City Council/Public Finance and Economic Development Authority/Parking Authority - Regular Meeting

All right, ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome. Uh we're going to call the March 2nd, 2026 meeting of the Merced Council to order. Um we're going to begin just with a moment of silence. So, if everybody could please stand and and bow your heads for a brief moment of silence. All right. Thank you. Now we'll proceed to the pledge of allegiance. And if council member Harris could be so kind to lead us in the pledge.

Ready? Begin. Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Council Harris. Okay. Agenda item D, roll call. Council member Dupont, present. Tao, present. Harris, present. Smith, present. Jeang, here. Mayor Pro Timboy here and Mayor Sado here.

Okay. Mayor, I'd like to remind the audience that if they wish to address the city council, they must submit a green request to speak form located at the podium in the back of the chamber. Additionally, citizens can submit public comment to the city council electronically no later than 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Comments received before the deadline will be sent to the city council and will be part of the record and will be mentioned as part of the written petitions and communications portion of the agenda. and they will also be posted on the city's website. Material may be emailed to city clerk@c cityofmerced.gov and any correspondence received after 1 pm will be distributed to the city council and retained for the official record. Also, for those audience members who wish to hear the council meeting translated into Spanish or Mong, please let our interpreters know. Good evening. in accordance with government code 54952.3. It is hereby announced that the city council sits either simultaneously or serily as a public financing and economic development authority, parking authority, and or successor agency to the redevelopment agency. City council members receive a monthly stipen of $500 by charter for sitting as the city council. And the mayor receives an additional $100 each month as part of the adopted budget and resolution 2024-78. The public financing and economic development authority, parking authority, and successor agency to the redevelopment agency received no compensation. Agenda item E, report out of close session.

There is no report out of close session. Agenda item F, ceremonial matters. F1, um, presentation of two ballistic vests for K9 officer, Zeke and Mako. Okay, thank you, Jennifer. Uh, there's two stars of the show tonight or like true stars of the show, they're a little late in arriving, so we're going to wait uh for them. So, we're going to pass that now and then um we can take up written petitions and public comment and then we'll come back to um our ceremonial line.

Okay. Agenda item G, written petitions and communications. Mayor the clerk's office received emails from Ashley Marie Suarez and Rosie Kana regarding public comment. The clerk's office also received an email from Eric Plime regarding agenda item K2. The emails were received by the 1pm deadline. They were sent to council and posted on the city's website. Any emails received after the 1pm deadline will be sent to council. Agenda item H, public comments. Members of the public who wish to speak on any matter not listed on the agenda may speak during this portion of the meeting and will be allotted three minutes. The mayor may propose a further limit to the time available for all speakers at the discretion of the city council in order to accommodate as many speakers as possible. State law prohibits the city council from acting at this meeting on any matter raised during the public comment period. Members of the public who wish to speak on a matter that is listed on the agenda will be called upon to speak during the discussion of that item. And mayor, I currently have six request to speak forms.

Thank you, Jennifer. We'll have three minutes each. And please call the speakers at your convenience. Okay. If I can get the first three speakers to the podium to my left, uh Rosie Compana, uh Nolan Moss Goldsby, and Carique Prasad. Thank you, General. Rosie, welcome. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and city council. My name is Rosie Compa and I know highspeed rail is not on tonight's agenda and I understand no action can be taken on it tonight, but because this council has already discussed it before and because I've commented on it before, I want to briefly raise it again during public comment. Um, sorry I'm a little stuffy. I'm getting over a cold, but I'm speaking because the funding rules around highspeed rail may be changing and that has real implications. for Merrced. Under current law, SB 198 put guard rails on new funding commitments outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment until June 30, 2030 or until that segment is fully funded, whichever comes first. It also allowed a limited exception for certain certain efficiency related activities capped at $500 million. SP1411 would remove that dollar cap and allow commitments outside the Merced to Bakersfield segment in any amount for additional activities described as maximizing efficiency. That matters here because the highspeed rail authorities draft 2026 business plan still describes completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment as the path forward and states that the 171 miles from Merrced to Bakersfield are currently under design and construction. So the question for Merced residents is straightforward. If the original law set a fiscal boundary and the new bill loosens that boundary, what does that mean for priorities, timing, and accountability? And so, this isn't really just about politics. It's about public process, fiscal clarity, and making sure Mercer

is not left guessing while the rules are changing. And so I also want to acknowledge Council Member Darren Dupont um for helping bring SB1 1411 to our attention publicly. I saw it on Facebook as well. So thank you for that because regardless of where people land on the issue, it's so important that residents know these changes and that they're being discussed. And so I would really encourage the council to continue speaking um about the highspeed rail in public view and to consider a future agenda item if additional updates or local impacts need to be addressed. Um also additionally, if I have 20 seconds left, um I want to flag another issue residents should be paying attention to. The highspeed rail authority has discussed the idea of capturing some of the increase in property and sales tax revenue uh around station areas. Um just a couple sentences more but um anyways I think that that's a really important thing to um to keep in mind.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Latest business plan just came out too. So a lot of good reading there as well. All right. Next speaker.

Hi. Uh, my name is Nolan Moss Goldsby. I've never done this before, but um, I'm from UC Merrced. I am the external vice president of the African Student Union. Um, I'm really just here for a short time to acknowledge how over the past year the academic world has been under attack and severely underfunded which has left organizations such as my own in a difficult position when we try to provide for our community. Um, the best way that we have found to combat this fallout has been just trying to make our community stronger, bind together, find collaborators and supporters, people like yourselves who care about their community to show up for each other, show up for you, and we hopefully reciprocate as much care as we can. Um, mainly I want to let you guys know that our campus events are open to the public. um you, your families, your friends are always welcome to come and the more that the UC sees how much our organization connects to the community, the better things get for all of us. Um upcoming in April 11th, we have our annual our 15th annual cultural showcase uh the African Student Union on campus with UC Merrced and we hope to see you, your friends, or even your organizations that you might want to represent as vendors. uh maybe sell merchandise or just spread the message of what you do. Uh and again, this will be April 11th um 2026 and it's open for all. Thank you. My name is Nolan.

Thank you very much. It will Mr. Prasad.

All righty. Evening, mayor, council, city of Merced. My name is Carth Prasad here on behalf of Congressman Adam Gray. And for once, this one should be pretty short. Um, as last week, the House Appropriations Committee released their guidelines on community project funding. The deadline is Friday, March 6th, and uh, portal for submissions open today. It's a very short window, and while we've been in communication with city staff um, and members of the council, I wanted to make sure everyone's on the same page on this, as this is the one time I can guarantee we're all here um, under the same roof. Um, so just want to make sure that's uh, you know, that flagged for you guys because it's an incredibly short deadline. Um, last year the congressman was able to secure $16 million for uh, community project funding in our district. Two of those projects were in Merced, $3 million for Bear Creek's restoration project, $800,000 for road construction in Merced. I know city staff are working pretty hard to get this uh, get some submissions ready for us and uh, we're eager to see them. So, March 6th, mark your calendars. It's going to be tight, but uh, we're more than happy to work with you guys to make sure that we're able to meet that. Thank you. Thank Thank you bringing to bringing that to our attention. Jennifer,

see if I can get the next three speakers. Um, Alexandra Rizzo, Patricia Pratt, and Arvin Mendoza. All right. Good evening, mayor and council members. Uh my name is Alexandra Rizo and I serve as a field representative for assembly woman as Moralda Sorya. I am based out of the Mercured district office and I serve Merrced, Atwater, Planada, L Grandand and Livingston acting as a direct connection between our region and an assembly woman. My role is to assist residents with state related issues, advocate for community and ensure Merced and the surrounding areas have access to state programs and resources while also making sure local voices are heard in Sacramento. I want to briefly share a few updates um from 2025. This year, California took meaningful steps to address the affordability crisis. The legislature passed historic reforms to build more housing, cut red tape, and improve affordability. Assemblywoman Sorya was proud to author and support legislation that directly benefits our region. This includes AB36, which helps smaller rural cities and counties qualify for state housing funds. AB457, which expands streamline approvals and SQA exemptions for affordable farmworker housing in Fresno, Madera, and Merced counties. and AB639 which reduces unnecessary regulations burdens on agriculture, water infrastructure. She also authored AB848 and AB 849 strengthening patient safety and healthcare settings. Assemblywoman story has secured important investments locally including 5 million for flood infrastructure in Miff County from the state budget over $120,000 in direct community investments for our private partners. Over 1,500 backpacks given to school children in Merced County via back back to school resource fair and backpack giveaway. Over 1,000 families benefiting from Thanksgiving turkeys via our annual

Operation Gobble and Christmas gift gives via our annual holiday open house pada. And 31,000 for our young legislators program and educational scholarships. This year, Assemblywoman Sorya has introduced 18 bill legislative package focused on a water, health care, housing, higher education, public safety, and lowering costs for working families. As the bill develops, we will progress and engage the city of Merrced to seek letters of support for specific bills. Assemblywoman Sores values strong partnerships like communities like Merrced. Our office is always available to assist with state resources and navigating agencies and supporting local priorities. I'm here to listen, collaborate, and work alongside you all to support and strengthen our community. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to staying connected.

Thank you all. All right, Miss Prep.

Hi, good evening. My name is Patricia Pratt. I am a local artist, business owner of Creepy Kauaii, and member of Sienn Oho's um studio in downtown Merrced. I'm coming to speak to you today about um Merced Art Festival, which is something that we've currently secured private funding for in downtown Merced May 18th through 24th. The festival includes five large-scale murals, 10 installations across downtown, live performances, and art engagement activities within downtown businesses. Um, originally we had planned on a street closure on Canel Street May 23rd to celebrate and have kind of, you know, a big big thing where people come out from the public and they see the artwork happening in real time. Um, unfortunately because of the new street closure ordinance, we are unable to do that. So, we're working with city staff to pivot and change directions. Um, when it comes to how we'll be actually celebrating the big day of um, we're currently looking for additional fundraising to make the festival more enhanced. Um, and we will be launching our social media campaign this week. I've provided you with some information kind of a little um overview and different options for sponsorship. Um we will also be opening a call for artists, businesses, volunteers and partnerships. So we hope that we can partner with all of you as well. Um, we have already started partnerships with UC Merrced, the Merced Arts Council, Parks and Recreation, and um, yeah, we're just giving you guys a little bit of information. We look forward to coming back and speaking to you further.

Um, if you guys have any questions or would like to meet with any of our event coordination staff, we are more than happy to do that. My business card is there and one of us will make time to meet with you. Thank you. Really excited.

Hello. Good evening everyone. My name is Irvin Mendoza. I'm also one of the owners here at uh Cenohos. Uh I'm also the creator of Central Valley Film Club. And I'm just pretty much going to piggyback off of what my good friend Patty talked about. Um, this is a huge milestone for not only artists but also for uh the city of Merced because recently we got that cultural art district title and um that was something very much it was a process to get and also we want to show what Merrced is about. Um we have three goals that we're trying to do with the film festival and uh I'll keep it brief. Uh it's going to be safety, visibility and tourism. Um, the safety comes from activating and beautifying underused spaces. We want to do the murals on places of downtown Merced and on locations that aren't usually seen as much. Um, we also want to create visibility by creating bold landmarks that bring pride and attention to downtown. The tourism, what we want to do, like uh like Patty mentioned, our original plan was to close down Canal Street. Um, and with the new ordinance in play, uh, I think you have to wait six weeks after somebody closes down the street. Um, we're still working with the city to see what else we can do, but we want to increase tourism because this thing is something that we would like to do annually. Um, this is privately funded, so the taxpayers don't have to worry about that. That's something that we're trying to really uh just the only thing that we're I guess like asking for the city is to just be open to the new ideas that we're trying to do. Um I think something that we have really created lately here in downtown Merced is the culture. The culture is here. We have businesses that are very much flourishing right now and I think we're experiencing a renaissance that is very much seen. Um, and uh, with that being said, uh, this week we should

we're going to launch our campaign. We're going to see what we can provide so everybody can get an idea of what it is that we're going to do. And, um, yeah, I think that's pretty much it. So, um, yeah. So, look out for Merced Art Festival. The big day is going to be May 23rd and it's going to be a week-long event where we're going to participate with downtown and businesses so we can have a very eventful and packed downtown. So, thank you guys. Thank you. I'm really excited.

We can take up mayor. I do have one more request to speak form. Um Michelle April Michelle. Jeremy, do you guys need a little bit or you ready to go?

Okay. Good evening, mayor, council members, Merced. My name is Michelle. I've been a resident of Merced in 19 days, it'll be 61 years. So, I've been here a long time. Um, I haven't been here lately, but I all the murders that have been going on in Merced since this year started, it's really really hurting me to the heart because these are babies killing babies. Um, I've been out of the game for a while. And what I mean by that is when COVID hit, the McNamera Youth Center, we had to shut it down because the city and we appreciate it. They they found that, you know, it's probably not a good time to have it open. So, we shut it down. And then shutting it down like that, we kind of lost touch with some of our youth. But, as you can see, raise your hand, Ruby. Ruby is one of the um youth from the McName Youth Center. We've had a 10-year relationship. She was 9 years old when I first met her and now she's 19. She has a job. Um, met her in the grocery store today and, you know, I heard Miss Relle. And so, I'm looking around. Who's that? It was Ruby and I named her Ruby Tuesday. You know, the restaurant. And so, we just started talking and I told her I was coming to the city council meeting and she said, "Well, what's that?" And I shared with her what it is. And I said, "Is there anything in your community that you need help with or you think needs attention?" and she was like, "Yeah, we need a four-way stop sign at the corner where she lives." And she lives a block away from Martin Luther King and 11th Street, is it?

12th Street, I'm sorry. And um I told her, "This is a place that you come and you share that information with the mayor and the city council members and they they act upon what you asked them and they go check it out. And if they do see that it's a problem because of so many accident then they will make a move. But I said all that to say she's a youth that I met 10 years ago. She is one of the fortunate ones that did not get involved in a lot of stuff where she could not be here. Was that simply because of the Magname Youth Center? Was that because Kelly and I took our time out to work with these youth to give them something they didn't have? to help them with homework when their parents couldn't help them, to give them internet when they didn't have or even computers. We have got to do better by our young people. Everything that's coming up now is not for the youth. You know, I know there's a budget for youth. And I'll bring it up again real quick. When I was a youth here in Merced, we had a budget of $700,000. Why did that disappear? Because there's more youth now than there was then. But we got to get a bigger budget so that we can meet the needs of our youth so they can stop killing one another. Thank you.

Thank you, Michelle.

Back to ceremonial items. Yep. Back to ceremony. Okay. Agenda item F, ceremonial matters, F1, presentation of two ballistic vests for K9 officer Zeke and Mako. Thank you. And Michelle Ruby, there's folks in back too if you want to talk about um uh we got some city staff in back there as They can help you with this with the stop sign issue. Thank you. All right. All right. Come forward, Lieutenant Salers.

All right. I can turn it over to you, Jeremy. Good evening, mayor, uh, city manager, city council members. Tonight we're here. We have uh Euseite Gateway Chapter 126 here who's going to uh donate two ballistic vests for our K9 unit. And before I have them speak on their donation, I'd just like to talk a little bit about our uh K-9 unit. Please keep it down.

Little bit about our K9 unit. It's uh headed up by Sergeant Horn. We have Officer Zazetta, Officer Mccannon, and Officer Hernandez. We have three canines. Uh as of the beginning of this year, we have 68 deployments for our K-9 officers. That includes searches for narcotics, firearms, and building searches. So, a little bit of information on our K9 unit, and then I'll let Eusede Gateway chapter 126 feet speak. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor and City Council for having us. Um we are here tonight on behalf of the use gateway chapter order of the Eastern Star um here in Merrced. I'm Rich Westfall. I'm worthy patron and this is Janet Mason. She is our worthy matron. Um a quick quick introduction. Our order was founded in 1850 and we affiliated with the we are affiliated with the three masonry um and consist of both men and women and are currently consisting of 10,000 chapters in 18 countries. Our purpose is to promote charity, truth, and fellowship. One of our favorite projects is the Brady K9 Fund. This fund was organized when it was discovered a need for ballistic vests to protect the canines who protect our communities. The goal is to provide every working dog in America with a lightweight ballistic vest. The last line of defense, the LOF systems, a K9 U defense systems K9 street fighter is used by law enforcement and special forces K9 teams globally. It is lightweight design, rapid deployment, and outlast and Outlast thermal management technology make the Street Fighter a versatile, comfortable harness working dogs can wear for their entire shift, ensuring that they are always protected when confronting a threat. The goal is that both human and K9 partners come home alive and safe. We are continuing to raise money for more vests. Um, we hope that this year we'll be able to provide vests to the Merrced and Mariposa County Sheriff's Departments and we are planning events over the year to um um to help raise money and we hope you'll join us and bring your checkbooks. Um, we're uh I would like now to introduce Bill Hunt and our grand Sentinel of the Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star and his wife Gail Hunt. They are the

co-chairman of the Brady's K9 Fund for California. Good evening, sir.

Good evening. I'm Bill Hunt and this is my wife, Gail, mayor, city council members, officers of Merced Merrced Police Department. Uh we're we're excited to see the presentation here by Yuseimity Gateway Chapter. This project is near and dear to our hearts as we travel across this state um each week. In fact, we were just down in San Pedro and Ventura and the Southern California over the last couple of weekends presenting Brady's K9 project there. And I wanted to offer a a warm fraternal greetings from our state leaders, uh, Terry Bowman, who is our worthy grand matron, and from our worthy grand patron, Will McQuarter. They are our bosses and appointed us to the positions uh with the helping the the Brady's K9 project. So Brady's partnered with the Order of the Eastern Star in California in October going into the 25 year in October of 2024 and it's carried through to this year and it's uh rumored that it may carry on for the next couple of years and we're hoping so because we truly understand what these K9 officers uh the dangers that they are facing when they are in the community working with your human officers. And it's our feeling that these officers deserve to come home just as much as the human officers do and they need that vital organ protection that these vests provide. Um Gail's going to talk a little bit about some of the numbers that we've done over the last year and a half, but we thank you for allowing us to be here and present these vests to your K9 officers. Good evening. So, I just wanted to brief you on this project has been going on since 2024. And um between 2024 and November of 24

and November of 25, we've raised over $50,000 for these vests for the dogs. They cost about $1,200. So, um, with the continued project, we don't know the final numbers for this year, but we do have 25 vests that we've either, um, presented to the K9's police departments or currently on order. So, we're very passionate for this project and, um, hope to save lives for our human officers along with our kines. Thank you. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right.

We'll invite you all down here and

give everybody a second to come down and and set up and then we'll turn it back over to Lieutenant Salers. Come on, Jeff.

How many pounds? How many pound those vest? The dog vest. How many pounds? You got anything else?

I was just letting you take a picture first real quick. Okay.

I was just going to tell him thank you. We also Yeah.

Yeah. Good. Big one. Wonderful. Thank you. Big one.

Thank you everybody. Appreciate you all. Thank you so much for everything. J any we got concluding just real quick before everybody leaves uh use Gateway we just wanted to say thank you from the police department and we appreciate it tremendously your donation to us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all.

Oh shoot. Give us the food back.

Yes. Sure.

Mayor, while the photo ops taking place, I want the community to understand the vital role our canines play in our law enforcement. Just this week alone, uh, one of these dogs helped recover a large quantity of narcotics from the street as well as several thousand dollars in drug money that was running through the city of Merced. And they are single-handedly responsible for helping us deescalate situations by arriving on scene. And they are probably the main driver to help us reduce forces in the city last year by 10%. So, uh, this team does an outstanding job. They work. We have all 7-day week coverage with our kines. And uh they're not just they're not just tools like other police. They are part of our police family and we're so happy to have them. And I believe they just took third place uh this last week in a national competition here locally in Fresno. So they're just we're so proud of them and all the hard work they do, including Sergeant Horn, Lieutenant Sawers. Thank you. All right. Thank you all again. We we appreciate the generosity.

Thank you. I'll give a second to clear out and we'll start consent. Thought they come after the snacks in my desk. Okay. Okay. Agenda item I, consent calendar. All right. Consent. Anyone from the council have any items on the consent adjust agenda which they would like to see pulled for separate consideration? Jennifer, anything from the public? We don't have anything, mayor. All right. Back to council for discussion andor a motion. Motion. Second. Boil Harris.

Okay. Okay, I have a motion by Mayor Pro Tim Bole and a second by council member Harris. The motion will include agenda item I7, the adoption of ordinance 2588, an ordinance of the city council of the city of Merced, California, amending chapter 1050.010, establishment, and agenda item I8, the adoption of ordinance 2589, an ordinance of the city council, the city of Merced, California, amending chapter 10.20.190, warrants, stop signs. Mayor and council, please cast your votes. Okay. And the motion passes unanimously. Right. Thank you, Jennifer. Onto our public hearing for tonight.

Agenda item J, public hearings. J1, public hearing to consider adoption of a resolution granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for Hastings patrol services to engage in patrol private patrol services.

Thank you, Jen. All right, Sergeant Ren. Good evening, mayor, uh, members of the council. Um, the item before you is a request from Hastings Patrol Services, a a private security firm, uh, for approval of a city business license to operate in the city of Merrced. Um, Hastings Patrol Services is a licensed security contractor based out of Alama. The company currently provides security services in Santa Clara County and is seeking authorization to conduct business in Merced County, including the city limits. Uh the company holds a a valid private patrol operator license uh issued by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. Uh the license is in good standing and valid through May 31st of this year. Uh the company is also in good standing with the California Department of Consumer Affairs. At present uh Hassin Patrol Services employs two security guards which includes the qualified manager. Uh the company maintains one active contract in Santa Clara County and has two pending contracts to provide security uh services in the city of Merced. Uh a background review was conducted and confirmed that the business and qualified manager are in um good standing. Um, there is one prior disciplinary action on record with the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Uh, in September 2022, the company received a citation for failing to maintain accurate and current uh, training records for its employees. uh they received a $1,000 fine, administrative fine, and the matter has since been resolved, and there there have been no subsequent violations or

compliance issues. Um after looking into the matter, um well, there there's no anticipated impact on city resources and based on a review and the company's good current standing, uh this item is ready for council consideration. Thank you, Sergeant Render. Any questions? Okay, we'll open the public hearing. Jennifer, do we have any requests to speak from the public on this item? We don't have anything, Mayor.

Gentlemen, this is the time for the public hearing on this item as to whether or not Hastings Patrol Services uh should be authorized to conduct business uh here in the city of Merced. Okay, seeing no request to speak, we'll close the public hearing. We'll bring it back to councel for additional questions, uh, discussion andor a motion. Motion, second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um, council member Jeang. Pending discussion and we'll turn it over to council member Jean.

Yeah, just reiterating what I say every time an item like this comes to council. I'm not fond of private security. I think uh there's more accountability with regards to public uh officers and so I am not in favor of extending or having another private patrol in the city of Merced. Okay. Comments are noted. Any additional requests to speak or discussion? Okay. Seeing none, Jennifer will call for the question.

Okay. Have a motion by council member Harris and a second by council member Dupont. The motion will include the adoption of resolution 2026-13, a resolution of the city council of the city of Merced, California, granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Hastings patrol services. Mayor and council, please cast your votes. Oops. And the mo motion passes with council member Jeang voting no. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Okay. Agenda item K, action items. K1, mid-year budget review for fiscal year 2526, general fund supplemental appropriations in the amount of $157,400 and $652,545 in budget amendments in various funds. Thank you, Jennifer. Our midyear budget report and uh to our finance officer, Venus Rodriguez.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Tonight, I'll be presenting the midyear budget review for fiscal year 2526. As part of that, we'll also review some closing fund balances for fiscal year 2425. Um give the midyear update for 2526 and then uh we'll review some recommendations uh for the current fiscal year. So, our uh fiscal year ended June 30 of 25. And so now that we've uh finished up all the transactions, we're currently in our audit process with our um external auditors. We do have some information to share with you about how we ended the year compared to how we thought we would end the year. So in uh in the general fund for fiscal year 2425, we thought we would end the year at 11.7 million as fund balance. We're actually uh a little ahead there. We're $2.2 $2 million to the positive ending at about 14 million. In development services, we thought we'd end at 2.1 million. We're actually ending up at 2.6 million. Um so both of these are well general fund. Uh we actually have a little bit more revenue and some savings in in expenses, which is where we get the 2.2. In development services, we've actually had some um savings in expense in the expense areas. Uh parks and community services is uh pretty close to um ending up where we thought. Uh they ended at uh 25,000. We thought they'd end at 16,000. The airport is ending at 175,000. We thought they would end the year at 36,000. So they're 140,000 positive and again there's some expenditures there where they had some savings. Measure C. Uh because of the positions uh being in the public safety portion of Measure C and the old Measure C, we combined um this balance for you. And so we thought we would end the year at 5.1

million. We're actually at 5.6 million. So we're positive there. 400 a little over $400,000 again due to salary savings and some expenditure savings. Um in measure Y, we ended at about a million dollars. in the budget, we thought we would end at uh 657,000. So again, there's some savings there. Um not all the funds were used in the police area. They had some um savings from temporary positions. And then in the discretionary um uh portion of measure Y, there was some savings there too. Uh the one area where we did fall short and we did come to you a few months ago asking for additional funding for housing administration. So although um we asked for an additional 218,000 to try to make them whole, we did end up still negative here. And in a future slide, I'll kind of show you um why we left that negative. So some of the areas that the general fund supplements um and has historically is in development services, parks and community services, and the airport. for 2425 there was only supplement uh for parks and community services of 1.6 million and they actually did use 100% of that supplement from the general fund. So there were no savings um in in that area. So now we'll move into the 2526 uh midyear update. So today we uh staff has come to council requesting additional appropriations from the general fund and so this is um the specifics on what you have approved so far as appropriations. So there was community assessment and public opinion survey consultant. Uh you approved an appropriation of 53,250 for that. Uh there was a maintenance district assessment ballot costs. So this was 16,546.

For those maintenance districts where the um assessments, the increased assessments were approved, we will actually be seeking um reimbursement for that in fiscal year 2627. So we will get a bit of this back. It just won't be in this current year. For the Lou Edwards Group uh engagement and consulting services, you approved 104 375. And then for the HDL uh consultant fees for the business license ordinance and the fee study, you approved an appropriation of 50,000. So net appropriations is $224,171. There's also some requested uh recommendations for appropriating from the general fund tonight. And if you do approve those, which we'll go into a little bit more detail in future slides, but those total 157400. So the total for the current year would be 381571. So just to review the uh general fund um what we originally budgeted budgeted and what was adopted to start July 1st of 2025 compared to the revised budget now. Um so we estimated we would begin the year at 11.7. Again we're up a little bit 2.2 million. So, we're starting the year at 14 million. Uh we have uh revised revenue compared to the original adopted. We're up 38 uh 83,862. Uh revised expenditures uh a little bit more there, 243 364. So, we're estimating the the year to end at about 9.7 million. Um we have to uh keep 5% of that as general fund reserve contingency. And so the un unreserved unencumbered general fund balance is estimated to be $6.3 million uh by the end of the fiscal year. So a lot goes into the revised budget. Um the budget resolution allows us to true up capital

projects to true up grant carryovers to bring over encumbrances and so all of that is uh in in addition to the appropriations that you approved. So all of that um coming over is what's creating the revised budget. So just looking at our revenues and expenditures through December, which is your mid-year point, right? This is a mid-year update. So we're trying to give you that information. So expense for in the general fund is estimated at 68.1 million for the entire year. Uh midway through the year, we have spent 33.5 million, which is 45% of the budget. On the revenue side, we're estimating 63.9. Uh we've received so far 15.3% which is 27% of the budget. So even though that seems low, that's actually a really good number. Uh typically around this time we've received about 24%. We're actually up a little bit. Um and that's because of the way that we receive property tax. Property tax is received in January. And so you won't see that number in in here, but we have received that um now. And then on the expenditure side, we tend to be in the 4950% area. And so we've actually spent a little bit less um than we normally would at this at this time frame. So now we'll get into a little bit of detail about the uh um sales tax. So we have received um two reconciled quarters. At the time of putting together the presentation, we've we had only received uh one reconciled quarter with uh all the data behind it. We met with HDL, our sales tax consultant, and so they have uh told us that we are up 11% on a cash basis. So we've received 4.6 million for third quarter, which is your July through September time frame.

So that's 27% of the budget. Of course, as long as we're seeing 25% um we're hitting our quarterly, um amount based on budget from a economic standpoint, um we're up to only 6%. And you can see all the major industry groups that are up in that quarter. So, it's most of them except for business and industry and food and drugs are the um two that are down. Some other sales tax areas where we receive money um is measure C. So, we are up 10%. So 10% equates to about $222,000. And then in measures V, we're up 17.6 through December. So this is money we received through MC AG on the halfsent um sales tax. And so uh 17.6% equates to about 120,000 um extra. And also we've received um just the dollar amount data for the fourth quarter sales tax. So that would be your October through December which includes your Christmas time right and so we are up 5.5% um in that quarter. So this um these three areas make up 55% of the general fund revenue. So I like to give a little bit more information on these in these areas and we did talk about sales tax. So through January, um we've received 7.4 million in sales tax, which is 43.5%. Through today, um it's not on here, right, but I can share that through today, which is um two quarters worth of sales tax, we've received 9.2 million, which is 54% of the budget. So we've we've exceeded the 50% mark, which is uh all positive, all good news.

uh secured property tax. Again, we received that in January, and so we've received the first installment, which is 54.4% of the budget. So, we'll we'll receive a second installment uh close to a similar amount in May. And then, usually we get a cleanup around August. And then vehicle and L backfill, we've received uh $5.3 million against our 10.3 million budget. So, that's 51.2%. So, these are all very positive numbers. We're exceeding our budget which will hopefully continue. And this just uh this slide just shows you um kind of over the last five years how that has gone up or down. And you can see compared to last year our sales tax has gone up 11.4%. Um last year was down 1.9% at this time frame. Uh secured property tax has gone up 5.4% 4% last year was only 2.6%. Uh vehicle and loo has gone up 6.4% compared to last year at um for the first installment. And the one area where we are seeing um a downtrend is in the cannabis measure Y tax. So, we are seeing um for the first two quarters of the fiscal year, which is July through December, we're seeing a 4% decrease. So, for cannabis tax, that equates to about a $30,000 decrease. Um if you take it in the 20% increments, it's about $6,000 for each of the of the areas, right? Police, fire, parks, and wreck. And then you have your discretionary, which would be $12,000 decrease. So unless there's any questions on that, I will go into the recommendations for current fiscal year.

Any questions for our finance officer? Council Jean. Uh Venus, can we go back a few slides? Um for the Let me see on my screen. Um on if we look at slide four, um can you remind me again what that $2.2 million differences? Was that cost savings or is that revenue? Is it this one or this one? Um no, keep going forward. The 2.25 1 million. This one? That one I believe. Okay. Yeah.

So on the first row, the 2.25 25 million. Oh yeah, $2.25 million difference. Is that just remind me because I might have missed it. Um, was that from cost savings or is that from tax revenue? So that is a mixture. We got a little bit more revenue than expected, a little bit in the RDA residual area, um, secured tax, secured property taxes. Um, and it's also savings. So when the departments don't spend all the money that they're budgeted, then there'll be some um expenditure savings. So it's a mix of two things that create that $2.2 million number. Awesome. Thank you. Um and then if we go down to I think slide eight.

Eight. Sorry, they're not numbered. So I'm It would be the one with current fiscal year 2025 26. This one. Oh, sorry. They all have the same title. Um yes, that one. Um so for the revised budget, um both the original budget and the revised budget has the same 5% contingency on there. Um is there a reason why we don't increase it under the revised budget?

So we're con we're constantly revising our budget um based on what the budget resolution allows and then coming back to council. So we've made it a policy to not change it. Once we create it for the budget year, it remains that way and it's based on operating budget. And so typically the operating isn't what changes. What tends to change are grant carryovers or uh capital project type of carryovers.

Awesome. Good to know. Thank you. Um and if we look at the next slide, um for this one it indicates that's through to December and then we have like two slides down is through to January. Um, is there any reason why we're we don't align the two?

It it just has to do with timing. I mean, it's supposed to give you a midyear budget, right? But if I don't give you uh this information here, for instance, for secured property, tax and vehicle and loo, there would be no information because we don't get that payment until January. So if you want me to align it, I can try to make the other the it become through January that other that other projection slide. Um if you want me to align it, I could do that. Yeah, I mean it would be great to update the the one with the bar graph on there um to go through to January if we have data through to January simply because it doesn't the math doesn't add up when I'm looking at the two.

Yeah. And it won't because that's why I try to make the notes at the bottom that says through January and then the other slide will say through through December. Yes, but I mean here they're they look way off, right? And then I understand that in January we receive this property tax. But uh just having this bar graph go through to January would be really helpful. Um and then just a question on the next one slide up um on the quarter this one. Yeah. Um and what am I doing? Just making sure I understand the terminology here. So when we're talking about fiscal year 2526, that's from January through to June. Is that correct? For this quarter?

July through to June. It's July through September. Correct. Uh and then when we say third quarter though, we're referring to that as from the calendar year. Is that accurate? Yes, because um the state works off of a calendar year even though we're fiscal. So for them it's the third quarter. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. To me, I was confused when it says fiscal year 25 26 and the third quarter, which I would normally think it's in January through April. Yeah, that that can be confusing. Um, the third quarter is the first quarter. Yes. Um and then for the one regarding first there

for the graph regarding measure Y. Um is there um so that first year of the 2020 with uh 637% increase um is there any way to normalize that number because if I'm not mistaken it was that's an inflated number where we collected there was a misreporting we collected too much and then in 2022 we because that error realized we did not collect as much and so that's why there's a 56% decrease.

That's correct. Yes, there there was um where they had over reported and then they ended up taking credits in a future year. Um we could work on trying to so that it's not so skewed, right? Is that what you're trying to say you want? Yes, because the way the graph is presented, it looks like it's a sharp decline since 2020. Um and so if we actually normalize the number to what we what was supposed to be collected um it would show hopefully show a more uh stable graph,

right? Uh we could do that. Um we tend to show things on a cash basis because even though we you know we got it way back then we spent it right and so now we have this huge reduction and so it's about how our cash flow is happening and how it's impacting our departments. But if you wanted to see it more normalized, we we could do that. Yeah. I mean, I understand where you're coming from, too. Um, it's just more with when community sees them like they're they're thinking that, hey, we had a major drop off in sales, which may not be truly reflected in the numbers. Yeah, I could work on that. Awesome. That's all I have. Thank you. Okay. It's part of that I mean there's been research on this too. Part explained by the pandemic as well. During the pandemic, there was

a heightened consumption of products that are subject to the measured Y taxes. Put it that way. Yeah. I mean, you're going to see that go down, but it's won't like you're still going to see quite quite a jump. Just pro probably won't be that big. Coun. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Venus. I want I would like you to go back to uh your ending fiscal year 2425 slide towards the beginning this one.

Yeah, I know I know more discussion to come. I want to blow past something that I think is really positive and I think your department did a nice job. the council should take note and appreciate the fact that with the exception of housing administration now you're going to talk about there was a strange unforeseen issue but I mean you guys really nailed the forecast and I appreciate the fact that you conservatively estimated and came in in the black at least at this point in the year um with some of these funds that are um dependent on the general fund. So, just want to want to make sure we note the fact that um this is a win for your department and I appreciate the stewardship that you have shown.

Thank you. I I will say it's it's a collaborative effort with all of the departments. I mean, when we we monitor, but we definitely talk to them and um we don't we don't do the dayto-day with them. So, once we talk to them, say, "Hey, you really have to watch this area." They they do tend to listen to us and they will work on that. And so, that definitely helps us too. Unmeasure why. I mean, it looks like you're able to forecast measure Y revenue. Kind of back to my colleagues discussion earlier. Are you is your office basically throwing out 2020 through 22 and just looking at the more recent years to get a trend line? Yes. Yeah.

Okay. And then you don't have to go back to the slide, but there's the bar graph that shows expense over budget, revenue over budget. Isn't it true that over the course of a a budget year expenses are relatively constant, but re revenue comes in later in the year? That's correct. That's why you see that the expenditures at mid year are more in that 4950% range because they're pretty constant. You know, it's your salaries. You're you're going to have that every pay period, right? Um versus the revenue coming in um at different times just depending on the type of revenue it is. Okay. And you'd expect that revenue bar to catch up, so to speak. Oh, yes. As we get deeper in the air. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Additional questions. Venus. Again, thank you. Thank you. As as Council Member Smith stated for your your wonderful stewardship over the city finances and uh good good numbers that especially the general fund, the 2.21 21 um million dollar actual increase over the the budget balance or actual balance being 2.12 2.2 million better is certainly very very good news. So all right done with the good news. Now on to the onto the the request the request

what happens when you have good news then you're going to have request.

Okay. So um you know we discuss with department heads what if there's anything that they're needing or wanting to do for the current year or if we're seeing some uh concerned you know areas of concern. Um and so we go through this process and so these are some of the requests that came forward. Um so in the city clerk area um the council had approved a remodel uh project for them due to uh safety concerns. And so that was $100,000. Uh 20,000 of it was used for some design services um and engineering. And so there the request is to add an additional $20,000 to make up for that to actually be put in the actual construction of the project. uh fire has requested $60,000 for weed abatement. Um they know that code enforcement is a priority for the council and they've not been able to put weed abatement funding in the budget um in their budget for a few years and so they're wanting to add that now and be able to do some weed abatement projects on um parcels that are not in compliance. Uh fire uh is also requesting AED replacements. This funding would come out of measure Y for $60,000. And this is has to do with um compatibility with the new ambulance services. Um the current ones that they have are not compatible with the ambulance service um that is now in place here in the city. And so they would like these uh the funding for replacements. and the police department uh they had requested uh 20,300 in software purchases and during the budget process uh finance um in error um excluded this funding from measure Y and so that software is still needed to be purchased by police and so there we're requesting that that be appropriated in the Measure Y fund

for housing. Um we'll go into a little bit more detail on the two housing areas, but the request is um to cover some administrative cost shortfalls in housing. So 77,400 would come from the general fund and then 352,600 from the affordable housing fund and then 72,773 would uh cover the Cal Home grant administration shortfall and that also would come out of affordable housing. Uh the engineering division um is requesting um some additional appropriation for surveying equipment uh scanning services and project management. So, they've seen some additional uh revenue due to race communications um um some of the work that they've been doing and receiving revenue in. And so, they're requesting some of that funding be used towards these areas. And then the fleet area, the only way to um kind of carry over money is to either encumber it or if it's in a capital project. and some of the fleet purchases, although they made the big purchase of the actual vehicle, some of the equipment packages were not encumbered. And so the appropriation was lost. And so this is just um requesting to reappropriate that funding to cover those equipment packages for some public works vehicles. Uh so this is three or four of the vehicles, I think, and it's 109,645, and that money is coming out um out of the fleet replacement fund. Some other requests are the finance department is requesting to delete a payroll supervisor and add a senior accountant. So this position is um same supervisor classification, same pay, so there's no fiscal impact, but it the payroll supervisor is very specific to payroll only. And by making it a senior accountant um not only can it uh supervise payroll but it can also help

in other accounting tasks in the department. And then for pid and tbid um we're asking for just authority to reconcile any actuals received for delinquency. So we when we budget for the program we're budgeting it's basically a pass through. So when we assess at the county, the county sends us the money. Um we keep a little bit for admin, but then the rest is just passed through to PBID. And so what we are not accounting for is the delinquencies. So we didn't get that money last year, but we're getting it now. And so we're not going to have enough appropriation to pass that through um by the end of the year. And our agreements for pit and tidbit are very specific about the timing. So once we get money from the county or from hotel years, we have so many days to pass it forward and so um we won't have the timing that we need to come to council every time we have something like that. So we're asking for authority just for whatever we receive to be able to reconcile that appropriate it and move it on to PVID and TBID. And so now this is where we get to the um housing administration. So, um housing was um reviewing their time and wherever they've been spending their time this fiscal year and they have um they have defined that they have used their time in affordable housing 82% of the time and then to nonaffordable housing projects 18% of the time and so they are estimating a shortfall. So we came to um when we had the budget approved beginning of the fiscal year, we had equal revenue and expense. So we had a balanced budget at that time. Um we came into ending the fiscal year short. And so when we came in short, we moved in what we thought we needed and then we reduced some expenditures um in

the new year so that the revised budget would then come on in balance. So that's where you see our beginning balance. Our revised revenue didn't change from the original, but we do did re reduce the expenses um by 74,360. So that again it it balanced our budget. Now that we're moving into budget for next year, looking at what are we actually going to accomplish for this year, um we're actually seeing that we're going to have a reduct quite a bit of reduction in revenue. Um the way that housing is getting their or estimated to get their housing this year was some CDBG funding, some home funding, and some low moderate income funding. And so where they're seeing a shortfall is in the home funding. So the projects that they're they were thinking they were going to do for home um have are not going to happen. And so they have quite a reduction in revenue. And so with that reduction and then we went and said, okay, well where can we also reduce expenses to try to help this? So then you see that their projected budget is 258,790 in revenue and 605283 in expenditure which still creates a shortfall of about $420,000 which is why the request is to um try to fill that gap with affordable housing um funding of 350 to600 and then the nonaffordable housing would come from a general fund transfer of 77 7,400. Do I have any questions on that before I move on?

Questions? Council Harris? It's probably going to come up later. I just wanted to make a request to add into the supplementals. Okay.

Additional questions at this time? Okay. Seeing no proceedings.

And then the other area of housing where we're uh making a request is uh due to the Cal Home grant. So in October of 2022, we were awarded 2.5 million of a Cal Home grant that expired. It was a three-year grant expired in October of 2025. So, the uh grant funded um a few first-time home buyer loans of 83,000 and an owner occupied rehab loan of almost 45,000. Of the grant funding, the city received zero dollars of administration, but they did uh team up with self-help to administer the program. And so the administration cost based on the agreement that we had with self-help uh was $110,000. Of that the grant only reimburseed 37,264. So it leaves a shortfall of 72,773 that we have to fill. Um self-help did process 11 additional loans that equated to about a million dollars, but they never they never finalized. They never moved forward. So we were never able to claim any kind of uh admin through the grant for those loans. So this is where we get a shortfall and the request is um a transfer from the affordable housing uh fund to fill that that gap. And the last slide here is um although there's no midyear recommendation, I just wanted to bring to the attention that you might see something come later. Uh there from the time that we adopted the budget um and created a budget for community services. There's been a lot of changes since that happened. Some good and some not so good. Um so we had the fee increases that that were

approved in December. Um there have been some vacancies in the department. So there are some salary savings. Uh we did get uh a zookeeper contribution of $200,000 over three years. So this for the first year there was 65,000 that was added to the budget for that. But um we are seeing the reduction in measure Y of 4% so far. And then we are seeing reduction in zoo revenue due to the construction that's happening. And then when we put together the budget, uh the thought that was that we were going to have an agreement with Merc uh MCSD for an outdoor door program of 60 $1,000 and that did not happen. But what did happen is that we have agreements with them for youth sportsbased um based on student participation. So depending on how many students participate would tell us how much revenue we're going to receive. Uh and so some of that is basically they're paying the fee for the participant. So it's not additional revenue um completely that we will see a little bit but it won't be u um additional in the budgets. So because there's so many factors going on here and we you know we worked with the department the best we could to try to analyze and it seems like they might make it through the year but we're just not quite sure. So, we just didn't want it to be a surprise if we came to the end of the year and and might need a little bit of help um to get them through. And then the last thing, even though I don't have a slide, is that you'll probably see coming in April is a request on SB77. Um so the uh IT department and the city clerk's department have been working together to figure out what are the needs in order to implement that. um that becomes effective j uh July 1st. And so in order to get that off and running on July 1st, we will need things

in place beforehand, which means starting this fiscal year in order to get that going. So um they weren't quite ready with all those asks for midyear, but they should be coming to you at some point in April with those asks. Okay. Thank you, Venus. Any additional questions before we take public comment and we'll come back for discussion after that. Casper Joe Venus for the position change the lead payroll supervisor and then the senior accountant um considering that they have the same dollar amounts is that going to create any sort of compaction issue?

No, it shouldn't because they're same supervisory classification. Um it's just one of them is they all they can do is payroll, right? And so we want to be able to um be more flexible with the tasks that we give them. And with the implementation of Tyler um although we will still need the same amount of people in that area, we think it will free up a little bit of time for that supervisor to be able to help with other other areas. Okay. Thank you. And then for uh you mentioned finalized 11 applications by self-help self-help um that didn't go through. What does that mean? So they Oh, do I saw Scott grab the mic so talk about that?

Yeah, thank you Venus. Uh I sent you some information of that a little bit before the meeting. So um there were 11 applications that were actually pre-approved, meaning uh the families and everything gone through the full process. Staff time is expended as well as self-help. Unfortunately, the families either chose not to move forward or a sale fell through. So, uh, could have been 11 more that, uh, proceeded to to acquire a home, but, uh, in the end did not. So, um, um, Yep.

Thank you. Um, and then for the weed abatement, um, can you walk me through that process real quick because I was thinking, how does this connect over to code enforcement, if anything? Yeah, we'll have Chief uh Wilson come up and explain their process for you. Chief Wilson.

Hi. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So, uh for weed development, um for a number of years, we have not budgeted for forced cleaning. Um so, something we want to bring back. So, looking back at our fire data for 10 years of vegetation fires, uh we've had a pretty sharp increase over the last 10 years. So um I believe it was back in 2015 we had about 275 vegetation fires and 2024 we had about 847. So pretty significant increase. So our effort here is to take a proactive approach to weed abatement. So we're going to get out uh early in the spring here right about almost now about the time the grass starts to dry out and we're going to do a survey the entire city. We're going to identify uh lots that are hazardous or could present a hazard if they're not abated to the community and then we're going to issue notices and then we'll go back to a reinspection and if uh those lots do not comply then we're going to utilize this funding to assign a contractor to abate the property and then uh we will then uh forward on that bill to the property owners with an additional 15% administrative fee on top of that uh and to recover our costs and our time.

Thank you. And so it sounds like there's not a current list of properties. It's more of you're going out there and doing that assessment as part of this process. That's correct. But we are working with code enforcement. We're al also working with GIS to utilize the database to identify the lots and where to put our resources. You know, specifically lots that are not developed, things like that where we're likely going to have those hazards. We're also working with code enforcement. So if they have any hazard lots that they've been dealing with that they need some assistance with, we're going to work with them to make sure we can help them. and vice versa. And then just making sure this isn't something that we could just because you mentioned contractor as well. So this isn't something that the city could go out and uh cut the grass.

Um no, typically during this time public works is pretty busy just taking care of the grass on the on the lots that the city owns. So I'd say their resources are probably tied up there. I don't want to speak on behalf of public works, but um I think it's pretty safe assumption. Okay. Thank you, Council Dupont. Thank you, mayor. Uh going um one question, city manager McBride, on uh the self-help administration costs. Um I was not on the council at the time, but we have an agreement with self-help enterprises and the city to administer the cow home uh project. Is that is that correct?

Yes. Yes. Uh thank you. And um so through the grant process and through the process they will process uh the loan applications and that's through the agreement where they will they can ask for reimbursement for those administration costs. Yes. And then through the grant, we can't ask for those administration costs because it wasn't actualized in the sense of it wasn't used. Venus, can you go back to the slide? I the city didn't get any uh admin cost.

So the thought was over the period the full grant that shortfall would get absorbed. Uh but because we weren't able to process all the loans, let alone a little bit over the million of the 11 that didn't proceed forward that we just talked about that that's part of the reason why you get the shortfall. Yeah. And so the grant reimburse admin is for the self-help enterprises admin costs. Yeah. Not not for the city. Correct. Okay. Yeah.

So I mean one way to look at it is you could take a a half full or half empty. One way to look at it is you could just forget the cow home site alto together. You could just say from the city's perspective, you're putting in a little bit over 70ome,000 and you were able to serve eight families. Seven got down payment assistance for new homes and one got a rehab project. And then if we could go Venus to the slide with parks and community services. And if director Jensen could answer this question is just a clarification on the MCSD agreements.

Good evening. Good evening. Um can you just explain a little bit the um what happened between the outdoor program and and what actualized with MCSD?

Yeah, absolutely. So um during the budget session last year, we were projecting to get funding to salvage an outdoor recreation program that we knew would be subsidized the first half of the year through the BSC Calvette program. Um, if you recall, we made a modification to that program model where our outdoor recreation program offered supplemental services to that grant. Uh, the second half of the year was not funded and so we submitted a proposal to Merced School District to fund the second half of the year of that program. However, because of the nature of that program being pretty niche, um a rich service delivery, meaning we're serving few students with several service hours, uh they chose to pivot and ask us to submit a proposal for our outdoor, excuse me, not our outdoor, our sporting programs. And so that was actually what was awarded, which uh gave us additional revenue that wasn't projected, but it was different. And so working in the youth sports based on student participation allows for a higher ceiling than what the outdoor program may have provided.

It it does because as uh the finance officer alluded to, it is based on how many students sign up. But compared to what our fee schedule is for what those families would pay for that student, the school district pays about $80 in addition to what that family would pay on our typical fee schedule. So it is additional revenue um even though it's different whereas the outdoor recreation program did not generate any revenue. Thank you. Welcome council Smith.

Thank you. Um two points and Mr. Jensen, fair warning that doesn't involve you. So you can Thank you. Um just want to touch on the Calh grant again. The city manager and council member Dupont kind of touched my point, but um I think well intentioned, but just want to underscore that the city gave back what 1.6 1.7 million. We helped a handful of families, single-digit number of families, and we have to dip into the general fund to pay the admin costs. Um, I mean, to me, this is an example of why cities should do what cities do and not stretch and do something different that's out of our power zone. Um, I mean, we need to make up the shortfall, but this just seems like it was a bad idea. Um, on the weed abatement, there's very few things that get me more excited than weed abatement. I wonder if Chief Wilson could come back to the microphone.

Is that a measure wide joke? That too.

Um, I got to tell you, Chief, I probably have about $60,000 of weed abatement requests from my D4 residents alone. So, um, you might be a little conservative here. You mentioned that this is for situations where weed growth becomes hazardous. Is that is that something more than just an owner is not keeping up their lawn and their bushes and it's overgrown?

We typically um we do issue notices to residential properties when yards are overgrown, things like that. Typically those more fall under the code enforcement purview though. Uh we're really targeting larger lots, larger fire hazards, ones that are really going to uh you know present a more sign, excuse me, significant hazard to the community. So as we go out and we survey the city, uh we will prioritize those high, medium, and low. Uh because we have not done force cleaning abatement in a number of years, um we don't know exactly what the cost is going to be as far as price per acre and things like that. So um this year kind of is a trial. Um as we go through the um the budget here between now and the end of the fiscal year, we'll have a better idea. And then as we roll over into July, um we we're adding in additional funding in next budget year. So we we can continue on through July in the next fiscal year to continue abatement. Ideally, we would um handle this all up front and try and get all of our hazards abated in the community by say mid June before Fourth of July. Um so we can help reduce that impact on the community during Fourth of July. Yeah, I was going to say you need that money in the department so you can be ready by the time we get to fireworks season,

right? Yeah, exactly. Um, and then a question was raised about could is this work that public works can do? And I don't know the answer, but I mean it seems to me that these are not uh consented abatement efforts, right? So, is there is there a difference where it needs to be a first responder or a sworn officer that

um No. uh you know, we're going to be following our ordinance and and there is a resolution that goes along with it if we do have to, you know, post a lean to a property, things like that. So, as far as who does the work, I don't believe it's regulated uh necessarily. I I think that that potentially uh is a a possibility. Um we have just historically hired local contractors to do that work. Um, often times a single contractor can't handle them though because we are trying to compress them into a short amount of time by time we give notices, give time for compliance, go back, do a second notice and final notice and then get out and debate the property before fire season is uh in full swing. We sometimes we have to use multiple contractors to accomplish that work in a short amount of time. So, for example, if we hired one employee and had one tractor, that may not be able to keep up to get them done in a timely manner.

Okay, that's all I got, Chief. Thank you very much, Counc. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, one last question. You, uh, finance director Rodriguez mentioned SB77. Um, you may not have any numbers or anything, but do we have an estimate? And you could say we're still working on it, but an estimate of what we're looking at an implementation of SB77. Jeff's coming to the rescue. All right. I mean, I could start got moving as soon as he heard SP77.

So, within the next two meetings, we'll bring that forward, but uh there's going to be a number of items that we're going to recommend that are optional. So, we want to get input from you of which things that you want to buy, but at a minimum, there will be about $20,000 of general fund and there could be other expenses related to the public education government funding that we have dedicated to audiovisisual technologies. So there's a dedicated stream of funding just related to technology enhancements for this room, but then there's a set of funding that can't be used for certain components that would be have to come from the general fund which is approximately $20,000. Okay.

There would be one of sorry one additional thank you would be enhancements for position control for the clerks. We will need uh additional clerk staffing a deputy city clerk. So they'll they'll bring forward a resolution for a position control change to add an additional deputy city clerk that would funnel into the next fiscal year. So we have to add a position. We have to add a position in the clerk's division. Um is any of this reimburseable?

So yes, no. There is a state mandate. So we'd have to review the state mandate. That process is several years long if we did see the money. And it's usually pennies on the dollar. But it takes several years before we'd see any reimbursement. And that's if the state approves a reimbursement through a test claim. Then the test claim gets approved to a policy procedures guide. Then the policy procedures guide gets through the budget funding request at the state. Then the state funds it at a percentage level. But it'd be several years before we saw any money from it, if any. Short answer, no. Thank you, Jeff.

All right. Any other questions? Jennifer, anything from the public? I don't believe we have anything, mayor. Okay. No public comment. We'll bring it back to council then for discussion. Uh, additional questions and action. Council Harris.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for presentation. Um about a month ago, I accompanied Director Jensen on a progress tour of the zoo, and he mentioned that there was a area with the um tortoise uh enclosures that needed to be uh funded that wasn't included in the original funding, and we were going to look at um donations to maybe help fund that after everything was complete. It occurs to me that it's probably better done during the construction itself rather than trying to do it afterwards. I believe it's about $30,000 to do. I would ask Director Jensen to help me out with that and tell me where it stands now if we've gotten any donations. But if that's something we can add to the midyear, I think it'll be cheaper now than in the future.

Sure. Thank you, Councilman. Um, the zoo renovation project is a design build project. And so with design builds, oftent times you have a a preliminary budget with additional or add alts built into that if funding allows and construction is timely and costs are saved. Um, right now I am happy to report I although it's it's not um ready to announce publicly yet who uh we have had an outside party come to the table to donate towards one exhibit um that is an adult. It is not the tortoise exhibit. So we have two that will be complete um at the time the construction is uh finalized but the tortoise exhibit has not been funded to this point. Uh and you were spot on. It is about a $30,000 adult.

And the timing for that if we were to uh get that approved, uh constructions on schedule right now to be complete in May. Uh so we would be looking at the next several weeks to get that on the docket. Okay. Then I think I' I'd like to suggest that we add that to the Yes. the midyear as an adjustment.

So the only question would that would that would be the funding, right? Yeah. So the only areas that could fund potentially that and maybe some might take a little bit of research is measure Y. We'd need to see if there's money in the fund balance to be able to do that from the discretionary area. And off the top of my head, I cannot remember um PFFP. So we'd have to see if it qualifies to be or any portion of it could qualify for PFFP funding. And then the last would be the general fund, which is probably where we have the most room. you have the most discretion. Yes, you could do that now versus me having to go off and do some research on the other areas and then coming back.

Um that would be my suggestion is to take it take it from the general fund where we have not only the most discretion but also the most um cost savings to date. Look to my fellow colleagues for any more comments on that. Okay. Um All right. On the topic of the tor of on the topic of tortoises and the tortoise exhibit at the zoo, Mr. Jensen, can you provide us with a little more detail about the need um you know what potential urgency? Why wasn't this included potentially? Um I'm not saying there's a good reason or a bad reason for it, but why wasn't this brought to us?

Absolutely. So um as you may recall the zoo's been under um some renovations not just with the ARPA allocation but also previous to that in order to become certified as by the zoological association of America. Uh that's a credentiing agency that allows us to do more get more funds from private donors etc. um this particular adult wasn't a a preliminary mandate because of some of the ADA requirements that we were supposed to meet by um American with Disabilities Act due to the age of the facility. And then the primary concern as far as exhibits go were a new exhibit for the American Black Bears that we have on site. So that was the sole exhibit work that was going to be done was for the American Black Bears. As I mentioned, there was an additional exhibit added recently to the scope due to an outside private foundation from a community partner. Um, and this was uh the obvious choice to move forward with any additional funds that may be acquired.

All right, questions for Chris on the topic of the turtle.

Okay. Um, all right. Thank you, Counc Harris, for bringing that up. What if we will um address this and we can there's more items on this terms of midyear than there were on the consent agenda terms of the numbers. So there's 13 A through L. Um so we could potentially if needed not saying we do but council can if there's any ones you want say you support some don't support others you can um you know we can take some of them separately. Um but turn to council and go um you we have items A through L. So we have the city clerk's office remodel um some of the the uh finance switching a position fire department we debate fire department defibrillator defib relators um police department software the housing requests which are listed as G through I on the uh agenda um engineering uh with $110,000 request and then fleet and then also budget authority for PBI and TBID which is L on the list. All right. Council Harris,

do you need this in the form of a motion? Can I add uh item M for the for the exhibit? Um yeah, I mean if you you're certainly free to make a motion. You could uh ask for all of them and then also add an M including $30,000 for the tortoise exhibit at zoo. Let me do that. Let me move to approve items A through L and to add M uh a supplemental appropriation for the tortoise exhibit to come from the um general fund.

Okay. All right. There's a motion to approve adding another item. This is $30,000 from the general fund for the tortoise exhibit at the zoo. Is there a second? Second. All right. Any discussion? Council Jean.

Um, okay. For G&H, I oppose pulling from the affordable housing fund to supplement U housing administrative cost here. I think that, again, I've said this multiple times, especially as we pulled from it before. Um, this fund should be used to leverage affordable housing development and not paid admin. uh I think they should be paid through the general fund dollars but not through the affordable housing fund. And so we should look especially if this is going to be an indicator of the future, we should be looking at how our general fund dollars could be used to supplement um the housing division. And so I don't think it should be coming out of the affordable housing fund and it should just be coming out of the general fund.

Thank you, sir. Cermit. Well, first a question for the city attorney. Is this a five vote item? Yes, it is.

Okay. Um I I support all the requests made by staff. With regard to my colleague, Mr. Harris's um request to add $30,000 for the tortoise exhibit. You know, I'm I'm all for tortoises in our zoo. Um I'm very concerned about creating a precedent for council members to throw out something that they're interested in at the last minute that staff did not ask for. Um, what if I wanted $30,000 for tenant advocacy? What if I wanted $30,000 for I don't know, another K9 bullet vest, right? It's not up to me to make that choice. I think there can be a discussion about it that's included in the budget for next year. But, um, for that reason, I won't be supporting this motion. I don't want to create the precedent for this to get out of hand in future councils, um, including the ones that I saw just not that long ago, um, using that as a weapon. So, I'll be voting no.

Okay. Council Dupont.

Thank you, Mayor. I think um somewhere along the lines with my colleague, Council Member Smith, um I think setting the precedent of bringing uh unknown requests uh on the dis um on a midyear usurps the budget process. Um I don't I don't think anybody knew we were taking requests of um including midyear um changes to the budget or I think there would have been a lot more requests not only from the community but possibly the departments themselves as well. So uh for that reason um I will not be supporting um this motion.

Okay. Council member Harris. Thank you. First question, um, Venus, has this happened before where, uh, an immediate adjustment suggestions have been made from council? Trying to remember. I I can't think of one. It's to I couldn't say for sure, though. I I would have to look back.

Sorry. the um I think too much is made about it being a precedent. I think the situation is is that we've discovered at mid year that we have extra money and a lot of extra money and rather than wait an entire budget year and to reopen um construction at the zoo which could uh impact our operations costs can go up. Um this should be done on merit alone and not the fact that uh um we you know if we had discovered that we had this uh supplement weeks or months ago then we could have brought it into the budget process but we didn't. You know we just found out about this basically last week. So I don't see that it's a um defining precedent that uh we can't do that from the dis. We should have the flexibility to do that and to make any um decisions based on merit. So um that's all.

Okay.

Oh, sure. Yeah. I think there's nothing precluding us for doing this. It's just a question of whether or not you know, council members and if someone wants us wants to bring it up, um, you know, wants to support it. I think too, at the same time, too, there's often a process where, uh, something's agendaized and then, um, you know, there's a little, uh, there's a presentation and folks kind of know what they're getting a little more, I think, I mean, here we have pretty decent sense, tortoise exhibit at the zoo, um, while the zoo's under construction. But um yeah, the my in the event too the motion fails, I think, um you know, certainly you could uh you have the power to agendaize it and and you get it back on as quickly as possible with a presentation. All right. Um anybody else? Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um, okay. Five votes for, I believe, everything except for B and C, which are the uh uh the finance, removing the payroll supervisor and adding a senior accountant. Um, so I guess we can call for the question or else if there's an amendment, Council Member Harris, to the motion.

No, I'll watch it get voted down. Okay. All right. Call for the question. Okay. I have a motion by council member Harris and a second by mayor prom boille. Uh the motion will include the adoption of resolution 2026-14 a resolution of the city council the city of Merced California amending the classification plan by updating the personnel allocation in the finance department by deleting one payroll supervisor and adding one senior accountant. Mayor and council please cast your votes. Okay. And the motion fails.

Okay. With a 43 turn of the city attorney. Does that pass the items B and C? This is going to be city attorney uh level level 10 right here. Does B and C the two that required four. So B and C pass. Okay. Um All right. B and C pass. Is there now? Good. If I could just add any the motions that required supplemental appropriations is what required the five votes.

Got it. Okay. So B and C pass. Um any discussion or a separate motion? We we now we have A and then D through L and then also the uh potential issue of the tortoise as well which is we'll call M. I move to approve the balance as recommended by staff without modification. Okay. Second. All right. Motion in a second. Smith Dupont. That's A and then D through L. Discussion on that motion. Casey. No. Call for question.

Okay. I have a motion by council member Smith and a second by council member Dupont. Mayor and council, please cast your votes. Okay. And the motion passes with council member Jeang and council member Harris voting no. Okay, so those pass which includes the item unless the tortoise obviously tortoise being the slowest now at the end. Is that um done? Okay. All right. So we're done. But counc agendaize that if you'd like.

Okay. Agenda item K2, request for general support on preliminary annexation application number 25-02 for the mission 82 annexation. Mayor, if I may. Yes. I need to recuse myself from this item as the applicant is a uh client of my firm. Okay. Thank What if we take a brief break? Be okay. Take about a fivem minute break. Um and we'll return. Sorry, Eric. We'll take a brief break. Guessing get set up and we'll be back in about five minutes.

All right, we'll reconvene and uh with uh reports. Jennifer, we're still on action item K2. Oh, you're right. Request for general support on preliminary annexation application number 25-02 for the mission 82 annexation. Thank you.

Good evening. Uh I am Valyria, associate planner here for the city of Merced planning department. The project I have before you today is pre-annexation number 25-00002, also known as the mission 82 project. Here you can see a map of where the project site is located in a cityscale context. The project site is 110.6 acres located at the southwest corner of East Mission Avenue and Mariano Way on the east side of Highway 99. Here are the steps taken when an applicant submits for a pre- pre-anexation application. Once city staff receives the pre-anexation application, we will consider a we will schedule a development review meeting with the applicant and other city departments. After said meeting, we schedule the project to be heard by city council at which city council will indicate support or non-sup support for the application. And lastly, the applicant decides if they want to proceed with the formal annexation application or not. some details on the annex on the pre-anexation itself. Like I mentioned previously, it's a 110.6 acre annexation that is currently designated general agricultural in the Merced County general plan. The city has has the site designated as general commercial reserve for 42 acres and business park reserve for 46 acres. The remaining 22.6 6 acres are outside the sphere of influence and were not considered as part of the city of Merced's general plan. The annexation encompasses 23 parcels with 18 of those being 10,000 square foot lots with existing homes all along Londo Avenue.

The zoning designation designations proposed for this site include R110, R16, R15, and R2 with general plan designations of low density residential which allow 2 to six dwellings per acre and low medium density residential that allows 6 to 12 unit dwellings per acre. With those density ranges, we are looking at a potential development of up to 156 single family lots. As part of this application, there will be there will also be a request to amend the city sphere of influence for the easternly 22.6 acres of the project site. The project site is outlined in blue in the map you have before you and the city limits in red with the sphere of influence displayed in a yellow dotted line you see on your screen. This map here shows the existing general plan designations for the site. In red are the approximate 42 acres of commercial reserve and in purple are approximately 40 46 acres of business park reserve. Here is the proposed layout of the general plan designations with lowmedium density residential in orange and low density residential in yellow in between two sections of low medium density. This is the proposed zoning and this and how it would be laid out through the project site. Each different zoning will determine things like lot sizes, setbacks, and lot coverage to be consistent with the city of Merced's zoning ordinance. The development would include four different residential zoning designations with minimum lot sizes of

3,000 square ft for R2 zone, 5,000 ft in the R1 zone, 6,000 square ft in the R16 zone, and 10,000 ft in the R110 zone that accommodate the existing homes that are already that size. The chart on the screen also shows the range of units each zoning designation could potentially develop based on the number of acres and minimum lot sizes each of each zoning designation. As part of the pre-application, the applicant also provided potential phasing on when they anticipate the development to happen after annexation. Phase one would start immediately and anticipate starting on the final phase within 3 to 5 years of the completion of phase 1. This map shows the order of set phasing and the acreage of each. Although we don't have any tenative maps at this time, the applicant has provided a circulation plan for major roadways in the development. This plan is consistent with city of Merced's general plan circulation element. Once we receive the proposed tenative maps, we will review for consistency and forward to other study departments to review for adequate layout and development standards. The proposed annexation was forwarded to Merced Police Department and reviewed. Staff did not receive any comments. This map here shows where the proposed site is located, marked in a yellow star, and the distance to the police station marked in a red star. The proposed was also sent to Merrced Fire Department who stated that the site would be adequately served with the development of a future fire station on the southwest corner of G East Jard Avenue and future Ply Drive.

If the annexation were to move forward, these are some of the entitlement processes that the development would go through, which include environmental review, annexation and pre-zone determination, general plan amendment, pre-anexation and development agreement, tenative and final maps, and a sphere of influence amendment as well as to be adopted by LAFCO. I also wanted to share with council this map that includes other development happening in this area of the city. A couple months ago, the city council approved a development of 570 homes just north of this project at the city's and the city is city's planning department is currently processing other applications including general plan amendments and annexations on both sides of Highway 99. Residential, commercial, and other open space projects are underway and in different stages of the process. This map displays them all together for perspective. What staff and the applicant request from tonight is for council to consider and provide general support or non-support for the mission 82 annexation moving forward. That concludes staff's presentation. I'm available for questions. The applicant is here and their engineering team is also here as well.

Okay, thank you. Any questions? All right. Um, Jennifer, anything from the public? We do have one from Steven Maxi. Okay. And is Mr. Maxi with the applicant? Yes. Okay. 15. Mr. Maxi will have 15 minutes. Sir,

I will not take all 15 minutes. I assure you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Steve Maxi representing the Fagennis family who are the applicant for the project. Uh, Tony Fagunas is here representing the family this evening. Uh first want to thank staff for uh their time. Uh Mr. Rentia, Mr. Rochet, both been extremely professional, extremely responsive in this. So uh big big thanks to them and their other city departments that have reviewed the project. Uh here asking tonight for city council support to move forward with annexation, continue to work with your staff uh to refine the project through the annexation process, study it through uh environmental review process, and then uh return to city council here in the future. Uh, with that, I'm available for any questions council may have as well as our, uh, engineering team. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Maxi. Any questions for Mr. Maxi?

All right, seeing none, uh, we'll close public comment and bring it back to council for additional questions, discussion, or action. All right, just one general comment. Um they given the number of potential annexations in this area, one and two, uh the some of the zone changes that were requested as well with additional housing. Has there been and then also two, you want to make it even more complicated, the potential for the highspeed rail station to relocate in this area. Um has there either what are the possibilities or what are the the the um potential for you know some sort of bigger plan for the whole uh the whole area because there's a lot in flux and a lot so that everything would you know being able to the development would proceed as orderly as possible and potentially complement um the other developments.

Yeah, Mayor, I I I think uh your staff did a good job here. I think you're starting to see the plan right here, right? So, uh in terms of like the big picture orderly development, you you're in a perfect spot for that because you're the chairperson for your general plan advisory committee, right? So, that's going to be the process by which we we carry this forward. And the reality is these individual plans that you see here tonight like like in this exhibit, they're going to be ingrained in that process. So, uh these proposed uses you got here are are kind of taking into consideration what the market is looking for now with the proposed changes along Mission Campus Parkway, uh you know, east and west. You're starting to see the picture of how that's going to come together. So, I mean, this is really it. This is the broad perspective from about 5,000 ft. You can kind of see how it's all going to work. And the reality is you need to have um the residential to kind of support the commercial and business park development. Um having too much industrial is is fantastic. Having too much commercial is nice, but it doesn't really practically work unless you've got the residential nearby to make it work for you. And so I think you're going to see the opportunities kind of present themselves where you've got some development opportunities uh next to the freeway. Uh you got a lot of commercial here on the project to the left screen, my left screen. We got these RCC. These are all commercial opportunities uh that would run north, south, and east west along Mission. Same thing along Campus Parkway. The purple and the red are opportunities and we already know what's happening at the intersection there with Mission and Coffee. So, I mean, you kind of see the commercial and business park opportunities where they're clustered and where the resident residential would be. And I would also

knew it like up there around Cone Avenue and Gerard more business park. So, this is kind of the plan. This is probably how it will get presented into your general plan. And then what we haven't talked about is anything past like let's say Tower Road or too far south of Mission or anything on the other side. So I mean this is where you start but the general plan if you look at the map over there it really doesn't tell you anything past that because we don't know at this point. We're going to figure it out as we go forward.

Yeah. I mean there's a pretty remarkable opportunity as we move into the general plan and all this is coming online and potentially you know with the station as well. There's just there's a a a unique kind of window of opportunity where we uh you know with good planning can really uh I think do an exceptional job here. Council Smith.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um first of all, Miss Ria, good job. Um you got all the hard ones. I don't know what's going on. I got to talk to this guy. Um general support, yes. Um, I do have some concerns or maybe these are just talking points. Um, number one, that's a big build in terms of number of homes. I haven't done any diligence on with this proposal or the developer or the family or anything. But, um, that's going to be an expensive first phase. If what the slide showed is 500 homes instead of a thousand homes in total, um I'm going to just trust that that can be pulled off from a financial perspective. Um building up against the freeway concerns me a little bit for two reasons. One, I had always heard that the the greatest thing about this gateway development was the fact that we had freeway adjacent commercial. And so this looks to me like we're we're building homes on top of what what might have been the last piece of freeway adjacent commercial at least as shown on this slide um in Valeria's presentation. So just call that a talking point. And then with regard to the station, I have the same thought as the mayor. Um, I think we should be careful not to talk about like there's already a decision that the station is going there, but I would just caution the planning department and the developer to think about what the highspeed rail authority is communicating to us that they want land use authority and taxing authority within a half mile of where they think a station is going to go. Um, I will express no opinion on those requests at this time, but it seems that you're right there in the blast area. Um, and I think that's going to create some complicated issues that have to be worked out either way. So, um, you know, it's an ambitious project. I agree with the mayor that we and the city manager that we need we need some rooftops to make the commercial make sense. And so, I don't see why it couldn't be here. But, you know, to the extent that I'm

anywhere close to being on base, I'd hope the project sponsors think about these things I brought up.

Councilor Harris. Thank you, Mayor. Move to um adopt a motion indicating general support. Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Motion from Council Member Harris, second for Mayor Pro Tim Bole. Pending discussion. Council member Jean.

So, I'm not in support as it currently is presented. Um it's all pretty much low density residential. Uh there's no affordable units with high medium density um residential. Uh the fact that there's no business park if we look at the other two annexation projects that are nearby. Um I think we're missing a few things here. And so I am not in support of um panexation. additional comments. Okay, just yeah, briefly I I stand in support. I I think there's a if you look at all these things that have come before us in the last few months, um you know, potential what 10,000 plus residential units in this area. So there's just a massive potential for growth and I think it's incumbent upon us to really to do it right and do it as well as possible and to be cognizant of of um you know a whole host of factors as well. So, um you just I support but um you know certainly we as everybody's well aware you know and the level of detail and precision that Scott can give on this certainly indicates that he's a aware um we we need to do it right and this is opportunity a significant significant expansion of our city and um you know again it's just uh really important that that um you know we use the this brief window of opportunity to really design this as as a great um southern entry point to community. All right, additional comments. Okay, seeing none, we'll call for the question.

Okay, I have a motion by council member Harris and a second by Mayor Pro Tim Bole. Mayor and council, please cast your votes.

Okay, the motion passes with council member Jeang voting no and council member Dupont recusing himself. Okay, thank you Jennifer. We'll invite council member Dupont back in. Now move to L reports. Agenda item L reports. L1 presentation from the city manager's office on the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA public assistance program as it relates to the January 23 and March 23 storms. Good evening, mayor, city council. My name is Sarah. I'm management analyst. One sec. Want let council member Dupont get back inside. Here he is. Okay.

All right. Go ahead. I'm here to give a high level um overview on the um reimbursement money that we received from FEMA for the January and February storms. For the January storms, all the damages were comprised into 13 or consolidated into 13 projects. And for the March storm, um all the damages were um consolidated into five projects. the January storm was severe enough throughout the state of California that the presidential um emergency declaration um stated that within any work within the first 60 days was reimbured at 100% um federal share or paid by FEMA. any work after the 60 days in January storm and then all of March was at the normal 7525 split with FEMA taking 75% and of the remaining 25% um Callowas was um going to pay or reimburse 18.75 and the city's responsible for 6.25% of the cost. Um this spreadsheet shows you all of the projects for the January 2023 storm. Um the gray bar there is the project um the loan project that has not been completed yet. That work will happen concurrently when we do the permanent repairs for um Bear Creek. The two items that are in red font actually it's one item in red font that is um Caloes admin allowance. Um that's time for staff to put together the numbers for these projects that will not be reimbured until um after Calios closes out the projects. So money that's been received um completely for the January it January storm is 2,544,5949. Um the other thing I wanted to talk about is the FEMA cost share. You can see in um the third column, those are the projects that were done within 60%. The remaining projects um were the 7525 split.

um March storm um we have um the caloes allowance um for admin cost but then we also have FEMA who um allows up to 5% for admin cost. We have not been reimbured those yet. Um that will happen after closeout. So for the March storm um reimbursement that we've received so far is $462,55263. So, the total for both storms that we've received is $3,7,146.72. So, where did this money go? Um, for the one project that has not been completed yet, uh, my CIP was set up for that. Um, for the emergency repair for the levies where Ralph delivered RIP wrap, um, that money was borrowed from a storm drain CIP. we returned that money that was received and then the rest of the reimbursements were either um deposited into the department's cost recovery account or it reimbured the general fund for previously allocated storm expenses um as designated by council at their February 21st, 2023 meeting. Questions?

Questions for Miss Kuster? Okay, Jennifer. Anything from the public on this? We don't have anything, mayor. Back to council. Additional questions, discussion, information item only. So, all right. Seeing none, thank you for your presentation. Appreciate all the work and um thanks again. Okay. Agenda item M, business M1, request to add item to future agenda. Okay. So, on my right, Mayor Pro Tim boy, nothing this evening. Councelor Dupont, nothing tonight. Council Jean, nothing. Council Harris, nothing. Council Smith, nothing for me. Thank you. Council member Tap, nothing.

All right. I had two. Uh, one is a request for a downtown sub ad hoc subcommittee. Um, there's been a number of items that have come up recently on uh with respect to downtown. I think it'd be uh fruitful to do that. And then second would be uh the a desire to host some sort of uh volunteer fair um sometime in April. April's volunteer month and um we would just have something unsure exactly what it would look like. We could either do it one week night or a weekend where folks one who have a need for volunteer services. Uh two have the ability to provide volunteers such as the schools um or three have the ability to um kind of network between them. You know for example UC Merced has their community engagement center which has a website. There's other ways as well, but just as a doing a better way to connect um the people in the community who need volunteer uh work and offer volunteer uh opportunities uh with those who would be interested in taking them. So that is it. My two requests um both uh would if we could have them accelerated, I'd also make that motion as well. Is there anybody else in support either of a downtown ad hoc or having a hosting a volunteer fair in April? Would request a second if anybody's willing to do so. Okay. All right. It's both fit. Okay, moving on.

Okay, agenda item M2, city council comments. All right, council comments. Starting on my left, Council Member Tap. No comments. Council member Smith.

Um, I just want to report, you know, we all meet with our constituents, but I had a notable conversation with a gentleman on Saturday morning. You probably just want me to use his name, so I won't. But he he viferously over course about an hour thanked us and thanked our city for being a place that he is very pleased to live in and raising his grandchildren. Um, and so I wanted to pass that along. It's not something that I hear all the time when I meet with constituents, I'll be honest. Um, so it was very much appreciated. Uh, he did also echo a concern I've heard from a number of constituents. I think you guys have as well. Um, we've got some utility installation work going around. Some of our arterials and residents are complaining, I think correctly, that the patchwork on the road is not up to standard and it's a concern, right, because we struggle to keep our roads together. Um, so I'll just share with you. I had a conversation with Mr. McBride about he's going to get some more information. Um, it's possible that this company still needs to get back in the road, so residents should stay tuned. Thank you,

Councelor Harris. Thank you, mayor, and thank you for your leadership in the um Applegate Park uh suare yesterday. Um it was wellreceived and I still get uh emails and calls about it and something we probably need to do more regularly around the city, but uh it's took the lead on that supportive.

My pleasure. That was all council Jean. So, typically I don't like speaking at these item. Um, I just don't really care for it. Um, you know, there's there's been a lot that's been going on in our community, right? Um, and it's it's easy to see neglect from our government, right? Um, to see millions of our tax dollars used to kill folks ab abroad. Um to see our government terrorizing our own people, locking them up in cages, deporting them, separating families. Um like to see the private housing industry uh put profit before housing people. Um for folks to go hungry and fight for a grocery store in South Morset. Uh the Central Valley produces 25% of the nation's food. Nobody here should be hungry. And and there's a lack of accountability as pedophiles control a nation and continue to abuse our kids. Like this isn't a Democrat versus Republican thing, right? That they're just both as corrupt in my opinion. And they're complacent in ensuring that this system continues. um you know with the recent shooting um it pains me that a young person is involved right like be it from localized violence or recruitment to our military or um being hit by a car right when we don't prioritize pedestrians um I think we as a community need to move forward um and you know start really thinking about how do we defend our communities against a government of pedophiles, right? A government that's recognized by everyone as the single greatest threat to world peace, right? A

government that is addicted to war and terrorizes its own people. We need to with the grand scope of what's happening here, we need to demand that our tax dollars bring us food, right? Housing, education, and healthcare. Like, it's just absurd. Um especially what's been going on locally and then what's been going on outside of Merrced. So yeah, that's frustrating. Council Dupont, nothing tonight. Pro Boy, nothing this evening.

Okay. Yeah, just a few things. Thank you to Council Harris and everyone else who participated in our barbecue at Applegate Park. Chris, uh, Casey, everybody, uh, Chief Stanfield as well, police, fire, everybody came out. We served up over 300 hot dogs. Um, and kids were everywhere, all over the park. So, it was really about kind of retaking that space. And, um, it was really great to interact with everybody. And we all need to keep pushing forward and do better. Um, and a big congrats or big thanks to to everybody, all the the groups that are kind of starting to come together and coales to try to address, you know, long-term cultural change and other things that'll help us to do better as a community. And I also had the privilege to attend the rescue mission groundbreaking uh for their next phase of their village of hopes campus. The rescue mission's really done extraordinary work and I think they're building what could be, you know, truly a first rate uh homeless services campus off CO Avenue. So, they're breaking ground now. on their next phase. Um they super ambitious. They have about four or five more phases planned in the near term um with uh hundreds of housing units down there. So really looking to make an impact and um very humbled by everything they're able to accomplish. That's it. Jennifer

agent item injur is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion if I could make one request on that. Um, officer Eduardo Chavez, uh, co- friend and someone who served a long time with the police department. He's retiring. I think his walk is tomorrow at noon. So, if we could do so in recognition of his years of service. Is there a second?

A second as amen. We have a motion by council member Harris and a second by council member Smith. Mayor and councel, please cast your votes. Okay, the motion passes unanimously.