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

I just like high power. Okay. Okay. Check, check, check, check. Is that good? Okay, perfect.

Okay, let's go ahead and get started. Okay, we'll call the meeting to order. Um, we'll do the go ahead and do the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Agenda item C, roll call. Uh, Commissioner Kelly here. Bernett. Jenkins here. Pser here. Estrada or vice chair Estrada

here and chair Kendall. Okay. I would like to remind the audience that if they wish to address the commission, they must submit a green request to speak form located at the podium in the back of the chamber. Citizens can submit public comment to the commission electronically no later than 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Comments received before the deadline will be sent to the commission and will be part of the record and will be mentioned as part of the public comment portion of the agenda. Material may be emailed to city clerk at city ofmerced.gov of and any correspondence received after 1 p.m. will be distributed to the commission and retained for the official record. Agenda item D, public comment. Uh the clerk's office did not receive any emails for this meeting today. And we do have some members that are sitting in the audience. Does anyone want to speak? Okay, no speakers. Agenda item E, consent uh E1, citizen stipen setting commission minutes for April 16, 2026. Move to approve. A second.

Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Kelly and a second by Commissioner Jenkins. Um, commissioners, please cast your votes. Okay. The motion passes unanimously. Okay. Agenda item F, public hearing. F1, review and discussion of the current stipen for the mayor and city council members and discussion and recommendations if any regarding the appropriate stipen stipen for the mayor and city council members.

Yes, I would like to kind of reook at what we have proposed. I've asked Jennifer to put on the screen because I thought sometimes when we're talking about money, we don't realize how it affects. So, you can see that the current is $51,600, but if we raise it, it's $87,000, which is an increase of $35,400. I was just hearing on the radio today what a couple things that were going to be affected. One is the fire department in 2027 and um I can't imagine how many other things would be affected by that much of an increase especially what has to be paid out if we pass this um that wasn't part of the budget and then as they're looking at this budget now, what would have to be eliminated? And you never know how that might affect you. So, I would like us to kind of relook at maybe the $700 a month or the $100 increase to each of them and think that that's more of a realistic thing that we could um the city could afford because we have to remember that this city is not um like a Fresno or even like a Turlock. we don't have the income coming in and if we don't have enough money to cover that um something's going to lose out. For for clarification, I believe it's

500 a month. Do they get 500 a month, not 600? Right.

They do get $500 a month in the American. Okay. So then that takes $7,200 off of they get 500. So that takes $7,200 off that total. Um, and how much does the mayor get? $600 a month time is $3,600 for the mayor, but the other council members, here's the current, the other council members get 500 a month. So, the total council gets 36,000. Sorry. That includes the mayor, correct?

Uh, okay. So, let me just explain my spreadsheet. I just brought this as kind of my backup information in case you had questions, but um since Belinda shared her calc, I'll share mine. So, currently the council receives um for six of them 36,000 and the mayor receives 7,200. We do have social security Medicare that we have to pay as employer uh taxes. So for the current and this is a calendar year right so the current year 46,55 if with the proposed amount um that is in the current resolution I think right now which is a,000 a month for council and $1250 a month for the mayor. That's 87,000 plus the taxes it gets to 93,656. It's a difference of 47,000, a little over $47,000. The proposed budget, the city manager budget as of right now. Um, so this will not go into effect if it's approved. The increase would not go into effect until January. So July through December, you still have the old rate. Uh, January through June of 27, you would incorporate the new rate. So for next fiscal year it's 70,080 which is a difference of what we currently have in the budget um of 23,575. Does that make sense?

Yes. But ultimately it's it's a $47,000 increase.

Okay. Thank you. Um I I had the opportunity to uh message with five of the council members. I didn't hear back from two of them and to get a rough estimate of the time that they spend on council business because I think it's important we look at the hours they're putting into city business. So the average without the mayor because he he was at over a 100 hours a month. So I did his separately because he also gets a different um stipend was 55 hours. And if we divide that by the current of $500 a month, that's $99 an hour. Um, with the mayor at a hund I think $600. And if we divide that at just say a $100, that's $6 an hour. Um, and you know, my concern is and and I just want to put it out there. I've been coming to council meetings for a long time, and I I said this last time, this is the most community infused and invested council that there has been to date. Um, if you just go back three councils, you saw maybe one or two of the council members. If you go back five councils, the only time you saw the council members was either on this DAS or at the branding iron at 5:00 p.m. And I know cuz I was at the branding iron at 5:00 p.m. Um, but this council, for a good example, I was and Jeremy was there as well. We were at the um grand opening of Bob Hart Square and there were three council members plus the mayor. Um, if you go look at Kitty Land or Red Ribbon Week or uh Earth Day, you're always going to run into some member of your council. And I I further had conversations with a few council members, and a lot of them don't submit reimbursement for their gas, their mileage, their insurance costs to attend these events. And they don't submit pre-authorization um expenses for these events. They go

because they want to be part of the community. Um, and again, I hold to the $1,000 and the $1250 because even at those rates with the proposed, it would be $1250 an hour for the mayor and $18 an hour for the council members. Um, which are close. Well, the mayors is is less than the minimum wage in the state of California, and the council members are close. Um, so I I again hold to the recommendation that we go 1,1250 because I know that there are some savings that could be had through attrition with people retiring perhaps. Um, and again, these are pre-tax rates. So these aren't after tax the mayor and I did this based on a single, you know, claiming as single. After tax with the new rates, the based on single, it comes out to $999.40 cents for the mayor and $872 for each council member. And if we look at what the hours spent into those numbers, it actually is $9.99 for the mayor and $16.22 for the council members. And I just wanted to put those numbers out there because I think it's important to look at the amount of time our council members are spending off this dis and in the community. And it's it's not like this is a reward. I don't think anyone would hire anyone for $9 an hour. You know, it's illegal, first of all. Secondly, um you know, I can find a $9 an hour employee that brings such value to the community and again is going to be guiding this city over the next 10 to 20 years, which is a great responsibility. Um, you know, I'd hire him tomorrow.

U I'd like to raise a parliamentary issue. If someone correct me if I'm wrong, when an item has been decided by the deliberative body like the city council or this commission commission, it cannot be reconsidered unless it is brought up by someone who had voted affirmatively for the item. So in this case, nobody's raising the issue who voted affirmatively. So I don't believe that can be reconsidered. So you guys made a recommendation at the last meeting and then this meeting once we open and close the public hearing is to solidify a written um recommendation to council which is that resolution that was attached to your packet.

I just want to speak real quick. I do second Miss Kelly or Miss um and the reason why is because like she said our mayor and our council members are um present at all these events which I think it's important for the community to be able to see their visibility to be able to come talk to them um not be scared to you know, just discuss things with them there or anything of that sort, just being more comfortable with them. Um, that's one way that I was able to, you know, I talked to one of the council members a few years ago at I think it was the meal nights they do downtown. And so that really makes a difference, especially to, you know, our community is growing. Um, no longer a small city, small town. And I think it's important to show to them, you know, how important they are for taking the time to be here and, you know, making these decisions for us to improve. So, I would have to I would have to agree with with Cynthia and sorry, Amanda. Um, but uh I I just want to bring something like I I know that they they show up to a lot of the community events and I'm I we're mostly there. We see them all the time. Um but some of them do have a nine nine to five jobs on top of this and um just throwing out there like some some they are community residents so they are

showing up to a community event because they are a resident as well. So I really don't want to make that a reason why we're giving them this you know a the reason why we're making a little bit higher than what they're getting now because they're community residents. So, it's part of their it's not their job to come to every event. They're coming as a resident. But, um I am in agreement with with the numbers that we did and what we voted on. So, um I have nothing else I wanted to say.

Uh can someone speak to my parliamentary issue? Are we going to vote again on something we've already voted on? So, uh, Commissioner Pasner, so we're voting on the actual written, um, to solidify your vote from the last meeting. So, that's why you have to vote on the resolution that's presented to you tonight, and that's the written communication or the written recommendation that will go to council. Okay.

Thank you for the clarification. Uh, I've been thinking about this, and I actually I'm on the side of, uh, supporting the $1,000 for each council member and 1250 for the mayor. Okay. So, at this time, we'll go ahead and we'll open the public hearing if there's anyone that would like to speak on this item. Okay. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 5:48 and we'll take it back to commission. I I move to approve the resolution um with the following change. In the resolution, it says the date was April 6th and it should be April 16th.

We'll fix that typo. Yeah. Thank you. I'll second the motion. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Kelly and a second by Commissioner Jenkins. The motion will include the adoption of resolution 2026-9, a resolution of the city citizen stipen setting commission of the city of Merced, California, providing a written recommendation to the city council regarding the recommended monthly stipen. It deems appropriate for the city council and the mayor pursuant to section 402 of the Merrced city of Merced charter. Commissioners, please cast your votes. Okay, the motion passes with Commissioner Bernett voting no.

Okay. Agenda item G, adjournment. Move to adjourn. Second. Okay. I have a motion by Commissioner Kelly and a second by Commissioner Jenkins. Commissioners, please cast your votes. Okay, the motion passes unanimously. Shortest meeting I've ever seen here. It's my kind of meeting.