City Council - Regular Meeting

It's 05:00. We'll call the council meeting to order, closed session. The city council, city of Rialto acting successor agency to the redevelopment agency, The Rialto Utilities Authority and the Rialto Housing Authority will now come to order under executives. Under closed session, will the secretary call the roll?

Mayor Baca.

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Scott. Present. Council Member Andy Caruselters. Present. Council Member Carla Perez. Present. Council Member Edward Montoya.

Present.

City Attorney Eric Brown.

Present.

City Manager Tanya Williams.

Present. And

Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem Council, I need to let let the record reflect that city treasurer will not be present for entire meeting.

Right.

And I'll

make the announcement at the open of the the open meeting.

Right. Let me He indicated that the reason he couldn't make it because he had an emergency, so it should be recorded as an emergency that he had to go to Washington State. So that's the reason he couldn't be here.

Okay. Thank you.

Mhmm. With that, I'll call on

the city attorney. Thank you, mayor. We have four items on your closed session agenda for this evening. The first is a conference with legal counsel regarding two items of existing litigation. Those cases are spelled out in the agenda. We have a conference with legal counsel with regard to one item of anticipated litigation. This is an industrial disability retirement item. Your third item is a conference with your labor negotiators. And then finally, you have a public employment performance evaluation with the position of city manager. And that's it for this evening.

Thank you. Is there anyone from the audience that would like to address any of the issues that would be going on into closed session? Seeing that there's no one in the audience that would like to address that, so at this point, do we have a motion to go into Motion's closed been made by Andy Caracera, seconded by Carla Perez. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.

The motion carries. We'll move on to closed session. Meeting will come to order. This time the city council will come to order. The city city council, city of Rialto, the acting successor agency to the redevelopment agency, the Rialto Utilities Authority, the Rialto Housing Authority will now be in session.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Baca?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott? Present. Council member Andy Carceras? Present. Council member Perez. Present. Council member Edward Montoya Junior.

Present.

City manager Tanya Williams. Present. City attorney Eric Bell. Present. And as I stated in the closed session part that the city treasurer will be absent, had any emergency and excuse absent for this entire meeting.

Thank you. All members present. So at this time, we'll move on to the pledge of allegiance that will be led by Carla Perez. If you could, remain standing, pastor Peter Aiola, the New Destiny Christian Church will give the invocation.

Over here?

Yes. Yes, please.

And turn the little green light on.

Thank you so much. I just wanna say what a blessing and what a privilege and honor it is to open up in sessions for the city council of Rialto. Joe Baca, I met you at the car show. We were passing out flyers, and he gave us the opportunity to come out and be able to just open up in prayer. So I just wanna share first of all, I just wanna say thank you.

I'm pastor Peter Ulloa from New Destiny Rialto, and it is an honor and a privilege to to to this to do this today. But I do wanna share a scripture before we pray. In first Timothy, it tells us, I urge you then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings, and all those in authority that we may live peacefully and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases god and our and our savior who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And if you guys will bow your heads as I pray, so we could open up.

Dear god, we are grateful for this city of Rialto and for the opportunity to serve it. Thank you for blessing us with life, health, and the freedom to participate in our community. We ask for your wisdom, guidance, and our mayors, Joe Baca, and the council members to make important decisions. Help them to work together in harmony to listen to one another and to act with a keen sense of justice for all citizens. Bless their families and give them strength for the task ahead. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, guys. Thank you. You can be seated now. So at this time, I'll call on the city attorney to report on closed session.

Thank you, mayor. There were four items on your closed session agenda this evening. Those items are listed on the agenda. Council went through all of those. They had a briefing from, both city attorney and staff as appropriate for each item, and there was no reportable action.

Thank you.

Thank you. With that then we'll move on to presentations and proclamations that we have one memorial, being done by by Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott.

Thank you, mister mayor. I'm going to read that at my seat tonight as, former council member Lynn Hertz will not be here tonight to, accept this, but we will get it to her later. This is in memoriam of her husband, Daniel Eric Hertz. We all know him as Dan Hertz. 10/26/1943 to 11/04/2025.

Born California to Joseph and Mary Ryan Hertz, he has three siblings, Dennis, Cindy, and Mary Jo. In school, he was drawn to mechanical and creative projects. He received third place and second place national awards for his design and building of a steam engine. He was awarded a full scholarship to Cooleyonard Art College. However, he had already enlisted in the United States Navy where he served on the USS Montecito as a machinist.

He met his wife, Lynn Brosnahan, a former Rialto City Council member from 1992 to 1996 and 2013 to 2014 behind Ned's laundromat in June 1966 and were married in 1970 in Assisciencia Mission. In 1971, Dan fulfilled another dream of opening a small engine shop known as Dan's Lawnmower Center in Rialto, surviving ups and downs and many changes. It is still open and thriving Cactus for fifty four years. Dan was active in the community, particularly Lion's Breakfast Club, fifty five plus years, Rialto Elks Lodge, fifty years, Friends of Rialto K9s, Chamber of Commerce, Rialto Historical Society. He supported many youth sports.

Dan was an avid Harley rider and made many memorable trips on the bike along with many fishing trips and cruises. Dan is survived by his wife, Lynn, of 55, his daughter and her husband, Joanne and Russ Murray, granddaughter, Desiree and her husband, Justin, great granddaughters, Mikey, Paris Lee, Harper, Gina, David, Mackenzie, and Cassidy, all girls, grands and greats, his sister, Mary Jo, and her companion, Vanna his sister, Cindy and her husband, Steve, aka Hippie, his brother, Dennis and his wife, Debbie, Donald Hertz, Dana Hertz, Blanchard, Kelly, Brosnahan Reeves, plus two indoor cats, Casper and Ziva. I think everybody in this community knows Dan's Lawnmower Shop. I've known him for thirty five years and he was a great guy as is his wife. People that have been very active in our community so we're gonna sorely miss Dan Hertz.

Tonight with his memoriam is also a certificate from County Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. Honoring the life and times of Daniel e Hertz. We will get this to Lynn and may God bless her and Dan is certainly in our memories from this community. And I think all of us have probably been to that lawnmower shop. I know I still have an electric lawnmower. I think the very first one they ever sold I bought about twenty years ago. So a true friend and a great guy. May he rest in peace.

Thank you very much, Mayor Pro Tem, it's Scott. But hopefully we can adjourn in memory of Dan Hertz. Got to know the Hertz family during my political years in office in a variety of different positions. Worked closely with Lynn Hertz and then of course Dan was also an active member of post four two two, which is just right down the street on Lilac was quite active and attended many of the activities that were there. He truly will be missed and his wife Lynn Hertz has been very instrumental in the city of Rialto, not only supporting Dan, but also a lot with the women's club too as well in the city of Rialto.

So I just want to wish condolences to all of the family as we adjourn today in memory of Dan Hertz. Thank you. Next we have a certificate for Isaac Avila will be presented by Andy Caraceras. And this is in behalf of the whole council. Also Bobby Ross,

Avila as well. We've had certificates for both. So as many of you may know already, these are the Avila brothers, the four time award winning Avila brothers. Round of applause to that. Come on now.

I mean, I don't know anything else.

Anyhow, so on behalf of the city of Rialto, I have two certificates here of recognition to the Avila brothers. In recognition of your fourth Grammy award winning as musicians, songwriters, and producers, your extraordinary talent, dedication, and artistic excellence have made an outstanding impact on the on the world of music. Your continued success serves as an inspiration create for creators everywhere. With great admiration and recognition of your contributions to the art of songwriting, The city of Rialto along with members of the community commend commend you for this accomplishment and extend our sincerest congratulations. And I just just wanna share a few words.

So not only are these gentlemen, these fine gentlemen, a product of Rialto, they are actually giving back to the community. A lot of times you have, whether it's a successful business owner or a celebrity or any kind of success level that, happens in individuals, it's always important to see which ones come back to their community and give back to the community. And, not only is are are the Avila brothers, starting to work on on a local level with with some of their mentoring and a lot of the programs that they're bringing on, but we're also looking here in the city of Rialto to help them develop and mentor some of our youth. So to me, that's such a great thing that we have these successful musicians and and and and and great people that are giving back to the community and that they most importantly, that they are Rialto grown. And I will I will I will let them speak because I looking at their bio, they've done so much.

I would probably be up here an hour, but I'm sure they have a way of summarizing it. So I'll give them the mic, and we'll let them speak. And and, also, I we have a certificate of recognition from the county supervisor, and I'll let mister Baca Take over. Take over. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We also have a a certificate. I'd like to also mention before we do easy really has been very instrumental in motivating a lot of our youth. He's a graduate from Eisenhower High in the area. So coming to school Michael.

Coming to school here and being a role model is very positive for many individuals that would like to move in to the music industry. I think as our council member indicated is that we're looking forward to working something close at the playhouse where we can actually establish some kind of a entertainment musical for a lot of our youth that are interested in getting into this fine art. But in behalf of the city, in behalf of the county supervisor Joe Baca junior, the 5th District, it says on behalf of vice chair and supervisor Joe Baca junior of the 5th District, the county of San Bernardino, it gives me great pleasure to join the city of Rialto in recognizing you for your remarkable contributions and accomplishment made to music industry. Your tireless efforts and dedication to excellence are truly commendable and serve as an inspiration to all around you. Take strong pride in this honorable achievement.

Congratulations, supervisor Joe Bockett junior. Go ahead and send him. And I

think we'll put him down. So I know you have a few things to

I'm gonna hold mine, man. I'm gonna hold mine.

You go. There we go. There we You can hold yours.

It's cold.

Yeah. You wanna I'll let you know.

I'm just gonna say This shit is real. This shit is real. You know, I I believe that god gives us trouble, and it brings out the worst in us so that he can reveal the best of

us. You

know, dreams are very expensive. And I think all you guys, this took a lot of time to put together, and time isn't a precious commodity that we have in life. We can make money, but we can never get time back. And no one does it by themselves. I've had so much help.

And it's only right that we give back. We pour back into the communities, these kids here in the streets, letting them see that they can pick up an instrument versus a gun, showing them a different way, and showing them never to be afraid to make mistakes. That's that's how we learn. Right? You don't you don't learn deadly squat by winning.

You learn when you lose. And this is just a proof that that does exist. Again, you know, we have, you know, all stars back here, people who've poured into us, have an incredible mom, a dad who had a a dream poured into us. This for me is important for my kids. This is gonna allow me to let them see me be the dad who they think I am.

And that's who I need to try to continue to be. And this is a legacy that I leave for my kids. You know, I realized I'll say this to the end. After getting the awards and working with all of my heroes, I became their hero strangely enough. And I have so many so many of my heroes that I talk to every single day and you know as a little kid I would I would see them on videos and TV and on the award shows and to be able to bless, to be able to call them my friends and my family is is an amazing accomplishment.

But I realized after, you know, getting these awards and the accolades, the true reward for me was I I'm in love with music. Man. Music is the most divine language that we have. It puts blacks, whites, Asians. It puts people.

It puts humanity together. It connects us all. You got two Mexican boys, Chicano straight up from Rialto. That's produced for the biggest black artist. And, you know, I think we're a better world when black, whites, browns, we all can get along and and and create some magic that surpasses. I mean, our music has gone throughout the world. And we started here in Rialto. And, again, I'm thankful for the recognition. You know, again, it's for me. It's it's for my kids.

And, you know, God gave me a job to do. And it's not for me to have the cars. It's not for me to have the houses. It's really for me to give the gift back to the world and do exactly what God has done for me, he's given me a gift. And my gift is supposed to be to to use to give to others. So I'm thankful, and I I appreciate this so much.

So, I'm just gonna start by saying, Andy, I'm still waiting on that fire manuto spot you promised me.

Yes. Thank

you all for for putting this together for us tonight. It means the world. Mom, we did something right. Pops, we carried the torch. You know, I've been on a serious footpath of just trying to get in a room where I know I can make a difference, where I can look at kids that look like me and give them a sense of hope, a spark, a sense of inspiration.

And when we finished Okay. Cool. When we finished Super Bowl last year, my mom said, You gotta figure out how to bring her back home. And I started my January, hit the ground running. I came to Rialto. I linked it with my partner Mike.

Yeah.

He brought me to Fontana. And I started to find myself in as in in as many classrooms as I could find myself. Allowing these kids to see that somebody's showing up for them that looks like them. Somebody that can spark a fire. Somebody that can offer them something exciting, all through music.

And what I've learned in these rooms is that very few adults use the word imagination. Very few adults say that word to our kids. And, the truth is, is that none of this happens without imagination. Being able to think and dream beyond your parameters and the walls that you think surround you. I would have never thought I would hear my music in Australia.

I would have never thought me and my brother would be the only two Mexicans to have five Grammys in black music. You know what allows that to happen? Your ability to imagine. Your ability to create and use the gift that your creator gave you. And so it's it's been my goal and my passion to not just come back to Rialto and wave my accolades.

It's my goal to come back here and make sure that I show up, make sure that I give them something that motivates them to wanna show up to school, to wanna be somebody, to touch me, feel me, know that I'm real, and that I'm here for them. And that's the beautiful thing about mine and my brother's commitment to our passion and our dream of being the best we could be. We paid a price. I can tell you how many sacrifices we've had to endure, how many birthdays and holidays we missed because we're just that focused. And so today when I look at these accolades what it symbolizes is belief, our imagination, the heroes, the people that we've had throughout our lives to support us, and believe in us, and champion us.

And, you know, I think the beauty is that we are now living proof that there are no barriers. It's just how hard you wanna work and what you're willing to commit to and sacrifice. And, thankfully, thankfully, our father and our mothers are they're still here To see that they weren't crazy in the eighties. When everybody was telling my dad, man, you're crazy, But here we are, you know, standing next to the mayor, standing next to Eddie, you know.

Cool guys.

Yeah. And I got my peeps here, got C4 here, I got Noah here, I got Mike here, I got Chris here, I got my sons here, I got my primo here on the camera. Like, you know, like, to be able to do something that people you come up with, and they're still here to see it, you know. So we're we're extremely thankful, we're extremely proud, but we're proud with a sense of humbleness and understanding from day one that our gift was always truly meant to give away. And, that is our commitment, that is the chapter we are in in our lives.

We're in the chapter of giving it back. So, to be here in Rialto tonight means the road for us, because this is truly where we came from. 772

Thank you guys. Thank you everybody.

Next, we'll be moving into oral communications. Before I call on on the next individual that'll give a report on oral communications. We're all devastated with what happened at the Vista View Apartments, you know, to all the families, all the individuals. City of Rialto has been very much concerned with what happened to them and are looking forward in terms of coordinating additional efforts to hopefully that if something like this happens that we're prepared to help anyone whether it's an earthquake, whether it's a fire, or whether it's any other kind of disaster. And I wanna compliment both the police department and the fire department for their immediate respond during that time where many of the individuals were like anything else lost in terms of what do they do.

I've been in that situation when nine eleven happened in Washington DC where there was not a plan in place or a shelter in place and we were all scrambling. I think Rialto wants to make sure that people in the city of Rialto know exactly what to do if we ever have any kind of disaster in the future. And with that, I'd like to call on Chris Jensen, our acting fire chief to briefly brief us in terms of what we've done and what we could do in the future as well. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor, mayor pro tem, and the city council. Thank you for the opportunity to update you just briefly on this significant fire event that we had on Friday evening. The fire involved a two story 16 unit apartment complex that housed approximately 75 people, both adults and children. The fire spread rapidly upon our arrival due to high winds, and, the location of the the fire at the building. Evacuations were initiated upon arrival by the Rialto Police Department and local, residents at the apartment complex.

This undoubtedly saved people's lives and injuries at that incident. The fire was contained approximately two hours and fifty four minutes into the incident, and we were supported by multiple multiple agencies in and around this area including San Bernardino County Fire, Colton, the City Of Ontario, Loma Linda, San Manuel, and Rancho Cucamonga. Once the fire, we recognized the significance of the fire and those that had been impacted, we immediately summoned Red Cross to the scene as a partner in our emergency response framework. Once Red Cross arrived at the scene, they realized the number of folks that were in need of support from the incident and set up an immediate care and reception center at the leasing office at the Vista View Apartments. It was then determined that we needed to open a shelter for the residents that had been impacted and that was then moved to Simpson Elementary School as part of the Rialto Unified School District and Red Cross agreement.

We were also supported then by nongovernmental organizations that helped and assisted with donations as well as a significant outpouring of community members. This fire was undoubtedly extremely dangerous, resulted in significant impact to the residents and to the immediate area. And the fire department and Rialto Police Department worked diligently and continued to work with the residents and the supporting, groups, such as Red Cross, in continuing to provide support to the residents. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

I believe that we questions at this point. Right? Or can we? Attorney? You you can ask questions of the comments too. Okay. Comments, mayor pro tem, Ed Scott?

Yeah. Chief, I I just want to commend you, your fire department, the men and women of Rialto Fire Department, Rialto Police Department, and the surrounding agencies that gave you support. I think you did a tremendous job out there in light of the winds and that's a fairly old structure. We're very lucky that we had no injuries, no casualties and that it's it's just strictly limited to loss of property. And I I know how traumatic that is for the residents of that complex, but we thank god that that that they were all okay.

So again, I wanna thank you for the tremendous job you've done. I wanna thank the community for the tremendous outpouring of help and assistance that they have provided. It's really nice to see a community come together when a tragedy like this happens.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Andy?

Thank you. Yes. I I too want to, thank our fire department and, also the collaboration of of our police department because you guys were both working hand in hand, using what resources you had and, getting everything under control. But I also wanna think, thank all the other organizations that came out and helped, all the people that were concerned about what was going on and, started establishing funds. We we had everything or or chief Jensen had everything under control with the Red Cross and everything.

But, everybody when things like this happen, everybody goes into help mode. And I'm just very grateful that this community came together luckily there was there was no loss of life and that you guys acted in in accordance to all your training along with our police department. And I'm just very grateful to have such a great team, and I also wanna thank our our police chief for all the involvement and the the great sync and coordination that we had on this effort. Thank you.

Thank you.

K. Any other comments? Hearing none again. Thank you very much, Chris. You and the fire department, the police department, and the community, and everyone for coming together and addressing this issue that will continue to be in our minds and looking at ways that we can make sure we can avoid such incidents. And you didn't mention one thing, but I thought it was very very important to and very touching how you saved the fire department, saved the life of a baby too as well. Mean, wanna highlight a little bit about what happened there? That was very, to me, very touching moment because of what happened.

If it's okay, I'll do that for a few

minutes. Sure.

Yes. There was a family that had attempted to reenter the structure after we had warned them how dangerous it really was. And in fact, they did enter. They got in about about three to five feet. And they heard the the floor suddenly collapse in one of the rooms just from building vibration and different movements that happened.

We knew it was extremely dangerous, but it's important to understand why they were attempting to do that, and they were trying to recover the ashes of their child. And so when I heard that, I immediately summoned an engine crew back to the scene. We got into our protective clothing and we made access into the structure and recovered that little boy for the mom and the dad.

Thank you. With that hearing none, hearing no other comments, we'll move into oral communications. And I'd like to state if there's I know that there's quite a few people that would like to address or make comments. If someone is making a comment already that has already been said, if you can just either state something a little bit different or state that you support whatever comments someone else has said. So this way we can have everybody address or those addressing the issue itself under oral communications. Okay. Thank you. With that are there any ones that have signed up for oral communications?

Yes. We have several. Yes. We have several people from the Vista Fire.

Vista Fire.

No. We have Donna Mayor. I want to thank the police department. Are they here? Yeah. Then we have Steve Figueroa and Frank Montas, and then everybody else we have wants to speak on the fire.

Good evening. My name is Donna Monjaras, and I would like to express my sincere appreciation for officer Dionne Gary and the amazing service provided in patrolling and addressing speeding drivers in our neighborhood near Valley Boulevard in Spruce. Officer Dionne Gary's car stop shows Rialto Police is present and responsive to keeping the area safe, his willingness to take enforcement action, especially during a cold weekend when others are home with family members. Means a lot to the residents who worry daily about reckless drivers speeding in our neighborhood. It's been a growing concern.

Officer Dionne professionalism and care brings a sense of safety and comfort. His work and that of Rialto Police Department truly make a difference to our community. And today, we thank Rialto PD and officer Dion. And also wanna thank the chief Jensen for his great work, with the fire that happened in Rialto. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Next.

Steve Figuero.

Good morning. Steve Figueroa with the Hispanic Coalition for Small Businesses, and we too wanna thank you that out of a tragedy, good people came out, not just in law enforcement, but community organizations. And my buddy Frank, yeah, we we help out a lot, but Frank has spearheaded this. But what we found in a lot of cities, it's so clickish, they don't allow organizations to come in and just help. And your city has been wide open. That should be part of your plan to coordinate all the organizations who can bring food and tents and and money or whatever. But just wanna thank you for the openness. As we saw earlier, there's a lot of good things here in Rialto, a lot of good people, And just want to thank you for the efforts that you made.

Thank you. You. You.

Frank Montes.

Good evening, mayor, city council members of the community. My name is Frank Pontes, and I represent the Hispanic Coalition of Small Businesses. It's been a very challenging past five days for all of us, but especially the victims of the fire that have shown strength and resilience and hope. They're also true champions, for showing us resilience. But chief Jensen, thank you for the empathy, the love that you showed for this community. I was there, and I saw you. And that's what they needed at that moment, and you stepped up. So I wanna thank you. Thank you very much. Chief, thank you.

I've heard great things of you protecting the structures, getting everybody out. Mister Ed Scott, thank you for being there. Thank you for your support, constant communications that we had. It was it was great. Councilman Montoya, thank you for being there. Thank you for spending the time with those members of the community. It meant a lot to them. So I I wanna thank you from the bottom of hearts. Congressman Baca, thank you for helping us secure the location for the Thanksgiving dinner that we are gonna provide these families. As Steve said, there's a lot of things that happen in our communities, a lot of going back and forth, but these days have shown that at the end of the day, we are community.

First and foremost, everybody stepped up. A lot of great things happened. Lessons learned, we are not truly prepared. We are here to tell you we want to be part of help. Anytime you guys need us we're there we can we want to do what we can do. We can't do everything but we are there for you guys, for our community, not just Rialto but the entire San Bernardino and Riverside County. You know, we've I've been we've been with these families twenty four seven. We've been on the phones. We've we've assured them that they will not be alone. We are going to be here with them till they are back on their feet and continue after that.

There was many small businesses impacted in that lived in that small business owners that lived in that complex. They've lost a lot of their tax records, keys, and we I'm glad that we were there to let them know that the city's there, they saw the Red Cross, everyone there, that helped. They They're going to start feeling the pain coming soon. They are in shock. As a burn survivor myself and as a son, my father lost his life in the fire.

I went back today to look at the apartments and congressman and and chief Jensen, the smell from the fire permeates all through that. I think I I did speak with Thanh Gonzalez with the CCAJ, and I said, you know, the air quality needs to come test the air here because you couldn't smell it. So I can assure you that all that has gone in into those other apartments that are there. There's kids playing in the same area. So I don't know if any of you have gotten a chance to go out there and actually stand away from where the buildings were were caught fire and smell that.

I went and it was very traumatic for me because it it triggered everything that's happened. So please go take a look at that and as you start putting implementing your your emergency response plan for incidents like this, because we are truly not ready. If the whole block would've went down, especially with the winds, we know what could happen. So please count on us. We are there to support and help.

We have been able to house the all all the the families, all of them, for at least seven days. I think it the funds that we put in run out December 5, but we are still collecting dollars, and we will be there. We'll find a way. We will find a way. But any assistance that the city can give anyone, you know, the community out there, we need donations, cash donations. That's what's gonna help. The community did step up. We'll close everything. The the the love that the community poured Rialto did step up. So it was beautiful to see.

But anything that you guys can assist us assist us at for their Thanksgiving lunch dinner that we are putting together, let us know. But our board members, our small businesses are stepping up, and one way or another, we are gonna make this happen. So I just wanted to thank all of you in chief. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, congressman, for all your help.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next, have Anna Gonzales.

Good evening, mayor Baca, council and staff and community here and at home. Anna Gonzales, I'm here representing the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, also a Rialto resident. So not gonna reiterate what Frank just mentioned, but we are housing folks and the funds are running out. And so right now, I am here to ask you all to please declare a local state of emergency. We have been looking at different laws, talking to different housing attorneys, and we have quickly found out that the city of Rialto has no tenant protections.

And so it's becoming a little more difficult to really represent the tenants, the victims of this fire. And so I am here to plead that you act as your police power to protect the victims. The property owner had a meeting with the residents yesterday and basically said, here's your deposit. Here's your prorated rent. We are done because the building is gone.

And in fact, there's a lot of state laws that say otherwise. But right now, we need the city council to act to then protect the community and hold the landlord accountable for not housing these folks because really the responsibility lands on the landlord. And so we ask you to please please think about all the families that are struggling because if CCAHA would not have stepped in, Red Cross, trust me, was not gonna cover their housing. They told us. And so we had to have an emergency board meeting to get the funding to house folks.

Otherwise, they would be sleeping in their cars right now and and or in the streets. So we need action for this from this city council now. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any other comments?

We have Peter. Is Peter here? Hi. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Mayor Pro Tem, council. My name is Peter Densmore. I'm with Cannon Management. We're the management company that manages the property. We don't own it. We manage it. It's a great tragedy. People lost their homes, all their possessions. I really believe that, but for the grace of God and the heroics of the fire department, the police department, there would have been injury, if not loss of life.

I units were affected. It's a 100 unit property without the, again, the heroics. There could have been a 100 units that were lost. As as it stands, there's 16 units where we're diligently trying to get alternate housing for these people, our valued residents that have been impacted so dramatically. We're just overwhelmed that this happened.

But on the on the positive side, the response from the fire department, the police department, the city officials. I I spoke with the mayor pro tem on Sunday at the at the at the shelter. The Red Cross, all of the other agencies that that were involved just was inspirational. And, I I don't know what we would have done without the help of all of those. So I just wanted to to say that to the mayor, to the mayor pro tem, and the council. So thank you for everything.

Thank you. Any other comments?

Yes. You have a lot more. Okay. Claudia, hola.

Is it it qualified to speak Spanish or it has to be English?

Yes. We have Spanish. English?

Good evening. My name is Bader Valle.

I

was a resident of Apartment 102 in Rialto.

Okay.

But he says he would like it if you could please declare an emergency so they can access resources. He's asking for the mayor and the council for the support.

He

believes today is the last day that the Red Cross will help so the food has begun to stop. He says, please take action because the owners of the apartments have not been able to face us. He says they're not looking out after them because they are actually in the streets. He says that's all.

You. You.

Rob, you can stay up there because, everybody else is Spanish speaking. Vermeer Riaz. Not there. Vermeer Reyes. No.

Good evening. We are residents of the apartments that burned down. We are in the streets. The owners of the apartments have told us to our face that the help is running out and truly we are in the streets. We've been residents for ten years and the owners have given us back our deposits and told us that this is the end.

He's saying they're asking from your hearts to face us, don't turn your back to us, to give us the resources and the access that we need so that we don't have to live on the streets. We hope that we can collaborate and whatever resources you can provide, we thank you.

Next.

Diane Poo Daedu. Polito. Polito? Elizabeth?

Hello. Good evening to mayor Baca and everyone else. I am just here to explain that we need your guys' help. We need you guys to be there for us. We went through something totally unexpected, something very difficult, and we are asking for you guys to make a declaration of emergency because we need housing and we need to protect our rights.

We also ask of you guys to be not turn our backs on us. We know we chose you guys, you mister mayor Baca as our mayor because we know you act. We know you know how to do something. We know you're capable of doing it and we ask for all 16 units ask that help those resources. The May the management of the apartments just threw us out.

Basically, they're not helping. They don't wanna be responsible for the things happening, and we are here to ask for you guys to help us, for you guys to comprehend what we're going through. And we are just going through a really hard time and we ask for what you guys can do for us because today was the last day of the Red Cross helping us, feeding us because the management of the apartments didn't wanna be responsible for that. So we are asking you from our hearts to please help and take action for what is happening. Thank you.

Thank you. Next.

Doria Cortez.

Good afternoon. My name is Dora Cortez. I live in Apartment 109 from the fire on Cactus. There are 16 families that have are now living without a roof or a shelter. The help from the Red Cross is ending and they are asking for your support on the local level for these families who have lost everything in a blink of an eye, all of the work that they have put in for many years.

From my heart, I ask that you look at these 16 families and that what we're asking from you, from my heart, we thank you.

Jose Ro die.

Good

evening, everybody. I wanna say thank you. First, you know, thank you to this guy, mister Johnson. He did a chief. He did a huge favor for us. You guys probably heard that he recovered our son's ashes, my son that passed away, and that was something that we're gonna have right here forever. You know? But I wanna go forward. I don't think the community too, soldiers. We're all to all those.

We're feeling the hug from the community, but now we need the hug from legal, somebody out there that could talk that could talk to them. We're we don't know what's what's the next step. We're living at a hotel right now, and we're living in a bliss right now. You know? Like, we have we're a family of five.

And like everybody else, yeah, it's materialistic things that come and go, but but we also in a period of time, we we work to get to where we're at, and we're just not ready to make that transition because we were paying a lot of residents, not just me, we're paying way under than what the rent rate is right now. So we just want, like, legal advice if you guys could guide us guide us through some legal advice, talk talk to the owners, you know, because none of us had renter's insurance. We didn't know the cause yet, what caused it, because none of us none of us left something plugged in. None of us did something misused. I think that was mainly miss failure or or, you know, I can I can say what was the cause of it either, you know, but we just want the the help from you guys to talk talk us through to get some legal advice on that because we're just we don't know what's gonna happen next?

Thank you. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Maylene Toya? That's how you pronounce that?

Maylene Moya.

Good evening. I'm a resident of Apartment 110. From what I understand, there is no help. They feel as though that there is no plan for an emergency like this. They are asking that we declare a state of emergency to support the residents in their grief.

Yeah, I'm sorry I forgot, you need to translate. I'm sorry I speak English but I'm very nervous and I cannot talk well, right?

So,

My understanding is that there's no ordinance that protects the tenants where the property owners have to face their mistakes and this is a misgiving. This is something is wrong.

So

the fire started in the attic at no fault of the tenants. So right now there's no response. We were told we were gonna be relocated. They're being told now that they have to pay market value for the rent, whereas a lot of the residents had been there for ten years and not paying at market value. Our deposit was low and now to re rent the same apartment, the deposit and the rent will both be higher.

We ask that you please declare a state of an emergency. These 16 families represent about 80 people, from young people to elders who need help. So if it was not for the community organization group that helped us, when the property owner approached us and let us know that the contract was null and there was no more building? We were left without hope. We beg you that you are here for our help, that we need your help.

Happy Thanksgiving This week, you're

gonna have a happy Thanksgiving in your homes. Do you have it planned?

What about us?

Your Christmases will be happy in your homes. And what about us? Please do something. Please help us. Thank you.

Now the last speaker, Liz Gudino. Elizabeth Gudino.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Elizabeth Lisette. Sorry. It's okay. And I'm a victim of the fires. We ask you as our representatives to act on our behalf. We voted for you and we are now needing your protection. We are suffering and the property owners do not wanna be responsible.

I have three three kids. I have one baby.

We depend upon these organizations for a place to live because without them, I would be in the streets with my children.

Please

protect us and do something.

Thank you so much. Are there any other No. If

I may make a statement, I I hope I can encourage, you know, our counsel to draft an urgency declaring a local state of emergency. We've heard from many of the individuals that are there and hopefully our council can look at to see if we do qualify or not qualify, do offer a state of emergency for many of the individuals. As we heard many of the individuals out here, it's always hard you know to hear a lot of these stories, but sometimes, you know, we hear the stories of individuals and we have to put ourselves in their place. What would it be if we were in that situation or if we were about to go homelessness in the area? What impact would it have on our families, our individuals?

And sometimes, you know, it's easy to sit at the diocese since we're not facing that right now, but many other individuals are going through that. And I believe that we have a responsibility to all citizens of the city of Rialto or all individuals who live in the city of Rialto to try to find some form of remedy or a situation where we might be able to provide assistance and I think looking at what may be available in reference to drafting a declaration of a local state of emergency if if possible and looking at if we qualify and knowing that that we've tried in that direction and then looking at what other means we may be able to provide some form of assistance of a coordinated effort to help many of these individuals so they and their families will will not be homelessness in in in the future or now too as well as they're trying to go through this this situation that they're at and work with the landlord or work with other individuals as well as to how we might be able to help those. That's just me speaking. I can't speak in behalf of anyone else, but it's just my personal feelings.

Mayor Pro Tem and Scott.

Thank you. Chief Jensen, can you tell us what the current status is of Red Cross?

So the Red Cross, Resource Center, that remained open the last two days was providing, food and other resources, to the victims. That closed tonight at 7PM. However, they have what they call casework which is continuing to provide financial support as well as other resources to victims.

So there is financial support from the Red Cross available?

Yes,

sir. And where do individuals go to get that assistance?

My understanding, from the regional director is is that all residents have opened a case with Red Cross, and they would be reporting to their, Red Cross representative that did their casework for any resources that they might need.

And and do we know how those resources are put out and what the time frame is from for attaining those resources?

The resources depending on what the resource is would depend upon the time. I am checking with Red Cross to see if there's an opportunity to continue to provide food resources and how that might happen here in the coming days.

Okay. And I know the management of the apartment complex are still here. I'm wondering if maybe they could come up and explain the process and what they're doing to assist their residents because it seems like there's a couple different stories here.

Thank you, mayor pro tem. I don't wanna diminish the impact to the to the residents here, but I do wanna clarify a few things I think the council should know, which is, one, we've been advised that by law, when there's a unit that is no longer habitable, that we are required by state law to refund the deposit and prorated rent for any amount that's paid that's no longer usable. That's why they're getting their their deposits and and rent back with a notice that says that their unit is gone and that the lease is terminated. By no means has the owner of the building or the management given up on these residents. As of tonight, it's my understanding that out of the 16 homes that were down to maybe two or three homes that have not been relocated at units.

And, that includes the owner of the apartment building that has other units in that building that were vacant, that has agreed to have these tenants move into the the vacant units at the exact same rate, at the exact same deposit. He also has a few other properties nearby, and he's agreed to do the same thing at those properties. We've actually contacted other clients of Cannon's and gotten the same arrangements from them. And the

Are these at the same rents and the same deposits?

Yes, sir. I'd be happy to share our notes. We brought our notes, so I I don't know how.

Well, we we have people in the audience saying no, so I'm I'm wondering why the disconnect.

I I couldn't tell you. I can tell you I can tell you that it's How much do know

what we are saying in

our One second. Do you have your spreadsheet? We

have been talking and it has been,

a little delayed. Can you identify

I'm sorry. My name is Laura Green. I'm the regional supervisor for the property. I've dealt with fires before but not to this, extent. Extent. So it's a lot of work to try to house, 16 apartments or rehelm. But today, we were able to make a lot of progress. We are down to three units that we have not been able to place. We have offered all the other ones and a lot of residents have accepted. We have even executed four contracts today, and it's the same rent amount.

It it has happened. I mean, I don't

know what to tell you.

There there are people here that are not residents that are speaking for residents, and I think Yes. No. You're not all residents.

Anna is not a resident.

So Excuse me. I I don't think we should get into a debate. I think what the mayor pro tem was just asking a question, and we're debating because there is conflict of, stories that are being said right now, between the the landlord and the residents that that are in that area. And I think we we this isn't the place to try to solve it, but I think that we should assign someone to make sure that we look at all the facts and find out, you know, which individuals are being displaced. If we have three units that are not, how many other individuals are not getting the assistance that are there?

So, I'd encourage that that we move on beyond this, but look at any concerns that we have. And I think that's what the mayor pro tem is asking the question because we're hearing different things. So as I stated, you know, that's it's a different situation when you're out there and you're not getting the help that you think you should be receiving, and you don't know if you qualify or don't qualify or what. You know?

So maybe can you meet with the individuals that are here tonight that have issues that haven't been able to get into an apartment?

Of course.

We we we have other rooms in the city where you can meet and try to get this resolved tonight?

Yeah. And when we say that we're down to three, that just means that there's three left. It doesn't mean we've given up on those three. So

Well, it's not just a matter of of not giving up. It's the fact is that these individuals have to find a place to stay. That's part of the problem that's there right now, is it that they don't have a place. And and apparently, there's between the Red Cross and the assistance, there seems to be a a lack of providing the kind of assistance that they need right now. And and if it stops tonight at seven, you know, a guy says, well, what am I gonna do tomorrow? You know? I I hate to be in that situation where I wouldn't know what to do if it came down to the next day.

So chief, will the Red Cross assist in any, let's say, conflicts between the owners and and the tenants? Is there a conflict resolution process?

Not with not with the Red Cross. No.

Okay. So mister Vail, do you have a suggestion how to resolve conflicts between our the residents and and the property owners?

I know the city contracts with a housing consultant that does try to mediate

decisions. In unfair housing. Correct. Maybe they could offer their good offices to help resolve that dispute. Okay. And my my next question is, how much longer do they have hotel rooms? Do we know?

Sunday.

Sunday is not very far away.

But okay.

You can talk

to me.

I think, you know, if you can, I think the mayor pro tem suggested that we have plenty of rooms that are out here? If you can possibly go out here and look at how we might address that issue, but it still doesn't address the whole issue. And I think that's what we need to do is to look at the whole issue and the impact it has on many of the families and children that are being impacted by it. And I'd like to see and that's why I stated that hopefully my colleagues will will look at the possibility of of declaring, you know, a local state of emergency, but that's and then finding out if we do qualify or not.

Certainly support anything that the city does that helps these residents. We're we're trying we're open to suggestions. We're open to criticism, but anything the city can do to help. You've been very helpful so far.

Mister Bell, do you have a suggestion?

Not to make light of their situation, but the declaration of an emergency in and of itself isn't going to help these people. What they need is funding. And so unless there's funding from a nongovernmental organization or a governmental organization that is willing to provide that, the declaration of an emergency isn't going to do anything for them.

Well, it may in terms of not just them, but in terms of the future too as well if we ever have any kind of disasters. So if we begin that process, mister attorney, it's good to be in that process to make sure that we're protected not only now, but in the future too as well, whether they can get assistance or not from federal, state, or others.

What is what is the process for the city to provide some funding to to assist with this?

The fund the city can, if it is approved by the council establish a disaster relief fund which the city can contribute its own general funds to. It can also publicize that and accept donations that would go into that fund from the public and other organizations.

Okay. What do we need to do tonight to do that?

We would have to add that item to the agenda as an item subsequent to the agenda. And then the council could give direction to the city manager to establish such a fund, create a budget for the fund and authorize the staff to take such measures as necessary to have private businesses individuals allow them to contribute to that fund. We'd also have to set up a claims process for people to submit requests for funding.

I would make a motion we move forward with that process.

Alright. We we need a a vote to add that item and then we'll have to have a motion for exactly what we're Okay.

Move to add the item.

Second. And then city clerk will take a vote.

Yes. But can we read what that item is that we're going to where I can put it on the agenda?

So this will be an item that's added subsequent to the preparation of the agenda. Obviously, this fire occurred after the posting of the agenda. The Brown Act does allow that to do that us to do that on a four fifths vote of the council. As I understand it, that item would be the creation of a disaster relief fund for the Vista View apartment residents who have been unhoused by this recent fire. And then once we vote to add it, then the council can give us direction on what they would like us to do with regard to that fund.

Then I motion to add the item.

Second it.

Who's second it? Mayor. Okay. That's to add it then. You wanna then we need another motion to.

Yeah. First, we just need to

vote to add.

Just vote on this item first.

Okay.

Roll call.

Council Member Perez. Aye. Mayor Baca.

Aye.

Councilmember Metoyer.

Aye.

Councilmember Carrie Setters. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Scott.

Aye.

Thank you. Okay.

Okay. That item has been added to the agenda. Now you can entertain a motion to establish a disaster relief fund.

I'll go

back to my motion to establish a disaster relief fund that would also allow contributions from community to go into it and that it be managed by the city of Rialto.

Very good. Now all we need is we have a second.

Motion and a second.

Just need a vote.

A question. Do we need to do a set amount out of, the general fund or any other,

If the city council intends to fund this, yes. We'll need an appropriation from the general fund in order to put city funds in there.

An initial request for an initial amount of funding would be helpful for us to at least establish the fund.

What do we think that would be?

I I couldn't begin to

estimate all these My suggestion, we start out with a $100,000. Second.

For what? Well, how much?

A 100,000.

A 100,000.

Who made the second?

I did. The motion was made by mayor pro Temps. It's gone.

So, 100 from the city general fund.

Correct. Right. For for disaster relief Roll call.

Mayor Pro Tem Scott. Aye. Mayor Baca. Aye. Council Member Carys Ellis. Aye. Council Member Perez. Aye. Council Member Metoyer.

Aye.

Motion passed. Okay and a point point of clarification madam city manager. Do you have a housing person or somebody that can manage this? Would that

be Probably defer to community development. That's where we have a lot of our housing programs. We'll have to coordinate with finance in terms of establishing the fund and protocols for disbursement. My recommendation is that we bring back to council an additional item at the next meeting that kind of outlines what this program will look like.

Then I would like to ask that the, managers of the complex work with you, Christina, so that we can find out who's been placed, who hasn't been placed, what we need to do to get everybody placed in into sufficient housing. And in the meantime, that we take care of any needs between now and that happening because we're obviously in a holiday week starting tomorrow.

If I may add to that, since there's a tremendous need now and and some of these families will will be homelessness after a while is that we look at the probability. And and I know that we're looking at establishing a criteria and coming back on at the next meeting, but that next meeting won't be until December 9. I think a lot of these people right here need assistance now. If we can look at somehow providing some immediate relief for those that we think or do qualify would qualify under the kind of requirement that would come under the housing.

I think we're giving her the Yeah.

So the initial funding amount gives us the authority and we'll have to establish some sort of claim form for people to submit. But we'll work on that between now and the next city council meeting so that we can offer support as soon as possible.

During COVID, I would assume we

We can look at what we did back then as well. Yeah.

And and council, I would if we could suggest that we also allow a refund in the event that apartment owners decide to issue a waiver or allow people to occupy rent free or advance the rent that they can reclaim that from the fund. Private industry will act much quicker than we can in this response.

Good idea.

Excellent. And I just I just wanna add that, that we established a city GoFundMe that's tied directly to the funds to make sure that the community knows, where they're donating to because a lot of times people take advantage of tragedies like this and, open up all kinds of other GoFundMe's. We wanna make sure that our community knows that this is the city GoFundMe, and it's a a fund that we are have established.

And, Frank, is your group taking care of the current housing? Yeah. Sure.

So first, I can say that there's more families in need because we're paying for the rooms. We know how many are there.

When when does that does that end?

Mister, mister Poulton, we can fund continue to fund. If there could be a reimbursement, we can continue to fund them now. Because if you get them an apartment, they have no clothes, no no bedding, nothing. So you're just giving them they might as well stay here. So we have those issues too. So since we've been working with them, we can continue to help them and work with you till you guys get this all set up. But at the end of the day, the only ones that has stepped up to help these victims have have been CCAJ and the Hispanic coalition. So we would work with you. Our thing is just keep them housed because the mental stress that's gonna come

keep them housed, but my preference, the rest of council can make the decision would be for us to do direct pays.

Sure. Whichever way That's just

a cleaner way for us to do it.

Whichever way you guys would like, but they're already there. We're putting them all under one hotel.

When does that end? On Sunday?

We've paid to the fifth. We will raise the funds, so we don't have to move on. Whatever you will need

us to I think Frank, think what what we're all saying here is that we really appreciate the Hispanic coalition or the Hispanic Small Business Coalition helping out. But we'd like to to to make sure then an accountability in terms of city funds is that that it's a lot better that if we begin that process immediately and it's documented in terms of who we're actually providing, even though we do appreciate and we could always give you the reimbursement. But, from a legal perspective, it's it's a lot better that, if we're doing it directly.

They're staying at the areas now, and we were able to get a discount for them. So that's probably the best place to keep them under one roof, mister mayor and city council. And you can speak to them themselves. We still are helping them because they can't take food in there because there's not enough space, refrigerator space. So we have that issue, but we will continue to help feeding, to feed them every day and just make sure that the mental health of these kids, the trauma, that's another thing that we are making sure that we deal with so they're not moving from place to place. We would our priority is the families, period. Not the not the people that own the property because they have failed.

Well, think that that was our direction.

If I may suggest, I think if they're already staying there, then we'll look at your your tab ends on on Sunday, you said. Yeah. We'll pick up the rest of the tab. Thank you. From the get go, that was, the first call I made was to the Aris family. And initially, that was that was my first inclination. So I'm glad that they're there, and I'm glad that we'll be able to just pick up the tab after that. That way, your efforts and all the work that you have done are are greatly appreciated, but we'll be able to probably take it off after that if that's okay with the council.

Yeah. And, Peter, if I could ask you a question.

Yes,

sir. Tomorrow morning, would you you and your staff be able to meet with our staff to kinda tell them where everybody's at as far as being placed, what the situation is, so we can work together and coordinate together to get people where they need to be and get them what they need.

Of course. Absolutely.

Excellent. Thank you very much and thank you all for coming and we really appreciate as it's been stated everyone in the community that has stepped forward. We'd like to move on with the rest of the agenda because we got items on the agenda to still go forward with. So at this time, if there's no other comments under oral communications, we'd like to move on to the consent items. The consent items, any member of the council can pull any item if he or she wishes to. If not, do we have a motion to approve the consent item? So moved. Motion's been made by mayor pro tem Ed Scott, seconded by council member Andy Caracides. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.

Any opposition? Hearing none, consent items are approved. We'll move on to the tap items, on the agenda, and that's tab one.

Good evening, mayor and city council. Tab one this evening is a request for council to consider approving an MOU with the county of San Bernardino for the operation of the West End Navigation Center. Carrie Harmon with the county is here this evening to do a brief presentation on the item.

Good morning, mayor, council members. Carrie Harmon, director of community development and housing. I'm here to provide an overview of a proposed MOU to advance the, West End Navigation Center and for the city of Rialto to consider participating in that agreement. I think we have a presentation. So the just for an overview, the vision behind the West, and Navigation Center is to provide a coordinated, centralized, supported, homeless center that serves as a one stop where somebody can receive sheltering, an array of service, including the large, human services offered by the county of San Bernardino, and be quickly navigated into housing pathways that are most appropriate for them.

So this can include behavioral health pathways, substance use support, and reduction pathways, and other pathways for people that might have less barriers. Barriers. Another objective is to create one access point to avoid the duplication of services, to streamline assessment and placement. Right now people have to walk in many doors to get the support they need, tell their story many different times to social service providers and housing providers just to get to a better place. We want to share data to improve outcomes, want to ensure that we're making data driven decisions regarding our homeless population, our homeless response and we want to maximize resource efficiencies.

There's limited money available for capital development of shelters and supportive housing and limited funding available to support operations. So we need to be strategic in how we build and operate shelters so we can maximize our money. And then as I noted before, the county has under its umbrella the largest arsenal of supportive services and they need to be deployed in a targeted manner to help our homeless population which is most in need of our services. So the key stakeholders and roles in this partnership is the county. The county will provide all of the funding for capital development.

We will deploy our county social services, which again range from behavioral health, probation, our transitional assistance, our homeless services. Cities would and if you choose to be

a

participating city, would provide operational funding. We hope to integrate the navigation center with your existing city services and homeless response efforts and to participate in regional collaboration. Fontana will service the host city. The facility is located in the city of Fontana. And then we are in the process of securing a provider through a competitive process that will be the direct service provider.

So services, just to give you some insight of what that navigation center will consist of, is twenty fourseven, three sixty five day services. It will include emergency shelter, which are meals, hygiene, case management, transportation, linkages to other systems of care. That would be 100 beds, 100 general beds, no matter what, you know, males, females, families. We'd also have 100 beds of recuperative care, that's medical oversight, medication management, wound care, assistance with daily living activities. Those are primarily folks stepping out of hospital beds who are homeless, also folks stepping out of maybe some behavioral health care.

It would also include a sobering center, which is a medical monitoring crisis intervention substance use kind of front door for those that are intoxicated on the streets who don't require a hold like a 50 one-fifty hold, but could walk into traffic or could be a problem in front of businesses. It offers them a safe place to get sober, they don't have to agree to treatment, but our hope is to move them into a navigation bed or into treatment so they can get off to better health. We would have a commercial kitchen that serves 600 meals a day. There would also be behavioral health languages, discharge planning and aftercare. The commercial kitchen would also serve as a job training program.

The facility will be on a referral only. There'll be a bed reservation system, transport using your existing outreach teams or law enforcement or other providers that you have linkages with. And there would be supports for pets and belongings. This would be a low barrier shelter, you could take your pet with you and you could take a significant amount of your belongings. These are the annual investment rates by city.

These rates are determined based on your size, the incidence of homeless based on the point in time count, what existing resources you have in your city, if you already have shelters or other facilities to, provide housing. So the the low end is 200,000 and you'll see some smaller cities with smaller incidents at the 200,000. The maximum for outside of the county and the city of Fontana is the highest amount is upwards of 300,000, and that's around Chocucamonga. The county is participating in operations at the tune of 475,000 a year. We will front load that in the form of a $5,000,000 capitalized operating reserve.

City Of Fontana is the host city and also being very aggressive in their homeless response efforts has agreed to step out at a million dollars. Ontario, just to note, is only participating in years one to three because prior to us embarking on this effort, they were already had their own navigation center underway. They choose to have that as a city only navigation center, so they weren't taking partners at that time, but they do want to be a supporter in a regional collaboration. So why is this a strong investment for the city? One, there's regional impact.

It doesn't make sense for all of us to have a homeless shelter. In fact, it could be very costly. But we're creating regional infrastructure here in the forms of a brick and mortar facility that can serve, and our goal is to have it served throughout the years and we're looking for an initial ten year commitment. It's a cost effective model for a cost of ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 a year, you get full access to a two zero six bed shelter with comprehensive services. You will get guaranteed bed access and support in connecting residents that need this help.

It will improve public safety because you will have a guaranteed space to direct folks that are unsheltered on the streets, particularly as they may impact your business communities or park facilities. There's comprehensive services and ensuring that the services meet the needs of our homeless population, that this isn't just a bed and a meal as was commonly got maybe fifteen, twenty years ago, but this is really a place of restorative care and about us doing different human services in an effort to get people where they need to be in a more comprehensive manner. It reduces constraint on city resources just by having reduced homelessness over the years. While there's a return to origin protocol, we really are embedding our Office of Homeless Service teams, housing navigators. I've worked with the Chief of Homeless Services, Marcus Dillard for over ten years.

We both came from U. Vets as outreach workers, moved into case management and are now in other roles. But we have a strong commitment to navigating folks onto housing. And there's also a commitment to long term stability not just for the facility but those cared for in the facility. So with that, I'm here to clarify any points of the MOU, answer any questions and just let me know what you need from my end.

Leo, program and Scott, question.

Good evening. A couple of questions. Do you know statistically what percentage of these individuals that would use this service have opioid issues versus other drugs?

So we know roughly thirty percent of our homeless population at any given time is using some array of substances. We also know from data from behavioral health that opiate usage has increased significantly over the last five to ten years. We do see a reduction in usage as evidenced by our reduction in overdoses and hospital room treatment. Meth is still the drug of choice combined with alcohol, but opiates are we do see opiate usage in our unsheltered population.

Okay. Mister Ville, I have a question for you. Based on the opioid settlement money that we have coming, would it be appropriate to use any of that money for our participation in this?

I can't answer that question tonight. I'd have to see the program guidelines up close and I'd have to compare it to the settlement language, which I

don't have in front of me. But that would be an easy answer to get to. If we decide to move forward with this, of which I am in favor of, I think it's about time we as community started doing something. I would like to take a look at whether or not we could use any of that money to participate in this, it seems to me that would be a better use of that money and better spent.

We'll get that answer for the city manager and then to the rest of the council quickly Okay. For

And I did see that the county is participating in this program also?

Yes. We're providing the entire money for the capital development, which right now is penciled at $20,000,000 It'll probably go up a little. Okay. There's no contribution from the cities on that. We're also participating at 475,000 a year in the operating cost for ten years.

And are there other facilities, there are other facilities in the pipeline. Is this one ahead of everybody or where are the others at in this pipeline?

Great question. So Victorville stepped out ahead of all of us and they got a home key project that's known as the Victorville Wellness Center, it's up and running their best practice.

How long?

They've been running about eighteen months now.

And are they having some success?

They are having some success. I've visited it many times and it has a great feel to it and they're really taking the hardest to serve there. That one's run by Simba Center. The West End Navigation Center, which is before you tonight, would be the second one and it would be the first county one. And, I think it would be a best practice model and I'm very confident that over time we will secure additional private and public money to reduce the city's cost burden, because I think it's going to be a great facility and a model. San Bernardino is looking to mirror this in their navigation center that's under construction or going into construction shortly with some other cities, but it's a little bit of a smaller collaboration.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Are there any other questions from members of the council? If not, I have a couple of questions that I'd like to ask in reference to the regional centers. Think eventually I think we're going to need a regional center, a navigation center should I say. In terms of the future, I've just got a couple of questions in reference to duplication of services. We currently have SWAG that does a lot of the same thing that you're proposing that's gonna be done under the navigation centers.

Maybe I could ask somebody who represents or can speak in behalf of SWAG. The services that we're providing and then also I'd like to ask the the bottom question is when does that contract expire because I'm looking at duplicated services and when the expiration versus when you're asking us to start next year giving a 250,000 for seven beds. Can somebody answer from

I can well, I can provide just a little bit of context having worked with SWAG and then I'll I'll let your staff member provide some additional details. I think SWAG is a compliment. While seven beds is the minimum, there's certainly enough capacity that if you need more, we could provide more and I think we could work in tandem. But

you're you're not gonna charge us more, are you?

No. Not gonna charge us.

Well, according to the the the contract I read, it's it's based on, you know, 250,007 beds. And you know, no one else will be taken in or could be taken in. And so I'm looking at how many bodies or people that we may need to refer. And then if we don't they don't have a referral, they can't get in because that's part of the criteria too as well as I looked at it. But

Yeah. I there's the recuperative beds that are an additional 100 beds that might house some of yours. But

Hello, Mayor. Mayor Pro Temecan I'm your Police Chief. And as far as the duplication of services with SWAG, there's going to probably be some overlap. Just because what SWAG does is finds folks in need and then they actually have placement. I think the differences in what SWAG would be doing compared to what the navigation center could be doing would be offering the seven beds in those different criterias, including offering medical. So depending on how you look at it, alleviating ARMC of some of these necessities could be actually handled out of the navigation center from what my understanding is. So hope that answers your questions.

Well, our contract, when does our contract end with SWAG because if we're talking about duplicated services, this is a good concept and I just want to know when our contract expires and then when we can, you know, because we're ask they're asking for 250,000 and then we're and that's a ten year commitment that we're giving. So it's not like we're just giving 250,000 for one year with the exception of Ontario that's it can buy out in three years.

So Mayor SWAG is an annual contract that we bring you. So we'll

It's done annually?

It's annual. Yes. Okay.

You're gonna

Chief, one last question for you, for the Chief.

Yes, sir.

I assume you see this as a kind of a complement to what SWAG does because some of the stuff they have, we don't do or they don't do. And this would be in addition to what SWAG is already doing. Correct?

That's correct, sir. And just to just be very blunt with counsel, the concern that I've always had is actually losing swag services, in addition to what the navigation center is going to be doing. As long as the city would continue down the path that it's doing, because for us, it works successful with the homeless here. I mean, you've only had to look at our numbers. I think we were at 52 this last year in the city of Real to our size. I wouldn't want to lose SWAG.

No, we don't want to lose SWAG. SWAG does a great job, and there's certainly a lot more than seven people out there in our community that are homeless and as we both know, a lot of people are migrating from other areas into the city. They may not stay here permanently, but they do migrate into the city. So I think SWAG is a necessity for the city, but I see this as a more comprehensive program that can really help some people.

Council member Montoya.

Yes, sir. Excuse me. Yes, sir. I want to kind of piggyback off what something you said. You had asked if we were going to be charged additionally for after seven beds. You said no. But upon reading the MOU Yeah. I knew I'd seen it earlier. There is an additional charge. So are we going to reconstruct the MOU to say that we are not going to be charged for additional beds?

So to clarify, there's 100 beds that are general beds. Those are for folks that don't fit into a recuperative care or sobering definition. If you refer somebody into a recuperative care or sobering, that doesn't account against your seven beds. So theoretically, you could serve more than seven folks at a given time without having a cost because you bear no cost for anybody that might be in a sobering bed or recuperative care bed, those income streams are generated from Cal AIM and Medi Cal buildings.

Yep. Because but it also states on here as I'm as I'm reading on page three of our thing, it it actually states on here, you know, what the cost would be to to estimate it'd be 3,000,000 and then it also states that our cost would be 250 which would guarantee us seven beds. And then it says any additional beds we purchased, the rate would be a $125 per night. Is that right?

That is correct. If you wanted to buy permanently additional beds, but our goal is to keep that shelter, full.

No. I'm I'm just trying to compare if I went to a Motel six, what that would cost me versus staying there, you know.

Right. That's a fair question. This is what you, having run Project Roomkey, this is what you get that's a little above a motel placement. You get security, you get on-site services including medical, you get pathways like if somebody's justice involved or behavioral health, you get immediate access to those housing pathways and supports.

And what would be your policy then if, individual was referred, to the navigation center and then the next day they decided to leave, what happens then?

We would try to arrange a different placement for them. So if if for whatever reason they don't like some aspect of the navigation center, our goal is always not to return somebody to the street and not to have to return somebody to the city of origin. I think there's a lot of interventions we can deploy so that people, you don't like this bigger facility, maybe we'll try a smaller one.

And how much staff then would be dedicated to this navigation center to make sure that we provide services because we're incorporating quite a few cities and then each city is guaranteed so many beds.

Another great question. So we're in our final round. We're doing, in person interviews to select the provider. So some of the staffing ratios are in discussion and are being recommended by the providers in their proposals. We see this particularly with the insertion of the commercial kitchen and the sobering center as being more staff heavy.

So we see it running about 50 staff members of varying levels of credentials. And we also see deploying county resources and what that looks like is a behavioral health specialist or clinician from the County, their everyday work site would be the navigation center at no cost to the public because we were paying them perhaps to work at a clinic or, on behavior other behavioral health care building.

Okay. How would you then also handle if if the case happened that someone filed a a lawsuit, what impact then would it have on our city if someone would would file a lawsuit? Will we be tied into that lawsuit or would that be separate based on that city that that individual is coming from or is that directly that the navigation center will handle it without any liability to us?

We've tried to with support from our council and the council, our our legal council drove that portion of the MOU provides strong indemnification language, so the city's only responsibility is financial contributions. You know, that could be something we'd wanna discuss more with your counsel and our counsel.

I hope so because that's where I read it on page nine paragraph six of 26. I believe we've added a

lot of indemnification language to protect you legally, but I don't wanna offer a legal opinion out here. And if if there's some concerns about some ex specific verbiage, we can meet with your counsel.

Yeah. I I think we're you know, we would be concerned to make sure that, you know, there isn't any Mister Vail, have you looked at it, Eric?

Rock Rockwell.

Assistant city attorney did. If the council feels that it's not protective enough, we can certainly revisit it.

But what no. I know what's what's your feeling. We're looking at what you guys are looking at to protect us.

Yeah. What is what is your counsel's feeling on it?

We thought it was a reasonable provision.

Okay.

And I assume you're gonna going to be self insured through one of those JPAs?

Yes, we would be self insured in addition, we would ensure our provider has adequate insurance, more than adequate insurance.

And Mr. Ville, there a clause to get out of this in the event that it doesn't work?

You mean a termination for convenience clause? Yeah. I'd have to go back and look at the agreement.

I don't

recall that. Do you know that?

There is not a termination for convenience. There's actually a buyout structure.

So what is it based on the amount of years left?

Yes.

Is it total price?

Total price.

Okay.

What about you know, if we have anyone that's there that has children are going to school outside of Fontana, how is that gonna be handled?

We would offer support back to the school of origin that's part of McKinney Vento and we've I've done that at other shelters. We've set up systems to ensure the kiddos go to school where where they started school.

I no further questions. What does the members of the council know?

Move move approval.

Second. Motion's been made by mayor pro tem Ed Scott, seconded by council member Edwin Montoya.

Roll call.

Mayor pro tem Scott. Aye. Council member Montoya. Aye. Council member Perez. Aye. Council member Andy Carouselas. Aye. Mayor Barker.

Aye with some reservations. Aye.

Thank you.

The next item is

Yes, tab two will be presented by Yazar, our new public works director.

Good evening, mayor, mayor pro tem, members of city council. Yaz Amrani, your public works director. Here to present on the award of a contract recommendation by staff to award a construction contract to Zico Incorporated in the amount of $343,165 for Ferguson Park resurfacing project. This project has served as a recreational facility for residents And this project will provide additional

Move for approval. Second.

Motion has been made by Council Member Andy Caracides, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem. Scott, any further discussion?

Yas, we're giving you an easy one tonight.

Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Thank you. Motion passes. Item number three.

Good evening, mayor and city council. We do have a new utilities director with us this evening, Sachin. Looks like he just stepped out. There he is. But I did offer to present this item for him since it's his first city council meeting. So tab three is a request for the city council in Rua to amend the contract with, Dipooja and Wells, in the amount of $647,365 Further, there's a request to approve a sole source professional agreement with forgive me if I mispronounce this, Schievel Engineering for the Rialto Habitat Nature Center project the amount of not to exceed

a 100 For approval?

Motion been made by Andy Gutter Sanders, seconded by me then. Since you didn't

By who?

I did.

Seconded by who? Oh, you did seconded.

Can you hear me?

No. I did. Okay. Seconded by Ed Scott. Now, mayor pro tem Ed Scott. Do you okay. Do you need to read the resolution number or not?

Yes. I I would prefer that the motion the person with the motion meet to meet the the resolution for me, please. Resolution.

Resolution number 8435 and rule resolution number 08Dash48.

Thank you.

Okay. It's been motion's been made. It's been seconded. And, Okay. Motion carries. Item number four.

Tab four will be presented by chief Kling. Oh, there he is. Okay. He was hiding.

Hey, there's a lot of zeros on this one.

There is, sir. You know, it's been a tough night. And I'm going to use something from the Avila family. And that's Imagine. I think that was a interesting, actually, statement that that family made. And I just kinda wanna when I get into tab four, I'm gonna need about twelve to fifteen minutes of your time. And I want you to understand exactly

I think move approval. Motion's been made by the mayor, seconded by Carla Perez.

I made the motion. Any kind of gadgets you bring to the

table. Would you

And seconded by I

know you insist to approve this, but would you like to see what you've just approved?

No. We've read it.

Okay. Now let's see it. There's an app.

So actually, have two representatives from Axon's here and also Skydio. So I'm going to go to the this Show is actually The

Us the

one when you pulled Carosalas over last week for speeding.

Okay. So even though this is a well done video by Axon, this is what you're purchasing in addition to another 22 items that are going to coincide with this. I think that this is going to set Rialto on a path of not only improving community safety, but also ensuring that this is a really, really safe community for development that's coming in here at residents and businesses, then this is the future of your PD.

Right. And then it's actually stated in in the in the program itself. It states that the this advancement is created to our full unified system that improves the department's

Suspected hit and run. Victim is injured,

but in

stable condition. Hey.

My name is officer Beckwood. I'm here to help. Okay?

I'm gonna

translate. Did you see the car that hit you?

Mustang It's yes.

A red Mustang was in this. Moved and made a right.

Suspected hit and run driver heading southbound on Bear Park Way in a Red Fort Mustang.

Plate number 285Victor hotel echo uniform last seen traveling westbound on Spring Street. Captain, suspect has a parole violation. 109 is nearby.

Okay. Let him know.

Yes, sir.

Car one 09 to dispatch. I have a red hit and run Mustang headed West On Spring Street.

How you doing, sir?

Yeah. I need to see your driver's license, please.

Anything I can help you with, sir?

What we got?

Sir, need to put that back.

911, this is Michael Harris with Secure Solutions Global Security Operations Center. We are currently witnessing a crime in progress at a far store location at 1201 North Wilmington. The crime appears to be a robbery in progress.

Is a stolen vehicle.

Let's get a drone out there.

Suspect fleeing on foot. Officer arriving on location. Vehicle's empty. Do we have eyes on suspect?

Suspect is fleeing on the east side of the building.

Officer in pursuit of suspect.

Suspect has turned left down the alley.

Put your hands down. Stop where you are. Taser. Taser. Taser.

Suspect down. Taser deployed. We have an unauthorized drone approaching the stadium downtown from the South. Concert in progress. It's a recreational aircraft. Pilot located, car 24 dispatched.

We're good.

Just wrapping up this report.

I think we got it.

Good job.

So council basically transforming public safety here in Rialto is what you just saw. In addition to what we already have through Axon Enterprises, we're gonna add another 14 different components including live video feed. So what you saw in this foot pursuit is basically gonna give our watch commanders an opportunity to be able to watch that in real time including pursuits and anything else. Our goal is to actually limit liability to the city if needed, where supervisors that are completely detached from the situation can look and view in real time to see if there's a need to shut things down and slow things down. In addition to that, AI introducing our introduction with report writing, it's all CJIS compliant.

The partnership with Axon just keeps going. And if you recall, we were the first agency in The U. S. That actually put cameras on our officers. I think we've kind of fell behind the curve a little bit on just the technology with what Axon has come out with.

This is going to put us in literally in line with agencies like Santa Ana or Huntington Beach or Ontario. And the question was asked of me, well, why how can you do this in Rialto? In your staff report, I do want to thank the finance department for working with us. I also want to compliment the council on having the foresight to do development agreements because when this is all said and done, even though it's a little over 14,000,000 over the next nine you know next decade there literally is minimal increase to our general fund allocations that we would have been asking for. The table for that is in your staff report, and I would just like to go on record to say that we're asking you to adopt resolution number eighty four thirty six that amends the twenty twenty five twenty six fiscal year budget, approve the nine year agreement with Axon Enterprises in the amount of $14,346,497 to purchase the Axon Officer Safety Plan 10, commonly referred to as the OSP 10, which includes conductive energy weapons, body worn camera systems, enhancements, digital evidence management, virtual reality training, drone programs, and advanced software, and then authorize a city manager or designee to execute the documents.

I also want you to know that everything that we have planned in this brand new police facility, including including virtual reality, training rooms, our range, all the real time crime center which you just witnessed, those are this is going to be in addition to. We're not gonna have to come back and ask counsel for additional. Although I do wanna go on a record with this counsel to say the network of cameras working with public works, businesses, the fuses system that we already have in play, is just going to expand. And I think, when we look at the possibilities of what this police department, through your guidance and direction, is providing the citizens here and businesses. There's really not a tough decision here, even though you've made a ton of tough tough decisions tonight.

And I can answer any questions that you have or Lauren Gower from Axon or Chris Morton from Skydio, which is a drone, and they are US made drones.

Well, thank you very much for your presentation, but I think we made the motion to approve it, and we know that it's a state of the art equipment that we need. I I think it's it looks good for the city of Rialto because we're progressing in terms of the technology that is gonna be needed, not only now, but in the future to make our cities and keep them a lot safe. So thank you very much for looking forward, not looking at what we have today, but what we also need in the future too as well.

Thank you, mayor.

Andy? You wanna Thank you, mayor.

I just wanted to ask the question of how accessible and affordable will the units for the small business community and for the businesses that are here in our city.

So that was one of the questions that I had. And, you know, Axon is a very supportive company. So let me get Lauren up. And just so this we under my understanding of this is that Axon is actually looking at monitoring. So the way those cameras would work in businesses, which I think is a fantastic idea, but it also puts it it literally sets, I think, the the whole entire technology Right around. Ability for our businesses here for real time video that actually then gets fed into the PD, so we can take a look at that. So let me get Lauren up here and answer that question.

Good evening. Yes. So a part of Axon, have our enterprise division and basically their role at the company is to work with local businesses, even large retailers to, you know, employ or deploy the Axon workforce cameras. And then from there also kind of their own instance of fuses that the obviously the department has today that then can be, you know, ultimately shared, for those streams to the police department and the city if they so choose. So there's a couple different ways that they can kinda go about that. They can go through that with our enterprise, side of our business. They can also go online and purchase those as well.

Great. Thank you. I look forward to the incorporation of our business community as well. Thank you. Absolutely.

Just so you know, council member,

you know,

we changed the name of our community engage our community engagement team now. And again, there's just a comprehensive approach to what we're doing. So our team members would be out with our businesses with BusinessWatch programs that we're bringing back to actually sell this idea and then put them in play with with Axon.

Thank you very much. I I we have a motion to approve resolution eighty four thirty six and amending the 2526 fiscal budget to approve the multi year agreement with Exxon Enterprise. Motion has been made and it's been seconded. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you. That concludes the items on the agenda. The next items we'll move into is council reports. I'll start with Kenesales, council member Andy Kenesales.

Thank you, mayor. I just want to wish all the families of Rialto a a, happy Thanksgiving, and, especially, I want everybody to keep in mind the, families that have been displaced here in the city of Rialto. On our side, we are going to do we already took action today to really step up and help these families, but I look forward to also connecting with our business community. I look forward to connecting with all the the the leaders in this community and and and really help grow that go GoFundMe so that we can really have enough money there to to get these people as much time as needed to to move them back into a home. And I just wanna pray for the families, and I wish everybody a happy holiday and a very Thanksgiving.

Thank you. Next, I'd like to call on mayor pro tem Ed Scott.

Thank you. I did what council member Carrasallis had to say, but I also wanna wish the the employees of the city of Rialto a happy Thanksgiving. We appreciate everything you do, each and every one of you. So happy Thanksgiving to you. And mister Jensen or chief Jensen, I I I hope one thing we get out of this tragedy this last weekend is that we probably need to expand our inspections of apartments to not only include the inside of apartments, but the actual structures and attics and stuff to make sure that everything is properly done.

Does that make some sense? Okay.

Next, council member Collier Perez.

Thank you, mayor. I'd like to echo what my colleagues here mentioned, you know, keeping our thoughts and prayers with the families that were affected by the fire on Friday and, you know, wishing our community a happy and safe Thanksgiving. There's a lot of people already on the road. Please be safe out there, You know, there's traffic. Please don't drink and drive. I know that, you know, we are out there celebrating, but, just be mindful. And then on a lighter note, I'd like to wish my husband a happy birthday. We just celebrated his birthday on Sunday. And so since I wish my kids a happy birthday, can leave him out.

Council member, Edward Montoya.

Yeah. I'm I'm gonna say happy Thanksgiving to everybody just as everybody else did. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you have a great turkey day. And if you smoke your turkey, that's really awesome. It tastes great. But I want to mention to the victims of the fire. I'm getting reached out a whole lot by churches and businesses from around the area. Hot meals, care packages. I would like to get those somewhere.

So if somebody could reach out to me and I can get some names of of everybody at the hotels or wherever they want to pick it up. But I had somebody text me a little bit ago wanting to donate 80 hot meals from a church, but we had nowhere to get it to. So if you just get to me, let me know and we can get all that stuff to you. I would really like to to get you guys something. We did a whole or I did a whole lot this past month.

We haven't met in a month. So I'm gonna just sum it up. I'm not gonna go through everything. I did a whole I did a few trunk or treats. I read to four different elementary schools, five different re veteran resource fairs from San Bernardino, City Of San Bernardino, County Of San Bernardino, San Bernardino Valley College, City Of Rialto, Rancho, and the Federal Correctional Center.

I I was all over the place. I attended the Rialto PD pride platoon graduation, so congratulations to all those all those youth and and thank you all the staff for all your hard work that you guys put in. It's really awesome to see the the pride on all of their faces when they were graduating. That was really awesome. And that's about it. Thank you all.

Well, thank you very much for not going through everything that you said you were gonna go through, but you did. But that's okay. Thank you because that shows your involvement in the community and you care about the community. That's why I made that statement. Next, I'd like to just report that I I think like everybody else, I attended the Rialto Unified School District Dia de los Muertos that was held and then also the trunk or treat that was sponsored by our city.

Thank you very much Barbara McGee for putting that on along with the city. I think it was well attended. Not as much as we normally have had in the past because of the ice, so some people stood back home and didn't participate as much as they would have liked to. I also attended the Yogurtland grand opening. We now have a new business that opened up in the city of Rialto at Rialto City Market in your down south.

Oh, in that area. Good. Mhmm. So All I need is a coffee place. And attended also an event that was sponsored by and hosted by Realtor Unified School District has never stopped grinding for individuals that have learned boxing and completed their training during that time.

There was a lot of parents that attended that along with the the never stopped grinding staff that went to a multitude of variety of schools without within the Reality Unified School District. Once again, know, also want to mention the pride platoon. I'd like to thank CJ Nelson who really has spearheaded that for some time and originally started by the chief chief Mark Clean that originally started the program some time ago. So we had a professional boxer that was there that gave an excellent speech in terms of never give up, know, and if you get knocked down, stand up as well. So and I want to congratulate all of the students that went through the training program and completed it and I think it's changed their lives too as well and motivating them in terms of possible encouragement in what they may do with their life later on.

The Pride Platoon has done an excellent job and all of staff and people that were involved with the Pride Platoon program. I I wanna compliment that as well because it doesn't just take the the individuals that I mentioned, it took the whole staff and all of the other officers that were involved with it too as well. I wanna thank them too. Also attended a veterans event sponsored by the Latino Peace Officers Association here in the city of Rialto. And then not last but not least, I also wanna say, you know, I wanna encourage and I wanna thank my colleagues here in the city council for stepping up and helping the the residents or individuals from the Vista View apartments.

I I commend you all for willing to take a stand and then also to put money aside through the emergency relief fund that will be established to help many of these individuals that will be homeless. With that, I'd just like to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. May you have a safe and a good Thanksgiving. And last but not least, I wanna wish my wife a happy anniversary because we celebrated fifty seven years on Sunday. And that concludes my report.

I'd like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, and I also wanna thank NSG for partnering with me. Last Wednesday, we gave out over 600 turkeys, so I wanna say thanks to yes. Thanks to NSG for doing that. Are you in Farmers Market? Yes. And I have Farmers Market open tomorrow, and also we've given $25 coupons to Rialto residents to come out and shop tomorrow.

Make some?

Sure. Love to see you.

And I'd I'd like to thank the city clerk too as well because she has donated oranges that will actually be going to some of these victims that I will be picking up and distributing to them on on Thursday. So thank you very much. I'm picking up tomorrow but delivering them on, you know, on on Thursday. But thank you. Next, I'd like to call Antonia Williams, our city manager.

Good evening. I just would like to echo everyone this evening. Just wish everyone a happy thanksgiving, city council, and then our dedicated staff here at the city as well.

Thank you. And next, our city attorney Eric Eric Vail.

Thank you, mayor. I'd echo everybody's sentiments, especially in light of the tragedy that's occurred in the city. It's a good time for us to remember what we're thankful for and give back to to others, and we appreciate being part of the city. Thank you. Mhmm.

Next, our police chief Mark Lane.

Mayor, mayor pro tem and council. First of all, I'd just like to recognize and also thank chief Jensen and the fire department for what they did the other day. I know that I can only imagine what it would be like to get into a building that's on fire. But just the professionalism that they exhibit, I think just needs not to be overstated, just to recognize. So thank you, Chief.

You did a great job, especially from a leadership standpoint. I also want counsel to know that furniture is starting to go in as a new building, which I think is pretty exciting for us. So cubicles are being built. Pavement for the backlog is supposed to go down in early December. And I know that council is excited and wanting to go through the facility, which I will coordinate probably in early January once it gets all cleaned up.

So I know I've heard your request, and we'll get you in there. And then mainly, thank you, counsel, and thank you for what you do for the department and the city. It just goes without saying, but sometimes you need to hear it. And we're very grateful to you, and happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, the Fire Chief, Chris Jensen, do you want to add anything

everybody a happy Thanksgiving and appreciate all of the comments tonight and it does remind us what to be thankful for. So I appreciate that. Thank you.

Next we have our public works director, relatively new, if you'd like to make any kind of statement. Statement. Yas Yas Ambreoni. Ambreoni.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays. Thank you.

Thanks. Next, we have our Community Development Director, Christina Taylor.

Thank you, mayor. Nothing to report this evening.

Okay. Thank you. Next, we have our parks recreation, director, Cynthia Alvarado, Crawford.

Good evening, mayor, mayor pro tem, and members of the council. Here's what's going in Rialto. Tiny Tots December registration will close this Friday, November 28 at 6PM. Turkey Burn, which is a free exercise class that will be happening at the fitness center on Saturday, November 29 from nine to 11:30AM will be free to the public. We encourage those who want to participate to bring in a canned good or a pair of socks so that we can donate it to an organization in need.

Our volleyball winter season registration will open Monday, December 1 at 7AM, both online and in person. And the Rialto Holiday Festival and Parade will be Saturday, December 6 at Rialto Civic Center from 05:30 to 09:30. Our youth basketball winter season registration will open up the week of December 8 through the eleven here at the Carl Johnson Center gym from six to 8PM. All registration will be in person only. The senior center will be hosting a Charlie Brown Christmas senior social on Thursday, December 11 at Grace Fargus Senior Center from two to 4PM.

And a the toy drive at Rialto certified farmers market will be happening Wednesday December 17 until supplies last. And from my family to all of yours, happy thanks giving and thank you counsel for your leadership tonight. It was really I'm proud to be a part of the Rialto team. So thank you.

Thank you. Next we have our finance director, Scott William.

No report, just happy thanksgiving as well.

Okay. Thank you. Next we have our human resources, Shama. Thank you.

Nothing to report, sir. Happy thanksgiving.

Next, we have our new utilities director, Shasheen.

Mayor Barker and the council, very excited to be here. Thank you, Tanya and Mayor Pro Tem during the interview process. I came to the first council meeting here in 2008 as a service provider and now excited to serve the rate payers directly and work with all the staff here and the council to keep the utility moving forward.

Thank you and welcome aboard both of you and we look forward to working with each and every one of you. That concludes the items on the agenda. Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

So moved. Second.

Motion been made by Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott, seconded by Carla Perez. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposition? Hearing none. Council's adjourned.