City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Okay. Um, call in order the city of Seaside City Council and the success agency to the redevelopment agency. Regular 5:00 p.m. meeting Thursday, March 5th, 2026, City Hall Chambers will come to order. Thank you. Roll call, please. Council and agency member Miller here. Council and agency member Burks. Council and agency member Garcia Arizona here. Mayor Pro Tim and Vice Chair Pacheo. Mayor, mayor and chair over here. You do have a quorum.

Thank you so much. I would ask uh Mayor Pro Tim to lead us in the pledge of allegiance and we will have a moment of silence. Americace for all.

Thank you. We will go to uh item number four now which is a review of agenda. Uh Mr. City Manager, any uh additions or corrections to the agenda? Mayor, there are no requested additions or corrections to the agenda. Thank you so much. Next, we have item number five, which is u public comment. Members of the public wishing to address the city council on matters underneath our jurisdiction may do so for up to three minutes. Uh this is also the time to comment on presentation items. Uh we ask that you hold your comments on items on the agenda to the items called for the benefit of the public. It is beneficial if you state your name.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Members of the council, city attorney, and city manager, I'm Bobby Maxwell, the president of the Police Activities League, and I would like to invite you all to attend our last games, which are this Saturday at Seaside High School. Um, and also I would like to invite you to our end of the season celebration for the players. It's um, April 10th. It starts at 5:00 p.m. at Embassy Suites. Um, hope to see you there. Thank you. Good evening, city council. Um, I have two comments. Number one, I want to thank our great city manager for coming through 95% of the list of concerns that I had for him in a timely matter, which has not happened in a long time. So, I wanted to say thank you. The second one I was going to talk about is in light of the situation that our world is in right now. I noticed that we have not done a prayer at the beginning of the council meetings for a long time

now. Um, and I think we could all use a prayer now and then, especially when you guys have to make these decisions that you have to make. So I would put out a request to the clergy, whether it's a pastor, a minister, a priest, somebody from the clergy, that they would take just a few minutes of their time twice a month to come down to city council and do a prayer for us and for you guys. Thank you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from the phone.

Good evening, council. My name is Laura. Tonight I want to talk about something that is uh just as important as development in our city. It is leadership and integrity in how we talk about our community. Recently there were comments suggesting that decisions about the new resource and how happened to be of residents and that may or some would not allow decisions to occur in close session. Let's be clear about the facts. This was not a secret deal. This process involved a full community of meeting people working through the proposals, reviewing the information, food, leadership, our city manager, professional staff, nine people, a structured process, a process designed specifically to evaluate proposals responsibly. To suggest that something improper occurred, to imply that decisions were made behind the backs of the public person who participated in the process question about leadership. Leadership is not about pointing doubt in the public's move for political advantage. Leadership was about doing exists. Leadership is not about casting suspicion forward. Leadership requires honesty. Leadership required responsibility in how we speak about our institutions and our neighbors. Leadership requires acknowledging the work the people actually doing. Were the proposals for the site? Yes. Were there evaluations through a structured process? Yes. Was there a community? Yes. Was a process led by a city manager and staff? Absolutely. This is how responsible governance works. Someone suggests that decisions are made behind of residents. They are not strengthening the trust in our city. Current rhetoric does not demonstrate

leadership. Leadership means respecting the process, respecting the people involved and engaging in all this conversation about how we continue improving transparency and public engagement. It's the confused constructive improvement found accusations because words matter standing corruption or secrecy when exits confidence in government it was stupid conversation to have the truth about how decisions were made let's respect the work of power dedicating the time of seaside forward because leadership isn't about the new shadows over the Close session isn't something or doesn't allow. It's required by state law to protect the city during negotiations and leaders should know that before suggesting otherwise. Residents deserve facts, transparency, and leadership, not accusations designed for campaign posts. Okay. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Diane Nielsen, you now have the floor to make your public comment. Thank you. Good evening, city council. Diane Nielsen here. Um, I don't know if you're aware that your podium mic is has not been working well for quite some time. And just now, the last speaker, I couldn't tell what she was saying because every third word was uh uh cut off. But I think it would be important for you to look into this and

uh get a new mic and I would really be appreciated because I can't always get down there to attend the meetings in person and I'm sure a lot of other people would like to to hear what the public comments and city council meeting um clearly. Thank you very much. ZV, you now have the floor to make your public comment. Oh, hello. So, I want to say I do want to address Ambers, I am very appointed with the way that Mayor Amber is appointed by Mayor Gillespie. Yo Gillespie, I am aware you put an innocent elderly woman under assistance arrest. Shame on you for putting an innocent woman under assistance arrest. The woman was not into the Monterey County headquarters. And when this happened back in October 20 24 and the game support for the general strike even though you have failure people in seaside shiman for supporting the general strike against high school you're literally well you literally behave like a gestapo agent with Karen Smith in October 2024. more. Council, you guys, you guys have betrayed the people. You have betrayed the people for many years. You have sold the black community, also giant developers. You have sold the Mexican South and you all have turned us against each other. What an embarrassment the city council really is. Shame on all you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise

your hand feature or dial star 9 if you're calling from a phone. Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment. Uh, thank you. Uh, public comments closed. Mr. City Manager, you have any did you hear any questions, issues, or concerns you can speak to at this time?

Just the one. Appreciate the caller bringing the microphone issue to our attention. We will resolve that for for the next meeting. Thank you. Now we go to item number six which is public agency communications a Monterey one water update on capital projects rate study and upcoming priorities. U city manager. Yeah. Today we have a presentation from Paul Shudo from Monterey Warm Water.

Thank you Greg. Mayor, city council members. Thank you very much for uh giving me the time to be here. My name is Paul Shudo. I'm the executive officer at Monter. It's been a a little bit of time since I've been before you. So, I just wanted to give a little background on who we are once again. I think most of you know that. And then talk about some of the projects and challenges we have coming up in an effort to try to explain uh our rate setting process because we are we'll be going to our board in the coming months requesting a proposition 218 rate increase. Um oh boy. Okay. So this as you can see is just our mission and I think many of you know who we are. with regional wastewater provider and well treater and as well as recycled water for both agricultural irrigation and portable use. Um a mission is important to us to all of our employees and certainly to our board. We focus in five different areas. Water and energy as the tangible things that we do. Certainly the community that we serve, which is certainly in my opinion much broader than just our service area and the impacts that we provide. Being an employer of choice, making sure that we can attract and retain highly qualified employees. But beyond just employees, the vendors we use, contractors, consultants, making sure that we're respectful of them, pay on a timely manner, and are reasonable. An appropriate use of technology. As you can imagine, with the infrastructure involved, about a billion dollars worth of assets at our treatment plant and our pump stations, we rely heavily on instrumentation, programmable logic controllers, and so on. And then finally, being in a position within the industry to fact or at least influence um regulations, policy, and as I'll show later on in the presentation, the

ability to get grant funding for some of these very needed projects for our community. So, what do we do? um wastewater conveyance, Seaside County Sanitation District. When you take a shower, do laundry, all that, that water is conveyed from Seaside C from your house to C through Seaside County Sanitation District to our facilities. We have about six larger pump stations, 30 miles of force mains that convey waste water to our treatment plant, Marina, out by Regen Monteray. So that's little blue circle. That's about 100 acre campus. We can take up to 30 million gallons a day of waste water. We currently take about 17 on average based on the population and the flows. And then from there, we try to reuse things as much as possible. So on the far uh right there since 1998, we've been recycling waste water for agricultural irrigation. Actually the first um in the country to do it on uncooked food crops, lettuce, strawberries, etc. An extensive study was done to show the safety and efficacy of that. So, we're very proud of that partnership with the Monterey County Wild Resources Agency. In 2020, we brought on Pure Water Monteray, which is an indirect portable reuse project treating the wastewater to better than drinking water standards as defined by the state of California. We in October, we expanded that project. So we are currently producing about 60% of the portable water demand for a California American Waters Monterey service area. And then lastly, something we'll touch on in a bit is energy. Moving and treating water takes a lot of electricity. Our power bill is about $9.2 million a year. And I think we all know what our power bills are doing at

home and they're going up substantially over time. So we the board was kind enough to say yeah we need to embark upon a more robust renewable energy portfolio to try to take control of our power expenditures. So we're embarking upon uh we've always done co-generation to generate electricity for the treatment plant. We've just expanded that which I'll get into in a little bit. So plant is 35 years old. We literally did have a birthday last year for the plant. Brought some cake in for the employees, those that operate and maintain this thing 24/7, 365. But the potential downside of that is, as you can imagine, in a marine environment and a wastewater environment, which is highly aggressive, a lot of that infrastructure has been deteriorating over time. Um I think I last time I was here we talked about rates as well and there was 12 years in a row we had no rate increase 14 out of 17 years we didn't have a rate increase so back then we did not invest in the infrastructure probably at the pace we should have so what I'm we'll get into is anticipating over the next 10 years or so um so what have we been doing well uh pump station upgrades those things that get all the waste water to us out of the community. We've been working on the seaside pump station and the modernized pump station. About $35 million worth of projects, three-year project based on the time it takes to procure equipment and get things done. Uh treatment plant maintenance is ongoing. Like I mentioned, it's it's 100 acres of a lot of intensive um facilities. and then replacement and efficiencies. Going back to that instrumentation, making sure we can operate, maintain, see those alarms coming in, keep the community safe, and

work on the energy side of things as well. But moving forward, we have some additional priorities that we haven't quite started yet. One is electrical reliability. Can't do anything without the electrical systems working at 35 years old. They are beyond their useful life. So we're embarking upon um a new grid within which ultimately will be able to isolate from PG& when we have enough renewable energy thereby trying to take more control of our expenditures of electricity. A treatment plant master plan that's a relatively large endeavor mapping out the next 35 years of this treatment plant. So for the next generation what is it going to look like? there's a significant investment ass associated with that. One that's not as appealing but necessary is bioolids management. Um produce bioolids which does produce bio gas that we can use but we need to do something with those bioolids with the changes in uh with assembly bill 1383. We can't just take our bioolids over gym monom fraction can go. So we need to do something different. It's mandated by the state and we have a little time to get it done, but we want to keep that to the point where we can generate a useful product in biochar. So, I get this questions periodically of how are your budgets set up? Like, if I'm a a pure water customer, am I paying for wastewater? Or if I'm a wastewater customer, do I subsidize agricultural irrigation? And the simple answer is no. We've established four, as you see here, enterprise funds. So, we look at expenses and revenues in those four buckets, and we try not to subsidize

different areas. What I'd like to talk about today specifically is the wastewater fund because that's where all of your constituents and us, we pay our bills to. Um, recycled water, non-potable, it's a contract agreement with the water resources agency. So that's that revenue source for the portable side. Pure water mon it's a contractual agreement between uh Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, California American Water and a small amount to Mun Coast Water District. So that pays entirely for those expenses. And on the energy side, we just stood this up knowing that we're expecting a revenue stream in the future that could then be distributed to the other three. So that's its own relatively new enterprise fund. So on the wastewater side, it does the bulk of the work. We have 65,000 customers. Um of those 65,000 customers, there are about um 57,000 uh residential accounts. So I'm mainly speaking to those residential accounts. But how do we develop our rates? A lot of it starts with what are our revenue needs? look at we've hired a consultant um Dan out of Southern California. They do these types of studies throughout the state throughout the country and you look at just like you do as a city your operations and maintenance. What are those costs? I mentioned the electrical already at $9.2 million. There's chemical costs above $8 million. So there are some substantial costs in the treatment and production of recycled water salaries and benefits. And then lastly, that capital improvement project. The reason I'm focusing on that is the needs have increased dramatically for capital investment. And what we're seeing in our budget now over the next 10 years on average is the capital side is going to be about 45% of

our budget. So once you know how much revenue need 65,000 customers, our rate consultant goes into the rate model to develop what all of our rates are going to be. And then a rate schedule comes out. As you well know, we have to do a Proposition 218 notice, which is notifying every single customer of whatever the board's intention is. We will be going to the board in March with uh to get some general direction on where they would like to go. The Prop 218, obviously, let me just slide to the next slide here. The Prop 218 will be by the board April 27th. Once again, we don't know what that's going to be. It certainly depends on the board's discussion, what they feel the needs are, and the appetite. I will tell you, um, preliminary numbers that we're looking at based on the $500 million of capital over the next 5 years is about an 8% increase, at least in this first year. It may change by the time it gets to the board, so I'm sorry to confuse you out, Alexis, if that happens. And what that represents is every single family dwelling right now is about $54 per month. An 8% increase would bump it up to $58.32 per month. In addition to the rates, there's some pay as you go for those capital projects. We're also relying on a lowinterest EPA loan that we receive called WIFFIA loan. WIFFIA is an acronym about water infrastructure for I don't know what the rest of the letters are. So, we're relying on some of that. We're also anticipating doing a bond issuance in late 27, early 28. So, it works in conjunction with one another to get these projects done. Um, the public will receive notices, everyone, and we have 45 days where the public can comment back to us, whether

that be a letter back to us, phone call, email, show up at our board meeting, and ultimately in June board meeting decision on whether to raise weight rates or not, if so, how much, and then hopefully adopt a budget for the next fiscal year. In addition, and it's not on the calendar yet because we're sk still scheduling it. We're going to have two information sessions. One here on the pencil. Last time we had it up in at the library um and in Selena probably at the gathering library to provide an opportunity for public to come in express concerns so we can understand their interests and we can try to convey this sort of information to them. Um so with that last year we accomplished a fair amount. Our staff has been doing I think a phenomenal job. We were able to expand the pure water moni project from 2020 where we were at 5 million gallons a day. Last October we flipped the switch. It's a little more complex than that but it's up to 7.6 million gallons per day. In December, we started up a food waste receiving station so we can co-digest food waste with our bioolids, producing more gas, more energy, more resources. Um, our engineering staff has done a phenomenal job going through these master plans and scrutinizing projects to a significant degree to make sure that we have the right one that's going to last for 35 years. that not only are we concerned with the capital costs, but what are the onm costs over 30 years and let's do a net present value comparison. So we trying to be cognizant of where we spend our money, not just now but throughout the process. Um, one thing I wanted to highlight is our um,

outreach staff and legislative staff have done really good job in procuring grant funding for a number of our projects for the last 10 years or so. Uh, the expansion project, as you see here, that's just a a picture of the the treatment facility, a bunch of reverse osmosis skids, if you will. Um the project was about $63 million. So a substantial investment for us. One of our larger projects. Through a lot of work $42 million in state and federal funds for this project. So outside funds coming to this community to pay for this project. What we did have to pay for is the $21 million. So a third of the total price. And that was through that lowterest EPA loan. So, I think this is a testament to what we can accomplish as we plan ahead and having that the web staff that really does frankly a great job for us. Um, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Uh, thank you so much. Uh, great presentation. Uh, we have any comments? Uh, Council Member Miller. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Paul. In regards to the sewer rates, uh, if a one-bedroom in Seaside, do they pay the same sewer rates as a five bedroomedroom or excuse me, five bathroom property here? Yes. Can I expand on that a little?

So, you're absolutely right. That's the way our rates have been and it's a flat rate structure and we have been looking at different ways to approach it that is consistent with law and office of management and budget. So, you're right. Um, a one bath small house versus a five or six bath, they they pay the same amount as a single family dwelling. So, when we're looking at different ways, um I thought from a past life, we used to do fixture counts, like how many sinks do you have, how many that is not um consistent with Office of Management and Budget and is not legally defensible. Another one that's not is square footage. I thought that would be an easy way to do like if you had a thousand square foot house versus a 10,000 we could change it but once again challenges in court over the time and rate setting makes this not um possible. The one we could do was volumetric. So you look at how much water I'm going to pick on you Mr. Miller. How much water you use from December through February. That's a base level because you're not irrigating outside. And if we do that with everyone, we can set rates based volumetrically. However, our service area, there's about seven water companies, at least three of them private. So, gathering that data and keeping it updated, um was administratively difficult, if not impossible. So, actually last month, our board did vote to keep it at the um that flat rate. However, with the acknowledgement of what you just said, we are going to provide the board some information on a potential low volume um it's not a discount, it's a low volume exception. So, hypothetically, I live in my house by myself. I have the ability

to show you my water usage and if you're under a certain threshold, there could be a discount. It doesn't address the equity issue entirely, but we were trying to think of ways around it within the confines of what we have. Interesting. Yeah. Thank you. And and you you've hit on some some other So, it sounds like this has been kind of discussed and talked about at the policy level, at the board level.

It it absolutely has and certainly it's been a little pet peeve of mine for about five years and trying to figure out ways to get this done. And my other question was I I remember the agency for a while wanted to put it on the property tax and then at the end of the day the vote was not on the property tax. Has that totally died or is there still some discussion about that at the board level?

Thank you for that. Um we did bring it back to the board for discussion. Um I I think it was earlier this year like in the January board meeting and the decision at the time was so as not to further confuse the public with this potential rate increase and at the time we're considering maybe restructuring. There was not an appetite to go to the tax roles or consider the tax roles right now. It was let's get through this process and have the board revisit like do they want to jump into it next year. So it's still be under discussion but not right now.

Okay, I understood. Thank you. My last question is the rate increase, does that go to purifying the water at Pure Monteray or is that simply the wastewater um rec you know pulling out the sledge out of the waste water? Thank you. So the one I was talked about is just for the wastewater services. So we we refer to it as a a primary and secondary treatment plant. It is not going towards pure monary that you saw. It does not go into the agg irrigation. It's just the waist wastewater services. Thank you. Nice to see you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. No one else. U Thank you so much for a wonderful presentation. Thank you very much for the time

information. Thank you. We'll go to next item. Uh Basside school quarterly high school quarterly update. Uh Mr. City Man, we will hear a presentation from the principal at Seaside High School.

All right. Good evening. Just waving on the presentation here. All right. Thank you. Uh so I um good evening. Uh good to see you all again uh for our quarterly uh presentation. I'm actually uh very happy to be joined this evening by Natalie Cruz, a sophomore at Seaside High School, who uh not only is a member of our leadership uh at Seaside High School, but also uh is a sophomore who is taking even advanced 11th grade AP classes and pushing herself and is just another representative of our student leaders. So, I'll let Natalie uh take the lead with most of our updates for this evening. All right. Um well, good evening everyone. Um so today for the presentation, so school spirit, um pretty much around Seaside High School, um we have like a bunch of like events that happen. Um sometimes like clubs plan them, leadership plans them, link crew plans them, all these different like student bodies um come together and they just like they just want high school to have a good time. So some of our events that we would like to highlight there's our holiday night rally. So leadership and collaborated to bringing together um sort of like a regular rally like how you would in high schools but um at night and so our theme was like neon light up black lights um just very like playful like I don't know it's like I would go um and like set up I think it was like a day before and it just looked like something out of like a movie like it was it was amazing. Um, there was free food, free snacks, free drinks. Uh, there was multiple games. Um, and yeah, like I heard some pretty like positive feedback. I heard that the games were fun. I heard that the lights were like almost blinding, but but it was fun. It was fun. Um, next we had our senior nights for winter sports. Uh, me

personally, I went to the senior night for boys soccer. Um, because there was like one of my friends there. I think that the senior nights are always like so bittersweet because you always have like these seniors that are graduate and they're so happy and it's just like when because I know for that game they won their game and it just made me sad seeing like all the families like just I don't know like hugging all of like the teammates and stuff but it was so cute because they had pictures of like their kid. Um they had like candy, they had like lays I don't know it's just it was awesome. Um, next up we had our Black Choy hosted by our Black Student Union. Um, personally when I was going around, I think my favorite thing out of that is that there was um, free popcorn. So, so good. So good cuz it was free. But um, there was also um, I don't remember the name of the person, but um, they I think they're like a small business in like City of Seaside and basically they make like candle wicks. They make like like air fresheners. They make candles. We got to make our own candle and I just thought that was so amazing. Like personally like um there was I think there was like 15 flavors. So amazing. So amazing.

Yeah. But like so amazing. I did um I think it was coffee and strawberry. So good. So good. Okay. And uh then we had our 80s and 90s arcade night. Personally um I just like couldn't attend that. I had to do like some extracurriculars. But what I did hear from um like friends and like just other students, it was like awesome because it was like glow-in-the-dark. You had all these games. I think some favorites were like Pac-Man, um Dance Dance Revolution, Just Dance, and I forget. I think it was like not I don't know. I don't remember. But I heard it was really nice cuz there was mocktails, there was free snacks. Um, personally, like last semester, I went to um the Las Vegas night again. So good. So amazing. Okay. Um, okay. So, for around campus, we had our elective and career fair. Basically during flex, um, all the students got to go out and just like walk around the Greek, um, just like looking at all these different tables for like, uh, classes they might want to pick next year. Or, um, maybe you want to like go into engineering, but you're not sure. Well, there's a table basically for everyone for every type of like career you might want to go into. Um, personally, I visited the I think it was like engineering/archchitecture for heart and nail. That was that was pretty cool. Like they gave me like a free like free stress ball. Amazing. Um, what else? There was the early college and high school mine academy. Um, I think Oh yeah, mystery. So, uh, Seaside High School along with Marina High School will be piling an early college high school opportunity at both campuses. Seaside High School will be hosting the mind academy, which is engineering focus. Uh, there you can see math, innovation, networking, and uh, design. So students who embark on this pathway during their four-year high school career not only will finish with a high school diploma but will also

receive their Cal Getty which allows them to transfer directly to a 4-year university uh with that engineering pathway. So providing students an opportunity to accelerate and further open their horizons after high school at Valley.

Thank you. Okay. Um then next up we had our family resource center launch. Um I went to that. It was like pretty cool because we opened it in like one of these rooms that we usually don't use. Um it's like on like the exit like like the exit of our school. Um basically what we had in there we have um snacks, clothes, um like personal hygiene items, toys, um we had a washer and a dryer and a couple shelves for like more upcoming like stuff or donations. Um, I thought this was like really nice because I actually went today to pick up this like turtleneck because I I didn't have anything to wear. I was like like I want to look nice. Like I like I don't want to look like shabby. So I went um I got the shirt for free and they were like okay yeah you can get the shirt like you know like look good look good for your presentation. I was like okay. Um then we had our parent teacher conferences. There was a total of 166 families including my family. Um we went basically um we just had like these families talk to their teacher. Um maybe certain teachers just wanted to talk to their student and to their parents like hey um your student could be doing this this and this better to get their grade up. And it's not so just like it's not so that you're in trouble. It's just to know what you need to work on. And I thought that was super helpful because I was sitting there like with my mom and my mom was like so are you failing a class cuz you don't know what's happening. And I'm like no I just need to turn in a test. And yeah, my teacher helped with that because she was like, "Oh yeah, Natalie just needs to turn in a test." So yeah, and then I will let Mr. A continue.

Thank you. And so for um just some other uh highlights. So recently at the Hartnell College Foundation's bright spots event, uh Seaside High School was highlighted for having a 97.7% graduation rate. Uh which is amongst the highest in the county, especially highlighting populations that uh for for example, our English learners were even double uh the populations at or sorry the other graduation rates at other high schools throughout the county. Uh, additionally, uh, our Black Student Union and and, uh, other students joined for the MLK March in January, uh, and at the H.B.CU, uh, expo, which thankfully was hosted at the Oldm Center. We had a number of students receive scholarships on the spot, including full ride scholarships. So, we're really excited for a number of our students to have some wonderful opportunities uh, at historically black colleges and universities um, in different parts of the country that might not have considered otherwise. Uh and so we would like to invite you for a number of different events. We are very excited to be partnering with Monterey Bay FC. Our drum line will be performing uh for the home opener this Saturday along with on uh March 14th as well. Uh so looking forward to our drum line helping to bring the energy for that those two matches. Uh we have our spring concert upcoming next week uh which will be held in our gym uh on March 19th. I invite you to come to our coffee with the principal in which uh we will discuss some of the work that has been done with our students and families in receiving feedback about our school vision uh about majors and pathways that lead to postsecary opportunities uh and so wanted to provide an opportunity for the community to come to Seaside High School to learn about that work that we've done support and get your input as well along with our open house on April 16th and also we are co-hosting uh the Moonflower festival which has been historically at uh MLK School of the Arts. We are

hosting a at seaside high school which is an Asian-American Pacific Island uh cultural festival with live music, food, a number of um local businesses will also be there as well. So uh more than anything I know you probably wanted to hear from Natalie. So I would like to say thank you to Natalie for presenting this evening and thank you all. Uh we'll take any questions that you might have about any updates. Thank you. Are there any questions? Wow, wonderful presentation. Just Natalie, you did a great job. Absolutely.

You're right. Thank Thank you for taking the time coming down. We look forward to hearing from you um on a college report, you know, some type of report in the future. So, thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Thank you all.

You just Yeah. Okay. Item number six, CCside, city news broadcast and comments from the city manager. Mr. City Manager, we'll play the news first. Let's dip into this week's edition of Seaside City News, covering more of the events happening this March. The Avery Gallery inside Seaside City Hall proudly presents this year's youth art competition. From March 11th through May 1st, the gallery will showcase the incredible creativity and talent of our community's young artists. Join us for a special reception on March 20th from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Enjoy an evening art viewing, celebrate the artists, and help us recognize participants as prizes and ribbons are awarded. The city of Seaside is proud to announce a new community partnership with Monterey Bay Football Club for the 2026 season, reinforcing a shared commitment to community engagement, youth development, and support for local businesses. Through this collaboration, the city and Monterey Bay will work together to highlight Seaside's vibrant culture and entrepreneurial spirit while continuing to grow the region's passion for professional soccer. Speaking of MBFC, the wait is over. Union fans, join us Saturday, March 7th at Cardelli Stadium as Monterey Bay AFC takes on Oakland Roots SC in the 2026 season home opener. It's time to kick off a brand new season right here on our home turf. Be one of the first 4,000 fans through the gates and score a free exclusive 2026 Monterey AFC scarf. Arrive early to make sure you don't miss out on this

special opening match giveaway. And the excitement doesn't stop at the final whistle. Stick around for a postgame social and autograph session with the team. Meet your favorite players, grab photos, and celebrate the start of the season together. Saturday, March 7th at Cardelli Stadium. Let's pack the house and defend the 831. The Seaside Recreation Department invites you to Movies in the Park on Friday, March 20th at 7 p.m. Bring your blankets, family, and friends for a fun evening under the stars. And don't forget, you can help choose the movie. Cast your vote now at bit./mi. /MmitMITP March2026. Voting closes soon, so don't wait. Thursdays in Seaside means it's time for the Seaside Farmers Market at Lagona Grande Park. The spring market runs from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. with box distribution happening from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. or until the boxes run out. Do you know someone in the community who shines bright? Nominations for the Seaside Stars Awards opened March 1st. This is your chance to recognize outstanding individuals who make a difference in the city of Seaside. Whether it's a dedicated volunteer, an inspiring leader, or a community champion, we want to hear about them. Submitting a nomination is easy. Just visit bit./seaside stars and fill out the form. But don't wait too long. The deadline for entries is March 31st. You're invited to an exciting and impactful community resource, wellness, and career fair at Central Coast High School on Friday, March 13th from 11:30 to 2:30. Coordinated by Valley Health Associates in collaboration with CCHS, this growing annual event has become a powerful example of what happens when community partnerships rally around students and families. We encourage students, families, and community members to attend and take advantage of these valuable resources. We hope to see you out there. Join FOSPA on Saturday, March 7th at Durant Park and on the 14th at Kapper Park and Martin Park for a day of

service and outdoor fun. For more information, including future work days and locations, visit friends of seaside parks.org. The 2026 MPUSD upcycled prom closet is here to make prom night unforgettable with a perfect outfit at no cost. Hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Students are invited to the Ultimire Center on March 7th from 11:00 a.m. to 2 to browse a wide collection of free prom dresses, suits, and accessories. For more information, call 831-6451200. Attention residents, business owners, and local commuters. Here's your chance to learn about the future of Broadway Avenue. The city of Seaside Public Works engineering team is hosting a special openhouse for the Broadway Avenue complete street corridor project. Join us Tuesday, March 24th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Seaside Fire Station located at 1635 Broadway Avenue. This important project will transform Broadway Avenue between Fremont Boulevard and General Gymmore Boulevard beginning in fall 2026. Planned improvements include new roundabouts, dedicated bike lanes, and enhanced roadway features designed to improve safety, accessibility, and traffic flow for everyone. Stop by to learn more about the project details, construction timeline, and how these upgrades will benefit our community. City engineers will be available to answer your questions and gather your feedback. The open house is free and open to the public Tuesday, March 24th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Seaside Fire Station. We appreciate you tuning in to Seaside City News, where we work to include, innovate, and inspire. We'll be back with more exciting events to share with you later this March. Until then, be safe, live fully, and enjoy all our city has to offer. Thank you, Seaside.

Just a couple additional updates this evening from city manager. Um, first, the midyear budget report that was originally scheduled for March 5th has been moved, rescheduled to the March 19th to just ensure additional accuracy and incomplete financial information presented to the council and the public. Additionally, budget workshops for the upcoming FY26 and 27 budget have been scheduled for Tuesday, May 26th and Wednesday, May 27th at 5:00 p.m. And certainly we encouraged the public to be in attendance for those budget workshops. The following the city council discussion of the community social services grant program on January 15th, staff has finalized a community survey designed to gather input uh on the funding priorities, evaluation criteria, and overall program structure. Uh this survey will be distributed this upcoming week uh on social media. You'll see a lot of uh links to that on our city website and through our social media channels. Uh and we will have that open until the end of March to ensure broad community participation. While the survey will be primarily completed online, we will have paper copies also accessible at city hall and the older center to ensure inclusive access, an opportunity to fill out that survey for the community. And then finally, I was scheduled to give a a brief update on 1281 Broadway and the city of Seaside's interactions with Monterey County regarding their plans for that property. I do have a meeting uh coordinating with uh uh county CEO Sonia Del Rosa, so I will postpone that update until the 19th of March. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, next we'll go to item number seven, which is a consent agenda. 7A, approve minutes from February 19th, 2026, regular meeting. Uh, 7B, accept and file the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2025 annual comprehensive financial report, the governance letter, and a gant limit report for the city of Seaside. C. Approve a proclamation recognizing March

as Red Cross month. Uh D, approve a proclamation recognizing Caesar Chavez Day on March 31st, 2026 uh in Seaside. Uh e approve a a fee waiver request from the parenting connection of Monterey County for the use of the seaside room for their family event meet your village on March 29, 2026 in the amount of $18 approve a fee waver request from the Monterey County branch of the NAACP for the use of Seaside Community Center on March 22nd, 2026 and of the Grrena Grande Paul at the Odmire Center on April 19th, 2026 for their cultural diversity film showing and discussion session in the amount of $573. G approve a mayor's youth fund contribution request of $3,000 from Kindness Rocks 831 to assist with the costs associated with their annual spring egg hunt on March 28th, 2026. H approve of mayor's youth fund request contribution of $3,000 from Bethl Missionary Baptist Church to assist with their costs associated with their youth education and enrichment program. I adopt a resolution approving a contract with Granicus, Inc. for Smart Gov Permit Management Software in the amount of $33,679.65 with a term expiring November 30th, 2026. J adopt a resolution accepting a 2025 general plan annual progress report and authorizing submitt of the report to the California Department of Housing and

Community Development and the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. K. adopt a resolution authorizing the 2025 housing element annual progress report and authorizing the submittal of the report to the California Department of Housing and Community Development and the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. L adopt a resolution approving the city of Sees 2026 legislative format. That concludes the reading of the consent agenda. Is there any item that anyone from the council would like to pull off the consent agenda? Hearing none. Is there any item that the public would like to pull off the consent agenda?

Uh hearing no one seeing no one bringing it back to the D. What is We do have one that wants to pull something from you. Okay. Kindness rocks. They want to pull it. No. No pulling. No. I yeah I I believe they they they want to make public comment. Uh bringing it back to the dis. Uh what is the will of the council? Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second.

It's been promptly moved and second on the question. Uh we'll open up for public comment. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Kindness rocks, you now have the floor to make your public comment.

Kindness rocks, you now have the floor to make your public comment.

Thank you. Sorry, I was muted. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Samantha Chion, founder of nonprofit Kindness Rocks 831, and I just want to take a moment to sincerely thank you for your continued support of our annual Sprig Egg Hunt. With the help of the mayor's fund, we are able to bring this event to life for families throughout our community. Each year, this event continues to grow, bringing together children, parents, and neighbors for a day focused on kindness, connection, and community. Coming from a large seaside family, my grandparents having raised 13 children right here in Seaside. I remember being a young girl attending the annual egg hunt at Trinity Park, running through the grass with other kids, laughing and seeing the whole community, including former mayor Lancelair, come together for a day of fun. Those are memories that have stayed with me and they are a big part of the reason why I started this egg hunt to help create those same kinds of memories for families today. Our egg hunt will take place Saturday, March 28th at Laguna Grande Park from 11 to 4. We'll have thousands of eggs, activities for kids, and a visit from the Easter Bunny and a live DJ for family entertainment. Events like this create lasting memories for families and remind us how special our seaside community truly is. On behalf of Kindness Rocks and the many families who attend each year, thank you for believing in this communitydriven event like this one. I would also like to personally invite the mayor, all city council members, and every Seaside family to come out and join us March 28th for a fun afternoon celebrating kindness together. Thank you again for your continued support and for everything you do for our city. I yield my time.

Thank you for your comments. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Hello. Uh, I I came in today because uh I I just like to bring to attention that I I'm still uh dealing with uh it's more so like a noise issue uh with a restaurant called Deja Blue by Broadway. Uh, essentially what I'd like to mention is that uh they're still going with excessive more so not necessarily again um when I previously um when I previously mentioned here um that it's not necessarily the music but the bass bumping sound.

Excuse me sir. Uh that's that's not appropriate now. That's Yeah, it's not appropriate now. That's not on the agenda right now. Oh okay. I'm sorry. Yeah. Sorry about that. Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment.

Uh, thank you so much. Uh, we'll close public comment. I I I'm sure the city manager heard the gist of what your comments were, but that was not on topic. Bringing that back to the D. I did want to say before I call for the vote, I did want to end there was the um the adoption of the um the clean audit report. I want to give a kudos to our uh finance director for receiving uh um what is it? A certificate. Let me let me find I made a note here somewhere. Another certificate of achievement for excellent in financial reporting. Uh she received another one. That means the city is doing darn good in reporting our finances and that's due to you and your team. uh Jessica and of course a clean opinion meaning as far as the auditors are concerned all our money is accounted for to the best of their abilities uh to to find out so uh that's the best we can do so I want to make sure we highlight and appreciate you for that uh on a question all those in favor use reconcile voting which is I

I have the same right abstensions hear none eyes have a motion carried uh we go Item number 8A, review design options for the Lincoln Cunningham Park playground equipment. Mr. City Manager. Yes. Thank you, mayor. This item will be presented by Andreas Bear, our assistant public works director.

Thank you, Honorable Council. Thank you, staff, city manager. Um, my name is Andreas Bear. I'm the assistant public works director. I'll be uh presenting to you the Lincoln Cunningham Park uh playground equipment um for the 2 to 5year-old uh playground. This is this is to uh gain the council's feedback and uh and hopefully uh get a suggestion or get a get a recommendation to the council on on the playground equipment to select and purchase and and install in our two to 5-year-old playground area. Back turn around. So, uh, a little background. The Lincoln Cunningham playground, um, has been a focus of of council for some years. In 2023, we went through a playground master plan, uh, revision, uh, developed basically this playground, uh, uh, design. Um, in 2024, we installed the basketball court. 2025, uh, we executed a contract. 2020 and 2024, we executed a contract to to install the multi-use trail that runs, um, throughout the playground and connects all the various cults around the community community. Um, we modified that contract in early 2025 to include, uh, the concrete, all the concrete work, um, the two to 5 to 12 year old playground area, um, and the underground utilities. Um the 2 to 5y old playground area is is one area remaining to be infilled. Um it's about approximately 4,000 square feet and whatever playground is installed will be installed with engineered uh wood chip servicing to match the adjacent playground areas. The 2 to 5year-old playground um area selection is going to be made through a cooperative cooperative purchasing uh agreement. cooperative purchasing agreements meet all our

public uh bidding requirements and and standards. Um proposals prop all the proposals include assembly. We asked all the biders to provide packages that were between 150 and 170,000 which is basically within our available funding. Um swings are provided in the 5 to 12 year old play area and include swings for for small children, 2 to 5y old children. So we asked them to exclude the swings. You don't see any swings here. Uh we asked all all biders to consider accessibility and advanced learning opportunities with their with their playground uh proposals. And we wanted the playgrounds to uh both fit within the nature of the city of Seaside as well as fit within the natural environment and and match with some of the adjacent structures that are that are in the park. Um, we received five proposals from four different companies. Uh, a proposal from Miracle Play for $140,000. Proposal from Compan. Um, that's based around a nautical theme and a and a boat $148,000. Proposal from Spec Play for $165,000. Propos another proposal from Compan for $169,000. And a proposal from Game Time for $181,000. Uh uh all of these proposals do include tax and shipping and installation. Um things can change. The the market's very volatile at this point. Uh there may, you know, if there's a new tariffs or anything else to go into effect, these prices may fluctuate may fluctuate some. And uh we we put a caveat in there that uh if there's any fluctuation um there is a possibility for staff to to to negotiate directly with the supplier and either remove a single piece of equipment or or you know possibly bring the price down. So there's some there's some flexibility, but these are

basically the prices that we've we've we've gotten in the proposal. So I'm now going to go through the five different proposals. the first one from Miracle Play. Um, and I'll show you the pictures of the Miracle Play while I read some of these details here. The Miracle Play proposal, the Miracle Play proposal is the least expensive proposal. I'll show you first the the layout in the playground. Um, it's the least expensive proposal. They are proposing through Sourcewell. It includes a structure called a silly tree, a tower with a rock climber, a log climber, slides, play a playhouse, a truck type uh installation, a percussion players, which I think are really interesting. Um, and a hideaway hammock and exploration benches. So, that bench in the See if I can point it out. bench over here in the far corner is, you know, for mom and dad to sit at while their kids are playing. But one thing that's really nice and neat about these kinds of play structures or these play structures from Miracle Play are the uh fact that that that every every surface on the playground structure has interactive uh play has interactive play um play devices and interesting interesting things for the children to do. So, so these are the this is the these are the pictures the renderings that were done by the uh proposer and the materials used are basically steel pipes um and and plastic paneling. Um in the bottom right hand corner you'll see the uh the flowers which are actually musical devices. They are more like like xylophones and and things. They're a nice a nice, you know, ADA type of playground equipment and they can be played from the ground that you don't have to climb to play. Um, and again,

one thing that's really nice about this this proposal is the playground is actually fits the space really well. Everything is spaced nicely. We've got our safe fall uh radiuses and all the equipment um safe fall distances, but it's a nice package. We'll go on to the next one. This is Compan. Compan offer two options. Um the first option has a nautical theme. It's their lower it's their more lower price option. Uh it costs $148,000. Uh it's a nautical theme. It does have a tower. Um it offers kids tables for sitting. Uh musical play panel that within the tower. Uh the shell stepper items. Dolphin spinners. So those old those old sorry springers those old uh you know spring mounted springmounted uh play play uh equipment and benches around the perimeter. Um

the uh what I thought was nice about about this and worth pointing out is that the boat, you know, matches the nautical theme of of seaside, which is which is kind of kind of great. Um it does include an ice tower. The tower uses uses natural wood beams which match um which match the 5 to 12 year old play equip play playground. And you know I thought the the natural feel of of the playground equipment was a was a nice um was a nice uh nice thought in their design. Uh the next supplier is Spec Play. Spec Play is the same supplier that that provided the uh the 5 to 12 year old playground and Spec Play kind of offers they offer a more unique I think type of play structures really focusing on a lot of uh you know cool clubhouse type feels uh interesting climbing climbing devices that you don't see in every other uh in in in every in more conventional play playgrounds and uh and and interesting balancing equipment. Um, Spec Play is also using steel, basically steel structures, steel frames. They stuck to the color code of the of the 5 to 12 year old playground equipment with greens and browns. They have a very unique, as you can see here, they have a unique uh not swing, but but balancing I'll show you in the next rendering. Uh, you know, these these balancing open swings, which which might be kind of fun for fun for a kid. Um and again springers and spinning devices, springs and spinning devices and and again really interesting play structures with lots of different climbing and balancing, you know, features.

Compan uh tower 2. This is our second most expensive uh option. Uh option two, it offers a really generous tower, really big tower. They they did a really nice job in this proposal of filling up the space. Um what what they have what they've provided are a lot of both sitting down spinning spinning toys, standing up spinners, a lot of again really interesting uh climbing climbing devices, balancing devices uh made out of natural logs and natural woods uh creating interesting obstacle courses. Um, and then a really a huge tower which has four different platforms and and uh you know I really think kids can enjoy chasing each other around. Um, here are some of the pictures and again really nice full layout. Kind of a kind of a nice project. I'm happy to come back to you afterwards when you have questions to look at any of these uh any of these pictures if you if you like. The last proposal is from Game Time. Um, Game Time, let's go see it. So, Game Time again has a has a very nice layout, a nice large rope structure. They provided log balancing uh uh toys, which are which are fun and and these match perfectly with our 5 to 12 year old playground. So, it's nice they added it. an interesting tower structure and and they fill up the space uh really well. All these devices are all this equipment is is low to the ground and really more targeted towards towards younger kids. Um which is nice. They didn't they didn't really build very large and more complex towers. They didn't propose a larger more complex towers that some of the other ones did.

So, uh, again, your five options here start from Miracle Play at 140 $140,000, Compan option one, the nautical theme at $148,000, Spec Play at $165,000, Compan's option two at $169,000, and Game Times option $181,000. And uh just just to provide some information uh if you if you coun council authorizes a purchase or council makes a recommendation and we make a purchase uh we would we should be able to finish the purchase early August uh early April um order the material uh you know midappril have it here by the end of August and and install it by August September time. I think it'll still take uh 9 to 12 weeks to manufacture and ship. And that is those that's basically the presentation. So I'm here now to listen to your recommendations uh field your questions about these different playgrounds and uh and hope to gain a hope to gain a hope to choose a a single and best uh playground.

Thank you so much. about feedback. No, not at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Just some questions. So, we need to remain under the $170,000 so we can repair the playground equipment at Steuart. Is that correct? That's essentially our budget at this point. Okay. Do the bid proposals include the 10% contingency fund? The bid proposals do not include a 10% contingency.

Okay. And then looking at the numbers, um, copen option two, game time and spec play after you add the 10% contingency are over the 10 or over the 170 170,000 contingency ceiling. Um, I'm sorry, that's over the ceiling, the 170,000 cons. therefore possibly um negatively impacting the repairs to Steuart Park. Is that possible?

That is possible. Um another option would be to negotiate with the suppliers if if council thought that was the best uh best playground proposal to negotiate with them. Uh each one of the pieces of equipment are expensive and the package can be can be broken down. You can usually deduct one or two pieces um install it later. I mean, there's ways we could we could try to work towards it if that was really a goal. Look at one of the other.

So, I just want to be really clear. So, possibly you might have if we don't play our cards right, you may have to remove one or two pieces of the approved recommended based on the the lack of contingency. And then I noticed that I'm probably pronouncing the wrong their name wrong. Copam playground companies designed in Denmark and manufactured in the Czech Rep Czech Republic. Would that impact uh delivery time, replacement cost if things happen uh arrival because of and additional cost with tariffs?

Um you know your guess is as good as mine. We live in a very volatile time. So it's likely that that that tariffs and other things could could substantially impact the equipment made out of the country. Compan is is basically a Danish company uh that manufactures their stuff in Denmark and Czechoslovakia. Specway is based in Southern California. They select equipment from both local suppliers and and international suppliers. Miracle Play, all of these proposals are from local local distributors and designers. Miracle Play though uh is is actually a local distributor for a company based out out in Missouri that manufactures in the United States and Game Time is also a local local distributor for for a game a company that's been around for a long time and manufacturers states and from

so just clarifying on the copian I'm not they wonderful company they do really good stuff but let's say something broke potentially we would have to go to the Czech Republic which potentially would that's correct yeah any shipping any any replacement part could be a lot more expensive,

right? That's that's a concern. Um, and then the last question, and this is just I guess I'm not even sure is Miracle replacing or fixing or whatever the sewer park equipment. And by doing that, if that is true, which I have, I'm not sure, would that help us in negotiating a deal with them and getting a I don't know something. Sometimes you can when people come down there for two purposes, they can they normally they can help you. I mean, I can't I can't say I ask them for for free work or labor, anything like that.

They did give us a competitive price. Okay. Um which which looks really good. And we are we are procuring the uh the replacement equipment in miracle play. Okay. Thank you. For for the other part. Council member Garcia.

Thank you. Along the same sort of vein where Mayor Potm was going. What is the durability of each and every one of these um you know structures? because I I I do see that you mentioned that they're steel frame structures with plastic panels, but the lifespan or durability of each, I would be interested to see if price plays a factor. I believe all these all this equipment is represented as as as very high quality equipment with a with a long lifespan. You know, they don't expect their their colors to fade. They they design advertise their their equipment, sorry, will will last for the length of a playground. Um, and other than that, I I couldn't tell you personally which ones I haven't bought from all the suppliers. I couldn't tell you personally which ones are are higher quality than than others. Um, only that they're all they're all mainstream suppliers and they all, you know, stand by their products.

Okay. Thank you, Council Member Miller. Thank you. And going off to my colleague's question, uh, what are the warranties on all of these products? I don't know the warranty off the top of my head. I haven't reviewed that and I didn't I didn't prepare to answer that question. Thank you. Can we go to slide 13? For me, this was the most interesting. The uh you called it a trampol not a trampoline. What did you call the picture on the right?

Yeah, I mean they're woven swings. They're they're like hula hoops with a with a woven net in the middle. Yeah, it's a it's an interesting it's a different kind of swing. It's something, you know, you could balance on, stand on, you know, almost lay on and roll around on if you got an infant, you know, and swing them backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing backing and forth. It's a different kind of swing you don't see everywhere. I think Spec Play has interesting structures. And is it the one that's out of California? Southern California. I think you they're designer out of Southern California. I believe this equipment is actually uh German equipment.

German equipment. I I move just for what it's worth. This is I think my first choice. Um it's 165. So like council member or mayor poacho said that 10% um we want to include that as a contingency but if we can negotiate with them on that 165 that would be my first choice. Thank you sir. Thank you.

Yeah for for Thank you so much for the council. Uh what we need to be doing is talking to each other. He he he doesn't have no decision making. So I I agree. I like this one too. But it's about this council and then um I I don't know if if I would have hoped the contingency was in it, but I don't know why. Okay. But that throws us out of whack. And but I what I don't want to do for me is not get the best one for the kids because some I don't I don't you I won't I almost said arbitrary budget, right? But because of that, right? And I definitely don't think we should pick one and then somehow during the process something gets taken away and then it's then it's ordered and then it's put in the ground and then we say lo and behold that's the thing I picked that one for and that's the one you guys removed to save some money. I I don't think any one of us would would like that outcome. So, uh, then you talked about the flexibility. Is is the flexibility in there, uh, uh, to allow the city manager to to come back and request more money? Um, because that, you know, you know, you say you have flexibility on everything else to remove equipment. Um,

yes. If council if council has a a selected piece of equipment that we can move on and and the cost is is is concerns us that it can't fit with an available budget, we would come back and and let council know and request the extra funding. Okay. And then and then I um the two the two I had, you know, not trying to spend all the money, but I I like that one because I just, you know, the little um what is it? the little no that on 13th the the little Ford or whatever you call I like all those different aspects that you can see six seven eight kids playing at the same time and then what who keeps sorry

and then the one on the the bottom half on the left that's a an additional slide too right that's an additional structure for I guess little littleer kids correct

okay I'm just trying to make sure okay could you go to the one with Compan number two. I don't know what what uh Yeah. Yeah. Again, you know, it's pretty much the same. Change the color and the height, but that's what I kind of appreciate all the different You can actually see a lot of different kids playing at the same time. And on the other ones, I I didn't see that, but I know that maxes out uh the cost, and I know the council is concerned with the cost. Um, so, um, yeah, that's that's why I'm at, you know, number two. And then, uh, uh, Spec Spec Play is the the two I I pick to to hear what the other council members think should be the one. Any anyone else? Uh, and then, uh, Mor Pro and then, uh, Council Member Garcia. I like um Miracle for two reasons. Uh one, it it stays within the budget and I'm worried about over exceeding the the dollar amount. Um and negatively impacting Steuart if we have to take some money from that account or unless there's other money in in the city. Uh I do like spec play. Uh I'm just concerned about the uh a dollar amount um when it comes back and I don't want to and the last thing I want to do is if we ask for for spec play for and we see ABCD need playground equipment and then you decide well okay we can't do this now we're taking out two pieces of whatever jumping thing or whatever it has there jumping you have to end up taking out a couple bouncing things I I wouldn't want to see that because it doesn't get the results that you

want. So, um let me a little concern. Yeah, but I'm hoping No, no, no. Where where did you get We had to take money away from Stuart from And if you do that intentions, you're 175,000 ballpark then. You said you had negotiated with that. They may or may not may have to take it out of pieces of your words. But I said, where do you get it from? Taking it from the steward park.

Oh, because the part of the overall budget as I understand it was 17. They have $250,000 budgeted, I think, all this. And some of the money was to set aside to do Steuart Park. That's why you have maximum dollars of $170,000. Is that correct?

That's correct. We do. We have a estimated budget of about $175,000. Um we're still closing out a few parts of our of our phase one project. Um but all these I would I would focus on what you think is the best playground.

Yeah. Quick clarification, council. We would have shown all five of these options we believe are feasible as long as there is not a significant jump from from tonight to when we order the supply. This is a different form of uh procurement. This is this is um cooperative purchasing rather than a bid process. So hard bids. So while these aren't firm numbers, we believe they're very close. Uh we believe we can make all of these uh happen if their council's um if council desires. Um there may be a situation where we may need to replace a few items out of Manzanita from another fund if possible and maintenance. Um so we we think we can we can get to any of these five options. Thank you.

Uh council member I'm sorry did you finish? probably go with if my recommendation would go with the miracle and the spec play as a second option if that dollar amounts in without hurting the steward. Uh council member Greser, thank you. Um when you say city manager significant jump um you don't expect any of these projects to have a significant jump or impact. What do you mean by what what does significant mean? like do will you be able to stay within a 10% contingency? We believe so. Yes. Okay.

As long as there's no um impacts in in markets and and the pieces of equipment between now when we order this the equipment. Okay. Considering the timeline I see here, I don't think there might be there. I don't foresee there being an impact. Um and then my second question was for for you director um Bear. Um for for these five projects that you have listed on on slide 20 um would you be able to to to rank which one's more inclusive friendly um the

for constituents? The Miracle Play option has the most uh the most the most inclusive playground uh uh toys facilities. Uh it's the most centered on on people on the ground, people that can't climb. It has it has the most and Okay, it's going back now. The miracle play option here. They advertise they have something like 22 different ground level activities. Um, six different types of activities at the ground level, four accessible by transfer by by transfer step. So, um, they have a lot of low activities. They have again they have these nice musical musical uh devices here and every one of their see if we can get to it. All of their all of their equipment, you know, has a lot of a lot of inter instead of just being a smooth plastic panel, they have a lot of different interactive devices and and facilities, you know, spinning devices within all the panels. And this is really targeted towards uh two to 5 year olds that may, you know, find spinning features attractive and things you pound on and be on with your hands.

And and I appreciate that. I don't I don't mean to sort of barge in here, but just in a nutshell, out of out of the five that you have here, which would be the top two most inclusive play parks that we have in our options, which would be M is it Miracle Comp? Miracle Play and Compound 2. Compound 2. Okay. Compan 2 also has a lot of ground level activities. Um it's just a really full design. Uh you know you can you can see the you can see the ADA person sitting there playing with the musical uh drums, the low spinners, the low climbers, even the low towers and and the accessible slides are are are really really nice.

Okay. Well, I I I'm supportive of uh I would be supportive of of compound option two or spec play, but my first choice would be compound comp option two compound. There you go. Uh option two. Did you say which one you want? Yeah. Half a do.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um my my first choice was the spec play. I think it's the most unique. I would like to see us try to negotiate down to that 10% mark if it's I mean if it's possible. I mean 5,000 difference now or excuse me 4,000 300 difference till 170,000. So negotiating I think 5 to 10,000 that's my first choice and then my second choice is miracle play but I continue to hear that spec play mentioned through my colleague so I I hope that that would be my first choice. Thank you.

Right. I I think I heard spec play for is in everybody's top two one or two. That was everybody heard. Yes. Uh Mr. City Manager. Yeah, that's what we heard as well. Spec play and then followed by Miracle I think with the most votes so far. Well, the votes are over. Yeah. Sorry for Well, no. What I'm saying is I think um M protect play was in yours, right? It was the

Yeah, I know it's number Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's you know it's not that more complicated. Uh I think it was it was in mine. Yeah, cuz I think I matched the council member. So I mean I I think that's it. We we want you guys to negotiate as best you can. Um, and so with that, city manager, what what what do you have? Just did you want to go out to public comment? Yes. No, I don't have anything else to add on that. We we will follow council's direction this evening and and we would then we would have a a contract on the 19th.

I I think um you know, we we have a little funds uh maybe from um what is it? Short-term rentals that comes in, right? But it's all it's all I almost say it's all kind of money out the missing man. But but my point is I trust the city manager to negotiate the best price and if he needs uh uh more money uh resources from the city council then he'll bring it back. Uh I just don't want us to order a playset and then we tell them leave that one piece off and that's the one you really seen a kid play on it. That's why you voted for that playset, right? and we all see different stuff in there. So, I I'll take it out to public comment.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium, members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. Good evening. I just had a couple of questions. Um, where is it sand that these play structures are being put on? Because I noticed some of the pictures there was a child in a wheelchair. So, if it's on sand, wheelchair is not going to be very easily moved around on the structures. Um, as a parent and as a grandparent, if you're talking about two to five year olds, I would say go with something that doesn't have a lot of towers and things that are going to bring them up high on the sky because you know how two and fiveyear-olds are, two to five year olds are, they are a little bit clumsy. they're have no fear and I can see um accidents happen and broken bones. So um I would like to see a structure that more children can play and stay kind of ground level. And also I think we should go with a as Mayor Prom Pacheo said we don't want to go with a Denmark company and what happens if something breaks or um maybe in the shipping did wasn't all together there. Um look at the time that it'll take to get these replacement parts and um with the tariffs and everything

going on your your pricing is still going to go high. So, those are my three concerns. Um, but I think if we're going to do if these structures are in sand, you also need to look at um what's the ADA compliant for these children that um want to use the playground equipment and are in wheelchairs or walkers or crutches um that really can't get along with these. Thank you. a mayor council.

Yeah. Am I not allowed now?

Oh, sorry. My bad. Um, this is great news to see that the the council has worked on this project. And my concern was also uh what is the place surface going to consist of? Um, I think they're all good options and I and I leave it up to the council to make the best choice for us. Thank you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone.

Hi, mayor and council and city manager, city attorney. I'm Donna Penwell, a resident of Seaside and a neighbor of Lincoln Cunningham Park and also um part of the FOSPA Stewart group for Lincoln Cunningham Park. uh I was involved with the selection of the 5 to 12y old playground and I really thank you for that opportunity and I'm really really grateful and very happy that we're now tackling the 2 to 5year-old playground. It's very exciting. So I had a chance to review all five playground pieces of playground equipment and um I can't believe it but you guys picked the same three favorites that I did. So it's really terrific. Um, I just wanted to say the one that you guys didn't talk a lot about was the um compound compound one that was maritime oriented. It was pretty cool with a boat in there and with all of the features had all of the fish and the um it was a pretty clever play piece of playground equipment. And what I looked at when I looked at this piece of equipment, I saw how it related to the 5 to 12 year old playground. that one has a lot of logs and ropes. So, I kind of thought we were covered in that department. And so, I looked at the two to five playground um to be a little more creative and interesting to complement it rather than duplicate it. So, um the compon project number one was the maritime one. That was one of my favorites. And then I have to say the miracle play one I love. The only thing I thought about the Miracle Play one was it kind of is a little plasticky looking to me. I was worried about that big plastic house looking really like a big piece of plastic in the middle of the park. But um you know it's a really really cool playground. I love the colors. I love the variety in the equipment and I thought it really

complemented the 5 to2 playground. And then the spec play one I thought was fabulous. Uh the colors are really good. Um there are big structures with lots of activities on each one and I thought again it really complemented the 5 to 12 year old playground and as a matter of fact I believe it's a sim it's the same company right? Yeah it's the same company as did the 5 to 12 year old uh playground. So all in all I just want to say thank you thank you thank you. The neighbors are really really going to love it. We have a lot of new families moving in and um just from what we see on Saturday mornings in that park, a lot of people are pushing strollers. So, this playground is going to get used. So, thank you again. You now have the floor to make your public comment.

Thank you. um being a mother of a child that's between this age group and exploring all of the parks in Monterey County from Selenas down to Pacific Grove, Carmel. Um the comp the comp man option two really resembles a lot of some of the structures you see at Dennis Amen Park with an incorporation of East Garrison. um their park structure with the field. Um so I really like that option specifically because you do have the option of having um higher structures as children explore their limits and their boundaries. It's important to have those at a younger age so that when they do transition to the larger park um they're able to be uh brave and try new things. So, I like that um transition spec. I liked miracle, but as one speaker mentioned, the plasticky look in a park that has been renovated, but to preserve more of a natural um aesthetic, it can be perceived as a sore eye. So spec would be my second option, but option two or the co- man one is my first option and I think that's the one that we should really consider moving forward. I do share in the consensus of budgetary constraints being a barrier to not get options within that um particular choice. Um and I think that we should think about now overcoming them in instead of waiting until later. Uh negotiation starts at the city staff level. So if it is from

what I recall someone mentioned that it is the company that we utilize for the previous uh 12year-old equipment and if so I think there's wiggle room there to negotiate a a a discount. Not to say not pay for labor being performed, but um as one of the council members mentioned, they are doing multiple jobs. So they are in a way considered a preferred vendor. So perhaps utilizing that as a negotiation tactic. I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you for your comments. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone.

Hi, I'm Jeannie Reese and I'm also a steward of Lincoln Cunningham Park and I got a chance to look at the different designs and um which I just want to take a minute to say how wonderful it is that we're talking about this because two years ago when we talked about the pathways being done, we didn't even think we were going to get to this point. So that is an awesome thing and thank you also to the engineering department for being so thoughtful in the way that you asked for the two to five year old playground to complement the one that's already going in and I just feel like there was a lot of consideration given in both uh circumstances. So that's that's an awesome thing. Getting to the specifics um I love the spec play design because it's so inventive. It's not something that you see um normally and that's what is making the 5 to 12 playground I think going to be very distinctive because it's um it's so different. However, the only thing that I didn't love about it was the use of space. It seemed like there was a lot of things in one part of it and then it was kind of empty in the other. Um, looking at the compound number two, the reason why I didn't care for it was the fact that it was very repetitive with the kinds of things that are in the 5 to2 playground. Um, there's logs there that people can climb, which is an awesome thing. Um, and it seemed a little repetitive. It also had um a rope climbing feature that mirrored what the 5 to2 playground already had. So, I don't think that would be a good choice myself. Um, the compound number one I thought was awesome with the nautical theme as well. And it also reflects what's in the 5 to2 uh playground because um the 5 to2 uh playground has

these great logs that kids are going to be able to climb and the main tower of the structure has logs that would really aesthetically complement the two. So I kind of uh really liked that and I thought if I was a kid I would really love to be in that boat. I don't know if I kind of like I don't know if I'm overstating it, but I thought it was a really fun feature that you don't see and it kind of uh the way that it's oriented looks out at the ocean. So, I thought that that was kind of cool and something different. Um, as far as the miracle play, I have to say I loved some of the fun things, but I I have to admit that the plastic quality I think would start to age even though they say it doesn't age. I I I I've seen the plastic things around the city kind of look a little faded and a little old pretty fast. So, those were my thoughts about the choices. Thank you. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. May I know the members of the public have come forward to make public comment.

Public comments closed. Bring it back to the dis. U any more comments, questions? Go ahead, Mayor. Just very quickly after listening to the uh the council and the community, I'd like to flip-flop my uh um the spec as one and then the miracle as two and then I I think the answer they're going to anyway I'll leave it at that. Thank you. There's nothing wrong with flip-flop. Best of Yeah, the best of us do that. Ain't nothing wrong with that. I just can let me go back to the slides. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Slide 13. Dominique, please.

And I I understood the concern about not all kind of all focused on one section, but the upper picture doesn't necessarily in uh encompass the um swing the swing part. So, I wonder how far apart that uh swing part would be to the larger structure. And also I heard a concern about what the ground would be. Is this on sand or on that rubber? Um all of these parks are proposed to be on engineered woodfill. It's got a fall rating to it on large engineer non large engineered wood chips potentially what it is. Yeah, that's awesome. Wood chips.

Yes sir. And so how spread apart would that back to slide 13. How how spread apart would these be from one another? If you go to If you go to 12, 12 is the layout right here. So, the two towers are the two towers are in the north edge of the of the of the park, the basketball courts over here, and the 5 to 12 year olds under the word speck uh play. So, we have a the clubhouse tower, the tower with the slides, the swing um and then the spinners, you know, in this field.

Thank Thank you, Mr. for for and my second my last question was since they were the construction company for the five for the other playground do you think that we might be able to negotiate with them further because we've already done business with them recently is that even in the realm of possibilities or does it matter anything's possible at this point but but we'll certainly take a look at trying to be as efficient as we can with with what comes back in the proposal yeah I just wonder I mean we've already done business with them. Maybe they might be willing to negotiate further. Thank you. That was the only question.

Uh yeah, that's what the comments I was going to make is all of them are wood chips and both uh what is the name? Uh com man or comp pan. Uh both of them have uh wheelchairs on them and they have them in the middle of the wood chips. Uh so I so um you know but that is a concern that you know and and so we have to try to figure that out and make sure we can have other places uh that that go and I think we're doing a good job can do more at Laguna Grande for those issues. But I just want to point out they they threw a per they placed a wheelchair out there and and was hoping nobody realized how they got no wood chips. But it it may be a struggle, but you know, you know, uh I say this to say it may be a struggle, but parents or whoever or your friends may push you out there so you can play with them, right? Like we used to do our kids, you know, or your friends, put them on your bicycle and and and you know, take them with you. So, uh I like the um what is it the uh spec play and I think we should just just go for it and just uh you know complete our commitment to uh this place structure in this area in this park uh and and move forward. And so there was a motion I believe.

I'll make a motion to uh move forward with the spec play as the number one recommendation. Second has been properly moved and second. Autos on. Any questions? Autos in favor use the record sign and vote which is I.

I. Uh any ns have the same right? Abstensions. Uh we're voting on spec player. Everybody that votes I say I uh nos have same right abstensions hearing none. Motion carried. 8 B report on commercial property vacancy taxes in California. Mr. City Man.

Uh yes. Thank you, Mayor. Tonight we're going to talk about we're going to provide a report on commercial property vacancy taxes in California. Um the report was prepared for council following a request on February 19th. Staff reviewed jurisdictions that have implemented commercial vacancy taxes and uh looked at the components of those. We saw how the taxes were structured. Tonight we're going to look at the legal considerations under California law and some of the administrative exper experiences. And finally, the report summarizes any observed policy outcomes when they were made available. Uh before discussing vacancy taxes specifically, it's important to recognize that commercial vacancy is typically influenced by multiple market factors. These can include economic cycles, retail industry shifts, tenant improvement costs, construction timelines, and financing conditions. Uh locally, the vacancy report presented to the city council earlier this year uh identified approximately 16 commercial vacancies in Seaside. These were spaces that were that were currently vacant uh without a tenant. Uh, understanding these broad drivers will help frame this policy discussion. Commercial vacancy taxes are designed to discourage prolonged vacancy of commercial spaces. They generally apply when the properties remain vacant beyond a defined period of time. And the intent is to encourage activation of storefronts and commercial corridors by creating that financial incentive uh for property owners to lease the space uh expeditiously. Uh supporters of supporters of vacancy taxes generally argue that they can help activate storefronts, discourage speculative holding and create opportunities for small businesses. Uh some policies uh also dedicate revenue towards economic development programs. Opponents of vacancy taxes often note that they are frequently driven by that vacancies are frequently driven uh by market conditions rather than property owner choice. They also site administrative burdens, legal considerations and potential for unintended redevelopment impacts. Uh we look at some uh jurisdictions in

California with commercial commercial vacancy taxes. San Francisco provides the primary example. There is only two currently in the state of California with commercial vacancy tax. Cal uh San Francisco and Oakland. Uh so San Francisco provides the primary example uh as adopted by voters in 2020. The tax applies primarily to ground floor commercial uh space in certain districts of their community. Vacancy per their uh policy is defined by 182 days within a year. The tax escalates annually and revenue is directed towards a small business assistance fund. You know, implementation relies on self-reporting and has a required dedicated administrative staffing for their program. Moving into Oakland, uh they adopted a broader vacancy vacant property tax in 2018 that also included some residential components. The tax applies to various uh types of vacant properties including those certain commercial parcels uh revenues restricted to homeless uh services, homelessness services. Implementation experienced uh in the implementation they experienced administrative delays uh and litigation uh requiring substantial vacancy tracking. There are several other jurisdictions in California that have explored vacancy taxes but ultimately did not adopt them. For example, Mountain View and Sacramento studied the concept but instead pursued other economic vitality strategies. Los Angeles has explored the issue as well but has not adopted one at this time. And then Berkeley adopted an empty homes tax for residential properties but decided not to pursue their commercial. Vacancy taxes exist. They typically include several common structural components. The first one is a vacancy threshold or which is the duration of the vacancy. Uh those the vacancy tax is often calculated in in various methods from frontagebased per square foot linear flat parcel or an escalating uh tax or a flat tax per parcel. Uh defined exemptions are often included in vacancy taxes which would be um construction

related delays. Uh marketing hardship or force majur issues outside of the owner's control often create uh exemptions for uh vacancy taxes that are approved and enforcement mechanisms uh include annual declar declarations, audits, penalties and appeal process uh by those agencies creating a vacancy tax. As far as legal is concerned, uh the revenue purpose uh can either be uh put into the general fund which simply requires a majority voter approval and then or a restricted purpose. If the revenue is allocated towards a spec specific purpose, it requires a twothirds vote approval. Um they do have to be in compliance with proposition 13 and 218 uh which include some equal protections and uniformity principles. We have to treat all commercial vacancies the same through this process. uh and they also have due process requirements u for appeals and certain uh actions through the process and then of course there are some legal considerations for potential uh regulatory takings claims uh for these some administrative considerations uh essentially implementation requires a dedicated compliance tracking system data verification and audit procedures legal review and appeals processing like I mentioned earlier and then of course the technology technology and the reporting infrastructure uh for the program to operate efficiently Uh some observed benefits uh signaling priority uh property activation revenue for small business programs, incentives uh effect in limited circumstances, some limitations to vacancy taxes in California include marketing conditions that largely drive the vacancy rates, uh revenues that may be modest relative to the administrative cost of running the program, uh possible redevelopment timing impacts, for instance, when when a property owner is waiting on uh a redevelopment entitlement or something along the process. there would likely have to be an exemption for that and then just simply compliance variability from community to community. So the summary with a quick review there was the commercial property vacancies remain uncommon in California. Uh San Francisco

provides a primary example is commercial storefront uh tax currently in operation while Oakland's is a broader commercial property uh tax effectiveness really depends on market conditions enforcement capacity and the policy designed by the governing body who implements it. At this time be happy to answer any questions. Uh, thank you. Any questions? Uh, Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On slide the with the four cities that tried at Mountain View, I think was one of them. Was that slide um seven? Thank you. On slide seven, when we were going through that slide, you said, okay, you the first one opted for uh economic vitality strategies instead. Are you able to uh explain what strategies were maybe possibly used? You know, not specifically for Mountain View, but uh I can look into that. I most strategies that that uh combined are incentives rather than the the impact of the tax.

Understand? Is there another way besides putting a vacancy tax? Is there another way to achieve the goal of reducing our commercial vacancies besides this? Yes, commercial vacancy tax is is a tool in economic development and there are many tools to to fill commercial vacancies. Is there a tool in specific to seaside that you might recommend? Several. And and before I recommend those though, I I do want to work through our C jobs process uh where I I plan to outline quite a few of those incentives for C jobs consideration and reflection to bring to the city council.

Is there one that you're willing to share with us tonight or do you stick to your answer that you want to go to the sea jobs and come back? Yeah, I'd rather come back at this time and stick to what's in front of us, which is the commercial vacancy tax. Um, are you familiar with um to the city manager, are you familiar with like business districts? Yes, I am. And in a business district, do they assess fees? Typically, some business districts do. Yes. And is it possible that they assist they assess fees whether the property is vacant or not vacant? Yes. Correct. And when you were going through your presentation, you said that um I I you said two, but I think I didn't hear the word cities, but there are two other cities in California that have a vacancy tax that have voted on and it passed.

Correct. San Francisco and Oakland. And are either of those just the vacancy part or the commercial part being challenged? Uh I think both were originally challenged. I think only remaining in litigation currently is Oakland's um portion that's not commercial vacancy and but I defer to the city attorney if she has more information on that. Thank you, Mr. Sure. Mayor. Um yes, actually San Francisco's residential vacancy taxes being litigated as well right now. But in terms of to the attorney um to in terms of the commercial aspect is the Oakland being in the courts. I don't think that it is actually.

So the only So no commercial is being litigated just the residential portion. Correct. Those are all my questions. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Mayor Pro Tim.

Thank you. So I think you stated that um San Francisco and Oakland are the only cities that have business vacancy tax over that are and there's approximately 400 California cities. Do those cities have water availability issues in their districts? Those communities have experienced over the last 5 to 10 years uh restrictions for drought related conditions but uh to my knowledge they have not had a cease and dis desist order like the Monterey Peninsula.

Okay. And then just to clarify uh Councilman Miller's question and your um regarding the legal aspects that there have been no legal actions related to cities in the past or just not now there

oops there have been litigation however I believe there's no current active litigation or appeals for the commercial vacancy components both in San Francisco and Oakland. So if I'm sure we would write if we were to do this I won't say that. Uh I will say I'm trying to stay out of the city of seaside. I'm trying to stay with the agenda item that's appropriate. Um well there generally speaking there's always legal opportunities if people wanted to take that based on past history I guess is the best way to say it and the safest way to say it. That's a two. Okay, great. Is it possible that is it possible or likely that [ __ ] fact? God, I can't talk tonight. Vacancy opportunity tax can discourage investment in businesses due to economic downturn, struggling areas, limited walkability, and in our case, limited water resources. It's possible. And then in empty businesses in San Francisco, uh, are some of the storefront exempt because of the property owner's efforts, business district significant improvements or like say the three or four years they're working on, I don't know, a street. So therefore, they can't people won't go there or damage to buildings or natural disasters or down uh downturns in the national economy, uh things of that nature.

Both programs have ex a certain uh exemptions uh that that remove them from the commercial vacancy tax. And I'm not sure is there a ballpark generic and then probably not, but how much a business might face? I know that's hard to say because your business has a square foot issue, but if did you find any consistency in a number that a um somebody might be taxed for not being vacant?

Uh no consistency. Each jurisdiction can can select uh how they implement the tax whether it's flat parcel fee, linear fee or square foot fee. Okay. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Council member Garcia.

Thank you, city manager. Now that you mentioned the different types of fees that different cities have implemented for property, commercial vacancy taxes, commercial, what has been the benefit or how how has it it been imposed in different cities? What is the return that they're getting? Is there data available yet? There is that available. I don't have that in front of me and I apologize for that. But the the um both jurisdictions did not claim a substantial revenue generation from the program by the time they implemented the administrative costs along with the program

and then those admin I mean you can also see that there might be additional administrative costs because those cities are more are larger. Correct. So there's more retail space. Therefore you need more staff. Correct. They also have more vacancies to to provide that revenue. So I think it is relative both ways for for both the number of commercial vacancies and the the administrative burden and uplift. Yeah. And the exceptions that you mentioned for that were in the vacancy taxes for businesses what were they and natural disaster and

and natural disasters usually construction redevelopment and title of process process. So once they start applying for for a project with a with a jurisdiction, there's a lengthy duration sometimes and depending on the jurisdiction and uh that would be an exemption, there's 501c3 exemptions. There's several others that can come into play, but that's all something that the local jurisdiction designs uh with the vacancy tax program. Yeah. And for those two cities that currently do have a commercial vacancy tax, what is the time frame in which you start getting taxed? four months, six months.

Yeah, San Francisco is 182 days and uh Oakland is a much shorter duration and the city attorney's nodding. I believe she has that in front of her, so I'm going to ask her if she can jump in with that one. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Yeah, it's 50 50 days. 50 days. Thank you. Okay. And how long has And the 50-day one is that per is that a flat tax, flat parcel tax, or is it square footage? It's a flat parcel tax. Okay. And then 180 days to that flat. It's a linear foot fee in San Francisco.

Gotcha. Okay. And how is the how has the San Francisco one worked? because I I I have seen more commercial space come into San Francisco that the data behind that right now is is pretty objective. It is only tax that's been in place uh less than 5 years uh administratively. So um you know I can't I couldn't find any um the public reporting suggests there's some enforcement comp complexity issues with that. That's what stood out to me. Okay. But they have seen a a small increase in in decrease in commercial vacancies. Okay. Thank you.

Anyone else? Uh you know I thought it was a great uh uh great initial question. Um and then of course uh great background or uh relative information. I thought it was uh what you said city manager about about it's uncommon in California. It's only two cities out of I'm just trying to remember what the total is. I think the total is four 480 what 483 cities and two of them and I think uh LA is the largest and I think I'm coming right now I think it's um Oakland is number seven or something like that. So th those are pretty large communities. And then you said something about um the amount of employees that that that that it may take, but still even if you the cost benefit, right? And so you said it went both ways and and it may cost more if you had more um vacancies, but it's still a cost if you implement the program and only have one vacancy.

Correct. there would be a a continual administrative cost for the city to to run a program such as this even if you only have one. Correct. Okay. Um I will uh go out to public comment if there's no more uh comments. Public comment is open.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. First of all, we're not San Francisco. We're not Oakland. We're not Los Angeles or even Mountain View. I think it's kind of unfair. Some of these businesses would love to rent out their buildings and stuff if we had the water because a lot of people want to bring business into the city of Seaside, but they're stopped at for certain things because they need water and we have no water or we don't have that much water to give out. So, it seems like you're going to penalize a business owner or a property owner because they can't rent out or they can't sell their property for business. On top of that, I think we need to look at more other ways to get more businesses into seaside. Um, I just heard a couple of days ago that the Islands Burger Place at Delmmani Center is closing as of Sunday. Another business is going to leave. And they said that they were looking for an area on the peninsula to open up another restaurant. Once again, they're looking at another city and not Seaside. And that's probably due to the fact that

we don't have the area or the type of business or um the parcel that they need to open up this restaurant. So, we need to look at where we can bring businesses back into Seaside. But on top of that too, we always hear that our staff are overworked and we don't have enough staff. And here's a prime example that we don't have the staff that we can dedicate a whole department to manage this tax. And the other thing that's really concerning to me is that if you guys decide to go with this tax, it has to come onto the ballot and be voted on, if I understand that correctly. We also need to look at the cost of that of putting this on the ballot. So I believe we only have seven vacancies right now in the city of Seaside. And even if all those seven vacancies, I don't think all seven would even cover the cost just to put it on the ballot. So that's another thing we need to look at. We're throwing money away to get something. And if it gets defeated, that money is still gone. We won't get it. Thank you.

That is loud. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from a phone. The caller ending in 2287. You now have the floor to make your public comment. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Okay. This is Peter Kaiser, longtime resident. I think we have to be very careful with a u possible commercial vacancy tax that we're not going to be discouraging uh like other speakers have mentioned discouraging businesses from either staying here or waiting for that new option to fill the vacancy or businesses that may want to come in here. And uh I think the rental uh registry in Monterey, they they needed two workers to work that. And I think the administrative costs were $400,000 a year for that rental registry. So we have to be careful if this system is going to cost more to run it than to keep it going. If it costs one person or half a half a year salary, this might not be a physical advantage to the city and we should use some other way to try to u figure that out. And also I tried to raise my hand during the public comments time and I would like to make this other addition please. Uh it has to do with a prayer. Lord

no we're not we're not going to let you Mr. Mr. Mr. Kaiser

I raised my hand twice sir. No, no, no. Hold on. Just just just uh you muted him. I understand that, Mr. Kaiser, but this is not the time uh to make your public comment. We're talking about on this issue, and we will do better in the future to make sure we don't miss anybody's hand. But what we can do is say someone didn't get a chance of public comment, so they get to say their comments now. And I also stopped uh a young gentleman earlier for the same reason. So, I'm going to be consistent. So, I'm going to let you finish your time. Um, but u we will uh again in the future make sure we don't miss anybody's hands on Zoom and I don't want to put anybody in a position by asking the city clerk that they miss you. Right? So, we're going to assume that to be true, but this is not the time to make any uh public comments. Thank you so much. So, please continue on this uh topic. So, may I make that prayer, sir?

Uh, no, sir. No, not at this time. I I apologize that I didn't get in on my two attempts to get raise my hand during public comment time, and I request to do it sometime during the meeting, please. Well, not at this time, Mr. Kaiser. We we we're we we won't be taking any more prayers tonight during public comment on items on the agenda. Uh so if you don't if you call on me later, please uh I'm going be clear. I know you don't appreciate this, but I won't call on you later for a prayer. That would be

then I'll finish my comments on vacancy. So this vacancy idea, it's it may discourage businesses from staying here or coming here. It may cost more than it's worth like in some cities. And as I understand it in San Francisco, it might have been either for residential or um commercial. The uh they lost in in a court case on four points that they were trying to get through. So I don't think this is a good idea and I hope the city council does not go forward on this. And we do want to promote prayer in this city, especially during a time of war. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from the phone.

Mayor, no other members of the public have come forward to make public comment. Thank you so much. Public comment is uh closed. Bringing it back to the dis. Are there any further questions or or comments? Uh, Council Member Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I just wanted to um commend my my colleague on an issue that impacts us all. I mean, the vacancies are big issue for us in our downtown area that we want to have a nice vibrant downtown area and vacancies, I do not believe, contribute to that. So, I commend him on his mission to have a vacancy tax, but I I'm going to stick with I believe the downtown area needs a business district. And all successful downtowns in cities throughout America have districts and the district speaks for the district and they assess fees accordingly. and the district is able to come to council and explain their needs or their wants and then we work with them. And the city of Monterey has three districts for example, Warf district, the downtown district, the new the new Monterey district. So the downtown area to stop vacancies needs a district, needs a business district, and the business district can assess fees accordingly. So on this agenda, the next the next item is council member requests. And so tonight I will be requesting

Well, just hold on that. Just hold on that. Let's stay with the vacancy. Yeah. Okay. And so we'll definitely come back and ask you, do you have any council members request? Uh and thank you.

Um I'm going to stay try to stay within the scope of the agenda item. Um so I'll try to make it as a as a question I guess. the do other cities in California use AI or use consultants to create ways uh to fill the vacancies or to improve opportunities or incentives to maximize filled buildings. There are a variety of programs that other California cities use to to fill vacancies, including incentives and other policy decisions that you you I assume that you see that as a potential tool with the things that this city may consider, I hate to do that, or other cities are considering for the same reason to bring more business to the city. You may have a plan. I guess they bring it the seaside, but you may have a plan. You have a plan because you're hiring $50,000 consultant uh as well as AI. I mean, but to be to be real clear because Mr. Miller opened the door and I tried not to do it, but I felt obligated.

In the past year, we have made significant investments in tools and software geared towards improving economic development specifically on Broadway. Uh, I do have um um concepts uh for additional incentives and programs to help not only downtown but other commercial areas in our community and I I think appropriately uh my intention is to take those through seed jobs, start that community conversation at that level and get to bring those back to the city council at the right time. Thank you. No, sorry. Anyone else? Yes. Go ahead.

I just want to say thank you, city manager, for for an extensive report. I think this was super helpful not only to me but to the constituency and to the the dis as a whole. I think um you know part of our job as council members is to come up with solutions and also part of it of this job is to hear concerns from out throughout the community and these are concerns that I was continuously hearing when doing the business tours. So, the vacancy tax was a proposal that was supported by some of the businesses in downtown Broadway as well. Um, which is my idea which I which I brought forward because we all have to do our part in making sure that we're um helping with the economic growth of our city and and I'm sure each and every one of us on this d has a different idea how to do that. some we have partnered on uh just like Mayor um Mayor Prom Dave Pacheco and I have done in the past when it comes to creating programs that support our small businesses in no way is are any of these ideas I think anti- business if anything it's an innovative way and we're quite frankly doing our job and coming up with solutions that many of many of the people in the community might have not even thought of so um I think it's important for us as the council as a dis to have these discussions to continue having the economic growth of seaside at the forefront and I and I and I will say one of the things I didn't want to do was increase taxes to the residents or the community members so a vacancy commercial property t commercial tax was an option for the constituency um hence why I came forward with this idea and there there was a discussion of uh you know I'm not sure how much this is going to cost on a ballot just in 24 we had fireworks on the ballot as well. So, you know, this is a great opportunity and and I honestly I think it's an a perfect opportunity to have something on the

ballot, especially when it comes to uh an election year. So, that's just my two cents here that I'm giving and and I want to thank my colleagues for having a a a productive insightful discussion. I think each and every one of you brought something definitely insightful to the conversation but also we we kept it respectful. So thank you.

Uh thank you. Well said. Um you know for me I agree everything you just said. you know, ideals should should come forward. But what I'm what I'm not supportive of in a sense is, you know, all of a sudden we have just competing ideals just to have competing ideals. You know, my thought is we went out and we found a city manager. We have a city manager. He's on top of things. One of the issues we have is vacancy of our commercial properties. Uh someone uh uh said earlier from the public in reference to uh water It's not that, you know, water is an issue. We do have limited water, but what is going on now is if you have a parcel and you don't have a meter, you cannot get a meter set. So, you can't get water. That's one thing. If you have a parcel that's already having water, Calam cannot give you more water. So, that's the reality. That's the challenge. So I just say that because sometimes we say we don't have water and and that's short for Calam ain't going to give you no more water. So some of these parcels depending on the size, depending on where it's at, uh depending on who wants to go in there, you know, for example, Island Burger, first you have to find a building that's big enough. Then when you go in that building and you say, "Well, you have water for two workers that came with it in 1972, but now you need water for, you know, 15 workers and and 125 people." City manager say, "Come on down." But then when you go to water district and say we ain't got no water for you. And so it's not as just simple as just seeing a vacant building and say, "Hey, the city of Seaside is not doing nothing for it." And I and I laid a foundation to say the city manager has a certificate and been holding a certificate in economic development for

years, probably going on two decades. So there's no one better able to work through this problem than him. And it's it's not five council members. It's not four council members and one mayor. It's him. And so I'm supportive of that. He has a good handle tools and programs that he's going to bring forward with incentives to reduce commercial vacancies. And I support him going forward. And when he brings that back, uh he's either going to tell us he needs more tools. He needs us to do something. he needs us to put something on the ballot or he needs us to come up with some back another idea, but I'm not going to get in front of uh the city manager and his uh wisdom that he brings uh because that's what his job is. So, the pressure is on him. Uh it's not on me to try to figure out what what program, what what issue, what overlay. Uh but I do appreciate C I appreciate the council members uh thoughts and concerns about bringing the conversation forward. And so with that, we'll just move the agenda to um uh item number nine, which is council members request. Uh item 9 a new council members request. Uh council member may

Yes, Mr. Mayor. I uh request kindly to a discussion regarding a business district for our downtown area. Thank you. Anyone else? Uh council member Gresio, are you asking to receive a report on what that would look like or what is the the ask? to to create. Well, well, now he's he's asking for at the next meeting to have 90 minutes to explain to you, but yeah, 90 seconds to explain to you what he thinks he wants to ask us. I can talk for 90 minutes if you'd like.

No, we we can do it you do it then, too. I don't I'll give you 90 minutes, but that's what it is is, you know, there's no really no question right now. Okay. Or he has nothing to get on the agenda. No, he he wants at the next meeting I'll give him 90 seconds to to explain why. I thought you said 90 minutes. I go, "Oh my god." And I And remember we we could do flip-flops, right? I'm doing a flip-flop, right? Uh yeah, we all know how it works, right? So that you know, he'll he'll be he'll see if he can convince three people to put on the agenda. Then I get something to the agenda then just in this a new council member's request. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, and it doesn't have to come back next meeting. Making this really clear. Thank you for that. Uh, whenever the time is right, within the next month within time period of 90 days to come up with a plan for incentives for action. So, whenever you No, no, no, no, no. What do you What do you want?

I'm trying to get in a timely fashion. Well, what I'm saying is just just you you want to I'm trying to shorten it up because it's going to be on the two weeks agenda because you have to do the same thing is take 90 seconds. Okay. To So what do you want to say right now to to talk about incentives for a plan? Overall plan for the business districts. Right. Okay. But there's no time in this. No, no, no, no. That's going to be on the agenda next week. Okay. Two weeks from now. And then you'll have 90 seconds. If you find three people that support that, you can say, "I don't want to talk about it for a while." If that's okay with you. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just He needs to know how to put it on the agenda, right? But what I don't want to do is don't put it on the agenda for a couple weeks and then someone say, "Hey, what I wanted to do didn't go on there." So, but but no, you can always put it off. Yeah. You don't have to come in with Yeah. presentations next week or something. That's all I was trying to say. Okay. We We got We got But you made a good Anyone else? Okay. Any followups, city manager? Not at this time. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm I'm curious on my follow up on my water question on the water well studying. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um Council Member Miller, we plan on bringing that back to you in April. Uh we're trying for the first meeting in April.

Thank you, sir. Okay. Uh good good question. Uh okay. Item number 10, city attorney, city manager, city council, and mayor's comments and reports on committee assignments. Uh, madam city attorney. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have nothing to report for this time. Uh, Mr. City Manager,

on February 20th, I attended the U Monterey Bay Area Managers City Managers Group. We met Marina. It's always a good time to connect with other city managers in the region. Um on the 28th I uh helped with FOSPA cleanup at Highland Otis. Uh on the 2nd of March we met with uh MPUSD for a collaborative meeting uh between our partners at MPSUSD. Also attended the uh Mayor Pro Tim's town hall meeting at the embassy suites. Um, yesterday I had a meeting with the California uh the California Main Street uh program which which is about developing uh uh associations and and and uh uh cooperation amongst business districts in your community. Uh and then uh also attended the homeless commission last night as well. Thank you.

Uh thank you uh Council Member Miller. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I went to the Snip and Seaside. Those are going strong. Full schedule of cats and dogs getting snipped. And I also went to the mayor prom's event at the embassy suites. Thank him for that. And also I went to the Monterey Peninsula College of the Monterey Peninsula College Marina campus expansion with my colleague. And that was all I had to report. Thank you. Uh thank you Councilman Gracio.

Thank you. I I also do want to give a shout out to Snip Bus. Um I I got my my little six-month pup snipped. Uh and and just being there and seeing many of our seaside residents taking advantage of this program really is a is a testament to the good work that they're doing out there. Not only were they um fixing our animals from Seaside, but they were also providing free donations whether it was beds, uh toys to to to the residents of CES. It was great seeing that and and many people taking advantage. There was the morning clinic for seaside residents and then there was the afternoon session which was open to all. But just want to give a huge shout out to everyone that that works those events and and manages to to schedule those appointments for the community. So I I just want to thank them. On the 26th, I also attended the Monterey Peninsula College U vision for their expansion of their college um where where they talked about expanding opportunities for uh dental and and and hygiene for for more programs for studying for our for our youth, which was really awesome to see that vision. And I was there alongside um MPC board trustee Rosling Green uh who who was there, Yuri Anderson, and uh many of our community members were out there as well. On the 27th, I was invited by the Monterey Peace and Justice Center to go and uh speak at their whistlemania event uh where they were hosting these uh whistle kits for our undocumented community members in the city of Seaside. And it was I want to say they they they assembled at the very least a thousand whistle kits. It was a group of 20 30 individuals that were from all walks of life um making these whistle kits. So I I did get to participate. Got to hear some of the stories from the constituency. Uh and then they also

brought some whistle kits to city hall for constituents to take advantage of and and and take them home should they want to. Um and that is all I have on my agenda. Thank you, Mayor Promp.

Thank you. Uh, I hosted a town hall meeting. I want to thank the residents that participated and were engaged in the future of Seaside. Want to thank and appreciate Chief Borges and our city manager for having great presentations and I've heard nothing but positive comments. I attended the Fosa Park cleanup at Beta Park. FASA continues to be positive force in enhancing parks to improve the quality of life for our residents. I attended the NAACP uh prayer breakfast with the mayor. Powerful I mean words were spoken by the feature speaker. Wanted to thank Leic Gains. I think she's there and the as a chairperson of the event and the NAACP. I attended the uh Seaside Recreation Department and PAL's youth basketball program at Seaside High. Program continues to go well. As we heard tonight, it's coming to inclusion this Saturday. U but the kids are learning good skills. Teamwork is important and parent participation is pretty well attended. Um also once the farmers market and it's slow and steady by about now, but hopefully as the spring approaches, it'll pick up and we encourage people to show up, participate and buy buy some fruit or some vegetable or some good food. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Uh along that thread, uh uh what is it? Uh farmers market, uh CalFresh and all that. Hopefully, we're we're keeping up with how to continue to push that program out uh for those families that need it. Uh like the mayor pro Tim said is, you know, I go by the U farmers market. You can see it's very crowded, a lot of people there and and then you notice sometimes people walking away with their box of food and stuff. So, but how do we continue to impress upon the the members of our community that's not going down there that it's

worth going down there? Uh, so I want to thank uh the mayor prom for that. And also the uh someone mentioned the snip bus. I mean, you know that that puppy's a little young to be getting sniped, but I won't go into that. But the snip program is a great program. It's saving the residents tax dollars every day. Every day. And it's doing something for the families of those animals. And of course it's uh helping the animals. Attended the uh cow city board of directors meeting as a board member up in Berkeley a few weeks ago. Uh again focus on local control and and really trying to dial in on the bills that are coming out the legislator legislation uh um you know whether we're for some or against some. So that's still being uh the sausage is still being made because the bills are continue to be revised and things of that nature. So, we're we're focused on that. Attend to the Monterey Water Management District Board of Directors meeting earlier uh uh this month. Uh we have our strategic planning uh workshop tomorrow. So, look forward for that to really dial in our work plan over the next uh year or so. Attending the transportation agency, Monterey County meeting. Uh uh what we talked about there is also, you know, what is it? Safe route to schools. They had a wonderful uh uh program about uh uh safe router schools over there in Selenus. I forget the school, Brandon School or something along that line. Uh but but you know, I reminded them about our safe rout that's coming up and how important it is for um us to continue to work together through TAMC and the city of Seaside to ensure our residents are kept up about what's going on on Broadway. And I had a commitment from the executive director uh Todd Muk to do that uh that educational component about

our safe Roger school uh complete street program. I attended the leadership council meeting uh where we focus on how to reduce homelessness and uh spending the grant monies we received from the uh federal government and sometimes state on a tri uh county basis. Uh we were able to move money around and we were able to to uh send some of the funds down to Solidad uh to uh Mayor um Velasquez uh city. She's doing a wonderful job down there uh for the residents of Solidad. Uh attended the Selenas Valley Chamber of Commerce 4th annual legislative affairs breakfast. Uh and that's over in Selenas. Uh of course Lance Valley, right? uh with uh Congresswoman uh Longren was there, uh State Senator Leair was there, and then we received also a briefing from Superintendent of School uh Dr. Denine Gus uh who is retiring after 40 years of education and teaching uh the next generation of leaders and also we heard from Mayor Donahghue about what's going on. Uh and really there was a wonderful conversation from uh Congress uh woman uh Sel Longrren about what's going on in the federal level. So that was interesting to hear uh the concept from uh the Selius Valley uh area. I was honored and had fun judging the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District hackathon. Uh it was all of our elementary schools were represented. Uh it was at the Odmire uh and uh just had uh you know uh I guess fifth and sixth graders uh the challenge was to create a app uh that uh you know their peers would enjoy that improve their lives. So we had apps that would incentivize you to pick up to do your chores. You know if you did your chores when you're supposed to you got money you know I guess you got some Apple money right?

You know they didn't know about Apple money but you got a little some money on your books. uh they had uh you got a little bit you know why is there always incentives you got to pay people right so you got a little bit money if you picked up trash so it wouldn't go into the bay I mean these are fifth and sixth graders right so they're thinking about this stuff so it was wonderful uh and and and and the um another category was one they had incentivized uh to limit your screen time and so they had to make the app had open it up make sure it worked and if you said I want to just watch uh what is it uh play games for 40 minutes uh it would keep track of that 40 minutes at 40 minutes it would just shut off you know for that time frame so it really they really worked the kids did a great job uh Dr. PK def was there and I wanted to uh I already talked to the city manager about how do we incentivize that? How do we keep those kids moving forward? How do we uh participate next year beyond just uh providing a space for them to do it? Uh because those those are the next leaders uh the next um coders and computer uh technologists. Uh later on attended the uh Stephen E. Ross uh breakfast uh held by the the pastors. Uh it was well done and and and uh held by hosted by the NAACP. Uh the uh underneath the leadership of uh Alicia Gains. Uh they did a great job there and and we I appreciate the invitation. uh was very impactful like the mayor promp said the the guest speaker gave an impactful um talk about how do you stay involved? How do you be involved in your community? So that was that was well done. Uh later that evening attended the uh Filipino community organizations of the Monterey

Peninsula's installation of officers. Uh council member uh Miller was there also. Just want to uh make a comment. You know they have a commitment to service. So, so that's what it was centered on and the officers, it was fun watching them take the oath of office and and recommmit to giving back to their community. Uh me and Mayor Tim attended the Monterey Unified School District/ City of Seaside Trustees Council collaboration. Uh one of the highlights was how does the city do its part within the framework of community schools? We're learning more about community schools and what we can do. So, we look forward as the city manager talks to uh uh uh Dr. PK, the superintendent, what can the city do? We look forward to bring that back to the council to see how the count what the council wants us to do as it relates to plugging in into the concept and framework of a community school and making sure we're all on the same sheet as it relates to our our children going to school. attended the TAMC rail committee meeting. Uh one wonderful uh meeting and that that committee really talks about how do we bring rail uh down to Selenus. I think you guys should already know about the uh rehab of the Selena station. Uh the next stop is uh King City. King City's is finally uh received their grant money and and proceeds that uh we believe that the next commuter stop will be in King City. Uh but something that came out of that meeting is we we found out through um Supervisor Daniels and uh she mentioned that it's a commuter train that goes to San Jose in the morning that just stays up there. So the question is how do we get it back down here at least one time uh during the day? And so, uh, through the leadership of Supervisor Daniels and Allejo and

Mayor Donahghue, uh, they want us to focus over the next, uh, 90 to 100 days on how do we lobby our, um, uh, what is it? U, our local, uh, state representatives. Uh, they believe they they're having a conversation with the speaker, but we want to lobby everybody. So, we're trying to figure that out. So people will see that coming forward from from uh uh the rail policy uh committee and they may be asking for letters uh during that time frame uh city managers letters of support uh that will allow more uh day trips at least one more day trips and more options for those that drive up to San Jose area now for work and adventure. So they're trying to make that that happen in in a small time frame. So, we want to appreciate those three. Attended though, well, I talked to I talked already about we're going to the workshop tomorrow for uh Monteray Peninsula Water Management District, you know, to to find out how close we are to uh getting the CDO. Uh we don't think it's going to be lifted, but we think it's going to be modified. We're asking for it to be modified. And uh you know, we're crossing our fingers. We think another at least, you know, you call up there and the guy say they can't tell you where the process is at for some reason. Uh they they they they talk as though it's some type of conflict to tell you when they're going to give you an answer back. So we think it's about at least two to three more months uh if not four uh before either we get an answer about the lifting not lifting answer about the amendment of it and or for me that'll be the time frame for us to call our local people again uh because that that will be passed uh a reasonable time frame. So we look forward to having that water here shortly and I think that goes back

to something we talked about before. Uh, I got two more items. I wanted to um uh definitely give a shout out uh for what was a headline that was in the paper a couple days ago, I guess, online. Seaside police take custody of a 2015 homicide suspect. I I I just want to say thanks to the the police chief and the team of law enforcement officers working together. Uh again, uh I I I know, you know, for me, I know if the chief did not have a focus on some of these cold cases, and I'm not saying this case was cold, but some of these cases, it just wouldn't get done because, you know, it goes by, you know, the priority of the person in charge over that department. And so I know, but if it were not for the focus of solving these types of of cases, they wouldn't get solved. And so I want to appreciate, you know, all your officers that work every day, the detectives and the other law enforcement department, because I know you didn't do it by yourself, but if if our chief wasn't saying this is what I'm trying to do in my city, there's no team to go to, if that makes sense. Right. There's no team to work with. So I know he works with a big team. Um, and I think they found the person in in in Mexico. So, I'm just talking about the the the way we in Seaside are going to where we need to go to get people and our local DA. I don't I don't want to leave out the DA. She's doing a wonderful job.

Uh, I want to end on just a a a little a somber note, but but just a a happy note about um you know, I went to celebration life of Mr. Lewis Lumbboy. uh you know a wonderful young man uh passed away uh too soon. Uh he is missed you know by his family and his friends. Uh they came together to share the joy he brought to their lives. And uh it was the you know what what the survivors have to do to to get past their hurt is to come back and and meet with other people and smile about what you brought to those li to their lives. So, uh, it was an honor to be there and, uh, uh, Mr. uh, Longboy Luis, you know, it's always, um, you know, you leave people behind, but I did want to mention, uh, his three beautiful children. Uh, and we, we want to say condolences to the family and support his family in this time. Uh, that's all I had. Anybody have any? Yes, sir.

Sorry. I I just had one thing to add that came out today. Um, so today, Governor Gavin Newsome announced a new partnership between Cal Kids, the community college's chancellor's office, and the California Cradle to Career Data System to identify um eligible community college students to connect them with CalID scholarships that would allow them to cover educational expenses like books, laptops, and supplies. Um, so there was the pool was now brought in and there's going to be a lot of work being done with um the community colleges board and the community colleges throughout the state. Uh, eligible California public school students automatically receive $1,500 in Cal Kit scholarships. So, that's something important that many don't know that's available to them. Uh, so if we could just put some information out there on our socials or our website um because I know graduation season's right around the corner as well. So, we want to get

grab grabbed the flyer somewhere and put it on our side and it's on the governor's website as well. It came literally came out today. Okay. Thank you. And next we'll go to item number 11, which is close session. The city attorney will read us in the close session.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council, members of the public. Council will have a conference with labor negotiators pursuant to government code section 54957.6. agency negotiators Greg McDanel, city manager, and Samantha Scrrony, human resources director, risk manager. Employee organizations are all of them in the city of Seaside. They will have a conference with real property negotiators pursuant to government code section 54956.8. The property in question is 956 Hillby Avenue, Seaside, California. Agency negotiators are the city manager and the city attorney. Negotiating parties are Stepping Stone Outreach, Inc. and the city of Seaside. Under negotiation, price, terms of payment, or both. They will have a conference with real property negotiators pursuant pursuant to government code section 54956.8 on the property commonly referred to as a portion of Ming Gate at Devarti and 1st Avenue. Agency negotiators are the city manager and the city attorney. uh negotiating parties are the Ford or Hostile Society and the City of Seaside under negotiation price terms or both. And finally, they will have a conference with legal counsel pursuant to government code section 54956.9D on two matters of potential litigation. For the benefit of the public, I do expect there to be a readout this evening coming out of close session. That concludes my reading. Uh, thank you so much. Uh, public comment is open on our closed session items.

Members of the public in the chamber, please approach the podium. Members of the public on Zoom, please use the raise your hand feature or dial star9 if you're calling from the phone. Mayor, no members of the public have come forward to make public comment. Public comment on our close session items. Remal members of the public have come forward to make public comment. Uh

thank you so much. Seeing no one hearing no one uh close public comment is closing our close session items. We will move into close session.