City Council - Regular Meeting

And the commitment to move forward our city in a positive direction under your guidance. Please know that we are here to do the best for our citizens, for our businesses, for our community, and that we seek your guidance in giving us that direction that's necessary to create a livable, lovable Lodi. In your name, amen.

Amen.

Thank you so much for those words. Now we do the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This is the regular meeting for September 2nd, convening at 7 or 7 p.m. Mr. City Clerk, can you please do roll call?

Councilmember Bregman. Here. Councilmember Nakanishi. Here. Councilmember Craig Hensley.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tempore Hothi.

Here.

And Mayor Yepes.

Thank you so much. I see that we don't have any presentations today, so we'll move to consent calendar. Can you, City Clerk, can you please introduce the consent calendar?

Good evening. First off, if anybody would like to make public comments, we have comment cards up here. Please fill them out and please address which agenda item you want to speak on. On today's meeting, we have items number C1 through C7 to hear out.

Mayor, I do have a matter to bring up on this. Councilmember Bregman has recused himself for matters C3 and C7, so I'd recommend that you have those on a separate vote from the remainder of the calendar. Okay, thank you so much.

Will any member of the council like to pull an item from consent? Yes? Mr. Naganish?

He's not part of this discussion?

So Council Member Bregman is going to recuse himself from two items. So we will vote on those separately.

You mean I can do the same thing?

Yes, you can do that.

You have to have a conflict. You can't just beg out.

Okay, so. Just real quick, so there was a request from the BIA on C2, I believe. Could somebody speak to that, perhaps?

So can we first get all the items that we're gonna pull, and we can go on. Okay, yeah, yeah, C2, yep. So C2, any other council member would like to pull an item? I want to pull C4 for information. Okay, so let's go to C2.

C2, yes. So staff received an email from Mr. John Beckman regarding the phase four code amendments. He requested the item be pulled tonight. Staff recommends to set the public hearing tonight for October 7th. We can direct CDD staff to reach out to Mr. Beckman Next week to see what additional information or meetings he'd like to have and then we can have a community workshop before October 7th to Dive deeper into those phase 4 code amendments with the council in the community So that is staffs recommendation, but we'll do whatever council would like

By my comment, Mayor, yes, it is just to set the public hearing. So obviously the public hearing on October 7th would address questions, but there may be a desire to have a more detailed presentation. So if Mr Beckman on behalf of BIA wants to. If you feel in talking with him or him talking with staff that there's an additional need to share information so that we're not prolonging that meeting on the 7th, then I'd be amenable to some type of brief afternoon special session that would allow everyone to hear a little bit more in detail what his questions, concerns may be that may not have been addressed at Planning Commission, for example.

Yes, we can do that. Okay.

So now we're going to go to C4, right?

Yes. So C4 is adopt a resolution delegating authority to the city manager to oversee and administer all personnel and administrative matters related to the interim city clerk position. So we have an interim city clerk right now. He is going to be here until September 17th. So we are seeking another interim city clerk. That we would want to hire before Our interim city clerk leaves the council has been going through an ordinance change with the authority of this position Transitioning from the council to the city manager. And so we need to do this in order to hire somebody before our interim city clerk leaves Procedurally though the reporting relationships wouldn't really change. This is just for the next two weeks and

Okay, and because when we hire the current person, we hire him on the different structures, so internally wouldn't change for him until the next person change? Yes. Okay.

Yeah, and we do want an overlap period, so whoever is the next interim can cross-train for a few days.

Okay, that's all my questions. All right. Will any member of the public like to pull an item for consent? Seeing none. Seeing none also. Okay. So then, any Flan or council comments?

I would just say we're going to move for approval of the agenda minus, the consent agenda minus C3 and C7 so that Councilman Bregman can vote and then, okay, I just wanted to clarify how we're gonna do it.

Yes, so now I think in the motion, you can do the motion.

Oh, thanks. Okay. I would move that council approve items C1, C2, C4, C5, and C6.

I second.

I think we didn't see the voting.

Missed one step, Wilfred.

You know what? Sorry.

There we go.

All right. And it passes. So now we will do the second motion.

I would move to approve items C3 and C7. OK.

I will second that. Okay, then it passes. So I have a question for city attorney. So when some people recuse themselves, do they need to give a reason or no, or what is the procedure?

Not typically. There are certain reasons for recusal or certain statutory reasons that would need to be disclosed. And on public inquiry, we certainly could disclose it. But there's no obligation to disclose the specifics in a given case.

City Clerk, do we have any public comments?

Yes, we do. The first person we have is Troy Stein, followed by Nathaniel Atherstone.

Greetings, council members. Thank you for allowing me to come and spend some time with you. Let me start with this. The sale and purchase of children for sex is the second largest illegal industry in our country and has become a multi-billion dollar industry that's expected to surpass the illicit trade of guns and narcotics within 10 years. It's a pretty sobering statement, but when you put in correct framework that this was drafted by the Department of State in the year 2008, and that today this is an absolute reality, the number one illegal industry in our nation is the sale and purchase of children for sex. Lodi is right in the middle of the national, the statewide, and the local circuit for human trafficking. We must address this heinous crime and educate our communities about its present reality. Did you know that one in six teenagers currently are being exploited online, many of which have no idea that's what is taking place? My name is Troy Stein, and I'm the CEO and founder of a nonprofit organization called Stop Human Trafficking. This organization began only in May of 2025, but to date we have done almost 100 presentations and trainings for law enforcement agencies, social workers, foster parents, medical staff, and concerned citizens throughout the Central Valley. In addition to that, we've distributed more than 10,000 resources in only just a few months. Prior to that, I spent over a decade working in the human trafficking field trying to prevent this evil crime. I had been working in the restoration part of it. But after many years of working in restoring the victimized, following all of the terrible things that have happened to them, my heart absolutely was breaking that we weren't actually making a change in culture and in society. And so I have committed my life and our team have also committed their lives to trying to stop this evil right here at home from taking place. Stop Human Trafficking provides awareness, prevention, and consulting services, offering training to everyone from churches and schools to law enforcement agencies and medical workers. In fact, tomorrow I'll be speaking as the keynote speaker in the Lodi Start trailer unveiling at the JSG trucking firm. One way that we encourage awareness is by conducting freedom walks in the cities that we serve. Coming up on Saturday, October the 31st, from 10 a.m. to noon at DaBenedy Park, we will be doing such an event. I'm asking for your support and for your help in promoting this incredible event. It will start with a short human trafficking awareness rally, which will be family appropriate, followed by a one-mile walk, and during that one-mile walk, it's a short walk, during that one-mile walk, everyone will have an opportunity to be blindfolded and be led by a friend. just for a portion of it, maybe a block, maybe just a few feet while they're asked a few questions. How does it feel to be in darkness? Could you walk this walk without any help? And I think you get the message that we're encouraging that date will conclude the rally with a closing rally. It's going to be a powerful time and we certainly hope that you will help us to get the word out for this event together. Together, I believe that we can make a difference. One step can lead to change. I have left you with some packets of information that I'm trusting that you might take a look at and reach out to me if you'd like, and I would be happy to share anything further that you might have questions about. Thank you so very much for your time and attention, and I want to say thank you Councilman Bregman for your ongoing support for what it is we're doing.

Next speaker is Nathaniel Atherstone, then followed by Vanessa Barbins.

Good evening, Mr Mayor City Council. Hard to follow human trafficking. I respect that so much. I'm here tonight to address an email that I had sent to everybody on the Council regarding the use of LPR technology. It's the automated license plate recognition software or flock cameras in our community. I'm going to stick with the script, but I think tone matters. I didn't want to just send an email and leave it at that. I wanted to give tone here. I want to start with a clarification. I'm neither for or against the use of ALPR technology. I'm aware of both the benefits and the negatives. I'm a father. I'm a concerned father. I'm aware of the safety issues that our society presents, and I want my child to live in a safe community, but I also heed the warnings of Orwell and Kafka regarding the need to maintain privacy and personal rights and limit government overreach in our private lives. So this debate isn't really why I'm here today, but it's related. I'm here to address an observation that the installed ALPR technology in Lodi is racially divided. The distribution of cameras in the public are focused on majority Hispanic and low income communities located east of Church Street. Furthermore, ALPR placement in private commercial locations are only located in the Home Depot and Lowe's parking lots. This appears to be targeting the congregation of Hispanic day laborers. And note that the neighboring Costco, the Walmart, the Target, none of them have ALPR technology in their private areas. The attached analysis that I sent in that email documents these concerns with mapped locations of the ALPR cameras within the city and the corresponding information from the U.S. Census ACS Survey for 2024. The results are clear. Nearly half of the cameras are located in East Lodi and the other half are at Lowe's and Home Depot. This is a call for action by my City Council. I'm calling on the city to address this issue. I believe that we cannot fairly determine if we want ALPR technology in our community if we're not all subjected to the same level of surveillance. I also feel that the current placement of public cameras are in strict violation of civil rights codes in our community. as racial profiling by law enforcement is illegal by way of multiple civil codes, and I've identified those. The California Penal Code, Section 13519.4, which is the Anti-Profiling Act. The Tom Bain Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code, Section 52.1. The California Civil Code, Section 1798.90, which is the ALPR Privacy Act. An article one section one of the California Constitution. Look, I'm not here to attack the city. I'm here to raise awareness of something that I've seen. And I don't think it's right. I think it needs to be addressed somehow some way. I'm not sure the balls in your court. I have shared this information with multiple parties only to help leverage action. So thank you for your time. I really appreciate it.

Next speaker is Vanessa Barberis, and then followed by Dayanira Aguilar.

Thank you. Good morning, Mayor Yepez, council members, city manager, and interim city attorney. My name is Vanessa Barberis, and I'm here this evening from Waste Management, WM. I just wanted to send out a reminder, let everyone know that this coming Saturday is our last recycling event of the year. So four times a year, we host a recycling drop-off event at our facility on Turner Road. And this September 5th is last one for this year. It's from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Residents can bring in items, electronic waste, up to two tires, two mattresses, or documents that they want to have securely shredded on site at our facility. So we welcome all of you, all of members of the public, and we hope to see you there. So thank you. Have a nice day.

And Deyanira Aguilar. And she'll have an interpreter, so we'll give her 10 minutes.

Estimados miembros del Consejo Municipal. Por medio de la presente, presento una queja formal respecto de una estructura ubicada en 2328 Jamestown Court, correspondiente a un baño construido directamente junto a la cerca compartida y sin respetar el retiro obligatorio requerido. La construcción se realizó utilizando maquinaria pesada, incluyendo una retroexcavadora y un camión revolvedor de concreto, con la participación de aproximadamente dos o tres trabajadores, además de Luis Silva, quien habita la propiedad y se encontraba realizando y dirigiendo los trabajos. Para colocar la estructura, se modificó el terreno y se colocó una plancha de cemento que creó un canal junto a la cerca, alterando las condiciones originales del terreno y el flujo natural del agua. También se instalaron tubos que modificaron el sistema de drenaje original existente. sin supervisión ni permiso de la ciudad. Solicito que se determine si alguno de los trabajos realizados pudo haber ocasionado daños o roturas en los tubos o el sistema de drenaje. Esta situación resulta especialmente importante debido que ante una acumulación o posible desbordamiento existe la preocupación de que el agua del drenaje pueda dirigirse hacia mi patio. Currently, there is a leak in a corner of my garden, which causes me to worry about possible additional damage, particularly due to the modifications made on the ground and the drainage conditions that remain unsolved. riesgo de deterioro y afectación a mi propiedad. Las modificaciones realizadas en el terreno y las condiciones de drenaje existentes pueden contribuir al deterioro de la cerca y con el tiempo ocasionar daños a mi propiedad. La humedad y la filtración también generan preocupación por un posible deterioro estructural si la situación permanece sin resolver, particularmente si las condiciones se empeoran durante periodos de lluvia. Asimismo, las posibilidades de malos olores constituyen una afectación adicional al uso y disfrute pacífico de mi propiedad. En conjunto, estas condiciones interfieren con el uso y disfrute de mi propiedad y podrían afectar su valor y comercialidad. Después de presentar mi queja, la propiedad... After presenting my complaint, the property was inspected on August 3, at the request of a senior inspector. Later, the inspector informed me that the structure actually corresponded to a bathroom that had been illegally built and that it had to be remodeled. I was also informed that the furniture had been removed. However, the structure remained in place. I requested Luis Silva and a possible future permit. After communicating with the city to know the state of my case, the inspector informed me that Luis Silva had personally come to request to preserve the existing shell, despite the fact that the structure had been determined as illegal and does not comply with the mandatory withdrawal. También me informó que Luis Silva había manifestado su intención de solicitar en el futuro un permiso para construir un baño en otro espacio de la propiedad. Considero importante dejar constancia de esta circunstancia ya que una futura solicitud no debería utilizarse directa o indirectamente para mantener, regularizar o dejar sin resolver la construcción que ya fue determinada como ilegal. ni para dejar pendientes las modificaciones del terreno, drenaje y demás condiciones que actualmente afectan mi propiedad. Por ello solicito respetuosamente que cualquier futura solicitud sea evaluada considerando mi oposición formal, los antecedentes de incumplimiento, las condiciones que ya han sido reportadas y las afectaciones que continúan presentes. El 17 de agosto, Luis Silva, con la ayuda de otras personas, movió la estructura de su ubicación y desconectó y tapó algunos tubos de manera apresurada y nuevamente sin supervisión de la ciudad. Al moverla, la estructura quedó cubierta por su vivienda y dejó de ser visible desde la calle. Considero importante señalar esta circunstancia porque la apariencia exterior de la propiedad podría no reflejar la situación real de la estructura ni las modificaciones realizadas en el terreno. Los trabajos realizados con el movimiento de la estructura y los tubos también hace necesario verificar que el sistema de drenaje haya quedado correctamente desconectado, protegido y sin daños. Después de la inspección del 3 de agosto y ante la posibilidad de que se concedieran permisos relacionados con la estructura o futuras modificaciones en la propiedad, envié correos electrónicos a diferentes funcionarios de la ciudad y acudí personalmente a la ventanilla para solicitar información sobre el estado de mi queja. La información solicitada en la ventanilla me fue negada. En ese momento se me indicó que debía esperar aproximadamente 30 días. Nadie me había avisado de ese plazo y que dejara de solicitar información o enviar correos ya que estaba entorpeciendo el trabajo. Si mis comunicaciones resultaron excesivas, ofrezco una disculpa. Mi intención únicamente ha sido obtener orientación y saber cómo proceder, ya que me preocupa que el caso pueda cerrarse sin que se resuelvan las condiciones que continúan afectando mi propiedad. El 22 de agosto observé que el aviso de color rojo que había sido colocado ya no se encontraba en el hogar. Mientras tanto, las filtraciones que han venido reportando en la esquina de mi jardín continúa y las condiciones relacionadas con el renaje y las modificaciones del terreno permanecen sin resolver.

She has two more pages to read. Is it okay if she continues or would you like me to read it? Finish it?

Okay. Solicito respetuosamente hacer cumplir la demolición de la estructura existente conforme a la determinación que previamente me fue comunicada. Inspeccionar la plancha de cemento y las modificaciones realizadas en el nivel y configuración del terreno. Evaluare el canal creado junto a la cerca compartida y los cambios efectuados en las condiciones de drenaje. Investigar la filtración que continuó hacia la esquina de mi jardín. Verificar si alguno de los trabajos realizados ocasionó daños o roturas en el drenaje original. Evaluar el riesgo de que el drenaje se desborde hacia mi patio. Investigar las condiciones relacionadas con el retiro obligatorio. Evaluar la posible afectación a la cerca compartida. Evaluar las posibles alteraciones, afectaciones relacionadas con humedad y malos olores. Exigir cuando corresponda a la restauración del terreno y de las condiciones de drenaje a su estado original, incluyendo las modificaciones realizadas como parte de la construcción. Thank you.

And the interpreter will translate the letter into English, if that's okay. Dear members of this Lodi City Council, I am submitting this formal complaint regarding a structure located at 2328 Jamestown Court, Lodi, California, consisting of a bathroom constructed directly next to the shared fence and without complying with the required setbacks. The construction was carried out using heavy equipment, including a backhoe and a concrete mixer truck with approximately two or three workers involved. In addition to Luis Silva, who resides at the property and was performing and directing the work, In order to place a structure, the ground was altered and a concrete slab was installed, creating a channel next to the shared fence and changing the original ground conditions and natural flow of water pipes were also installed that alter the existing original drainage system without city supervision or permits. I respectfully request that the City determines whether any of the work performed may have caused damage to or breaks in the pipes or the original drainage system. This is particularly important because in the event of an accumulation or possibly overflow, there is concern that drainage water could be directed towards my yard. There is currently a water leak in one corner of my yard, which causes me concern about possible additional damage, particularly due to the alterations made to the ground and the unresolved drainage conditions. The alterations made to the ground and the existing drainage conditions may contribute to the deterioration of the shared fence and, over time, cause damage to my property. The moisture and leakage also raise concerns about possibly a structural deterioration if the situation remains unresolved, particularly if conditions worsen during periods of rain. Likewise, the possibility of a pleasant orders constitutes an additional impact on the peaceful use and enjoyment of my property.

Can we give them a few more minutes maybe to wrap it up like kind of the main points?

Okay. Taken together, these conditions interfere with the use and enjoyment of my property and could affect its value and market value. After I submitted my complaint, the property was inspected on August 3rd, 2026 at the request of the senior inspector. The inspector subsequently informed me that the structure was in fact a bathroom, that it had been constructed illegally and that it was required to be demolished. I was also informed that the bathroom fixtures and furnishings had been removed. However, the structure itself remains in place. Subsequently, when I contacted the city to obtain an update on my case, the inspector informed me that Luis Silva had personally gone to the city to request permission to keep the existing shell, even though the structure had been determined to be illegal and does not comply with the required setbacks. I was also informed that Luis Silva has stated his intention to apply in the future for a permit to construct a bathroom in another area of the property. I believe it is important to document the circumstances because a future application should not be used directly or indirectly to maintain legalized or leave unresolved unresolved construction that has already been determined to be illegal not to leave pending the alterations to the ground drainage and other conditions that currently affect my property. Would you like me to continue reading or just wrap it up? So I am respectfully requesting to enforce the demolition of the existing structure consistent with the determination previously communicated to me, inspect the concrete slab and the alterations made to the grade and configuration to the ground, evaluate the channel to the drainage conditions.

Okay, thank you so much. Can I ask the applicant again a question?

Community Development. Thank you so very much for coming. And your letter was very well written. What has the community development told you?

When I spoke with the lady inspector, they came over to see on the third. She called me and she told me that yes, in fact, it was an illegal bathroom. Subsequently, I remained awaiting. And so I called her and then she told me, that's when she told me that Luis Silva had come over or stopped by to request a permit. And I am very, I was very concerned because I do not know if what I have in my garden or my yard is an infiltration of sewer.

or draining, it's leaking. And it's been very hot and it's very humid, very moist.

Like that, it's like that all the time.

So after she told me that I was very concerned and so subsequently I sent four emails.

Perhaps I went over the limit. But it wasn't just for one person. It was to different officials. So I went to the window and I was told, don't come back, wait. I had no idea that I was supposed to wait 30 days. And that not to be interfering. That's what I was told.

So thank you so very much. So thank you so very much for coming. I will try to resolve the problem with the community development department.

And so you know this is not just a weekend matter. It's gonna take a weekend. And that is why I'm going to have a meeting with you and them so we can resolve the issue. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Thank you.

So I have a question actually for the Interim Community Development Director. So do you know anything about this matter off the top of your head?

No, I do not. We can look into it though.

Okay. And the way that I think of broke protocol a little bit by commenting and somebody that is commenting but because this is a team that is happening all the time there. They go through your window, they get bad information, they go to us, sometimes some of us tell them bad information and it's a common theme. And the only thing, the remedy they have is to come here during a public meeting, so let's try to not escalate this to this level.

Yeah, I will mention that code enforcement cases are confidential and cannot be discussed even with the complainant. So when someone does submit a complaint, say your neighbor's doing work.

Okay, okay.

That's handled by the building division.

I didn't ask for your opinion, so can you just, so thank you for your comment. All right, let's go to next public comments.

We have Randy Stewart.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. And I would like to ask the question of why you have not gotten back to me about my letter of intent.

Because I unfortunately, I just came back from Boston today. Okay, this has been in May 20th. You were here. So if you email me again today, I will reply. I don't email. I don't have I don't use a computer. Okay, you leave your phone number with the city clerk and I will call you tomorrow.

I promise I will call you tomorrow. I've got a lot of questions. Okay, good. And you're in violation. I want you to know that.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. No further public speakers. Okay, now we will go to Council of Commons. Councilwoman Gregg.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A lot of things happened this past week. I attended the San Joaquin Business Council meeting where Stockton City Manager Johnny Ford spoke. That was actually very interesting and informative about where Stockton is going. Our city manager attended, as did our economic development director. Also, the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission had its meeting, and a couple things to announce out of that. There'll be a ribbon cutting for the 49er special train on September 20th. They're doing a special event. Our DA, I think, will be attending as well, because he's a big writer of the train to the 49er games, so that should be a lot of fun. Also, September 23rd is Rail Safety Action Day, and They will be sending out information to our transit folks to basically inform them about educational activities related to rail safety, things that can go out to passengers of rail now that we have the Amtrak stopping on a regular basis there. It's good information for them to have. On behalf of the mayor, I joined the Lodi Adopt a Child and the Arts Foundation in judging their first art contest for elementary through high school children. That was a big success and a nice little event for them to host to bring greater awareness to Lodi Adopt a Child in a fundraising capacity as well as what they do for the community. Also met with the United Way Board during their strategic planning retreat to discuss the value of the Lodi Nonprofit Alliance to our city, the success of our city council grant program, and also the opportunity we'll be meeting with their director in the next few weeks to talk about a workplace giving program. So that's coming up. I think one of the biggest activities that happened, there was an SJCOG meeting. that I attended and we approved the moving forward of a joint grant that our transit department will be doing along with the SJCOG. It is a grant for, I don't know what the total amount will be, but it's upwards of $5 million that we can request to move forward a number of items that are either in our short-range transit plan or our downtown plan. And so it includes the installation of a mobility hub at the Lodi Transit Station. It also includes Main Street improvements, designing for complete street and streetscape improvements along Main between Lodi Avenue and Lockford Street. An urban forestry plan, which is basically looking at landscape architecture planning and arborist analysis to develop a citywide urban forestry plan. And finally, a Lodi Greenhouse Calls pilot program of which it will provide to residents ways in which you can save energy and water. But it also incorporates a youth workforce development opportunity, giving them experience in career exposure in fields of energy efficiency, sustainability, and related fields. i also want to thank our interim public works director mr nathan and our chief of police rick garcia along with the city manager who attended a turner road traffic safety community meeting um congratulations all around i think that was seen as a very successful uh meeting and a lot of positive news and and chief the stats were great and sean thank you for giving them some Hope of what we'll be looking at next and so there's going to be a follow-up meeting to give them some options for traffic safety and also more importantly for council to prioritize what we're looking for in our community to address issues of roads and safety on on those roads and lastly Maybe just a minute or two from our city manager. We had the great opportunity to tour Elk Grove's Main Street and its rail project with our economic development

director with our interim community development director and chamber members Great opportunity maybe just a minute or two about that Yes some members of staff to community members up to a project in Elk Grove called a railroad street project where we redeveloped in our old town area and purchased some UP parcels, so it's just a local example of redeveloping along a railroad line and as a local example, so I thought it was a great tour. I want to thank Elk Grove for hosting us, and I think it gave us a good example of something that we could do next to our adjacent parcels.

Thank you, and thank you for helping to arrange that. So that's it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you so much. So we'll now continue with Mayor Pro Tem Hote.

So I've got a few. First, I don't see any EU staff here. We hosted US Senator Alex Padilla's staff at the LEC, the Lodi Electric Facility. We have some dated equipment there. We were able to talk to them about some funding requests, so nothing to report out yet just as far as funding is concerned, but it was a very productive conversation. Myself and Councilmember Bregman serve as our reps to the NCPA, the Northern California Power Agency. We'll be up in Lake Tahoe in two weeks for our annual meeting, and there's going to be a lot of leadership changes, so looking forward to a report out there. I want to give a shout out to Lodi Electric Utility for a variety of things that they address as far as like constituent cases. But the most recent one would be a lighting issue in front of Oxford. I actually had the opportunity to walk by yesterday in Council Member Bregman's district where I got to see LEU staff fixing the little up lights going up to the tree. My understanding as of yesterday is that one of the three up lights has been fixed. So major kudos to Jeff and his team because you get lots of these requests coming in but ultimately it's nice to deliver and this might seem small in any given situation but these things are meaningful for those of us who receive the requests and are able to report out. So major kudos to Jeff and his team for that. There's two more lights left to fix so we'll see if I report out at the next meeting if those ones are fixed. I wanna give kudos to Chief Garcia and his team for being so responsive to a homeless encampment issue out at Lockford. My old second grade teacher emailed me out of the blue and her daughter has a business, a tanning salon there, and she's had some issues with some transiency on the backside of her business and some bio issues at the site too. And so I appreciate you, Chief, personally getting involved to address that issue. And then just lastly am I allowed to say the fire thing or yeah, so the state legislature just Ended their session for the year. That's where I lobby. That's where my day-to-day job is and Our assembly member, Heath Flora, was able to report out that he delivered $2 million to the Lodi Fire Department for a funding request. And first of all, major kudos to him for securing those dollars in a tough deficit year. But beyond that, I just want to give major, major kudos to assembly member sorry, Councilmember, soon to be Assemblymember, I'm sure, Councilmember Lisa Craig-Hensley, because these things don't happen without relationships, and Lisa has had a strong relationship with Heath going back for a considerable amount of time. and she emails everybody regularly and we don't have a lobbyist team that sits here and does our day-to-day and follows up and does these things and there are lobbyists that get paid considerable amounts of money to deliver these types of things and Lisa was able to do this because of her relationship with Heath and her persistence and annoyance and all the things because she was able to just to persist and I just want to, you know, sometimes you don't get the kudos up here for the variety of things that you do and I just want to make sure that Lisa gets

gets her flowers for this one two million dollars to lodi fire department thank you lisa craig and thank you to heath floor as well so that's my last one and i want to thank chief johnson as well because i couldn't do it without the detailed uh case that he made for what our need was so um you know kudos to to everyone in fire for helping and supporting that effort so thank you thank you well thank you so much lisa um so what are we going to use the money for It is coming through the Office of Emergency Services. So it will end up being used likely for equipment in particular. I know we have a need for a new fire engine. That was one of the top items. But it will be used for whatever we feel is necessary capital improvements for fire.

That's amazing. Thank you so much. Councilman Bregman now.

Yes, I've had two requests for information from constituents. Number one was on Hutchins Street Square with our pool. I've been in contact with Christina Jerome from our city and Sean. I believe that will be up and running. I believe it's September 21st. So very glad to hear about that. I think it's been about a year since that's been closed down. The second item I just wanted to give the public is, again, another question that I've received on a few households is if you have a, so for instance, you have your sidewalk and then the piece of mow strip that's technically the city's property, but we all take care of it. If there's a city tree right there and it actually uproots the concrete, my understanding, Sean, if you would add some light on this situation, but my understanding is that is the city's liability and you could make a request for that tree to be removed and that concrete fixed. Sean, can you confirm that information?

Yeah, so you're talking about between the curb and gutter and the sidewalk area when it's detached in some neighborhoods? Yes. Those are city trees. And so if there's damage to the sidewalk caused by those trees, then that is something Public Works will come take care of.

And if a citizen needed to make that request, I think you gave me the email. Do you happen to have it if you want to say it on the record?

Yeah, so it's just a PWDEPT. It's short for department. So PWDepartment at Lodi.gov.

Perfect. Thank you very much. And that's it.

Thank you so much. I just have a quick question. So I was in Europe for like the last month, and I've been hearing about this super nino that is going to maybe happen here in California. And I was wondering if we can look into what is the city planning in the case that we have one of those big flooding events.

Yeah, we can certainly work with Public Works on what is our typical storm response.

Yeah, and compare it to maybe like a few years ago when we have the big storms, compare what went wrong so we can mitigate that, so we can do better than this time. So thank you, that's all. All right, so we'll move now to the regular calendar.

Actually, we have a public hearing. We have a public hearing to consider adopting a resolution approving the 2025-2026 Community Development Block Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report. And this is a public hearing, Mayor.

All right, so I will open the public hearing at 7.53 p.m. So let's start with the presentation first.

We have a PowerPoint. If you could pull it up, it's on the third, on the end plug here. Thank you.

Good evening council members. My name is Carrie Chadwick and I am the program specialist in the Community Development Department, specifically in the neighborhood services division. You are here because this is an annual report that is required by head to. Basically let the public know what our accomplishments were for the CDBG program for the fiscal year 2526. In this case. Okay, so each year, like I said, HUD, which is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, requires that the CAPER, which is the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, be reported out, the activities be reported out to ensure that we are following the guidelines for our annual action plan and our consolidated plan. The CAPER details the information that are the accomplishments that were held between July 1 of 2025 and June 30, 2026. So basically, we're going to be asking Council to approve the resolution so that we can report back to HUD for this year's accomplishments.

Thank you so much. Does Council have any clarifying questions?

There's additional information if you'd like.

Oh, I thought you were done.

No, no. Sorry. Just a summary. I apologize. So we had a required public notice period starting on August 15th. It was a 15-day period, so it ended on September 1st. However, we are going to incorporate any comments that were received tonight at this public hearing. The 25-26 program year, We received $655,037 from HUD. It was broken up into three categories, the capital improvements, public service programs, and program administration. Under those subtitles, we had several projects that were also designated. The public services are basically your nonprofits here in town that apply for the applications, and those are done on a two-year application. The public improvements can be done, those can be city capital projects and also nonprofit capital projects. They have to apply for the funds, obviously, each year. for the capital improvements because they are not a two-year program. And the administration is split up with graffiti abatement. Half of graffiti abatement is taken out of our public administration, the city program staff, our consultant staff, and fair housing. Our expenditures were split up amongst for this current year. We did receive quite a few expenditures later in the year, and they didn't make it into the program year. So they will be reflected in the next year. But general administration and planning was 55%. Public services was 19%. And public facilities and improvements was 26%. The accomplishments. are broken down into extremely low, low, and moderate income. So we have a very high percentage of very low income households that are affected by the funding. And that's a good thing as far as HUD's concerned. Again, accomplishments, graffiti abatement assisted 1,180 residents. Prevail, which is a program for a nonprofit that has a program that helps youth, homeless youth. And they had 14 homeless youths that were assisted out of Lodi. And community partnerships for families assisted 755. And the alley improvements estimated out at 11,750 residents. Also for our public services, Lowell Senior Center assisted 120 seniors. San Joaquin Fair Housing, 663 Lodi households. Second Harvest, 2,100. approximately individuals and Salvation Army 441 persons. So our recommendation tonight would be to adopt a resolution approving the 2025-26 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report and authorize the submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Do you have any questions?

Thank you so much for the presentation. Do we have any council comments? Councilwoman Craig-Hensley and then Councilman Knackenichian after.

Ms. Chattaberg. The percentage that can be spent on administrative costs of staff, that has a cap, doesn't it? Yes, 20%. 20%. Do we typically, are we at and below that 20% normally?

It's not on there. 20%, that's typically why we put the graffiti bait bin in there. And the fair housing, we take that. And then whatever's left over after we've done some activity delivery for the projects, the capital projects and other miscellaneous administration duties that we rely on our consultant for, then some of our staff time can also come out of that.

Does fair housing come through neighborhood services or how is fair housing provided?

The fair housing, we have a nonprofit that takes care of our fair housing.

Okay. So that's not within the administrative services.

It is. It all comes out under the program administration. Okay.

All right. That's what I was trying to figure out here. So some of this stuff is done through contracting with a nonprofit specifically. Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you.

That specializes in that fair housing category, yes. Okay. Great. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

Thank you. My question's on graffiti. I've always looked at this for year after year, and it looked graffiti. You gave more for graffiti in the past, 30,000, 40,000, am I correct?

It's 30,000 per year, yes.

It's 15 here.

It's 15 out of public administration, out of the administration section, and then 15 out of the public services.

So it's still 30 then, right?

Yes, it's still 30. Very good.

All right.

Yes. We just don't want to take it all out of public services because that adds an additional $15,000 that can go to the nonprofit.

I'll tell you why I'm pointing my finger on this is because In the future, we're gonna have to look at increased revenues, decreased expenses, right? So things like this, please leave graffiti there. Don't decrease it and give it to non-profits because we're at a point and we have to look at a place where we get revenues. I'm glad you're doing that, thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Hote. Could you reiterate those alleyway funds? Could you speak to those one more time?

As far as what would you like to know about them?

the dollars that are dispersed and the work that's done?

Typically, it's about 205 when Public Works usually puts in an application. And it's around $205. And then we take $30,000 for activity delivery, which means we have labor compliance that we have to do in the background. Staff does, mainly our consultant does. So we deviate out that way. But that's typically when they ask for funds for that, it's around $200, $235 to improve an alley. Sean might be able to speak better to what it actually costs.

Yeah, so as she mentioned, they usually allocate 235, and then they take 30,000 for labor compliance and some other stuff. So we usually get 205. And then we usually have to supplement that with another fund, like a Measure K or something, to actually complete the full alley, because the 205 doesn't usually replace a whole alley.

Just a follow up on the question. So Hutchins Street. So why Hutchins Street?

I think that's a typo. I saw that too. I said Hutchins Street alley.

I know we certainly have some needy alleys. I caught it in one spot and not the other. I apologize. Okay, that's okay. I just wanted to figure that one out. So, all right.

And then for Lowell, what's the dollar amount that's going to Lowell there?

$10,000.

$10,000?

That's for their Meals on Wheels program.

These are HUD dollars going to Lowell?

Correct.

Yeah, got it. Okay, thank you.

I have a question to follow up on the Alice. So through this program, how many do we typically are able to work on? Just one?

One per year.

One per year?

OK. And then I think we've skipped a year here and there, depending on if there's some parks projects that need to be done. So they seem to work it out that way.

Yeah, typically it ends up being like every other year for a parks project and then an alley as far as that kind of same $230,000. Okay, thank you.

Sean, is that your determination for the alleyways?

So we have a process where we go through and rate all the alleys on a scale of 1 to 5 for flooding and 1 to 5 for pavement condition. And so then 10 is the worst, like a 5 and a 5. And then every year when we do have money for an alley, we go and drive all of the ones that ranked 8, 9, or 10. It's usually about 20 of them. And then our staff, based on that driving at that time, picks the worst one, and that's the one that gets selected.

Who's we? Is that you?

It hasn't been me for the last few years, but it's one of our engineering staff. We've got four engineers, so it depends on who that project's being selected that year, who's doing that project. They drive it. Usually two of them do.

So you have two engineering staff. They look at the eights, nines, and tens, and they drive around. They determine it.

Each year we have money, yeah. And so we drive all of them probably every four or five years, our survey department. Usually after a flood, they'll go look for the flooding score. And then when it's nicer, they'll go look for the pavement and add them up.

Got it. Thank you.

And so I do have a map. I think I've sent it to some of you guys before. But if you want to see it, just let me know.

I've seen it. Thanks.

Mayor, may I ask a question? How many alleys do we do a year? We probably average one every other year. There's been a few years where we're able to do one a year if we have extra streets money. That's a presentation we're going to do next month. It comes from this grant. One every other year comes from this grant. And sometimes we have other money. Where do the funds usually come from? Sometimes it's Measure K. Sometimes it's gas tax. But typically, ever since I've been here, the CDBG has been the majority of the funds used for alleys.

The reason I ask is citizens come and say, that's a bad alley. Fix it. They don't realize we don't have the funds for that. Thank you.

So if, you know, you guys know that I'm very interested in LA, so now that I'm hearing that we just do one every other year, that's kind of very disconcerting to me. If we were to do one every year, we would have to not allocate the CDG funds for that year so we can do one every year? Would that even be possible?

So from a CDBG standpoint, that would mean not doing parks projects that also qualify for that every other year. If there was another funding source available, then that could supplement for every year.

And public works have that capacity if the funding was available?

Yeah, we could do one every year. One every year, okay, thank you. Any other council comments?

Seeing none, then our city clerk, do we have any public comments? Seeing none. Okay, then I will close the public hearing at 8 or 7 PM. Any last council comments? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion.

Move to approve the 2526 Community Development Block Grant performance report.

Second.

Okay, and it passes. So now we'll move to a regular calendar.

We have a item G1 adopt the resolution ratifying the city managers employment agreement of Christina Castro as public works director and approving the employment agreement effective October 5, 2026.

Good evening. I'm James TV, the human resources manager. Um, on November 3rd, 2025, the public works director position became vacant. The city engaged the services of an executive recruitment firm to conduct a recruitment to fill this position. The city manager conducted interviews with qualified candidates via various interview panels and selected Christina Castro as a preferred candidate. Among other provisions, the agreement provides that Christina Castro will start work on October 5th, 2026 with a yearly starting base salary of $225,830. Also with us tonight is Christina Castro. There is funding in the fiscal year 2026, 2027 budget. And staff recommends council adopt a resolution approving the employment agreement with Christina Castro to serve as a public works director with an annual salary of $225,830. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Do we have the candidate here so she can introduce herself to the community?

Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Christina Castro. I'm honored to be here tonight. I want to thank you for the opportunity and to really just Very excited to be able to work for America's favorite small town. Begin supporting the dedicated professionals of the public works departments. Over the past four years, I've also had the opportunity of working with Kara. What a tremendous leader and so committed to the public service. honored to be able to continue working under her guidance. I come with 20 years of public works experience. I started at the City of Dixon and then moved to the City of Vacaville for utilities and most recently been managing the capital program for the City of Elk Grove. Oh man, I'm so excited. If approved this evening, I look forward to getting to know you, getting to know the council, getting to know the public works staff, as well as all the other staff within the city of Lodi and the community members as a whole. And with that, once again, I'm honored and hope you consider me for your next public works director.

Thank you so much for coming. Do we have any kinds of comments?

I would just make a comment. It's welcome aboard. It's great. I don't know if we've got something going here in the water in Elk Grove, but, you know, we started it all. But we're putting together a really great team under our city manager, and we're very pleased to have you joining us. And, yes, we're very proud of America's Small Town, so thank you for being part of it.

I'll have the honor of nominating her.

I'll second. I think we have to take public comments, don't we?

Yes, and I wanted to say a comment that I just wanted to say that thank you for being here. We are so excited for you to start, and I see we're stealing people from Elk Grove. Good. This is a good thing.

Yeah, I like to brag that to Sergio and Bobby that... They see a good opportunity when they when they see it so kudos to Kara and all the Elk Grove people Luis We stole him from Elk Grove too.

So some smart decision-makers here Okay, so before we do the motion we need to take a public comment. So do we have any public comments? Seeing none. Okay. Now we will do the motion. Mr. Naganishi?

I'll make the motion. Second. Yes.

And it passes, so welcome.

Next item is G2, adopt a resolution rejecting all bids, approving specifications, authorizing re-advertisement of bids, authorizing city manager to award a contract to lowest responsive bidder for 2026-2029, citywide fire alarm monitoring in an amount not to exceed $360,000.

I'll take this one real quick. This was intended to be on consent. It just got put on the regular calendar instead. So this is just a situation where we put a project out to bid using our CUPCA process, which is our informal bidding process. It allows award up to $230,000. This came in above that. So we've got to reject all bids and reauthorize the rebid. So it's for our citywide fire alarm monitoring. I don't know if you have any questions.

Any council comments? Councilwoman Gray?

Just one. I noted in the staff report that you're going to expand out and kind of build the list. of potential applicants. Did it go out to everybody?

So we do have a list of anyone that's interested in our informal bids. They're on a list. We keep it up. We put out a call for projects at the beginning of every year. If they're interested in a certain license type or type of work, they get notified on any informal bid we do. This one, we didn't get very good results, even though we reached out to everybody that we could. So when we do put it out, it's gonna go back out to formal bid, which gets more eyes on it. And we're also gonna refine the scope a little bit to make it a little easier for them to digest.

Okay, thank you.

Any other comments? So I just have a quick question. So when do we think that this process will be done?

So we're going to come back. So this is an ongoing monitoring one. So it's annual. It's indefinite. This specific one is a three-year contract. OK.

Thank you. Do we have any public comments? Seeing none. We entertain a motion.

Move to approve. Second.

Okay, and it passes. Item H1, waive the second reading and adopt ordinance number 2049, authorizing an amendment to the contract between the City Council of the City of Lodi and the Board of Administration of the California Public Employees Retirement System. And... Who is providing that report? And let's just click on there.

But this is just the second reading of the second reading you've seen multiple times now. It's just the second reading of the ordinance.

Thank you. Do we have any comments from Council? Seeing none. Do we have any public comments? Seeing none. Okay. I will entertain a motion. So moved. Okay, and it passes. I'm gonna let Mayor Pro Tem adjourn the meeting today.

So we have a German and memory for Mary Beth Bradford. Some of us in this room know her. If I could just read her obituary, I'll turn in her memory. So Mary Beth Jansen Bradford chairs wife, mother, sister and friend died August 4th, 2026 in Lodi, California at the age of 69, six months after a diagnosis for colorectal cancer. She was slow to anger and quick to help tireless in her love care for family, friends and family. steady, cheerful, fun-loving. She was the heart of any party and the first on the dance floor. Jo is infectious. I actually got to know Mary pretty well, and I could speak to all of these things. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, traveled throughout the country. She made each of these moves with a new opportunity for her own talents. After her family purchased the Sliding J Ranch in Acampo, she became a financial manager, a ranch mom. Her daughter, Hannah, grew up on a working ranch that offered housing, breeding, training, lessons. Mary Beth gave her time to her community as a poll worker at San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, as a docent for the Sandhill Crane Festival. She stayed active civically, politically. She practiced yoga, pilates, martial arts. She's survived by her husband, Don Bradford, who I think quite a few of us have gotten to know pretty well, her daughter, Hannah, her son-in-law, Jeff, her sister, Annie, her husband, Annie's husband, Steve, her brothers, James and Joseph and Mark, and many nieces and nephews, and just want to adjourn this meeting in her honor today.