City Council - Regular Meeting

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Heat. Heat. All right, good evening. Um, it is time for me city council action. Uh, I will call the closed session to order at 5:00. Madam clerk, are there any requests to speak or has any correspondence been received on closed session items?

None this evening.

Well, judging by the attendance here, I didn't expect it. All right, the city council will now recess to closed session. It is 5:00 and 30 seconds. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey.

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Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. live from Menafy. It's Wednesday night.

I'm going to call this meeting to order at 6:00. Uh, Mr. City Attorney, do we have anything to report out of close session? Thank you, Mayor. No reportable action today. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Uh, have we received any correspondence on tonight's agenda? Yes, the council's received correspondence on items 11.2 and 12.1. Those are in your red folders. Thank you very much. Madam click, would you please call role? Council member Dinus, here. Council member Dedric, here. Council member Temple here. Acting Mayor Carwin here. and Maristrada is absent.

Thank you very much. So now it's time for our words of inspiration. So could I please invite uh Don Larson who is the first counselor in the Paloma Valley Ward for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please come to the podium and provide us some words of inspiration.

Well, first I'd like to thank you all for inviting me here today. And uh the message I'd like to share with you is uh one that's near and dear to my heart, especially this last weekend. Um, I'll just uh start by saying that uh we we live in uncertain times and um lots of commotion in the world around about and um it's easy for us I think as human beings um social media and being connected to the world at large to get caught up in that in sometimes negative ways and uh to lose hope ultimately. Um, I'll just share that uh I I had a friend um who was on board the the KC135 that crashed in Iraq this weekend and um it was uh a vicious reminder of the cost of war and our own mortality. But I was uh extremely uh reassured and refreshed by the outpouring of love and support that uh Americans around the whole country showed uh to their families. And um I'm also uh reassured by seeing you all here u participating in your in your civic duties to um to the city council and uh as citizens in our community. And that's what gives me hope is uh is small changes um small acts of service within our homes uh within our community that uh really make a difference and ultimately do extend uh beyond our community and and the country and the world. Um and so uh my invitation to you today is uh reach out to someone. uh we're all carrying unseeded burdens. Uh reach out to your neighbors, reach out to a family member who you haven't

talked to in a while and and check on them and see how they're doing. Um I know that as we offer those acts of service to those we know and those we don't know, um we we can truly uh make a difference. And thank you for your time.

Thank you. For those who don't know, this past Monday, our own Mary KS Meny citizen of the year was uh went up to Sacramento and was awarded the District 3 District 63 assembly woman of the year by our assemblywoman Natasha Johnson. Mary K is here tonight. So, Mary, I'm going to ask you to lead us on our flag salute. Would you do that for us, please? to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much. All right. Now, city council, would you please join me at the front of the dis for our two presentations. First up, could I please ask Erica Heriniac from One Legacy uh One Legacy Ambassador to join us on the DAS? So, April is April is donate month and it's a time to recognize the impact of

Is this thing on? Start over again. April April is April is donate life month. A time to recognize the impact of organ eye and tissue donations. So joining us here is Miss Heriniac uh on behalf of One Legacy to accept a proclamation for donate life month DMV/donate life month. Would you please uh fill us in a little bit about the uh the organization and the meaning behind the month?

Hi, good evening. Um so for the record, my name is Erica. I'm one of your seven local One Legacy ambassadors. Uh, One Legacy is a nonprofit organ procurement organization where they are the lazy on between 200 hospitals and eight transplant centers for organ and tissue donation for seven counties in this area. Um, I wouldn't be here without an organ donor. Um, some of you guys already know my journey. I, um, have lived here since 1989. I'll go quickly on this. um raised my family, was a teacher in the Leos Unified School District for 20 years at Terracotta Middle School primarily when I got suddenly ill 2016 which triggered a heart attack which then triggered a few months later many cardiac events when I went into cardiac arrest sent to various different hospitals for open heart surgeries didn't respond arrhythmia is in the 400s and within a few months um they tried to do an ablation my body didn't want to do it I stroked I went blind couldn't speak couldn't move priest brought for my last rights. I had a 10% chance of survival. I wasn't going to make it. So, I was sent to Cedar Sinai with the intent of having a heart transplant. Wasn't strong enough. They put an ELVAD uh as a bridge transplant. And then uh come Easter of 2017, I got the call, they found my match. So, basically what One Legacy does being the liazison is when someone's in the hospital as a donor um they they look to see if there's a match. If there's no match then no organ transplant happens. So when I was ill, I was listed and Dylan Stump, he was 19 years old. He was a registered organ donor. He did this when he was 16 years old when he got his driver's license. And because of that, they got on the list and they found it. And I didn't understand this because I'm older and I didn't understand why they gave me a 19-year-old heart. It's not about age. It has to do with antibodies, blood types, all kinds of factors in it. So the fact of the matter is we have a lot of registered organ donors and this is why we like to do donate life month is to raise this awareness and the

education that we have 19 million registered organ donors. That doesn't mean we're going to have 19 million transplants. So we hope that by raising that awareness donate life month actually sees double or actually more than double of the people registering. Oddly enough though many is a growing city but they're actually one of the lower as far as donor registration for being an organ donor. So that's something to think about. Um because technically I'm a heart attack, elvad, heart transplant, three stroke survivor all in one year. Yeah. And I was confined to a wheelchair and it was for my kids that um students from 1999 that brought me this. Um but never fails after each city council meeting I do. I do six city council meetings. there is always a donor family that reaches out to me or recipients who very few of us are able to live out here but we are because more of the hospitals are actually supporting us and currently I know you've been how I mean social media there's like a she just turned eight there's a little girl second grader in our area who's in desperate need of a kidney and she can't really wait for a kidney donor because I'll go over the data here real quick um by the time she waits for a deceased donor it's about 11 years she doesn't have 11 years she has months Yeah. And my my neighbor just got his liver transplant in December. He only had one month to live. So this is why we do this. We try and bring the community together, raise that need. So based on the data for 2025, there was nationwide. So anything nationwide in California is on the lefth hand side of the slide. What we do is one legacy is on the right hand side. And then I narrowed it down to our area. So nationwide there was 49,000 transplants, which is a thousand more than the year before, which is amazing. But then you get to California and California did 5,179 as a state but we were doing 5,2 like 94. So we're we're losing like a 100 other people. So on average 17 people pass away while they're waiting

and just as many getting on because if you look at the weight list for the uh US is 108,570. The year before it was 104, but in actuality there's 122,000. The 108,000 are those who are like what we call on deck that they are like needing now. The rest are either waiting because they're not on high priority, but we technically have 122,000 in the state of California. 19,914 are waiting for transplant. Now, one leg and so you got to compare that 19,000 to the 5,000 California normally does. So think about what happens to those that don't. And unfortunately I'm a because I'm a recipient. The community is pretty small. I get to know. Not everyone makes it. And that's a difficult part. But I choose to do this because I want to honor my my donor. And I have one more reason why I do this. But let me finish the data. For one legacy though, that's seven counties in Southern California. We did 8,89. Wait, 8,8 of nine are actually on that list to get an Oregon. So this is LA County, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino. We have 8,800 people waiting like now. So that's that's puts it in perspective. So to think about it, let's look at the positives though of what we're doing. One Legacy did 1,949 transplants, which was up a few from the 1941 before. Um 748 donors. So think about that. There's been a lot more people passed away than 748. So, we like to hope that maybe by spreading awareness, people might reconsider registering to be an organ donor. But let's look at Southwest Riverside County though. When I would live down when I my journey started in 2016, we were lucky if we heard about one donor. Our hospitals are Inland Valley, Ranchel Springs, Tmacula Valley, Lomol Linda, Muretta, and Meny. Out of all of them, we had 38 donors. That's incredible for the versus the one

in 2016. Okay. Out of those 4,200 lives were healed. Those re tissues, so those, you know, the heart valve, the tab position, the surgeries, the ACL's, dental implants, all of that was out of here, out of Southwest Riverside County, and 59 people got their sight back from corneium donation. So, it's completely amazing what Southwest Riverside County is doing versus the whole state of California is truly amazing. So, I'd like to see it keep it going. And the reason why I want to share one more impact about this is I know my donor mom. I met her Easter of 2018. She got to hear her heartbeat and I have a relationship with her and we speak and advocate and trying to dispel the myths. But I was doing a health fair at one of the local hospitals. There was like hundreds of vendors, hundreds of people. And the hospital staff would come out and they find our booth because we have a very strong relationship with our hospitals now to help, you know, help support them. and all the nurses come out and I see their badges and I'm behind the table giving out promo items and everything. I knew there was a donor going on in the hospital, but I don't have anything to do with that. I do with the the health fair. And all of a sudden, I noticed this couple came up and I was talking to them and they grabbed my hand. They asked me if I was a recipient. I said yes. And then we started talking about my life and how I benefited from it because I've obviously gone from a wheelchair to walking. I've done a 5K. I've done all kinds of things since then. The more and more I was talking to them, the more I saw nurses instead of standing in line arching around them. And that's when it hit me. This was the donor family. On their worst day of their life, they came out to see me. They weren't crying. You can see they had been crying, but they had this look of hope. This hope I I I'll never forget this look. And this is why I'm sharing it because um I held it together. I didn't cry, but their worst day. And they spent like 15, 20 minutes, maybe more, just

talking with me and about the benefits that their loved one was going to save. And he did. He saved um he saved six lives. I'm not sure how many tissue symbols. I know Dylan saved five lives, mine included, and 213 tissue samples recovered. But that's something it just hit me. I'm not doing it just for Dylan or for myself. I'm doing it because of the donor families out there who who are trying to find hope and that their loved one will leave a legacy. In my case, I had a bunch of students come and help me get pull me out of the wheelchair with rehab and they brought me this. I was an English teacher. It's a pig with wings. What does that mean? Pigs fly. And so, basically, I don't know how they found this. You don't see this in stores, but but um they brought it to me and now um they looked at me as as representing helping transplantation is helping pigs fly. So, everyone in this room has a power to save a life. Doesn't mean you're going to be a match, but I'd like to think for some of you who maybe see all the myths and things and the horror stories, research what you're reading, make sure it's fact, and make that decision. And if you do, let your family know because like in this case that family was reassured. So you all have the power to make pigs fly. So I thank you for many for doing this. It's always great.

I just want to check one thing.

City. So, we've got this proclamation for you uh right here in recognition of all of your efforts. It says, "In recognition of National Donate Life Month, the month of April 2026 is hereby proclaimed DMV donate life month in the city of Meny. And in doing so, we encourage all Californians to check yes online or when applying for or renewing their driver's license ID card at the DMV." And that is for you for all of your efforts. Big round of applause. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for everything you do.

All right. Right now, moving on to the agenda is one of my favorite highlights of our month is the presentation of the citizen of the month. This month was my selection. Thank you to former citizen of the month, Tony Riverdo, for reminding me of the fine work of our next citizen of the month. Please help me welcome Rose Rhodess. So, Rose is the leader of uh an organization called Quilts of Valor, where uh she and her uh fighting platoon uh create uh quilts to honor veterans with. And um she's going to be my uh citizen of the month this month. So, what we're going to do is we're going to say some nice things about you first before we get on this before we let you talk.

We're not going to let them talk at all. So, I'm going to pass it down to Councilman Ben Dedric. Rose, yes,

community is all about what we do and how we give back and so we are so grateful to you. Meny loves our veterans and we appreciate that you continue to honor them and gift them with these quilts. So, thank you for doing that. Appreciate it, Rose. Rose, when um when I realized that you were being honored and and looked a little bit of uh of what you and your group do, um I just think it's very poignant that the things that you do are specifically for those who are touched by war and what a you know what a comfort that gives them and uh a validation for their sacrifice both those that have served and their families who also serve with them. So, thank you for doing that and for being a wonderful part of Manafi.

Congratulations. First, my grandparents were quilters, so I know all the hard work that goes into doing it, but it's not hard work when you have it as a passion and you do it for a good cause. So, and I think that's where you're at right now is that you you're not doing it for, you know, hey, look at me, I'm doing it, but for our veterans, you know, and they they richly deserve it. So, thank you so much for what you do and congratulations. It was a great choice. So, I' I've attended your event. It's a wonderful event and it's just to see the look of appreciation on the veterans who receive the quilts is just it just it's just heartwarming and it really shows you how a community can really come together and your efforts and in your organization and your whole team. It's just exactly what Meny embodies and in particular my district of of district one with Sun City in it. So I'm really just proud to have you there. Now before we let you talk, Bill asked me if he could say a few words before you come on up. So we're going to we're going to give Bill the microphone.

Okay.

Hate is a strong word and there's only two things I hate in this world. That's public speaking and death. I heard death doesn't hurt much. Anyway, anyway, I had to say a few words because I've known this lady for 50some years and she is absolutely wonderful. She is the real thing. She's genuine. She's loving. Uh she's everything that to everyone and it's just she just an amazing woman and I want you all to know that. how she doesn't think she deserves this as much as the entire group of quilters, but I assured her that she does. Live by the golden rule that love is the answer to all questions. So, Rose, we have for you this fine plaque that you can hang above. Hopefully you you'll put it up at the the quilting events in recognition of your dedication to honoring service members and veterans in our community through the creation and presentation of quilts of valor. Thank you for helping make men a premier place to be. Rose, everybody let her speak first. Rose, would you tell us a little bit about the organization before we take all of our pictures?

I'll be fast. You need to use this so people at home can hear you.

Okay. All right. I appreciate this recognition by the city council. Thank you. I started I want to let you know that I started the Sun City Quilting Club along with another quilter, Pat Kirby, who has since passed away in 2005. It's been 20 years. We've been very fortunate to have such a wonderful facility with the Sun City Civic Association where we can meet, we can have functions, we can have special events and they allow us to be there to work on our quilts and I appreciate that. I wanted the opportunity to meet with other quilters, socialize and just learn from each other, have fun. But my cohort Pat was very committed to making quilts for children in need. She spread that passion to others and it has been one of our priorities ever since. We provided children's quilts to the Riverside County Trauma Intervention Program, Ronald McDonald House, several foster children agencies serving Southwest Riverside County and North County San Diego, and most recently to Cal Fire so they can comfort uh provide comforting quilts in their trucks during disasters. Over 1,000 quilts have been made for children since we began. Each quilt carries a prayer that Pat wrote. Dear God, please comfort and protect this precious child. Then in 2007, two years later, we heard about the national program Quilts of Valor, awarding quilts to veterans and

active duty military who have been touched in any way by war. That became my passion. We joined this effort as the Mini Valley Quilting Angels. At first, we did not have clear guidance on how we were to find those veterans and how we could award them. We were told to contact Mike Sloan, a VA representative in San Diego, whose focus was working with homeless vets. So, we began by providing quilts for Mike to use in trying to gain the trust of homeless veterans, getting them into treatment and needed care. So, our first quilts of valor were out on the street. We slowly began getting national local requests and a system evolved where we worked as a group to make and award quilts in our area. It continues as a group effort with fabric being purchased or donated, quilt tops being sewn together, the layers sandwiched and quilted with a label and binding being done last. To date, almost 440,000 quilts of valor have been awarded nationally since the program began in 2003. Our local chapter here in Meny has made and awarded hundreds not just in Meny but throughout Southwest Riverside County in North San Diego. We had the honor to award eight quilts of valor on Camp Pendleton to wounded Marines who had been injured in the attack on the Kbble airport in Afghanistan.

One of the most touching groups has been the Vietnam veterans. When we award them a quilt, they usually have tears in their eyes and they will say, "No one ever thanked me." So, what we do for all of our veterans is an act of love. It's important to point out that we receive no funds from the national organization. We raise our own money. It can cost anywhere from $2 to $300 for material for each quilt. Our contribution being the labor. Any donation is greatly appreciated. Quilt of Valor is a 501c3, so tax receipts can be provided. With us tonight are some of our quilters who pro contribute so much to our projects. Kathy Man, our leader of our children's quilts. Would you please stand and show the group one of the kids quilts that we provide to foster agencies now? Okay, Christie, would you hold this? Is one of our quilts of valor. Oh,

yeah. I'd like for all of my other members to stand. These are just a few of the quilters who make and award Quilts of Valor. This recognition tonight is really for all of these quilters who participate. Thank you all for being here. Finally, I have to mention Bill, my husband, because I am Yeah. I'm only able to lead this program because he is very, very supportive of what I do. He encourages me to actively work with deserving veterans. Bill's an Army veteran. He served 20 years. And as a singer songwriter, he's written songs of remembrance for our military, which he performs at our awards ceremonies. He also puts up with all the fabric, batting, and quilts all over our house. Again, I appreciate this recognition for all of my quilters.

Did I say that she's real smart? One more time for Rose. Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a picture with this with with you. I'm going to put this down behind you. There you go. And then and then we're going to have your friends come up. We're going to take a picture together. Okay. So, we're going to wait. Hold on a second. We're going to take a picture with just you first.

All right. Then, all of our Rosa supporters, why don't you come on up? We're going to take a group picture. Come on, stand in between us over here. And if you want to hold up a quilt, you're more than welcome to come on in. Please fill it right in. Go ahead and take like two steps forward so people can fill in behind you. Yeah, I can go.

There you go.

You're fine. I'm not sure. Thanks everybody. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Rose. This is just a little bag of stuff. Oh, thank you. Anybody would like info tonight

here, let's do that. Uh, if anybody would like info, why don't you leave that on the table out there and you can grab a flyer about Quilts of Valor out on the way out? Nominate someone. There you go. If you want to nominate somebody for a quilt or to donate to the organization, there'll be information about that up there for you. Let's head on back behind the Das. Thank you.

All right, that was exciting. And now, um, we have our community services manager, Gabby Cow, at the at the podium to present the monthly community services update. Thanks, Bob. Good evening, Mayor Prom and Council. For our community services department updates this month, I will be providing a preview of what to expect at some of our upcoming special events leading up to our annual independent celebration in honor of the nation's semiquincential. All of our special events, including those uh promoting the semi-quincentennial theme, can be found on our city website at www.c cityofmeni. us/sp specialcial events.

And and before you go any further, can we get her microphone turned up just a little bit? It's it's really difficult to hear. I'll use my recreational voice. You know how to operate a microphone. I'm not blaming you for that.

All right. So, starting this month in March, we have a series of city events that will promote the semiquincentennial theme through event components and or giveaways. I'll go into additional details in the following slides. First up is Springfest on March 28th at Centennial Park from 9 to 12. There will be food vendors, kids zone, and egg hunts throughout the morning for all age groups, including our adaptive inclusive residents, teens, and adults. This year, in honor of the 250th anniversary, there will be 250 golden eggs sprinkled throughout the adult and teen egg hunt area. These golden eggs will either contain a prize or a ticket that can be redeemed for a prize at one of the sponsor booths at the event. Uh, join us on April 25th for Meny Better Together. Project check-in begins at 7 a.m. with the kickoff ceremony starting at 7:30 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located on Bradley Road. Following the ceremony, volunteers will be released to various community service projects across the city. Commemorative 250th branded cooling towels will be given away at this event. Our park after dark series will kick off on May 22nd with the first movies in the park at Remington Park. This year, our moving the park event has been paired with our third annual adaptive sports fair. There will be resource booths, service providers, and demos on site to promote a variety of uh sports and fitness activities tailored to accommodate any ability. While National Treasure is queued up on the screen, attendees can also pan for gold at the Meny History Museum booth. The following movie in the park will be on May 29th at Banner Village Park. The Sun City Cruisers will have classic cars on display, while the movie Cars will be playing on the big screen in celebration of the 100red years of Route 66. Don't forget to bring your swim attire to enjoy the splash pad to cool off, which will be opening up Memorial Day weekend.

Meny Moonlight Market and Concert returns on June 12th at Underwood Park. The tribute band Woody and the Longboards will be on stage performing popular hits from the Beach Boys and the 60s. Come early and grab a limited 250th themed beach ball. The following week, stop by Audi Murphy Ranch Sports Park and Skate Park for another movie in the park and go skate day. We'll be watching Captain America: Brave New World. Our second Menife Moonlight Market and concert will take place on June 10th at Centennial Park. The band Y2K 2K will be taking us back to the 2000s with whimsical crazy energy of the blockbuster CD burning flip phone era. Giveaways on this night will be reminiscent of the 2000s. So, think slap bands and glow-in-the-dark everything. Our last move in the park will take place on th July 31st at Lallet Air Park with the family classic the Sandthot. We will also be joined by Animal Friends of the Valley who will be bringing out adoptable animals, weather permitting, and handing out microchipping vouchers for their clinic. So, taking a step back to June 27th to highlight our biggest event of the year, we invite the entire community out to Wheatfield Park for our annual independent celebration. This event begins at 5:00 p. p.m. this year, starting with our community parade. Returning this year will be food and craft vendors, kids zones with inflatables, photo opportunities, and a beer garden. Additional enhancements this year include increased family-friendly competitions, interactive characters and activities such as stilt walkers, balloon artists, and a bubble artist, and additional 250th branded giveaway items such as the trucker hat and reusable tote bag that you see on the screen. Uh AV enhancements include an LED video wall and shade top over the stage. Her headlining band Fat Cat Swinger is an

11piece big band blending pop, rock, swing, and jazz. So things Sinatra, Boué meets Bruno Mars meets Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Brian Setzer. And finally, we will be ending the night with a spectacular fireworks display. This year's enhancement includes a 20inut show with a one minute grand finale including much higher volume and greater variety of effects. Uh over 2400 aerial shells and 1500 total shots that will include distinctive and specialty uh aerial effects such as glittering comets, color changing shells, serpentine effects, and specialty pattern shells. So this is expected to be an electrifying culmination of an exciting day of fun activities. And that concludes my updates. I'm here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you for that presentation. Do we have any questions for uh Miss Cow? I said one question on is it your department that is putting on the welcome home Vietnam veterans event? I didn't see that on here. Yes, it is. Uh we did include it in the semiquincentennial, but of course it is one of our veterans events and it will be taking place next Thursday on the 26th at Pulma Valley High School and that is open to the public to attend and that will take place at 10:00 a.m. So that's going to be on I Thursday is the 26th, right? Correct. Okay. So Thursday the 26th at uh what time? 10 a.m.

at 10:00 a.m. at Paloma Valley High School, we will have um our welcome at uh 10:00 a.m. and then 10:30 will be the formal ceremony inside the performing arts theater. And all are welcome to attend. And if you're a a Vietnam veteran, we can get you recognized at that event as well. Just contact Miss Cow. She can get you involved in there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. All right. Now, we're on to agenda approvals and modifications. Madam Clerk, any modifications to tonight's agenda? There are none. Uh, can I ask city council for all in favor to approve the agenda? All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Hearing none. The agenda is approved. Are there any public comments? Madam clerk? We do.

All right. So, this is the time for members of the public to address the council about items which are not listed on the agenda. The Ralph M. Brown Act limits the council's ability to respond to comments on non-aggendaized matters. At the time such comments are made. Each speaker will be allotted up to three minutes on any single item. Madam clerk, please call the first speaker. We have Lori Kluff followed by Lupe Jenkins.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim, council members, city staff, and residents. I want want to make it clear that Lupe and I are not here to destroy Animal Friends of the Valleys. We're here because after months of research and digging through history, the truth is pretty unavoidable. We need our own animal shelter. In 1987, Lake Senor operated the only shelter in Southwest Riverside County. Two dog kennels, two cat hutches, no adoptions, and weekly euthanasia runs. Residents stepped up and formed LEAF, Lake Animal Friends. After months of advocacy and guidance from man Washington, the city handed Leaf the sheltering and animal control on October 1st, 1988. Leaf operated on a dirt lot with single wide trailers, no big buildings, no big budget. Funding came from adoptions, licenses, and volunteer run fundraiser. And we did it right. Every animal was spayed or neutered before going home to their adopting family. Every adoption required an in-person fence check, not a Google Maps glance like today. Volunteers built every program from scratch and earned the community's trust. I know this because I was there. I volunteered for LEAF in the late 90s. I walked properties, met families, excuse me, helped at fundraisers, and made sure animals went to safe homes. I helped ensure Leaf never drifted from its mission of humane care, ending over population, and providing a safe haven with affordable services. In 2000, Leaf became Animal Friends of the Valleys. In 2010, a new shel shelter was built using revenue from tax-free bonds sold through the Southwest Community Financing Authority, SCFA. SCFA was supposed to protect the mission while animal friends handle daily operations. Instead, that mission was abandoned. The priority is no longer humane care, it is revenue. The more animals that come in, the more money they make. The more unaltered animals they license, the more money they make. The more litters born because spayneuter is inaccessible, the more

money they make. And Menfy keeps signing checks. For those of us who live the history of LEAF, who clean kennels, walk dogs, did home checks, and raised money, watching today's failures not just heartbreaking, it's a betrayal of everything we built. We created a system rooted in prevention, responsibility, and compassion. Today, we have a system where financial incentives reward failure, where compliance is ignored because non-compliance pays, and where animals die because no one in power is willing to confront the truth. So, I'm asking again to authorize for you to authorize a professional feasibility study for city of Meny animal shelter to sponsor affordable accessible spayneuter clinics for city residents because the city doesn't have any more excuses and the animals cannot wait. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, Lupe Jenkins, followed by Bridget Johansson.

And as Miss Jenkins makes her way up here, can we have somebody take these reserve signs off the seats so people come in late know that they can sit up here if they would like to? Thank you, Miss Jenkins, please go right ahead. We'll make sure. Well, good evening, Mayor Pro Tim Carlin, and city council members. I wasn't sure what I was going to speak about this evening because frankly, we've said it all. But nothing seems to be changing. But then I saw a really touching post on Next Door about a young German Shepherd res rescued from a homeless camp. This dog was starving. He was injured. He was covered in scars, wounds, and from being attacked. He'd been thrown away by his owner and left to survive on his own. And that is why we keep coming back. Thankfully, he was rescued by one of Miniy's most dedicated rescuers. Today, he's safe. He smiles. He walks confidently and he has his life in his eyes again. Very sparkled, very lucky. But most dumped animals, especially puppies, don't get that ending because right now, Mini is in the middle of an animal overpopulation crisis. Not just in shelters, but in rescues and foster homes. They're completely overwhelmed. Rescuers cannot keep up. Fosters are full and Animal Friends of the Valley is reportedly at capacity. And at the same time, we've learned that Minhy is directly contributing to this crisis. The root problem is uncontrolled breeding. We have now obtained records from 2023 to 26 on hobbyreeder licenses issued through AFV and the numbers are alarming. Minify has the highest number of unaltered breeder licenses for those three years, 2,443.

Along with no breeder licenses for uh for breeder licenses um unaltered animals, we don't have any. So whatever the reason is behind this, it's uh very unacceptable and it must be addressed. It's imperative that Menipe act now to control this overpopulation. It's helping to create everyday problems. You must expand spay and neuter services just like Lakeland Village has with the support of their county supervisor and city of Hemmetris along with uh their rescues. So they're holding spayneuter clinics and so seems like Meny could definitely do it. These events will help directly end this pro problem in their cities. So we want to help end them here too. We also need AFV to enforce the breeder guidelines, temporarily pause unaltered breeding licenses and investigate expired licenses because if left unchecked, the flow of these births will grow. The deaths will be on everyone's hands as people continue to dump these poor animals along the road. And this problem will continue to grow. So, what is Minify going to do about it?

Miss Jenkins, your three minutes are right. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Bridget Johansson.

Hello, city council. My name is Bridget Johansson and I am a local teen artist here in Meny. I'm recently met with members of the arts council to discuss my desire to have more art installations in Meny. On a daily basis, I drive past the Bradley pencil and I love the Bradley pencil and the fact that no one really seems to know how it got there, which makes me think that we have a Bansky in town. But the pencil um has deteriorated over time and it needs to have a refresh so it does not continue to be a pointless feature in our city. I would also like to see about painting locally themed art on some of our electrical boxes, especially in our downtown area of MEAI. It would be awesome for our entertainment um region to have these art installations. Um to make this possible, I've met with Meny Arts Council and have found a few grants to make this happen. Mary KS um has helped me get the grants going and Elena McGee has helped guide me on the history of and future of art in Meny, but I want you guys to consider that one of you is going to be the first to have local art installations in your district. Um not to make it a competition, but um when funding comes through, I am ready to make my mark and I hope that you are ready to have Superfly Men Art and Meny. Thank you. Any more speakers?

No more speakers. All right, that's a good one to end on. All right, now it's time for council member updates and comments. So, this is the time for city council to provide any updates or comments on meetings and events they have attended. We'll start at the far right with council member Ben Dedric from district 2.

Thank you, acting mayor. Since our last meeting, I was able to attend a few events. um the first one on March 9th, I was lucky enough to be a judge for the Lions Club student speaker contest, which was amazing. The high school students um speaking, giving a 10-minute presentation without notes live. Very impressive. Um you know, for adults, public speaking is a hard thing to do. For for teenagers, it's impressive to see them. And the future is bright. We did see it. Yes. I'm inspired by the youth, right? So, definitely the next day I attended the chamber mixer at Sunny Rose Glenn. Um, on March 11th, I was the city representative for a student of the month. Again, more on inspiring youth. And then on March 11th, I was actually a speaker at the senior center uh senior summit talking about um sen

outstanding report. Thank you, Council Member Temple.

Yes, sir. On March 7th, I attended a community meeting um which was hosted by Assembly Member uh Johnson of the 63rd district where she gave us an update on um some bills that are going through Sacramento that will affect our city. And then on March 15th, I was part of a finance committee meeting here at city hall. Thank you very much. Alternate presiding officer Dinus. You've seen my business card. Uh I just have one thing to report is at the finance committee as well where we discussed um CFD financing and then two community benefit uh agreements for uh two battery storage projects. So that's why I have the report.

Thank you. And my report I will try to go quickly. There's a lot here. Uh I with council member Dietrich I was at the chamber mixer at Sunny Rose Glenn. That was great. Um, I attended the uh Riverside County Transportation Commission Executive Committee. Uh, quick report out from there. The I-15 Expressway Southern Extension uh is was discussed from Cahalco down to Nicholls. So, they're going to be ext expanding that. It is uh we approved $38 million that Calrans required just to be involved in the design process and environmental reporting. The whole project is going to cost, wait for it, $735 million for just that section from Cahalco to Nickels. So, please do not hold your breath. But it is in in order for a project that large to get done, it has to start at some point. And it is now. Um, I attended the city selection committee where we selected appointments from the county's sitting mayors to LFCco and uh airport land use committee. The selection was Steve Sanchez from Lintita to both. I attended the WRCOG administration and finance committee. Uh it was just internal uh private time personal time off policy discussion. Also the WRCOG employee policy ad hoc committee which is kind of working on that same topic. Uh that evening I stopped by Chick-fil-A to hang out with some of our law enforcement at Cops and Cows over there. Great. I was telling the police that it's so amazing to live in a community where when kids come up and see a group of police officers, they smile and laugh and they're they're happy to see them. that says a lot about what they're doing and the success of our our law enforcement. I attended a Rotary meeting. Uh that's always fabulous. I got a chance to go by the wildlife appreciation day. This is the first event we've had at Central Park since it's been under construction and it looks fabulous. And the kids got to have tide pools. They got to reach in and touch wildlife and and uh learn from um parks uh chair FA about different birds in the area. Well, watch for that next time. The kids really loved it. Um

I also went and saw the kids business fair uh with Ms. Johansson had a booth there. Uh, and all the kids were entrepreneurs. They made their own products and that was put on by Cynthia Namela from hellmen.com. Uh, I I did an interview with Studio 215, our new local news organization over at MSJC. Uh, that should be coming out soon. Yesterday, I attended an ambient community communities meeting about the future of the golf course. I won't bore you here with the details. Go on my Facebook page. I put an update out there earlier today. Uh just before this meeting, I attended the ribbon cutting for Children's Financial. It was actually an anniversary, one-year anniversary of them in business. And then I came here, so I think that's enough. I'll stop there. All right. Now is a time where we approve the minutes. We have one set of minutes for the council's consideration. Does the council have any modifications to the minutes from the May 4th minutes? Hearing none. Can I ask city council for an all in favor of approving the I'm sorry, March 4th meeting minutes. All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Hearing none. The March 4th minutes are approved. This brings us to the consent calendar. All matters on the consent calendar are to be approved in one motion unless a council member requests a separate action on a specific item on the consent calendar. If any item is removed from the consent calendar, it will be discussed individually and acted upon separately. Madame Clerk, any request to speak on the consent calendar items?

There are none. None. Uh, council, does anyone wish to pull anything from the consent calendar this evening? Seeing none, can I get a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar? Second.

And that passes 4. the words of Kermit the Frog. Moving right along, item number uh 11 on our agenda is the public hearing items. Our first item is 11.1, the first reading and introduction of an ordinance for annexation number 39 Haven uh into the community facility district 2017-1 maintenance services. Uh does the council wish to forego staff's presentation on the item? Seeing all in agreement, does the council have any questions for staff on the item?

All right, I'll open the public hearing at 650. Madam clerk, can you confirm that this hearing was legally noticed? Yes, it was. And is there any public testimony? There is none. Have we have any written protests received? There are none. There are none. Are there any persons registered to vote in the territory of the district? There are none. There are none. So, have the owners of all of the taxable property consented to holding the special election immediately following the public hearing? Yes, they have. Do you concur that the special election may be held this evening? I do.

So, I'll close the public hearing at 6:51 right on the nose. Does the city council have any comments or is there any uh anything to be discussed? Seeing none, can I get a motion and a second to adopt a resolution calling an election? You're an election. I'll second. That passes 40. Madam clerk, have you reserved received the official ballots and waivers from the land owners who can cast their votes on behalf of the owners of all of the property? I have. So, council, can I get a motion and second to adopt a resolution declaring election results? I'm sorry. And it was a yes vote. Oh, did I?

No, that was me. I didn't speak up. Oh, all right. They have consented and it was a yes vote.

It was consented and it was a yes vote. Fantastic. Thank you. So, in light of that, can we get a a motion and a second to declare the election results? A resolution declaring the election results. I'll second that passes 40. Madam clerk, please introduce the ordinance. An ordinance of the city of Menifee, California, amending ordinance number 2017-231 and levying special taxes to be collected during fiscal year 2025-2026 to pay the annual cost of the maintenance and services of street lights, parks, parkway, streets, roads, and open space, the operation and maintenance of storm chain systems and reserve fund for capital replacement and administrative expenses with respect to the city of Manip community facilities district 2017-1 annexation number 39 for maintenance services.

Do you need to go to page two? Are you good? Okay. Uh, so can I get a motion and a second? I'm sorry. Uh, yeah. Can I can I get a motion and a second to introduce the ordinance? So moved.

And that passes 4. That's the end of the business on 11.1. Madam clerk, thank you very much. Moving on to 11.2. Mr. Spicer gets to leave. Now, item number 11.2, confirmation of the statement of abatement costs for the Creoran Entertainment Complex. So, we have Director Hernandez at the podium to introduce the item, please.

Good evening, uh, acting mayor, members of the council. Uh, the item before you tonight will be presented by our building official, Craig Carlson. He's going to give you the time the timeline as to why we're here today. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim, council, and distinguished guests. I'm here tonight to present item 11.2, a confirmation of the statement of abatement cost for the Cororan Entertainment Complex. I would like to begin with a brief timeline of actions that will provide to you on how we arrived at this point. The Creoran Theater project started in January of 2020. The project was halted in April of 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. After the project was halted in 2020, there was a brief uh hold up on the project. There was a um some initial code enforcement actions were had started for non-compliance. This consisted of notice of violations that were issued to the property owner at that time. In 2023, there was a notice of intent to abate the public nuisance. The permits had expired. There was stalled construction progress and the owner had appealed the notice. The notice had been issued for the retail pads. The owner appealed and the time to perfect had elapsed. After that, the city went ahead and we initiated an inspection warrant for the property. This was done for an assessment of fire life safety and environmental and health hazards that were on the property at that time. Substandard conditions existed. There

was a project entitlements had already expired. There was a public nuisance declar a public nuisance declaration of the property and a demolition contract was provided to council and approved in 2025. The notice of completion was initiated. The demolition of the structures took place. The site clearance including debris and vegetation removal. This occurred back in on the permits were final on 106 October the 6 2025 and a notice of completion was a was initiated on 1119 2025 by city council and then the recordation of that notice of completion occurred on 1120. The statement of abatement costs were provided and sent to the owner on 1120 2025. The owner failed to contest within the 15 tal calendar days that were required. The owner reimbursement of the abatement cost were the failure to contest the statement of abatement cost established a waiver of the owner's right to contest. The statement is final and binding upon city council's confirmation and their subsequent purse reimbursement. Before you you will see the buildings that were demolished. There still remains the slabs on pads on pad three. The theater has been completely removed and pad four has still burned and there's still the slab that remains there as well. The accounting summary for the cost for the abatement staff time expense was $10,339.

The consultant summary was for uh the demolition itself was 231 out of that $251,652 was the total expense for the consultants. The legal summary was $158,536. Total abatement costs for the project are at $420,527. Staff recommends at this time to adopt a resolution confirming the final statement of cost to abate the public nuisance for the Kakoran Entertainment Complex located at 27387, 27459, and 27483 Newport Road. Authorize the placement of a special assessment or lean on the real property in case of delinquency. Are there any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Carlson. Uh, city council, now is the time we get to ask questions of staff regarding the presentation. Do we have any questions of staff? I just have a quick question, Miss Carlson. So, um, in the event that this matter is approved, what, if anything, happens next? Is there a collections action? Does it just sit in a lean? Is it already recorded? What What happens next? I'm going to turn that portion of the presentation over to Nome to answer that question. Councilman,

good evening. My name is Good to see you. So, oh, sorry. Go ahead. I cut you off. Oh, okay. My name is Nom Duzman. I'm with the city attorney's office.

Thank you, Mr. Guzman. Uh, so the the crux of my question is the people of the city saw the number of $420,000 and they're wondering what efforts we can make or what steps we can take to try to actually recover that money that we expended. So, what happens next in that effort in the event that this is approved? So pursuant to our municipal code, uh if this uh resolution is adopted, the property owner is provided an opportunity to make the payment. Uh if they do not make the payment in a timely fashion, then uh pursuant to this resolution, you're authorizing staff to either record a lean or special assessment against the property. They they function a little differently. A lean stays on the property until it's um maybe refinanced or sold. assessable special assessment goes under property taxes and if it goes unpaid uh after I believe three years then the county is supposed to foreclose on the property and that's the way that we recover these unpaid abatement costs.

All right. Thank you. Um council lady followup any questions? I have a question. It's either a lean or a special assessment. So who determines which one that will be? Um that would be in consultation with the city attorney's office and staff. Okay. That's all my qu Thank you. All right. So, those are all our questions. Thank you very much for for helping us out with that, Mr. Guzman. Um, all right. So, I'll open the public hearing at 7:00. Madam Clerk, can you confirm that this public hearing was legally noticed and if any correspondence has been received? This was legally noticed and the council did receive correspondence in your red folders. And is there a representative present for the property that would like to address the council?

Come on up and please introduce yourself so we know who you are. Good evening, council prom council members. Thank you for letting me speak this evening. One of the things that the timeline didn't show is that two years ago, uh I I my name is Andrea Contrarus. I'm a land use attorney and I represent the property owner show Prop Meny. And what that timeline doesn't show is that two years ago, we filed a lawsuit against the city questioning the legality of the city council's decision to uh perform the demolition. That lawsuit has not been determined yet. It is not over. It is ongoing. I I would be surprised if it was completed within this year. It might be, but it is ongoing. And it is important that you know that um the uh what what I have stated in a letter that I submitted to all of you is that we do not contest the demolition costs themselves. We were given uh information about the contract before the demolition began. What we do contest are the $158,000 in attorney's fees that show up as a line item. They are not explained. We have no idea why it costs that much for the city attorney's office to um look over the at look to participate in the demolition. State law only allows a city to collect its attorney's fees if there is a a code section that says so. Menify's code section doesn't allow for attorney's fees under the section that talks about the abatement costs. It does allow for uh attorney's fees

under the code enforcement section which I don't think applies but in any event um only allows for attorney's fees in the case of a prevailing party. a prevailing party. That's a that's a legal term of art and it that only applies when a legal action is complete. It's a judge who makes a decision on who the prevailing party is. Nobody else makes that decision. So, I don't believe that the city has the authority to to finalize or to authorize attorney's fees at this point in time. Um, it will only it should only come up when the when the lawsuit is complete, when a judge has made a judgment and when, you know, when the judge determines who is the prevailing party in the in the case. Um, now is not the time for the council to authorize a lean for attorney's fees. Thank you. I'm available for questions.

I think you're going to want to stay there. We do. Do we have any questions from the city council? I have a couple. Um I'm writing down what your notes say. It said you said that our code doesn't allow for attorney's fees under the abatement costs. That's your position. That's correct.

All right. So, I'm looking at municipal code section 11.20.010 010 of the Menifee Municipal Code defines abatement costs as quote all costs, fees, and expenses incidental or otherwise incurred by the city in identifying, inspecting, investigating, seeking, or causing the abatement of a violation of public nuisance. That's correct. Okay. So, does that exclude attorney's fees by using the word all? I believe that the state law requires that it specifically address attorney's fees.

Can you cite for me a case that says that the word all has to be uh clarified with attorney's fees specifically in the line item? No, I cannot off the top of my head, but what I can what I can tell you and in the uh government code section that I cited to you in my letter, it does say that it must provide for attorney's fees, right? So is it your argument that by not specifying attorney's fees as a delineated item, it is therefore excluded from the over term all? Yes, it is.

Okay. It also doesn't say here that if we need to buy a tire for a tractor, we can recover that. Would you say that something like that is excluded from this because it is not itemized? No. Because attorney's fees is very specific and California law in general only allows for attorney's fees in proceedings when the when there is a statute that specifically authorizes it. Does that authority that you're drawing from state that it has to say attorney's fees in those words in order for it to be included? Yes.

What statute is that please? If you look at the I'm sorry I don't have it off the top of my head, but the letter that I provided you there is a government code se section that states that a a city may provide for attorney's fees in its ordinance and that's that language requires that it state attorney's fees. Okay. So saying all fees doesn't include attorney's fees. No. Okay. So, um, now the statement of costs was delivered to show prop on November 20th of 25, right? This the the this the statement of costs is dated November 20th.

Well, the UPS receipt showed it was delivered on November 20th. I don't believe it was mailed on November 17th by regular up by regular US mail, but it was delivered by UPS on November 20th. Right. I've not seen that receipt. Fair enough. So what is the date by which you recognize that it's 15 days that show prop has to object to the statement of costs? That's correct. And that expired on December 9th, December 8th rather that Monday, December 8th of 2025.

It's our position that we did not receive notice as required by the men code. So, if a receipt from a UPS delivery to show props front desk for November 20th exists, you would agree that December 9th is an untimely appeal of those costs. Correct. We don't believe that we received it in accordance with the code, right? I understand you're saying you didn't get it, but if I had a receipt or the city was able to produce one that said November 20th it was signed for and delivered to show prop, you would agree that the deadline to respond to that would be December 8th.

I I agree that the deadline is 15 days after my client was properly served with the with the notice with the If it was properly served on the 20th, the 15 days would be December 8th if it was properly served. Absolutely. We do not agree that it was properly served. And your response was sent on December 9th. Yes, I believe so. Which is after December 8th. So if I'm wrong that it wasn't delivered by the de uh November 20th, then yours is timely. If I'm right that it was delivered on November 20th, then your opposition is untimely perhaps.

Okay. And you said that the city's not the prevailing party in this case, right? It hasn't been determined yet, but the abatement case was approved by the court. The court ordered the uh the inspection for the for a warrant to go onto the property and do the inspection. The court reviewed that and the court awarded the order of abatement, right? No, that's not correct. That's not correct. So, the city did this without court approval.

No, the the inspection warrant was a separate proceeding. The lawsuit to challenge the demolition orders is ongoing. The court allowed the demolition to go forward, but the court didn't say it didn't make a determination on whether or not the demolition orders were legal or not legal. So, that's ongoing. And what's going to happen is is if we get to the end of this case and the judge agrees with us that the orders were illegal, then we're going to come back to the city for damages.

Did you file for an injunction of the abatement case while the other case was ongoing? I'm I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me. If your premise was that it was illegal and a separate lawsuit was filed to render it illegal, why didn't you stop that case as it was going on? We we Oh, you're asking if I if I filed for an injunction for the abate for the demolition. Yes, we did. And what happened to that? The court denied it. Okay. So, the case that the the state the city is looking for attorneys fees on is a separate legal proceeding than the one that is ongoing. No, it's all within the same case.

It's all within the same case. So, we've got this separate order of abatement that was heard and approved by the court. you asked is not heard and approved by the court. There's an order of abatement. The legality of that is questioned. However, what the court determined was is that if if we come back to a situation where where the orders for demolition were illegal, then my client is entitled to damages. An order was signed by the court allowing the abatement, right? That's why it was done. It was it allowed the demolition, but it does not say that the order was legal.

Does any order say that it's legal? This the the the court doesn't say in each case, I'm making an order and by the way, this is legal. The city has not been established by a judge to be the prevailing party. Under the law, they are not entitled entitled to attorney's fees. Fair enough. Any other questions for uh the applicant or the uh appellant hearing? None. Thank you so much. Thank you.

All right. So, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 711. Um actually, I didn't ask if we had any requests to speak. Do we have any public requests to speak on this item? There are none. Okay. So, it is still 7-Eleven. So, I'm still Okay. Close the public hearing at 7-Eleven. Does the council have any comments or is there uh any discussion that would like to be made? Yeah, you can ask you can ask staff still as well or uh comment and discuss. I mean, I would like to hear from the city attorney's office as to their position as to whether they agree with the property owner's representative that they're not we are not yet entitled to take attorney's fees.

Sure. Mr. Guzman, can you can you address the uh c can you respond to the uh the appellent's comments, please? Yeah, I I'll try to respond to a number of points that were made by the appellant and hopefully that uh addresses your concerns. First and foremost, I think it's very important to note that uh the the appeal, the challenge here was untimely. Our code says that as a result, they've waved their arguments. Um and although they had the right to speak here, they actually waved their arguments uh to the to the city council. So the city council uh has uh the authority to uh disregard the comments made because it was not timely. My calculation uh if the the uh statement of ex of expenses and costs uh was delivered on November 20th as we have confirmation from um the United States Postal Office, the the deadline to have filed their appeal would have actually been November 5th. Um, so it's actually the 5th the starting of the I'm sorry,

December.

I'm sorry, December 5th. Uh, that's correct. December 5th. Uh, and I did not receive any sort of statement from them until the, uh, the 9th, December 9th as was presented. So, uh, it was an untimely appeal. Um their second position is that essentially there was no order made by the court or uh we're not the prevailing party and that's incorrect. Uh first um we issued them two separate notices of intent to abate uh one for the theater, one for the retail. They challenged both of those. Uh we went to hearing they were administrative hearings. We held them pursuant to our code and we prevailed on both of those. Okay. As a result of those determinations, we went to the city council and then there was a determination that the property constituted a public nuisance. They were provided an opportunity um at the time. They could have challenged it. They didn't challenge uh that determination at the time. Uh they had an opportunity uh to abate on their own. They failed to do so. As a result, we went to the court and we did get an inspection, an abatement warrant. The court did issue a a warrant, an order that authorized us to enter the property and perform the abatement work. Okay? So, as a result of the order, the abatement warrant. We are the prevailing party on the administrative portion. Now, they do have a right to challenge it. And my argument to them would be that actually in order to challenge it, they had to exhaust here. Okay? They had to exhaust their administrative rights, they failed to do so by appealing. Okay? In order to challenge it, they would have to first bring it before the city council. We have a process. That process envisions the fact that there could be a prevailing party just on an

administrative process. We don't need a judge. If they had never filed a lawsuit against us, we would be done here and there'd be no judge that ever declared us the prevailing party. So, the notion that we need some sort of court order declaring us a a a prevailing party is not consistent and does not understand the process, the administrative abatement process, which may never end up actually in court other than a uh a warrant where a court does not declare a a prevailing party. um the action that they filed is a separate lawsuit. Uh and you know now that they this is this determination has been made uh they can try to amend their red petition and bring this issue uh before the court. Again we will argue that they failed to exhaust and it should be you know they should be foreclosed from making the arguments but that's left for for a court to decide. Uh here before you today is the administrative process which we've gone through. We went through all the legal steps. They had their due process. They were provided multiple opportunities uh to make their arguments at every turn. The city prevailed. Uh we are certainly the prevailing party as far as the administrative um process and the abatement until a court says otherwise. I'm here to answer any other questions you may have.

One more question. Can you address the the claim of the sufficiency of language in our municipal code regarding

Thank you for bringing that up. Um, appellence council is correct. There is a government code section that says that if we want to recover attorney's fees as part of an abatement process, a nuisance abatement process, we need to have a prevailing party provision essentially for attorney's fees. That means it can't be one-sided. That means if the city prevails, it gets attorney's fees, reasonable attorneys fees. And likewise, if the appellant uh or the property owner prevails, they get attorney's fees. If you take a look at our code, I don't it's it's probably worth pulling up and it's a section that was referenced 112010 and it's a definitional provision. It has a number of definitions and the first one is abatement costs and this is the one that they point to and it says all costs, fees, and expenses. Okay. Generally in the law when you talk about costs and expenses they're different than fees. Fees are typically reference attorney's fees. If you cross reference that with code enforcement fees which is a definition I think about four down there you will find the prevailing party provision and it talks about attorney's fees. So we do have the language that is required. So when we talk about all costs fees and expenses then you turn to the definition of co enforcement fees. and you find the language for prevailing party. Okay? And it says the prevailing party here of the city is entitled to attorney's fees on these types of matter, co-inforcement matters. This is a code enforcement matter.

Questions? Uh how do we know that it was delivered on November 20 of 2025? Well, um I received from the city clerk's office. I believe it was sent by certified mail. I think we're only required in our code to send it by first class mail, but here I think as an extra precautionary measure, uh the the statement of expenses was mailed on November 17th and received with a receipt from the postal office on November 20th and that is something that Stephanie provided to me. Okay. So, we did get a signed receipt from the post office. We do have one. Yes, we do. All right.

Any additional questions? Um, Mr. City Attorney, am I required to allow uh rebuttal time to the appellant on that? Uh, you are not. You You certainly can. And there's no there's nothing that would forbid you from doing that. But you're not. You had the public hearing already and you're at a point now when you're just asking questions. Would I need to reopen the public hearing? You would. Okay. I'm going to reopen the public hearing because I can I just real quickly I was able to pull the document here and it's it's a tracking number. It's your typical tracking number and it does state delivered uh the address and November 20th 2025 at 1:13 p.m.

May May I see it? Absolutely.

You can keep the copy. Miss Contrarus, have you seen this? You can have that actually. I have access to get another one.

Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Guzman? Nothing. All right. Um, Miss Conturus, do you would you like to say anything additional? I'll I'll open the public hearing. We're going to give you that opportunity. It's your appeal. I just want to make sure you you're fully heard. So, I'll open the public hearing at 7:20. Floor is yours.

It's my understanding that the municipal code requires that this notice be uh and I apologize if I am wrong, but I believe it says that this notice must be delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested. The document you gave me says the item was delivered to the front desk, reception area, or mail room on November 20th. I don't believe that we received notice in the manner that is required by the code. Thank you. Anything further? No. You submit?

Fair enough. All right. We'll close the public hearing at 7:21. Um, any further discussion on city council after hearing the last remarks. Um, I'm going to look up really quickly. I'm not going to look up anything really quickly. I've got everything here. Um, I'm not persuaded that they filed a timely appeal. Um, I'm I'm seeing the document being delivered. I'm seeing that they received it. I'm saying they had the time, they just didn't get around to it. And for that reason, I'm not persuaded that their arguments are are valid. And beyond that, I think that the code language supports attorney's fees in this case. I'm welcome to hear from anybody else.

All right. So, let's see. So, can I get a motion and second to adopt the resolution as presented, confirming the final statement of costs to abate the public nuisance for the Creoran Entertainment Complex and authorizing the placement of a special assessment or lean on the real property in case of delinquency? I'll move.

I'll second. That item passes 40 as unaltered. Moving on. Item number 12.1, uh, Santa's workshop facility use request. May I ask assistant city manager Rebecca Kramer to introduce the item.

Thank you, acting mayor, members of the council, and guests. Uh, it's a pleasure to be with you uh this evening. Uh the item before you uh for consideration tonight is a request received from Santa's workshop, which is one of our local nonprofit agencies seeking to utilize a portion of our retired fire station 5 uh in the Quail Valley area for the purpose of storing donated items that they receive throughout the year. Currently they are utilizing space at uh Minifi Elementary School which is scheduled for renovation um which will require them to relocate the materials that are stored at the school site uh by June of this year. Santa's Workshop does uh partner with public agencies uh community and service organizations uh to uh provide school supplies, clothing, uh sporting equipment um and holiday gifts uh to children from low-income families served uh by um Mini Valley Community Cupboard as well as uh those that are attending schools in our Mini um Union and Roma school districts. Can I get the PowerPoint presentation? Um so, uh with this request, uh we are looking at um um the facilities that are available uh that uh municipal operations. Um and uh a significant portion of our operations are currently housed in a lease space. Consideration could certainly be given to allowing an outside organization such as Santa's workshop uh on a a limited basis uh to

occupy a portion of this uh retired fire station until we're able to term to determine the uh best long-term use of this uh facility and allocate the funding that would be necessary to make the upgrades um needed to support municipal operations into the future. Due to the site conditions and liability uh considerations given that this facility was built in the 1960s, the facility cannot be uh utilized in its current condition um without addressing building code and ADA compliance requirements outside of uh providing for public life safety operations or uh for a purpose like storage of equipment and supplies. Um it is important to note that uh utilization even on a limited basis of this facility uh will require some site improvements. Uh that would include securing facility doors and access points which we estimate um to be at a cost around uh $2,000. And of course uh given that this uh site is not staffed or equipped with the surveillance equipment at present outside of security alarms uh any organization that is occupying the space would need to assume the risk related to the use of the facility and uh maintain property and liability insurance. Um and uh I should also note uh that the space is not at present uh climate controlled and access to other amenities such as bathrooms would not be available for use in its current condition. Um it should uh the city council wish to consider however uh leasing uh the apparatus bay portion of the facility uh to Santos workshop for this limited purpose. um staff will work with them uh to prepare a lease agreement for council consideration at a future date. So uh with that that concludes staff's presentation. I'd be happy to address any questions that you may have and I know we have uh representatives here from Santa's workshop as well. Thank

you. Thank you ACM Kramer. Uh questions for staff at this point? Does council have any questions for staff? Um has there been discussion with Santa's workshop folks about the the required upgrades? Are they asking to pay for the upgrades in order to use the facility or would that be a city expense?

That's something that we would have to consider as part of a negotiation uh with them in their capacity to be able to support that. The space that they are currently occupied occupying um with Mini uh Union School District is um uh at a at no cost. Um, so that would be something they would need to address whether or not they would be able to uh provide for those costs as part of their lease agreement paid overtime.

And if we are doing those repairs for the intended purpose of having them lease the property, would that be considered a private use of public funds or is it still public use of public funds because it's our facility? It is our facility and we would be making the upgrades to the facility to allow for uh this particular use u which we could also um um utilize ourselves at some point. It's repairs that would need to be done on the facility if we wanted to use it for any purpose at all for the storage of materials. Yes. Okay. Any uh any other questions followup? No. All right. Thank you very much. Uh madam clerk, do we have a request to speak on this item? We do.

Let's see. you do. So, this is discussion. So, I don't need to open public hearing on it, right? We just need to speak. All right. Um, I'm going to adjourn the meeting. Just Just kidding. I kid. All right. Uh, request to speak. Would you please call our first public speaker? I will note to the council did receive a few pieces of correspondence in your red folders on this as well. Excellent.

First speaker is Bob O'Donnell filed followed by Leonard Grill. Good evening, Mayor Prom and council members. I appreciate you taking the time to listen about our Santa's workshop. You know, Santa's workshop's been in our community for over 20 years, and most of you have been involved with our Santa's workshop when we have it in December. and we are able to help so many of our children in our community. This past year it was over 1,200. And not only do they receive toys, but they receive clothing, shoes, books, crayons, you name it. When you come to that event, they are receiving bagfuls of things to take home during the holiday season. The Meny School District has been a real help to the Santa's workshop all these years because we had the space available. But now with the remodel of our elementary school that's going to open in 2028, the need is that we have to have the Boys and Girls Club leave, the historical museum, and also Santa's workshop where they were storing toys. So, we're asking our city council and our community to come together to help Santa's workshop so we can continue this endeavor of helping our community and being good stewards and also, you know, providing for our children because when we think of our children

and our community, they are our future. So, I would ask of your help as city council members and our community at large to see if they can help Santa's workshop and we will ask for that continued help tonight. Thank you for your time. Next speaker,

Leonard Grill, followed by John Tribblehorn. Good evening, Council Mayor Pro Tim. Uh my name is Leonard Grill, retired fire captain from the Qual Fire Station uh back in 19 200 one. I was I transferred to Quell Valley and realized that the community was really supportive of our sparkle of toy drive where we accept toys uh at the fire station and distribute them to community groups in order to spread them out amongst needy families. The Quel Valley Fire Station had a distinct need in the area because it was relatively lowincome community and we didn't have any community groups set up to distribute the toys. So, I took it upon myself to get together with the school at the time was Meny Elementary and local church uh to um contact families that might need help at Christmas and see if we could give them all these toys that we received. I think that first year we we helped about 60 families in the neighborhood of 200 kids. From there we continued that process uh the next 5 years and we realized that we needed a place to store all the toys and the decorations and props that we'd accumulated and we worked with local um storage facilities and they provided storage for us for free um because we didn't have a budget. Uh then in uh 2016, no I take that back 2006. Um

we we joined forces with the community cupboard and the u uh chamber of commerce because they had just started a program Santa's workshop. So we we joined forces and our efforts just increased exponentially. Our storage needs increased. Um and the program really blossomed. The uh the Menipy Elementary School had closed and they allowed us to use their facility for storage. So we continued to have free storage without which I don't think Santa's workshop would continue. And I think if that were the case, there'd be a big hole in the fabric of Meny because hundreds of kids would go without that that hope of Christmas said joy of seeing Santa Claus and um hence we're here tonight asking you for the use of the retired fire station kind of going back to our roots. Um, as one young lady expressed to me when I was delivering her bicycle that she had won at at Santa's workshop, she said, "The doctors told me I wouldn't be able to walk after this procedure she had,

Mr. But I showed him I could walk. And with this bicycle you're giving me, I'm going to show them that I can ride a bike, too." So, that's the spark of love. We represent the hope and the joy of Christmas. Thank you. Next speaker, John Triblehorn, followed by Linda Deenver.

Good evening, Mayor Prom and Council members. Lendon just took a couple seconds of my time. That's okay because he was really good. Um, I'm just going to speak briefly about happiness and hope. And um it's about the thousands of children that we see every year at Menife Center of Workshop. My wife and I are the lucky ones because we're at the very end. We are the cookie and lemonade stand and we get to see them dragging those bags that Bob talked about and the smiles on their faces. um and all the joy and happiness these children have and they can tell all their friends what a great Christmas that I had. Um it's just really an amazing and heartwarming thing. Um, so really what it comes down to is I hope that you will approve our request to uh use a little bit of the retired fire station so that we can keep making all these kids really really happy. Thank you.

Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor Potam and council members and community. My name is Linda Timber, but for one day of the year, I have a very unique position to play. I sit next to Santa, and I've been doing that for over 20 years, except for two years. And that position is so special because I get to look in the eyes of all the children and family members who are served by Santa's workshop. But also from that viewpoint, I can look out across the room and see the tables filled with toys. It's amazing the generosity of our community towards Santa's workshop. But where do we where are we going to put all of them? I mean, they don't just show up on Santa's workshop day. They're stored at the Medy Elementary School. But that's going to end. And we're asking for your help in giving us some storage space so we can continue to provide the service, the store, the the toys, and all of our art mall that we need for Santa's workshop to be a success. Thank you. Next speaker,

Debbie Manion, followed by Alyssa Turner. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Debbie Manion. I am here on behalf of Minify Sennis Workshop, a communitydriven program that has served over 20,000 children and families over the past 20 years. We are requesting the use of retired fire station number five in Quail Valley. Our city proudly embraces the theme city for families. That's more than a slogan. It's a commitment. It's reflected in the programs you support, the spaces you create, and the values you promote. Santa's workshop is a direct extension of this commitment. It is a grassroots volunteer-driven effort that brings families together, strengthening community bonds, and creating traditions that children will carry forever. For two decades, Santa's workshop has has been about more than holiday gifts. It's about dignity, joy, and connection. It's about making every child in our city feel seen, valued, and celebrated. Families who families who come through the doors aren't just receiving support. They're becoming part of a caring community. Mini, the city for families. Strong families create strong neighborhoods. Strong neighborhoods create strong, thriving city. Santa's workshop contributes to that by bringing other bringing together volunteers, local organizations, schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, churches, police, fire, spark of love in a shared mission of service. This is not just an event. It is a coordinated community effort of all volunteers, organizations, distribution, and help create a a welcoming festive environment. Our partners collect thousands of toys, clothes,

jackets, books, kids, kids, science, science kits, crafts, jack, uh, bikes, family games, puzzles, and essential goods. Right now, our biggest request and challenge is storage. With a stable storage facility, our volunteers can continue spending countless hours moving, sorting, and organizing these donations. A dedicated storage solution will ensure our ability to continue improve and expand our our expand our capacity. By working to together city leadership, community organizations and volunteers, we can strengthen the program that already has a proven 20-year track record. This is an opportunity to invest in something that is already working, already trusted, and already making a difference in thousands of lives. When we support programs like Santa's workshop, we send a clear message to the city priority that the city has priority prioritizes families value compassion and believes in a communitydriven solutions. Together we can create we we can continue creating moments of joy for families, relief for relief for parents and a unity across our our community. Thank you very much. Next speaker,

Alyssa Turner, followed by Carly Burns.

Good evening. My name is Alyssa Turner and I'm speaking today as a parent at Qual Elementary and PTO board member. Every year I watch students walk into Santa's workshop at our school and experience something really, really special. As a parent, I have personally contributed to this program and I have seen the impact it not has not only on the families who receive but on the children who learn compassion and generosity. It's one of the things that truly reflects the heart of our school and our city. Without a secure place to to store the donated toys and materials, this makes this that makes this program possible. The future of Santa's workshop is at risk. We hope that you consider the use of this space and that that would allow to safely organize and preserve the donations that our community so generously contributes each year. Thank you for your time, your consideration, and supporting the families of Meny

Carly Burns followed by Mark Donna House. Thank you.

Good evening. Um there has already been an incredible amount of eloquent wonderful things said by our community members and I just as a resident and parent um here in Meny I just wanted to lend my voice and my support of this initiative. Um I lived in Quail Valley from starting in 2008. Sorry, I had to think back there for a minute. Um I have four beautiful boys who have all attended Quail Valley Elementary School. Um two of which are currently attending there. And I do have the opportunity and the pleasure of serving as the vice president on our parent teacher organization at Quail Valley. The parents and students in our community throughout and throughout the city of Beny, not just in Quail Valley, are incredibly blessed and privileged to be able to be served by all of these incredible people. And it's so wonderful to see that they have not only given their time year after year for decades now, but it is important that as a city and I think our city priorities should be to support these efforts. This is how we get to tell the citizens of our city what's important to us. And I truly believe that Santa's workshop and this event every year is a demonstration of those city values. And sorry, I'm like getting emotional literally. I'm sorry, but um it's it's beautiful. It's wonderful. I've been able to see my children's friends and our community members be served so well um simply by people who care. And by having this investment by the city, I know there's improvements that are necessary. I know this could be utilized in other ways, but I truly feel that these improvements are an investment that pays back tenfold in the impact to the people that live here. So please, I ask the council, Mayor Prom, please consider this request as an investment in the families in this community and community that's increasingly in need because of the times that we're living in. And I feel that this investment is something that

you will see paid back through the joy on these children's faces and the relief of the parents who are there knowing that they don't have to worry about whether there's going to be something underneath the tree for their children each year. Thank you,

Mark Donhouse. Followed by Jackie Johansson. Good evening, Mayor Promp and members of the council. My uh name is Mark Donhauser. I get the pleasure of serving as a dean of instruction at Mount Sano Community College here at the Mini Valley campus. I've been doing so for the past 10 years, so I've had a chance to see and watch the city grow. uh to the beautiful city that it is uh today. I'm also the president of a local black sheep Harley Day, excuse me, black sheep motorcycle ministry for Christ which is a Christian organization. It brings the word of Christ to the motorcycle community. I get to serve as a president for that um chapter which is in the Tmacula Valley and Meny falls within um our scope. As such, we've been serving um in partnership with uh Santa's workshop for the past two years. LA last year was our second year and the first year before that left such an impression on us on how um this organization serves the community and the children in need that last year we were able to raise some funds and and contribute a small amount of $1,500 to that effort. Uh it's with that that I'm coming to you tonight again also as many members of the community tonight to show support for this organization and just uh I'm grateful that you all are hearing all of us speak uh on their behalf and I'm looking forward to you guys taking it into consideration. Again, there's not many programs that I know of that uh embody uh the excellence of serving uh community members who are in need and providing their time and talents in the way that this organization does, not just on one week out of the year, but throughout the year in order to be able to make this happen. and to be able to see not only the children but their families uh have joy that they have by going through this in a well organized way in a way that is full of integrity and be able to provide that to the city I think is a huge value. So again thank you for taking your time to consider

this request and we look forward to your decision. Thank you.

Hello council. I am Jackie Johansson. Um you guys are all awesome people so I know you're going to just vote yes on this but u most of my points have already been taken but when people ask me about Meny I have a little short list I say these are the best of the best things that are in Meny um some of them were mentioned tonight like Meny better together or the Christmas tree lighting or the Independence Day celebration which I'm a huge fan of the fact that it's in June. Um, and then, um, with our within the scope of the school district, we have a special needs talent show. I don't know if you've ever been there, but that's like such a fun time. And we also have like a special needs Olympics that we do. Um, those are all some of the best of the best, but one thing that's always on that list is Santa's workshop. And so, I'm asking you guys to continue to keep kids at the center of of this city and everything that you do. And um I thank you for finding a new place for them to go.

Madam Clerk, any more speakers? Gloria Sanchez followed by Mike Knighton.

Thank you. Good evening, acting mayor, city council, residents. My name is Gloria Sanchez. I'm here to speak on supporting the request for storage. That's it. No more. Uh Meny's theme this year is families. Without Santa's workshop, these families will suffer greatly. It is time that we all come together, which we have for decades supporting this organization. Not only do you have your nonprofits, you have your local businesses, you have private donations, and you have a a group of volunteers who do this out of the kindness of their heart. They put a lot of hours into it. And the final look is the children's smile on their face when they receive these toys at Santa's workshop. Many of these children would not be receiving any Christmas toys at all if it were not for Santa's workshop. We need to continue that. We need to continue seeing the smiles on our children who are in need during this holiday season. We should all stand up and share what they have done to make sure that our children are being recognized, taken care of, and not only during the holiday season, but they also do things on other times of need for our children that may be going through a personal trauma of their own during the year. So, it is up

to us to gather together and we ask for your support and making sure that Santa's workshop continues to put the smile on the faces of our children and the rest of the community because when you look around, we are the only city that has something like this. So let us be the city that recognizes the need by supporting their requests for storage. Thank you Mike Knighton followed by Lily Pina.

Thank you. Uh good evening council. Um I asked the clerk when I got here how many people were before me. She said nine. So, my message tonight is not really necessary, but since I brought this up, I feel obligated to say a few words. Um, I'm not going to say anything that these guys are are already said more eloquently than they did, but I do want to give out some thanks. Um, I brought this up back in January. Dan, thank you for making it a future agenda item. Ben, this is your district. Thank you for working behind the scenes. Um, Armando and Brian, thank you for listening. We'll get there. We'll get there. Um, for uh for your bees behind the scenes work. And a big thank you to Rebecca. I know how hard she's worked. Um, I have never seen the wheels of City Hall work this fast, 2 months, less than two months. So, everyone um deserves a big round of applause there. Thank you guys.

Lily Pena followed by Meria Rosenfeld. Good evening everybody. My name is Lily Pena and as I always in front of everybody, I always say I'm the proud principal of Quail Valley Elementary School. It's truly an honor to stand before you tonight to speak about something so dear to my heart, Santa's workshop. It's the best day of the year for me. For over 20 years, this incredible event has brought hope, joy, and dignity to families in our Quail Valley Elementary community. I'm going to cry. What makes Santa's workshop so special is not just the gifts um or the holiday spirit. It's the message that it sends to our families. You're seen, you're valued, and you're not alone. As someone who's had the privilege of working serving as principal of Quail Valley Elementary for the past 10 years, I have seen firsthand the impact that Santa's workshop has had on our families. I've watched parents walk in with worry and leave with relief. I've seen children light up with excitement when that door opens of the MPR, not just because of the gifts they receive or sitting on Santa's lap and seeing Mrs. clause, but because they feel the warmth and care of an entire community surrounding them. For many of our families, the holiday season can bring financial stress and uncertainty. Santa's workshop h helps ease this burden. But beyond the tangible support, this event builds something even more lasting. It builds connection. It strengthens trust between the schools and our families. It reinforces that Quail Valley is more than just a school. It's a place where we can take care of one another. As Santa's workshop has grown over the past two decades, so has the need to

thoughtfully organize and store the generous donations that have been that this event has made possible. Somebody like our friend over here who has who counts every single toy. She knows she has the inventory of every single toy. The love that these people bring to us on that day is something that I I I feel every single time we were there. But in order for them to continue serving our families with excellence, we need a dedicated, secure location to store these toys. The former Quail Valley Fire Station presents the perfect solution. Its location within the community, accessibility, and existing structure make it an ideal space to safely store and organize these items. Having this central storage that's so close to our school because I know how hard these people work bringing these toys, taking these toys, and they do it in about 4 hours. It's amazing. Santa's workshop embodies the values we strive to instill in our students every day. Compassion, generosity, and community. It shows our students what it looks like to give, to serve, and to lead with heart. To everyone who has contributed over the past two decades, I personally thank you. Your kindness has created lasting memories and made a difference to many students. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members and everyone in the community. My name is Mia Rosenfeld, the community liaison for Quail Valley Elementary, Katherine Newport Middle School, and Tawil Elementary within the Smithy School Union District. In this position, it has been an honor to assist our families through events that provide valuable resources. Tonight, I am here to support

the request for utilizing retire station number five as a storage for toys for Santa's workshop. I believe that Santa's worship has become a cherished tradition within our community. It highlights the commitment of the organizer including a spark of love, Manif Valley Lions Club, Manif Valley Cohort, Rotary Club of Manify and Manif Union School District to name a few as well as the generosity of community members who either volunteer or donate toys. This event welcomes every child and for some of our attendees from host homes, families going through financial hardship, homeless situation or lowincome families, it represents the only opportunity each year to experience the magic and joy of Christmas. As a volunteer for this event for the last six years, I have witnessed firsthand how hundreds of families have enjoyed a celebration focus on fun and enchantment of the holiday season. It fills our children's hearts with happiness and brings a smiles to their parents. The community eagerly looks forward to Santa's workshop, an event where everyone feels embraced and our students can feel engaged in the joy of the season. We truly hope you will consider the use of fire station number five for the storage of toys for Sansa's workshop. Thank you,

Madam Clerk. Any more speakers? No more speakers. Are you sure? All right. So, now is the time we have the opportunity to discuss the item. I'll bring it back here behind the dis. Who wants to start off? Any comments? Dan.

So, um, knowing the, uh, the good that Santa's Workshop does, um, the collaboration that that organization has within the community, um, not just other community members, the city, uh, the the local families. Um, I think this is I think this is a wonderful use of that uh, building. I know uh Captain Grill probably is dying to uh get back in there and uh we're yeah dying to bring back life into a a building that probably doesn't have many uses. But in utilizing it for this purpose, it will probably be one of the most valuable properties that Menfy has given what it does every year to the the families of our community. So, um I'm I'm in favor of this and uh intend to vote yes.

All right. comments. Council member Dedric.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I've been a strong supporter of Santa's workshop over the years. Uh love what they do. I've seen the the scores of smiling faces of the children going through there. Um it would be a huge loss to our city if Santa's Workshop didn't exist anymore. And unfortunately with the circumstances they're they are losing their space and if they don't find a new space it will be gone. And I I think if we have the opportunity to do that which we do I think we need to do that to give them the space so that Senate's workshop can continue. So I'll be voting in favor well we're not voting tonight but I I am in favor of them tonight. We're giving staff direction. Yeah.

Council Dis. You know, our city has a number of nonprofits that serve the community, but I can't think of too many that has the history and success of uh Santa's workshop. And um you know, you preparing the fire station has definitely will have its challenges. Uh, but I think that, you know, between staff and and the and the workshop group there, I think we can probably figure that out. Uh, I'm sure they don't mind roll up their sleeves and do a little bit of work to make sure it works. And um, so I think it's it's they serve our community uh, more than what you know the way that a city could ever do itself. I think uh the best thing could be done is have private citizens helping our community than you know the old thing you know we're the government we're here to help type of thing. It just doesn't work. So I'm I'm fully in favor of it and I look forward to when it returns. Um you know I'm a supporter of Santa's workshop. I don't think anybody hates Santa's workshop. Um, I I think the good and bad of of the success of Santa's workshop is that it has sort of outgrown being a the community is going to help us out with free stuff uh for the future. It's going to continue to get bigger and even the facilities we have aren't going to be big enough. you know, uh, Santa's workshop needs to recognize how good it is and how big it has grown and start looking differently uh, at funding and fundraising and things like that. So, you know, I'm I'm in favor of of entering into this agreement with the caveat that we really impress upon Santa's workshop how temporary this agreement is, that this isn't you're there for as long as you want to be. this is you're we're helping you bridge

the gap until you can get funding together and a a more permanent space that suits your needs better than this. Um but I just don't want this to become like a 15-year thing where the building starts to deteriorate around it and becomes unsafe and things like that. So um absolutely I think we need to help them out. They're in a state of emergency. They're one of our most important um charities in town. Um, and I I I I appreciate the comments about the the repairs that we can do that because it's our facility. We don't have to put that burden on them. But, um, yeah, I just want to make sure that Santa's workshop sees itself for what it really is and it's sort of bigger than you've ever been and it's not going to get smaller. So, um, with with that, I would I would recommend approval as well. Does staff have enough direction from the council comments? Yes.

Is there anything more specific that you need from council? I think we have enough direction and enough support to come back to you guys with a draft uh rental agreement to for consideration. Fantastic. So, it looks like it's a go.

And uh so we'll move on number 13. Mr. City attorney, anything to report? Not tonight, mayor. All right. City manager, anything to report? Nope. Nothing tonight? Nothing. All right. Uh, any future agenda requests from city council? No. Uh, before we adjourn tonight, I'm going to pass it over to Council Member Temple. You have some comments?

I do. Um the the recent uh war that's being fought in Iran has uh has touched a lot of members uh around the world, but specifically it's touched u several members in our community. And I was uh I was made aware this week of um the wife of Mike Kano, who is the uh VFW uh president here locally. uh his wife went to Iran to take care of a family matter prior to the hostilities and she is now stuck there and uh they're having a hard time communicating with her and and getting her home in spite of uh governments of Turkey and I and and the US trying to work to get her out. It's just difficult and and you know we have Mike his wife Monourir as well as our mayor uh uh who are are in conflict and I would just like to to request the prayers and a moment of contemplation right now for uh the members of our community so that they might return home to their families. So let's take a moment right now to reflect on that in uh in the honor of those who are affected by that conflict. Could you just take a moment, please? All right. Thank you. Great words. And with that, at 8:02, wait a minute. At 8:03, we are adjourned. Heat. Heat.