City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello all and welcome to the Carperia City Council meeting. Today is May 11th and I will request a roll call, please. Council member Clark here. Council member Mayor here, Council Member Namura here, Vice Mayor Sorsino here, and Mayor Alakan here. And if you are willing and able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And we will begin this evening's meeting with a proclamation designating May 2026 as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Carperia. And I would like to open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no raised hands.

I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion. Um, I move to um adopt the proclamation uh designating May 2026 as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Carpentia. Second. We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. And with that, we will read the proclamation and we will begin with council member Mayor. Whereas Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a time to recognize the significant contributions of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, AAPI, who serve as leaders in business, government, law, education, science, athletics, the arts, and many other fields. and to acknowledge the challenges including discrimination and violence that the AAPI community has faced and continues to face in the pursuit of equity and inclusion. And whereas in 1978, a joint congressional resolution established what was then known as AsianPacific American Heritage Week to commemorate two historical milestones in AsianPacific American history. the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to the the United States on May 7th, 1843 and the contributions of Chinese workers to the construction of the transcontinental railroad completed on May 10th, 1869. And whereas generations of brave women and men made the journey across the Pacific Ocean in search of better lives and opportunities for their families and in doing so contributed significantly to the economic prosperity and cultural fabric of communities across California and the United States. And

whereas according to the US Census Bureau, the AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander community is 6.4% 4% of Santa Barbara County's population. And

whereas Carponia's history is deeply connected to Asian-American families who were instrumental in the early development of agriculture in the Carponia Valley and who played a vital role in the f founding and growth of the carpenter community. Now therefore, the city of Carperia, the city council of the city of Carperia hereby declares the month of May as AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of Carperia and calls upon all residents to join in honoring and recognizing the rich heritage, history, and ongoing contributions of the AAPI community. Yay. And I'll I'll look to the clerk. Do we have um a specific individual who received this proclamation?

Uh we do. Mayor, I believe it's um it's Vin.

Oh, perfect. Welcome, Vin. Thank you. Awesome. Mayor Alakon, Vice Mayor Sorzano, Council Member Clark, Council Member Mayor, Council Member Namora. My name is Vin Bennett and on behalf of the car AIP AAPI communities of Carpenter and Santa Barbara, what an honor it is once again to be recognized as May is AAPI month. We celebrate this month as a symbol of strength, resilience, and culture. We are proud of those that came before us and paved our way. Our roots stay true to who we are, and our identities are governed by these cultural upbringings. They shape the way we see the world and the way we interact. The stories that we share with one another have a familiarity that gives us comfort and gives us hope for the future. I recently attended the festival books and was proud to see the numerous representations of Asian-American and Pacific Island authors. They talked to the people about their inspirations for their superhero protagonists and reference themes native to their experiences. It was absolutely uplifting to see this in the forefront of such a highlight event. May we continue to support and celebrate each other in recognizing the diversity of our heritage in support of the AAPI community. May we listen and may we retell our stories so that we may always remember the blessings we are to one another. We are grateful for this recognition. Thank you.

Thank you. And with that, we'd invite you and whoever else would like to take a photo with us in the front. Okay. Um I did want to introduce um Tama Takahashi who is a v visual artist in Santa Barbara. She'd like to just take a few moments to say a few words if that's okay. Absolutely. Okay.

Thank you. I am Tama Takahashi, a visual artist, and I have to say I was so touched by the reading of the proclamation. Um I've spent the last u many months getting ready for a solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara. Um, so I've been kind of immersed in all the sadness around my uh family having been in camp. Um, and so to hear these words, um, I just think back that um, my my father's family would have been really touched and gratified for that. So, thank you. Um, sorry, I didn't expect this at all to be so emotional. Um, I wanted to say that I'm that my show opens uh June 7th um at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, and it's in the small Norton Gallery in conjunction with Arte Del PBLO. Um, and I have several events going on with that. Um, they're large-scale photographs of Minadoka concentration camp, uh, two sculptural pieces in a video installation. Um, and there's going to be an artist walkthrough on June 2 um 7th with me. And then in uh July 18th, we have a Minuka survivor, camp survivor and a former park ranger from Minadoka and also an activist from Nikk Progressives um coming to the museum to do a panel discussion. So um I hope that you'll come and see the show and thank you again.

Thank you. So

a little closer. This is

Thank you. Yes, absolutely.

Thank you um for that proclamation. I would also like to uh thank the city council on behalf of the Japanese community in Carponia. Um I am also the president of the Santa Barbara Japanese American Citizens League. So it's very touching. Um this area here has a very rich heritage of Japanese taking leadership roles including uh me being the second mayor. So which was which was amazing because uh back then there was a lot of prejudice and I would say discrimination. So surprising that we would have had a mayor so early in our history. So thank you very much for that. We will now move on to item number two which is resolution number 6460 and 6461 congratulating Dr. Jim Compos for being named carpenterian of the year for 2025 and Valeria Galilea Bullido for being named Junior Carpenterian of the year for 2025 respectively. I would like to open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom?

Mayor, we have no Zoom speakers. I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion. I move to adopt the resolution uh congratulating Dr. Jim Compos upon being named carpentry of the year for 2025 and um uh congratulating Valeria Galilea Pledo upon being named junior carpentry of the year for 2025. I'll second that. We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Then motion passes and we will begin reading the resolution with council member mayor.

And this is a resolution of the city council for the city of Carpondria congratulating Dr. Jim Compost upon being named Carpondrian of the year for 2025. Whereas Dr. Jim Compost is a proud native of Carperia and a lifelong member of this community having been raised and educated within the Carpa Unified School District end. Whereas Dr. Camp Compos has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the cultural and civic life of Carpentria through his service as a board member of the Alkazar Theater, the Carpentria Art Center and the Rotary Club of Carpentria Morning. And whereas his commitment to preserving local heritage is exemplified through his leadership and volunteer service with the Carpa Valley Museum of History, ensuring that the city that the valley's cultural legacy remains accessible to all. And

whereas Dr. Compost has served as an educator, historian, mentor and civic leader whose work has strengthened the community across generations. And whereas during his distinguished career in education, he developed the early childhood learning program at Calina School and secured a title 7 grant to establish a Spanish English immersion program later recognized in the Harvard Review, opening doors for generations of bilingual students and fostering inclusivity. hand.

Whereas he has generously contributed his time and expertise by writing for the museum's Grapevine Bulletin, the Coastal View News and Carpa magazine, and by co-authoring two pictorial history books that preserve and celebrate the story of Carpandria. And whereas as a founding member of the Carpentria Cultural Foundation, he has worked to promote community history through educational materials, murals, and storytelling initiatives that honor the valley's diverse heritage. And whereas his extraordinary contributions have been given voluntarily driven by a deep love for carporia and a steadfast belief that the community's history belongs to everyone. Now therefore, be it resolved that the above recital are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference. And although Dr. Jim Compost was unable to make it here tonight, we were able to celebrate him and acknowledge all of his accomplishments during the Carpenter Community Awards Gala. And with that, we will also recognize our junior carpenter of the year. And we will begin reading this resolution with council member mayor. Whereas Valyria Galilea Pulledo is the proud daughter of immigrants who came to Carpria with little more than hope and an unwavering belief in the power of hard work to build a meaningful future. And whereas through her upbringing, Valeria learned that true impact is not measured by personal gain, but by the lives one uplifts and that her responsibility is not only to succeed, but to contribute to a more just, compassionate, and unified world. And whereas during her time at Carpenter High School, Valeria has consistently exemplified the highest qualities of the community's youth, including academic excellence, leadership, integrity, resilience, and a genuine commitment to others. And

whereas Valeria has raised the academic and professional standard among her peers, inspiring those around her while providing a steady, enthusiastic, and authentic leadership presence that naturally earns the respect of others. And whereas beginning in her sophomore year, Valeria set and achieved ambitious goals for earning exclusively A and A+ grades while undertaking one of the most rigorous academic schedules available with demonstrating extraordinary discipline, focus, and maturity. And

whereas Valyria has actively contributed to her school and community through numerous extracurricular and service activities, including serving as a four-year cheerleader and a leader at the CHS mini warrior cheer camp, mentoring youth in her church, as a confirmation peer leader, participating on the youthwell youth advisory board, founding and presiding over the CHS wellness club, serving as secretary of AVID, competing on the CHS mock trial team where she earned honorable mention and as best defense attorney and participating in the girls inc Eureka program and whereas Valeria's achievements including receiving the girls inc national scholarship being named homecoming queen and delivering a TED style talk at Pepperdine University on microaggressions reflect not only her individual excellence but also her deep gratitude and connection to the community that supported her. end. Whereas, Valeria has expressed her commitment to carrying forward the values of her family and community, stating that her accomplishments belong to those who supported her, and that she seeks not only to grow, but to to uplift others wherever she goes. Now, therefore, be it resolved, the above recuttles are true and correct, and incorporated here and by reference. And the carpenter city council hereby recognizes and commends Valeria Galilea Pulledo as the 2025 Junior Carpenturan of the year, honoring her outstanding achievements, exemplary leadership, and unwavering dedication to her community. Welcome, Valeria. Congratulations. And you you are more than welcome to come to the podium and share a few words. Good evening, Mayor Alerron, fellow city

council members, everyone here tonight, and everyone here tonight that's here to support me, such as my family and the wonderful folks at the Carperia Community Association. I am grateful beyond measurement to be named this year's Junior Carpentry of the Year. This honor truly humbles me because it would have not been possible without the people who have known me best and has supported me from the start. To feel this kind of support from my own community, the mentors who have cheered me on, taught me, and shaped me is something I'll carry with me forever. That's exactly what makes Carpentria so special. It's tight-knit, generous, supporting, and deeply kind to everyone. And I'm so proud to call it home. I promise to carry the Carpentria spirit with me into every community I enter, such as this fall where I will attend Mount St. Mary's University in Los Angeles, majoring in political science with a minor in pre-law as an honors student and a recipient of the President's Award. A huge thank you to the Carpenter Community Association, not just for this honor, but for believing in that the power young people have to change our world and entrusting that power in me. So, a thousand thank yous for inviting me as well. Thank you. And Valeria, we'd love to take a photo with you and anyone else who you would like to invite up. Thought he did.

She's got one. She She's holding it. This is why she's junior carpenter. Yeah. Yeah. One step close together. Okay. The most important one.

Now the city. Wonderful. Thanks so much.

Congratulations. I would also like to uh congratulate and acknowledge the parents for Valeria. So, thank you very much for your your leadership and your guidance. Appreciate it very much. I can tell you right now they're hardworking people. Extremely hardworking people. Uh keep track of them. They take care of my house. We're next door neighbors. So, thank you very much for that. We will now move on to item number three, which is a 10-year service award to city staff member Tim Gray, our maintenance worker number three.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members. I am not Tim Gray, but I will be introducing you to Tim, but I wanted to uh embarrass him a little bit because he does have particular um spotlights that I'd like to showcase. Uh yes, it's it's his 10 year uh 10 year service and on behalf of his family, friends, as well as his co-workers, congratulations, Tim. Uh Tim started out as a maintenance worker one position in 2016 and got promoted to maintenance worker number two position in 2021. And since then, he has done outstanding work. It's not just the routine work like other public works maintenance workers have are are doing around town for the community, but he also as part of the public works department's team as well as our emergency management uh um uh team that he has been involved or participated in in a lot of the first responding our especially us as public works first responders. Uh Tim has uh been through the Thomas fire, the debris flow of 2017, 2018, of course, CO9 pandemic in 2020, 2021, and the more recent winter storm events of 2023 and 2025. So he is one of the workers out there uh cleaning our storm drain systems before winter events and also our public works first responder. And without further ado, I'd like to invite Tim and his family over for his recognition. Thank you. Oh, I wasn't expecting this to talk, but

um yeah, this was a uh thank you for the um acknowledgement. Uh I just want to say that uh I love the town. I love taking care of it. I'm getting a little emotional, but uh it's just been great. Uh it opened up a lot of doors. I was a Cub Scout master um for I think eight years. Um right now currently I'm coaching little league even though my son's 18. He's actually my assistant coach. Uh so we've been doing that a couple years. So it's been fun. Um just getting involved in the the city has been uh a joy. Um just to represent uh this the city when tourists or even locals approach me and ask me questions. It's just uh um it's just kind of like uh what's the word I'm looking for? just uh just being able to help like guide people in certain directions like, "Hey, where's where's the best coffee?" So, I'll tell them, but I won't say it out loud right now. Uh just just stuff like that. And then my crew, um there's only about five of us and we're really tight and uh working with them has been really good. And uh I don't know what else to say. Just uh thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. and I'd like to read what's on your certificate and then invite you to take a photo with us. Um, but so your service embodies the values of our organization, significantly contributing to our mission and goals, leaving a lasting impact on our community. So, thank you for your outstanding service and continued dedication. And it shows just in the short amount of time that you were speaking that we put you on the spot. With that, we'd love to take a photo with you. Thank you. They got the real

one. Thank you.

I'd also like to take public comment on item number three. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no Zoom speakers. I will close public comment. We will move on to item number four, which is a proclamation designating May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Weeks Week in the city of Carponoria. I'd like to open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no raised hands. I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion. I move to approve the proclamation designating May 17th through 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. Second.

We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes.

And we will begin reading the proclamation with Council Member Mayor. Whereas National Public Works Week is an annual observance to celebrate the tens of thousands of individuals who work on public works, including infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital to sustainable and resilient communities and support health, safety, and quality of life across all of North America. And whereas public works could not be provided without the commitment, dedication and technical expertise of the public works personnel employed at all levels of government and the private sector to plan, design, construct, operate and maintain the nation's transportation infrastructure, public facilities, public spaces, public services, public resources and conservation, and fleet and equipment. end.

Whereas in 1960, the United States Senate adopted a resolution affirming the first National Public Works Week. And whereas in 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the presidential proclamation of National Public Works Week. And in 2003, President George W. Bush defined through Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8 the term first responder to also include public works personnel. command.

Whereas as first responders in accordance with HSPD8, public works personnel are among those responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence, and environment during those critical early stages of incidents response. And whereas in November 2017, the board of directors of the American Public Works Association passed a motion to launch a campaign to promote public works personnel as first responders and approved the adoption of the public works first responder responders symbol uh as shown herein. And

whereas on May 11th, 2020, the Carponia City Council designated the public works first responder symbol as shown herein as a permanent official city of Carperia symbol for city public works personnel in acknowledgement of their duties as a first responder to be affixed to city public works personnel uniforms, vehicles, and equipment. And

whereas as first responders, city public works personnel were called upon to respond to emergencies including the coid9 pandemic and winter storms. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th anniversary of National Public Works Week and is sponsored by the American Public Works Association and Canadian Public Works Association. And

whereas it is in the public's interest for the carpentry community to gain knowledge of and to maintain a progressive interest and understanding of the important work of public works. Now therefore be it proclaimed, the Carpenteria City Council does hereby designate the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week in the city of Carperia. Thank you, Madame Mayor, council members. Uh on behalf of the public works department and other and city staff, uh this does mean a lot to us uh as as public works professionals. And uh like you've read in the proclamation, it is the 66th anniversary of National Public Works Week. And this particular theme of this year uh like all the other themes in past years and but this year this theme is uh the theme acknowledges the roots of service that runs deep in public works and it was uh propelled or it is propelled by public works innovations that help communities including the carpentry community evolve into places where people can live lives of purpose and possibility. So that is the theme rooted in service and powered by community and for us it's rooted in service and powered by carpentia community. So with that I like to introduce the uh two polar works personnel or staff would like to receive the proclamation on behalf of city staff. Thank you. Would you all like to say a few words as well or just take a photo?

Um to uh well, first of all, congratulations Tim on the the work anniversary. Um Tim's a fantastic worker. Uh it's always a good time working with him and he's always brings such a positive um perspective to the department. So really appreciate having you. and you know talking about public works and what we do uh just on the day-to-day around town aside from having major emergencies and like the Thomas fire or the the Woosey fire. I worked in Thousand Oaks during the Wooseie fire and I know how uh how you know wild it can be for people. Those are the extremes. But even the day-to-day going around and picking up tree limbs from wind or cleaning storm drains during the rain, the residents here have been super supportive of us and really appreciative of us just being out there. And part of public works is responding to every little thing as fast as we can. So that's something that we push and Tim is very good about when I if we if I send him on something, he's there within a couple minutes. I mean, we're fortunate that thousand or that carp is not very big, so we can get everywhere fairly quickly. But um the it's it's really great to go out to these you know resident requests like tree down or or storm drains plugged and having people be appreciative of the fact that we're there and um you know it's like Tim said it's not really just a job. I mean it's it's a good feeling to go out there and see the residents proud to see us out there. So I appreciate that.

Good. Well, that's right. He also said the same thing you did. Jump in there.

All right. Um, and I just want to say to give my also my appreciation to our public works staff. I know that um you each one of you is kept very very busy out there in the community and I'm I know that some community members appreciate it very much and others aren't able to show their appreciation um because you guys are always moving around to to the next the next thing. So um thank you for having such a small but very very mighty team um that's taking care of the city. We appreciate it very much.

Thank you. And those are kind words. relate to the actual people who actually work out in the field. But uh but thank you. We will now move on to item number five, which is the introduction of Kelly Guara Cortez, accounting technician. And I will first open up with public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no Zoom speakers. I will close public comment.

Hello, welcome and member of the public. I'm pleased to introduce our newest member of the administrative services department team, Kelly Gavvara. Kelly brings accounting and payroll experiences and holds a bachelor of science from um in business administration from the USC Channel Island. um in the role of accounting technician uh she will be primarily performing accounts payable, accounts receivable along with just um other duties to support the department such as payroll and budget adjustments. So um with that um actually this is Kelly's second week. I forgot to mention that. And she's um

she's um doing a great job so far. So, I'm happy and excited to be working alongside her. Do you have anything else, Sue, you want to add? Yeah. Um, thank you, Pam. Um, good, uh, evening, um, council, city council. Um, I'm really grateful for this opportunity and I'm excited to, um, you know, continue my career and, uh, learn a lot about government accounting. So, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. We look excited to work for city carpenter

and we look forward to working with you. Thank you. Welcome. We will now move on to public information reports and announcements. And we will begin with the sheriff's recap. Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members, Carperia city staff, community members of Carperia. Thank you for having me. Um, for the month of April, I have a recap here. the regarding the deceased body found at Senz Avenue at the dead end there. An extensive investigation by detectives determined it was a suicide. Uh the deedent was not local. He was actually a missing person out of Carlsbad and there will be no further investigation and nothing for community members to worry about. In the 1400 block of Aelia Drive, we had a burglary. Uh the deputies responded for report of an unknown subject inside the uh reporting party's garage. Prior to deputies arriving, the subject was confronted by the homeowner and the suspect fled the scene. Deput deputies located the subject at a nearby intersection where the homeowner positively identified the suspect and he was arrested and booked into jail for burglary. At the Carpenter Post Office, we had an individual that sent three envelopes with separate paper checks at the dropbox on 4626. And then on 413, she checked our online banking app and discovered that two of those checks had been cashed under

different names than were previously addressed. One was changed for the amount the fraudulent checks totaled 15,671. And we actually had multiple reports of this this month. So I want to just make everybody be aware if you're dropping off at the post office you may want want to do that quite yet here in Karp. We saw the similar activity in Monosceto 8 10 months ago. So I'm kind of concerned that now it's going to happening here. So I would refrain from mailing any checks at your post office or dropping them in the drop dropbox. At Lynen and Ninth Street, we had an unruly subject brandish a knife at a business after throwing chairs around. He was uh subsequently chased out of the location and went to a nearby business armed with a knife in hand. He eventually dropped the knife and was subdued by uh patrons. Moments moments before deputies arrived, he was eventually arrested and transported to the main jail. And then we had a couple scam reports. One was uh the victim deposited $7,000 into the bank account of a scammer she met online. Um and then another one, the victim was defrauded out of $2,000 when the caller uh said that the victim had a warrant for her arrest and needed to pay money. The victim paid 2,000 via zel before realizing it was a scam. And the caller said he worked for Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office and gave the name of Sergeant James Smith. We do not call people like that. We do not have you zealous money. So, please do not fall for that. If you do get a call something similar, hang up immediately and you could call the sheriff's office and then a deputy or dispatch will tell you that's a scam. Um, community outreach, we had none. For our chief's message, again, call 911 for any emergencies and non-emergencies. The non-emergency dispatch 8056832724.

Uh deputies gave out 12 illegal camping citations this month. Uh there have been a lot of recent complaints about the illegal camping in the city of Carpenteria. And one of those illegal campers who was cited multiple times under a fictitious name was subsequently arrested for using that same name uh that she used previous times and uh but they couldn't get the spelling right. So, she ended up being arrested and proved to have a warrant for her arrest for similar behavior in the city of Santa Barbara. Uh DUIs, we had seven DUIs this month. Uh some were over twice the legal limit and one was actually over four times the legal limit. And many of many of these DUI calls come in and we've discussed this before from reporting parties, people that see suspicious driving or potential drunk driving. So, I would just urge the community to please continue to call that in because that's that's a lot of times that's what leads us to these uh DOIs and we had somebody that was like a.36 which I don't even know how they're driving at that blood alcohol content. And then for our ebikes, which is an ongoing issues, deputies towed two illegal ebikes, which are electric motorcycles this past month. So again, I would just uh ask uh people to do your homework before purchasing your children the ebikes. The cost to get one out of tow. We actually had somebody in today getting one out of tow and it's probably going to be about 7800 cuz for a minimum they're going to be held 48 hours and sometimes you may not with these illegal ebikes you may not get them back at all. So, just be aware of that before you go purchasing the ones the ones with the pegs only are totally illegal for public roadway. And that's all I have. And I'm under report. Oh, also I the Santa Barbara County District Attorney is making it a

little easier to report suspected scams. So, they launched a new email address report fraud at countyofb.org or where the public can now send information about suspected scams. That's report fraud@countyof sb.org. Uh the DA's office said there's no required format for the email, but encouraged people to provide as much detail as possible. Things like dates and times, contact information used by the suspect or the scammer, and any screenshots, emails, text messages, or transaction records. And then for those who prefer not to use the email, the district attorney's office also has uh also operates a scam hotline at 805-5682442. A scam hotline at 805-568-2442. End of report.

Thank you for your report. Any questions? Yeah, I just to clarify the uh post office thing. It's uh it it's you're you're in reference to the dropbox out by the curb. It's still safe to go inside and drop in there. I would think it would be. I mean, I'm not going to you know that that's where they reported at the dropbox. I don't know at what point there's uh is being jeopardized from the dropbox or inside. I don't know. So, but I would just be lry of the dropbox. That's we got multiple reports of dropping mail off at the dropbox. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Council Member Clark. I was there shortly, I guess, after this had happened and they had told me it was safe if I took stuff inside.

Any other questions? Yes. Um, real quick, uh, at the last meeting, I brought up a a question regarding human trafficking, if that was an issue here in town. I understand there was a slight incident here. Something happened a little while ago. How safe is the community right now? Is this something we should be aware of or alerted to? I I this is a pretty safe community, I would say. I mean, yeah. Uh there's always going to be instances like the situation we had, but uh which I'm not going to get into, but I would say this is a very safe community. Probably one of the more safer communities I've ever worked. So, I'm pretty comfortable. I think I I would feel very comfortable if I was a citizen here, a community member.

Sounds good. I only bring it up because we're on one of the uh major corridors of uh California. There's a lot that goes through here, you know. So on the 101, I mean, there's a lot that passes through here. Its main destination is probably not Carperia. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

If I could add just as while we're talking about safety, there were a couple of reports that I provided to the council this last week regarding ebike accidents between youth on bikes versus cars. Um and in the both of the incidents the driver was not at fault. It was um the ebike riders and uh there was one I don't think I passed along to the council yet. Now the this Saturday there was uh two youth double riding on an illegal ebike uh near 5750 via Riale. They also hit a vehicle and required one of the parents to take one of the youth to the hospital. Um there was also hospital visit in the other one. So, really just want to continue to encourage people to to ride safely.

Regarding the ebikes and just the I know we've been we launched the we created the new ordinance. We've launched an outreach campaign. Are we keeping track? I know we we're having we're receiving some reports of ebike accidents, but um do we have a tally right now of how many accidents we've had maybe in the last like 3 months? And if we don't now, maybe that's something that we can have on hand moving forward. Yeah, Mayor Alakan, I I don't know that number right off the top of my head. I think it's probably three or four um accidents,

I would say, at least. And it's I think it's more prevalent in the past three months than it has been. So, it looks like it it's ramping up. So, I don't have an exact number, but I would say at least three or four in the past three months. Mhm. I I can ask our analysts to see if we can get that. Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions

on that? Um I'm wondering if maybe on a quarterly basis or or some sort of reporting amount of time. Uh we could get a little bit of information on um citations also for ebikes. Um, are kids getting cited or I don't want to single them out as kids, but are e are bicyclists being cited for, you know, under our new ordinance? So, I I could tell you that there might have been a couple, but we're we we're not really into that phase yet. Got it. So, it's been very minimal.

So, but it but we've towed more ebikes than we given violations for citations for. I can tell you that for sure. That's I mean that's helpful to know, right? Those are not supposed to be but once we get into that phase um I'm sure there'll be no shortage. For sure. Great. Any other questions? No questions. Thank you for your report. Thank you. Thank you.

We will now move on to the first district supervisor's report. Welcome, Daisy. Good evening, Mayor Aleron. Hello, council. Hello, staff. Hello, public. Um, okay. So, my report will start with um housing and unincorporated carpia. Not a lot of updates. Um um nothing to update on Van Wingard. Nothing to update on the Cravens Lane. Um the Borard project. Uh the next joint meeting between representatives from city staff, Karp Summerland Fire, County, and the Red Tale applicant will be happening on uh May 28th. And then immediately following that meeting, there is another meeting between the Casitas Village HOA board and um the Red Tail applicant and this time including um representatives from FIRE as well. Um, this project still has two open applications which they the county has indicated they cannot process two open applications. So they still have their um byite application through the reszone process and the squa excuse me the um uh the builder's remedy application as well. So two open applications they'll have to pick one to move forward with. um speaking on behalf of Fire Marshall Le Monaco, he said that um he what he requested from them was a full fire evacuation traffic study and he hasn't gotten that back. So he's waiting on that and uh he had a lot of questions based on the initial proposal that he saw and so the applicant is still working through those things. So those

are uh the notes from fire fire marshall L Monaco. And um last time I was here and many times I've been here there's been talk of um development impact fees and how that could um they typically go to the county when it's projects on county property. But considering the nature of this project being really not on many if any county roads um what that could look like in terms of impact fee sharing. So public works county public works team has indicated that they are open to um discussing what a sharing could look like but much further down the line let's say even after a single application is moving forward with a project. We do recognize the um uncommon nature of this project in the county, but mostly using city public works and infrastructure. So, that's my um specific housing update. Um as it pertains to the rest of the county, but will also be affected here. Last month, the board of supervisors passed a local's first marketing requirement for any new housing built. So, the new ordinance mandates that developers target local renters or buyers for 12 weeks before expanding their marketing campaigns broader than that. Um, and it also requires developers to report on the number of locals in their residence once the project has reached 90% occupancy. So that was a major when um when it first came to the board, it was proposed as a three-week marketing campaign and so it got expanded to 12 weeks. So

that's super exciting. Um, and hopefully we're helping more locals stay here and local families stay here. So, that's my housing update. Um, do you want to ask questions now or should I keep moving on? Are there any questions? Just a real quick question. I think it'd be good time to do this one. When it said when you say local, um, how is that measured within a county? Because it's a county piece of property or is it located within a certain specific region or area?

They're hammering that out. Uh, what local means. This is coming the so the um there's there's a lot of legality around I'm looking at council over here because there's a lot of legality over um marketing campaigns and who you can rent to and who you cannot rent to. Um so defining what a local is is going to be part of the process of when this gets implemented. Um thank you. There are ideas though.

Um I also had a question about that. So for in terms of this the local buyers first campaign that's just for marketing, right? In other words, if somebody gets wind of the available um rental space or or property who's not a local, they can still get um apply for those positions. Yes, I would assume. The idea is to really give um what will be defined as a local the heads up on uh through social media, through outreach, that sort of thing. So, the details are being hammered out as to what that looks like, but um the board unanimously passed um wanting that to be an initiative.

Okay. Thank you.

Um okie dokie. Moving on to cannabis updates. So, um there's not much to update other than um when I came here last, I said that nine of the operators in the Carpa Valley had been given um notices of intent to revoke their licenses. Um two of those um nine their um equipment was installed and compliant. So those letters were rescended and then um one of those uh operators did not have an operational license. So the license letter was retracted and an advisory letter was issued in its place taking them down another path. So that would remain six um six operators and they all filed appeals. um while they're going through the appeal process, they are allowed to operate. Um and that appeal process is moving forward over the next 60 days. So, more on that later. All righty. Um unincorporated roads. So, you may have noticed that there are some new overnight parking signs on Via Rial at Naid where there had been a lot of RVs parked for a long time. So, there are now no overnight parking signs there um to hopefully prevent too many overnight parkers. Um that being said, you may see an increase in RVs parked on Santa Claus Lane. We've been getting a lot more calls about this in our office. Um I'm sure the sheriff's office has too. Um part of the issue is that um they cannot

tow those those RVs. They can only issue tickets. So uh I believe the sheriff's office is looking into whether or not they can raise the fee of those tickets and what that looks like. So, um, we have hopefully solved one problem that we've heard a lot about, the RVs on V Royale, and now, um, we'll see what can be done about the, uh, Santa Claus Lane section of it. Speaking of Santa Claus Lane, um reduced the speed on Santa Claus Lane was at an astonishing 55 miles per hour and now it is reduced to a still kind of nuts but better 35 miles per hour which is in keeping with uh the rest of the area. So that was recently passed. So 35 miles per hour Santa Claus Lane. And then um the road closures that are in on Via Rial um at Summer on Summerland, those are still hopefully um there's been a lot more movement. So if you've driven past, it looks really good. There's a sidewalk now. I've seen people walking on it. So we are hoping that um June is when those open up again. and hopefully there's through traffic. Um, so those are my updates on the roads.

Question. Yeah. Yeah. Quick question, Daisy, if you don't mind. Um,

I was curious to see what the um policies are currently for food vendors. I understand you um shut down one of the food vendors on Foothill Road. That's something we have to be concerned about or if there's going to be ongoing policing of those. So recently the county passed the sometime this spring the county did pass um an ordinance banning um food vendors in unincorporated areas. Um and so the health department it's it there's an outreach campaign by the health department and uh the fire department I believe depending on if it's an open flame. So, um I I do believe there will be more um crackdown, so to speak, on these vendors that you might see. So, um if anybody um feels the need to report somebody, the public health department at the county is um available to take those.

I appreciate the effort on that one. Thank you.

Yep. Okay. Um Okay, moving along. So, um there have been a lot of we've get gotten a lot of calls in our office around elections and um what what to expect specifically around um ICE activity and that sort of thing. So, um the county is beefing up its know your rights um communications. So, you might see more of that coming out of the county. I'm sure staff has been um alerted to more flyers and um more outreach campaigns that you'll start seeing beefing up. Um but voters I'm going to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to vote and um voters are encouraged to return their completed ballots as soon as possible. So if you have them in the mail, you can put if you have them at home, you can put them in the mail now. Um and ballots have to be postmarked or returned by election day. So that's June 2nd. Um so you can walk them into any um polling polling place on election day. You can drop them into any ballot box. So please please vote. Um and there's lots of information at um elections of Santa Barbara County. Then further about the ICE response. So, we have had um a lot of folks reach out concerned about ICE activity and what anybody can do about it, what cities can do about it, what counties can do about it. So, um recently, Supervisor Lee and Supervisor Caps brought forward a series of policies that the board approved. So the first policy was prohibit prohibiting unauthorized immigration enforcement activity on countyowned property. The

key here is unauthorized. So um hopefully we don't want to see any staging happening on in county parking lots. Um we don't want to see ICE agents running around the county building. These are what we are hoping to prevent. Second, um we directed staff to increase communications around voting rights and election security and what to expect on election day and how we're training poll workers um so that people feel really safe to go to the polls on election day. And the third um policy was directing planning and development staff to explore additional land use protections to preserve local control over any proposed detention centers that would come up in um uninccorporated land. So that was um a positive and hopefully um do a little bit what we can um to draw the line and say this is where our line is and hopefully uh doesn't get crossed. Moving on. Um I just wanted to mention that the um a couple opportunities coming up. The county is updating its open space element. So, um, folks can take a survey on what they would like to see in, um, Santa Barbara Countyy's open space. So, that has to do with, uh, parks and trails and, um, conservation and all that. So, um, this will be ongoing this whole year. Um, but right now the survey is open. Um and you can find it by going to uh planning and development and their long range planning part of the um website. All right. And the last one is the truth act forum which is um the reports from

the sheriff's department that is coming to the board of supervisors on June 23rd. So um I believe we expect a lot of public participation on that. Can you repeat that date? I'm sorry. June 23rd. Thank you. And I recognize this is not in the update that I sent. So, I'll be sending um Clerk Barrett an updated version of this report with those links.

And I had a question about the um ICE ordinance that you mentioned. Does that supersede federal authority? Is it enforceable? It um does not supersede federal authority, but the idea is that the county can put into place policies

um that will hopefully be respected and uh we we'd we'd like to I'm struggling to find the words here, but um I'm looking at I'm looking at council. Um it doesn't supersede the federal um activities, but it is the goal is to put a line and say this is what the county has put as the uh as what we believe to be safe.

Okay. And then would that be enforced by the county sheriffs? because I I know from the uh op-ed that Sheriff Brown had um put out about ICE activities, it seems like that wouldn't that enforcement wouldn't be aligned with how he seems to see that um their role. The sheriff does operate as their own entity. They he he is an elected official so he uh operates on the policies that he has. So the the real answer is we just don't know what the enforcement looks like. But it is the goal is to say here's the line and if and when the line gets crossed at least the line was drawn.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. Daisy, one quick question. I don't know if you can, you probably can't answer this one, but um I received two um ICE notifications here for the Tri counties. Both of them they said that the um agents were non-mask. Is that something that is changing that you've seen in in the county region? I just just curious because we don't see that much here.

I mean, personally, I've seen them masked. I've seen them not masked. Um I I believe that cities have passed and different places have have passed masks unmasking ordinances again how how how the federal agents decide to show up. Just just curious if that was a trending direction that they were going or not. I don't know. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay. Okay. Questions. Thank you. Thank you. And I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom?

Mayor, we have no Zoom speakers. I will close public comment.

Mayor, if I could just add, I went out regarding the food trucks. Um, this was several weeks ago, I think. Now, um, went out with the chief early morning to the one down on on Foothill. And one of the things that the county health told us is that really anything that's not in a truck is not permitted. So, um if you see anything that's out in a tent or whatever, they don't actually have uh permission to be there. And the um county health department workers went around and and took temperatures. Um thankfully most of the temperatures were correct, but not all of them were where they were supposed to be and then they were ultimately uh shut down. But just wanted to add a little bit of extra context.

Thank you. We will now move on to item number eight, which is the temporary adjournment for the purpose of holding the monthly meeting of the Carpenter Library Board of Trustees. And I'd like to call to order and request a roll call, please. President Alicon, all board members are present and accounted for. Thank you. And if you can confirm of legal noticing and procedural requirements. and all legal noticing and procedural requirements for the meeting have been met. Thank you. Uh moving on to item number three on this agenda which is public comment. So this is the time for public comments on matters not otherwise on the agenda but within the subject matter only of the Carpenter Library Board of Trustees. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? We have no Zoom speakers.

I will close public comment and we will move on to number four which is the approval of minutes of the regular meeting held April 13, 2026. I move to approve the amendments of the regular meeting held April 13th, 2026. Second. We have a first and a second. And before I um ask for voice vote, I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? We have no raised hands. Okay. I will close public comment. We have a first and second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Item number five, which is the Carperia Community Library monthly report for May 2026. and welcome Eric.

Thank you uh mayor, city council members, uh city staff, community of carpentry, it's my pleasure to present my uh staff report for the month of May 2026 in regards of uh programs and collections. Last month was very active. Um we have always something new to offer. In April 11, we have our choke art workshop. April 20, our book club. We read the hardwood and discussed the book. April 22nd, we have the wild things and we took the opportunity to invite Bandenberg mission update. On April 24, we have our movie night. We chose the wild robot movie. On April 25, we have our delino celebration sidewalk of stories and color. It was a very uh grat uh gr gratifying to see the cultural aspect of this celebration. Of course, we have our ongoing library programs and I want to take the advantage of this opportunity to uh talk a little bit about our one book one coast or one book uh one carpenteria as we are calling right now. Um we are participating in the biggest uh West Coast community book uh discussion book club featuring George T uh his graphic novel which was one of the New York Times bestsellers at at one point. Um I want to invite the community of Carpinderia to pick up one of these uh copies for free. There are also unlimited ebooks access during the month. Um no waiting list for any ebook or audio book uh electronically. Um we have seals uh events around the

socket of the book which is the Japanese American encampment in the US. So there are several programs for example the 1,00 paper origami cranes that we invite to go to the library and experience some cultural aspects of the Japanese uh culture. The book club discussion is going to be in May 18 at 4 p.m. Uh Pauline is going to once again lead this conversation. Uh on the same day at 6 p.m. we are going to have a presentation about hoola hoola dancing. Um after the presentation about the history and the cultural aspect of this dancing, we are going to show uh actually a dance for a very uh well-known group which they call themselves hoola anyone. And finally um no not finally actually our movie night is going to be uh rental family which is a movie where an American teacher goes to modern Tokyo and try to insert into that society. It's a very nice movie. I recommend to everyone and join us on Friday, May 29 and 6 pm. And finally, we are going to have a virtual outdoor talk with George Tea K. And I invite everybody to join us uh at 2 p.m. May 31st. It's a Sunday in the community room. In regards of library outreach, it was also very um we have se several invitations. Uh we were able to attend the Aliso Elementary School English Learning Advisory Committee. Um that was a very interesting night. Very nice night actually. We were able to talk about the library services. Um we issue

library cards on the spoke in the school and we were able to have a very modest but wonderful uh dinner with the parents, the teachers, the principal. It was very special. On April 17, uh we received the TK classroom from Aliso Elementary School and the childrens got their first library card. On April 18, uh we participate in Earth Day at the Carperia Art Center. On April 20th, we received the uh classroom from Carperia Children's Project. And also on April 21st, 27th, and 30th, we received the Carperia homeschoolers groups in the library. and they were able to do some activities there and research uh about different different subjects. In regards of staff act days, uh our literacy coordinator as you know um is leaving the library Stephanie Colburn. Last day is going to be June 9, 2026. And we have identified a new literacy coordinator which is our own library technician Katy Shane who expressed uh the interest in the position. She applied and compete for the position and she was identifi selected as the new uh literacy tech sorry the literacy technician in concentration with literacy coordination. Um finally our community engagement library specialist was able to attend the institute of museum and library services library convention 250 telling American story. Um that was a very interesting uh situation because five libraries in California were identified to selected to participate in Phoenix, Arizona for this uh professional meeting with other uh 50 identified libraries in the whole country. Um all cost

associated with attending uh including training, transportation, lodging, meals were fully covered by the IMLS. And that's it for me. You have any questions? You questions? No questions. Please enjoy the book that I left in your desk. Thank you. I'm looking forward to reading that book. I would like to open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? We have no raised hands. Okay, I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion. I move to receive and file the monthly uh report from the library. Second. We have a first and a second. All those in favor?

Any opposed? None. Motion passes. Um item number six, any new business and discussion. Okay, seeing none, we will move on to the adjournment of the meeting. Moving on to item number nine, which is the city manager report.

Yes. Thank you. Um, mayor, council, and community members. I wish my legs still let me run like that. Jealous. Um, so, um, just wanted to mention when we, um, Kelly, our new staff person, and just remind folks that she stepped in for a recently, uh, retired Brenda Robinson, not a new position. Uh, for other city employee updates, uh, are we have a chief building expect inspector plans examiner position uh, that's open. The deadline to apply is May 31st, 2026. Um, we also have a facilities attendant position. These are folks that help us manage our rentals over at the um, vets hall. It's a position I did when I was uh, working in recreation. And so it's if you're on your track to be a city manager, apply for the facilities attendant position. Uh, we need all we can get. Uh, we also are going to be excited to announce one of our new employees, uh, Francisco Morales at an upcoming meeting. He was one of our part-time maintenance worker uh who was able to um earn a full-time position. It's a a downgraded position from a former supervisor uh position. And so u saving the city money, but also increasing our response out in the community. And that was very much um uh made possible by Ryan Erley, who was here speaking earlier, who's done a great job of managing um all of that work. Uh just uh some updates on capital improvement projects. The living shoreline project uh which is managed by the sustainability and environment division in partnership with some project consultants from the integral consultant inc and ringcon consultants. They hosted two community events in April for the living shoreline project.

One was on April 16th where staff and consultants uh hosted a popup event at the Carperia Farmers Market. Uh and then on April 25th, more than 25 community members attended the Living Shoreline community workshop at the Carperia Veterans Memorial Building. Staff heard thoughtful input from community members, including District 1 uh beach neighborhood residents who shared historical knowledge and experiences with past flooding events, uh expressed interest in protecting coastal views and property values and asked questions about project benefits and design considerations. Um with that, uh I'd like to turn this over to our community development director, Nick Bob, to give some Oh, sorry. Before I do that, happy to answer any questions.

Oh, I just it's a comment, but I wanted to make it about the uh living shoreline um community workshop. So, I was able to attend that and I was just really impressed with u the format of it. It was it was very engaging. And I thought that it was a perfect opportunity for residents to get involved. And I was impressed that a lot of the feedback from the residents was was positive and and there was some interest that was expressed about how um how that the the Dune system is going to really benefit the beach neighborhood residents in particular. So, I was at a table with some other residents, um, one of whom lives in the beach neighborhood, and it was just it was great to hear how how excited that they were about learning more about the plan, giving their feedback, asking questions, and then getting answers from the the consultant team. So, I just thought it was a perfect example of uh the community outreach that that was uh done really well and that garnered a lot of a lot of helpful feedback.

Vice Mayor, thank you for that feedback. And so, thank you to city staff. Um I know Delaney Mar and then Tatiana Suriel were there on hand um to to help lead the workshop and so uh they did a fantastic job. Thank you so much. And and before I pass it to Nick, I'll I'll mention I forgot to say what I always say before I start is just to let people know that u we don't cover every item in the uh city manager report in detail and encourage folks to read it um uh read through the whole thing and there's also some helpful links for people to click on in there. Uh so with that I will turn it over to Nick Bobuff.

Thank you Michael. Good evening mayor and council members. Got just a couple items on tonight's city manager report for you. Uh first up I just wanted to remind your council and the community that we have officially kicked off the start of the preparation of the environmental impact report for the general plan coastal land use plan update. Uh so this commenced last week on Thursday with the official publishing of what's called the notice of preparation and that's uh a 30-day process that'll run through June 5th whereby we're soliciting feedback from members of the community and from other uh interested parties and agencies on what sort of topics we should be looking at in the preparation of the environmental impact report and also um possible project alternatives and possible uh project mitigation measures to consider. Uh as part of this NOP process or scoping process, we will be holding a public scoping meeting here in the council chambers at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 18th. So, this is next Monday. And this will be an opportunity where folks can come in and ask clarifying questions or provide feedback to us. And we intentionally park this scoping meeting to land partway through the scoping period so that folks have time to digest what they learned at the scoping meeting, go back and put pen to paper if they want or, you know, fingers to keyboards and and write prepare their comments and submit those comments to the city before the end of the scoping period again on Friday, June 5th. Uh we've got all this information up on our city website. Uh the easiest way to find it is to scroll down to the bottom of the homepage under hot topics and look for the button for the general plan coastal land use plan update and that'll take you to a web page dedicated to all things general plan update.

Uh also just wanted to provide a brief update on the status of the Chevron decommissioning project. So Chevron notified us last week that the onshore decommissioning activities will be temporarily paused while Chevron awaits final approval of their remedial action plan uh by the US Environmental Protection Agency which in turn is waiting for consultation or concurrence from the state office of historic preservation. Uh so during this pause, Chevron will continue with all required relevant monitoring and mitigation measures, but there won't be any further onshore decommissioning work going on until that EPA approval is finalized. Uh this pause will not affect offshore work and so you will still see uh barge and boat activity occurring off of Tarpets Park area as as Chevron starts to make some some further headway on the offshore decommissioning work. And then finally related to Chevron, um Chevron is coordinating with Southern California Edison to complete the final step in providing a dedicated separate source of electrical power to Cassidus Pier. And this involves replacing a power pole that runs along the railroad tracks down there by uh the Tarpits Park Trail in the Pier parking lot. And that's tenatively scheduled to occur the last month of this week or excuse me, the last week of this month. And so, uh, once that firms up, we'll we'll make an effort to get word out to the community and on whether that'll have any impacts on use of the trail for a day or two there. Uh, we'll also work with Chevron to coordinate on a on a detour around that area if ne if necessary. And then finally, I just wanted to recognize that after 18 years on the city's architecture review board, uh, Richard Johnson has announced that he's ready to step down effective immediately. Um he is currently our only architect that's on our architecture

review board. So he provides a really valuable perspective and and uh professional expertise and we're going to miss him, but we congratulate him on a job well done and hope he enjoys whatever comes next. Uh with that, we will be accepting applications for the vacated seat. Uh, and that's up on the city website under the city clerk page if anyone's interested in throwing their hat in the ring to become part of the architecture review board. And that concludes my updates unless you have any questions for me. Thank you. Uh just to clarify on the the Chevron um decommissioning when when when it's when it's said that that uh the onshores on pause to get get the approval, but the offshore stuff is going to keep happening. the there's the pipelines that go from onshore to offshore and we I think we heard you know details about that how that process was going to work and they they have to do some stuff on land. So, is that is that pipeline project still in operation knowing that some of it happens onshore?

Uh, through the mayor, council member Clark, I asked this question as well of Chevron and it sounds like what they intend to do is um somewhere offshore in the nearshore waters, but you know, far enough offshore they'll they'll have divers go down and make a cut to sever the pipelines. um you know kind of heading farther offshore. So they can start to pick it up from there and and start to collect uh those portions of the pipelines that are farther offshore while leaving the nearshore and surf line sections of the pipelines intact until they can do the beach work and until they can um you know kind of take on the onshore activities again. So basically they'll just they'll make a cut somewhere underwater a little bit a little ways offshore so they can start in on that work and not be held up waiting for the onshore. So, so the onshore stuff will will be waiting until that a part of the pipeline will be waiting until

until this remedial action plan is approved. Correct. All right. Thank you. I had a question as well about the Chevron decommissioning. Is this pause something that was anticipated? Was it unexpected? Um what what is the context behind that? Vice Mayor Solarso, I think in this case it was unexpected. I think um you know Chevron had hoped that they would have this approval in place by now and instead you know I think Chevron completed the work that they could sooner than the EPA got done with their process and so now we're kind of just on pause until the EPA catches up to to where Chevron's at. Got it. Thank you. That's helpful to to understand.

Any other questions? No questions. Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Uh, just I think one more quick update or two quick updates and then I'll bring up our parks and recreation director to give some community event program updates. So, um, we've heard the council many times talk to or give staff feedback on wanting to make sure that we got out the most, um, cast the widest net when looking for folks for our proposals and submitting bids. So, the city recently implemented um, Beacon Bid, and it's a new bidding platform designed to significantly enhance the visibility and accessibility of its project uh, solicitations. So, Beacon Bid is now live and can be accessed using the link uh that's here in the city manager report and it's also on the city website. I don't have the mouse, but it's it's right there on the very front page uh right next to the agenda little yellow icon uh there. O encourage folks that are interested in uh responding to city uh project solicitations to uh check our website. Uh in an effort also to strengthen contract oversight and management processes, the city has entered into an agreement for a contract management software uh system designed to track monitor and provide notifications on contract status uh which will also be extremely helpful. Um happy to take any questions on that and if not I'll turn it over to Janette.

So thank you uh Janette Gano Parks Recreation Community Services Director.

Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council. I just have um really just one one and a half updates for you this evening. Um both Agewell and the community garden participated in the cycle mania event that happened this past Saturday on May 9th from 11 to 1. I don't want to steal the thunder of public works sustainability and environment division who I know will be coming back to you all your next council meeting to provide you a detailed recap of that event. So I will let Delaney and Tatiana share that with you all. But Agewell and um the community garden were definitely thrilled to be a part of the event um and work alongside our co-workers in public works. And then finally, Agewell has started a floor stretch yoga class which is focused on improving flexibility, relaxation, and overall well-being. And this class will be held on the 1 and third Monday of each month from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Veterans Hall. Um, and just participants should be comfortable getting up and down from the floor to participate. And that's all I have for you this evening. Happy to answer any questions.

Any questions? No questions. Thank you. Thank you, Janette. May I use that time to um get everything ready just to show people where the new bid uh platform is. So, it's right here, right when you get onto the homepage. Uh you're able to click here and sign up to receive notices on different types of proposals and it's very widely used and so we're really excited about it. but for any vendors out there that are interested. Um, right on our homepage.

Great. Thank you. And I appreciate you all doing that. That's that's exciting. I wonder if we're going to receive some additional inquiries or um if additional people will subscribe. Yeah, I hope so. We'll definitely be reporting back. Great. Thank you. And that concludes my report. Okay. Uh, seeing no other questions from council, I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have any via Zoom? Mayor, we have no raised hands. Okay, I will close public comment and we will move on to item number 10, which is our planning commission actions.

Thank you, mayor. Um, last Monday, May 4th, our planning commission had two items on the agenda. However, the commission only ended up hearing the first item. Uh that item was a revision to a conditional use permit and coastal development permit for a remodel and addition project located at 46847th Street. So this project had previously been before the planning commission and received approval for that remodel and addition. And then during construction, um the existing legal non-conforming residence was found to be in in structurally substandard condition and actually was starting to topple over and uh the project's structural engineer determined that the entire building needed to be rebuilt from from the ground up essentially. And so uh because this constituted a major change in the scope of the project, it triggered the need to come back to the planning commission for that revision. Uh so that revision was approved by the planning commission on a 40 vote. Uh we were absent one one planning commissioner and no changes were made to that project from what was presented. Uh the other item that was on the agenda was a new residence at 333 Lynen Avenue. This had uh previously been continued to uh this meeting from the February 2nd meeting at the direction of the planning commission to make some revisions to the proposed design. Uh however uh prior to the meeting, the applicant requested a continuence because they weren't going to be able to make it to the meeting and so uh the commission granted that continuence and we've parked it on the agenda for the upcoming June 1st hearing instead. And that concludes my report on planning commission actions.

Thank you. Questions? Okay, no questions. I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips for this item. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no raised hands. I will close public comment and we will move on to public comment on items not on the agenda. And I will welcome Steve Delera.

Good evening, Madame Mayor and ladies and gentlemen of the city council. I'm Steve Delair, the director of family youth services. One of our programs is called the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership. Um, in 2007, a young man by the name of Angel was killed in front of Saks Fifth Avenue. And in 2008, the cities of Carpondria, Galita, and Santa Barbara along with the county came together to build a coalition uh to address gang violence in Santa Barbara County. In 2009, they formed the South Coast Task Force on Youth Gangs. And in 2016, it became the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership. Um, this partnership is has done well for a lot of years. Um, when I got here to Communify in 2023, Carpenter had just come off of two homicides that happened in 2022. And in 2023, we had a drive-by shooting that happened at one of the local church events here in Carperia. And in 2024, we had a kid with a gun in front of the local one in front of one of the local high schools. But also in 2024, we had three stabbings in Galita with four victims. We had another stabbing at a um school in Galita, a continuation school. We had a shooting with two victims um at Housepull Beach. Um and then you move forward to 2025 and we had a 17-year-old that was killed um in Galita as well. The South Coast Youth Safety Partnership continues to do work um in the community, but also to address community violence um when it happens. Um some of the programs or some of the work that we've done has been prevention and well-being, public safety and intervention, services and basic needs, youth empowerment, community and family engagement. We do have a strategy team that kind of guides us along the way that includes Department of Social Services, Santa Barbara County Ed, Santa Barbara County Public um probation,

Santa Barbara County Education Office, City of Santa Barbara, Santa Marcus High School, Santa Barbara High School as well. Um we're here today to talk to about moving forward. And so for fiscal year 2627, we plan to have five youth from each of the geographical locations, five youth from Carpondria, five youth from Santa Barbara, five youth from Galita as to sit on a youth advisory board to the um program manager who will be up here in a minute to give us counsel on what's happening in the cities. And these kids will meet once a month with our program manager and we report out quarterly. Um and here's there's your update. Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Michael Hernandez. Welcome.

Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh my name is Michael Hernandez. I am the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership Program Manager. Um thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about um our upcoming new event, Positive Youth Development, or what people will say PYD. um the importance of collaboration across South County and and how we can support young people. Uh we know that those protective factors are when protective factors are in place, youth are more likely to succeed in school, avoid involvement in the justice system, and grow into community leaders in our community. This collaboration is crucial. Through the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership, we're bringing together schools, community- based organizations, law enforcement, probation, public health, and youth themselves to align with efforts building and coordinating systems of support. And this work is already in motion through in October. We convene with partners across South County with more than 20 agencies giving the commitments to strengthen youth alignments and work more intentionally together rather than in silos. We are continuing this momentum through our upcoming youth summit. We've selected 20 students from South County to be trained as youth facilitators. Through this interactive PYDbased training, we are building skills in we are building the youth to build skills in public speaking, active listening, conflict resolution and group facilitation while gaining confidence to lead and create inclusive spaces for their peers. This effort has drawn interest from the NEA Casec Foundation which plans to connect with these youth after the summit to elevate their insights. Yet the summit itself will bring youth community leaders together to engage in a meaningful dialogue and develop youth driven solutions. This

kind of progress requires sustained commitment. When we invest in PYD and partnership like this, we are choosing prevention over reaction and building safer, stronger communities for everyone. I respectfully urge this council to continue supporting them and investing in this work and prioritize policies and funding to strengthen cross- sector collaborations. Lastly, I want to invite everybody here to our youth summit that is happening in Santa Barbara from 4 to 6 at the Santa Barbara Library Falner Gallery where we and we will be honored to have you part of our discussion. Please take this time to continue to invest in youth for the safer of the community. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Thank you, Patrick O'Conor.

Thank you, Mayor, Council, and and staff. Um, just wanted to make a quick comment and share a recommendation that I made um, to the planning commission in their last meeting regarding the uh, farm project. And I just want to make it clear I'm speaking as a resident of of district 5, not as ARB. So I'm not representing ARB. Um, to consider the ES running in advance of the normal public reviews which was decided a week or so ago. Um, certainly reasonable. It's a builder's remedy project. There's limited reviews, complex projects. So, I get it. Um, but I do want to recommend that ARB and planning be integrated for those public reviews to maximize the value of the inputs. We've seen recently on complex projects where we were limited um that we burned a lot of time and we burned a lot of input in the ARB that limited then the opportunity for planning and and eventually council to review it. So if we can figure out a way to not have not have it be counted as two meetings if we're all together um but combine them to get maximum effect. Thanks. Thank you for your comments, Peter Bonning. Uh, Mayor, council, staff, I'm Peter Bonding from the Carpenter Escape Foundation. Um, just wanted to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for this long and storied partnership between the Carpentry Escape Foundation and this amazing community.

Um, we're wrapping up our eighth semester, our fourth year of the push project uh with the school district. There's a strong civic engagement where the students are visiting the skate park here on a regular basis. The program has been overenrolled by double for eight semesters straight with an equal gender balance and a ton of opportunities for kids to engage in super positive meaningful afterchool visual arts and skateboarding based curriculum. Uh similarly the partnership goes through the summer. Um the last two summers we did seven weeks of skate camp for the community. This week we're off this summer we're offering eight weeks. We have an amazing camp director who also helps me run the push project. And um enrollment for those camps has grown over the last two summers and we expect even more this summer. We actually have more more people enrolled right now than we than we have the last two summers. Uh we get a lot of people from Ventura that love the programming. Uh we get a fair amount of people from Karp and we get a few people from Santa Barbara. So people are traveling to use our park. They uh people come from all over. I hear it on a weekly basis how great our park is, how much they love the community, and uh we just feel very privileged to be a part of um this working commitment to making the community a better place. Um, the best part about it is it's all rooted in fun. Um, so thanks and I hope it during the consent agenda, you know, we approve the on ongoing commitment to keeping the uh the partnership with skate foundation and the city going strong. I have no doubt it will. So, thank you all so much and we'll see you soon. What do you say, Val?

She says thanks. She appreciates it. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Yeah. Ken Refe.

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I've done something like this, so pardon the the rust. Uh my name is Ken Refe. Um I've been a carpentry citizen now for 12 years. Um, I'm a property manager as well over on Holly Avenue down by Sandyland. Um, my wife is a fourth generation. Her family uh started the Palms in the '60s and um I fell in love with the community through meeting her and and living here. Um, I'm here today to talk to you guys. Um, first of all, thanks for taking a look at my photos, my dog Lemon, um, and some astrophotography shots. Um, I'm here today to talk about kind of light pollution and every photo that's in your hands, including the ones that are photons from before humans ever existed, like the Whirlpool Galaxy. Actually, that might not be printed in that stack, but um, they're all taken here in Karp. Um, we have a unique opportunity because Monaceto is already very dark. Summerland, uh, going to have to fight some of those new freeway lights they put on in a row there. In general, we have the chance to be the only um first coastal city in California, especially Southern California to be a part of an international dark sky community and um Flagstaff, Arizona, Sedona, communities like that are amongst these type of communities. Um and I've been in communication with the international dark sky organizations already. Um it can lower uh costs on utilities for the city. Um there's enough interest I think in donorship. I've been a polo member for 15 years and I've been working at the club for 15 years. Uh and now I'm in tech. I work out at Folio and that's what got me into astrophotography. Just the ability to do things like this. And I think there's a a lot of possibility here for this community to not only

generate tourism dollars but um also just do something that's great for the community. You know, if you go out at 3:00 or 4 in the morning and you want to be adventurous and get up like I do and go out into that salt marsh, um you can see the Milky Way just like August and Betta did who opened the palms back in the 60s. And we have a chance to let our future generations have that while lowering utility costs and gener that is just a mockup flyer by the way for restarting astronomy on top for the central coast. So, that's not really anything finalized, but um usually a lot of things head up towards slow or Santa Margarita Lake, and I'd like to bring people here instead. So, that's all. Um if you like any of the photos, feel free to keep them. They're just prints from CBS. No big deal. But, uh hopefully I'll get to know you all a lot more. Um I've been involved in Sister City Associations uh in my hometown of Tmacula, but I'm here to stay. So would love to just start that talk. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Uh Mr. Roelo Delgado, welcome.

Uh thank you Roa the carpenter resident. Uh these are points of uh reference from the community. Uh number one, 12 uh out of 20 people uh are in favor of the uh quarter of a point increase uh uh proposal uh on the sales tax uh barely passing just like in 2018. Uh but currently that situation is different. Inflation is high. Inflation is a number one concern not only in the nation but I think also in carp. Money is tied. If the sales tax increase is put on the November ballot, you need to educate uh the public otherwise it may not pass. Point number two, city's uh budget. How does the city uh balance uh the budget expenses, revenues, overspending? I understand that the city is okay financially for the next two years. That's what I understand. Correct me if I'm wrong. But the city will run into major financial problems two years from today if there are not enough resources. How does the city uh check the sheriff's uh expenses? Monthly, quarterly, yearly.

What about overtime expenses? Everything is uh within the budget. The city gets its budget uh basically from property tax, sales tax, and the occupancy tax. Real estate currently is frozen. It's a buyer's market, but listing prices are high. 30-year fixed uh mortgage is high. The sales tax increase may not pass. The occupancy tax is the highest at 15% in the region. What's a city's remedy for these potential problems? If next month the city council moves to put the sales tax increase on the valent, please act asap to educate the public. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Um I do not have any other speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we have no raised hands. Okay. I will close public comment. Yeah, just a couple comments if you would mind. Absolutely. Go.

Um, first of all, I I am interested in hearing uh if that is something possible that Patrick Okconor brought forward with an ARB, architectural review board and planning commission uh joint meetings for some of the review process. I think that would streamline it quite a bit. realizing that the ARB is only an advisory to the planning commission makes sense to me. Something to think about and I would like to see if in fact that is something that's feasible. And the other point was uh the comments about dark skies um on that one there. We have adopted dark skies um in the city of Carperia. So I'd be interested to find out if you've seen things that could improve on that because currently we are setting up a direction on how to do that better. I I yeah, I did order a lot of light meters actually recently online um through Regina Astro. So, I'm going to be going around town and doing a heat map for you guys. So,

good. Thanks. I'll have actual data for you soon. Any other comments? Okay. Any other comments from council?

Okay. No comments. We will now move on to item number We will move on to the consent calendar. Uh, I move to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held April 27th, 2026 to receive and file the warrant register for the period of April 20th through May 1st, 2026 pursuant to Carpenter and Municipal Code section 2.08.150 to receive and file the monthly city treasurer's report on compliance with statement of safekeeping and investment of public funds for March 2026. to approve ordinance number 797 as read by title only amending chapter 2.08 08 of the Carpenter and Municipal Code to better define the city manager's authority to sign written contracts, update the list of city officers who are authorized to sign warrants, and remove the requirement of a list of all instruments signed by the city clerk requiring the city seal to be presented to the city council for their information. to approve the first amendment to the consultant services agreement between the city of Carpondria and environmental science associ associates increasing the compensation by 74,443 for a total not to exceed amount of $333,333 and to authorize the city manager to execute the second amendment to the agreement with the Carpa Escape Foundation.

Second. We have a first and a second. I'd like to open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Uh, mayor, we have no raised hands. Okay, I will close public comment and request a roll call vote.

All right, mayor, before I get to the roll call vote, let me read the title of ordinance number 797 into the record. Uh, ordinance number 797, an ordinance of the city council of the city of Carpa, California, amending chapter 2.08 08 of the Carpentria Municipal Code to better define the city manager's authority to sign written contracts, update the list of city officers who are authorized to sign warrants, and remove the requirement of a list of all instruments signed by the city clerk requiring the city sealed be presented to the city council for their information. And for the roll call, Council Member Clark, I. Council member Mayor, I. Council member Namura, hi. Vice Mayor Solaro, hi. and Mayor Alakan.

I Okay, we will now move on to administrative matters. Item 17, which is resolutions calling the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election and requesting the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to consolidate said election with the statewide general election to be held the same day and adopting regulations for candidate statements. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh, I'll be taking this item. Uh, the November 3rd, 2026 election will be the city's third district-based election with the election of a representative for city council district numbers 1, 3, and five for four-year terms ending in December 2030. In addition, uh, the ballot submitted to voters may include a transaction use tax measure depending on city council action, which will likely occur next month. uh California elections code provides the procedures for consolidating elections which requires the city council to request consolidation at the same time the resolution calling the election is adopted. These resolutions authorize the county of Santa Barbara to conduct the election on behalf of the city and to canvas the results. The elections code also requires the council to adopt regulations for candidates pursuing elective office to draft legally sound candidate statements. Uh the city must submit a resolution requesting consolidation to the county at least 88 days prior to the November 3rd election. Uh the board of supervisors will be in the summer recess from mid July through mid August and their last meeting before this deadline is July 14th. So the last opportunity to submit to the clerk of the board is June 25th. Uh the county estimates the cost of the election to fill the seats of city council districts 1, three, and five to be $7,500. And the nomination period uh for this election begins Monday, July 13th, and

runs until Friday, August 7th, unless an incumbent does not file, then the nomination period for that particular district is extended an additional 5 days to August 12th. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you. Questions from council? No questions. I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Uh, we have no Zoom speakers. I will close public comment and bring it back to the council for a motion. I move to adopt resolution numbers uh 6465 through 6467 as read by title only. Second. We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I.

Any opposed? None. Motion passes. We will now move on to other uh other business. Item 18, which is the third quarter code compliance report for fiscal year 2025 2026. All right. Good evening, mayor, council members. Um I'm here to report on um the code compliance report for uh quarter 3. And just a reminder on background um code compliance division enforces local and state laws for the city of Carperia. Um we worked alongside um um with all the city department sheriff's office and other outside agencies to resolve code related issues in an efficient manner. Uh figure one here is a a way to get a hold of uh staff. Um our preference is the online uh reporting um portal uh listed above. Um code compliance uh responds to and or investigate east case um to determine the appropriate course of action. Code compliance staff logged 237 total cases um this quarter, an increase of 105 from last quarter. Um the quarter's case load was summarized below in this table showing um vehicle um or parking

abatement animal control services and um uh zoning sign regulation. some of the uh most frequent calls for service. Um slide four on attachment A um shows the um top violation counts um showing parking dog leash um contacts uh for this quarter. and the signs uh followed by dog licensing requirements and prohibit dog prohibitation. This is would be like on the beach from uh Lynden ash dogs on the beach. Slide uh five is the um kind of give you an overall uh increase showing you an increase over uh last quarter. Um, a lot of this is due to a couple factors, uh, including just time of year as well as, um, um, heightened enforcement in certain, um, um, areas of, um, of our enforcement efforts. again um showing an increase from um beginning of the uh quarter to the end of the quarter in um parking animal violations and zoning regulations um sign zoning by regulations. Um slide seven here shows that um

we had um 150 cases open from requests in quarter 3. Again, uh vehicle abatement was our number one request. Uh followed by no noise violations. Requests come through um mainly through our online portal uh followed by our app um and um just by calling the office line. Total citations um for quarter 3 were 435. That was slightly down from last quarter. Again um our vehicle abatement and um 72 hours were the highest of that category. Um some of the um previous on previous slide we showed an increase in contacts for off leash that was due to um animal control and um parks meeting with the um citizens open space management advisory board. They had some concerns on off leash activity over at the open space on bluffs um 2 uh viola fields area. And so we met with um that organization and came up with a um a plan to do a heightened uh enforcement week. And um those results um showed that we made um quite a bit of an increase in contacts for off leash and um as a result also um dogs without licensing for uh and carp. So, we were able to piggy back off that uh for some licensing increase

and that concludes my report. And if you have any questions, questions from council. Yeah, a couple questions. Um, so I in the report I noted that um you had said that there's an uptick in some of the cases this past quarter and that represents a seasonal shift and so can you what do we usually see in terms of that that seasonal shift? Yeah, the um as spring comes with spring break, we see a lot more activity in our parks and recreate in our beaches. Um so parking it will affect parking and um um just visitors in general. So we'll see heightened activity. Um

uh but it also um those numbers went up because we um were enforcing certain areas like I said with the off leash contacts and stuff like that. And actually is in terms of that I know that you know it's you're such a small staff of you know one and a half but um uh the I think that was a really great idea to do the one week of intensive of patrolling. Is that something that you might consider for I know we get a lot of comments about e ebikes and bikes in the salt marsh and so is that something where maybe you might consider doing that sort of targeted um patrolling even knowing that you are so um short staffed,

right? We could we could definitely um well that's the purpose of this um report right quarterly is to kind of see any upticks in areas and we can definitely direct staff to go that direction uh with just being mindful that um focused in one area takes away from right areas. Yeah. But I know I thought that was a great a great approach to take. And then finally um just so I saw that the staff report indicated that um the 237 open cases resulted in uh 187 recorded violations. So could you just give some context why there's a difference between the numbers of the open cases and then the actual violations?

Yeah, there there's probably many factors. Uh the one that I can think of is that uh we'll investigate open a case and and investigate and um maybe one case will have multiple violations. Um so it may be increased that that quarter or there was no violations found and so it would be you know a decrease or um there's a number of fact in fact may maybe even Nick can speak probably better than I can on on those analytics but it's it's a bunch of different reasons why those numbers don't match up. Mhm.

Well, that's helpful to know. I just thought maybe for if anyone in the public was looking at the report or listening, that might be helpful um just background information to know why the the numbers are different and not every case opened results in a violation. Absolutely. Or in the fact that we had the heightened um contacts for off leash, we also then receive um had another violation associated that with having no dog license. Got it. Okay. Yeah. Or for example, we'll make a a case open a case on say maybe a homeless contact where there won't be a violation, but maybe there'll be an outreach for services. So there's no violation associated with that call, but it's a case nonetheless in staff time spent on that.

Got it. Okay. Thank you very much. Those are my questions. Great. Any other questions? I have a question about parking specifically. I mean, that's a huge jump. And I I can't see how this is sustainable in any way to have only one and a half people doing this, especially as this is not even the busiest time in our city. So, um maybe you're not the right person to be asking, but what is our plan to add us somebody else to code compliance? I'm open to suggestion. I mean, maybe I have to ask my own self this question, right? But I mean to me I I think these are the things that really matter to the city and specifically parking and off leash.

I mean time and time again from the beginning of these reporting that's been our number one focused area and so those are the calls we get most um we spend a lot of time with and um yeah could another position open up or part-time position open up free up my time to address other issues. Yeah.

And just actually to tack on to council member Mayor's um comment, I mean it we do have that that position exists that third. So it wouldn't even be adding a new position. It would just be filling a position that had to that was previously cut. So, I'm on the same page as you in in hoping that that's something I know we've talked about it as part of the work plan and looking at at reinstating that position, but also I I understand that our budget situation is is the biggest factor likely in that, but but thank you for bringing up that comment.

Yeah, I mean, I just keep thinking I'm like these not that we want to be making money from code violations. It's literally not. But if this is something where the enhanced, you know, code compliance can, you know, subsidize this position, it makes a lot of sense for us to be doing that. Just specifically thinking about how how contentious parking is in general and, you know, the character of our city and making sure people are doing what's right. I think that third position actually wasn't cut. just hasn't been filled yet because it's floating, right? But there there was somebody in it before and then Yeah. And and so

I mean since I've been here there's not been a third code compliance person. I mean I really appreciate all that you're getting done. I'm it's like quite remarkable to really look put numbers to someone's 40 hours plus 40 and a half 40 what 60 hours. I mean, it's impressive and it's appreciated and I think we constantly hear that from the public that this is the work you're doing is appreciated.

Question. Um, of the I saw that there were 94 abandoned vehicles. Can you share more about that? Is that that seems like a pretty high number for the last quarter.

Right. So, out of the 113 and 99, that's what that's what I'm saying. These these numbers are are sometimes hard to wrap your head around. So, out of those 113 um cases, 99 of those came from people calling us or service requests. The other difference between the 99 and the 113 were patrolling. just happened to see car with the flat tire and marked it, did whatever. And then out of those 94 or out of those 90 113 94 were actually created um were issued a warning. That's what we typically do on on new vehicles that we come across and then um um followed up with and so either that vehicle became into compliance or received a ticket.

Okay. Thank you. Um, and is there was there a certain area in which those those vehicles were abandoned out of curiosity? Yeah, I used to put up um a map and I I'll do that next time to show and it just seems to it's never really generated in one area. It is spread across the city.

Okay. And then um I really liked what Vice Mayor uh Soloso was saying in terms of the strategy that you implemented. So, I'm just curious based off of quarter 3, these trends that you're seeing, are there certain strategies that you'll be implementing for this next quarter or anything that really worked? I know staff is limited, but um I'm just curious to know if there's any priority areas for for you and your team.

Yeah, again, this came through um um concerns through the COSMAB, you know, uh organization. So, uh, we sat down and had a meeting and they, um, wanted, um, a lot of time in the in the area and we compromised on a week and then, um, we probably, I mean, spent out of the the 40-hour week, probably 25 hours dedicated time between myself and the other officer. So, it was a lot of time focused there, and we don't mind to do that if there's a need. Um but to to right now to be able to just do these heightened stuff um for everything would be

yeah taxing. Yeah. But is there anything that you'd like to focus on in this next quarter or maybe right before summer? Is there if there's anything in the works? Yeah. Well, we're definitely going to start doing this with the um bicycle uh ebikes and then we always do um well, I shouldn't say always, but we've done it a lot of times. Well, and I've discussed with the other officer uh for this um coming up months or this quarter is to start uh going downtown and reminding visitors and other people about bikes on sidewalks and stuff like that because it gets busier.

We have a lot more activity down with the new businesses, some of the new businesses open. So, he'll be down there doing that. So, we will see that kind of a heighten and that number should jump up from for bicycle contacts. Okay. And then just out of curiosity, um, with Lynen Square having opened up and I know that there's a lot of individuals who park at the Smart and Final parking lot. Has that been an issue at all? Has, has have there been any complaints? Not that I've Okay. heard of. It is private property, so it's not really my jurisdiction. I mean, could do some stuff in there for handicap parking and stuff like that that allows me to, but as far as them policing their parking, it's up to them.

Okay. So, we haven't heard anything complaints from them as the city. Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, no other questions. I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Uh, mayor, we have no raised hands. Yeah, I will close public comment and bring it back to the council. Um, I move to receive and file the third quarter code compliance report for fiscal year 202526. Second.

We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? None. Motion passes. We will now move on to item number 19, which is resolution adopting the city council policy establishing a process for the city's acceptance of donations. Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, and council. Tonight, I'm bringing forward resolution number 6464, which if approved would adopt the proposed donation policy. The proposed policy is intended to create a clear, consistent, and transparent process for how the city accepts and manages donations. Currently, the city does not have a formal written policy, and donations have historically been handled on a case-byase basis. While community generosity is greatly appreciated and and often enhances city programs and facilities, donations can sometimes create unintended obligations, including ongoing maintenance costs, staffing impacts, or operational responsibilities. This policy is intended to provide a framework to help evaluate donations consistently and ensure ensure that they align with city priorities, operational capacity, and legal requirements. The policy outlines procedures for accepting monetary and inkind donations, establishes approval thresholds, clarifies the s city's ability to decline donations, and includes guidance related to conflicts of interest, documentation, accounting, and disposal of donated items when necessary. It also includes additional review requirements for inc inind service donations to ensure compliance with purchasing policies, prevailing wage requirements, insurance, and other legal considerations. So overall, the goal of the policy is to support community contributions while also protecting the city's financial, operational, and legal interests through a transparent and consistent process. And that is my very brief staff report for you all this

evening, and I'm available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. questions. Oh yeah, a couple questions. Uh I one thing I really appreciated about the the uh staff report and the policy is a recogn recognition that donations can have these unintended um obligations. Can you talk about how the policy helps um city staff say no when there might be a donation that is made in in really good faith or there a proposed donation that's made in good faith but that might have some of those um unintended uh obligations that you mentioned.

Yes. through the mayor, uh, vice mayor. That's a great question and and it happens quite a bit. Um, like you said, many people are have nothing but the best intentions, but it does put some undue burden on this, uh, city or fi long-term financial obligations. So, the policy pretty clearly states that the all donations are subject to review and approval and that the city can decline um or and may be declined at the city's discretion without comment or cause. But then it also talks a little bit about evaluation criteria so that we um and the proposed donor or the donor rather um have some objective criteria to evaluate when determining if we should or should not. So it's not just um you know a staff's opinion. There are some criteria that we're using to analyze to back up the um rejection or or um declining of the donation. And so along those lines, so what would be maybe a hypothetical of a reason to decline a donation? So, and the reason I ask is, you know, we do hear sometimes public comments about um offering in kind or or the city looking for inkind contributions of professional services or things like that. And um I'm I'm sure that there's there's maybe not a public understanding of why that might not be something the city can do. So, could you talk maybe about what what an example of that might look like?

Yes. uh through the mayor, vice mayor for inind or services specific. The the number one reason I could imagine we would um politely decline that donation could be maybe risk management concerns if the work being performed isn't um suitable for a a donor or volunteer to do. Also, if there was anything that um would conflict with like our procurement policy or our legal obligations for paying living wages. Um, so for that's why in here specifically when talking about inkind donations in terms of services that it would be something we would meet and discuss with administrative services and legal to assess um to make sure that whatever services being offered would um meet any legal requirements, procurement policy and all that um and risk management concerns as well.

If I could, I'd have one really good example. We had um the sheriff's department was actually interested in putting a shed out in the back which would be able to be used for like a small gym room and there was a company forget the name not important but that was going to actually I shouldn't say a company there were workers of a company that were willing to donate their time to do the work and um and then somebody was going to donate the materials for that and so it all seemed very perfect except for the the individuals that were working couldn't provide any insurance, any warranty, any anything. So, if something were to to happen, there's nobody to go back to. No warranty, no anything like that. And it was something that we were unable to do. Uh, you know, it's disappointing still. It doesn't mean that um, you know, it's always a happy ending because we would have loved to have done that, but that's just one example of something that we were unable to do really recently.

I appreciate that. that's helpful and I just I think hopefully it will be helpful for the public to to hear that and to know that when things like that are declined, it's not because of a a lack of appreciation for it, but that sometimes it's just it's something that will um have un unicipated uh consequences maybe. Um just a couple quick more questions. Um, is there a plan to have maybe a simple kind of public-f facing document about this new policy so that when people do want to make donations, they can know um without having to maybe read through the the whole policy um but can see at a glance um what some of these parameters are.

Yes, through the mayor vice mayor. Um that's a great suggestion. Um honestly, not one I thought through, but I think something we could easily do by adding uh you know a simple tile or FAQ to our website. um whether it be housed under the parks, recreation and community services department or other I could look into it but I think it would be helpful for us to have something public more public facing than just uh you know this policy and this meeting to point people to um who are interested in donating or donating. So we can definitely look into that.

And then my last question is uh I saw in the donation acceptance form that there are fields for ongoing maintenance and life cycle costs. uh is that it seems like that wasn't something that we had since we didn't have a policy before that wasn't something that we we had built into communications with uh possible donors. Um so uh how is that has that been something that has been difficult to capture in the past? Is that why it's now included in the policy?

Yes. uh through the mayor, vice mayor. It was something that we identified with um you know the memorial bench program um is that there was no clear understanding at least written between the city and donors of the bench um you know that the bench would only be maintained through its life cycle um and we would be doing basic maintenance but nothing you know um that would cost the city more money. So definitely something that we've learned from and want to identify and just kind of have a shared understanding with the donor about if they are donating an object that it does have a useful life. The city does have the right to dispose of it when it is time um and that we may not be able to accept the donation if it's going to incur significant maintenance costs that we maybe wouldn't have undertaken otherwise. Um so really just this policy and others are I think just as important to have that shared understanding from with the city and the donor themselves so that there's no surprises.

Great. Thank you. Thank appreciate that background.

I'll add one more example. um you used to manage recreation centers and all the time we would have people wanted to donate their ping pong tables or their um you know um pool tables and things like that and often those donations were purchased and there for like home use and they weren't the like commercial grade ones of kids jumping up on top of it and using it many times. So, we found ourselves going and picking up pool tables and all these sorts of things and then they would last like 2 weeks and then we'd have to take them take them down to the dump. And so, we actually uh stopped accepting anything that wasn't industrial or commercial grade for our recreation equipment. So, again, just another great example. You'd walk in and see this beautiful pool table and you go, "Well, why wouldn't we take that?" But it just wasn't made to withstand um you know, a teen center worth of kids. And so that's just another example of times we wouldn't accept things.

Thank you. Um couple questions I have. First of all, um the example you brought up, um some of those are donated by community organizations. Is that one of our first outreaches or is that something that's going to just be still put in a standard model? So they'll just have to come to us uh through the mayor. Council member Nor, if I'm understanding your question correctly, and I apologize if I'm not. So, are you asking if we would do some outreach to solicit donations?

No, actually not. What I'm you were talking about was the benches and those benches actually weren't donated by individuals. They were donated by an organization that was using the money on behalf of that individual. So, it's kind of an odd situation. Mhm. So that's why I was asking the question if in fact we approach the organization as opposed to the individual for the responsibility of filing for these. Oh, so for if I'm understanding correctly um that if we would approach the organization for um an agreement after the fact with the benches or at this point they're in place for future.

Absolutely. So the benches are in place for the future. And so if they became if it was the extent of their useful life and we were looking to dispose of it, we could make our we would reach out to anything we anyone we have on file to talk about those donations. Um whether it be the organization who did so on behalf of the donor. Um, unfortunately for some of the benches that exist on Lyndon, I'm not sure if the contact information has been um, kept up to date over the years, but we would definitely make effort every effort to identify or to reach out to whomever. Um, that was actually a fundraiser for an organization is what I'm saying. So, the money actually went to the organization on behalf of the individual who paid for it. So the question would be moving forward, would it be the organization that would be responsible for filing or requesting the donation or is it going to be the individual because it gets a little touchy on that one. Something to think about. I don't think we have to resolve it now, but you may want to consider that one.

Yeah, that's definitely a great point and something we'll absolutely consider. Thank you for bringing that up. And then the other one has to do with restrictive giving. uh if we do have a policy in place, which I recommend we do for restricted giving. The difficulty with those often times is recording those. So I think that's going to have to go through the accounting systems. So we have financial um I would say oversight specifically on those restricted giving uh amounts. That is one thing that often times falls through foundations. it ends up going to operations when in fact it was specific to operate uh to restrict giving

council member Neora. So, we actually have um if it was unrestricted or not not earmarked, it would it could go into the general fund and used for the area of greatest need, but all all of our restricted giving go into a revolving fund and they're earmarked for that that particular uh use and and noted to to ensure that all all donations made for a specific purpose go to that specific purpose. Okay. Yeah, I I it does get to be a little cumbersome on bookkeeping, but as long as you have a system in place, you're comfortable putting that into place, I'm good with it. And it looks like in their workflow it it there's some accounting steps in there. Is that correct in your

work? I'll That's exactly correct. We do have um outlines in here, responsibilities, whether it be of you know, the department director or administrative services, who does what. Um as you all know, our teams are quite small. So for example, if there was a donation given to my department, it would be my responsibility to coordinate with administrative services to get all the documentation from the donor. This form, submit it to administrative services, let them know when we are spending those funds, how we're spending those funds, and providing them with that documentation as well. Um, but yes, we have some accounting outlines uh accounting steps outlined in here as well. Great. Thank you. Any other questions?

I have a question and I'm I'm going to try to word it correctly. Um, in the event that someone makes a generous large donation, would that like and it's restricted um I can give you an example if you'd like. Would that would we as a city council be responsible for making the decision to jump it ahead in sort of like a work plan? Like um my example I'm thinking of is what if somebody donates $100,000 to redo the bathrooms at El Carero Park, but that's not on our work plan right now. Would that be a decision that the city council would have to make because it's above the $50,000 threshold to jump it ahead if it's like if it's fully funded? I'm assuming that goodness I hope $100,000 would cover bathrooms, but what if you know um I'm just sort of thinking this through. Um,

yes. Or is it like a paytoplay? Do you know what I mean? Or like are we going to suddenly if I mean hopefully we're going to suddenly have all of these big generous donations to fund our

big capital projects. So through the mayor, council member, mayor, that's a a great point and I think I can answer in two parts. So if it is currently above um $50,000, it would be up to your council to accept or decline the donation. So yes, the the acceptance of the donation would be um up to your council. The prioritization based on that could also be something through either the capital improvement program and like the uh meetings we have and that process and or our strategic plan like you mentioned. If there was a donation to um something that maybe wasn't a higher priority, I think that would be something that we would discuss and you could direct staff to. And then the donations also they like um city manager said are in the revolving fund. So it's not necessarily unless there's terms of the donation. Um it's not necessarily like our general fund where if you don't use it within the year um it would go back into the fund, it would remain in that fund. Um and so we could use it um at the time we're ready. For example, some people have been donating um incrementally over the years to the community pool uh just kind of for any repairs or or large items we may need and um we've used it sparingly and now we have some money that we can use for the community pool project when it's um design ready to go.

Council members through the mayor. Sorry, my voice is very deep today. Um I wanted to just expand on that comment and then also provide another example of how um that situation we you would I think the policy the donation policy helps your council think through um donations of that kind, right? Because one of the unexpected obligations potentially as Vice Mayor Solaro was asking about if the donation was we want to donate $100,000 with the understanding that that $100,000 goes towards the bathroom remodel at El Carroll Park next month and the bathrooms are remodeled next month, right? because as we know construction costs are always much higher than so it's not it couldn't sit in a fund and we get additional donations etc but that's an example of I think why the policy does have those larger donations coming to your council to consider in terms of those unintended obligations but also to think about them in terms of okay is this on our work plan is this something that the council wants to prioritize because even if we have the money for the hard costs, there are still costs to the rest of the city in terms of staff time, etc.

That's helpful. I mean, I'm obviously we've been reminded of the skate park. I was as a part of fundraising there. The city had a memorandum of understanding there was an agreement in place that we would make that large donation, but the city was ready to accept that donation. It wasn't like we just walked into city council one day and said, "Here's the money. Now build us a skate park." Um, but it does bring me to this thought of that, you know, if people understand that there are places that they could support the city and build us culture park or something like that, you know, how do we as a as a body prioritize that and not like I mean, again, this is such a hypothetical thing, but like is it just jumping the line to get to the very top just because you have the money to do it? And I hope that I mean I really hope we have that problem. So it's fun to think about.

Any other questions?

Um question clarification actually. Um if this were to pass right now, does this uh instantly go into effect or is this something that will have to be written in policies actually set in place before and then come back to us again for final tonight? Thank you. Okay, got it. Um, the reason I'm asking for that specific, we have a couple of projects underway currently, for example, with Tamala interpretive play area where we have some funds already set aside. I assume those remain restricted. Um, the question then being um it is very likely that we will have the funds within the next two weeks to complete that project. So knowing that that's not going to affect any of the our actions moving forward then this policy

council member Neore through the mayor uh correct uh this it is my understanding this policy will go into effect tonight and it will not affect negatively affect um the tumal interpretive playground process um and I would be delighted to accept a donation in the next couple weeks or I believe that one may be at your all um the council's authority level to accept that donation. So I guess the the one I don't want to say added step because it was already our practice but the one step that would happen um moving forward is larger donations would come to your council for your review and formal acceptance whereas in the past that still happened in practice but um not necessarily written down.

Thank you. I have a question. Um can you help me better understand uh the definition or of we have the donation but that's separate from volunteering right but then under the donation category there's also um an inkind donation could be considered a labor professional expertise or so help me better understand how are we differentiating those or even when we're working with nonprofits for example the the um is it the Rotary like what are they considered Are they just considered a donation or is it volunteer?

Uh yeah, mayor that's a wonderful question. So the a donation to how I think about it, the donation is either money or a tangible item. An inind donation could be service. So um someone you know offering their services to I don't want to say build something because again there'd be risk management concerns but um some sort of labor or professional expertise and then there would be a non-monetary donation. So that could also be goods supplies or materials. So donations kind of the money non-monetary could be an item and inkind could be a service. in kind could also be you know use of a a facility um with no fee or the fee waved um would be another example.

I can try to provide you some others. So like for in terms of like also a tax deduction so person off the street choosing to volunteer would be volunteering. It wouldn't fall into all of the policy here regarding tax deductions. Um, you might have somebody who's offering to do magic shows at the library and normally they would get paid a certain amount in a professional service. Uh, might be handled differently than somebody volunteering, you know, from the community to help set aside books. And so I would say that'd be one of the biggest difference. You can kind of think of it of would you would get a tax deduction or is this something you would even get a tax deduction for?

Okay. Okay. That's helpful. Um, and then I know that um, there was another question or an example. I I think you shared the example of someone offering their their services as well. Um, and I appreciated your explanation right there. And I think I've also heard it in the context of like uh, community members wanting to lend their expertise. So it it doesn't necessarily have to be a donation or volunteer, but they can also participate in our committee meetings or public comment. So that's another way for people people may say to lend their expertise, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're lending a full service or providing labor. So I just want to provide clarification around that.

Yeah, Mayor. And that again would kind of go back to that other example I gave about the the construction work. if somebody were were, you know, uh, an attorney sitting at one of the committee meetings could likely give pretty helpful legal suggestions or recommendations, but they wouldn't be advice or anything the city would be able to rely on in that way. So, but could be very helpful.

Perfect. Okay. Can I if I can jump in there and I think that great question because and your question uh Mayor Alicone I believe this was your question about how these inkind donations and inind services are kind of separate from the volunteer volunteer hours and so in the inind donations involving services labor professional expertise etc it does say such review so um the the review will be by the administrative services department and the city manager prior to acceptance of any of these inind um donations and they would such review would ensure compliance with um such things as risk management standards, conflicts of interest, etc. So in the

you know providing legal advice situation I'm assuming that the person um at the meetings providing legal advice, they're doing that kind of by just participating as a public citizen versus while they don't have mal malpractice insurance, right? which attorneys do um that are practicing law um do have in case they give horrible advice. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Okay. Seeing none, I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom?

We do. Mayor, we have Gary Campopiano. Uh Gary, go ahead. Gary, you want to unmute yourself? Well, guess Gary doesn't want to talk. There anyone else with their hands raised? No other raised hands. Mayor. Okay, Gary, you there? One last. Okay, we will Nothing. We will close public comment and I will um bring it back to the council for a motion.

Well, first I just want to say I really appreciate I know we're getting a lot of policies to review lately. Um and that just shows that that the city staff is really being diligent about updating a lot of these these um procedures that maybe were done informally and just it's it uh ultimately protects the city and and the residents um a lot more. So, I appreciate being able to review this one. Um, and then I'll make the motion to adopt uh resolution number 6464 approving the donation policy. Second. We have a first and a second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? None. Motion passes. And we will now move on to legislative update.

Great. Thank you, Mayor Aller Con, council members. So, the update this evening includes um summaries and positions on uh a whole slew of bills. Um AB736, AB1708, AB1866, AB1 1941, AB1942, AB1961, AB2296, AB2517, AB2640. Oh my goodness. AB1564, AB1 1820, AB 2170, SB 936, SB167, SB 866, SB 1013, and SB 1319. So, we have previously summarized AB708, AB 2517, and SB866. and your council did direct staff to send letters regarding these um three bills. So, with regards to the remainder of the bills that are included in your packet tonight, the attached legisl excuse me, the attached legislative update does provide detailed summaries of each of those bills. Um, we're happy to answer any questions, but we wanted to just quickly flag a couple of those bills um that uh we think are more pertinent or applicable to the city. So, it looks like the um there are four of those bills that I'll be summarizing tonight. The first is AB2296, which would allow the city to initiate uh the housing element process 6 months earlier than current law currently provides. um which could provide the goal is to provide um greater certainty and predictability and time in this uh housing element review process. Um League of California Cities does recommend um supporting this bill and

submitting a a letter um in support of the bill. The second bill is AB1866, which would ensure that local agencies that do not qualify for federal disaster assistance are still considered for state aid following a state declared emergency, which could help address significant gaps in disaster recovery funding. League of California also recommends supporting this bill and submitting a letter accordingly. Third, we have AB 2170, which would impose new procedural requirements under SQA, including translation mandates that could be costly and burdensome for the city to implement. The concern here is also that these requirements may expose the city or cities to increased litigation risk if those translations are challenged as inaccurate. So here, League of California Cities is opposing the bill and is requesting that cities submit a letter um to that effect. And lastly, we have AB1564, which would restrict a public employer's ability to conduct internal investigations. And the concern here is that that that restriction could undermine workplace safety and expose the city to increased costs, liability, and risk. So similarly here, the League of California Cities or Cal Cities is opposing the bill and request um requests municipalities to submit a letter in opposition. That's all that I have for you this evening.

Thank you. Any comments from council? Those those all sound like they would be relevant for us. And have for the one um the AB2296. Have we sent a letter about that one before or maybe we've just discussed it? It's am I getting that one right? It's the one about the um housing element. Thank you. Uh Vice Mayor Solaro through the mayor. I don't believe that we've sent a letter um on that bill yet. We may have discussed it at some point. That that must be it. Yeah. But no, I mean I appreciate the recommendation for those four. I would support that also. I would be happy to support that as well. Is there consensus? Looks like there is.

Great. So, if I can just cons um confer Mayor Alakone and it sounds like there's consensus for um the council to authorize um submitting letters either for or against these four bills consistent with League of California C's recommendations. Yes. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, and I apologize. Um just re any public comment on this? Yes, I will open up public comment. I do not have any speaker slips. Do we have anyone via Zoom? Mayor, we do. Uh this may be for the previous item. It's Gary Compiano. So, I'm not sure. Let's see. Okay.

Uh Gary, go ahead. Oh, Gary, you want to unmute yourself? Uh looks like he's having some issues or something. Okay. Um then I'll ask can we send Gary our email address so he can email us his comments. Um and then that way that can be he unmuted himself. We'll open up. Gary are you there? Do we have anyone via Zoom? We do. This may be for the previous item. It's Gary. I'm not sure. Okay. Gary.

Hello. I believe I'm three uh three items be I believe I'm three items behind I'll ask can you our email address so he can email us his comments um and then that Brian if we could um Gary what I'll ask is because we've moved on yes I am I'm here Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like it. Yeah. Hello. Can you hear me now? Hi, Gary. Yes. Which uh item would you like to make public comment on?

I I originally wanted to speak.

Brian, if we could um Gary, what I'll ask is because we've moved on. Yes, I am. I'm here. Okay. Let's Why don't we go ahead and um Gary, you still there? Yeah. Hello. Can you hear me now? Okay. Let's let's go ahead and uh let's mute and then because it doesn't look like this is the item that he'd like to speak on. So, let's get through this item and then So, Mayor Alone, if I may, Gary, it sounds like this isn't the item that you wanted to speak on and you were speaking you were hoping to speak on a previous um public a previous item in public comment. Oh,

hearing nothing. Gary, we're gonna those public comment periods have already closed, so we are going to move on. Oh, I'm sorry, Jen. I'd already muted him,

so Okay. Okay. I will close public comment for item number n for item number 20 and doesn't look like we need a motion for that item. Uh we will move on to committees reports, inquiries and other matters presented by council members. Um so MTD board met last week. Um they uh approved the extension of their master agreement with easy lift uh for paratransit services. Uh they also presented information on the service plan for fiscal year 2627 um and then gave a financial update and third quarter uh review of their uh financials. So that was the MTD board meeting. Um and then we received um an email from the Channel County's division that their annual uh or their dinner, I don't know if it might be more than once a year, will be June 19th at uh in Ventura at 5:30. uh and they'll send more more um details later, but I know that's one that we always usually like to go to. Uh and then finally, the public engagement committee met uh last week. We received a digital outreach report um uh talked about city financial overview outreach and then just touched a little bit on state of the city planning and that council member Namura was in that meeting too. So, if there's anything you want to add, but okay.

Okay. Those are my committee reports. Any other reports? Okay. No other reports and attendance of council members at future meetings. Yes. Yes. Okay. And it is 81 and we will officially adjourn the meeting. Thank you.