City Council - Regular Meeting

I call to order the closed session meeting of the Mayor and City Council at 3.32 p.m. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Thank you for being here, and thank you to those viewing remotely. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll. Council Member Sanchez.

Here.

Council Member Ibarra. Present. Council Member Figueroa.

Here.

Council Member Charette. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Knoss has not yet arrived. Here. Council member Flores present and council member Ortiz will not be present for closed session mayor trans here.

Thank you. Moving on to public comments for closed session. Madam city clerk, do we have any public comments?

Uh, yes, I believe we have one.

Okay. Please approach the, uh, podium and, uh, state your name and you have three minutes.

I got it, sorry. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. I'm Cheryl Brown, and I'm speaking to you not as a former assembly member or a former anything, but as a present and former 6th Ward resident. I'm also president of the Black American Political Association of California, BAPAC, the Southeastern Region, and vice president of the State BAPAC Executive Committee. One of the things that we're talking about in the community is that we feel that we're being ignored by the city council. And you elected leaders are not doing what we want you to do. Yes. You have a closed session item that's on the end of your closed session, I believe, session? You may continue, ma'am. Okay. You took the Sixth Ward Northwest Redevelopment Tax Increment money to build Shandon Hills, a public golf course, in the Fifth Ward. You put a storage building in the Sixth Ward over the objections of its residents. Now you voted to put a cannabis store, and some say a weed joint, in the Sixth Ward over the objection of the people. We are tired of you ignoring us when we come down here, and we're just not going to take it anymore. The purpose of BAPAC is to identify you disenfranchising us, documenting those actions, effectuating those actions to change and developing political resources necessary to educate our citizens in San Bernardino how to vote when elected public officials. Two of you on the council are gone, and another one, Fred, will be leaving after the next election in November. Let me close by saying, have your attorney educate you on the use of electronic devices by public officials and the public's right to know. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam City Clerk, is there any other comments? There's no more comments. Thank you. Mr. City Attorney, do you have comments?

Yes, Mayor Tran, thank you. Related to Item C, Conference for Legal Counsel Anticipated Litigation, the city received a letter from an attorney representing LGM, the operator of Shannon Hills. That's part of what the council is going to be discussing in closed session. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. City Attorney.

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Council, please proceed to the dais. We need to begin our business. Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. This is Julianne, six years old. She just hit the gavel to start the meeting. Thank you, Julianne. Good evening, welcome, and thank you for being here, and thank you to those viewing remotely. I call to order this joint record meeting of the Mayor and City Council, and the Mayor and City Council acting as the successor agency to the redevelopment agency of the City of San Bernardino, the San Bernardino City Housing Authority, and as the San Bernardino Joint Powers Finance Authority. I would like to open the meeting in solemn remembrance of Miss Faye Audridge, a cherished member of the community who has recently passed away. Faye's warmth, kindness, and generosity left a lasting impression on all who knew her. She gave freely of her compassion and stood as a steady source of support for those around her. The legacy she leaves behind, one of love, service, and community spirit will continue to guide us. Please join me in a moment of silence to honor Faye Aldridge and the life she lived among us. Thank you. The meeting is now in order at 5.12 p.m. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Sanchez.

Here.

Council Member Barra is not here. Council Member Figueroa.

Here.

Council Member Charette.

Here.

Mayor Patem Canas. Here. Council Member Flores.

Present.

Council Member Ortiz. Here. And Mayor Tran. Here.

Thank you. We move on to invocation and pledge. We have Pastor B.J. Sims from Kingdom Culture Worship Center will lead tonight's invocation. Please approach the podium at this time. And Julian Johnson, who just hit the gavel earlier, from Palm Avenue Elementary School, will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please all rise.

Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated.

Thank you for having me. God, we just thank you for today. We ask you, God, to repair the gates of our city, God. Give us hope, God, in the impossible to restore even the economic climate of our city. We thank you, God, that your mind and your thoughts regarding this city are good and not of evil. God, we just cover our city with blessings, God, and we pray for every elected official, every individual holding office, every individual sitting in a seat of power. We just thank you, God, that your peace will meet them, God. We thank you, God, that San Bernardino It's set up to see its best days yet. Thank you for the community members, God. We ask you to cover every orphan, every widow, every unhoused, every individual that needs your support and help today. We trust you and we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

BJ Sims, and again, thank you, Julianne. When you spoke those words, it almost reminds us, slow down, because her words were so beautifully said in that pace. So thank you, Julianne. Give her a big round of applause. Mr. City Attorney, is there anything to report from closed session?

Thank you, Mayor Duran. Mayor and Council met and discussed all the items listed on closed session. There are no reportable actions from closed session. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to presentation, we do have one presentation. It would be Proclamation for International Overdose Awareness Day in the city of San Bernardino, August 31st, 2026, presented to James Dettman, Rick Smith, Jessica Baca, Dr. Julie Kastergen, Rachel Switzer, Teresa Hickson, and Ted Tavalasi of VARP Incorporated. Can you come up to the stage? And counsel, will you join me? Thank you for being here. Okay, are we all here? Looks like it, thank you. Proclamation of the Marion City Council proclaiming August 31st, 2026 as International Overdose Awareness Day in the city of San Bernardino. Whereas the city of San Bernardino does affirm and acknowledge the harm and hardship caused by drug overdose, and whereas we recognize the purpose of International Overdose Awareness Day as remembering loved ones lost to overdose and ending the stigma of drug-related deaths, and whereas we resolve to play our part in reducing the toll of overdose in our community, which last year claimed the lives of 474 residents of San Bernardino County and over 9,000 Californians, together with countless more affected forever. And whereas we affirm that the people affected by overdose are our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters, and deserving of our love, compassion, and support, Whereas, VARP Incorporated has served the City of San Bernardino for decades, providing detoxification, residential and outpatient treatment, including medication-assisted treatment for individuals facing opioid use disorder, and offering veterans, adults, and families a path toward lasting recovery. And whereas, VARP Incorporated stands as a trusted community partner whose staff and programs work daily to prevent overdose, reduce stigma, and support individuals and families throughout their recovery journey. Now, therefore, be proclaimed by the Mayor and City Council of San Bernardino do hereby proclaim August 31st, 2026 as International Overdose Awareness Day in the City of San Bernardino and extend our deepest gratitude to VARP Incorporated for their continued dedication to the health and well-being of our residents presented this 19th day of August 2026. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor Tran, and thank you, City Council. We appreciate the recognition of Overdose Awareness Day. Overdose deaths declined slightly last year in San Bernardino County, in California, in the United States. but there are still far too many deaths. I want to ask us all to just take a moment and really think about it. Overdose death doesn't just happen to other people or lifelong drug addicts or marginal members of society. It can happen to anyone. Someone might think they're smoking legal marijuana, not knowing it's laced with fentanyl, and they overdose and they die. I personally know someone who died that way. In fact, I know a lot of people who've died of overdose. How many people here know somebody that's died from overdose? It doesn't just happen to strangers. As Mayor Tran said, this is my son, this is your daughter, this is your brother, your sister, your father, your mother, your friend. In the movie Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood plays an old outlaw contemplating his life as a gunslinger. He says, it's a hell of a thing killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever going to have. Overdose is the same way. someone with a whole life ahead of them, is suddenly gone forever along with all their hopes and dreams. Let's do what we can to fight this. Let's support substance abuse treatment. Let's give grace to people who seek out treatment and be loving and supportive. Thank you for promoting overdose awareness.

course take us a little opportunity to say that i i know this organization i sat on your board many many many years ago very shortly after i believe it was started and worked very closely with bobby cope who really is the organization and deserves an absolute round of applause he unfortunately passed away a few years ago but he really he really was varp and i was on the board when Very few board members. We had barely started the organization. I wasn't at the beginning, but pretty close. And you expanded from men and veterans alcohol recovery program to all people and women. And you've got a great women's program. And it's just a great, great program. And I know it. And I commend you all for what you're doing. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember, and thank you again, VARP, for all that you guys do in our city. So continue the great work, and we are here to support all the efforts you're doing.

Thank you. Big round of applause to VARP Incorporated.

Thank you. Again, thank you, VARP Incorporated, for all that you do. We will now move on to appointments. I believe, Mr. City Manager, you are pulling number three from the list?

That is correct, Madam Mayor. Item three is being pulled.

Okay, thank you. So, Madam City Clerk, do we have any comments on items two to six minus number three, since that has been pulled?

We have no comments on the appointments.

Thank you. If there are none, is there a consensus from the council to take a single motion for the remaining appointments? Move to approve. There's a motion by Council Member Charette, seconded by Council Member Ortiz. Madam City Clerk, please take the votes.

Council Member Sanchez. Yes. Council Member Figueroa.

Yes.

Council Member Charette. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Canas.

Yes.

Council Member Flores.

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz. Yes. And Mayor Tran. Yes.

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. We do have two appointees that are here. We would like to call them up to the stage. We have an appointment of Janet McCaig.

Is that correct?

Janet. I'm sorry. Janet McCaig with Arts and Historic Preservation Commission. Please come up to the stage. And as well as Mark Baxter to Electrofisher Conversation Advisory Commission. Please come up on stage.

Okay, please raise your right hands. And then say aye and state your name.

Aye, Mark Baxter. Aye, Jeanette McKay.

Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, and that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which you're about to enter? Please say I do. I do. Thank you.

All right, so I am super excited to have Jeanette McKaig serving as the 7th Ward Arts and Historical Preservation Commissioner. If you don't know Jeanette, but you probably do, I'm going to refresh her awesomeness for you because she was like a five- to six-year president and volunteer and neighborhood... Association Council when I first met her she's a reason that I got involved she was so inclusive she was so loving and just has such a heart for this for our community and the seventh ward and plus she's my neighbor and is really amazing so what I know is that She's going to do a fantastic job. Why I like her for the arts portion of it is because her daughter is a beautiful artist and so she has been encapsulated around that community, all of the events, and then for the preservation, I think being with the Neighborhood Association, being a part of wanting to preserve the good stuff that we have going on here, I think you're going to do fabulous. And so thank you so much for giving your time to our community and to our city.

Thank you very much. I look forward to working with the commission.

Councilmember, congratulations. Oh, you can't leave yet. We're not done. And for me, I appointed Mr. Mark Baxter, who's been a longtime resident of the city of San Bernardino, and very active, by the way, in your neighborhood association. And we met, by the way, at the city of West Covina. I didn't realize he was a resident of San Bernardino, so it was really funny and small world. I also decided to appoint you because of your background, 40 years plus in professional management and in city government. Thank you for accepting this appointment, and I appreciate your time and your service.

Thank you for allowing me to continue on in public service. I appreciate it.

Anytime. Big round of applause for his appointment.

Can you come and join and take a picture with us?

Counsel, will you join us to take a picture real quick?

Ready? One, two, three, four.

Thank you. Thank you, council. And thank you to Jeanette and Mark. We will now move on to public hearing. At this time, public comments will be heard for the public hearing, item number seven only. If you wish to speak on other items on the agenda or not on the agenda, please wait until the regular open session public comment period begins later in the meeting. To address the city council, each individual must complete a speaker card. The speaker card must be completed and turned into the city clerk at this time. Only those speaker cards given to the city clerk may address the city council. Late cards will not be accepted. Each person should state their name for the record before beginning their comment. As your name is called, please line up in the order announced. We have two podiums available for your convenience. Please proceed to either one as soon as your name is called. If you need Spanish interpretation, we have an interpreter present. Please raise your hands at this time if you need interpreting assistance. We also have devices available to listen to the meeting in Spanish.

En este momento se escucharán comentarios públicos para la audiencia pública. Si desea hablar sobre otros puntos de la agenda o no están en la agenda, por favor espere hasta que comience el periodo regular de comentarios públicos de la sesión abierta más adelante en la reunión. Para dirigirse al Consejo Municipal, cada persona debe completar una tarjeta de oradores. La tarjeta de orador debe completarse y integrarse a la Secretaria Municipal en este momento. Solo las tarjetas de orador entregadas a la Secretaria Municipal pueden dirigirse al Consejo Municipal. No se aceptarán tarjetas tardías. Cada persona debe declarar su nombre para registro antes de comenzar su comentario. Cuando llamen su nombre, por favor, formen fila en el orden anunciado. Tenemos dos podios para su conveniencia. Por favor, diríjanse a cualquiera de ellos tan pronto como llamen su nombre. Si necesitas interpretación en español, tenemos un intérprete presente. Por favor, levante la mano en este momento para indicar que necesita servicios. También tenemos dispositivos para escuchar la reunión en español.

Thank you, gracias. Okay, item number seven, public hearing and adoption of fiscal year 2026-2027 maximum permitted solid waste service rates and future CPI adjustments through fiscal year 2030 to 2031. Welcome to the City of San Bernardino public hearing on proposed increases to rates for solid waste service charges. Before we open up the public hearing, I would like to ask our city attorney to explain the requirements of Proposition 218 governing this public hearing and the proposed adoption of the rates and charges.

Thank you, Mayor Tran. This public hearing was set in compliance with Proposition 218 to ensure maximum transparency and in an abundance of caution. That being said, the city voluntarily subjected the proposed rates to the Prop 218 procedures and does not concede their applicability to privately provided solid waste service. The city mailed a notice of this public hearing to the record owner whose property is subject to the imposition of the proposed rates and charges. and any customers of record who are not property owners. The date and time of this public hearing is not less than 45 days after the City mailed the notice. The purpose of the public hearing is for the City Council to hear all oral testimony and consider all written protests concerning the proposed rate increases. It is also held to determine whether there was a majority protest to the proposed rates and whether to proceed with the adoption of the proposed rates. Property owners and tenants may submit written protests up until the close of the public hearing. Property owners and tenants are not required to provide oral testimony at today's hearing. If you wish, you may simply submit a written protest directly to the City Clerk indicating your opposition to the proposed rate increases. However, if you wish your protest to be counted, You must submit a written protest prior to the close of the public hearing tonight. The public hearing will be closed after the City Council has heard and considered all oral testimony on these items. Oral comments made today do not qualify as written protests. In order to be counted, protests must be in writing, state that you are protesting the proposed solid waste rate increases, include the name of the property owner or tenant, the assessor's parcel number or service address, and signature of the person submitting the written protest. Any protest submitted by email or other electronic means will not be accepted as a formal written protest. All valid protests submitted to the city by mail or hand delivered prior to today's public hearing and received by the city clerk since the notice of public hearing was mailed will be counted. If written protests against the proposed rate increases are presented by a majority of the owners of the identified parcels upon which the charges are to be imposed, or tenants directly liable for the payment of the charges, the City Council may not impose the rate increases. If there is no majority protest, the City Council may impose the rate increases. Pursuant to state law governing Proposition 218, in determining whether a majority protest exists, only one written protest per parcel may be counted. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. May we have the staff report, please?

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council, and Merrill Public Works Director. Before you tonight is the public hearing to consider adjusting the maximum permitted service rates for integrated solid waste collection, processing, and disposal services in the city. The city contracts, has a franchise agreement with Burr Tech, which they have had since 2016 for the collection of salt waste, recycling, and organic services. That agreement does allow for a CPI-based rate adjustment and change in law increases. The proposal before you tonight also includes remaining costs associated with the implementation of SB 1383 that is considered to be a change in law, and this is actually the final phase of implementation of that change in law that we've done in the last two years. A small catch-up component addressed the delay in the rate hearing. Typically, we do go before you in June with an adoption date of July 1st. Because we delayed the public hearing, we are allowing Birchick to have that catch-up. The proposed CPI adjustment this year is 3.28 across all the service rates. However, residential and multi-barrel cart rates are going to be 13.2% increase overall. Again, this is because we are finalizing the implementation of the state law, SB 1383. Most commercial and other services that are not affected by SB 1383 will receive the 3.58% increase. To put this in perspective, the current rate for residential three-cart service one time a week is $27.75. The proposed rate is $31.41. This represents an increase of $3.66 for the typical customer service level, and this does represent the largest component of the service that is provided by Burtek. The chart before you also shows some of the additional rate increases, including mobile home cart, three carts, multifamily, and some of the commercial accounts as well. We are recommending an automatic CPI adjustment beginning July 1st, 2027. What that will do is that The BERTEC will be able to increase it by the CPI with a not to exceed of 5% per year. Future change in law increases if the state does a change in law regarding anything reflecting refuse, that change in increase could come back as a public hearing. It's important to point out to the community and the city council that the city of San Bernardino continues to have one of the lowest refuse rates in the region. Last year we were the lowest. This year we're just slightly higher than Loma Linda, so Loma Linda offers the lowest service rate. But as you can see from this, From this chart here, the refuse rates for similar service three-cart residential range from $30.83 in Loma Linda, our rate $31.41, and in Redlands it's $48.44. So it's quite a range of charges, but we continue to be able to maintain one of the lowest rates in the region. It's important to note that the proposed rate changers are also expected to increase general fund franchise fee revenues. We have estimated that that will be, from the residential side, would be about $833,321, and from the non-residential would be about $112,195 for a total of $945,516 annually. Again, this table breaks down the percent The portion costs that are contributing starts out with the 2025 rate of $27.75. The SB change in law is approximately $1.96. The CPI increase of 3.28 is $0.73. The July delay catch-up is $0.24, and the franchise fee is $0.73, creating the $31.41 per month rate. And it is recommended that the mayor and city council conduct the public hearing to receive the public comments as mentioned by the city attorney. And determine if there is a written protest have been received from the owners and tenants of parcels which are subject to the maximum permitted service rates for integrated and whether a majority protest has been received, And if there are no majority protests to adopt the resolution before you, establishing the maximum permitted service rates for integrated soil waste collection, processing and disposal starting effective August 1st, 2026. And I might add that Mike Aragon from BERTEC is here. He can answer specific questions regarding the proposal from BERTEC. That concludes my presentation, Mayor.

Thank you. The public hearing will be conducted in the following manner. I will open the public hearing and the city clerk will call upon any person wishing to speak on this item. After all oral testimony has been heard, the city council will close the public hearing. Only those written protests submitted prior to the close of the public hearing will be counted. You'll be given a maximum three minutes to speak so that we ask to keep your comments brief and to the point so that we can allow everyone a chance to speak. Our city clerk will be keeping time for each speaker. You will be notified when you have reached your maximum allowed time. After all oral testimony has been heard, I will close the public hearing, and if needed, have a short recess to determine if a majority protest to the proposed rate increases has been received. Only those written protests submitted prior to the close of the public hearing will be counted. To facilitate the discussion, any questions from the speakers will not be answered during the public hearing. If necessary, staff will address questions after the close of the public hearing. I am opening the public hearing at 5.41 p.m. Do we have any requests to speak from the members of the public?

Yes, we have three requests to speak. Clementina Pina Bernal, Sam McNeil, and Miss Ashley.

Please approach the podium at this time if you heard your name. Please state your name and you have three minutes each.

Okay, Ms. Ashley. And I really don't know why you guys are asking us about this and talking to us. You've already made your decisions. You make those in the back room. So let me give you a brief history of breakdown is why the solid waste and everything really doesn't make a damn bit of difference to any of us. I can see the 10 freeway from my house. I have to go one mile in each direction to get on it. The University Parkway that you did, OK, that ingress and egress and that mixed masses is ridiculous. You could have spent that money on potholes and on doing the streets. The cannabis weed with the residents actually protested. You went behind doors and did yourself, disrespected. I'm sure Muscovy would have liked some of those decays of streets done in their area. The welfare office is supposed to be a senior citizen office. It actually was a welfare office. We are lied about that. And the only reason that took place, too, because the residents got together and said we were not going to have homeless up and down that street. If so, that's what took place. I worked for HUD for almost 20 years. in our department. We gave the city of San Bernardino $7 to $10 million to take care of a piece of land development. Did they do that after three years, the audit was done? Came back, they stole all that money. They did salary increases. They give the people overtime, whatever. That land was never developed. Thievery that's going on in most of these cities, just like this one. I don't want to hear about your rate increases or whatever, because you're going to decide what you want to do. San Bernardino and other cities, the affordability problem is a thievery problem. At this point, majority communities are going to be sick and tired of being sick and tired and being lied to and summarily dismissed. When are you guys going to retire this nonsense from these people? Each ward council member needs to have a ward meeting with advisory council every month for their ward. And you need to talk to us. I'm sick of this three-minute nonsense you guys put us under. We need to sit down, talk with you, give some ideas for our ward, and then you can come back here with real solutions. And we do have real solutions to these problems. But the idea that you keep doing this and giving us three minutes is ridiculous. I'm not coming out to any more of this nonsense. Three minutes for each public context is an insult directed by city council members and mayors that don't give a damn about their constituents. And I was going to talk about the Shannon Hills Golf Course. I can't do that, but it all relates in. Get out of these damn closed-door meetings. You council members, seven of you, get back into your community. Have a one-month meeting every month. Talk to your constituents so we can have maybe a couple-hour conversation with you. Let us know how we feel about things and what's going on in our communities. We'll all come back when the decision's always been made, and you don't care about what we think, so stop thinking people that they do. Three minutes is a waste of our time. We want to have a real conversation. with our council people, so we can hold you accountable for what's going on. And right now, it's ridiculous, it's a waste of time, and I got out of my bed even though I had to have hip replacement surgery, just come tell you guys, we need to stop this nonsense. And starting from today, whatever. So if you're not willing to do that, you're not ever going to get my vote again. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

My name's Sam McNeil. I'm merely here to ask a question about how the costs were calculated to Burr Tech that created the change in law cost increase. That's the only thing that I did not see answered in the presentation that I'd like to have Burr Tech answer so that we understand how the costs were calculated and what the cost to Burr Tech and then to the city are. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening. My name is Clementina Pina Bernal. And first of all, I want to remind you guys that we don't live in Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, or any of those cities. And last year, we have already an increment of 5%. on this, and after that, I will not be able to read my whole protest, but I'm gonna start with this. After reviewing Proposition 218, notice on the associate rate table, I do not agree because the proposed rate increase, I believe increased places and undo financial burden on residents and business, particularly during a period of economic pressure. In addition, I do not agree with the proposed rates increase because the city extend the contract with Vertec Waste Industries without conducting a new request for proposal, RFP, entering into another contract term. or extending the existing one. Without competitive abiding limits, transparency prevents evaluation of alternative services and providers, and reduce the possibility of obtaining more cost-effective services option for rate payers. Implementing rate increases under an agreement that has not been competitive rebid racist concerns about fairness, cost, accountability, and best value to the public. In addition to this, I would like major trend not to vote in council members because your participation is not accepted signs many of you guys been receiving for your campaigns from Burtek. So it's pretty much what I wanna say, and just to remember that we live in San Bernardino. I'm not politically educated, but being a senior, I don't see Social Security, for example, been increased at least 3% on our checks. They increased our Medicare by 9% this year. So I don't know how you guys expect us to live. You know, I'm grateful to this country. United States is a big country. I born in Mexico, and we don't have these expenses. So I think, and before, like she say, before you guys give us the three minutes, remember that when voting come again, you guys go to our doors and make us waste more than that. It take me sometimes 20 minutes to drive and give you my vote. So think about how you want your people to live on this city.

Thank you. Are there any more comments? There are no more speakers. Okay. I am now closing the public hearing at 5.48 p.m. I would ask the city clerk to provide the city council with the tabulation results for all valid written protests submitted prior to the close of the public hearing.

Prior to the close of the public hearing, we received a total of 44 written protests regarding the rates for solid waste service charges. For the proposed rates for the city solid waste service charges, a majority of the owners of the identified parcels would constitute 50% plus one, and that did not meet the majority. Protest does not exist for the proposed rates for solid waste service charges.

Thank you. The city clerk has advised us that based on the number of valid written protests submitted prior to the close of the public hearing, a majority protest does not exist for the adoption of the proposed rates for the solid waste service charges. The city council may now proceed to consider the proposed resolution to adopt the increases to the city's solid waste service charges. As a reminder, the time for public comment has ended and the city council will not engage directly with any individual customer or member of the public. Do any members of the council wish to discuss this item or have any comments? Council Member Ortiz.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to check on a few things. There is a senior discount, correct, for BERTEC?

That is correct, yes.

And so for anybody in that category, they can apply. And so that would be reduced off of the new fee of $31.

That is correct.

OK. To the speaker that we just had, you pretty much echoed my public comment like two years ago. I don't disagree with you. We do need open competitive RFPs at all times. And I say that not because, I mean, I appreciate my service from Burtek. And a lot of the guys used to work with the city I know. So I know my trash man, which means a lot to me. And I say that because I've never taken a dime from Burtek. So I can be open, honest, and transparent with you at the same time. So two things are true at once. You can have really good service, and you can also want open, competitive, transparent, accountable public service bidding. And so I wanted to address that because I think that's very true. And to the lady that came in the back and spoke, you're not wrong either. And you've got to keep your foot on the neck of corruption and wrongdoing and the things that you feel are being mismanaged at all times. And so I appreciate you being here. And and still three minutes is your three minutes, and so I appreciate that in you So if you are struggling with these rate increases The other is the other question and I believe a couple of our council members brought this up at some point when they were discussing is Wasn't there a discussion about a single can use smaller cans discounted rates for smaller families? I thought we had talked about that because that was I believe in other cities. It's offered where they're not paying the full trash rate or a full can rate and

I think I'm going to ask Mr. Aragon to step up and address that one for you.

Sure, thank you.

Mayor Tran, I'd recommend if Mike's going to give comments that you reopen the public hearing.

I'll reopen the public hearing at 5.52 p.m.

Good evening, Mayor Tran, members of the City Council, Mike Aragon, Vice President, Brutek Waste Industries. I'm here to answer any questions you may have.

So my first question was... I'm sorry, my apologies. Is there a provision for us to have a single can rate like some other cities do for smaller households that don't accumulate as much impact on trash?

Yes, I believe it was last year or the year before we... approved, the council approved a 35 gallon can opposed to the 95 gallon. So that's a rate and a discounted rate that's available to all residents. And then as you mentioned earlier, there is a 10% senior discount across the board that would come off of the proposed rate.

And how may one like myself go get a smaller can?

call our customer service office and make your service request. They will collect the 95-gallon barrel and replace it with a 35-gallon barrel of trash.

And will they automatically, through that process, apply the discount? Oh, yes. Okay.

On that day, so if it's the middle of the month, they'll prorate the cost. If it's at the beginning of the billing period, they'll put it forward at that point.

Awesome. Thank you. And then I had another question. The gentleman that stood up asked about the application of, I guess, I'm trying to be as accurate, the rates as they apply to you and then transfer to the city. Can you expand on that, like how it came to, like?

I believe as I understood the gentleman's question was there was a question with regard to the 1383 fees. And as we all know, if the state didn't require this level of service and out of CalRecycle, we wouldn't put forward the program. The city is just trying to be in compliance and to avoid costs that would be imposed by the state, some costs upwards of $10,000 a day. So we put a program in place actually two years ago. uh... so that the city was in full compliance that first year we put the program into uh... into effect uh... and we absorbed a hundred percent of the cost last year uh... the city asked us to maintain a minimum of a five percent increase which only accounted for seventy eight cents of a two dollar and sixty eight cent cost for the program and we absorbed the balance of that this year There's $1.90 that is the, as staff has indicated, the last phase, if you will, of the 1383 program. So in essence, next year, your increase will not be as substantial as this year's increase. It will be back in line with the 3%, 4%, 5%, whatever CPI is at that time. And you see it in part as part of this commercial rate and what's shown on the screen, there's no further cost adjustments unless the state comes up with another program that the city is required to impose.

Thank you for that. That really helps. And just for my own education, is 1383, was that voted in by taxpayers or was that voted in through state legislation? Do you know?

To be honest with you, Yeah, I don't believe it was a ballot vote on that. It was imposed.

So it's a state mandate.

It's a state mandate. Okay. An unfunded mandate.

Yeah, so it's like here we want to do this, but now let's figure out how to make you do it, which we know private industry is always going to put it on the consumer. That's capitalism in and of itself. So, okay, I just wanted to check for that. I appreciate you, Mike. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Charette, did you have a question for Mike?

thank you uh... i'd like to remind everybody that most of the stuff that we deal here starts in sacramento and the cost that we all uh... pay and and deal with uh... those those uh... fees and cost start in sacramento and get you know the old saying what what rolls downhill uh... i have uh... one comment I was going to joke about it, but I'm not going to. That's a typo on... Yes. Yeah. Because if it's not, we'd like to see that price range in Grand Terrace. I think it's missing a five in there. It's $377, and that's a pretty good price, but you must be missing a... $5 or $6 in there. But regarding the size of the cans, are those available on all three, green, blue, and black? They are. So a smaller can can be online. It seemed to me that at one time that wasn't available.

Well, generally we try to encourage more recycling, and so you have smaller trash container, but yet you would have more recyclables. And frankly, if you really looked at what's in your trash container, a majority of that is recyclable. So you want as much recycling capacity as possible. And the same with your lawns and now with the food waste. So you want as much capacity. But if you have a smaller footprint at your household and whatnot, they're all available.

So a senior couple or a couple of people that are living in a home that don't have a lot of... It's hard these days to not have a lot of cardboard and a lot of recyclables with plastic... Containers and what have you but they are available and so a senior for example could get the senior discount Plus reduce the size of their cans yes, and that could save them How much do they say if they reduce percent the can size on its 10% on whatever that cost is so the current cost 31

Whatever our rate is.

But would you get a reduction in the 10% senior discount plus a reduction on the size of the cans?

Yes.

Okay, so you can actually get four reductions in the price.

Well, the 35-gallon can has a rate, and it's based on trash. Now, you can decide whether you want three 35-gallon cans. It's still the same rate. Or keep your 35-gallon can and the other two. It's still the same rate. So the 35-gallon can has a rate. The senior rate is a 10% discount on the rates offered whether it's your full level of service or the reduced level of service of the 35 gallon can. The senior rate on a full size service tends to be slightly higher even with the 10% off if you keep your 95 gallon can. Everybody is entitled to subscribe to the 35-gallon, which is slightly less.

Right. So I'm talking personally, I could get the senior discount, I'm very proud to say. I could get discount on three of my cans.

You can get discount on a 35-gallon rate, which would include, all your rates include three cans.

All right. I just wanted that to be clear that there is some savings available if you don't have a lot of trash. And feel free to call our customer service department

Our reps will be glad to go through all the details.

And calculate the price for you. So in other words, if you're paying this price, they can tell you that you're going to save $6. Yes. And you'd know exactly where you stand. And then make your decision based on whether or not you want to save that $6 or not.

Absolutely. You choose the level of service that you would like. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Mayor Pulte, did you have a question?

so looking at the financial impact or fiscal impact there is a chart that was provided and it demonstrates the different changes and it looks like the biggest change in rate was predicated by sb 1383 is that correct that is correct it's a primarily um we had already implemented the commercial sb 1383 this now over the last two and a half years has been for the residential services and i just think it's important for the public to know sb 1383 isn't a backroom council decision that's mandated by the state.

Oh, absolutely. It's come down to not only the city of San Bernardino, but throughout the state of California.

Okay. Now, in regards to some of the points that my colleagues have made as far as being able to get the senior discount or change the gallon size, I know you said that all customers have to do is call in to be able to get that. But is there any marketing that you guys do to make sure that constituents are aware of those discounts or the reduction in gallon size?

I believe we've put it on a number of occasions in our newsletter. But I will follow up to make sure that it gets out in every method of customer education that we have. I appreciate that. We did make a big deal out of the 35-gallon can, and we did have quite a few residents subscribe.

Wonderful. I appreciate that. And if you guys could just look into enhancing those efforts just to make sure that the public is very well aware of what the discounts available are to them.

Absolutely. It's a great idea, and I'll make sure I follow through on that.

Thank you.

You bet.

Thank you, Mayor Paltown. Council Member Charette.

Thank you, Mayor. Just one more question on the size of the cans. If, for example, someone decided, I'm going to try to get away with three small ones.

Uh-huh.

and determined that, well, that's just not, I miscalculated. There's not going to be any penalty for calling back and saying, hey, I miscalculated, I need the big ones back. Yeah, no, none at all. Thank you. You bet.

Thank you, Council Member. Any further comments by Council before I close the public? Council Member Figueroa.

Are there any additional costs associated with noncompliance of SB 1383? Now that we've implemented and you do kind of like an audit assessment of compliance, would there be an additional cost if the public isn't complying with 1383?

I'm sorry, Council Member. The only thing with 1383 that has some level of fluctuation would be the processing component for food waste, just like landfill disposal and recycling processing. The service components are dialed in and they work within the city structure of a CPI increase each year. The disposal is also, disposal and processing is also factored in. However, we are limited to a CPI increase. So if there are costs in excess of CPI for processing and whatnot, then those costs have to roll over and if there's room the following year, they would be added. Okay.

But what I'm saying is this completely brings us up to, 1383 completely there there shouldn't be any additional no this is the last state mandated cost but but my question is really more along the lines of you still have an obligation to provide reports I assume that we are compliant right or is is that currently being done are we anticipating that to be done anytime soon and my question is if we don't meet a certain threshold of compliance are there penalties are there fees that the city would have to pay to the state or to an agency?

No, this last phase puts you in complete compliance. We, as your hauler, are responsible for those reports. We work with staff. They submit reports to the state on a quarterly or annual basis. And we are, at this point, once... And we have been for the last two years, Councilman. This just brings our costs in line, but we have been... providing all the reports, all the necessary components. That's what we wanted to do two years ago to prove to the state the city of San Bernardino is in full compliance. Whether the costs were covered, the state has nothing to do with that. All they want to know is are you in compliance? And yes, we are. And we have been.

And we will continue to be. And no additional up costs. This is the last

phase of the costs that pay for that so to speak but is there and and i don't know if i'm asking this correctly and i apologize maybe i'm not understanding if let's say the residents say you know what i don't like 1383 i'm going to continue to dump my my trash where i feel like dumping my trash oh okay i see where you're going and uh what is the requirement for compliance that the public is properly disposing of their food waste in an appropriate manner. Is there an additional cost to that non-compliance?

I see. I apologize. I didn't understand that component. We have a requirement. I believe it's 10% of the entire residential base that we have to audit and inspect every year. And don't quote me on that. I'm fairly certain it is that 10% amount. Through these audits, if we find contamination in any of the three containers, we do tag that container as part of the educational process. However, in the future, and if that continues, it really would be subject to the city if they want to impose any fees or fines if these residents refuse to be in compliance because it does affect the city from a contamination standpoint, a recovery standpoint. All that has to be reported. So for those numbers to maintain at a level that's acceptable to the state, we do need everybody to number one, participate, and to participate correctly.

And I think that's exactly what I wanted to get at. I apologize, yes. And kind of drill that point home that it is still, the public still needs to be in compliance with SB 1383 in that regard. And again, this isn't something that the city council, in collaboration with BERTEC, came up with this idea to do this. This came from Sacramento. It is required. It's not something that we're imposing on our residents. It's something that we have to be compliant with. I see a few hands flying over here, so I'm going to go ahead and... Yeah, I can address that.

Yes, this law became effective in 2017 with a time period to implement it. That time period became expanded in 2020 because of the pandemic, and so cities are now finalizing their compliance.

Thank you. Mr. City Manager, I believe staff has a question.

Just to add to it, one of the things that was required under SB 1383 was the adoption of an implementation ordinance that does give us the ability that if we did have repeat contamination issues, non-compliance, there is an enforcement mechanism that can go to the customer. And that was adopted by the city, I believe, two years ago.

Thank you. And again, just, you know, people hear SB 1383. What is SB, right? They think San Bernardino, and it's not. It's Senate bill, which means it came, it originated, from the Senate in Sacramento in the state of California. That is Senate Bill 1383. So if there is any anger, it should be directed at the Senate. That's all.

Thank you, Councilman. Great questions and comments. I want to expand on the statement you mentioned about education period.

Yes.

Education is huge because I think a lot of folks don't understand what's happening and what has happened, right? What was the legislation brought down for what, 2017? Is that the year? And now fast forward to 26. The education period is for how long until we then, Mr. Merrill, you mentioned about enforcement. How does that come to play? Because again, it's only fair that we educate this community and let them be aware, notices and so forth. What, can you guys expand on that?

I'll take it first for Mike. One of the elements is definitely an education program. That's why they do the quarterly newsletters and things like that. We also have information on our website about it. We don't want to go to enforcement. It would only be in the case where you have a repeat performer that just, no matter what we do, and unfortunately we do have some folks that do that, We do have the ability that we could cite, but it's absolutely the last thing that we do. We prefer to seek compliance, not enforcement in how we approach this. And I'll pass it over to Mike if he has any more.

And Lynn is 100% correct. However, we would not bill or fine or do anything along that line without direction from the city. So that is totally a city approved enforcement feature. It has nothing to do with the Burtek. We will continue to collect and clean the material. It does have a, unfortunately, because of the contamination, it has a negative effect on your diversion levels, your participation, all of those things. But if it is very obvious to the contamination, then we will tag and leave that barrel. But many times, as you know, with the automated barrels, the lids are closed. We can't tell if there's contamination. So it gets picked up and mixed in with the material from residents that are really doing a good job. And so it brings that whole level down. So we really do need residents to pay attention, look at the list of items that are recyclable, look at your food waste list, your green waste list, And what should and shouldn't go in your trash container, the better job we do at that, the higher ranking we'll have from a diversion standpoint.

Thank you. Mr. Merrow?

And I'll just add to it. In the city that I live in, BirdTech is my provider, I was subject to an audit and I got a nice tag that said you need to put your pizza boxes from your trash can into your green can And so I know it's an effective education program, and it's certainly corrected my household's behavior.

Thank you. I appreciate that information and clarification. Any further comments by council before I close the hearing and we can move on? Seeing none, I'm going to close the public hearing at 6.12 p.m. Is there a motion by council?

Move to approve.

Thank you, Council Member Sanchez. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Council Member Figueroa. Madam City Clerk, please call for the votes.

Council Member Sanchez? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Canoz? Yes. Council Member Flores? Yes. Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Thank you, Burtek, and thank you, staff. Appreciate your time. We will now move on to City Manager Update. Mr. City Manager, please proceed with the City Manager Report.

Madam Mayor and City Council, thank you for giving me this opportunity. Nicholson Park reopening was a big success this past Saturday. A huge crowd was on hand Saturday to celebrate the completion of the city's latest park improvement project. The west side nine and a half, Acre Park now includes two new ball fields, an adaptive playground, walking trail, snack bar, parking lot, picnic areas, lighting, and new landscaping. Kids of all ages smiled while they enjoyed the playground, new zip line, and slides, as well as face painting, balloons, a petting zoo, and screening of the movie Cars. Headlee Road community garden update. Staff is currently investigating a solution for low water pressure at the community garden. During recent construction at the adjacent navigation center site, the water line was accidentally cut but has since been repaired. Staff is considering a new meter and backflow and are determining if the proposal will provide adequate pressure for the entire garden. In addition to saving energy, a benefit of solar street lights is they do not have the copper wiring that attract theft and require repair. This past fiscal year, the city installed 397 solar street lights across the city. An additional 83 lights are slated to be installed soon this year. Staff is currently working with our state and federal partners to secure additional funding for more solar street lights. Nearly 1,000 participated this past summer in the reading program. The library's popular summer reading program saw strong community participation this year with 917 children, teens, and adults registered The program's aim is to encourage and reward local students to read during their summer break. The library's fall book sale is occurring August 22nd and 29th. The Friends of the San Bernardino Public Library will be holding its annual fall book sale on August 22nd and 29th from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Feldheim Library. Most books, magazines, DVDs, and music will be on sale for one dollar or less. Proceeds from the sale will help support programs at all four city libraries. Finally, congratulations goes out to the Mexico Cafe, who this month celebrated their 75th anniversary. The Highland Avenue Restaurant, family-owned for four generations, has been an institution in San Bernardino ever since the first opening in August of 1951. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Any comments from Council for the City Manager Update Report? Did you have a comment, Council Member Ortiz? Please, thank you, Mayor.

So regarding the community garden, um, I really appreciate that. Um, you guys heard us and the concerns, but I think it's far greater than justice waterline because we've heard a lot of issues. And so I'd like you to work if, you know, um, if the council agrees or whatever the direction needs to be with the parking rec director and, and really give us an assessment. that area the plots the lines because I don't think it's enough to say we may or may not need a meter given that they're all kind of having an issue with with the and then what this also means for the community garden with the development of the navigation center I really think it needs to be a conceptual idea but I am thankful that you address this issue because we're giving people plots of land we need to make sure we're providing the water necessary

And so, Council Member Ortiz and Council, I sort of did a summary of it, but we do have more extensive data that we're researching on it, including that it's a loop system. It combines a three-inch and a two-inch line in it, and so we're looking to see if that going from the three-inch to the two-inch is part of what's creating the lack of water pressure in certain areas. So we are going into it even further that we've been researching this week.

Okay, but in addition to that, I think the discussion has been roads, how it's maintained. I mean, really, is it a CIP? Is it a quick investment? What does that look like for us to get it to be a really worthwhile community garden? Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member, and I'd just like to add that this is a really good source of healthy food resource, so we need to maintain community gardens like this in our cities. It's a gem. Thank you so much. We will now move on to public comments. We have, I believe 30 public comments speakers tonight. Each speaker will have three minutes at MAMC clerk. Please call the speakers.

Ron Alvarado, Lydia Savala, Larry Shackleford, Al Palazzo, Christian Shaughnessy, Kim Calvin, Skip Kane, Dolores Armstead, Jim Smith, Amy Malone, Cheryl Brown, Angel Aguirre, Carmen Gallegos, Andy Fuentes, Sharon Negrete, Lynn Hildebrand, Debbie Kaufman, Dominic Gutierrez, Russell Heckert, Lydia Barner, David Friedman, Tonsu Phillip, Miriam Nieto, Howard Friedman, Essie Mercy, Frank Beckerra, Dulce Beckerra, Luisa Beckerra, David Alvarez, and David Lost.

Thank you. Please state your name. You have three minutes.

Al Palazzo, city manager. There are no banners on Mount Vernon, Fifth Street, and Foothill Boulevard, Route 66. Mayor, council members, are you okay that we are not building on our history to bring economic development to San Bernardino? Between 1945 and 1955, Route 66 was the route of migration of people who settled in San Bernardino and worked at Norton, Kaiser and Santa Fe. Between 1955 and 1966, Route 66 was the route to see the USA, and people stopped on Mount Vernon. Miele was interviewed by a Chicago TV station for the truth. Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for fighting for social justice. City Manager, your failure to appreciate the history of San Bernardino and California and build on it is a continuation of outsiders who are in position of power, privilege, and responsibility to rebuild San Bernardino by failing to create the economic opportunities to improve and transform the lives of the residents and San Bernardino. It has happened because of economic discrimination toward the west side, Mount Vernon. Nothing has changed in 60 years. Even staff does not know our history. That is why we have no Route 66 banner celebrating 100 years anniversary. City Manager, I want you to contact the owners of Ritchie Diners in Victoria Gardens and persuade them to locate on Mount Vernon. Ritchie Diners is a theme Route 66 restaurant. It serves breakfast, lunch, family dinners of every type of food and fine dining, porterhouse steaks and barbecued ribs. It would be a game changer for Mount Vernon and San Bernardino. I have their number for their corporate office and I will contact them. I have reached out to the Lewis Companies and other developers and they have reached out to me. City Manager, every two weeks I will give you ideas to rebuild Mount Vernon and other areas in San Bernardino. I want to work with you. We have a lot of work to do. Let us get serious. Let us work together to rebuild San Bernardino. Let's be proud of our city and our history. It would be an honor to work with staff. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

You have three minutes.

My name is Ron Alvarado, and I'm running to represent our neighborhoods on the San Bernardino City Council. I'm a lifelong resident of the city. I've watched our community change, and I've seen the deterioration of our neighborhoods firsthand. I know what San Bernardino was, I know what it has become, and I deeply believe in what it can be again. For too long, our city has been held back by decades of institutional neglect, blight, and a failure to invest in the neighborhoods and families that make San Bernardino home. Our historic and west side and downtown communities deserve better. Our parks, streets, businesses, and public spaces deserve better. And most importantly, our residents deserve better. I'm running because I believe government should work for the people it serves, and that means accountability, transparency and results. As a husband, father, lifelong resident and county government fraud investigator, I understand the importance of following the facts, protecting public resources and holding people accountable. My service to our community also includes serving as chair of the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commission, a member of the Omnitracks Transit Rider Advisory Council. and President of the Haynes Park Neighborhood Association. I don't just talk about our neighborhoods, I serve them. With a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Science in Information Systems Technology from California State University, San Bernardino, I bring both public sector experience and technical discipline to the challenges facing our city. As your council member, I will fight for a city-wide forensic audit to identify waste and protect taxpayer dollars. I will push for stronger code enforcement, cleaner and safer public spaces, revitalized parks, improved transit, expanded youth recreation, and job pipelines that create real opportunities for working class families. and I will bring something to San Bernardino, something that San Bernardino needs now more than ever, a vision of where to go next. I am not running to represent special interests, predatory developers, or corporate landlords. I am running to represent you, the residents who raised their families here, work here, own businesses here, and believe San Bernardino can be a great city again. We don't have to accept decline as our future. We can rebuild our neighborhoods, we can restore our parks, we can protect our public resources, and we can restore integrity and accountability to City Hall. But it will take leadership willing to put residents first and do the hard work to move our city forward. Together we can move San Bernardino forward. We'll run over out of Ward 1 on November 3rd, 2026. Thank you.

Next speaker, please state your name and your three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council, and our fellow residents. My name is Christian Shaughnessy, and I am a candidate for the second ward. When I attended the Muscooby Abbey Neighborhood Association meeting last week, several residents reached out to me regarding our pressing issues. Their concerns were clear. What is the future for a ward? What can we do to make it happen? I am here tonight because I believe our city is capable of vastly more, so much more, and our challenges cannot be ignored. Homelessness, unfortunately, is one of them. Our residents say we cannot continue moving people from one sidewalk to another and calling that long-term progress. We need comprehensive solutions, shelter, transitional and affordable housing, mental health services, eviction prevention, and the human dignity of a good job with good wages. But homelessness raises a larger question. What is our plan for maintaining and improving the community we already have? We see endless fires in our city, for instance, including one that damaged the building right next to the Second Ward's historic Roosevelt Bowl. And recently, we had the pleasant experience of celebrating the grand reopening of Nicholson Park, and that is something each and every single one of us should be proud of. But once the ribbon is cut, what happens next? How are we strategically protecting these parks so they remain in good condition for years to come? What innovative solutions do we have planned for our downtown and blighted areas? A ribbon cutting should be the beginning of a commitment, not the end of one. Our community is not blind. We recognize the difference between completing projects that have been years in the making and fashioning a steady future for ourselves and for our children. We should absolutely give credit to those who did the hard work before us, such as Liddy Gutfeld, whose leadership won us numerous awards and commendations. And for Councilman Flores himself, I'd like to thank you so much for recognizing former Councilwoman Kimberly Calvin for her work on Nicholson Park. Leadership is about asking what comes next. We need leaders in our wards willing to set priorities, secure funding, and follow through with credibility, not distractions. We need collaboration and we need to get things done. Our city has the people, resources, potential, and next election cycle the new leadership on the council to flourish. What we need now is vision, expertise, and leadership on the council that works. And I will do my best to bring those things onto the dais and work with everyone on the council and the mayor's office to make that happen. And it would be one of the great pleasures of my life. Thank you all so much.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name.

You have three minutes. Good evening. Lydia Savala. On a good note, my mother turned 97 on Monday, and she is still a pistol, which means that I have longevity in my veins, and I'll be here long after you're all gone. So that's the good note. On another note, I think it's time for... Mr.. Levitt and the council to assure reassure the Department of Animal Services that Their motivation should be to do their job and be motivated by performance and not driven by numbers. The reason I'm here today mainly is that it has come to my attention that animal control officers are advising constituents to not provide food or water to strays during triple digit heat, which I consider to be cruel and inhumane. In addition to that, they are also refusing to take possession of strays, which is in violation of Penal Code 597.1. I don't believe we're enforcing the spay-neuter ordinance yet, and also I've come across instances, I maintain a log, where dead animals are not being picked up. The benefit of not picking up those dead animals or those strays is that then they die of starvation or they die of terminal dehydration. They arrive dead on arrival and they're not counted. They're just swept under the rug. So that is commonly referred to as data manipulation. I'm not happy about that. And year after year since 2020, this department takes a victory lap every year. And in spite of that victory lap, we have a budget that has escalated from $2.5 million to $10 million. We have a pet population that has, and that's like 371%. And we have a pet population that has doubled. So if we keep, now we've got a $10 million budget projected to be $12 million. If we keep putting all these millions and millions of dollars into our budget every year, then why is performance not improving? Why is our animal intake not decreasing? I'll tell you why. It's because you guys are stingy. You're stingy with are money, the grant money. Money is reactive versus proactive, and if you spayed and neutered these animals, you'd cut out all these litters, and we would just be much better off.

Thank you. Next speaker, can you state your name? You have three minutes.

Hi, my name is Cheryl Brown, and I'm here to talk about a couple of things. One of the most pressing, I think, is the fact that you're not listening to the residents. You approved a cannabis place on the corner across the street from seniors, from a senior place that doesn't allow any smoking, by the way. I mean, I know there's gummies and so forth, but they don't allow smoking in that building. But you approved and brought it out of... Another location, because that location wasn't doing anything. And I know you've already approved it, but don't think that we're not going to fight it anyway. That's one thing. The other thing is, have you noticed that your cars are being torn up with the holes in the street? I am so sick and tired of hitting potholes. San Bernardino, do more. Do more, have you been to Rialto and felt the streets over there? Have you been to some of the other communities that are around us? They are at least taking care of their residents and they don't have to tear their cars up. Those are two things right now that are on my mind, two things that I think that San Bernardino, the city council, needs to look at. and direct our city manager to help us to make that happen. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Testing, testing.

Hello there, Madam Mayor and Council. My name is Larry Shackleford and I'm with 61 and I'm back again to talk about the golf course. One thing I wanna say is that I really appreciate, like what's the saying? There's a phrase that says, all publicity is good publicity. We had an event on the 25th that was groups and a bunch of people coming together in hopes to build some awareness and raise some money to affect the conditions of the golf course. And somehow that got construed as a bad thing. Not really sure how that, you know, where that came from, but there has been conversation about it not necessarily being a positive situation. We came out here years ago, had a partnership with the school district to effectively change the way people think about golf, specifically young people. and trying to connect young people through the positive aspects of golf to some sort of a more positive future. And we've done it. It's taken us a while to figure it out, but we were just here a couple months ago celebrating Cajon golf team and celebrating Andrew Soriano. And the thing that's encouraging is that there's conversations now about the golf course, which I think is great. Because like I said, we've been around for a long time, and we've seen the deterioration of the conditions at the course. And it's unfortunate because, and obviously we have a biased opinion, being a golf company, but the possibilities that exist by having a municipal golf course that's connected with the school district and the students from the school district and the young people that just graduated from the school district. I'd like for everyone here that can hear my voice to just Google East Lake Project the East Lake model, there are a number of situations around the country where public and private partnerships have revitalized communities around the golf facility. And there's no reason why we can't do that with Shandon, in my opinion. I know you guys have a bunch of fish to fry, but one thing that I hope can come of all this interest is we really peel back the onion and look at the operations of the course.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening. Several comments. First, Mr. Sanchez, can you please stop looking at your phone? Because that's very disrespectful. Thank you. Burtek. How many of you up there received contributions from Burtek? We know Dr. Ortiz didn't, but the rest of you? You should think about it. The audience needs to know that the rest of you have received contributions. contributions from Burtek, so we wonder how unbiased you could be about tonight's presentation. Mr. Flores, why didn't you tell anyone at the Northwest PAC about your community meeting? We just found out online you didn't let us know when you were at the meeting, so what's going on? Sounds fishy. Next, when will we get city hall operating? It's been years, it's been too long. We are the center of the county and we have no city hall, no downtown, no food or restaurants for people to go to. When will our city get going on something that is vital and important, not just to the city, to the county? You know how bad we look? but obviously you don't care. Okay. When will we start updating the traffic study for the truck routes? It's been a few years. I remember when I pointed out that every city, I mean every street, was approved for truck routes, and you haven't updated since. So what's going on?

When are we gonna start updating the business improvement plan and the general plan?

And... Will the residents and small businesses be able to have input in there? Because we don't trust you. You've shown we can't trust you by yourselves. We want to see if we can have some input, not just you and your, the people, the big businesses that benefit from your decisions. We need, if the general plan had been updated, we wouldn't have warehouses in our neighborhoods across from schools. We wouldn't have a weed store right across from churches, schools, and that's what you've approved because you did not update the general plan in more than 20 years. There's no reasoning for that. It shows your ineptitude. Last, I would like to thank Dr. Ortiz for being the only truth-sayer up there on the dais. You're letting us know about the corruption in the city most of the time. Thank you. We appreciate that. And we saw the article regarding the FBI today. I think it's great. Keep fighting for us, because they wouldn't be interested in hearing from you if they didn't know there was corruption happening up there on the dais and throughout the city. So keep fighting for us and turning the corrupt liars in and trying to make San Bernardino a better place. It's a job. It's a hard job. But we're looking at you to do that. And our citizens. And Mr. Sanchez, pay attention to the people, not to your phone. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. Dulce Becerra with Blair Park Neighborhood Association. And I'm talking about the Shannon Hills Golf Course, our community's exclusive public asset. A public golf course in this location should be an economic engine, a vibrant community gathering place, and a point of pride. Instead, we're stuck in a cycle of neglect, facing rising fees for deteriorating course conditions. The proof of why Shannon Hills is falling behind is visible to anyone with a smartphone. So if you don't mind, entertain me. I don't mind if you take out your phone right now and go look at the Arrowhead Country Club and the Shannon Hills Golf Course Instagram pages. Go ahead if you want to take a moment to do that right now. The proof of why Shannon Hills is failing behind is visible to anyone with a smartphone, and I encourage you to look at the Instagram accounts. Over the last three years, Arrowhead has aggressively utilized free social media channels as a revenue engine. They use Facebook and Instagram to push Twilight packages, promote weekend specials, and heavily market their facilities for corporate outings and charity tournaments. They are actively hustling for public business and digitally filling their tea sheets. Arrowhead Country Club has 21 Instagram posts in 2026 and multiple stories. I printed it out today just to make sure that you guys can see if you wanna, I can hand it to you. Meanwhile, free digital marketing at Shannon Hills is an afterthought. Both courses are managed by the exact same organization. Why are we not seeing that same energy, hustle, and commitment invested in our public golf course? The management company has proven they are capable of driving immense revenue and engagement. It is simply not being done as Shannon Hills. This stark disparity is exactly why a rigorous forensic audit is necessary. We need a full accountability for our public asset. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Andy Fuentes. Before I start my comment, I have a question. If you took contributions or donations from Bird Tech, would you be allowed to vote on the item that was just passed? I just have a question on that, because just sitting down there and looking through some of you guys' campaign contributions, some of you guys got donations and contributions from Bird Tech, so just had to ask that. But I'm here tonight to talk about the... Thank you. The forensic audit on Shannon Hills Golf Course. Shannon Hills is more than just a golf course. It's a vital public asset belonging to the people of San Bernardino. When we have public assets like these, we have a responsibility to understand how they are being managed, how money is being spent, and what needs to be done to preserve them in the future. Recently, I attended the Shannon Hills Revival event, and I want to say that the event itself was fantastic. It brought so many residents together. It gave people an opportunity to experience a place that many of us have never visited before. For me, it was actually my first time at Shannon Hills. I was fortunate enough to receive a tour of the golf course from Council Member Knoss, and seeing the property close gave me a completely different perspective on what Shannon Hills is and what could it become. But something else happened that stuck with me at that event. I saw a close friend who I hadn't seen in almost a year at that event. That may seem like a small personal moment, but to me it represents why places like Shannon Hills matter. Public spaces bring people together, they create memories, they reconnect people, and they give community somewhere to gather. That is why it is so important that we have to revive Shannon Hills. At the same time, while I was there, I couldn't help but notice the lack of care that the golf course had received. You could see it. I think the event demonstrated that, it showed that Shannon Hills, what Shannon Hills could be if we gave it the proper attention, resources, and care. But in order to move forward, we need to understand where we are today. That's why the forensic audit matters. As this council receives this update, I hope you remember that this isn't simply about financial documents or numbers on a spreadsheet. It's about a public asset and about San Bernardino's, the responsibility this council has to the residents of San Bernardino. We cannot make responsible decisions about the future of Shannon Hills without understanding its past and future. And I think that we should remember the human side of this. I walked into Shannon Hills for the first time, received a tour, experienced a fantastic community event, and reconnected with someone I haven't seen in a year. That's what public spaces do. Shannon Hills has the potential to become a place where families gather, friendships are made, old friends reconnect, and our community comes together. So I ask that the council take this audit very seriously. and keep the residents of San Bernardino informed throughout this process. Let's get the facts, let's be transparent, and let's give Shannon House the attention that it deserves.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hello, I'm Louisa Becerra, and this is my sister, Amalie Becerra. We are both in Girl Scouts from Trip 1134. We are participating in the Love Your Block Route 66 project. For our project, we did a little free library. We are having the grand opening on Saturday, August 29th at Ann Shirell's Park at 9.30 a.m. and we invite you and come join us, thank you. Thank you for the invitation.

Next speaker, please state your name, you have three minutes.

My name is Howard Freedman, I am a business owner and a property owner in downtown San Bernardino. And I've been coming to many of these meetings over the years And there seems to be a recurring theme of crime and vandalism and homelessness and buildings burning. And I know the city makes a huge effort to try to help on these items. The police department, the council, thank you very much. Appreciate that, I really do. However, it doesn't seem to be working very well because for many of these years, these issues have come up over and over again. And so we need more tools in our toolbox to be able to address some of these very important issues. And as a business owner and a property building owner in downtown San Bernardino, I am willing to tax myself and pay for those services. And the building owners around me, owners are willing to do that too. So I'm speaking today in support of creating what's called a property-based business improvement district. Basically where we tax ourselves. It's a smart investment we choose together to strengthen our business community. It gives us the ability to fund the things we all want but the city can't provide at the level we need, which are cleaner streets, better lighting, stronger security, and a more welcoming environment for customers. It's called a PBID for short, and it lets us take control of our own future. Instead of waiting for someone else to fix the problems, we create a dedicated, reliable source of funding to improve our district. Cleaner sidewalks, visible safety patrols, and enhanced landscaping doesn't just make the area look better, they attract more visitors, increase food traffic, and raise property values. Most importantly, a PBID ensures that every dollar collected stays right here, benefiting the businesses and property owners inside the district. It's local money for local improvements, managed by people who actually work and invest here. If we want a safer, cleaner, more vibrant commercial area, the PBID is one of the most effective tools that we have. I believe it's a practical, community-driven solution that will help our district thrive. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Deborah Kaufman. I'm talking about the animal shelter. A while back I called shelter about a dog that was dumped at Wildwood Park and called right at 10 o'clock when they opened. I went back later that night. Dog was still there. Then the next day I saw next door somebody took the dog home, but they live in the county, so they took it to the county shelter. So the city shelter didn't have to get it. they I guess they figure if they just ignore it it'll go away so they don't have to pick up dogs because they don't think anybody's watching I guess and anyway also I'd like to know about these numbers to call because I've called before and they'll answer at 8 o'clock but now they only answer at 10 o'clock And on their website it says eight to five, the call center and customer service at 10. And there's nothing to indicate any after hours. So if an animal gets hit by a car and is dying, I guess you just leave it to die because there's nowhere to call. Because there's nothing on there to indicate where to call for any emergencies after hours. And also at Wildwood Park, I'd like to see a sign or something that indicates no aggressive dogs at the park, because we're getting a lot of people with dogs that are aggressive, and they hog up two sections, one with their aggressive dog and one with their other dogs. And then you can only use one section. So I don't think aggressive dogs should be allowed there, because then it runs into problems. And there should be a... like a telephone number to call for the park so the park security can come and tell them to leave, because if you call the police, they're not gonna come, obviously. They got other things to do. And I would also think the animal, when you call animal control, I think they should be recorded calls so we know, everybody knows what they're being told, because sometimes they just tell people, just leave the dog alone and it'll go away on its own. So at least it's recorded and we know who's saying what on there.

That's it, thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hi, my name is Tansu Philip. I'm the co-founder of Viva La Boba in downtown San Bernardino. I see some of you are drinking it, so shout out to you guys. Thank you. I am located, or rather Viva is located maybe 10 minutes away from here, not even. We're right in downtown at the corner of 4th and E Street. We've been there since 2019, and I opened that business with my partner, David, who's behind me and you'll hear from shortly. We opened that business in 2019 when there was absolutely nothing in downtown San Bernardino. Things have improved, of course, over time, but it's taken so much work and an unbelievable amount of work not necessarily by the city council, but by the people who own the businesses. So over the course of these years, we have had to scramble together our own form of security when people come in and bother my baristas and threaten them, because like many people have said tonight, when we call the police, they don't come. We have had to coordinate so many trash cleanup events because the city is otherwise dirty. And it obviously doesn't attract customers to downtown San Bernardino or even people who just want to enjoy public space in San Bernardino in their own city because there's trash everywhere. So we have spent time, money, resources, volunteer hours all in an effort to improve downtown San Bernardino. So when I heard about the PBID, can you guys still hear me? This mic sounds like it's going in and out. Okay. So when I was told about the PBID, and I'm also married to David, so no one has heard more about the PBID than me. I can guarantee that. I was really excited because if I know my father-in-law just talked a little bit about what it is, but to put it in maybe cooler terms, have you ever gone to like downtown Pasadena or downtown Riverside? or anywhere out of the country even, and thought, wow, they have such a cool downtown. It would be so nice if we had this in downtown San Bernardino. Has anyone had that thought before? Okay, yes, because we all have San Bernardino pride, right? 909 pride. We want to be proud that we're from the IE. It can be really frustrating when the people of this community and the people who own businesses of this community Are trying to make things better and certain things get in the way of that So when I heard about the P bid it seems like such an obvious easy fix to what we're looking for as my father-in-law said we are more than willing to pay whatever taxes are necessary so that we can have something like the P bid so that we can prove improve the area using, with the help of the city, instead of just relying on the time that we have after work to volunteer. So I'm so excited about the future of San Bernardino if we can get this PBID passed, and I think it's a very easy yes. If you have any questions, I encourage you to contact us at Viva La Boba.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hi, my name's David Alvarez. I'm the... Membership chair for the Shannon Hills Men's Club. I just wanted to talk about the course conditions of Shannon Hills. Ever since 2023 when that contract was signed, there's been nothing but deterioration on that golf course.

Can you speak closer to the mic? Thank you so much.

It's been nothing but deterioration on that golf course. I even sent you, Mayor Tran, pictures in September of 25 showing the conditions of the course. And you said you'd look into it. We haven't heard anything since. We have originally before 23, we had a 300 membership. Now we're at 121. We get on an average prior to the contract, Seventy-five players per week. Now we're down to 50. Today we had 31 on Wednesday, and that's surprising considering the conditions of the course. Everybody's complaining. Nothing's been done. We can't even have our Christmas party there because upstairs has been red-tagged from my understanding, and that just seems to be a sad case. You can't have that. I would like to see an audit done on the contract. There were supposed to be financial statements provided by the management company. I think those are public record. I haven't seen those on any websites. So I'd like to have this forensic audit done. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hi, my name is David Friedman. I'm here to talk on the PBID. You guys have heard me talking about it for probably the last five plus years. I want to thank the city manager, economic development team, and all of their staff for putting together a good report that you guys are going to see tonight. Back in 2023, you guys did a feasibility study, and Civitas, who did it, was kind of confused because usually it's the city that brings it forward and not the property owners, but it's the other way around. We want to help collaborate with the city to fix up downtown, and we want to pay into that and be a part of that. And so Civitas tonight will do some more education on that. Back when we could have formed the PBID, it was a cost of $39,000. And now today after COVID inflation and whatever else, it's closer to like $64,000 or $65,000. So I feel like time is of the essence. I also want to address a few concerns I've heard from the community. from city council members, from city staff. No one is talking about this more than I am. And so I'm deeply rooted into what people feel about this. And so I think a big concern is we're spending taxpayer dollars on this. So PBIDs can repay back the formation costs. So whatever you're spending tonight, we can write in the management plan that the PBID can pay those costs back to the city. So if you're concerned about wasting taxpayer dollars. And in the scheme of things, this is not a lot of taxpayer dollars to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish here. You can get it paid back. I also want to mention that it's not just about my business being in control of the PBID. It's about all the businesses in downtown being a part of it and having a stake in this PBID. It's about residents as well, government, nonprofits, and even like culture bearers, art galleries, stuff like that. they should be involved in the votes that this PBID makes. I also just want to say that we do do a lot of volunteer work. We're involved just like you guys are. We do a lot of volunteer work after hours when we can do it. But we need something sustainable. We shouldn't be just relying on the kindness of people. We need money and resources and ways to pull more resources into the city, and the PBID can do that sustainably. We can pay those taxes through our businesses, through our property, through our rents to create a sustainable entity that can help to... bring in better landscaping, keep downtown safe, fix up all the lighting in the parking structure on 4th and E. We can help retain small businesses and attract new businesses to downtown with the PBID. I took Judy Pinman on a trip to see the Ontario PBID, and she was amazed. I have a letter of support from Vartan from the Chase Bank building, Studio D. I have a letter of support from the Chamber of Commerce. I have a letter of support Multiple letters of support from the property owners and businesses all next to me in downtown. We're ready to do this if you are. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Thank you. David Lost. Thank you for your time. I'm a longtime member of the Shannon Hills Men's Club. The city of San Bernardino and its residents and the residents of the county deserve to have a fine golf course. The city was gifted a fine golf course in Shandon Hills. The previous managers of Shandon Hills, the American Golf Association, delivered a fine golf course at the end of their contract. Since the new management team has been in there, It has been decline from week one. Poor decisions, not just poor decisions, not just bad decisions, intentional decisions. The course has been I'M ASKING FOR THE QUALITY OF THE COURSE HAS CONTINUALLY GONE DOWN FROM THE FIRST DAY THAT THEY WERE THERE. I UNDERSTAND THERE'S GOING TO BE AN AUDIT. I HOPE THAT THAT AUDIT WILL INCLUDE ANY COMPLEX OF INTEREST THAT MIGHT EXIST BETWEEN THE MANAGEMENT TEAM, THE DECLINE OF The course has only benefited one entity, and that is competing golf courses in the area. I would also ask that you interview staff members and employees in that audit, men's club member officers, and even men's club members. They'd be happy to talk to you. I think that any remedy should also include first and foremost the removal of that management team. Thank you for your time.

Hello council members, mayor. Thank you guys again for letting me speak. My name is Dominic. I'm going to talk about the golf course again. And I'm just going to highlight the same thing that everybody else is saying. These problems that we're seeing that are happening with the course and with all the other places are the same thing. I know the paperwork trail says it was an RFP, but I was there. I was a starter. We were there. We watched it happen. We watched other management companies come to ask about being taken over. American Golf wanted to be there. Western Golf wanted to do it. But it seemed like it happened so fast that that company got the contract. And it would seem like it was a no-bid type contract. And we might know the details, but I want to put the responsibility on the city. I don't want to talk about them. They have their own problems, they have their own initiatives and stuff, but the thing is that we know, because we've seen public communications, because all your communications are public, that you guys wanted to use a surplus, that somebody in the staff wanted to use a surplus land act to get rid of the golf course at one point. We know that at some point, you guys were talking about doing a title transfer with that company so that we can honor the deed so that they could get the Shannon Hills, which if you guys don't know, there's only two golf courses in America that are worth more as courses than real estate. It's Augusta National and the Old Coast of St. Andrews. Look them up. Every other place is being drooled over by real estate investors. So if that were to happen and a child transfer were to happen, they would immediately sell it for real estate and make a lot of money, right? So... It seems like from the outside looking in, because we're watching you guys, that even recently there's been talk about getting rid of the back nine. And that's been in conversation. And it's like, it would seem like you guys are actively trying to set them on a path to get rid of the golf course for some benefit of the city. So I grew up in San Bernardino. I'm a fisher. I'm a hunter. You know, I fished the Combee Lake. I've eaten fish out of that lake. Even in the Combee's heyday, even in its heyday, it would never pool the amount of traffic that this golf course consistently pools. So why is the lake getting millions and millions of dollars, and we are bringing to the agenda a discussion to decide the value of the golf course? Because it seems like you guys want to see how much it's worth so you can make an assessment to get rid of it. And I don't know. Like I said, it's not what I think. It's just what I'm assuming by the communications that we're seeing. We're seeing the communications that you guys want to do all these different things, but no one is saying, let's just fix it, right? And I'm super glad. Dr. Ortiz, I'm so glad you brought it up on Instagram. I'm so glad. Thank you, Kim. You guys are doing a lot of stuff. Thank you for everyone who came to the tournament. I'm glad the energy is here. But it would be such a shame to get rid of a gift and to neglect this gift. So please, please come out, play with us, come play with the kids, come see what's going on. It's a magical place, man. Everyone's getting married there for years and years and years. It needs to be taken care of. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name in three minutes.

Yes, I'm Carmen Gallegos.

I've brought this sign here. It says adopt a planet because I've had some very weird comments coming from different sources, which professionals should never say, but Anyway, so I do want to focus on fixing the transportation for humans and animals. Because a lot of times what we're really not thinking about is ourselves on the ground and on the air. So again, you know, I've been addressing a lot of fireworks that went to fireworks to fires, which I've never seen, and then left battlegrounds for the city, which was ridiculous. And that never should have happened. Anyway, so aside from that, and also slum lording, which again goes from that in the city if it looks like a bunch of eyesores it also goes into the housing and a lot of illegal dumping also had left a lot of places unsafe in the workplace as well and i've never seen myself so many different things that i've never seen before but anyway so again regards to i was talking to public works about the streets in regards to near the buses, because sometimes near the buses it gets overloaded with heaviness and wear and tear weather. But if they can address that, I was going to talk about that as well. So again, but even the streets and the sidewalks and lights is even better, beautification even better, because a lot of times a lot of slim learning goes into the bad habits, and everybody does it. So if everybody's doing it at the same time, you've got a bunch of trash. So again, recycling, which is good, but also sometimes the recyclers take advantage of not realizing, not taking care of where they're at. And people do that. They'll just come there. But if you're not taking care of the people and they're being put out, they're just throwing out trash too because you're treating them just like trash. But clean air, also you should have took care of the clean air first, overlooking it, all these professionals. And on the streets, all these professionals, like I said, we all have different jobs. But I'm just trying to, you know, one at a time for my problem going on. I've never had seen so many different things in my life. So I'm learning as I go. So this is block by block. And I know in Washington, D.C., they had a scientist, you know, it was about fixing the block. And I thought that's what you need to do, is put a sign block by block to fix everything and address those issues. But also peel away where it's safe. It's like recycling to me was good, but not dangerous. I've never seen so dangerous that, you know, they're dropping off trash and bodies, going in, you know, the cemetery with, you know, metal detectors. We have high technology, but we can't afford high technology all the time. But if high technology couldn't look out for us, We need to focus on the humans and the animals. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hi, Russell Heckert. I'm a seven-year, almost eight-year resident of San Bernardino. Fell in love with the city my first year living here. I started golfing at the Shandon Hills Golf Course, and I know a lot of you, oh, Shandon Hills again, here we go. I got a lot of this stuff started. I spoke up right away when this management company first came in. I love that golf course. I started golfing there. It was beautiful. This management company took over and the course just is gone now. It's almost at the point where some of you succeeded. You are almost at the point where you can do what you want to do and sell it off. But if you do that, it's going to affect 61 Golf. It's going to affect all these children that come out there and they golf. It keeps them off the street, it keeps them from doing drugs, it keeps them from doing a lot of bad things. That golf course is a center of our community. And I'm sorry, I'm gonna start getting emotional here because I'm passionate about this course. I don't wanna see these kids fail. Do you realize golf scholarships are the easiest scholarships to get right now? We can get these kids out there, we can get them playing golf. A lot of these kids in low income communities, such as ours. We're not at the top, we're not at the very bottom, but we're not at the top. If these kids in football go out and they try to get a scholarship, they're competing against thousands, 20, 30,000 kids. In a golf scholarship, these kids are competing against 10, 15 other kids in their area. We can get more kids with scholarships, we can keep more kids off the street, get them dedicated to the course. That course definitely needs to be investigated more than it was. Because everyone in here, almost everyone in here has probably had a bounce check. Am I wrong? With this golf course, there's employees that have gotten paychecks that have bounced. If you missed that on that first audit, if you couldn't see that on the other side there was a bounce check somewhere, that audit wasn't done properly. That audit needs to go deeper, it needs to be more in depth. You need to find out where this money is going. If the money comes from the city for these people's paychecks, that money should go straight into their paycheck. They shouldn't have to wait for a check. The weekend after the 4th of July, I was in there. The manager at the time, I believe it was Darren, Derek, I forget his name. He pulled out the paychecks on a Tuesday. They're supposed to get them on Friday. He said in front of me, we had to wait to give them the checks because the funds weren't there. If the money's coming from the city, the funds should always be there. That's the only money that goes to that course is for paychecks from the city. So do a better investigation, please. Let's save that golf course. If not for us, for the kids.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Elvira Zamora, good evening. Thank you for having me. I am the founder of the Chicano Elegance Foundation. We're a 501c nonprofit, and I'm here today to speak on behalf of the special event fee waiver that we've requested from the city of San Bernardino, and also to state the reason why this is important. This isn't a party, it isn't an event that we just throw together. This actually takes us months, almost an entire year to plan and the reason why is this. When I began this in 2023, it was because I was frustrated with a lot of what the people have said today when it comes to their city and when it comes to funding, when it comes to the community, kids, arts, all of it. So I decided to throw an event to bring everybody together so that we can figure out how we can all work together. Because we can't have the artists on one corner, the singers here, and the golfers there. We need everybody together so we can all help each other out. It was a success, so we did it again in 2024, we did it in 2025 in another city, and this year we're doing it here in San Bernardino because we have board members from San Bernardino and they said, we need something like that here. and by witnessing and hearing a lot of the people tonight I couldn't agree more and we made the right decision to have it in San Bernardino so that we could have the businesses come out the artists everybody that has that's a resident because it's a night where we do celebrate it's a lot of joy but with that we display all of the beauty that San Bernardino has the potential and we all get to mingle we all get to you know let our guard down and actually work together and what I've proven every time we've had these events is that once people meet and once we leave and that night is over, they connect and then they start creating events together, start helping each other out and gathering in community. And that is why I'm here to prove the case that we should be able to get this special fee waiver because we are not backed up by any any sponsors, it's just us. It's really just us, the people. And we're the ones that are making it happen with just the want to do it. So we really need all the help we can get and if the city of San Bernardino could invest in this, then it's gonna pay back 10 times fold, I promise you that. So thank you very much for giving me the time and you will see you're all invited to come so you can see exactly what I'm talking about and we will make San Bernardino proud that night. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good afternoon, buenas tardes. My name's Angel Aguirre. Hey, Sanchez, a little attention, a little respect. Please, we're Hispanic and our parents taught us better than that, man. To be honest, I would appreciate that. Look, I'm a resident. I got San Bernardino tattooed all across my body. Born and raised out here. The west side is getting bad. Ms. Helen Tran, I've called and spoken to your, I'm not sure where she is, your assistant. pointing the fingers at the police department. I go to the police department, they point the fingers at you guys. I've already been robbed. An 80-year-old man just got beat up and his ribs broken, and nobody's doing nothing about it. We need you guys to go in and clean up the city from those homeless. I've gone in myself personally and spoke to them. They're not from here. They're from LA. They're from Orange County. They're from San Diego. They ain't residents from here. And I deal with these people every day. That park that you guys are so proud of, Nicholson Park, I built that, these hands. We're just looking for you guys to represent us. The city is a shithole now compared to what it was 10 years ago. I was born and raised here. It's already 35 years from Dominic, the one that spoke to a lot of people that are here. No, the city was different. We used to be proud to be from here. And it just went downhill. And we need you guys as representatives to listen to us like my ward council member, she's not even here, Miss Ibarra. Like, what's going on? We need you guys to listen to us, to the people. This is the first time I came up here and I finally got the balls to come up and talk to you guys, because I don't really go out there and talk to nobody. I'm not really literate, I'm not a political person, but I was raised with respect, and it's hard for me to go to anybody. But I'm coming to you guys and asking you guys to go help clean up the communities. I'm out there every day. I work, I bust my butt just to have everything stolen, people around me, like, it's a constant thing. And then I'd appreciate for you guys to come out, especially Ms. Tran, because like I told your assistant, I'll invite you guys to come out, get an RV, stay on Magnolia and H Street. Not during the day for no photo ops or nothing like that. Go and stay there overnight and see the things that us as the residents are dealing with. It's not easy. And everything that we work hard for, like that nice park that we built for you guys, my tools got stolen. Last Tuesday, I have police report, I have everything. Nothing could be done because the people ran back into the encampments and they have so many rights. But what about us as residents that have been there over 40 years? When is it time for us to be heard? The money that's being mismanaged? You guys did two panels. I seen the receipt for it, me personally. One million dollar for two panels. This money's being mismanaged. Two cement panels. That's no more than 10 grand. But we're getting screwed over as a city. And you guys know us as Chicanos, as whatever. It's not good for us to speak up, but I'm here speaking up today because I'm tired of this, man. We need you guys to come out and support us. That's all I'm asking. Come out and see it for yourselves. And I invited you guys. Come out.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hi Mayor and Council Members. Tonight I am asking you to direct the City Manager, Director of Finance to identify funding and bring back a proposal for a dedicated city-wide spay and neuter program. I am also preparing to start a GoFundMe campaign for spay and neuter, but for that to be responsible and transparent, I need the City to establish a separate spay and neuter fund with a direct donation link that I can post with it. So residents and local businesses, in order to donate money, can be sure it's going to the right place and strictly for spay and neuter. This fund must be restricted to spay and neuter only, of course. I understand the city has serious priorities, including homelessness, public safety, infrastructure, and essential services. essential services This request is not asking the city to choose animals over people It is asking the city to address any issue that is already costing taxpayers money and affects every single citizen in our city already when animals are not spayed and neutered more unwanted litters are are born, more animals end up roaming our streets, entering shelters requiring animal control, response, medical care, food, housing, and sometimes euthanasia. Those costs are already paid by taxpayers. So prevention is less expensive than continuously responding after the problem has grown. This weekend I made a post explaining that, posted it on Nextdoor, expecting some really negative comments. I didn't blame the shelter. I explained that, oh my gosh. Okay, so residents and local, that wasn't it. I understand the city... Okay, I lost my place. Somebody called me. I'm sorry. I just need the city to address this as soon as possible. We need spay and neuter. It's the responsible thing to do because every animal that enters into the animal shelter costs us taxpayers money. Every one of them. So, you know, why not head it off and take care of it before it gets to that point? That way the animals, you know, the animals don't have to go through all of this. But I was saying I posted something and I got over 100 responses from the community, not one negative response. I did have the papers I was going to give you, but they told me I couldn't do that, but anyway. So that's what I'm asking for. We really need this money now. Please don't wait. Please.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Hello, Council Mayor. My name is Miriam Nieto. I am a resident of the Seventh Ward, and I'm here today to talk to you guys about the PBID. And I think David Freeman and I have, we've talked about the PBID back and forth, and I think that I am in agreement of it. However, I do feel like there has to be safeguards to it, because yes, This definitely will support the downtown development with some of the taxes that will be provided to safety and to beautification, which is great. And also, we need to think about the people who are leasing the spaces, right? Because there is property owners who own the properties, and yes, property owners right now are investing in our community. However, who's to say that the property owners that would come when the downtown is getting developed, we'll also invest in that same way. I think that there has to be a good governmental structure to be able to have a great understanding of what those processes are gonna be, what the safeguards are gonna be, as well as what are the taxes that are gonna be implemented in that PBIT that will potentially go on to the people who are leasing. And I agree with David Freeman. There should be residents' votes as well as other votes from community, especially if it's taxpayer money, right? It shouldn't just be just the city, you guys. It should also be some of the organizations that are also building some momentum in the downtown area. So, again, I am in favor of it, but I believe that there has to be a good governmental structure and more understanding on what safeguards we can provide to build a better PBID in the downtown area. And then, just lastly, I want to say, you know, I'm not a golfing person. Like, I'm not crazy about golfing. I don't understand it. And also, like, just the amount of land that it takes for golf courses to happen, like, for me, is, like... Let's build housing. But you know what? I do believe that some resources are worth using up and I believe that the community here has told you. This is an asset that our community has that is for the public. Michael was reminiscing about how when he went to Cajon High School, he used to play there, his brother used to work there and his friends used to work there because it was the only public golfing course that San Bernardino has that invites schools to do work there as well as just be there and I think that's always worth giving back to our youth and our community especially when it comes to a public asset. So please support it. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Kimberly Calvin here. And I just want to thank you and every single person that has worked on the Nicholson Park project from the beginning of 2021 when we had our first public meeting to hear what the public wanted within that park. In 2019, when I began to canvass that area, that was all they wanted. So I want you to know how many folks that you made very, very happy this past Saturday with the opening, the ribbon cutting of that park. With that being said, green spaces and open spaces are always very, very important, which we saw in the COVID. And so what I want to do right now is give a testament to Larry Shackelford and 61 Golf because I, as well as Larry, have been a vendor for San Bernardino Unified School District, providing before and after school services for the past 10 years. So I know the work of Larry Shackelford and his staff, and I want to commend him. But what we do owe Larry Shackelford and his staff and all of the scholars of the city of San Bernardino and all of the members of that club, because my ex-husband has been a member of that club for 30 years, along with a lot of other folks in this city. And it is very, very unfortunate that they do not golf there any longer. So every Sunday, they had a standing 6 o'clock tee time. and they have not had that tee time for now entering into their second year because of the condition of the course. So a lot of community members have paid money to play there, which should be going towards the upkeep of the course. When I came onto the dais in 20, I believe, maybe about 2022, Councilmember Alexander and I asked for an audit. We asked for the contract of that course. We never saw that contract while sitting on the dais until 2024. Never did it come through. The community right now is asking that you be transparent. Provide some accountability of what is actually happening. What we do know is that John Valdivia did say that we should bulldoze that course. And I don't know how many of you agree on that, but right now is where you're going to be... It's going to be time for you to make your statement as to what it is and how you believe and what you feel about that course and its existence. It is the only public course that we have in the city. Why are we not taking care of it? When the course was built, the Sixth Ward gave up CDBG funds. ESG funds to build a couple of holes on that course so it does not just belong to the fifth ward it actually belongs to the sixth ward as well we did a lot of investing right now is your opportunity to show how important are the people of San Bernardino they've come here multiple times you've heard it multiple times how many more times they need to come in order for you to show that it is equally as important as any park and any other establishment in our city thank you thank you

Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

You hear my name before. I'm Clementina Pena Bernal. I hear someone asking for some of the monetary receiving for Mrs. Trent. On 6-13-25, she received $2,000. 7-23-25, she received $1,000. 8-14-25, she received $1,600. Moving to another issue. Sorry to be negative, but if you need to save money to pay some of the employees on Shandling Hills, maybe use your fire, Mr. Sanchez, because 80% of the time, he's on the phone. Very bad. I have him on a video, and I will place it on the media so they can see what kind of counsel they have. Second, talking about the animals, yes, you know what? You guys need to move and do a better job because I, myself, do foster for the city. When I do fostering for the city, I don't get, they don't provide me food, they don't provide me sand for cats, they don't provide me for anything. I do it out of my heart. And I spend money neutering Spain animals. So that's my heart, it's okay, but I feel like the city, if you're gonna spend money on paying people like that, that they only come and warm up the city, you know what? Get ready of them and use it for the better things like animals. I went last week, to the shelter because thanks to the Lounge Foundation, POPCO, and some other ones, that's how I had some of my vouchers to do the job that I need to be done. I don't wanna let any animal go without being, have their sheds or whatever they need. So when I go, it's about 10 little dogs in one kennel. You need to enforce neutering and spay. You can probably make a program for voluntary people, go house to house. You want to make more money, start requesting licensing for animals. Because that's the only way, and also you need a little bit more... checking on illegal renting, because right now, when they use the excuse of low housing, a lot of people are abusing converting AUDs and all that kind of stuff. They're not paying their licensing. All that is totally illegal. You want to make money, then start using a good strategy. Maybe if you go to Fontana and take coffee with the major over there, maybe she will share some of the strategies she used for that city because that's a clean city. You guys cannot compare San Bernardino with Loma Linda, with Redlands, with Rancho when you guys talk about prices and things. No, we don't live like that. I covered my own potholes on the street. I live on that area for 30 years on the same corner, and I never see a maintenance group working on the street.

Thank you, thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes. There's a button that you just press. Thank you so much.

Hi, my name is AC Marci Tete. I think this is off topic, but I was requesting that resources be used to let the homeless ride the bus free. I know they have P.O. boxes for them down here. So I was thinking it would be a good idea for you guys to have resources or vouchers or whatnot for the homeless get on the buses, and then I was also requesting that you guys put more resources into having like food pantries and showers like seven days a week for a couple of hours. And that's it.

Thank you, thank you. Next speaker, please state your name, you have three minutes.

Good evening, Frank Becerra. member of the Blair Park Neighborhood Association, fifth ward resident. Thank you very much for having us all tonight and again giving up a Wednesday night for us. You've heard over seven people speak as to the conditions at Shandon Hills. You heard of bounced checks, you heard of poor conditions, and then inequitable management as well. Additionally, I've pulled several public records from public records requests, And it's a little difficult to decipher because I'm getting apples and oranges and not all of the records. But what we have pieced together is concerning because it's just not adding up. In Dr. Ortiz's, to quote Dr. Ortiz, the math ain't mathing. Preliminary, what we can show is Shannon Hills currently spends about 70% on labor. while area golf courses are closer to 50% spent on labor. I wanna highlight in your packet today the management contract. Section 1125, 11.25, it's page 18 also. And I'll just quote a small piece. During the final year of the term of this agreement, city and manager shall negotiate potential terms of agreement extension If the city and manager have not agreed to a contract extension by October 1, 2027, then the exclusive negotiating period outlined in this section shall end and the city shall be free to negotiate, initiate, solicit, or encourage with any person or entity regarding the facility. So it's an auto renewal is what it seems for the current management company. And given the concerns that people have raised tonight, It doesn't deserve to be on automatic renewal. Again, to quote Dr. Ortiz, I'm really glad you brought this up, we deserve open, competitive RFPs, or requests for proposals. Therefore, I'm requesting a comprehensive forensic audit. You've heard various things about finances, about conditions, about inequitable marketing of the course, and I think it definitely deserves a full review. I have 30 seconds left, so I'm glad someone brought up spaying and neutering. As a San Bernardino resident and as a former county animal control staff member, hugely agree and support spay and neuter for the city. It's probably the best weapon we have for pet overcrowding. In 13 seconds, please come, August 29th, Anne Shirell's Park, to the Little Free Library opening. Thank you very much and hope to see you there.

Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. You have three minutes.

Good afternoon. Ivan Garcia. I've been a resident since 2018. I live in Ward 2. I'm a general contractor, rental property owner, and a community volunteer. I just want to say thank you to SBE. Economic development for bringing a terramia coffee shop to mill and Mount Vernon. That's a huge win Please keep up the excellent work. I also wanted to share some of the past events that I've attended This past Saturday. I attended the ribbon-cutting at Nicholson Park Thank You Mary Tran city staff our city manager our director of Public Works mr. Azam councilman Ortiz director of parks Vanessa High five to you for that. It's all a team effort. I know it wasn't just one person. It seems we had about 500 to 700 attendees. The project was valued about 13.5 million. And I wanted to say to please give yourself a pat on the shoulder, because that was a huge win as well. I did want to ask, when are we going to get a hiking trail similar to Mount Rubidoux? I always have to go to Mount Ribideau to get my hikes in or get my steps in. Another event that I attended was yesterday, Rotary of San Bernardino. They had a guest speaker, Guided Dogs for the Desert. There was about 20 to 30 attendees. It'd be nice to have city staff, city council attend Rotary. I know I'm going to become a member by the third event that I attend. And let's make it a habit to have city staff invite business owners. I've already reached out to other business owners in the city, so my colleagues that I know, we need to get involved. There's a lot of talent here in our city. And this past Sunday, I attended Portal's Bakery in West Covina. Another question, for those that don't like coffee shops, warehouses, parks, and car washes, how about we take your energy and let's bombard Portal's Bakery and ask them when they're gonna come build a Portal's here in our city. Upcoming events, we have ice cream Sunday, social tomorrow, Thursday for 820. People get involved, get educated, network, you'll begin to realize there's a lot of good people here in the city. To other city members, it would be nice if you held a bi-weekly, a monthly meeting with your residents, have face-to-face, answer questions, even Update your social media. Show what's going on, what you're working on. Highlight some of the wins in our city. Get in the habit of getting involved and maybe attending one to three community events on a weekly basis. Our residents want to see that. We want to see involvement. And for Shannon Hills Golf Course, kudos to Ms. Canaz and the team and the city staff. Let's revitalize and get that golf course up there.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please state your name. We have three minutes.

Honorable Mayor O'Tran and City Council members, thank you for your service to the San Bernardino community during these very challenging times. Your kind attention, your patience, and your eye contact with speakers here tonight has been refreshing to observe. Thank you. I am here to share the concerns of community members about the serious impact animal shelters are having upon when they operate a closed-door policy, turning animals away by restricting and limiting their entry. Please know I understand that San Bernardino Animal Control has alternatives to relinquishing animals. Community members are also questioning why, since they pay tax money, are residents not receiving the help that they need? People and animals depend upon animal shelters to prevent pain and suffering, not only of animals, but from people, from being bitten, attacked, and mauled by stray dogs, or from people who might be injured in traffic accidents trying to avoid hitting stray cats and dogs. Case in point. I was traveling down East Street and a white dog ran across the street. It was hit by a car and laid there in the middle of the street, only to be hit by another car. And I can still hear and I can still see the thump of that dog's body. It was run over by another car. Case in point. A cat was on Rialto Avenue crossing the street and hit by a car. It stood up and tried to walk. It stood up and tried to walk. It went around in circles and collapsed on the street. I went over and I got the dog and I got the cat. I had put both of them on my seat. The cat had passed away. The dog I was trying to take to the emergency clinic and it passed away on the front seat of my car. If these animals had probably, if they had been able to go to an animal shelter, perhaps they would be alive today. I am not here to condemn residents. I'm not here to condemn, ridicule, or cast judgment upon San Bernardino Animal Control. their management, or staff. They are a very dedicated and caring group of individuals for animals, but I am here to ask us to form a task force to come up with ideas to promote animal welfare, to offer accurate information about shelter operations, Can you imagine if this task force contacted veterinarians in the city of San Bernardino and they came forward and said, yes, we want our veterinary clinic to be open on a Saturday or a Sunday and help with spaying and neutering. Can you imagine if every single person here in this auditorium.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Madam City Clerk, is that all the public comments?

That concludes the public comments. Thank you. We don't have any Zoom comments tonight, and you were provided the written comments from the public. And just to make you aware, we did receive, after the previous meeting, a lot of comments that were received after the cutoff time, but those have been provided to you as well. So about half of these are from August 5th.

Thank you. We have someone on the Zoom? No, we don't. Okay. Before we head into our consent calendar and discussions, I'd like to call for a recess. Thank you to the public for coming out to take the time to speak to us as those comments are noted on our end. Thank you. We'll return at 7.45.

Well, 15% still allows us just based off our panel that we see. So from a PA standpoint, myself, 100% of my time goes to about 250 individuals a year. And so 15% with including the peer navigators who see about 75 to 100 a year would allow me to see that. When we divide our time, our time is 100% of my time is not with patients. A handful of my time is spent with a short amount of time with the patient. And a lot of the time that we allocate is from the peer navigators. But just based off the contract and mimicked from San Diego, to fit in the van and be able to allocate that time, that's the way it panned out. If it were without the van, it would probably look a little different. But we also are trying to balance our staff with the other grants that we have. And so we essentially can't allocate all of our staff or their time to the project.

So what this is saying is basically with the $600,000 that the city is committing, there's not going to be additional staff that will be obtained for this specific project. You will be using existing staff.

Correct.

And how many cities do you currently service?

For San Bernardino, or are you talking about all across California?

Just in general. I mean, how many cities total does your staff service?

Well, if you're talking about San Bernardino County, I would say we service Colton, San Bernardino, Highland, and Redlands, and then parts of Rialto. But that's one team. We have teams in Long Beach, Hollywood, San Diego, San Mateo, Garden Grove, Orange County, Riverside, Hemet, Paris. San Jacinto, and then the heart of Riverside.

Okay. And I'm just going to assume that without the mobile van, you wouldn't be able to have the reach that you're anticipating here in the city of San Bernardino?

Correct. Yeah. The idea is that the mobile van will allow us to extend our services. There are certain services that you can't do in a Wagoneer. Mat services are usually done behind closed doors. Long-acting injectables are usually done behind closed doors. There's certain therapies that we do are done behind closed doors. That's difficult to do in a car. So when we got our van, we utilized our van for also point of care testing, ultrasounds, EKGs, full exams if we need it, and point of care tests that require privacy.

The estimated reach of 75, is that something contractual that was negotiated as far, you know, or was that just provided with this operational plan?

It was.

What, negotiated?

It was negotiated.

Okay.

So, I mean, obviously I feel like our backs are up against the wall, unfortunately. This information is coming to us kind of in a very concise timeline, being that we have to agree to this basically tonight. That's quite unfortunate in my opinion. But I do take issue with us spending a significant portion, like I said, almost a third of this budget to purchase a vehicle that wouldn't even be a city asset. To me, that doesn't make sense. Um, but I also want to be cognizant of the fact that if we must do this and we must move forward with this contract, that we do want the service provider to be able to render the services appropriate and be effective and efficient in rendering those services. So I don't think it necessarily would make sense for us to forego purchase of the vehicle, but what I'd like to do in council member Ortiz, if you are amenable moving forward, but at the end of the term of the two years, the city retains the vehicle. It belongs to us being that we paid for it. Okay.

Mayor Potem, I agree because I think my motion changed to however you guys negotiate that, but at the very least, I agree with Mayor Potem to either retain the vehicle, do a lease agreement, but...

Yes, if you give us flexibility to negotiate and then bring back a final budget, we could do the contract but then have the final budget where we deal with the vehicle and bring that back for council consideration.

amendment, I will second it. Yes, amenable. Yes.

Thank you, Mayor Bertin. Thank you, Council Member Ortiz. Council Member Charette.

Thank you, Mayor. What's the life? I think we've beat up the van enough. But it's going to be, the life is a lot longer than two years for that van. And when you say all the cities and counties and things that you do, are all those cities providing vans? I mean, you're building up quite a fleet. If you own them all at the end of your two or three-year term, you're building up quite a fleet at the taxpayer's expense. And I have a little bit of a problem with that. And plus, I'd love to have our logo on the side connecting us to what the services that you're providing. However, city attorney... Mr. City Attorney. City Attorney and the City Manager, aren't we looking at some liability with, we don't own the van, they own the van, they're doing the services, but they've got our city seal on the side. They're not our employees, but isn't that a consideration?

So, well, I've seen the van, I've seen vans where you do have a contractor use it and it shows the city logo on the site.

No, I'm sure we've seen it. What's the liability with that?

I haven't seen a lot of liability, but the city attorney can address that. But the proposal, and as I understand the motion, is that you approve the $600,000, but we would come back with the exact budget and how the vehicle would fit within that budget.

Okay, well, I can live with that, but I do think that's a pretty... Maybe I shouldn't use the word sweet deal, but it's kind of a sweet deal to get an almost $200,000 van, use it for two years, and then what happens at the end of the contract and you own the van, and during the time that you're providing the services, hopefully, good services, you're running around with our logo on the side, our city seal, and I think that puts us in some liability. concerns in that they're not our employees, but they're representing us. You'd have to, that's a legal question.

So they have agreed to our standard template professional services agreement that we have drafted for this arrangement. It includes indemnification, where they have to indemnify us. It includes that they have to perform their services according to the standard of care an industry standard that would apply to the driving and operating of the vehicle also. And then of course there's insurance provisions. And so we would ensure that all of the certificates of insurance reflect the vehicle and that we're named as additional insured. And then of course we have our indemnification language to rely on also.

Okay, well, if we're not actually giving them the van in the approval tonight, you're going to come back and you're going to give us a little better picture of how that van works into the deal. I can support that.

And to even be clear, I have a concept from another city I was in where we actually owned the vehicle, and we did do exactly what the two council members had mentioned. We retained the vehicle at the end of the term.

I think that would be my preference, but I'm willing to hear you when you come back.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Barr, did you have a question? No, you're good. Okay. Council Member Figueroa.

Yes, thank you. What is your policy on the supplying or distributing vehicles? for purposes of harm reduction efforts to prevent infections and things like that. Do you have a policy on that?

We have policies on harm reduction. We stand pretty firm on harm reduction. I'm not sure what term of policy for harm reduction you mean. Are you regarding to what our daily basis is on harm reduction or our stance is on harm reduction? Particularly that with substance use. So in terms of what we provide for harm reduction. Do you provide paraphernalia? Do you provide for purposes of injections or anything like that? So we do. We do provide what is the standard for harm reduction based off what our addiction medicine specialist provides, essentially. So we provide, I mean, we basically provide a kit. So we give a fentanyl use kit to make sure that they're Fentanyl test kit we give Narcan or we give Narcan we give other Clean needles or what what are the what's in that so we we provide a we provide essentially a bag that has a Fentanyl test kit we have a clean pipe we have a Syringe disposal that we go and pick up from them So they're not dropping it off in the in the park, and then we take it and we dispose it and Are the syringes, these needles, are they for purposes of diabetes or for something else?

For insulin or is this for something else?

It's usually given for their substances, so they don't pass that on to folks in the community.

Okay. And I know that's completely up for debate. I certainly am not comfortable, especially on a night where we just recognized overdose awareness, for the city to engage in handing out needles enabling already vulnerable people to continue to use drugs. And so I know that it's, for me, it's a difficult thing to accept and then put the city seal on it to continue indirectly providing drug paraphernalia to people who are already vulnerable. And again, that's up for debate. I certainly don't support that. I don't know how my colleagues feel about that, but I certainly, I don't like that aspect of it.

Totally. So harm reduction is relative to the county, what they stand on. So Riverside County is the same way, and we don't provide harm reduction services in that way, or what they do allow in harm reduction services. So if they're okay with a disposal that they can use and that we go and pick up, we do the same thing. So we do it to the county or the city's what they're comfortable with.

And I understand your position. I want to be very respectful of this because I understand the arguments for and against. I just don't, I'm not comfortable especially if we're going to be putting our name on this. We pretty much are, my interpretation is that we're indirectly providing drug paraphernalia for people, enabling, essentially we're enabling drug use. And so I'm just not comfortable with that. Again, I say this respectfully because I do understand your position and others' position on this matter as well. I'm just not comfortable with it. Yeah, totally.

Thank you, Council Member. Any further comments? Yes.

Yeah, if I just may elaborate a little bit more on the services we provide. Our focus is always on reducing use and to begin MAT and bringing that directly to the streets. And that's our main goal, right? So we are not a harm reduction service. We are not that. So we do believe in that, and we believe it has a place. And so I understand. Thank you for the respectful debate. But I do want to make it clear that our services are focused around decreasing opioid use, decreasing methamphetamine use, getting people off the streets, providing them psychiatric care, and doing that in the streets where they're too afraid to go into a clinic or come inside. We provide that there. So that is our main focus and our biggest push. I just want to look. A little clarity on that.

I appreciate that, and I want to remain very respectful of both sides. I understand it's a very, you know, there's two sides to it, but that's all. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Figueroa. Council Member Ortiz.

Yes, given Council Member Figueroa's concern, because I really, I couldn't agree more. Just, you know, given stuff to help facilitate people using drugs who are drug addicts, It doesn't make sense to me. So with that being said, Mr. City Manager, a part of this negotiation of just the budget, can we look at whether or not our portion of our budget, if you would fund it or not fund it or could curtail it to certain things given the parameters, like what type of budget we want to put towards that with how much funding we want to fund for needles or crack pipes or whatever we're giving them. So is that okay? Can you do that?

That sounds good.

Thank you.

Thank you, council. Any further comments? Very engaging conversation. As we know, there's a crisis in our community, so I appreciate the council engaging in a very deep manner. And thank you, Health Care in Action, for the work that you do in the community. And thank you, staff, for really helping us make informed decisions to minimize the risk that we are entering into. And that's why it's always important to engage in conversation. So again, thank you, council, for your patience. There is motion and a second on the floor. Can we please call for the votes?

Just for clarification for the record, as I understand the motion, is to approve the contract for an allocation of $600,000 budget for the specific scope and specifically related to the use of the van, how that actually works, to be further negotiated And then City Manager will bring that back and present that to you. Is that accurate? Okay, thank you.

Council concurs with what our legal advice is. Seeing that no issues, please call for the votes.

Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Barra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

No.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Potemkinas? Yes. Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes six to one with Council Member Figueroa voting in opposition.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Moving on to the next consent item, item number 13. Mayor Pro Tem? I'm sorry? I'm sorry, 10. Mayor Pro Tem?

And I'll be brief. I just have a question. Do we have a designated city policy when it comes to waiving these types of fees?

Which item are we on?

This is for the special event. Oh, 10. Okay, I was on the wrong.

I was on 13. I was trying to understand that. Yes, so Mayor Pro Tem, Knauss and Council. On waiver of fees, you had a policy that there were certain events that we could waive, one being the Route 66 that's done annually. I think there may have been another one. Any other fees that would be waived would have to come directly to council. This is coming under that policy. It's coming to council because it's unique and it's more of a regional LA regional fee. And after talking with the group, one of who spoke, we felt this was unique enough and brought enough attention to San Bernardino. That's why we're recommending it. I've also Another council member had asked, could we use the, council member Figueroa had asked, could we use the cultural development fund to fund that and move that $4,000 over to the general fund? You could make that as part of the motion.

And it's nothing against the organization whatsoever. I'm sure the event that you guys are going to be bringing is going to be awesome. I, myself, as a resident, helped co-create SB Food Fest, so I completely understand. What I want to just make sure is that we're not necessarily just picking and choosing who we weigh fees for and who we don't. I would like to make sure that we do have, you know, something clearly delineated into how we are making these decisions. So nothing is seen as, you know, favoritism or anything of that nature. I do recall that there were certain city approved events for fee wavels. But again, as we, you know, we just kind of get random, you know, fee waivers, I do think there should be a little bit more policy when it comes to how that selection is made.

Thank you. Customer Figueroa?

Yes, thank you. In fact, I think the city manager already kind of alluded to what I was, the reason why I pulled this item as well is again, it has nothing to do with the actual organization or the event at all as much as it is how it's funded. And so What I would propose or my motion would be that instead of it being absorbed through You know some other department or the general fund that it is taken out of the cultural development fund because it is I mean it essentially it is a cultural event and so I think for that reason It should be funded through that fund Thank you, there's a motion a second man say the clerk I

Council Member Sanchez? Yes. Council Member Ibarra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Knauss?

Yes.

Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

Thank you, Council. Moving on to Item 13, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, and I'll leave you for again. So I've brought up, you know, assessments quite a lot during my tenure here. And I've also just kind of pinpointed how we list it. And maybe it's just me, but I would like to make it plain and simple. There was also within the back of it said something about an attachment for a diagram. How are we supposed to know where these assessments are? I don't know what zones and numbers are. I've had numerous conversation with you back and forth in regards to assessments in my ward. There's no way for me to know if my ward is included in any of this. So it's just a recommendation moving forward for consideration of the council as well as the general public that might be looking at this so that we can just plainly see where these assessments actually are.

So this one's a unique one, Mayor Pro Tem and council. This was one that came forward to the council previously, like 30 days ago, but there was a change in policy on the county, and in order for us to still be able to collect these assessments, we had to come back, I signed off on a letter And this is just re-certifying based on a new process that they have at the county. So we can make sure that map gets back to you. I thought it was in the packet, but maybe it wasn't.

Unless I missed it, it was not. In the backup, as far as the explanation, you guys did great with actually the backup.

We can bring that back to you. The reason we're bringing this right now is based on the change in policy by the county, if we don't approve this tonight, then we don't get any of these assessments into the county taxes.

And I'll move forward with approving it. Again, it's just a recommendation so that we can actually know the areas. And again, it's not just in reference to this, but I've seen it before when we are approving assessments. And I've talked to you about it before. I've questioned assessments in my area and asked for a list. The numbers don't help me, and I'm not in the tax assessor's office. I'm not going to sit there and take hours to just pull every parcel number. So it would be really helpful, again, not just for my ward, for all of us sitting up here, to be able to be privy to really where these assessments are. So that's just, yeah. But I move to approve.

Thank you, Mayor Plotin. There's a motion, a second by Councilman Sanchez. Please call for the votes.

Mayor Tran, just for the record, I wanted to stand up for staff and just let you know, on this item, staff did nothing wrong. Just so you know, every city in San Bernardino County got these rejection notices. Basically, the county changed its requirements and didn't let anyone know. And so then they rejected all the resolutions that everyone had approved. Every city in the county, as soon as your staff did nothing wrong. Just so you know.

Thank you for the clarification.

Please call for the votes. Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Ibarra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette? Yes. Mayor Patim-Canas? Yes. Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. May I pretend we have number 20?

Yes. For the flashing beacons, which I'm very excited to see this, the flashing beacon lights, just a quick question. I didn't see it in the back. How are we determining the locations of where these will go?

I'm pinch hitting for Azam tonight. So I believe it will be done by traffic volume as well as some additional studies. I'm not a traffic engineer. That's really Azam's specialty. But I believe that he has a process that identifies it based on various factors such as traffic accidents, you know, locations that have a lot of demand for pedestrian crossing areas. And that's what I'm assuming that that will be. I apologize, he did have a medical emergency today. No apologies necessary, thank you so much.

If we could maybe just get a follow up so that we as a council know just how these locations will be determined. And then just kind of a little selfish plug between me and Council Member Ortiz's ward, there is the ASA Charter School It has a very heavy amount of traffic, and there has been, as you very well know, that bend. That is a location, I think, that would truly benefit from something like this.

Yes, I do believe that is one of the locations. Okay, perfect.

Okay, thank you very much.

Council Member Ortiz, and then followed by Council Member Ibarra.

No, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, because when seeing this, And I know the mayor of Rotem has been an equal advocate to figure out the traffic mitigation because their kids are crossing E Street to go to school. And it's horrific. But the center median projects that you're doing is going to be great in mitigating traffic. But my question is, and I think you and I discussed this too when we're looking at this, and determination is, you know, the speeds and all of this stuff, like one's a 40, 25 school zone. So how that all factors in, you know, I hope, I guess what I'm saying is that this is a, it's a collective discussion between putting these in and what's happening in the whole area. So thank you.

Thank you.

Casimiro Ibarra. I'll echo the concerns and the comments from my colleagues because I, too, have several school areas where traffic just zooms down. They don't stop at the crosswalks. And so maybe like we do with the street segments, capital improvement projects maybe apply equality throughout the whole city, not just specific boards. Like I said, problem areas that I've had with People not obeying the stop signs, for example. We need something more visible for the drivers. We'll be along Crestview by Bradley Elementary on G Street. All the way up and down G Street, a lot of students are going to school, high school, elementary schools there, and a lot of vehicles don't stop. So I'd like every single ward to at least have some funding available for those lights. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Mayor Pro Temp.

And to Council Member Barr's point when it comes to the schools, because obviously those are more sensitive areas, I know that we currently engage and also apply for the Safe Routes to School funding. Is this something that can kind of be in conjunction with that plan for the Safe Routes to School funding?

Yes, I believe it will be.

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you, Council. Motion by Council Member Ortiz. Is there a second? Oh, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Madam City Clerk, please call for the votes.

Council Member Sanchez? Yes. Council Member Barra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa? Yes. Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Patim Canas?

Yes.

Council Member Flores?

Yes.

Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Finally, we move on to Item 19-20. I believe they're related, so Council Member Ortiz.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to pull these just so I can make a comment because I know former Assembly Member Brown was talking about needing paving. And so these two items for the communities benefit address paving as well as capital improvement projects. And so we are, I mean, we have really made a consorted effort as a council in this last year and a half, we've paid more streets than have been paved in the last six years combined. And I know between public works, that's been a great effort. There's also an item to be brought back to council at some point, giving us options to look at how to create a citywide paving plan, what that means budgetary, what that means as far as the term to do it in. And so that is at some point in time will be with us. So we are working to address that issue in the coming year. Thank you.

Move to approve. Thank you. And I want to add to the two items because they're related to Measure I. And I just want the public to understand how critical Measure I has really helped our city majorly. And that is such as Mount Vernon Bridge, the Waterman Avenue exit, the University Parkway, streets, roads. So Measure I has been a very important factor to help fund our city's infrastructure. I just want the public to know that. So thank you to Measure I. There's a motion on the floor by Council Member Ortiz. Is there a second?

Council Member Canas, did you second this item?

Mayor Potem, seconded? I have a question. Madam City Clerk?

Council Member Ibarra. I'm at the very far end here. Okay. On this one, just so the public is aware, I know there's a lot of comments being made of streets getting fixed and when they're getting fixed. Just so everybody's aware, this is, a five-year capital project needs analysis. In order to fix our streets and our city, it takes years to get them done, and I want the public to know that. I know a lot of people have been trying to take credit for work being done in their neighborhoods. That shouldn't be the case, but I want the public to know that when we approve these projects, we approve them years in advance. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there, there's a motion and a second?

Councilmember Sanchez.

Yes.

Councilmember Barra. Yes. Councilmember Figueroa.

Yes.

Councilmember Charette. Yes. Mayor Tim Knauss. Yes. Councilmember Flores. Yes. Councilmember Ortiz. Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. And that's for both items 19 and 22. Correct, Madam City Clerk? Okay. That concludes a consent calendar. We will now move on to discussion items. Item 25, designation of voting delegates and alternates for the 2026 League of California Cities annual conference and expo September 23rd to 25th of 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center. This is a routine item. Do any members of the council wish to make a nomination to select the voting delegates for the League of California Cities annual conference? Anyone here attending? Mayor Patel, did you have a comment? Who's attending? Who's all attending can we show raise hands and one customer charrette Any other councilmember and I'm gonna sure it I'll second councilmember sure etch. You'll be the voting delegate. Is there an alternate Also those who are going that a showing of hands is councilman charrette myself and customer teeth so the nomination is to

I nominate myself for the alternate.

Okay, beautiful. There is a primary, Council Member Charette, and alternate, Council Member Sanchez. Is there a motion?

I have a motion.

Thank you, is there a second?

I'll second.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Madam City Clerk, please call for the vote.

I'm sorry, who was the motion and the second?

The motion, Mayor Pro Tem, right?

Okay. Teddy is the motion for I second. Who motioned? So Theodore motioned for Fred. I seconded.

And then that includes the alternate. Yes. So who seconded?

Okay. All right. Madam City Clerk. Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Council Member Barra. Yes. Council Member Figueroa.

Yes.

Council Member Charette. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Canas. Yes. Council Member Flores. Yes. Council Member Ortiz. Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, thank you, council. Moving on to item 26. That is the Arden-Gun 3, presentation and developer selection. Could we begin with the staff's presentation, please? And to the developers, thank you for your patience, by the way.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Economic Development is here to present you the Arden Guthrie project and developer selection this evening. Just to go over some few details on the property, Arden Guthrie site is just over 17 acres. It is commercially zoned and is located on Highland Avenue just south of the 210 freeway. It is surrounded by 20th Street, Arden Avenue, and Guthrie Street. Just some brief history on the Arden Guthrie property. The city has maintained possession of the property since 2006. During 2006 to 2009, the city had received a HUD section 108 loan and used it in relocation efforts and site clearance to get it ready for commercial development. Since acquiring the property, the site has seen two previous developers, one in 2010 and the second in 2024. Staff released a new RFP on September 4th, 2025. The RFP included information on our demographics, our traffic counts, large employers in the area, businesses, and venues surrounding the Arden Guthrie property. While we did not specifically ask for any particular type of development, we did identify the property as ideal for commercial retail development and we let the developers propose their concepts to us. During the process we received two proposals, one from Panorama Properties, the second from Schneider Commercial Real Estate. Initial interviews were held in March of 26 and now we are here with council to obtain direction on moving forward. The opportunity for Arden Guthrie is to transform a long vacant city owned land into an economic asset. We want to be able to catalyze investment in the area We want to create employment opportunities that were not there before, increase commercial amenities for the surrounding neighbourhoods and the community, and we'd like to expand our tax revenues. Tonight, we are hearing preliminary conceptual plans and concepts for the property by the developers. We're here to demonstrate vision, feasibility, and developer approach. This process is not final. This is all subject to refinement during the ENA process so we will be entering into an exclusive negotiation agreement Through that process we'll be able to work with the chosen developer To work on the concept to be able to identify end users for the project and work on the site plan itself So tonight our recommendation is to administer a report to you which we've now done and We'll consider the presentations from the development teams on their concepts for the future development of Arden Guthrie, and we're looking for Council to provide direction to staff on moving forward. So with that, I would like to invite our first developer, Panorama Properties, to present their concept.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, thank you. Sorry, I'm old and I can't see. I appreciate you giving us the opportunity to come here tonight and present our company. Panorama Development, you can go there. This is Panorama Development. Panorama Properties, Panorama Development. I own the same company. I own both of them. So that's myself, Wes Whitefield. Nick Fifield and Colin Montgomery. Nick's my son. Colin's my son-in-law. That's why they can't quit. I get family to work for me so that we stay for the long term. That's my wife. She does the books. And Rob and I went to high school together in Hemet. So all of us are IE people. We were all born in the IE. We live in the IE. We went to high school in the IE. And we understand this market. Go to the next slide. So like I said, we're a family-based organization with long-term ties in the community. I've been on the Upland School Board for 21 years and just got another four years term. I've also been on the San Antonio Hospital Board for the foundation and the board for 17 years. And I've been the chair of the YMCA Board and the West End YMCA for 23 years. So we're very vested in the community. You know, as people in the IE, it's like, why can't we have nice things? Why can't we have things that are just as nice as Orange County or L.A.? You know, that's what we look to buy and hold properties and develop properties and make them nice. That's one of the vestiges. That is probably our company motto. There's no outside investors. It's us. We're the decision makers. So if you do pick us tonight, you'll have our cell phone numbers. You have a problem now, any time through the process, this is a long process. There's been two other developers on this property. It's going to take three to five years to get this thing done. As well as afterwards, we stay and we hold on to the property. So you drive by and there's an issue with graffiti or landscape, you have my cell phone number. You take a picture, text it to me, I'll deal with it. Again, we own all the properties. You probably see some shopping centers, there's 15 different owners, and it's very difficult to maintain those properties, very difficult to keep those properties nice. We don't do that. We own it, we maintain it. Like I say, same thing we said, long-term ownership. Again, we have done this before. I'll show you, go ahead and do the next slide. In Hoopa Valley, we just finished at Target Shopping Center. It's one of the largest shopping centers that's built in Southern California in the last five years. Again, we own the whole thing. We maintain the whole thing. And we have relationships with all those tenants. So if I want to talk to Target, I call them next week, and they return my calls. They know who we are, and they feel comfortable. Tenants want to deal with the developer who's done this before. So as you can imagine, In-N-Out gets 100 calls a day. But they don't want to deal with developers who haven't done deals with them. They want to do someone who knows what to do to get it done. These are very difficult things to do. As you can see, that property's been vacant a long time. You're going to have a long-term relationship. who knows what they're doing and has been through it. And the same thing, the tenants want the same thing. They need to open stores. So unless they've seen somebody who has done this and knows how to do it, they're very apprehensive to work with some folks. A trash enclosure. So why have I got a picture of a trash enclosure? If you own the property, you're gonna spend three times as much money and you're gonna keep it for long term on a trash enclosure because that's where the problems are. That's where people dig through the trash, have all kinds of problems. So when you have someone who's gonna own the property and keep the property, we don't mind spending a ton of money on trash enclosures just to make sure it keeps the center nice. You know, we have the same objectives of you. You don't have to push us to spend three times as much money on a trash enclosure because we want what you want, which is something that's nice, something that you're proud of, something that you can bring businesses and people to the city. So, that's another center we did in Rancho Cucamonga. Again, trying to give an accent point, a place of focus, you know, a gathering place. something that people feel proud of. Again, we still own that property, still maintain it, still make sure it's first class, make sure it's something that the community's happy and community's proud of too. Yeah, we've got some quality tenants in that shopping center too. Development concepts. So, you know, in the shopping center industry, tend to drive the whole thing. As you all know, people buy things from the internet. We all spend time in front of our computers all day. When the day's over, we want to go out and we want experience. We want dining. We want services and things like that. So that's what you're going to see. That's what you're trying to do is create a gathering place for people to come and not just buy goods, but socialize. And that's the focus of inequality successful development. Now, as you've seen, this one's in Redlands. You can go to the next one. And this is the same thing we've done on our properties too. Lighting is so important. If people don't feel safe, they're not gonna go there. If people don't feel comfortable, they're just not gonna visit a place that they feel is someplace that they can't take their family. And that's what the focus is. Retail is experience, and we've got to work to provide that. We are in competition with Amazon. We provide services. So if you can't provide services that people are comfortable going to, they're not going to come there. So it's been a very big change in this industry. I've been in this industry 38 years, started in Rancon and Temecula. And we've seen a big change in what's going on. But tenants drive this. to drive our industry. So we just created a palette, a blank palette. So we gave you a very basic vanilla shopping center. It's a start. It's like, OK, where do we go from here? What do we need to do to make something that everybody's successful? But this is a partnership between us and the city. The city, we can go through and we'll talk to every single tenant in the marketplace, let you know exactly who's interested in going to the shopping center, and then we come back to the city and say, hey, look, this is who's interested. These are the people that are going to make this community their home. What do we do with the city to work together to make a plan and a shopping center that you feel reflects the city, reflects the neighborhood, and something that will be successful based on your knowledge of your community. So it's a partnership in that regard, too, where we work together. But this is just a start. This is your typical shopping center. But it's going to be, you know, we'll talk to Target. We'll talk to Home Depot. We'll talk to all the big people that looked at the site before. You know, Home Depot was on the site for years, and they passed. But they might come back. We'll be able to talk to them. Again, being an IE person, we'll be able to talk to them about how their stores do in San Bernardino, Temecula, wherever is the marketplace, and try to reflect How would you be successful here? What are the assets, what are the attributes with this site that could make you a profitable center? for the community. Additionally, the other aspects, I mean, you have the elementary school next door. Like I said, I've been on the Upland School Board for 21 years. I've also been part of a partnership with the Upland PD, Upland Public Works and Engineering, and we work with the schools, obviously, to how do we create safe environments and safe traffic patterns for our schools. So when we take on a center like this, one of the first things we do is talk to the community. Talk to the schools. How do we create something for your schools that are there and respect the traffic patterns, enhance that, and make sure that they're a comfortable partner in all this too as we move forward. Challenges. The off ramps could be a big challenge. That's a Caltrans issue. As you come off the freeway, can you get a direct into the shopping center? That's a big issue. Making that a possibility, make that a reality, will make this a very successful shopping center. Without that, it's going to be tough. So this is going to take some time. It's going to take some time with meeting with the city staff and making sure we work with them, and also just working with the agencies that are out there that we have to deal with to make sure they're happy and make sure we come across a success with them too. So they're going to have their concerns with public safety, and that's something that we're going to continue to work with. As far as additional, I mean, obviously the soccer complex behind it, Yamaha, you know, obviously it's an off ramp on its way to the mountains and the community around it. So, I mean, there's all different things that you need to be able to let the community of tenants know and make sure they understand those important attributes to see that they can be successful. Tenants are tough. They like to be around other tenants and they also like to they don't always have the vision. So you have to create a vision for them to make sure they understand what's in the marketplace. But that's something that we can do just with our history. So long story short, in summation, I think some of the most important things that you have if you want to have a successful center, one is someone who's done it before, knows how to do it. One who has a quality relationship with the cities to make sure that you partner with them throughout the whole process. If any of you know of the city of Hooper Valley, you might give them a call. We have a very tight relationship with them. Two is to make sure that they're going to be there. Are they going to be there through this whole process? This is 10 years if you want to have a quality center and to make sure that you're going to continue to provide, once it's built, something that you're proud of. So I think those are the attributes that you have, as well as, as I mentioned before, working with the tenants and making sure that you can get them on the site, get them out here. And once they're here, explain it to them. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And I think it's a wonderful site.

Thank you so much. Next, we would like to invite up Schneider Commercial Real Estate to provide their presentation.

Good evening, council members, mayor. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time and having us here tonight. We're excited about this property and have already assembled our team. We brought together development, construction, and finance. We even have commitments on the finance already for our concept, and we are moving forward. Let me see here. So we have extensive experience. This is the team as it stands right now. We have all done projects together in the past. And our vision for the center is to create a center that serves the needs of the adjacent community and the region. We think the opportunity here on Highland Avenue because of the traffic counts and the accessibility both to the freeway provides an incredible opportunity. We want to, our goals are pretty clear. We want to engage the local neighborhoods. We want to create employment opportunities. And we want to leverage our experience within the city of San Bernardino. We've done many projects and I'll get into some of those in a moment. within the city of San Bernardino. So our time, our team has the relationships within the city to get projects done in a timely manner and effectively. And I'll talk about some of those projects in a moment. We also recognize the adjacent uses, the soccer complex, Yamaha, and we understand the issues with the Highland off-ramp. And as Panorama stated if there's a way to move that off ramp where there's immediate access to the center that's a big plus and we'll team with the city to work on those on those issues with Caltrans. That's a big we do want to look at adjacent site uses and including the apartment complex next door and the sites I've already mentioned. to make sure that we're complementing those uses as we move forward. So now we're going to get into our experience a little bit. So our team has done many of the Walmart facility, Walmart development centers throughout the Inland Empire. They're similar in size and scope to this particular project. So I point those out. If you have any questions as I go through this, just let me know. These are some of the projects that we've actually done in the city of San Bernardino. They have the addresses on them. Some are centers, some are individual projects. You'll recognize some of these as you, the Walmart on Highland Ave actually in the vicinity of this Arden Guthrie property was done by Schneider. Notice these down on, by the airport and even work with the county with the regional medical group. Office, retail restaurant still in the planning phases. Fitness. Here's our proposed project. So we're looking at, we've spoken to many of our relationships with retailers to see what the demand might be given the information we've provided them on the project area and the retail area. We believe that focus on home improvement, home furnishing and appliances, and home related services is a good anchor for the center. We do recognize that there's a shortage gap in grocery supermarket in that area. Stater Brothers has closed and the other market that was up on Highland Ave has closed in the recent years. So we think there's a good demand there. We've talked to potential tenants for the grocery. We've also included full service restaurants for that area, which I think will be draw as Panorama stated. It's an experiential experience. It's experiential what you want to create for people. Online shopping is so predominant now. If you're going to get people to come out and actually shop and enjoy in an area, they have to feel safe, they have to feel taken care of, and they have to have comfortable areas to come down to. So it becomes a place where people can go and congregate. This is our site plan. As was stated, it's very generic. We understand that we'll be working with the city through the ENA process to ensure that we meet the needs and desires of the city as well as the stakeholders in the community and the immediate community. But there are some challenges in San Bernardino. We are putting together a plan because we have so many developments in San Bernardino We understand that our security plan is going to be very important and we want to make sure that we take full advantage of the police's shared camera program and use that as well as the appropriate lighting and necessary security for the development. This is kind of our proposed schedule. We expect 24 to 30 months to get through the ENA process, make sure that we have worked with the city and dealt with all the issues and have a solid executable development disposition agreement, DDA, at the end of the day that we can execute. The details are in the study. It's also in the proposal. If there's any questions, I can answer them. Finally, we actually did a high-level 30,000 view of project costs, estimated sales volumes with the retailers that we're talking to, and the sales tax projections. that we expect to be generated from the project. As you can see in this case, we're estimating annual sales tax revenue to the city of about $1.2 million. I think our experience speaks for itself within the city of San Bernardino, and I think that's really our strength. is our ability to execute good projects in the city and manage those projects going forward and a proven track record of working with the city on these projects. So I ask you for your consideration in the ENA and we hope council will give good direction tonight so that we can get started on that process. I know it's been about 20 years on this project. I actually worked with the city in the dissolution process back in 2012 with the mayor and staff at that time. So this has been a long time coming. Let's get it done. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Before we continue, I just want to have a quick announcement for the council. It is now 9.01 p.m. and in accordance with resolution 2024.02. Now, if we wish to extend the meeting beyond 10, I just need a motion. So moved. Thank you. Council Member Figueroa, seconded by Ortiz.

Council Member Sanchez?

Yes.

Council Member Barra? Yes. Council Member Figueroa?

Yes.

Council Member Charette?

Yes.

Mayor Potemkinas? Yes. Council Member Flores? Yes. Council Member Ortiz? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you, Council. Staff?

I WANT TO THANK BOTH OF OUR DEVELOPERS COMING IN TONIGHT TO PRESENT TO COUNCIL FOR THEIR CONSIDERATION. AT THIS POINT, WE WOULD LIKE TO OPEN FOR DISCUSSION AND ANY QUESTIONS THAT THE COUNCIL MAY HAVE.

THANK YOU. MR. CITY MANAGER?

MA'AM, MAYOR, COUNCIL, BASICALLY THE THREE DECISION POINTS OR THE THREE OPTIONS AS I SEE IT TO YOU IS YOU COULD GO WITH EITHER PANORAMA OR SCHNEIDER. PANORAMA OPTION ONE, SCHNEIDER OPTION TWO. as far as directing us to start negotiating an E&A. Or the third option is you could say you wanna go back out and extend the search and give both of them an opportunity to even refine their presentation or their proposals more and still be a part of the consideration. Those are the three options as I see it to you.

Thank you, appreciate that. I do have Councilmember Ibarra followed by Councilmember Ortiz followed by Mayor Plattem for comments.

Thank you, developers, for stepping up. It's been a long time coming, indeed. Arden Guthrie, I've been studying this loan that the city got, the history there, and it's been a challenge. It is a huge challenge. And I want to ask both developers, just raise your hands. If any of you have good contacts with Sprouts, just raise your hands. And the other one is Porto's Bakery. Because I feel like this is going to be a top-notch shopping center. I know both of you mentioned, you know, Yamaba, our soccer complex. We have a lot of families coming into our city. That is a high-traffic location. I know in previous years there was mention of possibly even considering putting a hotel there. where some of those visitors can stay at. And I'm not sure if any of you would consider maybe a hotel for families that go into the soccer complex or go to Yama Vibe. They don't want to drive up Victoria because of the traffic. They can park there instead. But that would be my driving force, to see who can bring in those businesses that we haven't had in our city, that our city desperately needs, something innovative. So thank you all for coming. And I want to give a little plug in here for Mr. Al Palazzo over here on my left. That's his passion, seeing what other cities have done as far as shopping centers. He has great visions for our city. And it would be nice if you guys would consider working with him so he can share those visions with you all. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Ortiz, followed by Mayor Potem.

I guess my question is, has anybody committed to any of these? Does or do? Do either developer have any letters of intent right now?

In our discussions through the process, and I can have each developer speak to it, it would be the intention to obtain and be awarded the development and then go out to secure those letters of intent and find end users for the development.

Well, okay. If you would, I'm going to ask you about this question. So I'll start with you. So do you, I guess, so my question was, do you guys have any letters of intent, any commitments?

Yeah, I mean, we can't, I mean, I can speak with the people I know on a quiet basis, but it's, it's, It's a reputational thing. I don't like to go out and say, look, I've got this property tied up. Until you make a decision, I can't go out there and say, hey, I mean, I can have conversations, but for a tenant to make a letter of intent, they've got to get usually typically approved by their real estate committee, and they've got to make representations that this property is deliverable. So, yeah, it's very difficult to try to represent that this city or the property is ready to go. So, no, the answer is no. But, you know, just to reiterate, we will talk to everybody.

Are you in the same boat?

It's exactly the same answer. We've talked to the retailers that we have relationships with, but until the ENA is executed and we start working with the city and control the property, that's when the letter of tents will start coming.

Okay. So then my next question is, I imagine, but I'm not a developer so I don't know, that you feel both equally highly confident in the fact that you can bring in tenants that you have this, that because, you know, I, I think you raised really good issues regarding getting on and off the freeway. Um, I mean that we would absolutely have to address homelessness right there, or this is going to ruin it. Um, and like, so our improvements versus your improvements. So it's a joint effort, but you see enough of a possibility to, to do it as, I mean, cause you say a decade,

Well, it's not a decade.

I'm just saying that you want to, this is a long-term play. It's going to take a lot of work. So it's three to five years. I mean, you'd hope it goes quicker. But, I mean, from the day that you start tonight, it's three to five years.

No, no, I'm just saying, like, I get it, right? It's going to take time. And so you're of the same mind that it's going to take years, years to complete.

Yes, absolutely.

And as far as to answer your first question, yes, that's why we're here. We think it's a great site. We need to work on it with the city. You know, the off ramp is probably the biggest issue, but that's why we're here is because we think it's a wonderful site.

Okay. Okay, so that's, I think you guys have answered my question, so now I think I just have city questions because I, given a previous comment, so do we make the developers then go work with community? Or they have their ability to go out, right? Or are we going to do community hearings on this?

So there's no official hearings to do on it, but the intent is to do community outreach. We have spoken to each of the developers as part of the interview process, and we did let them know that that is a very important component to this process. We have the schools to the south, both schools. We have the apartment complex that sits adjacent to the development. We have the surrounding communities. So the intent is to be heavy on community outreach.

Okay, good, because I'm always concerned and concerned and cautious when we just pin one person and go say go talk to that one person and make them a part of this plan and then the community is like well what about me and so okay so I want to make sure that that it's it's if we're doing it it's inclusive to everybody and you're both good with community go ahead yeah like I said I've been on the school board for 21 years you have to involve the community you have to talk to the community and you have to make sure that they understand what's going on and that's that's key but yeah absolutely you have to have multiple

meetings with the community. The craziness is you meet with these folks, and they come up with some great ideas. You should listen to everyone. I mean, even the little kids. They'll come up and tell you things like, I never thought of that. So, again, we're open to listen to everybody, and we'll be very out in the community to talk to them.

Okay, and then my last question. Are you both at ICSC? Do you guys go out, and that's where you live? Okay. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Good questions. Council Member, no, Mayor Pertem, can I ask?

Thank you. I just want to first start by thanking both entities for your interest in our city. As a council, and I think I'll speak on behalf of the council, we definitely want to show that we are open for business. We're ready to move forward and we're ready for this type of progress within the city of San Bernardino. And it's always exciting and very appreciative when development companies like yourself choose to come to the city of San Bernardino. So thank you both. I did lean a little bit more towards Panorama. I do like the fact that you guys do have some really great relationships with what I consider some anchor tenants that are very integral in making shopping centers successful. So I really did appreciate that. I did appreciate your guys' existing relationships with the city. I benefit from that Popeyes that you guys did. That's my neck of the woods, so thank you. But I did like how you guys tie in the shopping centers that you did, the placemaking aspects that you integrate YOU EVEN KIND OF ENVISION THE LIGHTING, THINGS THAT ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN A CITY LIKE SAN BERNARDINO TO ENSURE THAT SHOPPING CENTERS LIKE WHAT YOU ARE PROPOSING ARE IN FACT SUCCESSFUL. I WOULD LIKE TO GO AHEAD AND MAKE A MOTION TO GO INTO AN ENA OR MOVE FORWARD WITH PANORAMA DEVELOPMENT.

I'D LIKE TO SECOND YOU, MAYOR PRO TEMPT.

THANK YOU FOR THE MOTION. SECOND. I'D LIKE TO PROVIDE OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS SOME COMMENTS. COUNCIL MEMBER SHARRETT FOLLOWED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FIGUEROA.

I would have to say that it's a difficult decision to just all of a sudden make a motion to approve somebody. Have you done any work in San Bernardino?

As a broker, yes. As a developer, no.

As a developer, no. And Snyder has. Yes. They've done a number of things. And staff is familiar with Snyder. Have we worked with Panorama?

At this point, through this process, I am equally familiar with both.

What's that?

During this process.

Sure, you've become familiar with both of them equally because they started together and they've been doing the exact same thing. But has our development staff, our building department, our community development had any relationships with either of these two? And I don't know if In your position, if you can answer that. Or if the economic development director has any comments on that. The other very important thing is, and I think it's been clear, that neither one of you know who you're going to bring until you've got control of the property, correct? Until you enter the exclusive right to negotiate. And we've been here for as long as I've been on the council with this particular property. And we've had people come in and say they're going to bring so-and-so or bring something and they've never been able to pull the trigger. This is a critical, critical property that's been sitting there for many, many years, vacant. And I didn't hear any discussion from your side with regard to sales tax. And of course, we are a sales tax city. We operate on sales tax. Unfortunately, due to our bankruptcy, we gave up a lot of our, almost all of our property taxes. And so one of the key factors in deciding development, I think, going forward for the city of San Bernardino is what it's going to do to generate sales tax.

Yeah, and the shopping center I did in Hooper Valley created the most sales tax of probably any new center in the last five years in Southern California.

But you don't, and I get that.

So that's what, yeah, I mean, sales tax is very important, but you talk to the city of Hooper Valley and they can tell you that the millions of dollars that we've created just right down the street. So yeah, it's very important to our city.

And your comments, you made some assessments on sales tax from your perspective. your proposal. So it's we went through this process also one of the concerns that I've seen here in San Bernardino is getting a number of maybe I didn't let you answer the question You came up and sat down, and I ignored you. I apologize.

Certainly, Council Member. In my capacity working as a consultant with the City of San Jacinto, previously I did work with Panorama Development. With Panorama. So I can attest that they are a good developer. I have not had the opportunity to work for Schneider, but my experience with Panorama is good.

You individually.

On behalf of the City of San Jacinto.

Right. Yes. They've done developments, Schneider's done developments in this community. So our staff is familiar with them, has worked with them.

I would say the staff has worked with them as they've submitted development applications, yes.

Yeah, yeah. So this is a really kind of a hard decision to make between two qualified developers. It really is. And to just simply say, I like you because I like your pictures. or I like you because I like your sales tax. I think that is very, very difficult for us, seven of us up here, to make a decision on that for something. I'm the only one up here that has any experience with this property. And I've had experience with it for 13 years or more. And it's been a very problematic experience. Development. We had people come in. Who was the last developer that we had? Rich Development. We gave them an exclusive right to negotiate. Everyone was excited about everything. And when you actually got the people to the site, what they do, they said, well, sorry, no way. We're not interested. I've talked to some developers that that have said exactly that, that you can do all you want, but once corporate flies out from Chicago and drives through San Bernardino and looks at this property and looks at the off ramp and looks at other things, they say thanks but no thanks. And is that an accurate statement?

I think it's difficult. What's that? I think it's difficult. There's challenges in San Bernardino. And I hate to say that. But it's building the concept of a site that's going to attract the retailers, given the power of the trade area. So there are going to be areas in San Bernardino, if you drive through, the corporate leaders are going to not be too happy. and be concerned, but that's all part of the partnership working with the city to ensure that we address those issues in that area and address the adjacent uses and the adjacent community to ensure that we have a property that's going to attract those retailers, that they're going to want to be there because the opportunity is there for them to have very successful locations.

And I think your comment. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry to interrupt you. I just didn't. I mean, there's a strategy to this. You don't just go call up Target and say, come on out. You've got to start slow. Start with In-N-Out. It's a great spot for In-N-Out. You start with In-N-Out. You get them to commit. And then you build on it. You don't just go and start talking to Home Depot. They were on the site for years. Target came out, they run, that's what Rich, Rich Development had Target. Target came out and said, no, you don't start that way. You start small and you start building and building and building. So you get one more tenant, then another tenant, another tenant. And then all of a sudden you're looking at a Target and it's like, Target, I've got in and out. I've got all these other tenants to go. And how about you?

So you're suggesting that you don't start with an anchor?

That's not always the way to do it. I think with this site, you start with, honestly, I'd start with In-N-Out, because In-N-Out's got buzz. In-N-Out? Well, look where they are. There's a vacant spot in here. I mean, it's on the freeway, and maybe, again, the neighborhood has its challenges. But Yamaha, everything else, all the way up, they want to be on the freeway, all the way up to the mountain. It gets to people just before they get to the mountain. So you've got to start. You've got to start small sometimes and build on it. So you've got to have that in your head, and you've got to have these people that you've got relationships. I've got relationships with these people. I've done development recently. Now it's not here, but tenants also need to understand the IE. They have Orange County, they have LA, they gotta understand the IE. I do business all over from San Jacinto, you gotta understand it, you gotta explain to them, this is like this site here, this is like this site here, and you gotta paint a picture with these folks. But there's a strategy here, you just don't go and roll the dice and say, come on out Home Depot, and they say, no.

No, I understand that. Maybe I made it too simple. I didn't mean to make it too simple.

No, no. I didn't mean it. When you've been in the business as long as I have, and you know the people I know, you've got to work with them. They have quirks, they have personalities, and you just don't throw site plans at people and say, do you want to be here? It doesn't work that way. You've got to build on your relationships.

But in your comment earlier, You did say this is a vanilla layout. I think you used something like that. And it's sort of a starting point. Right. And I think if you look at both of your side plans, they're not that dissimilar. True. At all. It's strategy that's different.

I'm sorry? It's strategy that's going to be different. How you get it done is different. When you've done it before, you know how to get it done.

I get it. Like I say, we've got two qualified developers here, two developers that have a lot of experience. You have an experience in what you've done. They have experience here in San Bernardino with different types of developments over the years. And it's not a real easy decision. It's almost a coin toss. And I don't like to make decisions based on a coin toss. I won't. Has anyone got any more comments at this point? I'll shut up for a minute.

Thank you for your comments, Council Member Charette. Thank you. Council Member Figueroa, followed by Ortiz, then Flores.

Yes, thank you. Well, first of all, thank you to both groups for being here, for your investment, for your interest. in our city it's certainly appreciated whether you get it or not it's certainly appreciated that you even had an interest in and if you do or don't I would encourage you to still continue to please have an interest in our city as well but my question I'll have questions for both sides but for both sides but my first one would be for staff from the city's perspective, from the city side, what exactly is our goal during the ENA process, the negotiation process? Are we simply just negotiating The land, I mean, are we going to get as detailed as restaurant pads, whether we're using split-face block walls, or I mean, what exactly are we trying to accomplish during the ENA process?

I don't know that we would go all the way to the design concept, Councilmember, but as far as what your vision is as a council, I think we would start in the negotiation. We would then go into closed session as far as negotiating points that you want us to definitely be hitting with whichever developer you would would choose, and then we would have a time period that the ENA would be in effect that we would negotiate through to where there's an end time period for getting to a final agreement with them, having them have commitments. And then the other thing is if you have certain things you're wanting us to target as far as on the site, that would be a part of what the negotiations would be.

Okay, and so I certainly want to allow for an appropriate amount of time. I don't want this to go on indefinitely in negotiations. There has to be an end date. some point so I would ask what would be an appropriate timeline for staff that you would feel comfortable negotiating whatever it is that we're going to be moving forward with and I know it's difficult to say depending on what we're going to throw at you but I just don't want to leave a kind of a blank date I want there to be a There needs to be a by date completion for the ENA process at minimum because then they have to go through entitlements and permits and all kinds of different things, right? Working with Caltrans and Edison different organizations. So what is, yes please.

So what I would recommend is if tonight would be the first step of who you want us to direct us to work with if you want us to work with one of the two developers. And then what we would do is come back hopefully within the next 30 to 45 days with those types of answers as far as timeline, what specifics are, and then we would start to work through the ENA. I think as far as timelines and what's adequate, that should be the next step, which we would come back probably in the next 30 to 45 days to enclose session with you.

Okay. And so I guess with that being said, I'll redirect my questions to the app or potential developers here, I guess. For Panorama, I did notice your First of all, you've driven past the Jurupa Valley site multiple times. It's beautiful. It does really look nice. You did a great job there. As far as financing, you do have a letter in here from Wells Fargo, I believe, correct? Something from Wells Fargo. And in there, it identifies financing. You've had a good relationship with them in the past, it seems. They've written here that They've provided somewhere in the amount of a medium to high eight-figure, so we're looking at, what, $40 million up to $99 million, something like that. And in the letter, it states that they are prepared to provide financing for the purchase of the property that's being sold. It doesn't state anywhere, and again, I know it's difficult to determine what the cost of construction is going to be, but it's simply just stating for the for the purchase of the property, what is, how are you prepared to then continue to finance the actual construction? And again, I know that's difficult depending on tenant specifications, the city, all the other things as well. But what is your, would you be responsible for the entire build, the oversight? Are you gonna have like a split shared cost with the actual financing?

Well, I think it's a very important point you bring up. I mean, the issue is, well, my wife signs all the checks, but you're talking to the person who has to put all the money up. So the 31-acre shopping center we did, we had no money partners. We had nobody. The only thing we had was a construction loan, which is typical of 50% of whatever the costs are. So that was provided by Fifth Third Bank, and then Wells Fargo also provided the takeout loan. So my point to this is, All that's going to come to me, and we're the ones that handle all of it. So I don't have financial partners or anybody else we answer to, so we can negotiate directly with the city and make sure whatever agreements we stand by, in my opinion, whoever writes the check usually makes the decision. So when you have financial partners, guess what? They're going to be the ones making decisions. That doesn't happen with us, it's me. So we're prepared, like I said, on that deal, we provided all the money and all the financing, and it would be the same with this. This is a smaller project.

And thank you for that, because that was really, that was my concern, right? Because it's just like, of course, there needs to be capital, there needs to be financing in order to put this all together. And I do appreciate that Wells Fargo did provide a letter, but it was simply for the, Purchase of the property and not necessarily construction I understand that we won't know what the construct construction cost is going to be until we get through this whole Yeah, it will be well below 99 million.

So yeah, there's they will they will provide Financing I think it was just maybe the way that was worded But they would provide financing for the construction and the land and so forth and I would provide You know 50% of the capital myself.

Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for Schneider Thank you for providing in your PowerPoint presentation as well, because when I was looking through the proposal, what I was kind of just seeing were kind of single individual type of projects. So I appreciate you identifying some kind of multi tenant or multi-pad type of development as well. So thank you for pointing that out because that was something that I was looking at of concern as well. I was looking at your fiscal stability in the proposal. I think it was like page, I don't remember what page it was, but it said something along the lines of, here it is. that the financial statements and big statements are provided in this section, but then there's nothing there. I'm not sure. It's just blank. There's nothing. I'm not sure what that's... If there was something that was supposed to be in there or... No, they're in the proposal. It's in the proposal?

Yeah, not for presentation at council, but they're in the details of the proposal.

Okay. And then there was another area. I think, let me see. I did write down the page... I think it was like page 48 under the estimated project, uh, cost the budget. And, and again, I know that it's just a concept, so we really won't know what the actual, until we go and go through the whole process and tenants will have their own, um, needs and requests and things like that. And so we really won't know the full construction cost, but, um, in your, and I'm sorry, I'm kind of just buying some time until I get to the page here. Um, On that same page of where, and I think it was in the PowerPoint presentation as well, where we see the estimated project cost, the budget, and you kind of list off the cost. Based on the concept, you have a total project cost of about $23 million. On that page, a little bit down at the bottom, it says that the major the major anchor tenant will be approximately 131,000 square feet and that they will purchase 10 acres of the property and they will develop their own store along with onsite and offsite needs as well. And so help me understand what that means. Are you saying that you won't be responsible for that major anchor tenant or?

No, we're still responsible for the development of the property, but in our discussions to date, we have a potential tenant in tow that wants to own their own property. They want to own it at the end of the day. So we would not manage that part of the development once it's fully developed, and they would take ownership of that and manage that on their own because they have a corporate policy they need to own the property.

Okay, so it's not like it would be Home Depot's responsibility to build it and manage it or purchase because it says here that they would purchase 10 acres of the property and develop their own site. So that was kind of my confusion. I needed some clarification.

It's still our responsibility as a developer.

It would still be your responsibility. Okay. It was in there, and I had some questions about that.

Typically what happens, just heads up, is you'll provide a graded pad, utility stub, and then the tenant will take it from there. Most tenants want to own their own building, so they'll build it, and then you just sell them the land. A developer will not typically build a parking lot and those things. They'll just do the pad and do the off-sites and so forth and everything that's around it. and then the tenant buys the land, and then they build the building and the parking lot. That's typically how it's done.

Okay. Thank you for clarifying that, because that was just something that, I mean, I'm not a developer. I don't know how this stuff works, and so I appreciate that. It's just that that's something that stood out for me, and I needed some clarification on that. So thank you. I appreciate that. No more, no other questions at the moment, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member. All good questions, by the way. Council Member Ortiz followed by Council Member Flores.

Yeah, that was really good stuff, Council Member Ferreira, and I appreciate that. And I think Council Member Charette touched on some stuff, too. That is important for my thought process because, I mean, this is the first time I've ever seen either one of you. And, you know, I think all things being equal, you're absolutely equal. You have no more than the other, right? Speculation, desire, and an opportunity. And one of the things why I second this motion is not because there's any deficit or anything that you have said or done that wasn't on spot or part of the presentation, but when I look at you and I hear you, I hear the echo of the residents of why can't we have what they have in Rancho? Why can't we have what they have in, uh, in, you know, uh, in Riverside? Why can't we have, you're the, why can't you are what they have and you've developed it. And I've, you know, I've luckily have some relationships in, in Haruba Valley. Um, and that, and I've been to that shopping center. It's fabulous, but I also love Walmart. Don't get me wrong. That's, that's, that's my jam over there, but then I love day Creek and that's beautiful. And I want to see Day Creek in San Bernardino. And I think that's that feeling. And I don't want to give a bunch of super happy feelings around developers, especially with what they tend to bring us. But I feel like there's an opportunity for you. And to Councilman Shred's point and Councilmember Figueroa, should that not come to fruition for whatever that means, that doesn't mean that no one else has an opportunity at some point. It's just saying, like, You know, sometimes you got to go with your gut of is it time for us to move forward with something like when you say in and out. I mean, we just we just got McDonald's. So now we're we put it in and out on Fifth Street and it's one of the most high active ones, you know, next to Hospitality Lane. And so what that means and what this development, Arden Guthrie, which Councilman Shred is correct, has been completely desolate. I mean, it was the largest one of the largest homeless encampments. And I think I think stalling or holding off on this. also allows the city to kick the can down the road and how we are truly addressing and managing homelessness poverty blight in conjunction with economic development vision uh... and and trajectory and whatever we're going to be doing and so that's just the only differences just don't get that feeling of like And other than that, you're super fine. But that's why I feel, and I think Fred brings up good points, but that for me is that big difference tonight is I can really feel it. And that's a rare, oh my God, I think it's hope. And I think that's sometimes a rare thing to feel with being provided something of this magnitude and such an integral part of that corridor and what that means for us. So I just want you to know and I want you to understand why. Nothing to you. You're like a super awesome guy. And thank you for all the things that you've done for our community. And I appreciate that. I think you've created a very stable. And what it means is that you're already a community partner. You're here. To me, you're not going anywhere. And always look forward to other opportunities with you. Or if, God forbid, it didn't work out, we always know that you're available to do what you do best, which is develop. So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Member, for good points and comments. Council Member Flores?

Thank you, Mayor. First, starting off, thanking you both for your interest and your willingness to participate in this process to further develop our city. I greatly appreciate that. And I also want to thank you for acknowledging the assets and the opportunity and also the challenges of that area. I think that's very... It's incredible looking at the bigger picture there. This... I got a question for staff, and this is from a resident that reached out to me. So it says here that, what was it? The RFP released on September 4th, 2025, and we received two proposals. And so out of, there was only two proposals received, like there was nobody else.

Correct.

Okay, thank you. All right, and then the next question would be for Schneider. I see, thank you Panorama for showing your, the shopping centers that you have and the main anchor that you have. And I appreciate you sharing the one-ofs that you have. But when I look at the examples you have here of the commercial shopping centers, I see you have Colton Hemet. But for the Redlands location, the Yucca Valley location, what are your main anchors for those shopping centers?

I'm not sure I understand your question.

Can you repeat it? Yes. So I see that you've included the one ofs, like the Jack in the Box, the Popeyes, et cetera. But then you've also, previous to that slide, you show your area shopping center. So you have one in Colton, the one that you've developed in Colton, Hemet. And then you also have Redlands and also Yucca Valley. So my question is, what was your main anchor tenant for Redlands and Yucca Valley?

Those are all Walmart-centered. Okay, they're all Walmarts. During that time, we were working with Walmart. But I wanted to make sure that we had comparable developments to the size and scope. that Arden Guthrie is going to be and show that we can do the whole, you know, that we have the experience to do the whole development. We were cautious in our concepts because the last two, as we did our homework, the last two ENAs that you were in, a lot of promises were made and a lot of ideas on tenants and they, weren't executed. So we're being much more cautious to get into the ENA process so that we can work with the city and the local community and the stakeholders in the area to then design a concept and design a development that's going to work for everybody but is going to be executable, that we're going to be able to deliver at the end of the day. So we steered a little bit clear of making any sort of promises I think our concepts are very similar. We want a center that's very successful, that people can come in and enjoy and feel safe in. But we're being very cautious about making any claims until we get into the process with the city and with the stakeholders in the area to really figure out what's going to be the best mix for that area.

Thank you for your answer. I just wanted to clarify, because I did see that Colton and Hemet the main anchor stores were there for Walmart, so I saw Redlands and Yucca Valley, and I couldn't really make out what the main anchor was for those locations, so thank you for that. That's all from me.

Thank you. Councillor Ibarra.

I know I mentioned it earlier, but would you guys consider Portals being the anchor tenant there?

I've worked with them in Rancho Cucamonga. They're tough. They want to own their own property, and they're very selective. They've been looking at Rancho Cucamonga for seven years. Sorry, I keep talking about portals. It's a great location. In fact, we're trying to go back and talk to them at a site in Rancho Cucamonga again. But it's family-based, family-owned, and it's wonderful. But they're just specific. They need a ton of parking. They're very specific. Honestly, we'll talk to everybody. But they take time. They just don't open stores quickly. And that's something that you're up against. The retailers are going to do what the retailers are going to do. And you just got to work with them. You got to understand them. You got to work with them on their plans. And it takes time. So the answer is, we'll try. I know them very well.

Yeah, because a couple of years ago, I was trying to get them off of Highland Avenue. And I did get a market analysis from them. Once they find out the market analysis in that area, especially with Yamaha being there, I'm pretty sure they will consider that area, especially the entrance access to the freeway, the visibility. But I know that was the biggest thing for them. Market analysis, there has to be within a certain radius, certain income. And that area does have it.

We could bring you to a meeting with them as a source of knowledge and talk to them.

Yes, and I do want to thank you because you do show that passion. That's the passion, and we do have to have vision. We can start small, and it will happen. And I felt that, like Council Member Ortiz mentioned. That is what the people of this city are hungry for, somebody with passion and vision to help our city. And that's why I'm also geared more that way. You do a great job, too. But this is what the city of San Bernardino, the residents, are hungry for. And for me, I want to bring something. I want to be able to be part of bringing in something different into the city, something that we haven't had. Like we've said, why can't we be like Rialto or Colton? Why are we falling behind? And that's because we haven't truly had somebody with vision. And on the last two developers we've had, We've gone through bankruptcy. We've had a high turnover of staff. It was at no fault to those developers of why this project never came through. Right now, we do have our proper staffing in place. So I'm very confident that this is finally going to come through. And once again, thank you both for applying.

Thank you, Councilwoman. There's a motion and second. Madam City Clerk? Council Member Sanchez? Oh, one moment. Council Member Charette?

Yes. Your concept shows a grocery store does not. Are you in talks with any grocery stores?

I've known Stater Brothers for years. I'm sorry? I've known Stater Brothers for years. They're in San Bernardino. We're doing another Stater Brothers. So we'll talk to everybody from Albertsons on down.

What is your opinion of Sprouts in terms of them coming? I mean, that was a store that was mentioned earlier.

We talked to everybody. I think President Wright...

But don't they make decisions based on... I mean, I know you can talk to them and you've worked with them in other cities, but don't they look at the city before they go? In other words, we've been talking for years. Everybody's talking about Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's isn't going to come here. I don't care if they're your brother-in-law. They're not coming to San Bernardino. Yeah. They're not going to come if you build them a free store, right? It's difficult.

Is that fair to say? I wouldn't say zero, but I would say it's difficult, yes.

You're a developer, I'm not, but let's be real about

Council, let's stay focused. We have a motion second, unless you have additional questions.

I can say this. I have been shocked in my 38 years when I'm like, this is never going to work, and then sure as heck somebody goes, well, yeah, that works for us because we have so many people up in the mountains that drive by. You've got to ask everybody. I'm shocked year after year, so I can't say never, but you also just have to present your best. foot forward and hope. And I will get a meeting with them.

And you folks are talking about a grocery store, and I don't know who you're talking to, but anyway, and I guess staff was interested in the grocery store, is that correct?

We were. It serves the community.

Sater Brothers closed down the street.

Yes.

I think the Cardenas, they closed, I think, at Highland and Del Rosa.

Okay. Thank you. Any additional questions you have or comments?

Okay, well, if you're going to call for the question, go ahead.