City Council - Regular Meeting

mountain baby. Call my name. Ain't no mountain. I'll be there. mountain.

Ain't no valley. It's just a silly face. I'm not alone. to me.

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting. City clerk, city council member, agency director, authority members Hughes, Leslie present. Molly, present. Man, present. Vice Mayor, Vice Chairman Christ, present. Mayor, Chairman Paris here. We have a quorum. Mr. Feliz, what happened to the soundtrack? It was on. You know, getting old is really hard. Things just start fading, including your hearing, especially for the rest of us. That hurt.

I had to say it before. Uh the invocation this afternoon is Eddie Beran at World Christian Outreach. Praise the Lord everyone. Blessings and thank you for having me today. Yes, I'm Pastor Eddie Beran from World Harvest Christian Outreach. Let us pray. Father God, we come before you boldly in the name of Jesus Christ, the name that is above every other name. As your word declares in Acts chapter 4, there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved, but only the name Jesus. Today we invoke your presence in this place. We invite your wisdom, the spirit of counsel, the the spirit of might and the spirit of power and understanding and the fear of the Lord, not only to surround these chambers, but to be the very epicenter of this gathering. Father, in the name of Jesus, we ask that you bring wholeness and freedom and deliverance through every decision made today and throughout this year. Have your way in every heart. Have your way in this city. We lift before you this city of Lancaster, the new route of Los Angeles County. Through once, though once every eye was on the city of Los Angeles, we acknowledge that eyes are now turning towards Lancaster for the good that it will bring. We speak that this root system would find water once again, living water to nourish a county in drought, a people in need, a land crying out for healing, restoration, and salvation. Father, go before us into every high place. Every high place of idolatry, every high place of vulnerability, every high place of manipulation, intimidation, and false power. Father, we ask you that you raise up men and women of God and courageous women, courageous men that will tear down idols, the idols of Bao, the idols the of the idolatry, of greed, of

self-sufficiency, and idols of pride. In the name of Jesus, we tear down those idols and we raise up the altar unto you, oh God. An altar that is whole, healed, sanctified, and fully dedicated to you, the creator of heaven and earth. Have your way, oh God, in this leadership. Have your way in this council, in this gathering, in this ecclesia. We acknowledge that all authority flows from you, and we submit this authority back under your rule and your reign. Lead us with grace and truth and wisdom and understanding that the people of Lancaster the surrounding cities would draw from your pure wells of living water in this place. No more porest ground. May the water not run off. May it not water weeds but trees of righteousness. Trees that bear fruit and fruit that remains. We thank you, oh God, that the bloom that is coming is not just temporary. It's not just something that is here and gone, but it is legacy. We ask for lasting fruit, fruit of righteousness. Father, have your way in Lancaster, California. Have your way in our mayor, in our council members, and in this meeting today. Let this be the first fruit of what is to come this year. As you declare and we declare, Father God, today that if my people who are called by my name, says the Lord, will humble themselves and pray, turn from their wicked ways, and I will hear from heaven and heal their land. So today, we humble ourselves. Forgive us, Father God, where we've made wrong decisions, where we've made had wrong motives, or forgive us in pride, Father God, of inquiring of false counsel. But today, we come before you, Lord God, asking for the spirit of power, love, and of a sound mind, a heart and a soul that turns to you, oh God. And we boldly pray and ask, heal Lancaster, California. We ask all of this in the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank you all. You fixed my hearing. Praise God. [clears throat] nation.

Thank you.

We have a presentation who's today's presentation will be art from the Boulevard Association. Good afternoon, council. Um, in the first quarter of 2023, I had the honor of becoming president of the city of Lancaster Boulevard Association. I served this role for nearly three years, working closely with business owners, city leadership, and community partners for the betterment of the boulevard. During my presidency, I had the privilege of working with three executive directors, Aroxy, Nicole, and now Michael. Each contributing um each contributing their vast experience and knowledge, helping the association's evolution. Over these years, over these three years, in addition to monthly board meetings, we started a monthly community engagement meeting where business owners had the opportunity to connect with the Boulevard Association, police department, sheriff department, and even [clears throat] elected officials. We hosted uh numerous community events, brought thousands of people to the boulevard, increased foot traffic, and strengthening the identity of the boulevard. This past year, my primary focus shifted to administration and finances, ensuring long-term stability of the association. On admission administration side, we updated our bylaws and government's documents. We secured eight-year alignments with our that we secured eight-year agreements which aligned with our pit for streets plus which provide 247 ambassador coverage and desert haven expanding the street cleaning to include water pressureing. Now, on the financial side, I con conducted a line-by-line review of our budget, eliminating unnecessary

expenses, aligning our spending with directly to the P bid and ensured and excuse me, and and received additional city funds for 2026 and the many years going forward. I'm proud after all three years, the association is financially stable, administratively organized, and operationally strong. This I guess this would be the perfect time for me to present our new board, right? Naen, Michael, we have the whole board here. So maybe they want to come up for the new board. This is you, right? Okay. So, first off, thank you, council, and thank you for the opportunity to be here today. The association is proud to continue the partnership with the city um to support a clean, safe, and vibrant downtown that serves our businesses, residents, and our visitors. I'd like to briefly highlight the leadership behind our association. On the screen, go to a slide. On the screen is our board of directors, a group of local business owners, property representatives, and community partners who volunteer their time and guidance and direction of our organization. Welcome. With that, we are moving from a 2025 president Art. Thank you for all your time here. And we now have a new president coming, which is Val.

[applause]

Hello, council and mayor. Um, I just wanted to tell you a little bit about myself. Um, I'm Valerie Orin and own Bella West Salon and Spa. We've been here 24 years. I can say I'm an old-timer. I've been here since before the boulevard was Boulevard. Um, and I uh retired from behind the chair. So, it's gives me a little bit more time to serve my community, which I'm happy to do. and stepping into the role of president is exciting. Um we so for 2026 we're looking forward to expanding our ambassadors for 24hour coverage. This is a great achievement. As you all know the ambassadors and being a business owner. I'm so thankful for them um checking on us and just being there. They're just such an awesome asset to um our boulevard. And also um we're increasing uh the clean because oh I gotta introduce um Waqen and Dejon. There are they're back there's some of our ambassadors and they do more than just be ambassadors. They just kind of be our link to handing out pamphlets. And this is one thing we accomplished this year was we we did this boulevard packet and it we give this to all the new businesses. Walken will tell me when all the new businesses come in and then we just present them. This has everything they need to know about marketing any um clean and safe anything they need to know is in this packet. So thank you.

Thank you Val. So with that being said I also wanted to thank the city Lissa. Thank you so much and thank you all for allowing us and helping us with additional funds to make the boulevard strong for the at least for the next eight years. we're going to be standing strong. And um the most meaningful part for my service has been the incredible people that I had the opportunity to serve with. And passing the gavl officially to Valerie is going to be a great honor. So Valerie, this is for you. [applause] Congratulations. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for all the work you're doing. It's a different city because of you. Would you agree? I would. Moving on to the consent calendar. Is there anything to be removed? Nothing. Are there any cards? None. Is there a motion? I'll move we accept the consent calendar as currently comprised. Is there a second?

I'll second that motion.

Let's vote. And it's unanimous. [snorts] Opening the public hearing on JPH1. We'll hear a staff report from George Harris. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor Chris, and the council. Before you today is a joint public hearing. Um you yourselves will be representing the city council as well as the Lancaster Financing Authority in this action. As you see there are separate resolutions required of each. Um it's the 2026 bond issue um valued at approximately 28 million. Um debt service has been programmed going into the future. we're looking at because we've done so well financially over the last few years and prospectively we we expect to do just as well or better. Uh we we predict that we'll we'll have similar results when we present to the bond rating agencies in the next couple of weeks on this transaction. Total net amount is 25 million and some change and then costs bring it up to a total issue of 28 million. Uh right now we're looking at about a 4 and a.5% total total interest cost um which with a cap of 5.5% and we just won't know that until we actually go to market and get the bonds priced. Um intended use there's three intended uses of the funds. Uh one is to shore up the financing and the and the finalize the funding for the Paris Event Center. Uh which is actually going up nicely. I

don't know if you've all had a chance to go by there. I happened to drive past it this weekend and it's it's even more grandiose than we imagine it's huge. Uh second project is to cover the 50% match for an Avenue J Pocket Park that we received uh grant funds for. Um and then the third use there's two projects fencing projects at American Heroes Park and Jane Reynolds Park. And as we understand the safety conditions at those two parks, um the recommendation from Sonia and her team was that those are the two parks that required that fencing almost immediately. And so ideally we'll get through the the final um funding for the Paris Event Center, find out make sure everything's shored up and before we move on and address the other two issues. But the priority of this financing is to finalize the the funding for the Paris Center. Um with me today I have Eric Scriven with NHA. They're our our financial adviser and the gentleman who's responsible to actually go out and sell these bonds on our behalf, Mr. Ralph Holmes from uh Piper Jeffrey. So if uh we're the three of us are available to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions? Primary purpose that we have to go out again. The cost for the event center are as expected. However, um we didn't get all the funding that uh that we had anticipated when we originally designed the project. And so I wasn't sure specific

uh the county of Los Angeles had pledged a $10 million contribution uh to fund that project and they have yet to provide that. So as invoices are coming in um there is a need for us to advance financing of our own to finalize the funding of that um project as well as there have been a few change orders on the project itself. um still within probably four to five percent of the total expected cost of the project, but still uh still need to be funded. And so the additional funding is the primary purpose is to shore up the financing for the event center. Hey Chuck, where's your money?

Chuck, a commitment's a commitment. Let the record reflect that Chuck has nothing to say. Let it reflect he doesn't care. [laughter] That's not true, is it? Anything else? Any speaker cards? No speaker cards on it. With that, I'll move that we approve. Wait a minute. I got to close the public hearing. Uh, the public hearing is now closed. If you were younger, you remember [laughter] it's a bad day when

For those of you who don't get the joke, for 20 years now, I keep forgetting to close the public hearing and Marvin always reminds me just become a way of life. And with that, I'll uh move that we adopt resolution 26-04 and acting as a Lancaster Finance Authority, adopt resolution FA01-26. Can we do it as two separate actions, please? One as the city council and one as the financing authority.

So, what's your point? My point is can we have a motion on um items item two on the recommended action and then as the financing authority take a separate action approving resolution FA1-26 two two motions two votes I thought I did that by saying this making the motion for the Lancaster finance you know how lawyers are quot I just want to make sure that we don't have any questions about the efficacy of the approvals okay for the Lancaster City Council. I would like uh to approve the resolution uh 26-04. I second that. [clears throat] Can I vote on this?

Yes. This is a financing. I'm just because of the name of the center. So, okay. Yeah, I think you're fine. All right. Did I get a second? I I second it. Let's vote. It passes unanimously. On behalf of the Lancaster Financing Authority, I'd like to make a motion that we adopt resolution FA01-26. I second that one. Also,

let's vote. [clears throat] passes unanimously. Moving on to new business item one from Nicole.

Good afternoon, Mayor Paris, Vice Mayor Christ, and council members. I'm here today to present to you an exciting new program uh that we're launching out of the community development department. Okay. Now, if it's an exciting program, [laughter] let's do that over.

It was born out of the efforts of the committee for the Love Your City Cleanup, which is led by Vice May Vice Mayor Marvin Christ. Um so, this is a beautifification and water conservation initiative. We're going to be replacing front yard turf with minimal drought tolerant landscaping. It encourages voluntary code compliance while also improving neighborhood appearance and sustainability. Did you can you back up the slide?

Why did you use Ken's house? [laughter] [laughter] Uh the target area will be the inner core of Lancaster uh which is avenues I to L and 20th Street East to 30th Street West. Um but we'll also be encompassing the areas that uh are touched by the cleanup events. So the eligible improvements will include include turf removal, irrigation upgrades, and native plant installation. So, for the rest of this fiscal year, we're requesting $100,000 from the general fund, which will be offset by the vacant property program revenue that you approved in December, which is estimated to bring in about $300,000 a year in just registration charges. We're hoping to assist 8 to 10 homes by July 1st of this year. Uh the max award for this grant is uh per household is $15,000 which we estimate will spend about 12,000 because we will be coordinating with local businesses as you'll see on the next slide and volunteer organizations. We're also going to have future expansion through sponsorships with entities like AVAQMD who's going to provide us with some materials and also future budgets. The community community impact I think is obvious, but it is definitely an improved curb appeal, neighborhood pride, 30 to 50% reduction in water use per property, and equitable access to beautifification resources. So, at the team of Lancaster Love Your City event on January 17th, we did a pilot for this program. And the house you're looking at is the house that we renovated their front yard with 100% sponsorship contributed by Landscape

Connection. And on the left you will see the pre and the post is on the right. And they did that in one day. And we were able to help that house. Not only uh they'll save water moving forward, but they have a beautiful new front yard now. We also had tiptop come [laughter]

on the other side. [snorts] The uh we also brought in Tiptop Arborous who trimmed um a bunch of trees for us uh right across the street from the school in that same area. Um and was also 100% sponsorship. In between uh this cleanup event and the next cleanup event, staff will be identifying additional houses and areas in this same target area that we can continue to improve on until we move to the next area for the next cleanup event. So, the next steps are council approval for the program launch and then we'll begin our public outreach officially for the program. And do you have any questions? questions.

You know, I'm cur I'm curious u if we targeted one neighborhood, you know, one, but it doesn't matter to me which one and then looked at the crime statistics and maybe if we actually because we're doing surveys now, aren't we? If we did a comparison of the of the resident satisfaction with the city and if we see a statistical difference, [snorts] you know, that's worth writing up. I mean, that that would be a significant uh news, I think. Absolutely. Can we do it that way? Yes.

And then if we do see that change, you know, a clear change, then we We got to look for more funding city but or at least the neighborhoods that he and uh does that work for you guys work for you guys? Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think that's a great program by the way. Worried about the parking motion to approve NB11 and two.

I second that. Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. Council reports. council member. Um, so every year they c all the high school kids get together and uh they do a start they do a play and it's always about like a black history and this year they did really good job on a Bishop Henry Horn's life and achievement and I got to go there last Sunday and it was wonderful and I think we have a video on that too. This year we decided that Justice Sunday was going to be nationalationally commemorated here in Analopee Valley with each of you to the National Alliance of Faith and Justice to the City of Lancaster to the Analopee Valley Union High School District and all the other community agencies that allow for something like this to take place. I say thank you because our babies are up here on stage telling history, telling stories through song, through poetry, through dance, through acting, and they not out there. Love Nigel. I am so happy that I met Nigel. He has done more for this community than most. And he drives 24 hours a day to do that. The message here is listen to each other. Try to understand each other. Doesn't matter what you think. Find out what they think because you know you can't improve yourself by talking to yourself. You can only improve yourself by talking to

somebody else and getting new information. And that's what we're going to do tonight. Thank you. That was a great program. Now, we're going to show a video recapping the MLK Day of Service. I learned something [music] this morning. One of the guys I was talking to, he was saying, you know, I used to complain all the time. Now I figured why don't I go do something about it? And you know, I think that that's a mental shift that would will affect people who do that in all of their life. You can see together we have churches, we have unions, we have school districts, we have uh faith-based organizations, we have u the healthc care industry, we have city people here. Everybody is here to make a better city. So, it's important for the future of the city, but it's it's doing the right thing.

We visited, I think, five or six different sites, and what an impact to the city. Um, from the cleanup to to taking care of graffiti to doing a mural to taking care of the parks and improving the parks. We were like I think we were all over it today.

We have like so many volunteers here and then they're like willing to give give up their weekend to clean the city. So this we have such a wonderful community here and I love it and I'm I'm I'm so feel so great that I'm a part of this community. It's so important that we make space because as a veteran, we have lived a life full of service. And just because you take the uniform off doesn't mean your heart isn't eager to still serve. So, the fact that they get to come out here, help us pick up some trash, make our community even more beautiful, and then top it off with the opportunity to paint a veteran [music] mural is just wonderful. That's the biggest part of community policing is being out in the community, talking with them, finding out what's affecting them and where we can basically bring our services and more efficiently [music] reduce crime in the neighborhoods.

And besides hearing their voices, we want you to join us. We want you to be a part of this. So, we do it together. And we and we don't only make it better, but we work together to keep it better. when they see us in the neighborhood and we're helping our neighbors out and helping them clean up their yards and pick things up and get their neighborhood back to a a a great, you know, making it a great, beautiful place to live. That's what I think is contagious. Why do you feel it's important to honor his legacy and also give back to your community?

I feel like it's important to honor his legacy of what he done with spiritual wise and talking about God and he really he really set highly on his beliefs. So, I just feel like it's nice to come out here and just show everyone that we are just trying to help Jesus when it comes to cleaning the community. I love this community because it's where I grew up and raised my children. We were here together. The vineyard here is actually where my children graduated from. All three of my kids graduated from here and then they moved on to go and graduate from the city of Lancaster High School. So, I love this community because it is where my family has been raised, where we have grown up together, and where we can continue to contribute and give back.

Good video. Good work. [applause] Thank you. Did you want to talk about the crime part?

Did I want to talk about We have got incredible news regarding the crime rate, but I'm saving it because I want I want the graphs. I want everybody here when we get I want the chief I want Paul I want everybody participating in it because collectively you've done something that is really quite remarkable. It uh makes me feel very proud of of the city what you've done. But I want to I want to do it right. Okay. Uh, so we'll wait. I want to talk to the fire department. One time I was on a I guess you'd call it a field trip with the Lancaster PD and we went into an unlicensed care home where the floorboards were coming up because of the urine going through the bed where they kept these people and they were essentially imprisoned from all I could see. The people running it would take all of their public assistance. you know, they they never saw. And in the course of closing that down, I learned that there's a lot of these houses throughout the valley. I'd like to see greater coordination because you guys get called when they have a life ending event. Too often that's what it is is a life-ending event. I want to when that happens, I want it coordinated with L LPD and with the sheriff's or the Lancaster Sheriff's Department and then I want people to go to jail. All right, we have to close these facilities down. They are killing people. But the only way I can see that we're going to be successful at it is if the fire department gets proactive in

alerting law enforcement and then law enforcement actually does something about it. That we should start treating that as a a priority crime. And then we need to get that message out that I don't know that we can stop people from doing that, but we can sure as heck stop them from doing it in Lancaster. I I'm you know that was over a year and a half ago and I still have nightmares about it. You know I could not imagine a more horrible way to end life than in one of those those houses. Okay. Thank you very much.

Good. Good. So if you guys could have a program in place in the next couple weeks so we have a protocol then it just goes bang bang bang bang right and I don't know that we need to wait I mean that you can almost proceed without warrants on something like that because you have an immediate threat to life right I mean I don't see the the problem with it and then if uh code enforcement can then figure out you take the house because you know one of I kind of like the Israeli method of dealing with terrorism. You blow up the house there's a consequence. Uh I I think it's horrendous enough that we do that. Okay. Thank you. Um city manager. Thank you. So our parks team Not that they're not busy enough. They're undergoing now a parks master plan and they have a survey where the community can come input in what they want to see in terms of future park facilities, programming, all the different events that we do. So everything that parks does, now is your opportunity to come tell us what we're doing good, tell us what we can do better, get it into this master plan, and then we can work to to make those changes. That survey is live right now on our website. So, if you want to participate, we encourage you to and go to our website. The other thing, they are now, I think, in full-blown Poppy Festival mode and planning for that. The tickets went on sale this week. So, go there and get your tickets now. Um, and then the last thing, you saw the MLK Day of Service, the video, great video. Um, we are planning our next Love Your City event. That's on May 2nd. We want to

make it another big great event. I think to date, totaling in the three events, we've done 130 tons of waste and we've helped out 1,888 houses and had a total of 1,400 volunteers throughout all of those events. So, let's make this one even bigger and better. May second. Mark your calendars. I thought that was that was a genius idea. Marvin came up with this idea and you're already seeing the community coales. I also find it interesting who shows up and actually picks up their shovel. [laughter] You know, it seems like there there's three comm community types of community activists. the ones you never see at events like that, the ones that come and stand around and then the ones that actually pick up a shovel and do some work. Uh it was kind of illustrious, I thought. And I was very proud that every one of the council members and every one of the staff had a shovel in their hand at some point. They they were actually doing a lot of work.

I was handing mine to Kent. I think we had bricks. Yeah, I did notice you took a lot of Never mind. The I did notice on the pile of uh compost manure. Yeah, that's what it turned out. It was that there were several attorneys shoveling. What is your point, Marvin? It was just fascinating.

Actually, I learned a lot on that pile of manure. One thing I learned was you shouldn't use a snow shovel because you can't get any in the shovel until Charlie Hughes told me go over to the asphalt area and scrape it up from there. I mean, genius, right? I wish he'd told me an hour earlier, but nonetheless, it was quite quite an education. And then when I got home, my wife told me. Now, I was a little worried about a couple of the kids who got on the top of this mountain of compost. I was afraid they would fall. But when my I got home, my wife said, "You should never touch compost without a mask because it has fungus in it." So, I The kids Okay. So, when you play with that stuff, remember to wear your mask. None of us got sick.

Nope. And it was a good participation by the entire You were sick the next day. See, wear your mask. What' you say? It was a great participation by the entire community. It was uh in different places. They were painting walls, creating murals, uh cleaning up homes. Uh it was just everything. And it was uh it's the partnership. It's partnership of the city with based community with the fire department with uh public safety. Uh great partnerships.

Yeah, I agree. I I count that as one of the better days of my life because of the way you feel when you walk away from I mean you really feel part of the community and you feel really feel like you're participating and there's the manual nature of the labor that reinforces that more than before meeting does.

I have to say thank you to Waste Management again because they do all that. They provide all the wash stations because we all break bread afterwards and you know at one of the locations and it's just uh it's up and beyond that what waste management has done. So kudos to them. You want to That's their business. That's what they sell is taking away our trash. And for them to do that much trash for free, that's that's quite a contribution. Okay, moving on. City clerk,

this is the time to address the city council agency authority on non-aggendaized matters. Speaker cards may be found on the back table of the council chambers. If you have completed one, please ensure you have given it to us so you may be recognized. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each. Please keep in mind state law prohibits council from acting on items that are not on the agenda and your matter may be referred to the city manager. Thank you. Thank you.

Fran, what do you have for us today? Well, good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, and of course, all the staff that's here that works extremely hard, which is phenomenal. I've been around quite a few years and I've seen everybody doing something. They don't stand around like I've seen other places. And uh I commend you all and I thank you very much for everything that you do. Um, you know, that's one of the things about this city that I I was in the in Highland Park years ago. I mean, years, I mean, maybe 50 years ago, and I was in the revitalization also for Highland Park. Uh, but we were a very small group. But when I came when I come up here and then of course I've seen it also in Silmore and San Fernando and that's totally different but up here the people that want to get involved they get involved. The problem now is not a problem but now we have to include and get all the other people that are sitting at home doing nothing and wondering what they could be doing for the city and clean up the yards. Get them involved one way or another. And I appreciate what what you all are doing. I try to what I can. But, you know, I can lift a little here and a little there. But anyway,

I also I I I'm going to say this again. This morning, I want at 7:30 this morning. Uh 83 years ago, I was born. So, today is my 83rd birthday. And I'm very proud [applause] And I'm very I know people say, "Oh, she's she's already she's being too big for her britches or you know how people some thing." But you know what? I don't care. I'm 83. I worked for those 83 years. And what I've accomplished, the Lord has helped me immensely. I haven't done it by myself. I have a great great family and I have great great son-in-law so I don't have to worry about my daughters. And I have Oh, one more quick thing. I have five well I have four great grandchildren and the fifth one just got born the last Saturday. She was the fifth great granddaughter. So I mean I've got five I have four grandchildren and five great grandchildren and I have a wonderful family and I have a wonderful community living here. Thank you very much. Amen. [applause] As your mayor, I am declaring today Fran Saraser's day

in the city of Lancaster.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Without Heather Varden, how are you today? You should be tired. You were out there counting the homeless. But I guess there's not that many anymore and so it wasn't that hard of a job. Is that right? I wouldn't say that. Well, couldn't you just not say anything then? [laughter]

The the numbers will be out in May or June and we'll have have accurate numbers by then. Um, but I came to you today um to say thank you for the collaboration of letting us um use the drone program with the Lancaster Police Department. A huge thank you to the pilots Jim Jim Bush and Drew Hubner. I hope I said her name right. Um they were out uh the with us counting three days starting at 6:00 a.m. It was very cold out. Um and we're able to get an accurate count in this area because of the innovation and technology of collaborating with this drone program. Um, I was also able to see the drones as first responder program a little bit. Um, which we did use also for the count within the city limits of Lancaster, which was a huge game changer this year. The that allowed us to count very quickly um very accurately in addition to all of the volunteers that were on the ground. Um, and it was just really great to see the collaboration in the community. um people coming out at 6:00 am in the morning in the cold. I do also want to thank Commissioner Cynthia Hernandez who was out there with us as well at 6:00 am. Um we went to a few encampments. Um and in collaboration again with the drones and and everything. And I just want to remind everyone also as we do talk about homelessness that every person, every encampment, every car, every person on the streets ha have a story. They're all someone's mother or father or son or daughter or brother or sister or grandmother, grandfather. Um, so the reason we do this work is really important to make sure that we're counting those people

and that we can get the resources to this area to provide help for our neighbors experiencing homelessness within our community. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. You do very good work. Thank you. [applause]

So, we we're investigating and gathering evidence about how various groups in LA are putting unhoused people on trains and sending them up here. The reason they do that is because we feed them. We take care of them. I wish you would stop. I wish you would stop. It's sometimes 20 a day. The cost of every one of those unhoused people that are not indigenous to the Animal Valley is over $36,000 a year. That's what we end up spending with law enforcement, code enforcement, cleaning up after them, all of the things you have to do. $36,000 a year. That is money that is coming out of services for you, for your children, for your family. It's what pays for being able to refurbish people's yards when they can't afford to do it themselves. You know, we're all excited. We're going to do a program, 10 houses, 10. You know, it's a program that should be expanded throughout the city. instead of spending it on LA's homeless. They will not come if we stop inviting them to come. That's hard. It it's, you know, I mean, I know the the the delusion of bad things people are going to say tonight on social media because I'm saying this, but this is our city. It's our community. Our children have a right to

have a city where they can thrive. We cannot do that if we keep having this influx. Have I covered it? Pretty much. Thank you.

We'll take care of our own. We'll take care of the homeless that are here, but we don't need to import them. The only reason they get on that train is because they know when they get here, we will take care of them. Stop. It's hard. I know how hard it is. Stop anyway. Thank you. Uh, any comments from the council? I thought the last two weeks were incredibly successful. I thought everything that happened you guys did an amazing job with it is it's thrilling to be here especially when we're able to drop crime that much. That was a huge drop. The uh and another announcement we have is George Whiteside, our congressman, got us a million dollar grant to add to the technology of the Lancaster Police Department. And it's that technology that is making the difference. Wouldn't you say, you know, it's a whole different it's a whole different scenario if the officer knows what he's coming into before he gets there. You know, the the stress level drops, the professionalism goes up. That's just one thing we're able to provide with the drone program. I mean, It's just getting better and better and better. Best thing, one of the best things we ever did, Rod, was to bring you on board. The next best thing or an equally best thing was agreeing for Paul to be the captain because you two work so well together. It's, you know, this program never should have worked. You know, I wouldn't you agree

it never should have worked. It it it uh it has broke the mold and it's working far better than any of us have ever hoped. Thank you. Uh I think I've covered it. Okay. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. I would say, Carol, I'm coming home, but I only wish I was coming home. The day is just starting. Thank you.