City Council - Regular Meeting

regular meeting of the city council, Calam Mesa. Sorry about that. Uh today's Monday, February 2nd. And uh let me just say at the outset here, any members of the public wanting to make a a statement or or uh speak are welcome to do so. You must complete a speaker slip, however, you can get those over here. And please complete that, submit it to the city clerk. Um, but we ask that you would please observe a threem minute time constraint uh when doing so and uh when called upon please step forward to the microphone uh state your name for the record and whom you represent uh and then you can proceed to to make your comment. All right. Uh so if we could get a roll call please.

Council member Kundiff here. Council member Garcia here. Council member Molina here. Mayor Pro Tim Manley here. Mayor Cervantes

here. Okay. And let the record show that city manager Cobalt present. Uh city attorney Inennis, welcome back. Um our uh city clerk Gertis, finance director Reid is here and our planning uh community development director Lucia is here. Public works director Shakir, city engineer Thornton, and our deputy fire chief Shaw and our sheriff, Captain Northrup. Welcome everybody. Thank you for being here. At this time, we're going to uh conduct our pledge of allegiance. Uh, Mayor Pro Manley, would you lead us in that? Please stand.

Ready. To the flag, United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation underisible, liberty, and justice for all.

Thank you. At this time, we're going to take communications from the public on uh general statements that are not in reference to any agenda items. So, uh this is an opportunity for members of the public to address uh directly address council on any item not on the agenda within the council's subject matter jurisdiction. This is also a time to speak on an item on the consent calendar. council members. As council members though, we're typically limited to maybe asking clarification questions, making referrals to staff, um but not to conduct a discussion um on on the comments. So, at this time, um Floyd Ferguson,

please come forward. You can come right after me. Yes. Uh, my name is Oo, okay. Excuse me. My name is Ronald Witty. Oh, okay. I'm on that on that. You're Ronald. Okay. So, we'll start with Ronald.

That's fine. I appreciate it. Uh, I just want to say thank you, council members and dignitaries. I um we're a new nonprofit in town called Blue Marble Cultural Arts, dedicated to increasing a better appreciation of fine arts and culture that we have around the world to share and connect with. Uh we have uh we're we're basically a a a group of teachers and educators and businessmen who really want to bring an enrichment of fine arts to the community. And one of our first events that uh we're going to be putting on in a big way in a big splash is right here in Mesa. Now maybe some of you have heard and if I'll have Floyd pass out the card about the event that's coming up. It's called the Gathering of the Scottish Clans and Traditional Highland FET. And if I don't how how much time do we got? I don't know how fast that goes. But please, we need your help. This is a basically a very much of a community involved event. We're involving uh other services in the community. Uh fire, police. Um it's going to be an economic boost boost for the community as well. Uh we have it. It could be a culture enrichment. You got the Scottish clans, the music, the song, the dance, the animals, and the kilts. If you ever seen a man in a kilt run, a quarter mile run, it's going to be a sight to see. Uh there's also business opportunities with this. We got sponsorships that we're looking for. That's a very important aspect of any event we do. So, please reach out to me or Floyd. I have some cards here I'd like to pass around some more from Floyd. Um is an important event. and it's coming up in about 6 weeks. U so I appreciate your time and I will now ask uh Floyd Ferguson to give you more details on the event itself.

Thank you. All right, so Floyd Ferguson.

Yes. Uh I do have a background in running Scottish games in Southern California. So I bring to Kalamea a history of uh running Scottish games in the commercial level. What are the Scottish games? They are events which over the past hundreds of years in tradition the clan chiefs have called their members together to actually decide on various things such as the piper, the drummer, the athlete and the dancer for the clan that get that title. They are the main person through the next year. Plus, they do business just like the Hya City Council does their business. We have called together at least 10 of the Scottish G uh plans here in Southern California all the way from Ventura to uh Palm Springs and to San Diego are participating in this event. It's a big boost possibly for tourism. Something that could become an annual event. We are doing it on a demonstration level, which means the actual folks that attend the event. The clan people themselves are going to get out there and participate in throwing the cber, the great big long telephone pole, or a version of it scaled down to their size. We're going to include some of the old-fashioned traditions of the uh tugof-war of the Kilted Mile and of the public mile. So, the public will be able to sign up and participate. There will be pre-arranged, in fact, what just got word today from Chino. They're they're planning on sending up a

service industry, some of them in Kilt, some of them not. Uh these are some of the events, music, hammer doulamer, baggpipe band, uh all of that kind of stuff that forms the Celtic culture. It's open to the public. We have a website on uh givebutter.com that people are already buying tickets. included in that possibility to buy tickets are for those that want to get together a very limited number on a separate pre-sale ticket for what is called a kay Saturday night and that is Scottish party maybe some dancing starting out with a whiskey tasting and moving on in after sundown to a catered dinner with various items that are available during a typical Kali. Highland coup will show up on the grounds is the plan uh from uh Oak Glenn up here and they will be showing off and showcasing and this is a case of different organizations in the community working together because we will advertise for them, they will advertise for us. Is that my signal?

Yes, sir. Thank you for being here tonight. Appreciate you. All right. So, Dr. Deina Rivera, thank you.

Let me speak. It's important.

Um, it's kind of silly, but first of all, I would like to address all the potholes that are on Kalama Boulevard, and they're really bad. and um going uphill towards Cherry Valley Boulevard. I've used my Auto Club card to help people with tire damage this last year, probably about four times. Uh some of the potholes have been filled, but it's still bad. Cal Mesa Boulevard is highly traveled, um especially with the West Point Westbound Freeway is busy. There are also three senior communities living off of Calama Boulevard. Next, dear to my heart, is our Calam Mesa Fire Department. The discussion of an overall pay raise. I have a personal friend and a close one who is a Cal Fireman and he's out of Mecca. I recently attended his mother mother's funeral together. I socialized with him and all of his family and they are like my family. I know him well. We were talking about our communities, CalFire, Calam Mesa Fire Department, and he told me that he could not live off of and support his family off of what a California Calama firefighter makes. I recently spoke to my friend about the death of one of his fellow firefighters, Danny Cook, who died in the line of duty of a medical emergency while fighting a house fire in Norcco on December 31st, 2025. The job of a firefighter is dangerous and it's extremely stressful. They have to balance a demanding job along with the stress of it with family life. While as average citizens are running away from danger, they're running towards it. I have personally seen our firemen at work. Last year, my neighbor fell in his home and he broke his hip. I saw I saw the front door and the back door of his home open. I walked over to make sure

his animals wouldn't get out. One of the firemen secured the animals in a back room. He didn't have to do it, but he did. What got me interested in our local fire department is my significant other is a firefighter off of the coast of Scotland and on an oil rig in the North Sea. He was asking me about our local fire department. I'm a doctor. I'm single, no kids. So, I adopted our local fire department. I've been around the firemen for about two two and a half years now. Is that my signal? 30 seconds. I'll make it quick. Um, I've made them cookies and breakfast and I spend some time with these guys. A few days ago, I watched two of them in full gear and they were going up the side of a building and I said hello to their fire captain. And while I was talking to him, not once did he take his eyes off of his men and they were going up pretty high. But I would just like this addressed as a pay raise and to see what we can do for our firefighters here. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Okay, at this time we're going to move on to our consent calendar items. Let me first ask staff if there's any changes to the agenda or items um needing correction, modification, need to be pulled. No changes of staff. Thank you. Now, uh council, are there any items you would like to pull from the consent calendar? Uh mayor, I want to pull uh item number two just for discussion. Okay, item number two. Any others? Okay. Can I get a motion for the balance of the consent calendar minus item two? Yeah, I make a motion that we approve items one through nine except item number two on the consent calendar.

And I'll second. Okay. All in favor? I I um I let me let me also clarify. Does that motion also include um waiver of full reading of ordinances? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. That's a 50 vote. Um, and council member Garcia,

uh, the reason why I'm pulling, uh, item number two just for further discussion is I actually saw the planning commission meeting that was, uh, addressed for that day and I just observe and listened that there was actually just, you know, several concerns from our residents, not concerning specifically with the project, but with, uh, around the area. I just want further uh discussion with and see we got some directions from that from the city. Yeah, I mean the the city engineer was also at that meeting and so um to the extent that there are um items that we can glean from that um staff will be doing so. Thank you. Well, that was that was it. Thanks.

Are you satisfied, Council Member Garcia? All right. Good. Do you want to make a motion then? Yeah, I want to put a motion uh to move the item number two back to the agenda and to just make sure that the residents are being heard as well, too. Thank you. So, that's a motion to approve item two. Is that correct? Correct. Thank you. Can I get a second? I'll second. All in favor? I I That's 5.

Thank you. Okay. Next item on our agenda is our fire chief report. Good evening, Mayor, council. Uh, I'll keep it short. Uh, as usual, our call summary for the last reporting period, overall, our department responses were down slightly. Um, while individual call types remain largely unchanged, we did have a few significant events. We had three structure fires since the last couple of weeks. two in Yuka and then one here in Calame at the California mobile home. Uh everything went well. No injuries to civilians or firefighters. Things went well and that's all I have. Any questions?

Any questions from the council? No. Thank you, Chief Mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. Council member Garcia does have a question. Thank you. Uh related to our uh your guys's Christmas uh toy giveaway. Thank you. Thank you guys for that. Uh um you guys did an amazing job with the whole team and uh providing the toys for donations and they did a lot of work too. So uh thank you for that. I'm sure they'll appreciate it and I'll I'll pass that back. Thanks. Thank you, sir. Thank you for being here. Okay. Next is our sheriff captain's report. Captain Northrup. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Council. U I'm just going to go over some part one crimes for comparison from 2024 to 2025. As always, these uh crimes are subject or these stats are subject to change based on how investigations play out. So in 2024, Cal Mesa recorded approximately 213 part one crimes, 6,73 calls for service, and 113 arrests. In 2025, part one crimes increased to 225, about a 6% increase. Calls for service decreased slightly uh to 6,631 approximately 1% decrease. And in total, arrest increased to 145, about a 28% increase. So overall, crime increased modestly. uh service demand rel remained relatively the same and uh enforcement action as you see with arrest increased um somewhat significantly. Uh overall uh crime activity in Calama increased modestly in 2025 driven primarily by the aggravated assaults or the increase of aggravated insults and lararsenies. Uh while overall property crime remained largely stable, vehicle thefts declined significantly offsetting increases in other property offenses and then calls for service as you saw remained uh consistent over the last two years. Um so total arrest increased substantially indicating a higher law enforcement activity um from 2025 compared to 2024. I think that's uh primarily due to just an overall increase um in the deputy's desire to go get out there and um detect and deter criminal activity. Any questions on the part one crimes?

No. Yes, please.

Um I've I I mentioned it to our city manager. There's been quite quite a few homeless people congregating behind the Autozone, the liquor store, and the uh smoke shop on Kellame I mean on county line. And I think part of the reason is they have plugins where they can come and charge their phones. And I guess that's a good thing, but they leave their trash and um um you know the store people have to pick it up and and it kind of gives people who shop uh a bad feeling about of going there. So I don't know. I I I talked to the owners when they brought it to my attention. I said just, you know, call in and report it so that someone can come out if if it gets, you know, kind of scary or they're uncomfortable with it, but I'm sure you're probably aware of that. Um those are the areas in the city where they tend to go.

Yeah. So, um, our Kelly Mesa pop deputy uh works with city man or or business managers um business owners to try to get trespass letters um in order to prevent that type of activity. We can't force the business partners to to cooperate with that. Um, but when we do have trespass letters, we do take uh enforcement action. And then in addition to that, we have our seabbat deputy that will go out and offer services to try to get um those transient or homeless people off the street and and into services. Uh in addition to that, uh our our Cal Mesa pop deputy um is going to be working with the cso to try to reach out to our business owners and managers to try to get a network together so that we can try to prevent some of this uh activity from occurring.

Yes, sir. Um, yes sir. Mayor Pro Tim. Oh, if you had more more to go, I'll just comment at the end. I was just going to introduce my uh my uh successor here, but if you have more on the transients, that'd be great. I just I'll just uh just add a quick comment just on the uh monthly report. So, from from December uh that you already reported, I just wanted to say appreciate your deputies efforts out there. first saw they made multiple arrests and took some took some guns off the the street around the city. So, I I just want to say I appreciate that.

Yeah, we're working on um the January report. Uh December was was a pretty good um month for stats. We did uh have a few um DUIs and we took a couple guns off the street. So, it was anytime you get a gun off the street, it's successful day. So,

um, with that, uh, February is going to be my last month at the Kabazon Sheriff's Station as the captain. Um, my replacement will be, uh, Captain Ernie Escobel. I brought him here today. I just want to bring him up and, uh, have him introduce himself. In addition, um, I'm proud to announce that, uh, our POP deputy, Mike Hinkle, was promoted to corporal. So, he will be staying at Kabazon. But, uh, that's a promotion that just shows kind of some of the hard work that, uh, he does behind the scenes for the city every day. Uh, he does stuff that, um, as a deputy that we usually ask sergeants to do. So, he was awarded the the deputy of the year last week. Uh, unfortunately, I couldn't make that dinner, but it's a well-deserved uh, recognition. So, uh, I'll just let Ernie now introduce himself. Thank you. Thank you, Captain.

Hello. How are you? All right.

Um, good evening, mayor, mayor prom, and members of the city council. So, Ernie Esabel. Um, I definitely have some big shoes to fill, but just like to talk a little bit, just introduce myself and a little bit about what I've done in my in my background professionally. Um, so I started with the sheriff's office in 2007. Um, finished the basic academy and had the privilege to go out to the city of Marina Valley and serve there for several years. Um there I worked on patrol operations, field training officer. I worked the gang unit as well as a career criminal apprehension team. Um from there I was actually uh promoted to uh corporal um and then went back to patrol operations. Had the opportunity to still uh do field training which is uh something that I really enjoyed. Um from there I got it promoted to investigator. uh went over to the Herupa Valley Sheriff's Station where I served there as an investigator the cities of Eastville, Herupa Valley, Norco as well as the unincorporated area of Highrove. Uh promoted to sergeant and then I went to corrections for about three and a half years. Uh went to the Robert Pressy Detention Center. Uh got got the opportunity to work uh in corrections, first time doing it. Work floor operations. Uh got to work in the admin unit as well as the gang investigations unit. Um, from there, uh, I went back out to patrol to Herupa Valley as a sergeant, a watch commander, uh, where I got to serve as a watch commander as well as in the detective bureau as the investigative, uh, investigation sergeant. And then I had the honor to go over to the professional standards bureau and serve, uh, alongside with Captain Northrup at the time. He was a lieutenant and I was a sergeant. Uh, from there, I was promoted, uh, to the rank of lieutenant. went back to the Hoopa Valley Sheriff's Station, worked in an administrative uh role until I was uh until I was reassigned to the city of Eastville to oversee the contract policing through the city. So, I did that for about three and a half years. Um I'm also a city of Eastville resident. Uh and uh it's been an honor to to serve in that capacity. Uh moving forward, uh I do have the honor um to be able to serve in the captain rank, which

I I'm I'm very honored. I'm looking forward to meeting everybody and getting to know you. Uh, I am kind of a zero tolerance kind of guy when it comes to criminals. Uh, I don't tolerate criminals. Uh, and neither do most of us deputy sheriffs. Uh, um, and so I look forward to keeping keeping the cities uh, the city streets of of Calama safe. Um, personally, I'm married. I have two grown children. I have a 20-year-old and a 23-year-old. Uh, the 23-year-old is off to the races and in her career, which is really good. Um, and the other one is almost graduated from college. So, um, I really am looking forward, uh, at this new venture, getting to to know everybody. I've already been doing some research on Calam Mesa and obviously some of the other areas here in Kazon, but I'm really looking forward at this opportunity and, uh, I appreciate it. Uh, I'll take any questions if anybody, if anybody has any,

council, um, I got a question. Go ahead. Um I don't want to wait until the end because you know public comments for us is um at the end but I do want to show my appreciation to our captain for everything that you did with u provided us a lot with great services and everything and you will be missed here in our community. So thank you so much for the service that you provided with the 110% that you have always provided to our community.

I appreciate that. Um as you all know I live in the area. I shop in Calame Mesa. My assignment is going to be to the major crimes bureau. So any major crimes that occur in the city of Calam Mesa or or Cabazon station as a whole, I will have involvement in. And I will also make myself available to Ernie um if he needs any questions, input, insight into the city. We're going to try to make this transition as seamless as possible. So thank you, sir. Council member Kundiff,

just kind of to echo what uh Councilman Garcia said, Captain, it's been a pleasure working with you while you've been here with us. Um you've been a fantastic asset to us and the information that you've provided uh in a timely manner anytime we've requested it. Um both John and I, I can speak for myself and probably for him too. He's going to say the same thing. I'm sure we've enjoyed working with you and uh and just appreciate your dedication to the citizens and to the city and uh great you know, paths ahead of you and good luck to wherever that takes you and uh you'll be missed. I appreciate that to the incoming captain. Uh I like I like your energy. I like what you're saying and uh I appreciate all those stations that you've been to. You know, being from San Frernardino County, I had a little different experience than that, but um I understand it and and uh I look forward to the good things that you're going to be able to bring to us and help our citizens with. So, welcome and uh we look forward to working with you as well.

Thank you, Council Member Molina. Yes, ditto to all that. Um, but we uh you certainly have have been a good part of our city and uh we all work well together and uh your department gives us great service and we've had um the benefit of having a pretty good life here um with with your department's help. So, thank you. Uh we look forward to to training another captain. Uh we've had several I've I think I' I've lost track of how many since I've been here, but it's always wonderful and this you'll love the city, you'll love the energy here, but we will miss you and uh we wish you I wish you personally um all the best that you can that you can get and and and I hope it's what you want. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Absolutely. I just want to echo what my colleagues have said as well on behalf of the council and the city of Cal Mesa. Thank you for all your efforts here. very much appreciated. Uh we felt in good hands with your leadership and and uh uh you know couldn't be more thankful for what you've done for the city. So thank you and best of luck as was said in your future work. I'm sure you're going to do just fine. I I appreciate that. I really do. Um you guys are a great group, well engaged. Uh well has been phenomenal as a city manager to work with. Uh as has council. So, I appreciate it and I have no doubt that uh you're in good hands going forward.

Thank you, sir. And to Captain Esabel, welcome. We look forward to working with you as well. Thank you for sharing about yourself and uh sounds like, you know, you you've done a lot already and so we're looking forward to to your contributions to our city as well. So, welcome aboard. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Yeah. Thank you. You wouldn't send me but you did you did I know the hey Cvantes man. Yeah I get I know I know I know. Yeah I tried to get my dad to teach me but he's not patient. All right. Thank you.

Thank you and deputy HL. Congratulations as well. We appreciate you and thank you. Okay. That moves us on to our agenda to item number 10, which is a public hearing. So, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing at this time. And I believe we have a staff presentation on this item that's going to be given by our senior planner, Selene. Is that right? All right. Thank you.

You evening, mayor, members of the council, and public. So, item number 10 is a public hearing related to our general plan housing element update. Um, as some of you may recall, we put a great deal of effort into getting our housing element certified and we successfully received certification back in October 2025. Um so HD did provide a certification later letter letter stating yes you're certified and your housing element um complies with state law. However there are a number of programs and policies written into the housing element. So please ensure you follow through with making amendments to incorporate the programs that are needed. Um so that is why we are here this evening. um it's the implementation of programs and policies. So it's essentially a large zone text amendment. Um and what it's going to do, it's going to clean up our code to make sure that um we are properly implementing state law. And so with that, I'll pass that on to Bryant, who is our housing element consultant, and he'll go over the program actions.

Thank you. Uh good evening. My name is Brian Delator with Kimley Horn, uh the city's housing element consultant. Uh so as many of may know uh it's been a long process to get the housing element certified. Good thing it's certified. Uh maybe bad thing you got to implement it. So this is uh the first not the first but uh a big uh group of of implementing actions of the housing element. Um these are all on on the screen you'll see these are all the actions that are being uh implemented through this action that's being considered tonight. Uh we'll go into detail of every single one so I won't I won't read through all of them. Uh but these are all the chapters and sections that are being amended as well. Um so one section in chapter 17 um and most of them in chapter 18. Uh so the first rule action is related to reasonable accommodations. So what reasonable accommodations are are deviations from in uh the zoning code to allow for uh disabled persons to live comfortably in their home. So this includes uh ramps, uh maybe chair lifts, um handrails, stuff like that. um that may not be allowed um per the code, but as a disabled person and per the uh fair housing act um cities must have um procedures to allow these these um adjustments for for disabled persons. So um the revisions is really just to clean up and uh standardize what the requirements are, have a clear process um and take any uh objective requirements so that someone uh can come in and check you know essentially have a checklist and say hey you know I comply with all of this um and the city uh uh the um director or their design can approve that really ministerally. it wouldn't really have to come to you all. Um and the reason for this is to come into compliance with the fair housing act. Uh the next action uh is to comply with three different uh assembly bills. So this is related to emergency shelters, transitional housing and supportive

housing. Um assembly bill 2339 is related to emergency shelters. Uh AB 139 is transitional housing and AB 2162 is for supportive housing. Uh so what this does, it really just um uh cleans up the code so that these requirements um and uh regulations for all of these uses are in compliance with that state code. Um it also aligns the zoning code with um their zones. So in in some of these uh for some of these uses, they may not have been um identified as allowed in certain zones where per state law they should now. So um really cleaned up that section. And this next one is kind of related. um low barrier navigation centers. This is really a form of uh emergency shelters. Um so they're really mutually exclusive although low barrier navigation centers have um as it states it's has a lower barrier to entry into navigation centers. So um some emergency shelters may uh require people uh to enter some type of supportive services um maybe uh some type of like alcohol counseling whatever it may be. Um whereas low barrier navigation is truly just a shelter where where someone may come in. Um so we identified low barrier navigation centers. We defined it since it wasn't in the code. Um and also identified where it's allowed which is where emergency shelters are allowed. Um a big part of this is the ADU code. So um in the ADU code there were some u misalignments with state code. Yearly it feels like weekly, monthly we're getting new ADU laws. Um so the this edit was to the most uh is to get those ADU uh requirements to the most up-to-date. So um we we uh clarified all the codes the requirements any constraints that were identified in there really stripped them down so that it complies to the to the tea with um state law. So at the end um uh Seline will go through a public comment letter

that we also received for the ADU uh this ADU section here. Um, next one is farmworker and agricultural housing. Although there is no um uh known farmworker agricultural um uh housing currently in the city. Um and we don't anticipate it. We still have to zone for it. So um what this does is just allow uh farmwork and agricultural housing um where appropriate uh per the health and safety code uh small lot development. So this is in chapter 17. Um the intent of this is to facilitate the development of uh what the state considers smaller lots. So this is lots that are half an acre smaller. Um and what this uh what these amendments would do is really facilitate make it easier for either lot mergers um to facilitate uh development a little easier so they're not constrained. Uh residential care facilities. This is um a term that was already identified in the uh the code. Um but there was some um uh areas that the state now considers constraints um such as not allowing residential care facilities in certain areas. So now uh residential care facilities must be treated the same as any other um residential use. Um they still have their own requirements. They still need to be uh if they're greater than uh if they serve more than seven people or more, they need to be licensed. So there's still all these requirements. Um but they are still allowed um as an residential use essentially. But they still have their own requirements. Uh and that's also to comply with uh state code and the um uh fair fair and equal housing act. Uh density bonus. Uh this in the code itself um it was out of date although staff had been uh complying with state law. It's really just a code cleanup so that the code itself is up to date. Um although staff was already complying with this um it changes the code itself

so that you know everyone knows uh what's the latest. Um and then this these two actions uh related to SP35 and replacement housing are outside of the zoning code uh outside of the municipal code. So there's no code changes within the municipal code but they were completed as part of this action. Um so the first thing was a checklist. So, um, at the at the public counter, uh, an applicant can come in, fill out a checklist, um, and it's a form to state that they're complying with the SP35. So, it lists all the requirements, um, and it makes it easier for staff, also for the applicant to identify is this SP35 application um, uh, compliant. If it's not, you know, you can e uh, city can easily reject it. If it does, then you can continue with the process. Uh, same with replacement housing. It's another form um that an applicant would come in and if a certain amount of units are being replaced um then they would have to fill uh well every applicant has to fill out this form but if a certain amount of units are replaced there is uh some requirements that in certain circumstances you have to replace those units elsewhere or as part of the project. But again these two are forms that are going to be at the at the public counter and online and it really uh helps both the applicants and staff to to process these uh applications. And with that, I'm going pass it back to Seline. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Um, yeah. So, during the January 12 planning commission hearing, um, we did receive a comment from CalHDF, who is the California Housing Defense Fund, raising concerns over our draft provisions. Um and that uh comment is provided as part of the staff report um as attachment F. Um staff and the city attorney's office did review the comment and make the necessary revisions and you'll see those under section 18.20.05L.

Um, and with that, we would like to make the recommendation that the city council adopt ordinance 419 as amended, approving zone text amendment 25-01, um, which updates various sections of chapter 18 and 17, and also find the project categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act, SQUA pursuant to SQA guidelines section 15061B3 and 15282H. H and then if you have any questions I am available. Also Kimley Horn and I'm sorry I didn't update the slide. Um so I have Katherine Reed up there but Kevin and to my knowledge has been briefed um from the planning commission meeting so he can also answer questions.

Thank you council. You'll have time to ask questions in a moment but first we're going to take public comment. Um members of the public are encouraged to to provide comments on this issue if they would like. Of course, as before, if they can limit the comments to three minutes. Um and be advised though that once the public hearing has been closed, no further testimony will be taken. So, at this time, do we have any public comments? I do not have any slips here tonight from the meeting, but I did receive an email just prior to the meeting from Bill Thomas. um you all have a copy of that so that will become part of the record.

Okay. Thank you. Seeing no other speakers, we are going to move on to close public hearing. All right. And this will now bring us to council questions and discussion. Any questions or comments from council? Council member Garcia,

I do uh just a little bit of clarification on the ADUs. Um I'm not sure if this is revalent, but when a ADU is being built, would it be um addressed with the structure of everything being balanced with the neighborhood or um are there going to be any buildings higher than others and kind of unbalanced the the neighborhood? um just like you know like the LA area, San Diego County area, you know, uh the balance of not being equally looking all the same.

Um government code now has a height requirement. Uh so that's 18 ft. Um which is standard across the across the state. Um so when it comes to that, it's all standard. Um there is in some cases some deviations from that um such as if you have ADU above your garage it can be greater than 18 uh 18 ft but it can't be larger than the existing structure. Um sorry I don't know if that answered your question but yeah it is pretty standardized. There's not a lot of wiggle room and that comment letter that uh the city received um was really referencing to that. So there were some requirements in there that we had that were a little more um uh subjective um but the we clarified with the explicit statement in there that the government code takes precedent. Oh

okay. So if I'm understanding um any new structure cannot be higher than the existing structure. Correct. Correct. Yeah, you got it. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Any other council member comments? Council member Molina.

Yeah, I just wanted to compliment staff on on certification of the housing element. And my understanding uh which I think you made very clear, but just to reiterate maybe for the public's benefit is that this amendment is largely just an update to the zoning ordinance to uh bring it up to date and in compliance with the state housing law. And in that respect, um it's largely a statemandated item. Is that right?

Correct. Um, regardless of if the municipal code is updated or not, uh, staff, the city must still process it per the government code. So, it is just really just getting it up to date with the state code. Right. Yeah. Thank you for that. All right. With that, um, staff had a recommendation that we would, um, adopt ordinance um, uh, number 419 as amended. Uh, council, can I get a a motion? I can get the get the motion. Yeah, I'll think. Yeah, just correct me if I need to do it differently. So, I'll make a motion that the city council conduct the first reading by title only of ordinance number 419 approving zone text amendment CCA25-01 which updates various sections of chapter 18 and chapter 17 as part of the 2021 2029 housing element implementation program project and find a project categorically exempt from the California environmental quality act uh pursuant to secret guidelines 15601B. B3 and 15282H.

Can I get a second? I'll second that. Thank you. Good reading. Thank you. Thank you both of you. Now, all in favor of that, I I That's 5-0. Okay. Right. So now it moves on to item 11 which is a business item and this is our midyear uh financial and budget report and uh this is going to be handled I believe by our finance director.

Good evening mayor members of the city council. This feels very loud. So, it is my pleasure to present to you this evening the midyear budget report for fiscal year 2526. And I believe we have our PowerPoint. Thank you. And I'll go ahead and get started. Uh I just want to also preface and indicate that this has the city manager and I met with our finance committee members, our mayor and mayor prom and now we're bringing this full presentation to the council for your consideration and for the public. So starting with the first slide, what we're going to do is we're going to start with the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 because we want to report the actual data and numbers and compare that to what we had for projected results at that time. So looking at the uh revenue line item, I'm pleased to say that we had projected 10.5 million and our actuals came in at 10.5 million. relatively close. There's a difference in variation of about $80,000 of which we're pleased to see because it's roughly a 1% variance and it was to the favor of Calabase and we collected more revenue than we collected. So, it's an indication that as we are doing our projections that we're in line and it's consistent and it's important to track that. Uh the following line item is the revenue with respect to unrealized gain and loss on the Lif account. uh that's uh subject to variation as you know with respect to the stock market and bonds and CDs and so forth. So that's usually budgeted at a zero amount because to predict what the market will be um wouldn't be um wouldn't be advisable. So we typically don't project for that number. The expenditures we had

projected 10.8 million but the actual expenditures were 10.2. So it's a variance of 623,000 reflected as a savings and spend expenditures. However, 314,000 of that was carried over and rolled over into fiscal year 2526. Uh these are um projects and items of which we anticipated spending in fiscal year 25. However, because of our staff and as you get through projects, uh sometimes they don't always align with the fiscal year. So they transitioned over. We do have a detail of what was carried over in attachment F of the staff report if you're looking interested in looking at details. So this results in a net operating surplus of 467,000 for fiscal year 25. We did have transfers out of 300 1.3 million. Uh those are largely considered to be one-time items and fund uh capital needs for the city including this. It's a rather large number, but we transferred 326,000 to the fire diff uh to um help support future lease payments. We spent $30,000 for fire equipment and to preserve our medical supplies. Some of them have to be temperature controlled. Included in that number is the 200,000 $200,000 we budgeted for the um for our senior center restrooms, 100,000 for our roof and so forth. So these are all very familiar to you as we're talking about and you've seen what's happened with the city. But these what this is in large part what was facilitated in the transfer. So the general fund balance as of June 30th 2025 is approximately 7.7 million which is a very strong uh fund balance. It's roughly u 70% of our overall operating expenditures. So it's a very uh strong position with respect to our fund balance.

Celeste, can I just clarify something real quick on the unrealized schem that is a an accounting entry that we required to do under accounting standards every year. Um, so it doesn't reflect the actual cash balance. It's just a calculation that we're required to do as part of our government accounting standards. So, um, that's why that does appear there. We're required to do it, but it doesn't necessarily reflect fluctuations in our available cash in life.

Thank you. So moving on to fiscal year 2526. This is a mid-year budget report and we've done some analysis and review as uh we do probably on a monthly basis and tracking our income and looking at seeing how it is we budgeted versus what's actually occurred. So, these are revenue estimates that we're recommending for consideration and we're asking and requesting for your consideration um based on our review of um an increase in taxes umund about 116,000 for interest income. I've identified this as one time and the differentiation is is while interest income is can always be expected to be earned and we always have interest income um will and I have given the city manager have given great care to make sure um I think you're aware we were in a relatively very low interest rate environment for several years uh with respect to interest earnings and that's not the case anymore interest rates are higher so that results in higher interest earnings for calam Mesa. So, we did some analytics and this might be familiar to you. We talked about it when we actually did the budget. We did some analytics for 20 years. Um, came to up with a schedule to really come down to the net of what we feel it could be counted on for routine interest income. And as we were doing our projections, we were doing these projections in January of last year. So to look out a year in advance as to what's happening with the interest rates, as it turns out, they haven't gone down very much. So it results in an increase for Calama, but it's nothing. I think we're very conscientious and you're aware that we're aware of one-time revenue versus ongoing revenue that we don't ever want to become too accustomed and build into our routine expenditures uh that which is one time and something that could not um be available to us in future years

and $100,000 is a pretty significant amount. So long story that's why we consider it one time. The charges for services for planning and engineering this is an increase. Um, we've had some increases uh with our CPI indices and that increased our fees and we've had wonderful wonderful output and success with our switch to open gov. So, as we were doing analysis, it looks like we we you know, we were just a little too um uh I don't want to use the word conservative. We we just um we just underestimated the the revenues that were coming in. So, we felt comfortable uh listing these as recurring. The 518,000 is of course a very significant number and that is related to one-time development agreements and increases to our administrative fees uh that we collect on deposits. Same philosophy. We want to be very careful. We can always anticipate some level of administrative fees, but I believe we budgeted 30,000, which is considered a reasonable number, and our administrative fees are looking to be closer to H 100,000 this year. So, if um big development projects go away and everything was held in suspense, that's an additional $70,000 we couldn't necessarily expect. So, that's a differentiation and how and why it is that we're referring to revenues as one time versus ongoing. So overall, it's a very nice increase for Kalam Mesa, approximately 771,000 net increases in revenue.

Um, can I just make a comment on the on the charges for services as well because I think I think that does that does deserve some additional um clarification or or context. Um, Celeste did a very good job of explaining that with to do with open gov and I think the reason for that is uh because uh we actually have people processing things properly. So, I don't think that it wasn't that pe necessarily that people didn't want to come in and pull permits for certain projects or things like that. I think just the old method of having to come to the counter um during certain hours uh was was tough for people and they said, "Okay, well, I guess I'll run the risk of not getting the permit." By making it easier for people to get permits, people are actually doing it. So, it's not necessarily a reflection and increase in activity. It's just an increase in the in the activity we're capturing, I think, is really what it comes down to. So that's why we're classifying as as ongoing revenue rather than one time.

Thank you. So I provided this schedule because I wanted you to see a linear uh review and categorically of the trend of how revenues are increasing. You see our actuals were 10 um 7 million last year. We bumped them up to closer to 10.9. And of course now based on my discussion with the previous slide, it's going to be closer to 11.7. But it it does bear consideration of course that 630,000 of that increase really is to onetime revenue. But we are pleased with the changes in the other categories that we saw. So correspondingly we also did some assessments and understanding about where our expenditures are uh based on where we had anticipated them to be. So we're there's a recommendation to increase legal fees by 300,000, professional services by 100,000. This is being referred to as one time um as because of the um development that we have. There's a lot of activity and we have had some need for additional planning consultants and so forth. So it's resulting in higher than what we had anticipated at the beginning um when we had prepared the budget. uh the professional services of 55,000 that's actually ongoing because it's in direct correspondence in relation to our ongoing building and safety and permits and fees. There's a correlation there. And then we just have um a couple of repairs and maintenance. There's about $15,000 of replanting that needs to be done at the Mountain View Fourth Street Park. And there's just a a small increase of about $8,000. We had an unexpected um our air conditioner went out and it was unexpected expense and so based on our repair maintenance budget it was quite considerable so we bumped that up. So there's a a request for your

consideration to increase expenditure adjustments by 478,000. And here's a review similar to the revenue that I just wanted you to see linearly for the categories that did in fact increase. And speaking of, let me take a reference here. So, uh, we had projected actual revenues at 10, I'm sorry, expenditures at 10.2. We're going to 11.1. Now, it's 11.6 as projected. So, in summary, uh, I've just spent a lot of time talking about one-time versus ongoing. And I'm very pleased to share with you in the ongoing column that we're expecting a operating surplus of 162,000 which we are pleased with. I think when we had done the budget it was projected at 84,000 I should have.

Yeah, roughly half that. Yeah.

Okay. So we're so pleased to see this. Um uh I I do have to say the reason why we're pleased to see it is because we are always looking ahead, right? So we have fiscal year 26 27 and I'm sure you know and recall we can anticipate our insurance can in increase anywhere from 10 to 20%. We have staff step increases which increases by 5%. Uh we have the great benefit of expanding and enhancing our access with our computer software but most computer softwares are now increasing every year by 5%. So next year we can expect to have some uh increases in revenue but also increases in expenditures. So we're very pleased that we have the net um ongoing uh net surplus of about 162,000. We're we're pleased with that. So, as projected, it's only a projected number, but because of the one-time expenditures we do have, um, with our beginning fund balance of 7.7, uh, we're projecting the ending fund balance to be about 7.1 million. Um, that is consideration of quite a few one-time expenditures. And I have detailed, and this is in your schedules as well. I've detailed what our one-time expenditures are because it does sound it's it's a pretty significant number, but you can see there's about five categories that really take up most of the increases. We have a strategic planning consultant. That's not something that's done every year. We have the grant application and writing for professional services. This is a recent approval from city council for the um for the Coachell uh the Cherry Valley interchange and uh seeking grants uh to expand our interchange project, the attorney fees of which we mentioned which is relates to ongoing litigation. Um the planning consultants and then a parks and trail study which is considered to be one time. It's not something that's ongoing. And the

differentiation just to wrap it up is we always want to bear consideration uh that if something were to occur and you know there there was an experience that Calama had for which we needed to really lock down and look at what we have um the the one-time expenditures can be removed. They are ongoing. They aren't part of our recurring activity and budgeted expenditures. So it always tells it to tell us that we can live within our means that our ongoing revenue is matching our ongoing expenditures. I wanted to also mention there are just there are two other fund adjustments of which we're recommending uh an additional expenditure of about 120,000 and for professional service services inside our insurance fund and then we're requesting our vehicle fund uh have an additional 30,000 for outfitting. We had our brush engine that was uh dedicated and given to Calamea. It needs to be outfitted. So $20,000 uh we're going to be able to utilize from the general fund carryover, but we do need the additional 30,000 from the vehicle fund. So we wanted to properly budget for that. And looking ahead, um we are going to have a budget workshop. So we invite the public to attend. We like to have people come and participate. Our budget workshop is scheduled for Monday, April 27th, 2026 from 5 to 7. And there's a lot of wonderful information shared. There's a lot of deliberation amongst the council members about what projects we're looking at for fiscal year 2627. We're anticipating the final budget presentation and proposed adoption for fiscal year 2627 to be Monday, June 1st, 2026. And I'd like to open it up to all of you for any discussions or questions or if you'd like any um particular

information uh about any item, I'm happy to expand. And uh between Will and I, I think we can cover questions that you have. Before before we get to your questions, I just want to make one comment on the budget workshop. So um based on feedback from our last one, um we moved it back, you know, historically we've done it at 3 p.m. Um but we understand, you know, we do have we have a majority of our council that work uh full-time jobs in addition to this. So we wanted to recognize that. So that's why we pushed it at 5:00 pm. We appreciate that. Thank you. And thank you for the precise but concise review of of the but you did well putting it into this compact format.

U Mayor Pro Tim Manley and myself had opportunity to take a deep dive into this material much longer deep dive version of this and ask uh some questions. So now I'm going to open it up to council um see if anyone else has any questions comments.

Council member Kunda. Okay. I just want to say thank you. So that's uh did amazing very clear presentation and very straightforward and uh thank you for uh actually considering the time hours to for for us full-time workers that uh I think a lot of the residents don't realize that you know um when we get here earlier we're actually taken away from our own time from work. So I really appreciate that you guys are working around our schedule to attend uh a full meeting. Thank you.

Oh absolutely. Yeah, we didn't forget it. We looked at each other this year and said we need to do something different. I think it came from Will. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Is there anything else, Will, that you'd like to mention or just wrap it up? No, I'm I'm I have nothing else. Okay. And I just want to follow up and say if you ever have any questions, if you look at something, I know it's a lot to take in right now. if you need any clarification. Will knows this as our city manager knows it as as well as I do and we're always happy to help and answer questions that you have. Now, we do have to approve a resolution. Is that correct? Yes. Okay.

Can I get a motion, please? Yeah, I'll make a motion that the city council approve resolution number 2026-02, a resolution of the city council of the city of Kalame Mesa amending the fiscal year 2025-26 budget to include recommended adjustments as provided in attachments A through E. Second. All in favor? I

I All right. 5-0. Okay. This brings us to the final part of our agenda, mayor and council member reporting on county and regional meetings. It's obviously a time where council has a chance to make general comments or comment on any any uh meetings they've attended or make announcements and so forth. So, you just go around the table. Council member Garcia

got nothing to report besides uh thanking the staff. Uh we ended the year strong and we started the year strong as well too. So thank you so much team for um providing great services to our community and our residents here. Um and a big shout out to the fire department as well too. um mentioned earlier, you know, uh me and my oldest son attended um the toy drive before you guys were doing, but we supported the fire department and um a few of our staff members here from the city attended as well too. So, big shout out to them, too. Um and to the public works department as well, too. Thank you for uh making the roads uh safer with the stripes. Not only uh the residents from Kamea but the residents from Bulmont as well too are very happy and um excited too with the new striping on on that area going towards uh the Bulmont Unified and the Brookside Elementary School and Turner Hills. There's a few schools out there. So um and for the sheriff's department as well too. Thank you so much for everything that you guys have done uh providing you know great leadership within K miss and then within the department as well not only for city but our surrounding cities at the cabon area. Um you will truly be missed and I am hoping to see you guys soon again and um hear u the great things that you guys are going to be bringing in into the sheriff's department and within our community. So thank you and u welcome our new captain as well too. So welcome to the team and that that will end my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Molina. All right.

Like always, um, excuse me. On the 14th of January, I attended the RTA budget and finance meeting. Um, and usually the first meetings of the year in all these regional committees is basically get basically just to affect their uh leadership, who's going to chair, who's going to be vice chair, and then schedule the approve the meetings for the year and also the goals for the year. So, um, I've I've as long as I've been on RT, I've been on the budget committee, but they surprised me this year and made me chair of the admin and ops committee. So, that's something new. So, um, I'll be bringing information about that. Uh, January 21 through the 23rd in Sacramento was the Cal City's mayor and council person academy in Sacramento. And in between that was the um, transportation policy meeting that I sit on for Cal City. So, I attended both. Um I'll I'll be bringing back they always provide a summary. The one thing that I liked about the academy this year was they didn't have conflicting uh sessions so that you had to pick and choose what you wanted to attend. So um that was good. I was able to attend as many as I could. So one day of the three days was uh the um policy committee and that's transportation uh communications and public works. So we approved the goals for the year and again leadership for that. Um, on the 24th of the month, I attended the vet expo in Bowmont at the Chattney Center. This is something they do every year. It was well attended by by our veterans. So, I represented our city and went as a line and we cooked over 300 hot dogs for everyone who attended. So, it was really it was really nice. Um, on the 26th, I attended RCTC's budget and finance meeting. I've chaired this committee for two years. They made me chair again for the third year. So, I like that because we get to hear about the money before it goes to commission meetings. So, um that's a good for us to

know. We we usually don't have any direct um um projects for our city because we're so small, but we get to see what's happening with measure A. Um so, it's it's it's good. It's good information. I'll be bringing back all information for all the council as well. Um on the 28th um mayor and I attended the Mesa Verity ad hoc meeting with um our city manager and the developers and so that's going well for me. And then on the 29th through the 30th RC I attended RCTC's annual uh workshop in Cathedral City and um that was also very very good. I'll be bringing information back again. It's it's looking pretty bleak for 26 and 27 years as far as funding because the state isn't supporting um as well. The money I mean DC is is um uncertain but the state is as well. So, I don't know what how the election is going to go this year and hopefully how that'll change, but there's new leadership there on transportation committees and um and um one thing I can tell you because I sit on Metroink and bus boards, the bus the bus systems are doing pretty well after COVID, the wrership is is coming up. They offer a lot of programs for the colleges. So, students get to ride for free and they open it up for the public. The trains not so well. Uh there are trains in in Paris, Metroink trains in Paris and then Metroink in downtown LA. They manage five counties. And you've probably seen in the news every day there's been a train stoppage um or um diversion or um people getting hit, you know, by by the train. And it's called like death by train. It's something we just learned about. Um, I know it's kind of morbid, but um, what what that what that means is, you know, their their ridership is is suffering anyway. And so with the with if you don't ride, just like

transit, if you don't ride public service, that you have a two-year period to to have your writership up as high as you can get it to guarantee funding for the next cycle, funding cycle. And so it's looking pretty bad for Metroink. So I'll be bringing back information on that. um it's hard to get pe talk people into riding the trains if you have these issues. So unfortunately if you manage your time I think it works well that you know the bus systems and the train systems work together and and uh offer benefits to ride both if you're like going to LA or going um going east. So I encourage everyone to ride mass transit. It's safe. It's safe out here safer than Los Angeles. Um, and the ba bathrooms are clean. Um, and timing, they're on time. But anyway, and then um I I put on everyone's packet um a flyer for a winery. Um it's I it's called Voice of the Wine Industry. I received a call today. This is a new nonprofit and they're inviting us all. This is just information. There's nothing to approve. Um but they're trying you can I'll read the the fly. It's not very much. We're excited to bring together growers, wine makers, retailers, and land owners from across the Ukipa Valley, AVA, and surrounding areas for our very first coalition event. This gathering marks the beginning of a shared vision to give our local wine industry a strong united voice. It's Sunday, March 1st from 1 to 3. It's in um um at Sacred Oak Vineyards in Cherry Valley. And it's it sounded interesting to me. You know, I'm think thinking of industry um jobs and so on. Something new for our city. So, it piqued my interest. So, you'll be hearing more about that. I had them call Will to schedule an appointment, but it's um it's just information at this point and that's all I have

and I and I did receive a call from from Miss Srass today. Yeah, they're a new nonprofit. There was an initial group that the north bench in Yukipa fought like crazy because it wasn't organized. There were issues like who was going to pay for the water, who was going to maintain the the the vines and all that. And this is a different group. So, there's no there's nobody from there. It's not the same group as before. It's a new group. So, um, I'd like to hear what they have to say. So, thank you. Thank you for all that. Council member Kundiff.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I have just a few things to report. Um, participated in an ad hoc uh for our public safety with, uh, Mayor Pro Tim Manley on the 12th. Um, more information to come with that where we were evaluating some surveillance systems and things of that nature for the parks. Uh so once we have a better understanding of which way we're going to go with that, we'll have that information to bring back to council. But uh it was very promising. There was a lot of great information shared with us about that uh to be a benefit um to the citizens of course um that utilize those parks and things. So um just to share a little bit about that. uh on the 29th uh attended the chamber installation dinner. Um and that was a very nice you you were there as well and and Mayor Prom was there as well and and um it was a nice event where they honored one of our firefighters of the year uh which was I thought maybe Chief Shaw would have told us what was his name

Logan Menace.

Logan Menace. Yes. Thank you. I apologize for not having that prepared, but congratulations to that young man and um you know what a fantastic thing to be recognized and and then I believe uh Deputy Hinkle was also recognized as deputy of the year over there that guy Mr. Corporal to be. So, um, you know, to reiterate our comments to, uh, Captain Northrup, you know, it's been a pleasure having him in our city and all the great work that you've done. Uh, clearly, um, represents why you've been selected to be promoted. Wish you well in all your endeavors and, uh, you we'd be lucky to have you back at some point as a sergeant or something like that, you know, to to continue to work in our city. So, um, kudos to you, congrats to you, and to you. Uh lastly, uh today I did attend the um my first WR COG meeting. Um which I gotta tell you that was very daunting. That is a whole lot of stuff going on at those meetings and um and so I I will pass just a little bit of information to you guys and then once I get an update as you did, I will make that available to you all. Um, apparently we are ranked number one in the Iron Project, uh, which stands for the Inland Regional Energy Networking. And, um, it it's I know this because they gave us this little graph, you know, and and so I I was asked by several of the other um, directors, you know, hey, what are you guys doing? And uh so I'm going to be caught up to speed on that by our public works director and our city manager as to all the good things that the citizens are being able to benefit from this program that um we're in. So once I have some more information on that, I'll be happy to share it. And lastly, to the gentleman that came uh to give us this great presentation on the Scottish festival. That sounds very fun, sounds very interesting. Um unfortunately on that 21st we're going to be having our um

budget and finance meeting I believe for a good majority of that day um or strategic planning or something I think. Yeah, we have something going on that day. But yeah, but but on the latter part of the event, uh it did sound like you guys had some interesting things going on that evening with whisies and the like. So, you know, I we may may I may need to go visit that after that day. So, um

yeah. And uh and thanks again to staff. Celeste always does a great job. Um you know, finance director Reed, I apologize, um does a great job with the numbers and and with Will's help and everything. And staff always does a great job for us. So um thank you to all the staff at the city for all their hard work and uh great things they do for us. That's all I have. Thank you, council member. Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you, Mayor. So a few things. January 12th attended the public safety adoc with council member kind of he kind of uh kind of covered that won't rehash that so more to come on that first win park and on January 26th I uh attended the finance committee that was my first finance committee so I enjoyed that with the mayor here uh we covered the midyear budget which we discussed today and we also had um a presentation of the audit financial statement which was exhilarating and I really enjoyed being on the finance side of it. So I think that's all all I have. Um so that concludes my report. Thank you mayor.

Thank you Mayor Pro Tim. So as Mayor Pro Tim mentioned on uh the 26th I also attended the finance committee meeting. Thanks to our city manager and our finance director for for getting us up to speed and preparing uh and a lot of documentation, a lot of important information. Appreciate appreciate, as council member said, your work with the numbers and and your talent to do so. I appreciate that. Um, well, I guess I should back up and say that on January 15th, uh, I attended I attended my couch for about a week because I was sick. And, uh, man, that was rough. That was a rough meeting. Uh, so there's some stuff going around. So, be be careful. Be careful out there. Um, fortunately, I'm feeling a lot better now. On, uh, January 28th, I attended the Mesa Verdie ad hoc. That was uh, very important meeting. More to come on that. Um, it's going to be a great development in our community. On January 29th, I also attended the chambers installation. So, as council member said, congratulations to to our award winners, our deputy of the year, our uh firefighter of the year, our businesses of the year, and so forth. Uh, it was a great event to uh honor those. Uh on today I attended our RCA meeting and council will get a uh report on that. So um that concludes my report I believe and that takes us to our city manager comments and report. Mr. Cobalt. Thank you Mr. Mayor. First I'd like to give a brief update on the Fourth Street Mountain View Park expansion. So the project is nearing completion but there are still active construction and establishment activities occurring in portions of the new area. Uh because of that certain sections of the project uh remain closed and secured for safety

reasons. So over the past few weeks some access points were temporarily unlocked for construction purposes but those areas are not open to the public. Um staff has since resecured those uh access points and we'll be adding additional signage to make it clear which areas are closed and why. Um and through this we do appreciate everyone's patience as we finish this last phase and we look forward to opening the full park um as soon as it's ready um on the city hall uh renovation um project. So we you know the new city we we were are still actively in escrow to purchase the BFA building that's ongoing but in the meantime we are trying to plan ahead to try to get um plans going for the for the renovation of that. So, we held a mandatory job walk earlier today um at um the BFA building. We had over 20 architectural and engineering firms represented which indicates a high level of interest in the project. Excuse me. Uh based on that turnout, we are anticipating a strong competitive um set of proposals. So, proposals are due February 19th and then after review and evaluation, staff will bring a recommended firm to council for approval. Now depending on the number of the of of um proposals that makes say take some time with that level of interest. We Monty and I looked at each other earlier today. We're like this this could take some time if we get a lot of proposals. So um but we've kind of strategized on how we could probably go through that um efficiently. So the last thing is on the podcast I wanted to share two quick updates on that. First um a new interview with uh Council Member Garcia will uh be released this Friday. So, I'd encourage residents to tune in to that. Um, second, I want to introduce a series um that I put together on the podcast YouTube page called Local Government 101. It's an educational series designed to help residents better understand how local government actually works. Everything

from budgeting and public safety to land use development and the role of the city council and city manager. the city is or the series is currently um 17 episodes of the podcast um kind of curated um and it's organized in a dedicated playlist using YouTube's new course play playlist format. So they have a thing where they you can label something as a course and there's certain guidelines that have to be met for it to be considered that. So it shows up in that way. Um I shared it on my my LinkedIn um page and actually got a lot of uh feedback on that. So, it's something that I think that'll not only help our residents, but it'll help the local government community as a whole um to try to close the gap in knowledge between um local government and the people that we serve because I think it's really important. So, um if you're interested in that, anybody can watch that at um calamsa.gov/mpodcasts. And that'll conclude my report.

Thank you. Yes,

I forgot two real important things if you if you'll indulge me. Okay. Uh, I just wanted to thank staff for the condition of our streets, the paving, the grading, the the signage. Our streets are looking pretty good. County line especially and um it really helps with safety and it it it's it's a a streets were so bad for so long. They look fantastic. So, thank you. Thank the staff. And then I forgot to mention to you Will at the RCTC workshop. I was bragging about your podcast to the to the the group of you know all the cities recommend in Riverside County and Erin would like to join a podcast with you. I don't know if he contacted you. Um

he didn't. I contact you. You told me about that and I contacted him and so we're going to we're going to talk. He's a little bit busy right now. Um but he and I are going to talk in late February um and probably do something in March or April. Yeah. So, I was bragging about your your skills and and I asked, "Do we have one?" And they said, "No." So, I said, "You got to talk to them." Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Absolutely. The podcastes are are fantastic. They're they're always in education, full of a ton of good information. Looking forward to this local government 101. Sounds good. Yeah. According to Tony Phillips, you've gotten a lot better than when you first started. Yeah.

Well, I would hope I wouldn't hope I wouldn't get worse. That was fun. All All right. So, um, two weeks from today is President's Day holiday. So, everyone enjoy the day off. So, that means we will not be having a council meeting on Monday. It will be on Tuesday, February 17th. So, I'm going to adjourn this meeting, the regular meeting of the city council. And we will uh resume uh our council uh next council meeting on Tuesday, February 17th at 6