City Council - Regular Meeting

I didn't care how much they cried, no sir. Their tears left me cold as a stone. But then I pulled around and fell in love.

I pulled around and

That's the way I used to be But since I met you, baby Love's got a hold on me Ooh, it's got a hold on me now

Thank you.

I never knew I could be what I could be. But you kissed me and said, baby, please go away. It's all right. It's all right. Baby, we're real. Welcome to the Lancaster City Council meeting

Afternoon, we have, I guess I got to do the roll first, don't I? Okay.

City Council Member, Agency Director, Housing Authority members, Finance, Power, all of those. White.

Here.

Castellanos. Present. Mann. Present. Vice Mayor, Vice Chair, Hughes-Leslie. Present. Mayor, Chairman Paris.

Here.

And we have a quorum.

Thank you.

okay you want to do the public announcement may i have your attention please welcome to the lancaster city council meeting the city council encourages public participation at its meetings however the right of the public to address the council must be balanced with the need to ensure that public participation does not interfere with the orderly course of public business the city council follows the city's code of conduct and ethics and robert's rules of order in the conduct of its meetings and we respectfully request that all are reminded to abide by the following rules. As stated on the agenda for this meeting, any person who would like to address the City is requested to complete speaker registration either online or at the kiosk located in the Council Chambers. Please be sure to identify the agenda item you would like to discuss on your speaker registration. Speaker registration must be filled out and submitted prior to the agenda item being called. You will be given an opportunity to address the council at the time the agenda item is discussed. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes unless a different time limit is announced, and your time will begin once your name is called. If you are joining this meeting by phone, please ensure you mute any background noise. Both in-person speakers and virtual speakers must cease speaking immediately when their time has ended. Public comment on agenda items must relate to the subject matter of that item. Public comment on non-agendized items is limited to subjects within the jurisdiction of the council. Please keep in mind that state law prohibits the council from acting on items that are not on the agenda. The public's right to address the Council does not include the right to engage in a dialogue with individual Council members or staff. Please remain respectful of the forum and refrain from uttering, writing, or displaying profane or threatening statements towards the Council, any member thereof, staff, or any other person. Any person engaging in conduct that disrupts the meeting is subject to being removed from the Council meeting. If you disrupt the meeting, you will receive one warning. If you continue to disrupt the meeting, you will be escorted out of the meeting or the meeting will be recessed. Upon reconvening, if disruptions continue, the meeting room will be cleared in accordance with the provisions of the Brown Act. We ask that you now silence your cell phones. Thank you for your participation.

Thank you. Was that an AI voice? It's okay, we're allowed to use AI. Was it? Wow, that was pretty good. Do you think that was pretty good? I mean, would you have thought it was not real? Today the invocation is with Dwayne Clark from Grace Chapel. Hi, Dwayne.

Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to bring the invocation today. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. As the Psalmist has said, we rejoice and are glad in it. Thank you for the city of Lancaster and for these leaders. I pray that you would guide every aspect of this meeting today. May the discussion honor you and encourage one another, and may decisions made today be for the furthering of the good work here in the city of Lancaster. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Stand to your heart. Ready?

Okay, the first presentation tonight is the Hispanic Heritage Month presentation. Who am I giving this to? Who is representing 52% of the citizens of Lancaster? You are? Okay. Today we have the opportunity to recognize Hispanic Heritage Month. Lancaster has a strong and vibrant Hispanic and Latino community, and that community is an important part of who we are as a city. You see the impact in our families, our businesses, our schools, our neighborhoods, and in the people who work every day to make Lancaster a better place. This month is a chance to celebrate the culture and traditions that have enriched our community and to recognize the generations of Hispanic and Latino Americans whose hard work, leadership, and contributions have helped shape Lancaster and our country. You can come out to the... Now this you got to do. Come out to the boulevard this Saturday and join Savile's events celebrating Hispanic heritage from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. That's five hours of fun. I mean, if you don't take us up on it, never mind. You just should. On behalf of the Lancaster City Council, I want to thank our Hispanic and Latino residents for everything you contribute to our city. It is my honor to proclaim September 15 through October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Lancaster.

Where's the camera? Thank you.

The Lancaster Loop. That's you, Danny. It's wonderful when people pay attention to you. Danny?

And we have two speaker parts on this one when they're done presenting.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. On today's edition of the Lancaster Loop, we are having what I know is going to be a riveting presentation from Executive Director of the Fair, Dan Jacobs. We have Director Howard Harris and Assistant Executive Director Jennifer Murad. They're going to come up and walk you through what the Paris Center really means to this entire valley, what it is, what it's going to allow us to do. I'll tell you, this was a project that I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to work on myself. starting back I think in 2021. The idea was really, it came from you Mayor and the Vice Mayor at the time that had this vision coming out of COVID that we knew we had to be able to take care of ourself up here in the Antelope Valley in the next disaster because we had to do it during COVID. We had to set those field hospitals up. We had two joint city council meetings back then, I think one in 22 and the next one was in 2023, where both councils took action to collaborate on this regional project. After that, I got to work with my sidekick, Dan Jacobs, and we got to go around and give presentations to all kinds of agencies talking about regional collaboration and recruiting them to be part of the project. I'm happy to stand before you today and introduce them to speak because that vision is now a reality or very close to a reality, and it's very exciting to see this open here in the next several months. So with that, Dan and company, please come on up, and I know you have a good presentation to give. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor Paris and members of the City Council. Thank you for inviting Dan Howard and myself to provide an update on the fairgrounds. My name is Jennifer Murad and I'm the Deputy Manager at the AV Fair and Event Center. The story of the Antelope Valley Fair and Event Center is really the story of this community. For more than a century, the property has grown and changed alongside with the Antelope Valley. Today we want to share not only where we've been, but where we're going, and how the Paracenter Complex will allow the property to serve our community in ways that previous generations could only imagine. Our history has taught us something very important. When our community needs a place to gather, learn, celebrate, or respond to a crisis, opportunity happens here. Our story begins with the first documented field days in 1910 and our first official fair in 1918. We actually have ribbons at the Rural Museum that show that our first fair was 1918. But in 1938, members of the community came together in the Antelope Valley High School and hosted an alfalfa sale that raised enough money to purchase 80 acres at Avenue I and Division Street to establish a permanent home for the fair. That's important because the fairgrounds was not simply handed to the community. It was built through community involvement, local leadership, and shared vision. In 1941, the 50th District Agricultural Association was established with the state of California, strengthening the fair's agricultural and educational mission. From the beginning, this has been a community-driven property. Every generation has contributed something to it, and every generation has found new opportunities here. And as the valley grew, the fairgrounds became much more than the location of an annual fair. In 1953, Fair Center Hall was constructed. It was later renamed Challenger Memorial Center, and you can see that it still has a home at our Antelope Valley Rural Museum, which is at the current fairgrounds. In 1956, Valley Bible Church held its first meeting at the fairgrounds. In 1957, Antelope Valley College began their licensed vocational nursing program at the fairgrounds. And starting in 1964, approximately 500 Quartz Hill High School freshmen and sophomores attended classes at the fairgrounds while the school was still being constructed. These are not simply dates in our history, but they demonstrate the role the property has always played in creating success. When a church needed a place to begin, it found one here. When students needed vocational training, it happened here. And when a high school needed temporary classrooms, the community opened the fairgrounds. By 1986, the original build out of the fairgrounds had been completed, but the role of the property continued to expand. That's what we mean when we say opportunity happens here. It's not just a new marketing phrase, it describes what the property has done for generations. Following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Telecommissions Building was opened to assist affected residents and serve as an earthquake coordination location. Even then, the fairgrounds was demonstrating its value during an emergency. In 2003, the fairgrounds relocated to its current home with the assistance of both the City of Lancaster and the State of California. And from 2004 to 2011, barns, arenas, pavilions, and essential infrastructure was added, creating a stronger and more versatile complex. And I promise we have trees and shade at the fairgrounds. So if anybody asked you, I promise it's there. Each of these milestones expanded what was possible. The Paris Center represents the next and most significant expansion of the regional role. But even with all that growth and change, one thing has remained constant. For more than a century, the fair has been the event that brings the Antelope Valley together. Generations of families have made memories here. Young people raised their first animals here. Local businesses, schools, nonprofits, service clubs, and volunteers have all helped make the fair what it is today. and the fair will always remain at the heart of who we are, but our responsibility now extends far beyond the annual fair. The Paris Center Complex will allow this property to serve the community every day of the year. It'll create spaces for education, workforce development, sports, graduations, community events, and regional economic activity. Just as importantly, it will strengthen our ability to respond when the Antelope Valley needs an emergency. This is more than a construction project. It's the continuation of a century-long community partnership and an investment in what the Antelope Valley can become. At the fairgrounds, children discover their talents, students prepare for careers, businesses begin and grow, families gather, and the entire region can come together in times of need. Opportunity happened here in the past. Opportunity happens here today. And through the Paris Center Complex, opportunity will happen here for generations to come. Unfortunately, some of the events that showed us just how important this property could become were emergencies. And with that, I'll turn it over to Dan Jacobs, CEO of the Antelope Valley Fair and Events Center.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jennifer. Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council, thank you for having us here today. As you can see, the fairgrounds have been here for the community for over 100 years, and the importance of the fairgrounds has grown in its importance over that time period. As you can see there, we've pictured here seven big regional fires that we had in over the last decade. And the fairgrounds was involved as an evacuation center in all of them. We have been listed by the County of Los Angeles as one of three large animal evacuation centers for the county. But our service area is 2,200 square miles. That's 54% of the county. And if fires aren't enough, then we had COVID. What's interesting about the COVID pandemic is that the city of Lancaster came with the Antelope Valley Hospital and the fairgrounds to create a COVID recovery center. And we did that, but it took three months. We were not prepared for COVID. You have to ask yourself, does this make sense that we can open for animal evacuations in 15 minutes, but it takes us three months for people? The answer is no. So after COVID, 13 organizations came together and promised that this would never happen again. Our priority was first to find a location that we could use year round and could be used for all types of emergencies. We knew from experience that the AV was always gonna be on the outside looking in when it came to getting help from the county. We were on our own and we needed to figure this out by ourselves. As you can see, the fairgrounds already had significant space and facilities and it was a perfect spot for a resiliency center. Next, the question was what are we going to build and what was it gonna cost? It needed more than to be just an evacuation site. It had to be available 24-7 and 365 days a year. It had to be something that the entire community would want and need, and it had to raise $100 million to build it. Next, we needed to find the partners, and these five partners are the ones who came together and said, This is what we are going to do for our community and we're gonna be the first to do it. They believe that if you want something in the future, you have to find a way to do it today. They are the ones who are making the hard decisions, putting the money in the pot and making sure that when disaster strikes, our community is safeguarded. So let's talk about one of the buildings, the Karen Ross Community Kitchen. $5 million project, 7,500 square feet of a first class kitchen and teaching facility. The high school district's new center for the CTE culinary arts program. They will conduct classes and activities at the kitchen for all high schools or for high school students that are interested. They will also have credentialing programs for adults and it will be a center for small business development. And this is all aside from being able to provide 3,000 meals a day when the time comes for an emergency. Now imagine the Paris Center, 140,000 square feet of environmentally controlled building space with space for eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, and 32 pickleball courts. It will be a space that can offer all kinds of sports and also all kinds of events. The city has already agreed to manage a midweek pickleball program but imagine also that your kids will be able to play indoors instead of outside when it's 110 degrees during the summer, 30 degrees or lower in the winter, and maybe 30 miles an hour winds year round. And health is all about this facility. We all know that 15% of our population in AAV has diabetes, and that leads the county. We also lead the county in respiratory illnesses. But a lot of this comes from a lack of indoor space. And this is what we are providing. Let's take a couple of the sports, volleyball for instance. Did you know that that's the number two participatory sport in the nation for girls? And that there's not enough practice facilities in the AV for these teams. They have to travel as far away as Fraser Park just to practice. And that doesn't count tournaments. Then there's Pickleball, who's seen an extraordinary amount of growth over the five years, 479%, whose largest participating age group are 13 to 29 year olds, where 40% of the participants are women, where we have limited outdoor courts in the Antelope Valley and no indoor courts. The economic impact for the Paracenter Complex is unbelievable. And it's not just volleyball and pickleball that we're gonna be offering. It's basketball, wrestling, cheer, dance, martial arts, and many more. Events like the annual fair, events like the annual Poppy Festival will also be held there. It's 130 to $155 million over five year economic impact. And that's amazing. Now I'd like to invite Howard Harris up. Howard is a director for Fairgrounds. He's been a director for over 14 years. He's a past president of the Antelope Valley Fair Association. And he's currently a board member on the Antelope Valley Fair Authority, our JPA. But Howard was born here. Howard was raised here. Howard has raised his family here. And he's operated his business here since the beginning of time. Howard?

I'd first like to say thank you to Mayor Parris and Vice Mayor Hughes for inviting me up here today and for the opportunity to speak to you. My name is Howard Harris and I'm here today on behalf of the Joint Powers Association, better known as the JPA. I would like to take this opportunity to provide the rationale of the Fair Board's decision to name the Multi-Agency Resiliency Center, better known as the MARC, naming it to the Parris Center. First, it is important to acknowledge that in this particular situation, we voted to put the cart before the horse. The original reason for naming the mark the Paris Center was to recognize the entire Paris family for their many years of contribution. Rob Paris has spent the last 31 years as a director on the fairgrounds. Carol Paris has a long time history of sponsorship and supporting numerous events at the fair, including being a top buyer at the junior livestock auction. RX Paris was also the very first sponsor of the fair back in 2006 when he agreed to sponsor the clock tower for 200,000. That sponsorship enabled the fair to build the show arena. Now for the reason behind the statement behind the cart before the horse. The fair boards voted to name the mark the Paris Center well before the Paris family agreed to be a $2.1 million sponsor. In return for the 2.1 million sponsorship, there will be freeway signage, parish center signage, interior LED signage with the naming rights package. To put things in perspective, I would like to read a list of previous and current Antelope Valley Fair sponsors. HW Hunter Pavilion, 350,000. Eliopolis Pavilion, 250,000. Van Damme Pavilion, 250,000. AV Harley-Davidson Hall, 250,000. Los Angeles County Farm Bureau, 50,000. Parrish Law Firm, 2.1 million. Thank you, Mayor Parrish and the rest of the city council for the opportunity to speak.

As you can see, this is a one of a kind project. And I wanna thank the city council and staff for helping us bring this project to life. I also wanna invite or thank the staff, Trelease, Larissa, George, Marissa, Sonia, Rod, Patty, and the rest of the staff. They've been incredible over the last decade that we've been, that we joined the, that we created the JPA and that we've been working on this project. I'd just like to add one thing. You're all familiar with silos in organizations, and they are an impediment to progress for organizations, or they can be. They are even a bigger impediment when organizations try to work together to solve problems. But in this case, working with you group of people and the staff here has been incredible, actively tearing down those silos so that we can create a project like this. I look forward to working with you in the future, and thank you so very much.

You know, while you were talking, I was thinking just how you moved that little fair into that. And I don't know if you folks know this, but it is the only self-funding fair, isn't it, in the state? Well, for this conversation, we can say yes. Anyway, what I'm saying, he just does an incredible job, and he does an incredible job bringing people together. I mean, you're bored. If you had to pay that board, you couldn't. No, we got some pretty good people on that board. You keep them working year after year after year. On behalf of the family, I can't tell you how proud we are. that our name is up on that building. Thank you.

We thank you so much for all the participation you have had over the years. We couldn't do it without you. Thank you.

Thank you.

At this time, can I please have Stacy Bryant And Joe Morgan Kim, join us in the front row. And then Ms. Bryant, we'll have you go first.

Good afternoon, Mayor Parris and City Council members. I'm Dr. Stacey Love Bryant, a former high school and college tennis player, a coach, a former Highland High School principal, retired deputy superintendent in the Palmdale School District. I've coached 22 tennis teams, including high school boys and girls, the women's tennis team at Antelope Valley College, and for three years, I was even the tennis pro at the Antelope Valley Country Club. I know the importance of organized sports, I know how difficult it is to manage court use, and I know it takes many resources to manage a well run program. I'm here to briefly share some numbers and information to encourage you to continue building places to play pickleball in Lancaster, and to thank you for thinking outside the box for the use of pickleball courts being built on the fairgrounds. Here's some numbers to think about. In 2023, pickleball in the United States grew to 13.6 million players, according to the 2024 Sports and Fitness Industry Association. And pickleball continues to be the fastest growing sport in America, having grown 223% in the four years after COVID. Additionally, pickleball grew from 19.8 million players in 2024 to 24.3 million, making another 22.8% growth. Anyone who has been playing pickleball at Sergeant Steve Owen Park and has had to wait 30 minutes or more for an open court can attest to these numbers. Why is it so crowded? Pickleball is easy to learn, highly social, low impact, multi-generational, my favorite part, and low cost. At this point, our only real challenge is finding available courts to play on and to facilitate tournaments. We believe the pickleball courts at the fairgrounds are gonna be a game changer. We'll be able to host large tournaments that will bring players in from all over Southern California. And we are hopeful of hosting not only club and league tournaments, but thinking big, perhaps some touring pickleball pros could make a pit stop here in Lancaster. And that would increase the fun factor. I'm here representing the Antelope Valley Pickleball Club, back here behind me. I'm currently the president and the first two-year president is here with us. Where did I go now? There we go. Our club was founded in spring of 2023, a club who at the end of this fiscal year had 183 members, hosted three large pickleball tournaments earning over $16,000, funding a scholarship endowment at Antelope Valley College for foster youth, facilitated food and toy drives, donating those items to DCFS and other nonprofit organizations. We've made a positive difference in our community and hold a deep personal interest in the development of pickleball at the fairgrounds. We want it to succeed. Thank you for seeing the bigger picture and building more pickleball courts for all of us. Thank you.

Jo?

Good afternoon everybody, Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for having me. My name is Jo Morgan Kim and I've been a resident for nearly 30 years here in Antelope Valley. I'm currently serving as the Regional Director of College and Career Preparation and Adult Education for the AV High School District. I'm also a club volleyball coach here in the Valley and I'm a mother of club athletes as well. I'm here to represent the many voices of our adult education population, our community, and all of the students who are currently learning right now, our coaches who are teaching right now, and all of those parents who are at work and couldn't be here today. Every weekend, our Antelope Valley families are driving two hours away and spending our money outside of the valley. I'm here today to advocate for the designing of the Paris Center to change all of that and keep our funds here. The demand is not simply a projection, it's already here. Our region's high schools serve over 800 student athletes each season just in volleyball. That's before counting any of our clubs in town, which have multiple levels all the way from 11-year-olds through 18. We don't have the capacity to expand any of our clubs because we are out of space. We have been seeing exponential growth as Dan described earlier. Nationally, girls volleyball is the number one high school school sport and participation for the boys has increased by 40%. Volleyball isn't leveling off. In fact, LA is getting a professional team. it's compounding it right now that growth is literally driving away from the av and we're competing in tournaments elsewhere and we're all taking our money with us so for the community just to give it a little bit of perspective other than the numbers that dan had up on the screen just to run one tournament a day, if we have a morning and afternoon pool on those 16 courts, you're roughly getting 1,800 athletes on site just in that one day. That's close to about $90,000 to $100,000 just in gate, parking activity, the entrance fee, etc. If you do a two-day tournament, of course that doubles. You're getting about 200 grand just for the weekend. That doesn't include all of the fans that come. With those athletes, they need their parents, fans, grandparents to come with them. So we're looking at roughly another 3,500 people up here in the valley that need a place to eat dinner, they need hotels to stay at, and that's going to support our local businesses. Not only that, but in my role as adult education director, we are going to be producing real jobs, local jobs in the way of officials, coaches, concessions, merchandising, custodial staff. These are jobs that will stay here. It will help us to build a pipeline to support the region's economy. This does include which Dan mentioned, which is our culinary certification program. Our adult education students will be able to have a certification. And we're working on an MOU with the city as well. It makes perfect sense to leverage the Paris Center as a sports complex for our region by integrating the necessary infrastructure while it's still on the drawing board. We ensure that these facilities will be active all year long rather than just sitting vacant as an afterthought. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak on this. I appreciate your time.

Danny, I had no idea. I want to renegotiate. I need a piece of the game.

I'm just joking.

Wow, I really didn't have any idea. I do have a concern as people were talking is, you know, we probably ought to have some kind of community group that decides the priority of who gets to use it when. Frequently what I've seen in the past is people feel Excluded, you know from the use of city facilities and then they write these narratives that have no basis in fact And I'm wondering if there's some way we could do that Okay rather than Just dictating from on high who gets to use it when let's find out what the community wants to do and then I would also want to see that That I mean, it's not something we do once. It's something that should be done at least every two years because I don't want people grandfathered in. You know what I mean? But I'd like it fair and we get maximum use. Wow. Thank you, Danny. I mean, this would not have happened without a lot of people. but Dan Jacobs made it happen. He did, thank you.

Okay, anything, any questions?

Okay. And police, you're up.

No? NB1 now. Oh, another one, okay.

All right. We'll hear from Allison Burns.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor. Council members, today I'm pleased to present for introduction an ordinance that will add Chapter 2.64 to Title II of the Lancaster Municipal Code, establishing viewpoint-neutral conduct-based standards for the moderation of official city social media accounts. Currently, the City operates several social media accounts to inform the public about City programs, services, meetings, and activities. Many of the accounts are open to interactive public comment. And on May 29th, 2026, the City adopted formal internal and external social media policies through the Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual. The purpose of this ordinance is to accomplish three core objectives. Codify moderation standards in the municipal code so that grounds for moderation become fixed, public, exhaustive, and amendable only by ordinance. Establish viewpoint-neutral conduct-based standards regulating conduct, not viewpoint. Identical substantive standards apply to supportive, hostile, and neutral comments. and preserve lawful expression. The ordinance is not proposed to be adopted to suppress and shall not be applied to suppress criticism of the city, its officials, or its policies. The ordinance permits moderation only for enumerated conduct-based categories. including threats, doxing, impersonation, fraudulent solicitations and scams, malicious links, malware and phishing, unlawful targeted harassment, duplicate flooding, automated posting, account evasions, materially off-topic disruptions and coordinated inauthentic content. Critically, the falsity of a comment standing alone is not grounds for moderation. The city has, the ordinance sets forth a graduated response requirement to employ the least restrictive effective response, either to leave it visible, respond officially once with factual correction or reference to official documents, hide to preserve the record but withdraw from public visibility, remove, delete from public view but preserve documentation, a temporary restriction, stating conditions for reinstatement, and indefinite restrictions, which requires city attorney approval to ensure we stay in compliance with all requisite standards. And finally, escalate or refer to the city attorney, law enforcement, or the platform for criminal conduct. The city can only depart from the graduated escalation only when urgent safety or legal obligations require and departures must be documented. There's robust provisions for documentations, records, and transparency. There's a robust appeal procedure so that if someone feels that the program has been imposed improperly, they can have it checked. without having to file a lawsuit, and approval requirements by me in certain high stakes circumstances. For example, indefinite restrictions, closing comments on a controversial post, public identification of coordinated inauthentic contact, referral of political speech to law enforcement, or decisions involving pending litigation, declared candidates, recall proponents, or journalists. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions, but it is a robust policy designed to ensure compliance with both the rights of citizens and protection of our public forum that we provide through our several sites.

Any questions? Any comments? Couldn't we just say no trolls or bots?

Sadly, no, unfortunately. Void for vagueness.

Just a thought. I was going to do this later, but I guess now would be the time. So Meta just paid $18 billion because of all the damage they did to kids. It turns out a lot of children died as a result of how social media is conducted. I know in my own life it has been disruptive of my family, my relationship with my wife, my relationship with the council, just about every facet of my life when I start doom scrolling social media. It's been nothing but bad. So I'm not going to look at social media for at least three months. And I'll put up $2,500 and figure out a way how we distribute it to the council and the staff of the city who want to participate in the challenge. And we can put the rules together within a week. Now, there are people in the city whose job is to go on social media, so obviously you're excluded. But it might be fun, and I think it might bring attention to just how detrimental the toxicity that just is imbued in social media has become. And there's many doubt in my mind that the meta algorithms encourage it. They're interested in eyeballs. I recently read a book where there was a small country that ended up in a revolution. and a bloody, brutal revolution because of the stuff that was being passed around on Facebook, which was just not true. It was just not true. What I see in Lancaster is there's a lot of people who would love to be involved in our political system, in our local government, and they look at what trash is thrown at us on social media. And they say, never mind. Never mind. It's far more detrimental than it is positive. So anybody that wants to get in the contest, I'll leave it up to Larissa to figure out what the rules are. And let's see how it goes. And with that, I guess you know what I want to do with this.

Is there a motion?

Or are there speaker cards? No speaker cards.

Is that amazing?

With that, I make a motion to introduce and conduct the first reading of ordinance number 1156.

I'll second that motion.

Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. Thank you. We now move on to public hearing item one. Public hearing is now open.

good afternoon mayor paris vice mayor and council staff have been working on landscape and irrigation standard updates for a while but due to the mayor's leadership and focusing on protecting the city's long-term investment in our infrastructure we have had the opportunity to take a much deeper look at how to address the tree root impacts in our community so this update modernizes several of our landscaping and water efficiency requirements with one important addition, establishing a clear root barrier requirement for new and replacement trees. The goal is simple, prevent infrastructure damage before it occurs. So why are we updating the code? This is a broader modernization of our landscape regulations. We are updating our requirements to current state model water standards, strengthening water conservation, formally connecting our technical standards to the municipal code, and addressing a longstanding infrastructure issue caused by tree roots. We've historically dealt with a problem after the roots reached the sidewalk, curb, or other infrastructure. This changes that approach. Rather than waiting for damage and then determining who is responsible for repairing it, we're putting a preventative measure in place when the tree goes into the ground. The image you see on the screen just happened a couple of months ago on Avenue J. Lancaster's municipal code addresses responsibility for tree root damage, but historically has not included a clear preventative engineering standard at the time of planting. Instead of waiting for roots to damage sidewalks, curbs, streets, or utilities, the city can address the conflict when the tree is first planted. These are some other examples of our reactive approach as opposed to a proactive approach. So the missing piece has been prevention. So what we are doing, the solution is a 36 inch linear root barrier. Our original standards reference root barriers, but this ordinance puts a clear requirement directly into the code and establishes minimum specifications. So it would be a 36 inches minimum depth, 10-foot minimum length from infrastructure, 8-foot protection zone when a tree is within 8 feet of specified hardscape or utilities, and it's also linear, not circular. So it moves the roots away from the infrastructure we're trying to protect. So why 36 inches? That's set as the minimum, but don't assume that 36 inches is right for every condition. It allows us to require a deeper barrier for larger trees, aggressive root systems, constrained planting areas or other conditions where additional protection is appropriate. Root management guidance recognizes that barrier performance should consider tree species, soil conditions, rooting characteristics and the infrastructure being protected. A deeper minimum is intended to redirect the routes downward and reduce future conflicts between tree roots and nearby hardscape. The City's standards can require greater depth or additional protection when tree species, utilities, constrained planting areas, or site conditions warrant it. There's also going to be one standard for everyone. The city will be held to the same standard it requires of the community. So private and public projects will follow the same standard. But a requirement is only valuable if we can verify it was actually installed. So that's why we're also strengthening our technical standards. Root barriers will be identified on the plans. installed to the city's specifications, inspected before they're buried, and documented as part of project completion. We also wanted to make sure there are clear consequences if these requirements aren't followed. We worked with the city attorney to review our existing enforcement provisions, and we already have the tools we need. Rather than creating a separate penalty system, the ordinance makes it clear that our existing administrative citation, nuisance abatement, correction, and cost recovery provisions apply. We're also making two things explicit. First, each tree installed without a required root barrier constitutes a separate violation. Second, the director will have express authority to require a non-compliant tree to be removed and reinstalled with a conforming barrier or to require another acceptable method of installing the barrier. So this gives us a complete process from showing the barrier on the plans to inspecting it before it's buried to requiring correction if it isn't installed properly. While we focus primarily on root barriers today, this is actually a much broader update to Lancaster's landscape and irrigation regulations. Our current water efficient landscape ordinance was adopted in 2019 and the state has since updated the model water efficient landscape ordinance. This update brings us into alignment with those current requirements while also allowing us to establish standards that make sense for our high desert environment. We're strengthening water efficiency requirements, including updated water budgets, more efficient irrigation practices, and additional limitations on turf. We're also addressing the state's restrictions on nonfunctional turf and preparing those requirements as they begin applying to public properties. At the same time, we're modernizing our landscape and irrigation design standards. That includes updated irrigation technology, materials, plant standards, construction details, and the new root barrier specifications we've discussed today. Another important change is creating a much clearer connection between the municipal code and our technical design standards. The code will establish the policy and regulatory requirements, while the design standards provide the technical specifications for how those requirements are implemented in the field. It gives us a better process for keeping those technical standards current, things like product specs, Standard details and plant lists can be updated administratively when appropriate, while substantive policy changes remain with the City Council. This overall direction is toward less water waste, more sustainable landscaping, clearer requirements, and better protection of our public infrastructure. This is ultimately a preventative infrastructure policy. We want trees throughout Lancaster. Trees provide shade, beautification, and environmental benefits, but we also want those trees planted in a way that allows them to coexist with sidewalk streets and utilities for decades. The goal isn't fewer trees, it's better tree planting. I'm here if you have any questions.

No question, Mayor, but I have a joke to make. This is giving me undercover boss vibes. I just imagine you going out with the crew that day, observing, probably causing trouble. And then lo and behold, you actually identified a problem where you could, of course, go upstream and come up with a long-term solution. So thank you for being our undercover mayor, although I'm sure you weren't very much undercover.

The truth is I didn't cause any trouble at all.

I said you could have. You could have. I don't know if the rest of the council has had the opportunity, but the mayor has been systematically going and observing and job shadowing some of the different departments on our team. And I just thank you, Mayor, for not only going there, hanging out, but identifying how we can make the city better. Maybe we'll put a mini series together, Undercover Mayor.

You know, there is a point to be made on this. You know, we're very, very good at dealing with crisis when it happens or dealing with a problem when it happens. You know, like, let's go fix the, I mean, the sidewalks were like this. Let's go fix the sidewalks. you know they were great at how they fixed it you know they were fast they were efficient they you know it was great but you know nobody seems empowered to say what could we do 20 years before to have prevented it you know it's called going upstream of the problem there isn't any There isn't that feeling of satisfaction you get when you fix the street and see a beautiful street that was a mess before. You don't get that reward, and that reward system is lacking. So as a result, I think it's just our tendency not to look upstream. We have a real problem with service streets in the city of Lancaster. But what could we have been doing so we wouldn't have such a huge problem? I spent a lot of time reading about streets after I did that undercover boss thing. It's a real show. You know, how often we, you know, just what's that sealant? Putting a sealant on it determines how long the street's gonna last in many respects. It's expensive, but you know, we have to start doing that cost benefit analysis. Is it better to spend the money now or spend a lot more down the road? And you know, you guys know, you got it down. You got to start telling us. Say, hey, I know you don't want to do it this year, but if you don't, this is what's going to happen. We could do that better. So tomorrow, it's the sewers. And what's the other thing I'm doing? Oh, the parks. So it'll be a lot of fun. So if there's something we can do upstream there, tell me, and I'll take the credit for that, too. Thank you. No speaker cards. No speaker cards. Do I close? Do I have to do anything? Close the public hearing? Is there a motion?

I move to introduce ordinance number 1157 and to adopt resolution number 26-67. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you. And you know, I encourage the rest of the council, schedule those. It's like a ride along, but you know, it's not as exciting. Public hearing item number two, the public hearing is now open. We will hear the staff report from Cindy Valdiga.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of City Council. I am Cindy Valdivia, your CDBG and Lancaster Energy Analyst. The public hearing before you today is presenting the 2025 to 2026 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, better known as CAPER. The CAPER is a federally required annual report, essentially a report card, that evaluates how the city utilized its CDBG and home funds during the past fiscal year to address the needs of low and moderate income residents. This report covers from the time period of July 1st, 2025 until June 30th of 2026, and represents the first year of our current five-year consolidated plan, which runs through 2030. During the fiscal year 2026, the city successfully implemented the activities outlined in our one-year action plan and five-year consolidated plan. As required by HUD, the draft CAPER was made available to the public for review and comment, and today's public hearing provides an additional opportunity for residents to provide any comments or questions regarding the City's housing and community development activities. Staff is requesting that Council conduct the public hearing. approve the 2025 to 26 caper, and authorize the city manager to submit the report along with any public comments received to HUD. There's no fiscal impact on this public hearing associated with anything submitting to HUD. This concludes my presentation, and I also have Rudy Munoz here with LDM, our consultants, to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions? Any speaker comments?

Yes, Mayor. We have two.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr. Philip Brown and Ms. Beautiful Marchion, if you could join us up in the front. Philip and Beautiful.

Did you say I'm beautiful? Thank you. That was kind. Actually, I'm probably gonna rescind my comments. I was thinking you were gonna do a report and see what the report was on housing, because I have no knowledge about what your plan is and how it works. So with that, I really don't have a comment or a thought or a question.

Thank you.

And then Beautiful.

How did you get a name like Beautiful?

I mean, what a great name. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know, all parents feel like their children are beautiful, right?

Good afternoon, everybody. Good to see you all again.

I'm back. OK, so in regards to PH2, I am neutral to this. When I was looking it up, I'm just trying to see how I can fall in. But when I saw community development, that's where I felt like I could speak on it in regards to my issues. I'm just trying to see if my issue can somehow tie into that because I'm here. I'm back again with my same issue that I had, which was the trashcan issue. I'm trying to see if some code can be put into place and maybe that can fall in under the community development. I'm not sure if it does, if it doesn't, but that's what I'm speaking on. When I was here in July, I was talking about the trashcan issue that is still bothering me. Code enforcement did come out and I do appreciate that, however, The people moved the trash for one day and they put it right back the next week, so I'm still dealing with the same issue. The people also painted their fence because, as I mentioned before, Lancaster only has a policy about the trash cans being visible. I'm still right back at square one right where I was before and that's the issue as I have which is instead of the trash cans being invisible is where they are in proximity to the neighbor. So I'm still dealing with the same issue and I'm basically here to see about how to start the process to get a new code put in place about such trash not being placed directly next to entryways, which is where mines are. They're putting it on the side of the house where they don't have any entryways and I have mine, so I'm still being bothered. That's pretty much my main question is how to go about getting that put into place.

Draft an ordinance and give it to us.

I didn't know that. That's why I was the first step. I have to draft the ordinance?

No one's ever done it before, but why not? No one's ever going to who? No one's ever done it before, but why not?

That's perfectly fine. I don't mind being the first doing things. I didn't know the first step. I'm going to draft the ordinance and bring it back to you.

Sure. Make it as least intrusive as possible, but I think you're right. Thank you. Yes. Let's figure out a way to do it.

My second issue, I love your response. A lot of people don't feel with you, but you are right with me because you always have solution oriented responses and I appreciate that. Quickly, my second issue is that the same neighbors that I'm having a problem with, they have recently installed their rain gutters, discharging their water directly onto my property that I take pride in and that I work hard to protect. That is actually prohibited by the California Building Code Section J109.4, which prohibits drainage across property lines. Additionally, Lancaster's Residential Code R401.3 states that roof drainage, which is what it is, must be diverted away from the foundations, which is the problem that I'm having, and not cause a concentrated runoff to a neighboring property, which is me.

Ms. Beautiful, I'm so sorry to interrupt, ma'am. Could we ask her to take it offline and get with Tralee's? Yes. Because this definitely sounds like a code enforcement issue, but could we give our team a chance to resolve it?

We can. Let me just finish my thought process. One more sentence. I'm sorry, we are way past time. The running off of the property, I filed the complaint six months ago and I have not heard anything about this yet. That's why I'm here to speak up on it again and I don't mind talking to them.

You're going to do the ordinance for me. Yes. Get it to me. I'm going to run it through AI to make sure it looks good. Okay.

I'll run it through AI to send it to you.

As far as the code enforcement, Chris, could you shepherd her through that? If somebody is not in code, they got to get in code. Thank you. Lauren's right. I'm not supposed to let people.

That's fine. I appreciate that.

You can come back for public comment.

I plan to do that. I just had to speak on it. You say you wanted me to do what now? I was in the middle of my thought process.

I'm so sorry. I just am trying to keep us on agenda item and on track and on time. That's our city manager right there, Trulis Niebla. You can get with either him or Chris and he is going to walk you through the code enforcement process.

okay and then about the other issue with the runoff the drainage the runoff water who's doing that so it's two things so right this is god is gonna help me both you're gonna get me in a lot of trouble i'm not trying to get you in trouble i'm already okay thank you very much for your time that was it thank you for for listening to my issues today and have a nice day yes it's fine i don't have a sense of time like that thank you

You know, my life got a lot more difficult when a retired major took. All right. Oh, we're now in public hearing.

We need to close public hearing.

He was getting there, Allison. Oh, do we need a motion?

Okay. I make a motion to conduct a public hearing upon accepting this testimony, approving the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, and authorizing the city manager to execute any documents necessary to submit the keeper.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Let's vote. Oh, it's not showing up, yeah.

Pass is unanimous, okay.

PH3.

Are we going to close session or do we cancel it?

PH3 first. What?

PH3. Okay, the public hearing is now open. We'll hear a staff report from Cindy Valdiva,

It's Valdivia, but I'll take Valdiva. Good afternoon, Mayor, members of City Council. This public hearing before you today is requesting approval of a substantial amendment to the City's 27-2018 Annual Action Plan related to CDBG funds for the Lancaster Master Plan Community Development of Avenue J and 15th Street West. The proposed amendment would change the end use of the activity from the development of affordable housing to the development of a public facility. and that will serve residents within eligible low and moderate income areas of the City. The City previously used and received CDBG funding for the preparation of the tentative track and final maps for this property. No additional funding is being requested and there's no impact to the City's general fund. The amendment simply allows the existing CDBG activity to be properly aligned with the proposed public facility use. Because this is considered a substantial change to the approved action plan, HUD requires the City to complete a public review and participation process. The required public notice was published on August 6th and the amendment was available for public review for 30 days. from August 7th to September 8th. The proposed change is consistent with the consolidated plan goals and will allow the previously awarded CDBG funds to support a public facility intended to improve the quality of life for residents in the surrounding areas. Staff therefore recommends that council conduct the public hearing, approve the substantial amendment and authorize the city manager to submit the necessary documentation to HUD.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions? Any speaker comments? No. Close the public hearing.

Mayor, before we proceed, I live in that immediate area. Is there a conflict or no in regards to this being a public change?

The annual action plan is a citywide document.

All right, just want to be.

Thank you for checking.

Uh-huh.

Thank you.

With that, I move PH3 with recommendations A, B, and C. Is there a second?

I'll second that motion. Let's vote.

It's unanimous. So what did we decide? Do we have a closed session or not?

Your call. We have an update. I don't think there's any reason.

Okay.

Let's go to the consent calendar. Any items to be removed?

Mayor, I know I have a conflict with item number 13.

As to you, Mr. Mayor.

As I do to, what?

As you have a conflict on item 13 as well. It's the hospital district.

Related to Medical Main Street.

Yeah. I guess I do, don't I? So I'll be recusing myself from CC 13 because, well, we own part of the property. Or I guess one of the trusts do. I don't think I own that anymore. But I think the family trust might.

I think it is owned by an entity in which you may have an interest and in interest of avoiding even the appearance of impropriety, it would be a good idea to recuse.

Mine is the same from the fact that I own property in the immediate area.

Is there anything else to be revoked?

We have some speakers, I think.

Nothing to be removed.

Sorry. We have speaker cards for six, eight, 10, and 16. 10.

Okay, let's call them out. Let's do them all at once.

Why don't we just, given there's only four speakers, Mayor, why don't we just hear the speakers and then deal with the consent calendar?

Well, my thinking is let's go ahead and have them speak before we do the consent calendar.

Right, yeah.

We'll do it all at once.

You got it, perfect.

Okay, so we'll call up Mr. Arthur Callaway with regards to CC6.

I do want to make, just have as a reminder that if you sign up for more than one consent calendar item, that you speak on both of those in your allotted three minutes.

All right, copy that. I'll do it fast. Six, I was just wondering how this process works and I probably can get with the staff after because this area, it seems like it's being developed already and I don't understand the annex is happening after the development started with that in mind or like how that process works. and 10 is for the salary increase. I am for it and then . Copy that. That was it. You want me to answer the question?

So as it relates to CC6, when the project comes through the development process and goes through planning, it is conditioned. And one of the conditions is that it needs to annex into the community financing or facilities district. So this is a city services district. So they did get their grading permit. They are out there grading right now. You are correct. but they have to do this before they actually record the map and then start the building permit process and all of that. So it happens kind of in phases, yes.

For CC8, we have Ms. Carla Johnson.

Hello, everyone. My understanding is that CC8 asked the council to approve Amendment 2, which pays Harris & Associates for additional work on the failed drainage district assessment and for community outreach support. This work required a comprehensive drainage district parcel audit, detailed review and analysis of parcel information, coordination with the city staff, and preparation of supporting documentation, all of which were only necessary because the drainage district assessment was not ready and not compliant with Prop 218, Section 4. Amendment 1, dated January 2026, concerning the sewage rate increase, approved on August 11, It shows the same pattern of Prop 218, Section 6, methodology noncompliance as Amendment 2 for the failed drainage district. I won't read everything I wrote, but I'll skip to my ending. It appears the city used a preliminary engineer's report, which Prop 218 does not allow for noticing, protesting, or approving rates. in light of there being certain commonalities between the drainage district methodology which was flawed and the sewer rate increase which was also using flawed methodology. I was wondering why the drainage district assessment was dropped And why not the sewer rate increase? Because they both contained flawed methodology, which the city is now asking Harris to go back and correct at taxpayer additional expense. Thank you.

And then CC16.

I believe the city attorney had already drafted a response answering those questions. I believe it's the same response.

For CC16, we have Ms. Gabriela Gonzalez.

All right. Good afternoon, mayor, city council members. My name is Gabriela Gonzalez. I am a new resident to the city of Lancaster. So you will be seeing a lot more of me. But I have been working out here for the last five years as a regional program manager with one of the governor's office. and working with several trusted messengers and several nonprofits that serve our community well. My question is, this authorization on CC16 is to adopt this resolution authorizing the city manager to apply for this strategic growth council grant. But it does require per Senate Bill SB 155 for community-based organizations to be involved in all awarded implementation grants through this CCRC proposal. Now I think from the presentations today, this has to do with the Multi-Agency Regional Resilience Center, or MARC, at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. So I'm just wondering, A, who we're partnering with, Who those community-based organizations are? Where can we get that information? And if you need assistance, I can help you with that. We have amazing nonprofit organizations out here that we've been working with. And then how much are we applying for? Because it looks like the implementation grant awards range from $1 million to $10 million. Those are my two questions.

I know, right? Everybody goes for the larger amount. You are correct. Thank you for your comments. You are correct on all of it. This is solely the application process that we need to get authorization to apply. If and when awarded, then we would complete that process to work with the CBO. So I would absolutely love your contact information. The gentleman sitting in the back there, he'll make sure to get your contact information. Here's our emergency manager that is coordinating. So yes.

Because it's happening right now. It's actually due on September 30th.

Correct. We need authorization from the city council to apply for those funds.

Okay. Right. But in order to apply, we need to have community-based organizations to be part of that application. Okay.

It's upon award.

I didn't see that part. Okay. Great. Well, that was my question, partnership requirements. But wouldn't we have those conversations before though? But okay, so I'm happy to support any efforts to inform the application. All right, right on time, three minutes. I didn't get cut off.

Mayor, that concludes our speaker cards for the consent calendar.

Is there a motion to approve the consent calendar minus CC 13?

Mayor, I move to approve the consent calendar as comprised removing CC 13.

And is there a second?

I'll second.

Let's vote. And it passes unanimously. And with that, I'm going to turn the meeting over to you.

I move to approve CC 13.

Is there a second?

Second.

Let's vote. And it passes with three yes votes. Am I good to bring them back in Allison? You sure are.

Sorry for the delay, but Ken had to get a cup of coffee. So where am I at? Housing Authority?

Housing Authority consent calendar.

Any speaker cards? No. Any item we need to pull?

No.

Is there a motion?

I move to approve HACC 1. Is there a second?

No, we did all three.

Wait. I stand corrected? 1, 2, and 3.

I'll second that motion. Let's vote.

And it passes unanimously. Let's take a break. I'd like to see the city attorney and the city manager.

Mr. Mayor, just for a few minutes.

Council agenda item number one, we're pushing for two weeks. Let's go on to council reports.

Okay. Do we have to do the speak part if we're pushing items?

We're not taking an action, so no. But you can if you want.

Let him speak, I don't care.

Mr. Arthur Calloway to comment on CA1.

Just so you're clear, the reason we're not moving forward is I'm not happy with how it was agendized.

Copy that. I was going to say for the website part that it looks like that there's appointments that only city Council people can be on and I would just like a better like the ones that are able for the community be on to understand what qualifications y'all are looking for like just a Legend so that it's easier to understand and I can work to get those skills if I wanted to be on that board or Commission, yeah, I think we need to do that Okay, some of them the council does have to be on some are open to the the community at large

All of them require me to appoint according to the city charter. Okay.

Who else?

Were there any other speakers? No. Okay, good.

No more speakers.

Okay, thank you. Council reports. Let's go.

Do you want to work our way outside in?

I'd like to report on the ELPAC Foundation Gala. It was a great gala. We raised a lot of money for youth to participate in art. That's what the ELPAC does, and it was a great I didn't understand that we were supposed to come dressed like Indiana Jones. I came in a suit and tie.

Yeah. You didn't get the memo. No, I did not.

So I felt out of place. No, you're supposed to be in character. Yes. But other than that, it was a great event. A lot of people there. And do we have a video? Take it away.

The ELPAC Foundation every year has this absolute wonderful gala, and we're here to raise money for the foundation, supporting this theater, and mostly the Arts for Youth program for our youth in this community. There's always an opportunity to give. So elpac.org, elpacf.org is an opportunity you can give through us there. We're here all year round. We affect change in thousands of students every year. And that money, that opportunity wouldn't be possible except for the money we raise here tonight. So we just love it. ELPAC is a great theater.

Raising monies for the youth in our community is awesome because we do need arts back in our community because the youth really need art to express themselves.

This is so great and starting young people out and introduce them to the arts. This is again you know the annual to raise funds, to be able to give to those youth, to be able to get them actively involved and introduce them to art. This is like the best event. And notice I was dressed appropriately.

Looking sharp.

Beautiful, I missed that. So we had actually our first, was it our first? Conchitas with the cops, with the Vallarta Supermarket. So we'd like to say thank you to Vallarta Supermarket to allow us to be there. It was amazing, so let's play that video. Hello, I'm Rocio Castellanos, new advisor of the City of Lancaster. And I'm here with?

Xochitl Elizadrez.

Thank you very much for being here. How did you feel about today's event?

Entering, she welcomed me with a beautiful smile. Thank you very much.

And how does it feel to have a new police department in the city of Lancaster? Well, very good. We feel a lot of security.

I think it's important for the community to kind of go hands on with us and talk to us and just ask random questions and really get to know us on a personal level.

Well, thank you for your support. We're here to help you guys out. Don't hesitate to call if you guys need us. And if you see a cop on the street, or if you see one of Lancaster P.I. on the streets, say hi, wave hi. We're always here to say hello.

You know, if you guys haven't shopped at Vallarta Market, you owe it to yourself to do it. It's a different experience. My wife loves it, just for what it's worth.

Looks like I'm up next. Both Vice Mayor and myself did a ribbon cutting with the Pacific Community's most recent neighborhood. I think that makes it their third one for the city of Lancaster, and I think we have a video of that.

We did a ribbon cutting.

You know, one of the unique things about Nelson brings to each and every one of his projects, he's an architect by trade. So you always know when you step into his home, very unique, different than competitors, is they're always designed around the family and really specifically the modern family today. And so I'm sure it probably helps quite a bit on the sales side, but you can tell that when you walk in, the homes are just, they're exactly what they are, a home.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is just, wow, I am that modern family raising my two kids here in the Antelope Valley. And it's just as Councilman Mann said that you can tell that Nelson and his team have the family at the forefront of their mind. He currently has two grandkiddos here with us today. I have two kiddos myself around the same age. And that's exactly what I see. I see my kiddos playing in these homes. I see my kids running around the backyard. And just the attention to detail he puts into the thought and process of how he builds these homes, the only word I can describe it is wow. Wow, come check out these homes.

Has anybody told Angel that they're trying to take her job? I mean, that might just fit both of you.

She does it better. She wears it better. She holds it better. We're trying.

And we're learning from her. So thank you, Angel. Okay.

And then I have one video to add, Mayor. We had the opportunity, we, there was a bunch of us there, we had the opportunity to attend the AV Fair kickoff event. Such an amazing event. They hold it annually. It's our way to just say thank you to those who volunteer and contribute and make our fair every year amazing. My goodness, this is one of my favorite events to kick off the fair. And why it's so special and why it's so important, we're putting on a dinner to thank our volunteers. As you heard earlier, we've had people volunteering here for 40 plus years. The fact that they keep coming back, pouring their heart into our community, into the different projects and committees, just so important to acknowledge that. Because it's a lot of work.

I think that's my biggest message is come in, get involved, see what the fair has to offer, and if it's something that you like, get in there. There is so much for everybody here. Just come. You will find something that you are interested in. And just to give a shout out to all our volunteers tonight, this room was absolutely packed. We gave away four gold awards tonight. And those golden awards, you need to have been a volunteer at the fair for 50 years.

A friend actually got me to work here, and I started off as just cleaning the kitchens, and somehow I ended up in charge of a group of girls in the hospitality team, so it's been an honour.

Okay, we now have a video recap of the Lancaster National Soccer Centre lighting press conference. You know, this is why we have cities. I mean, really, it's for the families, and it's for the kids. And the more we can do to make it so they can safely thrive, the better. For 18 years, we've been trying to get lights here, you know, because literally, they're playing in the dark sometimes. And George Whiteside is magical, makes it happen. I'm thrilled. The reason I love being mayor is I know these kids are what's the impact. Everything should be designed for these kids because that's who we are in a very short period of time. I always get emotional about it.

We're so glad to be able to support the community with an $850,000 grant for new lighting here at the amazing fields we have at the National Soccer Center. So our hope is that it enables more kids to play, to play more safely, and to enjoy the game as folks come from all over the region to play soccer right here in Lancaster.

We're here with Albion Juniors Olivia, Camila, and Isabel. Guys, finally getting lights on the field. Are you excited? Yeah.

You know, it's amazing. It's heartwarming seeing the community grow and people putting back into the community. It's definitely a great sight to see. No, come out and have fun.

You know, if your kids aren't out here playing soccer, they should be. You know, I really love George Whiteside. I mean, he just hit the ground running. He's a great congressman. Moving on. I guess, am I allowed to say that about a Democrat?

Yes, you are.

Yes, please.

George Whitesides is a great Congressman.

He is. Yeah, but you're a Democrat. Okay. City Manager Report.

So yes, a few updates. If you could bring the presentation up. So first, a couple of events that are coming up soon. We have on September 19th, which is this weekend, we have the LCC Cleanup Day, National Cleanup Day from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. So feel free to come on out, help us clean up that area and keep Lancaster looking beautiful. On that same note, and looking ahead on October 24th, we have the next Love Your City Lancaster Cleanup Event. The area will be Sierra Highway to 10th Street West from J down to J8. So it is that area. I think there's several hundred homes in there. We're meeting at Grace Resources that morning. It'll be another wonderful event. I think I'm told we're going to set the record for the number of volunteers for that event. So hopefully nobody makes me a liar on that one. uh then boulevard market september the 10th on the boulevard from four to nine come on out and enjoy the market uh parks department they've been busy at work another this past two weeks they did some sidewalk repairs out of samaritan's purse park there's a before and after photo they spent about twenty seven thousand dollars to fix that area and then we also replaced some lighting at owens memorial park 41 lights in the parking lot PARKSWAYS AT THE PICKLEBALL COURT AND WE CONVERTED THE BASKETBALL COURTS TO LED LIGHTS. THAT WAS ALSO A $27,000 PROJECT. SOMETHING TELLS ME $27,000 IS THE THEME, SONIA. AND THEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, JUST WANTED TO PLUG OUR SHOP DRIVE FUEL EARN PROGRAM. SO THAT IS A $50 GAS CARD. DOWNLOAD THE APP. upload your receipt and you will get a $50 credit. The program does take about seven to 10 days to process. So when you do upload the receipt, go ahead and be patient with us. The reason for that is actually the technology on the back end and the account verifications that have to take place. And the bank has to go through that before we can refund that or reimburse that money. There will be people out at the next Monday Night Bites to educate the community on this program. So if you're struggling or having trouble figuring out, come out to Monday Night Bites. We'll have staff there that can help you work your way through it. Or you can head on over to any of our facilities. We'd be happy to meet with anybody at the counter to talk them through it. The police department, so we did take over traffic operations last week, Monday at 9 p.m., I believe. The total number of calls we had this week was 88. 24 were collisions with injuries. 64 were property damage only. I believe it was a smooth week. I think you could maybe touch on it a little bit, Chris, how the week went for the PD.

It went really well. I will say that the Sheriff's Department was great in the transition and has been continuing. Worked great with our partners from the dispatchers to dispatchers, kind of holding our hand for that first hour, much appreciated. But I will say that three minutes in, we got our first one. I think it was a car upside down, so we started strong. But it's been well received by the public, people that we're responding to. I will just say we're expecting reports to take 10 days for the public that is looking to get those reports. That's our target. You'll get those from the station. Just come. You need to be either involved in the accident or your vehicle involved in the accident, and then we'll give you that report. Um, otherwise we do have a PRA process that you can go through to get one. And I say that because we've had a lot of calls today on that.

Thank you, Chris. And then lastly is those measure a county funds. So that was the measure that was approved last fall. It created a mechanism by which the county collects a sales tax to generate money to provide additional homeless services. That money is totally controlled by the county, but they are doing a couple public outreach meetings. So if you want to ensure that your money stays here locally, please scan the QR code, participate in one of the events that they're having. Let your voice be heard that we do need monies and we do need resources up here too. And don't forget the Antelope Valley. That's it for me.

Thank you. So what kind of response are we getting to the $50 gas cards?

So far, really good. What does that mean? Get your $50 in, because we're going to run out of money. We will be coming back to council to authorize additional funding relatively soon.

So it's well received?

Yes, very well received.

And the only way they can get it is if they're using the app, right?

You go through the Open Rewards app, yes.

OK, thank you. Good. I'm glad to hear that. All right, moving on. City Clerk.

This is the time to address the City Council agency authority on non-agendized matters. Please ensure that you have completed your speaker registration at the kiosk or either online so you are recognized. If you are joining via telephone, please listen for the prompt to begin to speak. Please state your name and eliminate any background noise. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each unless council states otherwise. Please note that each speaker's time begins once their name is called. Council will call for in-person speakers first, and then proceed with any speakers that may be joining virtually. Please keep in mind, state law prohibits the council from adding on items that are not listed on the agenda, and your matter may be referred to the city manager. Thank you.

Okay, we have a total of eight. So if we can go ahead and pre-position Mr. David Paul, Ms. Cheryl Boswell, Mr. Alejandro Castillo, Mr. Marcus Alvarez. If you guys could join us in this front row. Okay, no David. Mr. Marcus Alvarez. Did he leave as well? Oh, he left as well. Ms. Cheryl Boswell.

Hello. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members. I'm here to ask you a question. The last time we spoke on the sewer, you guys mentioned if we go to the website that we can get a refund for the sewer. It goes according to your income. Well, I went to the city website. I cannot find it anywhere. So can somebody please tell me how I can find the information for it?

Yeah, if you connect with Mr. Harris over here, he'll get you all set for it.

Okay. Okay. That was my question. Thank you very much.

Figure out why that, figure out if there's a problem.

It's there. There was a problem over the weekend, but we got it resolved about mid-weekend, and we had four applications get turned in as of this morning.

Thank you.

Alejandra?

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Council. I'm Alejandro Castillo, founder of Boots on the Ground Alliance, also known as BOGA. I'm here with a personal invitation to our second annual Antelope Valley Military Ball on Saturday, November 14 at the Hellenic Center. We will honor our veterans and the mothers who sent their children off to serve. Boga's work is grounded in the PERMA well-being model and the direct physical presence. I personally commute to the High Desert State Prison to teach PERMA-based life skills to level four incarcerated individuals because meaningful service requires us to show up where the need exists. We created and facilitate the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans every March, as well as our veterans stand down, bringing recognition, resources, and community directly to those who served. We do not simply discuss service, we show up. The Military Ball continues that mission. It is more than a celebration. It is a bridge connecting veterans, military families, businesses, elected officials, and neighbors. Let me be clear, the Military Ball is not a fundraiser, and it's not designed to generate profit for BOGA. It is created strictly for our community to honor veterans, support military families, and give them the recognition they deserve. The bridge begins before the ball. BOGA is currently finalizing program logistics with a local youth organization to teach practical life skills through the PERMA model. Through this work and by welcoming youth volunteers at the ball, we are helping young people build resilience, leadership, and personal responsibility while introducing them to the veteran community. The meaning of service and the sacrifices behind the uniform. We offer several sponsorship tiers, but I want to highlight two opportunities. Our first one, we call it the Operation 30. $3,000 sponsorship includes five guests, five honor veterans, formal attire for those veterans, and a commemorative challenge coin in premier recognition. Our exclusive sponsorship is 5,000. Receive its logo on every 2026 commemorative challenge coin in recognition at the presenting partner of our live entertainment. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council, I invite you to attend, sponsor, and partner with us. BOGA presents this ball for the community, not for financial gain, and your involvement creates recognition, education, unity, and a stronger bridge between generations. Thank you.

Thank you for the invitation. Thank you. I appreciate that.

If we could please have Ms. Carla Johnson Ms. Claribel Glazo, Mr. Greg Bashid, and Ms. Beautiful Marchion join us up front. And Carla, we'll have you go first, sorry.

I was going to say because this meeting was actually very civil I was upset after the last meeting toward the end it just got really outrageous and I think that people do deserve respect and calm when they come to City Council meetings and I'm talking about when people got up about the person who was kicked out two meetings ago and people's responses were just way over the top and they made a lot of people uncomfortable. And I did hear a couple people in the audience come to speak and ask for civility. So today was very nice. So thank you for that. That's all.

Claire Bell.

Hi. Good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, and council members. My name is Claribel Colaso, and I have been a resident of Tamra Avenue in the Pacific Marigold and Corse Division, track number 54007 for the past four years. Our community was originally sold to us as a fiber-ready neighborhood. However, the critical connection between our streets and our homes was never authorized due to an ongoing administrative limbo. Currently, our neighborhood is experiencing severe delay in accessing high speed fiber internet, which is operational just one block away. Internet providers like Race Communication and Frontier inform us that they cannot secure the standard city permits to connect our homes because our track is still flagged in by mapping database as in process of transfer from the developer. In speaking with the builder, Pacific communities, we understand that the final physical requirements, including the installation of a missing palm tree, has been completed. However, because the builder has moved on to develop other subdivisions, as shown earlier, we feel there is a lack of active follow-up on their part to coordinate that final walkthrough inspection with the city. At the same time, when they allege coordinating attempts are made, it appears the scheduling hasn't aligned, leaving the final sign off at a standstill. Unfortunately, this palm tree issue is just the latest chapter in a four-year history of stories where the builder and the city point fingers at one another while our community is never actually transferred. We notice that the city street cleaning signs are physically posted on our roads. Yet, week after week, no street sweepers ever actually arrive to clean our streets. This persistent absence is clear evidence to us that our neighborhood administrative transfer remains completely unfinished. We have been dealing with this situation over the phone for a very long time, and we are speaking today during this meeting to establish a formal public record so our neighborhood's concerns are clearly documented and can no longer be ignored. Today, I just submitted a formal statement to the city clerk to ensure this issue is handled with appropriate oversight. We respectfully ask the city manager present here and the public works director to help us bridge this gap with the developer, investigate the status of track 54007, and help facilitate the final walkthrough inspection so our 43 families can finally connect to modern utilities like fiber optic internet. Thank you for your time.

What are the cross streets? What streets bound?

H12 and Challenger Way.

H12 and China Way?

Challenger Way.

Challenger Way. Can you get somebody on that, figure this out? Yep, we're on it. And while we're talking about fiber optic, you brought something to mind. Do we have any idea how customer satisfaction is with that?

With race communications? With the fiber optic that we're providing the neighborhoods. There's three now coming into the neighborhood. So you get spectrum, you get frontier in newer neighborhoods, and you get race communications. So there are options now which Drastically increases customer satisfaction because you have options now.

Uh-huh, not for us.

But she doesn't have any options, right?

Yeah, we just have Spectrum and they come to our house in these four years, endless times. We escalate this to supervisors and many people come and check. They tell us to our face that they are doing fiber in Lancaster, but not in our neighborhood, that they can improve, but we're going to stay with the regular service. We have almost 33 disconnect per day. and they're still figuring out what is the problem. Race communication in writing and frontier expressed to us that they want and they are willing and they are a block away, but they cannot just come because the city cannot grant a permit. So we are on that limbo.

Let's get these people their fiber optic cable.

I agree. First time hearing, we'll look into it. It's available. We just cannot ask for that.

So it is great that it's in town, but we cannot.

Can you give us 30 days?

Yes, sure.

OK. And if you don't have it in 30 days, would you come back and tell me?

Thank you.

OK. Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Our last speaker is Greg.

Greg, how are you? I'm doing great. Thanks. How about you guys? I'm here just to talk over the Lancaster Magazine. There was this article in there about safe routes, bright futures, and the story said that it's going away. It's, I guess, done. um at least that's what i got out of the story and so i my question was why are we ending that are we there are no more kids to have safe walkways to school and stuff i just figure that's like a program that maybe should just continue that you know um Also wanted to shout out the homeless outreach team. That was a good article. The security assistance, I haven't seen them yet. I don't know where they would be, but that's a good thing because I was a volunteer with the Sheriff's Department. Lancaster PD, that's a good program, I hope. Then the other thing is I got two bugs. One, the transferring neighbors one yard at a time. That's a program that the city's doing. I applaud it. In my neighborhood, there's just a group of us that are kind of together and keep the houses yards looking cool but you kind of get past the first three houses either side and it's it's horrible so i'm just saying if that place if the program is looking for homes come in my neighborhood um then uh lastly uh i also approve your uh raises that that was kind of crazy the per diem i mean geez i'd like to see you guys uh handing out more ice cream um and then rhodes um so i'm kind of looking this way lancaster boulevard awesome you should take pictures of it now it's all striped and smooth as glass it looks like you're starting on challenger way but i'm not positive i see a lot of you know what do they call those those cones out there so they're getting ready to do something um but yeah that's it i mean i'm glad to see you guys are knocking some things out just wondering about that program that it sounds like the kids got safe and we don't need to do it anymore i think you should so that's it thank you guys thank you greg oh what about one last thing um please everybody remember september 11th it's coming up it's that's i mean i was in a safety meeting when the first plane hit and we watched the second plane hit live on tv that is something that i will never forget and i hope nobody else does that's it

I just did a video on that and I didn't like the copy because it's never forget and never forgive. I'm serious. What they did to us was never forgive. Okay, I just get emotional about it, sorry. One thing I wanted to comment on is I'm sure that, you know, Some people have heard about the TRO, meaning a temporary restraining order against the individual that is no longer allowed to attend our meetings. First of all, I did not bring that action. I did not file a declaration in that action. But make no mistake about it, I did approve it. make no mistake about it people cannot come into this building and threaten the people who work here not now not in the future not ever and i really don't care how they complain about it later it's just intolerable and i think that's enough on the subject of thank you the uh Good meeting. Thank you. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 1.30 PM. This meeting is adjourned. Carol, I will see you sometime.