City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the August 11, 2026 closed session council meeting. And I think my thing is turned up too loud. Closed session. You can still hear me, right? Let's turn it all the way down so I don't have feedback. Okay. Closed session City Council meeting to order. City Clerk, may we please have a roll call?

Councilmember Clark? Present. Councilmember Peterson? Here. Councilmember Lodge? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Mayles?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Krupa?

Here. Do you want to read this little goodie for us, City Clerk?

Thank you, Mary. Before we begin, the city is pleased to provide real time translation services through wordly. For those wishing to access the service and information sheet with the QR code and access link is available around the foyer and chamber. To help ensure accurate translation, we kindly ask council members, staff and members of the public to pause between sentences and speak clearly into the microphone. Thank you for your cooperation. We will now proceed with roll call, but we did that already. So we're good there. And any registered speakers? There are no registered speakers this evening.

Okay. Well, we finished with all of that. So, we will go right into our closed session. Thank you for joining us. The report of closed session will occur after the deliberations. We are now in closed session.

Where are my soon-to-be youth council members? Can you guys raise your hands? Hi? Okay, if I can have you guys, don't be shy, if I can have you guys and family as well move here closer to the front, even though the item is a little later in the agenda, but just to make it a little easier for you guys, instead of you guys climbing all over everybody, just kind of sit here in the front for me, please. Thank you. And congrats, you guys, that's awesome. And another note to my soon-to-be youth council members, when your item comes up, if I can have everybody's attention real quickly. Sorry. The youth council members, so you're going to be giving your oath today of office so that you can serve at next week's first youth council meeting. So if I can have you guys stay until the end of the meeting, because... If I can, if I can quickly get the attention of my youth council members, since it looks like council is still in closed session right now. So I'm going to utilize this time wisely. If I can have each of my youth council members come up starting with Andrew Ballard. So I can have you guys come over and sign your oath of offices, please. Andrew data bass. Hi, go ahead and sign for me here. And you'll be getting a copy of all this afterwards, okay?

Hi, young lady, if I can get your signature.

Thank you.

Kasaya Cherland. Yeah, I'm gonna ask the mayor to see if we can have them do this in the beginning. Hello, there you go. Freya Ewald. Freya. So when you become a, what do you call it?

A celebrity. Thank you.

Thank you. Awesome, thank you. Yes, please, yes. Winners for you to put on your fridge when you get home. Madeline Gurola. Madeline? Well, they're deciding for me right now, yeah. Oh, thank you. How are you? Good to see you again.

There we go.

Thank you. Hello. There you go. Thank you. Aaron Nash. Hello, sir. Is it just these two? Yes, it's those two, yes. And then I sign the rest. I'm just trying to catch you guys before it gets too late and all that good stuff. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. You guys will get a copy of this later, okay? Thank you. Thank you. AVA SANDOVAL. AVA.

JUST THESE TWO, CORRECT?

JUST THOSE TWO. YES, SIR. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU. AVA. ALL RIGHT. I JUST LIKE SAYING YOUR NAME. AVA.

THERE YOU GO, MA'AM.

ISAAC SUAREZ. ISAAC. Miguel? That's me. Yes, that's me. That's me. I just need you, yeah.

Thank you much, I appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you.

Ready for takeoff? Okay. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I will call this meeting of August 11th, 2026 regular City Council meeting to order. City Clerk, may we have a roll call, please?

Councilmember Clark? Present. Councilmember Lodge?

Here.

Councilmember Peterson? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Mayles?

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor Krupa?

Here. And would you read the announcement?

We will go next to the invocation. Before we begin, we're live streamed. Oh, yes, that's right. Thank you very much, Mayor.

You're welcome.

Thank you, Mayor. Before we begin, the city is pleased to provide real-time translation services through Wordly. For those wishing to access the service, an information sheet with the QR code and access link is available around the foyer and chamber. To help ensure accurate translation, we kindly ask council members, staff, and members of the public to pause between sentences and speak clearly into the microphone. Thank you for your cooperation. We will not proceed with roll call, but we've done that already, so we can move on to the invocation.

So with that, we are going to do our invocation tonight by Pastor Andrew Sanchez of Full Life Church, after which time Mayor Pro Tem Joe Mayles will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. If you would all stand, please.

Thank you. Council, thank you so much for the opportunity to lead this part of the meeting, the invocation. It's an honor to be here. Good evening and good evening to all the amazing people of Hemet, California. Before I pray, just want to read one proverb. Proverbs 16, 3 says, commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much. First and foremost, for another day of life. Help us to not take life for granted. Help us to not take the people that are in our lives for granted. We're truly thankful that we get to be here Father God because all of our purpose is pretty much the same. We share a same purpose and that is to see the city of Hemet continue to succeed, to thrive, to continue to be a type of city that draws more people to be able to grow this place. And I thank you for the counsel and the wisdom that you continue to provide for them. Wisdom that continues to see obstacles as opportunities to grow and the wisdom that continues to equip all of us to make the decisions that lead to a greater city of Hemet, California. And thank you for the people that also contribute to that to the cause to be able to move and advance this community and we thank you so much for loving us watching over us guarding us we need you we need your wisdom we need your guidance daily without guidance it's easy to be lost and so we need that thank you for providing that i also ask that you would bless every person that is here bless their families continue to watch over their homes we thank you for a strong meeting that is filled with not only challenges but but a meeting that is also solution-focused. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you again.

Please remain standing. Right hand over your heart, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much, everyone. And I'd just like to make a couple observations here that I wish we would come downstairs from closed session every council meeting and see the chambers full of people who are concerned. So in light of that, however, we're going to rearrange the agenda and we're going to go right to our first action item, number 18A. And I think that's probably why most all of you are here. So going forward, if I can find it. So our first discussion action item is consideration of appointments to the Hemet Youth Council and administration of oaths of that office. Can we please have a staff report on discussion item 18A?

That'll be with me, Mayor. Thank you.

Okay.

Very excited about this item, by the way. Just a little bit of background regarding this item. The City Clerk Department launched a marketing campaign that included conducting an application and recruitment process from March 1st to May 30th. Outreach efforts included partnerships with schools, community organizations, and social media platforms to ensure a varied pool of applicants. Hemet Unified School District was a partner and engaged parents by submitting emails and messages to create awareness of the city's new program. The city received various phone calls from administration staff, teachers, parents, and students requesting more information about a new youth program. Following the close of the recruitment, the ad hoc committee reviewed applications and conducted interviews to prioritize recommended appointments to the city council. 34 applications were received and 29 applicants were interviewed. The following 11 individuals were interviewed and recommended for appointment to the City of Hemet Youth Council. So as I read your name, if you can please come up here to the front, and then we'll be giving you your oath of office, okay? So our first appointment, Andrew Ballard. Let's give him a round of applause. Jada Bass. Kasaya Cherland. Freya Ewald. Madeline Gurola. Isabella Heret. Hannah McKnight. Aaron Nash. Ava Sandoval. Isaac Suarez. and Miguel Trejo. Youth Council members will serve a one year term expiring on June 30, 2027. The purpose of the Youth Council is to actively engage young people in local government and civic life by providing a platform to amplify youth voices, develop leadership skills, build community connections and increase understanding of how exactly local government works. Aligning the term with the school year allows for effective recruitment and collaboration with local schools. We will now go ahead and move forward with the oath of office of each of these young adults.

Council, I'm going to suggest that we come down on the side so we can watch this happen.

Let's give them another round of applause. They worked really hard to get here. 39 applicants and here we are with our 11 final so very exciting all right I make this very easy okay you guys don't have to repeat after me all I need for each and every one of you is when I say please state your name and I will go to each and every one of you and you will state your name separately I will read the oath of office and if you all agree then at the end you say I do and your official youth there you go youth council members okay everybody ready all right everyone yes please raise your right hand fantastic i don't have to say the other right okay good all right do you please state your name Fantastic, you guys passed already, this is great. All right, here we go. Do you all solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, that you all take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which you are all about to enter. If you all agree, please say, I do. I do. Congratulations. Very nice.

We started out with 34 applications. Getting down to 11 was some of the toughest stuff we ever did. We had several long discussions because these are truly rock stars. I just get so emotional over them.

I do. I do. It's great.

Well, it's true.

Because they show what we can become. And I gotta give it up to the parents and guardians. They just, you know, they deserve credit.

I won't get tears. So all these young adults I cannot wait to see what you guys do. Both he and I had a really hard time. But whatever it took, you told us, and we chose you. I'm especially excited for every single one of you. So let's see what you can do, because we're behind you 100 percent. And go youth council.

Going back to the parents, we had a family with three applicants. And they're all just amazing kids. And it's like, okay, which one do we pick? And that was tough, but damn good job.

I would just like to say congratulations to all these students. Your resumes were absolutely phenomenal. What you have already committed and added to our community is fantastic. And I want to thank the parents. You obviously are raising the next generation of really cool adults. And I think when they come out of this with the added experience, and it's good to see some from last year. Love to see that. it's it's really good we are so looking forward to your end result report and what you've come up with with ideas on how the city can better better serve our youth but also thinking as adults on where we need to go as a city what direction what you can share and what you will participate in. And one of the things that I've always said at Student of the Month clubs is graduate from high school, go off to college or trade school, whichever you have to do, but please come home. Come home and share with your community what you have learned and continue making this community and this valley your home and make it better every year. So thank you, thank you, thank you. This is absolutely fantastic, and thank you all for being here for this. Take pictures, take whatever. Congratulations, guys. You guys are fantastic. Can we shake hands first? Oh, yeah. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Hi. I'm your mom and dad. And yours too. You guys, were you here last year? No, I wasn't. No? I know you from somewhere. And I know you. Congratulations on being here.

Congratulations. Great job. Look forward to all of this. All right. The bus is waiting outside.

So just an FYI, because it's straight to work next Monday. That's going to be their first meeting. So they will need an audience. So if you guys are available, 5 p.m. over at the library next Monday, they have their first meeting. Thank you. And it's held exactly like our council meeting here. So there's room for speakers to come up and voice their opinion and all that good stuff. So just FYI. I appreciate it.

All right, thank you. You are all invited to stay, but if you want to leave, please do. And thank you again. Thank you, everyone, for coming. This is an exciting moment.

Thank you.

Okay, we are reconvening and moving on to item number 12, which is city attorney report out of closed session.

Thank you, Mayor. For item 5A, the city council gave direction five to zero, settlement direction five to zero. For item B, 5B, the city council gave direction five zero. There is no other reportable action out of tonight's closed session.

Okay, thank you very much. And I cannot access my screen. There we go. Okay, free trial. There we go. Didn't want to learn that. Come on, there we go. I will. Okay, moving on to the presentation. We have, thank you, one proclamation which we didn't have the person, I am just echoing and that's all turned down all the way. The proclamation tonight is for the United States Coast Guard 236th birthday. I'm going to read this and then we will be presenting it at the American Legion. Whereas on August 4, 1790, Congress, at the urging of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, established the Revenue Marine, a fleet of ten cutters to enforce tariff laws and curb smuggling and marking the birth of the oldest continuous seagoing service in the United States. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Coast Guard Act, uniting the Revenue Cutter Service with the U.S. Life Saving Service to form the modern United States Coast Guard, a singular force dedicated to maritime safety, security, and law enforcement. Over its history, the Coast Guard has safeguarded lives and commerce through search and rescue, environmental protection, aids to navigation, ice breaking, and maritime law enforcement, both at home and abroad. The U.S. Coast Guard lives its core values, honor, respect, and devotion to duty, a trinity of principles officially established in 1994 that continue to guide all members in service to the nation and their communities. Embodying the spirit of Semper Paratus, always ready, Coast Guard men and women stand vigilant day and night, safeguarding maritime borders, assisting mariners in peril, protecting resources, and serving with professionalism and integrity. Now, therefore, I, Linda Krupa, Mayor of the City of Hemet, along with the entire Hemet City Council, do hereby proclaim August 4, 2026, as the 236th birthday of the United States Coast Guard. and urge all citizens to honor the proud legacy that began in 1790 to recognize and pay tribute to the dedication of all Coast Guard personnel and to express our heartfelt gratitude for their unwavering commitment to safeguarding our safety, preserving our environment and supporting the economic vitality of our maritime nation. We will present this to the American Legion. Now, I notice the shirt over in the corner. Connie, are you wanting to present that? Okay.

Yes. Hemet Little League provided me. I was there for their big championship.

Can you hold the mic closer?

Anyways, I was presented with this. The city of Hemet really supports the Hemet Little League. I was there to watch the support. This was pretty awesome. I even got to watch a game. It was so invigorating. But this was in my possession and very treasured until I could get it here finally. And so this is to the mayor from Hemet Little League.

We thank Hemet Little League because they've really done a great job of being Little League in our valley. We sincerely appreciate this, and we will hang it. Whether it's here or in the library or at City Hall, it will get into a place of honor so that people can see it. And I thank you, Hemet Little League. It's appreciated. Thank you.

here we go got it good okay bring it back

That's really cool. Get that over there. All right, moving on. We did that. communication from the public. City Clerk, would you read the announcement? And then are there any registered speakers, we will take items of items not on the agenda, but within jurisdictional matter of this body. And we will take items on items on the consent and discussion items at the time they are on there.

So thank you, Mayor. There's a three minute per person time limit for all general public comments on non public hearing items. All who wish to speak including council members and staff need to be recognized by the mayor before speaking. For those who wish to join by zoom, you will be asked to raise your hand. If you would like to speak please state your name and the item you're commenting on before speaking. Public comment for items listed on the agenda will be taken as each item is presented. We will now take public comment for items not listed on the agenda. Our first speaker tonight is Greg Treadwell, followed by Kathleen Marquez.

good evening it's a pleasure to be here tonight i want to bring something to the city council's attention so there won't be a bad liability situation has to do with sidewalk on stetson heading north on kirby before you hit the railroad tracks and the distribution center is a very large long stretch of sidewalk about seven feet wide Beyond the railroad track is a city street that there's a cut in the curb and people use it to cross the street. However, in that stretch of the sidewalk before the railroad tracks, south of the railroad tracks, is a driveway that's been put there apparently 26 years ago. It's just for access to somebody's backyard to store stuff. And I have a cute little 11.1 mile an hour electric scooter that I like to zip around town on. advertising and I nearly hit that and flipped at twelve point eleven point one miles an hour considering that the high school is nearby and that's a family housing tract that seven foot wide sidewalk with no markings has a driveway in it that can knock people off, considering that most electric scooters that people zip around on, younger people, are anywhere from 22 to 28 miles an hour. I was doing 12 and nearly got knocked off. I made a suggestion to Public Works that they at least, like sidewalks are now, put some wide striping in that driveway to bring it to people's attention. Otherwise, somebody is going to hit that, probably without a helmet, and get seriously injured. I'm just asking for a simple solution of painting to bring that area of depression in the sidewalk, of useless driveway. The city's public works response was it's been that way for 26 years. Scooters and things that people can zip down on sidewalks now weren't there then. They are now. At the very minimum, that driveway needs to be highlighted with some paint. Please consider that. Thank you.

Thank you, Greg.

Next speaker. Next speaker, Kathleen Marquez. Following Kathleen, it'll be Rick Lindsey.

Well, I haven't been to one of these meetings forever and it was so nice to see these kids because I just oh my gosh, that was really good. It brought me tears to my eyes too because they're they're interested in what the cities are doing and that's what we need for the future. But I'm here to thank the Public Works because I called them and took pictures, so maybe the pictures might make a difference, and they came and cleaned up between Thornton Avenue and Mustang Way on the west side of Sanderson that was just filthy dirty that hadn't been picked up. It has three areas that people can sit and there were some homeless people hanging out there, hiding in the, you know, sleeping in the bushes, but they came out Monday morning and they got all that cleaned up. So I wanted to say a thank you to the Public Works, because a lot of times these, you know, and I wasn't very nice when I was on the phone sometimes, so, but I just want to say thank you to them publicly for getting out there, because a lot of school kids walk there after school and behind, and we live in that little, the housing tract right behind there. So I'm just glad they went out. They said there was no encampment there, you know, that they hadn't really set up their homeless yet, but I just know they were staying there in and out. And a lot of people do walk their dogs and stuff. And the other thing, and I know this isn't on the agenda, but I'm still curious about the Gible building, which I keep getting told from the city when I go down there, they're under litigation or whatever's going on with the 15-year-old BUILDING SITTING THERE. SO THAT WAS ANOTHER THING I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT. AND THEN MY OTHER THING WAS I WONDER IF THE POLICE OFFICERS, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT THIS, COULD MAYBE SOMETIMES DO A FOOT PATROL, JUST DOWNTOWN HAMMET AREAS. BECAUSE WHEN YOU GO TO SOME OF THE OTHER TOWNS, AND I KNOW THESE ARE TOURISTS, LIKE THE LAST TIME I WAS IN OCEANSIDE, There was a lot of foot patrol, sheriffs, there were police officers, they had private things. And for me, it just makes it seem a little bit safer. Because sometimes you see a uniform and it deeters, just like having guards, but security guards can't do anything, basically, except for report and do that. But it'd just be nice once in a while, downtown area, to see a police officer, you know, walking through the area, maybe go to another place and just walk through. Um, I think seeing them do that would boost the morale maybe for that. I think that would be a great idea. And so, um, and I just wanted to say again for the kids that were here for the Youth Council. Thank you. That was that was really great because I didn't go and I need to come to more meetings and I just don't get down here and this was a real nice one to show up to. So thank you everybody. Thank you very much.

Next speaker.

Rick Lindsey followed by Michael Kennedy.

Hi, guys. I was here last month and I just come to do a follow-up on paving Wentworth. Did you all happen to discuss that over the past month by any chance? I DON'T KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GIVE UPDATES OR WHATEVER, BUT JUST WONDER IF THAT WAS ON YOUR AGENDA TO TALK ABOUT. AND REGARDING THAT, I ALSO MENTIONED IT ENDS IN COSTTON AND YOU GO SOUTH TO THE RAILROAD TRACKS. COINCIDENTALLY, SOMEONE CAME OUT AND THE RAILROAD TRACKS WERE BAD, SO THEY ACTUALLY PAVED OVER ON ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD. I go, that's sort of weird. Did their boss tell them to come out and just do one side of the road on their railroad tracks? So about a week or two later, fortunately, they came out and did the other half. So it's like so inefficient, and they did some patchwork, but nothing on Wentworth. So I just want to bring that to your attention again. And if you happen to have said anything, and they did Koston, which I don't know if you did or not, THANKS. MY NEXT THING IS TRAFFIC SIGNALS. THERE'S A COUPLE OF THEM THAT ARE REALLY BAD, AND OF COURSE WENTWORTH, MY MAIN DRAG, AND SANDERSON. SO LONG THAT THE LITTLE MOTION THINGS DON'T KNOW YOU'RE THERE BECAUSE YOU SIT THERE AND THAT TRAFFIC BACKS UP ALL THE WAY TO THE NEW BUILDING. AND I SIT THERE AND THERE ARE NO CARS ALL THE WAY DOWN TOWARDS STETSON AND ALL THE WAY TO ACACIA AND WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT. So the Caltrans, I guess, maybe still does that. I don't know if they could redo that. I mean, go out and sit there. And my second one would be my main drag is Acacia and Kirby. Of course, Kirby is a main road, but Acacia is a very, very busy road, just like coming over here. There's like 20 cars waiting on each side to get... I'm a little nervous. And so it just takes forever that they don't readjust those sensors to notice that there's no one going in Kirby to go ahead and let Acacia go. And they've redone the road on the ON THE NORTH SIDE AND ON THE EAST SIDE, AND THE SOUTH SIDE STUFF IS OKAY, AND THEY HAVEN'T DONE THE PART GOING TOWARDS LOWS YET. AND THE CENTER IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT, I RIDE A MOTORCYCLE 95% OF THE TIME. I LOVE MY MOTORCYCLE. AND THE CENTER OF THAT IS ALMOST A WENT WORTH BAD. There are so many potholes and everything in that that if you could maybe get that in between something too. I got more, but I'll just see you next month. Thanks, guys.

You're welcome. And if you have a list of different areas, please give them to the city clerk and we'll get them to Public Works Street Department.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy, followed by Jenny Hess.

Mr. Go ahead. Mr. Good evening, Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. And first thing I'd like to do is wish Linda Krupa a happy birthday. That Leos are the greatest of all time. So, I'm a little older than you, and I'd just like to call out Mayor Pro Tem Mayles. He said that you were over 39, and I do not believe that. Okay, but.

Ms. No, I'm not.

I'll make this hopefully really quick. Last meeting there was somebody that came up here and I know I appreciate First Amendment that was very derogatory towards the city council, the city manager and the police department and I thought it was very uncalled for and I'm sorry that you all have to go through that. There's a better way to handle those things. After last week's meeting when you all reluctantly talked about the 1 percent possible putting it on the ballot for the 1 percent sales tax, I did a little work on that, but also right away social media blew up on that with a lot of misinformation. The blog was, you know, I hate taxes, and I mean, that's why I have my CATS sergeant and major on my 1040 federal form, so I can deduct them. But I hate the taxes, but they are necessary because the city has a lot to do. Just one very simple thing is I know it costs about $1 million per mile to pave a road. There's 300 paved road miles in Hemet, I believe, and you all can correct me if I'm wrong. So based on the 16 million not taking into how the money's allocated and so forth like that, we'll have all the roads paved in 18 years. I'm sure that'll make a big difference. So I don't think people understand the clawbacks that the state has had that has affected the cities, the counties, and so forth like that. As a matter of fact, one municipality in California, because of this, the taxes, they're thinking about just grinding the roads and making them gravel in certain areas, which is a horrible thing to think about, but it's possible. But also for the firehouses, the police department, they all need the money. The other thing is, talking about the social media, there was an incident at the Starbucks at the Hemet Valley Mall with the police department. I just happened to be there due to the fact that my wife goes to Hobby Lobby 15 times a week. And I actually saw that, and basically I understand where the police are coming from. Somebody comes up, they've got their hands in their pocket, a hoodie on and stuff like that. It's for their safety and so forth. So thank you very much. See you next time.

One thing before you walk away, it's also Michael's birthday too. Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Michael. Yay. 29. 29, yeah.

That's very good. Next speaker. Next speaker, Jenny Hess, followed by Roslyn Mariscal.

Good evening, City Council. It's been a minute. Jenny Hess, Sphere of Influence, Unincorporated Riverside County, East Hemet. With elections looming, which may presumably drive information requests, I want to raise a concern about the City of Hemet's handling of requests under the California Public Records Act, CPRA. A friend of mine, we'll call her Nelly, submitted a public records request on April 1st, 2025. That same day she was told further correspondence would come on April 25th. That became May 9th. May 9th turned to May 23rd, then June 6th, June 20th, July 3rd, July 17th, July 31st, August 14th, September 4th, and the extensions continued until after 196 days, she received the records on October 14th. By the way, while your city notices correctly cite the current government code section for the CPRA, your website is out of date and you should probably fix that and remove that old code. Under the law, responsive, disclosable public records must be made, quote, promptly available, end quote. The example I just gave is likely not what the legislature intended by the word promptly. There have also been requests where the purpose and records requested were clearly stated, yet the release did not match up at all, creating a cycle of clarification, frustration, and additional delay. Public access should not be a test of how persistent someone is willing to be. Should also not be a situation where people are attacked for using that right to access that information. I encourage the city to examine your CPRA practices and ensure that requests are being processed accurately, responsive records are being produced promptly, and estimated production dates are meaningful. You might look into an AI assistant that would pay for itself almost immediately and increase your efficiency and compliance in this matter. My friends' requests, not just that one but multiple, resulted in both unnecessary and missing information. Neither of those okay, and both of those a liability to you. In closing, I would recommend holding on holiday decor expenses. The $5,000 bow did not sit well with me last year because at that time I was digging into what I deemed to be fiscal irresponsibility on behalf of the city going into annexation. I'd give a rule of thumb, maybe if there's no litigation going on, spend the money on the decor. I get the intent of that was nostalgia, but I can assure you your constituents are looking for nostalgia that can be found in clean and safe streets. I don't like taxes either, but I live in California. I'll pay all day for taxes that are reasonable, not for ones that are caused by fiscal mismanagement. Have a good evening.

Next speaker, Roslyn Mariscal, followed by Terry Larned.

Is the green light on the microphone?

Yeah. Oh, I just have to be closer. Sorry. So my name is Rosalyn. I am with Hamptons Manor. I am here seeking assistance from you guys because we are looking to open a recuperative care in Hemet. Recuperative care is short-term housing for individuals that are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness that need a very safe and secure place to stay while they recuperate from their admission at the hospital or from the skilled nursing facility setting. I went to the city and was trying to get a business license because we want to make sure that we're doing everything appropriately. And they directed me to Department of Social Services or Community Care and Licensing. Unfortunately, with recuperative care, because our residents are independent, they don't require any hands-on physical care from our staff. we wouldn't get licensed from them. So when I came back to the city and was asking, hey, we wouldn't be able to get that type of license. Was there anything that you guys can help us with? They directed me back to you guys. So I did want to come and kind of speak and explain recuperative care. I do have handouts. that explain our services if you guys are interested. But this is definitely something that I would love to partner with the city of Hemet to kind of help out with the homeless population. We provide three meals a day. We provide a safe living environment. We have case managers, social workers, nurses that kind of oversee the homes to make sure that they're going to the social security offices and things like that. We also help with job resume buildings and taking them to, you know how you guys have like the Hemet City job fairs and things like that. We also provide transportation to try to rehabilitate them to get them into housing. We work very closely with room and boards. We work very closely with PCPs and doctors to get them social security benefits, disability benefits, and things like that. SO I'M HOPING THAT MAYBE WE CAN LOOK AT THIS A LITTLE BIT FURTHER TO SEE IF MAYBE WE CAN WORK WITH THE CITY OF HEMET TO GET A BUSINESS LICENSE SO THAT WAY WE CAN OPERATE APPROPRIATELY.

OKAY. IF YOU GIVE YOUR INFORMATION OR GIVE THE INFORMATION TO THE CITY CLERK, SHE CAN GIVE IT TO US, AND WE WILL DEFINITELY GO THROUGH WITH THAT. OKAY. PERFECT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

NEXT SPEAKER. NEXT SPEAKER IS TERI LARNID, FOLLOWED BY GRANT BRUEBAKER.

Well, good evening, City Council, Mayor, future Congressman, and other members of the City Council. I'm just here to talk about the Kids Fishing Tournament fundraising dinner that we have coming up at the end of this month on the 29th. We're going to have a live band going to be there that night. We're going to have opportunity drawings. It's all-you-can-eat tri-tip dinner. And we'll have the salad and the potato and the bread and everything. We have a bar, no host bar. And it's going to be held at the Golden Era Golf Course. We all know where that is, again. And it starts at 6 o'clock, but the doors open at 4.30. So I encourage you all, I do have tickets. I've got quite a few members of the San Jacinto City Council that will be there also. And this is a fun event. This fishing tournament costs around eight grand a year to put on. And so we need to raise money so we can put this on for the kids. This is all free for the kids. That night there will be no fishing. Last year we had a couple of people that thought there was fishing. They brought fishing poles. But there will be no fishing. We're just going to be fishing for money. This is a fundraiser, and this is for the kids. So if you are interested, see me. I've got tickets, and they're only $25 apiece. And so we'll have a good time that night. And I appreciate that, and you guys have a good evening.

Terry, what was the date?

The 29th. The 29th of— Yeah, the last Saturday of this month.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next speaker is Grant Brubaker followed by Jose Esparza.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Mayor Krupa, happy birthday. Thank you. Go through a couple things real quick with you. I really hope that as a council you guys kind of take a bigger look or maybe a closer look at the continuing ask of your constituents and your business owners in the town to foot the bill for extravagant spending. Recently on Facebook, the city of Hammett put out their notice that they were getting ready to start their business inspections for the fire department. As you may remember, I had an issue with this before. Simply put, it's a money grab by the fire department. The businesses that are in business that are open every day, they're not the ones catching fire. They're not the ones that need an inspection. They're not the ones causing the expenses. The flyer says there is a fee associated. It fails to say that. It could be somewhere between $300 and $400 for every business in the city. That's the drive. It has nothing to do with public safety. It's a money grab. And now we're asking the citizens to pay an extra 1% sales tax to help fund public safety when, quite frankly, much of their spending is a result of mismanagement. When you have battalion chiefs making three and four times their budgeted salary in overtime, that's management's fault. That's management's fault for not controlling overtime. If they cannot have the personnel in place to do that, then they need to look and see why are we not able to recruit? Because when you have the vast majority of your battalion chiefs making well over $300,000, it's not a money issue that's hurting recruitment. You've got a firefighter paramedic making more than your city engineer does, who has a highly technical college degree, That's not right. We need to think about how we're spending and the optics of it. We don't need to be buying or leasing six new cars at $260,000 in your staff report. When you can buy a Ford Maverick for $23,000, that will serve the same purpose. Take a close look at those requests for the vehicles. We don't need to be riding around in Cadillacs. We need to show the citizens that we're spending the money that we have wisely. Thank you for your time, I appreciate all you do.

Good evening. Jose Esparza, followed by Bella.

Well, good afternoon, City Council, Honorable City Council. Mayor, happy birthday to you. Thank you. City Attorney and City Manager and City Clerk, thank you guys for giving me some time. And to all the members of the public here, I want to first let you know that I am not from the City of Emmett. I'm from the City of Santa Fe Springs. I've come from the Coachella Valley. The reason I'm here today is because I'm bringing a very unique experience here to the City of Emmett, and I'd like to publicly announce that I'm working with the Ramona Bowl to bring Paletta Festival here. Now, my experience comes from Coachella Festival, Stagecoach, just a rodeo. So it's extensive in quite a ways. I also work with Assemblyman Jeff Gonzalez as of up to earlier last year. So very well versed in the way the city is some of its people and whatnot. I also have a TV show on NBC. I'm not busy enough. I have a TV show on NBC that allowed me to explore the city of Emmett and understand through certain polls what type of event we could culturally bring. AND THANKS TO THE MAGNITUDE OF IT, WE'RE GOING TO BE OFFICIALLY THE PREMIER HERITAGE FESTIVAL IN THE REGION, AND I'M SO VERY PROUD TO HAVE BROUGHT IT TO THE CITY OF HEMET AND TOLD YOU AMAZING PEOPLE. SOMETHING THAT I LOOK REALLY FORWARD TO IS I'VE INVITED NOT JUST PEOPLE FROM THE CITY OF HEMET, CITY COUNCIL OF SAN JOSINTO AND HEMET, BUT ALSO THE CITY COUNCILS ACROSS THE NINE CITIES OF THE COCHELLA VALLEY AND I'M VERY PROUD TO TELL YOU HERE TODAY THAT EACH MEMBER AT LEAST EACH MAYOR OF EACH OF THE CITIES ARE COMING TO THE FESTIVAL TO SUPPORT NOT JUST MYSELF BUT WHAT IT STANDS FOR AND AS A HERITAGE FESTIVAL SOMEBODY AT SOME POINT TOLD ME YOU SHOULD JUST MAKE THIS A MARIACHI FESTIVAL AND I IT'S IT'S WEIRD BECAUSE I DON'T SEE EITHER IT'S A LATINO THING OR ANYTHING ELSE. I THINK A FESTIVAL, MUSIC-WISE RELATED, WE ALL LOVE TO LISTEN TO THE SAME THINGS ACROSS DIFFERENT PATHS. WE LOVE THE FOOD. WE LOVE THE EXPERIENCES. AND IT REALLY JUST, IT'S ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY. I PARTNERED WITH PEOPLE LIKE MILANO'S PIZZA, YOU GUYS ARE ALL VERY FAMILIAR WITH, AND THE CITY BOARD, I'M SORRY, THE BOARD OF THE RAMONOBLE HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL, AND I CAN'T WAIT TO BRING EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN TO MAKE THIS A FANTASTIC CULTURAL EVENT. I'D LOVE TO INVITE ALL OF YOU GUYS. THE TICKETS FOR THAT START AT $15. THIS IS SEPTEMBER 19TH AND 20TH. IT STARTS FROM 3 P.M. ALL THE WAY TILL 10 P.M. AND IT HAS MUSIC AND FOOD AND THERE'S JUST SO MUCH. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME FOR IT. IF YOU GUYS HAVE A CHANCE TO, PALETTOFESTIVAL.COM WILL HAVE A LOT OF THE INFORMATION. THE RAMONA BOWL HAS A LOT OF THE INFORMATION UP AS WELL. And if I have not talked to you or your business that would like to find out more and foresee how you can support, I'll be around. I'm gonna live in the city of Hemet for the next week so I can come to different businesses and introduce myself. So I know that's part of it. And of course, let's invite every single council member in the city of Hemet to be there present with us one, two days, however many. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker.

Our final speaker is Bella.

Good evening. Just a disclaimer. So two things can be true at once. So you can support an organization and ask hard questions for clarification. At the July 14th council meeting, Hemant PD reported that overall crime has been on a downward trend with the exception of the larceny. because of the holiday retail operations, which is awesome work, awesome to hear for the community. They seem to be working efficiently with the resources that they have, the officers, flock cameras, drones, and stable leadership. But in the same breath, council voted to put a 1% sales tax increase before Hemet residents on the November ballot because of a deficit. During that discussion, we heard that emergency services consume a significant portion of the city's budget, while departments like Public Works and the library receive less. The conversation went back to how we fund emergency services. That told me where the priority remains. But if crime is going down and residents continue to say that they don't feel safe, maybe we need to ask different questions. What does public safety actually mean? Is it driving on these deteriorated roads, walking on poorly maintained areas, which we've heard earlier today, vacant, neglected properties, a lack of safe places for families to gather? Public works is public safety. Road maintenance is public safety. Code enforcement is public safety. Libraries and recreations contribute to safety by creating places where people can connect and become stronger in the community. And that brings me back to the resources that you all have already invested in. I read the Flock Group's patent. The technology described isn't simply a camera taking pictures. It describes a dynamic surveillance network capable of analyzing video, identifying objects, vehicles, people, et cetera. Great tool, right? At the hands of law enforcement. Patent was filed in 2020. It's 2026. Imagine where that technology is today. So we have the drones also responding. So when council hears about 150 drone flights, I want to ask the question, what did those flights accomplish? With law enforcement now having this access to the flock camera technology, how is both the use of drones and the flock helping to reduce their workload, to reduce their hours, to help basically with their budget. As we're saying that there needs to be a 1% increase in tax to help put crimes down. They have these technologies. Is the city council asking how these things are being used? I can probably safely say no, because Hemet PD has it, and I respect the PD, but they have, as the drone first responder transparency portal, they are says to have active flight views. There's zero flights when you go on that link and zero flight hours. So again, where's the accountability? Where's the questions of how...

Thank you very much, Bill. I appreciate that.

Is that the last speaker?

That's it? Okay. Moving on to the public hearing. City Clerk, will you please read the public hearing procedures?

The City Council's procedures for public hearing will be as follows. Staff will provide a report and clarification of items presented. The public hearing will be open for comments for those in favor of or in opposition to the item, followed by rebuttal to any comments made. The public hearing will be closed and the city manager may respond to any questions raised by the public. The public will not have an opportunity to respond. Discussion will be brought back to the city council for direction or action.

Thank you very much. Can we have a staff report, please?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, Jalene Ferris, Interim Public Works Director, City Engineer. This is a public hearing for the introduction and first reading of Ordinance Number 2080, Revising Chapter 14, Buildings and Building Regulations, Article 5, Floods of the Hemet Municipal Code. I do not have a presentation. This will just be a short oral report. So as it mentions in the staff report, our municipal code was last updated for this section on June 28th, 1994. So we had a meeting with representatives from FEMA and they informed us that our municipal code was a little outdated. So they provided us a model ordinance from the state of California that we utilized to prepare our ordinance that's before you. A lot of the changes are representative of building code revisions that have happened, obviously, since 1994. Some more definitions have been added. A lot more detail has been provided than the previous municipal code. And so we're asking council to introduce by title and waive the full reading of the following ordinance, or the ordinance . I'm here to answer any questions that you may have on any specific sections.

Okay. Are there any questions for clarification on this item? All righty, let's start down at the end. Connie?

Jolene? Hello. So since it's been since 1944, or 1994, are there any developments that did not have- Connie?

On that little black box, can you turn it down as far as possible? It is. Hello? Yeah, you can still hear. Mine's turned down all the way, and tonight is just really bad. So try it again.

I'm sorry. Okay. So 1994, we had FEMA and state building codes. Keep going. Okay. Are there any developments? Do you think there are any developments that could be affected especially on page 22 and 24 where it talks about variances and what would now need to happen. I know we have the building codes and we've been going by them, but are they identical to these?

So I wouldn't be so concerned with the variance portion as I would be of the standards of construction. So if you notice in that section, there are depths that are specified and then now there has been plus one foot or plus three feet added that was not previously in the code. I would have to go through all the elevation certificates that were submitted and verify you know, if they meet the current code or figure out which code was in place at that time and compare that. So there, I don't want to say there are not, but there potentially could be, so.

And that's all I have.

Okay. Other questions? Joe, did you have a question?

No, she brought it up.

Okay. Alrighty. Then with that, I'm going to open public hearing. Are there, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in favor of or in opposition to this item?

we have any public comment okay we had no public comment no one in the audience i will close the public hearing and bring this back to council for decision what is your pleasure i say we waive the full reading and um does it need a second reading so i say let's um Accept. Move the item.

Yeah, 2080. Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Before I do a roll call, let me go ahead and read the ordinance title into the record. Ordinance number 2080, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Hemet, California, acting in its capacity as the legislative body of the City of Hemet, revising Chapter 14, Buildings and Building Regulations, Article 5, Floods of the Hemet Municipal Code. Councilmember Clark?

Yes.

Councilmember Lodge? Yes. Councilmember Peterson? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Mayles? Yes. Mayor Krupa? Yes.

Yes. That passes unanimously. Thank you very much. We will now move on to item 16, receive and file. Just as a note, item 16B has been removed from consideration at the request of staff and will return at a future meeting date. Are there any questions or comments from Council on item 16A, the city warrant registers and the periodic payroll payments? Questions on the warrants?

I have a question.

Okay, go ahead. Joe, you can start.

Okay. I have different questions. There's two, actually three areas that I'm looking at, and one is the Cole Hubert, how do you say that, Cole? Hubert. Hubert, Hubert, LLC. In April, the legal services invoice reached $117,206.91. How much was for general legal service versus litigation or special matters? And is any of this portion reimbursable through insurances or developers or any other funding sources?

That's a great question. So the city's general legal services is a fixed monthly retainer. And what is that?

How much is that?

I don't know what it is off the top of my head. I think it's about $39,000. Okay.

Is this separate from that retainer?

It's probably inclusive, and it may consist of multiple months. The checks don't necessarily line up directly to the invoices. I can send you the actual invoice summary.

Please, I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. And also, four-leaf, what specific period do these two four-leaf invoices take? cover and how many hours and inspections are represented are represented. And are we using outside fire prevention personnel because city positions are vacant. The two invoices total 100,005 or excuse me, 100 100,000 Yeah, $100,574.12. And if this represents only one month's cost, if we pay this every month, it can average out to $100 million, I mean $1.2 million a year. And would the city be willing to look for a fire prevention person instead of paying all this money out to a third party?

Let me answer the first part of that question. I will have to follow up with you to give you the date coverage period because there are probably multiple invoices that are in that check. So it could be more than one month. Correct. Okay. So I will follow up with you on that. I will actually let our fire chief address the questions of the fire prevention officers that would be doing that, the jobs that Four Leaf is doing.

Yeah, because if we're paying these amounts, I mean, it'd probably be cheaper to hire somebody in-house.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Council. Relative to Four Leaf, we are using Four Leaf private contractor for our fire marshal services. They do our plan checks and he's also been ramping up and starting our fire prevention officer inspection program. SO CURRENTLY WE HAVE A FIRE MARSHAL WHO WORKS FOR FOUR LEAF AS A PRIVATE CONTRACTOR. THAT'S THE INVOICES YOU'RE SEEING, AS WELL AS A FIRE INSPECTOR. AND THEN WE HAVE TWO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES THAT HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE CITY OF HEMET AS EMPLOYEES THAT ARE NOW WORKING IN THAT DEPARTMENT.

Okay, but do we need to hire that fire marshal, a fire marshal?

Eventually, my recommendation will be yes, be able to fill that position and build that department out, yes.

If we look at the cost from January to now and seeing how much we've been paying for this work to be done, it may just be cheaper to bring someone in-house.

Yeah, without looking at the numbers and seeing what the span of time is relative to that, I wouldn't be able to answer that right now tonight. We can provide that to you. Thank you, sir. Yeah, okay.

And one more, the Champion Electric Library Digital Message Board. This is the first I heard about this. Is this the one that's out there now that's?

That is correct.

Okay, and we're just barely paying for that now?

No, we're just, we paid for the, I believe it was the repairs to get it working again, because it has been non-functional for several years now.

Oh, is that, okay.

It was a complete replacement.

oh it was a complete replacement okay all right because i'd like to see the money going to open uh leaving the library open more hours and me too yeah definitely let's fight for that yeah all right well thank you we're going to fight for that one okay any others from you joe i'm going to go over to tom

Mr. Yeah, I got one question. On the oven for Station 4, $1,500, we could buy a new oven, couldn't we, instead of a repair? I mean, what kind of oven is this?

Ms. You know, I'm not specific on it because that was through facilities. They did the purchase. It's an industrial oven. I know that part. The cost to replace that, I don't have that on hand.

And the other question is, you know, shouldn't we have gone local if we could have? I mean, getting a new oven at a plant showroom even would be more comparable than spending $1,500 on a repair that there's never a guarantee on. And I'm pretty sure it's a commercial oven.

Ms. Yes, the directive is to shop local at all instances that is possible. I don't know if the city manager might have some more insight onto the oven replacement.

I just do know that it's a commercial grade industrial oven that costs several thousand dollars new, and so the repair was definitely the way to go. Okay.

Just a chunky change for a repair on an oven, but they got to have it. I understand that.

Okay, Joe, you've got your last question.

I would like to know why we have so many outside engineering firms that we contract out to. This register contains payments to Albert A. Webb, Michael Baker, Will Dan, CR Associates, NV5, H2O Partners, Takei Engineering, and others. CAN STAFF PROVIDE TO COUNCIL A YEAR TO DATE OF ALL THE OUTSIDE ENGINEERING PLANS THAT WE HAVE AND WHY WE'RE HIRING SO MANY DIFFERENT ONES? YOU WOULD KNOW THAT. YOU'RE AN ENGINEER.

I CAN TAKE THIS ONE.

WE HAVE MANY DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES IN ENGINEERING THAT WE HAVE TO CONTRACT WITH FOR DESIGNING. YOU DON'T KNOW THEM ALL? DON'T KNOW THEM ALL. WE GOT GEO TECHNICAL, SURVEYING, WE GOT DESIGN, GENERAL CIVIL DESIGN. hydrology, we've got so many different ones, and so we get three on-calls for each discipline, and then we can get competitive pricing for each project from each of the on-calls. And so what you're seeing there is multiple on-calls that we've actually awarded a project to. And so there's multiple projects involved with each of those.

So when you have a project, you call the, like for a specific job, you call the three and then they bid it? Correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Does that include boilers too?

Include what?

Boilers. Do we have boilers anywhere?

We don't have boilers.

We don't have boilers? Okay.

Okay, anyone else with questions? Connie, yes, go ahead.

So I can do my normal, but I do have a question. The bus ticket, what was the bus ticket that we paid for?

Did you find that out?

But was there not another entity?

Christian will give you an answer.

Good evening, City Council, Mayor. Happy birthday, by the way. Actually, that money, from what I understand, will be reimbursed through our grant because it was for a homeless individual that was actually, ironically enough, he was housed temporarily at Hamptons Manor because he was beat on the streets. And when we approached him, he finally just said, I want to go back home to Campton, Ohio. And so we made the effort, and as soon as he was well enough, we got him on a bus and we sent him back, and he's doing much better, actually took the liberty of calling him today, and he is so grateful for what we did for him to get him back home.

So we have a grant that pays for these buses? We had a grant. We had, no longer?

As of June 30th, it is pretty much done.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. out of the blue I saw the bus ticket.

Yeah, and there's probably, you know, in the event that we do re-unification services and things like that, PD used to actually do that as well back through their departments. But now since I'm helping a lot of the outreach that they come across, that's kind of what we do to kind of fill the gap.

CalCities did say that we, most cities are finding they have to move towards private because money's not there for such things. Agreed. So that's why I'm asking. And I'm gonna just go through my local. Costello's Towing, we used Elite Custom Construction. They're in the county, but they're on Florida. F&M Lock, Hemet Valley Tool. Ice Auto Repair, Les Schwab, I'm assuming it's ours. Our Lowe's Hemet Store, Micro Mobile Tire Company, Napa and O'Reilly. We use Pins and Needles Embroidery, Sherwin-Williams, Staples, Superior Ready Mix, Tim Morant and Tractor Supply. So, we put our money back into our community and I do appreciate that.

Any other questions on the warrant register? No? Okay. Then with your agreement, that is filed. Received and filed. Moving on to the consent calendar. All consent calendar items will be acted upon simultaneously unless an individual council member or member of the public requests separate consideration. Are there any members of the council that would like to pull any consent items?

17, aye.

Okay, let me get that. Let's go in order. Okay, 17 I. 17 F. You said F, Connie? F. Yes, F as in Frank. F as in Frank? Yes. Okay.

J, K, L.

Are you serious? I mean, you're just not going down the alphabet.

I'm serious. 17J, 17K, 17L. Okay. And 17M, just a quick question on that. Okay. N as in Nancy. And 17P.

Okay. And I am pulling 17B, as in boy or baker or whatever Jackie says, and 17P. What was that last one? P. Oh, I pulled P. I'm pulling P, too.

I need to pull, oh, city attorney, I'm in the Heartland district, so I need to recuse myself.

So if it isn't pulled, you can simply state your recusal during the consent vote. Okay. But if it is pulled, then you'd have to. Okay, great. Thank you. She has a real property interest because she lives near the Heartland district.

And there's one, okay, let's go find that one. The one that, Juanita Street sidewalks. 17.

Let me tell you the number real quick, yes, it is K. I believe that was pulled by the mayor.

That has been pulled. So when that one comes, you'll state your recusal and leave the dice.

Okay, sounds good. All right, anything else? Okay, first we're going to have a motion to approve. Item 17A, C is in Charlie, D is in Delta, E is in Echo, G is in who?

Gulf.

Gulf, oh. H, happy.

Hotel.

Hotel. And O.

You got P, right?

Oscar. Oscar. No, these are the ones that we are going to approve that were not pulled.

Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

Okay. Can I have a motion to approve those items? I make a motion to approve the remaining items.

I'll second it.

All right. Can we vote on our machine tonight or is it broken? Absolutely. Yes. How do we do that? Because mine's not working. Here it is. Never mind. Mine worked. Can you do it on your machine? Oh, do you guys all have one of these?

Is this the touch one? Can you touch it?

Yeah.

There you go. Everybody voted?

Did we do that right? Yay, we did it right. Okay. Moving on. I'm first. I pulled 17B, And this is referencing the National Opioid Settlement Funds for the Police Department Employee Wellness and Support Services. And I have asked Captain Brock to just give us a little bit of background information on where this money came from and why it came and what we have done with it so far and what we plan on doing going forward. Welcome Captain Brock.

Madam Mayor, honorable members of council, thank you for allowing me an opportunity to talk about a very important subject here with wellness of our public safety employees. In terms of the Janssen settlement, my understanding is that is a national settlement that was developed from pharmaceutical companies having to do with opioids. That money was distributed to states and then further pushed down to cities who showed an impact of opiate-related crime, blight, that type of stuff. my knowledge uh the city of hemet so far since 2022 has received about 530 000 in settlement money from that jansen settlement i'm unaware that that settlement those settlement funds have been tapped for any other programs partly because their use is extremely restricted They're only allowed to be used for certain things like education, related to opioids, recovery efforts, and wellness programs are specifically mentioned. In terms of the Hemet Police Department, we began employee wellness years ago with our peer support. Since then, we've expanded to a gym facility, which has been very impactful to not only our sworn officers, but our professional staff as well who use that. We got the money for that through a state grant for officer wellness, $44,000 to build that gym. Since that time, we've looked to expand our wellness programs by applying for two federal law enforcement mental health and wellness grants. Unfortunately, both years that we applied for that, we did not receive funding. Now we're on a time to spend some of this opioid settlement money. Specifically, the settlement spells out that the money has to be encumbered five years after it's received. So the 2022 allotment in the amount of $95,000 needs to be encumbered by the end of this fiscal year, not necessarily spent, but at least encumbered. And that's what this program does. So we hope that the money that we've requested in this staff report not only expands our wellness program to include a wellness center room for all employees to utilize, mental health services to come on site so employees can talk to dieticians, everything, a whole approach to wellness for our employees. We believe this is enough funding to not only start the program but to pay for it for several years in the future so we'll have some longevity there.

Is this fund only for internal use or is it for public use as well or I guess is it outreach to the public on opioid uses or is it just wellness for people having to deal in your capacity with dealing with people who have a drug issue?

Dr. That's a great question. It actually offers a more broader range of services in terms of education, support services, things that maybe other agencies, public agencies or support agencies offer that the City of Hemet just doesn't do. For an example, when I looked into utilizing this for our wellness program, I looked to see what other law enforcement agencies in California are doing. Some are using the money for education. Some use it for co-responder models like we have for our CBAT team, but they respond out to opioid related incidents. Some have attempted to use the funds for equipment, which is not allowed and they've been rejected. But the mental health and wellness in particular is specifically called out as an acceptable purchase.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Council, do you have any questions? Yes.

Thank you. Captain, I'm just curious why you waited so long to pull this money if you have a five-year ceiling? And why only $95,000? And also, are you able to put a steam room in that weight room?

So, trying to address those in order. We've been looking for ways to utilize the opiate settlement money for a few years. For various reasons, we haven't been able to do it, partly because of the restrictions that's placed on it. For example, the co-responder model, that would be great, but until recently, and honestly, right now, we don't have the staffing to do a co-responder model, so we wouldn't be able to do it. Educational programs, we're now looking forward on how the police department can use those funds to support education. No, we cannot fit a steam room into our current gym. It's unfortunate, but...

I found steam rooms help you mentally, and they help you with your depression, help you with just about everything because it just releases everything out of you. So I thought that would be a good idea for...

We actually have a team of employees that have gotten together that fingers crossed we get approved for this funding to come up with ways to support the wellness program. Things like I probably would never realize like the steam rooms.

Well, I have to be at the gym at least three times a week or I get depressed. And if I miss a week and then I'm really bad. So I understand the logic behind this and the wellness. And with the stress that you go through, all your police go through, I can imagine that having a gym local and within reach is really good for you. So you can get that steam room work in there. I'll make sure I test it for you.

Yes, sir. All right.

Any other questions? Yes, Connie. Well, I just want to comment. I know that for nurses, doctors, law enforcement, fire, EMTs, the opioids are extremely hard on the mental psyche after seeing the same person over and over and over, OD, it This is not for the faint. And this money needs to be used, and I fully support anything you guys need to do to keep your mental health. I don't do your job. I wouldn't want to. I've been around it, and I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay.

If no further questions or comments on this, I will move approval of Item 17B.

I'll do approval.

Okay, we have a motion and a second, please vote. Okay, that passes unanimously 5-0. Thank you, sir.

Mayor, I have a question for our city attorney. I voted to move all the remaining ones. So I actually voted on all. I know.

We noted your refusal in the minutes.

Okay. So I'm.

You're fine. Okay.

Yours was pulled.

Mine was pulled. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to 17F. Who pulled that one?

I did.

Okay.

Can you give me the reason again why we're doing this?

the purchase of the water truck?

Yeah.

We're replacing a 1991 model water truck. We use it when we can, but it spends more time in the shop. A lot of times we have to divert and use like little water buffaloes or little tanks because it's back in the shop. These things can only hold about 260 gallons of water. We got to pull them around. They're just not as effective. So when we do a lot of our jobs, especially dirt work, when we're out doing any vegetation management, when it's 105 degrees, it's nice to have that back up there. We don't want to start any fires. So a truck that we can rely on to go out every day when we turn the key on is pretty optimal.

Does emissions have to do anything with it too?

That's a very, it's part of it. The truck itself was worn down, but it being a diesel from 1991, AQMD has been on us to replace it. It's a low hour kind of emergency type situation. We can keep it under that for the most part. But yeah, it needs to go and it will help our overall situation fleet number when they look at what we have in a fleet that 91 diesel is a negative when you're averaging things out so by uh surplusing it out it will overall help our our carb numbers and everything else as well okay thank you very good

I was actually going to pull this also, but for a good reason. So I think it's amazing that you've been keeping this truck running for 35 years. And when I met with the city manager, I said, you know what? I just want to pull this one and say what a great crew we have in Public Works for maintaining our own vehicles. And Chief Phillips knows this because we had a nice little push-in fire ceremony this last week. and he actually invited some of the maintenance crew over that keeps their fire trucks going. So hats off to Public Works and the maintenance crew. We appreciate you.

Yeah, our fleet guys are top-notch, and we really can run everything into the ground. I mean, we don't come to you guys until we literally have to push them to a job site, and it seems like then they can still fix them sometimes.

35 years is incredible.

Thank you. Okay. If no questions on this, move approval. Make your motion.

Can I move to approve this?

And I will second it. Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. And that passes five to zero. Thank you very much. Before we go on, I just wanted, I was going to pull 17E to make a similar comment that staff found the CalCycle grant funding to buy a new forklift that we desperately needed, 100% grant funding. So staff is doing an excellent job. Moving on to 17I. This is the measure, oh. the MOU for the Hemet Firefighters Association.

Mayor, before we go to that item, we do have a speaker on this item, just so that you're aware.

Okay.

17 I.

Let's have the public comment on this item first.

Ann Smith.

Who's the speaker?

Good evening, folks. It's nice to be here. It's nice to see you all. Happy birthday, Mayor. And I'm glad to see Councilman Lodge back on the dais again. Regarding item I-17, everybody was so upbeat and positive. I hate to be negative, Nellie, but here we go. First off, the City Council, If the city council votes on this, I will probably lose respect for those of you that vote for it. Hemet Fire Department is basically telling the city that they want complete control over council action, and that is not acceptable. I have a question. Doesn't the fire department already have an MOU in place? That's a key point. They're going to be cutting the city off at the kneecaps. And secondly, it's going to put the city at risk. It's not just my opinion. Because if Hemet Fire fails in some way before the end of the fiscal year, you guys aren't going to be able to do a thing. We're going to be screwed. The whole city could burn down. That's not likely to happen, but that's a possibility. And those are just two of the many problems with this memo of understanding that I have. Now, Hemet Fire must know something that I don't know, because they're preparing for a new fire chief. And I'm not sure who it's going to be, but I have a pretty good idea. And I think they're scared. They have a rock solid union leader, Dave Prieto, and he's very good at what he does. And he protects his firefighters, and he should. all the way and he does a really good job of it but i want you to think back to 2012. um we've been through this before there was an attempt to bring cal fire to the table and that failed and i guess about three or four years later mayor you would probably remember this that attempt came up again we had a tremendous number of people that were really opposed to cal fire um i don't know if it would be more or less i'm not sure um Hold on one second. I actually remember all of this because I moved into Hemet in 2010. So I was kind of naive at the time, and I was really passionate about saving Hemet Fire Department. And I spoke about it at that time at the podium. We had hundreds of people show up at various council meetings on behalf of Hemet Fire. Well, folks, I've come a long way since then, and I can see the error of my ways. Hemet fire comes to council with their hands out. Oh no, let me finish. And council falls for it every time, and I hope they're not gonna do it again. Fear tactics, and by the way, I find it interesting that all this is happening during the election season, and in addition, you know, they're playing.

Thank you for your comments, Anne. Were there any other public comments on this item? No. Okay. No, no more comments. Questions from council?

Yeah, I got a few questions. Let's see here. Well, some of the wording in here is just makes no sense to me. And I've been told that the wording has been in there from previous contracts. That doesn't mean it applies today. I honestly believe that this should go on over again, and the several items should be removed from there.

Can you be specific in which items you have on your top?

Oh, sure. Oh, okay. Article two, item one.

Article two.

Article two, item one.

Item.

Okay. The problem I have with this is it is agreed that the city retains all powers and authority directed. And if you go down to item three, it says during the term of this agreement, city specifically agrees that it will not contract out any fire suppression services. I understand that. But does that mean we can't even talk to somebody? How much is this tying our hands? There's no clarification in there.

Who wants to refer to the city attorney on how it ties the city's hands?

No one left to defer to. So the obligation that's stated in the draft agreement before you is that the city would not contract out fire suppression services. So I would interpret that to mean actually enter into a contract. It does not appear to prohibit studying it, having discussions, or anything like that.

So we can discuss with anybody we want?

You can discuss as much as you'd like. And it is only for the term of the agreement, which expires June 30, 2027. Let's see here.

So Article 5, Number 2 is the, what's being called the Me Too Clause. Is that, I know it's a great bargaining chip, but is it actually necessary?

In order to come to an agreement with the bargaining group, this was a mandatory clause to be in there, yes. Oh, it's gotta go.

I don't agree with that one at all. Let me start off by saying that they do a job that nobody else wants to do, really. And it takes a special person to risk their life to go in there and do something like that they do. But the Me Too sounds more like a... the spoiled rotten kid down the street who, you know, Johnny got a new bike and they didn't get one and it's, you know, crying to the parents, I want one, I gotta have it, whether he plays with it or not. And it just, I don't agree with the Me Too clause at all. Even though it's a great bargaining chip, I don't think it should be in there at all. Number six. Article five, number six, which was, oh, the striping. Oh, I know what that was. Down farther, the... Article five, number nine, A, one and two. Okay. I understand higher education and we're paying for their education, but just because you get educated, do we have to give you 3% or 5% more of your base salary? In this instance, in the last 10 years, they have been over budget every year, except for one year, and that was 2019 and 20. And it's all been for wages and overtime. And that is, you can't even keep your own house together and you want more? You're over budget every year. And that's, they've gotta be reined in somewhere along the line. I'm not against education. I'm not against anything they do. It's just that they have to realize that we don't have any money. We cannot do this. And it's things like this that are driving us into the poorhouse. As a city, we just cannot afford it. So some compensations have to be made in this contract. And I vote that we just pull the whole thing

So that provision on educational incentive has been previously approved for by previous council.

Yes, that's previous. This is a new one, and it's a new day. And what was approved four years ago doesn't really apply today because everything has changed. The city doesn't have the money. Everybody's got to make cuts someplace. And as the lowest paid employee on the city, I can understand this stuff, but come on. The whole thing reads like just give me, give me, give me. And that's, I cannot accept that because I understand they can go to other cities and they can do all sorts of other things. But this contract, the way it reads, is just wrong. The whole thing has to be renegotiated, I believe.

This particular area of this for the education is something that the city has I won't say the city has always had it in there because we put it in there while I've been on council, which was an encouragement to all staff people. Every employee in Hemet, we have encouraged to further their education and get their certifications. And with that, they do this on their own time. Yes, the city is paying the bill for the education or percentage of it. they don't get paid while they're getting educated no they don't they do it on their own time but what they give back to the city is well worth what the city has put into it and what the taxpayers have put into it with the higher level of education of all of our employees understandable and that's that's great but not every other department is over budget nine out of ten years so you know in salaries

I mean, something's got to change here, and it's, you know, I think the whole contract needs to be reworked. That's my opinion. You know, there are some really valid points in there, but I suggest that we pull it because we can't afford it.

Connie. First of all, there is no organization in the state of California that does not reimburse for education. No. What they bring with their education is a higher level of performance. It is also a fact we have one of the highest calls volume in the state. there has to be personnel going when we can't afford we are when we don't have the bodies to run to the next and they have to pull in somebody else that's that's management's you know fault there because if you're not staffing according to your call records How do you know what a call record is going to be? Do you have your first call?

They know when their average calls are. They know when they're busier than when they're not. Staffing at a minimum of the 15 that they want, which is perfectly fine. That's great. But when you're constantly over budget, if it was a corporation, it wouldn't exist. They would all be out looking for jobs. So I'm just saying, The education is fine. I'll give you that one. But what I'm saying is there are things in this MOU that have to be reined in some. It is the free hand is that's what appears to be that they get everything. I mean, I understand they deserve a lot. and they do a tough job. But some of this stuff has got to be reined in. I mean, we could debate this all night.

To redirect to the actual contract, a lot of what you're referring to is not in this contract. You're talking about salaries. This is benefits that are tied to their MOU. When we did, I believe, the class and comp study, that's when we agreed to the pay levels that we're going to be in. So that's not in here. That's a whole different thing that we agreed to last time when it comes up during the class and comp studies for all of the departments. So their actual salaries are not in here. These are additional benefits that they're getting as far as the education package, the holiday pay, and the holidays that they have off and their shift work.

Salaries and benefits have been over nine out of ten years.

I understand that. So that's part of the benefits. It's not part of this. The salary ranges that are established by the council is not in here. It's a different package. Okay.

I'm going on record as saying that this MOU should be rewritten and renegotiated. And the next salary contract that comes up should be looked at. I'm not slicing anybody's job yet.

You don't have to. I totally appreciate that. And you're absolutely right. But there are two different subjects that we vote on. One is the class and comp study that comes out. And the other is this package, which is based on their salaries. So if we're going to do anything substantial about it, we've got to address the salaries because these are all percentages. So we're kind of putting the cart before the horse in doing this. But we did it the right way because we approved the class and comp study. And then it comes down to this.

Is it top heavy on management? Is that why we're over budget all the time?

Over budget on FHIR? FHIR can answer that and maybe Tiffany can.

FHIR's budget collectively is always within budget. When you take their salary benefits, their ISF charges, their maintenance and operations, collectively as a whole, they're within budget. Where they are not in budget is their overtime. Their salaries remain in budget and their benefits remain in budget, but their overtime is what drives that cost over. So that doesn't really have anything to do specifically with their salary and their premium pays. While premium pays do factor into overtime, overtime is what is out of budget. But collectively as a whole, when we close the books, they have only been over twice in 10 years.

They may be over in a line item, but they're not over in their total budget. Correct. And we do try to rein departments in with their overtime. That's not always possible depending on the call load and the employees who may be out on sick or on disability or whatever. So it's number of employees times the workload that is needed at that particular time. That's all part of it. But your points are well taken.

Thank you.

Yes. My concerns are close to the same. You know, I respect our firefighters and the difficult, dangerous work that they perform for the community. My vote is not about whether they deserve fair compensation. They do. My responsibility, however, is to evaluate whether every provision of this agreement is financially responsible and protects the city's long-term ability to provide public safety services. Under this provision, if another represented employee group receives an economic increase in wages or benefits, for example, HFFA receives a comparable increase That other agreement may be intended to solve a problem unique to police officers, general employees, or another bargaining unit. I do not believe one employee group compensation should automatically determine another group's compensation without counsel separately evaluating the need. or the cost and financial condition of the city. This is particularly concerning because the staff report does not tell council what this agreement will cost. It says the funding was included in the budget, but the budget But the budgeting and expense does not eliminate the expense. We are facing a general fund deficit drawing upon reserves and freezing public safety positions. Council needs an actual physical analysis, not merely a statement that no additional appropriations is required. The agreement also raises minimum staffing from seven to 15 employees on duty at all times. That may reflect current operations, but once it becomes a contractual requirement, vacancies, injuries, training, and leave can produce substantial overtime obligations. What did the city spend last year maintaining that level, and what will it cost while positions remain frozen? I also cannot overlook Come on, the condition of the document. The attached mail contains conflicting names, former officials, broken page numbering, and language stating 715, 157 employees. A binding labor agreement should not proceed and be executed with unresolved errors. This contract has errors in it and it has strikeouts in it. You just can't approve something like this.

It was requested to provide the red line document so you can actually see the changes that were modified from the existing MOU to the current presented MOU.

Did you fix the 157 employees instead of seven? I mean, instead of 15 employees?

When you redline certain numbers, it makes it look like a different number. So that may be the issue. That's the only thing I could think of because sometimes, for example, if you cross out a four, it will make, right, it would cross, yes.

Mayor Patel, I think you're referring to page 17, Article 13, Section A. That seven is actually struck out in the red line, but sometimes a seven has that little T in it, and so sometimes it gets red. We would sign a clean version of this, but the red line will be updated.

Well, I previously opposed the Me Too provision, and my concerns about its potentially open-ended financial effect have not changed, so I'm still a no on it, as long as the Me Too is in there.

Any other questions or comments from council? No? I would entertain a motion.

You can make a motion to approve or deny. I make a motion to deny this MOU.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Okay. All of those in favor of denial? If you're in favor of denial, you will vote yes. If you are not in favor of denial, you will vote no.

Are you trying to trick me? No, I'm just kidding. Yes. Never.

We are voting to deny. So a yes means that you denied it. No vote means you didn't deny it. We got everybody's vote?

Mm-hmm.

I can't see that. Okay, so we have voted to not approve this contract. So it will go back. It will go back. Renegotiation. Moving on to 17J. Is that yours? This is mine. Let's go.

Okay. Just a couple of things. Looking at the report, I'm not good in math, but I calculated these two numbers just by the last three digits. It didn't seem right, so I took out my phone and recalculated. The report states that the previous total remaining bond was $5,623.172. But if you take the two numbers, 4,462,305 and 1,106,206, that number comes out to 5,568,511, not 5,623,172.

Okay, so the $5,623,172 included the full amount of the onsite improvements and also a 25% warranty bond for the improvements that we did accept. So that warranty bond is over. The $1,106,206 that was retained from the previous staff report, that has been released. So that means that there's only 4,462,305 currently in bonds right now. So we only need to reduce 25% of that. Did that make sense?

I hope.

Yes. Okay. It didn't make sense the first time.

Okay, sorry about that. I know it's a little complicated. This one had some issues with the streets that we had to make sure they were fixed before we released it.

Get your calculator out to check our numbers. I'm sorry? I said, do you have your calculator out to check our numbers? I know.

HOLD ON, ONE MORE THING. HERE WE GO. I FORGET THAT ONE. NO, WE'RE GOOD, THEN. IF THE NUMBERS ARE GOOD, THEN I'M GOOD WITH IT.

OKAY. IF YOU'RE GOOD WITH IT, WE NEED A MOTION.

I MAKE A MOTION TO PASS, WHAT WAS IT, 17J? 17J. MAKE A MOTION TO PASS 17J.

We need a second? I'll second it. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. And that passes unanimously. Good job, people. Okay. Moving on to 17K. Me again. And this one I do need to ask. I need to recuse myself even from discussion.

Okay.

Okay.

That's the Acacia Avenue and I do live within 500 feet of Acacia along the lines. Yes.

So, you say your accusal on the record. You'll need to leave the dais and hand the gavel to the Mayor Pro Tem.

Here you go, Mayor Pro Tem. Do I go that way or that way?

Whichever way you want.

Can I go back with IT?

You can.

Okay. I'm going back with IT.

Are we on K or L? On K. On K. Get it right.

All right.

No, I want to be mayor. You're in there for life. Take you back there with the EIC guys. Hold on, I just got to get to where I need to be. Ah, what side of State Street is this? On the east or west side?

This is on the east side.

Oh, good.

This is on the west side.

On the west side?

Yeah.

Am I supposed to? Wait a minute. Is the wrong person recused? Because that's my district. I'm on the west side of State.

I think she recused herself because of the location to the project, not the district. Am I, is that correct?

Yeah, this is the Acacia Sidewalk project.

Oh, Acacia. Yeah. Why do I have chamber?

That's the next, that's the next one.

That's L. Oh, I got them. Okay. I got them mixed up. Let me. I'll be here for L too.

Acacia, here we go.

Is this a CTNT? Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you. I switched them. I put the wrong numbers on the wrong alphabet. Okay, now this work was previously done by MWD, correct?

That's the next one. No, that's the next one.

That's L.

I got them all confused. Okay. That's the invitation bids require copies of subcontractors. Okay. So, CT&T did not include their subcontractor bids. Is that correct? Correct. And aren't we supposed to require that as one of the methods for them to bid on the projects?

Yes, and we did reach out to legal and got legal's direction about waiving it as a bid irregularity and they stated that that would be acceptable.

And you approved that?

My office did, yes.

Your office, your secretary or?

The assistant city attorney. Okay, that was my question.

The one you like. Oh, the one, I just wanted to make sure that it was legal what we were doing. Yes, yes. Okay, so you went through the process.

We always consult legal before we waive any irregularities.

Okay, thank you. That's the only concern I had to make sure we weren't causing an issue for somebody to sue us or anything. Got it. Okay, okay, then I'm good with that and that was. Okay. Okay. So, I approve 17K.

I'll second it.

And I want to tell you that these errors were made because we didn't get the agenda items until Friday morning. I was like working day and night all the way until Monday to meet.

So, I mislabeled it.

Okay, should we? Now.

I thought so.

Were you doing video games back there with IT? No telling.

At least the angel's not there.

Okay.

On your back. Yes, yes, she's back. Moving on to 17L.

This is the EMWD? Yes. Okay. No.

Well, it's the project that was done jointly with EMWD, if that's what you're referring to, State Street. Or the street.

Yeah, there was a water line project that the city and EMWD partnered on to do a pipeline for each agency. And then this project will actually do the repaving of the same area. Okay.

Now, was this work that should have been completed already when they put the new pipeline in?

We're expanding it. We're doing the whole width of the street.

I'm sorry.

A whole different one.

No, we're doing the whole width of the street. So it was a pipeline project and it had two trenches. So now we're just doing the whole width of the street rather than just.

So are we covering over the work they did? And are they paying any portion of that?

Yeah, there's a portion that has been, that's being transferred from CIP 5507. And that money was part of what EMW is paying for pavement.

Okay, I just want to make sure that we weren't paying the whole cost for that. So, okay, perfect. Thank you.

Okay, entertain a motion.

I approve 17 now, if that's what it was.

We have a second. I'll second it. Please vote. And that passes 5-0. And I do have to ask the city clerk, and I have forgotten to ask, have we had any public comment requests on any of these items?

No, our next request will be for 17 P is in Paul.

Okay, thank you very much. Moving on to 17 M.

that's your that's you too joe that's me that's me i'm just gonna never do that again gentlemen or sir how are you doing i thought you were both coming up um these vehicles we're purchasing this is on your uh second phase right that we're purchasing yes sir okay weren't we supposed to purchase seven at one time or we're only six now

There was one purchase already completed a few weeks ago.

Okay. Now, according to the agenda item, it tells me that this is not for police officers, but it's for the, who are these vehicles for?

In the staff report, it's indicating these are non-enforcement vehicles, meaning they're not black and whites. So they're not frontline patrol officers driving these vehicles. These vehicles are for administrative personnel, support services personnel, detectives.

Okay. Okay. So do they require all the additional equipment that you're planning on putting on on these vehicles like sirens or lights and all the specialty equipment that police use?

Yes. So, these vehicles will contain a lighting package that's considered an undercover package or an administrative package, detective package, which means that the lights are not affixed to the roof of the car. They don't have a push bumper on the front of the car. They're basically like an undercover outfit. So they will have strobe lights in the headlights. They'll have strobes in the taillights. They'll have forward-facing red and blue lights in the windshield. But they're inside the vehicle, and they'll also have lights on the back liftgate as well.

Will they be also installing radios in the cars?

So our current units do have radios. These new units that we're going to up it will not have radios.

Okay, so they'll just use their handheld radios.

That is correct.

Okay, perfect. I was going to ask why would they need radios if they all have hand radios. So I have no other questions unless someone else does.

I want mine in blue.

Any particular shade?

Light blue would work. Dark blue, it doesn't matter.

Okay.

All right.

Very good. Make a motion, please.

I'll make the motion to go ahead and proceed and pass. I'll second it.

All righty. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. And that passes 5-0. Thank you very much. Moving on to 17N. This is the annual AB 1600 report. Who pulled that?

Joe did.

Okay, Joe, it's your night.

Let me find my notes. Okay. Okay, hold on.

We're going to start humming the Jeopardy tune.

Okay. This is the three years overdue development impact fee reports? No. No.

Did I mislabel it?

This is N. It is for 22-23, 23-24, and 24-25. It's the annual report that's for five years. It's an annual report. The AB 1600 is an annual report. However, when going to file this most recent one, it was discovered that the prior two years were never presented to council, so they're being presented all at one time now.

Okay, now. But they were filed on time.

Yes. The report was done and posted to the website. It just wasn't brought to council. So it was posted then? Yes, correct.

Okay, and that was a concern because the first one for 2022-23 is like two and a half years late. And then down, you know, the other ones, one and a half years, the other seven months?

They were posted to the website. They just weren't brought to council as a consent item.

And that's it? Correct. So we're good then and we just need to approve it? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We'll approve it then.

Okay. Did you just move approval?

I'd like to approve 17N.

Second. I'll second it. Motion and a second. Please vote. Oops, I'm sorry, did I push? I've confirmed, right? Did everybody confirm their vote?

I did, didn't I?

There we go.

Okay.

Already that passes unanimously. Moving on to 17 P. I do have an announcement to that to make on that, but I would like to hear from the public speakers.

So first public speaker. First public speaker for this item is Nick Canitas, followed by Andrea Maris. Maris. Yes.

Welcome, Nick.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Krupa, Councilmembers. I'm Nick Kinetish, Deputy General Manager with the Eastern Musable Water District. And before I address this item, I do want to say your previous item, the 17L, the repaving of State Street. That is an example of great collaboration and cooperation between the city and EMWD. And this is the relationship and the business that we strive for and pride ourselves in working with the city. However, to ordinance number 2079, item 17P, I'd just like to say that a little less than 30 days ago, I was here before you expressing concerns regarding this draft ordinance that had just been released. In fact, it was only first released and made public as a part of last council meeting agenda packet. And some of the concerns that I had expressed that it was really to do with the process, I felt that it lacked public outreach, collaboration, engagement with stakeholders. Additionally, based on our limited review of the ordinance back then, it made reference to standards that we were not seeing in the ordinance and had not yet been released. And my ask last council meeting about a month ago was that we would defer the second reading of this item for at least 60 days to allow time for us to closely review and understand it and work with city staff collaboratively on the appropriate paving standards and ideally to develop a cooperative agreement that works for both the city and EMWD to ensure that we have the right paving standards that can be implemented at the quality that we all expect. So here I am 30 days later to let you know that unfortunately, very little progress has been made on developing and agreeing to technical standards, let alone a cooperative agreement. In fact, the city standards that we were looking at, which as far as we could tell, weren't defined as a part of that initial release of the draft ordinance, were only just made available on the city's website a couple of weeks ago. So now having discovered those standards and reviewing those standards, at this time we're finding some contradictions between the standards and the ordinance, which only further demonstrates why it's essential to have stakeholder engagement to flesh out these issues and challenges. BEFORE CITY COUNCIL APPROVES AND ADOPTS SUCH AN ORDINANCE. UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO A BUSY COUNCIL, BUSY SCHEDULES, THAT WE'VE ONLY HAD LIMITED TIME TO WORK WITH JELENE FERRIS, WHO I THINK IS STILL HERE WITH US. AND I DO WANT TO TAKE A MOMENT. continue to be deferred to allow us time to work through these matters. Our goals are the same, to come up with what would be a cooperative agreement to ensure that we're providing the repaving work and standards to the city's expectation in a manner that works for Eastern Municipal Water District as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Nick. Next speaker.

Next speaker is Andrea Maris, followed by Art Marquez.

Good evening Mayor Krupa and members of the city council and city staff. My name is Andrea Mars and I'm here on behalf of Southern California Edison. We appreciate the city's commitment to maintaining high quality roads and ensuring work in the public right-of-way is done safely and responsibly. We share those goals and have always accepted responsibility for repairing any damage caused by Edison work. However, as outlined in our joint letter submitted with Southern California Gas Company, we have significant concerns with ordinance 2779 as currently drafted. The proposed requirements go far beyond repaving the actual area impacted by utility work and could require utilities to repave large portions of streets based on factors such as pavement age, future wear, or cumulative excavation activity. SCE has operated in Hemet for decades under a franchise agreement with the city and pays substantial annual franchise fees for the right to provide electric service and maintain critical infrastructure. Over the last five years, SCE alone has paid the city more than 2.9 million in franchise fees. Our concern is that the ordinance could make it more difficult and costly to perform essential work such as reliability upgrades, customer connections, emergency repairs, and safety-related projects that residents and businesses depend on every day. We're not asking to be exempt from reasonable oversight. We will continue obtaining permits, coordinating with city staff, following safety requirements, and restoring streets where our work impacts them. What we are asking for is the opportunity to work collaboratively with the city to ensure the ordinance addresses your concerns without creating unintended consequences for critical utility infrastructure projects. We respectfully request that the city pause further action on Ordinance 2079, ensuring adequate time for ongoing engagement between city staff and Southern California Edison to address these concerns before moving forward. And before I end with my last minute, I do also want to acknowledge city staff. They have been incredibly responsive to us. We've already got a meeting on the calendar. Of course, it's going to take place after tonight, so we would request that this be extended. Thank you for your time, consideration, and partnership.

Thank you, Andrea. Next speaker.

Final speakers, Art Marquez.

GOOD EVENING, MADAM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL AND CITY STAFF. MY NAME IS ART MARQUEZ AND I'M A PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER FOR SOL CAL GAS. I WOULD LIKE TO ECHO THE COMMENTS MADE BY MY FELLOW UTILITY REPRESENTATIVES TONIGHT AND REITERATE THAT SOL CAL GAS HAS OPERATED UNDER THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF A MUTUALLY AGREED UPON FRANCHISE AGREEMENT THAT WAS ADOPTED IN 1963. AND WE APPRECIATE THE LONG TERM, THE PRODUCTIVE RELATIONSHIP IT HAS WITH THE CITY OF THE HAMMICK AND THE WONDERFUL RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH THE STAFF. However, the ordinance as drafted introduces conflicts with our existing contract, so SoCalGas has not yet had the opportunity to discuss these conflicts with city staff. We respectfully request that the council not adopt the item as currently written and instead continue the matter for the extended time as requested. For further discussions between city staff and the franchise utilities, including SoCalGas. We believe additional dialogue will help ensure all stakeholder concerns are fully considered and potential solutions are explored. Thank you for your time and consideration today. Ms.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that. And I would just like to make a comment on this item. The Mayor Pro Tem and I and staff did have a meeting with EMWD, and we discussed this issue fully. And while it is on the agenda tonight, I expressed concern that we needed to work collaboratively with our partners and that we would pull it from tonight, pause it for 30 days, bring it back in September unless it's not ready by September and staff will keep us informed on that. So it will come back when it is ready, but I would hope that it's within 60 days of this whole thing.

Before we vote on that, I have one thing to say.

Absolutely. Our existing ordinance provides a three-year excavation moratorium for streets receiving slurry seal or microsurfacing. The proposed ordinance, the new one, reduces that protection to one year. So I don't know why that happened, but if we can look into it and figure out why it went from three to one.

We'll look at it.

Huh? We'll look at it. Yeah, definitely.

Okay, so with council approval, Do we need a vote or just consensus to pause this for at least 30 days?

If the council wants to, by consensus, give us that direction, that's fine.

Yeah, 30 days.

We'll put it, calendar it for 30, but if it's not ready to be brought back, then staff can let us know and we'll put it to the next meeting in September or early October.

With looking at that change also, right?

Yes, we'll include that. Okay.

Okay? Got that? So yes, to the three utilities in the audience, we are more than willing to work collaboratively with you to get an agreement that not only protects you, but also protects our streets for our cities and for the money we put into them. So I thank you very much for being here this evening and thank you for your input. Moving on to discussion items.

Mayor, if I may, I know we did item 18A regarding the youth council with the excitement of swearing each of the council youth council members in. We did not approve. No, we actually did not approve the youth council members. So let's go ahead and do that.

Thank you. I think we unanimously approved all of it. So I would really like a motion from one of you two and a second from the other.

Make a motion that we accept the Hammett Youth Council and the 11 fantastic students that we have.

Sounds good to me. Second? And I second that we support this new youth council of awesome young adults.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. I dare anybody to vote no.

Yeah, really. I dare them.

That passes unanimously. So thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor and Council. and with that we'll move on to 18b resolution approving wildland protection agreement between the city and cal fire welcome chief hi thank you mayor happy birthday thank you

Madam Mayor and Council, we bring forth to you a resolution related to our agreement with CAL FIRE for a wildland protection agreement, and I'll go ahead and explain that with our slides. What is a WPA? WPA enables the city to request CAL FIRE any and all resources to respond to wildland fires inside our city limits. The city pays an annual upfront fee to Cal Fire in exchange for fire protection services during a fiscal year. The city at that point will not incur any additional costs for the use of Cal Fire resources. And if we harken back to our Verona fire out in council member Peterson's district out in her neighborhood where she lives, that fire out there called the Verona incident was approximately a $5 million fire altogether. And so with this particular agreement that I brought forth to you to sign, Our share of a large cost related to aerial operations and bulldozers and all the things they can bring to bear, we won't pay anything beyond what the fees for this insurance product for one year will cost. So CAL FIRE agrees to provide all protection services within a pre-specified area. They deliver services consistent with those provided in adjacent CAL FIRE areas. Dispatch resources based on availability and pre-planned resources. A RESPONSIVE, SORRY. THE CITY OF HEMET AGREES TO PAY CAL FIRE FOR SERVICES BASED ON AN AGREED PER ACRE RATE, PROVIDE MUTUAL AID TO CAL FIRE WITH FIRE, FOR FIRELAND, WATERLAND FIRES, IF NEEDED. WE DO THAT CURRENTLY. AND MAINTAIN RESPONSIBILITY FOR STRUCTURAL FIRE PROTECTION IN CITY LIMITS. And this out breaks down. Uh, last time I was here, we talked about trace Cerritos and with direction from city manager, we've expanded it to two other additional areas, four seasons. It's 171 acre plot. Uh, McSweeney in that area is 431 acres. Trace Cerritos is the 413 for a total of just over a thousand acres. And the cost breakdown for those 1,015 acres for the period of our fiscal year that we're currently in, you can see the cost per acre rate is $47 plus an administrative fee, getting us a per acre cost of $53.31. So the total cost for this agreement is $55,000, where we can call those people in to attack fire, threatening our residential. Brought some maps. This is actually a Four Seasons area, and you can see in the highlighted blue area up against the boundary of our city out west. That's 171 acres out by Councilmember Peterson's house. That's where that Verona incident was at. The McSweeney area, again, outlined in blue, east and north of McSweeney development area proper. And it pretty much runs up to Gibble. to the north and then trace cerritos which i believe you've all seen before and that area inside the blue area is also an area that we brought into this agreement and so um we feel that this is a very beneficial a lot of talk about money tonight but uh this is a very beneficial agreement that can save the money a lot save the city a lot of money uh sure if we had to call uh like we did with verona so uh ANYWAY, I'M HERE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE. WE HAVE QUESTIONS. GO AHEAD, JOE.

WE SIGNED A CONTRACT MAY 26TH FOR TRESORITOS. DOES THIS TAKE PLACE OF THAT CONTRACT? WE'RE NOT PAYING TWO NOW, ARE WE?

NO, WE'RE NOT PAYING TWO. GOOD QUESTION. YEAH, WE BUND IT ALL TOGETHER IN ONE. SO WHAT WE DID IS We looked at Tracy Rios and went back and then looked at some other areas. We looked at Park Hill. We looked at Simpson Park. And those areas didn't qualify inside of CAL FIRE's prescribed areas that they would want to cover. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Okay. Can you go back to the map? with the fire and go down to the area over around the DVL Marina. I mean, it's a high fire danger. There's no structures out there except for the science museum and the school. AND THE MARINA ITSELF, IS THAT COVERED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT?

NO. WE DISCUSSED THAT AS AN OPTION. AND WE DECIDED THAT THAT AREA AROUND THAT AREA, THAT IS ALL STATE RESOURCE AREA. SO WE FELT THAT AND CONVERSATION WITH CAL FIRE, WE FELT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO BRING THE POWERS THAT BEAR ON THAT AREA WITHOUT are having to buy that insurance for that spot.

All right. Just wanted to check on that because there are some areas there that are not in your little blue lines. Any other questions on this one?

Can you give me an example of when CAL FIRE would not be able to make one of these areas that we're contracting with because it says in the contract their response is subject to availability. So if they're somewhere else and we have a fire in one of these three locations,

Yeah, that's a good question. So with Cal Fireworks and most agencies like this, they'll deploy resources like today. They're Northern California, Washington, Oregon. A lot of resources are all over the place with the whole West on fire. But what they'll do is move other resources in place. So if they launch resources away from our area, they'll immediately backfill other resources from San Diego County or beyond to fill in. So we'll have aircraft in the air and all that.

Oh, good, good. That's what I was afraid of. No, aircrafts are all gone, sorry.

Yeah, no, their resource management is quite scientific and very dynamic, yeah.

Thank you.

All right, any other questions or comments? No?

How are our firefighters doing? How are our fighter fighters doing abroad?

Yeah, we have two engine crews up in Oregon. One was in Oregon. Now they're in Washington. We have one battalion chief that's out on his FEMA federal team up there. And they're all healthy. They're all working hard. They're working 12-hour shifts on and off. This is an 18-day stint with travel in between to get them up and back. we have a crew on their way back right now and another one just left so this is going to be a continual thing all summer long um and you know we're not even into winter you know santa ana season and things like that and one thing that uh might have been discussed a little bit earlier i'll cover it uh these efforts are reimbursed right so we send people out and then we backfill behind uh we're 100 reimbursed for our staffing that's gone plus 21 administrative fee plus we charge for the use of our our iron our fire trucks there's a certain percentage there so uh the city actually um you know makes up fine as far as financially when we send it's a large number it's a huge number but it's all reimbursed. It's a lag, and Tiffany could probably answer that better, but there's a lag in time when that money gets replenished in the reimbursement process.

Can I ask you, which trucks do we send out? We're in Northern California right now. Do you send the big trucks, or do you send the smaller trucks?

No, we load up and send our OES, our Office of Emergency Services engines that are in the city. So they're on standby in the city. They're loaned to us for our use. And then our staff go on those rigs and those rigs are launched and maintained by OES. then we will send our patrols like you were out last week for a push in the medic patrol and our engine 303 which is a type 3 that those stay in town for our vegetation fires out the brand new engines that we just pushed in last week they don't go on those big long responses like that they might go you know out of County somewhere regional but they don't No.

Thank you.

How many OES vehicles do we have? Is it just the one engine over at Station 2?

Two, yeah.

We have two of them? And they're both at Station 2?

No, one at 2, one at 3. Okay.

All right, and they're both gone. They're gone now, but yeah.

What about our brush rig? We have one at Station 5, and then we have Medic Patrol 4 at Station 4.

And they're still here?

Yeah. Okay.

Very good. Any other questions or comments on this item? Thank you. Then I would entertain a motion from someone.

I'll go ahead. I'm sorry.

No. Ladies first.

Okay. I'll move to approve this. I'll second it.

See? See what happens when you say ladies first? I'm sorry. Okay. Behave myself. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. And that motion carries 5-0. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chief. Moving on to 18C, discussion of the potential Mesa Grande conservation acquisition initiative and pursuit of grant funding. Welcome, Eric.

All right, thank you. Happy birthday, by the way. And good evening, mayor, council members, members of the public and staff. Thank you for having me. My name is Eric Bunge. I'm the executive analyst of the Public Works Department. And I'm here tonight to present on, even my slide's excited to get to it, right? Excited to present the potential acquisition of Mesa Grande and what that might entail. And it's a discussion item to be had tonight. The property, for context and background, is nestled in the Santa Rosa Hills. It's just west of Weston Park, and it's in the county and incorporated area. The total property itself can be seen kind of red arrow, green, we'll call it box, I guess. Fun shape, elephant trunk, whatever you want to call it. Spans over 16 parcels, and it serves as a potential expansion to Simpson Park, which is 480 acres. This piece of property right now is roughly 460, so it could almost potentially double it in size. So as shown, we have the kind of the current conditions as it is today. This area consists of natural foothills, landscape characterized by native habitats, scenic vistas, large undeveloped open space with few passive trails and a large loop and several plant and animal species. The city's general plan, 2030 general plan identifies this area for resource preservation and six of the land use and open space goals align with this effort as well. So for context, it is in the county. So let's, you know, it's a little dense, so I kinda try to cram it all on the one side, but it's, basically it's zoned right now for very low residential development per the county standards, right? So it's their zoning, their land use, potentially right now. If developed, there could be impacts to residents in that area with concerns of traffic, quality of life issues, fire evacuations, as well as loss of habitat, natural resources, and potentially on the flip side of that, to be fair, more homes could potentially bring more people to Hemet to shop, tax revenue, et cetera, but also the use of roads. So we've got to kind of keep those factors in mind with what potential development could bring. So the potential future, right? As you see, this property doesn't simply stand alone. It's part of a bigger regional connection that functions as a wildlife corridor, trail linkages, and ecological interactions. Though it is zoned and planned for development, a recent opportunity has presented itself. There are a couple state park grants, as well as there's a willing seller that's willing to donate the property. So it recently appraised for about, I believe the staff report said 13 million. A more accurate appraisal is 16 million. just over 16.23 to be specific. And they're willing to sell at a price of $8 million. So technically speaking, that's a private source of funding that could be used to match for us to go apply for grant applications. So leveraging that funding, especially kind of being mindful of our current budget realities and not impacting the general fund, kind of kept all those in mind and kind of brought this to fruition today. Again, and there's been a community group that, I did not mention that, there's been a community group that's been spearheading this effort as well, that's been helping us with a lot of different outreach components and everything. So as part of these grants, definitely community outreach is important. We originally went up to Simpson Park about a year ago and did some outreach for Simpson Park to get people's perspective of what sort of improvements they would want to see up there, how they utilize the park, what's missing, all that good stuff. We even took a field trip with the Youth Council up there, which was a lot of fun. But recently, August 1st, they went back up there for another community meeting. This specific topic was for the Mesa Grande acquisition as well. Where's my notes here? So we, some additional outreaches, has taken shape as well. So there was an online survey launched in the middle of July. In anticipation that these grants were coming out, typically they come out in fall and spring times, so we wanted to get that community outreach in front of that, so that way we're kind of not scrambling at the last minute, kind of where we're at now. So the online portal was open for about, for at least three weeks at this point, and 94% of the participants have been in favor of preserving that property up there. Again, this is specifically for that Mesa Grande acquisition property. And then there's a lot of different data and questionnaires and responses that we got through that survey as well. But I just want to highlight number five, specifically on the preservation and available features that if we were to preserve it, how would you use it? What would you like to see there? All that good stuff. So obviously hiking, biking, trail use. There's even a concept about making a dedicated equestrian area down in the plateau in the big loop. So that way we don't have people sharing the trails at Simpson Park with hikers, trail runners, horses, even dogs, technically, but not. And mountain bikers all sharing the same narrow trail system. So just want to be mindful of that and kind of what the community is telling us as we go into this. It was also included in the newsletter, social media post. There was a flyer with the QR code. We even had a dedicated volunteer that walked the flyers to the neighbors for the community meeting as well as to take the survey as well. Just to kind of give you a perspective of what we accumulated, 60% of those zip codes, one of the questions at the end, 85% decided to answer that question. So 60% of that 85% were from the county proper, basically that impacted area right there. But the rest of the majority were Hemet zip codes. So we have a kind of a nice blend of both, you know, hearing from Hemet residents as well as the affected county residents in that area. So possible grant funding. So this is the first grant I kinda wanna highlight. The next slide's gonna go into a couple more opportunities potentially, right? So through the Outdoor Legacy Partnership, it just opened August 6th, it closes August 24th. Typically it opens in the fall, which would've given us a little more time to plan, but ultimately this goes to the federal, at the federal level, November 1st. So we have first applied to the state, then the state moves the most competitive applications onto the federal level as well. And potentially we're looking at a spring selection, May announcement for awards. So that just kind of gives you understanding of timing as it goes, at least for, particularly for this. But there's, the award's up to $15 million. It does require a 50% match. But again, if we're looking at an $8 million acquisition, sell price, the $8 million land donation, those kind of are net even. to kind of keep that in this consideration, again, to even make this feasible in our mind, because typically for a 50% grant match, we don't pursue those types of grants just from cost considerations. And this grant can be used, a special caveat of this grant, it can be used for acquisition, construction, and improvements, which leads to the next one. So as you can see, there's different scoring criteria of this grant. Simply acquiring Mesa Grande as a standalone project is eligible and would check a lot of the boxes. But if we want to be competitive, and since this grant could be used for both acquisition and construction, There's an alternative that we've been working up at least internally and through our grant consultant. As an alternative to this effort to become more competitive and higher scoring, especially in addressing community challenges and the new park feature sections, there's an idea of adding a couple elements and features to either the Mesa Grande area. It already has a trail system, so that could potentially be passive trails as one. But in order to score high, they were looking for A minimum of three, ideally four or more new features. So that could be security lighting, different things. Also, if we kind of look at this as a holistic project, we already have some improvements underway at Simpson Park already, which we have a grant for new trash receptacles, bear saver, animal resistant trash receptacle to help the environmental impacts up there. But if we kind of take this and look at it as a Simpson Park and pulling that in and some of the elements from the Elevate strategy, we could look at things like different family amenities, potentially an ADA loop in the Meadow area to help with scoring and accessibility for people, you know, accessibility and welcoming for people of all ages and abilities to enjoy that park and that total space up there. Again, when we went up there, there's definitely some security concerns, especially at the front gate from those residents, so there could be some mitigation actions there, some lighting, and then also some trail signage and rating system signs, so that way people can know, hey, is this an easy, moderate, or hard hike? So again, we're increasing the accessibility, as well as if we have a rating system, we can get on the AllTrails app, and that can be kind of either one promotional tool, but then also a user guide as well when you're within the park. Again, the goal would be to have a place accessible and enjoyed by all. That said, we could leverage the land donation. We already have a $20,000 grant set aside for the animal resistant trash receptacles, but this sort of strategy would require some sort of either park diff and or other private source in order to kind of make those things feasible and make us competitive. But the good news is, and something to kind of for us to keep in mind as we're having this discussion, there is going to be another cycle coming out next summer. So even if we apply now and or are not selected, and if we're selected, great. If we're not selected, we kind of have that feedback to where we can build a more competitive and or additional planning, community outreach, whatever that may look like, kind of leading into the next grant period and or other grant opportunities as well.

So just something to keep in mind.

So again, this little smash, sorry, but there's some different grant opportunities out there as well. Some are a little bit more of a stretch. Like the SPP, it's really meant for disadvantaged communities with a low ratio of acreage within a half mile of that site. It'd be a perfect side project, and this is the one we're gonna pursue for Weston Park. It's opening soon. They still say summer, but that is almost gone now, so soon. So hopefully we'll know within a few weeks when that one opens up. And we've done a lot of time, put a lot of time in that one to prepare and get community outreach and all that good stuff. The Land and Water Conservancy Fund, this would be another one that this property would be a good fit for. Typically it opens up in the spring and it's every two years when this one opens up. So it's, but it's a max award of 6 million, 50% match again, land donation would be used, but then that would for sure require us to front some city funds to even make that feasible to get to that $8 million mark and or pairing it with other potential private funding sources or whatever that may look like. There's some other ones that, you know, we can potentially use for either Simpson Park and or in the future if we acquire Mesa Grande. For example, the regional recreational trails program, that's up to $2 million, a small match, but it can be used for developing and maintaining trails, acquiring new property, and or improvements to existing facilities. There's potentially, there's a wildlife conservation board, private donations, a potential stewardship endowment to help fund some of our staffing needs and different things up there. Workforce grants and volunteer opportunities are different ways that we can make these, make this more feasible as well, especially when we're looking to expand the footprint, you know, kind of taking basically double lending in size would require some love and some care and some staff time up there for sure. So with that being said, first and foremost, I want to thank the public for hanging in there with us. I know it's a long night. But thank you for taking this all into consideration. With that being said, I'm opening up for discussion, and I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.

Do you have any questions before we go to public comment?

I do.

Okay.

So I'm on the RCA board, and I've already gone to Erin because I don't know what the competition is for the grants. But my personal opinion on this is if it is highly competitive, I wouldn't wait. I would go to RCA and get that land conserved. If we cannot do CEQA, then it doesn't tie our hands for them to be able to acquire it. It also is a land bridge between the two conservation areas. And while I can totally appreciate we have Simpson Park, really having that be conserved for generations where it is natural is a win-win if we can't get this grant. I wouldn't wait because I know the state, I know some of the things that they're doing with this high density homes, et cetera. We need to act very quickly if that grants not and get it into conservation. Yes, we can't hike it. Yes, we can't bike it. But it's conserved the way it is. And that's very important for our valley. So I'm throwing it out there. I have already gone to RCA. They know about it. As long as we don't do CEQA, it won't tie their hands. And the money, I mean, what is our end goal? Conserving that land. Right. So that's my... observation, and that's what I'm here to do to be pro-Hemet and pro-and a lot of people don't want it developed up there. Well, that's a good insurance policy right there.

Mr. Yeah, we definitely heard that from the residents, especially on the online survey. And something that I wanted to mention earlier, too, that we did take this to Planning Commission. In general, they were in support, definitely, of preserving land and pursuing our general plan goals. Some of the concerns that they did raise was long-term maintenance costs, staffing levels. Are we able to even maintain Simpson Park right now? All those types of conversations were had, which are super fair points. The flip side of that, Oz, a lot of the cemetery that you just mentioned was mentioned as well.

Yeah. And the fire... Discussion is just like any other conservation, fire is a cleansing. There won't be homes up in there to begin with on that Mesa, so it has to, that's a nature, that's natural. Yes, it's been pretty devastating, that one fire we had, but the end goal is the conservation to me. Thank you.

You're welcome. And I would agree with that. I mean, that's the goal. It is to conserve the plateau, the Mesa, to keep development out. But I would advise that RCA is the last ditch effort because there's too many strings attached that are negative when RCA takes over. But anyway, any other comments? I want to open to public comment and then bring it back for more comments from the council.

I just have a real short one. Even if the grant pays for the purchase price, the property would not be free because we would still have to consider Paying for the fire prevention, vegetation management, maintenance, policing, insurance, and emergency responses out there. Those are recurring obligations that we'd be responsible for and could cost a lot of money per year. Right now, we're at a deficit, so we just don't have the money to be maintaining a big amount of probably what is it 486 acres or 468 acres right it's just it's not doable at this time

It wouldn't be overnight. This will take a couple years, probably, at least, right?

Yeah, just timelining, too. So hypothetically, say we go for the, and we get awarded, right? We're looking at an award date in May 27, which then we would have to go through in the environmental. It's a federal grant, so that's CEQA and NEPA. That whole process, by the time we go to council, come back, that would take about a year. So we're at least six months, right? So now we're already in 2028. And from that implementation date of 2027, we have up to five years to make the necessary improvements, right? So it's not something we have to do right away. It's something that we could kind of phase out over time as well, just for our own staffing considerations. But to your point, yes, if we own that property, we do have a responsibility to maintain it.

And if we do get the grant and accept it, then at that time we will look at our financial state and see if we can support it, and then we can either accept the grant or we can give it back. We can't support it. But this will help, like you said, for other grants. And, you know, we talked about having shovel ready projects. So this will help us for like you said, Weston Park and improving our other parks and such too. If we have a plan, you know, the basics in place, then we can use it for other projects in the city. And I just want to make one comment that I have never forgotten our former city manager, Mark Presswich, saying. He did take the youth council up there, and one young lady that lived in Hemet She went up there with the group and she looked around and she said, I've never done nature before. I've never done nature before. And that just sticks in my mind because my idea of a good vacation is going to a national park. You know, I love the outdoors. You know, I like nature. And for somebody that lives in the city that has never been outside the city to a natural park like that i mean i mean i just almost get chills thinking about that it's just like unfathomable to me so if we expand this and make it a more of a recreation place we've been talking about looking for a place for an rv park for several years now we were looking at the diamond valley lake but um you know this this could expand so many opportunities so i think it's a good thing

OK, with that, we're going to open not public hearing. We're going to go to public comment. So first speaker.

First speaker is Kathy Schmidt, followed by Bella.

welcome kathy you can pull the microphone down thank you there you go thank you for letting me speak today um i live at the southern terminus of cornell street and i own the 74 open land that borders the northern border of the mesa grande property I'm all for keeping it as open space because if it were developed in dense housing, it would be really a disaster for egress and access to that property. It's very limited. i have i have many major concerns that i think you need to be aware of and that is when i have the narrow private easement that goes through my 74 acres up to that mesa grande property i have gone through Expensive lawsuit with the England brothers to maintain my rights with that easement that they cannot use it for a development and I won my case and they could not use it for their development and that's why they had to go elsewhere to get access but Also, it cannot be made. It cannot be widened or turned into a private or a public highway It has to remain private And I am concerned that people will think that that is a way to get to that Mesa Grande property. And I will not allow that. Another problem I have is with bicyclists. And I understand you want to put in bicycle trails there. Well, that is a problem already for me. They don't understand that that property is private property, and I have bicyclists going through there, making trails through my open land, and it's a problem. I can't keep them out of there, and it's only going to exacerbate my problem if you put bicycle trails through that Simpson Park, because they don't... they don't care they go right through my land and they do it now um and what's to keep people from crossing onto my land because they don't they won't know where simpson park ends and my property begins really because there's no fencing around it and right now there there was fencing part way through it's all destroyed at this point So there's no way of them knowing where my property begins. And I don't really want horseback riders and bicyclists coming down through my property. I think you need to address that. Protect me. Although I am for leaving it as open space.

Very good. Thank you very much, Kathy. Next speaker.

Next speaker is Bella, followed by Ed Sulls.

Hi, I just want to say first, I just want to say I'm so impressed with the questions that were asked on some of the agenda items. So kudos. It's exciting to see just questions being asked and the word no being used. But I'm actually here to say that in terms of Mesa Grande, I think it's a wonderful project to consider. I think just like Peterson that you were saying in the work that I do, I hear it over and over again in the sense that people don't know anything beyond a couple of miles within the city. And so to have something accessible, even Simpson Park being accessible, but not everybody's able to utilize that because of a lot of the hills, et cetera, et cetera. So being able to have more of a preserve with flat areas, I think it's just gonna open up abilities for people within the community that may not be able to go to a national park they might not have the financial means, they might not even know what that looks like, or how to even be in nature. I was speaking with Ed Salo about this at one of the community events, is that a lot of people don't know how to be in nature. And so to have something accessible within our community gives an opportunity for them to learn outside of the concrete jungle that we're all in, to be able to breathe, to be able to connect, to be able to know and get back to our own human nature and our instincts of being out in the wild, so to speak. So with that being said, I think it's a great opportunity for the city NONETHELESS, I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE, THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS THAT NEED TO BE CONSIDERED AND PROVISIONS PUT INTO PLACE. FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, CAN IT BE MAINTAINED? THE BATHROOMS ARE HORRENDOUS UP THERE. SO JUST STUFF LIKE THAT, BEING ABLE TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE THINGS ARE ACCOUNTED FOR AND THAT IT WORKS WITHIN THE BUDGET. BUT I THINK THAT THIS NEEDS TO BE A PRIORITY. AGAIN, THE COMMUNITY THAT I WORK WITH, It is vital. In terms of mental health, in terms of wellness, being able to access green space within our community, you will be doing such a great service for your community. So I hope that this is something that can be successful. And one more thing, that if it is done through the grants and all that, that it is to be kept as a preserve, that it is deeded, that that information is put into the deed, not just your contract with these negotiations, because we've seen some of those, but in the deed, that it is to be maintained as an open preserve with no rezoning for development, et cetera. That would be what I would want to see.

Thank you very much, Bella. Thank you. Next speaker.

Next speaker is Zalls, followed by Jeff Slapsky.

Thank you, Mayor, and happy birthday, members of council and members of the public. My name is Ed Sauls. I'm an officer with the California Land Conservancy, and they are the ones that negotiated the option to purchase this property. Our role is to see the property conserved. It's a priority, and we congratulate the staff on the outreach and finding all the community support that's behind it. We are just simply facilitating it. If your action tonight is simply to authorize staff to pursue grants, and that's where we need to be. That's the baby step. We have serious responsibilities, Mr. Mayles, as to the fiscal responsibility and the requirements to manage the property. And our group is already pursuing private sources to see if they might be willing to fund some endowments to offset some of those costs. The other thing we talk with staff about is you could phase it. But you can only phase it if you buy the land. So we start with buying the land. And you have a great opportunity. Simpson Park is actually called, in many respects, Simpson Wilderness Park. So it is preservation, and yet it's passive recreation. And I think that that's going to fit a lot of the grants. Speaking to the grants, what Eric was sharing with you, there are great possibilities for funding this. We have an application into Wildlife Conservation Board that could work. There's others that are passive park that are tailored right to this property. So, we're willing to work with you and we encourage your staff, we encourage your leadership to let staff pursue these opportunities. In the meantime, let's work out some of the other issues as to access and so on and bring it back to you with a whole package. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.

You mentioned, see, I was a no on this because of maintaining. We don't have the funds to maintain. Maybe in five, ten years we will, but within the next two, three years, I don't know where we're going to be. But you're saying you can get outside funds, other funds. What's your percentage in being able to get the funds to maintain this park?

Well, so, we conserve, actually, we've been responsible for conserving about 25 percent of RCA's lands, and then we do other land acquisitions throughout Southern California.

Well, you're talking acquisitions. I'm talking maintaining.

Well, no, and with those acquisitions, we generally do fund endowments. There's 450 acres in Wildomar that we're working on right now. Actually, Wildlife Conservation Board is seeking to fund that. We're working with a resource conservation district to come up with a budget for what it would take to maintain that, and the seller will provide funds in that case to fund that endowment. So, we're used to that process, sir.

So you have a pretty good feeling then you're able to get the funds to maintain this, at least for a good five years?

I think we have some good sources. I don't want to make any guarantees. But when you make a decision to acquire it, first is, are the grants accessible? If they're approved, We should have an answer for you as how we're going to manage it maybe for that five years at that time. You don't have to make that decision tonight, but we would bring that to you. And I commit that I will try and answer that for you at that time.

Okay. Thank you.

All righty. Thank you very much. Okay. Next speaker.

Jeff Slavsky followed by Deborah Slavsky.

Okay.

hello mayor happy birthday and city council my name is dr jeff slepsky and i appreciate the opportunity to speak in favor of the mesa grande reserve proposal having served on him at park commission multiple times as well as working with conservation agencies like the riverside county trails commission and serving on county national forest and blm agencies on trails and conservation i have seen and appreciate the value of our local unique and beautiful environment most people locally know me because of the development and maintenance of hiking and biking and nature trails at simpson park for well over 30 years these trails are a value for our residents in the community as well as an attraction for people to visit him at These values can be viewed in Hemet's general plan parks and recreation section, which I was fortunate enough to contribute to. The opportunity for joining Mesa Grande with Simpson Park Reserve is an amazing one. It is an opportunity to protect and enhance the quality of life of residents while preserving our natural environment. I would like to point out a few significant aspects of this proposal. It will provide a continuous wildlife corridor from San Jacinto Mountains extending to Diamond Valley, but it will in addition also provide a human corridor for residents to enjoy and experience our natural environment. It will provide a positive opportunity for appreciation of nature as well as getting healthy exercise. It will provide incredible views of our iconic Diamond Valley Lake as well as activities including hiking, running, biking, and it is quite suitable for safe equestrian use. While a residential development would impact already tacked surrounding streets and neighborhoods such as Stetson Avenue, this offers a positive alternative to preempt this from occurring. This would promote and support a positive view for surrounding communities of what Hemet has to offer. If you look online to see what people have to say about Simpson Park Trails, this will build upon that already positive view and become a destination to visit and enjoy. And lastly, it will ensure a continuity of Ramona Bowl to Mesa Grande and Simpson Park, which of course has a famed cultural legacy reflecting the various Native American cultures and the fascinating history of our area. This is a chance, a chance to promote our area's quality of life by protecting and enjoying a beautiful natural reserve. This opportunity won't likely come again. Thank you.

Jeff, I have a question for you.

You mentioned something about bike trails, how you have it set up at Simpson Park.

Yes.

Kathy, is that your name? Stated here that her property, I think it's 70 plus acres you have or something.

This is Kathy's property in here.

Okay. She says she doesn't like bike.

No, and that's totally understandable, and I appreciate that, and if I had more time in my three minutes, I would have addressed that. The first thing is I would like to see minimal development of Mesa Grande, and then also signage that would prevent that type of thing, and the other thing is Once there's signage and it is illegal to do that, then even a sheriff helicopter going overhead could sound a siren or something and there could be enough warnings. I kind of have to deal with that already, making sure people obey the rules at Simpson Park. So I've been a policeman up there for a long time. But what has happened is everybody's pretty darn good about it. The only problem at Simpson right now is not the bicycles, it's the e-bikes coming up after dark when the park is closed and nobody can do much. But I've been putting signage up for that. The thing is, you have to see the sign that says, no, you're not supposed to be here, and then you're breaking the rules, and then somebody can then enforce that to whatever degree. So hopefully it would be an improvement. And I don't want to see a bunch of trails all through there. I think keeping that as natural as it is, there's kind of a loop, and it wouldn't... Frankly, it's not very interesting to most bicyclists to just go on that loop. There is a corridor on the southern side which the Riverside County Trails kind of designed to go from Simpson Park to Diamond Valley Lake, which would be really kind of an interesting thing because you could have a loop, a bicycle loop, to be held maybe once a year There would be a 50-mile loop to go around Diamond Valley Lake up to the top of Simpson Park, and it could be something that could draw people in once a year, not all the time.

Make that an annual event or something. Yeah, yeah.

And so that's the ideas that I have.

I just want to make sure that we're on the understanding that her property stays.

Oh, I totally understand her concern, and I agree with it, and I think it can be addressed.

All righty. Thank you, Jeff. Next speaker.