City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone. We're going to go ahead and come to order now. All right, welcome everyone. We're going to go ahead and start our meeting with a roll call from our city clerk, Kathy Valdez. The record shall reflect that all members are present and our city attorney Walter Sean will bring us out of close session. The city council took no reportable action in close session today. Council member Fox will lead us in the pledge of allegiance tonight.

Please stand and remove your caps. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Our city clerk has some procedural items to cover.

Thank you, mayor. In accordance with the Brown Act, I'd like to announce that as a result of convening simultaneous meetings, the members of the Buena Sanitation District will receive compensation of $147.75 for the district meeting pursuant to Buenos sanitation district ordinance 2006-1. I would like to remind everyone that the Vist Municipal Code requires members of the public to observe order and decorum during the meeting and to conduct themselves in a courteous manner. The ordinance was adopted to allow for public input and to facilitate city business without disruption of the meeting. Applause is appropriate for items listed under the presentation portion of the agenda item only. Students wishing to receive credit for attending this evening's meeting must stay for a minimum of 1 hour. However, we ask that you stay for the completion of an item rather than leaving in the m middle of a discussion. When you ready to leave, you may ask one of the staff members at the back of the room to sign your paper. Thank you.

Thank you very much. To speak on an item on tonight's agenda, please fill out a speaker slip with the number of the item you'd like to speak on and give it to the clerk secretary staff here at the DIS. Speaker slips are available on the table just outside the city council chambers. For members of the public participating via Zoom, you may use the raise your hand feature to indicate you'd like to speak or click uh star press star 9 on your touchstone phone. We will announce when to raise your hand to indicate you'd like to make a comment on the specific item being discussed. Speakers will each have three minutes to address the council. Now we'll go to our city manager for approval of tonight's agenda. Thank you, mayor. As noted in the agenda, PH1 is removed. Otherwise, there are no changes. Thank you very much. And we do have one presentation this evening. So I'd like to invite my council members to join me at the lectern.

All right. Tonight, it's our honor to present a proclamation recognizing our firefighter paramedic, Connor Frasier, firefighter of the year 2025. [applause] [applause] [applause] Have your family come down, too. Would you like that? How about we have Connor's family come on down, too. Get some good pictures. [applause] [cheering]

All right. [applause] All right. So, I'm going to read this proclamation on behalf of the city council. It says, "Whereas on January 13, 2026, we gather to recognize and celebrate firefighter paramedic Connor Frasier, the deserving recipient of the esteemed firefighter of the year award for the 2025 calendar year. Whereas Connor genuinely embodies the heart, courage, and devotion that define the fire service and emergency medical services, demonstrating a tireless commitment to helping others in moments when every second counts, and possesses a natural calm under pressure, paired with remarkable skills, competence, and confidence that consistently make a real difference in emergencies. Performing with the expertise that saves lives and protects property. Whereas Connor has dedicated substantial time and effort to ensuring the operational proficiency of data collection, communication, and billable revenue processes within the water, street, and EMS program while consistently sharing his expertise as a paramedic preceptor and playing a key role in training the next generation of responders by initiating revisions to sections of the new higher probationary manual and modernizing language and structure to enhance clarity and support the success of incoming recruits. Whereas what truly distinguishes Connor is his passion, his compassion and ability to inspire, serving not only as an outstanding firefighter and paramedic, but also as a thoughtful teacher and a genuine mentor who guides newer members with humility, professionalism, and quiet confidence, which is which naturally commands respect and motivates others to notice and emulate his approach without seeking personal recognition. Whereas Connor arrives every day prepared to serve, willing to teach, and determined to make

a difference with consistent reliability, strengthening our team and those we protect through his dedication. Whereas firefighter paramedic Connor Frasier stands as a treasured member of the Vista Fire of Vista Fire Rescue, not only for his accomplishments, but for the character he displays, having demonstrated from the very start of his career with the city of Vista his loyalty to the profession, the people, and the service. the fire service family. Now, therefore, as mayor, on behalf of the members of the Vista City Council, I do hereby proclaim Wednesday, January 14, 2026, as a day dedicated to honoring firefighter paramedic Connor Frasier, our esteemed firefighter of the year for 2025. May his profound impact on our fire department and community stand as a testament to his outstanding leadership and selfless service. [applause] Now we'll hear from Chief Washington.

Well, good evening. Uh, my name is Gerard Washington, Fire Chief, City of Vista here. Um, I have the honor of presenting this award to him, but before I present it, I just want to say a couple of words. I bumped into him yesterday at station one, and I say, "Hey, how's it going? Are you excited about tomorrow?" He says, "Yeah, yeah, I am. my family's more excited than me. And he wasn't just talking about blood family, but fire department family. He says, "You know, chief, we're just doing our job." And I said, "You're right. Just doing your job." I want to thank the council. I want to thank the city manager for recognizing our staff that not only does their job, but this is a perfect example of someone that's doing more than their job. You know, it's well, he's doing his job. He's doing his job. No, this is an extraordinary individual here. The support he has from the field and from his family and we have an extraordinary department. And so again, thank you all for allowing us to honor these individuals that go above and beyond just doing their job. So I truly appreciate you for that.

So I got to put on my specs even though it's only a couple of sentences. [applause] 2025 firefighter of the year, Vista Fire Rescue. Thank you for your commitment to serve our community with pride and professionalism. Thank you again. Thank you to the family. [applause] You want to say a few words? [applause] Few words. Uh I just want to thank uh our ESO Roxan for the nomination for this opportunity to be recognized by both the city and by my department. Um I'm extremely grateful uh and humble in in this. Uh like chief said um I'm not much to want recognition for this. I think together as a team, the Vista Fire Rescue is what really does all the work. Um and so for all that, thank you.

[applause] want to take a picture with you right here.

[applause]

Stand behind CJ. Yes. I'm getting on my

Yeah, fellas. Act like you took a photo before. You want to get in this Take one step closer.

[applause and cheering]

Connor, were your parents here and didn't get a picture with you? I I heard Connor's parents are here. Come on up, Connor's parents, come on, get a picture. You sure?

All right. Chief Washington. Hey, on behalf of the whole council, thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to join you and the members of the department and honoring Connor and and all the awards you've been bringing forward to us. We appreciate that partnership. Thank you.

Okay, it's going to bring us to the oral communications opportunity. Any member of the public may address the city council on agency related matters not on the agenda by requesting to speak during this section of the agenda. If you are participating via Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or press star9 now if you'd like to speak. The number of speakers will be heard during this segment is limited to 10. Any remaining speakers will be heard under the second oral communications item. And looks like I think we do have one oral two oral communications speakers. The first is Tammy Mant. Is Tammy here? I apologize if I got your last name terribly wrong. Just pull that microphone there right toward There you go. Thank you. Just pull it straight down back towards you.

Um I'm kind of embarrassed about my situation, but um I is I've been working with the Rescue Mission for about maybe like almost four years now. Let's just say I'm still unhoused. [snorts] I went through domestic violence and a sexual assault and I'm fleeing still actively and they are aware of it. Marsha, Vanessa, I I don't understand what I am doing, what I'm not doing, but I came to the city of Vista when I had two black eyes and I asked for a special hand in my situation. Um, and I got referred to the rescue mission. Still, uh, traumatic things are happening out here. so traumatic that I I I'm barely hanging on and I'm trying to heal and move forward and I simply can't with more traumatic things happening to me out here being homeless in my car. Uh the supportive safe house or the supportive housing I was not checked into clarity for 4 months. I don't know why I see them. I keep communicating with them on a regular basis. Uh I was half tempted to put a tent right in front of the office. I don't know. But I can't slip through the cracks anymore. I just can't because it's my life and I matter and I'm just as deserving as anybody else. I'm document ready for my housing. I have everything submitted and I don't understand. And I was wondering if you could possibly um look into this for me, get some kind of action um accountability um or something.

Thank you. If you look back here, uh Alda Herta is our assistant city manager. She's raising her hand. Yes, I spoke to her before at a I came to a city council meeting before and I was talking to her and was detourred not to come up here to the podium. I feel that's okay. You have a right to speak, but I and I and your time is up, but I want to let you know that uh now that Alda has your information, we will follow up and thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. And now we'll go to Zoom and we'll hear. Do we have uh have one more? No, no, it's not too late. Okay, Carol Jeff, thank you.

Hi. [clears throat] Sorry, I I just thought of what I wanted to say right after you said those oral communications. So, um I live in this neighborhood, so there's a lot of speed humps, which I'm fine with, but um there's an interesting phenomenon where a lot of the speed humps at parts of the day are shrouded in shadow. It there's they're always next to a tree or something and there's part of the day when they're in shadow and they're hard to see even with the little arrows on them. So, I just wanted to let you know that in the Bario and Carlsbad they have speed humps or speed tables, I guess. I'm not sure which one they have, but they have um horizontal lines leading up to the hump. So, they're like I think in I think they're like either bigger to smaller or smaller to bigger and it's just a little bit more visibility for that speed hump that's coming up because I swear to you they placed these speed humps next to trees for [laughter] for to hide them because they're they can be really hard to see especially if you're not familiar with the neighborhood. So, I just wanted to put that out there. I think it would be a very easy solution to make it a little easier on people who are driving through the neighborhood on your suspension. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Peggy Walker on Zoom, followed by Becky Rap. Peggy Walker.

Hi. Good evening. Happy New Year to you all and thank you. As the public health educator, I'm here to share that January is substance use disorder treatment month. In line with that, a new 2026 drug impact report from Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which is a leading authority on marijuana's impact on the nation and consequently on us here in Vista, was just released. It reports disturbingly negative statistics, including its steep increase in marijuana treatment needs. The report associates daily use of high potency cannabis with a four-fold increase in risk of psychosis, higher rates of psychosis hospitalizations, a 25% higher risk of heart attack, and 42% risk of stroke both at younger ages than ever, and sharply elevated risks for head and neck cancers. The report shows pediatric edible marijuana exposures for children under age six increased 1,375% over 5 years in those places where pot is legalized. Those are just a few findings. One of the most important is that in response to adverse outcomes, seven out of 10 marijuana legalization ballot measures have failed since 2022. 54% of Americans now report believing that marijuana has a negative impact on society and 51% a negative impact on users. This data suggests it may be time for us to rethink our marijuana policies, especially related to potency, coming now sometimes in concentrates at 98%

above anything found naturally. Thank you for hearing my concerns. Next, we'll hear from Becky Rap.

Good evening. My name is Becky Rap and I'm a public health educator and I'd like to bring to your attention important peer-reviewed scientific research recently highlighted in the American Journal of Psychiatry, one of the nation's leading medical journals. The research reinforces that the human brain continues developing until approximately age 25. And during adolescence and young adulthood, the brain regions responsible for judgment, impulse control, and emotional regulation are still forming. Exposure to psychoactive substances during this developmental period carries consequential risk. The American Journal of Psychiatry summarizes decades of clinical and neurobiological research showing that marijuana exposure during brain development can alter brain structure and function. Early infrequent use is associated with a higher risk of addiction, anxiety, depression, psychosis, and long-term cognitive effects. These risks are compounded by today's high potency THC products, which are far stronger than those studied in the past. As marijuana becomes increasingly normalized, youth and young adults are often exposed to misleading or enticing messaging, including billboards and other forms of advertising that show minimized risk and emphasize appeal. This creates a disconnect between what the science shows and what young people are led to believe. I encourage this city council to prioritize prevention education that is accurate, age appropriate, and grounded in peerreview science and to continue examining policies related to marijuana advertising that may unintentionally promote use among developing brains. Thank you.

Okay, that'll close the opportunity for oral communications during this council meeting. Bring us to our consent calendar. The recommendations on the following consent calendar will be enacted in one motion unless an item is removed from the calendar. Any member of the public may remove an item by submitting a request to speak card to the clerk secretary by using the raise their hand feature on Zoom or by pressing star 9. Now items removed from the consent calendar will be considered immediately following the adoption of the calendar. We have nine consent items this evening. Council member Melendez, I move approval of the consent calendar. Council member Fox, I second. Council member Contrarus.

Um I just wanted to point out uh C7 LES Duran Park community room uh restroom project. It's been a long time. Um so I'm I'm really happy about that. And we're going to be doing some restriping. So we're going to have a net gain of 20 parking spaces at LS Duran Park, which is fantastic. Um, and then I just also wanted to call out uh that our solar street light project um once this is adopted we'll we'll move forward and there's a lot of lights going in. So that's very exciting as well.

Very good. Uh hearing no items pulled by the council or public. We have a motion to second. Please cast your votes. The consent calendar is adopted unanimously. Unanimously. That'll bring us to our first of two discussion items this evening. Our first item is a proposed city logo redesign and branding. If any members of the public wish to speak on this item, they may indicate so by using the raise their hand feature by pressing star 9 or submitting a request to speak card. Speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Our assistant city manager, Amalorta, will introduce the item.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, and members of the city council. Again, my name is Al Dewarta, assistant city manager. Tonight, our communications officer, Fred Tracy, and I will be providing an update and report on the city's logo redesign and branding efforts. [snorts] As a brief background, the city of Vista's current logo was last updated in 2004 and has represented the community for over two decades. As the city has grown and evolved, so has the need for a refreshed visual identity that reflects our modern character, values, and aspirations. Key considerations, as noted in the previous discussion, included reflecting Vista's evolving identity and values, enhancing public engagement and civic pride, optimizing for digital and print usability, and demonstrating innovation and relevance. As you can see on the screen, um, highlighted is the city's current logo. [snorts] In 2024, um again as a background to the previous discussion, the city issued a request for proposals for logo and brandmark design. Three proposals were received and a committee of city staff and multiple departments interviewed the designers. Based on experience, qualifications, and proposal details, the committee selected James or Jamie Mulehousen, also part of Vibroic, a Vista based designer with credits including graphic design work for national brands such as Tony Hawk, Vans, ESPN, Surfer Magazine, and many more. As outlined in the October presentation, the original scope of work included two phases, which with a total project cost of 42,000. Phase one has uh a total cost of 35,000 and phase two a total cost of 7,000. As a reminder, the committee began working with Mr. Muhousen on the first part of the project which focused on the development of a new city logo. As part

of the process, staff conducted community outreach to gather input. Um 101 responses were gathered for the brand noun survey and 104 responses were collected for the brand color survey. Surveys were promoted via the Vista News Center, eblast, city social media channels and through invitations to city commission members. Now I'll pass it on to Fred to discuss the draft logo that was presented and the um the newly proposed logos. Good evening.

Good evening. As a reminder, the internal city committee began working with Mr. Muhousen on the first part of the project, which focused on the development of a new city logo. As part of the process, staff conducted community outreach to gather input. 101 responses were gathered for the brand noun survey. Thank you. which highlights keywords such as community, hills, sunshine, trees, parks, weather, views, etc. 104 responses were collected for the brand color survey in which the majority of respondents chose green, blue, yellow colors with orange and red closely behind. Surveys were promoted via the Vista News Center eblast, city social media channels, and through invitations to city commission members, as well as past participants of the city's leadership academy program. Based on feedback received and our graphic designers aesthetic, a draft logo was created, which is on the screen, and was presented to the city council on October 14th of last year. Council members discussed the city's logo design and branding created by our graphic designer and discussed the color palette, design elements, and the font of the proposed logo. Also, at that meeting, council members requested that staff continue working with Mr. Muhousen to develop alternative designs to present to the city council for consideration. At that meeting, Mr. Dr. Muhousen explained that the logo redesign and branding include a comprehensive package with logo options for various platforms including banners, business cards, badges, and sub logos for departments and divisions. Staff and Mr. Housing conferred with

each council member in November and December 2025 to review the comprehensive branding package with different logo options. Based on council member feedback, Mr. Muhousen made revisions and we are presenting three options tonight along with some additional options requested by council member Fox. So, here are the main three logo options that we're presenting for you tonight. And on the next slide, um, are some, um, requests, um, made by council member Fox for your consideration tonight. Staff are sorry staff are requesting city council to discuss the proposed redesign of the city logo and overall branding strategy and provide direction to staff regarding the options provided and approve the first amendment to the contract for graphic design services. The contract is amended to expand the cope of ser scope of services by adding the additional services described in exhibit 3. The contract total compensation amount is amended to increase the contract ceiling by $78727 to a new total contract ceiling of $42,78727. The increase will compensate the contractor for the expanded scope of services. To date, $26,39812 has been expended on the project. Staff will allocate resources from the current fiscy year operating bad budget for the additional $16,389 from the communications division budget. Additionally, staff will appropriate funding in the upcoming budget cycles to begin rebranding city materials pending city council direction. This concludes staff's presentation. We are happy to answer any questions. Additionally, the graphic designer Jamie Mulehausen is in attendance. Um, and then I just wanted to reiterate that we

are voting on the design. Um, and colors can be changed as um, as directed by council.

So, uh, council, I I just don't see a design here that I like for the next 20 years for Vista. So, I want to make a recommendation that we, uh, pause where we're at with our current contractor. I'd like to see us have a competition, open it up to uh everybody in Vista and throughout the world to submit uh designs to us and the you know we can award a contract uh to a if if the winning artist is not capable of producing all the subdesigns uh if they'll assign the work and give us the license to it then we can hire Mr. Muhousen and his firm to create all the ancillary artwork. So, but I'd love to see a lot more options and you know, I'd love for us to find something that really hits us and we go, man, that's it right there. I just don't see that in any of the designs we've seen yet. So, with that, let's go to Council Member Melendez.

Thank you for this presentation. Uh I understand that this is coming back to us after um several uh iterations. Um the initial uh engagement with the artists was internal where we had staff meetings. Um we did have a competitive process um where um applicants submitted uh their interests and um maybe you could speak to um Alda and Fred maybe you can speak to a little bit um further you know why did um Mr. from Muhousen become the top artists that staff ultimately referred to the city council.

The committee felt that out of all three of the designers that were interviewed that Mr. Muhousen had um the best aesthetic as a designer um we in in looking at um the other and in interviewing the other designers um we just felt that Mr. Housen would give us something more vibrant and modern as opposed to something very corporatel looking.

Yeah. You know, I think that that's seen here. And so I really appreciate, you know, anytime you have uh art, right? Um and I would love to go back to the slides where we're seeing um the draft uh proposal. Yes. Um and I, you know, I understand everybody has different perspectives, right? But um as a as a creative person myself, I and and ever since I was very young, right, and and learned from other artists, I learned that it was really important to make choices, right? And so staff tasked with this um you know, important discussion um you know, ultimately you made a choice and I'm hearing um a motivation in that choice was vibrancy, right? Um quality, right? Right. And those are some of the things that I would probably um want to see in my finished logo. And I'm seeing those things. I'm seeing quality and vibrancy and clarity uh displayed for us. Um so there's a couple notes that I wanted to share. One, I think that the reason why we need a new logo is very clear. Um we want to be able to communicate to the public, to the community, what the city of Vista is, right? um and as a trustworthy source of um information and um you know as a uh welcoming space at events, right? And just as a um an important institution in the community uh that we have a recognizable um logo and image. Um part of that is moving into more digital format with sharing information. Our current logo is crowded and dated and not really communicating much to the public on a digital format. These designs communicate very well um the city of Vista identity. And another thing that I

really liked about this process was the uh community surveys and that we have just displayed before us and you can go back to these as well, the word clouds. And what I really think that they uh demonstrate for us is that our current logo is missing a lot of the iconography that our community identifies with. Um, you know, we're now seeing in some of these completed designs those um natural um images, [clears throat] right, of hills and sunshine uh and vibrancy that um the community in these community surveys has asked to be represented. So, I'm seeing those represented. And let's go back to the to the designs now. So, I like the designs. I like the central the central design here. Um, option two. Um, that that's my preference. Um, you know, when it comes to having a competitive process, I believe we did have a competitive process. I'm not necessarily interested in seeing art from artists all over the world because art from artists all over the world is not necessarily going to be reflective of the community identity here in Vista. I'm really proud that we have Mr. Muhous in here um and that he has such great expertise and he's able to to share that with the city of Vista. Um, you know, my council might have different design preferences. Um, you know, but I think that the changes that the artist was able to make, um, combines some of those options. Um, I like I like the colors. I like the fonts that are used in logo option two. Um, so that, you know, that

would be my top choice. Um, but ultimately the the entire range of options here help us get closer to what we're trying to accomplish, right? A logo that is modern, that is um appropriate for the digital age and is being brought to us by a local artist. Um, so I might not necessarily make a motion right now, but I really would want to um, you know, be clear that we did have a competitive process and now we have a local artist that has provided um, art for us to utilize and I would like to be able to utilize that art. We have um, received a lot of work from Mr. from me housing, but we have not had um the license to be able to use it in any of our city operations. And that's the point. Um it's for it to be able to be useful to us and not just something that we as council members kind of imagine, you know, what would we do, what would we draw up, but ultimately ask a professional artist with ties to the community to design something that's going to be eye-catching and of value to the public. And I think these designs are very valuable and I particularly like option number two. So I'd love to hear from the rest of the council about your design preferences.

Council member O'Donnell. Deputy Mayor O'Donnell. It's going to take a minute for everyone to get used to. Trust me. Me too. Thank you. Um just for clarification, the city seal is not changing. Correct.

Correct. I just want the public to be aware of that because a lot of people like I can't believe we're losing our avocados and strawberries and stripes and that is not what's changing. It is just a city logo. Um I have questions more around things that are in the future as far as the roll out of this program and uh I will lean on both of you and our city manager if these are questions better asked at a later date. Uh I'm happy to wait until that time. But the cost of a roll out of this is some of the things one of the things that kind of concerns me. Um, do we have an estimated cost on what it would be to roll this out citywide?

So, we have been working with our public works department. It would take a while. So, for example, as we run out of business cards, we would get the new business cards. It would depend what type of material, what type of um what what we're using to replace monument signs or different signage throughout the city, but we could have a better cost of all that in the near future. I think it'd be really good. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. [clears throat] The intention tonight was to get a design and then we'd come back to you. I'm just giving some feedback on what would be great to have when that comes back. So, we we were planning on kind of evaluating all of the improvements that we need to make to change the signage out and we would report back.

Cool. Thank you. Um, okay. I mean, and then I can wait on that and see, uh, and I can ask these questions internally. So, I'd like to meet up with you all just to get these for the next time when this presentation comes forward. Uh, but it is going to be centered around what that roll out looks like, what the cost is going to be, what our strategy is and implementation as far as phases go. Um, and then long-term maintenance that goes along with it. Uh, and if there's any contractors that might be impacted by this logo design. Um, as far as the actual design myself, I appreciate all the work that went into this. I know that we had a chance to sit down and kind of revamp and go through it. Uh the renderings that council member Fox had asked for is in line with rendering number two. However, the one that's in the lower I don't know if you have those available in this packet. Um but yes, so the one that's at the bottom of the section of five with the raised lettering, that would be my preference, which removes the word California out of there and just puts Vista with it. it kind of adds a little pop to the to the um to the letters there. So, that would be the one that I would choose uh if I were to pick one of these three, but I am definitely open to hearing from the council on what their direction and decision might be uh where they'd like to take this, if these are even ones that we want to approve this evening or not. Uh but those are all my comments for now and I'll look forward to hearing from the council.

Council member Contrarus.

Yeah, I mean this has been an incredible amount of work. Um, and I, you know, I have questions similar to, uh, Deputy Mayor O'Donald, uh, regarding the roll out and whatnot, but just thinking that it will take a long time. Um, I think it would be good for I think we have a good selection here and I feel like council could narrow it down to three, four, five designs. I would really just like to put it up to the public to decide from those designs. Um, I think that would be a great way to get some more public engagement and feedback. Um, and we've done that before with Paula Vista Park, the naming of it. I just I I would love to hear more because I I don't want five people to decide um, you know, the the whole future of Vista's logo and branding. Um, I think we could definitely listen to a lot more folks. Uh, so that would be my preference if today we could narrow it down, uh, and then put it up for, you know, a vote of the public. Um, and then that would come back to council. We could review that. Um, and yeah, so I I don't think that that's infeasible to do. I think it'll be probably pretty easy. uh we could give it to the public for you know maybe two months um and then you know collect that feedback and then come back and then at the same time we could have an idea of what the cost is the and the timeline for implementation. Um, so I don't know if my council is okay with that, but uh, if I had to decide, I mean, I think we put all, um,

the three options up. Uh, and I do I do like, um, what you pointed out, uh, Deputy Mayor O'Donnell, the, uh, the vista with the pop. But I do, you know, at first I didn't really I know that the colors could change. The red was interesting to me, but I I'm kind of liking it a lot now on option two. Uh but I say we just go to the public with these three options and then the fourth option being um just the vista raised um from Yeah. Is that from you, Council Member Fox, or is that the

kind? Okay. A kind Yeah. Council member Fox worked with a designer. All the ones all these are council member Fox. All these are all of these are your iterations. Uh all I did was ask for some additional fonts. So he he it was me who asked for it, but yeah, he it was all him and I didn't Yeah. So I would I would want to add that one um to it. And I think those four options gives give us a lot of options to show the public. To clarify, is it the bottom one of the group of five? Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Uh and so I I would I'm not going to make a motion. I'll just offer that up as a point of discussion for the rest of the council if they're okay. But I think this is a great way to involve the public and I I really would love to hear some more feedback.

Council member Fox. All right. Thank you. Um, and I just wanted to thank you guys for all the hard work that you've done on this. U Thank you so much for for taking the time to meet with us individually and and uh get back notes so quickly on some of the things that we that we said. That was fantastic. Um, and um before I get into kind of like, you know, which ones I like and all that, um, just a quick question, what is the process from here? So, if we pick select one tonight, is that locked in or is it like we iterate from there? What is the process moving forward just for everyone's knowledge?

Yeah. So, if you select one tonight, we we would approve you would approve the amendment which is um to pay Jamie for the additional scope of services and then we would roll out the different the branding and um the the new logo which would include replacing the business cards, our letter head. Um I I see those as kind of immediate items we could do. Um and then working closely with appropriate staff regarding the cost to to replace signage on out in the field, monument signs and um other other items that I'm sure we can't think of right now. But

yeah, I I I attempted to get a quote for the monument signs um but they were reluctant to do that until they knew what the logo looked like and what the shape of it was. But our plan is to kind of use the budget process and a budget each year appropriately to get the roll out going and uh completed in a timely manner. And on the divi design phase, is it basically like we pick it I mean we talked about having potentially changing colors up or doing some little things like that. Is that is that part of the the current contract the amended contract?

Correct. I think we your additional scope is included. Correct. Yes. the additional scope if there is something that goes above um the what the scope that's provided in the packet um I believe it would still fall under John the city manager's authority up to a certain threshold um but I do believe the contract has been very we all like the same design but maybe you don't all agree on colors on the spec you know that kind of thing so nothing I mean yeah so the color should be fairly simple to change

okay um and then you know for the when it comes to putting it up to the public for the final vote I don't think I have any issues with per se and is something that it's nice to get whenever you're doing something citywide that people kind of just have to live with. It's nice to get some buy in. So, it's uh you know feel like they have some ownership over the final result and so um people feel better some about something that they kind of got to have some say in. So, um I'm not fully against that. Um especially if we can get a few really locked in dialed in options for them to choose from, that's that's fine with me. Um I will say that you know when with the this slide in particular the one where these options um this came out of our our our meeting I I actually I didn't mind the f the first one uh the the which is logo number two uh from this packet and you know I my questions were like could I see some different font treatments some things like that. Um the big things for me when it comes to logos, you know, I like simplicity. I like readability. Um you know, flexibility and brandability, right? So you can kind of use it in different ways. It's recognizable. Um you can take different elements and use them in different places. And and I will say that a lot of the the looking through that the full packet of what came with it the the last at the last meeting, you know, option two came with, you know, the banners and monument signs and a lot of those things were um were awesome. You know, I think they I liked them a lot. Like I think especially with the option two here, the monument sign where like the the mountains and the the sea kind of come together and Vista is over it and all that looked really sweet. And so having some flexibility to do that kind of stuff is the mark of a really good logo because you can use different elements in different places. Uh and in that in the swing of that the uh logo option three al it came out of out of our conversation was there was another one in the packet where I think it was the original it was based on the original one that you you had posted online that

kind of got this whole thing started and uh with the V and the A that kind of you have that artistic sweep across which you know looking at the like the fact that we have a V and an A and they're just arrows pointing up and down to not utilize that in the uh you know in the design was you know a tragedy to me Um, so I really liked that first that kind of design, but I was curious if we could add that story element of the mountain and the between the mountain and the sea to that design and see if it would fit in those spaces. And I think that's kind of where this came from. So, um, glad to see that it does fit very well and I so I do actually like that one the best. My biggest concerns with that when I saw the first draft of it was that the VNA were a little hard to read because the u they kind of become part of the design element and they almost kind of see the IST that pops out of the middle. So, in this current version, I noticed that he split the V and the circle um and used different colors, which I think eliminates that entirely. So, that was a really um a really clever little fix there. Uh and so, if you go to the ones that that I had submitted, I liked the um so I put together the one on the right. Okay, it's still on the right for you guys. Um, my note was that I think the having the double circle made it like kind of had like reduced vis readability a little bit and then I wanted to kind of see what it looked like without having the red cuz if we took California out now there's no other red elements in the logo. So I was just trying to see like if we could get it down to kind of a two shades of two colors kind of thing. So ignore that weird funky gold color. I literally picked I just went to yellow and dragged the slider or the red and drag dragged it to yellow and whatever the hue came out just as like an example. Um I'm terrible with color theory so um like [laughter] they'll fix that. Um but I wanted to kind of see what that looked like and you know it kind of brought it into something that I thought simplified it a little bit and I think made it like pretty clean. So, uh, one of my favorite things about that version three is if you go back one, sorry. Um, the one where it just says the word Vista, city of Vista since 1963 there, where you get

rid of the circle, it makes actually a really good horizontal kind of logo, which, you know, with the with the lot of these ones with the circle, they kind of become square, uh, you know, like perfect, you know, square kind of cubes. And so, uh, having a logo that's flexible where you can just put the word Vista and it's still in a font that is brandable that you can recognize as part of our logo I thought was pretty cool. So, um, that's why I kind of leaned towards option three here. Um, I do I liked pretty much all of the different color variations on the bottom. I think the the reds and oranges were really cool. Like kind of that almost like rust like I thought that was pretty pretty cool. But um all of them I think are very feasible. Um I also like the the top right that where you put it into the just black and white the mono color for things like door labels and things like that. Uh works really well final stickers, things like that. So um so that's kind of where the direction that I was leaning, you know, and I actually think that city of Vista since 1963 is something that I'd be using on a lot of stuff just because it'll fit really nicely. Um but um those are kind of my notes for for that. So, you know, I liked option three. Um, I liked simplifying it a little bit, taking out that that outside circle. Uh, I think on the booklet, I think it was maybe when you had all the designs, I think it was option number two originally. And on that there was some where there was a solid background field and then so there wasn't an extra circle around the outside, but the the color field extended past the vista circle and so that kind of became the outside circle and that looked pretty sweet, too. So now now with all the mountains and and sea that might not work anymore, but you know that was just a you know a note. So there's probably a lot of cool things we could do with it that I that um that I really enjoyed. So um that's [clears throat] kind of the the direction that I'm leading and I think that you know I'd be happy kind of moving in that direction personally. But um again when it comes to the idea of potentially putting something like that up to the public, I'm also open to something like that. So I think that'll

do it for now.

Council member Melendez. Thank you all for your um feedback and recommendations. Um I actually had a different thought, council member. Um I don't prefer the font on option three. And although I like the approach of um highlighting the V and the A as part of the font, I didn't feel like the font stands standing alone um was as attractive to me. Um, I do like, you know, the idea of a logo that is able to be adaptable. Um, of course, we want a logo that's very strong in a circle, uh, that will have many, many applications. Um, but I, um, you know, the curvature of the V and the A in the version without the circle where it says city of Vista since 1963, um, you know, that to me just reads a little bit more lopsided. I think that that font in particular is a little bit more casual and a little bit more skate than what I'm thinking we would go for for our city of Vista logo. And so I would still prefer option two. And so, you know, these are the essentially the three options that are in front of us right now. Um, and Council Member O'Donnell or Deputy Mayor O'Donnell, excuse me. I uh the reason why I wouldn't uh include this other option um that was um an inclusion because council member Fox asked for different fonts is because I do believe that that is the same font as option two, but it does include a stroke or shadow. Um and then you know there is the debate about whether or not we include California. I tend to want to include the name of our state in our logo. Um, but I can see in shorthand how maybe we want a logo that

is just purely Vista. So I think if we can have adaptable options like that, that would be great. So because that font is the same, um, you know, perhaps you would be interested in sharing with the public these three options. Um because really the design elements whether we include California or not um whether we use different colors, whether we have an exterior circle, um you know those are all things that are I think small changes but the core design elements of the fonts um the iconography and just the um the composition in general I think are all pretty standard on these three options. Um so and I do like that font. So, if it did come down to including that one, I think it could be a little confusing to the community because they are so so similar because they're essentially the same except for an added shadow. Um, so I like council member Contreras's idea of per perhaps taking these three design options, which is what's presented to us today, and uh, putting a survey out maybe 30 or 60 days, and similar how we did to PA Vista Park when we were naming the park um, and being able to ask, you know, and of course there's differences of opinions across the council, right? And it's just, you know, what we think is attractive and interesting and what catches our eye. Um but ultimately all three are wonderfully uh made. They are such quality um that I would be proud to go to the community and ask them you know what do you think of these ideas and I'm sure we would get um some enthusiastic responses from people and have a very clear choice right as to what people want. So um I would just ask um maybe our city manager what would the process look like for us to uh put it out to the community? We would most likely put it online and advertise a public vote for the 60 days and then come back and report out to council on the results.

All right. Well, I would um I would move that we take these um these three uh concepts using the fonts and design elements that are here. Um and we put it to the public to see which one they would prefer. Thanks. Just to be clear with that suggestion, we're not assigning the decision to the public, just receiving input from the public and the council will still make a decision. Is that what your thought is?

I think and maybe city attorney would have to clarify for us. The public vote would not necessarily that would be if if the public were to vote on our um uh logo. That would have to be some sort of ballot measure. If we were just to take an informal survey, that would just be information. Yes. And I think what the mayor is asking is as long as is you can make a motion to have the public make the determination per se or have it just be forformational uh for the council for

well I would I would say that we're asking the public to vote on their preference and then we would review that and uh I would hope that all of our council would um at least lean towards that option. Yeah, that that was my question basically was uh the sense of those of us that want to survey the public that we want to receive the input but we're not necessarily going to be bound by it. Uh Deputy Mayor O'Donnell.

Yeah. I mean, even if with the raised lettering we included California, I'd be open to seeing that option. Here's what I don't want to do, though, and I'm open to putting it out to the public. I don't want to have to come back and then do another redesign and eventually whether it's within the threshold of the city manager's approval or not. Uh at $42,000 I think that we've dedicated enough resources to making uh these logos to what they are. Um but I'm I'm open to putting it to the public to get feedback so we can kind of figure out what we like, what we don't, uh what they like, what they don't, and then just trying to make sure we stick as close to these as possible just to minimize cost. Could I ask you a question? Y for you on your design preferences. Is it really between um you know is it a matter of the raised lettering that

that's the only thing that would Yeah. Because for like number three it's kind of like you mentioned I mean I think number three is great if you have a surf shop or you have a beer company or some other brand that you're trying to to create but I think for a city logo it just it's a little too um a little too bold you know which it's a beautiful logo. I just don't think it's right for the city. Um, but my my concern is the further we kick this can down the road, the more the cost will go up. Well, then, you know, if that's if that's your um, you know, primary concern, and if if you're okay with the public seeing it without the shadowing, then um, by all means, you know, I'd love your support on the motion, but if you can't support it, unless you have that shadowing uh, there, then I'd be happy to support that.

Well, I guess this would be my next question then. From a legal standpoint, what are what are our abilities to make alterations to the logo once we are in possession of it? Once we own it and own the license, we can make any changes we want to it. So, it would be our copyright, our trademark. So, I mean, I I guess if we can put in an option, I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to put another digital option on there of like we'll leave California and but create raised lettering with Vista and just put four of them out there. you know, I know they're similar enough, but there's just that little variation. Um, then I could I'd be supportive if you're supportive of that. I'd be happy to support the,

you know, I would rather just have three options because um it it tends to be better for surveys to have an odd number of options. And so I would I would just support your um design preference and include uh the raised lettering with this with California in there. Yeah, we could. Let's do that. I'm totally open to that. I think that it's close enough to um what's presented here that um you know we would probably get a clear yes or no about it from the community. Sounds good. Well, I will second that.

Council member Conferus. Um, and just a clarification with the motion that we have um on the floor that's been seconded, city attorney, does do we need to then also add the part and anything else so that the artist is fully compensated or is that there is an amendment for the additional scope of services, but I think um can we is that okay if we add that to the motion? Can you can you enlighten me on that?

So, are you asking with the raised lettering, we would ask uh the artist to to do another set. So, whether that's included in the price, so the artist has indicated it is. So, yeah, then we were fine. Okay. But does it make sense to add that to the motion because it's currently not in the motion, the amendment? No, that that would be we could do that later. That's part of the contract. So, we're Okay. We don't we don't need that from the

And my other question is um is 60 days enough? I mean or what's the what's staff's preference um for the time allotment for the survey? 60 days would be more than adequate.

Okay, fantastic. Just wanted to clarify that. Okay. Well, um I am in agreement. Um, and I I really look forward to the public uh, you know, getting their hands on this and and voting. Um, and I would also uh request that we do a social media campaign letting the public know that uh, we are wanting their input. So, um, that's all I have to say. Thank you,

Council Member Fox. And I just had a a clarifying question with um are we just planning on putting the three logos themselves or was there like or any of the sample use cases? Will there be any like supplements with it or is it literally just the three logos on their like standalone like this? Based on the motion, we're assuming it's just the three logos. Is that the preference of the council? Is that is that by design? Okay.

Yes. So, the only other thing that I can think of, but it, you know, I'm not a web designer or whatever, but it would be, you know, that you click on it and then there's the um different iterations that come up, right? I mean, if that's Yeah, I was thinking more like like I think it's then is it the page before after where it has like it in a bunch of other different versions of it. So, I mean, I could see it where you know

you click on it or whatever, you showcase it all. I don't know how I would be okay with the public being able to see all the different iterations as well. Um I guess if we were to move forward in that direction, we probably wouldn't need to amend the motion to include that unless if like this was what was was on the the survey was something like what's on our screen now and it's like one, two, or three kind of thing. Yeah. The only thing that is I would want to make certain is that um because it you know if you're not aware of the context of it could look like a bunch of different logos. So um

city manager I don't know that I have a super strong preference either way. It was mostly just for clarification purposes if like what what it would look like. Um okay. [clears throat] So from staff's perspective it's probably going to complicate it quite a bit if we have links to these that you click on. Uh we can identify as part of the um survey that there's a number of different uh iterations that were presented to council and we can link it to the staff report, but I'd prefer to just stick to the three logos if that's okay.

And just to confirm, I apologize. Um part of staff's recommendation was to approve the first amendment and I just to clarify that. Yeah, we're good. Thank you. I was just going to add to what you were just saying about uh whether to have just three logos in the survey or all of these. I think if you put the that sheet, for instance, up on Facebook, uh somebody's going to say, "Oh, I like the blue one, but I don't like the green one, but it's the same logo."

And so, I think by simplifying down your choices, it's going to be more helpful. And I think that it would be fine. I I could put together something if you wanted to see the usage of those logos like on the side of the truck and the sign and like we did in some of the examples. That might be a good use for the public to see, but giving them 20 color options is a whole, right? And I think that and I the reason I bring that up is because option two, some of the use cases I liked better than the logo itself. It was just like they they were my favorite part. And so that was like, you know, kind of where I was coming from with that. So

anyway, just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. I'm still confused by some of the different colorations and whether or not these are color options for us to choose from or whether they're different use cases. There's there's a lot of stuff here. Uh, Council Member Melinda, thank you. You know, I do apologize. I I might step back my um my concession before, but I really I don't prefer the shadowed element here. And I kind of want to talk to the artist, Mr. Muhasen about um this the differences, right?

Um I here's here's my theory. If we do if we present to the public four logos and it's these plus a version where the center uh option has shadowing, then I believe that this is the popular option. I believe option two is the popular option and we would likely get you know majority of people uh choosing that option. and it's just a very friendly logo and um my concern is that if we present to the public a similar logo, right, that it would um split the vote on that. Um and then the reason why I wanted to bring you up, Jamie, is because you know, what is your thought as an artist in terms of you know, how does shadowing impact the design being a different design? Would you say that that shadowed uh version is the same logo design but with a different stroke or shadow added to it?

Yeah, I I I didn't want to jump in before, but um it's basically the same exact logo. It just has a little shadow on the lettering. I think the bigger difference between the two is the word California being in it or not. And I think that's where the public would have a a maybe more input on whether they'd want to see it with California or not. The I think the shadow is could be one version of the same logo. It could be used for certain things and then the more simplified could be used when you need more readability, that type of thing.

So two out of the three logos have California, right? And then California can be removed from all of them. of course. Um, you know, based on your answer, I guess it's it's safe to keep the motion as it is where we add, uh, you know, uh, Deputy Mayor O'Donnell's recommendation of adding the shadowed font. Um, but I think the real question is, do we present these logos to the community um, as is or do we um, you know, we could do multiple rounds of this. I think uh I think I think the question about adding California or not, you know, that is a really big question and we might find that the community prefers option three because it doesn't have the word California there. So I suppose we will see. Um but I just wanted to get your clarification on the the strokes and the um shadowing and how it changes the logo. I was going to add that I could I mean to add more complication to it, but the the option number two that's up there uh with California in it. I could do a version of that with the drop shadow and California together for you to look at, but I know we're trying to come to more of a conclusion here tonight. Uh but it doesn't really change it that much. It's just a little bit of a drop shadow on it. It's all it is. Um

yeah. And so I kind I would kind of prefer to have the logos be presented like flat without additional kind of um font elements to them, right? Um [clears throat] so you know, council member or deputy mayor O'Donnell, I'm so sorry, Deputy Mayor O'Donnell, would you know, knowing that that could be included, right? Shadowing could be included as part of like the enhancements that Jamie can do as part of the larger package. Um but just keeping the design simple for the community to see are you okay with keeping a flat logo.

So what I would say is that um if we're worried about splitting the vote, I think that at that point we would actually have a good understanding of what logo is preferred. Not necessarily the raised lettering or not, but which one and then we can go into the debate of whether or not we want to keep it or let it go. Um it may be beneficial since the the third logo doesn't have the word vist in it to present something that is similar to number two without or doesn't have the word California in it. uh similar to that and then just see what people think. You know, I I agree with you. I hate to see four up there and it it doesn't create congruency within the the vote itself. Uh but this is not a hill I'm going to die on, right? So, if if there's not support from the majority of the council to put in raised lettering and they just want to see these three presented knowing that we can alter the word vista later on, that's fine. Then then I would like to amend my motion and um hopefully I can still have your support to keep the font flat um because those are design elements that can be included later. But I appreciate your point. I think we keep California in there because that might really uh be the difference for folks. So uh if I could have your support on that change that would be great.

And that was my comment that I was going to make. So thank you. Fantastic. I don't need to be recognized. Council member Contrus.

Yeah. Yeah. And I was just going to say, I mean, you know, an option, too, there is a version that doesn't have California on it. And so, you know, if we're going to be linking that to the public, um the the upper right hand corner, um doesn't say California. So, those are just the different iterations. And maybe the drop shadow is, you know, listed on here as an iteration as well um that we link to. Okay. Awesome. What's our uh what's this project just the design work in total including all the ancillary designs for the departments and the signs and what what's our thought of what this is going to cost in total

for the design I believe it's 42,787 um that includes the additional scope of services that that the traffic includes all the departments all the mares everything correct okay Yes sir.

Very good. Okay. Uh Mr. Connley, read back to us your understanding of the motion, please. That we are going to uh advertise the three logos that are presented here to the public for 60 days. Come back to the council with the results of those votes. We will link the prior reports showing the various options, but the votes will primarily stick to the three presented here. We'd report back with the uh results of the vote as well as uh information on the cost and plan to roll them out. Option four, none of the above.

Option four, none of the above. Yeah, I actually would Yeah, I would I would allow that if if the council would support it. You just got to get one more person to agree though. Um, are you interested in making a decision tonight? A decision just picking a logo? Yeah. No, I I'm just saying can we add a fourth option which is I don't like any of the logos presented out. Yeah. On the survey. Again, they don't find us. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's fine. Okay. We got three and a and a maybe not. Okay. What if we did? Very good.

Oh, well, that one might be the most difficult. That one might be harder than, you know, I'm actually gonna retract my support of that because if someone doesn't like the logo, they could just not participate. And we also can see is if we set up this survey, is there a way to see like how many clicks we got on it versus how many people completed it? Yes, we could provide all those analytics. Okay, that's very helpful. Well, wouldn't you rather know if somebody like if they don't like any of them, wouldn't I mean you non-participation can't be counted. Wouldn't you like

also pick, you know, people prefer option A and B? People prefer option A and C. So, there's a lot of different variations we can do. We could I guess the the question is uh do do you want to get a count of people that uh didn't like any of the logos and so they said none of the above? I would probably prefer to add a comment box section. A comment box. Yeah. So that they could they could add optional comments in which they could put any number of comments including that they don't like any. I'm totally in favor of the comment box. Do we have a third for the comment box? I got a a shaking head from Jeff. Yes. In lie of the none of the above.

Um well, I don't know about that, but can can we just agree on a comment box? Option one, two, three, and then a comment box. You cool the comment box? Yeah. Can we limit it to like uh 360 characters? Does it take that many characters of these? 180. I'm fine with that. 180 characters. Yeah. I'll let Well, we want to keep it short. That way it's easily read by people that are reading it. Okay. All right. I still have uh two and a sort of a nod for None of the Above. Do I have a full yes for None of the Above? will be so terrible if a majority of people I mean

I would actually agree with the council member that if we're going to add in the comment section it kind of makes the none of the above a moot point because someone can let us know that they don't like any of these. Yeah, that's true. But if you if you hang it out there is uh you know let's not over complicate. So you're you're withdrawing your if if we're going to put the comment box and I will withdraw my support for the above. Okay, very good. Okay. Uh oh, we have two other council now. We have uh Council Member Contreres, did you want to be heard again?

Yeah, I I would just say um I like the idea of the comment box. I think at the end of the day, we really just want to narrow it down. We have three really great logos and um you know, as as to save um you know, money on this and not have to do a bunch more iterations. Uh it it really is, you know, we could probably make a decision now, but and I would go with option two, but I I really want to hear from the residents and and see what they prefer. So I think the three options that we have are great. A comment box to provide some more feedback. Um and with the Pala Vista Park, did we add an option for none of the above?

I don't think we did. I think for Palao Vista Park, we just uh provided them the opportunity to present their make their own. Yeah. Okay. [laughter] Yeah. Yep. All right. Awesome. Thank you.

So, just FYI, you know, I'll submit these for the public record, but I have residents that are watching this at home that are sending me uh their ideas for designs and they said they'd be willing to do it for three grand. I'm just saying. Look, uh I uh Mr. Mr. Mazen, I appreciate your work and I don't mean to diminish it at all. Uh I I don't I'm I'm not a particular fan of the colors and I know you were given a lot of input and uh somebody told you take all these elements and and I would have maybe selected different elements. So I I want to be very clear I'm not imputing your talents as an artist. Okay.

Um I I don't particularly love uh the process that we used here. I' I've seen other cities that solicited from local artists and I agree with uh you know council member Melendez who said maybe you don't want to see them from all over the world but uh I think it would have been really cool. We have a we're we're a community of makers. We're a community of artists and I think it would have been really cool to have opened this to local artists and to invite people to submit something. Uh you talk about public participation and a little bit of awareness. I think that could have been really cool. We could still totally do that in the next 60 days. By the way, uh if there were if there were two that agree, we would submit your own design in the next 60 days. What's wrong with that? We could still pay Mr. Mueller for his work. Uh you know, cuz he's done the work. He deserves to get paid for it. But um we could look at other and if we don't like any of them better, that's fine, too. I just it's we use the last logo for 20ome years, 22 years. Why do we have to I don't understand why we have to rush this? Like what's is there an emergency with the logo? Is ours expiring? No, it's not expiring. Uh I just don't understand why we can't take our time and get something that we're all just like stunned with. Oh my gosh, that's totally Vista's new brand. So do are there are there two yes shaking heads for allowing people to submit a can we could we have a box where they can upload their own design? Nobody's nobody's for that. So I just want to be clear. We received uh designs from exactly one artist. So you had a process where you chose the artist from three, but only the one that was chosen had the opportunity to submit different designs. Yeah. So we've only seen art Yeah. I I think I got my answer. We've only seen artwork from exactly one artist and now too cuz I had somebody that uh I don't know if it was AI or they did it up themselves tonight, but

it's probably AI. Probably was AI. I I am sure it was. Uh but the point is I just think there's so many artists that could do something cool. I mean, it would have been great to to see what the community might have submitted and I still think there's professional work that has to be done by somebody like uh Mr. Mule has and you know to make that into a a usable logo. But um can I offer one thought on that? By opening it up to the public by using a professional artist we are guaranteeing our potent uh ability to license and trademark. If anyone uses AI that's non-copyrightable, non-trademark. Well, obviously AI, but um

we wouldn't have any ability to check it per Well, uh you know what? I I am certain that top attorneys are at work figuring out how to uh trademark uh designs um given the new AI imperative. And I'm I'm sure we could figure out the legality part of it. Um, and uh, so I I'm I'm not concerned about, you know, either you have the ability to law to lawfully license the design to us and make it ours, our property, or you do not. If you do not, it's not submissible. Right. So, so that's your I'm just going giving you a legal perspective. Nor

No, I I appreciate that. I appreciate that, Councilman. But what I'm saying is uh you either have the legal ability to uh to protect the work or you do not. Right. It's a it's a binary councilman. It's a binary thing. It is.

Yeah. It's a binary thing. Either you have the ability either you own the artwork and you can sell it to us for our exclusive use or you do not. If you do not then it's a you know game [clears throat] over. You It's not for consideration. So, uh, does anybody else want to provide a, uh, an uplink where you can upload a file? Dangerous because we might get something that we like better. Would that be the worst? That'd be the worst thing that could happen and then we have to come back and think about this again. But it's a 20-year decision, but I'm not sure what order we're in right now.

Okay. Uh, Council Member Contrarus. Um, I I really uh as much as I want to get submissions from the public, um, or anybody in the world that wants to design for our little city of Vista here, uh, we do not, uh, understand where that logo came from. And there is a whole process that goes into, you know, a professional artist doing this. And we and and our artist is a local artist. So, you know, I I would love if if this were not the age of AI and everybody just had to use, you know, the Adobe suite or whatever to create um logos, then it would be a different situation. But it's so easy to use AI to generate different logos and and I would want to lean on the expertise of our city attorney flagging that could be a potential issue. Um, so I I tend to agree. Um, I would like to be a little bit more uh thoughtful about the licensing aspect of it uh and the rights uh enshrined uh with the logo. Um so I unfortunately I'm not in favor of that. I think giving the public the opportunity to choose um is a wonderful uh concept and I look forward to to hearing some more feedback. Um but we really are, you know, entering a danger zone where we may receive a logo um that we [clears throat] just don't have the ability to license. Uh so, you know, and then we're we're back at square one. And then I also just uh this isn't something I think that has been rushed. This is already in excess of a year process. Um when did this process start?

Two years ago.

So we're in we're in year two of this. So I don't think um I think this is you know typical government timelines where it does take a long time and I would not say that 24 months is rushing it. So, and now there's additional time that's going to be given to the public to help with this decision. Then we still have to get that information back. Then we still have to have a council meeting whereby we discuss that information and hopefully at that point we can make a decision. But it's also always up to the council if they want to make a decision at that point or not. So, I I think I you know, the process um is complicated when it comes to having something that's uh that we can purchase the license and use. So, I I'm okay with the way that it's gone. I think our designs are fantastic. We have a world-renowned artist that's local uh and you can really see and feel the pride of the city just even visually looking at these logos. So, I'm I'm very very happy with the process. you always have the ability as you do to go on next door and maybe you start your own survey.

Of course. Thank you, C Deputy Mayor O'Donnell. [snorts]

You know, mayor, I know that we don't uh find ourselves agreeing tremendous amount recently, but I actually don't disagree with you. Uh my my concerns are though genuinely that similar to what Walter's saying, I don't know if there's a way that we can genuinely have somebody submit something and know whether or not it was done through AI. And so I think that by having u someone who is a licensed artist that does this for a living professionally that we know where we're getting the work from, it makes a huge difference. But putting out to the public is something that does entice me. So, um it's it's a tough one for me. Walter, uh you didn't finish giving your answer. I really would like to hear the rest of it before we move forward with this when it comes to our ability of licensing something whether like so what if we license it uh we believe it's not an AI generated logo and then we find out hey wait a minute it was and now or what happens. So typically what we would do like we do in our public contracting, we would have them, you know, basically sign over all rights and then indemnify the city saying that they are the true owner and that they are the original, this is original art. And if for any reason it comes to our attention that there's an allegation it's not, then they would have to defend or, you know, or indemnify us. Either, you know, hire an attorney on their own dime or pay us as we hire an attorney to defend it. So that would be typical in all commercial contracts and I know we have it with Mr. Mohaus and so he's going to he is stating that this is original artwork that he has created from his you know own mind and that he's going to assign all rights to us to us. So but if we opened it up to the public that was all I was going to kind of mention is we would need them to sign something like that as they make their submissions

as they make the submission. afterwards. Yeah. But whether it's worth anything is the other question. [clears throat] Yeah. Okay. How long did the previous process take to get the the new in 2005? Do we know the original process? I I don't think we had a council driven process. It was frankly uh introduced by staff and the council went with that logo and it moved forward. We didn't have a full logo discussion and process in 2000. Where were you all on this one? [laughter] None of us were.

I'm just kidding. You're all doing a great job. Uh, okay. Yeah, I'm I'm on the fence only because of the AI aspect of it. Um, but I don't think it would hurt to see more submissions either. So, uh, yeah, I'll leave it at that. We'll hear from the council. Well, listen. Uh, since we're talking AI, here's what AI has to say about this subject. Mr. City attorney, are you familiar with the comic book called Zarya of the Dawn?

It's created with AI as a tool. I just read a little bit here. If you use AI as a tool and you have s significant what's called significant human intervention, then it's copyrightable. If the work is created autonomously without human intervention entirely, then it's public domain. Look, I mean, respectfully, you're a general uh, you know, municipal attorney without a specific expertise in copyright law. Okay? I know copyright lawyers, they charge $1,000 an hour and they litigate in court and that's what they do. And they, trust me, they know their stuff. I've seen the stuff, they've written it. It just is mind-blowing how uh, you know, like you're not a uh, you know, a sculptor. Am I right? Huh?

You are a sculptor. There must be some medium that you don't work in, right? Oddly, no. Yeah, there there's none. Okay. You're an expert in skywriting also then. No. I wish I was. Well, so so skyriting being a form of art you may not be expert in. There would be some forms of art and the same thing as with a lawyer. So that's not to put our city attorney down. just again uh obviously in order for us to pick something it would have to meet the requirement that it could be fully owned and copyrighted.

So I have just to clarify I have no opinion on whether you open it up to public or not. All I was trying to make was a legal point. If we do we would need them to sign documentation saying it's original artwork. So that I appreciate that. But you've raised concerns without having the full expertise on the subject that uh that weighed in on the the uh question and has allowed uh my colleague to you know to raise spirious concerns about my point that are based not on an expert legal opinion on the area of AI copyright law. So Councilman, if you will. Uh uh okay, let's hear from uh Councilman Fox. All right. Thank you. Um, oh yes, sorry. Absolutely.

No, that's okay. I just wanted to add to the conversation about AI. I design logos for a living. Um, it's been tested in court. If a logo is designed by AI, it's not trademarkable. If it's designed by a AI, if it's autonomously using AI, if it's if it's designed, not if it's designed using AI. I'm reading other material from the internet that says elsewise, look, you're not a lawyer on the subject. I'm not a lawyer on the subject. He's not a lawyer on the subject. Please, I'm gonna ask that we uh you know, council can say whatever they want, but uh we're I'm gonna ask everybody who's not elected to the council to cease and desist trying to offer expert opinions on AI copyright laws since nobody here is qualified to speak to it, please. Thank you for your answer. You're welcome.

Yeah.

Okay. Uh I and um that's [clears throat] not I mean the AI piece is is a concern but I think you know as someone who's also been on the other side of that table before. I know that when I've worked with clients if you keep iterating you'll iterate in circles forever there. You never actually come on a like you'll never actually lock in something. Um, and so at a certain point you kind of like there's that like you get to a point where it's you realize that you're not really going to progress any further. And you know if you if we brought in you know opened up to submissions got a hundred submissions we would basically have a big packet. We'd come back into this meeting. We wouldn't like any of the like there would be something wrong with all of them and we'd open up to submissions again. And so I've just this is something that I've had to deal with at work where you know we're on revision number 27 and it's like they start going like taking out their own revisions that they did from revision three and it's just it it ends up going on forever and so there's a there's a time where you kind of just have to like this is the direction and we can kind of iterate from here but like you know I think it's I think it is important that we if we're going to do this that we kind of you know make a selection and move towards it. And if we want to include the public on that process, I think that's acceptable. But the hard like this is one of those things where again, you never you never actually come to a conclusion if if uh if you if you keep opening it up cuz like there's going to be something different that we want in each one of them. And you know, like I even with the one that you know, the the one that I made on the next page, I'd still have things I'd want to change about it. I didn't like the gold. they didn't really know and and so you know there's like okay maybe I can make the A and the V a little smaller and like maybe we could change you know it's it's but at a certain point it's like this is 90 whatever percent of the way there and so you know that we're going to we'll we'll run in circles forever to try to approach that 100% that you'll never reach basically. So

are you having a substitute motion to accept number two? I mean, I liked three, but you know, that's why we're [laughter] I'm just trying to figure out which one has a consensus here. If you're making the point to just Yeah. So, I think Yeah, I'm I'm fine with either of those options. I mean, I think that, you know, again, like even though three is my like, you know, was my favorite of the options, if there was a consensus on council for number two, I'd, you know, I'd be accepting of it. So,

okay. Okay. I don't see any other uh members of the council wishing to speak. So, let's get a final uh what we're voting on here. We are putting the three options out for vote with a comment box allowing up to 360 figures. 180 180 180. Okay. Characters, not words, characters. 180 characters. We will bring back the results of the vote for council's consideration along with costs and roll out schedule. Okay, is everybody clear on that? Seeing no other discussion, please cast your votes.

Okay, that item is approved unanimously. Thank you very much, Mr. Muhousen. Appreciate you. Thank you. Uh, okay. We're just going to bring us to item D2. I can get everybody's attention for our final action. Final item is our climate action plan implementation update. If any members of the public wish to speak on this item, they may so by using the raise their hand feature by pressing star9 or submitting a request to speak card. Speakers will be called upon after the presentation. Our assistant city manager, Josh Cruz, will introduce the item.

Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor, council members. Uh tonight tonight I'm with uh Cassidy McCarthy, our climate action plan program administrator, who will be giving uh our CAP implementation update.

Uh good evening. Um for some background on the climate action plan or CAP, the original CAP was adopted in 2012 and updated in 2021. The 2021 CAP contains seven strategies and 13 measurable goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the city. Tonight's presentation will focus on the implementation efforts to achieve the goals outlined in the 2021 CAP, which will also be available to the public in the 2025 CAP monitoring report via the city's website after this meeting. Similar to last year, staff have not received an updated greenhouse gas emissions inventory as SANDAC has dis discontinued the bi-anual report. Uh however, staff will ensure that an updated greenhouse gas inventory is included in the comprehensive cap update which will start this year. Uh of the 13 measures in the 2021 CAP, three goals have been completed while the other 10 remain in progress. These goals range from transitioning the city's fleet to electric vehicles to installing EV charging station EV charging stations to reducing vehicle miles traveled, expanding solar at city facilities, increasing access to renewable or zerocarbon electricity, improving waste aversion and planting trees throughout the city. In addition to the CAP measures and goals, there are seven staff managed programs and events that support CAP related efforts. These include the resial

interrupt you for a second there. Uh we get our audience to come to order. students, if you've uh put your one hour in, you're you're free to get a sign off if you want to do that. This I'm hearing a lot of giggling and stuff from back there. So, why don't you get your sign offs and head out? [snorts] Thank you very much.

Of course, um these uh programs include the residential tree giveaway program, the ash cam program, green business network, uh ebike safety training and rebate program, and community events like earth month and cycllovia. Finally, the city has received nine grants for projects that also support CAP related efforts including urban forestry and tree planting, organics and waste reduction, sustainable transportation planning, pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements, electrical electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and integrated pest management. A full review and analysis of each measure can be found on in the agenda report, but I wanted to take a moment to highlight the progress made in 2025. This year with the completion of the civic center solar carport project, measure E2 with the goal of installing 400 kilowatt of new behindthe-ter photovotayaic systems at city facilities by 2030 has been completed. The solar carport project is a 621 kilowatt behind the meter system and has significantly reduced the civic cent's energy costs and surpassing our 2021 cap measure goal.

What is the civic center solar or electric consumption? The Do we use in here? I can get it in the agenda report if you need it right now. No, no, I don't need it right now. That's fine. I didn't know if you know off the top of your head. Okay. I I apologize to interrupt. No, you're good. I have it. I promise. I was just curious whether we had you know kind of what percentage of our consumption we had uh we had replaced with with solar. I don't know if we knew that. I believe it's about 50%. Yeah, it's about 50%. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt.

No, you're good. Um happy to answer questions. Um while only three of the goals are complete as of the end of 2025, several are on track to be completed prior to 2030. Uh this includes T2, the uh to increase electric vehicle charging stations at public facilities by installing 20 public EV charging stations by 2030. uh with CIP8902. This goal will be met and surpassed by mid 2026 as the project is currently installing 62 EV chargers that will provide charging for 102 parking stalls at public cities uh public facilities across the city. Another benefit of completing this project is the ability to make more progress on goal E1 to convert the city's fleet to EVs as a portion of these chargers at Civic Center and public works will be reserved for city fleet use. Another highlight is the city's continued focus on tree planting at municipal facilities and in public rights of way as part of measure C1. In 2025, an additional 23s were 23 trees were planted in public parks and public rights of way, excluding the 38 trees planted here at Civic Center to replace those removed from the carport project. The goal for this measure is to plant 1,300 trees by 2030. And since the publication of the 2021 CAP, uh, 895 trees have been planted with current and upcoming redevelopments such as the North Santa Fe Drive project, which plans to plant around 125 new trees along the corridor, the Inland Rail Trail development, and other park developments. This goal is very likely to be met or uh by or prior to 2030. In addition, in 2025, the city received a grant to create an updated public tree master plan, which will include a comprehensive analysis of current public tree inventory, a public-f facing website or dashboard that will show how public tree densities affects the uh the heat of an area, and a plan that recommends where more public trees should be planted to reduce urban

heating impacts within the city. Additional progress that's been made in 2025 related to our cap goals are purchasing five more electric vehicles for our fleet, 80 more EV charging uh EV chargers being installed at multifamily or commercial developments, two additional van pools coming in and outer Vista, upgrading approximately 17 miles of bike lanes, continued high participation rate of 95% in renewable energy options from Clean Energy Alliance, and 643 trees being planted in new private developments across the city. In 2025, there was also significant increase in our sustainability program that indirectly uh programming that indirectly supports our CAP or council goals. This includes the uh residential tree giveaway program which uh gave away over 450 trees to residents this year, which was over 120 difference from the previous year. The program has been very popular and wellreceived by residents. Uh the funding for the program is anticipated to be expended by the end of this fiscal year. The Vista Green Business Network had an increase in interest and participation as well with four businesses entering and becoming either fully certified or entry level and an additional four businesses starting the process of becoming fully certified or entry level. One last program to note is the ebike safety training and rebate program that has over 178 participants in one of the eight available training courses from last year. And um of those participants, 36 of the Vista residents received a rebate towards a qualifying ebike purchase. This program helped over 95 Vista Unified students get their bike to school permits and received a lot of positive feedback from participants. The program plans to continue and expand in 2026 with the remaining budget and a grant from the office of traffic safety. There'll be presentations hosted at school campuses with community partners like Vista Community Clinic. Um, in addition to the city's normal programming,

all the previously mentioned progress on the 2021 CAP goals and measures and sustainability program help keep Vista beautiful and in a sustainably sound place. Uh, one of the last conditions of the 2021 CAP is to begin to prepare a comprehensive cap update in 2026 in order to account for any new state or federal legislation that may affect the cap and to focus on GHD reduction strategies that may have been difficult to implement previously due to lack of appropriate technologies or high upfront implementation costs. Sorry. Uh the city has been awarded around $400,000 from the smart growth incentive program grant through SANDAG for a comprehensive cap update. Uh this update will align with the 2050 general plan and uh it will adjust goals and measures to ensure that the CA cap measures remain implementable and feasible. staff are committed to crafting uh creating a cap that serves both the community and the environment and plan to work with residents, businesses, and other internal and external stakeholders to produce a document that reflects the community vision and needs. Uh staff anticipate having an RFP out for the comprehensive CAP update in the next coming months. So, uh thank you for your time and we are available if you have any questions.

No speakers. Okay, Council Member Contress. Yeah, I have I have a question. First of all, uh amazing work. Thank you. I know it's not easy to track all this stuff and give it to us in a digestible way. Um regarding the the photovoltaic um that we have here at Civic Center. Uh do we do we have any battery storage here? I don't think we do, right? No, there's no current battery storage, but um I do believe the program uh the project was wired to potentially have battery storage in the future. um just at the time of the project it wasn't feasible for our contractor.

So that's where I'm just wondering if there's any kind of assessment as to you know if we can get clo above 50% because I think originally we were looking at maybe 60%. Um so it's a little bit lower uh percentage- wise than we were originally thinking. Not by that much, but uh curious just to see if we did implement battery storage if we could get the um percentage of um electricity that this facility is using closer to 100% photovoltaic or what that would look like if we done an analysis like that. So we did talk to the consultant who installed the solar um project about a battery at the time or battery storage at the time. Uh their indication was that it wouldn't be cost- effective at this time because of the time of usage for the building. Primarily it's daytime usage which we can collect the solar energy directly and use. Battery storage is primarily for nighttime usage when there's not sun coming into the system. So he said if you could get a battery through a grant or some kind of program that's very cost effective, it would make sense to put a battery in and you could have some limited additional savings, but based on the size of the system we have, we can't get to 100% even with battery storage.

What percentage could we get to? Uh well, based on what we have in place today, it looks like maybe we could save another 15 to 20% with a battery. So that's what I mean prices of electricity keep going up. So, so we are still exploring it, but we're really seeking grants or other opportunities to see.

Yeah. No, that's fantastic. I think that that could just, you know, be an additional point to report back to council as to what the efficient if we could increase the efficiency because, you know, even when, you know, we experience um the sun going down earlier, we still have council meetings, right, and it's dark. So, I I I would I would have to challenge the fact that um all of the daytime solar energy is being utilized. Um [clears throat] because the hours of operation of this building and even just understanding when folks aren't here what the uh electrical use is. Um, [clears throat] I think that we could maybe have a little bit more data points because I I mean 50% that's great, but 20% more getting to 70% what does that look like as a cost savings to the public? And I'm really, you know, would love to have some more um efficiency there and even just to explore it. Um, I'm not saying that we need to commit funding to battery storage, but I just think it's important for us to assess that. And then that assessment, I would ask that we do that anywhere that we're putting um photovoltaic on any city property. Uh because if I think about, you know, like fire stations or, you know, eventually in the future maybe, you know, Jim Porter and stuff like that, um I think it would be helpful for the council to have that information. So that's great. Um I'm curious about on on another topic, um mode share counts. Do we do we I I'm seeing a lot more bicycles out there which I think is great because we've provided an infrastructure to make

it safer to to bike around and the adoption of ebikes is continues to grow um very strong. So, do we have any or will we in be able to have any um counts as far as mode share and and uh particularly looking at uh cycling bicycle counts. Um I don't know if we have anything currently on the books. I do know that with the new sustainable transportation plan, um Sam would probably be the best person to answer this, but um there is likely something along those lines coming down the line with um a sustainable transportation plan. Okay. And when do we anticipate that conversation at council?

City engineer is not sure timing. I'll have to follow up with you on that. Is that sometime this year? Yeah, the sustainable plan is underway right now.

Fantastic. Okay, awesome. Um, huge. Just kudos to our tree planting program. I mean, that that's amazing. I definitely would want to continue to fund this. I feel like the benefits that we're receiving um with such a small amount of funding is just huge. Uh because the best, you know, they say the best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is now. And so as we continue to plant um trees and the public is, you know, able to put those on private property, we have re outreach to HOAs and commercial and right. So um it makes a big difference and I know folks are really happy to see even in our public right of way a lot more trees. Um so thank you for that. And uh the only other thing when it comes to um like zero waste, do we have any any strategies that we've implemented for zero waste citywide?

Um we don't have a zerowaste goal currently in our cap. Um the goal is a like a pounds per day diversion rate. Um but no, we don't currently have any zerowaste goals. Yeah, I I really think that this is um something that the city is missing out on, especially because what what is it? Um h SB 1260 1383

1383 Thank you. SB 1383 um is law. And so, you know, we want to ensure that not only the city is complying with zero waste, but also um other entities here in the city. And the more you know this potentially I don't know if it can be linked to the green business program or is I think there might be a link to it. Yeah. Uh but I would like to see us put a little bit more thought into zero waste especially where zero waste meets food insecurity. Um because there's a lot of food insecurity in our community and it continues to get worse as the economic situation for folks gets worse. So, um there's a lot of food that goes to waste and I think that we could utilize that before it becomes uh meth methane greenhouse gas emissions, right? So, um I would definitely want to see that as a discussion coming forward to council so that we can update our cap and be a little bit more well-rounded in that sense. Um that's all for me at this time. Thank you.

Oh, you are? You're okay. Council uh Deputy Mayor O'Donnell. Thank you. We'll keep doing that. I'm gonna keep I know I keep doing it. So, um tree giveaway, I just want to highlight it because I know my family has taken advantage of it now two years in a row uh in in different homes. You you had said that um at this year funding would expire. So, and I know that you mentioned how many trees have we planted with the program so far? Um with last year and this year over 700, close to 800. How much funding do we have left? How many trees do we have left to fund for this year's program?

Um, so based off of today, um, and the final invoices that I got, well, I have like one more week of deliveries, but, uh, we'll have about $7,000 left in the budget. Um, and we had 75 or 72,000 at the beginning for the 2025 program and we had 50 for the um, 2024 program.

Be significantly behind as far as funding. So, I I'd be interested in seeing that brought back because I know it's a very successful program. I plan to utilize it again if it's available. So, [laughter] I really do appreciate it, but I have a lot of neighbors that do use it. So, I I appreciate that. Um, for battery storage, I think it's a very good topic to bring up. I I don't know if if we've looked at grants and funding that's there. I don't think there's any more federal tax credits that are going to cities uh at the moment. Yeah, those are probably either expired or been removed. I can mention that um Clean Energy Alliance is launching a solar plus program specifically for commercial and municipalities can take um advantage of it and that should include solar and battery storage. Okay. And we'll be able to that's launching like this week or next week. So we'll be able to take advantage of that.

Is there anything federally that like from the DOE or the EPA that is available at the moment or I know that they've pretty much sunset all the programs that they had available. Yeah. Well, keep up the good work on that and if we can look into it, uh, I I just wanted to second both of those comments. So, great work on this presentation and keep it up, Council Member Melendez.

Well, thank you so much, Cassidy and Joshua, for reporting on this. Um, I'm so grateful that all of our strategies, we're moving forward on them. We have some really great programs. Um you know top uh level ones for me have been the uh recent bicycle infrastructure um EV charging uh new solar panels um and then you know of course I agree with my colleagues that are talking about battery storage. I think that that's really important. Um, but I also just want to highlight and really look forward to um working together on the general plan for 2050 because I think that that's going to be a huge opportunity for us to uh push for greater sustainability. Um especially when um we look at land use, right? There's a lot of areas that are already paved, right? there's a lot of um kind of ground that's covered and how can we um make the best use of the land that we already have available and optimize the land use there. So, um I have some upcoming meetings with city staff about the general plan update. Um and I, you know, hadn't really uh thought about how are we going to connect our climate action plan with our general uh plan 2050 coming up. So, I'm looking forward to those conversations. I think that that should be a big focus for us. So, thank you guys for reporting on this.

Thank you very much for your great report and your hard work on this. Okay, that's going to bring us uh to comments from council and actually from staff. Uh go to our city clerk and assistant city clerk. Any comments tonight? Our city attorney spoken [laughter] I I I didn't introduce you good as councilman, so you're off the hook. Uh, city manager John Connley.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, want to welcome our new recreation and community services director, Margaret Hamer, who joins us from city of Ensenita. She started uh earlier this week, and I will be setting up meetings with the council members to introduce you all to her individually. She's a wonderful new addition to our team. So, welcome to her. Uh the only other thing mentioned is that we are closed on the 19th of January in obser uh observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So just to note that for the public. Thank you, Mayor. Very good. Thank you, Council Member Fox.

Thank you. Um happy new year to everyone. I'm excited for another year to serve on this council with all you and to do some great things for our city. Uh I did attend my very first Sandag meeting last week. So um quick update from that. Um, it was a mostly an informational meeting with, you know, learning kind of what all the going over the 2025 accomplishments, 2026 milestones and things like that. Um, and learning about disadvantaged business laws that were updated at the end of the year. Uh, but other than that, it's Taco Tuesday today. Um, and I love my wife, Mina, and I'm very grateful for her letting me serve. Thanks, Council Member Melendez.

Uh, thank you all for the great discussions tonight. Thank you staff. Um as we uh go into 2026, we're we're bringing a lot of energy. We have a lot of work to do. Um many important upcoming discussions I hope the community can all be a part of. Um we do have our first CA meeting of the year on the 29th. um you know standard business including um CEO evaluations but also we are continuing to look at how can we provide um relief to our customers um who are paying you know higher and higher rates not just because of the high costs of energy within the market in general um but also because of the reality of some of the contracts that we have inherited from SDG& um we really would like to provide some relief to our customers. People pay a lot for energy. Um so we're working on that. Um and then I do believe that um this next week um on the Monday the 19th is Martin Luther King uh Junior Day. And so I just want to acknowledge that. Thank you,

Council Member Contraras. Um, so, uh, I am still waiting at NCTD for anou between, uh, NCTD and the state for, uh, their hydrogen, uh, replacement of the coaster, um, that they want to test out. Uh, also there's um not to forget that NCTD does have plans to build a platform at Delmare Fairgrounds and one um close to um uh what's it called? The convention center the what I'm forgetting the name of it. The one that Comic Con is at. [laughter] Um yeah, so that will make it a lot easier for folks to to get there and to also go watch the Padres's. Um, I do have a NCTD meeting coming up uh this week, so looking forward to that. And uh, as always, every Wednesday um, Guerrera Sakur Vista Olympio uh, headed by team captain Havita Sarafin. Um, they do a weekly trash pickup in District 1. So, if you are looking uh to volunteer and help uh clean up the community, um that's a great place to uh donate and dedicate a little bit of time. Other than that, thank you to all my colleagues and staff. Happy New Year and uh these discussions are always great to have. Thank you,

Deputy Mayor O'Donnell.

Yeah, happy new year, everybody. Welcome back. Uh this this was a good meeting. Um just want to give a quick update. Traffic light at Dawson and Melrose. Uh I know there have been some hiccups. We had rain for two weeks straight. There was an electrical issue that we had and uh there's a lot more that goes into putting in a traffic light than people think. So I know everybody thinks it's taking a long time. It should be done by midFebruary. We're hoping, but we are still working on it. Uh quick Cal City update. I want to thank Aldo Hererta for giving me some notes. I was not able to attend the meeting, but I want to congratulate our neighbor uh council member Terresa A. Costa, who is going to be sworn in as president of Cal Cities at the next conference, which will be in September. Uh, I was just gone for 5 days, so I want to thank my wife uh for watching our children and for allowing me to serve in this capacity. Ally, I love you very much. For those who have not been to the new airport down in San Diego, I'd really strongly recommend you check it out. It is gorgeous the work they've done and glad it's mostly completed. Uh, I do not hide the fact that I am from the Midwest, so go Bears. Uh, they are finally a contender, so I will say it proudly and I hope they win next Sunday. Um, and on a more somber note, I know we're going to close the meeting recognizing Mr. Ted Cole, but I for those that had the pleasure of ever meeting him, um you will know that Ted and I did not agree on on many things, but what I really do appreciate about him is over the last three years of me serving on this council. He always took the time if there was an issue that he was passionate about or wanted to chat with me about to share his perspective. And even when we disagreed, we never argued. We had very thoughtful dialogue back and forth. Uh and and we had a conversation that I believe is missing in politics these days. and that is the agreement to disagree while also trying to collaborate and work together to find a solution on the things that we disagreed about. So, uh he is a tremendous loss to this community. Uh he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. And I just want to say Ted, thank you for your service to Vista and to our community in general.

Thank you very much. Uh second those thoughts. Uh the city is seeking applicants for upcoming openings on various commissions, boards, and committees. Business owners can also apply for openings on the Central Vista Business Improvement District Advisory Board. For more information and to apply, visit vista.gov/commissions. The application deadline is February 9th. Youth applications are due by April 27th. The Vista Sheriff's Office and the City of Vista are pleased to offer the Rise Above Academy for Vista youth in third, fourth, and fifth grades and their parents. This free program is offered weekly from February 25th through April 22nd at the Linder Roads Rec Center. It introduces participants uh to law enforcement programs and services while covering various topics. To register, visit vista.gov/riseabove. And uh as our deputy mayor mentioned, we're going to close tonight uh in honor and remembrance of Ted Cole, who is not only a former city council member, but also a very good friend of mine, uh fellow member of the Optimus Club, somebody that I had a chance to get to know very well over the last decade. And I very much appreciated uh our personal friendship. And uh Ted was quick to reach out when we annexed his property back into the city of Vista and offer to open his home to his uh his neighbors and host the meeting. Uh John Connelly and I were there and I think Mr. Vaka was there and some other members of the staff and uh really a warm and caring person and to his wife Vicki. We offer our sincerest condolences. He was uh Ted Cole was a man of integrity, humility and had a true love for our city. We remember his kindness, his generosity, and his genuine care for others. And of course, I also want to say thank you to my beautiful wife, Shauna, who I love very much for allowing me to serve. We are journed.