City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Just want to call the meeting to order for the Oxnard City Council for Tuesday, July 7th, 2026. Madam Clerk, may we have a roll call on posting of the agenda, please?

Council Member Perala?

Here.

Councilwoman Perez? Here. Councilwoman Rodriguez? Present. Mayor Pro Tempteran?

Here.

Mayor MacArthur?

Here.

And then just for the record, Council Member Starr is absent for today's meeting. The agenda for this meeting was posted in the kiosk at City Hall, the Oxnard Public Library, the City Administrative Offices, and on the City's website on Thursday, June 25th. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Prior to closed session, we will take public comments on the closed session agenda. Can the city attorney please provide a statement prior to closed session?

Thank you, Mayor. The City Council will recess to a closed session pursuant to government code section 54957, annual evaluation of public employees, city manager, and city attorney.

Thank you, Mr. Fisher. Madam Clerk, do we have any public speakers, particle session, beyond Mr. D'Apignetto?

Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem and council members, we have the request from Dan Pinedo, and we don't have any additional speakers virtually or in person.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Pinedo, if you want to come up.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. I'm going to keep my hat on. I am here to express my support for Oxnard City Manager Alex Nguyen as you conduct a performance evaluation. As a resident of Oxnard, I believe that it is important too that our city manager is evaluated on his leadership and ability to effectively manage the day-to-day operations of our city. not on political differences or personal agendas. Serving as city manager is a challenging responsibility. This position often requires making difficult decisions that may not satisfy everyone. But those decisions should be evaluated based on what is best for the city as a whole rather than on priority disagreements or outside pressure. Over the past several years, our city has faced many challenges. Through those challenges, the city manager has continued to provide stability to our city during his tenure. I have seen a leader who remains focused on the present and long term interests of our city. He is one who works diligently with staff to carry out the policies established by you, the city council. Like many residents, I want to see our city Council focus on the issues that matter most to most of our community. Maintaining safe neighborhoods, improving our infrastructure, supporting local businesses, addressing homelessness, ensuring fiscal stability, and providing excellent services. These priorities require experience, administrative team working in partnership with city council. I also appreciate that our city manager has remained focused on serving the entire community. While no leader can satisfy every person, every individual or every political viewpoint, Effective leadership requires fairness and a commitment to what is best for the City of Oxnard as a whole. The city manager is responsible for managing city employees, preparing and overseeing the budget, implementing council decisions, and ensuring that essential services are delivered efficiently to Oxnard residents. Continuity in management positions allows important projects to be moved forward and help maintain public confidence in our local government.

Thank you, Mr. Pinedo. I think we're out of time, but thank you very much.

And I'm submitting this, my letter, for the record.

That's correct. Thank you, Mr. Pinedo.

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, just for the record, we did receive a written comment from Steve Nash and copies were distributed and have been posted on the website. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The City Council will now recess to closed session and we will reconvene for an appointment item promptly at 5.30. Thank you. Okay, good evening, everyone. We're gonna get started. The council just emerged from closed session, and I will ask our city attorney, Mr. Fisher, if he has any announcements to make.

Well, thank you, Mayor. I'm assuming that the council completed the annual performance evaluation of the city manager, and there are no reportable actions out of that type of closed session. And I'm also assuming you will re-adjourn following the finish of the open session business to complete the city attorney's annual performance evaluation.

Is that correct? That's correct. THE NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA.

MY APOLOGIES, MAYOR, FOR JUST BRINGING THIS UP. I SEE SOME COMMUNICATIONS ARE RECEIVED AND I KNOW THIS HAPPENED PRIOR TO US GOING INTO CLOSED SESSION. ARE THERE ANY MR. CITY MANAGER, ARE THERE ANY, EXCUSE ME, MR. CITY ATTORNEY? Do we have any obligation under our new disruption policy to address the technical issues that were encountered prior to closed session that seem to now have been resolved?

I don't believe so, so it was discovered after you went into closed session that there was a glitch with the Zoom meeting and there were two speakers that wished to speak that weren't able to and they have submitted written comments and my understanding is they do not desire to speak at this point. Okay. Is that correct, City Clerk?

That is correct, City Attorney.

Okay. So the meeting Zoom accessibility on the meeting has been restored. Okay. Just as far as the policy for us acknowledging it's been restored and ABCXYZ. Yeah. So ironically, the one thing you're allowed to do during a disruption is convene to closed session. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. No problem. Thanks for that clarification. The next item on the agenda is the appointment item. that was scheduled for 5.30, so forgive us, we're 30 minutes behind. This is from the Public Works Department. The subject entails Parks and Recreation and Community Services Commission annual report. And I see that Ms. Angela Wycombe is here in the audience. I'd like to welcome Chair Angela Wycombe to present on behalf of the Parks and Recreation and Community Services Commission. It's a live presentation on the annual report. Chair Wycombe, come on up. Thank you.

I do believe there's a short slideshow.

I'm sure we can get that queued up. Diego, if you can queue up that presentation, please.

Thank you. I could tell you a little bit about what we've been up to lately while we wait. There's some really, really exciting things that have happened. I'm sure you're all very much aware of the groundbreaking at Campus Park, the groundbreaking for the new skate park. We've been working on forming an ad hoc committee for the park and the meta district which is in the five points neighborhood that does not have a park and is on the park master plan so just working with the community to find out what they want what would work best in that area and we've also been working we did some work on park hours and and operations uh really supporting the recreation department and all their fine works and trying to get them more monies to do more of the wonderful things that they do because we're a very large city and i'm here by myself i feel like i'm on jeopardy you're doing good filling in for the time as we queue up this presentation for you thank you so bear with us

And following your presentation, Chair, why can't we have a proclamation as well?

Excellent. Okay. Okay, I will continue on.

Maybe she'd like to introduce her fellow commissioners. I'm not sure if any are here. I don't see them just now, but just by name at least.

No?

Okay.

That's one of my slides. I only have like five slides, so it shouldn't take that long. I can't answer questions, though. Anything that you guys have been dying for us to work on, we're always looking for another thing that we might be missing in the community. So having community input is paramount to our mission and giving you all good recommendations. Oh, here we are. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Go ahead.

Okay. So next

switch button, you guys.

It's a big one. Okay. So I'm Angela Whitecomb. My vice chair is Miguel Fernandez. I'm joined by Abel Velasquez, Commissioner Oscar Hernandez, and Commissioner Joe Garcia. And we also have two new commissioners. Thank you all for appointing them. We have Commissioner Alfonso Arroyo and Commissioner Rodrigo Zaragoza. So we have a full commission. docket now. I don't know if it is docket the right word, but all the chairs are filled and it's a very diverse group. So I really appreciate having just more input from different sectors of our community. Okay, we meet every fourth Wednesday of the month at 5.30 in these very chambers and it's always a packed house with people who are coming and banging their fences at this podium and telling us what they want. That was a hint to the community to please show up so that I'm not talking to empty chairs on a regular basis. If parks and recreation matter to you, we want to hear from you. The commission is, we are all appointed, we're a citizen advisory group, and each one of these fine council members and mayor appoints A REPRESENTATIVE TO DO RESEARCH AND TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS FOR OUR PARKS AND RECREATION THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF OXNARD. WE HAVE A MASTER PLAN THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER IN 2021. THAT'S FIVE YEARS AGO. And it gave us a roadmap of things that the people that live in the city would like to see improvement on or expansion of or they're really happy with and would like to see maintained and kept up. And so we take that working plan and we go through it and we tackle an item and try to make a recommendation that the city can actually implement.

The next one.

So we do annual goals every year and our 2026 goals you heard me when I was killing time work on some of these but. Repurposing the tennis courts for multi-use basketball, futsal and pickleball have been asked for repeatedly from lots of people in the city and fixing up our courts that are dangerous has been requested multiple times. We'd like to finalize the new landscape standards so that we can have beautiful native spaces. And our green spaces are friendly, welcoming, and good for not only people, but the plants and the animals and insects that habitat them. We're working on the Five Points neighborhood design and expanding youth sports programs. And also we're making recommendations for special populations. We're trying to make sure that special populations have a space for them where they are safe and included and can be accessed at any age group. We have a lovely, Recreation does a wonderful job servicing our special populations and we just want to do everything we can to support them and make their jobs easier and more successful. And then we recommend future access for the Santa Clara River Trail. We don't have hiking trails beyond the beach here in the city limits and accessing that river trail would give our our residents a real place to connect with nature and to see how the water and nature move through our landscape because we've cemented up most of our creeks, you know, or they're under roads. You don't even know they're there or where they were. So having access to those trails I think is very important and to understand how our natural world is with us. I'm sorry, you guys. OK. So I could read through this list, but these are some of the things that we've worked hard on. And one that came directly from you was the park bench, memorial bench policy that's going to come up to you next week so that if somebody has somebody near and dear to their hearts that has passed, they can buy a bench in a park or a tree and have a memorial space where they can sit back and reflect on the person that they've lost or loved or someone that they want to celebrate. And we've reviewed a dog park for five points. And because with all the new homes that have come in, places for people to walk their dogs, it has been important that people have asked for dog bags in every park in multiple locations so that our pathways stay clean and free of what dogs leave behind. And we went on two tours this year. We did a recreational tour where we went and checked out all the recreational spaces on the south end of Oxnard. And then we did a parks tour where we stayed a little closer to the central Oxnard and visited places where they needed improvement or where things were incredibly amazing. And I can report back that the areas that needed replacement, improvement, the Parks Department has been working on successfully to bring up to standards pretty much. OK, we go over Quimby funds a lot because a lot of our neighborhoods have Quimby funds. And our parks department has been reaching out to make sure that those Quimby funds get spent and that each neighborhood gets what they would like to see done in their park. And also, we I think that's it. Move on. So these are our ad hoc committees that we had last year. And that was the park bench and tree donation, the field allocation policy, the Five Points Meta Park District that is continually ongoing, and then obviously this report. So here's some of the events that we went on and that the city puts on. And they include the Tamale Festival, They help with the Christmas parade and participate in the Christmas parade. The junior high grad night and the insect festival. The insect festival was a huge success this year. It was very, very crowded and quite tasty. These are our accomplishments. We went on the tour. We played on the equipment. It works soundly. These are our benches that we'd like to see people be able to use. These are the memorial benches that we recommended. This is our park standard, and that's the plaque. And we recommended a plaque that wouldn't be stolen. It's not going to be made out of bronze or copper or aluminum. It's just going to look pretty and do what its intended task is without providing an opportunity for the recycling. And that's it. But I want to answer questions because I know you have a lot. Thanks. Wonderful.

Thank you, Chair Wieckl, for that comprehensive presentation. I'll open it up to my colleagues if there are any questions or comments.

Go ahead, Council Member Perez. Thank you. Just a quick comment. I did see futsal as part of your 2026 goals and just with a lot of conversation in community, hoping that there could be some exploration for futsal opportunities in South Oxnard. I know there are a lot of different projects happening at the various parks, including some improvements at South Winds Park. The community there's neighborhood council is very active there. So definitely would open that opportunity to continue conversations and see what could come out of that. So thank you.

I agree. There's a we on our our parks tour there. We went to Garden City Acres. Is that correct? And you have this really interesting road to nowhere that surrounds Garden City Acres. It used to be like a driveway and it's blocked off because it became then an encampment location and so now I don't know if it's closed for a fire department but you have a huge opportunity where you could turn that into a bunch of different types of if it's if it's painted flat surface you could do a lot of you have a lot of real estate there that's open and already hard that we could explore doing something on a temporary basis to see if it's used and then move forward also with the existing courts that we have now, we're looking into what the neighborhoods want. And I'm a huge fan of a multipurpose court. I think that any way that we can service multiple populations is the best use of our funds.

Thank you, Chair Werkel. Any other comments or questions? Councilwoman Basuah?

Yes, I was just wondering, where are you at as far as the field allocations?

Oh, I'm not on that ad hoc commission. That would be a, and Jesse is, so, and he's not here. I don't, and none of my fellow commissioners are here to answer that question, but.

I think Renee's here. Oh, Renee's here, yay.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and council members. Renee Rakestraw, Assistant Director for Culture and Community Services. Can I get that question repeated?

WHERE ARE WE AT WITH THE FIELD ALLOCATIONS POLICY? ALLOCATIONS POLICY?

YES. YES. SO INTERNALLY WE'RE REVIEWING THE SO INTERNALLY WE'RE REVIEWING THE FIELD ALLOCATION POLICY AND FIELD ALLOCATION POLICY AND WORKING WITH OUR CITY MANAGEMENT WORKING WITH OUR CITY MANAGEMENT TO BRING THAT UP TO SPEED AND TO BRING THAT UP TO SPEED AND EVENTUALLY WE'LL BE COMING TO EVENTUALLY WE'LL BE COMING TO COUNCIL.

COUNCIL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MAYOR PRO TEMP.

MAYOR PRO TEMP. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE. I don't know if I ever mentioned it before, but I served in the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission before being on council. I think I mentioned it every time. But I learned a lot about the city and our rec services and senior services, youth services, and then our public works folks who really have a lot of work ahead of all of them and limited resources in which to do it. And so I thank you and your fellow commissioners for your volunteer service on that. A question I have, it was discussed in our priority session for council regarding park rangers or park ambassador or some type of program where there would be a specific classification of staff who would address parks related issues rather than it falling under code, park staff or police. And so I just wanted to mention that. I know in the past that's been brought up at the commission, but it is something that this council did Agree to add to our five-year priority.

So I hope that's something that You all can look at as time goes on here as well So we did make a recommendation for both a park ambassador program and a park ranger program and with funding Allocations on how the park ranger program could be funded that was all in the written recommendation I think it's from two years ago now and it pretty much unanimously was approved for because our city needs a park ranger program. Our bathrooms are closed continually due to vandalism. And so as a parent, if you have a child that needs to go to the bathroom, they need to go now. And they don't care why the bathroom's closed. They just care that it is closed. So it's definitely an issue and a problem that we need to have. And having some working solutions on how we can remedy these problems that continue to come up is really important. And the park ranger program could really help with that. Especially, you've got, it's not like it's all parks and all bathrooms. You've got definite locations where you can see These are the problems. And if we had a park ranger program, there could be areas of focus so that these bad actors can be persuaded to behave accordingly. And then the park ambassador is always challenged with liability. And I always challenge the city to come up with a way to have a strong volunteer corps. so that the residents become more connected with the city and help in any way we can. And this becomes paramount when we are faced with financial challenges.

Thank you. And we specifically stated park rangers, but some classification, as I had mentioned. So I know that, as I mentioned, you all had that discussion as a commission. So I'm hoping that's something you can revisit knowing that we've added it on this side of the equation too, and we can hopefully get some good example or model programs from cities similar to our structure and see what's worked for them and we can learn from that. So thank you again.

You're welcome. I'll look it up again.

Yeah, thank you.

Mr. Morelle.

Thank you all for your service on this and thank you very much for the report. Some items have been hit and I'd like to, I appreciate the information that you have. The question about field allocations I think that's a terrific thing and I and I appreciate councilman basu of bringing it up One of the fields that I have a concern with and I also appreciate you addressing the fact about some bathrooms are heavily vandalized One of my concerns with the Southwest Community Park when we have organized sports there and the bathroom that is supposed to be provided is not Provided I'm hoping to get that on an agenda in the future The issue about the park benches and the donation program, the family of Mr. Albert Duff has been very involved in finding out what's going to happen. They're very interested in that. And I do appreciate you explaining about the precious metals that could be put on the bench that will not be done, because unfortunately, it's not people from the outside. It's our own community. They're taking the brass fittings off fire hydrants. They're taking the brass fittings in the cemeteries. It's valuable and people DO WHAT THEY SHOULDN'T DO. THE COLONIA PARK RESTROOM IMPROVEMENTS, I'M IN TOTAL SUPPORT, NOT JUST THEM, BUT ANY PLACE THAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENTS. BUT GETTING A HANDLE ON THE VANDALISM WHICH WHEN WE FIX IT ON MONDAY AND BY WEDNESDAY IT'S BEEN VANDALIZED, WE GOT TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR. IF WE KNOW SOMETHING, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS A GREAT STAIN. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. People with phones and the ability to take a picture it makes a big difference in our quality of life Thank you very much for the information and the presentation Thank you chair, welcome Go ahead. I'm sorry One two three four the fifth one the Muriel for mr. Efren Gore totally support that but I hope that you could possibly because there hasn't been action taken potentially on a park naming, but there should be something for what took place in the history of this city from the Takasuke family and the Carmona family. When one individual's family was put in an internment camp in World War II, and the Carmona family protected the store and made sure it was in one piece to give it back to the family. I think that's something that the older we get, people forget. But that is a big thing in this country and in this city. And it's been nationally with Tom Brokaw in a book and everything else. Thank you.

I think there's a huge opportunity to do education through murals and a mural program. Unfortunately, that's not in the purview of the Parks and Recreation Commission. That goes to the Cultural Arts Commission. So every time we have mural suggestions, we have to kick it over to the other commission. And we're happy to do so. And then we also look at other. And we take off one hat and put on another and look at other opportunities. to put murals in other locations that can definitely speak to the history of Oxnard and the importance of recognizing the work that our residents have done to help bring up residents in the city of Oxnard and to protect our own.

Your voices, your body would be a tremendous help. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Wieck. Any other comments or questions? All right. I appreciate it. At this point, we'll take public comment. Anyone wishing to speak on the appointment item, please come forward and you may fill out a speaker card. If you're joining us virtually, please press star nine to raise your hand to be recognized. Madam Clerk, we'll go to any public speakers we may have on this item.

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, we do have a virtual speaker.

virtual speaker if you can hear me um please press star six to unmute and you have three minutes starting now yes uh good afternoon council eduardo hey my suggestion for fun we're having each individual neighborhood raise funds i know that the channel islands harbor as like a community association where they raise I guess they have a non-profit in between this association where they personally have a committee where they raise funds for these old housing tracts where they can actually place and you know obviously raise individual funds as a neighborhood and then I guess at the end let's say if our city would host a community event let's say a cultural event These small communities can actually provide funds as well from their small funds and be part of these events so we can make it obviously more profitable for a community and then having families more involved. Because I know that when Carmen was involved, she had different ways of raising funds and pulling in money from different organizations, industries that I would think would be willing to support uh communities like southland parks you know where a lot of our labor workers uh need those resources and supports from a lot of non-profits you know every neighborhood is selective on what they host and what type of events they have you know and just take advantage and use as a experience that we just had the recent event here at the um harvard for fourth of july and it was a pretty productive event you know and obviously they have their own association their own committee and they're pretty productive and they actually did this event on their own So I think it's something that we can look into. And that's my suggestion. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Mr. Huerta, for calling in. Any other public speakers, Madam Clerk?

If there's anybody in the audience or anybody watching us virtually, please press star 9 to raise your hand. Or if there's anybody in the audience that would like to speak, you can please come forward.

Good afternoon. Before I start on the subject, I want to say how I was impressed last time I was here on how well she does her job. I've seen her before and I just was amazed how she keeps this place going. So just wanted to give her credit on that. And I also wanted to compliment the 250 anniversary was just right on the money. So it goes on my idea that I've been kind of bringing up to you that we should do more for the people. And I guess I got good bad timing because I kind of want to talk to you about what I brought up to you in the past. And so one time we traveled to New York and we saw Central Park, a couple friends and I, and we thought that, well, Oxnard should have like a big park like that. And, you know, I think that the best thing that Oxnard did was that college park. That's the one thing that I've always like, wow, this is just like the perfect park. And I spoke to the mayor about, and he went and he said, we're doing another one over here. But I think we should have one in every corner of the city. I mean, it's just really, really the best thing that you could do for people. I also thought about, at that time we took the trip to New York, we thought about maybe the Central Park or Pagoda, where the Pagoda's at, the city park. We could do like music on the weekend for people. Like I spoke to you guys last time. MORE LIKE INTO THE ARTS AND LIKE STUFF LIKE THAT WHERE LIKE WE CAN HAVE THE WE HAVE FOUR HIGH SCHOOLS WE HAVE FOUR WEEKS EVERY MONTH MAYBE WE COULD GIVE THEM EXTRA CREDIT TO HAVE THE BAND COME OUT THERE SUNDAY MORNING OR SUNDAY OR SATURDAY AND PLAY CLASSIC MUSIC AND THEY GET EXTRA CREDIT FOR THEIR ROTC OR WHATEVER AND IT BENEFITS THE COMMUNITY ALSO YOU KNOW THE CENTER THE GUTHRIE CENTER WHATEVER IT'S CALLED RIGHT HERE I FORGET THE NAME OF IT WE CAN USE THAT TO GENERATE MORE CULTURAL IDEAS TOWARDS ARTS AND I'M KIND OF INTERESTED IN THAT. I USED TO BE A PRETTY GOOD ARTIST AS A KID AND I'D BE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING FOR THAT. ANOTHER IDEA THAT I HAD IS THAT WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING THAT REMINDS KIDS OF OUR HISTORY BECAUSE A LOT OF US, WE CAME HERE BECAUSE OUR RELATIVES WERE BRASEROS AND THEY CAME HERE TO WORK AND WE SHOULD DO SOME KIND OF THEME PARK AND I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS LIKE IN FRONT OF AMAZON, IT'D BE PERFECT BECAUSE IT WOULD CATCH TOURISTS COMING IN THROUGH CALIFORNIA, LIKE WE COULD DO LIKE a harvest park, like where they know what a tractor looks like and what it is like to work the harvest area. In most areas of California, people are honored to say they're harvesters in here. And this community seems like they're embarrassed of it. Kids like, I don't want to go work in the harvest, you know, the agricultural. But it's a trade that's an honorable trade. And I think the city could do stuff like that with themes to remember our past and, you know, understand that, you know, a lot of people sacrifice their, to make the city what it is and to put us where we're at nowadays. So there's several other ideas that I think that could tie everything together that would make it a better city. So maybe down the road I could elaborate a little bit more on it. But maybe at least the music park at Central Oxnard Park would be a start. So thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Juan. Senator Glick, are there any other speakers?

Mayor mayor pro tem and council members that concludes our speakers in person and virtually. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you Chair welcome. I don't know if you want to come up We have a proclamation So is your I'll just read it. I don't know if anyone was gonna accompany you up here receiver, but People who'd like to read this proclamation, it's wonderful.

Okay, and I think half of them are sitting over here. Oh my goodness.

Well, let me read this. Let me read this. We'll go down to you if there's a lot of... Oh, you can come on. Come on up here. As I'm reading this proclamation that we crafted, whereas parks and recreation programs are an integral part of communities throughout this country, including Oxnard, whereas parks and recreation programs are vital to They're vitally important to establishing and maintaining the quality of life in our communities, ensuring the health of all residents and all community members, and contributing to the economic and environmental wellbeing of a community and region. And whereas parks and recreation programs build healthy, active communities that aid in the prevention of chronic disease, obesity, provide therapeutic recreation services for those who are mentally or physically disabled, and improve the mental and emotional health of all residents. And whereas parks and recreation areas are fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community, and whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors, and whereas parks and recreation programming and education activities serve our community through after-school care, youth and adult sports, volunteer opportunities, and senior programming and nutrition, and whereas the US House of Representatives has designated July as Parks and Recreation Month, whereas the City of Oxford recognizes the benefits derived from Parks and Recreation Services. Now therefore, I, Luis MacArthur, Mayor of the City of Oxford, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month. Right here.

Sorry.

All right, can everybody hear me okay?

Yes.

All right, good evening, Mayor McArthur, Mayor Pro Tem Teron, fellow council members, and city manager Newey. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Juliette Morales. I'm the recreation supervisor of youth and adult sports with the Cultural and Community Services Department. On behalf of CCS and the Parks Division, thank you for celebrating Park and Recreation Month with us. This year's National Recreation Park Association theme celebrates the power of parks and recreation and reminds us of the incredible impact parks and recreation have through connection, play, community, nature, belonging, and well-being. Throughout the month of July, we invite our community to experience the power of parks and recreation by participating in our many free and affordable programs. Beginning July 6 through August 8, our youth sports summer basketball league will welcome hundreds of young athletes to our gyms, where they will learn teamwork, sportsmanship, confidence through the power of play. Youth and adult sports will also be running colonial sports camps that will be free, instructional camps in flag football, volleyball, soccer, and basketball, helping young athletes build skills, friendships, and lifelong love of recreation. This summer, catch our mobile activity center, also known as MAC, at local parks, which brings arts, crafts, games, and sports directly into neighborhoods across Oxnard. Also, be on the lookout for our community cinema series, which transforms local parks into gathering places where families, friends, and neighbors can come together through the power of community. Our summer reading program through the Oxnard Public Library encourages youth and families to discover the joy of reading, while our Arts Academy offers free art classes and camps that inspire creativity and lifelong learning. Families are also invited to celebrate our annual Kids Fest on July 17th at Oxnard PAL, and our Preschool to You program continues bringing early childhood learning and play directly into neighborhood parks ensuring that our youngest residents experience the power of belonging at an early age. Our senior services team continues to provide meaningful opportunities for older adults to stay active, connected, and engaged throughout this month. From fitness classes and wellness programs to technology workshops, arts and crafts, nutritional services, they're busy over there. The senior centers foster the power of connection, belonging, and well-being for residents of every age. For more information on all of our summer offerings, please follow us on social media at Oxnard Rec or visit our website. Summer program flyers are actually available here in both English and Spanish, right next to the City Clerk Louie, and have been shared with Council tonight as well. Thank you for our continued support of Parks and Recreation.

Thank you so much. Anybody else want to make a comment? Anyone wanna speak? Ms. Pinheiro, you wanna take a photograph of all of us?

And you wanna introduce everybody so they can see?

Yeah.

You can pass the mic too, that was good. So I'm Juliette Morales, I'm the Recreation Supervisor, Youth and Adult Sports and Fields.

Matt O'Neill, the Recreation Supervisor for Oxnard City Core.

Pedro Rosales, I work for the arts. I'm the one that kind of help with all the paintings out here.

Olga Zavala, I work for the Oxnard Scholars Afterschool Program, and I'm a recreation analyst.

Angela Whitecomb, chair of the Parks and Recreation Community Services Commission, volunteer, et cetera, et cetera. Brenda Mendoza-Alamo, recreation analyst, work with the Oxnard Scholars Afterschool Program.

Donnelly Perez, Recreation Supervisor, Youth and Adult Classes, and our Oxnard Scholars Actors School Program.

Hello, George Cruz. I'm a Recreation Analyst with Senior Services.

Eduardo Chavez, Recreation Analyst with Youth and Adult Sports.

Mel Gutierrez, Recreation Specialist with Youth and Adult Sports.

Esteban Melchor, Recreation Supervisor, overseeing after school and Mac.

Olga Fernandez, Preschool Youth and Adult Classes and Camp Serendipity. Jessica Serrano, Recreation Analyst in Senior Services.

Jose Gomez, Recreation Analyst with City Corp. Lupita Canizares, I'm part of the Cultural Arts and Art Academy.

Steve Hallett, Assistant Public Works Director. I oversee the Parks Division as well as the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission.

Diana Reyes, I'm here representing Cultural Arts and thank you everyone for your support and we love our team.

for what you do. Thank you very much. Ms. Riera, do you want to get us ready?

Here we go. Ready? One, two, three. One, two, three.

I was nervous. I want to check it out. I gave the flyers. I've seen the banner for years, but I've never visited. Yes, you should.

It's a great time.

Thank you everyone for being with us. At this time, I just want to call the, our regular council meeting to order for the, for Tuesday, July 7th, 2026. The next item is the Pledge of Allegiance, and I see we have a student here. For his introduction, I'll turn it over to the Mayor, Mayor Prochan.

Go ahead, go ahead, Gabe.

Thank you, Mayor. We have Mr. Leonel Rojas from Brent's Club and the Boys and Girls Club on 7th Street, their teen center, who will be leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Before we do that, Leonel, I think Councilor Perrello, Mayor, wants to make a statement for the moment of silence. Absolutely.

Go ahead, Council Member.

We recently lost a member who had put a tremendous amount of time into this community. His name was Dale Dean. He served Roughly 15 years on the Oxnard Planning Commission. He was first appointed to the seven member board February of 92. The city council then replaced the commission with a land use advisor panel in 1995, but he was reappointed to the newly formed five member planning commission in April of 96. He served continuously through 2011, frequently serving as chair and vice chair. He was also instrumental in school issues, in serving on boards and committees, And he's a veteran, a tremendous loss to the neighborhood, very active in the Cabrillo Neighborhood Council. Thank you. I hope you'll take a moment of silence.

Absolutely. Thank you, Council Member Perlow. So, Lionel, when you're ready, if you want to lead us on the Pledge of Allegiance, we'll take a moment of silence, okay?

Can we all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? Can we all put our right hands over our hearts and face the flag? And 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. Thank you, everyone.

Go ahead, Leonel. It's all yours. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, council. Thank you for having me here today and for letting me tell a little bit about my story. My name is Leonel Rojas, and I'm a member of the HHS Boys and Girls Club Teen Center on 7th Street. There was a time in my life when I had made some bad decisions. I was struggling to find the right path. I got into trouble here and there. I faced challenges that could have defined my future, but instead of letting those struggles hold me back, I found a place that believed in me, the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center. After becoming a member, I joined one of the programs offered at the Boys and Girls Club called Brent's Club. Brent's Club is a drug and alcohol prevention program for teens like myself to make sure that we don't fall into a wrong path of drugs and alcohol addiction. When I joined Prince Club, everything started to change. It wasn't just staying away from drugs and alcohol. It was making better decisions, finding the right people. And it was also helping me find myself as a leader for my family, my friends, and my club. The mentors and friends that I met encouraged me to set goals, take responsibility, and become someone others could look up to. Today, I choose a sober life and healthy lifestyle because of the lessons I learned through Brent's Club. They showed me that my past does not determine my future and that every day is a chance to make better decisions. I'm grateful for the Boys and Girls Club and everyone who believed in me when I was still learning to believe in myself. Once again, my name is Lionel, and I want to thank you and the city of Austin for having me here today. Thank you.

It's amazing, Luna. Thank you for sharing that. I could see the Boys and Girls Club staff. Alexis over there just smiling. Just so proud. It's wonderful. You want to highlight who's here supporting you, Luna? If you just want to introduce them.

I got Oscar. I got Carlos here. I got people here for me.

That's wonderful. You know, this is the best part of our council meeting is highlighting young people like yourself. And thank you for just giving us an insight into your background and being so energized and so enthusiastic to be here. I know it's not easy to do it, so thank you for coming here. Go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Lionel, for being here and sharing a little bit of your story. You shared with us in just a few minutes what you've experienced over years and years. And so that's not something to take lightly. I hope you're very proud of yourself and you continue to be proud of yourself with every positive decision you make to make things better and easier for yourself, not harder for yourself, right? You know, just everything you've shared, there's this theory around resiliency, and there's a few components to it, three of them being that when young people have people in their lives who have high expectations of them, who genuinely care about them and give them opportunities for meaningful involvement, that can help them overcome any challenge, almost any challenge that they face in their life, no matter what language they speak, what their background is, what community they come from, if they have those three things from their peers and other adults in their life, that can help them to succeed. And so it sounds like you found a place you were able to get that, and then you'll find it in other places too, whether it be right at home and you see it, and it may have been there that you didn't recognize, or it changes as you change too. or you see it in your community, or you see it in the workplace, at school, wherever it is. Once you find it, you're going to find it more and more. And so I love that you're able to find the first place or one of the first places through the 7th Street Club. And you have folks here who will back you up every step of the way. They've done it so far. They'll continue to do it. So I hope you're proud of yourself because all of them and all of us are very proud of you, too. So thank you for that. Thank you, guys.

Now we have a certificate for you extending our sincere congratulations and for your perseverance. If you want to come up here and Alexis, if you and others want to come up here to join them, thank you. Thank you very much.

It looks like a mug shot. I don't know. A little lower.

A little lower, yeah. No, I think somebody else did that one.

There you go. Ready? Is that cute? One more.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Good meeting you, too.

Take care. Bye. Take care. See you soon.

Yes, sir.

Congratulations again, New England. Thank you to the members of the Boys and Girls Club, executive staff for being here. Thank you. We will now move to the next item in the agenda. This is item G. This is for public comments for items not on the agenda for also for non-action items. A person may address the legislative body only on the matters not appearing on the agenda and within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. Speaker requests shall be submitted as set forth on the first page of this agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes. After 30 minutes, if all speakers have not had The opportunity to speak, the remaining speakers will be given an opportunity to speak prior to the adjournment of the meeting. The legislative body cannot enter into a detailed discussion or take action on any items presented during public comments at this time. Such items may only be referred to the city manager for administrative action or scheduled on a subsequent agenda for discussion. Persons wishing to speak on public hearing items should do so at this time. And as we have a number of speakers, I can anticipate we will go beyond the 30 minutes. So if it's okay with everyone, we'll just allow all speakers to speak and not to defer them to the adjournment of the meeting. Madam Clerk, are there any speakers joining us virtually as well for this item?

Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmembers, at this time, we do not have any virtual speakers.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We will start with the first speaker. This is Valeria R. Followed by Sarah Wilczewski.

Good afternoon, city council members. My name is Valeria Reyes, and I am a youth leader with Buen Vecino, a community-based nonprofit founded in 2016. Our name, Buen Vecino, means good neighbor. Our vision is to cultivate a world where all people live as good neighbors, where human rights are guaranteed and a sense of belonging is shared by all. Oxnard and Ventura County have been devastated by Trump's regime's mass deportation campaign. The federal government's relentless attack on immigrant communities is benefiting nobody except for the profiters. who are making millions off the separation of families. The one-year anniversary of the brutal raid at Glass House Farms, where 361 community members were taken and a man died, is this Friday, July 10. Agents from at least five federal agencies participated, including immigration and other custom enforcement. That raid was a military occupation, featuring masked agents in a camouflage armored vehicles, chemical munitions, and projectiles. Family members and glasshouse workers and concerned community members, including children and elders, were repeatedly tear gassed while peacefully observing. Excessive force and total lack of accountability are the standard practices we are experiencing. Federal agencies roving our neighborhoods act as if their purpose is to deliberately impose brute force, cruelty, and to demonstrate impurity as they carry out racial profiling and needless violence and terrorizing our communities. Nothing in state law prevents our local and state law enforcement from participating in these serious abuses from a side job with ICE or one of the many other DHS agencies that are terrorizing our communities. That's why we are supporting AB 1537, a bill called No Side Jobs for ICE. This bill addresses urgently needed transparency and sets a common sense statewide policy that police officers are not allowed to protect public safety day by day and terrorize us at night by working with ICE. We urge each of you city council members and everyone here to write to your state senators and Governor Newsom to urge them to pass AB 1537, no side jobs for ICE. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Sarah?

Good evening, Mayor McArthur, city council, city staff. My name is Sarah Wachowski, and I'm here to give you your update on the numbers of abductions by ICE. Since January of 2025, And as of 10 a.m. on July 6th, in the 805 area code, 2,275 people have been abducted in Ventura County, 1,092, and in Oxnard, 229. And we're coming up on a year this week since Glass House. I've already shared my story here about my experience in the crowd and as did many others who were there that day and including some of you sitting up there. The year anniversary brings up a lot of trauma for everyone who participated and everyone who was involved. So I encourage everyone to take care of yourself and make space for however you're feeling. And coming up, we will have some volunteer trainings with 805 and DocuFund if you would like to get involved. The training in Oxnard is coming up on Thursday. July 19th. So please come up and get involved. You can find information about that training on our social media, 805 and docu fund and on our website, 805 and docu fund.org. And if you cannot get involved or, um, just look out for your community and remember to call the hotline. If you see anything, 805-870-8855. Thank you.

Thank you, Sarah. Maria, I see that there are a number of speakers that you're going to speak on behalf of for the group. Maria Navarro? Maria, how much time do you think you need to speak on behalf of the group?

I would say six minutes, if that's okay. Okay. Okay, thank you.

Mayor, if we can, just to be fair, when we've had a couple instances recently where we had a identified speaker who was speaking on the part of the group. Again, just to be fair, when I had this come before me, I wanted to ensure that those who filled out cards were here to give their time to the speaker. Even though I had to do it virtually, I see that we have probably cards that have been physically filled out. So I'm wondering if we could do a like process just to ensure the folks who filled out cards to give Maria the time are here to acknowledge, just raising their hand saying they're willing to do so.

Sure. I know at least one, Olivia Lopez, filled out a speaker card, though the cards are not necessarily mandatory. Maria, is there other people in the audience here that you're speaking on behalf of?

Yeah, so clarification. So if I do get an extended time, does that mean the rest of the group won't be able to speak as well, or is it more of a, like, If Olivia, yeah.

Just wondering how many. How many speakers? How many speakers you're representing? Because there are other speakers that I see some here that yielded their time to you.

We have seven speakers total. And sorry, besides me, we have seven speakers total. And then I am like the first speaker. And I just wanted to see if I could have more time through Olivia's comments.

So, Mayor, if I could explain the rule since, as Mayor Pro Tem pointed out, this has become an issue. The council rules of procedure state that if a large group of speakers is to be represented by one speaker, then they can be, that one speaker can be given extended time. So that means that the large group is giving up, its opportunity to speak to provide the group leader extra time to speak.

Is that the case? Because I only see here, Maria, just to be fair, there's only Olivia Lopez that filled out a speaker card. Is there others that you're speaking on behalf of?

No. So in that case, if it's not everyone, then I guess I would only have the three minutes. Okay.

Okay.

Thank you. Sounds good. Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Maria.

Yeah, thank you for your understanding.

Thank you, City Attorney, for clarifying that. Thank you.

OK, so good afternoon, Council, Mayor, staff. We are here today as cause and residents in Oxnard to really talk about barriers that we face regarding residents trying to seek dignified housing using city process. When we talk about dignified housing, we talk about housing that is livable, where tenants' rights and residents' rights are respected. What we have here is an example of tenants trying to attain that using the methods that we as a governance and people who live in this society have tried to take on. So first of all, when we look at the tenant relationships with their landlord, that's the first step when it comes to some type of habitability accountability. They go to the landlord and they ask whether it's verbal or whether it's written for accountability. Most often than not, you don't have to be experts here, but you understand that this happens. These concerns are not addressed. They just simply are not. And in our city, we have a problem with substandard housing. When these issues are addressed through that measure, which is the first line of defense going to the property owner, folks then go to the second step, which is going either to the city or through a legal route. Let me talk about the legal route real quick. So you say, hey, as a tenant group, let's get an attorney and let's sue the landlord. Well, many of the groups that are present here have done that. The Oxnard, many apartment complexes do do that. The issue is that once you go through that route, Really, the remedy is not based on the landlord actually making the repairs. What you get is the damages, often after the damage has happened. And those are monetary damages. Now, let me talk real quick about the city. When you escalate further, you have two options. You organize and try to make a deal with the owner, which was the case of Via Oxnard. Or you try to go to the city route. In the city route, you have code compliance. That's the enforcement agency that's available here. Now, the biggest thing that we've seen with code compliance, and I'm sorry because I'm going to run short on time, but what we see with code compliance is that tenants who bring up their issues with code compliance end up either having Mickey Mouse repairs done, They end up not being put into the Safe Homes, Safe Families program even though there are more than three units that are eligible to be part of that program. Or they end up being, sorry.

Thank you Maria for your understanding. Thank you. Olivia, did you want to speak? Olivia Lopez? No? No? Okay. Edith Carballo, Edith?

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Edith Carballo. I am a resident of Country Club Mobile Home State in District 5. I am here because I believe Oxnard's rent appeal process is not working for the residents it is supposed to protect. When we received our rent increase notice early this year, the housing department told us that we had the right to appeal. We trusted the process. We followed the instructions, gathered photographs, requested financial records, which we never received, and spent many hours preparing our case. At the hearing, even the management company acknowledged that our park was in poor condition and that the streets had not been properly maintained for more than 10 years. Yet the hearing officers still ruled in favor of the owner. Just three days before the hearing, the owner started repairing the streets. months after filing the rent increase application and after the residents challenged it. Those repairs were incomplete then and they're still incomplete today. Yet those last many repairs were used to justify the rent increase. This was our second appeal. The first time we were told we needed more evidence. This time we brought more evidence, but still was not enough. When the standard keeps changing, residents lose confidence that the process is fair. We ask you to review the rent appeal process, ensure that the hearing officers fully considered the evidence presented by the residents, and make sure property owners cannot justify rent increase with repairs that are only made after residents file an appeal. The city needs to review the efficiency of the Department of Housing and code compliancy. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Carballo. Sylvia A. And I see here that you need an interpreter. So you'll be allowed six minutes. Thank you.

Buenas tardes, concejales. Mi nombre es Silvia. Soy inquilina de los departamentos via Oxnard.

Good evening, council members. My name is Silvia, and I am a renter in the apartments via Oxnard. En el distrito 6. In district 6.

También soy parte del comité de adultos de causa.

I'm also part of the adult committee of causa.

Estoy aquí porque llevo casi dos años organizándome con mis vecinos. I'm here because it's been almost two years organizing myself with my neighbors. Para pedir mejores condiciones de vivienda. To ask for better conditions of housing. Muchas familias viven con mold, problemas graves de plomería y daños por la lluvia.

Many families live with mold, with problems, with very severe problems about plumbing.

In my apartment, we also have issues with plumbing and repairing take a long time. The residents, the administration, the enforcing department, they know about these conditions. And we're still waiting for these problems to be solved. To also have a follow up to make sure that these repairs really are completed. I ask you to please protect the families from . To make the owner responsible. To make sure the repairs are done in a timely manner and permanently. The city needs to make a review of the Department of Housing and the Department of Enforcing Code. También pedimos que se inscriba via Oxnard al programa de Safe Homes, Safe Families.

I also ask you to register to the program via Oxnard of Safe Homes and Safe Families. Gracias. Thank you.

Muchas gracias, Silvia. Gracias. Next speaker is Luis, followed by Santiago. And Luis, you'll also be allowed six minutes.

Buenas tardes, Consejales.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Luis Avila. I'm a resident of Country Club Mobile Home in District 5.

I'm here because my family and my neighbors, we continue paying more rent. But the conditions in the park don't improve. but the conditions of the park are not improving.

Las calles estuvieron en mal estado por muchos años.

The streets were in very bad shape for many years.

Solo empezaron a repararlas cuando los residentes presentamos nuestra petición contra el aumento de renta.

They only started fixing them as residents presented our appeal against the rent increase.

Nosotros seguimos las reglas.

We follow the rules.

Presentamos pruebas.

We submit the proof.

Fotografías. Documentos. Porque confiábamos en que el proceso sería justo.

Because we trusted that the process was going to be fair.

Pero sentimos que nuestra evidencia no fue tomada en cuenta.

but we feel that the evidence presented was not taken in account.

Y que las reparaciones de último momento se usaron para justificar el aumento de renta.

And the last minute repairs were just used to justify the rent increase.

Les pido que revisen el proceso de apelación de renta.

We ask you to please review the appeal process of rent.

Para que sea justo para los residentes.

To be fair for the residents.

También les pido que los dueños mantengan en condiciones la propiedad.

I also ask you that the owners maintain the properties.

Antes de pedir un aumento de renta.

Before they increase the rent.

No después de que los residentes presentan una apelación.

Not after the residents present an appeal.

Y les digo que antes de pedir un aumento. Before asking for an increase, we've had a lot of problems at the park.

I've been living there for 25 years.

Only one time the street has been repaired. And I feel it's fair.

Just like we pay our rent month after month, year after year.

It's only fair that we receive the services that the park needs.

Not to increase the rent if they have not invested any money in repairs. The city needs to do a review to the housing department and the department of enforcing of the code.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Muchas gracias, Luis. Thank you. Next, we'll take Santiago, who also needs a translator, will be allowed six minutes.

Good evening, council members. My name is Santiago Vasquez and I'm a renter of the apartments via Oxnard District 6.

I'm here because my family and my neighbors, we continue living with problems in our living conditions.

En el 2024, con el apoyo de causa, llegamos a un acuerdo con el dueño que arreglara los departamentos.

En 2024, with the support of causa, we got into an agreement with the owner so they could fix the apartments.

O nos mudara a unidades remediadas.

Or to move us to remediate to other units.

Hace unos meses nos mudamos.

Few months ago we moved.

Pero el departamento que nos entregaron todavía tiene problemas. But the apartment that we were given still has problems.

The floor was damaged. The stove didn't work. One of the windows, no, one of the glasses in the light bulbs, it broke on its own.

And hurt my son. ninguna familia debería vivir así.

No family should be living like this.

Les pido que hagan responsable al dueño.

I ask you to make the owner accountable.

Que se aseguren de que los apartamentos estén realmente arreglados antes de que una familia se mude.

To make sure that the apartments are really repaired before a family moves in.

Y que protejan a las familias que solo queremos vivir en un lugar seguro.

And to protect the families that all we want is to live in a safe place.

La ciudad necesita hacer una revisión al Departamento de Housing y el Departamento del Código de Enforzamiento. También pedimos que se escriba

The city needs to have a review to the Department of Housing and Department of Enforcing Codes. We also ask you to register to via Oxnard to the programs of Safe Homes and Safe Families. Thank you.

Thank you, Santiago. Thank you. We'll take Candelaria, who also needs a translator, and then we'll go to virtual speakers after that.

Good evening, council members.

Good evening, council members. My name is Candelaria and I'm a renter of the apartments Terrace and District 5.

I'm here because my family and my neighbors, we continue living in bad conditions. At the end of 2023, the owner raised our rent for more than 4%. We organized with causa and the city told us that we were right. El dueño tuvo que devolvernos el dinero que nos cobró de más.

So the owner had to give us back the money that he overcharged us.

Paró los problemas en nuestros apartamentos. Pero los problemas en nuestros apartamentos siguen igual.

But the problems in our apartments continue the same.

Desde el 2023, el dueño nos ha subido la renta el 4% cada año.

From 2023, the owner has increased the rent a 4% each year.

It's not an increase of 12%, but the repairs are not getting there. We presented a lot of complaints to the Department of Enforcing Codes. Al principio si respondieron.

At the beginning they were responding.

Pero no siguieron revisando para asegurar que las ratas y otros problemas se arreglaran.

But they did not follow up and continue reviewing to make sure that there were no mice or other problems.

Tampoco inscribieron al dueño en el programa hogares seguros, familias seguras.

They also didn't register the owner to the program Safe Families, Safe Homes. Now the owner changed the administration, the company.

And we're waiting, we're still waiting for the repair orders to come through.

We ask you to make the owner accountable.

Que den seguimiento a las quejas hasta que los problemas se arreglen.

To follow up to all the complaints until the problems are solved.

Que protejan a las familias que vivimos en esos apartamentos.

To protect the family that live in those apartments.

La ciudad necesita una revisión al departamento de housing The city needs to make a review to the Department of Housing, the Department of Enforcing Codes, and we also ask you to register terrace to the program of Safe Homes, Safe Families. Gracias.

Thank you.

We'll go to the first virtual speaker, please.

Excuse me. Virtual speaker, if you can press star six to unmute, and you have three minutes starting now.

Hello, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the city council. This is Manuel Herrera, Manuel Herrera. I'm calling to give credit where credit is due. I'm referring to our city manager, Alex Nguyen. When he started here as our city manager, he inherited a mess. We were like, what, $8 million in the hole? We had terrible financial audit reviews. Our roads were a mess. Then COVID hit. remember that but because of our city manager oxnard is still standing today unfortunately most people have a short memory and instead of praising our city manager they focus on his unconventional character look i'll be the first to say that mr nguyen isn't your typical city manager he doesn't just sit there and look pretty he speaks up and sometimes that offends people But what do you want? A typical city manager like what we've always had? Or one who isn't afraid to make the tough decisions and isn't afraid to speak his mind? And yeah, sometimes he pisses me off too, but he's not here to win a popularity contest. He's here to do the tough work. He's here to do what he's being paid to do. So don't look at his shortfalls, look at his accomplishments. I can honestly say that although he may be the toughest and most vocal city manager we've ever had, he's also been the best city manager we've ever had. I know that earlier today you met in closed session to evaluate his performance. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to call in, so I trust that your evaluation took into account everything he has done for our city and that you also took into account his love for this city he lives here he owns a home here he's invested in oxnard so trust me when i say he cares about oxnard and he cares about its citizens maybe we're just not used to the tough love so that uh mr mayor concludes my comments thank you mr o'hara for calling in

Madam Clerk, we'll take one other virtual speaker before we proceed with Samuel and Laura, who are here.

Virtual speaker, please press star six to unmute, and you have three minutes starting now.

yes good afternoon so glad that we're having actually the conversation about uh obviously uh fair housing right um and we just had money kind of speak a little bit in regards to our city manager uh we you are the I think our city is pretty much clear where we started we started with the feud between uh Emilio Ramirez and Alex Nguyen when I first ran for office uh targeting a homeless community in regards to a lot of uh fair housing rights with our renters and you know the support systems that actually our property owners and our landowners need when they actually provide housing for families and families that are actually out speaking today like our migrant families um when carmen actually ran for office she was covering up a lot of the ms that was created through bad management and i think maybe administrator that's correct um alex did walk into master at the end um both him and um tornado come from riverside county So it may be bad tactics, bad policies, maybe bad demographics, but at the end, I'm working on a housing plan, and I personally worked for property management. So the experience is that a lot of these property managers that are hired to manage these properties is the fallout, and they don't show the right support systems for, let's say, property owners. At the same time, they don't show the support system for the city. We provide the funds. and they provide the property sometimes they don't fall through so i think we need some type of coordinates or committees that actually regulate on these property owners you know and at the end some property owners are not willing to invest in the repairs and they'll end up selling their properties some of these families are long-term families that have created financial wealth And I think that it's created a mess in our state. And I think it's time for our council to take responsibility. I have a lot of mixed emotions. So, you know, sorry to be so persistent, but I have the experience and I walk this walk with Manu Herrera, this view between Nguyen and, you know, there could be a lot of casualties. for bad mouthing each other. And at the end, we lose focus in our community. And right now, I'm glad that we have these families speaking for the rights, because at the end, that's our focus, because it just seems like this meeting today is about these families, the resources that they count on and programs that we provide for them. Sorry, guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. God bless.

Thank you for calling in. Madam Clerk, we'll go to Samuel here in person, who needs an interpreter, followed by Laura.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Samuel Salazar. And I am a renter of the apartments via Oxnard District 6. I'm here because the families in via Oxnard will continue having living conditions. At the end of 2023 and during 2024, we received notices to move out from our homes with the support of Causa. Con Causa llegamos a un acuerdo con el dueño We got into an agreement with the owner where the Department of the Rent Stabilization was present when we signed the agreement in October 2024.

It's been about two years from the time that we signed that agreement.

And a few months ago, we moved out, taking the other option of moving out to another apartment.

but that continues to have problems.

So the area in the kitchen had roaches under the fridge, the furniture in the kitchen.

We let the management know and they did not take any action to fix the infestation of roaches.

We, today, as of today, my family continues dealing with this problem and even if we let the management know. We ask you to make the owner be responsible and to make sure that the other apartments are really fixed before they move a family in. y que proteja a las familias que solo queremos vivir en un hogar saludable y seguro.

And to protect the families that all we want to do is live in a safe and healthy place.

La ciudad necesita hacer una revisión al apartamento de housing y apartamento de código de forzamientos. También pedimos que se inscriban.

the city needs to to have a review done to the department of housing and the department the code enforcement department we also ask you to register via oxnard to the program safe homes and safe families thank you

Good evening, Mayor and council members. My name is Laura. I am a resident of Country Club Home Mobile Estates in District 5. I am here because my family and my neighbors believed in the city's mobile home rent hearing process. When the housing department told us we have the right to the hearing, we participated in good faith. After our first hearing in 2023, we left feeling discouraged, but we did not give up. We were told that we needed more evidence. So we came back better prepared for our second hearing this year. We attended meetings, gathered evidence, and followed every instruction. This year, we presented lots of evidence about the condition of our community, yet the hearings officer's decision favored the owner. The decision relied in part on repairs that began only after the owner requested rent increase and after residents challenged it. We are discouraged once again. We ask you to review the decision being made through the rent hearing process. Residents should not lose a protest because repairs were made only after residents filed a petition. We also ask that hearing officers fully consider the evidence presented by residents when making their decisions. The city needs to review the efficiency of the Department of Housing and code compliance. Thank you.

Thank you, Laura. Madam Clerk, we'll go to a virtual speaker.

Virtual speaker, if you can hear me, please press star six to unmute, and you have three minutes starting now.

Hello.

Yes, please proceed.

Thank you. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, council members, city staff. Yesterday morning, I sent an email to the city attorney's office requesting clarification of certain elements of the February 2022 city council procedures manual. So far, I have not had a response. First of all, I want to make it clear that this is not about being denied extra time during the meeting on the 30th. No bad blood there. The chair of that meeting had the authority via the procedures manual to either grant or deny the extra time. The chair had the authority and executed it as was his right and responsibility. But there are certain elements of the said manual which are ambiguous and there are ones which I requested clarification. Most of the manual instructions are clear and concise, but not so in certain areas. I can certainly understand whereas the city might like to keep parts of the manual ambiguous. But this is not good for the public and certainly not good for the council. There are eight attorneys in the city attorney's office. There is not one that can clarify or remove the ambiguities. Like I said, I can certainly understand why you might want to keep this document loose. That being said, as a taxpayer, I deserve an answer. I would also think that the city council membership, the body which this document supposedly governs, would want These ambiguities removed also such that the meetings can be executed in a uniform, consistent manner. Let me repeat that, in a uniform, consistent manner. Maybe one of you seven council members might have the courage to say something. A procedures manual by definition should not be ambiguous. It should be the guiding principle or Bible in which the meeting is conducted. Please respond and clarify the language in the procedures manual. Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in. Madam Clerk, can we go to the next virtual speaker, please?

Virtual speaker, if you can press star 6 to unmute and you have three minutes starting now.

Hi. This is Deirdre Frank. I'm calling about Alex Nguyen. I'm also calling about integrity. I'm talking about a man who is prepared, who listens, who has input. I'm talking about integrity because in the past, our city managers coordinated or conspired or colluded with members of council to do deals with private developers. We all know the results, what happened at Oxnard Sports Park, why it's still not there, what happened with the sale of the properties on Oxnard Boulevard. I'll say the name, Aldersgate. You all know who I'm talking about. You should. We all know about the deals that happened in River Park. And the downtown agreement that was made that yielded the settlement funds to downtown Oxnard, that was obviously not enough to restore them to what they could have been in the absence of the theater agreement that was made at the collection. If you don't know that, you need to go back and study Oxnard history because it was deals between the manager at the time and specific members of the Oxnard City Council. It was shameful. It was shameful. All you have to do is look at the DA's findings when they investigated the City Council and the deals and the bribery and the coercion that was done between the powers that be. It was shameful. You have a man who is not subject to that shame. He stands on his own. He tells you like it is. You should be so blessed to have this man involved in your city government. As was said by a previous speaker, he's invested in Oxnard. You would be making the biggest mistake of your life and for the city of Oxnard to do anything to jeopardize his staying here and keeping the team that he has created and supported. Please, appreciate what you have. I appreciate your listening. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, can we go to the next virtual speaker, please?

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and council members, that concludes our virtual speakers.

Thank you. We'll resume with the in-person speakers. Ms. Vanessa Valdez followed by Mr. Eric Endres.

Buenas tardes. Voy a ocupar la asistencia de ayuda de un interprete, por favor. Buenas tardes. Gracias. Buenas tardes, miembros del Consejo Municipal de Oxnard.

Good evening, members of the Oxnard City Council.

Este viernes se cumple un año desde la redada en Glass House.

This Friday, it's been a year from the raid of the Glass House.

Un año después, nuestra comunidad sigue esperando respuestas, justicia y liderazgo.

A year later, our community continues waiting for answers, justice and leadership.

I'm here not only as an attorney, but also as someone that was present that day. I was the only lawyer that was present at the place when our community was attacked. Pepper spray was shot at me and I also received six shots. I still have a scar and many families continue to carry

all that happened that was so deep.

Familias fueron separadas, niños quedaron traumatizados y personas trabajadoras fueron agredidas mientras ejercían pacíficamente sus derechos.

Families were separated, kids were traumatized, the workers were attacked while they were practicing their rights.

Cuando pedí ayuda al departamento de policía de Oxnard y a la oficina del sheriff del condado de Ventura para proteger a la comunidad,

When I asked for help to the police department, to the Austin Police Department, and to the Sheriff's Office of the County of Ventura to protect the community, it was denied.

Let's not lose the focus on what is important. The elected leaders of this city

need to respond to the community for the lack of support to the victims and for not complying with their right to protect us.

A lot of members of the community, they're scared to attend this type of meetings or they don't know how to participate in them. Pero no confundan su ausencia con conformidad. Sabemos claramente dónde han estado sus prioridades.

Do not confuse their absence with being settled. We know, we clearly know where they've been and what the priorities are.

También decimos su nombre, Jaime Alaniz. Exigimos justicia por su muerte y rendición de cuentas por todo lo ocurrido.

And we also say his name, Jaime Alaniz. We ask for justice for his death and for everything that had happened.

This year, I presented a lawsuit against ICE, and I will continue fighting for justice for our community today

I ask you, what side are you on?

Oxnard deserves leaders that are brave, that listen to the community, and respond with action, not with silence.

We have not forgotten and we will not be quiet. Thank you.

Mr. Eric Andrus, please. Followed by Mr. Greg Runyon.

Speaking of the city manager whose actions have been reprimanded by the DA not once but twice, what's going on with the bogus whistleblower program? Last week, Bert took an agenda item off topic to badmouth me and spread disinformation. This week, he's whispering on the dais to Michaela again. Inappropriate on both counts. Do you all have a copy of the Oxnard Procedure Manual with you right now? If so, turn to page 12, where it clearly says what the group speaker rule is. It's very short, very simple, and not what your city attorney said, and not the ridiculous polling rules that Gabe has inflicted on the meetings as a power trip. Here's what it says. The presiding officer, that's you, Mr. Mayor, may grant a representative of a large speaker group additional time, up to 10 minutes, to speak for the group on any agenda item. That's it. So when you sit there and take the city attorney at his word and praise him when he's wrong, you're doing your constituents a disservice. You did the speaker tonight a disservice. Stop assuming he's right on everything because he's wrong an awful lot. Look it up yourself to verify it. If I can do it, you can do it. Do you all have the procedure manuals up there with you? Look it up. Page 12.

Thank you, Mr. Hendricks. Pastor Gregorian.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. You demoted me. Senior Pastor, go ahead. Thank you very much. I feel a little better. I WILL TELL YOU THAT CLOSED MEETINGS WHEN YOU DO EVALUATIONS, YOU ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE TO TAKE THE TOTALITY OF SOMEONE'S WORK INTO ACCOUNT. I WOULD SAY THAT ONE OF THE THINGS I APPRECIATE ABOUT ALEX uh, Steve Fisher is that I don't have to agree with them all the time. Um, and I don't agree with Eric all the time, but he actually said something that's very good. Not Eric Sonstegard. Eric, I agree with you all the time. I know you turned around real fast. I agree with Eric Sonstegard all the time. Eric Andrews got it when he said that look for yourself. One of the things that's interesting is you ask the city attorney for his opinion. Now, we believe that that's right, but all of you have the ability to check. When you ask Alex, he gives his leadership. If he was right about everything, man, he'd be in Vegas. Nobody's right about everything. But I believe that he's done a good job, because he was handed a mess. You all know way more than we do. And what I would ask, and I think what all the residents would ask, is that you do your due diligence. But also, when you make a decision, please tell us why. Don't just say we voted. Tell us why, because I think that's going to help lot of us because there's a passion that happens to people in city leadership that a lot of us forget y'all get bashed more than you get praised people think that you're up there for us to rail at and so I want to say thank you I want to say thank you for all that you do for all the time you put in for all the energy you put in for all the the vitriol you have to take for all the anger you receive. We're fortunate to have people who care, and we're fortunate to have people who spend all the time that you do. This is a part-time job that takes up all of your time. And I appreciate all of you for what you do, and I appreciate our city manager's department, our attorneys, all of our, we have a great city, and I just want to thank you for that.

Thanks, Senior Pastor. Thank you.

Mayor and Council members, we do have a virtual speaker, OK? Virtual speaker, if you can press star 6 to unmute and you have 3 minutes starting now.

Alright, can you hear me?

Yes, please proceed.

Good evening Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem City Council staff and the public. It's true. that Oxnard has had a very checkered past with certain members of our leadership team. And we've had some very bad city managers, there's no question about it. But we can't use those examples from Oxnard's past to set the standard for what we should accept with our current and future city managers. I see that all the time. They're saying, hey, we've gone through a horrible time and thank goodness we are where we are. And, you know, I keep hearing all of that. But there are some things that are worthy of consideration. And I'm certain that, you know, the city manager is going to be kept on and he'll be lauded with praise. Well, that's what happened with other city managers until certain facts came to light. And then those city managers had to exit stage right. ignominiously. So one of the things that I considered when we got our new city manager in July of 2018 was I'm willing to give this guy a chance. I'm really hopeful that this guy is going to steer our ship in the right direction. But what changed that for me was the ruse of harassment of staff by the city treasurer to try to rest away the statutory duties of our elected city treasurer. When that happened, then I realized that we're dealing with a person of very little moral or ethical boundaries. It was despicable. And so our city treasurer, twice now, has taken the city to court and won. and won against alex nguyen and when the city council just goes ahead and abdicates their authority and responsibility of the city manager and gives him so much authority just keep in mind what the judge said in the decision that you cannot unelect the city the sitting elected city treasurer and thwart the will of the voters that's pretty serious when that happens and you mess with our ability to vote our right to vote and to have an elected official that represents us in such an important way with our finances and you do that and you lose and such a scathing rebuke is made of the city manager. Thanks, Mr. Portello. I think that's worthy of consideration.

Mr. Portello, thank you.

Thank you, sir, for calling in. Madam Clerk, does that conclude our public speakers, virtual or in person?

Mayor, excuse me, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, yes, that concludes our speakers in person and virtually. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item in the agenda is item H. This is a report from our city manager, Alex.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually only have one thing for tonight. I did want to address the various public comments quickly that I'm more than happy to review the hearing process, the appeal process, as well as the procedures for code and housing. So hope to have that back to you probably in early fall. Okay, with regard to City Manager's Corner, there's just one slide, and it's just to share that these were the priorities that the Council approved, updated a couple months ago. Just very quickly, and this is available on the City's website. It will be published as part of the new fiscal year budget book as well, but it's definitely on the City's website. So very quickly, on the legend... WHAT YOU HAVE HERE, IF I CAN GET IT TO WORK. THERE YOU GO. SO THERE'S THE LEGENDS. YOU HAVE YELLOW AND YOU HAVE WHAT'S OUTLINED. SO YELLOW INDICATES THE THINGS THAT THIS COUNCIL ADDED AND UPDATED. FOR EXAMPLE, IT WAS BROUGHT UP EARLIER ABOUT THE PARK RANGERS. SO THAT WOULD BE IN YELLOW. And then what's outlined theoretically represents the kinds of capital projects and improvements that could be funded strategically through bonding. But that's a matter of the economy and the finance markets. So at some point Going forward if the finance staff believes there's an actually there's an actual good opportunity to present that to the council We will do so but again. This is the outcome of your priority setting Again, it's on the city's website, and it will be in the new budget book soon. Thank you.

That's it Thank You Alex The next item is item I. This is a report from my colleagues. We'll start with you, Council Member Perez, if you have anything for this item.

Thank you, Mayor. Just really quick, I think I wanted to address public trust is very important to me. So Council Member Parallo just asked me the name of the apartment building that was being discussed on items not on the agenda, but really wanted to also take the moment to thank all of the speakers who came out, cause all the organizers, This is something that the issue around habitable living conditions is a top priority for me and something that I take very seriously. These conversations have dated back prior to me being on the council, a couple months before I was sworn in. Just had multiple conversations with many of the tenants. I hear your concerns, very frustrating in terms of some of the conditions that many of our tenants are continuing to face in South Oxnard and looking forward to continuing to have conversations. I know we have another meeting set up this Thursday and really moving forward towards some solutions. So we want to thank each and every one of you for coming out and speaking tonight. I know many of you have work early in the morning, so thank you for all of the time and just your work in communicating with us as representatives about your needs and HOW WE SHOULD SOLVE FOR THOSE NEEDS. NEEDS. JUST TO MOVE INTO SOME OF MY JUST TO MOVE INTO SOME OF MY REPORTING, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF REPORTING, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF EVENTS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN EVENTS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN SOUTH OXNARD. SOUTH OXNARD. THERE ARE FREE ART CLASSES at the Southwinds Youth Center. There's also Kids Art Camp from July 20th through 24th from one to three at the Southwinds Youth Center. There's also a free summer lunch program in partnership with the school district, Wainimi School District. That's gonna take place from June 29th through August 13th. That'll be from 11.30 to 12.30. Free lunches are offered Monday through Friday. And the program is specifically available for youth ages 1 through 17. And the only requirement that I see here is that meals must be eaten onsite. I also wanted to report that there is going to be a backpack distribution happening in South Winds on Thursday, July 23rd. at South Winds Park. And I know Diana and Peter from our staff were here earlier today in the audience, and I just wanted to spotlight them and recognize them. They were two individual staff members that worked on both of the murals that we see in South Oxnard. One, the mural that went up at South Winds Park, and then the other that recently just went up at the South Oxnard Library. So I want to just thank them for all of the work in helping move those projects forward. I know that had been something Councilmember Basu and I had talked about specifically for the Oxnard Library, and it's good to see it come into fruition. Just an update, as I shared in the last council meeting, I regularly meet with our neighborhood council chairs in District 6 and we are set to meet sometime again at the end of August, beginning of September and that'll be an opportunity for us to talk about some of the challenges in other areas that community is concerned about. So looking forward to that. And as we heard tonight, there's a lot of different systemic issues that are one of the top priorities here for the city. And I just wanted to kind of reflect on as we think of the next 250 years, hoping that we can move towards a society that really upslit, uplifts humanizing the humans that are among us and really advocating for treating folks with dignity. And that is my report. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you. Council Member Perlow.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the speakers. Mayor there have been comments made about mold in buildings and I think it would be worthwhile, and I hope it doesn't have to go to a committee I hope it would be worthwhile to bring it back to the City Council just an update exactly how far can code enforcement go? How far does code enforcement have to have a person an actual person not a legal representative make a complaint? because these are very serious issues of health and I I can tell you for the past council, the past council took very seriously basically the equivalent of slumlords taking advantage of people. And we presented it on a silver platter to the district attorney. That office did nothing. It sounds like this possibly could be something that would end up in the same situation I hope not But I'm willing to work with the two districts five and six that apparently and I do want to thank councilmember Perez for explaining the whispering Asking what the name of the mobile home park was mr. Andrus, and I appreciate you got the film on the issue that's going on with the Issues that are talked about if they're valid and need to have somebody take action and if there is a lead law enforcement authority that agency needs to take action um the opportunity for me to bring about events i've been involved in different things as an obligation on the city council for the boards that i sit on but hearing some of the events tonight i'd like to have an update on the bathroom facility in the southwest pacific park with respect to if we have organized groups that rent the facilities or promise the facilities and they're obligated to provide portable bathrooms and they don't, somebody's got to be held accountable. With the background checks of the adults that are using any sports facility for youth in the city of Oxnard, whether it's on city property or because of their relationship with the city and a relationship with the school, They're using school property. These people that are adults working with youth, they need to have a background check so that everyone in this council and the people in the community can rest assured we're not going to read about in the newspaper something fell through the cracks that we had an opportunity to straighten out. The code enforcement landlord issue, is a big thing in the rent increase i do get questions from residents asking the limitation of four percent increase is not allowing residents that own properties to fix them up i don't know that we revisit that but i want to share that with the residents there are two sides but abusers should not get a pass No matter if the people are legal, illegal, if the people understand English, don't understand English, what's good enough for me is good enough for you. And I want to compliment the people that take the guts to come up here and say that. Because I wasn't born yesterday, and I understand what retaliation is. And the people that have the guts to stand up, the world is full of people that will take advantage of them. They need to not be quiet, but you need to stick together. And if you have legal representation, hold your legal representation accountable to do what they say they'll do. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Mayor Portem. I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead, Mr. Parnell. Absolutely, go ahead.

One last thing. I apologize. Thank you, Mayor.

Absolutely.

This Wednesday, there's going to be a park design feedback session for the Seaview Park. Neighborhood and the Seaview neighborhood will meet at the Seaview Park and it's located at 950 offshore Street in Oxnard They're going to review the current 50% concept of design layout speak directly with project design team Ensure the priorities of what the people want in that neighborhood what they get and if you have an opinion There's an opportunity to voice your opinion.

Thank you for letting me and Don't think you can small problem. I'm here for Tim Thank You mayor

Since last week, literally seven days ago, I was able to attend the Ticket to Results event at the Port of Wainini where they highlighted a number of the efforts that have been successful, and they were able to get an $8 million-plus grant to supplement a lot of what they're doing. And we got a short tour of the port and a lot of their activities. On July 3rd, I was able to attend the beginning and then the middle portion of the Star Stripes and Sounds event that the mayor and our community partners had put on for Plaza Park. It was great to see the thousands of community members who came out to celebrate and enjoy time with family and friends and some great music. And there's a really good food too. So thank you for offering that. and appreciate the Port of Wainimi and the mayor and the downtowners and all they did, especially in providing some opportunities for some of our youth service groups that do sports, an opportunity to receive some funding from the Port of Wainimi to help with their efforts. And then the following day on Saturday, July 4th, we had three speakers, as I mentioned last time, who came and I appreciate my colleagues who came out as well as members of the community to hear the stories of three generations of Oxnard residents who shared their experience and the opportunities that were afforded to them by living in Oxnard, choosing to live here or their parents brought them here and what that meant for them and how their life has gone because of that choice. And it was a great event. Certainly we were celebrating the larger 250th anniversary of the country, but more so what does that mean to people who live in Oxnard, especially those who grew up here or those who are now setting roots and plan to stay here long term and have their families here? This Thursday at 6.30, Orchard Park Neighborhood Council will be having their meeting. There was a typo in the agenda, the weekly packet from last week where it said I would be presenting. I won't be presenting. It'll be our traffic engineering folks who will be talking about requests that that neighborhood had. And so folks who want to attend, you'll find it in the weekly packet. And then lastly, as was mentioned by a few folks, this Friday is July 10th, which is the one year anniversary for the Glass House incident that happened last year. And I will just say that, as was mentioned by Ms. Wilczewski, that it's something that certainly sticks with people who were there. And I appreciate that people are having a remembrance for Mr. Alaniz, who lost his life that day, as well as those who were taken from their families, those who had family members who did not come home, and to see family members, including teenagers there, not sure if they were going to see their parents or their family members again come out of those front doors, that sticks with people. In addition to all of the all the terrible things that our own federal government did to residents of this community on that day. And so I invite folks, if they would like to consider doing so, there are community gatherings that will be happening to acknowledge and recognize the one year anniversary. And if you're so inclined, you can find that information online. But I do want to mention that because I thank everybody who keeps that in their minds. This is not This is not discussion of policy. This is not discussion of the law. This is how you treat human beings. And our government did not treat us like human beings that day. Thank you, Mayor.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor, for your time. Councilwoman Basula.

Thank you, Mayor. I want to thank the speakers. I'm going to speak in Spanish. Thank you very much. Y del mobile home park, es la primera vez que yo oigo de este problema y como dijo el señor Nguyen, él va a mirar lo que está pasando y va a traer un reporte para atrás para nosotros. Pero también me gustaría saber qué son las dificultades que han tenido. Es muy importante para mí, pero como les digo, es la primera vez que yo oigo de ese problema en general. And will I translate in English? No. You can. I just wanted to thank the speakers for coming out. Councilmember Perez and I have been actively engaging and communicating with the issues that are happening. We've seen the issues. They're real issues. We do have a scheduled meeting this Thursday to continue the dialogue. regarding the District 5 mobile home park. First time it's in my district, first time I'm hearing about any issues regarding policy. I want to thank City Manager Nguyen for taking the initiative and addressing that. So I'm looking forward to hearing from the tenants and hearing from city staff on, you know, what's working, what's not working, what can we improve and have that dialogue specifically with the residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you.

Councilwoman Rodriguez, go ahead.

And you beat me to addressing them in Spanish as well. I do have a few reports. I, too, attended on the 3rd and the 4th to the many celebrations for the 250th birthday celebration for the U.S. And so thank you for everybody behind the scenes putting that together, especially to our officers. We know you had long, crazy hours. You know, we were chasing folks or trying to... keep people safe with the firework activity. I know the chief reported on Monday during one of the ad hoc committees that 96 citations were given due to fireworks. And that's a pretty big number, right? Because we recently increased the infraction to be $2,000. And the household or the home where the fireworks are being detonated will be held responsible. So we just want folks to be safe. Even though it's 96 infractions, there's a teenager who lost part of their hand. And I think that that's very unfortunate when we're just trying to keep folks safe. So I wanted to share back on that. And I know Mayor Pro Tem shared that there's gonna be several events public, but I know specifically of one put together by several nonprofit organizations. So if I may, I know that there's a gathering, it's gonna be a vigil at Glass House 6.30 p.m. is a gathering, speakers at 7.30, and anybody who wants to join the vigil at 8.05. And there's different community groups, so I won't start listing them because I'll probably leave somebody out. And to the families, thank you so much for taking the time. You probably haven't had dinner yet, but you're here because this is important enough. to you, so everyone from Valeria, such a youngster here speaking up and representing during public comment to like the families who probably have to get back to their homes. Muchísimas gracias por estar aquí el día de hoy. Sé que tal vez no han cenado y es un largo día los campesinos que trabajaron desde las 4 o 5 de la mañana hasta estar aquí con nosotros, así que muchísimas gracias que lo que nos están reportando, lo estamos escuchando y vamos a ver qué cambios podemos Thank you. And I said what I had mentioned. So I think it's important that if we translate in Spanish that we make sure that we cover all our bullet points. I was just thanking them for being here and making sure that we do our part and be diligent on our end.

Thanks. Thank you, Councilwoman. Mayor Portillo, do you have some additional comments? Go ahead.

My apologies. Thank you, Mayor. I, even though it was in my notes, I still didn't say it. For the three individuals, I wanted to thank them once more for being our speakers on the Saturday the 4th. We had Ashley Flores Reyes, who is a recent graduate and soon to be college student, speak about her experience in being the daughter of immigrants. And then Miguel Rodriguez, who is a community organizer and an employee of the Port of Hueneme. shared about his experience as well and his family's journey in coming to this country. And then lastly, we had Mr. Federico Rodriguez, who is a retired veteran and spoke about his time growing up in Colonia and serving in the military and the opportunities afforded to him by this community and by his service in the military. So I just want to thank all of them for all of their willingness to come out and share their story with the community. And I wish I could have recorded the whole thing. My phone malfunctioned halfway through, and so we got half of it. We'll remember it, right? But they'll remember it. And last thing, Councilwoman, I mentioned it online. I had some responses from it. It was a $2,000 fine for the fireworks. It was the 250th anniversary. Missed opportunity to make it $2,500 to stay in theme with the 250 year, right? So anyhow, thank you very much, Mayor, for the extra time on that.

Absolutely. Thank you, colleagues. for your comments. I'll just close. Thank you so much for bearing with us. And I see the, I know it's hard to come here and express what you're going through and the difficult conditions you're living, but we're committed to, you know, I took copious notes. We're going to work with our executive leadership team to take a deep dive, working with both our housing department and also with code compliance to see how we can take corrective action to help the most vulnerable in our community. So thank you for coming out. And just last, I just want to add, thank you everybody who came out to the July 3rd celebration and where we commemorated the birthday of this nation. What I envisioned when I put together the idea of celebrating the 250th, I'm thankful for the support I got from our executive leadership team to allow me essentially to create this event. free to our community. I shoulder tapped our downtowners, as well as the Port of Wainimi, who partnered with me to make this event a success for all of you. There were thousands of people out there. We had a classic car show. We had cultural presentations starting at 3 o'clock to 6 PM, representing the various groups that have made our city, our region, and our country great, from the Filipino community, Polynesian dancers, Grupo Tlaxcala was out there, and various others, including high school bands, to really celebrate what it means to us and the stories that have made our city great. Going to 6 o'clock, we had live performances by various groups. And for me, it was just an imagined unity having community members come out, which I know Senior Pastor Greg Running, you were out there and witness to what we did with thousands of people out there enjoying the classic car shows, the celebrations and the diversity of our city. So I think I thought that was great. And we need to do more of that. Right. We need to celebrate, but also take deep dives into resolving some of the issues that have been brought forward here by our constituents. So thank you very much for everybody that came out. And with that, we'll conclude item I. And we will next move to the next item in the agenda. This is item J. This is the review of the info consent agenda. Muchas gracias. Thank you. Thank you. Do any council members have any consent items they wish to put for discussion? Yes, Council Member Parillo, go ahead.

One, two, three, four, and six. One, two, three, four, and six.

Mayor? Yes, go ahead. Oh, I apologize. Never mind.

Okay. Council Member Perlow, could you repeat the items you'd like to pull?

All of them. With the exception of five. Okay.

All but five. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member, we also have Assistant Community Development Director Tai Chau that would like to make some comments regarding item L2 at the appropriate time.

Thank you. Absolutely. Well, I can entertain a motion on Item 5.

So moved, Mayor.

Second.

Public comment before we move to approving things?

Thank you. Mr. Fisher. Madam Clerk, are there any public comment on Item L5?

Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmembers, there are no requests to speak on Item L5 in person or virtually. Thank you.

Thank you. Call for the vote.

Mayor and council members, if you can go ahead and cast your vote for L5.

Thank you.

Thank you. And this motion carries six to zero. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So we'll start with item L1. This was pulled by Council Member Perillo.

Thank you very much. I have a couple of questions on this, and there possibly could be a slide that could be shown on the screen. The first question. On page 18 of the staff report, it talks about the Bank of America golf course account. It shows a zero balance. Can they explain why there's a zero balance, please? And I appreciate the report.

Good evening. I'm Javier Chagoyen Lazaro, Chief Financial Officer with the City of Oxnard. The report tries to present all the operating accounts for the city of Ochsner. Specifically the account for the golf activities is what in banking terms is called a zero balance account. That means that all the account that we used to collect the, the deposits from American Golf Corporation. That is a company that is managing the activities at the golf course. So when American Golf Corporations make the deposits of the golf activities into this account, and overnight those funds get automatically transferred into the general account for the city.

Thank you. The second question I have, hopefully there's a presentation On page 25, there is an indication of the various investments the City of Oxnard has done over the years. And I'm really interested in the slide that the picture on 25, it has investments from 2021. And these are investments with maturity dates of 2026. It appears five-year investments with interest rates that are in the single digit, 1%, 1.15, 1.18, and these various investments, low rates. And I'm wondering, for the purchase of these instruments, for the duration of the instruments, during the time that they were purchased, who was responsible for the purchases of these instruments?

My understanding is those securities were purchased by the city treasurer.

Mr. Molina.

That's correct.

Those are my questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor. Any other questions or comments on item L1? What's the pleasure, council, on this item?

I'll move the recommended action. Second.

Mayor and council members, this is a receive and file item.

Yeah, thank you.

And I will make, for the record.

For the month report. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

We will next move to item L2. And Council Member Perlow.

Yes. On L2, I had the opportunity with the mayor to sit on this committee meeting and I know the council members for the most part try to review these meetings but i think it would be well worth because it's on the internet to watch the meeting and go to three minutes and eighteen seconds we have a council member that is not here this evening who continually brings up the matter of we're not having enough expediting permits and processes. But if the people will take an opportunity to watch that, or possibly we could have staff tell the numbers that were given with respect to inspections, permits, reinspections, Public improvements for projects private improvements if we could bring that up to speed I think it would be well worth to the public and the council to hear from the basically lack of a better way to say it directly from the horse's mouth what we do because this department does a tremendous amount of work that goes unknown If you could tell

Thank you for that question. Jeff Mangelli, Community Development Director. Before we get to that answer, can I have Assistant Director Ty Chau read a correction for the record for the recommendation for this item?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor. Mayor Potamon, City Council. This is Ty Chau, Assistant Director and City Engineer for Community Development. Between the recommended action for recommendation number one and the professional contract services for building and engineering plan check services, there was a transposition between the term extensions. So as proposed, the term for the contract is for three years with an option for one two-year extension. The contract as written as provided in the attachment is for three years with an option of two, one year's extension. So it's basically a transition. The total for the contract term would still be five years. So I just want to make that correction. Thank you. Thank you. That's it.

Thank you, Ty. Any other questions or comments? If not, go ahead, Mr. Payne.

If you could share the numbers that you've if you still can bring the numbers up off your head, the services provided by your department, the amount of people involved in your department, and how often they have to review them. There is a perception by Councilman Starr that this should be as quick as snapping fingers, and it isn't working that way. Can you share a little bit?

Yeah, I'd be happy to share a little bit about what our department does. There's 70 staff total in our department, three divisions. Building and engineering is the one I'm focusing on now. We have land development, civil engineering, and we have building department functions in one division. We issue about 5,000 permits per year. I haven't projected them out accurately to the end of this recent fiscal year, but that was the projection a couple of months ago, and I'll get updated numbers soon. Of those 5,000 permits, somewhere around 1,800 to 2,500 require plan review. And each of those plan reviews can take multiple cycles. So some of those permits are over the counter. We strive to process maintenance permits over the counter, re-roofs, you know, water heater change outs, patio covers, small projects, block walls. We try to do those over the counter with no wait time. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the permit fast track program that's been in effect for over 28 years, plan check in one hour. We've also implemented that for residential projects to address the ADUs that are coming into our department. We issue about 500 encroachment permits per year. Those are for work in the public right-of-way, utility companies, traffic control, and all that review is done in our department with the help of the Public Works Traffic Team that assists on those traffic control reviews. We also do about 23,000 to 25,000 building inspections per year.

Twenty-three to 25,000? Twenty-three to 25,000 on average year.

And those are, there's, in some cases there can be a misconception when we do an apartment building that we don't review every unit or tract homes. We don't look at every unit. We look at every single unit multiple times through all phases of construction. And so we use consultants, which is this agenda item, to help us through that plan check process. Large projects can, you know, be several hundred sheets for the large apartment buildings, and it takes dozens and dozens of hours for an individual staff member to review that for each of the subspecialties. And so we use consultants to help us to stem that workflow and to maintain reasonable turnaround times. Since we started receiving infusion of additional funding, thanks to Measure E and the council appropriation of those funds to our department, we've been aggressively using consultants to help us keep our plan check turnaround times within reasonable limits. They're never short enough. We're always fighting that battle every day, every week. But we have specialized programs like permit fast track to help mitigate that for smaller projects that are business focused or for the housing projects for ADUs, for example.

And I just want to, you review, some projects are several hundred pages which could take dozens of hours. And the second thing is you are currently looking for people in slots, but the people we're looking for have skills that are required. It's not just hiring somebody off the street to look at some papers.

That's correct. We have, like all public agencies, we have high standards and for our more, for our positions that require greater technical skills and experience, those folks are sought after and they're very hard to find. We're trying to fill our assistant director, Mr. Tai Chow's former position before he was promoted, supervising civil engineer, overseeing all of the civil engineering review of public improvements related to land development projects. And that recruitment has taken now close to over 18 months and we're seeking a recruiting firm to help us with that. Similarly, on our planning side of the house, the development projects require planning review upfront for the entitlement part of the project, the CEQA review, et cetera. And then during the plan check process, planning staff review the construction drawings to make sure they're consistent with the entitlements. And so similarly at our supervising levels for planning staff, it's taken us a long time to hire qualified candidates.

Thank you very much. And I hope that is beneficial to the council and the general public. But if there are no other questions, I'd gladly approve this item. Thank you very much for sharing that, Mr. Pangeli.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem, go ahead.

Yes, Mr. Pangeli, just a quick follow-up. You had mentioned the fast track program. How can somebody who thinks they may be eligible to participate in that program, how can they find out more about it, or what are some of the kind of basic foundational pieces to that for somebody's project they may be bringing forward?

Yeah, again, the commercial, thank you for that question. The commercial version of Permit Fast Track, again, started, I've been with the city since 2000. It predated me, so it's been over 28 years. And that program is designed for any commercial industrial project, heavy industrial, commercial, retail, anything we can review in an hour, you can qualify for that process. There's no extra charge to use that process. And if you're too large, come use the process anyways. We can at least have a sit down through that same process, discuss the project with you for that hour and plan check at least a part of it. And that feedback, that person-to-person feedback is invaluable for both our staff and the consultants preparing the plans. There's no miscommunication of what the intent was of the plans or what our correction comments intended. It's face-to-face communication and it benefits all projects, even if they're too large to plan check in an hour. And I would add on the residential version of that, we try to get all the ADU projects that we can through that process. It's booked solid. So we're looking at adding another day per week. But again, there's just not enough staff to commit fully to that and everything else we do. So we're managing it. Our plan check staff is doing a tremendous job. keeping as many of those in house and out of our plan check queue and doing those permit fast track meetings for residential as well. So we're looking at trying to expand that and maintaining our workload in other areas of our department.

Thank you. And my only request from that is looking at the community development part of the website. I see it's located in the resources and information. We have the permit fast track program and the residential flavor of that. Perhaps in working with your team there can be some discussion about having that appear higher up on the page above the fold where folks may grab their attention or they may be looking for it and could find it right away.

WE ARE HALF A STEP AHEAD OF YOU ON THAT. ON THAT. WE HAVE BEEN MEETING WITH KATIE WE HAVE BEEN MEETING WITH KATIE CASEY AND HER TEAM TO DEVELOP A CASEY AND HER TEAM TO DEVELOP A BETTER WEB FACING GRAPHICS AND BETTER WEB FACING GRAPHICS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THAT, PUTTING ILLUSTRATIONS OF THAT, PUTTING THEM MORE PROMINENTLY ON OUR THEM MORE PROMINENTLY ON OUR WEBSITE AND CREATING A QUICK WEBSITE AND CREATING A QUICK REFERENCE SHEET THAT WE CAN HAND REFERENCE SHEET THAT WE CAN HAND OUT TO REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS OUT TO REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS AND DEVELOPERS AND ANYBODY AND DEVELOPERS AND ANYBODY INTERESTED THAT IS MORE EXPLANATOR

Council Member Pro Tem, do you have a motion on the table?

I'll move the recommended action.

I'll second.

Thank you. Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem and council members, we actually have a virtual speaker, so we'll take that first.

Sounds good. Thank you.

A virtual speaker, if you can hear me, please press star six, and you have three minutes starting now.

So this issue here, this is a very exact process is what made me run for office in regards to our infrastructure. And just to set kind of an example, the Seabrook community, I'm not sure if a consultant firm was used before planning the Seabrook community. And at the end, I guess we just recruited a new housing track in that area. and I think they're having an issue with circulation pumps and the energy energy plant and so you know at the end we put a lot of responsibility on our consultants and at the end another example we have a lot of families coming in where code enforcement goes into their homes they point out violations and then at the end some of these families get unhoused because landlords have to fix these properties and bring them up to code a lot of these consult a lot of these property managers hire consultants And at the end, they create either relationship with contractors and a lot of funding is misused or washed down in between the consultant and ideas of the financial process within the private owner or if it's something coming from the cities or the investors. So at the end, It's something to really look into because right now we have a lot of communities that are being affected, especially with Carmen. That was her concentration on ADUs. At that time, they were concentrating on multifamily use and single-family homes when we had individual families living by per room. law enforcement would show up during COVID and then at the end people would get evicted and be on the streets. That was part of the reason why we did a lot of outreach for homeless and that's why we created the fast relief program for housing. So at the end we've got to make sure that we don't repeat the same cycles for our city planning department. There is mistakes in our city planning department and we have to make sure that if we do hire consulting firms they are responsible. Personally my family fell in this situation on ADU and disability rights issue And at the end, we end up losing our property owners because at the end, the process is faulty. So we have to make sure that we actually protect the private investment. And obviously, if these families are going to be doing ADUs, the financial wealth of these families. And at the end, we can obviously use these properties for filling in the gap in our housing department if we find out a way of fixing our services and supporting these owners. So that's my suggestion throughout this process, making sure that none of these families fall between the cracks again.

Thank you, Mr. Werther, for calling in. Madam Clerk, does that conclude the public speaker?

Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, yes, that concludes our speakers in person and virtually for consent item L2. And there is a motion from Council Member Peralta, Mayor Pro Tem, that on second, if you can go ahead and cast your vote. Thank you, and this motion carries 6-0 for consent item L2. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll go to item L3. Go ahead, Council Member Farrella.

On L3, I just have one question, and the reason I'm asking the question, I remember a young lady who used to come here and ask all the time, Mrs. Pat Brown. And we have on the background, on the first paragraph, second to last line, they talk about common use areas. And this has to do with the Cypress Place at Cypress Garden project. And I should have asked this a long time ago, and I didn't. My apologies to staff. Does this common use area include a washing machine room? One of the issues Ms. Brown had with some of the items in the past that we have had, the people are not provided an area for a washing machine in their unit. There may be a common washing machine. How does this one handle? Because I do see, this was approved February 18, 2021, And it states in the second paragraph, quote, only to be subject to the ordinance, policies, and standards adopted in effect when a preliminary application is submitted. So I'm assuming that would be 2021. And I should have sent this to you earlier.

Again, my apologies. Council Member Parolo, to clarify your question, it's what amenities are in the common room?

What are identified as a common use area? And it says, which includes a barbecue pit, but is there a washing machine area in that?

Yeah. Laundry. That's the appropriate word. It's laundry. Let me pass this on.

Yeah. Typically, my name is Carlos Torres with the Planning Department. Typically, laundry rooms are part of the common areas as well.

Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Any other questions, Council Member Perlman?

No other questions. There's none other.

I'll move the recommended action wonderful a second Public speakers on this item mayor mayor pro tem and council members there are no requests to speak on information and consent agenda l3 And there is a motion by councilmember Peralta second by mayor pro temp that on if you can go ahead and cast your vote and Mayor, if we can get you. Thank you. Thank you. And this motion carries six to zero on L3. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll go to item L4. Go ahead, Council Member Perlow.

My reasons for asking questions on this is to try and drive home the issue about why we need to have outside help on occasions when we need projects coming forward. And there is a specific line In the staff report on page 249, the last line of the basically underneath the bullet points, it said there are strict processing deadlines that if mixed, if missed, I repeat missed, would result in adverse impacts to the city. What kind of negative things could this impact the city? Is it cost? Is it loss of funds? Is it licenses? What are we talking about? Because it sounds serious enough as to include in the report why we need these types of projects, these consultants on board that the item is.

Yes. So Joe Pearson, Planning and Environment Services Manager. Councilman Parello, the adverse impacts generally are around the permit streamlining act. So the city is subject to, especially in planning, as we go through the entitlement process, there are timelines established by state law that we have to, comply with in terms of how we process new development projects, housing projects, commercial, industrial, all of those are subject to that Permit Streamlining Act. So if we miss those deadlines, for example, an initial review, we have 30 days to review and provide comments back to the applicant. If we need additional information, that's our opportunity to ask for that information. If we don't ask for that information or we miss that deadline, the project is deemed complete. And then we basically have to take it through the process without the opportunity to ask for that additional information, which means that the decision makers may not have all the information necessary to make a decision on the project. Additionally, there are additional timelines related to how long we have to approve or disapprove a project. Once we complete the environmental review, there are set timelines by which we have to take to a hearing and make a decision. If we miss those deadlines, the project could be deemed approved without having gone through a public review process. So those are really kind of the the adverse impacts that we're talking about where we would essentially lose the opportunity for the city to weigh in in a meaningful way on the projects that are coming before them.

Am I in the ballpark on this? The incentive is to hit the deadline because we have a deadline, but the incentive is to make sure we hit the deadline so we can have as much input in the project as possible? Yes, that is correct. Thank you very much, and I appreciate the answer. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Any public speakers on this particular item?

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and council members, there are no requests to speak on consent item L4 in person or virtually. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. What's the pleasure of council on this item?

Recommended action. I'll second.

Thank you.

Call for the vote.

Thank you. If you can go ahead and cast your vote, Mayor and council members. Thank you. And this motion carries six to zero for consent. Item number L4. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll move to item L6.

And Mayor, the only question I had, it was a terrific report, but I just want to know myself that the garage door, the roll-up garage doors will be equal to what we're replacing, what we're taking out.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members, Michael Wolff, Director of Public Works. We are replacing like for like in terms of these roll-up doors, and I think some folks, to provide some perspective, when they think garage door, they think they're residential garage door, and a lot of people have not had the pleasure of coming to the MRF, our material facilities, handling facilities, and so maybe not understanding the The size of those roll-up doors, they are very, very large. You have to drive semi-trucks through those openings. And so we're talking about some very large doors, and we will be placing them like for like in terms of the material and the operations that they handle.

I appreciate the staff report, and that was my only question. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

Thank you, council member. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and council members, there are no requests to speak on this item in person or virtually. Thank you. Thank you. What's the pleasure, council, on this item?

I'll move to recommend action.

I'll second. Thank you.

We have a second by Council Member Sewell and Rodriguez.

Thank you. And Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, if you can go ahead and cast your vote. Thank you. And this motion carries six to zero for consent item L6. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item on the agenda is item N1. This is from the Finance Department. Subject entails city investment policy and delegation of investment authority. Recommendation for City Council 1, adopt a resolution approving the fiscal year 2026-27 investment policy for the City of Oxnard to consider one of the following investment options. Adopting a resolution delegating investment authority to the elected city treasurer. Two, adopting a resolution delegating investment authority to the elected city treasurer and contracting a specially trained firm to assist the treasurer with the investment of city funds. Or three, directing staff to contract with a specially trained firm to invest city funds with strict accordance with the fiscal year 2026-27 investment policy. And I see our Assistant City Manager, Eric Sonstegard, along with our Chief Financial Officer, Javier Chico Villalobos are here to answer any questions staff may have. We do have one public speaker. Are my colleagues okay with bringing the public speaker first before we get into questions or comments? Okay. Mr. City Treasurer, Phillip Molina.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I'm Philip Molina, elected city treasurer with 97% of the vote of the Oxnard citizens to put me in that position. I would prefer hearing the report first so that I can address a response to that report. Otherwise, I'm speaking to open air. So if you don't mind, let's hear the report first and I'll respond to it. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Saucer. Go ahead, sir.

All right, thank you, Mayor, members of council. Always my pleasure to speak in front of you. Eric Sonstegart, Assistant City Manager. So before I recap the investment options in front of you this evening, I want to acknowledge that this issue of investment authority has been discussed kind of ad nauseum over the last 12 months. I know you've seen it a lot. The city of Oxnard is somewhat unique in that we are a general law city with an elected city treasurer. A vast majority of the cities in the Tri-Carony area, including all of our neighboring cities, are able to delegate the investment authority to the CFO or the finance director, but that's not the form of government that we have there. And then the California Government Code, it doesn't really do anybody many favors with the ambiguity and a whole variety of topics. I know that we reside in somewhat of a hyper litigious environment so staff has taken kind of a conservative approach on this and we're asking the council tonight just to consider three options and they were in front of you in the recommendation the first one being to delegate your investment authority to the city treasurer that the government that the government code allows you to do that The second option is to delegate your investment authority to the treasurer and then hire a professional financial or wealth management firm to assist in those investments. And then the third option was just to direct staff to hire a professional wealth investment or financial advising firm to conduct the investment of surplus funds for the city. We're also recommending that council adopt the 2026-2027 investment policy tonight. This is an annual item, and there are just a couple of small changes that were referred to in the staff report. So if you have any questions, CFO Chogoyan-Lazaro is here, I'm here, obviously the treasurer's here. So if there's any questions that arise, we'd be happy to answer them.

Thank you, Mr. Sansegur. We'll start with questions of staff. Any questions? Go ahead, Councilman Perrella.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the staff report. It's enlightening. There is a chart on page 404, and there are some lines, and I believe The question that I have has to do with the significance of the lines, and I'll be blunt. The reason I ask these questions is I'm also one of seven council members, but we get pretty much on a daily basis from the city treasurer that the investments the city of Oxnard is investing in don't meet the return on investment that we should be having and they could beat. know be beaten by the advice that the city treasurer has and he wants certain authorities that he claims he's entitled to and yet when i look at these lines and i asked a question at the beginning of the meeting who made the decisions to invest in these positions and i was told it was a city treasurer the current city treasurer and that has tied us into the future, which I hope we can put a presentation on the power so that somebody can see it.

Diego, do you have a slide? Okay, there you go.

There we are. Thank you very much. Okay. Because if the public takes a look at the staff report and they just look at the lines, okay, wow, this is impressive. Let's see, one month, five years, camp, you know, what's what. And then we start looking in the upper left-hand corner, it says 2021 investment by city, treasurer, again, Mr. Molina, $133 million. Locked for five years at a return rates between, less than half a percent to 1.2%. Now, somebody may think, okay, no big deal. But it is a big deal when you look at what the comparisons are, the blue line, the brown line. And if somebody doesn't look at that, they may just think about if they have a home, what are they paying on a loan? What would they pay if they refinance it? Would there be incentive to refinance to save money? or potentially lose money. And I look at this and it looks like our city of Oxnard has lost a lot of money. But when we have the explanation below and it says year ends and it comments, it identifies June 21, June 22, June 23, June 24, June 25, and just recently June 26. When we look at these numbers, there's not an exact number of how much the city of Oxnard potentially lost. And I'm not trying to be a Monday morning quarterback. If I would have known that England was gonna win the soccer game, I could have made a bet, but I didn't. but looking backwards doesn't make me a genius, but looking forward and what we have been shackled with, with the investments at the lowest rates, according to our charts, there may have been an opportunity to buy in instruments where it would pay less money, but it questions in my mind, the trust that I have in the individual that's asking to make on investments. I personally would not trust the individual to handle my funds, but I'm an obligation as an elected official and a privilege to be here to look out for the general public. And when I look at these numbers and I look at history of what has happened, I come to a conclusion that option three is a better choice for us. But I just wanted to know, is there anything that the city finance officer or any could add by looking at this chart that I may miss or have stated inaccurately? Is there anything to address? And if I am wrong, I have no problem with apologizing and saying I made a mistake.

Good evening, Javier Chagoyan Lazaro, Chief Financial Officer, City of Oxnard. You haven't missed anything. The only thing that I want to highlight is that The main goal for the investment policy is the safety of the principal so we don't lose money. Liquidity, number two. And the last one is the return on investment. So I just want to remind the city council that the goals when we are managing city funds is It's great to make money, but that has some implications. So the key goal is in the investment policy in that precise order is the safety of the principal and maintaining the liquidity of the city to support the day-to-day operations. And the last, I'd say again, the last goal is just to make return on investment. So that is important to remind those three goals of the policy.

Thank you. Any further questions, councilman?

That's my questions for now.

Thank you for laying out the order, Javier. Thank you so much. Any other questions or comments? If not, we'll go to our city treasurer.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, thank you. And what Javier said is correct. I don't disagree with what he's saying. Let me add a couple of points, if you don't mind. In California, there are 482 cities. 121 of them are chartered. There are 361 general law cities, if my math is still good. But of that, almost 400 of them are general law cities that have a or I should say a city that hasn't elected treasurer that's doing the investing. With regards to the chart, we can anyone can make a chart with accurate information that goes back 30 years, 40 years, and says, darn, you know, if I was there, I would have invested in that 4% bond. And look what it would have generated today. The problem is 30 years ago, or in this case, back in 2017, 18, 19, There were no bonds, no government bonds, which are 100 percent secured, which is why I invest in government bonds for that security. So there's no risk. I use registered brokers so they don't take from the yield any money to cover their cost because registered brokers get their pay directly from the issuing agency. So when you see the percentage that I'm recommending every day, that would be the amount we earn. No cost camp and PFM. charge you for the low interest rate you're getting, they will then subtract from that their administrative cost and a 0.3% fee. You're not doing that when I'm doing the investing. You're saving that kind of cost. Now, if we look back in 2017, 18, and 19, there was a new president. And he forced the rates down to 0.3%, not 3.0%, 0.3%. When I came into the city, we had over $200 million of cash, of which we had $10 million invested. The rest of it was sitting in a bank account. That doesn't make sense. We're losing money regardless of what the interest rate is. So my first goal was to take as much of that cash as I can and put it into the kind of investments that would give us daily liquidity without costing us money. That's why I put $75 million in state lay fund, because they were getting a reasonable yield, still better than camp. I think I shared that with you the other day, and yet not charging us any money for it. And yet we could take the money out any minute we needed to cover operating costs or capital improvement bills. Then I went and negotiated with the county auditor and treasurer, rather county treasurer, and got him to allow us to invest in the Ventura County investment pool so that once again, we were making better than camp, better than PFM shares, and yet giving us the access to the cash anytime we want it. And it's in our local area of control. The rest of it, I said, where am I going to put it? So now that I've got the daily cash covered and still invested, Now I want to start looking over a longer period of time, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years. When I look at the bonds that were available, remember what I told you earlier, they were at 0.3%. So when I saw one at 1.07%, damn, that's a whole lot better than 0.3%. And it's a US government bond investment. And at the time, that's all that's in the market. I'm going to take our money and put it there so that at least I'm generating some income for the city. One of my primary goals at the time was very self-centered. I wanted to at least make sure that I was covering 100% of the cost of the treasurer's department. Because at that point, with a 0.3% interest rate, that's hard to do unless you put all your money in there. Anyway, I grew the amounts invested to over $259 million. And now they're in excess of, I think, $400 million. So those were the conditions under which I was operating back then. If it were today, I would be investing a little differently. I'd be investing at the four and 5% bonds for four or five years. And then for the daily amount, I would keep the $75 million in life. I would keep the $53 million in the Ventura County investment pool. And then I would put maybe 10 to $20 million in camp because theoretically I can pull that money out, but I have to realize As I've spoken to them, when I pull that money out, they're going to charge me their operating fees and the discount cost. So I'm not going to get that dollar back that you put in. You're going to get 92, 92 cents, 87 cents back. So immediately I'm losing money if I'm pulling money out of camp or PFM management. That's not to say that it's a bad investment, but when we have over 50% of our investment pool tied into that one investment program, that one trust account, any economist, any investment banker is gonna tell you, you don't put all your eggs in one basket. God knows the camp has in the past, I think 15 years, found themselves short of cash and unable to cover the cash withdrawal demands of a number of cities. The other thing I think I wanted to share with you, and maybe the city clerk can provide you copies, is these documents. But I'm not going to read the entire document because I'm sure you've been given the document before. But this comes from the California Second Court of Appeal, and it applies to what you're talking about today. First, it says, this quote, these are quotes, the city may not through leisure demand, French word for sleight of hand, unelect the office of the city treasurer and defeat the choice of the voters. You can't do that. You're violating the concept of democracy when you do that. Second, it says the government code calls for an elected treasurer. Molina was duly elected. The ordinances and resolutions as a whole that were approved by this city attorney have the intent and effect of removing Molina from his office. For this reason, we reverse that unanimous vote of the California Second Court of Appeal. All of the challenged ordinances are void and Molina's duties as treasurer are restored. And then when you read through this, they list what those duties are. utility billing business license investing and they list the numbers of people that are in those departments they what bothers some of the council members they said molina's salaries restored to its previous compensation including restoration of compensation with help pending resolution of this case the city may not through leisure demand unelect the office of the city treasurer and defeat the choice of the voters i would suggest that um You consider the fact that I'm a certified public accountant, licensed and accepted in two states, state of Illinois and the state of California. I didn't apply for New York because I didn't think I'd ever go there. I'm also have a master's degree in business administration. I've invested the city funds before. I've not lost a single dollar in the investments. I work only with registered brokers. And as I told you previously, that's because those registered brokers are registered with the security exchange commission, which means they cannot charge us administrative fees or service fees because they get paid from the issuing agency. The us government pays them to sell the bonds. So when you look at the interest rates that I'm proposing every day, uh, those would be the actual interest without any deductions for costs. You go to any one of your investment advisors, Bert, and you ask them whether they would give you that rate, and I can guarantee you they won't. If there's any questions, I'd be glad to answer them. I didn't want to take this long, but I would hope that you take into consideration these facts. and restore to the city treasurer the duties of the investment process. I would suggest that you don't force a particular consultant on me because they're going to charge money to tell me what I've already been trained for years to do. But I would like to maybe use a consultant from time to time to give us an objective review of what we've invested in. With that, thank you very much. Have a good day.

Thank you, Treasurer Mulligan. Mr. Mayor, I know that there are a couple of speakers online, but after they speak, I know staff have several corrections to make for the record. Thank you. Thank you.

We'll take the public comments virtually. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Virtual speaker, if you can hear me, if you can press star six and you have three minutes starting now.

Hey, it's Eric Andrist. I didn't know this was on the agenda or I would have stayed. Before council relies on attachment aid to justify sidelining the elected treasurer again, I'd ask, has anyone verified those claims independently or is council just taking staff's word for it? This isn't a hypothetical. The second district court of appeal already told the city it can't strip the treasurer's duties through administrative maneuvering. And option three tonight does exactly that a third time. And on trusting staff's judgment calls, Assistant City Manager Sonstegard's own record in Edgewater, Colorado, includes retaining an officer with a documented history of threatening suspects at gunpoint and defending a botched investigation called the victim's family publicly disputed. That's the person asking you to take his characterization of Molina at face value. Staff Zone Report cites Government Code Section 53607 as the basis for delegating investment authority to the Treasurer. But the same section is a built-in safety valve, not an open-ended risk. Delegation under 53607 lasts one year, requires the Treasurer to file a monthly report of every transaction, and Council can decline to renew it or revoke it outright at any time. If council is worried about Mr. Molina mismanaging city funds, option one or two already gives you the tool to catch that early and pull the authority back. With monthly visibility staff, own option three doesn't require in the same way. Choosing to bypass the treasurer permanently instead of using the reversible mechanism the code already provides isn't a risk management decision. It's a continuation of stripping the elected office of its duties by administrative maneuver, the same maneuver that the Second District Court of Appeal already told the city it could not do. How you vote tonight will show where your allegiances lie, City Council, with the questionable city manager and the city attorney, or enforcing the vote of the constituents that put you on the dais in the first place. You work for your constituents, not for the city manager, not for the city attorney, and certainly not for Eric Sonstegard. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, we'll take the next virtual speaker.

Virtual speaker, if you can press star six to unmute and you have three minutes starting now.

Hello, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. This is Manuel Herrera. If you recall, I called in earlier and I started by saying I'm calling to give credit where credit is due. Well, in this case, I'm calling to give the truth and nothing but the truth. Treasurer Phil Molina is the only one to blame for being in the position that he's in today. This mess that he created is due to his doing. It's his behavior that caused this mess. It's him sexually harassing his female employees that caused this mess. It's his erratic behavior that caused this mess. It's his continued vendetta against the city that caused this mess. And he says, hey, the judge said that you can't elect a treasurer. Yeah, he said that. But that's because he didn't have in front of him the results of the investigation against Molina regarding the sexual harassment and all the other stuff he's done as a keyboard warrior, sending out emails and doing everything he can to put a bad light on the city. So he does not deserve his title, nor does he deserve his pay. But unfortunately, yeah, he was elected. And even then, the people didn't know what was going on with Molina when they elected him. So if anything should be in the future agenda is how do we prevent the position of treasurer from being an elected position, because he has spoiled that. So the only position he should be in is maybe you can get him to clean the toilets or something, because that's about all that he's worth. Mr. Mayor, that concludes my comments for tonight.

Thank you. Senator, any other virtual speakers?

Yes, we do have two additional virtual speakers. Virtual speaker, if you can hear me, if you can press star six and you have three minutes starting now.

All right.

Can you hear me? Yes. Please proceed.

Hi, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council, staff, and the public. I'd just like to make a few corrections again on what Mr. Herrera wrongly had stated. There was never, ever a claim of any sexual harassment by Fo Malina. There was a claim of harassment of staff, and that went through the Kangaroo Court, They didn't go through the court system. Nobody actually pursued that. And again, Mr. Herrera, if he had been keeping up or he actually attended any of those court hearings, which I did, would know that the city attorneys attempted to bring in the allegations of harassment and the judge didn't want to hear it because it was completely irrelevant to the matter before the court. The matter before the court was that the city treasurer was stripped of his statutory duties and his salary, and Phil won that case. Those were restored, but they weren't restored. And here in the city manager's office and city attorney, they're still playing games because they don't like Phil Molina. The emails are irrelevant. They're annoying, sure. And some people don't want to get those emails. And it's annoying, but it's irrelevant to the task that the elected city treasurer has. And the city has been, through trickery, unelecting the city treasurer. And even when the court has mandated that those be returned, the city is still playing games and still violating what the judge has said. And that's why we're still, Molina's still in litigation about it. Because the city needs to play by the rules. They need to follow the law, just like all the rest of us, And the city doesn't want to do that. They think they know better than the judge. They know better than the voters. They know better than anybody, and they're going to run this city just any way they want to. And that's just this imperious attitude of our city manager. He just thinks he can run it any way he wants to, and he doesn't have to follow the rules. Well, wrong. You have to follow the rules. And there's nothing, absolutely nothing in the actual performance of the job of elected city treasurer that's in question. Phil has actually done a tremendous job. He's an expert on this. And we're actually extremely lucky to have Phil Molina as our elected city treasurer. He was reelected three times, even in the midst of this kabuki theater about harassment. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you, Mr. Portello. Thank you, Mr. Portello.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, does that conclude the virtual speakers?

Mayor, we have two additional speakers. Virtual speaker, if you can hear me, if you can press star six and you have three minutes starting now.

virtual speaker uh good evening uh just a quick reminder that you know off the council i know that gabby uh roberto is new uh miguel perez you campaigned alongside gabe uh mayor you sat for sergeant behind the police department for perillo you've been in council probably for I'd say probably since 2010. I just want to say this. You know, the measures. The measures were designated for a simple reason, to avoid this mess, distribute the funds, good oversight, make sure we revenue good money into these programs, make sure these organizations are out there bringing the money to the city, working the money, and then at the end, having our council members kind of work their communities. You know, we kind of saw the fast track of that at the Southwinds Park. You know, we saw that. So at the end, you know, and at the end, we know the internal issues behind this with bad judgment calls. You know, we tried to clean up a mess the past four years. It seemed like it seemed to fail. And then we bring Eric back to work with the city manager and the city managers who are fighting for his job today. You know, it's just guidance. You know, sometimes we base ourselves on bad consultants, you know, and at the end, we... look at our mistakes and we don't take responsibility. And at the end, it's our investments that are hurting our cities. I think last week, Gabby was talking about, you know, approving an extra $40 to hire a consultant firm to do the financial part of it. Why not just do it and get it over with? You know, stop blaming individuals. You know, you guys are all friends and no pun intended, okay? You guys are all friends. You guys sat together, made bad decisions, and you guys are still in council, and you guys have to work with each other and bring light to that. It's a hard position to be in. And the city manager, he should be the guidance for all this because at the end, everything goes to his desk. It's impossible that we sit here and just blame each other, badmouth each other, call sexual harassment on each other. I mean, more than anything, support systems are important for our community. The issues that are really at risk are more important. It's our economy, it's our livelihoods, and we are your voters. At the end, I wasn't elected as an official, but I know the work, and there's true heart to it, you know, and you're going to have to strap your heart, heal it, and get to work. I say it from the bottom of my heart. I think it's enough. I think the city's tired of this. Personally, you guys have all the support you guys need. I'm not sure what's going on. But at the end, prioritize these families. Get a third party involved. fix our budget uh you know if you got to get rid of phil uh in the recall next election you guys need to make that decision but you got to stop having personalities like uh continuously call or you know and throw off for voters and you know lose concentration and what's really important um thank you mayor and council for always listening and have a good night thank you thank you with the next virtual speaker

Virtual speaker, if you can press star 6 to unmute and you have 3 minutes starting now. Virtual speaker, please proceed.

Hi, it's surgery Frank. You know this. Topic that you're discussing tonight discussing tonight has to do with solutions. I've been a member of boards of directors on. multiple nonprofits, multiple commissions that maintain budgets. I understand the restrictions on risky investments, protecting principal. I understand that when you hire financial advisors, they charge fees. I understand all that. But what we're talking about here is commitments to long-term investments that were made that have actually resulted in a significant loss of revenue to potential revenue that the city should have received in those investments. These were time commitments that if you look at just the basic chart that you've been presented with, you can see the comparison on what could have been or should have been with what we received. I think that you have to understand that even in your own personal investments, people, you, council people, I'm sure, hopefully, you have investment accounts, you have an accountant that does your tax returns, but you have a financial advisor that advises you on your stock investments, your REITs, your investment properties, that advises you in different perspectives of your investments. And that, I think, is what we're looking at here. You have your accountant for the city, and I think you need an investment advisor for your city. There's the fee. Pay the fee. That's what they're paid for. That's what their expertise is. Where you're committed to this one individual who, okay, he's the subject of controversy. I'm not looking at controversy. I'm looking at money here. Money. And what you're looking at is he hasn't done the best job in investing your money. So pull someone in who's not influenced by your politics. And he's going to invest your money and pay the fees. That's what we do. We pay experts. I'm a lawyer. I pay experts to support my side of my case because otherwise I can't do it. So that's what it costs. That's what it costs. That's the wisest choice. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Does that conclude the virtual speakers?

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and council members, yes, that concludes our speakers in person and virtually for this item. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Sunskirt, do you want to clarify some issues? Go ahead.

Yeah. Mayor McArthur, I'm going to, we're going to have Chief Assistant City Attorney Ken Rosell just address a couple of items and then we'll have the CFO address a couple of items and then I can provide some concluding comments at that point.

Sounds good. Go ahead, Mr. Rosell.

Good evening. You've heard many different comments tonight that are simply incorrect. Here are the actual facts. The city is in compliance with the August 2024 Court of Appeals decision and Judge Burrell's further order, which was issued on July 31st, 2025. Five days after Judge Burrell's order of July 31st, the city filed its further return And that outlined at length how the city had complied with those requirements of the court. As of today, the city is in full compliance with that order. So I could literally talk for hours on this. I've been working on this matter for more than five years. As part of the Court of Appeals decision, just to give a little background, The city had the ability to transfer some of the duties that Mr. Molina had by the adoption of ordinance and the city council took that action. What Mr. Molina represented, he indicated that he had the right to the investment duties and the city was in violation of the court's order if you did not give those duties to them. That is not consistent with the law as has been indicated an annual basis the city makes a determination if it wants to delegate those duties to the city treasurer the city has the option to keep those duties to themselves and as outlined in your staff report that is one of your three options so i'll be happy to answer any questions a lot has been covered tonight but those are the the basic facts The city is in full compliance, as indicated by Judge Burrell's order of July 31st of last year. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you, Mr. Rozelle, for that clarity and reassurance. Go ahead, Mr. Javier Lazaro.

Thank you, Mayor. There's been, as Kenneth mentioned, A lot of inaccuracy comments, inaccurate comments. I just want to, for the record, just mention that both LAIF and the county pool of investments, they also charge fees. They collect, they have to recover the cost for managing those investments. like similar as CAMHS. So they're not just doing this job just for free. And there's reports that show how much that percentage is. And in case of late, it's higher than the fee that CAMHS recovered to cover the cost. I was also going to mention that, and it's stated in the report, Managing investments is not just trying to get, in local government, right, it's not just, in local government managing investments is not about getting the highest yield. Managing investment, as I mentioned earlier, is about maintaining those funds safe and make sure that you have enough liquidity to cover your operations. And when you're making investment decisions, you have to factor one of the risks that we have to look is the risk that the interest rates are going to change over time. And it seems for the comments that I've been hearing today and in previous comments from the city treasurer that there's a lack of understanding how the risk, the interest rate risk works when you're making investments. Because when you're locking investments for five years, you're going to be missing the possibility that those interest rates may go up, right? And they can go down, too. But if those go down, those investments are going to go cold. That doesn't mean that you're going to keep those investments locked at that high rates for five years, neither. So by the risk of losing those upsides on the interest rates, We have to evaluate those risks when we're making investments, because those risks is where it's going to affect the liquidity and the safety of your investments, that those are your main goals when you're managing local government funds. The government code and the attachment has reference to what the government called to be a prudent investor. and how someone that is given the authority to handle investments for local governments have to behave using the prudent investor rule. And the government code mentions that. And I think the staff report has examples of certain patterns of behavior that are far away from that. from the government court that a prudent investor should behave management local governments. Thank you.

Thank you, Javier. Thank you.

Thank you, Javier. I think I spoke at the Finance and Governance Committee, you know, on this topic. And I will say that I am the one that authored the attachment to the staff report. And I think anyone that reviewing it would be hard pressed to find any opinion. in that attachment that was based on facts, based on actual articulable documents that I'd be happy to share with anybody. So this isn't about my or anybody else's opinion of certain individuals. This is a $500 million decision that the city council gets to make. There's a lot of noise surrounding it, but I really think it just boils down to this. Trust, like who do you trust to invest the city's money? As a resident, if I was sitting here listening to this, I would probably think, how about let's just get, a third party professional firm to handle this. It's away from all the noise that you're hearing tonight about this topic. And that is why staff recommended option number three. So again, there are also a lot of things that I could comment on. I think there were several things that were not discussed tonight in the attachment to the staff report. that I believe are also somewhat disqualifying factors, but we didn't even address those. So if council has any other questions or inquiries, we'd be happy to address them.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? My colleagues for staff or Treasurer Molina?

Go ahead.

We'll take some questions first. Any questions? Okay, go ahead, Mayor Portillo.

Thank you, Mayor. And as the presiding officer, I see the treasurer is wishing to speak again, and it's at your discretion, but if you'd like to speak, I'm willing to wait for him.

Do you have any clarifying comments, Treasurer Molina? Go ahead.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, There was something in what Mr. Sonstegaard said. If you look at the agenda items, he's referencing some of my emails, and I've sent some of them to you. But you have to understand, in violation of the law of the court order, and you've received court documents today that identify for going back to court because you've not complied with the appellate court ruling. The city has stopped me from attending any of the finance meetings, any of the committee meetings to talk to or participate in or look at any of the source documents to help make a determination whether you have approved the disbursements or not. And when I was doing that, I did find that there were checks being requested on items you had not approved. And I think that's what started the process out. But because of that, I don't think Mr. Sonstegard knew at the time that he was putting it together. My only means of getting answers to questions that I have as a city treasurer was to send an email. Hey, it looks like you're using brokers that are not on the approved broker list, which then defined them as foreign brokers. You're not supposed to be doing that kind of letting them know, you know, get back to complying with your own policy. And I was taught, I was thinking in third grade and university and in my officer training in the army, when they were teaching me how to place wire and detonate what they called a localized nuclear device. The one thing that came out to me constantly was the only dumb question is a question you did not ask. So when I send these emails out, I'm in essence asking what now might be perceived as dumb questions, but I'm saying, hey, this is what I understand. What is the process? What's behind it? Had I been able to talk to the individuals and I'm not allowed to, had I been able to be in the meetings where these were discussed, I could have voiced a question. Mr. City Manager, why are we doing this? And then he would have given me an answer. Oh, I understand. Okay. But without that opportunity for that verbal communication, it leaves me nothing other than sending the emails. I think you've had a long evening, and I appreciate your time. I hope you realize that when they say a professional, if you look at what the camp requirements of a professional is, it's someone with five years' experience, someone with a license, and someone who's invested over, I think, $250 million. I have two licenses. Actually, I have two licenses. I have a master's degree in business administration. I have over 30 years of experience, which far exceeds what they define as a professional consultant. That doesn't mean I wouldn't use one because the thing I failed at, and I'll cut this short, is the two years when I was doing the investing, I kept calling people, begging them to be part of the investment committee. that I'm supposed to have. And that's what the investment committee is supposed to do. Hey, Malini, you made a mistake here. Hey, why did you do this? Okay, now I have to respond to them. I failed in not being able to set up that investment committee. And I would ask if you give me the responsibility doing the investments as I did before, I would be looking at some of you to please help me by joining that investment committee so we can look at each investment and decide whether, you know what, Let's wait until the interest rates are at 25% and let's just keep it in the bank today. And those are the kind of questions that, you know, you get asked. Why did we invest at 1.03%? We could have waited until the interest rates got to 20% but we didn't have that information at the time. With that, thank you very much and have a good evening.

Thank you, Treasurer Molina. Thank you.

May I ask a question of Treasurer Molina? Yes, absolutely. Go ahead, Councilwoman. Treasurer Molina, I do have a question and I only I know a little bit about licensing because my son is going through it. Are you licensed to give advice on investments? Have you received your license for that?

I'm a certified public accountant.

Well, you're a certified public accountant, but are you certified to be able to?

As an investment advisor? How do I say this without being smug? No, not specifically. Okay, thank you. But the requirement for that is a lot less than getting a CPA. The CPA requires five days, eight hours a day training. It requires two years of actual experience. CITs don't require that.

Yeah, it's just different.

It is different.

It is very different. I was just wondering what your expertise was as far as what qualifies you to give advice to the great people of Oxnard on how our money should be.

And those requirements, I have the requirements that are required of a professional when the government code requires that. So even though I'm not a CIT, the fact that I'm a certified public accountant and with my years of experience more than qualify me for being a professional in that category.

So with that being said, obviously it's a really, really bad I mean, I think any of us knows to put our investments in a five-year locked in when we really don't know what the market is going to do. So when I see these kinds of decisions being made by the elected treasurer, my thought process is what was going through your mind and did you not think that that was probably the worst thing you could have done with our money?

Let's bring it to today, okay? So I have $400 million today.

I just would like to know what your thought process was. I'm not talking about today. I'm talking about what your thought process was to invest the kind of money you invested, taxpayer dollars, and you start your emails with the great, you know, people of Oxnard because you are investing their money. to lock it up for such a long time. That's why I was thinking to myself, what professional background do you have in order to give advice as far as where this money should be invested?

I appreciate that. So with that in mind, explaining what I did and how I got to that conclusion, let's think of it today, because I'm going to use the same method, the same process today that I used seven, eight, nine years ago. I look at the market, I call the brokers, I look at what SEC is proposing, what FOMC is proposing, and I say, okay, now, It's a toss-up. Are the rates going to go up in five years? Are they going to stay where they're at in five years? Or are they going to go down in five years?

That's a decision you all have to make.

And so once you've made that decision based upon the input you're getting from the different brokers that you call, and I literally get calls from emails from about six to seven different brokers every day, then you have to sit back and say, well, OK, you know what? Let me just bury it in the hole, because I don't know, interest rates might double in 10 years or might triple in two years. So I'm just going to put it in a hole and let it sit there. Well, then I'm going to lose the inflation value of the money locked in a hole. All right, so if I invest it for a year, I would get 0.3% back then. Now I would get, what, 1.2% locked in for a year, 1.8%. If I invest it for four years, I might get 4%. For five years, I might get 5%. So what would you decide to do? Now I'm just going to keep it in that hole because I don't know what's going to happen. We all end up looking at it and we say, you know, we're going to make the best decision we can today with the information that's available today. And what I want to do today with maximum security, which is why I stay with government security so there's no risk involved, then I say, well, then I'm going to try to maximize as much money as I can with the cash that I have for the citizens of Oxnard. With that in mind, that's the best anyone can do, whether you're a consultant or otherwise.

Mr. Molina? With all due respect to you, I would never allow you to invest my money. That is a horrible, horrible explanation that you just gave.

Okay, you talk to your investment advisor and see if he gives you a better solution.

No, this is the thing. I'm not tying up anybody's money for five years because a broker said, we know this. Politically speaking, the market is up and down continuously. So for you to lock in, for the amount of time that you did, you did the great citizens of Oxnard a great disservice. So now we're being asked to think about how we want to invest the money, and we really probably lost millions of dollars by doing that. I just wanted to make sure that I understood what your credentials were in order to make these decisions. Absolutely. So I appreciate your answer.

And you also earned over $3 million every year when no one else was earning any money at all. And we've earned, the last year I was there, and I've shared this, we earned over $9 million. And you're not getting that from anyone else. So remember that, too, when you're thinking what to do and who to ask your investment advisor. Thank you. Any other questions? Any other questions?

go to comments or discussions. Go ahead, Mayor Portem.

Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate all the work that's been put into this. Certainly, this is not, this should be a fairly straightforward item, and it should be a fairly straightforward discussion, but obviously it's not, and for understandable reasons. And I've heard the word trust brought up a couple times this evening and I'm glad it was because it's something that kept landing with me. I put together some information just based on some research that was helping me with this item for tonight and I've handed that, I've had the clerk hand that to each of the council members and there's a stack here for the public that's here in front of the clerk. But when we talk about trust, Mr. Molina said it here tonight, and it's outlined in what I'm gonna just walk us through in a moment. He mentioned his licensure, where he has two CPAs. He said in the state of California and the state of Illinois. And he referenced New York as well. The packet I have here outlines what I interpret as an apparent professional misrepresentation and potential credentialing issues allegedly committed by the city treasurer. He wishes to continue to influence public policy and municipal financial operations with the city. and he claims he has two CPA licenses. So in his own writing, so we have the recording from tonight where he said, I have two licenses and I'm licensed in California and Illinois. In attachment one, a May 22nd, 2026 email just a few weeks ago, the city treasurer stated, I am a licensed certified public accountant, CPA retired, licensed in the states of California and Illinois. In the second attachment, August 5th, 2024 email, it's an official 2024 candidate statement sent from his city assigned email address while doing campaigning activities, that's a whole other issue, to a member of the public where he claimed I am a CPA, retired. In a September 19th, 2024 email, He sent a constituent and copied to the city staff where Mr. Molina defends his email signature block stating, my signature plate states that I am a licensed CPA retired as required by the states of California and Illinois and New York. So he mentioned two states tonight. He lightly referenced New York, but in this email you can see he references New York a little bit more directly. So public records review of electronic correspondence reveals that nearly every single email that Mr. Moline has sent, probably since dating back to 2016, lists a designation of CPA retired in parentheses in his standard email signature. And that's from his city assigned email and his personal emails that he uses and that's identified by the auditors as well as an issue. On a daily basis, Mr. Molina emails the mayor and council members specifically to provide information, directives, and professional advice regarding investment opportunities for municipal cash investments and our portfolios. He routinely copies and blind copies various members of the public on these technical advisory emails, actively widening the audience to whom he is purporting to be a licensed CPA, providing expert municipal financial advice. But a review of public California and New York records shows no history of a CPA licensure for Mr. Molina in either state. You can see the attachments there, screenshots from both of those states, lookup databases. And I actually called the CBA, the organization that does licensure in California, and asked how, if I couldn't find somebody, I could find his Illinois license book. Is there an issue when they transfer it? Does it not show up? What happens with a CPA? And what I was told was if they've been a CPA at any time in California, and at least since the turn of the century, they would show up on this website. And you can find, you can see in the attachments there, I actually looked up Councilman Starr, and I didn't use the full name, I used PH Molina to hopefully do a little bit wider search, and names came up. Phil Molina came up, but not this Phil Molina, and it wasn't a CPA. But when you search for Aaron Starr, CPA comes up right away to show his inactive licensure, but it's there. Even if Mr. Molina was inactive in California, it should come up on the state's website. On the State of New York's, it has not come up. Did you look at the California? Excuse me, out of the floor, Mr. Molina.

Hold on. Well, you're making accusations that are. . Thank you. Let him finish, please. Okay.

So looking at this evidence from the State of California, you can see, as I had mentioned in the screenshots, again, these are available to the public, that there's no listing for Mr. Molina being a licensed CPA. If I'm incorrect on that and we can find that through the state, great, let's do that. For the state of New York, as he claimed in the third email I referenced, there are no relevant results that show up for a Phil Molina ever having been licensed in New York, as alluded to in that third email from September 19th, 2024. But there's some other issues that I think needs to be brought up here when we circle back to the issue of trust. These official registry verifications, they reveal that his public assertions, they conflict with what the official registries actually show. If he says he's licensed in California and Illinois, why does it not show up? But beyond that, even in Illinois law, what I was able to find is that official records in the state of Illinois show that his license is there, but it's been inactive since September 30th, 2012. In addition, the state of Illinois doesn't even have a legal retired designation, only an inactive status. So Mr. Molina seems to have designed some kind of status that doesn't exist in his state where he's actually licensed. In California there is a designation for a retired CPA, but you have to have a CPA license in California to begin with to even qualify for that. And the thing that The thing that really weighs on me with this is that in California law, in Business and Professions Code 5070.1, that has to do with the retired CPA, but also Business Professions Code 5058, which has to do with you can't call yourself a CPA if you're not actually a licensed CPA in the state of California. And if you are licensed in another state, you must identify, according to Business Professions Code 17500, which state you're actually licensed in. Same goes for doctors, the same goes for lawyers. I mean, you can't practice those professional titles in the state of California if you don't actually have a license. I'll just share that this is not the first time this has come up. If folks watching this or my colleagues want to look back on April 3rd, 2018, during the Oxnard City Council meeting and the items not on the agenda, Mr. Aaron Greer made a formal public statement making these same statements where he had pressed Mr. Molina for what is your actual CPA license number? Can you give it to me? And there was an email exchange according to the comment where Mr. Molina got upset and threatened to sue Mr. Greer. And I'm sure that could be brought up in a public records request. I didn't get around to doing that request, but we could do that to see what is actually stated in that email exchange. But the conclusion I need to make here for myself in looking at all this, the attachments to the staff report listed a number of issues and challenges with the performance of Mr. Molina as the treasurer. And certainly he's knowledgeable of a number of things. And we saw that here at the podium tonight. But even absent those issues that were brought up in the attachment, even if he was an amazing investor and never made any mistakes ever, if he truly hasn't been licensed in the state of California, but he states that he was, how could I trust him if that's factual. If he's truly not licensed but he's claiming to be, how can I trust him with the public's money to do these investments? When it circles back to trust, just like an officer who is caught committing perjury on the stand, how can you trust anything that that officer said in any proceedings leading up to or after that? And so The other side of this coin, too, is not just the business and professions code in the state of California, but the AICPA code of professional conduct rule, 1.400.001, acts discreditable, prohibits public dishonesty by accounting professionals in any capacity, not just financial matters, any matters. You can't be dishonest, because how could people trust you with their money? And then the other Professional Conduct Rule 1-400-0902 prohibits efforts that would be false, misleading, or deceptive if they contain any claim or representation that would likely cause a reasonable person to be misled or deceived. This includes any representation about CPA licensure or any other professional certification or accreditation that's not in compliance with that. So I say all this to say that, Again, even if Mr. Molina was amazing and perfect and made zero mistakes, this would cause me pause. And if the government code at its reading that we have here and as we've done the last two fiscal years, if we have the option to do option three here, I would feel much more comfortable with that because I would like to hear what the public has to say about Mr. Molina's, the questionable factors here around his licensure in the state of California, despite his claims. And again, he has it in writing here and it's not for me to decide. He can share that if he'd like in tomorrow over email or those who are the regulatory bodies who oversee this, they can weigh in on it too. So those are my concerns, Mayor, and so I'll be, when the time comes, supporting option three if that gets a motion. Thank you.

Thank you.

Do I have a chance to respond to these accusations?

Yes, go ahead.

I'm sorry?

Yes, go ahead.

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, member number 001584561, the AICPA, they don't accept everyone. California Society of certified public accountants number seven three one three eight they don't accept it They don't let you in as a previous police Tried to get me expelled unless they verify that you have a valid license from only one of two other states Illinois or New York those are the only California Illinois New York at the time were the only States that were compliant with their standard for a CPA in terms of the testing with regards to, Illinois Illinois license number 065.029755. And yes, one of the states requires that you put down it being inactive. The other requires that you put down being retired. I apologize if I ever said retired when I meant inactive or inactive when I meant retired. But the point of the matter is the license is good and accepted in both Illinois and California. I told someone earlier this evening I could have applied for New York But I never did because I didn't intend to go there and I didn't intend to pay $500 a year for a license I was never going to use. So if you like, I can share this with you, Gabe. If you had not tried to ambush me, as your colleague says, and had let me know in advance, I could have sent you copies of this. You wouldn't make a fool of yourself as you've done tonight. Anyone else have any questions, please?

I do, Mayor. Go ahead. So you mentioned those two bodies, but what is your license number in the state of California as recognized by the California Board of Accountancy?

The California Society recognizes the Illinois license.

Even though it's inactive?

Pardon?

Even though it's inactive?

It wasn't inactive when I initially applied. I applied, what, 20, 30 years ago. It was active at that time. I have since. been retired my age and inactive. I mean, it'll all happen to all of us if you're lucky. But that doesn't mean the license you got when you're 23 won't be, you know, won't qualify you to remain within that professional organization. But they do require, and I think I've always done so, that you identify that you're either retired or inactive. I haven't done auditing. I spoke to the auditors a couple of weeks ago. That was an interesting task. In the state of Illinois, I audited insurance companies and I ended up finding international CEO was embezzling and my boss and I took him to court and we won that. But that was enough auditing for me. I don't intend to do anymore.

Mr. Molina, there's an actual process that a CPA in California has to go through in order to earn the type, the designation of retired.

Yeah, and it's the same as Illinois and New York, and that's why the three states accept the license from the others. You're right.

Do you have a CPA license in California?

No, I don't know how to say this. The license in Illinois... No, it's fine. The license in Illinois qualifies me to be working as a CPA in California and in New York. and I've applied to the California Society of CPAs for that, and I got that. I don't have to retake the test in California to do that.

Okay, Mayor. I'll just close by saying that to be the city treasurer in the city of Oxnard, one needs to be 18 years old at least, a registered voter, and live in the area. They're not required to be a CPA or have any financial background at all to begin with. But the point I'm trying to make here is that someone who claims to have two licenses in the state of California but there's an asterisk next to the California one and they leave that out, I hope that the public can see that you don't have to lie to kick it. Like just say that I was licensed in Illinois and that it is what it is. But to imply otherwise, let alone in attachment three where it's implied New York was one of them, that gives me pause. And so that's why I'm not comfortable with that. Thank you, Mayor.

No problem. Any other questions or comments? Go ahead. Is there a motion to go past 10 o'clock? Second. Madam Clerk, any speakers on that, on going beyond 10 o'clock and now we'll take the vote?

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Members, the public portion of the report has been closed, so we're not taking additional speakers. Roll call for going past 10. Yes. Councilwoman Perez? Yes. Councilwoman Rodriguez? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Teran?

No. Let's get out of here.

Councilwoman Basuwa? Yes. Councilmember Parralo? Yes. Mayor MacArthur? Yes. And this motion carries 5 to 1.

So I do have a question for Treasurer Molina. So I just want to clarify, you are currently not licensed as a CPA. I know you're going to tell me you're retired, but you are not a licensed CPA as of today with an active status.

No, I am a CPA as of today.

So in order to maintain a CPA status, and I only know this because I've got to go to all these accounting classes for work, there are CPE credits. Have you maintained those CPE credits?