, and community members at large to discuss employment issues that relate to youth. Seami Valley is one of the few cities in the region that offers this type of service to prepare our young people for the jobs of the 21st century. I did look this up before I got here and no, Thousand Oaks does not have a youth employment service. So scoreboard, our board's continued focus has been on workforce development of youth, connecting them with various career pathways as well as promoting the hiring of teens and young adults as they start climbing the economic ladder. The following represent a few programs held to accomplish these goals. Annually, YES co-hosts a summer workshop series at the Seami Valley Public Library and last year included the following seminars. The entrepreneurism and college scholarships workshop uh covered self-employment options for teens, workplace ethics and safety, and various

scholarship opportunities, and how to effectively use your employment experience when applying for scholarships. The workshop also featured teen speakers who had started their own businesses and scholarship adviserss. Councilman Roads, don't worry. The kids were not starting coffee business, so you have no competition there. The mastering interview and soft skills workshop covered appropriate interview attire, basics of confident communication, common interview questions and how to answer them, and uh the follow-up process. Soft skills often requested by employers such as reliability, professionalism, and problem solving were also discussed. I've been told all of my skills are soft. We also hosted a new workshop at the Seami Valley High School during summer school in an effort to meet the students where they're at. The topic of this workforce was financial literacy, one of our most requested and popular workshops. We appreciate our partnership and collaboration with Erica Ayala of JP Morgan Chase who helped lead those sessions. Erica rocks. Uh Y had a booth at the Seami Valley City Expo section of the Chamber of Commerce's street fair. I think I saw all of you there. Yeah. uh Y advisory board members had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of community members, promote our programs, provide interview skills, workbooks, and hand out branded tote bags, pens, and construction hats. I was asked kindly not to wear one of the construction hats tonight uh to the council chambers. In November, YS hosted its 8th annual volunteer fair at the Seami Valley Public Library for community members of all ages. This free event was designed to connect local nonprofits with

potential volunteers uh with potential volunteers. 25 nonprofit organizations attended to provide information and offer opportunities and the youth council partnered with to host several volunteer projects on site. Our major program is teaching essential interview skills workshops. In February, over 1,000 local sophomore students receive training on things like work permits and labor laws, application completion, digital first impressions, uh follow-up procedures, networking basics, the interview process, common questions, resume writing, workplace ethics, and best practices on leaving a job. Each participant also received a comprehensive up-to-date supplemental in interview skills workshop handbook. The first job and career fair was held in 1987, same year that the Simpsons debuted. Since then, almost 27,000 youth have been served. Our 38th annual event was held Saturday, March 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. And to better align with employer hiring schedules, the job and career fair was held a month earlier than is typical. But for the fifth year in a row, in true library takeover fashion, the event was held at the Seami Valley Public Library. And we thank our partners and sponsors including the Seami Valley Public Library, the Seami Valley Chamber of Commerce, the I have to say that again. The Seami Valley Family YMCA, and the Rotary Club of Seami Sunrise. Never heard of it. This free event featured practice interviews, on-site interviews with employers, exposure to career options, internship and volunteer opportunities, assistance with completing job applications, workstations to submit

online job applications, help writing uh resumeumés, and a financial literacy workshop hosted by JP Morgan Chase. New this year, the job and career fair also featured the Ventura County Workforce Development mobile bus called Workforce on Wheels. Thank you. That's what it's It's called WOW. Yeah, it's called Wow. Oh, I thought you were just impressed with that.

Also, free professional headshot photog uh photography was offered courtesy of Vander Jordan and a partnership with the YMCA to provide free interview and business attire to attendees as part of their annual prom closet. I was very excited about that. I I see that as someone that wears a suit every day. I see that as a very valuable partnership and I'd like it to be called Suit Up Semi Valley in the future. This year, 28 employers and organizations participated in the job fair along with almost 400 teen and adult job seekers that attended. Looking ahead, YES is currently working with the Chamber of Commerce to host a new workshop for employers focused on what employers need to know about work permits and the benefits of hiring youth and how to make that easier. Reminds me, I need to talk to Kathy about that. Much of what the YES board accomplishes would not be possible without key collaborators with the Chamber of Commerce, the local business community, the Seami Valley Unified School District, the Rotary Clubs, and numerous community volunteers. Our call to action, so to speak, is to encourage more local employers to hire youth, whether paid or unpaid interns, to provide critical opportunities for youth, to build job skills, to offer job shadow experiences, to provide youth exposure to various career opportunities, and to help uh get involved by participating in the job and career fair. This results in a robust and skilled labor force which results in a healthy talent pool for businesses to hire from which results in more economic investment in semi valley. Thank you all for continuing to support the work of the youth employment service advisory board and the youth employment service program. We invite each of you to come and witness the work that the

board does by attending our events or joining us at our regular board meetings at 8:15 on the 3rd Wednesday of every month, August through June, in the city hall community room. Thank you for your time and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have about our YES program. Thanks again. Thank you. Any questions from the DIS? Council member Rhodess.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, and thank you for the presentation, Mr. Angelini. Um um this committee has a um special place in my heart. It was the first committee that I joined as a um a civic community. Um I've of course been part of Rotary but this was um this was a place where I grew as much as those who were trying to get the skills for interviewing. Um, and I want to um elaborate a little bit on the interview skills workshops and uh they're they're taken to each of the high schools and uh the each of the students from grade

10th grade 10th grade uh come through and u speakers from many different vocations take part in giving pieces of the presentation um to the students and it is fascinating to watch. um you you can see who is ready to work and clued in and it's so incredibly valuable to them and the work the workbook that has evolved over time that they get to leave with is pretty incredible. Um coffee by the way is an outstanding vocation and I encourage anyone to get in it. Um and then uh and just a a note maybe Mr. Angelini if you ever watched the youth council give a report they're they're really really good. Yeah.

But thank you for the report. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim Litster. Thank you, Mr. Angelie. Very, very informative. And I want you to know, you certainly got the memo on dressing for success. You got the look. Actually, I saw him jogging this morning on the corner. He was not. I I just want, you know, he knows how to clean up. I just want to be very clear. I did see him uh going to work. Anyway, not attired like this, but Well done, Anthony. They didn't believe me when I said I saw the mayor prom jogging.

I I was a little concern. Anyway, that's another story. But yes, he was doing I saw um so I I I just want to say thank you for hosting the volunteer fair. Um there's such a need for volunteerism and ironically volunteering actually can lead to employment, but I know I've had several people who weren't unaware and made a big difference by showing up to collect volunteers. So thank you. Um I do have a question. Do we have any placement statistics? Do we know have do we have a sense of youth that have have have actually received employment based on some of the job fairs or is it just or an ane an anecdotal is fine. I'm just curious.

It's not something that we specifically track although we do do um exit surveys at the uh the job fair. So, we do track how many had interviews, how many applications were submitted, and I know anecdotally, I um just uh the week after the job fair had a young woman reach out to me to schedule some more interview practice. They gave her my contact information there uh at the job fair and she was wanted additional practice with interviews. And so, we scheduled a time uh and then when I um sent her, it was going to be on online. So, when I sent her the Zoom link to do it a couple days later, she immediately called me and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I need to cancel. I actually got a job. And I said, "Well, who did you who did you end up uh working for?" And she said, "Crunch Fitness. I met him at the job fair. I talked to him. They gave me an interview and I got hired." So, at least anecdotally, it's working.

Well, wonderful. And and I will add anecdotally, I have a son who when this is a couple years ago, but who was in need of employment and and I I showed up and I said, "Wait a minute. My son should be here. I called him immediately went home. He grabbed his resume, came back, and it was it was absolutely was a job that he picked up there that really sent him on a on a trajectory to what he wants to do. So, thank you. I do appreciate, Anthony, what you're doing and and the entire board. So, please, center, thanks. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Ayala.

Thank you. Just three three things. First, Anthony Angelini is the new chair for for and he's doing a great job. So I think this is the first time he's presenting to us and I think it's a great he's a great addition because he has the partnership with the chamber. We're able and connections. So in those committee meetings we're really able to build upon those relationships to make things happen. The second thing is Mr. Fowler talked about the exit surveys and when we're in those committee meetings, one of the things I really appreciate that we do is you guys give a um you tell us about the feedback that the students provide and we really do take that into account to develop the programs even better going forward. And so they had some really great um recommendations for the interviews that we did at the high schools that we can incorporate now for next year. So we really do listen to them and and take that into account. And then Mr. Fowler talked about, he just alluded to one thing that I was going to mention, which is outside of these events, for any student who is wants some additional interview help or they're going to have an interview or something like that, they can contact M. Ryan Fowler throughout the entire year and he will take the time to schedule time with them. So even though we do these events throughout the year, if you have a student that just needs help during that week or the following week to get ready, we do have a service for that. So he always mentions that to them, but I just wanted to reinforce that you the service that you provide. So thanks to both of you.

Thank you, city manager Argarite. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I also just wanted to respond to Mayor Prombleitster. Um, in terms of anecdotal um, success stories, I actually got my first job from the Youth Employment Service job fair back in 1995. So, um, I don't know what premiered that year, Mr. Angelini, but um, Anaconda. So, yeah. So, I got my first job through the Youth Employment Service job fair uh at Countrywide, which no longer exists, but um and then um I was actually my first job at the city was YES coordinator and our former city manager, Mike Sadell. That was his first responsibility at the city as well. So,

Oh, thank you both. And it is a I enjoy going to that and seeing the students, talking to the potential employers and and learning how to do um interviews and such, but it's just you can read the excitement in the room. It's really really nice and I got two little rubber duckies. So, it it was a overall good visit. But no, you guys do a great job. Thank you very much for all you do. Thanks, Mr. Angelini.

Thank you. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 3C1, presentation on flock data by Sergeant Patrick Zachchek. Welcome, Sergeant and Chief. Well, good evening everyone. It's good to be back. We are here to provide a flock LPR update. I hope to not go verbatim. I kind of do have a go by, but this presentation, just so everybody knows, is over the course of the last few council meetings, different questions have come up. So, this presentation hopefully answers I had like three pages of questions. Some of the ones I heard in the audience today are new, but the presentation covers the three pages of questions that we did have. I'm lucky from Flock to have Lily with us today and obviously Chief Schwarz. Lily is going to be very instrumental. If there's any specific data related questions that what Flock does with the data, she can help out with that.

And that's the wrong button. So, here's an update. And we want to start with where we're at, where we are, and where we're going. So, here's where we're at. In late 2023, early 2024, we had 23 flock LPR cameras installed in Semi Valley, primarily covering the ingress points into the city. So, my day job is property crime sergeant. So when we were doing this, we talked to a lot of the different administration, the different investigative units and patrol officers and patrol alike and we were looking to combat crime in specific suspects that were coming into Semi Valley to commit crime. So we focused on the ingress points whereas if someone's coming from out of town into town to commit crime, we would have a fighting chance to get some type of investigative leads. So, we started with 23 approved council cameras. In late 2024, six additional flock LPR cameras were obtained through the Ventura County Sheriff's Department organized retail theft grants. The sheriff's department maintains these six cameras. We have access to them. They maintain them. These are primarily, as you see, organized retail theft. these around those type of shopping centers that can kind of help combat that problem. I did see a question come up about us having 26 cameras. The answer to that is those three Falcon Flex cameras add to ours. That's our 26. So, we have control of those Falcon Flex cameras. Falcon Flex cameras mean absolutely nothing to anybody here. So, let me explain. So, what those are, those are hotspot type cameras. Whereas if we're having problems in a certain area, we could rapidly deploy those cameras to assist. For instance, we've used that at the north end of Yusede and the Texas track when we were having some residential

burglary problems. So they were kind of force multipliers for us and they call them flex because we can put them up whenever we need to in different hotspots. So that's the 26 cameras that we do have that the city of Seami Valley controls. The other six, we don't actually control that. That's the sheriff's department, but we do have access to that. And it should be of note, we've been using vigilant LPR data since 2015. So, this isn't new technology. In 2015, we actually had the LPR vigilant systems on top of patrol cars. So, it was capturing plates as it was driving around town. We don't have those anymore, but we still do have vigilant accounts. And oftent times like tow truck drivers, repo drivers have these systems where they're capturing plates too and investigatively we can use some of this data to help us in our cases. So it's not new technology. The 23 in the ground cameras is new technology as of 2023. So additionally and there was a question about HOAs and private companies installing Flock LPR cameras. Some do and if they're willing to share, we can have access to that. Currently, there's a lot of HOAs in Semi Valley. Only one HOA is sharing with us. I wish there were more because it's a it just helps us investigatively, but we have one HOA sharing with us. We also have Home Depot. They have their own cameras they share with us. So, we get data from their cameras. Lowe's is another company that shares with us. They have their own cameras. Anything you see at Home Depot and Lowe's, we did not install. Those are their cameras. So, what are Flock LP LPR captures? This is very important. It's pictures only. Kind of think of a like a trail cam. It's taking stillshot photos. They do have other cameras that you can buy that

have video as well. We didn't buy those. Those cost more and you have to obviously a lot for more. We didn't ask for those. We didn't buy those. Ours are taking pictures only. There's no sound. no video and there's no facial rack. And here's a couple pictures of what it looks like. Probably going to eat lunch or to a doughnut shop right there. And there's our beautiful bearcat. So, on occasion, these are primarily designed to capture the rear plate. Sometimes the camera, they cover 2.5 lanes, usually is what they say. Sometimes they'll catch the front plate on another side of traffic. I've yet to see anything that we don't have facial wreck technology that we use in our department, but I've never seen anything that would work that would even be able to do that. But it's primarily to capture a rear plate of these vehicles. They passed by these by taking photos. So there was another question about how was police work done before this. So here we go. from limited leads to data-driven investigations. I'm jealous that when I was a detective during my time, I did not have this technology because I would have loved it. There was a time that we had call boxes. There was a time that we didn't have MDTs. There was a time that we didn't have this beautiful drone program. Thank you very much for that. There was a time that we didn't have DNA cases that we're we're solving out. So, there was a time we didn't have this. So the key is making sure that this is congruent with the city and the police department's values that if we roll it out with the proper efficacy, it can help us do our job better is what we're looking to do. And to speak about the drones because I help with the drone team as well. The drones actually had using technology. So this does kind of fit this presentation. The drones had a great find yesterday whereas there was a missing hiker and they got a call at about 9:30 last night. deployed a drone

and they were able to see a heat signature at night and locate an elderly gentleman that had fallen down. Before that technology, would we have found him? Yes, eventually. But we were able to pinpoint, find, render aid, and help that subject out immediately. To me, LPR, and I only speak from my purview of what I've seen investigatively, it has helped us do our job and it gives us a fighting chance to solve some of the crime that in the past we did not have. When I was a detective, if a robbery was committed by a purple car, you hope to find a purple car, and that was the right purple car. Now, we have the potential of capturing a plate for people coming into town and working that backwards. Sometimes they're stolen plates, sometimes they're cold plated. We have to work around that. There's other things that we can do, but it gives us a chance to solve some of the cases that beforehand just went inactive and we never solved them. So, speaking of that, here's a couple of our case studies hopefully. So, recently, the Wood Ranch homicide that we had, Flock LPR data helped us quickly identify the suspect, where the suspect was going. We actually had a surveillance team in route to intercept the suspect before that ultimately ended. And I think about homicide cases that I worked prior to this and how it really would have helped us, even the Castillo case a couple years back, it really would have helped us solve that case even quicker. Even though I feel like we handled it pretty quickly, this data would have really pinpointed that immediately. the five-star jewelry bird crew. This was another flock case. We were able to find surveillance of these suspects at Dr. Cony's prior to when they committed the actual crime. There wasn't any LPR data. We weren't able to trace back to anything. The fact that we were able to canvas and find surveillance video of

them in there scouting the wall that they eventually broke in through, we were able to find a vehicle and use flock data to track these people down. Not really a newer crime, but something that we're seeing kind of sporadically here in Semi Valley is what they call jugging. And it's basically crews, and from what I've seen, oftentimes out of state crews are coming and they're sitting outside ATMs in banks and they're waiting for people to make large withdrawals. Sometimes these people will go to sporting events or kids practices or grocery shopping afterwards. They get their car broken into and they lose a large large sum of money. This is a case that we had recent, well, not recently, but in 24, but it goes to show another flock success of a jugging case where these people were sitting outside a bank waiting for someone to take money, broke into their car, and stole a large amount of money. Financial scams and elder abuse. Um, this near and dear to my heart. I hate that this happens and we're doing everything we can to combat this as well. oftentimes victims of scams fall for these scams so hard that not only do they sometimes use crypto, Bitcoin, send money, Apple cards, you name it, but sometimes couriers will actually come to their house and and they'll pick up boxes of money. So, these are just a couple of the cases that we've used Flock LPR camera data to help us solve and arrest couriers. a couple residential burglaries that without the flock data, they just would have been inactive. We wouldn't have solved them. These are ones that we actually make made arrests behind. Numerous like instantaneous the minute we turned on the cameras recovering stolen vehicles, arresting people in stolen vehicles just this was just maybe a couple weeks ago. This was a wanted felon armed and dangerous out of Montabelloo.

In their hot hit, their hit, their entry on their cameras into our town, we got the hit on our camera that, hey, this is a wanted fugitive from Montabelloo. We were able to make that arrest and Monavell came and picked up their person they were looking for. So, it's not only internal, sometimes it can be external, too, when other people are looking for wanted suspects. So, one of the questions was who has access. It's limited to officers and dispatchers and it does have a multifactor authenticator like most I think almost everything's kind of go into that where you get the code and you have to enter the code in order to use it. I promise this is the hardest slide to read. I did check this last week. This one's a little small, but it's very important. I just want to show and this is captured directly from our flock interface and I'll read it. It is federal sharing. We have that disabled. And then the bottom two are filter out immigration searches enabled. Filter out reproductive care searches enabled. So we're not doing that. In my time, and I'm one of the administrators for the Flock system, we have made zero immigration arrests, zero abortion enforcement. Those stats are zero. So our flock audit, we went back two and a half years and in our two and a half year audit, we had zero out ofstate inquiries. The only thing that we had was the federal Lomol Linda Healthcare System Veterans Affairs PD. And the reason being, as the text says below, they were miscoded. Flock had thought they were an actual PD when they weren't. So, in our two and a half years, that May 2025 was the two that we had. I personally contacted them and they're like, "Hey, we're we're a VA hospital. We're we're worried about patient services. They have nothing to do with any type of immigration issue or

anything else. They're just solely working that hospital and that issue has been resolved." Internal audits audit in the transparency portal. This is something that we want to stay on top of. We wanted to reinforce this. So, we sent out reminders of what the expectations are that you will have a case number. You will have a reason for the search. There there's a legacy mode and a current mode and they don't necessarily talk to each other well yet. So what we really want to do is tighten that because sometimes when I do the internal audits I see 100% adherence to either report number or a reason for the search. I then go to the transparency portal and I look at that that looks different than what I'm looking at. So it's a question that I reached out to Flock like hey this is causing us some problems. Why are there blanks here but my screen is 100% full? and they said sometimes if you're using the legacy mode, which they might be able to toggle off, we're still working through that. But even though the blanks have gotten better, they're still there. And those bug me, too, because we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make sure we're transparent and we're doing everything according to the demands of the city. So, moving forward, what we're doing is we're doing internal and external audits weekly. I've never in my life how to do a pivot table on Excel ever and I pray that upon nobody. Um, interesting. So, I had to learn how to do that, which is great. But that's what we're using to do these these audits. So, we're doing internal and external audits weekly. And this is really what it comes down to me is we want to protect the city of Seami Valley from people committing crime against our public. And like I said, there was a time we didn't have this and these cases would

just go inactive. They wouldn't be solved and we would have to get some type of lucky break. This really, this technology really gives us a fighting chance to work stuff backwards and potentially arrest people behind some of these crimes. And at that point, I'd like to open up to any questions that the three of us can collectively help out with. Thank you. Are there any questions, Mayor Prom? Litster, thank you. I've just been taking notes as you've been doing this presentation. I appreciate and so I'm just going to work backwards with a couple of questions I had. You just spoke about internal versus external audits. Can you clarify what you mean by that?

Absolutely. Internal audits are any searches that the city of Seami Valley, the PD dispatchers or officers, what we're running, plates we're running.

Okay. Um, any vehicle we're running, that's our internal audit, what our users are doing. External is people that have access to our cameras. So, like I talked about earlier, oftent times these cases, you don't just we don't just get the 23 26 cameras that we have in Semi Valley. We're part of a network within California where we can see where our criminals, even if they hit here and committed a crime, we could see, oh, now they're in the Bay Area. Oh, now they're over here in LA. Oh, they're in Riverside. So, we get data from other agencies. The external audit is making sure that nobody out of state and no federal agencies are accessing our data. Does that answer your question?

Yes, that does. I want to be sure. Well, external. Very good. Um, explain legacy mode versus current mode. Does that have to deal with we need it now or we sure could have used it a year ago? I mean, what does what does that mean? It means they updated their interface. So, it's just a new interface and a new way to search. So, they're constantly working on upgrading their interface. The legacy mode is the old search. We now have a new search. So, in my email correspondence with Flock, which it wasn't Lily, so don't blame her. In my correspondence with them, they said it could be an issue with people still lo using the legacy mode. So, I'm trying to figure out if there's a way we can turn that off where we're capturing all the data.

Got it. So all the office well so all the well let me understand a little bit better the users when you talk about using the current mode that is you were talking about the different officers or they need to be sure that their internal system is updated to be in the current mode. How how do you how would someone still be using the legacy mode? Don't we upgrade it for the entire system? Because people are creatures of habit and if they get used to one system, they want to use that forever. So they can toggle back to that system versus the new interface which might be a little more uncomfortable for them. Got it. I I can relate. Okay. Yes.

Creature of habit. Okay. Um you're talking about flock lpp um that they basically there's no sound, no video, no facial recognition. Um, does that mean that you don't ever look at look at it for I mean you're looking at license plates primarily. I get all that. Do you ever look at it to try to see who's driving the vehicle? Who I mean is it used in that way? I've never seen a case solved by a picture from a Flock LPR camera. Whereas we've seen I back up a little bit. I've seen an arm with a tattoo that matched the suspect we were looking for in a car that was of interest to us, but I couldn't see the face, but the tattoos matched.

We've had some close calls, but nothing whereas I see myself or Lily driving a car and like that's Lily. Got it. Okay, beautiful. Thank you. One last question. Thank you. Working backwards. Um, you were talking about the number of cameras that we have, etc. You mentioned that there are six cameras that are that the sheriff department maintains. Um where do we know maybe I shouldn't ask where they're placed, how they're used, how we interact with those those cameras or don't? Yes. So those six that were obtained via the OT, the organized retail theft grants are near like you'll see multiple cameras around the target off of Sycamore,

those aren't our cameras. The ones primarily on ingress points like off the freeway, those are ours. The ones like there might be one off rine, that would be a sheriff's department type camera. Got it. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, Council Member Ayala.

Thank you for the for the presentation. It was familiar to me. And that the reason it's familiar to me is that he kept referencing questions and um a couple of community members wanted to meet with me on this and we spent three hours together and came up with lots of questions that turned into three pages of questions. So when he said I saw three pages of questions. So, I want to really acknowledge that and appreciate that um for this specific presentation, it really did address what the community members who had met with me said, I would like to know the answers to these questions. And I want to just highlight a couple of them that I know um they were concerned about that you answered tonight. The first was the discrepancy in the number of cameras because in some community members minds, it's it's a why is there a discrepancy there? There might be something else going on. and he made it very clear which I think is important. The other is the reason the no sound no video was important is that other cities not seam valley and even other states use cameras that can detect sound or video and the concern was is that something that's done here and I'm glad and we were able to clarify that that's not something that semector authentication prevents people who don't have the authority to get in to to get in and I want to just ask a couple of other questions is on the screen that talked about the disabling of certain features who can turn those back on

administers of the account. There's three of them right now and there's just three internally for correct so that and I and I thought that was the answer but I want to make it clear that it it means that a normal user of the system is not able to go on and just toggle the switches on. And so that's an important clarification too. And I think that I'm correct in saying that you didn't mention, but there's also no way for other the system is built that in California other um agencies outside of the state can even access our system, right? There's no way to even turn that on. Is that correct?

That is correct. There is no way. And Lily just reminded me there's zero way to switch that over to have anybody out of state to gain access to. Correct. And so I just wanted to make that clear too. It's not an option that in anyone here can actually even turn on. The flock new knows that in California you're not allowed to have other agencies view the data. So they don't even allow that option to be built. Is that correct, Lily? Right. Yes, that's correct. We created a digital guard rail. So even say Detective Sergeant suddenly one day decided wanted to share with Nevada, he actually could not would not even physically be able to do it, right? Yeah. I would not want to be here after that happened. So, I'm glad I can.

And the other thing is we resolved the reason field as well and that small discrepancy, but um also even one of our speakers acknowledged, thank you for knowing that there's been a big improvement in the in the officers following through with the process of getting that information in. So I amum I just want to that was my thing but thank thank you for really taking the community members questions that uh were provided and creating it based upon that. I think that that's that that was really great. Thank you for that.

Thank you. Any other questions? No. Thank you for a great presentation Sergeant. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Madam Madame Mayor and members of city council, next on the agenda is item four, public statements. Since there are no public hearings under agenda item five, agenda items four and six are combined and the city council will hear all public statements under this agenda item four. Agenda items four and six are the times allotted for public statements on all items other than public hearings, appointments, andformational reports. In accordance with the protocols that were adopted in October 6, 2025, if 20 or more speaker cards are received, each speaker's time will automatically be reduced to two minutes each. We have received 23 speaker cards. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak to speak. Persons addressing the city council are requested to state the name and community residence for the record. Madame Mayor, unless you have any comments, we can begin public statements.

Please proceed.

Thank you. I will call three names at a time so you know who you follow. Ben Davis, Bevon Abby, and Langley Abby. Good evening, mayor, council members, and city staff. My name is Ben Davis, president of Picola Tiny Homes here in Seami Valley. Thank you again for your time tonight. For the past eight weeks, I have come before you to speak about movable tiny homes as ADUs. I'm here again because I believe this issue is important to the people of Seam Valley. At my last appearance, I gave each of you a packet of information to help make this conversation easier. It included a sample ordinance, an application checklist, and examples from other California cities and counties. Essentially, everything that is needed to adopt a well-th thoughtout ordinance that makes sense. My goal is simple, to show that this is not just an idea, but a practical path forward that has already been studied and used elsewhere. At the heart of this issue are families. It is the young adult who wants to stay close to home but cannot afford to move out. It is the aging parent or grandparent who wants dignity, independence, and a chance to remain close to loved ones. It is the homeowner looking for a realistic way to create housing for family or bring a little more stability in an expensive time. Right now, too many of the available options are simply out of reach. Traditional housing is expensive. Foundation bill edus are costly and timeconuming. Meanwhile, the need continues to grow. Movable tiny homes offer a thoughtful, flexible, and practical response. They can be regulated, reviewed, and designed to respect neighborhood character while still creating another housing option for our residents. So tonight, I respectfully ask once again that this issue be brought forward as a public

agenda item. Not because every question has already been answered, but because this issue deserves an open and thoughtful public conversation. A conversation about housing families and how Seami Valley can lead with both wisdom and compassion. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh and esteemed members of the city council. My name is Bevon Abby and I've been serving the community of Seami Valley as a teacher for over 22 years. My husband and I have also been running and building short-term rentals for over 11 years. Just today, we received our 34th consecutive Superhost honor. My family's life has been greatly improved by hosting others through short-term rentals. Through hosting, we have developed great relationships and been able to provide jobs for others. It has also provided us with the ability to teach our children about business, hospitality, and kindness and consideration for others. We pride ourselves on working very hard and giving everyone the best experience that we can. From the guests, the neighbors, the cleaners, the handyman, the hosting platforms, and the city itself. Each time a guest stays, we provide them with recommendations for local restaurants, sites, hikes, and experiences. For many visitors to Semi Valley, we are sharing with them our favorite spots on their first visit to the area. One of the arguments against STRs is the fact that business is taking place in residential zones. I know many people locally who offer from their homes music lessons, baked goods, hair styling, swim lessons, and more. I know many more people who work from home. The world has changed and the home is now a place of a business globally. I want to add my agreement to the statement that anyone hosting STRs without proper permits or not following basic ordinances should be put to a stop with everything CI has to offer. as well as the World Cup and the Olympics on the horizon. SDRs are a wonderful way to bring commerce and guests to the beautiful city of Semi Valley. I also support movable tiny homes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Langley Abby and I support short-term rentals. I like short-term rentals because they let people come and stay at our house while they travel. It helps them have fun vacations and gives our family extra money that we can use for other things. When I travel with my family, I think short-term rentals are the best because they feel cozy and easy to stay in like a home away from home. Hosting is really fun, too. We make people happy by letting them stay here, and it makes me feel good knowing we're helping them enjoy their trip. My favorite part of hosting is delivering fresh baked cookies to our guests. I make chocolate chip cookies and sometimes other kinds and bring them to them when they arrive. The guests always say the cookies are great. They're warm, chocolaty, super chewy, and they melt in your mouth. We sell little bags of five cookies for $10, and they're really tasty. It's also a fun way to get to know our guests a little bit and see what kind of people they are. Having people stay at our house is nice because it lets visitors see all of the beautiful places in the area. It feels good to share our home and make their trip special. Thank you. Graciasu.

Thank you. The next three speakers, Matthew Abby, James McGillis, and Vanessa Balum. Hello, city council. My name is Matthew Abby. I'm here to support short-term rentals. As mentioned before, I've hosted over 20,000 nights as I run short-term rentals for a number of home owners in the area for the past 11 years. I'd like to point out that 20,000 nights is the equivalent of hosting a single home every night for 54 years. In that time, we've only had one issue on one night's stay, and that issue was handled in less than an hour. Say short-term rentals in general are an issue would be not true would not be true. We're more than demonstrated that short-term rentals pose no major issues. Again, the equivalent of hosting every night for 54 years with only one issue on one night to speak of. This past week, I had a Semi Valley homeowner who who I helped run their home for said their brothers needed immediate assistance and wanted to have him move into the home for three months with his kids temporarily. Because the home is already furnished and running as a short-term rental, the transition would be seamless. If the home were a long-term rental, there would be no flexibility to do this in her family's time of need. As a homeowner, I would certainly appreciate paying $1,000 a year for a permit to the city to have peace of mind that all that I've invested in will remain. I know myself, my family are cleaners, tradesmen, handymen, hot tub techs, inspectors, gardeners. Everyone involved would appreciate knowing that their livelihoods would continue. Lastly, as a high school teacher in Semi Valley for the unified uh Seam Valley Unified School District for 23 years, teaching design and entrepreneurship, I never once sent a student to the principal's office. If there ever was an issue, I would take a student outside, we sit on the bench, talk it out. If neighbors need to have a chat, they should. Or if the city needs to call uh someone on something, then they should do that. But I never would punish everyone in the

class for a rogue individual's issues. Please don't punish those of us who are doing good who are good neighbors and do things the right way as we want to continue to serve the community. Keep our homes in show quality condition at all times and provide for our families, our guest families, and the greater community. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Kavanaaugh, members of the city council and staff. I'm James McGillis, 19-year resident of Seami Valley. In August 2025, the city council directed staff to prepare municipal code changes intended to legalize and regulate short-term rentals. In late 2025, 430 residents of Semi Valley signed petitions to ban STRs. In early 2026, all four neighborhood councils rejected the municipal code changes with three voting for an outright ban. In March 2026, the planning commission unanimously voted to reject the code changes, requesting that the city council direct staff to prepare an ordinance to ban STRs. On March 9th, 2026, council member Rhodess claimed that three to 10 loud people have created a false narrative regarding a ban on STRs in defiance of the city petitions, the neighborhood councils, and the planning commissions. Mr. Rhodess then suggested that the city conduct an independent survey for which he had prepared proposed questions with a second by council member judge and a nod from the city manager. She consented to use her discretionary budget spending up to believe it or not $100,000 on the survey. On March 23rd, 2026 from the dis mayor Kavanaaugh declared and I quote on March 9th the council directed staff to move forward with a professionally conducted survey. According to our city manager and to our city attorney, there was no closed session to discuss the survey. There was no vote and therefore the secretive independent survey is purely the product of two council members and our city manager. Did the city manager incorporate Mr. RH's suggested questions into the survey? What independent contractor will conduct the survey and who will be surveyed and how? Who will interpret the and present the survey results? Should the public trust that survey? Will they reflect the actual community sentiment? Past meetings. council member. One council member has derided me twice by name and twice by inference. Once he chuckled and twisted my words to meet his STR

narrative. Later he accused me of quote creating a false narrative and most recently said that um maybe we didn't want to hear that voice. Your voices be heard by disparaging me and others from the das that council member is in violation city code of ethics. In the future he should refrain from calling out anybody and instead should commend us for exercising our first amendment rights.

Thank you Mr. McGillis. Good evening, mayor, council members. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I am a uh an owner of a short-term rental. Um, I have been a resident of Semi Valley and a homeowner for the past 18 years. I'm here to share a little bit. I know um I don't want to sound redundant, but I do want to share that um that I've been here listening to the concerns that have been brought upon you. Um we run a tight shift. Uh this community, which I've gotten to know a few of the other owners, we care about this community. We live in this community. We race our we're racing our families in this community. And by no means do we want that to change. And every single one of us always makes sure that every rule is followed. We're present. We make ourselves available. And until now, I don't have a single mark in three and a half years um of any guest. My neighbors support our uh STR. We're very considerate. We make sure we assign parking spaces so that they don't have to deal with anything like that. I have heard that said here as well. And um more than that, I've also was a little thrown off by the implications that we are sitting here becoming millionaires. We're not rich. We're sitting here paying our bills, putting our kids through college, just like all of our other uh community members. So, I welcome all of you to please visit these sites, these SDR sites. See what our

guests are saying. They are low-key guests that are coming here to visit family that have had to move away, elderly guests. My most recent two guests were an elderly couple that needed to be close to home to recuperate. That is what we are doing. Your time is up. Thank you.

The next three speakers, Ivana Chrisman, Dena Shauvin, and Steve Thompson. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Ivana Chrisman, and I'm here tonight on behalf of the Rotary Club of Seami Valley. It's actually I want to say before I start talking about my event, I want to say that it's very inspiring to see all of these great volunteers and that is what makes CMI Valley so great. I know I'm running out of time so I'm going to talk real fast. I'd like to share a quick opportunity for our community to come together in support of a group of professionals who are absolutely essential to public safety yet often unseen, our 911 dispatchers. On April 16th, my Rotary Club are ho is hosting the Pentura County Dispatcher of the Year Appreciation Award at the Straten Historical Park. This event is dedicated to recognizing the voices behind the scenes. The individuals who answer the calls, who bring come to chaos, and who would support both our residents and our sworn officers every single day. What makes this event special is that this is not just a one-time thing that we're trying to do. Rotary is actually actually working really hard to create a subst sustainable repeatable mo model so that dispatchers across Ventura County are honored year after year without placing the burden solely on the agency. All proceeds from this event go directly to the Seami Valley Police Foundation Communication Center to support their operational needs. This is not a ticketed event. It's not ticketed for general public, so it's a hard sale. But I'm here tonight with a simple ask. If you're able, we would greatly appreciate your support. Whether through sponsorship, helping us spread the word,

or connecting us with others who might want to contribute. Every contribution directly supports those who serve. So, I'm running out of time, so I'm going to wrap it up. If I have some flyers, and if you visit semi valleyotary.org, please do that. Thank you so much. Thank you.

My name is Diana Shiovanic and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and supporting allowing STRs to continue to operate in Seami Valley. STRs re STRs provide real tangible benefits to our community. They bring new revenue to the city, support local businesses and restaurants and contribute to the local economy in ways that extend beyond the property themselves. These guest shop and dine locally. They help sustain business small businesses and make Semi Valley such a great place to live. In addition, these properties are maintained at a very high standard, frequently more so than long-term rentals. owners have a strong incentive to keep their homes in pristine condition which helps preserve and in many cases property val uh increase property values in their neighborhoods. Equally important STRs operate under strict house rules. They incor they include parking restrictions, no parties, and a clear defined quiet hours. These rules are actively enforced and help ensure that these homes maintain the family orientated character of our community. I also would like to address a concern raised at the last council meeting that STRs bring riff raff into our city. Respectfully, that characterist characterization does not reflect how these properties actually operate. STR's guests are first screened through the platforms and management companies facilitating the bookings. The second screening is through the homeowners. These process, this process is specifically designed to prevent problematic renters and to ensure guests align with the expectations of quiet and respectful neighborhoods. In many ways, STRs are held to a higher standard than traditional long-term rentals with more oversight and accountability built into the process. Thank you again for your time and consideration. And I respectfully ask that you allow SDRs to continue to uh maintain operating in as they bring meaningful value to Seami Valley while maintaining the integrity of our neighborhoods. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Steve Thompson. I have a STR here in Semi Valley for five years. Um, I have a five- bedroomedroom, three-b home with an attached one-bedroom, one-b comfortably sleep 12 people, I have always limited the total number of guests to 10. Also, I do not allow more than 10 people on my property at any time. That means no parties, no events, and no large gatherings. I strictly control parking, limit the number of cars, and clearly define where they can park so there's no impact on my neighbors. I have a zero tolerant tolerance policy for smoking on smoking of any kind on the property with strict noise levels and curfews. As a host who lives on site, I strictly enforce all of these rules and they are clear clearly stated in my listing. At the last meeting, I shared that a ban on STRs could put me in a position where I might lose my home. Well, that remains a serious concern. I realized another option is available to me. I could rent out all five rooms in my home long-term. That would be five to seven separate tenants and as many as five to seven cars on a full-time basis. The important point is this. That type of use would surely come with no oversight and little to no restrictions. That would not be my first choice, but I have to do what is necessary to keep my home. You mentioned conducting a survey in semi valley residents. I think the real question is this. Would res residents prefer STR properties like mine with limited occupancy of 30 to 5 to 40% of the time, strict rules, and controlled parking? or would they prefer a scenario with numerous full-time tenants, far more vehicles, and little to no restrictions every single day? A reasonable compromise could be that STRs

are only approved on properties with hosts living on site. I respectfully ask that you consider a balanced regulated approach. Thank you, sir. Your time is up.

Thank you. The next three speakers, Sarah Weski, Anthony Een, and Alin Een. Good afternoon, Madame Mayor, City Council. Uh, my name is once again Sarah Weski. Um, I was here two weeks ago and council member Ayala, Mayor Prom Listister, Mayor Kavanaaugh, you all mentioned that you heard me. You heard what we had to say about the im about ICE and the terror that they are inflicting on our community. Take those words and turn them into action. We have been here many times giving you actions that you can take that could help our immigrant neighbors, including allocating funding to food share 805 undock fund, Ventura County uh neighbors foundation. so many resources that could help our neighbors, including creating policies to protect city staff and anyone who is on city property or who are attending schools. We have had an incident where students were picked up trying to attend school. There's so much you can do. So, you heard me. Great. Now, take that and turn that into action. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Anthony. My name is Anthony Een, resident of Semi Valley. A public records request shows questionable behavior of a public official took place at the December 15th, 2025 city council meeting. A council member communicated by email during the meeting with a member of the audience who was to speak at item four on the agenda. This council member specifically told the speaker what not to say in his proposed speech to this council. I think it's improper for a council members to coach speakers from the deis as to what to say or not say during the meeting to promote their own personal agendas. It shows a serious lack of judgment as well as disrespect for the intent of impartiality during these proceedings. At the same meeting, the council member decided to further disparrage opponents of their position on STRs, calling them detractors. Then on March 9th, this person accused members of the public of being loud and insinuated they are liars. At the last meeting, this person commented on the fact that some people in the audience left. He then stated a derogatory assumption as to why that was to further insult members of the public. With television and YouTube, people don't need to be here to see what is taking place at the meeting. They can actually pause, stop, rewind, and play back the insulting nonsense coming out of your mouth from the comfort of their own living rooms. This person's continued personal attacks and derogatory inferences violate the conduct of members stated in your code of conduct, ethics and conduct. If this council is not willing to abide by as well as enforce their own code of ethics and conduct, you might as well just tear it up. Your lack of action on this person's continued unprofessional and inappropriate behavior speaks for

itself. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Alen Een. I'm a resident of Timmy Valley. Although this city council is meant to represent the entire community, it is nothing short of amazing how the whims of one council member seem to dictate everything this council discusses or decides. What is even more amazing is is that this council has never seriously considered the negative effects of regulating short-term rentals. Although most research indicates STRs lead to decreasing property values, concerns about crime, worries that the neighborhoods will not provide community stability and unity. This council seems intent on ignoring all of that. Is a few thousand dollar in added revenue from STR regulation going to offset the long-term hundred of thousands of dollars in declining property taxes? No one in see me except those sitting in front of me seem impressed by code enforcement as is. How many more code enforcement officers will be hired to ensure regulations are followed? How much overtime will the police be paid for the complaints on the weekends? Not only does the leader of the prostr faction on the council not care about public opinion, they appear wasteful and irresponsible with our tax dollars. Anyone driving on SEMA's bumpy roads knows our tax dollars are not being spent on keeping CEI in the best shape. All the hidden expenses and falling tax revenue of STR regulation will just make it worse. Not only is the prostr faction of this council fiscally irresponsible, they are selling out this city's future. I would urge this entire council to actually think through the STR issue. Please know your voters are watching and if you do not provide the change they want, November is closer than you think.

Thank you. Thank you.

The next three speakers, Carla Jamie Sanchez and Elise Wyn and Nancy Mason. Elsie, here we are again. 37 people have been snatched off the streets of Seami Valley. This includes two elementary schoolage children. Despite how the superintendent Hani Ysef would like to twist the truth, children were kidnapped along with their mother on their way to school. Imagine two young kids with their backpacks holding their mother's hand. They woke up most likely excited to go to Bearwood Elementary School, but instead were met with aggression, fear, and uncertainty. Uncertainty of what will happen to them next. Will they be separated from their mom? Will they see their dad again? Will they sleep in the only bed they know to be theirs ever again? If that doesn't move you, you are not human. You care more about your comfort and your status than speaking up for children, families, hard workers, and fellow neighbors. What we demand is safety, leadership, and most of all, commitment that you will serve all of those who live in this city. How many people must disappear? How many people must die at the hands of these domestic terrorists? How many children have to be kidnapped on your watch? We are tired of being here. At least I know I am. But our spirit and the love of our community is stronger than any of them and any of you. We will continue to be here. We continue to patrol our neighborhoods. We'll continue to show up for each other. And lastly, I just want to mention something that was um brought up last council meeting. Shame on you all who entertain the idea of adding Christian religious jargon to our government buildings and processes.

Especially you, Rocky. You have you. We have been coming here for a year and you have not acknowledged our efforts or our passion to keep you informed regarding this disappearing from our streets. But the first chance you get, you acknowledge religion being involved in our government. Shame on you. I know you guys have been out of school for a while, but there's something called separation of church and state. Thank you. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that we are gathered on traditional lands of the Chumash people. I honor their enduring connection for this land and pay more my respects to their elders, past and present. Good evening. My name is Jamie Sanchez and I come before you today with a few concerns and hopefully a few answers to my questions. First, the decision to shorten public comment time. Cutting a full minute may seem small, but for those of us who have to mentally prepare to stand here, it's significant. Public comment is not a formality. It is a right. So, I ask you directly, what is the alternative that still respects the voices of your community? Second, I have personally witnessed two separate mental health crises recently. In the most recent case, I waited 30 minutes. 30 minutes for SVPD after identifying someone as showing a danger to themselves and/or others. That delay matters. So, what it what is the city's actual protocol for crisis intervention? And why is it not reaching people faster? Those 30 minutes count. Or is this a choice by officers to respond to whenever convenient? Shout out to McAllister for that one. Third, regarding social media coverage involving high school president or students, this should not this should my opinion show it's time to realize that these children have voices and their voices matter. I had more to prepare, but like many in this room, I plan for

being cut short. So, I'll leave you with this. Please think beyond budgets and policies. Think about people. All people housed or unhoused. Regardless of politics, religion, or background, every person in this city deserves dignity and respect. As a veteran, I've been taught to conform even when it didn't feel right. It's not easy to stand here and speak, but I do it because my voice matters, even to one person. And sometimes it's necessary to call things out because silence is no longer an option. If calling things out makes people uncomfortable, then maybe that discomfort is necessary. On that note, I'll leave you with Valley. We do not need any more kidnapped children. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanaaugh and city council members. My name is Nancy Mason and I'm Elsie Wyn and a resident of Seami Valley for 26 years. Nancy, are we at the wrong place? No, we're just early for the Samaritan Center second chance prom. It's May 14th at the vineyard.

Hey, you know I love a good party and any chance to dance, but what does a prom have to do with their mission of helping the needy in Seami Valley? Well, Elsie, as the people in this room full of wonderful volunteers and city dignitaries know, even though nonprofits like the Samaritan Center have volunteers, receive donations, they still need to pay the bills for the lights, the showers, the hardworking case workers. All these things are needed to keep everything running. So, hosting a prom would help with all that?

Yes. It's an opportunity for the community to come together and have a second chance at reliving their prom days, but also to raise money and help the Samaritan Center keep giving others a second chance at life. That makes sense to me. So, if it makes sense to you and you support our cause, I invite every each one of you to the Samaritan Center's second chance prom on May 14th. and we would love to thank you for the continued support that you have given to the Samaritan Center. Thank you. Thank you.

The next three speakers, Rosario Zapa, Deb Dickerson, and Tariq Reeala. Uh, good evening, madame mayor and council members. My name is Yes, and I'm speaking on behalf of my mother, Rosario Sepeda. Um, um, my family has lived in Sunni Valley for over 22 years, and my parents were able to raise a family off of a house cleaner salary. Uh, my parents have worked for a man who operates an Airbnb home for about over 40 years. And over the years, they have used the money from cleaning homes like these to pay for our livelihood and college educations. Without this help from Airbnb hosts, my family would find themselves struggling to make end meet. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanagh and council members. My name is Debb Dickerson, 23-y year resident of Seami Valley. I wanted to come here tonight just to introduce myself. As many of you probably have heard, I'm running for city council district 4. I threw my name in the hat and pulled my papers and we're ready to go on that. I wanted to let you know that I'm not a politician. I'm a mom. I'm a wife. I'm a retired police officer. I retired from LAPD nine years ago after 28 years. My husband retired just recently after 31 years. uh or I'm sorry 33 years on the Los Angeles Police Department. We have three teenagers all in semi unified. What makes me different I think as a candidate is that I'm not endorsed by the Republic Republican party. I'm not endorsed by the Democratic party. So that gives me a lot of freedom. I have the freedom to support all of the people and the ideas of this city of this community. and I'm able to not have to abide by very strict Republican issues, Democratic issues, because all of the issues are really the same. They're all community issues. It's just how you resolve them and how you solve them. So, I'm super happy about being here. I'm happy to be in the race. I look forward to running a clean race, a positive race, one with no drama that's extremely respectful and mature. And I wish everybody all the best in November. And I look forward to meeting all of you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. Uh my name is Tara Griscala. I am a board member at the Oaks and Wood Ranch. Uh I've been a board member for 13 years. And don't ask me why I keep doing it, but I do it. I love my community and I love Semi Valley. I've been here for 36 years. I came here just to put uh some comments onto the minutes of this meeting uh for future record. Um you have you gave an easement to a company called Sci-Fi in the city of Seami Valley to trench the city and then eventually lay fiber optic cable. Um I have been dealing with this company since 2023. Uh we signed our agreement with them in 2024. I walked the site plan with them shortly after that. We discussed what what changes needed to be made. Yes, we are a private HOA. Okay. Um we maintain our own streets which means less expense for the city, but the the easement that was given to this company means it's one company. Everything is connected. Okay. And we have not been trenched since. Everybody has been very respectful. Uh I've been speaking to the deputy director of public works. He's been very helpful, but all we keep getting is we'll get to you. We'll you'll hear from us. And it's been since January of 2024 that we signed this agreement and all we get is we'll get to you. I know that there have been issues with this company that they pulled out for a while and they're back, but I want this on the record now. So, when we come back and if they don't get back to us by the next milestone or deadline that they told us they would get back to, which is July, I'll be back here again and I hope to get your support on this some leverage with this company. That's all I have.

Thank you, sir. The next three speakers, Gary, Gary Hartman, Ashley, and Frank Tomlinson.

Hi, my name is Gary Hartman, 56 year resident, mayor of Kavana Council. Thanks for having me tonight. Uh, so I was looking at the Acorn uh this week and I noticed um short-term rentals. Uh Rocky Roads had mentioned in the paper Rocky Rhodess claimed uh that three to 10 loud people have created what he considers to be a false narrative regarding a ban on STRs. Uh so I've been a short-term rental host for going on over two years now and um I have people come in from all over the world. They're wonderful people. They're great guest. They come here to visit their families, visit friends, a lot of weddings, um, funerals, things like that. Uh, so in my experience, I haven't had the problems that, you know, these issues that everybody's talking about. I have fivestar ratings. I'm a superhost. My house is kept super clean. I had a long-term rental. It was a disaster. So, I prefer short-term rental over long-term rental. But the reason I came here is I wanted to put on the record on the Airbnb site is the community disturbance policy. And I can give you a copy of it if you want. You can look at their website. So Airbnb has on their website community disturbance policy. We respect local communities and we expect the same of our host and guest. That is why we do not allow open invite parties, disruptive gatherings or community disturbances during an Airbnb reservation. What is not allowed? We ask our entire Airbnb community to work together to help prevent community disturbances. This includes following our policy, which does not allow disruptive gatherings and other community disturbances regardless of size. Signs of disruptive to the local community can include excessive noise, excessive trash, trespassing, smoking nuisances, parking nuisances, neighborhood vandalism, serious injuries, or reckless behavior. Open

invite gatherings, for example, parties advertised publicly or on social media. advertising advertising listings as party friendly. Thank you, sir. I'm sorry your time is up. Wow. Goes fast. That was I'll have to come I'll have to come back in a couple weeks and finish it. I can leave you a copy.

Thank you. City Council, are we only considering or pushing agenda items that are easy and reflect well on your personal political beliefs or aspirations? Pardon me. We are here fighting to keep our community safe, fighting to educate and support employers and employees, friends, families, and neighbors. Fighting to keep masked men with guns and those that would impersonate them out of our communities. We're fighting to keep kids in their schools, on their playgrounds with their friends, and with their families. Yet, some members of this community and this council jump at the opportunity to avoid the existence of hate crimes and racial profiling and prioritize things that have no place here. You don't bat an eye at kidnap children, but entertain adding city council prayer to the agenda. What a separation of church and state. and the audacity to preach words of God. Say, "Love thy neighbor." Maybe cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not oppress a foreigner. You yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners because you were foreigners in Egypt. And so many more. Then support terrorizing them, ripping them from their lives and loved ones, throwing them away like trash in camps where they're mistreated, beaten, raped, and killed. Shame. We've been pushing for almost a year to have a full in-depth presentation agendaized, but got one small presentation and half-hazard statements from our SVPD chief that sounded like it was intentionally written as vaguely as possible. We don't want officials that tiptoe around topics. We want clear answers on that. Joseph Alla, many thanks to you for pushing to get real answers to the community about flock. We'll have many more, but this was a great start. I propose, as has been mentioned multiple times before, to have

public comments about agenda items moved to the end of a presentation. Maybe we can get that on the agenda, let alone many of the other solutions we've presented to assist the community. Again, I'll read the numbers for 805 undocu8855 BC Defense 805 2961119. Good evening. My name is Frank Tomlinson. About three plus years ago, my partners and I started uh Valor Home Finance. We opened and um to stand behind what we believed. Three and a half years ago, we started an evening every quarter called Vets and Valor. Uh we believe in supporting uh the veterans in our community. And so uh what we do is we have the veteran services officer from Ventura County come up and he gives a presentation, does a Q&A and helps uh veterans that don't have or don't have a 100% uh service rated disrated disability rating. Um he helps them know how they can build that up or start it. So, um, three and a half years later, one of the things that we've run into, one of the difficulties is finding veterans around the community. This community has, like every other community, about 73% of veterans are not rated above zero. Um, that leaves about 3,500 give or take veterans in our community that do not have the benefits that they deserve for their service. So, um I'm here just to request the one idea that I did have was that the banner program that we currently have in our community, um we retire those banners twice a year. Um, I would request that we would be able to actually distribute those

banners from our location up in the Semiu Valley Town Center because that way we would be able to connect with veterans that are separated, recently separated from the armed services and we'd be able to let them know how they can connect with the benefits that they deserve to get. Um, we still are trying to figure out how to connect with all of the other veterans in our community. One way that we're doing that is we're bringing back 13 souls run for the fifth anniversary this year. That will be one way to connect with the larger community as well. But please consider that. Um and thank you very much. Thank you.

The last two speakers, Ruth Lvenos and Todd Taylor. Good evening, council members. My name is Ruth Lewnos, former semi valley city council member, and I am not going to try to appeal to your emotions because two of you were here eight years ago when my son was told by um a xenophobic man that he was going to be the first Mexican on the buses when they deported all the Mexicans. And two of you here voted to join that lawsuit against SB54 in the state of California, Mayor Kavanaaugh and Council Member Judge. So, I'm not going to appeal to your motions. I am here on behalf of the taxpayers. However, I am here to make sure that our taxpayer money is not spent on lawsuits because Santa Cruz was the first to terminate his contract with Flock. And in addition to that, Santa Clara County also stopped using Flock safety cameras in several cities after privacy concerns. That's a lawsuit I'm trying to avoid the taxpayers, including myself, from having to pay if that is not reason alone to get rid of the flock cameras. I'll continue to defend the taxpayers in the city of Seami Valley across Ventura County. In Ventura County, undocumented workforce pays over $800 million in federal, state, and local taxes. So if you don't want to defend undocumented immigrants emotionally, then you're going to defend them because they pay taxes, millions of dollars of taxes in Ventura County. In addition to that, in Seami Valley, over 44% of the students in Semi Valley Unified School District are Latino. 10% of them are Asian. That's more than half. reminder that the top three employers in the city of Seami Valley are the schools, the hospital, and the city of Seami Valley. So, if you're not going to pro if you're not going to protect students of color as they're going to school, if you're not

going to protect workers, if you're not going to protect a third of the business owners that are immigrants in the city of Seami Valley, then there will be no businesses, there will be no students, there will be no teachers jobs, there will be no one going to the hospital, and there will be no jobs and no employment and no income. For those reasons alone, if you are I can't appeal to your motions, I'm gonna appeal it on behalf of the taxpayers. Thank you. You're turning this up. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanagh, city council members. My name is Todd Taylor. Um been a resident of Seami Valley for about 16 years. Two meetings ago, I was the only one actually speaking against a ban on short-term rentals. After that, I shared some information about this issue on social media, and many residents told me they had no idea a ban was even being considered. At the last meeting, around 20 people or so came forward, neighbors, homeowners, and workers, sharing positive experiences and explaining how short-term rentals support their income. Great to see the people out here this evening as well. In my own experience, hosting through Airbnb for eight years and around 300 guests with a 5.0 0 star rating. We've never had a single issue that couldn't be resolved quickly. What we see are people visiting family, working temporary jobs, or simply spending time in our community. We also give out recommendations for local restaurants that my wife and I uh frequent often. This isn't a widespread problem that is being discussed, but a complete ban would create very real harm for homeowners, workers, and families who rely on this income. At a minimum, this deserves a thoughtful, balanced approach, not an outright ban. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. That was the last speaker. Next on the agenda is uh city council comments regarding public statements.

Thank you. Does anyone wish to speak? Mayor Prom Litster. Thank you. Um uh just to go down some of the topics, I can't address them all. Um Mr. Ben Davis, thank you for being here. Thank you for your what you do with Piccolatini Homes. And I know in fact I will tell you that I spoke with our city manager. I know some time ago we asked that there be some kind of a discussion agenda etc. She is preparing or staff are preparing a report that we should be receiving soon. I verified that I I reached I checked that out that's going to happen. Your information certainly is very helpful. I'm I hope that is also uh incorporated in the report. But I just wanted to say thank you. You're being heard. So thank you. Um I was going to commend um Langley Abby. She's probably the youngest person here who still about has spoken about short-term rentals, but I know it's a difficult conversation all the way around. So, anyway, want to commend everyone that came and and was part of the conversation. Um, Avana Chrisman, um, we heard you and, uh, what I got is that it's a it's an exclusive party, but it's an important party and we need you need uh, um, you need donations. So, thank you. That is to honor the dispatchers of the year awards. Appreciate that. Um, I wanted to thank Nancy and Elsie for the Samaritan Center secondass prom. That'll be a great thing. I do have my ticket, but they certainly know how to promote it. So, I think all of us should be in attendance to support the Samaritan Center. Um, boy, I want to talk about everything. Um, actually, let me just take it to um and and and and thank you Frank for speaking about veterans and vets and valor and how important that is and and yes, the 13 souls of Kabul. I hope everyone gets online, signs up to run, walk, crawl, but be part of that to honor our the efforts of those souls that were lost and and to honor our

veterans. Um, I'd like to speak to conclude by speaking to Sarah and Carla and Jamie and Ruth. And I'm sorry, I have all the names, but you specifically referenced um two weeks ago you referenced the concern about two children who had been uh supposedly abducted by ICE walking to Burlwood. And I was very concerned when I heard that. And so the day following that incident or that you're speaking to us two weeks ago, I went to Burrowwood Elementary and and had a conversation with the principal because I wanted to understand her understanding of what transpired. Certainly she would know, I would think, if if students had been were missing, etc., abducted, etc. And she made it very clear to me that that event did not happen as it was represented. They made it very clear to me. and and so I um and and I quizzed her in different manners and she made it very clear and so um and I know that um there's been a lot of conversation but I guess what I I would appreciate is understanding who witnessed what the information where where it's coming from where that story because I'd like to even find out more about it but but she made it very clear as a principal school who monitors students etc that that did not occur and because obviously we care about our our students our children. We want to keep the street safe. And so, um, and certainly we care about all of our residents, period. And so, anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who was here discussing a variety of of of topics and information. And we are hearing you and we'll keep moving forward. So, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Judge. I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. the first time, right? Whether you think or you know about what I believe or what I do not believe, that's interesting. But I do want to say that the guy that came up um Mr. Thomasson that came up and spoke about Valor, I think that's a very valid program we should look into wholeheartedly if we have a way to do that with our banners coming down to give to those veterans because you know they serve and give them some opportunity to get informed of the benefits they may be not have. That's outstanding. So I'd like us really hard to look into that. Thanks. Thank you, Council Member Rhodess.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, u great comments already. I want to just reiterate, uh, Boots and Broadcasts. Um, the, uh, Avana, thank you for bringing that. Um, I'm specifically thank you because I'm in the same Rotary Club and, um, this is a great event for us and I think it will be a sustainable thing for the dispatchers of Ventura County. Um, Samaritan Center crew, they left. They're off dancing. Okay. Doug's here. Yeah.

So, um I I am striving to get back that night in time to be able to attend the event, but uh either way, I'm going to be supporting because it's an amazing organization and what a creative way uh to do a fundraiser. And then I was also going to comment on the uh the banners that that would be a good thing to bring forward. And then lastly, um, uh, if diligently doing my job to find out all voices in the community is a problem for some, I don't apologize because that's what I'm going to do. Council member Ayella,

thanks. Uh, real quick, so I already got my tickets for both of those events that people had presented. Um, but you probably would expect me to be there anyway. And then for the group that came up, I hear what I hear what you're saying, but I really do hear what you're saying. Okay. And I can leave it at that. And so, um, thanks everyone for coming to share. And for for Ben, it's great. We're going to get an update sometime soon. We we haven't forgotten about you. Just know that everything something's going to be coming up. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you everyone for coming out this evening. Um, every one has the right to say what they want to say and take their two minutes. Sorry, we shortened it to two minutes. Um, if we have under 20, we we leave it at the three. But that has been our our decision that we made recently. What, last year? I think sometime. It's on our protocols. It's on our protocols. But thank you all for coming out. Ben, I'm glad we're getting stuff done for you. Um, we had a lot of candidates in the audience tonight. I kind of uh glanced around. So, thank you all for coming and participating. And I also agree with the um the banners and the valors. Uh my nephew's currently serving in the 82nd Infantry, so it would I know he would be appreciative of that as well as Mike. He's a veteran. So um thank you all for coming tonight and hopefully everyone has a great evening. Thank you. We have more business, but you don't have to stay for it.

Thank you. I wanted to make sure you guys got a copy of this. Thank you. We appreciate that. three of them. So, you could like make copies of I'm sorry, sir. We We're not open for public speaking right now. Thank you, though. But you could also find it on the Airbnb uh website. Thank you, Madame Clerk. We're ready to move on.

Thank you, Madame Mayor and members of city council. Next on the agenda is item seven, the consent calendar. And we have one resolution for your consideration this evening. Consent item three, resolution number 2026-08, a resolution of the city council of the city of Simi Valley, approving updated citywide publicly available pay schedules effective January 12, 2026 in accordance with California code regulations title 2 section 570.5. Any questions, concerns on the consent agenda? If council may pro Tim Litster Mayor Pro Tim Litster

actually I was going to move consent but I was going to comment item three. I love the Kalpers's example where city council members were paid almost the same as city manager. Did you c Did you catch that in anyway? It was just cute. Anyway, no I was going to now you're gonna have to go look at it. So no I was gonna you go ahead Rocky. You go ahead and move it. But that's I'll move consent. I'll second. We have a first and a second. Please call for the vote. Council member Ayala, yes. Council member Rhodess, yes. Council member Judge, yes. Mayor Promister, yes. Mayor Kavanagh, yes. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you,

Madame Mayor and members of the city council. Next on the agenda is item 9A, consideration of a proposed memorandum of understanding with the Seami Valley Engineers Association and senior human resources analyst Shannon Nash is here to present this item. Good evening, Miss Nash. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Kavanagh, city council members. This is the first standalone labor agreement for the engineers group, which encompasses 20 active employees plus another three vacant positions. There are eight job classifications within this unit, three of which are not actively used at this time. City engineer, deputy director, traffic engineer, and deputy public works director, maintenance services engineer. The term of this agreement is approximately 39 months from April 6th of this year through June 30th of 2029. The CI flex benefit for the 2026 plan year remains the same as it was when they were under the unrepresented management group and then will be increased to 2406 per month for the 2027 plan year and the 2028 plan year. There will also be an additional increase of up to um $2,575 a month for the 2029 plan year. The opt out amount remains static throughout the term of the agreement. The year 1 adjustments include a one-time payment of $2,639 plus they will also receive a 3% salary range adjustment that is also applied to the pay of employees. The first phase of range adjustments towards market median will be made effective December 28th of 26. In year two, the second market rate

median adjustment will be made, followed by a 3% adjustment to all salary ranges and employees with the bottom 5% of all those salary ranges being eliminated. In year three, the salary ranges will again be adjusted to achieve market median under the compensation study and then increased by 3% which will also be applied to employees pay. The three-year cost of implementation is estimated at just over $1.1 million with approximately 200,000 for year one costs being absorbed by staff vacancies. The costs for years two and three will be included in future budgets. Staff recommends that the city council consider the terms and conditions of the Semi Valley uh engineers association and place this matter on the April 20th city council meeting agenda for adoption. That concludes staff's presentation and we're we the royal we are available for questions.

Thank you. This was a long time coming forward so we appreciate having it uh today. Uh any questions, concerns from council. I'm open for a motion. Madam Mayor, I move to consider the proposed terms and conditions of the memorandum of understanding with the Seami Valley Engineers Association, SVEA, as presented and allow the public an opportunity to provide input prior to making a final determination on the MOU and place this matter on the April 20th, 2026 city council board of directors meeting for agenda for final determination on the proposedou. Second. Thank you. Call for the vote, please. Council member Aala, yes. Council member Rhodess, yes. Council member Judge, yes.

Mayor Prom Litster, yes. Mayor Kavanagh, yes. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Nash. Madame Mayor and members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 10A, city council member reports. Council member Ayala, you're up.

Okay. Uh mine will be a abbreviated report so it might go pretty quick but on March 25th that I attended the legislative advocacy forum. Um Southern California Edison was our guest speaker. Uh council member Rhodess is probably going to expand a little bit more but um the what I got out of it for everyone to know as as if you don't know already is there will be more shut offs. and their message to us was it's up to our us as individuals to take care of our own selves and our own backups. And so they promote their rebate programs and things like that so that we are prepared and ready to go. On March 26th, um I attended the swearing in for two new officers, Brock Schmidt and Roa. And then it was school spring break for semi valley schools. So, I was out for a week um on vacation with my daughter and family. April 5th, I attended the Easter breakfast sponsored by the Kowanas Club at the Senior Center. Uh today was April 6th, was the teacher of the month. Uh congratulations to Miss Dacon, was it Dacin? Dacon at Sinaloa Middle School. She was a science teacher. I also attended the swearing in of Officer Cruz. He came over from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office to join us. And I also met with a representative from Big Brothers Big Sisters who wants to partner better with the the city in regards to outreach, especially in regards to getting high school mentors for elementary school mentees. And so we talked a little bit about how that partnership could work. So, uh, with only here a few days, that's the end of my report.

Thank you, Council Member Rhodess.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. On Tuesday, March 24th, I attended the Kaneo Valley Chamber Legislative Zoom and saw the Southern Cal Edison uh presentation for the first time. Um uh as stated, it's be self-reliant is the theme of Edison's thing. And I got to actually hear that presentation not once, not twice, but three times between the last council meeting and now. Um, on Tuesday, also on Tuesday, March 24th, I got to do something pretty spectacular. I saw a fire safety demo at a mobile home community in Silar where they have uh created and and I think this is if there's opportunities to do this in Seami, we should be looking at it. um the homeowners that own the units um agreed to go to zone zero and so they participated in that way. The people who own the land, the land owners um invested in a whole community fire um suppression system. They built a 640,000galon tank on site and have deployable infrastructure of hoses all through the community and also completely have a perimeter around the community. And they did a demonstration of firing these things up and just drenching segments of the community. So, not only will their neighborhood not burn, the one downwind won't burn as well. And it's a tremendous system. If they can get the insurance company, which agreed to keep their insurance in place while they were installing this, if they can get a 15% reduction in the um uh overhead or the insurance fees, the it'll pay for the overhead of running that operation uh year round. So, um that was a uh significant thing and I think there are applications uh and that's how a whole

community gets around fire resilience. Um, on Wednesday, March 25th, I attend attended our CE chamber legislative affairs meeting and um uh got the Edison presentation again. I also Oh, sorry. Thursday, March 26, I attended the SCAG event committee. This is the committee putting on the um yearly um uh gathering uh where we vote on um different ordinances or different changes to the um operating bylaws of SKAG the general assembly. Um um oh also that day I attended a swearing in ceremony of new off two new officers on Friday March 27th. Um I housing committee of Cal Cities Sacramento. Did I go to Sacramento? Um I went to a housing committee of Cal Cities and that was um I think that was Costa Mesa. Yes, did Costa Mesa um and attended that. The Saturday, March 28th, I No, I did not attend Bingo Bonanza. Sorry. Tuesday, March 31st. Um I did have a call with um a representative of Airbnb, uh their legal representative that actually works on ordinances for different uh communities and got some insight from her on how they're working with other cities. Um I had a also on that day a meet and greet with the new president of Adventist Health. Um uh and that night uh up at Mount Sycamore, I was in charge of the cross lighting our Rotary Club.

Mount McCoy. Isn't that what I just said? You said Mount Sycamore.

Did I really? Holy crap. I'm reading ahead. Mount McCoy. And um uh our Rotary Club uh each year uh the week, the Holy Week, we go up each night and light up the cross. So if you ever during the week look up and go, "Wow, that's really cool. That's us doing that." and Tuesday was my night. It was a torrential downpour and it was lit. Anyway, um let's see. On Thursday, April 2nd, I attended via Zoom the Clean Power Alliance board meeting. On Sunday, April Nope, didn't do that. April 6th, I also attended the swearing in ceremony this uh morning of Officer Cruz. And that ends my report. Thank you, Council Member Judge.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. On Friday, March 27th, I attended the League of California Cities Public Safety Committee meeting in Costa Mesa. Um, not a whole bunch in there was there was a lot of stuff talked about and it was very lively discussion. Uh, mostly to just say we support or don't support bills coming up before the legislature. Nothing that impacts our current our local law enforcement here that I could see, but there will be some stuff coming before the legislative session is over, I'm sure. Um, continue to monitor that for us. On Friday, April 3rd, I attended the Ventura County Transportation Committee and out of that we we took a look at our fiscal year budget for the years coming up and it's much smaller than last year's budget. So, that kind of concerned some people, but we'll make do and get through it. Also, I wanted to mention the regional fair payment program, which we got an update on. Uh, so now if you ride one of the Ventura County Transportation Blue buses, you don't need to have cash, you don't need to have a a bus pass, you just need a credit card. It's tap and go and you get on the bus and go wherever you need to go. Um me they mentioned something in that thing about semi valley going to that semi val the tap and go where you

Yep. Yep. Cool. It's very convenient for people to want to ride public transportation. You no longer need cash and you no longer need a bus pass. Just have to have your credit card. So take advantage of it. Remember students still ride for free. And that is Oh, I was also at the swear in this morning for Officer Cruz. That's the end of my report. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim Litster.

Thank you. Um, Thursday, March 26th. Um, I um actually stepped into the city where they were hosting that public safety power shut off event for the seniors. And I want to thank those who put it on. Um, I know there was a lot of questions there at the information table. I think council member Rhodess was there. My takeaway is that there are a lot of articulate seniors who are keeping track of things and being and trying to make everyone accountable. And so it was it was actually very good and hope we do it again. I thought it was very good. That afternoon also attended the swearing in of officers Ed Edward Rockmitt and officer Joshua Roa who graduated from the Ventura County Criminal um justice training center. I also also I will say that um the ad hoc uh film committee met translation DD and I met to have to discuss to start to work on um with the ad hoc committee and discuss our concerns and our areas of research etc. Um on and we'll we'll report as we gather information. March 27th, um I too drove drove down to Costa Mesa where for the League of Cities, I'm on the environmental quality policy committee. We discussed positions to take on different um legislation going forward. Um and I'll share that as I um but there's nothing earthshattering was um as far as positions, they tend to be fairly neutral. Um I will say we're talking aboutce. One of the conversations, sidebar conversations I had there was withce rep who basically acknowledged that as long as they have 100% liability, they will continue to turn things off whenever it gets a little dicey or they're concerned. And so I really think the state needs to revisit the liability model and shared some shared situations so that so they have no incentive to turn it off. And I think we should put our efforts that direction. Saturday, March 20th was my

husband's birthday. Happy birthday, Greg. On Tuesday, March the 31st, Hiu attended the new president of Adventist Health, Semi Valley um introduction. His name is President Austin Perky Perky Pile Perky Pile. Um and what what is what I thought I what I want to bring to attention is it's nice that they're now in in the past obviously we had recently a shared president. This is someone who is dedicated to Semi Valley. He is moving from back from the mid midwest I would say Kansas and was shopping for a home in Semi Valley this week. So I glad that we have that representation um coming to Semi Valley and and he seems to be a very very uh circumspect likable gentleman. I hope he does good things for us. um on Sunday. Um happy Easter by the way. I should say happy Easter to um though and happy Passover and anyway it was a time of celebration for a lot of people of of faith. I attended the Easter sunrise breakfast for a bit. Um it was good to see council member um Ayella there with his mother and sister and um Candace sung on stage with I mean it was it was lovely anyway I thought it was lovely that what um what was taking place there and thank you to the Kowanas club of putting that on getting up early Sunday morning to make that a special special time for our seniors. Um a little bit about my activities today. Um uh this morning, yes, I attended the swearing in of Officer Cruz. Um he's moving laterally from the sheriff's department. Delighted to take him in um to have him join us. I also met with a constituent who is desirous to build a residential facility and there some real questions about um in fact I'll I'll

have a conversation stratus with you afterwards. I'd love to chat with you about requirements for if you have a few more than six people so we can talk more about that. And then also um and then the final thing is this evening I also had an ad uh part of our ad hoc film committee meeting. I appreciated visiting with Ryan Fowler, Angel Sierra, our city manager Sambbrite to really get to understand the process of film permitting and what's involved and I learned quite a bit. Thank you for taking the time to put it all together Ryan and etc. A lot of work I know. Um, but I it was very educational and I think there was some constructive conversation about steps the city is taking and I think it'll be fun for us to direct our efforts in that conversation. So again, thank you for all that everyone's doing in the city. Thank you. Mine's going to be short like uh council member Ayala's. So on Thursday, March 26, I met with Mayor Pro Tim Litster um regarding our filming ad hoc committee. got kind of put our brains together and said, "Let's start and go this way." So, we each got our marching orders. So, we're working on that. I then spent the next week uh on spring break out of town with my family and that was great. And then I have out of state family visiting now. So, I haven't done a whole lot this week or these last two weeks, but um it's been nice to be relaxed and not at work. Um so, and then then before tonight's meeting, I met with our city manager and our city attorney. We had a couple of things to discuss and that's it for me. So, madame mayor, members of the city council, next on the agenda is item 10B, council member request for future items.

Does anybody have anything? Just a clarification for the flags that council member um Judge brought up. Is that just a internal policy thing or does that have to be something that we talk about here? Um, so I heard consensus from three, four, five. Um, and I can get with staff on that. I don't know that there's anything that we need to bring back to you guys. Um, I just need to talk to staff about what we're currently doing and how we're retiring those. Um, and if there would be any issues that we need to consider um for us to go to a to a business to do that kind of ceremony. Um, and if there is some kind of policy implication, then we'll bring an item back to council.

Okay. Thank you. Yes. because you have to renew the letter in order for it to be maintained and they're supposed to be active duty. So when they come down Okay. No, I think it's a good idea. We'll see if we can do it. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. So tonight, um we will be adjourning in memory of Levi Vargas. He's a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Lee Johnson, the local business owner and resident. So we're adjourned. Thank you.