City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good afternoon everyone. I'll call the meeting of May 12th, 2026 close session city council meeting to order. Deputy city clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Thank you, mayor. Council member Clark, present. Council member Lodge absent. Council member Peterson here. Mayor Prom Mills here. Mayor Koopa here. All members are present with the exception of council member Lodge. Thank you. Do we have any registered speakers on items that are on the closed session? We have no registered speakers. Okay. With that, we will now proceed to close session and a report will come out when we get back into regular sess session at six o'clock or thereof.

Let's go. She says I like it.

Test. Test. One, two, three.

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the May 12th, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. Deputy city clerk, may we have a roll call. Thank you, mayor. Before proceeding with roll call, I would like to point out that this meeting is being hosted through live stream on the city's website and by Zoom teleconference. I would like to remind the council to have their microphones turned on in position so the audience can hear. And with that, we'll proceed with roll call. Council member Clark present. Council member Lodge is absent. Council member Peterson here. Council member I'm sorry. Mayor Promos here. And Mayor Koopa here. All members are present with the exception of Council Member Lodge.

Thank you. At this time, I'd like to entertain a motion to excuse Council Member Lodge from the meeting. Uh, mayor, I would like to move to excuse Mr. Tom Lodge from our meeting tonight. I'll second it. Okay, there's been a motion and second. Could we have a roll call, please? Or do we have to do a roll call since we're here? We could go ahead and do a vote on that one. So, we have a motion by Council Member Clark, second by Council Member Peterson.

We have an active vote. If you could please confirm. come through. It's not coming through on my end here. Did everybody hit confirmed?

Okay. Okay. Well, we'll go ahead and do it as a roll call vote. We have a motion by council member Clark, second by council member Peterson. We'll do a roll call. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Peterson, yes. Mayor Prom, yes. Mayor Koopa, yes. That motion passes four to zero to excuse Tom Lodge. Thank you very much. Uh, the invocation will be given by Christian Tikis tonight after which council member Peterson lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand.

Good evening. Please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight with grateful hearts, asking for your wisdom, guidance, and peace over this uh city council meeting. As our city embraces a new season of leadership, we pray for humility, unity, courage, and clear vision. May every decision made here be rooted in integrity, service, and a sincere desire to do what is right for the people of this community. help our leaders work together with respect, patience, and a shared commitment to the well-being of our city. Tonight, we also pause in gratitude for our law enforcement officers as we recognize Police Week and National Peace Officers Memorial Day. We thank you for the men and the women who serve with courage, sacrifice, and dedication to protect our residents, businesses, families, and neighborhoods. and we ask that you strengthen them, protect them, and bless them, their families who also carry the weight of public service. We especially remember the peace officers across our nation who have given their lives in the line of duty. May their sacrifice never be forgotten and may their legacy remind us of the true cost of service. Lord, bless this meeting, bless our city, guide us forward with wisdom, compassion, and unity. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Please remove your hats and put your hand over your heart and join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we will now move on to city attorney report out of close session.

Uh, thank you, mayor. For item 5A, there is no reportable action out of tonight's close session. For item 5B, the city council voted four to zero with Council Member Lodge absent to initiate litigation. That's the end of the report. Thank you very much. We will now move to presentations. Council member, could I get your attention real quick? Yes. We have um actress appreciation day. Come on.

Actress. She performed the accounting. She provided all of us with quite a fun evening. Jackie and I sat together. She did an awesome job. And I was going to get her flowers that night. She didn't get any. Everyone else did. So, thank you for representing us girls and making it a great night for all.

Thank you. It was my honor to be Mayor Linda Coupon in the murder murder at the Mixer and uh I helped solve the mystery of who the killer was, but I was also the one that the killer was trying to kill. So, Sinto City Council member Valerie Vander uh was trying to kill me. So, it was but she didn't succeed. I'm here. Thank you so much, ladies. I appreciate it. We enjoyed it. She did.

Oops. I should. And now, Council Member Peterson will give the military appreciation month proclamation to There you go. Quinton and Candace, come on.

Quinn, I'm sorry. Quinn and Candace, come on. Candace, you can come up, too. Proclamation for military appreciation month. Whereas in 1999, the United States Congress passed a resolution proclaiming May as National Military Appreciation Month, calling for all Americans to remember those who gave their lives in defense of freedom and to honor the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have served and are now serving our country. And in addition to the federal government and all state governments, local jurisdictions have the responsibility and privilege to raise awareness of the aspect of the heritage of the United States and to encourage the residents of every community to dedicate themselves to the values and principles for which Americans have served throughout the history of our nation. Whereas the sense of well-being, freedom, and love of country that citizens of the United States enjoy today is the result of personal sacrifices, lives changed or lost, and ongoing vigilance given by members of our armed forces, both during and after their service, and by the family members who support them. Whereas through their commitment to freedom, America's veterans and current members of the armed forces have made the world a safer place and have demonstrated that freedom should be cherished and appreciated by all. Now therefore, Linda Krupa, mayor

of the city of Hemtt, along with the Hemet City Council, hereby proclaim May 2026 as Military Appreciation Month and encourage all residents to recognize the valor of our veterans and the sacrifices made by our military personnel and their families through through personal thanks and words of gratitude to those we know who have served or are currently serving. Presented this day, May 12th, 2026. And I have some special words about this special man to my right that I would like to read to you. I have to get it out of here. So, this is just a little bio of this gentleman who is serving our country for decades. Um he's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and master's degree from the University of Chicago. Following 36 years of naval service as a chaplain and retiring as a captain, he became minister of the first congregational church of Paris in 1988. During his naval career, he served as district chaplain, 11th naval district senior chaplain on the USS Forestl and command chaplain for US Naval Forces Yakusa, Japan. That's a big deal along with many other duties. Quinn is a Vietnam veteran. He is currently still an active pastor at his church. He serves as the vice president of exceed the adult disabilities program in Riverside County. He was the past president of the Riverside Marchfield chapter of the Military Officers Association of America and is currently

the commander of the Lieutenant General Wright chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars. In those capacities, he assures that medals from both orders are distributed yearly to all the JR OC and ROC programs in the Inland Empire. He along with myself coordinate donations of food, clothing, toys, electronics, gift cards, and many household items every Christmas to to the residents of Veterans Village. a program under the opaces of US vets. In prior years, special Christmas programs were done for the Marines at 29 palms and we went out there many years to do that. It was a great event. These projects are amply supported by the residents of Four Seasons in Hammet and Myrietta, many community groups, the Rotary Club of Paris, and the Saboba Band of Indians. Quinn serves as a military adviser to California military institute, a California Gold Ribbon School with 1,50 cadetses. He is also the music director for the Vintage Voices, a coral group at Habit Four Seasons, and they do concerts throughout the year that we get to enjoy. And his wife Candy is also a member. Um,

you have to be old to see. He has received awards from the Riverside County Board of Education, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Rotary, the City of Paris, and several military organizations. And one thing I want to tell you that's not in this that I just think is so admirable, Captain Quinn Holly, retired, has been doing the services out at the uh Riverside Cemetery. He did them for 38 years and he would wear his dress uniform out there when it was like 100 degrees and he did it with honor and um I I just am so impressed and a little sweat. Yes. Yes. So I I admire this man so much and his many contributions and I thank both of you for your service to our country.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You want to say anything?

Kathy wants to take a picture.

I just It's been an honor to serve and looking at all uh the police here, you're still serving. God bless you and keep you safe. Amen. Amen. Great. Thank you. How do we beat that one? Our next presentation will be for milit sorry national police week presented by Mayor Proen Joe Males and all of you who are going to get it or come on up.

Come on down. The men in blue are black tonight. Left, right, left. All right, gentlemen. Gentlemen, how you doing? Okay, this only no officers. Okay, here we go. City of Hammet proclamation for the National Police Week. Whereas in 1962, the Congress of the United States and President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which it falls as National Police Week. And whereas there are approximately 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers serving in communities across the United States, including the dedicated members of the city of of Hemmet Police Department. And whereas since the first recorded death in 1791, more than 20,000 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice and died or been killed in the line of duty. And whereas the members of the city of Hemmet police department play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the uni of the of Hemet United States. Almost got it wrong. And whereas it is essential that all citizens know and understand the problems, duties, and responsibilities of the law enforcement agencies, and that members of the city of Hemmet recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property by protecting them against violence or disorder and protecting the innocent

against deception and the weak against oppression or intimidation. And whereas the city of Hammet police department has grown into a modern scientific law enforcement agency that unseasonally provides I know I said that wrong but provides a vital public service. Now therefore, Linda Krupa, mayor of the city of Hammet, along with the Hemmet City Council, hereby proclaim the week of May 10th, 2026 through May 16th, 2026 as National Police Week and encourage all residents to observe observe Friday, May 15, 2026 as Peace Officers Memorial Day in off in honor of those peace officers who through their courageous deeds s have lost their lives in the performance of duty and fly the their flag at half staff. Thank you gentlemen. Ladies or no ladies here? Just gentlemen. Thank you. Anyone want to speak?

Anyone want to speak? How about sing? You want to sing? Chief, you want to say a word to your officers? Thank them for the great job they do. There you go. I'm putting that on paper. Well, thank you guys and thank you guys up here for doing what you do every single day. And you guys back there, I really appreciate it. I know the citizens do. Um there's been a lot of sacrifice and so uh think about your brothers and sisters when you're out there on the on the roads. Be safe out there is what I say. But thank you. Thank you council for showing the appreciation. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next presentation will be by Matt Odin, Region 7 Post, California, to our chief of police, Mike Ariano. Please come up, C. I've almost called you captain. Come on up, chief. And where's our mic? You have the microphone.

Oh, and he's going to go up there.

Either way, either place you can come up here. Okay. Good evening, Mayor and Council and citizens of Hemet. I just My name is Matthew Odin. I'm a senior law enforcement consultant with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards of Training for the State of California. Here tonight to honor Chief Ariano, and I just have a little two-minute blurb. I'd like to read just about what uh what he's receiving today, his executive post certificate. The Chief Ariana began his law enforcement career in uh June 24th of 2003 when he graduated the 944h hour San Diego County Regional Law Enforcement Training Center Academy and was hired by the San Diego Police Department. He completed a very rigorous field training program that worked patrol for several years before getting hired on September 25th, 2006 here in the city of Hammet. During his ear early career, he worked patrol and served as a canine and SWAT officer. He earned his uh post intermediate certificate in 2009, September of09. On May 28th, 2012, he was promoted to corporal. March 31, 2014, promoted to sergeant. He then earned his post advance certificate in October of 15 and his post supervisory certificate in March of 16. On March 23rd, 2020, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. on June 18th, 2022, promoted to captain overseeing the operations division of the Hemet Police Department. He earned his postmanagement certificate in July of 22. On December 26, 2023, he was promoted to serve as the 19th chief of police of the city of Hemet upon the retirement of Chief Eddie P. He earned his post executive certificate in April 26, which I'm here to present today. Just want to briefly talk about just some of the courses. is if I went over all the training that this man completed in his career, I'd probably be here for an hour. But he's completed 80our SWAT

course, 40-hour SWAT commander course, 40-hour FTO course, 24-hour field FTO supervisor course, 80-hour post supervisor course, 40-hour hostage negotiation course, 40-hour crime prevention course, the 192-hour postChairman block supervisory leadership, 104-hour postmanagement course, 80our post executive development course. In addition, he recently graduated from the FBI's National Academy class 297, which is a significant professional achievement. The FBI chooses attendees via very competitive nomination process from police departments all around the world. The FBI Academy curriculum focuses on leadership development, management science, behavioral science, intelligence theory, law enforcement, communications, and physical fitness. He also has a master's degree in organizational leadership and a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from California Coast University. Another thing, prior to joining law enforcement, he served his country as a United States Marine for eight and a half years from August of 94 to January of O3 as an aviation ordinanceman. In my opinion, based on my observations and working as the post liaison to the Hemmet Police Department for almost seven years, um he has excellent command presence, well above average confidence, competence, intelligence, and ability to influence his officers through his mere presence rather than his authority alone, and earning the trust of his officers through consistent professional behavior due in large part to his extensive experience and training, some of which I mentioned today. It's an honor to present Chief Ariana with his executive post certificate, the highest level of certification a peace officer in the state of California can achieve, a benchmark that only 1% of all police officers ever acquire. The certificate being presented today was approved and signed by Governor Gavin Newsome, Post Executive Director Manny Alvarez, and Post Commission Chair Jeff Long in accordance with title 10 of the

code of regulations. I want to say congratulations to Chief Ariano. It's an honor to serve as Hammet police liaison with the state. Over the last seven years, again, I've worked with over a dozen Hammet police officers on a wide array of issues, training issues, compliance issues, audits. Just very impressed with the professionalism, all the men and women of the department, and that obviously starts at the top down. So, and that with that being said, I'd like to present Chief Arano his certificate. And I don't know if it's possible to get a maybe get a photo with the council and the chief. Is that something I could ask for? Okay. Thank you very much,

sir. very much. But I couldn't have got here without the guys and girls back here. So I have to say that okay we will now move on to communications from the public and first um I'll announce that uh public comment for items listed on the agenda on the consent calendar and discuss items will be addressed when we get to that item. So, we'll move to 14B, public comment on items not listed on the agenda, but within jurisdictional matter of this body. Do we have any speakers?

Thank you, mayor. Our first speaker is going to be Angela Hasslip Ferris, followed by Gene Fenza. You have three minutes. Good evening everyone to our honorable mayor, mayor pro Tim and council members. It's again a privilege for uh I to come up. Um again my name is Angela Hasslip Ferris. I am the historian for the American Legion Post 53. So, I'm just here on behalf of our commander to remind everyone that we do have a community forum and facility tour this coming Thursday um the 14th uh 2026 from 5 to 7 p.m. light refreshments available. Um we would really like for everyone to come in and see really who we are and what we do and offer your support um by sharing this information as well. We're located at 124 North Ramona Street. Um, we're off of Ramona and Florida. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Angela. Thank you. Our next speaker is going to be Jean Fanza, followed by George Evans. Hello. Hello, everybody. I can't see over there with my height. Um, thank you for letting me speak for a moment. Mayor Cooper, before you start my time, I have one agenda item and the others are not. Would you prefer me to deal with the agenda item now? No. do do the one the one that's not on the agenda and not when we get to your item we'll have you speak.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. I do want to say that I did watch the economic forum and I also watched the strategic strategic planning session. Really good things were happening. Mayor Kupo, you said something really important that I I I have echoed for a while. There's a disconnect between the council and the planning commission. I do see two council members are responsible for that communication. I one suggestion might benefit that where maybe a rotating PC member would attend a meeting at city council or other relevant meetings and could therefore deliver that information back to the council the commission as help. Um the other item is for agenda. I also saw at the economic Edwin Sauls spoke through Meadowand I believe and he's part of the development for the Lowe's pro the project just south of Lowe's and west of Kirby. Um a comment he made was that it's impossible to put houses there because it's too close to the airport. My house is much closer to the airport than that would be to the airport. So, I found that illogical and certainly doesn't really fit with what on earth he was saying. Um, speaking of the warehouses, we have a moratorum. We're under a moratorium right now. We were to develop a policy for the city of Hemtt and for the development people. We haven't seen anything about that. I wonder what's pending with that. Part of the requests of that were from way back when December of 24 with Carol Kendrick when she was uh on the council. She had asked for a cumulative report on all the projects, the impact, the mileage, the transportation, the traffic, the pollution. We haven't seen any of that either. So, I wonder what's going on with that. The final thing I'd like to say was I I understand the Simpson project was

denied. Um, I also know that in I think it was the February council meeting, three members had disclosed they had met with the applicant and my understanding of the protocol is not only you to disclose that you're to share with the public for transparency and communication what you learned from that. I never did hear what you learned when you shared your disclosure. So in the future, I'd appreciate that you would follow the protocol and share what you learned as well so that we understand some of the mechanisms mechanisms bei behind your decisions. Um also the applicant had changed on that project. Is that not a reason to ask for a new application and then would that new application have fall fallen under the moratorum? Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. I'll see you on 16E. Thank you. Our next speaker is going to be George Evans, followed by Charles Vineyard.

Good evening, council. Thank you for the opportunity. Uh, what I'd like to talk to you about is seeing if you can impose an ordinance for ebikes. The ebikes around town are getting ridiculous. There's a guy that has a three-wheel that literally rides down the center of Florida and expects you to just go around him, but he doesn't practice the practice the the safety laws flow with traffic. He caddy corners, doesn't stop at stop signs. This is not just him. It's several of the ebikes. They've becoming a problem nationwide. I would like to see the city put an ordinance in that these ebikes, golf carts, and mobility chairs, which under ADA, if it's a safety reason, it can be put in place, have orange flags, put on these things to make them more visible. We've had several deaths in the community over recent years involving mobility chairs. We just had an accident the other day at State and uh Laam that I actually walked down to. young man got hit on a bike, but it wasn't an ebike. But I think for safety reasons that this should be looked at. It's that simple to put an ordinance. This is a nationwide epidemic with the ebikes. It's really getting bad all over. Um the other thing I'd like to say is I would like to commend Mayor Pro 10 m last uh meeting for giving two local businesses an opportunity for grants. Um, Boy's Burgers, which is directly across the street, has fantastic food. His cooking there primo. The business has been there since the 1930s under different owners over the years. We need to promote these older established businesses because they've gone through the thick and thin of the city. They've supported the city in many ways. And the owner there has owned it now for almost 20 years. The business itself is coming up on its 100th anniversary. the cook, the morning

daytime cook. If you ever get a chance, go by, say hello. He's been there for 30 years. Primo has been flipping burgers and making burritos for 30 years at that location. So, I would really hope that the ad hoc committee will give Boy's Burgers an opportunity. He asked for the least amount of money. He's been in business. He's struggling to stay afloat. I would really hope that the ad hoc committee would give them the consideration and give him the finances he needs to upgrade his business. Thank you for your time. Thank you, George. Next speaker.

Thank you, George. Our last speaker is going to be Charles Vineyard. Good afternoon everybody. My name is Charles Vineyard. I'm here well now actually for two reason. One reason is about the 450,000 you gave away to those two restaurants that none of them are opening up. So where is that money and where are those places? But the reason why I'm mainly here for is because I was talking to the captain Mohave. Sorry if I say his name wrong. Anyways, I was told to bring him some evidence to show how I was wrongfully given a ticket to. I did file that a week ago when I talked to one of his sergeant because he wasn't available. I believe a sergeant or lieutenant. I was laughed at. I was told even though the captain told me that what I told to show him the proof, he said he can't look at that proof unless I put charges against the police officer. So I did that. Now when I talked to the lieutenant and I he was looking at what I was using as proof and he goes, "Well, we can't get that." I go, "No, your captain says I already showed him it." And he started laughing and he goes, "No, we can't get that. We're not going to use that anyways against the officer." Which brings me back to when I was here in the beginning of last year. These officers that do something wrong are being looked at by their captains and lieutenants that do nothing. They are so biased, it's not even funny. So I ask anybody who's also watching and listening on the computer that we need to pass a vote that we need 10 people from the city that is not related to the police officers, different ages, different ethnics to sit down when there's a complaint. They sit down, they look at that and they are part of the people finding out whether

the police officer is in the wrong or not. We need to stop asking. It's basically like like asking a dad not to find their or to find their child guilty and they don't and it's just impossible and it's ridiculous when you get laughed at. Okay. So, I was hoping Moab was here so I can ask him the question how he tells me one thing and then the people under him are telling me that he was wrong and we can't do that. So then my question is is how does a lieutenant know more than a captain? which one should be a captain? You know, it's just it's frustrating and it's just totally wrong. Anyways, that's about it. And I I hope we start taking this more seriously because it's happening more and more and more. And for uh the gentleman over there with the streets that my street is not being repaired, that is disarrayed, that hurts the value of my house. You just put in this brand new brick wall that I've heard is roughly $3 million with the parking lot. I don't know how you found 300 million. I mean, I'm sorry, not 300, 3 million to do this parking lot with a brick wall. And I asked him police officers, the same one I turned the paperwork into, why did they do it? They said because their cars are being broken into. But yet last year the head chief of the Hammet Police Department said, "Oh, we're taking care of him. It's all fine,

sir. Your time has Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you. Have a beautiful day. That's okay. Thank you very much for your suggestion. And maybe you can talk to the police chief on your way out. Any other Are there any other public speakers? That was our last register. And is there anybody online? We have no comments.

Thank you very much. With that, we will move on to the receive and file. Are there any questions or comments from council on the city of hemmet warrants report periodic payroll payments or the in payroll payments or the investment report? I do have a couple of extra people that we've been using locally, which is the tally metal, uh, Valley Smok, Sunb Belt Rentals we haven't done in a while. Um, but the same old good old Annodies and BW pipe, Hemtt industrial or Hemtt tool. We appreciate the local service.

Thank you very much. Any other comments or questions? Okay, that is a receive and file. It is received and file. Moving on to the consent calendar. Are there consent calendar items will be acted upon simultaneously unless requested by an individual council member for separate consideration. Are there any council members who wish to pull an item for further discussion? 16e

16e agree. Any others? I don't see. Okay. I would like to pull 16 D and 16B. Might as well pull them all. Anything else? Okay. uh would entertain a motion then to uh approve items 16 A, C, and F.

I I will do a motion to approve 16 A, C, and F. Okay. Would you please vote on your little machine? We need a second. Oops. I'm sorry. We do need a second. I'll second it. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Please vote. We'll see if that one works. Oh, that motion passes four to zero. Very good. It worked. Okay, moving on to 16B. Uh is who's going to answer my questions? I will be answering the question.

You'll answer my questions. Okay. Uh on this I didn't see any pictures of it, but basically what are we accepting? uh that was not in the original plan and how are we going to fix it to to the original plan?

So, mayor, we had uh plans from around 2016 that were approved per the city standard. Um what was constructed along State Street. It was from Mweeny Parkway to just shy of where State Street crossing will be constructed to the to the north from from Mweeni Parkway. Um, and it was constructed per a plan the city had never seen. And so the the maintenance costs based on this uh construction and the type of irrigation used will uh cause a higher maintenance cost. And so this agreement would allow the developer to pay that increase in maintenance and allow the city to accept it and not have to charge the residents through their CFD for the higher maintenance cost.

Okay. So on the maintenance when part of it fails, we'll put it to city standards and That's correct. Correct it as we go along. Absolutely. Okay. And they will end up paying the developer will pay for it. That's what this agreement is is intended for. Yes. Very good. Is there are there any public speakers for this item here? We have no registered speakers for that item. Okay. Then I will entertain a motion to approve 16B. I move to approve 16B. I'll second. Okay, it has been moved and seconded. Please vote. That's kind of fun. Just push buttons.

That motion passes four to zero. All right, moving on to 16D. This is uh Hemtt Fire. Is there anyone here from Hemmetire? Oh, there's the chief. Um, I do have a question and it really doesn't have to do with the not to exceed amount of and I'm echoing over here. Uh, how long what constitutes a turnout a turnout and how long do they normally last?

Yeah, turnout clothes are what you see when they're going into firefighting mode. So, the large jacket, uh, bunker pants, boots, uh, helmet, masks, and all that. that that's what comprises turnout gear. That's known known as turnout gear. Um and those generally last about two years, two to three years, and then they have to be cycled away because they get too contaminated over time even though we we clean them uh with a commercial cleaning system. So yeah, they don't they don't last forever.

Okay, that was my biggest question because I know we've had additional fee or funding for turnouts in just the past few months. It's an ongoing rotation that we we take certain as certain numbers of of turnout gear to rotate out throughout the year. So, it's not all at once, but it's an ongoing thing. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate that information. Entertain a motion to approve 16D. I'll do a motion to approve 16D for the 81,500 for turning here. I'll second it already. Motion in a second. Please vote.

Motion passes four to zero. Moving on to 16E. Joe

16E. That's me. Okay. My problem with this is that um you know we had a bid come out for the her machine or for the her software and um I I come from the uh networking industry where I uh my business did upgrades and all that and this is about the fifth one coming down the pipe that we're having to spend additional money after the fact. So, we get a bid, they come back and say, "Well, this wasn't done or we can't complete this, so it's going to cost you this." And, uh, it's just too many times this is happening. I mean, if I did business that way when I ran my company, having to come back and and it's just not the same company. It's a different company, but it's continuous. And we paid like on this one is $70,000 additional that should have been a part of the the main contract when we first got the M machine because when you contract something or when you upgrade or convert data to uh one system to another you itemize everything what it's going to take what needs to be done. Report should have been included in this initial um um contract. All this should have been included but here we're coming back having to pay an additional 70,000. And I know we spoke about it and you said it's coming out of funds that were allocated to this project, but still those funds should be able to come back to the general account instead of going to another vendor to finish a job someone started. So I I just see a discre discrepancy on a lot of these big projects we're doing where people bid them when they're done a month later we have to pay another third party company to finish a a part of the project that should have been done by the initial installers. So I'm just making note of this for future um business for future projects. And um also you know they want to change the

contract writing. you know, they want to um change the im I can't even say the word indemn indemnification, which is a in the context of a contract, indemnification clauses are often included to protect one party from financial loss in case something goes wrong during the course of the contract. What's going to go wrong on on creating reports or converting reports from the old system to the new system? Why would they have to change the contract?

Good evening, council. Um, I am not sure about the contract piece. Um, I think that's just a liability coverage, but that is something we can follow up on. In regard to the other concern, I think, um, we just weren't very clear in the staff report, and I do apologize. The cost of this uh contract was included in the original proposal that we brought to council back in 2024 for the ERP project. At that time, we had a cost of $400,000 for um staff help because this is a a two and a half year project that has taken substantial staff time. And what ended up happening is we started out hiring a uh temporary accountant to help out, but we realized in the first week that it just wasn't working out. The skill level and knowledge wasn't there and just the staff training uh time availability wasn't there. So, we ended that. Uh that was last year. Earlier this year, we came back to council asking if we could instead of hiring a temporary through like uh a Robert Half company, if we could do our own recruitment for a temporary accountant. And we did that a few months ago. Um but the results of that just were not also up to par with what the skill level we need to help catch us up with our financials. And so this was the next option was instead of hiring a temporary accountant to go to a professional and that is what this company ID Bailey really uh provides. They uh service multiple agencies here in Southern California. We spoke uh directly with some of these other um agencies in particular city of Oceanside that uses this exact uh project manager that was in the proposal and they performed the exact services for them and it was just glowing recommendations and so the cost of this is already in

the ERP project that was approved two years ago by council. We are just asking to uh approve this contract with this uh with ID Bailey instead of hiring a temporary accountant. uh directly. And so these funds also, even if we were not to use them, and we are not uh projected to use the whole 400,000 that we initially estimated two years ago for staff time, there will be savings there. However, the uh funds for this project are not in general funds. They're in a diff fund and the water fund and the IT fund. So any unused um project budget will go back to those special funds. There is no general fund cost. never go into the general fund then, right?

Okay. I my my question I guess it should be to the attorney. Why are they changing this contract? They're also adding they want a confidentiality um clause in there. They want to change the insurance and liability language. Um is that normal to So the city's standard contracts are extremely favorable to the city.

Of course. Of course. Yeah. And so one of the things that we require on any proposal to the city is if they are going to take exceptions to the city's standard documents that they identify those in their proposal. And this is something that we've done because the issue many many years ago was a contractor would bid on a project then we would hand them the template agreement and they would say oh after it's been awarded they would say oh I can't sign that. Right? So, what we've done now is we provide a copy of the contract with the RFP and we say if you are going to have issues with this, please identify it ahead of time. Um, the defense and indemnification sections, like I said, are very favorable to the city. Um, the language that they are requesting be removed. It's very common in a professional services type contract to ask that those type of things be removed. And it's primarily a result that they cannot get insurance to cover their potential liability in these areas.

Well, that's a known issue. Why do we put it in there then?

Um because well, two reasons. Uh one, in in order to ensure maximum efficiency, we utilize standard template agreements. We don't write a a one-off agreement for every service that we provide. Um, and number two, we don't know what their insurance will cover and won't cover because we don't have access to their insurance documents when they're still a proposed vendor. So, it really is incumbent upon them. It's it's not an unusual practice for proposed vendors to look at our contracts and say, "We take issue with this, this, this." Uh oftentimes there's a little bit of a back and forth where it goes to legal uh goes to the finance department and we say, "Okay, the city's willing to accept these changes, but these ones are really important in our contracting language." So, that's just a a a sort of standard contracting process we go through at the city. And in order to ensure maximum transparency, we want to make sure that those things are all listed uh at at the front end.

Okay. My deal is I'm just trying to figure out why we're paying additional dollars for a project that should have been bid on properly, but you're saying it was bid properly. It's just that the added cost were for something that um you thought would work but didn't work. So, we're going with a third party. Right. Initially, we thought we would hire a accountant directly to come into the office, but it just didn't work out. Our bank reconciliation is pretty complex. We have multiple systems um that work together and so um it was just right we feel that we will get better service going with this company rather than hiring directly. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

And I'll go ahead and approve this. I have I think the real issue Joe is not so much the fact that um it's the amount is that we are backed up the rec reconciliation was backed up and we're running two correct me if I'm wrong two computer systems that will end July 1. Is that correct? Yes, we went live with the new system last July 1st, 2025. Um, but yes, being in working in two systems and um I'm sorry, we went live with financials with certain pieces,

but we are still implementing the payroll HR and so that won't go live until this October. So, yes, we are implementing the new system, working in two systems, trying to reconcile the two systems, right? That's been a very challenging time. So it provides insurance that the banks are bal that our books are balanced. This is the public's money. Well, but the 76 for such the Bailey um we want the best to do that because we're back 10 months and I feel very comfortable knowing we didn't go with the cheapest because the cheapest may not be the best

and we have the public's money sitting right there. We tried to do the cheapest and it didn't work. So, right. And we don't want to do that necessarily every time. But I do I had extensive questions for Noah and

you've answered a lot of them. Um and I don't really think it's as much as the 76,000 as much as we have to make a decision how we're going to reconcile and stay on top of it once we have been caught up. I think that's the discussion we really need to have. you reconcile these last year's data or uh reports, we should be up to date, right? So, we don't have to go backwards anymore. And and

yes, this is a temporary engagement to just catch us up for this fiscal year. We just uh recently caught up from the prior fiscal year. Um which again is because we were in two systems, we had staff turnover and so there were just lots of um lots of time spent on that reconciliation. But yes, this is a temporary engagement. Um, the temporary accountant we were going to hire was a six-month engagement. This is about the same price, but it'll just be a couple months because this um person at the company is extremely skilled and knowledgeable on how to do bank reconciliations with uh California cities. And so it should get us on track for reconciling our financials and having year-end financials next year on time. But you're doing a conversion then you're taking the data from the old system and and reconciling it to the new system. Right?

They're running side by side. So this year of what this company will do is uh figure out how in the new system that we went live with last July 1st 2025 will um basically uh write procedures for us and catch it all up for us so that they could show us what they did. It'll all be caught up. um should be by end of July, which would put us right back on the timeline of where we should be for closing out financials. So we we don't have to do this again in the future. It's

correct. Yes. At that time, city staff will take over um and we will we will have uh now that we're ending the now that we're nearing the end of the system conversion, uh staff time will will we will have more staff time available. also um transitioning to this new system took a lot of staff time to learn the new processes. And so now that even citywide staff who use the new system, we've become more acclimated to the new system. And so it is not taking as much time as it used to. So there should not be a problem after this temporary um engagement to catch us up for city staff to keep on top of it. and and you guys are doing a good job and I I really appreciate everything you're doing because you're working long hours and making sure it's getting done. I just had questions about why we're

Well, you're we're still going to have to do both systems, right? Yes. For certain functions, we are in both systems um until we go live in October of this year and then um and then hopefully from there we will just be in one system. Now, now since we're going with two systems to October, are we going to have to do any reconciliation in October from data that's in the old system? We will, but it'll be limited to only payroll functions, so it'll be much easier rather than citywide financials. Okay. Thank you. I do appreciate you answering all my questions, too. Thank you. Oh, you're welcome.

Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments? Any public comment on this item? Uh,

yes, we have one speaker, Jean Fansa. Hello again. Okay, so from my perspective, I've been in the finance world for 35 years. Bank wrecks are the single most thing that you never let get behind because that's where money goes missing when people can take advantage of that. And it's it's one. So when I saw that, my audit head went ding ding ding ding. I recall when my finance person was two months behind, they got their last final warning. Um, things can happen if there is a material except something materiality where something is found in the in the reconciliation and you can address this. If it's material, financial statements have to be restated. These are public funds. So, this is not a small task. A bigger concern for me is Tyler and the ERP. And now we've got I believe business development using a Tyler system which is very difficult to learn and we understand the processes are confusing. Hopefully Monnique's department can learn from the finance department the type of things that went wrong and we won't have these type of reporting and issues and the process of it. Also John Worth as uh Commissioner Worth mentioned EMWD used Tyler and they too are experiencing the same thing where the reporting wasn't accurate. Everything was much while it is robust a lot of programming and reporting you have to create on your own. I don't know if it's SQL or what the code is, but a lot of it has to be done on its own and they're having to hire people as well to a augment the project and make sure it gets done accordingly. So Tyler in itself may be the best and the greatest. Um but for me the biggest thing was the bank wrecks 10 months behind I was like

whoa how can that happen? Did did people know? Did we know they were behind? because I'm I'm sure that the city manager would go, "What?" and inform you guys so that you could have gotten them helped sooner instead of 10 months later. So, those are my thoughts. Thank you for the time, Jean. Appreciate it. Yep. Okay. If there's no other further comment, entertain a motion to approve this. I'll Oh, I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution approving the professional services agreement with Ed Bailey LLP for the bank rec uh reconciliation services and the amount not to exceed $76,000. Is there there a second? A second.

Okay. A motion and a second. Please vote. That motion passes four to zero.

Okay. Very good. Moving on to discussion item uh discussion item A. Can we have a staff report please? Mayor uh Steam Graham Pacificico, your your city attorney. Uh what you have before you uh is a declaration of city-owned property uh as surplus land under the California Surplus Land Act. Uh the address is 3777 Industrial Avenue. Uh this is the city yard. Uh as outlined in the staff report, uh there is substant the city council has embarked for the last several years on a plan to dispose of adjacent property at the northwest corner of Sanderson and Stson. Um, as we continue to get interest from potential purchasers, repeatedly we get requests to purchase not just that parcel but a portion of or all of the adjacent uh city yard. Um there is a about a third the eastern most third uh of the yard which is no longer utilized or necessary for ongoing operations. uh the remainder of the art if it was to be purchased uh one of the conditions of any sale would be that whoever's buying it has to replace it. Um you know this this makes a lot of sense from an economic development perspective. Uh that land if it is if it is valuable to a commercial developer could dramatically increase the taxable revenue to the city. um allowing city to continue to provide services without any other uh increase uh in in in taxes other than the increase in the tax base. So in order to have those conversations in a productive way, uh staff is recommending that the city council declare it surplus so that

we can go through the necessary uh surplus land act process which requires a opportunity for affordable housing developers to uh enter into negotiations with the city. I sincerely doubt that a city yard in an industrial area will be interesting uh to affordable housing developers. It's not the type of project that makes a lot of sense uh from their perspective. But nevertheless, state law does not require us to comply with common sense. It requires us to comply with the process that they have adopted. Uh so we put out the notice, we wait to see if anyone's interested. If they're not, the city is then free uh to enter into market discussions with any interested buyer. And I think by that point uh we will be well positioned to have those conversations with the multiple parties that have expressed interest in the northwest corner of STS and Sanderson. Happy to answer any questions you may have. You will recall uh that we went through this exact same process with the Stson Sanderson pro uh property about three years ago. One of the requirements that HCD, that's Housing and Community Development, a state agency, one of the requirements that they will impose on us, no doubt, is that we record a covenant on the property that says if housing is ever built there, a certain percentage will be set aside for affordable housing, usually 10%.

Uh that's not uncommon. We did it for the other property. We intend for these to be developed as commercial projects. Um, but just expect that we may come forward in the future as we go through this process with a request to record that covenant on the property. Happy to answer any questions you may have, questions and comments. So, we send the letters out 60 days. We don't hear anything. We're free to sell to developers. What What if we get a hit? Somebody

then we have to enter into good faith negotiations with the affordable housing developer. But we would inform them that our expectation is that they would replace the cityard which would dramatically incre increase the costs and that the zoning is not aligned uh with highdensity uh multif family housing. So like I said I don't believe that this is a property that we will get interest in. People might contact us and say tell us more about the property but if we did get a bonafide offer we would have to enter into negotiations. We are not required to provide any subsidies any uh reduction in cost from our market rate uh disposal uh amount. Um and we are allowed to pursue other objectives in this case economic development uh through the creation of of future commercial. So we're required to negotiate, we're required to do so in good faith, but we are not required to actually enter into an agreement. So if a development wanted to put something there, would they have to replace the city yard in another location and and pay the cost for that?

So So fundamentally that is a decision for the city council, right? It's not a decision for me or the city manager. However, that would be our initial negotiating position. If someone came in with a fantastic project, we would bring it to the council uh in close session. real estate negotiations for your consideration and response to uh but our position on that is we need a city yard. So if someone is looking to acquire that property, we have to replace the asset. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? I think it's a good idea because there's part of the yard we're not using right now and this would open up more possibilities for a uh a very desirable investor and I think it would be good for the city. So I think it's a great idea. Do we have any public comment on this?

There are no registered speakers. Thank you very much. Okay. Entertain a motion. What is your pleasure? I'll make a motion. Is that okay? Uh to adopt the resolution declaring the property located at 377 377 uh Industrial Avenue APN 45-050 dash uh 020 as surplus land pursuant to government code section 54221 and direct staff to proceed with the surplus land act process. Do we have a second? A second. We have a motion and a second. Please vote.

I messed up. You messed up. I can't get out of this now. Oh, just cancel. I can't. No. No. Cancel. It'll let you. Won't let me. One more time. Can you hear it? It won't let me tell it. Was it frozen? Can you reset her? Yeah, I'll go ahead and right there. Will reset. Okay, I got it now. Okay, now everybody vote again. Yeah, everybody will need to vote again. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Mail, second by Council Member Clark. That motion passes four to zero. Okay, very good. Thank you. Moving on to item 17B, second fiscal year 2627 budget workshop presentation. Welcome, Miss Tiffany.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh tonight we're going to receive uh budget workshop number two uh for the fiscal year 2627. Uh the purpose of this uh workshop is to provide a budget update on projections including the revenue and expenditure data for 2627 and receive an approval for the fisc year 2526 budget appropriations to move public safety sir buy down of 1.5 million from general fund to measure U. The upcoming workshops that we have is today's workshop. We are looking for um a June 23rd budget adoption date. Uh the reason it it is planned for the second um meeting in June is to allow us the time to deal with our liability insurance brokers. Uh measure U oversight committee meetings with tenatively scheduled for May 28th and June 18th. and that will allow us time to come back and um present to council the findings that they their recommendations. So just a a refresher on several of these items. Uh fiscal year 2627 budget development principles utilized conservative property tax and sales tax revenue assumptions. We are looking to adjust to workforce and service levels over the next two years to reflect our current budget realities. We are limiting general fund department expenditure growth and we are removing the vacancy factor that was implemented the past two years ensuring budget is aligned with council workshop initiatives. This is um a previous slide from our last workshop just to kind of re uh

iterate that our revenues are trending uh flat. So we are not receiving the amount of revenues that are needed to uh sustain the expenditure growth that we're experiencing on the other side. Uh sales tax has a net uh decrease of 1.1 over the years of 2223 to 2627 projections. Uh measure U is actually is doing pretty good with about a 4.9% increase but that is again over the course of five years. Had we sustained at the rate of inflation, we would be able to deal with about $4.3 million more in revenue. Cost drivers that we encounter that are out of our um hands is the unfunded liability. It has increased uh gradually over the last 5 years about 35%. uh the cost for safety uh PE classic and PEPA PERS members has increased as well about the same percentage. You will note that the classic membership has decreased while the PEPA membership has increased and that's kind of what you want to see because that means that the classic membership that is more expensive to the city is phasing out of the system and is being replaced by the the Peppa membership. And again, this is also one of the most important slides that we'll review tonight again is the liability insurance premium and the liability insurance challenges that we're facing. Um we have received some notification from the insurance broker um that they were going to be scheduling meeting this week. We haven't had it yet, but uh they will give us more of a briefing of what they have found for us. But as of right now,

we st still are looking at a 15% increase at 77 7.5 million. And again, that's a 735% increase from 23 22 23 to our projected 2627. And of course, the the deductibles um have gone up significantly from 2 and a half our 250,000 to 2 million. And that does include the buy down that we did um implement in 2526 for the public safety sir. Um the litigation has increased by 213% and a lot of that is because Cal JPIA that the city was under before provided much of the litigation services and now that we are not in that pool we have to pay for the the funding outside of that. So that cost has increased. Um, animal control services has of course gone up significantly as well from going with the services through Ramona Animal Shelter uh back in 2223 where it was only $400,000 and now we're looking at one almost $1.7 million. And I know that um I believe it was pro mayor prom and somebody else went out to go okay Mayor Krooa to Bulmont to explore options. So that is something that is in the the horizon that we may be able to count on to see a little bit of cost savings there. So again, the liability summary overall, if you were to compile all the the categories in pink, is about a 451% increase from 2223 to 26 27, which is the main reason that the city is struggling to stay um afloat with the

expenditure side, especially in when our revenues are so flat. These are uh the breakdown of the revenues uh by our our major categories from sales tax to measure U. Um and then we have all of the the property taxes, transient taxes. I just wanted to point out the the larger ones and to give a reason for uh such a larger increase. We have um the wrong slide. Community development revenues you'll see have a decrease of 36%. That is because uh building permits building is on the slower side because of the interest rates are so high. So it's anticipated that once the interest rates are they drop that builders will start picking up and the that permit revenue will gain momentum again. But as of right now it is a significant decrease. Um we also have an increase of about 56.3 million on our intergovernmental which is attributed to the increase in the AB 109 revenue and the addition of two Canyon Lake dispatchers. So the Canyon Lake is we're him police dispatchers. They're they're going to be taking on the calls for Canyon Lake. Part of that agreement is that they will pay the services for an additional two dispatchers. So that becomes an increase in revenue. So we recognize it as revenue coming in to offset the cost. So that is attributed to that large increase. We also do have a a 300% increase in let's see here cannabis and of course that is because um more of those businesses are going online and we're actually receiving in the the revenue

now. We did have our first uh quarter of the bodology and they were at 50 about 57,000 for their first quarter. um off the charts who is out by the airport. I think they also do operate under Ash's um LLC. They actually had a very good quarter about $80,000 this last quarter. So we are realizing a lot of growth in that tax area. The there is a decrease of 30% in the investment income and that is because rates are going down. um they are still strong but they are declining. So we are anticipating a decrease. Um we have budgeted in about 400,000 within the line item of uh use of money and property, but we're also going to anticipate about an additional 2.1 million that we don't want to be dependent on. So we've listed it as a separate line item as a one-time increase. And um so after everything is said and done, we're almost at $86.4 million in revenues. This next slide breaks down to expenditures by department. Um it goes from highest to lowest and we are looking at an overall increase of about 5.6% in departments. uh the highest percent or the percentages that I just wanted to point out is 14.7% increase for fire uh general fund that assumes that the general fund is going to be absorbing 12 safer funded positions. So that's why there's such a significant increase in that we are still waiting for the results from the safer extension. So in the meantime we are assuming the assumption into general fund and that accounts for that

increase. Um there is about a 5.7 decrease and I want to point this out because we will discuss it later in a future slide is moving 1.5 million uh to measure U for the one time SIR buy down. So that number was previously oh gosh 7 and a half and now it is down to 5 million because we are going to be moving 1.5 or we are going to be proposing to move 1.5 million to measure you and then you do have um the a 32.9% increase in the city clerk's budget and that is attributed to consolidated election along with the SB77 requirement of translation services that are going to be need to to be funded this next upcoming year. The next slide here is for the non-dep departmental and that goes from anything from we start out with the the new tax sharing to auto dealerships. While we are receiving the revenue in on the sales tax, we do have to budget it as an expense. So you'll see that line item is there at 125,000 for next fiscal year. Um we also do have the community enrichment grant which was previously funded out of one-time funding is now moved back into this uh bucket here as an ongoing expense of $100,000. There is a significant increase in citywide special event overtime of 111% and that is due to the significant increase in community events that are being put on. Um the state of the city you'll see there is a significant increase there. Before we were just sponsoring now we are actually hosting it. And this is again is something that

we do generate the revenue on the ticket sales side as well as sponsorship, but you still have to budget that line item to expend it. So that is why there is a increase there of $30,000. Um there is a a trueup number on the WRCOG dues showing reflecting a 76% increase and that is uh because we had underbudgeted prior prior year for the WRCO dues. So this is now trueing it up. The beautifification program used to be a one-time was used as a one-time um use of fund balance prior year. It is now being built into the budget at $10,000. So um on the last slide I don't 93 uh2 million for department revenue and as you saw our our um revenues are 80 about about 86.4 so we are not bringing in the revenue to support the expenditures. Non-EP departmental is about $591,000. Um that is an increase over prior year and a lot of that is because we move them out of the one-time and then there is also the addition of the auto ship tax uh sharing incentive for one-time uses. You will see that it has increased um to $2.3 million. The large portion of that is using measure U as a one-time um use of the fund balance for one.5 million to buy down the SIR. Um and then we do have 250,000 for downtown parking lot paving uh truck ordinance, inclusionary housing

ordinance. There is city city city branding initiatives that we're going to be uh requesting for citywide um I guess it it would be like swag or or uh the to to un roll out the branding initiatives. Um there is a budget line item in there for Christmas decorations of $100,000 and then PEG funded IT uh improvements. These items are PEG funded. So there special funds that are earmarked just for public education and that is including a van upfit on the van that has we've had for a couple years now that does need to be upfitted so that they can actually go around and securely move uh computer equipment around. Now, this is the grand total, the overall net position of revenue over expenditures, and you will see that it is at about $7.6 million of a structural deficit. We did start the process at about $13.2 million of a deficit. we were able to deploy some of the cost containment measures that you see before you to get the reduction down to about $7.6 million. Um that included freezing vacant positions within the city. Uh using the measure fund balance to buy down the SIR um I'm sorry to pay for the SIR buy down of 1 and a.5 million. We did a 10% reduction in citywide maintenance and operations that yielded about 900,000. Uh we are suspending vehicle replacement for a second conse second consecutive year of about 860,000 is what that yielded. Um we were able to recognize

some medical premium rates. We had initially budgeted in a lot a lot higher of a rate and those rates have come in lower. So, we were able to make that reduction. And then, um, the LLMD district, the original district, um, doesn't generate enough revenue to support itself. So, the general fund has to transfer that money. We were able to reduce that from the actuals that came in this this last current year, which gave us about a h 100,000. So, overall, we were able to get it down to about a $7.6 million deficit. is still very challenging um of what we're going to do moving forward. So this impact that it has to the general fund um if uh further reductions are not made the use of the reserve will be needed and by doing so they are going to pull that reserve from 40% to a 27%. Um, you'll see that the $20.7 million is the reserve and that's the portion that would be 207% of a of a reserve. If we are not able to find a way to reduce that $7.5 million without using fund balance or without generating revenues or seeing um some reduction in our insurance premiums or with picking up um additional year of the safer grant. So there's still a lot of uncertainty that we're looking at, but I just want to make sure that it's aware you're aware that um if we don't find other resolutions, we are going to eat into that uh reserve very quickly. And um at this this year we're looking at 7 and a half. If revenues don't increase or we find other uh re avenues

and expenditures we already know are going to increase because there's inflation and there you know there's there's just so many components that cause expenditures to rise and if we're not meeting that that threshold with revenues we're just going to be faced with a constant ongoing spiral down. So, this is just a more of a graphical representation of what the fund balance will look like. Um, if we if we are to adopt the budget as is with that $7.6 million deficit, it really reduces uh the general fund balance. Um, and again, these are very early illustrative numbers. Um, but you'll see the percentage that we we started at 20% over several years for the general fund reserve and then it increased to 40 and if we go move forward into 27 it does reduce it down to 27%. Just to let you know that is that is a it's still a healthy reserve balance. A lot of surrounding cities usually maintain an 18 to 20% reserve. Um we fortunately have a a larger one which you know is going to come in handy when the when you know economics require us to step in and do something. Um other financial considerations on the horizon. We are looking at the sale of the property on Sanderson and Stson. It could be anywhere north of $6.7 million. There is a trash enclosure partnership with CRNR where they are going to be uh contributing about $500,000 that'll go into the general fund balance. We are exploring alternative uh animal control options like I had

mentioned earlier. Transient occupancy tax is going to be starting with uh short-term rentals. Uh you will see that forthcoming on our fee schedule on the next meeting. Lamar billboard revenue is projected to bring in, you know, it's not going to be significant, but anything is going to help. Um, shop local campaign is about to be launched and we also do have RFP out for merchandise shop. So, we are continuing the active cost containment strategies of a hiring freeze. um the city manager or the administrative direct services director uh needs to provide approval on any expenditures over $1,000 and then we're limiting overtime for emergency ser uh emergency cases only. So data points that we are still refining is the safer extension. Uh we reached out and we worked with Congressman Ruiz's office uh their deputy chief of staff to help act as a liaison um between us and their contacts with the Department of Homeland Security. On April 24th, FEMA is back at work. Uh they are in correspondence with us and they are um you know they have a backlog that they're working for working through. Um they did provide us with a change in the flow that we had to submit everything. We had to submit our draw down request first and then come back and do the extension. Um because of that that kind of starts the clock over again to where it will take up to about 60 it could take up to 60 days to get that extension approved. Um we are remaining diligent and engaged with the FEMA staff. Uh, I know that the fire

department checks their FEMA website several times a day. Uh, we did receive an email, I think it was today or yesterday, that they approved the last draw down that we submitted, which means that we can, uh, get ready to submit the extension. Um, liability insurance, we met with the broker on April 8th. um they are completely aware and understanding of the situation we're facing and they are exploring structuring options that can lower our upfront premium. They are going out and looking at um outside markets um uh like uh Asian markets to see what what they have to offer if they have anything that's lower cost. um it'll be at least 30 to 45 days to get kind of finalized numbers from them. So, we're looking at almost to the finish line before we'll really know what's what's going to be happening. So, there's still these are two of the most critical pieces of information that we do need to have. So the second portion of tonight's um staff report and of this presentation is to recommend the transfer of the public safety sir buy down that we paid for this fiscal year. So the purpose is to reduce the sir of the public safety incidents from 6 million to 2 million. The terms of that buy down was about 1 and a half million per year for three years starting in July of 25 ending in July of 27. The request is to establish appropriations in measure U police and fire um split equally 2/3 one-third and in doing so this preserves the general fund reserves for this end of

this fiscal year as a June 30th 26 at a 40%. and then also still maintains the reserve for measure U at 20% because that fund actually has a very high fund balance. And uh this motion is in compliance with resolution 4703 section 3 states the proceeds of the tax may be expended on risk management and legal services in defense of claims and legal actions against the city and public safety personnel. So, that's the end of the presentation. If there's any feedback or questions, I'm here. Any any questions?

Okay, Connie. I do.

Okay. Not to be a Debbie Downer, but we are not the only ones facing this situation. WR Cog has a budget problem. uh a lot of cities within the WR COG are also in the same situation. The reason why I'm bringing this up, I think there's another strategy we should probably consider. Um Apple and Amazon are taking it's why all of the tax for all of the cities are flatlining. It's not just us. Orange County, San Bernardino, anybody that has a special quote unquote contract with Amazon and their warehouses. I think Cal Cities needs to get on the board and get going and getting the cities their money that's due instead of the way it is right now which is you know mostly in Amazon and Apple's pockets because that's where people are doing a lot of their uh business and continue with the shop local. um developers are not going to be building according to WRCOG because part of the issue with the homeless challenged people is that a lot of the California people are no longer here. They have been um put back into different countries of their origin. Orange County and San Bernardino are seeing almost no development.

It is flatlining there because it's not penciling in because they don't have especially they're landlocked. So it's very complicated, very interesting to me. Part of the IOC that I'm on for the committee also includes the fact that they said Apple and Amazon also are um an issue. So I was not on the council last time measure you money was spent. So, what I would like to know is how the Hemet police chief and the Hemet fire chief feel about this. Are they on board? Because I don't think we need to have controversy. We don't need to have anybody think that we're doing something slight. I want to hear how they view this.

Is that okay, Mayor? I like to piggy back on that too. So, absolutely. Chiefs, come on up. Also, while you're talking, Chiefs, if you can uh let us know what impacts uh residents will expect from these 15 vacant um positions.

Yeah, absolutely. I uh overall I support it moving those funds. And the reason why I say that is because if it's going to help my side of the house, meaning the police department specifically by doing this because overall we're all together as a team. This is a city, one city. The department's one part of that and uh so we're all hurting together. So we need to move those funds. It's going to help us out. It's going to help me hopefully keep my officers out in the streets and my community service officer. That's why I I support it. Absolutely. And and Joe, what were you saying about the positions? I think that was Oh, okay. I'm off the hook on that one.

Well, uh, just to start off, I concur with, uh, Chief Ariano on the impact. Um, my my take is that anything we can do to preserve jobs and not have any layoffs or anything like that. And if it involves moving measure U money out, further resolution, I'm fully support of that. And your question mayor prom oh how is this going to affect citizens with these um uh vacant positions be being frozen? I mean is it going to offset anything on how they're u police or the fire handling anything out there the

you know we get a lot a lot of calls in the senior um district. So yeah I don't think there will be any at least on the fire side of the house there won't be any direct impact at all. We have some openings now, but we're still carrying on with what with the staffing we have. Uh we have uh openings in in staff in our admin and we're just now kind of wrangling with that uh due to some recent departures, but I know maybe the chief wants to talk about people on his side. Yeah, absolutely. Um as far as the frozen positions go, um I'm okay with that. We're doing good stuff with the numbers we have now. Yeah,

I would want to prevent any further losses because once we lose anybody from here on out, now we're going backwards from all the everything we've done good in the two years. So, that is why I also uh in agreeance with moving these funds because if it can help in that in that area, then I'm all for it. And how many police officers do we have now that are out there? I have 87 officers. One is out uh in the academy currently, but 87 total. Okay. We're authorized for 91. So, we froze some positions. I'm okay with that. We're doing great stuff right now. We're still trying to get to the We still have wiggle room right now to improve even further. Okay, perfect. But I don't want to lose anybody from this point on. I I don't want to hurt what's going on because you you guys are doing both departments are doing such a great job out there. So, yeah, absolutely.

Could I just add one Excuse me. Could I just add one more thing on that uh the retention issue? Once we start to surface thoughts about uh layoffs or worse,

we will have at least on the fire side of the house, a number of our younger staff will will will fly out of the city because they're going to they're going to worry about their jobs and they're going to go and and and we're going to lose that that good core people that we spent so much time to to bring on board and get them trained up. I'm sure the same for the police side of the house. So, uh, that's a real sensitive issue that I I worry about. So, if we can do whatever we can do within the bounds, uh, to preserve that fact, uh, because the way I look at it, we're kind of at the low point now. Now, we're going the other way, uh, from here on out. Okay. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Any other questions or comments? Yes. I I did want to dovetail on that to let you know that um the retention of staff is is very critical especially for public safety because that is such the story that we're trying to tell with our insurance carriers. Um, I know that I I've told you that the police department is doing a fantastic job in implementing measures in um they're they're there face with all of these the the riskmanagement people. Um so that it's just a very impressive story that they're telling. So they understand how much the city is dedicated to ensure ensuring that their risk exposure is reduced and we are on the right path. We just need to wait out our liability claims to drop off. Our large one was in uh in 2027. It's going to drop off our books, which will help out significantly. There are a few more that will come down the pipeline that'll drop too. So, we are working towards um the the risk side of everything, but trying to re retain the staffing levels is part of that whole balance. And to let you know, the 15 positions, the majority are in police, but there are some that are in um non-public safety. Um the impact is is something. It's not nothing, but um it's manageable. I mean, I always tell everybody if HIMT is anything, we are resilient and we always push through and and make it work with what we have.

Thank you. Good. Jackie, Tiffany, will you go back to slide 12, please?

Yes. Um, that that was I thought it was 12. Try try 13 once. No, it must be 11.

Okay, that's it. Okay. Uh, this might be a question for Mr. Ralph. I know um the city our retired city manager had mentioned changing some of our truck routes. So what what does this community development truck routing ordinance what can you explain that line item there? Do you have knowledge of that? Um I don't think I have 100% knowledge of that but um I know that we did do a lot of discussion on reducing um the actual available truck routes that we already have um to reduce the required maintenance of those roads. Um and so ideally we could push most of the traffic onto the highways and and it would be on the state roads as much as possible. And um that was that was the idea. I don't have an exact plan and I'm not sure um exactly that budget item of what that entailed.

So the ordinance might be um reducing the u maintenance of it then more so it would okay yeah because it didn't say maintenance. So yeah I remember him talking about that. So thank you. Monique stood up. I'm not sure if she has anything to add, but sorry, I didn't see you back there.

Good evening. Um, Mayor Koopa and Council Member Peterson. Um, I don't know if this is something that the city attorney would want to opine on, but as part of um, uh, legislation there, um, each city is required to, uh, amend their, uh, zoning ordinance or general plan to include a truck routing ordinance. Um, and depending on where you are in the county, we have to complete it by um, 2028 if I'm not mistaken. Um, so this is an effort to initiate that truck routing ordinance that is required by um, state law.

Yes, Council Member Peterson, I I didn't want to say the word warehouse at the meeting unnecessarily. Uh, but uh, this is primarily in response to state mandates uh, statewide regarding uh, warehousing. We did get a question from a member of the public who was, you know, asking where where's the city what's city status on those development standards? Uh, you know, one of the things that, you know, that we're really looking at is, and I think that when we listened to the public comments at the recent hearings that we had, the first question that a lot of people had was where are the trucks going to go, right?

And so, we're looking at a a data driven approach on this, you know, where are the uses, what are the roads, what are they built to, what are the maintenance costs for that. So, you know, uh your interim city manager, uh former and some someday in the future public works director again. Um you know, that that was his primary concern was get these trucks off my roads that maybe weren't necessarily designed for it. Um but you know, there's also where where are these trucks driving through? What kind of neighborhoods? What kind of sensitive uses are they driving through? um and looking at our land use patterns that are along those truck routes to make sure that that they are compatible. Um so we need uh the resources to make sure that we're taking a data-driven approach on that. So whatever it is we bring forward uh makes sense and is defensible and compliant with state law. I'm still kind of wondering what the expenses are though.

Well, the expense there's a lot of staff time. There's also a lot probably is that just on the ordinance thing then? So the the ordinance itself is relatively easy to draft. Uh it'll it'll be three pages. It'll say the following are the truck routes, but the the devil is in the details of okay, where are the truck routes? And that's where you're looking at a significant amount of consultants. So it's more labor time time and labor not not physical expenses. Okay. Got it. It's a lot of studies. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Now can you go to slide 14? Yes. Off the top of your head.

Yeah. I have Kina here. uh what constitutes the 3 million that is assigned uh that is held for uh CIPs. So capital improvement projects um those can be scaled back because some of them have not started. So they could just be cancelled and that would throw that money back into the mix. Um you will see the unassigned balance is about 336,000. That's what is free and clear to to work with and that is gone um at the end of next fiscal year. Okay. So, and I mean unless we reduce any of those CIP projects.

Yeah. And this is these are CIP projects that are coming out of the general fund. Uh yes, the 3 million. Yes. And we quite frankly don't want to do that because it's probably some of our worst streets in town and I know South Carmelita is one of them. we could we could bring forward um soon to at least to the next workshop of what those CIPs entail. That would be great. Um because I I don't think those ones are specifically street projects, but we'll have to take a deeper look. Yeah, if we could if we could look at those, that would be great. Yeah. Uh Kina is like a human number machine. So,

yeah, there's also the kitchen grants are included in that. the vandalism relief. Um, a million dollars of that is the trash enclosures, which as uh one of the slides said, 500,000 of that will be coming back. So really that could be 2.5 million once the agreement CRNR goes into effect in July. Um, so you have all those other miscellaneous projects that the former city manager initiated like the kitchen grants, vandalism relief, trash, and those are all good. Those are not things we want to stop at this point. Okay. But we can definitely bring you an itemized detail of that. That would be great. Appreciate that.

I have one more thing on this slide that you have up. Um it shows the uh reduces general fund reserve from 40% to uh 27%. Yes. Now, if we approve this today, that approves this item, right? No. No. This is just more illustrative. If we were to go with the expenditure, the deficit that we currently have right now, this is the impact it would have on our fund balance. Okay. So, because my understanding is we had to vote to bring it up to 40. We did and we don't have to vote to bring it down. Well, we we are not bringing it down at this time. Today is just kind of an illustration of what would happen of kind of where we are in the budget right now.

Yeah. Um, we still have some unknowns that we'll be um hopefully getting the answers to as far as the liability insurance and the final premiums for once that's taken care of. Then once we know all the final numbers, then we'll we'll be able to to share that final number with you. Yeah, we're not approving any any budget today. So, but in this motion, we do have to approve the move moving of measure U fund or the I should say the the liability over here to the measure U to pay for. Correct. And that's for current fiscal year. So the the the bill's already been paid. So we're just moving the expense from general fund to measure U. And that's the motion that we're seeking. All right. Do we have any public comment on this item?

There are no registered speakers. Okay. Thank you. So um need need a motion. Need something going on here so we can stop this one. Okay. I will

thank you chiefs for being up there and thank you Tiffany and Kina. I will uh do a motion to recommend we receive the presentation and discuss the second fiscal year budget workshop of 2627 and adopt a resolution of the city council of city of Hemet authorizing the administrative services director to establish supplemental appropriations in the amount of 1,500 28,226 in measure U to fund the 115 uh which is 2/3 of police and one-third fire and transfer the fiscal year self-insured retention for a buy down.

Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Okay, motion and a second. Please vote.

That motion passes four to zero. Very good. Thank you very much. And we were remiss earlier this evening that for some of you uh sitting in a city manager seat is our interim city manager Noah Ralph who has been our public works director and city engineer and is now working as our interim city manager. And next to him Noah would you please introduce I would love to. We have our new city clerk, Rosalia Butler. And um she joined us on Monday and so this is just her second day here uh learning the ropes and we're happy to have her. Yes. Welcome. Welcome.

She came. Highly recommended. And she lives local. Yes. Even better.

That's the best of both worlds. All righty. Moving on. Uh can we have a staff report for item 17C? I'll be taking that. Mayor, um I may have to go to the podium if I can't click through. Oh, you are. Thanks, Aldi. All right. So, this is uh our draft fiscal year strategic plan action items that were developed a few weeks ago on April 22nd at the workshop uh that our now retired city manager facilitated. And I'd like to credit him with assisting in preparing these as a volunteer um in prioritizing this list since he was there in facilitating that. He had uh some really good ideas as far as how these should be uh prioritized. Um so at the workshop the council um also affirmed its vision and mission statement of the five overarching strategic uh plan goals. Um while affirming the mission, uh Council Member Peterson did request that uh Your Horizon is here be added uh to the end of our mission statement. Um so I would uh at the end of this I'd like some direction on if we want to proceed and and make that happen.

Do what? Um so this list of

Yes,

she's talking not me. Uh so this uh list that we bring the draft of action items this evening um it's kind of a multi-step process. Um we you created your ideas. We put uh your air, water, chocolate dots. Uh air being the most important, water being important and then the chocolate being your nice to have um not as important but we'd sure like to see them. So the dots um are shown in this uh document shown um as how the priorities were set. Um at the end of this document there are 14 that receive just one dot. So we'll need to discuss if any of those are going to remain in this coming year's actions. Um if which ones we want to elevate uh and include and and where those would go in the existing actions. All of the ones with an asterric are carryover items from previous fiscal year. So I think uh as you can see the green is the highest uh of importance, the yellow is the next most important and the red is the lower priority items um that have been finalized. And then there's the 14 that are in white that um we'll need to decide whether which ones stay, which ones elevate, which ones um get put aside uh for the future. I think it'd be best if we go through and we start and if there's any uh changes to where these are prioritized in in the list, uh starting with one and then we can go back through and we I'd like to get um any council members um that want to be attached to their items of interest. Um, so if we can start with uh any any discussion or edits to the prioritization first.

Can we move it up?

So, as you can see, number 16 is where the single dots start. And some of the ones on the top, there was one red and four blue and the rest were all uh chocolate dots on those single dot items. I think some of some if not all of these things are being taken care of in other areas. I do believe you're correct. in a lot of these. Um, but just take a moment and look them over.

Yeah, the I mean the down the theater is being taken care of. That is an ad hoc downtown study is is there. Trash receptacles we're we're doing with CRNR. Uh, public spaces, utility boxes is through art and culture. Downtown Arts Alive. Um, we don't have a designated Saturday sal Saturday Saturday, but we are working on that again through art and culture. When you go through them, can you tell us what numbers you're talking about? I'm talking 18 through 29. Oh, okay.

Yeah, it's the ones with the singles. Um, we're basically doing all of these in this in e in an ad hoc or um a subcommittee that that we're already doing. Same with Simpson Park citywide cleanliness. Uh Christian is taking care of that on the fourth Sunday of every month. Fourth Saturday, excuse me. Um different agencies are doing the the uh intersection of highway 79 and 74 transitional housing. That's all part of I think part of what planning is doing. We have our youth council and uh working on different things for the youth and we have the citywide cleanliness task force. So could we just take keep these all in mind and just include them make sure that they're involved in what we're already doing in 17 1 through 17.

I think it would be a good kind of reminder to put it up into that. Sure. Absolutely. Maybe add them to where they where they fit. Yeah. Starting on which number? 18. 18. Okay.

Well, actually 17. Can you flip that one back? Temporary use for vacant buildings. Um business. Well, Ben is Ben's in charge of that. So, that's part of the economic development. Uh that would be probably created through this committee assigned by the city manager to assist with economic development except for 17. That's or 16. That's Joe's baby. He doesn't like prevailing wage. Well, none of us do, but we don't like Davis Bacon either. So, it uh

you know, I'm kind of questioning the weekly residential streets. I'm trying I'm kind of questioning the uh weekly residential street sweeping and parking enforcement implementation. Are we going to have to put signs out on every street uh stating that there's going to be streets? Yes, that will have to be part of the program. Uh, I have a question for Chris Christian Tikas if you don't mind. Christian, are the signs have the signs been put up at the parks for the homeless uh not being able to sleep out there and on businesses or are they still in the in the works? As far as I I know that those signs were updated, they were last year, weren't they? All of our park signs were updated last year with with the new ordinance

with a new ordinance that we came out with. Okay. because it took like a year, over a year to get that done. We're currently waiting for the no panhandling signs. How long we're waiting on? How long has that been? Those should be being deployed. I believe they may have already started this week, but I'll have to double check. Okay. Because if we do the street sweeping weekly, we're not going to be able to start until we get signs out there. This is a 12 to 18month process to get implemented. Um, and then also our amendment with CRNR that gives them that much time to purchase the additional street sweeping equipment in order to start. So, we're looking two years down the line then. Okay. One to two years. Yeah. Okay.

Thank you, sir. So all of the ones uh in one through 15 um of course I'll mind number nine is uh the implementation of the carryover ones with the asterric and so that item will actually be removed um once we set the priorities here. Okay. Now, the number 14, the traffic conditions and everything, is that going part of that being covered by that um zero whatever grant funding that we're going to go for?

So, our citywide roadway safety action plan is assessing um all of the high accident areas and um that plan will be coming forward. Um now, some of the streets are county streets like the ones on Florida and Lion. Oh, no. Uh Kirby, I know they were tasked to have a left turn signal put on. Yeah. So, we do have a couple um of projects uh traffic signals and that's the Kirby in Florida and Buen a Vista and Stson in process. Right. County, right? Um lights. Those two the Kirby in Florida is a CALR and so we're having to work through CALR to get a permit to install that one.

Okay. Someone said something about CALR takes forever or something. I don't They do. It's a process. It's a process. They they acknowledge that. Um any others? So, uh do you want us to put our preferences on ones we want to be a part of the task force on? Yes. So, if the prioritization 1 through 15 looks good, we can start at number one and we can get one or to two council members as interest uh allows to each item. I know Jackie wants number one. I do. All right. Anyone else before we move on to number two? I would like number two to be on number two.

All right. And we can have up to two people on each one. Okay. Yes. I'll do the um volunteer recruitment. I think that would be fun. Yes. All right, moving on to number three. I'm just wondering how we are going to accomplish that. Um because we don't have a specific grant person anymore. We work with towns and public affairs. So other than everybody combing through any lists that come out, what can we do?

Yeah. And we do have, you know, the lists being sent to department heads on a regular basis. And so I think I'm just going to probably have more of a standardized uh process kind of written and uh communicated across the departments. Can we put like directors there

and then some and then some um some followup on those too so that you know we can kind of give some feedback on which ones we looked at, why they would or would not be a good fit for that department. That would be good because I know I see some things and you know I've sent them to you and said did you get this and then I sent them to Chief Ariano and I said did you get this? I know they have recurring lists that they look at but when I see things I never know who gets them and who's really looking at them. So if we have more coordination a better point of contact to show which ones were looked at and then then kind of the reasoning whether they were a good fit to pursue or not. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. because I don't know if all the directors are looking at them and who's getting them, but I would help with that.

All right, number four. I would like number four. And I even have a little helper at home that would be willing to help the fire department identify certain ones, too. He works for free.

Must be retired. Yes. All right. Number five. That was mine. So, I will take that one, too. Jackie's. Yes. And six, I would like to be a part of that. You'd be good at that. And seven, I want Jackie and I to be on that. If Jackie wants to be on. Um, yes. I've been asking for this for two years already, if not three.

All right. Number eight. Eight.

Oh, can I work with you on that? No. Yes. Put my name first. Oh god. All right. So, there won't be a number nine after this. So, we'll look at number 10. I would like that. Anybody else? That's a good one to have. I'll put my name on that. Number 11. I don't think we really need anybody for that, do we? It's a matter of implementing that. That'll come with CRNR.

Yeah, there's going to be, you know, there is going to be a lot of work for um us to implement as far as the signs and hiring a enforcement. Uh that'll be down the road though. That'll probably be next fiscal year. I I think the biggest task is going to be making sure that we get the word out to the community when those signs start showing up. Yeah. Yeah. Which can be incorporated into the number one. Was it number one or number two with the the city hubbed up the quite right? Yeah. The updates certainly help. Yes. Uh number 12.

Tiffany, that's you got that's your job. I like working with Tiffany and I like being on the IOC. It's very very informational. Yes, it is. That's 13. Is that is Tiffany? I was looking at number 12 on this one. Yeah, it's number 12. The loan wants to be on financial. Okay, so we got Connie on 12. And you can ask Tom. 13. We're we're due. Well,

I guess it's it's part of several committees that we already have on 12. Yeah. Or 13. 13. 13. Did I skip ahead? Yeah. Connie Connie has a point. We're not we're not including Tom on any of these. So if you know that he's interested in some of these subjects, he can he when I get an opportunity, I will definitely go through the whole the whole list. Just one person. Most of them are just one person. Yeah. And I'll I'll join um Jackie. I'll join Jackie on number one. Number one. No, I was waiting with her on that. Oh, I thought you you went with on number two with her.

Go back to number one and number two. I didn't hear any. Oh boy. On the screen. Why do I feel this is like Abbott and Costello? Who's on first? Connie and I are on two. Okay. So, you you and Jackie can be on one. That's fine. You and Yep. We're going to be the new city news. Oh my god. I'm sure that's Council Member Rails. Were you adding to number one then? No, no, there there's two already. Yeah, we put Jackie and I on on one.

Could I ask a quick question about the youth council because uh Tom and I were on it last year. I loved it. I know he loved it, but um is the assumption that we're still doing it or is there someone that wants to do it? We're recruiting for it. So, if you guys want to stay on it, just Oh, we love it. He and I love it. You're on the ad hoc, right? Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure. Yeah. Okay. So, did we decide on 12 then? Uh 12 was Connie, right? Yes. I'm going to be on that one. 12. Anyone for 13?

I think we could roll that into art and culture because we have talked about that for so long. Uh, and the art competition, um, is actually being done by Western Science Center. They're going to have art days out there that people who come out can can sketch Max, the mastadon. Should we put arts and culture ad hoc or should we put names by it? Let's put arts and culture ad hoc because it's bigger than just you and I. Yeah. Now the number 15. We didn't do 14 yet. Number 14 is where 14.

It's getting late. This one was Linda's. I don't know. And that's Yeah, this is the one we've been doing with the zero thing. Yeah. Or is this an addition to that? This is I believe this is an addition. It can it can kind of work hand in hand to some degree, but um when it when it rolls into that grant, you can call me. Other than that, call Joe. Yeah, I'm I'm open. Good.

And I think number 15, we all want to be on it. Yeah. Number 15. I have been approached by some citizen that has ideas for the Simpson Senior Center and volunteer kind of stuff and I'm wondering if they couldn't get moved into that volunteer. You want to work with me on in the volunteering and add that just kind of Yeah, because there was some good ideas. They have great ideas and there's different nonprofits that have volunteered their time and services also, right? We just have to get past legal. Okay. So, Mayor Krooa and Council Member Clark on that one.

Okay. I think uh we've got a plan. So, this will come back as a final item before the start of the fiscal year. Sounds good. And we don't have any action on this, do we? Do we Did we want to uh address number 16 or not? 16. We're going to Oh, uh, you can't because we can't go backwards. We can't go back to a charter city. So, doesn't Should we delete it then? I read that that you can go to a district from a charter, but you can't go to a charter from a district. And AI smarter than

you can. Uh so when I say you uh in this instance I'm referring to the electorate of the city of EMTT uh could adopt a charter at any time. Uh typically it would be proposed by the council. You might have a citizen charter committee review it um but it could go uh to an election in the future. So if that was something that you wanted to explore. I think I think for number 16 that one might be best suited. Um, I can put together a legal briefing memo for the council just on prevailing wage, what the requirements are, what the limits uh, and the, you know, a charter city isn't a magic fix

for, um, for it. Um, you can exempt yourself from availing wage, but there's a whole bunch of consequences like we talked about measure A and T funds the other, right? B1 grant and there are similar strings that the state cuts. Um so why don't I put together just a briefing memo on that? Yeah. But the cons pros and cons. Yeah. And pros and cons and and I can send that to the the council as an attorney uh memorandum and then if you decide that you want to set a future meeting to discuss any implementation of those things, we could do that. Let's do that. Okay. But that that that doesn't have to be an item on this. We could just get that done in the next few weeks.

Okay. Okay. So, do you do we need action on 17C? There is really no action to take. Um, this is more of a discussion so that we can bring back a final item before the fiscal year begins. All right. Very good. So, now we will move on to city council and staff reports. Connie.

Okay. I gave everybody a bunch of the WR COG information. It's um I talked to Mayor Krupa and Noah maybe WR COG could come and speak and give us their input because they are um also being impacted. um investment oversight committee. We met it always an awesome meeting to go and sit with Tiffany and Jackie and um what's his name?

Andrew. Thank you. So anyways, um we're learning a lot. We're learning about the um interest rates probably not going to happen the way things are. interest rates aren't certainly going to go down by the end of the year. Our investment firm uh advisor um but we are doing well with our um savings which is phenomenal. I would rather be in this place in the conservative savings than other cities we have seen and where they're putting their money. Very good. Um, I told you about WR COG. We the CB CDBG has already been given out. The Hemmet Youth Council is coming to an end. And um, I've heard a lot of our youth are telling other youth, man, you got to do this. You got to try this. and even a couple of um ones that are juniors want to apply. Again, it was suggested maybe we reduce the number down because it's a little hard to manage, which is going to be excruciating for Tom and I. Oh my gosh, we just wanted every single one of them. But I guess maybe what we need to do is maybe ask this youth to toot their own horn a little more than they were in their applications. Maybe letters of recommendation that go beyond their just their advisor and give us a little more information so we can pick the cream of the crop because otherwise we just want to take every single one of them and and keep them.

Um, nothing on the downtown theater ad hoc. And Jackie, your turn. Okay, I'm going to spend a little time on our arts and culture ad hoc. And we just had a really good meeting on Monday. We've got a lot of good things going on with our arts and culture in um our city right now. So, we have a very nice mural on the fire department, but we are going to have our next first public mural coming within about a month or so. And um there's been a lot of outreach, a lot of input for this. We have a wonderful Inland Empire artist named Rosie Cortez and she is going to be the main mentor for I think it was 11 artists that are going to help her. And um on Saturday the 16th, if you see people over by Ory's Cafe, they are going to put a primer on the outside of that wall of their restaurant. And then on Sunday, it's a community paint day. Anybody is welcome to come out from 9 to 1:00 and you can help lay down the first brush stokes, brush strokes or um you can just enjoy mingling with everybody and and watching it and see it develop. So that's going to be for anybody and that'll be like the little kickoff on uh Sunday, May 17th. So um there will be an unveiling celebration. we do believe on June 27th. So, if you want to uh come out for that, I'm sure it's going to be a great celebration with um some good activities and a lot

of fun that day. I'm sure we'll make it good. So, another thing that we're doing um we've been talking about this, well, as Linda says, they've been talking about it for years in Hammet that we are finally going to have a calendar of events that is going to be for the valley. So, it's run by a company called Artsopouloolis. And our specific website is going to be called Hemet 365, and you're going to be able to go on there and you can post your event. So, I have some flyers in the back and also you can probably find this soon on um social media everywhere. But we are encouraging everyone to register your organization now. So we want it live on May 20th. That's right around the corner. So we want people to to register and sign up for this wonderful platform where you can advertise all kinds of things going on with your organizations. It can be a nonprofit, a church, a a business, whatever. But it takes a little time to register it. But once you've done it, it'll be okay. Um, so there's there's a specific website you need to go to, and I'm going to say this a couple of times. So it's S as in SAM, G103, actually 103.artsopouloolis.com. So SG103.artsopoulos.com. So, if you go to that, in the upper right hand corner, you're going to have submit a listing and you're going to see login and register. We want you to register now. Get your organization in there. And one of the reasons we want you to do this is when it goes live, we

want it to be populated. So, our uh events coordinator uh uh coordinator and um communications uh coordinator, Jennifer, she's going to look at all of your submissions when you put them in there and she will screen them and I'm sure you know almost all of them will get um approved if they're legitimate things. So, um we really really want you all to use this and you know, I've been saying this and I reiterate this since I've been on council. I hear this all the time. People say there's nothing to do in Hammet. Well, now you can find it. So, if you go to this website, we're inviting anybody in the valley to join in. So, we asked uh Saboba Foundation if they want to put things on there. The resort and casino, the city of San Hasinto can put things in there. We are going to use the heck out of it because we want people to come and spend time in our valley, not just drive through it. So, we want them to know what's out there. So, we're really excited about that and um it was fun to be on the committee and um I I think it's I think it's going to be great. So, we encourage you to sign up for that. And I want to thank everybody that came out to Ramona pageant this year. It was wonderful play again. I think it was some of the best weather ever. I mean, it it wasn't rainy. It wasn't really hot. Um, beautiful, beautiful play once again. And, um, they are continuing their concerts series. So, if you look on your on their website, you can see what groups are coming. They have a lot of concerts coming up. And it's a, like I said, it's a beautiful outdoor venue, especially in the summertime. You know, it'll be cooler at night and that. And they also have the uh, Ramona Market once a month now. So, that'll be on their calendar as well. So, so let's get out and support

our local activities. That's all I have. Thank you.

Hey, mine's short and sweet. Uh met with the committee consisting of the mayor, um our city manager, our interim uh fire chief. U trying to interview uh chiefs uh for the fire pos um for our HMT fire uh fighters. Attended the 2826 Hemmet Regional Economic Summit. Uh Ben did a great job out there. He's doing a great job in uh bringing business out to Hammet and we will be attending the ICSC next week. Um I think it's uh Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And then um attended the Hemtt Santao student of the year uh dinner at the Saboba Event Center. Some of these kids are excellent. Our future ahead of us is going to be great with these new leaders that are uh coming out of high school. Thank you.

Thank you. Um up news on the library this Friday, May 15th from 10 to 2 pm. Uh Supervisor Gutierz's office has a mobile IT unit and it's called Tech on Wheels. They will be at the Hemtt Library Friday from 10 to 2. And if you have any issues with any electronic device, bring it over there and they will help you with it. Um, RT we uh approve at the budget and finance meeting of RTA last week, we approved the budget for 26 27. And um anyway, one of the really exciting things about that is that they are adding approximately 80 positions to their workforce. Most of them are drivers but there's also supervisors and shift supervisors and maintenance people and most of them are going to be because they are expanding services at their helmet office. uh they are bringing we are bringing um the uh contracted dialeride service inhouse at RTA and as a result they are having job fairs for all of these positions and it's going to mean a lot of more people working at the HMT facility down on off Wentworth

RTA Riverside Transit Agency. Yes. and you can do things on that. Um things that attended uh the LEAK award, the law enforcement um awards ceremony in Riverside, the regional summit, state of the city in uh Paris. Ramona Bowl also attended the SCAG conference out in the desert. Skagg is the Southern California Association of Governments. I'm on their transportation committee and also on the regional council. uh one of the high high points uh two of the high points of of those conferences one is a student uh exhibition and it's usually college students who uh present uh work that they have done in a specific area that has not been addressed by cities or governmental agencies or whatever that they see a need in whether it's it's creating community gardens for enhanced food in in food uh deserts. Um the one that the that won the the the top uh scholarship on it was called a report from the dark and it was a survey of areas in a city in Orange County that did not have very good street lights. And the the work that these college students do is absolutely amazing. and and it's almost like doing a a doctorate dissertation. I mean, you have to create it and you have to defend it of everything they found on it. It's it's amazing what these young people are doing. Another award was a s sustainability award and it was it went to CVlink which is Coacella Valley bicycle pedestrian route that goes from Coachella I think now all the way I think it goes to Palm Springs now and it's wonderful. it. So, you can get on

your bike or you can walk that entire distance if it's not too hot. Um, other things, yesterday, was it yesterday? Yesterday, went to the Salvation Army 4th anniversary community funday over at the Salvation Army on Palm and Acacia. Very well attended. He PD and Hemtt Fire was there. Uh, Christian was there. A lot of the other nonprofit organizations in the valley. And the Salvation Army is alive and well. and I will talk to you about that because they are wanting to do some off-site and on-site improvements for their landscaping. Um, that's about it. All the rest of the meetings I have RT or RCTC tomorrow and that's all I have. So, assistant city uh interim city manager, excuse me. Let's have your report.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. Um main item I have is uh Saturday we have our uh public works open house at the courtyard. Um there's going to be lots of uh nice displays and um ex exhibitions and um it's going to be a family fun event and uh so you can come and um if you make it all the way around you'll be entered to win a street sign, a custom street sign. So, um I recommend you go and visit all of our our booths and our and see all of our exhibitions. Uh you can interact with some of our dedicated public works staff and um that is from 10:00 a.m. to 1 pm on Saturday and then the very next day starts uh public works week. So,

very good. Thank you. And and along with that, your competition is the fire department with their pancake breakfast that starts at 9:00 the same time, same morning. Station one. If you go there, you know, you have to leave before 10 and make it over. There you go.

You go have breakfast with the firemen and then go out to the uh public or yeah out to public works and and do with them. Okay, seeing that is we have nothing further to discuss. I'll find my notes here in a minute. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned to the next city council meeting on May 26, 2026. Thank you for joining us tonight. We are adjourned. Turn your microphones off.