Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Fun. Welcome to the Tuesday, December 9 regular meeting of the city council. And we're missing miss there she are. Okay. Roll call, please, mister Montgomery.

Yes, mayor. Thank you. Mayor Gilman. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Lang. Here. Council member Ruhl. Here. Council member Whitman. Here. Council member Meng. Here.

And would you please lead us in the pledge? Thank you.

Honorable mayor, council, and community, please rise as you are able. Ready to begin. 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.

Thank you. On the agenda, one one request is to move just switch the orders of fourteen and fifteen since we have some folks here from the arts commission. If there's no objection to that, switching fourteen and fifteen. Any other changes to the agenda? Yes. Move to approve?

I'll move to approve.

Second. Any objections? Great. We'll move forward then. We have, two presentations first. A service recognition award to city attorney Matthew Summers for ten years of service. Please come up, mister Summers. Thank you. Thank

you. You. Mayor council community. Just a couple of comments. In my ten years here, I worked with hundreds of commissioners and community members, 14 city council members, four city managers, and it's a really, really, really strong group.

And I think you have a really strong community here, and preserving that is so critical. Just a couple of things, you know, in the time we achieved two certified housing elements, several first in the nation ordinances on short term rental enforcement, including using the strongest tools we could find, and then making more, even stronger ones to ensure our community is preserved to rights of nature and robust animal protections, also first in the nation, and I think on part of rights of nature first in the world. Strong moves with the team Taylor and I, Taylor gets most of the credit for rights of nature, and smaller neighborhood scale community projects, working through small remodels for new residents to opening new businesses, to ensuring businesses like a roadblock can reopen after the Thomas fire, and so many other projects, large and small, with the strength of the community behind us. I know you're in good hands with Bethany and the Ocean Winder team. They'll leave you in very, very good stead, and we don't disappear.

As noted last week, Taylor and I are available for as much work as you need on the continuity and our institutional knowledge to ensure the community continues to be strong. Thank you for the opportunity. Have a recognition.

We

have this for you, and this is another photo opportunity.

So

to keep our theme of the roller coaster emotional meeting going on here, we introduce our new police chief, Tyler Abbott. Please come up. Or sure.

Come on, Tyler. So I'm gonna I'm gonna introduce your chief. Obviously, you have a very long line of chiefs, so Matt also worked with five chiefs. So Dave Kenny before myself, then me, Jose, Trina, and Steve, and now you're on to another chief. For those that don't know, this was my first patrol station, was in Ohio back in 1994 when I first got to patrol with the sheriff's office. And I had the opportunity to come back as a chief. Was looking forward to it. I live on the East End Of Simi Valley. It's an hour and a half commute each way, but I love Ohio so much. I love the community so much that it never bothered me one bit.

I look forward to every day being here. I know that Jose and Trina and Steve all feel the same way, I know both. Certainly, I promoted Trina and Steve, they weren't exactly thrilled to get promoted because they loved it here so much, but they know that the organization has additional needs. You know in Ohio, I'm

not going to give you anything but the best.

Tyler is that. Tyler comes with a very strong background of training, of leadership, and well over twenty years of service. This is only his second position as captain, although he's a wealth of knowledge, which means that you're gonna hopefully keep him longer than a year. The goal is to have some continuity here for a while because I know you have had a lot of turnover in the last couple years, so I wanna make sure that you have a chief who's gonna keep up the good work that has been started here, that continue what Steve has been working on, with the relationships with everybody in the community. You're our priority.

You you that we cannot do our work without you. We value the the the relationship we have with all of you and with the community. We are not your enemy. We are here to protect everybody in this community. And there are some things that we can do, there are some things that are beyond our control, but where where we can, we're gonna influence and help keep us all safe. And without any further ado, Tyler, it's all yours.

Just a few quick words here. First of all, I wanna thank the sheriff for trusting me. Jose Rivera has been one of my mentors. I know he absolutely loved it up here. Trina, thank you. And Steve, I'm I'm filling big shoes. I know that. Steve and I go way back. I've been on twenty five years. We were in the academy together. We met the other day, and we have very, very similar philosophies. So first off, my goal is to just continue on what he's been doing. Right? I'm not here to rock the boat. I love this community. Like I said, I've been on, twenty five years now. I've worked here twice. This will be my third time coming back. I worked here as a deputy from o six to a little over after o nine, a little over three three years. Then I came back as a sergeant.

And I've seen the community change, bro, like any community, but the one thing, like I told Ben when I discussed with him, like, it's I I love this place up here. It's a special energy, whether you're in the city or you're in the county, the unincorporated. The people care about this community. It's really like small town Americana, and that's absolutely what I love about this place. And that's my goal, to keep it safe. I'm gonna be approachable. I wanna be transparent. My whole philosophy is by, with, and through the community, everything I do. I'm a family man. I have I've been married for twenty five years, and I wanna thank her, Melissa, in the back.

My my youngest is here, Piper. She's 11, and then I have a 22 year old and a 20 year old, and they're at home. And we did start over on purpose. That's always the question. Right?

We did. Right? Mhmm.

Always one in four. I was able to talk under three. So the reason why I bring that up, family's everything to me. And and my philosophy of policing as a patrol deputy to a sergeant is I try to make my decisions. If that was my family being stopped or if that was my family on a call or if that was my family going through a mental health issue, how would I want them to be treated? Right? With compassion and love and patience. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to arrest people and take them to jail, and I'm not afraid to do that, and my deputies aren't either. Right? But we know in this modern time, arrests aren't the solution for everything. Right? So we're gonna look at some creative options. We're gonna solve problems when we can, and sometimes we have to take people to jail. Right? And and that's just gonna be it because I wanna keep this community safe.

Having said that, I I'm very, very excited. I'm ready to be a good partner for you all and work with you. That's what I look at it. We're a team. And I say that to the community, we're a team. Right? So I'm gonna be very busy the first couple months. I'm gonna try to get out there, all the businesses, be approachable. I I like talking to people. I like meeting people. So please come up and talk, say hi, and and share your concerns with me. And I and I look forward to the future and working with you all. So thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Welcome.

Likewise. Yeah. Likewise. So yeah.

We're here

for you too,

man. Alright. Appreciate you

guys. Alright.

Good to you again.

You too. Take care.

See you. Bye. Thank you. Thank you

guys very much. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Alright. Thank you. General. Okay. General. Got it. Thanks.

Can I

can I

talk to

her? Please go ahead. I

just wanted to give a a huge thank you to our former city attorney, Matt Summers. And we didn't I didn't get a chance to to thank you for all of your service and for holding the institutional memory of of our of our city and all that we've accomplished and and who we are. I know you're gonna carry that with you, I look forward to finding new ways to work together. Thank you. And also, thank you so much to chief Jenkins as well. It's a it's a sad night of goodbyes. Yeah. Two great two greats for this community. Yeah. So really, it's you know, you've you've left an indelible mark here. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And I I just wanna say to Matt, one of the best things that I've ever done was the elephant's right to liberty. And you were instrumental and with us on that 110%, and I can't thank you enough. That is something that is beyond words for me. So thank you.

Thank you, Matt. Yes. Thanks. Alright. Wow. What a meeting. Okay. We'll move on to commission reports.

Yes, mayor. We do have the chair of the

arts commission Yes. Wonderful.

Here to provide

a report.

Yep. Hooray. Hooray. This is just commissioner report, which is really quick. But tonight, we have an agenda item number 15. So we look forward, and we have some people here from from the arts community. I think we'll make public comments at that time. But I just wanted to say happy holidays and thank you guys. December's the one of the busiest times especially for the performing artists in this community. So I hope you guys are taking in what you can from our art organizations here in the valley.

Last week, we had 40 girls from Croatia. There's a little choir came and we took them to eight different schools where they and they did a concert Thursday night. And I saw and and then the community choir did a packed holiday, two concerts this past weekend that I saw too. So I hope you guys take advantage of that. It's a busy time.

Alright. But my what I wanted to report tonight well, for I wanted to give a special thanks to all you council people for well, to the mayor and to the manager for getting this on the calendar since I've been on the commission and applying to the commission for grants before that. We've never done it so early. So we're taking tax money or whatever, and we're getting it right back out in the community into our creative economy where it can grow instead of waiting till, you know, June, you know, January, February, March when when arts organizations are making their plans. So thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. There's a holiday present and and it really helps fiscal planning because most most of the organizations are on our calendar fiscal year two. Next, we're heading into our Oh, we're also We've opened up applications for commissioners. We're looking for new arch commissioners for next year as as people do their service.

I have three quarters of a term left. Thank you for that. But, you know, I'm building a succession plan too. Every time we can we can involve people, not just straight to commission work, but in our ad hoc committees, in our in our mural ordinance committees. Anytime we do that, we're showing the creative economy how the people can see good government doing good things that that help.

Things that things that are clean, things that don't add traffic, things that are inclusive, you know, everything you guys know about the arts too. And then we'll head into our strategic I wanna get new commissioners in place before we go into our five year plan update and our strategic planning right after that. So I look forward to seeing you at item 15. Thank you.

A very quick question for you. When does your strategic plan planning start?

I well When you get you the commission.

Oh, I

get my commissioners. Okay.

Alright. So so we'll we'll need to figure out I I'm up next, and so we're getting that prepared. I don't know who is after me, but maybe we can start

preparing We have two that expire in May. Right. And so, and we have five now. Right. We're allowed to have seven. I'm I'm just gonna go ahead and get some.

Right.

You know? And whether they replace people or people stay or not, we're gonna have room for them too. We're acting fast.

Yes. We're gonna act fast.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

We're gonna have some great choices. I'm looking for great commissioners, not, you know, just people who know art. You know, I want people that know how government works to help people.

So Alright.

So thank you for your help because I think we have you

Mhmm. Yes.

Yes. Do.

This week. Yes. This week.

Thank you. Okay.

Thanks. Ciao.

Wonderful. Yay. Alright. Any more commissioner reports? No, mayor. Wonderful. City manager's report?

With all the things going on, I'm just gonna probably mention one thing and that is that our finance and budget committee is meeting this Thursday in two days in the Council Chamber at 2PM. So, if you're interested in that, please be there and thank you very much.

Thank you. I'll move to public comments. Nick Oatway, please. And then Nancy Oatway after that and then Eric Rider, please.

Yeah. Nicholas Oatway. Pleasure to be here. Good to talk to you all. Well, my only comments this morning, this evening are related to the desire to see an expanded public transportation system in Ohio.

The comments I've heard most are very positive on a fellow who has been put on Lee, which I would urge the city council to overcome whatever resistance they may have either from their city manager or from yourselves, to reinstate him. It's Antonio, Anthony, Palacios. And, the reason being is it's good for the public to feel that the elected officials of the city are interested in supporting someone who has only illustrated public energy in his work. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Nancy Oatway, please. Eric Reider. And then Bill Miley. Hello.

I wanted to thank the council and everyone who responded for restoring service on Sunday.

She's gonna move your microphone down so we can hear you better.

That was a major accomplishment and important to the community. And both Nick and I are interested in an expansive trolley system, just what it would do to visitors, the the traffic, that that they could and it would be valley wide. I mean, would people would go to the lake. They could go to the oil the not the oil. Sorry.

But but because there's a need for it, and you certainly could entice people. I grew up in Santa Monica, and we had a ranch in the Ohio Valley. And so since 1957, I've been relating to this community. And, you've seen it grow in wonderful ways, and you've seen traffic, and you've seen the issue of more traffic. And one way of dealing with that is entice people to park their cars and take the trolley. And, so that's why I'm here. And thank you again for Sunday because you just heard the pleading of people, and it's like they're stuck, you know?

Mhmm.

So thank you.

Thank you very much. Eric Ryder, please. Bill Miley. Then hard for me to read, but it looks like Lisa possibly. But anyway, we'll call that in one second. Hello. Hi.

This city has had continued money and legal problems and they're intertwined in some ways for mysterious reasons. And the time is up because we've had an opportunity to take positive action to mitigate both the financial and legal exposure that hang over our city Ojai City government. And that is the time is up on your investigation, mister Harvey. Clearly, you have found no evidence in nearly nine months that Anthony Palacio did anything less than perform his duties for Ojai City government in an exemplary fashion. Anthony was wrongly accused at the least and arguably was knowingly falsely accused.

And ever since, there's been extensive struggles within the very department he was suspended from, with seemingly the only bolstering of the department's operations, coming recently as a result of the Ojai community itself pushing back hard in response and able to somewhat address the result of the damage. It's yet another example of your actions in misalignment with your words, would mister Harvey. Transportation is a fundamental service California cities provide for their community. And yet, as if you have unilaterally decided no mos for OHA. Yes.

You say the city wants to support the local community it serves and is a central component of by helping to create jobs, by hiring locally in order to benefit locally by those new job OHAI job holders putting those wages right back into our own economy. It could not be more straightforward, could it? Yet your actions after talking the talk were to walk all the way to Fillmore and do the exact opposite. Farming the work, the trolley driver work out to a firm there and in so doing, putting a middleman in between all of it, which means the cost per driver is roughly double what it would be if the drivers were hired locally as intended by this council. This approach is wildly illogical, contrarian, and at odds with your own words.

All as you speak to money issues to justify service cuts while the biggest taxpayer, the Ojai Valley Inn, part of a multibillion dollar corporation, owes Ojai City hundreds of thousands of dollars that began rolling up fourteen years ago with seemingly no effort on your part to collect. Why are we actively undermining Ojai City's financial sustainability for a multi billion dollar corporation when on top of it all, such a large percentage of our overwhelming money obligations are a disburden. Thank

you, mister Reiter. Thank you. Thank you. Bill Miley, please. And then it looks like possibly Lisa Marie, but I must be misreading that. Thank you. Great. Okay. Bill.

Hello. Hi. Has to do with the timeline, which has extended over eight months for former trolley supervisor Anthony Palacio. Briefly, he was placed on administrative leave earlier this year with pay following differences of opinions and disputes between his position and city administration. I understand the issues are being worked looked at by the city administration for I assume a final resolution.

I request your council urge the city administration to place this unresolved issue matter up to a higher priority. Remember, it's been over eight months. Mister Palacios has requested he be reappointed to his former position as trolley supervisor. Issues at dispute, as I understand, are be potentially resolvable under a joint agreement. Setting a timeline resolution date seems the essence of a fair resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, mister Miley. Lisa Marie, please.

Just one second, mayor, if you

don't mind.

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Mayor, council, I am honored to be here. I landed Ojai thirteen years ago, and this city saved my soul. I am here on a matter that most people don't want to talk about, and that's missing children. Okay? And I'm gonna give a I'll stay right on point, but I'm gonna ask for a meeting with all of you. Alright. You will see over at the Rainbow Bridge there is a poster.

You'll get one of these posters and you will see six questions for every parent. I'm not gonna read them off to you, but these six questions is what keeps parents with deer in the headlights by the time they're done. Right? We're at a point in our world, our world, our nation is in a dire situation. And thank you for what you do. My son is a deputy sheriff and actually ran for sheriff. So I'm I'm actually not a political person. I run for all the highest elected positions federally. I'll be running for governor, and I am a mommy on a mission. Mhmm.

Alright? So here's the deal. I went to each one of your businesses three weeks ago handing out the six questions saying that I had to become a film producer because we lack documentary films actually on children that go missing immediately. We lack the fact that on Amber Alert that only goes off in one in three hundred children, this isn't gonna work. We have over a thousand children missing a day.

So you do remember Kaylee Kaylee Manley, of course. So as I went to each one of your businesses, it was just us it was it was a knife in their heart going, how is this man who killed her gonna get out of jail? How is he going to be released? And this is what I wanna meet with you about. I have the power with people that are in my world so that you can choose if you would like for him to stay in jail.

It's it's not your choice. But if you get enough people together, they can voice this. You know, we do have the power. And if he's released, then he sees thousands of people standing up going, what is going on here? Right? I don't wanna take too much more of your time. What I can say is a killer of Ojai teen, Kaylee Manely, to stay in prison for at least five more years, but this was in 2022. And lastly, in 2024, what number really concerns me I'm from Idaho, by the way. I was born in California. You had 63,000 children

I do encourage you to schedule meetings with all of us. We'll take them. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Don't forget your phone. Anything online?

Yes, mayor. We do have three raised hands.

Okay.

First, we'll first, we'll have Deshaun followed by Carolyn and then Jay. Thank you. DaShawn or DaShawn, you now have the ability to unmute and you can speak. DaShawn, you also have the ability to unmute again. I'll tell you a second time before we move on. Okay. We'll move on to Carolyn. K. Carolyn, you have the ability to unmute, and it's you have the floor.

Okay.

There we go.

Thank you very much. Hi. I am sitting with a friend who is sharing my screen with me. We are both senior citizens, and we would both like to comment. My comments are mainly regarding the trolley service, which I use often.

I don't have a car. I do walk all over town, but I am 80, and I would really prefer to have them go every half hour. I do remember before COVID, the trolleys did go every half hour, and I think that it might be time to try having trolley a and trolley b, you know, every half hour so that more people would ride it if it was more often. I do believe, and there would be a lot less traffic if people were more more people were riding the trolley. Also, if there was the evening routes, which are trolley b routes, and I know that would require hiring more drivers, but I heard that someone, Bill Wiley, I think, saying hire hire local drivers.

I don't know how many of the drivers are local or how many are not, but local drivers sounds like the the great thing to have here. It would encourage people to be able to stay at some kind of event at the art center or something a little bit later and go back to their hotel or go back home if there were the evening trolleys running seven, eight, 09:00 at night like they're used to be. The last time I was on the trolley, there was a whole pack of kids got on in front of the high school. They were going home. It is ridden.

The trolleys are ridden by people at various times, but in a general sort of way, having that you know if you miss a trolley, you only have to wait a half hour to get the next one instead of waiting a whole hour, which changes your whole plan for the day. So I think that's pretty much my comments about the trolley. And my friend who's sitting right next to me here Right. Will we'll talk in a minute.

Yep. We'd like to have a whole study.

And would like to have her own three minutes to talk. She just happens to be

It's fine.

A computer with me here.

Go ahead.

And she also is a person without a car and who is a senior citizen. So go ahead.

Thank you.

Alright. Good evening, city council members. So I wanna say, Matt Summers, thank you for your excellent work with our city. Really appreciate it, and have high respect for you. Over the for numerous months, our trolley system has not been functioning up to par. I'm really for a town of this caliber and people of this caliber, you know, there were times when the trolley didn't even come some days. It was, we had diminished, routes. We have diminished, staff. So it's so understaffed that there were times when somebody just didn't have a substitute, and we didn't have service. It has improved somewhat because they have hired a few more people, but we're still up up to the 12 people that were on the budget.

I think it's roughly that number, nowhere near that. And somebody told me one of the reasons is because we are not on par with other places in terms of our pay, and we we don't hire people full time. So somebody cannot get benefits, and they cannot get a really substantial pay to earn a living. So, you know, everybody other people in the in the city get full time work with benefits. Why don't our trolley drivers you need to make it really, you know, secure for them.

The other thing is, I've heard that, well, also our evening hours. Tonight, I'm with some friends. I I can't get home on the trolley because it's not running late. It used to run later, and it's not now. We really need to look at the needs of our community and, do better.

Apparently, Anthony Palacios, who I've only heard the best things about, he said he had excellent expertise with his job. He had he was a manager with heart, was is on some kind of a temporary layoff. And meanwhile, there's another person who is the acting supervisor. So we are paying salary for two two people who both of whom are leaders of the trolley, but Anthony apparently is an exemplary employee. And I highly urge you all to reinstate him.

There is no need for two people on the payroll for a trolley director. I don't understand why he was laid off in the first place judging from what I have been told about him. What else do I wanna say? Yeah. We can do a whole lot better with our trolley service, and and it's it's a wonderful charming thing for our community, but, also, it's it's very utilitarian. It's it's extremely extremely utilitarian. Utilitarian. Let's not overlook the needs of lower income people, people who just wanna ride the trolley for fun, kids who are going back and forth to school. Please expand and make this trolley really a model service. I mean, we're, we certainly can do that.

We're a very capable community. Thank you. My name is Anita Hendrix. I could not get on using the regular, you know, the regular

And your tablet.

Tablet and my phone. Neither worked. So thank you

for your time.

Yes. Go ahead.

I actually I just wanna mention something for all of those who have mobility challenges and and some of you, Anita and Carolyn and others who've spoken today, that Gold Coast trans transit district, they have an a mobile app and they have all kinds of programs. They have safe rides. They have access, which is paratransit and different options for transportation in this area if anybody needs it and the trolleys aren't running. I just wanted to direct your attention to that because it's a great service.

Well, and just one additional point is that we have been meeting, it seems like almost every meeting, something about the trolley where we've improved the pay and the recruitment and also it's in our plan to try to double the hours. It's definitely in our high priority list. Anybody else online?

Yes, Mayor. We have one more raised hand from Jay. Jay, you have the ability to unmute and speak. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you, City Council. My name is Jay Simons. I was a Crawley driver for eighteen years, so I am somewhat familiar with this. And I want to specifically focus on the Anthony situation because Anthony was not the supervisor.

I resigned before that and I resigned basically because of the. I don't want to call it incompetence, but it was. It was obvious to me the city staff had no one really supporting the trolley at that time. I know you've made great strides in that and I'm totally supportive of that. Now Anthony I ran into sort of incidentally because the former transit supervisor Drew Lurie and I went in to speak with Carl because we were extremely concerned.

It was very obvious to us that the direction that the staff was going was to ship this thing out, you know, and to to to not staff it appropriately. So that all happened. So we happened to run into to Anthony and had a chance to talk with him. And, you know, to me, he is a victim I guess of what you saw extensively in the forensic report from your your your consultant. You know that that there was just so many ways in which the city was not.

Adequately supervising, planning, whatever. And so Anthony was put into a situation where he went and he tried to do the best that he could and he really had the best interests of the trolley in his approach. That was my opinion. It was Drew's opinion. You know, was it was pretty obvious, you know, but but that that was running very much a counter against what the what the staff, Carl and the city manager were implementing at the time.

So I would encourage you city council members to not necessarily accept the standard explanations to really look into, dig into the detail, find out what happened with Anthony. And I think you will find that he really had the very best interests and was really forward thinking in his support for the trolley. So I I I just I I can only encourage you to do this. You've heard some of the needs for the trolley. You've done some wonderful things.

We're really happy. I'm happy for that. It it does my heart good having spent so many years trying to to support it. But anyway, I would encourage you to look into the situation with Anthony, and I would encourage you that if it's supported, that he should be brought back and he should be put back in that position so he can do, I think, what he loves to do and will support the city. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Try not to clap if you can, please.

No more raised hands.

Thank you very much. Okay. Moving on, we will now go to the consent calendar which does have many items. I don't want to pull this out off consent. I would just want to highlight it which is recall that we're reappointing the area housing authority commissioner that Mr. Mason is brought back. I just want to highlight that and acknowledge and thank that service. And secondly there is the mid term vacancy for the historic preservation commission and that is Catalina Niesen who does come to you unanimously and the application is there in your packet. Just highlight those two and thank those folks. But does anybody want to take anything out of consent?

What?

Just have a couple questions on item 11. Okay. And is it 12?

And the and 12. Okay. I have a question on the warrants. So that would be item three. Okay. I believe.

Alright. I have a question on item. Mhmm.

Item 14?

13.

13. Okay. So let me I'm gonna read back what I'm seeing. We want to pull three, eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Did I miss anything? Okay.

I'll move to approve the rest of them.

Thank you. Second? I'll second. I'll second. Cool. You wanna do a roll call on that? Do we need? Yes. Yes, please.

Roll call. Council member rule.

Yes.

Council member Whitman. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Lang.

Yes.

Council member Mang.

Yes.

Mayor Gilman? Yes. Motion passes.

Now, I guess I wanna take any public comment on the consent, I do have one, which is eleven, but I could do that actually, I should have done that beforehand. Actually, no, eleven we're gonna call, and that's Mr. Miley. I'll do that in one moment, I guess. So we'll pull number three, the warrants. And what was the question?

Yes. The question is, on page 10 or attachment a three of seven

K.

There is a charge for $20,664.75 for Liebert, Cassidy, and Whitmore, September 25 Mhmm. 2025 internal investigation, and I'm not sure what that internal investigation was for.

Well, as, you might, suspect that's a personnel matter, so I can't get into the details of of what that is, but I can provide counsel with a separate briefing that's confidential.

Okay. Thank you. So it it was a personnel in investigation?

Yes. That that law firm does personnel work for the city.

Okay, great. Because it wasn't even clear that it was a law firm. So Understood. But but yeah, thank you.

Sure.

That's all? Yes. Any other questions? So is the most efficient thing is to maybe go through number three or should we do all the collected ones at the end? Ms. Burgess, what do you suggest?

You could do either way. I'm not sure if the vote will be the same on all five items. It may be simpler to just approve time.

Let's do it.

Approve them each at a time, yep.

I move that we approve item three on the consent calendar of the warrants.

I'll second it.

Okay.

Roll call. Yes. Councilmember Whitman.

Yes.

Mayor Gilman. Yes. Councilmember Mang. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Lane.

Yes.

Councilmember Ruhl.

Yes. Thank you. So we'll move to number 11.

Yeah. I just had a question. Oh, do we have a public comment?

Oh, do have a, thank you. Good public comment. Mr. Miley, please. Oh, yes, thank you, sorry.

Hello. Hi. This has to do with IRS rule four fifty seven for deferred compensation and the opportunity to double up during this year. What seems strange is the beginning starting limit for employees in the city starts at a $145,000 wage and above especially for Roth IRA contributions. And this allows increased contributions into the four fifty seven deferred compensation program for this year.

So I've read the Mission Square page, which is the one the federal government uses to process this whole thing. They are the administrators for 2,026 contribution. And I did not find any limitations high or low for employee participation according to wage. So I'm going to state that in my comments, in these comments, it appears the $455,000 annual wage was chosen by city staff as a starting point. Looking at this July 25 city salary schedule with all of the employees, not by name, by position, there are only eight positions that have wages over $70 an hour, which gets you to a $145,000 and above.

That's working two thousand eighty hours total. There are two additional ones that are CalPERS special positions. So this is my opinion about the policy, which in summary is it should be applied to all employees receiving benefits. And if it's not, it should be withdrawn and not awarded in what I would judge to be a biased and unfair policy. Thanks.

Thank you. Any other comments online on that item?

No raised hands on Zoom, mayor.

My understanding, the question about that is because I'm looking at page 58. Oh, yeah. Please come up. There's the see, I'm gonna try to answer, and I should just go to you. Go ahead. So

the $145,000, it's not a limit. The secure act of 2022 by the IRS established a baseline for catch up contributions. Currently, four fifty seven plan, every single employee has the ability to participate to the full extent that they can. What the law did is that if we, as a body, fail to amend our plan to allow for these Roth provisions, those employees that earn over a $145,000 will be prevented from taking advantage of the catch up contributions based on age.

Mhmm. That's how I read it. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Any other questions? Okay. Yes, please.

Yeah. Can you repeat that?

Mhmm. Okay.

No. I'm just trying to understand just generally. Okay. So I understand the $4.57 deferred compensation plan, but employees earning over a 145,000 in 2025 will be required to designate at any age 50 or age 60 catch up contributions as Roth contributions starting in 2026. Do I need to know that? I mean, I don't understand that.

So every employee can contribute up to a maximum per calendar year Right. Just by the nature of doing it. Right. Once you hit age 50, you have a special opportunity to contribute more. Mhmm. And then when you hit age, I believe it's age 60, between age 60 and 63, there's another additional opportunity to contribute more.

And that's to catch up if you didn't contribute, or they're just calling it that? It's just a special age.

Just by the nature of turning a certain age, the government says, go ahead and throw more money in the plan if you'd like.

Okay, so it's not really a catch up, it's just a, it's an, know, no cap limit, you go. Well, is a Okay. Well, you we don't need to be

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay.

So but they also have, in addition to those two age based categories, is they have what they call the the catch up contribution for on your final three years of employment, if you did not contribute the maximum, you can then basically double your contributions during your last three years. Okay. But that will continue on regardless of what this body does tonight. That particular one, if you decide not to go forward with amending our plan document, those employees that are age 50 and older and age 60 to 63 will not be able to take advantage of the additional contributions.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Did you have a question?

Yeah, I just had a question about, excuse me, about allowing loans. Because when I did my research it said it's up to the employer. So I didn't see anything in the packet. Like what are the guidelines? How does that work?

Well, didn't develop the guidelines until I knew that you guys were interested in doing that. So that is a very standard provision amongst four fifty seven plans. It's just a way for employees to be able to take money out without incurring any penalties for early withdrawals or having you can't really take a withdrawal while you're still active. So this gives up some of the ability to take the withdrawal, but they're paying themselves back. There's no cost to the city for that.

The employees draw down their own money, they pay themselves back the money that they borrowed. If they happen to separate from the city before they pay it all back, then it's considered taxable income in that calendar year that they separate But it's a standard provision across agencies. Quite frankly, was shocked when I got here that we didn't have this program in place because it's a very good benefit for staff for them to take money that they've already set aside to use as they need.

Understood. Perfect.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Mhmm.

Any more questions? I move to approve item 11. Second. Roll call, please. Thank you.

Roll call. Mayor Pro Temling?

Yes.

Council Member Meng? Yes. Council Member Rule. Yes. Mayor Gilman. Yes. Council Member Whitman.

Yes. Thank you. Number 12, approval of MOU with Hope of Bohai. Who pulled that? But happy

to answer any questions on this item. Okay.

I had some questions.

Okay. Let

me see. I was just curious because it says it will be for all people from Ventura County as well, so it's not just limited to Ojai. Is that correct?

So let me take a couple steps back.

Okay.

It's going to be stationed at Help of Ojai. It's from the County Of Ventura. Furnished by the County Of Ventura. It's operated by Help of Ojai. Yes. It's open certain hours. It's run by HELP. But if you need a shower and you show up there, you are able to take a shower.

So it will be there like twenty fourseven or is there

It's certain not twenty four no, no. We've very restricted hours, and help will be administering it and publishing those hours and posting them. And we'll have them posted over here, too. It's only when they can staff them, and it's only under prescribed time. So it's like, I don't know off the top of my head what the days are going to be, but Jane and I have talked about it.

Certain, it's not every day, but maybe three or four days a week. This is going to sound we'll get in the weeds a little bit here, but we're trying to be conservative with our water use and accessibility so you have a very short amount of time that you're able to use the shower facility. We don't have anything like this currently in or around Hawaii. We do have certain churches sometimes who occasionally do offer that, but this would be just a standard thing if you need this service that would be available. Citi's contribution is going to be the water for that.

And so we're going to be monitoring that closely. After a month, we're going to see what that increase is. We're going to come back and tell you what it is. We don't have a baseline right now because help has a very small use of water they use currently. I think you saw in the report that it's like $57 and nothing. So we're going be watching this closely, we're going come back and tell you what it is.

And we're waiving the permit fee of 174.

Yes, Yes, we And

then I was

just curious cause it said something about, you know, does so the people at Tentown or whatever, they're welcome to use those

as well. Yes.

But then the little trailer that we pay $500 a month, is that where they're currently the

Yes.

Tentown people are getting their showers?

Yes. If they don't go other places. Mhmm. And this is a more sanitary and safe and permitted use.

Okay.

Yeah. Thank you. Mhmm.

Okay. Do have a quick question. Go ahead. And just curious what happens with the waste

water. For the shower pod? This is a CDD question, but I believe that was part of the permit. It has to be discharged into the sanitary sewer is my understanding of how it works.

So it goes like right into the

Great water and it to have a connection to the sanitary sewer system.

It's my understanding. Okay. Great. Yeah.

Yeah? I move that we approve item 12. I'll second. Thank you. Roll call please.

Roll call. Mayor Pro Tem Length.

Yes.

Council Member Whitman. Yes. Council Member Ruhl. Yes. Council Member Mang. Yes. Mayor Gilman.

Yes. Finally, the second reading of the ordinance item 13.

Yeah. So I I asked to pull that. I just have kind of a quick question. I have an understanding that these 15 different codes, we do have to adopt those. We're it's mandated. Correct?

Yes. Yeah.

Okay. So my question was that there's a statement in the staff report that says in addition to that mandatory adoption, we make amendments to the codes that are reasonable, necessary because of local, climatic, geological, or topographical conditions. And I'm interested in what we've done or what we might do to look at our local conditions to see how, you know, particularly as to climate and geological issues?

Well, one that we are doing is the flex path piece which is included with this for tonight. Right. There's others that we could look at as a fire hardening is one one piece that we could look at even further going beyond. The question with that though and it's kind of what we talked about during the first reading and that's kind of what the the building official was talking about as well is they've got to be there's a narrow opportunity by which to do that and it's got to have very specific reasons and rationale because really we're closing the doors for the next in terms of updates and modifications for the next three years.

Mhmm. Okay.

And then in addition to that, because of what's coming forward tonight, if this council adopts the second reading, we're taking it to two commissions for their blessing as well. One is the board and the the building and standards commission, and the second one is the energy commission.

Okay. And I guess just my question was what more can we potentially do? I guess I'm interested in what other communities are doing if they're amending to go beyond the code in particular areas. I'd like to take advantage of those that are would work well for OPEN.

I can have that conversation with the building official and see what other pieces that we may not have in the puzzle of building standards that other communities have that we could potentially bring on. Again, just caution you with they're closing the doors on what we can do into the future, so it's a very narrow opportunity to make changes.

I had the impression we barely got in this one.

We did. Yeah. There was an opportunity that presented itself in October, really, what we brought forward in October, which really happened in August, so Right. And that's the flex pathies.

Right. Revcourt's right.

Great. Thank you. But if if that is the, will of the of the council, I would ask for that to be included in the motion as well. And we certainly can look into that that.

What's the window?

I can bring that back as well and go into a little bit more detail. That's one sentence which probably can be outlined into really more of a robust discussion.

That was really why I'm asking a question. It seemed like a provocative statement that I was interested in and it wasn't really fleshed out in the report.

Yeah. And if it's the interest of the council to go further into that, we can certainly bring something back in the future.

I guess what I'm happy to have you look at it in some reasonable way, I guess I would say it sounds a lot like our climate resiliency goal that it would morph into one of those goals. So then it turns looks sounds like a goal conversation. Yeah.

Potentially. Sure.

Yeah. Yeah. So

I'd I'd I'd move to adopt item 13 with the addition that we get a report back within the time frame that it's permitted to whether there's opportunities to amend to address those specific Certainly. Issues, climate, geology, and topography.

I mean, don't disagree, but I'm this is really ambiguous. I don't see I don't not hearing timelines. I'm hearing very short window. I don't know exactly what we're asking for. I don't have an idea of when it's gonna come back.

I don't know Mhmm. How full our agendas are already. I don't know if, you know I mean, basically, we try not to insert relatively complicated. It could be relatively complicated or not, but try to insert these kinds of things into agendas sort of, you know I mean, we're trying to have some structure to items that when they come up and how they come up. So I don't know what timeline you're speaking of when you say narrow window.

I don't know what it entails to ask the building inspector what is being done in other communities around exactly what. So I'm I'm this to me seems incredibly big. And I don't have a I don't have a sense of what we're really expecting back or asking you to do. Do you have a sense of what we're asking you to do?

What I was getting a sense of was basically bringing a menu of potential options out there that fit that that narrow piece. I mean, there's gonna be a lot that's just gonna go beyond it and it's not even worth considering at this point. It's just gonna sit on the bench until further.

If it could be tailored, if you would be willing to tailor to say what what in your learning which could be sort of feasible and time bound and reasonable, a reasonable request, nothing beyond that at this stage.

I mean, would it go into the ordinance and it'd have to have a first and second reading? And is it

If that's what we're talking about, then yes.

And is it timeline specific? In other words, are we saying that, you know, 03/01/2026 is the deadline by which the state isn't going to allow and this is what I think I'm hearing. The state's not going to allow cities to add new stuff. Right? Because that's why we moved so quickly on the FlexPath, which was months and months and months ago.

It does have the potential to wrangle our whole That is a

change though. That's a significant change. So that's an example of a significant change to the code that needs to be done within the time frame by which we've met. Mhmm. So basically before the end of this year.

Before the end of this year. Yes. So we're talking three weeks.

Yeah. But that's a significant change. If we're looking at small incremental changes that fit the mold by which that one sentence covers, if there's none, then guess what? I'm going come back and say, look, over the next three years, sorry, door's closed on the things that we're looking at here.

So you're going to vet beforehand whether they're large or they're small because there's no point in bringing back large

Correct.

At this particular time. But if they're small

If they're small and the building official feels comfortable with it, then we bring it forward.

And there's no timeline on that because it's small?

If it's the council's will, I could bring it back within the first or second quarter of next year.

And we would have time to evaluate and implement?

Okay, I mean,

it's doable, if it's feasible, that I kind of understand.

Well, appreciate what you're saying because you're trying to keep us disciplined by saying we have some goals and we've said we don't want to insert things willy nilly. But if they're

good, And that's and we haven't finished our goals.

And we're not done.

And and we're going on a year. Yeah. So that's also a consideration. But if they're small, if they're easy to understand, if there would be

Yeah. We get it.

It's the old it's the age old low hanging fruit. Mean, I'm not sure if any of that exists. I really feel like with these robust changes that we're seeing here going online January 1 year, there's a lot to unpack over the next couple of years.

I I have to disclaim that I was incorrect. Apparently, we have finished our goals. That I guess I have many goals. Well, no. We haven't put in

We haven't we haven't finished our goals. We we have

My bad. Anyway.

Yeah. If if I may

Yeah. Please go.

The one thing I wanted to note is with the approval of Senate Bill one thirty there and I this is a bit of what I I believe mister Seibert is alluding to. There are limitations on modifications to the building codes that can be made after one of one of the deadlines was October 31. Mhmm. So there again, there are some exceptions to the types of changes that are subject to that. But it you know, it may be that so without knowing exactly what types of modifications we the council may wish to consider, you know, we would have to look at that in light of Senate Bill one thirty, and there may be some limitations on what what could be submitted to council for approval during that code cycle freeze on updates.

I don't know if there's anything else you would add.

It's a good characterization. The one thirty is is an important piece.

Mhmm.

So there would have to be a conversation between you and potentially the city attorney to decide if it was eligible and should be brought forward for consideration?

It's possible, if there were something that did emerge that in your judgment would be easy and you know that it's aligned with what we have expressed here and doable, I would we would be happy to hear it. But that doesn't mean spend more than a few moments on it.

Seems to Sure. Could start as a concept review and then see where it goes from there.

Is that reasonable enough, Mr. Whitman? Yeah. That's Okay.

I I just thought that because the statement was kind

of Mhmm.

Was made but not explored that a simple exploration of whether there are simple amendments we can make that promote those Mhmm. Values.

Sounds like this council is interested in the long hanging fruit, but obviously anything beyond that is

With that understanding, I will second that. Okay. Any more comment? Great.

I'd like to ask staff if if you'd like the motion read back or if there's any modification. I think that'd helpful, please.

Yeah. Thank you.

We have

a motion by council member Whitman with a second by mayor Gilman to adopt the ordinance as recommended and direct staff to report back in time frame, which would be 2026 with the concept review with opportunities to assess minor modifications of climate, geology, and topography as a menu of potential options for ordinance modification.

Why would you just insert the word moderate somewhere in there? We're not asking for

a complete redo. Moderate. Minor. Moderate. Yeah. And then lastly, with the note of mindful of SB one thirty. Mhmm. Understood?

Is that good enough? Okay. Yes.

Roll call. Council member role.

Yes.

Council member Meng.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Leng.

Yes.

Mayor Gilman. Yes. Council member Whitman.

Yes. Motion passed.

Thank you. We're going to switch remote call. We're gonna switch fifteen and fourteen. So we're on fifteen, ratification of the Arts Commission recommendations. Staff, please. Actually, thank you, mayor. We're gonna have Chair Smitty come out

if he doesn't mind. Wherever you like. Would you like to sit at the dais? Please do. Thanks. Yep. Yes, sir. We'll I

do have some.

We're gonna ask the the arts commission chair to present this item to you. A presentation from the arts commission.

Thank you.

Before the public comments?

Yes. We we if you make your presentation, we'll ask you questions, and then we'll go to

the Yes. Thank you. In your packets, you'll have three attachments, a administrative report and a a blue chart that shows the actual grant recommendations. And then the third one is a rubric that was used in our selection process. We I think this year, wanted to be particularly respectful of this additional responsibility you gave to the commission to recommend a $100,000 in grants to go out into the community.

And so we made sure that we agendized and had public meetings on every part of the process, the the selection at our November meeting. We approved the ad hoc committee in in at our October meeting and then voted on our our grant recommendations as you see them here. I I did notice that the attachment online was dead for the actual

grant awards? It was repaired.

Pardon me?

It it was repaired.

It was repaired. Mhmm. Okay. Good. I didn't know if if I needed to read read them down.

We've got it.

Okay. Good. Mhmm. The ad hoc. Thank you. The I do wanna just give a nod out to the ad hoc committee by name. That was Michael Addison under commissioner Wright. Well, our commissioners, Christine Steiner, David Leeds, Pamela Brown, Corina Wright. Commissioner Wright oversaw the ad hoc committee's recommendation. That was Mike Laddison, Elizabeth Herring, Louise Sandhouse, and Carolyn Wagner, and we thank them for their service.

And what they what our ad hoc committee did is taking our rubric, tried to make this as objective as possible for to bring it to to the full commission. And so their scores that you'll see in on the blue chart are in the column where it has the after requested amount by each of the organization, it has the ad hoc committee's recommendation in the next column. And then the actual awards that we gave are in the final column, if I'm reading that correctly. Okay. Good.

We did get a record number. It was well advertised, record number of applications, and record number of dollar amounts for that. I was very pleased when the ad hoc committee came back with their with their scores that that it was we you know, what do you do when you get a raise with the money in the community? Do you give more to some or to more people and everything? So I was pleased that the way it had worked out from them was that we doubled the amount of recipients that we gave to, and we also doubled the top awards amount from about $3,000 prior to about $6,000.

So we can make more of an impact where we thought organizations were doing a great job. It was also spread evenly throughout. Oh, and so we doubled the amounts and we doubled the amount of recipients. Yeah. So that was always spread nicely among all the arts as well throughout our creative economy too.

So that being said, I'll just as what we just in general, the the scores that came in, we kind of gave everybody above a a 70 received something with few exceptions Of the this is of the applicants of that that met all the initial requirements that we we use best practices and Mhmm. Five zero one c three checking and that sort of thing as well too. Mhmm. So the grants amounts that you see are in that final column, and they're they're the the chart is based on scores. The top was 96% and the and the bottom award was over 70.

Some of the sort of like the c's and the b's and the a's all got kind of chunks that way.

Understood.

So this is a recommendation. I don't know if there needs to be a reading of it or Now we see it. But that was the kind of process that we did. And thank you again for making this move along.

It is really clear that I remember the conversation is, do you give more to a few or do you spread it out more? And you did some version of both Mhmm. Which is very interesting to me. Any questions for the chair?

What is it I think what enabled us to do that was beautiful. Our top applicants had great scores. They're much better than they had in the past. So we're teaching the community Mhmm. To do what's important as well. It's not just fill out a great application. You have to really be doing the right things to make the kind of impact in our economy that's not just artistic merit, but feasibility, impact, sustainability, diversity, that sort of thing as well that

you see on just to say also, when we see the applicant list here, these are all we see them in town. We know these people. They're part of the fabric of the community. It's very clear that this is as you said, it's the revenue from the city going back into the community. It's it's money well spent in my opinion. Yes?

Yes. Well, I just wanna acknowledge that this rubric is really well thought out. And and I think that it's clear anyone who's receiving an award would know that this is why they're receiving it. And it takes away It adds transparency to the process and it also adds more process to the process. Mhmm. And and so I I really love the way that you all did that this year.

Did that. If I may, I'll point out that the Arch Commission did take the recommendations. It did make adjustments to them based on some other factors that I think you

We see that.

That's why you have a commission.

Yeah. See. But not a lot, but some adjustments here and there.

Yep.

I'll go to look, go ahead, please.

I I just wanted to say, in speaking with you and also looking at these documents, it was a great process. I think it it really, it it served the goals. It it was your strategy that you spoke to, and I think it was really well done. So thank you very much. And it was my great pleasure to see, almost all of the, presentations at at the Art Commission. So that was the first time I had done that. It was it was really fun.

Well, let me ask the audience to pause just because it makes it hard to hear up here, if I could. Thank you.

And thank you for your input over the years and to making the process special. Thank you to a manager Harvey. He's the one that kinda pushed commissioner Wright who really spearheaded all this Mhmm. In the direction of having a a a very clear rubric to show transparency and Wonderful.

That's great.

Kudos to miss Mara. Right, chair? Yeah. Miss Bridgette.

Oh, yes. Right. Right.

K. Miss Mara.

Very good. Wonderful. Let me go to the public comments. Let me bring up Kim Maxwell, then Clay Creasy, and then Chaya Newman, please.

Mayor, Council, Smitty, thank you so much. That's what I'm here to say. I'm here to say thank you so much. My name is Kim Maxwell, and I am a cofounder, a board member, and the director of the youth workshop for the Ojai Playwrights Conference. We are going into almost our thirtieth year now with a play on Broadway last year called John Proctor's The Villain, and a new play going on Broadway this year called Dog Day Afternoon by Stephen Attlee Urges.

I've been kicking around town for about thirty five years. OPC, about thirty years. It was founded at my dining room table with my daughter who was two at the time and is now the co director of the program on the reading committee and an official dramaturg who is working for different organizations now as a direct result. The real reason I'm here is because in 2012, Ryan Diegler, who is our resident drag queen, if you don't know, you should, threw his hand up in the air at our lunchtime interview when we have playwrights come in. And on that particular day, it was Terrence McNally, who is a multiple Pulitzer, Pulitzer, Tony award winning, Emmy award winning genius person, and a delightful human.

And he hung out with the kids as they all do and did a big Q and A. And as he was walking out the door, running through his hand in the air, and he goes, what is your last piece of advice for like a young artist coming up in the world? And he just said, always work with people better than you. Mhmm. That's why I'm here. That's why I come to OHAI every year. And so because he came even in years when he wasn't workshopping a play. We unfortunately lost him at the beginning of the pandemic, but his presence is still quite the thing. This is why I do what I do. It is the opportunity of a lifetime for myself as an educator and as an artist.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to immerse my students in world class artists. It changes their lives. Not all of them go out to be actors or writers or directors or dramaturgs. But they become civically active. They go to college. They become tree trimmers and baristas and business owners. And they have a voice, a cultivated voice and permission to use it on a really powerful level. Most of you know that the arts and the humanities have had it a little rough the last few years. The recently, the NEA and the NEH were dismantled, which affected California Arts Council and also the cal humanities. May I see all my art humanities nerds over here?

Hello. I love you guys. But we need your back more than ever. So as much as I wanna say thank you for that $100,000 in every person who was awarded, I haven't seen the list yet, Please, we need more. And it's a hard thing to ask in this year, but thank you, and you are loved. Eight seconds.

Thank you. Clay I know. It's it is very exciting and heartwarming. Clay Creasy, please. Chaya Newman, and then Susan Amend. Thank you.

Counsel, I I just want to express my appreciation for your support for the art. I think it's an enlightened vision that that OHAI shares especially. Some of my former business capitalist friends aren't a 100% clear on how well the arts coalesce with the local community, economically as well as spiritually in the community spirit. I do have one capitalist friend, very hardcore capitalist friend, though, who does appreciate the benefit of the art. And if you wanna see him this weekend or next, you can. His name is Oliver Warbucks. He'll be appearing at the Art Center. Thank you. Thank

you, sir. Chaya Newman, please. Susan, there's a it's something amend, and then it looks like something Jane Jamie Jane possibly. Okay. Chaya, please.

Good evening, counsel. My name is Chaya Newman. Oh my goodness. Okay. I am a faculty member, and I'm here in behalf of the OHAI Youth Entertainer Studio, also known as OES. I

grew

up as a student in OES, and I trained there for eight or even more years before I, left Ojai and went to study at PCPA or, more specifically, the Pacific Conservatory Theater Professional Actors Training Program. And through that program, I learned so much and got to use what I've learned here and just grow that even more. And after graduating there in 2024, I have moved back, and I am now a teacher director back at OES, teaching the next generation of young artists. Increased funding for the arts really does have human impact, which is something so incredible that I get to see because students that stand exactly where I stood have opportunities to perform, find general confidence as human beings as they're growing up, which is such an awkward time. And they get to be positive and creative, and it's that outlet that's really needed.

And this support helps us expand access to more and more children, getting to offer scholarships, and keep high quality youth theater alive here in the Ojai Valley. So I respectfully ask that you approve the Arts Commission grant recommendations because investing in the arts, invest in young people, and if there is any proof showing that that investment can grow into, it is standing right here in front of you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Susan, amend, please, and then I can't read this card, but it looks like possibly Jane, something like and it's chilled, chill kiss, possibly, and then Diane Kelly. Oh, thank you.

Susan Stinsmullen, Eamon.

Thank you very much. Yeah.

Mayor and council members, I'm pleased to be here. I'm to also thank you for what you've done. Committee, the the commission working so hard to bring more money for the arts in our town. It's just I I think about this with a little perspective in that I was on the arts commission and served as chair of public art stuff for fourteen years. And I I was looking at my notes, I don't have that much on the computer really.

It's kinda sad. But anyway, in 2011, we got $7,000 to distribute for arts grants and that seems so little. I mean, and I'm so proud of the advancement and the recognition for the arts in Ojai, and that it has continued to there's several leg legacy, I don't know if that's the right term, but the, I mean, the music festival and the Ojai Studio Artists and the theater, the theater one fifty used Pardon? To be Yeah, the Playwrights Conference. But anyway, there's plenty of new organizations that I saw on the list that I don't know.

And to support organizations that have been around for a long time is super important because they keep advancing and promoting new options for the community. I'm also with the Ojai Studio Artists, I'm the chair of the scholarship committee. And each year, we give so far only 10,000, but 10,000 to artist students at Nordoff High School, juniors and seniors, and they go through a rigorous process that introduces them to the whole, what is it like to be an artist, and how do I get recognized, and how do I get in the gallery, and so that's vital. So that's a trickle down from our organization as well as opening 70 studios for arts education for whoever whomever comes to Ojai to walk into a studio and find out about art, all kinds of art, and what a studio looks like. And students come for free, and I don't know.

It just it just it just makes me very happy that this is happening, and I wanna thank you so much. There's a great need and that your support is only going to bring what you're you're calling it the arts economy. I I love that term. And bravo for to all of you for making this happen. It's truly meaningful. Truly mean. Thank you.

Thank you.

I've got notes and everything here. I'm Gail Childress. Thank you. I was one of the original members when OHAI did not have an arts committee. We had an arts or or an arts commission. We had an arts committee. Mhmm. And there was no budget at all attached to that. And I had been on the arts commission. I believe it was thirteen, fourteen years, and it was a big deal to even get $500 for a budget.

And while that time, we had instituted the percent for the arts for the city. We had the arts gallery in the chamber and other things that I'm really proud that the arts commission has done. And I want you to not forget that the arts well, OHAI is known for the mystique arts. Mhmm. And I really need for each one of you to hear the arts in Ojai are a hidden resource.

So the money you give to the arts organizations are gonna come back to the city coffers by the hotel taxes, the gasoline, the business tax. So it's an investment in the arts. Thank you for supporting the arts. These are all little short little things that I wanted to share. The arts have been taken out of the schools, so it's dependent on the nonprofit organizations and and the volunteers to bring arts to our elementary and high schools.

I'm part of the OHAI Studio Artists, and I'm proud that we gave $10,000 as grants as a fundraiser. So we're giving back to the community. And I was asked one time, time. I was asked one time, why are the arts important? And I couldn't answer that.

I was in New York City, and I saw the answer on a billboard above the New York Museum of Art. And the first one I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the first one, but there was four. It's to teach problem solving out of the box. It leads to developing creativity. It which leads to inventions, which leads to freedom. Thank you for your support.

Thank you so much. You followed up just fine. Diane Kelly, please.

Good evening.

Hello.

My name is Diane Kelly. I'm the secretary of the OHAI Community Chorus. We just had a fabulous concert on Saturday and Sunday, the biggest we've ever had. And we are composed mostly of seniors who have no place to sing except maybe church choirs and whatnot. And so and we have a fabulous director.

And we've been in the valley for forty years, almost forty years. We have a a modest budget of 35,000, and so your award is very, very helpful because most of our budget is filled by participation, membership, ticket sales, donations. And then we also do a fundraiser with our boutique where we bake goodies and stuff like that. So and our audience is mostly seniors as well. So, I mean, I love all that has been contributed to the young people.

That's so important. But I also really appreciate being, you know, recognized, our seniors, because we're we're a vital part of this community, and we love to sing. And we love to sing for the older people too. So and we're getting more young people as well. And everybody's welcome. If you wanna sing, come on. Welcome you. Alright. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Thanks, Eddie. Thanks. Anything online?

No, Mary. No raised hands.

Wonderful. Any questions for our chair? Wonderful work. Very pleased. Very excited. Yeah.

It's great.

I feel like it worked.

Well, wonderful play then.

Okay. And

I just wanna thank the people who came to to speak and to share your love of the arts. It it it encourages us all to love the arts even more than we do just to hear the beauty that you have brought forward. So thank you very much. And I did see the concert, and it was wonderful. It was really, really wonderful.

Great.

A quick comment. I was the liaison of the arts commission last year when you guys were working on how to jury, how to set your criteria, was extremely impressed with how thorough a job, how you were your whole commission wanted to be really fair about how you awarded your grants. So I really appreciate that effort. I'm I have family members who will, I assume, receive grants out of tonight's adoption. So I'm gonna abstain for that reason I don't know if I would if I thought there was a chance you guys weren't gonna get approved but I'm assuming you're getting approved.

I think all

is I'll

put a motion on the table Please do. To approve the recommendation of the Arts Commission.

Second that.

Roll call. Council member Rule.

Yes.

Mayor Gilman. Yes. Council member Meng. Yes. Council member Whitman. Upstate. Mayor Pro Tem Lane.

Yes.

Thank you so much. Yay.

Well done. I'll

be back. Good.

I look forward to it. Yeah.

Alright. Our last item is number 14. Furnished by owner and installed by owner items, OHAI Permanent Supportive Housing Project.

Yes, mayor. And I'm gonna go support the arts, but I'm gonna turn things over to mister Seibert, and you are in his very capable years. Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

I'll let you know

how it goes. Yes. Thank you. Alright. Awesome. Thank you.

Okay. Yep. Good evening, council members. My name is Lucas Seibert for the record, the community development director for the city of Ojai. The item we have before you tonight is a discussion item regarding two pieces. One is the furnished by owner and installed by owner items, which is listed as attachment a. And the second item for discussion tonight is a policy for commemorative naming and donations. Mhmm. And the reason

Mhmm. Sorry. I know it's it's exciting when people split.

Know. Absolutely. This is a discussion tonight. I know in the recommendations it's it's looking for a review and adoption, but really it's it's a discussion piece. If there's questions, comments, concerns regarding the policy piece which is attachment b Mhmm.

Certainly we can hash that out and then bring you back any revisions or additional information as it relates to it. So the reason why this is brought before City Council is during the September meeting of this year, city council discussed the the furnished by owner, installed by owner types of items that then evolved into what we're seeing tonight in terms of a a list of items because they were being discussed during that meeting and it was it was basically clear that it was like, can we at least get kind of a rundown of what those items potentially are going to be moving forward. So that's what you're seeing as attachment a. And then in that discussion is also kind of a naming and donations piece tied to, this project as well, but more the way in which this policy is being written is kind of in a broader sense as well. So it kind of opens it up for the discussion beyond just what we're talking about for the permanent Swarth Housing Project.

So that's really kind of the the gist of the conversation for tonight. I open that up for the council to ask questions of staff and I do believe

We have dignity moves here as well.

Yeah. So I see yeah. Dylan and Maureen are here as well. Mhmm. And they may wanna say a couple of words regarding

there anything you would like to say or would you just like to be available for questions?

Okay. Available for questions. Yep.

I will start with one. This is page one fifty eight where we see the itemized list and when I see two point o items that could potentially be added to the how do you say that how do you say that acronym? F o I o donor?

F o I o.

Yeah. Okay. Fine. That are currently specified to be provided by the GC general contractor. I'm assuming that's what that means. So why how is it that they could potentially be added to the donor list that are currently specified by the contractor?

So we talk we're talking about one point zero, two point zero?

I'm saying two point zero.

Two point zero.

And I see like pantry freezer, pantry refrigerator. If I'm meeting the two point o heading correctly, they're currently specified to be provided by the GC, but they're on the list and they might end up going on the donor list?

I'll start with the the response, but I'd probably ask for maybe Maureen or or probably Maureen to to speak to that because I know she's she's uplifted these projects in other communities

Okay.

And has seen this. It does tend to evolve. This one point o list is really kinda the boilerplate for which Yeah. You tend to see from a donate donation standpoint. Two point o is what they have seen and and gathering the information that we have so far given the the scope of the work that we're seeing here. These items were then listed as two point o. And the three point o, if I could, are really kind of those bigger pieces from a financial standpoint. Those are all just there is no item aside from the green that comes with that. Understood. So

Right. So Thank you.

So typically on our projects, we allow for what we call FF and E, which is fixtures, furnishings, and equipment to be to have the direct participation from the community. So we have we have a sort of a a program, if you will, or a system whereby we encourage community organizations, the rotary club, faith based organizations, garden club, I mean anybody. It really depends. So that they have the opportunity to participate. And if those items can be from very, very small, you know, curtains, bed sheets, towels, up to trying to identify maybe some larger components.

Mhmm.

So the category number two, to answer that question, those are some items that are currently showing in our documentation and are part of the contract for construction. But we have seen examples where some of those things are also pulled out and and identified as as being appropriate subjects for participation or for sponsorship. So we're always looking at this point in the project for how we can reasonably carve off aspects of the project to allow people to participate. And you all wisely asked us to be more clear about it, I think, in the last time we came in. So we were very happy to just put some thought to it and to help you by really trying to be as specific as we could.

So we really tried

to If I might give you a follow-up question, which would be, if I understand correctly, this is the very normal way that your projects go? In other words, this kind of volunteering is normal par for Yeah. The

Okay. Yeah. Definitely. We don't our general contractor doesn't buy bed sheets or night lights.

Yeah. Understood. Please.

Okay. But generally, he does buy, or he or she does buy a pantry freezer. I mean

It depends. Okay.

Yeah. And and so Washers, dryers. Right. Right. Right. I'm assuming that it's the two point o from a to Yeah. G because that is in the budget.

That is in our budget. That shows in our drawings. So right now, our contractor would be purchasing those out.

Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay. And the bid would ref would reflect that? Mhmm. Okay. Yep. Do you have any sense of, like, what that amount is? Just roughly?

Well, it can really vary. I mean, we, you know, you can it it depends on the quality. I mean, at this point, it's also very much or generally tends to be something that the operator has an opinion about or has a preference for. Uh-huh. So, you know, in our situation here in Ojai, we haven't identified our operator as of yet.

Right.

But once we do, the operate IT is a big one. Why, you know, all of the security, security, WiFi, that tends to be that an operator has an opinion about. And so we are reserving the right to we have our contractor providing conduit, but not wiring and not this, you know, the specific kind of the guts of a security system or an IT system because that has to be subject. We have to allow the operator to have input. Otherwise, we'd just be changing it.

Mhmm.

Right. And and just a quick follow-up. When you say operator, you're meaning?

Whether it's, you know, whoever turns out to be the operator of the the village.

So when the city manager suggests that we might be hiring an operator, or we might be operating Right.

It might be help of OHAI, you know, it may be whoever that turns out to be. It's still a question mark.

That's right. Okay. When you were asking for cost though, you were saying, if I heard you right, the items under two point o, which I guess we will see when next year when we see something that has more clarity, we'll see, oh, yeah, those refrigerators are something like that. And then

the obvious is, suppose these are donated, does that money just roll back in? You know? But of course. But my my my larger question is actually on three point o. What are the costs associated with that? Which those are, you know, I mean, we can go to this, you know, to the sanitary department, we can go to Casitas Water and look for donations or Right. But these are these can be potentially high ticket items.

They can, but they can also potentially be negotiated. Mhmm. You know, depend you know, it really does depend. And solar is another one. You know, solar we're solar ready. Our our building is solar ready, but we're not actually including in the contract for construction

Mhmm.

The panels themselves. I mean, again, I think you all know there are umpteen providers that we we will be looking to, you know, negotiate with and figure out what's the best deal for our for our project. So we can't, you know, we don't want to get locked into anything prematurely.

You said that before, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's that.

And just to confirm, for three point o, these costs will also be in the budget?

The sorry. I don't have it in front of me.

Oh, I'm sorry. The the sanitary, the capacity fees for the utilities basically.

Those are all in the budget.

Yes. Okay.

Those are already in the budget. Okay. Thank you. Mhmm.

That's good clarification.

Thanks Yeah. Question. Shall I sit back down or you want me to wait up?

Any other questions before? No, Mhmm. I have a

So is there a plan for promoting, securing, soliciting the donations and how does that work?

I think that's really up to BOHAK and potentially your operator if you bring in a partner. We see typically that it's very much a kind of a co production, but often the agency or the entity, the nonprofit that will

Just closer to the will

be running, sorry.

You can move the microphone up too if

you sorry. Typically we see that the operator has a great deal to do with that because they're leveraging their relationships, their fundraising, you know, development group. But we help to, you know, it it depends on the project. If we're asked to help, we try to help to to the best of our ability. But but normally, it would be our operator that would kinda lead that campaign.

Okay. So I can go to public comments. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I have Sharmila Mali, David Shermerhorn, and then Clay Creasy. Shermila? David? We took too long. Mister Creasy?

Last, Shelby first. So I have a number of comments on on this. Starting off, I'm very perspective of this project. I think housing the homeless is a noble objective that we need to focus on. I'm deeply troubled by the process so far as most of you probably know.

And the question with regard to tonight's agenda item is why on earth are we even looking at a donation list, both in terms of timing, it's vastly premature, as well as need. And let me explain some of that. Our grant was awarded in April 2024 at the same time as 19 other cities received grants for the exact same stuff. We wound up saying that we were gonna build 30 units at a cost of 12,700,000.0 or $422,000 per unit. The other 19 cities are producing 2,206 units with their 179,000,000 or $81,000 per unit.

So our units are almost five times as expensive as everybody else. We're triple the cost of the next highest city. Where on earth is that money going? Actually, answer to that question is not that tough. It's going to a project that is void of the discipline of competition.

Dignity Moves helped write the grant application. They were handed the DMA on a silver platter without bidding. The former city attorney asserted that bidding was not required because they were deemed to be a sole provider, quote unquote. But in fact, your municipal code section eight only allows sole provider exceptions in the case of commodities, not services. And even if you thought they were sole, it would have been very easy to bid it out to other entities because I gave you a list of other entities well before that contract was led, and you totally ignored doing that.

Why is that? I think it's because Dignity Moves is on a very assertive campaign to make sure they get this project. Since they got the project, they have violated the rules associated with bidding. As we all know, Construction Industry Force Account Council has now twice called them on the carpet for that. They have dumbed down the project to the point that their their bid package now solicits the option of no storage at all.

They've gone away from the storage building. They've gone away from the storage container. Now they're saying, how about just wood chips where the storage thing used to be? I don't have enough time to go through all my other comments, but believe you me, the lack of competition is killing this project financially. You will die, you know, trying to fit this thing into the budget. And I'm just sorry to say it doesn't have to be that way, and you should change.

Thank you, mister Kisi. Anything online?

No, mayor. No raised