City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Thank you so much for everyone's patience. Apologies. We're running a little late. I hereby call the Palm Springs Regular City Council meeting on May 12th, 2026 to. To order, we have the distinct pleasure of having Jackson Burgwyn, a fourth grader from Katherine Finchy, who will be leading us in the pledge. So, Jackson, if you want to meet us right at that microphone right here. Oh. Great. Please stand for the pledge of for the Pledge of Allegiance. Right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. Night nation under God, indivisible, for justice for all. Thank you so much, Jackson, for starting off our meeting. You can take a seat. I acknowledge that the land we gather, live and work on today, currently known as the City of Palm Springs, is the original homeland of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the sovereign band of Agua Caliente, the sovereign band of Agua Caliente people have stewarded this land throughout the generations and continue to store this land for all future generations. We honor and respect the many diverse indigenous people still connected to this land. Madam City Clerk, can you please conduct roll call? Let the record reflect that all members are present. Wonderful. We do not have any presentations tonight, but we have a full room, and so I'm sure we will make up for the comments and talking time in other places. We had quite a few proclamations in the last few weeks. We're going to

run through them. For the last three weeks we had Earth Day, which was proclaimed on April 22nd, 2026. Earth day encourages individual businesses and governments to support conservation efforts, reduce pollution and promote environmentally responsible practices. Also on April 22nd was Arbor Day. Arbor day celebrates the importance of trees and promotes environmental stewardship by the by encouraging individual schools and organizations and local governments to plant and care for trees for future generations. Trees equal shade. We love trees. Big thank you to Sustainability and Parks and Rec, who had a fantastic event on April 22nd at Ruth Hardy Park. On May 1st we had Garry Kief Day. Garry Kief was recognized for his extraordinary leadership, philanthropy, and long standing contributions to the community, arts and charitable organizations, and his impact in Palm Springs. We had a few more. We're still going. We had Sigma Phi Epsilon Day, also on May 1st celebrated the annual gathering in Palm Springs. Recognizing the fraternity's commitment and developing young leaders and making a positive impact on communities nationwide. May 3rd through fourth, we had the Fabulous and incredible Convergence Beauty Wellness Science Summit days. The convergence Beauty Wellness was recognized for its contributions to innovation, education, wellness, and economic growth. An inaugural event. We can't wait to have them back. On May 8th, we had Desert Ensemble Theater Day. Desert Ensemble Theater was recognized for its 15 year anniversary of enriching the Coachella Valley through thought provoking theatrical productions, arts education and community engagement. And this first week of May, May 3rd through the ninth, we had Public Service Week. Public Service Week honors all the dedicated employees of the City of Palm Springs for their commitment, professionalism and service to the community. The city would not function without

our incredible staff and every department so deep. Thank you to all of our city employees, not just on May 3rd through ninth, but every week. We will now move on to the next item, which is the acceptance of the agenda. The City Council will discuss the order of the agenda, may amend the order at urgency items, no abstentions or no votes on consent calendar items or request consent calendar items to be removed for separate discussion at the request of staff, the order of the agenda will be amended to have three A to be considered immediately after the consent calendar. So I hear sorry to make you wait a little bit. We're going to move you up on our agenda. Besides three A moving up after consent calendar. Are there any other any other items staff or council members would like to remove from the consent calendar for separate discussion and or vote? Councilmember Garner, just wanted to make a comment about. One D great Council member Bernstein. Yep, I have a question on one I and I wanted to pull one J for discussion. So so I and J for discussion slash questions right. Yeah. Not comment on I. It could be a comment. I can make it a comment. Yes. Okay. Any yes member. Yes. Item e I also had sorry is that separate discussion or comment. Discussion also on C I you're just doing a comment. Council member one as a discussion. Just just

to just to comment as well. N and o comment or discussion. Discuss. I have a question on o, but n discussion. So I have for you ENO for discussion comment on I thank you yes. I have a comment on M. And also I we we love I okay. And you did get n n as in Nancy as a discussion. Thank you. Yes. Okay. So remove for separate discussion of ENOJ all other items m I'd are comments. Yes. Okay. I would like to entertain a motion to accept the agenda. We have a motion and a second motion by Councilmember, second by Council member Bernstein. Do you want to just say vocally or vote? Okay. Motion carries. At this time, I invite City Attorney Ballinger to provide a report on closed session, please. Yes, honorable mayor, members of the City Council, members of the public. The City Council met in closed session this afternoon to discuss the items that are listed on the agenda, and there is no reportable action. Next item is public testimony. This time has been set aside for members of the public to address the City Council on nonpublic hearing agenda item. Only two items will be assigned to each speaker. You're asked to please begin your time by telling us what agenda, item or items you are speaking about. Please note the testimony for public

hearings will be taken at the time of said hearing, and general public comments on subjects not on the agenda are taken at the end of our council meeting. If there's written comments you would like to distribute to the City Council, we encourage you to hand that to the city clerk. Members of the public wishing to report, wishing to file a written protest to be considered for the tabulation for item three, a Palm Springs Tourism Infrastructure District, we ask that you please file a blue public comment card which will ask your name, email and vacation rental property address. If you wish to make a regular public comment on that time, you may submit a regular yellow public speaker card, but for the purposes of tabulation, that blue card is going to help us connect it to that property. First speaker, we have hold on. First speaker we have tonight is on item three. B, David Vignola on deck after David is Rich Gordon. Good evening. My name is David Vignola, resident of district five, and I'm speaking on item three B. Good evening, Madam Mayor and council members. At the April 8th meeting, the council discussed forming a working group related to governance and changes to the mayoral structure. We applaud the Council's willingness to continue the conversation in a constructive and collaborative way. Tonight, the citizens for an elected mayor are respectfully asking for greater clarity regarding that working group, specifically its members objectives, expected deliverables and timeline for its meetings. Clear direction will help

ensure the process remains transparent, focused, robust and meaningful for participants, the council and the public. The last council meeting. I especially appreciated Council Member Garner's commitment to include individuals from each district in the working group. We would also appreciate clarification on how and when the community public meetings will be announced, as well as how residents will be given updates on the working group's progress and recommendations. These conversations will be essential to ensuring an equitable resolution which reflects the will of the community. Our goal is simple to support a fair, open, flexible and accountable process that gives residents confidence that this important issue is moving forward thoughtfully and with purpose. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you, Mr. Vignola. Next, we have Rich Jordan. Good evening. I'm Rich Gordon. I'm serving as chair of the citizens for an Elected mayor. Earlier today, our group issued a press release denouncing the US Supreme Court decision regarding voting rights and at the same time affirming our strong support for districts representation here in Palm Springs. While we support our district elections, we also support, obviously, a citywide, directly elected mayor, someone who would have the ability to build a long term relationships necessary to see projects to conclusion, and who would be able to be the strategic leader to implement the goals of City Council. Tonight, we specifically thank you for your efforts to keep this item under discussion by having it regularly on your

agenda, by forming the subcommittee and the working group. But also tonight, we would respectfully request that this Council work with the City Attorney to guarantee that our districts are not under attack or threatened by that US Supreme Court decision, but rather, we as a city, continue to affirm that districts have provided us with good representation and that we need to affirm and continue that effort. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Gordon. Is there just in case anyone maybe here put the wrong agenda item on their speaker card? But is there anyone here that would like to speak that is not for three A and not for any of our public hearings? No. Okay. So we're going to get started with our three A comments. Then first on our list is going to be Rich Fisher on deck after Rich Fisher will be Lisa Fast Barsotti. Ryan Fisher. Sorry. Ryan Fisher. Maybe your brother is here, I don't know. Thank you. Mayor and council members. Ryan Fisher, resident of Sunrise Park. Speaking of opposing the 1% assessment, this assessment process has not been transparent. It has not been transparent policy. This is a cost shifting scheme. It's basically turned into a process that is in search of a solution. Thousands of short term vacation rental owners were excluded from this process. There was a secret working group that shaped itself and that shaped this assessment.

Along with management companies and tourism insiders, they coordinated this entire process months before most owners were even notified of this process. Petitions were gathered. While most owners had no idea what was happening, some management companies even signed petitions on behalf on behalf of homeowners without their knowledge and consent. And despite many records requests, we still do not know who has certified this petition and whether it's even legally valid. Then, once the public learned about this, we were told that the protest threshold was essentially impossible to ever overcome. This is definitely not meaningful due process. The city has never produced an independent study showing measurable, proportional benefit to STR owners. Even though you're asking us to fund this for 30 years. During the webinar, it was acknowledged by city officials that the 1% rate was just backed into. We have been trying to request the formulas, the calculations, the legal opinions, and there has been no response to our information requests. One tourism official said that they relied on conversations and a study that does not mention Stever's at all. This is not good enough for a 30 year assessment. City representatives also said restaurants, retail shops, vendors and many other businesses will receive spillover benefit. If so, why are those businesses excluded? While hotels and short term rental owners are required to pay, please do not approve a 30 year obligation built on assumptions. Undocumented conversations out of time. Thank you, thank you. Next, we have Lisa Fast. After Lisa will be Randy Sturgis. Good evening, council members. My name is Lisa Fast and I'm a first time short term host rental host

here in Palm Springs. I originally chose Palm Springs because I genuinely love this city. I grew up coming here from South Orange County. And so I feel like I, I really am one with the architecture. I've always loved Palm Springs. I believe that my enthusiasm would be contagious to guests who stay at my home. I want guests to have a globally unique, yet classic Palm Springs experience that only this city can offer. At the same time, I want to be transparent enough to say that I'm still in the early stages of this business, and I'm currently operating at a loss. My margins are very small, and I'm trying to recover my initial investment. I dutifully pay for permits, city taxes on every stay inspections, and comply with strict noise and occupancy regulations. I. I am willingly doing all of that in order to to run a responsible and successful business that helps the city, the one I truly care about. However, adding another 1% assessment on gross revenue, not profit, makes it even more difficult for small operators like me to stay afloat. This may be manageable for large hotels which are excluded from this burden, but for someone like me, it's a real financial impact. Small new operators are being asked to take on additional costs before we even had a chance to succeed. I'm also concerned about being locked in to a long term financial obligation, tied to bonds that could last decades without clear guarantees of direct benefit. I respectfully ask you to reconsider on how this affects small, first time hosts like myself and reject this measure. I ask the Council to vote no.

Thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss Burstein. Next we have Randy Sturgis. After. Mr. Sturgis will be. Angelo Figoni. Madam mayor. Due to lack of any worthwhile. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sturgis. Angelo. Thank you, Madam Mayor and council members and city attorney. I'm a 26 year owner here in Palm Springs in Rhonda Hart's district, and I've been a housing provider for a long, long time. I'm also a permitted STR, and I've submitted protests here already. I've submitted my testimony here also to you people, as well as Rhonda Hart. And both of these have outlined the procedural issues that I have found with the whole process. The STR you've heard from two people already the STR included in T I'd I believe was not done transparently. And I think that's very important for all of you to understand. We understand that the convention center needs to have some additional capital project funding. And I think that my concern is that either the project can be reduced to 70% to fit the existing prop J and TOT funds that are available, or I believe that the council here needs to go back to the drawing board and initiate a T. I'd process that has all willing participants. Transparent process. And I think you've heard you've read my other statements. So I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

Fagan. Next, we have Scott White after Scott White will be Dana Steele. Good evening, mayor. Members of the council, Scott White with Visit Greater Palm Springs. I'm here today to express our support for the creation of the Tourism Infrastructure District to help fund this important project. Modernizing and expanding the Palm Springs Convention Center is no longer just an option. It's critical to remain competitive. Our team works closely with the Ovg sales team at the convention center, and we're starting to lose the opportunity to bid on highly valuable conventions, and we're starting to lose the ability to repeat customers that have been coming for years. The study, from convention, sales and leisure, clearly shows the cost of doing nothing will be a direct hit, both to the city and our local tourism industry. It will reduce the number of conventions, the number of attendees, jobs and the overall vibrancy of our tourism industry. We know that this will keep tourism in Palm Springs vibrant, Who also solves a long standing need by improving the pedestrian experience and connectivity between downtown and the convention center. We struggle to book conventions during the summertime because of, obviously, the temperatures and having this improvements between the convention center and downtown with shade, art and lighting will certainly give us a competitive opportunity to book more groups during the summer, especially sports groups, which we know will benefit all lodging sectors. Crucially, these upgrades will also be elevate the Palm Springs brand, enhance the overall visitor experience and positively impact every section of our lodging industry. We thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. White. Next, we have Dana Steele. After Dana Steele will be Michael Lamb, Lambton, Lambton. Thank you. My name is Dana Steele. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I am not only a permitted vacation owner here in this wonderful town of Palm

Springs, but I am also a 30 year professional conference business speaker. And I can tell you from firsthand experience as a conference speaker that meeting planners and employers do not want conference participants renting vacation homes for lots of reasons. But the number one reason is they want their people in the conference center. They want their people in the official hotel and nearby hotels so that they can network and work with clients and vendors and other employees. The whole point of having a conference is to network, to collaborate, and employers do not want their participants in short term rentals. In vacation homes, you don't collaborate well, you probably do, but behind closed doors. But a business collaboration is not happening in short term rentals. I love this town. I love being a vacation homeowner, but I can tell you right now that we will not benefit from this tax. And there's no doubt about it, it is a tax on vacation home owners. We will not benefit from this. And I urge you to please vote no on this. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Steele. Next we have Michael Lampton after Garrett Rice. I we have a lot of speakers and I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm. But if we are clapping after every speaker, we'll be here for a while. So if you want to raise your hand or do something quick, full respect, but we're going to try to move our speakers as quickly as possible. Hi, Michael Lampton, I'm a ten year homeowner here in Palm Springs. Two years of that, I've been renting a casita in my backyard in the Ruth Hardy Park area. I'm here to speak out against the proposed assessment. The certain lodging businesses,

specifically home shares. I think it's pretty shady that the local hotel industry, who most likely will get 99% of convention goers business, thinks that my home share customers should participate in this plan. The hotel industry does not speak for me. I'm not a business. I'm an individual homeowner that rents one spare bedroom to supplement, to pay my property taxes and air conditioning bill. In the summer, hotels who have multiple rooms can raise their prices accordingly to their availability. They can see how many rooms they have left at any one time, and raise prices to increase their profits. I have no way of doing that. None of my customers have ever stayed at my house to attend a convention, and they shouldn't have to pay for the updates for the convention center. This is touted as a tourist tax. So why are not all the businesses that cater to tourists being asked to pay? The restaurants and the shops on Palm Canyon should be paying this tax also. Maybe if those businesses were required to pay instead of paying this over 30 to 40 years, it could be paid off in half the time. Thank you for voting no on any new taxes. Thank you, Mr. Lampton. Next, we have Garrett Rice. After Garrett Rice will be Carl Frazier. Hi. Good evening, Madam Mayor. Council members, we own a small vacation home rental in Palm Springs, and I just one of the things I wanted to bring up is, you know, we started in 2020. We started with 36 occurrences. This council came in and not this council, but the council before came in, and they changed that occurrences and lowered our ability to do rentals down to 24. For two years. My husband and I sat and wondered, what are we going to do? We put our heart and soul into this place. Do we now sell our home? Because in an overnight decision, all of a sudden we lost our ability to rent, you know, to those additional occurrences. Thank you for coming in and stepping in and changing that back for those that are

grandfathered in so that they now can have those 36 occurrences back. But would these be in short rentals or short conferences? How do I justify using one of my 36 occurrences to be able to rent for somebody coming in for a conference for a day or two, even if it financially makes sense now, I've got to take that occurrence and then not be able to, you know, to rent somebody for a week. So this becomes a little bit of a burden. So I'm hoping if you are going to vote this way, you know, what's going to happen that's going to protect us for the next 30 years so that the next council council doesn't come in, lower those occurrences. And now we're still stuck paying that tax. Are you guys going to offer any assurances? Is there something that's going to be put into place so that we can continue to know with this, that we have that time to know that we can continue to make money? Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Rice. Next, we have Carl Frazier after Mr. Frazier will be Mike Paonessa. Hello, mayor and council members. My name is Carl Frazier. I've been a vacation rental owner operating here for the last six years. I am here to speak out against this tax. I want to talk on one point specifically from my profession, which is a corporate events planner. I did not plan for Dana to be here and to say what she did, but she's a speaker and I'm a corporate events planner of 26 years. I have had direct input in the planning of conferences across the US, Canada and European countries. Not once have we ever recommended, suggested, advertised, published for any of our attendees to ever stay in an Airbnb. Why? There are many reasons why Dana touched on those. So I will not go into those. Not once. Steve's stand no benefit from the convention industry convention. People

will not stay there in the Airbnbs. That's my experience of 26 years. So I really wanted to highlight that as a professional. The second thing which has already been touched on is that Steve's stand no direct benefit from this. The restaurants do. The convention vendors do. A lot of downtown businesses do. But the Steve's are paying 1% and not getting any benefit. I'm all about improving the city, improving the convention center, improving safety, making this an amazing place. We bought our house here because this is an amazing town. Hospitality is in our DNA. This has been a dream for us, but the onerous regulations placed upon us. I won't go into detail on those, but there's a lot. With the increasing taxes make us kind of the redheaded stepchild, so to speak. I'm redheaded, I can say that, but it's hard to do business here. We've considered selling multiple times. As Garrett said, thank you. Thank you very much for your time. Next, we have Mike Paonessa. And after Mr. Paonessa, we have Francine McDougall. Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Mike Panessa. I'm a full time resident of Palm Springs in District five, also involved with the Palm Springs Hospitality Association, Palm Springs Historic Historic Site Preservation Board, and Vren. I'm speaking in support of the proposed 1% Tid on all lodging, including short term rentals, and I'm only speaking for myself. I am not speaking for any of these other organizations I'm part of. There's been significant pushback, particularly from particularly from short term rental owners, some of which is very valid, but some is based on misinformation. As a local

owner of a short term rental permit in Palm Springs, I reject the claim that short term rental owners are just greedy out of towners and concerned only with profit. I am supporting the Tid because its impact is less than $2.50 per night on a four day reservation for my one bedroom condo, and like TOT and t bid, this will most assuredly be passed on to the guests and I will not be paying it myself. Tourism, as we know, drives 70 to 80% of our city's economy, and the convention center is a really essential part of that, that tourism, while short term rentals, may not benefit directly from this redevelopment of the convention center, a stronger city benefits everyone. That being said, if short term rentals are expected to contribute, I urge the council to revisit current regulations if the projected compression brings an additional 50,000 nights stays, short term rentals could help meet that demand, but we need your help to let us help you. In short, if we're contributing to the convention center's future, please allow us the flexibility to support and benefit from this increased demand. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Next, we have Francine McDougall. After Francine is Celeste Brackley. Hi, my name is Francine McDougall and I'm speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors on item three. A I'm also a self-managed vacation rental owner and part time resident of Palm Springs. As many of you know, the board has remained neutral on the Tid because we genuinely see merit on both sides of this issue. We strongly support investments that benefit the broader good of our city, particularly those that strengthen Palm

Springs tourism economy. At the same time, we recognize that vacation rental properties are likely to be the segment that will benefit the least from any convention center improvements. If the Tid does pass and Palm Springs experiences an increase in lodging demand, we respectfully ask the Council to revisit the current limitations placed on vacation rental stays. If the projections of accommodation compression prove accurate, vacation rentals can play a meaningful role in helping meet that demand, but only if we have the flexibility to do so. Specifically, we ask that you consider increasing contract limits. While not all permit holders reach their current caps, higher limits would give operators the ability to adjust minimum stay requirements and better accommodate convention and event attendees when demand spikes. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you Francine. Next we have Celeste Brackley. After Celeste, we have Shannon Anderson. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Celeste Brackley. I'm speaking tonight in support of the Tourism Improvement District and the modernization of the Convention Center. Tourism is the economic engine of Palm Springs, and the convention center is critical to attracting meetings, conferences and visitors that support local jobs and businesses to remain competitive with other destinations. Modernization and connectivity need to happen. I also want to emphasize that the Tid is a self-assessment by the lodging industry. These funds cannot be diverted elsewhere. The Management District plan clearly outlines how the money is to be invested back into tourism, infrastructure and destination improvements. I understand that there are some short term vacation rental owners who may oppose the Tid, but this

initiative benefits them as well. A stronger convention center, increased visitation and better connectivity throughout downtown drive more demand for all lodging options, including short term rentals. This is an investment in a long term success of Palm Springs and in maintaining our position as a world class destination. Thank you for your time and consideration. Celeste. Next, we have Shannon Anderson. After Shannon, we have Sean Tomlin. Good evening, Mayor Soto. Thank you so much, Council members, for listening to us tonight. I'm Shannon Anderson, general manager of Hilton Palm Springs. I'm here today to speak in favor of the Tid. The Palm Springs Convention Center is a critical economic driver of not only our lodging industry, but of our city as well. However, for years, the center has been in severe need of maintenance and upgrades. Because of this, we are losing business not only to other locations in California, but to down valley locations as well. The creation of the Tid was not a rush solution, but a product of almost a year and a half of careful problem solving and discussion to provide a successful solution not just for now, but for the future success of Palm Springs. At the next council meeting, I ask that you vote in favor of the Tid and move this essential project forward. Thank you so much, Shannon. Next we have Sean Tomlin after Mr. Tomlin will be Adam Robinson. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm speaking on behalf of three A. I think everyone here supports a Tid that will increase convention business. So this protest is not outright opposition. It's just an opportunity. In January, a tiny fraction of over 2700 homeowners first learned about it

after a private group of non owners had spent a year engineering our financial fate. Unbeknownst to any of us, when questions were met with silence, we filed a public records request that was eye opening. One thing we learned is tids are actually pretty cool, especially when Self-assessed businesses directly benefit from paying into them. We studied the MDP, all the reports, the FAQs, and the internal documents that have been circulating privately for nearly three years. We also examined the relevant legislation. The bottom line this plan needs work. We've shared some reasons why tonight, and you'll hear more and previously through other channels. Here's the opportunity. Let's build a Tid that delivers on its constitutional promise, where businesses that directly and proportionately benefit self-assess. We'll fund better. We'll better fund our city's centerpiece and crown jewel even faster without punishing homeowners and their vacationing guests. That's a win win. That's Palm Springs. Thank you, Mr. Tomlin. Next, we have Adam Robinson. After Adam will be Heather Carson. Good evening, mayor and council members. I'm here tonight in support of the modernization and expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center. This investment is critical if Palm Springs wants to maintain competitive and continue driving visitors, events and tourism revenue into our city, the Tourism Improvement District, or Tid, is a self-assessment by the lodging industry. These funds cannot simply be diverted elsewhere. The Management District plan

clearly outlines how the money is to be spent, and this proposal guarantees reinvestment directly into tourism infrastructure that benefits our local economy. I'd also encourage you to think about the smaller hotels in Palm Springs. While many may not be part of a convention block, they absolutely benefit from compression created by larger city events. When the bigger hotels fill up, visitors spread throughout the city, helping independent and boutique properties as well. This project is about protecting Palm Springs future as a premier destination and ensuring tourism continues to support local jobs, businesses and tax revenue. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. Next, we have Heather Carson after Heather will be Bruce Hoban. I, Heather Carson, five year short term rental host and three quarter time resident. When I got the letter about the PST I'd. I called Peggy Trott from the PS from PS resorts and she told me they worked very closely with the president of Iran, Kenny Cassidy, implying that it was created with their input and blessing. We subsequently learned that Iran is not supporting the Tid. So that means Mr. Cassidy was working with them all that time, representing his own interests as Director of Business development at Acme. That's how she should have identified him. She said it that way to imply and mislead that STR hosts had a seat at the table and were part of crafting the proposal. This is the person the city indicated to call with any questions, and she's been giving out misinformation to God knows how many people. There's going to be a mass exodus from Vren because they took a position of neutrality, seemingly to placate the majority agency operators on their board, who have a very different stake in this. So I want the council to be very clear that Vren does not speak for

individual hosts on this issue. They are speaking solely for the 11 board members. They did not pull the membership on any of this. In addition, we've learned that it's not one person, one vote. Our vote is tied to the amount of TB ID you submit. And even if every host voted no, we would still be outflanked by the hotels. How is that fair representation? I asked the council to vote to exclude short term rentals from the Tid. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Carson. Next we have Bruce Hoban. Hi. Council. My staff. It's been a while. In fact, somebody said when? How many meetings you've ever gone to? I said, there are more meetings that I've had, birthdays. That's a lot of meetings, may I proceed? My name is Bruce Hoban. I want to just say that over the last ten years, I've served on the board of directors for four different tourism organizations, numerous ad hoc committees, all relating around tourism. I'm here tonight to discuss two words, only tourists and myopic word number one tourists. So Palm Springs is successful because tourists support all of us together, whether it's the small hotels, the large hotels, the resort hotels, the attractions, the vacation rentals, and to tonight's point, the convention center and the tourists it brings to Palm Springs. It is a collective. Now I want to move on to my second thought. Myopic, myopic, narrowly focused on one immediate issue. You lose sight and you lose sight of the larger picture of everything in front of you. We're a very small group of vacation rental homeowners. The discussion tonight has narrowly become focused on on an assessment paid for by the tourists,

while saying, I don't get anything out of this, I'm going to remind a whole bunch of people here that in 2018, the hotels put up ten by ten foot signs in front of their hotels supporting vacation rentals. You want to blow that? Sorry, that was not in my script. I clearly remember that in 2015, vacation rentals were viewed by many as the ugly duckling, the bad guys. That was 11 years ago. We didn't have a seat at the table. Hell, we weren't even invited to the table. If we start unraveling our support for one another between all of these hospitality groups, okay, we're going to hurt the community as a whole. If we start unraveling our collective support, we're going to place ourselves in jeopardy, getting support for improving vacation rental opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Hogan. You're out of time. Is there anyone else in person that would like to speak on three a? Okay, we're going to move on to online speakers for three a we're going to start with Mr. Frank Hunley. Oh just kidding. We're starting with Val. Val Zivkov. Val, if you can hear me, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Hold on. Okay. I t wants to put the next person. Okay, next we have Emmanuel Chandler. Emmanuel, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Hi everyone. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, this is Emmanuel

Chandler. My husband and I have been short term rental hosts for the last three and a half years. We own one property in racket club estates. Everything that I've stated in my previous protest, submitted via email, has already been stated by many of our friends this evening. Just want to go on record that we do not agree with the assessment. Again, just to outline the major issues, the short term rental hosts are. The small short term rental hosts are going to be having to pass along a tax to to our guests. We know that guests are increasingly tight on cash, and the idea that they are going to gladly foot this extra 1% is, is very unreasonable. And of course, it's unreasonable for short term rental hosts to do so as well. As previously stated by my colleagues, we've also been largely excluded from this process. The couple of times we have been included in webinars have been largely informative in nature. We've not really never had the opportunity to protest, and informative, frankly, is a a generous word because we found many holes and gaps in the assessment, with short term rentals largely being excluded from the city's data. And then lastly, as also previously stated by my colleagues, the short term rentals currently those who of us who have been grandfathered, grandfathered in. Thank you to the city's efforts. Those of us who have 36 total contracts per year, we are not going to be able to accommodate one or 2 or 3 night stays from conferences. We're really in a tough position where we have to accommodate much longer stays. So thank you

for the opportunity to speak tonight and for your consideration. Thank you, Miss Chandler. Next we have Fred Grunner. You have two minutes, Fred. But if you can hear city Council. Yep. Can you can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Thank you. All right. Thank you Matt. All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor and City Council. I am a licensed. Me and my wife are licensed vacation rental owner. We're near Ruth Hardy Park, so we're actually not that far from the convention center. It's probably we're about a mile. It's about a 15 minute walk. So we've been we've been hosting for five years and we've had one guest. Fred, we can't hear you. If you want to. Can you hear me now? Yes. We lost maybe about 10s. We heard your okay. So. Okay. Yeah. So we've had one guest. Fred, we really can't hear you. Maybe we can bring them back. Okay, bring bring me back. I'll change my internet connection and you can bring me back. Okay. Thank you. Fred. We want to get the next person. Great. Next we have Claude Peck. Claude, if you can hear us, you can unmute. And you have two minutes. No, I was mistakenly registered at

this. I have nothing to say now at this. Okay. Next. Tamara Wells, you have two minutes. Hi. I am a vacation rental owner in the Warm Sands area. I've been involved in this for at least five years. Not once have I ever had a convention center guest. And I think that I. But I'd like to say is that I want you to vote no on this. If you don't exclude STRs because it just isn't fair. We already have a problem with so many taxes. We're already charging 11.5, 12% is our guests are taxed. And this is I think it's we haven't been included and we don't get benefits from it. So I vote I ask you to vote no on it or change the assessment. Thanks. That's it. Thank you, Miss Wells. Next we have Tom McGlone. Tom, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Tom, you have two minutes. You can unmute. Okay. We're going to come back to Tom next. Next we have Frank Hunley. Frank, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Hi. Can you hear me? Loud and clear. Okay, great. Good evening, Council and mayor. My name is Frank Hunley. I am a Palm Springs resident and short term rental owner operator. For the past five years. After attending the recent presentation, I fully acknowledge that increased convention

activity benefits tourism overall and creates additional lodging demand across the city. I love the idea of the infrastructure improvements. I think it's a great thing for the city. However, as many have noted, hotels and STR function very differently and those differences matter when applying the same assessment to both hotels. Participate directly in corporate travel systems, negotiated room blocks, loyalty programs and convention partnerships that independent STR operators do not have access to and meaningfully for those STR operators, such as myself, operating at or near their annual contract limits. We cannot participate in this increased demand, even if it does materialize. So I urge you, if you want to move forward with this, revisit the contract caps, because the questions of proportionality are unresolved as the Tid is currently structured. I also believe independent STR owner operators, as many others have said, despite representing a significant portion of the assessed businesses, did not have meaningful representation early in this process and I strongly encourage formal independent owner operator STR representation on any future oversight board connected to the Tad. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you Frank. Tom, let's try again. You have two minutes. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yes. Oh, great. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak. I am protesting the T. I'd. A number of the things that I had to say were mentioned by other people, but I did want to just reiterate to the commissioners and the mayor that I didn't receive any communication regarding

the T. I'd. And I found out about it from a Facebook group. In my mind, it seems like it was clearly an opportunity to try to manipulate the. Basically push something through. Unbeknownst to the short term vacation rental owners, I've read in some places that represented short term vacation rentals and other places they didn't. I don't belong to Vren and many do not, as they don't represent nonmembers. The. The clearly means that city communication is important with topics such as this, and I didn't get any. The two calls that were set up to answer questions were not meaningful, as the panel clearly did not have answers to questions. My home is in Vista Norte, two miles from the convention center. If you've ever attended a conference at a convention center, you want to stay as close as possible to the convention center. I will see no spillover as described by Peggy in a previous call. Attendees will not be staying at my house two miles away, unless every hotel in short term vacation rental around the convention center is full. Businesses such as restaurants are not being asked to share in the costs, as everyone has to eat when they're at a convention. And just one last thing that I'd like to say when they talk about this being 30 years. My grandfather played in the band at the opening of the Ben Franklin Bridge in 1926, and when it was opened, the president said that when the bridge is paid for, there'll be no toll. 100 years later, there's still a toll. So the government says that 30 years and it's going to go away. It never goes away. So please vote no. And please consider that short term vacation rentals will not benefit. Thank you Tom. Next we have Emily Bailey. Emily, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Good evening,

mayor and council members. I'm a licensed Palm Springs vacation rental owner. I'm speaking in opposition to the T. I'd as structured the city's own CSL study. The only evidence cited does not mention vacation rentals. Even once every dollar of benefit is modeled around hotels. The own referral mechanism goes to hotels. That's not an opinion. That's how the convention industry works. We called ESRI a convention the city itself cited. They told us they have never booked or suggested stevers dating back to 1981. They have direct partner deals with Hilton Hyatt and Renaissance. Nothing with vacation rentals, and their attendees have never had trouble finding hotel rooms. There is no overflow. There never was. Very few of the 2700 homeowners were consulted. We received a notice months after the decision was already made. We asked that this Tid goes back to the drawing board and includes payers that will actually receive a direct benefit and omits vacation rentals entirely. Because we do not and will not benefit from increased convention bookings. You'll find it faster and it will hold up to legal scrutiny. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Emily. Next, we have Sam Crowley. Sam, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Sam, if you can hear us, you have two minutes. You can unmute. Okay, let's try next person. Next, we have Rob Lavinsky.

Rob, if you can hear us, you can hit unmute and you have two minutes. Rob, if you can hear us, you have two minutes. Hi. Can you. We hear you too much. If you could hit mute on your computer, right? Yep. I'm on my. You're on two devices. So we're picking you up. Oh, you gotta meet one of your devices. I only have one. Let's see. Hold on. I'm trying. Oh, wait. Whatever you did just worked. Okay. I didn't do anything, but I'll speak. Thank you. Sorry about that. Hi. My name is Rob Levinsky, 700 Prescott Drive in Palm Springs. I'll be brief. I'm strongly against the t d for the simple reason. It's patently unfair. As you can hear from the testimony of many tonight. Not everyone supports this. Not everyone even wants more tourism or an expanded convention center in Palm Springs. Many homeowners, even if they rent out their homes, don't support this. Let's be honest, this is for the benefit of large hotels and businesses, not homeowners renting out their property as vacation rentals. Yet homeowners and others are being involuntarily assessed. I have no problem with anyone who wants to contribute towards promoting tourism in Palm Springs, just as long as it's voluntary contribution. This proposal feels like Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. Not as important to horrible, certainly, but in both cases, people are being conscripted against their will. I hope the council members will not support the creation of a structure

that forces people to pay for something they may not want to support. Please be fair. That's all we're asking for. Thank you, thank you Rob. Next, we have John Zemko. John, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, we hear you. Thanks for the for including me. I only just learned about this whole process about a month ago. I am a short term rental homeowner in Palm Springs, and while I. I concur with many of the opinions that were raised tonight, I'm really in a learning process. And I have to say, just looking through the documentation, the study that you did on the whole convention center, it states pretty specifically there that most convention planners, you know, do not want o overflow into, into vacation rentals. So I don't really see how this is going to going to benefit people like me. And furthermore, I, a few people have mentioned it, but I think part of the, what I think a lot of vacation rental owners, the wrong way would be the fact that other businesses that are clearly going to be benefiting from this are not, are being exempted from it. That bothers me. So I do think there needs to be some reworking of this, and I do support the idea of a renovated convention center. Thank you very much. Thank you John. Next we have Luis Martinez. Okay. I think

there was just Sam Crowley. You can hear us. You can unmute. Okay. We've tried Sam a few times. Okay. Oh, did Fred. Fred Greiner came back. Did he? Oh, that was him. Is Fred Greiner still on the line? Can we try Fred again? Thank you. Hi. Can you guys hear me now? Can you hear me now? Sorry, Sam. It's Fred. Okay. Hi, Fred. You have two minutes. Okay. All right. So my wife and I own near have a licensed vacation rental. We've been hosting for five years. We're near Hyde Park, so, you know, we're about a mile from the convention center. And five years, we've had one guest for an event at the convention center. And that was a cheer competition. It wasn't a convention. So I don't I don't believe that the that, you know, the vacation rental owners are going to see any as a lot of other people have said, I don't believe that the vacation rental owners are going to actually see any traffic from the convention activity. I do think it's a good idea to improve the convention center. I just don't don't think the vacation rentals should be part of the the payment plan for that, you know, and so the hotels do have an advantage. They can take shorter stays. You know, we can't we can't accept 1 or 2 day stays for a convention just because the number of contracts we have just, we have to in order to even break even. We have to we have to do longer stays. So, you know, so that's, that's the main

thing I wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Fred. What about the thing I told you the incentives they have. Fred, you have more time. That was amazing. Okay, okay. So the the hotels do do get some incentives when they improve their hotel and they bring in more tot tax. The vacation rental owners don't don't have access to those types of incentives either. So that's another, another. No. Yeah. So they, they get some of their tot taxes back. If, you know, if the city approves that and they improve their hotel and they improve their revenue. So we don't have access to those types of, of things either. Thank you. Thank you, Fred. Thank you, Mrs. Gruner. Okay. Are there any other online comments, madam City Clerk, we have no further speakers. Okay, okay. That's remaining public comments are for public hearing, and we will take those at the time of the public hearing. Next item is the consent calendar. I would like to entertain a motion to accept the consent item items without items E, J, N and O. We have a motion by Councilmember Bernstein, a

second by Council member DeHart. I'm not working. Okay. Motion carries. So let's start with comments and then we'll go to the separate. Separate discussions. Start with item D. Sorry, folks. Councilmember Garner, you had a comment on item D. Yes. Thank you so much. So item item one D is a comprehensive safety plan that would help consolidate all of our pedestrian safety, bicycle safety and other plans that we have. It would also allow us to obtain further financing for these types of projects and provide a lot more clarity to the public. And this is just wanted to highlight this because, you know, road safety is really important in our city, and especially as we are trying to become a city that is more walkable, since we do have really lovely weather for a lot of the year. And I think this is just another example of how we're kind of moving forward to take advantage of funding opportunities and to be a little bit more clear with how all of these plans fit together and work. So I just want to thank the staff for for bringing this forward to us. And there's a couple of items on this consent calendar that relate to pedestrian safety, and I really appreciate all of these moving forward. Great. Next we have item I, Council Member Bernstein, do you want to start? Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I

just want to make a comment. When we originally did the agreement for. This is for the homeless encampment site cleanup. When we hired the company, we required that they have good faith hiring efforts to hire individuals who are or were previously homeless, as well as good faith efforts to hire residents of the Coachella Valley. And I just that was an important point that we put in the original contract. And I just want to remind staff that that is still in there and we shouldn't and hold them to the requirements. Okay, I thought I had I, but I have J so I'll come back. Council member ready. You had a comment on I as well, right. Actually, my question has been answered on. I thank you. Great. Next we have item M and so item M just for the public's awareness, is the completion of the downtown park splash pad. So for folks who aren't aware, we actually have it hasn't been working, but there's been a splash pad in front of the fountain in the downtown park, and it has been recently been completed. I just want to say a personal thank you to the Public Works for all the staff who have taken my emails on this for so long. This is very, very exciting. We live in a hot place, our kids need water play. We're going to continue the conversation and making sure we can have this in other places in other parks, but I'm so grateful that we have now this working in the downtown park and part of almost half of the cost of this splash pad was from recouped costs from the original project. So thank you for tolerating all my emails on this. It's really appreciate it. Okay. Those are our comments. We are

going to move on to the ones for a full discussion. Let's start with sorry. I want to go in order E item E. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor had a question. I need a staff report if I get a couple questions. Thank you. First of all this is the this is the bike road diet on South Palm Canyon. So thank you for, you know, bringing this forward. I know it's been long in planning. There's been several community meetings over over the last couple of years. Most people certainly seem to support it. My only question is, Joel, when you're putting this out to bid, I didn't see the time of construction in there. I just wanted to make sure. Well, I presume the engineer who designed this has a idea of how long it should take, and I was just curious how long that would be. And would that be in the bid specs of what we would be expecting on a time frame? So yeah, thank you, David. Council member. David Ready? Joel Montalvo, city engineer indeed. When we put out these projects to bid, we do work with our engineers to determine what the anticipated timeline would be for construction for this particular project, because it's mostly striping and we are doing some concrete work to fill in gaps. We think 40 working days, about 2 or 3 months is going to be the extent of the work on this project. Okay. So that that know that that's good news to hear. So when we actually get it back, we will that will actually then become part of the contract. Absolutely. Yeah. When we actually bring it back for reward because we're bidding it. So we're asking permission to put these project, this project out to bid. The plans will be reviewed by contractors. If there's any comments during construction that maybe they feel that they can't build it in 40 days, then maybe we make adjustments. So at the time of award, we will specify

in our okay, not only in our staff report, but as part of the contract, the working days for the contractor. Great. Thank you. Yes. Council member Bernstein, I just had one comment because I know that in discussions on South Palm Canyon, we've also talked about the racket club road diet, and I know that's coming back soon. I'm going to ask the city manager later when that's coming back. Council member Bernstein, I believe we have scheduled to come back at the next council meeting. Yeah, I think we're ready to bring it forward into the next council meeting. Okay. Just this one raised a lot of questions, so thank you. Sure. Thanks. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem ready a second by Councilmember Garner. I need you to. Motion carries. Next item is item J. We have a question. Would you like a staff report? I would like to. Yes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah. If you could do a staff report, please. So yeah, I'll be brief. This project before you is the construction of the Victoria Park restroom. So there's an old restroom at Victoria Park. It's kind of outdated and doesn't meet code. And the city has been consistently building new restrooms at different parks. What we've done, what I started doing a while ago, is paying a getting a standard design for all our restrooms and incorporating them and basically putting them in a different parks or where they're needed. So this particular new park is going in at Victoria Park. We're we're ready for award of contract. We got our lowest bidder and we're ready to proceed with the project. Happy to answer any questions. When did

this this was a measure J project. And this is a measure project. Yeah. And it's been it's been one of the ones that's been standing out there for quite a while. I don't remember exactly when it was funded through measure J. I wouldn't be able to tell you right now. Was I still on measure J when was funded? I believe it was one of the ones that was envisioned back then. And I think I did use measure J funds to start the process of standardizing the restrooms and creating one design that we're incorporating now. It's nice to see it come back when. What's the timeline on this project? You would ask me that, and I don't have that answer in front of me. Do we know what the construction 130 days. Okay, so we have 130 working days for this project from now from one of the when we award it. Yeah. I'm sorry. When we sign all the contracts and issue the notice to proceed. Okay, great. And this is, you know, construction, concrete work, block work. So it's a little bit more lengthy. And then we had, I had a question from one of the residents, how close is it to the street? Because there was a question. There's been discussions about adding more parking at Victoria Park that might impinge on the in the Middle East side. Well, actually, if you look at figure two in the actual staff report, it shows you where the anticipated location is. It is close to the east. That would improve. So there was a discussion that has, I don't know whether it's gone anywhere about changing the parking to a diagonal parking. You know, that hasn't come up as part of from my understanding on this project, I haven't heard that discussion. Okay. And if this. But if it did happen at some point, this. There would still be room for that. Yeah. The park is is wide enough to add parking. That was it. I'm glad to see this moving forward. I'm glad to see the work on Victoria Park happening and our new playground and public art and the pop up dog park that's coming. So it's nice to see. Thank you. My only addition additional comment is really, I think this is an excellent use of measure J funds and appreciate that while it's taken a while to get here, it. The fact that

we are using very similar models that we did at James or Jessie or Desert Highlands Park and then Demuth one, it creates a little bit of. Roots level setting expectations across our parks when we have the same level of amenities. But I appreciate that we're we don't have to do designs or start from scratch with every part. Right. And that was the intent actually, for also facility maintenance wise, you know, we know what exactly the, you know, the restrooms are the fixtures and we can replace them. So yeah, I think it was done with the plan with that plan in mind. Yeah. Okay. Very exciting. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Next item we have is item N. Mayor Soto. I think we have a motion. We need to move on that. Oh I'm sorry. Yes. Okay. We have a motion by Councilmember Bernstein, a second by Mayor Pro Tem. AM I the only one? No. Okay. Second by Councilmember. Councilmember Garner. You still okay? Yeah. Is it. Yes. We'll vote it for you. We'll vote it for you. Okay. Put the screen up. Okay. Motion carries. Next item is item N. Do you want to staff report? Just have a question a couple questions. Hello, Victoria. Hi. Just a couple questions on this. It I wasn't maybe you could clarify it wasn't clear what the bag handlers are doing. And I just asked this in the sense that I see, you know, we spent 2 million on this already. And this is another million and a half. And a million half is about going to be about 53000 employee hours,

which would be about 26 full time people. So I was just maybe to clarify, you know, what, what these bag handlers are doing for that amount. And, and in the context of the questions, maybe at some point you must have analyzed, is it better to have some more employees, part time people versus expensive contracts like this? Thank you so much, Mayor Pro Tem, and thank you for the question. So the baggage handler handlers are for the baggage handling system itself. So currently we actually have baggage handlers that are operating our outbound baggage handling system. So what that is, is anytime a passenger comes to the airport and they they put their bags at the ticket counters, they check their bags, it goes through conveyor belt and then it gets sorted to the airlines. Well, we have to hire these baggage handlers to actually help push the bags through the sorting system. They help the TSA so that the system itself doesn't get backed up and primarily is essential whenever we're busy throughout the year. So especially during our peak season. So we have to have the baggage handlers there year round to help with pushing the bags through. So that's one thing. We're also have this outbound baggage handling system project that we're doing right now. We're in the very preliminary stages of it. And once we start taking down parts of the baggage system itself, it's going to require more people to move those bags manually, moving them rather than using a conveyor belt. So that's essentially what's happening and it's mostly part of the project. So once that project gets completed, we're not going to need baggage handlers to move bags manually behind the house. So you see this

as basically sunsetting. At some point you would need this as an ongoing. That's correct. That for the baggage handlers for wayfinding, that's a different story. Like for instance, right now we're currently using the Wayfinders to help us with. Once we get through the escalator project, when that system actually goes down for the public, there's not going to be any conveyors going up or down. So we'll need some assistance with our baggage. Well, our wayfinders to help assist passengers bring the bags up and down or escorting them to our elevators, which they're the top floor is easy to find, but the bottom isn't. They have to go around the way. Right? So that was 71,000 is it was broken out of the million and a half of the the other 335 for wayfinding. What would that be used for? So we also utilize that for just moving people around the airport. So technically, the whole terminal, from the time that you walk into the airport and, and help with directing passengers, it's like an extra experience that we offer to our passengers. So do you know how many people, how many people is that? So potentially staffing between 6 to 20 people, depending on wayfinding and baggage handling themselves. But when would they use? I'm just a little confused when they would use I mean, what what do the wayfinders do? How do they help people? They help escort people and or talk show them where you know, where they can find baggage services and where they can find security, any kind of questions that they would have at an airport that we can help assist them to guide them. It's as needed. It's not something that we need all the time. So we that's one thing with the contract that we did and not to exceed amount so that they can help us as we need them. And as we ramp up and as we get busier during Peak times, right? So so which passenger do they ask for this? I mean, I've just never seen seen that. You've never seen

that additional service at an airport where people assist people. I'm just curious what because I get. Do they help when the escalators down, they're going to basically carry their bags down the escalator. If people need up or down, they're going to do that. I get, I get that it's just it's just the other 300,000 when people need escorting because because that's not when they're, they bring people in and off the airplane that need extra help. The airlines do that. So I wasn't sure what this work was. Well, the airlines actually hire people like Sierra Aviation. Right. But but not this, not this. This is different. Right? So that's why I just wasn't sure. So we have so this helps us for extends us for another year. So when we originally went out to bid for this, we did a three three year agreement with two one year extensions. And that was for baggage handling services as well as wayfinding. As you know, whenever we get during our peak season, we're our facilities are at capacity. So right. Our airport was built for 1.5 million passengers. And we're already at 3.3 million passengers. So we get congested. And so wayfinding actually helps our passengers and the guest experience to show people because they're here for tourism. So showing them where to get to their locations, whether it be baggage services or the ticket counter, or even getting to find the services that they need through clear or any of the car rental facilities. That's what our extra services provide to our passengers. And so we don't have staff that does that currently not dedicated fully to that. They are primarily working operationally to make sure the operations are going. All right. Thank you. There are no other questions or comments. We need a motion to approve this item. We have a motion by

Councilmember Garner and a second by Councilmember Bernstein. Motion carries. Thank you. Last we have item oh. Do you ever want a staff report or just a question? Thank you. Just in case. Thank you. So so we're taking another crack at Opengov, are we? All right. Well, you know, sometimes, you know, technology that doesn't exactly deliver what it promises, but sometimes it does. So this is good. So I think this is a good thing. I just had a couple questions. I, I trust that, you know, you gone through this, you have a comfort level that this is going to, you know, be the improvement you need. But two questions. One, will it will it. Change? Would have an application like a phone app for residents to interact with this. I presume it would. I just wanted to confirm that it'd be easier for that process. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem David Maccabee, director of Public Works. Excuse me, but yes, that is a big portion of it for the 311 side of it. So that we have that that ability, which will also integrate with GIS for us and the public. Okay, good. And then and then the only final other question that I had with regard to online permitting that system is not included in this or this is that's part of this system. We're including the code enforcement side of it. We're not including the building safety side. That is a piece that could be added in the future if we decide to do that. Do you happen to know if that system is going to be compatible with Opengov? You may not. Yes, yes. No. Opengov has the ability. We're just not we're not there yet. Taking building and safety. That's okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you

so much. Thank you. There are no other questions or comments. We have a motion. Council member DeHart a second by Council member Garner. Motion carries. Thank you. David. Okay. That concludes our consent calendar. We're done. I'm just kidding. Next item. As we said at the top of the meeting, we're starting with item three, a titled public meeting to establish the Palm Springs Tourism Infrastructure District. May we have a staff report, please? And just for the record, you can keep coming up just for the public's comments. This is a public meeting on this agenda item. The public hearing will be on the 27th. And this is informative in nature. So thank you, all three of you for helping us get started. Good evening and thank you. My name is Peggy Trott. I'm the board chair for PS resorts. So I am here presenting on this. So I just want to give a little bit of background. You know, we started in January 2025 with our convention center stakeholder meeting. It was convened. And at the meeting in January of 2025, we divided into working groups that were all volunteers. We did form the working group and PS resorts agreed at that time that we would or I took it to PS resorts after that

meeting to get approval to hire Civitas, the industry leader in tourism formation of districts. And our objective. It was a primary one. It was pretty easy to ensure that Palm Springs remains a top tier global destination by increasing demand for room nights sales through investing in our convention center and the pedestrian walkway. So you can go to the next slide. So we looked at at different things, and we started with a TOT. We'll transient occupancy tax. It's approved by residents. I have yet to live in a city. When there is a tax like that put on the ballot that they will not vote for it because it's a visitor tax. And it could have been larger than 1%. It could have been 2 or 3%. It goes directly to the general fund, and it funds various municipal services. So the t D is as our working group got together, it's to enhance the accountability of the industry control. It's a business led assessment. It guarantees reinvestment in tourism and it boosts visitation, leading to higher occupancy and higher rates. And a lot of people talked about the CSL study, which points out that if we do nothing, we lose room nights. So we wanted to reinvest in the community and reinvest in tourism. Next slide. So people talked about, you know, the are we competitive? Like are taxes and fees with other cities because everybody thinks ours are so high? Well, really, when you look at it against other cities that in the convention benchmark, we're not we're between 13.5% and 17.5%. And when guests look to book, they're not comparing taxes and fees. They're comparing

the diversity of the of the the room and lodging. So you can go to the next one. So, you know, when we look at the top tier or the , both of these are pass thrus. It is the visitor who is staying that is going to pay for it. It does not fall on an individual business or an individual. Guest or I'm sorry, owner. So the groups and meetings, they pay the highest percentage. The group in meeting hotels it's 17.5%. You you can see that the hotels have a range between 13.5 and 15.5%. And that's because if you are a hotel that's over 50 rooms, it's the 3% into the T bed that that brings you higher. So hotels that are 49 rooms and less, they have the 1% on the T bed. And the T bid is a marketing infrastructure district, which is different than what we're doing. So, you know, the benefits to lodging. We as a group, we discussed a larger district that was brought up tonight, and we narrowed it down to the benefits to lodging. That's that's what what the this is about driving more room nights into the city. And when we looked at it, you know, if the CSL study showed us that if we did nothing, we were we're bound to lose 17,500 room nights. That's just a loss that they're just gone. Now, if we do everything that we want to do, the upside is we can gain 32,000 room nights. We're not adding more hotels, so we need all

of the diversity that we can in lodging. You know, Palm Springs are demand it. It does exceed regularly. I mean, we do have conventions that are 4500 attendees and more. And, you know, I can say that that meeting planners, they will. They will tell you that attendees book outside of their blocks. It is why hotels have an attrition clause. So it the the meeting planner, you know, they look and this was also talked about that on average, 40% will book outside a room block. So they are looking for diversity in lodging. And that's what's so great about the our lodging community here. We have we have the small hotels, we have the large hotels and short term rentals as part of our ecosystem. And then, as I said, we we did a PS resorts hired Civitas, the industry leader. I do want to introduce Gina Reed as she's been working with us from the beginning on this. And she will go into all of the accolades. But her and and well, I won't say her, but her her organization, Civitas, they're the author of the 94 law for t IDs. So when I say that we went to the best, we went directly to the source. So let me introduce Gina Reed. All right. Good evening. Thank you. Peggy, you basically did my first slide. So I'm Gina Reed. I am a project manager at Civitas. I've been with the company for a little over 12 years, but our firm has been in business for actually celebrating our 30 year anniversary this year, which is very exciting. But essentially, we specialize

in the formation of all types of special assessment districts, traditional bids, property districts, wine districts. But we do specialize in tourism districts. We've formed and renewed over 200 districts, and we're fortunate enough to actually work on the renewal and recent modification of the greater Palm Springs T bid. As Peggy mentioned, our president and CEO, John Lamberth, he was the primary author of the 94 law, which is the law that most of these districts are formed under in California. We also work with many other states to draft legislation, so they have the ability to create tourism districts, just like we do in California. So safe to say we're very passionate about working with destinations to form stable funding for their destinations specific needs. Just a little bit on the background of the t D landscape nationwide. So there are currently 220 4TDS nationwide. However, 116 of those are in California. The first one was formed actually in the city of West Hollywood in 1989. The smallest destination is raising a whopping $10,000. I think it's one hotel, but why not pass it on to the guests instead of having it out of pocket? The largest is actually San Diego raising 47 million. But collectively, these districts are raising over $811 million for destination funding. So pretty incredible. It's definitely becoming a very popular mechanism for destinations all over the country. You know, with city budgets being cut, kids are definitely becoming more popular way of funding, destination promotion. A recent example of a destination that has utilized the t d mechanism

to fund capital improvements in California is Sacramento just like Palm Springs? They already have a t D to fund their sales and marketing efforts, but they did create a second t D to fund, essentially creating a second ballroom for their convention center. So in 2018, they added an additional 1% t d on all lodging businesses to raise an additional $3.7 million annually annually to fund their $52 million ballroom. So I actually visited this a couple years ago. It's gorgeous. So again, this is also becoming a popular mechanism not just in California, but nationwide, a way to fund capital improvements. So I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of this. So this slide summarizes what we are proposing for the Palm Springs T D. All of the parameters that you see on this slide are detailed in the management District plan that you have in your agenda. The Management District plan is the legal guiding document for the district. So this is essentially outlining all of the parameters throughout the term of the district. So to take you through them, obviously the boundaries are all lodging businesses in the city of Palm Springs, the assessment rate being 1% of gross short term room rental revenue. A reminder, as Peggy mentioned, this is a pass through. This is not an out of pocket cost to businesses. I know we've received some comments or questions about the ability to pass this through on platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo. We absolutely can. We are aware of, unfortunately, one owner who is experiencing an unfortunate glitch on Airbnb that is not able to pass it through, but visit greater Palm

Springs is working directly with that owner to take care of it. But otherwise you are able to pass this assessment on to guests on the platforms for short term rentals, the 1% is estimated to raise approximately $4.1 million annually, with the funds in the plan, it's outlined what's called a waterfall mechanism. So it basically outlines how the funds are to be spent in priority. Obviously, this is to pay primarily for debt services to pay off the bonds. There will be some admin costs on the city side to collect the assessment. So the funds will go there after everything is said and done. If the district collects more than anticipated and there are funds left over, the funds can be spent on sales and marketing efforts to drive sales to the assessed businesses. So that is in the documents the term. Yes we are, because bonding, we have a 30 year term not to exceed 40 years. As far as the governance goes, the law requires that we do call out what's called an owner's association. So we have initially selected PS resorts to be that owner's association. The reason we have went with an already established association. They're already established. We don't have to form a new nonprofit, so we don't have to take on another cost. PS resorts is already well respected. Association in the community has a relationship with the city. If formed, the plan is to create essentially a T. I'd committee under that board that will basically oversee the t d. That committee will be comprised of members that represent all

different sectors of the lodging community, so would be made up of large hotels, small hotels and short term rentals. That committee would be charged with. There is a requirement to provide an annual report to council every year on, you know, how much was collected and how the funds were spent. And again, if there were funds left over, then that committee would decide how those those those funds would be spent. Okay. So this slide details essentially where we've been and the steps to form a t d. The first phase is the outreach and consensus building phase. So like Peggy mentioned, we've been working with the working group to essentially build consensus. And what we have worked on are those parameters that I just went over that also entailed outreach meetings to folks not on the working group. So Mark will go over in the next few slides, all of the outreach that was done, but we did meet with members of the lodging community, as well as other stakeholder groups. From there, all of the details that we've heard in the meetings were all written into this management district plan. So all the feedback that we heard, all of the conversations that we had are now all detailed into this management district plan. Following that, after the drafting of the legal document comes the petition drive. So the petition drive is industry led in that when a petition is signed, the petition says that they are asking the city to initiate proceedings to form the district. So when they are signing, they are supporting the formation, asking the city to initiate proceedings. So the law

requires that we get signed petitions in support of the formation from over 50% of businesses, based on how much a business will pay in assessments. So the petitions are weighted based on how much a business pays. So yes, it is not one business, one vote. It is weighted. I didn't write that. I didn't I didn't make up the rules. That is how it is done. So once we met that threshold, that is what allowed us to initiate proceedings here at council. So there are three stops. The first one was that April 8th City Council meeting, which is called the Resolution of Intention. So you guys adopted a resolution of intention to form the district. That is just allowing us to move forward with the process. Following that meeting, we sent the the required notification to all the assessed businesses. So the law requires us to notify all of the affected businesses, letting them know there are two public hearings, and that notice starts a mandatory 45 day protest period. So while the petition is acknowledging that the business is supported and initiates proceedings, now that we are initiate proceedings, we are now in a protest period. So now the businesses have the opportunity, like they came today, to speak in support or opposition of the district, and again, they have the opportunity submitted protest like they've been doing. So this is the first of the two public hearings, and then we have an additional one on May 27th. Yes. Sorry to interrupt. Yes, we have one public hearing, one public meeting. It's called a public meeting, but it is essentially that's just what the law calls it. My boss likes to say it's an archaic term, but essentially it is a public

meeting. The only difference is that there is no action by city council at today's meeting. We're just taking public testimony. But it is essentially a public hearing in that we opened the public hearing and closed it. But it is a public hearing. The notice said. You have two public hearings, the May 12th and the May 27th. I'm sorry, city, did we have a open a public hearing on this? The speaker is right. This is an archaic law. It's from the the Brown Act before prop 218 and prop 26 provided for alternative methods of of noticing and providing for protests. The Brown Act calls it a public meeting. We could have called it a public hearing or a public meeting in our notices. The point is, this is an opportunity for the public to provide their input, whether for or against, and for the City Council to hear that input from the public. So we're still even this in our agenda. It was a public meeting. We're still complying with the requirements of. Absolutely. And and as the speaker indicated, we will be having another public hearing on May 27th for further input from the public in which the Council at that point will have an opportunity to act. Yes, yes. Okay. Thank you. So, yeah, so on May 27th, again, we'll open up the public hearing. At that point, we will determine whether or not there's been a majority protest. So the city clerk can tabulate all of the protests that have been received. As long as there is not a majority protest following the close of the public hearing, then council can adopt a resolution formally forming the t d. And that is my conclusion of the timeline. So I'm going to pass it to Mark. And again, he's going to go through all of the

outreach that has been done. Thank you Gina. My name is Mark Weir with Daily Strategies. Our firm is contracted by the city to provide supplemental staff support for stakeholder engagement and communications related to the Palm Springs Convention Center project. I'm here this evening to update the council and the city on the city notice and requirements associated with the industry led t d. So, as Gina mentioned, once the industry led petition threshold was met, the city was then required by state law to formally notify all assessed businesses by sending one mailed notice to the address on file. That noticing effort was completed by April 12th, and the city went above and beyond the mandatory noticing requirements. The city mailed notices not only to all registered mail mailing addresses on file, but also to the business addresses associated with each assessed entity, resulting in more than 5500 direct mail notices being sent. In addition, the city emailed notices to all registered email addresses on file for those assessed businesses, so three notices were sent rather than just one. Can you. Yes. Thank you. Thanks. There we go. So beyond those formal city. Beyond the formal city led notice and requirements, Civitas hosted two public informational webinars on May 4th to help educate and inform stakeholders about the process to which the city participated, specifically to share information about the overall project and the noticing requirements for the T D combined, the webinars had a total of 68 participants, along with seven panelists. Those webinars were promoted through multiple outreach channels. Civitas distributed email notices

on two separate occasions. The webinars were also shared directly with all short term rental and home share permit holders through Virens and the Civitas web webinar. Links and FAQs were posted to the city website. In total, three separate email communications were distributed regarding those public webinars. I'd now like to briefly show the council where this industry led initiative fits within the broader timeline of the Convention Center project, as shown here, the project consists of two major components the Convention Center modernization effort, which includes both renovation and expansion, expansion phases, and the urban connectivity piece. Both efforts are actively underway, and the project design teams are currently working towards concepts and design recommendations that will be shared publicly for community input and feedback over the coming months and throughout the remainder of the year. The third row here shows how the T funding supports the overall project, but to be clear, the T D does not pay for the project exclusively. The city is estimated to supply 30% of the funding for the overall project, while the remaining 70% is funded by the city. I also want to emphasize that public outreach and project updates related to the Convention Center project have been ongoing since December of last year. To date, the city has conducted outreach to more than 30 organizations throughout Palm Springs. The city began with the Barista Neighborhood Organization. Given its proximity to the project area, and have continued providing presentations and updates to community groups like the Rotary Plaza Theater Foundation and many other across the city that accept our invitation. In addition to the organizations listed on the slide, we also had multiple updates at City Council

meetings and media releases on this project. These presentations include updates about the overall project vision, the pedestrian improvements, the connectivity component, the anticipated economic benefits, and potential funding sources including T o, T, measure J, and the potential t d. To date, the city has completed presentations to more than 17 organizations, with three additional presentations currently scheduled. Some organizations have had multiple meetings, and the city has had many one on one meetings with businesses that are in close proximity to the project. So I would like to wrap up by extending an invitation to anyone here this evening, or anyone watching, who would like a presentation on the project update for their organization or neighborhood group. Please feel free to reach out to my colleague Charlie at the email address shown on the screen. He's also in the room here today, and we'd be happy to schedule a briefing on the project. That concludes our presentation. Thank you very much. Thank you. Peggy. Gina. Mark. For that. I just want to start with. The extensive collaboration conversations strategy from our hospitality leaders for the last many, many months on this. We've had a few conversations here at Council on the importance of our convention center, how much it drives so much of our economy down to weekday visitors that a lot of people who eventually become part time residents, then full time residents, sometimes their first

exposure to our city is through a convention center. It is the introduction to many, many people. And so we value this building. It is a building that it is. It is part of our long term strategy, making sure this is a city that people like living, visiting and and being at. We've got an extensive public comments today, the last few weeks. And I know for me, I want to make sure that people kind of understand the goals of the Tid, what we're hoping to accomplish, how there is accountability and integrity in this entire process. We really value that. And, and that that has been a key part of every phase of this work. So, so thank you to again, PS resorts, Daily Strategies and everyone who has helped shape that and all the public comments, public comments adds to that due diligence. And we're going to make sure we we do that really well today. This we have been calling it a public meeting. Maybe by law, it's a public hearing, but today it's a public meeting. We are not taking action on this item. But this is really more informative and an opportunity for council to give some direction as to how what other public kind of feedback and information we can make sure is available to everyone between now and the actual public hearing? Will we take action? I have some more comments and questions, but I just kind of want to frame on how important and how valuable this work is. I'm going to open it up to my colleagues and come back with some more questions. Anybody have any questions or things they want to add? Yes. Council Member Bernstein Well, I just I just wanted to highlight there was one thing and and thank you all for making the presentation. And in

the the one, I guess it was Peggy Trott was speaking when if we lose do nothing, we lose 17,500 rooms. If we do the plan that we're doing, we gain 32,000 rooms. So that's a difference of almost 50,000 rooms a year. And I think, you know, that room nights a year rather. And that really must help all of our lodging and, and we certainly don't have, I don't know how many hotel rooms we have. I think I know 5000 wrong. Anyone know how many hotel rooms we have in Palm Springs? Mayor. Council member. Bernstein. Wayne Olsen, chief economic development officer. We have around 6400 total keys in our community. Okay. Relative to other cities down Valley, probably a third or less of that. Okay. So the point is that this will have a significant impact on that. And I think there's only about 1200 that were in the downtown area of our hotel rooms. I also, I wanted just to point out, because I know it was mentioned, I think, in public comment, but the Tid is going to raise 4.1 million and that's. The city is putting in 70% of the overall convention center project. Is that correct? Okay. Just to make sure I have that right, you know, I do appreciate it. I also just want to remind we had a present when Oakview got the contract last year. One of the things they said is there. This was after the the CSL study was that their incentive is to increase the convention center usage, I think, from 48% to 60%, which which will happen with the modernization. And they also mentioned several groups that really are their primary targets, which are associations, tech, sports, and I can't remember. There's one other one and I know sports are are big growth area. And I

think I just wanted to mention something that's unique is that, you know, we do have this interesting mix in Palm Springs. We have large hotels, we have group hotels. We have, I think 90 small hotels within that. We have micro small hotels, and we have the 2800 vacation rentals. And what I've seen for the most part, I know some people are not happy about this, but generally our industry works very well together. And I think that is something that is is unique. And so I think this is being done, from what I hear for the benefit of all. And then one other thing I just want to mention that wasn't brought up that much was the Tid is going to be the primary funding for the downtown connectivity, which I believe will be a major boost to our tourism and lodging industry, just like the original downtown development was. So I want to thank the presentation. I want to make sure people know the concerns have been heard and. And we can't respond to every single one individually. But I appreciate the comments and we'll continue at the public hearing. Any other comments? Yes. Mayor pro Tem, just a quick comment. I would just note that. Probably Mr. Mooney, off the top of your head, what's our general fund approximately? Okay. So in about 19 about 2010, 2011, our general fund was about $75 million. And so the reason we did the convention center expansion the first time, the big part of that in the

downtown in the hotels was because what we saw, it's a long game, a general fund from 75 million to 100, double, triple, more than double. And that's the effect that that has and that changes the quality of life for everyone in our community. So I think we all can agree that the benefit, the good part, the good news of this and why it's important to do, I suppose. Certainly there's there's disagreement and opinions on the specifics of this financing mechanism, and there's probably other ways to do it, to have done it. But this is the way that I think the staff is suggesting the best way we can get it done now. So we still have more comment to hear. Council will have more discussion at the public hearing, but I think the larger issue is understanding the benefit will be important part of this overall discussion. Thank you. Mayor. Yes, Council Member Garner, we both had the same thought. David or Councilmember Roddy. Yeah. In terms of the benefit to the community is, is, is vast. So when we bring in this additional revenue, it allows us to do a lot more for our community. So one of the things that we've done, for instance, with TOT is set aside 1% of TOT to go towards housing, and we've been able to fund so many housing projects by setting aside general fund dollars and deliberately setting aside TOT dollars for affordable housing projects. By the next few years, we'll have built over 600 new units of affordable housing in our community, and that's a direct result of tourism in our community. The same with all of the park upgrades that we've done in

the last several years. This is coming from tourism in our community. So and not to mention the jobs as well that it brings. If when we you know, I grew up here in Palm Springs and this summers used to be completely dead there, everything closed. You had a handful of restaurants that could stay open on a very small staff. And now you're seeing that there is year round places, there are places that can sustain their employees the entire through the through the summer and investments that we do for our convention center and for other tourism aspects help that. So while we work on diversifying our economy, we also have to keep the strongest part of our economy whole and active and vibrant. And that's why we do things like upgrade our convention center. And that's why we we ask for our community to support us because when you support these efforts, it goes right back to you by us being able to fund these projects that are really critical to everyone in the community and also gets visitors to come back. You know, I was once at our newly finished Victoria Park, and I didn't recognize a single person there. And so I just started talking to people and they were all tourists with their kids, enjoying the park, and they loved it and thought it was so beautiful. So I just want to remind people that there the benefits are vast and benefits to our community is not just to us personally as one individual, but to all of us together. How could I not say something? There's no pressure. This is us not speaking very much on this item. To the people that

came and shared their opinions today in previously in email. On no matter your position, your thoughts and your ideas on both sides, the feedback and the comment and the participation in this process is extremely valuable. And I want to make sure that everybody who took part, whether it was on the phone or here in person or via email, that that all that input is, is welcomed and appreciated, and it will all be absorbed as we go down the road to make a decision. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, definitely agree with that. And in terms of what to anticipate the next couple of weeks between now and the public hearing, you know, as I mentioned, the due diligence is going to be thorough. We are we actively welcome it. And so there are resources, both from our staff report on engage Palm Springs. There's more resources. We're continuously monitoring the questions and feedback that we are getting and adding to the FAQ and other resources on Engage Palm Springs. So encourage all of our stakeholders to continue to to suggest opportunities to provide input. The community presentations that Mark mentioned is also another very real invitation to encourage people to understand the requirements and opportunity with the t D. So that's another opportunity between now and the community hearing. And, and I, and I keep just kind

of going back to how collaborative in nature this t d is. This is a self-assessment by the lodging industry in our city who recognizes how important our convention center is and how much thought and strategy went into the development. It is our responsibility as a city, assuming if this T d is approved on a public hearing, that we are responsible stewards of those dollars and are going to utilize them in the way it's intended. And so we all have a very important role in making sure that we are investing in our convention center. We're investing in our public infrastructure in a way that has long term benefits. And so for all of our stakeholders who and people who provided public comments, again, whatever side you're on, we encourage it. We welcome it. There's been a lot. And so if it takes a couple of days or a few days to get back to you, it's not a reflection that it is not an important comment. We welcome that feedback because we want to make sure that the ecosystem, the tourism ecosystem here in Palm Springs works for all of our hospitality partners. And so we want to make sure that that is that is real and that it's felt and that is seen. So any other with that, any other closing comments? Okay. Thank you very much, Mark. Gina, Peggy. Appreciate it. We are going to move on to our public hearings, back to our normal flow of our agenda. Our next item is two, a, a request for a, B two, five, six one employee vacancies and recruitment and retention efforts. May we have a staff report, please? Hello, mayor, Council and staff. Stephanie George, Director of Human Resources. I'm here to present the city's

employee vacancy recruitment and retention update in compliance with a B 2561 requirements. Today, I will provide a brief overview of a b 2561 and then walk through the city's workforce composition, vacancy rates, recruitment efforts and processes, current hiring challenges and retention initiatives. I'll keep the presentation concise, but the staff report contains additional information for your review. A b 2561 was signed into law in 2024 and became effective January 1st, 2025. The law amended the Myers Brown Act and created a new requirement for public agencies to address employee vacancies and workforce conditions at least once each fiscal year. Prior to budget adoption. The intent of the legislation is to increase transparency around staffing levels, recruitment and retention efforts, and any hiring obstacles that may impact public services or employee workload. A b 2561 requires the city to present four key topics during public hearing vacancy rates across employee groups, recruitment and retention efforts, and any policies, procedures or hiring obstacles that may impact recruitment. And finally, the city must provide an opportunity for recognized employee organizations to make presentations during the hearing. The law also includes additional reporting requirements. If vacancies within a single bargaining unit meet or exceed 20% of authorized positions. In those cases, agencies are required to provide additional information, such as applicant data, average time to complete the hiring process, and opportunities to improve compensation and working conditions. At this time, none of the city's bargaining units meet or exceed that threshold, so the additional reporting requirements are not triggered. The city currently has 659.5

authorized full time equivalent positions, also referred to as FTEs, distributed across six bargaining units and one unrepresented executive unit. The represented groups include both frontline and management employees within the city's fire, police and Non-safety units. This chart provides a visual overview of how authorized FTE positions are distributed across the organization. As shown, the largest number of staff remain with the General Unit with 277 FTE Management Unit with 128.5 FTE. Police Safety with 105 FTE and fire Safety with 82 FTE. The unrepresented group and two public Safety management units make up the rest. This graphic reflects authorized position staffing levels rather than current employee headcount. A citywide vacancy rate is 9.7%, representing 24.25 vacant full time equivalent positions. This reflects a slight improvement from last year's vacancy rate of 10.1. The General Unit and Management Unit continue to have the highest number of vacancies, while fire management and police management groups currently have zero vacancies. I'm also happy to report we expect the fire safety group to be filled within the next three months. The city continues to maintain accessible recruitment practices while also expanding targeted outreach efforts. Position vacancies are posted through government jobs.com and linked through the city's website, allowing applicants to easily view and apply for opportunities. Applicants may also sign up for job alerts to receive automatic notifications when recruitments open in their selected areas of interest. For specialized or difficult to fill positions, the city utilizes targeted strategies including industry specific job

boards and mailing lists. In addition, attendance at local job fairs helps connect directly with prospective candidates and raise awareness of city career opportunities. Our goal is to maintain a recruitment process that is structured, equitable, competitive and responsive to operational needs. The recruitment process begins when a vacancy is identified and a requisition is submitted and approved. HR then works with the department and City Manager to confirm operational needs and develop a recruitment plan. Positions are posted. Applications are screened for minimum qualification qualifications and qualified candidates may participate in examinations, interviews or other evaluations depending on the classification. Following interviews, HR extends a conditional offer and completes pre-employment requirements before onboarding and placement. Like many public agencies, the city continues to face a highly competitive labor market where both public and private sector employers are competing for a limited number of qualified candidates. The high regional cost of living also continues to impact both recruitment and retention efforts, particularly for early and mid-career employees. Additionally, specialized fields such as engineering, aquatics, and public safety often involve smaller candidate pools and longer recruitment timelines. Operationally, the soft hiring freeze has also required additional review before recruitments proceed, which can extend hiring timelines for some positions. To better assess the city's market competitiveness, a comprehensive classification and compensation study is currently underway and almost finalized. Preliminary findings indicate that the city's compensation structure is generally at or above market. Retention efforts continue to focus on professional development, employee engagement, and organizational culture. The city continues to invest in employee career growth through training opportunities, development

programs, and internal advancement pathways. The Employee Engagement Committee has also been empowered to implement morale building initiatives such as the Employee Fall Festival, holiday celebrations and other employee recognition activities designed to strengthen workplace connection and engagement. Collectively, these efforts support employee morale, strengthen retention, and help foster a more positive and connected workplace culture. Here are some photos of staff enjoying those initiatives over the last year. In summary, the city remains compliant with a B 2561 and continues to take a balanced approach to staffing, recruitment, retention and fiscal responsibility. No bargaining unit currently meets or exceeds the 20% vacancy threshold that would trigger additional reporting requirements. The city wide vacancy rate has improved slightly from last year, and the city continues to focus on accessible recruitment practices, targeted outreach, employee development, and workplace engagement initiatives. This concludes the presentation and provides the opportunity for employee organization presentations and council discussion. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to take a quick opportunity to really give some kudos to our HR department for all the hard work they're doing. Probably the best example we could see is for Chief Mills, the work that they're doing, where our police department is almost, I think you would say, almost fully staffed now, chief, and at full strength, which, you know, is not always the case. Not a lot of cities can do that all the time. So that's due to a great partnership between the police department, our HR department, and their work extends obviously to all departments throughout the city. So just great. Thanks to Stephanie and her team for all the work that they're doing. So just

wanted to add that. Yes. Thank you. I'm going to do anything in our city without our city staff. Are there any questions for Stephanie? Great job. This time I would like to open the public hearing. The public is invited to speak on this matter for up to two minutes. Do we have any public speakers on this one? We have no public commenters. Okay. The public hearing is now closed. Are there any discussion or additional questions from the City Council? Yes. Councilmember Garner, thank you. Just one thing for Stephanie. Oh bless you. Stephanie and our HR staff, they've been putting on a lot more events for city employees in the last few years, and they are really fun. Encourage my colleagues if you get the chance to attend one of the next ones. It is such a blast. So thank you for doing a lot more employee morale things. I think it's really positive and just really love to see the staff members have a chance to really become friends as well as colleagues. And again, I echo the mayor and thanking our city staff for being just absolutely incredible. Okay. If there are no other questions, I'd like to entertain a motion. I don't see it. Where is it? Do you see them? I don't

see it. Is a receiving file. Only this item is receiving file. Steven file and. This is receiving file. Yes. Oh, okay. Just kidding. All right. Well, we will do that then. Okay. Thank you. Next item is to be a request for application by Sagewood Homeowners Association for Historic District. Designation of Sagewood condominiums located at south of RM. This is a typo on North Sunrise Way and East Vista. Chino a PN507421033. Case HSPB1. 66 and HD13. Do we have a staff report, please? Yes. Can we get the presentation? Perfect. So, Madam Mayor and members of City Council, for the record, my name is Sarah Yun, historic preservation officer for the city. I'm here to present on two applications for designation this evening. The first application is a condo district nomination for Sagewood Condominiums, located south of Sunrise and Vista, located south of the Sunrise and Vista Chino intersection. This application was initiated by the homeowners Association with over 71% support from the owners for the designation. The HOA is representing the ownership and has been representing them throughout this process. So the area in turquoise is the proposed district boundaries for the Sagewood Condominiums Historic District. This includes 27 detached structures. There's a total of 107 individual units, and Sandwell Drive divides the development into a

north section and south section. The north side contains eight buildings and the remaining 19 are on the south section. This development was completed in 1972, and it's roughly 18 acres in size, and it is not a gated community. In these photographs, you'll see you'll start to see the unique layout of the structures on the site and how pedestrian and vehicular access within the development has been arranged. Each unit is adjacent to their own garage and carport, and the staggered design of the feature limits its visibility from the street. According to the report, the building and overall layout of the development was done by Donald Wexler, and the design of the landscape was completed by landscape architect David Hamilton. The development was laid out in a way that the open space, with mature trees and clustering of vegetation, created a park like greenbelt area, and the open screen space slopes gently around the amenities like the swimming pool, the tennis court and the view of the mountains remains unobstructed by power lines. The draft ordinance goes into a bit more discussion, detailing the individual elements of the landscape and how they're defined. But to make a quick note here, alternative plant materials with drought tolerant properties may be considered down the line for any turf removal considerations. The criteria for district nomination looks for exceptional historic significance and based on the site visits and findings in the report, the proposed district exemplifies low density multifamily residential development from the early 1970s, representing qualities of a garden apartment typology, which is often catering to

specifically growing middle class. The architecture may seem unassuming, but it represents a transition from mid-century modern design to a style of design that concentrates more on environmental functionality. For instance, the AC equipment is anticipated and better integrated into the design of the units, and the articulation of the building facades prevents a large expanse of garages and carports being the main front facade. In addition, there is an association with both Wexler and Hamilton when it comes to their collaboration on multi development, multifamily development. In terms of integrity, the site maintains its setting, feeling and the location of the buildings remain unchanged. The layout of the open space and overall configuration of the development and site design remains intact. The integrity of the design is visible and the materials used to execute this vision can be clearly identified. As an owner initiated application. The first neighborhood outreach meetings dates back to 2023. Based on the analysis in the report, the proposed district meets criterion C, E, and F and has sufficient integrity to demonstrate how each criterion is met. The PB. After reviewing the report and visiting the site, unanimously voted in support of the district nomination and recommend City Council designate the site a historic district. I'm happy to take any questions related to the draft resolution, and I believe we do have the representative of the HOA present, as well as someone. Claude is joining us virtually to answer any questions that the Council may have. Do we have any questions for staff?

Council member, could you repeat what happensf we switch to desert landscape and the green turf disappears? So this is a topic that's coming up quite with quite a few properties in terms of the review. It would, if it were to be designated, it would go through a certificate of appropriateness review process. The replacement of turf could be substituted for drought tolerant plantings that still keep that initial design esthetic. And so we would explore those options. There are still a lot of research that's being done related to this. There are different types of turf species that would be drought tolerant. That may be a good substitute. So there are alternatives that would still help us meet our water efficient landscape ordinance, as well as retain the historic integrity of the design. So the green the green belt is a specific component of the historical designation. Sorry, can you repeat that? The green belt, the green belt is a specific component of the designation. So when we went into a little bit more detail about that green belt, it's not necessarily just the turf, it's the open space. It's the park like features. It's the, the, the different staggering of the shrubs. And so there's other details related to that, but we're looking at looking at that as an open space configuration as well as the the plantings, but it could be substituted for drought tolerant species, if I may. Council member to heart, you might recall we had a similar conversation when we brought the City Hall project forward. When we were looking at doing some of the landscape conversion here, and I think it's the general vibe, for lack of a better word,

that we would be looking to preserve. But we can absolutely substitute more drought tolerant materials for ones that require more water. So there are hybrid grasses, for example, that take much less water. That would be something that we would consider through the process that Sarah mentioned, and that can be done administratively at the staff level. So it's it's not meant to be a burdensome process, just meant to say we're not going to construct something on what was originally the open space, because that's what we want to maintain, but rather looking to substitute what was there before with, with more modern, more drought tolerant species, if that makes more sense. So how is the how is the decision made? Because it seems rather it's subjective. If looking at, you know, we're we're we're interpreting the trees and the view and how is how are we basing the decision on allowing for different materials to be used? That's a difficult question because they are case by case, depending on the design of the landscape. I think in some instances we have seen turf removal occur on the periphery. So we are actually seeing that turf be reduced to around the edges and then concentrating it more towards the center, where it keeps that level of integrity of design, and then maybe substituting that turf for more drought tolerant species. So there's, there's a number of ways to look at it. And unfortunately, each design is a little bit different. And so that is why the certificate of appropriateness process is very important. Each each design is different. And so we would like to approach that with the homeowners or in this case the hose and maintaining what's been identified as a defining feature. And I might add to that. And there's also the layering on of various state law play, right? So there are more restrictive requirements coming down from the state about nonfunctional turf. That is

going to push a lot of HOAs and, and businesses into replacing non drought tolerant turf with more drought tolerant turf or more desert landscaping. So we will have to sort of balance the the historic designation and historic district of this development with all of that changing landscape and, you know, ongoing conversations around climate change and sustainability. So there is subjectivity to it. You're correct. But I think it will be our job to sort of navigate the balance between those two forces. Can I ask a follow up question just based off of that? So AB 1572 that is looking exactly at using potable water for nonfunctional turf would supersede our local designation. Correct? That is our understanding today. Yes. Okay. So so again, we wouldn't be able to preclude or prevent this being transitioned to something that is more compliant with that state law. But we would look to make sure that we do it in a way that is as respectful of the historic nature of the property as possible. Yeah, it might be helpful to make sure we're giving guidance to HOAs on what 1572 is going to require of all a choice, really. And Chris wasn't. But the city city Hall was designed with without grass. Well, there were. So the original. The original landscape a little different. Yes, but that's right. And I think that there are portions of the property where we currently have the, the turf. And we were having that conversation about converting it to more hybrid turf. I suppose the context is a little different because it wasn't going back to what was originally done. So yeah, it's a little different. But the idea that we, we have been exploring with our sustainability department what some of those hybrid turfs look like that use less grass. And we are working with DWA and others to understand more about that so that we can have conversations with HOAs and others about how to do this in a way that is

compliant with the state law that's coming down and their own needs. So is it your department that's going to fund the City Hall conversion? Yes. Where's that? We we will have some conversations about that. Yes. I just want to comment. One thing about the City Hall that we did discuss was demonstration areas of drought tolerant options and desert landscaping. So back in the back. Yeah. But we were going to demonstrate different options that potentially could look at. So just for the record, I have Kurapika, which is drought tolerant green year round. It doesn't take any mowing. So plastic no crop. Yeah. It's a green ground kind of cover and it flowers not mowing. Anyway, I have comments but I'll wait till after the public hearing. Okay. No other questions at this time. I would like to open the public hearing. Then the public is invited to speak on this matter for two minutes. Do we have any speakers on this? Hold on. We do have one speaker, Claude Peck. He actually registered to speak. Oh, right. For a public hearing. Claude, thanks for waiting. If you can still hear us, you have two minutes. I won't even take two minutes. I really don't have any public comments. I'm just in attendance to answer any questions that might come up that others didn't have answers to. Because I have been attached to this project for about five years. Okay. All right. Any questions for Claude? Doesn't look like it. Seeing none. The public hearing is now closed. Is there any discussions or additional questions from the City Council? Yep. So I thank you. I want to thank Claude and Steven for the report, which is great.

Claude also wrote a great little booklet on stage Wood. It is really a an absolutely beautiful development. And what's interesting is that it's not gated and, and it was built as accessible housing. And they've had some modernism weeks, I think in the 50th anniversary, they did something special. So it's really a beautiful. And also when we had our parks master plan, we talked about different areas of the city that don't have parks, but this is a whole development that actually has its own park. And it's really it's really quite beautiful. So thanks for the great report, and I would encourage people to take a look at it. And this may be the first of two Wexler historic designations in my district. There's another one we're working on. So thank you. Anything, Councilmember Garner, did you have something to say on this? Nope. Okay. Any other questions? Seeing none at this time, I would like to entertain a motion. We have a motion by Council Member DeHart, a second by Council member Bernstein. Motion carries. Next item is item two C we got some Sagewood residents. Congratulations is a request for application by Colts Scott Family Trust for the historic site. Designation of the Snyder Residence located at 271 West Moreno Place. May we have a staff report, please? HSV 176 is a request for class one status of a single family home on West Burrito Place. This request for historic designation was initiated by the owners of the home. The property is located at the corner of Moreno Place

and Cahuilla Road, and it has been in that corner since 1932. Built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the home is designed by William C Tanner, who designed the Desert Inn Complex for Nellie Kaufman, the first owners of the home. John and Estella Snyder have been built this home and owned it until 1943. Here's some photographs of the residence in its current condition and context, the home retains its overall feel, scale, use of materials and at the rear, we're able to identify later alterations that were completed. But they were done in a harmonious way that complements the original design. The report also documents features that have been lost over time, like the metal detailing around the front entry, and it is also important to note that the current owners have also restored certain features that were previously covered or buried in new material, like the original exterior fireplace. As stated in section 8.05.070, the of the Muni code class one status requires a site to meet one or more of the criteria for exceptional significance. There's. The Schneider home is an early, intact example of residential construction that occurred during the Great Depression. It exemplifies the transition of Palm Springs from its sanatorium beginnings to a winter resort town. This home is also an important example of an important work of William C Turner's Turner's work. That was during the peak of his career. As for the site's integrity, the home is in its original location. The development patterns and setting around the residence is consistent with its period of significance, and the material and workmanship demonstrates the designer's attention to detail. The designation nomination for

the Schneider residence was submitted by the owners of the home with much enthusiasm, and during the HSB meeting on April April 7th, more than 24 letters of support were submitted by the surrounding neighbors. The site meets criterion three and five and the necessary integrity findings to reclassify the site. A historic landmark, and HSB recommends City Council designate this home a class one site in accordance with our preservation ordinance, can take any questions related to the draft resolution and the. The homeowners are also present to answer any questions. Thank you. Sarah. Are there any questions for staff on this single family designation? Nope. Okay. Seeing none at this time, I'd like to open the public hearing. Do we have any public comments on this item? Three. This time I'd like Steve Scott. And then after Steve Scott is Robert Coles. AM I even close to that E Coles yeah, okay. Thank you, mayor and council members. From what I understand, the number of letters and comments sent in support of this historic designation by the heirs of the original owners, John Snyder, to the heirs of the architectural designer William Charles Tanner, and along with every single one of our neighbors and others throughout the country, has been unprecedented. I'd like to take the opportunity to read just two of those comments from the heirs themselves. I'm from Mary Cummings, my grandparents, John and Estella Snyder, with the architectural skills of William Charles Tanner, built their their dream home in the 1930s in the

depths of the depression. After spending several winters in Palm Springs, they wanted their perfect desert home to reflect its setting, capturing the beauty of its place and surroundings. They were able to live there only a short time, but considering all the home movies and pictures I have seen over the years, I know that the home lived up to their expectations. We do appreciate all the subsequent owners love and appreciation of the place, and hope that it will receive this important preservation designation. Sincerely. Mary Cummings, granddaughter, great granddaughter of the Snyders. And by the way, my name is Steve Scott and I'm one of the owners. The other is from Andrea McCarren. My name is Andrea and I am the great granddaughter of William Charles Tanner, the architectural designer of Morada La Estrella and the Desert Inn in Palm Springs. I am writing to express my wholehearted support, along with the other members of the family, for the application to designate Mirada La Estrella on the National Register of Historic Places. I have personally had the pleasure of spending time in this remarkable home and experiencing it firsthand. The distinctive features my great grandfather envisioned and brought to life. It has been. This designation would hold deep significance for me and for all descendants of William Charles Tanner. It would help ensure the continued preservation of this historic home and honor. The architectural legacy has contributed to the early character of Palm Springs. Furthermore, it would allow future generations to appreciate and learn from this unique and enduring piece of history. Sincerely, Andrea McCarren. Thank you. Mayor and Council. Thank you so much for letting us speak

on this tonight and for considering this. I want to. I. Of. Hello, hello, hello. Is that better? Okay. Let's go. I want to go back to 2020. We were living in Palm Springs. We just moved here. We got a call from Mr. Coats. Can we get your time back to the two minutes? I reclaim my time. Yeah. Where have I heard that before? Okay, I don't need that long. Okay, back to 2020. I got a call from our agent. He knew us well. He knew that we loved old historic properties and that that's what we love doing. And he told us about this house. We saw it and immediately knew that we wanted it. But little did we know what we had purchased. There were seven other people competing to buy it. One of them wanted to knock it down. We bonded with the owner, who decided to sell it to us because of our love for the architecture and the house, and our promise to keep it the way it was and restore it. So we. It was a most incredible discovery. My husband Steve, who you just heard from, did amazing research and found, oh my gosh, this was designed by Charles Tanner, who did the Desert Inn. It. The living room of the house looks exactly like the suites at the Desert Inn. This is a. This is a jewel that must be preserved. We were both really, really fearful that somebody like one of the potential buyers would try to knock it down. So we

embarked on this journey. It's been three years of work to get here tonight. Our agents said, don't do it, because somebody's going to take that lot and put a big house on it someday. And we said, we want this to be our legacy. Part of this is having this House as a permanent part of the infrastructure in Palm Springs. So we respectfully ask you to consider designating this so that it stays a part of our history forever, and we can continue to share it with the public. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now on Zoom, we have Steve Vaught. Steve, if you can hear us, you can unmute and you have two minutes. You can you hear me now? Yes. You have two minutes. Oh, am I heard you are. Are you able to hear me now? Yes, Steve, we can hear you. Oh, God. You'd think I'm a historian. I don't deal with modern equipment, apparently. I just wanted to add a few things. I am the I had the great honor of working with Steve and Bob on producing the nomination. That's before you for this tonight. And it was a. It was a great pleasure to do and an honor to work with. This is a fantastic home representing a great part of Palm Springs. First golden period in architecture. And one of the things that's so special about it is because we are now really just starting to get to know William Charles Tanner, and for the great influence that he was in Palm Springs in the 1920s and 30s. And I give great kudos to both Steve and Bob for having such passion, for not only saving this house and preserving it, but also the great detective work and everything that was done,

the photographs and contacting family members. It's such an impressive it's a perfect scenario. They're perfect stewards for this. And of course, I highly recommend and hope that you will designate this a class one resource. And and I thank you. Thank you. Steve. There are no other public comments at this time. The public hearing is now closed. Any discussion or additional questions from the City Council? Councilmember Bernstein, thank you. I just want to have a comment. I want to thank the owners for for being so passionate about preservation and restoring this, and for being such great stewards and leaving a wonderful legacy for, for the whole city. So thank you and we appreciate it. Yes. No, we have a motion by Council Member DeHart. Thank you for keeping us, moving us forward. We have a second by Councilmember Bernstein. Motion carries. Thank you. Congratulations. Next item is to D a request for conduct. Conduct a public hearing under section 53083 of the California Government Code to approve Hotel operations covenant between the City of Palm Springs and the Alcazar Palm Springs, LLC pursuant to Municipal Code chapter 5.26 of the city's Hotel Operations Center program. Can we have a staff report, please? Wayne mayor, City Council, city staff, those listening tonight. Thank you. My name is Wayne Olson. I'm the chief economic development officer for the city. This open item opens a public hearing under our

government code, section 53083 to approve a hotel operations covenant with Alcazar Palm Springs, LLC for their 33 room property at 622 North Palm Canyon Drive. I'll be very brief. The owner completed a qualifying phase two renovation last fall. It included pool, spa, decking, fencing and landscaping and addition, some gas line repair, meaning the $5,000 per room investment threshold under the municipal code. Chapter 526 brief note this will be one of the last properties considered under the old TOT incentive programs. This applicant was in process while the council reviewed and approved the most recent update 527. However, because of the perky investment, there is no effective difference between the amount generated from the project from the prior code under 5.26 versus the new code under 527. So effectively it's the same net difference. Under the city's hotel incentive, the city rebates 50% of incremental TOT from a stipulated baseline until ten years expires, or a rebate of, in this case, $219,000 in project cost is reached. After that, the city retains 100% of TOT. Going forward, the operator will also participate in the Committable rooms program and provide two rooms per night for official city use. The. Which is a pro forma for this incentive program. The Alcazar just retired from its first ten years in the program, successfully generating about $485,000 of incremental revenue towards their project. And so this will restart them under a new program, which is permissible under five, two six. Before opening the public hearing, I just want to mention two typos. As much as I am begrudgingly admitting error, especially in public, there are two types on the covenant. On page 12 of the Council packet recital D, it should read 33 rooms instead of 16, and then on page 13 of the packet under article one, section one one, it should list the Alcazar Hotel. I apologize for that error. These are

artifacts artifacts from a previous agreement that slips slipped through the staff's edits. The changes are immaterial as far as they still qualify for the 5000 room payment. So with those corrections noted, staff recommends approval of the incentive that you have before you tonight. That concludes the presentation. Thank you to. We have any questios for staff. Oh, I think I asked you this, but I don't understand it when it says the operator retired from the program under five two, six. That means they completed their ten years. Council member Bernstein so the original program allowed for them to participate for ten years in their last month of participation was December of 2025. Okay. So retiring from the program, meaning they completed their ten year agreement. Okay. And they can participate in the new one. They can there is no stipulation to the contrary. Okay. Thank you. Great. Any other questions? And I don't believe we do have Dana Steele and Michael Lambert are listed here as 2D, but they're not here. Right. I know, but they're also listed for 2D online. No other speakers. Okay, okay. There are no public speakers, so we do not need to open up for public hearing or we did and now it's closed. Are there any discussions or questions? Nope. Seeing none, I would like to entertain a motion. We a wonderful. Motion carries. Thank you counsel. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is item three B discussion of the city mayoral position and report

from ad hoc subcommittee. Can we have a staff report please? So I can start. If you don't mind, Councilmember. So we do have an update from the city attorney. So I would like to start there, if that's okay. Sure, absolutely. As one of the speakers earlier this afternoon indicated, the US Supreme Court did hand down a rather monumental decision about two weeks ago. And that case was Louisiana versus Cal. And that impacts the California the Federal Voting Rights Act. And the question has come up whether and to what extent that decision might impact the California Voting Rights Act and therefore, possibly the city's consideration of the mayoral position. Jim Priest of my office, our election law expert, and I have looked at the issue, and preliminarily, we've come up with a statement that I'd like to read in this statement is available for anybody who'd like to get a copy of it. The US Supreme Court's April 29th, 2026 decision in Louisiana versus Cal significantly limits, if not prohibits, the use of race in drawing election districts. The California Voting Rights Act is aimed at ensuring that members of protected minority classes have the ability to elect candidates of their choice and influence the outcome of elections. Chief among those protected classes is race and ethnic minority status, and the primary remedy historically employed in the Cvra cases involved the drawing of election districts using race to achieve the Cvra

goals. While the full impacts of the decision on the Cvra remain to be fleshed out through litigation and possibly state legislative efforts, it appears that the Cal decision substantially limits the most commonly used remedy under the Cvra, namely, drawing electoral districts based on race or ethnicity. And the Cal decision calls into question the more expansive protections afforded minorities under the Cvra. Therefore, the Cvra as currently drafted, appears to be less of a formidable threat to local election systems than it was prior to the Cal decision. That is not to say that there remains no risk of costly litigation after Cal in the law. Uncertainty breeds litigation, and after the Cal decision, uncertainty still remains as to how that decision impacts the Cvra. Further litigation regarding the Cvra will almost undoubtedly ensue. Therefore, the city should proceed with caution. I'm available to answer any questions. Thank you. Appreciate that. In terms of further update from the working group, we do have a short list of residents that are being contacted to have their first working working group meeting the first week of June, pending their schedules and their acceptance from across the city. And I think one of the things that Councilmember DeHart and I discussed was the importance of districts. And while this discussion is is focused on the role of the mayor specifically and how that role would look in Palm Springs, whether that stays, how it is move to a directly elected mayor, or move to some other type of rotation. That would be the task of the working group to

determine. But as far as we're concerned, there's no interest in changing or removing districts at all. And I don't think that I believe that's all. Yeah. You're seeing nods no one no one on the council is interested in in taking away districts. So just for that clarity, for the the folks that spoke today, so the working group would discuss different options for the role of the mayor. They would host community meetings throughout the city to hear residents answer questions. And then at the end of this process, they would make a recommendation. Their recommendation is does not have to be one way or the other. It if they don't have a consensus in either direction or for any particular way, that's fine, but it would just at least be this is what they heard from the public and and presented to council. We'll once the working group has their first meeting, that would be able to then establish an ongoing schedule for the remainder of the meeting dates and times, which could then be published to the community. And we would be able to hone in a little bit more on their initial tasks. One thing that we've discussed fairly extensively is that this is to be led by the community, by the community and the working group, which means that Councilmember DeHart and I are not telling them strictly what to do, but we are providing initial guidance and then allowing them to take it from there. And if that evolves and changes, that's okay. But we'll always be there as a resource. So, Councilmember, do you want to add anything to that? Oh, sure. Yeah. If you want to read them. So initially, Councilmember

Garner and myself, we each put three names forward to, to start the process. So Dieter Crawford, Melissa Dolores, April Rojas, Jenny Foat, George Nicole, and Jason Kravitz are the initial folks that have been brought forward to start the group. And, and additional names are, are standing by if, if there's opportunities for additional folks to come on. But the working group will direct that based off of needs that that they see that they may have expertise missing, that they can bring into the group. That's it, I think. Yeah. And just if there's any questions or comments from our colleagues about about that process, we'd love to hear from you. If not, then we'll move forward. So you have somebody from every district is in there. We are. We actually are missing district four. So if if the mayor has has some names they want to recommend to us, we're. Oh, actually, I think or someone I think one of my backup is district four. Okay. Who's the five? District five is April. Oh, right. Right. Thank you. And then so there is there other meetings. Public meetings. Are they discussing it first or deciding first together how to proceed? So the the thought would be to mirror the Cvra working group, which was there was published list of published meetings that anyone from the public could attend. But then occasionally we might briefly meet quickly. Usually our quick meetings were like right before a council meeting to just discuss how we were going to do the presentation, short things like that. But otherwise we had scheduled meetings that the public was able to attend.

Although honestly, I can only remember once or twice when anyone showed up. But that's up to the public. But the other council members could attend if you're both not there. Technically, yes, but I think that was a big part of, at least in my experience, the cvra was that we didn't have council members over our shoulder, including the Ron or I. We wouldn't be having public one, I guess. No, even those meetings, the council members. Well, for instance, there was one meeting in particular. Then Councilmember Holstege came so that we could get her input on what she thought about this. And we met with with individual council members about that. So I could imagine that the working group might want to invite council members to hear their thoughts, but otherwise we were not regularly sitting in on the meetings. And to allow that group to really lead it and not be worried about what the council members were thinking in that moment. Same process. Councilmember Garner and I followed with the Martha's Village assessment that just was concluded. We gave some initial direction, but the working group was the one that had, you know, they were at arm's length from staff and council member Gardner and myself. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. So question so you have the the committee, this group, they're going to have meetings, get community input. And then the goal is then for them ultimately to come back to council and report on, on what these are the opinions we found. This is our recommendation. What what's the the the goal then? Yes. So the goal would be to provide a recommendation or an or just a, a it if they do not have a, a strong recommendation, they could just prevent their present,

their findings. I think that with this issue, you have a lot of different opinions. With the Cvra working group, we were for sure moving to districts. And so there had to be some sort of recommendation presented. In this case, there is no one saying that we must do this, which means that we could get a variety of responses. So I think while it would be great if we could get a recommendation from the working group, if they do not come to consensus, they could still present their findings to us at the end of that process. And is there are you going to outline? You should have X number of meetings, or how will that the mechanics of that work? Well, I think one of the things that we wanted to figure out in terms of how many meetings would be once we met with the group to, to find out their, what they thought their availability. Obviously, the there might be less meetings in the summer, for instance, more meetings when we get back. Those types of things. And Councilmember, anytime you want to jump in and disagree, it's okay. Yeah, no, it's all good. Thank you for the this early strategizing and, and guidance and really grateful for the people who agreed to be on the workgroup to really think through the meat of it all. So. No other comments. This is a receive and file. So again, thank you. Next item is public comment on non agenda items. Let's see. Do I have any. I don't see any on my list. No no public commenters. Okay. Next we have city council and City Manager Michael here.

Michael's not here. Okay. I'm a little worried. Okay. I'm. Next is city council. City Council and city manager requests an upcoming agenda development. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Members of council. Just taking a quick look at the upcoming. We have four council meetings left before our summer recess. So just taking a look at our next meeting on May 27th. We are. We rescheduled caravanserai and we'll have them back at our next council meeting. You know, they're part of our five year programmatic efforts that we've entered into an agreement with them. And so we'll have them here to talk about that. We have another public hearing on delinquent waste disposal charges that were required to do. We'll be bringing back, obviously. To that. Good sorry that the t d formation and levy of assessments, I know we said 15 minutes here on this agenda. I don't probably think that's quite right. I don't think that we may may, might be appropriate. We do have. And then you'll notice below that is the vacation rental ordinance update. And that's just for those administrative changes in clean up items that you asked us to bring back. And I know our finance director, Chris Mooney, is preparing for our third quarter financial report, which will be very timely. He'll be spending some time with you on that. We do have an HRC ordinance update that I know we've been talking about that will come forward. And then, of course, we'll keep the reports coming on on the report on the mayoral position, you'll see in June 10th. One of the

things I know for council members to Hart and Garner, we are trying to get Martha's Village and Kitchen rescheduled for presentation, and I think we would like to shoot for that. Once we rescheduled, then we'd like to shoot for that potentially on June 10th and which case I know. We also want to bring forward the working group assessment report that was done. We'd like to have those on together if we could. You'll see that we do have a brief presentation on Peirce's pledge program. The chief reminds me that that's that's at state program that allows for a cooling off period for families and individuals in distress. When there's guns and firearms in the home, it allows people to drop off their their weapon or firearm with the police department who puts it in storage, for lack of a better word, a cooling off period. And in in an effort to reduce violence in the household. So they'll be talking more about that. We do have our Tourism Improvement District Bonding Authority item that could very well be pushed back a little bit later as part of the program that we're involved in. We do have our teleconferencing policy on SB 707 coming forward. And Mr. City Attorney, I think that is more related to boards and commissions. Correct. There will be provisions applicable to our boards and commissions, as well as a few provisions for our city council as well. Yeah. Just continuing on. We originally had our convention center food and beverage contract on for the next meeting. I think we want to push that back a couple more weeks to June 10th. And again, we'll keep the mayoral position item. Our our second meeting in

June. We have we're council member Garner. We're going to try and bring back the emergency operations update presentation. That'll be timely as we go, as we're going into the summer season and outages, things like that. And we'll be following up the third quarter report with our continuation budget presentation and adoption by the finance department. We do have our annual street lighting maintenance District public hearing that we have to bring forward every year. And then on July 8th, our final meeting before the recess, we do have Cvag coming forward to give us a traffic signal synchronization update. And I know Mayor Pro Tem ready. We're going to try and incorporate some other items regarding turn signals and other things that you've spoken to us about. And that's all I have, Madam Mayor. Any other items for our city manager that's not on here that you would like to, or thoughts on things that can be moved? Just thank thank you. Scott. To clarify on the the traffic light synchronization. So the main thing is not the Cvag update, although that would be important on their synchronization. If we can include that, that would be great. But it's, it's the just to clarify, you know, it's a policy discussion of if council wants to change our policy or create a formal policy on which under what conditions are they turns protected, permissive or just permissive. And also recently there's been significant changes in terms of the left turn signals, the sequencing of those. And so, you know, maybe we can discuss why that occurred. And, and obviously, I've had a lot of complaints on that. We can decide at some point if we want to create a formal policy. But that's sort of

the main thrust of request. Okay. Thank you. Raise. We had a I guess it was three years ago, we started the commercial district ordinance. I guess it was a prior council that passed it. And we had asked that it would come back to see how it was working. We now have a new council, but I just wanted to have that on a future agenda at some point, and I wanted to make sure that there was three of this council that agreed on it, since it was before Mayor Pro tem and mayor were on here. Yeah. So we established commercial districts and sort of a replication of a one piece thing. I think wee had four and some other ones in the works along the way. There's been some questions whether things need to be changed in the ordinance to make it easier or how it's working. And so we had said, let's bring it back and see how it is working. And if there needs to be revisions and if there needs to be revision. So we have three yeses, at least four yeses. Okay, maybe, maybe four yeses is enough. It's not on the that's what I'm asking the parking lot list. Well, yes, it needs to be. That's why I'm saying it needs to be because it it wasn't some reason it wasn't clear if three had agreed, but it happened probably before two of us were here. So okay is just for some direction. Is there is there a, a timeline for what you're thinking about council member or just trying to find a good time to bring it forward? The issue was really about if we are spending time trying to create the commercial districts under an ordinance that needs to be fixed, then it might be more urgent. And this would be a really a question for the chief economic development director and the business administrator. Very good. We'll speak about that and get back to you. It's just not on it's

not on the list. Oh, on on our internal we'll we'll add it there as well. I don't have a ten year in your packet. Jeffrey probably took it from me. Council member DeHart. On, on the excuse me, the Martha's Village working group and Martha's Village presentation I since Council has been able to see the report. There's a number of recommendations that seem like they would be easy recommendations to implement. Could it is it possible to, when we have this conversation that staff reviews those recommendations. One that's very timely is the cooling shelter, the cooling center, and being able to, you know, you know, is it an option to be able to provide cooling space in the early entry facility? So there's a number of recommendations that if we could have a staff report that says, you know, this is something that's very doable, we can get it done in in two weeks, two months, 60 days, or this suggestion is going to be just, you know, a wish that's going to cost, you know, significant dollars. So if, if council supports that, I, I think it would be worth our time to be able to get that update from staff. Jeffries the counter tonight, apparently, there's been some question about whether there's.

Clarifying. Now, if there's three yeses, listen, we love diligence here. And sometimes we just nod. Yeah. You know, in reviewing the report, there's a lot of terrific recommendations in that report. We'd like to bring it forward. We were hoping to do it in conjunction with Martha's being here as well. And they may very well be able to be here on June 10th. And that's what we'd like to shoot for. And if not, maybe Assistant City Manager Fred Fagg and I can get together with Jay and see what we can pull together. In the meantime, if it looks like the Martha's piece is going to be a little bit longer. But what I hear council saying is you'd like to get that report before you quicker. If the other presentation is going to take longer. Well, some some things I think may be within your control as city manager that the suggesting so that it may not have to be something that involves Council that you might be able to move forward if it's feasible. Yeah. And if, if it's not feasible, then that's a discussion we have at council. We'll certainly put some work into that. Yeah. Thank you. Councilmember Garner. You can go. Oh, I have another one on. I just want to make sure I recognize that the pending list have varying degrees of urgencies. But, you know, there's things here that are noted in July and we only have 1st July meeting. And so just want to make sure that anything that is included in here as. The developer fee, a COD, those are annual update

items, making sure that we can kind of have that included as well. And then. Part of that is looking at our end of June 24th and July 8th, we have a lot of presentations that were identified as priority presentations from our major organizations, where halfway through the year, come October, we're going to have jam packed meetings all over again. And so just want to make sure we're still being able to squeeze them in where we can. I know Councilmember Garner, thanks. I do want to just clarify one thing about the mayor working group. There will be regular working group meetings, but then they will also hold larger public meetings within the community. So the larger public meetings, I think Councilmember Bernstein, is what you were referring to. Yes. There was usually council members present at those. So yeah, I just that clicked for me. Yeah. The other thing I wanted to share was just the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy is one of the boards that I serve on for the council. And a couple years ago we got a new executive director and she's been really wonderful. And she put out this this great year in review. I'll forward to the council and find out where we can find it online. But just in 2025 alone, the conservancy has conserved 347 acres across the Coachella Valley, transferred 656 acres to tribal stewardship. They've done 30 active conservation projects, and they have invested 7.38 million in conservation and community access. It's it's really

incredible what this this very small team of four people does. I mean, obviously the the board votes on these things. But those the four people under the leadership of Elizabeth King are the ones who really take on these monumental tasks and also follow through on all of these projects that they fund for 15 to 30 years. So the conservancy is doing some, some real amazing work in our community. And I will forward this to, to my colleagues and just wanted to, to make sure that you got that update. And one more thing I raised again to Sunline the desire for this for us in the city of Palm Springs to have bus shelters at anywhere where it's possible. There are some legality issues with placing bus shelters in areas of the city that are not developed. So putting a shelter on top of a dirt lot, despite the fact that there is a bus stop there, those are basically old bus stops that would no longer be placed in those spots. So that's why they get around some of the Ada access rules. But to the extent that there are locations where there is a sidewalk, I made the point that we really want to work with Sunline to actually get shade structures at all of those stops prior to actually any of my colleagues being on the city council, the former council and I set aside money specifically to support shade at bus stops, and there just has not been an ability to have good collaboration in getting this done. So I'm trying to really get Sunline to move forward on that with us, because we do have we do have areas that that would allow for for shelters, but shelters, bus stop. Well, okay. And the other thing is the Sunline reimagined is going on. Mona was here not that long ago. She's

going to be coming back around to council to talk about Sunline reimagined. But the bus stops are going to change. So this is something that we wouldn't be putting up shade structures until that process was finished, so that we knew exactly where the bus stops were going to be. But the point for me is making sure that we're working with our partner to plan for this stuff so that it's not does not take another several years to get done. Council member and if I could just add, their executive director recently reached out to me 2 or 3 weeks ago, and we talked about the fact the two of you have had some conversations about it, and we're putting our two staffs together, along with city planning, sustainability, to kind of talk about where there are opportunities for partnership, where can we take advantage of doing some of these things. So that's ongoing. Thank you. If we can request one at Vista, Chino and Farrell, the south side of the intersection, that would be a big priority even though it's not my district. Okay. Yeah, just a few events coming up that I just want to note before we finish up tonight's meeting. We have the Harvey Milk breakfast this Thursday celebrating the life and legacy of Harvey Milk 14th annual. Thank you, Palm Springs Pride, for convening this beautiful event. Right of silence is Wednesday, May 20th from 6 to 8, starting at Ruth Hardy Park. There'll be speakers and kind of really looking at bicycle safety in our city, which there was many items today that talked about that and our consent agenda.

So I want to flag that and then forever. Marilyn May 28th to 30th. Council Member DeHart will encourage everyone to sign up for their white dress. So any other events or closing comments? Mayor pro tem and then Council member Bernstein. Yeah, thank you. Scott. The project on sunny dunes, the striping parking striping that was complete. So great. Thank thank you to you. And and certainly, you know, Wayne and Joel, I think David Maccabee Public Works did a great deal there. So thank you to your staff. Really appreciate it. And you've made some very happy local business owners. Thank you. Great. Yes. Just a couple more. The city grants and sponsorships is now open. Applications are open online. Engage Palm Springs through May 31st. I think also we have announced the Xoxo Palm Springs Arts and Culture celebration June 11th to 22nd. And there will be a kickoff May 28th at the Plaza. And we also announce PS next summit 2026, the follow up to last year's AI Creativity Expo June 22nd, and then the morning of June 23rd. And there will be more. That information is online at Palm Springs next, and there will be a kickoff event on May 21st at the Agua Caliente Cultural Center. Thank you. And busy right through summer. Okay. Our next council meeting will be held on back to our Wednesday schedule. This Tuesday really threw me off. Wednesday, May 27th, 2026 at 530. We will try harder

to start on time. This meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.