City Council - Regular Meeting

We will join in the salute to our nation's flag. Ready? All right. Roll call and declaration of conflicts of interest.

Council Member Abram. Here and none. Council Member Bixle.

Here and none.

Vice Mayor Moniz. Here and none. Council Member Phillips. Here and none. Mayor Buble.

Here and none. Approval of agenda as posted or amended. So moved. Second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz.

Yes. Council Member Phillips.

Yes.

Mayor Buble. Yes. Passes on 5-0. All right. You're going to make her come too, aren't you? Your friend, yes.

Come over here.

Okay. Apparently Stanislaus County uses this verbiage. It's very uncomfortable for me. They say Older Americans Month. I'm going with something other than that. So... Wow. So we took it from them, so don't be offended. Please don't hit me, anybody. I'm getting old, too. Okay. So this is a proclamation for honor of Older Americans Month. May is recognized as Older American Month, established in 1963 to honor the contributions of older citizens, support their independence, and promote healthy aging. Whereas the 2026 theme is Champion Your Health, highlighting prevention, wellness, and self-management. Older Americans have built the foundation of our communities through their hard work, service, and dedication, and they continue to contribute their time, wisdom, and experience to enrich our neighborhoods, workplaces, and families. Communities are strongest when people of all ages are included, valued, and connected. And we recognize the importance of supporting older adults in leading healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives. Older Americans Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the many contributions of older adults and to highlight the importance of meaningful engagement at every stage of life. Now, therefore, I, Amy Bublak, by virtue of the authority invested in me as the mayor of the city of Turlock, and on behalf of our entire city council and all of our citizens, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as Older Americans Month in the city of Turlock, and urge all citizens to celebrate and encourage all residents to honor older adults, strengthening connections across generations, and support efforts that promote inclusion, independence, and dignity for all. So we believe that this is supposed to be for somebody who's not here. Is that correct? Okay. So this is a certificate of recognition that's presented on behalf our half for Martin and Nancy Quayle. But I was hoping you kind of kind of like enlighten us a little bit about them because I think you know what's going on.

Nothing's written about it. You might know them or something. Martin and Nancy Quayle. WE'RE SELECTED AS DISTRICT TWO. SHANNON AND I SIT ON AREA AGENCY ON AGING FOR THE COUNTY AND WE'RE ON THE COMMISSION ON AGING. WE'RE THE EYES AND THE EARS FOR OLDER AMERICANS IN OUR DISTRICT. WE ADVOCATE FOR THEM. WE OFFER THEM RESOURCES. This year we had selected this couple as senior volunteers of the year because they donate so much of their time to helping others. Twice a week they drive the United Samaritans truck and they pick up food all over Turlock. AND DELIVER IT. SO I'M SORRY THAT THEY COULDN'T BE HERE. THEY DESERVE THE RECOGNITION.

THEY WERE RECOGNIZED AT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS LAST WEEK.

LAST WEEK THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS. BUT YES.

so the Commission on Aging organizes an annual senior ball and the purpose of the senior ball is to raise proceeds for senior community services so this year are we're having our fifth annual senior ball and it is Friday June 12th at the Veterans Center in Modesto it's at 3500 Coffee Road and we would like to invite anyone who would like to attend, come and join us for a night of dancing and great community fun. There is a fee. It is $50 per person because it is a fundraiser. So thank you very much.

So I've decided that chronologically gifted sounds far better than older. Thank you both for being here tonight. Thank you. All right, now we have a presentation. Mr. Sims. You can make us go up there, you know that.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, City staff, and members of the public. Tonight we are recognizing Papusas Francis, Inc. for successfully completing the City of Turlock's Turlock Partnership Incentive Program. They have completed all steps of the grant program. They started out their business as a food truck and decided to make the jump to a physical brick-and-mortar location and are now open at 507 North Golden State Boulevard. The Turlock Partnership Incentive Program is designed to support new business growth and encourage occupancy of existing commercial locations within our community. So please visit this new Turlock business and enjoy their authentic Salvadorian food. At this time, I'd like to invite the owners up for a check presentation, along with Mayor and Council, too.

Come on, guys.

All right.

I have two cards here, so this is a time set aside for members of the public to address the City Council on matters that are not listed on tonight's agenda, but are within our subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council. You'll be allowed three minutes, and we will stop you if it's on the agenda and you just didn't catch that. So I have two cards, and I will start with Candace.

Hi, thank you.

So I apologize I'm not... Good evening. I'm sorry I'm not really good with public speaking. But I have a situation with something that's happened at my residence. I have had an ongoing mold problem that's been happening for quite some time. And I tried to work with the landlord on getting it taken care of outside of things, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to have the city brought into it. I tried to have a... INDEPENDENT MOLD INSPECTION AND HE STOPPED IT. HE CALLED AND STOPPED MY INSPECTOR FROM COMING IN FEBRUARY. sorry I don't this just really it's just really upsetting because I have mold poisoning because of this it's been unmitigated and when I filed the complaint for because I thought okay fine we'll have to go to the city we're gonna have to do that because you're not listening to any you're not agreeing with any of the medical you know results or anything and You guys sent out Enrique, which was great, but after realizing that my landlord's been dealing with him for five years, building permits and things, and they scheduled the inspection without my knowledge, I didn't know that it was coming until after it was already scheduled, and there was a letter stating that it should be mitigated or resolved. by the 24th of April and it was not. And instead of upholding that law or that ruling, he was allowed to be late until the 28th and nothing was done. There was no remediation of this mold. It's still in the walls. My cats are affected. They have both been diagnosed with asthma. One of them has very severe asthma attacks now. And I have three different kinds of mold in my blood right now. And I'm going to send an email to all of you with those results so that you can see. Because I tried to take it to the city clerk and I tried to take it to the city manager and they're not acknowledging. And I need it to be acknowledged because if it wasn't mold, why is this brown mold? It's brown. This is a clear problem. This is, you know, there's something else in the air. And I have medical tests. I have blood work done. I have taken a VCS test. It's affecting me neurologically. I've taken two one month apart, and I've declined 3%. And he's not being held accountable. And I started to realize that it's because he knows everyone. Because each time there was an inspection that he brought, he came with them. And so there was prior coercion. Like, I don't understand why this is being allowed. But if that's what's happening with me, I'm assuming that's what's happening with everyone. And when I got the case number, after I finally got, because I was roadblocked by the phone systems, I sent an email, and then I was acknowledged, finally. And I asked for a case number, and they gave me an arbitrary case number, 260402. But I called on the 3rd, not the 2nd, and I could tell that that was just the date that they were using. They did that to just appease me.

I feel for a second our time to stop but I want our attorney to kind of give you a suggestion of what we can do Next is that I believe that it has been submitted to staff and staffer We're reviewing and something appropriate if you there is a finding you have the opportunity to appeal that finding But that would be the appropriate mechanism, right?

I bet you guys have you guys have delayed and locked me out of that I've been told that I can't appeal because I'm past the 10-day mark and And then I was also told that there isn't a fee waiver, and so you're systematically blocking people that are on low income from appealing any decisions if there's not a fee waiver for the $125.

She can submit further comments with the clerk, but her time period is closed at this point. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Milton.

Good evening, I'm Elton Treeweiler. I was born here in Turlock and I live here in Turlock. Yesterday was Memorial Day, what a fabulous time. We had the celebration over at the Turlock Memorial Park for our fallen warriors. It was a very good celebration, a lot of people there, and I had a family thing after that with a lot of people. What's the most important responsibility we have in our lives? Is it taking care of our family, our children, and our descendants? Or is it making money and having power? It's actually taking care of our family, our children, and our descendants. Basically, that is our primary responsibility as human beings and as people and as children of God. That's our responsibility to take care of our children. Children, our family, and our descendants. What did the population of Stanislaus do in 2025 and in Turlock? It went down 0.2%, not a lot, 0.2%. The population in Stanislaus County dropped. That's the total drop of the county. Turlock was down also. Does planning for the future meaning just the next four years, or should we plan for the next 25 years? We're going to face many challenges over the next 25 years, so planning for four years is kind of a waste of time. We have to plan for the future, and that's 25 years. Let's talk about some of the things that are gonna affect us. I've already talked about artificial intelligence or robotics. We're gonna have 20 to 40% unemployment possibility because of layoffs. And during the Great Recession, we only had 10% off, and look at how destructive that was. We have another issue going on here that affects all of us, and that's the planet is warming. Our planet Earth is warming. You know, you can figure out what the cause is, but it's warming. And that is going to cause a major disruption in the world. Also, we have world diseases. We had COVID. COVID, and there are more diseases coming up now that are coming from other countries that are going to present a problem. We must be planning for the future. And hopefully never will we have another major war in our world. But, you know, what would happen if we did? We have these reoccurring things that occur, and we have to be ready for them. Thank you very much.

I have no other cards. Was there anyone else who wanted to speak in public comment? Sure, go on.

Good evening. My name is Abby Pendleton. I'm here on behalf of Assemblymember Juan Alaniz. I just want to give a quick legislative update on some of our bills in Sacramento. Two of our bills passed the Assembly floor last week, so AB 1572. That bill requires youth sports officials to undergo yearly background checks before being cleared to officiate games. ab1728 requires california community colleges to use a standard numbering system for firefighter and police courses and then a few bills we have that are going to be heard on the assembly floor this week ab1568 requires tier one and tier two sex offenders to provide concrete proof of completing a state approved treatment program before they can petition be removed from the registry AB 1612 would authorize local law enforcement agencies to hand over dangerous illegal drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine to the California Department of Justice to contract with a third party to dispose of those drugs safely. And lastly, AB 2282, this would temporarily allow a general acute hospital to provide 24-7 care for the Del Puerto Health Care District health care patients while long-term facilities are being developed. Thank you.

Anyone else? Mr. Barco?

Good evening, Turlock. My name is Mike Barco. I have a few items that I want to go over. I'll try to go through them relatively quickly. Number one item is our water smells. I'm not sure if it's just where we live, but it smells like chemical. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I've never smelled water before, but I actually smell the water. When I open a tap, it smells like chemicals. Hopefully we can do something like that to get that water smell away. Number two, there's a... VERY BAD NOISE POLLUTION WITH THAT NEW BUILDING STRUCTURE WHERE IT HAS, I DON'T KNOW, 300, 400 UNITS ON MONTAVISTA AND WALNUT. IT ACTS LIKE A SUBWOOFER BOX BECAUSE THE LOW-FREQUENCY SOUND JUST BOUNCES OFF ALL THE BUILDINGS, AND FOR EVERYONE WHO LIVES THERE, IT CAUSES HEARING DAMAGE. AND I HAVE HEARING DAMAGE RIGHT NOW. AND FOR THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS, BOTH MY EARS HAVE JUST BEEN BLEEDING WAX. I'VE HAD TO GO TO THE DOCTOR, AND IN MY RIGHT EAR, IT'S JUST REALLY BAD. SO HOPEFULLY WE CAN DO SOMETHING, BUILD A SOUND WALL OR DO SOMETHING WITH THE SOUND BECAUSE IT'S REALLY BAD. um third thing um on may 5th stanislaus county came to our property and said we're going to be spraying your place with inspectors insecticides for glass winged structure i believe it's called a bug i've never heard of a bug i've never seen it anywhere interlock or around our properties i call and and they said they're going to do it in two days basically so they gave us a notice put in front of our door on the 5th of this month and on the 7th of this month they came and sprayed our entire place with poison they either sprayed it on the bushes or they injected into the ground You can smell in the air and that stuff stays in there for like five years, maybe even longer. And it kills all the pollination. So it gets rid of all the bees and butterflies, everything from there. And we weren't given any kind of chance to speak with the city or speak with the property manager. They just came and doused our place with poison, basically, for an insect we've never even seen before. I called Santa Claus County on the same day, and I said, can you guys at least tag the trees first before you guys come put poison on the place? They said, oh, we saw tags blocks away with that bug on there. I said, but ours doesn't. It doesn't make sense to come put poison in our whole neighborhood. We don't have any issues with that bug. Put the traps up, and if you see there, come back next morning. You see them then, okay, that would make sense. But they just decided, nope, they came in. And I asked them, I said, please don't spray. Please put the tags up. They came and sprayed the whole thing anyways. So hopefully you guys can do something about this. They're not spraying poison all over the place and killing humans and killing the butterflies and bees because those are good for humans as well, as opposed to just spraying that to protect grapes, basically, is what they're saying. It just doesn't make any sense. The fourth thing is on the website, a couple of council members' information is missing. We don't know who you are. It doesn't explain a little bit. It's nice to explain a little bit about your background. You're serving the public. So, you know, for those of you that have put three out of five, you have put who you are a little bit of background, thank you. For the two of you that haven't, if you go back and put that, that would be good. The last thing I'm here for is to follow up on the last several times I've been here, and that's regarding the building code. I've asked last time I was here in front of everybody, and I've been – Coming out here over and over again, who's responsible for enforcing the California building code in Turlock? Do you know, Mayor, who's responsible for enforcing the California building code in Turlock?

That's not my responsibility. I have no idea.

Does the attorney want to address that? Who's responsible for enforcing the California building code in Turlock?

Say it back to him. believe staff's already responded on this matter but it does go through our building services department and and your prior requests have been responded so thank you

I haven't been responded other than no help and just being ignored. So it's been over two years now, and I'm tired of being ignored. Enough time has gone by. We need to have an answer. If you guys aren't able, point me to the right direction where I can go get it. But from everywhere that I've gone.

The speaker's time has expired. Motion to move on. Right.

It has expired. But your time has expired to handle my issues, too. You guys just keep ignoring. So can you please tell me who's responsible for enforcing California building code?

That's out of our wheelhouse. We hire and fire two people. That's it. We don't work all these people. Whatever they're doing, that's not within our purview. So you're asking a question that will be answered later in a correspondence with somebody, but not us. That's within our wheelhouse. That's getting us in the weeds, and that's not what we do. The Board of Supervisors is where you need to talk to about the spray. That's not us. The county did it, not us. They don't tell us what they do, right? So please go to them on that, and let's see what we can do. Thank you.

The other things I'm just letting you guys know, I'm mainly coming here to ask about the California building code. And so Turlock is supposed to enforce the California building code, is what I've been told. And you guys aren't doing that. And if you're saying it's not your purview, I've talked to the development department, and they haven't been doing it. I told you, I even sent you an email to Adrian Warner, and you guys have ignored me. Mr. So is this negligence that I need to go to court now and I need to go to hire and hold you guys accountable? I've been trying to work through the way, but you guys are ignoring me. So you guys are purposely neglecting this.

We are not, but thank you for your time. Who's the next speaker? Does anybody else want to speak tonight?

Okay.

Have a seat, sir. Okay, we're going to... Mr. Pfeffer? Difficult time. Could I get items 8J? We're not there yet.

If I can get 8H, HJ, HK. Mr.

Buffer, there's a process to this, and I will read it as we get there. If you had something for public participation, that's fine. I'm just trying to learn the new style with a new attorney, so give me a second. Anybody else for public participation? Okay. I will close public participation. Now we'll move on to city manager reports and updates. Mr. Fisher?

Nothing to report out tonight. Thank you.

All right, now the consent calendar. The public may now comment to the consent calendar. This is an opportunity to comment on consent calendar. Comment on an item or request an item be removed for separate consideration. But this is the time. There will be no other moment after that. So please let us know what you're asking for and why. And then one of us has to pull it for you. Mr. Puffer.

Could I get items 8J and 8K, please?

Okay, will you tell us why, sir? We're not going to speak to them after this.

Yeah, I think that they are the same thing, and I'm kind of wanting to know why we're paying a contracting company $3,400,000 and then having to hire somebody else to manage and inspect that work.

anyone else want to come yes item I my apologies I didn't read the details on that I'm just curious about I think we still have the same city clerk that we had before, so I just don't understand the title. Understood. My apologies for not reading it beforehand.

Anyone else? Okay, we'll close public comment. Is anyone willing to pull I, J, or K?

Yes. Can we move to approve the consent calendar pulling I, J, and K for comment from staff on the questions answered?

That's a motion. Second. Motion and a second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Buble.

Yes. All right. With I, I can answer, but that's not my job. Who wants to say it?

I can jump in on this one. So this is more of a procedural step. Way back in 2002, there was a ballot measure that went out to the voters and they chose to either elect or appoint the city clerk. Voters chose to do an appointment. However, kind of procedurally in the past, it's been done through a staff level position of hiring someone into that level. So this is kind of just a procedural step. Council back in December of 2024, when the current clerk was hired approved that job description and her role in that status so this is kind of just a cleanup action for a formal appointment of the city clerk but no change otherwise it's just putting a bow on on the process we're not opening it after this right you're just answering these questions that was just a clarification on the

I will motion to approve this item, and I will comment that when I saw that, I went, what? What's happening? So we're very thankful that we have our city clerk here and that nothing is changing there.

Motion to approve.

Yes.

Second. Motion to say. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Monette. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bill Black.

Yes. Passed on 5-0. Next one, they look the same. Mr. Fisher, you want who else to handle this? Mr. Richards, or you got it?

I think Frank can answer that question.

Mr. Bezege, we have items J and K. Good evening. Good evening.

Yes, the question, am I answering the question or going over the item for you?

Go ahead and just answer the question, please.

First off is advertising the project for construction bids is required with public contract code, which is exactly what we did, and we have done over the past three, three and a half years. Once the lowest responsible responsive bidder is basically identified, then we come here for your approval and award of bid on the basis of our review of all documents and making sure that, yes, they have done what they were supposed to do by contract and there is no issue that we can see as far as their bid. The other part of it is due diligence and making sure that what the construction contract is requiring is actually what the contractor is constructing in the field. It is not just watching. There is a lot of submittals, making sure that all the documents that are provided, all the material that are being proposed for construction meet all the requirements of the specifications. Again, specifications are not just what we write. They're all based on Caltrans specifications, standards that have to be followed, standard practice, standard construction methods, even the equipment that are being used. So that's basically part of the checks and balances of the whole process.

Okay. Any other questions for them? Thank you. What should I say?

Move to approve can we do items J and cake second motion second call the roll, please Come some other Abram.

Yes, it counts. We're a big song Yes, thank you.

Yes Yes, thank you road doctor All right final readings second final reading the ordinance amending Turlock Municipal Code title 7 chapter 7 7 I will open the public hearing

Yes, Milt Treeweiler. I briefly spoke about this item at the last meeting, and it's where we're talking about a street trees list. And the question I asked the participants were, how come you're not putting any native California plants or trees into this list? And the answer they gave us was that because they're short-lived, but they failed to give you the explanation as to why these trees are short-lived. They're short-lived because we overwater them. Unfortunately, they are native to this area, so they know that they don't need water during the summer. Once you get those established, it takes about two or three years. You don't have to water them after that. I have trees that I don't water all year long. I have a lot of California native plants. If you water them, you kill them. So they do save water. They would be sometimes great trees for our mediums. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak on this item? Okay. We'll close public comment and bring it back.

Move to approve 9A.

Second. Motion and a second. Will you call the roll, please?

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Budlak.

Yes. Passes on a 5-0. Thank you. All right. Next is an annual review of the DA for Evergreen Market. So, Ms. Katerina, can we do them all together or no? That's a no.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and members of the public. The item before you, there are five items that all relate to cannabis items, so we'll go through them separately. The first four, the amendments to the development agreement that are proposed are the same, so I'll go over those and then we'll go individually through the annual review. So again, it is kind of two parts for the The first four items, we're looking at an annual review as well as proposed amendments to the development agreements. The annual review is required through the municipal code as well as in each individual development agreement. And that is ultimately for council to review and determine if the business has complied in good faith with the terms of their development agreement. The second part are proposed amendments to the development agreement. These amendments are proposed to all four of the cannabis dispensary development agreements. So the first we are looking at, a first amended and restated development agreement. There have been multiple amendments to these development agreements, so the first amended and restated essentially captures all of those amendments into one document instead of having an original with multiple amendments to it I'm proposing to extend the term of the development agreement through June 30th of 2029 there are various cleanup items and so for example the name of in the original development agreement was Bureau of Cannabis Control that has changed now to Department of Cannabis Control so various cleanup items There's language that required a funding agreement. That was for the original setup. That has now been changed to make it clear that if there are proposed amendments to the development agreement, that is borne by the applicant for them to pay those application fees. There were other regulations that are proposed to be added, so requiring remote real-time live access to video footage of cameras be provided to our police department. That there be passing background checks prior to any changes in ownership and repeat background checks and can be done at any time upon reasonable cause There it is proposed to amend the public benefit amount again for the dispensary Development agreements it would remove minimum monthly payment the floor essentially that is in agreements now and would move just to a percentage based payment it would be set at a range with a maximum amount of nine percent and that then the amount collected would be set by resolution of City Council for an amount that's within that range not to exceed nine percent it is proposed at this time to set the public benefit amount at five point two five percent effective July 1st, 2026 through May 31st of 2027, at which time council would revisit that amount and establish by resolution if we're going to change it again within that range that is set in the development agreements. There is language added for protection from duplicative payments, just to clarify that if at some point a cannabis tax was passed that the applicant would not pay the public benefit amount and the tax they would just pay the tax at that time and languages added that if there was a criminal conviction that the owner ship of the development agreement of the business would have 180 days to transfer or at that time the city could look to revoke the development agreement so these proposed amendments are Part of what is proposed in this amendment for evergreen market evergreen market is located at 101 East Glenwood Avenue Their development agreement and conditional use permit were approved in 2023 their current development agreement expires July 13 of 2028, but we are proposing to extend theirs as well through a 2029 so that would put all four of the dispensary development agreements on the same schedule and in March of 2024 and there was an authorized change in ownership for the business from what was the original owner and and they opened for business in August of 2024 Through their annual review, we look at the conditions and the conditional use permit as well as their development agreement and look at if there's been any complaints or outstanding issues with any of the city departments. So the Evergreen Market DBA FF Farms is in compliance with the planning and building division. There's no outstanding issues or open permits. They are in compliance with finance, so that includes the annual audits as well as payment of their public benefit amount and having a current business license our police department did conduct their annual inspection there were a few correction items that were found but they were determined to be relatively minor in nature the police department has sent letter to the operator and working with them on correcting those items so they were the key The cash drawer was visible to the public. The dumpster was not locked. There are clone small plants that they sell as part of their license. They were not properly disposed of for those that were dead. A security door to the lobby was propped open. The permits for the employees were not available. But again, those were determined to be relatively minor, and our police department's been working with the operator to get those corrected. So from the police department, they are in substantial compliance with the police department conditions. We did send out notices within a 500-foot radius, as is required in the municipal code. We did receive one phone call and from a resident, and they were just generally concerned with having a dispensary in the area. They were concerned about the proximity to schools and bus stops, but did not have any specific complaints about the operation or the annual review of the evergreen market. It was more concerns about the use in general and the proximity and location. So the action before council regarding evergreen markets tonight is a resolution to determine if evergreen market and DBA FF arms has complied in good faith with the terms and conditions of their development agreement and then the other is a proposed ordinance which would be an introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending the terms in the development agreement as well as extending the development agreement I'm happy to answer any questions regarding the evergreen market FF farms

Move to approve 10A. Second.

Second.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Buble. Yes.

All right. Okay. Thank you. The next item is NHC Turlock. The proposed amendments are the same in the agreement. It was discussed for public benefit amount, some of the cleanup language on the term, and The NHC Trilox located at 3401 West Monta Vista Avenue. It was originally approved in 2020. They opened for business in 2023. In September of 25, their development agreement was extended through June 30th of 2026. For their annual review, they are in compliance with planning, building, and the finance division. For their annual inspection with the police department, there was, again, a minor correction The public lobby did not have a monitor that was viewable to the public to show customers that they were being recorded. Our police department has worked with the applicant, and that is getting corrected. So the police department has also determined they're in substantial compliance with the police department requirements. So again, before council, the action would be the determination the annual review for compliances development agreement and then introduction and first reading of the ordinance to amend the terms and extend the agreement I have a question about the inspection part who actually did the inspection that's my question sure so each department is responsible for conducting their inspections so the planning division routes out the project to each division and and asks for a response and compliance so and you know in finance the finance director looks at them and planning I went out and drove out in building, coordinated with office staff that look up permit history as well as send out a building inspector. In the police department, they send out staff. So there is a staff member from each department that looks at records or goes out and physically inspects the site depending on what is within their purview.

Thank you. Move to approve 10B.

Second.

councillor Abram yes councillor Bixell yes vice mayor Monette yes councillor Phillips yes the next item is perfect Union again the proposed amendments for the dispensary are the same for the first proposed first amended and restated development agreement Perfect Genium is located at 2500 North Golden State Boulevard. Their development agreement was originally approved in 2019. Their conditional use permit was approved in 2020. There have been multiple extensions that ultimately now their term is through June 30th of 2026, which is why the extension is before you this evening. For their annual review, planning did receive a complaint that they were having a special event that had Vendors in the parking lot. That's something that's not allowed through their conditional use permit. We did make contact with Perfect Union and they've been made aware that that's not allowed and have committed that they would not hold any events of that nature any further and so they are considered in compliance with the planning division and In compliance with the building finance as well as the police department So again the actions before council

the termination on the annual review as well as the introduction of the ordinance good evening mayor and members of the City Council my name is Angelica Sanchez and I'm here representing perfect Union And I just wanted to come up to thank the city, Katie and Isaac, for working with all the other operators in the city to come up with a percentage-based structure for taxes versus the flat rate that we were operating with beforehand. So just thank you.

Move to approve 10C, the ordinance and the resolution. Second.

Second.

Council member Abram. Yes. Council member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council member Phillips. Yes.

Mayor Bill Black. Okay. Okay. The fourth and final dispensary development agreement before council tonight is for Firehouse. They're located at 1601 West Main. They were originally approved in 2020. Okay. They started operation in August of 2020. There have been multiple time extensions through amendments to the development agreement that ultimately now time out on June 30th of 2026. Through their annual review, they have been found to be in compliance with the planning, building, and finance division. There were, again, some minor corrections from the police department. The public lobby did not have the monitor viewable. The dumpster was not locked. But again, those items are being corrected, and they are in compliance with the police department. So the same actions are before council for firehouse.

Good evening, Mayor Blue Black, members of the council and staff. This is Zach Trevon making a special appearance for Mike Warda on behalf of Firehouse Turlock. I'm just here to answer any questions you may have. I would say as to those minor violations, without having direct involvement in it, Firehouse's compliance team is top tier. I work with them on other projects, and I know they're very responsive to any issues that come up. On top of that, I'm aware that Firehouse is the top performing dispensary in the city, probably by a magnitude of two or three. So we appreciate the opportunity to continue to do business in the city and look forward to continuing on under the revised tax structure should the voters choose to adopt it. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

I figure I'd wait until the end and everything like that to make a comment. I just want to ask the young lady, is there anything, does anybody check the amount of THC that these drug dealers are selling to the public? Because right now there's a health crisis in this country of people getting addicted to, to marijuana of all things. In my day, nobody got addicted. They just had a good time. But now, we're not talking about a few percent. We're talking 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% or more from various studies and everything. But I was just curious if we have anything to do with seeing if the THC level is at the correct level.

Anyone else?

THANK YOU, MAYOR. TO ADDRESS THE GENTLEMAN'S QUESTION, THE CANNABIS THAT MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH THE REGULATED CHAIN OF DISTRIBUTION IN CALIFORNIA IS TESTED DOWN TO THE PARTS PER BILLION FOR PESTICIDES, HEAVY METALS, MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS. EVERY BATCH OF CANNABIS BEFORE IT GOES TO A RETAILER HAS A CERTIFICATE OF ANALYSIS FROM AN INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY LAB THAT VERIFIES NOT ONLY THE THC LEVEL BUT ANY SORT OF CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS THAT ARE IN THAT PRODUCT. without being crass. The cannabis that is consumed by consumers in California is cleaner than some of the cereals that are fed to children here. So it is a very, very tight regulatory program that cannabis is subject to, both at the local and state level, and soon to be for medicinal cannabis businesses. At the federal level, that will be subject to regulation by the DEA. And so if there's any additional questions, I'd be happy to answer those as well. Thank you.

I do have a follow-up question on that. Is there regulation on standardized packaging so consumers know what they're getting when they're purchasing?

Yeah, absolutely. The THC levels are stated on the final label that's placed on the products once the certificate of analysis comes through. Welcome. No, not quite. I mean, it does have the THC percentage right on the package. I was just saying, in addition to that, there's strict regulations around branding and marketing for cannabis businesses. For instance, if you have a sign on the side of a freeway or you're marketing on the radio or on television, you have to verify that at least, I think it's like 72.6% of your audience is 21 and up. well for the packaging anything that could be construed as being attractive to children as is prohibited and will be removed from the shelves subject to recall by state fair statement to say it's the black market cannabis that's off the hook with the THC levels THE BLACK MARKET IS DEFINITELY A CONTINUING PROBLEM, BOTH FOR THE REGULATED MARKET AND FOR LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT. IT'S A DECADES-LONG, MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY THAT WILL CONTINUE TO CONTEND WITH. AS THE REGULATED MARKET CONTINUES TO GROW, CATCH TRACTION, AND FURTHER MATURE, THE HOPE IS THAT THE BLACK MARKET OPERATORS AND PRODUCTS WILL BE DISPLACED BY REGULATED PRODUCT.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

THANK YOU.

And then I just want to say that Nancy Reagan and I both say no to drugs. So, okay.

Okay. With that comment, move to approve, Andy, the resolution and the ordinance. Kevin?

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram? Yes. Council Member Bixle? Yes. Vice Mayor Monette? Yes. Council Member Phillips? Yes. Mayor Bibler?

Yes. Pass on 5-0. Got one more on you?

One more. This item is different from the other items in that this is for Plan for Dream. This is just looking at proposed amendments to the development agreement. Plan for Dream is a cannabis... cultivator manufacturing and distribution So there is no proposed amendment to the public benefit amount for this item and there So plan for dream is located at 600 D Street again They are cultivation manufacturing and distribution their original development agreement was approved in 2019 Their conditional use permit was approved in 2021. There have been multiple extensions, so their term does end June 30th of 2026. And so that is why the extension is before you this evening. Their building permit was issued in September of 2024, and they are under construction and working towards occupancy. January the police department was notified that there was an investigation going on and there were some bank accounts that were targeted as part of that investigation that made payments to the contractor at 600 D Street and from plan for dream it was money that was from a private lender for a construction loan and the owner and plan for dream investments as well as the contractor have not been identified as targets of the investigation and that have been identified as affiliated affiliated organizations and so the background check has been reopened until that investigation concludes and for the development agreement amendments we are proposing again a first amended and restated development agreement proposing that the term be extended through April 1st of 2027 and this term is Different than the others that is again to just ensure that council will have a review of this item sooner In response to that investigation there would be more information from that and then this item could come back in case there was an item of concern that came up and just to ensure that this would come back sooner and the same cleanup items that were proposed in the other amendments. So again, you know, name changes, updating, dating to just current regulations. Um, and this item, they are proposing to do the improvements and phases. So it's a rather large building that they intend on occupying and phases and doing improvements and phases. So that has been, um, put into this development agreement amendment just to, to solidify that, that, um, Phase one they have enough on-site parking for phase one. For example when they move into the next phase they would need to Resurface the parking they would then need to install fire sprinklers and bring the other parts of the building up to building code as they move into those phases and then phase two they will be resurfacing the exterior of the building so those amendments are put into the development agreement to memorialize those planned phases and Other regulations that are proposed to be added are the same. We're looking at adding remote real-time live access to video footage of the cameras for being provided to our police department, passing background checks prior to change in ownership, protection from duplicative payments, as well as the same language about any criminal convictions. So the action before council tonight is the proposed introduction and first reading of the ordinance to amend the language in terms of the development agreement for Plan for Dream. I'm happy to answer any questions. Questions? Okay.

Okay. We will open it to the applicant, should they wish to speak. And I'll get you back in two people.

Mayor Bubak, members of the council and staff, good evening. Zach Trevon on behalf of Plan for Dream. First, thank you for the staff report. I did want to take the opportunity to provide some context and clarification on a couple of the items that were stated in that. First, the individuals that are subject to investigation out of Sac County are not business partners with Plan for Dream. They are not affiliates. They are merely lenders. We learned of the seizure of cold storage's assets back in November, immediately reached out to the Sacramento County DA's office to determine what the nature of that was. We were put in contact with the investigators and engaged in a series of correspondence over the course of several months. I'm very happy to report that as of Thursday last week when we had the opportunity to discuss this with attorney lucchese uh and decided that we would move forward with a contingency plan that we had proposed to the city to protect its its interests as well as our interest in moving forward that the sacramento county da's office has decided to reject the filing of the asset forfeiture which means that there is no factual basis upon which they could justify the seizure of funds At Planning Commission, we did share that there was no factual basis for Mr. Wang, who has never, ever been convicted of a crime in his life, to be charged with a crime or even be suspected of a crime at this point. We'd hope that given this new information that we will formalize in correspondence to the city, that we can bring back the DA compliance item within a relatively short period of time. But with that, we have additional good news, which is just last week, we have sign-offs from Planning, Engineering, uh fire and tomorrow we have an inspection with the building department for the hopeful approval of our tco once some engineering is cleared up for another permit that we have pending so with all that i'm happy to answer any questions you may have and happy to move forward with this project in which millions of dollars has been invested to get it operational and start turning over dollars to the city with that thank you for your time questions thank you thank you open it to the public anyone wishing to speak on this item

Just want to let you guys know, as a resident of Turlock, it's very hurtful to come in as a resident that has needs and is desperately asking for help and is not getting help and is getting refused and is saying that it's outside of our purview by the development department and by the mayor. It's an absolute shame. It's such a disappointment, especially after so many years here. This is specific to this item. The reason why I'm saying this item, because all these... Cannabis places are coming, and they're getting help from the development services, and they're getting inspectors coming in. But I can't get someone to come to my place and get an inspector coming in. That's a big problem. And so that's why I mentioned to you it's a matter of neglect. When you're neglecting, you're purposely choosing people to say, I'm going to help these people, but I'm not going to help that person because I don't like them for whatever reason. It's not right. And so you have until the end of this week to get back to me. Otherwise, I will be pursuing a lawsuit against everybody here. You all be served.

Anyone else who wishes to speak on this item? Ron? You need to sit up closer. That was a long walk.

Yeah, well, I knew the exercise. Hopefully you'll permit this question. It's a general question about since we've changed from the public benefit policy that we had before to a percentage, do we have an idea of what the income to the city will be? going forward i just if you can give me an idea i guess of what that would be i'd appreciate it you're looking to open one yeah no no yeah yeah no i was asking the income to the city that's a good question understood understood okay so you know my email just send me thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak on this item okay we'll close public comment um do you know the answer to that by chance

I don't. My man does. Everybody needs a side hustle.

Thank you, Council. Mayor, so there is going to be a reduction in the revenue projected for the next fiscal year due to this change. But we're projecting still about $1.1 million coming in from those dispensaries.

So that's roughly how much dropped?

About $600K. Woo!

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

What's the will of council? Move to approve the first reading of the ordinance on 10E. Did I say that right? Thank you, ma'am.

And we have a second. Call the roll.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Black.

Yes. Council Member Farzad. Thank you. Do you want to stick around longer? Are you good? All right, item F is a special mail ballot election declaring results of community facilities district 2 annexation 41 for the property located at 1143 9th Street. I will call up Chris, Bill, or Adrian. Okay, yeah, okay.

I saw that too, so. Yeah. Oh, okay. Good evening, Council, Mayor Bublak. The item before you tonight is the annexation of an approximately one-acre property on 9th Street into the CFD number two, which stands for Community Facilities District number two. Council, a few years ago, had authorized a policy change that any residential, any discretionary process that had the potential to have residential impact would annex it to the CFD. So this one-acre property is zoned for residential use, and they are going to divide the one-acre property into three parcels. So prior to the finalization of the map, it does have to be annexed into the CFD. And the CFD is to support police, fire, and park maintenance. So that's CFD 2. So with that... Madam Clerk, can you confirm receipt of the following documentation? Proof of publication of the notice of public hearing, signed waiver and consent forms for the properties being annexed, completed and signed ballots, signed certificate of clerk regarding receipt of property owner waiver and consent form, and the ballot declaring election results.

So confirmed.

Okay. We'll open it for the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on this item? Okay. We'll close the and come back to questions, comments.

Questions, comments. Motion to approve both resolutions.

Second. Motion to second. Will you call the roll, please?

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bill Black.

Yes. Passed on 5-0. Thank you for your time. All right. mr. Richards tell us about the Turlock water shortage contingency plan

all right good evening mayor council residents and residents tonight we are presenting the city's water shortage contingency plan and joint urban water management plan with the srwa these documents help us ensure that we continue providing a safe reliable and resilient water supply for community now and into the future In tonight's presentation, we'll be going through the joint urban water management plan, the water shortage contingency plan, which is added as an appendix to the water management plan, open it up for the public hearing, and then seeking adoption from our council. The urban water management plan is required for water systems serving more than 3,000 connections. It's a planning tool that ensures the city has adequate availability of supply to meet current and future demands through 2050. The city serves approximately 17,000 customers and we are required to update the plan every five years. The 2025 plan must be submitted by July 1st of 2026. Our last urban water management plan and water shortage contingency plan was submitted in June of 2021. In efforts to increase cost efficiency, SRWA and Turlock have opted to prepare a joint plan under Memorandum of Understanding that was approved in 2025. The plan highlights service area, how our water is used, conservation targets, normal and drought year assessments, a water shortage contingency plan, and measures we can implement to manage demand in dry years. Chapter 3 shows our service area, which includes the city limits and potential growth boundaries as identified in the 2012 General Plan. There are three small areas within the city limits that are served by Modesto's water system. The plan assumes a 1.9% annual growth as outlined in the 2012 General Plan and the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan. Chapter four highlights the historical and projected potable water use for the city through 2050 as identified in the March 2025 Water Master Plan. The Water Management Plan assumes build out of the city limits and urban development boundary by 2050. The projected use is calculated using water use factors based on the various land use categories identified in the Master Plan. Chapter 5 outlines compliance targets under SBX7-7. The City met this requirement by meeting its water use per capita targets in 2015 and 2020. The City is still required to submit annual water use reports and we are committed to continued conservation practices. Chapter 6 describes Chapter 6 describes the City's water supply for both potable and non-potable water uses. The City's potable supply comes from a combination of local groundwater wells and imported surface water purchased through SRWA. For non-potable demands, the City uses recycled water for industrial and agricultural purposes, as well as shallow, untreated groundwater for landscape irrigation at select parks. The city plans to maintain adequate groundwater capacity to meet demands during dry years and support future growth by installing treatment and adding new wells as needed. Expansion at the SRWA will also help the city meet its needs for future growth. Chapter seven assesses water supply reliability through projected supply and demands in the normal, single year, and five year drought conditions. The City anticipates to have adequate water supplies for both normal and dry years. In dry years, water supply from the SRWA may be reduced below the amount requested by the City. However, the City plans to meet the remaining demand through its groundwater well system. Chapter 8 is the City's Water Shortage Contingency Plan, which will be adopted by a separate resolution and is an appendix to the Urban Water Management Plan. The water shortage contingency plan was updated to reflect changes in our municipal code and the incorporation of SRWA water into our water system. Chapter nine outlines the city's demand management measures, which we can implement to assist in water conservation. The city currently provides public education, water wasting violations, metered services, and other tools to encourage water conservation. Looking at this slide, it's a timeline of the events leading to today's public hearing to make sure we're in compliance with the water code. Last Thursday, the joint plan was approved by the SRWA board after a public hearing at their location. And once the city approves the urban water management plan, the plan will be submitted to the Department of Water Resources for review. So tonight, staff is recommending to conduct the public hearing for both plans and adopt the resolution associated with each plan. By resolution, the staff will be directed to implement the water shortage contingency plan and submit the joint urban water management plan to the Department of Water Resources. And I apologize for being so dry for covering something so wet.

Questions for Mr. Richards? Yeah, nothing? All right. We covered it, apparently. Okay, we'll open it to the public. Anyone wishing to speak on this item?

Yes, I have three questions, actually. In this regards, actually, the questions, two of them will be on page 21 of your thing. It's actually page 614 of your agenda, of the agenda. And question number one, it states in a chart there, public water systems, DWR table 2.1, that in 2025, Turlock used basically 6.15 million gallons of water. And my question is, we are allowed, we have an agreement with TID, we can use up to 10 million gallons of water And it would be very beneficial to use the entire amount because then we're actually not having to pump water out of the aquifer and that would keep the level of the aquifer up. So in other words, we're wasting, well, we're using the water in the aquifer when it's not necessary. and i'm just wondering what happened in twenty twenty five question two is basically the same thing we get our full ten million gallons of water again this year twenty twenty six are we going to plan on using all of that water so that we don't have to pump water out of the wall of the ground and lower the level of water underneath us so that's the second uh... question in my third question It talks on page 9.6, it's page 711 in the agenda, and it talks about water leaks. And what it's saying here, due to the flat nature of the San Joaquin Valley and the shallow depth of Turlock water mains, water leaks are detected fairly easily. Utility staff monitors the water leaks as part of their daily operations in response to calls from customers, concerns about the potential leaks. Although Turlock does not perform formal pipeline inspections at regular intervals, These spot check inspections help contribute to approximately 100 leak repairs per year. So what I want to know about that, I want to know how many gallons we lost with these leaks. And we know how much water is going into the system because we know what our wells are pumping. We know what we're getting from our surface water treatment plant. So we should know. We also know how much we're using. So we know how much leakage is. How can we better address this leakage? Thank you for answering these three questions.

ANYONE ELSE WISHING TO SPEAK? RON?

YEAH, MILK TALKED ABOUT THE 10 MILLION GALLONS AND YOU ALSO MENTIONED EXPANDING CAPACITY PERHAPS IN THE FUTURE OF WRA. ARE WE USING THE FULL CAPACITY NOW, OUR ALLOCATION, THE AGREEMENT WITH TID AND SERIES? SO IF WE ARE USING THE FULL CAPACITY, HOW COULD WE INCREASE CAPACITY? I'M A LITTLE CONFUSED ON THAT. Then you also talked about projections into 2050, and if I remember right from the housing element update, they projected, well, the size of the city, they were projecting even now that we would be, what, 80,000 or 82,000 at this point, and in 2050 we would be over 100,000. Um, and you know, so we're under what the projected growth is. Now I kind of view that in two ways in terms of, if you have a plan to where in drought years we can meet, you have a plan for being able to meet the water requirements, even at those above reality. POPULATION LEVELS, THAT SEEMS GOOD TO ME. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, IF WE DO GET A DROP YEAR, LET'S SAY IN THE FUTURE, AND THE STATE COMES AND SAYS, WELL, YOUR WATER ALLOCATIONS THAT YOU CAN USE ARE BASED UPON YOUR POPULATION, ESTIMATED POPULATION OF 100,000, BUT WE ONLY HAVE 85,000 that could mean some significant reductions in water use that we don't need to have so help me understand if you would please seems like a two-edged sword there but thank you appreciate it anyone else okay we'll close public comment are you prepared to answer all those questions

I can answer most of those and I will get additional data out as needed. So I think to address both of the first two questions regarding the usage from SRWA, as you see a little bit of a drop there, as our system is getting acclimated to two different water supplies, one coming from groundwater, one coming from the surface water, There's chemistry changes within the pipes, and so we've been getting kind of dialed in. Part of this plan is a steady ramp up to maximize the SRWA water that's allotted to us. We do have restrictions based on our agreement at the SRWA on how much we can increase year over year, but we are seeking to maximize that as much as possible. The other side of that coin is that during our wet winter months, sometimes the water supply demand in town is not realistically above that 10 million gallon a day threshold for what can enter the system from SRWA. So I'm hoping that answers the questions that you had had, Milt, on that. Okay. We don't have any hard data on how much water has actually been lost through leaks, but the good news is that water will percolate back into the system. We are working to identify ways to capture and monitor that data and keep improving year over year through various projects that we have going on. Ron, I think that first question I just answered, does that answer your first question about the full allocation? And then as far as the capacity question moving forward, we'll be making our upgrades to our system strategically based on the need. We assess how much our maximum daily demand is and seek to get there. As far as the state coming in and saying population-based, this is what you get, that's out of our control. But what we can control is that we have the water that our city needs under the restrictions that we have.

Questions?

Okay.

Ready to go? Yeah, motion to approve 10G. Both resolutions.

Second to both resolutions. All in the roll, please.

Council member Abram. Yes. Council member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Buble.

Yes. Pass on 5-0. Thank you, Mr. Richards. All right. Now, water meters. You doing it?

You're stuck with me. Oh, dang it.

He's happy for the topic.

Yes. Very excited to present this tonight. So it's been a long work in progress. All right. Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and residents of Turlock. Tonight, we are requesting your authorization to advertise for the first phase of a construction project for replacing water meters and endpoints in accordance with Council Resolution 2009-247, which requires all capital improvement projects with an estimate of a million dollars or more to be brought before Council to authorize advertising for bids. I think we're all pretty familiar with the issues that we've had over the past few months, but the majority of our meters in the city have reached the end of their useful life. Most of them were replaced in the last citywide meter project in 2007. And our city currently uses a fixed network automated meter reading or AMR system from ITRON that'll currently be phased out by 2029. The current AMR system has presented a series of challenges over the past several years that have had significant impact on our customers through hardware failures, network issues, and other ongoing problems. These problems present challenges with billing and meter accuracy, often resulting in frustration with customers and a significant increase in staff costs dedicated to the metering and billing processes. Through phase one of the project, before you tonight, we are seeking to replace all of the three quarter to one and a half inch meters and end points that have not been automatically communicating with our billing system as of April 2026. It's our goal to address all failed residential meters in phase one and then upgrade the rest of the meters in the near future. As part of the ongoing effort to address challenges with the water meter system, the city has hired two full-time positions to assist with meter reading and billing disputes. And in January, the council approved an agreement with Badger Meter Incorporated for the purchase of new meters. The project before you will be utilizing those meters to be purchased under that agreement. So the scope of the project covers replacing the previously discussed three-quarter to inch and a half meters that are not currently providing automatic reads to the AMR system. All customers who are included in phase one will be upgraded to a new advanced metering infrastructure AMI reading system. And to move towards standardization, we're pairing our Badger meters with Badger endpoints and utilizing the Badger AMI. The new endpoints will be used cellular technology and eliminate the need for the outdated AMR infrastructure located throughout the city. Customers who have broken meter boxes, lids, or are lacking private shutoff valves will also have those items addressed in accordance with the city's construction standards. Phase one of this project is part of the city's larger initiative to replace aging meters and upgrade each customer into the AMI reading system. As customers are transitioned, they'll see more accurate billing and improved reliability of their meter. They'll also have access to Badger's customer portal, which will provide near real-time data on their water consumption and notify them of any potential leaks. The AMI system is anticipated to provide benefit to the city through significantly reducing staff hours dedicated to meter reading and troubleshooting, allowing them to focus their time and effort on other important tasks. Moving to a cellular-based system will support growth in the city by removing the need for additional infrastructure and new development. Phase 1 construction is anticipated to cost about $4.26 million for the installation of meters and deployment of the new AMI system. The project is funded entirely by the Water Enterprise, and there is no impact to the general fund. The department has requested the funding for the project through the standard budget process for fiscal year 26 and 27. And I'm available for any questions on that.

I have a question, probably just semantics, but you said phase one of installation is going to be the meters that are not working, but then the total cost that you presented there, that's for all of them, not just the ones that are not working.

That's just for our first phase of what we're doing right now, just the ones that are not working.

Which is pretty much all of them.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Roughly 15 to 20% are having communication issues at this point.

This is a question. You are aware that the 15 to 20% that aren't working have blown up this woman's phone for days and weeks, right? You're aware of that?

Absolutely. We are working to resolve that.

Just a follow-up question. I think this came up when we had the item for the Badger contract, but for the residents who are watching this, the city is not going to charge them to get a new meter, correct? This is already part of what they pay for.

Correct. The water rate is what we pay into it. It makes sure our system is running, our meters are accurate, and all of the extra infrastructure that comes with it.

And not really a question, but thank you for addressing that the technology will improve quite a bit, because I know that people in this audience have asked for, when can I look at why water usage? So that will be a much added benefit.

And I'm just curious, what's the lifespan of these meters?

The meters are about 20 years, and we've done some preliminary studies on cost-benefit between the old AMR style versus the AMI, and there's some cost savings over a 30-year lifespan, which incorporates one meter replacement during that time frame.

Okay, we'll open it to the public. Come on up.

So the meters that aren't communicating, how do you figure out the bill? You have somebody go out and read it? To me, that seems like a waste of time. I mean, if like my bill has, you know, April water use probably for the last 20 years. So it would seem like they should just take an average until they can. DO IT. I DON'T KNOW. IF YOU'RE HAVING TO DO THAT, IT'S JUST AN ESTIMATE. AND YOU SAID ABOUT TECHNOLOGY, ONE THING THAT I WOULD HAVE LOVED LAST YEAR IS THAT I HAD A WATERLINE BREAK WHILE I WAS OUT OF TOWN. and it used about 20,000 gallons of water and everything, and I didn't know about it. I would hope that sometime that the system would say, hey, you know, this is really abnormal usage, no matter what time of the day it is and whatever, and then, like you say, text. Hopefully that's part of it.

Anyone else? Okay.

How do you know if your water meter isn't working? Is that in the bill or something like that? Hopefully my water meter is working. Okay. I'm just curious about that. And if I heard correctly, what you said was... given the current water rates won't be increased and due to the savings there's enough for at least one replacement cycle of these water meters over 30 years. I think you said there was enough savings to be able to get one replacement cycle and their projected life is 20 years. So hopefully that's good because then you won't have to increase the water rates to be able to get new equipment. So I'm hoping that's the case. Thank you.

Anyone else? OK, let's close the public comment. Mr. Richards, a couple of those questions.

Yeah. So for the estimate side of things, if the meter isn't communicating, the billing system does produce an estimate based on previous usage. The unfortunate downside of that is that is not always accurate. And then when the meter does get read, a customer can be met with a Truett bill that's unexpected. And money could be either owed to the customer, or the customer could owe the city money. SO IN THE EFFORTS TO ADDRESS THAT PROACTIVELY, WE HAVE STAFF ON BASICALLY GOING OUT AND CHECKING FULL TIME AT THIS POINT TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE METERS ARE GETTING READ EVERY MONTH OR TWO PER HOUSEHOLD. AS FAR AS THE LEAK DETECTION SIDE GOES, THE CUSTOMERS WHO ARE, EXCUSE ME, In the new AMI portal, they can sign up for text alerts, emails, and it'll also notify the city if a meter's been running at a set threshold of one gallon per minute for 24 hours. It'll let us know that. So we should be able to have some more proactive leak detection citywide on that. I'm really excited about that. Ron, if your bill has a star on top, that generally indicates that it's an estimate. And if your bill is the exact same every month, that generally indicates that it's been an estimate. Your water use will fluctuate based on the needs and the time of year. So generally those things are changing. And then to circle to the last point, the cost benefit between the traditional AMR system and versus the AMI system, we're moving towards that AMI system because there's cost savings in that same 30-year time span. Neither system is free, so we're making an investment in one versus the other in efforts to save money in the long term for those.

Okay. Any other questions or comments or motions? Yeah. Motion to approve. Thank you. Second. We have a motion and a second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Averill? Yes. Council Member Bixle? Yes. Vice Mayor Maness? Yes. Council Member Phillips? Yes. Mayor Bill Black?

Yes. Thank you so much. 5-0. Okay. Now we're going to talk money. You ready? Sherlock's audited financial statements and related reports to the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.

Thank you, Your Honor, Mayor and Council Members. So the item I have in front of you is the fiscal year audit of 24-25. This does bring our audits current and up to date. We have already actually started working on our current years, too, as well, to make sure we stay up to date. But at this point, I'd like to turn it over to Brown Armstrong, who is our auditing firm, to give a presentation on the financials.

Good evening. Good evening. Thank you, Isaac. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Just for record, my name is Neeraj Tata. I'm a certified public accountant, and I'm an audit partner with Brown Armstrong. So thank you for this opportunity to present the results of City of Turlock's financial statements for the year ended June 30th, 2026. Okay, got the agenda. So here, like you can see, we prepared a small PowerPoint presentation. So I'll go over it. So here's a roadmap. I'll go over the scope of our services. I'll just recap it. Then I'll go over the responsibilities for these financial statements, what responsibilities are taken by the city's management, and what are our responsibilities as external auditors and the standards which we followed while giving you our opinion. Then we have financial highlights. how the city performed during the current year. I will briefly go over that. And finally, results of the audit, the reason why I'm here. And then thereafter, there are required communications, which we need to do as an external auditor to the people who are charged with governance, which is city council in this case. So I will give those communications under AUC 260. And then other than the main audit report act for NML financial report, we have five additional ancillary reports. I'll go over them briefly. And finally, like we have some questions, which I'll be happy to take. So with that, let me go to the next slide, which is scope of our services. So our engagement covered the Audit of Cities financial statement in accordance with U.S. generally accepted auditing standards and the standards of governmental auditing standards, which are contained in Yellow Book. You being a governmental entity, so other than our normal AICPA standards, we have to follow the Yellow Book standards as well. SO THESE YELLOW BOOK STANDARDS REQUIRE US TO GIVE SOME ADDITIONAL REPORTS, A SIDE OF OUR OPINION, AND I'LL GO OVER THOSE REPORTS BRIEFLY A LITTLE LATER. SO NEXT SLIDE IS RESPONSIBILITIES AND STANDARDS. SO THESE, AS YOU KNOW, LIKE ALWAYS, THIS ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT IS PREPARED BY YOUR CITY'S MANAGEMENT, ISAAC AND HIS TEAM, WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS CONTENTS, INTERNAL CONTROLS AND ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES. Our role is to express an opinion on whether these financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects in conformity with US GAAP. As I mentioned, the audit was performed under both AICPA standards and the yellow standards. So let's go over the financial highlights. So these details of these financials are included in your MD&A as well. These are very big documents. I'll just go over the main items here. So the total net position of the city is $765.8 million, which is up by $40.9 million from prior year. Total revenues were $182.3 million, and expenses were $141.5 million. Your general fund balance is now at 84 million, which is well above your budgeted general fund, which was 42.9. The majority of the favorable variance against budget is attributable to your long-term debt proceeds. So it is not only from the operations you have generated all that money, so it's because of the bond issuance. The 40.9 increases net position, roughly breaks evenly between governmental activities and the business type activities. I think it's 20.9, around that age, at the bottom. So next slide gives you more details about the net positions. So net position grew across both activities, both governmental, from 400.7 million to 421.3 million. Business type increased from 324.2 to 344.5. Of the total 765.8 million of net position, about 65%, 495.4 is invested in your capital assets. 140.7 is restricted for specified purposes. And you have 129.7 million which is unrestricted mostly in your city's utility funds. So next slide shows you from where did you get all your governmental activities revenues. So governmental activities generated $112.8 million in revenues. Sales tax are the largest source of your revenue, about 33%. That generated $37.4 million, followed by charges for services at $16.3 million. Other taxes were $13.4 million, and your capital grants were $10.6 million. And thereafter comes the property taxes, which generated $10.1 million. Now going through the business type activities, they produced about 69.5 million in revenues, and your expenses were 47.3. Water generated 42% of this revenue, sewer 41%, transit 11%, and Stanislaus Regional Water Authority operations generated about 6%. So water and sewers show healthy operating margins, then support capital reinvestments, transit and SRWA ops essentially breaking even, consistent with their mission-driven structure. So these were like your major highlights for this year. And coming to the results of the audit, we have issued an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion. It is the highest form of opinion which an external auditor can provide. So with that, congratulations to Isaac and his team. What does that mean? What we are saying is the statements are presented fairly. As I mentioned, we follow U.S. GAAP. In our opinion, all U.S. GAAP has been followed, and we don't think there's any material misstatement which exists in this financial statement. So they are reasonably accurate. Now as I mentioned, the yellow book requires us to issue a few additional reports other than our opinion. So the next report which we have issued is a report on internal controls. So this yellow book, Memorandum on Internal Controls, communicates any deficiencies identified during our work. We do not express any opinion on your internal controls, but we are required to report material weaknesses or any significant deficiencies which come to our attention while performing our audit. For the current year, none were identified. All prior year findings have been resolved and no instances of non-compliance were noted in your report. Next is our required communications as per AUC 260 to those who are charged with governance, the city council. So in this report, the whole report is included in your packet. so this describes like our letter to you if you have identified any Material, new significant estimates or disclosures, they are very consistent and neutral from last year. Nothing major was changed on the financial statements. If we have any corrections on the financial statements which city has given to us, or we have proposed any adjustments and they have not taken any of our adjustments to prepare these financial statements, we are required to report to you. There are none. If you have any disagreements regarding any estimates or any other standards which were followed in preparing these financial statements, we are required to report to you. We do not have any disagreements. If you have any other findings or any issues with our independence, we mention it to you here. So overall, the report is all clean. We do not have any issues. With that, let me move to the ancillary reports which we have issued.

The first report,

is the single audit report. You get the federal grants. So if your federal grants exceed $1 million, we perform a separate audit, single audit, for each of those programs. So we have performed that thing, and we have filed our report to the clearing agency. And again, it is an unqualified opinion, unmodified opinion. So that means we do not have any issues, so no findings are there. The second report which we issued is the Public Finance Authority report. This is for your component unit. Again, no findings or matters were noted. It's a clean report. You also get money from for your transit development for your road and all that things. So we prepared a separate report for them. So we, although we did not find any issues or any findings there, but report needs to be filed by March 31st and we filed that in May. So it took a little bit more time to file it. So therefore, there's one finding that you mentioned there, not a material one, it's a non-compliance one. The fourth report is the Edmonton Vehicle Vehicle Management Report, and again, it's unmodified opinion, no findings, so metrics reported there. And finally, the GAM limit, like, we recalculate that, and if they have any exceptions, we bring it to you. There was no exception noted there, so it's also clean. So like in this slide I just mentioned, all the reports, and just to give you a snapshot of all of our opinions, so pretty much unmodified opinion on all the reports, no issues at all. No material weaknesses or significant deficiencies noted, only a minor compliance audit issue because of the late filing of TDA report. And no disagreements with the management on any of the reports, and no uncorrected misstatements. So overall, all reports are very clean. So at the very end, I sincerely want to thank Isaac and Mike and all team. They did a wonderful job, really made our life much more easier. And if you remember, like, we were very behind five years ago after COVID. This is the first time we have completed all of our audit before the next year has started. So by May, we completed all the reports. I think going forward, we should be able to finish everything by December. So for that, thank you very much. If you have any questions, I'll be ready to answer those.

Questions? Okay. Let's open it to the public.

I basically have one question. It would be your page 27. It's page 1135 on the agenda. It says, current year status is the fiscal year 2025-2026 report is estimated to be completed by the end of December 2026, pending the auditor's availability. I'm kind of curious about what that means as far as do we have – Is it possible the auditor can't do it, or why would it happen to be late? Or do we have another auditor that could do it if we couldn't get it done? And you did explain one question that I was going to ask. The reason we're late before is because of the COVID pandemic. So that saddened that question. But, yeah, I'm just curious about that auditor's availability. I mean, should we have a spare auditor? That's my question at that time.

Ron? We'll do it after. Let people speak first. Thank you.

Yeah, what you said at the end there, I'm glad that you said it. I think that we were even behind back in 2019 when I first started coming. I think that was because we were almost broke. We didn't have enough staff. We didn't have a full-time financial director. We didn't even have one. I think she left. Was that Waterford or Oakdale came back two days a week or something another like that you know so we were behind and I know some of us have complained about that for a number of years so I wanted to congratulate you on that and say thank you for getting us more up-to-date and appreciate that so thank you anyone else we'll close the public comment and bring it back for those two questions

Yeah, the availability comment really just comes down to making sure staff is doing their due diligence, pushing information to the organization that's doing the audit. So we have to be concurrent with them as they request information, but you've also got to remember all studies are doing it at the same time. So CPAs now at firms are really struggling to keep staff up, so they really have to make sure that they have their comments, but we have to get ahead of it too as well. So we get them the information, but again, it's all dependent on them getting the information back for us to review too as well.

So that's what that comment's about.

Well, I can assure you right now we will have people. City of Turlock is one of my favorite clients, so I will not let it go down. So we will be able to. So things are there. We will get it done.

So, Isaac, you don't have, like, extra auditors in your pocket?

City can't afford them. Sorry.

I'm good with what I got.

Understood. Motion to approve the resolution 11B. Second.

Motion to second. Call the roll, please.

Council Member Abram. Yes. Council Member Bixle. Yes. Vice Mayor Moniz. Yes. Council Member Phillips. Yes. Mayor Bill Black.

Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good to be there. All right. This is the approving an agreement with City of Modesto for fire administrative service. Chief Jelnik.

All right. Well, good evening, Mayor, Council, staff, members of the public. It's nice to see everybody once again. The item before you tonight is an updated agreement between the City of Modesto and the City of Turlock for delivery of fire administrative services. So I do want to begin by clarifying one point. This is an administrative services agreement. This is not a transfer of fire operations or full control of your fire department. Turlock will continue to operate its own fire department, employ its own personnel, establish its own strategic priorities, and maintain local control over policy, budgeting, and service delivery. So what you have before you is agreement that continues to provide contracted administrative services supported through the delivery of a deputy or assistant fire chief in service to the city of Turlock. And within this agreement, there is also optional support services for emergency medical services oversight, as well as a fire marshal and fire prevention. So these proposed updates reflect a continuation of the existing model. but we've also added what we believe are several improvements and enhancements within the agreement that focus on transparency, improved governance, accountability, and operational continuity. So I quickly just want to cover some of those enhancements, and then I will ask the Director Marino to talk about the financials. So within this revised agreement, there is a requirement for an annual administrative services report. And this annual report goes before the city manager and you as our council, and it includes such things as our strategic priorities, and our progress towards meeting those established goals. Fire prevention and performance metrics related to our Fire Prevention Bureau's performance in our community. EMS quality assurance, our recruitment and attrition trends, as well as response time and standards of coverage performance against best practices, including our City Gates study. within the revised agreement there are also three separate committees and intended to enhance transparency clarity and describe our goals and direction and these three committees are as follows the first is the WHAT WE WILL REFER TO AS THE TURLOCK FIRE ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE. AND THIS COMMITTEE INCLUDES REPRESENTATIONS FROM BOTH CITIES' LEADERSHIP TEAM, FIRE DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP, AND LABOR REPRESENTATION FROM TURLOCK FIREFIGHTERS LOCAL 2434 AND PUBLIC SAFETY MID-MANAGEMENT LABOR GROUP KNOWN AS T-MAPS. AND SO THIS TEAM WILL MEET AT LEAST TWICE ANNUALLY TO REVIEW STRATEGIC PRIORITIES, PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES AS THEY ARISE. THE SECOND COMMITTEE IS KNOWN AS THE REGIONAL CONTRACTED ADVISORY COMMITTEE. AND THIS ACTUALLY FORMALIZES AN EXISTING COMMITTEE. AND THIS STRATEGIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE PROVIDES ALL AGENCIES WITHIN MST A FORUM TO DISCUSS REGIONAL COORDINATION, ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT, AND THE DISCUSSION OF SHARED SERVICES, EMERGING TRENDS AND CHALLENGES. And the final committee is the newly formed, or will be newly formed, Turlock Fire Department Community Advisory Committee. And this is a structured opportunity for community engagement and public input regarding Turlock Fire Department's fire and emergency medical services. And it will include broad representation from within the city of Turlock, intended to include diverse community backgrounds. And it will meet at least quarterly with fire department leadership to discuss service delivery priorities and our community's needs. In addition to those items, there is also clarified language about the City of Turlock's ability to participate in selecting their assigned chief to the City of Turlock and the assignment process. This language also reinforces expectations regarding continuity, collaboration, and communication surrounding these critical leadership assignments. There's also language that clarifies vehicle and apparatus use by each agency. And finally, there's discussion of two optional service enhancements. And these optional enhancements are for fire prevention, specifically the assignment of a fire marshal, a deputy fire marshal, and administrative oversight for emergency medical services. And we have a different recommendation for each of those. So beginning with our fire marshal, If council chooses to activate this option, Modesto can immediately provide fire marshal oversight and prevention to support and maintain continuity of services here for the city of Turlock. Now, having said that, based on organizational needs and feedback from staff, it is our recommendation that the long-term approach that is best fit for Turlock is to maintain a standalone fire marshal position dedicated specifically to Turlock's operational and development needs. And if we choose this option, we're prepared to begin an open recruitment process for that position while continuing to utilize the availability of the City of Modesto Fire Marshal and Prevention Bureau to maintain continuity of services until a permanent replacement is located. On the other hand, for EMS oversight, currently the city of Modesto is giving pretty good value, in our opinion, for this service. So you're getting good access to a very strong team within our EMS division. They offer clinical oversight, operational support that candidly would be difficult and costly for Turlock to independently replicate. And so through this partnership, if this option is chosen, you gain access to a deputy chief assigned to our EMS division. You get physician clinical oversight, nursing level quality assurance, strong EMS leadership and administrative support of the team, regional EMS coordination and advocacy, as well as access to experienced fire captain paramedics who can provide real-time clinical guidance during more complex incidents that we may face here in Turlock. In addition, this structure, the EMS add-on, also creates a very practical pathway should we chose to go to a paramedic program here for the City of Turlock, should we choose to pursue one. And I strongly support the idea of transitioning to an advanced life support program for our community. So with having said that, we feel that financially and practically and for best delivery service, the EMS is a good fit. So to summarize, we recommend approving the agreement. activating the EMS service at the outset, and initiate the hiring process for a city of Turlock fire marshal. I think this approach gives us balanced administrative support needed to maintain continuity while preserving local control over key fire prevention functions, and it creates a practical path towards enhanced EMS capability. So with that, I'll pass it to Director Marino to talk about the financial aspects of the contract.

So just some key notes to go over the financial information. I mean, we discussed this quite a few times. There's obviously benefit in the overall contract for savings, depending on how you structure and what the overall looks like. So just taking the core deputy chief position itself, you do have substantial savings just on that. But if you had some of these different components, one of the items we looked out after we posted the staff report was actually the EMS functionality. I asked Chief the question, what do we need to do to be able to keep that in-house? What does that look like? What would you have to do? His statement was we'd have to hire another captain to do so. Well, they're going to be billed for first year $113,000. Well, a full freight captain position, about $210,000 for UAL. So there's an additional savings there overall, too, as well. I mean, each one of these components have a financial benefit, obviously. It's just depending on how the structure in the contract now gives you some flexibility within that, too, as well. Obviously, talking about the fire marshal, we don't have one currently in-house, but this new contract actually gives the flexibility to activate one. They're already basically doing the service, so it's something they can smooth into if need be, or depending on how the contract actually flows out tonight. So financially, there is savings going through the years. I have reviewed the financial information that they provided to me for the next five years and concur with the findings and make sure they're all accurate and where they need to be. I'm open for any financial questions you may have.

Okay. Let's open it to the public.

Milt Treeweiler. Turlock is Turlock, Modesto is Modesto, San Francisco is San Francisco, Oakland is Oakland. We've had a fire department of our own, and we can still have a fire department of our own. I've talked about this before. We know there's a lack of consistency and stability and leadership with the Modesto fire chief in charge. In a discussion that was revealed, the current deputy fire chief of Turlock will be replaced in June, so we're going to have five Fire chiefs in charge, deputy fire chiefs in charge of Turlock, which means our firefighters have different bosses or have a boss change almost every year they get a new boss. Okay, that's not a good thing to have a new boss. It's not a good thing to have a new pastor. If you go to church and you have a new pastor every year, or if you go to your dentist and you have a new dentist, I want to have the same person I've had the previous years because I know I like them. Turlock is Turlock. We want something that benefits Turlock the most. It's not good for our Turlock firefighters to have this agreement. Besides, we've also had three different Modesto fire chiefs in Modesto over the same four-year period. So there's a lot of this turnover which is affecting us. It doesn't keep the consistency. It sounds good. It sounds good. It's explained as being something very good, but it's not good for Turlock. it's just not good for the Turlock residents. It's not good for our firefighters. No, it's not. It's a danger for every one of us who lives here. Remember the deal with the Modesto firefighters was made in 2021 during the height of the pandemic. With Modesto in charge, our Turlock firefighters had no say, and we still have no say in decisions that are being made here by Modesto. They say we do, but we really don't. about how the Turlock Fire Department will operate as a department, we have no say, and how Turlock is running its own fire department tactically. I gave examples last time. I'm not going to go back to examples. When the fire department is short-handed, the city has to pay overtime to fill the positions for our firefighters to be fully staffed at all stations. This costs Turlock more money. With Modesto in charge, we have no control over these costs and how we operate here in Turlock. A contract will be a burden on Turlock. when there's a downturn in the economy because we've got an agreement. We can't do what we want to do. We've got to do what the agreement says. The fire service agreement between the City of Modesto and the City of Turlock is not good for our Turlock residents. Why are we paying management wages for Modesto? They have a lot of managers. You see all of their managers. We're helping pay for that. We're not getting the benefits out of this that they want us to think we are. We want our own Turlock Fire Chief. We have the money to do it with Measure A. And that's it. Thank you.

Anyone else? Wrong.

I have a question, just my ignorance. Can you talk about the EMS contract? I'm trying to see how I can phrase this. Okay, you described that. It sounded like, you know, a captain. And I guess my question is, how does the EMS contract help, shall we say, the end user? You know, the resident of Turlock who has a stroke and, you know, 911 is called or a heart attack or a car accident or the... houses on fire or something like that, how does that help them? And also, how does that help the potential future transition to the advanced, the ALS, the advanced life support? So that was my question.

Anybody else?

I'm Mary Jackson. I guess I have a question because I wasn't able to pull up the contract and that's on me. But is there an out clause, like say every year is there an out clause that a council can decide? And if it is, I want to know exactly what that out clause says or where I can read it. And I think, I mean, obviously it was a three to two vote, which was a very interesting vote that happened last time, which I have lots of questions about, but I'm not here to talk about. Why don't you pull a fire chief from Turlock? Why don't you pick someone from within the Turlock department? And maybe that person will stay around and not be gone once every 12 months. That's ludicrous. I think the public is very clear and was very clear a month ago that we do not support this. This is not what the city of Turlock residents want. So if you don't understand that, I think you can go back and look at the video or you should have gone back and looked at the video. But come what may, I'd like to know if there is an out, how often it can be used. And if you're going to do this, then at least hire someone from Turlock. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay, we will close public comment. Can you respond to the EMS contract and how it helps the consumer?

I can. So I heard two questions about EMS and the first was service community and the second was the potential transition to an advanced life support project. So our EMS division is supporting the ongoing training and professional development of all of our EMTs and paramedics throughout the entire system. There are also providing quality assurance to make sure that medical practices, our procedures are done correctly in the field, and investigating if there are situations where things are not done appropriately and providing follow-up training and support as needed. They are also attentive to the unique needs of individual patients or citizens. And I'll give you an example. And so we had a situation in Turlock, we had an individual who was accessing the system quite a bit, a lot of times. And it was creating a burden on the 911 system tying up fire and EMS resources to attend to this situation. And so our EMS division was able to engage specifically with this individual to identify what the concerns and what their needs, and most importantly, to get them access to the resources that they needed so that they didn't need to rely on the EMS system. And so I think this is where the value comes from. It's not just about engaging and supporting our EMTs and paramedics to develop and maintain their skills and to be successful in the field. It's also engaging with our customers to make sure that we're meeting their individual needs, should they arise. Now, as far as the transition to a paramedic program, this is where you get good value from this add-on, in my opinion. Should we choose to go to a paramedic program, all of the essential components, including clinical oversight by a physician, the quality assurance, the training, the policies, the way in which we're delivering services as paramedics in the field, is turnkey. The system is set. It's established and utilized throughout the majority of the rest of MST. And so, Council, with your approval on a future item for your consideration to move to a paramedic program, we can move quickly into a paramedic program. IF WE WERE TO DO THIS STAND ALONE AND TRYING TO STAFF, TO REPRESENT AN ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT PROGRAM WITHOUT OUTSIDE SUPPORT, THIS WOULD TAKE YOU AT LEAST ONE ADDITIONAL FULL TIME EQUIVALENT POSITION AT THE LEVEL OF A CAPTAIN AND HIGHER AND 18 MONTHS TO TWO YEARS TO FULLY ROLL IT OUT. WE CAN DO THIS IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS WITH YOUR APPROVAL. WE CAN MOVE QUICKLY. So that's EMS. And the final question I heard was asking about the ability to exit the contract. I'll read you what the language is contained within the contract, and then I'll follow up with that briefly. So item 2.3 in the contract says that either party may terminate this agreement by providing 12 months written notification to the other party. And the term of this agreement or any extension thereof shall be shortened accordingly with written notification of the request to terminate the contract. So now having said that, I cannot speak directly for the city of Modesto city manager, but what he has said in the past is that we will work with our partners to ensure that we have a smooth transition should the desire to be an autonomous fire department resume. We are your partners. We are your neighbors. We are here in service to you. We are here in service to this community. And I'll speak personally. I am very proud of regionalization. I'm very proud of how we have enhanced service and improved outcomes here in the city of Turlock. And if you're asking me to walk that back, it's not going to happen. So thank you. I'll take any questions you may have.

Questions? Comments? Yeah, let's go.

We've got a couple questions. With regard to the ALS component and possibly transitioning to an ALS department, we've approved three new positions upcoming. Do you foresee that being paramedic hires?

It's a great opportunity, but there's some legwork that we need to do to be ready to hire paramedics. Part of it is with equipment and making sure that we have everything we need to fully deploy, but there's a labor component to this as well, and that would be subject to meet and confer to establish an appropriate incentive pay to fairly compensate our employees for the additional skill. And it's a significant skill and lift that they would need to learn. It is our desire, when we open up this in future recruitments, to do it to optionally hire paramedics as part of the program. I see it as a... A two-step strategy, part of which is when we open our recruitments and the help wanted shingle is out, we look for paramedics and we try to pull them in. And the other side of that is we look internally at our existing employees and we identify who is interested and we send them to school.

Yeah, I mean, it just makes sense to me if you're augmenting the number of people to bring in people that can already fill that position too, not that obviously three paramedics are not going to necessarily work on the truck, but to... for your whole employee organization, if you plan on moving that direction, it just makes sense rather than four years from now, all of a sudden now we've got to come up with nine paramedics or 12 paramedics, that's not going to happen. Correct. Certainly not going to happen quickly.

Not easily, for sure, yes, yeah. And so I agree, we don't, when we hire these new firefighters, They don't need to be assigned to the truck, and in fact, they probably won't. The truck is a popular assignment in seniority bid. They'll end up at a different house. But as we develop paramedics, we'll deploy them in the system in a way that makes sense so that we're getting best bang for the buck in delivering it through our firehouses or another deployment model.

The other thing that I'm curious about, and it's more of maybe informational and in transparency, in part of, I don't want to call it a sales pitch, of the management agreement is the mutual aid component, okay, which I don't see spelled out in here. I didn't, I mean, I looked to see, I mean, there's nothing in print talking about that. I'd like a little more information with that, what that, What that entails. The other thing I'd like to have an idea is true numbers may be reported on a monthly basis about how many times Modesto came to our help and vice versa. How many units from Turlock went up to help Modesto series or whatever it is. Not only how many times, but how much time they spent out of Turlock. And that's been asked by several constituents. So, I mean, it would be just nice to have it. And I don't know if you have that information readily available or where we can find it and have it reported.

Sure. I could provide information on both of those. I'll start with the second question first, if it's okay. So I do not have a month-by-month breakout, but what I can tell you, is that in an average year, Turlock firefighters will respond, within the city of Turlock, about 90 structure fires a year. And so each time that we have a structure fire response, from somewhere within the MST, Modesto Stanislaus Consolidated System, Every single time you're going to see one additional engine, one additional ladder truck, one additional battalion chief, plus at least one and sometimes two engines to provide station coverage. Every single time. If it's a commercial fire or an apartment building fire, you can add an additional engine and an additional ladder truck, totaling 18 personnel, which is five more than the 13 firefighters we have on scene to every single incident. There was an analogy to describe this that made sense to me, and hopefully it works. When Turlock receives resources, we bring them in a flood, and when we send them out, we send them in a trickle, more likely one at a time. So if we have a structured fire here, we're getting all of these resources directly to the scene or in our stations to provide coverage. But when there are other fires in other places in the system, typically we'll send one engine or we'll send the ladder truck or in some cases two engines to go and deploy to those other situations. And really when we talk about regionalization, And to your first question, we are all part of an integrated system. And although it's not explicitly laid out in the contract with the type and kind of resources and the frequency that you're going to get them, it's really simpler than that. If there is a problem that we have the capacity to solve, by sending resources, then we're gonna send them their way. And there have been several instances over the past four years of the contract where we're receiving a whole lot more than just the resources that we described. you have three houses burning at the same time which unfortunately does happen from time to time we're going to pump all kinds of stuff into the city into turlock and conversely if there is a significant event in another building outside of the community or which rarely happens but does happen where you have multiple significant events at the same time a significant wildland fire plus a structure fire plus an accident with a big rig on the freeway resources are going to come out of Turlock to support that fully integrated system. And when we have been looking at the data, I'll tell you it's not perfect, but what we're seeing is it's pretty darn close with aid given versus aid received overall in the big picture of how this is working.

And I guess getting back to the dollars and cents of it, you don't see Let's say Modesto's budget tanks in the next three years, and all of a sudden, Modesto, we're spending a lot of money running back and forth up and down the freeway to help Turlock. We need to up the price of this.

It's fixed in the contract. Contract's a contract. But it is. But it is. Those resources are not coming at an additional charge. those resources are coming as part of an integrated system. And there's no suggestion or implication that we're going to charge, in your example, that the economy turns and money's going down, that we're going to charge and say, yeah, you can only have these resources today, but in 2028 we're not going to give you that because it's expensive. We are part... I would view this as organizationally as one fire department rather than as three separate independent agencies. And it's working in that way.

Other questions? Comments? I'm sorry. I just have one question and then I have a whole bunch of comments. My question is, here's the rub. Here's the elephant in the room. This is what the innuendo is getting at. Has Turlock ever been left uncovered because we sent resources to a big rig or a structure fire and a wildfire that all happened at the same time?

So there was a public comment and I don't recall which meeting that caught my attention and somebody had said that we had zero resources in the city of Turlock and a unit went out. If that situation occurred, I want to know because we cannot find it. I don't know of that situation occurring. It should not happen, period. But what I'd like to add to this conversation is prior to this arrangement every time that you had a structure fire in the city of turlock all four engines and the battalion chief respond to that event meaning your entire workforce that is on duty that day is deployed and they need to be it's you're providing a minimally adequate response for a pretty straightforward fire with 13 personnel which means in that same space, your coverage of the city is zero until those units can be backfilled by our neighboring agencies. And so again, I think this is the value of the system and not the pain of the system, is that we're able to bring those resources in to support each other and to staff our stations.

Any other comments?

Go ahead.

Then I'll just do it now. Did you hear it? So thanks for being so humble tonight. As you stated, we've had this contract for about four years now. It's been great. I appreciate you guys being willing to tweak it a little bit and get some more demands for Turlock. But I went back and I looked at what you've accomplished and the Modesto administration. just from January of 2026 to present. I didn't go back farther than that because I didn't want to talk for half an hour. So just from January to present, and forgive me, I'm going to have to read off my notes because it's a lot. You have reclassified the administrative secretary position to a staff services technician, aligning that job classification with the employee's actual duties and responsibilities while ensuring adequate compensation. In partnership with MST Training Division, you've implemented a Turlock Fire Company Officer Development Program, which is designed to prepare aspiring captains for future leadership responsibilities and strengthen the succession planning within the Turlock Fire Department. That's the Turlock Fire Department, not the Modesto Fire Department. You purchased a new quint-configured ladder truck, which significantly will improve the structure fire response and capability. That's the one that's going to be such a popular work assignment that everybody's going to want. You've utilized Measure A funding to increase daily staffing from 13 to 14. That's the first staffing increase for the fire department in 18 years. Very significant accomplishment. You've addressed a prolonged battalion chief vacancy that was caused by a long-term absence that exceeded a year by obtaining an authorization for an overhire and promoting a new battalion chief, thereby restoring consistent shift level leadership and operational oversight. You've collaborated with local 243 Force Fire Union and along with the Modesto Fire Administration and modernized and updated the captain and battalion chief job descriptions to better reflect operational expectations and leadership responsibilities. Part of that process included resolving a very long-standing compaction issue, and you reduced the compaction issue. Actually, you boosted the compaction issue from 10% between those salivary ranges up to 15%. salary ranges. And if I'm not mistaken, that's for Turlock battalion chiefs, not Modesto battalion chiefs. The Modesto admin has secured long-term ongoing funding. for participation in the Stanislaus County Fire Investigation Unit. I believe that's the FIU, okay? And you've negotiated a change in that contract, which resulted in a savings to Turlock of $95,000, a savings you failed to mention, Mr. Marino, all while preserving Turlock's access to regional fire investigation resources and expertise, thereby, again, benefiting Turlock. The Modesto administration team implemented first do, that's a trademark, first do regional RMS platform across MST, which has significantly improved interoperability, accountability, scheduling, and staffing. Also improved was community risk and pre-fire plan integration and exposure reporting. This very significant upgrade strengthened MST's ability to functionate to function as a coordinated fire agency. I appreciate what you said earlier. It's not three fire departments. We are one big coordination, and I believe Division Chief Packwood deserves the credit for that because under your leadership, he did the heavy lifting to get the first to do RMS system in here for us.

He did.

Thank you. And lastly, you've established the four broad organizational priorities for Turlock Fire. which is aligned with, I believe, what our local Turlock Fire Department needs, but it's also aligned with the City Gate Study, right? Those four things that I found were stabilizing an organization through improved retention and consistent administration and leadership, purchasing and staffing that famous popular truck, developing and implementing an ALS program, if we so choose, and then, of course, the relocation of Fire Station 34. So I think the moral of the story is, ladies and gentlemen, that the operational and organizational stability of a fire department depends on a well-distributed foundation rather than a single position. So that means the stability of the fire department does not lie within the office of a fire chief or the sole position of a fire chief. And I just will add that I think Chief Evans was just sworn in last Tuesday. So all of this is going on with a changeover in the fire chief. It's not about the fire chief. It's about the stability of the organization as a whole. And I think that trickled down from retired fire chief Alan Ernst, who passed on those leadership qualities and abilities. I know you've been a punching bag the last several weeks. I'm sorry. Thank you. We appreciate you. We appreciate your leadership. And this list of accomplishments right here is huge. So well done.

Thank you for the kind words. I greatly appreciate it. It's a team effort, and thank you, Council, for your support. We would not be here making the progress we had without your support over these last several months, and we greatly appreciate it.

I would just like to comment, you know, when we discussed this a month or so ago, it's not a mystery that I didn't really want to see this future because I appreciate and believe in the benefits of regionalization. I think there's other ways that we could have accomplished that, but I do want to acknowledge that this version of the contract is much better than any other contract that I've seen before, and I truly appreciate know mst listening to us and listening to the public as much as possible within the confines of make it a contract um you know i think that that really bodes well for the partnership that i presume will will continue with this adoption of this contract um and you know just if if anyone's following along i voted no last time um you know i i strongly believe in the will of the council so i do support this iteration of the contract and I will be voting you know in support of it tonight because this is the item that's before us and I think we've made a much better contract than where we were eight months ago or whenever this started so I do really appreciate you guys putting this down listening to how we wanted to kind of make sure there's more input from our community specifically

When I look at it, there's one little clause that I would like want us to be changed. It says here, one representative of Turlock City Council. I would like little asterisk, not in an election mode. So if like off season, get the council members so that there is no temptation to try and insert yourself in for that reason. So it's just like I wouldn't want anybody who's been elected before or something like that on any of these committees, right? Those are things I look at so that it's just, national conversation about the best needs and wants of our community so and then thank you so much because I absolutely want our to get where we want to be eventually as TFD I want us to start that fire marshal position I think that's a significant thing and I'm glad you guys put that there because that was you know part of part of my request when I laid out was like okay we need we need the citizen buy-in they need to know what's going on we need to have communication where our Our union has input, and we're starting to layer back, trying to get positions in there, and I think the fire marshal is. And I know that if we have a big need, you could send one down to help cover, or they go on vacation or something. So I know that that relationship is going to be helpful for us just as much. We don't have to say, we have our one, and we want to leave us alone. I think this regionalization is coming to fruition today, as we have more dialogue publicly. So, thank you for that.

yes oh okay i can do that yes but on that caveat can i just clarify it would be a position that the mayor selects in our committee assignments anyway right yeah i suppose but i mean we vote on it i just want us to publicly talk about not like putting our thumb on the scale yeah i don't want somebody running for election using that as a political platform so i i so i will motion to approve 11 see with the caveat that you put the little asterisk in there on the position Second we have a motion in a second.

We call the roll, please Councilmember Abram.

Yes. Councilmember Bixle. Yes. Vice mayor. Maness. Yes. Councilmember Phillips. Yes.

Yes It passes on 5-0. Thank you gentlemen for the time that you put into it chief Evans. Thank you, sir All right, councilmember comments announcements and future items. I All right. Real quick, I want to make sure we all know that good luck to Erica because before the next meeting, she's going to be having her show. She's bringing home a goal in San Diego. So I want to wish her no dough. Yeah, donuts when she gets back. Can I just finish this real quick? The other thing, I want to make a clarification. So when I vote no for marijuana, it's because I just don't want it. But these are business plans, and they're an existing, and it's partly our staff and us. We didn't do it in a timely fashion, so I'm not going to hold a business responsible for something like that. So that's my clarification. Go ahead.

Thank you. I just wanted to stick up and defend the staff tonight. Folks, sometimes we have citizens come in here and they throw allegations at staff and they attack our staff because they're unhappy with the result that staff got. But the gentleman that was in here tonight, what Ms. Lucchese said, His concerns have been addressed. Turlock has done every thing that it has been legally obligated to do. And sometimes even though we do that, sometimes even when we go above and beyond that, citizens don't like the outcome and they're still unhappy because it affects them personally. And where we understand that, I also understand that our staff members are not elected officials. They didn't sign up for people to come into a council meeting. and yell at them or berate them or whatever it is. Elected officials, we sign up for that. We have to put up with that. We're elected, right? But the staff don't. So to all the staff that were hammered in here tonight, I apologize. Please know how much we appreciate you, and please know that we know you are doing your jobs.

One more clarification. At the last meeting, Milt made a point of telling us all that the whole Board of Supervisors in the last meeting complained about our housing decision And all five of them. I watched the show all live. One board of supervisors made a statement. Then our actual board of supervisors, Supervisor Chiesa, actually defended us, and no one else spoke. Please be kind when you don't know the truth. Now we have closed session. Would you please read?

Yes, the following items are listed for closed session. A, Conference of Labor Negotiator, California Government Code 54957.6A, Agency Designated Representative Maryamie Bubak, Unrepresented Employee City Manager. Item B is Public Employee Appointment, California Government Code 54957, Title City Manager. C is Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, California Government Code 5495691. D is conference of legal counsel anticipated litigation California government code five four nine five six ninety two potential cases two at this time if there are any members of the public who would wish to comment on the closed session items and a public comment is now open okay we'll close public comment and we will go up to and report should there be something thank you

All right, we're back from closed session. There is nothing to report out, and we're adjourned.